Transcript

Sermon Transcript: Churches God Champions

2/4/2024 Jeff Schwarzentraub 39 min read

Pastor Jeff:

Our Father in heaven, we give you all glory, honor and praise, Lord we always do because regardless of what's going on in the world, you are worthy of that. Lord, we thank you for a great "Men's Warrior Summit", an incredible 24 hours we had and all the work that you did. We give you thanks and praise for that.

And Lord, we thank you for your living and active Word because we as a people believe that every time it is faithfully and accurately proclaimed that you speak. So our prayer this morning is, Lord, speak to me. And now for all those who have gathered who desire to hear the Lord Jesus Christ speak directly to you, who will believe what He tells you and who will by faith put into practice what He shows you, will you agree with me very loudly this morning by saying the word amen.

Congregation:

Amen.

Pastor Jeff:

Amen. We had a terrific weekend. "Battle Ready!" was a massive success as the Lord showed up in power and did very incredible things among us. I've been to men's conferences since I became a believer. So for the last 34 years, I've been to several of them. And I was buzzing so much last night when I went home from Mars because it was by far the best men's conference I've ever been a part of.

And there were several reasons for that, but as I was buzzing last night, kind of putting final touches on my notes, I know how I think. I began to think about, "Okay, I gave that an A or an A plus. How can we do that next year and make it an A or A plus." And I tend to be very highly critical of myself and what do I need to change and what do we need to change programmatically?

And I started thinking about all those things and we weren't even done with it. But I wanted to do that because there's something about keeping a scorecard that lets us know where we're at. I mean, teachers hand out grading reports or scorecards to let you know, here's how you're doing. When people play golf, some of you, you keep score, right? I've learned not to do that because it doesn't make me feel very good, right?

But we've had to train ourselves over the time to get feedback because our natural inclination is when somebody tells us something and they're not telling us it's absolutely perfect, we can be offended. But actually if we'll lean into that feedback, we can grow and become better. And the older I get, the more I want feedback. You got to understand, in my teens and 20s I knew everything, so I didn't need any. But I find that the older I get, the more I want people to speak into my life.

Matter of fact, in this past year I've been working on getting my pilot's license. And I have somebody sitting in the cockpit next to me and he talks me through every maneuver that I'm making and I want him to. And because there's pretty soon I'm on a solo and when I'm coming into the airport by myself and I don't have anybody helping, I want to know that I can land that thing all by myself. I want that kind of feedback.

And we individually need that kind of feedback, but we as a church also need that kind of feedback. We want to be the kind of church that God would give a good grade to because for me personally as your pastor, one day I'll give an account for how well I led the people of God into the throne of God and how well I shepherded you. But we as a church too, collectively, we're going to be graded on how well did we respond to what the Lord required of us. So wouldn't it be good to know about the kind of church that God champions?

Well, wouldn't it be good to know on this side of heaven, God, are we doing what you want us to do? Are we aligning ourselves with you? Because I'm pretty clear on this and I am all the time. BRAVE is a local church. It's not the local church. There are several churches that God champions, but we want to go by what the Word of God says that He champions and then reorient and realign our lives so that we're the kind of church that when God looks down from heaven, He says, "That's the kind of church I can be a part of." Because we want more of the manifest presence of the Lord Jesus Christ.

We want more of His Holy Spirit unleashed. We want more of what he can do. And if you want to be a church like that, I want to be a church like that, then we need to let God set the standard for what that church needs to be. If you ever wondered what that looks like, God gives some of us those answers in 1 Timothy 2:1-8.

In 1 Timothy 2, Paul has begun writing a letter to his young protege, Timothy, who's pastoring a church in Ephesus, and he begins by telling him how he needs to pastor and what it needs to look like and why Paul of all sinners who is the worst has the ability to do this because of all that Christ has done in him. And then he begins to give instructions to his young protege Timothy as he's pastoring the church as to what needs to be primary in his ministry to be a church that God champions to be a church that God blesses.

So let me read through these eight verses and then we're going to highlight four specific areas that God champions in His church. And then we can ask ourselves the question, are we aligning ourselves with what God wants? 1 Timothy 2, he says, "First of all, then I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life and all godliness and dignity."

"This is good and acceptable in the sight of God, our Savior who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus who gave Himself as a ransom for all that testimony given at the proper time. For this, I was appointed a preacher and an apostle. I'm telling the truth, I am not lying as a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth. Therefore, I want the men in every place to pray lifting up holy hands without wrath and dissension."

And here in those short eight verses, we get some insight into the type of church that God blesses, into the churches that God champions and how we can align ourselves with what God would want. And first he tells us this, that a church that God champions is a church that champions prayer as the primary ministry to seeing God's work accomplished. A church that champions prayer as the primary ministry to seeing God's work accomplished.

Now notice what he says. He introduces himself in the letter, he tells Timothy what the law is for and leading people to Christ. He tells him about the grace of God in his life. He sets up the whole letter and then he says these words, first of all, primarily if the church is going to be known for anything Timothy as you pastor it, here's what you need to see, first of all, then I urge that in entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings be made on behalf of all men.

What does he say as priority one? Prayer. Have you ever heard me say that before? It's not just Jesus that said it. It's the apostles that followed it. And if there's any ministry that should be taking place in the church primarily it's prayer. Before any programming, prayer. Before any strategy, prayer. Before the selecting of elders, prayer. Before deciding what we're going to do, prayer. Before deciding we're going to do a school, prayer. Before deciding how we're going to expand our scope of ministry, prayer.

Everything is primarily focused on prayer. Why? Because when we pray, we're declaring our dependence upon the Lord. We're asking Him to change us. We're asking him to show us His priorities. We're asking Him to guide and lead. We're asking Him to do what only He can do. We're saying we can't get it done and we don't have what it takes and we don't necessarily know what to do, but we're going to the one who does. And by the way, this is your church. You're the one who's building it. We know we're answering to you. So help us make sure that what we're doing you are pleased with.

And I hate to say it, but in our day and age, that's not how most churches are run. Eugene Peterson wrote a book several years ago, I saw it before I went into the ministry, it's called "Working the Angles", where he basically argued he could take a seminary graduate and put them in about 90% of the churches even if they weren't really walking with the Lord. And no church would recognize the difference.

As long as he was a good speaker, as long as he was a good administrator and a good strategist, he could probably get along pretty well in most churches. May it never be. May it never be. The heart of a church should be depending upon the Lord Jesus Christ for everything. And there's something about praying that changes our heart, isn't it? There's something about praying that brings humility.

It's hard to be in the presence of a holy, perfect Almighty God who wants to speak into your life and then not change. Because oftentimes I find that when I'm speaking to the Lord about what He wants to do at the church and praying for all of you, you know what He's talking to me about? My attitudes and my behaviors and my beliefs and what I need to change. And if He can't get through to me, then He'll use my wife who will tell me exactly what he was trying to say, right?

Because God wants us to be open-hearted enough to hear what he wants from us. And too often we're too busy planning strategy and doing different things and developing elaborate visions and doing all this stuff. And then when we put it all together and we make it all real and we think this is awesome, what do we do? We ask God to bless that and here's what we're really doing. God, here's my design. Here's what I want the church to be. Here's what I want it to look like. Here's what's comfortable for me. Here's what I want. God bless me.

And we wonder why we don't see the same things that we see when we read our Bible about the numbers of salvations and the numbers of healings and the number of people being set free and delivered. And why is that? Because we don't prioritize Jesus. The way we know we're prioritizing Jesus more than anything else is not just talking about it. It's depending upon Him for prayer.

Why do we as a church start the year with 21 days of prayer and fasting? And why do we gather every single day to do that? Why do we spend 21 days in August and September praying before the launch of our year? Why have we now added Saturday, starting next week at eight in the morning to gather together and pray every single week?

Why do we gather on the first Tuesday of every month? Which by the way, is this coming Tuesday and gather as a church to worship and seek His face in prayer, not because well, that's what God said to do so we'll do it because we're so dependent upon Him for every single thing we need individually and collectively. Prayer is primary. Jesus said, "My house shall be called a house of say it with me prayer."

Congregation:

Prayer.

Pastor Jeff:

If there's anything that God champions is when He looks down from heaven and says, "That's a church I can use." And by the way, church is not a building. It's not where we gather. Church is the called out saints that are gathering and when we're gathering what is going on, primarily when we gather, we're praying, we're depending, we're seeking, we're listening, we're declaring we need you Jesus. That's primary in a church.

That's a church that God can look down from heaven and say, "I can do something with that group of people because you know what? They don't think they have it figured out. They believe they really need me to do a work. They believe that I need to show up and do what I can do. They want me to actually show up in power and might and strength. I'll bless that church. I'll champion that church. I'll get behind that church.

And I can tell you this, we always want to be a church that prioritizes prayer, not just because I as your pastor say it's important because the Word of God declares it that that's most important in any church. And I'm telling you that because you may not always live in Denver or you may be from out of town and you may need to find another gathering of Christians at someday prioritize. When you walk into that church, ask the senior leadership how do you pray? When are we going to pray as a church, how important is prayer to you?

And if the senior leadership is not doing it, go find another place that does because they're out there. May prayer be the centrality of everything we want to be as a church. I continue to ask the Lord, how can we get better at this? And He talks about requests and prayers and intercessions. It's just a way of talking about all different kinds of prayers. Sometimes we're praying to connect with God. Sometimes we're interceding for other people.

Sometimes we're asking God for direction in our life, but He says this special word in there too, He says, and Thanksgivings. Thanksgivings. Sometimes we think of prayer as me telling God what I want God to do. Sometimes it's just God, thank you for who you are and all that you're doing. And even if you do nothing else for me, I just thank you that you are who you say you are.

I thank you for your mercy. I thank you for your grace. I thank you for your faithfulness. I thank you for your holiness. I thank you for your truth. I thank you that you love me. I thank you that you accept me. Lord, I thank you that I know that every good and perfect gift comes from you. So any blessing I have in my life, whether it's my spouse or my children or a relationship that I have or my job or any financial means that I have whatsoever any material good, Lord I know all of that's from you. Just thank you for that.

I mean, even if you don't know how to pray, just start by giving thanks. Right now and everything you're thankful for if you actually do that and in order to retain everything that God's given you, you had to write down what you're thankful for. Like for instance, Lord, I'm thankful for oxygen and I'm thank you that you designed my lungs that know how to take in oxygen and breathe out carbon dioxide. Lord, I thank you for that. Imagine if you had to thank God for everything you have, and if you didn't thank him, you wouldn't have it anymore. Do we have things to be thankful for?

Congregation:

Yeah.

Pastor Jeff:

I mean, sometimes we're like, well, what would I thank him for? Everything. Everything. Just thank Him. And then He tells us who to pray for too. Notice what He says. He says, and may prayers be made on behalf of how many men?

Congregation:

All.

Pastor Jeff:

All. Pray for everybody. But specifically he says, for kings and all who are in authority, that's governmental leaders. Our president, our vice president, our governor, our mayors, our school board leaders, our first responders, our police officers, our firemen, our emergency response teams, pray for them. Who else is in authority? Parents. Pray for them, teachers pray for them, coaches pray for them so that we may live a tranquil and quiet life and all godliness and dignity.

Sometimes what I find is if we're not praying for those in authority, we'll complain about those in authority instead. If you're not praying, you're complaining. God tells us to pray for those in authority. I can always tell who's praying for those in authority because it's hard to go before the throne of God when He's created every single person and loves every single person and you're praying for God to move on that person's heart when you hear other people talk bad about that person.

There's a lot of people in authority, and I know you would agree with me, that we just don't agree with. I don't agree with the decisions they make. I don't agree with how they're coming to those decisions. I don't have to agree with their decision, but I do have to pray for them. And here's the reality. We can't change a heart. You can't make somebody, even if you can change behavior, you can only change it for a while.

What we need radically going on in our leadership is for God to consume the heart of the leaders, and God to consume the heart of parents, and God to consume the heart of teachers so that they live according to what He wants. Well, how can that happen unless we pray? Here's the answer, it can't. And if Christians would spend more time praying than complaining, who knows what God would do in our world? Amen.

So of all things we're doing as a church, God's looking down saying, "Can I trust this people to get my work done?" Because if our churches would bow their knee to the Lord and humble ourselves before the Lord and turn from our wicked ways and seek Him, you know what He would do? He would do mind blowing things in our culture. It's not too dark and it's not too late, and there's great hope if the church will engage in prayer. Amen.

Congregation:

Amen.

Pastor Jeff:

So rhetorical question, do you pray for Governor Polis? Do you pray for President Biden? Do you pray for Vice President Kamala Harris? Do you pray for all these people? Do you pray for God to move in their hearts in such a way that they would be changed? When you see things instead of criticizing, pray. Instead of complaining, pray. Seek the face of the Lord and pray. Children, your parents are not perfect, they know they're not perfect. Pray for them. Pray that they be more Godly. Pray that they respond to the things of the Lord. Your teachers may not be who God wants to be. Pray for them.

That's what God ask us to do. So what so that we may lead peaceful and quiet lives or tranquil and quiet lives. Why does He say that? Because in the first century, Nero was the emperor and he treated Christians in the first century the same way that Adolf Hitler treated Jews in the 20th century. He blamed the Christians for the fire that took place in Rome in 64 A.D. even though they didn't start it.

Nero would take Christians and dip them in wax and use them as candles at his parties. He would turn wild animals loose on them just because they claimed the name of Christ and wouldn't bow their knee to him as the emperor. He was brutal to them. And so what was he telling the church? Hey, pray for those in authority. Pray for the ones that are persecuting you so that we can live tranquil, peaceful, and quiet lives and still be about living and sharing the gospel.

Now listen, I appreciate your boldness and sometimes when I hear some of you talking, I hope if it ever came to it, I would be willing to give my life for Christ. I hope if it ever came to it, God will give you the grace to do that. But don't stand around and wait for that. Don't watch the world getting darker and darker and say, well, one day I'll stand up and die for Christ. Nobody'll even know about that.

Get on your knees and pray that we'll never have to do that. Get on your knees and ask God to move in the heart of our nation and in the heart of our nation's leaders and that He would raise up others that would guide our nation into all truths so that we can be about our work to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ. Let's pray. Let's pray. Amen. Those are the kinds of churches that God champions, a church that champions prayer as the primary ministry.

Number two is this. Here's what God's looking for a church that champions a compassion that yearns for all people to be saved. A compassion that yearns for all people to be saved. Notice what He says coming out of that prayer where we pray for leaders where we're constantly praying instead of complaining or criticizing or whining, we're praying for all those in leadership. It says this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior.

What kind of prayers does God answer? Those kinds of prayers. Praying for leaders' hearts to be moved, God answers those prayers. Praying for hearts to change that are aligned with him, God answers those prayers. This is good. It's an acceptable prayer. And we know according to 1 John 5 that if God hears us and we're praying according to His will, that what we're praying He's actually going to answer.

So these are good prayers, but notice this about our God. What does God desire? He desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. How many people does God want saved?

Congregation:

All.

Pastor Jeff:

Say it really loud with me.

Congregation:

All.

Pastor Jeff:

He wants all people to be saved. If you bought into the phony theology that God created some people for heaven and some people for hell, and He just wants some people, not according to my Bible, God wants all people to be saved. The people that you're praying for, the people that you're frustrated with, the people that are persecuting you, the people that are living in wickedness, the people that are unrighteous, He wants every single one of those people to be saved.

You say, how do you know that? Well, number one, my Bible says it. And number two, my Lord demonstrated it that God so loved the world that He sent his only begotten son that whosoever believes in Him will not Perish or die but would have eternal life. Jesus came for one group of people and one group of people only sinners. That's who He's died for, which sinners? Any sinner. All sinners that would be willing to repent of their sin and put it aside and turn to Him by faith can be saved and saved to the full.

The Bible says anyone that comes to Him, He will not turn away. If you know you're in sin and you know you're going to face the justice of God and you turn from your sin and you come to Jesus, no matter how grievous your sin may be, He'll say this, welcome. I died for you. I demonstrated my love for you 2000 years ago before you were even created, before you even knew who I was. I love you like that.

And here's the problem. If we don't pray, what happens sometimes is as we grow in righteousness, holiness and truth, our heart on the outside begins to get callous towards those who aren't and we begin to think about us versus those people. There's a blessing that we have in the church. I love being around people that are righteous. I love being around people that are holy. I love being around people that value truth, not perfectly, but increasingly I love being around that. And the longer I'm around that, the more I crave that.

And when I'm worshiping during the week and seeking the Lord during the week, I love being part of a church that comes together with a bunch of people that are doing the same thing. It's incredible. But I got to be careful that I continue to pray for all those in authority and all the lost and remind myself that God loves all people or my heart will get callous and I'll begin to think, "Well, I'm saved, but man, they're wicked. They're going to hell. They're going to get what's theirs."

Even in the Old Testament, Ezekiel 18, it says this and hear me, "God takes no delight in the death of the wicked." There's never been one wicked person who's died where the Lord has said, "Yeah, you got what you deserved." No, it breaks God's heart that when He's saying, "Depart from me, you worker of iniquity, I never knew you." Because He came to demonstrate His love for the world. He loved that person. He created that person. He died for that person. He shed His blood for that person. He rose from the dead for that person and that person rejected Him.

And because He's so holy and because He's so righteous, He can't bring them into His presence and He has to punish them, but it doesn't thrill His heart. And you know who the most wicked person in the world is? I mean, think about who the most wicked person in the world is. It's you. Paul even declares it in this book of all sinners of whom I'm the worst. I mean, if you really look and know your life and know what God's done in you, you wouldn't look at anybody else and say, "Oh, they're horrible."

One pastor used to say a generation ago, if I knew everything about your sin patterns, I wouldn't even want you to be part of my church. And if you knew anything about me, you would never even show up, right? I mean all of us, if we truly look in our spiritual mirror and see all that God's forgiven, we recognize man, look at how abundant His grace is. I love the way Charles Spurgeon said it. He said, "If any man thinks ill of you, don't be upset. You are far worse than he thinks you to be."

And prayer puts us in that posture. You're not better than non-believers. You were once dead and you've been made alive. In spite of being dead, God resurrected you and it should thrill your heart to see other people resurrected. I love Baptism Sundays. Whether we've done it here from the beginning where we've had three or four or whether we've had hundreds on a weekend get baptized. It throws my heart every time because every single story is about someone dead that's been resurrected. I never get tired of seeing that.

And nobody's too far gone for God to rescue. Nobody's too far gone for God to say my love doesn't stretch. I mean where sin increases grace increases all the more. That's who our God is. It's what He wants. And notice what He says in 2 Peter 3:9, because I look forward to the day that Christ returns. I'm looking forward to. There's nothing I have planned. There's nothing I'm looking forward to more than that. I mean, there's things I'd love to see in This life, but if they get interrupted by the return of Jesus, I'm great with that.

But here's why He hasn't come. 2 Peter 3:9 says, "The Lord is not slow about His promise." Well, you guys have been saying Jesus is coming soon for 2000 years. Where's He at? He's not slow in His promise as some people count slowness, but He is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance. He wants everybody to come.

Well, what's compassion? Compassion in the New Testament word could be compassion, it could be pity. It's when you see a need and you meet that need. Jesus, when He was ready to feed the 5,000, His disciples just wanted to be with Him alone. But He sees this crowd of 20 plus thousand people and He has compassion on them. He's moved by them because they're like a sheep without a shepherd. They don't have leadership. They don't realize they're facing a Christless eternity without God. He wants to minister them. He wants to be with them.

When Jesus sees the Samaritans coming across the plane, He says, "I have food to eat. You do not know anything about." He goes, "My heart is for the lost. I came to seek and save the lost." May our heart never grow callous towards the lost. May we be praying for the lost and being intentional with the lost and sharing the gospel with the lost. It doesn't mean we have to agree with the lost. It doesn't mean we have to have the same opinions as the lost.

But let me just tell you the truth. Lost people act like lost people, enemies of Christ speak like enemies of Christ. That's the target that God is going after. And why did He commission you to go get them? Because you're His plan A to share the gospel with people like that because His desire is that no one would die in their sin, but that all would have the opportunity and all would respond by repentance.

And here's the truth of the gospel. Romans 1:20 says that all men will be without excuse. For people that wind up in hell it's because that's exactly where they want to be. It's not an accident. They're choosing a life apart from God. God loves them. God loves everybody. God's desire is that all will come to the knowledge of Him, and we never lose sight of that.

Yes, we want to put Jesus Christ on display. Yes, we want to worship His name. Yes, we want to hear His Word. Yes, we want to grow in His grace, but part of the way we grow is having the heart of God, which is for the world and for the lost. And being the church that God champions is having that kind of compassion, the compassion of the good Samaritan that sees the need and goes and fills. It yearns for all people to be saved.

Don't buy the lie that the enemy tells you when you think about your friend or you think about your coworker, you think about a family member and you're like, "They're never going to come to Christ." I would tell you apart from the grace of God, they won't. But God's grace is bigger than you're never. Amen.

Congregation:

Amen.

Pastor Jeff:

That's why we pray and don't give up. That's why people that are hostile to God, we pray and don't give up because God's desire is that all would come to the knowledge of Him. And I realize it's sometimes tough to love people that don't love God. I mean, I was on I-25 this week. End of story. And there was a car accident. It was about 10 minutes away from home. It took me two hours to get home. It was that bad of an accident.

And I was looking at my car and I realized my gas had come close to empty. And right as I was thinking that the fuel light went on. And I'm looking at my phone and I'm a mile and a half from an exit where I know there's a gas station and there's nobody moving. I mean we're parked. And I began thinking, "I wonder how long that light will stay on with my car running before it turns off."

Now, there are people coming up the shoulder of the road flying by. You know the kind. If you're one of them, don't do that. But I begin to think, "If I stall, I don't want to stall in the middle of the road. I have to walk a mile and a half. At least if I have to walk a mile and a half each way, I can be off to the shoulder." So I kindly pull off and I'm not flying by. I'm just slowly poking along and it was warm that day. I had my window down and the guy next to me had his window down.

So I thought I would explain what I was doing. But before I had my opportunity, he asked me some of the most vulgar questions I've ever been asked in my life. And even then I was like, well, let me explain what I'm doing. And he told me he didn't give up. And so we went on. And in that moment I can tell you that I wasn't thinking Christ died for you. But I rebounded quickly and I began to think of that guy's that upset that I'm this much further ahead of him on a highway than he is in park traffic, that guy's got way bigger problems than I got. And I prayed for him.

That's what it's like. The people that you're sharing the gospel with are enemies of the cross of Christ. The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to those of us who are being saved, it's become the power of God. That's why I'm not ashamed of the gospel for it's the power of God unto salvation for everyone who would believe. That anybody, anywhere at any time can turn their heart to God.

And that when we see people even that are hurtful to us, rude to us, mean to us, that's exactly how we treated Christ and He saved us in spite of ourselves and He's willing to do it the same in other people's lives. That's the gathering. That's the church, that Jesus Christ champions. A church that will pray as a primary ministry and a church that has compassion for the lost.

And a third element of a church that Christ champions is this a church that champions the exclusivity of the Lord Jesus Christ, making access to the Father possible. A church that champions the exclusivity of the Lord Jesus Christ, making access to the Father possible. It's the exclusivity of Jesus Christ. Notice what he says next in the next two verses, not only does He want all people to be saved, but then he says, "For there is one God." How many gods are there out there?

Congregation:

One.

Pastor Jeff:

There's one. The Bible describes Him as the Godhead, as made up of Father, Son and Spirit. The Father is not the Son or the Spirit. The Son is not the Father of the Spirit. The Spirit is not the Father or the Son, but it's one essence with three persons. And you'll say, Jeff, explain that to me. I don't even understand how that's possible. Here's my explanation, ready? Glory.

There is no explanation for an infinite God. There are not only no English words to describe His glory. There's no words in all of humanity to describe His glory. We'll spend an eternity talking about the Godhead and that there's one way to God because He tells us this in His Word. "There's one God and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus who gave Himself as a ransom for all the testimony given at the proper time."

If you want access to God, there's only one way to God, the Lord Jesus Christ. That's it. There are no other roads. There's wide roads. Wide roads that everybody is on, but there's a narrow gate and a narrow road, and the only access point is the Lord Jesus Christ. You say, how do I know that? Because Jesus said that. He said, "I am the way, the truth and the life, and no one that's nobody comes to the Father except through me."

It's exclusive. There's no other way. But Pastor Jeff, I know some people that are of a different faith and they're totally sincere and they're really loving. And here's what I would say, they're totally sincerely wrong and they don't even know love if they don't know the Lord Jesus Christ. They don't. If they don't have Jesus Christ of Nazareth, the God, man, they have no access to God. That's it. It's exclusive.

And if that troubles your heart and says, well, what about the migrant farmer in Africa and what about this and what about that? What about my boss? Then go tell them about Jesus. If we don't believe in the exclusivity of the gospel, there's no need for missions. There's not one scripture in the Bible that shows that there's anybody that arrives in heaven that's welcome, that hasn't repented of their sin and trusted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Not one.

And if that's the truth, you need to understand which it is. You need to repent and believe Jesus is the way, the truth and the life and invite them into your life and you need to realize everybody that you talk to, that's also true of every single person regardless of their ethnicity, background or where they grew up. They need Jesus. Amen.

Congregation:

Amen.

Pastor Jeff:

And talking to God and having access to God is only through the God man, Jesus Christ. You do not have to pray through your pastor. If you're a believer, you have the same access through Jesus. You definitely don't have to pray through a priest. For sure you don't have to pray through Mary. For sure you don't have to pray through ancestors. For sure you don't have to pray through friends of yours who have died.

There's one way to God. It's the Lord Jesus Christ. That's it. It's an exclusive road. You say, how do you say that? Because that's what the Bible says. That's what Jesus says. And if you align yourself with the Word of God, we're going to be a church that champions the exclusivity of Jesus Christ. We will not waver one iota on that, not one.

But let me also tell you, there's also an inclusivity in the Lord Jesus Christ, which is this. While it's an exclusive road and only those that choose Jesus can walk down it, everybody anywhere is invited down that road. You can come. There's an invitation to come home through the cross on that road for anyone, anywhere, anytime that recognizes I'm going the wrong way, Jesus would say, "Turn around and come back and I'll meet you right where you're at."

And we want to champion both at BRAVE. The exclusivity of the gospel there's only one way to God and the inclusivity of the gospel that anyone, anywhere at any time is welcome to come down that exclusive road. And both those truths need to be held up because when churches start saying, well, you know what? Don't worry about your sin, and Jesus is a way or there could be some other ways, or maybe He's not as holy and I just want to be nice to you. That's not the gospel.

It's also not the gospel when you say, you know what? Only a certain ones of you could possibly be saved. That's not the gospel either. It's exclusive in that it's only through Jesus and it's inclusive that anybody that wants it can have it. Do you want it? That's the church God champions. That's the messaging He wants to get out from his body to the world.

Ephesians 2 says, "It's by grace. We've been saved through faith. It's not our own doing. It's a gift of God. So that what? So you can't boast. You didn't do anything to earn it. You didn't go find in Jesus. He found you. He called you His friend. He gave you his grace. He gave you the faith to believe. He did all the work in salvation. How do you know? Because you were dead. Dead people don't participate. Well, I've been made alive. That's right. Jesus made you alive. Praise God.

Congregation:

Amen.

Pastor Jeff:

And now that you're alive, let's go tell other people about how great Jesus is. "God made Him who had no sin to be sinned for us, that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. Christ died once for all the righteous, for the unrighteous to bring you to God." I mean, even the early apostles had this down who were distinctly Jewish in their traditions and after spending time with Jesus, were zealous for this good news of the gospel that wasn't about a denomination or a religious preference anymore, but was all about Jesus.

And when they were being questioned about this new faith in Christ that they were proclaiming to the world, here's what they told the leaders of the religious community in their day as they were facing imprisonment and beatings and even death. Here's what they told them. "And there is salvation in no one else for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved. Jesus is the only way. Jesus Christ is the only way."

It says in Acts :13, the very next verse. "Now as they observed the confidence of Peter and John and understood that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were amazed and begin to recognize them as having been with Jesus." We want to be a church that champions the exclusivity of the Lord Jesus Christ, making access to the Father possible.

Friend, I'm here to tell you, no matter who you are, if you were to die today and you've never repented of your sin and trusted Jesus as much as it would break God's heart, you will spend it a Christless eternity in hell. And that should break your heart because when the Bible talks about hell, it's not talking about you're going to go to a really bad place for a really long period of time.

It's talking about you're going to be in outer darkness all by yourself, where there's going to be weeping and gnashing of teeth where there's physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual torment forever and ever. Why? Because you offended an eternal holy God that did everything He could to bring you into his family. And you said, "I don't want that."

It should break your heart for your family members that don't know Christ. It should break your heart for your boss and other employees that don't know Christ. It should break your heart for your neighbors that don't know Christ, whether they know it or not, their biggest problem is they're going to stand before a perfect holy God. And the one that's going to judge them is the Lord Jesus Christ.

And whatever they've done with Him that's going to determine their eternity. And the moment they die, that is set forever and you can't choose again. Only time in space. If you're here listening to my voice or you're listening online or you're at another campus in Colorado Springs, Westminster, I'm telling you today is the day of salvation. You hear the Lord, don't harden your heart. Just say, I want nothing to do with the sin. I want everything to do with Christ come into my life. That's the kind of church that God champions.

All of you are welcome to come. The banqueting table's open for everybody. There's nobody Jesus would turn away, but it's not universalism. Just because He created you and loves you doesn't mean you get to go to heaven. He's looking for those that say, "I want nothing to do with my sin, and I want to be completely washed by your grace, and I believe your cross is the only way that can make that possible." May we be a church that champions the exclusivity of the Lord Jesus Christ that makes access to the Father possible.

And then let me give you the final one, which really dovetails with our weekend. This is number four, I think is super important for a church that God champions. Not just prayer as a priority, not just compassion that yearns for the lost, not just the gospel that we preach of the exclusivity of Jesus, but inviting everybody but a church that champions men on mission, who lead in prayer. A church that champions men on mission, who lead in prayer.

Notice what the apostle says under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit talking about this gospel and this prayer and everything he does. He says, "For this, I was appointed a preacher and an apostle." Well, why are you doing that? Because God appointed me and God anointed me. Well, how come you get to do this? God said that's what He wanted me to do. A preacher is a herald of the gospel. An apostle was one sent directly by God. Paul's saying, "I'm doing what I'm doing because I bowed the knee to Jesus." And He said, "Here's what I want you to do."

And what else was he? He's a teacher. He says, "I'm telling the truth. I'm not lying as a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth." He was telling all these Jewish people. He goes, "It's not just for you. Jesus Christ is Jewish. He's always been Jewish. The gospel came through you, but I'm taking the gospel everywhere in the world because it's opened at every single nationality, and I'm proclaiming that I'm sent to do that, and I'm teaching those who have come to faith in Christ that so they can be established in their faith. I'm telling you the truth, I'm not lying."

Now, why is this so important? Because all you see throughout the New Testament are men that God called to do that very thing. You see it everywhere. I mean, Jesus is the most revolutionary leader that ever lived, the most radical leader that ever lived. Everything He did cost Him His death. He claimed He was God because He's God. Everything He did was counter-cultural to what the world expected.

All Jesus Christ had to do just once is pick one female apostle, just one. I mean, put Mary Magdalene on the team and call her an apostle. He never did. Every Old Testament priest, male, every new Testament apostle male. Why? Because God is always looking for godly men all the way back to the garden. Who did He create first? He created men and women in His image. You need to understand this.

Women listen very closely to me, women are of equal value in the sight of God as men are. Women are important, men are important, right? But He created man first with a responsibility to bring the word to the woman. And men have been failing ever since the very first man was created. But it doesn't change God's priority that men are to bring the word to the world. He's always looking for men.

And here's the problem. We live in a generation that if you study church statistics, about 60 to 70% of all church attenders in most churches are women. And praise God for the godly women that love the Lord Jesus Christ, we don't want to stop that. Here's the question, where are the men? Where are you at?

And before you women write me letters and say, what about us? I'm talking about godly men that do what God wants. I'm not talking about machismo guys that are like, "Well, we're the head." I'm talking about guys that live it. I'm talking about influencers that elevate their wives, that elevate their sons, that elevate their daughters, that elevate all people in the church so that everybody can be the fullness of everything God wants them to be. Where are the men that are doing that?

Congregation:

We are here.

Pastor Jeff:

That's why unapologetically... I see you, brother. I see you. I saw 1,300 of you this weekend get commissioned. I'm fired up about you. Amen. If you say, well, how do I know that a man's a godly leader? He's going to tell you, you want to know?

Congregation:

Yes.

Congregation:

Yes.

Pastor Jeff:

Verse eight tells us. My sisters are getting excited in the front row. All right. Here's how a man's a godly leader because he prays. He bookends this section of scripture with prayer. "Therefore, I want the men in every place to pray lifting up holy hands without wrath and dissension." It means men are able to come surrendered fully to the Lord without arguing back and forth with anybody else.

1 Peter 3 says, "Men, if you're arguing with your wives and you're not aligning in your oneness, your prayers will be hindered." Bible says, "If you're offering your gift at the altar, it's good to offer your gift at the altar, but if you know somebody's got something against you, you better first go be reconciled to that person. Then come bring your gift."

When we lift up holy hands, we're saying, God, to the best of my knowledge, to the best of my extent, I'm just praying. I'm seeking you and I'm going after you, and I'm telling you thanks, and I'm telling you to elevate other people. I'm asking you how I can be a blessing to my spouse and how I can be a blessing to my kids and how I can be a blessing to my neighborhood and how I can be used by you and Lord, what can I do?

And I can't think of anybody that's upset with me, but Lord, if somebody's offended me, I want to forgive them. And Lord, I just want to come fully surrendered to you. God, I want to bless you. That's how you know a man's a godly man. That's what it looks like. And you can't fake a prayer life. You can fake speaking. You can fake church attendance. You can fake religious activity. You cannot fake a prayer life because the prayer life puts you in the presence of God. And God begins to change your heart every time you get into the presence of the Lord.

That's why. What are we asking our godly men to do? Be prayers. Grow in your prayer life. Ask the Lord to grow you so that you can be who God wants you to be. Well, I don't know about all the men. Jesus Christ was and is a man, and no woman has a problem with HIm. What you want your man to be is somebody that reflects the goodness and the glory of that man, the perfect man, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Congregation:

Amen.

Pastor Jeff:

Amen. I've never met a godly woman who has said to me, I don't want my husband to be more godly. I don't want him to lead in our home better. I don't want him to elevate me. I don't want him to champion my gifts. I don't want him to help me become the fullness of what God wants. I want to do that. I've never met a godly woman say that.

Congregation:

That's right.

Pastor Jeff:

If you're saying, I don't want man to be a godly man, it's you've been hurt by a man. That wasn't acting godly. Don't put every man in that category because there's a lot of us, although not perfect, are wanting to increasingly grow in the knowledge and grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

Congregation:

Amen.

Pastor Jeff:

That's why we unapologetically target men because so go the men. So goes the church, so goes the church, so goes the world. If we don't have godly men, we don't have godly families. If we don't have godly families, we don't have godly neighborhoods If we don't have godly neighborhoods, we don't have godly governments. If we don't have godly governments we got a really messed up world. So what do we need? Godly men.

We did that conference as a initial conference, which we hope to do annually just to say, I'm not trying to fill stadiums with guys. I'm trying to fill churches with godly guys. I want the church to be known as men. And it was awesome this weekend, I just want to tell you to be with 1,300 guys screaming to the loudest I've heard it in here with all men leading worship. It was great. I mean, it was awesome. I was fired up, but I was also fired up today when I got here. And we had all you ladies leading too, and it was awesome.

But it's special when you see guys because it's so rare, it's so rare. It's just so rare where men are being called up and saying, you need to be godly, brother. You need to reflect the Lord, brother. You need to realize that what you do impacts the world, brother. And if you drop the ball on this, you're dropping it for your family. You're dropping it for your kids. You're dropping it for this generation.

And we're here to challenge BRAVE warriors for courageous kingdom advancement because I tell you, as your pastor and as a church, we want to fight for the fulfillment of the great commission in our lifetime. Why not now? Why can't we be the people that usher in the kingdom? I mean, that'd be awesome. I want to be on the playing field when Jesus comes back. I want to see that. And if not, pass the baton next generation. Y'all do it. But let's be serious about this. That's the kind of church God champions.

He looks down from heaven, says, "Who's going to seek my face? And who's going to care about the lost and who's going to champion true theology about my lordship and who's going to call up men to be on mission for me?" Yesterday we commissioned the men. We gave out a coin for those that were here, and we went through a bit of a ceremony.

I'll show you a picture of this coin. On the back of it, just had our emblem for "Battle Ready!", but also had our mission statement, "Challenging BRAVE warriors for courageous kingdom advancement." We said, we're challenging you as men to live for Jesus so that He can establish His kingdom in and through you, and you can be influencers everywhere you want to go.

And then on the front side of the coin, we had a knight holding a shield with our guide on flag, which is our emblem of what BRAVE is. And those five red stripes represent the stripes of Christ of which he was whipped and bled so that we could have life in his name. And a guide on flag is a flag that's given to a company of military commanders that are taking their unit out and taking their company out to go fulfill whatever mission they're on.

Well, our mission is the great commission, and it's the blood of Christ that lets us do that. And each one of those five stripes represents a letter in the acronym of BRAVE, being bold, resolute, authentic, virtuous and engaged. We told guys we wanted them by the grace of God, to allow God to strengthen their faith, to strengthen their resolve about their identity, to strengthen their authenticity and relationships, to strengthen their virtue and their character, and to strengthen their engagement in the mission.

Will you, by God's grace, be a man that does that? Had several guys saying, "I will." Now, taking a coin doesn't mean anything. And we told guys, making a commitment doesn't mean a whole lot more either, but God's grace does. And I want to tell you, we have a church that champions men because if we champion men, women are elevated. If we champion men, the next generation flourishes. If we champion men, the culture's going to change. Men are not better than women. Men are called to be the ones that are leading the church for Jesus so that everybody in the kingdom flourishes in the fullness of their gifting. Amen.

Congregation:

Amen.

Pastor Jeff:

That's how we want to measure our church. That's how we want to measure our church. I was saying yesterday... I mean, one of the things that we did yesterday, I've never been to a conference that did this. Our second session yesterday morning, we didn't have a speaker. You know what we did? Basically did first Tuesday with 1,300 men. We had men pay to come to a conference where we got together and prayed.

Congregation:

Praise God.

Pastor Jeff:

And we worshiped the Lord. And I was looking out during one of the sessions that we were doing, and there wasn't one guy just standing there with his hands in his pocket looking. We had huddle after huddle, after huddle, after huddle, noise going up as men were calling out to the Lord for God to do something in their families, in their marriages, in their homes, in our communities. It was one of the most beautiful sights I've ever seen.

And I said, "God, you're doing something special here." We're not perfect men, but I'll tell you this, as your pastor, we have some of the best men in the whole country that attend this church. I believe that with my whole heart. I believe that with my whole heart.

And it's an honor to pastor you and men, if we do our jobs, here's what we're going to do. We're going to bless our wives. We're going to bless our children. We're going to bless women. We're going to bless the next generation. So the way we're going to end today, I'm just going to invite you all to stand on all your campuses. We're going to have men come up in the front here, some of our elders, some of our pastors, and here's why.

Because if you're a man, we want to be able to raise holy hands and pray to the Lord. And if you're able to do that, you can sing this song and stand with arms high and heart abandoned to the one that gave it all, and pray that way. Men, if you're here with your spouse, you can lay hands on your spouse and pray for her. You're here with your kids. You can lay hands on your kids and pray for them.

Some of you that are here would be like, "Well, I wish I had a man in my life that would pray for me." Well, you do now. They'll pray blessing over you. I promise you they will, because that's the kind of men we're trying to create, not machismo men, not we're better than you, nothing like that. But we want to be men that are a blessing to the body of Christ. Amen.

So I'm going to lead us in prayer, then I'll turn it over to the campuses. But let's use this time as a time of worship and prayer as men, we lead out in prayer to the Lord. Father in heaven we thank you for who you've called us to be. Father, we want to be a church that aligns with you and Lord in the areas that we're not, because we're definitely not a perfect church, Lord we want to align our lives with you and your Word.

Lord, when you see us on judgment day, may we give an account for this church where we hear the words, well done, good and faithful servants. Father, in this moment, may our men bless you with their mouths. May they bless their spouses with their mouths and their kids with their mouths. And Lord, for those that want a blessing from the amen, Lord, have them come forward and receive a blessing, a verbal blessing from you. God, we give you all the glory, all the honor and all the praise in Jesus' name. Amen and amen and amen. Let's sing to the Lord.