Waking Jonah

Pastor Rodney Shaw from New Life Church in Austin, TX preaches on finding opportunities to get people in the presence of God, where God can change their lives…

[Part 7 of a 7-Part series]

Ministry: New Life Church of Austin, TX
Full Podcast: A Real Message for a Real World
Date: 1/23/11
Speaker: Rodney Shaw
Notes: All the things that we can offer socially are just a triage service… we’re just putting tourniquets on wounds and stopping the bleeding, we’re not really doing anything permanently unless we can get them in the presence of God, where God can change their lives; We need to see a miraculous move of God’s Spirit; In his last known letter before his death, Paul says as emphatically as possible to Timothy… “preach the Word“–”Timothy, preach the gospel, because it’s the only hope that this world has… and it’s what the church has been called to do.”; Our focus has to be single, and that is we are a light in a dark place, we are a city set on a hill, and the unique thing we bring to the table is the gospel of Jesus Christ… it’s the power of God… it pulls people out of darkness; We’re looking for opportunities where we can share the gospel of Jesus Christ

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Rodney Shaw

Pastor Rodney Shaw from New Life Church in Austin, TX preaches on the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives…

[Part 6 of a 7-Part series]

Ministry: New Life Church of Austin, TX
Full Podcast: A Real Message for a Real World
Date: 1/23/11
Speaker: Rodney Shaw
Notes: True change is only possible through a work of the Spirit… the real hope for your family and for your life is the work of the Spirit; Ezekiel prophesied and the Lord spoke through him to Israel… “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.” (Ezekiel 36:26); It’s a work of God’s Spirit that we need… it’s what our world needs; They don’t need another option or alternative, they need a move of the Spirit in their lives; They need God Himself to quicken them and move them and stir them, and do miraculous things in them… that’s what they need

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Rodney Shaw

Pastor Rodney Shaw from New Life Church in Austin, TX preaches on the real hope for the world today… Jesus Christ.

[Part 5 of a 7-Part series]

Ministry: New Life Church of Austin, TX
Full Podcast: A Real Message for a Real World
Date: 1/23/11
Speaker: Rodney Shaw
Notes: We cannot fall into the slump that some Christian groups have fallen into and become merely a social and a political outlet; We ought to be involved… but at the core of our identity is Jesus Christ, crucified, buried and rose from the dead, and He poured His Spirit out… that is the hope for society–that is the hope for this world; Jesus Christ will change your life… Isaiah said “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” (Isaiah 1:18)… that’s what God can do for your today; God has put you in this world and He’s given you the power to do what He wants done in this world… that is the hope of this world; Paul said in Romans, “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation” (Romans 1:16)… you can’t vote that in, you can’t legislate that in, you’ve got to come to the cross and repent of your sins; You’ve got to come and confess, you’ve got to repent, you’ve got to be baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus (Acts 2:38), and He will confirm your repentance and faith by filling you with His Spirit–that is the most life transforming that could ever happen to you… it’s a real message for a real world

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Rodney Shaw

Pastor Rodney Shaw from New Life Church in Austin, TX discusses the real problem with America… spiritual bankruptcy, as well as the real solution for America… the gospel of Jesus Christ.

[Part 4 of a 7-Part series]

Ministry: New Life Church of Austin, TX
Full Podcast: A Real Message for a Real World
Date: 1/23/11
Speaker: Rodney Shaw
Notes: The problem with America is our morality; The issue of life is a great example: those who oppose abortion sometimes are the loudest advocates for war… and those who are the loudest advocates against war are advocates for abortion, so it’s just pick whose life you want to take… “let’s go take adult lives, or let’s take kid lives”; Life is precious in whatever form you find it, and a Christian should avoid all possibilities that they would be put in the circumstance to have to take another life; The real problem with America is not that we took prayer out of schools–If we had godly judges, we wouldn’t have taken prayer out of schools… if we had praying teachers and administrators, we wouldn’t have taken prayer out of schools… if we had praying parents, we wouldn’t have taken prayer out of schools… if we had a praying electorate, we would not keep voting in people who don’t pray; Our legislators call in chaplains to open their sessions with prayer, and then they don’t let them pray in the name of Jesus; The real problem with America is spiritual bankruptcy; America’s problem is not a political problem; The early church turned their world upside down and they had no political power; The early church had a transforming influence on the world so that in a matter of a few centuries the whole known world was Christianized, but they couldn’t vote against the morality of Rome; They preached the gospel, and they preached miracles and signs following; They didn’t have a social gospel or a club gospel, or something that was politically correct or socially palpable… they preached a message of Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ crucified; They preached a message that when people heard it and they believed it their lives were transformed, and things happened in people’s hearts–not because of legislation–but because of the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ

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Rodney Shaw

Pastor Rodney Shaw from New Life Church in Austin, TX discusses the problem with looking to legislation for our morality…

[Part 3 of a 7-Part series]

Ministry: New Life Church of Austin, TX
Full Podcast: A Real Message for a Real World
Date: 1/23/11
Speaker: Rodney Shaw
Notes: A Christian’s final victories or defeats are not political victories or defeats; Legislating morality for the immoral is not a sustainable model; Telling sinners not to sin has never worked; Romans 7; The law provides us a way, but it provides us no power to go in the way; Paul tells us that the wisdom of God is foolishness to the ungodly; If we look to legislation for our morality, we could be in great trouble someday because legislation is passed by a group of politicians; The big question in a pluralistic society is… whose morality do you want to pass as law?; In a pluralistic society, we can’t depend on legislation as we did even 2-3 generations ago; That does not minimize our responsibility to do what we need to do… it does not minimize our attempts at every level and every opportunity to stop people from murdering other people, and to stop immorality; The problem with America is not that we don’t have enough laws, but that we have lost our moral compass

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Rodney Shaw

Pastor Rodney Shaw from New Life Church in Austin, TX discusses the unique role of the church in the moral debate in society…

[Part 2 of a 7-Part series]

Ministry: New Life Church of Austin, TX
Full Podcast: A Real Message for a Real World
Date: 1/23/11
Speaker: Rodney Shaw
Notes: James 4:17 – “To him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin“; You can’t take a pacifist view with regard to morality–if you have the capacity to intervene and you don’t intervene, then you’re morally culpable; We can’t claim moral innocence, isolation, and neutrality, when we actually possess some capacities to intervene; March for Life… taking a stand for righteousness and against murder; The church transcends politics–it plays a unique role in the moral debate in society; Although we should participate in the political process, the church must always affirm that our hope is ultimately not political… our choices in politics are simply a result of the faith that we have in God

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Rodney Shaw

Pastor Rodney Shaw from New Life Church in Austin, TX preaches on how we should view sin and evil in our society and in this world…

[Part 1 of a 7-Part series]

Ministry: New Life Church of Austin, TX
Full Podcast: A Real Message for a Real World
Date: 1/23/11
Speaker: Rodney Shaw
Notes: We need a very strong disdain for evil in this world; We need to hate what sin does to people; Evil must be resisted; Psalm 97:10 – “You who love the Lord, hate evil“; We ought to have a hate–not for people–but for evil… a hate for the spirits that would undermine the peace of God and the harmony of creation as God has instilled it; Evil must be rejected categorically and definitively–it’s not something that we flirt with or dabble in; We need to have a wholesome disdain for godlessness, sin, and evil, because it destroys the lives of people; We have to fight for what is right; We need to stand against immorality… it comes in our society in big waves like tidal waves in the ocean, and it washes over our entire society; If you can vote against immorality, you should do so no matter which party you vote for; There is more to politics than a single issue; Shut the door, and keep out the devil

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Rodney Shaw

Pastor Rodney Shaw from New Life Church in Austin, TX preaches about the healing, saving, powerful name of Jesus…

Ministry: New Life Church of Austin, TX
Full Podcast: Call His Name Jesus
Date: 12/19/10
Speaker: Rodney Shaw
Topics: There’s power in the name of Jesus; Peter said “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission (forgiveness) of sins” (Acts 2:38); The name of Jesus is not just symbolic, there literally is saving power in the name of Jesus; Jesus told his disciples “Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: And that repentance and remission (forgiveness) of sins should be preached in his name…” (Luke 24:46-47); Jesus said “And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues” (Mark 16:17); There is authority and power in the name of Jesus; There is a name that is above every name… and that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord (Philippians 2:9-11); “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12)

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Rodney Shaw

[Part 60 of a 60-Part series. Click here for Part 1.]

This is the final episode in the series “Why I Am a Pentecostal“… I hope it has been thought provoking for you!

I will provide my own personal testimony about this in the near future, but in the meantime, please don’t hesitate to email me if you have any questions. Also, I highly recommend the following messages for further study on the distinctives of Pentecostal doctrine…

(*All messages can be found in the New Life Church Sermon Archive.)

05/19/10 | “The Oneness of God,” Pastor Bernard
05/26/10 | “The Identity of Jesus Christ,” Pastor Bernard
06/02/10 | “The New Birth,” Pastor Shaw
06/09/10 | “Speaking in Tongues: Initial Evidence of Spirit Baptism,” Pastor Shaw
08/08/10 | “Be Filled with the Spirit, Part 1,” Pastor Shaw
08/08/10 | “Be Filled with the Spirit, Part 2,” Pastor Shaw

Ministry: New Life Church of Austin, TX
Full Podcast: Restoring the Apostles’ Doctrine
Date: 5/5/10
Speaker: Rodney Shaw
Topics: The hermeneutical spiral – constant interaction with the text; What’s unique about Pentecostals and restorationists is that we bring something a little different–we bring an experience of the Spirit of God; Not only are we gaining understanding, but we are also gaining experience; Then we bring that experience/spiritual encounter with God back to the text; The role of history–History documents the extent to which people have been faithful to the Word of God; If we lifted up 2,000 years of history and set it aside, and then took your experience and your belief and put it side by side with only the New Testament… does it fit? Does it match?; Like the Apostle Paul asked the Ephesians, we can feel very confident asking… have you received the Holy Spirit since you believed? That’s not a question we get from 2,000 years of church history, it’s a question we get from the New Testament (see Acts 19:1-7)

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Rodney Shaw

[Part 59 of an ongoing series. Click here for Part 1.]

Ministry: New Life Church of Austin, TX
Full Podcast: Restoring the Apostles’ Doctrine
Date: 5/5/10
Speaker: Rodney Shaw
Topics: In Acts 2:37 they ask the big question… “What do we have to do?”; If the Apostles understood this the way moderns understand it, they would have said “Repeat the prayer after me, and say with your mouth Jesus Christ is Lord, and you’re done”; But in Acts 2:38 Peter said that to call on the name of the Lord and be saved you must repent of your sins, get baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, and then you will receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost; The “whoever will call on the name of the Lord” is not a formula for salvation, it’s a statement of the availability of God’s salvation–whoever calls on the name of the Lord is going to be saved; Romans 10:12 – “For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him.”; If you come with an 18th Century Calvinist understanding of this, you get a doctrine that says conversion is you confessing with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and Savior, therefore you’re saved; But if you have a restorationist hermeneutic and say “what did the Apostles do?…”; The passage in Romans is written to people that are already saved–Paul isn’t walking them through conversion, but pointing them back to the assurance of their conversion; We actually see such a conversion in Acts 2, with the same verse being quoted; We take the Apostles’ example and understand Romans 10 through the lens of how the Apostles preached those very same verses when they preached to sinners

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Rodney Shaw

[Part 58 of an ongoing series. Click here for Part 1.]

Ministry: New Life Church of Austin, TX
Full Podcast: Restoring the Apostles’ Doctrine
Date: 5/5/10
Speaker: Rodney Shaw
Topics: Romans 10:1-13; Often used as a formula for salvation… if you confess that Jesus Christ is Lord with your mouth then you’re saved; The question is, how did the Apostles do this?; Paul is quoting several passages from the Old Testament; Romans 10:13 – “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved“; Scholars believe Paul is specifically referring to a baptismal confession (in the waters of baptism, people are calling on the name of Jesus Christ, affirming Him as their Savior); Paul quotes from the Old Testament prophet Joel – “For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” (quotation from Joel 2); We also see this in Acts 2–Peter preaches on the day of Pentecost, tells them that these people speaking with tongues is the fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy that God is going to pour out His Spirit on all flesh… and that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved

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Rodney Shaw

[Part 57 of an ongoing series. Click here for Part 1.]

Ministry: New Life Church of Austin, TX
Full Podcast: Restoring the Apostles’ Doctrine
Date: 5/5/10
Speaker: Rodney Shaw
Topics: Hermeneutics – the art and science of how we interpret texts; There are different ways of going about reading different kinds of texts; The way restorationists approach Scripture: 1) A literal interpretation if and when possible (a command to “repent” would be interpreted literally), 2) Scripture is always above the history that followed it (it doesn’t matter what any subsequent theologian claims… what does the New Testament say?), 3) Apostolic pattern; Matthew 28:19, The Great Commission – “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost“–only Scripture in the New Testament that makes any sort of allusion to that; In the book of Acts, you have repeated accounts of people being baptized invoking the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, never the language in Matthew 28:19; In the Epistles we learn that the practice was to baptize invoking the name of the Lord Jesus Christ; Many references to Jesus’ name baptism, but no references to being baptized in “Father, Son, and Holy Ghost”; If anybody knew what Jesus meant in Matthew 28:19, it was the Apostles; Trinitarian ideology was informed by Greek philosophy/understanding; Trinitarian language comes from the councils and creeds; Who gets to better understand Matthew 28:19?–the 1st Century Apostles who come from a Jewish background, or 4th Century Greek scholars?; When the Apostles go to baptize, they either disobey Jesus Christ throughout the rest of the New Testament, or they carried out His command exactly as He commanded it; We give preference to the Apostolic pattern… not to 3rd/4th Century patterns

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Rodney Shaw

[Part 56 of an ongoing series. Click here for Part 1.]

Ministry: New Life Church of Austin, TX
Full Podcast: Restoring the Apostles’ Doctrine
Date: 5/5/10
Speaker: Rodney Shaw
Topics: The Apostles and their associates had a fear that there would be a departing; 2 Timothy 3:13-14 – “But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived. But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them“; It’s a backwards look–it’s already been established; The New Testament writers have this sense that people will continually be tempted to be led away from the foundational doctrinal principles; 2 Timothy 4:3-4 – “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.“‘; Appeal to teach the word and doctrine that had already been delivered into the church; Cleave to the teachings, resist the change; 2 Peter 3:15-18 – “Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness.“; The concern is that they will be led away doctrinally; Jude 3 – “earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints“; It’s a past tense thing, even for the New Testament writers–it’s not something to be fleshed out, developed, and evolved over the centuries

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Rodney Shaw

[Part 55 of an ongoing series. Click here for Part 1.]

Ministry: New Life Church of Austin, TX
Full Podcast: Restoring the Apostles’ Doctrine
Date: 5/5/10
Speaker: Rodney Shaw
Topics: 2 Peter 1:3 – “According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue“; Peter is writing before there is even a recognized New Testament, and he is admonishing the church that the teaching of the Apostles is adequate and sufficient; The early church recognized the danger in departing from the teaching of the Apostles–there is an attempt to look backwards to the doctrine that is already living in the church, not look forward to the ongoing development of new theology; When it comes to basic doctrinal principles, it’s always a look backwards to what was originally taught; Colossians 2:6-10 – “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power“; If you only have the New Testament, and you stop right there and believe that… how in the world can you get what we get out of creeds and councils?–it’s not possible

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Rodney Shaw