Go and Share The Gospel

Introduction

Scripture

Father God, we thank You for Who You are. A great Big God who sees each and every one of us here and cares deeply about us. We ask this day, as we are continuing in this time of worship to You, reading Your Word and hearing Your Word, that You refine us with it. Mold us, make us, shape us, rearrange us so that we can more like You, and more made into the image of Christ. Help us be a people who love You and love others so much, that we are moved into action by whatever it is You are going to show us about Yourself today and what that means in our lives. Help us do this, because all to often our selfish and sinless flesh war against our will to follow Yours. As we are doing this, and as we are coming into Your Word today, we ask that You take away any distraction that we may have, and make it go as far away as it possible can, because we want to see and we want to know You better. It’s in these things that I ask and in Jesus Christ’s Holy and precious name that I pray, Amen.

13 Now in the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen, a close friend of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.2 As they were worshiping[a] the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” 3 Then after they had fasted, prayed, and laid hands on them, they sent them off. 4 So being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus. 5 Arriving in Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the Jewish synagogues. They also had John as their assistant. 6 When they had traveled the whole island as far as Paphos, they came across a sorcerer, a Jewish false prophet named Bar-Jesus. 7 He was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, an intelligent man. This man summoned Barnabas and Saul and wanted to hear the word of God. 8 But Elymas the sorcerer (that is the meaning of his name) opposed them and tried to turn the proconsul away from the faith. 9 But Saul—also called Paul—filled with the Holy Spirit, stared straight at Elymas 10 and said, “You are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery, you son of the devil and enemy of all that is right. Won’t you ever stop perverting the straight paths of the Lord? 11 Now, look, the Lord’s hand is against you. You are going to be blind, and will not see the sun for a time.” Immediately a mist and darkness fell on him, and he went around seeking someone to lead him by the hand.12 Then, when he saw what happened, the proconsul believed, because he was astonished at the teaching of the Lord.

Context

Here, we pick up right where the text last week left off, turning itself back to the missionary journeys and endeavors of Barnabas and Saul in Antioch. One thing to notice that from here on out, the church in Antioch would be a major “sending center” for missionaries in the early Christian Church. So, it becomes a sort of “base of operations,” particularly for Saul for the remainder of his life. Now, we have finally met and entered that third division of this book, where the Gospel was spreading “To the ends of the earth”, whereas the other two sections were “In all Judea and Samara,” and “in Jerusalem, as the Lord Jesus had commanded his witnesses to go just before He ascended back to heaven.

We see here and all throughout this book, that it is the Word of God, the Gospel of Jesus Christ being shared as a major theme. A big take away from this entire book is that, People are changed by the Word of God.

One common trap for believers, particularly believers in an American church, is that we believe that our actions and how we act are The Good News. This is a lie, and it has never been correct. Remember Jesus words, his great commission, what did he say? He said, “19 Go, therefore, and make disciples of[e] all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember,[f] I am with you always,[g] to the end of the age.” No where in His great commission did He say “act right,” that’s just part of living out your faith. Also, notice how throughout this entire book, which has served has a historical account of the biggest redeeming moves of God ever in the History of the world, there never was there a focus on how the people acted (except when they were together for worship), rather it shows time and time again The Gospel of Jesus Christ being vocalized and shared. So Should we do it (act right and live righteously), yes, is it the Gospel no and it will never be a sufficient fill in if you want to see people changed, because people are changed by The Word of God, the Good News of Jesus Christ.

One often misquoted “Christianism” that has really taken root in the last 50 years is those supposed words from St. Francis of Assisi that says we are to, “Preach the gospel at all times; use words of necessary.” A quick look and research in this would tell us that this is an untrue and deceitful lie. First of all, He never said that. Second of all, it’s false. So false is it, that all denominations of Christianity disagree with this statement. A quick google search of the saying will show only disagreement with this statement, with the only leadership agreeing with it being from the Mormon Church, which of course their church wrongly emphasizes a gospel of Works, that is you can earn your salvation. All Christendom disagrees with it.

One of today’s most foremost evangelists, Tim Bougher comments that, “First, evangelism is not mere presence. We hear that perspective expressed often today. Some people declare, I’m just going to witness with my life. I’m going to let my life do the talking. Some even misquote St. Francis of Assisi (1181/1182–1226), claiming he opined, Preach the gospel at all times; use words if necessary. Scholars of St. Francis assert he never said those words, but I maintain even if he had said them, they still would be wrong! This is like saying, Feed the hungry at all times; use food if necessary.

Your life is not the gospel. The good news of what God has done for us in Jesus Christ must be shared verbally. Evangelism is more than mere presence. If you live a committed Christian life in front of people but never share the reason for the hope within you, they are going to assume one of two things about you.

First, they might assume you are a good person. And by human standards you might fall into the overall category of good instead of bad. But your life is not the gospel. Do good works save? No—they emphatically do not. We are saved by grace through faith in Christ, not because of our works.

Second, others might assume you are a religious person. After all, they see you going to church each Sunday, and sometimes other times as well. Does religion save? No—religion does not save; only a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ saves.”[1]

I am sharing this with you, not to destroy you, but to change your mind and make you see that,People are changed by the word of God. So, let’s dive in and From the text, I want you to do these things as you do God’s ever present command to Go and Share The Gospel.

Message

The first thing to do as you God and Share The Gospel is to: Anticipate God’s Call (1-3)

13 Now in the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen, a close friend of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.2 As they were worshiping[a] the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” 3 Then after they had fasted, prayed, and laid hands on them, they sent them off.

We begin with a quick look at who were the five elders of the church in Antioch (the bible using the words pastor/elder/overseer/bishop as the same thing). These men were Barnabas, Simeon, Lucius, Manaen, and Saul. Notice how there were multiple of them, and they had a diverse set of backgrounds and personal experiences, they were a diverse group of leaders. Some were rich, some were poor, some were from here, some were from there, some had great learning, some did not. All of them though, had The Gospel of Jesus in common and the call to lead the church (as is the charge for pastors/elders/overseers/bishops) at the Holy Spirits direction with Christ as the head (the chief shepherd). Look what they were doing, probably the whole church, was worshiping and fasting, meaning that they were coming to God in anticipation, waiting on God and seeking Him to reveal to them what to do so that they could move, so that they could Go. The Holy Spirit then told them, set apart Barnabas and Saul, I have something special for them to do. After the fasting and prayer, they recognized these men’s calling through the laying on of hands and they were sent off.

Anticipation, means that you are expecting something. Just think of a child’s anticipation of Christmas morning. What are they expecting? Some presents right? Something to be excited about. Perhaps a new bike, video game, or a doll house. As the year goes on, the anticipation for these gifts grows and grows, until there is almost a state of not being able to stand it in the final few days. With of course, every parent enduring the question every day of the month of December of “How many days until Christmas?” They are anticipating something, because they are expecting something.

We to need to be anticipating and expecting something from God. In this case, that God is calling you believer to something (which He is) to be a child of His that He will use (in some way) to share the Good News, The Gospel with somebody. He calls all of his children to do this in one way or another. Now, everyone’s life and calling will be different. Some will be professional evangelists, called out to different or familiar places to share the good news. Some will be part time evangelists, called out for a time to go to different or familiar places to focus on the spread of The Gospel for a time. Others will be local evangelists, who share the Good News of Jesus Christ as they go about their lives, doing what they do: going to the Doctors, going to the grocery store, going to see family, going to work, or what have you. We are ALL called to do one of these three at all times of our life, and we may even healthily say we support those that do go far away as well. Evangelism is not just for those who are called to go somewhere far away, Evangelism is everyone’s job all the time. The difference is, where is the mission field in which you were called? So believer, anticipate God’s call, because He is calling you, no matter how long or how smart or how mature a believer you are, God is calling you to be His witness, He is calling you to go and share The Gospel, because people are changed by the Word of God.

The next thing to do as you God and Share the Gospel is to: Expect God’s Opponents (4-8)

4 So being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus. 5 Arriving in Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the Jewish synagogues. They also had John as their assistant. 6 When they had traveled the whole island as far as Paphos, they came across a sorcerer, a Jewish false prophet named Bar-Jesus. 7 He was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, an intelligent man. This man summoned Barnabas and Saul and wanted to hear the word of God. 8 But Elymas the sorcerer (that is the meaning of his name) opposed them and tried to turn the proconsul away from the faith.

We start with Barnabas, Saul and John Mark, who went down to the port town of Seleucia to sail to the nearby large island of Cyprus. Arriving at the port town of Salamis, we see that they first went to the Jewish synagogues to teach Jesus, to share the missing piece of these Jews incomplete faith, that their messiah had come. They then travel the whole of the island, sharing with anyone who would listen till they came to Paphos on the other side of the island. There they came across a deceiver and sorcerer Bar/Jesus Elymas and the Procouncil (the man appointed by the Roman Senate to rule this area) Sergius Paulus. Sergius Paulus, was an intelligent man, and as a man who sought intellect and knowledge, he would naturally call these men who had and were sharing a great knowledge and truth to himself so that he could know it as well. But Elymas, a servant of Satan tried to hinder the Procuncil’s coming to faith and the Apostle’s work. He did what he could to keep it from happening.

This reminds me of this old saying, you’ve probably heard it before. “Something’s not worth doing unless it is hard.” We know, anyone who has ever done it, know that sharing the word of God, sharing about Jesus is hard work. Sure on paper, it should be easy. But any time it comes up, the devil shows up as well. Because he doesn’t want it come out, he doesn’t want God honored or glorified, he want’s God to be forgotten or mocked. This presence of the enemy (Satan) makes sharing our faith hard.

Believer, you need to expect that when you go and share the Gospel, that it will be hard. Despite that truth, that you need to expect God’s opponent to be there, you are still called and empowered to do so. Don’t let fear keep you from doing it. Remember our sermon last week, that God is greater than any man made power or institution. Well, let me add onto that. God is greater than any man made or satan made power or institution. So do not fear, God has your back. He is your sure and steady witness who is guiding you as you witness about Him. So, know that believer, and Go and Share the Gospel, but expect God’s opponents to not like what you are doing, but you should also expect that though they look like they do, they have no real power over you. So, do God’s will for you in your life and see people change because The Word of God changes people.

Another thing to do as you go and share the Gospel is to: Know God will move (9-12)

9 But Saul—also called Paul—filled with the Holy Spirit, stared straight at Elymas 10 and said, “You are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery, you son of the devil and enemy of all that is right. Won’t you ever stop perverting the straight paths of the Lord? 11 Now, look, the Lord’s hand is against you. You are going to be blind, and will not see the sun for a time.” Immediately a mist and darkness fell on him, and he went around seeking someone to lead him by the hand.12 Then, when he saw what happened, the proconsul believed, because he was astonished at the teaching of the Lord.

Paul being filled with the Holy Spirit, meaning here that The Holy Spirit was in control, stood against the deceiver. That is, God The Holy Spirit worked here, calling out the sorcerers deception and allegiance with Satan. He then took what we would expect to be a loss and turned it into a win, publicly showing the Power of God by making a mist come upon the sorcerer and causing him to go blind and panicked. From watching this clear display from God, he went from being on the fence about Jesus, to clearly knowing and believing. The text says he was astonished, without words, because of the greatness of The God, the true God and the teaching of the Lord. God moved here, and everyone knew it.

God’s moves can be very obvious like here or at the parting of Red Sea, or in Jesus resurrection. But, they can also be subtle, unseen or unperceived by one not paying attention. Just think about what Jesus said at the end of most of his parables, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear” or “He who has eyes to see, let him see.” What He is saying here, is are you ready and prepared and looking for God. If you are, you will find Him. If you aren’t then He (and these parables) will be a mystery to you because you don’t want them to be true. It’s kind of the same here, are you willing to accept that any good that will happen was a movement of God, or do you not want to admit that God is in the mix and instead chalk it up to random chance or something you did.

Often times, God works in and through us in little ways that if you aren’t seeking Him, it could go unnoticed. A believer often seeking God will notice things like: thoughts, words, or ideas come to them that they never had before when witnessing or sharing about Christ; making it to an appointment quicker than you expected because you never hit a red light when driving to a urgent kingdom issue; prayer requests being answered; sins that you used to have a hard time with holding no sway or power over you; and much much more if it is for the Kingdom of God in Jesus’ name. God moves forever and always. What we have to ask ourselves, is do we trust Him to move? Yes, you know that you should. Let me speak more plainly here. Do you fear your fear more than you trust God to move? Believer! Yes you! Put aside that fear, put aside that fearful and sinful response. Repent from it and Jesus will forgive you. Trust in the Lord, He will move, no question about it. The thing is, are you willing to be God’s instrument as He moves? You know you should, you know you are supposed to Go and Share the Gospel, because The Word of God changes people. So, why are you trying a different way? That person you want to be a believer, will never be one if someone doesn’t Share the Gospel of Jesus with them and give them the opportunity to respond with either a yes or a no! So, be God’s instrument instead of Satan’s. Know that The Word of God changes people, and share that Word knowing that God will move in one way or another.

Conclusion

Beloved, that song that we sang earlier, Hosanna. Those last few lines always hit me very hard. “Take my heart and make it clean, open up my eyes to the things unseen, show me how to love like you have loved me.” What can we apply from this request? It would go something like this: Take my sin and help me remove it. Open up my eyes to what it is that I have been missing. Show me how to love like you have loved me. How can we love others like God has loved us? Well, it’s not just good deeds. It’s largely (and I’d say mostly) loving someone enough to be willing to tell them the cold hard truth, that Jesus saves and nothing else matters. The song goes on, break my heart for what breaks yours. Everything I am for your kingdom’s cause. As I go from nothing to eternity. God, break my heart for what breaks yours, in this case what would break God’s heart? One thing for sure is His children not sharing His Word with others. The ones that do fearlessly have committed themselves to the Kingdom’s cause and recognize that everything you experience hear on earth is nothing when we consider the eternal God of the universe, the true rich and treasurer worth both having and sharing. Are you ready to commit your life to your call. While yours is unique and different from everyone else’s, as I’ve said before it has something to do with loving God, loving others, and making disciples. So pursue that believer, Go and share the gospel, because it is The Word of God that changes people.

With all of that being said, I would be remised if I didn’t share the Gospel (or the Good News) of Jesus Christ with you today, for the benefit of both believer and non-believer in the room. This begins all the way back at the beginning, God created everything, and he created all things good. He gave His most treasured creation (us, mankind) the ability of free will, the ability to choose Him or rebellion. Man was deceived by Satan and desired to be like God and sinned (or rebelled against God). This brought the curse of sin and death into the world and it remains with us to this day; which separates us from God. God though, loved His creation (mankind) so much that He worked through history to redeem all mankind that would turn to Him from sin so that we can experience a full and perfect relationship with Him again. This was through the perfect and final sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the pay for sins. Accepting this free gift from God, makes you new and forgiven. All you have to do accept this free gift by repenting and believing in the Lord Jesus and you will get to experience the good side of God’s justice forever. So, now that you know this, you can no longer plead ignorance. I invite and urge you to respond today non-believer and apply this to every part of your life believers in the audience today.

With that, Let’s conclude. Brothers and Sisters, I love you all. During our last song together, if you need prayer, or want to talk more about Jesus, or have something you want to talk about, I’ll be here, don’t be afraid to come on down. Let’s pray. Father God, we thank You for who You are and what You are doing to us here in this place. May whatever it is that You are doing in each of heart here, continue as we leave go out into the world this week. Change us, mold us, make us, re-arrange us, that we can be both better lovers of You and better showers of You. It’s in these things that I ask and in Jesus Christ’s Holy and precious name that I pray, Amen.

[1]Invitation to Evangelism Tim Beougher