I heard the story of a man, (an alcoholic, drug addict) a bum. He was saved but the hard life he had lived showed on his face. He saw a woman getting into a limousine and felt the need to witness to her. She was appalled at him. She said, "You should be ashamed of yourself". He said, "Mam, I’m am ashamed of myself - I am ashamed of so many things I have done but one things I am not ashamed of is the GOSPEL.
I am so much like that fellow. I am ashamed of many, many things I have done in this life but I AM NOT ASHAMED OF THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST.
The Gospel is the very basis of everything we believe. I am not ashamed of being a Gospel man.
Romans 1:16,17
I am a man that believes in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, And I will not step back for any one or anything who confronts me or who crosses me about my Gospel life.
What is the Gospel 1 Cor 15:1-4
When we get going in the scripture and we find Jesus working in our lives, a couple of things happen.
1. Satans kingdom gets rattled. And oh how I love to shake rattle and role that old evil serpant. I am not ashamed of that.
2. The power of the gospel identifies a man, Jesus Christ whom I am not ashamed of.
3. My life gets rattled. Sometimes I get so shaken p by what God is saying to me that I don’t know which way to turn. When we get affirmation in something we sometimes get to a point where we say enough Lord I got it. This rattling is good. He is shaping and moulding us. He is the potter. We are the clay. Days may go by that we don’t know if we are an ash tray or a tea cup that being formed, but you know what, I don’t need to know what he is forming me into, just as long as He is doing the forming. Maybe he also changes his mind or changes who we are as he needs us for different things. I am not ashamed of that.
4. As we change and break down the kingdom of the evil one, we grow and build Gods kingdom. As we gather together we grow the body of Christ. And I am not ashamed of that.
Some years ago a terrible railroad accident occurred, killing many people. A commuter train had stalled on the tracks just a few minutes before a fast freight was due to arrive. A conductor was quickly sent to flag down the approaching "flier." Being assured that all was well, the passengers relaxed. Suddenly, however, the speeding freight came bearing down upon them. The crash left a ghastly scene of horror. The engineer of the second train, who escaped death by jumping from the cab, was called into court to explain why he hadn’t stopped. "I saw a man waving a warning flag," he said, "but it was yellow, so I thought he just wanted me to slow down." When the flag was examined, the mystery was explained. It had been red, but because of long exposure to the sun and weather it had become a dirty yellow.
Have we become yellow over time? Has the urgency of the situation faded in the sunlight of this world and we are waving a yellow faded flag of redemption while our neighbors, family and coworkers and those who live around us sit idly by as the destruction of a Godless eternity come rushing toward them?
And so this morning, I wanted to talk to you about this church. We are a church based on that very Gospel that I am sure none of us here would ever be ashamed of.
We are a church that is not ashamed. We are a church that will not hold back. We are a church that will not ever give the impression of being ashamed.
And yet we can let things creep in that begin to undermine our confidence and thus undermine our passion for the Gospel. We are doing battle through our passion for the blood of Jesus and if we even shiver with the slightest apprehension then close the books. Rip out the the 5 books of the bible about our saviour. Satan has won.
We have to lean into our brothers, trust them, listen to them be open with them be honest with them. Never before in the history of church has it been so important for us to link arms stand firm and be gospel passionate Christians.
Our flags at Oaktree fellowship are blood stained red. They are not and never will be yellow. Faded by issues mistrust and doubt.
So here is how it is. The Gospel levaes us with a helper. It is the helper that Christ promises to each and every one in the congregation.
That Holy Spirit is the defining element of any Christian. Accept it and trust in it and your life as we spoke about earlier will be shaken up. It will take a little bit of getting used to this Holy Spirit making the decisions. But as most of us already have done, we have learned to trust it. What we battle with sometimes is understainding that we are not the only ones working with the Holy Spirit. Our brothers and sisters, as the delve into the gospel are also experiencing that Holy Spirit. So trust them with it.
We are going to press into each other to make decisions that will change our lives. We will look for affirmation in each other that will define who we are. We need to trust that this all comes from brothers and sisters who are also hearing from the Holy Spirit.
Sometimes conflict will arise. Filter out the issues that we can see are not HolySpirit and learn from the issues that are meant for us from The Helper
Stand up and look around. Our flags are red with the blood of Jesus. We stand proud of the Gospel. We stand proud of each other. We are not ashamed of who were together. We are not ashamed of who we are individually, we are not ashamed that sometimes we are going to get a little tense hurt or whatever. Because we know that deep down the base element of every one of us here is that we are Gsopel men and woman. And we are not ashamed.
A young man who had heard the Gospel accepted Christ. A little while after this, a Christian teacher asked him: "What have you done for Christ since you believed?"
He replied: "Oh, I’m just learning at this point of my Christian experience.
"Well," said the teacher, "when you light a candle - what do you light it for?
He replied, "To give light."
"Do you expect it to give light after it is half burned, or when you first light it?"
He replied, "As soon as I light it."
"Very well," was the reply, "go thou and do likewise; begin at once."
