2. Confession

3. Pentecost Acts 2:36 “Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.” God’s people are a proclaiming people. One enters God’s people with proclamation of Christ, and one continues to live out that proclamation until death.

4. Confession … Proclaims Submission, 2 Corinthians 9:13 To confess Christ as Lord is to demote all others, including self. Enters the Presence of God, 2 John 7-11 To confess Christ as Lord is identify with God and his people.

5. Beginning of the Fight 1 Timothy 6:12 Before confessing the lordship of Christ, you remain the slave of others. After confessing the lordship of Christ, you begin the resistance, the rightful rebellion, against the powers of this world.

6. Shared With Others 1 Timothy 6:12 Christ did not proclaim in secret. Christian faith is not lived in secret. Thus, Christian faith is not begun in secret. Christian faith is not endured alone.

7. Imitation of Christ 1 Timothy 6:13 How can one begin imitating Christ without acknowledging Christ? How can one begin imitating Christ without making Christ’s confession? Stand with Christ in Pilate’s hall!

8. Waiting for Return 1 Timothy 6:14 Everyday that passes makes the Resurrection of Christ a little more distant. One of the chains that binds the Resurrection of Christ to the Resurrection to come is the church confessing Christ in the world.

9. Paul’s Confession 1 Timothy 6:15-16 Does it surprise us that Paul cannot talk about confession without making one of his own?! Confession declares Christ to be the “blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see.” Bring him honor and dominion. Amen.