THE CHARACTERISTICS OF A WORLD CHANGER
Acts 17:6
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR: HUMOR: THE PREACHER & SIN
1. A pastor was in a discussion with an woman church member about her elderly Aunt who’d finally “seen the light” and joined the church after a lifetime of riotous living. "Will my Aunt's sins be forgiven?" she asked.
2. "Oh, certainly," replied the pastor, "Remember, the greater the sin, the greater the saint."
3. The woman sat stunned to silence for a moment. Then she said, "Oh, Pastor, how I wish I'd known this thirty years ago!"
4. NOT TRUE. Having greater sin actually makes it…
a. Less like you’ll ever come to Jesus, and
b. Gives you greater trouble with temptation. So don’t think it’s ever a good idea to sin!
B. TEXT
“1…they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. 2 Then Paul, as his custom was, went in to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures, 3 explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus whom I preach to you is the Christ.” 4 And some of them were persuaded….5 But the Jews who were not persuaded, becoming envious, took some of the evil men from the marketplace, and gathering a mob, set all the city in an uproar and attacked the house of Jason and sought to bring them out to the people. But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some brethren to the rulers of the city, crying out, “These who have turned the world upside down have come here too!” Acts 17:5-6 NKJV.
C. THESIS
1. It took a certain type of Christian, a certain type of disciple, to overthrow the Roman Empire. Even then, God was looking for quality, and not quantity.
2. As you look at the ministry of Jesus, the closer you get to Calvary the less people there are. When he was out on the hillsides of Galilee, breaking bread, feeding the multitudes, there were thousands out to watch the religious show, but as he moved toward Calvary and said to that multitude, "Except you eat my flesh, and drink my blood, you have no part of Me" (John 6:53), they left him by the droves. They were saying in effect, "we didn't come out here to be told this kind of stuff. We're not here for you to tell us we are going to have to suffer. We are here to watch the miracles. They walked off and left him.
3. Pentecost didn't come out of a full-page ad in the Jerusalem Post or 300 television stations. It came out of God's terrible dealings with 12 men. He squeezed every emotion, every ambition, until he broke them.
4. They said, "Let me sit on your right hand." He said, "It’s not for me to give." He pulled them from the tax office, doctor’s office, and fishing boats and moved them out. When he left them, they were empty, broken, bruised, and it was into those broken vessels Pentecost came the first time. It will be to those same kind of vessels He will come the second time, when there’s no other place to turn but God.
5. Those early Christians turned whipping posts into pulpits, prisons into churches, and fought wild beasts at Ephesus. They were beaten, tortured, driven from their homes, and yet they proclaimed the gospel that toppled an empire.
6. The lack of courage often seen in our generation is a sad commentary of the times. Ours is an age of conformity. But I can tell you that we serve a nonconforming God who has called us to be different. We must know that the cause we serve is greater than ourselves.
7. Today, God looks for quality, not quantity. He changed the world with a handful of people. It isn't that big, soft under-bellied religious crowd that will make the difference today.
8. It will be the disciple who has sold out, stepped over the line, jettisoned their past life; doesn’t care about prestige, position, or popularity, who has a new, superior life in them(Zoe- God-kind of life, 2 Pet 1:4), and with burning hearts fixes their eyes on the goal, where their Master – the Lord Jesus Christ – awaits them. Will you be one of them?
[I think this section is a Leonard Ravenhill quote]
D. THESIS
1. So this morning we’re going to look at the “Characteristics of a World Changer.” You say, “What? I have enough trouble changing my clothes!”
2. But you underestimate your power, your potential (what you’re capable of), and your responsibilities (what God has called you to).
3. God doesn’t need much to change the world – just one man or woman. So we’re going to look at:
a. the DEFINITION of changing the world,
b. the NECESSITY of changing the world, and
c. the CHARACTERISTICS needed to change the world.
I. WHAT IS A WORLD CHANGER?
Somebody that’s changed your world!
A. GREAT NUMBER OF WORLD CHANGERS
1. We assume that WE could never be world changers because they are so rare and unusual. Not true!
2. History is full of common, everyday people who became world changers. In our own time there are hundreds, perhaps thousands of world changers.
B. EXAMPLES OF WORLD CHANGERS
1. Many Inventors: a. Wright brothers, airplane; b. Thomas Edison, light bulbs; c. William T. Morton – father of anesthetic.
d. Alexander Graham Bell – dev. of telephone, etc.
2. Many Great Scientists: Kepler, Copernicus, Galileo, etc.
3. (I think one of the greatest inventors was the person who invented the disposable diaper!)
4. Medical Pioneers like Louis Pasteur – developed vaccines.
5. Philosophers, Artists, Musicians, Generals & Kings.
6. Near Top: Jesus Christ, Moses, St. Paul – as shapers of Western civilization, as well as faith.
7. Impressive – out of the top 100 people to alter world history, the Apostle Paul is listed as Number Six! Wow.
[100 Most Influential, Michael H. Hart.]
C. “WORLD” CHANGER
1. Not everyone in the world has been impacted by science – like third-world countries who don’t have much tech.
2. The term “world changer” can be applied to you if you change a. One Town, b. One family, or even One Person!
D. ILLUSTRATION
1. A man who was walking along a beach saw a boy in the distance picking up starfishes and throwing them back into the sea.
2. The man saw the futility of the task. He said to the boy, "There’s thousands of starfish. You can’t possibly make a difference."
3. The boy stooped down and picked up one more starfish and threw it back into the ocean. He turned to the man and said, "I made a difference to that one!"
II. THE NECESSITY OF BEING WORLD CHANGERS
A. SATAN HAS MANY TRYING TO CHANGE THE WORLD FOR EVIL
1. Dave Breese wrote the book, Seven Men Who Rule the World from the Grave (about John Dewey, Soren Kierkegaard, Julius Wellhausen, Charles Darwin, Sigmund Freud, John Maynard Keynes, and Karl Marx). They control the minds.
2. But other insidious forces are at work:
a. 16 million alcoholics in USA;
b. 18 million adults cohabiting in 2017, 39% increase;
c. 65 million have an incurable S.T.I. (1 in 4);
d. 40 million Americans regularly visit porn sites, which account for 25% of the entire internet traffic!
e. Over 40 million used cocaine, 40 million used marijuana and 65k used heroin in 2017. The use of marijuana has skyrocketed since its legalization.
B. THERE MUST BE WORLD-CHANGERS FOR GOD AND FOR GOOD
1. There have been many down through biblical history – Noah, Moses, Esther, Elijah, etc.
2. But I want us to look at N.T. world-changers. Besides the Lord Jesus, which person in the N.T. did more to change his world than any other?
3. The Apostle Paul. Even his unbelieving contemporaries said things like, “These who have turned the world upside down have come here too” Acts 17:6 NKJV.
III. THE SEVEN CHARACTERISTICS OF MEN & WOMEN WHO TURN THE WORLD UPSIDE DOWN
A. PAUL WAS TOTALLY COMMITTED
1. Single-minded; didn’t have any interests, but only one. “This one thing I do….”
2. No ½ commitments – no hypocrisy, double life, no hindrances allowed.
3. He was always pressing for a higher place; he was never content, he never said, “I’ve arrived.”
4. Like the story of the Preacher who came to stay with the Farmer. The chicken said to the pig, “It’s such an honor to have a man of God stay here, I propose we each make a contribution to breakfast – ham and eggs.” The pig replied, “That’s big of you, yet to do it you only need a generous offering, but for me it would take a full commitment!” That’s what Paul did.
B. TEACHABLE, ADAPTABLE, WILLING TO CHANGE
1. He went from a strict Jew who believed he was superior to believing in a God who treated all people equally.
2. He learned to adapt to resistance; he thought of new ways to get the Gospel out.
3. “To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. 22 To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some” 1 Cor. 9:20,22.
4. At Athens, Paul preached about “The Unknown God” as the One they needed to hear about. That could be OUR message too!
C. HUNGER FOR FELLOWSHIP WITH CHRIST
1. Paul said, “But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ.” Phip. 3:7-8.
2. He perceived Jesus Christ as the center of all things – “I would know nothing but Christ and Him crucified” 1 Cor. 2:2; “God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord” 1 Cor. 1:9.
3. To be a world-changer, you must spend time with the ultimate world changer – Jesus Christ. In Acts 4:13, after Peter & John healed a lame man, Jewish leaders observed the
apostles and noticed that what made the difference about them was that “THEY HAD BEEN WITH JESUS!”
D. GREAT COMPASSION/ LOVE FOR PEOPLE
1. Paul said, “I am a debtor both to the Greeks and the Greeks; both to the wise and to the unwise.” Rom. 1:14. A true world-changer loves people and gives his/her life for them.
2. ILLUSTRATION.
a. When the ship Empress of Ireland went down with 130 Salvation Army officers on board, 109 of them were drowned and not one of the bodies that were picked up had a life preserver.
b. The survivors told how when the Salvation Army officers discovered that there were not enough life preservers to go around, they took off their own and strapped them on other men saying, "I can die better than you."
c. If I had been one of them, I would have told the one I was giving my life-vest to, “Just promise me you’ll give your life to the Lord; that will be compensation enough for the cost of my life!” They willingly gave up their lives for others! What courage!
E. FIFTH – SPIRITUAL AMBITION
1. We all have ambition to make money, to provide for our families, and to go to Heaven. What about spiritual ambition? Do we, like Paul, want to know the Lord better? Are we working to spread the message of the Gospel? Do you have spiritual ambition?
2. “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” Mark Twain
F. SIXTH – PAUL WAS A DISCIPLER
1. “And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others” 2 Tim. 2:2
2. Difference between Wesley and George Whitefield. Whitefield was a better preacher; he converted more people than Wesley, but all his converts didn’t last. Why? Wesley formed “societies” – house Bible studies where they were discipled, thus they were preserved.
3. Paul did as Wesley, or rather, Wesley did as Paul had done.
E. LAST - BOLDNESS
1. We’ll never be world-changers if we cringe before our opponents!
2. ILLUSTRATION OF A REVOLUTIONARY
a. Rodolfo Loyola was born in Camagüey, Cuba in 1928. He came to Christ when he was 24 years old when a woman evangelist shared the gospel with him.
b. In 1968, Rodolfo was the professor of literature at a Cuban university and also a local pastor. The Cuban government instructed him to either abandon his faith or quit teaching school.
c. They gave him 15 days to decide. Loyola replied, "I don't need 15 days. I don't need 15 minutes. I won't be back to teach tomorrow." Several days later, in the middle of the night, he was abducted and imprisoned in a Cuban concentration camp for over two years.
d. In the prison camp, Loyola won the inmates around him to Christ. He caused such a stir in the concentration camp, they transferred him 13 times in 2 years!
e. In 1970, Castro's government told him that he had 30 days to find two thousand dollars to take his family out of Cuba. He and his wife prayed for guidance, writing to family and friends in other countries.
f. Thirty days later, there was two thousand and ten dollars. So with ten dollars in his pocket, Loyola and his family were sent to Spain where he joyfully exclaimed that he was a missionary to Spain sent by Castro!
CONCLUSION
A. VALUE OF HER SOUL
1. Rowland Hill, a great public preacher of the 17-1800’s, was preaching in a park in London to a large crowd. Lady Anne Erskine, a Countess, happened to be passing by in her carriage. She stopped to listen. When Rowland Hill found out it was her, he altered his sermon.
2. He spoke loudly to the crowd, "Friends! I have something to sell!” There was dead silence. He said, "I have more than a title to sell—I have more than a crown of Europe to sell; I have the soul of Lady Ann Erskine to sell. Is there any one here who bids for it?”
3. “Yes, I hear a bid. Satan, Satan, what will you give? 'I will give pleasure, honor, riches—yea, I will give the whole world for her soul.'”
4. “Do I hear another bid? Ah, I thought so; I hear another bid. The Lord Jesus Christ. What will You give for this soul? 'I will give lacerations on My back, wounds to My hand and feet, all My blood, my bitterest tears, and My dying breath! I will give Anne the gift of eternal life!'”
5. “Lady Anne Erskine, you have heard the two bidders for your soul, which will you accept?" She ordered the door of her carriage to be opened, and came weeping from it, and accepted the Lord Jesus Christ. (D.L. Moody, adapted.)
B. THE CALL
1. Friend, Satan and the Lord Jesus are bidding for your soul this morning. Satan offers you pleasure, popularity, and riches. Jesus Christ offers you eternal life. Which will you have?
2. Jesus Christ claims your allegiance; will you say ‘yes’ to Jesus? If so, please join me at the front. Prayer.
3. How many of you want to be World Changers. If so, raise your hands. Let’s ask God to help us to have the 7 characteristics that will make us revolutionaries for the Kingdom of God. Prayer.
