Ordinary People Unleashed Series

An ordinary Sunday School teacher named Ed was concerned for a young man in his class named Dwight, so he shared Christ with him in the back room of a shoe store. Dwight got saved and eventually became a well-known evangelist. Years later, when preaching in the British Isles, Dwight told the story of Ed who led each of the boys in his Sunday School class to Christ. This inspired a pastor named Fred to share Christ with everyone he met. Once, when Fred was preaching, a man named Wilbur got saved, who became one of the most effective evangelists of his time.

A retired baseball player named Billy learned from Wilbur and started holding crusades. A group of Christians wanted him to come to Charlotte, but he was unable to make it, so another evangelist named Mordecai took his place. The crowds were small, but one night, a tall, lanky 16-year-old went forward to give his life to Christ. His name was Billy. Billy Graham went on to communicate the gospel with more people than anyone else in history. And it all started with a Sunday School teacher.

You may have heard of Billy Graham, Billy Sunday and D.L. Moody, but you probably haven’t heard much about Edward Kimball, Wilbur Chapman or Mordecai Hamm.

Turn in your Bibles to Acts 11:19-30. The main point of our message today is this: God loves to unleash the extraordinary through ordinary people.

Listen as I read.

19 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. 20 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. 21 And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed turned to the Lord. 22 The report of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. 23 When he came and saw the grace of God, he was glad, and he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose, 24 for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And a great many people were added to the Lord. 25 So Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, 26 and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they met with the church and taught a great many people. And in Antioch the disciples were first called Christians.

27 Now in these days prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. 28 And one of them named Agabus stood up and foretold by the Spirit that there would be a great famine over all the world (this took place in the days of Claudius). 29 So the disciples determined, every one according to his ability, to send relief to the brothers living in Judea. 30 And they did so, sending it to the elders by the hand of Barnabas and Saul.

God loves to unleash the extraordinary through ordinary people.

• The reason. We see the reason for this explosion of evangelism in verse 21: “And the hand of the Lord was with them…” In the Bible, God’s hand refers to His power to bring judgment or blessing. Here, it refers to bringing the blessing of salvation. Isaiah 59:1: “The arm of the Lord is not too short to save.”

• The results. Because God’s hand was with them, we read of great results in verse 21: “And a great number who believed turned to the Lord.” In verse 24, “a great many people were added to the Lord.” In verse 26 a “a great many people” were taught.

• The requirements. While God did the work for His glory and the growth of His church, these believers also lived out some requirements. As I studied this text, I realized these ordinary believers were involved in the same four focus areas that Edgewood is committed to: gathering, growing, giving and going with the gospel, all for the glory of God. Let’s take them in the order they appear in the passage.

1. Go with the gospel. Look at verse 19: “Now those who 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 8:4 puts this text into context: “Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word.” As believers scattered, set aflame and energized by the mighty Spirit of God, they sowed the seed of the gospel. As they scattered, they shared Jesus only with those from a Jewish background. Perhaps they hadn’t heard how God used Peter to reach the Roman soldier Cornelius and how God’s grace poured out on Gentiles in Caesarea.