Called to Share

Pastor Dan Walker, PhD, MDiv

Introduction to a Spirit Empowered Future

Today we begin a new message series called Spirit Empowered Church. The story behind this series began in late 2022, when the Assemblies of God invited our church leaders to take part in a training called the Acts 2 Journey. This training was designed to help churches develop fresh vision for the future growth of their churches.

We prayed and our leadership team of 14 chose to take on this year-long training. During the year of 2023, we met quarterly with Acts 2 mentors along with other churches in the Acts 2 Journey in Springfield. We also met bimonthly here to work on our home-work and to pray together about God’s vision for our future.

We assessed where we were as a church, what we were doing well and where we could improve. We came up with nine core values that we believed were what God desired for us to emphasize as a church in the future. And we have defined specific tasks and strategies to move us forward in 2024.

Speaking for the team, we are all very excited about what God has done in this past year and what He is going to do this year. This morning we begin a five message series in which I and Pastor John will unpack the core values that God has given to us for our future. Easter comes next and it will be a Friend Sunday, where each of us can invite our friends to church for God to impact their lives.

The Sunday after Easter will be the official launch Sunday for our unveiling of our vision for the future Life Church St Louis. This is an important time in our church and we encourage you to keep these Sundays in your prayers. The title of my message is Called to Share.

I’d like to invite Calvin up to share briefly about how the Acts 2 Journey impacted him and how updates to our building will contribute to our evangelism outreach. Today, we’re first going to talk about our core value of Friendship Evangelism – A lifestyle where everyone embraces the Great Commission with the Spirit’s power.

Evangelism Reflects God’s Love for the Lost

2 Peter 3:9 (ESV) The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.

God doesn’t want anyone to perish, that is to spend eternity in hell. He loves each lost person and gives each one an opportunity to repent and believe. Sadly, many do not repent.

Yet, God desires for us to have that same love for the lost. To not wish for anyone to perish. That love for the lost should motivate us to share the Gospel with everyone we know.

Luke 15:3-4 (ESV) So he told them this parable: “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it?

In this parable, Jesus likened a lost person to a lost sheep, separated from the shepherd. The shepherd would leave the comfort of the flock and pen to look for the one lost sheep. He would search until he found that sheep and then would return rejoicing.

Evangelism reflects God’s love for the lost.

Living Out a Love That Rescues

When you love someone, you will go out of your way to rescue them. This year, we have begun the important Five Friends Focus which embodies God’s love for the lost. If you haven’t yet, take out a card in the seat in front of you and fill in the names of 5 friends who aren’t saved, need healing or aren’t in a biblical church.

Then pray for them everyday and ask God to help you be a witness to them. There are many ways to witness. When I go workout in the gym, I leave a church Invite Card in my locker.

Am I supposed to do that? Probably not, but I do it anyway. There is a family in our church today because of those invite cards. Ask God for ideas of how you can show your love for your lost friends.

Evangelism reflects God’s love for the lost.

Evangelism Demonstrates Obedience to Jesus’ Command

Matthew 28:18-20 (ESV) And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

This command of Jesus is often called the Great Commission. It is a command for every believer, no one is exempt from this command. Different people have different giftings and will obey in different ways.

Yet, we all are called to reach the lost and to disciple those who are saved. What do we need to obey Jesus’ command to reach the lost? We need the power of the Holy Spirit.

Acts 1:8 (ESV) 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.”

After Jesus gave His disciples the command of the Great Commission, he instructed them to not try to obey it until they were baptized in the Holy Spirit. Spirit baptism gives a believer the power to be an effective witness for Jesus. Spirit baptism opens the door to moving in all of the spiritual gifts.

These gifts we see operating in the ministry of Jesus and the early church. We need the power of the Spirit in order to reach those are lost. Evangelism demonstrates obedience to Jesus’ command.

Loving Jesus Through Obedient Living

Jesus said that if you love me, you will obey my commands. We obey Jesus’ commands because we love Him and desire to obey Him. If we chose not to obey Jesus, we demonstrate that we don’t love Him.

The more time you spend with Jesus in prayer, reading God’s Word, worshipping with other believers, the more you will love Him. And the more effective you will be in your witness through the power of the Spirit.

Evangelism Transforms Lives

2 Corinthians 5:17 (ESV) Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

When a lost person is saved, not only are their sin’s forgiven, but they become an entirely new creation. They go from being children of the devil to children of God. They change from being lost to being found.

They go from having no purpose in life to having a purpose of following Jesus. They are transformed from habitually sinning to a servant of righteousness.

Psalm 51:12 (ESV) Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.

When a person is saved, God fills their life with His joy. God is full of joy and He shares that joy with His children. Worry, depression and anxiety are replaced with the joy of the Lord.

The Bible tells us that the joy of the Lord is our strength. God also upholds and supports His children and grants them a willing spirit to follow Him.

Seeing People as God Can Make Them

Sometimes we think people are so far from God that they could never be saved. But that’s not true, salvation can transform the worst sinner into a child of God. Ask God to give you a picture of what the person you’re praying for will be as a child of God.

Remember that nothing is impossible for God. Ask God to help you identify the lost and the people who are not full committed believers. The great commission is not just about getting someone to pray for salvation.

It’s about teaching them everything that Jesus commands. The first three imperative commands of Jesus are to repent, be water baptized and receive Spirit baptism. God wants to use you to bring His transformation into the lives of your friends.

Support Worldwide Missions

Our core value: Engaging in Global Missions: Supporting worldwide missions through praying, giving and going.

Romans 10:14 (ESV) How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?

In one sense, every believer is called to be a missionary wherever they live. Yet, some are called by God to reach the lost in countries around the world. God calls on us to partner with these missionaries through our prayer and our giving.

Matthew 9:37-38 (ESV) Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

We are to pray for God to send us as workers in our harvest field in St Louis. But we are also called for God to send workers, that is missionaries into the world-wide harvest field. Just as God has called and placed you in St Louis as your mission field, so God calls people to specific countries and cities around the world as their mission fields.

More and more missionaries are called to hostile and sensitive countries, where they have to go in undercover to spread the Gospel.

Partnering With God’s Global Work

We are privileged to be part of the Assemblies of God, by far the largest Spirit-filled denomination in the world. Missions was at the heart of forming our fellowship in 1914 which said, “We commit ourselves and the movement to Him for the greatest evangelism that the world has ever seen.” The Assemblies of God is now one of the largest missionary-sending organizations in the world.

The worldwide Assemblies of God is over 85 million people and over 440,000 churches in every country of the world. How can we participate in this global mission field? We need to pray for our missionaries.

We have missionaries from different countries speak to us on a regular basis. Those that we support monthly are listed in your bulletin and their pictures are in the Refreshment room. We also are called to support them financially, that is the only way that missions will continue and grow.

As believers at Life Church we are first called to give a tithe, 10% of income to our local church right here. Then we also give offerings above the tithe both to our local church and to support missions. As a church, we are committed to giving 10% of our church general income to missions.

So, if we all give our tithes of 10% of our income and an additional 1% to missions, we will fulfill our commitment of supporting world-wide missions, the greatest evangelism the world has ever seen.

Conclusion: A Life That Shares the Good News

Today, we’ve talked about our two core values of Friendship Evangelism and Engaging in Global Missions. God is calling each one of us to embraces these biblical values for our lives. God desires for us to have a lifestyle which embraces the Great Commission with the Spirit’s power right here in St Louis.

God also calls us to support world-wide missions through praying, giving and going. As believers, we are all called to share the Good news of Jesus in our city and around the world. May God empower us to see many more brought into His Kingdom.

📘 Continue the Journey

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