The Power of the Gospel

Good Morning! My name is Matt Martinez and I am the pastor here at Renovation Church Shoreview.

India missions send off

Here at Renovation Church, we help people follow Jesus. One of the ways we do this is by sharing the Gospel, the Good News, the saving grace of Jesus with our family and friends and our neighbors locally and with people in the world globally.

This is why we send out mission teams to different parts of the world. In partnership with Renovation Church in Blaine, this summer, we sent out two teams of people from both our churches to Ecuador. And now we are sending out people from both locations to India. Standing with me onstage is Melissa, who is one of the members going in just a week or so!

They will be working with churches there to provide medical assistance to people, partnering with churches for ministry, sharing the gospel with people who have not heard the good news of Jesus before. Some people they will meet, worship and believe something entirely different than the Christian faith.

This India team needs prayer! Let’s pray for Melissa and the rest of the team now, as they obey the call of God to

go and share the Gospel with the people of India. (Pray for the team)

Message

Years ago, I stood in front of a group of high school and middle school students at a church and I told them we had a youth conference coming up that would be all about sharing the good news of Jesus with our friends, neighbors, and family. I told them to think about someone who needed to know Jesus, but it would be a miracle if they came to know Jesus or even step into a church. And I told them to invite that person.

When the day of the conference arrived, one of the high school seniors came up to me and told me he brought three friends from his high school who needed Jesus (“needed Jesus” meant, if they don’t get saved at this conference, they will create problems for us on this trip). It was an interesting opening to a trip I have never forgotten.

Do you know of a person in your life who really needs Jesus?… but it seems unlikely that it would happen. How will they ever come to know Jesus? How will God ever get through to them?

The passage from the Bible we are taking a look at today gives us some insight on our role and God’s role in sharing about Jesus with our loved ones. So please turn in your Bibles to 1 Thessalonians 1:4-10. You can grab the Bible

under your chair if you need it and turn to page 807 of that Bible to find our passage.

If you’re new this week, or were out of town last Sunday, we started studying the letter of 1 Thessalonians in the Bible last week. It was written by the apostle Paul, who was one of the early church leaders. In the city of Thessalonica, Paul led a group of people to Christ, but then had to flee when a riot broke out because others in the city did not like his message.

Keep in mind, these new Thessalonian Christians, prior to Paul’s coming, had perhaps never heard of the name Jesus yet. Some were idol worshippers, and yet God moved mightily and miraculously, and many of them became Christians.

This is a reminder of what God can do. If God can get through to people bowing down to statues in Thessalonica that haven’t even heard the name of Jesus, He can get through to your lost friends and family.

Let’s start reading now 1 Thessalonians 1:4-10.

4 For we know, brothers and sisters loved by God, that he has chosen you, 5 because our gospel came to you not simply with words but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake. 6 You became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you welcomed the message in the midst of severe suffering with the joy given by the Holy Spirit. 7 And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. 8 The Lord’s message rang out

from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia—your faith in God has become known everywhere. Therefore we do not need to say anything about it, 9 for they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us. They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, 10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.

For those of you who have carried the burden of a friend, family member, neighbor, or even people around the world who do not know Jesus. For those who have been praying for them to turn to Jesus, I want you to remember one thing from our passage today. Remember…

The Power of the Gospel

Before we go any further, it is important for us to understand what the Gospel is:

God created the world, the universe, and humans. God made us in His image—each one of us a masterpiece. But humans decided they wanted to create their own identity apart from God. Humans turned to things other than God to worship and give their lives for. This created a break in our relationship with God. We sinned, walked away from God, and that sin, that break, demands judgment and justice. Death was in our paycheck. It was wages that we earned because we rejected God.

But God loved us so much that He sent His Son, Jesus, to die for us in our place, so we could be saved from the coming wrath, as it says in verse 10 of our passage. If we believe and give our lives to following God, then we can be saved and spend eternity with God.

That is the Gospel.

And this same Gospel was going to be talked about, preached, and celebrated during the youth conference I was going to with these unsaved high school students.

Not only were these three guys who were invited not really interested in God, but a message like the Gospel can be hard to hear because of topics like judgment and sin. They are hard to hear when they apply to you. But that weekend, every speaker kept coming back to sin and judgment.

I will be talking all about the POWER of the Gospel today, and part of that power is communicating the whole truth with the help of the Holy Spirit.

Take a look at verse 5. Our words matter in how we truthfully describe the Gospel, alongside the power of the Holy Spirit.

Some of you have had bad experiences with someone’s words of the Gospel. Someone abused it and manipulated you or hurt you. Because of this, you can be tempted to

throw it all out and begin to change what the Bible says about heaven and hell and sin, and God’s grace and love when you talk about it with someone.

Paul gives us help in how we can communicate the Gospel in the second part of verse 5. He writes about the deep conviction and then writes the phrase, “you know how we lived among you for your sake.”

Paul, Silas, and Timothy lived with the Thessalonians, and they got a chance to live out the faith they preached about.

When we speak the truth of the Gospel, the words we use have power when the Gospel has changed us—when it has changed how we live…and it is seen by others.

Gabriel, the high school student who invited his friends, had been changed by Jesus himself. He had gotten into some trouble, made some mistakes a couple of years before, but God had transformed him. He knew what the power of the Gospel of God had done for him and how it changed him. He knew that if he invited them, they would have a chance to be changed by God too.

His transformed life was a witness that got them to the door.

Family Fun Days Service Times Slide

This is one of the main reasons we are doing our Family Fun Day outreach next Sunday. If you’re new to this event, or you’re still wondering what Family Fun Day is, here is how it works.

Every person who comes to a service, or a kids classroom, on the way out will get tickets for free food truck items and a drink, and kids will get wristbands to the inflatable zone. This all takes place in the field right outside the doors of Turtle Lake Elementary.

But before we do any of that, people will come in here, to one of our two services (9&1030), and we share the gospel with them. And you might think, “Is that really going to work?” Yes, and here is why.

First, because a number of people do feel like they should come back to church or try church, but they are embarrassed. But if they come for their kids… or the free food… they come for the fun… it feels less embarrassing. Because in their hearts, they are open to giving God another chance or a first chance.

And second, people come because of the invite you give them. God has saved you. God has changed you. Many of you it was because you connected to a church, or a person of faith in a group. You have experienced the power of the Gospel.

Let that experience of what God has done in your life inspire a deep conviction to invite people to church, to family fun day, and to house church.

Let the change God has done in your life motivate you to serve too.

Family Fun Days Volunteer Slide

We still have a number of spots we need filled, those spots include providing coolers for all our drinks we want to give out. Every role we serve in helps people know Jesus, because that is the main focus of this day.

I know you’re already serving in Renovation Kids one hour, or at the Café, or you’re greeting, and so you’ve said, “No, I can’t help. I’m already serving.”

But the only way we’re going to see a lot of people meet Jesus, is if we say, "I'll serve in Kids, and then out at the field.” “I’ll give my Sunday to the Lord that day”

Trust me, it’s worth it. Please open your church app, sign up right now, or before you leave this morning. We really need you if this event is gonna happen.

Many of you do serve so faithfully. Many of you think through your words so carefully, and yet you still have not experienced the people you deeply care about come to know Jesus. While we do the best with what we have been given, the power of the Holy Spirit needs to be at work in your friend’s life.

God is the one who does the healing, the saving, the changing, the transforming.

The Power of the Gospel

Take a look at the middle of verse 5 five again, “not simply with words but with power, with the Holy Spirit.”

I still remember when Gabriel, the youth student who brought all his friends, came up to me in the middle of the youth conference, and told me that his friend Ethan wanted to pray and believe and follow Jesus. This was exciting, and we couldn’t believe it.

We tried to find a quiet spot to pray but it was so loud and so distracting as we prayed with Ethan. Then after the youth conference, Ethan came to youth group each Wednesday, but he would just sit in his seat and wouldn’t engage a lot. I just thought, “I think we messed up. The conference was too loud, too distracting, too emotional. I am not presenting the gospel and following Jesus well enough in my messages on Wednesday night.”

But soon after that, Ethan came up to me and said, “I think I have been hearing from the Holy Spirit. He has been convicting me to get baptized and share my faith.” I was like, “where did you hear that”, and he said, “The Bible says it, and I feel like I should listen to what God is saying in His Word.”

The power of the Gospel is more than just words. It is so much more than what we do. We deliver the message, then God carries the weight of saving people. There is power when we speak about the Good News, when we read the Word. There is the power of the Holy Spirit above and under and within what we say. This power is not for our own influence or glory or entertainment, but instead, this power helps us to be witnesses of God.

If you were to read about many of the great moves of God throughout history, where people came to know Jesus, it began when people first started praying; just asking the Holy Spirit to move in power in people’s lives who do not yet know Jesus.

That is why I would like to invite all of you to join me in prayer for Family Fun Day this coming Friday. Every Friday, I pray and fast for this church. I pray for you and your families, and your challenges. I pray for people in our area of the north metro to find Jesus. Please join me in prayer, wherever you are, this Friday and pray for the people who are coming to Family Fun Day, for people who need Jesus, and for people to make the decision and follow Him. Pray and invite the Holy Spirit to work!

The Power of the Gospel

Take a look at verse 6 in our passage now: Be imitators of the Lord, even in suffering.

Ethan, the youth student who came to know the Lord and wanted to be baptized, began to be transformed. Ethan's life and his family's life were not perfect. His problems and challenges didn’t disappear after coming to know Jesus. What changed was how he handled them; his posture and perspective when things went wrong.

He invited his family to his baptism. They all came to church because they couldn't believe the changes they were seeing in Ethan's life.

And that is important for us to understand. Following Jesus does not mean our lives become easy or that we are rescued from every difficult thing.

The Thessalonian church was being severely persecuted for their faith, and Paul was not saying that they would be rescued from the persecution they were facing. There was no guarantee of that.

But they would be saved from the coming judgment of God for their sins. Because they had believed, they would be saved.

The power of the Gospel gave the Thessalonians hope, it gave Ethan hope. This hope he carried was seen by his family. They wanted hope so badly that they were willing to come to church to find out more.

Because of Ethan’s faith and hope, his family experienced the power of the Gospel when they came to church and they started following Jesus too.

The Power of the Gospel

The hope we receive from the power of the Gospel in our lives should ring out for others to see and hear. Let’s look at verse 8.

8 The Lord’s message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia—your faith in God has become known everywhere. Therefore we do not need to say anything about it, 9 for they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us. They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God,

The power of the Gospel was so strong in the Thessalonians' lives, it could not stay inside their church, it could not stay inside their city. It was noticed and talked about.

Ethan, recently baptized, graduated high school and went to school out of state. He called me a few months into college to tell me he had joined a campus ministry. He became a leader shortly afterwards and started inviting his friends, and then led some of them to the Lord.

There is power in the Gospel.

God got a hold of one guy’s life, just because his friend invited him to a youth conference. His decision to follow Jesus changed the lives of many in his family. It changed the lives of his friends, and it changed the campus ministry at his college.

Conclusion

This is why we preach the gospel every week and offer a chance for people to give their lives to Jesus. The reason we always ask people to come up front to see me, or to see our follow-up team. It is not only so we can get them a Bible and a Bible reading plan, it’s so we can connect them with a person who will then disciple them, 1-on-1 in how to follow Jesus over the next 8 weeks.

If you need this discipleship or have a friend who needs this, get them here. If you need this, get up here one of these Sundays. We have people ready to help you on this journey!

Your little steps of prayer, serving, inviting, sharing the truth, and then leaving the results up to God can change the trajectory of someone’s life, it can change the places where you work, it can change this city. That is the power of the Gospel. Let’s pray.