Let It Be Known

“Let It Be Known”

Acts 2

In Acts 2, we see the birth of the Church on the Day of Pentecost. This small band of disciples of Jesus had endured Jesus crucified on the Cross. The one they believed to be the Messiah had been killed. They thought it was over, then they heard the news: Jesus is alive!

Appearing to them, Jesus told His disciples: But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you: and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. (Acts 1:8) After saying this, Jesus ascended into the clouds before their eyes. Then they went to Jerusalem to wait. (Read Acts 2:1-4; 22-24; 37-41)

The disciples were beginning a ministry, a work which would reach the entire world. But how could this uneducated, seemingly unimportant, tiny band of fearful men and women change the world? They embodied the three essentials needed in His followers for God to turn the world upside down: Passion, Proclamation, and Power. God will turn our community upside down if these same three essentials define us as a people of faith.

PASSION

They wanted to see people saved. 3,000 souls came into the kingdom on the first day. Everywhere they went they were leading people to faith in Christ. We must never lose the passion for seeing people come to know the Savior. I am afraid, though, for many Christians this is not a priority.

Among our Southern Baptist churches, about 35% will not baptize one person this year. They will not baptize a son or a daughter of a church member. They will not baptize one adult. They will not win one person to faith in our Lord in an entire year. When 35 out of 100 churches do not baptize one person, it means we have lost our passion for evangelism.

8018 Lake Forest was my wife’s home address as a teenager. I visited there often because Sherry’s mother, my youth choir leader, loved teenagers. In fact, she would send Sherry and her sister to bed and spend time into the night with us four boys. I figured the only way I could get more time with her was to date her daughter.

Lake Forest was a small street with a cul-de-sac, only ten houses. Families would move in and out through the years, but Sue would personally visit each one. She carried her Bible and spoke about a personal relationship with Jesus. Many came to faith. Sue Moore was passionate about telling people about Jesus. When you have a passion to see people come to faith, then you will let it be known.

PROCLAMATION

At Pentecost, Peter preached a ten-minute sermon. It was a message of God’s love for the lost, a message to those who only a few days before had mocked Jesus. Peter delivered a call to faith in Christ, a call to salvation, a call to embrace the King of Glory and to know the peace, joy and forgiveness, which only Jesus gives to all who receive Him.

We are living in a day when the only thing people know about the church is what we are against. They see us boycott Target and switch from Bud Light but have no idea a Savior loves them. The message of the Church is not a message of the things we are against, but a message about the One we adore. Yes, we must call sin by its real name, but our main message is one of grace.

We proclaim Christ as the Savior who came to free sinners from judgment and wrath. The church who makes it a priority to take the gospel to the community, to let it be known, will find a fertile field for the seed of the gospel.

The church does not exist solely for the sake of its membership. The church exists to be the salt of the earth, the light of the world, the redeeming factor in a dying society. Everything we do must be for the purpose of reaching others for Christ, who like us are unworthy for salvation.

• People who do things they ought not do, say things they ought not say, go places they ought not go.

• People who think differently than you, look different from you, live in different places than you, have been

brought up differently than you.

• People who have cheated on their spouse, cheated in business deals, cheated in school, cheated in sports.

• People who gossip, hold grudges, cuss sometimes, lust, covet, do not give to the church, struggle with same-

sex attraction, struggle with forgiving someone who has hurt them, who live in constant bitterness, worry and

anxiety.

• People who have been divorced, in trouble with the law, been in jail or prison, been fired, been addicted to