The Gospel & The Church

INTRODUCTION

Good Morning CrossPointe

Excited to restart our series through the book of Acts that we’ve entitled “Witnesses”

WITNESSES EXPLAINED (3/5 min)

Two meanings… (1) To See and (2) To Speak

TO SEE -

Gospel of Luke & The Disciples

Birth, Life, Resurrection

Disciples

TO SPEAK -

“be my witnesses...”

End of Luke & Beginning of Acts

ACTS OVERVIEW (5/7 min)

Big Idea / Expansion

“The Gospel will be proclaimed among all peoples through witnesses empowered by the Holy Spirit.”

“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.”

Jerusalem ()

The gospel is preached among the Jewish people in Jerusalem

Peter’s first sermon in

Threat, Imprisonment, Beatings and then return to the temple mount to continue preaching

We see God purifying and transforming his church as sin is addressed and God continues to add people to their number day by day

Judea & Samaria ()

God uses persecution to move his church outside of Jerusalem.

ends with the death of Stephen and begins with the intense persecution of Christians.

The very man who was leading the persecution of the Church, Saul, then becomes a Christian in and by the end of the chapter people are trying to kill Saul until they finally send him back to his hometown.

God begins to show the disciples that Jesus died for non-Jews also, even though many still considered them unclean - and outside the mercy of God.

Ends of the Earth ()

Another expansion of the gospel beyond Judea and Samaria

says, “you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth”

-11 says, “Paul lives in Rome for two years, proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hinderance. “

Rome was considered the end of the earth

It’s also interesting that Luke adds the phrase, “without hinderance,” considering Paul was in prison.

READ

PRAY

THE HAND OF GOD | In Evangelism (7)

CONNECTION

When you think about the gospel going out - do you typically think, yes! and I get to be part of that or do you think - No! other people are better

Do you find it hard to share your story and your faith?

Who am I? My story isn’t anything special...

What would I say? My words seems so small and insufficient compared to how God uses other people. I’ll just leave it to the professionals or those who have the gift of evangelism.

UNIQUE PHRASE

The expression, “hand of God” is actually rare in the New Testament. Luke, who is the author of the Gospel of Luke and Acts, is the only person to use the phrase in the New Testament.

EVERYDAY PEOPLE

Stephen was appointed as a deacon, he presented the gospel and was killed

Some people think that is anywhere from 7-10 years after that event. Followers of Jesus fled Jerusalem and went into the surrounding area.

Phoenicia (modern day Lebanon)

Cyprus

Antioch (in modern day south-central of turkey, near the Syrian border)

When these people left Jersualem, the gospel was only for the Jews. They weren’t around for when God first sent Peter to preach to non-Jews.

As people scattered beyond Jerusalem we see they continued to only share the gospel with Jews (19)

There were these unknown men

No name, no title, no church or institution. No mission agency or seminary.

One guy was from Cyprus, another from a town in modern day Libya.

It seems their love for Jesus compelled them to share without possibly even understanding the revolutionary greatness of their act. “Without knowing it, they were the first believers to bring the explosive light of the gospel into the midnight of paganism.”

It took Jesus giving Peter a vision for him to preach to non-Jews but these men just did not.

No name, no fame -

“Priesthood of All Believers”

“you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. “

Personally: Direct and equal access to God - the pastor or priest is not your mediator between you and God. This was the role of Jesus.

Publicly: there is no hierarchy of spirituality based on vocation. The pastor and the plumber are both priests.

Responsibility & Privilege to fulfill your God-given role.

UNIQUE PHRASE

Acts The Hand of God

The hand of God signals the invisible God’s making his power and might visible and tangible.

This phrase, “hand of God” is not common in the New Testament. In fact, Luke is the only author to use it and he only uses it it 3 times.

The phrase signals the invisible, almighty God making his power visible and tangible.

There’s never any doubt if man accomplished the feat or God. It is obvious to everything that God intervene and worked according to his purposes.

GOD’S ROLE AND OUR RESPONSIBILITY

Understanding Roles & Responsibilities

People preached the Lord Jesus

God caused people to believe and turn to Jesus.

What is this important?

If you take on the responsibility of convincing and converting people

(Pride), I’m right, you’re wrong - believe me

(Anger) - why don’t you listen

(Shame) - I’m not good at sharing the gospel

(Fear) - I’m not a great communicator, What if I mess up

Right perspective

(Humility) - I’m save by grace, not because I’m right

(Prayer) - God, open their eyes to see and love the beauty of the gospel in the face of Jesus.

(Hope & Joy) - I am free to share and mess up because the power of the Gospel is in God’s hands, not my ability

THE GRACE OF GOD | In Transformation (7)

BARNABAS

Barnabas was first introduced in

His official name os Jospeh but the Apostles give him the nickname, Barnabas, because it means “Son of Encouragement” and this is what they witnessed in his life.

He was originally from Cyprus tells us and this may be part of the reason why the leaders in Jerusalem sent him to Antioch to check things out.

Barnabas came and saw the result of God’s hand and the passage says, “he saw the grace of God, he was glad. He witnessed a change and transformation

ANTIOCH

300 miles north of Jerusalem and was the third largest city in the world at the time, behind Rome and Alexandria. Population of 500,000

It was a melting pot of 5-7 cultures and Jews were encouraged to more here and offered free Roman citizenship.

Antioch was famous for chariot racing and for its deliberate pursuit of pleasure - based around the worship of Daphne.

Greek mythology tells the story of Apollo pursuing daphne and the temple to her name would reenact the pursuit day and night with the men of the city playing the part of Apollo and the ritual prostitutes playing the part of Daphne.

In fact, historians record that throughout the world the phrase, “the morality of daphne” was a euphemism for depravity.

“What happens in vegas.... stays in vegas”

“

CONNECTION

Kent Hughes “Amazingly, it was in this city, with all its sensuality and immorality, the “the disciples were first called Christians.” Antioch was also the birthplace of foreign missions and had the great preachers - in the first century: Barnabas, Paul, and Peter; in the second century: Ignatius and Theophilus: in the third and fourth century: Lucian, Theodre, Chrysostom and Theodoret. God’s light can shine in the darkest pit. God’s flowers can blossom in the most putrid bog.”

From the epicenter of moral depravity, Antioch became the epicenter of global missions.

From tax collectors and adulterers to thieves and drunkards - Jesus came for Antioch

From pagans and prostitutes, to liars and murderers - Jesus came for anitoch

And by the way, we are Antioch

The broken, the sinners, the rebellious and the depraved - saved by the wonderous grace of God in Jesus Christ.

FAITHFUL WITH STEADFAST PURPOSE

It’s here in a city with a reputation, a history, a story of depravity that Barnabas witnesses the grace of God.

He exhorts them - remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose.

Keep going, maintain the course in pursuit of Christ

Fix your eyes on Jesus (purpose)

The hand of God that saves sinners leads to the grace of God that transforms us into his likeness.

Consider what this means:

To the person with a bas reputation

A family history of brokenness and depravity

A personal story that doesn’t fit inside a culture of morality.

The grace of transforms!

THE HAND OF FELLOWSHIP | In Serving Others (7)

BARNABAS & SAUL

(25) “So Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul...”

Just under a 90 mile journey

Saul hasn’t even been on on his first of 3 missionary journeys

tells us that people were trying to kill Saul so they sent him back to his hometown. It’s possible there was about 5 years between Paul being sent home Barnabas thinking, “let’s go look for Saul” because is doing something here in Antioch.

Doing Ministry Alone or Doing it Together.

There is no obvious reason that Barnabas should go look for Saul and invite him back to Antioch.

It is simply about being intentional to invite others alongside us and God is at work.

What would this look like for you? What conversations are you having with people? In what ways are you or your community group serving others? Who can you go out of your way to invite alongside you?

ANTIOCH AND JUDEA

“Famine over all the world”

“So the disciples determined, every one according to his ability, to send relief to the brothers living in Judea”

Here’s something else that doesn’t make obvious sense

A famine over all the world - this includes Anitoch

So the disciples determined to help others. Not just self-preservation but generosity.

One church helping another because they are part of the same family.

SHARED HAND OF MINISTRY

“sending it to the elders by the hand of Barnabas and Saul”

Being the one to deliver donations

CONCLUSION (5)

God’s word leads us to respond - sometimes this response is how we live and sometimes the response is how think.

Witnesses & a Holy Priesthood

GOD’S ROLE

I believe this passage together is encouraging us to shift our mindset in several ways:

The Hand of God in Salvation - We preach, Jesus Saves. Priesthood of believer

OUR RESPONSE

The Grace of God to Transform - your personal story, history. That of Orlando

We Witness this together Together - what we see and what we speak

Family Update

Spiritual Health - build and live out together, a healthy, grace-filled understanding of what it means to be a disciple of Jesus who is actively being transformed.

Elder Retreat

Definition of Disciple: Someone who worships Jesus through ongoing surrender and obedience to God in everyday life, by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Next Steps: Elders are actively working through some materials to help us think through how our mission to “become disciples who make disciples” is lived out through all of our ministry expressions. We will invite additional voices into this process to help us shape and implement these convictions.

Deeper Community - Grow in our experience and expression of what it means to be the church and live out the one another statements found in the Bible by coordinating opportunities for the community outside of Sunday mornings.

We are the church series

Clarity surrounding our deacons - strong biblical definition but praying about how we best implement these convictions. Holding off on presenting all of our deacons

Women’s Gathering and hopefully a men’s gathering in the near future.

Church picnic, Saturday, March 9

Serving Others - expand our personal and congregational engagement with each other and by serving our community together.

An exploratory meeting at 7:00 Pm this coming Saturday

Financial Update

Finance Team is actively working to finalize the 2019 budget. There are some details currently outside of our control that we are working on so we have an accurate budget in place. Please pray that these details are resolved quickly.

Our monthly budgeted need is $28,000

In January we received $19,600 in donations. This is deficit of $8,400.

Our trust and hope is in God, not man.

God often uses the generosity of his body to meet the needs of his body.

Pray about how God might be inviting you to be part of his plan to provide for this family need.