Carrying Out The Great Comission

When the opportunity is there, we need to take advantage of it.

Paul spent two years, because there was an open door to him. He said in verse 31, “…no man forbidding him.”

He also went to other places where the door was closed, and he would move on to other locations because there was no opportunity there to win anyone to Christ.

But while he was there, God opened doors for him to teach and preach the Word and he persevered.

He later wrote to Timothy and said to him, in 2 Timothy 4:17, “Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me; that by me the preaching might be fully known, and that all the Gentiles might hear: and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion. And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom: to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.”

Look at some of the things he acknowledged in this verse of scripture. He said:

• HE HAD THE LORD’S PRESENCE - “The Lord stood with me”

• HE HAD THE LORD’S POWER “and strengthened me”

As we PERSEVERE in the work of God, the Lord is WITH US and he will STRENGTHEN US.

We have looked at THE PERSEVERANCE OF MISSIONS but let’s look also at-

B. THE PEOPLE OF MISSIONS

Look at verse 30 “Received all that came in unto him”

We never know what lost soul the Lord Jesus may put before us, but whoever it may be, we have to open our HEARTS and our CHURCH DOORS to them.

Christ died for everyone, and if a church does not love everyone that walks through those doors, God cannot bless that church.

If Christ loved them enough to DIE FOR THEM, we should have enough love in our heart to REACH OUT TO THEM!

Illus: Dr. Odell Belger tells that he visited the First Baptist Church in Hammond Indiana, where the late Dr. Jack Hyles was the pastor. The Sunday that he and his wife visited, they observed:

• 28,000 in attendance that Sunday morning in the worship service

• 705 babies in the nursery.

• Over 300 women nursery workers taking care of those babies

But as Dr. Belger sat in the balcony of the morning worship service, the thing that caught his eye as he looked across the congregation was that you could see:

• A well dressed woman with a nice fur coat, sitting beside some little child in ragged clothes, that rode on one of their buses

• A man that was wearing a $300 to $400 hundred suit, sitting beside a man that did not even have a coat and tie to wear to church

• A graduate from college, sitting beside someone that never made it through high school

• An African American woman, sitting beside a white woman, and sharing a song book together

This is what Paul had in mind. IF GOD SENT THEM, HE RECEIVED THEM.

Shame on these churches where:

• If you do not drive a certain kind of a car, they prefer you not pull up in their parking lot

• If you do not wear a certain name brand of clothes, they prefer you do not come into their church building

These people have forgotten the MISSION OF THE CHURCH. Shame on them!

Illus: A dedicated Christian, Donald Smith, was a construction worker. He is now with the Lord. Often his work required him to go out of town and he would have to spend the night in these towns. He was in Charleston, South Carolina on a Wednesday evening. He had forgotten to pack his dress clothes so he could go to the mid-week service at one of the local churches. But he was a Christian that loved the Lord, and wanted to go to church. So he drove his pickup truck to this large church that was down the road from the motel where he was staying. He got out of his truck and headed for the sanctuary, when an usher stopped him, and told him he did not have the proper clothes to come in. Bro. Don did not argue with him. Naturally his feelings were hurt, but he got in his truck and drove around town until he could find another church that he felt would allow him to come in and sit on the back row to hear the preaching of God’s Word.