Give Your Part Scripture Acts 11:19-30

One of the disciples, Stephen, was stoned by the Jewish leaders for preaching the gospel. They thought the gospel was blasphemous (against God) because Jesus had claimed He was God and equal to God. After Stephens horrible death, the early believers became scared and many left Jerusalem and scattered to other cities in all directions. They feared for their lives and the Jewish leaders and Roman soldiers continued to persecute them, hunt them down, imprison them, and execute them. We call this scattering phenomenon the disporia. Ironically, although it sounds like Christianity was on the run, God used this scattering to spread Christianity even faster as they all settled in many different cities in the middle East and began spreading the gospel there. Antioch was the third largest city in the Roman empire and many believers fled there. The gospel spread quickly and many believers were saved. This is the first time that believers became known as Christians (little Christs). Word of the growing group of believers got back to the disciples left in Jerusalem and they were excited. They sent Barnabus, one of the key disciples, to Antioch to help teach them. After awhile, Barnabus went to find Paul and brought him back to Antioch and together they spent a year teaching and sharing with the new believers there. Then a prophet named Agabus emerged and predicted a great famine would occur in Jerusalem soon. The Antioch believers were moved and put together many supplies to send back to those in Jerusalem. So that is our message. Give and be a part of serving Gods purposes and helping others. How can you give your part to the church and others? Offering, your time, your prayers, spending time and sharing are a few ways. God doesnt need your money. He will accomplish His purposes with or without it. But the command is there for us to help others and follow Gods commands so by giving you show your respect for God and His teachings, and your recognition that you having a giving heart. Apologetics lesson (answering tough questions and criticisms about Christianity) Grace vs Good Works Lets take two different people and examine their lives. One is raised in the church, becomes a Christian, loves the Lord, helps others and tries to follow Gods commands and to serve others. When he falters he prays for forgiveness. He lives a good life his whole life, recognizing some failings but always asks forgiveness. One day he dies in very old age. The second person grows up without God, doesnt go to church, ignores God his whole life and even does some evil things. He is selfish, doesnt help others, doesnt believe God, and even ridicules those who are believers. He lives a long life with nothing gained spiritually. At a very old age, on his deathbed, realizing the error or his ways his whole life, a family member shares the gospel one more time with him, he recognizes how foolish he has been, prays for repentance and forgiveness and acknowledges Jesus as Lord and Savior. And he is saved. Is that fair? Whether we decide it is fair or not, this is the way Gods grace is. Grace is a free gift that we cannot earn. We dont deserve it but God gives it to us anyway if we will only accept Christ, repent of our sins, and follow him. When we do so we are saved and will be with Christ eternally. Nothing can prevent that and no one can earn it any other way. Certainly God would prefer you are like the first man, so that you have a chance to do good things in your life because your recognize what Christ did for you. But God does not allow someone like the first man to boast to others about his good works and believe that he had earned his salvation. There are many examples of grace and good works discussed in the Bible. Two parables come to mind. The story of the prodigal son, and the story of the workers. The prodigal son is about a young men who took all his inheritance early and recklessly spent it all and lived a foolish life. When he realized his foolishness he returned to his father to beg forgiveness. His father welcomed him with a feast and that upset his brother who had faithfully remained with his father and done good the whole time. The father explained to the jealous son that he thought his other son was dead but was now alive so that brought joy. He explained that the jealous son always had whatever he wanted from the father but the reckless son had returned. This is the way God sees us also. In the story of the workers, a master hired many workers for the fields early in the morning and promised them all a days wages. Late in the afternoon, another worker showed up and the master put him to work and even gave him the same daily wage as the others. Does that seem fair? This is how God views the examples of the good and evil man I explained earlier. In Gods eyes, we are all equally loved and whether we accept Christ early, middle, or late in our lives He loves us equally. But be careful if you think that you can recklessly live your lives then be saved at the end. It doesnt work like that. God knows your heart and does not allow it to happen that way. Although we have free will, our salvation is complete through the Holy Spirit. Only when the Holy Spirit recognizes that our heart is ready, then we are saved. If you consciously ignore God your whole life thinking you will accept Christ when you are ready, the Holy Spirit recognizes your insincerity and the timing may never happen for you to be moved to salvation. Our moment of acceptance and salvation is done in combination with the Holy Spirit, not on our own. So, dont ever wait if you feel ready to accept Christ, and if a friend or loved one says something similar, convince them not to wait because when the moment arrives it must happen at that time.