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evangelism

The Book of Acts: The Life of Paul, A Witness

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One prominent theme of the book of Acts is that of being a witness. See how Paul’s life demonstrates that being a witness precedes the act of witnessing.

Discussion Questions

– What’s the connection between Acts 1:8 and Acts 28:23?
– What is a witness? Compare a firsthand eyewitness of an accident versus someone who hears about the accident from the evening news.
– Being a witness is different from someone who does witnessing. Explain the distinction (include the topic of identity).
– What is significant about Paul’s conversion in Acts 9? How does it mirror your own salvation? How does this conversion relate to the theme of being a witness?
– We tend to focus on Paul the minister, the church planter, the missionary extraordinaire. We focus on his works and try to imitate what he did. Why do churches like focusing on work? Our training is heavily tilted toward being effective workers and learning witnessing techniques vs. training the people on how to be a witness who hears the voice of the Lord. There is a huge imbalance. Do you agree or disagree?
– When you envision a spiritually mature person in a typical church setting, what comes to mind?
– Our conversion began with hearing God’s voice, yet isn’t it ironic that post-salvation, we rarely train the people of God to continue to hear His voice? What happens when we lose our hunger to hear the voice of God? If the hunger to hear the voice of God is lost, then what will our faith devolve into?
– If you look at the pattern of Paul’s life, in many instances, you see that God spoke first and then obedience happened. Here are some examples:

  • God spoke to Cornelius/Peter, then Peter goes to Cornelius’ house (Acts 11);
  • God spoke to Agabus, then Christians in Antioch sent relief to Christians in Judea (Acts 11);
  • God spoke to set apart Paul and Barnabas, then they left to minister to the proconsul (Acts 13:1-4);
  • the Holy Spirit blocked Paul and Timothy from ministering in Asia and Paul receives a Macedonian vision, then they go to Philippi and Lydia is converted (Acts 16:6-10);
  • Paul leaves a thriving ministry in Ephesus because the Holy Spirit told him to go to Jerusalem, then Paul obeys and says farewell (Acts 20:18b-23);
  • the timing of when Paul goes to Jerusalem was controlled by the Holy Spirit so Paul waited a few days and then left (Acts 21:4);
  • the Lord spoke to Paul regarding his future and then this word of the Lord regarding Paul’s future was confirmed by Agabus and then Paul obeys (Acts 21:10-14);
  • the Lord gives Paul the next marching orders–after Jerusalem, you need to go to Rome and Paul obeys, appealing to Caesar and eventually getting his wish (Acts 23:11);
  • an angel of the Lord reassures Paul while he is on a ship in the middle of a severe storm and then Paul speaks courage to the rest of the crew (Acts 27:22-25)

– Read Acts 28:23-27. Paul shares a prophecy from Isaiah 6. There are 3 groups of people: 1) those who get it, 2) those who get it and continue to get it and 3) those who got it at first but along the way they stopped understanding and stopped perceiving.
– Define the pattern of someone who is a true witness.

Matt 24 – End Times: Missions, Faithful Service, Perseverance, and Watchful Readiness (pt3 of 3)

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Here are some Tier 1 applications. Two are public applications (how we treat others) and two are personal (how we prepare ourselves to meet the coming Christ).

1) The Importance of Evangelism and Missions

14 This good news of the kingdom will be proclaimed in all the world as a testimony to all nations. And then the end will come.

Jesus left us with the Great Commission and he expects us to go to all nations preaching the good news of the kingdom. And it sounds almost like, once every nation has heard the good news, then the end will come. The question is, how many people groups are left who have never heard the gospel? If you define people groups to be ethnic, linguistic peoples without reference to country boundaries, then there’s about 10,000 remaining. If all Christians and all churches got serious about the Great Commission, we could reach every last group in our lifetime. In light of the imminent day of the Lord, we at the Hill have to do our part to reach those who haven’t been reached.

This relates to our next public application–

2) Faithful Service

45 “Who then is a faithful and sensible slave, whom his master has put in charge of his household, to give them food at the proper time? 46 That slave whose master finds him working when he comes will be rewarded. 47 I assure you: He will put him in charge of all his possessions. 48 But if that wicked slave says in his heart, ‘My master is delayed,’ 49 and starts to beat his fellow slaves, and eats and drinks with drunkards, 50 that slave’s master will come on a day he does not expect and at an hour he does not know. 51 He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

A wicked slave thinks, my master is delayed. He won’t be back for a while. It’s like at work, your boss is out of the office so you relax a bit. This wicked slave relaxes a bit too much. Not only does he eat and drink with drunkards, he just wants to enjoy life and have a good time, but also, this wicked slave mistreats and even beats the other slaves.

Then, the master suddenly appears at the door. He sees the drunkenness and he sees the pain inflicted on the other slaves and the master takes the slave whom he entrusted and throws him into a place where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. In light of the imminent day of the Lord, let’s serve our master faithfully and treat each other lovingly.

Now we get to the personal applications.

3) The Importance of Perseverance

Tribulation is a general term referring to the hardships and sufferings that God’s people will always have to pass through. Tribulation is a rite of passage for the believer.

Matt 24
21 For at that time there will be great tribulation, the kind that hasn’t taken place from the beginning of the world until now and never will again! 22 Unless those days were limited, no one would survive. But those days will be limited because of the elect.

Acts 14
22 …“It is necessary to pass through many troubles (or tribulations) on our way into the kingdom of God.”

2 Thess 1
3 We must always thank God for you, brothers. This is right, since your faith is flourishing and the love each one of you has for one another is increasing. 4 Therefore, we ourselves boast about you among God’s churches—about your endurance and faith in all the persecutions and afflictions you endure. 5 It is a clear evidence of God’s righteous judgment that you will be counted worthy of God’s kingdom, for which you also are suffering, 6 since it is righteous for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you 7 and to reward with rest you who are afflicted, along with us. This will take place at the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven with His powerful angels, 8 taking vengeance with flaming fire on those who don’t know God and on those who don’t obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.

Tribulation is necessary for us to fellowship with Christ in his sufferings and tribulation is necessary for our personal sanctification. And it is expected that true believers will survive whatever tribulations come our way and endure to the end.

Matt 24
13 But the one who endures to the end will be delivered.

Examine your life. What trips you up? What derails your faith? Not sleeping enough. Getting a bad grade. Getting yelled at by your boss. Having indigestion? What trips you up? We need to toughen up because harder times are coming and if little things trip us up now, we won’t make it when difficult tribulation comes.

4) Watchful Readiness

I want to end with a story. When I was a kid, I loved it when my parents went to Bible study. No, it wasn’t because I was concerned about their spiritual lives. It was because my brother and I stayed home alone. My parents expected that we would be studying I guess for the entire evening but when the cat is away, the mice come out to play. We watched TV several hours straight. It was the 80s and back then, we had one of those gargantuan Zenith TV boxes which weigh about 100 pounds and the screen was like 20 inches. Not only was the TV huge, but it got really hot.

So around 11pm to midnight, I’d be watching but I’d have one ear listening for the car door slam. When I heard it, I knew I had roughly 15 seconds to wipe down the TV with a damp cloth to cool it off. I was watchful and ready.

The whole point of my watchfulness was to avoid punishment. And there is a sense in which we are watchful for the Lord’s coming because we don’t want to get into trouble, but it’s more than that. Even being watchful in order to avoid punishment as a motivation is better than nothing. Most people are not watchful at all because hey, nobody can predict when Jesus will return so why bother? We are not watchful. Quite the opposite, we live carelessly.

For the true believer, we are watchful and responsible and faithful in our service in part because we don’t want to get in trouble in the same way that an employee might have relaxed at work for a few days while the boss was away but the day before the boss returns, you better get everything in order.

Avoidance of punishment is not the sole motivator for our watchfulness. We are watchful because we are waiting for him.

Heb 9
27 And just as it is appointed for people to die once—and after this, judgment— 28 so also the Messiah, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for Him.

Are you waiting for Jesus? Do you long for his appearing? If so, you will be watchful and ready, no matter when he comes.

Five Tips for Church Planters Part Two – Personal

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As part of the NAMB Send LA team, check out my blog post.

1) Be salty.

Evangelism is not something you can preach about once a year. Evangelism should never be relegated to a particular committee or team. It has to be central. The Great Commission was Jesus’ marching orders for the church. Being salt and light happens naturally for those who are growing spiritually. You don’t have to twist a healthy Christian’s arm to evangelize. It will spill out and overflow from our lives.

How much more for you, the pastor? You accepted a call to be a church planter because at one point, your heart broke for the lost and you wanted to make a difference. Don’t let the busyness of church life squeeze out your witness. If you want your church to be evangelistic, you need to lead by example.

2) Develop thick(er) skin.

When I was a regular church member or even a leader, I found it easy to criticize the pastor. I thought I was just offering an opinion. Now that I am a pastor, my eyes have been opened to the emotional, mental and spiritual drain that comes when you are the object of criticism.

I always thought I could handle criticism. “I don’t care what others think of me.” Not true. My desire to please others, even my critics, has caused much pain on both sides. If you don’t developer thick skin, you are not going to last long. I have found it helpful to preach the gospel to myself on a regular basis and to meditate on passages like Colossians 3 and Ephesians 4.

3) Be prepared to serve in the mundane.

As a planter in a small church plant, you are under-resourced. This means you will have to wear many hats. You will have to be preacher, teacher, e-mailer, event coordinator, Webmaster, encourager and toilet cleaner. Many of these things will be hidden from view. I have to remind myself that Jesus came to serve, not to be served. There is no task too small for you. Learn to be a servant as you serve people through mundane tasks. Teach your leaders to be servants and transition some of these tasks off your plate as the church grows.

4) Resist the fiefdom mentality.

Whenever you watch a celebrity pastor, I know what you are thinking. “Man, I’ve got a lot of work to do!” Or, “How long and how fast can I grow this thing?” It’s dangerous to think this way because your focus is on yourself and your fiefdom.

Fight against self-centeredness. Find other local pastors. Learn from them. Work together to reach people. We share a building with another church, and we did Harvest America together. We’re all on the same team, and we serve one God. Broaden your perspective from your fiefdom, your church, to God’s kingdom, His (universal) church.

Intentionally do things that help others but don’t directly help your ministry. For example, I volunteer to preach at a home for the elderly in our neighborhood once a month. There is no chance that these elderly grandmothers will ever step foot into our church. I take that back—one Sunday, one of the more mobile grandmothers came to our service, but she left after the praise time because she said it was too loud! Serving outside our local church is good training for us young pastors who like to see numbers and our Twitter-follower count rising.

5) Fight to keep your love for Jesus fresh.

This lesson is the most important on the list. If you stop growing in your relationship with Jesus, you have nothing to give to your church. Carve out time with Jesus early in the morning before you work on your sermon or meet someone. Find out what works for you. Listening to a good praise song inspires me. I also find prayer walks or walking while reading Scripture helps me to focus when I have been sitting in front of a computer all day.