Luke’s description of the church in Antioch in Acts 13 presents Antioch as the prototype church in the nations and Paul and Barnabas’ sending from Antioch as the biblical pattern for formation and sending in the church. This chapter is foundational for our understanding of church, formation, and sending.
Paul is the only person in the New Testament other than Jesus we are called to imitate. His life is foundational to the New Testament church. However, Paul’s apostolic ministry cannot be understood apart from John the Baptist because Paul built on John’s foundation.
Paul reveals God’s glorious intention in Ephesians 3. God has purposed to reveal His wisdom through the church to the powers and principalities. We must understand the implications of this to understand man’s purpose in this age.
In the ascension of Jesus, mankind was put positionally over the powers of this age. This is why we are now in a great wrestle – not with men – but with the powers. Redeemed humanity is their greatest enemy because the only thing that empowers them is fallen humanity’s humanity’s submission to the powers and agreement with them is what has enabled them to stay in their place of authority.
One thing that is consistent in Paul’s life is his willingness to use his own strength and ability for the sake of others. Paul’s body, his rights, and his privileges were simply tools and resources that he willingly used to advance the church. Paul’s suffering in the city of Philippi provides one of the best examples of how Paul functioned in this way an apostle.
In Corinthians 2, Paul states that he has intentionally decided to limit himself to one topic: “Jesus and Him crucified.” Paul explains in that chapter that this single, determined pursuit is what forms the essential element of his preaching. It is what produces a demonstration of the gospel before the people.
Paul’s apostolic determination is what set the focus of his life and his preaching. Paul recognized that his preaching was not primarily done in words, but it was done in demonstration. He understood that, as a messenger, he was intended to be a living, breathing illustration of his message.
The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into His fields. – Matthew 9:37b-38 (NLT) No one would deny the great need for laborers for the gospel in this hour. Not
Now it is time for me to bring things into balance. Morality is significant as is an outward indicator of inward realities. The morality of a culture is significant because it can be used as a barometer of the people. Yes, there are times and places where we have to
Let’s take one last look at the Pharisees. Do not forget that they were the conservative evangelicals of the day. They were not out of the mainstream, nor were they theological liberals. They were fighting with everything they had for the supremacy of the Scriptures in Jewish life and practice.
We must note to that this lack of expression of the Kingdom of God has had a dreadful effect on our evangelism. Could it be that some of the intense opposition to the gospel that we see is a result of cultural clashes that are merely based in morality? Is
So if the primary battleground is not morality in the public sphere, what is it? I want to present that the current battleground for the health of the nation might quite possible be, not the Castro district, but the church. Now this is not to suggest we ignore the issues
