Paul Preached Until a Young Man Fell Out of a Window

Sermon outline

Build your life on the rock of sound doctrine: rightly divide the word in its context, let the New Testament shed light on the Old, search the Scriptures for yourself with the Holy Spirit as your teacher, and know that Jesus is the only way out of the lost state of man.

1. Get involved, and you will find your gifting

   Everyone has talents and giftings and can help make church happen. You only discover what you carry when you pray for people: if someone is healed or their finances turn around after you prayed, you know that gifting is on you. God does not want spectators but people intrinsically involved in His work, and a hard day is no reason not to ask Him for strength.

   Illustration: Exhausted after work and backing the car out of the driveway, he held the steering wheel and asked the Lord for strength. Within two or three minutes the power of God fell on him, and he went off to lead a cell meeting of no fewer than forty people.

   “It's no use. We begin the race well and finish badly.”

2. Why doctrine matters: build on the rock

   In times when moral values are twisted, we must live by God's unchangeable truth and draw our philosophy from Christ in the Bible, not from what anyone happens to think. Deviate from it and you fall into error. The wise man builds on the rock and his house stands in the storm.

   “We need to practice things that the Bible talks about. If we deviate from that, we are gonna get into error.”

   • Matthew 7:24-27

3. Rightly divide the word of truth

   Do your best to present yourself to God approved, handling the word correctly. Many preachers take one scripture out of context and build a whole teaching on it. Ask who wrote it, to whom, and why, because not everything in the Old Testament applies to us; the gospels are the transition into the new covenant. The church is the pillar of truth in a world system driven by the spirit of the antichrist. You do not need to debate the world; believe what you believe and practise it.

   Illustration: Paul preached all night with no time limit, a young man fell asleep and fell from an upper storey and died, and Paul went down, lay on him and he came back to life. A botanist values the botanical garden where everything is arranged and named, and the Bible, written by many people over many years, comes together like Joseph's coat of many colours.

   “We can't just take one scripture and take it out of context.”

   • 2 Timothy 2:15
   • Acts 20:7-12
   • 1 Timothy 3:15

4. The value of doctrine

   All Scripture is God-breathed and useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that we are thoroughly equipped. It takes time to understand. Doctrinal understanding builds Christian character, protects against error and confusion, reveals God's plans, and shows who we are and what we have in Christ. The way to complete your course is to study the word in a local church that teaches it.

   Illustration: Counselling a couple, he had them read one scripture after another on rebellion, and the wife asked why he was reading all these scriptures to them. He told her he was not giving his own philosophy but the word of God.

   “Doctrinal knowledge and understanding will protect us against error and confusion.”

   • 2 Timothy 3:16-17
   • 1 Samuel 15:23

5. The Bible is the final authority

   The Bible is God's inspired word and the final authority on any matter, so all our practices must be biblical. Christ is the cornerstone of the church and His words are the building blocks of our lives, words we can speak, confess, decree, proclaim and pray. When Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness, Jesus did not answer with philosophy but with Scripture.

   “Christ is the cornerstone of the church. His words are the building blocks of our life.”

   • Matthew 4:1-11

6. Revelation is progressive

   The law is only a shadow of the good things to come; the reality is in the New Testament, so no doctrine should be drawn from the Old Testament alone, and churches stuck in Old Testament practice have the shadow without the substance. The Bible does not contradict itself, and the light of the word grows brighter, not dimmer. Satan knows the word and twists it, as he did in Eden. Whoever loves God is known by God.

   Illustration: A person standing in the sun casts a shadow: the Old Testament is the shadow, the New Testament the light. The Pharisees criticised Jesus for healing on the Sabbath, and He asked who would not rescue an animal that fell into a pit on the Sabbath. Praying at half past one one morning, God told him how much more he still had to learn about Him.

   “God gives you light and the light does not grow dimmer, it grows brighter.”

   • Hebrews 10:1
   • 1 Corinthians 8:3

7. How to reach a doctrinal standpoint

   The Bereans received the word with eagerness and searched the Scriptures daily to see whether what they heard was true. That is how the mind is renewed: by studying and knowing God's word. Do not build a doctrine on one passage; consider everything the Bible says on a matter. Do not rely on intellect alone, because the Spirit of truth guides us into all truth. Jesus is the chief shepherd and the Lord of the church, and pastors are under-shepherds.

   “We renew our minds by studying and knowing God's word.”

   • Acts 17:11
   • Romans 12:2
   • John 16:12-14

8. The lost state of man

   Sin is rebellion against God, in our actions, thoughts and mouths, and it separates people from a holy God, bringing guilt, sorrow, darkness and death. When doubt, fear and unbelief come, take the sword of the Spirit, because we are more than conquerors. God removes confessed sin as far as the east is from the west, yet many receive God's forgiveness and never forgive themselves. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. No good works can save; the only way back to God is to receive Jesus Christ, be washed in His blood and be filled with the Spirit.

   Illustration: Sometimes you meet someone and can see darkness in their face, while a child of God full of the Holy Spirit has a face that glows.

   “We must learn to ask God for forgiveness. And we must learn to forgive ourselves when we make a mistake.”

   • Ephesians 6:17
   • Romans 8:37
   • Deuteronomy 28:13
   • Psalm 103:12
   • 1 John 1:8
   • 1 John 4:8
   • Romans 5:5
   • Romans 7:24-25

In this message