112. Abandoning the Loser Gospel | A Practical Postmillennialism Series

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I want us to be the kind of people who see the kingdom of God growing and pushing back the enemy in our lifetime

00:06

Putting down the tranny culture putting down the lgbtq movement putting down wicked and crooked politicians

00:13

Putting down the fake news media so that we can have christian journalists and christian princes and politicians

00:19

I am all for christian nationalism because I want my nation to be christian Hello everyone and welcome back to the broadcast where we prod the sheep and beat the wolf

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This is episode 112 abandoning the loser gospel If modern evangelicalism were a basketball team then we could be compared to the 2023 2024

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Detroit Pistons In the former days, you know circa the late 1980s.

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The Pistons were a dominant team Winning back -to -back titles and pulverizing almost everyone that stood in their path

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And becoming a team that went down in history as one well acquainted with victory

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Yet regardless of such a glorious past the current iteration of Detroit Pistons is both laughable and pathetic a shame to their former glory instead of the courage and the physicality that defined isaiah thomas or the

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Killer instinct of bill lamphere. Well this year's pistons were weak

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They were cowardly And they did everything within their power to tank their season

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And by tanking a season, I mean that they actually believed that if they could lose enough games

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And and they certainly tried really hard to lose them all Then a hero would get drafted in the next nba draft and that hero would come and rescue them now

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With that I can think of no better comparison to the modern day Evangelific christianity that we're seeing right before our eyes

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Although we have a past of legacy littered with tremendous victory and glory

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Infinitely more glorious than the 1980s pistons by the way much of today's evangelical church has become toothless and passive and seemingly content

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To simply tread water while we await a deliverer to come We're tanking our legacy right now as we speak waiting for Jesus to come and rescue us out of our impotence and out of our incompetence

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Rather than boldly advancing the gospel and laying everything out on the line with fervor and tenacity

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That define the giants of the faith of old men like martin luther john calvin and the puritans and more

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Many modern evangelicals today have adopted an attitude Of spiritual pacifism

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More concerned with tanking our legacy than with building a dynasty that's going to last forever

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And in the same way that no one admires the 2023 2024 detroit pistons.

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No one admires a dejected team with a penchant for losing No one also admires a pathetic christianity

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A religion with a loser's mentality. That is one area where the church of jesus christ must and needs to desperately repent now by repentance

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I'm, not just talking about individual christians who believe that everything is going to hell in a handbasket that fauci was the

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Antichrist or that they've adopted some posture of trembling ostriches within their culture

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No, yeah, of course they need to repent they need to grow a spine but i'm talking on a more macro level and in fact

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I lay the majority Of the blame for all of this at the feet of the pastors and the seminaries

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Who preach such rank eschatological escapism that the laborers have left the fields

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I blame pastors and seminaries who publish panic porn eschatological books who put on Conferences about how we lose down here and teach sermon series peddling such inglorious hopes

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And such such an inglorious message about how we lose down here that the church Doesn't even know how to think anymore about victory

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And as a result, we've become a demoralized church a defeated church and an impotent church and a timid church

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Precisely None of the things that jesus died to make us that is what we have become

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And as we said before it's high time that we wake up we get up and we get back into the fight

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Now that message is precisely what we've been communicating in this series called a practical post -millennialism

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In this series, we've been trying to discover what god says about the end times

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And what role the end times are going to play in our time and what role we are going to play in serving our king

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Now if you've been following along, you'll know that the we've been going through the entire bible We did it at the beginning we talked about the wrong views and then we talked about now what the right view is and We started in the bible's first book.

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I call genesis the most post -millennial book in the bible And the reason is because we know how god made the world

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He made the world he says it explicitly so that it would be filled with worshipers

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He made the world where humans were going to rule and extend his dominion. He made a post -millennial world

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And he made a world where godly men and godly women would populate every square inch of the planet with discipled worshiping believers

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That's the paradigm for how god created the world. It's undisputable and undebatable The question is whether you believe that god

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Abandons that plan or if he sticks with that plan and I don't serve a god who abandons his plans

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I serve a god who sticks with his plans and will accomplish his plans because he's good even when we are not

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So if god made a world to be filled, I believe he's going to fill it if god made a world where humans have dominion

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I believe that he through his son is going to bring his people into dominion. I believe everything was true in genesis one

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Is going to be true before this world is finished. God did not abandon his plan after sin entered the world

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He did not scrap his plan in order to adopt a posture of defeatism

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No, he is going to spread his victory over every square inch of earth's dirt. He repeats that plan.

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He restates that plan and he reinvigorates that plan all throughout the book of genesis making astounding promises to noah abraham isaac jacob and judah

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And he promises all of them that he's going to fill the world with worshipers He promises that to noah as soon as he gets off the ark i'm going to fill the world with worshipers nine

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Genesis 9 1 he promises abraham's family that he's going to bring his covenant blessings to every family on earth

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That means all of the families on earth are going to come under the blessings of god. That's genesis 12 3

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He promises isaac's family that he's going to bless all the nations on earth That means all of them genesis 26 4 he promises that jacob is gonna have kings and nations who rule in allegiance to Yahweh coming out of his own body.

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That's genesis 35 11 And he promises that from the line of judah the kings of kings

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The king of kings is going to come and he's going to bring the wayward nations Under his rule and he's going to make them obedient to him genesis 49 10.

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So what you have Is nothing less than the future total takeover of the world

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This means that god is going to win the entire world to himself so that no more pagan religions exist

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There will be no more buddhism shintoism Atheism, there will be no more Any of those religions because the future is christian

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The future is god reigning over this world Murder is going to be eliminated abortion is going to be eliminated infant mortality is going to be eradicated in the world of jesus

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And under his reign under his rule and under his authority This world is going to be filled with christians who worship their king

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If you think that the future of the world is pluralistic or secular or atheistic or whatever else?

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Then you have a flawed view of what god is doing You have a hopeless view of what god is doing and you have a low view of what god is doing

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If anybody can accomplish this plan, it's god Why do we continue to go along in grumbling defeatism?

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Well, the world's getting worse in the world economic forum. And why do we do that? Yeah, the world's bad right now

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But god is the one who raised jesus from the dead god is the one who can transform this world back into the world

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That he designed You either believe that or you limit the power of god

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And I don't want to do that So that's why we've been doing this series because the future that we see in the scriptures is not doom and gloom

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It's not defeat. It's bright We have a bright hope that's coming when jesus brings his kingdom on earth as it is in heaven the widespread proliferation proliferation of pagans and secular philosophies and institutions is going to fade it's going to wither

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It's going to wither like a weed in the sun and it's going to give way to the universal empire of jesus christ

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Far from a loser mentality and a loser theology. We have a theology of dominion and victory

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Because we serve the one who has the name above all names So with that we've been trying to take down this loser gospel of dispensationalism

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The loser gospel of premillennialism and the tendencies towards loser mentality in amillennialism

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Although the amillennial position is much better And what we've been doing is we've been trying to showcase that jesus wins that he has victory

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And we've been trying to do that over the course of this series now instead of all of that defeat I want to see an eschatology of victory

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Which is the eschatology of christian history and I want to see that eschatology retake our land retake our churches retake our christians

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So that we can no longer live like the 2023 2024 detroit pistons who are tanking their season

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But we can go on to greater victory So we can be the kind of people who storm the gates of hell with water guns knowing that we're going to win

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So that we can be the kind of people like the first century apostles who were beat

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Mercilessly, and yet they walked away with joy who were imprisoned and yet they sang hymns I want us to be the kind of people who see the kingdom of god growing and pushing back the enemy in our lifetime

11:27

Putting down the tranny culture putting down the lgbtq movement putting down wicked and crooked politicians

11:35

Putting down the fake news media so that we can have christian journalists and christian princes and politicians

11:40

I am all for christian nationalism because I want my nation to be christian I want god's law

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Which is good and righteous to be the law over the land because His law is good.

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His law is good. Even for those who don't believe I'm tired of seeing the christian church

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Pooping her pants every time that our culture acts like pagans and I want to see the church stand up And actually advance and actually take dominion of this nation in this world if that's controversial to you

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Maybe you don't have a biblical worldview Because we are not meant to be losers

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That's what we're trying to take down today now So with that in mind today's episode is going to examine the book of acts and i'm going to show you

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How not only proves post -millennialism, but it also does not advance a loser mentality like if the

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If anybody should have had a loser mentality if it's true like john macarthur says that christians lose down here

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Then we should see in the early church a lot of losing And yet we don't

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We see a lot of working a lot of warring a lot of building and a lot of extending his dominion But we do not see hate people who are addicted to losing.

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We just don't So with that join me As we look at the book of acts and we see the attitude

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And the mentality that the early church had And it was victory Part one the loser mentality in the book of acts

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Now if you want to know what jesus wanted for his kingdom And what he wanted it to look like or think like and act like how he wanted it to labor in the world

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Then you would be hard -pressed to find a better example Than the first century church

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These are the men who knew jesus face to face They're the one who heard his sermons and wrestled with his parables and watched

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As he gave one discourse after another on the nature of his kingdom Throughout his three and a half year ministry

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They're the ones that had the off the record conversations the campfire discussions and the other forms of communication

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That are not recorded for us in the scripture They're the ones who had the unique privilege of asking jesus questions that you and I don't get him a chance to ask at least

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Not on this side of heaven And as a result, they got a unique glimpse into jesus's vision for the kingdom of god

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And what his church? Was to be about and what it was to accomplish Thus when we look at how the first century church behaved we actually can get a pretty clear picture

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Of their theology of the kingdom now for instance If the early church believed in the same loser mentality that was espoused by john macarthur recently that the church

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Loses down here Then we should expect to see the early church losing We should expect to hear a lot of pessimism in their vernacular

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We should expect to read a fair amount of hedging on You know how much success that we can really have and in order to maintain our status as losers

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Now maybe you think that that language is harsh and I would like to remind you that we all speak english we

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Speak english and that dictates how i'm actually speaking here. For instance if you win

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You are called a winner If you fight Then you're called a fighter if you lie

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Well, you're called a liar in the same way if you lose Then you are called a loser

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That is not very controversial english In fact, it is just the it's controversial because we don't want to reckon with the implications of the theology

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That we've embraced and maybe that's not your theology because you're watching this podcast But much of evangelicalism has adopted a losing mentality and when you adopt a losing mentality you adopt a loser theology

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So it's not controversial at all. It's only controversial because we don't like the way that it sounds When we say that the church loses down here, we're saying that she

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Has become a loser down here We're calling her a loser whether we like that or not.

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We have to have the integrity to admit it That is precisely what we're saying and I for one

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Am totally unwilling to speak in such ways about the bride of christ Whether directly by the words that are coming out of my face or indirectly

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Through what I think about her in my mind and with my thoughts I would rather Overestimate how much she's going to accomplish with the holy spirit as her guide with christ as her bridegroom

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I'd rather stand before the king of glory one day and explain why I filled my time with overemphasizing what the church was going to accomplish on earth instead of doubting his bride and Thinking about her as if she is a loser

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If there was ever a husband that I would not want to face after slandering his bride

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Jesus christ would be the one Now back to the point The church we see in acts does not act like a band of losers.

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She's doesn't She doesn't think like she's losing. She doesn't moan and whine like a like a gaggle of losers

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And she doesn't expect to become a loser in the future From the earliest moments of the book all the way to the very end

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We see a group of people who expect to win Who expect that the kingdom of god is going to rapidly advance and who are overjoyed when they see god doing it in their lifetime

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So I would like us to look at a few examples in the book of acts to see how their expectation was nothing short of victory

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And I would invite anyone who's interested in this topic to read the book of acts with new eyes

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You can follow along with me. You can look up the references that i'm referencing. I would even say at the end of this episode

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Stop what you're doing Open up the bible and read the book of acts because If you want to see how they believed about the kingdom of god read there and they certainly did not believe that they lose down here

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Part two When do the last days begin? Now the book of acts teaches us a lot one of the things that teaches us is when the end times begin

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And what the expectation of the early church was the end times is not a future period that we're going to look forward to Where jesus then will get the victory know that the last days actually began 2 000 years ago with the incarnation of christ

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This is because the bible divides time into two different categories The former time which are the times of the law and the prophets and the temples and the tabernacles and the priest and the sacrifice and all of that the former time

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And the latter time or the end times which is the period of christ and his spirit and dwelled church

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And guess what? The new testament makes this abundantly plain for anyone who has eyes to see for instance the author of revelation

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When talking about the the inauguration of the end time says it like this it must soon take place revelation 1 1 for the time

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Is near revelation 1 3 Jesus himself warns that he's going to return in judgment quickly against apostate israel revelation 22 7 and revelation 22 12 and 20

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He also says that he's going to return in a single generation. Matthew 24 34. And by the way generation means a generation

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He's going to return within 40 years to set up this end time kingdom. So the new testament is clear

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That's why james says that the judge who is pronouncing judgment upon the jews for killing god's son and for persecuting his bride

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That judge is right at the door and he's ready to drop his gavel Immediately james 5 9.

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This is why the author of hebrews can so clearly differentiate between the two eras Saying that one era is passing away hebrews 9 26

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And a more perfect era an end time era has now come in christ hebrews 9 26

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He even tells us the super helpful line in the very beginning of his book that in the old days

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God spoke through his spoke to his people through the law and the prophets but now in these last days

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He's chosen to speak through his son That's hebrews 1 verse 2 So we are not waiting for the end time to start some point in the future

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We are living squarely in the long promised eschaton and we've been there for 2 000 years now

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So when you think about it, when does jesus have victory? He has victory in the eschaton Where do we live?

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We live in the eschaton. Therefore we have victory We are seeing the victory of christ working itself out over time and it will continue until the church is finished

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Until jesus is ready to return to a world that is fully Victorious now many modern evangelicals seem to conveniently overlook these things

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That I just pointed out in the new testament these truths that are littered through the forest like hansel and gretel's bread crumbs

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And they insist instead that we're living in an age of the church an asterisk period a period where We're arranging deck chairs on a sinking ship we're telling the gospel to a few people some will get saved but not very many and we're just kind of Waiting until god gets back to his original plan, which is to rule physically from jerusalem, but we

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With the church, no, we lose we're not playing a we're playing b we're an asterisk period We're still waiting on the end times to begin

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Now not only have they invented that whole biblical schema, which is not in the bible

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And not only have they invented an an entire era this church age that the bible doesn't even countenance

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But they've also ignored the clear teaching of the new testament which forcefully disproves their assumption

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Perhaps most shockingly is how they arrogantly dismissed jesus's own word that his kingdom arrived in his incarnation

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Luke 17 21 that his kingdom would be entrusted to the church and in the church would bear its kingdom fruit.

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Matthew 21 43 They ignore the prophecies of zechariah how the coming prophet priest and king would establish god's kingdom on earth

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Zechariah 1 through 7 when he rode into the city of jerusalem on a donkey zechariah 9 9

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They ignore isaiah 7 where the where this king is going to be born in bethlehem And he's going to have a kingdom that will never end they've become deaf to the words of christ who say that his kingdom was near In the first century near to the people who he was speaking to mark 1 15 and that it was already at hand 2 000 years ago.

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Matthew 4 17 They ignore that his kingdom is inaugurated at his ascension

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Which is a fulfillment of daniel 7 13 through 14 and how when he sat down upon his rightful throne to reign matthew 28 18 through 20

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That he has now all authority in heaven on earth And then now he has sent out his disciples to disciple the nations

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So all of these things astoundingly they have ignored And they have avoided just the truths of the new testament so that they could continue propagating their defeatist schema

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The clarity in all of this is astounding, but it's even more Astounding. It's just how readily they've ignored it now these blind evangelical guides that we're listening to or learning from today the ones who are writing the

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Prophecy guides and putting out the youtube series on blood moons and everything else that Theology not only fails to see the truths that we've just talked about in the new testament

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But they also fail to see that it that it's in the book of acts, which is our purpose today I wanted to give some color to the rest of the new testament and some old testament prophecies to prove this but acts itself proves

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That the end times has already began The book of acts screams that this new era has already dawned in history.

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The last days has already begun for instance According to the apostle peter in acts chapter 2 the last days began 2 000 years ago at pentecost

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When the holy spirit was poured out on all flesh As the crowds in jerusalem that day jesus has already died.

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He's resurrected He's ascended into heaven and the crowds now have heard this rushing wind of the spirit descend upon the early church

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And shake the upper room that they were that they were in when the crowds come peter reminds all of them

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That everything that has just happened was prophesied in the book of joel Who not only promised that that the holy spirit was going to come but he said that that would mark

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The beginning of god's end time kingdom acts 2 17 through 21. So just in case you missed what

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I just said according to peter Who is quoting from the book of joel the pouring out of the spirit of god is the definitive evidence that the end times have begun

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So if the spirit has been poured out The end times are here the fact that men and women are indwelled by the spirit of god today

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That grow in the fruits of the spirit today and have the gifts of the spirit poured out on them to bless the church

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Is undeniable evidence that the old testament era the sacrifices and the ceremonialism have been put away

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And we are living in the end time era of christ and his bride the church

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It's undeniable Now maybe someone would say well, wait a minute kendall joel and peter are talking about signs

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Like the sun turning dark and the moon turning to blood joel, you know 231 acts 220 both of these men are using grand cosmic images of signs that are happening in the sky that Could not have possibly happened today.

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We haven't seen any blood moons. We haven't seen the stars fall out of the sky We haven't seen the sun go dark and not give its light and they say all of these things and That certainly is a common objection to the view that I am holding and I believe that it comes from a total lack of biblical literacy a biblical stupidity

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On how by on how the bible employs its biblical symbols? So let me explain this for a second just so anyone here is struggling with it.

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The bible gives cosmic imagery To demonstrate the fall of nations on earth.

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The bible is not talking about the stars falling out of heaven literally The bible uses these images

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To showcase the downfall of nations. So let me let me make this clear when cosmic imagery emerges

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Of suns and moons and stars turning away their light it symbolizes that the faithful heavenly rulers who rule in the sky

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Are rejecting the crumbling immoral earthly regime of the wicked leaders who lead here on earth

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The prophets employ these vivid apocalyptic images all over the place and they do it to depict that judgment has come on the nations for instance

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Against egypt god says this All the shining lights in the heaven. I will make dark over you and I will set darkness on your land.

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Ezekiel 32 8 The stars did not go out When egypt was destroyed, this is apocalyptic imagery

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According regarding tyre god says this I will cover the heavens and I will make dark the stars and I will cover the sun with a cloud and the moon shall

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Not give its light ezekiel 32 3 through 7 again when tyre fell in history

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These things didn't happen physically in the skies. They're apocalyptic images.

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They're warnings that judgment is coming on earth Here's another one when babylon would be destroyed isaiah foretells

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That the stars of heaven and their constellations will not flash forth their light The sun will be dark when it rises and the moon will not shed its light isaiah 13 10 when god is talking to edom

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Which is uh, the people of esau it's prophesied this all the hosts of heaven are going to wear away

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And the skies are going to be rolled up like a scroll for the lord of hosts will reign on mount zion isaiah 34 4 through 5 brothers and sisters if the sky was rolled up like a scroll then we would not be here

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If the sky was rolled up like a scroll if the stars had fallen from the sky on five different occasions that i've already referenced

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We would not be here The universe would have been ripped asunder These are not physical phenomenon that's happened in the sky.

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They're apocalyptic Metaphorical images to showcase the severity of the judgment that's coming on earth

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Joel foresees this is going to happen when judah is destroyed He says wonders are going to be in the sky and on the earth blood and fire and columns of smoke

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The sun will be turned into darkness and the moon will be turned into blood joel 2 30 through 31

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And he says that this is going to happen before the great day of the lord against the nations

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Now this apocalyptic imagery of lights going out stars falling and heavens

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Shaking and rolling up. It's just common old testament language to dramatize god's judgment judgment upon the wicked judgment upon the powers judgment upon the

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Establishment who who rebels against his sovereign rule? These things are depicting the downfall of nations babylon tyre egypt or israel

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The prophets envision the sun the moon and the stars Abandoning their post as the divine powers you think about it back in genesis 1

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God only gave two creatures the opportunity to rule He gave the sun the moon and the stars to rule the sky and man to rule the land

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Those are the rulers So when the rulers in heaven turn their face away from the rulers on earth

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The rulers on earth better watch out because their judgment is coming this language invokes cataclysmic downfalls

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Decreation the the uh usurping of earthly power That's what these are are talking about They're talking about how god is going to bring justice and new creation to a world that is in rebellion

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How not not that actual balls of fire are gonna fall out of the sky Or that the sun is just gonna wake up one day and he's gonna get a little hangry and he's gonna say i'm not gonna

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Give my light like that's not what this is talking about It's not talking about the moon turning to actual drops of blood or just turning red

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We have to learn to read the bible biblically We have to learn to employ biblical symbolism biblically

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If we don't we're going to Misunderstand what it is saying? So at pentecost When joel says that the sun's going to be turned dark the moon's going to turn to blood when peter quotes joel

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And says that that the holy spirit has come down upon us. What is peter saying? Peter's saying that two things are going to happen number one the end time kingdom that joel prophesied has come number two

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The enemies of that end time kingdom aka judah are going to be destroyed

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That's what it's saying. It is not saying that we need to look forward to a day when the sun Decides to get a little moody and not give its light.

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That is foolishness. That's not what the bible is saying at pentecost The end time kingdom of our god and his messiah

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Burst out of the heavens in power and made its dwelling place on earth and to signify its coming

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God united his elect people and unified them together with a single tongue

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They all spoke the same language showcasing how his gospel Is not only going to put away all of its enemies, which he did in 80 70

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But also is going to bring from all the nations One people unto himself his gospel eventually is going to unite all the peoples on earth together under him

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All who rejected him are going to be brought to ruin and disaster and everyone who rejects him in judah

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All the way to the ends of the earth is going to become it's going to come under ruinous shame the sun is going to refuse to shine on them and Both of those scenarios god is doing something in his end time kingdom

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Whether he's building a world full of worshipping immigrants That's one part of building his end time kingdom or whether he's bringing judgment upon the rebels the reprobate

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Both of those acts are in time actions and the book of acts announces that this end time kingdom has come

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We're not waiting on it. It's already here part three the power that fuels the kingdom

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Acts chapter 1 verse 8 says but you will receive power when the holy spirit has come upon you and you shall be my witnesses both in jerusalem and in all judea and samaria and even to the uttermost to the remotest parts of the earth acts 1 8

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Now if there's ever any doubt that jesus intended his church to win To conquer the world to bring the nations unto himself so that they could bask in and bathe in his glory

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Well, it's utterly obliterated in acts chapter 1 verse 8 if you doubt that god's going to win the world acts 1 8 tells you

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Precisely that that is his plan. He tells his earliest disciples. You're going to receive power when the holy spirit comes upon you

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He doesn't say you're going to receive defeat He doesn't say that you're going to receive a loser mentality

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He says that you're going to receive power and that power is going to help you become my witnesses to the ends of the earth

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I want you to let that sink in for a moment The lord jesus before he ascended to heaven to reign over his kingdom promised to empower his disciples

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With the exact same spirit that raised jesus christ from the dead He is not giving them a joel olsteen toothy pep talk or a motivational speech he is promising power the third person of the trinity is going to be with them the same one who hovered over the waters of creation and Ordered the chaos is going to be poured out on the early disciples so that they can hover over the nations and order them according to christ

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We don't think That the same spirit who ordered the first creation before adam's sin is going to fail

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To now order the second creation the new creation that was bought and paid for by jesus Do we how could we possibly think that the spirit who originally ordered the chaos isn't going to do it again?

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And this time he's going to do it through the true and better adam Jesus christ the same spirit is alive and well in us and that spirit does not lose

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To believe that we lose down here is to believe that the spirit who dwells inside of us leads us to lose down here and if you believe that the spirit is leading us to lose well

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You are dangerously close to blaspheming the holy spirit in my opinion. That's why I think

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Dispensationalism in this defeatist mentality Is is a doctrine that was crafted by demons?

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And I mean that because if you say that the church that was bought and paid for by the precious blood of jesus

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And is indwelled by the powerful spirit of god if you say that we lose Then you're saying that jesus loses

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He can't accomplish what he set out to accomplish and that the spirit leads us to lose

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I think that that's blasphemy really close to blaspheming the holy spirit I know that it's denying his power and I know that you are saying he cannot do what he said he was going to do

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When we adopt that kind of loser mentality, we paint the spirit of god as an impotent force

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Unable to accomplish the very task that god sent christ to perform Which means that we would view the spirit of god as weak

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Incapable and as ineffective as we are How dare we claim?

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That the infinite almighty spirit of god who can do anything who spent the last 2 000 years

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Successfully building his church maybe on a different timeline horizon than you and I would like But he's been faithfully building his church and expanding it.

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How dare we think that he's just going to stop? And he's just going to cease and he's just going to let us fall into a cliff or fall over a cliff and fail

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How will the one who made the world fail to conquer it That to me is the height of arrogance and in my opinion it reeks of hellish unbelief

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By the power of the spirit of god Jesus birthed and built an unstoppable kingdom that he says the gates of hell will not stand against Do we believe jesus or not?

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Matthew 16 18 The spirit does not come to preside over a plane crash or over a boxer who was paid to go down in the fifth

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But to actively conquer the world and claim the nations for the son as his everlasting heritage.

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Psalm 2 8. It's prophesied to believe otherwise is to deny the very words of christ and to despise the power of the spirit of god who has

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Given to us as a gift to help us advance. Jesus's kingdom yet As we've seen in the book of acts so far the church does not believe this the first century church does not act like this

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They explode From being a small little fringe group of messianic disciples that were hiding in an upper room shivering in their boots to the lion -hearted legion of conquerors who filled jerusalem

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And then filled judea and then filled samaria and then filled the uttermost parts of the roman world with the gospel of jesus christ in Just a few short years.

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They were following acts 1 8 They didn't have a loser mentality. They thought they were going to win

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This is the same kingdom that put the devils to flight and triumphed over them with the power of the glorious gospel acts 8 6 through 8 far from losing

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The book of acts tells us of one victory after another after another after another

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Part four the explosive growth of the kingdom When god created the heavens and earth

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He's his first command was to be fruitful and multiply and to fill the world with people who worship him

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He basically commanded christendom just minutes after adam and eve were created and married and while sin

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Perverted this mandate sending humanity in a tragic detour Into rebellion and decay for a few thousand years god never abandoned his original plan god doesn't do that He sticks with his plan.

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He's faithful to his plan. He's not like us now By being faithful to that plan.

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He sent his own son and his son purchased a sinful world out of the clenches of the serpents

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A rule and through christ's atoning death on the cross the stage was set For the renewal of all things a spiritual regenesis of sorts where redeemed humanity

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Was once again going to come under the rule of a faithful adam and they were going to be fruitful and multiply

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And fill the world with worshipers of yahweh to the glory of god and they were going to do that in every pagan land under god's dominion

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God's just the new testament is god just reinvigorating what he set up in the old except now through the perfect man christ

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And with that in mind the book of acts is nothing less than a masterpiece of biblical prophetic literature that's coming to fulfillment

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When we see the newly redeemed church Growing and spreading in jerusalem in the city that was hostile to them

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Multiplying in judea where they were being killed and martyred and sending missionaries throughout the roman world where they're being fed to lions in the coliseums, we should not see a loser

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Story, we should actually see how the ancient promises from the very week of creation are being fulfilled right before our very eyes in the book of acts

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This was the beginning of the end of the curse of death decay and darkness The brilliant dawn of a new creation light was glimmering and growing as the pages of acts

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Continue on no other text in all of human history So accurately celebrates how god's original design and plan for the world to fill it with worshipers

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Is going to be worked out in space and time in hostile lands triumphantly progressing little by little to the glory of god

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That is what the book of acts is all about And I do not want to understate this i'm not afraid of overstating it

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I don't want to un I don't want to understate it the book of acts is the story

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Of how god is going to win the earth. It is the story of how genesis 128 Happens in space and time and it continues to happen down unto this day

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Down into our day as we are still living in the end times in the end of days now

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Let me demonstrate what i'm saying so you can see it in the book of acts The book of acts begins with a mere 120 disciples huddled together in the upper room

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They are a small little fringe society that has no hope of a future and yet When the spirit of god arrives a spark ignited at pentecost and exploded into an unstoppable wildfire

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Of kingdom expansion that would forever change the face of planet earth From 120 in the upper room 3 000 people come in after peter's first sermon.

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So now you have 3120 disciples exponentially growing in just one day

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That's acts 241 and that was just the very first shock wave in this earthquake of god's majesty

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Luke tells us that the lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved acts 247 until more than 5 000 people had joined the ranks of the early church by acts 4 that's acts 4 4

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Luke continues this narrative of exponential growth by telling us that multitudes of both men and women flooded into the church in the early days acts 5 14

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While being persecuted many within the jewish leadership and i'm talking about priests and levites pharisees and sadducees repented of their sins

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Specifically repented of killing christ and they came into the church Luke tells us that a great many of the priest

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Became obedient to the faith act 6 7 which lets us know that this was no small contingency

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This was not one or two priests He said a great many of the ones who killed jesus and presided over his murder in his trial

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Repented and came to christ. Look at the power of the gospel This one's feeble band of followers grew so rapidly that The priests were taking them seriously

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They grew so rapidly that they had a problem with distribution Where they could not feed all of their widows acts chapter 6 1, you know, because they grew so fast

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They didn't have the organization to keep up with their explosive growth What we see in just the first six chapters of acts is nothing less than explosive Exponential growth in the in its earliest days if I were if this were a basketball team

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They would be up by 40 points in the second quarter Like this is they're running away with it.

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This is not losing. This is dominating Now as the persecution increased

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You would think that it might slow them down. Oh contraire mon frere It actually only fanned the flames of fire

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So that it spread the gospel not just in jerusalem, but it fanned them out to spread to other parts of the earth

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And like you remember back in the old testament the tower of babel They were scattered so that they could go into all the regions on earth and they but they weren't believers here

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Persecution is happening and god is using it sovereignly to spread them to judea And samaria and other places so that the gospel would take hold in those places as well no sooner

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Did the religious authorities that refused to repent? Persecute them they scattered the believers so they went about preaching the word in other regions acts 8 4

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They sparked new revivals in judea and galilee and samaria philip proclaimed that the kingdom of god was about both men and women abandoning their pagan idols and being

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Baptized into the overflowing river of god's redemption acts 8 12 So many people were being swept up into Into the current of this gospel movement that the evangelists were spending their entire years

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Discipling a great many of people is what it says in acts 11 26 from judea

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The kingdom of god advanced into samaria. It says that it was multiplying And it was taking foothold in the land acts 9 31 all of the residents of the cities like like lydia and or lita and joppa

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Were saturated with new believers acts 9 35 and 34 So complete was the transformation of that of that entire culture that entire gentile churches arose across the empire

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Across the roman empire. These churches were now teeming with fruit They were teeming with disciples who taught it says a great many people

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And declared how god had opened the door faith to the gentiles. That's a direct quote from acts 11 26 and acts 14 27

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Whether it was in iconium listra philippi. Thessalonica athens corinth or ephesus or any of the other towns the pattern

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Remained the same mass conversions of jews and gentiles alike

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Were leading households and communities to flood into the kingdom of god in ephesus alone

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Paul's ministry reached such cosmic impact that all the residents of asia heard the word of the lord acts 19 10

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Until all of the pagan magistrates were left stunned and it says that many thousands

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Among the jews believed acts 21 20. Like do you hear these statements?

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This is a direct quote from acts 19 that all the people in asia Heard about this little fringe group

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They were they were shaking things up so badly that the people of ephesus said that they've turned the whole world upside down this is not a a

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A small little movement that's destined for failure. I mean they are overtaking

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Everything they're becoming a threat so that they're being ran out of cities and arrested the whole world is afraid that That if they keep going like this, then there's going to be no one left each locale witnessed supernatural wonders and gospel transformation this group of 120 believers

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Became 3 000 souls overnight composed of multitudes of both men and women acts 241 and 514

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Many of the priests had converted to the word They continued to increase as the number of disciples continued to multiply greatly acts 6 7

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And city upon city a great number turned to the lord and were joined by many people

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Who added who were added to the name of the lord acts 11 21 and 24 so widespread was this wildfire

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That those counted among the fruit included influential leading women acts 17 4 and 12

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Persecutors like the philippian jailer whose entire household ended up believing Acts 16 31 through 34 too numerous and too exhaustive to catalog was the spread of the early church the book of acts is a gleaming transcript of The triumph of the early church like through the conversions of lydia's household acts 16 14 through 15

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Crispus the synagogue's ruler acts 18 18 in athens dionysius and demarius

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Uh, yeah demaris acts 16 30 or 17 34 many thousands whom jesus claimed as my people in corinth acts 1810 everywhere the apostolic church went

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Unbroken fields of ripe spiritual harvest awaited them and they came in The scope was so incomprehensible that in the final verses of the book of acts

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Luke's can luke can summarize all of this by saying the word of the lord continued to increase and prevail

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Mightily as paul basked in proclaiming the kingdom with all openness unhindered acts 19 20 and acts 28 30 through 31

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This was not the activity of a fringe sect confined to the sketchy suburbs This was a tidal wave

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Movement that was crushing every mandate and philosophy and counterfeit faith that was standing in its path

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There was no stopping it It was inevitably advancing skeptics could only admit that they were convinced as paul

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Testified to the kingdom of god till every morning and every day acts 28 23 through 24 from judea to samaria to the uttermost parts of the roman empire the exponential onslaught of the spirit of god was undeniable this explosion of kingdom growth shatters any notion of the church retreating

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Or admitting a future defeat. The only question for the faithful is whether they will embrace the sin -crushing nation discipling

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Exponential growth that we see in the book of acts or if we'll continue to cower in unbelief

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And act nothing like the original apostles did Now, let me just give one more word to paul in the book of acts

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The book does not end with paul getting beheaded Paul was beheaded, but the book doesn't end that way.

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Do you know why the book doesn't end that way? because Luke wrote it in such a way that you would see that the focus is not on any one person

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It wasn't on whether or not paul was beheaded or not He was but the church moves forward with even without paul the church moves forward

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Even after christ dies and goes to heaven that that's the point the book of acts ends with paul

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Victoriously sharing the gospel in the remaining moments of his days because that's all of our job

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We're all going to die But the focus of our life is not on our death The focus of our life is not on our final second the focus of our life is what we do with the seconds that we've been given

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The focus of our life is in how we spread the kingdom of god. So luke intentionally records paul

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Doing what paul does spreading the kingdom even from a jail cell being victorious and triumphing over the powers of hell and the powers of rome

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He records him that way because that's how he wants us to remember paul and that's how he wants our lives to be remembered as well

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Part five the victorious attitude of the kingdom Now along with the historical record of the church's explosive growth in the first century, which is undeniable

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By the way, the book of acts also helps us understand the kind of attitude That you and I should have when we think about the church.

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We think about what it should be doing today The book of acts does not give us a negative nancy style pessimism

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The book of acts actually teaches us how we're to be involved and to participate in the growth of the kingdom now

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Working with all of our might now spreading the gospel now making disciples now joyful and festive today

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And engaged in kingdom multiplying endeavors to the glory of god until we die

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Brothers and sisters the book of acts does not simply record the triumph and the glory of the former church

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It showcases the courageous resilient victorious attitude that should be in every generation of the church

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We don't find any room in the book of acts for pessimism for defeatism or resignation

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In those scriptural accounts we find no justification for tanking our legacy like the detroit pistons the spirit that animates the apostles and the early believers was one of unflinching resolve joyful endurance and a deep

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Conviction that the kingdom of god is going to prevail mightily against the ranks of darkness in every generation

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Consider the posture that acts 4 commends to us There was a fervent cry of for boldness amid the threats a hunger to preach the gospel of christ

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There was fearlessness as signs and wonders were confirming the word the church's response Was shaken by the spirit and they began to speak the word of god with all boldness acts 4 31

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In the midst of suffering and persecution. They were speaking the word of god with all boldness Do not believe that that was just a message to them back then.

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That's our posture today There was no softening of their proclamation There was no wavering in their witness with the kingdom's unstoppable momentum at their back

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They kept on and they pressed forward and they were bold in their faith and brothers and sisters. That's what we're called to today

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We are not called to be wusses and whiners we're called to be to be bold and to be courageous for the kingdom of christ acts chapter 4 shows us what the

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Attitude of a believer in jesus is supposed to look like bold and courageous against all opposition

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That pattern continues in fact in acts chapter 5 though They were beaten and they were commanded to be silent.

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The apostle said we will not be silent. They couldn't shut them up It says that they went on their way

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Rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for the name of jesus and every day they kept right on Teaching and preaching jesus in the synagogues and in the temples acts 5 41 through 42

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I mean, that's a victorious attitude. You can beat me. So what i'm gonna praise god you can you can arrest me

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So what i'm gonna make disciples in prison you can do whatever you want to this body I'm gonna rejoice and i'm gonna stay on task.

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I'm gonna i'm gonna keep fighting and i'm gonna stay on mission You can tell me All you want to shut up for the kingdom of christ and I will keep on speaking

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That is the attitude that we're supposed to have and not this damnable loser mentality that has crept into the church of jesus christ we are to suffer but we are to be relentless we are to Endure hardships and yet we are to have great joy and we are to advance the good news of christ without pause

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This keeps going when persecution scattered the church from jerusalem. What was their response in the book of acts?

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Did they say? Oh, well, you know what we lose down here And it may as well be time to give up, you know

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Let's hunker down in our little christian bunkers and let's wait on the rapture. Absolutely not in fact bonus material time

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In the very beginning of the book of acts they were staring up at the clouds and they were saying, you know Well, we're just we're just gonna wait on jesus to return this world is really bad

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We're gonna wait on jesus return. Do you remember what the angels came down and told them men of galilee? What are you doing?

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This same jesus who went into heaven is going to return in the same way Go and do what he told you to do Take the gospel of jerusalem and judea and samaria to the uttermost parts of the world stop looking at the clouds waiting for a

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Ticket out of here and start doing what god has told you to do to the glory of christ and that's what they did

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That's what they did. So when persecution was scattering the church out of jerusalem

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They didn't throw the towel in they didn't start whining and crying and belly aching about it In act chapter 8 it says that when they had been scattered about they were scattered by preaching the word

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They preached the word everywhere. They went acts 4 or sorry acts 8 verse 4 They didn't have any self -pity no recrimination no retreat

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Only thing that they had was an undying commitment to seize every new opportunity for the spread

56:41

Of the gospel of jesus christ in the examples pile up They continue to pile up as high as the heavens in iconium

56:50

There was violent opposition that broke out against the disciples And it caused them to be what did it cause them to be filled with despair?

56:58

Did it cause them to be filled with depression? Did it cause them to be filled with anxiety? Did they go to their local freudian counselor and lay on the couch and whine about all their problems?

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No, they did not The disciples it says were continually filled with joy and with the holy spirit acts 13 52

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In the dark dank recesses of a philippian jail their reaction was not hand wringing and despair

57:23

But they started praying and singing hymns of praise to god you could not shake them

57:30

You could not break them If you persecuted them, they prospered If you were mean to them, they had more joy it's it's sort of like It's sort of like giving sugar to yeast

57:45

It multiplied them Every time they were persecuted they multiplied faster.

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They grew they were resilient Why can't we have the attitude of the early church?

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That even in the darkest darkness they shine forth the light of christ act 16 25 brothers and sisters this blazing spirit

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Of god and dwelled that people And made them look victorious and act in a victorious way a people who were sorrowful yet They were rejoicing second corinthians 6 10 even in the hardest trials and the cruelest injustices

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That we've that we could ever know we our lives are nothing like theirs That they

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They suffered in ways that we can't even possibly imagine And yet their eyes were fixed on christ they were fixed on an eternal hope

58:47

On the blessed hope of christ's kingdom coming in more and more waves of glory on earth as it is in heaven

58:55

This is the heart cry of post -millennialism That our sovereign lord most certainly shall have the nations as his everlasting possession and he shall put his

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Enemies as a footstool for his feet psalm 2 8 and psalm 1 10 our attitude

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Must burn With the same longing and certainty as that first century church

59:21

If we truly believe That the gospel Is the same gospel that they believe then we have to believe that it will prevail just like it did for them

59:31

We have to believe that it can still overtake all opposition just like it did for them We have to believe that it can make disciples of hostile

59:39

Murderous people like saul turning into paul. We have to believe that because it's the same gospel

59:45

That it's going to take all opposition And turn them into friend

59:52

If we behold the unstoppable March of the spirit in the book of acts bearing kingdom fruit across across the globe in their day

01:00:02

Why can we not believe that that's possible in our day Why do we act?

01:00:09

Like this isn't possible anymore. I think it's because we lack faith

01:00:15

I think it's because we lack courage And I think it's because we're blind We have so many blessings today

01:00:24

Because of faithful churches that have come before us We're not persecuted like that We're not threatened our lives aren't threatened like that.

01:00:33

We're not beheaded like paul. We're not crucified upside down like peter We have every reason to have courage and yet we are probably going to go down as one of the most cowardly

01:00:43

Generations of christians in all of church history. What a shame What a squandered legacy

01:00:51

We have to adopt the apostolic example of courage an unshakable joy

01:00:57

And patient constancy in the face of trials we have to repent My goal brothers and sisters is that we would fling aside this this stupid

01:01:10

And demonic Defeatist mentality that's plagued the church of jesus christ in the recent years

01:01:18

I'm not calling you to be moan Or to retreat but i'm calling you to stand firm and to have a backbone

01:01:26

And to labor faithfully I'm calling you to know that your king can overcome

01:01:31

And that his word will not return void and that we are more than conquerors and that we don't have a spirit of timidity

01:01:37

But a spirit of bold witness. We don't we don't have a spirit of losing We have a spirit of sacrificial work to see the kingdom built.

01:01:45

Holy spirit empowered tenacity Do you know that the bible says that cowards? Don't even get into heaven

01:01:52

It's so repugnant to god that he said that cowards have no place in the kingdom of heaven brothers and sisters

01:01:59

I'm calling us to boldness I'm calling us to courage I'm calling us to no matter what the cost no matter what the hardship that christ would be adored among every tribe tongue and people by your

01:02:12

Faithful witness that we would see the world turned upside down again Like they did in the book of acts

01:02:18

Brothers and sisters the future Does not belong to the victims. It belongs to the victors

01:02:24

The future does not belong to the cowards. It belongs to the conquerors Those like the church of philadelphia who've kept christ's word

01:02:34

And have had patient endurance To that church. He promises that I am coming soon

01:02:40

Hold fast what you have so that no one may seize your crown revelation 3 10 through 11

01:02:46

So brothers and sisters, let us take heart and let us press on in the legacy that we've inherited unwavering in joy witnessing christ kingdom grow on earth

01:03:01

As it is in heaven Thank you so much for watching another episode of the podcast

01:03:10

I'm, so thankful that you've tuned in here today to hear about what the bible says about victory

01:03:16

I hope that today's message was encouraging. I hope if you're encouraged that you will share this message with other people

01:03:22

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01:03:31

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01:03:38

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01:03:48

Where which is sort of like babylon today, but by the lord's grace We're going to overcome it and I pray the same for you in your town

01:03:55

And until next time god richly bless you hold your head up high