SPEAKER_00: Glad you're with us this morning.
SPEAKER_00: We study through books of the Bible here at the Village Chapel.
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SPEAKER_00: In the last week, we have been visited by folks from Nairobi, Kenya, Lagos, Nigeria.
SPEAKER_00: Strong African content last week.
SPEAKER_00: I love that.
SPEAKER_00: From a city named Lelly L-E-L-Y.
SPEAKER_00: Lelly Lili.
SPEAKER_00: I don't have an answer for that except you're from Florida.
SPEAKER_00: The sunshine say, Welcome.
SPEAKER_00: We're glad you're here.
SPEAKER_00: And from Chicago, Illinois.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for joining us, and may the Lord bless you in this coming week.
SPEAKER_00: Well, this morning we're going to continue our study in the book of Acts, and we're going to finish up chapter five, pick up where we left off last Sunday with Pastor Tommy.
SPEAKER_00: And our passage today, it has amazing stories of healing, of angelic visits in prison, of bold teaching in the public square by the apostles, but we're also going to encounter jealousy by the Sanhedrin, brutal beatings, and then surprisingly rejoicing by the apostles in their suffering.
SPEAKER_00: And we're going to take a look at the ark, the arc of the apostles' faith, and consider how we can hold together both trust in a loving God and our response to suffering and hardship.
SPEAKER_00: The title of our study today is From Scattered to Steadfast, Rejoicing in Suffering.
SPEAKER_00: And one of the deepest questions we all ask, believer and non-believer alike, is how can a good God allow pain, evil, and suffering?
SPEAKER_00: Why do we suffer?
SPEAKER_00: And not only that part of the question, but for those of us that are believers who believe in the goodness of God, who believe in his son Jesus, that God raised him from the dead, why do we particularly suffer for telling others about this good God and his risen Son Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: And even more curious, why does the Bible instruct us to actually rejoice in our suffering?
SPEAKER_00: In the beginning of his letter, James, a brother of Jesus, tells us this He says, Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.
SPEAKER_00: And to let steadfastness have its full effect that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
SPEAKER_00: One of the attributes I appreciate most about the Bible, which I believe points to its veracity and its reliability, is its honesty, its authenticity.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible is not afraid to tell us hard truths.
SPEAKER_00: But the Bible also outlines remedies to those hard truths, doesn't it?
SPEAKER_00: And it encourages us that we are not alone, that the creator of the universe has gotten down in the mud and the dirt and the trials with us in order to lift us up out of those.
SPEAKER_00: So let's pray and then let's dig into our text.
SPEAKER_00: Holy Spirit, we come to you this morning wanting to hear from you.
SPEAKER_00: Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word.
SPEAKER_00: We thank you for your son, Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: We thank you for all that you have done for us and that you call us to go and tell others about what you have done for us.
SPEAKER_00: Pray that for all of us that you would open our ears, hearts, minds, spirits to your truth, to your word.
SPEAKER_00: Lead us in that.
SPEAKER_00: We ask this in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Well, so we're gonna start.
SPEAKER_00: Um the the text is verses 12 through 42.
SPEAKER_00: I'd like to start at verse 11.
SPEAKER_00: It's the last verse that Pastor Tommy read last week.
SPEAKER_00: It's a good bridge between last week's passage and this week's passage.
SPEAKER_00: And if you remember last week, that episode with Ananias and Sapphira, they both lied to the Holy Spirit and they were holding back from God.
SPEAKER_00: And we saw this instance of quick and swift judgment from God.
SPEAKER_00: And Pastor Tommy asked a great question.
SPEAKER_00: He reminded us that we need to take seriously the holiness of God, and that we shouldn't ask the question, why did that happen to Ananias and Sapphira?
SPEAKER_00: But we should ask the question, wow, why hasn't that happened to the rest of us?
SPEAKER_00: We do love and serve and live before a sovereign and yet merciful God.
SPEAKER_00: So let's read verse 11 and then we'll get into our part of the passage.
SPEAKER_00: So after the reports of Ananias and Sapphira came out, verse 11 tells us, great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard of things.
SPEAKER_00: Well, I guess so.
SPEAKER_00: If we, I'm not gonna call out a specific name of a specific local church, that wouldn't be right, but imagine if we heard of a church down in Brentwood or something, that this had happened.
SPEAKER_00: We we would be pretty tense about it.
SPEAKER_00: But then let's continue, even though there was fear in the whole church, let's continue starting in verse 12 and see what happens next.
SPEAKER_00: So, verse 12, now many signs and wonders were regularly done among the people by the hands of the apostles, and they were all together in Solomon's portico.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, that phrase, many signs and wonders regularly done.
SPEAKER_00: It's not just many signs and wonders.
SPEAKER_00: It's not just a sign and wonder, it's many signs and wonders done regularly.
SPEAKER_00: This was an amazing time.
SPEAKER_00: The Holy Spirit was working through the apostles to point to Jesus, to the to the veracity of the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: And frankly, I'd love to just kind of experience one sign and one wonder, you know.
SPEAKER_00: And here they were experiencing many on a regular basis.
SPEAKER_00: Just amazing what God is doing through them.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 13, none of the rest dared join them, but the people held them in high esteem.
SPEAKER_00: And look at the results of the Holy Spirit working through Peter and the other apostles.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 14.
SPEAKER_00: More than ever, believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women, so that they even carried out the sick into the streets and laid them on cots and mats, that as Peter came by, at least his shadow might fall on some of them.
SPEAKER_00: And I think the implication there is that at this moment the Holy Spirit was working so strongly through the apostles that even if Peter walked by and his shadow fell, that people might have been healed.
SPEAKER_00: What we do see is that multitudes were coming to the Lord, both men and women.
SPEAKER_00: And it may seem a little superstitious of people to think that Peter's shadow is going to heal them, but think about the woman who had the hemorrhaging for so many years that thought, if I can just touch the hem of Jesus' robe, I'll be healed.
SPEAKER_00: And she was.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus healed her.
SPEAKER_00: Her theology wasn't perfect.
SPEAKER_00: These people's theology is not perfect.
SPEAKER_00: They're just coming to Jesus with their need and they are being healed.
SPEAKER_00: It's just amazing.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 16, the people also gathered from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those afflicted with unclean spirits, and they were all healed.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, notice that Luke, he makes a little bit of a distinction between people who were suffering from disease and then people who were tormented by evil spirits.
SPEAKER_00: There's a distinction there, but we see that God is healing them all.
SPEAKER_00: He's displaying his sovereignty and his authority.
SPEAKER_00: There's this thread of sovereignty and authority that we can pull from last week, because last week we saw that a sovereign God has the authority to execute swift justice.
SPEAKER_00: But we keep pulling on that thread of sovereignty and authority, and we see this week that same God sovereignly has control over nature.
SPEAKER_00: He's able to heal whomever he wills, and he has control over all evil spirits.
SPEAKER_00: He has control over everyone and everything.
SPEAKER_00: Sovereign and authority.
SPEAKER_00: So here's the response of the Sanhedrin.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 17, but the high priest rose up, and all who were with him, that is, the party of the Sadducees, and filled with jealousy, they arrested the apostles and put them in the public prison.
SPEAKER_00: Well, they're not filled with concern for the holiness of the name of Yahweh.
SPEAKER_00: They're not filled with concern to care for the people who had physical and spiritual needs.
SPEAKER_00: No, they were filled with jealousy, jealous that the people were listening to this message that Peter and the apostles were saying about the resurrected Jesus and how we find salvation in him.
SPEAKER_00: They were jealous that their power and their authority were being threatened, and so they arrested the apostles and put him in the public prison.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 19, but during the night, an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out and said, Go and stand in the temple.
SPEAKER_00: Go stand and speak to the people all the words of this life.
SPEAKER_00: And when they heard this, they entered the temple at daybreak and began to teach.
SPEAKER_00: Just love this.
SPEAKER_00: There's a little bit of irony here, if you pay attention, because the Sadducees, they did not believe in the resurrection, they did not believe in the supernatural, and they certainly did not believe in angels like the one that opened the door to the prison and released the apostles.
SPEAKER_00: Little bit of irony there.
SPEAKER_00: And I love what the angels said to the apostles go stand in the temple, speak to the people all the words of this life, and what a great response by the apostles.
SPEAKER_00: They immediately went to the temple as soon as it opened up at daybreak for the morning sacrifices, went right back to preaching the good news about Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Back to verse 21.
SPEAKER_00: Well, now when the high priest came and those who were with him, they called together the council, the Sanhedrin, all the Senate of the people of Israel, and sent to the prison to have them brought.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 22.
SPEAKER_00: But when the officers came, they did not find them in the prison.
SPEAKER_00: So they returned and reported, We found the prison securely locked, and the guards standing at the doors, but when we opened them up, we found no one inside.
SPEAKER_00: Evidently the angel was a good housekeeper, and he went back and locked the door back behind him after he let the apostles out.
SPEAKER_00: Well, now when the captain of the temple and the chief priests heard these words, they were greatly perplexed about them, wondering what this would come to.
SPEAKER_00: Well, I think perplexed is an understatement.
SPEAKER_00: Here they had forbade these men to preach in the name of Jesus, locked them up tight in a jail, and all of a sudden they're gone.
SPEAKER_00: What in the world is going on?
SPEAKER_00: And about then, when they're trying to figure out this, verse 25, someone came and told them, Look, the men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the temple.
SPEAKER_00: So it gets worse.
SPEAKER_00: These men somehow got out of jail and immediately went back to doing what the Sanhedrin, what the chief priests had forbade them to do.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 26, then the captain with the officers went and brought them, but not by force, for they were afraid of being stoned by the people.
SPEAKER_00: Another little bit of irony, because if you remember in Matthew, when the Sanhedrin, when the ruling priests, religious authority, when they were trying to get Pilate to release Jesus, they actually said, Let the blood of this man be upon us and our children.
SPEAKER_00: So they actually said that.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 29.
SPEAKER_00: But Peter and the apostles answered, We must obey God rather than men.
SPEAKER_00: There is that arc of faith that we're going to be talking about in just a few minutes.
SPEAKER_00: Peter continues on with a four-sentence sermon that is just brilliant.
SPEAKER_00: The God of our fathers, and by the way, he's making sure that the religious leaders know he believes in the same God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
SPEAKER_00: The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree.
SPEAKER_00: God exalted him at his right hand as leader and savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.
SPEAKER_00: And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.
SPEAKER_00: Do you notice how he said to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins?
SPEAKER_00: What a great reminder that we are called by God.
SPEAKER_00: God is sovereign, he calls us.
SPEAKER_00: And even our coming to Christ and repenting of sins, that in of itself is a gift from God.
SPEAKER_00: It's just beautiful.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 33, well, when they, the Sanhedrin, when they heard this, they were enraged, cut to the quick.
SPEAKER_00: They were so mad.
SPEAKER_00: They wanted to kill the apostles.
SPEAKER_00: But a Pharisee in the council named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law, held in honor by all the people, stood up and gave orders to put the men outside for a little while, a little history on Gamaliel.
SPEAKER_00: He was one of the most respected rabbis, teachers in Israel.
SPEAKER_00: He was a son or grandson of another highly respected rabbi named Hillel, and he was also a mentor to a young man named Saul of Tarsus.
SPEAKER_00: And Paul will refer back to Gamaliel later on in the New Testament.
SPEAKER_00: So this man is very highly regarded.
SPEAKER_00: He said to them, He said, Men of Israel, take care, take care what you are about to do with these men.
SPEAKER_00: For before these days, Theodus rose up, claiming to be somebody, and a number of men, about 400, joined him.
SPEAKER_00: He was killed, and all who followed him were dispersed and came to nothing.
SPEAKER_00: After him, Judas the Galilean rose up in the days of the census and drew away some of the people after him.
SPEAKER_00: He too perished, and all who followed him were scattered.
SPEAKER_00: So in the present case, I tell you, keep away from these men and let them alone, for if this plan or this undertaking is of man, it will fail.
SPEAKER_00: But if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them.
SPEAKER_00: You might even be found opposing God.
SPEAKER_00: We have no idea if Gamaliel was on the fringes of faith or not, but this was certainly prudent advice.
SPEAKER_00: And so they took his advice, and when they had called in the apostles, they beat them and charged them not to speak in the name of Jesus and let them go.
SPEAKER_00: And that would be the 39 lashes, the 40 lashes minus one with the cat of nine-tails.
SPEAKER_00: So these men were bloody when they left.
SPEAKER_00: And look at their response.
SPEAKER_00: 41.
SPEAKER_00: Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name.
SPEAKER_00: And every day, every day in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching that the Christ is Jesus.
unknown: Wow.
SPEAKER_00: What a response.
SPEAKER_00: Three things for us to reflect on and consider from this passage this morning.
SPEAKER_00: And the first is the Apostles' Ark of Faith.
SPEAKER_00: We talk a lot about this during Easter time, which we we just did because we just had Easter, if you remember.
SPEAKER_00: But it bears revisiting.
SPEAKER_00: On the night of Jesus' betrayal, the disciples were scattered.
SPEAKER_00: They were running and afraid for their lives.
SPEAKER_00: And that continued for days after Jesus was crucified.
SPEAKER_00: Even the morning of the resurrection, after Peter and John witness the empty tomb and they hear the news from Mary, even that evening, they're still hiding behind locked doors until they encounter a resurrected and living Jesus, and they saw for themselves, themselves, that He did exactly what He said He was going to do.
SPEAKER_00: He was crucified, He was buried, and He rose again after three days.
SPEAKER_00: He did what He said He was going to do.
SPEAKER_00: That changed their lives.
SPEAKER_00: Further changed their lives a few weeks later when they're filled with the Holy Spirit and their fear is turning into fearlessness.
SPEAKER_00: The ark, their ark is still growing.
SPEAKER_00: We read it about it a couple of weeks ago in Acts chapter 4, where Peter and John were taken before the council, and after their release, they gathered with their friends and they prayed for boldness.
SPEAKER_00: That's their response to their first arrest by the council.
SPEAKER_00: At their prayer from Acts 4:29 and 30.
SPEAKER_00: And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Well, we read in today's passage, didn't we, how God heard and honored and answered that prayer.
SPEAKER_00: They prayed for boldness, and boy, they got boldness, didn't they?
SPEAKER_00: They prayed for signs and wonders, and there are signs and wonders happening constantly with them now.
SPEAKER_00: Nothing could stop the apostles from teaching and preaching the gospel, and we're watching their faith grow by leaps and bounds, literally like a brush fire catching hold.
SPEAKER_00: N.T.
SPEAKER_00: Wright talks about this life, the life that the angel instructed them to go and teach about, how it carried the apostles along like a strong wind.
SPEAKER_00: This would propel them to be witnesses for Jesus, just like he told them they would be in the first chapter of Acts in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and to all the ends of the earth.
SPEAKER_00: Let's take a look at this empty right quote.
SPEAKER_00: He says life itself had come to life in quite a new way.
SPEAKER_00: A force of life had broken through the normally absolute barrier of death and had burst into the world of decay and corruption as a new principle, a new possibility, a new power.
SPEAKER_00: And it was this life, of course, which was carrying the apostles along with it, like a strong wind driving sailing boats out across a wild sea.
SPEAKER_00: The presence of the Holy Spirit in the lives of the apostles was just growing and building and propelling them to continue to boldly preach the name of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: This might make us squirm in our seats a little bit, it's that suffering is part of the Christian life.
SPEAKER_00: Here's a thought from Ian Duguid in his commentary on Luke turning the world upside down.
SPEAKER_00: And before we read the slide, I just have to say that I've got three Ian Duguid quotes this morning.
SPEAKER_00: And I don't have a John Stott or a Tim Keller quote.
SPEAKER_00: So Ian really won the race this week.
SPEAKER_00: It's not for lack of trying, but Ian really won the race.
SPEAKER_00: Oh no, come back.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_00: Jim saw my notes yesterday and texted me and told me that Keller and Stott were rolling over in their graves.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, but let's let's reflect on this first do good quote for just a minute.
SPEAKER_00: Nobody persecutes a fish that swims with the stream.
SPEAKER_00: God's plan and purpose for the world is not accomplished in spite of suffering and persecution.
SPEAKER_00: God's plan and purpose for the world is accomplished actually through persecution and suffering.
SPEAKER_00: Seems strange.
SPEAKER_00: Nobody likes to suffer.
SPEAKER_00: And yet part of God's plan and purpose for all of creation, but especially for us as believers, is that He's going to accomplish His purposes and grow us into Christ-likeness with a plan that includes some suffering, perhaps some persecution.
SPEAKER_00: While suffering and persecution, they're not mutually exclusive, but there are differences.
SPEAKER_00: We may suffer at some point just because of sin in the world, because the world is broken.
SPEAKER_00: We may suffer because of our own poor choices.
SPEAKER_00: Just the law of consequence.
SPEAKER_00: But let's define persecution this morning as suffering for the name of Jesus, suffering for righteousness' sake.
SPEAKER_00: You know, if you drive 100 miles, 105 miles an hour on the highway, chances are you're gonna get pulled over, chances are you're gonna get a ticket, but that's not persecution.
SPEAKER_00: You're suffering because you're driving too fast, says the man who, anyway.
SPEAKER_00: Well, our our passage today calls us, it's calling us to be bold and public and faithful witnesses of this life of the risen Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: It's not calling us to be obnoxious.
SPEAKER_00: Some people are vocal about their faith in a totally obnoxious manner.
SPEAKER_00: They may be persecuted, but they're not being persecuted for righteousness' sake.
SPEAKER_00: They're being persecuted because they're offensive.
SPEAKER_00: And we are definitely not called to be jerks for Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: That is not the club we're in.
SPEAKER_00: But part of the reality of being a follower of Jesus is that our life does look and smell different from those around us.
SPEAKER_00: D.L.
SPEAKER_00: Moody once said the best way to show that a stick is crooked is not to argue about it or spend time denouncing it, but to lay a straight stick alongside it.
SPEAKER_00: Speaks for itself.
SPEAKER_00: We suffer because Jesus connected our suffering with his suffering.
SPEAKER_00: He instructed us to take up our cross and follow him and die to ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: And in the first century, that would have had real guttural meaning to it, because these people knew what a cross was all about.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus told us that suffering for righteousness' sake is part of the blessed life.
SPEAKER_00: He said, Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
SPEAKER_00: And he said, Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.
SPEAKER_00: And sometimes just being the straight stick next to the bent or crooked stick will make people want to dismiss us or insult us.
SPEAKER_00: Dietrich Bonhoeffer once said, suffering then is the badge of true discipleship.
SPEAKER_00: If we follow Jesus, if we are his disciples, we should expect at some point to encounter what Jesus encountered.
SPEAKER_00: He told his disciples in John that if the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.
SPEAKER_00: We don't face overt persecution in the United States currently, and perhaps we will someday.
SPEAKER_00: Who knows?
SPEAKER_00: I don't have any idea.
SPEAKER_00: For now, here we face more subtle forms of suffering for righteousness' sake, but our suffering connects us with other believers.
SPEAKER_00: That's another really important, if I can use that word, important part of our suffering, it connects us with other believers.
SPEAKER_00: Part of suffering is being united to other believers all throughout the world and all down through history.
SPEAKER_00: We are part of a spiritual legacy.
SPEAKER_00: We are heirs together.
SPEAKER_00: We are united and unified locally, globally, and historically.
SPEAKER_00: Well, you know what?
SPEAKER_00: It's because it is another country and it is another country.
SPEAKER_00: We are brothers and sisters with them, and we are praying for them, just like Pastor Tommy led us in praying for North Korea today.
SPEAKER_00: We're not only sharing our suffering with Christ, which is part of the Christian life, we're sharing our suffering with each other.
SPEAKER_00: And that looks like weeping with those who weep.
SPEAKER_00: Looks like rejoicing with those who rejoice in our very own church, in our very own city, but also all around the world.
SPEAKER_00: Weeping with those that we don't know personally, but we are united within Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Think of our brothers and sisters in North Korea, in China, in Iran.
SPEAKER_00: Um Scotty Smith texted a couple of us this morning, and I think he posted this on X as well, that the church in Iran is praying for us today.
SPEAKER_00: And he said that in 1979 there were only about 500 believers in Iran.
SPEAKER_00: Today it's over 500,000.
SPEAKER_00: Let's continue to pray for the growth of the gospel in Iran.
SPEAKER_00: We are one body in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: The more we grasp how deep God's love for us is, all of the circumstances of our lives take on a different meaning.
SPEAKER_00: We can begin to view suffering differently, as a means to listen, as a means to grow in patience.
SPEAKER_00: We can look at suffering as an opportunity.
SPEAKER_00: And here is another Ian Dugood quote that speaks to this.
SPEAKER_00: If you start to understand the depths of God's love for you in the gospel, then the glory of the God who has loved you this much will take on a kind of radioactive glow that will suffuse your whole life.
SPEAKER_00: His glory will become the only thing that matters, not your comfort, success, riches, or even your life.
SPEAKER_00: Now your trials and persecutions are no longer necessary evils.
SPEAKER_00: They instead become opportunities to shout aloud your love for Him.
SPEAKER_00: Isn't that amazing?
SPEAKER_00: Isn't that an amazing way to look at our suffering?
SPEAKER_00: It's not only an opportunity to be more like Christ, it's an opportunity to point to Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Well, those opportunities to shout aloud our love for Jesus, that brings us to the last point I'd like us to consider, and that is we are all witnesses for Christ.
SPEAKER_00: The risen and resurrected Jesus, his last words to his disciples in Matthew 28, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I've commanded you, and behold, I'm with you always to the end of the age.
SPEAKER_00: And then the last verse of our passage today, we read that every day in the temple, from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching that Christ is Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: The apostles witnessed daily in public and in private, and their message was plain and simple: God's Christ is Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And I would contend that we are all here today because of the faithful witness and testimony of the 12 apostles, the Apostle Paul, who faithfully obeyed the command to be witnesses to what God has done.
SPEAKER_00: And that's what we do now in our lives.
SPEAKER_00: I loved Peter's four-sentence sermon earlier in the passage.
SPEAKER_00: And here's another fourth-sentence version.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus Christ is the Son of God, his Messiah, his chosen one, sent to earth to save mankind from their sins.
SPEAKER_00: He came, lived a perfect life, and died on the cross as a substitute for the sins of his people.
SPEAKER_00: God raised him up from the dead, and he lives today.
SPEAKER_00: Any person can have this new life that Jesus came to bring if they come to him and repent, if they ask God to forgive their sins and grant them new life.
SPEAKER_00: Four sentences.
SPEAKER_00: That is the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: Boy, that's good news.
SPEAKER_00: Well, you might say, well, okay, I'm not an evangelist.
SPEAKER_00: I don't have that gift.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, okay, I get it.
SPEAKER_00: Here's another quote from Ian Dukewood, do good, and he addresses that very sentiment, sentiment with such a great response.
SPEAKER_00: Being a witness to Christ, it's not an optional extra in the Christian life.
SPEAKER_00: An elective module for those entrusted with a special gift of evangelism.
SPEAKER_00: It is a calling, a command to every man and woman, every boy and girl, if you have experienced the grace of God that comes through the power of the Spirit, you are a witness.
SPEAKER_00: And that hopefully is all of us in here today.
SPEAKER_00: Because, friends, if you've experienced the grace and the love and the forgiveness of God that comes through Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit, you are a witness.
SPEAKER_00: You're a witness to the love of Jesus and what that love has done in your life.
SPEAKER_00: You don't even really need a four-sentence sermon.
SPEAKER_00: All you need is your life and how meeting Jesus has changed your life.
SPEAKER_00: And what is going to have a lasting impact on the lives of your neighbors and coworkers is the life that you live, or better still, the life that Jesus lives now through you.
SPEAKER_00: D.L.
SPEAKER_00: Moody once said, out of 100 men, one will read the Bible and the other 99 will read the Christian.
SPEAKER_00: So I ask all of us today, if someone is reading our lives, what is our story telling them?
SPEAKER_00: And I'll close with a quote, sorry, don't put it up yet, from Don Carson, but here's the deal.
SPEAKER_00: As Christians, we we hold two apparently paradoxical truths at the same time.
SPEAKER_00: You know, on the one hand, as the Bible honestly tells us, which we're so grateful for, it's honestly honestly, on the one hand, on our own, we're in far worse shape than we could ever imagine.
SPEAKER_00: And yet in Christ, we are loved and forgiven and in far better condition than we could ever dream of.
SPEAKER_00: In Christ, all is well and all will be made well, and all will be made right.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: And in Christ, amen.
SPEAKER_00: In Christ we may face suffering, but in Christ we have capital L life.
SPEAKER_00: Love and joy and peace that transcends suffering and is inexplicible other than the love of Christ in the presence of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: And so I'll close with this quote from Don Carson.
SPEAKER_00: Brothers and sisters, do you want Christian joy?
SPEAKER_00: Do you want the fullness of Christian joy?
SPEAKER_00: Be bold in your Christian witness, steadfast in integrity and righteousness, honest and quick to speak the name of Jesus gently, humbly, but boldly, irrefutably, and you will face opposition, I guarantee it, and you will be filled with joy, not only now, but 50 billion years from now, looking back on it and thinking it a very small price to pay to follow the way of Jesus Christ to the cross.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: There is great joy that lies ahead of us in Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray, friends.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, I pray that you would continue to reveal yourself to us as a God who is trustworthy, who is faithful, and who is there with us in our suffering.
SPEAKER_00: We need you, Lord.
SPEAKER_00: We need to know that you are with us.
SPEAKER_00: I pray that you would help us follow you.
SPEAKER_00: That we could cling to you where you lead us, knowing that it is your presence that is the most important thing.
SPEAKER_00: We pray for the joy of your presence and your Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: We lift this up in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.