Bible Teaching

Calvary Temple Teaching Library

Seen and Heard Pt.1

Let's turn to Matthew 5. How many of you think that you take things for granted a little bit? We need to be thankful for what we have and the wisdom of God in where He's placed us.

Matthew chapter 5. As the Lord's bringing the foundational principles of the Kingdom of God, we call it the Sermon on the Mount. But the Lord is laying these foundational principles and in the midst of these principles, He begins to lay down one of the primary responsibilities that we have as citizens of the kingdom. Our first responsibility is to walk in obedience and emulate His lordship, to emulate Him in every way. The second responsibility that we have is the mutual love, care and edification of the Body of Christ. And the third responsibility we have is the declaration and the distribution of the good news, the gospel. And that's why we're here and everything that the Lord's done is to establish this kingdom, and the kingdom is made up of that three pronged, or three layered foundation. And the problems is, that in a lot of the churches today, ministry is emphasized on one of the three and many times over emphasized to the point of actually almost ignoring the others.

You'll find great emphasis on holiness and conforming ourselves to the image of the Lord Jesus, and the one-on-one relationship with Him. And we know some of the different problems that come out of that, don't we? We have people that are isolationists to the point of "just me and You, Jesus, and as long as I'm having communion with the Lord and I'm separating my life to Him..." And it can become extreme to the point of separatist, monastic type thoughts, the Essenes of the first century, and we can see the different extremes of that. "Because I just want to draw closer to God." And we do need that, and the Scripture talks about the conforming to His image; in fact, we're predestined to be conformed to His image the Scripture says.

But there's another responsibility and it's not just that we relate to the Lord, we have to relate to one another, the Body of Christ. And no man lives to himself and no man dies to himself. And the body is many members, the Scripture says. And we're being intertwined and every member among us, the Scripture says, is necessary. And in His wisdom He's called us and He's placed us, and He said that we're to love one another. And by this shall all men know that we're His disciples, when we have true biblical communion and a love one for another. And there's no greater love than that a man would lay down his life for his friends. We're His friends if we do what He's called us to do. And so we understand the community and yet some people emphasize that, and the community is many times "the emphasis." And there begins to be a man-centered doctrine and community turns into, true Koinonia turns into socialism and social clubs. The emphasis is on the members and not the head. And there's an imbalance when that takes place and there has to be equal emphasis given to these aspects of the revelation of the kingdom of God.

And then there's the third, and that's the fact that we've been called to be evangelists, we've been called as ambassadors of Christ and we've been called, as we see here in the 5th chapter of Matthew, to be the salt of the earth, verse 13 says, "...but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your father which is in heaven." And so we see then that in His revelation of the kingdom of God the responsibility that we have as believers to be salt and light, and in many groups, this is all that they do, this is all they emphasize. You go into certain churches and all that you hear is evangelism. You go into some churches and all that you hear is discipleship and we see then that there's a responsibility that if we're going to properly represent the Lord that we be involved in all of these areas under the direction of the Holy Spirit, and to see them supernaturally not only being implemented but supernaturally being supplemented because unless the Lord builds the house we're laboring in vain, amen? And so we're not just going to pick and choose whichever doctrine we think we like and what's appealing to us, but we understand that the Holy Spirit orders the steps of His representatives, of His ambassadors, and that the emphasis many times changes in our lives and it should change in our communities of believers like this. And so churches then shouldn't be locked into being known as a discipleship church, or an evangelism church, or a holiness church, but the Church expresses itself in all of these areas.

So now, you and I personally, what are we going to do? Have we found ourselves kind of in one of these little grooves to where we have our pet doctrines, and our pet applications, and those areas that we feel comfortable in, and "You know, I feel pretty comfortable, man, in the doctrine of holiness, and in my own personal pursuit, and pressing in to know God; but you know, I'm not real comfortable in relating to other people and so I just want to hang out over here and be a loner." And we talked about how dangerous that was and how Satan could come and pick us off because he's going about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour, and in that process of course, he would - listen: Satan would over emphasize that doctrine of holiness and setting yourself apart, to draw you away from the community support to destroy you with it. And what seemed to be good was your death. It works the other way too, doesn't it? We can get so caught up in "community and relationships" that we leave the relationship and lose our first love. And now we're content with just hanging out, being friends, and patting each other on the back and playing, and we don't have time to seek God anymore and to fall on this Rock and be broken. Whenever somebody calls up and wants to run and play we're just automatically drawn in that direction when you were intending to find some time alone with God and to strengthen yourself and be refreshed.

Or, as we've seen emphasized in some of our youth even now, and thank God for that, and among some of the young adults, there're those that are really interested in evangelism and heralding this gospel. Thank God for those who are ready and willing and looking for opportunities now to find a housetop somewhere that they can shout from and what we've received in secret the Scripture says, we're to shout it from the housetops. And we've got some young people that are fired up right now, praise God. They're wanting to use all their spare time out sharing the gospel and I've got one thing to say about that: Go for it, praise God! And don't let anybody hinder you. But there can be an extreme. We can want to do this to the exclusion of the community. We can get so caught up in declaring the gospel that we're not refreshing ourselves with His presence. And so keep these aspects, every one individually, in it's proper place and let the Spirit of God order, declare, and provide the power necessary to effect His purposes.

What I want to talk about here for the next couple of sessions is this aspect of evangelism, and the need that there is for each one of us to be involved in the heralding of the gospel. It's not an option, okay? You can't sit back and emphasize, and I can safely say over-emphasize, if it excludes this third area of evangelism. You're not fulfilling the eternal purposes of the declaration of the kingdom of God without a bold representation of this gospel message in your daily lives. You are the salt of the earth, and if the salt has lost its savor it's good for [say it] nothing. It can be good looking salt. It's just not salty and it's good for nothing. How many of you remember from the great little children's songs of yesteryear - some of you probably still have them - the little mascot, Psalty. You all remember Psalty? And that's the emphasis that God is calling us to. When you come up against somebody how do you affect them? When your life rubs against somebody else has there been a savory experience for them? Have they tasted the gospel and seen, "This is good, man. I see what it's doing, I understand for the first time the reality of this gospel message. I've never heard anybody represent it so clearly. I've never seen anybody live it so peacefully." If we've lost the savor of the representation of a life that's been freed from the power of sin, a life that's no longer under the dominion of self will, and fear, and torment, of the oppressor. Satan, the God of this world has blinded the eyes of so many, lest they should believe this truth of the glorious gospel. Can we look back at our own lives and say, "You know, I'm a pretty good chunk of salt"? There's no way that anybody can rub up against me and not encounter Jesus, and not have to contend with kingdom principles, and ascertain whether or not they're of this world or of the kingdom." And I'm talking about when we're rubbing up against professed Christians, heathen, it doesn't make any difference. Because as we go into the study, you're going to see how we've been called to this purpose, we've been equipped by His presence and by His grace, and all things, the Scripture says, that pertain to life and godliness have been given to us.

He said that He sent us forth as sheep among wolves. He understands the environment that we're going into, and He says, "And since I've sent you into this kind of an environment, I'm going with you, and I'm going to confirm the words that you speak with signs following. I'm going to go before you and I'm going to make a way where there is no way, and I give you all power and all authority over all the power of the enemy and nothing shall by any means harm you." Do we believe that this morning? Because you see, there's only one thing that keeps us from being proper representatives of the kingdom of God and that's the fear of men's faces. And it's the fear of failure, and discomfort; it's the fear that if I share this message it's going to cost my ease. I may not be an individual that's intimidated by men. I stand up for what I believe in and people don't intimidate me necessarily. I'm just making a conscious decision not to rock the boat because I don't want to lose my comfort zone. I'm not afraid of them, I'm just one of them. And that's what it boils down to, and that's probably a worse condition to be in than to be fearful because when you're fearful you can at least be like Gideon and go in this the power of His strength - have not I sent you, you mighty man of valor. God can use cowards, but He can't use defectors. He can't use those that love the world.

So as we look at our hearts, and we have to face this question that's being asked of us here in these next couple of sessions, "Am I doing my job, am I doing what I've been called to do?" You see, this is one of the reasons we're here, we're to be evangelists, we're to be ambassadors for Christ, we're to go into all the world and preach the gospel. Are you doing that or are you going into all the world and building your own kingdom? Are you going into all the world and building an inheritance for your children? Are you going into all the world because you like traveling? Or are we going into all the world to preach the gospel? Why does God give us breath and strength to get up every morning? Isn't it to go represent Him? And so when we begin to ascertain whether or not we're fulfilling the mandate, the call of God upon our lives to go into all the world, we have to ask ourselves now, always, then, why? If I'm not doing it properly, why? What, where do I find myself this morning in relationship to His lordship? Because beloved, the fact of the matter is this: you're not your own you've been bought with a price, amen? This thing isn't an option. Jesus is either Lord, and if He is you will be representing Him, or you're lord and you'll decide whenever you feel like fulfilling your religious duties. And that's basically what it comes down to when our evangelism is affected by our own determination as to how will this now affect me.

Let's see if this isn't a viable argument. Turn over to Timothy for just a moment. Poor Timothy. This guy catches flack but we can learn so much from him, a great man of God, and one of Paul's children in the faith.  2 Timothy, chapter 1. And Paul reminds Timothy of his heritage, and he says in verse five, "When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice; and I am persuaded that in thee also. Wherefore I put thee in remembrance [and that's what we're going to do here for the next number of sessions -- I put you in remembrance] that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands." Now what is this that Paul somehow transferred into young Timothy? Here's a kid that has a great pedigree, I mean, this is a third generation seeker of Jehovah God. There's a great pedigree. This is a young person who's been instructed and brought up in the nurture and the admonition of the Lord. This is a young man that God obviously had called and set aside. This is a man that was ordained, hands were laid upon him and power was transferred, but somehow, there seemed to be a loss of the fervency, or the maybe the perception of the importance of this part of the representation of the kingdom of God. It's obvious that he'd been very caught up in the pastoral responsibility and oversight and care of phase - phase probably isn't the right word - category, section 2, the edification of the body. So necessary, and yet Paul now - and remember which epistle this is. This is the second epistle, this is 2 Timothy, chapter 4, verse 7, finish the race epistle. "...I have finished [the race], I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, [and not for me only, but for all of those]..." he says.

So when Paul is writing back to Timothy here, there have been a few miles traveled. There have been a few wars that have been waged. Lives have been proven; faithfulness has been recognized in this man. And yet the admonition of this epistle, not a novice, "I want you to stir something up in you; it used to be in there, and it was burning real bright." Paul didn't say it's not in there anymore, he says, "It's still in there. I want you to fan the flame. I want you to stir it up. I want you to see the need now of representing me in this different area of the call on your life. I put you in remembrance. Now stir up the gift of God which is in you by the putting on of my hands."

"For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." (2 Timothy 1:7) Fear entered in somehow to this guy's life. What kind of a fear? Well, we were just talking about the fact that there can be the fear of men's faces. We realize that Timothy was kind of meek, and Paul sent him down there to the Corinthians and they chewed him up. Do you all remember reading that? They tore Timothy up, and so he sent Titus down there. And Titus caused him to walk a little tighter road here. Paul brought reproof to the church in Corinth and rebuked them for their treatment of this man who was faithful, and who loved them and who accurately represented his heart. For Timothy's good as well as the church in Corinth, he sent some other supplemental ministry in Titus. So we learn a little bit about this guy, and we don't know exactly what this fear is, but there is a natural meekness to him we're able to ascertain from Scripture, as we know this man. And as the Scripture goes on here we learn a little bit more. He said, "You don't have the spirit of fear; but of power, love, and a sound mind, or proper doctrine." I think he had lost a little bit of understanding of the enduing with power. That's when hands had been laid upon him and God had separated him to the calling of oversight, and into this apostolic realm, he wasn't someone who was on the forefront.

Timothy wasn't seen as the keen traveler. Timothy wasn't seen as one of those like Paul, like Barnabas, Silas. He was part of the team but he wasn't out there, necessarily, in the front lines. He had good doctrine, but lost possibly the application of laying his own hands upon the sick, of confronting demonic powers in the name of Jesus and not just being a support system for Paul as he did it. "Stir it up. I haven't given you the spirit of fear. When I ordained you and sent you, it was the same ordination that Jesus initially gave in Luke's gospel chapters nine and ten. It's the same anointing that came with the commission of Matthew chapter twenty-eight, 'I send you into all the world to preach the gospel and I'm going to be with you unto the ends of the earth.' What's caused you to lose this excitement, and the application, and demonstration of my power?" Well possibly we learn, as we read into the eighth verse, "Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God;" (2 Timothy 1:8).

Let me ask you something this morning. Are you ready to bare the afflictions of identifying with this gospel message? Because they will come. If you and I properly represent Jesus, we will be hated. We will be discriminated against. We're going to be misunderstood. We're going to be misunderstood and hated and we're going to threaten those that we encounter. And they're going to be ill at ease in our presence because of their own sin, and they prefer darkness because their deeds are evil, and yet we're the light of the world, praise God; and we're not hiding it under a bushel of pretense, and humanism, and social relationships. But we're just speaking the truth in love and it makes people uncomfortable, and you don't get invited to all the parties because you always bring Jesus with you. Are you ready to experience the afflictions of the gospel? Have we somehow allowed the spirit of fear to enter in? We've lost the power because we've become so diplomatic. We don't want to offend anybody. Surely we wouldn't tell somebody they're going to hell?

There's a car that's sponsored at the drag races by Young Life. Do any of you know what Young Life is? Young Life is an organization that was set up years ago that was a campus ministry like Campus Crusade for Christ. Young Life was a high school group and emphasized the gospel. As I heard them talking about the Young Life pro-stock car yesterday, they said, "Here's the Young Life car and this is sponsored by an organization that's promoting positive thinking in youth." Somebody hasn't made the message clear. I wonder what would happen if the announcer had a script that said, "...and here's the Young Life car promoting that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, and no one can come to the Father but by Him." "Hey, you can't say that over the loudspeaker, man! We can't be promoting any of this stuff. We have to somehow water it down so that it's palatable and we can call it ministry." "Don't be ashamed of your Lord, and don't be ashamed of me, the prisoner. And let me ask you something, 'Do you have enough in you to be ready to identify with the afflictions of the gospel?'" Serving the Lord, verse nine, "Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace..."

Can I ask you something? Look at verse nine. Are you called? Are you the ordained of God? He said, "I've called you and I've ordained you that you would go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit would remain." Can I ask you something: where's your fruit? Now we know there're different types of fruit, there's the fruit of holy living, there's the fruit of our inner action and our edifying of brothers and sisters that are growing into the image of Jesus, segment one, because of our instruction and our admonition, and all of these things. And that's all fruit. But we're not talking about that fruit this morning. We're talking about the fruit of evangelism, those that sow in tears and come again rejoicing bringing in their sheaves with them. Who are you going to see in that last day of judgment that gives you the thumbs up and says, "Would have been in hell man, if it hadn't have been for you. I thank you for enduring my persecution, and my hatred, and my mockery on the job as I laughed at you. And you don't know it, but I was the one that went around behind your back and got you fired. I was the one that stood there and threw the stones at you, but I saw you kneel down and raise your eyes toward heaven and say, 'Father forgive them for they know not what they do,' and it pierced my heart and I never got away from that; and I want you to know that I was arrested by the presence of Jesus on your face and your absolute trust in Him, and not on the same job that was my god that I had to get you out of. I want you to know because of it I'm here today, a child of God, redeemed. You didn't even know it; you just went down the road rejoicing. You knew that somebody had done it and that you got fired because you were sharing the gospel, but it was me and I 'm here today because you endured the afflictions of the gospel."

That's why He's set us apart, why He's given us grace or favor to be able to endure in these particular times. "I send you as sheep among wolves." There's going to be a lot of intimidating environments that God is calling us into. You know, whether it's visually intimidating or whatever. It's interesting where God may place you, and all of a sudden the Lord's ordering your steps and you step outside, you find yourself surrounded by a bunch of bikers. They've got leather and chains and tattoos, these freaky looking people. They're just people that are more afraid than you of life. That's why they dress like that. These aren't people that are bad and strong. These are people that are scared and trying to find somebody to identify with and somebody that will accept them. "I'm a reject like them but at least we're hanging out." These are frightened people. And here we are with the truth of God and because they have a tattoo we won't talk to them. They've got a bone in their nose so we won't talk to them. I'm intimidated visually. They're swinging knives, and guns, and that affects me. Well of course it does! But "I've not given you the spirit of fear. I've given you grace that's greater than the fear," and so what you say is, "Lord, that's kind of intimidating, but if you send me I'm going in this, the power of this might I'm sent, and if You're for me nobody can be against me."

Now listen, and this is an important part of what I'm sharing, it's the being sent, it's knowing when to speak, and it's knowing whether or not that grace is the impetus. That's what's moving us in this direction. Richard asked what the title was for this series and I told him it was entitled "Seen and Heard." And that's when we're comfortable beloved. That's when we know that God has ordained this environment that we find ourselves in. "Because I can't help but speak the things that I've seen and heard. I can't help it. I'm intimidated. This is kind of frightening, I don't know what the circumstances are going to be, but I can't help but speak the things that I've seen and heard. It's so real to me. I'm so thankful for what God has done for me. I'm so affected by your lost condition and the fear that's gripped your life that I'm no longer intimidated. I'm compelled to freely give what I have freely received." Is it that real in you this morning? Do you feel the compulsion instead of repulsion? Are you repulsed by the people on the job? Are you repulsed by the kids with the freaky spiked purple things and black lipstick? Does that repulse you or do you look upon them as fields that are white unto harvest, and you're moved with compassion, and your heart is broken because they're sheep without a shepherd? How does it affect you when you see these people? These are some of the easiest people you'll ever talk to. Why? They're giving you indicators: "I'm looking for something. I don't have it together. I'm not cruising around in my Beamer having just had my pedicure - know where I'm going, what I'm doing. I'm lost. I'm a freak. Won't somebody help me?"

Where are we when we see all of the different visuals? You know that dude that's the badest, coolest, most together person at work? It's an image. It's all a lie. They've worked on it. Did you know there're people that stand for hours looking in the mirror just trying to obtain that look, that look of security and superiority, and they're little children inside, afraid just like you, without the gospel. You see, the one thing that we have that all these people that are putting up facades don't have, is a real security. We have a foundation of truth. We know who we are. We know where we're going. We're not pretending. We know it. And you see, why you have that. You're not double minded. You can look people in the eye and say, "Follow me as I follow Christ" and be assured of His truth, not your ability, His truth, His presence. And so we see then the call of God upon our lives. How are you relating to it?

Look at it again, verse seven, "[We haven't received] the spirit of fear..." verse eight, "[Don't be] ashamed of the testimony of our Lord..." What does Matthew tell us? Matthew says "if you're ashamed of Me and of My words, and if you deny Me, then I'm going to be ashamed of You, and I'm going to deny You in the presence of Father." Have you ever been out in public and been ashamed of the Lord? Have you ever been ashamed to mention the name of Jesus? You know, the circumstances were intimidating you. You felt like you should say something but you didn't and you know the reason you didn't was because you were just flat out ashamed to be identified with Him in this environment, because you wanted to be identified as one of the boys. And you remember when you left that occasion? And you dropped your head just like Peter did after having denied Him. The good news is He doesn't leave us or forsake us. He's going to give you another opportunity. "Go tell the disciples and Peter that I'm risen." You're going to get another opportunity. And Acts tells us in the first chapter, verse eight, "But ye shall [now] receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me..." You want to find out whether you're spirit filled or not? It's not whether you just talk in tongues. Are you a powerful witness? If all your praying in tongues doesn't make you a more powerful witness you're not being edified in the spirit, you're just a clanging cymbal. You're just making noise. If we don't have a love, I Corinthians 13 tells us, for the lost then that's not the power of the Holy Spirit that's in us. The fruit of the spirit of baptism is an enduing from on high with power to not be ashamed of the gospel of our Lord or of His prisoners, those who are being persecuted. Who are we identifying with: Those that the populace has accepted or those who God has sealed and called His own? And so here is the call, here is the mandate that's been placed upon us.

Let's turn to the book of Acts just as we finish up for this morning's session. Are you letting your light shine before men that they can see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven? Can you say surely this morning that the bushel is off the light? You want me to tell you how to get the bushel off if it happens to be on there, and you say, "Man, I've been trying to get this bushel off and I just don't know how to do it." Acts tells us. You go out and fearlessly begin to represent Him and they'll knock it off. They will dismantle your bushel as they beat you. And that's basically what happened in the book of Acts. God's method of purifying us is for us to identify with His death, with His rejection, with His lowliness. We cannot be bold witnesses and be one of the boys. It doesn't happen. "They hated me, they're going to hate you," Jesus said. "Well surely - come on - we all know that the popular message of the day is that we can be representatives of Him in a user-friendly way." - A non-offensive gospel. How can you bring a non-offensive gospel when the Head says, "I'm the rock of offense. I am the stumbling block. I'm going to trip up everybody in the world system. They're going to stumble over my lordship. They're going to stumble over the exclusivity of the gospel message that says there's no other name under heaven whereby men can be saved. My name is going to be a byword. My name is going to be offensive." You see it out there, don't you? Lord, Big Boss, Kahuna in the Sky. Say Jesus and watch what happens. Just speak the name of Jesus and watch people begin to squirm. It's an offense.

"We're out here trying to get young people to have positive attitudes and outlook on life." No, we're here to bring a message that causes old things to pass away and all things to become new, to take hearts of stone and turn them into hearts of flesh, to become a new creation. To declare that it's no longer I that lives but Christ that liveth in me. The message that we bring is an offensive message.

As you begin to preach this word we find some interesting things out. Let's look over at chapter four, and we'll go back this evening over some of these passages. Chapter 4, verse 33 says, "And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all." And so as they began to bring the power of this message the effect was undeniable. In the transformation of their lives, the timidity was gone. They were boldly, now having been filled with the Spirit, proclaiming from the housetops what they had heard in secret. They were now moving under the unction of the Holy Ghost and laying hands upon the sick, and without apology verse ten says, of this fourth chapter, "Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, [this same Jesus] God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole. This is the stone, which was set at naught of your builders, which is become the head of the corner. [And] Neither is there salvation [verse 12] in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. Now when they saw the boldness [verse 13] of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, [I love this phrase] they marveled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus." Hmmm, this is what set them apart, not their education, not their affiliation, not who it was that was backing them.

In one of the recent e-mails, the one I was just reading this morning, Ron said that one of these men came again and said, "You've got to understand something. We didn't do this. God did this." These guys knew. They were buddies of the president. But this thing, there was no way and God made a way. And these men who are used to rubbing shoulders with the president and getting special treatment, they said, "This is beyond us. This is God," and it humbled them.

Can I ask you if you're being humbled by the power of the message that you promote or are you confident in your ability to articulate, your ability to argue and the fact that you're pretty systematic in your approach? You've memorized the Roman Road to Salvation. You're proficient with Kennedy's Evangelism Explosion, or the Four Spiritual Laws. Or is our confidence in the power of this gospel? Not ashamed of the gospel, it's the power of God unto salvation. Without apology, when they want to know by what authority, by what power, by what name have you done these miracles, who sent you out here? Don't you dare say Calvary Temple. "I've been sent out here by the King of Heaven, by the resurrected Jesus Christ, the One who your sins caused to hang upon the tree, the One who died with your sins for your salvation. God has raised Him from the dead, and I've encountered Him in His resurrection power, and He has made me a new creature. And it's no longer I that live but Christ that liveth in me and I am compelled to be out here because what I've received freely I want to give freely. I am so thankful for my deliverance from the power of sin. I am so thankful to be living free from my own will and the bondage of lust and pride that I just want to tell you that you can have it too. It's sure a good way to live, praise God, not to any longer be in competition with the Joneses. No longer intimidated by men's faces. No longer bound by earthly, temporal treasures. But whether you accept this message or not, the very fact that I'm sharing it with you is laying up treasure in heaven for me, praise God." Where are we?

Well, this message caused one thing to happen. They beat the bushel off of them because verse 17 of this fourth chapter said, "But that it spread no further among the people, let us straitly threaten them, that they speak henceforth to no man in this name. And they called them, and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus." Now beloved, if it hasn't happened to you it's going to happen to you. They're going to tell you, "You can't use this name or speak on the job. You cannot proselytize. Do it on your own time." Let me ask you something, do you have your own time? Can I ask you something: Are you a different person, do you have a different Lord at work than you do at home, in our worship time? "Listen, you just leave your Jesus at home when you come to work. You can go out into the public streets. You can worship Him in your own way at home, which we as fellow passengers on this little blue marble and cosmos would prefer. Just keep your religion to yourself."

John Ashcroft, is going through all of this flack that he's getting. How many of you have heard about that that's been going on? Okay, he's getting all kind of flack for Bible studies that he wants to hold. And they're saying that the Attorney General doesn't have a right to hold a Bible study in his office because it belongs to the government. And it's not right that people should be intimidated, and because the boss is holding a Bible study they feel if they don't come they're going to be black balled, and not get a raise, and not be treated properly etc, etc. See they don't understand who this guy is. He doesn't leave his religion at home. For him to live is Christ. The guy is born again. He's Spirit-filled. The guy's a Pentecostal dude just like you and me - a tongue talker, Attorney General. You tell me that's not God! He lost his Senate seat and placed as Attorney General, that's God. I don't know him personally. I used the book that his dad wrote in my synoptic bible class at Bethany Bible College. The highest legal office in the land, and the dude's conducting Bible studies. And you're intimidated at your job?

"We don't want you to share your religion." "It's against my religion not to share my religion. I can't help but speak the things that I've seen and heard." Let me ask you a question, is it better to obey God or men? See that's what the whole issue is here. Look at verse nineteen, "...Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard." If you can help but speak it then you really haven't encountered the life changing, resurrected Lord of glory, head of the church, who has commissioned His people to go in His name and He said, "I'll confirm the word with signs following."

Father, help us to walk free from intimidation and fear. Father, help us. That pride would not keep us, or lust, or ease, or self-exhalation, from identifying with the afflictions of the gospel. Father, we're in a day when the persecution is going to be not from the pagan, but from the Mormon, the Jehovah's Witness, the Catholic, the Muslim, and in that environment the spirit of anti-Christ and the false prophet will arise to unify religion. It's too dangerous for these religions not to be unified, the world has got to somehow be made less volatile, and so it will not be tolerated.

What are we going to do in that hour? Will we hide this light under a bushel? Will we be intimidated and cower down, or like Daniel will we throw the shutters open and seek our God? Father, we ask that You would reveal our hearts to us whether we're ashamed of You or not. Some of that shame may just be that we have nothing to say. It's not that we don't believe in You. It's that we have nothing to say. We don't know anything about you. We've never experienced anything. You've never answered a prayer. We've never seen a miracle. God forgive us and lead us into righteousness. The one thing we do know is we cannot have encountered You and not freely declare what we've seen and heard. The excitement of Your presence in our lives, the miraculous supply, the testimony of Jehovah Jireh, Jehovah Rapha, Jehovah Nissi compels us to share. Make it real and we'll give you the praise Father, in Jesus name. Amen.

Let's stand before the Lord this morning. Hallelujah! As the Lord speaks this morning to us, ask Him to help you lift up your eyes and see the fields that are white unto harvest. And then let's pray this morning, "Father, this is Your word. You've declared it. Father, send forth laborers into Your harvest." I want you to pray that right now; wherever you are right now just begin to pray that, "Father, send forth laborers. Lord there are people that are lost. Lord, there are people that need to hear this gospel message. Send forth laborers."

Father, anoint servants to go out in the power and the authority of Your name. Lord, empower Your children not only with words to speak, Father, but with signs following. Father bring about a boldness in our lives that we would be quick to lay hands on the sick. We would take authority over principalities and powers and cast out devils. Father, send forth laborers. Lord, here am I, send me. Lord, send me. Jesus, I'm so thankful for what You've done in my life, send me. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Lord, that which you've freely given me, how can I hide it under a bushel in this generation? Lord, make it real. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Glory, glory. Glory, glory. Refresh us Lord. Stir up the gift that is in us.

You know, you can very easily change the knowledge problem. You can study and come up with all the right Scriptures. That's an easy thing. You can even work on the intimidation factor, but only the Lord can give you a new heart of appreciation. If you just don't give - "I'm just not affected by what Jesus did for me. I'm not really affected by His blood being shed, His death, and His torture on my behalf. I deserve it anyway. Besides I'm busy. I don't have time for all these other people." You see, nothing can be done about that, except regeneration. Stir it up. Return to the first love and to he that has shall more be given. Declare it, He'll give you more to say. Obey, He'll give you a greater grace and anointing, but you have to go, you have to speak, and He'll confirm it with signs following. We thank you for it Father. Let's sing this together and rejoice in that call on our lives. "Let me be a sacrifice."

As the Lord continues to speak to us as we go on into this study and the next number of sessions, we've been dealing with the principles prior to this of spiritual warfare, and not trusting in our own abilities. And the fact that you can articulate and bring this message, and that you even just freely share it on the job, that's not all there is to this thing beloved. We're talking about the afflictions of the gospel. It's not whether you can just run your mouth and talk and share freely. What do you do when the pressure now starts coming on? Are you willing to pay the price of being rejected, being fired? That's when you know whether what we've been sharing is the gospel, the power, and the offense. Not offensively, I mean, just being very compassionate, personable, kind, whenever possible, but no compromising of this truth. Here am I, Lord, send me.

Before you go, turn to somebody next to you and say, "Be bold." Amen. Go in peace, God's love go with you.

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