Mere Missions

196 • M ere M issions : M oving F orward to M ultiply

life to the third person of the Trinity in order to engage in aggressive missions for Gods Kingdom advancement leading to explosive multiplication and the formation, equipping and strengthening of church planting movements. 3. The Gospel. “And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and tried to persuade Jews and Greeks. When Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was occupied with the word, testifying to the Jews that the Christ was Jesus” (Acts 18.4-5). There is only one power that causes demons to flee (Mark 1.21-28) and the Kingdom of Darkness to tremble (James 2.19) and that is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is the only power of God (Rom. 1.16; 1 Cor. 1.18, 24) in which God is appeased (Rom. 3.21-26) and we now can experience God’s peace (Rom. 5.1). To the Apostle Paul it was not the Gospel plus anything else. It is the Gospel and Gospel alone in which rebellious humanity can be reconciled to God (2 Cor. 5.18-19). This is the good news. This is the Gospel. Paul aggressively evangelized lost souls with the only power that will rescue, redeem, reconcile, and restore, and that was with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 4. The Church. “Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood” (Acts 20.28). There is nothing in this world like a local Church. To the Church has been given the keys of the Kingdom in which to bind and to lose in the spiritual realm (Matt. 16.19). A small church in a community that is devastated by violence and strife, malice and abuse, threats and lies, demonic destructive forces (Ps. 55.9-11) is an outpost of the Kingdom of God bringing salvation and hope in this world and in