Bible Teaching

Calvary Temple Teaching Library

Keys Of The Kingdom, The Mission Pt.12

Let's turn to Matthew. We want to continue our study on the keys of the kingdom and the great responsibility we have in this day in which we're living to properly represent the kingdom of God and to be able to understand what our responsibilities are as the church, the visible representation of Jesus here in this world's system. As we were looking in Matthew chapter 16, of course we've become very familiar with this passage. Matthew 16 verse 13, "When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?" We're getting ready to change just a little bit on the emphasis. We've been talking about the methods of the church, how the church functions, and now we're going to be talking about the mission of the church. What is our responsibility? The mission of the church and the message of the church. The message is more a subtitle of the mission. Our mission is greater than our message. The message seems to be the emphasis many times, but our mission is really seen in a myriad of ways. We're not going to do them in order of what I deem to be the most important, but I'll just give you some. I'll share with you that I think one of the most important is the fact that we're going to talk about our mission of worship. That's one of our main responsibilities; the church is to worship. Too much emphasis today of the church is on man instead of on God. If you were to ask most people in Christian churches, "What's the most important thing a Christian can do?" they'd tell you, "win souls," and it's not. The most important thing that we can do is worship God. What's the great commandment? What does the Bible say? Love the Lord your God. And your neighbor as yourself. We see then, that that's the emphasis of God and yet we've turned it around and made man, as usual, the focal point. The Scripture makes it very clear. It says that the whole duty of man is to do what? Love God and keep His commandments. We see that number one is worship. How many of you even in your own thinking, when I asked what was the most important thing, how many of you thought soul winning was one of the most important things? Any of you? How many of you thought maybe fellowship of the saints or discipleship? Those are all very important, and those are some of the things that we're going to deal with in your notes. We see worship; we see teaching and preaching.

We understand that we're going to be talking about communion or fellowship of the saints; discipleship, which has a subheading of the maturing of the believer. Those are two different things, but very close. We're going to see that there's a responsibility of the church to the material needs of the community. That's a little bit of what we're going to talk about in the next couple of sessions. We want to emphasize a little bit this morning the message, the gospel that we've been called to declare in this generation: "Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?" That's really what we're called to do. We're called to go out and find out, in our everyday contact, who people think Jesus is. We get all kinds of different responses just like Jesus got these responses from the disciples: "Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets." They saw Him as a great teacher; they saw Him as a prophet, maybe even the reincarnation of John, but none really understood who He was as the Messiah, the Son of God. Peter's response to Jesus' question, "But whom say ye that I am?" Peter responded, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God" (verse 16). That's the only right answer. Once we identify Him in His role of sonship, then we understand very clearly that the messianic part of it is a given. That's why we don't need to spend a whole lot of time in evangelizing the Jews with Jesus' messianic role. He's the Son of God. Messiah is just one small function of the Son's ministry to man. Jesus was not the Messiah to the Gentiles. We realize, then, that this messianic emphasis is just for one segment. Our brothers and sisters, the elect of the remnant of Israel that will be made a part of the church. The redeemed Jew is not separate from the church. They are members of the church. The wall of partition has been broken down; these two have been made one. We understand the all-inclusiveness of the church and what this message is that we bring. We bring the message of Jesus' deity; of the love of God; His incarnation, God becoming flesh and dwelling among us. The proper answer is "The Christ, the Son of the living God." And Jesus answered and said unto him, You're blessed. "Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father, which is in heaven." "And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church." Peter hadn't forgotten his name. "I say you're Peter." "Oh, wow! What revelation." Peter knew who he was. Jesus was playing off of the name "Peter," and we understand that the name "Peter" means "a rock." He's saying, "I'm saying to you, Peter, that though you're a rock, you're not sufficient in yourself. It's going to be the understanding that here's what My church is going to be built upon this revelation. This rock of revelation knowledge of who I am as the sent one of God. Your strength is insufficient. What this church is going to be built upon is the understanding of who I am."

This is important for our message this morning, "and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." The "gates of hell" is talking about the stronghold of the principalities and powers over humanity. The Bible says that they eyes of men are blind. That's evident in the society in which we're living today. Satan has blinded their eyes lest they should believe the light of this glorious gospel. Here we are, called to bring and to herald this message of light. We've got to understand how formidable the foe is. All humanity under its power; all of humanity captive by this power called sin, held in bondage by the gates of hell. People can't escape. There is no escape in the natural, no hope, eternally damned; and we've been given keys to set these people free. We've been given the power to see people released from the powers of darkness—the name of Jesus, the power of this glorious gospel that we preach. As Paul said, "I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation." We're going to talk a little bit about what this message is that has power to set captives free. That's where we're going here in the next couple of sessions. When Jesus responded to Peter and He said, "And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." He was talking about that authority of the church. The power of the message, the authority of the ambassadors. Let's get into the power of the message a little bit. We're dealing in a day when people have told us that the gospel isn't sufficient anymore; "You're going to have to market this thing in a more palatable way." So what we do in many of our outreaches—we've shared before in some of the fellowships and what they do is they gather together and they have their pre-evangelism approach. They'll play Top 40 songs, and they just want to kind of reach out and befriend the world. Let me tell you something: the Bible says that to be a friend of the world is to be what? An enemy of God. There is no fellowship between light and darkness. We can dilute the gospel and we can somehow try to influence people with morality, with religious mores. But, beloved, what we need to understand very clearly is that the message that's to be brought is one that's going to present Jesus as the chief cornerstone. The Scriptures says very clearly that the cornerstone causes something. What is it? A stumbling, because He becomes a rock of offense. People, then, when we present the true gospel of Jesus Christ and we present Him as the cornerstone, the sure foundation, we need to understand people's response to His lordship is one of hatred. People do not remain neutral when they're confronted with the reality of Jesus Christ. He said, "You're either for Me or against Me. You either love Me or you hate Me." That's the extreme message that we bring. So our mission, then, is to bring this message which is the only message that has sufficient power to dominate the gates of hell.

Now aren't you glad that we just came through the potential computer glitch without any problems? Isn't that a blessing? Praise God. It was so nice to see everything work and to be able to continue as we have prior to the rollover to "double ought." I happen to have some other double ought just in case things didn't go that smoothly. Just so thankful for this rollover and the way things are. But, beloved, beloved, please I hope you're not limited in your scope enough, or naive enough to think that that changes the age in which we're living. The hatred for the church of Jesus Christ, the judgment of God that's imminent, the demise of this nation that's upon us in its economic state that we see as we study the Scriptures and the rise of the man of sin, that he's going to come to power, beloved, through a perverted church. He's going to come to power through the healing of an economic collapse and all of these different things that are going to take place. In our lifetime? I believe so. If not, praise God. I don't mind staying on a smooth course and going the way of the grave and to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. That doesn't bother me at all. I wouldn't mind that at all. With today's technology and things going, if the Lord tarries, I don't see any reason why I can't live to be at least 150. These are some of the things that you look for. If we're here, what are we going to be doing? We're going to be proclaiming the gospel. What's sad as we've come through the computer glitch segment of this, and we know there's going to be minor things that go on from here that they're going to have to deal with, but thank God nothing of any major consequence happened. But what's tragic is, not in this fellowship, but in a number of fellowships people were using the potential glitch as a way of trying to scare people into the kingdom. I hope that none of you did that. If so, it's totally ineffectual, because there's only one power that can set people free from sin's power, and it's the gospel of Jesus Christ.

We told you from the beginning that all that we were doing in preparation in for this thing was to get this taken care of so we could be about the proclamation of the gospel, carrying on the business of the kingdom. It's very important for us to understand. Someone even, someone even said that they were talking to someone who was a little disappointed. I said, "That's so stupid. Give me a break." It's like saying, "I just bought some insurance, and I was really disappointed. I went home and my house hadn't burned down." Go talk to the guy up here in Cascades. He would have rather not collected. These are some of the things that show the limited thinking many times, and I'm sure that none of you have moved down that particular avenue. But there were a lot of people who really misunderstood, were so shortsighted in what was taking place. All we're talking about is an insurance to bring about the preservation of the church so that we could do what one of our main missions is, and that's to be a people prepared to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. That's what it's all about. That's what our mission is. What is the message? That Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. What is the message? That God—a holy, almighty God—so loved us—totally depraved man—that He willfully, willfully, took upon Himself flesh. Through the incarnation which enabled Him to invade the human race and live above sin's power so that He that knew no sin could be made sin on our behalf, with our sin, so that we might be made partakers of His righteousness. So Jesus came and was made flesh and took sin upon Himself and bore the judgment of God; and brought about through His obedience and His holiness the appeasement of God. His blood, then, became the propitiation for our sins. He was buried and rose again the third day, and He has ascended to the right hand of God the Father, ever living to make intercession for us, soon to come again and receive to Himself a church, His bride, without spot or wrinkle. A people, then, that will see Him and at the moment we see Him, we'll be like Him. We'll be caught into His presence and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Sounds like good news, amen? It's the gospel. It's that that we're to herald. The word "preach" just means "to herald" this message, or "to cry forth." What you've heard in secret, the Scripture says, do what? Shout from the housetops. Beloved, it's time for us as a people to be very bold in our declaration of this gospel.

We as a fellowship are pretty good about sharing our faith, about as good as any that I'm aware of. Here we are bringing this message. Think about what our responsibility is. To boldly declare the gospel does not mean to arrogantly declare the gospel. There can be no arrogance; there must be compassion. We once were blind. We look and say, "How can you be so stupid?" We were that stupid. There can't be any arrogance because of the fact that what we've received, the Scripture says, is a free gift. No man seeks God. You didn't seek God; He sought you. When He sought you, He brought you the revelation of the gospel. And with the hearing of that gospel came an illumination and awareness of God's love and free gift and our eyes were illuminated and we at that time after being illuminated were given the ability to believe by God, the grace of God. By grace are you saved through faith and that...what? Say it again-and that...what? Not of ourselves. It's the gift of God. At that moment of illumination we go, "Whoa!" God gives us illumination and God simultaneously by grace gives us faith to believe and we accept His gift, and we're regenerated. At that moment of regeneration, sin's power is broken in our lives. The identification with Satan, the dominion of the kingdom of darkness no longer holds us. The gates of hell have been broken down by the gospel and we were free. Can you say, "Thank God for it"?

Every time you present Jesus crucified, you bring that power to the scene to see the captives set free. You're not going to do it by talking about how good of a church this is, and this is a good fellowship. Part of the mission of the church is the fellowship and the koinonia that we have. But that's the consequence of this message of regeneration, the ability to be born again and free from sin's power, to be translated from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light, into the kingdom of God's dear son, the Scripture tells us. So that's our message. Our message to the world isn't, "You shouldn't smoke; you shouldn't drink; you shouldn't commit adultery. Why do you have all those tattoos? What's that stuff in your nose? What are you doing wearing that earring in your nose? That's not good for snorting coke. How come you've got that thing in your lip, you can't put any Skoal up in there with that thing in your lip." It's amazing to me how many rednecks make fun of these kids with rings in their lips while they have a big wad stuck up in theirs. Dear God, at least they're keeping their ring hooked on; you're spitting that stuff all over and drooling on things. Each one of us has our own pet sin that we want to hold onto, and what we seem to think is acceptable and unacceptable. None of that's relevant to the kingdom of God. What's the message that we're bringing? Jesus Christ crucified, the appeasement of the justice of God. You see, our Father's a holy God and He demands justice. People that have this misconception of the love of God and somehow think there's going to be a universal salvation where God, the big sugar daddy, is going to someday say, "I'm love, and you couldn't help it. You were born into sin, and sin is such an awesome power. Your parents were jerks, and society was out of control. You're dysfunctional. Therefore, you're not responsible. Okay, enter in." That's not the God that we serve. That's not righteous, just love. Humanity's perception of God is perverted based upon the overvaluing of themselves. No jealousy for God's holiness or justice, only self-indulgence. It's the environment that we're living in.

We're called to do something. Turn with me if you would to the so familiar passage in Matthew chapter 28. What is the mission of the church? Jesus, preparing to ascend back to the right hand of God the Father, left the mission clear. The mission, of course, was that that was spoken and that we call the "Great Commission." In chapter 28, verse 18, "And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world." A couple of things that we want to make very clear now. First of all, we find here that Jesus' response reiterates what we read over in the sixteenth chapter when He talks about the keys of the kingdom being given to us, and that the gates of hell wouldn't prevail against the church. He said, "All power is given unto me." This word "power" is not dunamis power; it's exousia power. Dunamis is, in and of itself, "a force." Exousia here is talking about "an authority, a legal right." You see it's no longer the fact that there has to be an overpowering of hell; it has been destroyed. Death's power has been destroyed by Jesus absorbing it into His eternal being. Light extinguished darkness. Life killed death. God is so alive that death dies in His presence. We understand, then, that there's an authority, a right, a legal right now to dismiss those from hell's bondage that want to be free. Those who upon receiving the illumination and the grace imparted to them and the faith is a gift, who by their own volition at that moment say, "I see it. I accept it. I embrace Your lordship. I embrace the finished work. I realize that I am totally depraved, an enemy of God. There was no desire in me to serve You. I was Satan's captive, but now I understand the great price that was paid, the love of God extended to me. I receive with thanksgiving and in worship the unspeakable gift, the free gift of sonship, of eternal life. I see that of myself I can do nothing acceptable in Your sight. I see that the only access into the presence of God is through the finished work of Jesus Christ. I believe that there's no other name under heaven whereby I can be saved." That's the consequence of the message that we're bringing to people that are in bondage. We don't have to wrestle and fight; we bring the authority, the legal declaration, you don't have to be under Satan's power anymore. Here's the authority: I'm an ambassador of Christ. "All authority is given unto me. Go ye..." Jesus said. Can I put it to you in just a short sentence? It's a done deal. Okay? Let me make it shorter: it is finished.

The authority is His and He tells us, then, to go as His representatives and to bring about a declaration or a teaching (verse 20) of observance of all the commandments. This word "teaching" is an interesting word. This is the word teaching that has to deal with discipling. He's saying, "Go make disciples." We're going to draw a distinction for you here as we go on in the study. Too many Christians today are going to make converts, and the mortality rate is phenomenal. I have been privileged to travel the world some and to preach large campaigns in other countries. Preaching to 40,000 people and the percentage response in those meetings, there's a number of people and they've heard other preachers before and they have an emotional response many times or a natural response to the gospel. People are all elated by the numbers that come and as we've preached to the thousands of people in Haiti, or whether it's in Korea, or some of the different places. And then you go away and you wonder what is really the result of that. Are these people continuing to follow the Lord today? Yes, there is a great confidence in the Holy Spirit's ministry. It's His job to draw and to continue to convince and convict, but I think even in our message of heralding the gospel we need to make it very clear that this isn't a one-time event. Jesus said to teach them to observe all things that I have commanded you.

Christianity is a life of obedience. The message that we bring is a message of absolute subordination and dependency in our daily lives of His lordship. It has nothing to do with perceived religion in the world today, where people can go to church on a Sunday like this and have all the rest of their week conducted exclusive from the dogma of whatever church it is that they attend on Sunday. They're just as lazy at work as everybody else is. They lie and cheat just like everybody else. They're just as involved in all of the shady dealings and the dirty stuff around the proverbial water cooler. There's no distinction between these professed Christians and anybody else on the job. If you didn't spew out all your hypocrisy, they wouldn't know you were a professed Christian; there's no fruit. It's tragic that that's the world's view of Christianity. But then there's a remnant of people who won't bow their knee. A people who won't lie for the boss; they'd rather lose their job. A people who won't hear the dirty jokes, that won't entertain all of the gossip and the stories of lascivious behavior over the weekend, though with enough wisdom to say, "You shouldn't do that. That's sin." But even as what I shared one time not long ago. Don't look for an opportunity to do this, but it would be interesting some time just to see the response of some of your coworkers. Instead of saying, "You shouldn't do that. It's wrong to commit adultery. It's wrong to get drunk" You'll probably, when you go back Monday, some of your coworkers probably tipped a few too many over the weekend. I wonder what it'd be like in some of their lives instead of us trying to cause them to assume a Christian moral agenda to just sit there and tell them, "I used to do that. That used to be my god, but Jesus has set me free. I'm no longer under the bondage of my flesh. You know what? I don't have to try to have a good time anymore. I just have the joy of the Lord. I want you to know I enjoy life. I am happy; I am content. I love my husband or wife. I love my children. I love my dog."

People just are so unhappy today, and when they see somebody that really has the joy of the Lord, is enjoying life, knows why they're here—I'm here to glorify God; that's my whole purpose; I'm here to love God and keep His commandments. We just make these people sick. As you're just sharing about how good God is and you don't have to be Pharisaical, pull your robes around you, and run screaming because of their behavior. Even somewhere along the line, just saying, "I used to be like that. In fact, I want you to know something. I really appreciate your lack of hypocrisy. You're one of the best sinners I've ever seen. I want to commend you. You are doing a great job serving your lord, Satan. He'd be proud of you. Keep it up. You know what? If you stay on this course, you're probably going to die of sclerosis of the liver, or of a drug overdose. It'll glorify god—your god. Keep it up. You're doing a good job. You'll go to hell and just really be able to experience the wages of sin. Have a good day." Not even any pretense of, "You need to be better." "I'm not going to get on your case. I know you can't be better. I know that sin is the ultimate power in your life. I know Satan is your master. There's no hope for you without Jesus. I wouldn't even pretend to ask you to be a better person. There's no good in you according to the Scripture. You refuse to retain God in your knowledge and so He's given you over to a reprobate mind. Have a good day." Our perception of man has to change. Man is totally depraved. They are under the power of sin and Satan. There is no hope for them but the gospel of Jesus Christ. The moment you present the simplicity of the gospel and they reject it, you're through. Are you getting the message this morning? Stop trying to talk people into being better people. They can't. They're sinners. If they reject the gospel, there is no hope for them. So why waste your time trying to be some type of part time apologist to bring them an intellectual persuasion of the reality of God, the deity of Christ, the infallibility of Scripture, the sanctity of the church? They don't believe that, and you won't talk them into it. We're called to preach the gospel, to make disciples.

When we proclaim the gospel, the reason He talks about teaching or taking it into the next phase of making disciples is because it's easy to make a one-time profession "I accept Jesus." Do we, or don't we, have a convert here? You don't have a convert if you don't end up with a disciple. There is no conversion if it's not followed by discipleship or, as He says here, "an observing of all things that I have commanded you." The mission of the church is to make disciples, to teach all nations. We've called to fulfill this great mandate. Paul's declaration that he's not ashamed of the gospel because it's the power of God to salvation really becomes the focal point for you and I in what we're sharing. The gospel is most easily shared by your own testimony. In fact, you'll see as we go on in the study that one of the things we're called to do is to speak those things that we have what? Seen and heard. See, we're not just to bring teaching to people. We're to bring an experience of the truth, the reality of God in our lives. We proclaim the gospel message, and then we say, "Here's the fruit of it. I heard this same message I'm sharing with you and here's what it did for me, and here's what I've seen it do for others." We become witnesses of Jesus' resurrection and His power. We become witnesses. And you "shall receive power...and ye shall be [what?] witnesses." "After that the Holy Ghost is come upon you." "You shall receive power to be My witnesses." Acts 1:8 isn't just talking about the baptism in the Holy Spirit and the ability to speak in tongues. It's talking about the ability to communicate the reality of this gospel message firsthand, experiential knowledge of the resurrection power of Jesus Christ. That's what we're called to.

As you read, and we're going to look through the book of Acts in just a moment, or maybe tonight, about Paul's life. I love Paul's method of ministry, and Peter's ability to capture the moment and share the reality of the gospel. We're going to look at Peter's great sermons in the book of Acts. Those are the messages that we should be bringing. We're going to look at Paul's testimony and how it affected the lives of his contemporaries. I'm saying all that to say that you don't have to go out and have a five hour Bible study every day with people to affect them with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Your life is a living epistle. The simplicity of the gospel, the asking of the question, "Who do you say that Jesus Christ is?" is sufficient. The mandate given to us ---it's interesting that of all of the gospels we read and we see the commission that was given, the synoptics are very distinct in which each writer emphasized as part of this great commission. Remember it wasn't that they weren't listening in class and could only remember part. Holy men of God spoke as they were what? Moved by the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost emphasized every word that was spoken by these writers. The Scriptures are by inspiration of God, or "God breathed" is what that's talking about. These men that were moved by the Holy Ghost were not just making random "Now what was that that He said?" These are things that were implanted, expressed through their own personality. You can see their own writing styles, but it was the breath of God, the illumination of God that emphasized different aspects of this gospel purposefully. If you went to court and had three witnesses and they all verbatim said the exact same thing: "And what we saw was at 3:45 a black vehicle approached the scene. It was an '84 Chevy..." and you go on, "and the license plate was..."and the license plate falls in the same, at the exact same phrase, the exact same words, they're going to think somebody got together and made this thing up. But if you get the other guy in there and he says, "We were down there, and it was about 8:45. This really bad looking Chevy pulled up, man. I think the license plate was something like this and I don't know. But you know what it had on it? It had some really neat Flowmaster mufflers. I could hear—I recognize the sound." Now you have a different personality. He saw the same thing, but a different personality. One guy's wanting to talk about the clothes that the guy had on. "He had these really sharp. Guy had on this certain type of pants and coat." Another guy didn't even know he was dressed; he doesn't care anything about clothes. You see the different emphasis. So the Holy Spirit uses the personalities to emphasize the different things. That's a poor example, but that's part of what goes on here in the personalities of these writers.

We see that God chose men to emphasize different things. Matthew is obviously a gospel that was written to the Jews, and Mark to the Romans, and Luke to the Greeks. You can see the different personalities and emphases that apply to different cultures. There were different things that were being expressed through this same testimony of the lordship of Jesus. The emphasis in Mark's gospel—Mark was a "let's get to it" type guy. That's why the book is so short. No fluff in Mark. Luke was much more scholarly. In Mark's gospel we see in the sixteenth chapter beginning at verse 14 the mission of the church, the admonition of the head of the church to declare this gospel in power. Matthew said, "make disciples. Baptize in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost," Matthew says. Mark comes on the scene and says in verse 14, "Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen." This is interesting. It's kind of a subtle thing, but you don't see Jesus really rebuking these guys a whole lot. Right before He ascends, this is strong language. What was it He was rebuking them over? Their rejection of the gospel. Look at it. "This is the very message I'm going to ask you all to carry to a lost world. What's wrong with you guys that couldn't believe these witnesses I sent back to you? Now you're going to become witnesses to Me." I don't have time right now, but as you read through and study the gospels, you'll see that the closer Jesus came to His death, He continually revealed to them that He, the son of man, was going to be abused at men's hands. They were going to take Him, crucify Him, but God was going to raise Him again the third day. "Not so, Lord!" "Get behind me, Satan," he told Peter. "They're not going to kill you. We've got a kingdom to set up here." He said, "My kingdom isn't of this world." So He upbraids them, it says, and they believed not those that had seen Him after He was risen. "And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned." And then a little more added to this gospel message, "And these signs shall follow them that believe; in my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them." We're not talking about these West Virginia folks that are out there gargling poison and playing with rattlesnakes. That's stupid any way you cut it. I mean, even for inbreds that is stupid. It's not only poor exegesis; it's stupidity gone to seed. You look at this and how can you get that out of this passage? The Scripture speaks too clearly.

Today in Africa¾ Ronnie was sharing that they were concerned, as we know the enemies that we have there in Kakamega. People who were close to Ron and Tera said, "Be careful. Don't eat out if you don't have to, because that's how they dispose of people here. They poison them." They'll kill you. How much was it that you could contract? Did you say they could for like 600 shillings? For about three American dollars they can have you knocked off. Most of us here aren't worth that much, but anyway... For three bucks they can have you knocked off and poison you. That was one of the ways if you study history you'll see. Do you all remember how supposedly Cleopatra went down? You realize that serpents, poison, were used as means of killing people. What he's saying is that the power of the enemy can't prevail against you. Somebody can try to poison you and you won't die. There were the traditions, or the superstitions—you remember when Paul was bitten by the viper as he was on the island? Everybody said, "He must be a sinner. God's judging him." This was some of their superstition. He just shook the thing off into the fire and they were waiting for him to die and he didn't die. So they said, "He's a god!" Basically, what he's saying to us here is that no weapon formed against you will prosper. "I give you power to heal the sick, to raise the dead, to cast out devils." That which was given to the twelve, that that was given to the seventy. He's speaking to the church and He says, "You're going to receive power, and these signs will follow you." You'll "lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God. And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen." So be it.

Aren't you glad for the fact that the Lord will go with us and confirm the word that we speak with signs following? The one thing that we see here is this: the message that we're bringing needs to be a message of experience and power. There needs to be the readiness. I didn't say presumptuousness; I said the readiness to let God encounter the gates of hell through you. God many times will choose to supernaturally confirm His word. Don't be afraid as you bring this gospel to then lay hands on somebody and pray for them to be healed, or to take authority over a devil that may be blinding their eyes, hardening their hearts, dominating their steps. This is the mission of the church. This is our job. This is not up for our own personal consideration. "I'm just not given to that type of a personality. I'm just more of a reserved person." Then you watch that same person hit the lotto and they're dancing and screaming and shouting. They get all excited at a football game or at a sale in the mall, whatever it might be. There's no copping out on this thing. This is to those that are believers. We cannot help but speak the things that we have seen and heard. If you've seen it, if you've heard the reality of this gospel, you cannot help but share it. If you've been delivered from sin's power—I'm not talking about the fact that you go down on the street corner and flip a trash can upside down and start screaming, "Repent!" We're not talking about that. We're talking about looking for the opportunity in everyday life, whether it's at the marketplace, whether it's with the mailman that's coming by, whoever it might be. We're looking for that opportunity to share the gospel. You know when God's ordering your steps, an opportunity to speak into people's lives. Are you looking for that or are you always too ready to either try to get away from somebody -"I don't want to be bothered"- or talk about stuff that's irrelevant and just running your mouth about you. Are we looking carefully for the opportunities to inject this gospel, this minute message that when spoken in love, in faith, has the ability to set a man free from the power of sin? Just one word, just one testimony can make an eternal, have eternal consequence. How careful we need to be, beloved, in how we're conducting ourselves in the declaration of this message.

Take a look over, if you would, at Luke for just a moment. We'll finish with this for this morning. Luke 24. Let's go ahead and pick up in verse 43 and just read from there. It says, "And he took it, and did eat before them. And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me." What a great endorsement of the inspiration of the Old Testament Scriptures in one phrase as Jesus, the Son of God, says that "these writings spoke of Me." "Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the Scriptures" (verse 45). You can read it and not understand it. These things are spiritually discerned. A lot of people can read the Bible and don't have a clue. They can quote it; they can try to apply it from a secular perspective, but there isn't truth until there's illumination, inspiration, the Spirit that brings discernment. "And [He] said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day." So He's speaking again of this gospel message. That's what the message is all about. Jesus suffered on our behalf. He died to appease the justice of God, because the soul that sinneth, it must what? Die. And then He rose again the third day and He ascended to the right hand of God the Father. And He says, "Because of that finished work, here's the message I want you to take," verse 47: "And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name." What does that mean "to preach in the name of Jesus"? It doesn't mean that it's just enough to say, "In the name of Jesus, repent," or "Father, I ask you in the name of Jesus" to affect this or that thing. When we're talking here about preaching about the name of Jesus, we're basically bringing about this message that all that has been affected was affected by the work of Jesus. He finished it. It couldn't have been done without the incarnation, the holy life, the sacrificial crucifixion, the dependence upon Father of the resurrection, the conclusion of the ascension, and the embracing of the second coming of the finished work. It's all done in that succinct gospel message of His love, death, resurrection, and soon coming. If you believe that, then the consequences are sonship, communion, expectation. Even so come quickly, Lord Jesus. "Repentance and remission of sins." Repentance is an important part of this thing. A lot of Christianity today doesn't bring the emphasis on repentance. You know that we differ somewhat from the reformers on how we see repentance and where it fits in the sequence of all of these events. Nevertheless, they emphasize repentance; the gospel emphasizes repentance. The word "repentance" means what? "To turn," doesn't it? It's not only a turning away from; it's a turning to.

A lot of people want to reform. On New Year's Day, people have their New Year's resolutions. "I resolve to not swear anymore," and you turn around and knock some crystal off onto the floor and it's all over till next year, right? "I resolve to lose 80 pounds," then somebody knocks at the door and there's another 40 pound box of chocolate. Anybody else have over 700 pounds of candy in their house besides us? I'd like to say thank you to everybody. I've never seen so much candy in all my life. It's unbelievable the amount of candy. I should have said it was 700 pounds; now it's down to about 350 now. So we make these resolves. We repent and turn from, but unless we turn to the dependence upon the lordship of Jesus, unless we turn to the Matthew passage that says that we're being trained to keep all of these commandments, or to observe, to obey all of these commandments, there is no liberty. There is no freedom. Repentance is turning from sin's power in our life to a dependency on the lordship of Jesus, His finished work. It's a turning from our self-righteousness and self-dependence and saying, "Without Him, I can do nothing. I am totally depraved. There is no good thing within me. I have to embrace the righteousness of Christ. There is no other name under heaven whereby men can be saved." If there isn't repentance, there isn't salvation. There is no regeneration; there is no remission of sins. The gospel message requires the teaching of remission of sins. This is what's so good. Our sins are not just covered over. The handwriting of ordinances against us has been blotted out. Can you say thank God for that? There is no remembrance. They are cast behind His back into the sea of forgetfulness, separated as far as the east is from the west. Old things pass away; all things become new. I am that new creation in Christ. There is now in me an embracing of spiritual truths and light and life. Though sin is still in my members, it no longer dominates me. What I used to love I now hate. That's what remission of sins is all about. It's not just God forgiving us of our sins; it's God removing the power of sin as a dominant force in our lives. The cleansing of our conscience is not that we forget about things that we had done, but our conscience now is cleansed in that we're able to judge. That conscience really is talking about the ability to judge or discern properly as to why we were involved in that, why we did those things and now what God is doing on our behalf to keep us free from that power. The conscience, the intuitive knowing of right and wrong goes beyond, now, an intellectual knowing and it's an experiential knowing, or a tasting of God's presence and ability to free us from that once dominant power. That's the message that we're bringing. You don't have to be under sin's power anymore. You're going to still be tempted and there's still going to be failures. Then we bring about another good part of this gospel. If we confess our sin, then He's faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all of our unrighteousness. 1 John has nothing to do with conversion; it has to do with purification, renewing, refreshing, purifying. So this is part of that message that you and I have been called to bring. The mission of the great commission. Make disciples. Bring the message of repentance and remission of sins. Bring a gospel of power that sets captives free and has no question that the gates of hell have no power against the words that are in your mouth, spoken in faith, spoken in love. That's the mission of the church. Let me ask you, have we been faithful to the call of God in our lives?

Father, we ask that as we continue this study tonight that You would continue to illuminate us and encourage us in the task at hand. Many of us, Father, are very erratic. We share and then we become complacent either because of guilt or because of apathy. Then we get all inspired again and start hunting people down and try to force feed them. Help us to realize that our lives are epistles read of men, that there's a consistency in our lives that can glorify You, an ever readiness to share the hope that's in us, a bold defense for the truth as part of our mission, a contending for the faith. Father, as we look at all of these things that are part of our responsibilities, we just ask You to strengthen us. The one immediate conclusion we draw on is this: I can't do it, so I need to be filled with the power from on high. I need to be baptized in the Holy Spirit to become an effective witness to the kingdom of God. To be filled with the Spirit where we can exhibit discipleship, that obedience to the things that He's commanded. If you are part of the church, if you are part of that holy bride expecting His soon coming and the embracing of the bridegroom, you will be about His business. This is part of our job description. If there is no interest in these things, then you need to ask yourself the reason why. Because if you've freely received, if you really are a recipient, it necessitates freely giving. Father, make it a reality in Jesus' name. Amen.

Let's stand before the Lord. As Gary plays, take a moment and just thank the Lord for His work in your life and for the effect of that glorious gospel, the regeneration that's occurred and the expectation of His soon coming. Come quickly, Lord. What a great expectation. As we sing this chorus and rejoice in His goodness to us, ask Him to stir up in you a hunger for the lost. Ask Him to open your eyes to see the fields that are white to harvest, to make real to you the day that we're in, the age of apostasy and iniquity abounding, the love of many waxing cold. Oh, that we would be faithful to proclaim this message as the instruments of the church. This is why we live: to worship Him, to represent Him. Lord, put Your word in our mouth and help us to speak it. Let it be a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces, a fire that consumes the chaff. The prophet of God saw into the spirit realm and saw the Godhead, and the question asked, "Who shall we send?" Here am I, Lord. Send me. Is that your heart's cry this morning? "Here am I, Lord. Send me." The Scriptures say that the eyes of the Lord are searching to and fro. He's looking for people that He can show Himself mighty in them. Here am I, Lord, weak, ineffectual, but willing to be filled with Your Spirit, desirous, Lord, to hear, "Well done." Empower me; change me this moment. Even right now, beloved, if that's the cry of your heart, God can change you in a moment. He can change your appetite as you taste the goodness of God and then nothing else will ever satisfy you. Make it real, Father, in Jesus' name. Amen. Before you go, turn to somebody and say, "Preach the gospel." Go in peace. God's love go with you.

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