Acts 1:7–8
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Well, I've come to the realization that often I set my children up for failure. Now, don't get me wrong. We take our kids to church. We have done everything we can to bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. But so many times the things that I've done as a father have set them up for failure. I think of Isabella learning how to drive.
I think I got her out on the highway too quickly, right? She wasn't comfortable behind the wheel. I got her out there and she increased speed. And as she did, of course, I'd grab the wheel or overreact. And it was just not a good scenario for either one of us. And then one time I even tricked her and got her out on the expressway. She was not ready, and she was not happy with me. It was completely my fault. She did okay, but then I think of the times where we've been at places where it may not be appropriate to spit ice through a straw at your kids, and then they do it and get in trouble, and I skirt off like Neo, dodging trouble like those bullets.
Our Heavenly Father does not set us up for failure. Our verse this evening is Acts chapter 1, verses 7 and 8. And that is directly a contradiction to that because this shows us how God sets us up for success. Acts chapter 1, verses 7 and 8 is found in the front of your bulletin or page 909 of the Red Pew Bible that's either in front of you or in the chair beneath you.
And as you're turning there, I just want to kind of get us to speed where we're at in Acts. We're not very far in Acts. It's the first chapter. They're the seventh and eighth verse. But here so far, the book of Acts, it's the sequel to Luke's gospel. This is where Luke continues this thought with Theophilus, this, I want you to know for sure the certainty of Jesus and his works. And then the book of Acts goes on to show the acts of the Holy Spirit as the gospel is proclaimed through the early church.
And even our second verse there, verse 8, Alex mentioned this morning during the call to worship how it works outward and we most of us know that if you've been around the book of acts and it actually kind of draws the outline for the whole book they start there in jerusalem and they move out to judea and then to the borders of samaria and then into the nations to the end of the earth we find ourselves this evening right after the disciples have asked lord when are you going to establish the kingdom now in verse number six? Here we find Acts 1, 7 and 8.
He said to them, it's not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. And you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth. You see this main idea here as God has placed the high calling of evangelism on your life.
Be faithful to your calling. The main idea of our text this evening, God has placed the high calling of evangelism on your life. Be faithful to your calling. I want to look at that through four simple observations. These observations are applications that we can take with us this evening. The first one is keep the main thing the main thing. The disciples had seen Jesus. He had been with them 40 days after his resurrection and he had told them about the kingdom of God and talked to them about how all scripture had pointed to him and still they had those temporal eyes those eyes set on the here and now and Jesus answered them of course we know and as we read already they were worried about other things.
This morning Greg said it like this. Often our desires can get in the way of what we know to be true about God. And then we act upon our desires as opposed to the truth of God's word. Church, I don't know what that is for you. That could be such a long list of things. He named a few this morning. Family.
Very quickly, we can have our eyes set on our family so much that we miss the most important thing. A desire for a platform or to be known. Whatever those desires might be that outweigh the truth of God's word in our heart and life. That distracts us from the truth of the gospel and keeping the main thing, the main thing. And sometimes they're very good things.
The family is a wonderful thing. But if it supplants the main thing, then it's undermining the power of the gospel. Church, do not make your life about anything less than the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is the power of God into salvation. It's easy to think of your own uniqueness and your own personal story when it comes to your testimony.
But our testimony and our witness is really all the same. We were dead in our sins, but God had made us alive. The story of Jonah this morning, the theme of the whole book Greg mentioned was salvation belongs to the Lord. That's the story of the whole scriptures.
That's the story of your testimony and my testimony. Keep the main thing, the main thing. Salvation belongs to the Lord God and it comes through the gospel of Jesus. Keep your eye on the main thing. Keep the main thing, the main thing. The second observation is you can't do it alone. He says, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.
This merry band of men and disciples could never have turned the world upside down on their own. They would be flailing, they would be selfish, they would be arrogant and prideful if it was in and of themselves. But the work of sharing the gospel, the work of reaching the nations, is the work of God. And church, Christian, God wants to use you.
With all your faults, with all your failures, He wants to use you. You have a power inside of you that so often goes untapped. If you are a Christian, you have God, the Holy Spirit, indwelling your soul. Ready to pour out in every conversation you have. There is not one person that you run into that is not divinely appointed. God has placed every step of yours.
And that person that you run into is not by accident. But this is if you're a Christian. If you have placed your faith in Jesus Christ and we know that it's not of ourselves, it's the gift of God. You've repented from your sins, you've put your faith in Jesus. Actually, that's where we're all plagiarists. We get credit for someone else's work. It's Jesus and his finished work on the cross.
And if that's not you, it can be this very second. You can be with God for eternity. You can look and say, God sent his son for me. So I can be a son or daughter of God. You know, even this evening, I know Greg mentioned this morning that sometimes we can avoid the Lord and we can try to appease him even by coming to church. And he is absolutely right in stating that.
But when I hear some of you tell your stories of evangelism, you're telling me and you're telling the church that you know your evangelistic opportunities are not based on you. That you need the Lord to step in and guide and direct and be the power that you could never have on your own. And I just want to thank you as a church member here for your faithful witness week in and week out. I want to thank you on behalf of my family. My family has been discipled by you as you've told your stories of evangelism, but you're asking the church to pray because you know that salvation belongs to the Lord. You know that you didn't save yourself and you can't save anyone else.
You need God and you need his church. I want to thank the men that stand in this pulpit week in and week out and faithfully proclaim the gospel. Because when you do that, you're training us, the members of this church, on how to give the gospel and how important it is to never let an opportunity go past. first we need to keep the main thing the main thing secondly we need to recognize that we cannot do it alone do not be fooled about the power that you have on your own but do recognize with God all things are possible thirdly be a witness just be a witness this morning Alex said we were here to tell
of God's love for you and then to share that with other people that's what our whole lives should be about. Don't be nervous or scared to share the gospel. Just be a Christian. Just be excited about what God has done in your life by saving you. And as we recognize how holy God is and how much we don't deserve his salvation, it just comes from our very heart to recognize that he would love us so very much. And I see that in your emails. And we hear that from each and every one of you.
And it's a wonderful thing to be a part of a church where that's so readily available. And each and every time you turn. I think the thing that I want you to see here, most importantly, is you will be my witnesses. It's not a command as much as a statement of fact. You will be my witnesses. My question to you is, are you a faithful one or not? Are you spending time becoming a faithful witness, relying on the Holy Spirit, attempting to grow by being at church, by reading outside of church and growing?
Not all of us will quite literally write the book on evangelism. like some of our brothers. But you can share what Jesus has done for you. You can share that he loves you. And really, it's so interesting to see how quickly that can come up and how quickly you can get a conversation from wherever it's at into spiritual things.
Some of those conversations will go quick, and you'll realize, man, I need to get the gospel in here. I may not ever have a chance again. Some of those, you're building that relationship, and you're cultivating spiritual conversation, and then you're going to get to the gospel. We trust that that soul is in God's great care. And we're just called to do a job, to be a witness. Are you a faithful one? The last observation here is to the end of the earth.
Quite literally, our task as Christians being called to this high calling of evangelism is to take the gospel to the nations. I think we would all agree, if you're a member here, we're quite spoiled at the opportunities that we have. A wonderful pastor of outreach who's connected with missions. One of our pillars of our church is urgent missions. And we hear updates on our missionaries.
And we have opportunities to do short-term trips there. And grow and pray and get involved here in a local church. To hopefully one day maybe go to missions somewhere long-term. Quite spoiled. Don't neglect that. Pray for our missionaries. Pray to see if God is trying to send you somewhere. Or get involved another way. By giving to missions faithfully, sacrificially.
Taking your time out to pray for our missionaries. Taking our time out to pray for the lost. To the end of the earth. Don't forget to start at home in your own neighborhood, across your own dinner table. Praying for our children each and every week is a wonderful thing. Sometimes it's an indirect way to share the gospel.
For many years I had shared the gospel with my dad and it got to a point where I think he was wanting to avoid those conversations. So as I picked up on that, I said, well, I can't just share the gospel directly anymore because I don't want him to avoid those conversations, so I can share it indirectly. Hey, I was talking to your friend, which I had been. I was just sharing with him the love of Jesus Christ.
And he was quite taken back by it. And he actually found me after his shift at work. And we talked in depth about forgiveness in Jesus. be willing and flexible to how you can get the gospel to your loved ones. I share this last story in conclusion, not to be overdramatic or not to be pulling on your emotions, but just to be quite frank. Friday, I had the opportunity to speak at a funeral.
And it was about the fourth or fifth funeral that I have done for this family. And shared the gospel when I was talking about personal comments and then just about the person's life and then shared the gospel through Psalm 23, just tried to be faithful to the Lord in that mission and that endeavor and that ministry opportunity. And the mother-in-law to this gentleman, a gentleman who was 64 years old, came up to me after the funeral right up by the casket and said, I don't think he knew God.
And she said, I really, as you were speaking, I don't think I took the opportunity enough. She started to weep. To share Christ and his love with my son-in-law. And I said, well, dear sister, his soul is like yours. It's in his hands. And I know he knew the gospel. He had been at those different funerals that I had been a part of with their family.
And just like for your soul, for his soul, we need to trust in the Lord because salvation belongs to him. Our job is just to be a witness. You have the high calling of evangelism on your life. Submit to that calling. Let's pray. Father in heaven, help us to be obedient to you and our calling to be evangelists and our calling to share your love and to share what Jesus has done for us.
God, we have the opportunity to do that now as we proclaim the gospel here in a few moments in the Lord's Supper. Help this church, Father, to be faithful as long as the doors are open in proclaiming your name. And it's in the name, saving, powerful name of Jesus we pray. Amen.