EMPOWERED TO DO A SPECIAL WORK
When God gives us special gifts, special talents, and abilities, are they to be used for our own benefit and at our own discretion?
We are continuing our look at the love of God for us and his plan (his mission) to bridge the gap between us and him. His mission is to bring us back into a relationship with him. He wants us to become His disciples and members of his family.
He has equipped us, and he calls us to do a special work. But it does not end with his call; a call without action from the one being called has no value.
In this series, we looked at some things that happened with the early followers of Christ that can give us guidance on what should be our motivation for action.
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Sabbath School
by Dr. Brenda Ware Davis
You also may obtain the study guide for this series at Sabbath.School or ssnet.org (Split)
Let Us Inviting God’s Presence:
Holy Father, thank you for the special gifts you have given us; give us hearts of love that move us to use the gifts as you desire. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
God’s Mission, My Mission
(Lesson 5)
Motivation and Preparation for Mission
Part 5
“Whom You Crucified”
In Acts 2, we discover what happened at Pentecost. Pentecost was the time after Jesus went back to heaven. It is when God poured out His Spirit on His disciples.
As the followers of Jesus were praying, flames of fire from heaven in the form of tongues rested on their heads. The disciples recognize this outpouring as God fulfilling the promise He had made to give them the Holy Spirit.
Luke, in Acts 2:1–41, tells us what happened to the followers of Christ after they received the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.
Miraculously, Jesus’s disciples, according to Acts 2:4, started to speak in other languages “as the Spirit gave them utterance” (Acts 2:4). (Split)
God gave His disciples gifts, skills, and knowledge. What is significant here is that God didn’t give them these gifts to make them fit for heaven. Nor did he give them these gifts just for their own benefit or personal gain. They were also not given to make it easier for them to do business in a foreign language.
These gifts instead were given to them for the benefit of drawing unbelievers. God gave them these gifts to help his followers do His work. They were given to help His disciples carry out His mission of sharing the Good News about Jesus with unbelievers. (Split)
Like the early disciples, God has given us gifts. He has given them to us to carry out his mission. He wants each of us to use the gifts to answer his call to share the Good News about Jesus with those who do not know about Him and his power to save.
You see, the most important thing we can do with these gifts is to tell others about Jesus.
When God poured the Holy Spirit on His disciples, many people confessed their sins. They repented for rejecting Jesus as the Messiah, the anointed one appointed to resolve the sin problem.
The Jewish leaders were guilty of having Jesus nailed to the cross. Moreover, many of them shared in their leaders’ guilt because they did nothing to stop Jesus’ death. As a matter of fact, Peter reminds the Jews in Jerusalem that they asked the Romans to nail Jesus to the cross. The people realized what they had done, and being convicted, Luke in Act 2:37 tells us they asked. “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” (Acts 2:37).
Peter responded in Acts 2:38, “‘Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit’ ” (Acts 2:38).
Jesus’ followers, in unity, worked with the Holy Spirit. Together, they preached the Good News that Jesus forgives sins and gives us the power to win the war against sin.
Today, God asks us to share this message with those who do not know Him. We must not judge them. That’s not our job. We must tell them about the saving power of Jesus. The question, then, is how? Continue to the next segment of this video —Part 6: A Picture of the Early Church.
God’s Mission, My Mission
(Lesson 6)
Motivation and Preparation for Mission
Part 6: A Picture of the Early Church
Acts 2:41–47 describe the growth and success of the formation of the early church after the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
Acts 2 ends with a beautiful picture of life in the New Testament church, indicating its substantial growth. (Split)
Acts 2:41 says:
41 Then those who gladly received his word were baptized, and that day, about three thousand souls were added to them. Acts 2:41)
This suggests that the newly baptized members became full partners with the existing disciples or followers of Jesus in obtaining new members.
The thing is, one of the primary responsibilities of the church was and is discipleship. Its members were to recruit new followers of Jesus and teach them to recruit followers.
Jesus’ existing disciples taught new believers in the following ways:
According to Acts 2:42, Jesus’ apostles, another name for disciples or followers, continued to teach the new believers Bible doctrine and fellowship.
Notice that in Acts 2:42, Luke says:
42 And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers (Acts 2:42)
The word “fellowship” in Acts 2:42 means partnership. So, Jesus’ followers fully worked together and interacted with new church members, helping them to learn how to serve God.
Jesus’ twelve disciples helped to correct any false beliefs. They helped them to understand their new experiences and to direct their lives according to Bible doctrines or Bible trues.
The apostles’ preaching confronted incorrect beliefs and offered new explanations for what people were seeing and experiencing. But this didn’t teach them how to live out the new truth in their lives.
The application of truth occurred in the lives of the new believers in relation to being part of the group.
In other words, under the supervision and leadership of the spiritually mature and grounded apostles, the new believers were carefully and intentionally discipled.
They received direct teaching and application by interaction in the daily lives of the other believers.
Thus, through association and interaction, they observed how the existing followers of Jesus lived their lives.
This brings up an important point. We should not preach to people about what to do if we don’t also tell them how to do it.
Reading how-to books or listening to sermons that explain how to do things can by no means replace seeing people doing it and then imitating them.
Thus, the best “sermon” is the way we live our lives. Paul understood this. Therefore, he told his followers in 1 Corinthians 11:1 to imitate him as he imitated Jesus (1 Corinthians 11:1).
When other people see your real experience in Jesus, their lives will be changed. Our lives are to be the examples needed to help them apply what they have learned.
Now for the challenge.
Challenge #1: Think of someone in your life who doesn’t know Jesus or His love. Pray every day for this person to have a personal experience with Jesus.
For those up to the greater Challenge
Challenge #2: Are you sharing Jesus with someone in your life? Look for ways to invite this person to fellowship with you and other believers.
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Hebron Seventh-day Adventist Church
7902 Wheatly Street
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