7/13/25 To The Ends of the Earth
Notes
Transcript
God’s Moving of the Gospel
God’s Moving of the Gospel
The books of Acts is the second part of a two part letter to an official named Theophilus
The first part is the book of Luke
Probably written by the apostle Paul
Taken from the stories of the apostles he had been with
This second part was all about what happens after Jesus ascends
Acts 1:1-3 is the summary statement of Luke’s gospel
I wrote the first narrative, Theophilus, about all that Jesus began to do and teach
until the day he was taken up, after he had given instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen.
After he had suffered, he also presented himself alive to them by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.
Acts 1:4-8 is the summary statement of the forty days before Jesus left
While he was with them, he commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for the Father’s promise. “Which,” he said, “you have heard me speak about;
for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit in a few days.”
So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, are you restoring the kingdom to Israel at this time?”
He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority.
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
This is Luke’s version of the Great Commission
This is specific to the apostles at this point
But it gives a few things to look at
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
Before we dive into the breakdown of this passage
let’s look at what actually happened in reality
Receiving Holy Spirit
Receiving Holy Spirit
Many people believe that the apostles had received the Holy Spirit in Acts 2:1-3
When the day of Pentecost had arrived, they were all together in one place.
Suddenly a sound like that of a violent rushing wind came from heaven, and it filled the whole house where they were staying.
They saw tongues like flames of fire that separated and rested on each one of them.
And indeed they did receive the Holy Spirit
This shows the near future of what is going to take place to the apostles
They will receive power from the Holy Spirit
They had experienced the Spirit before
But they had not had the Spirit in a permanent position in their lives
Because they had always been around Jesus
There was no need for the Spirit
This was the first time they would receive the Holy Spirit after Jesus
the first time the Holy Spirit would inhabit the believers following the promise of Jesus
it was the Holy Spirit that allowed them to speak in different languages
to reach the people around Jerusalem during pentecost.
However, it wouldn’t be until Acts 4 that they would receive the Spirit again.
Peter and John had been arrested for preaching the name of Jesus
The religious leaders threatened them
and found out they didn’t have anything to punish them with
because they were giving glory to God
and that people were getting miraculously healed.
They released Peter and John
after they were released
they went back to the house where the church was
and they began to pray.
When they had prayed, the place where they were assembled was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God boldly.
Here’s the key to this whole process
we spoke about it last week
the first part of the process is prayer
We don’t have to pray to receive the Holy Spirit
as believers we are already guaranteed Him
but we do need to pray for our dependance on God.
The Holy Spirit was the next step to God’s strategy
This step was the permanent installation of the Spirit
In the lives of the believers.
While Jesus was here on earth
He was accomplishing His own mission
And was their Spirit and guide
All throughout the Old Testament
The Lord’s Spirit would come and go
But it would never stay in one person permanently
It would inhabit someone and then leave
In the case of the apostles
and everyone thereafter that were believers
The Holy Spirit would come and dwell in the believer
To guide and direct them
Step one was the installation of the Holy Spirit
Step 2 was the strategy of what they would do
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
Witnesses
Witnesses
The word witness is a legal term
A witness is someone who can legally give a testimony
They, to use an old religious word, testify
To testify is to share as a witness
The proof or existence as evidence of someone or something
These folks were going to be witnesses
because they walked with Jesus
They saw Him live
they saw Him die
And they saw Him after He was raised
They could verify the Words that Jesus said
They could give a testimony that everything that was said and done
Matched the character and witness of Jesus as Messiah
We have the same job
we may not have been witnesses to the when JEsus walked the earth
But we can give testimony to what Jesus did for us as believers.
We can give testimony about what Jesus has promised for both here and later
We can give testimony to the changes in our own lives
I said last week,
It’s not enough to simply come and go to church
We are to give testimony about what Jesus has done in our lives
I share in every Discovery Class
I am not a called evangelist
I don’t preach for the benefit of the lost
I preach for the benefit of the followers of Christ
Because we are the ones that need the encouragement
The chastisement, the reproof, the correction
The training in righteousness
A lost person isn’t coming to be trained
They are coming to observe what the followers of Christ are doing.
Anyone in here that decided to just come to Jesus without anyone telling them?
You just decided one day
You know, Jesus sounds interesting
I think I’ll start studying the life of Jesus
And make a decision for Him
Most people come to Jesus through someone else
they watch what we do
They observe our actions
They watch our attitudes
And they may even make a decision
Because they want what we have
We are all witnesses to something
we can be a witness to the world by our actions
Or we can be a witness to Jesus by our actions
God gives us the Spirit to guide us
and God makes us witnesses to Jesus in us
But God is more specific than that
He then tells us where we need to go
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
There are three specific places Jesus tells the apostles to go
Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth
So we’ll look at each of these
And discover what each one of these represent
Jerusalem
Jerusalem
This was a gimme, low hanging fruit
The apostles didn’t even have to go anywhere
To be witnesses for Christ
They could stay right where they were
And reach people with the gospel of Christ
This meant in their own community
they could walk around their neighborhood
They could go out and say hello to their neighbors
Walk across the street to the local shop
Buy a drink and start a conversation
They could go to Brown Dog
they could sit in their local barbers chair
They could be shopping at the Pig or Food Lion
They could be at Jade Garden or McDonalds or Paul’s Place
Or across the street at Rocky Point Auto
Because Lord knows, those people need to hear about Jesus
They would be at Trask or Cape Fear Middle
All of these places were right in their own backyard
Judea and Samaria
Judea and Samaria
Then Jesus talks about Judea and Samaria
These are two more regional areas
This means they would have to travel, but not too far
Judea we know today as The West Bank
It includes all of Israel and Palestine
We would look at it as a almost a state or group of states
Judea meant moving a little out of their comfort zone
Moving from their neighborhood
But still staying with in vinegar based barbecue, mostly
These people still have a Southern accent
Albeit a Hebraic southern accent in the biblical case
But you understand
Samaria however was a bit different
now we are taking about more travel
anyw3here from Myrtle Beach to Virginia Beach travel
To territories outside of vinegar based barbecue
And into the mustard based, tomato based,
No longer pork but beef.
People that didn’t recognize collards kind of travel.
Samaria wasn’t the most liked by the Jewish nation
these were the red-headed step children of the Jews
They’re related but we don’t talk about those relatives
We don’t want to admit they are even part of the family kind of people
These are the outer states without Carolina in their name
These are the Yankees,
Those that have weird northern accents
They pahk their cahr in the yahd kind of people
Now most people from North Carolina
would consider the Northerners, Westerners, and people from Texas and Florida
people from the land of fruits and nuts like California
The utter most parts of the world
And if you’ve never left Rocky Point
That may be your perspective
Why bother going to anyone else?
don’t we have enough people to reach right here?
That was a similar perspective of the apostles as well
until Stephen happened
The disciples heard what Jesus said about Judea and Samaria and the uttermost parts
But never left Jerusalem
There were enough people in Jerusalem to reach
Why bother going somewhere uncomfortable
Stephen, a deacon, changed all that
remember he was preaching
The religious leaders didn’t like what he had to say
He was just preaching the gospel
But they didn’t want to hear that
So they took him outside the city and killed him
And because they were able to accomplish this relatively easily
They chose some up and coming Jewish leaders
To begin the persecution within Jerusalem
Saul agreed with putting him to death. On that day a severe persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout the land of Judea and Samaria.
Here’s the thing
This was the perfect plan for God to move people
Because once the persecutions began
All those people that came for Pentecost
And heard the gospel and became believers
And received the Spirit of God
They went back home and the gospel began to spread
God used pain and suffering to multiply the Kingdom
So those who were scattered went on their way preaching the word.
God had work to do in other places
And it took the persecution of Stephen to start the process
Phillip began to share immediately after in Samaria
While he was sharing
And angel tells him to go to a road between Jerusalem and Gaza
In the middle of the desert
While on the road Phillip meets an Ethiopian official
The official gets saved and baptized
Phillip does a Harry Potter apparition to Azotus
And the Ethiopian takes the gospel back home
Remember God is going to accomplish His will
no matter who or what becomes an obstacle
Our job is to find out where God is moving
And go there to be part of it
Ethiopia to Jerusalem is about 1500 miles
By plane that’s about 8 hours
Walking it’s about 40 days without stopping
That to those in Jerusalem is the uttermost parts of the earth
But even then, there are farther places
When I travelled to South Asia last year
we flew from here to Atlanta which is about 2 hours
Then we flew from Atlanta to London which was roughly 9 1/2 hours
Then we flew from London to Mumbai which was about 10 hours
And then we flew to Indore which was about 2 hours
Almost 24 hours of flying time not including layovers
We had a 1 hour layover in Atlanta
And a 7 hour layover in London
We also had about 6 hours in Mumbai
So total travel time by air was about 38 hours.
That travel was with meals, drinks,
Relatively comfortable seats
Someone else flying the plane
Then a few hours of travel by car to get to where we were staying
That someone else drove as well
Imagine traveling for 40 days by chariot.
That meanst someone traveling on a platform
While either a group of slaves we’re carrying them
Or perhaps even by being pulled by oxen with
An entourage of people walking with them
Over 1500 miles
For those that are fitness people
That would be approximately 3,750,000 steps
This Ethiopian official, along with many others
would be the catalyst to spread the gospel to the uttermost parts of the world
Here’s something that will really blow your mind
we are not Jerusalem, Judea or even Samaria
we, in Rocky Point, NC
are the uttermost parts of the world
Even though we happen to be in the Bible belt of the US
We need top appreciate how long it took for the gospel of Jesus to get to us here in North Carolina
in Rocky Point
That was God’s strategy
Prayer
a movement of the Holy Spirit to be witnesses of Jesus
moving His followers to share the gospel
and have it move to their community
their region
their state
their country
and to their world
Seeing as how this is God’s strategy to move the gospel
I’m not about to try to improve on God’s strategy.
So I was praying and asking the Lord
How can I use this strategy
to fulfill the command of the Great commission
Jesus came near and said to them, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.
Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
So that we can be part of the great pursuit of all people groups
so that we can help fulfill the vision of God in Revelation 7:9
After this I looked, and there was a vast multitude from every nation, tribe, people, and language, which no one could number, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were clothed in white robes with palm branches in their hands.
Here’s what I believe God has led us as a church to do
It is the Acts 1:8 strategy
that helps us to focus on certain things
and allow the gospel to flow through us
but keeping us focused on specific areas
so we aren’t spread too thin in our pursuit
Here’s the reality
when we are spread too thin
we don’t accomplish as much as we could
if we were focused
Let me speak gun
a shotgun will do a great amount of damage close up
quick bursts of energy and steel shot
but long range, a shot gun has little effect
a sniper can take out more targets from a mile away
than a shotgun can
I’m in it for the long range approach
Acts 1:8 Strategy
Acts 1:8 Strategy
Ends of the Earth
Ends of the Earth
remember this was the uttermost parts of the earth
from Jerusalem to Rocky Point, NC
It is 6,788 mile from here to Jerusalem
roughly about 13 and a half million steps
so anywhere within that circle should be acceptable to Ends of the earth
As a focused approach
I follow what Paul said in Romans 15:20 for all our gospel efforts
My aim is to preach the gospel where Christ has not been named, so that I will not build on someone else’s foundation,
That means going to places that are the least reached
and need the most help
this is no brainer for us
South Asia
South Asia
If I wanted to go to the least reached part of the planet
all I have to do is look at this picture
this is a picture of the world
and the bright spots are actually the lost places of the world
Here’s a closer picture
This is what’s known as the South Asian Affinity
Maybe a clearer picture of this area and a little bit of statistical information would help
1.8 Billion People
The birthplace of Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Jainism
and home to nearly 1/3 of the world’s Muslim population
2,354 unreached people groups
South Asia has the largest concentration of lostness in the world
with 1.6 Billion people that are lost
I know I’ve shared this before
Every week 232,000 people die without Christ
To put that into perspective
Pender County has Almost 69,000 people in it
New Hanover has almost 239,000 people in it
so in two weeks time, it would wipe out the population of both counties
Pender would be gone in about two days
If you were to compare South Asia by population
everything in blue represents 1.8 billion people
so does everything in red
It kind of makes it obvious where to go
But that’s a long way away, Art
yup. there’s no denying that
Been there. Took the trip. Got the T-Shirt.
That’s why it’s called the ends of the earth
or even the utter most
Southern Baptist have a presence there now
There are currently 73 International Mission Board Teams there in South Asia
A team is a group of m units
a unit could be one person or an entire family
Right now there are 85 adults from NC in South Asia
So if you took just the adults from each unit
and that puts us at 2 people per unit
and put in about 3 units per team
averaging about 6 units per team
and we know there are 73 teams there in South Asia
that means that there are roughly 438 people there from our IMB
to reach 1.6 billion people
that’s about 3.6 million people per person to reach
1:3.6 million
that’s pretty good odds you’re going to find a lost person there to reach
This is our utter most part to reach
the church voted to adopt the Jains last April
we said that we would go wherever it takes, do whatever it takes, for as long as it takes to plant indigenous healthy churches among the Hindi speaking Jains.
Guess where the main place the Jains live? South Asia
We’ll keep going to South Asia with the IMB and the CFNOC
until the task is completed.
That means that we should be praying
allowing the Spirit to move
and then going to make disciples
Every effort is to reach the South Asian culture
Our church focus is to reach the lost of South Asia
Next year we are going back to South Asia
It’ll be about the same time that we went last year
I’ll have more information about the event after the summer
This is a God sized task
but I am committed to lead this church to that end.
But our efforts do not stop there
let’s bring this in closer
Samaria
Samaria
Samaria, in our context, is The United States
If the South Asians are the people to be reached
are there South Asians that are in the US?
New York
New York
We met our dear brother Russell Abraham this year
He is from Bangladesh, part of the South Asian affinity
He has come to the United States
in a move by God
to reach his people here.
The population of Queens New York is about 2.33 million people
Estimates in Queens show that about 9% of that population
are from South Asia
Roughly about 210,000 people that live in Queens are from South Asia
About half of those are from Bangladesh
almost double the population of Pender County
We don’t even have to leave the country to reach these folks
We have an opportunity in the beginning of December to be part
For the past few years,
NC Baptists have partneered with Global Gates in New York
to bring coats to distribute them
among the South Asians in the Queens area
December 4-5 is this year’s distribution
If you want to be part of the distribution
you can sign up on the table tonight.
I’ll have a meeting with those closer to time that want to go by way of information.
Not a fan of New York?
Washington DC
Washington DC
We have a couple living in this area
that have moved to the Washington DC area to reach the South Asians there
Washington DC has the fifth largest concentration of South Asians in the US
Richard and April Rivenbark were called by God to reach them
again, we don’t even have to leave the country
or travel to New York to reach the South Asians
Next year the CFNOC will be doing two trips to Washington DC
to be part of a sifting week
the sifting week is all about training to reach the South Asians in the area
It’s taught by the Rivenbarks
and we get to have hands on while we are there
Not a fan of Washington DC?
Boston
Boston
This year we have been trying to work with a church planter in hard areas off the country
one of those areas is Boston, Mass
God has finally led us to a potential church planter to partner with
His name is Kody Aten
He’ll be here at the end of August
He is a church planter from North Carolina
and now lives in Gloucester, Mass
Oh, by the way
The South Asian population in Boston area?
11.2% of the city’s population
or roughly around 75,588 people
that increased since 2010 by over 38%
The goal is to build a relationship with a Boston church planter
so that we can help reach the people of that area for Jesus
and to partner with them to learn more about how to do a church plant
That means taking some trips to Boston to help and to learn
All three of these places are on our radar to reach
So what about within the state of NC?
what about our Judea?
Judea
Judea
Morrisville
Morrisville
Right up the road in Morrisville, NC
Just outside of Cary/Raleigh NC
there is a population of 31,000 South Asians that live there
they make up about 36-40% of the total population
When I go to visit my in-laws
I try to make a trip to Morrisville to visit the temples there
They are getting to know who the big white guy is
The missions team took a trip up there a while back
one of the temple priests knew who I was
it was an eye opener
The largest Hindu Temple in the United States is in Morrisville
and a large population of Jains live there as well.
In October of this year, we’ll be going back
anyone that is interested watch all the announcements
This time we are going with some training
I’ll be teaching a class in September and October
all about the Hindus and the Jains
and how to reach them
Needs also create opportunity
Suddenly North Carolina, the whole state
is a magnet for storms and flooding
It use to be just this area
but now, areas that aren’t used to being flooded
are being flooded
Disaster Relief
Disaster Relief
The NC Baptists/Baptist Men organization
are a great opportunity to go and serve on mission
being the hands and feet of Jesus
to people that are in need
Can I tell you it’s contagious?
when you go and work together as a group
with other churches and people from around the US
to help people in need
you can’t get enough and you’ll want to go back
and go farther to help people.
We have a trip planned in August from the 4th through the 8th
Sign up to go and I promise you your life will be changed.
What about in our own backyard?
what about our own Jerusalem?
Jerusalem
Jerusalem
We don’t have a lot of South Asians that live in Rocky Point, NC
I think the total census shows about 319 that live in the entire county
There are about 600 that live in Wilmington
there may be three that live in Rocky Point
and they are all related to Chriss Lee
so you really can’t count them anyway.
Still, that’s close to 1,000 South Asians right here in our backyard
I believe that we have a compelling reason to reach them
so next year, I’m working with the CFNOC
to set up training to go to reach the South Asian refugees
right here in our counties
There is another group right in our own community that need to hear about Jesus
Total population of Rocky Point is about 1500
about 554 are Hispanic
Putting it into perspective
2020 census reports show that there are 660 white people
554 Hispanic people
that’s around 36% of our population
Hispanics in our community typically are raised Catholic
statistically Hispanics are 55% Catholic
and 18% not affiliated
That’s a total of 73% lost statistically
That means for every four Hispanics that we run into in our community
three of them are lost and going to hell
We have a responsibility to reach our community
and I don’t speak Spanish
so the natural solution is to find someone who does
We are following a path that I believe led by God to that end
and we get to vote on the start for our church tonight.
We can use current missions opportunities already in place once the planter gets here
a key way to reach our community could be through
Rocky Point Christian Academy
Rocky Point Christian Academy
This is another reason why we need a Hispanic church planter
Imagine what would happen if we had a bunch of the students from the community that are Hispanic
be educated not only for school
but to learn about English by reading the Bible
