Acts 1: Go For Souls

God is Good

Jesus loves you.

The end.

A husband and wife get up on Sunday morning.

After breakfast, the wife notices that her husband isn't dressed for church. "Why aren't you dressed for church?" "Simple. I'm not going." "Why not?" "Well, I'll give you three pretty good reasons why I'm not going.

First of all, the church is cold in the morning. It's just cold.

Second, no one there likes me. Everyone is always talking about me behind my back.

Third, and most important of all, I just don't feel like going!"

"Well, I'll give you three pretty good reasons why you ARE going.

First of all, the church isn't cold in the morning; it's warm.

Second, I think, or I'm pretty sure, that there are some people there who do like you.

third you're the Pastor, so get dressed."

So Jesus on Passover then rose again on first fruits and then came Pentecost which is 50 days after. Jesus showed himself by many proofs for 40 days after He rose again, ascended, and then leaving 10 days between the time He ascended and the day of Pentecost. These 10 days is what chapter one is about.

Acts 1:1 ESV

1 In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach,

“began to do and teach”

The book of Acts would show the continuation of his work on earth through his church and the church was to follow this pattern of doing and teaching

Acts 1:2 ESV

2 until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen.

“chosen apostles” The fact that the apostles had been chosen by Christ (Luke 6:12–16) is an extremely important point. With that choosing came apostolic authority to do miracles, preach, teach, direct the church, and preserve the record of his life and teaching.

Acts 1:3 ESV

3 He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.

Who saw Jesus?

Mary Magdalene

The other women at the tomb

Peter in Jerusalem

The two travelers on the road

The two travelers on the road

Ten disciples behind closed doors then to Thomas

Seven Disciples while fishing on the sea of Galilee

Eleven disciples on a mountain in Galilee

A crowd of 500

Jesus brother James

Those who watched Jesus ascend into heaven

Note the change that occurred in the disciples’ lives. At Jesus’ death, they scattered; they were disillusioned and fearful.

After seeing the resurrected Christ, they were fearless and risked everything to spread the good news about him around the world.

They faced imprisonment, beatings, rejection, and martyrdom, yet they never compromised their mission.

These men would not have risked their lives for something they knew was a fraud.

They knew that Jesus had been raised from the dead, and the early church members were fired with their enthusiasm to tell others.

Most whom died for their faith. Who do you know would die for a lie?

Every one of the disciples insisted, to their dying breaths, that they had physically seen Jesus bodily raised from the dead.

• Don’t you think that one of those apostles would have cracked before being beheaded or stoned? That one of them would have made a deal with the authorities? None did.

• Men will give their lives for something they believe to be true; they will never give their lives for something they know to be false.

• The apostles could not deny Jesus, because they had seen him face to face, and they knew he had risen from the dead.

• nothing less than a resurrected Christ could have caused those men to maintain their faith until their last dying breath that Jesus is alive and is Lord.

Would you say they were passionate? Passion means you believe in something so much that your willing to suffer for it. What do you believe in so much that causes you to suffer?

Do we have a love for souls or are we consumed with the things of this world instead of the things of God?

Does our heart break with the things that break God’s heart?

Does it break for souls?

Charles Spurgeon said:

Oh that the Lord would saturate us through and through with an undying zeal for the souls of men

C H Mackintosh

No Christian in a right condition, if he is not seeking in some way to bring souls to Christ.

We must face the hard facts: Unless we see revival and a move of the Spirit it’s too late for our nation. It’s too late for moral reform.

For too long we have sought to make ungodly people godly, without converting them from sin. We have tried to make immoral people moral, through word, actions, and voting.

Those who are accustomed to evil cannot do good, unless the Lord grants them a new heart. We must go after souls of lost men and women. That is the call of the Church.

Yes we are to have a moral voice in this deprived culture and be salt and light to the world. We are to challenge the godless with the standards of God. Yet it is only part of the Gospel.

We are called to be fisher of men!

We have put to much trust in Government. We hoped that the President would hold the line, that the right appointees to the Supreme Court would help stem the flood of unrighteousness.

We thought a politically active church would turn our nation back. That is putting confidence in the flesh or the arm of man.

Government cannot save! Only Jesus can save. He must be our message!

Yes its good to vote and stand firm for what is right. We are not to roll over and die.

We cannot not expect those who stand for unrighteousness to respond to our call for morality. Our hope is the Gospel and that men would respond in repentance and humility. That God would even grant them repentance.

Conversion of the lost must be our goal.

Rather than try to pressure the ungodly into morality, we should seek to pray the into the Kingdom.

Instead of making efforts to get the blind to see things our way, we should evangelize them until they see the Way.

Intercession is better than intimidation.

Fasting is more effective than fighting.

Weeping does more than voting.

William Booth preached a series of three great meetings at the Town Hall in Sydney Australia:

“at the close of the last meeting in the Town Hall, as they were all congratulating the old man on the success of the day, he turned on them saying, “those are not the people I came thousands of miles to reach. Where were the drunkards and prostitutes? Where were the lost sheep? And exhausted as he must have been, he came to those whom he had given his heart and soul.”

Another meeting was announced and this time it would be at the Salvation Army hall in a totally different part of the city. A Christian woman whose life was transformed by the events that night said:

And what a sight! Here gathered in the hundreds were the offscourings of the Sydney streets, prostitutes, drunks, opium sellers and users in all their misery and lostness. And speaking to them was not the great leader of a world Army, a general of a great fighting force, but rather a tender father, a lover who opened his heart in compassion and love, to woo them back into the world of light and life.”

That is the mission of the church! That is what God will anoint

Passionate

Brokenhearted

Fervent

Selfless

Jesus exalting

Winning of souls

As Booth himself implored his followers: “Go for Souls! And go for the worst”

That will shake things up.

Acts 1:4–5 NASB95

4 Gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, “Which,” He said, “you heard of from Me; 5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”