The Greatest Key to Sharing the Gospel

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Thank you, Pastor David.

The Church’s Missed Opportunities and Fear in Evangelism

In Acts chapter 4, as you're turning there, I'd like to share something I read that was written by a pastor in an online blog. The title of this sermon is, The Greatest Key to Sharing the Gospel. This is what he wrote.

I think you'll be able to identify with this. He said this, I'll just come out and say it. I missed an opportunity to share my faith. We had a superhero birthday party for our oldest son. He said it was complete with capes, decorated cardboard box buildings, a Spider-Man hanging from the ceiling, and at my son's request, a butterfly pinata.

My wife had invited an acquaintance of hers with a child around our son's age. This woman came with her two kids and her husband, who I never met, but we got talking and he asked me, so what do you do?

And I told him, I'm a pastor. So he followed up, hey, you don't hear that very often, what you got you into that? I was in between filling a bowl of food and grabbing someone a drink. Don't those witnessing opportunities always come at the worst possible time?

And I was caught off guard by his candor and desire to talk. I don't even remember exactly what I said, something about my personality and gifts and growing up in the church. I knew after the words came out of my mouth that I had missed an opportunity.

What made it hit home even more was that earlier that week, I had encouraged the middle and high school students in my classes to be prepared to share their faith, and I had failed when the opportunity arose.

Has this ever happened to you? Why does it seem sometimes we know the Lord wants to share the gospel with someone, we try to open our mouth and it's like our tongue is sticking to the top of our mouth?

Or we try to tell someone about the gospel and our knees are knocking in fear. We're so scared about what they think about us. Well, I believe here in the book of Acts, in chapter 4, is going to help us to see if we can find a solution to the fear that, hey, we all face it when we go to share the gospel.

We all are sometimes scared of what people think about us. Before we get into the text, I want to share a little bit of what's going on here in Acts. So chapter 2, we have the day of Pentecost, right?

How the Holy Spirit comes down and powers the apostles. These men who were previously cowards, remember how they all ran when the mob of Judas came? But now Peter gets up the day of Pentecost, he preaches the gospel with great power, filled with the Holy Spirit.

Three thousand people come to faith in Jesus Christ. And then next chapter, Acts 3, Peter and John, they're going up to the temple to pray. They run into a lame man, and this man has been lame since his birth.

And he's there begging for money. And Peter tells him, hey, I don't have any silver, I don't have any gold, but in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.

God heals him on the spot.

Not only that, God also teaches him how to walk right away, immediately. The guy starts jumping up and down, praising God. This draws the crowd. And so Peter, what does he do? He says, I'm going to preach the gospel again.

Preaches the gospel to them. He tells them, hey, you crucified your Messiah.

I'm talking about boldness.

You crucified the one you've been waiting for all these years. Well, the Lord works, another 2 ,000 people are saved. But this makes the religious leaders mad. They're angry, they're not very happy about this.

They come out, arrest Peter and John. And then the next day, they're brought out to give their defense. And the religious authorities there, they ask them, hey, by what name have you done this miracle?

And then Peter responds and he says, it's the name of Jesus. And in verse 12 it says, there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.

And these authorities, they said, you know what? We can't deny that an incredible miracle is taking place.

The best thing we can do is just threaten them. Hey, don't speak anymore in the name of Jesus.

And then Peter, with great boldness, he responds and says, whether it's right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.

They pretty much rebuke these powerful men and say, hey, we're going to obey God rather than men. So they're threatened once again, and then they're released. And they go to the body of believers and they share what happened with them.

Let's pick up in verse 23 of chapter 4. It says, when they were released, they went to their friends and reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them. And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, who through the mouth of our father David, your servant, said by the Holy Spirit, Why did the Gentiles rage in the people's plot in vain?

The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against his anointed. For truly in this city they were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod, Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles, the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.

And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs or wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.

And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness. Let's open with a word of prayer this morning.

Dear Lord, I thank you, God, for this opportunity to come back to Redeeming Grace Church, Lord, and just share what you're doing in our lives and what you've called us to, Lord, in Honduras. Lord, as we look at your word this morning, Lord, we want to humble ourselves before you.

Confess any known sin, Lord, and ask, Lord, that you would speak to us. Lord, we need you. We need your word. Thank you for the word of God. And we pray, Lord, that you would convict us, encourage us, rebuke us, Lord, and make us more like Christ and give us more boldness through the preaching of your word.

In your name we pray. Amen. I'm using the ESV translation this morning, just in case you're wondering. And we're going to go through the text verse by verse. So verse 23 says, When they were released, they went to their friends and reported what the chief priests and elders had said to them.

So when it talks here about them going to their friends, I don't think these were just casual friends. But I believe this was the body of Christ, which is now 5 ,000 strong. So they go to them and they tell them about these threats of these authorities.

And think about it with me. These religious men, probably men of the Sanhedrin, probably high-ranking members of the Pharisees, they had a lot of earthly power. These are the same guys that crucified the Lord Jesus Christ.

So you're talking about they could have them beaten. They've already had them thrown in jail, have them tortured. And if they can get the Roman authorities involved, they can even have Peter and John, the early believers there, they can even have them crucified.

So these threats are very real. I want you to notice something there in verse 24.

It says,.

The Early Church’s Unity and the Sovereignty of God in Creation

And when they heard it, talking about the threats, talking about the report of all that transpired there with Peter and John, they lifted their voices together to God. So they come together in prayer and say, Hey, we're going to pray about this together.

Go back with me, please, to Acts chapter 2. And there in Acts 2, it gives us a description of the early church. We're going to read, starting in verse 44.

It says,.

And all who believed were together and had all things in common. They were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple, there's our word again, together, and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people.

And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved. So this body of believers, they already had a practice of doing things together, of having a spirit of unity. So they broke their breads together.

They went up to the temple together. Other things they were doing there together, so that when the persecution comes, do you know what they keep doing? They keep practicing unity. They keep practicing togetherness.

You know, if we're honest about what's going on in our country, we can kind of feel the winds of persecution, can't we? Now's the time to be faithful to God's house. Now's the time to make sure that we're a close-knit body of believers that loves the Lord and loves each other, and practices unity.

So we see the content of their prayer in verse 24. So we talked about, they heard it, they heard about these threats. They let their voices together to God, and they say, Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them.

First of all, they recognize that God is sovereign in creation. God is sovereign in creation. He has made the heavens, the earth, the sea, everything that is in them. I think I read one time that they think there's as many as a trillion fish and different species that live in the ocean.

A trillion, imagine that.

So God has made the heaven, the earth, and the sea. Think about all that he's made. The stars in the night sky, billions of stars, billions of galaxies. Our own incredibly complex bodies, just the way our eyes work.

I think we actually see everything upside down, and then it flips it when it gets to our brain. Isn't that amazing? That's what our God has done. And creation is actually evidence that there is a Creator.

It removes the excuse of the unbeliever. That's what Romans 1 says.

It says,.

For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world and the things that have been made.

So they are without excuse. Sometimes when you're evangelizing, you run into people who say, Oh, I'm agnostic, I'm atheist, I don't believe there is a God. You know, Scripture says that they are without excuse.

They can tell by creation that there must have been a designer, there must have been a Creator. They know in their heart. Like what Ray Comfort says, God doesn't believe in atheists.

God doesn't believe in atheists.

So anyway, at the beginning of their prayer, the apostles come together. They recognize, hey, God is sovereign in creation. He's in complete control. So they're going to continue praying to the Lord, and we're going to read verses 25 -26 to see what they say.

They say,.

Who through the mouth of our father David, your servant said by the Holy Spirit, Why did the Gentiles rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against his anointed.

So as they're praying, they remember fulfilled Scripture. That's something good for us to do. As we're praying, if you're like me, it's kind of easy for your mind to start taking a detour or get interrupted by your smartphone.

But instead, we can pray the Scripture. We can pray the Psalms. It kind of helps us stay on track. So that's what they do. They're going to quote here from Psalm chapter 2. And in Psalm 2, we learn that the Gentiles are raging.

They're restless. They're in tumult or rebellion. They're in commotion. And they aren't just restless, but they also plot in vain. So one commentator puts it, the imagining here involves the mindless or empty attempt to do something to God's Messiah and try to stop God's plan.

Not a good idea to try to fight against God.

You're not going to win.

It may look like it sometimes in this life that you're getting away with it, but on the day of judgment, you will not win against God. Earlier this year, our Congress was debating the Equality Act. And one congressman, he quoted the passage in Deuteronomy that talks about how a woman should dress like a woman and a man should dress like a woman.

And he's making the point that God's made two distinct genders, not three, but two. And then a Democratic congressman named Nadler spoke up and said, what any religious tradition describes as God's will is no concern of this Congress.

Wow, how arrogant. How arrogant. Even if all of our founding fathers weren't believing Christians, did you know that the Bible was the most quoted book in our writings? Declaration of Independence and all that.

They quoted the Bible.

They at least had a respect for the things of God. But we've lost that. It never seemed like there are those in our government who are actively taking a stand against God. We're standing defying God. Well, the same thing is going on here.

In verse 26, once again, it says, The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against His anointed. That word anointed in the Greek is the word Christos.

So who are they standing against?

They're standing against Christ.

Standing against Christ.

Let's continue reading. Verse 27, For truly in this city they were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.

So next we see that God is sovereign in the cross. We see the place that it took place, the city of Jerusalem. We see the who that they had gathered together against, says your holy servant Jesus. What happened in the next chapter here in the book of Acts?

Acts chapter 5. We find the story of who? Ananias and Sapphira, right? They said, hey, we sold the land for this amount of money. But they were really lying. And they cheated God. And God wasn't playing around and actually took their life.

We see the holiness of God. As a matter of fact, verse 13 of that same chapter, there's a description of the church. It says, none of the rest dared join them, but the people held them in high esteem.

It's like, wow, we see God working there in God's people, but I'm not sure I want to be a part of that. That's a holy group of people. They are set apart. There's kind of like a holy hush we have. So the early church here valued the holiness of God.

That word holy, Jesus, is the same word, holy spirit. They valued God's holiness. So Jesus is described as holy, as a servant, as anointed. He was the Messiah the Jews had eagerly been expecting. I want you to notice something going back to verse 27.

It gives us a list of those who perpetrated the crime against our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. First of all, there in the list, it says, whom you anointed, both, Herod. He's the first one listed. And Luke, it tells us a little bit about his role in Christ's crucifixion.

It says, and Herod with his soldiers treated him with contempt and mocked him. Then arraying him in splendid clothing, he sent him back to Pilate.

They made fun of him.

They treated him with contempt. That was Herod's role. How about Pilate? We think about Pilate. Remember how he washed his hands? And he said, hey, I'm innocent of the blood of this righteous man. I'm innocent.

Not my fault.

But even though he knew Christ was innocent, what did he ultimately end up doing?

Giving in to the pressure of the crowd?

Yeah.

Allowing him to be crucified? Pilate was guilty. And then it mentions the Gentiles. You think about those Roman soldiers that scourged his back with a cat of nine tails, that put a crown of thorns in his brow, that mocked him, that hit him with their fists, that plucked out his beard, and ultimately nailed him to the cross.

The Gentiles were guilty. Then it mentions the peoples of Israel. This was that Jewish crowd that was shouting before Pilate, crucify him, crucify him. His blood be upon us and upon our children. The Jews were guilty.

But as we think about Christ dying on the cross, for our sins, for our lusts, our disobedience, our rebellion, our pride, we realize that we're all guilty. We all had a part in Christ's crucifixion. That's what 2 Corinthians 5 .21 says.

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. So these opponents of the Messiah, these men who took their stand against Christ, they messed up God's plan for coming, right?

They foiled God's purpose for coming. Got to read verse 28.

Listen to what they did.

To do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. You know what? They did exactly what God wanted them to do. Think about the hands of Pilate and Herod and those Roman soldiers and the Jews.

All along they were being guided by God's hand to accomplish our redemption. They didn't mess up God's plan. Aren't you glad that God is sovereign in the cross? He's in control. Next we're going to focus here, verses 29 -30, on the request that these early believers make from God.

Verse 29 -30 they say, And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness while you stretch out your hand to heal and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.

The word Lord there says, And now, Lord, look upon their threats. That's the word kirios. It means master.

And then it said,.

Grant unto your servants. You can't help but miss here that God, the Lord Jehovah is master.

And we're the servants.

We're here to do what He tells us to do. He is the boss. He makes the rules. We're here to obey. And they ask their master for boldness to speak your word. Boldness has the idea of confidence, plain speech, frank speech, open speech.

But wait a second. God had just healed a lame man through Peter.

Right?

Peter has preached twice to a huge crowd. He has rebuked the human authorities after he was just in prison. Why are they praying for boldness? Weren't they just incredibly bold? I mean, I would have liked to have had that test of persecution and come out with flying colors, wouldn't you?

Weren't they just incredibly courageous? I believe it's because disciples realized, hey, we need boldness day by day. Isn't that how the Christian life is lived? It's not a spiritual high plane where if you reach that, if you get that notch in your belt, you're always godly.

You're always a good testimony. No, it's lived moment by moment. This afternoon, you have a decision to share the gospel or not. This week, there's opportunities that come your way. You have a decision whether or not you're going to speak of Christ or not.

That's how the Christian life is lived.

If you're like me,.

There's been times maybe where the Lord's helped you one day where the Lord gave you boldness. Maybe you handed out gospel tract. Maybe you spoke to someone on the park bench or witnessed to your coworker.

And then the next day, you've been a complete flop. The next day, you were ashamed of the Lord. That's why we need boldness. And let me ask you this morning, when was the last time you came humbly before the Lord and said, God, give me boldness in sharing the gospel?

There's nothing wrong with praying for our problems, praying for our health. Nothing wrong with praying for that at all. But how the church in America needs boldness. We see what's going on with our country.

Now is even more the time that we need God's filling of his Holy Spirit to give us courage. I want you to look at an example with me. Go to Ephesians chapter 6. The apostle Paul is going to ask the church at Ephesus for something.

Here in Ephesians chapter 6. Pick up in verse 18. He's going to ask them to pray for him. It says, Praying at all times in the Spirit with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints and also for me that words may be given to me.

And opening my mouth boldly.

To proclaim the mystery of the gospel for which I'm an ambassador in chains that I may declare it boldly as I ought to speak. If we were in the apostle Paul's situation, being in chains, being in prison, what would we probably be asking the believers at Ephesus to pray for us about?

Hey, can you pray that I'll get out of prison? I don't like the food here. I don't like the rats. These chains here on my wrists and ankles are very uncomfortable. What was he asking prayer for? Say, hey, give me boldness.

May God give me boldness as we're claiming the mystery of the gospel. And the apostle Paul, the greatest missionary ever outside of Christ, if he needed boldness, you better believe that we need it too.

One of the things the Lord has convicted me of is picking and choosing who I want to witness to.

You know, the Lord,.

I'll hand a gospel track out to that person, but I'm kind of taking the rest of the day off. You know, there is a certain amount of intensity when you're always looking for witness and opportunities. I think some believers,.

They don't want to enter into that.

So, well, let someone else tell them.

Let the pastor tell them. I don't want to have that responsibility. But the responsibility is also a privilege. God doesn't want us to pick and choose who we share the gospel with. I need boldness in sharing the gospel.

You need it too.

You know, when we're faced with the fear of man, I believe that's the number one thing that keeps us from sharing the gospel with others is we care too much what people think about us. The fear of man.

When we're faced with that, I found that this prayer is one that God hears, that God answers. Will you try it this week? Will you try it? Maybe you only have three seconds before you have that opportunity.

Say, God, give me boldness. We need his supernatural enabling to be the witness God wants us to be. Matter of fact, when they're praying here, I want you to notice something, verse 30. While you stretch out your hand to heal, signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant, Jesus.

They expected God to work. They expected God to do signs and wonders, and they expected God to heal. We don't need signs and wonders today to confirm God's word. The scripture canon is complete,.

But you know what?

We come to God in prayer. We should expect God to work. He's going to do what he says he's going to do. I want you to listen to this quote from a book called Evangelism, the Church on Fire. I believe it's going to be a blessing to you.

This is what they write about the importance of prayer.

It says,.

There is absolutely no substitute for this essential. Great preaching will not take its place, nor will a PhD, nor a winsome personality, nor a well-planned and executed promotional program, nor anything else.

Call the role of history spiritually great. All of them baptize their ministries in prayer. Hudson Taylor called it transacting business with God. Jonathan Edwards spoke of storming heaven by prayer. John Knox wrestled with Jehovah and cried, Oh God, give me Scotland or I die.

Of D .L. Moody, it was said he never made long prayers, but he was never long without prayer.

I love that.

Just this, have a continual prayer life with God.

Throughout the day.

Well, that's crucial to walking in the spirit. Andrew Barnard, same thing.

He said,.

I see that unless I keep up short prayer every day throughout the whole day at intervals, I lose the spirit of prayer. So what happened after these early believers, these disciples prayed? Did their prayers just kind of bounce off the ceiling and everybody went home and that was it?

Got to read verse 31 to find out.

It says,.

And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.

First of all,.

Notice that God gave them a physical phenomenon. The place was actually shaken. Wouldn't that be cool if we had a prayer meeting here and then it actually started to tremble, the ground underneath us?

That's what happened. And then they were filled with the Holy Spirit. They continued to speak the word of God with boldness. You know, very simply, they prayed for courage and boldness and God gave them just that.

That's what God gave them. If we were to continue reading, we're not going to take the time to do it, but there was results. There was other results of their prayer.

God gave them unity.

They gave sacrificially. They had power and evangelism, sharing their testimony,.

Performing miracles.

There was great grace and provision on the church. People were saved and the church was growing. And it all happened because they prayed. They trusted in God to do the work. When we need churches in America,.

They say,.

Hey, we're going to trust God. And it's not all prayer and no evangelism because we know that God also wants us to get out there and share it. But either is it all evangelism and no prayer because we don't have any power.

We need God's power to work. This is what one hymn writer wrote.

She said,.

Stir me.

Oh, stir me, Lord. I care not how, but stir my heart and passion for the world. Stir me to give, to go, but most to pray. As we conclude, what are some practical ways we can pray in relation to the gospel and just praying for boldness?

One of them,.

It comes straight from scripture, Matthew 9 38. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. You know that actually praying that God would raise up more workers is a more biblical prayer than praying for someone's salvation.

Nothing wrong with praying that somebody would get saved, but this is actually more biblical to pray that God would raise up the laborer to go tell them about the Lord Jesus. My wife's sister is a missionary to Morocco and it's like 99 Muslim there.

Do you think there's a need.

For more laborers in Morocco?

You better believe it.

How about Honduras? How about church planners here in the US? We know that there are more churches closing than there are opening. There's a need for that. There's a need for more laborers. Next couple of things I'm just gonna share just kind of from my heart, but we should pray and ask God to help us not to miss any witnessing opportunities.

And I'm not talking about.

Trying to force opportunities. If your neighbor is on his riding lawn or cutting his grass, God probably doesn't want you to chase him down and try to witness to him. But if you love the Lord, if you're a child of God, you're gonna have a desire to tell someone else about Christ.

A matter of fact,.

I can't remember if it was Spurgeon.

Or someone else, he said,.

If you have no desire to share the gospel, you can be sure that you're not saved yourself. So we have that desire to tell others and say, God, when that opportunity comes, help me not to miss it. Help me not to miss it.

We also need to pray and study God's word. We pray that God will help us know God's word. 2 Timothy 2 .15 it says, do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.

After all, they were praying that God would give them boldness in speaking his word. That's the key in speaking God's word. How about our kids, our grandkids? Do they know the gospel themselves? Can they share the gospel with others?

One thing the Lord really used in my life in my mid to late teens is my dad started taking me to share the gospel. And I realized our faith is real. It's not just meant for the church house. It's meant for out there.

And then also as a teenager, what a lot of times you struggle with, especially growing up in a Christian home, the devil tells you the grass is greener.

On the other side.

And then you go and you knock on doors and you see broken families.

And you see drunks.

And you realize, wow, the devil was lying to me. God has been so good to me. And it's because Christ lives in my parents and has changed them and given us a godly, beautiful home.

So the Lord used that.

When we shared the gospel, I started to get on fire for God. How about your kids? Do they know the gospel? Can they share the gospel with others? Let's bring these things to God in prayer, believing he can empower us with the boldness that we all need in sharing the gospel.

I need it and you need it too. Let's close with a word of prayer. And I'll ask Pastor David to come afterwards. Dear Lord, we thank you, God, for your Word. We thank you for the example of the early church, Lord, and how after persecution, they come together in prayer and they trust you, Lord, through their suffering, Lord.

And they don't stop there. They ask you, Lord, for boldness in sharing the gospel. Right after they were just bold, they realized they needed it constantly. And Lord, as we're surrounded by lost people, Lord, at our work, in our neighborhood, or just going to the gas station or a restaurant, Lord, we ask that you would give us courage.

You would give us divine witnessing opportunities, even this week, Lord. And the Holy Spirit would give us boldness.

In sharing the gospel.

In the name of Jesus, we pray.

Amen.