New Year’s greeting to you, friend. I’m Mack Lyon. The program’s “In Search of the Lord's Way to be forgiven of a sinful past, and to begin living the best possible life. Oh me! There are so many substitutes, so many man-made ways for doing that that are being offered nowadays, we simply must study the Bible to know the Lord’s way. So, we are happy that you’ve chosen to be with us at this time and we pray we’ll both be blessed.
Oh say, friend, we are glad that you’ve chosen to be in our Bible study this first Sunday in the new year 2010. My, O my! Time is marching swiftly on, isn’t it? I have news for you young people, though: the older you get, the faster time flies. Or, it seems so anyway.
November 12, 2009 marked the 70th anniversary of my first attempt to preach the gospel of Christ. On November 15th, L. D. McElhaney, the minister for the church in Coalgate, Oklahoma where I made that first attempt, graciously invited me to come home and to try to preach to them again. My wife Lois and I were pleased to meet some of the children and some of the grandchildren of some of the people that were present at that first event, but we didn’t meet anyone that was there on November 12, 1939. Then, the gracious Don Vinzant, Senior Minister at the Edmond church, arranged for me to preach here at my home congregation the following Sunday evening. On both occasions I spoke about a man in Scripture of whom inspiration says he, “kept on preaching the gospel.” Well, that will be also the title for this program, “He Kept On Preaching The Gospel.” Our text will be the last paragraph of the eighth chapter of Acts.
If you think you might want a free printed copy, a CD or an audio cassette tape of it, simply mail your request to In Search of the Lord's Way; P.O. Box 371; Edmond, OK 73083 or by e-mail to searchtv@searchtv.org. If you would like to access it on our website, it is www.searchtv.org. I had an e-mail the other day from an unbeliever who, among other things, rebuked us in strong language for asking for donations, financial gifts. Well, he has us confused with someone else, doesn’t he? He has been watching somebody else and they have doing that, but neither he nor anyone else has ever heard us asking for a “love offering,” or “a seed faith gift,” or, well, any kind of a financial gift of that kind. We just don’t do that. For more than thirty years we’ve not done it, not even once. We’re sponsored on this and all our stations by some Christians and/or churches, churches of Christ in the area served by this station. Ken Helterbrand is going to lead us now as we sing, and then I’ll be back and we will read together Acts chapter 8, verses 34 through 40.
In the book of Acts the eighth chapter we have many interesting stories, but we have one that is particularly of interest to us today-- the conversion of the Ethiopian nobleman. He was secretary of the treasury of the Ethiopian government and he had been to worship at Jerusalem, which would indicate that he was a religious man, and even worship as a Jewish man. But he was returning home, and on his way home he was reading from Isaiah, the prophet, and here we join Philip as he is the preacher on the occasion and so he’s riding in the chariot with him. So he says in verse 34, “So the eunuch answered Philip and said, ‘I ask you, of whom does the prophet say this, of himself or of some other man?’ Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning at this Scripture, he preached Jesus to him. Now as they went down the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, ‘See, here is water. What does hinder me to be baptized?’ Then Philip said, ‘If you believe with all your heart, you may.’ And he answered and said, ‘I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.’ So he commanded the chariot to stand still. And both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and he baptized him. Now when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, so that the eunuch saw him no more; and he went on his way rejoicing. But Philip was found at Azotus. And passing through, (he kept on preaching or) he preached in all the cities till he came to Caesarea.” And that word “preach” could have been translated as easily, “he kept on preaching.” And that will be the subject for our study today. Now let us go to God in prayer. Holy Father, we are so thankful to You for the revelation of the dynamic beginning and the explosive way in which the New Testament Christianity had its way in that first century. And we pray that we can learn some things from it that will be helpful to us in our spreading the Gospel today. In His name we pray, Amen!
I love the book of Acts! Oh well, I love the whole Bible for that matter, all sixty-six books of it; but I can be especially excited about what I read in the book of Acts. I’m telling you that the inspired story of the explosive beginning and the dynamic growth of Christianity in that first century is unequaled, friend! In fact, we’re told Christianity spread faster in that first century than any other movement in all of the history that we have of the world. Christianity spread even faster in the First Century than Communism did in the 20th century. That’s amazing! Isn’t it?
E.C. Dargan says in his two-volume History of Christianity that “Preaching is an essential part and a distinguishing feature of Christianity.” Now, there’s a vast difference between making a public speech and preaching a sermon. All sermons are speeches, but not all speeches are sermons. The dictionary definition of a “sermon” is that it is “a religious discourse– a speech on conduct or duty.” And a speech is defined simply as “a public discourse or an address.” A person may be an excellent speaker but not a preacher. Jesus, the builder of the church you read about in your Bible, said Christianity would be spread by “preaching.” After He had proven Himself to be the Son of God by the resurrection from the dead He charged His apostles, “Go into all the world (He said) and preach the gospel [as a town-crier] to every creature” (Mark 16:15). In the first chapter of Acts (Verse 8) it is written that He charged them, (that would be the apostles) saying, “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Then they witnessed His glorious ascension to the Father’s right hand in heaven.
In only a few days the Holy Spirit came. And He came to guide the apostles into all the truth that Jesus had taught them those three to three and a half years that He was with them. In John 14:25 we have that stated; and then also be inspired about the other truths as they occurred in John 16:13. And the preaching began! Peter was the spokesman. His sermon is recorded in the second chapter of Acts.
The word “preach” appears in the Bible 50 times; and all but 3 times in the New Testament. The word “preaching” appears 27 times; only once in the Old Testament. The word “preached” appears 61 times; and only once in the Old Testament; and I’m quoting now about the King James Version. The words “preach,” and “preached” and “preaching” appear 138 times in the Scriptures, and all but five times they relate to Christianity. A person has only to read the book of Acts to know that Dargan was right about preaching. My friend, Christianity is propagated by the preaching of the gospel, not just by preaching; but by the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Acts chapters three and four tells of Peter and John healing the forty-year-old lame man who sat begging at the “Beautiful Gate” of the temple. Perhaps you remember, in Mark 16:20 after the Lord commissioned the apostles to “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature,” it’s said there that, “They went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs.” Well, this healing was one of those “accompanying signs.” Peter and John were imprisoned for that; and they were brought before the rulers who charged them not to preach Christ’s resurrection in Jerusalem anymore. But they answered, “We cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard” (Acts 4 and 20). Chapters five and six and seven of Acts are devoted to some problems within the infant church and some persecutions from without. The persecutions scattered them. So in Acts 8 and 4 we read, “Those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word” (Acts 8 and 4).
One of them was a devout man named Philip. He went to Samaria, one of the most unlikely places to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, but he went there to preach to them. You see, Israel and Samaria were bitter enemies and had been so for about nine centuries. Yet, Philip went there to preach Christ to them. And “...when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women were baptized” (verse 12). There was a sorcerer there who had successfully deceived many of them with his sorceries, who also believed and the Scripture says he was baptized (verse 13). Then, Philip went down to the road that goes from Jerusalem to Gaza, or Gaza as we are hearing it pronounced now, where he found an Ethiopian reading Isaiah chapter 53. “And beginning at this Scripture He ‘preached Jesus to him.’ And as they went down the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said ‘See, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized?’” My friend, whatever do you suppose caused him to think of baptism? Why did he need to be baptized? Well, Phillip had only “preached Christ” to him. Anyway, “Phillip said, ‘If you believe with all your heart, you may.’ And he answered and said, ‘I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.’ So he commanded the chariot to stand still. And both Phillip and the eunuch went down into the water and he baptized him.” After the eunuch was baptized and he went on his way rejoicing, “Phillip kept on preaching the gospel.” If you were to ask me, “Why do you keep on preaching the gospel?” Here are a few reasons:
First of all, I am of the firm conviction that just as God “raised up David” to be king over Israel as it is written in Acts 13:22, He raised up you and me for a purpose in this life. And He raised me up to preach the gospel. And just as it was with David, “after he had served his generation by the will of God, he fell asleep” (verse 36), so will I when God thinks I have completed my ministry. I firmly believe that none of us came into this world because we chose or when we chose, but because God had need of us at this time. I know you may not believe God calls preachers to preach. But I do. And, “I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has enabled me, because He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry” (1 Timothy 1 and 12).
I believe a full life consists of five elements. We usually think of life as the dictionary defines it: “the period between birth and death.” But life is more than the years we have. I once preached (Now I don’t mean I preached it once, but I once preached) that life consists of (1) time, (2) energy, (3) talent, and (4) productivity. Then I saw people with all that in abundance, but something was missing in their lives. They were saying with “the preacher” of Ecclesiastes: “Vanity of vanity, all is vanity.” These middle-aged, extremely energetic, abundantly talented, financially well-off people were still wandering, investing, going, seeking more money, more pleasure, more something. What could it possibly be? Many of them couldn’t tell you. It’s “purpose,” friend! Oh me! “What profit has a man from all his labor in which he toils under the sun? One generation passes away, and another generation comes.....The wind goes toward the south, and it turns to the north: the wind whirls about continually, and comes again in its circuit.” Well, read it for yourself in the first chapter of Ecclesiastes; and then turn to the last chapter, the last two verses of the whole book and you will read these words, “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man’s all. For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil.”
(2) I continue to preach the gospel because I can’t keep from it. The apostle Paul said something of himself that I feel very deeply about personally. He said, “For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for necessity is laid upon me, yes, woe is me if I do not preach the gospel” (1 Corinthians chapter 9, verse 17). And in Acts 4, when Peter and John were authoritatively commanded not to preach Jesus Christ any more, they replied, “We cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.” We usually quote that verse to show Christians that their first allegiance and duty must be to God, then the government. And that’s true. However, I see another possible truth in it. I believe they were also saying they just simply could not restrain themselves about what they had seen and heard. They had to tell it. It was much like Jeremiah said of himself when in spite of all of his preaching and praying, the word of the Lord was being made a reproach and derision by God’s people. He said, “I will not make mention of Him, nor speak anymore in His name. But, His word was in my heart like a burning fire, shut up in my bones; I was weary holding it back, and I could not” (Jeremiah 20 and verse 9).
Thirdly, I keep on preaching the gospel because souls are lost without. In Romans 1:16 Paul, the apostle, wrote, “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation, for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also to the Greek.” Later in the same letter he wrote: “The Scripture says, ‘whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’ How shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except they be sent? As it is written in Isaiah 52 and 7, ‘how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things’” (Isaiah 52 and 7)! And those words are in Romans 10:13 to 15. That’s why I keep on preaching, friend!
Look, it’s a horrible thing to be lost. When we are told that 54,978,674 people died in 2008. We don’t have the figures for 2009 yet. These people were not just numbers– they were souls, every one of them. How many of them do you suppose died without ever hearing the gospel truth about Jesus Christ? Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we pray that You will bless our preaching of the gospel; let people know the way of salvation, the way to eternal life with You. In Jesus’ name, Amen!
God says in His word, “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.” Now here’s the gospel-- the good news part of it, friend. Verse 11: “And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.” And that’s the reading of 1 Corinthians chapter 6, verses 9 to 11.
When Jesus saw the multitudes He was moved with compassion for them because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, ‘The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest that He send out laborers into His harvest’” (Matthew 9: 36 through 38).
Well, there have been many, many changes in America and the world in the years that I’ve been preaching. For example, I rode in a horse-drawn wagon to preach my first sermon. We don’t do that anymore. Our worship facilities were usually air-conditioned by those hand-held fans provided by the local funeral home. We had no TV or internet by which we could preach the word, spread the word of God. But, some things remain unchanged, too. They are unchanged! When the apostle Paul said, “Woe is me if I preach not the gospel,” he not only spoke of the felt-urgency and the unchanging need; he also voiced his conviction about the content of his preaching. It was to be the gospel. When it was said of Philip in that text that he kept on preaching, it wasn’t that he continued on that was the emphasis; it was that he kept on preaching “the gospel.” Men and women are still lost without God, and without the gospel; still it is God’s power to save! All that remains unchanged and we are conscious of that. God bless you. I hope you will be with us next week. We love you.
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