Audacity

If you look up the definition of audacity, it is fearless courage and intrepid boldness. Fearless courage. So I wanted to give a scene that represents audacity. That's audacity. Fearless courage.

Having encountered the word of God brings audacity. So today I want to talk about the audacity to believe God, also known as faith. The apostle to the Gentile church says, faith is what saves us from sin, death, grave and hell itself. Audacity, also known as faith, gives us eternal life. And faith is not passive.

Faith is audacious. Let there be no doubt, faith is audacious. In Romans 1:17, it says this. This good news tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith.

And as the Scriptures say, it is through faith that a righteous person has life. It doesn't matter if you're a Jew or a Gentile. There's only one type of faith that saves us. 1. We don't get to define faith.

God defines Faith. In Romans 3, verse 20. There is only one God, and he makes people right with himself only by faith, whether they are Jews or Gentiles, only by faith. Faith is the only way to make peace with God. Faith is the only way to have life beyond this life beyond the grave.

And I say it again, faith is not passive. Faith is audacious. And let me say clearly, faith is rare. It's rare. Faith is not a sideline issue.

Faith is a salvation issue. The only way to be saved from sin, death, grave and hell. Faith. So what is faith? Is there a pattern of faith in the Bible for us to see and understand so that you and I are not tempted to define faith ourself or tempted to allow the world to define faith?

Yes, there is such an example. But I must tell you before we seek out this pattern of faith that this faith that I'm going to describe to you today is audacious. It is not what the world calls faith at all. That's our word for the day. You'll probably leave here today sick of the word audacity or audacious, because I'm going to use it a lot called faith, the audacity to believe God.

So let me begin with an audacious question. I'll end with the question. I'm going to start with the question, and you're going to have to think about it for a second. Here's the question. Do you believe that God has given you and your spiritual family the whole earth as an inheritance?

That's a deep One. Do you believe that God has given you and your spiritual family the whole earth, that place we live on called Earth, as an inheritance? Before I read the scripture that answers the question today, I need to tell you that they're fighting over a little piece of land in the Middle East. If you open the news today, it's probably top of the list. They're fighting over this little bitty piece of land over in the Middle East.

But Romans chapter four says that what happens in Israel, that little piece of land in the Middle east is going to determine in the future what happens on the whole planet, on the whole Earth. Do you believe. Question again. Do you believe that God has given you and your spiritual family the whole earth as an inheritance? To say yes to that question today would be audacious.

To say yes to that question that God has given me and my spiritual family whole earth as an inheritance. That's audacity. That's big. It's called faith. The audacity to believe begins with Father Abraham and the promise God made to Father Abraham.

Yes. Listen carefully. Jews and Gentiles who have faith in Jesus Christ can both call Abraham our spiritual father. So let's go to Romans 4, 13. This is kind of the foundation verse today, in fact.

Let's do it together. Let's do it together. Let's read it out loud. Clearly. God's promise to give the whole earth to Abraham and his descendants was based not on his obedience to God's law, but on a right relationship with God that comes by faith.

Now I want you to notice something. I want you to notice the whole earth.

This is a covenant promise, and it's based on faith. A word from God, a promise from God. You and I just read with our mouths a promised covenant of God and the audacity to believe. That is called faith.

God's promise to give the whole earth to Abraham descendants. It's not based on the law. It's based on faith. The audacity to believe that he said it and he's going to do it. It's called faith.

So let me ask you again.

Do you believe right now that God has given you and your spiritual family the entire earth as an inheritance? One day you're going to get an inheritance that includes the whole earth. If God gave it to Abraham and Abraham is your spiritual father, then you and I are an heir. To believe that, let's be honest. To believe that requires audacity, fearless courage and intrepid boldness.

Are you ready to study today? I hope you came ready to Study. I'm not going to give you my opinion. My opinion is meaningless. I'm going to give you the word of God.

And what you do with that will be. You'll be held accountable for you're going to hear the word of God. I want to see what the audacity to believe looks like to God. I don't want to see what it looks like to man. I want to see what it looks like to God.

What does the audacity to believe look like to God? We go to the Old Testament. The old or the original covenant of God. The promise of God to father Abraham. Here we go.

We're going to study Genesis 17, verse 1. When Abram was 99 years old. Let's be honest, that's an old dude. I don't think we got a lot of 99 year old ones in here today. When Abraham was Abram was 99 years old.

The Lord appeared to him and said, I am El Shaddai. God Almighty, serve me faithfully and live a blameless life. I will make a covenant with you by which I will guarantee to give you. Ready? Countless descendants.

He's 99 at this. Abram fell down. I find this a little humorous. He's 99 and you're going to have a bunch of kids. And Abram falls face down on the ground.

Response. And then God said to him, this is my covenant with you. I will make you the father of a multitude of nations. Now you got to get this part or you won't understand the rest of it. Israel will be one nation.

So when he says a multitude of nations, he's already counting Gentiles. Not just Israel, he's counting Jews and Gentiles. I'm going to make you the father of a multitude of nations. And what's more, I'm changing your name. It will no longer be Abram.

Instead you're going to be called Abraham. For you will be the father of many nations. That's what Abraham means, Father of many nations. Again, many nations isn't just Israel. And by the way, Israel hasn't even been born yet.

I will make you extremely fruitful. Your descendants will become. Here it is again. Many nations. And kings will be among them.

And I will confirm my covenant with you and your descendants after you from generation to generation. That would be us.

This is the everlasting covenant. When God uses the word everlasting, what do you think it means? Everlasting.

I'm going to make an everlasting covenant. I will always be your God and the God of Your descendants, after you. And I will give you the entire land of Canaan where you now live as a foreigner to you and your descendants. And it'll be your possession. Canaan.

What we call the Promised land. It'll be your possession. For how long? Forever. Now we're only talking about this little piece of land right now in the Middle East.

Canaan Forever. It's an eternal promise. They're fighting over that land right now, today. And I will be their God. God has come to a 99 year old man and offered him a covenant promise that will affect all the nations that will ever live on planet Earth.

So here's the big question.

Will Abraham have the audacity to believe God? Do you think that's easy? To believe what God just told him? You think that's easy? It's like, oh sure, God, thank you.

Do you think that's easy? To take all that in? How big is this?

God offered Abraham in that moment a word, a covenant word. And if you want to understand covenant, it is a binding agreement between two parties. Will Abraham have the audacity to believe God? Does it matter? It's called faith.

There are thousands of reasons not to believe in that moment. Thousands. In fact. I sit and I just. I can't.

I can't find an end to the reasons not to believe what God just told Abraham.

I'm too old.

She's too old. We're both too old. This is impossible. There's a thousand reasons not to believe. And one reason to believe.

Audacity. Audacity. I believe it simply for this reason. You said it. And I believe you.

It's called faith. Genesis 15, verse 6. One of the most important verses in the Bible for us to understand. And Abram believed the Lord. You think that's easy?

You think it's easy? It's not easy. It's rare. And the Lord counted him as righteous. Why?

Why did God count Abram as a righteous man? Because he believed me. Because he believed. Because of his faith. And then the Lord told him, I am the Lord who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you.

I brought you out of the land to give you this land. We're still in this point of the story. We're still talking about Canaan, the promised land. And I want to say it again, please listen. Today they are still fighting over that little piece of land.

The land covenant will begin with the land of Israel, but it will end with the whole earth. Anybody listening? The land covenant will begin with Abram and Israel. But it will end. This story of man will end with the whole earth being the inheritance of those children, descendants of Abraham.

That's how it all began in the Old Testament. So let's jump to the New Testament and I want to find out something. Is there anyone still in the New Testament 2000 years after Abraham? Is there anyone still who has the audacity to believe? Was that just Abraham?

Does that audacity carry on into the New Testament? Audacity and the lack of audacity both appear in the first chapter of the Gospel of Luke. Remember, it's been 2,000 years since Abraham's audacity to believe. And Luke's Gospel begins with another old guy who can't have children. There's a lot of that going around.

Then another old guy that can't have children. Luke 1, verse 8. One day, Zechariah. He's the old guy who can't have children. One day, Zechariah was serving God in the temple, for his order was on duty that week.

As was the custom of the priest, he was chosen by lot to enter the sanctuary of the Lord and burn incense. While the incense was being burned, a great crowd stood outside praying. And while Zechariah was in the sanctuary, the angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing to the right of the incense altar. Zechariah was shaken and overwhelmed with fear when he saw the angel of the Lord. And so would you.

But the angel said, don't be afraid, Zechariah. God has heard your prayer. And here it comes, your wife Elizabeth, who also is old. Your wife Elizabeth will give you a son, and you are to name him John. We know of him as John the Baptist.

You will have great joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great in the eyes of the Lord. And he must never touch wine or any other alcoholic drinks. He will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from birth. Wow. And he will turn many Israelites to the Lord their God.

He will be a man with the Spirit and the power of Elijah. And he will prepare the people for the coming of the Lord. Please don't read over that. He will prepare the people for the coming of the Lord. He's going to have a six month head start on Jesus arrival.

He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children. And he will cause those who are rebellious to accept the wisdom of the godly. And Zachariah said to the angel, here's the old guy's first mistake. How can I be sure this will Happen. You know what?

Audacity doesn't look like that. How can I be sure that this will happen? I'm an old man now, and my wife is also well along in years. That's a nice way of saying she's old, too.

In that moment, there's a thousand reasons to not believe. A thousand and only one to believe. Audacity. You said it, I heard it, and I believe you. It's audacity.

Then the angel said, I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God.

It was he who sent me to bring you this good news. But now, since you didn't believe. Uh oh. Since you didn't believe what I said, you will be silent and unable to speak until the child is born. For my words will certainly be fulfilled at the proper time.

In that moment. In that moment, it's clear that the priest Zechariah, he lacked the audacity to believe, and God gave him lockjaw.

And by the mercy of God, Zechariah's lockjaw wasn't permanent. It would last only nine months. And if we fast forward 25 verses in the first chapter of Luke, we find the one verse that inspired today's message. One verse that, when I read it, I was moved. One verse.

It's sandwiched between Gabriel's telling Mary that she's been chosen to deliver the Messiah and what we refer to as the Song of Mary in this scene, where now pregnant Mary travels to the house of lockjaw, Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth. One verse that so moved me, inspired me with audacity, fearless courage to preach a message that I'm sure is going to make some of you very uncomfortable today.

Luke 1, verse 39. A few days later, Mary hurried to the hill country of Judea, to the town where Lockjaw Zechariah lived. She entered the house and greeted Elizabeth. At the sound of Mary's greeting, Elizabeth child leaped within her. That's John the Baptist inside of Elizabeth.

He's leaping.

And Elizabeth, don't miss this. This is big. In that moment, Mary has walked to the house of Zechariah and Elizabeth, Elizabeth's pregnant with John the Baptist. And when Mary speaks, John the Baptist in the womb leaps and. And Elizabeth is, in that moment, filled with the Holy Spirit.

It's not just that baby John has the Holy Spirit inside of her from birth. Now she has the Holy Spirit coming. So what's that mean? Anything that's about to come out of Elizabeth's mouth is God speaking? Because the Holy Spirit has Come upon Elizabeth.

Please listen.

Verse 42. Elizabeth gave a glad cry and exclaimed to Mary, God has blessed you above all women, and your child is blessed. She knows that Mary is pregnant with God. God in the flesh is inside of her. She knows the Holy Spirit's revealing this to her.

God has blessed you above all women, and your child is blessed. And why am I so honored that the mother of my Lord should visit me? And when I heard your greeting, the baby in my womb jumped for joy. Here comes the verse that caused me to write today's message.

You are blessed, Elizabeth. To Mary. You are blessed.

Why? You are blessed because you believed that the Lord would do what he said. That's it. She's under the Holy Spirit, and the Spirit's announcing a spiritual truth. You are blessed when you believe that the Lord's going to do what he said he's going to do.

You know what it's called? Faith. And it's audacious. Do you see it? Abraham and Mary have something wonderful in common.

Audacity. They both believe that the Lord would do what he said. Audacity. They both had the audacity to believe. The unbelievable.

There's a thousand reasons. Let's be honest. There's a thousand reasons not to believe, and only one reason to believe. God said it, and I have the audacity to believe him. There are 2,000 years between Abraham and Mary, but the audacity to believe was still alive there on the earth.

Not with everyone, but with a few. Zechariah and Elizabeth gave birth to John the Baptist. And if you know anything about his story, he was definitely audacious. John the Baptist was the voice of God calling in the wilderness. And what was he calling?

Prepare to believe.

Prepare to believe. Prepare to be audacious. He's not coming. He's here.

The Jews at that time in history, they had the word.

They had the word. They had the covenant promises. They had the prophets, they had the baptizer, John. And now, please listen. Now they have the Messiah himself.

He's here in person. And the question for all of us in this story is this. Do they have the audacity to believe?

Let me repeat. They had the Word. They had the covenant promises. They had the prophets, but they had the baptizer. And now they have the Messiah.

Will they have the audacity to believe him? Some will and some won't. Most won't. You'll probably be surprised by the ones who will actually have the audacity to believe. This is how Jesus describes it in Matthew 21, verse 32.

For John the Baptist came. He showed you the right way to live, but you didn't believe him. And while the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even when you saw this happening, even when you saw the lowest class of people having audacity, even when you saw the most unlikely people become believers, even when you saw this happening, you refused to believe him and you refused to repent of your sins. Now, I want you to notice something before we leave this one.

You refuse to believe and repent of your sins. The word of God is connecting this audacity to believe to the audacity of repentance. He's connecting the two. They're connected. You can't disconnect them.

They had the Word. They had the covenant promises. They had the prophets. They had the baptizer. Now they have the Messiah.

Will they have the audacity to believe and repent?

A few will. Most won't. A thousand reasons not to believe and only one reason to believe.

Faith. Audacious faith. Matthew records a time when Jesus went to his hometown. Please hear me. The Gospel of Matthew records a time when Jesus goes to his hometown of Nazareth.

And he's going there for a reason. He's going to reveal his true identity as the Messiah. I'm not just the kid that grew up down the street in Nazareth. He's going to go to the synagogue and he's going to reveal to the people, I am the Messiah. I'm the one you've all been waiting for.

It's me.

Will they have the audacity to believe him if he's standing right in front of them announcing that he's the one they've all been waiting for, will they believe him? That's the question. If you had asked.

I want you to think about something. If you'd gone to that synagogue before I read it to you, I want to ask you a question. If you'd gone to that Jewish synagogue in Nazareth that day before Jesus picks up the Isaiah scroll and reads it, if you'd asked everybody in the synagogue that day, are you waiting for the Messiah? What do you think they would have said? Yes.

Yes. Yes. We're waiting for Messiah. Everything in their scriptures in the Old Testament was crying out that he's coming. Are you waiting for the Messiah?

Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.

I believe they would all have said yes. And Jesus stands up in that synagogue in Nazareth and he reads the Isaiah scroll and he tells them clearly. He tells them clearly, no riddles.

I am He. I'm the one. Isaiah Talked about, it's me, I'm here. And what happens? Matthew 13:57.

And they were deeply offended. What? And they were deeply offended and refused to believe in him. And then Jesus told them, a prophet is honored everywhere except in his own hometown and among his own family. And so he did only a few miracles there because.

Because of their unbelief.

That scene with Jesus in Nazareth was about 2,000 years ago for us. Today, the Gospel of Jesus has been preached all over the world in the past 2,000 years. And if I ask the average church person today, and if I ask all of you today the question, or go around this nation, America, and ask this question today, do you believe Jesus is coming? You know what I think they would say? Yeah, what's for lunch?

Yeah, yeah, I believe he's coming. But like the people of Nazareth in that day, he's standing right in front of them. And they're offended. They're offended that he would stand up and read the Isaiah scroll and say that it's me. They're offended.

And like the people of Nazareth that day, many today lack the audacity to believe it will happen in their lifetime and even become offended by the revelation that it might happen in your lifetime. The gospel is good news for some. That's what the word gospel means. Good news for those who have the audacity to believe that they can be made right with God through faith in the word of God as revealed by the Son of God. The gospel is also bad news for others.

It's good news for some. It's bad news for the foolish who refuse to have the audacity to believe in. First Corinthians 1, verse 18, it says, the message of the cross. What is it? It's this.

The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction. But we who are being saved know. We know what. It's the very power of God.

Faith is the only way to escape the coming wrath and judgment of God. Let me make it clear. Faith, audacity to believe God is the only way anyone's going to escape the future judgment and wrath of God one way. Faith today. Do you have the audacity to believe that God wants to save you today?

Do you have the audacity to believe that God wants to adopt you into his family, into the family of Abraham so that you would be called the children of God? And please listen. I'm going to connect the end to the beginning and give you an inheritance that one day that will include the whole world. The whole world do you have the audacity to believe today that God wants to adopt you into his family? You'll be called a child.

You'll become an heir of the covenant of Abraham, and the whole earth one day will be yours. That's audacious.

Do you have it? I'm going to tell you what it's called. Faith.

And does the average church person have it? No.

No.

There will be no neutrals.

On the last day, there will be no neutrals. There's not going to be anybody almost believed. No one will be neutral before God. This message today, I think it was CS Lewis that kind of put it like this. This message today, what I'm giving you today, this message of audacity and faith, if it's not true, then all of this is meaningless.

You should have stayed home and stayed in bed. If it's not true, it's all meaningless, all of it. If it is true and this message is the way to be, to be saved from God's wrath and judgment in hell itself, then there's nothing more important than this message. Nothing, anywhere, anytime. Nothing.

This is the ultimate importance. The only thing this message can't be is in the middle.

It can't be in the middle. Either it is meaningless or it is absolutely the most important thing in the world. It cannot be the middle.

And you get to decide, and so do I.

There will be believers and unbelievers on the last day.

There will be those who had the audacity to believe and those who lack the audacity to believe. There will be the lost and the saved, the redeemed and the damned. No one is neutral. Belief and faith don't have a middle ground. You believe God or you don't believe God.

You obey God or you don't obey God.

In John 3:18, everybody knows John 3:16. You know what John 3:18 is? There is. Let's read it together. Let's do it together.

There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him. Somebody say hallelujah. There's no judgment. You get to escape the wrath of God. There's no judgment against anyone who believes in him.

But. But.

Keep going. Y' all come with me. I know I got excited there for a moment, but anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God's one and only son.

That is not hard to understand. It is not difficult to comprehend.

No one is neutral on the issue of faith. It's kind of like somebody coming up to me and telling you, well, I'm almost Pregnant. No, you're not. You're either pregnant or you're not pregnant.

Believing is more than an intellectual experience. It includes obedience and it includes ready repentance. Not my words. They're his. Do you have the audacity to obey God?

If you have the audacity to believe God, then you should also have the audacity to obey God. They are connected in John 3:36. Let's do this one together too. And anyone who believes in God's Son has eternal life. And anyone who doesn't obey the Son will never experience eternal life but remains under God's angry judgment.

Do you have the audacity to believe that? I do. I believe this is absolute truth. This is a salvation issue.

Abraham and Mary had something in common. They received a word from God. They believed that word from God and they obeyed that word from God. They had the audacity to believe what seemed to be unbelievable in the moment.

How can a 99 year old man and an 89 year old woman have a baby that will produce more seeds than the stars in the sky and produce a multitude of nations over the next 4,000 years?

The audacity to believe God's word. How can a virgin conceive the Son of God? How could God become a man? The audacity to believe God. And I hear in my mind right now, Elizabeth, full of the Holy Spirit, saying to Mary, you are blessed because you believed that the Lord would do what he said.

You know what Mary said after the angel Gabriel gave her the news? She said something like this. May it be to me, as you have said, that's audacious.

That's audacity.

Today there's a war in the Middle east over a little piece of land called Israel, the covenant land that God promised to Abraham and his descendants. That war started because everyone believed what? Let's go modern day, let's go right now. That war started because everyone came to the belief that Iran was about to have a nuclear weapon and that they would and planned to use that nuclear weapon against Israel, the one they call the Little Satan. And probably they would then try to use that weapon against the big Satan, America.

So a war began. Whether you like it or not. That's the root. Iran has made it clear that they plan to wipe Israel off the map. That's been going on for years.

They have this intention, they have this eschatology, that eschatology. They are a group of people that believe that the Muslim Messiah will come when they start a great war with the world, with the west with Israel, with Christianity.

So they're not afraid to die. They believe this is how they get to heaven, their heaven. And then something happened, something that woke me up last week. Last week at the NATO summit in Turkey, Turkey's foreign minister said these words, and I quote, it's a CNN article, CNN interview. If you want to look it up, look it up.

He said this. Israel has become a burden that humanity can no longer bear.

Now, I'm not surprised that that came out of Turkey. It's an Islamic state. I'm not surprised that that would come out of Iran. It's an Islamic state. They have a similar eschatology of end time events.

What I am surprised is this. During that same NATO summit, our President Donald Trump agreed to sell Turkey our Most advanced aircraft F35s, knowing, knowing fully that Turkey has said their foreign minister, like our Secretary of State, that Israel has become a burden that humanity can no longer bear. So let's sell them the most advanced military equipment in the earth.

Combine all this with worldwide Jewish hatred that is spreading like wildfire. It's even in the church, and you might find Zechariah 12 being fulfilled in your generation. If you have eyes to see and ears to hear. This is Zechariah, chapter 12. And as I read it, I want you to think about the foreign minister of Turkey making the statement, Israel has become a burden that humanity can no longer bear.

Humanity cannot bear Israel anymore. Zechariah 12, verse 1. Let's do it together. Let's do it together. This message concerning the fate of Israel came from the Lord.

This message is from the Lord who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth and formed the human spirit. I will make Jerusalem like an intoxicating drink that makes the nearby nation stagger when they send their armies to besiege Jerusalem and Judah. On that day, I will make Jerusalem an immovable rock. And all the nations will gather and try to move it, but only hurt themselves. I want you to notice something.

You ready? All the nations.

All the nations.

I close with a question. Today I ask you at the beginning. Please listen carefully to the question. The question is going to be based on the foundation scripture today. Let's read it aloud.

Romans 4:13. Clearly, God's promise to give the whole earth to Abraham and his descendants was based not on his obedience to God's law, but on a right relationship with God that comes by faith. I want you to notice something.

The whole earth.

So here's the question I asked you and I started today. Do you Believe that God has given you and your spiritual family the whole earth as an inheritance.

Believing that is audacious.

Does God's covenant promise to Abraham belong to you today?

This is not a sideline issue. Does God's covenant promise to Abraham belong to you today? Today? Do you have the audacity to believe God's word, His divine covenant promise in Galatians 3:6? Let me put it together.

I want you to make sure you understand. This is not an opinion. This is the word of God. You have the audacity to believe God. Galatians 3:6.

In the same way Abraham believed God, he had this audacity. And God counted him as righteous because of his audacity called faith. The real children of Abraham then, are those who put their faith in God, who have this audacity of Abraham. What's more, the Scriptures looked forward to this time when God would declare the Gentiles, that's us, to be righteous because of our audacity, because of our faith. And God proclaimed this good news to Abraham long ago when he said, all nations will be blessed through you, not just Israel.

So all who put their faith in Christ. Are you ready? All who put their faith in Christ, that word faith. Is this audacity to believe God.

Share the same blessing Abraham received because of his audacity. Because of his faith, you share the same blessing. So whatever God promised Abraham is mine. What he promised Abraham because of his audacity, is mine because I become an heir of Abraham, who's an heir of God. Do you have the audacity to believe that faith in Jesus places you in the spiritual family of Abraham and gives you the same covenant blessing as Abraham?

Do you? Come on, be honest. Do you? Uh, I don't know. I don't know.

I never heard this before today.

If so, you know how the story of God's children ends, don't you?

They will reign on the earth.

Do you know how the story ends? You think it would affect how you live your life if you know how the story ends?

Why will the children of God reign on the earth? Why? Because this was God's covenant promise from the very beginning. From the very beginning. God's covenant promise.

I want to go to Revelation, chapter 5, verse 9.

And they sang a new song with these words, you are worthy. They're talking about Jesus. You are worthy to take the scroll and break its seals and open it. For you were slaughtered and your blood as ransomed people for God from every tribe. And here's the many nations.

Here's the many Nations. In Abraham's covenant, you were ransomed people from God, from every tribe and language and people, nation. And you have caused them to become a kingdom of priests for our God. And, and, and. And do this with me and they will reign on the earth.

Do you know how the story ends?

In Revelation tells how the story ends. The faith audacity in believing in Jesus has made us a kingdom of priests. And we will reign on the earth with Jesus. Do you have the audacity to believe that?

A thousand reasons not to believe and only one to believe. Believe what? He said it. I heard it. I believed it.

It's audacious. One more time. The foundation scripture for today. Let's do it out loud. I want to make sure you get this clearly.

God's promise to give the whole earth to Abraham and his descendants was based not on his obedience to God's law, but on a right relationship with God that comes by faith. The whole earth. Not a little piece of land over in Israel that everybody's going to fight over the whole earth. That's how the story of man ends. Audacity, fearless courage, intrepid boldness.

Elizabeth's Holy Spirit statement to Mary and to us today is so powerful. It's what inspired me for this message. Elizabeth, the spirit has come upon her, which means God is speaking to this woman who's carrying the Christ child. And he says this. You are blessed because you believe the Lord would do what he said.

And to the church today he says the same thing. You are blessed if you will believe with audacity that everything he said he's going to do, he's going to do it. And you bet your whole life on it, everything, it belongs to me because I belong to Him.

Do you have. Here's the question.

Do you have the audacity to believe that you, dead or alive, either through the grave or the clouds, doesn't matter, are in the final scene of mankind today? And when I say that, I'm not asking you to believe. You're in the last hour of the last days. I'm going to read to you a scene from Revelation, chapter 11. I'm asking you, are you in the story?

Are you in here? Because I believe I'm in this story. Do you have the audacity to believe that you either you've gone to this scene through the grave or you've gone to this scene through the rapture, that you're in here? Let's do it together. Let's do it together.

Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet and There were loud voices shouting in heaven. The world has now become the kingdom of our Lord and his Christ, and he will reign forever and ever. Are you in that? I memorized it because I like it so much. And now there were loud.

The seventh angel blew his trumpet and there were loud voices in heaven shouting now, now, now, now, now. The kingdom of this world has now become the kingdom of our Lord and his Christ. And he's going to reign forever and ever and ever and ever and ever. There's going to be a transfer of power from Satan to Jesus. Are you in that story today?

Do you believe that God has given you and your spiritual family the whole earth as an inheritance?

And when I say, and I have said on purpose, your spiritual family, because of this, it is possible and maybe even likely that there will be some people in your families who won't make it.

In fact, I'll just say it's highly likely that there will be people in your earthly family, your physical family, who won't make it because they never had faith, they never believed. So when I asked this question, every time I have said, do you believe that God has given you and your spiritual family the whole earth as an inheritance? I believe when Jesus entered Nazareth that day. Here's the wrap up. All the Jews would have said they were waiting for Messiah, but they were offended by his arrival.

And I asked the question, why, if you've all been waiting for him, if all the Jews in Nazareth synagogue that day, if they truly knew the Word and they truly were waiting on him, why were they offended when he showed up?

If you ask the average church person today if they believe in the return of Christ, I believe most of them would say yes, just like they did that day in Nazareth.

And some of you, I found that you might even be offended by the question. I wish you didn't talk about that so much, preacher.

And I asked the question, why? Why would they be offended in Nazareth? And why are people offended today when a sermon like this is preached about the relevance of end time events going on in Iran and Turkey, the return of Christ and why would that offend people? And I'm going to let Jesus answer the question. Matthew 15:7, you hypocrites.

Who's he talking to? They had one foot in the world and one foot in God and they thought they could straddle. They thought they could live in the world and they thought they could live in God. And Jesus begins his rebuke with you hypocrites. And if you think that only applies to the Jews it will also apply to the church that's faking it.

The church without faith. Audacity. You hypocrites. Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you. For he wrote, these people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.

Their worship is a farce. For they teach man made ideas and commands. Not from God, not from God, not from God's word. I'm going to ask Chad to come on out for the invitation today. Do you have the audacity to believe God?

And when I say the audacity to believe God, here it is. I believe what I hold in my hand is the only physical source of absolute truth on this earth. I believe it's the word of God himself. So when I say, do you have the audacity to believe God, do you believe this?

Do you? Are you willing to bet your eternal soul against that question? So if you have the audacity to believe it, do you have the audacity to obey it?

And in the last trumpet there was. And when the seventh angel blew his trumpet, I heard loud voices in heaven shouting. Now the kingdom of this world has become the kingdom of our Lord and his Christ. And he'll reign forever and ever. Are you in?

The story is that you? The whole earth's going to be the inheritance of the children of God. The whole earth. Not a piece of land in Israel. The whole earth.

How's he going to do all that? I have no idea.

That's why I believe it's audacious that he's going to. Do you have the audacity to believe that one day, maybe soon, there's going to be a loud shout and the voice of the archangel and a trumpet blast and the dead in Christ. Those who have believers who have died, they're going to come out of their grave. And those believers, those who are audacious by faith, they're going to rise and we're going to go together, meet the Lord in the clouds, and I'm going to get a new body. Hallelujah.

Hallelujah. Hallelujah. I'm going to get a new body, and you're going to get a new body. And we're going to go to be with the Lord and we're going to experience the wedding supper of the Lamb while all hell breaks loose on earth. And then seven years later, we're going to come back to the earth and we're going to reign on the whole earth for a thousand years.

Do you believe that? I do. I do.

And to the world this is audacious. This is the audacity to believe. It's faith. It's. It is the only thing that will save you.

It won't be your works. It won't be how many times you came to church. It won't be how many times you took a mission trip. None of that matters. It's the audacity to believe that God said it.

I heard it, I believed it. I live under its authority. It's audacity. And today, either you have this audacity or you do not. And if you're playing a game, Jesus speaks to you a word.

You are a hypocrite. You're doing the worst kind of lie. You're lying to you.

You're faking it. You have to deny yourself. Take up a cross to follow him. It's audacious.

It's also life.

Without this faith, there is no life. There's wrath in judgment. So we're going to sing a song. And the song is this clear invitation from Christ. Not from me, not from Nineveh Christian Church.

It's from Jesus. You know, he says, believe me, I am who I am. Believe me. Maybe you need to come and confess Christ. Maybe you need to come and repent today.

Maybe you need to come and pray. There's prayer team people over here. Take you back somewhere and pray with you. Whatever God's saying to you today, please listen. You are blessed because you believe what God said.

That's what Elizabeth said to Mary. That's the blessing. Let's stand.

They say this mountain can't be moved.