I’m so thankful for the opportunity to be with you today and I look forward to seeing how the Lord will speak to us, in us, and through us for His glory.

We started our Mission Conference two weeks ago by looking at the final verse in the ministry of Paul in the book of Acts, the verse that says, “He was proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance.” And we took on the theme, “The Gospel without Hindrance” – the idea that in the midst of all the struggles of life, and let me tell you, these struggles will never end, that the Gospel continues to go forth unhindered. The Gospel is the power of God working throughout history in and through you for the glory of Christ.

Today, I want us to look at the beginning verses of Paul’s ministry. As we looked two weeks ago at the final verse in the book of Acts, let’s look at the first verses of what immediately happened after Paul came to faith in Christ. We want to turn to Acts chapter 9 and read verses 15 through 31. Let me read for us:

“But the Lord said to him,” Ananias, “‘Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.’ So Ananias departed and entered the house. And laying his hands on him he said, ‘Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.’ And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he rose and was baptized; and taking food, he was strengthened.

For some days he was with the disciples at Damascus. And immediately he proclaimed Jesus in the synagogues, saying, ‘He is the Son of God.’ And all who heard him were amazed and said, ‘Is not this the man who made havoc in Jerusalem of those who called upon this name? And has he not come here for this purpose, to bring them bound before the chief priests?’ But Saul increased all the more in strength, and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus was the Christ.

When many days had passed, the Jews plotted to kill him, but their plot became known to Saul. They were watching the gates day and night in order to kill him, but his disciples took him by night and let him down through an opening in the wall, lowering him in a basket.

And when he had come to Jerusalem, he attempted to join the disciples. And they were all afraid of him, for they did not believe that he was a disciple. But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles and declared to them how on the road he had seen the Lord, who spoke to him, and how at Damascus he had preached boldly in the name of Jesus. So he went in and out among them at Jerusalem, preaching boldly in the name of the Lord. And he spoke and disputed against the Hellenists. But they were seeking to kill him. And when the brothers learned this, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus.

So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied.”

This is the Word of the Lord.

We thank you for the opportunity to address the church as we think about how God’s Spirit and how God’s Word works among us and through us. And in this passage, as we look at the very initial part of the ministry of Paul and how the church is unleashed with the Gospel, we see the theme of our Mission Conference, the last verses of Acts. The Gospel is proclaimed without hindrance and with great boldness. It’s evident from the very beginning of the ministry of Paul. From day one, after his conversion we find that Paul unleashed the Gospel to many people around him. And so today I want us to reflect on this passage because this was the DNA, this was the very essence of Paul’s ministry that he consistently carried throughout years of his ministry until his death – boldness, no hindrance, too great to prevent the Gospel going forth. Is that the enthusiasm that we carry into our lives? That we are men and women of the Gospel that go forth boldly proclaiming Christ, knowing that there is no hindrance that can keep the Gospel message from going forward?

Hindrance is Not an Excuse, But It is Reality

Firstly I want us to consider that hindrance is not an excuse but it’s reality. Paul, in the beginning of his ministry, was told clearly by the Lord through Ananias that he will be a chosen instrument who will go and suffer greatly for the Gospel. Paul was told immediately that there would be intimidating obstacles that he would face in order to proclaim the Gospel of Christ, in order to fulfill the calling that God had put on his life. And these intimidating obstacles certainly followed Paul throughout his story in the book of Acts. But listen, we need to understand that Paul embraced these obstacles. He didn’t see these obstacles as something that caused him to stop serving, as an excuse to say, “Oh well, there’s hindrances, and if there’s hindrances I can’t do the work God’s called me to.” Instead, Paul saw clearly that these hindrances needed to be overcome. They were a reality to the very ministry God had called him to. In Ephesians, chapter 6 for example, we read that Paul says, “I am an ambassador in chains.” Paul knew that God had called him to a ministry that involved suffering and it meant prison, it meant being chained to a Roman guard, but in the midst of this, Paul saw this as an opportunity to proclaim the Lord. He was an ambassador in chains. He knew that the claims of lordship on his life by Jesus Christ required him to obey the commission he was given until Paul, despite his chains, saw himself as an ambassador.

I think that’s the spirit that you and I as Christians need to bring into our challenges. As we face the intimidating obstacles that are out there, you and I need to realize that despite the hindrance, I must proclaim the Gospel. You see when the spies went into the Promised Land to survey it, ten spies came back with the report saying, “The land is great! The opportunity for us is amazing! However, they’re large. They’re giants. We can’t do it.” Only Caleb and Joshua said, “Despite these challenges, we must conquer the land.” Taking the Gospel without hindrance is having the spirit of saying, “Despite,” rather than, “However.” A spirit of not looking for excuses to avoid proclaiming the Gospel, but instead thinking about how we overcome the hindrances in order to make Christ known, because Christ is involved in the proclamation of His Gospel. He is the one going before us, He is the one preparing the harvest, and He is working through you as you faithfully go out. So in spite of the intimidating obstacles, we see from Paul immediate obedience. He goes forth into the work. No hesitation. Immediately, it says, he is in the synagogues – plural – proclaiming Christ. He immediately comes to faith in Christ. He is out there obeying the commission and the calling that God had put on his life. Hindrances are not an excuse, but they are a reality for all those who are proclaiming the Gospel.

Boldness is Not a Preference, But a Necessity

We also see in this passage that boldness is not a preference but a necessity. Boldness is not a preference but a necessity. You and I need to come to a conclusion that we live our lives implementing our calling in the world which is filled with hindrances and the only way you and I will faithfully proclaim the Gospel in situations like this is through boldness. We need to have a lifestyle of boldness. We need to have a commitment to boldly proclaiming the Gospel. And here we see in this passage where Paul gets that commitment from. It comes from his faith. Boldness rises from right faith. Boldness comes from understanding your theology, understanding your Bible, and looking at your world and applying it to it.

Christ-centered Worship

Just in our passage alone I see three things that Paul has understood about his faith. The first is, he is bold because he has Christ-centered worship. Remember, Paul’s been going around persecuting people, and in the midst of his persecuting people, he now comes to the city of Damascus ready to arrest Christians and put them in jail and perhaps put them to death. And he meets Jesus on the road. And up to this point, he thought Jesus was a heretic, Jesus had deceived many people, Jesus got what was rightly coming to Him, the crucifixion, but now Paul met Jesus face to face and immediately his worship focus changed. It’s all about Christ. And it says in our passage that he went out proclaiming, “Jesus is the Son of God!” He now knew who Christ was. He was proclaiming the Lord Jesus. He knew exactly who Jesus was and he reoriented his life around the person of Jesus. Christ-centered worship leads you to boldness because when you’ve lived your life in rebellion to Christ, you’ve lived your life anchored and rooted in sin and now you’ve recognized that you’ve been kicking against the goad, Jesus is on His throne in heaven, the Lord of lords and King of kings, it causes a change to take place in your orientation and now you no longer live for yourself but you live for proclaiming His glory among the nations.

Is that an indicative picture of your life? Are you so filled with worship, focused on Christ that you can’t bottle up and contain it any longer, that you realize Christ is on His throne, He is the King of kings and Lord of lords and you can’t help but make Him known to others? That’s where your boldness comes. Your boldness comes from having right faith – faith knowing who Christ is and that He deserves to be worshiped.

Redemption-focused Proclamation

It also comes from having redemption-focused proclamation. Paul immediately goes out and begins proclaiming that Jesus is the Son of God, that not just the Gospel was for the Jews – he didn’t just say, “Jesus is the son of David.” But immediately he starts talking about Jesus being the Son of God, that all should come and worship, but he’s talking about who Christ is. Now I want you to picture this. Paul had just had one of the most amazing conversion stories in the history of Christianity. I mean, my conversion story is probably the boringest conversion story in the church. I never smoked. I never drank in my life. I was straight As. I went to church every Sunday. I memorized all the stories. Someone shared the Gospel with me. I received Jesus and I just kept going. Boring! Paul on the other hand, he’s killing Christians! He’s approving of mass persecution of the church! He is leading people to go and arrest Christians! And then Jesus shows up right in front of him and he hears Him speaking and he’s blinded for days and then God heals his sight! And let me ask you, “Does anybody here have a conversion testimony as good as Paul’s?” I’ll tell you, I’ve never met anybody who can compete with that story.

But what did Paul do when he went out to proclaim the Gospel? He told about Jesus. He told about redemption. You see, when we proclaim the Gospel, we’re not proclaiming ourselves. Your testimony is only a supplement to the Gospel. Your testimony is not the Gospel. The power of God is proclaiming Jesus’ victory over death, over sin, over Satan. And you and I are sent out to talk about Christ and the redemptive act that He did. And missions is nothing more than bringing the news of the redemption to those who are still enslaved in their sins and in rebellion against God. And Paul immediately begins to proclaim, “This Christ who died, rose again.” That was the Gospel message, a redemption-focused message, that Christ, the crucified One, now is on His throne in heaven as the Lord Jesus.

Gospel-anchored Confidence

But it didn’t end there for Paul. Paul also had Gospel-anchored confidence. He believed that this Gospel was absolutely necessary for all peoples. I think one of the big struggles in the church today is we like the Gospel, we’ve heard the Gospel, it’s been a benefit to our lives, but when we meet people in the global world and they’re here in our own town – people that are multicultural, multiethnic, come from various religious backgrounds or not religious background – when we meet them, we embrace the Spirit of the age that, “All religions are fine. It’s all sincere. As long as you believe something. If it works for you, great!” But Paul doesn’t feel that way. Paul goes to the synagogues where there’s Jews who have a religion who are so fervent in their religion they’re ready to kill Christians over it. And Paul doesn’t say, “Come on, let’s hug, sing kumbaya and coexist.” Paul says that they absolutely need to hear the good news.

The problem in the church, I think, is two. These are theological problems. We either don’t believe that it’s absolutely necessary for everybody to hear the Gospel and believe in Christ for salvation. Because if you believe that was the only way for somebody to overcome their sin and be saved, it would transform the way you and I live our lives. Many of us think the Gospel is good, is preferable, “But you know, you just go on. God bless you.” Paul proclaimed the Gospel, he immediately went to the synagogues to those who already had a religion because he realized that they were lost without Christ. That was a conviction, a conviction anchored in the truth of God’s Gospel.

But there was another truth that I see in the ministry of Paul in the book of Acts, and it’s that Paul believed that the Gospel was effective or effectual; that when the Gospel was proclaimed, God was working through His Spirit to revive those dead in their sins so they would repent even – now get this – even the very worst possible sinner. And how did Paul get that conviction? He looked at himself. He was the very worst possible sinner, yet God saved him. And if God’s Gospel was enough to save the very worst sinner like Paul, it was easily enough to save everybody else in the world. That’s a conviction. When you proclaim the Gospel to your neighbors, to people you meet in the coffee shops, to people you meet in your offices, do you believe, do you have the conviction that the Gospel is the power of God to change their lives? When you proclaim Christ who died and rose again and ascended into heaven, who paid our debt of sin, when you proclaim that to the world, do you believe that the Holy Spirit will and is working and is drawing men and women to Himself? That’s conviction. Conviction based on right faith. Conviction based on people reading the Bible and believing it, that Christ is Lord and the Gospel must be proclaimed.

Commission-driven Objective

But it’s not enough just to have right faith. Boldness resulted in active proclamation. It’s not enough just knowing the truth. We now have to make it known to others. And the more you know about Christ, the more you will make Him known. And it starts by having a commission driven objective. Bold witnessing, overcoming the hindrances, starts by knowing that God has given us an objective to do – Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, the ends of the earth. That’s an objective. That’s a plan. Many churches don’t even have a plan. What are you going to do to reach your communities? What are you going to do to reach your city, your state? How are we going to reach the world? What is the objective of this church’s proclamation of the Gospel? We treat evangelism like it’s something that just happens. Trust me, it doesn’t just happen. You need to have a plan. You make plans to go on vacation. You think, “I can go up to my cabin. I can watch the livestream. I don’t even have to go to church this Sunday. I’m off. Let’s get the kids ready. Let’s make our menus. Let’s plan on what we’re going to do, who we’re going to invite.” You make a plan to go away for the weekend, yet the church, who is commissioned to reach the world with the Gospel of Christ, if you ask them, “What’s your plan?” they have no plan at all.

If I ask you as a Christian who has right faith, “What’s your plan?” you go, “I don’t know. Go by the Spirit. Wherever the Spirit leads me.” Let me tell you a dirty secret of the church. We don’t make plans because we excuse it as not being spiritual, but let me tell you, the Holy Spirit leads you when you’re making your plans as much as He does when you’re just out walking around. We need a commissioned-driven objective so that we might go forward and implement the great commission.

Obedience-based Urgency

We also need obedience-based urgency. It’s amazing as you read this passage. Paul sees Jesus, is blind, gets prayed for, the blindness is taken away, scales fall from his eyes, and then it says, “Immediately he went out proclaiming in Damascus the Gospel message.” From day one, Paul was a bold witness for Christ. There was no delay. The church in Damascus didn’t say, “Wow, praise God! Paul now believes! Paul, you need to go to catechism class first before you can tell anybody about Jesus. You need to get your theology right first. If you don’t understand all the five points of Calvinism, if you haven’t memorized our TULIP theology, you’re not equipped to proclaim Christ.” We don’t see that at all in this passage. Instead, we see something radically different – that when you believe in Christ you are given the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit is given so that “you will be My witness,” so that you will proclaim the Gospel. Immediate proclamation after you believe. Paul didn’t know everything, but he knew enough. Paul didn’t know all the parts of theology, but he knew Jesus is Lord and he proclaimed that Gospel message. The Gospel of redemption.

How often do we, in the church, see people come to faith and the first thing we do is we kill the spirit, the boldness that is welled up in their hearts that wants to propel them into their communities of friends and people that they’ve been around for years. And as they go to these communities we see that the Gospel needs to be preached there and they’re ready to go and the church is holding on and gripping them and saying, “You can’t do it! You can’t do it!” because they need to be taught first. But we don’t see that. Even the ministry of Jesus – going to a Bible study some time, who is the first person commissioned by Jesus to preach the Gospel? Let me give you an answer. It wasn’t the disciples. The very first person sent by Jesus was the demoniac who had thousands of demons in him who said, “I am Legion, because there are many, thousands here.” And after Jesus lands from the boat, sets this man free from the demons, he wants to go with Jesus and Jesus says, “No. You stay here and tell the other villages around here what I’ve done for you.” That man only knew Jesus for a few hours and he was the very first one commissioned and sent out by Jesus to proclaim the Gospel. Obedience-based urgency.

How urgent do we in America, in our church, in our families, feel that we need to proclaim the Gospel? We just prayed in our pastoral prayer about urgency, about a need for revival and urgency in the church. I was amazed as a missionary. I came back to America to study for a number of years and while I was here I was shocked because the first thing they did, I came at the beginning of May and I had only been two weeks in a church in America after twenty years of being away and two weeks in the church they said, “Okay, we’re going to break for summer.” And I thought, “Did God take a vacation? Do people not need to hear the Gospel during the summer?” I was shocked. Where is their urgency in our lives to proclaim the message knowing that when you proclaim the message the Gospel is going to go forth and go forth radically and quickly to all people?

Peace is Not a Respite, But an Opportunity

And finally, we see here that peace is not a respite, but an opportunity. In verse 31 it says, “For the church throughout all Judea, Galilee, Samaria had peace that was being built up and walking in the fear of the Lord and the comfort of the Holy Spirit it multiplied.” Peace is given to us for what? So that we will multiply. We will build up our faith and then we will multiply. The whole concept of Scripture is this – you know Jesus; you proclaim Jesus. And as you proclaim Jesus, you learn more about Jesus. And the more you know about Jesus, the more you want to proclaim Jesus. And it’s a cycle. The more you speak about Jesus, the more you learn about Jesus. The more you learn, the more you speak about Jesus. And that’s how the ministry of the church builds and grows and multiplies. And the church is being edified. But it multiplies.

Here’s the problem in our churches. We say that we must preach the Gospel to ourselves first before we can preach it to others. I think that’s a lie that Satan is telling us. I think we have to say, “While I’m preaching the Gospel to myself, I’m preaching it to others,” because you will never know the Gospel enough for yourself before you can tell it to others. But it’s a cycle. The more I preach it to myself, the more I preach it to others. And that’s what we’re seeing all around the world. In our ministry, we go out every day proclaiming Christ to Muslims. We talk to them about Jesus. We get rejected. Not a problem, but we’re boldly proclaiming the Gospel day after day. In fact, in a year of pandemic we baptized just as many – hundreds of new believers from a Muslim background – we baptized just as many people during a pandemic as we did the previous year. How many people has this church baptized over the past year? Hundreds and hundreds of Muslims baptized. Why? Because the Gospel is proclaimed and the minute we proclaim the Gospel to them we train them to go out and proclaim the Gospel to others and the church grows, the church multiplies. Edification leads to multiplication. The church is built up and walking in the Lord, walking in the fear of the Lord. That’s the same word as “Go” from the Great Commission. Go forward. Proclaim the Gospel. Make Christ known. The Gospel is on the move. The gates of hell cannot overcome it. There is no hindrance for the Gospel.

May the power of God work through and in us for the glory of God that His kingdom would be built and that all men and women may bow the knee before Him and praise Him as the Lord of lords and the King of kings. Let us pray.

Father, we thank You. We thank You for the opportunity here in Your church to serve You, to make Christ known among the nations. Lord, we ask that You would use us to be a church committed to the truth of the Gospel but with the Spirit of the Gospel as well, that we would proclaim Christ to many and that the Gospel would take root in our hearts and in our lives for the glory of Christ. Father, work in and through us. Use us for Your glory. In Christ’s name we pray, amen.

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