Impact for the Kingdom 1/23/ 2022

D and just getting finished up how much has culture changed how much views changed in the last 1500 years and yet God's word it is a seamless meta-narrative and when I say meta-narrative a meta-narrative means that there's all these different stories that are pointing to one great big story and it's the story of the great king of heavens love for people and his desire to reconcile him them to himself that's what the Bible is all about it's all about our rebellion our hard hearts our love of sin and a relentless king passionately pursuing

Sinners like you and me it's about that king coming and living a life a perfect sinless life and dying on the cross that we deserved not just dying but rising again and defeating death and hell in great power and victory and now we can with great passion and with all the zeal and all the gusto we can sing holy is the Lord God Almighty who was and is and is to come that's why we sing that song that's why we close our eyes and we raise our hands in worship you know why we do that we don't do that for the sake of our neighbors it's because I surrender to you Jesus because you are worthy of it and you are so good but why are we talking about Biblical theology I mean we're all theologians every single one of us it just matters how good you are but as we'll see today Biblical theology matters because it grows you into the image of Jesus Christ if you're young if you're old if you're somewhere in between the sermon is for you I want you to get out your pen pencil lipstick mascara whatever you got listen fast because we're going to talk about four-step making impact for the kingdom we're going to talk about how Biblical theology helps us in that so if you would stand with me and undergo in honor of God's word as we read acts chapter 17 verses 10 through 15. God's word says this acts chapter 17 verses 10 through 15. The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to berea when they arrived they went into the

Jewish synagogue now these jews were more noble than those in thessalonica they received the word with all eagerness examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so many of them therefore believed and not a few greek women of high standing as well as men when the jews from thessalonica learned that the word of God was proclaimed by Paul and berea also they came there too agitating and stirring up the crowds then the brothers immediately sent Paul off on his way to the sea but Silas and Timothy remained there those who conducted Paul brought him as far as athens and after receiving a command for Silas and Timothy to come to him as soon as possible they departed so God we do thank you for your word as we talk about these Biblical principles of making an impact and how Biblical theology leads us in that Lord help us God to not just be students of the word but be mastered by your word that we would be conformed into the image of your son that our salt would be salty that our light would be bright and that people would be able to look at us and know that we have the hope of heaven that's a prayer for this church God help us Lord to grow in it in Jesus precious name amen well let's talk about these bereans a little bit right those of you who are familiar with God's word you know that they received the word with all eagerness but that wasn't always Paul's experience with people was it

People weren't always eager to hear God's word preached or shared or anything like that but the bereans they loved the word of God they had the old testament they held it in a place of high honor let's take a look at berea on a map here this kind of gives you a little bit of an idea of where they're at this is there in greece you see thessalonica up there it's a coastal city berea is really far inland that's about a 47 mile trek about two days it would take for someone walking pretty pretty at a steady pace in order to get to berea in a timely manner you'll also notice that if you look down at the bottom of this map you might see mount olympus there it's kind of hard to see but this is the culture that they were in very greek okay it's about 50 miles north of berea or south of berea excuse me and so many people they might pass through that on a pilgrimage to go see where zeus and stuff like that so it kind of gives you an idea of what was the culture like there in thessalonica if you go there today there's not many excavations there for whatever reason it's just this is all that we know really about berea but if you go there today they have a shrine to the apostle Paul can you bring that up for me that shrine there you go yeah and this is the spot where Paul preached to the bereans that exact spot which is pretty cool that's where he stood and that's where the bereans first heard the word of the Lord proclaimed that's where many people came to know Jesus now let's get an idea of what's going on there okay let's get an idea of the passage if you look at acts chapter 17 verses 1 through 3. Look at that with me

It says this it says now when they you know talking about Paul and Silas when they came to thessalonica there was a synagogue of the jews Paul went in as was his custom and on three sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures explaining and proving that was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to die to suffer and to rise from the dead and saying this Christ whom I proclaim to you is the Christ so for three weeks maybe even four saw Paul is standing there reasoning with the jewish people in their synagogues pointing people from the old testament to Jesus now there were a lot of people in thessalonica that were convinced they were talked into following Christ they see the Messiah they see in the old testament the need for a Savior they see that the Savior had to die remember that they were looking for a political leader at this time they were looking for a rescuer from rome but Paul is saying that's not the kind of deliverance that the Savior has in mind he wants to meet your greater need which is salvation eternally not just from rome and so these people they were they were convinced they saw Christ and they placed their faith and trust in him but there were many who didn't receive Christ and those who did they were wicked men who were inciting crowds you know get your pitchforks get your torches and that kind of mentality they attacked a man's home his name is jason they accused the apostles of dishonoring the emperor and this is why Paul and Silas and Timothy they are immediately rescued by night let's get

These guys out of the city because otherwise they're going to be found and they're going to be killed let's get these guys out of the city and let's get them to the city of berea have you ever feared for your life maybe it was a car accident or maybe you're facing cancer or maybe there was something something that caused you to fear for your life that kind of puts things in perspective doesn't it makes you change your priorities look at what these men did thessaloni and thessalonica Paul and Silas there they're whisked away to protect them to protect the Gospel and so they get into berea and what do you think that these men are going to do they're not that far away from thessalonica they're a two-day journey are they using worldly wisdom they might might lay low for a while they might just wait until this whole thing blows over that's what you need to do I mean these Thessalonians are out for the death of these men and they didn't just hate the men they hated the message of the Gospel but what did Paul do it says when they arrived in berea the first thing they did was they went into the jewish synagogue why did he do that because that's what he's been doing all along he went in there and he preached Christ from this passage I want you to notice just how brave these men were they didn't do anything new or anything different they just did what they had always done and there is great and tremendous power in just developing spiritual habits consistency in prayer

Consistency in God's word consistency in sharing the Gospel this is just one of the best parts about the Gospel message is that they didn't have to repackage it they didn't have to put in laser lights and smoke machines make the room dark they didn't have to put it in a suit and put it in the nicest facility they didn't have to do any of that because it's the Gospel the Gospel is powerful enough on its own to make its own converts amen I mean these men they're a lot like Daniel back in the old testament Daniel dew was his custom just as he had always done to open up his doors face toward jerusalem and pray there wasn't anything special about facing jerusalem but it was his custom he didn't just see a law and say well I'm just going to antagonize that law no is what he'd always done you cannot pray to anyone other than the king yet because of his bravery he was caught praying to God alone I mean that's a shocker right listen if you want to have any sort of impact on the kingdom of God you must be brave how many of our old testament heroes were cowards at times I think of Abraham no this is not my wife this is my sister gideon you know God is this your will let this be a sign okay if it's really your will let this be a sign but think about how God operated through their bravery think about how God did amazing and wonderful things through the smallest act of bravery yes she is my wife when we look throughout Christian history we see wonderful heroes of the faith like corey ten boom and

Lottie moon and dietrich bonhoeffer and martin luther and these guys who for ages have served as an example for us I mean these were brave men and women who served and loved Jesus Christ in our church our community this world needs brave young and old men and women who love and serve and follow Jesus Christ and are not afraid of what the world might have to say about it this world desperately needs it what would have happened to these bereans if Paul and Silas and Timothy had gone into hiding what if they said you know what we're going to put a little bit more distance between us and these guys that want to kill us that's the wise thing to do the bereans could have missed the Gospel message they could have died without a Savior remember that eternity eternity is at stake for those who do not know Jesus Christ and as Christians we alone have the word of life that has been given to us and we have the hope of heaven and we must share the message of the Gospel with a world that needs it that's what we're called to do and we must do it with courage and the bereans they were receptive to the message and why is that I mean Paul and Timothy and Silas they just simply share what God's word has to say and the second step to making an impact for the kingdom of God is Biblical bolstering bolstering what do I mean by that well Biblical theology I mean look how do the bereans know that the message of the Gospel was true look at what the passage says it says they examined the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so why didn't the Thessalonians do the same thing and arrive at the same conclusion Paul he spent weeks with them he reasoned with them from the

Scriptures he explained to them he proved it well for us as Christians we have the benefit of the Holy Spirit of God to look at the old testament and understand how it points to Jesus what passages do you think that Paul took the bereans through maybe psalm 22 Isaiah 53 maybe Deuteronomy 21 maybe Genesis 3 all these passages that I just talked about mention at least the Messiah that points out his death and the necessity of it and in order to have Biblical bolstering you have to have Biblical theology which comes really from knowing five key things you've got to gotta have these things firstly is the context talked about context a couple of weeks ago I'm going to talk about it again because it is it cannot be overstated how important context is I've got this picture that I want to show you it's of Luke chapter 4 verse 7 it says if thou therefore wilt worship me all shall be thine and it's got a nice card there and it's ever it's great and it's very inspirational right until you realize who's saying it right for those of you who are observant you probably know that's probably where Jesus is being tempted and that's satan that's talking right there yeah they should probably burn that card my point is that if we look at that oh wow if we just worship God all shall be thine yeah that's what satan said not context is important it's huge if we look at Genesis chapter 3 it's the first promise of the Messiah it says I will put enmity between you and the woman in between your offspring and her offspring pointing to the virgin birth and he shall bruise your head that is a mortal blow speaking of the final judgment that satan will go through he will be destroyed and you shall bruise his heel speaking of the non-mortal blow yes Jesus did indeed really really die but it ultimately did not prove fatal because he rose again with great power and authority and now he carries the keys of death in hades itself because he rose again in John chapter 5 the jews they were seeking to kill Jesus because he was according to their laws he was breaking the sabbath he was calling God his father making God his equal and in verses 37-40 excuse me [Music] and in verses 37-40 it says this and the father who sent me has himself born witness about me that means in his word he's born witness about me in the old testament his voice you have never hurt his form you have never seen and you do not have his word abiding in you for you do not believe the one who has sent me in other words they had the Scriptures but they didn't believe them they had the testimony but they didn't know God they were of the line of Abraham but they didn't have faith Jesus continues you search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life and it is they that bear witness about me yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life I mean how insane is this that when people see God's words and God's work they refuse to believe you'll figure that people that would know the word would be able to see the word made flesh standing right in front of them the second thing that we should know

Aside from context is covenant God has always been a God of covenants it's the first thing they did after the fall of man he established a covenant if we look at Leviticus 19 we read nor shall you wear a garment of cloth made of two kinds of material in other words the jewish people they could not wear blended fabrics the guy asked that question of covenant whose covenant is this why is it that as Christians we are not under this mosaic law as it pertains to apparel but how do we also apply this to us as Christians a good question I'm glad that you asked when we remember that obedience to the law is what set israel apart as God's chosen nation it makes a lot more sense in fact in Leviticus chapter 19 the whole context is about them being different than the common pagan practices of the day they were called to be set apart they were called to be holy they were called to be different but Christ he fulfilled the mosaic law and he ratified a new covenant according to Ezekiel 34 he ratified a new covenant by his death burial and resurrection and so we are no longer made holy by what we put on our flesh but we are made holy by the one who dwells inside of us the Holy Spirit the third thing that we must know in order to have a Biblical theology is canon canon is basically what is God's word okay it's it's Scripture how does it relate to itself did you know that there are so many cross-references where God's word refers back to each other there are 63 779 cross references I want to show you an image of what this

Looks like for us yeah so down at the bottom those little white lines those are the chapters that are in a book so you'll see that really long one down there that is what is that psalm 1 8 19 119 and you know you start there at Genesis 1 all the way down and there's a you just see how much God's word relies upon itself to prove itself and it's so amazing when you see this wonderful tapestry and yet there is no contradictions how can that happen over a span of 1500 years with 40 different authors and three different continents in three different languages it's an amazing proof of who God is and what he has done and we have to ask the question what's what's the theme of the passage is this a prophetical passage asking the question of types do I see Jesus here in this character right now those are all things that help us to develop a Biblical theology fourthly the character of God what if we learn about God in this passage when Paul pointed the bereans I have to assume they pointed them to Isaiah 53. I just I got to it's an assumption I won't be dogmatic about it but it's all about the suffering servant why does the servant suffer because there's a holy God there's a God who is just who demands pun who demands justice because there have been people that have violated God's laws namely me and jew and there has to be a punishment wrought and that's where Jesus stepped in I mean what would they learn about God in that passage in Isaiah 53 they probably learned about the attributes of God

His holiness the need for a Savior the price to be paid finally to have Biblical theology to bolster it you need to point the passage to Jesus Christ I mean think about it Paul didn't have the Gospels to point to say see he had the old testament and I'm so thankful for the new testament but Christ is everywhere in the old testament here's here's another infographic I know it doesn't it doesn't look very good right now I'll get there in a second these are these are prophecies of Jesus on the left-hand side is all the old testament passages about Jesus these not complete but on the right side is the fulfillment now I want to zoom in here if we could and I want you guys to just notice well firstly how small the font is I'm gonna I'm gonna post this up on facebook so that way you guys can see it because I can't even see it right here okay but it's all about the Messiah and where he where the Scripture says and where it's fulfilled on the right hand side I mean think about that just for just for a minute just how glorious Jesus Christ and the fulfillment of his coming truly is these these are the things that we need to know as Christians not that we identify every little thing but man I can stand on the word of God I can know that it's true this doesn't even take into account things like the old testament appearances of Christ it doesn't take into account the anticipation of a new covenant or anything like that but since

Scripture points to Christ our lives should also point to Christ when we study the Scriptures we should go through with the lens of saying how does this passage point me to Jesus the bereans they looked at the old testament and what they do they found Jesus all through it look at verse 12 it says many of them therefore believed with not a few greek women of high standing as well as men the third step for making an impact for the kingdom of God is believers namely making believers the process of discipleship it has to continue past you it has to it's why we were saved that's why we were called to salvation is so that way you would make a disciple that you would reproduce yourself in someone be fruitful and multiply is not just a command when it comes to reproduction it's about what we do as believers as well so think about your children your neighbors your coworkers your friends your family we're called to impact those people for the sake of the Gospel of Jesus Christ notice that the Gospel is what totally broke down the cultural gender and race bound barriers here in berea yeah jews jewish jews you had very greek greeks yeah I think some of those greeks they probably went up to mount olympus and they probably worshipped there they worshipped pagan deities and false gods men and women some from pagan cultures others from religious cultures in the Gospel of Jesus Christ is what broke down all those barriers to bring them together and it's the only hope for the world to get grant peace in our midst

If you want peace you need the Gospel hands down that's what it takes I want you to understand that the bereans they were open to God's word like they were fine studying it searching out the Scriptures but there were many who weren't that was not Paul's like everyday experience with people I mean the Thessalonians certainly weren't but both thessalonica and in berea there was a harvest of souls and why is that because God he can do it by the preaching of the Gospel through the power of the Holy Spirit and this is why we must share the Gospel the final point is battle you can expect a battle if you want God's kingdom to grow you can expect resistance if you want to grow in obedience to the Lord in your life you can expect a hard fight I mean have you ever as a family ever got now the habit of going to church on sundays and then like you say I'm going to do this we are going to do it and then sunday comes and it's the worst sunday in all of history there's literally blood from one of your children like what happened I don't know crying and spitting and cursing that doesn't happen in Christian homes does it being facetious my whole point is that if that's the case in our in our private lives where we know that there's things like that can't happen not that it's good how much more do you think in the spiritual realm the battle is going to be when we say God I'm going to share the Gospel with my neighbor

Give me some opportunities to do it man there are going to be so many battles when you decide to get serious about making disciples it is hard it is frustrating and what satan wants to do is he'll do everything they can to distract you to make you miserable to do everything they can where you're not sharing the Gospel because he knows that the Gospel is the only way that we as Christians can make an impact in our community listen to me it if it's that hard in your personal life it's going to be harder in the spiritual realm as we seek to grow the kingdom here in camdenton you think satan wants the kingdom of God to flourish here in our own backyard not for a minute you think that's mere coincidence that men hated the preaching of the Gospel in thessalonica and they hate the Gospel message now too when you share the Gospel which you and I us we are commanded to do it's not an option we're commanded to do it be ready for war I mean those men in thessalonica they heard about the Gospel being preached 45 miles away and they had to walk two days and they were totally willing because of their hatred for the Gospel of Jesus Christ they hated Paul they hated the message of the Gospel they hated hearing about the cross thought man if I can just kill Paul then everything can go back to normal thing is that Paul was not the real threat he wasn't but when brave spirit-filled Christians commit to a

Biblical theology to make believers it will lead to spiritual battle and that is when we see the kingdom of God really begin to flourish but once you notice something here Paul never went alone he always had guys like Timothy and Silas and Barnabas Luke they were around him because he knew that he could not do the Christian walk alone and neither can you and neither can I that's why it's important so important to build so many relationships not just one good friend but many good friends here in the church because you need that prayer support and I need that prayer support as well we're called to walk in Christ we're not called to do it alone because we are all in him and we're in this together for the sake of God's glory let's do so head hand heart head I want you know that courageous Christians are needed to grow the kingdom of God so take advantage of opportunities that the Lord gives to you and more importantly make those opportunities go meet a neighbor we've all got new ones I think by this point go shake a hand go talk to him minister to folks that need the Gospel of Jesus Christ and I want you to spend time this week using these five steps to continue developing your Biblical theology if you need a reading plan you can join our church we're on the Bible app you can find us you know we can all read it together and we can talk about how these passages point us to Jesus we can talk about the context and covenant

Canon and character of God in Christ heart I want you to believe that we must point people to Jesus [Music] that's what Biblical theology will always lead to if it's done right it's the entire purpose of a Christian to go and make disciples so let's go and do it together Lord we do ask that you would just help us God we want to make disciples that's the cry of our hearts Lord and I speak for people in this congregation right now that you have called us to do so because your word is said very clearly go therefore and make disciples of all the nations [Music] help us to do so God [Music] now for the sake of our church but for the sake of your kingdom God let it grow and flourish because we love you in Jesus precious name amen let's stand and let's worship together [Music] the Lord does raise the house in vain [Music] tell me what is be to Christ his rule and reign will never sing all glory to Christ all glory be to my star king all glory be to Christ [Music] church I love you so much if you do have any prayer requests or anything like that please be sure to catch me or if

You have something that you want to talk to me about I'll be right up here after service I love you so much let's pray as we go and Lord we do thank you for your mercy thank you that you use imperfect people like us that are in here to grow your kingdom we just pray that as we go from here that we would just be totally useful and committed to sharing your Gospel Lord help us to discover what your word has to say and to become students of what Biblical theology is that we might not be masters of it but that you would master us we love you in Jesus name amen