A Church-Oriented Witness– message #6 in the series Witness: Speaking the Gospel, Making Disciples, and Planting Churches- All for the Glory of God!

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
– Jesus (Acts 1:8, ESV) 

• Sunday, February 19 The First Witness
• Sunday, February 26 A Courageous Witness
• Sunday, March 5 A Spirit-Led Witness
• Sunday, March 12 A Reluctant Witness
• Sunday, March 19 A Barrier-Breaking Witness
• Sunday, March 26  A Church-Oriented Witness
• Palm Sunday, April 2 A Cross-Centered Witness

 Goals of the series:

• That every follower of Christ at Ingleside will become a better-equipped and more-active verbal witness for Jesus.
• That every Inglesider will invite someone who is not yet a follower of Jesus to our Easter weekend outreach on April 8-9.

Acts 13:1-3 (ESV)
13 Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen a lifelong friend of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. ² While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” ³ Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off.

1. It was “the church at Antioch” that out Barnabas and Saul to be witnesses on the first missionary journey.

Acts 14:19-23 (ESV)
¹⁹ But Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and having persuaded the crowds, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead. ²⁰ But when the disciples gathered about him, he rose up and entered the city, and on the next day he went on with Barnabas to Derbe. ²¹ When they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, ²² strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God. ²³ And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.

2. God intends for our witness . . .

• To be -centered
• To make
• Who are gathered into
• With recognized, qualified .

Acts 14:24-28 (ESV)
²⁴ Then they passed through Pisidia and came to Pamphylia. ²⁵ And when they had spoken the word in Perga, they went down to Attalia, ²⁶ and from there they sailed to Antioch, where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work that they had fulfilled. ²⁷ And when they arrived and gathered the church together, they declared all that God had done with them, and how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles. ²⁸ And they remained no little time with the disciples.

3. At the end of the first missionary journey, Barnabas and Saul gave a to the church that sent them out.

Acts 15:36-16:5 (ESV)
³⁶ And after some days Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us return and visit the brothers in every city where we proclaimed the word of the Lord, and see how they are.” ³⁷ Now Barnabas wanted to take with them John called Mark. ³⁸ But Paul thought best not to take with them one who had withdrawn from them in Pamphylia and had not gone with them to the work. ³⁹ And there arose a sharp disagreement, so that they separated from each other. Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus, ⁴⁰ but Paul chose Silas and departed, having been commended by the brothers to the grace of the Lord. ⁴¹ And he went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.

16 Paul came also to Derbe and to Lystra. A disciple was there, named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek. ² He was well spoken of by the brothers at Lystra and Iconium. ³ Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him, and he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those places, for they all knew that his father was a Greek. ⁴ As they went on their way through the cities, they delivered to them for observance the decisions that had been reached by the apostles and elders who were in Jerusalem. ⁵ So the churches were strengthened in the faith, and they increased in numbers daily.

4. God intends for local churches to grow and .

5. The NT word for “church” is ἐκκλησία [ekklesia /ek·klay·seeah/] and means “an .”

6. God expects each of us to be an “all in” of a local church.
   Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. (1 Corinthians 12:27, ESV)

7. Jesus is committed to the church – and we should be too!
   I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. (Matthew 16:18b, ESV)

“strive to excel in building up the church.”
(1 Corinthians 14:12b, ESV)