"Courage is a special kind of knowledge: the knowledge of how to fear what ought to be feared and how not to fear what ought not to be feared." - David Ben Gurion 

"The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church." - Tertullian

What is it exactly that distinguishes the church from any other social club or volunteer community service organization?  The world effectively imitates every aspect of church life except those things that result from the power of God alone.  The greatest wonder of our day is the supernaturally changed life of a person.

This passage is of vital importance both in its description of true biblical preaching and in the display of divinely secured results from that proclamation.  The general absence today of this powerful proclamation is an ongoing indictment of contemporary evangelism.  Such teaching is an indispensable characteristic of an authentically biblical church. 

Contemporary American evangelism, where it even exists, is programmatic and trite.  Most unbelievers have been inoculated to typical religious sales pitches already.  What is required today for church growth and advancement is an authentic testimony of biblical truth and personal experience animated by the presence and power of the Holy Spirit.

The very first tasks necessary for the infant Christian church in Jerusalem was the practice of prayerful decision-making and the identification of qualified leadership.  The local expression of the Body of Christ cannot function properly without these characteristics.  

Listen to this message from our missions pastor, Emilio Lartigue.

(Pastor Philip Jackson)

Eighty years after Haggai and Zechariah spurred the people to rebuild the Temple, disillusionment with God had set in. Times were hard and the promised prosperity had not been realized. Israel developed an increasingly casual attitude towards worship and the standards of God. Malachi’s call to return to devotion has special relevance today.

Teaching alongside Haggai, Zechariah’s post-exilic message went far beyond physical walls and Temple issues. He told of the Messiah, the One whom God would send to rescue His people and to reign over all the earth. This prophet speaks of both the first and the final comings of Jesus. As you read, consider this—your King is coming and He will reign forever!

The first post-exilic prophet, Haggai, spoke to a people facing the daunting challenge of rebuilding a nation after the destruction of Judah, Jerusalem, and the Temple by the Babylonians to generations earlier.  His sermons on the priorities of God's people are powerfully suitable for believers today in a nation without spiritual foundations.