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 Bibles to Acts chapter 15, verses 30 through 36.

Tony Clark: I just want to pause and say, oh, how we need more men and women in the church like Judas and Silas, who have the prophetic gift to come alongside of us and speak words of edification, words to build us up in the faith, words of exhortation, words to urge us on in our faith when we feel like giving up, and speaking words of comfort when life has dealt us a devastating blow.

I just want to pause here and say parents, can we be more like this to our children? We seem to always point out the negative things that they're doing, especially when you have children that are school-aged. They can have all A's and a C, and all you harp on is that C. I know how you are. They may have straight A's, but there's a little negative comment about some behavior, and you'll just constantly point out that behavior. Not saying it doesn't need to be addressed, but you're constantly pointing it out. Can we be more like this? Can we speak words of edification, words that's going to build our children up?

Can we speak words of exhortation when they want to give up? Can we speak words of comfort when they're being devastated at school through bullying and all kinds of other things? Can we be more like this Judas and Silas to our children? Married couples, what about you? What about us? Can we be more like this to each other? Always pointing out what he doesn't do. "You're always leaving this around." "You never do this." "You never have." "You never." It's always those type of things. When was the last time you spoke words that's going to build your spouse up?

When was the last time you spoke words that's going to exhort them to continue on when they feel like giving up? When are you going to speak words of comfort when they've been devastated on the job, maybe demoted because of something? When are we going to be like this to one another? Singles, how about you? Oh, how many singles need to be exhorted to continue on when they are tired of waiting on God's person for them and when they're tempted to go out into the world to find someone because of loneliness.

When are we going to speak words of exhortation to the singles? When are we going to speak words of edification to build them up in their Christian walk when they're being torn down by the world because they are single? When are we going to speak comfort to them when that loneliness seems to be caving in on them and a depression has set in? Oh, how we need more men and women like Judas and Silas that's going to speak words of exhortation, edification, and comfort to one another.

According to verse 33, these men stayed therefore a time, and then they were sent back with greetings from the brethren in Antioch to the apostles in Jerusalem. So as they were sent off, it would seem like Silas had a change of heart and wanted to stay even longer. This leads me to the fourth way that God guides His people, and that's through the desires we may have personally. Philippians 2:13 says, "It is God who works in us both to will and to do His good pleasure." In other words, when we surrender our lives to Jesus Christ, God works in us His will for our lives.

Let me give you a personal example of this. In 1 Timothy chapter 3, verse 1, it says, "If a man desires the office of pastor, he desires a good work." I am a pastor today because God put it in my heart. He gave me the desire to become one. Many people say, "I wouldn't want to be a pastor for all the tea in China." That's why you're not one. It has to be a desire, and where did the desire come from? It came from God. God works in us both to will and to do His good pleasure. God put the desire in my heart to be one. I didn't have some old mother from the church saying, "You're going to be a preacher one day." No, I didn't have that. God put it in my heart to become one, and I am one now because God put it in my heart that way.

Let me get very practical with you even further. I am in Virginia now because when I came to visit 25 years ago, I said, "There's a need for Calvary Chapels here," and I said, "Yeah, I can see myself living here." So I left California, came here, and been here for 25 years. I don't know what some of y'all are looking for, for God to part the sky and call your name. You're waiting on some dream or something God nudge. We have a saying within Calvary Chapels, "God works supernaturally in a very natural way." Y'all looking for some star-spangled banner of some kind, some sparkles and fireworks. No, He works in us. He works in us very naturally to give us desire to the point where we think it's us.

God is so humble that He will give us desires and then we think it's us coming up with it. God says, "I'm the one who gave you the desire." It's God who works in us both to will, that's desire, and to do, the power to carry out His good pleasure. That's what God does. I'm doing what I'm doing now because God put it in my heart to do it. Why am I in Virginia? I came here and said, "Yeah, I can stay here." I had a choice to go back home to Indiana where I'm from. I had an opportunity to go to the Atlanta area. I came here and said, "Yeah, I can do that." Where do you think that came from? That came from God. Look at all that God has done that showed that that was in line with God.

So I came. I stayed here just like Silas said in verse 34. He said, "I think I stay here in Antioch a little longer." And he stayed in Antioch. Now, what is it that you would like to do for the Lord? What is in your heart? What desires do you have? Then guess what I'm going to tell you? Then do it. Psalm 37, verse 4 says, "Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart." So the prerequisite of getting desires of your heart is delight yourself in the Lord, which means to have pleasure in the things of God, His word, in prayer, in talking to people about Him. Just delight yourself in the Lord and then do what He put in your heart to do.

This is what Silas did in verse 34. Paul and Barnabas also stuck around according to verse 35 because they were leaders in the church there, and they used their teaching and preaching gifts to build up the new Gentile or non-Jewish believers there. Look what it says there in verse 36. "Then after some days, Paul said to Barnabas, 'Let us now go back and visit our brethren in every city we have preached the word of the Lord and see how they're doing.'" So we see after some days, we don't know how long this was. It could have been several months or it could have been several years.

Paul and Barnabas felt like they could leave and go on another missionary trip. The end of verse 35 says that there were many others who came to the church in Antioch to help establish them in their faith. So they felt that they could go on another missionary trip because the church was in good hands. Suddenly, Paul said to Barnabas, "I'm curious as to how the believers we saw years ago are doing. So let's go back and visit them in every city where we have preached the word and just see how they're doing." This is the fifth way that God guides His people, and that is through the concerns we feel internally.

This is what happened to Nehemiah. He heard about the disaster that took place in the city of Jerusalem. The city was destroyed, the walls were torn down, and it broke his heart, and he just began to weep over the condition of his city according to Nehemiah 1:4. My question is, what are you concerned about? What breaks your heart? What causes you to weep? Is it the marriages in the church? Is it for singles? Is it for the children or for the teens? Whatever it is, then that is what God is calling you to get involved in.

Is it the finances, people's finances all jacked up? Does that concern you? Does that break your heart? Let me tell you what breaks my heart, what causes tears to flow from my eyes, and that is the spiritual condition of America and especially the spiritual condition of the church in America, or Christianity in America. That breaks my heart. The lack of sound biblical teaching in the church today, that crushes me. Because I've been in ministry over 30 some years, I've been around and I've seen a lot of churches. I've heard a lot of preaching, teaching, fooling around up in this sacred desk that I'm behind right now. I've seen a lot of it. I've heard a lot of it, and it breaks my heart.

It breaks my heart to know that we're living in the days of 2 Timothy 4, verses 3 and 4, which says, "For 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 turn aside to fables." We are living in such days, people not wanting to hear sound doctrine. The Greek word for sound is "hygieaino", and it means to have sound health. It is where we get our English word hygiene from.

In other words, there will come a time when people will not want good healthy teaching that will teach them how to live a clean healthy life for the Lord. Why? Don't miss this. Because people will have itching ears. Because of this, they will follow those who will tickle or scratch them and tell them what they want to hear instead of what they need to hear. They will turn away their ears from the truth and turn aside to fables and stories. This is what breaks my heart, and I am mandated by the Lord to do what 2 Timothy 4, verse 2 says: "Preach the word. Be ready in season and out of season, convince, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and teaching."

So I am called to preach and teach the word in season and out of season, or when preaching the word is popular and when it isn't popular, I'm called to preach and teach the word of God. However, now I know why people don't want to hear sound clean doctrine. It is because of what the word does in our lives when it is properly taught to us. It, number one, convinces or reproves us. That Greek word is "elegmos", and it means to correct misbehavior. It affects the mind and helps to convince a person that what he or she is doing is wrong. People don't want to be told what they're doing is wrong.

The first thing out of their mouths is, "You're judging me." Or if it's coming from the pulpit, "That's your interpretation of it," as if you are an expert on this word here. God wants us to be. But I'm so amazed at when people don't want to hear what the word of God clearly says: "You're judging me," or "That's your interpretation." Because of what the word does, it convinces a person that what he or she is doing is wrong. The word of God, when it's properly taught, also rebukes us, which means to bring under conviction of guilt and bring to repentance.

The preaching of the word, it does that. It brings us under a conviction. This is why many people don't want to come to a place that is constantly teaching the word of God. Why? Because they don't want to be brought under the conviction of guilt that the word of God is showing them. The word of God is a mirror to show us who we are so we can correct some things. Ladies, you know this more so than we do. We do it also, but you know it more so than me. You look in the mirror and you're looking at yourself and fixing and then you do this.

That mirror is showing you everything. The word of God, the Bible says the word of God is a mirror. When we sit under the teaching, it shows us who we are so we can make the proper adjustments. This is what the word is doing, and people don't want to do that. They don't want to be brought under that conviction of guilt that will lead to repentance. Remember, the object of walking with the Lord is so we can ultimately become like Christ. Therefore, when the teaching of the word of God is showing us and we're brought under conviction, that is showing us there is an area that's not like Christ that needs to be corrected, an attitude, a behavior, something we are doing or did.

It brings us under a conviction that will lead to repentance. The preaching and teaching of the word of God also exhorts us or encourages us, which is needed when we want to quit because we may be brought under a guilt and a conviction and we're just like, "You know what? I'm done with this Christian stuff. I want to quit." Then the word of God will come and encourage us to continue on in the Christian walk. Then those who are preaching the word need to do it. Notice it says "with all longsuffering." That Greek word for longsuffering is "makrothumia", and it can be translated as patience or endurance.

The meaning is very clear. The pastor or teacher need to endure preaching the word even when church members are turning their ears away from it and are stubborn. Still preach the word with patience towards them. So preach the word with all longsuffering and doctrine. That word doctrine or teaching, "didache", it means instruction. So the people of God need to be instructed on how to walk with God. This is why I teach the way I do because God's word will convince us, it will rebuke us, it will exhort us on how to walk with God.

Many people are not walking with God because they never been told how. This is what breaks my heart about the churches in America. There is not the sound teaching and preaching of the word of God. Therefore, they're not walking with God. They're taught how to get excited about God, how to run around and flip and roll around and get excited, how to swing from those speakers, how to get excited, but they're not taught how to walk with God. That's why they're not walking with Him. So the mandate I place on people of my ilk, pastors and preachers who are up there not teaching the word of God, this is why this breaks my heart.

I struggle, and I pray hard about this whenever I have to go to maybe back home to some more traditional type of churches. I say, "Okay Lord, I want to be able to receive. I don't want to be a critic of this person giving the word. Lord, help me." I pray hard because I'm rooting for them to give the people these people are gathered together. They want to hear something from God. Give them something from God. I say, "Okay, okay, okay, he read some verses. Okay, we're off to a good start." And he never came back to those verses. He never.

Or he read one verse and I said, "Okay, okay, okay, we got one verse. Okay, okay, you can unpack that one verse. Okay, okay." Never. I root for them. This is what breaks my heart. So we wonder why the communities around these churches are never affected one bit. Because when they do gather as the church, they get entertained, maybe by a jamming choir. They get entertained and then they get entertained by up in a pulpit, and they're never instructed on how to walk with God. It breaks my heart. That breaks my heart more than anything.

So God gifted me in a way to be able to instruct you in the things of God. The amazing thing about it in the last days, a qualification of the last days, that it will come a time when people will not be able to endure sound doctrine, meaning that they'll hear it and the mirror of the word is shown to them, the Spirit of God is showed them themselves, and they're like, "Oh, I just can't take it. I'm going to go somewhere that's going to tickle and scratch my ears." And it breaks my heart.

This is why I do what I do, because the word, we need to be convinced, we need to be rebuked, we need to be exhorted on how to walk with God. We will see the sixth way God guides His people, God's will, next time. Let me conclude with this. We saw how God guides His people through, number four, the desires we have. So delight yourself in the Lord and then do what He's put in your heart to do. It's very simple. We saw how God guides us through, number five, concerns we have internally.

What breaks your heart? Whatever it is, that's the area God wants to use you in. Maybe you're concerned about the finances or lack of leadership or teens or couples or whatever you concern, then do it. Delight yourself in the Lord then do it. It's very simple. Finally, don't turn away from sound doctrine or teaching because God wants His word to convince us, to rebuke us, to exhort us with all longsuffering and doctrine. So don't turn your ear away from it and say, "I need some more excitement" or "I need some more."

Don't turn your ear away from sound doctrine because that word is showing us something. It's showing us areas that we need to correct so we become because isn't the goal to become more like Christ? Last time I checked, that was the goal. So the word is to show us areas that are not like Christ in our behavior, in our temperament, in the way we went off on somebody. He's showing us so we can correct it and so we become more and more like Jesus Christ. May God help us to become more like Him.

Father, thank You for Your word. Thank You for Your lovingkindness. Thank You for Your tender mercies. Thank You for Your grace that abounds towards us. Dear Lord, I just pray that Lord You would draw Your people to You. Lord, I pray if there is anyone here who has not repented of their sin and accepted Christ as their Lord and Savior, may today be the day of salvation. Lord, oh, I pray, draw Your people to You by Your Spirit in Jesus' name, Amen.

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