Date Written: April 18, 2006
Date Preached: April 19, 2006
Where Preached: OZHBC (Wed - PM Service)
Sermon Details:
Series Title: Basic Bible Studies
Sermon Title: Taking a stand for the Gospel
Sermon Text: Acts 14:1-7
Introduction:
I want to ask you a question tonight… is it important for believers to take a stand for the Gospel of Jesus Christ? I believe that without reservation ALL of us here would say, “Why yes, preacher, it is very important!”
But I challenge to today to see that for MANY believers it is NOT as important as it should be to them. But how can this be? Jesus calls ALL believers to be ‘salt and light’ in our generation… to the world…
We can only be the salt and light that Christ commands when we take a stand for the Gospel of Christ. Tonight our passage takes us straight into the 1st missionary journey of Paul… and Paul and Barnabas were facing great resistance and persecution in their ministry… but we find that they were consistently standing up for and standing firm in the truth of the Gospel… regardless of what it meant for them…
Let’s look at our passage of Scripture (Acts 14:1-7) read passage here…
Tonight I want us to look at 3 reasons why it is important for us as believers to ‘TAKE A STAND FOR THE GOSPEL’!
1. OUR STANCE FOR THE GOSPEL ATTRACTS THE LOST:
When we look back at the Apostle Paul we can find no record of his ‘attractiveness’… now I am not speaking about how good looking he was, but what I am speaking about is that he did not come into town with a big ‘dog and pony’ show that ‘wowed the people’ into coming to see what he was all about…
Paul and Barnabas did not have lots of money… they did not have big attractions… but what they did have was the Gospel! And they consistently preached it… and because of that many received Christ as Savior!
In fact, because of their faithfulness to the Gospel we find that people actually were begging Paul to come to their city… or to their region to preach… they begged for me and whole cities came to hear the Gospel because of Paul and Barnabas…
Why were they so attracted to this seemingly ‘unattractive’ man… it was the zeal in which he proclaimed the truth of God’s word… People were attracted and drawn to Paul because of his genuineness…people saw this and they wanted what he had…
When people see us taking a stand for the Gospel… when people see that the Gospel is not simply some message we proclaim but it is a life that we live… that we truly believe and trust in it… it begin to attract them.
When was the last time someone asked you about the hope that is in you? When is the last time someone asked you about why you live like you do? If it has been a while… take a stand for the Gospel and that may change very quickly…
2. OUR STANCE FOR THE GOSPEL ENCOURAGES OTHER BELIEVERS:
In our passage tonight we can see that the opposition at Iconium was directed not just at Paul and Barnabas but at the entire community of believers…
But we can see that in v.3 that this is the very reason why the Apostle stayed and spoke boldly about their faith and the Gospel of Christ. They wanted to encourage other believers…
This is why God gave Paul and Barnabas confirmation of their ministry through signs and wonders… God was giving them His stamp of approval for all the other believers to see… a stamp that was to encourage them to be faithful and steadfast in their walk as well…
And because of this stamp of approval, many Christian were emboldened and they sided with the Apostles… and they began to take a stand for the Gospel… even in the face of hostility…
When we take a stand for the Gospel, we encourage other believers to do so as well and the end result is that more people are exposed to the Gospel because the Gospel is shared by more believers.
3. OUR STANCE FOR THE GOSPEL DEFINES WHO WE ARE:
Have you ever heard the phrase, “You have to stand for something or you will fall for ANYTHING!”
We find the writer of Acts, the Physician Luke using a term to describe the Apostle Paul and Barnabas… He said that they were ‘set aside’ by God for the proclamation of the Gospel… in other words the Gospel was THE defining element in their lives…
It defined them, it was their life… it was their choice… And it was their stance on the Gospel that divided Iconium and thereby thoroughly defined those who truly believed from those who were wishy-washy…
So the question remains… are you going to stand tall for the sake of the Gospel? Will you stand up where others have failed to do so?
Do you believe that you have been set aside for the purpose of God’s Work? …for God’s kingdom purposes? If you do… then you have to realize that you MUST take a stand for the Gospel… you must stand on the Gospel and allow IT to define you and not allow yourself to define the Gospel…
