Right Fellowship - Colossians 4:2-6

Faith Bible Church

Subscribe

Download

Share

00

00:00

Welcome to Faith Bible Church. For those of you who are tuning in on our video on YouTube, I see some new faces and welcome to you.

00:09

We're glad you're here, and I hope you can sense the warmth of the folks at Faith Bible Church.

00:15

They're a loving group of people, I believe, and it's just, I'm encouraged every time I come to church, and I think most of you are as well, so it's a good day.

00:25

Every Lord's Day is a good day that we can gather together. Well, I guess fall's definitely upon us.

00:31

The leaves are changing, and we might have a chance of rain this week. Praise God for that, if we get some.

00:40

I wanted to, by way of announcements, and you can check your bulletin here, the main announcement is there's a homeless outreach that Dave Hahn is planning for November 13th.

00:52

I'm not going to read everything through this. I'd encourage you to do that. There are some needs of some items that if you could, this is for the

01:03

Union Gospel mission. The items need to be for the men only for this one. In the past, when we've brought in those type of items, it's been for all across the board, but this is their focus right now.

01:17

So if you want to bring those in and give them to Dave, or we can put them in the back room and make ready for the 13th when we gather here.

01:26

We pray, we go to the mission, give them the gifts, the donations, and then we head down to Cesar Chavez Plaza and kind of do street evangelizing.

01:39

Just pray and share with the folks that are down there. It's really spontaneous. You just never know how the

01:47

Lord's going to lead you there. So you just walk in faith, and I think isn't that the best place to be, is to just trusting in the

01:55

Lord to lead and to guide you and to not get worked up. And if you've never done it before,

02:01

I'd encourage you to try it. It's not as scary as it seems, and sometimes it's just somebody standing there next to somebody, one of your other brothers and sisters, being together and sharing the word.

02:13

It's really encouraging. I think you will find it very worthwhile. So take note of that as well, please.

02:22

And we're going to be also having, I believe, I think we decided the first Monday of next month, or the first Sunday, we're going to have an evangelism class, and we're going to try to do that on a semi -regular basis.

02:35

So Pastor Ilgen is going to present a PowerPoint, and we're going to go through some things. Because I think as a church of our size, evangelism should be on our minds always, regardless of the size of the church, it doesn't matter.

02:48

We should always be thinking as ambassadors of Christ, of getting the word out there, spreading the word.

02:54

So we're going to begin doing that, beginning equipping the saints to do that, and I'm looking forward to that.

03:01

And also we're printing out a whole bunch of thousand door hangers to let the neighborhoods around know about us, share a little bit of the gospel message with them, but also inviting them to come to our church.

03:16

So I'll be looking for that, and that will all be organized, and you can all be a part of that, just handing things out and putting your tennis shoes on and getting out there and doing it.

03:25

Okay, so I'd like to, as we're preparing our hearts for worship this morning, and in the idea of evangelism and also getting the word out and being ambassadors, being

03:37

God's soldiers, I want to read from 1 Timothy 1, verses 12 through 17, and you can just listen along.

03:47

As to why did Christ come? It answers that question. And I thank Christ Jesus, our

03:52

Lord, who has enabled me. To back up, this is Paul. Paul was, you remember, just,

04:01

I could say, a horrible sinner, aren't we all? But he was overtly against Christians.

04:07

He did a lot of horrendous things against God's people. But God captured his heart.

04:14

He changed his heart. He saved him. And this is the man that's speaking here. And I thank

04:19

Christ Jesus, our Lord, who has enabled me, because he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry.

04:25

Although I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man, but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.

04:36

And the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant with faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.

04:42

This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom

04:51

I am chief. However, for this reason, I obtained mercy, and that in me first,

04:58

Jesus Christ might show all long -suffering as a pattern to those who are going to believe on him for everlasting life.

05:05

Now the King, eternal, immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever.

05:14

And all God's people said, Amen. Amen to that. So let's remember that.

05:20

He came to save sinners like you and me. All right, would you join me in prayer?

05:26

Lord God, we thank you that you have brought us here together today, Father, to worship you, to praise you, to lift our voices, to exalt your holy name,

05:34

Father, because you are on a holy place that we can worship, that we can approach a holy

05:40

God. It's a miracle in itself, Father, but it's through Jesus Christ that we're able to do that. So, God, may you guide us today.

05:48

May we allow the Holy Spirit to lead us as we hear your word, the truth of the gospel message, as we understand more deeply who you are as a

05:59

God, as our God, Father, and that we would honor you, that you would be pleased, Father, that we would just appreciate having the word to study and to know and to share with others,

06:13

Father. Help us to overcome our own weaknesses, that we might be bold in the faith, and that we might live lives that are honoring of you,

06:23

Father. God, thank you for our day and our time now. We commit it all to your care. In Jesus' name,

06:29

Amen. Good morning.

06:37

And Psalm 150, verse 6 says, Let everything that hath breath praise the

06:43

Lord. So, praise the Lord. And let's stand and sing to our Lord.

10:14

I'm going to be reading from Romans, chapter 15, verses 14 through 20.

10:22

That's Romans, chapter 15, verses 14 through 20.

10:34

Now I myself am confident concerning you, my brethren, that you also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another.

10:48

Nevertheless, brethren, I have written more boldly to you on some points, as reminding you because of the grace given to me by God, that I might be a minister of Jesus Christ to the

11:01

Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, that the offering of the Gentiles might be acceptable, sanctified by the

11:12

Holy Spirit. I apologize. Therefore, I have reason to glory in Christ Jesus in the things which pertain to God.

11:20

For I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ has not accomplished through me in word and deed to make the

11:30

Gentiles obedient. In mighty signs and wonders by the power of the

11:36

Spirit of God, so that from Jerusalem and around about to Illyricum, I have fully preached the gospel of Christ.

11:45

And so I have made it my aim to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build on another man's foundation.

11:54

May the good Lord add His blessing to the reading of these words. In Psalm 103 .1,

12:03

it says, And let's continue to sing to our

12:10

Lord, and let's stand. Please turn with me to Colossians chapter 4, verses 2 through 6.

17:01

Colossians chapter 4, verses 2 through 6.

17:08

Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving.

17:15

Meanwhile, praying also for us that God would open us a door for the word to speak the mystery of Christ, for which

17:24

I am also in chains, that I may make it manifest as I ought to speak.

17:32

Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time. Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.

17:45

This is the word of the Lord. Let us pray. Father, we're so thankful for your work in our lives, and we're thankful for the word you have given us, and the mission of preaching the gospel to all.

18:04

Father, we pray that our prayer would sound like Paul's prayer, that our mindset would be set on the heavenly things of your will rather than ours.

18:19

Father, we pray that you would help us to become the body of Christ that the scriptures tell us about rather than the world.

18:30

In Jesus' name, amen. We are nearing the end of the letter to the

18:40

Colossians. And this is the last part of the section that tells us how the truth of our unity with Christ affects us.

18:54

The truth that we're united to Christ in his death and resurrection, we have learned that changes every part of us, from the individual to the household, the family household, to even the church as a whole.

19:12

While the last passage was about the Christian household, this church, this passage broadens it up to the body of Christ.

19:24

The question this text answers today is, how do we live as the body of Christ?

19:31

How do we live as the body of Christ? This is an important question for us today because oftentimes the world tries to shape what the church is and does.

19:49

And sadly, certain churches do follow the world rather than the word of God.

19:58

They may worship like the world. For some church services, I don't know whether it's a concert or a worship service.

20:10

And I jokingly say that even if Faith Bible Church wanted to, we are not capable of having a concert.

20:23

Instead of... So, and that's because the world tells the church, that's how you stay relevant.

20:30

That's how you get people to come in. But that's not how the Bible says it.

20:36

The Bible tells us the best advertisement to get people is changed and transformed people by the work of the

20:44

Holy Spirit. It's the changed people in Christ who get the non -believers to pay attention and think, what is he doing differently?

20:55

Why is he so different? Why is he so at peace during chaos?

21:06

And instead of the truths of Scripture, these churches, they teach the lies of the world.

21:14

There are churches that do not preach from Scripture. Instead, they look into psychology, or modern day academia, or current events.

21:28

But Scripture tells us that we are to live on the Word of God alone.

21:34

Jesus tells us that. And they also teach how the church ought to be.

21:47

They teach that the church has to be, quote, unquote, tolerant. And by doing that, they have rejected the supremacy of Christ, the exclusivity of Christ, that he's the only way to God, which he claims.

22:09

And on Sunday mornings, these so -called churches speak like the world, and they look like the world.

22:19

However, Faith Bible Church will not go to that route because we strive to look like the church according to God's standard, which is from Scripture.

22:34

And today's passage tells us what God's standard church looks like.

22:40

Not by what the world says it needs to look like, but how God's Word tells us a church looks like.

22:50

The first point is that inside the body, we devote ourselves to prayer.

22:57

Inside the body, among the brothers and sisters in Christ, we're devoted to prayer.

23:05

Again, moving from the Christian household, Paul addresses the whole church, how it ought to live as united with Christ.

23:15

The church is not first and foremost characterized by how many programs we have.

23:21

That's not what Paul mentions. The church is not first and foremost characterized by how generous it is.

23:30

No. However, the church is characterized by her continual dependence on God through prayer.

23:39

Paul commands us in verse 2, continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving.

23:50

To continue signifies our core devotion to prayer. To continue earnestly means we are to apply ourselves completely to prayer.

24:03

Not just our outward mouth movements, but the inward posture has to be that of worship, approaching the holy and just and loving

24:17

God. That's what prayer looks like. A fervent culture of prayer in a church shows the body of Christ that is desperately depending on him,

24:32

Jesus, the head of the body. A vigorous culture of prayer in a church shows a complete trust and reliance on her husband,

24:44

Jesus. How does Paul describe the manner of our prayer?

24:50

Being vigilant in it with thanksgiving. First, being vigilant means being alert, being watchful, being awake.

25:01

Paul is aware that it is easy to drift off in prayer if we're not alert.

25:11

Many of you might have experienced this, as I have. Father, thank you so much for all the blessings we have in Jesus.

25:20

Did I turn off the oven? Oh, I forgot to feed the cats. The mind drifts off.

25:28

But that's why Paul commands us specifically to be alert. Being vigilant also means your prayers are serious.

25:39

We have three great enemies against us as the body of Christ, the world, our flesh, and the devil.

25:48

However, vigilant prayers will connect us to the greatest possible ally,

25:55

God himself. Prayer is how we totally depend on our gracious Father for all things that happen in our lives.

26:05

Without prayer, we don't stand a chance against these enemies. They're too strong, we're too weak.

26:11

But God is stronger. Being vigilant means our prayers are not rote.

26:19

Our prayers are not ritualistic. We do not use prayer as an incantation of repeating a certain phrase over and over again, hoping

26:31

God will listen maybe at the 50th time. God will not be controlled.

26:40

That's idolatry. We actively and mindfully pray according to his will.

26:48

We do not attempt to control how God needs to answer by repeating things over and over and over again.

26:58

Second, we pray with thanksgiving. This term thanksgiving has occurred a couple of times in this letter.

27:08

And this is not because Paul is forgetting that he mentioned thanksgiving, but it's because thanksgiving as a posture for Christians is important.

27:17

It's worth repeating. We pray knowing that God does not owe us anything.

27:26

We pray gratefully knowing that whatever God provides for us is out of his mercy and grace.

27:35

John Chrysostom, an early church father, recommends we thank

27:41

God for both the things seen and unseen. In our culture, we have the tendency to only thank

27:50

God for the things we see because it's more palpable, something we see every day.

27:56

We thank you, God, for the food before us. We thank you, God, for the house that we live in.

28:01

We thank you for the warmth of the weather. But oftentimes we forget the unseen. And this is what he says.

28:11

For let this, he saith, be your work, to give thanks in your prayers, both for the unseen and seen, and for his benefits to the willing and unwilling.

28:25

That's even God's benefits to those who are not walking in Christ. We give thanks to him.

28:31

And for the kingdom, and for hell, and for tribulation, and for refreshment.

28:41

Chrysostom goes so far as to giving thanks for the existence of hell, and for tribulation, and for refreshment.

28:53

That's, I don't know, when was the last time we thanked God for those things? I don't think

28:59

I've ever thanked God for the existence of hell. Our thanksgiving prayer is an acknowledgement that we totally depend on God, and he provides all things graciously.

29:14

We didn't earn it. After characterizing what Christian prayer looks like,

29:21

Paul shares his own personal prayer request. Verse three, meanwhile praying also for us that God would open to us a door for the word to speak the mystery of Christ, for which

29:36

I am also in chains, that I may make it manifest as I ought to speak.

29:44

Here we find out that Paul is writing this letter from prison. He's in chains because of the gospel.

29:53

He is in prison not because he's a criminal, but because he was proclaiming the gospel.

30:01

And unlike many of us, his prayer request, when he is imprisoned, is not to be free, but for his mouth to be free to proclaim the mystery of Christ.

30:15

This is because Paul knows that although he is bound, the word of God cannot be bound.

30:23

Although his prison cell may be closed, he wants the opportunity to share the mystery of Christ be opened.

30:32

That's his personal prayer request. And what is this mystery of Christ?

30:40

Paul mentioned the mystery a couple of times in his letter. Colossians 1, 27 told us that the mystery is

30:48

Christ in us. To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the

30:58

Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. For thousands of years, it was a mystery how the perfect and holy

31:10

God would gather for himself people from all over the world. For thousands of years,

31:18

God revealed himself mainly to the Jews. However, there are glimpses of the global worship of the

31:29

Lord in the Old Testament. For example, the last verse of the last psalm ends this way, which

31:38

David quoted today, just now. We didn't talk about this. Let everything that has breath praise the

31:45

Lord. Let everything. Doesn't sound like just Israel to me, right?

31:55

Pagans have breath. How is it possible that everything that has breath praise the

32:02

Lord when the Lord has been only worshipped by the Jews in the Old Testament?

32:08

How can the holy God unite sinful paganistic people from all over the world and unite them under him?

32:20

And this remained a mystery until Christ, God's great plan to gather worshippers from all throughout the world occurs only through his beloved son,

32:41

Jesus. The second person of the Trinity entered the world as a vulnerable baby and lived a perfect, sinless life.

32:52

And he was the only human who did not rebel against God.

32:58

He was the only being who pleased the Father in everything he did. And in obedience to his

33:08

Father, Jesus, willingly laid down his life to purchase forgiveness for the sinful humanity.

33:19

Instead of us standing before God in judgment, Jesus willingly faced the judgment for our sake on the cross.

33:27

He faced the full wrath of God that we earned. And it is precisely through Christ dying on the cross for our sin that allows for the

33:39

Gentiles to enter the people of God. Out of his love for us,

33:48

Christ endured the cross so that we could belong to him. And out of his love for his

33:54

Father, Christ endured the cross so that he could redeem all peoples to his

34:00

Father, that every people group would worship and praise the

34:08

Lord. And Paul knew what the world needed the most was not a better emperor nor a new empire.

34:21

He knew that the news that the world needed to hear was

34:26

Christ's loving sacrifice to the world. He knew that it was worth the imprisonment, it was worth all the beating and stoning, as long as the gospel could spread, the same gospel that freed him from the enslavement of sin, the same gospel that freed him from the useless striving of self -righteousness.

34:51

For Paul, his prayer request was that he may boldly and clearly proclaim the gospel of Christ to as many people as possible so that they may be freed from sin and be loved, be loved by the true

35:13

God. That was his personal prayer request. This section shows us that as a church, our lives must be soaked in prayer.

35:28

The church is shaped by her culture of prayer, both individual and corporate.

35:38

Prayer is how the body of Christ utterly depends on Jesus, the head.

35:46

Prayer is how the body of Christ continues to be the body of Christ.

35:53

As the head communicates with the body, the body also responds to the head. Your body does it physically, so does the church.

36:03

And the church is not separated from Christ, but is always prayerfully walking with Christ.

36:12

And I have been very encouraged by the prayer night that happens every

36:17

Sunday night at 6 p .m. It is so rare for a church of any size to have a double -digit number of people showing up consistently to pray, to intercede for the city, and intercede for one another.

36:38

And we have experienced a lot of answered prayers. Praise God.

36:47

And Paul tells us that's what it looks like for the church. The church continually prays, vigilantly and with thanksgiving.

36:58

And this also means there's also value in prayer when we pray for things that are recorded in the

37:09

Bible. Here, we can imitate Paul in praying for more opportunities to share the gospel.

37:21

Consider what opportunities and desires for evangelism God has given you already.

37:28

For some of you, it may be giving a gospel tract to one person you've been praying for for many years.

37:36

You want them to at least read the gospel, right? Maybe you're too shy or too scared to say it out loud, but, man,

37:44

I just want this person, this neighbor, this friend, this family member to actually have access to the gospel, right?

37:52

And for some of you, it may be more bold, maybe open preaching on college campus.

38:00

They are vastly different desires that God has put in your hearts, but they both start with the prayer that God would open to us a door for the word to speak the mystery of Christ and that I may make it manifest, clear, public, so as I ought to speak.

38:25

And we ought to make this a daily prayer. Pray for more boldness to share the gospel of Christ with our coworkers, our neighbors, our family.

38:37

Pray for more opportunities to share the gospel even. You'd be surprised how

38:46

God would answer that prayer. It could be a spam call, and you could share the gospel with this person.

38:56

After all, consider there are people who are hopeless and lost in their sin, and they know it.

39:05

These people know that they're not good enough and they're trapped in their sin, but they don't know how to get out.

39:15

However, Christians, you know the only thing, the only solution that frees anyone from the heavy burden of sin, and that is the gentle and pierced hands of our

39:28

Savior who will take on any of their sin and for all give them his light yoke, the yoke of freedom, the yoke of loyal love, a love that does not fade, a yoke of the warmest welcome.

39:50

It does not matter what kind of sinner you are. When you approach this

39:56

God, he'll welcome you, and you've experienced such compassionate acceptance of God in Christ.

40:05

You live in the loyal love of God in Christ. Wouldn't you want everyone you know to experience this?

40:17

That's why we pray for the next interaction with an unbelieving person to be an opportunity to clearly share

40:27

Jesus. Next, how do

40:32

Christians live among the nonbelievers? Outside the body, we answer nonbelievers with wisdom.

40:42

Outside the body, we answer with wisdom. Paul has a different set of instructions for the church regarding how we interact with the world.

40:55

Verse 5, walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time.

41:03

It is important to note that we interact with brothers and sisters in Christ differently than how we interact with nonbelievers.

41:12

I've met some Christians who claim that, oh, I fellowship with some nonbelieving friends.

41:18

That's not a thing. Your community of faith is not nonbelieving family or friends.

41:28

There is a distinct separation from the church and those who are not in the church, those who don't believe in Christ.

41:40

Paul moves from our personal prayer life with the church to how to live in the world without joining the world.

41:51

Paul moves from how to live as the body of Christ to how to function in the world without pledging allegiance to the world.

42:08

First, Paul commands us to walk in wisdom toward those who are outside. Walking is an idiom.

42:17

It's a Jewish idiom for how you live your life, like your way of life, not just your physical outward behavior but your whole inward behavior.

42:31

How does that look like? And Paul says this is not the worldly wisdom or the heretical wisdom taught earlier by the false teachers that Christ is not enough, but this is precisely the wisdom of God, wisdom that comes from God, how we live according to God's standards.

42:55

We biblically discern what we do in public. We have to know the things we say, the things we do, and the things we don't do and the things we don't say.

43:09

We have to use the biblical worldview, the lenses we put on have to be biblical when making decisions, and we have to ask ourselves daily, how does this action represent

43:23

Christ well? What will the world see in Christ by the choices that I make?

43:33

And the only way to know how we represent Christ well and follow his standards is to really know the

43:41

Bible and the author. You have to know

43:46

Christ at a personal level in order to know how am I representing

43:51

Christ well. You have to know what Christ will like and what

43:56

Christ does not like. You've got to know that. It's not just a Bible trivia.

44:03

You go to the Bible to know the person, Christ, not just to know all the facts.

44:11

This is why you can have a grandmother or grandfather in the church who knows

44:18

Christ well and walks uprightly, yet a seminary professor who might have the whole

44:25

New Testament memorized walk like the devil. It's not just about the knowledge, but the knowledge at a personal level.

44:37

And in order to do that, we have to approach God in his word, how he reveals himself.

44:45

We have to fill our minds with God's voice daily. Wouldn't you fill your mind, listen to the voice of the ones you love every day?

44:56

And we have to seek God's presence in his word daily. When you open the Bible to read, that's how you encounter the living

45:03

God. We must delight in his word as the dessert that we look forward to having tonight.

45:13

That is how you will know whether you're following God's voice or the world's voice. You're filled with his word.

45:20

You know what God would want you to do. In addition to our actions,

45:30

Paul emphasizes that the very words that come out of our mouths must represent

45:38

Christ well. Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.

45:48

When you're walking in wisdom of God, even your conversations are done with grace.

45:58

This is because even the truest things can be said in the rudest manner, in the most condescending manner.

46:12

For those who have experienced the greatest grace of God in Christ, our manner and then the content of our speech must also reflect that.

46:24

It ought to be gracious. And how can the same mouth that proclaims the most gracious message of Christ dying for us on the cross be also the source of some of the crudest and the most corrupt words?

46:41

It can't. How can sewage come from the fountain of spring water? Christians, we are commanded to proclaim the gospel to the world, but we must not also talk like the world.

46:59

Not only is it with grace, but it has to be seasoned with salt. Salt was used to preserve meat from going bad, preserve meat from rotting.

47:12

And Jesus told his disciples on the Sermon on the Mount that we are to be the salt of the world.

47:17

The world is going bad, but Christians, the disciples, they gotta stand firm. They gotta speak truth, right?

47:26

Maybe the world will listen. Oftentimes it doesn't, but you gotta speak truth. Because oftentimes you hear

47:34

Christians say, I know I should have said something,

47:40

I could have said something, I could have corrected this person, I could have told them maybe this is a bad idea, it would ruin your life, but I want it to be nice.

47:53

And they say something, they try to split the grace and truth apart, right?

48:01

Err on the side of grace. So I stayed silent. You can be gracious and still speak truth.

48:08

And that's what Paul's saying here, seasoned with salt. Salt can hurt, but it can be said in the gracious manner.

48:18

Even if it hurts, it's still done out of grace. It's still done out of the care and love for the person you're talking to.

48:27

And we have to remember that as Christians. Because it's the world's lie that says, oh that's not gracious.

48:37

What do you mean telling people that Jesus is the only way, he's the only way you would achieve forgiveness, you can receive forgiveness is only through Jesus.

48:48

The world will say that's not gracious, but that is the most gracious thing you can say to the world. Right? That's what it means to be seasoned with salt.

48:57

It could hurt, it will hurt, but it can prevent from rotting.

49:07

And that's why when the world introduces corrupting ideas, Christians must graciously oppose them with biblical truths.

49:19

Christians need to correct the lies of the world with the truth of scripture in a gracious manner.

49:25

Not in the arrogant way, oh I know better, you guys are dumb dumbs. Right? But in the way that I want you to see the truth that God has revealed to me.

49:37

Because this path will ruin you. I want your life to be different, better.

49:44

I want you to live by believing in Christ. And what is the purpose of our gracious and salty speech?

49:53

That you may know how you ought to answer each one. When the world has questions about our faith, we do not hide, we answer.

50:05

We don't stay silent, we answer the world with grace and truth.

50:12

Christians can be the most confident when confronted because we worship the

50:21

God of truth. Our God is the one who established logic.

50:29

Our God calls himself the truth. Jesus calls himself the truth.

50:36

We can be confident in the claims of scripture because it comes from the very mouth of God.

50:43

God is the source. Not only that, God has supplied with the most number and the most reliable archaeological artifacts of the

50:58

Bible. The New Testament, the Greek New Testament manuscripts, we have over 5 ,000 of them and written as early as the first century which was the same century in which

51:11

Jesus was walking. Other ancient manuscripts cannot say that.

51:19

Homer's Iliad, hundreds of years later, that's the first, oldest copy we have.

51:27

Julius Caesar's biography, a thousand years after Julius Caesar's life.

51:34

The world has no problem believing in Julius Caesar as a real person but for some reason the world can't see the truth of the

51:46

New Testament which we have some of the oldest copies of from the first and second century.

51:53

And not just one, not just two, over 5 ,000. And they don't contradict each other.

51:59

There might be slight variations but they don't contradict each other. We Christians can be confident in that because God graciously provided that.

52:10

We have facts on our side. We have evidence. And not only that, the

52:17

Dead Sea Scrolls, that's the Old Testament. Oftentimes people thought, oh the Hebrew manuscript cannot be trusted because over the thousands of years it's been edited.

52:28

And then we find the Dead Sea Scroll which is about about a thousand years earlier than the earliest copy we had.

52:35

And it's so similar. And it's been preserved. So the message didn't change.

52:44

God has provided us with Scripture and evidence but also the

52:52

Holy Spirit. Right? Remember what Jesus promised in Luke 12, 11 through 12.

52:59

When you are brought before synagogues, rulers and authorities, do not worry about what you will, how you will defend yourselves or what you will say.

53:09

For the Holy Spirit will teach you at the time what you should say. Do you believe that?

53:17

Oftentimes we're discouraged that we do not have all the information possible. So we may not be able to answer the questions.

53:26

But when you're defending the faith and when you get stuck, you can always go to God for help.

53:36

The Holy Spirit will give you the right words to say at the right time. When I was younger and I was evangelizing on a college campus,

53:46

I ran into someone who believed that nothing was absolute. It's this classic form of post -modernism.

53:54

Nothing's absolute. You can't be sure of that. Everything is relative.

54:02

And she said, you cannot claim that Christianity is the only way. Buddhism is also true too.

54:08

Right? Hinduism. It's relative. And at this point,

54:15

I did not know what to say. I was a young believer. And I, you know,

54:20

I just listened to her. But I remembered what scripture said. When you get stuck, you go to God.

54:27

And the Holy Spirit will teach you what to say. So I prayed. It's silently, right?

54:33

I prayed silently that, God, just give me the words to say. After the prayer, a thought came into my head.

54:43

The statement that everything is relative is an absolute statement in itself.

54:51

The statement that everything is relative destroys itself. Because it is an absolute statement.

54:58

It cannot even hold the weight of its own claim. If you say everything is relative, is that an absolute statement?

55:07

Yeah, it is. So I shared that with her. And that shocked her.

55:13

She never thought of it that way. Her worldview was shaking. Because how she viewed the world was everything was relative.

55:21

It just depends on you. But Christian worldview says, no, it depends on God.

55:28

Truth comes from God. It's what God says. And when she was shaken,

55:34

God opened the door to share the gospel with her. Because I could say, do you want to know what I believe about God?

55:41

And what God did for me? What God did for you? If you believe Him. And you may, this might be something you might have experienced before.

55:54

You were totally unprepared. You get stuck. And you go to God. And God teaches you what to say.

56:02

And you're shocked by it yourself. Because you wouldn't have gotten that answer on your own. And brothers and sisters, this is not an isolated event just for me.

56:18

This is not because I'm special. You all have the Holy Spirit in you.

56:23

You all have the truth of Scripture with you. God can use what you know of Scripture at any time.

56:34

He can bring it up. He's the Lord of your own minds too. He can bring up ideas that you didn't think you had.

56:42

He can give you an argument to actually change someone's mindset.

56:52

After all, the Holy Spirit is on your side. And He's the one who wrote the

56:59

Scripture. It's God -breathed. You have the author on your side. You don't have to be worried about confrontations.

57:09

He will give you the words to say so you can trust Him. That's how we answer through Scripture and through the

57:19

Holy Spirit. And that's how we interact with the world as the body of Christ.

57:26

Let us pray. Father, we are so thankful that we worship and trust in You.

57:35

And You are the God of truth. There's no other God who can claim that because they're lies.

57:41

They're liars. And God, we pray that we would rely more on You and depend on You and less on ourselves and our own words, but rely on Your Word so that we may be able to answer the world graciously but also truthfully so that they may believe.

58:02

Maybe You'll use any of us throughout the week to speak truth in a gracious manner.

58:09

In Jesus' name, amen. Psalm 28, 7 says,

58:15

The Lord is my strength and shield. My heart trusteth in Him, and I am helped.

58:21

Therefore my heart rejoiceth, and with my song will I praise Him. And let's stand for our closing song.