Missions: Being Intentional...
I Will Build My Church: Luke & Acts Series • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 47:08
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Reflecting back to last week, we as the church are now:
Out of the stands, no longer spectators… RIGHT!?
We have come together today to prepare ourselves for ACTION!!!
It’s time to HUDDLE and prepare and be equipped for the work of the Gospel...
There is an obligation given in the great commission Matthew 28:19-20 of the concept of GO… (As you go…) “make disciples”
“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
Up to this point much of the Gospel movement had been:
Very localized to Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria
Most of the movement was brought on by persecution predominatly
The crowds had been Jewish with Gentiles being more in the moment situations
About 15 years have passed since Pentecost.... AND NOW!!!
We begin to see an intentional movement for the Gospel… PLANNING
A church body is sending out a mission team for the purpose of missions
We will see an intentional approach to what is done
There is a PLANNED Path of direction with an INTENTIONAL PURPOSE!
URBANIZATION AND THE MASS MOVEMENT OF PEOPLE TO CITIES by Bret Boyd
World populations are increasingly moving from rural to urban centers, making for larger cities with greater population density than ever before. This is a global phenomenon across the spectrum of developed and developing economies. We are increasingly becoming an urban world....
The data is eye-opening. The United Nations in 2009 and the International Organization for Migration in 2015 both estimated that around 3 million people are moving to cities every week. Approximately 54% of people worldwide now live in cities, up from 30% in 1950. Sources estimate this will grow to 2/3 of world population in the next 15-30 years. … A Yale research group projects that urban land coverage will expand by 463,000 square miles by 2030 to cover just under 10% of the planet’s land, … Today, 82% of North Americans live in urban areas and are increasingly concentrating in mid-sized and large cities.
USA Today was listing the top growing cities in America, out of the top 50 Colorado has 4!
I just returned this week from the IFCA Presidents Council retreat where we as an association looked directly at this data… The greatest need for churches has now shifted from the urban areas where there was need in the 1960’s and has now shifted to the cities having the greatest needs for churches. This takes strategy and planning!
Paul’s Strategy...
Paul’s Strategy...
MAP… Notice as Paul and Barnabas go, SENT BY THE CHURCH, there is intention. They bypass many towns around them and move outward.
Short of the persecution spreading out believers there had been no gospel message taken to these areas
Consider the importance of their strategy (mind you this is being done in about a years time)
Cyprus… key to any and all sailing vessels during its time, They canvas the Island reaching its two major ports with emphasis
Perga & Attalia (on way back) Paul and Barnabas do not spend much time but we do see here is where John Mark leaves and goes back home
Good leadership should always be preparing the next generation to lead
Maybe difficulties in reaching people or conflicts in ministry team either way not much is said
Pisidian Antioch had high status of being a “Roman Colony”. Luke here gives us a great example of Paul’s approach:
Preach the Old Testament promises of the Messiah, preach Jesus as the Messiah, His death, burial, and Resurrection!
The people wanted to hear more! Begging them to speak the next sabbath… Acts 13:44-50
The next Sabbath nearly the whole city assembled to hear the word of the Lord. But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began contradicting the things spoken by Paul, and were blaspheming. Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and said, “It was necessary that the word of God be spoken to you first; since you repudiate it and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles. “For so the Lord has commanded us, ‘I have placed You as a light for the Gentiles, That You may bring salvation to the end of the earth.’ ” When the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord; and as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed. And the word of the Lord was being spread through the whole region. But the Jews incited the devout women of prominence and the leading men of the city, and instigated a persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and drove them out of their district.
There is opposition… this should be expected Luke 21:16-17
“But you will be betrayed even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death, and you will be hated by all because of My name.
We see here the real emphasis and strategy change to reach the Gentiles
Paul desired to reach the Jews always, but they consistently pushed the truth away
Iconium (90 Miles away) They spend a “great time there”… teaching and discipling. MANY believe!!! Opposition comes they move on. Acts 14:1-7
In Iconium they entered the synagogue of the Jews together, and spoke in such a manner that a large number of people believed, both of Jews and of Greeks. But the Jews who disbelieved stirred up the minds of the Gentiles and embittered them against the brethren. Therefore they spent a long time there speaking boldly with reliance upon the Lord, who was testifying to the word of His grace, granting that signs and wonders be done by their hands. But the people of the city were divided; and some sided with the Jews, and some with the apostles. And when an attempt was made by both the Gentiles and the Jews with their rulers, to mistreat and to stone them, they became aware of it and fled to the cities of Lycaonia, Lystra and Derbe, and the surrounding region; and there they continued to preach the gospel.
Lystra (20 Miles away) key cities in the trade market mostly Gentile no synagogue. But the people thought they were gods because of the healings!
Paul and Barnabas refuse the worship and point to God Almighty!
So easy to worship the messenger and miss the message!
Look at this transition from Lystra to Derbe in Acts 14:19-23 what an amazing passion for the Gospel!!!
But Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and having won over the crowds, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing him to be dead. But while the disciples stood around him, he got up and entered the city. The next day he went away with Barnabas to Derbe. After they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying, “Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.” When they had appointed elders for them in every church, having prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed.
NOTE THE FOLLOWING:
Recall Ephesians 4:11-12 from last week…
And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ;
Paul goes back… equipping the saints, strengthening them, encouraging them in their faith!
Persecution will come… be bold!
They will do the work of spreading the gospel around them!!!
They appoints Elders in each church (body of believers) for further equipping!
Establishing local leadership was a crucial part of Paul and Barnabas’s strategy!
They commended them to the Lord… “I will build my church”
The Report
The Report
Acts 14:24-27 is a very important aspect to this mission journey…
They passed through Pisidia and came into Pamphylia. When they had spoken the word in Perga, they went down to Attalia. From there they sailed to Antioch, from which they had been commended to the grace of God for the work that they had accomplished. When they had arrived and gathered the church together, they began to report all things that God had done with them and how He had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles.
God’s primary focus for the church is missions… taking the Gospel of Jesus Christ to a lost world… REMEMBER they are the spectators in this!
Swindoll tells a story: “A famous artist once was asked to paint a picture of a dying church. It was expected that he would paint a small and humble congregation in a dilapidated building. Instead, he painted a stately edifice with a rich pulpit and magnificent windows—and near the door, an offering box, marked “Missions,” with the contribution slot blocked by cobwebs.
Paul and Barnabas return to report...
All that God was doing… this church had sent them out (COMMENDED THEM) handed authority and extension of them!!!
Reports of Faith… not the stoning, not the poor efforts by John Mark, but of faith! the Gospel going forth!
CHURCH… you and I cannot have an inward focus as the body of Christ… we must reach the world with the gospel and it begins as soon as we leave here today!
If you truly believe John 3:16 then we must declare it with a passion and urgency… HUDDLE over lets break GO TEAM… GO CHURCH!Engage in the plan God has laid out for His church!
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.