series through First Corinthians. It's good to be back with you. Missed you last week though. Thank you for letting me go on a vacation to the beach. It was a good time to be with my family and also good to go and good to come back and good to be with y'all again. As we're in first Corinthians chapter two, it's a short passage that we'll be looking at today, but the focus of the passage today is really what is the message we have to proclaim as a Christian church? And essentially this is where Paul says that his message was Christ. and Him crucified. And so we'll be thinking about the centrality of Christ and Him crucified today as we look at this really short passage of Scripture, but I know that it will be an encouragement to us as we think about these precious words of God. So if you found 1 Corinthians chapter 2, let's stand together. We'll just be reading verses 1 through 5. 1 Corinthians 2 verses one through five. And I, when I came to you brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom, for I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear, and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God." This is God's word. The grass withers, the flower fades, but God's word endures forever and ever. Let's pray together. Father, we thank you that the Bible we hold in our hands is trustworthy and true in everything that it teaches. And we thank you that you've appointed the preaching of your word to be a source of conviction, correction, and comfort to your people. And so we ask that as we turn our attention now to your word, that your Holy Spirit would fall afresh upon us, that you would help us to give the attention that you would have us to give to your truth, that you would sanctify us and that you would encourage us and that you would direct us to the things that are pleasing to you. Lord, may you lift up Christ and may we see what an awesome savior he is today. And may we desire to proclaim that savior to a lost and dying world. We pray these things in Jesus name, amen. Would you please be seated? In 1988, there was a man named Billy Newell, And he owns some property off of I-65, Highway I-65 in Alabama just outside of Prattville. And so he decided that he was going to spruce up the highway and he was going to put a sign up on the side of the road. And on the sign, many of you have seen it, it had a red silhouette of the devil holding a scythe, and it said these words in bold red font. go to church or the devil will get you. Some of you may have seen that sign when you're going to the beach or going on vacation or going down to Alabama highway 65 south. And Billy put that sign up there because he wanted it to be somewhat of a playful way to remind people to go to church. But the sign actually became a little bit controversial. It's been vandalized multiple times by people who don't want to be convicted about churchgoing as they're driving down the road. Of course, many vacationers have had all kinds of conversations about the sign as they drive by. It's almost impossible not to see the sign and not to generate conversation. And the family that owns the land and owns the sign would say that's part of the point. They want it to be kind of a conversation starter. Some just look at the sign as kind of an outdated thing, kind of a testimony to Bible Belt culture, church-going culture, and that's all it is. But it's hard to forget that jarring sign with the devil on it, go to church or the devil will get you. That sign though makes me think about what is the message that we as Christians should be seeking to communicate to the world? Is the primary message that we want to get across, go to church or the devil will get you? Is that really what we want to communicate to the world? Also, we think about the message that we're trying to communicate to the world and we think about does it matter how we communicate that message? Is it possible to say something that is true, but perhaps in the manner in which that message is communicated, that it actually detracts from what the message is trying to say. Years ago, I noticed a trend among seeker-friendly churches, non-denominational churches that are trying to gather a large group of people to attend them, that they've had some slogans that they all use. They must communicate with one another. I don't know if it's church in a box or how it works, But they talk about these sermon series and slogans, and one slogan that I saw placarded on signs from these churches was, love God, love people. Maybe you've seen that before. Love God, love people. Well, it's certainly true that Jesus summarized the Ten Commandments, summarized the law by saying, love God with all of your heart and all of your soul and all of your mind and all of your strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. But is the main message that we're to get out to the world ultimately just love God and love people? It's certainly simple, it's certainly true, it's certainly inoffensive, but is that the message that we primarily are communicating to the world. Go to church and the devil will get you, or love God and love people. What is the message? What is the essence of the Christian faith and message? Well, here in 1 Corinthians 2, that's what Paul is talking about. He's reminding the Corinthian Christians of what is the warp and woof of Christianity? What is the message that we proclaim? And the way he describes it here is Christ and Him crucified. And essentially in this passage, he shows us what is our message? What is the message? He also talks about how that message is to be proclaimed. There's a certain manner that we are to communicate the message. And he also talks about the reason why we would communicate the message in that way. What's the purpose for that? Or what's the motive? What's the message? What's the manner? And what's the motive? It's very important, even though it's very simple, because we as Christians tend to drift away from what is central. We tend to drift away from things that are really important. And so this passage is meant to give us ballast in our boat to keep us from flipping over in the midst of the wind and the waves of cultural currents and fads. But it calls us back to what is central. And let's look at it under those three headings. First of all, let's take the heading, what is the message? What is the message that we are here together believing as Christians today? What is the message that we are to be proclaiming to one another? What is the message that is to be preached from this beautiful pulpit right here? What is the message that we have to take out to the world? Well, Paul says there in verse two, what that message was. He says, he decided to know nothing among the Corinthians except Jesus Christ and him crucified. That is how he summarizes what the whole Christian faith and message is. Now notice that when he talks about the message, it's clearly Christ-centered. We might say it focuses on the person of Christ, Jesus Christ, that is person and the work of Christ, him crucified. So at the heart and soul of Christianity is the person of Christ and his saving work. When you think about the person of Christ, you think about the reality that the most important question that anyone could ever ask is who is Jesus? Who is Jesus? Remember when Jesus was with his disciples in Caesarea Philippi and he asked them that question, who do people say that I am? And they kind of went through the catalog of all the different things people were saying in those days. They were saying, well, some think you're John the Baptist, come back to life. Some think you're Elijah, some think you're a prophet. They had all these different theories, all these different ideas of who he was. And then Jesus said, but who do you say that I am? The most important question of all, who do you say that I am? Who do you say, what do you think about me? Of course, we could go through a whole list of things that people in American culture today would say about Jesus. Some people would say, well, he's kind of like a great, great teacher. And some people would say, well, he taught us about love. Some people would say, well, he gets us and that that's what we need to know about Jesus. He understands what it's like to be human. But, but who is Jesus? That's what he said. And remember, Peter stood up and he said, you are the Christ. You are the son of the living God. And Jesus said, blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah, for flesh and blood is not revealed this to you, but my father who's in heaven. And you're a Peter on this rock, I will build my church. It was all about who is Jesus. What is central to Christianity is who is this Jesus? Well, he is the Christ, it says. He is Jesus the Christ, the Messiah, the anointed one, the one who was foretold in the Old Testament. In fact, Jesus said, Moses wrote about me. The whole Old Testament is not ultimately about Israel. It's not ultimately about rules and regulations. The whole Old Testament, Jesus says the law, the prophets, the Psalms, the writings, it's all about him. After he rose again from the grave, he explained how the whole Bible was about who he is. He is our prophet. He fully reveals the will of God for our salvation. He's our priest. In fact, he offers himself as the sacrifice for our sins, and he intercedes for us at the right hand of the Father. He's our king. He's Lord. Jesus is the Christ. He's the anointed King. He's the Lord. He's the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He's the ruler of the Kings on the earth. And Paul talks about preaching Christ, he's talking about his person. Who is he? He is truly God, he's truly man. He's the way, the truth, and the life. He's the bread of life, he's the light of the world. He's the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He's the true vine in whom we have life and fruitfulness. This is what we preach, who is Jesus? Who is Jesus? That's what people need to know. That's what Paul resolved to study, he wanted to be a student of Christ, he wanted to be addicted to Christ, he wanted to be thoroughly captivated with Christ. We think about what he says in Philippians chapter three, where he talks about all of his attainments in Judaism. I was circumcised on the eighth day, and I was of the tribe of Benjamin, and I was as to the law, I was blameless, and I was a Hebrew of Hebrews. And what does he say there? All of that I've considered as loss so that I might gain Christ, so that I might know the surpassing excellency of knowing Christ. And I've considered everything else as loss. The idea he uses there is throwing things overboard so your boat doesn't sink. I want Christ and I'm willing to lose everything for Christ. In fact, for it to me to live as Christ and die as gain. I want to know Him, His person. but also his saving work. I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. Now surely when He says Him crucified, He's not excluding the other saving events in Christ's life. He's not excluding His birth. He's not excluding His sinless life. He's not excluding His resurrection. He's not excluding His ascension into heaven, rule at the right hand of the Father. He's not excluding His soon return. He's not excluding any of those other saving events. But most likely, He mentions Him crucified as a part for the whole. that central to the saving work of Christ was his death on the cross. Remember earlier on we saw in 1 Corinthians 1 that the gospel was called, 1 Corinthians 1 in verse 18, the word of the cross. That doesn't leave out the empty tomb, it doesn't leave out the manger, it doesn't leave out the throne. but it's the word of the cross because what is central to the gospel, what is at the heart and soul of our message. is what he will say later in 1 Corinthians 15 is of first importance. It's the most important thing, it's the main thing! That Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures. That's the heart of it. Jesus for me, Jesus dying for me, Jesus shedding His blood for me, Jesus bearing the wrath of God for me, making a perfect atonement. to reconcile us to God the Father, Christ and Him crucified. It doesn't leave out all those other things that we can say about Jesus. But at the heart and soul of the Christian message is Christ on the cross, because without the cross, we could never be forgiven. We could never be reconciled to God. We could never have our sin problem addressed. And so Paul is saying, when I was in Corinth, I didn't try to spend my time becoming an expert in Greek philosophy so I could properly contextualize the message. I didn't spend my time trying to study all the things about Corinthian life and culture But I resolved to know nothing among you. I made a determination that what would be at the heart and soul of my pursuit of knowledge and proclamation of the truth would be Jesus. Who is Jesus? And Him crucified. Now to be clear, Paul doesn't mean that every single sermon he ever preached was a basic bare bones Christ and Him dying on the cross. To be clear, this doesn't mean, as some people think, that every sermon is justification by faith alone. This doesn't mean Paul left out application. We know that because we read his letters. His letters aren't just simply talking about Jesus hanging on the cross. But Christ in him crucified is, it all is collapsed into that. When he's talking about sanctification, remember what it said in verse, chapter 1, verse 30. He's our sanctification. When he's talking about righteousness, he's our righteousness, chapter 1 and verse 30. He's our redemption, he's our wisdom. In him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. that even when He's talking about the commands that He gives, they flow out of who Christ is and what He's done for us, so that the Christian life is the result of knowing Christ and Him crucified and being crucified with Him. And so this is not a formula, sometimes it's used for reductionism and the most bare-bones theology, but it actually summarizes what the whole Bible is about. The whole Bible, even starting in the Old Testament, is about this Christ, the seed of the woman who crushes the head of the serpent. And how does he do that? By being wounded on his heel, by being crucified. It's what it's all about. The main message. And he's focusing on that. That's our message. Ask yourself, what's central to you? What do you most love to sing about when you come to church? What do you most love to talk about when it comes to spiritual things? What do you love most to hear proclaimed? Wherever you are in the Bible, Old Testament or New Testament, what do you most love to hear? Is it the old, old story of Jesus and his love? Is it about him and him crucified and risen and reigning and returning? Or is it some peripheral thing? Is it moralism? Or is it theological minutia? Or is it debatable things among denominations? But is it, is there some kind of center thing? It's the most important thing, the thing that Paul said, I would lose everything for this. Christ and Him crucified. Later on he'll say some things just like this, 2 Corinthians chapter 4, he says this, in 2 Corinthians chapter 4, in verse 5, what we proclaim, what our message is, what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. So Paul says, what do we preach? What are you boiled down to? Not ourselves, we're not preaching about ourselves and what we've done and things that we can do and our knowledge. We preach Jesus Christ and ourselves as but your servants. Or what does he say in Colossians chapter one, where he says in verse 28, Christ we proclaim. warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom that we may present everyone mature in Christ. We preach Christ, we preach his saving work. We preach him as he's prophesied in the Old Testament and predicted and pictured and also as he came and as he preached and lived and loved and died and rose again. And as we live in him, we preach him so that everyone is mature in him. Christ is the way to maturity. Christ is the way to sanctification and salvation and its fullest sense. That's what Paul was focused on. When he went to Corinth, he resolved to know nothing among them except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. We see that that was his supreme desire. Is it ours? Is it in our heart? Is it in our words that we speak when we witness to others? Are we speaking often about Christ and Him crucified? That's the heart of it. And that should be precious to every believer. But notice also, he not just talks about the message. He's not clearly in this passage, he's not just concerned with that message. He's also concerned with the manner in which that message is communicated. In fact, most of the text here is about the manner, how that message is communicated. Notice that he says here that it should be communicated, that message of Christ in him crucified should be communicated simply. Look what he says in verse one. And I, when I came to you brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech and wisdom. He says, when I came preaching to you about Christ and him crucified there in Corinth, when I planted the church there, you can read about it in Acts chapter 18 later today if you want. I came preaching and I preached plainly. I preached simply. I didn't preach with lofty speech or wisdom. Now most likely what Paul is talking about there is something that was going on in Corinthian culture. So in Greco-Roman culture there was two kinds of schools of thought on rhetoric. One school of thought was basically that rhetoric skills and speaking, speaking persuasively was so that you could persuade someone to arrive at the truth. So that kind of was through Aristotle. And then it went through Quintilian and Cicero, of course, was that way. And we see places in Paul's letters where he uses that kind of rhetoric. He uses illustrations. He uses arguments. He uses forms of speech to persuade and convince people, and you see in the book of Acts that he tries to make an argument and convince people. All that's rhetoric. Most likely that's not what Paul is talking about here. But there was another school in Corinth, and they were the sophists. And the sophists were essentially professional speakers. Every two years in Corinth they had the Isthmian games and there was actually a competition where they would have speakers compete with one another. And they would be these public debaters and wise men who would speak. He's already referred to them earlier on in chapter one of this letter. And they, the goal was not to convince people of the truth. It was to impress people with your oratory, your eloquence. It was to, it was to gain the applause of man who could have the most fine sounding speech. That was entrenched in Corinthian culture because they wanted to be, they wanted to have this status. They wanted to be known and recognized as important. That's most likely also why the divisions had developed in the Corinthian church. They were mentioned in the first chapter. Some said, I follow Paul and I'm of Apollos and I'm of Cephas. They were dividing based on their speaking ability and their, the status that would come to them based on their favorite orator. And Paul says, I didn't, I didn't try to imitate that at all. I didn't, I didn't, I didn't say when in Corinth be like the Corinthians. I didn't try to imitate their way of speaking, their loftiness, their wisdom, their, their ornate style. I didn't try to do that. Why not? Well, remember what he said earlier on? He just touched on it in chapter one, flip back to chapter one in verse 17. where he said this, for Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel and not with words of eloquent wisdom, you see the similar language, not with lofty speech or wisdom, not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest, what's gonna happen if he does that, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of his power. So in other words, what Paul is saying is there's a way to preach Christ and the cross where you strip it of its spiritual power. You undermine the power that's in Christ and in the cross, and instead you're distracting from that with your gifts of speaking, or your oratory, or your eloquence, or your impressing the audience. And he says, this isn't showmanship, it isn't a performance. It's plain speech, it's clear speech. The goal is to be clear, to communicate the message of Christ and Him crucified. Because all this other sophistry that the Greeks were using would detract from the cross. The best way to preach the cross is with a cruciform style. Not impressing with, there's nothing impressive about the cross. It's bloody, it's messy, it's horrific. It turns your stomach to be seeing a man crucified and the style that the preacher is supposed to have is supposed to match the substance of what's being communicated. This is a message about a crucified Messiah who had to suffer the wrath of God for the forgiveness of our sins. It's not impressive in the eyes of the world. In fact, the Greeks said, it's folly. And the Jews said, the unbelieving Jews said, it's weakness. And Paul's preaching, it's the very wisdom of God, it's the power of God, but it comes in this plain style. James Denny, a Scottish pastor and theologian from a previous generation once said, it's impossible. It's impossible for a preacher to convince his audience, both that he is clever and that Christ is mighty to save. That's what Paul's saying. When it draws attention to us, when it draws attention to our oratory, or we might say today, to our music, to our lights, to our technology, to our sign, to our cleverness, to our, oh, isn't that, that's something there. When it draws attention to that, it's detracting from the cross and the power is in Christ and Him crucified. The gospel is the power of God, not the preacher's eloquence, not your eloquence, not your savvy, not your creativity, not your humor, not your schtick, not your testimony. The power resides in Christ and Him crucified, and this is good news for us. It means that we ordinary Christians, when we talk to ordinary people, can just say it. Just explain in the simplest terms who Jesus is and what Jesus has done. There's a simplicity here. Notice also, there's a humility. He not only says not with this lofty speech and wisdom, but notice what he says in verse three. It's actually very, Paul's being very vulnerable, you might say. He says in verse three, when I was with you, how did I preach? I didn't preach with this ivory tower way of communicating, but he says in verse three, I was with you in weakness and fear and in much trembling. There's different thoughts about what possibly he could mean when he says weakness. Does he just mean, could he mean that he was actually physically sick or something? And when he writes to the Galatians, he says that he preached to them out of a bodily ailment. And so there was, maybe he was, his actual constitution was suffering. And so he means that. Some people say it might just be the way the apostle Paul appeared to the flesh. Uh, later on, you know, probably in second Corinthians, Paul will address those who are criticizing him and saying, yeah, in his letters, he's bold and he's clear. And he's, but in person, he can't really speak very well. and they were criticizing his speaking ability. There is a late, it's interesting, there's a later tradition in the church that describes the physical appearance of Paul, says that he was short, a little bit cross-eyed, maybe might've had a unibrow, and he had crooked legs. Now how, that's about second century that there's a document saying that sort of thing, how accurate that is, I don't know. But he wasn't, he didn't possess kind of the charisma that we so desire, that the sophists would desire. That kind of good looking and great sonorous voice, none of that mattered to him. But rather he came in weakness and in fear and much trembling. There's a humility here. He's saying, I wasn't strong. That's what you look for in a public speaker. You look for someone who's strong, who's not afraid and trembling, but confident and certain. And Paul says, I was, I was, I was weak and I was, I was fearful. I was, what does he mean? He was afraid of the response of people, afraid of people, how they were interpreting him. What we don't know, but he has fear and he's trembling. Maybe, why was he trembling? Maybe the seriousness of the task, because he recognizes what he's doing. He's preaching Christ and he's an instrument of salvation for lost sinners. But it's the exact opposite of what the world would say. The world, I've never seen, um, When a church puts up a profile form looking for a pastor, we want someone who is weak and fearful and trembling. We wouldn't say that, would we? Paul's saying in spite of that, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. It's not about my personality, he says. It's not about my gifts, though he had gifts. We see the mind of the apostle Paul in his letters. He had gifts, but the goal of the gifts was point to the giver. It was to point to Christ and not himself. Simply, humbly, he preached in his weakness. So can we, we can speak the word to others in our weakness. We don't have to be these great strong. intellectually savvy Christians, we can just be ourselves, isn't that good news? The message we have to proclaim to others, you can just be yourself. Don't try to be someone you're not, just be yourself and humbly in your weakness and in your trembling and your insecurity about it, just know that God can use you to speak Christ and Him crucified to your children or your grandchildren, your coworkers, your classmates, other members of this church who need to be reminded of the gospel. It's not about the gifts we have, it's about the message, and it's about the Messiah, it's about Christ himself. But notice he not only spoke simply and humbly, but also in terms of the manner here, powerfully. Look what it says in verse four. My speech and my message were not implausible words of wisdom. So it wasn't like the sophist, it wasn't about philosophy and trying to be rationally savvy with folks, and that wasn't what I was trying to do. But rather he preached this message or spoke this message in what, end of verse four, in demonstration of the spirit and of power. He did it powerfully. And the power wasn't just the words, later on he'll say in chapter four, he'll say the kingdom of God, Chapter four, verse 19, the kingdom of God is not in talk, but in power. Chapter four, verse 19. So the kingdom of God is not about this, just the words that you say, but it's about the anointing and the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. Some commentators think that in verse four, when he says a demonstration of the Spirit in power, it's referring to signs and wonders that were performed by the Spirit in the first century. I don't think that's actually what it's talking about. You go back and read in the book of Acts where Paul's in Corinth, that's not really stressed. Later on in this chapter, he'll talk about the only people who can understand the message are those who are spiritual people, and the only one who can make someone a spiritual person is the Holy Spirit, who interprets these things and helps them to understand them. When he talks about a demonstration of the spirit and power, he's talking about what the older theologians called unction. the empowerment of the Holy Spirit, the second voice that speaks through Paul, where the Holy Spirit is speaking through him and people recognize that's not just what Paul's saying, that's what God's saying through him. When the Holy Spirit empowers that special enablement that comes. And that's what brings people to salvation, not the person's creativity, technology, music, lights, we would say in our day, gimmicks, trends, fads, whatever it may be. No, it's the message of the gospel anointed by the Holy Spirit. He talks about this in 2 Timothy, I'm sorry, 1 Timothy, 1 Thessalonians, where am I? I'm back from vacation in my mind. 1 Thessalonians 1 in verse four, he says, For we know, brothers, love by God that He's chosen you." How do we know that He's chosen you? Because our gospel, 1 Thessalonians 1 verse 5, came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You see what he's saying there? It wasn't just that we were communicating the message in the clearest possible way, but there was a divine power that came down upon that message that was working in the hearts of the people who heard it. So that they knew that it was true because of the ministry of the Holy Spirit convincing them, persuading them. The Holy Spirit is needed. It is important to be theologically accurate. It is important to be simple. It is important to be Christ-centered in our message. But let us not forget that we need the Holy Spirit. Said of Charles Spurgeon, that when he went into the pulpit, he would say often to himself, I believe in the Holy Spirit. And that was a man who had some pretty incredible gifts. Probably a photographic memory. He had great command of theology in many ways. And yet, what happened? He needed the Holy Spirit. We need the Holy Spirit. Not just new techniques, not just studying, not just being as simple as we possibly can be, but spiritual power, a demonstration of the Spirit and of power. Now, that's the message, Christ in Him crucified. That's how the message is to be proclaimed. But finally, why? Why does that matter so much? Why not just try to get the message out in the best way you can, just be as creative as you possibly can, and just get the truth across? Why does it matter how? Well, he tells us here at the end of our text, why did he preach simply? Why did he preach humbly? Why did he preach with this, the dependence on the power of the Holy Spirit? Why did he do it that way? Look what it says in verse five. so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God." What is he saying? He's saying, if I came to you like the Sophists did, if I came to you with my great arguments and my skill of oratory and my persuading you, the reason you believe the message is because I'm a great speaker. The reason you're moved by it, the reason you think it's convincing is because of my creativity, my arguments, or the way that I'm saying it, or the way that I'm doing it. And the grounds of your faith would be the wisdom of men. Anything I can argue you into, someone else can argue you out of. Anything that I can say, anything that I can do in my own power to convince you of something with my own reasons and evidences and arguments, someone else can get you out of it. because your faith is not really resting in the power of God, the grounds of your faith is not the power of God, it's the presentation of the speaker, or his intelligence, or his arguments, or his skill. And he says, but when you have this short little man with the unibrow and the crooked legs preaching about Christ and him crucified, and the spirit of God comes down and your heart is gripped like this message is true. Jesus is the Son of God, Jesus is the Lord, He is the Savior, He is King, He did die on the cross for sinners, God raised Him from the dead, witnesses saw it, I'm called to repent and believe, and the Spirit convinces you. That's a totally different thing, and every genuine Christian knows it. I've seen people become Christians because of some man-made thing. I've seen people profess faith in Christ because they went to a church and they were, this church was really dynamic and really great with technology and music and, and, and they profess faith. And I think a lot of it was they were taken in by it. They were taken in by just the greatness of the presentation. I've seen some who've become disciples really of great Christian apologists who are just skilled speakers and great with reasons and arguments, and they've come and they've been convinced by those arguments, but not by the Holy Spirit. It was just a matter of probability for them. Their faith rested in the wisdom of man, the apologist, rather than in Christ and him crucified in the work of the spirit of their heart. That happens because what you win them with is what you win them to. If you win them with Christ and him crucified, if you win them with Jesus, that sticks forever because Jesus is the supreme joy of our hearts. Christ and Him crucified, our Savior, our Lord, our King, and His perfect work. It's such good news to think that when we talk to our unsaved family and friends and neighbors and coworkers and classmates, all this means is it doesn't matter who you are or what gifts you are or how intelligent you are, talk to them about Jesus. Talk to them about what Jesus did on the cross. Trust the Holy Spirit to use even your best presentation or your worst, because faith comes by hearing and hearing through the word of Christ, not the reason of man or the wisdom of man, but through the word of God. Sometimes it does seem like the church gets mixed signals about what our mission, what our message is to the world, doesn't it? You can hear the message, love God and love people and go straight to hell. You can be a Jew or a Muslim and say, love God and love people. There's nothing necessarily even distinctively Christian in that message. or go to church and the devil will get you. Well, I suppose that's true. The devil does work on people who are outside the church. He also works inside. Sometimes I wonder you go to church, the devil's gonna get you too. But is that the message? It's not the message. The message is Jesus Christ and him crucified. That's what people should hear. That's what they should see. That's what they should want. Jesus Christ. and Him crucified. Let's pray together. Father in heaven, we thank you for this great gospel we have. Even though we are sinners who deserve nothing but judgment, you are a God of grace and mercy and you pour out everlasting life on those who trust in Jesus. We thank you that Jesus has perfectly purchased our salvation through his death on the cross and through his resurrection. We pray that we would see how he is our wisdom, he is our righteousness, sanctification and redemption, how everything we need is found in him, not just to be saved, but to live the Christian life. And this is the message we proclaim to the world, the good news of who Jesus is and what he has done. And we pray that you would give us hearts to proclaim that message even in simplicity and in humility and powerfully yet by the power of the Holy Spirit to our friends, our coworkers, classmates, family members who need to hear about him. May we be clear and may we be confident not in ourselves, but in you. For we pray these things in Jesus name, amen.