Radical: Part 2Too Hungry for Words

Matthew 28:18-20

Goers

Senders

Disobedient

Special Ops Missions“Put on dark pants and a jacket with a hood on it. We will put you in the back of our car and drive you into the village. Please keep your hood on and your face down.”

Big group, small room

This is what you find...

One light bulb...No sound system

No band

No guitar

No entertainment

No cushioned chairs

No heated or air-conditioned building

Nothing but the people of God & the Word of God

Sufficiency of God’s Word

1st century underground house churches

African jungles

African plains

South American rain forests

Middle Eastern apartments

21st century underground house churches

Church under a tree

Church in the jungle

House church in Indonesia

Iranian Underground Church

Sufficiency of God’s Word

Big Question: But is God’s Word enough for us?

Sufficiency of God’s Word

Big Question: If we had an evening, late-night, or all-night prayer meeting how many people would come? What reasons/excuses would be given by those who didn’t attend?

What is the Gospel?

The Gospel is the revelation of who God is, who we are, and how we can be reconciled to Him. Yet in the American dream, where self reigns as king (or queen), we have a dangerous tendency to misunderstand, minimize, and even manipulate the gospel in order to accommodate our assumptions and desires.

Who God really is

Culture says: “God is a loving Father...”

Culture says: “God wants you to be happy...”

God according to culture

Who God really is

Creator and sustainer of all things - Psalm 24:1-2; Psalm 36:6; Psalm 104:24-30

Knows everything - I John 3:20

Just in His wrath - Romans 3:5-6; John 3:36

Hates sin - Habakkuk 1:13

Perfectly loving - I John 4:16; John 3:16

Watered down Gospel?

Do you think that American churches have by and large watered down the Gospel? If so, why?

Who we really are

Spiritually dead - Ephesians 2:1,5

Who we really are: Excuses

“Well, I have always loved God!”

We may have loved a god that we made up in our minds, but the God of the Bible, we hate.

Who we really are

Captives of the Devil - John 8:34; 2 Timothy 2:26

Slaves to sin - Romans 6:17

Enemies of God - Romans 5:10

Separated from God - Ephesians 2:1,3

Who we really are

What can we do to save/change ourselves?

Who we really are

“No one who is morally evil can choose good, no man who is a slave can set himself free, no woman who is blind can give herself sight, no one who is an object of wrath can appease that wrath, and no person who is dead can cause himself to come to life.”

Who we really are

Question: What is our natural reaction when we hear in the Gospel what we really are?

Modern Gospel says...

“God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. Therefore, follow these steps, and you will be saved.”

Biblical Gospel says...

Because of what you are, you are radically dependent upon God to do something in your life that you could never do.

What (or Whom) we really need

Climbing to God on the mountain or God coming to us from the mountain

People who have died for the Gospel

Indian Christian, skinned alive, “I thank you for this. Tear off my old garment, for I will soon put on Christ’s garment of righteousness.”

People who have died for the Gospel

Christopher Love, beheaded, “Wife...today they will sever me from my physical head, but they cannot sever me from my spiritual head, Christ.” As he walked to his death, his wife cheered for him and he sang.

Were these braver than Jesus?

“And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will” (Matthew 26:39).

Q# What was the “cup?”

God’s Wrath and Judgment against sin

Radically receive such a Radical Gospel

Accept Him?

Does He “need” us? Puny savior begging us?

Repeat a prayer?

Go to “church?”

Question: So we earn our way to Jesus by radical obedience?Ephesians 2:8-10

The free gift of God’s grace gives us a new heart, new desires, new longings so that we now desire to follow and love God.

Response to the Gospel

Right response: “Unconditional surrender of all that we are and all that we have to all that He is.”

Mark 1:14-15 “Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, 15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”