1 00:00:00,280 --> 00:00:02,760 My friends, Hallelujah means I will praise the Lord. 2 00:00:02,760 --> 00:00:05,920 Let us praise the Lord together by hearing the word of God for 3 00:00:05,920 --> 00:00:11,200 us this morning. And the disciples devoted 4 00:00:11,200 --> 00:00:13,840 themselves to the apostles teaching and to the fellowship, 5 00:00:14,200 --> 00:00:17,720 to the breaking of the bread. And the prayers and awe came 6 00:00:17,720 --> 00:00:20,040 upon every soul. And many wonders and signs were 7 00:00:20,040 --> 00:00:23,040 being done through the apostles, and all who believed were 8 00:00:23,040 --> 00:00:25,640 together, and they had all things in common. 9 00:00:26,200 --> 00:00:28,600 And they were selling their possessions and belongings, and 10 00:00:28,600 --> 00:00:31,840 distributing the proceeds to all as any had need. 11 00:00:32,479 --> 00:00:36,200 And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking 12 00:00:36,200 --> 00:00:39,480 bread in their homes, they received their food with glad 13 00:00:39,480 --> 00:00:42,920 and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all 14 00:00:42,920 --> 00:00:45,600 the people. And the Lord added to their 15 00:00:45,600 --> 00:00:49,120 number day by day, those who were being saved. 16 00:00:50,040 --> 00:00:54,000 This is the word of the Lord. The grass Withers, the flowers 17 00:00:54,000 --> 00:00:55,840 fade, but the word of our Lord stands forever. 18 00:00:55,840 --> 00:00:59,360 My friends, the word of our Lord stands forever. 19 00:00:59,360 --> 00:01:09,280 Please be seated. So I want you to imagine that 20 00:01:09,280 --> 00:01:12,120 you're just getting to know somebody, you're on the first 21 00:01:12,120 --> 00:01:13,720 second date, something like that. 22 00:01:14,080 --> 00:01:17,320 And you start feeling to yourself, hey, I really, you 23 00:01:17,320 --> 00:01:19,120 know, want to be honest with this person. 24 00:01:19,120 --> 00:01:22,040 I've got these feelings and I want to share with them and I 25 00:01:22,040 --> 00:01:23,720 want to be really honest with this person. 26 00:01:23,920 --> 00:01:26,640 So you go up to them at the end of the date, you kind of go up 27 00:01:26,640 --> 00:01:29,760 to them and say, hey, I need to tell you this, that you are a 28 00:01:29,760 --> 00:01:34,080 real bully and that there's nothing nice at all about you. 29 00:01:34,840 --> 00:01:37,880 And I have to say, when I look at you, I just feel awful. 30 00:01:39,120 --> 00:01:41,880 OK What's the end result of such a comment? 31 00:01:42,680 --> 00:01:44,080 Yeah. The chances are you're going to 32 00:01:44,080 --> 00:01:45,920 get slapped. Or I was thinking you just 33 00:01:45,920 --> 00:01:48,040 wouldn't get another date. But something along those lines. 34 00:01:48,440 --> 00:01:53,000 On the other hand, 300 years ago, that would have been a love 35 00:01:53,000 --> 00:01:56,000 ballad to be. Thank you, Kelly. 36 00:01:56,240 --> 00:02:00,000 That would have been a love ballad, to be a bully. 37 00:02:00,000 --> 00:02:03,560 To be a bully would be to be a sweetheart or a darling. 38 00:02:03,800 --> 00:02:07,320 And to say, hey, you're, you're my bully would be to say you're 39 00:02:07,320 --> 00:02:09,320 my sweetheart, you're my loved one. 40 00:02:09,560 --> 00:02:13,720 To be nice is to be silly. It's to be ignorant. 41 00:02:13,720 --> 00:02:17,840 It's to be just short of stupid. And to say there's nothing nice 42 00:02:17,840 --> 00:02:20,920 about you would be to say that you're a very serious person. 43 00:02:21,360 --> 00:02:25,680 To say when I look at you I feel awful would mean when I look at 44 00:02:25,680 --> 00:02:29,520 you, I feel the awe of God, the wonder of our Lord that he has 45 00:02:29,520 --> 00:02:32,000 blessed me with. I feel awe full of awe, 46 00:02:32,320 --> 00:02:35,120 etcetera, etcetera. So to say somebody that you're 47 00:02:35,120 --> 00:02:39,320 my bully, that you, that there's nothing nice about you and that 48 00:02:39,320 --> 00:02:43,120 when I look at you I feel awful, that would be a love ballad 300 49 00:02:43,120 --> 00:02:46,360 years ago today. It's likely to get you slapped. 50 00:02:47,320 --> 00:02:51,960 OK, if you're at all aware of these kind of things, if you do 51 00:02:51,960 --> 00:02:55,280 any study of language at all, you're aware that the semantic 52 00:02:55,280 --> 00:02:59,880 range, the, the, the, the definition of language, the 53 00:02:59,880 --> 00:03:02,200 definition of different words shifts over time. 54 00:03:02,560 --> 00:03:05,200 And that's not surprising. We can come up with lots of 55 00:03:05,200 --> 00:03:07,400 those illustrations. Those are three that fit 56 00:03:07,400 --> 00:03:09,640 together well for me, but you can come up with a whole fleet 57 00:03:09,640 --> 00:03:11,480 of them. If you want to have fun someday, 58 00:03:11,480 --> 00:03:13,680 search on the Internet. You'll come up with lots of 59 00:03:13,680 --> 00:03:16,520 things that will make you laugh, that the words shift and change 60 00:03:16,520 --> 00:03:20,160 so much. We are living right now in the 61 00:03:20,160 --> 00:03:24,600 midst of a time period where a an incredibly significant word 62 00:03:24,600 --> 00:03:28,400 for the church is shifting its meaning terribly. 63 00:03:29,040 --> 00:03:32,560 If we're going to have a conversation about this word, I 64 00:03:32,560 --> 00:03:38,320 need to almost reprogram you. I mean, literally reprogram you 65 00:03:38,720 --> 00:03:41,160 because the way in which we're going to talk about a particular 66 00:03:41,160 --> 00:03:44,920 word is not at all the way in which you're hearing it being 67 00:03:44,920 --> 00:03:47,000 used. Now, as we have a self 68 00:03:47,000 --> 00:03:50,880 description of the church here, this is kind of the an 69 00:03:50,880 --> 00:03:54,160 articulation of the kind of church that I want to serve, the 70 00:03:54,160 --> 00:03:56,400 kind of person that I want to be. 71 00:03:56,600 --> 00:04:00,680 And so this not only reflects what Hebron is to some extent, 72 00:04:00,680 --> 00:04:03,320 but it also reflects, I think, what we want it to be. 73 00:04:03,320 --> 00:04:05,320 What does Hebron, What should Hebron be like? 74 00:04:05,640 --> 00:04:08,520 Well, this is the phrase in which we've been using for the 75 00:04:08,520 --> 00:04:11,520 past couple weeks. Hebron is a biblically based, 76 00:04:12,440 --> 00:04:15,680 Christ centered community of disciples, A reformed, 77 00:04:15,920 --> 00:04:19,519 classically evangelical church in the Presbyterian tradition, 78 00:04:19,839 --> 00:04:22,480 worshipping, growing, and serving Christ in the eastern 79 00:04:22,480 --> 00:04:25,760 suburbs of Pittsburgh. Hebron is a biblically based 80 00:04:25,760 --> 00:04:28,840 Christ centered community, disciples, A Reformed and then 81 00:04:28,840 --> 00:04:31,920 classically evangelical. Notice how we've got classically 82 00:04:31,920 --> 00:04:34,320 evangelical in there, and I've included a kind of in 83 00:04:34,320 --> 00:04:37,240 parentheses in part so that it stands out. 84 00:04:37,360 --> 00:04:39,400 We're a classically evangelical church. 85 00:04:39,800 --> 00:04:43,520 Now, I, we have to state it like this because over the past 40 86 00:04:43,520 --> 00:04:47,680 years, and 1st off, just to wrap your minds around this a little 87 00:04:47,680 --> 00:04:51,320 bit, in the English speaking Christian world, the world 88 00:04:51,320 --> 00:04:53,880 evangelical is only about 80 years old. 89 00:04:54,680 --> 00:04:58,800 It's only about 80 years old. And in the past 40 years, the 90 00:04:58,800 --> 00:05:03,120 word has shifted and changed dramatically in popular usage to 91 00:05:03,120 --> 00:05:06,640 the fact that it rarely means very little at all of what it 92 00:05:06,640 --> 00:05:10,680 used to mean. And that's why when we talk 93 00:05:10,680 --> 00:05:13,760 about being classically evangelical here at heaven, when 94 00:05:13,760 --> 00:05:17,240 we call ourselves evangelical here at heaven, we need to 95 00:05:17,240 --> 00:05:21,360 somehow distinguish ourselves from the contemporary use of the 96 00:05:21,360 --> 00:05:26,760 term to its classical use, to its use back in the 80 years ago 97 00:05:26,760 --> 00:05:29,560 or so. And so just like you could 98 00:05:29,560 --> 00:05:33,800 probably trace the evolution of the word bully from sweetheart 99 00:05:34,000 --> 00:05:36,800 to somebody that intimidates themselves with their physical 100 00:05:36,800 --> 00:05:39,360 presence. So I think you can trace the 101 00:05:39,520 --> 00:05:42,040 evolution of the word evangelical from its classical 102 00:05:42,040 --> 00:05:45,000 meaning to its contemporary meaning. 103 00:05:45,280 --> 00:05:47,160 But we're not going to do that process today. 104 00:05:47,160 --> 00:05:49,920 What we're going to do is emphasize what it is that we 105 00:05:49,920 --> 00:05:52,640 mean when we say that Hebron Church is a classically 106 00:05:52,640 --> 00:05:55,840 evangelical church. And it's important that I, I, I 107 00:05:55,840 --> 00:05:59,360 keep stressing this because if we're all triggered to 108 00:05:59,360 --> 00:06:02,880 understand words a certain way, and if you understand 109 00:06:03,000 --> 00:06:06,440 evangelical in the it's contemporary usage right now, 110 00:06:06,560 --> 00:06:10,120 you're forever going to miss some crucial identification, 111 00:06:10,120 --> 00:06:13,160 self identification of Hebron when Hebron says that it's 112 00:06:13,160 --> 00:06:16,080 classically evangelical. Now the reality is just to catch 113 00:06:16,080 --> 00:06:19,960 you up on some linguistic struggles of the church in 114 00:06:19,960 --> 00:06:22,760 America, the church is struggling trying to come up 115 00:06:22,760 --> 00:06:24,720 with another term. There's not a good term. 116 00:06:24,720 --> 00:06:27,680 We recognize that evangelical no longer means what it meant even 117 00:06:27,680 --> 00:06:31,600 40 years ago when we first used the terminology to describe 118 00:06:31,600 --> 00:06:34,400 ourselves. It no longer means that any 119 00:06:34,400 --> 00:06:36,440 longer. And so we're struggling to come 120 00:06:36,440 --> 00:06:38,920 up with another term. I'm too old for that. 121 00:06:39,120 --> 00:06:41,600 I just want to use the words that I know how to use. 122 00:06:41,840 --> 00:06:45,400 And so until they come up with a better term, I'm sticking with 123 00:06:45,400 --> 00:06:47,680 the fact that Hebron Church is an evangelical church. 124 00:06:47,680 --> 00:06:51,560 But what I mean by that is a classically evangelical church. 125 00:06:51,720 --> 00:06:54,360 So what I need to do is I need to spend the next 20 minutes 126 00:06:54,360 --> 00:06:58,080 giving you 100 years of history. This is 100 years of quick 127 00:06:58,080 --> 00:07:02,160 understanding of the way the word evangelical is used and 128 00:07:02,160 --> 00:07:05,760 specifically what we mean by it. When we say that Heaven Church 129 00:07:05,760 --> 00:07:09,040 is an evangelical church and strives to be an evangelical 130 00:07:09,040 --> 00:07:11,720 church, what are we talking about contemporarily? 131 00:07:11,720 --> 00:07:14,760 If you use the word evangelical, you're usually identifying some 132 00:07:14,760 --> 00:07:19,040 kind of a socio political position on social issues and 133 00:07:19,040 --> 00:07:21,600 political issues. You're identifying yourself in a 134 00:07:21,600 --> 00:07:24,080 particular corner. That's the way in which the word 135 00:07:24,080 --> 00:07:26,560 is used. Now it overwhelmingly has 136 00:07:26,560 --> 00:07:31,120 political and social identification, social uses, and 137 00:07:31,120 --> 00:07:34,120 to some extent it's might have a little bit of a religious 138 00:07:34,360 --> 00:07:37,160 background to it, but overwhelmingly it's talking 139 00:07:37,160 --> 00:07:40,640 about a social political stance of society as a whole. 140 00:07:41,480 --> 00:07:44,720 Now all of this revolves around the fact that about 100 years 141 00:07:44,720 --> 00:07:49,160 ago, 150 to 100 years ago, the church was struggling as it 142 00:07:49,160 --> 00:07:52,640 always does, with that concept that we are called to live in 143 00:07:52,640 --> 00:07:55,080 the world but not be of the world. 144 00:07:56,880 --> 00:07:59,520 All the church throughout of the ages have always struggled with 145 00:07:59,520 --> 00:08:02,200 that kind of an understanding. That's a great phrase that 146 00:08:02,200 --> 00:08:05,800 summarizes the description of the Scriptures in terms of the 147 00:08:05,800 --> 00:08:09,840 church, that the church and us as individuals need to live, be 148 00:08:09,960 --> 00:08:12,280 in the world but not be of the world. 149 00:08:12,440 --> 00:08:14,600 That means that we have to impact the world. 150 00:08:14,760 --> 00:08:17,440 We are put in this world to be God's hands and feet. 151 00:08:17,600 --> 00:08:21,160 We have an impact in the world and yet at the same time we're 152 00:08:21,160 --> 00:08:23,480 not supposed to be shaped and molded by the world. 153 00:08:23,880 --> 00:08:26,680 Instead, we are to be influencing the world, not 154 00:08:26,680 --> 00:08:31,440 having the world influence us. Well, about 100 years ago, the 155 00:08:31,440 --> 00:08:34,240 church found itself locked in two different camps. 156 00:08:34,840 --> 00:08:37,880 In the one camp, there was a position where they said, look, 157 00:08:38,280 --> 00:08:43,559 in order to influence society, in order to impact the the world 158 00:08:43,559 --> 00:08:46,720 around us, in order to share God's love with them, we need to 159 00:08:46,720 --> 00:08:49,600 minimize, we need to downplay the things that are 160 00:08:49,600 --> 00:08:52,080 distinguished, the things that separate us from the world. 161 00:08:52,200 --> 00:08:55,560 We need to instead embrace some of the concepts of the world. 162 00:08:55,720 --> 00:08:59,040 We need to embrace the world's outlook on things, see things 163 00:08:59,040 --> 00:09:01,840 the way the world does so that we can bring our distinctive 164 00:09:01,840 --> 00:09:05,680 Christian influence to bear. So the goal was, hey, how can we 165 00:09:05,680 --> 00:09:08,800 influence the world? And yet the great danger of this 166 00:09:08,800 --> 00:09:12,440 position was that you would compromise some of the crucial 167 00:09:12,440 --> 00:09:16,480 gospel truths, minimize the impact of the gospel message, in 168 00:09:16,480 --> 00:09:19,560 order to try to be relevant to the culture as a whole. 169 00:09:19,760 --> 00:09:22,160 So in order to impact the culture, which is a great 170 00:09:22,160 --> 00:09:26,200 desire, the idea was to minimize some of the things that separate 171 00:09:26,200 --> 00:09:29,160 us from the culture as a whole. That was 1 camp. 172 00:09:29,760 --> 00:09:32,240 On the other side there was a camp that said no, what we need 173 00:09:32,240 --> 00:09:35,800 to prioritize above all else is theological rigidity, 174 00:09:35,800 --> 00:09:38,600 theological faithfulness. We need to be true to the 175 00:09:38,600 --> 00:09:40,520 Scriptures. We need to be true to ourselves. 176 00:09:40,800 --> 00:09:45,520 And so in order to do that, we have to object to and resist the 177 00:09:45,520 --> 00:09:47,680 corrupting influence of the world as a whole. 178 00:09:48,160 --> 00:09:51,280 So what we have to do is we have to anchor ourselves and we have 179 00:09:51,280 --> 00:09:54,640 to become a distinct community and separate ourselves from the 180 00:09:54,640 --> 00:09:57,000 rest of the world. If the world does that, then by 181 00:09:57,000 --> 00:09:59,200 golly, we're not going to do that because we need to be 182 00:09:59,200 --> 00:10:03,080 different. We need to be hold passionately 183 00:10:03,080 --> 00:10:06,160 to the truths of the gospel message, even if that means that 184 00:10:06,160 --> 00:10:10,040 we end up rejecting the world and becoming isolatory from the 185 00:10:10,040 --> 00:10:12,560 world. Now, just like the danger of 186 00:10:12,560 --> 00:10:16,720 this position over here is that it compromises the gospel, the 187 00:10:16,720 --> 00:10:19,880 danger of the position over here is that they withdraw so far 188 00:10:19,880 --> 00:10:22,120 from the world that they no longer have an influence on the 189 00:10:22,120 --> 00:10:24,600 world. Think if you want to extremize 190 00:10:24,600 --> 00:10:26,520 this, extremize this, can you do that? 191 00:10:26,880 --> 00:10:28,320 OK, but everybody knows what I mean. 192 00:10:28,440 --> 00:10:31,080 If you extremize it, you're looking at the Amish position, 193 00:10:31,480 --> 00:10:34,720 OK, The the Amish community, everybody kind of knows the 194 00:10:34,720 --> 00:10:37,480 Amish community, but they've so isolated themselves from the 195 00:10:37,480 --> 00:10:39,760 world that they have very little impact on it. 196 00:10:40,000 --> 00:10:43,280 So the world about 100 years ago was caught in those in those two 197 00:10:43,280 --> 00:10:45,240 positions. At the end of World War 4/2, a 198 00:10:45,760 --> 00:10:49,640 bunch of church leaders arose that said, look, we need to find 199 00:10:49,640 --> 00:10:51,720 a way to take what is right about this. 200 00:10:51,920 --> 00:10:54,800 The goal here of having an influence in society, of 201 00:10:54,800 --> 00:10:57,600 impacting the society, of bringing the gospel message, of 202 00:10:57,600 --> 00:11:00,440 seeing the Kingdom of God worked out in our daily lives. 203 00:11:00,440 --> 00:11:04,000 We need to be able to bring the impact, the importance of this 204 00:11:04,000 --> 00:11:08,240 position to the world while warning ourselves consistency 205 00:11:08,360 --> 00:11:13,040 consistently of the dangers that are present here of compromising 206 00:11:13,040 --> 00:11:15,520 the gospel. But we also need to grab hold of 207 00:11:15,520 --> 00:11:18,600 what is true over here, the truths of the gospel message, 208 00:11:18,880 --> 00:11:21,400 and not compromising in the faithfulness of what is being 209 00:11:21,400 --> 00:11:24,200 taught here. And yet being warned against the 210 00:11:24,200 --> 00:11:28,280 idea of being separated, of pull the way of be, of refusing to 211 00:11:28,280 --> 00:11:30,640 influence the society and the culture as a whole. 212 00:11:31,200 --> 00:11:34,520 These church leaders came together and they literally 213 00:11:34,520 --> 00:11:38,040 created a movement in the 40s and 50s that was called the 214 00:11:38,040 --> 00:11:41,040 Evangelical movement. The evangelical movement 215 00:11:41,040 --> 00:11:43,200 centered around 5 different principles. 216 00:11:43,440 --> 00:11:46,160 Now if you look today, what's the evangelical movement 217 00:11:46,160 --> 00:11:48,880 according to all the media and our society as a whole, what's 218 00:11:48,880 --> 00:11:52,520 the core value of the of the evangelical movement? 219 00:11:52,520 --> 00:11:55,520 You come up with some kind of a political understanding or a 220 00:11:55,520 --> 00:11:57,760 view of the current administration, political 221 00:11:57,760 --> 00:12:00,760 administration or something like that that had nothing to do with 222 00:12:00,760 --> 00:12:06,400 this. 5 core gospel messages 5 core central themes in which the 223 00:12:06,400 --> 00:12:09,880 evangelical movement said in light of this need that we have 224 00:12:10,160 --> 00:12:12,200 to live in the world but not of the world. 225 00:12:12,400 --> 00:12:15,720 In light of our desire to impact the world with the gospel 226 00:12:15,720 --> 00:12:18,800 message and yet not compromise the gospel message in order to 227 00:12:18,800 --> 00:12:23,480 hold true, hold forth the truths of the gospel message, and yet 228 00:12:23,640 --> 00:12:27,760 not be isolatory in our impact. In order to do these things, 229 00:12:28,000 --> 00:12:30,600 they Goss. The evangelical movement held 230 00:12:30,600 --> 00:12:33,880 five main themes. Now, as we got through these 231 00:12:33,880 --> 00:12:37,320 things, think about the way in which the word is used today. 232 00:12:38,080 --> 00:12:41,600 Do are these five things the things that society says? 233 00:12:41,600 --> 00:12:42,520 Oh, yeah. When we're talking about 234 00:12:42,520 --> 00:12:44,240 evangelicals, this is what we're talking about. 235 00:12:45,040 --> 00:12:47,840 I insist that you almost never hear these five things. 236 00:12:48,520 --> 00:12:51,200 And yet that's what it means for us to be evangelical, 237 00:12:51,520 --> 00:12:55,640 classically evangelical, and what we need to be evangelical 238 00:12:55,640 --> 00:12:57,680 because it arises straight out of the Scriptures. 239 00:12:57,920 --> 00:13:01,080 Now, as I talk walk through these five things, I want you to 240 00:13:01,080 --> 00:13:03,760 have in mind the Scripture that I read or the Scripture that Dan 241 00:13:03,760 --> 00:13:05,680 read. The two Scriptures work together 242 00:13:05,680 --> 00:13:09,000 so well to highlight these five different things. 243 00:13:09,440 --> 00:13:16,000 First, we understand the absolute authority of Scripture, 244 00:13:17,320 --> 00:13:20,360 OK, about 100 years ago, as is throughout the history of the 245 00:13:20,360 --> 00:13:24,200 church, there has always been a push away from the authority of 246 00:13:24,200 --> 00:13:25,720 Scripture. When we talk about the authority 247 00:13:25,720 --> 00:13:29,520 of Scripture, we talk about the absolute responsibility of the 248 00:13:29,520 --> 00:13:32,720 Christian, of the believer to submit themselves under the 249 00:13:32,720 --> 00:13:35,480 authority of Scripture. And yet about 100 years ago we 250 00:13:35,480 --> 00:13:39,120 had the rise, this was the triumph of of the Enlightenment 251 00:13:39,120 --> 00:13:41,440 period. We had the rise of naturalism 252 00:13:41,600 --> 00:13:43,720 that was happening. The philosophies that happened 253 00:13:43,720 --> 00:13:47,240 around those times and the rise of the romantic movement and 254 00:13:47,240 --> 00:13:50,320 those kind of things all gave rise to the idea that what can 255 00:13:50,320 --> 00:13:52,760 you really trust in this world? How do you know anything is 256 00:13:52,760 --> 00:13:54,920 true? You know something is true 257 00:13:55,040 --> 00:13:58,680 because you experience it or because you reason it out in 258 00:13:58,680 --> 00:14:01,800 your head. Reason has a brought us into the 259 00:14:01,800 --> 00:14:05,120 majesty of the scientific age in which we're operating under now. 260 00:14:05,320 --> 00:14:08,200 Our experiences is that which makes us authentic. 261 00:14:08,440 --> 00:14:11,200 And so how is it that we identify what is true in this 262 00:14:11,200 --> 00:14:13,160 world? We identify what is true in this 263 00:14:13,160 --> 00:14:14,800 world is that it makes sense to me. 264 00:14:15,080 --> 00:14:17,560 And if I have some kind of experience with it, how do I 265 00:14:17,560 --> 00:14:19,640 know that this is true or that is true? 266 00:14:19,800 --> 00:14:22,120 This religious position is true to that religious? 267 00:14:22,360 --> 00:14:24,800 Well, have I experienced it? Do I have any? 268 00:14:24,960 --> 00:14:27,560 How does it make me feel? How do I engage with it? 269 00:14:27,560 --> 00:14:29,680 Or how much sense does it make? In my mind? 270 00:14:30,080 --> 00:14:34,800 The evangelical movement said, no, our ultimate authority is 271 00:14:34,800 --> 00:14:38,160 Scripture. It's not my experience that 272 00:14:38,160 --> 00:14:42,160 makes me evaluate the Scripture. It's the Scripture that 273 00:14:42,160 --> 00:14:47,280 evaluates my experience. Now we have terrible Bible study 274 00:14:47,280 --> 00:14:49,000 habits. When we say what does the 275 00:14:49,000 --> 00:14:52,680 passage mean to me, OK, what does this passage mean to me? 276 00:14:52,800 --> 00:14:55,960 What that means is, hey, given your own insight and 277 00:14:55,960 --> 00:14:59,000 understanding, how is it that you understand the scriptures? 278 00:14:59,480 --> 00:15:01,960 And instead what we need to do always is how does the 279 00:15:01,960 --> 00:15:06,480 scriptures influence and impact and judge my own thinking, my 280 00:15:06,480 --> 00:15:09,360 own understanding. The Scriptures are our ultimate 281 00:15:09,360 --> 00:15:13,240 authority, not what we think of them, not what we experience, 282 00:15:13,400 --> 00:15:15,920 but rather the Scriptures and the Scriptures alone. 283 00:15:16,240 --> 00:15:19,440 So a common authority. So what the evangelical movement 284 00:15:19,440 --> 00:15:23,920 came up with with his like look in light of the wonderful things 285 00:15:24,240 --> 00:15:28,160 that the scientific world has come up with the the realities 286 00:15:28,160 --> 00:15:31,480 of experiencing of this life. All of those things are true. 287 00:15:31,720 --> 00:15:35,440 And yet all of those things need to be laid against that standard 288 00:15:35,640 --> 00:15:39,400 that that definitive standard that we have in the Scriptures 289 00:15:39,600 --> 00:15:42,800 and the Scriptures alone. So evangelical Christians are 290 00:15:42,800 --> 00:15:48,480 those who are committed to ensuring that we judge our lives 291 00:15:48,480 --> 00:15:51,440 by the Scriptures, not the other way around. 292 00:15:52,600 --> 00:15:54,000 The authority of Scripture first. 293 00:15:54,200 --> 00:15:58,160 Secondly, the absolute centrality of the of the cross. 294 00:15:59,760 --> 00:16:03,040 Now, if you've ever had conversations with somebody 295 00:16:03,040 --> 00:16:06,560 about the sacrificial system in the Old Testament, the slaughter 296 00:16:06,560 --> 00:16:10,080 of the animals, the spreading around to the blood, the 297 00:16:10,080 --> 00:16:15,040 sprinkling of blood all over everything, the consistent ways 298 00:16:15,040 --> 00:16:17,960 in which the animal sacrifice would have dominated people's 299 00:16:17,960 --> 00:16:21,480 lives. You might not be surprised to 300 00:16:21,480 --> 00:16:26,480 get a turned up nose, a little sense like man, aren't you glad 301 00:16:26,480 --> 00:16:28,120 we're no longer at that time period? 302 00:16:28,320 --> 00:16:32,320 Aren't you glad we're where we no longer believe in a God that 303 00:16:32,320 --> 00:16:36,560 is so wrathful that would insist that we kill things, animals of 304 00:16:36,560 --> 00:16:39,240 all things and spread their blood all over the place, that 305 00:16:39,240 --> 00:16:42,760 we no longer believe in those wrathful God that takes that, 306 00:16:42,760 --> 00:16:46,440 that is unable just to love us for Pete's sake, what's the core 307 00:16:46,440 --> 00:16:48,840 as message of the gospel that God loves us. 308 00:16:49,040 --> 00:16:51,360 So God just loves us. We can do away with these 309 00:16:51,360 --> 00:16:54,080 barbaric practices. This horrible understanding 310 00:16:54,560 --> 00:16:58,840 coupled want with the idea. Can you imagine the child abuse 311 00:16:59,520 --> 00:17:06,560 God the father kills his son, sacrifices him for somebody 312 00:17:06,560 --> 00:17:09,760 else. The horror of this makes zero 313 00:17:09,760 --> 00:17:12,920 sense if you hold to such an idea that no wonder you can't 314 00:17:12,920 --> 00:17:15,880 connect with your neighbors and and those around you because 315 00:17:15,880 --> 00:17:19,000 they look at you and think that's a barbaric understanding. 316 00:17:19,640 --> 00:17:24,359 And yet evangelical Christians hold passionately to the truths 317 00:17:24,359 --> 00:17:27,480 of the gospel. We preach Jesus Christ and him 318 00:17:27,480 --> 00:17:30,320 crucified. We are not preaching Jesus 319 00:17:30,320 --> 00:17:34,040 Christ the great teacher. We're not preaching Jesus Christ 320 00:17:34,040 --> 00:17:37,120 the great example. We are preaching Jesus Christ 321 00:17:37,320 --> 00:17:41,720 and him crucified, his death on the cross for our sin. 322 00:17:41,880 --> 00:17:45,720 And yes, that is because God is a God of wrath, and He turns 323 00:17:45,720 --> 00:17:48,720 that wrath against sin, and He intends to turn that wrath 324 00:17:48,720 --> 00:17:52,160 against sin, and He will never subject Himself to anything 325 00:17:52,160 --> 00:17:56,200 other than that wrath upon sin and the great love of God. 326 00:17:56,200 --> 00:17:59,760 Where is the love of God in the midst of this horrid sacrificial 327 00:17:59,760 --> 00:18:03,560 system that would lead to Jesus himself dying upon a cross for 328 00:18:03,560 --> 00:18:06,200 you? The love of God is exactly the 329 00:18:06,200 --> 00:18:10,600 reason why He dies on the cross. His love for you. 330 00:18:11,160 --> 00:18:15,080 His love for me. Evangelical Christians are those 331 00:18:15,200 --> 00:18:18,960 who proudly hold on to the realities of the atonement of 332 00:18:19,000 --> 00:18:21,760 Jesus Christ upon the cross. We don't shy away from it. 333 00:18:21,840 --> 00:18:25,840 We recognize that that is indeed the central concept of the 334 00:18:25,840 --> 00:18:28,480 gospel message. And while the world might think 335 00:18:28,480 --> 00:18:31,320 it's barbaric, while the world might not understand 336 00:18:31,320 --> 00:18:34,440 substitutionary sacrifice, might not understand somebody 337 00:18:34,440 --> 00:18:39,320 voluntarily taking their their, their death on my behalf, that's 338 00:18:39,320 --> 00:18:42,040 exactly what the Scriptures teach and proclaim. 339 00:18:42,240 --> 00:18:45,040 And it's what the evangelical movement has always held forward 340 00:18:45,200 --> 00:18:48,080 is a key in a model. Now let me ask yourself, just 341 00:18:48,080 --> 00:18:51,160 like we should have done when we talked about the Scriptures, 342 00:18:51,520 --> 00:18:54,680 when you hear the word evangelical tossed around today, 343 00:18:55,320 --> 00:18:58,680 do they have in mind the core central theme of the authority 344 00:18:58,680 --> 00:19:00,720 of Scripture? Do they have in mind the core 345 00:19:00,720 --> 00:19:04,560 central theme of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross and 346 00:19:04,560 --> 00:19:06,440 centrality of proclaiming the cross? 347 00:19:06,720 --> 00:19:09,400 Because that's what evangelical means 1st and 2nd. 348 00:19:09,680 --> 00:19:15,360 Thirdly, evangelicalism recognizes the necessity of a 349 00:19:16,040 --> 00:19:20,360 conversion experience and a relationship with Jesus Christ. 350 00:19:21,560 --> 00:19:24,280 Now we all know what it's like to come through, and we've all 351 00:19:24,280 --> 00:19:26,920 had these experiences and you've heard it from me from the 352 00:19:26,920 --> 00:19:29,840 pulpit, you've heard it for years out of this pulpit. 353 00:19:29,960 --> 00:19:33,520 The warning that you're not saved by coming to church. 354 00:19:34,400 --> 00:19:38,440 Churchianity is this shorthand for those who think that the 355 00:19:38,440 --> 00:19:42,000 idea of being saved is the idea of coming to Jesus Christ. 356 00:19:42,400 --> 00:19:45,760 Sorry, coming to church and being part of being part of a 357 00:19:45,760 --> 00:19:48,920 church body. And yet it is the evangelical 358 00:19:48,920 --> 00:19:52,280 world that has brought forward that notion that no, no, 359 00:19:52,280 --> 00:19:55,840 according to the Scriptures, you must be born again. 360 00:19:56,240 --> 00:20:00,240 You must be born again now for those of a certain age. 361 00:20:00,240 --> 00:20:03,360 In the past 20 years or so, the emphasis upon being born again 362 00:20:03,480 --> 00:20:07,080 has been so minimized because it was so mocked in our society as 363 00:20:07,080 --> 00:20:09,760 a whole. But for if you're older than 364 00:20:09,760 --> 00:20:13,160 that, you might remember a time where we stressed a lot, hey, 365 00:20:13,160 --> 00:20:15,360 you must be born again. That's how Christians would 366 00:20:15,680 --> 00:20:18,360 invite each other, would welcome each other, would introduce each 367 00:20:18,360 --> 00:20:19,680 other. Hey, are you born again? 368 00:20:19,800 --> 00:20:22,320 When were you born again? We talked like that because of 369 00:20:22,320 --> 00:20:26,600 the recognition that at the core, what we have is Christian, 370 00:20:26,600 --> 00:20:29,040 that human beings are broken at the core. 371 00:20:29,040 --> 00:20:32,600 We've been singing about that. We've been teaching about that. 372 00:20:32,840 --> 00:20:36,680 The Christians, the sorry, the human beings are broken at their 373 00:20:36,680 --> 00:20:39,800 very core. And what we need is not to love 374 00:20:39,800 --> 00:20:43,400 we and one another as, as you know, we we don't need just to 375 00:20:43,400 --> 00:20:47,400 shift our mindset. We need to be born again. 376 00:20:47,840 --> 00:20:51,400 That the difference between following the ways of this world 377 00:20:51,400 --> 00:20:54,800 and following the ways of Jesus Christ is not a fundamental 378 00:20:54,800 --> 00:20:57,680 shift of thought. It's not a a minor tweak. 379 00:20:58,320 --> 00:21:02,160 It is a transformation that takes place in all that we have. 380 00:21:02,440 --> 00:21:06,160 And so we must be born again. And being born again means 381 00:21:06,160 --> 00:21:09,240 entering into a brand new relationship with Jesus Christ. 382 00:21:09,480 --> 00:21:14,040 It's fashionable to think that the whole world, every human 383 00:21:14,040 --> 00:21:17,680 being, is a child of God. But the Scriptures proclaim that 384 00:21:17,680 --> 00:21:20,280 those who've been born again are children of God. 385 00:21:20,280 --> 00:21:23,760 Those who are in a relationship with Jesus are children of God. 386 00:21:24,040 --> 00:21:29,120 It's a responsibility we have to work in to our understanding of 387 00:21:29,120 --> 00:21:33,280 our lives, that we are being made new by Christ. 388 00:21:33,680 --> 00:21:37,120 We're made new by Christ so that we might have a relationship 389 00:21:37,400 --> 00:21:40,760 with Jesus Christ. Look, the teachings of the 390 00:21:40,760 --> 00:21:42,280 Sermon on the Mount are beautiful. 391 00:21:43,000 --> 00:21:45,600 The teachings of the Sermon on the Mount guide and lead us. 392 00:21:45,760 --> 00:21:48,800 You have that wonderful expression there that we're not 393 00:21:48,800 --> 00:21:50,800 to do that. We're to do to others what we 394 00:21:50,800 --> 00:21:53,320 would want them to do to us. The Golden Rule, all of those 395 00:21:53,320 --> 00:21:55,560 kind of things. But following those things or 396 00:21:55,560 --> 00:21:58,720 seeking to target those things in our lives, making those our 397 00:21:58,720 --> 00:22:02,640 goals, is not what evangelical Christianity is about. 398 00:22:03,120 --> 00:22:06,920 Evangelical Christianity is about recognizing that our whole 399 00:22:06,920 --> 00:22:11,840 lives need to be remade, remade in the image of Jesus Christ 400 00:22:11,840 --> 00:22:15,160 himself and drawn into a relationship with him. 401 00:22:15,920 --> 00:22:19,560 The authority of Scripture, the centrality of the cross, the 402 00:22:19,560 --> 00:22:22,880 necessity of conversion and relationship with Jesus Christ. 403 00:22:23,440 --> 00:22:25,800 And 4th. The idea of a spread of a 404 00:22:25,800 --> 00:22:31,600 gospel, the idea that the gospel spreads not just in our own 405 00:22:31,600 --> 00:22:34,400 society, but across the entire world. 406 00:22:34,560 --> 00:22:37,720 There's this global picture. And so the global Christian, 407 00:22:42,480 --> 00:22:45,480 Christian, global Christian movement, man, that's not right 408 00:22:45,520 --> 00:22:47,800 either. The spread of the gospel around 409 00:22:47,800 --> 00:22:51,520 the world really got a shot in the arm in this 40's, the 50's, 410 00:22:51,520 --> 00:22:55,600 the 60s, as people poured into the global missions and into 411 00:22:55,920 --> 00:22:58,840 surrounding missions, sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ. 412 00:22:59,000 --> 00:23:01,080 And out of this, you had the development of all these 413 00:23:01,080 --> 00:23:04,560 wonderful evangelical institutions, Intervarsity, 414 00:23:04,560 --> 00:23:07,600 Christian Fellowship, Coalition for Christian Outreach, Campus 415 00:23:07,600 --> 00:23:10,720 Crusade for Christ, these ministry organizations, World 416 00:23:10,720 --> 00:23:13,080 Vision, Compassion International, all these 417 00:23:13,080 --> 00:23:16,200 different institutions and organizations, so many of which 418 00:23:16,200 --> 00:23:19,320 we know that we're all built around the idea of taking the 419 00:23:19,320 --> 00:23:22,840 gospel into people's lives. Yes, we have to show that 420 00:23:22,840 --> 00:23:25,520 gospel. Yes, we have to live faithfully. 421 00:23:25,840 --> 00:23:29,200 But the evangelical world recognizes that it's not just 422 00:23:29,200 --> 00:23:32,960 enough for us to live as Christ. We need to talk about Christ. 423 00:23:32,960 --> 00:23:35,400 We need to share Christ. We need to challenge people to 424 00:23:35,400 --> 00:23:39,040 come to know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, that when 425 00:23:39,040 --> 00:23:41,560 we are called, when the disciples are called to go into 426 00:23:41,560 --> 00:23:45,120 all the world, that that means us, that we are called to go 427 00:23:45,120 --> 00:23:48,200 into all the world and to carry the gospel message of Jesus 428 00:23:48,200 --> 00:23:51,200 Christ. And yes, that means that 429 00:23:51,200 --> 00:23:55,200 sometimes we offend people. That means we say to people, and 430 00:23:55,200 --> 00:23:57,960 we're not being evangelical. This is the connection, by the 431 00:23:57,960 --> 00:24:00,760 way, between the word evangelical and evangelism. 432 00:24:01,440 --> 00:24:03,600 If you write those two words out, you'll see that they look 433 00:24:03,600 --> 00:24:05,720 almost the same. The only difference is the 434 00:24:05,720 --> 00:24:08,520 emphasis. Where you put the emphasis is 435 00:24:08,520 --> 00:24:10,040 the difference between those two terms. 436 00:24:10,240 --> 00:24:13,280 And one describes a global movement, the evangelical 437 00:24:13,280 --> 00:24:15,880 movement, that takes very seriously the individual 438 00:24:15,880 --> 00:24:18,800 responsibilities that we have for evangelism. 439 00:24:18,920 --> 00:24:22,320 Evangelism is not something that a rare few of us get to do. 440 00:24:22,840 --> 00:24:26,240 It is a responsibility of every evangelical Christian. 441 00:24:26,480 --> 00:24:29,720 Every believer has that responsibility, the authority of 442 00:24:29,720 --> 00:24:33,160 the Scriptures, the centrality of the cross of Jesus Christ, 443 00:24:33,600 --> 00:24:37,120 the necessity of a personal conversion and relationship with 444 00:24:37,160 --> 00:24:40,320 Jesus Christ, the spreading of the gospel throughout the world, 445 00:24:40,960 --> 00:24:45,520 and then the active cultural engagement and active concern 446 00:24:45,520 --> 00:24:50,360 for a social impact. One of the great fears was that 447 00:24:50,360 --> 00:24:53,080 we, that the evangelical movement would develop the way 448 00:24:53,080 --> 00:24:56,360 that this, the group originally that we were talking about over 449 00:24:56,360 --> 00:24:59,000 here, that they would isolate themselves from the rest of the 450 00:24:59,000 --> 00:25:00,960 world and reading the Scriptures. 451 00:25:01,480 --> 00:25:04,040 That was determined that that was an impossibility for the 452 00:25:04,040 --> 00:25:05,880 Christian. The Christian who is going to 453 00:25:05,880 --> 00:25:09,240 take the Scripture seriously, who is going to abide by the 454 00:25:09,240 --> 00:25:12,760 authority of Scripture is going to also recognize that we have 455 00:25:12,760 --> 00:25:16,160 the responsibility to care and love for those around us. 456 00:25:16,720 --> 00:25:20,360 That we have a responsibility to work for change, to work for the 457 00:25:20,360 --> 00:25:22,280 Kingdom of God to come in its glory. 458 00:25:22,440 --> 00:25:25,080 That the homelessness that happens in this world is an 459 00:25:25,080 --> 00:25:28,880 assault against our Lord, that poverty, that racism is an 460 00:25:28,880 --> 00:25:31,360 assault against our Lord. And every Christian has a 461 00:25:31,360 --> 00:25:34,880 responsibility not to pull into our own little hole over here 462 00:25:35,040 --> 00:25:37,160 and say over here we're going to protect ourselves from the 463 00:25:37,160 --> 00:25:39,920 world, but actually look and realize that the world has 464 00:25:39,920 --> 00:25:44,080 manifest these dangers, these disastrous things, and we as a 465 00:25:44,080 --> 00:25:46,160 church have a responsibility for it. 466 00:25:46,720 --> 00:25:49,680 Now this used to be go on to the phrase of the searching for 467 00:25:49,680 --> 00:25:53,000 social justice. And I understand that nowaday, 468 00:25:53,000 --> 00:25:56,880 just like the term evangelical means something basically 469 00:25:56,880 --> 00:25:58,760 political with right wing leanings. 470 00:25:59,000 --> 00:26:01,800 So the term social justice means something political with left 471 00:26:01,800 --> 00:26:05,400 lean leanings. That's not what evangelical is 472 00:26:05,400 --> 00:26:07,680 about. Evangelical is a recognition 473 00:26:07,880 --> 00:26:11,240 that the poor that are in our neighborhood, that the needy 474 00:26:11,240 --> 00:26:15,320 that are there, that the oppressed are our responsibility 475 00:26:15,320 --> 00:26:18,920 given to us by God himself so that we can communicate the love 476 00:26:19,080 --> 00:26:21,800 and the care of the Lord. That's why institutions like 477 00:26:21,800 --> 00:26:25,160 Compassion International or World Vision or Food for the 478 00:26:25,160 --> 00:26:28,080 Hungry or and they and the list goes on and on. 479 00:26:28,080 --> 00:26:32,600 Hundreds of others were created in the 40s and 50s and can still 480 00:26:32,600 --> 00:26:36,560 exist today so that we can be God's hands caring for the 481 00:26:36,560 --> 00:26:39,040 people around us, not withdrawing, withdrawing from 482 00:26:39,040 --> 00:26:40,720 it. And yes, that means that we care 483 00:26:40,720 --> 00:26:45,000 for them on an individual basis. For most Christians, that's easy 484 00:26:45,000 --> 00:26:47,320 to think of. We've got somebody poor in our 485 00:26:47,320 --> 00:26:49,040 neighborhood. We got somebody who pressed in 486 00:26:49,040 --> 00:26:50,800 our neighborhood. We got somebody that is 487 00:26:50,800 --> 00:26:52,960 downtrodden. It's our responsibility as 488 00:26:52,960 --> 00:26:54,400 individuals to care for them, yes. 489 00:26:54,640 --> 00:26:56,480 But we've got a society as a whole. 490 00:26:56,720 --> 00:27:00,120 We've got a whole world here that is desperate for the love 491 00:27:00,120 --> 00:27:02,480 and the care and the nurture of our Lord Jesus Christ. 492 00:27:02,800 --> 00:27:05,800 And so we have institutional change that has to happen. 493 00:27:05,920 --> 00:27:07,520 We have to have people that impact. 494 00:27:07,640 --> 00:27:11,160 This is every level of our society, including our political 495 00:27:11,160 --> 00:27:14,320 instruments, including the political society in which we 496 00:27:14,320 --> 00:27:16,480 operate in. The evangelical world doesn't 497 00:27:16,480 --> 00:27:20,120 shrink away from those things. The evangelical world recognizes 498 00:27:20,120 --> 00:27:22,480 that because of God's calling, that's part of our 499 00:27:22,480 --> 00:27:25,960 responsibility. Not letting go of the authority 500 00:27:25,960 --> 00:27:29,840 of Scripture, not letting go of the priority of the cross, not 501 00:27:29,840 --> 00:27:32,320 letting go of our need for personal conversion. 502 00:27:32,480 --> 00:27:35,480 We nevertheless have a responsibility to reach out to 503 00:27:35,480 --> 00:27:39,960 the poorest in our world, to be Christ's hands and feet as we 504 00:27:39,960 --> 00:27:42,480 touch the society that is around us. 505 00:27:42,720 --> 00:27:48,240 We are citizens of heaven. We are citizens of heaven, but 506 00:27:48,240 --> 00:27:51,640 there's no picture in the Scriptures that we then withdraw 507 00:27:51,640 --> 00:27:54,520 from the world and act like we're just citizens of the 508 00:27:54,520 --> 00:27:57,600 heaven now without any care for the world around us. 509 00:27:57,800 --> 00:28:02,080 This is our Father's world, and we have every responsibility to 510 00:28:02,080 --> 00:28:06,600 touch individuals, but every aspect of society with the 511 00:28:06,600 --> 00:28:09,720 gospel of Jesus Christ. Now I'm not competent to do 512 00:28:09,720 --> 00:28:12,200 that. I'm not competent to touch it. 513 00:28:12,200 --> 00:28:14,560 I don't know the political solutions to the problems. 514 00:28:14,760 --> 00:28:16,840 I don't know how to tackle racism in this world. 515 00:28:16,840 --> 00:28:19,960 I don't know how to tackle systemic poverty that's in this 516 00:28:19,960 --> 00:28:21,560 world. But I know that the church has a 517 00:28:21,560 --> 00:28:25,760 responsibility to do it. The church is God's leading hand 518 00:28:25,920 --> 00:28:28,520 in touching these things. And so we need to raise up 519 00:28:28,520 --> 00:28:30,600 people. We need to encourage people who 520 00:28:30,600 --> 00:28:33,400 are going to abide under the authority of Scripture, who are 521 00:28:33,400 --> 00:28:36,240 never going to leave the centrality of the cross of Jesus 522 00:28:36,240 --> 00:28:37,920 Christ. That are going to understand the 523 00:28:37,920 --> 00:28:40,800 necessity of being born again. Who are going to seek to spread 524 00:28:40,800 --> 00:28:42,720 the gospel. That are going to go into 525 00:28:42,920 --> 00:28:47,280 politics, that are going to go into music industry, that are 526 00:28:47,280 --> 00:28:49,800 going to go into the entertainment world, that are 527 00:28:49,800 --> 00:28:53,160 going to go into every aspect of this world and carry the gospel 528 00:28:53,680 --> 00:28:57,160 presence. Because that's what it means to 529 00:28:57,160 --> 00:29:01,480 be evangelical. Now, unfortunately, that's no 530 00:29:01,480 --> 00:29:05,920 longer what the word means. So that's what it means to be 531 00:29:05,920 --> 00:29:08,640 classically, Evan, classically evangelical. 532 00:29:09,520 --> 00:29:15,600 That's what I mean. And I'm simply too old to change 533 00:29:15,600 --> 00:29:19,320 my language. So when I say evangelical, when 534 00:29:19,320 --> 00:29:24,680 I say I desperately want Hebron Church to be an evangelical 535 00:29:24,680 --> 00:29:29,720 church, I desperately want you to be an evangelical believer. 536 00:29:30,160 --> 00:29:33,960 I desperately want me to be an evangelical preacher. 537 00:29:34,600 --> 00:29:38,920 What I'm saying is I desperately want Hebron Church to fall under 538 00:29:38,920 --> 00:29:42,560 the authority, self consciously, under the authority of 539 00:29:42,680 --> 00:29:46,280 Scripture. I want you as a believer to self 540 00:29:46,280 --> 00:29:50,280 consciously place yourself under the authority of Scripture and I 541 00:29:50,280 --> 00:29:53,880 need to fight that selfish, sinful tendency that rises up in 542 00:29:53,880 --> 00:29:57,480 my heart every single day and place myself under the authority 543 00:29:57,480 --> 00:30:02,440 of Scripture. I want Hebron Church to embrace 544 00:30:02,440 --> 00:30:05,000 the centrality of the cross of Jesus Christ. 545 00:30:05,640 --> 00:30:08,200 Yes, His teachings are beautiful and marvelous and they're in the 546 00:30:08,200 --> 00:30:11,640 Scriptures for a reason. But it is His death upon the 547 00:30:11,640 --> 00:30:16,040 cross and His resurrection that is the core of Hebron Church. 548 00:30:16,600 --> 00:30:18,960 And I need it to be the core of your life. 549 00:30:19,480 --> 00:30:21,760 And I needed to be the core of my life. 550 00:30:22,720 --> 00:30:26,560 I need Hebron Church to self consciously recognize that we, 551 00:30:26,560 --> 00:30:29,760 that the people you're sitting here with, the Christians in 552 00:30:29,760 --> 00:30:34,360 this room, have indeed been born again, that we are turned into a 553 00:30:34,360 --> 00:30:37,880 brand new person through the gospel message of Jesus Christ. 554 00:30:38,160 --> 00:30:40,760 I need you to be passionate about that with your children 555 00:30:41,200 --> 00:30:44,040 and with your neighbors and with your friends and to be 556 00:30:44,040 --> 00:30:48,520 passionate about that with me. I need each of us here to have a 557 00:30:48,520 --> 00:30:51,440 desire of spreading the gospel. And Hebron Church has to spread 558 00:30:51,440 --> 00:30:53,640 the gospel and I have to spread the gospel. 559 00:30:54,360 --> 00:30:59,800 And every one of us collectively as a body must be an institution 560 00:30:59,960 --> 00:31:04,040 that seeks the good of the society around us to pray for 561 00:31:04,040 --> 00:31:08,400 those who are with us, to seek to minister to those who are in 562 00:31:08,400 --> 00:31:12,720 need, desperately in need. I need you to be that way as a 563 00:31:12,720 --> 00:31:16,280 person. I need to be that way as a 564 00:31:16,280 --> 00:31:23,240 person, for we are a church that is called by Jesus Christ to be 565 00:31:23,600 --> 00:31:26,320 classically an evangelical church. 566 00:31:26,520 --> 00:31:31,360 Let's pray together. Gracious God in heaven, we do 567 00:31:31,360 --> 00:31:35,560 ask for your blessing upon us as we seek what it means to be 568 00:31:35,560 --> 00:31:40,160 faithful as evangelical believers, classically 569 00:31:40,160 --> 00:31:43,840 evangelical believers. Lord, our desire is to model 570 00:31:43,840 --> 00:31:47,160 ourselves upon the Word of God. The word that we read so clearly 571 00:31:47,160 --> 00:31:51,120 today in Acts that portrays a church community that is 572 00:31:51,120 --> 00:31:53,200 faithful to the teachings of the apostles. 573 00:31:53,200 --> 00:31:57,240 The Scripture that centers upon the cross of Jesus Christ. 574 00:31:57,240 --> 00:32:01,920 The breaking of the body for ourselves, the spread of the 575 00:32:01,920 --> 00:32:04,640 gospel throughout this world so that more and more people come 576 00:32:04,640 --> 00:32:08,760 to know the necessity of being born again into a relationship 577 00:32:08,760 --> 00:32:13,200 with Jesus Christ and the impact upon this world so that no one 578 00:32:13,480 --> 00:32:17,960 would feel the lack of blessing that you pour out through your 579 00:32:17,960 --> 00:32:21,840 Son Jesus Christ. Lord, take us more and more into 580 00:32:21,840 --> 00:32:24,440 your presence. Through Christ we pray, praying 581 00:32:24,440 --> 00:32:28,040 the way that he taught us to pray, saying, Our Father who art 582 00:32:28,040 --> 00:32:32,920 in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy Kingdom come, Thy will be 583 00:32:32,920 --> 00:32:35,280 done on earth as it is in heaven. 584 00:32:35,920 --> 00:32:39,960 We give us this day Our Daily Bread, and forgive us our debts, 585 00:32:40,040 --> 00:32:44,640 as we forgive our debtors, and lead us not in temptation, but 586 00:32:44,640 --> 00:32:48,200 deliver us from evil. For thine is the Kingdom, and 587 00:32:48,200 --> 00:32:51,080 the power and the glory forever. Amen.