If Alabama Baptists are going to fulfill the Acts 1:8 Challenge, then they must follow the example of the early church in Acts, Fred Luter told them on Nov. 15.
Preaching the Tuesday evening sermon during the Alabama Baptist State Convention annual meeting in Mobile, Luter — pastor of Franklin Avenue Baptist Church, New Orleans, and first vice president of the Southern Baptist Convention — maintained his traditional energy as he developed his message, “Empowered by Another.”
But before the “amens” and “that’s rights” came Luter’s way, several “amens” were voiced for the opening musical presentation by the Voices of Mobile, a University of Mobile (UMobile) 16-person vocal ensemble.
Songs included an a cappella version of “Crown Him With Many Crowns,” a cheer-invoking performance of “The Old Rugged Cross” and a version of “O Holy Night” that was recently recorded for Charles Stanley’s InTouch Ministries broadcast.
As Luter made his way to the podium, he high-fived the Voices of Mobile producer and executive director of UMobile’s Center for Performing Arts, Roger Breland. And that brotherly exchange set the tone for the evening’s message.
Luter asked the audience, “Have you ever wondered how the early church did it? How did 131 people (together with the 12 disciples) pull off the monumental task of reaching the world for Christ?”
Acts 17:6 says those believers “turned the world upside down,” he said with repetition and long drawn-out syllables in a way only a self-described New Orleans street preacher could.
“They shook stuff up,” Luter said. “They changed some thinking … some marriages. … They changed some lifestyles … some traditions.”
The early church made a difference not only in Judea but also in Jerusalem and Samaria and to the ends of the earth, he noted.
“These plain, ordinary men and women did extraordinary things for the gospel of Jesus Christ. They faced fears … and opposition, but they turned the world upside down. … The Hebrew word for that is ‘Wow!’” Luter said with a smile.
He suggested the early church accomplished this unimaginable task because it was empowered by another — the Holy Spirit.
In Acts 1:4, Jesus commanded believers to “stay put” and wait for the promise of God, Luter said.
“Could that possibly be the problem in our (U.S.) churches today?” he asked. “We don’t like to wait for anything. … If we’re waiting, we’re complaining.”
But Luter said one major lesson he has learned in ministry, especially after Hurricane Katrina came through Louisiana in 2005, is that there is a blessing in the waiting.
“If you wait on the Lord, He will empower you to do what you cannot do by yourselves,” Luter said, noting three things that happen when a person waits on God:
• He or she becomes a new person.
The early church is a perfect example. Its members were frightened, running for cover and denying Christ before His death. After the Holy Spirit came and indwelled them, they were new creations.
“Before the promise, they were immature; after the promise, they were imitators,” Luter said in a singsong fashion. “Before the promise, they were mediocre; after the promise, they were mighty. Before the promise, they were reluctant; after the promise, they were ready.
“Before the promise, they were wimpy; after the promise, they were warriors,” he said. “To be victorious, you have to wait on the promise of God.”
• He or she has a new purpose.
“When you’re empowered by another, you realize it’s not about you. It’s not about your agenda, your title, your ideas,” Luter paused, smiled and added, “your seat (at church).”
Christians must lift up the name of another, Jesus Christ, and they must do it everywhere they go, he said.
• He or she has a new power.
When the Christians of the early church were empowered by the Holy Spirit, they were given a strength, boldness and courage that they had never had before, Luter said, referencing the filling, leading and empowering of the Holy Spirit, not just the receiving of the Spirit.
If Alabama Baptists are going to reach the world for Christ, then they must wait on the promise of God and expect to be empowered by the Holy Spirit, he said.
Luter closed with a prayer and a challenge for everyone attending the annual meeting to go back to their homes all across Alabama and make a commitment to the Acts 1:8 Challenge, so that just as the Christians of the early church were recognized by their communities as the people who “turned the world upside down,” so, too, would Alabama Baptists be known in their communities.
With a holler and an overhead twirl of his handkerchief, he said, “Let it be, let it be, because you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you.”
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