Proclaim, 9 September 2018
Proclaim
Series: FAC-DNA
2 Timothy 4:1-5
Series Overview: God has placed us uniquely in our city and world for such a time as this, a Christ-centered, Acts 1:8 family.
Big Idea: We are to proclaim good news…in word and deed.
Simon Sinek is a best-selling author. He has the third-most-watched Ted Talk video of all time. He speaks all over the world. His primary message is simple: start with why.
Often people focus on what they do or how they do things, but there’s power in unpacking the why.
Why are you here this morning?
Why are we here this morning?
Why does First Alliance Church exist?
Unlike independent churches, we are part of a larger family, the Christian & Missionary Alliance. Our president, Dr. John Stumbo, has called the Alliance
a Christ-centered, Acts 1:8 family
Last week we said we’re all about Jesus. He is the way, the truth, and the life. Jesus is our authority. He is not only our Savior, he is our LORD. He’s our leader. We are Christ-centered. He modeled what it means to be human. He incarnated love. He taught with the most powerful stories and wisdom in all of human history. He offered three significant commands:
Love God
Love others as you love yourself (the Great Commandment; Matthew 22:34-40)
Make disciples (the Great Commission; Matthew 28:18-20)
Obey and become like Jesus and help others become like Jesus, loving God and others. This is what it means to be Christ-centered.
Acts 1:8 says
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)
We exist to obey and worship and glorify Jesus Christ.
We are called to make disciples in Toledo, the region, the nation, and around the world.
We are also a family. We’re not a perfect family, but what family is?
We are a Jesus-centered family making disciples in Toledo and beyond for God’s glory.
But what does that mean? We’re examining that question this month in our series FAC-DNA.
PRAY
The “why” is to glorify and obey God.
The “what” is to love God, love others as we love ourselves, and make disciples.
But how? Last week, we heard Alliance president, Dr. John Stumbo, talk about love. It’s so basic and obvious it almost seems silly to mention, yet our examination of 1 Corinthians 13 last week revealed loving others can be messy and challenging. One friend told me after last week’s sermon that sometimes loving means literally getting poop on your hands. Truly loving God and others can only be done as we receive God’s love and are filled with the Holy Spirit who gives us the power to love the unlovable, never give up on the hopeless, give when we want to take, and sacrifice when we want to be selfish.
We are to love. That’s what a Christ-centered, Acts 1:8 family looks like. We must be known for our love. We’re not, by the way. Many know us for what we’re against rather than what we’re for. I pray that each day we would becoming more loving and known for our love. Jesus was known for his love. If we are truly following Jesus…
We are to love. Here’s Dr. Stumbo introducing our next verb of this series.
Stumbo video transcript:
The second verb that arose is the verb proclaim. When I say love, I’m saying one thing. When I say proclaim, I’m saying two, really. And it depends on what generation I’m talking to.
To baby boomers and older, my generation, I have to talk about Matthew 25—that the marginalized, the hurting, the imprisoned, the poor, the immigrant—they’re part of our Bibles, too. We focused so much on verbalizing the gospel, which was fantastic, that sometimes we overlooked demonstrating the gospel.
We kind of left that to the liberal churches, to do the social gospel kind of thing, and I’m questioning that. And I’m saying that we as an evangelical church, as The Christian and Missionary Alliance, must learn to demonstrate the gospel in ways that touch our communities.
Meanwhile, if I’m speaking to the younger generation, they don’t need for me to go to Matthew 25. Cause, justice, those kind of issues, are part of their language and lifestyle. But, they’ve lost, as one young leader has confessed to me, “Our generation has lost the ability to articulate faith.”
Verbalizing, speaking the gospel, has become weak in a lot of our younger groups. And so I want to challenge us to be the kind of people who verbalize and demonstrate the gospel. So millennials and younger generation, you don’t have to like the words or methods that us older guys use in speaking the gospel. That’s fine if you don’t ever ask anybody to invite Jesus into their heart. I don’t care about that, but what I do care about deeply is that we become people who authentically speak the true gospel in ways that each culture, each generation, can hear.
Proclaim
We are to love. Love is a noun. Love is a verb. Loving can also be an adjective describing how we do…everything. We are to teach with love, serve with love, give with love, teach with love, discipline with love…and with love we are to proclaim good news, the gospel, our Savior, Jesus Christ. We even helped start a radio station years ago with that in mind: WPOS, proclaim our Savior.
One of my favorite things about our FAC family is its diversity. Sure, we’re not exactly a United Nations convention, but we have people from various religious, political, ethnic, educational, and economic backgrounds. They say variety is the spice of life.
On a side note, this past week I heard a podcast featuring Cherry Street Mission’s CEO Dan Rogers. In it, he said we need to surround ourselves with people different from ourselves in order to truly grow. He said this is why we don’t marry our sibling! Think about it. God’s design is that we marry someone from a different family in order to produce healthy hybrids of the two. Fascinating!
We have a reputation as being an older congregation, and it’s hard to argue that assessment. But despite a growing number of retirees from the Builder and Boomer generations, there are those of us GenXers, Millennials, and a growing number of GenZ members, too, those born in since the late 1990s. Each generation is unique and special. As Dr. Stumbo said in the video, some of us need to proclaim more clearly through our words while others need to amplify our actions.
Each Tuesday morning at 8:30 AM, a group of men gather here to pray…for our families, church, city, nation, and world. Men, you are all invited! Before we begin to pray each Tuesday, Charles Carter shares a passage of scripture and a story of one of our spiritual siblings overseas. Some involve martyrdom, others torture. Some of the accounts describe the most inhumane treatment of not only men and women but sometimes children. I believe every story has one thing in common: these atrocities were done because someone refused to proclaim Jesus Christ as LORD.
This is nothing new, of course. Jesus himself was murdered. Eleven of his best friends were martyred. Foxe’s Book of Martyrs and VOM—Voice of the Martyrs, persecution.com—tell these unbelievable stories of passionate faith, radical love, and supernatural forgiveness. We shouldn’t be surprised. Paul wrote to Timothy…
For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry. (2 Timothy 4:3-5)
Yet I worry about what someone might think of me if I share my faith. I’m too busy to love others, serving the least of these. I so easily fall into materialistic, consumeristic, and selfish ways rather than following the example of Jesus to proclaim good news.
I’m not saying you should cancel your Netflix subscription, vacation plans, and time with your family. Hardly. But when is the last time you proclaimed Jesus Christ in word and/or deed?
Paul wrote,
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. (Romans 1:16)
The gospel, the good news, Jesus, Jesus is LORD, God loves you, that’s powerful. We must not be ashamed. Jesus hung up for you. Will you stand up for him?
Sometimes we make proclamation more complicated than necessary. Do you have a God story? Share it! Life is all about stories. Relationships are all about stories. I talk about my wife. I talk about my kids. I talk about my vacation. I talk about my God.
Preach the Gospel at all times and if necessary use words. Have you heard that? Who said it? It has been attributed to St. Francis of Assisi, but there’s no evidence he actually said it. Actions speak louder than words, yes, but our actions only give credibility to our words, not the other way around.
If your doctor is 100 pounds overweight and he tells you to lose weight…
Peter wrote,
Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us. (1 Peter 2:11-12)
Our good deeds validate our message, but we must have a message. How many of you became a follower of Jesus without anyone ever telling you anything about Jesus, his love for you, his death, his resurrection, and his upcoming return? We need words. We need to proclaim good news. Family, our city and world have never been more desperate for good news, for love, for peace. We are called to be hope dealers! What a privilege!
Every day there are people contemplating and even committing suicide. What’s the use in living?
Every day there are people overdosing on opioids, unable to cope with the pain in their lives? Where’s the hope?
Every day people are bored out of their skulls, filling time with cat videos on YouTube and binge watching cheesy tv shows and movies. What on earth am I here for?
Paul wrote to his disciple, Timothy, these words:
In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. (2 Timothy 4:1-2)
Preach the word. Proclaim the word. He’s not just saying give Sunday sermons. He’s saying know God, know God’s word, and proclaim it…every day…everywhere. Will some reject it? Absolutely! But that’s not our concern. We are to obey. We are to proclaim.
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)
We desperately need the Holy Spirit’s power. We can’t change people. We can’t make anyone follow Jesus. But we can set an example. We can live compelling lives. We can invite people to the party. They can choose whether or not they want to attend.
By the way, this word “witnesses”…the Greek word is “martys.” What word do you know that sounds like martys? Martyr. A testifier, a witness, and possibly even someone whose proclamation will cost them their very life.
So What?
Look for opportunities to deal hope to those who are struggling through life, which is all of us at one time or another. Consider these questions:
These are some simple, non-threatening questions which might open up some spiritual conversations, creating space for your story and the gospel of Jesus.
Family, loving God, loving others as we love ourselves, and make disciples necessitates proclamation. Good news needs to be shared. Will you proclaim?
You can listen to this message and others at the First Alliance Church podcast here.
Series: FAC-DNA
2 Timothy 4:1-5
Series Overview: God has placed us uniquely in our city and world for such a time as this, a Christ-centered, Acts 1:8 family.
Big Idea: We are to proclaim good news…in word and deed.
Simon Sinek is a best-selling author. He has the third-most-watched Ted Talk video of all time. He speaks all over the world. His primary message is simple: start with why.
Often people focus on what they do or how they do things, but there’s power in unpacking the why.
Why are you here this morning?
Why are we here this morning?
Why does First Alliance Church exist?
Unlike independent churches, we are part of a larger family, the Christian & Missionary Alliance. Our president, Dr. John Stumbo, has called the Alliance
a Christ-centered, Acts 1:8 family
Last week we said we’re all about Jesus. He is the way, the truth, and the life. Jesus is our authority. He is not only our Savior, he is our LORD. He’s our leader. We are Christ-centered. He modeled what it means to be human. He incarnated love. He taught with the most powerful stories and wisdom in all of human history. He offered three significant commands:
Love God
Love others as you love yourself (the Great Commandment; Matthew 22:34-40)
Make disciples (the Great Commission; Matthew 28:18-20)
Obey and become like Jesus and help others become like Jesus, loving God and others. This is what it means to be Christ-centered.
Acts 1:8 says
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)
We exist to obey and worship and glorify Jesus Christ.
We are called to make disciples in Toledo, the region, the nation, and around the world.
We are also a family. We’re not a perfect family, but what family is?
We are a Jesus-centered family making disciples in Toledo and beyond for God’s glory.
But what does that mean? We’re examining that question this month in our series FAC-DNA.
PRAY
The “why” is to glorify and obey God.
The “what” is to love God, love others as we love ourselves, and make disciples.
But how? Last week, we heard Alliance president, Dr. John Stumbo, talk about love. It’s so basic and obvious it almost seems silly to mention, yet our examination of 1 Corinthians 13 last week revealed loving others can be messy and challenging. One friend told me after last week’s sermon that sometimes loving means literally getting poop on your hands. Truly loving God and others can only be done as we receive God’s love and are filled with the Holy Spirit who gives us the power to love the unlovable, never give up on the hopeless, give when we want to take, and sacrifice when we want to be selfish.
We are to love. That’s what a Christ-centered, Acts 1:8 family looks like. We must be known for our love. We’re not, by the way. Many know us for what we’re against rather than what we’re for. I pray that each day we would becoming more loving and known for our love. Jesus was known for his love. If we are truly following Jesus…
We are to love. Here’s Dr. Stumbo introducing our next verb of this series.
Stumbo video transcript:
The second verb that arose is the verb proclaim. When I say love, I’m saying one thing. When I say proclaim, I’m saying two, really. And it depends on what generation I’m talking to.
To baby boomers and older, my generation, I have to talk about Matthew 25—that the marginalized, the hurting, the imprisoned, the poor, the immigrant—they’re part of our Bibles, too. We focused so much on verbalizing the gospel, which was fantastic, that sometimes we overlooked demonstrating the gospel.
We kind of left that to the liberal churches, to do the social gospel kind of thing, and I’m questioning that. And I’m saying that we as an evangelical church, as The Christian and Missionary Alliance, must learn to demonstrate the gospel in ways that touch our communities.
Meanwhile, if I’m speaking to the younger generation, they don’t need for me to go to Matthew 25. Cause, justice, those kind of issues, are part of their language and lifestyle. But, they’ve lost, as one young leader has confessed to me, “Our generation has lost the ability to articulate faith.”
Verbalizing, speaking the gospel, has become weak in a lot of our younger groups. And so I want to challenge us to be the kind of people who verbalize and demonstrate the gospel. So millennials and younger generation, you don’t have to like the words or methods that us older guys use in speaking the gospel. That’s fine if you don’t ever ask anybody to invite Jesus into their heart. I don’t care about that, but what I do care about deeply is that we become people who authentically speak the true gospel in ways that each culture, each generation, can hear.
Proclaim
We are to love. Love is a noun. Love is a verb. Loving can also be an adjective describing how we do…everything. We are to teach with love, serve with love, give with love, teach with love, discipline with love…and with love we are to proclaim good news, the gospel, our Savior, Jesus Christ. We even helped start a radio station years ago with that in mind: WPOS, proclaim our Savior.
One of my favorite things about our FAC family is its diversity. Sure, we’re not exactly a United Nations convention, but we have people from various religious, political, ethnic, educational, and economic backgrounds. They say variety is the spice of life.
On a side note, this past week I heard a podcast featuring Cherry Street Mission’s CEO Dan Rogers. In it, he said we need to surround ourselves with people different from ourselves in order to truly grow. He said this is why we don’t marry our sibling! Think about it. God’s design is that we marry someone from a different family in order to produce healthy hybrids of the two. Fascinating!
We have a reputation as being an older congregation, and it’s hard to argue that assessment. But despite a growing number of retirees from the Builder and Boomer generations, there are those of us GenXers, Millennials, and a growing number of GenZ members, too, those born in since the late 1990s. Each generation is unique and special. As Dr. Stumbo said in the video, some of us need to proclaim more clearly through our words while others need to amplify our actions.
Each Tuesday morning at 8:30 AM, a group of men gather here to pray…for our families, church, city, nation, and world. Men, you are all invited! Before we begin to pray each Tuesday, Charles Carter shares a passage of scripture and a story of one of our spiritual siblings overseas. Some involve martyrdom, others torture. Some of the accounts describe the most inhumane treatment of not only men and women but sometimes children. I believe every story has one thing in common: these atrocities were done because someone refused to proclaim Jesus Christ as LORD.
This is nothing new, of course. Jesus himself was murdered. Eleven of his best friends were martyred. Foxe’s Book of Martyrs and VOM—Voice of the Martyrs, persecution.com—tell these unbelievable stories of passionate faith, radical love, and supernatural forgiveness. We shouldn’t be surprised. Paul wrote to Timothy…
For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry. (2 Timothy 4:3-5)
Yet I worry about what someone might think of me if I share my faith. I’m too busy to love others, serving the least of these. I so easily fall into materialistic, consumeristic, and selfish ways rather than following the example of Jesus to proclaim good news.
I’m not saying you should cancel your Netflix subscription, vacation plans, and time with your family. Hardly. But when is the last time you proclaimed Jesus Christ in word and/or deed?
Paul wrote,
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. (Romans 1:16)
The gospel, the good news, Jesus, Jesus is LORD, God loves you, that’s powerful. We must not be ashamed. Jesus hung up for you. Will you stand up for him?
Sometimes we make proclamation more complicated than necessary. Do you have a God story? Share it! Life is all about stories. Relationships are all about stories. I talk about my wife. I talk about my kids. I talk about my vacation. I talk about my God.
Preach the Gospel at all times and if necessary use words. Have you heard that? Who said it? It has been attributed to St. Francis of Assisi, but there’s no evidence he actually said it. Actions speak louder than words, yes, but our actions only give credibility to our words, not the other way around.
If your doctor is 100 pounds overweight and he tells you to lose weight…
Peter wrote,
Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us. (1 Peter 2:11-12)
Our good deeds validate our message, but we must have a message. How many of you became a follower of Jesus without anyone ever telling you anything about Jesus, his love for you, his death, his resurrection, and his upcoming return? We need words. We need to proclaim good news. Family, our city and world have never been more desperate for good news, for love, for peace. We are called to be hope dealers! What a privilege!
Every day there are people contemplating and even committing suicide. What’s the use in living?
Every day there are people overdosing on opioids, unable to cope with the pain in their lives? Where’s the hope?
Every day people are bored out of their skulls, filling time with cat videos on YouTube and binge watching cheesy tv shows and movies. What on earth am I here for?
Paul wrote to his disciple, Timothy, these words:
In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. (2 Timothy 4:1-2)
Preach the word. Proclaim the word. He’s not just saying give Sunday sermons. He’s saying know God, know God’s word, and proclaim it…every day…everywhere. Will some reject it? Absolutely! But that’s not our concern. We are to obey. We are to proclaim.
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)
We desperately need the Holy Spirit’s power. We can’t change people. We can’t make anyone follow Jesus. But we can set an example. We can live compelling lives. We can invite people to the party. They can choose whether or not they want to attend.
By the way, this word “witnesses”…the Greek word is “martys.” What word do you know that sounds like martys? Martyr. A testifier, a witness, and possibly even someone whose proclamation will cost them their very life.
So What?
Look for opportunities to deal hope to those who are struggling through life, which is all of us at one time or another. Consider these questions:
- - What do you do when life gets hard? Where do you turn?
- - How do you make decisions? Who guides you through life?
- - Where are you at in your spiritual journey?
- - Are you a part of a faith community?
- - What do you think is the meaning of life?
- - How can I pray for you?
These are some simple, non-threatening questions which might open up some spiritual conversations, creating space for your story and the gospel of Jesus.
Family, loving God, loving others as we love ourselves, and make disciples necessitates proclamation. Good news needs to be shared. Will you proclaim?