Hey friend, welcome back here to the Seminary
Seminary. In another week, another episode of
our Bible study series, we call the Bible for
Grown Ups. One of the things that we try to accomplish
in this series is actually looking at these stories
that we read about, we know about, we were taught
in the Bible and thinking of them in more adult
ways. There's more to the story. I know there
is. We're taking the time to kind of look at
that tonight. We're going to kind of wrap up
this discussion that we've been having for quite
some time on the Holy Spirit tonight. Our discussion
is called, Say What? I'll see you on the other
side. I'd like to talk tonight about, if you've
been with us on Sundays, and actually we've been
talking about it down here. As well. But this
is, I'm kind of finishing this one last little
thing I want to talk about that we've really
kind of been focusing on Sundays, but I'll catch
you guys up. And what we've been talking about
for, for just about every time we get together
for well over a month now has been the Holy Spirit
and the Holy Spirit's role in our lives, how
we can recognize the Holy Spirit, how we can
recognize. the Holy Spirit working in us, how
we can notice when we feel like the Holy Spirit,
maybe we're getting in its way and we're not
feeling that kind of transformative change we're
looking for. We've been talking about that now
for about two months. And one of the things that
we've been kind of focusing on on our discussions
on Sunday morning has been the reason why this
is such an important topic. is because I think
we have this awesome illustration of its truth
in the Bible. And what that illustration is,
is that if you know any about the story at all,
you probably know there's a guy named Jesus.
Most of us know, have heard of Jesus. And we
also know that during his public ministry, he
had about a three and a half year public ministry.
In other words, there were about three and a
half years. where he went around and he proclaimed
that the kingdom of God has bent low to the earth.
The kingdom of God is here. And he made several
claims about himself. Now, that's not the topic
of our discussion tonight. I'm just trying to
make sure you remember the cat I'm talking about
by the name of Jesus of Nazareth. And during
these three and a half years, he had folks that
traveled around with him. And we have this group
of disciples that were kind of, the entourage,
his crew, so to speak, that were close on the
inside, but there were concentric circles or
widening circles of people that during this public
ministry followed Jesus around, watched everything
he did, heard everything he said, but the story
in the Bible is typically focused on this very
close -knit group of 12 people plus Jesus. Now,
one of the things we also recognize, And this
is actually good news for us because one of the
things we find is these people who spent every
moment with Jesus, they all slept in the same
house together. We can't even say every waking
moment because it was every sleeping moment too.
And we find that these disciples struggle throughout
the entire story of Jesus in his public ministry.
Fully grasping what it means to be with Jesus.
Something we today as Christians, we consider
part of our spiritual journey. How do I acknowledge?
How do I live with the fact that? And how can
my life be different given the reality of Jesus
in my life? Right? Except ours is kind of a spiritual.
But theirs was quite literally dirty feet, sandals,
physical journey. And they had a hard time. They
struggled with the magnitude of the truth of
who Jesus really is. It was a hard time. They
had a hard time. And the whole time. That they
were walking around with Jesus, listening to
his teachings, and he's telling them that a new
king is coming. There's a new way of life this
whole time. They think that there's going to
be an overthrow of the government and they're
going to get to be the new guys in charge. And
Jesus is like, my kingdom isn't of this world.
And they had no, they could not grasp what that
meant. And the reality is it didn't even begin
to sink into them that Jesus actually was in
the whole magnitude of glory of who Jesus was
until after they, at least most of them, heard
about because they were too chicken to even show
up to the crucifixion. There was only one disciple
there. We're not really sure who that was. He's
named the beloved disciple. Many people think
it's John. But we don't know for sure. And the
women. John and the women were the only ones
that had the courage to actually show up to see
him die. The rest of these cats were all hiding
for their lives. Because they thought... What
the Romans are now doing to Jesus, they are most
assuredly going to do to us next. Peter, before
this happens, says, Jesus, I'll never leave you.
I'll never forsake you, even if everybody else
falls away. I'll never forsake you. And in the
early morning hours of that final day of Jesus'
earthly life, Peter denies him to a teenage girl.
And when he does, through beaten and swollen
eyes, Peter and Jesus make eye contact. Put yourself
in those sandals. And when it's all said and
done, they run and hightail it back to the upper
room, continuing to be. Afraid of their life.
For their life. Then we have this day of Pentecost
when the Holy Spirit descends on the individual
believers and they leave that upper room. And
from that moment on, their life is 180 degrees
different. Instead of cowering in fear, waiting
to die, they go out into the temple square and
they point fingers. They look these religious
leaders in the eye and they say, you killed him.
But he's back. And we're going to preach in the
name of Jesus. We have the day of Pentecost.
Thousands of people are baptized. We have these
early stories and acts where the guys go around
and they heal people. Right? And they're teaching
and they're preaching this new reality about
the fact. That, you know, the guy named Jesus,
y 'all know he's died too, right? Y 'all know
the Romans killed him, right? Well, guess what?
We've all seen him alive. And the emperor no
longer. He has the power of death over us. But
Jesus' resurrection showed that there is a limit
to the power of the emperor. That while the emperor
may have the power to take our lives, there's
only one king that actually can give life. Right?
And that turned everything upside down. And it
was only then that they began to get it. And
when the Holy Spirit descends upon them, these
ordinary men and women, begin to do extraordinary
things, right? Because of the transformative
power of the Holy Spirit. Now, you also know
that I'm the kind of guy that is going to say
that if you have a choice as a Christian, and
you do, to let how you live your life be an example
of Jesus in your heart to other people, Don't
worry about how you live. Have a really loud,
good message about how cool Jesus is and about
how other people are sinning. Which do you think
is the most, the more effective? Your life as
your witness of Jesus far and away is the most
important part of your personal evangelism. And
that's what we're talking about tonight. Personal
evangelism. Right? Because. And this isn't just
Christianity. This is every other aspect of our
lives too. It comes down to simple human decency,
integrity, character. People are going to look
and see how you live your life versus what you
say all the time. And when those two conflict,
you're never getting the benefit of the doubt
about how you're living versus what you say.
Because it shows a complete lack of integrity,
a lack of moral character. In this case, it shows
a lack of spiritual genuineness, right? If we
really want to bring others that might not know
Jesus to Jesus, the way you live your life is
by far and away your best tool in your basket
or box or whatever, right? As we're tying the
bow on this story of all of these things that
the disciples are now doing. And the church is
being birthed. And people are beginning to know
Jesus that didn't know Jesus before. And as we,
because we do. We look back. I hope you do. And
if you don't, do some work on it. We'll talk
more about it. Right? Whatever. But I hope you
get to a place where you go, you know what? There
was probably never a better time for Christianity
than that first generation of believers. Because
decade after decade, century after century, millennia
now after millennia, humankind has come into,
in the quotes, the church and changed it drastically.
from what it appeared to be in the beginning.
I don't think anybody... Now, some of those changes
may be for the... Look, I'm not saying the church
is the bad guy. I'm not saying any of that. I
am saying, I think you can agree that the way
it works today isn't the way we read about in
that first book of Acts. And one of the things
we noticed up here on Sunday mornings is when
we do read those stories about life with the
early Christians in Acts, We see miracles happening.
We see lame people getting up to walk. We even
see dead people being resurrected. We hear things
like, and everybody's needs were met. Can you
imagine living in a community? I'm not even talking
about living in a city or a state or a country
where everybody's needs are met. I mean, just
imagine a small little personal community where
everybody chips in to make sure everybody's needs
are met. Today? That's crazy to even think about.
That's something you only see on TV. But that's
what was going on in the book of Acts. And I
would venture to argue that maybe because these
guys and gals allowed the Holy Spirit to work
in their lives in such a dramatic way, that's
why their lives look different than our lives
do today. Because we don't live our lives in
many ways the way those early Christians do.
We do have sense enough to look back on those
stories and go, I might not ever get there, but
I sure would want to get as close to it as I
could. Right? I mean, we want to emulate those
early followers, those eyewitness account folks
that saw Jesus alive. Don't we want to emulate
their lives in community as well? I think we
do. And I think the stories are incredibly...
Inspirational. But when we talk about this ordinary
to extraordinary kind of thing, shift happening,
it's not necessarily just how these folks lived.
Every time we hear these stories and acts where
it goes from ordinary to extraordinary, what's
happening are these disciples, who are now apostles,
that's for another day, what a difference between
a disciple and apostle, but... These new apostles
are speaking the truth about Jesus, which shows
us that, yes, if we are simple -minded enough
to think that we have to choose between our words
and our actions, we're going to choose our actions,
right? That doesn't mean our words don't have
value. In fact, all of this stuff happening...
in the early church, begins with the apostles
speaking the truth about Jesus. And we're talking
about personal evangelism. And it means you and
I have a responsibility to live like Jesus and
to speak to others about Jesus. We don't get
to get excused one from the other. It doesn't
fully work that way. So while we do focus on...
Living like Jesus. Tonight I'm going to talk
about speaking about Jesus and why it's important.
And let me give you an example at this point
in the game because I think you will grasp. So,
example versus words. When I was a kid, I spent
so much time outdoors. I've hiked everywhere.
I was in Boy Scouts forever. In this church,
in that room was our scout hut, room, whatever,
right? And I've been out in the woods a lot.
And let's just say, as a result of my experience,
and even just my time in the woods, let's say
I can see things that maybe you as someone that
comes from the city can't. And we're on a hike
somewhere. And because of that experience, we're
walking down the trail, you and I. And right
in front of you, I see a copperhead snake. But
you might not see that copperhead because you're
not used to looking for things like that in the
woods. And to you, it might even look camouflaged.
But to me, I can see it right there, right? Now,
if I'm letting my light be my example, then as
I walk around to make sure that snake can't get
me, that's one thing. But what happens if...
If unwarned, you get bit by that copperhead you
didn't see. Means you probably will end up being
very miserable. And you won't come to want to
go hiking with me ever again. Right? I don't
think so. I think what you would much more appreciate
would be if as we're walking, I went snake. Right?
Because sometimes we might be able to see things
in people's lives that they can't see for themselves.
And most certainly other people can see things
in our lives we can't see about ourselves. And
that's a big way I think that God works is through
community where people can hold each other with
some level of accountability and talk about these
things in our life. And why we can do that, why
we feel comfortable doing that, or we should,
is because we have this belief. That when we
speak to each other, when we maybe even chasten
each other at times, that it comes to us out
of love. Right? And when we give it, we give
it out of love. Because we have this belief that
together we're in the same place. I'm saying
these things to you. You're saying these things
to me out of love. Not to shame. Not to condemn.
Not the holier -than -thou somebody. None of
that stuff, but out of love because I care enough,
right? And I believe that so boldly that I can
speak boldly about it. Remember, because a couple
of Sundays ago, we realized that our behavior
is born out of what we believe. If we believe
we're going to fail, if we believe that there
is certain adversity coming our way, our actions
are going to be more timid. We're not going to
act with such confidence or boldness because
we don't have confidence in what we believe might
happen. But the opposite is true as well. If
we are confident, and for these disciples, apostles,
They saw Jesus dead and they saw Jesus alive.
And they've had the Holy Spirit descend upon
them. And they've been with each other with the
speaking of other languages and tongues with
each other. They have seen each other perform
the same kind of miracles they saw Jesus perform.
And so why can they go out into the temple courts
and speak so boldly? It's because that's what
they believe now about Jesus. Right. That's exactly
in Acts chapter 14. It says Paul and Barnabas
spent considerable time there. What were they
doing? They were preaching. Right. And they were
under extraordinary persecution. And even when
they were under extraordinary persecution, we
talked about last week that they prayed for even
more boldness. And we talked about how silly
that would be in our world today. Like, you know.
If you had just gotten thrown in jail on something,
and I bailed you out, and you said, you know
what I need to do? Whatever that got me thrown
in jail, I need to go out and do it bigger, bolder,
more in public, right? As your attorney, I would
advise against that. Right? And those aren't
the same thing, but that's what's happening here.
Right? Give us the power to speak the truth about
Jesus. That's what got him thrown in jail. If
I was their attorney, I'd say, lay low on this,
guys. And they're saying, no, give us bigger
microphones. And miraculously, things like this
lame man, crippled guy, 40 years, everybody knew
it. And one day, because of their, they're just
praying in the name of Jesus of Nazareth. He's
able to walk and they can't deny it. And I love
this about that story because I think this happens.
As a matter of fact, I get to see it fairly regularly,
even in my little church that I share with you
here too. You know what? You do too. I love it
whenever things happen and God works in such
miraculous ways that I have to look on and say,
I don't know if I understand it. I'm not even
quite sure I believe it, but I can't deny it.
It is a reality. I love it whenever God does
something so miraculous in our world that the
world looks on and says, I don't believe it,
I don't understand it, but I cannot deny it.
And we know people, or maybe you, you've got
a marriage, and maybe it's going south and fast.
That someone gets radically saved, wife got radically
saved, the dad decided to become the spiritual
leader that his family needed to be, and all
of a sudden they're like newlyweds again. And
their friends set, their other friends, they
look on and say, I don't understand it. I'm not
even sure I believe how it's possible, but I
can't deny it. I mean, something has happened
in their life. Or maybe... Maybe you were addicted
to something, you were in bondage over something,
you lived in fear, and something rose up inside
of you, and now you're just not the same, and
other people look on and say, there's nothing
but God that could have made that happen. And
I don't want to look at anybody in the eyeballs
right now. I don't want to put anybody on the
spot, but I'll tell you, I see people in this
room right now that I could say, Only God could
have done that. And praise God for that, right?
Praise God for that. I mean, this is the creator
of the universe that loves and cares enough to
enter your life, change your world in a way that
everybody else looks on and says, that is a miracle.
So, If how we behave is what we believe, last
Sunday we talked about what we pray about. I
just want to throw this out here. If you weren't
with us on Sunday, come join us on Sunday. We've
got church at 1045. Love to have you. But last
Sunday we talked about this. I just think this
is so great because this hits me right in the
chest. It might hit you too. If your world, because
what you pray about reflects what you believe
about God. If you pray little personal prayers,
you think God just handles little personal prayers.
If you pray and you believe God can and will
heal someone of their cancer, you believe a God
that's big enough and powerful enough to can
and do just that. Right? Whether you want to,
if you didn't pray at all, that says a lot about
what you believe about God. You either believe
God can't or God won't. Answer your prayers.
None of us can run from it. And we're all on
some scale between one and ten, so to speak.
Right? But how would the world have been different?
How would the world be different today? If every
prayer you prayed about last week came true,
if every prayer you prayed, how would the world
be different today if God answered every, said
yes to everything? For most of us, it would be
just stuff immediately around us. We might get
the job. We might find a place to live. Grandma
might be healed of cancer. But the larger struggles
in the world might still be there. So what we
pray about reflects what we think about God.
What we believe deeply, we also need to speak
boldly. Whenever these guys are confronted, they
say, when speaking about Jesus, Peter and John
reply this. They say, judge for yourself whether
it's right in God's sight to obey you rather
than God. But I love this. They say, but for
we, we cannot help speaking about what we have
seen and what we have heard. The Greek word that's
translated there as cannot help quite literally
means it is impossible. It is not possible for
us to stop speaking about what we have seen and
what we have heard. You can threaten us, but
we're still speaking. You can beat us. We'll
speak louder. You could put us to death and our
last words are going to be a proclamation of
Jesus of Nazareth. Why? Why? Because if you've
seen what we've seen and you've heard what we've
heard, you've got to tell people about it. It's
that good. If you saw the people that we were
at the beginning of our story with these guys
and who we are now, if you've seen the miracles
that we've seen, you wouldn't be able to keep
it to yourself. It would be not possible. Now
what I want to do, very quickly, I want to just
talk about a few specific areas that I believe
God wants you to speak. Not just live as a witness,
but actually to speak boldly. Why? Because you
believe it so deeply. Because we believe so deeply,
there are times I want you to realize you can't
help but speak boldly to yourself. David does
this in the Old Testament in 1 Samuel, Hebrew
Scripture 30 and 6. The Bible says David was
greatly distressed for the people spoke of stoning
him. Now we might be distressed and there might
be hard stuff going on. There was certainly hard
stuff going on in King David's life in this moment.
The Bible says David encouraged himself in the
Lord his God. What does that mean? It means he
preached himself a sermon. He encouraged himself.
He spoke boldly to himself. It doesn't record
what was said, but it could be. I just remember
the time when God gave me the strength to kill
the lion and the tiger and the bear. Oh, my.
Right. I remember when God gave me the faith
to stand down a giant and to say bold words like,
who are you, Philistine? To come against the
armies of my living God. Everybody else says
you're too big to beat. I think you're too big
to miss. Somebody give me a rock and duck. Right?
Whatever it might have been. He preached himself
a sermon to encourage himself. And you and I,
we can do the same thing. Right? I won't. I mean,
this. Being comfortable doing this. You don't.
Fly into flying, being comfortable preaching.
I've had to preach to myself a lot about preaching
to you. But let me encourage you these words
from Old Testament prophet Isaiah 61. Spirit
of the sovereign Lord is upon me. He's anointed
me to preach the good news to the poor. He's
anointed me to bind up the brokenhearted. He's
anointed me to proclaim freedom for the captives.
The spirit of the sovereign Lord is on me and
has anointed me to preach God's word and I will
preach myself to faith. You too. Those words
are for you too. The next time you're overwhelmed,
maybe you're overcome with simply just too much
to do. I've got babies everywhere, diapers, dishes,
domestic duties. No, I can do all things through
Christ that strengthens me. You're overwhelmed
at business that just seems like there's too
much. When I'm weak, he's strong. It's not by
my power or my might, but it's by his might,
saith the Lord. When you're afraid, preach to
yourself. Right? God has not given me a spirit
of fear. God has not given you a spirit of fear,
but of power and of love, of sound mind. Sometimes
you just have to preach to yourself. Secondly,
I believe so deeply, we believe so deeply, that
I can't help but to encourage you. Hebrews 3
.13, Scripture says, Encourage one another, and
I ask, how often? It says, encourage one another
daily. Every single day. As long as a day is
called a day, you should be encouraging one another,
using God's word to lift people up. Third thing,
this is where it gets tricky. Because I believe
so deeply, I can't help but lovingly correct
you. This is where this is a heart matter. You
have to hear these words with the heart that
I'm saying them. There are times when we love
others so much that I believe so much in what
God is saying is right and what God is saying
is wrong that I have to lovingly correct you.
I said lovingly, right? Don't go out and be a
jerk in the name of Jesus. Don't go out and hold
big obnoxious signs thinking you're being bold,
right? That's not bold. Biblical correction is
when someone steps outside of the word of God
and you love them enough. You're not better than
them, but you correct them lovingly according
to Matthew 18. So many people have corrected
me. It could be you're a woman. Right? And girlfriends
always talking trash about her husband. He's
not a spiritual leader. He's a bump on the log.
No, you need to encourage them. I love you and
I love your marriage too much for you to be talking
this way. God wants you to be with him. Right?
God also doesn't want you constantly taking him
out on his knees. We have to learn to speak life,
to speak love, to speak encouragement. Not just
speak so we can hear our own selves talk. Not
because you're better, but because you believe
and you love so deeply. And when you believe
so deeply and you love so deeply, you'll speak
boldly. The last one is this. It's we rap. I
believe so deeply I can't help but try to lead
you to Christ. This is what the disciples actually
essentially were doing and said. You can beat
us. You can lock us up. You can threaten to kill
us. But we cannot help speaking about what we
have seen and heard. We can't help it. We just
have to do it. If we're emulating these early
Christians, we should be that way too. Because
it's never, ever, ever going away. Some of us,
you might know what I'm talking about because
you've been there. You've been saved. You've
been set free. You've been transformed. And you
can't contain it. Other people are like, relax,
dude. Why so excited? I mean, I just came to...
Bible study tonight. It's supposed to be fun.
I want to feel good. Look, truth is, if you don't
speak boldly, perhaps it's because you don't
believe deeply. If you don't speak boldly, perhaps
it's because you don't believe deeply. So you're
not going to just let your life be a witness
because sometimes it's just too great of an opportunity.
You can't keep it to yourself. We've just got
to say who he is and what he's done. Because
I can't stop talking about what I've seen and
heard. Because we speak so boldly about what
we believe so deeply. Amen? Amen. Thanks, guys.
You know, the truth of the matter is, for a lot
of what might be defined as mainline Christians,
But I don't think there's necessarily any big
label on it. I think there's a lot of Christians
who are great Christians, but struggle with personal
evangelism. We struggle with it because we see
counterexamples in our culture all the time.
And we have forever people who... claim to be
and believe one thing, but then we find out they
live their lives in completely different ways.
We've definitely learned to become cynical about
flowery words and beautiful voices and saith
the Lord kind of language. We've learned enough
now that those words sometimes, if they're not
backed up by real character and integrity, they're
meaningless. No doubt about it. Living Christ
in our lives, letting the Holy Spirit transform
our lives by the way we live is our best witness.
But the truth remains. We also have a responsibility,
just as those early disciples did, just as every
Christian. Between them and you and me, we have
a responsibility to speak boldly about what we
believe about Jesus. We have a responsibility
for personal evangelism. But with that responsibility
comes this realization that to do so, we must
do it in love. And we must make sure that what
we say matches up with how we live. Because if
we don't, We've just become the hypocrite. So
many non -believers think we all are. I think
that's something to think about. Until next week,
friend, be blessed.