The following is an excerpt from a recent sermon I preached on Acts 5:17-42.
*****
I often repeat the line: the word of God is sufficient to do the work of God. We all believe this, but, if we’re honest, there are days where it doesn’t feel very true. Will the word of God win out? Is the word of God really strong enough to go to the ends of the earth? It can feel so muted, impotent, helpless, small, constrained, restricted, powerless.
Maybe you think, “What about all the unreached peoples that haven’t heard?” Or, “What about my unreached neighbors? I keep praying for them and waiting for an opportunity and I’ve tried and I’ve talked about Jesus. I invited them to church and there’s nothing. It doesn’t feel like there’s any way to get through.” Maybe you think what about the ways religious liberty and freedom are being threatened in the West. You fear and you wonder: what will happen to the truth of God’s word?
Brothers and sisters, God wants you to know this morning and hear on the authority of the Bible that God is not muted, helpless, small, restricted, or powerless. He sees. He knows. He is at work in the world. And his word will not be silenced.
Jesus does not promise us long life. He does not promise us riches and uninterrupted good health. He does not promise the triumph of Christian values in the marketplace of ideas. He does not promise a favorable response to the word of God. What Jesus does promise is that his word will go to the ends of the earth and he will be with us to the very end of the age.
In the midst of all that is broken and sinful and tragic in this world, God wants us to have this sure hope: that no man, woman or child, no government institution or law, no power, prince or potentate can silence the word of God.
You can listen to the entire sermon and watch the whole thing here.
