Book of Acts, chapter number eight. Acts chapter eight and read verse number four. I got to think about this this week. And so. I want to preach about the difference. Between preaching the gospel and pastoring. Because there is a difference. There is a difference between preaching the gospel and pastoring. I want to read to you tonight about some men that preached the gospel very ably, but they never pastored. As far as I can tell, they never pastored. But they did the work that was necessary to do. In the book of Acts, chapter number 8, And verse number four, the Bible says this, therefore, they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word. Now that's our text. Therefore, they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word. Okay, so let's go on in a word of prayer as we begin tonight. Heavenly Father, I pray, Lord, that you might clarify things in my own mind that I might be able to make clear to these people. Lord, I pray that you might help me to teach them right. Lord, that I wouldn't just go off on a tangent somewhere. Lord, I pray that you might just bless in a great way, that you might help us understand the difference here between pastoring and preaching. Lord, I pray, Lord, that in all things your will might be done Lord, that You might be with us in honor and praise. Just forgive us now and keep us close to You, of course, in Jesus' name that I pray. Amen. Years ago, I was about 12 years old when the Lord saved my soul. That was a very definite call that the Lord gave me. It was unmistakable that I was lost that I needed Jesus Christ. Anybody that knew me at all would know that it wasn't me, it was the Lord doing that. Just like the Lord called Abram from early Chaldees, the Lord called me into salvation. I'm thankful for that. I really am. That was a turning point in my life. So I had another turning point a little bit later on. That was when the Lord called me to preach. Now that's a term that I used. But the Lord really wanted me to pastor one of the churches that He has established upon this earth. That was a definite call. But many believe today that preaching the gospel as an ordained minister and pastoring people is exactly the same. But it's not. Preaching the message is very different from pastoring the people of God. It's different. To watch people grow is a blessing to me. But I think of them two different things. I take it that when I preach the gospel, I'm just declaring the truth of the Word of God. That's what's happening. When I'm pastoring the people of God, that is when you want to see them grow, when you want to see them develop, when you want to see them take up the message for themselves and to take that message to others. I mean, that's what pastoring really is to me. Now, I will make a statement here that I want you to bear with me just a little while. Are you going to bear with me a little while? Okay, I want you to. Because all of God's people are called of God to spread the gospel, whether you're male or female. God wants you to take the gospel message to somebody. God wants you to do that. I don't believe that God ever saved anybody and gave them nothing to do. I just don't believe that. I believe that God wants you all to be actively for Him. Now, as one preacher said one time, He said about 50% of the people who are active for Him and 50% of the people who are active against Him. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about that God wants you as a saved individual, whoever you are, whether you're male or female, whether you're 10 or 12 or whether you're 85, God wants you to be active for Him. Alright? God wants you to proclaim the truth of the Word of God. You can do that. Whether you're 10, or whether you're 80, or whether you're called to pastor or not, God can give you the strength to take the gospel message to whoever you want to take it to. Now, I'm saying some of this for a reason, because I've run across some people that they don't witness to nobody. They don't believe in that. I'm talking about church members that don't witness to anybody. They believe, somehow they get it in their heads, that if you're not ordained of God to preach and to pastor, you can't witness to anybody. I hope you don't believe that. He goes, I don't believe that. I tell you what, tonight we're going to prove that to you. Because there's people in the Word of God that were never, as far as I can tell, were never called to pastor one of the Lord's churches, but they proclaimed the truth of the Word of God everywhere they went. Now that's what we're talking about. So I think there's a difference between preaching the gospel and pastoring the people of God. I think there's a difference. Moses at one point was told that some people over here, they were proclaiming the truth, the Word of God. And he said, let them talk. Just let them talk. I think that's necessary. I think it's a good thing for people to do that. Everybody don't fit my mold. Everybody don't. Everybody don't have to preach. Everybody don't have to pastor in order to preach. You don't have to do that. But everybody must declare the Word of God to every place that you go. Listen, you people know people that I don't know. You can reach people that I can't. I'm just telling you the truth. Oftentimes, when people find out I'm a preacher, either they clam up or they're Mr. Goody Two-Shoes. One way or the other. I hate both of those. I don't like either one of those. But sometimes that's what happens. They think that I'm special, but I don't think I am. I don't think that at all. But you have a job to do. You, as a member of one of the Lord's churches, you're saved. God wants you to take the gospel message in your way to the people that you meet. God wants you to do that, wherever that is. My question comes in verse 4 of Acts chapter 8. The question is this. Did just pastors preach the Word or did all those that were scattered abroad preach the Word? And who was scattered abroad? Who was? I mean, that's really what it amounts to. The very evident answer is this, the very evident answer is this, that all of those that were saved were scattered abroad. They all proclaimed the truth of the Word of God. I don't think for a second that these people that were saved, that they went into a certain area and there they waited on a preacher to come to declare the Word for them. I don't think that happens at all that way. I don't. Now, that's just me. But I don't. I think that the church members themselves, they took the Word of God and they openly declared it, letting everybody know that they were saved and that Jesus Christ could save them as well. That's what I think. That's where I'm coming from on this message. Now, let's look back a little bit. In chapter 8, in verse number 1, the Bible said here in chapter 8, verse number 1, And Saul was consenting unto his death. And at that time, there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem. Let's just stop right there. And this was a great persecution. The Bible says that there was a little persecution, right? No. No, it didn't say that. It said there was a great persecution against the church at Jerusalem. Actually, what they did, and Saul, I think, was the leader of this, of this great persecution against the church. And Saul had just held the garments of those that had killed Stephen. That's in chapter 7 of Acts. And Saul was consenting unto his death. Alright? But there was a great persecution against the church which was as usual. Why was there a great persecution against the church? It's because they were spreading the Word. The Bible doesn't say here in this place that there was a great persecution against the apostles. Did it? It didn't say that there was a great persecution against the preachers. No, it didn't say that. What did it say? It said there was a great persecution against the church. By the way, who did Christ give the commission to? The church? Or the preacher? Or the pastor? He gave the commission to the church. It's evident fact that He did. And so there was a great persecution against the church. which was at Jerusalem. And the Bible said, continuing in verse number 1, and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria. And then there's this little phrase there, except the apostles. The apostles stayed in Jerusalem, but the church was scattered around. You know, I'll tell you what. I'll tell you what. The devil don't know it. You know what he just did? He just spread the fire. That's what he did. Have you ever seen, in the summertime, have you ever been burning your trash and the wind come up and it gets that fire and takes it out? Boy, that's what happened. Now, the apostles, they stayed in one place. They were not scatterbraws. But the church took the gospel message every place they went. The devil thought he was stopping it all when he wasn't, because the power is in the church. It's in the individuals. They were the ones that took the gospel message, and they need to take it. The Bible said in verse number 2, And devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation over him. As for Saul, he made havoc of the church. He was in there destroying the work of God. That was before he was saved. After he was saved, then he apologized for all that. But the Bible said, here's what he did in verse 3, Entering into every house, and hailing men and women committed them to prison." That's what the Bible said in verse number four. Therefore, they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word. And I would ask you again, who was it that went? It wasn't the apostles. It was the church members themselves. They took the message, and they proclaimed it everywhere they went. You can find where they went, but they declared the Word of God everywhere they went. You see, this idea that some people have, that if you're not ordained, or you're not called to preach the gospel in a formal setting, that you can't take the gospel, that is wrong. That is absolutely wrong. I tell you what, you can be a great witness for God if you never stand behind the pulpit. You can be. If you're not even qualified to stand behind the pulpit, you can be a great minister for the Lord. Think of this, the Bible gives a record of the qualifications of a minister. And you can read them, right? And let's say there's some qualifications there that you don't meet. That doesn't mean that you can't take the gospel. It doesn't mean that. If you divorce your wife or divorce your husband, that doesn't mean you can't take the gospel. Right? It doesn't mean that. You can take the gospel message To your friends and neighbors? People I would never even come in contact with. But you can tell them about the Lord, and you ought to. You ought to do that. Now, in verse 5, the Bible says here, and it's immediately after the Bible talks about this destruction of the church at Jerusalem. The Bible says, Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ unto them. And I think about Stephen and Philip occasionally, and especially about Philip. I wonder, as he went on one of the various journeys that he went on, how in the world did he ever pay for it? Whoever supported him, how did he get the money to do that? I don't find any record of it. I don't find how that he did that. But all I know is, is that Philip went to this place, he went to this place, he went to this place, he went to this place, he went to many places and preached the gospel of God. That's all I know about him. How he was paid? I don't understand that at all. I know they had enough. You see, Philip did what God wanted him to do. And in the middle of all that, in the middle of all that, as Philip went and Philip preached the gospel, he always obeyed what the Lord told him to do. And in the middle of that whole situation, chapter 9 shows up. Where that Saul, going to Damascus, was determined to take all of those that were of the Christian persuasion and take care of them. It was going up there. But you know what happened to him on the way was that he met the Lord face to face. He met the Lord. And the Lord saved his unworthy soul. He didn't deserve salvation. It was unexpected that the Lord would even save this man who had persecuted the Church of God. Look what the Bible said in verse number two of Acts 9. The Bible said, and these are letters to Damascus, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, get that, there were men and women that were declaring to their friends and neighbors and whoever they come in contact with about the Word of God. Were they preachers? Well, they were not pastors. But that didn't mean they were not declares of the truth of the Word of God. That didn't mean that. They were declared. The Bible said that if he found any of this way, whether they are men or women, that he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem. That's his orders that he got. The Bible said in verse number 3, he was on his way. He was on his way. And as he came near to Damascus, suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven. And he fell to the earth and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? That was the Lord talking to Saul. And you would say, well, the Lord wasn't persecuting, I mean, you could say Saul wasn't persecuting the Lord. Oh, yes, he was. Because he was persecuting, look at the letter again. In verse number 2, the Bible said men are women. It didn't make any difference. To bring them bound unto Jerusalem. So if you're a woman, you can't preach, right? As far as in the pulpit, no. But as far as being a witness for the Lord, you can be a witness. You can be. And that is a great, that's a great thing. That you can tell people just as freely as anybody else. You can. You can tell people how to be saved. You can be a witness when they are saved. You can give them something to think about that they've never thought about before in their lives. You, you can do that. And Saul said, verse 5, Why? Who art thou, Lord? Who art thou? I think he knew already who he was. But he said, Who art thou, Lord? He said, I'm Jesus whom thou persecutest. Look at that. He said, I'm Jesus and you are persecuting me. That's what he's doing. When Saul is persecuting the people of God, he is actually persecuting Christ. Right? It's hard for them to kick you against the brick. So, there's been some convicting going on here. But Saul had put all that apart. He didn't want anything to do with that. The Bible said, in verse number 6, he is trembling and astonished. He said, Lord, what will that have me to do? And he said, and the Lord said unto him, Arise and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do. Here's the thing, is that the Lord speaks particularly to different people about doing different things. He does. Notice this in verse number 7, that God spoke to Saul, but God didn't speak to anybody else. There were other people present, but God didn't speak to them. But God spoke to Saul, in particular, because He had a reason for calling Saul. He said in verse number 7, And the men who had journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing the voice, but seeing no man. So they heard the voice, but they didn't see anybody. Verse number 8, And Saul rose from the earth when his eyes were opened. He saw no man, but they led him by the hand, and brought him into Damascus. This whole story is amazing to me about how great that God really is. That He touches one and not another. It's amazing. The Bible even goes on and talks about Ananias. Now Ananias come to give him baptism. And the thing about it is when Ananias was called of God to go into the very house where Saul was sitting into the very house. Now, Saul, I don't think at this point, was in the house of believers. I don't think that. I think that Saul was led into Damascus by unbelievers. That's what I'm thinking. All right? And when he got into the house, he just sat there until Saul came to him, or until Ananias came to him. And the Bible said, verse 17, And Saul went his way, and entered into the house, and nobody said a word about it. And Ananias He put his hands upon him, and he said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou comest, hath sent me that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost. And immediately there fell from his eyes, as he had been scaled, and received sight forthwith, and arose, and was baptized, and nobody said a word." That's amazing to me. It's amazing. that Ananias went into the house, and Saul was able to see then, and then he got up, and he was baptized, and nobody hindered him. You would think that some of those people that took him up there would say, wait a minute, wait a minute, what's going on? They didn't hear them at all. The Bible said, I tell you what, just tell them something, is that when God tells you something, you can do it. you may be scared to death." Ananias was afraid. Ananias said, Lord, are you sure you want me to go in there? Because this guy has killed people before. Are you sure you want me to go? And God said, I'm telling you to go. And Ananias went. Alright? And when God is in charge, nothing can fail. That's what we want to see. Is that when God is in charge, nothing can fail. But if we're in charge, we're in trouble. If God's in charge, no problem. If we're in charge, there's problems. Alright? So let God be in charge. He knows what He's doing. And I don't. And then the Bible says that Saul left and after baptism he preached Christ in the synagogue that He is the Son of God. That would be a different thing, wouldn't it? Saul, they knew who he was. They knew exactly who he was when they looked at him. They knew exactly what he looked like. They knew this was Saul. And they heard him preach that Jesus is the Christ. Well, that would be a different message, wouldn't it? That would be different. Wouldn't you love to have been there? I'll tell you what. Some of you might have seen some people that once, when they were lost, they wouldn't believe in Christ. But after the Lord saved them, then they trusted Christ, and then they would declare to you the things that you knew. I mean, that's what salvation is. That's what it does. It's a wonderful, wonderful thing that it does. But notice back in Acts 6, I kind of got ahead of myself, but read this in Acts chapter 6. Acts chapter 6 verse 1 through verse 7. I did get ahead of myself. But in this time, they were looking for deacons because the work of the church was just so great that the apostles couldn't even do it. They could not do it. And they called the multitude of the disciples together, and they said in verse number 2, it is not reason that we should leave the Word of God and serve tables. And it wasn't. And the multitude of the disciples, they agreed with that. That's so. In verse number 3, the suggestion was this. Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you, seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business. But we'll give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the Word. And here they chose Stephen, it was one of them, and Philip is two we want to mention there in verse number 5. They mentioned these two men. But what a difference it was though, just later. Because in Acts chapter 8, verse 1 through verse 4, Saul made havoc of the church. You see, the difference was that before, the church had grown so large that the deacons, they needed somebody to take care of something, to take care of the work of the church. And so they appointed these seven to take care of that work that the twelve could not do. It was the mission of the twelve to continue in the ministry of the Word and in prayer. That's what the Bible says. And that's what they were out to do. Wanted to do. But the church was destroyed in chapter 8 and verse number 1 through verse number 4. The church was gone then. Well, except the apostles were there to see it. You know, I wonder. When I read this, when I come to Acts 8 and verse number 5, when I see all of the destruction of the church at Jerusalem, and I find in Acts 8 and verse number 5, I see Philip going down to Samaria and preaching Christ unto them. Why didn't Philip just stay in Jerusalem? Because of great persecution. I mean, his work was over. There. And so he wanted something else to do. And so he went. And he preached Christ. This man was led of God and he preached Christ everywhere that he went. This is the way that we ought to do. This is what we ought to do. Is to preach Christ everywhere we go. When you go to work, you ought to preach Christ. Listen, if the people that you work with don't know that you are a believer, you need to change that. You need to change that. If the people that you buy from, wherever you buy anything from, if they don't know that you're a believer, you need to change that. You honestly do. You say, well, I'm not a preacher. Well, maybe you're not the pastor, but you ought to declare the Word of God, don't you think, in the places that you go, in the people that you see? You ought to declare that. God wants you to do that. God wants you to be a witness of Him everywhere you go. God wants you to be, whether you're working Whether you're playing or whatever you're doing, God wants you to be a free witness of Him. What if, what if, what if this happened? What if there was a great persecution against us and we were scattered abroad? What would you do? What would you do? I just pray today, I pray that each one of us, in the various places that we'd have to go, because the churches of Israel, they were scattered abroad. And they went everywhere declaring the truth of the Word of God. I pray that you would go and declare the Word of God wherever you go. I pray that you would not go to a place and wait on the preacher. I pray she wouldn't do that. I honestly do. Wherever God wants you to go, you need to go it, and you need to tell the Word of God wherever you are. And let the Word of God speak for itself. You might be like Ananias and say, well, Lord, I don't know if you want me to go baptize this guy or not because of his reputation. When you get assurance from God, you need to go and do what God wants you to do. So there's a difference between preaching and pastoring. There's a vast amount of difference. But you can tell the Gospel wherever you go. You can tell the Gospel. And you ought to do that. People ought to know you as a believer in Christ. The people you meet, the people you work with, they'll know you're a believer. They'll know that. I pray that that's so. You may not be a preacher. You may not be a pastor. But you can declare the Word of God. Sometimes the people you meet in the circumstances of their lives, you know them. And you can be a real help to them. And you need to be encouraged. That God has laid that burden upon you. And God has laid that opportunity upon you, should I say. That you can be a witness for the Lord. Wherever you are. Just by being there. Sometimes just by saying a few things. You can be a good help. A good help. Okay. I'm all done. If you're lost tonight, we pray for you that the Lord would touch your heart. That you might be saved. But I tell you what. Somebody said, well, the only time anybody can be saved is in the church house. I don't think so at all. I don't think so. People can be saved everywhere, wherever they are. You can lease a month of the Lord at your work. I mean, there it is. I know there are certain laws against all that stuff now. I know that. There were laws when I was working too. When I was down at Farmer's Home, there was a couple of times I kind of got in a little hot water because of that. That's all right. I just changed the way I did it. I still declared the truth of the Word of God. I was thinking the other day that when I left there, they had a cake all decorated up and it says on the cake, Preacher of the Word of God. I like that. I like that. I'm glad they put that there. I am. Anyway, we need to be declaring the truth of the Word of God. God wants us to be everywhere we go, alright? Let's stand, if you would, as you're saying, Brother John, please come, if you would, to listen to this new invitation. If you're lost tonight, we pray for you that the Lord will touch your heart, that you might come to know Christ. He can save you, whether you're in a building or not, He can save you. He can touch your heart. Our prayer is that God will make it real for you, okay? Let's stand, if you would, as we sing, please.