Scripture Mark 16:15-18
(For worship and message on video go to: https://youtu.be/1uexrHqWa1Q)
I
heard something disturbing on the radio – I was listening to the comedy station
– an interview between Kelly Carlin and Jeff Foxworthy. (fairness – didn’t
hear it all)
If
someone said to you, tell me about who Jesus is to you and what your faith
means to you…would you be able to clearly state who Jesus is and what
difference it has made in your life to put your trust in Jesus?
Why should be
ready with a clear description of our faith in Jesus?
Matthew records
Jesus words which we are most familiar with as Matt 28:18-20 Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of
the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I
am with you always, to the very end of the age."
Mark records it
this way Mark 16:15-16 (17-18) He
said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. Whoever
believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be
condemned. 17 And these signs will
accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will
speak in new tongues; 18 they will pick up
snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt
them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get
well."
Peter preached
in Jerusalem – Paul Preached in Athens
Acts 2 vs Acts
17
Acts 2:14-41
Then Peter
stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me
explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. These men are not drunk,
as you suppose. It's only nine in the morning! No, this is what was spoken by
the prophet Joel: "'In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit
on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see
visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and
women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. I will
show wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire
and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood
before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. And everyone who
call son the name of the Lord will be saved.'
Men
of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you
by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you
yourselves know. This man was handed over to you by God's set purpose and
foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by
nailing him to the cross. But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from
the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on
him. David said about him: "I saw the
Lord always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will live in
hope, because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy
One see decay. You have made known to me the paths of life; you will fill me
with joy in your presence.”
29 Brothers, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch
David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day. But he was a
prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of
his descendants on his throne. Seeing what was ahead, he spoke of the
resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to the grave, nor did his
body see decay. God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of
the fact. Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the
promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear. For David
did not ascend to heaven, and yet he said, "The Lord said to my Lord: "Sit at my right hand until I make your
enemies a footstool for your feet." Therefore
let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified,
both Lord and Christ.
When the
people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other
apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?"
Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of
Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of
the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are
far off — for all whom the Lord our God will call."
With many
other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, "Save yourselves from this corrupt generation."
Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were
added to their number that day.
Acts 17:16-18:1
While Paul
was waiting for them (Silas and Timothy) in Athens, he was greatly
distressed to see that the city was full of idols. So he reasoned in the
synagogue with the Jews and the God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the
marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there. A group of
Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to dispute with him. Some of them asked,
"What is this babbler trying to say?"
Others remarked, "He seems to be advocating foreign gods." They
said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection.
Then they took him and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus, where they
said to him, "May we know what this new
teaching is that you are presenting? You are bringing some strange ideas to our
ears, and we want to know what they mean." (All the Athenians and
the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about
and listening to the latest ideas.)
Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and
said: Men of Athens! I see that in every way you
are very religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects
of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now
what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you.
The God who made the world and everything in it is the
Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And he is
not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives
all men life and breath and everything else. From one man he made every nation of
men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set
for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men
would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far
from each one of us. 'For in him we live and move and have our being.' As some
of your own poets have said, 'We are his
offspring.'
Therefore since we are God's
offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or
stone — an image made by man's design and skill. 30 In the past God overlooked
such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. For he has
set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has
appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead.
When they
heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others
said, "We want to hear you again on this
subject." At that, Paul left the Council. A few men became
followers of Paul and believed. Among them was Dionysius, a member of the
Areopagus, also a woman named Damaris, and a number of others.
Acts 18:1
After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. (Meaning they never heard
from Paul on the subject again)
*Newsweek – death of Christian
America = the birth of many gods
In 2006 in a speech called
‘Building a Covenant for New America’ President Obama said, *“Whatever we once
were, we are no longer a Christian nation. At least not just. We are
also a Jewish nation, a Muslim nation, and a Buddhist nation, and a nation of
non-believers.”
Though we were founded on
biblical principals by Christians and others who at least had a respect for the
bible, we are no longer a Christian nation, and therefore, we no longer have an
Acts 2 audience for the message of Christ, we have an Acts 17 audience. That
means we need to figure out how to preach (proclaim/teach) to people who not
only don’t know, but don’t care about what we have to say.
Calling ten of his servants, he gave them ten minas, and
said to them, “Engage in business until I come” (Luke 19:13).
And that means we are to be doing what God’s Word instructs:
1. Contend
for the Faith. Jude 1:3
Dear friends, although I was very eager to
write to you about the salvation we share, I felt I had to write and urge you
to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints.
2. Give
answers for what you believe. 1
Peter 3:15
Always be prepared to give an answer to
everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do
this with gentleness and respect.
3. Preach
the Gospel. Mark 16:15
And he said to
them, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.”
This idea is not new for Ashland
Church or for us as American Baptists.
Chinese Ministry – learned new language
(Doris Hedler was a part of this church for 95 years)
ADONIRAM JUDSON
HAD TO LEARN THE LANGUAGE
Adoniram Judson
had to Left for India in 1812. Redirected to Rangoon – had a child who died –
imprisoned yet worked to translate the Burmese language into the Bible 7 years
before first convert. God’s Spirit finally came in the Spring of 1819, when a
Burmese timber worker named Maung Nau walked into the zayat (a Burmese-style
building) where the Judsons held faith meetings. Maung Nau was certainly not the
first Burman to listen to what Judson had to say at the zayat, but there was
something different about this man’s demeanor. He did not come to debate with
Judson, something that was almost a sport among the Burmese. Instead, he
listened with what Judson called “a teachable and
humble spirit.” After several days of conversations with Maung Nau,
Judson became very excited. On May 5, 1819, Judson wrote in his journal, “I begin to think that the Grace of God has reached his
heart.”
Approximately a
month later, Maung Nau formally professed his faith in Jesus Christ and applied
for baptism. In his written statement, Maung Nau wrote, “I believe that the Divine Son, Jesus Christ, suffered
death, in the place of men, to atone for their sins. Like a heavy-laden man, I
feel my sins are very many. The punishment of my sins I deserve to suffer.
Since it is so, do you, Sirs, consider, that I, taking refuge in the merits of
the Lord Jesus Christ, and receiving baptism, in order to become his disciple,
shall dwell with yourselves, a band of brothers, in the happiness of heaven,
and grant me the ordinance of baptism.”
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