12/29/2025: 1 Corinthians 2:1-10 "Go! – Our Message"

This episode focuses on the indispensable role of the church in the lives of Christians and emphasizes returning to its core message of the gospel. Through exploring the significance of community, understanding the flawed nature of believers, and the essential components of the gospel, the hosts challenge listeners to embrace their role within the church and actively share their faith.

• The importance of the gospel message in church life 
• Essential components of the gospel: God, Man, Jesus, Response 
• Call to active participation and community engagement 
• The importance of sharing the gospel with sincerity and love

Transcript

Speaker 1 0:21

1 Corinthians, chapter 2,. I'm going to read verses 1 through 10. And so it was with me. Brothers and sisters, when I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom, as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God, for I resolved to know nothing while I was with you, except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I came to you in weakness and with great fear and trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom but on God's power. We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. No, we declare God's wisdom a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. However, as it is written, what no eye has seen, what no ear has heard and what no human mind has conceived, the things God has prepared for those who love him, these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit. Amen, this is God's Word.

Speaker 1 1:39

Well, we have a very specific message, one that if we lose, it means that we are no longer doing what God has called us to do. Why is this important? Well, the common thing to hear among the modern evangelical are things like I've heard this before I'm done with church. I don't really need to go to church because my relationship with God is personal. I've even heard people say the church is a man-made construct. In fact, the COVID pandemic really uncovered that reality in most churches. I've had this conversation with many pastors and they've said to me well, covid really hurt us, but in fact and I say this to my brothers it showed us what was already there. If you haven't come back to the gathered church, if you're watching online and you haven't come back to the gathered church since 2020, and you don't have an underlying medical condition, that shows me where your heart is, come home.

Speaker 1 2:43

At the same time, I understand full well the church is far from perfect, whether it's this church or any other church around us. You want to know why? Because the church is people. There's only ever been one perfect person. Life is complex and there's growing options. There are 21 churches in our town limit, within the limits of the bypass.

Speaker 1 3:10

With the word Baptist in the name, I can walk into Walmart, throw a rock and hit two Baptist preachers in the head. And then there's another handful of them that are non-denominational, which are, and I tell my non-denominational brothers you are just Baptist without the Baptist in the name. Now, as a Yankee, this is completely foreign to me, because where we grew up in the northern tip of New Hampshire you had to drive an hour to get to a church that even had a Bible in it. But here there's a plethora of them all around us. Why are there so many? Well, I'm going to talk about that in a few weeks.

The Message of the Gospel

Speaker 1 3:48

I'm glad you asked the question, but it's trendy to write off the idea of the church, but it's a mistake, because if you are a Christian, church is not something you go to. It's who you are. You are the church. You can't disassociate from church as a Christian, any more than you can disassociate from humanity as a person, because we don't go to church, we are the church. The church is not a human invention. I mean, half-reading the New Testament with one eye closed will still lead you to the inescapable conclusion that the church is God's idea. In fact, most of the New Testament is about the church doing the teachings of Jesus, doing the work the church has initiated. I mean, if you want to get rid of the church, you need to get rid of Jesus. I understand the idea of the church being imperfect and it makes some people despair. But rather than making us despair, the fact that Jesus started the church with imperfect people should make us marvel at God's incredible grace. The fact that God uses ordinary, broken human beings as vessels of his grace is an absolute delight to my soul and absolutely awe-inspiring, because when I look at who I am, I'm like Lord, how could you use me? And he does. I think God's proud of how His grace is beating through your imperfect but redeemed life through the church. The idea that God would use you and me is pretty amazing, because he had other options, didn't he? I mean, community is messy, people sin, leaders are sinful.

Speaker 1 5:34

Most of the New Testament is a story of. The New Testament is not a story of the idealized church where everything worked perfectly all the time. In fact, a lot of the letters of Paul were like hey, how you doing? Stop? Timothy says hi. I mean, that's the majority of what Paul says in his letters. The fact that Christ uses flawed people to accomplish His work on earth is a sign of His grace, not a sign of His absence. And the church's story, as twisted as it gets, is a beautiful story of God's grace. So is your life, which reflects the story of the church's story, as twisted as it gets, is a beautiful story of God's grace. So is your life, which reflects the story of the church more than many of us would admit.

Speaker 1 6:14

People criticize the church today as being too consumeristic, and certainly to some extent churches cater to consumerism, often to their detriment. I agree that consumerism is a problem for Christianity, but ironically, a lot of the dialogue about why people are done with church actually pushes people deeper into Christian consumerism than it pushes them into deeper discipleship. People say well, here I am, I'm all alone, I can worship God on my schedule when it's convenient for me, I can forsake the local assembly and I can listen to a podcast of my favorite preacher, maybe while I'm at the gym or out on the back deck or something, and I can listen to my three favorite worship songs. That doesn't make you a more passionate Christ follower if you forsake gathering together. It usually makes you a much less effective one.

Speaker 1 7:08

Disconnecting yourself from community is less faithful than connecting yourself to a flawed community, and I've had people say well, you know, I don't know if the church today is enough. I want to do what the early Christians do. I want to live and worship the way that the early church did. I'm like okay, then, instead of gathering once a week, gather every single day before dawn. Get up before the sun rises to pray together with other Christians before you go to work. Pull your possessions together. Don't claim anything as your own. Be willing to lose your job and your home and your family and even your life because you follow Jesus. If you want to be an authentic first century Christian. That's what you got to do and the early church did.

Speaker 1 7:51

Gather Gathering always leads to some form of organizing. To pretend the church doesn't need to be organized is as logical that society doesn't need to be organized. So our ability to organize and to accomplish more together than we can alone is, I think it's one of the crowning achievements of humanity, and our ability to work together makes christian effort far more effective. It's also part of god's design that we should interact while we're on this planet, and what's interesting to me is that heaven is a community as well. The only one who wants us to believe that we are better off alone is our enemy, the devil. Here's the truth. Your faith is a result of the mission of the church.

Speaker 1 8:42

Now again, what is the church? You are the church. Your faith, the reason that you are in Christ right now, is because of the work of the church, whether it's this one or some other one. Very few people come to know Jesus because he appears to them supernaturally when they are alone and calls them by name. Does that ever happen? Well, I'm sure it does, but not for 99.9% of us. Almost all of us who follow Jesus have had our lives changed by a flawed body, just like this called the church that Jesus passionately loves and calls his own.

Speaker 1 9:18

And so what will the future look like? What's in store for the next 12 months? Well, I can tell you, right now I'm more optimistic about the future of First Baptist Church than I ever have been. Amen, if you're not, don't say anything. I can tell you what people say. You know the church doesn't look like it used to, and you're right. You're right, it doesn't, and glory to God for that in many ways. But I can tell you right now, five years from now, it's going to look even more different than it does today. And we are three years into a five-year project of revitalization and I can say so far, so good, for the glory of God. In fact, we're further along than I even anticipated. But after five years we won't stop. It doesn't mean after five years we're like well, you're on your own now. Does this church need to constantly reform? Without a doubt, the church needs that continual reformation and transformation. You see, we Christians need each other, probably now more than ever.

Speaker 1 10:30

Okay, so let me get to a point here. Let me start with give you a heading here. Let me try to put this into a framework. Let's start with what we do. What is our message? Verse 1, Paul says and so it was with me, brothers and sisters, when I came to you. I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom, as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God, for I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. So Paul is telling the Corinthian church, with all its societal brokenness, with its awful sin and terrible leaders the message is the gospel. My message is the gospel. Paul did not become a change leader in his society. His message was the gospel. He did not seek to change the halls of power. His message was the gospel. The cure for every single ill that we see in our culture today is the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. The gospel changes the racist heart. The gospel changes the human trafficking heart. The gospel changes the heart of the tax collector. The gospel changed my heart.

Speaker 1 11:38

What is the gospel? What is it all about? Is the gospel fundamentally about meeting our needs? Is the gospel fundamentally about meeting our needs, fulfilling our desire for meaning, transforming society, teaching us to live better lives, lifting up the poor, making us rich and healthy? All of those ideas about the gospel latch onto a perceived problem and they say, well, that's what the gospel is all about, and that happens a lot. Whatever perceived issue in our culture, christians are very quick to say, well, that's what the gospel is all about, and that happens a lot. Whatever perceived issue in our culture, christians are very quick to say, well, that's what the gospel is all about. It's about racial reconciliation, which in part it could be. Or they say, well, it's about social justice, which in part it could be, but the gospel addresses the single person's most fundamental problem before anything else.

Speaker 1 12:28

The fundamental. What is your fundamental problem? You say, hey, look at my checking account, you're going to know what my fundamental problem is. You're going to say look at my family, that's my fundamental problem. Look at where I have to work. Listen, your fundamental problem right now is God's wrath against you because of your sin.

Speaker 1 12:51

That is first and foremost what the New Testament writers were concerned about. That is what Jesus came to fix our sin problem. Paul said it in Romans 1,. The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. Ephesians 5,. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things, the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. God's wrath against our sin is the fundamental problem the gospel addresses. Jesus died. Let me give you a big egghead theological word Jesus died on the cross as a propitiation, which means he's a sacrifice that turns away God's wrath. It covers our sin. That's the purpose of the gospel.

Speaker 1 13:36

So what is the gospel? Well, let's not water this down. Let's not be milk toast about this. We can't get cotton candy with the gospel, can we? There is an eternal problem of hell that we want to lead men and women away from. This is not the time to misunderstand our message, is it? We must be about the business of sharing the Gospel.

Speaker 1 13:57

And some people and I think well-meaning Christians will say well, you know what I do? I tell people God loves them. That's how I share the Gospel. You haven't shared the Gospel. If all you say to somebody is that God loves you, you haven't shared the Gospel. You've shared truth, but you haven't shared the truth of the Gospel, have you? I encourage everyone to invite people to gather with the church, invite someone to church, but again, that's not sharing the gospel, is it? It's a good thing, but it's not the gospel.

Speaker 1 14:33

There are four fundamental elements of truth that we need to convey, to say that we are sharing the gospel, and if we remove any of them, we are not communicating the gospel at all. It doesn't mean that you need to communicate all of these things to every non-believer. It doesn't mean that you haven't shared the gospel unless you include these four things. You're probably familiar with it because I talk about it a lot. What are they? God, man, jesus. Response those are the four things, the four fundamental elements of the gospel. That's the simplicity of the gospel and if you take one of those out, it's no longer the gospel.

Speaker 1 15:11

You see, god is the creator of all things In the beginning. God created the heavens and the earth. He's perfect, holy, worthy of worship, punishes sin. That's the first step. God made us. We're accountable to God. And that leads us to the second part, which is man, god, man.

Speaker 1 15:29

When I say man, I'm using a very un-2024 PC version. I'm talking about humanity, mankind. If you have a more PC way of saying it, fine, keep it to yourself. You see, all people are sinful by nature. By nature, all people are alienated from God, hostile to God, subject to the wrath of God. So God created us and we are accountable to God. But our problem is that we are separated from God due to our sin. Now, of course, this flies in the face of modern thinking. So many people, even on social media. Just over the past few weeks, they share some of the weirdest stuff about God. But, friends, the big Gospel truth is that all men and women are separated from God due to their sin. And that brings us to the third part of the Gospel.

Speaker 1 16:23

1 and 2 speak of God's justice. Parts 3 and four of God's love and mercy. Part three, of course, jesus, god's solution to our problem of sin. Jesus Christ, who is fully God and fully man, lived a sinless life, died on the cross to bear God's wrath in the place of all who would believe in him, and rose from the grave in order to give His people eternal life. Now, so far, so good. But we can't stop there because we haven't shared the whole gospel, have we? We aren't even sharing the whole gospel if we say Jesus loves you and died for you. Again, we're sharing truth, but it's incomplete. The fourth is as important as the rest and that is response. It's Jesus saying to Peter who do you say I am God, calls everyone everywhere to repent of their sins and trust in Christ in order to be saved. So, god man, jesus response. Just remember those four words when you're sharing the Gospel God man, jesus response.

Speaker 1 17:24

Those are the essential elements of our message. And if we lose that message, if we forsake the message for a socialized message or the message of the culture, we are no longer a functioning church. We are Christians who have become apostates, and Jesus tells the apostate church in the New Testament that he would rather spit them out because they're neither hot or cold. We shouldn't be like that church. The moment this church becomes like a country club and you come here for the perks and your rights and your demands and your preferences and all that other nonsense, we are no longer the church, we are a country club, we are apostate, and Jesus will spit us out of His mouth and this place will become a convention center within ten years. I don't want that to happen.

The Gospel's Impact on Society

Speaker 1 18:16

So that brings us to the second heading. Then what about the social gospel? And you could say, well, goulet, what about racism? And what about justice and inequality? And shouldn't that be our message as well? Isn't it good for a church to stand against these things? Of course it is, and we should, but never in the place of the message of the gospel.

Speaker 1 18:39

Do we have enough faith in what Jesus has done to think that the gospel can change the heart of a nation? Can the gospel change the heart of this town? I mean, if you go on the Hopkinsville community Chat, you're like I don't know, but I think it can. In fact I know it can, but something about the fact that there's 21 Baptist churches in this town tells me that there's some messages out there that aren't getting across. Do we have enough faith to trust the command that jesus has given the church to think that our message and the work of disciple making will change the heart of men and women? I do, and I hope you do as well.

Speaker 1 19:20

Next week, we're going to consider how our message drives our mission. Our message leads and dictates and directs what we do as a church. If we lose the message, our work becomes focused on man and not on God. Why do we feed people? For the sake of the gospel. Why do we do this? For the sake of the gospel. Why do we want to support those in recovery programs? It's for the sake of the gospel. Why do we minister in the jail? For the sake of the gospel. Why do we do anything that we do? It's for the sake of the gospel. Why do we do anything that we do? It's for the sake of the gospel. Everything that we do must be guided by and lift up the gospel message of Jesus Christ, because that's our message.

Speaker 1 19:59

Every culture and every generation has been tempted to capture Jesus for their own agenda. Every time there's an election cycle, some candidate comes out and says well, this is what Jesus would have wanted. Stop you, bozo. Stop talking about Jesus. You've never read the Scripture and you don't know Him. I find myself saying that to the television, which my family loves the Gnostics. They portrayed Jesus as a second century figure who was a Gnostic, basically opposed to the church, and the Christian gospel of salvation from the wrath of God was lost From Constantine. So for the post-fourth century the church often portrayed Jesus as a fearsome king and a judge. The church began to search for other saviors and mediators Thomas Jefferson I mentioned him a few weeks ago. He remade Jesus into his own rationalist image and, of course, lost the gospel. The Carter 70s and the Reagan 80s the church culture turned inward. If you were around, then you know the church culture moved inward. If you were around, then you know the church culture moved inward. During that time period Jesus became a facilitator for our personal sense of well-being. Jesus is here for me, the church is here for me, the staff are here to cater to me. This is all about me.

Speaker 1 21:28

Now, with the rise of the millennial generation and Gen Z, and the concern is, I think it's ostensibly other-centered, which is good, but once again the Christian faith has become yet another vehicle to carry social concerns. It's a renewed talk among young evangelicals of the quote's social gospel. One of the things I discovered as I read the New Testament is the original language. Against the backdrop of the original context, there is no basis for what people today call a social gospel. I mean, there's nothing new under the sun. Gen Z's on TikTok doing all their TikTok dances about starvation and wherever else in the world because that works, but that's not new.

Speaker 1 22:14

There was a group called the Pietists. In the early 19th century, just over 100 years ago, they pioneered the social gospel. They were functionally orthodox, I think. They believed in the Apostles' Creed and things like that, but what really animated them was social justice, and so, in the late modern era, the agenda of the pietists became. In the last 20 years, it became known as the emergent church or the emerging church, and it became, though, and the message of the church over the past 20 years, it's almost exclusively social and less and less about biblical and historic Christianity, and so, in the 2000 and 2010s, you could pick up a newspaper on Wednesday, and you knew what the guy was going to preach about on Sunday, because his sermon was on the front page, and so, under that influence of that social gospel, churches gave up the biblical Christian doctrines of God, man, christ, salvation, and the church became just another progressive social institution. And you want to know what you want to know. The churches, especially in New England, that are closing at an alarming rate are those churches? Most mainline churches today have nothing to offer that can't be found on a Sunday morning talking head show or some other website. Why would you watch an amateur social critic from a pulpit when you can watch professionals in the comfort of your own home?

Speaker 1 23:52

One of the prominent reformists had a doctrine of what he called the twofold kingdom and basically he said we must engage the culture, and I agree with that 100%. With all our might, we must, as Christians, as redeemed people, we must engage the culture. At the same time, we must be able to speak to broader issues and be willing to do so in our capacity as private persons, if you will, as members of society, and not as expressly as representatives of a local church. In other words, whatever social agenda a Christian pursues is one thing, but we need to leave the visible institutional church out of it. And so the visible church, the local church. We are an embassy of the kingdom of God, of the kingdom of heaven. We have no social agenda for the wider and civil and cultural world other than that they would know the Lord, jesus Christ. We are autonomous beings as believers, for sure, and if we're called to be part of social change, you say well, I'm called into this social movement, then go do it. But we must never impose those agendas on the rest of the visible church.

Speaker 1 25:05

I had a guy many, many years ago and he had a new thing like every two weeks. The problem was he was a leader at a church that we were attending I wasn't in ministry at the time and every two weeks he'd come up with this new thing. Hey, if the church isn't doing this, then we're not the church, and if we're not doing this, then we're not doing what Jesus called us to do. I was like, and I pulled him aside one day and I was a young punk kid and I said my man, I don't think that's how it works. He's like well, you might just be apostate. I said no, you come up with a new thing every two weeks. It's exhausting. So we are autonomous. If God calls you into doing something, then do it.

Speaker 1 25:44

Christian organizations need to stand or fall on their own merit, without the endorsement of the visible church. I have my own social views and those of you who know me outside of the context of the local assembly you know that my social views are primarily libertarian and I express that on social media and elsewhere. But I am constrained as a shepherd not to use this spot or my office in the church to achieve my social goals, not to use this spot or my office in the church to achieve my social goals. Many of you are involved with political parties and do that type of work, which is wonderful. Go for it. But it's never from this spot or in this place that we make our political pleas, is it? The church only represents Christ when it comes to social issues, like everyone else, anything I give you must compete in the marketplace of ideas. The Word of God doesn't, because the Word of God is truth.

Speaker 1 26:43

The history of the church is clear on this. It's not possible to harness the Christian faith or Christ to some social agenda without impeding the fundamental message and doctrines and practices of the church. Such a harnessing has always threatened the mission of the church, the pure preaching, the gospel of free acceptance with God, by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone, and I've run into this at several times in my ministry where there would be some big social thing happening and somebody in the church would inevitably call me up or send a nasty email and they're like why aren't you talking about this? Why aren't you doing something about this? Why aren't you out marching? Why aren't you out doing this? And I'm like, brother or sister, if that's what God called you to do, go do it. I am going to preach the Word of God, amen somebody. So if your social thing comes up and you're, like Goulet's, not talking about this, deal with it, because I'm going to be preaching the Word of God. Last is your message.

Speaker 1 27:50

We should not think that the gospel is for the unbeliever only. If I could tell you, if there's one big issue that I've seen in the church over the past 20 or so years, is that men and women who are Christians believe that the gospel is only for unbelievers. It's exactly the opposite. We are redeemed men and women. We must have the gospel message embedded in our souls and in our minds, because we must be reminded of the gospel every single day. I don't say that to sound trite. Every time I am in this spot. Listen to me. Every time I am here, I must preach the gospel and I am confident if I am opening up the Word of God, we are going to see the gospel there. So to me, the gospel is not. I don't give you some message and then say, okay, I'm going to share the gospel now, because the gospel is the message, isn't it?

Speaker 1 28:49

I preached at a church one time, years and years and years ago, and I was preaching through one of the passages of Scripture and I was talking about Jesus, I was talking about faith, and then a man got up after me and he's like well, brother Todd didn't share the gospel with you. So let me give you the ABC of the gospel. I'm like man. That's not how it works. If we're preaching the Word of God, the gospel is going to be clear. I don't save people. The Holy Spirit saves people and he does that by the power of the Word proclaimed. And let me say something at the point of clarity 90% of the time actually probably 95 to 99% of the time, when I am preaching the gospel from this spot, I am preaching to all of you who are believers, when you come here on a Sunday morning, everything that we're doing here is for the believer they're like well, what about evangelism? That's your job Out there? Ninety percent or more of what I'm doing from this spot is for believers, not for the unbeliever that might happen to be among us.

Speaker 1 30:02

I am trying to see the saved live free, free from the burden of sin, free from your own self-righteousness, free from your own confusion. The Gospel never stops being good news in the life of the Christian. Is it for the lost to hear? Absolutely, but the Gospel is for the saved. If we have been given new life in Christ, if we have been raised with Christ, then we are no longer slaves to sin. That old, awful, oppressive tyrant has been undone and his boss, the devil, has been defeated. The devil is a defeated foe right now.

Speaker 1 30:45

The gospel reminds us of this. In other words, the Gospel is good news for us because it gives us freedom not to sin. In fact, it's even better news than that. The same power that crushed death and the devil, the power that raised Christ from the dead, is now constantly at work in us through the energizing Spirit of God, and the Gospel reminds us of that. If we have been raised with Christ, we can do what we were made to do. But the good news is it's even better than that. If we've been given new life, we will do what we were made to do. We're not going to be perfect in this life, but we will do the good works that God has planned for us in advance. The Bible tells us we won't go on sinning in the same patterns and with the same frequency. We will love God and others and overcome the world. All of this is possible because God lives in us, guaranteeing and continually empowering our new life. We cannot believe and we must not believe the devil's big lie that says Christianity with all of its virtue is full of discouragement, it's too hard, it's impossible and not for is full of discouragement, it's too hard, it's impossible and not for. Quote the ordinary Christian One of our biggest problems as Christians is our failure to believe the true Gospel and our tendency to believe a much smaller, domesticated counterfeit.

The Power of the Gospel

Speaker 1 32:25

You see, our Sunday worship right now is for God. One pastor said somebody came up to him years ago and said, pastor, I didn't like that message and he said that's fine, because it wasn't for you, it's for God. The Word we proclaim and the Gospel we share is intended to glorify God and benefit believers. This time is for believers. I don't say that to be exclusionary. I say that because it's true. We are the gathered church. Who's the church? Those who are in Christ. We are a gathering, collectively, if you will, of God the Holy Spirit. Gathering collectively, if you will, of God, the Holy Spirit. Now listen to me, if someone who is lost hears this message and responds in this context glory to God. But the mission of the church, who's the church? Raise your hand if you're the church. The mission of the church is to take the Gospel out into the world. We need to go where the lost people are. You're like well, lost people are not usually good, clean, nice, church-going people. Duh, sorry, that was my theological way of saying no kidding. We need to go where the lost people are, because if we're not, we just become an echo chamber of nonsense.

Speaker 1 34:01

Years ago, we were working at the church in Vermont, and it was very small at the time. It grew quite rapidly though. But somebody said to me you know, there's not enough salvations happening in the church. I'm like okay, well, who have you shared the gospel with lately? They're like that's your job, that's why we pay you. I'm like you're wrong, jack, that's your job, because that's the job Jesus gave to you. They're like well, there's not enough baptisms happening. I was like well, who have you been sharing the gospel with? Huh, no, no, no, no. That's your job. You're the paid professional to do this Hogwash.

Speaker 1 34:36

If there's not enough baptisms in your church, if there's not enough salvations in your church, there's not enough people in your church. The church must go to where the people are and share the gospel message with them. Friends, we can do all the advertising and all the funny events and all the weird things I can wear funny hats on Christmas Eve but the only way people are going to come to know Christ is if you take the gospel to them Now. If you bring them here, they might hear the gospel and respond. But more people are going to respond when you bring the Gospel to them, because they don't know Me, but they know you.

Speaker 1 35:13

But even more than that, let me just give you an example. Let's say, for instance, you struggle with anger. There's good news, because the Gospel tells you that, in spite of what your flesh is telling you, the flesh that not yet fully redeemed part of you, and what the devil is screaming out at you, you have the resources to outlast any temptation, especially to lose your cool, which is kind of tough, Driving around Kentucky, somebody, somebody. Let me just say this Listen, if you're going to Nashville and you're going 60, which lane should you be in? Somebody say the left lane, get out In the right lane. Nobody understands this. Anyways, see again, my political opinions don't matter, I'm a little out of drive man. And so we have the resources to resist that temptation to lose our cool specifically.

Speaker 1 36:18

And Satan says no, you're going to have some satisfaction. You do that angry outburst, you raise your voice, you get that well-placed fist, you're going to have some satisfaction, but they're just shallow compared with the ocean of joy that comes from the righteous Creator, honoring behavior that the Holy Spirit desires for us, like, oh, that guy over there, he's got a punchable face and the Holy Spirit's like anybody. The Holy Spirit, look at you, like the way he looks at me. And the Holy Spirit gives us the power to do stupid things that our flesh wants to do. The gospel does a lot of stuff to the lies of the devil. It reminds us how much Jesus paid to give us the power not to blow our top or to do whatever else it is we want to do. Whatever that thing is in our life that we go to when we're like, oh, I deserve this sin, the Spirit's there going. Look at what Jesus has given you, and you're going to go back to the vomit.

Speaker 1 37:32

I don't know where I heard this. It's probably Alistair Begg. It's not original to me, but he said if the engine of the Christian experience is the good news that God has given you new life in Christ, then you need to preach the good news to yourself every single day, every single day. How can we share it with others when it's not filling us up, when it's not overflowing from us? How can we share it with others when we think the church is there for us and the message is just for non-believers? How can we share it with anybody? We've got nothing. We need to remind ourselves what God has done in Christ as often as we can. If the new life has been given to us, to Christians, we should expect to see evidence of this new life every single day.

Speaker 1 38:16

One of the best, most faith-producing, joy-producing things we can do for our brothers and sisters in Christ is to point out God's work in their lives. If you've got a brother or sister in Christ and you see them walking more closely with Christ, tell them, man, that feels good, doesn't it? Oh, thank you. Thank you for that encouragement. So the gospel is for you and it is for others in your sphere of life. So the gospel is for you and it is for others in your sphere of life.

Speaker 1 38:52

Sometimes we listen to messages like this about our message and how we're to bring it out into the world. And some of you have already shut down. I can just tell by the look on your face You're like I can't, it's too much, I just can't do it. So instead of you shutting down, let me just give you some homework over the month of January. Take this month to just start with your sphere of influence, your little sphere of life Family, co -workers, friends. Start with your people and just start talking to them about Jesus. Start talking to them about God, man, jesus' response. And you say you know, I don't really want to hurt my relationships. You say, well, I don't want to hurt relationships, so I'm going to start with strangers. I mean, go ahead, I don't think you're going to start with strangers and I don't think you're going to hurt any of your relationships.

Speaker 1 39:52

There's a very small chance the gospel will drive a wedge between your relationships. If you enter a gospel conversation with humility with somebody that you genuinely care about and you have genuine concern for the other person, how could they not receive it warmly? They may not believe what you believe, but they'll see that you love them and you're bringing up an awkward conversation with them because you love them. If you have a significant relationship with that person, why would they not want to hear about the most important thing in your life? Some people say I'm waiting for that right opportunity. Sometimes you're just going to wait until they're dead. I've been at funerals before and somebody said I've always wanted to share the gospel with that person. It's too late. There's never bad timing to lovingly share about the greatest sacrifice imaginable.

Speaker 1 41:00

We forget it's not our relationships with others that are most important. It's others' relationships with their Creator, relationships with others that are most important. It's others' relationships with their creator. Sometimes our relationships need to take a back seat so our friends can enter into that saving relationship. You say, well, I just can't do it because I'm going to mess it up. Welcome to the club.

Speaker 1 41:24

I've studied theology for a long time. I have advanced degrees and I still mess it up. But, friends, that's our pride. Talking whenever I hear a Christian saying you know, I really couldn't do that, that's your pride. We give ourselves too much credit, thinking that it's our awesome presentation that saves somebody's soul, when in reality it's the Holy Spirit. I couldn't do it. You're right, you can't do it. The Holy Spirit can. And guess who is in possession of the Holy Spirit?

Speaker 1 42:03

27 years ago, I came to know Christ. 27 years ago, I came to know Christ and it's by God's grace that my wife, christy, was saved a short time later. Now we often say, well, I led her to Christ, I led her to Christ. Well, it wasn't me, it was the Holy Spirit. And thank goodness the Holy Spirit was in that conversation Because I talked to her for about an hour about the Red Sea and Moses and the temple and the sacrificial system and all of the body. I had been studying the Bible for a couple of weeks and I just was pouring myself into it and so I just went right through all the history that I knew and I was sharing with her. I was like she's going to be so amazed at how wicked smart I am and she's going to come to know Jesus. I think I finally got to Jesus, but Jesus had got a hold of her long before I ever stopped talking. Glory to God. But God saved her in spite of me.

Speaker 1 43:03

So if you're worried about messing up, don't worry. You're going to, but God's going to save somebody in spite of you. Let me say it this way we need to be stupid for Jesus. We need to throw out our pride and just share the good news. The only thing that you can lose is your pride. So let me end this way. We need to recognize that people are looking for a cure.

The Ultimate Cure

Speaker 1 43:31

That's where most people live today. I think they're looking for a cure. They only see symptoms. I'm lonely, I'm suffering broken relationships, I'm suffering from a life that's in tatters. I'm stressed out. There's darkness within me that I don't know what to do with. We can go anywhere and see people who are really well put together and understand that they're battling with an emptiness that they don't understand, and they've tried a lot of stuff and they got a lot of scotch tape over it, but it's still there. Most people are so scared of the future they're scared of death. They're scared of their purpose, they're scared of dying without actually having accomplished anything.

Speaker 1 44:15

You say well, how do you know? Because I have a lot of experience with people and that's usually what comes up. How do we share Christ with someone who's overwhelmed with their symptoms? Well, we have the ultimate cure, don't we, jesus Christ? Jesus didn't die for their symptoms. He died with their symptoms. Well, we have the ultimate cure, don't we, jesus Christ? Jesus didn't die for their symptoms, he died for their sins.

Speaker 1 44:35

Yet people don't wake up in the morning and think you know what? I need Jesus? I don't know if I've ever met a Christian who said you know what? I just woke up one morning and said I need Jesus today. No, they wake up with their symptoms. And so, people who are attempting to rescue those who are lost, you can start with their symptoms, but we need to show them the disease, which is sin, and then we need to take them to the ultimate cure, which is the Lord Jesus Christ.

Speaker 1 45:02

Let me tell you about God, man, jesus and our response. That's our message. Let's pray together. Our Heavenly Father, we thank you for your Word and we ask that you would nourish our hearts by it and that more and more would come to trust you in your goodness and in your providence. And as we approach this new year, revive your people. Make the dead heart of any Christian be alive again. Help us to confess sin. Help us to love others and to love you with all that we are. Help us to live a life that honors the sacrifice of Jesus, not just for our own sake but for your glory, and we ask all this through Jesus Christ. Amen.