We Go

Change the World

If you were to change the world, how would you do it?

Hollywood likes to suggest that it takes super heroes or well intentioned vigilantes to make a difference.

Governments seem to suggest coercive campaigns designed to encourage people to make changes.

Dictators like the power of the sword

Some groups use the education system

others want to raise up a celebrity spokesperson for a time in order to pull on heart strings

God - when he sought to make changes in the world - sent his son - who gave of himself.

Jesus called out a handful of people

Modeled ministry for them

Poured into them

Lived a perfect life

Died a death on the cross as the penal substitutionary sacrifice for us

Resurrected from the grave

Poured into His disciples a bit more

While Jesus is the means by which people are saved - God chose to establish his church as the tool he would use to get the word out.

Jesus saving sacrifice and example paved the way for lasting change - which is proclaimed through the church by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Nial Fergusson in his book Civilization: the west and the rest has said that one of the most significant factors impacting western civilization is the work ethic and the values that came with the dominance of the protestant church.

So let’s understand this a bit more....

So at the end of the book of Matthew - we get to see Jesus in an encounter with His disciples. Matthew records the final parts of this conversation in this way.

Matthew 28:18–20 ESV

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 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 all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Whether this instance is the same or a completely different encounter, in the beginning of the book of Acts, Luke records Jesus’ words just prior to His ascension into heaven. He essentially tells his disciples to wait in Jerusalem for a few days (we later learn that this is about 10 days) and then tells them what to expect....

Acts 1:8 ESV

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.”

These two passages have been instrumental tools for missions conferences and challenges for people to reach out evangelistically. Both are important.

For today, we’re going to focus our attention on the book of Acts as we wrap up our discussions on the church - on what makes us PBC.

Jesus’ comments here talk about the expanding mission of the church. His comments also form the three-fold structure of the book of Acts -

Jerusalem,

Judea/Samaria, and

the ends of the earth.

So, if you’d like to follow along in your notes, feel free. Let me encourage you to open your Bibles as well so that you can make some notes along the way.

So Jesus said that His church would be established on the truth of the confession of Peter (Mt. 16:16-19), but we don’t really get to see the church begin to take shape until the book of Acts.

The expanding mission of the church began in Jerusalem with...

(Steve - Jerusalem map background)

Local Witnessing - Jerusalem (Acts 1-7)

The first seven chapters of Acts chronicle some of the work that was done in and around Jerusalem as the church got its start. But I think there are some instructive elements to this.

First of all, the church was...

Planted with prayer (Acts 1:4-5)

Acts 1:4–5 ESV

And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

Jesus appeared to many people and had several conversations with his disciples over the course of forty days. After Jesus ascended, the disciples seem to have spent some time getting organized (replacing Judas - Acts 1:12-26) and praying (Acts 1:24-25). Jesus said that it would be “not many days” and it was only about 10 - as the day of Pentecost is 50 days after Passover.

In many ways - this 10 days would have been a very short period of time - but I wonder how often we would wait on God for that long before we take action.

Not only was the church planted in prayer, but we see that it was...

Powered by the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:1-13)

Acts 2:1–4 ESV

When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

So the Holy Spirit came upon them in a powerful way and fantastic way. I can imagine that this was such a powerful experience that they would have had no reason to doubt that this was the baptism that Jesus talked about.

Acts 2:5–11 ESV

Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. And they were amazed and astonished, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians—we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.”

There were people from all over the place in Jerusalem. If you look at this map - you can see a bit of where these people came from. East, North, West and even South. While Greek and Aramaic were likely known by most of these people, it’s clear from the context that these people heard the message in their own language - something beyond the common trade languages. One commentator suggests that it could be 15 or more different languages.

But think about this - consider the diversity that existed in the church right from the beginning. Even if the disciples were mostly from Israel - the people who heard the message were from other parts of the middle east, Asia, Africa, and Europe. This was good news for everyone. This was a message that had global implications - even in this local context.

Not only was the church planted in prayer and powered by the Spirit, but we see in the first chapters that the church was…

(Steve - let’s go back to the Jerusalem map background at this point)

Propelled by Preaching

In these first seven chapters - we get to see several sermons.

Peter at Pentecost (Acts 2:14-41)

Here this uneducated fisherman laid out the gospel in a powerful and compelling way. It’s likely that his sermon was un-prepared and certainly unrehearsed. The Holy Spirit drew about 3000 people into the church that day. What a response! Over the next several days, people continued to be added to the assembly of believers (Acts 2:47).

A bit later, Peter preaches again at...

Solomon’s Portico and the Jewish Council (Acts 3:11-4:22)

After healing a lame man - the people began to think that it was all about Peter. He quickly turned things to the Lord and proclaimed the gospel yet again. This got them arrested, but the the council could not deny that amazing things were happening.

In addition to Peter’s sermon...

Stephen preached to his last breath (Acts 7)

Stephen joined the leadership of the church as a deacon and seemed to be a gifted speaker. God had been using him in a mighty way - it was clear that the grace of God was on his life. Intimidated by his wisdom and charisma, several men wrongfully accused Stephen and then had him arrested. He was given an opportunity to testify as to why he was doing what he was doing. Unable to stand the truth that he was sharing, a crowd stoned him to death.

I think that what we see in this is that the preached word became a powerful tool of the Holy Spirit to convey the truth of the gospel.

However, just as we saw with the death of Stephen, things were not easy for the early church. Just as there was great growth, there were...

Problems and persecution

Some of the apostles were arrested (Acts 4; 5; 6), - in fact - the believers who were arrested and faced this early persecution had an interesting response - they rejoiced because they were counted worthy to be persecuted (Acts 5:41) and then also prayed for boldness to stand up against the persecution - rather than praying that they would be relieved of it (Acts 4:23-31).

some of the church members lied about their contributions (Ananias and Sapphira - Acts 5:1-11), - and it cost them their lives

others complained because there seemed to be a lack of fairness in caring for the widows (Acts 6:1-7) - resulting in what we see as the office of the deacon - serving the physical needs of the church.

The church in all of this continued to grow, but also ran the risk of becoming a holy huddle. We see this happening here in America as well - some highly gifted speakers and sought after and surrounded. Some churches get started by the celebrity of their pastors. Others experience great growth because they brought in someone with a name or publications or a platform.

In the early church, there was that risk. Think about it - you have the original eye-witnesses of all that Jesus did. That is an amazing church staff. Why would you want to go anywhere else?

And yet it wasn’t in God’s plan and so He forced them to expand:

Expansion: Prompted by Persecution -

Stephen’s death marked the beginning of a dispersion or spreading out. Saul and many other devout Jews sought to imprison people and even put them to death for following Jesus - or “The Way” as it was known then.

People fled from Jerusalem for safety and freedom. It seems like some of the Apostles stayed in town, but others Apostles and the many of the new converts spread out.

The persecution in Jerusalem forced the young church to move beyond local myopia (near sightedness) in Jerusalem to Judea/Samaria as their local witness expanded to a...

National Impact - Judea/Samaria (Acts 8-12)

(Steve - let’s do the broader map of Judea and Samaria)

Judea essentially covers the land from around Jerusalem and south. Samaria represents the land that is north of Jerusalem to the mountains North of Galilee.

In these chapters, we get to see Philip preaching in Samaria and down toward Gaza (Southern Judea). We get to see Saul get saved on the way to Damascas - which is actually a bit outside of this area - more to the North in Syria.

The national impact doesn’t only expand the church geographically, but it also expands the church racially. It seems like most of the early believers had some sort of Jewish roots. In this National expansion, we get to see an Ethiopian come to faith (which likely ended up being the foundation of the coptic church in Ethiopia today). We also get to see some of the first Gentile - or non-Jewish converts as Peter led the Roman Centurion Cornelius to the Lord.

In fact, Peter was so moved by the grandeur of this encounter that he remarked...

Acts 10:34–35 ESV

So Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.

Friend - I hope you can see that Christianity is not a faith for one race - but it’s a faith for all people. Whether rich or poor, powerful or weak, male or female, young or old, Dark skinned or light skinned or somewhere in the middle - Jesus life, death and resurrection paved a way for you to have life with Him.

Romans 3:23–24 ESV

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,

Peter, earlier in the book even said:

Acts 4:12 ESV

And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

Will you repent of your sin? Will you call on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ? Will you trust in Him for your salvation?

(talk about prayer of salvation - conversation)

Back to the expansion - prompted by the persecution, there were some believers that went even further north into norther Syria to a town called Antioch.

On the idea of the multi-ethnic nature of the church - let’s look briefly at the make up of this church in Antioch. Turn to Acts 13:1:

Acts 13:1 ESV

Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen a lifelong friend of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.

Barnabas - the son of encouragement - likely Jewish

Simon called Niger - which is latin for “black” - indicating he was probably from Africa.

Lucius is from Cyrene - which is a province in Libya - also on the northern part of Africa

Manean - probably Roman aristocracy because of his proximity to Herod.

Saul - later known as the Apostle Paul - Jewish with Roman citizenship.

This was not a homogenous church.

So what started locally, spread to the nationally because of persecution.

Acts 13 goes on the so say:

Acts 13:2–3 ESV

While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off.

A praying church at Antioch prompted the national impact to move towards the “ends of the earth” with a...

Global Reach - “the ends of the earth” (Acts 13-28)

(Steve - let’s use the map that contains the whole region)

The last half of the book of Acts chronicles the expansion of the church around the whole Mediterranean region.

The first missionary team Paul and Barnabas eventually expanded into two and then more. As they travelled around the region, they shared the gospel in synagogues and then in the marketplace - planting churches dozens of churches over several years.

By the end of the book of Acts - the gospel had reached all the way to Rome.

One of the interesting things that we seen in the book of Acts is that it ends somewhat abruptly.

Acts 28:30–31 ESV

He lived there two whole years at his own expense, and welcomed all who came to him, proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance.

Paul’s life in Rome at that time was under house arrest - and yet the gospel was not deterred. He got to preach, disciple, and write letters that have become part of our New Testament.

But the end of the book of Acts was not the end of the expansion.

The map that we’ve been using as our background this morning shows the reach of the gospel through the end of the first and second centuries.

Jesus’ proclamation at the beginning of the book stated that they would go to the ends of the earth. What does that mean?

One commentator wrote:

Bulletin for Biblical Research, Volume 1 II

the use of the phrase, “end(s) of the earth,” in Greek literature confirms the initial exegetical impression stated above that the phrase in Acts 1:8 must have a geographical significance. In its westward extent “the end of the earth” refers generally to Spain and specifically to the region around Gades, west of Gibraltar.

One of the early church fathers - Clement - in writing about the ministry a Paul seems to suggest that Paul’s ministry did not end in Rome - but even included the “ends of the earth.”

Lightfoot’s Apostolic Fathers in English 5

By reason of jealousy and strife Paul by his example pointed out the prize of patient endurance. 6After that he had been seven times in bonds, had been driven into exile, had been stoned, had preached in the East and in the West, he won the noble renown which was the reward of his faith, 7having taught righteousness unto the whole world and having reached the farthest bounds of the West; and when he had borne his testimony before the rulers, so he departed from the world and went unto the holy place, having been found a notable pattern of patient endurance.

There is some thought that Paul made it to Spain before he died.

Other church tradition and even some archaeological evidence suggests that the Apostle Thomas and likely Bartholomew ventured to the East and made it all the way to India - planting churches in the southern part of that country.

So the disciples did get to witness about Jesus in Jerusalem, Judea/Samaria and the ends of the earth - as they knew it.

Bringing it Home - Poolesville and Beyond

The book of Acts chronicles some of the expansion of the early church. As we’ve already seen, the book seems to follow the structure that Jesus prophesied when He said that they would be His witnesses in “Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and the ends of the earth.” Acts 1:8 is descriptive of what was going to happen - and not necessarily prescriptive of what all churches should do - but it does provide some things for us to consider and apply as a church - which will have an impact in how we give of ourselves (as we discussed last week) and how we minister.

Let’s look first at the financials

Intentional Partnership

In various places in Paul’s letters and in the the book of Acts - we see churches having a mindset of contributing to the needs of others - both nearby and beyond. They had a vision and an intention work locally and support the work that was happening beyond their city.

As we were putting together the budget, the team decided to follow the principle of tithing the first 10% of what we receive in contributions toward to support ministries according to the pattern that we see lived out here in the book of Acts. This means that this year, we will likely give nearly $25,000 to the work of the gospel locally, nationally, and internationally. We’re going to give it systematically and regularly.

But I think that this mindset to Go will not only impact our budget, but also our lives as we seek to do work locally, nationally and internationally.

So as we think about applying the pattern we see in the book of Acts, let’s consider...

Local Ministry

What are we doing individually and corporately to proclaim the Gospel here? Do we have margin in our lives enough to allow some opportunities that God might bring along. This could include things like:

Art Camp - Last year I was completely blown away by the way that you all gave of your time and artistic talents to invest in the lives of local students. I’m looking forward to what God has in store for us all this year - July 13-17.

Foster care - A network of churches here in the county is working together to meet the needs of at- risk and vulnerable kids. Imagine the impact that we can have in the lives of some children who are in desperate need of stability and support.

Frederick Rescue Mission - we already do some work to support them financially. Jackie and Pete (and possibly others) take time to volunteer regularly. Last summer, Ethan and I got to work with some of the folks from the Methodist church at the Enrichment Camp. I’d love for us to do that again. I’d love for you to be a part of that - July 20-23.

Individual Mentoring/Discipleship - Is there someone that God might be laying on your heart - and individual or a family - would you consider spending time with them, opening scripture with them, sharing your life with them.

Other ideas: there are a myriad of other ideas that we can do - helping St. Peter’s with their lunch program, opening our gym again to students (but it takes volunteers to be available), helping at WUMCO or at the Thrift Shop...

Because local ministry is something that we can participate in tangibly and actively, when it comes to our contribution, we’re committing 2% of our offerings toward local ministries like - Frederick Rescue Mission (serving the homeless and at risk in Frederick), WUMCO (providing food and financial resources to local people in need), Rockville Women’s Center (last year they ministered to hundreds of women in crisis, performed 170 ultrasounds and saved the lives of over 95 unborn babies!) and the Montgomery Baptist Association (church planting and more).

So - we get to go locally. We also get to participate in...

National Ministry

Opportunities to support national ministry will take on a different look. It’s a little more challenging to participate consistently here outside of special trips. Ministry opportunities in this category include things like...

M-Fuge - this is the youth mission camp that we’ll be doing in June in Virginia. This is a fun and engaging way for our students and adult chaperones to minister in another city - partnering with other students and churches. Students, I’d love for you to join us in this - June 29-July 3 in Lynchburg, VA.

Southern Baptist Relief Efforts - while this might involve some training - but this is an opportunity for us to meet tangible needs for people who are experiencing a crisis.

There may be other opportunities for us like sending people to plant churches in other towns, short term mission trips across the country, and so much more. As you learn about ministry opportunities on a national level, I hope that you’ll let us know.

Beyond these ministry opportunities, we get the opportunity to Go through our involvement in the Cooperative Program - BCMD, NAMB, IMB - (2% of our offerings)

In addition to this regular partnership, we will continue to support other national initiatives through the Annie Armstrong offering that usually happens around Easter.

Finally, if Poolesville and this area is our “Jerusalem” and National partnerships are our “Judea/Samaria” then the “ends of the the Earth are literally our opportunity to be involved in...

International Ministry

I know that in years past we’ve participated in International mission trips to Kenya, Haiti and other countries. I’d love for us to continue to do that. In fact, I’d love for us to do it more and in partnership with our missionaries. I hope that we can pray together about opportunities that God might put before us to go to Botswana to work with Kelsey or to the Middle East to work with Eric and Lynn or Caroline, or even to go to India to serve with Big World Project or other ministries.

(Hope and Help - training pastors, VBS, Krupa home, Veda, Women’s ministry)

When it comes to our budget, we are committing the biggest portion of our “tithe” - 6% of our overall budget - to international partnerships and pairing that with missionary support teams to make our partnership more than just financial.

We will continue to do join in with broader missions support opportunities through things like the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering - over and above our tithe.

Closing thought:

Act 1:8 described what would follow in the remaining chapters. I’d love for it to be descriptive of us as a church as we get to take the Gospel of Jesus Christ to “Poolesville and Beyond!”

We are PBC: We Gather, We Grow, We Give, and We Go!

Let’s Pray

Discussion Questions

As you have opportunity this afternoon or this week, take a few minutes with your family or friends or small group and discuss these questions things.

How does Acts 1:8 describe the expansion of the church? What do you notice about the formation of the early church as it got its start after Pentecost - good things, challenges, obstacles?

What role did persecution play in the expansion of the church? How did the people respond (Acts 5:41; 8:1)? How does the early church’s response to persecution and James 1:2-4 inform our understanding of the role persecution might play in our lives?

As we seek to emulate the pattern found in the book of Acts, what is God laying on your heart as far a local, national, and international opportunities? Who are you praying for? What can you do this week to be a witness for Jesus in your “Jerusalem”?