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Luke 1:1-4 That You May Have Certainty 11.10.19 · HBCWestminster

• 0:00
  Well, let's jump in. The Gospel of Luke. And you guys, I have been anticipating this day for a long time. I've been looking forward to it, praying over it, preparing for it for months, for months. And we finally now get to Luke chapter 1 and verse 1. Our text this morning will be the first four verses. I would ask, if you're able to stand in honor of God's Word, allow me to read it, then we'll pray and begin. And hear the Word of God.
• 0:29
  Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word have delivered them to us, it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, that you may have certainty concerning the things that you've been taught. You pray with me. Lord, we bless you and we thank you for worship.
• 1:04
  God, we find that music often puts words to our faith and expresses our gratitude in ways that we sometimes have trouble doing. It focuses our minds to receive your implanted word. We thank you, God, for being our Savior. We thank you, Jesus, for being our good shepherd. We thank you for being our ever-present help in time of need. And Lord, we ask this morning that you would illuminate your scriptures by sending your Holy Spirit. May we yield.
• 1:36
  to his leading and yield to his guidance, his authority. God, may we yield to your interpretation and your application of your holy word in our lives. We ask that you give us these things in Jesus' name. Amen, church? Amen. Thank you. You can be seated. I came across an article recently in the last couple of weeks entitled, Dear Church, Here's Why People Are Really Leaving You.
• 2:08
  It was written by a man who had been raised in the church and who has for many years actually even ministered within it. He's a pastor, but has become disillusioned, I think, with the established Orthodox historical American church. And so he has made an effort to become what I think in his mind he views as a voice of truth, perhaps even a harbinger for the true Savior in a culture of disbelief and skepticism. The subtitle of the article reads,
• 2:38
  A hard, honest look at why people are leaving the church. The article begins this way. Want to know why people are really leaving the church? Being on the other side of the exodus stinks, doesn't it? I see the panic on your face, church. I know the internal terror. As you see the statistics, you hear the stories, you scan the exit polls. I see you desperately scrambling to do damage control for the fence sitters.
• 3:07
  desperately scrambling to manufacture passion from the shrinking faithful. Now, if I may be so bold, I disagree with his assessment. I don't think that people are actually leaving the church in droves, as may be suggested, although some polling companies like Gallup and Barna and others may be tracking a slight downward trend in church attendance nationwide.
• 3:37
  That can only be seen if you pull back far enough that you look at the last 70 years. Okay, does that make sense? In the last 70 years, there has been a slight downward trend in church attendance among American churches. But you have to go all the way back to the 1950s to make it distinguishable. In the 1950s, they estimate that somewhere around 50% of Americans attended church weekly. Today...
• 4:07
  that number has dropped to about 40%. From 50% to 40% say they still attend church regularly. Now, that would not be, I think, defined as a wholesale exodus away from religious things, those of you who have been churchgoers since the 50s. Does it not seem, though, that although church attendance may still be very strong in the United States,
• 4:37
  Does it not seem, though, that the societal trend is away from Christian virtues, away from biblical morality, away even from an authoritative truth, a definition of right and wrong? Does it not seem as though, although many people still attend church, that our nation as a whole is rejecting the truth of God's Word? Does it not seem that way? Is we're rejecting what has been historically a relatively Christian...
• 5:08
  biblical-based morality and is now turning to something else. Doesn't it seem that way? So what gives? If that's true, I don't think that the answer is that people are abandoning religion. People are just as religious as they've ever been. The answer instead, I think, is that people are abandoning Christ. They may not be abandoning their religions. They may not be abandoning the church. But I think there has been a turning away from the Lord Jesus Christ.
• 5:43
  There are, according to Barna, about as many Christians. Now, I'm going to use a lowercase c, and I'm going to put it in quotes, okay? About as many Christians in America as there have always been. They say current numbers. They still say 75%. 75% of Americans claim to be Christians. Three out of every four. But if you define Christian as Christ-following, God-honoring, Bible-believing, disciple-making, which is, if you read this book, I think you have to define it that way, right?
• 6:11
  Bible believing, God honoring, Christ following, disciple making, that's how this book defines it. If you define Christian that way, the numbers drop significantly and quickly. We cannot, nor should we, pass judgment on our nation, but we find it to be true in our culture that many profess, many profess, but few genuinely believe. Many claim the name of Christ, but it seems have had very little contact with Him.
• 6:43
  Like the people in Jesus' time who were confused when they were left out of the kingdom at the end. Confused, saying, didn't you come to our town? And didn't we dance in the streets? And didn't we play a song for you? And didn't we do all of those things? And he says, away, I never knew you. You talked about me a little bit. You claimed the name, but you never had any real.
• 7:05
  Contact with me. I'm going to use a phrase this morning that will become kind of a theme throughout the gospel of Luke for the next 24 or so months. And the phrase comes from verse 4, verse 4, which says that you may have certainty concerning the things that you have been taught, that you may have certainty concerning the things that have been taught. What seems to be implied there is that you can be taught about Christ without actually being certain of Him.
• 7:31
  You can know about Jesus without actually being confident in him. You can even claim the name without being convinced. The phrase that we're going to use that I'll come back to frequently is this. I think many, many are taught, few are certain. You're going to notice as we study the gospel according to Luke that Luke absolutely has an agenda in his writing. He's not just...
• 7:57
  telling the story of Jesus, but he's telling it for a specific purpose. And that verse 4 is even a purpose clause. So that, for the purpose of convincing his audience that the stories that they've heard about Jesus are actually true. He's going to use what I'm going to call an apologetic approach. Apologetic approach. He not only is telling the story, he's defending the story. He's arguing the veracity of Christ's claims.
• 8:28
  Luke's gospel, he intended absolutely to be used as a history text, compelling his readers to believe. Now, if I can give a few points of introduction to the gospel itself, Luke is one of what are called the three synoptic gospels. Synoptic, and you may have heard that phrase before, but synoptic is a compound Greek word. Two words, sin or soon at the front, which means same, same. Sin means same.
• 8:59
  It's where we get the word synonym from, right? A synonym is something that means the same thing. So same, and then optic, where we get the word optic. Good, we get the word optic. It's like from a perspective, right? It has to do with your eyes, same view, same perspective. And so we say that, when we say that Matthew, Mark, and Luke are synoptic gospels, what we're saying is that they're told, three gospels told from the same perspective. In fact, many of the healings, many of the sermons and events,
• 9:30
  of Luke are actually included in the other two. If you guys have, like I do, a two-column, double-column Bible, right, where it's split into two columns each page, you may have a center column down the center. Not all of them do, but you may have a center column down the center that's called a center column cross-referencing.
• 9:48
  And so what the editors of the ESV have done is taken the stories over here, and you can see in the center column cross-referencing where that same event happens in the other two Gospels. And you're going to notice in the Gospel of Luke that there are all kinds of times where the same story is repeated in the other two. In fact, the Gospel of Mark, those 16 chapters, are 90% repeated in Matthew and Luke.
• 10:17
  90% of Mark's gospel is repeated in one or both of the other two. And so it leads you probably to ask the question, then why did Luke write? If the stories of Christ, if the message of the gospel has already been chronicled, why do we need another one? I think that there are many reasons. I'm going to include two this morning. The first, why the gospel of Luke first? Because of the strength.
• 10:47
  of eyewitness testimony. Now you're going to notice in verse 2 of our text, those who from the beginning, he says, were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word. So Luke, when he did his study, went to the original sources, many of them even apostles, ministers of the word. He went to the eyewitnesses. We know the value of eyewitness testimony. If somebody stands up,
• 11:13
  and says that they saw something and are able to articulate that, that is good. One witness is good. But what's better than one witness? Two. If you can have two eyewitnesses who said they saw the same thing and their testimony agrees, that's even better. If you can have three eyewitnesses, that's nearly impossible to deny. But a fourth? Indisputable evidence.
• 11:39
  Why four gospels? If they tell the same story, why not just one really good, all-encompassing gospel? And the reason is because of the value of eyewitness testimony. The more eyewitnesses, the stronger the argument. That's first. But second, and here's my favorite, maybe my favorite thing I'm going to say today. Why the gospel of Luke? And second is, if you have testimonies, all of which agree, what begins to stand out are the things that one testimony, one...
• 12:08
  one witness may add that the others have left out, right? The contrasts become more vivid. You say, well, what are some of the contrasts in the gospel of Luke? And I love, I love the different perspectives of the four gospels. Matthew, Levi, the tax collector, wrote to a Jewish audience.
• 12:32
  He himself was a Jew. He wrote to the Jews. The whole reason he wrote his gospel was to compel and convince the Jews to believe in their Messiah. And so as you read through the gospel of Matthew, you're going to notice all kinds of Old Testament quotations, citations, references, pictures, allusions. Matthew writing to a people who were familiar with the Old Testament, right? But the Romans didn't have any idea about the Old Testament.
• 13:00
  He used the word Messiah to them. And it was like, I mean, they didn't have any word for it. They had no clue. And so what God did was raised up John Mark. John Mark, discipled by, mentored by Peter himself, who ends up in Rome. And Peter, helping to dictate the truths of his gospel, right? The truths of that story, Mark begins to write down. And so writes the same gospel. Everybody following? It's the same story, but for a completely different audience.
• 13:30
  It's to the Romans. It's to a people of action. It's to a people of immediacy, which is why you see throughout Mark's gospel that word used again and again, immediately, immediately, immediately. Mark focuses on not so much what did Jesus say, but what did Jesus do? Those large didactic teaching portions of Matthew and Luke, the Sermon on the Mount, the Upper Room Discourse, the Olivet Discourse, all of those big, several chapter long sermons that Jesus preached are all left out.
• 14:00
  Mark focused on what Jesus did because it was for the people of action, the Romans. He said, well, what about Luke? Luke tells the same story. It is complete. It tells of the miracle-working power of Jesus. It tells the gospel-preaching power of Jesus. It tells about his crucifixion and his resurrection, just like the other ones do. But Luke wanted to write to a broader audience.
• 14:22
  Luke is the gospel for all people. Luke is the gospel actually that focuses on the humanity of Jesus more than any others, on the approachability and availability of Jesus more than any others. Luke was the gospel to all people. And we find that by noticing not what things Luke repeats from the other two, but rather what is unique to his gospel, okay? There are some stories that you guys know well.
• 14:51
  Regardless of your church background, you've heard these stories before. You've heard them, which are only found in the gospel of Luke. If Luke hadn't included them, we'd have no idea about the parable of the prodigal son. We'd have no idea. Luke wanted to make sure that his readers understood, no matter your sin, you cannot out-sin the forgiveness of God. You can't. Run away from him. Steal his stuff. Sell it all.
• 15:21
  Enjoy the things that he came to die for. And if you repent, the Father will have you back. He will run to meet you, in fact. Parable of the prodigal. You know another one unique to Luke? The parable of the good Samaritan. It's only in Luke you say, well, why does that matter? Listen, in the story, Jesus is talking about a bunch of Judeans. Hated the Samaritans.
• 15:46
  These were the religious elite. They would have thought, you got a guy beat up on the side of the road. You would assume, you would even expect that the priest would surely do something. Certainly the pastor, right? The Levite. How can you just walk by and pretend like you don't see him? Who is it that picks the guy up? Who is it that brings him to get fed? Who is it that pays for all of it? Train them up. The good Samaritan, the crummy half-breed. That's what they were.
• 16:23
  Half Jews, half Assyrian, despised by the Judeans. That's the guy. That's the guy who loved his neighbor. Only in the Gospel of Luke. Another one, the parable of the lost sheep. That he'll leave the 99 and go find the one. Only in Luke. Maybe my favorite one, unique to the Gospel of Luke. Jesus crucified between two thieves, right? There were three crosses that day. Jesus...
• 16:53
  crucified between these, what the Bible describes as insurrectionists, more than thieves. I mean, these guys were government topplers. They were treasonous, perhaps even murderous. Murderous. And Jesus crucified between the two. Now listen, that little tidbit is not unique to Luke. Matthew includes that, that there were three crosses that day, not just one. But you know what's unique to Luke? I'll bet you've heard it before, is that one of them repented and believed. That this thief.
• 17:23
  who began by mocking Jesus. It says on either side, actually, we're mocking him. You saved others. You can't save us. What kind of savior are you? They began mocking him. Jesus begins ministering to them as he's hanging there, begins ministering to them. And it says that one repents and believes. This thief, at the end of his life, he had done nothing good. If you came this morning and you think, you know what, I've got to clean myself up.
• 17:49
  I've got to clean myself up before I come to the presence of God. I don't want to walk into the God's throne room with muddy shoes on. Then this story is for you, the thief on the cross. God didn't change anything about his life before he repented. He didn't clean himself up. He had no time. He's hanging on the cross. He's going to die within hours. And Jesus says, today you will enjoy paradise. Today you will be with me in paradise. What great news. Listen, the gospel of Luke is for you.
• 18:19
  Fill in your name here. It's for you. Jew or Gentile does not matter. Your ethnicity does not matter. Your gender does not matter. Your station in life, wealthy, poor, whatever, does not matter. In fact, not even your sin, not even your sin matters. Hebrews 7, verse 25 says, he who sins to the uttermost.
• 18:42
  can still receive the forgiveness of God. The worst sinner on earth can still repent on his deathbed. Yes, that can happen for real. That's the gospel of Luke. Well, a couple of points this morning and we'll be done. First, who was he? Who was Luke? As we look at his prologue this morning, who was Luke? First, you'll notice that Luke was a doctor. And when we know this, it's kind of famous about Luke, in fact.
• 19:15
  Luke was a doctor. Colossians chapter 4 and verse 14, the Apostle Paul even says, Luke, the beloved physician, Luke, MD, right? That would have been him. He was a doctor loved by the Apostle Paul, even became one of the Apostle Paul's traveling companions, which we'll talk about in just a minute. When you think of Luke as a doctor, don't think of like a wealthy luxury car kind of doctor. That's not the kind of doctor he was. Physicians in the ancient world were even very frequently hired.
• 19:45
  by those wealthy luxury car drivers, okay? And so what you would do, if you were very wealthy in the ancient world, medicine was very expensive then. And I know that it's so cheap now that that's hard to even grasp and understand. But they actually had to pay quite a bit of money for it. And it seems like the bills never ended. You have three sons. You're like, those bills really never end. But the physicians in the ancient world were very frequently hired by wealthy men and women.
• 20:14
  in order to become their kind of personal private doctor. That's what they would have, private health care. So if you wanted to have health care, you know, whatever your medical needs met, you would actually go and hire a doctor and he'd work for you. Now, some, maybe even some doctors were slaves of the one to whom they offered medical care. I have heard from some pastors, from some pulpits, I have heard them say that Luke was a slave.
• 20:42
  You know what? Honestly, he could have been. The Bible never says that, okay? So if you hear people say that, it's conjecture. It may be accurate conjecture. I don't tend to think that it was. I do think, though, that Luke was hired privately by a very wealthy Gentile named Theophilus. Theophilus is referenced two times in God's Word. One here in verse 3, Luke chapter 1. The other time in Acts chapter 1. Luke dedicates...
• 21:10
  both of his books to this guy, Theophilus, the man who was probably his wealthy employer, the man who probably loaned out Dr. Luke to the Apostle Paul for the purpose of caring for the great missionary to the Gentiles. Now, I'm going to speculate a little bit, okay? Theophilus, no doubt a Gentile man, no doubt wealthy, has a private physician, Luke.
• 21:40
  Okay? Who was good at his job? He's capable. He's incredibly intelligent, articulate. He is literate. Theophilus, having been saved by the gospel that was more than likely perpetuated by the Apostle Paul, now hears the Apostle Paul is sick. Okay? And it is well known that the Apostle Paul struggled with physical maladies his entire life. From the beginning of his ministry, in Galatians chapter 4, what was, I think, the first book
• 22:10
  Apostle Paul ever wrote, okay? From the beginning of his ministry, Galatians chapter 4 and verse 13, the Apostle Paul says, you know that it was because of a bodily ailment that I preached the gospel to you at first. So Paul is getting ready to go on this massive missionary journey. Everybody following? He has stopped in his tracks because of some bodily ailment. It stops him in Galatia. He begins to preach. He wins converts. He plants
• 22:40
  churches and the region of Galatia. Now we hear about them because of this bodily ailment. A few verses later, Galatians chapter 4 and verse 16 says, and if possible, he's talking to the Galatian church, you would have even gouged out your own eyes and given them to me. I think the implication is there that the apostle Paul's physical bodily ailment was something to do with his eyes. Vision, some even think that maybe he was blind.
• 23:10
  The apostle Paul was blind. I mean, couldn't see. He says, you cared for me, would have even gouged out your own eyes so that I could continue. And so I think it possible that Theophilus sent his own private doctor to accompany the apostle in order to ensure that Paul had the best medical care available as he made disciples and he planted churches. We also, though, see in the introduction of both Luke and Acts that the books are even dedicated to this guy.
• 23:40
  It's most likely that Theophilus was responsible for the funding of these projects. Let's take an aside for just a minute. Let's talk about Theophilus. Who on earth was this guy? You know, Scripture never really says. In fact, his name, Theophilus, was almost certainly not even his actual name. Rather, a pseudonym chosen by him so that he could retain his anonymity. Here's what I mean.
• 24:13
  Luke had every intention of naming the guy, giving credit to the guy who sent him on Paul's missionary journeys, who sent him as a traveling companion, seeing these churches planted, these miracles done, and who even paid for much of it. Funding of the project. And so, as is the case today, every movie credit, every book, this book is dedicated to whoever, right? Every time I'm going to mention your name, you better not put my name in there. Well, what name do you want me to put? You put the name Theophilus.
• 24:42
  Theophilus. Theophilus literally means God-lover. God-lover. Theos, God, phileo, lover, right? God-lover. Call me the God-lover, the one in love with God. And listen, church, if we get to the end of our lives, if we get to the end of our lives and nobody remembers our name, nobody remembers Danny Gardner, what they remember is God-lover. Praise God. Put that on my tombstone. Leave the dates off. I don't care.
• 25:12
  Right? God lover. If that's the only thing the world ever knows about me, praise God. If that's the only thing, if that's the only name that they remember from us, if we get to the end of our generation, we are now stewards of Highland Baptist Church. If we come to the end of our generation here at Highland and nobody remembers our name, all they remember is that Jesus was preached. His name famous. We live in obscurity. Praise God we've done our jobs. Amen? That was Theophilus. But more than that, what else can you know about him? More than that,
• 25:42
  The kingdom was more important to him than his own money, right? The private funding of God's word going out. It was more important than his own money and it was more important than his own health. He was willing to send his own doctor. He didn't see Luke again for like 30 years. Can you imagine? No healthcare for 30 years. That's the choice that he made.
• 26:06
  It's more important that the gospel goes out. It's more important that the Gentiles be saved. Can I get an amen from the Gentiles, right? Here we all are. It's more important than my own physical health. And Lord, make us like Theophilus, who would count our own needs, our own money, our own health, secondary to the gospel going out, secondary to the kingdom advancing. The life of Theophilus reminds me of one of my favorite songs. We only rarely sing it, and that's okay. It's kind of an old school one.
• 26:37
  The song says, make me a servant, humble and meek. Lord, let me lift up those who are weak and may the prayer of my heart always be, make me a servant, make me a servant, make me a servant today. Beloved church, let's make that our heartfelt prayer, that we be servants in the kingdom. Make us, Lord, like Theophilus, who consider everything we own secondary to getting the gospel out. That's first. Luke was a doctor. Second, Luke was...
• 27:07
  A Gentile. Luke was a Gentile, and this is important to note. Luke, in fact, was the only non-Jewish writer of any New Testament book. He was the only one. You say, well, who cares? As we've said, Luke's intention was to convince his readers, all of his readers, no matter their ethnicity, no matter their station in life, no matter the severity of their sin, to believe.
• 27:42
  And the early church, if you read through the New Testament letters, and especially from the Apostle Paul, the early church had a crisis. Their crisis was that the Jewish believers were having a hard time accepting their Gentile brothers.
• 28:00
  And throughout the book of Acts, and then all the way throughout the epistles of Paul, you have this Judaizer argument, Jews and Gentiles, and what is circumcision, and does circumcision matter? Do people have to become Jews before they can become Christians? That is this argument throughout the New Testament. It's not so much today, and we praise God for it. But then, I mean, the church was at crisis. It really was. Trying to figure out this Jew versus Gentile debate, it was a huge deal.
• 28:29
  And so God decides to inspire another sacred text, another gospel about his own son. He wants it to include the Gentiles. And so who does he choose as the author? A Gentile. A Gentile. Now here's why that's awesome. Luke wrote Acts and Luke, right? He wrote two New Testament books. But who was it that wrote more than anybody else in the New Testament? The Apostle Paul. Everybody always says the Apostle Paul.
• 29:00
  Paul's only the guy if you count by number of books. He wrote 13, okay? But if you count by number of New Testament words, it's not Paul. It's Luke. Luke, word for word, wrote more than any other New Testament author. The first chapter of Luke is longer than many of Paul's letters. It's four times longer than Jude's letter to the churches that we've been studying for the last month.
• 29:32
  His first chapter is 80 verses long. If you look at number of books, it's Paul. But if you look at number of words, number of pages of your New Testament, it's not Paul. It's Luke, the Gentile, making an argument saying, come to Jesus. Nobody left out. Nobody excluded. Jews, Gentiles, slave, free, rich, poor. All of them have a Savior in Jesus. That's second.
• 30:02
  Luke was a Gentile. Third, Luke was humble. Luke was humble. You know, perhaps I think the most admirable quality of our author is that he was content to remain in the background. Nowhere in his books, not one time does he refer to himself by name. Not one time. He's not eager to receive credit. He chronicles 30 plus years in the life of Jesus. Then he chronicles an additional 30 years of church history. And nowhere does he seek to receive credit. In fact,
• 30:32
  The book of Acts is unique in the New Testament because it is the only book chronicling the infancy of the church. In the gospel writings, you have the church predicted, right? Jesus says, on this rock, I will build my church.
• 30:48
  right? The gates of Hades will not prevail. A couple of chapters later, if anybody sins against you and he repeats his sin and he is belligerent in his sin and fails to repent, refuses to repent, then you've got to take it to the church, right? Church discipline. He refers to the church several times. It's predicted, but it doesn't yet exist. You can imagine his apostles standing around like, you know, write this stuff down. Like the gates of Hades will not prevail against my church. You can imagine Peter standing there like, what's a church? Like, what are you talking about?
• 31:18
  The church. You know, they still thought Jesus was going to establish his throne and reign and rule on earth from that day. That's still what they thought. What on earth is a church? By the time you get to the apostle Paul's writing, somewhere 30 years later, the church is presumed. He's talking to church elders. He's talking to church leadership. Here's how the church functions. What about that 30-year gap? You know, the only writing in history.
• 31:49
  The only reason we know what happened in the first 30 years of the church is because of the book of Acts. Luke is the only history of infant church. He's the only one talking about the pouring out of the Holy Spirit in Acts chapter 2 and the church being born. He's the only one. One book in all of human history. And he still never writes his name in it. Still never gets credit. Never writes down who he is. Never mentions his name. In fact, his name is only mentioned three times in the entire New Testament.
• 32:19
  None of them by Luke. His desire was, I really think genuinely, to remain in humble anonymity, to allow the majesty of Christ to shine through. And church, let's make that our desire. Humble anonymity, content to remain in the background, unnamed, no credit, no honor that is due to the Lord alone. Amen? Amen. Last, what is the book's theme?
• 32:47
  What is the book's theme? I've already told you it's got an apologetic approach, compelling his readers to be convinced, to be certain of the truths that they've been taught. But what is the book's theme? And I think that that can be summed up in one word, and it comes in verse 1. It says, inasmuch as many have undertaken. Now, apparently many were seeking to write gospel histories. All of them have been lost apart from Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
• 33:17
  But in his message, he says, as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have been, now here's the word, accomplished. Do you guys all see that? The things that have been accomplished among us. Not just what did Jesus say, not just what did Jesus do, but rather what did Jesus accomplish? There's an after effect. Not only did he fulfill, but he accomplished. The Greek word for accomplished.
• 33:47
  is an intensive compound word. It indicates the complete fulfillment of a task. What Jesus set out to do, He did. Every prophecy given about Him, He fulfilled. Every law demanded by the justice of God was appeased in the person of Christ. Every holy day, every event, every feast, every celebration, every sacrifice, every offering, all of it,
• 34:19
  accomplished, finished. Christ accomplished salvation for his people. He accomplished the absorption of the wrath of God. I love that new song that we're singing in church, Yes and Amen. I love it. It's been around in the youth group for a little while. It's been around in the young adults ministry for a little while. It's been on all of your Spotify accounts for a little while, right? So it's not like it's new to us, but I love that we're introducing it to the church and especially for this Thanksgiving season.
• 34:50
  All your promises are yes and amen. All your promises find fulfillment in Jesus. In fact, Jesus is even called the amen. Revelation chapter 3 and verse 14, the letter to the church at Laodicea, the famous one, the lukewarm one that Jesus is going to spit out of his mouth, Jesus is actually called the amen.
• 35:12
  The words of the amen, like Pastor Sam said, amen just means let it happen. Let it be so. Anytime we say amen, we're giving agreement. And Revelation 3 says Jesus is the amen. Jesus is the one who makes it happen. Make it happen. Jesus is the one who accomplishes. We say faithful you are, faithful you ever will be, forever you will be because of what Jesus accomplished. Amen, church?
• 35:45
  Amen. I do think the church in our nation is at crisis, is in crisis, but it's not because of church attendance. That's not it. People attend church. That's what they do. We're Americans. We go to church. Nobody works on Sundays because we're Americans. We go to church. But that has nothing to do with being convinced of the gospel. It is possible to be sitting under the teaching of God's word and still not be certain.
• 36:14
  and still not be convinced. And so, Lord, I ask, I ask that over the next two years, God, if there are people who have been taught but don't know, who claim the name of Christ but have never actually met you, encountered you, experienced you for themselves, God, that they would be certain of the things that they have been taught, convinced of the truths of your word. And Lord, I ask that you would make us like Theophilus, considering ourselves servants for the sake of the kingdom.
• 36:45
  Lord, that you would make us like Luke, content never to be named, never to receive credit, making the voice of our mouths, God, filled with the glory of your Son. God, no matter who we are and no matter what we've done, may the praise of our Savior, Jesus Christ, be on our lips. May we, at the end of this study, be convinced that he is who he said he is. And it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen, church? Amen. Let's stand up and sing together.