Gospel - What?

I don't know what he is going to tax you on.

Just like the presidency of Donald Trump is beginning to wreak havoc, so in this case you've

got the reign of Jesus Christ the King, which doesn't wreak havoc, but instead it brings

benefits.

You have the reign of this King and you have benefits, you have His kindness, you have

a code of conduct, you have a culture, and this is beginning to intrude or break into

the world.

No, Jacob, it's really not happening.

This thing is all fiction.

Show me where it's happened.

Hey, look at yourself, man.

Look at yourself.

What happens when you are sick?

What happened when she was sick?

What did she do?

She came up for healing.

Healing is what?

It's a benefit of the kingdom.

Who heals?

The King.

What happened?

Her leg got healed.

What happened to Vibi?

His code of conduct changed.

His culture changed.

What happened to others here?

Why are you living the way you're living?

How come your hearts have changed?

How come you think different?

How come you operate so different?

It's because once you receive the benevolent rule of this King, the way His reign functions

intrudes into, invades, and then becomes part of your life.

We are living testimony of another kingdom.

And when a Christian does not live according to the code and the culture of that kingdom,

And so this is happening.

It's happening every day.

It's happening at the rate of 20 or 30,000 people in China every night.

That's just one nation.

Hearts being changed, people being transformed, the way they used to think changing, bitterness

going, anger going, forgiveness flowing out, healing happening, some occasionally being

raised from the dead, others having their minds changed, strongholds gone, anxiety and

fear disappearing.

How in the world does that happen?

Except because of the rule and reign of a King who now rules everything.

Trump has nothing before him.

I'm just using Trump because he seems to be so powerful, right?

I got no axe to grind with him.

And so the gospel of the kingdom was, hey, look at John the Baptist.

What's John the Baptist doing?

John the Baptist comes out of the wilderness.

Why does he come out of the wilderness?

Am I talking too fast?

Why does John the Baptist come out of the wilderness?

John the Baptist comes out of the wilderness because most prophets used to dwell in the

wilderness.

We have Elijah, who's a John the Baptist type, used to spend his time in the wilderness

and then he comes out of the wilderness and he comes to the people.

And what is his announcement?

His announcement is, listen, the axe is at the root of the tree.

Anytime now it's going to happen.

What's going to happen?

There's a kingdom at hand and it is going to break upon you.

But you are not ready, he says to the Jews.

And so he says to the Jews, listen, this is what I want you to do.

I want you to be baptized.

And the Jews are scratching their head and the Pharisees are going really mad.

Why?

Because you only baptize non-Jews who want to become Jews.

Only proselytes, Gentiles, would get baptized because it was a ceremony called Mikwa where

you cleanse yourself of past sins and then you get adopted into the Jewish religion.

And what is John the Baptist saying?

He isn't going to the Gentile or the non-Jew.

He's coming to the Jew and saying, listen, there's a kingdom at hand and you are not

ready and you need to repent and be baptized.

And now you know why the Pharisees want to kill him.

And while he is doing this, along comes a man who most people know as a carpenter and

he points to that man and he says, behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of

the world.

And the man comes in, he baptizes him and testifies that as I did, I saw a dove descending

on him.

And that man now begins to preach.

And he begins to preach in Matthew 423.

It says, and Jesus went around preaching the gospel of the kingdom.

Only the words changed.

It wasn't repent and be baptized for the kingdom of God is at hand.

It became repent and be baptized for the kingdom of God is in your midst.

As in, in the course of history, suddenly at this moment, the reign of the eternal king

has intruded forcibly and from now on it will manifest.

A day will come when it will be consummated, but it will manifest right away.

What does manifest and consummate look like?

It's like having a baby and not yet having a baby.

There are people here that are pregnant and if you ask them, do you have a baby, they'll

say, yes.

And then if you ask them, sure, they'll say, look.

Sometimes yes.

So, they say, look, so what are we trying to say?

We are trying to say that on one hand it is manifest, on the other hand it's not consummated.

Whenever I think of this, I always think of Prince Charles who is finally king.

The guy was waiting forever.

Now it's consummated.

And so the idea of the reign of God being manifest, it's manifest every day, guys.

Every day.

And if you only pause to look at it, you'd marvel at how much good news there is.

How much good news there is.

There is, I quickly went towards him in the middle of the worship to show him a text of

a little baby born while we were worshipping in the New York church.

God did a miracle in first the conception of the baby and now the birth of the baby.

And that baby will be strong and healthy.

God did it.

It just happens so often.

So, you've got the gospel of the kingdom and we are supposed to go to Matthew 423.

If Jesus does it, then we have to do it.

Matthew 423, Matthew 423.

Matthew 423.

Okay.

Jesus went through Galilee teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel or the good

news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness amongst the people.

So when we preach the kingdom, there is also the need to both have the words and the works.

John 1836.

John 1836.

Jesus is in front of Pilate and Pilate asks him, are you a king?

And Jesus said, you say so.

And then he says, my kingdom is not of this world.

John Calvin said this, I love this quote, the purpose of the church, as in our purpose,

the purpose of the church is to bear witness here and now to the invisible kingdom,

just like Jesus did.

With words and works.

This has been what we've been talking about, man, for the last four days this week.

This is what we've been talking about.

Don, are you leaving early?

My sermon's not done, man.

I'll get you for that.

He told me he'd be leaving early.

I didn't think he'd fire that one back.

That was Don.

I'll say more about him later on camera.

So the purpose of the church is to bear witness here and now to the invisible.

The purpose of the church, we'll put him on probation for the next three months here.

The purpose of the church is to bear witness here and now to the invisible,

just like Jesus did with words and works.

Critically, and this is something you should desire.

Just want it, because this is what we are supposed to do.

This is how we witness to the Christ.

Because remember, it's we who have made salvation a personal thing about

receive Christ into your life.

That was never how it was supposed to be.

It was, I have a kingdom, I'm inviting you.

Not you inviting Jesus into your life, but Jesus inviting you into a kingdom.

Hear me again.

It's not about you inviting Jesus into your life.

It is Jesus inviting you into a kingdom.

And so, any questions before we go on?

Any questions?

And you witness to the kingdom by both works and words.

Are you saying the gospel of Christ is the same as the gospel of the kingdom?

It was always known as the gospel of the kingdom.

After Jesus rises and ascends, when he sends his disciples out,

Paul then begins to start using the word the gospel of Christ,

because Christ is the king of the kingdom.

But when Jesus preached it, and for the first while,

it was always the gospel of the kingdom.

He had to set the foundation saying the kingdom is at hand,

because Christ had not appeared.

Once Christ appears, he says the kingdom is here.

And so, he would go around to the synagogues,

preaching the gospel of the kingdom, the good news,

or the good message, or the good announcement of the kingdom that he had brought.

And then later on, Paul and other disciples and apostles

begin to change the word from gospel of the kingdom to gospel of Christ,

because Christ is the king of the kingdom, and without him, there is no kingdom.

So, you are emphasizing the benefit of God over the message of him forgiving?

Which we will come to in about six minutes.

Any other question?

Yeah, so John the Baptist at one point says,

listen, the axe is at the root of the tree.

Like when you try to bring down a tree, it doesn't come down with one chop.

You keep chopping it, and finally there's that one strand that holds the tree,

and then you chop it and the tree falls.

And so, John the Baptist is saying to the people,

listen, you are so close to the kingdom coming.

One more chop and the tree falls.

But before the kingdom comes, repent.

But before the kingdom comes, repent and be baptized, because you're not ready.

That he was saying to the Jews then.

Any other questions, guys?

Okay, so one of the things that gives us authority to go out with the gospel

is this thing called, which we rarely talk about, ascension.

We talk about death, we talk about resurrection, but we rarely talk about ascension.

Ascension is when after 40 days, he rises to heaven, a Shekinah cloud blocks him from you,

and then there are two men standing next to the disciples, Acts chapter 1, verse 6,

Acts 1:6

saying, just like you saw Jesus go, he will come back.

And we don't realize that this is critical to the authority we have with the gospel.

Just think of it this way, guys.

Again, let me take Trump as an example.

With executive orders, he's changing everything all across the world.

Programs are going coupled, finances that belonged in one area are being taken out,

people are being dismissed.

He can do anything he wants through executive order.

He's changing everything.

He's changing the world order.

He's changing how Gaza should be treated.

He's deciding that we'll be the 51st state, that Greenland will be his,

and he'll swim in the Panama Canal.

So all these things are happening just because he at present has the power.

And that is the authority in which people are going up.

Musk can't go and do stuff unless he allows it.

Musk may have all the money, but he has no authority.

Guys, power is not enough.

Power is not enough.

Authority is required.

Satan has the same power that he had before Christ, but what he has been stripped of is authority.

I give you authority over all the power of the enemy.

Power is not enough.

But in his ascension, he now is the ultimate authority,

and therefore just like Trump says,

Musk, you go do this, whatever your name is, you go do this, and no one will stop you.

Now Christ is saying, all authority in heaven and earth has been given to me.

Therefore, you now can go.

And one thing that every Christian should know, and Christ knows, and the devil knows,

is that persecution always advances the gospel.

The gospel has never been stopped because people die.

The same blood that was shed at the cross that shouts out, grace, grace,

is the same thing that is shouted out when a person dies.

So persecution becomes a weapon in the hands of the church.

It's a weapon.

But that's why he now has the ability to say, now you go, because I have all authority.

When he ascends, it's like his coronation.

Ephesians 1 talks about it.

See Ephesians 1, 22, 20 onwards it says, and so Christ has been exalted to the highest place,

above all authority, above all power, above all principality, above every throne,

above every name that is named, he is the ultimate authority.

You go to the Old Testament and you see in Psalm 2, verse 6,

Psalms 2:6

I have installed my king upon my holy hill.

You smaller kings, come and kiss his hand, lest he be angry.

And in the coronation psalm, Psalm 2, and then he goes on to say,

ask and I'll give you the nations as your inheritance.

Why? Because there is nobody else greater than him.

So ascension is a critical part of this whole gospel or the kingdom story

because it is what now gives us, I mean you have to think in terms of what Trump does

now Christ does in a completely different fashion.

Nobody can stop him. Nobody can stop him.

There is no legislative branch that can stop him because he stood in the court,

was punished for our sins.

Even a legislative or a judicial branch cannot stop him now.

He does whatever he wants because in every realm of the universe, he triumphs.

That is why he says, okay, Jacob, go now.

And so what if you die?

That ain't going to stop. That's going to like make it, take a quantum leap.

Any questions?

King Jesus, king of the universe, the train of his robe fills the temple.

He is high and lifted up.

Fills the whole earth.

Remember what we keep saying?

That the earth is presently filled.

Vancouver is presently filled.

This room is presently filled.

North Korea is presently filled.

Las Vegas is presently filled.

The White House is presently filled.

Kremlin is presently filled with the glorious splendor of the Lord of the armies of heaven.

And he is holy.

Presently filled.

The day it sinks in, and sometimes truth does not sink in except through repetition.

How do you teach your children truth?

Repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat.

The day it sinks in, your chest and your shoulders arch back and you become a little braver because you know what is real, what is true.

Later on, the gospel of the kingdom began to be called the gospel of Christ.

You see it in 2 Corinthians 2.12 for example.

2 Corinthians 2.12.

That's just a reference to it being called the gospel of Christ.

Alright, so now we come to the content.

This is where we'll have to memorize things.

So what's the content of the gospel?

The gospel has content.

What's the content of the gospel?

So here's the first thing.

Our testimony is not the gospel.

Our testimony is not the gospel.

Our testimony is not the good news of Christ.

Our testimony is what happened to us when we received the good news of Christ.

And our testimony may have relevance to some people and may not have relevance to some people.

For example, if I came out of a drug background and I tell someone about how Jesus saved me out of a drug background,

if he is an addict or if he has problems with addiction, it makes a lot of sense to him.

But for a guy who grew up in a Christian home, my testimony is not very relevant.

He does not need saving from addictions.

So our testimony is the result of receiving the good news of Christ.

Now we have a story because of what Jesus did.

But our testimony is not the gospel.

We've got to be aware of that.

Because very often we take our testimony.

Our story is good. We must have stories. Jesus had stories.

But we must understand that is not the content of the gospel.

So what is the content of the gospel?

Here is the content.

Who Jesus is, what he did, what he does, and how I should respond.

Who Jesus is, what he did, what he does, and how I should respond.

So that's just a basic one-liner. But here's what it looks like.

The gospel is that Jesus Christ, the good news is that Jesus Christ,

the holy, sinless one, and Lord.

The good news is Jesus Christ, the holy, sinless one, and Lord.

Because we have to establish him as God.

The holy, sinless one, and Lord came down to the earth as man.

Because the incarnation is critical.

Came down to the earth as man and died for us.

And then it's important to say why. Because he loves us.

And died for us because he loves us.

Then rose again.

And is seated at the right hand of the Father in the heavens.

And is seated at the right hand of the Father in heaven.

As in we have to let people know where he is now.

And that he has a father.

That he's seated at the right hand of the Father in heaven.

And that he will return.

I'll repeat the whole thing. That he will return as what?

As judge and Lord.

Therefore, turn from your sins to him and be baptized.

One more time.

The good news is this.

That Jesus Christ, the holy, sinless one, and Lord.

And you can put in whatever words you want depending on who you're speaking to.

To someone who has multiple gods, you say the holy, sinless one and the only God.

Those are details you can fill.

So the good news is this.

That Jesus Christ, the holy, sinless one and Lord.

Came down to the earth as man.

And died for us because he loves us.

John 3, 16.

Because he loves us.

He then rose again.

And is seated on the right hand of the Father in heaven.

And he is returning.

As what?

As judge and Lord.

Therefore, turn from your sins to him and be baptized.

So that's the first part.

Second part.

Jesus died to rescue us from sins, Satan, eternal separation, and the wrath of God.

Jesus died to save us from rescue us from the very name Yeshua means one who saves.

Jesus died to save us or rescue us or deliver us from sin, from the devil, from eternal separation that none should perish.

John 3, 16 again.

From eternal separation and from the wrath of God.

First Thessalonians 5, verse 9 and 10.

1 Thessalonians 5:9

Because we skipped the fact that there is something called wrath upon sin.

And therefore the ones who decide to choose sin instead of God.

We skipped that because it's not palatable and we'll go there.

First Thessalonians 5, verse 9 and 10.

1 Thessalonians 5:9

He died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep.

I'm sorry, verse 9.

For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.

He died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him.

Third.

The good news is that we can receive beautifully.

Look at the smorgasbord man.

The good news is that we can now receive in full measure, in full measure, we can receive forgiveness of sins.

Romans 8, 1. Therefore there is no condemnation.

Forgiveness of sins.

Next one.

I mean, as I say this, you must savor it because this is your condition.

Forgiveness of sins.

We live under a no condemnation ministry.

Forgiveness of sins.

Next one.

Friendship with God.

It's ridiculous.

You are friends with God.

Friendship with God.

Third.

The fatherhood of God.

When the Spirit comes into you, you call him Abba Father.

The fatherhood of God.

Fourth.

Eternal life after we die.

And five.

The Holy Spirit.

We receive the full measure of these five.

Six.

Kingdom benefits.

Here and now.

Kingdom benefits.

Here and now.

We receive it now.

That's when you begin to tell your stories.

You know, when this happened, I did this and got this.

You know, when my mother was this, this happened and that happened.

You know, when I didn't have any money in my wallet, this happened and that happened.

You know, when I was bitter and angry, this happened, that happened.

Benefits of the kingdom.

So here's the good news again.

We receive in full measure, full measure, no half measures here.

We receive in full measure the forgiveness of our sins.

Friendship with God.

Fatherhood of God.

Eternal life.

Holy Spirit, as in the Spirit of God lives in you.

And the benefits of the kingdom.

We receive it in full measure.

And it's being given freely to ones who don't deserve it.

And we get one more thing.

I forgot the seventh thing.

Righteousness.

Right standing.

Right standing with God.

Where accounts have been settled.

Debit and credit matches everything paid for.

Righteousness.

These are the seven massive benefits.

I mean, when you say this to somebody, you might think it's of no effect.

We'll get this.

Here's the other crazy thing.

You can only receive this by faith.

You can only receive this by faith.

And by faith alone.

So if you are listening to this, you are out of excuses for not receiving this Christ.

And you will face the wrath of God at some point.

Yeah.

Romans chapter two talks about it.

That there are Gentiles who have learned how to obey the law within themselves.

But the crazy thing is, here's the answer.

Yeah.

Romans chapter two talks about it.

That there are Gentiles who have learned how to obey the law within themselves.

But the crazy thing is, here's the other part of what Romans says.

That if you break one law, then you're guilty of breaking all.

And therefore all have fallen short of his standards.

So you can observe 99 out of the 100 laws in your heart even without receiving Christ.

And that makes you an amazing moral person.

But you still, all that morality is still like menstrual rags.

That's the actual word.

It's not, we say like filthy rags.

It's not filthy rags, it's menstrual rags.

That's the actual word.

When we talk about how much power there is in this.

See, this is the content.

The language can change.

The words can change.

Details can be added depending on who I'm talking with.

With an atheist it's different.

With a Buddhist it's different.

With a Jewish person it's different.

So often when you read the Bible, it's being spoken for a major part of the Jews.

So for them it's a different approach.

And then you go to the Gentiles and it's a completely different approach.

So it changes.

Those details can be filled in.

But this is the content of the Gospel.

And it is by faith and faith alone.

And by no other means.

You can't earn it, you can't deserve it.

It's by faith and faith alone.

This is the content of the Gospel.

And the reason I'm walking around and talking about it and not writing it, not reading it,

is because I've been memorizing it.

Because if you asked me this last week, I would not be able to say to you.

Because the content of the Gospel is important.

At work, you know the content of your work.

Try faking it.

How does this phone system work?

Oh, you just pull up the receiver and hit nine.

God knows what will happen.

Yeah?

Go ahead.

So, signs and miracles are a demonstration?

Signs and miracles are a demonstration that the reign of God has come.

Because like, in the book of Acts, there's like a lot of signs and miracles.

Yeah.

So these are the words.

And now that I've said the words to you, your question is,

okay, Jacob, you say these are the benefits.

This is what Christ can do.

Show me.

In Luke 7, there's this really amazing passage.

Here's what happened in Luke 7.

In Luke 7, two of John the Baptist's disciples come to Jesus.

And they say to him, are you the real deal?

And Jesus doesn't say, I am the real deal.

Jesus says, go tell John that the poor have the Gospel preached to them,

the blind see, the lame walk, the deaf are healed, and lepers are cleansed.

What an answer, huh?

That it ain't enough.

Words ain't enough.

Show me your works also.

John 14, he says that again.

If you don't believe me, believe in the Father and believe the works that I do.

And so this is where we must move.

We must witness to the invisible kingdom, the invisible reign of the King.

So the kingdom is here.

Is it the same as the promised land?

Like are we in the promised land?

No.

The kingdom is here as it is saying the reign of Christ is here.

And wherever the reign of Christ is, that is the land that's best to live on.

What would heaven be with golden streets, all the burgers you want, but no Jesus?

It would be just pointless.

I mean, my ideal heaven would be, let's not go there.

Let's not go there.

How many of you watched Canada play the US yesterday?

Okay, put your hands down.

I don't know.

An ideal place would be where Canada always wins.

Okay, here's the next thing, guys.

This is a 2000-year-old problem.

The power of the Gospel is not in presentation for spiritual laws, slick movies, personality, passion.

You and I are powerless to bring people to faith.

See you guys.

Oh, see you, Prashanth.

The power of the...

Yeah, sorry.

That was funny.

The power of the Gospel is not in presentation.

Guys, it doesn't matter how well we present it.

It doesn't matter how passionate you are.

Passion doesn't count for nothing.

The power of the Gospel is not in presentation, not in the four spiritual laws,

not in slick movies, not in personality, not in passion.

You and I are powerless to bring people to faith.

You and I may get a profession out of them, but profession is not possession of faith.

Profession of faith is not possession of faith.

I remember a guy ages ago, this was about 30 years ago, a guy comes to my door.

I used to live in Richmond and he was trying to sell the province newspaper.

And I told him I'll take his subscription, but he'll have to listen to me telling him about the Gospel.

And I told him about the Gospel, asked him whether he would receive Christ.

Of course he'll receive Christ. He got a subscription.

There was another politician who later on went and was a liberal,

conservative MP for Richmond many years ago.

He came for a full Gospel Businessman meeting, received Christ.

That profession of faith is easy.

What do you think a politician should do when he comes for that?

If he doesn't receive Christ, he loses out on all the votes there.

Profession of faith is easy. Possession of faith is very difficult.

We do not have. You and I have to come to grips with the fact that you and I are powerless,

powerless to bring people to faith.

So what's the secret? What's the secret ingredient?

I love this.

The Gospel is endowed with the power of God.

And what does that mean?

It means that the full power of the Holy Spirit resides,

rushes through and resonates through the Gospel when you release it with your words.

It's very deliberate, eh? It's very deliberate.

God has decided that every time, Jacob, you take the content of the Gospel and speak it.

I have decided. It's like he's decided that rain will not come from the beaks of crows,

but it'll come from clouds.

That the sun will not rise in the west, it will rise in the east.

He's decided that you can do whatever you want. It ain't going to rise from the west.

He's decided it. In the same way, he's decided that I want you to know that it is in the simplicity

and the foolishness of the Gospel.

I have decided that when you release the words or the content of the Gospel through your mouth,

I have decided that the power of the Spirit of God who hovered over the earth while it was being created,

that same power will reside in, will rush through, will resonate through the words that you speak

and something will happen in the hearts of man because for you, it is impossible to bring anyone to faith.

I'm the only one who can do that and I have decided that I'll only do it through the foolishness of the content of the Gospel.

And therefore, he says, can you not be ashamed of it?

And when he says, can you not be ashamed of it, he's also saying, can you not make it more palatable?

Can you not dumb it down so that people won't resist it or people will understand it better?

Romans 1.16, and therefore, I am not ashamed of the content of the good news of Jesus Christ

because it is the only thing that has power in it to change the hearts of man and make them possess faith.

And God has decided it, so he has written, so it will be.

It's crazy he's decided this. There's nothing you can do about it.

Listen to what he says in, I think, 1 Corinthians 1.

1 Corinthians 1.

1 Corinthians 1.

18 to 25.

1 Corinthians 1.

18 to 25.

1 Corinthians 1.

18 to 25.

Man, sometimes you cannot twist God's arm.

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God.

For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.

Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age?

Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?

For since the wisdom of the world, through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.

As in, he has decided that hey, in this message is the power to change people.

And if you don't preach it like this, you won't get the results because there's nothing you can do.

So we sugarcoat it, we make it more palatable, we try to make it receivable so people don't resist it.

Decide that you will not circumvent short-circuits, skirt around the content of the gospel because it is the only thing that can save.

We are not interested in the profession of faith.

We are interested in the possession of faith.

Galatians 1.10 puts it this way, when I compromise the gospel to please men, I'm no longer a servant of God.

Hear me. Galatians 1.10, Paul is saying, when I compromise the gospel to please men, I am no longer a servant of God.

This should put a fire in your heart.

This should put a fire in your belly saying, man, I'm going to take the foolishness of God because this is the only way to save man.

Someone said this to you guys. That's how you got saved.

Your righteousness, your friendship with God, your recognition of his fatherhood, your benefits that you presently enjoy, your eternal salvation, the Spirit of God residing in you,

all happened because someone did not dilute it.

I remember these three people coming up to me and saying to me, you're running out of time. Jesus Christ died for you.

When will you make a decision for Christ? Make it quickly because you won't even get the scraps that fall off the table.

And they kept saying it. They did not dilute the gospel. And what did I do to them? I started cursing them.

The guy who said, you won't even get the scraps of falling off the table, I started cursing him.

He's walking away and I'm walking behind him cursing him.

24 hours later, I gave my heart to the Lord because I suddenly realized the depth of what he had said.

And the first person I went to meet after I got saved was this professor because I had troubled him all my life in school.

I dipped stuff in curry and threw it at him.

And I remember going to him and saying, Paul, thank you for persisting.

Sometimes he would call me the child of the devil, but he would still lovingly tell me the gospel, never diluting it.

Any questions?

You know, this should give us courage, man.

It doesn't make it more difficult. It just puts fire into what you now believe because you know why you believe it.

So forgive us, Lord, for the lack of confidence in your power that you have invested in the gospel. Forgive us.

Forgive us for the lack of confidence in the gospel in which you have put in power.

It was conveyed to us, now we will convey to others.

This is what we mean by courage, conviction, courage, irresistible wisdom.

This foolishness is the irresistible wisdom of the living God.

And you and I need to have the conviction inside us, deep conviction that nothing will shake us from this.

And then the courage to say, I will go say this.

If persecution comes, it only advances the cause.

It never slows it down.

It's like warp speed, man, if you get persecuted.

Jesus gave this commission to the disciples, right? To the eleven.

He said, listen, Matthew 28, 19 to 20, go preach the gospel.

Then he said, baptize them. As in when you do, you'll get disciples.

Make sure you baptize them in the name, but into a body.

And then teach them to do all that I've commanded.

So, you need to understand that preaching and the church go together.

When we separate, I'll end with this, when we separate the proclamation of the gospel

by tasking a few to do it, or setting aside a mission week,

or the guys who go to Wally, or the outreach ministry, all the missionaries.

Whenever we separate the proclamation of the gospel from the church

and just task a select few to do it, then we're doing something that's biblically wrong.

It is what all disciples engage in.

And it is what the Spirit strategically places us during this week.

There'll be different times when he'll strategically bring us into an encounter where we have an opportunity.

If someone prayed with Chava and received the gospel by faith and faith alone

and decided to follow Christ, what should Chava do next?

The ideal situation would be Chava saying, follow me.

See my life. Watch how I am. Watch how I am when I have a lot of money, when I don't have money,

when I have a job, when I don't have a job, when my children are doing well, when my children are not doing well.

Come follow me. That would be the ideal situation.

And then as they follow you, they begin to see that this God they trust in is really God.

And then you say, now follow me into the church.

And you bring them to the community that you are part of.

And now they see how other lives work.

Because disciples are formed in the context of a community.

So preaching must go with the church. Why?

Because the gospel was used by God to set you apart so that you can assist God in setting others apart.

Let me say that again. The gospel was used by God to set you apart to himself

so that you can now assist him in setting others apart.

Last time, the gospel was used by God to set you apart for himself.

And now that you have been set apart, he wants you to assist him in setting others apart.

And then it's a gift that keeps giving.

Hi, Priya. How are you?

Alrighty. Any questions?

Cool. Let's pray.

And then if you need prayer, there will be people up here who will pray with you and for you.

Let's pray. Jesus loved the content of the gospel.

So we'll end by not praying but looking at what we've written.

And just repeat it. And as we do, Holy Spirit, can you take it, embed it, inscribe it, help us memorize it?

Because as we do, we'll realize that, my God, what we've written down will be just flushed with power, will be gorged with power.

And when those words come out of our mouth, clumsy words, clumsy, foolish words, it will bring people salvation.

This is how you've decided it. This is how it will be.

So we look at our notes and we've written it differently, but we say it together.

The good news of the gospel is that Jesus Christ, feel free to read slightly aloud so that you can hear it.

The good news of the gospel is that Jesus Christ is the Holy, Sinless One and Lord who came down to the earth as man and died for us because he loves us.

He then rose again and is seated at the right hand of the Father in the heavens and he will return as judge and Lord.

Therefore, turn from your sins to him and be baptized.

Next one, Jesus Christ died for us to rescue us from sins, from Satan, from eternal damnation or eternal what?

Eternal separation and the wrath of God. First Thessalonians 5.19 if it's someone who needs to see a scriptural reference.

Third one, the good news is this, that we now receive the full measure of the forgiveness of sins, of the friendship with God, of the fatherhood of God,

eternal life of the Holy Spirit, of the benefits of the kingdom and the righteousness of God.

And it is given to those that don't deserve it. There's nothing we can do to earn it.

When we believe this by faith and faith alone, that's the only way to receive it.

Brilliant. Bless you guys.