Friday, March 22, 2013

Finding the friendlies on mission

I'm preaching this fortnight from Acts 18, at St Mark's Forest Hill.  What a delight to be in the book of Acts!  It contains the story of the beginnings of Christian mission, as the first followers of Jesus took the Good News from Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and then to the ends of the earth. 
Last Sunday I looked at the first half of Acts 18.  Here's the basic outline:
Two principles of Christian mission
  1. Find the Friendlies
  2. Expect the Enemies.
The strategy that Paul and his team adopts is to connect with the friendlies, people who are already seeking God.  As they talk about Jesus and the meaning of his life, teaching and crucifixion, some opposition is sure to come.  So we too should expect enemies and animosity.  In fact, the clearer we are about Jesus and the Gospel, the more certain our opposition will be! 
We also looked at the encouragement from God in verse 10 of that chapter.  I won't give it all away, you might like to listen to the sermon, available from St Mark's here:
http://www.stmarksfh.org/Home/downloads
Blessings on you this weekend. 

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