Video Transcript: Power for the Task

Welcome back, as we continue this journey to the ever loving truth, you know, perhaps the most attractive thing in the world, so a person does not know God is the life of an individual who does. There is nothing that makes the statement that a life that has been changed from the inside out, can make. Over the course of this week, we've been looking into the lives of some individuals who've been touched both internally and externally by the Lord. And we've looked at ways in which he's shown his power through those lives. 

Each and every one of us, who will yield ourselves and surrender ourselves to God can be used as tools just like they were, for God to show himself real, to show himself powerful, and to show how incredibly attractive a life with him can be. And in excess of five, there are several things we didn't have time, you know, in the, in the weekly sessions to deal with the whole chapter, because you start off with a nice, it's a fire, you know, and God showing us his power there. 

And then, you know, we move from that to miracles, by the apostles, to them being thrown into jail, and God getting them out of jail to them coming before the Sanhedrin, again, facing, you know, this this parable idea of what could happen to them. And Gamaliel, who's not a believer speaks up on their behalf. And so in chapter five, you know, after after chapter four, and we see their response, initially with the Sanhedrin. And we see that there's a problem, we see also that they are committed to the task, regardless of the cost, we also see that they believe in the sovereignty of God, because Peter and John, after they come back from the Sanhedrin, they'll come back going, oh, you know, we're so afraid, let us tell you what happened. No, they come back, and they sing a hymn. 

And they praise God, for His sovereignty, even in the midst of their persecution. And an Act chapter five, God shows His power. God has something for them to do. And he does the miraculous, even in order to accomplish his task. One of the things I love about the response of Peter and John before the Sanhedrin, it's not so much what they said, is what they didn't say. You see, they're threatened, they're warned not to use the name of Jesus not to preach or teach at all, in the name of Jesus. What they could have done is responded the same way that many of us do. It kept going back and said, we're gonna pray for godly men to be a part of the Sanhedrin. Oh, if we only had a few more Christians to crack that august body, but they didn't. 

They could have said, we'll go back, and will be silent witness with our lifestyles. It's not what they said. What they did was they looked at that body of men, and said, whether it is right in the sight of God to obey you, rather than God, you be the judge. But we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen, and what we have heard. We don't have to be the most articulate people in the world. We don't have to be the most intelligent people in the world. But we are connected to the greatest power in the world. And that is more than enough. What's the difference between looking to you refer to the sovereignty of God for power, and the other places that that we tend in our culture to look for power

Here's the difference. The difference is we've learned how to manipulate people. In evangelism, for example, I have heard some of the most terribly manipulative altar calls that you can imagine. I mean, if there's anything you've ever done wrong in your life, come down to the front of the room, you know, if you want to see that dead grandparent, again, come down, you know, I mean, just this incredibly manipulative, and we have learned how to manipulate people, we've learned how to manipulate people in our music, you know, you start off with something that's light, and it's fun, and it's fast. And then you pray. 

And after you pray, you turn the corner, and the music becomes more somber, it becomes slower, it becomes more drawn out. And we sort of move to this sort of emotional crescendo. You know, not saying that everybody who does that is being manipulative. But we've learned how to take people on emotional journeys, we've learned how to manipulate people through our messages, you know, when an evangelist gets up, and he starts off with, you know, let me be as funny as I can possibly be. And then he moves into some terrible, tragic story of, you know, somebody's death. And then he goes into some legalistic presentation of Christianity, you know, if you're not doing this, this, this, and this, you're not safe, you know? And then he goes into this manipulative, you know, altar call if you're not, not 100% sure, you know, if you're not not not percent sure, you're 100% loss, you know, we've learned how to manipulate people.

And we've learned how to count on our own powers of manipulation, we've learned how to count on our own powers, you know, of organization, we've learned how to count on our own programs, rather than counting on this power that we have for the task. Now, again, I think it's important for us to learn what's going on in our culture, I think it's important for us to learn, you know, you know, what it is that people respond to, I think it's important for us to, you know, decide that we're not going to be unnecessarily offensive in church. But there is just, you humongous leap from us being committed to a program, and a marketing skill that has worked somewhere, and us being committed to the Christ that stated unequivocally, that he will build his church.

I distinctly remember, the day that I came to faith in Christ. It was November the 13th 1987, Steve Morgan, a young man who had come into the locker room, and shared with me, who Jesus is what he intended to do with my life or wanted to do with my life, the first time that anybody had laid out for me what it meant to be a Christian. He had come to that locker room every day for three weeks. He had answered every question that I had, those that he couldn't answer right away.

He went and found answers ,I remember that process. I remember. Thinking about the things he told me digging deeper into the scriptures, to try to find out who this God was and how it was that I could know him.

And on that day, I did. What's ironic is that to a lot of people, what Steve Morgan did in that locker room, was inappropriate. A lot of people believe that it's wrong for one individual, to tell the story of their faith to another individual with the intent of bringing that individual to their faith. A lot of people think it's inappropriate to talk about such things. It's inappropriate to bring those things out in public. 

There are many people who believe that that's intolerant. But if that hadn't happened, I wouldn't know the word today. If that hadn't happened, I wouldn't be a Christian today. Take it a step further. What if it were illegal for Steve to have done what he did? That's right. There are places in this world where what happened to me on November 13 1987, could have been a crime punishable by death. These are things that we don't comprehend in our culture that we should there have always been costs associated with sharing the gospel.

But what if that were the case where we live? What would your response be? Would you be willing to share what you believe about Jesus Christ? Were you not living in the land of religious freedom? It's probably not another name American History more closely associated with the idea of religious freedom than that of Thomas Jefferson. And this is the Jefferson Memorial inside this memorial, can read some of Jefferson's thoughts about the freedoms that men have, and about how they ought to be able to practice and to believe what they will. 

It's quite ironic that we're Jefferson the President today, there will probably be news reporters who wrote scathing articles about his overuse of religious language, about his continued references to God, and to sovereignty, and to Providence. I'm not saying that Jefferson was a perfect person. He was a man of great contradiction. A man who spoke fervently forcefully about freeing slaves on one hand, but on the other hand, wouldn't free his own. I'm not suggesting that our founding fathers were infallible. I am suggesting, however, that we are blessed people in a blessed nation, and that God did have a hand in what happened here. And he still has a hand in what happens here. 

However, no one can deny that our attitudes toward that God who has originally blessed us has changed tremendously. How far will it go? I don't know. But for now, we're free to say and to do more than most people around the world can even dream. And what is so sad about it is here in the nation, where the cost of standing for Christ is so low, our willingness to do so, we almost have none. But regardless of the cost, what we must do is speak about those things that we have seen and that we have heard.

Ordinary power plant, it's plugged in, electricity is flowing, everything's fine. However, if you unplug it just like this plug, you and I are useless. And we're not connected to our power source, power sources God himself. In Acts chapter five, we see the apostle as they are plugged into that power source. And as God shows himself powerful in their lives and through their message, the same power that was evident and manifesting in their lives is available to us and to me, we have powerful task