Red Letter Christian
Tony delivered this sermon at National Youth Workers Convention in Sacramento, CA on October 12, 2008
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- Revelation 18-19
- Rather than describing the world that is to come, the book of Revelations brilliantly describes the world in which we already live
- Babylon in the ancient world was a code world for the Roman Empire. The New Jerusalem was referencing the Church/People of God
- Babylon is the dominant culture in which the church finds itself living out its existence
- America is the best Babylon on the face of the Earth, but it is still Babylon, not the City of God
- Every Babylon falls
- Two reactions to the fall of Babylon- The merchants weep, and the angels cry “Hallelujah Hallelujah!”
- When Babylon collapses, where will you be; with the merchants or the angels?
- Joke- You know your old when your wife says “lets go upstairs and have sex” and you say “I cant do both”
- The Bible says “Lay not up for yourself treasures on Earth…”
- The Bible says “Take no thought for tomorrow what ye shall eat and what ye shall drink…”
- I am an ambassador in this world, speaking for another
- Our consumerist lifestyles have to change
- 1 John 3:17-18
- Philippians 2- “He who thought it not robbery to be equal with God emptied himself…”
- Jesus said- “If you want to be my disciple, sell everything you have and give it to the poor”
- Revelation 3
- The Church has to stop being Laodicea
- Gandhi said, “Everybody knows what Jesus taught except for Christians”
- The war in Iraq is costing $250,000 per minute
- Jesus is neither a Democrat nor a Republican
- It’s time to say “Carpe Diem!”
- The church has always done its best work when it lost all of it’s wealth and power
- We have to be led by the Spirit and not committees
- Story about when John Wesley went to Northern Ireland for a revival
- Fundamentalist: Those who adhered to the truths of the scriptures and the doctrines listed in “The Fundamentals of the Christian Faith” book
- Fundamentalism began to get a bad reputation by becoming legalistic
- Billy Graham and Carl Henry invented the word “Evangelical”
- Evangelicals: people who took the Bible at face value, believed in the doctrines of the Apostle’s Creed and people who surrendered to the resurrected Christ and allowed Him to change them from within
- Evangelical began to mean anti-environment, anti-gay, pro-war, etc.
- Red Letter Christian became the new title for people who follow out the words of Jesus in the Bible
- “You’ll never know that Jesus is all there is until Jesus is all you’ve got”
- Story- “I don’t mind being Christian up to a point”
- Story about a student from Tony’s class at the University of Penn who yelled “Who Cares!”
- “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness”
- Story about Fred Craddock and the Greyhound dog that chased the fake rabbit
- Story about preaching a hymn- “My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness…”
Keywords: 1 John 3, America, angels, Babylon, disciple, doctrine, evangelical, Fred Craddock, Fundamentalism, Fundamentals of the Christian Faith, Gandhi, greyhound, hope, Iraq, Kingdom of God, Laodicea, merchants, New Jerusalem, Philippians 2, Red Letter Christian, Revelation 18, Revelation 19, Revelation 3, Roman Empire, sex, the Church, treasures, University of Pennsylvania, War, Who Cares
Reference ID: 10122008
© Tony Campolo | EAPE | 1300 Eagle Road | St. Davids, PA | 19087
Phone: 610.341.5962 | Fax: 610.341.4372 |
E-mail: jwarren@eastern.edu