Ep. 021 Speak to the People

Welcome to the Potter's House Salmon Arm podcast. We are a Bible-Believing Church located in

beautiful British Columbia, Canada. We are proudly part of the Christian Fellowship Ministries with

3,000 churches around the world. We are a church focused on world evangelism, discipleship, and

church planting. Here we will share recent sermons from P.H.S.A. Church and other sermons from

throughout our fellowship. I am Pastor David Bickford and I will be your host for this podcast.

I thank you for listening today and we hope these messages are a blessing to you and bring you closer

to God. Hello and welcome back to the podcast. Today I'm going to preach a message about speak

to the people. The subheading is Speak, Proclaim, and Preach. This was a message that I preached

way back in May of last year. I'm working through quite a few of the sermons I've preached in the

past year and we're just wanting to get as wide a reach as we can with this message. Eventually,

the goal is to do this in a YouTube format but I want to make sure that I get these messages out

and as I learn how to do YouTube a little bit and a little bit of video editing. As we grow as a

church, I want to make sure this gets out but that is the ultimate goal is to also keep the podcast

running but also to have the video done on YouTube. Further to that, I did Mitchell Mondays for a

while. I'm still playing around with what else to do or how else to do. What I believe I'm going to

do is we had our conference in January at Prescott, Arizona. I'm going to share a bunch of those

sermons as we go forward as I see fit to just make sure that I get as much of the gospel message out

there but the core of the podcast is to share the messages that are preached in our church here at

Samanar and to get the gospel out. As I've said before, 3,500 churches globally within our

Christian Fellowship Ministries umbrella and with that, we have tremendous preachers in our

fellowship both here in Canada and the United States and throughout the world. I want to start

sharing those as time permits but not without dropping off or missing the weekly sermon that

I provide through this podcast. That is the core. As we grow, as the church grows, the goal is to

have a functioning YouTube channel with sermons being preached and eventually those will end up

being just rebroadcasts of the service in its entirety but with the focus of sharing sermons

on this podcast platform because it's a little bit different. It's a little bit more concise and I

want to be able to provide that to whoever is willing to listen and as we grow. So today,

again, the sermon is going to be Speak to the People, Speak, Proclaim, and Preach. That's the

title of this message and the source of scripture we're going to use as a jumping off point is going

to be Acts chapter 4 verses 17 through 20. We'll go ahead and jump into that in just a second but

Acts 4:17–20

I wanted to use this quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson that says, Speech is power. Speech is to

persuade, to convert, to compel. It is to bring another out of his bad sense and into your good

sense. So the interesting thing about this quote is it doesn't give us any real indication about

the pros or cons of speech because some speech that comes from the Lord is going to be

or from his word is going to be powerful. It's going to be supernatural in some sense but there's

a lot of speech out there too that can have negative connotations and so we have to be aware

of that. We have to take all things in balance as we look at this topic but let's go ahead and jump

in with Acts 4 verses 17 through 20 and maybe before we do that let's just pray, Dear Lord God,

Acts 4:17–20

that open our eyes and our ears to your word and to your wisdom, Lord God. Open our hearts, Lord God,

to be transformed by the sacrifice of your Son and by the Holy Spirit that we turn to you in all

things. That the word that we see in the scripture would wash over us, Lord God, and help us to live

a life moving towards sanctification in Jesus Christ. We give you all the praise and glory.

Thank you for the grace that you give us. Open our hearts to this word to this morning in Jesus' name.

Amen. So in verse 17 it says, But in order that it may spread no further among the people, let us

warn them to speak no more to anyone in this name. So they called them and charged them not to speak

or to teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered them, Whether it is right in the

sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we

have seen and heard. So here you obviously have a group that is trying to contend against Peter and

John and stop them from preaching this gospel. And they are telling the group back, is it right for

us to listen to you and deny God or to listen to God and to deny you? And this is a very poignant,

you know, message for us in our time today, where we are told oftentimes that to even read the word

of God or out loud or to even say, I believe in the word of God out loud can be seen by some as

being, you know, hateful speech. And so it's very interesting how this is not a new subject. This is

something that the apostles dealt with in their time and that, you know, Christians have dealt with

throughout history. Right. And we see this. And so that's at the very center of this discussion is

that where do you make your decisions in life? Is it going to be based off of what society tells

you is good and sensible in their madness? Or is it going to be what God tells you is good and

sensible in His holiness and His righteousness? So with that, let's take a look at the resignation

speech from 1783 from George Washington. And to grasp the true power of George Washington's

resignation as the commander of chief and of the entire U.S. military or the Continental Army,

you have to go beyond the words themselves and appreciate the context. General Washington was in

no way obliged to resign his commission, but he did so willingly and even gladly just as he would

later refuse a third term as president of the United States, establishing the precedent that

was honored up until the 1940s of only having a two term president. And then later it was enshrined

after Roosevelt as a set standard that presidents should leave after two terms. So despite being

the most powerful man in this fledgling military and then becoming the most powerful man in the

United States, this shows the humbleness of Washington that he was never hungry for power

for himself. He just happened to be the best man for the job at the time. So even in his last address

as leader of the nation's armed forces, Washington made it all about America and not about himself. So

he says, happy in the confirmation of our independence and sovereignty and pleased with

the opportunity afforded the United States becoming a respectable nation, I resigned with

satisfaction the appointment I accepted with diffidence. A diffidence in my abilities to

accomplish so arduous a task, which however was superseded by a confidence in the rectitude of

our cause, the support of the supreme power of the union and the patronage of heaven.

So what is it about speech? Like when we hear George Washington, some of those words might seem

old timing, but the reality is, is he is giving, he's showing his heart with that, with that

resignation speech. He's, he's showing that he believes that the country that was just birthed,

their true patronage is to heaven and not to any man. So when we think about speech,

and when today I preach about our call to speak, you know, we have to think about that in these

terms, we are, you know, our patronage is also heaven as Christians, we are commanded to speak

to proclaim and preach the gospel of heaven of Jesus Christ. So why is it that we're commanded

to open our mouths for this cause of Jesus Christ? Is this a new thing that we are called to do? Or

is this something as old as the heavens? And so we are, we are, we are, we are, we are, we are

called to be spoken to, to be proclaimed, to be preached everywhere. We know that Jesus is the

word and was the father from the beginning, as was with the father from the beginning. So then it

stands to reason that words are meant to be spoken, to be proclaimed and to be preached

everywhere and to everyone. In John one verses one through five, it says the word became flesh in the

beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. He was in the beginning with

the word and the word was made. In him was life and the life was the light of men. The light shines in

the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it. This is not something we can neglect. This is not

something that we could hold back. It is something we must foster within us. We must water the tiny

seeds of our faith to fertilize the tiny sprout as it grows and nurture our speaking abilities so

we can have confidence in Jesus to speak, proclaim, preach his gospel to all things.

It's interesting that to put so much emphasis on speaking. Public speaking especially is one of the

most feared phobias for a lot of people. Surveys typically indicate that between 72 to 75 percent

of the population fears speaking publicly. Why is there so much fear about public speaking? Why does

the act of speech elicit such anxiety in such a large portion of society? Is it the fear of failure,

inadequacy, embarrassment, or is the fear of people or self or even the fear of success?

Jonah feared preaching to the Assyrians because he knew that he would be successful. Moses feared

speaking because of embarrassment. These emotions are nothing new but the reality remains that we

are called to fall upon the Lord and speak the gospel, to proclaim the gospel and preach the

gospel. And then with this I want to interject too that it's not just about public speaking.

It's not just about being in front of crowds or preaching to an assembly. It's about speaking

one-on-one to people we come in contact with day to day. Oftentimes it becomes even just or just as

terrifying to go up to a stranger and preach or speak the gospel to them and humbleness and share

that gospel message to one person or a group of two or three or four or five. This also can become

terrifying to people, just as terrifying to people as it is to speak to a group of a hundred or

five hundred or a thousand for others. But that brings me my first point which is speak to the

people, the prophets. Oftentimes you know there's you look at the picture of Moses and he says I'm

slow to speech. So oftentimes we try to make excuses when God calls us to speak on his behalf

and this is nothing new. As I said, Moses struggled with speaking for God but fortunately for Moses

God did not let him go free from his calling but made a way for him to fulfill his calling. Even

today we cannot get away from our calling. We can either accept it or reject it but we will never

truly get rid of the call that is on our lives. In Exodus 4 10 through 16 and then in verses 28

through 30 we read, But Moses said to the Lord, O Lord, I am not eloquent either in the past or

since you have spoken to your servant but I am slow of speech and of tongue. Then the Lord said

to him, Who has made man's mouth? Who makes him mute or deaf or seeing or blind? Is it not I,

the Lord? Now therefore go and I will be your with you, your mouth and teach you what you shall

speak. But he said, O my Lord, please send someone else. Then the anger of the Lord was kindled

against Moses and he said, Is there not Aaron your brother, the Levite? I know that he can speak well.

Behold he is coming down to meet you and when he sees you he will be glad in his heart. You shall

speak to him and put the words in his mouth. I will be with your mouth and with his mouth and

will teach you both what to do. He shall speak for you to the people and he shall be your mouth and

you shall be as God to him. So in verse 28 says, And Moses told Aaron all the words of the Lord

with which he had sent him to speak and all the signs that he had commanded him to do. Then Moses

and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the people of Israel and Aaron spoke

all the words that the Lord had spoken to Moses and did the signs inside of the people.

It's a very interesting idea that you know you have a calling upon Moses life. He's asked to

preach, you know, speak, you know, to the assembly and he can't do it. But God doesn't let him get

past this. It doesn't take away this calling onto his life. Rather he finds a way for him to do this

despite his fear. And he says that he's going to work with him to get him to be able to do these

things. So when we travel through the Old Testament we see the prophets of God constantly commanded

to speak to the people on God's behalf. Why is it important to speak? Why can't this just be written

down in a letter, put on an Instagram post, or whatever we think we can do today? Because the

word of God in the gospel of Jesus Christ is meant to be heard. Let us look at just a few times that

the prophets were told by God to speak, keeping in mind that that phrase speak to shows up in the

Bible over 250 times. Exodus 25, 1 to 2, the Lord said to Moses, speak to the people of Israel,

that they take me for a contribution from every man whose heart moves him, you shall receive the

contribution from me. Leviticus 22 has 22 instances where God tells Moses to speak to the children of

Israel. Jeremiah 11, 1 through 2, the word came to Jeremiah from the Lord, hear the word, hear the

word of the Lord, hear the words of this covenant and speak to the men of Judah and the inhabitants

of Jerusalem. Ezekiel 3, 1 through 4, and he said to me, son of man, eat whatever you find here,

eat this scroll and go speak to the house of Israel. So I opened my mouth and he gave me this

scroll to eat and he said to me, son of man, feed your belly with this scroll that I will give you

and fill your stomach with it. Then I ate it and it was in my mouth as sweet as honey and he said

to me, son of man, go to the house of Israel and speak with my words to them. God's word was meant

to be spoken in the Old Testament. It was expected that you would have large portions or the entirety

of the Torah, the Old Testament, memorized so that you could draw from the word and speak with

authority. When the prophets were called by the Lord, it was to speak to the people of Israel.

In the New Testament, the pattern is the same. When Jesus would heal, he expected those who had

had lived or had their lives changed to become vocal testimonies, to speak and to proclaim.

And that brings me to my second point, which is proclaim. The prophets in the New Testament

saints did not just speak the gospel, they proclaimed the gospel with zeal. We need to

have zeal for the things of God. We need to foster relationship with God so that we will be filled

with the Holy Spirit, with fire in our bones like Jeremiah. In Jeremiah 29, it says, if I say I will

not mention him or speak anymore in his name, there is in my heart as it were a burning fire

shutting my bones and I am weary withholding it, withholding it in and I cannot. In Psalm 39,

3, it says, my heart became hot within me as I muse the fire burned and then I spoke with my tongue.

As we grow closer to Jesus, we understand more of what his sacrifice meant to us

and to the world. And if we're truly going to follow Christ and see and seeking to be more

Christ-like in our lives, then we should be growing in our convictions and we should also be more

emphatic to the disastrous course that the world is headed. We should become more vocal. We should

be speaking more boldly about the things of God. We shouldn't be becoming more timid. And even

though we have fear, we have to strive against that. In Job 32, 8, it says, but it is the spirit

in man, the breath Almighty that makes him understand. That is why we must proclaim the

gospel. We must shout it from the rooftops. Jesus died for all our sins. The price has been paid,

but we must receive it. And Colossians 4, 4, and the New Living Translation, it says,

pray that I will proclaim this message as clearly as I should. That's a good point, a side point

of clarity. We proclaim with clarity the simple gospel message so there can be no confusion

about what we are speaking of. And Acts 13, 38 says, brothers, listen, we are here to proclaim

that through this man, Jesus, there is forgiveness for your sins. The clarity of Jesus coming to

earth, God incarnate, dying for our sins so that when we repent, we can have forgiveness from our

sins in Jesus Christ. Through Jesus Christ, we can be set free. Psalm 35, 28, then I will proclaim

your justice. I will praise you all day long because our God is a God of justice. And when we

preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, when we preach about our God, it is preaching righteousness,

holiness, and justice. In a world that so vocally says they're seeking justice, why not preach a

gospel of justice? So here we start with speaking. Just open your mouth, let the words of God and

Jesus Christ be your speech. In your timidity, in your fear, speak. In everything we do, we're

called to do it unto the Lord, so then let us start now with our speech. This is one reason why

we refrain from profane speech because we are meant to use our words for godly and heavenly

speech. We hold our tongue, we do not gossip, we do not mock or impugn others with our tongue

defiling it because our tongue is meant for worship. It is meant to speak about the gospel

of Jesus Christ and as we speak, we will gain boldness and the fire from the Holy Spirit will

work inside us to empower our speech to the point of proclamation. We are the fire alarm for a fallen

world. We need to lift our voices above the clamor of our time and proclaim the gospel of our risen

Lord Jesus Christ. And this brings me to my final point, which is preach. The culmination of speech

and our proclamation is the preaching of the gospel. The whole point of the gospel is to lead

others to salvation, not condemnation. And John 3.17 says, for God did not send his son into the

world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. This is

quite frankly my favorite verse of scripture. Everybody knows the preceding scripture 3.16,

but this is the one that I like the most because it emphasizes the point that he didn't send his

son to condemn us, but rather that we might be saved through him. The truth is that we preach

a gospel of the gospel of Jesus Christ so that others may also be saved, filled with the Holy

Ghost and then discipled. And the pattern continues. We know this to be a clear truth from the word

because we can see in 2nd Timothy chapter 4 verses 1 through 5, I charge you in the presence of God

and of Jesus Christ, who is the judge, the living and the dead and by his appearing and his kingdom,

preach the word, be ready in season and out of season to reprove, rebuke and exhort with complete

patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching,

but have itching ears and they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions

and will turn away from listening to the truth and wandering off in myths. As for you, always be

sober minded, endure suffering and do the work of an evangelist to fulfill your ministry. Now clearly

he is talking to Timothy in this in this portion of scripture, but I believe that the the core

message is for all believers. It is for all of us to work towards Christ's likeness as we walk in

our salvation as we walk with the gift of grace that's been given to us. We should all be striving

to be as much as we can in the Lord. Even if you don't think you're called to preach in a public

ministry, I contend that you are called to preach within your ability. I also believe that in Christ

we have the strength to do all things, Philippians 4 13. In time as you draw close to Christ,

you will have the strength to speak, to proclaim and to preach. Again the purpose is for others

to receive salvation. We might start humbly speaking about our own testimony, what Jesus has

done for us and to us, but as we grow and we gain boldness we can proclaim the truth of the cross

and call others to see the cross, to hear the message that was on the Calvary. At this pivotal

juncture it is the cross of Calvary that we preach, a message of salvation. So as we grow,

as we bear fruit, we can pray, we can preach about what we've seen God do in our lives and to others

that we have preached the gospel to. So once you cross that chasm of speech and to proclaim the

message to those on the other side, it is here that you find the strength to cast a lifeline to

those who are lost in sin and to see them saved by the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ

and helping them also to speak, to proclaim and to preach the gospel. This is why we do alter

calls at every event. This is why we go out into the streets and cast wide nets. This is why we

disciple to follow that pattern that is shown to us in the New Testament. This is why we send out

workers and plant churches and missionaries and we take care of our missionaries as per the pattern

that we see in the Old and the New Testament. We do all these things to push the gospel message

forward, to speak, to proclaim, to preach a gospel of salvation. Jesus, God incarnate, came to earth.

He died for our sins. So let us close with Paul in one of the earliest Christian creeds, in 1st

Corinthians 15. Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preach to you, which you received,

in which you stand and by which you are being saved if you hold fast to the world I preach to you,

unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of the first import, the gospel of the

world, and I also received that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures,

that he was buried, that he was raised, and that the third day in accordance with the scriptures,

and that he appeared to Cephas and then to the twelve, and then he appeared to more than 500

brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he

appeared to James, then to the apostles, and last of all, as to one untimely born he appeared also

to me. For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I

persecuted the church of God. But by grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not

in vain. On the contrary, I work harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God

that is with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we preach, and so you believe. If the murder of

Saul can be changed to one of the most prolific apostles, Paul, then we need to become something

more in Christ Jesus. We can learn to speak, we can learn to proclaim, and we can reach the gospel,

you know, reach others with the gospel of Jesus Christ with fire and zeal. So with that, if I

could have every head bowed, every eye closed, if you're, you know, if you're, if it's safe to do so,

I know that we can't see each other. This is just a podcast, but this is the critical part

of every message is this invitation. I don't preach these words, you know, to edify myself.

I preach this with the hope that someday this message will get out to one person, if only one,

that it would affect and it would change your life. And if this message has impacted you,

and you know that you're living a life of sin away from God, whether you've never heard the

gospel message or you've backslidden and you've left what you know to be true and you want to come

back, you want to give your life to Jesus Christ, I want to signify that with an uplifted hand.

I can't see it, but God can see it. And if you're doing that right now,

and you're doing that with a contrite heart, then I want you to know God sees that.

And I want you to pray this simple prayer with me. Dear Lord God, I know that I'm a sinner,

but I know that you sent your son, Jesus Christ, and he came and he died for my sin.

I repent, I turn from my sin and accept Jesus as my Lord and my Savior and my King.

And I thank you for the gift of salvation that comes by grace in Jesus name. Amen. If you send

that prayer and you meant it, then I know that you feel a change in your heart, even at this moment.

Maybe the whole amount of it, the understanding isn't there, and it might not be there for a

while, but it's going to hit you because you're a new creation in Jesus Christ.

And so what you know, you might think, what do you do next? It's pretty simple. You read the word of

God, you find a Bible, you read it, you pray, you cry out to God, you talk to your Father in heaven,

and then you find a Bible believing church that you can lock into, that you can work with,

that they can help you because it is the body of Christ that we all need to support us during

these times that we live in. And the Bible tells us not to forsake the gathering of the brethren,

which is the church. So with that, if you live in Samanar, reach out. You can reach out to

pottershousesa.icloud.com. That's our email for the church. You can reach out to me directly

at 604-997-8446. I'd love to hear from you. I'd love to talk to you. If you're in Samanar,

please give me a call, reach out to us, and come to service on Sundays at 1030.

If you're not, we have 3,500 plus churches globally. I'm sure that there's a good chance

we're going to be able to find you a Bible believing church within our Christian fellowship

ministries, and I could put you in contact with the right people to lock into a great church.

But I want to just thank you as we close for listening to me for this message this morning,

and I want to close this in prayer today and just say, Dear Lord God, I thank you for the

opportunity to preach your word, and I pray that this message would go forth and impact as many

lives as it can for the purpose of seeing people give their life to you, Lord Jesus,

for sacrificing their life to you, Lord Jesus.

And we give you all the praise and glory. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Thank you again.

I can't wait for you to come back for the next message. God bless.

This is something that is only because of the grace of God for mankind and the sacrifice that

he made with his son, Jesus Christ. But it says, if you have ears to hear. So I pray that you

you did say that prayer and that you meant it. And if you did, I pray that you'd reach out to me.

Let me know. Because it's that's the whole purpose of this is to reach as many people

for the with the message of Jesus Christ as possible.

So if you're the next step is that you find a church that preaches the gospel of Jesus Christ

for you. If you're in salmon arm, I'd love for you to come and meet with us here in salmon arm.

You can you can reach out to us. We have our Instagram page. It's Potter's House essay.

You know, on on Instagram and then our email address is just Potter's House essay at iCloud.com.

And so please reach out to us and let let me know you pray there. If you're in salmon arm,

reach out and our services are 1030 on Sunday. And we're currently meeting at the

the boardroom for the Salmon Arm Innovation Center. But please, if you're not close by,

find a Bible believing church. Again, you could reach out because we have 3500 plus churches

global. And I'm sure I could connect you with a great church Bible believing church.

But the important thing is to just, you know, allow God to do a work that is not just a

the important thing is to just allow God to do a work in your life. It's not going to be overnight,

but God is going to do a tremendous work in your life. If you start reading the Bible, you know,

find that church to lock into have fellowship with the brothers

and pray and praying is just simply having a conversation with God.

But I want to thank you for listening to this message and thank you for following the podcast.

If you can, you like share this podcast and subscribe. It helps us with, you know,

our analytics to know that we're getting out there and the message is getting sent to,

you know, to where it's getting sent to globally. So again, I want to thank you for the time you've

taken today to listen to this message and I can't wait for you to come back next time. God bless.