SCATTERED ABROAD
Acts 8:1-4
Several years ago Billy Graham preached in the first London Crusade. The response was so great that all of England was affected in someway. The common man who had almost forgotten the church flocked to hear Billy preach about JESUS.
Many ministers were saved while others repented of having neglected the preaching of the Word. However, some of the more liberal churchmen were very disturbed about the kind of preaching Billy did and the people he reached. They saw it as a cultural set back for the church. A spokesman for the liberal churchmen was quoted as saying "Billy Graham has set the church back 200 years." When Billy Graham was told about the man’s comment, he replied, "If I have set the church back 200 years I am very sorry because it was not my goal or intention to set the church back 200 years. In fact, if I have set the church back 200 years I have failed." You see the goal of the Billy Graham Association is to take the church back 1900 years. If we only take it back 200 years. . .we have failed.
The New Testament age occurred some 1900 years ago. I want us to take a look at how the early church witnessed. It is my desire for us to recapture that early commitment and spirit.
On the day of Pentecost, God put the fire of the Gospel into the heart of these believers.
They were commanded to take this fire everywhere even unto the ends of the earth.
The book of Acts is an outline how they carried this fire. Chapters 1-7, in Jerusalem, Chapters 8-12, in Judea and Samaria, and Chapters 13-28, to the ends of the earth.
I-NOTICE THE PERSUCTION OF THE BELIEVERS: 1A
And Saul was consenting unto his death. And at that time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem;
Now these are strange words to us for we are accustomed to people praising the Church in general.
I read about a preacher who was traveling in Florida who said, the sign in motel where he stayed read, Our Town Is Proud Of Our Churches.
A-We See It Predicated By The Saviour: Mark 10:30
But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life.
We say we believe the Bible, we believe the words of Jesus. Well sometimes its truths are true but they are not pleasant.
Jesus made it very plain that it would not be easy to follow Him. He didn’t promise us a walk in a rose garden but here in this Scripture, he promised we would have persecutions.
John Wesley was riding along a road one day when it dawned on him that three whole days had passed in which he had suffered no persecution. Not a brick or an egg had been thrown at him for three days. Alarmed, he stopped his horse, and exclaimed, “Can it be that I have sinned, and am backslidden?” Slipping from his horse, Wesley went down on his knees and began interceding with God to show him where, if any, there had been a fault. A rough fellow, on the other side of the hedge, hearing the prayer, looked across and recognized the preacher. “I’ll fix that Methodist preacher,” he said, picking up a brick and tossing it over at him. It missed its mark, and fell harmlessly beside John. Whereupon Wesley leaped to his feet joyfully exclaiming, “Thank God, it’s all right. I still have His presence.”
In ancient Rome, crowds by the tens of thousands would gather in the Colosseum to watch as Christians were torn apart by wild animals. Paul Rader, commenting on his visit to this famous landmark, said, "I stood uncovered to the heavens above, where He sits for whom they gladly died, and asked myself, ’Would I, could I, die for Him tonight to get this gospel to the ends of the earth?’" Rader continued, "I prayed most fervently in that Roman arena for the spirit of a martyr, and for the working of the Holy Spirit in my heart, as He worked in Paul’s heart when He brought him on his handcuffed way to Rome." Those early Christians "lived on the threshold of heaven, within a heartbeat of home, no possessions to hold them back."
B-We See It Pictured By Stephen: 2
“And devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation over him”
Stephen, must have been a tremendous man of God. Not an apostle. Not a preacher. He’s a deacon. But, he spoke with such unction and such power, that they were not able to withstand the wisdom by which he testified. And because of his preaching, they stoned him to death.
These religious leaders were disturbed by people like Stephen, for he was real and showed them up. They were fake
If you live for Jesus and obey His commandments, you are always going to disturb some people.
So Stephen was killed and now he was buried, but God raised up another deacon name Phillip (verse 5) who would bring about revival in Samaria
W.A. Criswell told the story about a missionary to the Belgian Congo who died from jungle fever. When word of his death came back to the School he had received his religious training from, 60 men and women volunteered to take his place, Also in his home Church 13 boys and girls surrendered to be missionaries there
C-We See It Practiced By Saul;(Paul) 3
"And as for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering into every house and haling men and women, committed them to prison."
Notice what the living Bible version of this verse, “Paul was like a wild man going everywhere to ravage the believers, even entering into private homes and dragging out men and women alike and jailing them.
Saul seems to the leader for he is mentioned three times in this persecution.
There is a third century A.D. letter, written to one Donatus, which shows the remarkable life of the early Christians—“If I should ascend some high mountain, you know what I would see—armies fighting, brigands on the highways, pirates on the seas, men murdered in the amphitheater to please the applauding multitudes.
“But in the midst of this, I have found a quiet and holy people. They are persecuted, but they care not. They have found a joy a thousand times greater than any pleasure. These people are the masters of their own souls. They are the Christians, and I am one of them.”
Two-thirds of the population of the world today is just like that . There are scores--and we do not know how many--Baptist pastors and preachers who are rotting in dungeons today behind Iron and Bamboo Curtains, suffering tragedy.
When Hitler invaded Russia on June 22, 1941, he already had trained Orthodox priests standing ready to take over and operate the churches throughout the newly-acquired territory. In addition, he broadcast in the Russian language that religion would soon be completely free throughout the Soviet Union. What a caricature of the truth: Adolf Hitler, Liberator of Religion! At that moment 1,300 German pastors were behind bars in his own Reich.
II-NOTICE THE PARTING OF THE BELIEVERS:1B
and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judaea and Samaria, except the apostles.
Because of this persecution, they were scattered abroad like scattering seed. And like scattered seed, they reproduced, that is producing more Christians.
A-This Scattering Was A Personal Burden:
They had to leave their home, their jobs, their friends and etc.
Some in our day sing, “Wherever you lead, I will follow”. But in reality, they won’t even leave their own front yard.
If we are to make a difference in world today, we must lay our personal burdens, our sin burdens down and follow Jesus.
The army of Alexander the Great was advancing on Persia. At one critical point, it appeared that his troops might be defeated. The soldiers had taken so much plunder from their previous campaigns that they had become weighted down and were losing their effectiveness in combat. Alexander commanded that all the spoils be thrown into a heap and burned. The men complained bitterly but soon saw the wisdom of the order. Someone wrote, "It was as if wings had been given to them—they walked lightly again." Victory was assured.
As soldiers of Christ, we must rid ourselves of anything that hinders us in the conflict with our spiritual enemy. To fight the battle effectively, we must be clad only with the armor of God (Ephesians 6:11-17).
B-This Scattering Was A Providential Blessing:
Their enemies had meant for it to be bad, but God meant it to be a blessing.
They had thought they had smothered the fire of the Gospel but in reality, they were been used of God to carry the fire.
Pastor J. H. Crowell, when about sixteen, shipped on a sailing vessel, where he was the only Christian, in a crew of twelve. Before leaving his mother he promised to meet her three times a day at the throne of grace. So regularly he went below and prayed aloud. He thought he must. They threw wood at him and poured buckets of water over him, but could not put out the fire in his soul. Then they tied him to the mast and laid thirty-nine stripes on his back. Still he prayed. They tied a rope around his body and threw him overboard. He swam as best he could, and when he took hold of the side of the ship they pushed him off with a pole. At last his strength gave way, and, supposing they meant to kill him, he prayed that God would forgive them, and called out: "Send my body to my mother and tell her that I died for Jesus." He was then pulled on deck unconscious, but after some time came to. Conviction began to seize the sailors. Before night two of them were gloriously converted. Inside of a week every one on board, including the captain, was blessedly saved
III-NOTICE THE PREACHING OF THE BELIEVERS: 4
Therefore they that were scattered abroad went every where preaching the word.
A-Notice Who Did The Preaching:4A
Therefore they that were scattered abroad
There was a young fellow, talking to another young fellow, trying to get him to be a witness for Christ. And, the other one, the one to whom appeal was being made, belonged to a church that you call Hardshell. They were non-missionary, non-soul-winning. And, the young fellow, in making appeal to him that he ought to be a soul-winner--he ought to testify to the grace of God--making that appeal to him, his friend used this passage of Acts 8:4: "They that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the Word.” All of us ministers of Christ, witnesses to the Lord--And you ought to be.
And, the young fellow who belonged to that non-missionary, non-progressive, non-soul-winning Hardshell church said, "Nay, but that refers to the apostles. The commission was given to the apostles. They were to go into all of the world and preach the gospel to every creature. That applies to the apostles. The commission was given to them, and they faithfully carried it out in their lifetime and in their generation. That passage refers to the apostles." And, then, the young fellow said, "Would you read the first verse?"
So, he read the first verse, "At that time there was a great persecution at the church which was at Jerusalem. And they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles." Except the apostles.
All of us are to be witnesses to the grace of God in Christ Jesus. Don’t ever persuade yourself that we will win the world to Christ by paid preachers and paid missionaries. It never was so. It isn’t now. It never will be so. -WA Criswell
That little band, facing a world of idolatry and heathenism, won the entire civilized Greco-Roman Empire to the Christian faith. How did they do that? They did it because all of the community of Christians were preachers and ministers and missionaries and witnesses.
There was a man who was asked, "What do you do for a living? What is your job?" And he replied, "I am an attorney-at-law to pay expenses. But my business is, and my job is, witnessing to and serving the Lord Jesus."
B-Notice Where They Did The Preaching:4B
went every where preaching
The early Christians believed that they had good news to share. They believed that everybody needed to hear this good news so everywhere they went, they shared what Jesus had done for them.
When they went before Kings and governors they shared Jesus. When they went to a synagogue they shared Jesus. When they went to the marketplace they shared Jesus. If they were in jail. . .they shared Jesus.
Persecution didn’t stop them, it only gave them opportunities to share Jesus in a new location. Irregardless of where they moved, or how uprooted they were they shared JESUS.
When they moved, they packed up their Christianity too.
I heard a preacher say one time he was visiting a family during a revival. He asked them about their Church membership. They told him they were still looking for a Church to join. He asked them how long how they been looking, They said 20 years?
Notice the text says, ‘everywhere” . Some have a vision for mission are farsighted. They weep and cry for the pagan but would not do this concerning those in their own community. Some have a vision for mission are nearsighted. They are only concerned about where they live. We need to be concerned about both.
C-Notice What They Were Preaching:4C
the word.
They took the Words of Jesus serious. They took the great commission of Jesus serious to go into the world and win souls.
Churches can ignore it, argue about it, disobey it, but it still in the Book, we are go and proclaim Jesus to the world.
W.A. Criswell-I remember, as a young man, the pastor of the First Baptist Church in Amarillo, a gifted and marvelous minister of the Word of God, resigning that affluent pulpit and going north, accepting an assignment in the north. And, when he was asked the reason why he resigned his pulpit and accepted that responsibility in the north, he gave an illustration that burned itself in my soul. A survey had been made in the northern part of the United States. And, the official report was this: There are 7,000 churches with 7,000 pastors who, last year that he was speaking of--last year preached 526,000 sermons without a single convert and without a single baptism.
Can you imagine? Could you conceive of a harsher indictment against the clergy than that: 7,000 preachers, pastoring 7,000 churches, delivering 526,000 sermons and not a convert, not one
Conclusion-Years ago Roger Hornsby became the manager of the St. Louis Cardinals baseball team. They had finished last the year before. During Spring training, the manager said, "Gentlemen, we are going to win the pennant this year." Some of the players laughed. The manager said, "I will be happy to trade any man who does not think this team can win the championship." As I remember. . .two men were traded, and the Cardinals won the championship, and beat the New York Yankees in the world series. The attitude of the manager made the difference. Dr James McCullen
How is your attitude toward missions? Wining the lost? Your attitude of loving Jesus and obeying Him, and your attitude of compassion toward the lost will make a difference in our world today.
