Life-changing Sermon on Boldness

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Open your Bibles to Acts. Acts chapter 1. Acts chapter 1, as you guys get there, reminds you that Acts is part of a two -volume set written by Dr.

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Luke, a traveling companion of the Apostle Paul. So you can read the opener in Luke and in the book of Acts, and you read

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Dr. Luke's direct statement about his purposes in writing.

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Acts chapter 1. I'm actually gonna read this whole first section here, starting in verse 1. Hear now the words of the living and the true

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God. In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach until the day when he was taken up after he had given commands through the

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Holy Spirit to the Apostles whom he had chosen. He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during 40 days and speaking about the kingdom of God.

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And while staying with them, he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem but to wait for the promise of the Father, which he said,

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You heard from me. For John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.

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So when they had come together, he asked them, so when he had come, so when they had come together, they asked him,

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Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? He said to them, It is not for you to know times or seasons that the

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Father has fixed by his own authority, but you will receive power when the

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Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all

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Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. When he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took them out of their sight.

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And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes and said,

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Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus who has taken up from you into heaven will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.

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As far as the reading of God's inspired word, let's pray as a church. Father, we thank you, Lord, that you have saved us, that you call us your own, that you've adopted us into your family.

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We thank you, Lord, before the world began. You chose us in Christ to belong to you, to be forgiven, to be recipients of your grace, not by anything in us, not by an action of our will, not,

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Lord, by our might or strength or righteousness. God, you chose us based upon your sovereign grace and will.

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Thank you, Lord Jesus, that we belong to you, that you were righteous and that you died for us and rose again from the dead.

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We thank you, Spirit of God, that you indwell us, the God you've given us power, that you have caused us to be your witnesses.

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We pray, Lord, today in the message that you would bless our church with an understanding of your word, bless us with encouragement as you've testified to us concerning your faithfulness toward us.

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And I pray, Lord, in the midst of all of that, the instruction and the encouragement that you would,

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Lord, fill us with power, Lord, fill us with power and boldness in your word.

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I pray that you, Lord, if you have caused us to be faithful and you see us as a faithful church and proclaiming your word in the world, that you would cause us to have more strength, more boldness, and Lord, that you'd give us more opportunity to win this world to Jesus.

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And it's in his name we pray, amen. So Acts, again, Luke writes the two -volume set,

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The Gospel According to Luke and Acts, and there's a lot of different explanations as to why it's written this way and who funded this work.

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I think that that's a powerful story in terms of somebody in the first century, probably a wealthy believer, funded

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Dr. Luke's work in gathering testimonies and witnesses and evidence as to what end there's debate, whether it had something to do with the

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Apostle Paul's trial in explaining the Christian message or if it was some other reason.

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But in this particular book, in Acts, Luke actually gives us the narrative of the early church.

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He explains to us what did Jesus say, and then after this, he explains to us what did the testimony of the apostles and the leaders of the early church look like.

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Now I want to just say that to you just to describe the scenario because it's important to understand that the early

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Christians did not have some special position before God that you and I don't have today.

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Now that's very important. They were saved by the same blood, the same God, the same grace and mercy that you and I are.

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Same thing, same spirit of God filling them with himself and with his power.

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Now when we look at the testimony of the early church, you do see that the early apostles and leaders of the church, the early

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Christians actually turned the entire known Roman empire world upside down.

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The Apostle Paul says in Colossians that the gospel had been preached to every creature under heaven.

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It's a way of speaking in the time that the entire known world at the time had the gospel to its farthest reaches.

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Now that's in one generation the early church was able to communicate the gospel of the kingdom in such a dramatic and effective way that they were turning the world upside down.

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They filled Jerusalem up with the teaching of Jesus to the point that the civil government of the day is throwing them in jail and punishing them because the accusation is made you're filling

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Jerusalem up with this teaching. The Christian faith, the message of the gospel was not something that the early church kept as a private matter between their ears, in their homes, in their churches.

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It was something that they understood needed to be proclaimed to the entire world. And there's a couple reasons for that in terms of the

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Old Testament revelation and the promise of the kingdom of God and redemption and salvation going to the ends of the earth.

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But there's something more in terms of what Jesus himself said to them. So you don't have to look far but if you go back a couple pages from Acts you'll see of course the gospel according to Matthew.

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And we learn from Matthew's testimony, Matthew 28, 18 through 20, that the final words there in Matthew's climax are, all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.

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So that's both realms. We're not concerned just with the spiritual but not the physical realm.

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The Lord Jesus actually expands our thinking completely by saying his authority extends not just to heaven but also to the earthly realm.

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Now just consider the moment here. This is 11 very confused disciples at least.

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They've lost one who betrayed Jesus. And so 11 very confused disciples. Jesus is ascending to heaven.

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Daniel 7, 13 through 14, hundreds of years before he did it, says that the

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Son of Man was going to come up to the Ancient of Days. That's upward going up to the

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Ancient of Days. And he would be given a kingdom, dominion, glory that would never pass away, would never be destroyed, and that people from every tribe, tongue, and nation, and language were going to come to him.

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You see that's what Daniel 7, 13 through 14 had prophesied. And now they're watching it take place before their eyes.

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Just consider that when Jesus says to Peter, get behind me Satan, he says that to Peter who's a bit shocked at the fact that Jesus says he's gonna go and be killed.

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Now if he'd read his Old Testament and understood it with really inspired eyes, he would have understood that the

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Old Testament said the Messiah had to die and rise again. But all he really knows is that this is the

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King, he's the Messiah, the Bible says the world's gonna be one. It's gonna come underneath his feet.

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And now Jesus is telling Peter, I'm going to die. So we have to give Peter a little bit of grace in first learning about Jesus going to die, not understanding with spiritual eyes that he says,

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God forbid that, it'll never take place. Jesus says, get behind me Satan, because he knows the mission is to first purchase the people, to rise again from the dead, to ascend and take his seat.

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And now these very confused disciples are told by Jesus, right before he ascends, all the authority in heaven on earth is mine.

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And he says to these very confused disciples, this ragtag team of uneducated men, which is of course what the civil magistrate says about them in the book of Acts, they're surprised that these uneducated men are saying these amazing things.

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These uneducated men standing before the Lord of glory are watching him ascend, and they're told before he does what?

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Therefore, because it's all mine, he says, go make disciples, what?

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Of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.

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And he says, and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the age. Now we have to understand,

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I think all of us have to try to embrace just for a minute, that these are people just like you and I. These are not a special group of people that have some amazing magical or mystical power in them, that it resides just in themselves, like they're specially trained, they're really good at what they do, they are able to articulate things a particular way in and of themselves.

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No, these are early human beings in the church, just like you and I, saved by the mercy of God and the blood of Jesus, filled with God's Spirit, and they're being told by Jesus as he ascends, it's your responsibility, you're the means of bringing my authority to the ends of the earth and baptizing all the nations and teaching them to obey me.

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All that story in the Old Testament of every tribe, tongue, people, and language coming to Messiah, all of that takes place.

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Yes, but it takes place through you, the people of God. You're the means by which it takes place.

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We have to give them some grace, if they were a bit squinty -eyed at Jesus, thinking, how in earth is this going to take place?

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How are we going to turn this world upside down? How are we going to extend your rule to the ends of the earth?

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And Jesus gives them their marching orders, it's in Acts chapter 1 verse 8, we just read it, I'll read it again, he says, but you will receive power, verse 8, when the

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Holy Spirit has come upon you and you will be my witnesses, notice the order, in Jerusalem, that's the center, and in all

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Judea, we're going out, and Samaria, which they would have probably avoided mostly in that day, and to the end of the earth.

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So they're being told here, when the entire world, and here's how you're going to do it, you're going to receive the power of God's Spirit, the

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Holy Spirit, and you're going to be my witnesses locally, and then out a little further, and then out a little further, and then

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I want you to go to the ends of the earth. So the kingdom of God is expanded to the ends of the earth locally, and moving out to globally, and I want to point one more thing out in this particular text, in terms of what was the context?

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How did they understand the story? Was it about individual salvation, and my own private experience with Jesus?

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Was it simply understood, this entire mission, as something that's just spiritually minded in heaven one day?

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Notice how Luke talks about this. In Acts chapter 1, it says, verse 3, about Jesus, he presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during 40 days, and speaking about the kingdom of God.

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Did I lose my water? I did, didn't I? Well, that's amazing. All right, so notice the context.

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Speaking about the kingdom of God, the rule of God, that's the context.

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Speaking about the kingdom of God, the rule of God in the world. Now notice that particular thing, because what?

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At the end of Acts, I want you to move there quickly, take your fingers, move now to the end of Acts.

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Thank you, Greg. Thanks, brother. Now, look at the very last verses.

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This is the context of the church. This is how they understood the gospel. This is how they understood the mission.

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Acts chapter 1, verse 8, this is the mission. Acts chapter 1, it's about the kingdom of God.

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Now, Paul now is awaiting trial. He's still alive. Acts ends, actually, rather abruptly.

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We don't know now what's next. Paul's still alive, which, by the way, means, quickly, for those of you guys that are theology nerds, want to know about the text of the

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Bible and its history. If Luke and Acts are a two -volume set, if Luke borrowed from Matthew or Mark, which he most certainly did, then that means that Luke comes after, and Acts is in that two -volume set.

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When Acts is finished here, Paul's still alive, not dead yet. Story just ends abruptly because he's not dead, and we know as a matter of historical record that Paul was killed under Nero's reign.

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He was beheaded, killed for his faith, and that's sometime in the 60s, probably around 63 -64, which means, of course, if Luke and Acts are a two -volume set, and Luke is getting information from the other

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Gospels and other apostles, then that means that we have the Gospels and Luke and Acts finished before the destruction of the

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Jewish temple. So that means that this early eyewitness testimony occurs within a generation of Jesus' disciples.

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Now, at the end of Acts, what do we see? Acts 28, verse 28,

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Therefore let it be known to you that this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles, they will listen. He lived there,

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Paul, two whole years at his own expense, and welcomed all who came to him, proclaiming the what?

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The what? The kingdom of God. Proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the

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Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance. Acts is bookended,

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Acts 1, Acts 28, with the message of the early church, which was what?

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The kingdom of God. What is Paul teaching? What is he proclaiming constantly as he's awaiting trial?

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He's proclaiming the message about going to heaven one day. The message about Jesus making you happy, healthy, and wealthy, right?

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No, he's proclaiming the same message as the Old Testament prophets. The message of the

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Messiah's kingdom, the kingdom of God, the rule of God, my witnesses, Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, ends of the earth, disciple all the nations, teach them to obey.

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Now, I want to talk about the vision and mission of the church.

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What is the vision and mission of the church according to the Scriptures? It's to win the entire world.

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I'll say it again, it's to win the entire world. The church,

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God's bride, comprised of local churches and bodies around the world, are on mission not to start

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Bible studies in basements only, those are good by the way, very good, but the mission of any local church in any culture is ultimately to win the entire world to Jesus.

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You might think, how in the world is that possible? Well, I suspect that's the same thing the disciples thought when

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Jesus told them about it. Matthew 28, 18 through 20. The mission of the church and vision of the church is to win the entire world to Jesus.

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Daniel chapter 7, verses 13 through 14. Isaiah chapter 2 talks about the

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Messiah's kingdom and all the nations streaming up to the mountain of God, the Torah going forth from Zion.

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We learn in Psalm 110 1, that the Lord said unto my Lord, sit at my right hand till I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.

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By the way, if you didn't know this, Psalm 110 1, that passage about all of God's enemies being placed under his feet as a footstool, that is the most quoted

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Bible verse in the entire New Testament. The New Testament quotes copiously from the

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Old Testament. As a matter of fact, every single book of the Old Testament is quoted in the

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New Testament, save one book, Esther, a very small book. And the most quoted

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Bible verse from the Old Testament in the New Testament is Psalm 110 1, which means it was at least the most popular or favorite

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Bible verse of the Apostles, and probably God's favorite

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Bible verse. So it's the verse that we ought to be waving at baseball games and football games.

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Instead of John 3 16, it's Psalm 110 1. God's putting you under his feet!

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That's a good thing, by the way, because guess what? If you're thinking, yeah, that's right, God's enemies under his feet. Guess who that is?

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You and me. It's a good place to be to come to submission to the

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Messiah, to be saved by him. Isaiah chapter 9 verses 6 through 7 says that El Gibor, the mighty

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God, the Father of Eternity, is coming, and that of the increase of the increase of the increase of his government, what he governs of the increase of his government, there will be no ends.

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The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this. Another encouraging word for Christians that wonder how in the world is

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God going to save the world, bring it into submission to Jesus, bring about redemption through a ragtag bunch of people like us?

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How is it going to happen? The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this. So one, that's the foundation.

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It's not you and your perseverance and your motivation and your own power. It's God, the

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Lord of hosts, who does this, and he does it by what? Filling you with power.

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What power? Divine power, majestic God kind of power.

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It's from him. Isaiah chapter 42, final word here, quickly.

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Isaiah 42, Old Testament. My wife says that I go too fast to Bible verses, so I'll give you a minute.

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Isaiah 42. That's Old Testament, by the way. Maybe you're right, babe.

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I still hear pages moving. You're right. I'm gonna listen to you. I'm gonna submit to my wife. Submit to one another,

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I say to the Lord. Okay, Isaiah chapter 42. Just last thing here, in terms of scope, we could have entire messages on this, and we have, but we're talking about now the mission of the church, the vision of the church.

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What is God gonna do in the world? We know it's redemption. We know it's forgiveness. We know it's reconciliation and peace with God.

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We could spend all day on Bible passages from just the Old Testament that teach that point, but I want to talk about with you the scope.

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Isaiah chapter 42. Behold my servant whom I uphold, verse 1. My chosen in whom my soul delights.

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I have put my spirit upon him. He will bring forth justice to the nations.

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He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice or make it heard in the streets. He's a humble, meek

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Messiah. A bruised reed he will not break. He's gentle.

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And a faintly burning wick he will not quench. And here it is. He will faithfully bring forth justice.

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He will not grow faint or be discouraged till he has established justice in the earth, and the coastlands wait for his law.

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Now I saw recently a very well -known pastor who's a greater man of God than I can ever hope to be, but not correct

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I think in some areas, teaching that it is not the mission of the church to be concerned about social justice.

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Now there's an error we fall into here. I recognize that. There are liberal quote -unquote

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Christians that ignore the gospel, sin, the holiness of God, the need to repent and believe the gospel.

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They ignore all of that and they say, no, it's about social justice. That's a perversion. It's not true.

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Avoid it. There's also another perversion of the gospel. It's the kind of perversion that says that what

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God is concerned with is just souls for heaven one day. The earth is a throwaway.

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He's not concerned with it. Both of those messages are perversions of the truth.

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The kingdom of God, the mission of the kingdom of God, says that it is about both.

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One, salvation, and as people are saved, their hearts are changed. They love God's law.

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They have a new position before the law of God and they love his law. And as the people of God are saved and brought to him, justice begins to fill the earth because the law of God flows out from Zion, from the people of God.

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It says in the text that one of the missions of Messiah is to bring forth justice among the nations and that God's law goes out and specifically the coastlands wait for God's law.

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So that's the vision and mission of the church. In summary, some important points. Now go back to the book of Acts.

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I'm going to just show you a couple things here by way of the principle of public proclamation.

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Now this is really, really important. You've got to get this particular point. It's fascinating, it's life -altering, and it's this.

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I say it often. I did at the beginning of this message. I do not believe that there's a difference between the early church and us, save of course we don't have inspired apostles walking around on earth among us today, of course.

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But in terms of the Spirit of God, I believe we have the same Spirit with the same power from God.

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I believe that we have the same God. I believe that we have the same gospel.

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And so what is different about us today? Why do we see our cultures today, say specifically in the

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West, falling so much into decline and spoil and decay?

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How come? Is it God, the gospel, God's Spirit? Is there something different about us from the first century church?

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Something in terms of power or in terms of what our vision is? The answer, I believe, is no.

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God says that he's going to fill the world up with his gospel and kingdom and bring the nation. So what's wrong with us today?

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I think the thing to be pointing to is the fact that we are saltless, much of us, many of us, today.

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We've bought into a false dichotomy of the secular and the sacred. We don't believe that Jesus has something to say to every realm like the early church did, like, of course, many

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Christians in history did. I believe that we do not engage in bold proclamation of the truth like we ought to.

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I believe that when you look at the book of Acts, it is not merely a narrative or a history book about something that God did a long time ago that can't actually be done again.

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I think if we have the same God, the same Spirit, and the same gospel, then we have the same power, the same message that saves, and the same

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God who has zeal to win the world. So I believe that we have to focus in in Acts to look at what was different about them from what we have today.

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And I think the answer is found in a principle, a principle that you will find without question throughout the

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Bible from Genesis to Revelation. You They do.

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And today cultures change even in the same day. And what I mean by that is today you can get on an airplane and you can fly literally to the other side of the world.

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You can do it by the end of the day. And you can step off an airplane from one culture into another culture on the other side of the planet before the sun goes down for you.

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So cultures can change. Yes, and they do. And they can change in the same day and location.

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But listen, in Scripture principles do not change. The character of God never changes.

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And principles in Scripture never change. As the culture changes, fine.

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Maybe there's new ways to engage the culture, but the principle underneath it will remain the same.

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And here's what I think we see in the book of Acts. And we've tried, of course, infallible ways as a church all these years to follow these principles from the very beginning.

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And it's this. You see it in Acts. The principle of public proclamation of the truth.

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Public proclamation of the truth. And that is to say that you will not find in Scripture the principle that Christians ought to keep the truth amongst themselves.

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They must keep the truth within the four walls of the church or just among the people of God. What you do find is radical, bold, and risky public proclamation of the truth from Old Testament to New Testament.

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And specifically on this point, the book of Acts. I cannot even begin in one message to unpack all of this, but let's do it together.

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A few points so you see the principle we try to follow at Apologia Church in terms of obeying

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God and winning the world to Jesus. First point, if you go to Acts chapter 2, you see the day of Pentecost.

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All these different people converge in one place.

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God ordained this moment where all of these people come into this one area and the apostle

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Peter and the rest of the apostles and disciples are filled with the Spirit of God. They start speaking to all of these foreigners in their known language.

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Now the gospel, this is incredible, they're told, win the entire world to Jesus. They're probably thinking, how in the world is that gonna happen?

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And now they're waiting at Pentecost for this moment where they're gonna be filled with the power of the Holy Spirit and then it happens.

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And they go out during this big moment where people from every nation are there and they start preaching the gospel on that one day to all these people in their own language.

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It's a miracle of the Spirit of God. And now people in this public moment with a public proclamation,

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Peter says to repent and believe the gospel. Now 3 ,000 people come to Jesus getting baptized and guess what happens?

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As they're now in Christ, they go home. They go home and now the gospel just went like dynamite.

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It just blew up in one location and all of the collateral damage got spread over the

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Empire in a moment, in a blink of an eye. Now the gospel goes now to the ends of the earth in that moment and it's like fire all over the

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Roman Empire. The gospel is spreading, but notice Peter preaches this gospel in a public way.

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It's in the public square. It's not just in the four walls of a church. They did not just have a revival tent going on.

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They went out into the public square, the public realm, and they proclaimed the truth.

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Next point, Acts chapter 4. You see Peter and John before the council and what are they told?

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They're told basically, shut up. Shut up. Stop preaching in this name.

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They're preaching publicly and what takes place is verse 5, the rulers and elders and scribes gathered together in Jerusalem and what are they saying?

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They're saying to these apostles to stop preaching in Christ's name.

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In verse 13, now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were uneducated common men, they were astonished and they recognized that they had been with Jesus, but seeing the man who was healed standing beside them, they had nothing to say in opposition, but when they had commanded them to leave the council, they conferred with one another saying, what shall we do with these men for what a notable sign has been performed through them is evident to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem and we cannot deny it, but in order, watch, here it is, that it may spread no further among the people.

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Let us warn them to speak no more to anyone in this name. So they called them and charged them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus and here is what you just have to love, but Peter, the one who had denied

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Jesus, the one who was afraid to say that he knew Jesus, the one who denies him in front of a little servant girl, he says now, a changed man after seeing

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Jesus raised from the dead. Whether it is right the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard, and when they had further threatened them, they let them go finding no way to punish them.

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So now, ready? Shut up and go. Now move on.

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Acts 5 17, back again, they've been arrested now. Verse 17, the high priest rose up and all who were with them, that is the party of the

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Sadducees, and filled with jealousy, they arrested the Apostles and put them in public prison. But during the night, an angel of the

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Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out and said, go and stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this life.

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And when they heard this, they entered the temple at daybreak and began to teach. Now when the high priest came and those who were with them, they called together the council and all the

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Senate of the people of Israel and sent to the prison to have them brought. But when the officers came, they did not find them in the prison, so they returned and reported, we found the prison securely locked, the guards standing at the doors, but when we opened them, we found no one inside.

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Now when the captain of the temple and the chief priest heard these words, they were greatly perplexed about them, wondering what this would come to.

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And someone came and told them, look, so it's where they're at, look, the men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people.

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So now what? They've been told, legal directive, command, shut up, stop preaching in his name.

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Now they get arrested, they get divine deliverance, and where do they go immediately? They go back to the public square and they start preaching again.

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And of course we get a warning here to the Apostles, they're told basically to shut up, but I want you to see,

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I want you to see how this is spoken of. Watch what they say to him.

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Verse 27, chapter 5, it says, and when they had brought them, they set them before the council and the high priest questioned them, saying, we strictly charge you not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled

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Jerusalem with your teaching, and you intend to bring this man's blood upon us.

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But Peter and the Apostles answered, we must obey God rather than men. Now notice, I want you to see that charge, highlight it, underline it, if you're able to do that in your

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Bibles, I want you to notice that. What was the charge to the early church, to the Apostles, to the leaders?

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What was the charge? You are filling Jerusalem up with this teaching. The Apostles are not just having home church, they were, house churches, because they're just starting off, they're not just in their little communities as Christians, they're not just focusing on the church, the leaders of the early church were specifically guiding and leading and shepherding the early church, shepherd the flock of God among you, but they were going out specifically into the public square, and they were creating righteous and godly controversy with the truth, and they were doing it with all boldness, and notice the charge, you're filling

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Jerusalem up with this teaching. Listen, I have felt for a long time a deep conviction, a deep conviction, and I preached in Dublin at the only

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Reformed Baptist Church in all of Dublin when we were there. I preached to this church, and one of the things

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I said to that church was this. On this specific text, I said, is this a charge that could be made about this church in Dublin?

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You see, because if the early church was engaged leadership, of course the church as well, everybody was there, but the leaders specifically are the ones leading the people of God into the fight in the public square, you see that as a pattern.

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I don't believe you're a faithful pastor, I do not believe that you're a faithful pastor if you do not lead your people into conflict in the public square.

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That's the principle you find in the book of Acts, but watch, I do not believe that we can be faithful if we are not filling our city up, our world up, with the teaching of Christ.

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And one of the things I ask myself is this, can that charge be made about apologia?

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Can that charge be made about me as a pastor? Can that charge be made about our mission, that you guys are obviously filling this place up with the teaching of Christ?

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I'm deeply convicted by that. Can that be said of us as a church? Next, we're doing a cursory look here in terms of the principle of public proclamation in the public square.

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Acts chapter 9, the Apostle Paul, verse 22, you see the Apostle Paul was saved, he increases in strength, and it says what?

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He confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus was the Christ.

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What was the result of the Apostle Paul's coming to Jesus? He immediately beelines it to Damascus, he gets to where the public are, and he preaches

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Christ, confounding the Jews who dwell there, proving that Jesus is the Messiah. This is a

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Christianity with legs on it. It's a Christianity in the public square that's in conflict with the world, which is, of course, you can understand why

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Paul says in Romans chapter 10, how are they gonna hear unless someone tells them?

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Paul is living that life, he's preaching in that way, and the result of Paul going into conflict with the world, it says that he preached boldly in the name of Jesus, he preached boldly in the name of the

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Lord, and he spoke, verse 29, and disputed among the Hellenists, but they were seeking to kill him.

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So, of course, you see here in the text the result of this kind of living the gospel in the public square, speaking boldly in the name of the

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Lord, the conflict leads to, it says in the text, verse 31, the church throughout all

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Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace, it was being built up, and walking in the fear of the

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Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it, watch, multiplied.

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Church grew. They had the peace of God, they were multiplied, they were growing as a church.

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Why? Why? Some mystical power that Paul had over against Christians in the 21st century in Arizona?

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No. You have to compare, compare, say, what's the variable? If Paul has the same

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God, the same spirit, and the same gospel, and he's preaching the gospel, and the world's turning upside down, and we're over here in the

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West today saying, don't engage the culture, don't cause problems, don't create controversy in any way, see the divide of the secular and the sacred, if we believe that, and we ask the question, why are we failing, and why is

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Paul so successful? I think the variable there is seen in the fact that we're not bold. We're not in the public square.

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Next, if you look in Acts chapter 14, another instance, we don't have to read it all today, but just go there,

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Acts 14, there's the instance in verse 1, in Iconium, they entered together into the Jewish synagogue and spoke in such a way that a great number of both

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Jews and Greeks believed, but the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers, so they remained for a long time, here it is, speaking boldly for the

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Lord, who bore witness to the word of His grace. There's another example, public proclamation.

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Next, Acts chapter 17, you're mostly, probably all of you familiar with Acts chapter 17, you see the beginning there, the city gets into an uproar, he's reasoning from the

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Scriptures in the public square, but of course you see Paul in Athens, the

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Areopagus. Quick point on this, Paul goes to the place, the center of philosophical debate and discussion.

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This was Paul, in his day, going to the central place where people thought they were educated, where they were intelligent.

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These are the people that had wisdom, and Paul, I believe, there is being brought up on preliminary charges.

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They're not just simply interested in Paul coming to share some tidbits of spiritual wisdom.

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I believe the Apostle Paul, I believe it can be demonstrated, Paul was being brought up on preliminary charges.

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There are specific rules of debate in this thing here at the Areopagus, and what does

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Paul do? He points to the fact that they already know God, he talks about Jesus, and what does he say?

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Jesus really wants you to let him into your heart? Would you just give

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Jesus a chance? Would you just let Jesus have a 90 -day trial in your life?

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We giggle at that, but a really well -known evangelical pastor said that on Fox News, just give

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Jesus a, I think, 30 or 90 -day trial. No, Paul goes into the center of philosophical debate and discussion in his day, he preaches

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Christ, and what does he say? He says, verse 30, chapter 17, the times of ignorance

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God overlooked, but now he, what's the word, requests? Now he commands all people everywhere to repent.

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That's the message of the Apostles. Acts chapter 18, more public proclamation of the truth. Acts chapter 18, verse 24, one of my favorites, we don't know a lot about him, but I like him a lot.

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Acts chapter 18, verse 24, now a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus.

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Here's what it says about Apollos, I love it. He was an eloquent man, competent in the Scriptures, he had been instructed in the way of the

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Lord, and being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately, knew only the things concerning Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John.

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He began to speak, where's that word, what is it? Boldly. He began to speak boldly in the synagogue, but when

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Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him and explained to him the way of God more accurately, and when he wished to cross to Achaia, the brothers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him.

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When he arrived, he greatly helped those through grace, those who through grace had believed, here it is, verse 28, for he powerfully refuted the

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Jews in public, showing by the Scriptures that the

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Messiah was Jesus. There's the principle, public proclamation of the truth, you see it in the public square, the book of Acts demonstrates that.

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So I want to show one more point here, this is just a verse to write down, Acts chapter 2 verse 42, just write it down,

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Acts 2 verse 42, you see that the New Testament apostles and leaders, they balanced, watch, very important, they balanced two things, and this is what as a church we want you to know is our passion, two things they balanced.

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You see the public proclamation of the gospel, boldness in the public square with the truth of God, the other thing is

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Acts 2 42, and what's it say? It says that the early church was gathered together and there wasn't a need among them.

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Why? Because as a church they took care of each other's needs. One, they were also in the apostles teaching, and they were breaking bread together, they were living together, so we believe as a church we have to be concerned about both things.

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We believe that's an error to focus only on your local body and not on the proclamation of the truth and winning the world to Jesus.

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If you're focused on your own community and just your own needs, then you're missing this other vital aspect of the kingdom of God and the mission of the local church.

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You must be about the bold proclamation of the gospel and be creating righteous and godly controversy with the truth where you're at.

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Take care of the church, grow as a body, break bread, apostles teaching, take care of each other's needs, and then fight.

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Fight. I believe that if a pastor, and I might get in trouble for this, but I think

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I can demonstrate it through the text, I believe that if a pastor of a local body is not leading his body into conflict with the world, he is being unfaithful at that point.

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He is being unfaithful at that point. If a pastor doesn't live as an example for his people to get into conflict with the world and to risk and to suffer for the cause of the gospel, then he has no business telling his people to do it.

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A pastor has to lead his people by example with the bold proclamation of the gospel in the culture that you're in.

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And I want to say this, is it easier to just focus on just your local body and not get into a fight with the world?

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Is it easier? Yes. Is it more comfortable to only focus on yourself and not the world?

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It's very comfortable. Is it much more difficult to put yourself at risk as a church to fight the world and the enemy itself and try to overcome the evil with the light?

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Is it gonna come with conflict and problems and suffering and collapse? Absolutely.

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But is it a divine command? Yes, it is. And as a church, we have to balance both things.

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Our life as a body and our conflict with the world. That's the call.

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Next. Here's the final points. Apology as motto.

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Fill the world up with the gospel. What have we tried to do as a church to model?

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We want to focus on local and global mission. Local and global mission.

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Our gospel proclamation. We believe ought to be in personal relationships. You ought to be focused as a believer in the relationships you have that God has about you.

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Focus on leading those people to Christ. We should be, and I hate this word because it almost seems like evangelicals just abuse this word, and it's gonna leave my lips right now, but I want you to know that I think it's been so abused, and I hate it in the evangelical community because it gets used everywhere, and it almost seems like another evangelical pithy slogan, and I hate them, but I'll use the word intentional.

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It makes my skin crawl when I see people using that word, and you get the feeling they don't really know what it means or maybe don't mean it.

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But we do have to be intentional in terms of understanding that if God has saved me in his providence, he's placed me in a position where I have particular co -workers or neighbors or family or friends or opportunities around me, and I already am a missionary.

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I am a missionary. I don't need to be trained to be a missionary to go to a far distant land necessarily.

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I may be called to do that, but God has saved me and put me in a community, and he intends for me to be a witness to the people around me, and I have to be intentional about my proclamation.

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I have to be bold with my proclamation. Notice the difference. There is a difference between being bold and being a jerk.

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There's a difference between being a prophet and a jerk. A huge difference. I can be bold and be humble.

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The apostles demonstrate that. They never created offense for the gospel because of their behavior.

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The gospel is already offensive enough to somebody who's lost. It doesn't need your help to be offensive.

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I've seen people take the offense of the gospel and add a little seasoning of their own.

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I saw a guy once outside the Mormon temple in Mesa. He was witnessing to people, witnessing to people, and as he was talking to them,

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I could see in his spirit and his attitude, no love for these Mormons, and a

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Mormon guy was being gracious to him, and he was not being gracious back, and the Mormon guy went to shake his hand, and he pulled his hand away, and he said,

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I don't shake hands with unbelievers. I looked right at that Christian, and I chastised him up and down, right in front of the

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Mormon, and I went and stuck my hand out to the Mormon, and I said, please take my hand, and please accept my apologies for this awful witness, because that was offensive behavior that wasn't even necessary.

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So when I say bold with our families, with our friends, I don't mean be a weirdo, right?

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Or be a jerk. I'll be honest, there are some people that profess Christ I would never invite to dinner.

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I wouldn't want them over for dinner, because sometimes people profess the name of Jesus, let's be honest, can be real jerks, mean -spirited, unloving, unkind, using the

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Word of God as a sword to hurt people rather than to save people. And so I'm not calling us to boldness that looks like being a meanie.

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I'm talking about humble boldness. Next, we believe in a Gospel proclamation, not just in personal relationships, but in the public square.

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We need to have the accusation made of us, you're filling Phoenix up with this teaching, you're filling

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Arizona up with this teaching, you're filling the world up with this teaching. We try to model public proclamation of the

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Gospel at the Mormon Temple, at public debate with atheists, through Apologia Radio.

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It's an extension of our teaching arm of our church. I think it was two years ago we had 1 million downloads of Apologia Radio worldwide.

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We try to model this public proclamation through Apologia TV, the NRB network, three times a week on YouTube.

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We've tried to model the public proclamation in the public square with our YouTube channel, with millions of hours of views every year.

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We try to model it through communicating the truth to Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, atheists, people from all kinds of backgrounds,

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Catholics, even Christians around the world. We get contacted from all over the world today, people who were

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Mormons that saw our church's witness online and they turned to Jesus because they watched it.

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People who were atheists that have come to Christ through watching our church's witness. People who are

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Catholics that turn to Jesus through the biblical gospel, through watching our content. Christians all over the world say that they watch our resources, they listen to our resources, they learn from it, and now they're actually empowered to go serve

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God where they're at to preach the gospel. It's a really amazing thing.

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It's humbling because we're not mighty in ourselves, and I'm not just trying to have just sort of the necessary Christian humility.

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I mean that sincerely. We've always, as a church, lived,

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I think I can say this, we have sins in the area of giving. As a church, we have since the beginning.

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All of us are being sanctified in that area, so we've lived at times with no budget to speak of, and God somehow provides the way for these amazing ministries that we don't even have the money to do, and he makes it happen.

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He drops it from the sky like manna from heaven. We've always, as a church, had a smaller body, not this massive movement in front of us where we have all of these resources and all these people.

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He's always done it, demonstrating at every single turn that it's him and it's not us who's doing this, and it's incredible as God has had our ministry impact in the world.

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I mean just it's incredible. It's stuff that just stuns you. You think, I never even knew.

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I asked God for it. We asked God for it, and I never understood that it was actually to this degree.

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I was speaking at a conference years ago in Australia, and they worked me to death, and I praised

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God for that opportunity, so I had these little moments where I could catch a breath, and I went to go get something to eat, and twice in the mall, some random

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Australian mall, people walked up and they were like, oh my goodness, I love your ministry, and I listen to that stuff all the time, and it's changing my life.

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In New Zealand, Canada, when Dr. Joe Boot was here recently, he said, you know,

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I speak around the world, and he said, I was in this small town in England, this little nothing town that like nobody knew.

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He said, you wouldn't know it if I said it to you. I was in a small church, and this group of young men walked up to me, and they were like,

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Dr. Boot, we learned about you from Apologia. We're huge fans of that ministry, and it's totally changing us, and that's how we learned about you and your ministry.

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He's like, people are learning from your ministry in some nothing little town in England. In Ireland, again, at the

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Pro -Life Rally, Christians are walking up to us saying, praise God, we watch your stuff all the time. It's equipping us so we can engage in the area of abortion.

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Thank you for your ministry. Don't stop as a church what you're doing. You are changing the world. In Belfast, again, people walking up to me on the side of the street and just saying, hey,

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I watched this stuff on Mormonism, and now I'm using it to witness to my Mormon neighbors. Small towns in Ireland.

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This was really powerful. We started as a church, End Abortion Now. Everyone in this room that's been here from the beginning, you know we were convicted as a church to the core.

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We were cut five years ago. We were convicted. What are we doing? We talk about abortion as being sinful and wanting to save children, but we haven't done a thing.

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We talk about an abortion Sunday once a year. We haven't done anything to really stop it.

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We were challenged by that, and a couple of us at Apologia said, we're just gonna go. We saved two babies our first day at Planned Parenthood.

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God confirmed it. We've saved probably over a hundred children locally ourselves now just because of it.

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But see, initially, what we were thinking as a church, we're not thinking some grand... you understand that we're not that cool, and we're not that great.

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We weren't like, let's form a grand vision for worldwide global gospel witness and abortion.

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We were like, we would like to save some children in Tempe. That's it. That's it.

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That's all we thought, and we said, you that were here, you know you heard me say it.

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I said, guys, if we do this our whole lives, and we save one child, one, it's a life well lived.

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We all said amen, and now there have been literally thousands and thousands of children saved as a result of our ministry infecting other ministries, and those ministries popping up, and they're saving lives today, and we never had that vision.

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But watch, when we started End Abortion Now last year, not one of us, not one of us understood what

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God was gonna do with it. God raised up about 250 local churches across the country that are now on the same mission that are saving lives, but we never thought, when we were starting this ministry, we never thought that we were making a global movement to bring the gospel into conflict with abortion literally around the world.

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And by the end of this year, it looks like the message of End Abortion Now, the gospel coming into conflict with abortion is gonna be in Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, Canada, America.

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And one more, I gotta tell you, you can definitely applaud that. I want to encourage you as a church, what we've been praying for, what we've been invested in as a church is changing the world.

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So End Abortion Now, the conference in Ireland, I want you to know that on Wednesday when we had the conference, it exceeded our expectations completely.

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Joy and Zach and Luke and I, I think none of us expected what happened that night.

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Christians came from churches across denominations, Northern and Southern Ireland, that's both countries, converged up in the north, at a church in the north, people drove for hours to get there.

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One person didn't get home the next day till 3 .30 in the morning because they had to drive home. So it wasn't just local people.

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Presbyterians were there, Baptists were there, Anglicans were there, Pentecostals were there.

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The room was so full there wasn't a seat left, and the overflow room was full too. That's what the conference looked like.

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Christians across denominations, from across borders, were in one place to hear the message about how the gospel needs to be used to fight against abortion and to reject the neutrality and rhetoric of the pro -life movement in America, to make it about Christ and God's Word.

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People were cut, they were challenged, and they were mobilized. While Zach was preaching for like 16 hours,

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I want you all to know that Zach preached longer than me.

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He did. I taught you well, young Padawan. He preached for an hour in like 30 or 40 minutes, and while he was preaching, and people were falling out windows dead.

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Listen, while he's preaching, I'm in the lobby getting ready, and a guy's looking kind of weird at me from the overflow room, and he walks up, and he has this very thick

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German accent, and he says, Pastor Jeff, I just want to tell you that it's great to meet you.

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He said, The elders of my church, I'm one of only two Reformed Baptist churches in all of Germany.

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I'm one of only two Reformed Baptist churches in all of Germany. He says, And I've been sent here specifically by the elders of my church to send you official greetings.

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So he came from Germany to Northern Ireland. He said, My pastors have sent me here to give you official greetings and to tell you that we want your help to fight abortion in Germany.

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Isn't that incredible? We don't even realize what God is doing with the witness of our church and faithfulness.

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We're at one conference in the north of Ireland. Christians from all over Ireland. This thing is barely advertised, and it's known all over Ireland, and now elders of a church in Germany are sending a man on a mission to send his official greetings and to say,

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Please help us. He says, We don't want to use the pro -life movement's rhetoric. We want to use the gospel, and we need help.

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That's in Germany. So that was one thing, and then on Tuesday, on Tuesday, by the way, it was one of the busiest and most exhausting missions we've ever had.

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We were non -stop, train to train, to church to church. It was exhausting and encouraging.

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On Monday, we're getting ready, and Raquella, who we stayed with, all of us squeezed into this one tiny house, try to save money, and so three days there, she says,

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We've set up a meeting with Christians from all over Northern Ireland who want to meet with you guys tomorrow at two o 'clock.

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Didn't expect it. I said, Fantastic! That's what we're here for, and she told us that she was worried, and I couldn't understand why she'd be worried, and she said that there were people there who strongly disagreed with us and were upset with us.

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They were upset with our documentary where we interviewed Irish people who said that they believe the church wasn't doing enough, and they were convicted of that.

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She said she was very concerned because there was going to be people there who opposed us and were upset with us.

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So we prayed fervently for this meeting. Christians, pastors from all over Northern Ireland showed up at this house, and by the end of the meeting, there was not only conflict in that meeting, and you'd be so proud of your

01:00:10

Pastor Luke. So proud. I think Luke and I do a great job of good cop, bad cop.

01:00:19

A great job, a divinely inspired job of good cop, bad cop, and Pastor Luke had the opportunity to speak the truth with love and boldness, but to confront somebody who was trying to oppose our mission in Ireland, and he did it with grace, and he did it with boldness, and he didn't pull punches, and by the end of the meeting, this person had said,

01:00:46

I'm with you. I want to help. So now we had

01:00:52

Christians who were in tears in this first meeting, and all of them said this.

01:00:57

They said, tell us what to do. We need your help. We're convicted. We're wrong. Help us.

01:01:03

God sent you here to help us, and now that church, that entire movement of over 40 churches is now connected to our church, and we're equipping them to fight abortion all over Ireland.

01:01:13

Then on Wednesday, all the churches in North and South are saying, we're in, and then on Thursday, we've had a private meeting with pastors and leaders in Dublin, and by the end of the meeting, there were tears, and one of the pastors said, we're convicted.

01:01:29

I'm challenged. I feel now the need to now get involved in the fight. Please help us.

01:01:35

And so now as a church, this is so humbling, we are now a church that God has called to equip all of Ireland, North and South, to fight against abortion with the gospel.

01:01:47

That's how they see us, and they're all asking for our resources and our help. That is what God is doing with Apology of Church.

01:01:59

So final word here, get involved, brothers and sisters. Get involved.

01:02:05

Your pastors are trying to lead by example about how to come into conflict with the culture.

01:02:12

We are not asking you to let us be the ones that do it.

01:02:19

Our commitment is to lead by example as shepherds.

01:02:25

What does it look like to be bold in a culture of death? So what we're saying is this, follow us as we follow

01:02:33

Christ. Follow us as we follow Christ. Get involved. Get involved in local missions.

01:02:40

Get involved in local government. Let us help you to do it, to be a witness there. Help us to spread the truth.

01:02:48

Get on mission with us. I'm going to point you to two quick texts. I want you to see them.

01:02:54

Ephesians chapter 5. Ephesians chapter 5. That's the first one.

01:03:00

Second one. Another finger. Put it in James. Put it in James.

01:03:07

Chapter 4 verse 14. Two texts. Word of God is the end here. Two texts.

01:03:13

Ephesians chapter 5. Paul says in verse 15, look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best of the time because the days are evil.

01:03:27

Making the best of the time because the days are evil. I'm 40 now and I've been reflecting because I just turned 40.

01:03:38

Not sad. Excited. Not depressed. Excited.

01:03:44

I've been thinking or reflecting on the fact that, and you know, some of you are really old. Just kidding.

01:03:51

Just kidding. You know what I'm talking about. And how unbelievably fast life is.

01:03:59

It is so fast. No kid in here believes me. No teenager in here understands.

01:04:06

You think that's just something old people say. And how dare you call me old. But it's true.

01:04:17

Life is so fast. It happens before you know it. And I've been thinking,

01:04:24

I don't know if I'm doing enough. I know you have to balance that with delighting

01:04:30

God, enjoying God, enjoying your family, and so, you know, all that is, that's not, I'm not ignoring that. It's a presupposition.

01:04:36

But I mean in terms of, I don't know that I have really actually thought about how fleeting life is, how much of a vapor it is, and how much this truly matters.

01:04:48

Paul says make the most of the time because the days are evil. Make the most of the time because the days are evil.

01:04:54

How much time do I have left to serve God? How much time do I have left to do meaningful things?

01:05:00

How much time do I have left to obey James 4 14? James 4 14 says, yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring.

01:05:10

What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. That's the truth.

01:05:17

So brothers and sisters, I ask, how are you serving God? How are you making the most of your time?

01:05:24

How are you recognizing that life is a vapor? How will you serve him with your life? Don't let this be a motivational speech.

01:05:30

Don't. Don't. What's that worth? To come to church, to be motivated, and to just go into a place that's an echo chamber, and to hear somebody say something you already believe in.

01:05:39

What's that worth? But the question is, what will you do for Christ? How will you live your life in a way that is loud and bold for God?