Role Of An Active Christian

Recap

We’ve seen a lot over these last 14 chapters, in no particular order:

The coming of the Holy Spirit

People being healed and brought back to life

Believers being persecuted

Churches being started

Gentiles being offered salvation

The coming of the Holy Spirit

Literally 1000’s coming to Christ in one day

The conversion of Saul (who’s now Paul)

Philip the running evangelist

Ananias and Sapphira dying for lying

Stephen being stoned

And more.....

And all these things have taken place because of the Holy Spirit and because of one specific command that the apostles and believers were given......

What was it?

, “ 19 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, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

, “ 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

That was the command, and silly apostles, they took Jesus seriously....just like we are supposed to do!

Like when I tell my kids to do something and they just stand there looking at me

And we’ve been seeing and learning and reading about that Gospel of Jesus spreading, about the victories and about the challenges that living out the great commission will bring

And I hope you’ve been challenged and encouraged to do the same and to be the same EVEN IF there will be hardships and persecution

The End of the Journey

Well tonight we’re picking up the story of the apostles at the end of Paul & Barnabas’ first missionary journey.

The church in Antioch (show map) sent them out remember?

And two weeks ago they had made their way to Lystra, and were worshipped like they were gods

And we talked about how we’re always looking for these great Christian experiences so we can see God....

When we’ve got this (Bible) right here, we don’t need anything else. We just need to look for God and lay down our pre-conceived wants and necessities.

And so, the story continues with Paul & Barnabas still in Lystra, in , listen to this as we read it: (Riley to read)

So, here’s the deal....those Lystrans are bi-polar

Like seriously…how do you go from wanting to worship and sacrifice to them to stoning one of them so severely he appeared to be dead?!?!

But in all honesty…they were stirred up by the same people who opposed Paul & Barnabas in the previous two cities

How Barnabas escaped getting stoned I’m not sure..maybe he was out getting coffee or something…but Paul was the unlucky one that day

Remember in Antioch in Pisidia they were kicked out of the city, in Iconium they were about to be stoned and fled, and it finally caught up to Paul in Lystra

Full on persecution, violent persecution had caught up to him

So, everything had been close calls, so now Paul can wrap it up and call this mission complete right?

WRONG! Look at verse 20...

Paul rose up and the very next day, he and Barnabas travelled 60 miles (show map) to Derbe....to KEEP PROCLAIMING THE GOSPEL

This guy just had at an absolute minimum a severe concussion and probably some broken ribs, broken bones, etc.…if he was an nfl player he’d be on IR for months

Rugby match - David Pocock

Paul wasn’t a quitter…and the Gospel was too important to him, making disciples of all nations was too important and too real of a task to just quit.

How important is it to you?

How many days can you go without talking about it?

For Paul and Barnabas, apparently it wasn’t even a day

And the text tells us that Paul and Barnabas again had great success in Derbe, leading many people to Christ

Now, I want you to look at this map with me.

Does anyone remember where Paul was from?

Tarsus

Does anyone remember where Paul & Barnabas were sent out from?

Antioch

Now, somebody read for me verse 21

Now explain to me why someone in their right mind would choose to travel back through the three cities where they want to kill you when you are actually closer to your hometown!

Or how about this.…when things go bad, or things get rough, or we’ve had a bad day, what do all say?

“I want to go home!”

Shoot, I was on vacation and at one point I told Savannah I wanted to go home

So why would Paul & Barnabas choose to travel back through those cities?

What are your thoughts?

And notice verse 22, they didn’t lie low and travel back through the cities, but they:

Strengthened the souls of the disciples

Encouraged them to continue in the faith

Helped them to understand that suffering was part and parcel of being a Christian

So they didn’t exactly lay low, but they travelled back through to visit those they had led to Christ, and to strengthen the churches.

And they appointed elders to lead the churches

So they weren’t trying to hide and duck their way through....

Why’d they go back through those cities?

The Complete Role

The Great Commission says what? “Go into all the world and make disciples…teaching them” right?

Here’s what I want you to realize tonight, this is the thought of the night......

WE ARE NOT CALLED TO MAKE PEOPLE CHRISTIANS, WE’RE CALLED TO MAKE THEM DISCIPLES (repeat)

And part of making disciples is teaching

We aren’t called to just witness to someone, they put their faith in Jesus, and then we never talk to them anymore.

Street preachers

That’s not what Jesus called us to…he called us to make disciples

And you do that by spending time with them, encouraging them, teaching them, praying for them

If we just have to get them to pray a prayer, then what we are doing here tonight is ultimately purposeless

I should just be training you in the best sales pitch ever to get someone to pray a prayer

This is why we’re doing things like small groups and the Gospel Project

What Paul and Barnabas realized is that the real danger wasn’t the threat to their lives, but the real danger was leaving these new believers to themselves.

1 Peter tells us that we are to grow in our spiritual walk, and in order to grow one needs fed, Paul and Barnabas understood that.

Babies - can’t walk right? Shoot, they can’t even eat by themselves

They need help, they need assistance…that’s what Paul and Barnabas were doing

Why were they so committed to this? I mean, these people were already saved weren’t they? Why did they need to be strengthened?

Here’s why, Jesus commanded it. Jesus said to make disciples

And there’s a reason for that, and it deals with a word called multiplication, which reminds me, you guys get to go back to school on Wednesday and do math!!!!

God is a very smart God....He has a plan, and we’re involved in it.

And if we lead someone to Christ and leave them there....as infants, they can’t do anything…because they don’t know what to do

You guys ask me questions all the time

But if we walk with them, teach them, help them, encourage them…as they grow, they’ll then do what?

They’ll go and make disciples!

So I want to encourage you guys, firstly, to be people who tell others about Jesus.

And if you lead somebody to Christ, I want you to celebrate like you’ve never celebrated before.

But then I want you to realize that you’ve only just begun on this walk with that person

They need you desperately, and they need the church desperately, so they can grow and become a true disciple of Jesus.

And we know that a disciple of Jesus is a disciple maker.

And that’s why Paul appointed elders in each location as verse 23 told us…to carry on with the shepherding of these new believers.

Again, this is why we’re here tonight…to encourage and exhort and strengthen you guys so that you can become a strong true disciple maker…and you can go out and make disciples

Closing

The question is will you do it?

Will you take what you learn at church, and here at Strive, and will you become a true disciple of Jesus

Will you risk rejection, persecution, and all of those negatives, in order to proclaim Him?

And how about those you know who need some help, need some guidance, those believers

Those who know Christ, but are struggling…will you go back in and strengthen them?

Again guys…I can’t make you do this, and some days I wish the command was just to get people to pray a prayer..but that’s not it

The command is to be a disciple maker

Know this, I’m praying for you all, and I will be praying daily for you all

We’ve spent an entire year seeing what a believer empowered by the Holy Spirit is capable of

Just. Go. Do. It.