Untitled Sermon

131 Christians Everyone Should Know Timeline

Crucifixion of Jesus; Pentecost

35 Stephen martyred; Paul converted

46 Paul begins missionary journeys

48 Council of Jerusalem

57 Paul’s Letter to the Romans

64 Fire of Rome; Nero launches persecutions

65 Peter and Paul executed

THE AGE OF EARLY CHRISTIANITY

70 Destruction of Jerusalem by Titus

110 Ignatius of Antioch martyred

150 Justin Martyr dedicates his First Apology

155 Polycarp martyred

172 Montanist movement begins

180 Irenaeus writes Against Heresies

196 Tertullian begins writing

215 Origen begins writing

230 Earliest known public churches built

248 Cyprian elected bishop of Carthage

250 Decius orders empire-wide persecution

270 Antony takes up life of solitude

303 “Great Persecution” begins under Diocletian

THE AGE OF THE CHRISTIAN EMPIRE

312 Conversion of Constantine

312 Donatist Schism begins

313 “Edict of Milan”

323 Eusebius completes Ecclesiastical History

325 First Council of Nicea

341 Ulphilas, translator of Gothic Bible, becomes bishop

358 Basil the Great founds monastic community

367 Athanasius’s letter defines New Testament canon

381 Christianity made state religion of Roman Empire

381 First Council of Constantinople

386 Augustine converts to Christianity

390 Ambrose defies emperor

398 Chrysostom consecrated bishop of Constantinople

405 Jerome completes the Vulgate

410 Rome sacked by Visigoths

431 Council of Ephesus

432 Patrick begins mission to Ireland

440 Leo the Great consecrated bishop of Rome

445 Valentinian’s Edict strengthens primacy of Rome

451 Council of Chalcedon

500 Dionysius the Pseudo-Areopagite writes

524 Boethius completes Consolation of Philosophy

529 Justinian publishes his legal Code

540 Benedict writes his monastic Rule

563 Columba establishes mission community on lona

THE CHRISTIAN MIDDLE AGES

590 Gregory the Great elected Pope

597 Ethelbert of Kent converted

622 Muhammad’s hegira: birth of Islam

663 Synod of Whitby

716 Boniface begins mission to the Germans

726 Controversy over icons begins in Eastern church

731 Bede’s Ecclesiastical History published

732 Battle of Tours

750 Donation of Constantine written about this time

754 Pepin III’s donation helps found papal states

781 Alcuin becomes royal adviser to Charles

787 Second Council of Nicea settles icon controversy

800 Charlemagne crowned Holy Roman Emperor

843 Treaty of Verdun divides Carolingian Empire

861 East-West conflict over Photius begins

862 Cyril and Methodius begin mission to Slavs

909 Monastery at Cluny founded

988 Christianization of “Russia”

1054 East-West Split

1077 Emperor submits to pope over investiture

1093 Anselm becomes archbishop of Canterbury

1095 First Crusade launched by Council of Clermont

1115 Bernard founds monastery at Clairvaux

1122 Concordat of Worms ends investiture controversy

1141 Hildegard of Bingen begins writing

1150 Universities of Paris and Oxford founded

1173 Waldensian movement begins

1208 Francis of Assisi renounces wealth

1215 Magna Carta

1215 Innocent III assembles Fourth Lateran Council

1220 Dominican Order established

1232 Gregory IX appoints first “inquisitors”

1272 Thomas Aquinas’s Summa Theologica

1302 Unam Sanctam proclaims papal supremacy

1309 Papacy begins “Babylonian” exile in Avignon

1321 Dante completes Divine Comedy

1370 Catherine of Siena begins her Letters

1373 Julian of Norwich receives her revelations

1378 Great Papal Schism begins

1380 Wycliffe supervises English Bible translation

1414 Council of Constance begins

1415 Jan Hus burned at stake

1418 Thomas a’ Kempis writes The Imitation of Christ

1431 Joan of Arc burned at stake

1453 Constantinople falls; end of Eastern Roman Empire

1456 Gutenberg produces first printed Bible

1479 Establishment of Spanish Inquisition

1488 First complete Hebrew Old Testament

1497 Savonarola excommunicated

1506 Work begins on new St. Peter’s in Rome

1512 Michelangelo completes Sistine Chapel frescoes

1516 Erasmus publishes Greek New Testament

THE AGE OF THE REFORMATION

1517 Martin Luther posts his Ninety-Five Theses

1518 Ulrich Zwingli comes to Zurich

1521 Diet of Worms

1524 The Peasants’ Revolt erupts

1525 William Tyndale’s New Testament published

1525 Anabaptist movement begins

1527 Schleitheim Confession of Faith

1529 Colloquy of Marburg

1530 Augsburg Confession

1534 Act of Supremacy; Henry VIII heads English church

1536 John Calvin publishes first edition of Institutes

1536 Menno Simons baptized as Anabaptist

1540 Ignatius Loyola gains approval for Society of Jesus

1545 Council of Trent begins

1549 Book of Common Prayer released

1549 Xavier begins mission to Japan

1555 Peace of Augsburg

1555 Latimer and Ridley burned at stake

1559 John Knox makes final return to Scotland

1563 First text of Thirty-Nine Articles issued

1563 John Foxe’s Book of Martyrs published

1565 Teresa of Avila writes The Way of Perfection

1572 St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre

1577 Formula of Concord

1582 Mateo Ricci and colleague begin mission in China

1589 Moscow becomes independent patriarchate

1598 Edict of Nantes (revoked 1685)

1609 John Smyth baptizes self and first Baptists

1611 King James Version of Bible published

1618 Synod of Dort begins

1618 Thirty Years’ War begins

1620 Mayflower Compact drafted

1633 Galileo forced to recant his theories

1636 Harvard College founded

1636 Roger Williams founds Providence, R.I.

1647 George Fox begins to preach

1646 Westminster Confession drafted

1648 Peace of Westphalia ends Thirty Years’ War

THE AGE OF REASON AND REVIVAL

1649 Cambridge Platform

1653 Cromwell named Lord Protector

1654 Blaise Pascal has definitive conversion experience

1667 John Milton’s Paradise Lost

1668 Rembrandt paints Return of the Prodigal Son

1675 Spener’s Pia Desideria advances Pietism

1678 John Bunyan writes The Pilgrim’s Progress

1682 William Penn founds Pennsylvania

1687 Newton publishes Principia Mathematica

Thank you Cris.

I'd like to start off by saying how much of a blessing it has been to be here this summer at

Apostles.

I hope yall know that you have an amazing staff full of wonderful people that care for you, that

love, you, and that they do so much behind the scenes for yall. (Blake may cry, Aww if fits?)

It’s also been great to meet you students, or at least the ones who came during the summer. If

you spent the summer at the beach or in like Paris then we missed out on each other.

Before we dive right into the word I want y’all to do something for me.

I'm going to say a couple things and I want yall to do them as I'm speaking so you have to make

sure your listening. I want everyone to look around the room for a minute.

Look at the people who are with you today. Look around at other tables, other sides of the room,

remember them. If you make eye contact with someone give them a quick wave…... I hope that

made it a lot more awkward than it already was.

Hunter why’d you make us do that? No reason whatsoever, no I'm joking.

I wanted you to see all the people in this room because I think it’s important, because this

whole summer right up to today, we've basically been talking about Christian community.

We’ll be talking more about what it is, what it isn’t, and all this other stuff but I don't want to just

tell you about your community, I want you to see it, and right here, in this room, this is your

community.

Specifically if you’re a follower of Christ. And I won’t assume everyone is, I don't know all of you.

This is your community, I want you to remember that as we continue.

When I talk about your community I'm talking about your brothers and sisters in Christ.

When I say that's your community some of yall are probably thinking “What you talkin bout

willis… I ain know them. I’ve never talked to them. They're my community.” I’d say yes, they are.

It's not just about what I say, but I want to show you that this is what the Bible says

If you have your bibles, which I hope you do. Let's open up to . If I ever get

boring to you guys just start snoring to let me know. (Cris joke)

Let’s read it:

19 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of

Jesus, 20 by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is,

through his flesh, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us

draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean

from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold fast the

confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us

consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet

together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you

see the Day drawing near.

Alright, so what did author just say. I think most of y’all are like me where you can read a

chapter, paragraph or even sentence and be like what did it just say?

Like you probably experienced this when you were doing all of your summer reading right?

Hmmm. Because of that tho I want us to go through it again but I’m going to stop at a spot that I

think is important and where we spend some time on. Let’s read it again

“Therefore since” STOP. Where are my language arts people at, therefore is an important word,

especially since he starts the whole section with therefore.

You need to know what the therefore is there for.

The little word means that you can’t fully understand the next verses without understanding

what came before it. So everything that comes after therefore is built of what was said before it.

So now we have to go to the chapters before and we’re gunna read from chapter 1 all the way to

ten alright any volunteers? (joke) Not really we don’t have time to read 10 chapters, I’ll sum up

the few chapters before this.

What the Author of Hebrews has been saying is that Jesus is the fulfillment of the OT testament

rituals. He was the perfect lamb sacrificed for our sins, and now he is the perfect high priest that

is now the mediator between God and Man.

Remember in the OT, only the high priest could enter into Gods presence 1 day out of the year.

So that’s what he’s been saying the past chapters he very kindly sums it up for us again in

verses 19-21.

He goes “Therefore since this has happened, let us do this…” remember he gives us 3

commands. Let us do this, let us do this, let us do this.

Understand why he’s saying it tho. He’s not just commanding us to do things.

He is saying do this because of what Christ has done for you.

So If he has bought you, if he’s given you a new heart, if he has made you a new creation, and

because he is now interceding on your behalf to the Father. Do this. Do this because of what

Christ has done for you.

Now what is it that he is telling us to do? Verse 22. “Let’s us draw near to God” ok let us draw

near to God, but he doesn’t stop there, let’s keep going.

“Let us draw near to God with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled

clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.”

So he says if you’re going to draw near to God, here’s how you do it. You can’t just do it

your way. “Well Hunter I get close to God in a different way” nope, no you don’t.

If you wanna draw near to God let’s look at what the author says you need.

1. True heart: you need to be sincere, genuine. You don’t draw near to God with

wrong motivations like you want God for His gifts, His blessings or because other

people are doing it.

You draw near because you want to experience closeness with God.

You want His presence, so it doesn’t really matter if you have everything in the

world or you have nothing.

You will find joy in God because you have Him…. not things.

It’s not a conditional love. That’s so easy for us today to fall into that.

.

2. Full assurance of Faith: when you come to God you come with Faith, not with

doubt in His ways.

You come to him trust in Him because He is faithful. There’s so many stories of

God's faithfulness we can spend days talking about them.

3. Clean heart: so you have been justified by Christ and he has given you a new

heart. So if you want to draw near to God, Jesus is going to have to do a work in

your heart and that’s what makes us Christian.

The Holy Spirit takes our evil heart out and giving us a new heart ) but we don’t

just sit here if Christ has given us a new heart and do what we want because we

the author says next to

4. come with a clean body: come with a body washed with purity.

Don’t be dirtying yourself by chasing after sin.

And don’t expect to be perfect because only Christ is perfect,

but do look at the desire of your heart and see are you even trying to stay clean

are you even trying to run from sin.

If you truly want to draw near to God and experience Him you need to have a

heart that’s striving for Holiness.

You will fall time and time again but thank God we have a mediator, a lamb that

covers our sins. The heart of the matter is a matter of the heart, have a heart

that desires to walk in holiness

That’s the first point. Y’all still with me? (Snore)

2nd let us: Let us hold fast to our hope. Why, because God is faithful. If you think about

where Jesus story about the birds and the lilies of the field and how he

takes care of them and provides for their needs.

Does he give them full abundance and overflowing grain or worms?

No Jesus says He gives them what they need.

Don’t confuse getting abundance of riches with getting what you need.

I’ve learned sometimes what I’ve needed isn’t comfortablity, or things, or fame, or to do

well on a test, or to do good in a football game.

We think God will give me what I need and I need to score 23 touchdowns, recover 7

fumbles and run for 3,000 rushing yards, get 70 million followers and two Lamborghini’s

that I can’t drive yet because I’m 15 and then I’ll be happy and know God loves me and is

in control. What????

If we truly believe God is sovereign, he’s in control over everything, then we can know

that everything that happens will be for our good.

I didn’t say for our health, wealth, or popularity. Gods goal is to glorify Him and we do

that by becoming like Christ.

Look at everything in a way so that you can use it to make you more like Christ.

Lastly, (verse) 24-25 let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works,

25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another,

and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

The author again gives us 4 things:

1. Encourage one another: our goal in life should be to encourage each other, not

bring them down , or! There’s another thing we aren’t to do, and that’s, do

nothing. I am the worst at words of exhortation. This is something I’ve been

working on because I’ve been convicted about this one thought.

When I leave after meeting or hanging out with someone, do they feel more

encouraged by what I said. Did I make them love and cherish Christ more?

And it’s not with random people it’s with my friends, Cris and I can call each

other slappies all day jokingly, but at the end of the day will he leave thinking he’s

a slappy or will he be encouraged.

I might think highly of him, I mighhhht enjoy hanging out with him.

But man if I never say it how will he know. And so I do things to show that

appreciation for him.

There was a guy I went to Israel with and he’s was in his 40’s and man this guy

everybody loved him, and he was super extroverted. He’s said super nice stuff

and it’d just make you love his presence. Him and I got very close and we were

talking and he said “Hunter I used to be one of those snappy, sarcastic guys. I’d

make fun of someone but it was funny so we’d laugh. But there’s something

special about encouraging people that brings a different umf.

2. Stir up one another to love and good works: it is our job to make sure we stir

people up to love. Love what?

Stir them up to love themselves, love others, and most importantly, to love Christ.

That goes back to “at the end of the day did I help someone love Christ more?”.

And we are called to stir them up to do good works. Don’t just make them feel

good, make them want to do things for the Lord. Make them want to serve with

you.

Gideon nails hit on the head , it’s not what we were doing it was just the fact that

we were serving together. Stir up each other to do good things. And the author is

also implying that if we need to stir that up in others we need people to stir that

up in ourselves. So make sure you have people who stir you up to love and to do

good works.

3. Gather together. Gather together. This is huge. When the author says gather what

does he mean? He doesn’t mean gather with random people you find.

Go find some people on the street and gather. No who is he speaking to?

Christians, what is he telling them to do? GATHER!

This is where the whole community thing comes together.

He says Gather with other Christian believers so when I ask you believer, who is

your community, who is it? Your fellow believers, specifically in this room.

This is your community. You guys have a closer connection to each other - even

if you’ve never talked to them. The author says that connection is christ!

Because of what Christ has done for you, and you and you.

He has now brought us all together and made us a community of believers and

that is the foundation of your life and you have that in common with others and

so we are to come together as one. (Man is glad I came, Amen lights- voddie)

4.

But there’s something important in what I said. The connection that Hold us together is

the blood of Christ, he is the foundation that holds the community together.

So listen here, there is a difference between Christian community, and a community

filled with Christians. What it is?

The center of Christian community, the reason they gather is because of Christ.

He is the object of the worship and the reason they worship.

The community filled with Christians can come together in the name of Christ but they

come for a different reason.

They come for entertainment… fun… they come for friends, or they come because it’s

popular, it’s cool.

Listen here, community based of entertainment, is not community.

Fill it with anything,

community based off popularity in the culture is not community. It’s not, here’s why,

what happens when it’s not entertaining any more? Someone or a group of people don’t

find you entertaining, or they don’t find what they go to entertaining anymore? They

leave.

What happens if it’s not popular anymore? They don’t want anything to do with it.

What if they come for friends? And their friends leave or they don’t think of them as

friends anymore. They leave.

That’s not true community. And he’s why I say that.

If you only take away one thing make it this, some of you do this in the church.

You’ll want to go to church, if it’s entertaining,

you’ll go to church if it’s fun,

you’ll go to church if your friends are there,

you’ll go to church if there’s this this this and this.

Have that then I’ll come.

You’re saying church must be this in order for me to go, instead of saying, this is what

church is, so I will go.

You go to church because Christ is the center of the church.

I don’t care what we do, as long as we all love Christ and we are here because of what

Christ has done in our life, I want to be with people because of that.

Christ is the center of Christian community.

He is what holds us together, and he is the reason we go. We don’t look at it and say,

what can I get out of it.

I'm not up here because “I know the rules and you need to follow”

I’m up here because I’ve been through this.

I’ve experienced both the communities.

It’s not a preference thing.

In highschool I had around 10 super close friends.

We would do everything together, we named our group chat Men’s Hair Club and we

lived by that group.

We played sports together, we ate lunch together for years, we went to school together

for years we had all that in common for all of middle school and highschool.

We were graduating and we said man we’re gunna meet back up during the breaks and

summer, gunna have a big MHC reunion blah blah blah.

Then we went of to different colleges everyone doing there own thing.

And we’ve never gotten back together as a whole group. Still haven’t, and that was more

than 2 years ago.

Why?

Because when we lost the things we had in common, didn’t go to the same school,

didn’t play the same sports, didnt eat together,

we didn’t have anything in common anymore.

Each of us went our on path some of them wanted to party in school, some of them just

went far away.

When we lost our commonality, we lost our community.

But even in the midst of that I had one friend in that group named Reily.

If you’ve been here for the summer you’ve heard of him.

Him and I both got close in the group because of our love for the Lord and our desire to

seek holiness

and when everyone went their own ways Reily and I stayed close,

and we even tighter than before because we saw, the strongest thing that holds people

together is the blood of Christ.

And we saw this even more when one of my friends that we graduated with I knew of

him didn’t know him much.

His name was Austin. Reily and I would play racquet ball in the summer if y’all even

know what that is.

Then one day austin reached out us and asked to play with us and that was the start of

another great friendship so now it’s the three musketeers playing racquetball all

summer.

And Austin tells us later that he wanted to hang with us because he saw that we were

some of the few who actually serious about our faith after we graduated.

And I can’t tell you have impactful these friendships have been for me. We spent all

summer together.

And we don’t really have much in common,

Reily is going into business, lives baseball, me? I’ll leave after the 3rd inning.

Austin is an aerospace major at GT so he got the brains, so I mean you know me at

Liberty, he doesn’t reach my level of intellect.

Haha Austin’s smart I love playing with him.

These friendships are one of the best things I could get, especially for my Christian

walk.

And we all say, the one thing that keeps us together is Christ.

What Christ has done for us and what he’s going to do with us.

And so we are so thankful for brothers to be able to walk with.

And 4. the Author of Hebrews says gather even more as the Day of judgement draws

near because it’s going to get hard. It’s going to be rough. And even He doesn’t expect

you to be able to do this on your own. You need a Christian community with Christ as

the center to get you through life.

So I want to encourage you today to get connected with your Christian community and

meet because of Christ.

Don’t think that you’ll go to dive or any of the other events “if my friend goes” or “it’s not

as fun as this other camp”.

Go because the people in this room. At these tables, they’re your community.

Go to meet them, go to know them.

We hear people complain they don’t know anybody and that’s because they don’t talk to

anybody.

It is worth, everything you have to put into it.

A Community based off Christ is better than any community you find that is based off

entertainment, popularity, or whatever else you enjoy.

And as someone who has tasted and seen both types of community,

I’m begging you to listen to the text and do these things for Christ. Draw near to God,

hold fast to the faith, and gather and encourage one another because of what Christ has

done for you. You do it all for Christ and because of Christ.

Let’s pray.