Pastor Jeff emphasized the importance of a church that impacts its community through faithful proclamation of God's Word, even in the face of fierce opposition. He shared that true faith leads to a labor of love and steadfastness of hope, encouraging the congregation to endure trials as a part of their spiritual growth. Pastor Jeff illustrated how the early church in Thessalonica exemplified these qualities, demonstrating that genuine commitment to the Gospel brings transformation. Ultimately, he urged everyone to actively live out their faith and share the message of Jesus, as the future of the church and its impact on the world depend on it.
Sermon Transcript
Well, good morning. We help me welcome all of our brave campuses that are worshiping along with us today. So great to be with all of you. Wanted to let you know if you weren't here last week and haven't heard last week's message, I would encourage you to go online and watch it. As we talked about taking ground, we talked about all the things that we're getting involved in as we're doing more campuses, as we're doing prison ministries, as we're doing more discipleship, as we're doing more missions, as we're advancing our brave academy across campuses.
Go hear what God is doing. And then this September, I'll be talking more in detail about all of those different initiatives. And with that, let's continue our worship this morning as we go before the Lord and get ready to hear his word among us. Would you pray with me? Our Father in heaven, we give you praise, glory and honor for who you are.
And Lord, we ask in this moment that we get a chance to hear you, that we would be open minded and open hearted to all the things that you want to tell us. Because, Lord, we here as a church believe that every time your word is faithfully and accurately proclaimed that you are speaking. So our prayer this morning is speak, Lord, for we are ready to hear. And so now, for all those who have gathered who desire to hear the Lord Jesus Christ speak directly to you, who will believe what he tells you and who will by faith put into practice what he shows you, will you agree with me very loudly this morning by saying the word Amen. Amen.
Throughout history, small groups of people have changed the course of where we go. They've shaken cities, they've changed the culture, sometimes even changed nations. But no small group has been as powerful as those who live for the gospel of Jesus Christ. The reason that we're here today in Denver, Colorado is because there was a small group of people that Jesus gathered with that he discipled for three years that were empowered by the Holy Spirit that took the gospel to the nations. And the reason that we're here today is because they started a movement that is still going on.
And that movement goes on through Christ's church. And sometimes we think that we need to have large groups of people in order to see God work at his fullest. As a matter of fact, I hear the word revival all the time. I've been hearing it since I become a Christian some 35 years ago. People talk about revival, revival, revival.
How are we going to have revival? I want to talk about how it is that we can experience that and what God wants to do and what happens when his church is faithful and how God desires to change a city and challenge a city and shake a city up. And I want to take a look at what kind of people do we need to be. When the Father looks down from heaven in Denver, Colorado, what does he see in Brave Church? Is Brave Church.
The kind of church that can shake a city is Brave Church. The kind of church that can change the culture is Brave Church, the kind of church that the Lord can use to change the nation? I personally believe he can. And we're going to be in a study in the book of first Thessalonians over the coming weeks to take a look at the kind of church that God blesses and what that church looks like. And this morning, I want to start by talking about the church that shakes the city.
And I want to talk about four truths or four elements of that kind of church, like what you can expect to see in a church that's having that kind of radical impact in the city. Because you gather here and you come to Brave because you say, we want to make a difference and we love Jesus and we want to see our city changed. This is how we do it. And so this morning, we're going to be in the book of first Thessalonians. But to start out, we're going to be in the book of acts, Acts, Chapter 17, Verses 1 to 9, as we begin to spell out what it looks like for us to be that kind of church.
So I want to invite you this morning, open your Bible up to acts chapter, chapter 17, and we'll begin our study here today in these first nine verses of Acts. Because what's been going on in the life of the traveling missionaries? Paul's on his second missionary journey, and he's traveling to different cities. And he and Silas had just had a revival that took place in Philippi. If you'll recall the story, the the Philippian jailer was going to kill himself because all the chains broke off and the doors were open.
But before he did, Paul told him, stop. Don't do that. Led him to the Lord. Ended up baptizing him and his entire family. They all came to Christ.
And as they continue on their journey, this is where our story picks up. This is what's taking place. So in Acts, chapter 19. Acts, chapter 19. Starting in verse one, here's what he says.
Acts, chapter 17. Thank you. I love when people are paying attention. It helps. Acts, chapter 17, verse one.
Thank you. He says now when they had traveled through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica where there was a synagogue to the Jews. Just so you know, each of these cities was about 30 miles apart. And as they're traveling, you may read in your Bible, Macedonia, Macedonia is just northern Greece, Achaia is southern Greece and Greece is the whole thing. So they're in, they're up in Philippi in the northern part in Macedonia, they're traveling southwest.
They're going through 33 miles to the first city, 30 miles to the second city, and then they come to the city of Thessalonica and there's a synagogue there. And according to Paul's custom, he went to them and for three sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and giving evidence that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead and saying, this Jesus, who I am proclaiming to you is the Christian. And some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas along with a large number of the God fearing Greeks and a number of the leading women. So let me give you the first element in a church that God blesses and a church that's going to shake the city is this. Here's, here's an element that you will see in every church like that.
You'll see faithful proclamation. Faithful proclamation. So the Apostle Paul is traveling with Silas. They make their way through these cities. They get down to Thessalonica, and as was his custom, he went to a city that had a synagogue, and he went to the synagogue and for three straight weeks he began to proclaim in that synagogue.
And we'll take a look at that in just a second. But why do that? Well, number one, Paul was born and raised a Jew. So he understood all the Jewish customs, he understood the synagogue. He knew when they met, he knew how people thought.
He knew how he thought before he was converted. And so that's where he would always start. As a matter of fact, in Romans chapter one, he says the Gospel goes out to the Jew first and then to the Greek. So he always started with the Jews. Jesus was Jewish, so he went to the Jews and he began to reason with them and explain to them and proclaim to him that Jesus is indeed the Messiah that you're reading about.
Now what we see in Paul is everywhere he went, guess what? He had faithful proclamation. Faithful proclamation. That means fidelity to the word of God. That means I'm going to proclaim what God says whether you want to hear it or not.
And here's why. Because what the word of God says is true. Everything that God says in all of the Word is true. From Genesis 1:1 through Revelation 22:21, it's all true. It's inspired by God, the Holy Spirit, who wrote the words through human authors over a period of about 1400 years.
And think about this. I mean, even in our New Testament, when we read this in second Timothy chapter 3, in verse 16, here's what he says. All scripture that's old and New Testament is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness. So the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. So all scriptures God breathed, it's God's very word.
So I as a pastor, could be inspired to write a book about Jesus or tell truths about the Holy Spirit. But when I say inspired about the Bible, this is God's Word. I will never write God's Word. I will never be inspired to write God's Word. That canon is closed.
These words in our 66 books is God speaking. Other people can come along and explain some things and do some things, but the word of God is authoritative. We have to take it at face value and believe what he says. And when Paul's proclaiming from the Old Testament, he's proclaiming the authority of God's Word. That's why when he continues to exhort his Timothy, his protege Timothy, he says, I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing in his kingdom, do this.
Preach the Word. Be ready in season and out of season. Reprove, rebuke, exhort with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine or teaching, but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance with their own desires, and they will turn their ears from the truth and turn aside the myths. But you be sober in all things.
Endure hardship. Do the work of an evangelist. Fulfill your ministry. So here's what he was saying. He was being faithful with all of the other Old Testament prophets, all the New Testament apostles and prophets, and doing this, preach the Word.
Be faithful to the Scriptures. Proclaim the Scriptures. If you go to a church where the Scriptures are not proclaimed, leave the church. Because God is not speaking to that church. It's the word of God.
He's either true in what he says or he's not. And this is what the Apostle Paul believed. And why, why? Why is proclama so important? Because Romans 10:17 tells us this.
That Faith comes through hearing and hearing through the Word of God. Preaching the Word is the primary ministry in a local church. Well, I don't know if I believe in preaching. Just give us a good, feel good message. No, it's preaching the Word.
Preaching the Word changes hearts. Preaching the Word changes lives. Preaching the Word changes eternal destinations of the listeners that are listening. And when you're faithful to the proclamation of the Word, everything changes. Now, Paul did not have a New Testament when he was in Thessalonica.
He couldn't pull out First Thessalonians and talk to them because he hadn't written it yet. So what scriptures is he using? He's using the Old Testament and he's reasoning with them. And notice what it says in Acts chapter 17 of How he was going about doing this. In Acts chapter 17 and verses 3 and 4, he was there for three Sabbaths.
He was probably in town a lot longer than that. But for three Sabbaths he was there with them. And he reasoned with them from the Scriptures he explained, he gave evidence. And then it says, this Jesus, who I am proclaiming to you, is the Christ he's proclaiming. So he's reasoning, explaining, giving evidence and proclaiming that Jesus is the Christ.
And this is what we must do as well. So how was he reasoning with them? I mean, the Bible doesn't say which verses from the Old Testament scripture he used. But I know a few that I might have picked, and I know a few that I'd pick today if I was talking to someone who believed the Old Testament scriptures but didn't believe that Jesus was the Messiah. How about scriptures like this?
In Isaiah 14:7, Isaiah 7, verse 14, about the virgin birth, therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and she'll call his name Emmanuel. So here's a prophecy about the Messiah according to your Scriptures, in the Old Testament, if you're Jewish, that there's going to be a virgin, she's going to give birth to a son, and that son is going to be the Messiah. So Paul was saying, hey, there was a woman named Mary, she had a son named Jesus, and this is the one I'm telling you about that fulfills exactly what the prophecy said. Or how about the fact of where Jesus would be born?
In Micah chapter 5:2 it says, but you, O Bethlehem, Ephrathah, from you shall come forth from me, one who is to be a ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from old, from ancient of days. So not only does this Messiah have to be born of a virgin. But this Messiah happens to be born in Bethlehem. Guess what? This Jesus I'm proclaiming to you was born of a virgin.
And guess where he was born? Bethlehem. Just like the Scriptures testified that he would. How about this one? In Zechariah, chapter nine and verse nine, Behold, your king is coming to you righteous and having salvation.
Is he humble and mounted on a donkey. How did Jesus enter the city of Jerusalem in his last week of his life? Humble and mounted on a donkey. So if you just had those scriptures, who else in the history of the world has been born of a virgin, born in Bethlehem and has ridden into the city of Jerusalem humble and on a donkey? There's only one that's ever done that.
The God man, Jesus Christ. So Paul's reasoning with them. He's explaining to him. He's. He's showing them.
And then how about this Messiah? What's he going to endure? Because there's Jews today that are still looking for the coming Messiah that's going to rule. But the Scriptures claim that he had to be crucified first. In Psalm 22, it says, they have pierced my hands and feet.
They divide my garments among them, and my clothing they cast lots. Guess what happened to Jesus. He was crucified. They pierced his hands and feet, and then they cast lots for his garment. So he was born of a virgin in Bethlehem.
He rode into Jerusalem on a donkey and humbled, and he was pierced on a cross. And when he was, they gambled and cast lots for his garments. He's four for four so far. How about this? Isaiah 53.
Who is this one? Well, he was pierced for our transgressions, and he was crushed for our iniquities. And with his wounds we are healed. He's the one that God placed all his wrath on for our sin. And what about his return?
Put this one in there. I was studying this this week. I just happened to be in Zechariah. But in Zechariah 12:10, when it talks about the one who is coming, the Messiah that's coming, the one the Jews say is going to come, it says, they will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him. So even if you just have the Old Testament, the one that's coming back, you're going to look on and realize that was the one who was crucified, who all the Scriptures testified about.
Who could that possibly be Jesus? And when you have faithful proclamation and fidelity to the word of God, that changes everything. Why because when the word of God is faithfully proclaimed, you have one of two choices. You can accept it or reject it, but you can't take a middle ground. It's either true or it's not.
So when I hear people say, well, I kind of believe and I kind of don't. It's because you haven't heard the truth of the scriptures. You haven't heard the proclamation of Jesus. If you hear the proclamation of Jesus, you will either respond with contrition and repentance and joy and thanksgiving that he receives you, or you will be angry. But there's no middle ground.
Why? Because here's what the apostle was proclaiming and here's what I proclaim to you, and here's what I say every single week. There is only one way of salvation and it's through the person and work of Jesus. There is no other way. Well, I know some Muslims are good people.
There is no other way. Well, I know some Hindus, there is no other way. But what about Buddhists and what? There is no other way. There's Jesus and there's no other way.
That's the gospel.
Now listen, listen. Here's why Jesus came. He came because of your sin. He came because from the time you took your first breath, you already had a heredity of sin that was passed down from your parents. And then you begin to demonstrate just how selfish you are from the beginning.
But it's not just your personal selfish acts on the earth. It's that you are rebelling against a perfect holy God that created you. And that's who you are. And you're dead in your sins and the wrath of God is on you. And from the time you breathe your first, you're already on your way to hell and there's nothing you can do about it.
But God in His mercy sent his only begotten son, Jesus Christ, the second person of the Trinity, who had always existed. Two thousand years ago he was born of a virgin, so he's now the God man. So he didn't have a heredity of sin. He put on a human flesh. He combined that with God.
So he's truly God and truly man. He's fully God and fully man at all times, and he always will be. And he came and did for you what you couldn't do. He fulfilled the law. He did not sin.
He didn't do anything wrong. And yet at the end of his life, what he did was he went to a cross and was nailed to a cross. And on that cross took the full wrath of God, that was deserved for you. You want to know how serious God is about sin? Take a look at how serious he treated it in his son.
He put your sin on his son and punished his son in your place. Jesus Christ hung and bled on that cross for six hours. He died. He was buried in a grave. But I want to tell you something.
Three days later, he rose from that grave. The God man is alive now as he's ever been before. And here's the truth about that message. Either a, you recognize you're dead in your sin, you repent of that meaning I don't want that anymore. I'm on my way to hell.
I want to be loved by God. I want to be forgiven. And you turn to Jesus, you give him all your sin and he will give you all his forgiveness, all his grace, all his mercy, and you become his. If you don't do that, you're still on your way to hell. And you get everything that the Bible says that you deserve for your sin.
And here's how you'll get it. You'll one day when you die, you'll stand before the glory of Jesus and you'll hear these words, depart from me, you worker of iniquity, I never knew you. And you'll be cast out of his presence into an eternal hell. You will live forever somewhere. You will either live forever in the beauty of the forgiveness of God as an adopted son or daughter of his and you are in his family with his love, or you will be apart from the goodness of God, experiencing the fury of God for your sin that you're responsible for and your rebellion that you're responsible for all these days.
So when that's proclaimed, you're in one of two camps. You're either thank you, Jesus, you're saving me, or I hate that message. Every single week I preach, there's always two or three that get up when I start talking like this, that walk out. And I think, lord, as long as I'm faithful, I'm okay with that. I'm okay with that.
But if the message of the cross is preached and people say, well, that's good for you, but this one's good for me, then they haven't heard the message. No, it's Jesus and His cross only. And if you don't believe that Christ died for you and Rose and you haven't turned from your sin and trusted him, you are on your way to hell and you get everything you deserve. That's the message. But God in His mercy loves you so much, he's persuading you and beckoning you, don't die in your sins.
Now, when I was 18, I heard this message for the first time. I wish I could tell you the first time I heard it. I was really excited about it. I was mad because when my young life leader started explaining this to me, I had K8 in the Lutheran school where we memorized Luther's small catechism and several Bible verses. And I've been going to a Methodist church from the time of I was a baby.
I was even baptized as a six month old. So I mean, I was like so doubly protected. It was great. And in my mind I was better than most of the people I hung out with. I didn't send the big ones.
So when he said to me what the Gospel was and that I really wasn't a believer and if I didn't repent and trust Christ, I was on my way to hell. And it had nothing to do with how good I was. I was angry at him. I was like, I never want to serve a God like that. I've spent my whole life trying to be good and that counts for nothing.
He goes, no, it doesn't count for anything. But because he was so faithful in what he told me, the Lord got a hold of my heart and I realized I am going to hell and it has nothing to do with anything I've done. I've never trusted Jesus and I stood to my feet the next day and accepted Jesus as my personal Lord and Savior. And I've never been the same. Amen.
If you ever find yourself in a different city or you can't go, you can't be here in a weekend, only go to a place that preaches the faithful proclamation of Jesus. If they don't leave because God's not there. We got way too many pulpits in our culture that are presenting their own agendas and their own ideas and their own ideologies. And it doesn't matter if they're conservative or liberal or whatever, if you're not proclaiming Jesus the Christ, the Son of the living God, you are not being faithful in the pulpit. Amen.
That's it. And so when he goes, he preaches that, and that's what you see in a church, that God can use his faithful proclamation. But notice what happens in verse four, and some of them, not all of them, as he's having these conversations over three Sabbaths, some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas along with a large number of God fearing Greeks. Which means when he wasn't in the synagogue. He was out in the city sharing about who Jesus was.
And a number of the leading women, number of the influential women in the city joined. So now what you have is Paul and Silas are reasoning and these people are like, we're going to follow what you guys are saying because that Jesus, we believe he's the Christ. That Jesus, we believe there is no other. That Jesus is who we're going after. It's not about being good or being bad.
It's about being redeemed and we're dead. And God's wrath was on us, and now we're completely forgiven. And so some of the Jews came, some of the Gentiles came, some of the leading women came. So there's this group that's being formed and we would say, praise God, right? So what happens?
What happens when there's faithful proclamation? People get saved, people's lives get changed, people's eternities change and go a different direction. But let me give you a second thing that happens. The church that shakes the city, not only is there faithful proclamation, but there's also fierce opposition. There's fierce opposition.
Notice what happens next. But the Jews, the ones who didn't follow him, becoming jealous and taking along some wicked men from the marketplace. They found some hoodlums, formed a mob and set the city in an uproar and attacking the house of Jason. They were seeking to bring them out to the people. When they did not find them, they couldn't find Paul and Silas.
When they did not find them, they began dragging Jason and some brethren before the city authorities, shouting, these men who have upset the world have come here also, and Jason has welcomed them. And they all act contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king Jesus. They stirred up the crowd and the city authorities who heard these things. And when they had received a pledge from Jason and the others, they released them. Do you see this fierce opposition?
See, when the word of God is truly being proclaimed, the people that accept it love it. The people that reject it, hate it. And they want it far from them because it reminds them of what their future is. And it's been true in the first century and it's still true to this day. There's fierce opposition.
So what are they going to do? They're going to go get Paul and Silas. So they go to the place where he's staying. It's interesting for me, you read all these Greek names in the New Testament. And then there's.
There's Jason. I mean, what's up with that. So they go to Jason's house. They can't find him there. So guess what?
They go after Jason and they find Jason and they grab Jason and they're hauling him down to the city. And it would be the perfect time for Jason to say, enough of this. I don't even know the man. He goes through the whole thing. And notice this backhanded compliment that they give when they're stirring up a riot.
These men talking about Paul and Silas, these men who have upset the world have come here also. Can I just pause and tell you this? For those of you that falsely think the Gospel is just a personal, private thing that you do in your own home, and maybe you go to church and you just be quiet and don't do anything. You do not understand the Gospel. Because if you truly understand the gospel and that you were dead and now you're alive and that this world is temporary, but what's coming is eternal.
And you're not only speaking about Jesus, but you're living for Jesus. You're not only doing it in your home and in your church, you're doing it everywhere you go. And you're going to let God's kingdom values come and let his will be done on earth as it is in heaven. It's going to stir up a city. People don't like that.
Don't give me your biblical values. Don't give me your church values. That book that was just written by a bunch of men from years ago. No, it was written by the Holy Spirit over 1400 years with about 40 different men inspired by him. And it's God's word and it will not change.
And not one jot or tittle will ever change. And you need to know what I'm proclaiming to you is true. That stirs up a city. That changes the city. So what happens is Paul wasn't just going to some little synagogue and saying, well, if you believe it, it's great.
If you don't believe it, it's great. But we're just going to form a little group over here. No, he's saying, what I'm telling you is true. And you'll know this for all eternity because Jesus is the Christ and you're going to be responsible for his death because it's because of your sin. He was dead and that's what was going on.
And so they're shaking this whole city and they don't want it in their city. And there's no city in the world that wants Jesus in their city. I've lived in a lot of cities, right? I mean, I've lived in the Bible Belt, I've lived in Dallas. There's just bigger churches, but there's still just as many people that don't want Jesus.
And most of the people I meet when I meet them out here in Denver, most people didn't come to Denver for a move of God. It's not why they moved here. That's why I moved here. That's why I moved my family here. But that's not why most people moved here.
That's why we moved here. Because I believe when God looks down at Denver, he loves our city as much as he loves any city. And he wants to see his name exalted in Denver as much as he wants to see it exalted anywhere in the world. Amen. So here's their problem with turning the world upside down.
Notice what else the charges they're bringing against them. And they act contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying, there is another King Jesus. Let me tell you something. There is another King Jesus. He is the king.
He is the King of kings. He is the Lord of lords. He's who we take our charge from. He's who we listen to. It doesn't mean we disobey government as long as it doesn't go against the word of God.
We'd be good, quiet citizens if it doesn't go against the word of God. But if it comes down to obeying Jesus and obeying anybody else, who we gonna obey? We're gonna obey Jesus. And that's what these guys were proclaiming. And if you study the history of the church in the first 300 years of the church, it's a bath with martyrs.
Because they understood when they came to Christ, they weren't just coming to Christ to get out of hell. They were coming to Christ because they understood the words of Jesus. Anyone who would come after me must do what? Deny himself, take up his cross and follow me. When they were coming to Jesus, they were coming with their life, which is still how you must come.
So it's not about you. It's about being willing to proclaim and die for what you say and what you live. And you follow him and all his promptings in all you do. When you live like that, cities around you change. You don't need to be a majority for a city to change.
You just need to be faithful. Amen. And that's what you're going to experience if you're in a place that has faithful proclamation and you're in A place where the people buy into that faithful proclamation. There will be fierce persecution. There is no neutrality with the gospel.
It angers everybody. It's why when you're at family meals at Thanksgiving and Christmas, I don't want to totally bring up what Pastor Jeff said last week that would really make them mad, right? Because, you know, and we don't like to think about it this way because we're human and all we see is human. So even the people in our families and even our friends that are quote, unquote, good people, that are far from God, it's hard for us to recognize that if their world ended today, they would be in hell for all eternity. And it's hard for us to realize as believers that when we're transformed into the image of Christ one day and all we know how to do is honor him, it will bring us great delight that there's such a place as Hell.
And even for those people, you know, even if it's your own mom, dad, sister, brother, if you knew they were in hell, you would praise God that they were, because he gave them exactly what they deserve. Now, on this side of heaven, that's hard to comprehend. Like, how can you say that? But it's only possible because I believe that Jesus Christ, the son of the living God, died on the cross and rose from the dead. And that is the turning point of everything that everybody's history is determined upon.
Either either A, you will repent and believe that, or B, you will rebel and not. And either way, your eternity will be decided and you'll get exactly what you wanted. And there's no excuse, so I don't know about that. There's no excuse. You've heard it now.
Well, I don't want to hear it anymore. Well, you've heard it. And the Holy Spirit will chase you down for the rest of your life trying to persuade you that you need to give your life to Jesus. Amen.
Because when you begin to see stand for what is right, you will be persecuted. There will be opposition. I mean, this week, I, I, I can help you with this. I can help you. If you want to experience more persecution this week, I can help you with that.
In second Timothy 3:12 says, Anyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. So I'm glad I don't live in a place where people are being martyred for their faith. We don't yet. We don't yet, but we will. We will.
Listen, in 2020. I watched it happen in 2020. I watched churches cower. When a governor would say, you can't open your church, I watched people cower when it said, you can only have 50 people. Oh, now you can only have 10.
And oh, by the way, when they come, you have to be six feet apart because we care for you. That was just so, you know, for those of you that are here, like, why does Pastor Jeff always talk about that? Can't he just get on with his life because of this? That was an appetizer for what's coming. That's why I talk about it.
Because if you're not ready for what's coming, because all that was is you couldn't go to church, so you had to watch it at home. Which if you're the pastor, stinks because I already preached it and I'm watching it three days later. It was terrible, right? I'm saying, happy Easter, and it's Thursday, you know, I mean, I didn't like it. But what about the day that comes?
Like, you go to church, you can't have your job anymore. We're gonna take your bank account away. You go to church, we're take your kids away from you. I mean, what are you gonna do then? Like, if you're not preparing to go all in with Jesus now, you won't be ready when the time comes.
That's why I talk about it. Cause there's always gonna be fierce opposition to Jesus and the gospel. There always has in every city, in every country, everywhere you go. There's no Christian place where you go. And everybody's like, we just love Jesus here.
There's never going to be until Jesus gets back, and then everybody will be that way. But until he. Until he is that way, live that way. So you say, well, I want to know what that's like. Just live more godly.
Speak out what you believe and live out what you believe and just watch the persecution in your life rise. Anybody. There's no neutrality with it. There's no neutrality with the gospel. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth and the life, and nobody comes to the Father except through me.
That kind of lays down the gauntlet. There is no other way. Well, with all the religions in the world, there is no other way. There's no other way. It's just Jesus.
And by the way, it's not your idea of Jesus. It's the biblical view of what Jesus is. Mormons are not Christians. Jehovah Witnesses are not Christians. Just because you go to a place that says Christian on the side of the building, doesn't make you Christian.
Christian is one who is born again by the spirit of God because they've repented and placed their faith and trust in Jesus only and not on any bit of their works. And there's plenty of people that go to plenty of denominations and plenty of churches all across the world that are going to be shocked on Judgment Day that they're not in the family and they're going to hear these awful words depart from me, you worker of iniquity. I never knew you. Hey, just because you showed up with your mom and dad. Hey, just because you went and were around other Christians.
Hey, just because you gave some money, hey, just because you served a little bit, that means nothing. My son died for you and you rejected him. You didn't want to live for him then, you're not going to want to live for him now. And just so you know, hell is not a place where people get dragged off to hell, where they're like, no, why didn't you tell me? Oh, they don't want to go.
They're going off to hell, gritting and gnashing their teeth, saying, who are you to tell to make this up? Who were you to create? I never wanted to be created anyway. I hate you. That's hell for the believer.
It's bliss. Family of God, forever and ever. Amen. So I'm just telling you, where there's faithful proclamation, there's also fierce endurance or fierce opposition. But notice this, number three, a marker for of a healthy church is also fearless endurance.
Fearless endurance. That's a church that shakes the city. Now, notice in the Book of Acts, I just want to read one more verse in Acts, chapter 17, just so you can be aware of what happens next. Because it's like, well, what's going to happen? Because look at this.
Verse 10. The brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea. And when they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews. So check this out. So they're trying to protect Paul and Silas because they're going to, like, hurt him or put them in prison or kill him or do something.
So they take Jason, he has to put a pledge down. Basically, Jason's like, we're taxing you more. You owe us. And if these guys ever come back into the city, we're cashing the check. Otherwise, it's just a deposit.
Keep Paul and Silas out of the city. So to protect them by night, they send them to Berea. So we know that they go to Berea, then Paul and them go to Athens, and then they end up in Corinth. And that's where they write the book of First Thessalonians. So they're sending them out to protect them.
But you got to ask the question, if that's all we have, is, well, what happened to those group of believers? Like, what happened to those leading women in the city? What happened to those Greeks? What happened to those Jews who were converted that were following Paul and Silas? Because Paul and Silas weren't there that long.
So I guess they just kind of dispersed and, you know, kind of just said, okay, we'll. We'll fold back in. And is that what happened? That's not what happened. Because the people, Thessalonica, had fearless endurance.
Open your Bible up to First Thessalonians. In First Thessalonians, here's how you see it addressed. It says Paul Sylvanus and Timothy. Sylvanus is another writing for the word Silas. It's the same Silas we've been reading about.
Paul, Silas and Timothy. These three men are going to write this letter. Paul's going to be the primary writer. Sometimes he's going to use the word I. If he's using the word we, he's talking about Paul, Silas, and Timothy.
And notice who he's writing to. A lot of times we read the Bible, we skip over this because, like, okay, who's he writing to? I mean, we don't know what happened to all these people. Like, what happened to all these people that were somehow converted. Who's he write to?
To the. What's it say? Church. Jesus establishes his church of the Thessalonians. Praise God.
I mean, you think about it, Jews and Gentiles didn't get along. And yet in a period of a few weeks now, they all had to come together with the leading women of the city. And it was them against the world because they had to hang tough together because everybody's coming against them and they didn't know each other and they weren't of the same ilk or anything like that. But here's what they had in common. Jesus.
And that's the mark of a great church that can endure. In our church, we all have different ideologies. We all have different socioeconomic backgrounds. We have wealthy people. We have poor people.
We have all, you name it. We have different ethnic backgrounds. That's great. That's what the church is all about. And we can have different political opinions and all that's fine.
But when it comes to the primary issue of the day, it's that we believe Jesus Christ is God's one and only son who died on the cross for our sins and rose from the dead and is coming back to rule and reign on this earth that we will not waver from ever one iota. Amen. And when you have that, you can stand together with people that think really different than you on a lot of things. I do. And they're all wrong, but I do because I love Jesus.
Amen. And that's what's going on here. So he's writing to this church and he's saying, hey, guess what? I'm proud of you. And he's gonna.
What ends up happening is just to give you a little background, he ends up sending Timothy back to find out what's going on. And Timothy's back and reporting to him, saying, Paul, you'll never believe it. These people are so faithful. They have endured all this hardship and they're still proclaiming Jesus and they're living in this hard city where people are totally against him. Thessalonica was a thriving, industrious city on the banks of the water.
They had trade, they had all these things going on. What they didn't like was Jesus coming into town and wrecking it all. But these people were standing firm for Jesus because they were living for a future that they couldn't quite see yet. So he writes to the Church of the Thessalonians and, well, how's that church founded? Well, it tells us in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ.
And then he says, grace to you and peace. Why? Because it's the same grace that saves you, is the same grace that grows you. And as you're growing in grace, that's where you experience the peace of the Lord. That's why.
Grace and peace. Grace and peace. Grace and peace. It wasn't your works. It was grace.
How do I have peace? Through Jesus Christ. That's the only way you'll ever find it. How do I continue in peace? Growing in the grace of God.
That's how I continue with the Prince of Peace. Amen. And here's what we see. Notice verse two, this fearless endurance. Here's Paul's heart.
We give thanks to God always for all of you, making mention of you in our prayers. What's Paul's thought? So thrilled with what God did with you. I pray for you. I pray for all of you.
I'm so thrilled at what he's doing. You're listening to the faithful proclamation. You're being obedient. The midst of fierce opposition, you're pursuing him. You're enduring Till the end.
I mean, I'm just so grateful for you. And this is his first letter that he's writing to any church. And he's so grateful for this church. There's not a lot of correction here. First Corinthians, he's correcting them in every sentence.
This book here, he's telling them how great they are and what they're doing that they're doing so well. And I share his sentiments. When I think about our church, we've grown to a size. I don't know all of you by name anymore. I used to don't know every single person sometimes.
Some of you coming up. I wanted to introduce myself. How long you been coming? Two years. I've never seen you, but it doesn't change my heart for you.
There's no other church in the world I'd rather pastor than right here with you because of what you're doing for the kingdom and the way you're standing firm in the proclamation of the Word and the way that you're enduring hardship in your life and in your family and in your different ways so that you can see Jesus Christ exalted and the way you want to see him honored in our city. And I believe God looks down at our church and he's honored by the way that we're serving. And for me, it's not just about individual salvations and wanting to grow a church. It's being a faithful church. That on Judgment Day, that I wouldn't just hear, well done, good and faithful servant, or you wouldn't just hear, well done, good and faithful servant, but we collectively, at brave church, Jesus would gather us and say, well done, good church.
You are faithful with the word of God. You endured opposition fearlessly, and you were faithful to me the whole time. No matter what came your way, you still continued to endure all the way to the end. And that is the mark of an excellent church. Amen.
And I feel that way about each and every one of you. I do. I do. When Kim and I pray for you. Sometimes we're praying for you by name as we think about you as we know you.
Other times it's just praying for our church in general and what God would do and how he'd raise up the next generation and what he's going to do and how we can impact our city. That's what we want to see. And can I just say something else about revival for a second? Revival is not an emotional experience where you get touched by Jesus. Okay?
It's not that you came to an evening event that lasted three hours and some people got saved, which is great. And we had an encounter with the Holy Spirit through worship, which is great. And we heard a good word. That's not revival. Revival is the outcome of a true work of God where non believers change and a city changes.
Here's how you know revival happens in Denver. When abortion clinics shut down in Denver, revival's happening.
When it's championed that marriage is between a man and a woman and family values are put on a pedestal in our city, that's how you know revival's happening. When morality is trumping immorality in our city, that's how you know revival's happening. When crime starts drying up in our city, that's how you know revival's happening. Revival is not a tingly experience for the believer. Revival is when believers are living on fire for Jesus in the city and everybody has to take notice and things begin to change because God's spirit is able to move through those people.
Amen. And that's what's going on here. And everywhere the Apostle Paul went and everywhere the New Testament church was going, that's what they were bringing to the city. They were telling them, you do it this way. That's wrong.
This is God's way. That's not right. You need to do it like this. And what most people want to do in our culture and the reason we don't see it as much is because they tell us, just, you can preach all that. Just do it in your church.
Tell us. And then we're like, okay, no, no, I'm going to tell you, this book is not for the church. This book is for the world. God's telling you to change. Our governor needs to change.
Our political leaders need to change, and they need to champion what this book heralds. Amen. Now, when you start talking that way, that's when you get opposition and you got to endure. But the purpose of that is that's how God grows us, isn't it? I mean, it's through trials that God grows us.
That's why I love our church. I mean, I love our church. I've heard stories about this for about the last 15 years. People will tell me stuff like this. I love brave.
I started coming to brave, but I gotta tell you, since I started coming to brave, everything's, like, turned upside down in my life. Like, my family's gotten, like, really hard, or like, my job's just gotten super difficult, or we don't even know how we're gonna pay the bills anymore. Everything was fine till we got here and started going all in with Jesus. To which I say, welcome to the family. So glad, glad you're here.
Right, because it's trials that grow us. Trials are not consequences of sin. Trials are sovereignly designed experiences that God takes you through to grow your strength and endurance. So people sometimes get mad at me. They're like, hey, Jeff, do you believe, like, once saved, always saved?
I'm like, yeah, I do. Because the Bible teaches that. And if God saved you and you had nothing to do with it, you can't lose what God gave you because you're God's. How do you explain the person who, like, was going with God for, like, a couple years and then fell away? Easy parable of the soils.
He was never saved to begin with. He sprung up really quick, he looked really good, but he was never a believer. Or they sprung up really quick, but they got choked out by all the weeds because they were never really a believer. So I don't believe in the eternal security of a nonbeliever, but for a believer, I believe it. Well, how do you know if they're a believer, Pastor Jeff?
Trials. Trials will show you where you place your faith every single time. When somebody is not of the faith and a trial comes, they're out. When a believer's in, they press into Jesus even more and tell me if I'm not telling the truth. You walk through this experience, and as you press into Jesus, it's a horrible experience.
You wouldn't have chosen this. But there's great joy in the experience, like, oh, my goodness, Lord, get me through this. And you come out the other side, and you know you're very different than you were over there, and you're stronger in the Lord here, and it's only because of that trial that you're here. But you never want to go through another one ever again. So you're like, thank you, Jesus, for making me what I am.
Just don't ever give me another trial. Thank you. And then the next one's going to come, and they never stop because God is growing your faith, and so endurance is part of that process. I was reading in James, chapter one this week, which you already know, James, chapter one, verse two. Consider it all joy, my brethren.
Consider it all joy, my sisters. Whenever you face trials of various kinds, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance, and let endurance have its perfect result so you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. Praise God for your trials. It's because he's perfecting you and he loves you and he's wanting you to have a greater measure of his joy. Verse 12 says, Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial.
For once he has been approved, he'll receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love him. Right. I mean, that's what the Lord does. He's building our spiritual muscle. Romans 5:3 to 5 says the same thing.
I said this pinned on my locker. The University of Illinois. And not only this, but we also exalt or rejoice in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance. That's the steadfastness, endurance and perseverance. Proven character, and prove it.
Character, hope. And hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. How do you get hope? Hope is not a wish. Hope is a future certainty.
When I go through trials and I see God bring me through, I'm not hoping that he's going to come back to earth. I know he's coming back to earth. I'm not hoping that I'm saved. I know that I'm saved. I'm not hoping that Jesus is going to do everything he said he's going to do.
I know he's going to do everything he says he's going to do. And I'm looking forward to that. Amen. And I'm looking forward to that, like, now. I mean, if God gives me another 50 years to preach, praise God, I'll be as faithful as I possibly can.
I hope I'll be as faithful as I possibly can. But if Jesus comes back today, like, I'd love to see my kids get married. I'd love to see my grandkids. There's so many things I want. That's great.
But if Jesus said, well, you can do that, or I'll come back today, I'll be like, come, like, let's go set up your kingdom. Let's do this thing. Life's too hard, right? I want to be in the presence of Jesus. That's the goal of my faith.
Come whenever he wants to come. I'm excited about his coming. I hope you are, too. And that's what builds endurance. So when you go through trials, praise God, rejoice in the Lord always.
Again, I'll say it. Rejoice. He doesn't say, rejoice about how pleasant your circumstances are. Because they're not pleasant. Trials are not pleasant.
They're awful. You would never pick them but when you go through, you can praise God. God, you must love me a lot. I mean, sometimes when I'm talking to somebody on the phone that I know they're going through a great trial. Had a friend that lost his brother this year at the age of 50 that left 10 kids behind.
And I was talking to him, I said, chad, Jesus must love you a lot to entrust you with this level of pain in your life in this season. Because what happens is when people come talk to us about their trial, how do we usually pray? Dear Lord, take the trial away, dear Lord, remove it. But that may not be what the Lord wants to do. I mean, have you ever prayed for somebody like, Lord, this is a huge, horrific trial.
They're having a miserable time, but I know it's going to grow them. So give them more trials, Lord, just do it. We don't pray like that for people, that would seem weird. I don't want more trials. You don't want more trials.
It'd be weird to look for them. But if we really understand that God is sovereign and bringing them, we would thank him and rejoice in the trial. Because he's perfecting us in a process to get us ready for what's coming. Because this is temporary, but what's coming is eternal, and he's getting us ready for that day. Amen.
And this is what you see in a church that shakes the city. You see faithful proclamation and fierce opposition and fearless endurance. So we see Jason in Acts 17. He puts the down payment down. That could be the reason when we get into 1st Thessalonians 2, Paul says he was prohibited in coming back to Thessalonica.
It may have been, we don't know. Could it have been because he wasn't allowed back in the city because the government wouldn't let him come? I don't know. Wouldn't be surprising. For whatever reason, he was hindered from ever getting back to this group of people that he's one day going to see now he's seen in Heaven.
But let me give you the final truth, and this is the most exciting one. When you have faithful proclamation and there's fierce opposition, but you endure fearlessly, then you have this. You have a fruitful response. You have a fruitful response. Notice verse three.
As Paul's praying for them, every one of them making mention of them in his prayers, what's he say? Constantly bearing in mind that means I can't stop thinking about these three things. Your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the presence of our God and Father. Now, notice what he says. He says, I can't stop praying about you.
And I'm constantly bearing in mind your work of faith. Now, we don't work for salvation. We don't. There's nothing you can do to get yourself saved. If you could, God sent Jesus for no reason.
You couldn't save yourself. So God sent Jesus. So you don't work for your salvation. But once you've been saved, your whole heart, mind, attitude, belief patterns change so that there's a desire to align with what His Word says and do it. So there's this work of faith.
You're working out your salvation with fear and trembling. You're not working for it. But what God works in, you're now working out. So you read the Word to say, what do you want me to do? What does it look like, Lord, you're the authority.
I'm not what needs to change. How do I need to think differently? How's my attitude? How's it changing my marriage? How's it changing my kids?
How's it changing my job? How's it changing my finances? Lord, you own it all. You have it. And as the Lord begins to show us in His Word, we just take baby step after baby step after baby step after baby step.
And we call that a walk with Jesus. That's what a work of faith is. It's not me doing good things for God. It's me being obedient to what God's prompting me to do and continuing to do that and grow in that. So that over time, I'm better at being generous and I'm better at forgiving others.
And I'm better at understanding His Word. And I'm better at being sensitive to the Holy Spirit. And I'm a better worshiper of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I'm better in my prayer times with Him. Cause now I align more of my prayers with what he wants than just me telling him what I want.
And all the different things that change, those are the work of faith. And he's praising the Thessalonians, even though they're a young church. I see you taking the steps of faith, and it's true in any venue in life, but especially true spiritually. You don't go from point A to point Z. There's incremental growth, and we're never gonna arrive until we meet Jesus Christ face to face.
So that's why I always pray, hear Jesus, believe what he says and put into practice what he shows you. You do those three things on a regular basis, your life will never, ever be the same. And so that's what he's saying. And we see the fruitfulness of this congregation, that they're living out their work of faith. Second, he talks about the labor of love.
The labor of love. Now, most of us, when we think of love, we think, oh, that's easy. Oh, I love them. Oh, I love that food. Oh, I love that team.
I love, love, love. We live in a world where we think love is easy because we don't have a biblical definition of love. Love is preferencing another above yourself. It's the difference between engaged couples and married people. You talk about love differently the longer you've been married.
Engaged couples talk about love like this. Oh, we're so in love. She is the best. There's nobody like her. He is unbelievable.
Love, love, love. And if you're a Christian and you're married, you just smile at them. Be like, we'll see you on the flip side, bro. You know, I mean, because when you get married, it's not about what that person does or who they are or how they look or what they. It's about, I'm giving up my rights to how I want to be loved, to serve you in ways that you want to be loved.
And whether you ever do anything right for me or not, I'm called to love you no matter what. And sometimes that's really easy, and sometimes it's not very easy. And every married couple said, amen, right? So, I mean, that's just. That's just love.
You know, we can love people that do good to us, but Jesus said, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. That you can't do that apart from the spirit of God. And so when he's talking about this labor of love, he says, I see you working at it to preference other people. So you have Jews and Gentiles in the same church. He says, I see you both trying to preference the other.
That's good. I see you trying to love people outside the church. That's good. I see you laboring to demonstrate that you really know Jesus. Because the question is always the same question that Jesus got asked.
Who's my neighbor? In other words, how far does this love have to go? When can I shut it off? So Jesus tells the story of the Good Samaritan and said, who acted like the neighbor? And he did it all the time.
So then everywhere you go, just love like that with everybody that you ever meet. That was the point of the story. And we want limits on our love. And he's writing to them, thanking them. Not only do you have a work of faith, we have this labor of love.
You really want to do it Jesus way. And this is the new commandment Jesus gave us, that we love one another, even as I have loved you. By this, all men will know you're my disciples, how you love one another. Amen. And then he gives them a third, which we've already talked about, the steadfastness of hope as you've endured these trials, as you've gone through it.
Jason, I know what's going on in your life. I saw what you did. I see what's going on in the rest of you. I see how your families are rejecting you. I see how the Jews are coming against you.
I see how the city's against you. I see. But you're steadfast, you're persevering and it's building hope and this certainty of hope for you. And I'm praising God and I'm thanking God that in the middle of this wonderful city in Thessalonica, this industrious, business savvy city, that he has established his church there so that you can bear witness to his great name. And that's the most important thing that you can do in whatever city that you're in.
See, church is not just a place that you try to attend two or three Sundays a month. Church is the vehicle for which Jesus is trying to get his name proclaimed everywhere. It's the most important entity that you can be a part of. Not just to hear the Word, but to live the Word so that the world will know that Jesus Christ is Lord, whether they accept him or reject him. And the Gospel does that very thing.
The Gospel does that very thing. People either say, thank you, Jesus, for your love for me. I know I was dead. I know I'm a sinner. I want to run from that.
Come into my life, be the Lord of my life. Or I'm angry at you, Pastor Jeff. I'm angry at what you're saying. That is so myopic. That is so narrow minded.
That is so bigoted. That is so. No, that's so true. It's so gospel. And you're going to know that for the rest of eternity that I'm telling you the truth.
If you don't believe me, study the Scriptures. I'm not making any of this stuff up. I'm not proclaiming what I designed. I'm not Telling you what I think salvation should look like. I'm telling you who Jesus is and what he proclaimed when he was here and what his word still demonstrates to this day.
Amen. And I love this because sometimes when I think about a message like this, I think about how we gonna do it. Yeah, we wanna expand campuses. Yes. We wanna get into multiple prisons.
Yes. We wanna do more missions and plant churches around the world. Yeah, we. We wanna expand our reach. And I love that more and more people come to know Jesus.
I'm an evangelist at heart. I love that. But I wanna see our people that we have here be so faithful and on fire. And by the way, you are, and I love you, and I'm excited about what God's building. But sometimes, even when you hear a message like this, it can become overwhelming where you think, well, how are we ever gonna get there?
And how are we ever gonna change our city? And if you not looked outside today, have you not seen our political system in Colorado? Have you not seen it around our country? Have you not seen all the things that need to change? I've seen them all, just like you have.
But we don't need everybody to be a Christian. We need the ones who are called by the name of Christ to live it. Do you know what John Wesley once said? He said, give me 100 men that love nothing but God and hate nothing but sin, and it is finished. It doesn't take a majority.
It just takes the minority that actually believe it to the full. And then things begin to turn. I mean, you think about the fact that when William Wilberforce stood up and fought against slavery, which was the right thing to do, and he could have backed off of all the opposition, and he could have said, I'm not going to endure. But he stood up because he was a believer in Jesus. Said, that's wrong.
And I'm not just going to stay in my little church and say it's wrong. I'm going to get out there in the political arena and tell you that it's wrong. Because this needs to come to a halt. That's how God worked. Christian, let me just encourage you.
Keep your faith in just your home and the church. Live it everywhere you go. Live it everywhere you go.
And I believe it with my whole heart. If we as a church will do that, and we're doing that, and so many of you are doing that, we'll see our city change. I look forward to the day where pastors and ministry leaders are flying out to Denver to say, how do we get this in our city. And then we just tell them simple truths like, okay, pray, preach the word, and then do what God tells you to do. And he'll do it there, too.
There's no fancy magic. When you read about revival, you see people that are burdened to see God move and they're praying. You see people that are faithful to the Word and you see people that are living it out. And when you see those three things, the Holy Spirit has opportunity to use that church in ways that are unmeasurable. And I tell you, I want to be one of those churches.
I know you want to be one of those churches or you wouldn't be here. So let's continue to seek the Lord and ask him to do that as we take the name of Jesus and speak it everywhere we go. Amen. Would you stand with me? Our Father in heaven, we give you all the glory, honor and praise for who you are.
We thank you for your son, Jesus Christ. We pray, we proclaim him here and in the streets and in our neighborhoods and that we live out the gospel. And Lord, that you would use brave church for your glory, that we become less, that you become more, and that you'd be honored in the way that we serve you. We give you all the glory, all the honor and all the praise in Jesus name, Amen and amen. Can we give God praise for his word today?