Pastor Jeff shared a powerful message about the transformative nature of the gospel, emphasizing that true salvation comes from God's choice, not our own efforts. He recounted his experience praying for President Trump in the Oval Office, highlighting the importance of the church's role in influencing society through prayer and the sharing of faith. He also encouraged believers to have unwavering confidence in their salvation, boldness in their witness, and commitment to living out their faith despite challenges. Ultimately, he reminded the congregation that Christ's return offers an unmovable hope for all who believe.
Sermon Transcript
Well, good morning. Will you help me welcome all of our brave campuses who are worshiping with us this morning?
So great to see you all. I wanted to let you know a little bit about my week. On Wednesday, I got to pray for President Donald Trump in the Oval Office, which was cool.
And I wanted you to know how that came about. Pastor Travis had spoke at our Men's Warrior Summit, invited me to come, and it was a listening session. There was no promise of getting into the West Wing, no promise of meeting President Trump. And I really debated on going because it was two hours of talking through different policies that could be helpful, but. And praying through it.
I'm like, I gotta go. If I say no, they're gonna not ever invite me back again. So, prayed about it with my wife, went and had to take a red eye, left at midnight at. On Wednesday morning, got there. And then as we were discussing policy with all these different people, I just want to share with you the things that I talked about.
I told them I think it's really important that they write into law and not just an executive order to stop government overreach, for churches keeping their doors open, for schools keeping their doors open, and for those that hold Christian convictions to be able to publicly share those without. Without any penalty coming back upon them. I talked about the importance of men in our culture being raised up. I talked about the church being the vehicle that's going to bring the change that we want to see, not politics. And I talked about our church being a praying church.
And that it's one thing to know who to pray for. It's another thing to know how do we pray for the people that we're praying for? And that that sparked them, too. So they wanted to get more involved in doing that. It was during that time that they mentioned, the President wants to see you, and we're going to go over and pray for him.
And so that was a thrill to be in the Oval Office, to be behind the Resolute desk. I know it's the same desk that JFK had when he was there. And after they took a group picture, President Trump said, how about some individual ones? Would that be okay? And so I haven't seen it yet, but I got a picture with President Trump behind his desk in the Oval Office, which was cool.
And my children are tired of me using the word surreal, because I've been using that word all week. So I'm used to praying in my chair behind my desk for President Trump. But it was really surreal to put my hand on his back and pray. All the things I've been praying for him behind my desk, in his desk, for him and for leading our nation, which was cool. So I did want to share a couple things because I think it's important as we're getting a broader footprint as a church through radio ministry and what we're doing nationally.
You need to understand a couple things. Number one, the National Faith and Advisory Board and the White House Faith Office is not a church. It's not a church. It's an appointment by President Trump. He's the first president in United States history that has put a faith office in the West Wing in the history of our nation, which is actually really cool.
And I'm well aware of many of the people that sat around the table with me. Some of them I knew, some of them I'd heard of do not share all my same convictions. And they don't need to. You need to understand, for the last 35 years, I have partnered with different people for the greater good. It doesn't change my convictions about what I teach you in this church.
It doesn't change what I believe my calling is as a pastor. But if it gives me the opportunity to influence where our nation's going and to influence more prayer in our nation, I'm gonna take every opportunity to do that very thing. Just so you know. Okay? And I share that because there's even people telling me, I can't believe you'd hang out with her.
I can't believe you do this. I can't believe you do. We live in a culture where we think if you don't agree perfectly with every single person that you're with, you're wrong. If that were true, you couldn't get married. Okay?
There's no such thing. We don't live in a society that's civil enough to say we can have differences and still work for the greater good. So you need to understand that the White House Faith office is not for born again Christians. It's for Christians. It's for Jews.
It's not what our church is. But if I have a privilege of being able to do that, I'm going to take advantage. I don't know if I'll ever be asked back. I don't know. If not, I don't have an agenda for that.
I just wanted you to know my reasons and where I came from and why I'm. Why I was doing that. Which was, for me, super cool to be able to pray for the President of the United States in the Oval Office. It was A thrill. So, amen.
So I wanted you to know about that. And with that, let's get ready to hear the living and active word of our Lord among us this morning. Would you pray with me, Father in heaven, we just give you praise, thanks, glory and honor for who you are. And Lord, as we've taught our church through your word, to pray for those in authority over us and for all of our leaders. Lord, I just tell you it was a thrill to pray over President Donald Trump.
I pray you would convict him of sin, righteousness and judgment. I pray that he would be open to living out policies and causing things to move into law that align with your word. Pray you would grow him. And Lord, we just pray that we as a church would see you move as a result of the way we pray and as a result of the way we're faithful to your word and we give you praise, glory and honor that we get the opportunity and privilege of hearing your word this morning, because we as a people 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. We live in a culture that's trying to transform the gospel rather than allow the gospel to transform you. We live in a world where we decide what we want our God to look like, and then we decide what tweaks we'd want to make to what the Bible says so that it's comfortable for us. But for those who are truly born again to allow the gospel and the word of God to speak directly to you and to own what the gospel says will change you and will change the relationships you have with every single person around you.
Because the gospel of Jesus Christ is transforming. We know from God's word that when the seed of the word of God hits a heart that's ready, it produces a harvest. 30, 60, or even a hundredfold. That the gospel has always changed lives and the gospel will always change lives. The question is, how much does the gospel change our lives?
It changes it infinitely. It changes our eternity. It changes everything about who we are right now if we truly understand what the real gospel is. Last week we talked about the church that shakes the city, a church that's aligned with Jesus. But today, I Want to talk about the gospel that transforms the world?
There are so many of you that sit here today that want your life to count for something, that want your life to be something, to know that you're choosing the right path. And if you do that, you'll have influence beyond the life that you live. The greatest way to do that is to go all in with Jesus Christ, is to go all in on the gospel. If you go all in on the gospel and you understand the true gospel, it will transform you and will transform every person around you. And so today I want to talk about who, what is this gospel, and what are the elements that come from believing this true gospel.
And to do that, this morning we're going to be in the book of 1 Thessalonians, chapter 1, verses 4 through 10. First Thessalonians, chapter 1', verses 4 through 10. You remember from last week, this is Paul, Silas and Timothy writing a letter back to this church that had gotten started under persecution. They had preached the gospel in three different Sabbaths. And then some other time, some of the Jews came with them, some of the Gentiles, some of the leading women, and this church formed.
And Paul has written back telling them how encouraged he is by them. And he told them about their labor of love, their steadfastness of faith, their work of faith. And. And now he's going to get into what this true gospel is and what this true gospel brings. Hear the word of the Lord, starting in verse four, knowing, brethren, beloved of God, his choice of you for our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction, just as you know what kind of men we prove to be among you, for your sake, you also became imitators of us and of the Lord, having received the Word in much tribulation with the joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia.
For the word of the Lord has sounded forth from you, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place. Your faith toward God has gone forth so that we have no need to say anything, for they themselves report about us what kind of reception we had with you, and how you turned from idols to serve a living and true God and to wait for his Son from heaven whom he raised from the dead. That is Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath to come. And here, as the apostle Paul begins to spell out what this gospel is and the. The elements that are true for all who believe he really begins to highlight what's important for the Thessalonians to.
To understand. And I believe that these five truths about the gospel, if the gospel is really in your heart, will strengthen you here this morning. So let me give you five. The first one is this. When the gospel really takes hold of your heart, here's what you will have.
You'll have an unflinching confidence in your salvation. When the Gospel of Jesus Christ takes a hold of your heart, you'll have an unflinching confidence in your salvation. You won't waver. You won't wonder. You won't think, am I saved?
Am I not saved? You will have an unflinching confidence in your salvation. Notice what he says in verse four. He says, knowing. Brethren, beloved by God.
Notice what he says. He talks to those who have believed as brothers or sisters in Christ. Why? Because through Christ, when you believe in him, we all share the same Father, which makes us all brothers and sisters. So he's talking to them as we're family now.
Before I came, I preached the word to you. You were unsaved, you were hellbound. You were all those things. Now let me tell you what we are. You're family with me.
You're brothers. And notice what he says about it. Brethren, beloved by God. Let me tell you something. God loves the world.
God loves everything and everyone that he creates. He has a general love for all of his creation. He allows the rain to fall on the righteous and the unrighteous both. He has a general love for everybody. Every one that God creates, He loves.
There's no question about it. But God has a special, infinite, unconditional love for all those who love his son, Jesus Christ, that when you are born again, you are born again into the family of God. And when you're his family, as his son or daughter, he loves you with a different kind of love than he loved you before. There is a special love. And notice what he says knowing.
Then. Beloved of God. Brethren, Beloved of God. Notice these next four words. Look at them in your text.
His choice of you. Say those four words with me. His choice of you. Say it louder. His choice of you.
Now, I'm gonna ask you a question. You're gonna answer with those four words. How do you know you're saved? His choice of you. We need to understand that.
I mean, it's really important that we get that. Jesus said In John, chapter 15, you did not choose me, but I chose you. Now, why is that important? Because for those of us who come to Christ, it seems like we found Jesus. We started going to church.
We started listening to the Word. We started to be drawn to things. We started believing. We placed our faith in Jesus. But here's what you need to know, that God was at work all along, behind the scenes, drawing you to Himself.
It doesn't negate that Christ died for the world. It doesn't negate that anyone who comes, God will never turn away. But it's like, and I don't know who to give this credit to, and I've used this before, but when you come through the gate of the cross, you see whosoever will may come. But when you enter through that gate and you walk through the gate and you look back up, here's what you're going to see. Chosen before the foundation of the world.
It was his choice of you. If you're born again today, it was God's choice of you. If you're born again today, in eternity past, God selected you. God drew you to himself. And there's nothing you can do to lose what God gave you.
Salvation is not a partnership you have with God. Salvation is this. Ephesians 2 says that you are dead in your trespasses and sins. Dead people don't partner with God. God made you alive.
God regenerated you through his holy Spirit. God drew you to himself. God gave you the faith to believe God is the one who saves. So it's very true of me to say all the way back in 1989, God saved me. It's very true in your own story, if you're born again, God saved you.
Why? Because of his choice of you. His choice for you. And why is this so important? Because if it was my choice, what if I unchoose it?
If it was my choice, what if I don't stick with it? There are too many Christians today who are born again, who get toyed with by the enemy in their mind. Are you really saved? How do you know you're really saved? You didn't have a good day today.
You acted immoral today. You said something you shouldn't have said. Are you really saved now? Are you really saved? It's if you're saved, you're saved.
You're either saved or you're not saved. It's like pregnancy. You can't be a little bit saved. If you're a little bit saved, you're fully saved or you're not saved at all. That's how clear the gospel makes it.
That's why Jesus draws a line in the sand against any religion, any belief set anything else and says, I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you've repented and turned to Jesus, you're saved. And once you know you're saved, further revelation teaches us that it was God's choice of you all along, that he wanted you in the family, and that he's bringing you into the family and he's not ever going to let you go. Here's some verses that you can think through this week.
In John, chapter 10, this is Jesus talking in verse 27, verses 27. And following, he said, my sheep hear my voice, and I know them and they follow me, and I give eternal life to them and they will never perish and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father who has given them to me is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of my Father's hand. I and my Father are one. What does Jesus say?
For those that I save, I hold on to and my Father holds onto, and they're a double grip and we're never letting go of the ones that we save. If you've been born again, you are born again. If you're born again, it's assured that you're going to grow in Christ and it's assured that you're going to see Christ, and it's assured that he's going to present you faultless before the Father with exceedingly great joy, not because of anything you did, but because of his great mercy and grace. And that should bring great comfort to us today. Amen.
That's who he is. Now think about this. I mean, there's so many scriptures that we could talk about, but In Ephesians chapter 1 says this, verse 4, he chose us in him when before the foundation of the world goes on to say he predestined us to adoption. That's all him. Ephesians 2, verses 4 and 5.
After it says that we're dead in our sins, but God being rich in mercy because of his great love with which he loved us even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ by grace, you have been saved. Now there's so many different scriptures that would highlight this. And you know, I thought I had a fairly good grip on this when I was in seminary. And I remember I had to do an exegetical paper on Romans chapter eight. And I remember sitting around and typing up a paper after midnight in the church that I was in because I was a last minute paper writer And I was typing this paper on Romans, chapter 8, and I got to verse 29, and it says, for those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that He would be the firstborn among his brethren.
And to those he predestined, he also called. And those he called, he also justified. And to those he justified, he also glorified. And I'm writing the paper, and I'm going along, and I'm like, that's great. God had a foreknowledge meaning this.
In my mind, I. God knew I was going to choose him. And therefore, because God knew I was going to choose them, he predestined all these great things for me. But here was the problem. When I was studying the text.
The word for foreknowledge is proska nosko, which means he chose beforehand. It was his choice. So he chose beforehand that I would be predestined into his image. And I was frustrated. I'm like, wait a second.
If that's true, that means I really didn't have a say in it. If that's true, that means God all along chose me. And I was really fighting that. I'm like. I don't know why I was fighting it, but I'm sitting in my computer.
I get that that can't be right. Anybody can choose God, which, by the way, you can. Anybody that comes to Christ, he'll never turn away. But as I'm reading through this, I was just kind of fighting it in my mind for, like, a half an hour, getting frustrated with this paper. And then all of a sudden, I just kind of let the truth wash over me.
What if. What if, Jeff, God had chosen you in eternity past, long before he created the world, and that he knew exactly the time, date, and spot you were gonna be born. And he always had you on his mind, and he was always gonna bring you into his family. And there was nothing you can do about it, because God loves you that much. And I just let that wash over me.
And I just began to weep that God could love me like that and that this had absolutely nothing to do with me. This had everything to do by his sovereign grace in my life. And that he loved me before I ever came. And while I was yet a sinner, he died for me. How much more now, having been saved, does God love me?
And that truth just washed over me. And here's the truth. It needs to wash over you, too. Because if you're in the family of God, he chose you before the foundation of the world. It was always his agenda.
And he was never going to let you go. And he's still not ever going to let you go. And as a Christian, you don't need to wonder, am I in or am I out? Or am I in or am I out or am I in? You're in forever.
It's set. Your best days are ahead. Amen. That's what the Bible teaches.
But what if I screwed up? What if I sin? You will. You were sinning long before he saved you. What does that have to do with anything?
It's grace. It's grace. It's grace. Moreover, there's so many scriptures we could flip to. You know, he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ or in the book of Jude, at the very end of your Bible, before you get to the Book of Revelation, verse 24 and 25.
Now, to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to make you stand in the presence of his glory, blameless, with great joy to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ, our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority before all time, now and forever. Amen. I mean, it's God that's going to bring you home. He saved you. It's his job.
Or how about Ephesians? We talked about this when we were talking about the ministry of the Holy Spirit and the sealing of the believer. The marking of a believer says this. In him you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation, having also believed. When you believe, here's what happens.
You were sealed in him or marked in him with the Holy Spirit of promise. So the Holy Spirit's given to you, who is given as a pledge. That's a down payment of our inheritance with a view to the redemption of God's own possession, to the praise of his glory. So when you trust Jesus, when you turn from your sin and trust Jesus, God gives a deposit. He gives a down payment.
He gives earnest. When you buy a house, you give earnest money. You, you, you make a down payment. If you don't follow through, the person on the other side, they get to keep the down payment. They get to keep your money.
Right? God gave earnest with the third Person of the Trinity, which means the only way God doesn't keep his promise is one of two ways. Either A, God is lying or B, he ceases to be God. That's the only way that you can lose your salvation. Either God's a liar or he's not God.
If God's telling the truth, and He's God, you are saved. And the deposit is the Holy Spirit in your life who is given to you as the first fruit of everything that you're going to have forever and ever. Amen. That's the truth. Why is this important?
Because too many believers who are born again listen to the lie of the enemy. Maybe you're not saved today. Maybe you are saved. Maybe you need to repent again. Maybe we always need to be repenting.
We always need to be confessing sin. We always need to be growing in Christ. But your salvation is secure according to the word of God because God is the one who saved you. You did not save you. God saved you.
I mean, you have to have a high level of pride and arrogance to think that you could actually lose your salvation. But you don't. I mean, think about this. I was listening to Pastor Vodi Bakken the other day. He said.
He said you'd have to have a super high form of arrogance to be able to say, you know what? I believe people can lose their salvation, but I haven't because I'm so awesome. If you could lose your salvation, you'd lose it before 9 in the morning. I lose it every day. I mean, come on.
Like, what makes you think that you could. You can't lose what you didn't earn. God saved you out of your sin forever. That's salvation, right? And here's the truth.
That's when I began to grow in my faith. You see, when I first got saved, I thought falsely, what if I lose this and what if I mess this up and I gotta be really good and I gotta keep the ten Commandments and I gotta do this, this and this. Oh man, I messed up. Maybe I'm not saved. Okay?
I gotta. When I understood that I was saved, saved, saved. And no matter what I did or no matter what happened, I was still saved. Here's what became the motivator. I didn't try to be good so I would stay saved.
I knew I was saved and so I wanted to honor the Lord. So no matter what I did, I was saved. So I just wanted to honor Jesus. That's when all the growth came. If you're only doing good so you can keep God at bay, so you don't get mad at me, you're never gonna grow when you're doing the things of the Word because you know, this is who I am.
This is who God made me. And he's saved me and he set me apart. So I want to become that. And when you teach this, here's what some people say, Jeff, you're just teaching people that sinning is okay. They can just sin all they want and still go to heaven.
I think people are doing a great job of sinning without my permission.
What I'm trying to tell you is if you truly know that the God of the universe loves you in your sin, why would you want to remain in that state? Why wouldn't you want to honor the one that loves you no matter what? Why. Why wouldn't you want to grow in that? And that's what he's saying.
It's his choice of you. Now, there's a lot that could be said on this, and I'm belaboring the point on purpose because I find too many believers that are wondering all the time, am I in or am I out? Am I in or am I out? Oh, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. So I just want to.
I want to highlight one scripture. I have about 16 listed, but I'll just do one. It's the one everybody turns to, and they're like, oh, you can totally lose your salvation. What about the Book of Hebrews? I taught the Book of Hebrews.
You can go back and watch me teach this text, but I'm just going to do a shortened version of it in Hebrews chapter six, starting in verse four, and tell you what it says. It says, for in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come. Okay, so there's somebody that's tasted some things and had an experience with things. It's the same word for taste that it talks about. Jesus tasted death.
Well, he died. He died to the full, didn't he? Yes, but he just tasted it. He's not dead anymore. He just had a taster.
As a matter of fact, the day he died, he was in paradise with his father. He didn't experience death the way you and I experienced death. He tasted it. He had an experience with it. So what about those that have an experience with God?
Experience his goodness, experience church experience the power, Experience his goodness, and yet then turn away. It's not talking about someone who's saved. It's talking about someone who is a false professor. Someone who is experiencing things without letting Jesus Christ be the Lord of their life. That's who the text is talking about.
Much like some of you that come to Brave that think falsely that because you come to a Bible church or because you serve in a corps, or because you're in a cadre or because you give money that that counts for something with your salvation, and it counts for nothing. You can't just come and experience some things. You need to repent and believe that Jesus is Lord. Notice what else he goes on to say. He goes on to say, and then if those have fallen away, it's impossible to renew them again to repentance.
So for those that would say, you can lose your salvation, there ain't no coming back. For most people that teach, you can lose your salvation. There's revivals every week, so you can have another altar call. If the word of God is teaching you can lose your salvation, it means you're losing it. You can't ever get it back.
It's talking about apostates here, false professors that never love Jesus, that fall away and they can't come back and put God, the Son of God, to open shame. That's what it's teaching. You say, well, Pastor Jeff, what about the people? I know people and you know people that have gone to church for years, praised Jesus, loved him, were in small group, did all this, and they're no longer walking with Jesus. They got upset about something.
They left. Not only the church, they left Jesus. They don't care about. They're atheists now. What about them?
They kind of lost their salvation. No, they didn't. They never had it. They're pretenders. First John 2:19 says, they went out from us, but they were not really of us.
For if they had really been of us, they would have remained with us. But they went out to show. They went all out so that it would be shown that they are not really of us. When people leave the faith altogether, they were never part of it to begin with. That's what the Bible teaches.
And what you have in the church and what you have around a culture is a lot of false professors. It's very easy to say, I believe Jesus. It's very easy to raise hands. It's very easy to have an emotional experience without truly repenting and believing that Jesus Christ is Lord and those people are everywhere. So the question becomes, examine yourself.
Make sure you're in the faith now. If you're in the faith and you've repented and trusted Jesus, that was his choice of you from eternity past, and he's never going to let you go. And you don't need to wonder, am I saved or am I not saved? Because it was God's choice of you. You say, well, I'm here today, and I don't know that God's ever chosen me.
Hey, here's the truth. He wants you to come to him. He's begging you to come to him. He has been going after you your whole life to convict you of sin, righteousness and judgment. And if you choose not to, then that's on you.
And he loves you enough to let you go your own way. Doesn't prohibit you from coming to Christ, doesn't prohibit you from coming to know Jesus. It's your choice that you didn't want him to begin with. But if you truly have the gospel in your heart, you should have an unflinching confidence in your salvation that God saved you. You.
When you walk out of here today, when you walk out of this church today, if somebody were to walk up to you and say, how do you know you're saved? Here's the four words I want you to say right back to them. His choice of me. That's how I know his choice of me. He saved me.
Not by any good thing I did, but by his mercy and grace, he saved me. Friends, I believe with 100% certainty more than anything else that's going to happen throughout the day or any other day. If I die, when I die, I will be in the presence of God in heaven. There's nothing I can do about it, and it has nothing to do with me. Nothing to do with being a pastor, nothing to do with preaching his word, nothing to do with being a good person.
Nothing to do with getting better. It has everything to do with I was dead in my sins and Jesus saved me through the cross. The cross, the cross, the cross. If it weren't for the cross, I have no hope. And we need to own that to have unflinching confidence in our salvation.
Second one is this the gospel that transforms the world. When you truly own the gospel, you'll have unstoppable power in your witness. Unstoppable power in your witness. Notice verse 5. He says, for our gospel.
And Paul's not talking about this gospel that I made up. He's talking about the gospel we share now in Jesus Christ, that we both believe the same gospel. For our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit with full conviction, which means much assurance, just as you know what kind of men we prove to be among you. For your sake, he says, here's the deal. Our gospel, what we proclaim to you it wasn't just mere words.
Now the gospel has to be words. If you don't speak the gospel, nobody's going to hear the gospel. But it wasn't just the gospel. There was power in the gospel. Paul said, for I'm not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God.
For anyone who believes, there's power. When you talk about Jesus, there's power. When you talk about the cross, there's power. When you share the word of God, no matter what track you use, when you share the gospel, you can use the bridge illustration, you can use the three circles, you can use any number of things. It's the word of God that has power.
It's the Word of God. The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus. There's power in the Word of God. Many times when we're sharing the gospel, we're afraid to share the Word. Well, they're non Christians.
They don't believe. Yes, share the gospel, share scripture. There's power in the scripture. If you're preaching, preach the why? Because there's power in the Scripture, that's why.
If you go to a Bible church or you hear a pastor that's preaching the Word, like, oh, he's going through verse by verse, line by line, I see where he's getting at. Oftentimes there's the power of God that comes on you during the message that convicts you about something in your heart that needs to realign. That's the power of God. That's what he does. And Paul was not just talking about the power that they were experienced, that they were experiencing.
He's talking about the power that was coming through him because he felt it and sensed it when he was teaching the Word of God through the Scriptures. And then he said it came in not only power, but it came in the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit's the third person of the Trinity who convicts, who can, who calls, who regenerates, who seals or marks, who baptizes and fills and dwells us. And you know that the Holy Spirit's coming because the fruit of the Spirit is now evident in those who are born again. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control as your.
If you're born again, you're going to grow in that fruit. You're going to, you're going to see evidences of that. And Paul was saying, not only did you experience the Holy Spirit, not only did he take up residence in your heart when you believe, but I was Experiencing the Holy Spirit. Because when the Word of God is preached, the Holy Spirit gets really excited. Because the Holy Spirit is the one who penned the Word of God through human authors.
And when you speak the word of the Holy Spirit, it's called the sword of the Spirit, the Holy Spirit will use that word to get into people's hearts. And the Holy Spirit can use His Word to capture hearts and talk about the very topic he needs you to hear. That's why when I'm talking about the Gospel, some of you are hearing about tithing and some of you are hearing about forgiveness, and some of you are hearing about loving your neighbor. And so I'm not talking about any of those things, but the Holy Spirit is talking to you about all those things in your heart. That's the power of the Holy Spirit.
And then he says this. It came with much conviction or much assurance, full conviction. And that is this idea of absolute certainty. If you know that, you know that, you know that you're saved. If you know that, you know that, you know that it's right.
There's conviction when you speak it, when you're living it and you're speaking it. Because notice what he goes on to say. Because you know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake, you watched us. We lived this and we spoke this, which is what the Gospel is. You, you can't just speak the gospel and not live it, because there's no power in that.
You can't just tell people about Jesus, but you're not living for Jesus. There's no power in that. But you can't just live for Jesus but not speak it, because then how are they going to know if nobody tells them? So the call on your life as a born again believer is to live the gospel and speak the gospel. You have to do both.
It's only in living and speaking is the Word manifested in such a way where there's power in your witness, in what you're saying. But when you're living it and you're speaking it, it's amazing how the Lord brings the right words to your mind at the right time. As a preacher, it happens to me almost every single week where there's something that comes out of my mouth I didn't even think about during the week. I didn't prepare to say it. And out it came.
A couple weeks ago in the first service, I was doing something where I almost paused. I'm like, time out. I need to take notes on that. That was really good. The Spirit coming out saying that I had to go back and watch it because it was so convicting to me, what I said.
And I knew it was true when I said it, but it was the Holy Spirit getting excited about His Word and bringing revelation to what God wanted to say, say. And for those of you that have shared your faith, you know exactly what I'm talking about, where you're ministering the gospel to somebody. And all of a sudden I didn't know what to say. I didn't know what to say. But this just came out of me and this just did this.
And that's the power. And Paul's not only talking about what they experienced from him, he's talking about what he experienced when he was telling them. And here's the truth about the gospel. You have an unstoppable power in your witness because you have the Word of God and you have your testimony. And if you believe your testimony that he chose you and you believe the word of God and you'll just speak it, you'll be amazed at what God does.
See, here's the reality why most Christians don't share their faith. They're worried about the response somebody's going to have. And there's only 1 of 2 responses people can have. They can accept it or reject it. They can't do anything else.
That's it. And we're always concerned, like, well, I'm not really an evangelist. And if I tell. What if they don't believe? And what if I tell it wrong and they end up in hell?
Listen, you don't have that much power. You can't screw this up by telling your story in the word of God. You don't even have to be good at this. I mean, early on when I was sharing my faith, I didn't know enough about the Word. I would just read it on the pages that I had and God would show up and do the work.
It wasn't even part of me. I mean, I was growing in it, but I didn't know anything. And I've watched horrible presentations of the gospel where people get saved because it's not the skill set you have, it's the power of God and His Word that grabs somebody's heart. Amen.
And introverts, listen to me. I'm not really an extrovert. I would never stand on a platform. Then don't stand on a platform. And don't preach to 30 and don't preach to 5,010.
Don't do that. But sometimes, introverts, you have the greatest depth of relationship you have with one person. So just tell them what you believe and tell them with conviction. And be amazed at what God does, because he wants you to. To own this and realize you have unstoppable power in your witness.
When the disciples in the Book of Acts, before Jesus ascended into heaven, they're like, is it at this time you're going to restore the kingdom? Like, are you setting up your kingdom now? And he said, what? It's not for you to know dates and times. Let me.
Let me tell you what it is for you to know that you'll be my witnesses in all Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria to the ends of the earth. Here's what I want you to know. I'm giving you an unstoppable power through the Holy Spirit and you are going to testify to me until you see me face to face. That's the power that you have as well. Amen.
So you have unflinching confidence in your salvation, unstoppable power in your witness. Let me give you a third. You'll have unwavering courage in your example. If you're truly born again, you'll have unwavering courage in your example. You will start growing in your.
In your courage. Notice what he begins to say in verses six through eight. He said, you also became imitators of us and of the Lord, having received the Word and much tribulation with joy in the Holy Spirit. So what does he tell him? He's like, when you were new, because you're new, you didn't know anything about this faith.
You became imitators of us. Now notice what did Jesus say to his disciples. He said, follow me and I'll make you fishers of men. What did Paul say? Paul said in First Corinthians 11, 1, Be imitators of me as I am of Christ.
When you're young in your faith, find somebody that's further along and imitate them until it starts working. The best way to learn how to pray, get around people that know how to pray. Watch how they pray and pray with them. You don't know how to read the Bible. Get around some people that know how to read the Bible, read it with them.
You don't know how to share your faith. Go out with some people that know how to share their faith and share your faith with them. That's how I learned how to do everything. I learned how to share my faith by watching this guy. It was part of Campus Crusade.
Super prince of a man. Not great skill set with oratory sit down with a guy and share his faith. And I remember thinking, if this guy's even gonna listen, like, I can do that. And so I asked for tracks, and I started doing what I saw him doing. Started leading people to the Lord.
Do you know what I'm saying? Watch what others do. They became imitators of other people. Become imitators. Find people that are walking the life of Christ and get around them and say, hey, how do I do that?
How do I grow in this? What does it look like? Teach me how to do this. That's how you begin to grow. And notice what else he said.
They received the Word in much tribulation and with joy of the Holy Spirit. You remember they went and attacked Jason's house. We talked about that last week in Acts chapter 17. And they had to flee. The missionaries had to flee the town.
So, I mean, just because they came to Christ, they were under immediate persecution, immediate tribulation. And yet they're filled with joy because they have Jesus. And here's the reality. If you truly own the gospel, no matter what happens to you today, no matter what happened to you up until today, no matter what happens tomorrow or in the future, if you have Jesus, your best days are coming. I promise you.
And so when we're centered on the cross and what Christ has done, and that's our focus, that changes everything around us. If we think the Bible is just about how to live a better life and how to get the most from God so that you can get the most blessings, here, we miss everything. The Bible's about. The Bible's not about you getting blessings. The Bible's about you knowing Christ and being so centered in him that you live with great conviction.
And as you do, you'll grow in your courage. You'll find yourself being able to say things that you wouldn't say before. I've told you this. When I first got saved, I was very uncomfortable with Christians that prayed out loud at restaurants in front of everybody. That was, like, way over the top for me.
You guys are gonna pray out loud at, like, a. This is like a public place. I mean, it was over the top for me. I mean, I can't imagine not praying at a restaurant. I can't imagine not.
I mean, but at the time, that was like, way over the top or sharing your faith with somebody who didn't believe. That's way over the top, right? But as you grow, you grow in your courage. And as you let Christ do that, when you finally realize Christ has been raised and you were dead and now you're alive and now and you're different. You can't contain yourself.
I've taught a lot of evangelism classes. I think it's fair to teach evangelism, the truth of the scriptures about evangelism. But I think the best way to do evangelism is for you to own the truth of what the gospel is. Because you, if you own it, you won't be able to keep it inside. The gospel will change your everything, and you'll have unwavering courage by your example.
I don't often do this, but I want to read a story from a book by John Piper called Let the Nations Be Glad about a Maasai warrior named Joseph. I think it's on page 95 in his book. But I just want to read this to you. Just think about this level of courage from somebody that just met the Lord. It says, one day Joseph, who was walking along one of these hot, dirty African roads, met someone who shared the Gospel of Jesus Christ with him.
Then and there, he accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior. The power of the spirit began transforming his life. He was filled with such excitement and joy that the first thing he wanted to do was returned to his own village and share the same good news with the members of his local tribe. Joseph began going door to door, telling everyone he met about the cross of Jesus and the salvation it offered, expecting to see their faces light up the way his had. To his amazement, the villagers not only didn't care, they became violent.
The men of the city seized him and held him to the ground while the women beat him with strands of barbed wire. He was dragged to the village and left to die alone in the bush. Joseph somehow managed to crawl to a water hole, and there, after days of passing in and out of consciousness, found the strength to get up. He wondered about the hostile reception he had received from the people he had known all his life. He decided he must have left something out or told the story of Jesus incorrectly.
So after rehearsing the message he had first heard, he decided to go back and share his faith once more. Joseph limped into the circle of Hutts and began to proclaim Jesus. He died for you so you might find forgiveness and come to know the living God, he pleaded again. He was grabbed by the men of the village and held while the women beat him, reopening the wounds that he that had just begun to heal. Once more, they dragged him unconscious from the village and left him to die.
To have survived the first beating was truly remarkable to Live through. The second was a miracle. Again, days later, Joseph awoke in the wilderness, bruised, scarred, and determined to go back. He returned to the small village, and this time they attacked him before he had a chance to open his mouth. As they flogged him for the third and probably last time, he spoke again to them of Jesus Christ the Lord.
Before he passed out, the last thing he saw was that the women who were beating him began to weep. This time, he awoke in his own bed. The ones who had so severely beaten him were now trying to save his life and nurse him back to health. The entire village had come to know Christ. Amen.
Is that worthy of God's praise?
So please don't tell me you need to be a seasoned Christian to tell other people about Jesus. You just need to own what he's done in your life. I'm also not calling you to martyrdom. I'm also not calling. I don't like the people.
Like, I'll do anything for you. I'm ready to die. Well, that's not what he's looking for. He's just looking for you to have the courage in your own family and with your own friends and in your own neighborhood to recognize that there's a real heaven and there's a real hell. And if that grips your heart, it will grieve you.
I grew up in a family. We went to church every Sunday, was very religious. We used to use terms like, oh, he's a good Christian man, she's a good Christian woman. And by that we meant they were nice people, right? When I got saved, I began to realize that most of the people that we call good Christian men and good Christian women weren't saved.
And they're still not saved. A lot of people we call Christian, they're still not saved. And if you believe the gospel, here's what you will believe. That for those who have repented and believed in Jesus, you will experience the fullness of forgiveness of sins. You will experience glory with Christ and be welcomed in the family of God and total bliss, total awesomeness.
But you also realize that for those who have rejected the Son, who choose not to come to Jesus, that God's wrath will be on them forever and ever and ever. And for you not to tell them. I mean, if you saw somebody that you loved and their house was burning down and you knew they were inside, you wouldn't just say, oh, well, they'll figure it out. If you really believe the eternal realities of heaven, hell, you could not keep this message to yourself. So the best Evangelism class is not teaching you how to go share and how to be a salesperson.
The best evangelism class is own the truth that you've been saved because of his choice for you, and that Christ died for the world and he wants the world to hear. So please go proclaim to a dead and dying world that there's a way out and there's a hope, and his name is Jesus, and he's inviting you to come. And whosoever will, he'll never turn away. That's the good news of the Gospel. That's who Jesus loves.
So then he continues to tell us in this text, not only that we can have this unwavering courage in our example, that we're growing in that. But notice this. An uncompromising devotion in your allegiance. An uncompromising devotion in your allegiance. See, Notice this.
He says in verse seven and eight, he says, so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia, which is northern Greece, and in Achaia, which is southern Greece. For the word of the Lord has sounded forth from you, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place your faith toward God has gone forth. So we have no need to say anything to you. I mean, you've been doing the right things, and everywhere you go, you're an influence for Jesus. We're hearing this.
I don't want to tell you anything else. Just keep doing what you're doing. And then he says in verse nine, for they themselves report about us, what kind of reception we had with you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God. And. And friends, that's the story of salvation.
When we turn from idols and we turn to the living God. There is no scripture text anywhere in the Bible that says, I'm ready to make Jesus Savior. I just don't want him to be my Lord yet. Maybe three years from now, five years from now, he can be my Lord. No, friends, you gotta realize it's the Lord who saves.
Jesus is Lord, whether you make Him Lord or not. Salvation is when you receive the fullness of his grace and mercy because he is the Lord of your life. Amen. That's the gospel. And so what begins to happen here is that you begin to turn from idols.
And so what you have is this uncompromising devotion in your allegiance. Uncompromising devotion, your allegiance. Jesus Christ is Lord. He is my Lord. He is my God.
And we might have different idols today than they had in other cultures, but many of them are the same. I Think the number one idol in our culture is self making life all about you. Your comfort, your image, your success. What you think you want to be, who you think you want your God to be, what you think, what your rights are, what it's you that's the number one idol that I see. But when you come to Christ, self gets moved off the pedestal and Jesus becomes Lord.
Or how about money? Money's not a bad thing. It's not how much you have or how much you don't have, it's how much does it have you. For some people, trusting wealth for their security, their identity, their blessing, that's everything to them. And while money's a decent thing, it's good to have.
How do you be generous and content with what you have? How do you steward it? Well, for the Lord, it's not the priority of your life anymore. For some people, it's the priority of their life or sexuality. God created sexuality between a man and a woman in marriage to be covenant together till death do they part.
It's good. God said it was good, God created it good. But for some, sexuality is their God and they decide, I'm not going to do it God's way, I'm going to do it my way and please myself, however, any way I want at any time. Because sexuality drives their life. For some people, it's status needing approval or the applause so that they feel valuable.
And while it's good to be encouraged by others, shouldn't be the driving force of your life. Some it's control, needing to have everything go your way. And everybody around you needs to understand all your opinions and everything you think so they can serve you. For some, it's entertainment. And while it's okay to be entertained sometimes, it shouldn't be the driving force of your life as to where your next vacation is or what next show you're going to go see or what next sporting event you're going to be at or where you can go.
And then for some, it's religion and it's a huge one in our culture. Religion is, I'm going to do these things, and if I do these things, then God's going to do his part. That's religion. Christianity is, God already did his part, it's done and you get to participate in what he already did. It's different.
Religion is, I'm going to go to church, I'm going to be a good person, I'm going to do the right things, I'm going to pray, I'm going to do and that supposedly counts for something. It counts for nothing when it comes to salvation. And so we have all these idols. And so the Christian gospel is, I turn from those and I turn to Christ. And when I turn to Christ, those things don't all necessarily go away.
But they're not on the pedestal of my life anymore. My body's a temple of the Holy Spirit. I need to take care of what God gave me. That's fine, but that's not the sitting on the pedestal of my life. Self's not on the pedestal.
Jesus is, and my preference of other people is. And then myself. But I want to take care of myself, but it's not the priority of my life. Money's okay, but I want to do it God's way. Sexuality is okay.
I want to do it God's way. Status is only what God elevates or what he takes down. It really doesn't matter what people see me as anyway. It's how God sees me. Control doesn't matter because I know that he's in control.
Entertainment is fine to the extent that it's honoring to him, but I don't live for that anymore. Religion, I'm done with religion is the most damning thing in the world. Can you imagine? Can you imagine spending your whole life being religious, following Allah or spending your life being religious and following Hinduism? Or spending your life religious and being part of the Jehovah Witness or Mormon cult?
Can you imagine being religious your whole life and going to a Bible preaching church where you've never repented and trusted Jesus? And the day you die, you bust hell wide open wondering what just happened? And here's what he's going to say. Depart from me, you worker of iniquity. I never knew you.
You didn't want me. You didn't come to me. You didn't. You made it all about what your religious practices were, which mean nothing. I died for those religious practices.
That's the gospel. And when you. Amen.
And when you have an uncompromising devotion in your allegiance to the Lord Jesus Christ, everything else changes. The world gets smaller and Christ gets bigger. And then you have this final one. You have an unmovable hope in your expectation. An unmovable hope.
Friends, if you're a believer in Christ, I'm telling you, it is so good what's coming, we don't even know. No eye is seen, no ear is heard. No mind is even conceived. What God has prepared for those who love him. You can read the book of Revelation.
You can see different parts in scripture where it's going to be incredible and beautiful and streets of gold and all these different kinds of things. Fruit trees. I mean, unbelievable. But we don't even know, like, we'll be there a million years from, like. Did you know it was gonna be this good?
I didn't know it was gonna be. This is awesome. I mean, it's so good what's coming. This is just a temporary thing. And notice what he says.
Verse 10. And to wait for his Son from heaven, Jesus Christ is coming back in the same way he went. He's coming now. I don't know if he's coming back in my lifetime. I'm preparing as though he will, but to me, it makes no difference.
I'm living as though he will. But if he doesn't, what difference does that make? He's coming back. I'll either be coming with him when he comes back, or I'll be waiting when he gets here. But he's coming back.
He said in the same way he left, he'd be coming so to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead. That is Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath to come. Jesus is rescuing us from the wrath that is to come. He told us in John 14, I will come again and receive you to myself, that where I am, there you may be also. It's his personal promise of his return.
In Titus 2:13, it says, we're looking for the blessed Hope. In Philippians 3:20, it talks about, our citizenship is not here. Our citizenship is in heaven. Live with eternity on your mind. He's coming.
He's coming soon. And you need to be ready for when he gets here. Why? Because for those who are in Christ, there is no wrath. There is no punishment, there is no shame.
There is no putting a big screen of your life up in front of all these Christians. Like, look at how bad Jeff was. There, that's done. It's covered by the blood. Amen.
You don't have to worry about that. It was his choice of me to wash all of that away. It's his choice of me to forgive all of me completely. But for those who don't, there is a wrath and an anger of God. Say, how severe is it?
It was so severe, it took his Son, Jesus Christ and beat him and had him hung on a cross and die for your sins. That's how serious God takes sin. And what's awaiting for all those who don't repent and trust Jesus is that level of wrath. Now, I know we don't like to talk about in church. And it should grieve your heart.
But I. I love you enough to tell you the truth about God's scripture, whether you believe it or not. It's true that those who refuse to repent and believe in Jesus will only experience the wrath of God personally, spiritually, mentally, physical and emotional. Forever and ever. Ever.
Like, forever. Like there's no relenting, there's. There's no coming back. It's a place of outer darkness. It's a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth.
There is no fellowship. There is no other people to talk to. All there is is crying and wailing. Why? You say why?
Why would God. Why would God do that? The better question is how does God save us from that? God punishes sin because of his holiness. That's what holiness looks like, punishing sin.
But God loved you so much. He sent Jesus. He never wanted you to experience any of that. He's not asking you to join a church and get religion and make yourself right and fix yourself up and do good. He's asking you to recognize and realize that your only hope is Jesus and turn your life and give it to him and give it to him now and come running to the cross and saying, God, here's all my sin.
Take it all and give me all your forgiveness. And that's the gospel of Jesus Christ.
And he invites every boy, every girl, every man, every woman, every tribe, every tongue, every nation that very way. And it shouldn't make you mad if it makes you mad. Ask yourself why. And here's why. Because you've been rebelling against the God of this book and you want God to be something different to accommodate your sin.
And he's not going to change. You're the one that needs to change. Change. And I love you enough to tell you that. I'm not preaching down to you.
I'm not telling you that I'm so much better than you. As a matter of fact, I'm just one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread. I'm dead. He made me alive. I didn't do any of this on my own.
Romans 5, 9 says much more than having now been justified by his blood. Shall we be saved from the wrath of God through him? Believers, born again believer, you're spared from any wrath. There's no wrath coming your way. But do consider this.
Do consider this. There are people right now in your sphere of influence that if the world ended right now, would not experience the life that you have. And God's using us as Witnesses to tell other people. Now that's not a pressure on you. You better go out and say it's not up to you.
But when you're in an environment where you can live for Jesus and testify about Jesus, then live for Jesus and testify about Jesus and let the world know that that's who you're living for. So the way we're going to end today is by taking communion on all of our campuses. So I'm just going to invite you to hold that cup and prepare these elements as you hear this song sung over you on all these campuses and get ready to be reminded of the fact that through Christ's shed blood and his body on the cross, you who are dead can be made alive in in Jesus name, not by any good thing you've done. Jesus isn't asking you to get religion today. Doesn't you already have that?
He's asking you to repent and believe that he's the Christ, the Son of the living God. Amen. Would you pray with me? Father, in heaven, we come before you. We thank you for your gospel.
We thank you that it has nothing to do with us other than inviting us to respond by turning from our sin and turning to you. And that when we do, you come right running to us. You're willing to forgive us right now, here in this moment, in this place. If you've never trusted Jesus, here's how you can pray. Lord Jesus, I know I'm dead.
I know I'm apart from you. I want you in my life. Come into my life and save me. I want to turn from my sin. I want to turn to you, Lord, just come save me.
And for those of you that know him, as you hold these elements in your hand, would you be reminded this morning of all that Christ has forgiven in your life? Would you be reminded this morning of his choice of you? Would you be reminded that in eternity past God had you on his mind and there was nothing that was going to get in the way of him bringing you into his family. We give you all glory. We give you all honor.
We give you all praise. In Jesus name, Amen.