Shall We Gather At The River? Series

SHALL WE GATHER AT THE RIVER

Text: Acts 16:11-15

Introduction

1. Illustration: One afternoon in July of 1864, pastor Dr. Lowry of the Hanson Place Baptist Church, in Brooklyn, N.Y. wrote the hymn “Shall We Gather at the River.” This old hymn became a favorite of film maker John Ford, and is featured in Westerns like, “My Darling Clementine,” “Three Godfathers,” “Wagon Master,” and “The Searchers.” So, basically if you’ve ever watched an old Western that had a church service, you’ve heard this hymn. The chorus to the hymn says, “Yes, we shall gather at the river, the beautiful, the beautiful river, gather with the saints at the river that flows by the throne of God.”

2. The Apostle Paul could have very easily sung this song, if it had been written in his day, because he went down to the river and preached the Good News, and the Holy Spirit used him as he opened the hearts of people.

3. But the key here is that Paul went where the people were gathered and told them about Jesus.

4. Read Acts 16:11-15

Transition: The first key to evangelism (telling people about Jesus) is…

I. Go to Where the People Are (11-13).

A. Where People Would be Meeting for Prayer

1. Luke shows us in this section the need for us to go where the people we are trying to reach are. He tells us in vv. 11-12, “We boarded a boat at Troas and sailed straight across to the island of Samothrace, and the next day we landed at Neapolis. 12 From there we reached Philippi, a major city of that district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. And we stayed there several days.”

a. This group of missionaries traveled across the Aegean Sea from Troas to Samothrace, which was a small island in the Aegean.

b. This was a common stopover for ships because captains would rather dock there than face the hazards of the sea at night.

c. Next, they stopped at a town called Neapolis, which was the port city for Philippi.

d. Then they took to ten-mile hike down the Ignatian Way, which was a famous Roman road that ran from east to west. Some cobbled section of this road still exists today.

e. Now, Philippi was a major city of the district, although it was not the capital.

f. It had mountains on every side and its port city of Neapolis, it has originally been an important city in the Greek empire.

g. Luke tells us they stayed there for several days.

2. Once in Philippi, the missionaries went to where the people were located. In v. 13, Luke tells us, “On the Sabbath we went a little way outside the city to a riverbank, where we thought people would be meeting for prayer, and we sat down to speak with some women who had gathered there.”

a. On the arches outside the city there was written a prohibition against bringing an unrecognized religion into the city.

b. There was also a rule among the Jews that you had to have at least ten men to establish a Synagogue. So, the Jewish community there must have been small.

c. It is reasonable to assume this is why they went to the riverbank for the prayer meeting because it was outside of the city.

d. Now, it was always Paul’s custom when he went into a new community to preach, he always went to the synagogue.

e. So, when there wasn’t one, he went to the riverbank.

f. Notice that Paul went to where the people were located.

g. He didn’t expect them to come to him, but he went to them.

h. In doing so he was able to speak to a group of women gathered there for prayer.

i. He was able to minister to them because he was willing to go where they were gathered.

j. Also notice that they didn’t preach at them, but they just sat down and started talking to them.

k. All it takes is starting a conversation.

B. Urge Anyone You Find

1. Illustration: When Tina and I were in Bible college, we took a class on evangelism. The professor gave us several simple sayings that talked about evangelism. One of my favorites said, “Evangelism is just one friend telling another friend about THE friend.”

2. The first key to evangelism is going to where people are gathered and tell them about Jesus.

a. So his master said, ‘Go out into the country lanes and behind the hedges and urge anyone you find to come, so that the house will be full. (Lk. 14:23).

b. The Church has made a serious mistake for years (I don’t mean our church, but the Church in general), that we expect people to just come to us.