Standing Firm in Faith Amidst Worldly Pressures
Devotional
Sermon Summary
Bible Study Guide
Sermon Clips
### Quotes for Outreach
1. "As the structures and the moral assumptions of the world around us changes, and it grows darker and darker and weirder and weirder all the time. These are the pressures that we face out there, either sometimes in our family and friend circles, at the places where we work, at the places where we go to school, our social media circles, the media that we watch. We face these pressures, and we get the sense that, well, Christians are old-fashioned. They're oppressive, they're evil, they're rotten, and you're an idiot if you think the things that Christians actually think. We feel those pressures from the world around us. Those pressures are actually real." [27:33]
2. "So our task, our task as Christians, is to be so rooted in the truth of the gospel and to be so in love with Jesus Christ that the temptation toward falsehood and evil actually becomes repellent to us. Now that's an important move in the life of the Christian." [29:10]
3. "Friends, I don't know if you feel this or not, but the world wants Christians to sit down and shut up. They just do. The world wants Christians to either just sit down and shut up, or they just do. Just sit down and shut up. Stay inside of your four walls. And we might even tell you what you're allowed to think and say and believe inside of those four walls. In fact, maybe you just should sit down, bend over, crack, and capitulate. The world is putting this pressure upon the Christian church. And Paul says, I don't want that. I want you to stand." [25:41]
4. "Fear is a powerful thing. And fear can be misused. Fear can be manipulative. Fear can be blackmail. Friends, fear of the wrong things is actually a temptation to fall. Instead of standing, instead of striving and moving forward, if we become afraid of the wrong things, we don't do that anymore. So it itself is a temptation to fall. And fear at the right point and in the right context is actually sin against God. It's actually a form of rebellion against the providence and the sovereignty of the God that you and I belong to." [39:15]
### Quotes for Members
1. "Now many of you, who got saved later in life, where you kind of have this story of what life was like before you got saved and the things that happened to you, the lifestyle that you were involved in, and Christ came in and radically transformed you, often the rest of that story is, and that old way of life is repellent to me now. It doesn't attract me anymore because now I have the truth of the gospel of the kingdom of God. Now I have the truth of the love of Jesus Christ. And you see the things that we want begin to change. I no longer want that. I remember that destruction and I don't want that anymore." [29:10]
2. "I want to hear that you're standing. I don't want to hear that any of you have decided to just disappear into the background. I need to know that you're standing for the cause of the gospel. And striving side by side. This is a beautiful little phrase. The Greek word for striving side by side is pronounced sunathleo. S-Y-N, and then the Greek word athleo. S-Y-N, now there are some words in Greek that you look at a little bit and you think, oh, this word actually kind of makes a little bit of sense." [30:41]
3. "So Paul intends, Christ intends his church to gain ground, to spread the light of the gospel in a world that is lost in darkness. So we strive side by side for the faith of the gospel, the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Christ, we bear witness to our neighbor with what we say and how we speak and how we live. We live lives of faithfulness, both in private and in public. This is part of how the church just stands out. We speak the truth of the gospel wherever we are and however God has given us the opportunity to do so. We do what we can wherever God has put us." [34:58]
4. "I want to hear that you're striving side by side for the faith of the gospel not frightened in anything by your opponents. Some of you are right now thinking, I'm glad he's not going through four verses. I've got stuff to do today. But this is important. We stand. In one spirit and one mind, we strive side by side. And a man in prison, who he thinks might be on his way to death, says, I don't want you to be frightened by your opponents. I don't want you to be frightened in anything by your opponents." [36:31]
5. "So the Christian's citizenship is inside of the kingdom of God. It is rooted and grounded in Christ, in the outworking of the Holy Spirit in the life of his church. It is who we are together in Christ that gives these things meaning and foundation. And purpose. So friends, we just need to see it clearly. As Paul says, I want your manner of life to be worthy of the gospel. We recognize this. The standard for our citizenship is the gospel, the word of God. This is our standard. This is where we get our sense of how God has created things to work." [18:45]
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1. "As the structures and the moral assumptions of the world around us changes, and it grows darker and darker and weirder and weirder all the time. These are the pressures that we face out there, either sometimes in our family and friend circles, at the places where we work, at the places where we go to school, our social media circles, the media that we watch. We face these pressures, and we get the sense that, well, Christians are old-fashioned. They're oppressive, they're evil, they're rotten, and you're an idiot if you think the things that Christians actually think. We feel those pressures from the world around us. Those pressures are actually real." [27:33]
2. "So our task, our task as Christians, is to be so rooted in the truth of the gospel and to be so in love with Jesus Christ that the temptation toward falsehood and evil actually becomes repellent to us. Now that's an important move in the life of the Christian." [29:10]
3. "Friends, I don't know if you feel this or not, but the world wants Christians to sit down and shut up. They just do. The world wants Christians to either just sit down and shut up, or they just do. Just sit down and shut up. Stay inside of your four walls. And we might even tell you what you're allowed to think and say and believe inside of those four walls. In fact, maybe you just should sit down, bend over, crack, and capitulate. The world is putting this pressure upon the Christian church. And Paul says, I don't want that. I want you to stand." [25:41]
4. "Fear is a powerful thing. And fear can be misused. Fear can be manipulative. Fear can be blackmail. Friends, fear of the wrong things is actually a temptation to fall. Instead of standing, instead of striving and moving forward, if we become afraid of the wrong things, we don't do that anymore. So it itself is a temptation to fall. And fear at the right point and in the right context is actually sin against God. It's actually a form of rebellion against the providence and the sovereignty of the God that you and I belong to." [39:15]
### Quotes for Members
1. "Now many of you, who got saved later in life, where you kind of have this story of what life was like before you got saved and the things that happened to you, the lifestyle that you were involved in, and Christ came in and radically transformed you, often the rest of that story is, and that old way of life is repellent to me now. It doesn't attract me anymore because now I have the truth of the gospel of the kingdom of God. Now I have the truth of the love of Jesus Christ. And you see the things that we want begin to change. I no longer want that. I remember that destruction and I don't want that anymore." [29:10]
2. "I want to hear that you're standing. I don't want to hear that any of you have decided to just disappear into the background. I need to know that you're standing for the cause of the gospel. And striving side by side. This is a beautiful little phrase. The Greek word for striving side by side is pronounced sunathleo. S-Y-N, and then the Greek word athleo. S-Y-N, now there are some words in Greek that you look at a little bit and you think, oh, this word actually kind of makes a little bit of sense." [30:41]
3. "So Paul intends, Christ intends his church to gain ground, to spread the light of the gospel in a world that is lost in darkness. So we strive side by side for the faith of the gospel, the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Christ, we bear witness to our neighbor with what we say and how we speak and how we live. We live lives of faithfulness, both in private and in public. This is part of how the church just stands out. We speak the truth of the gospel wherever we are and however God has given us the opportunity to do so. We do what we can wherever God has put us." [34:58]
4. "I want to hear that you're striving side by side for the faith of the gospel not frightened in anything by your opponents. Some of you are right now thinking, I'm glad he's not going through four verses. I've got stuff to do today. But this is important. We stand. In one spirit and one mind, we strive side by side. And a man in prison, who he thinks might be on his way to death, says, I don't want you to be frightened by your opponents. I don't want you to be frightened in anything by your opponents." [36:31]
5. "So the Christian's citizenship is inside of the kingdom of God. It is rooted and grounded in Christ, in the outworking of the Holy Spirit in the life of his church. It is who we are together in Christ that gives these things meaning and foundation. And purpose. So friends, we just need to see it clearly. As Paul says, I want your manner of life to be worthy of the gospel. We recognize this. The standard for our citizenship is the gospel, the word of God. This is our standard. This is where we get our sense of how God has created things to work." [18:45]
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