Finish the Mission

Thank you very much to the combined choir. What a beautiful song, and I love that last ringing note.

I don't know how many of you heard it, but there was a young man in the back that went, WOAH! He liked it. He enjoyed it. Well, how's everybody holding up? He had lunch, you got full bellies, hitting that 345 slump. It's a good thing it's not hot in here.

I have my work ahead of me today. Well, brethren, in 490 BC, the Greeks and the Persians fought the Battle of Marathon. Some of you may be familiar, and I have to apologize to the person who's signing for me today, because their Greek names, the number of finger spellings that she is going to have to do for some of these Greek names, I wrote them out for her. So, she's going to be awake. But in 490 BC, the Greeks and the Persians fought the Battle of Marathon, and King Darius I, who was first in a response to the Ionian revolt. There was a section of Ionia that revolted against Persian rule. And as a response to that, they were aided by the Athenians. And as a response to that assistance that Athens provided them, he sent trireme after trireme, full of Persian soldiers, to punish Athens for their assistance in the rebellion. 600 triremes full of soldiers landed on a small beach in Marathon, a small stretch of beach there at the Bay of Marathon, a force that's been estimated by ancient historians of numbering somewhere in the 200 to 300,000 range. Now, modern historians, who don't like to agree with anything that ancient historians think, estimate closer to 25,000. Look, I don't care if it's 200,000 to 300,000 or 25,000. When you look at the numbers the Athenians had, they outnumbered the Athenian force by at least two to one. At least two to one, quite possibly more than that. Under the order of militayeties, like I said, our work's going to be cut out for. I apologize. Militayeties, the Athenian commander, the army positioned themselves to block the exits from the beach. There were two ways off the beach, and essentially the Athenians jammed themselves up in those two spots to hold the Persians on that beach. And what they did was they sent someone called a haemorrhomadromoi... try that one more time... a haemorrhodromoi in Greek, which essentially means day runner or courier or messenger. And these people were known for their ability to run all day long without stopping, or for multiple days if needed, without stopping, to deliver dispatches and messages and things like that. In this case, this person was dispatched from the battlefield to Sparta to try to muster up reinforcements to support the Athenians to drive back the Persian army. Well, Theodipides was the haemorrhodrome chosen, and he took off at once. And he ran over the rocky and the jagged Greek terrain. He ran over fields. He ran over mountains. And he navigated a 150 mile distance between the battlefield at the Bay of Marathon and Sparta in what historians record in about two days. He ran through the night. He ran through the day. And he arrived in Sparta, and his Herodotus record seems to imply non-stop. And he arrived in Sparta, breathless, you might imagine. But it wasn't just enough to show up. He now had to convince the Spartans that they wanted to send people to fight. And so he stops and...

Okay, so here's the story.

One second, right? And he explains to the Spartans what is going on. Well, it worked, but there was one small problem. The Spartans were in the middle of a religious festival to which they had to be peaceful until the rising of the full moon, which was six days away. And so the Spartans said, in six days we will send every fighting man we can muster. Just hold him for six days. And the Athenian force, which was roughly 10,000 or so, the Adipides realized there was no way they'd make it six days if left on their own. So he did the unthinkable. He turned around and he ran 150 miles from Sparta back to the battlefield at Marathon in order to let the commander know that reinforcements were not coming. That knowledge would change the Athenian's battle strategy.

If they knew that no one was coming, you now had to fight in a very different way.

For the next two days, again, as he ran back over rough Greek terrain over plains and mountains, he ran to deliver his message. He arrived. The battle had been stalemate. He had gone back and forth for about three, four days while he was gone and he was running. Neither side had gained much ground. But when the Adipides told the general the Spartans weren't coming, the general said, well, then we're going to have to change our tactics. The next morning, they charged the ranks of the Persians and surprised them beyond all surprise as they broke through their front ranks and just massacred the Persian force. They didn't see him coming. They didn't expect a full charge.

And ultimately, they routed and broke the Persian resolve, stopping the army, and the remaining soldiers jumped in their boats and took off. They fled. They got out of there as quickly as they could.

Now, modern legend has it that the Adipides then turned around and ran 25 miles from Marathon to Athens to deliver the news that the Athenians were victorious, which is where we get the marathon.

That's where that comes from. 26.2 miles. It's supposed to follow the run of the Adipides from Marathon to Athens to exclaim victory. Now, according to the legend, he arrives breathless.

He exclaims, Nike, Nike, Nenechiacum, which means victory, victory, rejoice, we conquer.

And upon that last breath, he died. According to the legend. Now, as everyone's going, what? That's the worst story ever! The historians are split on the final part of the story.

Most believe that the 300 miles in four days is true, but the first mention of 25 miles to marathon and dying upon exclamation is from a writing from the second century. And so they believe that that aspect may not have been the Adipides. So either way, he ran through the night, he ran through the day, subsisting on foods that he had on his person, or you could quickly find on the route that he ran from Athens to Sparta and back.

As you look at military history, the Battle of Marathon is viewed as a critical battle in Western history because it was largely responsible for inspiring other Greek states to realize, hey, we can rebel against the Persians, too. Not only that, many historians view it as really the beginning of the end of the Persian Empire. Alexander conquered the remainder of it, a little over 30 years later, establishing Greek superiority over much of the known world. You know, the Adipides' mission was integral to the Athenian victory.

Without him completing his mission, without him informing his general that the Spartans weren't coming, you know, it would have been really easy just to go, well, I tried! You guys are on your own. That's 150 miles away. I'm safe. You know, it would have been really easy to go, you know, I'm good. I just ran that 150 miles. I don't necessarily want to do it again. But he turned around and he finished his mission. The message that he was given and the mission that he was to complete changed the course of history.

And in the final passages of the books of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, we see Christ take the time before his ascension to give his disciples a message and a mission. If you want to begin turning over to Luke 24, we'll go ahead and head there today. In this section, whether it's Matthew, whether it's Mark, whether it's Luke, he's explaining to them they are to go out into the world. They were to take that gospel message, they were to take it out, and they were to preach it to the world.

They were to explain to all who would hear, anyone who would hear. They were to explain the gospel of the kingdom of God, the importance of repentance, the importance of baptism for the remission of sins. Christ told the disciples that the church of God, as we know it today, would essentially have its beginning in Jerusalem and it would spread outward from there. So let's go ahead and take a look at his words as they're recorded in the book of Luke.

If you turn to Luke 24 again, please. Luke 24, we'll go ahead and pick up the account in verse 44. And prior to this section, contextually, Christ had appeared to them, he'd addressed them, proved his identity, and he goes on in verse 44 of Luke 24 to say the following. He said to them, these are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses and the prophets in the Psalms concerning me.

And he opened their understanding that they might comprehend the Scriptures. He helped them to understand these words that he had given them so that they would recognize their part in this and his part in this. Verse 46, then he said to them, thus it is written and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day. And that repentance and remission of sin should be preached in his name to all nations beginning at Jerusalem.

And he says, and you are witnesses of these things. And then in verse 49, behold I send you the promise of my Father upon you, but Terry, wait, Terry, in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high. The only other two locations in Matthew 28 and Mark 16, Christ gives his disciples the instruction to go, to depart, to take that gospel with them as they go out into the world, to take it to the world surrounding Jerusalem, to preach the gospel of the kingdom of God. Yet, right here in the book of Luke, he provides an additional instruction that we don't see recorded in the other two accounts.

He tells them go, but he also tells them, but wait, Terry, in Jerusalem, until you are imbued with power on high, then go, then go out, then do what I told you to do. He tells them to wait until the promise of the Father, that comfort that he spoke of on the evening of his betrayal, would come. And, brethren, that is the very promise that we are here on the day of Pentecost to commemorate the giving of the Holy Spirit to God's people and the absolute change of game that was going forward from that point in time.

That giving of God's Spirit, that event, was a catalyst of growth in the church. It was a necessary first step in the process of them going out into the world and being able to complete their mission. And that mission is a mission that has been handed down throughout history to us.

To preach the gospel of the kingdom of God.

The title of this split...

Let's get the tongue working today. I promise I'm not speaking in tongues, because you didn't understand it. The title of this second split sermon today is Finish the Mission.

And today, with the time that we have left, I'd like to examine three points as to how we can go forward from this day. As we look at everything that this day has, all the meaning, all the symbolism, how do we go forward from this day and complete the mission, finish the mission that's been entrusted to us? The three points we're going to take a look at today are, number one, we're going to maintain the proper focus. Maintain the proper focus.

Number two, we're going to prepare appropriately.

Prepare appropriately. And lastly, point number three, we're going to boldly live our faith.

We're going to boldly live our faith. So we'll start with maintaining a proper focus.

For the theedipides, during this run that he was doing, there was a singular focus. I mean, I don't know how many you've done distance running of any kind in the past or have had any experience with it, but you have got to have a singular focus. You know, you almost have to have that thing off in the distance that your focus is on, and you can't be thinking about other things.

Because when you start to think about other things, you start to kind of wonder, well, I suppose I could stop. I don't really have to keep running. You know, in this case, though, for theedipides, he had to finish his mission. Everything else was secondary. The outcome of the battle, the lives of his countrymen, they all hung in the balance and required him to finish his mission. For him, the only thing that mattered was delivering that message to the Spartans, and then, of course, when he discovered that he had to turn around and go back, making it back to deliver the message again. I want you to put yourselves in his shoes for just a minute, or probably sandals at that time, or barefoot, maybe. But can you imagine for a moment you just ran as hard as you possibly could, 150 miles, to deliver a message, thinking that with that delivery, you get to watch their army mobilize and march towards the Bay of Marathon while you go, ah, all right, it's done. Message received, they're sending the army, it's all taken care of. But instead, having to then turn around and run the 150 miles back to let them know they weren't coming. Talk about mental fortitude. The ability to just realize, okay, this is unfortunate, but I have no choice. I have to be able to do this. He ran with a singular focus and a dogged determination to see that mission through to the end. And as a result of that focus, of that determination, and of course, physical preparation, he completed his mission. When we consider our mission, when we consider the message that we've been entrusted to take to the world, what is our focus? What is our focus? Let's go ahead and turn over to Acts 2. We were just here. In fact, you know, you always run the risk when you're the last guy up in the day that kept leaning over to my wife going, well, there goes three, there goes four. That's all right, we're gonna read them again.

Acts 2, and we'll go ahead and pick it up in verse 42. Acts 2 and verse 42. And when we think about a focus, when we think about what we do going forward from today, going forward from this day, as brethren, what is it that we do? Acts 2 and verse 42, it was just mentioned here in Mr.

Herman's first split, and they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and in fellowship and in breaking of bread and in prayers. Then the fear came upon, or then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. Now all who believed were together, and they had all things in common. They sold their possessions and their goods, and they divided them among all, as anyone had need. Verse 46, so continuing daily with one accord, being together in mind and spirit in the temple and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and with simplicity of heart. Praising God and having favor with all the people, and the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.

You know, I love, absolutely love reading through the book of Acts. It is such just a just edifying read to look and see what it is that God was doing in his church, and is still doing in his church today. As the disciples went forward from that day of Pentecost, as they were emboldened with that spirit of God, they turned the world upside down. They turned the world upside down.

They went from city to city, causing an incredible amount of consternation with Jewish officials, with Gentile officials. As you read the book of Acts and you see the events that occurred as the early church grew, as we see the travels of Paul and Bartimas, as we see Peter and we see James, we see the remainder of Christ's disciples going out into the world and completing their missions.

In the accounts that we see, they had little concern for their own safety. They had little concern for their life. They had a singular focus. Get the message out and finish the mission.

Let's go over to Hebrews 12. Hebrews 12. Kind of see what that focus is and where that focus lies.

Hebrews 12. We'll go ahead and pick it up in verse 1 of Hebrews 12.

Hebrews 12 and verse 1. It says, Therefore, we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, referencing the folks lined out there in Hebrews 11, let us lay aside every weight, the things that hold us back, the things that slow us down, lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.

And where, verse 2, is our focus on? Looking unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. Do we maintain this focus?

Keeping our eyes on Christ as the author and the finisher of our faith.

Or do we let ourselves get distracted? Let ourselves get pulled off into the weeds, so to speak.

We mentioned it before, it would have been so easy for theodipides to see things on the side of his periphery as he ran. The cool stream that would have felt so good to just hop in, maybe take a little swim. The vineyard of grapes that would have been just fantastic to lay down in and eat.

Or maybe an inn along the side of a road as he got into some civilization and he thought, you know, I bet there's a room in there that's got a bed. He just lay down for a while.

Instead, he looked to the end result of his mission. He focused on what needed to be done, and he finished that race. In addition to Hebrews 12, Matthew 6, verse 33, admonished thus, to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. These two things need to be our focus. Christ is the author and the finisher of our faith, and the kingdom of God, and his righteousness. That is what our eyes are on in the distance. The periphery doesn't matter.

That's the focus. And so, as we consider our lives going forward from today, do we allow distractions?

Do we allow the cares of this world? Things that ultimately are not important to get in the way of things that are important. Are we forging forward? Rather than we must maintain a proper focus in order to achieve the mission that has been entrusted to us. The second point today is that we need to prepare appropriately. As you might imagine, the theodipides was specifically prepared for the task in which he undertook. This was not a guy who had never run a mile in his life.

This is what he did. He was a day runner. This is what he did. He ran dispatches and messages all over Greece. This was his job. This is what he did all the time. He was very prepared physically for the mission that he was given. Christ told his disciples to wait and to tarry until the day of Pentecost in Jerusalem, until the gift of God's Holy Spirit imbued those gathered with power from on high, until that catalyst was delivered, until the people that they preached to had an opportunity to truly understand what they were saying once they had accepted that Holy Spirit in their life and they had been baptized and they had repented of their sins. The pouring out of that Holy Spirit on this day of Pentecost was essential for them to be able to go out into the world as they did. In John 14, Christ explains the necessity of it. John 14, Christ explains the necessity of it.

Again, keeping in mind, this was laid out the night before his death. This is before he was, actually, just after he was in the process of being betrayed. John 14.

John 14, we'll go ahead and pick it up in verse 26.

John 14 and verse 26, Christ takes the time to describe this Comforter and to explain its necessity, the absolute importance of it in our lives. John 14 and verse 26, we'll go ahead and pick it up in verse 25. It says, These things I have spoken to you while being present with you, but the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, it will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all things that I have said to you. Christ told his disciples the Spirit of God would serve as a Helper, as a Comforter. They would bring to remembrance the things of God. It teaches us. It convicts us as one of the convicting agents of God. It is God dwelling in us. Christ made the point to his disciples that that Spirit was necessary in order to understand what it is that we're taught. Mr. Sexton mentioned that this morning. That innovation of the Spirit of God and the Spirit of man completes us. It enables us to become complete, to be able to understand the things of God. It opened up their minds to understand the things of God. I'm reasonably certain that I've told this story before, so for those of you that have heard it, I apologize for those that haven't. I think it makes my point. I had an opportunity when I was in college to attend a lecture in a literature class that I was in by Native American author Sherman Alexey. Some of you may be familiar with Sherman Alexey. He's actually a very well-known Native American author, and he's from Spokane. So he's from the Spokane area. So my American literature teacher knew him personally, and we had just read his novel, The Lone Ranger and Tonto, Fist Flight in Heaven. We had just read his novel in American literature, and he agreed. She reached out to him, and he agreed to come in and sit with our class as we asked questions and talked about what it is that we read. I'll be the first to admit, I've always found literature classes to be kind of humorous. And the reason that I find them to be kind of humorous is because they are so incredibly subjective. You can literally pull any small thing out of the book, and as long as you can back it up with what it is—and I did this for fun—I would make the most outlandish claim I could possibly make about a novel, and then back it up with like one or two little things, and then argue it beheminately. Just for fun. I just was that kind of kid. So, I was a science student, so I was not used to subjectivity. And on the read-through of the book, reading it with that lens, the book seemed pretty straightforward. And so my classmates are talking up all these underlying themes that they were getting out of it, and I'm over in the corner rolling my eyes. Oh, come on, you're making it up.

That's not what it says. It says this. I read it with my own eyes. So, in comes Sherman Alexie.

And I felt I understood the book pretty well. But as we talked with him, and as we asked questions, and he gave us opportunities to ask him about the book itself, certain aspects of it in particular, and admittedly, some of the themes that my classmates had pulled out that I had thought so ridiculous were absolutely in his intent when he had written the book.

Once we had talked, I was able to understand what he had written so much deeper. And why was that?

Because the difference now was I had access to the mind of the author. I had access to the mind of the author. I could ask, what is it you meant when you wrote this? And sure enough, he wrote it so he could tell me exactly what he meant when he wrote that. God's Spirit gives us access to the mind of the author. It helps us to understand God's Word more deeply. It helps us to understand in a deeper way. Let's go over to 1 Corinthians 2. This is one of those ones I ticked off earlier.

Kind of, nope, well, I already got that one. But 1 Corinthians 2, we'll pick it up in verse 6, and we'll read here through this section.

1 Corinthians 2 and verse 6 begins with, it says, However we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing.

But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages, for our glory, which none of the rulers of this age knew. For had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. Verse 9, But as it is written, I has not seen nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him. And why is that? Because the Spirit of man is not fully capable of taking in those things. We can understand to a degree, we can begin to maybe get some inklings of that, but God's Spirit working either with us or in us enables us to have these things revealed. It says, But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. Verse 11, as Mr. Sexton mentioned this morning, For what man knows the things of a man, except the Spirit of the man which is in him? That enables us to understand the things of a man. It does not enable us to understand the things of Spirit.

It can start the process. It can take us down a point to where we reach a spot where we have to have that Spirit with us to complete the rest of it. Even so, no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Verse 12, Now we've received not the Spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. These things we also speak not in words which man's wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Spirit teaches.

Comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him. Nor can they know him, or nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him. And right here he makes the statement, but we have the mind of Christ.

We have God living within us when we have the Spirit of God. Without that Spirit, whether it's in us or whether it's working with us, we can't begin to understand these things.

In fact, you had conversations with people, things that seem so unbelievably apparent to you, that just make perfect sense. They look at you like you got three eyes. Like it just does not make sense at all to them. It's foolishness to them, because they don't have that Spirit to help them understand. Spiritual discernment and understanding is made possible by the events of this day, in this part of the plan of God. It's made possible by this. God's Spirit aids in our understanding, but how can we, going forward from today, how can we and how will we leverage that understanding in order to preach the gospel of the kingdom of God, to take that message to the world and to complete our mission? Brethren, we are working to take a gospel message to a world that is drowning in information. There is so much information out there, people simply don't know what to do with it. It's like drinking out of a fire hose. And so, they're trying to do the best that they can to try to take in these things and understand these things. And frankly, so are we.

You know, we are in unparalleled times in human history. In fact, those of you with a phone in your pocket, the push of a button, you have the entire compendium of human knowledge, both the true and the false, right? At the touch of a button on your phone, you've got internet access. You have the compendium of human knowledge. That's amazing. That is amazing.

People have questions. People have questions in the church. They have questions out of the church.

Sometimes they're really tough questions that are really hard to answer. And brethren, we all need to be working to become so well versed in our understanding, so well versed in understanding what it is that God desires of us, what it is that we believe, that we can answer those questions in a manner that will reach the individual that might be asking it.

Truth in simplicity. Without all the added layers of extras, just truth, God's truth is simple to understand. Truth in simplicity. But we have to know it enough to be able to defend our faith.

As the world is increasing in its knowledge, there are more and more challenges to our beliefs.

Can you defend what you believe?

If someone were to come at you challenging your beliefs, could you defend it?

You know, this is an aspect that I don't think we've necessarily done well over the years, because I think in the past, if we didn't know the answer, we would hand a booklet, or we would say, hey, talk to this person, or we would say, rather than really know it ourselves and explain it, I think sometimes it was maybe easier or quicker to kind of just go here.

This explains it way better than I could. So I've done that. I'm guilty of that.

But it's an area that we need to improve in. In many ways, the world around us is outpacing us in debate skills. They're outpacing us in critical discussion. And if we're not strong in our understanding of our faith, we run the risk of being ineffective in our message. Do we know what we believe well enough to teach it and to defend it to those that don't believe or those who have doubts? Just a couple pages over in 2 Corinthians 10. Let's go ahead and turn there. 2 Corinthians 10.

We'll go ahead and pick it up in verse 4 of 2 Corinthians 10.

Okay, I'm kidding. Number 3. We'll pick it up in 3. 2 Corinthians 10, verse 3, For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but they are mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. There will be arguments, there will be opinions, there will be debates in the world around us that exalt themselves against God.

Are we mighty in our warfare? Can we, with the knowledge that we've attained, with the understanding that we have, can we pull down strongholds? Can we cast down arguments?

We will all have to contend for our faith at some point in time if we haven't already. It was already mentioned, but we'll go ahead and turn over to Jude real quick. Jude 1 and verse 3.

Jude 1, since there's only one...

I don't know how you would say it otherwise. Jude 3? That doesn't work. Jude 1 verse 3, right?

Jude 1 verse 3 says, We have to be able to earnestly contend for that faith, pull down those strongholds, and cast those arguments and those opinions that exalt themselves against God down. We have to be able to do that. And in order to do that, we have to be prepared. We have to know what we believe inside now. We need to pray for discernment and revelation, that God's Spirit would show us these things, that we can learn them more deeply, that we can explain and provide a reason for the hope that lies in us. So as we go forward from this day of Pentecost, let us commit to preparing more fully so that we can go out and we can make disciples of the nations. Our final point, point number three, is that we need to boldly live our faith. We all realize knowledge of what we believe isn't enough. In addition to knowing it, we have to boldly go forth and live it, letting our example preach the gospel to the world around us. It's been said before, but it doesn't hurt to remind ourselves occasionally that we may be the only Bible that someone ever reads.

Our example and what they see may be the only exposure to God that a person has in this life.

It's important that we live a life of faith, that we live a life of godly conduct, and that can't be understated. Philippians 4, if you turn over to Philippians, Philippians 4, it contains an admonition for us to do all that we possibly can to live a life that reflects God, that reflects God's characteristics to the world around us. Philippians 4, and we'll pick it up in verse 4, says, Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I say rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to all men. We should be known by our gentleness. The Lord is at hand. It says, Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication. With thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. We get down to verse 8, the one that's the more common passage out of this section. Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy, meditate on these things. The Apostle Paul is writing to the church here in Philippi that those things that are true, noble, just, pure, lovely, good report, of virtue and praiseworthy, we need to spend our time thinking on those things, meditating on those things. You know, it's interesting, we read this section, I think sometimes we read this passage and we stop there. Let's look at verse 9 as it continues.

It says, The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you. Paul makes the point to the Philippians through this epistle that those things which he taught, which they received, what they saw, what they heard in his example, said, do those things, live those things. God's Spirit in our lives enables us to live a life that reflects his characteristics. We've been to Galatians 5 already, we won't turn there, but Galatians 5 describes a list of things that are present in the life of a person that yields themselves to God's Spirit in their life. And then it contrasts that with a list of things that are absolutely not of God's Spirit. And you look at those two lists and you say, where am I at? On this list, on this list, am I yielding myself to the Spirit of God in my life?

A Spirit-filled life provides an incredible testimony to the power of God, but in addition to that, God's Spirit provides us with a degree of boldness. It provides us with a degree of boldness. Let's go ahead and turn over to 2 Timothy. Let's go ahead and start turning over to 2 Timothy.

And as we start to turn over there, we should never apologize for the gospel. We should never apologize for the gospel. There are some in the world around us who think the gospel message that Christ preached is outdated, that it's old and it's crusty, and it needs to be replaced with something else. Rather, nothing could be further from the truth. The gospel of the kingdom of God, the gospel message of redemption and reconciliation that's made possible by the sacrifice of Christ on our behalf, the coming kingdom of God could not be more relevant based on the society around us today. We should never apologize for the gospel message. 2 Timothy 1 and verse 7. You know, we obviously need to learn to speak the truth in love. You know, you can't go around hitting people in the head with a hammer, right? You've got to be able to speak the truth in love, but God's Spirit should empower us. It should embolden us. We see Apostle Paul admonish Timothy here in 2 Timothy 1 and verse 7, and we'll go ahead and pick it up in verse 6. It says, therefore, I remind you to stir up the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. He likens it to fire in other places. If you think about it, if you ever had a fire, you pop a bunch of fuel on it, give it some wind, and up goes the fire, right? It says, stir up the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. And verse 7, for God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. In the case of that word sound, it translates out as discipline.

Discipline mind. Paul was bold. You read through Paul's accounts. Paul was bold.

He instructed Timothy to be bold and to not let people despise his youth.

Be bold, he told Timothy. Peter was bold. James and John were bold.

We too need to be bold as we live our faith, as we provide the answers to the questions that people ask us. How many of you—I won't ask for a show of hands, but I'll admit that I've done it—when people have asked you, where are you going for that week and a half or whatever in October? Oh, to a conference. Which is true. It's absolutely true. Going to a conference. It's a meeting of people. But I could also say, I'm going to the Feast of Tabernacles. If you want to know more about it, happy to talk. Happy to tell you more about it. We should never, ever feel ashamed of what we do or ever apologize for it. We have to be bold as we live our faith, as we again provide answers to the questions that people ask us, as we explain the reasons for the hope that lies in us.

So, brethren, as we go forward from this day of Pentecost, it is important for us to maintain the proper focus, to be prepared, to be ready to do battle, and like the early church after the day of Pentecost, to boldly go forth from this day preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God to the world around us. This day, the day of Pentecost, when that Holy Spirit was poured out, was a catalyst that started the church on fire. And they went out and they were on fire, and everywhere they went they started more fires than people. And everywhere they went from there, it was like a conflagration, for lack of a better term. The mission that was handed down to the apostles, brethren, has been handed down through time to those whom they trusted with the truth, and that baton has been passed throughout history, and it has landed in our hands.

And we are nearing the last leg of this relay, and it's in our hands. We have a responsibility, just like the apostles had in the first century, to preach the gospel of the kingdom of God. It might look a little different today. You know, we might not be going into little towns two by two and tear in the place of the park, quote-unquote. But we still need to preach the gospel.

The day of Pentecost, which we're gathered here to commemorate today again, was a catalyst for that process to begin in Jerusalem, and it spread outward, rippling through time and space.

The disciples were told to go therefore and preach the gospel to all the world, making disciples of every nation. We've been recipients of that message, and it's in our hands now. Will we finish the mission?