Skip to content The Church That Shakes the City Mar 18 · 57 min ...more
The Church That Shakes the City
March 18, 2025 · 57 min
As believers, we are called to live out our faith boldly, trusting in the authority of God's word to guide us and transform our communities. Let's be a church that shakes the city for Christ!
Series Faithful Followers March 18, 2025 · 57 min · Faithful Followers
As believers, we are called to live out our faith boldly, trusting in the authority of God's word to guide us and transform our communities. Let's be a church that shakes the city for Christ! ...more Show the full description Show less As believers, we are called to live out our faith boldly, trusting in the authority of God's word to guide us and transform our communities. Let's be a church that shakes the city for Christ!
Series Faithful Followers Support this leader Liking this video? Support this ministry.
Support this leader
Liking this video? Support this ministry.
Give
Support this leader Liking this video? Support this ministry.
139K followers
Pastor Jeff Schwarzentraub serves as president of Pastor Jeff Ministries, a national and global ministry designed to equip believers and challenge them to take
139K followers
In this video 0:00 The Power of Faithful Proclamation20:10 Facing Fierce Opposition32:30 Enduring with Hope and Love43:19 Bearing Fruit for the Kingdom
The Power of Faithful Proclamation 0:02 Well, good morning. Will you help me welcome all of our brave campuses that are worshiping along with us today? So great to be with all of you. Wanted to let you know if you weren't here last week and haven't heard last0:12 week's message, I would encourage you to go online and watch as we talked about taking ground. We talked about all the things that we're getting involved in as we're doing more campuses, as we're doing prison ministries,0:24 as we're doing more discipleship, as we're doing more missions, as we're advancing our Brave Academy across campuses. Go hear what God is doing. And then this September, I'll be talking more in detail0:36 about all of those different initiatives. And with that, let's continue our worship this morning as we go before the Lord and get ready to hear his word among us. Would you pray with me? We give you praise, glory, and0:46 honor for who you are. And Lord, we ask in this moment that we get a chance to hear you, that we would be open minded and open hearted to all the things that you want to tell us. Because, Lord, we here as a church0:58 believe that every time your word is faithfully and accurately proclaimed that you are speaking. So our prayer this morning is speak, Lord, for we are ready to hear. And so now for all those who have gathered and desire1:09 to hear the Lord Jesus Christ speak directly to you, who will believe what he tells you, and who will by faith put into practice what he shows you. Will you agree with me very loudly this morning by saying the word
1:21 amen. Amen. Throughout history, small groups of people have have changed the course of where we go. They've shaken cities. They've changed the culture. Sometimes even changed nations, but
1:33 no small group has been as powerful as those who live for the gospel of Jesus Christ. The reason that we're here today in Denver, Colorado is because there was a small group of people that Jesus gather gathered with that
1:43 he discipled for 3 years that were empowered by the Holy Spirit that took the gospel to the nations. And the reason that we're here today is because they started a movement that is still going on. And that movement goes
1:55 on through Christ's church. And sometimes we think that we need to have large groups of people in order to see God work at its fullest. As As a matter of fact, I hear the word revival all the time. I've been hearing it
2:05 since I've become a Christian some 35 years ago. People talk about revival, revival, revival. How are we gonna have revival? I wanna talk about how it is that we can experience that and what God wants to do and what
2:16 happens when his church is faithful and how God desires to change a city and challenge a city and shake a city up. And I wanna take a look at what kind of people do we need to
2:28 be. When the father looks down from heaven in Denver, Colorado, what does he see in Brave Church? Is Brave Church the kind of church that can shake a city? Is Brave Church the kind of church that can change the
2:39 culture? Is Brave Church the kind of church that the Lord can use to change the nation? I personally believe he can. And the kind of church that
2:51 God blesses and what that church looks like. And this morning, I want to start by talking about, the the church that shakes the city. And I wanna talk about 4 truths or 4 elements of that kind
3:03 of church. Like what you can expect to see in a church that's having that kind of radical impact in the city. Because you gather here and you come to Brave because you say, we wanna make a difference and we we love Jesus
3:15 and we wanna see our city changed. This is how we do it. And so this morning, we're gonna be in the book of first Thessalonians. But to start out, we're gonna be in the book of Acts, Acts chapter 17 verses 1 to
3:26 9 as we begin to spell out what it looks like for us to be that kind of church. So I wanna invite you this morning, open your Bible up to Acts chapter 17, and we'll begin our study here today in
3:38 these first 9 verses of Acts. Because what's been going on in the life of the traveling missionaries, Paul's on his second missionary journey, and he's traveling to different cities. And he and Silas had just had a
3:50 revival that took place in Philippi. If you'll recall the story, the, the Philippian jailer was gonna kill himself because all the chains broke off and the doors were open. But before he did, Paul told him,
4:01 stop. Don't do that. Let him to the Lord. Ended up baptizing him and his entire family. They all came to Christ. And as they continue on their journey, this is where our story picks up. This is what's taking place. So in
4:13 Acts chapter 19, Acts chapter 19 starting in verse 1, here's what he says. Acts chapter 17. Thank you. I love when people are paying attention. It
4:25 helps. Acts chapter 17 verse 1. Thank you. He says, now when they had traveled through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica where there was a synagogue to the
4:37 Jews. Just so you know, each of these cities was about 30 miles apart, and as they're traveling, you may read in your bible Macedonia. Macedonia is just northern Greece. Achaea is southern Greece and Greece is the whole
4:47 thing. So they're in they're up in Philippi in the northern part in Macedonia. They're traveling southwest. They're going 33 miles to the first city, 30 miles to the second city, and then they come, to the city of
4:58 Thessalonica and there's a synagogue there. And according to Paul's custom, he went to them and for 3 sabbaths reasoned with them from the scriptures explaining and giving evidence that the
5:09 Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead and saying, this Jesus who I am proclaiming to you is the Christ. And some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas
5:21 along with a large number of the God fearing Greeks and a number of the leading women. So let me give you the first element in a church that God blesses and a church that's gonna shake the city is this.
5:33 Here's here's an element that you will see in every church like that. You'll see faithful proclamation. Proclimations. Faithful proclimations. So the apostle Paul is traveling with Silas. They make their way through
5:43 these cities. They get down to Thessalonica. And as was his custom, he went to a city that had a synonym. And he went to the synagogue. And for 3 straight weeks, he began to proclaim in that synagogue. And we'll take a
5:55 look at that in just a second. But why do that? Well, number 1, Paul was born and raised a Jew. So he understood all the Jewish customs. He understood the synagogue. He knew when they met. He knew how people thought. He
6:06 knew how he thought before he was converted. And so that's where he would always start. As a matter of fact, in Romans chapter 1, he says the gospel goes out to the Jew first and then to the Greek. So he always started
6:17 with the Jews. Jesus was Jewish. So he went to the Jews and he began to reason with them and explained to them and proclaimed to them that Jesus is indeed the Messiah that you're reading about.
6:29 Now what we see in Paul is everywhere he went, guess what he had? Faithful Faithful Proclamation. That means fidelity to the word of God. That means I'm gonna proclaim what God says whether you
6:40 wanna hear it or not. And here's why. Because what the word of God says is true. From Genesis 1 1 through Revelation 22 21. It's all true. It's
6:52 inspired by God, the Holy Spirit, who wrote the words through human authors over a period of about 14 years. And think about this. I mean even in our New Testament when we read this in second Timothy
7:04 chapter 3 and verse 16, here's what he says. All scripture, that's old and new testament, is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, so the man of
7:16 God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. So all scriptures God breathed. It's God's very word. So I, as a pastor, could be inspired to write a book
7:28 about Jesus or tell truths about the Holy Spirit. But when I say inspired about the Bible, this is God's word. I will never write God's word. I will never be inspired to write God's word. That canon is
7:39 closed. Speaking. Other people can come along and explain some things and do some things, but the word of God is authoritative. We have to take it at face
7:51 value and believe what he says. And when Paul's proclaiming from the Old Testament, he's proclaiming the authority of God's word. That's why when he continues to exhort his timid his protege Timothy, he says, I solemnly
8:03 charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus who is to judge the living and the dead and by his appearing in his kingdom. Do this, preach the word. Be ready in season and out of season.
8:14 Reprove, rebuke, exhort with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine or teaching, but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves
8:25 teachers in accordance with their own desires, and they will turn their ears from the truth and turn aside the myths. But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist,
8:36 fulfill your ministry. So here's what he's saying. He was being faithful with all of the other old testament prophets, all the new testament apostles and prophets in doing this. Preach the word. Be faithful to the
8:48 scriptures. Proclaim the scriptures. If you go to a church where the scriptures are not proclaimed, leave the church because God is not speaking to that church. It's the word of They're
9:00 true in what he says or he's not. And this is what the apostle Paul believed. And why why why is proclamation so important? Because Romans 10 17 tells us this, that faith comes through hearing
9:12 and hearing through the word of God. Preaching the word is the primary ministry in a local church. Well, I don't know if I believe in preaching. Just give us a good feel good message. No. It's preaching the
9:23 word. Preaching the word changes hearts. Preaching the word changes lives. Preaching the word changes eternal destinations of the listeners that are listening.
9:39 New testament. When he was in Thessalonica, he couldn't pull out first Thessalonians and talk to them. Because he hadn't written it yet. So what scriptures is he using? He's using the old testament.
9:51 And he's reasoning with them. And notice what it says in Acts chapter 17 of how he was going about doing this. In Acts chapter 17 in verses, 3 and 4, he was there for 3
10:03 Sabbaths. He was probably in town a lot longer than that. But for 3 Sabbaths, he was there with them explained. He gave
10:15 evidence. And then it says, this Jesus who I am proclaiming to you is the Christ. He's proclaiming. So he's reasoning, explaining, giving evidence, and proclaiming
10:27 must do as well. So how was he reasoning with them? I mean, the Bible doesn't say which verses from the Old Testament scripture he used, but I know a few that I might have picked. And I know a few that I'd picked today
10:36 if I was talking to someone who believed the Old Testament scriptures but didn't believe that Jesus was the Messiah. How about scriptures like this in Isaiah 14? 7 Isaiah 7 verse 14 about the virgin birth. Therefore, the
10:47 Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son scriptures in the Old Testament, if you're Jewish, that there's going to
10:59 be a virgin. She's going to give birth to a son and that son is going to be the Messiah. So Paul was saying, hey, there was a woman named Mary. She had a son named Jesus and this is the 1 I'm telling you about that
11:10 fulfills exactly what the prophecy said. Or how about the fact of where Jesus would be born? In Micah chapter 5 too, it says, but you, oh Bethlehem, Ephrathah, from you shall
11:22 come forth from me 1 who is to be a ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from old, from ancient of days. So, not only does this Messiah have to be born of a virgin, but this Messiah happens to be born in Bethlehem.
11:33 Guess what? This Jesus I'm proclaiming to you was born of a virgin and guess where he was born? Bethlehem. Just like the scriptures testified that he would. How about this 1 in
11:45 Zechariah chapter 9 and verse 9. Behold your King is coming to you righteous and having salvation is he humble and mounted on a donkey. How did Jesus enter the city
11:57 of Jerusalem in his last week of his life? Humble and mounted on a donkey. So if you just had those scriptures, who else in the history of the world has been born of a virgin, born in Bethlehem, and is
12:09 written into the city of Jerusalem, humble and on a donkey? There's only 1 that's ever done that, the God man Jesus Christ. So Paul's reasoning with them. He's explaining to them. He's showing them. And then how about
12:20 this Messiah? What's he going to endure? Because there's Jews today that are still looking for the coming Messiah that's gonna rule, but the scriptures claim that he had to be crucified first. In Psalm 22, it says, they
12:31 have pierced my hands and feet. They divide my garments among them. In my clothing, they cast lots. Guess what happened to Jesus? He was crucified. They pierced his hands and
12:43 feet and then they cast lots for his garment. So he was born of a virgin in Bethlehem. He rode into Jerusalem on a donkey and humbled, and he was pierced on a cross, and
12:55 when he was, they gambled and cast lots for his garments. How about this? Isaiah 53. Who is this 1? Well, he was pierced for our transgressions,
13:07 and he was crushed for our iniquities. And with his wounds, we are healed. He's the 1 that God placed all his wrath on for our and a lot of
13:19 and there I was studying this this week. It happened to be in Zechariah. But in Zechariah 12 in verse 10, when it talks about the 1 who is coming, the Messiah that's coming, the 1 that you say is going to
13:31 come, it says they will look on me, the 1 they have pierced and they will mourn for them. So even if you just have the Old Testament, the 1 that's coming back, you're gonna look on and realize that was the 1 who was
13:42 crucified, who all the scriptures testified about. Who could that possibly be? And your and your and your and your and your and your and your and your and your and your and your and your and your and your and your and
13:49 your and your and your and your and your Because when the word of God is faithfully proclaimed, you have 1 of 2 choices. You can accept it or reject it, but you can't take a middle ground.
14:02 It's either true or it's not. So when I hear people say, well, I kind of believe and I kind of don't, it's because you haven't heard the truth of the scriptures. You haven't heard the truth of the scriptures. You haven't
14:08 heard the truth of the scriptures. You haven't heard the proclamation of Jesus. If you hear the proclamation of Jesus, you will either respond with contrition and repentance and joy and thanksgiving
14:20 that he receives you, or you will be angry. But there's no middle ground.
14:37 Well, I know some Muslims are good people. There is no other way. Well, I know some Hindus. There is no other way. But what about Buddhists and what There is no other way. There's Jesus and there's
14:49 no other way. That's the gospel. Now listen. Listen. Here's why Jesus came. He came because of your sin.
15:01 He came because from the time you took your first breath,
15:18 And that's who you are. And you're dead in your sins, and the wrath of God is on you. And from the time you breathe your first, you're already on your way to hell. And there's nothing you can do about it. But God in his
15:30 mercy sent his only begotten son, Jesus Christ, The second person of the Trinity who had always existed 2000 years ago. He was born of a virgin. So he's now the God man. So he didn't have a heredity of sin.
15:42 He put on a human flesh. He combined that with God. So he's truly God and truly man. He's fully God and fully man at all times and he always will be. And he came and did for you what you
15:54 couldn't do. He fulfilled the law. He did not sin. He didn't do anything wrong. And yet at the end of his life, what he did was he went to a cross and was nailed to a cross and on that cross took
16:06 the full wrath of God that was deserved for you. You wanna know how serious God is about sin? Take a look at how serious he treated it in his son. He put your
16:18 sin on his son and punished his son in your place. Jesus Christ hung and bled on that cross for 6 hours. He died. He was buried in the grave. But I wanna tell you something. 3 days later,
16:29 he rose from that grave. The God man is alive now as he's ever been before. And here's the truth about that message. Either a, you recognize you're dead in your sin. You repent of that, meaning I I
16:41 don't want that anymore. I'm on my way to hell. I wanna be loved by God. I wanna be forgiven. And you turn to Jesus, you give him all your sin, and he will give you all his forgiveness, all his grace, all his mercy, and
16:53 you become his. If you don't do that, you're still on your way to hell, and you get everything that the bible says that you deserve for your sin. And here's how you'll get it. You'll 1 day when you die, you'll stand
17:04 before the glory of Jesus and you'll hear these words, depart from me you worker of iniquity, I never knew you. And you'll be cast out of his presence into an eternal hell. You will live forever somewhere. You will
17:14 either live forever in the beauty of the forgiveness of God as an adopted son or daughter of his, and you are in his family with his love, or you will be apart from the goodness of
17:26 God experiencing the fury of God for your sin that you're responsible for and your rebellion that you're responsible for all these days. So when that's proclaimed, you're in 1
17:38 of 2 camps. You're either thank you, Jesus, you're saving me, or I hate that. Abrasenal, we I preach. There's always 2 or 3 that get up when I start talking like this. And a draw
17:50 as long as I'm faithful, I'm okay with that. I'm okay with that. But if the message of the cross is preached and people say, well, that's good for you,
18:03 but this one's good for me, then they haven't heard the message. No. It's Jesus and his cross only. And if you don't believe that Christ died for you and rose and you haven't turned from your sin and trusted him, you are
18:13 on your way to hell. And you get everything you deserve. That's the message. But God in his mercy loves you so much. He's persuading you and beckoning you. Don't die in your sins.
18:25 Now when I was 18, I heard this message for the first I wish I could tell you the first time I heard it. I was really excited about it. And so my young life leaders started explaining this to me. I had K
18:37 through 8 in the Lutheran school where we memorized Luther's small catechism and several Bible verses. And I've been going to a Methodist church from the time I was a baby. I was even baptized as a 6 month old. So I
18:48 mean, I was like so doubly protected. It was great. And in my mind, I was better than most of the people I hung out with. I didn't send the big ones. I didn't send the big ones. I didn't send the big ones. So, I I didn't
18:55 send the big ones. So when he said to me what the gospel was and that I really wasn't a believer and if I didn't repent and trust Christ, I was on my way to hell and it had nothing to do with how good I was.
19:07 I was anri. Spent my whole life trying to be good. And that counts for nothing. He goes, no. It doesn't count for any. But because he was so faithful in what he told
19:19 me, the Lord got a hold of my heart and I realized I am going to hell and it has nothing to do with anything I've done. I've never trusted Jesus and I stood to my feet the next day and accepted Jesus as my personal Lord
19:30 and savior. I've never been the same. Amen. If you ever find yourself in a different city or you can't go you can't be here on a weekend, only go to a place
19:42 that preaches the faithful proclamation of Jesus if they don't leave, because God's not there. We have way too many pulpits in our culture that are presenting their own agendas and their own ideas and their own
19:53 ideologies, and it doesn't matter if they're conservative or liberal or whatever. If you're not proclaiming Jesus the Christ, the son of the living God, you are not being faithful in the pulpit. And so when he
20:05 goes, he preaches that. And that's what you see in a church that God can use, his faithful proclamation. But notice what happens in verse 4.
Facing Fierce Opposition
20:24 Large number of God fearing Greeks, which means when he wasn't in the synagogue, he was out in the city sharing about who Jesus was. And a number of the leading women, number of the influential women in the city joined.
20:36 So now, what you have is Paul and Silas are reasoning. And they're they're these people are like, we're gonna follow what you guys are saying. Because that Jesus, we believe he's the Christ. That Jesus, we believe there
20:46 is no other. That Jesus is who we're going after. It's not about being good or being bad. It's about being redeemed, and we're dead, and God's wrath was on us. And now we're completely forgiven. And so some of the Jews
20:58 came, Gentiles came, some of the leading women came. So there's this group that's being formed. And we would say praise God. Right? So what happens?
21:10 What happens when there's faithful proclamation? People get saved. People's lives get changed. People's eternities change and go a different direction. But let me give you a second thing that happens. The church that
21:20 shakes the city, not only is there faithful proclamation, but there's also fierce opposition. Notice what happens next. But the Jews, the ones who didn't follow him, becoming jealous
21:33 and taking along some wicked men from the marketplace. They found some hoodlums, formed a mob,
21:46 people. When they did not find them, they couldn't find Paul and Silas. When they did not find them, they began dragging Jason and some brethren before the city authorities.
21:59 And Jason has welcomed them, and they all act contrary to the decrees of Caesar saying that there is another and the city
22:43 they're going to go get and then there's there's Jason. I mean, what's up with that? So they go to Jason's house. They can't find him there. So guess what? They go after Jason. And they find Jason. And they grab grab
22:53 Jason, and they're hauling him down to the city. And it would be the perfect time for Jason to say, Enough of this. I don't even know the manna. He goes through the whole thing. And notice this backhanded compliment that
23:04 they do. These men, talking about Paul and Silas, these men who have upset the world have come here also. Can I just pause and tell you this? For those of you
23:16 that falsely think the gospel, it's just a a personal private thing that you do in your own home and maybe you go to church and you just be quiet and don't do anything, you do not understand the gospel. Because if you
23:25 truly understand the gospel and that you were dead and now you're alive and that this world is temporary, but what's coming is eternal, and you're not only speaking about Jesus, but you're living for Jesus. You're not
23:33 only doing it in your home and in your church, you're doing it everywhere you go, and you're gonna let God's kingdom values come and let his will be done on earth as it is in heaven. It's gonna stir up a city. People
23:43 don't like that. Don't give me your biblical values. Don't give me your church values. That book that was just written by a bunch of men from years ago. No. It was written by the Holy Spirit over 1400 years with about 40
23:54 different men inspired by him. And it's God's word and it will not change and not 1 jot or tittle will ever change and you need to know what I'm proclaiming to you is true. That stirs up a city. That changes a city.
24:06 So what happens is Paul wasn't just going in some little synagogue and saying, well, if you believe it, it's great. If you don't believe it, it's great. But we're just gonna form a little group over here. No. He's
24:15 saying, what I'm telling you is true. And you'll know this for all eternity because Jesus is the Christ. And you're gonna be responsible for his death because it's because of your sin, he was dead.
24:32 They don't want it in their city. And there's no city in the world that wants Jesus in their city. I've lived in a lot of cities. I mean, I've lived in the Bible Belt. I've lived in Dallas. There's just bigger churches,
24:43 but there's still just as many people that don't want Jesus. And most of the people I meet, when I meet them out here in Denver, most people didn't come to Denver for a move of God. It's not why they moved here. That's
24:53 why I moved here. That's why I moved my family here. But that's not why most people moved here. That's why we moved here. Because I believe when God looks down at Denver, he loves our city as much as he loves any city.
25:02 He wants to see his name exalted in Denver as much as he wants to see it exalted anywhere in the world. Amen? So here's their problem
25:19 another He is the king of kings. He is the lord of lords. He's who we
25:31 take our charge from. He's who we listen. It doesn't mean we disobey government as long as it doesn't go against the word of god.
25:43 But if it comes down to obeying Jesus and obeying anybody else, who we gonna obey? We're gonna obey Jesus. And that's what these guys were proclaiming. And if you study the history of the church in the first 300 years of
25:54 the church, it's a bloodbath with martyrs because they understood when they came to Christ, they weren't just coming to Christ to get out of hell. They were coming to Christ because they understood the words of Jesus.
26:04 Anyone who would come after me must do what? Deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. When they were coming to Jesus, they were coming with their life, which is still how you must come. So it's not about you, it's
26:15 about being willing to proclaim and die for what you say and what you live, and you follow him and all his promptings in all you do. When you live like that, cities around you change. You don't need to be a
26:27 majority for a city to change. You just need to be faithful. Amen? And that's what you're gonna experience. If you're in a place that has faithful proclamation and you're in a place where the people buy into that
26:38 faithful proclamation, there will be fierce persecution. There is no neutrality with the gospel. It angers everybody.
26:52 Totally bring up what Pastor Jeff said last week, that would really make them mad. Right? Because you know and we don't like to think about it this way, So even the
27:03 people and our families and even our friends that are quote unquote good people that are far from God, it's hard for us to recognize if their world ended today, they would be in hell for
27:15 all eternity. And it's hard for us to realize as believers that when we're transformed into the image of Christ 1 day and all we know how to do is honor him,
27:29 place as hell. And even for those people you know, even if it's your own mom, dad, sister, brother, if you knew they were in hell, you would praise God that they were because he gave them exactly what they deserve. Now,
27:38 on this side of heaven, that's hard Now on this side of heaven, that's hard to comprehend. Like how can you say that? But it's only possible because I believe that Jesus Christ,
27:50 the Son of the Living God, died on the cross and rose from the dead. And that is the turning point of everything that everybody's history is determined upon. Either a, you will repent and believe that, or b, you will
28:00 rebel and not. And either way, your eternity will be decided, and you'll get exactly what you wanted. And there's no excuse. So I don't know about that. There's no excuse. You've heard it now. Well, I don't wanna hear it
28:11 anymore. Well, you've heard it. And the Holy Spirit will chase you down for the rest of your life trying to persuade you that you need to give your life to Jesus. Amen? Because
28:23 when you begin to stand for what is right, you will be persecuted. There will be opposition. I mean, this week, I can help you with this. I can help If you want to experience more persecution this week, I can help you
28:34 with that. In second Timothy 3 12 says, anyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. So I'm glad I don't live in a place
28:46 where people are being martyred for their faith. We don't yet. We don't yet, but we will. And in 20 20, I watched it
28:57 happen. In 20 20, I watched churches cower when a governor would say, you can't open your church. I watch people cower when it said you can only have 50 people. Oh, now you can only have 10. And oh, by the way, when they
29:09 come, you have to be 6 feet apart, because we care for you. That was just so you know, for those of you that are here like, why does Pastor Jeff always talk about that? Can't he just get on with his life?
29:23 Because of this. That was an appetizer for what's coming. That's why I talk about it. Because if you're not ready for what's coming because all that was is you couldn't go to church, so you had to watch it at home.
29:36 Already preached it and I'm watching it 3 days later. It was terrible. Right? I'm saying happy Easter and it's Thursday. You know what I mean? I didn't like it. But what about the day that comes like you go to church,
29:47 you can't have your job anymore. Bank account away. You go to church, we're gonna take your kids away from you. I mean, what are you gonna do then? If you're not preparing to go all in
29:58 with Jesus now, you won't be ready when the time comes. That's why I talk about it. Be fierce opposition to Jesus and the gospel. There always has in every city, in every country, everywhere you go. There's no
30:10 Christian place where you go and everybody's like, we just love Jesus here. There's never going to be until Jesus gets back and then everybody will be that way. But until he
30:22 is that way, live that way. So you say, well, I want to know what that's like. Just live more out what you believe and live out what you believe and just watch the persecution in your life arise.
30:35 Anybody. There's no neutrality with it. There's no neutrality with the gospel. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life, and nobody comes to the father except through me. That kinda lays down the
30:46 gauntlet, there is no other way. Well, with all the religions in the world, there is no other way. There's no other way. It's just Jesus. And by the way, it's
30:58 not your idea of Jesus. It's the biblical view of what Jesus is. Mormons are not Christians. Jehovah Witnesses are not Christians. Just because you go to a place that says Christian on the side of the
31:10 building doesn't make you Christian. Christian is 1 who is born again by the spirit of God because they've repented and placed their faith and trust in Jesus only and not on any bit of their works. And there's plenty
31:22 of people that go to plenty of denominations and plenty of churches all across the world that are gonna be shocked on judgment day that they're not in the family. And they're gonna hear these awful words, depart from me,
31:32 you worker of iniquity. I never knew you. Hey, just because you showed up with your mom and dad. Hey, just because you went and were around other Christians. Hey, just because you gave some money. Hey, just because you
31:41 served a little bit. That means nothing. My son died for you and you rejected him. You didn't want to live for him then. You're not going to want to live for him now. And just so you know,
31:54 get dragged off to hell, where they're like, no. Why didn't you tell me? Oh. They don't want to go. They're going off to hell, gritting and gnashing their teeth saying, who are you to tell,
32:06 to make this up? Who are you to create? I never wanted to be created anyway. I hate you. That's hell. For the believer, it's bliss. Family of God forever and ever. Amen?
32:19 So I'm just telling you where there's faithful proclamation there's always also fierce endurance or fierce opposition. But notice this, number 3, a marker of a healthy church is also fearless endurance.Show more
Comments No comments yet. Start the conversation.
Comments
Keep it kind. Comments are public.