Skip to content Marks of a Bold Witness Oct 13 · 59 min ...more
Marks of a Bold Witness
October 13, 2025 · 59 min
Pastor Jeff unpacks a powerful message from Acts 4, revealing how the early church's courage to proclaim Jesus despite threats offers a compelling model for today.
Series Unstoppable October 13, 2025 · 59 min · Unstoppable
Pastor Jeff unpacks a powerful message from Acts 4, revealing how the early church's courage to proclaim Jesus despite threats offers a compelling model for today. ...more Show the full description Show less Pastor Jeff unpacks a powerful message from Acts 4, revealing how the early church's courage to proclaim Jesus despite threats offers a compelling model for today.
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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 Living with Boldness for Christ
Living with Boldness for Christ 0:02 Mission. Well, good morning. Would you help me welcome all of our campuses who are worshiping with us today? So great to have all of you. Wanna start just by making a couple announcements. 1 is if you're part of our0:13 church family, you know we just began a 3 year capital campaign called Taking Ground. Funds are still rolling in. Pledges are still rolling in. Next week, we'll give you where we're at. But we've been so blessed by the0:23 generosity of our church and all that you're doing and all that you're giving. Next week, we'll give you an update on all that, but we're excited about where the Lord is leading us. Number 2, you received if you go to0:32 our church, you probably received a text yesterday, coming from our staff explaining that I had nothing to do with the text that was sent out. And several of you have said, what the heck text was that? Let me tell you0:42 what it was. When we did the Charlie Kirk event, we had people register. We didn't have people register. That was done by a, political committee that had people register. So we don't give out your names or do anything,0:51 but a text was sent to everybody that registered from Victor Marx's campaign. Problem was, it came from me. It was a letter that said, Jeff Swartzentraub, senior pastor is looking for your funds. I never said that. I1:01 never authored it. I never did. So we immediately called them, talked to them. They issued a retraction. They were extremely apologetic. Got a mix up down with somebody on their team. So that's what that was. So I want1:12 to let you know what that was because I'm not soliciting your money for those things. And number 2, I also wanted to let you know just because Victor and I are good friends, we're still good friends, accidents happen,
1:21 and I can tell you from pastoring this church for 15 years, there's several times we've miscommunicated either too much or not enough. And so there's a lot of grace that's there, but that's what that was all about just
1:29 so that you know that. And then third, what I'm really excited to tell you about is I happen to be in Washington DC, this week. It was a great trip. I, Thursday morning, I got to go to Arlington National Cemetery. My
1:39 grandfather is buried there with my grandmother, and I got to see, their resting place, which was extremely powerful. It was very moving to be there. But more importantly than that, you can take a look at this picture.
1:50 It was still on panel. That's why everybody looks weird, when they took the picture. But that's with the in the middle, that's the deputy director, for the Federal Bureau of Prisons, deputy director Smith. And it by
2:00 God's providence, while we were in that meeting, just so quote, happened that the regional director for all the federal prisons in Colorado just happened to be there from Kansas City in the building. So he came to our
2:10 meeting too. And, we spoke to them. It's a very matter of fact meeting. Okay. Tell me what you want. Give me your 2 minute elevator speech. What's brave? What do you do? Hey. Tell us what you're gonna do in the prison.
2:19 It was super fast and, he read through our whole proposal really quick and bottom line was this. The spirit of God was all over. It was really really cool. I gotta tell you this. Pastor Howie wouldn't want you to know
2:29 this necessarily but Pastor Howie was there. He spent 20 years in prison. The deputy director Smith spent about 5 years in prison and those 2 guys are having talks about how we as a church can change prison reform. And
2:40 it was beautiful. And when we got done, deputy director Smith said, man, can I pray for you? And, he prayed in Jesus' name for everything. And so here's here's what's gonna happen. I believe doors in federal prisons in
2:50 Colorado are gonna open up for us, to get involved in. That's the short of it. And we learned something because we said, but we're we're we're here to serve. We we're not
3:02 trying to take over a prison. If there's people there that are already serving the Lord, we're gonna partner with them. That's what we do everywhere we go. And he said, well, you need to know this. When the government
3:09 shuts down, which our government's in a shutdown right now, you may or may not know that. Usually, when I hear stuff like that, it's just politics. I don't care much. Right? But what you have to realize is when the
3:18 government shuts down, those that work for the government in federal prisons, they still have to go to work. They they don't stop working in the prisons just because everything got shut down. Here's the only difference.
3:27 They don't get paid. So oftentimes, for those that live paycheck to paycheck, they don't have enough food for, they don't have groceries for food. They don't have, money for gas. So we at Brave are gonna take the 300
3:38 employees at the federal prison here in Inglewood, gift bags this week for all of that. And would encourage you, we have teams to pass them out. There's cards here as you're leaving the church today on both of our
3:48 campuses. If you just wanna fill 1 of these cards out just to let you let them know how much we as a church appreciate them. For the females that are serving there, we're gonna invite them to the Ally Beth Stuckey
3:57 conference for free so they can be a part of that. What we wanna do is we wanna serve. That's what Jesus did. That's what we want to do. But continue to pray because, I mean, praise God, he's opening up doors for us all
4:06 over the place to reach more people with the gospel of Jesus. Amen? So thank you for your prayers. And with that, let's prepare our heart. Let's get ready to hear his living and active word among us this morning. Would
4:17 you pray with me? Our father in heaven, we do give you all of the glory, honor, and praise. We thank you for your favor on our church and on these meetings. Lord, may it open up doors for us to reach
4:28 more in the prisons that are, those that are incarcerated as well as those who are serving in the prisons. Lord, be gracious to us this week as we, serve that team here in Inglewood. We just ask your grace over
4:40 that. And, Lord, as we get ready to hear your living and active word, prepare our hearts. Lord if there's any known sin in our life we're gonna confess that to you right now because your word says if we say we have no
4:50 sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us but if we confess our sins that you are faithful and just to cleanse us from all unrighteousness and forgive our sins. So, Lord, forgive us this day so we can hear your
5:01 word clearly and effectively. And, Lord, we're ready to hear your word this morning, Lord, because we as a people believe every time your word is faithfully and accurately proclaimed that you are directly speaking to us.
5:12 So our prayer this morning is speak lord for we are ready to hear. And so now for all those who have gathered who desire to hear the lord Jesus Christ speak directly to you, who will believe what he tells you and who
5:22 will by faith put into practice what he shows you. Will you agree with me very loudly this morning by saying the word, amen? If Christianity were outlawed in our culture tomorrow,
5:34 would there be enough evidence to convict you? If somebody said you can't be a Christian anymore, is there enough evidence in your life that when people saw what you how you lived and what you spoke, they would say,
5:45 they're 1 of them? It's important that we would be able to answer that question affirmatively. Because being a Christian is not just a knowing of whose I am, it's a living out
5:57 what God has already put inside of me. It's called boldness. And what boldness is is the ability through the power of the Holy Spirit on the inside of a believer to live and speak
6:09 on behalf of God in the face of danger. It's it's courage to be able to live out the mandates of the faith that God would require for us. And why is that important? Because the Bible makes
6:20 clear that anyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. If you're actually going to believe in Jesus and you're born again and the Holy Spirit is resident in your life and you're gonna read
6:30 this word or sit under preaching of this word or study this word and say, okay, God. I'm listening to you and I'm actually going to take steps of faith to do what you're telling me to do. It will be difficult to do that.
6:41 There will be challenge to do that. There will be people that say, don't do that. And all throughout the Bible, we love stories of people who have been bold. People who not only stood and said, okay, I'll stand here, but
6:53 people who opened their mouth and spoke the truth in where they stood. I mean, you think about Moses, the deliverer of the people of Israel, who was called back to Egypt to not only just stand there and perform miracles,
7:05 but to go to pharaoh and say, let my people go. When we see David stand before Goliath, it's not just that he picks up 5 stones and starts running at them. Before he
7:18 And so And so I don't come at you with Javelin, Sword, or Spirit. I come at you in the name of the Lord Almighty. He's speaking boldness. He's saying what's gonna happen. Elijah, when he calls down fire on Mount Carmel.
7:30 I mean, it's the boldness of these men that are preaching. John the Baptist spoke with boldness. And yet, when we get through the gospels, at the very end of the gospels, we don't see boldness. We see
7:42 lip service. We see Peter say, Lord, even if all men deny you, I never will. Lord, even if I have to die with you, I'll die tonight. And yet, Jesus said, tonight you're gonna betray me
7:54 3 times. And that night, around a fire being told by you're you're 1 of them. I I know you. I recognize your voice. I recognize your 3 different times. I don't even know the man. I don't know
8:06 him. And yet, what we see in the book of acts is everything begins to change. And we see this boldness and courage begin to take over in the face of where fear used to live. And today, I wanna talk to you about how
8:17 it is that you can live with boldness as a Christian. Because I want you to know boldness is not just for a select few. If you've been born again and the Holy Spirit is resonant in your life, you are bold.
8:30 It's not a feeling, it's a life to be lived. And this morning, I wanna show you marks of what it looks like for boldness and how you can live boldly in your faith no matter where you are.
8:41 Whether you're a student, whether you work at home, whether you work outside the home, whether it's in your neighborhood, wherever it's at in your sphere of influence, how is it that you can live with the God given
8:52 boldness that Jesus has given to you? And so to do that today, we're gonna be in Acts chapter 4. I'm gonna invite you to turn there today. Acts chapter 4 starting in verse 1. We'll try to get through verse 31. And in
9:03 this section, what you're gonna see is the boldness of Peter and John in what's going on. And as you're turning here, let me just remind you what happened in chapter 3. You remember there was a man standing outside or
9:14 sitting, not standing rather. Sitting outside the beautiful gate. Been there for over 40 years begging for alms. He looked at Peter and John as they were coming by thinking he was gonna receive something from them and
9:25 they said, Silver, gold, we do not have but what we do have we give you in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazarene. Walk. Leap and went into the temple and they're all praising God. And as they're praising
9:37 God, they're saying, it's not us that did it. It's Jesus that did it. And Jesus is doing it because he wants you to turn from your wicked ways. That's what's going on. And this is where our story picks up in Acts chapter
9:48 4. Notice what it says. As they were speaking to the people, the priests and captain of the guard and the Sadducees came up to them being greatly disturbed because they were teaching the people and
10:00 proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. And they laid hands on them and put them in jail until the next day for it was already evening. But many of those who had heard the
10:12 message believed and the number of men came to be about 5000. Let me give you the first point of a mark of boldness and that is this, those who live with boldness proclaim the word of Jesus Christ.
10:24 Those who live with boldness proclaim the word of Jesus Christ. Notice this, as they're talking about the miracle, as they're talking about all these things, they're telling people at the end of, chapter 3 that God had
10:34 called them to turn from their wicked ways. You need to turn you need to turn from your sin and you need to turn towards Christ. That's what they're proclaiming. And it says this, as they were speaking, the priests and
10:45 the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees came to them. Here's what you have. You have all the religious leaders of the day, all the muckety mucks, all the bigwigs, all the people that are super religious,
10:55 they're coming. And here's what they have a problem with. What you're gonna see is they do not have a problem with the fact that a guy that was lame walked. As a matter of fact, they're not even gonna discuss that.
11:06 Matter of fact, they don't even care. That is not the problem they have with disciples. Let me just be clear on you. Nobody has a problem if you come to church and people get healed. And nobody has a problem if you come
11:16 to church and somebody gets delivered from demons and you tell them that. And nobody has a problem if you get saved. Let me tell you why they have a problem. Here's why they have a problem. First 2, drawers. Being
11:26 greatly disturbed because here's why. They were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. That's what bothered them. The healing, no problem.
11:50 And he's still doing everything he was doing while he's here, but now he's in heaven doing it through us. So deal with that. What were they what were they proclaimed? So they had a problem with the proclamation of Jesus.
12:00 Do you know culture hasn't changed? Nobody has a problem if you say you're spiritual. Nobody has a problem if you say you believe in God. But there's a lot of people that have a big problem. If you're
12:12 gonna proclaim Jesus and him only and his resurrection from the dead, they're gonna call you narrow minded. And especially if you say that the authority of God's word, whether you believe it or not, is still
12:24 authoritative over you. And that everything that this book teaches from Genesis 1 1 to Revelation 22 21 is an authority over your life. And I'm proclaiming it to you. If you're going
12:36 to be a bold witness for Jesus you have to proclaim his word. These 66 books are the word of God. This is where we learn the gospel. It's an amazing book. It is unlike
12:48 any other book of literature. You have over 40 authors over 1400 years on 3 different continents that never even knew each other that are all riding to the same
13:00 end and everything aligns perfectly without air. It's impossible of God's not in it. This book will convict you. This book will read you. This book will tell you about you.
13:12 There's no book in the world like it. And yet, here's what people don't want. Don't give me that Bible stuff. Don't give me that gospel stuff. Don't give me that Jesus stuff. Everybody can go
13:24 their own ways and just let people be who they wanna be. No. That's not what they were doing. And by the way, let me just say from the outset, what boldness is and what boldness isn't. Boldness is spirit filled courage.
13:35 Boldness is not arrogance. It's not being rude. It's not being obnoxious. It's not being a bully. None of those things. You can be an introvert and be bold. You can whisper and be bold.
13:47 It is spirit filled courage to speak truth on behalf of Jesus in hostility because you love Jesus more than you fear the consequence. That's boldness. Amen?
14:00 And they were bothered at their boldness. They didn't care that the guy was healed. Isn't that amazing? For 40 years, this guy hasn't walked. He's walking. They don't even look at him. Here's what we have a problem with.
14:13 You you're speaking in the name of Jesus. You're proclaiming he rose from the dead. And so what they did was they laid hands on them, took him to jail for the evening because it was already late. And so you would think,
14:21 what a waste of a day. You know, I was trying to serve the Lord and this guy gets healed and we end up in jail. What a waste. But notice verse 4. But many of those who heard the message believed, and the number of men
14:33 came to about 5000. We had 3000 on the day of Pentecost, men, women, boy, and girls. Now we have 5000 men, so you probably have more than that. So it's probably more than, 5000 people that are part of this local church
14:44 now in just a matter of days. So was it a waste? No. Because anytime you're bold for the things of God, anytime you're bold in his word, there's always a return on investment. There's always a return on investment even
14:56 if you can't see it. That's why Paul says, I'm not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Gentile. When you share the truth of Jesus,
15:07 there's power in it. Can I just encourage you when you share the gospel? Nobody's getting saved because of your story. They might be moved by your story. They're gonna get saved because of Jesus's story.
15:19 So the more words you know, the more clear you can be on sharing the gospel. If you don't know anything, just memorize John 3 16 and have that in your arsenal. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten
15:29 son that whoever believes in him will not perish. And if you want 1 in your other holster, put Romans 6 23. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. That way
15:39 you're kinda double barreled. You're ready to go. Right? And if that's the only 2 you know, you can start there. Because as you share your faith, people will ask questions and you'll look in the word and you'll search
15:49 and say, where does it say that? And you'll find another scripture so that you're ready to go. And the more of the words you know, the more you'll see it. All the fruit of our seeds. We sow seeds. We water
16:01 seeds. Sometimes we get to see seeds harvested. Other times, we good farmer. A farmer doesn't dig up to the seed to see how it's doing. He leaves it in the ground.
16:15 Work with the word. I love this quote. I don't know who to give credit to, whether it's Charles Spurgeon or Martin Luther online. Nobody can tell me. So if you can't figure out, just say, my pastor made this up. That's
16:26 cool. But but I love this quote. The word of God is like a lion. If you let it out of its cage, it can fend for itself. So the Bible says, preach the word. Be ready in
16:38 season and out of season. Just preach Christ. That's why Hebrews 4 12 says, the word of God is living and active, sharper than any 2 edged sword. It penetrates to divide both soul and spirit, joints and marrow. Judges
16:48 the attitudes and intentions of the of the heart. Friends, people don't get saved by hearing our opinions. They get saved by hearing God's word. So whoever you are, share the word of God without
17:00 apology. Share the gospel of Jesus Christ from his word without apology. Amen? Number 2 is this. As you're doing that, rely on the power of Jesus Christ
17:12 to do it. If you're gonna proclaim his word, then you gotta rely on the power of Jesus to do that. Now think about this. I mean, we read this and we move on. Okay. They were in jail on the next day. I mean, they spent
17:21 the night in jail. Jail wasn't this cool place to go. There weren't meals that were being served there. You didn't have satellite television there. You didn't have a bathroom in your own cell there. They're
17:33 spending the night in jail all because they proclaimed Jesus. All they had to do was let Jesus do the miracle and keep their mouth shut and be like, we don't know how it happened. Oh, praise God. It got so good. But no,
17:44 they couldn't shut up about Jesus and his resurrection. So So it says on the next day, their rulers and elders and scribes were all gathered together in Jerusalem. They're making this a religious party. And Annas the
17:56 high priest was there, and Caiaphas, and John, and Alexander, and all were who were of high priestly descent. So all the muckety mucks, all the hierarchy, all those that are super spiritual in
18:08 the culture have all gathered there. And when they placed them in the center, they begin to inquire. And here's the question the religious leaders had for Peter and John. By what power or in what name
18:20 have you done this? Again, they don't care that the guy was healed. They don't care. They don't care about the experiences that they were having. They don't care. They wanna know how did it happen and what are
18:32 you telling what are you talking about? Why are you telling people what you're telling people? That's what they wanted to know. Now this would be a great time if Peter and John want to go scot free saying, I don't know.
18:44 It It was a busy day yesterday. All happened so fast. It's never happened to us before. Probably won't happen again. I don't know. And they would have walked away scot free. But that's not what they did
18:56 because they had boldness. It says, then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them Can I pause there for a second? The Bible tells us that the ministry of the Holy Spirit being filled is ongoing. And some of us
19:08 picture like we're this, empty flesh, like a empty balloon and the spirit goes We wanna be filled. Lord, fill me with the spirit. Like it's a magical thing. That's not what being filled with the spirit is. Ephesians
19:20 5 18 says, do not be drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery or wastefulness or dissipation, but be filled with the holy spirit. What's the what's he saying? Don't get drunk. When you get drunk, you're controlled by a
19:31 substance other than yourself. You speak different, you think different, you act different. Don't be drunk on wine. Don't be drunk on alcohol. But instead, be filled or be controlled by, being controlled
19:43 with the Holy Spirit. Pursue Christ so much that the Holy Spirit takes over. If you wanna be filled with the Holy Spirit, you can pray to be filled with the Holy Spirit, but it's not a magic prayer where God's
19:54 like, you're filled. That's not how it works. If you're praying to be filled with the Holy Spirit and you want to be filled with the Holy Spirit, take your next step of faith. Faith. Take your next step of faith. Take
20:05 the next step of obedience. Little step by little step by little step, now you're controlled by the spirit. You're controlled with the spirit. You're filled with the spirit. This it means this. You're no longer in
20:13 control. The spirit of God is in control. That moment that the Holy Spirit went It means Peter's been walking in
20:25 fullness of the spirit from the time of Jesus Christ Ascension, people got saved. And here's what he says.
20:36 Rulers and elders of the people. If we are on trial for a benefit done to a sick man as to how this man has been made well, let it be made known to all of you and to all the
20:48 people of Israel. If we're on trial, like if we're really here, I mean, I I just I just sense such sarcasm in their words. Like if this is why we've really been jailed so that we can tell you why this man got healed, and
21:00 that's what you wanna know, then here's what we wanna tell you. We want it to be known to you and to all the men in Israel, and everywhere we go, we want this word to spread. And here's what we're gonna tell everybody,
21:11 That by the name, which means by the reputation of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by this name, this man stands here before
21:23 you in good health. Could they be any clearer? To beat them, jail them, do whatever they want. Like, okay. So if we're really here, so we can tell you how
21:34 this man, who had been lame for 40 years, is now doing okay, then we want you to know. We want all Israel to know. We're not gonna ever shut our mouths about it. But here's why. Jesus Christ, who was on this planet just
21:46 a few weeks ago that you crucified and killed, that God raised from the dead, he's alive. He did it. He's still alive. He's still doing it. And we will not stop talking about him whatsoever. And that's
21:58 it. They don't have this long debate. They're saying, if that's what you wanna know, then let me tell you what it is. Friends, when we rely on the power of God, we we act differently. Now
22:10 here's what we need to realize. Every single born again believer has the spirit of God resident in them. Romans chapter 8 verse 9 says, he who does not have the spirit of Christ is not of Christ. If you've been born
22:20 again, the spirit of God lives in you. You have all of the Holy Spirit. He doesn't come in and part. He's not a force. He's a person. He's the third person of the Trinity. Here's the question. He you have all of him.
22:32 Does he have all of you? Are you allowing him to control your life? Because Christianity is not about me doing good things for Jesus even after becoming a believer. Being a Christian is am I allowing the spirit of God to
22:43 work through my life to accomplish all that he wants? Am I being obedient to the spirit's promptings? When I'm reading the word, am I doing what he wants me to do? Am I still continuing to walk in obedience? Am I still
22:53 going God's way? Does the holy spirit really take up residence in my life? Am I seeing more of him and less of me? Is he becoming greater and I'm becoming less? Those are the ways that we're filled with the spirit. Those
23:03 are the ways that we rely on the power of God. It's very difficult in the moment if you haven't been walking with God to start relying on his power. What crisis and trial and suffering does reveals
23:16 how much that you've been walking with God in the moment prior to seeing that. So we rely on the power of God. Why? Because we know that it's true. I mean, John 15, a great illustration about
23:27 abiding. Jesus said, I am the vine. You're the branches. In other words, you have to stay connected to me. Because why? You say it with me. Because apart from me, you can do Nothing. Nothing. We don't
23:39 believe that. I mean, we believe it because it's scripture, but our lives don't demonstrate that. Well, I can do a lot. You can do nothing apart from the spirit of God. Nothing that's lasting or eternal. Amen? But you do
23:51 need to realize that the same spirit that raised Jesus Christ from the dead is dwelling in you and has the same power that he's always had. So we're gonna rely on his power. It's kind of like if you look at a group of
24:02 homes, when there's a power outage and all the lights are off in all the homes, but there's 1 that's connected to the generator and all the lights are on. Power source. And you're connected to the Holy
24:14 Spirit, who is the power source in this life. No matter how dark it gets, you still get to remain. And it's the Holy Spirit that's working in and through you to accomplish all of his things for you. So staying
24:25 connected to the Holy Spirit is so important. I mean, it's like this. You can you can push a vacuum cleaner around your house all day, but if it's not plugged in, it doesn't do anything. I mean, you're just doing
24:35 exercise in futility. You can go through all the motions, but it's not doing any. The same is true for us if we're not allowing the Holy Spirit to guide and direct our lives. It's praying prayers like this.
24:47 Before I read the word, Lord, I've read this passage before or this this passage is new to me. Lord, show me what you want me to see today. Holy Spirit reveal to me truth I don't understand. And not just truth about the
24:58 Bible, but truth about me that I can change. Search me and try me, oh Lord. See if there's any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting. Lord, I'm coming before you today because I need you, and I need you
25:09 to change me, and I wanna stay more connected to you. Lord, is there anything that I need to stop doing that's hindering my walk with you? Lord, there's some things I need to start doing that will help my walk with you.
25:19 Lord, is there anything I need to start doing a little bit differently than how I've been doing it? Because Lord, I wanna do it your way. When you posture yourself before the Lord wanting to hear him, he will speak very,
25:28 very clearly to you because he's willing to answer all those things. Those that hunger and thirst for righteousness will be satisfied. I mean, the same spirit that raised Jesus from the dead lives in us. You can
25:40 rely on his power because he'll be with you wherever you go. He told his disciples, you don't need to worry about what you're gonna have to say. I'll I'll show you in a moment what you need to say. And every time whether
25:51 it's these guys preaching in the streets, whether somebody gets healed and they're doing it in the temple, or now they're before the religious leaders, they're saying exactly what they need to say because they've been
25:59 spending time with Jesus. So proclaim his word, rely on his power, and then do this. Number 3, stand on the exclusivity of Jesus Christ. Stand on
26:11 the exclusivity of Jesus Christ. I love the next 2 verses. Because what they're gonna do is they're talking to the leaders, they take them back to the Psalms. They take them back to Psalm
26:23 118 verse 22 and they quote it. He is the stone which was rejected by you, the builders, but which became the cornerstone. It was a prophetic word about Jesus being the
26:35 cornerstone of his church. You've heard it before. The stone the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. You know what the next 2 verses say in the Psalms? This is the Lord's doing and it's marvelous in our
26:45 eyes. This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. What are they doing? They're telling the religious leaders who know the Old Testament scriptures. Remember what that was prophesying about?
26:56 That was prophesying about the Messiah that was going to come and be killed and guess what? You kill them. To convict them of their sin. And then they go on and say this and I love this. This is as
27:08 clear as it gets. There is salvation in no 1 else for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved. What are they talking about? They're
27:20 talking about the exclusivity of Jesus Christ. I don't know how many worldwide religions there are, and if you add up all the cults and all that kind of stuff, but there's a lot of people that follow a lot of those
27:31 things. Pastor Jeff, how do you know they're not true? Because there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. Amen? That's it.
27:44 Hear me clearly on this. I'm not saying people can't be kind or good or philanthropic or comparatively speaking better than other people. That's not what I'm talking about. We're talking
27:56 about salvation. Allah cannot save. Muhammad cannot save. Confucius cannot save. None of the 3000 plus Hindu gods can save. Joseph Smith can't
28:08 save. Right? The Pope can't save. Mary can't save. I mean, there's no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. Jesus made that
28:20 clear in his ministry. He said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No 1, That means no 1 who's ever existed, no 1 who's ever been born, no matter what ethnicity they are, no matter what their skin
28:32 color is, no 1 comes to the father except through me. So in heaven, the only people that will be there have come through Christ. That's called the exclusivity of Jesus. Here's
28:43 what the world says, that is narrow minded, so bigoted. I know some Muslims that are great. I know Hindus that are great. So do I. And they're all going to hell because they don't know Jesus.
28:55 And Jesus is the only way. That's why the gospel must be proclaimed. Amen? And that's what they're saying. They're making it crystal clear there are no other options.
29:07 First Timothy 2 5 says, there is 1 God and 1 mediator between God and men, the man Jesus Christ. You don't pray through saints. You don't pray through Mary. You don't pray through your pastor. You don't pray through your
29:17 priest. You can go directly to God because Jesus is Lord. Amen? That's it. And in Matthew chapter 7, he talks about there's a wide road and a broad gate, but there's a narrow road and a narrow gate, and very few
29:29 people find that. But you need to find that to have life. And not everyone that says to me, Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of Evan. I mean, we we need to understand this, because we live in a culture where we see
29:41 bumper stickers like this on the back of cars all over our city. See if you've seen this bumper sticker on a car. You ever seen that 1? The Coexist bumper sticker, which is really this plea for
29:53 why can't we all just get along? I mean, if you if you look at this, you see the the crescent moon of the sea and the and the representing the the crescent moon of Islam. And then you see the the the peace
30:05 symbol there for the o. And then you see, you know, the e, which is it often includes gender equality and scientific symbols. And you know, then you have the x, which is represented by
30:16 the star of David. That's Judaism. And then you have the I which is a pagan or Wiccan symbol. Sometimes this is done with a pentagram or a humanist symbol. Then you get the yin and yang symbol for the the s which is
30:28 Taoism or Eastern Spirituality. And then at the end, you get the cross. And we're all the same. If there's 1 bumper sticker that makes me wanna vomit, it's this
30:40 1. It doesn't mean you can't love people. Jesus called us to love everybody. But is it loving to let people go to hell? I don't think it is. I mean the
30:52 coexist bumper sticker is the earthly way of saying, I don't wanna hear the truth. I wanna go to hell. Now think about this. What does it profit a man to gain the entire world and forfeit his soul? Now the older I get,
31:02 I'll be 55 in December, the more interested I become in obituaries. Like when people die, I'm like, oh, let me think about it. I've known them for a while. I've seen what they've done. They've been an actor or an actress
31:14 or they're a singer or they're this. How have they lived their whole life? But an obituary only talks to you about what happened on this side. If the obituary was written as to what happened in the next 5
31:26 minutes, they would be terrifying stories. Because here's what happens when a person dies. When you depart and breathe your lash, you stand in front of the glorious resurrected Christ.
31:38 And if you had repented and placed your faith in him, then you get to hear this, Well done, good and faithful servant. Come home. Been waiting for you. If you haven't repented and trusted Christ, you will hear
31:50 depart from me, you worker of iniquity. I never knew you. You'll be cast into outer darkness where there's weeping and gnashing of teeth, and you'll wait for the lake of fire until you're thrown in it for all eternity.
31:59 Like, that's what happens. And the majority of of the obituaries that you read in our culture, the latter is what happens to all of them. And so we sit here and tell stories, oh, they were such a good this, they were so
32:10 great at that. They were they threw away 90 years, 80 years, 70 years, 110 years, and now they're living in eternity apart from Christ. What a waste. Right? And
32:22 we're like, well, you just talk about Jesus. That's so so narrow minded and and so bigoted. Here here's what I would say. I mean, the coexist lie is kinda like this. I mean, imagine being up in a plane with a pilot that
32:32 says, I'll land on whatever runway whenever I want. I don't need to talk to anybody. You don't wanna be on that plane. Right? Or imagine you're in a burning building with 1
32:44 exit clearly marked, this is the way. That's the only open door, and you know all the other doors are locked. And people see fire, and they're all gonna burn and you're pointing them, this is the way out, that's the way
32:54 out. Am I being unloving? Because I'm telling them that's the only way out. Well, you're just being bigoted. I like all the doors over I mean, I'm telling you, that's the only way out. Like, that's why I stand here and
33:05 plead with you Sunday after Sunday, because it's not only tragic to go to hell, but it'd be tragic to attend brave church and go to hell when you're hearing the truth. I'm telling you, there's only 1 way, and it's
33:16 through Jesus. Here's why many of you don't understand that. Here's why the culture doesn't understand that. Because people mistakenly think that heaven's for good people. Heaven's for bad people.
33:28 There's nobody good in heaven other than Jesus. Even the Bible says, we've all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. The Bible says there is no 1 good, no not 1. The Bible says that we are children of wrath.
33:40 The Bible says that God is angry with the wicked every single day. Means if you have not repented, you are bad. God doesn't see you as good.
33:52 Now he created you in love, he loves you, but he can't accept you because he can only take that which is perfect to come to heaven. That's why Christianity is unique because Christ came to save
34:04 sinners. Amen. He came to save wicked people. He came to save bad people. He came to save those who knew that they weren't perfect, and knew if they stood before the perfect God would
34:16 be cast out into all outer darkness. And we're asking, what do I do? Here's what you do. You repent, you trust that Jesus Christ died for you on the cross and rose from the dead, and all your sin can be forgiven.
34:32 Amen? Because let me promise you what you won't do when you get to heaven. You won't pull anybody over aside. I'm like, I can't believe they're here. I was way better than they were. I mean, you won't do that. You
34:43 won't brag about what you did to get there. Here's what you'll say if you're truly born again. Thank you Jesus for dying for my sin because I don't deserve it. That's it. I don't deserve it. You're perfect.
34:55 I'm not. You took all my punishment for me. When you were on that cross and God poured out all his wrath, that was for me and you stood in my way and I placed all my faith in you and I'm so thankful for you because I
35:06 deserve what you got. Thank you. That's the gospel. And many people don't come to Christ because they don't realize that that's their need. They think, I'm good. Much like the rich young
35:18 ruler. Good teacher, what must I do to get into heaven? Well, what are the commandments? Oh, they're this, this, and this, and I've kept them all since I was a boy. No. You've broken everyone since you were a boy. There
35:27 there's not 1 that you've kept, and you're not good. It's your pride that thinks that you're better than everybody else. And while you can find people in this Earth, and you say I'm better than them, you're not comparing
35:39 yourself to the perfect almighty God who came and died for you. So I'm pleading with you. I plead with you all the time. Repent and believe that Jesus is the Christ. God loved
35:50 you so much. He sent Jesus. He didn't want you to experience life without him. He didn't want you to experience hell. Hell was not built for you. It wasn't built for any humans. It was built for the devil and his angels.
36:00 But if you don't repent and trust Jesus, that's where you spend eternity. And it breaks my heart because I look around our city and pretty much every city in our culture and pretty much every city you go to around the
36:11 world. And the majority of those are facing a crisis eternity. And so what the apostles understood here that we need to understand is that we're called to be bold. It doesn't mean if somebody
36:23 is Muslim we don't love them. It doesn't mean if somebody is a Buddhist we don't love them. It doesn't mean if somebody is a Hindu we don't love them. It doesn't mean if somebody is a spiritualist we don't love them. But
36:34 we love them enough to say the way you're heading is gonna bring you great destruction. And I'd rather have you hate me and be loving to you to show you that there's a better way and there's a God in heaven
36:46 that's pleading for you to come home than for me to agree with your sin. And think about it just for a minute. Just pause here real quick in the message. And just think about your family, think about your friends,
36:58 think about your neighborhood. Just just think how many of those, if Jesus came back today, would spend a crisis eternity? And how are they ever gonna hear if you don't open your mouth? Just think
37:10 about that. Well, Thanksgiving will get really really tough. Good. Hell's worse. It is. Don't be afraid to share the gospel. I'm not telling you to ram
37:22 it down their throat, but what I'm saying is stand firm on the truth and don't apologize because I'm telling you some of you in here there's some people in here that have treated there's some not people in here, but someShow more
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