In our day and time everyone has an opinion; everyone speaks out for their cause. We have political lobbyists going to the White House every day speaking out for everything under the sun. Who wants money for this and who thinks men should be able to marry men, and women marrying women, condoms for our schools, and free health care for illegal immigrants. The list is endless.
Many good Christian men and women, on the other hand, have chosen to not speak out for their faith. Some are of the opinion that faith should be discussed within the confines of the church.
My question today is who will speak for God? Who will be a voice for Jehovah! After all that Jesus endured and suffered, does not he deserve better than that?
Who will proclaim the pure gospel in our day and time without compromise fearlessly in the face of the devil and the world?
Will we be men and women of faith, boldly speaking the truth of God's Word to a perverse world, or will we be silenced and pressured to conform to the insanity of this evil world?
Acts 9:26-29 26And when Saul was come to Jerusalem, he assayed to join himself to the disciples: but they were all afraid of him, and believed not that he was a disciple. 27But Barnabas took him, and brought him to the apostles, and declared unto them how he had seen the Lord in the way, and that he had spoken to him, and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus. 28And he was with them coming in and going out at Jerusalem. 29And he spake boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus, and disputed against the Grecians: but they went about to slay him.
Here we have a record of a man who held nothing back when he spoke for the Lord. The Bible teaches he spoke boldly in the name of Jesus. By the time of Acts 9, the church had been established for several years with many fellowships speaking the truth of Jesus Christ the returning king.
Paul, as his manner was, got himself in trouble with his bold presentation of the truth. He really got under the skin of the unbelieving gentiles to the point where they were going to kill him.
The message he spoke was twofold. First the truth was spoken accurately, as well as presenting the gospel boldly.Paul spoke with a willingness and fearlessness, eager to face danger with a sense of confidence that only comes from an experiential relationship with the Lord.
He had spoken out boldly against the lord for many years so much so that he would arrest the followers of Jesus Christ and cast then into prison. But something had happened to this man on the road to Damascus. Something so shook this great intellectual that his life changed from persecuting the name of Jesus Christ to proclaiming and protecting the church.
Acts 13:13-16 13Now when Paul and his company loosed from Paphos, they came to Perga in Pamphylia: and John departing from them returned to Jerusalem. 14But when they departed from Perga, they came to Antioch in Pisidia, and went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and sat down. 15And after the reading of the law and the prophets the rulers of the synagogue sent unto them, saying, Ye men and brethren, if ye have any word of exhortation for the people, say on. 16Then Paul stood up, and beckoning with his hand said, Men of Israel, and ye that fear God, give audience.
Beginning in verse 17 through verse 41 Paul gives an Old Testament history lesson concluding with Jesus the Christ.
Acts 13:42-45 42And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next sabbath. 43Now when the congregation was broken up, many of the Jews and religious proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas: who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God. 44And the next sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God. 45But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy, and spake against those things which were spoken by Paul contradicting and blaspheming.
God was about to do something here in this city that was bigger than the religious Jews wanted to hear about. In turn they spoke out against Paul and cursed him.
Acts 13:46-52 46Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said, It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles. 47For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth. 48And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed. 49And the word of the Lord was published throughout all the region. 50But the Jews stirred up the devout and honourable women, and the chief men of the city, and raised persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them out of their coasts. 51But they shook off the dust of their feet against them, and came unto Iconium. 52And the disciples were filled with joy, and with the Holy Ghost.
The response to the pressure not to speak out for God once again was to be bold.
Acts 14:1- 3 1And it came to pass in Iconium, that they went both together into the synagogue of the Jews, and so spake, that a great multitude both of the Jews and also of the Greeks believed. 2But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles, and made their minds evil affected against the brethren. 3Long time therefore abode they speaking boldly in the Lord, which gave testimony unto the word of his grace, and granted signs and wonders to be done by their hands.
Are you beginning to see a godly pattern develop on how to respond to criticism and opposition? Once again for a long time they spoke boldly in the Lord.
Acts 14:19-22 19And there came thither certain Jews from Antioch and Iconium, who persuaded the people, and, having stoned Paul, drew him out of the city, supposing he had been dead. 20Howbeit, as the disciples stood round about him, he rose up, and came into the city: and the next day he departed with Barnabas to Derbe. 21And when they had preached the gospel to that city, and had taught many, they returned again to Lystra, and to Iconium, and Antioch, 22Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.
How do you stop a man like this? They thought they did when they killed him, but the faithful disciples prayed and God raised Paul from the dead. And guess what he did? He went right back to boldly preaching the gospel that got him killed in the first place.
Acts 19:8-11 8And he went into the synagogue, and spake boldly for the space of three months, disputing and persuading the things concerning the kingdom of God. 9But when divers were hardened, and believed not, but spake evil of that way before the multitude, he departed from them, and separated the disciples, disputing daily in the school of one Tyrannus. 10And this continued by the space of two years; so that all they which dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks. 11And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul:
Paul spoke boldly for his Lord Jesus. The result being the true believers loved and respected him and the unbelievers hated and conspired to eliminate him. If we are held captive by the prevailing worldview of an unbelieving society, who will be the voice for God? This includes our own family.
The devil continues to pressure Christians to become silent in public. He has convinced our government (against the majority of the people) to silence anyone who speaks out for Jesus Christ. The devil runs this world, and if you are going to be politically correct you cannot serve the Lord Jesus.
Listen to what I just said. If you prefer your political views in opposition to the Bible you do not serve Jesus Christ. You can go to church, receive communion read your Bible and pray 23 hours a day. However, if you place anything before the Word of God, you have missed it completely. You may hold the Word, but the Word does not hold you.
To be continued …ÿ
Note: All scripture is from the King James Version unless otherwise noted. NIV indicates The New International Version, ASV means the American Standard Version, BBE means the Bible in Basic English, DBY means the Darby translation, and NAB means the New American Bible translation. For more information, go to the Works Cited page.