Sermon for Sunday September 16th, 2007

More Church Happenings by Steve Shepherd

Acts 8:1-8:8

INTRO.- ILL.- Three churches got together to sponsor a community-wide revival. The churches were Methodist, Baptist and Presbyterian.

After the revival had concluded, the three pastors were discussing the results with one another. The Methodist minister said, "The revival worked out great for us! We gained 4 new families."

The Baptist preacher said, "We did better than that! We gained 6 new families." The Presbyterian pastor said, "Well, we did even better yet! We got rid of our 10 biggest trouble makers!"

Church happenings. Things are happenings in nearly every church, whether good or bad. Some gain new people and some lose people.

What about churches today? Are any churches doing anything significant?

ILL.- My son-in-law, Chris Santasiere, is the associate minister of the Fairmount Christian Church of Mechanicsville, VA. They run about a thousand people in three services. They have two traditional services with one contemporary service sandwiched in between. That service takes place in their gymnasium.

They held their VBS on June 24-28, Sunday to Thursday. We had our VBS on July 22-25, Sunday to Wednesday. We had a high of 52 kids under the age of 18. That’s a good number and a good happening in our church, especially, considering one little girl who thanked Loretta McKnight for teaching her about God. THAT’S AN EXCELLENT CHURCH HAPPENING! This is why we exist! That’s what we want more of!

The Fairmount Christian Church had an average of 621 for VBS, which includes adults. That’s a pretty good church happening, I would say.

The Southwest Church, which is just down the street from us make VBS one of the biggest things they do every year. Their VBS started on Sunday, July 8th. On Sunday morning for worship they had 1068 people in two worship services. FOR VBS ON SUNDAY NIGHT THEY HAD 1143 PEOPLE! How’s that for a VBS? That’s a big church happening!

But what is really happening our churches today? Are we gaining ground? Are we gaining new people? Some churches appear to be gaining new people. They are growing numerically but where are the people coming from? I still contend that most new people in our churches are just coming from other churches. We are basically shifting the Christian population around from church to church.

Occasionally, our churches will influence some adult people to come to Christ, confess their faith and be baptized. But this is rare and getting rarer all the time. We are not winning lost people to Christ!

Most people are not interested in Christ and the church. They are either turned off by traditional Christianity and/or they don’t need God and Christ because they have it pretty well made here in America.

I am convinced that when people have things, they don’t need God! However, when they get hurt in some real way or their families get hurt, or they lose a loved one in death, or lose their health, etc. that’s when they begin to think about God and Christ.

As I sent out in an email note: Danger past. God forgotten. Danger present. God remembered.

ILL.- I have read that the average age of people in the United States is 25. But the average age of church members is 55—thirty years older than the national average. What does this say to us? It’s simply says we are not reaching young people today. We are losing ground.

Now, what about the early church? What took place in the early church, the first church, the church that started in Acts 2 on the day of Pentecost when the 3,000 were baptized?

PROP.- Let’s take a look at some more happenings in the early church.
1- Great persecution
2- Genuine mourning
3- Gritty preaching
4- Glorious joy

I. GREAT PERSECUTION

Acts 8:1 “And Saul was there, giving approval to his death. On that day a great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria.” How great was the persecution of the early church? Here’s how great it was.

Acts 8:3 “But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off men and women and put them in prison.” What about today?

• Since the death of Jesus Christ, 2000 years ago, 43 million Christians have become martyrs
• Over 50% of these were in the last 100 years alone
• More than 200 million Christians face persecution each day, 60% of whom are children
• Every day over 300 people are killed for their faith in Jesus Christ. — World Evangelical Encyclopedia

ILL.- Chuck Sackett is the Senior minister of the First Christian Church of Quincy, IL. He also teaches at Lincoln Christian College and Seminary. Nearly every year he goes to Europe (Austria) to teach in the TCM or Training Christians for Ministry in Europe.

Chuck wrote while there, “A TCM student from Azerbaijan (Islamic country that sits above Iran) has been arrested and imprisoned for preaching Christ. In May his church was raided. He was arrested and false charges were filed. Just 2 or 3 days ago he was sentenced to 2 years in prison. He’s young, married with two small children. Please pray for him and his family.”

“I know God hears. You can hear the anguish in the voices of those who pray for him here. They know, first hand, the fear of these reprisals.”

Brothers and sisters, Christians are still being persecuted in our world, and of course, in some places it’s pretty bad. Far worse than we can imagine. WHAT ABOUT HERE IN AMERICA?

ILL.- Tolerance of anti-Christian attitudes in the United States is escalating. Recently, a woman in Houston, Texas was ordered by local police to stop handing out gospel tracts to children who knocked on her door during Halloween. Officers informed her that such activity is illegal (not true), and that she would be arrested if she continued.

Here is our hope, however, no matter how persecution comes our way.

II Tim. 3:10-11 “You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, persecutions, sufferings—what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, the persecutions I endured. Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them.” We trust the Lord in all things: protection, provision and rescue, if need be.

II. GENUINE MOURNING

ILL.- Someone said: I belong to a black church in Philadelphia and there was a funeral service for a friend of mine. I’ll never forget the service. Black funerals are great. They’re the only funerals you come away from feeling good.

The old preacher got up and first addressed the congregation for half an hour. Then he turned to the corpse. Opening the lid of the coffin, he started talking to my deceased friend! In that soft soulful tone, he said: “Clarence, there’s a lot of things I should have told you that I never told you. I’m gonna tell you now.” That man preached so eloquently to that corpse.

Finally, he grabbed the lid of the coffin, looked down into the motionless face and said, “Clarence, goodnight!” Then he slammed down the coffin lid. He gave us a few seconds to recover and then turned towards us.

At first he looked really mean. Then he smiled a deep joyful smile and said with great conviction, “And I know that the Lord’s gonna give him a good-morning!” Isn’t that the good news and hope of the Gospel? That’s our sure hope in Christ!

Acts 8:2 “Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him.”

Regardless of who dies, when they are dear to us, we mourn and sometimes deeply.

ILL.- There is not a day that goes by that I don’t remember and think about my mother who passed away on June 30, 2002. I miss her. We became closer to one another in her declining years. We talked a lot. I loved my mother but she loved me even more. There are days when I still grieve for her. You know about this as well and the closer your loved one is to you, the greater the grief. And it’s ok to grieve. When you love someone, how can you not grieve?

I Thess. 4:13-14 “Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.”

There is great hope in our grief when our loved ones are in Christ. To this hope we must cling!

III. GRITTY PREACHING

ILL.- Most of remember “true grit.” What’s that? The movie “True Grit” in which John Wayne played the part of Rooster Cogburn. After her father is killed, Mattie Ross, a headstrong 14-year-old girl, hires the aging, tough and drunken U.S. Marshal Rooster J. Cogburn to track down the killer, Tom Chaney.

In the last scene, Mattie gives Rooster her father’s horse and she admonishes him, "You’re too old and fat to be jumping horses." Rooster responds with a smile “Well, come see a fat old man sometime” and jumps his new horse over a fence.

The year was 1969. Nearly 40 years ago. He was a tough old bird, full of true grit. He lived without fear or favor of anyone.

Some of grit or toughness needs to be evident in Christianity: gritty Christians, gritty preachers and gritty preaching.

ILL.- Vance Havner was a Southern Baptist preacher who had that kind of grit. He passed on to glory at the age of 84, on August 12, 1986. He said some things that most preachers wouldn’t dare say. Here are some of his quotes.

- I’m tied of hearing about temperance instead of abstinence, in order to please the cocktail crowd in church congregations.
- I’m tired of hearing sin called sickness and alcoholism a disease. It is the only disease I know of that we’re spending hundreds of millions of dollars a year to spread.
- Sometimes your medicine bottle has on it, ’’Shake well before using.’’ That is what God has to do with some of His people. He has to shake them well before they are ever usable.
- When I pastored a country church, a farmer didn’t like the sermons I preached on hell. He said, "Preach about the meek and lowly Jesus." I said, "That’s where I got my information about hell."
- Civilization today reminds me of an ape with a blowtorch playing in a room full of dynamite.
- Most church members live so far below the standard, you would have to backslide to be in fellowship with them. WOW! We need more gritty preaching today!

Acts 8:4 “Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went.”

Some of the best preaching or sermons never took place in a pulpit. We need more gritty witnessing! We scatter every week but it’s not because of persecution and when we scatter it’s not because we want to preach, BUT WE SHOULD!

Have you preached to anybody lately? You probably have whether you realized it or not. You may have not preached Jesus but you preached all right. But we all need to get a testimony or memorize some scripture and start preaching wherever we go.

ILL.- I sat in a Retinal Doctor’s office one day recently and some lady sitting across from me was obviously not happy with her life. She said out loud about some “friggin….” something or other.

And I thought how much better it would have been to have heard someone say, “This is a lovely day. I’m just happy to have eyesight that the good Lord gave me.” THAT’S A GREAT WITNESS FOR CHRIST AND IT’S BETTER THAN NO WITNESS AT ALL!

We need to get some grit and present a witness for Christ in this world at work and everywhere we go!

IV. GLORIOUS JOY

ILL.- There were two men shipwrecked on this island. The minute they got to the island, one of them started screaming and yelling. "We’re going to die! We’re going to die! There’s no food! No water! We’re going to die!"

The second man was propped up against a palm tree and acting so calmly it drove the first man crazy. "Don’t you understand?!" We’re going to die!!" the first man said.

"You don’t understand. I make $100,000 a week," said the second man. The first man looked at him quite dumbfounded and asked what difference does it make? We’re on an island with no food and no water! We’re going to die!!!"

The second man answered, " You just don’t get it. I make $100,000 a week. I tithe. My pastor will find me!"

Several applications could be made to this story but here is the one that I see. Money makes the world go ‘round and for some and it makes the church go ‘round as well.

Money is often the deciding factor in people’s lives as far as joy is concerned.

ILL.- Actor Robert De Niro once said, “Money makes your life easier. If you’re lucky to have it, you’re lucky."

De Niro is correct to say that money makes life easier. But money is not the deciding factor when it comes to lasting joy. Money can’t buy happiness and money can’t buy a home in heaven.

Acts 8:5-8 “Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Christ there. When the crowds heard Philip and saw the miraculous signs he did, they all paid close attention to what he said. With shrieks, evil spirits came out of many, and many paralytics and cripples were healed. So there was great joy in that city.”

There was great joy in that city. Why? Because they saw the hand of God at work. Philip proclaimed Christ and God did mighty works through him.

Where is our joy in this world? I’ll tell you where it should be. It should be whenever we hear Christ preached and exalted and when Christians are involved in Christian service.

ILL.- Elaine told me about some lady she talked to recently whose married children are going to Ethiopia to do mission work. They have a small child. That mother is worried about them taking that small child to Ethiopia but she’s rejoicing that they are willing to do mission work for Christ.

Whenever I hear of someone serving Christ, preaching Christ, and living for Christ, I REJOICE! Christ is our joy. Any time He is exalted and in any form, we should rejoice. Christ brings eternal joy.

CONCLUSION----------------------

ILL.- One California researcher said, “Standing up improves reaction time, particularly for the elderly, and for everyone working on difficult tasks.” The idea is that we think faster and do more on our feet than sitting.

Be ye doers of the Word and not hearers only. There needs to be more church happenings, more good happenings in our churches and it won’t happen while we’re sitting.