18/02/2018 14:03
LISTEN TO THIS MESSAGE
Date: 15 February, 2018
Text: Mark 16:15-20
Title: Getting Into Evangelism
Theme:
Proposition:
Rhetorical:
Introduction:
Have you ever noticed that some things get into your blood. We say sometimes, that is just in my DNA.
It could be a hobby, sport or activity.
ill. I enjoyed snowboarding when I was in highschool and college. My legs couldn't handle a whole day of snowboarding and I'd have to switch to skies.
Watching - snowboard cross in the Winter Olympics - they are going all out and hitting the jumps at incredible speeds - flying through the air - ...
They may look like it - but they weren't born with a snowboard strapped to their feet. At some point snowboarding got into them and they got into snowboarding.
It may have been something they saw or something someone said - somehow out of that process of taking in truth about snowboarding - that got into the activity of snowboarding.
I want to preach a message this morning about getting into evangelism. My point would be the same as I just illustrated - Getting into evangelism is getting evangelism into you.
Mark 16:15-20 shows how evangelism starts with our ears, goes to our heart, then makes it's way to our hands and feet.
I. Evangelism starts with your ears....
15 And he said unto them,
question: Are you interested in what Jesus says?
ill. Isobel Kuhn
Almost committed suicide - her father groaned and it stopped her - "That night, as she lay back down in bed, the words of Dante, "in His will is our peace," came to her mind. She prayed "God, if there be a God, if You will prove to me that You are, and if You will give me peace, I will give You my whole life."
exp. As God took the burden away and gave her His peace - she began to strive TO DO WHATEVER JESUS SAID TO DO?
app. Are you as interested in the words of JESUS? - EVANGELISM - starts with our ears hearing the words of Jesus.
1. Jesus commanded you to go evangelize. Go ye
Ill. Have you ever been in a crowd and someone gave an instruction - you look around to see who they are talking to and realize it is you. You mouth the question, "Me?" and they answer, "Yes, you."
exp. If you ask Jesus this morning if this is a command given to you and say to him, "Me?" - He would answer, "Yes, you."
ill. James Gilmour - Scottish Missionary to Mongolia
"But I go out as a missionary not that I may follow the dictates of common sense, but that I may obey that command of Christ, 'Go into all the world and preach.' He who said 'preach,' said also, 'Go ye into and preach,' and what Christ hath joined together let not man put asunder.
"This command seems to me to be strictly a missionary injunction, and, as far as I can see, those to whom it was first delivered regarded it in that light, so that, apart altogether from choice and other lower reasons, my going forth is a matter of obedience to a plain command; and in place of seeking to assign a reason for going abroad, I would prefer to say that I have failed to discover any reason why I should stay at home."
app. Will you hear this morning the plain command of Christ for "you to go" out in evangelism?
2. Jesus commanded you to go whereever an evangelist is needed.
...into all the world,
ill. Just before His ascension our Lord promised the power of the Holy Spirit to help fulfil this command to take the Gospel into ALL the world.
Acts 1:8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
exp. FAILURE TO PARTICIPATE IN WORLD EVANGELISM IS FAILURE TO OBEY THIS COMMAND. We support missions BY GIVING PRAYER AND FINANCES - but may need to support missions BY GOING.
ill. Robert Moffat - Born in Ormiston and raised in Leith - Father-in-law to David Livingstone.
"Oh! Christians of England, can you as subjects of divine love, as possessing the blessed Gospel of the Son of God, and as holding his last commission from the Mount of Olives to publish it to the ends of the earth, - can you gaze on these fields of human blood, these regions of unutterable woe, without emotion? Ah! brethren, could you behold the scenes your missionaries witness, you would wake up with a power of pity which would impel you to deeds of compassion, compared with which your past exertions would appear as nothing."
app. What are you doing to obey this command to GO INTO ALL THE WORLD.
3. Jesus commanded you to evangelize.
...and preach the gospel
exp. Evangelism is preaching the Gospel. (THE Good news of Christ's death and resurrection for the forgiveness of sins and HIS gift of everlasting life.)
def. preach - TO HERALD AS A PUBLIC CRIER. I am preaching - but we all preach when we share the Gospel verbally.
ill. Bunyan came from the village of Elstow, near Bedford. He had some schooling and at the age of sixteen joined the Parliamentary army during the first stage of the English Civil War. After three years in the army he returned to Elstow and took up the trade of tinker, which he had learned from his father. He became interested in religion after his marriage, attending first the parish church and then joining the Bedford Meeting, a nonconformist group in Bedford, and becoming a preacher. After the restoration of the monarch, when the freedom of nonconformists was curtailed, Bunyan was arrested and spent the next twelve years in jail as he refused to give up preaching. During this time he wrote a spiritual autobiography, Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners, and began work on his most famous book, The Pilgrim's Progress, which was not published until some years after his release.
app. Preaching the Gospel (witnessing) is easy in our day and costs us little in comparison - what reason do we have for disobeying a simple command to herald the Gospel?
4. Jesus commanded you to evangelize everyone.
...to every creature.
question: Do you feel the weight of that responsability which the Lord gave to His church?
ill. James O Fraser - Missionary to the Lisu people of China (father immigrated to Canada from Scotland. "'It seems a big responsibility to be the only preacher of the gospel within a radius of about a hundred and fifty miles,' he wrote home to his former class leader. 'I feel my weakness very much, yet the Lord seems to delight in making His power perfect in weakness. May I ask you then to remember me specially in prayer, asking God to use me to the salvation of many precious souls?'"
exp. James O Fraser was burdened about his part in reaching every creature - are you? Have you looked at the mass of humanity and felt burdened to share Christ with them?
app. Some of us haven't even shared Christ with those in our "Jerusalem (Midlothian), let alone our Judea (Scotland) and Samaria (United Kingdom) or the uttermost part of the world.
HOW DOES EVANGELISM GET INTO US? - HEAR THE WORDS OF JESUS TO TAKE THE GOSPEL TO EVERY ONE IN THE WORLD.
transition: Evangelism starts with your ears and ....
II. Goes to your heart.
question: Who is giving the command to take the Gospel? Jesus - Can you see Him raise His hand and point as he says to take the Gospel to the world. As you look at His hand, what do you see?
Zec 13:6 And one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in thine hands? Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.
exp. The blood stains were still on the old rugged cross. The sight of the cross was still before the men's eyes. The darkness when the sins of the world were put on Jesus and the cry, "My God, my God why has thou forsaken me was still before the disciples.
app. They weren't taking a form letter to the world - they were taking the world a love letter written from the bleeding broken heart of the Lord Jesus! - THE GOSPEL OUGHT TO STIR YOUR HEART!
A. Aren't you excited about those who will be saved?
16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved;
exp. PROMISE OF GOD - whosoever believes and is baptized shall be saved!
ill. Pentecost - Acts 2
37 Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?
38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
39 For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.
40 And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation.
41 Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.
42 And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.
app. If you really believe in JESUS you are unashamed to follow Him in the waters of baptism - HE WAS BAPTIZED IN DEATH FOR YOU - the least you can do is represent that to the world as you pass through the waters of baptism. WE GET EXCITED AT A BAPTISMAL SERVICE BECAUSE IT IS A REMINDER TO US OF THE POWER OF THE GOSPEL.
B. Aren't you heart broken for those who will be damned?
....but he that believeth not shall be damned.
exp. Jesus is not only the Saviour - He is the judge.
Joh 5:22 For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son:
ill. Can you see Him on His throne as unbelievers are called to the Great White Throne Judgment - Those same hands will stretch out. He could say, "I suffered this for you so that you wouldn't have to go to Hell? I did everything I could to give you righteousness and everlasting life. I wanted you to know me and the power of my resurrection - BUT YOU REFUSED. YOU ARE CONDEMNED TO AN ETERNITY IN THE LAKE OF FIRE!
Joh 3:18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
App. Does it stir your heart to think what Jesus suffered for unbelievers and how hard their hearts are towards Him?
transition - Evangelism starts with your ears (hearing Christ's command) goes to your heart (as you consider the impact of the Gospel - salvation/damnation) and .....
III. Enters your hands.
17 And these signs shall follow them that believe;
exp - The hands have a lot to do with what follows - work being accomplished for the express purpose of forwarding the Gospel cause.
exp. God's servants were going to take action with their hands to do the work of evangelism. All of what follows in this section would take place with the men to whom Jesus was speaking.
Acts 2:43 And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles.
A. Power over the enemy.
In my name shall they cast out devils;
ill. Paul - Acts 19
11 And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul:
12 So that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them.
13 Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon them to call over them which had evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth.
14 And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, and chief of the priests, which did so.
15 And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye?
16 And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, and overcame them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.
17 And this was known to all the Jews and Greeks also dwelling at Ephesus; and fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified.
app. We aren't going to have an exorcism this morning - but we are reminded that God has given us power over the enemy.
1Jn 4:4 Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.
app. Satan hasn't gone away and He is as opposed to the Gospel today as He was in the Apostle's day. I Peter 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
9 Whom resist stedfast in the faith....
B. Power over language.
they shall speak with new tongues;
ill. Our study in Genesis - Babel - God put up a language barrier - In the mercy of God the Gospel of Jesus immediately overcame that barrier at Pentecost.
app. The Gospel continues to overcome the barrier of language going TO EVERY NATION.
Revelation 7:9 After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;
App. We aren't looking for the signs promised in this passage to the apostles - BUT WE ARE LOOKING TO GOD FOR HIS POWER TO TAKE THE GOSPEL TO EVERY LANGUAGE GROUP. MANY HAVE WORKED WITH THEIR HANDS TO TRANSLATE THE WORD OF GOD IN NEW TONGUES.
C. Power over danger.
18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them;
exp. Pentecostals have abused much of this passage - including this verse to mean that they can handle snakes. in 2014 James Coots - Pentecostal Preacher who starred in a reality tv show which claimed that those annointed by God were protected - died from a snakebite after refusing treatment.
ill. Did any of the Apostles ever experience God's protection from a snakebite?
ill - Paul shipwrecked on the island of Melita
3 And when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks, and laid them on the fire, there came a viper out of the heat, and fastened on his hand.
4 And when the barbarians saw the venomous beast hang on his hand, they said among themselves, No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he hath escaped the sea, yet vengeance suffereth not to live.
5 And he shook off the beast into the fire, and felt no harm.
6 Howbeit they looked when he should have swollen, or fallen down dead suddenly: but after they had looked a great while, and saw no harm come to him, they changed their minds, and said that he was a god.
app. We know from God's Word - that is is wicked to tempt God - (Satan's temptation of Jesus to through himself off of the temple) BUT IT IS BIBLICAL TO FACE DANGER WITH COURAGE IN THE WILL OF GOD (Daniel and the lion's den, the 3 hebrew children in the fiery furnace.)
D. Power over illness.
they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.
app. Again the sign gifts have been abused by pentecostals who apply these verses to the church rather than to the Apostles - WITH WHOM WE KNOW THIS WAS FULFILLED.
Acts 19: 11 And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul:
12 So that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them.
app. We maintain that God is still able to heal today in answer to believing prayer and laying on of hands (when following the passage in James.) But, the signs are past as they were for the immediate benefit of the Gospel and the Apostles.
transition: The Gospel starts with our ears, stirs our heart, is expressed by our hands (what we do BY GOD'S POWER) and makes it way to our feet.
IV. Makes it's way to your feet.
ill. Did you watch the Falcon Heavy Rocket take off? A Tesla convertible is now making it's way around the sun - The Falcon Heavy did what no one thought was possible and put a car in orbit around the son.
exp. God has a vehicle to carry the Gospel around the world - It has been done in other generations and needs to be done in ours. The vehicle is our feet.
Eph 6:15 And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
Isa 52:7 How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!
A. Jesus finished his leg of the race.
19 So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God.
exp. Jesus went to Heaven to come to us again in the power and person of the Holy Spirit. He hasn't left us comfortless - but has sent us all the power we need for the vehicle of the Gospel.
B. He has passed the baton to us.
20 And they went forth,
and preached every where,
the Lord working with them,
and confirming the word with signs following. Amen.
exp. We see again the fulfilment of the promise of signs and wonders - but the Gospel still needs to go out in our generation!
poem "What have you done, there are souls to be won, did you yell to warn them of eternal doom, did you go out of your way today? What if Christ had not gone out of His way, there would be hell to pay at the sinners cost, but Christ paid the debt on calvary's cross, what have you done there are souls to be won? Will you go out of your way today?
conclusion:
Snow boarding didn't just happen. These men and woman let snowboarding get into them and they got into snowboarding.
Have you let Evangelism get into you? Where are you in the process of becoming an evangelist?
Is it still at your ears? Jesus said, "Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every Creature."
Has it entered your heart? Do you care about salvation and damnation?
Have you done anything with your hands for the sake of the Gospel? They did signs and wonders we can likewise support the Gospel with our hands. (baking, caring, building, healing (clinic), feeding....)
Date: 15 February, 2018
Text: Mark 16:15-20
Title: Getting Into Evangelism
Introduction:
Have you ever noticed that some things get into your blood. We say sometimes, that is just in my DNA.
It could be a hobby, sport or activity.
ill. I enjoyed snowboarding when I was in highschool and college. My legs couldn't handle a whole day of snowboarding and I'd have to switch to skies.
Watching - snowboard cross in the Winter Olympics - they are going all out and hitting the jumps at incredible speeds - flying through the air - ...
They may look like it - but they weren't born with a snowboard strapped to their feet. At some point snowboarding got into them and they got into snowboarding.
It may have been something they saw or something someone said - somehow out of that process of taking in truth about snowboarding - that got into the activity of snowboarding.
I want to preach a message this morning about getting into evangelism. My point would be the same as I just illustrated - Getting into evangelism is getting evangelism into you.
Mark 16:15-20 shows how evangelism starts with our ears, goes to our heart, then makes it's way to our hands and feet.
I. Evangelism starts with your ears....
15 And he said unto them,
question: Are you interested in what Jesus says?
ill. Isobel Kuhn
Almost committed suicide - her father groaned and it stopped her - "That night, as she lay back down in bed, the words of Dante, "in His will is our peace," came to her mind. She prayed "God, if there be a God, if You will prove to me that You are, and if You will give me peace, I will give You my whole life."
exp. As God took the burden away and gave her His peace - she began to strive TO DO WHATEVER JESUS SAID TO DO?
app. Are you as interested in the words of JESUS? - EVANGELISM - starts with our ears hearing the words of Jesus.
1. Jesus commanded you to go evangelize. Go ye
Ill. Have you ever been in a crowd and someone gave an instruction - you look around to see who they are talking to and realize it is you. You mouth the question, "Me?" and they answer, "Yes, you."
exp. If you ask Jesus this morning if this is a command given to you and say to him, "Me?" - He would answer, "Yes, you."
ill. James Gilmour - Scottish Missionary to Mongolia
"But I go out as a missionary not that I may follow the dictates of common sense, but that I may obey that command of Christ, 'Go into all the world and preach.' He who said 'preach,' said also, 'Go ye into and preach,' and what Christ hath joined together let not man put asunder.
"This command seems to me to be strictly a missionary injunction, and, as far as I can see, those to whom it was first delivered regarded it in that light, so that, apart altogether from choice and other lower reasons, my going forth is a matter of obedience to a plain command; and in place of seeking to assign a reason for going abroad, I would prefer to say that I have failed to discover any reason why I should stay at home."
app. Will you hear this morning the plain command of Christ for "you to go" out in evangelism?
2. Jesus commanded you to go whereever an evangelist is needed.
...into all the world,
ill. Just before His ascension our Lord promised the power of the Holy Spirit to help fulfil this command to take the Gospel into ALL the world.
Acts 1:8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
exp. FAILURE TO PARTICIPATE IN WORLD EVANGELISM IS FAILURE TO OBEY THIS COMMAND. We support missions BY GIVING PRAYER AND FINANCES - but may need to support missions BY GOING.
ill. Robert Moffat - Born in Ormiston and raised in Leith - Father-in-law to David Livingstone.
"Oh! Christians of England, can you as subjects of divine love, as possessing the blessed Gospel of the Son of God, and as holding his last commission from the Mount of Olives to publish it to the ends of the earth, - can you gaze on these fields of human blood, these regions of unutterable woe, without emotion? Ah! brethren, could you behold the scenes your missionaries witness, you would wake up with a power of pity which would impel you to deeds of compassion, compared with which your past exertions would appear as nothing."
app. What are you doing to obey this command to GO INTO ALL THE WORLD.
3. Jesus commanded you to evangelize.
...and preach the gospel
exp. Evangelism is preaching the Gospel. (THE Good news of Christ's death and resurrection for the forgiveness of sins and HIS gift of everlasting life.)
def. preach - TO HERALD AS A PUBLIC CRIER. I am preaching - but we all preach when we share the Gospel verbally.
ill. Bunyan came from the village of Elstow, near Bedford. He had some schooling and at the age of sixteen joined the Parliamentary army during the first stage of the English Civil War. After three years in the army he returned to Elstow and took up the trade of tinker, which he had learned from his father. He became interested in religion after his marriage, attending first the parish church and then joining the Bedford Meeting, a nonconformist group in Bedford, and becoming a preacher. After the restoration of the monarch, when the freedom of nonconformists was curtailed, Bunyan was arrested and spent the next twelve years in jail as he refused to give up preaching. During this time he wrote a spiritual autobiography, Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners, and began work on his most famous book, The Pilgrim's Progress, which was not published until some years after his release.
app. Preaching the Gospel (witnessing) is easy in our day and costs us little in comparison - what reason do we have for disobeying a simple command to herald the Gospel?
4. Jesus commanded you to evangelize everyone.
...to every creature.
question: Do you feel the weight of that responsability which the Lord gave to His church?
ill. James O Fraser - Missionary to the Lisu people of China (father immigrated to Canada from Scotland. "'It seems a big responsibility to be the only preacher of the gospel within a radius of about a hundred and fifty miles,' he wrote home to his former class leader. 'I feel my weakness very much, yet the Lord seems to delight in making His power perfect in weakness. May I ask you then to remember me specially in prayer, asking God to use me to the salvation of many precious souls?'"
exp. James O Fraser was burdened about his part in reaching every creature - are you? Have you looked at the mass of humanity and felt burdened to share Christ with them?
app. Some of us haven't even shared Christ with those in our "Jerusalem (Midlothian), let alone our Judea (Scotland) and Samaria (United Kingdom) or the uttermost part of the world.
HOW DOES EVANGELISM GET INTO US? - HEAR THE WORDS OF JESUS TO TAKE THE GOSPEL TO EVERY ONE IN THE WORLD.
transition: Evangelism starts with your ears and ....
II. Goes to your heart.
question: Who is giving the command to take the Gospel? Jesus - Can you see Him raise His hand and point as he says to take the Gospel to the world. As you look at His hand, what do you see?
Zec 13:6 And one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in thine hands? Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.
exp. The blood stains were still on the old rugged cross. The sight of the cross was still before the men's eyes. The darkness when the sins of the world were put on Jesus and the cry, "My God, my God why has thou forsaken me was still before the disciples.
app. They weren't taking a form letter to the world - they were taking the world a love letter written from the bleeding broken heart of the Lord Jesus! - THE GOSPEL OUGHT TO STIR YOUR HEART!
A. Aren't you excited about those who will be saved?
16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved;
exp. PROMISE OF GOD - whosoever believes and is baptized shall be saved!
ill. Pentecost - Acts 2
37 Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?
38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
39 For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.
40 And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation.
41 Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.
42 And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.
app. If you really believe in JESUS you are unashamed to follow Him in the waters of baptism - HE WAS BAPTIZED IN DEATH FOR YOU - the least you can do is represent that to the world as you pass through the waters of baptism. WE GET EXCITED AT A BAPTISMAL SERVICE BECAUSE IT IS A REMINDER TO US OF THE POWER OF THE GOSPEL.
B. Aren't you heart broken for those who will be damned?
....but he that believeth not shall be damned.
exp. Jesus is not only the Saviour - He is the judge.
Joh 5:22 For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son:
ill. Can you see Him on His throne as unbelievers are called to the Great White Throne Judgment - Those same hands will stretch out. He could say, "I suffered this for you so that you wouldn't have to go to Hell? I did everything I could to give you righteousness and everlasting life. I wanted you to know me and the power of my resurrection - BUT YOU REFUSED. YOU ARE CONDEMNED TO AN ETERNITY IN THE LAKE OF FIRE!
Joh 3:18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
App. Does it stir your heart to think what Jesus suffered for unbelievers and how hard their hearts are towards Him?
transition - Evangelism starts with your ears (hearing Christ's command) goes to your heart (as you consider the impact of the Gospel - salvation/damnation) and .....
III. Enters your hands.
17 And these signs shall follow them that believe;
exp - The hands have a lot to do with what follows - work being accomplished for the express purpose of forwarding the Gospel cause.
exp. God's servants were going to take action with their hands to do the work of evangelism. All of what follows in this section would take place with the men to whom Jesus was speaking.
Acts 2:43 And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles.
A. Power over the enemy.
In my name shall they cast out devils;
ill. Paul - Acts 19
11 And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul:
12 So that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them.
13 Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon them to call over them which had evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth.
14 And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, and chief of the priests, which did so.
15 And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye?
16 And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, and overcame them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.
17 And this was known to all the Jews and Greeks also dwelling at Ephesus; and fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified.
app. We aren't going to have an exorcism this morning - but we are reminded that God has given us power over the enemy.
1Jn 4:4 Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.
app. Satan hasn't gone away and He is as opposed to the Gospel today as He was in the Apostle's day. I Peter 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
9 Whom resist stedfast in the faith....
B. Power over language.
they shall speak with new tongues;
ill. Our study in Genesis - Babel - God put up a language barrier - In the mercy of God the Gospel of Jesus immediately overcame that barrier at Pentecost.
app. The Gospel continues to overcome the barrier of language going TO EVERY NATION.
Revelation 7:9 After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;
App. We aren't looking for the signs promised in this passage to the apostles - BUT WE ARE LOOKING TO GOD FOR HIS POWER TO TAKE THE GOSPEL TO EVERY LANGUAGE GROUP. MANY HAVE WORKED WITH THEIR HANDS TO TRANSLATE THE WORD OF GOD IN NEW TONGUES.
C. Power over danger.
18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them;
exp. Pentecostals have abused much of this passage - including this verse to mean that they can handle snakes. in 2014 James Coots - Pentecostal Preacher who starred in a reality tv show which claimed that those annointed by God were protected - died from a snakebite after refusing treatment.
ill. Did any of the Apostles ever experience God's protection from a snakebite?
ill - Paul shipwrecked on the island of Melita
3 And when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks, and laid them on the fire, there came a viper out of the heat, and fastened on his hand.
4 And when the barbarians saw the venomous beast hang on his hand, they said among themselves, No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he hath escaped the sea, yet vengeance suffereth not to live.
5 And he shook off the beast into the fire, and felt no harm.
6 Howbeit they looked when he should have swollen, or fallen down dead suddenly: but after they had looked a great while, and saw no harm come to him, they changed their minds, and said that he was a god.
app. We know from God's Word - that is is wicked to tempt God - (Satan's temptation of Jesus to through himself off of the temple) BUT IT IS BIBLICAL TO FACE DANGER WITH COURAGE IN THE WILL OF GOD (Daniel and the lion's den, the 3 hebrew children in the fiery furnace.)
D. Power over illness.
they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.
app. Again the sign gifts have been abused by pentecostals who apply these verses to the church rather than to the Apostles - WITH WHOM WE KNOW THIS WAS FULFILLED.
Acts 19: 11 And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul:
12 So that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them.
app. We maintain that God is still able to heal today in answer to believing prayer and laying on of hands (when following the passage in James.) But, the signs are past as they were for the immediate benefit of the Gospel and the Apostles.
transition: The Gospel starts with our ears, stirs our heart, is expressed by our hands (what we do BY GOD'S POWER) and makes it way to our feet.
IV. Makes it's way to your feet.
ill. Did you watch the Falcon Heavy Rocket take off? A Tesla convertible is now making it's way around the sun - The Falcon Heavy did what no one thought was possible and put a car in orbit around the son.
exp. God has a vehicle to carry the Gospel around the world - It has been done in other generations and needs to be done in ours. The vehicle is our feet.
Eph 6:15 And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
Isa 52:7 How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!
A. Jesus finished his leg of the race.
19 So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God.
exp. Jesus went to Heaven to come to us again in the power and person of the Holy Spirit. He hasn't left us comfortless - but has sent us all the power we need for the vehicle of the Gospel.
B. He has passed the baton to us.
20 And they went forth,
and preached every where,
the Lord working with them,
and confirming the word with signs following. Amen.
exp. We see again the fulfilment of the promise of signs and wonders - but the Gospel still needs to go out in our generation!
poem "What have you done, there are souls to be won, did you yell to warn them of eternal doom, did you go out of your way today? What if Christ had not gone out of His way, there would be hell to pay at the sinners cost, but Christ paid the debt on calvary's cross, what have you done there are souls to be won? Will you go out of your way today?
conclusion:
Snow boarding didn't just happen. These men and woman let snowboarding get into them and they got into snowboarding.
Have you let Evangelism get into you? Where are you in the process of becoming an evangelist?
Is it still at your ears? Jesus said, "Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every Creature."
Has it entered your heart? Do you care about salvation and damnation?
Have you done anything with your hands for the sake of the Gospel? They did signs and wonders we can likewise support the Gospel with our hands. (baking, caring, building, healing (clinic), feeding....)
Has the Gospel made it to your feet? Taking the message VERBALLY to the world?
Has the Gospel made it to your feet? Taking the message VERBALLY to the world?
