00:00Hello everyone, my name is William Chambers. It is good always, always, always, always, always to be with people that
00:05love to hear the Word of God.
00:07It is always a good thing. Today, if I had a title for today's message, I would call it,
00:12When Truth Seeps Into the Soil of Society. That's what every believer should desire.
00:20I desire, Lord, for your truth, your gospel to seep into the soils of society.
00:25Because when it seeps into the soils of society, things change. Hearts change. Men change. Lord, we want this.
00:34So we're going to look at the text and we're going to look at how powerful the gospel is.
00:37In the first century, there was a small band of believers. They didn't have no political power.
00:44They didn't have no media platforms. They didn't have no armies.
00:47But they were accused of turning the entire world upside down.
00:54How does one do that?
00:57We should want to know, believers. We should want to affect the generation that we're in.
01:02Affect those whom we know.
01:04If someone described your faith, would they say it was changing the world at all?
01:11Or is it just something that changes your Sunday schedule?
01:14Is your faith only something that changes your Sunday schedule and that's it?
01:18Help us, God.
01:19Let's look at the text.
01:21And when they found them not, they drew Jason and certain brethren unto the rulers of the city, crying,
01:27These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also.
01:33Paul and Silas had just come to Thessalonica and they were preaching the gospel and things were changing.
01:38Just like they had changed in other cities that they had preached previously.
01:43And men did not like that.
01:46The truth was seeping into the soil of Thessalonica and people were angry because things changed.
01:53What I want to talk about is the power of this gospel.
01:56This word of God cannot be ignored.
01:58It must be answered.
02:02Paul preached and the city reacted as though an earthquake had struck it.
02:07What's going on here?
02:09We don't want the gospel to come unto us.
02:12We don't want things to change.
02:14The gospel does not sit quietly in the corners of society.
02:18No, no, no.
02:19The gospel travels.
02:21The gospel breaks out.
02:23The gospel, once it travels, it starts to confront men.
02:27We're talking about a gospel that cannot be ignored.
02:30It is not a question of will people hear the gospel.
02:34The question is, how will they answer the gospel?
02:39People will hear this gospel.
02:41It'll get under your skin, behind your makeup.
02:44It'll get behind your coolness and all your cleverness.
02:47It'll get behind all that and confront you.
02:49Oh, this gospel cannot be ignored.
02:52It must be answered.
02:53You will either accept Christ as king or you will resist him as a threat to your lifestyle.
03:00Oh, but it won't be ignored.
03:03You will make one type of answer one way or another.
03:06Help us to make the correct answer to your gospel, oh God.
03:09So we're talking about a gospel that cannot be ignored.
03:12We're talking about the power of the gospel.
03:13I also want to talk about the gospel that reorders what the world thinks is normal.
03:18The world thinks things are normal.
03:20So when you confront, so when the gospel confronts it, they think the world was turned upside down.
03:25They had cried to the rules.
03:26They said, these that have turned the world upside down are come here also.
03:31They turned the world upside down.
03:33But really, the world was already upside down.
03:35Pride was high.
03:37Humility was low.
03:39Idolatry was high.
03:41True worship of God was low.
03:43So from heaven's standpoint, things needed a shift.
03:47And people that were in control did not like the shift.
03:50People that were invested in the way things were did not like this shift.
03:55The word will create a shift.
03:56What the world was labeling acceptable, the gospel calls it sin.
04:01And that's why people don't like the gospel.
04:04The gospel said that's sin.
04:07You said it's acceptable.
04:08It's cool.
04:09The gospel said it's sin and you will be judged by God.
04:12And you have been judged by God.
04:13Oh, and it'll point to the fact that you need a Christ, a savior from that sin.
04:19And the world does not like it because you're confronting their sin.
04:23The gospel changes men.
04:25It changes the standard.
04:27It makes people question.
04:28It makes people question things and rethink things.
04:31When you preach the gospel, you're challenging people's assumptions.
04:34Oh, we're talking about the power of the gospel.
04:36When you're preaching the gospel, you're challenging what people think love is.
04:40You're challenging what people think freedom is.
04:42You're challenging what people think success is.
04:45You're challenging what people think truth is.
04:47Oh, and it changes the norms.
04:51It disrupts things.
04:52When righteousness becomes the standard, corruption feels exposed.
04:56Oh, no.
04:57People see me for what I am.
04:58The lie that I am.
05:00The world senses this exposure and calls it upside down.
05:04They say things are not right.
05:06We like things the way they are.
05:07The world fights for things the way they are, even if things are not right.
05:12I don't have to explain that.
05:14All you have to do is look at society.
05:16I'm a case closed.
05:18So the gospel is powerful.
05:20It cannot be ignored.
05:21The gospel is powerful.
05:23It reorders what people think is normal.
05:25They say that this gospel has come here also.
05:30Oh, we don't want that gospel to come here.
05:33The enemies of the gospel, unbelievers, had acknowledged that this gospel has power in it.
05:40That's why they get mad.
05:42Because they know.
05:42They said this gospel that these men have turned the world upside down have come here also with that same
05:47power.
05:48Men know.
05:49Men know.
05:51They cannot contain that gospel.
05:53Men know.
05:53They said the effect that the gospel were having in other cities is having it in our city.
06:00Oh, no.
06:02In every generation.
06:03They may be able to delay the gospel.
06:06They may be able to mock and resist the gospel.
06:09But eventually, the gospel will come right where you at and knock at your door and ask you, what are
06:18you going to do with it?
06:19Oh, you will stand before God and have to give an account for what you said.
06:23And you're saying something.
06:25Help us.
06:26It'll come right where you are while you are ignoring it.
06:30Oh, have mercy on us.
06:32If Christ's believer has reordered your heart, that transformation is not to stay silent.
06:39That transformation should be turning the world as you know it upside down.
06:44Or really just turning the right side up.
06:46Oh, that power shouldn't stay with you.
06:49It should move outward into, out in your conversation, out into your lifestyle, out into the corner, out into the
06:54streets, out into your workplace.
06:56It should be moving out into society.
06:58It should be seeping in the soil of society.
07:02Do not contain such a powerful gospel hidden by yourself, with yourself.
07:08Ah, help us, God.
07:09We should desire to have the truth seep into the soils of society as we know it.
07:18Dear Heavenly Father, we just ask for your help.
07:20In Jesus' name we pray and say, amen.
07:29Amen.
07:30Amen.
07:31Amen.
07:37Amen.
07:39Amen.
07:40Amen.
07:40Amen.
07:43Amen.
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