Thanks to my friends at Acts 29 I’m able to share some sessions with you from the Dwell London conference. This is a talk Mark Driscoll gave on how to preach Christ from the entire Bible. You can download the audio, read my notes below, or watch the video right here:

No one has a worse life than a church planter’s wife. Her husband is flat broke. He won’t stop working, but makes no money. And he wants to grow his church by getting her pregnant!

The big idea is this—“It’s about Jesus!” There is always something that churches use to keep people motivated. The only way you will maintain something is if it’s about Jesus. Everything has to be about Jesus, whether it’s counseling or groups or classes or preaching.

Six framing questions to help you in your preparation of sermons:

1. What does Scripture say?
   Does the Greek work? What exactly does it say?

2. What does this mean, i.e. to the original audience and to us?
3. How can I make it memorable?
   It can’t just be true—it also has to be easy for people to remember, to stay in their minds. How does one do that? Use doctrine—e.g. providence with Ruth. God orders her affairs. Big theological issues can sometimes be your hook. Or just a word, like grace—e.g. fifteen aspects of grace. Or an emotion. Naomi said, “Call me ‘Mara’ for God has made me bitterness.” If you’re in the book of Psalms you will have to explain “lament”—worshipfully grieving out pain. Or an image, like the throne. Spurgeon was best at taking images and captivating people with the images of the Bible. He said, “Some men preach heaven. I try to take them there!” Or a person,—sometimes the hook can be a character. Hang your sermon on the hook.
4. The apologetic question—How are people going to resist this?
   Assume they are going to fight it. Anticipate the probable objections and answer them. If you do this, you can’t preach for twenty-five minutes. The longer you preach, the younger the crowd if you are any good at it. Forty-five minutes to an hour plus is what many growing churches do. Classic Puritan preaching included this approach to any possible objections: “Some of you are thinking this . . .” It’s not that you are reading minds, just that there will be objections. Hell, sex, pornography, homosexuality, etc. will all raise objections in people’s minds. This is where you will see an angry response. If you say, “This is just my perspective,” it’s fine, but if you say “This is wrong!” there will be conflict. If they have a good reason you did not consider, then it is easy for them to walk out ignoring you.

5. The missional application—What does this mean for our community?
   What about our church, our families, our friendships, our city, our town, etc. Live in such a way that the rest of the city sees there is a different way of life—birth, work, sex, death, etc. For example, take sexual sin. It’s not just that you are disobeying, you are hurting the church and you are hurting the mission God has called you to—i.e. you are preaching a false gospel.

6. The Christological Question—How is Jesus the hero?
   Every single sermon needs to talk about Jesus as the hero. This will train the people to look for Jesus in the Bible. Also, if they don’t hear Jesus they will make note of that. It will also quietly train people to be evangelistic. People will naturally bring their friends to church because they know you will always be talking about Jesus.

Jesus said to the Pharisees that they did not love the Word of God because they didn’t love him. He is the fulfillment of the Bible. How you can find Jesus? Foreshadowing christophanies in the Old Testament, and the messenger of the Lord who is worshipped. Prefiguring types—e.g. Adam, the priesthood, David, the prophets, sacrifices, shepherds, judges, bread, wine, etc. Also, “Unlike the first Adam, Jesus passed his test in the garden” etc. Do not merely preach moralistically, i.e. there’s good guys and bad guys—do what the good guys do. Teach that in this Book they prefigure Jesus and he is the hero.

We tend to turn Old Testament heroes into super-heroes. They are people saved by grace and are not the heroes. God is the hero. The key is to make sure that it is solely about Jesus. Very few people do this consistently in their preaching.

Titles for God—“Son of man” from Daniel.

The big idea is this. Please tell people about Jesus. Too often people try and get them excited about being missional, etc. But to be honest, the only way to really get them excited is to tell them it is all about Jesus. If it’s about Jesus, it works. Even if you don’t have the best building or the best band or the best preacher. The Holy Spirit likes to show up when much is made of Jesus. In some churches the people sing as if they had just been captured by Al Quaida, but the church is growing. Why? Because it’s about Jesus. The Jesus of the Bible.

A lot of things can be done wrong. But you have to do this one thing right. If you do it, it will make up for a lot of things that aren’t done so well. If your family and your church family will love Jesus, everything else will follow. GO AWAY AND LOVE JESUS.

Well . . . I’m here! And the Brighton conference has begun. The sense of anticipation and excitement is incredible. Joyful reunions of friends who have been on separate continents are happening everywhere. We are really a family. We are really on a mission.

At the beginning of the week, I would ask that you pray for me. It is a busy week for me with typing, interviewing, and, of course, just meeting friends. My jet lag is improving quickly. I was also determined this year, more than usual, to press into God in the worship time. Sometimes when live-blogging, it’s possible to feel a bit detached from the goings on just because you’re typing away. Please pray for me about that.

Also, please pray for my long-suffering wife, Andrée , who I have left at home with our five children. May God carry her and give her real grace as what she is doing is more important than what I am doing. No one is going to die if I mistype a word here! I am already missing her and looking forward to seeing her again at the end of the week.

Right from the start I wanted to ensure I focused on God. Sitting near the front, and being intentional about it, I certainly found myself carried into an awareness of the presence of God by the thousands in the room, the worship band, and the wonderful words of the songs. We learned a great new song. It began, “His name is Jesus, Risen Savior” and was a triumphant celebration of the death and resurrection of our Savior. The song is from Lou Fellingham’s new album, which can also be bought as mp3 downloads. Vibrant is not a strong enough word to describe the feel of this worship time.

As Nigel Ring prepared to introduce our first speaker, he told us that 20 per cent of the world’s nations are represented at this conference. He read out the name of each country, and there was a corresponding “whoop” after each nation was mentioned. There are 52 nations in attendance:

Stephen directed us to Daniel 1 and read the entire chapter for us. He entitled his talk Prevailing Under Pressure. You can download the mp3 of his talk or listen to it here:

More posts from this conference can be found on my TOAM08 label page.

Stephen set the scene by explaining the terrible trauma experienced by the Jews in being exiled. What was worse, these events were not random. They had been determined by their God who had saved them, and had now judged them. Their sin was to make God surplus to requirements. They had been warned not to reject him. They had been wooed.

Galatians 6:7-8 warns us that God cannot be mocked. Persistent rebellion against God will not go unpunished. God is faithful to all his promises, including the promise to punish the disobedient. This might seem discouraging, but because of what it shows us, we can be encouraged.

1. GOD IS IN CONTROL

   He is sovereign. By verse 4, it is no longer Nebuchadnezzar who had carried them off into captivity; rather GOD claims that HE had done it. There is an historically correct perspective, but the destiny of the people of God is in the hands of God.

   We see in Daniel changing kings and an unchanging God. We meet superpower kings who come and go, but our God goes on forever! He is the one true King. Our God is the author of human history. In the midst of international dangers and everything else that is going on, we must hear that OUR GOD REIGNS.

   When we know that God reigns, we not only survive difficulties, we prevail. He is also sovereign over the very details of our lives. Verse 9—God causes an official to show favor. Verse 17—God gave knowledge and understanding. There is no area outside of God’s control.

   We all have challenges. We bring our own challenges and other people’s with us. But because God is in control and wants to give us hope and a future, we can be bold. Our confidence is that he is in charge. This is HIS world, and he cares about it. Jesus is ruling and reigning FOR his Church (Ephesians 1).

   God has an eternal purpose—to glorify his Son through his Church. He has a unique plan for each of us that fits in with that bigger plan. Our prayer meetings and our missions will be different if we really appreciate that God is in charge.

2. GOD IS A REDEEMER

   Even in the midst of punishment we see the mercy of God. “Young man, no defects, etc.”—that’s the list of requirements for the average Christian woman looking for a husband today!

   The key leaders were brought to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar, but God had a plan. God sent a group ahead so that there was grace to the people of God. They lived for God in the midst of the culture without compromise. Daniel is part of praying in the promise of God to send the people back.

   Before God disciplines a hard-hearted and rebellious people, he is already working on the solution! He sends a group on to be part of the redeeming purpose before he even punishes. God is more gracious than we are.

   For example, in Ruth, while Naomi is ranting against God, he is preparing her redemption. We serve a Redeemer. If we think our life is a mess, God can fix it.

3. GOD WANTS US IN THE WORLD, BUT NOT OF THE WORLD

   Daniel is deported and bombarded by this alien culture. Was he to avoid it? Was he to resist it? Was he to protest? Was he to assimilate?
   

   “It is comparatively easy to be faithful if we don’t care about being contemporary. It is also easy to be contemporary if you don’t care about being faithful. It is the search for the combination of truth and relevance which is exacting.”

   — John Stott

   How can we reach out without selling out? How can we be faithful and relevant?

   On external things, Daniel was flexible. He studied a foreign language. He changed his name. On the internal issue of his walk with God, he was inflexible.

   Daniel resolved not to defile himself. For Daniel, it wasn’t really eating the food or wine, but rather because the food had been offered to idols. He demonstrated incredible courage. After all, you didn’t want to offend Nebuchadnezzar!

   Daniel says it like it is. He doesn’t want to defile himself. This is real moral integrity. It is theological integrity also (see verse 17). Daniel had a great intellect. He had great gifting and ability naturally. He was also anointed. But Daniel demonstrated integrity by not trusting his ability, or even the amplification of his ability. Daniel humbly embraced the gifts. It was not Daniel’s brilliance that won the day, but rather the intervention of God. (Daniel 2:27-28) Daniel gave God the credit.

   He also demonstrated spiritual integrity by guarding his relationship with God with his life. He was in it for the long haul. In Daniel 6, they could not find anything to pin on him. They knew that if they banned prayer, Daniel would still pray. He wouldn’t stop his communion with God.

   Daniel shows us a panoramic picture of a sovereign God. He remained faithful, committed to the purposes of God. Compromise is not inevitable. Not everyone has a price. Daniel did not cave in. People who pursue God will make a difference.

   “Those who honor me, I will honor.” 1 Samuel 2:30

   Eric Liddell was faithful to God, not only because he would not run on the Sabbath—he relocated to China to preach the gospel. During the war he was in a prisoner of war camp. Churchill arranged a prisoner exchange, but he decided to give his prisoner exchange to a pregnant woman who was in the camp. He died so someone else could live.

   You can live your life for God. You don’t have to give in.

More posts from this conference can be found on my TOAM08 label page.

This morning I preached a sermon at Jubilee. The following are almost exactly the notes I used to preach from. In the meantime you can download the audio or listen to it right here.

Imagine Jesus . . .

Baby Jesus—weakness, stooping down, becoming one of us, close to us. OR, Jesus on the cross; suffering the wrath of God for us. Closest description of Jesus did NOT look like the cross, or a “gentle Galilean peasant,” or the baby Jesus.

Consider the scene . . .

The aging John—an island prisoner who has NOT recanted. He has not said, “We all made it up.” Perhaps they would have let him go. But how could he deny his friend? He was no Judas. ?the only one of Jesus’ disciples left. There had always been speculation that he would not die his gospel denied. Soon he would be with Jesus again. O how he had missed him.

Jesus’ best friend on earth . . .

“The twelve”—the inner circle of three. Only one who leaned his head on Jesus. Others understood most of the time! And Jesus was kind about it. If anyone had known Jesus, he had. NO flaws, perfect. Being with Jesus had been the most amazing experience of his life.

The change in John . . .

Sons of thunder plus wanting position. Now oozed the love of God. People said they could tell he had been with Jesus. It’s still true today—those who have truly been with Jesus are changed. NB Jesus is with us through his Spirit.

Perhaps he thought about possibly the strangest words he had ever heard Jesus say. Back then, must have struggled to believe that Jesus’ leaving would be better for him, BUT he had known the Spirit of Jesus living inside him, working through him, assuring him that he had been saved. These past years he had not been alone. But, there was a part of him that missed being able to see Jesus, to hug Jesus.

Suddenly he was caught up into heaven. He had seen Jesus look a bit like this once before. The risen, ascended glorious Jesus.

READ Revelation 1:9-18

Immediately this Jew who had been schooled in worshipping only the one God fell on his face as though dead in order to worship his best friend. Who could stand before him?

Before he fell John managed to see enough of Jesus to give us this wonderful description. Have you ever thought about this image of Jesus? Have you let it fill your mind? Have you gazed on him? As we gaze on Jesus we will become like him says Paul in 2 Corinthians 3.

No full image, no statues, no worship.

“One like a son of man.” Earth, a few pounds lighter, new creation—a physical body.

God has incorporated human flesh into the divinity. Not only did God become man, a Man was now ruling in heaven as God. Everything about him was glorious.

Even his hair seemed to gleam. Reminds us of Daniel on the ‘ancient of days.’ Jesus who always has been and always will be. Another figure in Daniel—Jesus is mediator between man and God—he is both the Son of Man and the Ancient of Days! White hair could also symbolize his wisdom and judgment.

He was wearing a robe—like Christians in heaven. Jesus was dressed in his own righteousness—that he had also given his people to wear. A golden sash speaks of his authority. Like the high priests’ garments or those of a king.

His eyes flash like fire. One glance of some people’s eyes can make your knees go to jelly—teenage boy when the hottest girl in the school looks at him. Authoritative look of judge, parent. Jesus’ eye is watching you. He can see everything. He can look through walls and into hearts. Those eyes say, “I love you, but you don’t want to mess with me.”

His eyes were confident, authoritative, but also gentle and full of love. Often we are over-familiar with Jesus and see him as a figure as it were in soft-focus—an English gentleman, perhaps Mr. Darcy. We need to see his majesty, glory, authority, power, and wrath against sin. O beloved, just one glance of his eye would be enough for our weak, timid, overly-gentle, soft caricatures of Jesus to disappear in an instant.

Even Jesus’ feet exuded strength and authority. For such an important part of our bodies, our feet can be pretty weak and pretty ugly at times. They are also incredibly vulnerable—e.g. a small stone in your shoe. Jesus’ feet were solid bronze and symbolized God’s glory in OT writings.

But the thing that would probably both terrify you and thrill you most about this figure was his voice. Like thunder, waves, Niagara falls.

When this Jesus speaks the world shakes. “Let there be light!” “A new heaven and a new earth.” When he says “NO!” to Satan, the devil just melts away. What this voice says goes. No one can challenge him. Just be quiet and obey. Do as he tells you before he deafens you.

When he says “This one is forgiven,” you are forgiven. When he says, “This one is righteous!” your sins evaporate and righteousness is credited to your account—something really does change inside so you will become what you are. If he says, “Be free!” you will be free indeed. If he says “Be healed” your sickness will go. If he says “It’s not good for them to be alone!” your perfectly designed by God marriage partner will be just around the corner. I hear you say “Where?!?!” Maybe you have met them already! Maybe they are right here in this room. Perhaps you need God to speak: “Open those eyes and look!”

Brothers, it is not for nothing that the ancient hymn says:

Then there was his face. What a wonderful face. What a shining face. What a gentle, but powerful face. Can’t see his face for intense brightness. But drawn anyway.

What is the appropriate response to this Jesus? That of Jesus’ best friend, the only appropriate one. Shock, reverence, awe—look it was FEAR! Like Isaiah who said, “Woe to me,” he FELL as though DEAD. WE MUST TOO! We were dead in our trespasses and sins, nothing to give, helpless and in need his help. OUR weakness, his superiority. Are you angry with God, saying “When I get to heaven I will have a few questions for him to answer!” You fool! If Jesus was to walk into this room today, you would not be able to remain in your seats. God could not be seen or else death would result. His nuclear-hot holiness burns up every trace of sin.

We are right to fear him. We would be fools not to. And, when the Bible says, Fear him,” it means simply that. FEAR HIM! Sometimes people come to us and say they are afraid of God. We would do well to tell them you are probably not frightened enough.

But the passage doesn’t end there. Instead we see—wonder of wonders—that amazing word BUT. There are few words more welcome than that word in the right place. John is terrified in the presence of the fearsome risen Christ. He is there on his face. He thinks that’s it, I am undone. At that very moment, the passage tells us, “BUT JESUS reached out his hand, his right hand no less, and touches him” O, what is he going to do? Is he going to kill him? Is he going to beat him up a bit? Is he angry with him? Is he going to scold him for not being good enough?

What does he say? Does he say, “Be afraid, be very afraid!” No—he says “Fear Not!” Oddly enough, the Bible is full of commands to fear God. But when God turns up on the scene he always seems to say “Don’t be afraid!” The reason for this is that God both wants us to fear him, and doesn’t want us to be terrified of him!

Why doesn’t John need to, in that sense, fear Jesus? Because of what Jesus has just done for him—he has reached out and touched him. Because of who Jesus is- the great eternal one who never had a beginning and never had an ending. Because his best friend, Jesus, is now revealed for all to see as the eternal God—“The First and Last” Because he is also the one who is the living active one—the God who still delights in doing things. He is the one who died, FOR YOU, John. He is the one who was RAISED for you, John. And he is the one who holds the keys of death and hell in his hands. If he says you are one of mine, then the devil can’t touch you, and the door of hell is locked to you and heaven is open wide!

This is the Jesus we come to today, beloved. The living one. The terrifying one. And yet the loving one, who delights in reaching his hand out and touching you. And when he touches you, amazing things can happen. Do you need Jesus to touch you? Do you need a healing? He is the healer. Do you need your guilt removed? He died so that you could be forgiven. Do you feel dirty because of your own sin or the sin someone else committed against you? His blood cleanses you from all shame and all uncleanness. Do you need a victory in your personal life? Your relationships? Your work? This Jesus is the triumphant one, and nothing, but nothing can stand in his way when he chooses to act on your behalf.

Let’s fall on our faces. Let’s worship him. Let’s feel his touch. Let’s get right with him. Become a Christian, or get so close to Jesus once more that it almost feels as if we are born again again! Then let’s stand up, and go from this place a people who are changed by him. Let’s go full of joy. Full of faith. Full of the boldness that comes from being with Jesus. Let’s invite people to our Christmas event to meet this wonderful Jesus so they, too, can feel his touch. Amen.

For the final session, Mark took us to the vital subject of the future. We cannot see what will happen. There are some difficulties we face currently. There are threats to the freedom of religion. Entrenched secularism dismisses the value of Christianity. Our ideas are marginalized. There is a new phenomenon of legal intolerance towards Christianity. Certain statements about other faiths and sexual practices are likely to be considered “hate speech” and become illegal, i.e. we may be told it is illegal to say that another religion is wrong. Many of our brothers around the world face opposition. If we become subject to such restrictions, what should we do?

Mark took us to the book of Daniel to learn three lessons which expose a myth about our future.

1. God is our only hope—The myth of a godless future. We have a hope. “No other God can save.” The point of the book is not Daniel’s faithfulness, it is God’s faithfulness. In the furnace, in the place where earthly power would seem to be the greatest in dealing out death, there God showed his true greatness. God will perform his promises. Study God’s sovereignty and his loving kindness. See what he has done with his sovereignty.

2. We can survive—The myth of the hopeless world. If Daniel can survive, that should inspire us in the circumstances we face. It’s like he was playing with lions for decades, but made it! Daniel is not afraid to confront the kings with their rebellion against God. Daniel prospered time after time. Let us treasure the Gospel because this is how we will survive.
3. We will face opposition—The myth of the moral world. The world is so fallen that it is normal for the godly to face opposition. When evangelizing, we shouldn’t sound like “used car salesmen!” Righteousness is no guarantee of avoiding trials. We, just like Jesus, will face opposition. The big news of Daniel in the end is that God wins! But there is a theme of trouble and attack in this world. We will face suffering. We cannot avoid or eliminate persecution. We have to accept it when he takes us through suffering. He will turn those difficulties into good. We must remember that however culturally sensitive we may be, people will hate us as Christians.

We are righteous because we have found something we value more than this world’s praise or pleasure and ease. We will never face a trial that we will not outlast.

Our brother Al Mohler once said somewhere that “optimism is naive, but pessimism is atheistic.” I think he’s right. On non-ultimate matters (our government’s fate, our culture’s response to the Gospel, the world in rebellion against God) we can be agnostic or even pessimistic. But on ultimate matters—God’s glory, His victory in procuring a people to His eternal praise, the triumph of the church—there is nothing but ultimate optimism presented in the Bible—Old Testament or New. Jesus promised in Matt. 16 that His church will prevail. We see from visions in Ezekiel, Daniel, Revelation, and prophecies in Isaiah and the Gospels that, in the end, and FOREVER, GOD WINS!!