Preach He's Lord

Well, good morning. It's great to have you all here, day two of our conference. I think it's easy for us to shake our head at the nonsense of the world, but we forget that we need to speak truth to the world. So we need to remember God's truth, and it's been a pleasure to hear from Pastor Mark. I know we'll be blessed to hear his two more sermons from him today.

So let us pray and prepare our hearts for God's word. Our God in heaven, we thank you that you have given your truth to us. Lord, we do not need to wander about in the dark as the Gentiles do, but because you have revealed yourself and your special revelation we can know about who we are and who you are and what this world is all about that you've created and how we can glorify you in it but we know lord that we need to see you in your scriptures and so i pray god that our hearts and minds as your people would be attentive to your word that we'd be repenters constantly repenting of our sin and our dullness lord and relying upon jesus to expose himself his word to us and so i pray god that we would um our our minds and hearts would be set on these things, Lord, and that you'd be glorified in it.

May you be praised now into eternity as we are thankful, Lord, that Jesus Christ has came to die and he rose again for us. In Jesus' name, amen. Reading from God's word will be found in Acts 17, verse 22, this morning. Please stand for the reading of his word. Acts 17, verse 22. So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said, Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious.

For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, To the unknown God. What therefore you worship as unknown, This I proclaim to you, the God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind and breath and everything. thing. And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him.

Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, for in him we live and move and have our being. As even some of your own poets have said, for we are indeed his offspring. Being then God's offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like a gold or silver or stone or an image formed by the art and imagination of man. The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all by raising Jesus from the dead.

Well, our brother challenged us last night to speak the word into the culture in which we live. And that was really good to hear because we too easily look at our culture and then instead of speaking to it, we complain to each other. So that was a really good reminder last night and a good challenge for us that we need to be speaking the word. Now, I think most of you were here last night.

I would imagine you're going to hear a little bit more since you know more about the man and what he does and how he ministers. And so I'm anticipating God to speak to us today through our brother. So Mark, we're anticipating God's word as you come and speak it. Good morning, everybody. It is a pleasure to be with you again, and I pray that the Lord will indeed speak to us in his word.

What a privilege. What a privilege. Turn in your Bibles to Acts. The Acts of the Apostles, chapter 11. so the second part or the next phase as we move on in this understanding and reality that christ is lord when we ask the question who's lord because that's what the culture is asking that's what the loss are really searching for while they have many lords, the question that needs to be asked is who is Lord, Christ or the culture?

And as we look at these early stages of the early church, we see indeed who is Lord. Christ risen from the grave, declared and proclaimed that all power is in his hand, it has been given to him and therefore we go. That's our mission, that's our mantle. And so as he continues to build the church, we want to look at this 11th chapter. As we look at the 20 and 21st verse, talking about preaching, he's Lord or preach, he's Lord.

Yesterday we talked about speaking the word or speaking his words. And today we want to talk about preach. He's Lord or preach the gospel. It would be the same or the equivalent. Look at Acts chapter 11. Verse 20 and 21 our God and our Father, we come to you and ask for your help.

Help me speak your word. Help your people hear your word. Humble us. Exalt your Christ. Move us into this culture, this world, where they're asking in many ways, who is Lord? We know who is Lord for he has risen.

He has all power, all authority, and he commands us as his people, his children, his church to go forth and get the nations. And so as we look at these two verses. Speak to our hearts, Lord. Give us what we don't have. Teach us what we don't know. I pray for your spirit to walk alongside of us, open our ears and open our hearts to receive your word that is able to save our soul.

In Jesus name. Amen. 70 years ago just about June 1953 Queen Elizabeth gave the assent to the coronation oath her coronation oath that would be uttered and repeated and taken in her office as Queen it was administered by the Archbishop of Canterbury which read this quote Will you, to the utmost of your power, maintain the laws of God and the true profession of the gospel?

Will you, to the utmost of your power, maintain in the United Kingdom the Protestant reform religion established by law? End quote. Such a powerful, clear presentation that we desire all governing authorities to take. But it was noted when this was taken that it was merely a formality. It was merely a routine oath taken by a governing authority, in this case the Queen. but nonetheless proper for all governing authorities to take because we know all governing authorities are under authority.

But the oath is clear. Unless we as the church forget or be weary, get sidetracked with the way of the world and how it's pressing in on us to be more tolerant, more loving, more worldly minded, I will again encourage you today as your brother to remain faithful, to speak his words, to preach he's Lord, and to be a Christian. As we look at these two verses, we're looking at a transition from the scattering of Stephen, and now the church is in Antioch, and we've heard some preaching to or speaking to the Jews only, only, but now it's moved on to the Hellenists.

And as we cover these two verses, I want you to consider three things today. I want you to consider three things, kind of guideposts as we look at these words of God. Announce Jesus as Lord, adapt to your audience, accommodate without compromise. Announce or preach Jesus as Lord. Adapt to your audience and accommodate without compromise. We are all called to proclaim and announce the news of Christ.

Preaching is heralding the gospel. Announcing the message of Jesus. Jesus came into the world as a fulfillment of scripture. He died on a cross for the sins of the world, has ascended to the Father as Lord and calls men everywhere to repent as we just read in the scriptures. William Perkins said the end of the matter is this, preach one Christ by Christ to the praise of Christ. one single-minded focus preaching is this heralding it is this announcing this great news this big news we hear news every day but it's not good news no matter how cheerful it may make you or how sad it may make you we have a focus and a command to preach this good news and what we're preaching is that he is Lord.

Go to all the nations, which is to say to all the people. And we see this happening here in this, these two verses. We look back at chapter, I mean, at verse 19 and we see them going to the Jews only. And now we're going to people that are a little bit unfamiliar with, with who we are, or we're familiar with who they are. And we see a clear connection where some reached out.

They traveled as far as North Africa up to Cyprus the island of Cyprus Go to all the nations and make disciples followers of Christ Cannot be ashamed about what our mission is When we go, we have to say something. We have to say this, preach, He's Lord. Very offensive, very restricted, very particular, He's Lord. the Lord is continuing to work because of this scattering of or after Stephen's death a work that saw the Hellenist the Greek speaking Jews being cared for and ministered to not only the Jews Stephen is mentioned here again to remind us of what God begins he completes It wasn't the end of the story when Stephen was stoned.

God will complete what he begins. Stephen was murdered because of his testimony about Christ. He was murdered because of his profession of faith about Jesus Christ. He was preaching Christ. And they couldn't stand it. And so we want to look at here in verse 20, adapting to your audience, adapting to your audience.

You move from a comfortable place or a place of familiarity where it's Jews and you're speaking to your people. You're speaking to a somewhat willing ear. But here, as we look at and move on, adapting to your audience, let's look at the audience. Some who were Greeks from Cyprus and Cyrene spake to the Greeks also. And they also spoken about Jesus in the way that Greeks could understand.

Calling Jesus Lord. The Jews understood Jesus as the Messiah or they were being communicated to that so that they can understand that Jesus was the Messiah. They were looking for the Messiah and they had to be spoken to in a way that they understood that this Jesus that we are proclaiming as Lord is indeed him. Now, adapting, I know, sounds kind of iffy when you talk about the gospel context.

It sounds probably wrong when you're talking about adapting or changing. But adapting can be the difference in rejecting the gospel or receiving and hearing the gospel. To adapt means to adjust to the situation, to modify the message without modifying the meaning. And so you can enter into a context where you're speaking to people and you're adjusting and you are adapting to whom you are speaking to, but you're not changing the meaning.

You're not taking away the force or the impact. Acts 9.22, Paul spends time confounding the Jews, proving that Jesus was the Christ. We see it again, Paul, to the Thessalonians as was read today. he explained and he proved that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead he was adapting to the situation he was adapting to the audience that was in front of him the idea of proving I like this because when you read that some people get kind of squirmish why do we have to prove anything well it was proving to us It was made clear and it was made to be understood to us.

God opened our eyes and then somebody came and explained to us further. So this idea of proving is to instruct, to teach, to advise, to cause to come together. I like that. To cause to come together. When you're proving and when you're in a situation, in a conversation, your job is to not make things happen, but cause it to come together in such a way.

Speaking of the Messiah when engaging with the Jews. Speaking of Lord when engaging with the Greeks. As Paul says, becoming all things to all men. so that things would come together. While you're becoming all things to all men, you're not becoming those men. But you're bringing things together so that those men understand and comprehend and are instructed that this truth, this proclamation that you are proclaiming, that you are giving or convincing them of is indeed true.

And I want to suggest that in no way do we compromise by adapting. And that must be said, in no way will I compromise by adapting, but I accommodate without compromise. Now again, I introduce another word, accommodation, adapting. But when I use accommodation, that might sound like a bad word when we talk about the gospel context. But in fact, in fact, it is it is a word that helps us understand what what we can do and what we should do when we are adapting to the audience.

Accommodate without compromise. What do I mean by accommodation Well I mean to distinguish from to distinguish essentials from non Sometimes we can get into a conversation or get in front of an audience and we are so stuck on getting our point across, but that we're missing the side or the real issue for the peripheral, for the non-essential things. And what the scripture clearly says is that they preach that Jesus is Lord or the Lord Jesus.

The goal in preaching the gospel is to bring light and dispel the darkness of a foolish heart. When we proclaim, when we preach that Jesus is Lord, we must be intentional in making people aware, making sinners aware that their hearts are darkened, their minds are foolish. They have no wisdom. It's all hidden in Christ. It's all of Christ. while we're adapting and accommodating without compromise we're certainly not trying to make friends or win friends or influence others we're trying to preach this message of Christ but we're also not trying to as our Lord exemplified as the prophet prophesied that we're not trying to break a bruised reed.

We're not trying to put out a faintly glowing wick that's down to nothing. We're not trying to rid people of the hope that they seek. We must deal gently and respectfully. when we have these conversations and when we look to accommodate without compromise notice that these men are not named they do not receive any recognition for what they have done there's no naming and so they're very much like us They're fragile clay pots carrying a treasure.

Preaching this gospel to people that are looking at them is absolutely foolish. Absolutely with nothing to say. In fact, when you get to Acts 17, I appreciate Andrew reading that chapter because we're there at the home church. the people, those philosophers, the people at Athens, they actually looked at Paul as a seed picker. That's not a compliment. They looked at him as irrelevant and useless, vain.

And that's how we're looked at. And as we see that, no big names, just faithful men remaining faithful to the message carrying the treasure and God used them in glorious ways. They were not seeking to make a name for themselves. They were not making much of themselves. Their goal was to make much of the name of Christ preaching He is Lord. Preaching that Christ is Lord.

And the Lord blessed their efforts. You read in verse 21 And the Lord blessed their efforts greatly. Why and how? Well, the hand of the Lord was there and the results were there. Verse 21 reads, And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed turned to the Lord. Oh, how we need the hand of the Lord to confirm our confession, to confirm our interactions.

The hand of the Lord is a reference not only to the approval and the presence of the Lord, but his power. His power was with those men. His power was evident in their life as they proclaimed that Jesus is Lord. Everything that happened so far in the gospel, advancing in Antioch, was completely out of the disciples' control. The hand of the Lord was there.

The hand of the Lord was in it. This was not a flip of the switch. This was not some kind of manufactured revival. These were not feelings that were aroused and trumped up. This was the word of God plainly preached. The name of the Lord properly proclaimed, reverently honored, consistently impressed on the minds of the people and demonstrated in their lives.

There was a believing and turning. Look at verse 21 again. and a great number who believed turned to the Lord. So not only the hand of the Lord was there with them in his presence and evident in the work, but the power was there, and the power was seen in men's hearts changing. They didn't just believe or agree with what was spoken to them about the Lordship of Christ, but they turned from their other way of thinking, and they turned to Christ. they turn to Christ a believing and a turning is a proper response to the gospel message and so when we look out into the world this is our test, this is how we test And changed?

Or are they just agreeing that God is good? Church is probably necessary. But do they believe and is there evidence that there is a turning away from their way into turning and turning to Christ? we cannot remain faithful without preaching he is Lord when we are tempted when we are pressured to change the message we cannot remain faithful if we don't preach he is Lord why? because we preach we have one charge, we have one purpose The encouragement was to remain faithful and steadfast with one purpose.

That one purpose is to preach one Lord, one faith, one baptism. To preach that Jesus is Lord and no one else. To preach Jesus is Lord is to preach the gospel. To preach the gospel is to preach folly to those who are perishing. but to us who are being saved it is indeed the power of God the coronation oath remember the coronation oath of the queen was merely a formality but for us when you talk about the gospel when you talk about preaching Christ it is our faith it is not just the formality is not just a routine.

This is our life that we are commanded to go and engage this culture and preach the crucified yet risen Christ. It's the high calling of every Christian. Remember, no names, no notoriety, not much fanfare, but just faithful preaching to the culture, not adapting to the culture, adapting to an audience, adapting to a people and understanding where they are and by no means changing the message.

We respond in faith to the oath that we have taken, reminded of that verse in, oh church arise and put your armor on. hear the call of Christ our captain for now the weak can say that they are strong In the strength that God has given with shield of faith and belt of truth we stand against the devil lies An army bold whose battle cry is love, reaching out to those in darkness. It is our task to remain faithful in the message to preach he's Lord. And we cannot remain faithful or steadfast without preaching he's Lord.

We preach one charge. We have one charge and one purpose. To preach Jesus is to preach the gospel. To preach the gospel is to preach to people that will resist this message. In your home, in your family. as you preach the gospel to your own wife and children and family worship, when you preach the gospel at work to people that want nothing to do with Christ, not this Christ that is Lord, that is Lord over every part of your life, not just the time that you're within the four walls of the church, at the gas station, when you're going to pick up groceries.

He's Lord in every space of our lives and how we need to be reminded that Jesus is Lord. He's not only watching, but He has given us power to proclaim this message with a consistency and exclusivity, knowing that the results of our proclaiming this message in the culture today will mean a lot of ostracism, mocking. But nonetheless, the call of our captain is to preach he's Lord, to preach the gospel, to preach his word.

And it's my prayer that you today you understand the task that is before you as I said earlier in both messages I just want to remind you again to remain faithful and steadfast in that call in that command some of us have been lax with preaching he's Lord Some of us have taken the edge off of the message because maybe the audience maybe we don want to get into an argument today Maybe we don't want to get into this back and forth. And I'm not insisting that by any means that you get into an argument. but I am reminding you the call that we have wherever we go we're in this culture we're in this world but we're not of this world and we have to say that with loud voice and clear voice and clear conscience for the Lord who has saved us and blessed us we go out and proclaim his name and his fame unashamed. If you are here, I've been talking about preaching, and I just want you to know that preaching is for those that have been preached to.

Right? So you can't go out and give this message. You can't go out and proclaim Christ if you have not been preached to. Maybe you have heard preaching Lord's Day after Lord's Day or in a Bible study. But if that preaching has not so changed you to believe his word and to agree with and to submit to his lordship and to understand that he indeed is Lord.

I invite you to think about that and believe that he is not only Lord of the church but he is Lord of the world the world that he has created the culture we live in though they resist him, though they reject him he is still Lord, he remains Lord and for you to preach or have any kind of impact for you to proclaim or announce this wonderful message that will save the lost, that will change a heart. You have to be preached to. And I pray that the Spirit is preaching to you now.

I pray that the Spirit of glory, the very hand of the Lord, will grasp your mind and grasp your attention so that you would not only be preached to, but you would go out and preach, He is Lord Let bow in prayer God thank you for this awesome task thank you for reserving and residing in us so powerfully by your spirit we have everything we need we have the clear word the message for the culture for this world and it is that Jesus reigns he is Lord Lord may you ignite a passion stir up the gift that is within us to preach this word to preach that His life, His death, His resurrection, His ascension, it matters. And we pray, O God, that You would You would stir us up to that end. We talk about so many things, but it is high time that we would talk about the thing that really matters. is Christ Lord or is the culture Lord?

So boldly are those that proclaim a message of hopelessness and alternate reality. We have the truth. We have Christ. We have His Spirit. And we pray that this church would be instrumental in this community in their neighborhoods, at their jobs, wherever you have placed them to boldly proclaim this truth. We don't have to know names.

Our names don't have to be written in some bulletin or many people don't have to know who we are because our names are written in the book of life. And you know exactly who we are. And we pray that we would demonstrate who we are by the faithful, steadfast, single-minded purpose of preaching He's Lord. Help us to do that. In Christ we pray. Amen.