WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:16.800 Hi, my name is George Sinclair. I'm the lead pastor of Church of the Messiah. It is wonderful 00:00:16.800 --> 00:00:20.760 that you would like to check out some of the sermons done by Church of the Messiah, either 00:00:20.760 --> 00:00:24.920 by myself or some of the others. Listen, just a couple of things. First of all, would you pray 00:00:24.920 --> 00:00:31.520 for us that we will open God's Word well to His glory and for the good of people like yourself? 00:00:32.079 --> 00:00:37.939 The second thing is, if you aren't connected to a church and if you are a Christian, we really, 00:00:38.179 --> 00:00:42.579 I would really like to encourage you to find a good local church where they believe the Bible, 00:00:43.240 --> 00:00:48.760 they preach the gospel, and if you have some trouble finding that, send us an email. We will 00:00:48.760 --> 00:00:54.560 do what we can to help connect you with a good local church wherever you are. And if you're a 00:00:54.560 --> 00:00:59.340 non-Christian checking us out, we're really, really, really glad you're doing that. Don't 00:00:59.340 --> 00:01:04.680 hesitate to send us questions. It helps me actually to know, as I'm preaching, how to deal with the 00:01:04.680 --> 00:01:07.760 types of things that you're really struggling with. So God bless. 00:01:12.599 --> 00:01:19.560 Well, what a joy it is to be with you. And, you know, even in a theater, it's like a real 00:01:19.560 --> 00:01:24.400 Anglican church where everybody's sitting at the back, or most people are, and you're scattered 00:01:24.400 --> 00:01:30.799 through here. But it's just a wonderful thing to be with you at the 8 o'clock service and here at the 00:01:30.799 --> 00:01:40.480 10 as well. I have been very aware of this church for many, many years, going back well before 00:01:40.480 --> 00:01:47.020 Annex was formed, the diocese that I'm the bishop of now. And I've known George for many years in the 00:01:47.019 --> 00:01:53.340 Essentials Days and so forth. And, you know, the thing that has always struck me is what a blessing 00:01:53.340 --> 00:01:59.799 it is to have the testimony of your church, the faithfulness to the gospel, your willingness to 00:01:59.799 --> 00:02:08.120 stand for the gospel in very hard times at times to stand up for the gospel, for the faithfulness of 00:02:08.120 --> 00:02:16.359 your rector, George, and his preaching, for the way that you have trained many people to lead in God's 00:02:16.360 --> 00:02:24.040 church as well, is an incredible gift that goes well beyond this church. And I'm just thankful, 00:02:24.220 --> 00:02:34.200 especially for the fact that you all are people who understand and you are taught that the purpose of 00:02:34.200 --> 00:02:43.220 life is to actually be people who are sent out by God, sent out by God to help people be followers 00:02:43.219 --> 00:02:51.500 of the Lord Jesus. That there's a purpose for life that is, encompasses all of your occupations, 00:02:51.680 --> 00:02:56.319 all of your professions, all of your family life, the things that are important to you, 00:02:56.699 --> 00:03:03.840 surrounding that and at the center of it all is that Jesus commissions you to follow the Lord Jesus. 00:03:04.659 --> 00:03:11.219 And I, and to help others do the same. And so I'm very encouraged by the fact that you 00:03:11.219 --> 00:03:19.439 are going through the book of Acts. Acts is a very unique book because it is like a history of the 00:03:19.439 --> 00:03:26.800 church and you preach it differently as you've been hearing because what you're doing is you're seeing 00:03:26.800 --> 00:03:36.419 in many places what it means to be those who are God's church. What does it look like in real terms 00:03:36.419 --> 00:03:47.199 to be people who are following Jesus as a body in different places in the world? Paul often talks 00:03:47.199 --> 00:03:54.359 about the way that he teaches, the way that he forms people is asking people to imitate him. 00:03:55.219 --> 00:04:02.119 Imitate me, he will say over and over again. Because what you see in Paul's life is the work of God's 00:04:02.120 --> 00:04:09.620 grace in it. And you see how he is a missionary into the world, which all of us are called to in 00:04:09.620 --> 00:04:15.659 unique ways as well. And so what we are seeing in Acts, especially in this part we're in right now, 00:04:15.700 --> 00:04:22.959 is you are seeing what it looks like to be a missionary in the world by looking at Paul and his life. 00:04:23.860 --> 00:04:31.300 And we have some great lessons to learn. And one of them is that you are finishing the first part of 00:04:31.300 --> 00:04:35.680 the book of Acts and you're going to come to it sometime before the Lord Jesus comes back again, 00:04:35.759 --> 00:04:41.759 I know. But what I want to do is kind of jump ahead a little bit. You're at Acts 9 and 10 right now. 00:04:42.180 --> 00:04:50.759 I'm going to jump ahead to Acts 18 because at that point of that great book, there is a change 00:04:50.759 --> 00:04:58.060 that happens where Paul is going to big cities, starting with today in Acts 8. He starts going to some 00:04:58.060 --> 00:05:07.199 big cities. And there's a reason for that because they become centers for God's word to go out into 00:05:07.199 --> 00:05:14.720 other churches and for people to be sent out from those places. In the Roman Empire, if you're going 00:05:14.720 --> 00:05:20.579 to look through Acts 18 after the service in the afternoon, read the whole chapter, you see every big 00:05:20.579 --> 00:05:27.899 city in the Roman Empire mentioned. Did you know that? It mentions Rome in this chapter. Rome was a million 00:05:27.899 --> 00:05:34.259 people at that time. And there isn't going to be a city of a million people again until London in something 00:05:34.259 --> 00:05:44.259 like the 17th, 18th century. A huge city. And then there is Ephesus coming up after this. That's 250,000 people. 00:05:45.299 --> 00:05:52.899 He's going to be going to Jerusalem, which wasn't huge, but it's a major center. And then Antioch had 500,000 00:05:52.899 --> 00:06:01.419 people up to. And Alexandria is mentioned that's around. That's almost as big as well as Antioch. So 00:06:01.419 --> 00:06:09.279 all those big cities are mentioned in this one chapter. And there's a reason for that. It's because 00:06:09.279 --> 00:06:18.500 the city has a very central place in God's mission. And in fact, in his purposes. The goal of all of 00:06:18.500 --> 00:06:23.740 humanity is that one day in the new heaven and the new earth, we will be part of the new Jerusalem. 00:06:24.319 --> 00:06:29.959 It talks about a city. A city where people interact with one another. They serve one another. They 00:06:29.959 --> 00:06:37.920 worship the Lord Jesus. They are living this exciting life of living for one another and for God in 00:06:37.920 --> 00:06:45.540 relationship to one another with God in the very center of that massive community. And that's where 00:06:45.540 --> 00:06:55.180 we're all heading. And then God blesses the city by bringing the gospel into it to affect the city for 00:06:55.180 --> 00:07:01.800 the sake of the gospel, to bring people out of darkness into the glorious light of the Lord Jesus. 00:07:03.340 --> 00:07:09.620 And so Paul is going to be looking at the cities coming up. And I want you to look at Acts 18, 00:07:09.620 --> 00:07:15.620 1 through 17. If you have a phone, you can look at that on your phone. And people won't think that 00:07:15.620 --> 00:07:21.160 you're playing video games or you're texting or you're checking out TikTok. You can look at your 00:07:21.160 --> 00:07:27.180 Bible right now or use this. And if you use this, I'm discovering some of you may need reading glasses. 00:07:27.740 --> 00:07:35.860 This is the smallest print I've ever seen. So, but let's look at Acts 18. And as we go there, 00:07:35.860 --> 00:07:41.759 I just want to say something that Jesus said in his own words. Jesus not only was about 00:07:41.759 --> 00:07:48.319 his relationship with individuals and blessing those individuals, which of course we see in his 00:07:48.319 --> 00:07:56.220 ministry, but he ministered to a whole city as well. He prayed for Jerusalem as a city. And he said this, 00:07:56.280 --> 00:07:59.540 he said, when he draw near and saw the city of Jerusalem, 00:07:59.540 --> 00:08:07.640 Jesus wept over it, over the whole city. And he said, would that you, even you had known on this 00:08:07.640 --> 00:08:14.439 day the things that make for peace, the things that make for peace, which is the gospel of Jesus 00:08:14.439 --> 00:08:21.820 that makes for peace with us and God and with one another as well. Oh, that you, that whole city 00:08:21.820 --> 00:08:27.879 would know the things that make for peace. So Jesus' mission of salvation is for individuals, 00:08:27.879 --> 00:08:36.340 but also for whole cities as well. And Corinth was one of those cities. It's a very interesting 00:08:36.340 --> 00:08:41.259 place. If you know the background of it, it was destroyed 200 years before Paul was there, 00:08:41.679 --> 00:08:49.840 destroyed by the Romans. And then a hundred years before Paul, it began to be rebuilt. And that city 00:08:49.840 --> 00:08:56.480 took off. It was in a, it's on a peninsula with two harbors, north and south. One harbor looked towards 00:08:56.480 --> 00:09:04.800 Italy and Rome and the other harbor looked over to Asia. So Europe and Asia. And it became incredibly 00:09:04.800 --> 00:09:13.120 prosperous. It was the commercial center of the Roman empire. It was a place of great influence, 00:09:13.680 --> 00:09:20.440 very successful people. It was a place where people loved spiritual, spirituality. They used their wealth 00:09:20.440 --> 00:09:29.260 to build incredible temples to Apollos, to Poseidon, the god of the, of the seafarers and to, um, 00:09:29.900 --> 00:09:38.880 Aphrodite, to Venus, who was the god of, goddess of love. And so there was a real sense of, uh, uh, of 00:09:38.880 --> 00:09:49.080 things happening in this city. But the city was also a place of great moral darkness. Uh, there was evil in 00:09:49.080 --> 00:09:57.320 that city. It was a place where, um, uh, especially it was known for sexual immorality. Even in Rome, 00:09:57.360 --> 00:10:03.780 which was not the, uh, the saintly, most saintliest of cities. If you were called a, if you were a very 00:10:03.780 --> 00:10:09.879 corrupt person, if you were sexually immoral, you were called a Corinthianizer. That's the reputation 00:10:09.879 --> 00:10:20.720 Corinth had. Um, they, they were all about fulfilling the most, uh, base, uh, sort of corrupt desires that a 00:10:20.720 --> 00:10:27.659 person would have. In fact, their worship was just made very clear where from the temple of Aphrodite, 00:10:28.259 --> 00:10:36.620 uh, a thousand, at least a thousand prostitutes would come out every night into the city as well. 00:10:36.620 --> 00:10:42.860 So there was this great moral and spiritual darkness in the city. With all of its accomplishments, 00:10:43.460 --> 00:10:51.720 uh, power, wealth, and creativity, it was a place of pride, a place of arrogance, it was a place of deep 00:10:51.720 --> 00:10:59.779 selfishness and catering to the most corrupt desires. It was a place that seemed very far from God and 00:10:59.779 --> 00:11:09.939 resistant to him. But this chapter shows that God is, the gospel of God is meant for the cities, 00:11:10.399 --> 00:11:16.779 even this kind of city. In fact, I think it's this kind of city where the brightness of the gospel 00:11:16.779 --> 00:11:26.379 is made most clear to us. Um, and it shows that God is about transforming people, but also whole 00:11:26.379 --> 00:11:32.519 communities as well. Um, I think that one of the things that we can, you know, we have different 00:11:32.519 --> 00:11:40.620 images for the church. One image for the church is that it is like a little city. It is a community 00:11:40.620 --> 00:11:48.360 of people who live together, who connect with one another, and who are, who are actually influencing 00:11:48.360 --> 00:11:55.320 the larger city around them for the sake of the gospel of Jesus. They are seeking ways as a small city, 00:11:55.320 --> 00:12:02.000 a community that's growing together in the Lord Jesus to bless the bigger city that they are a part. 00:12:02.820 --> 00:12:11.600 Um, but getting out back to Paul, Paul comes, Paul comes into that city and sees everything I described 00:12:11.600 --> 00:12:18.220 and it is daunting. It is daunting. There's no church there. There's no little city of Christians there. 00:12:18.220 --> 00:12:27.259 It is just Paul coming there alone, which is very unusual for him and seeing all of this immensity of 00:12:27.259 --> 00:12:35.639 religions opposed to God, great wealth, great corruption, and great moral evil. And in that, 00:12:35.800 --> 00:12:43.340 he felt weak and he felt frightened. We know that because in his letter to the Corinthians, he said, 00:12:43.340 --> 00:12:50.639 you know, when I first came to you, how did I come? I came with weakness and fear and much trembling. 00:12:51.980 --> 00:12:56.480 Not much confidence there, it seems, in him. And I'm actually encouraged by that because 00:12:56.480 --> 00:13:04.120 I feel that way sometimes in ministry. I see what is going on and thinking, how can anything good happen 00:13:04.120 --> 00:13:10.720 here? That's probably what Paul was thinking, if he's in that kind of weakness. But in the weakness, 00:13:10.720 --> 00:13:20.160 we know through the letters to the Corinthians that God's power and his gospel are very, very evident. 00:13:20.300 --> 00:13:27.220 They actually shine out in Corinth. And so it's good for us to look at Paul's experience. And there's 00:13:27.220 --> 00:13:34.300 three things, three aspects I want to touch on about his experience there that helps us when we think 00:13:34.299 --> 00:13:42.379 of our mission to the city, this city of Ottawa. The first is that there is this warm, is the word I 00:13:42.379 --> 00:13:50.419 think of, warm interdependence. And it's an interdependence within the church, there's no loners, 00:13:51.159 --> 00:13:58.639 interdependence with churches outside Corinth, and interdependence that Paul has with people, 00:13:58.639 --> 00:14:06.159 people who become friends. And secondly, it's another entce, there's no silence. There's going 00:14:06.159 --> 00:14:11.799 to be, you're going to see a command not to be silent about the good news of Jesus. And then thirdly, 00:14:12.179 --> 00:14:21.740 there is a strong confidence in Jesus being Lord over that city of Corinth. There's a confidence in 00:14:21.740 --> 00:14:27.340 Jesus Lordship. And God actually provides all of this. It's not something that Paul manufactures. 00:14:28.399 --> 00:14:34.820 As I said, in thinking about interdependence, Paul comes alone. He had a terrible time in northern 00:14:34.820 --> 00:14:42.519 Greece with the three communities of Philippi, Thessalonica, and Berea. Wonderful churches are 00:14:42.519 --> 00:14:48.500 planted there by Paul's work and the God work powerfully. But in each of them, Paul leaves 00:14:48.500 --> 00:14:54.340 communities for fear of his life. And he is beaten in those places. He is jailed. He is experiencing 00:14:54.340 --> 00:14:59.879 incredible rejection. And in the end, they said, look, you got to go. Even before Silas and Tim, 00:14:59.960 --> 00:15:05.580 who are going to be working with the church to get them going and get the support for the mission 00:15:05.580 --> 00:15:12.220 going, he went alone to Athens. And instead of sort of hiding out in Athens and going, checking into a 00:15:12.220 --> 00:15:19.080 hotel to kind of recuperate, he goes to the marketplace. And he grieves over the city because 00:15:19.080 --> 00:15:25.820 there's no belief in God. There's no knowledge of the living God. And he interacts with the 00:15:25.820 --> 00:15:32.420 intellectual leaders of the world there. You know, what a thing to do. So he, and wonderful, 00:15:32.500 --> 00:15:39.779 we have that wonderful text from Acts 17, speaking about who Jesus is to skeptics. 00:15:39.779 --> 00:15:50.319 But he leaves there and he must have been depleted coming in to Corinth. And he has to, and not only 00:15:50.319 --> 00:15:56.220 that, but he doesn't have much money. So he's got to get a job. And God provides this couple, 00:15:57.019 --> 00:16:04.919 Aquila and Priscilla, the most attractive people. They were tent makers. They're from Rome. They got 00:16:04.919 --> 00:16:13.779 kicked out of Rome. You can see at the beginning of our passage here. And they, they are successful 00:16:13.779 --> 00:16:18.579 business people. We know that because they can travel. Paul seeks them out because he's, he's got 00:16:18.579 --> 00:16:26.679 skills in this area as well. And, and he meets with them and they become lifelong friends. 00:16:26.679 --> 00:16:34.379 They became partners in ministry, people who would support him through everything he would go through 00:16:34.379 --> 00:16:41.939 in the future. And they were incredibly helpful for him networking in the city of, of Corinth, 00:16:42.120 --> 00:16:46.139 meeting with other people that they knew that they had influenced with, meeting with the business 00:16:46.139 --> 00:16:53.479 community. They did an incredible amount to make the spread of the gospel possible for Paul 00:16:53.480 --> 00:16:59.840 and to provide a living for him as well. There's an interdependence that's set up that he is needed 00:16:59.840 --> 00:17:07.240 with these friends. And then if you look at verse four, another thing happens. Paul is reasoning with 00:17:07.240 --> 00:17:14.799 the synagogue during that time and not a lot is happening yet. He's not able to devote fully his time. 00:17:14.920 --> 00:17:21.480 He's trying to persuade Jews and Greeks that Jesus is the Messiah, uphill struggle. But in the midst of 00:17:21.480 --> 00:17:29.660 that, that Silas and Timothy finally come to Corinth and they are bringing with them a financial gift 00:17:29.660 --> 00:17:37.140 from Philippi and the churches up there. And what that means is that Paul can give up his tent making. 00:17:37.620 --> 00:17:44.039 And in verse five, if you look there, he said he was occupied. He's got a full-time ministry by the word. 00:17:44.960 --> 00:17:49.120 A full-time job now. And he's testifying that Jesus is the Christ. 00:17:49.119 --> 00:17:57.419 So you see these resources of friendship and of finances freeze Paul up to speak every day 00:17:57.419 --> 00:18:06.199 in Corinth. And the result is extraordinary. Look at verse six. There is opposition that becomes very 00:18:06.199 --> 00:18:12.599 intense and so much so that Paul leaves and tells them from now on I'm going to the Gentiles. 00:18:12.599 --> 00:18:19.439 He starts meeting with them right next door. And amazingly in verse eight, not only are Gentiles 00:18:19.439 --> 00:18:27.159 being converted, but Crispus, who is the synagogue ruler, believes in Jesus. Not only him, but his whole 00:18:27.159 --> 00:18:35.399 family. The whole group, the people who are working for him, his children, his wife and relatives all 00:18:35.400 --> 00:18:43.540 become Christian. And it's an extraordinary thing because you have the whole range. You have people 00:18:43.540 --> 00:18:48.960 who are pagans living the Corinthian lifestyle. And then you've got somebody like Crispus, who is a 00:18:48.960 --> 00:18:57.120 devout Jew living a moral life. They're all coming into faith in the Lord Jesus for the first time. 00:18:57.119 --> 00:19:04.779 And it's a powerful work that's happening. In Colossians, we hear how Paul describes it. I love 00:19:04.779 --> 00:19:10.779 this. It's the power of the gospel. He says, he has delivered us from the domain of darkness 00:19:10.779 --> 00:19:19.119 and he has transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved son in whom we have redemption. We are 00:19:19.119 --> 00:19:26.179 actually free. The forgiveness of sins. And what is happening in Corinth is people are being transferred 00:19:26.180 --> 00:19:34.299 into the kingdom. And the tangible expression of that is they are coming into that body of believers 00:19:34.299 --> 00:19:45.660 in Corinth. It is a community of light for the people of a dark city of Corinth. And that's why your own 00:19:45.660 --> 00:19:56.060 hospitality of welcome and of friendship and of drawing people in with those relationships into the life 00:19:56.059 --> 00:20:01.960 of believers is so important. And I saw that happening at the eight o'clock service here this morning 00:20:01.960 --> 00:20:10.720 with somebody who is new. It's something that is critical because it is the way that people live out 00:20:10.720 --> 00:20:17.399 what God and his power has done for them spiritually. Transferring people from the kingdom of darkness 00:20:17.399 --> 00:20:24.220 to the kingdom of light, the beloved son. That's where freedom is. And that all happens 00:20:24.220 --> 00:20:33.720 because Paul is strengthened and freed to serve by the gift of other churches, by Timothy and Silas and by Aquila 00:20:33.720 --> 00:20:41.880 and Priscilla. And I believe that this is happening here in a wonderful way at Messiah Church. 00:20:42.120 --> 00:20:49.779 One of the ways that I see your interdependence is the way that you have trained people to go out into the 00:20:49.779 --> 00:20:55.279 world as ministers of the world as ministers of the gospel. This has been a long history. You are known as a church 00:20:55.279 --> 00:21:01.420 for equipping people to be leaders in God's church. Lay people and ordained people as well. 00:21:02.299 --> 00:21:10.660 Not only that, but one of the reasons God chooses cities is so that other churches can be sent out from there 00:21:10.660 --> 00:21:19.440 with the resources that you have. So you of course have that. In September, I visited Messiah West 00:21:19.440 --> 00:21:24.900 with Daniel Avitan and saw the work of God flourishing there. You know, it's like half the 00:21:24.900 --> 00:21:29.440 congregation left because they were all kids when I was there. And it was a, you know, a lot of people 00:21:29.440 --> 00:21:37.539 in church that day. And I know about the struggles they had getting started in during COVID. But it's your 00:21:37.539 --> 00:21:45.740 interdependence together that allows that to happen. And George and I were visiting in PEI with Colton 00:21:45.740 --> 00:21:54.359 Carrick and Tiara and their new little baby too. And seeing God's work freshly started less than a year 00:21:54.359 --> 00:22:02.240 ago and beginning to flourish there. And here Colton is, part of your staff coming by the miracle of Zoom 00:22:02.240 --> 00:22:09.099 to staff meetings, being prayed for by you Sunday by Sunday and being prayed for in staff meeting as well. 00:22:09.099 --> 00:22:15.759 And having that relationship, that interdependence, that frees them up, that strengthens them for this work. 00:22:16.359 --> 00:22:23.240 That interdependence is so critical in the life of mission and the church being in the city. 00:22:24.240 --> 00:22:32.259 Now the second thing that we see here is not only interdependence, but there is this call by God for no silence. 00:22:32.259 --> 00:22:41.519 No silence. No silence. There is trouble that gets going. Of course, when Paul is preaching the gospel, 00:22:41.839 --> 00:22:49.200 it seems to happen. What happened was that Crispus, when he was converted, it was an incredible thing, 00:22:49.700 --> 00:22:58.400 but it created waves as well. Great opposition from the synagogue. And Paul knows that they can stir up 00:22:58.400 --> 00:23:03.220 the leaders, and especially in a huge city like that, cause huge problems for him. It's already 00:23:03.220 --> 00:23:11.700 happened to him three times just recently. And he is afraid. That's where that trembling comes. 00:23:12.280 --> 00:23:17.200 And he doesn't know what's going to happen here. Things look bad. And into this situation, 00:23:17.380 --> 00:23:25.660 Jesus speaks to Paul. Look at verses 9 through 11. It is a deeply encouraging vision. And I hope you're 00:23:25.660 --> 00:23:33.420 able to sort of remember this vision as you leave from here. It's Jesus' own words to Paul. And I 00:23:33.420 --> 00:23:41.279 believe they have a lot of relevance for us as well. So Jesus says there in a dream, and what an 00:23:41.279 --> 00:23:47.960 extraordinary way to have a dream. But what we see there is that he said, Jesus says, don't be afraid. 00:23:47.960 --> 00:23:58.259 He says, keep on speaking. And he says, don't be silent. And the do not be afraid is not the usual 00:23:58.259 --> 00:24:02.600 message of don't be afraid, which means don't be afraid of God, or be afraid of that angels that's 00:24:02.600 --> 00:24:08.880 speaking to you. Jesus is saying this, don't be afraid of Corinth. Don't be afraid of what you're 00:24:08.880 --> 00:24:16.019 facing right now. And then he says, keep speaking. Because it's only in speaking that the light of the 00:24:16.019 --> 00:24:22.440 gospel can go into people's lives. That is the power of God for salvation. And then these wonderful 00:24:22.440 --> 00:24:31.019 words, don't be silent. Now, I think for us in Canada, there is a strong word there. Because I 00:24:31.019 --> 00:24:36.400 think that's one of the biggest temptations that we have as Canadians, and I experienced that in my 00:24:36.400 --> 00:24:43.299 own life, is the temptation to be silent. Because that's the pressure on you all the time. Be silent 00:24:43.299 --> 00:24:51.240 about Jesus. You can talk about anything, but don't talk about Jesus. And that's Paul's temptation 00:24:51.240 --> 00:25:02.799 here too. He's tempted to be silent. And Jesus says those things, don't be afraid. Keep on speaking. 00:25:03.419 --> 00:25:09.279 Don't be silent. Well, how can he do that? If he's feeling that sense of fear, how can he just sort of 00:25:09.279 --> 00:25:15.200 switch it off? Well, Jesus, look at what Jesus says next. He says something that we all know, 00:25:15.200 --> 00:25:25.399 but often forget. Jesus says, I am with you, for I am with you. That is so important for us, 00:25:25.779 --> 00:25:34.139 for you individually, and me to know, to remember every day. Jesus comes into your fear, Paul's fear. 00:25:34.140 --> 00:25:44.340 He reminds you and I why we are able to speak. It is because Jesus is with you. It's because God has 00:25:44.340 --> 00:25:51.020 spoke, the living God speaks to you in his word. You know those words are for you and I today, 00:25:51.020 --> 00:26:00.720 as we think about how Jesus wants us to serve him in this city. And they are words that we need to 00:26:00.720 --> 00:26:05.960 remember over and over again. It's one of the reasons you and I are here today. It is to remember 00:26:05.960 --> 00:26:13.559 that Jesus is with us, the living Lord Jesus. We read the Bible today. I'm preaching God's word. 00:26:14.039 --> 00:26:20.839 What we remember and see in the Bible, Jesus is with you. He is Emmanuel. When we are eating bread 00:26:20.839 --> 00:26:30.000 and drinking wine, we do this in remembrance of the Lord Jesus. To remember that his death and his 00:26:30.000 --> 00:26:43.579 resurrection was for the forgiveness of our sins, he is with us. When we gather in small groups, 00:26:44.119 --> 00:26:51.920 we are actually reminding one another that we are the body of Christ and that we belong to him. 00:26:52.380 --> 00:26:54.680 He is our God. He is with us. 00:26:54.680 --> 00:27:02.860 And so as God's word, as Jesus' words go into our mind and hearts in this way, it does, it pushes fear 00:27:02.860 --> 00:27:11.440 out and it opens our mouth to speak so that we are not silenced. God give us grace to speak. It's one 00:27:11.440 --> 00:27:17.100 of the things, one of the reasons why in our synod we introduced the word one-to-one, which I know 00:27:17.100 --> 00:27:22.160 is beginning to be used in this church as well because it's a great tool, the word one-to-one, 00:27:22.160 --> 00:27:29.540 to very simply sit down with coffee or one-to-one with a family member, with a friend, co-worker, 00:27:30.019 --> 00:27:35.800 somebody that you've met, a new person to the church, and actually go through parts of the Bible. 00:27:36.540 --> 00:27:41.740 And it opens your mouth up to speak. And you're depending not on your ability to convince, 00:27:42.160 --> 00:27:48.920 but on the fact that God has spoken. So this is a great gift for us in helping us to not be silent. 00:27:48.920 --> 00:27:56.300 And I encourage you in that. Well, the last thing that Paul talks about here, the key, besides that 00:27:56.300 --> 00:28:04.279 wonderful warm interdependence, besides this call by Jesus himself not to be silent, we see here that 00:28:04.279 --> 00:28:14.860 Jesus is Lord of the city. It is this confidence in Jesus' Lordship, that he is King. And we see that 00:28:14.859 --> 00:28:20.599 in the rest of this dream. Because Jesus says something which is incredible. He knows what's 00:28:20.599 --> 00:28:27.759 going to happen in the city. He says, nothing, no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many 00:28:27.759 --> 00:28:35.439 people in the city. That's the clincher for Paul. You see, Jesus promises to keep him safe because there 00:28:35.439 --> 00:28:43.579 are many in that city that Jesus is converting. He's already working on them. Jesus knows who they are. 00:28:43.579 --> 00:28:51.980 Paul doesn't. And so Jesus says, stay and speak, because that's how the living Lord Jesus will come 00:28:51.980 --> 00:28:58.419 into their lives. Now, if we believe that Jesus is Lord over people who don't believe, and they don't 00:28:58.419 --> 00:29:05.500 even know that yet, you might think, and I've certainly heard this, well, we don't really need to go talk to 00:29:05.500 --> 00:29:10.919 people then, because Jesus is converting them. He knows who's going to become a Christian. But no, 00:29:10.920 --> 00:29:18.720 it is because that very reason that Jesus is doing that work, that you need to go. And you can go with 00:29:18.720 --> 00:29:24.620 confidence to people. You don't know who that person is, but you know that they are there. They are out 00:29:24.620 --> 00:29:31.220 there. And the call that Jesus says over and over again is to make disciples. You need to go out into 00:29:31.220 --> 00:29:38.420 the world because Jesus is Lord over those people's hearts. And often it is like Christmas, or like some of 00:29:38.420 --> 00:29:44.100 these people, you know, who are into their own religion and way of living and self-righteous, or 00:29:44.100 --> 00:29:51.360 people who are so far gone morally, the most unlikely people are the ones who were converted in Corinth. 00:29:51.660 --> 00:29:59.600 And it's the same in your life and my life as well. You will be surprised of who Jesus has for you 00:29:59.599 --> 00:30:06.059 in the city. And certainly Paul obeys that. And what we see is that he stays for a year and a half, 00:30:06.519 --> 00:30:12.240 and many people come to faith in the Lord Jesus. Now, 00:30:12.240 --> 00:30:21.099 I think that when we think of this church of Messiah church, 00:30:22.099 --> 00:30:30.299 the Lordship of Jesus is something that we can almost dismiss because we see what's going on in 00:30:30.299 --> 00:30:36.859 the city. We see political power. We're in the center of political power in Canada. We see the power of 00:30:36.859 --> 00:30:44.439 wealth, and we see the power of Satan, in a sense, clouding people's mind. And we can become very 00:30:44.439 --> 00:30:56.939 unsure of the Lordship of Jesus. But Jesus is constantly teaching us in God's word. And through 00:30:56.939 --> 00:31:03.339 the book of Acts, you see that the sovereignty of Jesus all the way through, in the way that Paul is 00:31:03.339 --> 00:31:08.659 directed, in the way that he knows what's happening in the city. And in this, if you look at verses 12 00:31:08.659 --> 00:31:15.740 through 17, you see the power of the Lord Jesus at work in the judicial system. So look, if you look 00:31:15.740 --> 00:31:25.220 at that real quickly, God has this powerful provincial premier, Gallio. Look at this case that the leaders 00:31:25.220 --> 00:31:31.620 of the Jewish synagogue brought to them. And it's a really serious charge that they're subversive. 00:31:32.620 --> 00:31:41.920 And before Paul gets up to speak to give the defense, Gallio says, be quiet, Paul. I'll take 00:31:41.920 --> 00:31:48.500 care of this. And he said, this is ridiculous. This is an internal matter. And I'm throwing the case out. 00:31:48.500 --> 00:31:55.480 And I'm throwing you out too. So he literally threw them out of the courts. And then what happened as a 00:31:55.480 --> 00:32:02.960 result is that they were categorized, along with the Jewish faith, as a religion that is tolerated. 00:32:03.059 --> 00:32:09.299 There was a category for that. And Christians had that gift in Corinth after that. The Lordship of 00:32:09.299 --> 00:32:15.500 Jesus in a very unexpected way there. And of course, God in his power gave them a large household 00:32:15.500 --> 00:32:21.559 right next to the synagogue. We saw the Lordship of Jesus in giving these wonderful people to Paul 00:32:21.559 --> 00:32:28.059 as friends and people who would provide for them. And you see this wonderful Lordship of God in that 00:32:28.059 --> 00:32:34.799 the worldwide church that has already been started gives money at the right time in the right place 00:32:34.799 --> 00:32:40.180 so that Paul could devote his time. And I think that God has blessed Messiah Church in these things as 00:32:40.180 --> 00:32:47.640 well. Like Corinth, you have faithful preaching. God has given that to you as a gift. He's given you 00:32:47.640 --> 00:32:53.440 wonderful lay leaders. He has given you a great place to meet, as they did with Corinth. He has given 00:32:53.440 --> 00:33:00.660 generous hearts in your congregation. And he's given you the freedom to speak. There still is some 00:33:00.660 --> 00:33:09.799 tolerance here in Canada for that. And there are many households here who believe in the Lord Jesus. 00:33:10.180 --> 00:33:20.060 Jesus in his Lordship has provided this for you because he has many people in Ottawa that he is sending you to. 00:33:21.160 --> 00:33:26.660 Corinth and Ottawa are very similar to one another. There is the worship of money. There is influence, 00:33:26.920 --> 00:33:34.560 status, and sexual fulfillment of every kind. And that's rampant. And they are both successful 00:33:34.559 --> 00:33:41.940 looking cities as well. But in our cities, there are many people experiencing loneliness, spiritual poverty, 00:33:42.819 --> 00:33:50.700 longing, hopeless grief, and addictions of many kinds. There is sexual brokenness and a lack 00:33:50.700 --> 00:33:59.720 of real purpose in a city that looks very, very successful. And many of those people are Jesus' own people. 00:33:59.720 --> 00:34:07.079 He is actually their Lord already, even though they don't yet believe. And Jesus' plan for Messiah 00:34:07.079 --> 00:34:16.400 downtown is that you would not be silent, that you would keep on speaking of Jesus who is Savior and Lord. 00:34:17.360 --> 00:34:24.740 Because when people in the city hear the good news, it creates faith. Jesus the Lord heals minds and 00:34:24.739 --> 00:34:34.339 souls and relationships. And this is what the ministry is to the city. So I want to close by saying that 00:34:34.339 --> 00:34:44.339 Paul in this letter has said that the church will include people who at one time were defined by their 00:34:44.339 --> 00:34:49.739 sin. He says about Corinth, he says, they were sexually immoral, idolaters, 00:34:49.739 --> 00:34:57.479 adulterers, men who practice homosexuality, thieves, greedy drunkards, revilers, and swindlers. 00:34:58.099 --> 00:35:05.259 That was Corinth, and it is Ottawa as well. And what Jesus did was to give them saving belief 00:35:05.259 --> 00:35:11.359 so that they heard the good news of repentance and forgiveness of sins by Jesus. And Paul said, 00:35:11.419 --> 00:35:15.859 you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus 00:35:15.860 --> 00:35:23.099 and by the Spirit of God. That is the power of the gospel. And that's the gospel that you carry 00:35:23.099 --> 00:35:32.059 into this city of Ottawa. That is the light that each of you are bringing. And so I encourage you 00:35:32.059 --> 00:35:38.539 to be interdependent, to help one another bring that gospel into the city, to encourage each other 00:35:38.539 --> 00:35:43.039 in it, to pray for each other in it, to pray for the churches that you are interdependent with, 00:35:43.039 --> 00:35:50.559 and for those who you have sent out, trained here in Ottawa. And I pray also that you would, 00:35:50.679 --> 00:35:57.440 that you would not be silent. That you would take the risk, knowing that Jesus is with you, 00:35:57.719 --> 00:36:04.320 to pray for that person that you might speak about Jesus too. And finally, that you will welcome Jesus' 00:36:05.000 --> 00:36:11.099 people, the people he has in the city, into this new kind of city, this little city of God here 00:36:11.099 --> 00:36:17.539 in Ottawa. It's a community of Christians that live out the gospel. It's the place where you are open 00:36:17.539 --> 00:36:25.059 about the fact that our Lord Jesus has restored you and he's continuing that work in you. You are 00:36:25.059 --> 00:36:33.519 celebrating here sexual purity, faithfulness to God with finances, humility before God, a love for one 00:36:33.519 --> 00:36:43.519 another that is a testimony to the city around you. May God give you grace in the work that you are doing 00:36:43.519 --> 00:36:51.519 for him and know that the God who has saved you is powerful and he will give you that power to be 00:36:51.519 --> 00:36:59.800 faithful to Jesus and his mission in Ottawa. May God grant you the Holy Spirit to be his witnesses 00:36:59.800 --> 00:37:02.440 here in this city. Amen.