Developing a Kingdom Strategy for the 21st Century Jorge Acevedo Lead Pastor @ Grace Church egracechurch.com @pastorjacevedo

A Kingdom strategy that is… 1. …grounded in the Bible. 2 A Kingdom strategy that is… 1. …grounded in the Bible. 2. …rooted in our Wesleyan heritage. 3. …turbo-charged for our 21st century context.

A Kingdom strategy that is grounded in the Bible

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Acts 1:8 (NLT)

On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. Acts 8:1 (NLT)

As was his custom, Paul went into the synagogue… Acts 17:2a (NLT)

As soon as it was night, the believers sent Paul and Silas away to Berea. On arriving there, they went to the Jewish synagogue. Acts 17:10 (NLT)

While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols.

So he reasoned in the synagogue with both Jews and God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there. Acts 17:16-17 (NLT)

The heartbeat of the city is where the pain is. Deb Hirsch

A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to debate with him A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to debate with him. Some of them asked, “What is this babbler trying to say?” Others remarked, “He seems to be advocating foreign gods.”

They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection. Then they took him and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus, where they said to him,

“May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we would like to know what they mean.”

(All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.) Acts 17:18-21 (NLT)

Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship,

…I even found an altar with this inscription: to an unknown god …I even found an altar with this inscription: to an unknown god. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you.

The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything.

Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands.

God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’

As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’ Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by human design and skill.

In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed.

He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.” Acts 17:22-31 (NLT)

Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. 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. To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law)…

so as to win those not having the law ...so as to win those not having the law. 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.

I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings. 1 Corinthians 9:19-23 (NIV)

Kingdom Principle Our strategy to reach unreached people for Jesus should be driven by Spirit-led opportunity in a particular context.

Kingdom Principle Our strategy to reach unreached people for Jesus should be driven by Spirit-led opportunity in a particular context.

When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, “We want to hear you again on this subject.” At that, Paul left the Council.

Some of the people became followers of Paul and believed Some of the people became followers of Paul and believed. Among them was Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus, also a woman named Damaris, and a number of others. Acts 17:32-34 (NLT)

A Kingdom strategy that is rooted in our Wesleyan heritage

Thursday, 29.—I left London and in the evening expounded to a small company at Basingstoke, Saturday, 31. In the evening I reached Bristol and met Mr. Whitefield there.

I could scarcely reconcile myself at first to this strange way of preaching in the fields, of which he set me an example on Sunday; I had been all my life (till very lately) so tenacious of every point relating to decency…

…and order that I should have thought the saving of souls almost a sin if it had not been done in a church.

Monday, 2.—At four in the afternoon, I submitted to be more vile and proclaimed in the highways the glad tidings of salvation, speaking from a little eminence in a ground adjoining to the city…

…to about three thousand people …to about three thousand people. The Scripture on which I spoke was this (is it possible anyone should be ignorant that it is fulfilled in every true minister of Christ?):

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives…

…and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”

Kingdom Principle Our strategy to reach unreached people for Jesus should be driven by Spirit-led opportunity in a particular context.

A Kingdom strategy that is turbo-charged for our 21st Century Context

The heartbeat of the city is where the pain is. Deb Hirsch

Developing a Kingdom Strategy for the 21st Century Jorge Acevedo Lead Pastor @ Grace Church egracechurch.com @pastorjacevedo