Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Call me when you can.
[00:00:03] Some of us have read that text or listened to that voicemail and our minds race.
[00:00:12] I have something to tell you.
[00:00:14] And depending on the person who's reaching out, our response depends on who they are.
[00:00:23] If it's your wife, you look at that text and you go, huh?
[00:00:28] She never responds to my text. Or you would think she doesn't have her phone with her often.
[00:00:35] And so if she's actually using her phone, this must be an emergency, or that's fine, that's a joke. Danae's laughing, everybody.
[00:00:45] Or if it's one of your kids, they never call me.
[00:00:50] And so there is something horrible that must have gone on if they are actually calling me. And so your response is determined by who reaches out and who's trying to get in touch with you. For some of us, we look at the phone and we think, oh my goodness, really? And we respond back. It may be a while. We leave them on read and hope that just goes away and they forget about it. And it wasn't as urgent as we thought or they thought.
[00:01:22] And the news on the other end is often life altering.
[00:01:28] Some of us have etched into our brain those phone conversations with people giving us good news or bad news.
[00:01:40] We are having a baby, we're moving, I lost my job, we're getting married.
[00:01:49] I got the test results back.
[00:01:52] I had a friend this very week who was waiting on a call from doctors to get a diagnosis after serious test scans. And for a whole week talking to them and the anxiety and worry and waiting to hear back from the doctor.
[00:02:11] And then they sat down with the doctor and leaned into every word as the doctor told them that they had cancer.
[00:02:20] And the treatment was going to be very painful and hard and difficult.
[00:02:26] In that moment, just the words cancer will be etched into their mind the rest of their life. Some of you here have experienced that.
[00:02:38] But leaning in to the message, considering who it is that is giving the message, can be life altering.
[00:02:49] And it's the very thing that we see in Thessalonica when the apostles come and preach the gospel, as we've talked about every week in Acts chapter 17, we have this story of Paul who goes into this city and he spends three weeks in the synagogue pleading that they would believe the gospel, declaring that Jesus is the Messiah for Jew and Gentile. And many in the city began to believe.
[00:03:20] And yet it causes disruption because of this message, because of this life altering message. The city is in an uproar. There are riots. Those who believe the gospel, the leaders are drug out into the street before the people. They are persecuted.
[00:03:40] There's violence, but it is the message that made all the difference.
[00:03:46] In chapter one, Paul recounts what this looked like, this sort of revival in Thessalonica, how the Gospel is reverberating from this city all across the known world.
[00:04:02] Paul is traveling and he's hearing about his ministry in Thessalonica. You won't believe what's happening in this city.
[00:04:11] And then last week, Paul unpacked what his ministry of the Word looked like. He declared the Word with great authority and yet served with great gentleness.
[00:04:23] But at the end of the day, it came down to what the Word being preached was.
[00:04:32] It came down to whom the Word was from.
[00:04:37] And that's what we see in our passage today is Paul declares very clearly that the message he preached, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, is the Word of God, is a message from God himself. And in verse 13, we see that he thanks God that the Thessalonians believed and understood that it was the Word of God. And so one of the things we're going to see today is if you want genuine, transform, transformation in your life. If we want to be a church that is changed by God, we want to see the Spirit move here. We must be a people who welcome the Word of God as God's Word. That's exactly what the believers here did. Notice verse 13. Paul says, we also thank God constantly in light of our ministry that he's unpacked in this chapter.
[00:05:35] He says, we thank God constantly, meaning we give God the praise in light of what we've seen with you believers.
[00:05:47] We give God the credit for what happened. And so what happened? What did God do? What does God deserve the credit for? Notice for this, that when you received the Word of God, this word receive, it could be a different word for faith or believe, actually means to embrace or welcome with joy, as a gift. Paul was delivering the gospel to them and they received it as a gift. They welcomed it with joy.
[00:06:21] Notice the Word of God. And it's important for us to understand that Paul, when he talks about the message he preaches, he equates it with the word of God. Paul doesn't say it was just my message and we're trying to make it work. No, he says, when I declared to you the gospel, that was a word from God. It was God's word to you. And he says, this is the way that you received it when you heard it from us. Notice again, you accepted it, you welcomed it not as the word of men.
[00:06:57] You understood that this Wasn't flattery. We talked about that last week. This wasn't just another man's opinion.
[00:07:08] This wasn't some new religious tradition that we were imparting to you. This wasn't some new philosophy that some man had made up.
[00:07:18] No. When we preach the word of God, you heard it. Notice he says, but as it really is, for what it is, it is the word of God.
[00:07:32] You understood that the source of our message was from God.
[00:07:37] He is the origin of the message. It comes from him directly to you. Yes, we delivered it, but it was God's word to you.
[00:07:47] It came with the authority of God.
[00:07:50] Notice, he says, which is at work in you who believe. Are you believers? And so this word is supernatural.
[00:07:58] This word comes from God and it changes and it transforms. Not just when you believe the gospel, notice the text here, which is at work in you.
[00:08:10] So this message you heard, you welcomed it into your life in a way that it continues to echo, it continues to reverberate, it continues to change your life. It is supernatural. Not just the words of men, not just information.
[00:08:29] This is why God gets credit for it. But before we move on, let's ask, how did God do this?
[00:08:36] How did that happen?
[00:08:38] That when they heard just ordinary men, The Apostle Paul, church history tells us there wasn't anything impressive about him when he arrived. He had been beaten and jailed. He's probably sore, had scars all over him, face, probably bloodied up, wounds.
[00:09:01] And so he's not some dynamic speaker, but he comes in and he preaches this word, this gospel. That Jesus has died on the cross for our sins, that he lived a perfect life and that he's back from the dead and he will rule and reign forever.
[00:09:22] When the people in Thessalonica hear this message, they say that's God's word to us.
[00:09:30] They believe that God is speaking to them. Why?
[00:09:34] Well, if we go back to first Thessalonians, chapter one, verse five, we read again because our gospel came to you not only in word. Yes, there are words to be saved, you must believe words.
[00:09:50] Words are preached and you believe words.
[00:09:53] But notice what accompanied the message.
[00:09:57] First Thessalonians, chapter one, verse five. But also in the power of the Holy Spirit. So the Spirit accompanies the word. The Word is actually the Spirit's word. But notice the last part of verse five with full conviction.
[00:10:14] That's not just the apostles conviction that that's true.
[00:10:17] That's when the word of God was preached, you were convinced it was true.
[00:10:22] The Spirit came in and convinced you. This is a Word from our Creator.
[00:10:28] This is the Word from the One who created all things with His Word. And he's speaking directly to us. The Spirit of God did this work when we delivered the message.
[00:10:41] And so one of the things we see here is real change and transformation takes place when, by the Spirit of God, we welcome the Word as God's Word. That's what the Spirit does.
[00:10:55] It convinces you this is God's Word and you must believe it.
[00:10:59] This is God's Word, and this is your only hope.
[00:11:02] This is God's Word, and you must obey it. This is the work of the Spirit in our lives.
[00:11:08] You see, we believe that the Bible is God's Word.
[00:11:13] We believe what second Timothy, chapter 3, verse 16 says, all scripture is breathed out by God.
[00:11:22] And if it comes from God, then it's profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.
[00:11:33] We believe that Jesus pointed to the Old Testament in our Bibles and said, that's my Bible, that the Scriptures were his authority. He declared to us that they were the Word of God.
[00:11:47] And now we have the New Testament written by the apostles who were carried along to give us this authoritative word. That it's not as though, as if God is speaking. No, he is speaking. We believe this is the Word of God. And the Spirit convinces us of that every time we read it, every time we hear it. That is to be the work of the Spirit in your life that must go on if you are to give your allegiance to the Word of God. You come before the Word of God, the Bible, and you say, this isn't just a book of information.
[00:12:24] This isn't just so I can win Bible trivia.
[00:12:28] Let me look up that verse so I can win the theological debate at the coffee shop.
[00:12:33] No, this is the authoritative word of God speaking directly to your soul by the Spirit of God. And when that happens, it demands change.
[00:12:46] It demands transformation. It demands your attention. The Word of God isn't opinion.
[00:12:53] It's not advice. We have plenty of opinion and advice floating around and everywhere. But when we come before the Word of God, we say, this is authoritative.
[00:13:05] I don't debate with God.
[00:13:07] No, what has God said and how should it change my life? It's not just a stale book of inspirational quotes for pep talks on a Sunday morning.
[00:13:20] No, we come together as the church and say, what would you have to say to us today? God?
[00:13:26] What would you have for us to do today?
[00:13:30] How would you have us believe?
[00:13:32] And that's why we work so hard here, because we believe that as Accurately as we can expose expositional preaching, expose the meaning of the Bible, that it is God's word to me and to you. Every time that happens, it's not as though we're trying to guess what God has said. When we have the authority of God's word, we know what he says and we know what he would have for us.
[00:14:05] And one of the things we must do as we think about that is like Paul here, thank God for the work of the Spirit in this church.
[00:14:18] That's what Paul does here.
[00:14:20] He says, when you heard my message, you believed it was from God, because it is from God.
[00:14:26] And it's one of the things as the pastor here, one of the pastors here, I'm just overwhelmed by that. As I look around this room, I talk to friends in ministry and what goes on here doesn't go on at other places.
[00:14:42] They are working so hard to get folks to believe and respond to the word of God and to sit for 45 minute sermons and not complain, at least complain to me, but to lean in and you look around this room and your heads are in the Bible when sermons are being preached. Some of the time I walk up to somebody who said, I haven't seen you at church and you're like, I've been there every week. Well, it's because your head is in the Bible and I can't see your face.
[00:15:16] And this is the, what Paul is saying here is this is the work of the Spirit among us.
[00:15:24] Those notebooks that you fill up, those Bible studies that you commit to and you go to, some of you go into Bible study every night with folks from this church, our men's and women's gatherings where hundreds of people show up to be fed the word of God.
[00:15:41] We think about what's going on in our student ministry. They're going through the Book of Romans, they have commentaries and discipleship groups where they're unpacking these deep theological problems and how that applies to their life.
[00:16:00] We think about children here just growing up in the Bible. It's just a part of their life.
[00:16:07] They talk about the Bible, they love the Bible. That is the work of the Spirit. Nobody's doing that of their own power. No strategy, no ingenious plan can make that happen. That is the word of God. And you should get on your face and thank God for it and praise God for what goes on here, but also lean into it.
[00:16:31] And one of the ways you should lean into it is embrace the Bible as God's word as you hear it. I talk to people all the time and talking about just their health, their growth as Christians, their joy, their contentment.
[00:16:51] And it always comes down to their attitude about the Bible and their interaction with the Bible.
[00:16:59] And if you believe that God has spoken and the things that he is saying is true and right and good, then you're going to latch your life to this.
[00:17:12] You're going to saturate your world with it.
[00:17:17] You're going to be plugged into it.
[00:17:20] It's going to be the aroma of your life. If you really believe it's the Word of God, it's going to come. First you think about how you start your day out and you can't wait to listen to the news or sports pundits and get the new information about your team or your political party.
[00:17:39] You can't wait to listen to the podcast and the influencer, and you can't wait till that album comes out. And you're leaning into those things. You should be so leaned into the Word of God that it drowns out all those other things. I got to get to the Word of God.
[00:17:56] Your eyes open in the morning. I have to have the Word of God. God has spoken.
[00:18:01] Who must I hear from today? First, it must be God. And so hear the Word of God in that way. This is God's Word. That means you should think about this time in the life of our church differently. You should prepare for it.
[00:18:17] You should pray for it. Pray for your pastors.
[00:18:21] Pray that we would work hard in the Word and be able to communicate it with clarity and authority.
[00:18:27] Get sleep on a Saturday night.
[00:18:33] Pray on your way to church. Read the passage that we're going to go through. We try to tell you ahead of time. Go through the BFG questions. Prepare to. I got to get as much out of this as I can.
[00:18:44] Prepare, pray. Plan to hear the Bible as God's Word and then respond.
[00:18:51] One of the works of the Spirit here in Thessalonica is seeing the way they respond. They receive the Word of God as a word from God and they turn from idols to God.
[00:19:02] And so every time you come away from the Word of God, think about one change you can make. Because God said so.
[00:19:11] God said so.
[00:19:13] So what am I going to do differently?
[00:19:15] I got to fight to turn from that sin.
[00:19:19] I got to strategize.
[00:19:21] I got to suffocate those sinful desires somehow. Why? Because God said so.
[00:19:28] Pray differently. Oh, there's this promise in God's Word that I read today that's going to change the way that I pray. He's always faithful.
[00:19:37] He's good.
[00:19:39] Make a change every time you come before the Word of God. Because when you don't, what happens?
[00:19:45] Your heart grows callous.
[00:19:48] And before long you're distant, not just from the Word of God, but from God himself.
[00:19:55] But if God has spoken, what have you said? God, how could it change my life today? Who do I need to love in light of what you've said in your Word? Who do I need to forgive? How can I give more faithfully? How can I speak more clearly in light of what you have said? And so we receive, we welcome God's Word for what it is, the Word of God.
[00:20:18] But notice as the Word of God moves, we should expect to suffer for the Word of God, which is what we see in verse 14. Notice. For this is the work of the Word in the Spirit. This is what happened when you received it. You brothers became imitators. The word imitator, it can be example or to mimic. We can also get the picture as we talked about earlier in first Thessalonians, image or stamp. You became an image or stamp of who? The churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea.
[00:20:56] And so we read in the Book of Acts that when the Gospel hits Jerusalem and a church is formed there and the Gospel is being preached in Jerusalem, God brings about persecution to send the Gospel from Judea into Samaria, into the ends of the earth.
[00:21:16] The church is kind of huddled in Jerusalem and there's persecution and they flee to the surrounding areas. And this is how the gospel begins to move into the Gentile world, is through persecution. And so that's what Paul says is when you receive the Word, the authoritative word of God, you begin to do what everybody else does who receives the Word. You fell into the same pattern as the churches everywhere. And what is that pattern?
[00:21:45] Suffering.
[00:21:47] They suffered for the word.
[00:21:50] Imitation means suffering.
[00:21:53] And we go back to 1st Thessalonians, chapter 1, verse 6.
[00:21:57] This is exactly what Paul said there. When you believe the Gospel, you became imitators of us.
[00:22:02] What was Paul doing at the time?
[00:22:04] Suffering for the sake of the gospel.
[00:22:07] He had been jailed, he'd been imprisoned, he'd been beaten. And when you heard the Word, you thought, well, this guy's preaching the message and he's suffering.
[00:22:20] If I believe his message, going to have to suffer.
[00:22:25] But notice also that in 1st Thessalonians, chapter 1, verse 6, you became imitators of us and of the Lord.
[00:22:35] What does that mean? Well, there was a message from people who were suffering about a suffering savior.
[00:22:43] So there was no way we could sign up for this and not think we're going to have to suffer.
[00:22:49] That's what this was all about.
[00:22:51] You became imitators, you became examples. You fell into the same pattern as everyone else. And notice first Thessalonians, chapter 1, verse 6. You received the Word in much affliction immediately. When you believed the Word, there was disruption, there was riots, there was persecution. And yet you still received it because you believed it was from God. Notice with the joy of the Holy Spirit.
[00:23:17] And so you heard the message and you counted the cost.
[00:23:20] There's going to be suffering.
[00:23:22] But you said, this is a word from God, so we're going to suffer because that's what God is calling us to.
[00:23:29] If we believe in this suffering Savior, we will have to suffer. And this is this idea throughout this book of image or stamp or mimic or what's described here, imitators.
[00:23:44] This is what it means, is that you suffer like Jesus and everyone else who follows Jesus. That's what was going on. That was the pattern.
[00:23:54] Jesus suffered, the disciples suffered. The Church suffered in Jerusalem. And now the Church is handing that baton off to you to suffer for this same word.
[00:24:04] To imitate Jesus means to suffer.
[00:24:09] This is what Jesus said. I'm headed to the cross.
[00:24:11] If you want to follow me, pick up your cross and let's go.
[00:24:15] You're going to have to suffer if you follow me.
[00:24:19] In the Book of Acts, the believers are called Christians, which means little Christ.
[00:24:24] What does that mean?
[00:24:26] Little imitators of Christ.
[00:24:29] How do they imitate Christ? They suffer for the word of Christ.
[00:24:35] To follow Christ means to suffer. This is what it means to be a witness. In Acts 1:8, we see that you will receive power when the Spirit comes upon you. To be my witnesses.
[00:24:46] And the word witness is actually the same word as martyr.
[00:24:52] And it means to tell the truth.
[00:24:55] But it came to mean what we have in our mind. Martyr. Someone who dies for their faith.
[00:25:02] Because so many Christians were willing to tell the truth about Jesus and die.
[00:25:07] And so it just meant to die for your faith, to witness.
[00:25:11] That's what God has called us to, but he's not called us to it in some distant way.
[00:25:18] Acts 1:8, he gives us the Spirit. That's the work of the Word and Spirit that we're seeing here in Thessalonica. The Spirit comes in and empowers you to do this.
[00:25:28] It's not some boldness that comes from grit within you.
[00:25:32] I'm going to die for this. I'm going to give my life over to this. I'm going to suffer for this. No, the Spirit does that as a witness.
[00:25:40] That the Spirit says, jesus was raised from the dead. If you believe in him, you'll be raised from the dead. And so what you say is, I can't lose, I can't lose. And so you act upon that faith boldness in declaring Jesus is Lord, even if it cost me my life.
[00:26:00] And Paul says, that's what you were willing to do, and that was the work of the Spirit.
[00:26:05] You see, a work of the Word and Spirit in your life is that you will suffer for this Word to some degree. The closer you align with it, it's going to require something of you.
[00:26:16] And what's tragic is we are so indoctrinated with this philosophy that difficulty is wrong.
[00:26:25] We don't just look at hard things anymore and go, that's going to be really hard.
[00:26:30] We go, that's wrong for me.
[00:26:34] You know what that does when it comes to Christianity?
[00:26:38] It nullifies much of Christianity, because Christianity is hard.
[00:26:43] Following Jesus is difficult.
[00:26:47] And when we believe difficulty is wrong, inconvenience becomes inconceivable.
[00:26:53] I would never choose inconvenience.
[00:26:57] Everything's supposed to be easy and better for me.
[00:27:01] And Christlike sacrifice becomes impossible for you.
[00:27:07] And it's a work against the Spirit in your life. And here, notice throughout the book, joy, joy. You embrace suffering with joy.
[00:27:17] You see, from the jump, real Christianity involves suffering. You're following a crucified Savior who is very clear, take up your cross and follow me.
[00:27:30] And so there are moments in our life where we're fearful to associate with the gospel and with Christ and with the kingdom.
[00:27:40] And in our hearts we say, oh, I have that fear of rejection.
[00:27:45] That's real, that's not fake.
[00:27:48] And here's the thing, it's not going to go away.
[00:27:53] That is, the tension with following Christ in a world that rejects Christ is that you're on Jesus side and the world is against Jesus.
[00:28:05] And Jesus said, if they hated me, they will hate you.
[00:28:08] And so when you know even people you're close to, I need to share the gospel with them. And you're scared. That's right. That's good.
[00:28:17] That's not bad.
[00:28:19] It doesn't mean it's wrong to choose something difficult and hard in that moment and actually talk about Jesus. No, that's good. That is the Spirit's invitation to you saying, come on, come on, there's joy over here. Do it. Come on, talk about Jesus. Yes, that's the Spirit doing that, saying, do you believe this Is the word of God. Do you believe you can't lose? Okay, there's joy. Step out here. Risk the relationship. You know, don't be a jerk for Jesus, but at the same time, step into it and talk about Jesus. That's what the Spirit of God is doing in your life. And the risk and the difficulty and just being hard is a part of what God is doing in your life and shaping you into the image of a suffering savior.
[00:29:06] That's what he is doing. That's what the Spirit is doing. Hey, embrace this joy.
[00:29:12] Align yourself with the Word of God. Speak with the Word of God and endure some difficulty and be content in that.
[00:29:20] But as you do it, he says here, you should also expect rage.
[00:29:27] Rage against God's Word. We receive God's word, we suffer for God's Word.
[00:29:33] And as we do, we expect the world around us to rage against it. Notice he continues, for you suffered the same thing from your own countrymen as they did from the Jews. This is how you mirrored the believers in Jerusalem who suffered following Jesus as king, is that you suffered the same things. The city officials in Thessalonica, they waged war against the church the same way the religious elite in Jerusalem waged war against Jesus.
[00:30:10] Sent him through mock trials, accused him of a blasphemer, tried to get him to stop talking. Be quiet. You experience the same thing in your own city, from your own countrymen, the people there who were into emperor worship. And then all of a sudden you talk about Jesus as messiah. They didn't like that message. Folks who were given over to their local deities, images, idol worship. And then you said, no, no, no, there's a living God who's been revealed in flesh and blood, and I follow him, and his name is Jesus. They didn't like that message. And they were irritated that all of a sudden you weren't showing up at the social things and the family get togethers. No, you were gathered with the church and you were worshiping and people were irritated and mad and they began to disown you and they alienated you. The same thing they did to Jesus in Jerusalem. The same thing they're doing to the believers in Jerusalem happened to you.
[00:31:09] So guess what? That must mean you're on the right team.
[00:31:13] That must be good, because that's what happened to everybody else who followed Jesus, even Jesus himself.
[00:31:20] And notice, it gets even worse. You suffered the same things from the Jews as the Jews in Jerusalem did to the believers there. Notice those who killed. There's violence involved here, so you should Expect this.
[00:31:36] They killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets. They crucified the King of Kings, but also the prophets. We read our Old Testament and so often the prophets come to the people of God and they confront them of sin. If you do not turn from your sin, you will be judged. And what happened to the prophets delivering the word of God? Well, Jeremiah, as we even heard earlier, is the weeping prophet.
[00:32:02] Tradition tells us that Isaiah was torn in two.
[00:32:06] Elijah had to flee for his life. Micah was imprisoned, Ezekiel was shunned and not allowed to mourn publicly. They were all persecuted by their own people for preaching the word of God.
[00:32:20] And Paul says, the same thing's happening to you.
[00:32:23] That means it's going right for you. Because I know you're thinking this is turning out bad. No, no, this is the pattern. We go on with Jesus. We suffer for the message.
[00:32:33] And Paul says, they drove us out. Notice the text continues, they drove us out. But here's the deal. They displeased God and they oppose mankind, hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles that they might be saved.
[00:32:47] They're trying to hinder this message. And as they hinder the message, they're proving that they displease God. They're against God. They're actually against all mankind. Why? They don't want the message that saves all mankind to get out.
[00:33:02] They're mad at Jesus, Mad at anyone who would preach his message.
[00:33:07] And notice he says so always to fill up the Word means to complete the measure of their sin. The full extent of their rage is that they oppose God at every angle.
[00:33:19] But notice the last phrase, but wrath has come upon them at last.
[00:33:24] They are currently judged and condemned for rejecting the Gospel.
[00:33:29] Paul says here, the Jews, they killed the prophets, Jesus, they killing followers of Christ. They oppose the mission, just like the countrymen in Thessalonica who oppose you.
[00:33:45] But Paul speaks this word of great gravity. And he says, as you look into their eyes, I want you to know something.
[00:33:51] They're under judgment.
[00:33:54] They're rejecting the only message that'll save their soul. And they're raging against it to the point of violence and persecution. And what Paul is saying here is I just want you to know what side you're on.
[00:34:07] In the same way, the kingdom of God has come to you by the Spirit and lives within you and will be consummated forever. When you live with Jesus in his Kingd, wrath has already come upon them.
[00:34:21] And you're seeing God's wrath in their rage as they reject his message and their end is destruction.
[00:34:29] Their end is hell because they reject the message.
[00:34:34] And what Paul wants us to know here is we are in a cosmic clash between rescue and rage.
[00:34:43] The world is raging against the Word that rescues you. You just got to get that in your mind.
[00:34:50] The world rages against the word of God and Christ, the authority of God's word. It rages against him. It rages against God. And this is where you find yourself.
[00:35:03] And this began back in the garden, right?
[00:35:06] What is the first thing Satan does?
[00:35:09] He attacks the word of God. Why? He hates God's authority. So how does he attack God's authority?
[00:35:16] Did God really say, no, that's not true.
[00:35:21] He attacks the word of God because he hates God. He rages against the word. Cain kills Abel over the word of God. It was a promise.
[00:35:31] It was obedience to the word of God that Abel is believing and obeying. And there is rage there and there is death.
[00:35:39] And Paul says, that is the battle we find ourselves in right now. This is why Jesus, who is the Word, comes to rescue. And when he comes to rescue, what does he say?
[00:35:51] Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. What is the sword? It is the word of God. And it divides the world.
[00:36:01] It divides the world between rescue, those who are believing it and being rescued and those who reject it and rage against it. And you find yourself in the middle, in the crossfires.
[00:36:13] And there's going to be times where there is rage unleashed upon you because you align with the word that rescues.
[00:36:22] And you just got to understand the battle.
[00:36:25] And this is why, when Peter writes to sojourners and aliens in the world who are suffering for their faith, in First Peter, chapter four, verses 12 and 14, he says, Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you as though something strange were happening to you.
[00:36:44] So you don't go, I'm suffering for Jesus. What in the world is happening?
[00:36:49] No, Paul says, don't be shocked. That's going to happen. They reject God, they reject Christ.
[00:36:55] There's going to be rage even against you.
[00:36:59] It's purposeful. It reveals God's enemies. It purges fake brothers and sisters. And so don't be shocked by it. Lean into it and see hope in it.
[00:37:11] No, we've been rescued by this message. There's hope in it. And you lean into it. And it's what gives you power and confidence to preach the gospel, is I'm on the side of Jesus. And the same thing that happened to Jesus is happening to me. The same thing that happened to the disciples is happening to me. The same thing that happened in the early church is happening to me. People don't like my message. Even though you come with love and grace and kindness, but in your dorm room, on the ball field, in the locker room, in the classroom, in the break room, you see rescue and rage.
[00:37:46] Folks who are being rescued and those who rage, Satan and the systems of this world just rage against the authority of God's word. Just be okay with it.
[00:37:57] Pray, trust God, but know what you're dealing with.
[00:38:01] It's the reason why this has happened to me many times where I'm just beginning to talk to someone about the gospel.
[00:38:10] Oh, you're a pastor? Yeah, I'm a pastor. You know. What denomination are y' all? We are Southern Baptists. Why don't you have Baptist in your name? I don't know. That's not important right now.
[00:38:22] Hey, what do you. What do you believe about Jesus?
[00:38:25] Well, I don't know. I used to go to church when I was younger and. Have you ever trusted Jesus for salvation? You ever thought about following Jesus, Giving your life over to Jesus? All you people are just like. You're just all alike. You're a bunch of hypocrites. Whoa, whoa, whoa.
[00:38:42] I was just talking about Jesus, okay? Chill.
[00:38:47] Does that ever happen? You don't know why the other person is angry and they just get mad.
[00:38:53] That is the rage that is being fleshed out from the rejection that Paul talks about here. And what Paul's saying here is don't take it personal.
[00:39:04] Don't take it. Don't make it about you. And don't be silent. Embrace it. Lean into it. Tepid conversations are going to turn into, at times, alienation.
[00:39:17] You're going to talk to that co worker one day and you're going to share the gospel with them. You're going to think it's great. You can go to your BFG and say, I got to share the gospel. I think they're on the verge of believing. And then the whole next week, they don't speak to you. I don't know what I did.
[00:39:32] Oh, you brought in the word. That's rescuing. And they're raging against it.
[00:39:37] Be okay with that.
[00:39:39] Don't be quiet. Lean into that.
[00:39:42] That's good news. That's hope. But I want to ask you this. Do you feel that tension in your life?
[00:39:48] Do you feel that maybe it's because you're not as clear as you should be about the gospel with the people around you, they know you're associated with church. And you seem to be conservative, your Facebook posts and all those things, but you never just looked at them and said, all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. And you know, for that we all deserve hell.
[00:40:13] But I'm with you every day.
[00:40:15] And so it's important for you to know that I believe Jesus died for my sins. He died for your sins. And if you believe in him, you will be forgiven and you'll live with him forever. I want you to know that. I want you to know that about me. That is the message that undergirds everything in my life.
[00:40:32] You walk into work tomorrow, be intent by the power. Pray that the spirit would give you the power to be clear. When that co worker says to you or that classmate says to you, what'd you do this weekend? I went to church yesterday. Oh, okay. You mean to tell you what we talked about in church?
[00:40:52] That you're going to get really mad at me if I tell you about Jesus right now or just share the gospel with them? Hey, I'd like to invite your kids to vbs. What is that?
[00:41:03] Well, it's a lot of fun. It's really exciting. We talk about Jesus. What do you think about Jesus?
[00:41:09] Life's really hard.
[00:41:12] And I know you're going through a lot right now.
[00:41:17] My life's hard too.
[00:41:19] And if I didn't have Jesus, I wouldn't make it. Can I tell you about Jesus? You want to come to church with me on Sunday?
[00:41:27] Do you have any spiritual beliefs?
[00:41:29] You care if I would talk to you about some of my spiritual beliefs? What I believe the Bible teaches about Jesus.
[00:41:37] Lean into that.
[00:41:39] And I know some of you right now you're thinking, oh, that's a little too much.
[00:41:44] By the power of the spirit, you can do it.
[00:41:47] I challenge you to do it. Maybe that's the one thing that you hear from God's word and you say, this is God's word. So I'm going to, I'm going to do that this week. I'm going to talk about Jesus.
[00:41:58] Maybe you send a text or you call and you say, somebody you love, hey, need to talk to you got something I want to talk about.
[00:42:07] And you pray that they receive it as this life altering message from God.
