The Acts 2 Church: The Commission Mission
A Sermon Series by Rev. Aaron Powers based on the book by Rev. Toby Morgan
Acts 2:37-39: “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.”
Introduction: Why am I here?
The Acts 2 congregational mindset MUST be committed to the, Missio Dei, or mission of God!
What is the Great Commission?
Mark 16:15, “And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.”
Without the Great Commission of Jesus Christ as the heading of the work of the church, what is the point?
We get off track, lose focus, and forget what we are called to do.
“Well preacher, I want to do this or that”…ok…what does this or that do for getting souls to Heaven?
What I ask myself about EVERY idea that comes to me is very simple.
Someone asked once to do a yard sale.
My thought process is: Will a car wash help get people to Heaven?
How? Why? Who will do the work? Do you have a plan?
OK… Let’s do it!
Honestly though, it usually DOES NOT go that way.
“Pastor, I want to start this or that ministry…” most of the time means, “Pastor, I want YOU to start this ministry.”
I have even had people tell me that flat out…
When the mission is not in our sight, we tell others or think others will do everything and we just have to show up.
BUT Beloved… if God is calling YOU to do something within the mission, it will never be done as well or with the burden for the lost that you will bear!
Consider this…
Look at the financial report of ANY church and you will find out where their priorities lay.
Is there an evangelism budget? Is there a missions budget? Is there a budget for outreach?
OR is all we do done in order to simply keep the power on?
Now, don’t get me wrong, keeping the power on is important, I think we can all agree on that!
BUT the main reason that the church exists is not to take care of my personal needs!
So…what is a good way to verbalize the reason the church exists?
Toby Morgan said, “…the mission of the church is to be a credible and honest witness to Jesus Christ, and to make disciples of those He draws to Himself.
Point 1: Credible Witnesses Make Disciples
Jesus did not say, YOU STRONG, BE WITNESSES.
Jesus did not say, YOU TALENTED, BE WITNESSES.
Jesus did not say, YOU WEALTHY, BE WITNESSES.
Jesus did not say, YOU POWERFUL, BE WITNESSES.
Jesus did not say, YOU YOUNG or YOU OLDER or YOU HEALTHY or YOU WEAK, BE WITNESSES.
Jesus did not say, YOU BROKE, BUSTED PEOPLE, BE WITNESSES.
NO…
He included all those in the CLARION call!
GO YE … with no qualifiers… EVERYBODY GO.
But, we need to be credible witnesses.
Jesus said, in 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.”
What makes us credible witnesses?
What makes us effective witnesses?
The available Power of the Holy Ghost from the indwelling and infilling of His Spirit makes us credible, effective witnesses!
Anyone who has been saved for more than five seconds ought to be concerned about how to lead another to the experience he or she just had with God and they also should be willing to learn how to lead others into that experience as well.
We lead them to Christ!
That is the mission…BUT… once we lead them to Jesus, we are not responsible for the action of the Holy Spirit!
THAT MEANS…
We tell them about Jesus, the Holy Spirit convicts them.
We tell them about Jesus, the Holy Spirit draws them.
We live as Christ before them, the Holy Spirit woos them.
We live as Christ before them, the HOLY SPIRIT attracts them.
It also means that we may be laughed at.
We may be scorned.
We may be ridiculed.
We may suffer persecution.
We may even be KILLED.
Listen, just because God is saving people that does not ensure popularity!
Just because God is sanctifying and filling people with the Holy Ghostt that does not ensure popularity!
Just because God is healing and blessing people that does not ensure popularity!
The church of Acts 2 was seeing those results and they were martyred for their trouble!
WHY?
Because the Acts 2 church did not care about OUR FEELINGS.
They did not care about OUR SAFE SPACES.
They did not care about being POLITICALLY CORRECT.
They did not care about being SEEKER FRIENDLY.
They cared about SOULS NOT GOING TO HELL and if that offended someone, TOO BAD!
They cared about ministering LIFE and HOPE and if that offended someone, TUFF STUFF!
They cared about ministering POWER and GLORY from Heaven and if that offended someone that was OK because it offended the devil too and that just illuminated the camp that the offended people were in!
It showed their CHARACTER.
No wonder Jesus, knowing His opponent’s hearts, said in John 8:44, “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.”
Point 2: Gimme Three Steps, Gimme Three Steps Mister!
I am busy all the time.
Think about all I do as a pastor.
BUT, and this is a big but, AM I BUILDING THE KINGDOM OF GOD AND ACCOMPLISHING HIS MISSION OR AM I JUST BUSY?
There are THREE STEPS that we must identify in our discipleship mindset to ensure success!
If what I am doing does not fit into those three steps, I DO NOT WANT TO DO IT personally or professionally.
Step 1. Decrease the intake volume of Hell.
This is our first task…to warn people about the consequences of missing God.
If I am not convinced that Hell is a real, literal place, then there will be no urgency in my mission!
LISTEN: HELL IS REAL!
Paul warned of it in Colossians 3:6; 2 Thessalonians 1:9.
Peter warned of it in 2 Peter 2:4.
Jesus warned of it in Mark 9:43-48; Luke 16:24-26; Matthew 10:28, 13:50, 25:46; Revelation 21:8.
Jesus spoke more of Hell than He did of Heaven!
Honestly, Jesus probably spoke more of Hell than any other single figure in the entire cannon of Holy Scripture!
BUT… He did that because HELL WAS NOT MADE FOR US!
If we go there, we go against the will of God concerning us!
If we go there, we are trespassing!
SO…let us get angry again that people are going to Hell!
Let us raise up from tear soaked pillows and altars with trembling hands and broken hearts once again full of passion to warn the lost of the impending doom to come!
EVERYONE NEEDS TO KNOW THAT GOD DOES NOT WANT THEM IN HELL!
Oh, preacher, that is HELL FIRE AND DAMNATION preaching.
Maybe so, but when that was done in the formative years of this nation, we did not have the problems that we have today!
Step 2: Understand our adversary and DETHRONE the Devil.
The second task is to assault and defeat the devil.
Everywhere. On every front. In every venue. On every side. On every continent. In every state, city, village, and hamlet.
Oh, yes!
Folks, the devil is in this present reality.
Paul said in Galatians 1:3-5, “Grace be to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ, 4 Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father: 5 To whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.”
Paul also made it abundantly clear that the struggles we face are SPIRITUAL battles!
Ephesians 6:12 says, “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”
Quoting myself, from a sermon entitled, WALKING IN FREEDOM, I preached several years ago, I said, “… demonic spirits … bring false doctrine in front of you that sounds so close to the real, but it is a lie!
In 1 Timothy 4:1-3 Paul warns, “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; 2 Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; 3 Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.”
Paul wasn’t the only one to address this!
Peter said in 2 Peter 2:18-20, “For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error. 19 While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage. 20 For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.”
Do not take such things lightly.
Deal with the issues immediately.
When they are allowed to remain, they turn into depression, anxiety, and FEAR.
They turn into paranoia, worry, and destress!
Demon spirits are an instrument of “embargo” against your success, peace, joy, love, and usefulness in the Kingdom work to which you have been called!
Now, let me say this again to be crystal clear.
Not everything bad that happens to us comes from demonic sources.
The devil did not cause our miscarriage.
The devil did not cause my congenital heart defect.
The demonic possession does not cause every mental disorder.
However, demonic influences and torment can take life situations and exacerbate them with torment and troubles!”
BUT HERE’S THE GOOD NEWS…
We have not fully come to terms with what Jesus did on the cross!
The Cross of Calvary FREES us from Satanic dominion!
Jesus did not “put a dent or a damper” on the devil’s plans at the cross.
Jesus did not “slow the devil down” at the cross.
Jesus did not merely stop the devil at the cross either.
JESUS OBLITERATED THE DEVIL’S AUTHORITY!
JESUS DESTROYED THE DEVIL’S DOMINION!
JESUS ERADICATED THE DEVIL’S CLAIMS ON THIS WORLD AND HUMANITY!
Colossians 2:13-15 says, “And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; 14 Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; 15 And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.”
Step 3: Declare Jesus as God and King.
Listen carefully… We are living in the time when it is needed now, more than ever before, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
Jesus said in Luke 4:17-21, “And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, 18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, 19 To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. 20 And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. 21 And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.”
Toby Morgan said, “JESUS is the acceptable year of the Lord. Don’t think of Him in terms of days, weeks, or months. Look beyond your feeble way of thinking and understand that Jesus is the complete fulfillment of all Isaiah prophesied.
Jesus is:
- The anointed gospel to the poor
- Healing to the brokenhearted
- Deliverance to the captives
- Sight for the blind
- Liberty for the oppressed
You may be thinking, “Why preach Jesus and why present Jesus as the ONLY option?”
Well, because He is ALL YOU NEED!
I wish I could describe Him to you today, but there are not enough words in every language, pages of paper, space on the Internet, people to write, or worlds to contain His matchless glory!
Just preach Jesus and let the chips fall where they may!
In Closing: Am I about the Father’s Business?
Jesus said, in Luke 2:49, “… How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business?”
I have to be about the FATHER’S business, not be buried in BUSY-NESS.
What does that mean to the first century church AS WELL AS the modern church?
It means, WE ARE ALL CALLED TO THE COMMISSION MISSION!
The pastor cannot and should not even try to do EVRYTHING.
Acts 6:1 says, “And in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration.”
Right there, the one of the earliest things happened to try and destroy the work of the fledgling church.
Somebody began to tear down the leadership with MURMURING.
Now, this is not an unreasonable request!
That ALL of the widows would be cared for!
What was leadership’s response?
Acts 6:2-3, “Then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them, and said, It is not reason that we should leave the word of God, and serve tables. 3 Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business.”
YES… BUSINESS.
Taking care of the people was GOD’S business, but we ALL have our part in the commission, the Missio Dei.
My question is, where do you fit in…Where do I fit in?
Good question…YOU must find out!
We must fulfill the mission by finding that place where everyone is working together doing something for God, filled with compassion, propelling us into the field that Jesus planted us!
We must remember that Jesus said in John 12:31-32, “Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out. 32 And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.”
With that in mind, is it any wonder John 3:30 says, “He must increase, but I must decrease.”
After all, I’m just a nobody trying to tell everybody, all about somebody, who can save anybody.