The Word Made Plain

Guest (Male): Welcome to The Word Made Plain with senior pastor Tony Clark of Calvary Chapel Newport News in Virginia. Currently, Pastor Tony is teaching a study in the book of Acts. Please open your Bible to Acts chapter 20, verses 25 through 28.

Tony Clark: How are you going to teach people the whole counsel of God when you don't know it yourself? When my children were young, I read them the children's Bible through, you've heard me say this many times, at least 8 to 10 times.

And as they got older, we graduated to the adult Bible. I taught them Bible verses. I mentioned this last week; around the time my daughter was five years old, she had around 50 scriptures memorized. I taught them at least three sets of ABC scriptures. Tony Jr. knew Psalm 23 at two years old.

He was like a little side show for us. I would say, "Okay, watch this. Hey Tony, go ahead and quote Psalm 23." He would say, "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He make me lie down in green pastures, he leadeth me beside still waters." There you go. And I was so proud.

So at two years old, two years old. Don't tell me they can't learn. Don't tell me they can't learn; they learn those silly little cartoons that you have them watching, and they can sing all those silly little songs. I'm seeing videos of two-year-olds dropping it like it's hot and all this kind of mess, popping it and all that kind of stuff, fooling around. They can learn. They can learn this word.

I'm innocent of the blood of my children, for I have not shunned, held back, shrank back, or cowered back from giving them the whole counsel of God. I don't have the blood of my children on my hands. I taught them God's word. I did my job and taught them God's word. But what about you?

I'm innocent of the blood of this church, because in 1999—I'll never forget the day, I'll never forget that time—we were in the old building. We were off of Route 17 at the time. We were in York County. I had just finished teaching the Old Testament book of Malachi, which is the last book of the Old Testament. I looked at the people of our church at that time and I quoted this verse. I said, "I'm innocent of the blood of all men, for I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God."

Now, before condemnation sets in, you can be forgiven. And you can get the blood of your families, the blood of your children off of your hands by just confessing you've sinned against God. You blown it. First John 1:9 says, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." You can get that blood washed off with the blood of Jesus. And he can forgive you for fooling around and not declaring to your children the whole counsel of God.

Another reason why we need to give people the whole counsel of God is because he is the ultimate counselor. Isaiah 9:6 says Jesus shall be called Wonderful Counselor. Jesus said in Hebrews 10:7, "In the volume of the book it is written of me." Also in John 5:39, Jesus says, "Search the scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; these are they which testify of me." In other words, the scriptures, all of them, all 31,104 verses, testify of Jesus.

So as we give people the word of God—you heard me mention this, I talked about this when we had our question and answer period on Wednesday night, a few Wednesdays ago—as we teach the whole counsel of God and all of the scriptures are about Jesus, who is our wonderful counselor, then our wonderful counselor is counseling and ministering to his people.

This is why our church doesn't have a huge counseling load, because as I teach you verse by verse, chapter by chapter, book by book from Genesis to Revelation, our wonderful counselor, Jesus Christ, is counseling you through all of your issues, your shortcomings, and the problems you're facing. This is such a good thing, because this way you become dependent upon the Lord and not dependent upon us.

There's too much co-dependency that's going on in the church. The people are co-dependent on the pastor, and the pastor is co-dependent on the people. There is too much of that mess going on. You need to be dependent upon the Lord. Let me tell you something, the mess you all got yourselves into, I can't help you. I'm going to tell you now, I can't help you. Only God can help some of you.

So this is why we teach you God's word so the wonderful counselor, Jesus Christ, can counsel you through your issues, through your problems that only he can deal with. It's beyond us. People say, "Oh, well then we need to go to the professional." Hey, you can go to the professional all you want, and lay on anybody's couch. They aren't going to get you out of your mess either. Only God can help you. Only he can restore your soul.

Isn't that what David told us in Psalm 23? He restores our soul. That personal pronoun "he" goes back to "the Lord is my shepherd" in verse one. It makes it very clear: he can restore your soul. We can't. Man cannot. Definitely a philosophy rooted in Freud cannot. Are you kidding me? Freud was a pervert. If you really look at the history, the whole psychological base is based upon Freud and Maslow and all those other guys. They can't help you. With the mess you all are in, no human can help you. Only God can.

So this is good that you're dependent upon the Lord and not upon us. This will cause your children to start looking to the Lord. And when they are away from you, it will be the Lord and his word that will keep them. This is key. Oh, the things you hear from your kids nowadays that they are adults. The tomfoolery and shenanigans that they were involved in in school growing up.

That's why I look back on the time before our kids left. We prayed for them before they left to go to school, and it was just some madness. We were half asleep and we were praying, "Oh, Lord, protect them, keep them, Lord." And now we hear it as a nice little joke. The kids are laughing about it, saying, "You remember when we did this?" and we're sitting there as parents, we can't believe that they actually did those things. So it is going to be the word of God and God that will keep them when you teach them the whole counsel of God.

Yes, we can teach them the word of God, but here's the most important point: we must live it ourselves. This is key. Look at verse 28. It says, "Therefore, take heed to yourselves and to the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which he purchased with his own blood."

See, Paul told these Ephesian elders that they had to take heed to themselves first. Now, the Greek word for "take heed" is prosecho, and it means to be cautious about, to beware or to heed. So be cautious and beware to take heed to ourselves first. This is not about being selfish. You know how people say, "Well, I gotta look out for me now." No, this is not about that. This is about being an example for people to follow.

See, we can teach our children all of the Bible verses we want, but don't miss this. We can erase them when we aren't living it ourselves as parents. When we're not living it as friends, when we're not living it as co-workers. You can teach them the entire Bible from Genesis to Revelation, but you will erase their memory of those scriptures when you aren't living it yourself.

The way that your children will help you is they will begin to quote those verses back when you're fooling around. They will say, "Well, didn't you say you should love your wife? That isn't very loving, dad, what you just said to mom." Oh, they used to tell me stuff like that. I would say, "Oh, shut up, who taught you those scriptures?" But they were right. They were right.

This means that we must be cultivating a daily personal devotional life with Jesus by reading, praying, studying, and living out the whole counsel of God that we're trying to teach others. First Timothy 4:12 says, "Let no one despise your youth, but be an example of the believer in word and conduct, in faith, love, spirit and purity."

I was trying my best right before service not to get too bogged down. But I just said I couldn't read that verse and not dig a little deeper into what's really being said. It says "let no man despise," kataphronēo is the Greek word. It means not only not to despise, but it means to look down upon or to think little of.

So watch this: let no one despise or think little of your youth. You know how adults somewhat look down on young people. "Oh, you don't know what you're talking about, young whippersnapper." And Paul is saying don't give them a reason to, because Timothy was a young pastor of the church of Ephesus. He said you're young, but don't give them a reason to look down on your youth or to think little of you because you're young.

This is why for me, I was kind of taught old school. I was taught by a friend of mine who was older than me and he was in ministry a little bit longer than me. I was taught a side of ministry that's still part of me today. I was taught the seriousness of the ministry and the seriousness of the call.

That's why I don't play silly games. Some people say, "Oh, let's dunk the pastor." No, you aren't dunking no pastor. You know, the little tank where when you throw the ball and hit the panel, he goes splashing. No, I don't play those games. I don't run around picnics with water balloons for you to throw. I don't do that stuff.

When I was called into ministry, I was saved at 19 and I was called at 20. So I was young and I was at an older church where everybody was almost 60 and above. I didn't want to give them a reason to despise or to think little of my youth. And when I came across this, I understood.

So be an example. Typos is the Greek word. And it means a mark or an impression; it means an imprint. So be an imprint of the believers in word, that means be an example in your speech. People should say to you what they said to Peter: your speech betrays you. The way you talk shows that you're a believer.

But be an example also in the word of God, in conduct, in how you live, in love, love for God, love for your fellow man, and in spirit. In spirit is your temperament, the way you are. There's a calmness about you. You're not all uptight and freaked out all the time and yelling and just shouting. Be an example. Calm down. Bring it down a few notches. As my wife would say, fix your face.

Be an example in spirit, in faith—faith in God, the Christian faith—and in purity. Be an example in purity. Oh, this is a big one today. I believe someone has said it and I believe it wholeheartedly: do you want to know what's hindering revival today? There's a lack of purity in the church today.

Up to 60-70% of the men in the church are hooked on pornography. They say 20 or 30% of the women are. And so this is what's hindering revival; there's a lack of purity in the church today. But we're told to be an example in purity. We're called to be an example for the people we're ministering to.

This doesn't mean that we're perfect. But be an example of asking for forgiveness when you mess up. Ask for forgiveness, especially from your children because they are watching. I had to ask my children for forgiveness several times for me messing up and fooling around. I had to. Because I taught them the word. Before they even put that word back on me, I'm asking for forgiveness. You remember I taught them the scriptures, I read them the stories. And so they will be heartbroken when they see me, who taught them, not living it. So I had to ask for forgiveness. This is what we do.

So take heed to yourself. Paul reiterated this to Timothy, who later became the pastor of the church of Ephesus as I said earlier. He told them in First Timothy 4:16, "Take heed to yourself and to your doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you."

In other words, watch out Timothy, because if you don't take heed to yourself, you will erase with your life everything you are teaching. And as parents, we can do the same thing at home. We need to take heed to ourselves. Watch out parents, single parents, watch out. Because no matter how many verses you teach them, we can erase it all by not living it in front of them.

So develop a prayer life. Determine to spend time in God's word. Develop a close walk with God. Determine to become like Ezra who was called skilled in the law of God. Or like Apollos who was called mighty in the scriptures according to Acts 18 and verse 24. Because if we don't, the people we're ministering to will know it.

Acts 4:13 says, "Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled." Here it goes: "And they realized that they had been with Jesus." So our children, our spouses and friends can tell when we have been with Jesus and when we have not.

It just irks me to no end when my wife says something's going on with you because the last three days you've been a little edgy. I said, "Nothing's wrong!" See, I just proved something's wrong. So if I drop down one degree, she'll know it. The two shall become one, and she'll know what's going on. Snapiness is a sign of something.

Now, here's the thing. Let us beware that we don't become like Moses. You say, "Well, what do you mean? Moses was the dude." Watch this. See, when Moses went up on the mountain to receive the Ten Commandments, it says that his face was glowing from being in the presence of God. First John 1:5 says, "God is light and in him is no darkness at all." When Moses spent time in God's presence for 40 days and 40 nights, when he left, he was glowing.

The Bible says that Moses put a veil on his face. According to Second Corinthians 3:13, Paul tells us that Moses put a veil on his face. The initial thing you would think is because that glow was so bright where people were like, "Moses, turn that down." No, Paul tells us Moses put a veil on his face because he didn't want the people to see that the glow was fading, that the glow was leaving. So he put a veil on his face to keep people from seeing what was really going on.

See, people can tell when we have been spending time with Jesus or not. Or whether we're trying to put a veil on our faces to try to hide the fact that we haven't been with him lately. They can see through the veil you're trying to fool them with. The veil of using Christian words like, "Oh, praise the Lord, hallelujah, amen."

The veil of a fake smile. Christians always have that cheesy smile. And those things that are really showing the joy of the Lord within us, those things can become a veil to keep people from seeing that we haven't been with Jesus lately. Let us not be like Moses. Moses tried to cover his face, tried to hide the fact that he had not been with the Lord lately.

This is key for us, that we don't try to do this very thing. This is why Paul told Timothy in First Timothy 4:15, "Meditate on these things that I'm sharing to you about ministry. Give yourself entirely to them." Why, Paul? "That your progress may be evident to all." So take heed to yourself.

What else? He says, "and to the flock" in verse 28. So take heed to yourself first and then to the flock. Why? Because if you're in a right relationship with the Lord, the blessings will flow through to the flock of your family, your children, in the children's ministry you're teaching, and the people you're ministering to at work. When you and I are in a right relationship with God, the blessings will flow from us to the people we're ministering to.

Toward the end of David's life, he was surrounded by men who killed giants. I talked about this Wednesday night. Saul, on the other hand, the first king of Israel, was afraid of Goliath, who was a giant. He was surrounded by men who never killed a giant.

Here's the important principle about leadership: if you want those around you to become giant killers, you must be one yourself. See, if we as leaders, as parents, or as employers, aren't reading the Bible, praying, talking to people about Jesus Christ, or bringing them to church, the people under our leadership won't either. What we are is what those around us will become. I mentioned it Wednesday night: like begets like. What we are, those under us will be just like us.

And that's a sobering statement when you just think about it. So become what you want to see your people become. Don't forget this very important leadership principle by John Maxwell: we teach what we know, but we reproduce who we are. You can teach scriptures until they are coming out of your children's ears, but they're going to become what we really are.

What else did Paul tell these Ephesian elders? You've got to wait until next week to find out. Let me conclude with this. In this message, we saw some of the last words Paul will tell these Ephesian elders. He told them that he was innocent of the blood of all men because he gave them the whole counsel of God. Let us give our children, our spouses and all those who are around us God's word, so we can be innocent of their blood as well.

Paul told them to take heed to themselves, and let us do the same. Let us cultivate a close relationship with God through reading and praying and attending church, so we can be an example to the people we are ministering to. Let us not have the blood of our families and those closest to us on our hands because we have failed or we shrank back to declare to them the whole counsel of God.

Point people to the wonderful counselor who loves them and who wants to counsel them through all of their issues, their problems, and their circumstances. Point people to the Lord. Don't have people look to you. Point people to the Lord. I already told you, I can't help you. I'm only here to equip you, and I'm only here to bring you to the throne of grace, to the one who can help you.

I'm only here to point you to the wonderful counselor that loves you and wants to help you. That's my job. I can't help you, dear people. The stuff you all are involved in, I can't help you. I can't figure it out. Some of you all need lawyers and stuff, I'm not a lawyer, I didn't go to law school, I can't help you. You all need the Lord. And this is why we come to hear God's word taught, so we can come to the only one that can help us.

So just before we pray now, we're going to have the worship team come up. And we're going to have those who are serving in ministry to get to their posts so you can continue to have a wonderful experience going out. I just want to invite you to come to the wonderful counselor, the one who can help you, the one who loves you, and the one who paid the ultimate price for your sin. This is the one I want to bring you to.

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