The Power and Authority of the Word

Yesterday's chapel was one that will forever live in my memory and by God's grace will forever shape my mission.

Terry Delaney wrote his initial response here and as he said, words can't really describe what it was like. Listening to Dr. David Platt's message online may convey something of what happened, but it was clearly the Spirit of God speaking the Word of God powerfully through a man. If you listen to the first two-thirds of the message you'll simply hear Romans chapters 1 through 8. But what you may not realize is that Dr. Platt was not reading. He was speaking from memory the entire section, but not just quoting it. He spoke it with a power that seemed to be God speaking directly to us all. People throughout the auditorium were standing up, raising hands, and/or weeping. God was pressing on us the weightiness of the Gospel.

After Dr. Platt finished speaking Romans 1-8, he spoke verses 1-5 of chapter 9 where because of this great salvation in chapters 1-8, Paul tells us he is willing to be cast into hell for his people. Here's the point: • If we believe the content of chapters 1-8 then we bear the missiological burden of vv 9:1-5: it is impossible to have a Gospel theology without an urgent missiology. If Romans 1-8 is true, then 4.5 billion people stand today under the judgment and on the road to hell. We don’t have time to play games with church. We owe the gospel to the world.