Jentezen Franklin - It's Time to Stand Up - Part 1
If you have your Bibles, I would love for you to open them with me today to the book of Acts 2, Acts 2. This is an amazing chapter, of course. It's the outpouring of the Holy Ghost, the Holy Spirit, they're both biblical terms, the same meaning. But the Holy Spirit is poured out in the upper room, and spirit empowered men and women come out of the upper room spilling to the streets. "So, they were all amazed and perplexed saying one to another, 'What does this mean? This outpouring of the spirit? These people speaking in tongues of every language of people's groups that were gathered for a big festival, what does this mean? How is this happening? This is supernatural".
And there's always two reactions to spirit empowered preaching, and here comes the reactions. "Others mocking saying, 'They're drunk. They are full of new wine.'" Here's the verse I wanna preach on today. "But Peter, standing up with the eleven, raised his voice and said to them, 'Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let it be known unto you, and heed my words". He goes on, I won't take all the time. He says "The spirit has been poured out, this is what was prophesied by Joel. An outpouring of the Holy Spirit has happened in fulfillment of prophecy". Verse 22, "Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God that did miracles, and wonders, and signs, God did it through Him in your midst, as you yourselves know. And He was delivered over and you have taken Him by lawless hands, and crucified, and put Him to death, whom God raised up, having loosed from the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it".
"Therefore," verse 36, "Let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ". He was preaching to a hostile crowd. The same people He was preaching to when He stood up and the eleven stood with Him, we don't understand how hostile they were. It would be like walking into a big protest or something going on in the streets that was anti-Christian. They stood up in the midst of that and he began to preach, "The one you crucified," those same people he was preaching to were saying the words, "Crucify Him, crucify Him, crucify Him," 50 days before. And now, see the boldness, see the courage. A preacher stands up and begins to proclaim, and what is His message to them? "Jesus, whom you crucified, God has raised up and made Lord".
And then, the birth of the church happens when he says, "Now when they heard this," verse 37, "They were pricked or cut in their heart". The gospel of Jesus Christ, when it is preached, brings conviction, it pricks people in their heart, it cuts people into their heart, but notice, these people. "And they said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, 'What will we do?' And then Peter said to them," verse 38, "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For this promise is unto you and unto your children, and all who are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call".
And the Bible said that there were 3,000 that were saved on the spot. We go all the way back to Acts 2 and we tell people, "You must repent, you must be born again. You must repent of your sins and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost". And you can walk right, you can talk right, you can live right, you can forgive right, you can love right. When one man stood up and the apostle stood boldly on the day of Pentecost, and he preached the only message that can save. There are no other messages that can save. Repent. Repent of your sins, repent of your wrongdoing, repent of unforgiveness, repent of hatred, repent of racism, repent of lust, repent of gay lifestyle, repent of adultery, repent of drunkenness, repent of lying, and stealing, and murdering, and killing. Repent.
That is the message. Not, "It's okay". Not a little whatever this with that. Repent of wrongdoing. That is the message the preacher preached that day. 1 Corinthians 1:2. Listen to this, this thing got a hold of me. It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. That thing hit me like a ton of bricks. It sat down on me this week. And the Lord said to me, "Jentezen, when you preach you please me". I really have lived all my life, and all I've wanted to do is please God, and I felt like I failed in so many ways. But the Lord said, "As long as you get up and preach my word, 'cause that's what I called you and put you on this planet to do, you are pleasing me". And it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save anybody who will believe a spirit-empowered preacher.
Hallelujah for the preaching of the gospel. I'm glad Simon-Peter, with a backbone, and with boldness, stood up in a messed-up generation and said, "Repent and come to Jesus and you can have life and have it more abundantly". It changed the world then and it will change it now. Romans 10:14 said, "How shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him in whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher"? Hallelujah. I know I'm preaching to myself, but sometimes the preacher needs to be encouraged. And I just wanna say, I'm not a loser 'cause I'm a preacher. I'm not a failure because I'm a preacher. I'm not someone that's unimportant because I'm a preacher. Without a preacher, this city would be lost. Without preachers, this nation would be lost. Without preachers, this world would be lost. Hallelujah for the preacher.
Somebody needs to say, "God, thank you for good, old fashioned, Holy Ghost preaching that changes lives and turns people around". It's time to stand up in the pulpit and in the congregation. He stood up in the pulpit, and the eleven stood with him. Stand up. The eleven standing with Simon Peter gave... something about it gave him courage, and God gave them courage. They had a backbone. It was a time of great opposition. It was a time of hatred of Christians. More and more, if you believe the Bible, you're becoming hated. More and more, if you stand for what is right, you're ridiculed and you're ostracized, even in the body of Christ. If you stand up and say abortion is wrong, you're ostracized. If you stand up and say marriage is between a man and a woman, not a man with a man or a woman with a woman.
I'm not, it's hard for me to do that. I'mma tell you why it's hard for me to preach like that, 'cause I love everybody. I love the gay, I love the straight. I don't care, I love them. I'd do anything for people, but I cannot say the gospel is just love, I have to say the gospel is repent of your sin, turn away from it, turn away from your drunkenness, turn away from your wickedness, your adultery, turn away from your porn, turn away from your idolatry. Turn away from it and turn back to God. It's time for preachers to stand up, it's time for churches to stand up, it's time for businesspeople who love Jesus to stand up. It's time for men and women, it's time for teachers, it's time... there's no separation of my faith and anything.
I take it with me into anywhere I go. I shine light in the darkness. Takes more than a preacher. There was a man by the name of John who stood with him. And the Bible said he was the disciple whom Jesus loved. But it wasn't just someone that Jesus loved, but he loved Jesus. He was in the inner circle: Peter, James, and John. He was invited by Jesus, one out of three, to be on the Mount of Transfiguration, when Jesus lit up like the Heavens and glory shone on His face. He was there in the garden of Gethsemane, one of the three of the inner circle, John. He loved Jesus. In the garden of Gethsemane when he prayed and was arrested, John was there. He was there at the cross when Jesus was bleeding and dying, and He looked down, and He saw His precious mother, Mary. And John was standing beside her on Golgotha's hill, and Jesus said, "Take care of my mother. Take care of her, John".
John loved Jesus. And not only do we need preachers that are standing, but we need people who stand with the preacher who are in love with Jesus. We've gotta get our love and our fellowship back with Jesus. A lot of you come to church, but you don't really love Jesus like you used to love Jesus. Man, I feel this thing this morning. We gotta love God with all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength, and love our brothers as ourselves. It's time for people who love Jesus to stand up, to get a backbone, to quit being ashamed, to quit worrying about what people think, your neighbors think, your little clique thinks. If I don't fit in your clique, I'll take Jesus, He's enough. I love Jesus. I'm not gonna be in any situation where I can't love Jesus.
Secondly, Matthew was the richest disciple according to commentaries. And when the preacher stood up with a message, a wealthy man by the name of Matthew stood with Him. What we need in the church if we're going to see the kind of revival they had in the book of Acts is gifted businesspeople with acumen to do business and the ability to make money just like God anoints a preacher to preach. It's not a different anointing, it's the same anointing of the Holy Spirit that is on me to preach, that is on them to play, and to sing. The same anointing can come on men and women to make money in their business to finance the message of the gospel, to go all over the world. You are important.
It's not enough to have a preacher. You gotta have those Matthews standing saying, "I am blessed to be a blessing. And if God trusts me with riches, I wanna make sure that I give", somebody's gotta tithe, somebody's gotta give, and nobody makes me do it, I do it 'cause I wanna do it. I do it because I'm privileged to do it. I love to give to the missions, I love to give to the ministries of this church. I love it, and I'm standing with that message. And then there was a Philip. Philip had a burden for evangelism. Philip was the first disciple that Jesus invited "Follow me". And when he started following Jesus, it didn't take him but a few minutes. And after he saw Jesus and fell in love with Jesus, he ran to Nathaniel. And he said, "Come and see, come and see this man. You gotta come with me".
He had a spirit of evangelism on him. He was constantly bringing men and women to Jesus. He brought the little lad to Jesus. It's just one after another after another. He had a spirit of evangelism. And when Simon-Peter stood and proclaimed the gospel of Jesus Christ, there was standing with him, one who had a spirit of evangelism, who had a passion to say, "I gotta reach the lost, I gotta reach the lost people, they're everywhere". A burden to witness, a burden to reach the lost, a burden. He was Holy Ghost led to people. And he would share, "Come and see". And he would get 'em to church.
Judas messed up, and hung himself, and committed suicide. The church is not a perfect place. But there was a man by the name of Matthias that when Judas stepped down, Matthias stepped up and he said, "I'm not going anywhere. If you wanna quit, you can quit. If you wanna leave, you can leave. But I'm not leaving, I'm staying with the word of God, I'm staying with my preacher, I'm staying with the church, I'm staying with the kingdom, I'm staying with my convictions". What I'm saying to you is I hope you stand but if you don't, God has somebody who will stand up in your place, and they'll get your reward. The Bible said, "Let no man take your crown".
Some of you have come so far and you're so now lukewarm, and lackadaisical and kinda just full of hurt and stuff, and you gon' lose your crown if you don't watch it. I don't wanna get this far and lose my crown. I wanna close with this. If the kingdom, and the church, and the message is gon' change the world, you gotta have people who are just there. His name was James the Less. 'Cause there's two James that were disciples. James, the brother of Jesus, half-brother of Jesus that wrote the book of James, and then there's James the Less. His name was only there, but he stood when it was time for the preacher to preach. And because he was there, standing with the preacher, I wanna say to every one of you that feel insignificant.
I wanna say to everyone of you that think you don't matter. I want to say to everyone of you that think that you have no contribution to make to God in His kingdom, you matter. Your commitment matters. Your loyalty matters. Your consistency matters. Churches are built on saints of God that depend on people who just are there, standing. I'm looking at 'em by the thousands right now, and they'll never have their name up on the screen. I'm looking at elders. Thank God for our seniors and our elders. They are a glaring testimony in the face of hell that there are some people who outlast the storm, outlast the attack, who never quit, who never fall aside, who never go back to sin. They stand and they may can't shout like they could shout, they may can't dance like they used to could dance, and they may not even be able to physically stand much without a rocker, or without a walker, but they are standing and they're here like clockwork, they're here. Heroes. Hallelujah.
I'm getting happy in my soul. We have too, Cherise. We've stood the test of time. We've been through ups, been through downs, been through hills, been through valleys, we've fought demons and devils with this church, we thought hell was gonna win, we thought demons were... we still have mysteries and questions, but we are standing, standing, still proclaiming, still loving, still caring, still sharing. Hallelujah. Thank you for calling me to preach. Thank you for calling my family to be a preacher's family. Ooh, I feel the Lord in this place. Throw your hands up and worship Jesus all over this room. Worship Him, worship Him at every campus, worship Him in the prison.
Thomas, he had doubts. He didn't believe because of something he went through, he didn't believe the message. Some of you have questions 'cause something terrible and tragic has happened and it's left you questioning everything, if there is a God, where is He? Why didn't He do something? Thomas was forever labeled, "Doubting Thomas". Because he did not believe the message of the resurrection until he could feel the hands and the feet. But on the day of Pentecost, questions and all, he stood because Jesus came to Him in the middle of his doubt and questions and walked through... The Bible said in His resurrected body, He walked through the door being shut, and the walls being erected. He walked through the doors and the walls and reached a man in a house of doubt who had questions and didn't understand.
Some of you have been through things and you have questions, and you're living in a house of doubt. That's why you're sitting, listening to me right now. And even if you've had the door shut because you're bitter and upset that He let things happen that are unspeakable, He still comes to people and says, "You can stand up, questions and all". And you may never understand everything on this side, but when we all get to Heaven, what a day of rejoicing that will be. When we all see Jesus, we'll sing, we'll shout the victory.