Sunday May 16, 2010					                             Phone: 
570.829.5216
Pastor David Miklas					                 e-mail 
pdmikBBM@aol.com
Message Power and Glory in the Church - #5             	                   Text: Acts 11:19-30; 13:1-5

“The Ingredients of a Great Church”

Introduction: Would you turn with me to Acts 11 and follow as I read from verse 19-26, 

“Now they which were scattered abroad upon the persecution that arose about Stephen travelled 
as far as Phenice, and Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the word to none but unto the Jews only. 
(20) And some of them were men of Cyprus and Cyrene, which, when they were come to Antioch, 
spake unto the Grecians, preaching the Lord Jesus. (21) And the hand of the Lord was with them: 
and a great number believed, and turned unto the Lord. (22) Then tidings of these things came 
unto the ears of the church which was in Jerusalem: and they sent forth Barnabas, that he should 
go as far as Antioch. (23) Who, when he came, and had seen the grace of God, was glad, and 
exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord. (24) For he was a 
good man, and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith: and much people was added unto the Lord. (25) 
Then departed Barnabas to Tarsus, for to seek Saul: (26) And when he had found him, he brought 
him unto Antioch. And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the 
church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.”

When we think of the great institution of the Church: 

We must understand from Psalm 127:1, “Except the LORD builds the house, they labour in vain 
that build it…” With one change of a word in reference to the church we could read it this way, 
“Unless the Lord builds the Church they labor in vain who build it.”

We must understand that the primary purpose of the church as seen in Ephesians 3:21 is the place 
of the "Glory of Almighty God." 

We must understand that the church of the Living God was FOUNDED by the Lord Jesus Christ. In 
Matthew 16:18 Jesus said, "Upon this rock (referring to Himself) I will build My church." When 
our Lord said those words, He did not have in mind either a building or a name, only a group of 
people. The term "church" comes from the Greek word "Eklesia," meaning, "called out ones." 
Jesus would reach into the rank of humanity and "call out" for Himself a people, who by faith 
trusted Him for eternal redemption. 

We must understand that the church of the Living God is an empty shell unless it is 
EMPOWERED and ENERGIZED by the Holy Spirit of the Living God. Someone put it this way,

The model for ministry is Jesus Christ.
The power of ministry is the Holy Spirit. 
The foundation of ministry is character.
The nature of ministry is service.
The motive for ministry is love
The measure of ministry is sacrifice.
The purpose of ministry is the glory of God.
The tools of ministry are the Word of God and prayer.
The privilege of ministry is growth.

In Acts 1:8 just before Jesus went back to Heaven, He said to His disciples, "But ye shall 
receive power after the Holy Spirit is come upon you; and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in 
Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria and unto the uttermost part of the earth." For several 
weeks we have looked at the first church established by Christ in Jerusalem. This was 
primarily a Jewish Church, led by the Apostle to the Jews, Peter. There we saw from 
Acts 2:41-48 whatever we do as a church ought to fall within the parameters of 4 
objectives. They are WORSHIP, INSTRUCTION, FELLOWSHIP, and EXPRESSION (or 
evangelism). After establishing the church there in Jerusalem, the next area penetrated by 
the Gospel was the area of Judea. Then the Gospel moved into the area of Samaria where 
the second great church at Antioch is mentioned in Acts 11. This is the first Gentile 
Church and the central evangelistic figure changes from Peter (the Apostle to the Jews) 
to Paul (the Apostle to the Gentiles).

Again in Acts 11:19 we read "Now they who were scattered abroad upon the persecution..." Who 
were these scattered? They were believers who had come from Jerusalem because of the 
persecution. In Acts 8:1, 3 we read, "...And at that time there was a great persecution against the 
church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered abroad...except the apostles. Therefore, they 
that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word." The church members themselves 
went everywhere preaching the gospel.

The road was their pulpit, the market place was their pulpit, and the backyard of humble homes 
was their pulpit. 

Scattered by tribulation, they traveled throughout, talking about the Word of God, telling 
others of the wonderful, good news of the gospel. You know,

It's good to know there are many Christians in the public arena openly preaching the gospel and 
living for Christ. It's good to know that in every community you find born-again Christians 
seeking to carry on a gospel witness.

God still has His witnesses everywhere. At present, believing Christians might not be in 
the majority in America, but I am thankful that we do have many Christians scattered 
around. Notice that His witnesses in the ancient world went as far as Antioch.

There were at least 16 locations known as Antioch in the ancient world, but this one was the 
greatest. This "Antioch" was the third greatest city in the world in the days of the early church. 
Rome was considered first, then Alexandria, then Antioch. It was a wealthy city, but it was also a 
wicked city.

One Bible historian has said, "If any city in the first century was worthy to be called the heathen 
queen of the east, that city was Antioch." It was in this city that the Gospel was preached so 
effectively that many received the gospel and were born-again. Here in our text I want to 
call your attention to 5 ingredients of "that great church at Antioch."

First: Antioch was a PREACHING Church: There was an emphasis upon preaching.

In Acts 11:19 we read they were "preaching the Word."
In Acts 11:20 we read they were “preaching the Lord Jesus."
In Acts 14:25 we read, "And when they had preached the word…"

God put a great deal of emphasis upon PREACHING. The emphasis at Antioch was on 
preaching the Word. In order to have a great Bible-believing church, it must first be a 
preaching church.

In Mark 16:15 Jesus said, "Go ye into all the world and PREACH the gospel to every creature."
In I Corinthians 1:21 we read, "It pleased God by the foolishness of PREACHING to save them 
that believe."
In Luke 4:43 Jesus Christ called Himself a preacher, for he said, "I must preach the Kingdom of 
God...for therefore am I sent..." 

Now in the church:

       There ought to be great music.
	There ought to be adequate facilities.
	There ought to be organization and planned activities.
	There ought to be friendliness.
But the main ingredient should be PREACHING. I am reminded of the challenge of the 
Apostle Paul to Timothy in II Timothy 4:2 that he was to "Preach the Word; be instant 
(diligent) in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering, and doctrine." The 
emphasis in the church should be to preach the whole counsel of the Word of God. Part 
of that emphasis was to be about the person of Jesus Christ. Remember Jesus gave the 
great commission in Acts 1:8, "ye shall be witnesses unto me." The preaching of the 
resurrection of Christ was as prominent as the death of Christ. It would have been useless 
for the apostle to preach about the death of Christ unless they also learned that He had 
risen from the dead. 

Peter's first sermon at Pentecost in Acts 2:32 centered on the resurrection of Christ, "This Jesus hath 
God raised up, whereof we all are witness."

Christ’s resurrection was the theme of Peter's second message in Acts 3:26, "Unto you first God, 
having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you." 

Christ was the theme of Peter's defense before the Jewish Sanhedrin in Acts 4:8,10, "Be it 
known...by the name of Jesus...of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the 
dead...Neither is there salvation in any other for there is no other name under heaven given among 
men, whereby we must be saved." 

In Peter’s second defense he said in Acts 5:30-31, "The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom 
ye slew and hanged on a tree. Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be ...a Saviour..."

Christ was the theme of Stephen’s preaching as he lay dying in Acts 7:56, "...behold, I see the 
heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God." 

Christ was ever the theme of Paul's defense before the Roman government and the theme of His 
preaching, where he wrote in I Corinthians 2:2, "For I determine not to know any thing among you, 
save Jesus Christ crucified. "

In I Corinthians 15:3-4, Paul declared "For I delivered unto you...that Christ died for our sins 
according to the scriptures; and that he rose again the third day, according to the scriptures." 

Let me quickly summarize this thought. For us personally:

We must preach Christ, the only Saviour.	
We must give the message in a simple, straight-forward style.
We must tell people that Christ alone is able to save.

Our church must always have a preaching ministry in order to preach the whole 
counsel of the Word of God. Let’s not ever let this pulpit be used for anything 
other than "PREACHING THE WORD."

Second: Antioch was a SOUL WINNING Church. According to verse 21, in spite of 
the wicked conditions there were people being saved in this city. When you preach the 
gospel, regardless of how wicked a city or person is, the gospel is "the power of God unto 
salvation," and people are going to be saved. People need to hear that the gospel is:

the power of God unto Salvation,
the power of God to change lives, and
the power of God to solve problems.

Just give them the gospel. Notice the results in Antioch:

Verse 21, "And the hand of the Lord was with them; and a great number believed, and turned unto 
the Lord."
Verse 24, "...and much people was added unto the Lord."


Here in this wicked city people were being converted because Jesus Christ was being 
proclaimed, the Word of God was being preached. The hand of God was with them, to 
bless them, and people were getting saved. God teaches that the ingredients of a great 
church are first of all preaching, and second is soul winning.

Third: Antioch was a TEACHING church.

Verse 26, "And it came to pass that for a whole year they assembled themselves... and taught 
much people..." 
Acts 13:1, "And there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers..."

Five of the prophets and teachers, who concentrated on teaching these people the Word 
God, were named: 

SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHERS TEACH THE WORD,
WORKERS IN OUR YOUTH PROGRAMS TEACH THE WORD,
MEN WHO TEACH, TEACH THE WORD, 
LADIES WHO TEACH, TEACH THE WORD.

In my opinion, we have too much modern day “how you do this and how you handle that” 
going on in our Sunday Schools and Bible classes. This new approach is found in most of 
our Christian literature. But in reality, all we need is here in this one Book, the Bible. What 
it needs to be is RE-TAUGHT, not RE-THOUGHT! 

Many people in many churches are coming to be fed the word of God, but all they are getting is 
the dessert and not the meat.
Too many people are going to DAIRY BAR Churches and not to churches that serve the SOLID 
MEAT OF THE WORD OF GOD.

In Acts 20:28, Paul challenged the Pastor to "FEED THE CHURCH OF GOD."

Fourth: Antioch was a MISSIONARY Church. You recall again from Acts 1:8 Jesus 
said, "But ye shall receive power after the Holy Spirit is come upon you; and ye shall be witnesses unto 
me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria and unto the uttermost parts of the earth." In 
this verse, Jesus tells us to begin at home (that is your Jerusalem) and then spread out 
even unto the whole world. Notice in Acts 13:1-4a that this was a missionary church. 

“Now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers; as Barnabas, 
and Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, which had been brought 
up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. (2) As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy 
Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. (3) And 
when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away. (4) So they, 
being sent forth by the Holy Ghost…”

This church waited upon God. So many churches are finely organized, so many 
committees, so many boards, so many programs, that the Holy Spirit never gets to say 
anything. In verse 2, we see that the Holy Spirit could communicate with this church. 
Again I remind you that the work of the ministry is empty and useless without the power 
of the Holy Spirit.

The church at Antioch was a missionary church sending people out to other nations, to 
other cities, to other people. A church starts at home, that is your Jerusalem. But if you 
stop in Jerusalem, in practice you are not a New Testament church. I wonder if we 
understand the force and focus of real, genuine, missions work. 

One of the ingredients of the church missions program is:

Not just hearing about missionaries,
Not just funding missionaries,
Not just praying for missionaries,

but you being touched by the hand of God here in this place and saying yes, Lord 
send me. I don't mean just to your family and neighbors, but perhaps it would be to the 
far reaches of this world, to carry the gospel.

Fifth: Antioch was a PRAYING church. Notice would you

Acts 13:2, "And when they had fasted and prayed..."
Acts 14:23 "And when they had ordained the elders in every church and had prayed with 
fasting..."

This was a praying church that waited upon God. By the way, praying was emphasized 
even in the Church at Jerusalem. 

Prayer created a Spirit of unity in the church, Acts 1:14, "These all continued with one accord in 
prayer and supplication..."

Prayer created a spirit of power in the church, Acts 2:42, "And they continued steadfastly in the 
apostle's doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers."

Prayer created a spirit of boldness within the church, Acts 4:31, "And when they had prayed, the 
place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy 
Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with BOLDNESS."

For a church to be blessed of God, it must be a praying church, individually as well as 
collectively. The people were of one mind and one heart, and God was pleased to answer 
their requests. 

No wonder many people were saved at this church at Antioch.
No wonder missionaries were sent out.
No wonder God wrought miracles in this church.

Every time we read of the church at Antioch, we read that they were fasting and praying, 
praying and fasting. God honored and blessed them for that.

As we think about the Green Street Baptist Chapel, and our part in this church, can we 
truly say it has the ingredients of this great church at Antioch? 

Is ours a preaching church? 
Are we focused on preaching the whole counsel of God's Word? 
Do we emphasize the preaching of Christ, Him crucified, buried, risen and coming again? 
Is our church a soul winning church? 
Is our church a teaching church?
Can it be said that we are truly a missionary church? 
Are we really a praying church? 

As you think upon these FIVE ingredients, let me call your attention to the last phrase of 
verse 26, "And the Disciples were called Christians first in Antioch." It was at Antioch that the 
name "Christian" was first applied to the disciples of Jesus Christ. 

Today the word Christian is a very loosely used word. Many people who have never been 
born again consider themselves "Christians" simply because they say they are not "pagans." 
After all, they may belong to a church, attend services somewhat regularly, and even 
occasionally give to the work of the church! But it takes more than that for a sinner to 
become a child of God. It takes faith in Jesus Christ. Actually the word “Christian” is 
mentioned only three times in the entire Bible. Here in

Acts 1:26, "And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch."
Acts 26:28 "Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost thou persuadest  me to be a Christian."
I Peter 4:16 "Yet, if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God 
on this behalf."

I would say it's a wonderful blessing to be called a Christian, meaning one who is "Christ-
like." I would say it is a wonderful blessing to be a part of the Family of God:

   to know that God is our Heavenly Father,
to know that Christ is our Redeemer and Sustainer,
to know that the Holy Spirit lives inside us to comfort and guide us.

It's a wonderful blessing to be called a Christian, AMEN! You and I ought to be 
PROUD of that NAME. 

I am so glad that I am a part of the family of God.
I am so glad that I can be called a Christian.

I believe the Holy Spirit of God teaches us that we ought to be careful not to hurt the 
Lord's name. The biggest blight on Christianity today is the hypocrisy of so many 
Christians. It ought to matter how we live. We represent the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus said 
in Matthew 5:16 "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and 
GLORIFY your Father, who is in Heaven." I understand the word "Glory" here means a "Good 
Name" and we ought to so live that we give our Heavenly Father a good name. 

My friends, we live in a very Anti-Christian society. Humanism has so invaded our 
society that it has over-taken us and we are simply reaping what we have been sowing for 
these past 30 years. Therefore, it seems like the Bible believing, Christ honoring people 
are discriminated against more than anybody in America.

People are laughing at our God.
People are criticizing our Bible.
People are denouncing our Christianity.

We will not quiet them through our preaching, or through our beautiful music, or the way 
we conduct our service. But they sure will notice how we live on Monday, Tuesday, 
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. It ought to mean something to be a Christian.

As we close this service let me ask you,

Can you say this evening that you have the assurance of Heaven, if you would die this very 
moment?

Have you by faith put your trust in the finished Work of Christ who died at Calvary to save 
your soul? 

***********************************************
If God has spoken to your heart after reading the sermon “The Ingredients of a Great Church” then right 
now talk to God about what He has spoken to you. 

Do you have the assurance that one day you will go to heaven? If you have no assurance that you know 
Jesus Christ, then I trust you will decide to accept Him as your personal Savior. The Bible tells us in 

Acts 16:31, “...Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved...” 
Romans 10:13, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
This prayer is here for those who need to ask Jesus to be their personal Savior: “I do want to go to Heaven. 
I know I am a sinner, and I do believe Jesus Christ died for me. I realize I cannot buy this great 
salvation, nor can I earn it. Knowing Jesus died on the cross and arose from the grave to pay my sin 
debt and to purchase my salvation, I do now trust Him as my Savior, and from this moment on I am 
completely depending on Him for my salvation.”

If you made the decision to accept Jesus Christ as your personal Savior let me know? Please send an e-
mail to, pdmikBBM@aol.com and I will send you some literature that will help you in your Christian life.
The “Weekly SERMON” was sent as a ministry of Bible Baptist Ministry, 48 Alexie Rd., Hanover 
Township, PA 18706. Privacy policy: your e-mail address will not be sold, or shared with any third party.

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