Badenoch Free Church

 

sunday 1st Nov 2009

 

 

Acts 20 why bother with preaching?

 

Luke in this chapter is very detailed about the missionaries movements.

Days here and there, sailing, walking, off to Greece, off to Macedonia etc.

All the time on these travels Paul is up to one thing: Preaching.

 

In this day and age we still have a necessity to preach and teach.

But we are faced with an ever decreasing emphasis on preaching.

Sermons are getting shorter in lots of places, times of ‘worship’ are getting longer!

The wisdom of the world tells us that we can only concentrate on someone talking for about 10 minutes! Many in the church take this as gospel truth!

But with the loss of focus on the Primacy of Preaching are we as a church in Scotland getting stronger or weaker?

Only by giving preaching its rightful place will we have any hope of seeing the kingdom of God advance in our nation.

So how do we go about return Preaching to its rightful place?

Three questions:

 

1) when are we to preach? we need to be preaching constantly.

Paul is our great example here. V1,2,3,7-11, 18-21,24,27,31.

“Encouraged v1-2”,  v3 spent three months in Greece then had to leave due to persecution: why? Because he was preaching we can assume; 7-11 spend a whole night preaching;

18-21 recalls how he spent his time in Ephesus preaching; 24 all he wants to do is testify to the truth; 27 he has been faithful in preaching all that God has taught him; 31 for three years he never gave up on preaching!

The overall drive and desire of Paul is summed up well for us in v24.

He had been specially called to preach, and he did not care what happened to him as long as he was able to carry out that calling!

Note: we are not all evangelist with special commission like Paul, but we are the salt and light, we have all received the Great Commission; we must all do our bit in preaching!

 

Application

We need to remind ourselves that the main way that God has chosen to advance his kingdom on earth is through the “foolishness of preaching” (1cor1v21).

The gospel is communicated through the written word preached.

The gospel is Good News that has to be told as news / information, that people then need to respond to – believe!

Therefore : Do all you can to get the message out there!

But how? the basic answer to that is any way you possible can!

Because of our history and Christian culture and traditions we may get to thinking that preaching can only be done on a Sunday, in a pulpit, by an ordained minister!

We need to diversify our thinking!

Preaching can take place anywhere from the kitchen to the car.

If we are constantly on the lookout for opportunities then we will find our pulpits all over.

Why should we be so dedicated to getting the message out? Because if we are so dedicated then we might be able to help the ones and the twos into the kingdom!

 

2) what are we to preach?

Again Paul is our example.

The content of what is preached is obviously the most important part.

The content is what we spend our lives on! So we cannot hope to answer the content question in a short section of a short sermon! But there are highlights.

Luke introduces us to this chapter by telling us that that the message is encouraging v1-2.

·         App: we need to remember that it is Good news, it’s encouraging, its life and peace!

Paul highlights what he spent three years preaching about in Ephesus.

a) v20 anything helpful to them

ultimately it is the Truth that Paul taught. Any truth is what’s helpful, all truth is most helpful.

b) v21 repentance and faith

turning to God instead of running from Him, by trusting in Jesus.

c) v24 gospel of God’s grace

the Gospel message tells us of Gods unconditional love, his unmerited favour, his actions in sending Jesus to die for us

d) v25 the kingdom of God

the message is of Gods rule, authority and power. He is King. His rule will advance until every other kingdom is shut down and bowing the knee!

e) v27 the whole will of God

again Paul kept nothing of the truth back.

f)  v31 warnings about false teachers

the preaching not only informed it warned!

App

What we are going to tell people is all important.

We need to have a message to tell! Preaching is never to be boring!

Thus: Get to know God so that you can tell others about him! He is the message!

How do we get to know God? By living the Good News every day. By turning to God in repentance every morning, that simply means that we refocus our minds on God each day. And then live trusting Jesus each day – that is faith, relying on Christ.

We are to do this because it is from our lives and our experience that we are to talk! Preaching has to be real, it is not about passing on some academic theory that we believe because we have to!

 

3) why are we to preach?

We have seen much of this question answered already.

But we need to reflect on it a little more.

We need to come to appreciate the real value and worth of preaching.

It is because people do not value preaching that it is getting pushed to the periphery of much or our church life instead of being right at the heart.

Preaching is of great value because it brings salvation, but that is just the start.

V32 the word has power! It can build up and give an inheritance!

Paul committed the elders to God’s grace and the word because the word was powerful, able to build them up and give them an inheritance!

It is through the word that Gods grace is administered, through the preached word that the living Word comes to us.

Preaching then is of great value because of its power in bringing us to God and God to us!

App

Place the highest value on preaching that you can!

It is through preaching that souls are saved, through preaching that God administers his Kingdom to us! It is the word that is powerful – dynamite! Able to build up and give us an inheritance!

How do we come to value it?

By taking care of it. That is by praying for the preached word. By giving to the ministry of the preached word. By loving the word. By cherishing the special occasions of preaching each Lords day.

And why?

Because it is valuable! Everything else we could probable do with out in the church, but not preaching!!

 

 

sunday 1st Nov 2009

 

Philippians 3v12-4v1.

 

Last time we saw Paul call the Philippians to Rejoice because salvation was not about religious effort or human achievement but by faith in Christ. We saw what that meant for Paul, that he longed for Christ, he wanted to know and experience Him in all things in order that he might “attain to the resurrection” v11.

 

This week the theme is Standing Fast in the Lord 4v1.

Just as rejoicing was a verb, something we had to do, engage in, so is Standing Firm.

We do not stand firm by doing nothing so what are we to do?

 

1) stand fast by Pressing on! V12-14

The first piece of advice that will help us to stand fast is to press on!

V12 Paul knows two facts: he is not perfect yet and Christ has taken hold of his life.

Therefore the only thing for him to do is press on towards perfection.

V13 he does that by taking nothing for granted! He forgets what is behind! And strains forward – the picture is of him with his hands and arms out pushing with all effort forward.

V14 he looking for the prize, the heavenly calling, the promised land, the glory to come! The resurrection!

App

Press on! A solid Christian faith must be one that presses on.

There is no time in time, when we have the luxury to think that we have arrived!

So how do we press on?

A. Recognise we have not yet made it! That we still have a long way to go.

B. Recognise that past counts for nothing whether we have had great success or great failure, in terms of our pressing on now! Failure in most areas of life make people give up. But not when we are dealing with the God of Mercy. He still calls us to press on.

Success too can cause people to rest and relax! But we can’t afford that!

Why are we to keep pressing on?

Because Jesus has taken hold of us! All our pressing on is enabled because Jesus has called us to himself. We press forward as He pulls and pushes us!

 

2) stand fast by pressing on together v15-19

After giving his own example Paul then calls the Philippians to unite in their Pressing On.

V15 all the mature Christians are to recognise this attitude in Paul and follow it.

V16 at least they are to measure up to what they have already achieved. 

V17 they are to unite together in following his good example and the example of others who also press on hard!

The need for this united approach to following is that there are many enemies out there!!

The enemies will not make it easy to stand fast! So Paul gives a picture of what the enemies are really like!

V18-19. They are headed to Hell because they follow their own desires/appetites, they glory in the very things that should shame them and all because they are living for this world alone, they forget all about the afterlife!! 

App

Individually pressing forward leads to community pressing on.

All of us are to press on, this is not a job for the minister, or just for the specially committed!

And as we all stand fast together we will be united.

Again how are we to press on?

a. From these verse we are told to have the mind, the attitude that is set up to press on v15! Every day we should be thinking about keeping going, pressing on, not giving up, looking forward!

b. Also seek help! We are to look for good examples and follow them v17.

Our individualism makes us embarrassed by our own weaknesses.

But we need to seek help in pressing on.

c. Remember too that there are enemies out there who will seek to hamper and stop progress!

The enemy is unmasked in v19 – not a pretty picture! Hell bound, self serving, living shamefully and short sighted!

But often followers live as if they had no heaven to look forward to, as if their needs were all that mattered, as if sin did not really amount to much and who are concerned more about the comforts of this life rather than the next.

The only options are to Press on or to live like that!

 

3) stand fast by remembering who we are and what we will be! v20-21

We are citizens of heaven v20. Citizenship was  a big deal in Philippi, a Roman colony!

But Roman Citizenship was nothing in comparison to heavenly citizenship!

Roman citizenship gave certain rights and privileges but heavenly citizenship gives far more!

We have an all-powerful Saviour who is going to transform our bodies as part of our rights as citizens of heaven! They will become like his heavenly body!

App

Ultimately we are called to stand fast because we have a Saviour who has given us new birth certificates and who will give us new bodies.

a. Stand fast by remembering our citizenship!

We belong to heaven. So we are pressing on towards home!

We are to stand fast for our country, called to be loyal.

To give up is to betray our homeland.

b. Stand fast by remembering our final transformations!

We will be made glorious. Made like Jesus.

This transformation is the prize that we strive for, mortality being swallowed up with immortality. Bodies that will never again brake, ache, faint or fail!  

So stand fast, press on, for home and for glory!