Unleashed: Authentic Christianity Conviction (Pt. 2)

lord we've turned our backs on you far too many times the cost of sins too much to bear but still you paid the fine so i just don't wanna be another person in the crowd hear my prayer lord hear my battle cry and i'm so thankful for this intercession with you i feel like i've entered into heaven when i'm in your presence when i'm in your presence [Music] and lord please bless this body of your saints with your family [Music] i pray for love and abundant peace for all my enemies and i know that satan's in there somewhere sitting in the crowd so hear my bread hear my battle cry and i'm so thankful for this intercession with you i feel like i've been turned to heaven [Music] is [Music] by faith consumed by your amazing grace if anybody has a reason to sing we do all we do if anybody has a reason to sing we do all we do come on come on if anybody has a reason to sing we do we if anybody has a reason to sing we do oh we do let's praise the lord well let's praise the lord come on and praise the lord lord let's praise the lord if anybody has a reason to pray we do we do we do if everybody has a reason to pray lord we do yes we do come on and praise the lord come on and praise the lord come on and praise the lord lord praise the lord if anybody has a reason to shout and we do we do if anybody has a reason to shine [Music] let's praise the lord come on let's praise the lord everybody let's praise the lord if anybody has a message to bring we do we do we do we do if anybody has a message to pray lord we do oh we do let's praise the lord come on let's praise the lord come on let's praise the lord hang it up let's praise the lord if everybody has to see a reason to pray lord we do lord we do anybody [Music] [Applause] [Music] come on let's is the lord [Applause] [Music] everybody [Music] [Applause] [Music] let's play [Music] good morning good morning and welcome to renaissance live streaming we're so glad that again we've been blessed to see another lord's day we are so thankful that we've been able to come this morning to worship god in spirit and in truth to the renaissance family we continue to say continue to stay prayerful this virus won't last forever we'll soon be able to come back together as a congregation but we want to continue to pray for one another i also continue to pray for our minister he's doing a lot of things he's got a lot of boat selling right about now let's keep him in prayer as well as his family let us pray come merciful father in heaven we're truly thankful that we've been blessed to have this opportunity to come before thee to praise your name and to sing songs and praises to you and to you alone we thank you for this opportunity that we have we pray father you come in our midst this morning watch over as bless us and keep us we pray father the discernment that we're here will prick our hearts that we might be better servants in the future then we have been in times fast continue keep us in your care your love for this we ask in christ's name amen [Music] all i seen [Music] everything everything to god [Music] hallelujah [Music] hallelujah lord sing heartless sing a hallelujah [Music] thank you jesus thank you whoa sing a thank you jesus and well sing up thank [Music] thank you [Music] thank you jesus [Music] lord [Music] and just as the song says we have a friend in jesus and it's such a privilege that we have to take this time lord's day after lord's day to remember the cross to remember that great sacrifice that was made so that you and i can live not worried about the future not worried about what's going to happen to us but just to serve the lord so as we take this time to partake of our lords and our savior's broken body and to shed blood remember that cross remember the cost that you could not pay remember the moment that your sins were forgiven and that'll make you smile and say thank you and say hallelujah and i love you but that love does not compare to what happened on the cross so we give thanks to god for this time and we thank him for that great sacrifice and we thank him for this moment only made possible by the fact that he sent his son to the cross to die for you and me let us pray father god in heaven thank you so much for granting us the privilege taking of your son's broken body and shed blood thank you for allowing us to have a friend and your only begotten son and thank you for loving us so much that you saw fit to give us an opportunity and a gateway to salvation and as we take your son's broken body and shed blood help us just to remember the cross and remember your love and to remember how you continue to reign on the throne yet right beside us at the same time in jesus name we pray amen lord oh praise him oh praise him oh praise [Music] blessed savior he's worthy [Music] jesus blessing my [Music] jesus [Music] [Music] [Music] jesus [Music] glory glory in all things [Music] [Music] a strong [Music] glory glory [Music] jesus christ praise him praise him praise him lord praise her o lord [Music] blessed savior he's worthy to be praised jesus jesus jesus [Music] blessed he's worthy to be [Music] [Applause] praised [Music] he's worthy he's worried [Music] [Applause] glory glory [Music] [Music] savior good morning church this is the offering this is where god has given us his grace and mercy to allow us to be able to give back yet a small portion of what he has blessed us with and what we think about this as we've been taught many times by looking at the example that we see with the widow with two mites it's interesting that at that particular time christ was watching the offering and i wonder as christians how often do we really think about the fact that god watches how he gives and do we ever ask ourselves the question is he excited about what we do does he have the excitement that we see in second corinthians chapter nine when paul is excited about the offering that he's preparing to go and receive based on the history of what that church at that time had done or is god not pleased with us as you see with the sacrifices that were given in jeremiah as well as amos but this is our opportunity to give back give an opportunity for us to bless what is blessing us and to feed what is feeding us each and every week that god bless us up with so at this time we have the opportunity to give back a small portion of what the lord has blessed us with you see the options to give online and we ask you to give back as god has prospered the glory belongs to you all the glory belongs to you [Music] belongs oh you all the glory belongs to you oh god oh god of the glory of the lord belongs to you all the glory belongs to you oh god oh god [Music] [Music] love the glory all glory belongs to you all the glory belongs to you oh god you all the glory belongs to you oh god oh god [Music] hallelujah [Music] yes hallelujah [Music] oh [Music] singha [Music] hallelujah [Music] hallelujah hallelujah oh we want to say good morning to all of you and we're thankful to god that you've taken this opportunity to tune in to our online services we are really thankful for your dedication and commitment to the cause of christ and certainly for your engagement in our worship services while worship may be virtual we are praying it is just as genuine and it is our hope that you join with us in the celebration of god recognizing that through the person of jesus christ he has provided us with our salvation and so it is each and every first day of the week we come together recognizing that the resurrection is that which makes this day significant it is a day of celebration it is a day of victory it is a day in which we should climactically embrace a disposition of being juvea for we know that our god is a mighty good god and he has provided us with right standing with him and to that end we're grateful every first day of the week to have this opportunity i can't wait for that moment when we can come back together in person and we are praying for that day to methodically make its way to the present we recognize that the country right now is engaged in receiving the vaccine and we are hopeful that it will be helpful and uh we are looking for the day when these numbers start going in the other direction because covet 19 is absolutely no joke each and every week uh it just seems that covert 19 gets closer and closer i think we're at a point now where nobody can say that they don't know at least one person that has had covet 19. um i don't believe any of us could say that we don't know somebody that has been impacted by this virus some of us can personally say that we have had the virus and so um covet 19 is what we call now um a a normal phenomenon that means it is part of our everyday existence it is a part of of how we do life the mask is a part of how we do life and we're hoping for the day when that will be reversed where we can get back to some level of normality so we want to pray to god and we are going to trust god that he knows what he's doing he knows why he allowed the virus to happen in the first place and we know that nothing is ever outside of the control of almighty god now what i'd like to do is invite you to first corinthians chapter 15 and i'm going to begin my reading in verse number one first corinthians the 15th chapter and i'm going to begin my reading in verse number one and culminate that reading somewhere around verse 8 and then we will extrapolate this morning and hopefully give you a theological concept that you can walk away with and apply to your everyday life many of you who have tuned in last week know we have begun a series called unleashing authentic christianity and we want to continue down that thought process and my goal right now is not to impress you with preaching but it is to ensure that you are clear about the gospel of jesus christ and within that context clear about what is authentic christianity now many of you know that we took the word authentic and the way we are defining it as you know a word can have multiplicity of definitions the way we're defining the word authentic we mean that which is consistent with the original or that which is genuine when we're speaking about authentic christianity we're talking about practicing christianity as it was revealed by jesus and his apostles and if we're not careful we can lose sight of authentic christianity by getting caught up in traditions and getting caught up in what i call the peripheral aspects of christianity peripherals are not necessarily negative but peripherals i simply mean methodologies or how we choose to express our faith in action or how we choose to express our faith in how we serve people how we choose to manifest the presence of god in a given culture these are peripherals methodologies can be peripherals programs can be peripherals the kinds of ministries we choose to do can be peripherals how we express worship can be peripherals they are aspects of worship that are fixtures but then how we express those fixtures can be peripherals so we need to know the difference between peripheral christianity and core christianity now when i speak about what is called christianity i'm talking about the essential ingredients that makes christianity what it is i'm talking about those elements that if we did not have them christianity would not be christianity so i'm speaking about core christianity uh as as antithetical to peripheral christianity now uh be mindful that i am not castigating peripheral christianity that is doing services doing ministry doing programs doing things that are expressions of our faith i'm not castigating that at all i am suggesting that if we do the peripherals we ought not do them and ignore the core in other words core christianity must show up in our peripheral expressions so that if i do a program that program ought to be inclusive of core christianity if we do a ministry it ought to be a reflection of our core christianity we have to remain gospel centered in order for our christianity to be authentic and so in order to make sure christianity is authentic and that you understand it and that i understand it i wanted to revisit what did christianity look like in the first century what were the core elements of the christian faith that makes christianity what it is now that's going to be vitally important because i take a very strong position that if you stripped away many of the peripherals that we practice today that would not harm christianity christianity is christianity without many of our peripheral things that we do and i gave some examples on last time i made very clear that if you took away um a young adult's ministry um while that would not be ultimately beneficial what i am suggesting is even if you didn't have that you would still have christianity you would even still have a purpose and an assignment even if you didn't have that ministry if you didn't have a youth ministry if you did not have um a women's ministry if you did not have um a feeding the homeless ministry if you did not have um some kind of community uh community outreach those things don't make christianity what it is they are peripheral if you did not have a mental health ministry or if you did not have um a mentorship program if you did not have a job core program christianity would still be christianity because those things don't make christianity what it is now they are good outlets they are good programs they are ways to touch the community but if we're doing those things without considering the core of christianity what makes christianity christianity if we're doing those things and the gospel is not in it then we're doing things that are absolutely unnecessary and what we're doing is we're ignoring what is important to god now i want to add a caveat to that and say this we have to be careful about wanting to be relevant to people and become irrelevant to god in other words everything relevant to people is not relevant to god let me say it this way everything important to people is not important to god so we have to make sure we have to start with the premise let's make sure our christianity as practiced and manifested is relevant and important to god before we ask is it relevant and important to people let's not make christianity centered on people without making sure it is fast centered on god because god has to be pleased before anyone else is otherwise we run the risk of making christianity something it is not and so it is incumbent upon us to know what is core christianity and um to do that i have decided to peruse down the corridors of the book of acts and use the book of acts as a paradigm and model by which we can see authentic christianity on display now that being the case let me read first corinthians 15 and then relate that to what we're doing in the book of acts first corinthians chapter 15 beginning in verse number one the bible says now i make known to you brethren the gospel which i preached to you which also you received in which also you stand by which also you are saved if you hold fast the word which i preached to you unless you believed in vain for i delivered to you as of first importance what i also received that christ died for our sins according to the scriptures and that he was buried and that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures and that he appeared to cephas then to the twelve after that he appeared to more than 500 brothers at one time most of whom remain until now but some have fallen asleep then he appeared to james then to all the apostles and last of all as to one untimely born he appeared to me also for i am the least of the apostles and not fit to be called an apostle because i persecuted the church of god but by the grace of god i am what i am and his grace towards me did not prove but i lay but even more than all of them yet not i but the grace of god within me now i want to live for a subject unleashing authentic christianity conviction part two we're still dealing with conviction part two let me put that principle back in front of you here's the first principle that we begin to uh deal with as it relates to authentic christianity i i made this statement and the statement is this a christian without conviction cannot be trusted with god's mission now that is the principle that i want you to understand as it relates to authentic christianity that god requires convicted christians that he can trust with his mission i could say it this way god wants christians to have conviction so he can trust them with his commission god wants christians to have conviction so he can trust them with his commission and a child of god that is not convicted cannot be trusted to do the mission of god now where did i get that from one of the things that jesus did uh between his resurrection and ascension he spent 40 days with his disciples as we indicated on last sunday he spent 40 days with them showing them many infallible proofs or many convincing proofs that he was alive he showed himself alive by many infallible or convincing proofs now what jesus is doing prior to pentecost prior to them preaching the first gospel sermon after the resurrection jesus is working on their conviction and the way he works on their conviction is by ensuring that they understand the message as well as his identity as the risen son of god which is the center of the gospel message he wants them to be clear that he died that he was buried that he rose again the third day and was sovereign lord who would eventually be seated on the right hand of god he spent 40 days ensuring that they were convicted on that message what does he need them to be convicted on he needs them to be convicted that christ is a resurrected savior who was about to rule in his kingdom that's a central message of the christian faith now he needed them to be convicted on that now what did he do he spent 40 days every day showing himself alive by many convincing proofs why because jesus knows in order for them to do the commission they've got to have conviction and the only way for them to get conviction he has to feed that conviction by sowing himself alive every day can you imagine for 40 days jesus every single moment he gets is showing himself alive by many convincing proofs i want y'all to see that i got it from the grave i want you to see the prince of the hands of the prince in my hands and the wound in my sight i want you to see that i am alive i have physically gotten up from the grave you are not looking at a ghost you're not looking at a phantom you are not looking at an illusion you are not having some kind uh some kind of out-of-body experience you are not seeing something that is not real i want you to know i have gotten up from the grave and for 40 days he is ensuring that they are convicted so before god ever gives them the gift of the holy spirit before he outpours the power of the holy spirit jesus is working on their conviction you want to know why because their preaching has to come out of conviction their willingness to be persecuted has got to come out of conviction their willingness to suffer for the kingdom has got to come out of conviction the holy spirit is not going to make them convicted the holy spirit is going to empower them but what is going to convict them is the words of christ jesus and the evidence of the resurrection christ needs to be sure they are convicted before they can do this commission so what does he do he shows himself alive by many infallible proofs he shows himself alive by many and fellow votes for 40 days he's ensuring that they are convicted now that's important for you to understand so what i want to do is almost sound um a bit like i'm teaching a new convert class but yet i don't want you to assume familiarity with understanding i want to make sure you're clear about what we are convicted about and i need you to make sure you're clear about the message we believe and i want you to be clear about what it is we stand on as children of god and then i want you to be clear about what you should be dedicated in communicating to the sphere of your influence now in first corinthians chapter 15 um the apostle paul writing to the church at corinth addressing issues of malignancy and division within the congregation the apostle paul gets to first corinthians the 15th chapter and he wants to address a heretical teaching that is starting to impact the church um it is true that when paul was on his missionary journeys he came across some stoics and epicureans who did not believe in the resurrection that area of course was called athens and in athens paul encountered those who did not believe in the resurrection but that influence in philosophical teaching was starting to impact the church so that even the christians at corinth started to be impacted by the idea that there was no resurrection and when the apostle paul recognized that this heretical false teaching was starting to impact the corinthian church paul wrote the letter to address that issue along with other issues to ensure that the church was reminded about what it is they believe now what's interesting is i want you to notice how first corinthians 15 begins um it begins by saying moreover brothers or now i make known to you brothers the gospel which i preached to you which also you received in which also you stand now watch this carefully because i'm going to show you several things i'm going to fir i'm going to show you several things as we move to the text and those of you are taking notes i want you to write this down and i'm going to try to methodically give this to you i'm going to show you their reception of the gospel i'm going to show you the declaration of the gospel i'm going to show you the solidification in the gospel i'm going to show you salvation by the gospel and i'm going to show you the verification of the gospel all right as fact i want you to switch declaration and reception start with declaration i'm going to show you first the declaration of the gospel in this context then i'm going to show you the solid the reception of the gospel then i'm going to show you the solidification in the gospel then i'm going to show you the salvation by the gospel and then i'm going to show you the verification of the gospel that's what i'm going to do in this context now paul says in first corinthians 15 1 now i make known to you brothers the gospel which i preached to you well now wait a minute now i make known to you brothers the gospel which i preached to you was also you received in which also you stand you need to be asking a question as a interpreter of scripture why does paul need to declare or make known the gospel to christians he starts in verse 1 with now i make known to you the gospel which you received in which also you stand i preached this gospel to you you received it it's wherein you stand but before i get there he starts with a declaration and this declaration of the gospel he says i'm making known unto you the gospel i preach to you the gospel that i already taught you i've got to make it known again now what does that mean every now and then to fortify the church and protect the church the gospel needs to be preached not just to sinners but the gospel needs to be preached to christians because christians need to often be reminded about what is their core conviction because the gospel conviction will protect you from heretical teachings so the better acquainted you become with the gospel the less vulnerable you become to that which is false teaching so paul said i make known unto you the gospel which i preached to you in other words this is a gospel that i already preached to you but even now in this writing i'm making it known to you in other words be careful about becoming a child of god that gets tired of hearing the gospel be careful when you get to a space where you start saying things like i'm tired of hearing the gospel be careful when you get to a mentality when you start thinking that the gospel is for sinners but it's not for you i have come to take a fundamental position that the gospel is never something we grow away from the gospel is something we grow further into let me say that again um it sounds so good you might want to post that and put it in a meme or something i don't know the gospel is not something you grow away from the gospel is that what you go further into you root yourself in gospel you make sure that you're stable in gospel you don't ever try to progress beyond gospel but you go further into gospel so that you get a better and stronger sense of how the gospel permeates the entire life of the believer now i will admit that some people preach the gospel in a way that can be quite surface but don't blame that on the message blame that on the messenger because the gospel is able to go as deep as you are ready to go it is not a matter of how deep can the gospel go is what you is what are you ready to hear because some people need to be on the surface and then there are times when the gospel needs to take you beneath the surface but it's never about leaving the gospel it's always about growing further into the gospel now listen to the declaration again this is point one and point one he declares the gospel to them he says now i make known to you new american standard version brothers the gospel which i preached to you which also you received reception i'll be back on that in just a moment so you have the declaration of the text in which he says i'm making known to you the gospel in which even christians need to be reminded of the gospel and then he reminds them of their reception of the gospel he says which also you received in which also you stand that's their solidification in the gospel so there is a declaration of the gospel what's the declaration i'm making it known to you again i'm reminding you of what you've already heard because you need to every now and then be reminded so that you can be convicted and your conviction will prevent you from being vulnerable to something that is not gospel so he declares the gospel to them and after he declares it he reminds them of their reception you you received this this is something you received the gospel wasn't something you earned it's something you received it was it was what was preached to you and you received it as a gift that was their reception of the gospel now i'm going to be back on that in just a moment but then he shows there's solidification in the gospel what is the solidification he says you stand in it you you stand in the gospel you don't you're rooted in the gospel you you are the word stan is a figurative way of saying well established in or continuing in to stand in the gospel shows one is established in the gospel i stand in it i'm i'm one who heard the gospel i received the gospel and now that i receive it i stand in it praise god we need christians that don't leave the gospel they stand in the gospel i'm established in the gospel i'm fixated in the gospel i will not move from the gospel we need stubborn children of god not stubborn in your opinion but so stubborn when it comes to your faith in christ i shall not be moved i am declaring the gospel to you you receive that gospel and it's the same gospel in which you are well established you you're rooted in it you are you are continuing in it that's what he means by i stand in it so when paul is dealing with the text he says not only did i declare it to you not only did you receive it so we have declaration reception and solidification you are well established in the gospel he says by which also you are saved so there is the declaration of the gospel there is there is the reception of the gospel there is the solidification in the gospel and then there is the salvation of the gospel let me make before i go further into this i'm trying to work on your conviction here i'm trying to work on your conviction what are you doing dr haywood i'm trying to get you into core christianity because praise the mighty name of jesus it's hard to sell a product you don't believe in it's hard praise god if you work for a company to sell a product that you are not impressed with praise jesus i talked to a real estate agent the other day and i asked him you know man you seem to enjoy what you do it must be making you a lot of money and he says well it's not really about the money for me he says i have another job and i have other streams of income but i like doing real estate and i said why do you like doing real estate he says i just love showing and viewing houses just as somebody says man i get excited every time i walk into a home and i look at the layout and i share the excitement with those i'm showing it to he says man it gives me great joy every time i take him to a home that i know i love he says the easiest homes for me to sell are homes that i love this man said listen i got other streams of income but the reason i like this so much is because i myself get so excited over the product i'm selling you ought not be a child of god and not be excited about the product that you're laying out in front of somebody you want to be excited every time you talk about the fact that christ died for your sins and he buried for our iniquity and rose again the third day you want to get excited about the facts of the gospel and what christ did in order for me to be in right standing somebody ought to get excited you you ought not get excited just when we're talking about god giving you some physical blessing you're not getting excited just because god has brought you out of some trouble that's a good reason to give him praise but it ought to be good enough even now to praise god when you think about what christ did on calvary's cross that ought to be something that still resonates in your spirit that ought to be something that still gets you excited that ought to be something that still tickles you in the set in the in the pits of your soul somebody ought to be excited when we speak about the fact that christ was my vicarious sacrifice that he was my substitutionary sacrifice and got up from the grave and he gives me the ability to access god that ought to still make you excited it ought to make you excited every time you speak about the product that you're trying to sell somebody jesus said and i mean excuse me paul says in the declaration i'm making known unto you i'm trying to tell it to you again because there's a heresy going around saying there is no resurrection so let me remind you of what i've already told you and i want to let you know that you received this message you stand in this message and you were saved by this message now the interesting thing about the word saved is the word saved in this text is present tense so the way it could translate it can translate whereby you are being saved oh god i want you to get that in your spirit i want you to look at uh verse two it says by which also you are saved by the way it translates is present tense which means it could translate which are being saved the gospel is so efficacious and the gospel is so powerful is that the gospel did not only save me from past sin but the gospel is saving me in my present state so the gospel saved me but that same gospel is saving me and that same gospel will save me it is a gospel that has past present and future relevance that i am saved i am being saved and i will be saved paul uses the present tense which indicates he's showing the gospel's present relevance in his soteriological significance it's saving me right now it saved me it is saving me it will save me he says this gospel is wherein you stand and this gospel is by which you are saved now that being the case i want you to start seeing that after he deals with the declaration of the gospel and the reception of that gospel and the solidification of that gospel and the salvation of that gospel then he comes to the point that i really want to talk about and that is the verification of the gospel now the way he shows the gospel has verification paul is going to argue from two vanish points paul is going to argue that the gospel of jesus christ is scriptural but it is also historical so he's going to wrap that argument around four relative pronouns in which he will start the causes with the word that in other words he will say christ that christ died for our sins and that he was buried and that he rules again and that he appeared for relative pronouns by which he gives the content of the christian gospel by which he gives the content of our good news he says i want you to see the verification of the gospel from a scriptural standpoint and a historical standpoint so you can see that the gospel is valid so you can see that the gospel is well grounded i want you to see it now watch this he says for i deliver unto you praise jesus watch this now well before i get there before i get there before i get there before i get there before i get there before i get there i want you to see what he says um in verse two leading in the verse three he says by which also you are saved that is the gospel saves you you're solidified in the gospel and you're saved by the gospel and then he says if you hold fast the word which i preached to you unless you believed in vain i need to deal with that because you need to stand in conviction and i'm going to tell you why he says you need to know you are saved by this gospel you stand in this gospel you receive this gospel but it's all wrapped around the word if if you you are you received it you stand in it you say by it if if if if what if you continue watch this now if you hold fast if you continue if you remain stable if you don't leave the gospel in other words the gospel saved you the gospel has solidified you the gospel has been received by you but i need you to know it's wrapped around if you hold fast now what does that mean that means that it is possible to start with conviction lose your conviction he says lest you believe in vain now now some people have theologically tried to stretch this text further than the elasticity it has if you believe in vain some people say well the only people that leave the gospel are folk who did not have faith in the first place well that can't be because the phrase says if you believed in vain which means at some points you did believe so i don't think paul is indicating that the person who doesn't continue in the gospel has never had faith in it i don't think that's what he's saying at all i think i think what paul is saying is you can believe in vain which means you can believe to no benefit because if you believe the gospel and at some point leave the gospel then you believed in vain that is your belief was empty and void of benefit because you didn't stay with him you didn't continue you did not finish so you can start in faith but the question is will you finish in faith so you can start in faith but the question is can you hold fast and there's a lot of christians that sometimes don't hold fast there's there's moments in our lives where life happens and you don't hold fast there's times when things happen in your life that make you question god or question the gospel or question the good news that god has provided and the devil knows how to launch an attack on your conviction oh i said the devil knows how to launch an attack on your conviction he will customize a circumstance that will make you question whether or not the gospel is real in your life and i've come today to tell you got to be careful because you've got to continue he says you receive the gospel you stand in the gospel you're saved by the gospel if if if if you hold fast lest you have believed in vain unless you have believed but that faith is empty because it did not continue it didn't hold fast what is vain faith is a faith that does not continue lest you have believed in vain in other words what good is believing in the gospel if that faith didn't finish what good is the faith if it started but didn't finish what what good is the gospel if or what good is your faith if it commenced the journey but it did not culminate the journey what good is it praise the mighty name of jesus if i start the journey when i don't finish the journey praise him by the name of jesus so he indicates you can believe in vain and then he says it watch it now watch it now church then he says in verse number three here we're talking conviction we're talking conviction we're talking conviction we're at verification the declaration of the gospel is that he reminds them of what they already knew and sometimes you have to remind christians about their conviction you got to remind them about the content of the gospel and not only did he declare that to them they have reception of the gospel that gospel saved them that gospel is wherein they are solidified and now he says let me give you the verification watch it watch it watch it verse number three for i deliver to you don't run over this too quick i deliver to you as of fast importance don't don't run over that don't run over that don't run over that phrase uh en protos is in the greek i delivered unto you of first importance uh the the king james may say first of all i delivered unto you first of all now i don't want you to think of the word first just in the sense of um [Music] chronologically first i want you to think of the word first in the sense of what is most important i agree with the new american standard virgin translation here the greek text would suggest first importance christians do you know what's a first oh god do you know what is the first importance that that the death burial and resurrection of christ as a good news system is a first importance i ain't got time to argue with you over everything else not now some things ain't worth me arguing over let's make sure we understand first and foremost what is affects importance what is the priority of the message of the gospel of jesus christ paul said i delivered to you a fast and for every child of god you better know what's the first importance i don't care what ministry you do you may be in the men's program and you may be out there doing a great service for the community but don't forget while you're doing that service what's up fast important you may be doing a wonderful work in the youth ministry and people are coming by the deserts and children are feeling good and we got all kind of young folk coming to the church but while we're doing that don't forget what's up fast importance you got a ladies day going and you got a women's conference and you got great speakers and we're talking about things that are relevant to the struggle of women and things they can do to make sure that they're making progress but in all of that make sure we add into the repertoire what is of fast importance because if we forget what's up fast importance then everything else we're doing doesn't matter it doesn't matter so paul says let me tell you and deliver unto you that which is of it is first uh importance watch the text for i delivered to you as of first importance what i also received so what i received i passed on to you watch this the first relative pronoun that christ died for our sins according to the scripture and that he was buried and that he was raised on the third day according to the scripture and that he appeared that's four relative pronouns what is of first importance what what is of first importance when it comes to the christian faith what do i need to make sure i'm absolutely convicted about four relative pronouns that christ died what but it's not wait a minute don't don't read that too fast it's not this that he died i you know when people tell me the gospel is the death burial resurrection they cut it short don't don't does not the gospel is not that jesus died was buried and rose again that's not the gospel what's the gospel that he died for our sins i i know that's a subtle difference but it's a huge difference what's the gospel that jesus died was very resurrected uh oh no it ain't the gospel is that jesus christ died for our sins see his death was for the purpose of atonement he died for our sins he carried the penalty of our sins his death was substitutionary now that's a powerful concept and you got to get this in your spirit i know you may want me to preach about something else and you may be saying ah you know what man i want to preach about five steps to having stronger faith or ten steps to getting a good job or how to deal with with my enemies all that's fine but there's something that's of first importance now what's the first importance that christ died wait a minute he didn't just die that ain't the gospel he died for our sins the greek word is who pad he died for or he died in our place it gives the notion of substitutionary jesus died for my sins in my place jesus died for our sins he died uh on our behalf in reference to our sin that's that's important for you to get so his death is substitutionary and it satisfies the justice of god that's that's the first that so the first that that you need to get in your mind that's a first importance is that christ die for us that that can never grow old to you that can never get that can never get to the place where it erodes out of your conscience that christ died on my behalf in reference to my sins and which he carries the penalty of what i did that's gospel all right now watch this that's the first relative pronoun right first relative pronoun is that he died for our sins watch this now for i deliver unto you of first importance that also i received that christ died for our sins according to the scripture which means the old testament prophetically announced that jesus would be our substitutionary sacrifice which means the prophecies of old testament show up in fulfillment in jesus christ so when christ died that was in accord with what the old testament predicted praise god and i don't have time to go to the old testament to show you where this death was predicted for i heard isaiah say surely he has borne our griefs and he's carried our sorrows we did esteem him stricken smitten of god and afflicted but he was wounded for our transgressions bruised for our iniquity and the chastisement of our peace was upon him with his stripes we are healed what's the first importance the first relative pronoun that christ died for our sins now that's got to be a motivating factor in your conviction that what i do as a child of god is wrapped around my conviction that he died for our sins second relative pronoun here it is that he was buried and then the third relative pronoun that he was raised on the third day according to scripture so there is a scriptural argument in this verification argument what are you saying paul this gospel is verified how it's verified scripturally but then watch this that fourth relative pronoun after he says he died was buried and rose again according to scripture then he says and he appeared we stopped with we stopped with he died was better than resurrected and we said that's gospel that's that's good that's good that's good that's good but man don't forget that fourth relative pronoun the text says and that he appeared that makes the death burial and resurrection not only scriptural but it makes it historical don't get that out of here listen the reason you and i ought to be so motivated to do christianity is because at the core of the christian faith what makes it authentic and what makes it an original is that at the center of it is not only a scriptural teaching but a historical fact i'll need you to get that in your spirit that what the scriptures prophesied in the old testament came into reality historically which means the gospel is scripturally verified and it is historically verified now by the way it's scripturally verified and we know it's scripturally verified because it's historically verified because the scriptures prophet prophetically announced that jesus would die was buried and resurrected and then it came to pass historically how do you know it came to pass historically because he appeared he appeared now watch this oh god watch this he appeared verse number five and he appeared to cephas that's peter then to the twelve why would he why would he mention peter separate from the twelve peter's part of the 12. because peter was an elevated preacher and apostle that was revered by many in the first century church how do you know do you remember in first corinthians chapter one when the christians were being divided over preachers it said some say i am of some say i am of one of the ones mentioned is some say i am of cephas some say i am of palm some say i am of apollos one of the individuals that was highly elevated in the church that folk trusted and revered was peter so what paul does is he takes peter as an object that is highly respected and says and he appeared to cephas then of the 12. now watch this it's so strategic the names that show up here then it says and after that more historical verification he appeared to more than 500 brethren now i have to make make my admission that sometimes you know when you read scripture sometimes you you miss words i i i this is not erroneous per se but i i usually say and have said that jesus appeared to 500 brothers at one time that's not what paul said he said he appeared to more i don't know how many he appeared to the only thing i know in this text is that he appeared to more than 500 brethren at the same time now those who take the absolutely theologically ridiculous position that these men must have had an hallucination would have to explain how do more than 500 people have the same hallucination and to add insult to injury how could they have the same hallucination at the same time it is absolutely ridiculous to take such a position which is an old argument but people still try to use it but paul says let me make sure you understand how verified this gospel is it's not only according to scripture this gospel is historically verified because christ appeared who did he appear to well he appeared to see this y'all all love him and then he appeared to the 12 and then he appeared to more than 500 brethren at one time but that but that's that's that's that's not all praise god that's not all but then he says he appeared to james well why are you bringing up oh wait wait before i get there when he said he appeared to over 500 brothers at one time more than 500 brothers it was so historically verifiable what paul was saying that he said some are still alive at the time paul wrote the document so after plan paul wrote this letter at the time paul makes this statement some of the 500 were alive at that time and some had fallen asleep in other words paul's saying uh corinthian church i'm not telling you something that i have created in my mind i am telling you something that is so verifiable you could ask some of the folk that are alive right now because they were there when he appeared it is historically verifiable now um then he goes on to say he appeared to james now why why is james so significant i mean why why why pick james out listen and i i could just surmise various reasons but one of the reasons james would be significant which would be his brother this is not the apostle james he would have been in the 12. when he mentioned the 12 that would have been the apostle james but here he brings up james which would be in this context the lord's brother well why is that significant because his brother was an unbeliever his brother was one of the skeptics all right i know i've been preaching too long but i gotta show you this verse i i gotta show you this verse i know i've been preaching too long i know that i know it i just know it but i want you to look at john 7 john 7 and verse 1. i'm getting real happy about this gospel um look at look at verse seven i mean excuse me uh john chapter seven verse one look at the text it says after these things jesus was walking in galilee for he was unwilling to walk in judea because the jews were seeking to kill him now the feast of the jews the feast of booths was near therefore his brother said to him leave here and go into judea so that your disciples also may see your works which you are doing look at verse three his brother said to him leave here go into judea so the disciples may see your works which you are doing watch verse 4 for no one does anything in secret which he himself seeks to be known publicly if you do these things show yourself to the world watch verse 5 for not even his brothers were believing in him that's james james which was his biological brother was one of the biggest skeptics about his own flesh and blood he thought his brother was a false messiah that his claims were erroneous but when christ got up from the grave after he found cephas and after he appeared to the 12 and after he appeared to more than 500 brothers at one time he said i got one more person to go visit and he went to see his brother james and guess what james did he wrote a letter in the new testament and he does not say in his letter james the brother of jesus he says james the servant of the lord jesus christ he don't even identify jesus as his brother because after he saw jesus raised he said he's more than my brother he is now my lord and savior so jesus appeared he died that he died that he was buried that he rose again the third day and that he appeared for relative pronouns that shows that the gospel of jesus christ is verifiable so in our text we've looked at the declaration of the gospel paul said let me make it known to you again because this heresy of no resurrection is plaguing you and i need to remind you about the gospel never get so tired of the gospel that you don't recognize that it must be preached over and over again to make sure we are resting in conviction and then he moves to the reception of the gospel their reception of the gospel is in acts 18 1-8 when paul preached to the corinthian city the bible says they heard they believed and they were baptized then there's the solidification of the gospel he says you stand in this gospel you stand in it you're standing you you're standing it you stand you stand you you are well established in it and then they are saved they have salvation by this gospel not just from past sins but they are being saved the gospel's safe from past present and future sin but not only that that same gospel can be has verification it's scriptural and it is historical wrapped around four relative pronouns that he died for our sins that he was buried that he rose again and that he appeared so i've come to tell every child of god you need to be convicted and i'm praying praise the mighty name of jesus that you haven't believed in vain you have to make sure that in all that you do as a child of god don't miss what's first i remember as a young man i used to play or rather i tried to play baseball i probably tried a little bit of every kind of sport but i tried baseball when i was young and my dad put me in little league um praise the mighty name of jesus and and i was not very good at hitting the baseball i was a fast runner but i i didn't have good coordination and so typically i struck out but there was one time where i could time it and and and that that picture uh threw that ball over the over the base over the home base and i clocked it and it popped up in the air and it fell short of the back wall and i ran as fast as i could i couldn't believe i actually hit it and man i took off and i ran around first base and then i and i tagged second base and i went to third base and i slid into the home run and praise god everybody was cheering and the coach hugged me and the teammates embraced me and then i looked in the field and the picture threw the ball to first base and the and the referee said out and we were all like what happened what do you mean i ran home uh the ref said the problem is you ran around first base you stepped on second you stepped on third and you got home you missed first base i was so fixated on getting to home run getting a home run and so fixated at crossing home base that i skipped first in my excitement not realizing that you need to hit fast before anything else matters we got a lot of christians [Applause] that are running this christian race but they've missed first and they've missed where they needed to get convicted and if you miss first base nothing else will matter in christianity you've got to get convicted and praise god when you get your conviction then you want to hold it you don't want to believe in vain praise god you don't you don't want to believe in vain you you don't want to start and not finish you i i don't care how slow you run don't don't start and and not finish you you need to tell somebody in the live stream right now finish finish don't finish finish don't start and don't finish and i got another story of my my dad uh liked to get me in all kinds of sports wasn't really good at baseball but i was pretty good at track and my dad was a a marathon runner my dad likes to runs 26 miles he he did it three or four times in his lifetime and and he always wanted me to get into running and so i he started me out with a three-mile race and i guess i may have been seven or eight years old and i was all excited man i put my headband on i was ready to get it man and he put me in the race and and and i started running and uh and as i ran you know i'm young everybody i'm running with is pretty well older than i am and and everybody took off and and uh and i can't catch them you know i'm a young man i'm about eight years old uh but uh one of my dad's friends was running beside me to make sure that i was safe and i was running and he said don't stop he said don't stop and i said but everybody else has passed me and he said just don't stop just keep running now you you gonna finish he said you don't start something that you don't finish and and i said yeah but what's the purpose of running now every everybody's done is it and literally it started getting dark i wouldn't finish it and and he said keep running keep moving and i kept going he said you're going to finish and i started breathing hard and and i was getting tired man i was getting tired he said don't you stop don't you stop even one point i started walking he said you can walk but don't stop moving don't don't stop don't stop you're gonna finish you're gonna finish and lo and behold i went around the final bend and and the people that finished long before i did were still waiting at the finish line and they started clapping and they said come on we here with you you gonna finish and the folk on the other side that that already finished the race were starting to shout and they were saying we're here and my dad was on the other side my father was waiting for me on the other side of the line he said son come on you can keep going and long behold i started getting a little more energy and i could see the finish line i was tired i was breathing hard everybody else beat me but the race is not given to the swift it's it's giving the people that can keep going and so i kept moving and all i could hear my dad saying was finish finish finish and when i crossed the finish line i met up with the folk that already finished before me i reunited with my daddy because i was able to finish the race that i started i need somebody on live stream right now to get excited i need you to know your father is waiting for you on the other side of the line there's folk that finish the race waiting for you on the other side of the line but i've come to tell somebody don't stop running and don't stop moving i need you to finish i know you're getting tired but finished i know life is getting difficult but finished i know it seems like a crisis is on your left side and a crisis on your right side and you don't know what one week is going to bring from another week but finish because the devil's trying to stop you but i need you to go get right now dig down deep in your soul and i need you to say i'm going to finish this race i don't care who you are what you're going through you might be a husband that's dealing with all kind of hell in high water but finish you might be a wife that's dealing with all kind of difficulty with your children finish you might be a person that just lost their job and you don't know where your money's gonna come from i'm telling you finish it doesn't matter what you're going through the devil wants to stop you the devil says give up this devil says why even run anymore but i need you right now to type in the live stream and tell somebody finish because god is waiting for you on the other side the devil's trying to stop you but the son is saying finished the holy spirit says fittest the father says finish and i need you to keep running don't give up get to the point where you cross the finish line and you can finally say i have fought a good fight and i finished my course and i've kept the faith i need you right now to finish finish finish finish finish because the devil is trying to get you to give up he's trying to get you to get to a space where you leave god where you leave the gospel he wants you to believe in vain but your father's saying finish finish don't don't give up finish it's tough finish young man young woman you're dealing with all kind of pressure and everybody's trying to make god irrelevant to you finish finish finish focus trying to tell you the gospel is not worth anything and you don't need to believe in this thing called jesus you don't even believe in this thing called gospel finish hold on hold on you you're running into people that's trying to tell you you need to live your life don't worry about what's right don't worry about what's wrong just live your life do you do you i've come today to tell you fetish don't allow yourself to get to a space where you feel gospel is irrelevant because god the father is waiting for you on the other side may god bless you may god keep you may you come even right now and say yes to the master he died for your sins he was buried he rose again the third day and he appeared to make sure that you were clear that not only is this gospel scriptural but it's historical and i want you to be convicted be convicted because this gospel is of first importance and if you're not convicted here then nothing else matters you're just doing christianity as a hobby or as some kind of religion why don't you come right now as we say yes hear the gospel believe it to be true repent of you're saying confess christ be baptized for the remission of your sins call us right now and we'd love to baptize you right now today because we've given you that which is a first importance why don't you sing with us right now call us and let us know you're ready as we come right now at this song of invitation when we reach that city of the new jersey i will sing hallelujah hallelujah and by how the ransom singers [Music] in [Music] mighty corpus force says i will source we believe land lord will sing hallelujah hallelujah and by war and gone will be our sadness pleasures there will never end we will sing hallelujah yes joy when we get home and we will rest lord a beignet [Music] and we will sing hallelujah hallelujah lord we'll sing hallelujah [Applause] and we will sing [Applause] [Music] lord [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Music] hallelujah [Music] once again we want to say thank you dr orpheus j haywood for such an excellent message this morning we have been truly inspired by the word and we thank you so much for the message we want to continue to pray for orpheus hayward we want to pray for his family well the leadership of this church we really do appreciate the effort that he puts in sunday and sunday out to deliver the word of god we want to remember that 10 minutes following this morning's service we will have bible study we encourage you all to come and attend and be with us but also we want to remind you that this past friday there was the funeral sister bertha lee who was a long time member of west end and and now renaissance we moved to renaissance from west end a very faithful member we want to continue to remember her family keep them in our prayer as well as david logan one of our elders he lost a brother benjamin we want to pray for him and then antares jackson's wife cara jackson her father passed and so we want to pray for these families in particular let us pray commercial father in heaven again we're just thankful that we've had a great message this morning from our minister dr orpheus j hayward we ask father to continue to bless him continue to crown us here with wisdom and knowledge to impart your word we pray father that you just be with us as we depart from this place we pray father that it be your will you bless us to come back at the next appointed time this week asking christ's holy righteous name amen lord we've turned our backs on you far too many times the cost of sins too much to bear but still you paid the fine so i just don't wanna be another person in the crowd hear my prayer lord hear my battle cry and i'm so thankful for this intercession with you i feel like i've entered into heaven when i'm in your presence [Music] when i'm in your presence and lord please bless this body of your saints with your family [Music] i pray for love and abundant peace for all my enemies and i know that satan's in there somewhere sitting in the crowd so hear my bread hear [Music] i feel like i've been [Music] is gone

Channel: Official Renaissance Church of Christ

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Id: ii_j_3ki9UY

Length: 92min 41sec (5561 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 07 2021