Introduction. I. Recognizing The Passion For Evangelism. On Mission # 6 We The Church Acts 11:19-26

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1 On Mission # 6 We The Church Acts 11:19-26 Introduction Some want to live within the sound of church or chapel bell, I want to run a rescue shop within a yard of hell Pioneer evangelist C. T. Studd So said C.T. Studd. Born into a rich family in the late 1800's Studd was a famous Cricket player in England. His family had been converted to Christ as a result of the evangelistic meetings of D.L. Moody. Studd gave up is riches and fame to join Hudson Taylor in China as a missionary evangelist. Later he went to India and then Africa founding his own mission. His motto was: "If Jesus Christ is God and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for Him." He is the author of the famed poem Only one life, twill soon be past, Only what s done for Christ will last. C.T. Studd had come face to face with the lostness of humanity and the great redemptive love of Christ. His heart was aflame to evangelize. He and others propelled the modern Missions Movement. ** At a recent meeting of Church Leaders from across Canada and across denominational lines there was an acknowledgement and lament that the passion to evangelize and share the gospel of Jesus Christ is on the wain in our churches. In our pluralistic culture of relativism, it seems the church is losing it s saltiness it is losing it s evangelistic passion. Lest we miss God s intent for His church. Like C.T. Studd, we must seek to recover our passion for lost people and the centrality of the Gospel of God s saving Grace. I. Recognizing The Passion For Evangelism 1. It Is Central To The Heart Of God By His very nature, God is compelled to a Passionate Pursuit of lost humanity. - Whole Bible narrative is about God s Great Redemptive Act. History of redemption 1. Adam and Eve At The Fall 2. Abraham and People of Israel 3. Christ and The Cross for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost. (Luke 19:10) * Jesus coming to earth was for one purpose SEEK AND SAVE LOST Nothing brings glory to God like His grace bestowed on lost humanity Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He has made us accepted in the Beloved. (Eph 1:3-6)

2 ** BECAUSE GOD IS PASSIONATE ABOUT HIS GLORY, AND BECAUSE NOTHING GIVES HIM GLORY LIKE HIS GRACE BESTOWED UPON LOST HUMANITY, GOD IS PASSIONATE ABOUT LOST PEOPLE.. * All of the Bible is about God s Passion for the Lost. 2. It Was Central To The Early Church * Preached - death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ for the redemption of repentant sinners. Acts 1:8 - Witness to the world Acts 2:23 This Jesus you crucified... God raised up Lord and Christ 2:26 2:38 Repent Acts 3:14-16a; 19 Repent - turn from sin Acts 4:10-12 ** No other name... 4:29 - grant - continue to speak... with all boldness Acts 5: :42 - beaten Acts 8:4-5 - Proclaimed Christ - Philip & Eunuch 35 - opened mouth... good news about Jesus Acts 9:20 - Paul converted - Preached Christ/ Synagogues of Damascus Acts 10: Peter preaching Faced persecution and death for the sake of the gospel 3. It Is Central To Our Church Today Covenant Statement: We shall aid as the Lord shall prosper us, in supporting a faithful Christian ministry among us, and in sending the gospel to the whole human family; and as we have opportunity, we shall seek by example and word to lead people to Christ We believe also that each member should conscientiously contribute according to his or her financial ability, to the support of The Church, to her missionary enterprises and to the relief of the needy; should through correspondence with the Pastor or Church Clerk and contributions to the work keep up fellowship with The Church during a protracted residence at another place; and should seek in every particular to exemplify the Spirit of Christ and thus glorify God in body and spirit which are His. - Evangelism = Gospel to Whole Human Family - Home Missions Foreign Missions Financed for Mission * Evangelism And Missions Is Built Into Our DNA - Great Commission From Christ handed down to us by our founders

3 Illustrate: - Property given by McClintock family - with the idea of rather than paying them back we would give the cost of the land to missions. Statement of Faith We believe that the attitude either of reconciliation or enmity toward God is eternally fixed at death, and that the saints of all ages will be forever with the Lord, and that they will be joint-heirs with Him as their Redeemer in His inheritance. We further believe that there is an appointed day for the judgment of the wicked when they will be cast into the Lake of Fire, there to remain forever and ever, in varying degrees of torment according to their works. * Understanding that people were lost and in need of a Saviour. UNPACK - ACTS 11:19-26 Now those who were scattered because of the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except Jews. (Acts 11:19) - Takes us back to Acts 8 - Stephen first Martyr. - Consequence 1. Helped move Gospel into Samaria 8:4 2. Incited Saul (Paul) to Persecute the church 8:3 - get s converted 9: Now The Gospel Is Spreading To Gentiles all the human family - Phonicia, Cyprus - Antioch (in Syria - 16 Antiochs) MAP ANTIOCH - in modern SE Turkey Becomes An Important City for Spread Of The Gospel 3 rd largest city in Roman Empire behind Rome and Alexandria on Orontes River 15 miles inland Antioch on the Orontes Beautiful, carefully planned city of about 500,000 main street 6 klms long paved with marble - lined with marble columns - only city in Empire with Street lights. Rich city and many wealthy came for the Baths s - Gambling etc. Exceedingly Vile City gross immorality and temple prostitution - Roman Satirist Juvenal The sewage of the Syrian Orontes has long been the discharged into the Tiber - Tiber of course being the River/Rome Antioch was so corrupt that it impacted Rome 2,000 Ks away But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who on coming to Antioch spoke to the Hellenists also, preaching the Lord Jesus. (Acts 11:20) - Some believers came from Cyprus and Cyrene (N. Africa) and preached Christ among the Gentiles up to this time the Gospel only preached among the Jews. They were not intimidated or scared away by the corruption Boldly proclaimed Christ among in this godless city - Many people came to Christ (vs 21) vs 21 lit = in believing, they turned to the Lord - Church leaders in Jerusalem need to check out what was happening and sent Barnabas (vs 22-24) 450 Klm North Barnabas was pleased with what was happening among Gentiles in Antioch Barnabas travels to Tarsus to get Paul who had been converted about 10 years prior likely preaching to Gentiles in Tarsus Barnabas and Saul Work in Antioch for about 1 yr and ESTABLISH A BEECH HEAD FOR THE GOSPEL INTO THE GENTILE WORLD. (Vs 26)

4 - These are exciting days of Mission And Advancement Of Gospel And in Antioch the disciples were first called Christians. (Acts 11:26) - Derogatory name of the party of Christ * NOTE: THEY WERE TAKING THE GOSPEL TO A HOSTILE ENVIRONMENT. - this was no easy assignment. In fact, many were persecuted - many died to take the Gospel to the Whole Human Family. * As we reconsider our Covenant Together - we look at the example of the early church as it ever expanded the reach of the Gospel. How will we continue this heritage to fulfill the Mission that Jesus left for His Church. I believe - we need to: II. Reclaiming A Passion For Evangelism I. A Conviction About The Lost 1. Every Person Outside Of Christ Is Lost And Without Hope Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him. (John 3:36) Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (John 14:6) 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. (Acts 4:12) Remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. (Eph 2:12) 2. Every Lost Person Is Under Wrath Of God And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, (Heb 9:27) Rev. 20 speaks of final judgement: 14 Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. 15 And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. (Rev 20:11-15) * Your neighbours Your Friends Your Family Without Christ Are Lost And Under the Just Judgment Of God. - Lake of Fire * Jesus said: And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. (Matt 25:45) * Final Judgment Day in which the lost will be cast into the Lake of Fire.

5 3. God Does Not Wish That Any Should Perish This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Saviour, 4 who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself as a ransom for all, (1 Tim 2:3-6) Nowhere is the lostness of man more vividly portrayed than in the three parables spoken by Jesus in Luke 15. There we have the lost coin, the lost sheep, and the lost son. J. Oswald Sanders says: The coin was helplessly lost; the sheep was heedlessly lost; the son was willfully lost. He does not know his way home. Left to himself he will always travel the downward road, farther and farther into the far country of sin (Luke 15:13). Not only does he willfully sin, but he does not even know where to begin to be unlost. Man sits in the dark, covered in the filth of his own rebellion, and crushed under to the weight of his own condemnation before God. * We Need To Understand That Those Outside Of Christ Are Lost Without Hope And The Father Longs For Them To Be Saved. * In A Fallen World - We Need A Confidence That The Gospel of Jesus Christ Has The Power to Change Lives, Change Our Culture, and Change Our World. II. A Confidence In The Gospel 15 So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. 16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. (Rom 1:15-16) Article in Christianity Today - August 2011 Christianity has had a privileged place in our culture, and we do not have that place any more. Maybe, instead of trying to hold onto the past, maybe these are the times that God has given us. His answer to all this is for the church to harness the evangelistic tools that are already available and train people to take the Gospel to wherever they are, be it the workplace or social settings. We need to recover our confidence in the Gospel, he said. There is no simple formula, but there is an abiding requirement for simple evangelism. "We are people of the cross and people of the resurrection. That message will transform our society. The greatest hindrance to the gospel is the Christian s lack of confidence in the gospel itself. Is there any obvious, compelling marks in your life revealing a deep and unshakeable confidence in the power of the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ? More specifically, do you have confidence that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is enough to transform the people who seem to you the farthest away, with the hardest heart toward the Lord?

6 Do we underestimate the gospel s ability to change what we think are the worst or sinners, the hardest hearts? * Do we absolutely believe that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the absolutely needed by every man women and child that we know? Do We Really Believe It Is the Power of God unto Salvation that every person needs? * If People Outside Of Christ Are Lost - And if The Gospel Is The Power Of God Unto Salvation, Then Those Of Us Who Claim To Be Followers Of Jesus Must Has A Consciousness Of Personal Responsibility To Take The Good News Of Our Saviour To Those Around Us. ** GREAT COMMISSION ** (Matt 28:19-20) to all believers III. A Consciousness Of Personal Responsibility I am under obligation(debtor) both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. 15 So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. (Rom 1:14-15) * Paul saw himself as responsible to reach the lost. Jesus commission to us the church is to proclaim the Gospel to lost people. * If People Are Lost And There Is A Judgment Then The Gospel Is Urgent - once they are gone there is no bringing them back all around us are people who need Christ * Like Paul We All Have Personal Responsibility For The Gospel 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. (Acts 1:8) * Very Purpose -Function of the Church - our obligation as the Church of Christ to take the gospel to those who are lost Conclusion * All Around Us Are People Who Need Jesus Christ * When we walk with our Master Jesus - We will be passionate about what He is passionate about. We will have a Compelling Passion. ** Let Us Ask God - Let Us Cry Out To Him To Give Us This Passion