Proclamation Plan
Proclamation Plan
Acts 14:1-7
William Keeler was one of the greatest hitters in baseball history. He earned the nickname, “Wee Willie,” as he was 5’4’’ tall. He only hit an unimpressive 33 career homers (with only 3 leaving the ballpark), but had a career average of .341 with his career best .424 in 1897. He used one of the heaviest bats in the league and choked up on the bat leaving half the bat exposed. One reporter asked him after a game what makes him a great hitter, he replied simply that just tries to, “hit em where they ain’t.” He got up to bat every time and simply tried to poke the ball away from the defense. His plan led him straight to Cooperstown being inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1939.
The plan was simple, but the difficulty was always in the follow through. Keeler’s philosophy of “hit em where they ain’t,” can be adapted to “hit em where they are.” And by “hit ‘em” I don’t mean with a bat and ball, but ‘hit em’ with the gospel of grace and mercy. Paul and his companions would go to a city, find a synagogue, ‘hit em,” with Jesus by preaching him as the Christ from the Scriptures. After the gospel was preached, some believed, some refused to believe. They would continue at the synagogue every week if they were allowed, then after they were no longer welcomed there, they would move to gathering the saints to encourage and train in the Scriptures for a season. Persist in teaching the gospel. The plan was simple. Find people, preach the gospel, and take time to make disciples in the Word. Repeat. Day in, day out, year after year.
When I arrived at Park Baptist people would ask me what my vision for the church was and I would say the same thing, “To have a church that reflects the character of Christ.” “But preacher, what are you going to do?” I am going to preach the Word, pray for the Lord’s grace, love the saints and Lord willing, do it for a long, long time. And by God’s grace over the last ten years, we have seen the Lord bear fruit in the congregation. The problem is not in the plan but in the execution. There are sermons I wish I could have, there are seasons where I did not seek the Lord as frequently in prayer as I should have, and my love for the saints hasn’t been perfect. So I repent where I fail, and continue to try to execute the plan. The plan is not the plan but in the execution. Plan the work, work the plan.
As we begin looking at this text, do you have a plan to advance the gospel? Benjamin Franklin is right when he said, “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.” Do you have a plan? I pray you would think through your life, your days, your hours and minutes, your activities, your relationships, and create a plan for your life? What is your plan for you to grow personally in Christ? What is your plan to grow others in Christ?
Plan to Proclaim
Let us look briefly at Paul’s plan as he entered a new town. Remember Paul and Barnabas were sent out from their church by the Holy Spirit to share the gospel throughout the region. Paul and Barnabas are coming from Antioch Pisidia where they went into the synagogue, ‘hit em’ with the gospel, some believe but those who opposed their message drove them out of town. What does Paul do in the next town he enters? He did the same thing. Acts 14:1, “Now at Iconium they entered together the Jewish synagogue and spoke in such a way that a great number of both Jews and Greeks believed.” Iconium is about 90 miles from Antioch Pisidia. It is modern-day Sonya, Turkey in the south central of the country. It was a major city in its day. Paul often went to major cities in a region first before moving out to the less populous regions. Cities are not more important to God, but they have more people and more influence. Paul and Barnabas traveled to a place where they could share the gospel with a lot of people.
Paul is known as the Apostle to the Gentiles, but as he enters a city, he usually starts at the synagogue? Why? I think there are two main reasons. First, those gathering in the Synagogue were waiting for the Messiah. He came to a group that at least would be open to hearing the Scriptures and hearing about the Messiah. It was a captive audience. Second, he always had a desire that the Jewish people would be saved. He never lost hope in his people. There are some of you who are wavering on the line of hopelessness for people in your life.
Maybe your spouse you have whom you have prayed for for years, or a wayward parent, or a rebellious child, whoever it is, do not give up on them. Pray for them. Keep sharing the gospel with them. You never know what God will do with your efforts. God’s arm is not too short to save. I love the story of Luke Short. John Boland writes,
Luke Short was a farmer in New England who attained his hundredth year in exceptional vigor though without having sought peace with God. One day as he sat in his fields reflecting upon his long life, he recalled a sermon he had heard in Dartmouth as a boy before he sailed to America. The horror of dying under the curse of God was impressed upon him as he meditated on the words he had heard so long ago and he was converted to Christ—eighty-five years after hearing John Flavel preach.
He seed was sown at 15 that blossomed eighty years later. As Charles Bridges notes, “The seed may lie under the dirt (clod) till we lie there, and then spring up.” Short’s gravestone said, “He lies a babe in grace, aged three years, who died according to nature, aged 106.”
Paul kept going to the Jews because they were his people. Hear Paul’s heart in Romans 10:1, “Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved.” and a few verses above, Romans 9:1–3,
[1] I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit—[2] that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. [3] For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh.
The reason Paul went to synagogue was for the Jews to hear the gospel and believe. His heart was for their salvation?
The text says he “spoke in such a way” that a great number of both Jews and Greeks believed. It doesn’t share what he said in this text, but we know from the rest of Acts and the epistles that Paul preached Christ crucified and risen. He preached Jesus as the Messiah, the only hope for the world. Lord willing that is what you hear each and every week when we gather here. We preach Jesus as the Savior of the Lord. Our earnest desire is for you to be saved. If you are and have yet to trust Christ as your Savior, please turn to Christ today and believe. If you believe Jesus died for your sins on the cross and rose on the third day, and is your only hope for salvation, turn to him in faith and be saved.
Beloved, Paul had a plan, but his plan was birthed out of his desire to see people be saved. Do you have that desire? And if you have that desire, does your life communicate that? Do you have a plan to help others find Christ? When was the last time you shared the gospel with someone who did not believe? What is your plan to help others grow in Christ? To your kids? Coworkers? Church members? We make plans to watch our favorite shows and to go to our favorite restaurants, we can make plans to share Christ.
I do not want to load you down with guilt, but help you think through how to make a simple plan and execute it.
Children’s Ministry - One of the easiest mission fields is our children. Parents take the time to walk your children through the gospel and to pray for them. Beloved, we have classes on Wednesday nights, Sunday morning and Sunday nights that places you in front of children who need to hear the gospel. I am so grateful to those who make this a regular part of their plan to share Christ to those who need it.
Meals - We have to eat. Redeem your meals by eating them with people who do not know Christ or who need encouragement in Christ. It is easy to eat our emails at our desks or skip them for the sake of finishing early. A simple plan is to have one lunch a week to either encourage them in Christ or to build a friendship with those who are open to hearing about Christ. Families, maybe take one evening a month and invite neighbors over who do not know the Lord. Don’t make it weird. Just talk about your lives and what is important to you.
Gatherings - The church is an easy place to invite people. We have an amazing church family. And as people come to our gathering, they get a visible picture of God’s saving power. They can hear the gospel in the sermons preached, the word read, the songs sung, and our prayers. A church planting friend recently shared how their church did a mass advertising campaign for Easter. Facebook ads, mail outs, neighbor door hangers, and had 24 visitors on Easter Sunday, but none of them were there because of the advertising. Everyone came because they were invited by a friend.
I am not concerned so much with the “what” of your plan, but that you have a plan. If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. Paul had a simple plan. Go to the synagogue and preach Christ. It was a simple plan, but effective for some who heard of Christ: believed.
Prepare for Persecution
The gospel message divides. I was recently at a graveside for a funeral. I asked someone there if they were a Christian, they told me, “yes” they were a Mormon. I immediately said, “I do not think we believe the same thing. Mormons are not Christians.” Of course, I knew as soon as those words were out of my month, I was going to face opposition. I was prepared for it. He was shocked a preacher would bring up the gospel and try to convert someone while at a graveside service. I felt it was a perfect time because death is the great equalizer and when we die, we better be sure of what comes next.
Paul preached Jesus as the Christ. Some believed Paul, but others became hostile. Acts 14:2 “But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers.” The unbelieving Jews view the preaching of the gospel as such a threat that they stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against Paul and Barnabas. The Jews and the Gentiles were not on friendly terms. They were at odds with each other so the simple fact that the Jews were attempting to unite with the Gentiles communicates how serious and dangerous they considered the gospel message. The text says, they “poisoned their minds” which most likely means through a malicious slander campaign.
Satan’s tactics are nothing new. If you plan on sharing the gospel, you will face opposition. In the last three weeks, I have had several stories of how communities are working to “poison minds” against faithful Christian. A church in Utah was meeting at a school and installed security cameras in the building to keep kids safe, but the unbelieving school staff communicated to the entire school body that they were trying to spy on children and couldn’t be trusted. A church in Cuba was ousted from their meeting space by the government because they did not like their verse by verse expository sermons. Their church was forced to meet in a home. A friend in corporate America was asked to take a sermon down from his church’s website because it went against corporate policy towards gender inclusion and sexual diversity. A pastor in Russia who has opened his church for Ukrainian refugees is being threatened to be arrested as he stands against the government and, sadly, receiving death threats from “so-called” Christains from Ukraine.
Friends, if you desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus, you will be persecuted. If you stand for the truth of God’s word, you will face opposition. Are you prepared for it? It may come from not being invited to a reunion with friends because of what you believe. It may come by being passed over for a promotion because of your biblical views. It may come by you getting fired. It may come with our church losing its 501 c 3 status. You may listen to my advice above and have a neighbor over and you share the gospel and they become so offended that you think they are sinners, deserving of hell, that they post all over your neighborhood Facebook group of how judgmental you are. There are so many ways persecution can come. Are you prepared? It will come down to obedience. Will we obey Christ and his Word or not?
If we are honest, the number one reason we don’t share the gospel enough is fear of man. We are afraid of how we will be received by those we share the gospel with and how it will affect us. Think of the last time you had the opportunity to share the gospel and didn’t. What was the reason? Friends, the gospel is the power of God for salvation. We will face opposition when we share the gospel, but we will also see people saved. We will see people move from death to life, from hell to heaven, condemned to justified. Beloved, prepare yourself for persecution. Here are six ways to prepare yourself for persecution.
Increase your love for God - The more you love God, the more you are willing to suffer for him. Pray and spend time in his word. Meditate on the love he has shown you in the gospel.
Meditate on God’s Word - make the daily reading and meditation of God’s Word a priority in your life. Work through a bible reading plan, journal through the Scriptures, memorize it, go deeper in your study.
Pray - God tells us to bring all our fears and anxieties to him because he loves us. Jesus modeled how to pray in the Garden. “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.”
Commit yourself to the church - if you covenant yourself with this local body of believers you will be encouraged by each other's faith and how willing they are to risk rejection for the sake of truth. There have been so many times I have been encouraged to speak up because of the members in this church.
Read Biographies of those who suffer for Christ - To the Golden Shore by Courtney Anderson on the life of Adoniram and Ann Judson increased my willingness to face persecution as I saw how they remained steadfast through so many hardships.
Experience Persecution - the more you experience persecution, the more you realize it is not as bad as you thought and it brought you closer to the Lord. It is a privilege to suffer for Christ’s name. Persecution makes you cling to Christ which deepens your faith and your joy in the gospel. How you face persecution reveals you have true faith (1 Peter 1:6-8).
There are other ways you can prepare yourself for persecution. Beloved, this is not our final home. We may experience persecution in this life. We may suffer for a little while here, but that is the pattern of the whole Christian life. Suffering, then glory. Cross, then crown.
Persevere in Power
Ultimately, you will not be able to persevere in persecution without the Lord’s help. You need Holy Spirit power. Acts 14:3-4,
So they remained for a long time, speaking boldly for the Lord, who bore witness to the word of his grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands. But the people of the city were divided; some sided with the Jews and some with the apostles.”
Paul and Barnabas were said to be speaking boldly for the Lord. The boldness they had was a gift of the Holy Spirit. Remember Peter’s pray after he and John were arrested and brought before the Sanhredren for healing the lame man, Acts 4:29-30,
And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant your servants to continue to speak your Lord 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 Lord attends his word with signs and wonders. Acts 14:4, “speaking boldly for the Lord, who bore witness to the word of his grace,” (how did he bear witness?), “granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands.” The Lord gave signs and wonders to commend the word of his grace.
This is the pattern throughout the New Testament. God does not just perform miracles, he performs miracles to validate his word. The Lord was helping people believe by giving signs and wonders to the people. The Lord continues to bear witness to the word of his grace by granting miracles in the transformation of sinners to saints. Every single week, the Lord is commending his power to us, as we gather as a transformed people. We are sinners but we are repentant, redeemed sinners who are moving from one degree of glory to the next. We have people who have put off the flesh and put on Christ. People who have put off anger and abusive words and put on gentleness and words of kindness. People who have put off promiscuity and put on fidelity. People who have put off anxiety and put on peace. People who have put off greed and put on generosity.
Do you see the miracles in our church? Look around the room. Do you see the miracles of sanctification? Do you see how God has changed and transformed so many people in this room?
Look at the beginning of verse 3, “So they remained for a long time.” Growth and change doesn't happen overnight. Sam Walton, the founder of Walmart was asked how he felt about being an overnight success, he said that, “like most other overnight successes, it was about twenty years in the making.” God’s pattern for growth takes a long time. You make a plan and you stick to it. Whether it’s your diet, or your Bible knowledge, growth happens doing the right things over a long period of time. Even famed atheist philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche said, “The essential thing ‘in heaven and earth’ is that there should be a long obedience in the same direction.” We may know the quote from Pastor Eugene Peterson who applied it to discipleship.
If we are going to be faithful church members and if we are going to be a faithful church, we must persevere in Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit. We must continue fighting sin, and striving for holiness. We must continue to apply the Lord’s grace in our lives. We must continue to sit under the Word of God and cherish instruction. Twenty years from now I pray Park Baptist Church looks similar to what it does today. Lord willing, we will be gathering on the Lord’s Day, singing God’s praises, confessing our sins, reminding ourselves of the gospel, devoting ourselves to the public reading of Scripture and to pray, and hearing and submitting to the faithful preaching of God’s Word.
Beloved, we live in an “insta” society. We have insta-gram and insta-cart. We don’t even have time to say instant. We want things right now. And this often bleeds into our relationships, and our spiritual growth. Beloved, the christian is slow, long obedience in the same direction. Leaders, discipleship has to be done for a long time. Galatians 6:9–10
[9] And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. [10] So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.
Let us do good and let us continue to do good for a long time in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Friends, notice how everyone had to make choice on what they thought about Paul and Barnabas’s message. Acts 14:4, “But the people of the city were divided; some sided with the Jews and some with the apostles.” As it was in Iconium, so it is in the world. The gospel divides. People will either choose Jesus or reject him. Some are hostile in their opposition, others are indifferent, both reject Jesus. Friend, I wonder what side you would choose today? You are either for Jesus or against him. Do not be fooled to think you can choose both God’s kingdom or this world. You must choose. You must decide if Jesus is your king and your citizenship is in heaven or if you want to be friends with this world which puts your enmity with God. Everyone must choose. Choose Christ.
Persist in Preaching
In 246 AD, a prominent trial lawyer and a teacher of rhetoric, Cyprian became a Christian and two years later became the bishop of Carthage. In 249, there was a great persecution that rose against the church and Cyprian went into hiding. He believed it was necessary for the church for him to use his gifts to lead through the persecution. He was severely criticized for it. In 258 AD, ten years later another persecution arose against the church as they were blamed for a famine. This time Cyprian was arrested, tried, and beheaded on September14, 258. There are times to flee persecution and times to stand under it.
We see this in Paul’s ministry. There were times Paul chose to stand against persecution and other times he ran from it. Acts 14:5–7
[5] When an attempt was made by both Gentiles and Jews, with their rulers, to mistreat them and to stone them, [6] they learned of it and fled to Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia, and to the surrounding country, [7] and there they continued to preach the gospel.
The persecution rose to a new level when the Gentiles and Jews along with the rulers decided to mistreat and stone Paul and Barnabas. They were no longer satisfied with slander but wanted to express opposition with physical force. Paul and Barnabas learned of the coming and chose to flee to Lystra and Derbe and what did they do? They continued to preach the gospel.
Iconium was a city of great importance in the first century, Lystra and Derbe were rural and sparsely populated. Some scholars even call them “backwater” towns full of uneducated, ruthless robbers, an uncivilized society. So they took the gospel to the influential city and apparently the uncivilized backcountry. Beloved, the gospel is for all. Historically, the gospel faces stronger opposition in cities than it does in more rural areas. And we will see how the cities often influence the rural areas to follow their way of thinking.
Regardless, whatever opposition was coming against Paul and Barnabas at Iconium, they decided that would not stop them from preaching the gospel in the next town. We plan our course, but God determines our steps. Paul and Barnabas were forced to go to Lystra and Derbe because of persecution, but that trip led a young disciple named Timothy to Christ who would be one of Paul’s closest friends and greatest asset in ministry. And from the uncivilized, backwater town of Lystra. And it was because they didn’t just go to Lystra, but they went preaching the gospel. I am sure as Paul was writing his last letter to Timothy before he was martyred he thought of God’s divine providence in leading him to Lystra. Paul had a plan to go to cities but God took him to the sticks to meet a young man who would change his life. This is a reminder to me that God is always moving. We are planning our course, but God is directing our steps.
So what’s your plan? How does God want to use your life for his purposes? Beloved, plan the work, work the plan. Consider how you can grow in Christ and help others grow in Christ? How has God made you? What gifts has he given you to be used for the good of the church? As we think about this individually, we also should think of this corporately. How does God want to use Park Baptist Church? How has he gifted our body for the good of the kingdom? Does he want us to be a training center for pastors and missionaries? Does he want to use us to restore wounded Christians faith in the church? Does he want us to be a home away from home for college students? Or have a dynamic youth and children ministry to help equip them for every good work? Or all of the above?
We do not know how God will use our church. I never thought our church would have lots of college students and he has brought in a ton over the years. We weren’t looking to plant a church but Sylvia Circle fell into our lap. We weren’t looking to add a hispanic ministry to our church, but the Lord led us there. We may not know what will happen in the future, but we know we can plan the work and work the plan. We can plan to preach Christ, love the saints, and pray for God’s favor. And we can work that plan for a long time to the glory of God.