Sermon: Go into all the World and Share the Gospel

Hope your faith walk is blessed today, and full of good fruit. I hope your inner strength is in the peace of God. Reach out for God and he'll reach out for you.

I'm excited for week after week of growing closer to the heavenly Father.  It's a wonderful journey. As we grow closer to God we start to see the truth more clearly. We become progressively more holy.  We become wiser. We become stronger. Our faith grows and flourishes. Our inner peace and serenity expands, so we can handle the most desperate situations calmly.  Because one day soon, we may have to.

I see God training a new generation of leaders, through the power of the internet. These men and women have access to a wealth of information on culture, news, industry, science, and religion. These people have the need for truth and desperately seek the truth. And eventually they find the road leading to the holy Bible. They come for the word of God, because they see an awful world around them.  

The truth sets us free, inwardly. When we are free inwardly, we seek to make our external world better. And it's nice being free isn't it?  Our freedom may be taken away externally, but internally we find freedom from sinful obsession in the love of Christ Jesus.

John 8:36 NIV says: "So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed."

I like being free. We love freedom because it is our natural correct state under God. God created us with free will, so we could choose freely, whether we do good or evil. Given an unfettered choice we tend toward evil. When laws and rules are forced upon us, ironically, we often tend toward further misconduct, and these laws only expose our own inner helpless state. The law ends up exposing our true state, and pointing us toward our powerlessness and ultimate need for a savior who can change.

Many Godly men and women founded this nation, the United States. We know that God blessed this nation, because it has prospered. Considering the odds the American founders had to face, fighting the greatest army the world had ever known, the British army. The events that surrounded the American revolution were filled with moments of divine providence.

However, our nation has drifted away from it's founding principles. And so often face a government over us that is not instilling godly values. The Bible teaches that we ought to obey the ruling authorities (Romans 13), but disobey if it interferes with our service to God.  The Bible doesn't teach us to ignore what our government does. It doesn't teach us to sit idly by. Since we have a participatory government, we ought to engage in it. If we see laws that are unjust we can help change them, by participating in the legal processes. But we need not disobey them, unless they harm others or ourselves directly.

I know this is a hard time to be a Christian. It's a very hard time to be a servant of the most high God. I think of Psalm 3 when I look at the situation in the nations:

¹ Lord, how numerous are my enemies!
Many attack me.
² Many say about me,
“God will not deliver him.”
³ But you, Lord, are a shield that protects me;
you are my glory and the one who restores me.
⁴ To the Lord I cried out,
and he answered me from his holy hill.
⁵ I rested and slept;
I awoke, for the Lord protects me.
⁶ I am not afraid of the multitude of people
who attack me from all directions.
⁷ Rise up, Lord!
Deliver me, my God!
Yes, you will strike all my enemies on the jaw;
you will break the teeth of the wicked.
⁸ The Lord delivers;
you show favor to your people." 

For years I was concerned that the United States was looking more and more like a modern day Babylon. Should I leave? The Babylon described in Revelation is often accompanied by pleas to "flee Babylon!" Shouldn't I prepare my family and leave?

It's a tough question. But I take some solace that in the Old Testament Babylon conquered Jerusalem. This was the ancient Babylonian captivity. Somewhere between 10 and 20 thousand Israelites were enslaved and taken to Babylon.  Later on, a Persian king conquered Babylon, and allowed the Israelites to return to Jerusalem. 46,000 Israelites returned to Jerusalem, and God blessed them. 

There is reason for great hope for the United States. We can help many to know Christ in these lands. And I believe God will bless us on that quest. There is much work to do.

Let me remind and encourage you to pray. Pray when you're frustrated by the media. Pray when you wish for the sleeping church to wake up. Pray when you feel frustrated. Pray when you feel lost. And pray when you're scared for your nation.

God is not deaf, God hears us. God is real. Most importantly, God is love.  He is pure mercy.  He is not the mean monster that you've been told about.  He's a loving God.  A pure God.  A God with you in the room you read this in, right now.  

He's there.  Right now.  Listen for him.  Watch for him.  

I know, it's hard to work through the indoctrination many of us have experienced in public education and the university system. Please don't mistake me, education, science, technology, and medicine have assisted us greatly on this journey called life.  Scientists wonder at the power and majesty of the universe. I deeply respect that. I deeply respect their search for truth.  I firmly believe however, that God is at the end of that journey.  

Some of us see the presence of God in our experiences.  Some of us see it in the facts.  Neither way is wrong.

So we know what to do, don't we?  Matthew 28:16-20 says "¹⁶ Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. ¹⁷ When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. ¹⁸ Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

The great commission is ours to fulfill.  And we can fulfill it.  We can fulfill it every day.

So please, don't be afraid as you're out there fighting for the truth.  How many times does the Bible tell us to not be afraid?  I know many believe the Bible is a work of indoctrination meant to control us.  I don't see that within the actual pages of the Bible. Within the actual pages of the Bible, I see a path of true and perfect peace. I see a path where fear and doubt has no place. How can such a beautiful teaching of peace be indoctrination? If it were indoctrination, it would tell me to serve the state as number one, it would tell me to be afraid and to be uncertain. It would tell me to serve myself, not others. Instead, it tells of loving and caring for others, for peace and truth, for joy and love. This is no work of indoctrination. Of course interpretation can lead to indoctrination, which is why we must read the Bible for ourselves. We must see the truth from the Holy Spirit's leading.

Remember, that we have an enemy out there. That enemy is Satan, and his followers. There are Satanic powers in this world, principalities and powers who quietly influence governments, corporations, and institutions of this world. Don't let this trouble you. We are to expect great troubles in the world. But final victory will be ours over these forces of darkness in the heavenly places.

Always remember, while you're out there fighting for the truth, by serving others in love: You're savior Jesus Christ has already won.  

John 16:33 says: "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."