Walnut Creek Baptist Church

Luke 9:28-62, Genesis 16, Psalm 9

Luke 9:1-27, Genesis 15, Pslam 8

Luke 8:26-56, Genesis 13-14, Psalm 7

Luke 8:1-25, Genesis 12, Psalm 6

Luke 7:18-50, Genesis 11, Psalm 5

Luke 7:1-17, Genesis 8-10, Psalm 4

Luke 6:27-49, Genesis 6-7, Psalm 3

Luke 6:1-26, Genesis 3-5, Psalm 2

Luke 5:27-39, Genesis 1-2, Psalm 1

Sermon Notes

The Integrity of the Gospel

Sunday, September 25, 2011

Pastor Marvin Denison

When we see God working, our next step determines what we believe about God.

What the early church valued most.

I. People matter!

Acts 3. See sermon Notes from September 18^th. People matter then and now! No matter what kind of person they are, people matter to God! No matter the race, rich, poor, denomination, etc. Peter and John encountered a lame man at the entrance to the temple and healed him in Jesus’ name. The religious leaders asked how the man was healed. The early church saw others as Christians. Not Baptist. Not Methodist. They went to others as Christians!

Barnabas finds Saul (Paul) and taught the people for one whole year. After that the disciples were first called Christians at Antioch. They offered Jesus Christ. They were Christians…Believers. God raises up men. Men raise up denominations. That’s ok with God if they lift Jesus up and lift Him up high. If they do the Matthew 6:33 thing…Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added unto you…If they are preaching and teaching Jesus.

When they cease to do that…when denominations cease to love like God…cease to have mercy like God…cease to raise the standard like God. Then there is a problem and an issue that God has with them. They are Christians first. Church members have asked Jesus Christ to come into their heart and forgive their sins first…to be your Lord and Savior. He has forgiven you now!  We were dead in trespass and sin. Now we are alive in Jesus Christ! That is the best thing that ever happened to me! Now when we come together, we need to look back at the early church and know that people matter!

II. The Integrity of the Gospel!

Did you know that they held on to that more than any other thing? They lived during the apostolic age. The Apostle means sent out ones. They were sent out to tell of God’s love in Jesus Christ. Not only to the Jews but to the Gentiles, this was a starling thing to the Jews because they were God’s chosen people. God reached out and grafted the Gentiles in and that was an amazing thing to the Jews. The early Apostles were the ones that lived, talked, and walked with Jesus. But you and I…we are apostles. Many of us are satisfied to sit and listen, but as believers we are apostles…sent out ones…sent out to tell of God’s love in Christ Jesus.

The early church didn’t tell people that they were from Walnut Creek Baptist Church. They didn’t tell them that they had huge, huge buildings. They didn’t tell them that they had it all together. They didn’t tell them that they were educated because none of them were except for the Apostle Paul. What we are all about and what we want the world to know is that something happened to us. Jesus came into our hearts and lives and He radically changed our lives! He did away with our old life. We are born again now and He has given us His life. We live by that life now. We are changed. We are forgiven. And we want the whole world to know about that! Nothing else matters. They didn’t know how to do anything, but to tell others what Jesus did for them.

The integrity of the Gospel what really mattered. What is the Gospel? I Corinthians 15:4. The good news about Jesus. What is the good news? The apostolic age quickly became the age of Christendom and the hired guns came in…those hired to preach and teach the gospel. As the church evolved, the hired ministers were the ones doing all the teaching. Something happened so that the congregation stopped telling others about Jesus and stopped bringing people up in the Lord. There is no other time that it has been like it was back then.

The world today yawns at the church. There is nothing that is stands out, that’s real that they can see. They see us as having a bad habit because they don’t know the Lord.

We have something that the early church had. First it is the treasure of God from Heaven. It is His gift to the world. It is good news. What’s so good about that news? Salvation, what does it mean? Most of us in church understand, but many people don’t! It is the good news from God about Jesus Christ, I Corinthians 15:1-4. Paul says that he wants to remind you about the Gospel that you received and on which you stand. We stand on the Good News about Jesus Christ! We are passionate about that. We hold on to that. That is what we are all about. Christ died for our sins.

Adam and Eve sinned and the depravity of man began. Everyone since then was born in sin. God always wants to help us, so God sent Jesus to die on the cross to take away our sin. He was crucified; He died, was buried, and was resurrected to save us from our sin. I, now, am no longer in my sin. I am not dead in my trespasses and sin. I’ve been delivered by the blood of Jesus! I’ve been given the life of God in Jesus Christ. That’s amazing! The Great Exchange. He took my sin and gave me His righteousness! It doesn’t matter what I did. It’s all about my acceptance of what He did. God sees me as the righteousness of God in Christ!

The early church held on to the integrity of the Gospel. Jesus was resurrected therefore we will be resurrected! One day all will die, but believers will be resurrected because Jesus was resurrected. When we leave this world, it will be staggering! Amazing! Jesus crucified for our sins, buried, resurrected and because of Him, we also will be resurrected. I Corinthians 15:55, Death where is your sting? God is for us. We don’t have to live in sin.

How do we live the Gospel? Leonard Ravenhill said that there are more people on death row in churches today than there are in the prisons of the world. There are a lot of people that think they are going to heaven when they really aren’t. We can not live the gospel in our own power. Only God’s Spirit can empower someone to live the Gospel, Galatians 2:20. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I that live, but Christ lives in me. I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me.  You can not live the life! We try to live the life in our own power and fail. Your flesh has not been redeemed. The spirit has been redeemed. The flesh can’t be tamed or conquered. It has to be put to death. We have to die daily. We sing about the cross. We right about the cross, but we never get on the cross, because it means death…but it means life too. We can’t do it by ourselves.

We have to give the Gospel away! We can’t tell others about Jesus except the Spirit of God working in us does the work for us! Know Jesus. Embrace Him. Love Him. Hold on to Him. Faith in Him. Know about God’s love in Jesus Christ. We have to give the gospel away Acts 1:7-8. God always has the recourses…the know-how. You have to wait to receive power then you will be witnesses.

Start in Diana Texas. Home is the hardest place to witness. Do you think that God is always working? Does He need you? He wants to work in and through you! We have to give the gospel away. The early church gave it away. If we don’t He will hold us accountable. In Ezekiel chapter 33 God is speaking. The people have left Him. The Watchman warns the people when the sword comes against them. The watchman is accountable. If he doesn’t warn the people then God holds him responsible for their blood. God has made Walnut Creek Baptist Church a watchman for Diana, Harleton, and Ore City. God will hold us accountable if we don’t warn the wicked man to turn to God. We are in Christ now, but God will still hold us accountable for those that we do not tell!

Romans 10:14, how then can they call on the one that they have not believed in? How can they believe in the one they have not heard? How can they hear without a preacher? Open your mouth, Open your eyes, Open your ears, Tell, love, and listen about the Lord Jesus Christ. Tell your world!

Judgment is coming! The Great White Throne Judgment is for unbelievers and nations. The Judgment Seat of Christ is for believers. Believers will go to heaven, but our works will be judged by the intent/motivation of our heart. He will hold us accountable. Preachers and teachers will be judged with a stricter judgment than others. I am not as concerned about what you think as I am what God thinks. Four out of five people come to church because someone invited them. Give them the Word of God when they are hurting. Give them the Gospel because if we don’t God will hold us accountable.

Things to remember:

1) The reason we don’t hold on to the gospel and we don’t give it is that we have a heart problem, Revelation 2:4-5. The church at Ephesus had done a lot of great things, but they left their first love, Jesus Christ. They had a heart problem. It is intentional…a deliberate decision to leave. Do the things that you did at first. Remember how you felt when you were first saved? Do you remember how you wanted to share Jesus then? Jesus said that He would remove the church that left their first love.

2) Have you drifted away from the Gospel? Hebrews 2:1. You don’t live it. You don’t give it. Surfers on the ocean drift far down the coast from their car and belongings because of the ocean currents. Have your drifted away because of the currents in the world? There is power in the drift, but there is more power in Jesus.

3) You can’t give what you don’t have. If you aren’t telling people about God’s love in Jesus Christ, Maybe you never had it. II Corinthians 13:5 examine yourself to see if you are in the Lord. This is a careful introspection. Look at yourself to see if you are really in the faith. John 1:4-5, In Him was light and that Light was the light of men. Resurrection life in Christ…Amazing!  The resurrection life of Jesus is in you! The world is full of darkness, but the light of Jesus is in me! The light is in us. John 1:5The light shines in the darkness and the darkness can not overcome it! People want to know about Him. They need to know about Him. Examine yourself to see if you are really in the faith! When you stand before God at the end of the age, are you in or out? Will it be heaven or hell? Do you know?

After we lead someone to Jesus, we disciple them teaching them His ways. Then they will be sent out as we are.