Preach the Word!

As i have been studying the book of Acts preparing for a series for my youth group, i have read and noticed some excellent things about the book. I would also like to recommend a book that should be on every expositor's shelf. The book is The Message of the New Testament by Mark Dever. The book is a series of sermons that Dever has preached at Capitol Hill Baptist in Washington D.C. The cool thing is that each sermon overviews an entire book of the New Testament. Although the highly-specific details of each passage are not and cannot all be elaborated, Dever does a wonderful job of giving one preparing to preach some very helpful insights, allowing them to clearly see the big picture of each book of the Bible before they study the small parts...and shouldn't this be our goal as Believers...showing the big picture before the small details? None of us were converted by studying the biblical details on the millennium, were we? And i know nobody who's life was transformed by performing a character study on Paul. We were saved by the Gospel...THE big picture of the Bible. It is God reaching out to us through His son Jesus. This IS the major doctrine of the Bible, for there is no other name under heaven in which we may be saved.

And speaking of the Gospel is what i found so fascinating. Dever mentions that in his sermon at Pentecost, Peter does not have to argue for the truth of the death and resurrection of Jesus. He states it as if it was known by all the non-believers in Jerusalem at that time. Peter says: "this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for Him to be held by it..." (2:23-24). Notice that Peter does not argue for the resurrection of the dead, as Paul had to in Athens and other places. It was taken as a fact! Dever says that the people there had either seen or heard from someone who had seen Christ risen, and therefore had no trouble listening to and believing what Peter was saying in his sermon.

Today, we do not have this freedom. In our pluralistic, authority and intention-questioning culture, we cannot proclaim the Gospel like Peter did because so many have no clue who Jesus is...or if they think they do, many are mistaken, making Jesus be who they want Him to be in their own minds. We must prove the Gospel by letting it speak for itself through the proclamation of the Word of God, then allow the Holy Spirit to draw those who hear to repentance (2 Tim. 2:25). We must not be silent...for this is exactly what Satan wants. He wants his preaching to be the only preaching heard in the world. No wonder Christ rebuked him with the Truth! May we do the same to those who teach lies, yet with gentleness and respect.