Marks Of The Messenger (Part 1) Series

Marks Of The Messenger

Acts 14:1-28

Have you ever walked into a movie after it’s already started? Or perhaps you started watching a television series halfway into the season and you’ve missed a lot of the character development and plot lines that preceded that particular episode? I know for some of you, this is your first time here at LVBC. We are right in the middle of our verse by verse sermon series through the book of Acts. There are 28 chapters in Acts, and we’ve just reached chapter 14, so we’re about halfway through.

That’s our typical preaching approach here – it’s called expositional preaching. We take a book of the Bible and we go through it verse by verse. We take that approach for many reasons, not least of which is studying the Bible verse by verse enables us to understand what a verse, or passage is actually saying within its context. So instead of me giving you my ideas and thoughts and trying to find verses to support my suppositions, I preach through whole books and seek to communicate what the text actually says and means.

Well, this year we are in the book of Acts. Why Acts? Again, for those that are new, here’s another nuance of body-life here at LVBC. Each calendar year we have a particular theme and vision for the year. Our theme for 2015 is the title of this series: the church on mission. We desire to be, by God’s grace, in increasing increments, a church that is ON MISSION. That vision has been fleshed out in several different ways – through our increased frequency of short-term mission trips that are commissioned from this church; an increased focus on long-term partnerships with missionaries around the world; a greater exposure to God’s global activity through an annual missions conference; and a new process for financially funding missions through our faith commitment offering. This is an offering that our people have pledged to support to help fund all the different missions endeavors we believe God has called us to pursue.

The book of Acts is a powerful record of the early church on mission that serves not only as a DESCRIPTION of what they did, but in many ways, a PRESCRIPTION for what we should do.

Again, for those that are new, you’ve missed some of the character development and plot lines of this book. The book of Acts covers about 32 years of the early church history. Acts is a historical record of how the first Christians took the gospel forward. If you’re just joining us, you would do well to go read the first 13 chapters to catch you up to speed.

The theme of the whole book is found all the way back in the first chapter. Jesus gave this instruction to the early disciples who were gathered with him some 40 days after his resurrection: “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

That’s not only the theme verse for the book of Acts, it's the theme verse for our church this year. It really serves as a basic outline for the book and a strategy for missions. As you go through Acts you see the expanse of the gospel through the church in those concentric circles from Jerusalem, through Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. The text before us today is within that sphere Jesus referred to as “the end of the earth.”

In chapter 14 we are right in the middle of Paul’s first missionary journey. We saw this trip have its launch from the church in Antioch 2 Sundays ago. Paul and Barnabas were selected, set apart, and commissioned and sent.

Last week as we looked at the end of chapter 13, we studied their work in Antioch of Pisidia. Again, we saw a DESCRIPTION of how they shared the gospel and noted four things that are a PRESCRIPTION for us that we might be faithful in our presentation of the gospel. I would say these four things are the WHAT of witnessing, WHAT we are called to do:

I. Seize Opportunities

Faithful witnesses are always on the lookout for an opportunity to turn a conversation toward the gospel. We also noted that many opportunities don't just happen, we've got to be proactive and create opportunities.

II. Share Jesus

At some point in the conversation we've got to get to talking about Jesus. He's the sun - S-U-N around which the entire solar system of biblical truth revolves. We've not shared the gospel until we've shared Jesus.

III. Summon A Response

People need to be told how they must respond to the gospel. Paul told the people in Antioch of Pisidia, "Everyone who believes is freed."