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From Persecution to Prosecution - Blueprint Series
57 Plays4 months ago
In this sermon, Ridley Barron preached about God's call to seek peace and unity amidst divisiveness. He highlighted the importance of avoiding vengeance, emphasizing prayer for political leaders and trusting biblical guidance during uncertain times. Through the transformative stories of Saul's conversion and Cornelius' vision in Acts, Barron illustrated Christ's power over disease, death, and discrimination. He encouraged believers to spread the gospel universally, overcoming biases and embodying Christlike compassion. Drawing from personal experiences of losing a child, Barron underscored the urgency of prioritizing important matters and helping the lost. With heartfelt gratitude for God's goodness, he urged humility, hospitality, and befriending those different from us, aiming to bring real change through living the gospel and loving like Jesus.
Timestamps:
03:33 Seek peace, restrain from deceitful speech. Protect.
08:10 Holy Spirit given, indwelling us, game changer.
13:08 Man's fallen nature leads to bias challenges.
14:41 Missed opportunities, Peter's conviction, Gandhi's disillusionment.
18:15 Acts of Peter performing miraculous healings in Lydda.
22:45 Christ's power over disease and universe. Trust God.
26:58 Don't judge, offer grace, we're all human.
30:39 Americans face challenge of reaching out to others.
32:41 Spread gospel, embody Christ, change lives positively.
38:07 Loving discipline is essential for child's safety.
40:49 Praying to spread love and hope globally.
42:45 Pray for courage, acknowledge biases, confess prejudices.
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Transcript
Reflections on Loss of Innocence
00:00:00
Speaker
I have discovered that one of the things that happens is for every year I get older, ah I feel like a ah year of the innocence of my childhood is taken. um Last night's events, what happened as we watched what unfolded was just another example of it. When when the news came across, i my my first thought, I teared up and I thought to myself, This is not the country I grew up in. This this is what ah not what I knew as a child. um The level of hatred and divisiveness, the vitriol with which we are speaking to one another is of no benefit to anybody.
Divisiveness Among Christians
00:00:50
Speaker
um And sadly, as I watched my social media feed last night, much of it was coming for people I call brothers and sisters in Christ.
00:01:01
Speaker
Now, I know me, know a lot of you as well, but one of the things that I know about me is that my initial reaction to things is typically not the right one. The fleshly side wants to speak out, lash out, to do things that would not honor my God. um So I sat last night and just kind of pondered, um what's the right way to respond to something like this?
00:01:32
Speaker
I have come to the conviction, the conclusion that it's absolutely not our place to look for vengeance. It's not our place to look for revenge. It's not even our place to find fault with anyone. Because at the end of the day, you and I know who is responsible for what happened. His name is Satan.
The Role of Evil in Division
00:01:56
Speaker
He's the same Satan that causes Republicans to act the way they do, and independents to act the way they do, for Christians to act the way they do, and non-Christians to act the way they do. He is behind all of this. And the last thing we should be doing as the Church of Jesus Christ in America is allowing him to use us to be even more divisive.
00:02:19
Speaker
The strategy we have as Christians has not changed. We should be on our knees.
00:02:26
Speaker
We should be on our knees praying for Joe Biden as the most powerful man in the world, president of the United States of America, as he leads us in whatever amount of time he has left, whether it's through the end of this term or through next term.
Praying for Leaders and Peace
00:02:43
Speaker
I remind you, it is God's decision who will be in charge.
00:02:49
Speaker
But I do know that our assignment, according to Romans 13, one is that we are to pray for those who are in authority over us to submit to those governing authorities. And if you go on and read verse two, what you find is that you bring condemnation on yourself if you do not.
00:03:08
Speaker
I put Psalm 34.14 on my social media feed after spending some time just reflecting on what was going on. I'm gonna read that for you here in just a second, but this morning, God led me back to that passage and said, you you read 34.14, you need to go back and read 34.13. 34, 14 says this, turn away from evil and do what is good. Seek peace and pursue it. Jesus would later echo this hundreds of years later when he would say, blessed are the peacemakers. But verse 13 says this, keep your tongue from evil and your lips from deceitful speech.
Tragic Loss and Humble Guidance
00:03:52
Speaker
Like I said, our initial reaction as human beings is to wanna lash out to find someone to blame and someone who will pay the price for what happened yesterday. But can I remind you that yesterday an innocent person lost their life? And perhaps maybe even worse, a young man at age 20 died without Jesus.
00:04:26
Speaker
and if anything should hurt our hearts, it should be every time a child of God dies without him. I don't know what the next few days hold, and as I told the eight o'clock service, I know that one of the titles I am given as pastor of this congregation is that I am the shepherd of this flock. It's a title that causes me to cringe because I know that my rod is not straight enough or strong enough to guide you.
00:04:55
Speaker
I would love to have a perfect answer for you to say this is the way and walk in it. But then I remember that it's not my job to do that. My job is to point you back to the book that's already told us how to walk.
00:05:15
Speaker
And if we will adhere to that, no matter what the next days, weeks, and months hold, we will be right. We will be righteous and we will have nothing to apologize for.
Voting as a Christian Duty
00:05:30
Speaker
One last public service announcement, register to vote. Register to vote. And I mean that, I mean, because listen, I told you last week, every right that you are given as a human being comes not from your government, it comes from your God. He alone bestows rights. Governments try to control them, but God gives you your rights. To me, it is a it sin for us not to practice the rights that God has given us. You didn't get to choose the country you were born into. God chose that. And He put you here for a reason. And one of those reasons was that so as a citizen of this country, you would respond by practicing the rights that God has given you.
00:06:19
Speaker
Last election, I'm told that somewhere in the neighborhood of 40 million people who profess to be Christians did not vote. That's an an astronomical number. I think I'm remembering that correctly. It's been years since I read that article. Regardless, it was a large number of people who did not vote. Now, I'm fixing to say an inappropriate word I know. Just forgive me. It's stupid. It's just stupid for you to sit here and complain about the last four years if you didn't practice your right to vote four years ago. Now here's the the worst word. It would be even stupider for you to complain about the next four years if you don't go vote this time. And then at the end of the day be reminded that God himself has all of this in his hands.
00:07:08
Speaker
Acts chapter nine, we're gonna start in verse 34 and we're gonna go through the middle of Acts chapter 11, do not panic. We're not gonna try to read all of that this morning for the sake of time.
Mission and Transformation through the Holy Spirit
00:07:19
Speaker
But I do want to try to cover a lot of ground because it centers around a really important story in scripture for us. We have seen from the very beginning that The marching orders of the Church of Jesus Christ came from Acts chapter one verse eight. Now, I'm gonna i'm gonna do this. I'm a little scared to do it because the eight o'clock service blew it terribly. How many of you remember what Acts one eight says? Oh, I have failed, I have failed, I have failed. Acts chapter one verse eight says, you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and you shall be my...
00:07:57
Speaker
witnesses. Now it's coming back to you. You'll be the witnesses to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. If you break down the book of Acts, there are three pivotal points in the book of Acts. The first pivotal point is when the Holy Spirit is given to those first believers. In that moment, In that moment, what used to be a God up there or out there or even walking amongst us is now a God who is indwelling us, and that radically changes the game. but We're gonna talk about this even more in just a second, but the truth is that when the power of God enters into you, the scripture tells us the same power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead now lives in us. Isn't that amazing?
00:08:45
Speaker
Some of you are amazed, the rest of you don't have a clue what I'm asking you. Yes, it's amazing, guys. That power indwells us and gives us the ability to live out the commands that Christ has given us.
Paul's Conversion and Gospel Spread
00:08:57
Speaker
The second pivotal point comes when Saul is converted to Paul. The reason that is important because in that moment, Saul does what every single one of us are commanded to do. He lays down his own life and takes up the life of Christ. And in doing so, he opened up the world to the gospel because what had been a small, tiny little church in Jerusalem, which grew to about 15,000 people, now turns into a worldwide movement of the Holy Spirit. If you ever lost a child,
00:09:33
Speaker
Don't worry, I'm not calling defects. ah Okay, so I've lost a child, okay? When I was a single dad, I'm walking through a grocery store, probably a Kroger, and as I'm walking with my agenda and my list of things that I'm supposed to get, I look up and my son Harrison is missing. At that moment, the only thing on my mind is get to my child. So I didn't care what anybody thought, didn't care what foolishness I was doing. I immediately started screaming in Kroger, Harrison, Harrison, Harrison. And people were walking by me going, who is this man and what is he doing? Eventually I found him, but my only goal, my only agenda in that moment was how do I keep my child from getting into the parking lot? I would do anything to find him.
00:10:23
Speaker
A few years before that, I'd actually had my kids at another occasion and you're fixing to pick up on a theme here. I was at a concession stand getting them something to drink at this theme park and Harrison disappeared.
00:10:37
Speaker
and so um looking for Harrison and I turn around and I looked at this person that was standing near me and I did what every parent would have done. I said, looking for a boy, he's about this tall, he's wearing this and this, and you know, he answers by the name of Harrison, and they kind of showed their shoulders and kept walking. I remind you just a minute ago, I told you that typically our first reaction is not the good one. I wanted to smack the fool out of that person and say, I just told you I've got a child missing and you're still walking? You should drop everything you're doing and help me find this child before he disappears. And the only thing that probably saved me in that moment was the gentle tug on the shirt behind me going, dad, I'm right here.
00:11:17
Speaker
Don't you imagine that a God and Father in heaven who loves us so much that he gave us his son would love it if you and I would drop everything we're doing and help him find his children.
00:11:33
Speaker
He would love it if you would put down your agenda, put down your goals, put down your desires, and do everything you can to find the next lost one that needs to come home.
Inclusivity of the Gospel
00:11:47
Speaker
Somebody did that for you. And I think he would desire the same for you and I. Acts 1.8, you will be my witnesses, Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and what? the ends of the earth, the uttermost parts of the earth, whichever translation you read. The third pivotal point in Acts is this, a man by the name of Cornelius is led to Christ. Cornelius is not a Jew, Cornelius is most likely a Roman who served in the Italian regiment in the town of Caesarea.
00:12:22
Speaker
We're gonna take a look at some stories this morning that kinda unwrap this a little bit for us, but my goal is to help us understand and see that the gospel is for the nations. The gospel is for the nations, and sadly, the same biases and prejudices that stood in the way of that early church stand in the way of the church today. Now some of you are shaking your head going, wait a minute, did you just say I am biased and prejudiced? And the answer is yes. All of us have a tendency to be that way. I'm not calling you racist, so don't get panicky there, although some of you might be. I'm not calling you bigoted, though some of you might be. I'm just saying that because of the fallen nature of man, every single one of us have to fight that tendency to have a bias or a prejudice that causes us to see people with the incorrect vision. Let's be honest.
00:13:23
Speaker
This morning, if a young man were to walk in that door right now wearing a Biden-Harris t-shirt, would he be welcome? No.
00:13:34
Speaker
Thank you for your honesty. Or what if someone walked in that corner of the room, sat down, smelled bad, looked like they hadn't had a shower in two or three weeks wearing a rainbow-colored t-shirt? Would we go and embrace them? Would we go and welcome them? Would we be willing to speak the gospel to them? I think these are the challenges that Peter had faced in his day and you and I face in our day, to realize that what we have done is we have Americanized Christianity. We've made it Western.
00:14:14
Speaker
but we we We try to make all Christians look like you and I. And again, I'm not talking about skin color so much because I don't i don't run into that with most of you people. You hide that if you've got that problem. But I just think that sometimes we have a tendency to go, oh, they cheer for the wrong team, or they eat the wrong kind of food, or they live in the wrong kind of house, or their car is a different kind of car. I know that sounds bizarre, but we have this tendency to let those things cause us to miss a thousand gospel Christian opportunities a year. And that's probably a low estimate.
00:14:53
Speaker
So Peter had to be convinced of the truth, you and I have to be convinced of that same truth. Mahatma Gandhi, most of you recognize the name, powerful writer, thinker, influencer of his day, shares in his autobiography that in his student days, as a college student in England, he was deeply touched by reading the Gospels. And he seriously considered becoming a convert to Christianity because of its power. it seemed to offer a real solution to the caste system that divides the people of his country, India. One Sunday, he attended church services and decided to ask the minister for enlightenment on what salvation meant and other Christian doctrines. But when Gandhi entered the sanctuary, the ushers refused to give him a seat and suggested he go elsewhere to worship with his own people. He left and never came back.
00:15:46
Speaker
And later he would write in his autobiography, if Christians have cast differences also, I might as well remain a Hindu. Now discrimination isn't always bad. You have to be discriminating in what you watch on TV, right? You have to be discriminating as to whether or not you go back for the second helping of chocolate. First one's always right, but the second one you have to be discriminating. You have to be discriminating in your friendships that you choose to be around because the Bible says bad company corrupts good character. But discrimination can also be used as a weapon. It can be ah used as an insulation of our hearts to protect our way of life. And can I remind us as Christians, it's not our job to protect our way of life. Our job is to stand for his way of life.
00:16:41
Speaker
We are given examples of discrimination in the scripture. Most of you will remember the story of a guy by the name of Jonah. In the Old Testament, Jonah is a racist, plain and simple. When God showed up and appeared to him and said to him, Jonah, you're gonna go to the Assyrians, he promptly said no, sir, in turn and went the opposite direction, out of hatred for the Assyrians. Now let me ask you something, be real honest with yourself. If God were to show up in your living room today and to say to you, Ridley, I want you to go to X group and tell them my story, would you turn and run the opposite direction knowing that God had said that to you?
00:17:27
Speaker
Okay. Can I remind you that the word of God is the word of God? It's his message to you and many of us choose day after day to turn and run in the opposite direction when he has expressly given us commands on how to live our life.
Bible as Life Guidance
00:17:47
Speaker
And that's what we believe here. We believe this word is his word, not man's, that it was given by God, inspired by God so that you and I would know exactly how to live the life he's asking us to live. We don't have to ask a whole lot of questions because we already have all of the answers.
00:18:05
Speaker
And so when God speaks and when God commands, our response should be, here I am Lord, send me. We shouldn't have to ask, who are you sending me to? Shouldn't matter.
00:18:24
Speaker
So let's start with the two stories at the beginning of this section. One of them is a story about a guy by the name of Aeneas who is from the town of Lidda. Peter is called there to address this man because he is handicapped. And Peter, using the Holy Spirit inside of himself, says to this man, Aeneas, get up and kind of in the same vein as Jesus Christ himself, says to the man, take up your bed and walk and the man walks. Wouldn't you love to be able to do that? Wouldn't you love to be able to give that kind of good news to somebody?
00:19:01
Speaker
but it gets even better. Because then it says that Peter is summoned to a village known as Joppa because there's a lady there by the name of Tabitha, or her other name, which I prefer because it's fun, Dorcas. You ever call anybody Dorcas? Well, Tabitha is a kind, generous, beef beneficent woman. she She blesses people, she's charitable in her giving, and she dies. And the Bible says that the whole town of Joppa loved her and that she were they were mourning because of her death. Peter shows up, Peter prays over this woman and says, Tabitha, you're not dead, you're just asleep. Get up. And that's exactly what she does. And then we turn to the story of Cornelius.
00:19:50
Speaker
Cornelius, again, a Roman, he is one day in his house and he receives a messenger, an angel, who comes to him and says, there is a guy by the name of Peter up the road in Joppa, you need to send for him, he needs to come to your family. So Cornelius sends messengers. Meanwhile, Peter is staying at the house of a guy by the name of Simon, who is a tanner. It's real easy to read that verse and go, well, that's kind of sweet. Why did they bother to tell us that? That's an important point because in that moment, God was already working on Simon Peter's heart. You see, a Jew, a good Jew would not have been staying at the house of a tanner because he would be considered constantly unclean.
00:20:35
Speaker
because his job was to mess with dead people, dead bodies, dead animals.
00:20:42
Speaker
So Peter is staying with Simon there, and he goes up to have a little bit of a prayer time on the roof, and while he's there, he decides he's a little bit hungry. So he calls down to the house and says, can somebody bring me a sandwich? And while they're working on the sandwich, Peter falls asleep, and he's given a vision. And this vision is that this giant sheet is lowered down out of heaven, and on that sheet is every four-legged animal, reptile, and bird. And a voice from heaven, being God's voice, says, Peter, get up, take and eat. Peter says, no, no, I'm a good Jew, I've never eaten anything wrong. That happens a second time.
00:21:21
Speaker
And then a third time, and when it's all over with, God says to Peter very clearly, do not, do not, you dare call anything unclean that I have declared clean. And as soon as he wakes up downstairs, he hears the voices of Cornelius' messengers. And he has been told by God to get up and go with these men, don't even hesitate, go with them. We're gonna pick up the story there in just a second, but Peter arrives in Caesarea at the home of Cornelius, where his family is, and this is the third pivotal point in the book of Acts because now, now finally, the gospel's about to be opened up to the nations because of what's about to happen. Chapter 10, verse 34, it says, Peter began to speak, now I truly understand that God does not show favoritism.
00:22:11
Speaker
But in every nation, the person who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. In every nation, the person who fears him. He sent the message to the Israelites proclaiming the good news of peace through Jesus Christ. He is Lord of all. You know the events that took place throughout all Judea beginning from Galilee after the baptism that John preached. How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power and how he went about doing good and healing all who were under the tyranny of the devil because God was with him.
Christ's Authority and Freedom from Sin
00:22:45
Speaker
This story shows three very important points I wanna highlight very quickly for us. Number one, Aeneas's miracle highlights that Christ's power is over all disease.
00:22:56
Speaker
There is no cell in the universe, no atom in the universe that does not exist outside of the authority of Jesus Christ.
00:23:08
Speaker
Now what that means, if you're connecting dots in the sermons so far, is that the same power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead is in you and I, and the same power that rules over the universe is the same power that's in you and I, which means you and I have power over everything that Christ has power over. Now immediately you're going, wait a minute, how come when I pray my friend doesn't get healed? How come when I speak my friend doesn't get up and walk or his blindness isn't taken away? How come the cancer hasn't been removed from his body? And my answer is, I don't have a clue. But God in his wisdom does. God chooses where to move, when to move, how to move according to his glory and his agenda, not mine.
00:23:56
Speaker
But because you and I trust in the faithfulness of the God we sang about just a minute ago, the goodness of God, we pray with faith, we pray with understanding, we pray with confidence that God can and will move according to his plan. So your question may be, okay, then what good does it what does it do for us to have that power inside of us if we can't just speak to people and make them well? Let me ask you a question. Would you rather be able to look at somebody and say, hey, your cancer is removed? Or look at them and say, you no longer have to fear death at all. You see, you and I have in us the power to speak the good news of Jesus Christ. The good news of Jesus Christ is that there will come a day when cancer will cause fear to no one.
00:24:53
Speaker
There's a day when you won't have to worry about the bondage that holds you or the abuse that you fear or the loneliness that overwhelms you. There's coming a day when he will reign over all things without any question. That's the good news. And the good news starts with you and I having freedom from our sin, our guilt and our shame. The freedom that comes from knowing that Jesus Christ has paid the price that you and I should have paid. God has power over all disease and because of that, the disease, the sickness of our sin has been removed. That's good news.
00:25:35
Speaker
The second thing that we see here, of course, is that Dorcas' miracle proves that Christ has power over death. Ultimately, at the end of it, that's what the joy is all about. Death is no longer our biggest enemy. One of my favorite chapters in all scriptures, 1 Corinthians 15, for this very reason. In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul says those words that change the outlook for every believer in Jesus Christ. He says, death, where is thy victory? Grave, where is thy sting? Thanks be to God through the power of Jesus Christ, death no longer reigns over us.
00:26:15
Speaker
That's good news. It's news that brings us hope. I believe it's news that would have changed the outlook of a 20 year old man yesterday before he felt like the only way forward was to pull a trigger.
00:26:32
Speaker
The third thing we see here is of course the story of Cornelius and that is this, that Cornelius' story prepares us to see Christ's power over discrimination. Christ has the ability to change the way we see the world and that's desperately needed right now. We live in a time and an age where we judge people by the color of their skin. We judge people by the job that they hold. We judge people by the political party they're a part of. We judge people, we judge people, we judge people. And then let me remind us that there is only one judge who has authority.
00:27:11
Speaker
It's not our place to judge anyone, it's our place to continue to time after time go to them with the gospel, to go to them for grace and with grace and forgiveness and offer them the same thing that's been offered to us. One of the biggest lies that's been cast on human nature since the very beginning of time is that there are multiple races competing for the attentions and the affections of the world and the resources that are offered it. There's only one race. It's the human race. And the only difference between you and you and you and the other eight billion people on this planet is how much melanin we have in our skin. So congratulations, you're not white, you're melanin deprived. And your brother down the street is not black, he is abundantly blessed with the melanin. And everything in between is how much melanin we have in our skin.
00:28:04
Speaker
You see, all the differences that exist in this world are not existing because of God, they're existing because of you and I and our prejudices. We create cultures, we create environments, welcoming and unwelcoming. We are the ones who create the divisions between us and we have the ability to erase them. And that's real power.
00:28:33
Speaker
You see, it's not who wins the election in November that's going to change our country. It's how well you and I live like Jesus.
Authentic Living of the Gospel
00:28:41
Speaker
It's how well you and I love like Jesus. It's how well we take Jesus to the nations. The world's not gonna change because you have a particular sign in your yard or a particular sign on your shirt or because you scream louder than they do or you have the best comeback in your meme. It's got nothing to do with that and everything to do with how we live the gospel. Everything with how we live the gospel.
00:29:13
Speaker
So, three things I wanna challenge you with. These things I want you to go out and to do starting this week. We should show no hesitation in befriending people like us, unlike us. No hesitation, none. So ask God to change the way you feel about people. Ask God to let you see them the way he sees them. and then maybe tomorrow when you pull off that exit on the interstate and they're standing there with a sign you don't say hey I wonder if they're going to be responsible with the money I give them instead you give them the money and say well let God decide what happens with that or better yet if you're not a female that's my disclaimer you put them in the car with you you take them to McDonald's you feed them a meal and you say let me tell you why Jesus compelled me to do this for you
00:30:05
Speaker
because ultimately that is our marching order. Remember Acts 1.8, you will be my witnesses. From McDonald's to Jerusalem to Jania to Samaria to your workplace to your neighborhood to your high school, you will be my witnesses to the ends of the earth. Secondly, we should show hospitality toward everyone opening our homes and our lives to them.
00:30:32
Speaker
We should show hospitality. This was a big thing in the Middle East, still is today. You show hospitality to everybody, including your enemies. What a challenge that is for Americans. I mean, how many of you, be real honest, would be willing to pick up the phone today and call that cousin of yours you haven't talked to in 15 years and invite him over for dinner tomorrow? night
00:30:55
Speaker
How many of you would be willing to ride through Chapel Hill and find that friend that's got the Biden Harris sign in their front yard and say, come over to my house tomorrow night, let's have dinner.
00:31:08
Speaker
How many of you would go and purposely seek out someone who carries the rainbow flag and screams loudly on their social media about their support for things that you don't support and say, can I take you for a cup of coffee?
00:31:29
Speaker
Human nature, remember, first reaction, not usually the best. Our human nature is, do you seriously think I would do something like that? Do you seriously think that's the way I would want to respond? And the answer is no, I don't think it's the way you want to respond, it's the way Jesus would want you to respond. And that's why Jesus said, if any man's gonna follow after me, he's gonna have to take up his cross. Lay down his own life. Set aside his own agenda and follow after me. The third challenge is this. We've already said it, show humility to all people regardless of color or income because we are all made in God's image. Book of Genesis is very, very clear. That's the way God created us, every one of us in his image. We just keep breaking us into fractions.
00:32:27
Speaker
We keep dividing and separating and causing disunity. And then we shake our heads and wonder why the world is the place that it is.
00:32:39
Speaker
So here's what we got to do. We've got to go to the ends of the earth. We've gotta remember these words from Peter. I truly understand that God does not show favoritism. We've gotta ask that God gives us the heart of Jesus and the eyes of Jesus, and then we've gotta go tell the world about the gospel.
Gospel's Transformative Power
00:33:00
Speaker
Because that changes things. The gospel's what causes a Saul to become a Paul. The gospel is what causes someone who is full of bitterness and hatred to let down
00:33:15
Speaker
his guard and let somebody love him. Jesus is what gives us the ability to walk in the midst of a world that's filled with evil and offered to bring it hope and good. So what do you tell people when you're talking about the gospel? Let's be real clear. Let's make it real clear for you. I wanna make it simple for you, because I tried to challenge you a little bit, so I'm gonna make this part easy for you. Here's the gospel for you. Number one, Jesus is Lord of all. Jesus is the Lord of all. Right now I'm gonna give you something in your head to carry with you for the rest of the day, even the rest of the week, real simple. Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world. Red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in his sight. And don't you dare hate any of them.
00:34:08
Speaker
Number two, Jesus was empowered by the spirit to liberate all men. to liberate all men. yeah We're confused about what real freedom is, right? Freedom, we think, means no restraints. That's not freedom. In fact, it creates greater enslavement because when you have no restrictions, then you become enslaved to your passions. Real freedom is the freedom that God offers you and I through a relationship with him. That's the freedom the world's really seeking. That's the freedom that's actually gonna fulfill their souls. This morning, some of you sitting here are empty as as ah as a canister with nothing in it. You're seeking this, but you're pursuing it everywhere but in God.
00:34:56
Speaker
Number three, Jesus died under the curse that's deserved by us. You don't deserve the gospel. I don't either. Nobody on this planet does. What we deserve, what we deserve, what we will always deserve if it's left to us is death. And praise God, Jesus took that on the cross for us. He took the curse that belongs to you and I. We enter into this world in birth, entered under the curse of the death.
00:35:33
Speaker
but we don't have to leave this world under that curse because the gospel changes that for us. Fourthly, Jesus was raised to reign forever. The plan that Jesus put into motion didn't start that day on that hill. Jesus has always had this plan. God has always had it in his mind that I will send my son to pay the price of their sin so that they might have a relationship with me. So why this statement is so important is because Jesus was not surprised by the launch of a bullet from a gun yesterday. Jesus will not be surprised when the results of the election come in in November. Jesus is not surprised by what happens in your week this week. We get shocked, we get surprised, and we lose it. We think, oh no, the world's coming to an end. Well, surprisingly, you're right.
00:36:31
Speaker
You're absolutely right. But Jesus knew that too. And he's still in charge. He's still in control. He's never once been knocked off of his throne. And what that means for you and I is that there is no sin that you're sitting there hiding this morning that's gonna disrupt his authority. There's no brokenness in your heart that he's gonna be so shocked about that he goes, ooh, I can't handle that. Everything that you've got in your heart right now, every single blackness, darkness, evil, corruption, whatever it may be, every bit of it covered by the cross of Jesus Christ. And it's all been part of his plan. Fifthly, Jesus will judge everyone. Why does Jesus get to judge everyone? Because he's the only one who isn't biased. He's the only one who gets it right.
00:37:27
Speaker
He's the only one that's ever looked at every single person created and loved them the same as the one next to them. Now, one of the things that we are mistaught, misinformed about in this world is that if a God is a God of love, he can't be a God of justice. And that's absolutely 180 degrees counter to the truth. If God is loved, then he must be just. And if God is just, he must have love. Think about your own parenting skills.
00:38:03
Speaker
I told you about the story where I lost my child, right? As a parent who loved that child well, loved him with all of my heart, the only just thing to do was to discipline him after he ran off. Not to punish him, but to discipline him. To sit him down, look him in the eye and say, buddy, this is why you don't run away from Dad. This is why you don't leave the safe, secure area that I'm in because you need me to protect you.
00:38:39
Speaker
So a God who is love has to be just and a God who is just has to be love. The two go hand in hand, they're the opposite sides of the same coin. Don't let the world tell you anything differently. judge Jesus will judge everyone and he will judge everyone fairly.
00:38:58
Speaker
Lastly, actually, let me go back to that for just a second. I need to say this.
00:39:06
Speaker
Probably everybody in this room today at some point has said the words, that's not fair. And you might have even said them to Jesus. And I may shock you with what I'm about to say, but you're absolutely right. Jesus is not fair. If he was fair, you and I would be dead and he would have stayed in heaven. So be very careful what you accuse Jesus of not being fair about.
00:39:36
Speaker
Number six, all this is in accordance with the word which promises forgiveness for everyone who trusts in his name. Here's the good news this morning, you can have forgiveness, you can have grace, you can have mercy, you can have guilt and shame removed from your life, you can have hope.
Trusting Jesus for Salvation
00:40:00
Speaker
And all you have to do is trust him.
00:40:05
Speaker
All you have to do is trust Him. That song we sang a minute ago is right now one of my favorite worship songs. All my life you have been faithful. All my life you have been so, so good.
00:40:27
Speaker
I can't even think about those words without getting a little emotional. To understand that I don't deserve any of that.
00:40:37
Speaker
And yet, when I stand down here with my imperfect voice, I can sing at the top of my lungs. You've always been faithful. You've always been so good. So I want to spend the rest of my life telling people about it.
00:41:00
Speaker
I want to make sure that every tribe, nation, and tongue has the opportunity to know how good He is.
00:41:09
Speaker
Will you pray with me this morning?
00:41:14
Speaker
Father, we thank you for your word that comes alive for us week after week, gives us instructions for how to live life, how to carry on with our responsibilities in this world, how to be witnesses to this world, and most important, how to love this sw world. This morning there may be somebody here who, for the first time in their life has been introduced to the life changing truth of the gospel.
00:41:46
Speaker
I pray that we would understand and receive what it says to us and understand the hope that it offers us. I can't help but think how things might've been differently yesterday if a 20 year old kid had been introduced to Jesus.
00:42:11
Speaker
how this world would be different if we would just day by day live our lives with the same kind of love you displayed to us. To learn to pray for our enemies and to bless those who persecute us. To set aside our agenda, to adopt the agenda of the living God and be a part of your perfect plan to go to every nation, tribe and tongue.
00:42:45
Speaker
This morning, Father, if there's anybody here who needs Jesus, I pray that today they would swallow their pride, they would stand and come forward. You said in your word, if you wanna acknowledge me before men, then I will not acknowledge you before my Father in heaven. So give us courage.
00:43:08
Speaker
I also believe there's probably some people in here maybe who've been confronted with their own biases and prejudices.
00:43:17
Speaker
We pick and choose who we want to share the gospel with based on the way people look, the way they smell, the kind of car they drive, the kind of food they eat, the kind of music they listen to.
00:43:33
Speaker
And as Peter said, you are a God who does not show favoritism. You welcome us all, red, yellow, black and white, rich and poor, Democrat, Republican, independent. You welcome us all. if we will just come. So maybe some of us need to get on our knees before you this morning and confess our own prejudices that kept us from doing what you've asked us to do. We've all got a little bit of that bias in us.
00:44:07
Speaker
For the rest of us, I pray that we take this message out of here today understanding we have been given an assignment. We've been handed our marching orders. They haven't changed in 2,000 years. You will be my witnesses.
00:44:26
Speaker
Give us the power to do that this week. It's in Jesus' name I pray, amen.