Full Transcript

You can have a seat! If you can. While you’re having a seat, let me invite you to open your Bible to the book of Acts. Find the last chapter in the book of Acts. That’s chapter 28. Let me apologize up front for my voice this morning. It is a football-related injury. I got a little excited last night. So you’ll have to endure that with me this morning.

How many of you have teenage drivers in your home? You have teenage drivers? Are you concerned with their driving skills? I’ve tried to teach my children that one of the things that is important for you to do occasionally as you’re driving is to glance in the rearview mirror. You need to know what’s behind you. Now, don’t gaze into the rearview mirror. That’s dangerous. But you need occasionally to know from where you’ve come and what’s behind you.

So every time we kick off the ministry year at Harvest Bible Chapel, I just like to glance in the rearview mirror, because some of you here have folded into our church recently. You have no idea from where this church has come. So, can we just glance into the rearview mirror for a few minutes as we kick off the ministry year?

Let me show you a picture. Anybody recognize that? Anybody maybe identify yourselves, like, “I remember where I used to sit in those hard, folding, metal, brown chairs.” How many of you ever set up a chair at Harvest Bible Chapel? You had to set up your own chair? Right? Aren’t you grateful somebody set up your chair this morning? You didn’t have to do that?

Well, that’s what we used to do. We launched our church on February 8, 2009 at North Point Elementary School down the road here in Granger, and we had to set up the system. We had to set up the platform. We had to set up the chairs. We had to set up the children’s ministry. And then after it was all over, we had to fold them back up, and put it back in the trailer, and then store that, and then come back and do it again. We did that for three years.

See all the people that look tired in the church? They were the people that set up those chairs expecting that some of you would fold in and come. And we were blessed. It was a wonderful time. And the Lord showed up every Sunday, and more and more people started to show up.

We grew to about 350 people, and after about three years, we began to have conversations with another church in our community, Cornerstone Community Church, which actually was the church that was originally located on this piece of property. This building was originally known as Cornerstone Community Church. They had had great success back in the ‘90’s, but in the 2000’s they had gone through a season of decline and changing leaderships, and really had kind of lost their vision and direction.

And I began to meet with that pastor, and our elders began to meet with their elders. And they were interested in what it would like if you put two churches into one. Because they didn’t have many people, they didn’t have a whole lot of leadership and identity, but what they had was a facility. At the same time, we had people, leadership and direction, but we didn’t have a facility. And so we just really believed that God would be honored if we put these two churches together, and we did.

And it was wonderful. And many of you that serve so faithfully in this church were originally members at Cornerstone Community Church. Before we moved into Cornerstone Community Church, we realized that we were already to big to fit into its 300 seat auditorium. Because if you look above the light bar, there’s a little seam in the celling there. Do you see that? That’s where the original wall was for this room. And we couldn’t fit in that room.

So we launched a building campaign. An $850,000 project called Forward in Faith. Many of you gave sacrificially and financially to that so that we could expand this room into a 600 seat auditorium. And we moved into this place, as a congregation, into a 600 seat auditiorium on February 12, 2012. How many were in the church either on that day or before that day? So, a few of you joined us for that.

Actually, when we opened the doors and we first moved in, we had 601 people come to fill those 600 seats. We knew at that point, we would always be in a building project. So, many of you know that we’ve opened up a new 14,000 square foot ministry space, primarily for our children and our youth, but we use it for multi-purpose and all kind of different things related to membership and fellowship. It’s just been a wonderful thing.

And thank you for those of you that gave to that $1.8 million project, and many of you are still fulfilling pledges on your 5G campaign. That should be paid off in the next 18 months or 24 months, and then we’ll be in another position to ask the Lord what he wants next. But because we keep opening up space, people keep showing up to fill up the space. And we’re glad about that.

What’s it look like? Well, back when we first launched the church in 2009 and 10, our attendance was about 200 people. It grew 264, 359. In 2013, it was 770. In 2014, the average attendance was 975. Do you know what our current average attendance is? 1357. You people keep showing up. And we’re glad you’re here.

But the more people show up, the more space we’re going to need. It always creates a little tension for us. Like, “Where are we going to put these people?” Let me just say that, by the way, there is never, I have never been in a staff meeting or an elder meeting where one second has been given to trying to figure out how to get people to come to our church.

We spend most of our time trying to figure out how to discipline people that show up, and are constantly looking for ways to drive people deeper. We don’t spend a lot of time on how to get wider. So were glad you’re here. We want you to get deeper. We want you to grow deeper with the Lord, not just wider. And so, there’s a lot of different things available for you to do that.

These people have been generous people. You’ve seen the way that the numbers have gone financially in the last six years or so. Last year our budget was about $1.5 million dollars. And so we closed the books on our ministry year and closed the books on our fiscal year in the last Sunday of August. And even though our budget was about $1.475 million, you people gave over and above that. Over $1.5 million. You gave more, enabling us to do more ministry. Those dollars represent dollars that go toward disciple-making. Those are disciple-making dollars. And that’s what that is all about.

So with the launch of the ministry year comes a new budget and a new plan. Each ministry leader has submitted kind of “here’s what I would like to spend on discipleship this year. And here’s some creative things I’d like to do if the money is there and the people are generous.” And so we collected all those numbers. And so let me just let you know that for the next ministry year, the next twelve months, we’re believing God to provide $2.1 million dollars toward discipleship and disciple-making. That is beyond any kind of commitment that you make to 5G or any building program. We’re not in a building program right now. That’s just ministry dollars. And so as you give faithfully, we’ll be able to do ministry.

If you’re typical, every year, you’ve given more than we’ve even planned. And if you haven’t, I invite you to fold in. That is part of a quality disciple of Christ, that he gives generously toward the things that build the Church. And so I invite you to be a part of that.

What have those dollars gone toward? Well, we keep saying discipleship. But also evangelism. We had over 85 baptisms this past year. And all kinds of different things. You heard in our announcements how important our mixed smalls groups are. Some of you have still not found your way into a small group and we’re committed to making you feel very uncomfortable until you do. All right? You’re welcome to come on Sunday. We’re glad you’re here, just keep coming. But until you are seated in a circle, not in rows, you’re not quite at the place you should be, attending and as a member of Harvest Bible Chapel. So get plugged in to one of our small groups. Maybe it’s easier for you or may be a better season of life for you to plug into one of our men’s ministry groups or our women’s ministry groups, which you heard in the video will be launching this week. Lean in, fold in, get connected to one of those groups.

As you know, we’re very committed to family. We’re very committed to children becoming disciples of Christ, and that is why we have that square footage out there. That’s why right now there are not just people baby-sitting, but discipling your children. As you come, and it’s given you the opportunity to listen to me without people crawling all over you, right? And we appreciate that.

Did you know there’s over 360 volunteers that serve in our children’s ministry? And that means we only need about 300 more, okay, of you to plug into that important discipleship ministry. And if you think that maybe the Lord is calling you, you just let us know that. You just see Michelle Helmkamp. We’ll get you plugged into that.

You’ve heard about our student ministry and how God is using the bold proclamation of his word in our students. And these guys are going into their public schools, their private schools and even to their homeschools, and evangelizing. They’re taking the gospel into these places and not just filling their heads full of Bible knowledge, but they’re committed to getting the gospel out.

Not just locally, but globally. You know about our partnership with Harvest Bible Fellowship. Now over 120 Harvest Bible Chapels have been planted around the world. Our church was number 37. So there’s been almost 80 churches planted since we planted our church in the last six years all over the world. And even today, there’s churches that are launching, one in south Indianapolis. You remember Brock Graham who has preached here a couple of times? They are launching their church today. We’ll tell you more about that next week. But we’re always excited about the birth of a new Harvest Bible Chapel.

And then our church, Harvest Granger, is responsible for seven Harvest Bible Chapels in Liberia. Thank you Lord for giving us Liberia. Not an easy place to plant churches and nurture people, but that’s what the Lord has given us. Because I believe the passion and the commitment and the boldness and the strength of our church can really be a blessing there.

We’ve sent teams to places like Hungary and Taiwan and all kinds of different places, and different people go to Eastern Asia, and our partnership locally with Hope Ministries and Project Warm. And you’ve heard about all those different things to serve our community, always in the name of Jesus. Getting the gospel into the hard places.

Now, it has come time for us to launch our new ministry year theme. Every year at Harvest, we pick a theme for the entire year. And so last year, do you remember what the theme was? Anybody know? Anybody know? Uncommon Community. Now listen, just because that’s not the theme this year, doesn’t mean that’s not important. We’re going to keep that going in all of our different various ministries. It’s so important to be connected as an uncommon community. Loving one another, serving one another, encouraging one another, all those different one anothers in Scripture.

So it’s time to unveil the new ministry year theme. So I thought, how would we let you know? And I thought, we should just be subtle about it. (Congregation chuckles.) We just maybe try to see if they could figure it out. And so on the count of three, we’ll do a 3-2-1 countdown, just guess. Just maybe the first thing that pops into your mind would be what you would imagine the new ministry year theme would be, okay?

So just say it if you think you might have figured it out, okay? 3-2-1. (Congregations shouts, “Be bold!”) How did you know? How did you figure that out? Be bold! That’s exactly what we’re going after. So, at Harvest Bible Chapel, we have four pillars. Do you know them? Do you know them? If there was a test and you were a member, you would have to pass the test okay? So the four pillars, they’re out on the walls, they’re on the back of our bulletin. We put them on everything. But guess which one of the pillars that we’re going to emphasize as our ministry theme this year. It’s pillar number four which says this, “Sharing the good news of Jesus with…” What? Boldness! Sharing the good news of Jesus is not the pillar. The pillar is sharing the good news of Jesus with boldness.

We’re going to get bold about standing up and standing out and standing firm on what we believe is the only solution to the problems that we see in this world. And you may say, “Well Trent, aren’t you, don’t you know, you could like get arrested nowadays for being a bold Christian? Wouldn’t it be better if we could…maybe we could launch a ministry theme…maybe a better theme would be, be cautious? How about be safe? Be careful!” No. That’s not going to work around here.

Now if you’re into “be safe” and “be careful”, there are churches that we could find you a place. Around here, we’re about being bold. Because that is what is required of Christians when times are the hardest. When times are the hardest, Christians must be the boldest.

So let’s talk about boldness here. Let’s give it a definition. Boldness can be defined in one dictionary I saw as “a trait of being willing to undertake things that involve risk or danger.” Or “the quality of standing out strongly and distinctly.”

Now there was a time in our nation’s history that if you wanted to be bold, you would announce you’re not a Christian. “I’m going to rebel against all things God.” And you would have been considered bold. But now the culture has shifted. We’ll talk more about that in just a minute. And I want you to see if from the Scripture.

Why do we say that boldness is required of every Christian in the hardest times? And we’re going to look at it here from the paragraph from the book of Acts. Now hopefully you’ve got your Bible open to Acts 28. Let me just set it up before we dive into it for a few minutes. Let’s figure out where we are in the narrative of Scripture, okay?

The Bible only has one story. And when we opened up the book of Acts, first of all, isn’t Acts a weird name for a book? It seems a little incomplete. The Acts of who? The Acts of what? There have been a lot of different suggestions of how you might want to title that. Some people might say, “Well, it’s the Acts of the Apostles. Because this is the birth record of the church.” You talk about a ministry year kickoff? That was the book of Acts. This was the launch of the whole thing.

And so in one sense, you could say it’s the Acts of the Apostles, the Acts of the Disciples, the Acts of the Church. People that are really Christ-centered, they would say it this way, “It’s the Acts of Jesus.” Right? It’s the Acts of Jesus through the Apostles. And there’s merit in all of those things. The book of Acts picks up where the gospels leave off.

There are four gospels in the Bible: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Those are the biographies of Jesus. So it’s people writing about the words and the actions of Jesus. But at the end of each of those four biographies, we know what happens. Jesus is crucified, he is buried, he is risen. We get to the book of Acts, we find out that after he is risen, he has one final staff meeting with his team and then he ascends back to his Father.

And so now what? That’s where the book of Acts starts. I would like to suggest an alternate title for the book of Acts. I think it’s Acts of Boldness. When you read what the disciples did in obedience to Jesus, it is a record of unapologetic sharing the good news of Jesus with boldness. That’s the plot of Acts.

So, we get to the very last chapter. We’re going to see the beginning from the end here this morning. We get to the last chapter, there’s a particular guy in the book of Acts that starts out at the beginning of the book of Acts as a natural born killer of Christians. You talk about a guy that was bold? This guy was so bold that if he found a Christian and if the Christian was bold enough to speak the gospel, he would drag him out, beat him up, and kill him. His name was Saul.

One day Jesus had a little meeting with Saul and said, “I do not appreciate you doing this. Why are you persecuting me?” Interesting, right? He didn’t say, “Why are you persecuting Christians?” He said, “Why are you persecuting me? I’m taking personally what you’re doing to my people. And I’m going to do something about it.” And so he slaps him with blindness. Now try to be bold as a blind person.

Now, this guy gets the message of the gospel, he’s radically transformed, and he becomes one of the Christians. And then he becomes a wonderful theologian. He becomes the boldest evangelist, the boldest preacher and gets committed to getting the gospel to the hard places. He becomes a church planter. He has such a radical change; Jesus changes his name. He changes his name to Paul.

There is a particular destination Paul is trying to get to in the later parts of the book of Acts. He wants to get to Rome. Because he knows that if the gospel could get to a very prominent place like Rome, that it could be disseminated throughout the world. So he’s struggling. He’s trying to get to Rome. And he’s praying, “God let me get to Rome.” And he feels like God is calling him to Rome.

So he begins his journey to Rome. In the process, he’s arrested. Why was he arrested? Because he was bold about the gospel. Now, if you’re committed to getting the gospel out, you love Jesus with all your heart, you’re trying to do a big thing for him…and then God allows you to get arrested? What would you do?

This is what most of us would do, we’d stick our thumb in our mouth and we’d start sucking it real hard, and we’d start kicking rocks, and we’d start griping to God. “God, here I am trying to be bold and look what you allowed. Where’s the religious freedom? Maybe I could sue these people. Maybe I could take a case to the Supreme Court. Where’s the political act of God? Why don’t you change this situation?”

Well, even though Paul was shackled, he continued to be bold. They put him under house arrest and they realized he actually is a Roman citizen. And so they put him on a boat to send him back to his place of origin in Rome. Like, “Great. This is awesome. This is God’s plan for me to get back to the city of Rome.” And so they put him on a boat.

Guess what happens to the boat? It sinks. There’s a storm, they start bailing water, but Paul is shipwrecked. Now, if you had been arrested and shackled and then the boat that they put you on was shipwrecked while you’re attempting just to fulfill the fourth pillar of your church and be bold, what would you have done? Like, “Oh God, you didn’t prevent the storm. I guess you’re not powerful enough. I guess I’m just going to sink here in the middle of the ocean.” That’s what most of us would do.

Not Paul. He swam to shore and the people were gathered around him. They’re terrified. They’re horrified. They just almost lost their lives because their boat had been shipwrecked. And so they gather around a fire to kind of dry out, and while they’re gathering around the fire drying out, do you know what happens? Paul gets snake bit. If you were shackled, and then shipwrecked, and then snake bit in your attempt to just simply obey God to get the gospel to a hard place, what would you do?

It’s like, “I’m just going to die right here. God, just kill me. God, I’ve tried to obey. Just kill me. Take me to heaven where there are no snakes and there are no shipwrecks and there are no shackles. I just guess I’ll be a martyr for you. Poor, pitiful me.” Is that what Paul did? No. He shook the snake off, he got on another boat, and he went to Rome.

He’s under house arrest in Rome and apparently he has a little bit of freedom there. And the religious people around him find out that this theologian is in town, and they start coming to him. That’s where we pick up the story in the last paragraph of the book of Acts. Acts 28.

Let’s begin reading in verse 23. If you’re there say, “I’m bold!” Verse 23. “When they had appointed a day for him, they came to him at his lodging in greater numbers.” Just underline the word “numbers” there. I underlined that in my Bible. Some people get real nervous when you start talking about numbers in church. Like some of you got a little nervous when we put the numbers and the giving and the attendance. It’s like, “You’re always just focused on numbers. You’re only focused on numbers.”

Listen, do you know how much the Bible talks about numbers? Somebody counted the people that were coming to Paul and realized there’s more people coming today than they came yesterday. And we’re responsible for the numbers. Listen, we’re not just about the numbers, but every number represents a name. And every name represents a story. And every story represents a soul. And every soul represents an image of God that is designed to give God glory.

And that’s what was happening here. There were greater numbers to learn. To sit at the feet of Paul and to understand the gospel. He says, “From morning till evening he expounded to them, testifying to the kingdom of God…” You think I preach long messages? From morning until evening. He never ran out of material. He had so much to expound. He knew the Bible so well. He understood the story that God had put together that redeemed people.

So from morning until evening he expounded to them testifying to the kingdom of God. And notice this, “…trying to convince them about Jesus from both the Law of Moses and from the Prophets.” To be bold doesn’t just mean you hand out some information. It doesn’t just mean you look across the table at somebody and share your testimony. “I’m just so grateful for what God’s done in my life. And Jesus died on a cross, saved me from my sin, and I’m just so happy.”

It doesn’t stop there. To be bold means you look that person right in the eye and you say, “Has anything like that ever happened to you?” and then you try to convince them that what has happened to you needs to happen to them. Paul was bold. He was trying to convince them.

That doesn’t mean you can manufacture someone’s salvation. It doesn’t mean you can manipulate someone into making a decision that they don’t want to make. But it does mean that you confront them with the reality of sin, judgment, hell and the cross. We are bold about all aspects of what it takes for a person to be born again spiritually. Paul was trying to convince them.

And notice what tool was he using to try to convince them? Did he draw a little picture? Did he do a little drama? Did he make a movie? What did he use to convince them? It tells us. From the Law and the Prophets. Now that’s code language for the Old Testament. The first five books of the Old Testament were written by Moses and referred to as the Law. So he opened up his Bible from Genesis or Numbers…did you know there’s a book in the Bible called “Numbers”? And he began to connect the dots between what God had said centuries before to what had just happened in the fulfillment of Jesus Christ’s coming.

And the Prophets who prophesied that Jesus was coming. He began to connect those dots. He used his Bible to try to convince them. Not a warm, fuzzy story. So we’ve got to know the Scripture to be bold about what’s in the word.

Look at verse 24, “And some were convinced by what he said, but others disbelieved.” Mark it down. You are not going to bat a thousand. Being bold is the goal. Keeping track of how people respond to your boldness is not your business. It is God’s business how people react to the bold proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And so if you are concerned about being well-liked and popular, you’ll never be bold.

But if you are trying to convince people, believing that it is only God who can convert a human soul? It is only God who can grant faith and repentance? It is only God that can regenerate a dead heart? Then you can be bold in every setting, because you realize that a person’s conversion, a person’s belief is not in any way dependent upon your ability to articulate the gospel. If I thought that your response to the gospel was dependent upon my ability to communicate to you, I would commit suicide. Because every week, I’ve got to try to stand up to do my best to try to get you to believe something you don’t want to believe.

What gives me freedom, the reason I can sleep on Saturday night, is because I realize my feeble attempt to share the good news with you is not an obstacle to you believing it. It is only God that can grant faith to respond in repentance to what the gospel actually is.

So he goes on. This is great. Look at verse 25. “And disagreeing among themselves…” Isn’t that great? The people who were convinced and the people who disagreed, agreed to disagree. And so, they went on their way, disagreeing among themselves. “They departed after Paul had made one statement…” Stop.

Is that not a great setup for what’s coming next? Aren’t you curious about what is the one statement that made these people get up and walk out? I often wonder. How many people are going to get up and walk out? After I make this next statement? Dirty, rotten sinner. Anybody want to leave now? Anybody want to leave? All right?

Well, this is what Paul does. Paul knew his Bible so well, that he realized that their response had already been prophesied back in the book of Isaiah in chapter 9. Paul knew those verses. He quoted them to them. And so they get up and they walk out. They departed after Paul made one statement. Here’s the statement, “The Holy Spirit was right in saying to your fathers through Isaiah the prophet: ‘Go to this people, and say, “You will indeed hear but never understand, and you will indeed see but never perceive.” For this people’s heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed; lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them.”

You know what Paul was saying? God told me about you people. You people that have all the information you need to be saved. And yet you won’t believe it. You bunch of knuckleheads. That’s a translation, but you know that’s basically what he said. Bold? Yeah, he was bold. And he identifies four things that have to happen in order for a person to respond positively to the gospel. Do you see them?

It says they have to see, they have to hear, they have to understand and they have to turn. Did you see it there? So if in order for a person to become a Christian, you have to see it, hear it, understand it, and turn to it, what’s our responsibility as the church if we’re going to fulfill our responsibility to share the gospel with boldness?

If people need to see it, then what do we have to do? We have to show it to them. That means that they have to observe in our lives a discernible difference. That it’s not just on our lips but it’s in our life. That the gospel that we are proclaiming to them has brought change to us. They have to see it.

They have to see it. They also have to hear it. It’s not enough just to live a good life and try to be like Jesus and be a good example. Preach the gospel at all times. If necessary, use words. That’s a bad statement. It really is. You should preach the gospel through your life, but the gospel is intrinsically tied to words about Jesus. Words about the cross. Words about sin. Words about forgiveness. Words about the cross. You have to use your mouth if you’re going to be bold as a Christian.

And so they have to see it. We have to do what? Let’s try that again. They have to see; we have to do what? We have to show it. They have to hear it? We have to what? We have to say it. They have to understand it; we have to explain it. We’ve got to know the gospel and know the Scriptures and be able to talk to somebody about their objections. We know that what we believe is unbelievable without the quickening power of the Holy Spirit, granting faith to a hard-hearted, knuckleheaded unbeliever like you and I used to be.

So, we have to show it, we have to say it, we have to explain it, and if the last thing they have to do is turn, what do we have to do? We have to point. We have to point hem to the cross. It’s not in a church, it’s not in a religious system, it’s not in your church attendance, it’s not in your good behavior. We have to point them away from religion and we have to point them to the cross. Boldly, unapologetically showing them that there is a Savior, one Savior that God sent to be the only way to be reconciled to God. But he says, “You guys have all the information. You won’t see it. You’ve chosen not to hear it. For some reason you can’t understand it, and you won’t turn to it.”

So then in verse 28 he says this, “Therefore, let it be known to you that this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles; they will listen.” Now, who are the Gentiles? By the way, that’s not a compliment. If somebody calls you a Gentile in the Bible, that’s not a compliment. The Gentiles referred to in the Bible, they were the people the farthest away from God. They didn’t have the Scriptures, they usually worshiped false idols, they had false religious systems. They worshiped something because the human heart is designed to worship something, but they didn’t worship the true and living God, because they didn’t have the revelation of God through the written word of God.

And so Paul says, “I am turning my attention to the people who are farthest away from God.” Who are the people in your circle of influence who are the farthest away from God? Those are the people that you have to be the most bold with. Boldness doesn’t just mean brash. It doesn’t just mean you speak. It means you go to hard places. You make bold moves and bold decisions with your life, and with your money, and with your time, to go to places that other people are unwilling to go to. To be bold means that we go to people who are the farthest away from God, believing that God can even grant a listening ear to those people. They will listen.

And then finally here in verse 30 it says this, “He lived there two whole years at his own expense…” Interesting. To be bold means that it’s going to cost you. It may cost you time, it may cost you money. It certainly cost Paul money. He lived there at his own expense. Notice this, “…and welcomed all who came to him.” All of them. No matter how far from God they were. No matter what they smelled like. No matter what they looked like. No matter how bad their track record was. He welcomed all who came to him.

Sometimes people ask me. They say, “Man, Trent, your church has really grown fast and it’s like you’re having trouble putting people in places and stuff. Like how big, I mean, how big are you going to grow your church?” And I’m like, “Well, first of all, I don’t get to decide that. It’s God who gets the growth. I’m trying to offend people as quickly as possible. I need seats.”

Right? No, I’m not really trying to do that. Only offend people with the gospel, right? We don’t want to offend people in any other way. If you’re offended by the gospel, we can live with that because we’re bold.

So people say, “How big are you going to grow your church before you just say that’s big enough?” I’m like, “What do you want me to do? You want me to put a no vacancy sign outside?” It’s like, “You are not welcome any more. We don’t have room for you.” Is that what we’re supposed to do? Listen, it’s God that gives the growth. It’s our responsibility just to be responsible stewards with the people God has given us. That’s why our small group ministry is so important.

How do you keep a large church small? By putting people in circles, in small groups, and training and raising up little micro pastors. Our small group leaders around the church, we’re giving our lives to that. And so we want to create disciples. And we want to welcome all who will come.

Verse 31, here it is. The final verse of the entire book of Acts. One of the longest books in the New Testament, 28 chapters. He comes to the final verse. Here it is. “…Proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance.” Now, that’s the last verse of this massive history book? But don’t you think that’s an odd ending? I mean, what happened to Paul? What happened to all the different churches? Where did it go from there? Right?

I think that the book of Acts really should end with an ellipsis. Because we now know as we glance back in the rearview mirror what actually happened. There were churches planted all over the place. Those churches eventually planted churches that ended up in Europe. And after centuries, and after even some really bad theology in the Church, God quickened and brought a Great Reformation in the fifteenth century where gospel-centeredness came back to reality and the cross once again became a point where people had to come to salvation.

And the doctrine of justification was renewed, and there was more church-planting, and more missionaries that eventually made its way to the western hemisphere. And there were more churches that were planted. And the first Great Awakening and the Second Great Awakening and through a couple of hundred years, and then into the 1900’s and the 20^th century.

And then in 1988, there was a church planted in the northwest suburbs of Chicago, that, ten years into their existence made a decision, “We need to plant some churches.” And the thirty-seventh church out of that church was Harvest Bible Chapel Granger. And now here we are in Acts 29. And what are we going to do? We’re going to proclaim the kingdom of God and teach about the Lord Jesus Christ with all…what? Boldness.

Ellipsis. Ellipsis. Ellipsis. And there’s going to be people come after us, but we’re going to gaze out the front windshield. So when we talk about boldness, can we just end here talking about five things that we want to be proactive about?

Please understand this. Some of you, I know what you’re saying, “I’m so shy. I’m an introvert. You’re asking me to do something way outside of my comfort zone.” I’m with you. I’m right there. I’m part of that team. Here’s what we need to understand though. Everybody is bold about something. Because:

 

1. Boldness reveals your deepest passions.

 

Whatever you came in today talking about…some of you came in today talking about your pot roast that you’re looking forward to. Some of you came in talking about your family that you haven’t seen in awhile. Some of you grandparents if I come up and talk to you, it’s going to be about ninety seconds before you pull out your phone and show me a picture of your grandchildren. And at the risk of really even thinking that I would be interested in your grandchildren, you’re going to be bold enough to show me, right? It’s like you don’t even care, it’s like, “You got to see my grandchildren. I don’t care if you care. I care, and if you love me you’re gonna care about my grandchildren.” Right?

And you’re bold about the things that you’re passionate about. Some of you came in here talking about your football team, and you wear it, you wear hats. Some of you screamed your face off at football games this year. And it was because you were passionate. Boldness is the result of your passion.

So if you have a lack of boldness about the gospel, what does it reveal?  You have a lack of passion about the gospel. You have a lack of passion about the reality of what Christ has done in your life.

Here’s the second thing:

 

2. Boldness is required in a shifting culture.

 

How many of you were born before 1969? Raise your hands. How many of you were born after 1969? Raise your hands. Oh, that’s a wonderful balance by the way. Okay. If you wondered if you were middle-aged, you will have to figure out which side of the equation you’re on.

Now, I’ve told you many times that I was born in the state of Oklahoma. Have I made that abundantly clear by now? Okay? And you know where my football loyalties are by that statement, by the way. But some of you don’t know this, some of you don’t know exactly where I was born in Oklahoma. Okay?

Now, I was born in Muskogee, Oklahoma. All right? Now, I was born in 1967. Now, I just want you to notice on this map where, geographically, Muskogee, Oklahoma is. Muskogee Oklahoma is almost the farthest town from New York City and Los Angeles, California. It sits smack dab right in the middle of America. That’s where I was born in 1967.

Now in 1969, there was a wonderful, theological hymn-writer named Merle Haggard that wrote some lyrics to a song that became one of the top 100 songs ever in the history of country and western music. Okay? Now you have to understand, in Oklahoma, there are only two kinds of music: country and western. That’s all we had. Okay?

So when I was two years old, Merle Haggard did me a wonderful favor. He wrote a song called, “Okie from Muskogee”. I see some of you nodding your heads. Would you like to now stand and sing this great hymn of the faith here in church? Here’s the way the lyrics go. The lyrics go like this:

We don’t smoke marijuana in Muskogee;

We don’t take our trips on LSD

We don’t burn our draft cards down on Main Street;

We like livin’ right and bein’ free.

I’m proud to be an Okie from Muskogee,

A place where even squares can have a ball.

We still wave Old Glory down at the courthouse,

And white lightnin’s still the biggest thrill of all.

 

All has three syllables, by the way, down in Muskogee. In case you didn’t know that.

Now, as that song was being played on one side of the radio dial, there were other songs being played on the other side of the radio dial that were coming out of places like New York City and Hollywood. As a matter of fact, many of you are familiar with the phenomena of Woodstock, where kind of the counter culture, the boldest of the rebels in society began to write other lyrics to other songs, as they danced around smoking their marijuana and taking their hits on LSD and frolicking nude in the mud at Woodstock.

So, as you think about what was happening in 1969, about forty years ago, can you imagine what the people in Muskogee were thinking about the people in Woodstock? I mean, “Those people are strange! They’re so weird. They’re so bold. They’re so counter cultural. I mean, being in Woodstock would kind of be the equivalent of living in hell.” Do you know what the people in Woodstock were thinking? “People that live in Muskogee? No marijuana? No LSD? White lightning? That sounds like hell – living in Muskogee!”

And so that was kind of the first time that this clash of cultures began to take place. And we’ve all lived it as we’ve grown up in various places like Muskogee and South Bend or wherever you’re at. But the point I’m trying to make is this. If you still think that those people in Woodstock are the strange ones, you’re deceiving yourself. We are now, as bold Christians, the minority. The strange ones. We are the ones who are the counter culture revolution.

And the good news is, that is the place throughout the history of the book of Acts, and the history of the Church, where the Church has thrived. When it becomes the revolution, when it becomes the counter culture, that’s the time when Christians are the boldest. It may be that Christians become fewer, but Christians will be truer, as those who (if you want to put that name Christian on your name, and it’s going to cost you something,) that actually might thin out the crowd a little bit so that we don’t have to deal with a bunch of phony, hypocritical, compromising “Christians” who are Christians in name only. Because we know you won’t be bold when you have to pay a price for what you believe. Boldness is what is required in a culture that is shifting.

 

3. Boldness is rooted in the transforming power of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

 

To be bold doesn’t mean that you are a courageous person, you’re a tough guy, you have thick skin. It means that you understand that boldness is the minimum requirement for someone who’s been transformed by the power of the gospel.

In the headlines this week, you have become very familiar with a lady named Kim Davis, a circuit court judge in Kentucky who has refused to offer same-sex marriage licenses to those who applied for them. Now, I do not know all the factors. I do not know exactly what I would do if I was in Kim Davis’ shoes. But this is a woman who has been transformed by the power of the Gospel.

It’s been interesting because people who have tried to attack her have said, “Well, she’s had three marriages and three divorces on her own. And now she wants to just pray a little prayer to Jesus and it’s all gonna be like, act like it never happened?” Uh, yeah. That’s the gospel, as a matter of fact. Exactly. And so now, being transformed by the gospel, she doesn’t want to violate her conscience because she recognizes the preciousness and the significance of what marriage is all about. It’s a picture of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I do not know what I would have done if I was in Kim Davis’ shoes, but I do know this. Kim Davis has not failed in her boldness. And there are going to be some of us who are going to be in those positions where we’re going to have to make some tough choices about what we’re going to do. We will not fail in our boldness.

Boldness risks being an offense to those that we are trying to rescue by our love.

 

4. Boldness risks being an offense to rescue those we love.

 

Being bold doesn’t mean you’re brash, it doesn’t mean you’re rude, it doesn’t mean your belligerent, it doesn’t mean you’re hateful. It means for the sake of getting people to a better place, we’re going to be bold enough to talk to them about sin. And salvation. And grace. And truth.

You know the only sin that remains in our culture is calling something sin. “Oh you can’t…how can you…are you saying I’m wrong to call something sin?” “Yeah.” “So you still believe in right and wrong?” “Well that’s not exactly what I’m saying.” You see it’s a circular argument that goes nowhere. We’ve got to risk being an offense in order to love those people to a better place.

And here’s the last thing:

 

5. Boldness refuses to compromise the truth.

 

The truth is not something we make up. We don’t invent it. We don’t write it. We just deliver it. Truth stands outside of us. It has been delivered to us. And so when we open our Bibles and read, we read truth that is true for all people, at all times, in all places.

And so when we open up the Bible and we read and it is our responsibility to believe boldly what God says about the origin of man, what God says about the sanctity of life, we’re going to be bold and believe what God says about the significance of marriage. We’re going to believe boldly about the exclusivity of Christ. We’re going to believe boldly about what God says about the reality of judgment. And we’re not going to compromise. Because it is the only truth that can bring us to our knees and get us to a better place.

Now, as we conclude, this is what I want you to do. I want you to turn back to Acts 13. Just flip back there. And I want you to see some men who are identified as bold men in the church there in Acts. We’re almost done. It says here in Acts 13:1, “Now there were in…” the Harvest Bible Chapel at… “Antioch, prophets and teachers.” What’s the main characteristic of a prophet? Bold! How about a teacher? He’s bold. And so you got some men here who were identified as prophets and teachers, and he gives us a list of names.

“Barnabas.” You know what Barnabas was known for? He was a bold encourager. Do you have somebody in your life who is an encourager? It’s like, “Man, I need to go see them before I do something really dumb so they can encourage me to do the right thing.” That’s what Barnabas was. He was an encourager.

And then he mentions a guy named “…Simeon who was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene.” I’ve got an African American friend named Dwight McKissic. He lives in Arlington, Texas, and pastors a big church there. And he was pointing out that, “Do you realize the word ‘niger’ means black, and everybody from Cyrene was black?” So at the top levels of leadership in this church, you had incredible diversity. You had two black guys along with an incredible encourager.

Here’s the fourth guy, a guy named Manaen, and he was a member of the court of Herod, the tetrarch, and he was a politician. Man, they let anybody in this church. Okay? And then he mentions Saul. Who’s Saul? That’s the guy that was the natural born killer of Christians. Now listen, would you have joined that church? You look at the pastoral team, the pastoral staff, the elder team; you got one encourager, two black guys, a politician and a natural born killer. Welcome to Harvest Bible Chapel, you are loved.

Some of you wouldn’t join that church. You know why? Because you don’t understand the diversity. The gospel is open to all. And there is no place for racism, or bigotry anywhere, at the highest levels of leadership in the church.

Notice about these men. It says in verse 2 while they were having their elder meeting, “While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said…” It’s great when the Holy Spirit speaks at a staff meeting. “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” There is a specific work. There is a specific calling to some people who have incredible boldness in the church. And it says in verse 3, “After fasting and praying, they laid their hands on them and sent them off.” I bet that was hard to do.

You have an encourager. You’re going to send him out of the church? Like, we can’t get enough encouragers in the church. We need more of them and these guys are actually going to commission one and send him off? Why would you do that? Because God said so. The Holy Spirit spoke. And there are times that God actually gives specific assignments and moves people around to build his church.