59. Ten Reasons To Share Our Faith Publicly

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Welcome back to the broadcast where we prod the sheep and beat the wolf. This is episode 59, 10 reasons to share our faith publicly.

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One of the most glaring differences between the ancient church of the new Testament and the tepid church of the modern era is our current fixation with cowardice disguised as winsomeness.

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The early church turned the world upside down with the powerful and glorious gospel. In contrast, the modern church has been so preoccupied with safeguarding her own reputation that she doesn't have the stomach or backbone to overturn much of anything anymore.

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Now, don't get me wrong. Those earliest Christians succumb to the tendency of seclusion and cowardice as well.

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For a few days, they were scattered in terror of being arrested when the son of man was crucified.

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Once he was resurrected, they spent 40 days of private instruction with the Lord and 10 additional days tucked away in a clandestine cubby hole in Jerusalem.

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That is before the spirit of power came upon them. But once the spirit came upon them like a rushing wind or like tongues of fire, the text says they remained hidden no more.

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In fact, after that event, they boldly left the safety and the security of the upper room to be left bruised, beaten, bleeding and battered all over the

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Roman world in the service of Christ. They were crucified. They were fed to lions.

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They were bludgeoned with stones, but what they did not do was cower or crawl back into some hole somewhere to maximize their safety and comfort.

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Instead, they kept on advancing regardless of what it cost.

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Now compare that robust manly evangelistic church of of old with the milquetoast vanilla chicken hearted ecclesia that we see today and you will spy the problem.

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We've grown as squishy as overcooked spaghetti noodles at a time that actually requires sharpened steel.

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Instead of publicly meeting our era's increased secularization and immorality with the gospel as the first century church would have done, we've adopted a sugar and spice and for goodness sake be nice sort of mentality, but unfortunately that niceness has caused us to run from the fight, to surrender the public arena and to treat the church with the same exclusivity and secrecy as a cluster of freemasons in the grand lodge to make the point clear in a working and what follows.

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I want to sketch out 10 reasons why we must adopt a faith that proclaims the gospel publicly.

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Now this could be conversations with lost family members, engaging coworkers, handing out tracks, open air evangelism, whatever it looks like.

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We must not go quietly into the night, but we must publicly go on declaring the gospel unto glory.

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So let us begin. Why must our faith be public? Number one, because it afflicts our own flesh.

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Perhaps one of the best apologetics for sharing the gospel in public is that our flesh despises it.

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We tense up like a cat and a room full of rocking chairs at the very prospect of sharing our faith with stranger.

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So instead we prefer to speak in the hush tones of securities and church buildings with people who already agree with us.

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And while that kind of fellowship is both edifying and good and we need that as Christians, we're also called to mortify the flesh and its desires.

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We're, we're called to live a public faith. If my heart is objecting to preaching outdoors or sharing my faith with a stranger or handing out gospel tracks in a public area or whatever, then

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I need to discern what is wrong with my heart. I need to ask myself some questions like, am

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I protecting my own ego here? Am I afraid of what others are going to think about me? Am I nervous?

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Do I feel unprepared or do I not know what to say? Do I have some kind of fear about how the person is going to react to me?

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Any of those or any other unbiblical reasons that prevent me from doing that require mortification.

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That means I need to slay my flesh and move on in obedience. Remember the

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Bible describes the heart as wicked and desperately sick above all things.

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So much so that who can even know it. Therefore any action that Buffett's my heart or encourages my flesh towards an activity is immediately suspect and it must be brought under the lens of the gospel.

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Number two, the second reason that we must live a public faith and share the gospel openly is because hell is hot.

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The reality of eternal conscious torment for all who stand opposed to Christ is real. Paul says in Romans 10, how then will they, that's the world call upon him in whom they have not believed.

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How will they believe in him in whom they have not heard and how will they hear without a preacher and how will they preach unless they are sent?

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Romans 10, 14 through 15. Now the word for preach here in this passage is

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K Russo in the Greek. Certainly it includes the homiletical discipline of a vocational pastor who's heralding the gospel behind a solid oaken pulpit on Sunday.

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One can dream, but it also is not limited to that.

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In fact, the word preach here is not exclusive to preachers. The word here means to announce something publicly.

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To make a message known to the masses. Sort of like when we put out a newspaper or when we put out a bulletin on a, on a news report or when we publicize something on Twitter where we're getting the message out to the masses, that's

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K Russo. So far from limiting this to a group of trained seminarians who preach for a living,

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Paul has in mind actually equipping every single one of the saints of God to be messengers and to send them out into the world to make

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Christ known wherever he is. Not this idea of how are they going to hear unless someone preaches to them or how are they going to hear unless someone tells them is not just for the professional minister, it's for everyone.

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We've all been equipped by the Holy spirit, hopefully being equipped by a local church to go out into the world, sent to share the gospel.

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And the reason that Paul shares this logic is very simple. How's the world going to hear if the only time that we're declaring the gospel is on Sunday in our churches, how are they possibly going to believe if they don't even come to hear it and without belief in the

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Lord Jesus Christ, they're going to spend an eternity in hell. So therefore we can go and share the gospel with them.

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Our inactivity and passivity with evangelism has awful damning, consequences.

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And in fact, almost every era of revival in church history has involved some sort of public gospel, open air evangelisms, preaching in the streets or the, or the town square, almost every one of them.

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Because what we see in history is that when revival breaks out in a culture in a nation, it can't be contained in the walls of the church.

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It explodes out. Now, all those men and women who are saved come into the church. Yes, but the message doesn't stay locked up in a four by four walled building and we only get to open it up and look at it once a week.

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Absolutely not. Number three, why do we have a public faith?

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Because it's faithful to the mission of God. Now, as a Calvinist and as a reformed brother,

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I understand that the Lord draws all men to himself. He predestined the lectern eternity past.

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He paid for them 2000 years ago on the cross. He regenerated them by the power of the spirit and space and time.

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He is the author of salvation. He's the one who seeks and saves the loss. He's the one who's going to draw all people unto himself.

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He holds them secure in his ferocious and tender lion Paul grip. I get that.

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But none of those glorious, beautiful truths that we all cling to and relish nullify the need and the command for us to go and make disciples of the nations.

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Matthew 28, 18 through 20. When Jesus gave the great commission, he wasn't limiting his authority to and dominion to the inside of a church building or requiring his followers to only make disciples of congregations.

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He doesn't say go in all the world, disciple congregations. He says, go in all the world and disciple the nations, the ethnoid, the people of the world.

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He told us to go, get involved outside of our church buildings, outside of our comfort zone, announcing the message to outsiders, being ready to answer any objections, always willing to give a defense for the hope that we have in Christ until they cut us off, curse us out or convert unto

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Christ. That's number three. Number four, why do we need a public faith because we must preach to everyone under heaven.

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Number five, when Paul describes the scope of his ministry, he says that the gospel had been preached to every creature under heaven.

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Colossians one 23. Now Paul could have hardly said that or made that claim.

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If his ministry was primarily behind closed doors on Sunday, he could have hardly said that with any level of authenticity.

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If, if it was a private meeting in a private location and, and he's, and he's only preaching to a select group of people, he could not have said that we preach the gospel under to every creature under heaven.

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What Paul did though, was he went, he was regularly going into the towns. He was interacting with those who could never make it into the, or who would never make it into the

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Jewish synagogue so much so that he could honestly say that he had preached the gospel to everyone in the

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Roman world. Spurgeon said it similarly in his time period.

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He said the open air evangelist frequently picks up the members of the no church party.

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And in so doing, he often finds some of the richest gems that will at last adorn our

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Redeemer's crown jewels, which by reason of their roughness are apt to be unnoticed by a more fastidious class of soul winners.

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Jonah in the streets of Nineveh was heard by the multitudes who would have never known of his existence. If he had reserved a meeting hall,

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John the Baptist by the Jordan awakened an interest that which would never have been aroused had he kept to the synagogue and those, the apostles who went from city to city proclaiming everywhere, the word of the

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Lord Jesus would never have turned the world upside down if they felt it needful to confine themselves to iron rooms where the gospel is only preached on the next

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Lord's day. Now I can hardly say it better than my brothers,

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Chuck and Paul, the multitudes that will not darken the church's door will hear the gospel when it is proclaimed to them in their town square.

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Now maybe they're not converted there. Maybe that's a seed that's planted. Maybe that's maybe the conversation that's had there out on the streets or at your job or in your home or with family members or whatever.

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Maybe those are just seeds that are planted. We don't have to worry about that. Paul says, you know, I planted someone else waters.

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God gives the growth. We're not worried about whether or not we get to the finish line with someone or not.

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We're just sharing the gospel and letting God do the work and my prayer.

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And I hope your prayer is that because of your life, some rough stones would be fashioned and cut according to the, the savior's purpose.

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And while in this life many Christians might overlook them, they will be some of the most beautiful jewels in Jesus's crown because of evangelism and because of public gospel proclamation.

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That's number four. Number five. Why do we need a public faith? Because the biblical example proves this.

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The book of acts details how the church executed the marching orders of her King and after he ascended into heaven, that's what they did.

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In those first inerrant pages of the church's history, we do not see a quiet church, a hidden church or a private church that keeps the gospel locked behind closed doors.

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On the contrary, we see bold public attestations of Christ on the same day that the spirit descended upon them at Pentecost.

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We see men teaching in the temple courtyard, which was the city square in first century Jerusalem. We see

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Paul and his missionary compadres going into towns and declaring the gospel with energy and excitement, urgency and unction.

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We see them taking one beating after another as thanks. Thanks for the declaration. But society's reaction to the gospel did not quench their evangelistic fervor.

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It ignited it. Paul and Silas were the kind of men who after suffering saying in prison,

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Peter and John, by the power of the Holy spirit, praised God that they were counted worthy to suffer for the sake of the gospel.

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All throughout church history. You see these men who rejoiced and who praised and who thanked

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God even while they were suffering because they were connected to the missio day, the mission that God had given them, fearlessly broadcasting the words of eternal life to cursed and perverted generations.

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That is why we must preach. Number six, why do we have a public faith?

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Because we are taking dominion of the world through the declaration of the gospel. One of the ways that Jesus describes his kingship and the effect of his kingdom was, was a plundering of Satan's house.

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Luke 11 21. You see at the fall, humanity handed over dominion of the world to the serpent so that, so that the earth came under the power of a

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Luciferian rule. That's also why the devil could offer all the kingdoms of the world to Jesus and his temptation because they belong to him.

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They were already under his dominion. Adam had forfeited them. Now this all changed only when

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Christ crushed the serpent's head in his death, burial and resurrection. He dealt a mortal wound to the old dragon because of his obedience.

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Instead of bowing down to the serpent and following his way, he followed God's way. He finished the race.

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He did it perfectly. For the joy set before him, he endured the cross. And now because of his mortal wound that he rendered to the old dragon's head, he is plundering the treasures underneath his rotten scaly belly.

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And that's not all though. Jesus is not doing this work alone here. He's called his church to be a part of the kingdom advancement, not as passive bystanders or as enthused spectators with pom poms.

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No, he's called us as soldiers to put on the armor of Christ and to run with shoes shod with the gospel to extend his rule, perpetuate his reign and take back territory openly, publicly, decisively declaring the good news of the gospel.

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That is how we take back ground. Number seven, why do we love a public faith?

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Because we are to show the world real true biblical Christian love.

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Another reason we must declare the gospel publicly, even in the open air is because Christ commanded us to love our neighbor as we love ourselves.

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Well, how do we do that? Well, humanly speaking, how do we love ourselves?

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We care for ourselves. We bring food to our lips when we're hungry. We bathe when we're dirty. We drink when we're thirsty. We become preoccupied with maintaining and managing this little flesh tent that God has given us to walk through this life with.

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So we care for our bodily needs. But as a Christian it goes beyond that because we also care for our spiritual needs as well.

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We care for ourself by being nourished in the word of God. We pray, we go to churches where the gospel is declared, where the saints joyfully worship and where sin is called out so that the body of Christ, the church can grow more aligned and submitted to her bridegroom,

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Jesus. Now, if we're supposed to love the world in the same way that we love ourselves, refusing to share the gospel would be akin to the most inexcusable abuse and the most wanton hatred imaginable.

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Think about it. How much do you have to actually loathe someone to withhold the very thing that is blessed and nourished you?

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If you've been bitten by a poisonous snake and you had antidote that worked, that healed you, and you're looking down at someone who's been bitten by a poisonous snake and you're refusing to give them the antidote, that would be egregious and awful and wrong.

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It'd be infinitely worse to withhold the gospel. It's infinitely worse than watching someone starve to death or withholding the right hand to a child who's drowning.

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Infinitely worse is than that is the man who refuses to share the gospel with those who are perishing.

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The drowning child will die once the soul that is drowned in the lake of fire will die forever.

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A summer seven number eight. Why do we have a public faith? Because it causes us to be sanctified.

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Championship football teams are not forged entirely in the locker room. Now those moments of bonding and spending time with the coaching staff and each other are essential to the team's health.

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No doubt. But if that team never got out onto the field and it had never trained and if it never went into battle in the trenches against the fiercest opponents, they would just be a men's social club who oddly congregate in jockstraps and spandex in a locker room.

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Being a championship football team is not that it requires getting out of the locker room, putting into action, things that were gleaned in the film room.

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It means fighting, training, prevailing over skilled competition with grit, determination, and heart.

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It requires being tried and tested. And when a team goes through all the rigors and challenges of a season, it makes them better equipped and better fit to dominate in the playoffs.

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Well, sadly, many churches today have forgotten this and have adopted a locker room mentality, which means that we have become flabby and untested and sort of awkward because we're all staring at each other in our spandex.

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Again, we all want to enjoy the benefits of the locker room. The Sunday morning, that's essential.

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Of course. Yes. Amen. It's essential. Don't hear me wrong. I love the church.

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I love the gathering. It is my favorite time of the week, but we don't stay there. If we don't bring the fight outside of our building on Monday or share the gospel in the trenches on Tuesday, then we are functioning as nothing more than a social club with a 501c3 certificate.

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Such a pathetic vision is not what Jesus bled and died for. Instead, he called us to be the, a kingdom of priest, a nation of princes and leaders.

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He, and princesses, he, he made us into a holy nation where everyone is supposed to get involved with the mission.

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And when we do that, it sanctifies us both corporately and individually. It makes us better equipped for the, for the work.

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Think about it this way. If you never exercise, your body will become atrophied and saggy. And if you're going to get rid of that muffin top, then it's not going to be coming by sitting at a desk or lying on the couch or continuing a sedentary lifestyle.

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If you're going to get rid of it, you have to get up, move. And that makes you better. And the same way, if your evangelistic muscles are a bit jiggly right now, you cannot tighten them up by being unwilling to get out there and do the work.

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Putting yourself into evangelistic situations will force you to grow. It just will. Number nine, why do we have a public faith so that the world will glorify

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God? Jesus said in Matthew 5, 16, let your light so shine before men so that they may see your good works and glorify your father who is in heaven.

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We declare the gospel publicly and joyfully with the hope that some will see it and that they will turn from their wicked ways and they will glorify our father who is in heaven.

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Now, of course, we know that everyone who hears Jesus's word is not going to receive him. The soil or the seed falls in all kinds of soil.

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There's only one of those soils that's good and that's going to bear fruit. We get that, but we have every confidence that as we declare the gospel, some will repent, some will come to Jesus.

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And when that happens, they will turn their voices from slander and derision to instruments of glory and the

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Redeemer's chorus. They will glorify him. So we labor for them.

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We labor for that. Number 10 final reason why do we have a public faith?

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Number 10 so that you and I will glorify God as well. Underneath all of this, we labor for the

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Lord himself. We mortify our flesh for the glory of God. We are sanctified faithful to the mission because it brings

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God tremendous glory. We urgently declare the gospel to everyone under heaven. We follow the apostolic and biblical example.

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We extend Jesus's dominion. We demonstrate real authentic love by declaring the gospel. We labor so that the nations will glorify our

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King all because we know that these 10 things bring tremendous glory and honor to our creator.

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God, if we love Jesus, then we will obey his commands. John 14, 15, when we follow and obey him, we give glory and honor to him.

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Colossians 1 26 through 28. And since the chief end of man is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever, obeying him in this area is an essential way for us to do that and for us to live out our great purpose.

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Conclusion, you and I can come up with many illegitimate reasons to remain silent.

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We're scared. We don't know what to say. We're, we're this. That's not our personality. We can come up with a million of them.

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We can join the majority church and burying our heads in the sand while the predators swarm all around us, which doesn't seem to me like to be a great strategy or we could share

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Christ with all creation no matter what it costs us. And then we can live like Christ and his disciples doing this will glorify

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God. It will extend his kingdom and it will conform us to the image of Christ.

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So as we close in the immortal words of the goat to Tom Brady, let's go.

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Thank you so much for listening to another episode of the podcast. It's such a joy to be able to make gospel content for you to encourage you, strengthen you in your, in your faith, prod you to further righteousness and for all of us to grow deeper in love with Jesus.

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That's the point. If you like what you hear here, share it with your friends, like subscribe, do whatever.