Apostles Church

DUE TO TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES, AUDIO IS NOT AVAILABLE AT THIS TIME.

For Full Manuscript click here.

How do we proclaim Jesus and live His Gospel in our city – as a minority people with a minority voice and minority means power and influence?

Let us consider the teachings of Scripture from today’s text and other passages, so that we may cultivate a “Planned Biblical Response.”

First, believe the wisdom we need comes not from ourselves but from our God as a gracious gift of Promise (James 1:5).

Second, accept upfront the Bible’s honesty that proclaiming Jesus and living His Gospel will be arduous work, involving agonizing suffering and even outright persecution (v. 29; 2 Corinthians 4; James 1; 1 Peter 1).

Third, believe the Bible’s Promise that Christ’s Resurrection power through His indwelling Spirit empowers us to proclaim Jesus and live His Gospel (John 14-16; Acts 1; Romans 8; Ephesians 5).

Fourth, remember for whom you are struggling (2:1): Jesus and His Church (local and Universal, known and unknown).

Fifth, Regard your struggle as a struggle for love in the truth, for Love in the Truth (2:2).

Sixth, have bedrock confidence in the Person and Work of Jesus Christ (2:3).

Seventh, beware of deceitful, counterfeit “truths” concocted by fallen human reason and imagination (2:4) – and empowered by satanic, spiritual forces (Ephesians 6; Colossians 2).

Eighth, understand that the ultimate battle is for the control of your mind. Whatever you believe is true is what you will live. “Thoughts rule the world,” as R.C. Sproul warns us. So the battleground is the human mind (Romans 12).

Ninth, know you are not alone (Hebrews 12). The proclamation of Jesus and living the Gospel is not just a mere individual attempt; rather, it is more of a communal affair. We proclaim Jesus and live the Gospel together – a subversive message in subversive community. So value and commit to the church (Hebrews 10). There is safety in numbers, as the wisdom goes (1 Peter 5).

Tenth and finally, we end where we began, finishing where we started: rejoicing (2:5). Rejoicing through our sufferings, entering into the Crucifixion of Jesus, leads to even greater rejoicing in our glory, experiencing the Resurrection of Jesus!