Andrew Young on Power in Weakness in Acts (Season 2, Episode 7)
This article is part of the Conversations on the Bible with Nancy Guthrie series.
The Weakness of Sinners and the Power of God
Join Nancy Guthrie as she talks with pastor Andrew Young about a framework for understanding both divine power and human weakness on display throughout the book of Acts.
Saved
Nancy Guthrie
Saved, by bestselling author Nancy Guthrie, gives individuals and small groups a friendly, theologically reliable, and robust guide to understanding the book of Acts.
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Topics Addressed in This Interview:
- A Church Plant in Oxford—a Bastion of Self-Sufficiency
- Divine Power in Human Weakness
- Divine Power at Pentecost
- The Weakness of Suffering for the Gospel
- Suffering for Christ Is Part of Our Union with Christ
- Practical Encouragement
00:26 - A Church Plant in Oxford—a Bastion of Self-Sufficiency
Nancy Guthrie
Welcome to season two of Conversations on the Bible with Nancy Guthrie. I’m Nancy Guthrie, author of Saved: Experiencing the Promise of the Book of Acts. In the book of Acts, we see the enthroned Lord Jesus at work by his Spirit through his apostles. They are taking the message that salvation is available to all who will call upon the name of the Lord, to Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. And it is accomplishing its intended purpose—people are being saved. On this podcast, I’m having conversations with people who can help us to see more clearly the ways in which we see God working out his salvation purposes in the world, particularly in the pages of the book of Acts. My guest today is Andy Young. Andy is pastor of Oxford Presbyterian Church in Oxford, England, but he’s sitting here in my kitchen, which makes me so happy. Andy, welcome to the Saved podcast.
Andrew Young
Thank you. Wonderful to be with you
Nancy Guthrie
Why don’t we begin by having you tell us a little bit about your church and your work in Oxford.
Andrew Young
Thank you. Yes, pastor of Oxford Presbyterian Church. We planted the church almost from scratch about four and a half years ago, in 2018. Small group of us, and the Lord has done wonderful things. One of the difficult things in a place like Oxford is finding a location for your services. And after three and a half years of prayer and hard work and lots of doors closing, the Lord has granted to us this amazing space right in the center of Oxford. It’s called the Northgate Hall. There’s a lot of history to the building.
Nancy Guthrie
Tell us some of that history.
Andrew Young
It was built in the 1870s as a church, a United Methodist Church. It then was used from the 1930s by the Oxford Intercollegiate Christian Union. It’s a bit of a mouthful. It’s often referred to as the OICU. And from the 1930s to the 1980s, the OICU met there, and famous names like C. S. Lewis and John Stott and Martin Lloyd-Jones preached there. Perhaps even more famously, J. I. Packer rediscovered the works of John Owen in the basement—an uncut eighteenth century edition—which was the first introduction to him of Puritan theology. And an awful lot can be traced back to that moment because he became a Puritan. And really, throughout the whole world now, on many of our shelves and in our bookstores and from our pulpits and in our Bible study groups we’re getting taught Puritan theology largely because of Packer finding it in the basement of this building. So we’re very excited and humble to be there, worshiping there. We’re seeing conversions, we’re seeing lots of people come to ask good questions about Jesus and the Bible and a church being planted right in the center of Oxford, which we are very thankful to God for.
Nancy Guthrie
We’re here to talk about the book of Acts, and one thing about the book of Acts is that the witnesses to the resurrection of Christ, as they’re going out and they’re giving out the message of salvation and they’re proclaiming the kingdom of God, but they don’t do it haphazardly. They seem to have a strategy. We especially see that in Paul. They’ve planted this church in Antioch, and then he first goes to Asia Minor. He works his way to other major cities, from Antioch to Corinth, to Ephesus, eventually to Rome. And as they go, they’re not only evangelizing but they’re planting churches. They’re discipling them and equipping them to then become sending churches to reach the region that they’re in. So just talk to me a little bit about Oxford. As I think about how Paul shares the gospel differently depending on his audience, he’s always going first to the Jews and so his text is the Old Testament. He’s showing them how Jesus is the fulfillment of the Old Testament. But that’s not what he does when he speaks to a group of pagan Gentiles. He, in one case, uses creation as his text. When he gets to Athens, he’s going to appeal to philosophers of that day. So what’s it like for you in Oxford? What’s your text, in a sense, with the various audiences you interact with in a place like Oxford?
Andrew Young
Great question. One of the reasons we planted in Oxford was for this very reason, because of the New Testament pattern of strategic church planting and going for those big places that are influential in the culture so that you can plant and then replant. We face lots of challenges. It’s a hyper secular context, a bastion of hyper secularism. It’s an elite university. The world comes to Oxford and other universities all over the world that are equally strategic. And so I think a few things. First of all, we need to listen to the questions they’re asking and try to engage them on their terms, in many ways, and I think we need to have confidence that the Bible and the gospel can answer the question. I think we see this with Paul. He’s engaging with the issues of the day and the cultural questions. He’s even quoting, in Acts 17 in Athens, from their own philosophers, and he’s able to engage with biblical truth. And I think that’s something we can get from Acts is a confidence that the Bible has answers to the world’s questions. It also comes with challenges. Oxford is probably one of the biggest meritocracies in the world. Everyone who’s there is there because of their own achievement. They’re at the top of their class, and they’ve achieved that. It’s all about self-sufficiency. So there is something counter-cultural and even offensive about the gospel as it comes in and says, no, faith is not self-sufficiency. In fact, it’s sufficiency in Christ. But I think we see Paul doing this as well. There is an offense to the gospel, even in Athens. It doesn’t appear to go that well in Athens. They reject him, some want to hear more, and some are saved. So we find that as well. I think we need to recover, in places like Oxford, a confidence in the Bible, that it is the foundation of our faith. It does have answers. It’s been tested for over 2,000 years, and we need to stand tall and strong on that foundation.
07:09 - Divine Power in Human Weakness
Nancy Guthrie
Yesterday I got to hear you preach from the book of Acts, and your message was centered on a particular theme in the book of Acts, and that is something we see again and again—power in weakness. If we think about the very beginning of the book of Acts, as Jesus leaves he says, “Wait and pray, and I’m going to send you power—the power of the Holy Spirit.” And yet throughout the book of Acts, as we trace the characters and the events of the book of Acts, what we actually see is a lot of weakness on the part of these apostles as they’re going about giving this message. So maybe begin in a general sense in terms of talking to us about this theme. How do you see the theme of power—and let’s say specifically divine power—in human weakness in the book of Acts?
Andrew Young
I think we can start with the very title of the book of Acts, actually. It’s often referred to as “The Acts of the Apostles.” And I think that’s helpful to a degree, but I don’t think it tells the whole story, and it misses the main character of the story, which is Jesus Christ. Rather, I talk about Acts as “The Acts of Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit through His Apostles and Church.” And there’s a shift here because remember that Luke and Acts go together. Luke wrote Acts, and he also wrote the Gospel of Luke. They’re two parts together. In Luke we encounter Christ—his person, his miracles, his teaching, his death, his resurrection—but in Acts we don’t encounter him. We encounter the church. We encounter the apostles. But we do encounter him, because he reigns, he’s ascended, he’s sitting at the right hand of God, and he is giving gifts to men. And it is through the church by the power of the Holy Spirit that he is now at work. And then I think a crucial passage for Luke, because he repeats it three times, is the conversion of Saul. Is it Luke 9:21–26? This is very important for him, and it’s fascinating the exchange between Jesus and Saul on the road to Damascus. Jesus says, “Saul, you are persecuting me.” I grew up in the church, and that always perplexed me. A part of me wanted to almost step into the pages of Scripture and say, “With due respect, Jesus, he’s not persecuting you. He’s persecuting the church.” And I think what Jesus would have said was, “Exactly. By persecuting the church, you are persecuting me.” Why do I say that? It’s because it gives us this framework of understanding both power—divine power—and weakness. The power is Christ is reigning and is ruling through his Holy Spirit. He’s advancing the gospel, surely and certainly, and yet, what’s the instrument he’s using? It’s the apostles, it’s the church, it’s sinners. And that’s the theme. It’s almost like a huge theme throughout Acts as it comes out time and time and time again.
10:18 - Divine Power at Pentecost
Nancy Guthrie
Let’s talk about some of the ways we see human weakness throughout this book. Early on, as the book begins, Peter is going to get up in Jerusalem and preach this message. And they’re like, “Who are these Galileans?” So it’s not like he comes from a background or has the credibility of even being from that city of central power. No, these are what they might say “dumb Galileans.” So how is it that they’re able to speak in all of these languages? And yet Peter is able to do that in that city, and he gives an incredible message. I don’t know when was the last time you preached and 3,000 people got saved.
Andrew Young
Never.
Nancy Guthrie
So how do we see divine power in the midst of the weakness of the person delivering that message?
Andrew Young
What you’ve said is already so helpful, but go back to the end of Luke. What is Peter doing? He’s denying Jesus three times. He’s a failure. He’s the last person you would ask to be the point man to start a new movement in Jerusalem. The Jews would be reading it almost laughing. There’s a smirk, there’s a mockery—“You’d use a man like that?” And yet, yeah, Jesus does. He uses the weak, the insignificant, the frail, the fragile. Those who have already rejected him, he reinstates them, and now with power. And he’s like a new man, isn’t he? Throughout Acts Peter is like a new man with boldness now, not with fear, not running away and looking at Jesus from afar as he’s put on trial. Now he’s boldly declaring Jesus Christ. Something I really love—just a detail about his sermon, actually at Pentecost—is that the tongues of fire come on them as they’re waiting, so they’re endowed with divine power. And they go out to preach, and Peter explains what’s happening, first of all, by quoting from Joel, which is kind of like an intro to his sermon. His sermon doesn’t actually begin until verse 22, and this is what he says: “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth.” I just love that. What’s he here to do? So when the Holy Spirit comes, what’s the great test of the Holy Spirit? Or to put it another way, what’s the great proof that the Holy Spirit has come in power? Jesus takes center stage. And actually, Jesus himself said this would happen. In the upper room discourse he says, “The Holy Spirit will come and glorify me.” The Spirit brings glory to Christ. It makes all the light shine on Jesus Christ. He takes center stage. And that’s exactly what Peter’s doing. Here’s this weak, failure of a man, and who’s he talking about? Not himself. He’s talking about Jesus. I think there’s the, if I could put it like this, almost the nexus between power and weakness. It’s Jesus. How do we get the power? In weakness. It’s by the Spirit declaring through the weak vessels Jesus Christ.
13:20 - The Weakness of Suffering for the Gospel
Nancy Guthrie
As we continue to watch what happens to Peter and the other apostles as they share this message, first they’re just challenged. They get some pushback on this message, and they’re arrested and released. Then they’re arrested and beaten and released. And then we get to Stephen, and he is actually stoned to death, so he is killed. Then we get to chapter 12, where James, one of the 12 apostles, is killed by the sword. This is just repeated throughout the book of Acts—the weakness of suffering for the gospel. What do you make of that?
Andrew Young
Well, I think a couple of things. I love how refreshing the Bible is, and this is from the first page to the last. It doesn’t hide the reality of being a Christian from us or all the sinfulness of all the supposed heroes and heroines. Being a Christian is a call to take up our cross. And we’re talking about power and weakness, that there is real weakness. Luke and Acts don’t hide this from us. The leaders are getting persecuted, imprisoned, beaten, scattered, killed. They’re not these X-Men and X-Women endowed by God with amazing powers where they can resist all assaults against them. No, they’re truly under fire.
Nancy Guthrie
Those stones hurt.
Andrew Young
Yeah, absolutely. They die.
Nancy Guthrie
Those whippings hurt.
Andrew Young
Right. There’s true fear in the early church as they get this onslaught. They’re running away, and by Acts 8 they’re scattered. They’re being scattered from Jerusalem. They’re gathering in Jerusalem, and they’re being scattered. And yet what we find is, and I love this, there is a subversion. Christ is so powerful. He doesn’t hide the reality of the calling to take up our cross and follow him, and yet he will use that very suffering, that very pain, that very death to further his ends. This doesn’t jeopardize Christ and his mission. Jesus isn’t sitting on the throne going, “Oh no! What am I going to do? Stephen’s dead. James is dead. Things are falling apart! What am I going to do?” Quite the reverse. He uses and he subverts the so-called powers that are assaulting the church to further his end. So what happens is in Acts 8 they scatter, and the very next thing we read is they’re preaching. That scattering scatters the word. The word of God goes into Samaria. So the very next stage of the gospel—Acts 1:8: “You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in Samaria and Judea, and to the ends of the earth”—So now we’re entering the second ripple effect as they now move out. So the very persecution that’s caused them to scatter is the very thing that Jesus uses to spread his word. And I just think that’s wonderfully comforting. For anyone who’s suffering for Christ—and, of course, we read Acts and this is big picture. This is the church advancing and the kingdom of God. But for anyone who’s suffering in any way, we have Romans 8. We have God telling us and reassuring us through this that in our weakness, in our fragility, even in our death, he is in control. More than that, he’s going to use it for his purposes and for our good.
Nancy Guthrie
I think there’s a bit of a gulp for us as readers when we get to Acts 12, recognizing Jesus is on the throne—we see him ascend to that throne in chapter 1—and they are proclaiming his kingdom. And we get to Acts 12, and here is Jesus on the throne, and there are two different disciples in this story. And what Jesus does, or what we might say Jesus fails to do, is quite different because you’ve got James, and he is killed by the sword. And then there’s Peter. Talk to us about what happens with Peter there in Acts 12.
Andrew Young
It’s a thrilling story. There are so many chapters of the Bible that should be made into Hollywood movies or some sort of TV series. They’d probably do a hatchet job on it, so let’s not do that or ask Netflix to do anything like that. But it’s just a thrilling story, actually, because you’re right. On one level, this spells disaster. Acts 12 can be read as Herod exerting his significant authority and power to crush the church. And near the end, there’s a whole region—Tyre and Sidon—who are begging him to not cut off their food supply. He’s like a Vladimir Putin of our day who is exerting his power against different regions. And so he’s this very impressive man in many ways. But what happens is Peter’s also imprisoned. Herod’s going to bring him out and either put him on trial or kill him. I think that’s clear in the text. But what happens is God sends his angel, his messenger. And in really quite a remarkable way, he gets released, he gets freed. And I think the text is telling us that Peter is having an exodus here. In fact, in Acts 12:11 Peter looks back and says, “The Lord has rescued me,” actually quoting from Exodus 18:4, where Moses looks back on the Red Sea crossing and uses the same language—“The Lord has rescued me.” And even in some of the details of what happens to Peter, it’s almost like his own exodus story. At the end, there’s this iron gate, and it just opens. Almost magically it opens. And that’s almost reminiscent of the Red Sea crossing, as God opens up a way for his people to cross over. But what’s remarkable is Peter gets out and he goes and finds the church. It’s probably the middle of the night. What are they doing? The one thing the church is doing in that chapter is praying. We’re twice told in verse Acts 12:5 and Acts 12:12 that they’re earnestly praying and gathered together praying. Here’s the church hidden away in weakness, almost despairing. James is gone. Peter looks like he’s going to be gone. And what are they doing? All they can do is get on their knees and pray. But I think that’s also really encouraging, because they’re showing us where true power lies. It doesn’t lie in bowing before Herod. In fact, what happens to Herod by the end of the chapter? An angel strikes him down at the peak of his powers as he declares this oration, this speech, and all the people say, “You’re a god!” At his peak he is struck down. And what we’re being shown is true power doesn’t lie in this world; it lies in God. And so let’s get on our knees. When suffering comes or pain comes, we feel and know our weakness. Let’s pray to him because he’s the source of help and the source of that power. And lo and behold, what do we read at the end of that chapter? I think it’s verse 24 that says, “The word of God multiplied and went forth in power.” So there’s a wonderful story, a critique just in that chapter. A critique of the powers of this world that appear powerful and yet really aren’t. A demonstration of what’s the church to do? Well, we pray. And a wonderful display of God’s sovereign power that through the weakness of the church, in their prayer, his word still advances. And it’s not despite the weakness; it’s through the weakness. God doesn’t put up with our weakness. He doesn’t kind of go, “Oh well, there we go. You’re weak. I’ll have to try and work around you.” He uses our weakness. We are the vehicle in our weakness of doing it.
20:52 - Suffering for Christ Is Part of Our Union with Christ
Nancy Guthrie
I suppose if we looked at the Bible as a whole, we would know that this power in weakness is central to the whole of the story of the Bible. As we look at the book of Acts, especially in the second half where it really centers on Paul, oftentimes he seems to really connect himself to the suffering servant of the book of Isaiah.
Andrew Young
Yes, very much.
Nancy Guthrie
Now, we would say that this suffering servant of the book of Isaiah was most fully fulfilled in the person and work of Christ. Jesus takes the words of Isaiah that are being spoken by the suffering servant, and he, in a sense, speaks them himself. He is the suffering servant. And yet Paul, as his servant—maybe more broadly, all of us who have become joined to Christ, in a sense, are joined to that—and so Paul connects himself to this suffering servant of Isaiah and uses his words many times to express his own purpose in the world in weakness.
Andrew Young
Yes. I think you’re hitting on something really important, actually, in the books of Luke and Acts. So what you get in Luke is you get Christ. And the Holy Spirit through Christ and in Christ produces in Christ—and I think we’re allowed to use that language. I’m actually quoting from Sinclair Ferguson and his wonderful book on the Holy Spirit.
Nancy Guthrie
Well, you could do worse
Andrew Young
Indeed. You’re on safe ground with that. So the Holy Spirit produces something in Christ, as the man of God, as the man of faith. When you get to Acts, what we see—and Luke is writing in very sophisticated ways, trying to show this—that now the Holy Spirit is reproducing in the church and in Christians what he first produced in Jesus. In other words, by virtue of our union with Christ, we are becoming more like Christ. And that means we follow the pattern of Jesus. The pattern of Jesus was humiliation, death, then resurrection and exaltation. And that’s the same with us. That’s the pattern of the Christian life. That’s the pattern of the growth of the church is we’re called to be humble. We’re called to die to self. And then in our death that is after the pattern of Christ’s death, a la the suffering servant of Isaiah, we are now raised to new life and new power, a new life, and then glory will come. You could argue it is almost the theme of the Bible. In my mind is 1 Peter 1:10, where we’re told that the angels, appearing into history as they see the unfolding plan of how that the servant of God must suffer and die and be glorified. And there’s that pattern. It’s the pattern there. In fact, Jesus teaches his disciples this in Luke 24 on the road to Emmaus. He twice says as he looks back at the old Testament, “Don’t you see Christ and his sufferings, death, and subsequent glory?”
Nancy Guthrie
“Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer before being glorified?”
Andrew Young
Right. So now we, as the church, are being conformed to that. But you are right. It’s not just as the church, it’s as individual Christians as well. This is the pattern of the Christian life.
Nancy Guthrie
I wonder if Luke is also using the story of the stoning of Stephen to impress this upon us, because it’s so interesting that in that account, in Acts 6 and 7, even the way that the story is related. As he makes an argument, the opposition toward him sounds like the opposition towards Jesus. The desire to kill him is the same as the religious leaders’ desire to kill Jesus. But even in those little details, as he is facing his death, he looks up and he sees the glory of God, which I would say is the risen Lord Jesus himself. And we hear him say some of the same words that Jesus said on the cross. “Into your hands I commit my spirit.”
Andrew Young
Yes, and, “Forgive them.” That’s exactly what Jesus is saying on the cross. “They don’t know what they’re doing.”
Nancy Guthrie
And so here is a key story within the book of Acts that seems to be communicating, “Disciples, you can expect to suffer like your master.” And then I suppose we see that again and again in Peter and Paul, that they’re showing us to suffer for the gospel is not something merely for his followers; we’re suffering after our master, Jesus, who suffered before us.
Andrew Young
Yes, absolutely. And to use the language of Romans 8, we are becoming “more than conquerors.” In the context of Romans 8, and Romans 8 is wonderful, isn’t it? Sorry, I’m ranging out of Acts, but Romans 8 begins with “no condemnation” and ends with “no separation.” And he’s talking at the end about, “Who can condemn you? What’s the answer to the condemnation of the evil one? It is that Jesus has died, Jesus has risen, Jesus has ascended and is interceding for you.” And now we become more than conquerors. And that passage talks about, quoting from one of the Psalms, the death and the slaughter of Christians. But through that we become more than conquerors.
Nancy Guthrie
So I guess the hope is as we are united to Christ in his suffering and death, so are we united to Christ in his resurrection and his victory. And as I think about it and as we talk about it, I realize isn’t that what empowers Paul and Peter and Stephen and so many of these others? They’re so convinced of that. That’s what empowers them to face opposition everywhere they go. Let’s think about the way the book of Acts ends. There’s Paul. He has been through a lot. He’s been stoned, he’s been shipwrecked, he’s been whipped. He describes himself as being in chains there in Rome. He’s awaiting his day in court. But of course we know it’s going to come, in terms of his death. But what is he doing? What is he doing? He is inviting people in and he is proclaiming to them, in Acts 28:30, “He lived there two whole years at his own expense, and he welcomed all who came to him, proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance.” So what’s he talking about? The kingdom of God. He knows where this story is headed. He may have been crushed in weakness as he goes around proclaiming, but he’s proclaiming the kingdom of God. He is intimately joined to the King of kings, and he knows where this story is headed, and that’s what fills him with boldness.
Andrew Young
This is a wonderful way in which we can see the multi-level. On one level, he’s in chains, he’s locked up, he’s tied to his house under household arrest. What a disaster. He’s gotten to the capital city of the known world, an absolute disaster. But on another level, we see the word of God being proclaimed with boldness. And this, again, connects us to an important part of this power/weakness theme. Where is the power, then, in weakness? It’s in the word of God. How does the kingdom come? Do you notice he talks about the kingdom of God—“proclaiming the kingdom of God”? Acts 1 begins with a disciple saying, “And how is the kingdom going to come?” And Jesus has to say, “Just wait there. It’ll be in my timing and my way.” And we see throughout Acts and now at the end that the kingdom of God has come and is advancing and is extending, but how? It’s through the word of God. And there’s this repeated phrase throughout Acts in different ways. You’ve got Acts 6:7; 12:24; 19:20. The word of God multiplies and advances. The word of God multiplies and advances. And despite the persecution and despite the difficulty and despite the death, what happens? The word advances. And the power of God is Christ reigning by his Spirit, through his church, using his word. That’s where the power is.
29:56 - Practical Encouragement
Nancy Guthrie
Let’s come back to where we began, Andy, and that is Andy Young, church planter in Oxford, England—a bastion of education and, as you said, self-sufficiency. So as you look at the book of Acts and you see how Jesus has sent his Spirit so that the word of God is going out and that that’s the power, how does that encourage you personally for the work God has set before you? And then for anyone who is listening, how can this encourage us? Maybe we’re experiencing some opposition for our stand for the gospel. How does the word and the fact that it is the word of a King and a kingdom encourage you and how can it encourage us?
Andrew Young
Well, one of the ways it encourages me, which I hope is an encouragement to everyone listening, is we don’t have to make up or invent a way to be Christians, to worship God, or reach our needy, dying world. We have it. It’s the word of God. And so there is something terribly ordinary. You come to our church, and it’s very similar to where I was preaching yesterday. We just center on the word of God. We try to love people. We try to worship God according to his word. We try to saturate our services with the word of God. And we try to boldly proclaim the word of God. We try to do what was happening in Acts—boldly proclaim the word of God. So that’s a great encouragement to me. I don’t have to invent some new way. But also it’s an encouragement because it works. The word of God is powerful to save. Now, I know that with that we get opposition and difficulty, and I know if anyone’s listening, and we’ve experienced this, you do get that opposition. It can be fearful, intimidating, discouraging, deeply discouraging. And yet what we need to do is keep faithful to God’s word, because he’s faithful to God’s word. We are stewards. The word of God has been entrusted to us. It’s not my word. And when we declare the word of God, we’re declaring the word of God. It is Christ speaking to this world, and there is power there. And that’s what we’ve seen. We’ve seen atheists become Christians. We’ve seen people who want nothing to do with God and are living godless lives get an interest in the gospel simply through this: just get the word of God out there. Get it out there. It’s like Spurgeon said. You don’t defend a lion; you just release it. Get the word of God out there and see the word of God be powerful in people’s lives. And this is true for Christians as well, anyone who is experiencing their own weakness. And we do, don’t we? Perhaps you are older, or maybe not. Young people get diagnosed with terrible diseases as well. Perhaps you’re in pain regularly. Perhaps you are carrying a weight of burden for the lost, or you’ve got family members who are straying or you are concerned for. The word of God is our help and our hope, and it is there for us to use—to plunder, to know, to memorize, to preach to ourselves, to sit under, and to use in our lives and in the lives of others as opportunity arises. So I think that’s our encouragement. The encouragement is we’ve got the same tools, if I could put it like that, as the early church had.
Nancy Guthrie
We serve the same King who is still enthroned—
Andrew Young
He still reigns.
Nancy Guthrie
—and is still empowering his people, in their weakness, to proclaim his word so that people who hear it are cut to the heart. And they still say, “What do we do?” And we have the same message, which is to repent and be baptized and receive forgiveness of sins. What an amazing message we have to send out. Thank you, Andy. Thank you so much for joining me.
Andrew Young
Thank you.
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