The Word of God Kept Spreading

 

Hello everybody, my name is Dean Davis and this is “Multiply,” the podcast that provides a word of encouragement for Village Church Planters. 

One of the most remarkable statements made about the first church, the church founded by the Apostles in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost, is found in Acts 5:42:

“Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah.”

Even when life is going well and problems are few; it’s hard to keep doing an important activity without interruption. For example, I knew that designing the New VCP materials was my most important task in ministry starting in 2019. But, as hard as I tried to focus, I was distracted and pulled away from lesson design. Finally, in December I was able to complete my part in that project when I submitted the Term 8 lessons. 

It’s hard to keep doing an important activity without interruption. But, the church at Jerusalem “Never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah.”  As you know from your study of the nine activities of a healthy church, evangelism is essential. The church at Jerusalem understood that. So they never stopped proclaiming the good news of Jesus.

Persecution did not stop them. Acts 5:40 tells us that the Jewish leaders flogged the apostles and ordered them not to speak it the name of Jesus. But they found a way. In the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching.

Internal conflict in the church did not stop the Jerusalem disciples from proclaiming God’s word. When there was a division between the Greek-speaking believers and the Hebrew-speaking believers over the distribution of food for widows, the church, led by the apostles, quickly found a solution. Acts 6:7 tells us what happened after the division of food distribution was solved. It says:

“So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.”

Nothing, but nothing stopped the Jerusalem church from telling the good news about Jesus. And nothing should stop our churches either. If there is one activity we must keep doing, its share the Good News.

So keep training and retraining your people to use the four Seed Sower tools and the Three Circles gospel presentation. One training is not enough. Keep sending them out in your village and in neighboring villages. Keep showing the Jesus Films. Schedule projector use well so that the projector does not sit idle in someone’s home when it could be proclaiming the good news in a village that has never heard.

If your church, like the Jerusalem church “never stops teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah” your church will experience growth and expansion as well.

I’m Dean Davis asking, “Who will you share this encouraging word with today?

#EncouragementForVillageChurchPlanters #NeverStopTeaching #GoodNews