Acts

Intro

(Possibly say goodbye and encourage them to tune in)

Acts

When I was given the task of covering the entire book of Acts, at first I was pretty intimidated. Acts is, by no means, a short book. It’s filled to the brim with truth. So covering all of that in 20-30 minutes was a stressing me out.

But when I began reading Acts, I quickly found that there was a strong, central theme to the book. More than anything else, Acts shows us that the Gospel is unstoppable.

Tonight as we go through the book of Acts, I’m going to be pulling out passages throughout the book that chronicle the Gospel’s power and relating that to ways that can help us share the Gospel with those around us.

Acts was most likely written around AD 62 or AD 63. It was written by the physician Luke. Acts is the second part of the Gospel of Luke and is sometimes referred to as Luke-Acts. It was written to Theophilus, a possible friend or patron of Luke’s.

The full name of Acts is “Acts of the Apostles” because it describes the story of the apostles, namely Paul, Peter, and Barnabas as they spread the Gospel after Jesus’ resurrection.

Within the early chapters of post-resurrection of evangelization is where we really begin to see the central theme of the unstoppable power of the Gospel emerge.

My goal tonight is to motivate you all share the Gospel. You guys start school in a week. Your school is a huge mission field. We sometimes we romanticize the idea of going overseas on mission trips and forget about the huge mission field right here in front of us.

Through this quick study of Acts I want to show you how powerful the message we’re privileged to share really is. I also want to show you that nothing can stop the Gospel from spreading, and that often times the Gospel spreads better when on paper the conditions would seem to disagree and be more difficult.

The Gospel can save anyone

One of the biggest mistakes we often make when thinking of sharing the Gospel is we often times will count certain people with the logic that, “There’s no way they’ll ever accept Christ”. The book of Acts proves this thought to be completely illogical time and time again.

The first example of this we see in Acts comes in chapter 6. There was a group of Hellenist priests, men with great authority, that opposed the Gospel more than almost anyone else, and in the beginning of chapter 6, they try to thwart the apostles’ efforts to spread the Gospel by having them do other tasks. Verse 7 from this chapter describes to us the what happens when people scheme against the Gospel: “So the preaching about God flourished, the number of the disciples in Jerusalem multiplied greatly, and a large group of priests became obedient to the faith.”- Acts 6:7

The very people who so viciously opposed the Gospel ended up being saved by the very message they were scheming against.

Another great example of the Gospel saving those who we would deem un-savable comes later in Acts in chapter 8 in verses 9-13 when the apostles talk to Simon the magician.

Verses 9-11 give us some background information on Simon:

“But there was a man named Simon, who had previously practiced magic in the city and amazed the people of Samaria, saying that he himself was somebody great. 10 They all paid attention to him, from the least to the greatest, saying, “This man is the power of God that is called Great.” 11 And they paid attention to him because for a long time he had amazed them with his magic.”- Acts 8:9-11

Simon is a celebrity to these people. He’s wowed them and everyone in Samaria knows his name. The people view Simon as a God because of his great talents. How often today do we view celebrities as basically gods because of their mere talents? Many times it’s harder for celebrities to be saved because it’s harder for them to see their brokenness. When people are worshiping them it’s hard for them to see that’s there’s someone greater that they should be worshipping. But just because it can be harder for them to see their need for a relationship with Christ doesn’t mean it’s impossible. When we read on in chapter 8, we see the power of the Gospel come through:

“12 But when they believed Philip as he preached good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. 13 Even Simon himself believed, and after being baptized he continued with Philip. And seeing signs and great miracles performed, he was amazed.”

The people following Simon went from worshipping the “god” Simon to worshipping the one true God, the Author and Creator of life. And as we see in verse 13, the Gospel even broke through Simon’s hard heart. Simon ends up following Phillip to spread to Gospel. God uses Simon’s celebrity status to help spread the good news.

We saw a similar example of this in Thailand. Recently, a famous Thai singer accepted Christ and began writing Christian songs. One of his songs became wildly popular. We would perform worship songs on the trip and few Thais outside of the church knew the songs. But when we would sing the song the Thai singer wrote, everyone Thai knew the lyrics and would sing along. Many of those Thai were proclaiming God’s name and had no idea. It was incredible how God had used that singer’s celebrity status to spread the Gospel.

It’s the same with Simon. We can see God’s plan shine through with the utmost clarity here. God grants Simon the ability to perform magic so he would gain celebrity status and ultimately use that status to help spread the Gospel. And maybe my favorite part of the passage comes at the end of verse 13. Simon, a man who dealt with magic or sorcery often, was amazed by the power and miracles of God. They blew his kindergarten magic tricks out of the water.

The most powerful example in Acts of the power of God and the Gospel comes in chapter 9 when Paul becomes a Christian.

Paul, other than Jesus, maybe had the greatest zeal for spreading the Gospel of anyone that has ever lived. Paul wrote a large chunk of the New Testament. His contributions to Christianity can’t be overstated. But believe it or not, before he became a Christian, you and I would probably have assumed him to be un-savable. Paul was an incredibly bright guy who’s job was to persecute, arrest, and kill Christians. He was the last guy anyone thought would pray to receive Christ, yet this is the guy God used to have a major impact on the spread of the Gospel. Paul is blinded on the way to Damascus and enters into a personal relationship with Jesus a few days later when his sight is restored.

Don’t ever cross anyone off your list. That person you want to disregard may be the next great voice to a generation or generations to come. But just as important, someone’s eternal well-being is worth taking the risk for. If you get turned down, so what? That momentary feeling of rejection is nothing compared to an eternity spent apart from God. You will be blessed no matter the response from the individual. Luke talks about this in chapter 10 of his Gospel.

“3 Go your way; behold, I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves….5 Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace be to this house!’ 6 And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest upon him. But if not, it will return to you….8 Whenever you enter a town and they receive you, eat what is set before you. 9 Heal the sick in it and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ 10 But whenever you enter a town and they do not receive you, go into its streets and say, 11 ‘Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet we wipe off against you. Nevertheless know this, that the kingdom of God has come near.’” –Luke 10:1-11

There will be persecution and rejection when spreading the Gospel. But rest assured the Holy Spirit will always be with you and bless you. We see a another great example of this in Acts 13:49-52:

“And the word of the Lord was spreading throughout the whole region. 50 But the Jews[a] incited the devout women of high standing and the leading men of the city, stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and drove them out of their district. 51 But they shook off the dust from their feet against them and went to Iconium. 52 And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.”- Acts 13:49-52

If you get rejected, don’t worry. Just dust your feet off and continue on filled with joy by the spirit knowing that you’re doing the most important thing you could ever do.

Besides saving the “un-savable”, the Gospel conquers when all hope seems lost. The Gospel thrives in difficult situations.

Three incredibly clear examples of this come in chapters 5, 12, and 16 of Acts. Three times, God rescues His apostles from prison. Acts 5:17-21 chronicle this and show the power of the Gospel to overcome:

“But the high priest rose up, and all who were with him, and filled with jealousy 18 they arrested the apostles and put them in the public prison. 19 But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out, and said, 20 “Go and stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this Life.” 21 And when they heard this, they entered the temple at daybreak and began to teach.”- Acts 5:17-21

The apostles were imprisoned for preaching the Gospel and yet what was the first thing they did when they were freed?: Preach the Gospel. God relentlessly pursues his children and will stop at nothing to spread the good news. Even imprisonment won’t stop the Gospel.

Sometimes, imprisonment is part of God’s plan to help spread the Gospel more effectively. In chapter 16, God imprisons Paul and Silas in order to show off his power and ultimately convert one of the guards who had witness the rescue.

If you think that stuff only happens in the Bible, think again. Several years ago a PV student team traveled to Japan. While they were there a student on the team was arrested after a misunderstanding with a store clerk. While student was imprisoned he and others got to talk with a guard about Jesus. Now the doors of the prison weren’t blown open, but the student was released after it was clear that the store clerk was giving a false accusation against him. But he was in prison and in contact for enough time to convince the guard to hear the Gospel message and see the Freedom drama later on that week.

Share Thai school story (20 years) and how God’s plan is always better.

Sharing the Gospel is never usually easy and we should expect some opposition. Acts gives us many examples of this, but maybe the most obvious comes in the story of Stephen in chapters 6 and 7. Stephen was the first martyr for Christianity, meaning he died for his faith. Stephen was stoned for preaching the Gospel. Those who opposed Stephen knew Stephen was right and couldn't refute his arguments and teaching yet they still persecuted him. Sometimes, the truth is more opposed by people than a lie. It's easily to live in a lie. But often times, living out truth is hard. The truth can be so offensive to those living in a lie that they fight back fiercely to stay in that lie. Preaching the word of God, in no way, ensures your safety. Rather it can be the thing that leads to your death. But what sweeter and more powerful thing to die or suffer for than the greatest message and truth ever proclaimed!

But even death can be used to further the Kingdom and spread the Gospel. Those who stoned Stephen expected his death to be a blow to the spread of the Gospel, but instead it actually spurred it on and inspired people to preach with more fervor and zeal.

Think about: the Gospel’s spread has its roots in death. Christ’s death on the cross.

Sometimes the difficult situations that the Gospel calls us to involve us crossing lines that culture says we shouldn’t. A powerful example of this comes in Acts 10. Peter is on a rooftop praying before lunch. While up there, God gives him a vision of a blanket coming down covered with unclean animals. I say unclean because in Peter was still practicing Jewish laws that prohibited him from eating certain animals. Even though Jesus said that all animals were clean in Mark 7, Peter still follows these laws because he was raised with them. In the vision with those unclean animals, God says to Peter, “Get up Peter, kill and eat!”. Peter says no. God then says, “What God has MADE clean you must not call common”. The vision is given to Peter 3 times. Peter is so confused about the vision and what it might mean. Then three men came up to Simon’s house. God tells Peter to accompany them. Peter goes with them and they head to a house owned by a well renowned man named Cornelius. The men tell Peter that God had told Cornelius to send for Peter because Peter had a message from God to share with them. Peter shares the Gospel with these men who were Gentiles. They weren’t God’s chosen people from the Old Testament. Yet these men still accepted Christ after hearing the Gospel. This whole situation was completely out of Peter’s comfort zone. Those practicing Jewish law didn’t associate with Gentiles. God has made all of us clean because of what Jesus did on the cross. We should preach the Gospel to everyone, regardless of what cultural lines we have to cross.

God made Peter go out of his comfort zone and step over cultural lines to spread the Gospel. He will absolutely have us do the same. Society tells us not to share our beliefs. They say keep them to ourselves. But here’s the deal: our relationship with Christ is deeply personal, but it’s NOT private. We need to share the good news regardless of what society says or how comfortable we are.

For me, I left my comfort zone the minute my professors and non-christian friends began to challenge my faith in the classroom. I had little, to no knowledge of how to defend my faith with evidence. Turns out, that I wasn’t alone in being challenged like this. In Acts 17 and 18 Paul and other Christians had the intellectual truths of their beliefs challenged. And you know how they replied? The Bible says they reasoned with the challengers and presenter logical arguments. God stirred up a passion in me to do the same. And for the past 2-3 years I’ve been researching and spreading the Gospel in part through evidential and logical defenses of Christianity. Don’t EVER let someone tell you your faith isn’t rational. Because when you do the research, the atheistic worldview is the one that at its core is irrational. Not Christianity, contrary to what our society might tell you.

I wasn’t equipped at all to answer those objections to my faith. But God doesn’t call the equipped. He equips the called. Even if you don’t feel prepared to do what God is telling you, if He’s called you to do it, he’ll prepare you and be with you.

Philippians 4:13 real meaning, eye black should be used on the mission field and not the football field.

Our society is one that is continually becoming more and more secular. But remember how I said the Gospel seems to thrive in difficult situations? A society trying to rid itself of Christianity often ends up catalyzing the spread of the Gospel. I see no clearer present day example of this than China. 40-50 years ago China’s leader declared Christianity dead in China. Today the church in China is one of the fastest growing in the world. The church is thriving. To steal a classic analogy, when you stamp on a puddle it doesn’t do away with the puddle. But rather it spreads. The same is true with the Gospel. When people trying to stamp out the Gospel often times they end up aiding its spread.

The Pharisees thought they had dealt the death blow to when Jesus breathed His last on the cross. Little did they know they were playing right into God’s plan. And little did they know that by crucifying Christ, they catalyzed the spread of the Gospel. The Romans thought they were ending a stupid political and cult uprising when they crucified Christ. Little did they know that only a 200-300 years later Christianity would be their national religion.

The Gospel is unstoppable and thrives in difficult situations.

There’s some lyrics that God’s really been laying on my heart lately and I think they apply well here:

Should I ever be abandoned

Should I ever be acclaimed

Should I ever be surrounded

By the fire and the flame

There’s a name I will remember

There’s a name I will proclaim

Let it be

Let it be Jesus

Acts shows us situations where people come to Christ in all of the situations mentions in those lyrics. And we’ll face many of the things mentioned. No matter how many times we’re rejected, abandoned, in tough situations, or even acclaimed, we need to find our meaning and worth in Jesus. That beautiful story of redemption and love on the cross that’s changed our lives isn’t one that we should keep to ourselves. No, we should share it with everyone!

Share Gospel

Encourage students to share the Gospel

Share the Garrison story. Rejected 100 times but was one of the greatest moments of my life when he accepted Christ. Made the rejection worth it.

God doesn’t need our help but let us. That’s a huge privilege. It’s a command and an honor to spread the Gospel and we should do it with all of our might.

Share Gospel at school

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