Our Awesome Responsibility (Sermon On Missions)

For example:

• We know some people who are always getting into a fight or a dispute with someone, no matter where they go. Why? Because they go around looking for trouble and they find it!

• We know some people who go to church, and every time there is a church dispute, you can rest assured they are in the middle of it. Why? Because they are always looking for an opportunity to be involved in such things.

• We know some Christians who are always winning people to the Lord. Why? Because they are always looking for an opportunity to win someone to Christ.

Yes, one of the rules in life is that we generally receive what we are looking for.

When many read the Book of Acts, all they see is:

• GREAT MIRACLES PERFORMED

• GREAT HEALINGS

• DEAD RAISED

• SNAKE HANDLING AT ITS BEST

Many see these things as they read the Book of Acts because this what they are looking for, and this is what they find. It is sad that they don’t see the most important thing in the book of Acts, BECAUSE THEY ARE NOT LOOKING FOR IT!

What they need to see is the theme behind the book of Acts.

WHAT IS THE THEME FOR THE BOOK OF ACTS? It is THE REACHING OF THE LOST.

The church has been given the mission of reaching the Lost for Christ.

Let’s take a good look at the Book of Acts, that begins after the Great Commission, to see what we must be doing as an INDIVIDUAL and as a CHURCH.

First, let us look at-

I. THE PURPOSE OF MISSIONS IN THE BOOK OF ACTS

Look at Acts 28: 26-27, we read, “Saying, Go unto this people, and say, Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and not perceive: For the heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed; lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.”

This is no easy mission that we, as the church, have been given. For example, in the reaching of the Jews, the Lord said they would:

1. Hear, but they would not understand

2. See, but they will not be able to see

• Why will they hear but not understand what they hear?

• Why will they be able to see, but yet spiritually they are blind?

He says because of two things:

1. Their ears are dull of hearing

2. Their eyes are closed because they do not want to be converted

This is what makes evangelism difficult, because we are having to deal with people with ears that are DULL OF HEARING and with EYES THAT ARE CLOSED!

Illus: A salesman comes to your house, and before he opens his mouth, you have already made up your mind that you are not “Buying” what he has to sell.

When this is the case, the salesman’s task become more difficult.

It is even more difficult for a salesman, when he pulls up at the front door and they go out the back door.

The lost world today is not running TO God, they are running FROM God as fast as they can run.

We Christians have been given an awesome responsibility. We must go to a lost world that is DULL OF HEARING AND THEY DO NOT WANT TO SEE THE TRUTH. This makes our mission almost next to impossible.

A. THERE IS A DEBT TO BE PAID

According to the Word of God, every Christian is a DEBTOR TO THE LOST WORLD. That is, we owe them the gospel.

Look at Rom. 1:14 16, Paul said, “I am debtor both to the Greeks, and to the Barbarians; both to the wise, and to the unwise. So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also. For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.”

Notice, the apostle Paul recognizes this debt. He said, “I am debtor…”

It is important that we know that we are DEBTORS, but also who we owe this DEBT to!

Paul tells us, he said, “I am a debtor to the Greeks, and to the Barbarians; both to the wise, and to the unwise.”

Every human on the face of the earth fits into one of these categories. And we owe every one of them the gospel. This is not a annual debt, monthly debt, or weekly debt, this is a DAILY DEBT that we owe to mankind.