WITNESSING ? Our Main Business
Acts 5:42 ? And daily in the temple, and in every house, they
ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.
One of the greatest tragedies of our day is that Christianity
has degenerated into a matter of Sunday-go-to-meetin’ rather
than a DAILY living for Jesus! The early church took their Christianity
seriously and made it a DAILY PART OF THEIR LIVES.
1. The church at Jerusalem (Acts 2:46-47). Getting people saved
should be as regular as any other DAILY BUSINESS.
2. See Acts 16:5— The were growing without the benefit of
radio; television; printing presses; buses; telephones and church
buildings. Their secret was DAILY witnessing about Jesus.
I. Notice their PRIORITY (5:20-21, 29, 42).
A. Witnessing to people about Christ is no secondary matter!
It is not something optional. It should the main job of every
Christian.
B. "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness;
and all these things shall be added unto you" (Mt. 6:33).
Jesus is assuring His disciples that if they put God’s business
first, He’ll take care of their business.
?It is interesting to examine what the first thing people did
in the Bible after they had an encounter with Jesus.
The Shepherds at Christ’s birth–Luke 2:16-17
Andrew (John 1:37-42)
Philip (John 1:43-45)
Woman at the well of Samaria (John 4:28-30, 39)
Matthew (Luke 5:27-29)
The healed leper (Mark 1:40-45)
The demon possessed (Mark 5:18-20)
Blind men healed (Matthew 9:30-31)
Deaf man healed (Mark 7:35-36)
Saul / Paul (Acts 9:4-5, 11, 17-20)
II. Notice their PERSISTENCE ? "they CEASED NOT"
A. The early Christians were not sporadic or spasmodic.
B. It was not just Sunday morning Christianity to them. It was
talking to people about Jesus every day?At work; to their neighbors
and friends; at the market place.
C. It often takes more than one visit to win a soul to Christ.
I think of Tom Meyers. His boys had been coming to our Sunday
School on the bus (1991). Brother Hank Matthews was the bus captain
and tried to win him, but he wouldn’t get saved. Ron Coale
went to visit Tom and tried to win him to Christ. He didn’t
get saved. Then Barb and I went and witnessed to him. He still
didn’t get saved. Finally, Doug Gamble paid him a visit and
Tom Meyers finally made a profession of Christ. It took FOUR visits
to win Tom Meyers to Christ. Tom Meyers died three years later
(1994). Praise God that someone did not give up on Tom Meyers.
III. Notice the PARTICIPANTS ? Wasn’t just the Apostles
(see Acts 8:1, 4).
?"Preacher, It’s your job." Yes, it is my job,
but not because I’m a Preacher. It’s my job because
I am a Christian. And if you’re a Christian, it’s your
job too.
A. Witnessing is every Christian’s responsibility (Acts
1:8).
General Eisenhower once rebuked one of his Generals for referring
to a soldier as "just a Private." He reminded him that
the Army could function better without its Generals than it could
without its foot soldiers. "If this war is won," he
said, "it will be won by Privates."
In the same way, the common, ordinary, soul winning Christians
are the very backbone of the church. Christianity has it’s
great evangelists, dynamic pastors, and wealthy brethren who are
able to finance great works. But, if the work of the Lord is
to be done, if the gospel is to be taken to the lost, it will
be the "ordinary" Christians who will do it.
B. CAN’T LEAVE THE JOB FOR PROFESSIONALS – The pastor
cannot win everybody. If we are to reach Port Orchard with the
Gospel, it going to take all of us going, all the time.
During WW2, the British Army was hemmed in on the beaches of Dunkirk.
They were about to be annihilated by the German blitzkrieg. Utter
destruction of the entire army was inevitable unless a rescue
could reach them across the British Channel. The British people
rushed to the rescue. Every fishing boat, every pleasure yacht,
every barge and tug that could be gathered from the coast and
harbors of England rushed to the scene by civilians. Clouds hid
them from the German bombers. Soldiers waded into the sea and
climbed into rowboats, or lifted into every kind of vessel and
escaped safely to England. If it wasn’t for volunteer lay
people, with their little vessels, the British Army would have
been massacred.
C. A Christian that doesn’t win souls is an enigma.
1. He is like a barber that doesn’t cut hair.
2. He is like a fisherman that catches no fish.
3. He is like a carpenter that never builds anything
4. He is like a mechanic that never fixes anything.
5. He is like a doctor that never helps anyone.
6. He is like a teacher that doesn’t teach.
7. He is like a farmer that doesn’t harvest a crop.
IV. Notice the PLAN ? "IN EVERY HOUSE" or "house
to house" (Acts 20:19-20). Demonstrate how the Gospel traveled.
A. We cannot wait for the world to come to our door¾We
must GO TO THEM.
B. The "house to house" ministry has a lot to do with
the success of the church house ministry.
V. Notice the PREACHING ? "They ceased not to preach and
teach Jesus Christ."
A. Not a program or a philosophy – They preached a PERSON.
B. The Greeks came to the disciples saying, "Sir, we would
see JESUS."
C. Christ is the most attractive thing we have to offer (John
12:32 – And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw
all men unto me).
"Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ
unto them" (Acts 8:5).
"Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture,
and preached unto him Jesus" (Acts 8:35).
"And straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that
he is the Son of God" (Acts 9:20).
"when they were come to Antioch, spake unto the Grecians,
preaching the Lord Jesus" (Acts 11:20)
"we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock,
and unto the Greeks foolishness" (1 Cor. 1:23).
"we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord…"
(2 Cor. 4:5).
SUMMATION: Who can think of anything more important than soul
winning? Social reform without Jesus does little good, but winning
a soul to Christ will reform someone from the inside and have
more lasting results. Rescuing someone from a burning building
is important, but what is that compared to rescuing a lost soul
from an eternity in a burning hell (James 5:19-20).
PLEASURES IN HEAVEN¾A man was telling a friend how much
he enjoyed his garden. His friend asked, "Why do you find
so much pleasure in your garden?" The man answered, "Because
I have planted and tended to every flower in it myself."
You get out of something what you put into it.
Why does Christ have so much pleasure in His church? Because
He has done so much for it.
And one reason some saints will enjoy heaven more than others
will be that they did more to get people into heaven than others.
If you are too busy to seek souls to win them for Christ, you
are busier than God ever intended for you to be.