INTRODUCTION
• SLIDE #1
• Have you ever wondered why you have tried to do something, but it did not seem to work?
• You put time and effort into the endeavor, yet at the end of the day, it just did not work.
• Then maybe you tried again with the same result, so after a while, you just gave up.
• As we continue with our ReBrand series, we are going to examine the subject of evangelism today.
• We called to share the message of Jesus with the world around us. Tom Sears talked about the Great Commission in Matthew 28:18-20 a couple of weeks ago and one of the things we learned from that message was the importance of going and making disciples.
• The book of Acts shows us how the Great Commission looks in HD.
• Acts provides us with an account of the early church’s spread and recounts the “acts of the apostles.” In other words, it gives us “the first page of the history of the Church” (G Campbell Morgan, The Acts of the Apostles [Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2012]
• The early church was growing by leaps and bounds.
• Why was the early church doing so well in the area of evangelism? They had no social media, no You Version Bible App?
• No big church signs, no big shiny new churches in which to worship.
• Yet throughout the book of Acts, we see a great deal of growth.
• I think from an intellectual standpoint, we all know we are called to reach people, yet the task seems so tricky.
• It seems as though forces are working against us, which is true.
• However, here is something for us to consider.
• Many times, we excuse our lack of success in the area of evangelism on the society in which we live.
• It is true that society is not too eager to embrace Jesus; however, the early church thrived in the same environment.
• The honest truth is that most societies are not eager to embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ.
• Last week as we looked at the 1 Corinthians 1, we saw the church was starting to have some issues, but at this point, the church in Jerusalem was going strong as well in some other areas.
• Today I want to suggest three things that the early church did to help make the evangelistic efforts succeed.
• The great thing about these three issues is that we still possess them today, we just need to make sure that these things are a part of our efforts to refocus our mission and purpose in the right direction.
• If all the churches strived to take advantage of these three issues, our efforts to reach lost people for Jesus would grow by leaps and bounds.
• Given the fact that the early church thrived in spite of their surrounding circumstances, if we refocus our efforts in the right direction, we too can succeed!
• If we can grasp onto the three facts we will share today, we too can be successful in our endeavor to reach a lost world!
• Today we are going to examine Acts 4:32-35.
• We will start with verse 32.
• SLIDE #2
• Acts 4:32 (CSB) — 32 Now the entire group of those who believed were of one heart and mind, and no one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but instead they held everything in common.
• SLIDE #3
SERMON
Our evangelism efforts are aided by…
I. A powerful witness.
• The early church possessed a powerful witness!
• Last week we talked about how damaging disunity would have on the efforts of the church to carry out her mission. The Corinthian church was struggling with division within the ranks.
• Well, the church at Jerusalem was showing us what unity looked like and how powerful of a witness a united church can be.
• These folks were laser beam focused on their mission, they were united in CHRIST, AND THIS UNITY GAVE THEM A POWERFUL WITNESS TO THE LOST WORLD AROUND THEM!
• We have a powerful weapon at our disposal, the weapon is the powerful witness of our unity.
• We spoke about how the Corinthian church was struggling with this concept, the Jerusalem church showed the world what unity looked like, and it became a powerful witness for Jesus!
• Now the entire group of those who believed were of one heart and mind,
• This one heart and one mind shows the depth of their unity.
• One heart is a phrase that indicates that they felt alike and were interested in the same things.
• The phrase represents the intellectual side of their Christian life!
• One SOUL or mind indicates the close, loving union these early believers enjoyed.
• These people have a deep love for one another based on their unity on behalf of Jesus.
• Taken together, the expression one in mind and heart may be expressed verbally as “they thought the same things and they wanted the same things.”
• These folks were not looking out for number one, they cared about one another.
• SLIDE #4
• Philippians 2:2–4 (CSB) — 2 make my joy complete by thinking the same way, having the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves. 4 Everyone should look out not only for his own interests but also for the interests of others.
• The powerful witness we see from the early church was the generosity they had toward one another.
• They did not just talk about unity, they displayed it.
• This is why unity cannot be commanded, it takes a right heart by all involved to make it happen.
• This is like when we do what we do for the Lord. If we do it with a bad attitude, it profits us nothing.
• These Christians were helping one another as the needs arose. This was not communism.
• Communism is, "What is yours is mine, and I will take it." By the way, socialism is not far off that point.
• Fellowship is, “What’s mine is yours; I’ll share it.”
• The unity on display was a powerful witness to the world around them.
• Let’s look at verse 33.
• SLIDE #5
• Acts 4:33 (CSB) — 33 With great power the apostles were giving testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was on all of them.
• SLIDE #6
Our evangelism efforts are aided by…
II. A powerful message.
• The next tool in the tool chest of the early church was with great power the Apostle were preaching the Word!
• Specifically, they were preaching on the resurrection!
• The phrase WITH GREAT POWER, could indicate that the Apostles were performing miracles, or it could refer to their preaching or both.
• I believe the focus of the great power was the message of the resurrected Jesus!
• This message would hit a nerve with the Sadducees who did not believe there was an afterlife.
• The message of Jesus was the primary message of the early church. They focused squarely on Jesus.
• The early church did not have social media, multi-media, or really anything fancy, they merely proclaimed the message of Jesus Christ.
• We touched on this last week a bit.
• What is one thing we have that nobody else has? It is the message of Jesus Christ, it is the fact that Jesus is the son of God and that He died for our sins and rose on the third day and is seated at the right hand of the father.
• Look, anyone can preach pop psychology (and I am not against psychology.
• Anyone can put on a multi-media show that will knock your socks off, and I am not against that either.
• We can have cool church name, cool signs, cool multi-media presentations, awesome music; however, which I think is excellent; however, if we neglect the message, we are wasting a powerful tool!
• When the verse tells us that great grace was on all of them, this refers to God’s favor.
• The church had it right!
• They were united in spirit, heart, and mission, and God was blessing them.
• The preached a message without compromise, without fear, even though some were beaten for doing so (Acts 5:40).
• Our efforts to reach the lost today will be significantly aided by us understanding that we have to share the gospel of Jesus Christ to be able to save people and see them transformed!
• Let’s look at verses 34-35.
• SLIDE #7
• Acts 4:34–35 (CSB) — 34 For there was not a needy person among them because all those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the proceeds of what was sold, 35 and laid them at the apostles’ feet. This was then distributed to each person as any had need.
• SLIDE #8
Our evangelism efforts are aided by…
III. Powerful love.
• This ties back to the first point concerning a powerful witness. That witness was built on unity, and that unity was based on a powerful love for one another that led folks to sacrificially give to help anyone within the church who had a need.
• It is one thing to give a couple of dollars to help someone, it is another thing to be willing to sell your stuff, lay it at the feet of the apostles so they could use it to help those within the church who had need.
• One thing to consider, there was basically no safety net for those who were in need, or for the widows.
• If their families did nothing for them, they had nothing.
• By the way, this was not a system where they did anything for someone who was looking for a free ride, they helped all who had need.
• In 2 Thessalonians 3:10, Paul writes:
• SLIDE #9
• 2 Thessalonians 3:10 (CSB) — 10 In fact, when we were with you, this is what we commanded you: “If anyone isn’t willing to work, he should not eat.”
• These folks loved each other enough to serve each other, to sacrificially give to help one another.
• We are blessed to have a generous, loving church here at FCC.
• When folks know of a need, they will do the best they can to step up to help meet the need.
• I want to say something about love.
• When Jesus was being beaten within an inch of His life, what kept Him in the fight?
• LOVE. When he was being scorned on the cross, what prompted Him to say concerning those who beat Him, spit on Him, and scorned Him, FATHER, FORGIVE THEM FOR THEY KNOW NOT WHAT THEY DO!
• LOVE!
• One thing the world is looking for from us is love.
• We have to show love to our Church family, and to our family at home.
• It is a terrible witness when we do not love each other, or if we do not love our spouses.
• These people were MOTIVATED by love!
• I pray we are motivated by the same!
CONCLUSION
• Each one of us has a difficult, job to do for God. The church has a difficult task to do for God.
• We have some powerful weapons at our disposal that can help us to be successful in what God has called us to do!
• I love this church so much, I love the people so much. I want the world to see how beautiful this church, and all you folks are.
• Let's tell the world what a great Savior and Lord we serve!
