‘Behold, the Lamb
of God’
ide
o amnos tou theou
College Study
102nd teaching
3.8.2015
“One Voice”
Luke
3:1-20
“Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius
Pilate being governor of Judea, Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, his brother
Philip tetrarch of Iturea and the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch
of Abilene, while Annas and Caiaphas were high priests, the word of God came to
John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness. And he went into all the region
around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins,
as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, saying:
“‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the LORD;
make His paths straight. Every valley shall be filled and every mountain and
hill brought low; the crooked places shall be made straight and the rough ways
smooth; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’
“Then
he said to the multitudes that came out to be baptized by him, ‘Brood of
vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore bear fruits
worthy of repentance, and do not begin to say to yourself, ‘We have Abraham as
our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham
from these stones. And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees.
Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into
the fire.’
“So the people asked him, saying,
‘What shall we do then?’ He answered and said to them, ‘He who has two tunics,
let him give to him who has none; and he who has food, let him do likewise.’
Then the tax collectors also came to be baptized, and said to him, ‘Teacher,
what shall we do?’ And he said to them, ‘Collect no more than what is appointed
for you.’ Likewise the soldiers asked him, saying, ‘And what shall we do?’ So
he said to them, ‘Do not intimidate anyone or accuse falsely, and be content
with your wages.’ Now as the people were in expectation, and all reasoned in
their hearts about John, whether he was the Christ or not, John answered,
saying to all, ‘I indeed baptize you with water; but One mightier than I is
coming, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose. He will baptize you with
the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will
thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather the wheat into His barn;
but the chaff He will burn with unquenchable fire.’ And with many other
exhortations he preached to the people.
“But Herod the tetrarch, being rebuked by him concerning Herodias, his
brother Philip’s wife, and for all the evils which Herod had done, also added
this, above all, that he shut John up in prison.”
When we last saw John, he was a boy,
and Luke reported that as a child he grew and became strong in spirit, and was
in the deserts until the day of his public appearance to the nation (Luke 1:80). So John the son of
Zacharias has been out in the wilderness since the days of his youth. His very
elderly parents had probably passed on with his youth and thus he passed on
into the deserts, into solitude, into preparation, into a wilderness where God
was steadily and slowly molding him through roughness and hardship, with sand
and stone and dust, into the bold and brilliant man that we find here in
chapter three. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and men of this caliber aren’t made
overnight.
What comes into my mind when I think
about John the Baptist is this: that he was the kind of man who underwent an
intense transformative process to undertake an immense one-man crusade. He had
a huge task before him. He was a
single voice preparing the way of the Lord, a single voice calling out for
social, moral and spiritual reform. In light of that, our study tonight is
entitled: “One Voice”. Consider the magnitude of what this one man is doing:
standing alone before all the sinners
of an entire nation and saying “Repent”. He was not some kook, some vagrant
wandering the deserts, eating bugs and wearing hair. He was not some joke. He
was made of sterner stuff than you and I.
John’s life challenges me. I can
hardly find the courage or the boldness to confront family or friends with
truth. More often than not, I’m not confident enough in my convictions to help
someone by confronting them with truth. I care, sure, but I’ll look on and
watch a life crumble or fall into sin, or steadily walk away, or deliberately
disobey God, rather than risk exposing myself to the possible humiliation or
rejection that I imagine goes alongside confrontation. But John the Baptist was
an inspiring man. He had the courage to stand before whole crowds and call them
out and cry out “Repent”. This was the first function of John’s ministry: he
preached repentance. As the angel had prophesied over him before he was even
born: he turned “many of the children of
Israel to the Lord their God” (Luke
1:16).
The second function of John’s ministry
was to prepare the way for the Messiah. He was to be the herald, the
forerunner, the announcer for the Savior when Jesus Christ stepped into the
public eye. Consider how perfect it was: Jesus did not begin his ministry in
obscurity. When He was baptized by John and announced as the “Lamb of God” by
John, all eyes were on him, because all eyes were already on John. A whole
nation had already gone out to the Jordan to hear John preach. It was a simple
matter then of redirecting the attention off of John and onto Jesus when the
time came, and Jesus would immediately be thrust into public consciousness.
Now the chapter opens with the
timeline for the beginning of this great ministry:
v.1-2
Seven men are mentioned here: five
political leaders and two religious leaders. We’ve noted many times in the past
that Luke’s gospel account claims to be a historical narrative. Luke isn’t
painting a fantasy. This isn’t science fiction or religious fiction. This is a
written history gathered from eyewitness stories, and to frame that, Luke
consistently makes reference to real, historical people to provide the basis
for the time-period of his narrative.
These are men that are known to
history. They were real men who really lived and died in a real time and place.
Tiberius Caesar reigned from 14AD to
37AD as the emperor of the most powerful force in the world at the time: the
Roman Empire. Known for being a great general and for his gloomy, reclusive
persona, Tiberius has the unique position of being the Roman Emperor who was
ruled during the ministry, crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Jesus’
forerunner, John the Baptist, had a ministry that began in the fifteenth year
of Tiberius’ reign, which puts Luke chapter three at about the year 29AD.
Pontius Pilate, governor of Judea, is
a man who heavily figures into the gospels, as you probably well know. He was a
Roman prefect, a military man ruling a lesser province, from the years 26 to
36AD. He is referenced by at least four other early historians besides for the
gospel records (Tacitus, Eusebius, Philo of Alexandria and Josephus), and his
historicity is established, proving that he is not a biblical invention, by
what is known as the Pilate Stone: a block of limestone discovered in 1961 which
contains a 1st century Latin inscription that reads “To the Divine
Augusti Tiberieum… Pontius Pilate… prefect of Judea… has dedicated…”, with some
missing letters up to conjecture. The stone confirms everything we previously
knew about Pilate and represents an early, even contemporary, piece of evidence
the grounds the gospel records in real history.
Herod, tetrarch of Galilee, is known
to history as Herod Antipater, or Herod Antipas. His father was Herod the
great, the same historical figure that Luke used to date his opening chapter
(see Luke 1:5). This Herod in Luke
three was known as tetrarch, which meant “ruler of a quarter”, meaning he was a
co-ruler, he ruled a fourth of the region. This is the same Herod that
imprisons John at the end of our passage tonight, and the same Herod that Jesus
Himself later appears before and has nothing to say to, which Luke will later
record.
Antipas’ half-brother, Philip the
tetrarch, aka Herod II, was another ruler from the era. Philip’s wife was later
taken by Herod Antipas, a union which John the Baptist denounced, which got him
into hot water with the Herodian dynasty and earned him a place in prison.
Lysanias, the third tetrarch named by
Luke, has no other historical basis besides for this reference that I could
find. A Lysanias is mentioned by the historian Josephus, but he writes that
Lysanias died in 33 BC, which means he would have been dead for 50 years by the
time of this chapter. Can’t be the same Lysanias. Maybe somebody someday will
turn up some artifact validating this man’s existence.
Then Luke mentions two Jewish religious
leaders: Annas and Caiaphas.
Annas was the first Roman-appointed
high priest of the newly formed Roman province of Judea in 6AD. He served as
high priest for ten years. Caiaphas was the son-in-law of Annas and the actual
high priest during the ministry and crucifixion of Christ, though Annas
remained a very powerful and influential man among the Jews even though he no
longer held the office of high priest.
Two archaeological discoveries have helped
to validate the historicity of Caiaphas. They are ossuaries, ornate boxes that
contain the bones of the dead. The first ossuary, discovered in 1990, bore the inscription
“Joseph son of Caiaphas” and apparently contained then remains of a member of
Caiaphas’ family. This ossuary has not be proven genuine. However, a second
ossuary would later be discovered that bore the inscription “‘Miriam Daughter
of Yeshua Son of Caiaphas, Priest of Ma'aziah from Beth ’Imri’”, which Israeli
scholars have proven to be genuine. The research results have been published in
the Israel Exploration Journal (vol. 61).
The historicity of at least one of
these two men is important, because Annas and Caiaphas were the religious
leaders who were plotted to kill Jesus. Caiaphas was the one who presided over
the Jewish trial that condemned Jesus as a heretic and carried Him on His way
to the cross.
These two religious leaders and these
five political leaders are the villains that ruled the world of the first
century, but in the middle of their corrupt leadership, a new leader bursts
onto the scene and we read: “the word of
God came to John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness.”
Luke has put John’s ministry into a
historical context, or as commentator William Barclay wrote: “To Luke the
emergence of John the Baptist was one of the hinges on which history turned.”
John arrives on the scene in a time full of political assassination, abused
authority and power grabs that characterized the political and sadly the
religious leaders of this time. John’s leadership would be characterized by the
fiery preaching of repentance.
What the world of the first century
needed was not what the people were looking for. They wanted a strong political
leader. They wanted powerful religious leaders. They even looked to their
promised Messiah to fulfill the role of government. But what they really needed
was what God sent them, a man as powerful as the Old Testament prophets, with a
message of repentance as clear and concise as the prophets’ ancient cries. What
the people wanted was better government. What they needed and what they got was
one voice crying out for reform.
I dare say that there’s nothing more
relevant for us today. Look at all the politics that people get caught up in.
Look at how much resources are spent on campaigning and maligning opponents and
advertisement. Look at all the promises for more rights, for less taxes, for
fixing social issues, for tackling foreign affairs, etc, etc. Even the church
has gotten swept up into the hysteria of politics.
I’m not saying you shouldn’t be
informed. I’m not saying you shouldn’t know the candidates. I’m not saying you
shouldn’t vote. Those are our rights as Americans. But don’t take those rights
to mean that voting a better president into office will save our nation. No
human being can be your Savior. No politician can really preach repentance.
Getting a better man in the white house isn’t the hope of the church. The hope
of the church is Jesus Christ.
And all we need is not better
political leaders or leaders who are more religious, all we need is really one
voice, we just need one man to stand up for the truth and say to a nation as
John did “Repent”. It hardly seems sane. How can one man preaching such a
simple and such an oft-rejected message have such a profound effect?
I think the answer is because the word
of God came to him. John 1:6 says “There was a man sent from God whose name was
John.” The Baptist was sent by God. You want national reform? You want to
see people starting to turn to God again? You want to see prayer and the Bible
back in schools? You want to see Christianity having an effect upon its culture
again? You want to have leadership over this country that honor God? You start
praying for one voice to cry out in the wilderness of America.
Who’s voice? I believe it’s the voice
of the church. The voice of the bloodstained Bride. The voice of the called-out
ones. Hers is a voice that has become lost amid all the other voices of the world.
Hers is a voice that has begun even to sound like the voices of the world. But
like John announcing Jesus at His first coming, the church is here to announce
that Jesus is coming again. She is that one voice. If reform is to happen, if
revival is to occur and a nation is to repent, it will begin in the house of
God among the children of God, right here. Don’t be too content to simply move
through the current of our culture, swept away by it, all the while unaware
that you have the God-given destiny to change it.
v.3
It’s hardly a strange thing to read
that John baptized people when they demonstrated repentance, until we
understand that the Jews did not get baptized. Baptism in Judaism was a ritual
that was reserved for Gentiles who wanted to because Jews. Pastor David Guzik
points out that “For a Jew to submit to baptism was to say something like ‘I’m
as bad as a heathen Gentile’. This was a true mark of humble repentance, a
radical rededication to the Lord”.
John was baptizing people not as part
of some aloof, cold and religious ceremony. He was baptizing people who were
identifying themselves as sinners and repenting of their sins. An intense work
in the hearts of men and women was taking place and people were coming out in
droves to be baptized in the Jordan. The Jews were long accustomed to thinking
of the problem with the world being the Romans. They thought that the Gentiles
were what was wrong with the world. John made them see that it wasn’t the
Romans that needed to get right with God, it was they themselves, the Jews, who
needed to be baptized for repentance.
There’s an analogy here. When we talk
about things that are wrong with America, do we act like everybody else and
simply blame-shift? Do we simply blame America’s problems on corrupt
politicians, a bad president, on minority groups or social rights activists, on
criminals, on our unsaved neighbors or even on other churches? Well how about us! What about me? What about you?
Here’s the dumbest thing you could
ever say after listening to a sermon: “Gee, I sure wish so-and-so had heard
that message!” You might sit through preaching against the sin of pride all the
time that your own heart is being eaten away by it and walk away thinking that
Johnny is a super-prideful guy and it’s too bad he didn’t hear that message.
Johnny wasn’t there. He didn’t hear that message and the only way he will is
either if you bring him a recording or
if you talk to him about what you
learned and demonstrate that with your
life. God is talking to you. When you’re at church or bible study, or you read
the Word on your own, God is talking to you.
Don’t fall into this temptation. It is
incredibly easy to categorize every sermon and file it under another person’s
name in your mind, while the inbox of your own soul remains empty.
If a Jew was there at the Jordan and
was being baptized by John and was only thinking “man, Herod the tetrarch is
such a jerk, he really needs to be here”, and in so thinking minimizes his own
personal need for repentance, then how has he really repented? He’s too busy
thinking about other people who need to repent!
The problem with the world starts with
you. You can’t change what other churches are doing, what others groups care
about or what the current administration is doing, but you can change what you
are doing and by the example of your repented soul be a witness to everyone
around you. It’s time we stop blaming the administration, the government, the
homosexuals, the unbelievers and even the make-believers of the church and
start owning up to the fact that the true church has played, or should have
played, just as much a part in the history of America up until now as everyone
else if not more so. And that means that we’re responsible. America is the
church’s mess.
Revival has to start here, if it is to
start at all. It has to start in my heart. If you see a problem, well you get
up and you fix it, whether it’s a problem with your friends, your family, your
church, your school, your neighbors, your politicians or your nation. Is that
too big a dream? Remember, all it took in the first century was one voice.
v.4-6
The Old Testament prophet Isaiah had
written about John in his role as the herald of the Messiah. He was preparing
the way by preparing the people. His preaching of repentance filled the
valleys, the depths of immorality and corruption; his preaching brought low the
mountains and hills, the heights of arrogance and power-hungry pride; his
preaching made the crooked places straight, the lies and fraud and cheating of
the people even in the temple; his preaching made the rough ways smooth, the
habitual indifference toward God and the things of God. John was crying out “Make
way for the King!” and the paths had to be cleared for His arrival.
Ultimately, these heart-reforms could
not be accomplished by the preaching of one man, but through the death of the
God-man and the work of His Spirit directly upon the hearts of humanity. And it
was for humanity that Christ came. The Jews thought the Messiah was for them.
Countless cults and bad theologies have made Jesus out to be solely devoted to
their cause, as if he died merely for a group, for a certain people, or only
for the elect. But all flesh would
see the salvation of God. Jesus came for the world. Jesus came for all of
humanity.
v.7
Paul wrote in his second letter
to Timothy, 4:3, “…the time will come when they will not
endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching
ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears
away from the truth, and be turned aside to fairy tales.” We’re living in
that time right now, when the most popular pastors are those who tell good
jokes and inspiring stories, smile the brightest and make you feel the
fuzziest. But for all the mega-churches of America, where is the preaching of
repentance?
What kind of a preacher begins his
message like John? No one as popular as he evidently was would ever call their
audience a “brood of vipers”, family
of serpents, a bunch of snakes. He’s saying “inside you’re full of venom and
poison!” You think Joel Osteen rakes in $75 million dollars a year through
Lakewood Church by calling his congregation out on their sins? Heck no. But
this was the kind of man John was, fiercely direct and unafraid of what people
thought of him. He didn’t care for flattering sinners. He didn’t care if he
offended them if only his words could shake them from their religious
corruption.
When I read this passage, I wondered
to myself: Why the heck is John angry at them? Why does he talk to them like
this?
Here’s a page out of a commentary by
J.C. Ryle and listen to how John is really shown to be a true preacher, in
comparison to the kind of preachers who are popular today. “We should first
mark the holy boldness with which John addresses the multitudes who came to his
baptism. He speaks to them as a ‘generation of vipers’. He saw the rottenness
and hypocrisy of the profession that the crowd around him were making, and uses
language descriptive of their case. His head was not turned by popularity. He
cared not who was offended by his words. The spiritual disease of those before
him was desperate, and of long standing, and he knew that desperate diseases
need strong remedies. Well would it be for the Church of Christ, if it
possessed more plain-speaking ministers, like John the Baptist in these latter
days. A morbid dislike to strong language,-an excessive fear of giving
offence,-a constant flinching from directness and plain speaking, are,
unhappily, too much the characteristics of the modern Christian pulpit… there
is no [love] in flattering
unconverted people, by abstaining from any mention of their vices, or in
applying smooth epithets to damnable sins. There are two texts which are too
much forgotten by Christian preachers. In one it is written, ‘Woe unto you when
all men shall speak well of you.” In the other it is written, ‘If I yet pleased
men, I should not be the servant of Christ.’ (Luke 6:26; Gal 1:10)”
Now we might not be preachers and
ministers behind pulpits, but as Christians, we have a sacred duty to be
involved in people’s lives, to share the truth with them, and to necessarily
preach the gospel to them. Therefore, on a level of personal interaction if not
on a level of official ministry, we are preachers and what we just read from
Ryle certainly applies to us.
John’s preaching is a challenging
example for our lives. Can you speak with boldness, with directness, to your
unsaved friends who are perishing or to your saved friends who may be walking
away from the Light? Have we become so scared of offending someone, so afraid
of being labeled “judgmental”, too afraid of what others might think that we
care more for what people say about us than for the eternal destiny of others?
Allow me to speak boldly: If we care more about being called “legalistic” than
we do about whether someone will end up in hell, then we’ve got some intense
priority mix-ups. If we care more about beings seen as “judgmental” than we do
about challenging someone on sins that will destroy them, then we’ve got to get
our priorities straight.
John didn’t care what people thought
about him. Now there’s a fine balance here, because obviously John had a
successful ministry. He didn’t come off as a religious nut or as a legalistic,
judgmental, holier-than-thou kind of guy. How? I think it is, again, because he
was sent by God.
If you’re going to speak into another
person’s life, make sure you do it with the right attitude, yes, and with the
right words, of course, but make sure that you pray for God to send you into
that confrontation, make sure you pray for that person to be receptive. They
may not always be receptive, and that’s certainly not always going to be your
fault, but the point is that we cannot shy away from our responsibility to our
friends because we’re afraid. Be bold as John the Baptist.
v.8
John saw right through their
hypocrisy. He knew that because of his popularity, people were coming out just
to be a part of the movement. He knew that for many, this was just a religious
thing to do but that if they did it, they would be like everybody else. John
saw through their reasons.
And he tells them to bear fruit worthy
of repentance. In other words, show some results in accordance with repentance;
if you’ve repented, well then there should be some change in your life.
Repentance isn’t a simple “feeling”. Feeling sorry for yourself isn’t
repentance. Feeling bad or feeling guilty isn’t repentance. A change of
lifestyle from sin that has now become disgusting to pursue the righteousness
of God is repentance. John expected them to prove by the way they lived that
they had really repented.
“And
do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’” John
puts his finger right on the self-righteousness of the Jews. As descendants of
Abraham, they felt entitled. They thought that they were born better than the
heathen Gentiles. But John says God could raise up children to Abraham from
rocks if He wanted to.
There’s no getting around the
practical application of the Christian life. Either you’re walking in this way
or you aren’t. John gets right to the heart of the issue: act like you’ve
repented, if indeed you really have. Are our pews full of make-believers rather
than true believers? The test is the kind of life each person lives, whether
their lives prove their repentance or whether they prove their indifference.
If you’ve repented, then understand
that there needs to be some change in your life. Now you can’t beat out your
bad habits and beloved sins on your own, you need to work together with God’s
Spirit and allow Him to work, and give Him the fuel of God’s Word as you pursue
the Lord in order to get this done. But it needs to get done. You can’t expect
to waltz into the church unchanged and leave just as unchanged, singing the
songs and saying the words that your heart is the Lord’s while all the rest of
your waking ours you’re in an affair with your own selfish fleshly desires and
will. The time to stop playing is here. Is this not the number one complaint
against the church today: too much hypocrisy and not enough authenticity? Too
many people who look down their noses at others and not enough people who are
willing to dirty their hands in helping others walk out of the muck of sin. The
church is full of hypocrites, we hear it said.
How much of that complaint is you and
me? How much hypocrisy do you tolerate in your life? Enough to grieve and
offend the Lover of your soul, the Lord of Glory who suffered for your
salvation, enough to pain Him by acting like a whore of the world Monday
through Saturday, but putting on the stained glass mask of the saint on Sunday?
Enough is enough.
Get your priorities straight. Get your
desires in order. Get to serving the Lord. Get to dealing directly with your
own sin. Get to helping others along the way. The church has had enough of a
bad reputation. No more self-righteousness, no more hypocrisy.
Why?
v.9
The time is short. That was John’s
platform. That was the thrust of his message. Time is running out. A tree that doesn’t
bear fruit runs the risk of being thrown into the fire, because if the tree isn’t
producing fruit it may be dying or diseased. A Christian is supposed to produce
fruit: love, joy, peace, patience, etc.
You won’t be young forever. Life as
you know it now is just a few short decades, a handful of years, before it will
all be over. Which side of eternity will you be on? Well, what does the
evidence of the way you live your life tell you? Where are your priorities?
What changes has repentance produced in you?
Is that too scary of a thought? Hey,
that was John’s directness. Next is the response of his audience, the only
response any preacher is looking for.
v.10-14
Did John demand wild changes from
his audience? Did he command them to demonstrate their repentance by donating
all their money, by going on long pilgrimages or by dedicating their lives to
service in the temple? No, he told them to do ordinary things: be fair, share
with others, don’t be bullies or liars, the kinds of things that are taught to
children.
Deuteronomy
10:12 “And now, Israel, what does the
LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in obedience to
Him, to love Him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all
your soul…”
Proverbs
21:3, “To do what is right and just
is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice.”
Micah
6:8, “He has told you, O man, what is
good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love
kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”
Even in the Old Testament, you get the
idea that above all the laws and rituals, the structures, God simply wants His
children to walk with Him. All the things expected of us: go to church, share
our faith, read our Bibles, pray, fellowship are all there provide a structure
for walk with God. For when we walk close with Him, then we will do what is
right. The two go hand in hand.
What John did was encourage
repentance, with some hard words, yes, but the repentance he preached got
people back on track with God, and thereby with each other. The healing of
their divine relationship brought rightness to their human relationships.
v.15
In closing, all I can really say is that
I want you to walk with God and to help others to walk alongside you with Him
too. We are each called to be preachers, to share the truths that we’ve learned
with others. Be careful to preach the gospel to yourself as well as to others,
and be bold to speak into the situations that people find themselves in. I hope
that John provides you with a challenging model to live by. You don’t have to
go around calling people “snakes”, unless you’re absolutely sure that’s what
God wants you to say, but be impactful, be bold and challenging, inspiring,
dedicated. Don’t let people walk away from the truth. Don’t let them get away
with it. Fight with others for the destiny of their souls as powerfully as
John.
And finally, realize if you haven’t
already that you’re not Jesus Christ. A lot of people thought that John was the
Chosen One, the Messiah, the Christ, but he always denied it. This is where I
think a lot of people miss an essential ingredient and do end up being labeled as
legalistic or judgmental: it is the fact that Jesus saves and we do not and
cannot. If you’re going to challenge someone on their sin or speak boldly into
somebody’s life, realize that you can’t save people anymore than John the Baptist
could with a bit of dirty water from the river Jordan. You’ve got to soak your
preaching, your challenges, your calling back your friends into the light with
prayer to the Savior, that He would use your words to reach out and pull them
up.
You go around shooting people up with doctrine,
brazenly abusing the truth without respecting how much damage it can cause, and
you are bound to merely offend and destroy the relationships you were trying to
heal. But you confront people humbly, meekly, gently with the boldness that
comes from the Word of God and soak your relationships with prayer, then I
think you’re going to get somewhere.
This age group, the young adult age
group, is notorious for people dropping out and walking away. Let’s get out
there and first of all pray for our friends who are being dragged off into the
world, and then let’s have the guts to lovingly stand up for the truth and
confront them, regardless of the risks.
Let us be the one voice that might be
needed in someone’s life, and let us be the one voice of the church that calls
a nation to repentance.
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