back to index2018-09-23 Power of the Gospel
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If you can turn your Bibles with me to Romans chapter 15, verse 22 to 27, and I'm going 00:00:10.220 |
to read that one more time with us before we jump in. 00:00:18.640 |
For this reason I have often been prevented from coming to you, but now with no further 00:00:22.960 |
place for me in these regions, and since I have had for many years a longing to come 00:00:27.960 |
to you, whenever I go to Spain, for I hope to see you in passing and to be helped on 00:00:32.840 |
my way there by you, when I have first enjoyed your company for a while. 00:00:37.040 |
But now I'm going to Jerusalem serving the saints. 00:00:40.440 |
For Macedonia and Achaia have been pleased to make a contribution for the poor among 00:00:45.600 |
Yes, they were pleased to do so, and they are indebted to them, for if the Gentiles 00:00:49.880 |
have shared in their spiritual things, they are indebted to minister to them also in material 00:00:56.040 |
Gracious and loving Father, we come before you corporately to worship and honor you. 00:01:04.200 |
We desire more than anything else to meet with you, to hear from you. 00:01:09.160 |
We pray that your word, Lord God, would become clearer to us, that what we give to you would 00:01:14.480 |
be a reasonable response to all that we know and believe that you've done for us. 00:01:20.200 |
Bless this time, Lord God, that we have come to bless you. 00:01:26.240 |
So, as you guys know, if you've read this passage before you came, like this is one 00:01:30.720 |
of those texts that typically if you're studying through the Book of Romans, we get to this 00:01:34.040 |
part of chapter 15, and then chapter 16, you just kind of skim over it. 00:01:38.120 |
It's almost kind of like he's done with the letter, you know, this is why I'm doing what 00:01:43.320 |
I'm doing, so bye, I'll see you later, say hi to these people, and then the letter ends. 00:01:48.880 |
Typically, if you're not careful, you may read that and just skim through, because he's 00:01:53.200 |
done with all of his main teachings about justification, salvation by grace alone, and 00:01:58.800 |
the ramification of that, and what happened after that, and what should we hope for. 00:02:02.720 |
Therefore, we need to give a proper response to live our lives as a living sacrifice. 00:02:07.360 |
So he's done all of that, and now chapter 15, he's kind of wrapping up. 00:02:13.120 |
But it is not to our benefit for us to skim through this process, because Apostle Paul, 00:02:18.680 |
in this chapter, particularly in this section, is telling us that this is the reason why 00:02:25.280 |
So we get a glimpse of who he is, we get a glimpse of his ministry, we get a glimpse 00:02:30.060 |
of the early church and their activity and what that looked like. 00:02:34.400 |
And so we need to understand that Apostle Paul, this whole letter was written in the 00:02:39.560 |
context of him preparing to go further out his ministry. 00:02:44.440 |
He said in the previous text that we looked at last week that he spent about 10 years 00:02:48.900 |
doing ministry somewhere between Jerusalem to Ilikriam, which is about a thousand mile 00:02:53.720 |
distance, and we know that Paul, in his official status, made about three separate journeys. 00:03:00.820 |
Just the trip alone, even if he wasn't planting churches and stayed there and was laboring 00:03:07.040 |
and raising up leaders, even just visiting physically, that would have drained anybody. 00:03:12.360 |
I mean, just looking at his travel itinerary, it would have been enough for any human being 00:03:17.440 |
to look at that and say, "Wow, this guy really traveled a lot." 00:03:21.600 |
But in 10 years, he poured his life out and doing ministry. 00:03:25.320 |
Now he says, because he's been so diligent, he's run out of places to preach the gospel, 00:03:30.520 |
not that every single individual heard the gospel, but the areas that he's been targeting, 00:03:34.120 |
he's already finished, he's finishing up, and now he's trying to expand his ministry 00:03:37.920 |
beyond Ilikriam to stop by Rome to get some support and move on to Spain. 00:03:43.520 |
So that's the whole reason why he wrote this letter. 00:03:47.300 |
So it is in the context of his mission work, his ministry and preaching the gospel in which 00:03:53.460 |
Now, the reason why this is so, so important is because not only the book of Romans is 00:03:59.200 |
written in the context of mission work, the whole Bible is written in the context of God 00:04:06.680 |
So if you study the Bible to find out how to have a healthy family, what does it mean 00:04:11.540 |
to manage your money well, how to raise your kids so that they love Christ, you can do 00:04:17.180 |
But all of those things are sub-points in the major, major theme of the Bible, which 00:04:22.960 |
is pursuing of sinners, being reconciled with the holy God, and how to get this gospel out 00:04:29.780 |
So if that is not your paradigm, if that's not your commitment, you will not understand 00:04:38.180 |
It is no different than reading a book of 22 chapters and just kind of skimming through 00:04:44.180 |
and taking a chapter here, a chapter there, and a chapter in the end, and then kind of 00:04:51.820 |
And you can kind of twist it to say anything that you want. 00:04:55.360 |
But if you read it systematically from Genesis to Revelation, all of it is in the context 00:05:02.620 |
So if missions is not in your heart, if mission is not your purpose, if mission is not your 00:05:13.640 |
Because the purpose of why he wrote this was so that a proper understanding of what they 00:05:17.980 |
believe would lead to a living sacrifice, which will ultimately lead to spreading of 00:05:27.500 |
If we are not committed to this in our mind, in our thoughts, in our will, in our life, 00:05:32.740 |
the way we raise our children, the way we use our finances, fellowship simply becomes 00:05:42.980 |
Again, we have a tendency to call any gathering of Christians, we just call it fellowship. 00:05:49.060 |
That's what we made it into, but the scripture makes it very clear. 00:05:53.740 |
Fellowship, koinonia, means to partner together. 00:05:56.140 |
So when Christians get together, spend a lot of time, and you become friends with a bunch 00:06:05.800 |
Without the context of missions, partnering together to get the gospel out, you just have 00:06:10.420 |
a lot of friends that you spend a lot of time with. 00:06:19.060 |
Think about how much of the content of our prayer is asking God to protect our wealth, 00:06:29.700 |
That we can work hard and I want to achieve this goal and I'm praying that God would help 00:06:35.300 |
How much of our prayer life is based upon those things. 00:06:39.380 |
The scripture doesn't say that you shouldn't pray for these things, but the primary prayer 00:06:48.980 |
To ask God for help, to open doors, to be bold in preaching the gospel, to be a light 00:06:57.900 |
Bible study becomes nothing more than learning information. 00:07:02.540 |
We're Christians, so we should know what Leviticus says. 00:07:07.340 |
I've been a Christian for a while, so I should be better versed at the things that I profess 00:07:14.340 |
You gain a lot of knowledge coming to church, hearing a lot of sermons, attending a lot 00:07:19.540 |
But Bible study was never meant to simply inform the church. 00:07:27.420 |
That's why the scripture says that it is useful and profitable for teaching, rebuking, training 00:07:33.620 |
and righteousness that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. 00:07:45.100 |
Equipping so that we can be a better businessman? 00:07:47.260 |
Possibly, but the primary purpose of Bible study is to equip us to be a better light, 00:07:57.060 |
So if we're not committed to the missions, if we're not committed to disciple making, 00:08:01.580 |
if we're not committed to be a light, and we're not being intentional in doing that, 00:08:06.300 |
Bible study probably has become old to you already. 00:08:10.500 |
Every once in a while, you might study something that's kind of interesting. 00:08:18.300 |
But you're no better equipped knowing or not knowing, because your intention was not to 00:08:28.060 |
It's just to say that you have more knowledge. 00:08:31.380 |
Without missions as the primary fuel that pushes us and guides us, Bible study becomes 00:08:41.020 |
And knowledge without use is the reason why there's so much pride and arrogance and division 00:08:50.020 |
Whether it is in China, or whether it is in India, or whether even it's here, whenever 00:08:54.080 |
I meet somebody who is absolutely committed to the gospel ministry, even if they are from 00:09:00.100 |
a different denomination, even if they have a different background, there's a camaraderie 00:09:09.620 |
And it's a lot easier to be gracious toward different views when we know that at the center 00:09:18.620 |
Because you don't meet a lot of people who are engaged and crying out for the law. 00:09:23.620 |
So when you meet somebody who happens to be of another denomination, but yet at the core 00:09:27.540 |
of what they want, we're the same, there's a connection that we feel. 00:09:32.180 |
But you can be in the same denomination, same church, same theology, maybe even the same 00:09:37.380 |
Bible study, but there isn't this desire and this commitment to get the gospel out, and 00:09:43.620 |
we can be talking about the same thing, reading the same books, but there isn't this fellowship, 00:09:49.500 |
Because all it is is regurgitation of information. 00:09:54.860 |
Church planting becomes nothing more than community building. 00:09:58.580 |
We need to plant a church over there because we don't have a community there. 00:10:01.180 |
We need to plant a church over in LA because we need to have a Christian community over 00:10:06.300 |
And all it becomes is just a gathering of people where we're going to just share lives 00:10:12.580 |
See, the primary theme behind all of Genesis to Revelation is a holy God pursuing sinners 00:10:23.260 |
And so Paul writes the book of Romans, who has the heaviest content, heaviest message 00:10:31.340 |
He says the whole reason why he wrote it is because he's preparing to further the gospel 00:10:36.100 |
He's just stopping by Rome to spend some time, to gain encouragement, maybe collect some 00:10:43.260 |
See, Apostle Paul is a man who encountered Christ, and his life wasn't just changed a 00:10:51.900 |
The gospel changes the trajectory of our lives. 00:10:57.100 |
If you encounter Christ, and I think this is one of the best illustrations that I've 00:11:00.740 |
heard about this, because in our generation it's kind of confusing. 00:11:06.160 |
How do we determine if somebody is a genuine follower of Christ or not? 00:11:10.080 |
Because if you grew up in a Christian home, you're supposed to go to church, and it becomes 00:11:15.700 |
Just like you brush your teeth and go to the bathroom, and there's certain things that 00:11:19.060 |
you do in the morning, certain things that you do at night, that has become habitual, 00:11:26.340 |
And then you feel weird when you don't do it. 00:11:27.860 |
And a lot of times coming to church feels like that, that you've gone to church for 00:11:31.660 |
so long, you don't really give it much thought about what I'm doing on Sunday morning, because 00:11:38.300 |
And that's one of the dangers of growing up in the church or being in the church for a 00:11:41.980 |
long time, because you don't put any much thought into what you're doing. 00:11:47.020 |
See, when we encounter Christ, and every genuine believer, whether it happened gradually, whether 00:11:54.900 |
it happened in a one-time encounter with Christ, once you encounter Christ, you cannot continue 00:12:05.300 |
And Paul Washer gives a great example of this, how he was talking to an individual and how 00:12:10.820 |
to determine if somebody is a genuine Christian or not, and he says, "If you say you're walking 00:12:15.900 |
down a highway and a semi came, and you said that it came and just hit you, and then the 00:12:21.820 |
reason why you came to work a little late is because I got hit by a semi, and then what 00:12:25.620 |
happened is like, oh, I just shrugged it off and then I came to work. 00:12:29.380 |
So if you say that, either you're lying to me or you're a superhuman. 00:12:36.660 |
But an average person cannot be hit by a semi coming down the freeway and then say, "I got 00:12:41.420 |
hit by it, and then I just shrugged it off, and then I walked into work." 00:12:46.940 |
And he uses that illustration to illustrate a Christian who confesses that he has encountered 00:12:53.700 |
the living God, and just walked away and shrugged off and said, "You know what? 00:12:59.580 |
I've seen the glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ." 00:13:01.700 |
And then he continued on his path like nothing ever happened. 00:13:09.920 |
It is inconsistent with what we see in Scripture. 00:13:12.580 |
Either you have not encountered Christ or something seriously has gone wrong. 00:13:20.980 |
The gospel that you and I proclaim, the gospel that Apostle Paul was proclaiming absolutely 00:13:31.220 |
Nothing about his past was the same after he met Christ. 00:13:35.220 |
In Galatians chapter 1, 13 to 16, it says, "For you have heard of my former manner of 00:13:39.060 |
life in Judaism, how I used to persecute the church of God beyond measure and try to destroy 00:13:53.980 |
His former way of life was so well known that it says in the book of Acts that as he was 00:13:58.940 |
on trial in front of a Roman governor, he says, "Your learning has made you mad." 00:14:12.060 |
He was basically a celebrity in the Jewish community that even outside they knew of him. 00:14:19.500 |
He says, "I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries among my countrymen 00:14:23.900 |
being more extremely zealous for my ancestral traditions." 00:14:27.940 |
But in verse 15, he says, "But when God who has set me apart even from my mother's womb 00:14:33.820 |
and called me through his grace was pleased to reveal his son in me so that I might preach 00:14:39.740 |
him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with flesh and blood." 00:14:42.980 |
And so the following verse, he describes what happened to him, how he was headed toward 00:14:49.140 |
Damascus to persecute, to jail, to beat, maybe even to kill these Christians, to squash this 00:14:55.580 |
gospel, this Jesus that they're proclaiming came back from the dead, this nonsense according 00:15:01.740 |
And he was willing to kill and murder for this. 00:15:04.500 |
And all of a sudden, this same man encounters the resurrected Christ and he begins to preach 00:15:12.100 |
He forfeits everything that he had, not just his weekends, not just a portion, not just 00:15:20.820 |
He forfeits everything that he had and he began to preach the gospel. 00:15:24.940 |
In fact, his trajectory was so radical, even the other apostles had a difficult time. 00:15:35.500 |
Maybe he's just pretending because he was coming after to kill us. 00:15:41.260 |
And yet now he's standing up and he's preaching the same gospel that he tried to destroy. 00:15:55.700 |
Somebody didn't sit down with him and argue and convince him. 00:15:59.260 |
He simply encountered the resurrected Christ. 00:16:06.740 |
And so he says in the previous verse that he aspired to preach the gospel where the 00:16:13.560 |
And the word for aspired means he was ambitious. 00:16:21.100 |
He loved the honor of preaching the gospel to the very people that he hated. 00:16:26.220 |
If he was a real Jew, if he was a Jew among Jew, if he was a celebrity Jew at that time, 00:16:37.260 |
You had to hate the Romans in particular because they represented the epitome of blasphemy 00:16:45.660 |
And yet he's writing this letter to this Gentile church saying that I'm coming to you to get 00:16:51.740 |
Now if you fell asleep for 15 years and you knew Paul before he got converted and then 00:16:57.420 |
you're reading this letter, in particular this passage, he's coming to Rome? 00:17:04.940 |
He's going to get support from them to go even further beyond? 00:17:17.540 |
Encountering Christ absolutely changes the trajectory of our lives even more than being 00:17:28.180 |
Second Thessalonians 3.1, it says, "Finally, brethren, pray for us that the word of the 00:17:31.700 |
Lord will spread rapidly and be glorified just as it did also with me." 00:17:36.580 |
So even his commitment to preach the gospel wasn't casual. 00:17:39.700 |
It wasn't like, you know what, if you just give me another year, I'm going to finish 00:17:42.580 |
my program and I'm going to get my PhD and then Gamaliel, my disciple, is going to move 00:17:47.860 |
on so maybe when I have more time I'll do that. 00:17:53.500 |
Everything that was important to him was no longer important because his whole paradigm, 00:17:57.980 |
his whole paradigm of what was good and what was bad changed. 00:18:01.460 |
His whole paradigm of life and death completely changed. 00:18:08.500 |
It was radically different after he met Christ. 00:18:13.340 |
So even in the way that he spread the gospel, he said to spread it rapidly because there 00:18:17.340 |
was a sense of urgency to get the gospel out. 00:18:19.900 |
Now you may look at that and say, "Well, Apostle Paul, maybe he is that type of personality. 00:18:30.980 |
He's a goal-oriented guy so he needs to get this done." 00:18:35.260 |
You're going to see that it wasn't just Apostle Paul and just logically speaking, and sometimes 00:18:45.060 |
we turn it on on Sunday and turn it off when we're off from Sunday worship. 00:18:54.180 |
In fact, a lot of people complain when we're not gospel-centric. 00:19:05.660 |
In Bible study, in small group, we need to be gospel-centered. 00:19:09.700 |
But as soon as Bible study is over, it's almost kind of like that belongs there, but now we 00:19:18.140 |
But the gospel that you and I profess and that we sing, that we study, we memorize says 00:19:22.860 |
that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. 00:19:26.840 |
And as a result of that, the wrath of God is being revealed against all unrighteousness 00:19:32.360 |
who refuse to give glory to God and give glory to man's creation. 00:19:37.520 |
And as a result of that, when Christ comes in his full glory, he's going to divide the 00:19:41.520 |
sheep and the goats, and then he's going to say to the goats, "You call me Lord, Lord, 00:19:55.000 |
But to those who say and who believe, say, "We're covered by the blood of Christ and 00:19:59.200 |
we're waiting eagerly to be adopted permanently into his kingdom, to live with him forever." 00:20:08.560 |
So everything that you and I experience during this period of life, that we believe and we 00:20:13.440 |
profess and we sing and we memorize, that it's all going to be burned in fire. 00:20:18.840 |
And it doesn't make sense to profess that, to believe that, to sing that, and to live 00:20:23.840 |
the rest of our lives trying to build something on this sand. 00:20:40.000 |
What we have made normal and acceptable in our post-Christian culture is very, very strange. 00:20:50.800 |
Because what we profess on Sunday and what we do on Monday, not only is it not similar, 00:21:05.240 |
See Apostle Paul is a man where his testimony, what he professed, what he preached, and how 00:21:13.400 |
He says in verse 22 that he wanted to come to Rome a long time ago, but he was prevented. 00:21:24.200 |
He said what prevented him was he wanted to make sure that the gospel was going to reach 00:21:29.840 |
all the areas where the gospel was not preached. 00:21:33.240 |
So what prevented him was his priority of the gospel. 00:21:39.520 |
And the tradition is that Apostle Peter was the one who brought the gospel to Rome. 00:21:44.260 |
So even though he wanted to come, he said he couldn't because it didn't fit his priority 00:21:50.160 |
You know, a lot of us, the way we live is we live our lives and then we try to fit in 00:21:59.640 |
We have to get a job, we have to take care of our family, we have to pay our bills, and 00:22:02.520 |
then so we do all of these things and then we look for cracks in our lives, like this 00:22:23.680 |
And in between the cracks, maybe he might have, you know, I don't know. 00:22:28.840 |
Maybe he, I don't know what he did for fun, I don't know. 00:22:31.200 |
It's not written here, but I'm sure he's a human being, he did something, right? 00:22:36.240 |
But his priority was primarily, first and foremost, this decision making, where he went, 00:22:46.560 |
All of it for the purpose, primarily, to get the gospel out. 00:22:51.840 |
He spent 12 years just traveling in that area, planting churches. 00:22:58.120 |
This is not something that any human being could have done just by determination. 00:23:05.400 |
This is a man who wasn't just committed to the gospel. 00:23:19.360 |
And I know you're struggling with it because you're failing school, you know what I mean? 00:23:24.760 |
You're about to get fired from your job, you know what I mean? 00:23:28.520 |
Your girlfriend wants to break up with you because you're just so obsessed, it's ruining 00:23:39.320 |
You sit in that same chair so long that your butt starts to hurt. 00:23:47.240 |
We're not just talking about somebody who's committed. 00:23:48.560 |
We're talking about somebody who just can't think of anything else. 00:23:51.040 |
So if you look at Paul's itinerary in preaching the gospel, he wasn't just committed. 00:24:03.640 |
I actually had a chart of how the gospel spread in the early church, the first maybe about 00:24:11.760 |
And it shows a pattern of where all the apostles went. 00:24:20.280 |
So I'm just going to have to, you know, just tell it to you. 00:24:24.240 |
The 40 and over group, we got together for fellowship last night and it got out of hand. 00:24:30.280 |
And we ended up staying till almost midnight yesterday. 00:24:36.040 |
So I got home late so I didn't get time to send it back out. 00:24:43.240 |
There's an inside joke with the gray-haired people. 00:24:46.760 |
Anyway, so in that chart, the first 15, 20 years of ministry, it wasn't just Apostle 00:24:54.680 |
Every one of those disciples went in every direction. 00:24:57.880 |
And in those 20 years, they pretty much covered everything that they knew to be a place that 00:25:09.140 |
Those few people reached more people in the first 15 years of their gospel preaching than 00:25:17.500 |
probably the whole Christian community has done in the last 100 years. 00:25:28.600 |
In fact, they were so obsessed with the gospel ministry, they actually had to write letters 00:25:33.340 |
to them and say, "Hey, you guys need to take care of your family." 00:25:38.200 |
They were so obsessed with the gospel, they had to tell them and say, "Hey, some of you 00:25:40.460 |
guys are abandoning your jobs waiting for Christ to come. 00:25:56.820 |
They encountered Christ and they were never the same. 00:26:00.860 |
See, the gospel ministry that God has called us to, the logical, reasonable response is 00:26:09.420 |
to change everything about our values because it just does. 00:26:14.600 |
Not because I'm saying it, because it just does. 00:26:19.300 |
To know that our life and our hope is not here. 00:26:21.900 |
It's not that if you work hard and if you put money away, you're going to have good 00:26:26.100 |
You know, none of that thing is wrong, but our hope is not here. 00:26:30.300 |
That if you give yourself to your studies during college, that you're going to graduate 00:26:35.140 |
and get a good job, that if you invest in your children, that they're going to be raised 00:26:45.600 |
Everything about the gospel tells us that this world is under condemnation and when 00:26:50.680 |
He comes in glory, we will be glorified with Him. 00:26:55.860 |
It is not just Apostle Paul and the early church where God calls us to abandon everything. 00:27:00.340 |
That's what, you know, when Jesus says, "Pick up your cross," you know, we kind of like 00:27:07.020 |
Picking up the cross means, you know, that I got to read my Bible in the morning, you 00:27:13.340 |
We contextualize it so it'll be more palatable to what is acceptable to us. 00:27:17.660 |
Literally, what does picking up your cross mean? 00:27:25.660 |
He was calling His disciples to die and then everybody who's going to follow Him to die. 00:27:31.500 |
I'm not being extreme because this life that we try to live in this earth, in this world, 00:27:41.260 |
is the source of the condemnation that's coming from God. 00:27:47.100 |
So the more you pursue to be alive in this world, the more you pursue your own condemnation. 00:27:54.260 |
So the very first step, the very first call to the gospel is to die and receive a new 00:28:12.300 |
A few years ago, I was helping a friend who was a doctor move and some of his friends 00:28:18.620 |
came and among his friends, there was an oncologist. 00:28:23.320 |
So in between moving, I was having a conversation with him and I said, "It must be really difficult 00:28:28.260 |
because part of his job is to sit with families, mothers or fathers or children and tell them 00:28:34.500 |
that they have stage four, late stage four cancer and there's nothing we can do. 00:28:38.020 |
You might have a week to live or a year to live and this is a regular part of his life 00:28:45.500 |
And he told me, he said, "Yeah, and initially it was really hard, but the only way that 00:28:50.500 |
we can actually get through our jobs is we have to learn to turn it off." 00:28:55.540 |
So he says that him and his other doctors, you know, they will go into a room and tell 00:29:02.220 |
the patient that you have three weeks to live, devastate the family. 00:29:06.440 |
They're in the room crying and they walk out and they go to the break room with the other 00:29:11.180 |
doctors and they start telling jokes and they just move on. 00:29:14.540 |
And this is what he said to me, he said, "I know that sounds horrible, but the only way 00:29:19.180 |
that we can do our job is we have to turn it off. 00:29:26.420 |
But when it comes to the gospel ministry, when it comes to worshiping God and being 00:29:31.780 |
a follower of Christ, you cannot worship God with your emotions detached. 00:29:40.380 |
You cannot be a follower of Christ with your mind separate from your heart. 00:29:46.760 |
You cannot be obedient and you cannot have encountered Christ without every part of your 00:29:55.560 |
You can't share the gospel of eternal salvation and the sacrifice of the Son of God with your 00:30:07.040 |
It requires people to be consumed, not just on Sunday, not just on designated times, but 00:30:18.500 |
the nature of the gospel requires that the followers pick up their cross and be obsessed 00:30:28.860 |
Not just be committed, not just be disciplined, not just to give a tenth, but to be obsessed 00:30:37.900 |
where it affects everything that we do and anything less would be hypocrisy. 00:30:45.220 |
In Isaiah chapter 40 verse 31, God says, "Yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new 00:30:58.240 |
I can't read this passage without thinking about Apostle Paul and the early disciples 00:31:04.760 |
How could they have physically done what they have done? 00:31:08.580 |
How could they have just even covered that space with all the headache? 00:31:19.340 |
A lot of times we use this verse to kind of find encouragement like when we're tired from 00:31:29.160 |
Maybe you've eaten like a box of Cheetos and you're just tired. 00:31:36.200 |
I need to mount up on wings of eagles because we've been lazy." 00:31:41.320 |
Like we use this verse to apply it to anything that we need strength for. 00:31:54.920 |
So that we wouldn't be tired at the end of the day? 00:32:11.480 |
To take the gospel where the gospel hasn't gone. 00:32:14.720 |
And when we are discouraged, when we are wearied, when we're physically tired, when we are sick 00:32:18.720 |
in the context of obedience to God, those who wait upon the Lord will renew their strength. 00:32:26.400 |
They will ride upon the wings of eagles that she said God promises to strengthen us. 00:32:30.380 |
And that's exactly what we see among the apostles. 00:32:37.680 |
As they're running for their lives, they're spreading the gospel, these people were not 00:32:46.380 |
Because they encountered the living Christ and they were never the same. 00:32:49.660 |
Even in the way that Paul prays in Ephesians 6, 19 to 20, "And pray on my behalf that utterance 00:32:54.700 |
may be given to me in the opening of my mouth to make known the boldness of the mystery 00:32:58.820 |
of the gospel for which I am an ambassador in chains. 00:33:02.980 |
That in proclaiming it, I may speak boldly as I ought to speak." 00:33:06.020 |
He said, even as he is in chains, even as he is bound, his primary prayer is not, "Pray 00:33:23.180 |
You know, but we're talking about in a period when he's locked up and chained to a Roman 00:33:33.300 |
I mean, as he is in that situation, he's saying, "Pray that I can be bold in preaching the 00:33:42.220 |
Philippians chapter 1, 12 to 14, "Now I want you to know, brethren, that my circumstance," 00:33:46.500 |
talking about him being in chains, "have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel, 00:33:51.060 |
so that my imprisonment in the cause of Christ has become well known throughout the whole 00:33:55.260 |
predatory guard and to everyone else, and that most of the brethren trusting in the 00:33:59.620 |
Lord because of my imprisonment have far more courage to speak the word of God without fear." 00:34:05.260 |
He didn't evaluate what was good and what was bad based upon how comfortable he is. 00:34:11.180 |
How often do we thank God when things go well according to the standard of this world? 00:34:16.940 |
When we get promoted, "Oh, God answered my prayers. 00:34:22.460 |
Again, we're not saying that that's wrong, but consider how much of our prayer, how much 00:34:31.580 |
When we get a job, when we're sick and we become healthy, Paul didn't evaluate good 00:34:39.500 |
and bad, right and wrong, based upon how comfortable he was, how full his belly was, how good he 00:34:54.780 |
It's because of his imprisonment, people are being bold in preaching the gospel. 00:35:04.000 |
Even more than that, later on he says he's praying so that whether by life or by death, 00:35:09.820 |
that he would have sufficient courage to exalt Christ. 00:35:13.220 |
So even if he does, if dying means that the gospel will be glorified, then death is what 00:35:22.540 |
First Corinthians 16, 8 and 9, "But I will remain in Ephesus until Pentecost for a wide 00:35:29.460 |
door for effective service has opened to me and there are many adversaries." 00:35:35.140 |
Paul says, "I can't come right now in Corinthians because a wide door has been opened for me 00:35:43.180 |
But he qualifies that by saying, "But there are adversaries, many adversaries." 00:35:47.740 |
Because the way that you and I think is if there's many adversaries, the door's not 00:35:54.620 |
If I commit to this and my children are not going to be taken care of, I'm waiting for 00:36:02.140 |
I'm waiting for my needs to be met, my bills to be paid, and my family to be healthy. 00:36:09.180 |
Until then, the door's not open because we immediately think, "God shut that door. 00:36:13.940 |
If I'm not comfortable, that means there's no opportunity for me." 00:36:16.740 |
If they're not going to like it, if I have to risk my health, God didn't open the door. 00:36:23.140 |
Paul says it's been wide open and there are adversaries there. 00:36:26.860 |
He didn't evaluate what was good and what was bad based upon how comfortable he is in 00:36:33.300 |
All he saw was an opportunity to glorify Christ. 00:36:42.100 |
And again, not only did it affect his time, if you look at the early church, what he says 00:36:49.620 |
here is the primary reason why he was coming was for the purpose of help. 00:36:54.220 |
And when he says help, he's talking about cash. 00:36:57.340 |
You may look at that and say, "Well, I'm going to go there and rest and let me rest in your 00:37:03.900 |
And all of that is true, but what did he need to get to Spain? 00:37:08.680 |
He recruits some people and some cold hard cash. 00:37:14.720 |
Whenever we talk about money in the church, people get nervous. 00:37:17.060 |
It's like, "Oh, he's going to ask for more money." 00:37:30.340 |
I get it because the church has abused finances and a lot of people have distrust toward the 00:37:35.960 |
church with money, and as a result of that, the church is kind of like, "Oh, we're not. 00:37:41.860 |
We're not about money, so you don't have to give offering and all this stuff because we're 00:37:48.040 |
If you look at Jesus' teaching, he talks more about money than any other subject when it 00:37:54.340 |
And the reason why is because that's where the rubber meets the road. 00:38:14.300 |
So Jesus talks about money more than any other subject because that's where the rubber meets 00:38:19.220 |
You can't have money being spent for your flesh and then say, "My spirit is for the 00:38:26.300 |
He talked about money more than any other subject. 00:38:28.300 |
He taught 38 parables, and out of the 38, 16 of them is about right attitude toward 00:38:37.180 |
The gospels, the four gospels, one in 10 verses deal with the subject of money. 00:38:44.540 |
The Bible has 500 verses on prayer, 500 verses on faith, and over 2,000 verses about money. 00:38:53.780 |
When we talk about the Old Testament sacrifices, the greater the sin, whether it's a high 00:39:00.660 |
priest or a priest or lay people or the congregation, they have different values. 00:39:06.180 |
And you have to give a bowl offering without defect for a greater sin. 00:39:12.820 |
Now to us, we're not farmers, so we think of that, we just think of bowl, we think of, 00:39:20.180 |
I found out how much it cost in Kenya because Beloved, I remember they were trying to buy 00:39:26.300 |
I was like, "Oh, okay, learned something new." 00:39:28.300 |
Absolutely useless information for me, but I knew that in Kenya you can buy a cow for 00:39:34.780 |
So if you are a farmer and your primary way of distinguishing wealth wasn't a bank account, 00:39:42.740 |
wasn't dollars or whatever it is that you use for currency, it was your livestock and 00:39:48.220 |
you came to offering and God said in order to be reconciled to God that you need to give 00:39:52.660 |
a bowl offering to a Jew, that's a thousand dollars. 00:39:58.180 |
If you gave a bowl with defect, that would be $700 because it wouldn't be worth as much. 00:40:05.220 |
If it was a bowl that happened to be a female, it wasn't, at least at that time, wasn't worth 00:40:13.980 |
So when it talks about all these different sacrifices, a Jew of that time is thinking 00:40:20.700 |
And that's why he gives provision for poorer people to be able to give pigeons and different 00:40:28.260 |
So even Leviticus, you didn't know it, but we're studying about money because in the 00:40:38.380 |
Now again, I'm not saying that therefore you need to empty your bank account and give it 00:40:42.820 |
God doesn't say that all rich people should be poor. 00:40:47.380 |
There are plenty of examples of rich people in the New Testament. 00:40:50.860 |
There's examples in the book of James about businessmen who are trying to make money going 00:40:54.860 |
from city to city and say, "Don't be arrogant saying that I'm going to do this, but only 00:41:00.780 |
So he doesn't call Christianity, he doesn't call the church to be communist. 00:41:09.420 |
It is the love of money that is the root of all kinds of evil. 00:41:24.540 |
See, but when the early church encountered Christ, you could see it in the way that they 00:41:32.220 |
In Acts chapter 2, 43 to 45, everyone kept feeling a sense of awe and many wonder signs 00:41:37.460 |
were taking place throughout through the apostles and all those who had believed were together 00:41:45.420 |
And they began selling their property and possessions and were sharing them with all 00:41:52.240 |
You notice here that God didn't choose generous people and save them and then so therefore 00:41:58.340 |
He saved sinners who were living selfishly and they became generous because the gospel 00:42:06.340 |
Their value system completely got overturned and money didn't have the same value that 00:42:13.420 |
So some people had more, some people had less, but the way that they viewed it radically 00:42:17.540 |
changed and they began to use it for the gospel ministry. 00:42:22.420 |
You know what's really interesting to me is Apostle Paul writes one of the harshest letters 00:42:31.300 |
So if you've ever studied the Corinthians, 15 chapters of Paul and he starts out nice. 00:42:40.140 |
You know, I thank God for you, you know, God's doing great work and I thank God for you. 00:42:44.420 |
So he said maybe about six, seven verses and then he's like, and then the next 15 chapters, 00:42:53.340 |
I just summarized like what he says in 15 chapters, right? 00:42:56.660 |
So you guys are divided, you guys are worldly, do you not know that you're a temple of God 00:43:02.380 |
Whoever destroys the church, God will destroy him. 00:43:04.620 |
Like even the communion that you have is not communion before God. 00:43:08.500 |
You know, the rich people are making the poor people and they're coming starving. 00:43:14.900 |
Even in the way that you give worship that you say, oh, I have a gift of prophecy or 00:43:18.380 |
I have a gift of tongues and it's creating all kinds of chaos in the church. 00:43:21.380 |
So 15 chapters of rebuking them and then right as he is done rebuking them, he concludes 00:43:28.740 |
the letter this way, 1 Corinthians 16, 1 and 2, "Now concerning the collection of the 00:43:34.060 |
saints as I directed the churches of Galatia, so do you also. 00:43:39.220 |
On the first day of every week, each one of you is to put aside and save as he may prosper 00:43:46.620 |
I was like, wow, this guy, he spent 15 chapters rebuking them and then his conclusion is I'm 00:43:55.340 |
going to collect some money when I come, get ready, right? 00:44:01.940 |
This guy would not have been a good health and wealth gospel preacher because if you're 00:44:06.500 |
trying to collect money, right, you don't rebuke them for 15 chapters. 00:44:17.020 |
You know, you guys are doing such a great job and I know you got some problems. 00:44:20.100 |
You guys are divided a little bit, but you know, you need to work on that. 00:44:23.860 |
You got so gracious, you know, and you guys are really good people. 00:44:28.500 |
I love you people and I need to collect some offering. 00:44:35.460 |
You don't spend 11 chapters rebuking them, how the judgment of God is going to come upon 00:44:39.660 |
them and then after he's done, get your money ready. 00:44:45.500 |
It's just this guy's not good at this and the only reason why Apostle Paul could be 00:44:51.580 |
so bold is because this was a man who was absolutely had clear conscience before God. 00:45:06.500 |
We made it dirty because we didn't handle it correctly. 00:45:10.700 |
But when we talk about lordship, when we talk about sacrifice, when we talk about commitment, 00:45:19.180 |
The way you spend your time, the way you spend your money, how much of our finances are committed 00:45:37.980 |
There are people in the, I think I prayed or I told you that I've been praying, Lord, 00:45:46.740 |
what should we do with the resources that you've given us as a church? 00:45:51.500 |
Whether it's finances or manpower and it seems pretty clear to me that our primary commitment 00:46:00.780 |
isn't to build a nicer church, to have better programs for our children and all of these 00:46:05.420 |
things are good things and hopefully that we can deal with it as it comes. 00:46:10.020 |
But the primary calling of the church is one to worship God in spirit and in truth, right? 00:46:16.460 |
To equip the saints with the living word of God, to build up the body of Christ through 00:46:23.020 |
accountability and love, ultimately for the fourth vision, to spread the gospel locally 00:46:31.260 |
But if we're not committed to the fourth vision, all three other vision unravels. 00:46:39.900 |
Because if all our worship means is to sing loud on Sunday, if all our Bible study means 00:46:47.100 |
to gain more information, if all we're doing in the church is to build a better community 00:46:52.180 |
where people like each other, then all of it is for nothing. 00:46:57.940 |
My prayer is that God would raise up some of us, that we would have the courage to pack 00:47:05.340 |
up our bags and go places for the purpose of the gospel. 00:47:12.260 |
But I also know that majority of us that that is not going to be the case. 00:47:23.140 |
And if we stay, we need to stay purposefully. 00:47:28.940 |
That we don't differentiate people from those who go, "Oh, thank God God is going." 00:47:32.780 |
Those people with courage, and we're blessed by their testimony, and we encourage you from 00:47:36.460 |
a distance, and we give a little finances to say that we're participating in your work, 00:47:40.580 |
that we don't just look at them and say, "Thank God that's not us." 00:47:45.340 |
That if they go, pray for them, support them, encourage them. 00:47:50.940 |
And if we stay, stay purposefully, committed equally to spread the gospel, to make sure 00:47:59.980 |
that this period of time that God has given us, whether it is 10 years, 1 year, or 50 00:48:05.340 |
years, that the time that God has given us, that we would use it to spread His glory. 00:48:13.040 |
That at the end of our life, that we don't look at a pile of cash that we've amassed 00:48:21.660 |
That at the end of our lives, on our deathbed, that we would look at our lives and say, "It 00:48:26.940 |
And that we can enter into eternity with a clear conscience. 00:48:38.980 |
Believe that Christ is our greatest treasure. 00:48:45.820 |
Believe that life is in Christ and Christ alone. 00:48:50.160 |
Believe that Jesus is, and He is the rewarder of those who diligently seek Him, then live 00:49:08.200 |
As our worship team comes up and takes some time to lead us, let's take some time to pray. 00:49:13.480 |
Think of very specific people that God has placed in your life to be a witness to. 00:49:18.880 |
Those of you who are college students coming back to campus, and I know you have a lot 00:49:21.680 |
of things that you may be looking forward to, there's nothing more important that you 00:49:26.600 |
will do during college than to be a light to the non-Christians around you. 00:49:33.720 |
That opportunity doesn't come after you graduate. 00:49:43.040 |
Commit your freshman year, commit your junior, sophomore, senior year to be a light to the 00:49:52.200 |
I've met people from China on campus who have never heard the gospel. 00:50:01.960 |
Some of you guys are in industries where it's very difficult to find Christians. 00:50:06.660 |
You might be the only Christian that you know at your work. 00:50:23.600 |
Pray for God to open your eyes to see the need. 00:50:26.360 |
Pray for God to soften your heart to be broken for them, and pray for opportunities that 00:50:33.760 |
Some of you guys come from homes where you're the only Christian, or there's very few Christians 00:50:45.800 |
Pray that the next family time that you have, that God would open doors so you can share 00:50:52.000 |
Every single one of us has somebody, maybe one, maybe groups of people, where they're 00:50:58.200 |
waiting for you to open your mouth and be a light. 00:51:04.720 |
Pray that God will give us the courage, God will give us the strength, that God would 00:51:07.400 |
renew us so that we can be the light that he's called us to be. 00:51:11.100 |
So let's take some time to pray for that as our worship team leads us.