Go, Stand, Speak

[0:00] To be continued...

[0:29] Here's a challenge. If I said, I'll pay you $100 every single time you share the gospel, how many times today would you have done it? Be honest. 10, 20, 50, 100 times?

[0:45] Boy, with everybody I come in contact with. As many as I could. As many people as I could. As many as I could possibly reach out to. Wow. As many as I could get a hold of, 100?

[0:57] I would have about a billion dollars right now. Enough to buy me a new car. I'd probably do it several times. Probably a lot more than once a week. A lot more.

[1:07] As many as I could, like 1,000 times. It would probably be more. I hate to say it, but yeah, it probably would be more. How long have you been a Christian? All my life, I guess. Yeah.

[1:18] How often do you just walk up and talk to strangers about Jesus, you know, share the gospel? Not very often, I guess. I'm just a college student. I just go to church when I go.

[1:29] I guess I really don't just talk up to nobody. So if I ask you right now to walk up and just talk to somebody, you know, like a stranger, maybe give them one of these million dollar bills, you know, do you think you could do that?

[1:43] I don't know. Okay, so that's kind of intimidating? Yeah, it is. Okay, what if I say I'll give you $100 cash right now just to go walk up to somebody and say, hey, here you go, thanks a million. Could you do it for $100?

[1:54] Yeah, I could do it for $100. I'll give you $100 cash, okay? Yeah, yeah, I'll give you $100 cash. 20, 40, 60, 80, 100.

[2:04] So $100, I'll give you as soon as you come back, you just got to take this million dollar bill, you pick whoever you want to give it to, and you just walk up to them and say, hey, thanks a million, or hey, I appreciate it, you look like a million, or hey, take this with, you know, whatever you want to say to them.

[2:19] And when you've done it, come back and I'll give you $100, okay? Sounds good. That's a deal. Deal. How would y'all like a million dollar bill? It's a once in a lifetime thing, you put this in your, just keep it for a keepsake, a million dollar bill, and if you could, just read that on the back when you get a chance.

[2:35] It's very inspirational, but I appreciate y'all keeping that. What's this on the back? Oh, we're just giving out a million dollar bill so we can just read the scriptures on the back for us. I appreciate y'all giving that.

[2:50] Y'all have a good evening now. Thank you. Had you ever done that before? No, no, I've never done anything like that really before. It was fun. It was something to do, you know. I mean, it's something I'll remember.

[3:00] So, well, here's your $100, man. So, let me ask you, and just hear me through here. You know, Jesus, he says in the Bible, you love God or you love money. Now, when initially I asked you to do that, you said, no, man, I couldn't do that.

[3:13] That was a phrase. But then when I said I'd give you $100 to do it, you got really excited about doing it. So, does it concern you that you wouldn't do it for the love of the Lord, but you would do it for $100 cash?

[3:25] That's, now that you, I didn't even think about it, but now that you say that, it is kind of, I don't know, it's something that, yeah, I think about now. I mean. I mean, in other words, you were more motivated by the money.

[3:36] Yeah. It seems like I was more motivated. Just $100 would seem better than just being embarrassed, you know. It was worth maybe suffering through embarrassment for $100. Oh, yeah. But, yeah, it was worth, it seems like it was worth $100, but not worth just doing it for the good of the Lord.

[3:53] So, when Jesus says, you know, if people mock you, make fun of you, or hate you, or speak of your name as evil for his sake, that you'd earn great treasures in heaven, Jesus says, be careful where your treasure is, because there your heart will be also, to not store up treasures on earth, but to store up your treasures in heaven.

[4:08] Does it concern you that you are more motivated by money than you were by the love of the Lord, or the guy that laid his life down and saved your soul? It does. Now that I, I didn't even think about it that way, but, yeah, I mean, now that I think about it, it does a little bit, yeah.

[4:20] Now that I think about it, it does a little bit, yeah.

[4:50] And the angel of the Lord comes, and the angel opened the prison doors and brought them forth and said, verse 20, Go stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life.

[5:06] That was what the angel said to Peter. Go stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life. And the call tonight is evangelise, evangelise, reach out, outreach.

[5:21] Evangelism must be our primary word. The first element of this commission from the angel is go, go. And we know that our Lord said to go.

[5:33] Mark 16, 15, for example, he says, There's still a go in gospel.

[5:47] There's still G-O in gospel. There's still a go. In Matthew 20, verse 6, about the eleventh hour he went out, the Lord is speaking here in parable, and he found people standing idle.

[6:03] And he said unto them, Why stand ye here all the day idle? The context is of a master looking for workers for the vineyard. Why stand ye here all the day idle?

[6:15] And it's a fact, people, tonight. Many Christians, including me, oft times, are idle. Idle in the marketplace. There's more that we can do.

[6:26] There's more that we could do. And it's not about technique or philosophy or methodology so much. It's about obedience to the go.

[6:39] That's what it boils down to. We saw on that video, if someone had the motivation that they were going to get some tangible physical reward with the money, they'd probably invest more of their time in the gospel, for example.

[6:55] They'd probably put more of their time into telling others about the good news, about salvation. And really, that shouldn't really make any difference, should it?

[7:06] Let's be real tonight. If we really care about what really matters, which is treasures in heaven, then such things should not really sway us to do more than we are doing.

[7:19] They shouldn't matter. The go is still in the Bible. It's still in the gospel. And it's a call to all of us to consider, do we love him enough to obey him?

[7:31] To take action. To go. To go. To the work. To the harvest. To leave other things that can take our energies.

[7:43] And to step over the line. To step across the line. To step out for God. One Sunday evening, William Booth was walking in London with his son. His son at this time was some 12 years old, Branwell.

[7:56] And William Booth took his son out down the street. And he surprised his son by walking into a saloon.

[8:07] He walked into a bar. And the place was crowded with men and women. And many of them were bearing in their faces the marks of vice and crime.

[8:19] Some were drunk. The fumes of alcohol and tobacco were poisonous. And son, Booth said, these are our people. These are the people I want you to live for and bring to Christ.

[8:32] Years later, Branwell Booth wrote, the impression never left me. Go. Go. When Hudson Taylor was director of China Inland Mission, he often interviewed candidates for the mission field.

[8:48] On one occasion, he met with a group of applicants to determine their motivations for service. He asked, why do you wish to go as a foreign missionary? I want to go because Christ has commanded us to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature, was the reply.

[9:07] Another said, I want to go because millions are perishing without Christ. Others gave different answers. Hudson Taylor then said, all of these motives, however good, will fail you in times of testings, trials, tribulations and possibly death.

[9:23] There is but one motive, but one motive that will sustain you in trial and testing, namely the love of Christ.

[9:34] It's the love of Christ that constrains us. It's the love of Christ that compels us. It's his love that calls us and commissions us. A missionary in Africa was once asked if he really liked what he was doing, if he really liked it, being a missionary.

[9:52] And his response was shocking. Do I like this work? He said, no, my wife and I do not like dirt. We have reasonably refined sensibilities.

[10:04] We do not like crawling into vile huts through goat refuse. But is a man to do nothing for Christ he does not like? God pity him, if not.

[10:16] Liking or disliking has nothing to do with it. We have orders to go and we go. Love constrains us. God has not cancelled his orders to go.

[10:30] It's still in the book. Go. Go. We have an imperative. Go. Go. Go. Despite your feelings. Go. Despite those feelings of feeling afraid.

[10:43] We all do. Feelings of inadequacy. We all have those. Go. Look out for souls and go. Now I thank God there's people who are going. There's some folk who have actually been to a local mission field in the Asian area.

[10:59] There's folk who are going regularly to Rundle Mall to take the gospel there. There's opportunity for you to join their band. If you want to go, there's opportunity to go.

[11:10] We've got a cupboard full of tracts. Now I'd like to keep the mission presses busy. Amen. The printing presses busy. And to see those leaflets given out.

[11:22] And we shouldn't have to be cajoled or bribed to give out tracts. It's really not that hard, is it? Friends tonight, let's be honest with God tonight.

[11:34] Go. Go. The angel said, go. Stand. Stand is something we need to do. In 1 Corinthians 16.13 it says, Watch ye stand fast in the faith.

[11:47] Quit you like man. Be strong. Watch ye stand fast in the faith. Quit you like man. It's an old English term. It means act like man.

[11:57] There's a time that men need to act like man. Be strong. And women need to act strong too. Be brave. Stand in earnest.

[12:09] In fact, I was reading of late that by far the majority of single missionaries are women. And it's amazing. Women often respond more to the call of mission fields.

[12:23] We need to stand. We need to act like men and stand. Be brave. Take courage. Take risk. There's some young people here tonight. Maybe God's impressing you to labours further afield.

[12:36] Maybe even labours locally. There's lots of mission field all around us here where we live. And you could say it's a prime area of need, isn't it?

[12:47] We know Elizabeth's got a reputation, let's face it. And that's where we live, many of us here today. And it's a mission field. It's a great place to be where the need is.

[12:59] Like some missionary said, I'd rather run a rescue shop within a yard of hell. You know, the CT stud, I believe. There's an opportunity right here where we're based in this area of need.

[13:11] And we can take courage and take risk. There was a one-legged school teacher from Scotland came to Hudson Taylor one day to offer himself a service in China. A one-legged school teacher with only one leg.

[13:25] Why do you think of going as a missionary? Asked Taylor. I do not see those with two legs going. Replied George Scott. He was accepted. You know, don't think that there's something holding you back from serving God.

[13:40] From going and standing. Even if you've got one leg. Amen? You can go and stand. Be brave. Be a bold witness for Christ. Where you are. And where he sends you.

[13:51] Is there not a cause? We read in the Word there is a cause. A biblical cause. A biblical mandate. A biblical commission. The same one that men and women of old have had.

[14:05] The faithful saints in the Old and New Testaments. The faithful prophets. The apostles. The disciples. They heard the call and they went.

[14:16] He said go and they went. The reformers. The revivalists of old. They stood. They stood. They pelted with rotten veggies. And all manner of things.

[14:28] And flame. And torture. They stood. For Christ. And we have the same Lord. The same gospel. We should have the same obedience. They kept going despite the opposition.

[14:40] And the saints in other countries. In other lands today. Where they suffer for Christ. They suffer because they're willing to stand. And having done all. Stand still.

[14:52] Keep on standing. We need to rely on the power of the Holy Spirit. One of the greatest entrances to evangelism is fear. We have the Holy Spirit. We have His empowering.

[15:06] We need not fear man. You know. I for one am fearful. It's a scary thing. As we saw on the video. You know. It doesn't come easily.

[15:19] To hand out a track. Even that. The most simple of witnessing. And yet. Some will raise their voice on the streets. And declare the message.

[15:31] I'd like to see that in Elizabeth too. I honestly would. I'd like to stir folk to consider that. You know. Some would think. Open air preaching.

[15:42] That's archaic. That's old fashioned. That's something that's not. Hip. With the modern generation. That's. That's not cool. To do that.

[15:53] But thank God. We need the voice raised. We need the crying aloud. We need. The voice raised like a trumpet. In the streets of our city.

[16:05] And. Not to be discouraged. By mockers. Because they're not mocking you. They're mocking him. And it's because you love him. You want to tell.

[16:17] Them. Of him. Of his love. Of Calvary's cross. Of his saving grace. While there's still opportunity. To respond. So don't let fear stop you. You have the Holy Spirit.

[16:28] And don't. Be deterred. Give priority. To evangelism. Make it a priority. It's a priority. That God has. He came to seek.

[16:40] And to save. That which was lost. You know. Let's face it. People tonight. There is a tendency. In churches. To make it. A bit of a social club.

[16:51] A bit of a holy club. A bit of a. A kind of a secret society. Almost. In some quarters. We're forgetting. That the world. Is dying. All around us. And we have a mission.

[17:02] We have a commission. He said. Go. Stand. If a church forgets. About. The great. Call. To the dying world. It will die.

[17:14] Don't be discouraged. By mockers. In fact. Expect it. Expect it. If you don't have. Mocking. Then maybe you're doing. Something wrong. When they oppose you. It is the word.

[17:26] That they oppose. Someone put it. Like this. Am I a soldier. Of the cross. A follower. Of the lamb. And so I fear.

[17:37] To own his cause. Or blush. To speak his name. Must I be carried. To the skies. On flowery beds. Of ease. While others. Fought to win the prize. And sailed.

[17:47] Through bloody seas. Are there. No foes. For me to face. Must I not. Stand the flood. Is this vile world. A friend to grace. To help me.

[17:58] On to God. Sure. I must fight. If I would reign. Increase my courage. Lord. I'll bear the toil. Endure the pain. Supported by thy word.

[18:10] We must stand. We must stand. Go. Stand. Speak. The angel said. To Peter. Speak. We can witness.

[18:20] With our walk. That's true. But especially. We must witness. With our words. We must open our mouths. We must confess Christ. We must use our lips.

[18:31] Our tongue. Our mouth. To profess him. To confess him. To declare him. The angel said to Peter. Speak. All the words. Of this life.

[18:42] Lift up your voice. Testify. Be used of God. As his witness. Take the message. Of life. To the dying ones. Someone.

[18:54] Wrote this. That 97% of the world. Has heard of Coca-Cola. That's astounding. Isn't it? 97%. 72% of the world. Has seen a can of Coca-Cola.

[19:06] These are old figures. In fact. So it's probably more. By now. 51% of the world. Has tasted a can. Of Coca-Cola. Yet Coke. Has only been around. Some 120 years.

[19:18] No. Think of that. What of the name of Christ? What of his name? There's still many. That have yet to hear. If God had given the task.

[19:31] Of world evangelism. To the Coca-Cola. Organisation. It probably would have been done. By now. It's a reproach. On the church of God.

[19:41] Isn't it? On me. On you. On us. Go. Stand. Speak. The Lord says. In Matthew 10.32. Whosoever therefore.

[19:52] Shall confess me. Before man. Him will I confess. Also. Before my father. Which is in heaven. Don't hold back. Don't be silent. Use your voice.

[20:03] In Acts 5.41. The context here. The disciples. Had just been bashed up. Beaten up. For declaring. The gospel. In Acts 5. Verse 41.

[20:14] And they departed. From the presence. Of the council. Rejoicing. That they were counted. Worthy. To suffer. Shame. For. His.

[20:25] Name. And daily. In the temple. And in every house. They ceased. Not. To teach. And preach. Jesus Christ. That which they were forbidden.

[20:36] By the law of the day. To do. They ceased. Not. To do it. You know. I thank God. I want to hear. Christians. Who. Have. Have. Been forbidden. By the authorities.

[20:46] To preach the gospel. And yet. They do it. They do it. Under threat. Of prison. Of. Personal loss. There's people still. In Adelaide. Doing that.

[20:57] I thank God for them. People. It's real. It's happening in our city. Daily in the temple. And in every house. They ceased not. To teach. And preach. Jesus Christ.

[21:08] That was their message. In Acts 20. 19. Paul writes of how he served the Lord. With all humility. Of mine. And with many tears. And temptations.

[21:19] Or trials. Which befell me by the lying in wait of the Jews. He suffered. He wept. He had a humility of mine. He said. I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you.

[21:31] This is Acts 20. Verse 20. But has showed you. And have taught you publicly. And from house to house. Testifying both to the Jews. And to the Greeks.

[21:42] Repentance towards God. And faith towards our Lord. Jesus Christ. He held it not back. He did not hold back. In Acts 18. 5. It says Paul was pressed.

[21:54] In the spirit. He was pressed. And he testified. In Acts 18. 9. Then spake the Lord to Paul. In the night by a vision.

[22:05] Be not afraid. But speak. And hold not thy peace. The Lord said to Paul. Speak. And hold not thy peace. Don't hold back.

[22:16] Don't be silent. Don't hold it back. Speak it out. Don't hold it back. Friends tonight. Christians here. Saints of God here.

[22:27] He says go. He says stand. He says speak. It's pretty simple isn't it. A three point sermon. That is pretty clear. I trust tonight.

[22:39] He says. I am with thee. And no man shall set on thee to hurt thee. For I have much people in this city. God is with you when you witness. God is with you when you witness Ian.

[22:49] God is with you when you witness. Dennis. God is with you. You need not be afraid. He says I am with you. Speak. And hold not thy peace. Terry when you give out treks.

[23:01] God is with you. You need not be afraid. Speak. Hold not. And thy peace. He says I am with you. In Ezekiel 2 verse 7.

[23:13] The prophet is told speak my words unto them. Speak my words unto them. Whether they will hear. Or whether they will forbear. For they are most rebellious.

[23:26] He says speak. It doesn't matter what the response is. You know. Sometimes men would gauge different measures of what's success in evangelism.

[23:36] They might think having a big mega crusade with lots of people going out the front. All kinds of hoo-ha and things such as that. They might say that's success in preaching the gospel.

[23:48] Some might say giving out treks is, you know, it's ten thousand to one maybe the response you might get. Or a thousand to one perhaps in terms of the response you might get.

[24:03] But you're sowing the seed. It's obeying him. It's obeying that call to go. Personal witness. Open air witness. There's lots of opportunities.

[24:14] Lots of ways that we can witness through technology these days. There's lots of opportunities for you to pass on the message. To be a messenger.

[24:26] Speak the message. Friends tonight. Speak my words unto them. Whether they will hear. Or whether they will not. And the message is Christ crucified. That's what Paul declared his message to be.

[24:39] He says, for we preach Christ crucified. Unto the Jews a stumbling block. Unto the Greeks foolishness. He preached Christ crucified.

[24:49] That's the message for us. To declare. It's Christ on a bleeding cross. For man's vile sin. That is the message that the world needs.

[25:01] Doesn't need some health, wealth and prosperity gospel. Some might believe. It needs a vision of the bleeding Christ. Nailed.

[25:12] Scarred. Bruised. Spat upon. For your sin. And mine. And thank God. Raised up from the dead.

[25:23] Alive. Living in our hearts by faith. A living. Saving saviour. Beckoning still. Come unto me.

[25:35] We must declare. That message. Now. Until he come. Christ crucified. It's time to warn people.

[25:46] We lack that. In modern evangelism. In many quarters. There's a lack. Of warning. I was watching. A clip. Today. Of. Jonathan Edwards. Of. Of. Sinners in the hand.

[25:59] Of an angry God. Of an angry God. We don't hear that kind of talk these days. Do we? And yet. There are sinners. Hanging by a thread. We were there.

[26:10] I was there. Lost. I know there's. Folk have told me. Of late. Of. Of how God saved them. After many years. In. In. In sin.

[26:22] In. In. In hopeless. Lostness. Christ saved them. As a trophy of his grace. And. Friends. Yet. Without. His saving power.

[26:32] We're hanging by a thread. We must. Warn them. From him. In. Ezekiel 3.17. Our Lord says to Ezekiel. Son of man. I have made thee a watchman.

[26:45] Unto the house of Israel. Therefore. Hear the word at my mouth. And give them warning from me. This need to. Warn people. Because. There's many good religious people.

[27:00] Blindly. Stumbling. Through life. Thinking. If I do enough good works. Maybe. It'll go on the scales. And it'll just. Outweigh all the bad I've ever done.

[27:11] It's not how it works people. If you're lost. You're lost. There's no amount of good that you can do. To ever. Change those scales. To make up for it.

[27:23] But. Your only hope is. Christ. Christ crucified. Dying. For your sin. Paying the price for it. And you're receiving of it.

[27:35] Friends. Give them warning from me. We must warn people. While there's still opportunity. And know that. Whatever you do. And you might be someone who's faithfully witnessed for many years.

[27:47] And you've not seen much for it. One day you'll say well done. You may not get your praise down here. There's some of you that have given out lots of tracts. And you may not have seen much response for it.

[27:59] Yet one day he'll say well done. Thou good and faithful servant. He'll say well done. And meantime. We're urged in 1 Corinthians 15.

[28:12] Wherefore. Therefore my beloved brethren. Be steadfast. Unmovable. Always abounding in. The work of the Lord.

[28:23] For as much as you know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord. If it's in the Lord that you are working. It is not in vain. Those secret things that you do.

[28:34] Those secret things that you give. That secret prayer. That secret fasting. That secret giving. That secret witnessing. That secret ministry. Of all kinds. Of serving.

[28:45] Of loving him. Of following him. That you may not get recognition for. He will say well done for that. You don't want man's praise. You don't want man's pats on the back.

[28:56] Man's recognition. And even the pride that might come from seeing people respond. We just want to be faithful. Amen. We must be faithful. To the go. To the stand.

[29:07] To the speak. We must be faithful. And your labour is not in vain. In the Lord. A closing comment here.

[29:18] Evangelise. I've referred to it in times past. But it's a telling poem. A poem. About evangelism. Evangelism. Means telling the good news. The evangel.

[29:29] Is the gospel. Is the good news. We must evangelise. Pass on the gospel. Give the gospel message. Share the gospel truth. Tell people of the Christ.

[29:41] Who died for sinful man. That they might trust him. Evangelise. It goes like this. Evangelise. Give us a watchword. A watchword for the hour. A thrilling word.

[29:52] A word of power. A battle cry. A flaming breath. That calls to conquest. Or to death. A word to rouse the church from rest.

[30:02] To heed her master's high behest. The call is given. Ye hosts arise. Our watchword is evangelise. The glad evangel now proclaim.

[30:16] Through all the earth in Jesus name. Though word is ringing through the skies. Evangelise. Evangelise. To dying man.

[30:27] A fallen race. Make known the gift of gospel grace. The world that now in darkness lies. Evangelise. Evangelise. Evangelise.

[30:39] What will you do now? What will you do? What will you do? Be not hearers only.

[30:50] But doers of the word. I'm not condemning anyone. Or putting you under a yoke. I'm just saying what he says.

[31:00] Go. Stand. Speak. Speak. Go. Stand. Speak. There's tracts.

[31:12] There's witnessing. Of various kinds in this church. Some you may not even be aware of. You might find it. A bit scary.

[31:24] The thought of going. Where there's. The majority of lost people. Rundle Moor. You might find it scary to lift your voice there.

[31:40] I do. But the sun. You might join them.

[31:51] As one of the crowd. Even as one of the crowd. And then you can personally witness to those that linger from a distance.

[32:03] And you can learn. When you watch. What happens. You can learn from these ones who are faithful. People. You know. It's been said that a crowd draws a crowd.

[32:20] Even just being present. Can help. With the witnessing. But that's just one means of witnessing. There's many opportunities.

[32:32] In your workplace. The people that you rub shoulders with. Don't be afraid. Don't be afraid. To open your mouth. If they reject what you say. They're rejecting him.

[32:44] And you've done. What he's called you to do. Be faithful. Go. Stand. And speak. Let us pray. Heavenly Father.

[32:54] We thank you that you do. Call us to. This task. Steal our fears Lord. Take them from us.

[33:05] Those shackles that bind us. That hold us back. Break them Lord. In Jesus name. Give us that Holy Ghost power. To be your witnesses in this world.

[33:16] For your glory. In Jesus name. Amen.

[33:27] Transcription by CastingWords