First Season First Harvest

By Rick Hoover

It was important that the young, new Church could be identified and set apart from the crowd by becoming known as a group of gracious and kind people. This reflected God’s initiative as always being the first to show mercy.

The examples of Barnabas, Ananias, and Sapphira illustrated what it meant to have a proper heart of generous servanthood as their standard of behavior.

The next lessons for the Church were in evangelism and witnessing, to large public crowds and to individuals one at a time. This book is a candid examination of issues when dealing from scratch with four categories of unbelievers and discipling them. Every new Christian was witnessed to by a Christian who had been formed in these lessons.

This revised edition contains additional material included in the print version.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Pelican Wings
• Release date: Mar 28, 2020
• ISBN: 9780463090909

Rick Hoover

I'm a retired deacon in the Episcopal Church. I served at a parish in central Florida. I've worked in radio, television and several jobs that included public relation efforts. As a Christian, I have discovered one of the things I enjoy most is spending time in a prayer closet with Jesus, learning to be still so He has space to speak. I shared about my first month as a Smashword author at my blog:https://deaconrick.wordpress.com/2013/10/10/editing-the-author/

Book preview

First Season

First Harvest

Reports and Principles of Evangelism

from the young Church

Rick Hoover

Copyright © 2020 by Rick Hoover

Second Edition

Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible™,

a Public Domain translation available at worldenglishbible.org

With thanks to

Dr. L. Reid Hensarling+

for asking me to fill in at his mid-week Bible study.

This booklet grew from my study notes

for leading that class in 2013.

CONTENTS

Introduction

1. The First Season

2. Crowds

3. S.A.L.T.

4. One On One

5. On the Road

6. Damascus

Appendix

About the Author

INTRODUCTION

The first lessons for the brand new church were on giving, serving, and witnessing. It was important that the church could be identified and set apart from the crowd. They would do this by becoming known as a group of gracious and kind people. This reflected God’s initiative as always being the first to show mercy. (Acts 2:38-39)

The examples of Barnabas, Ananias, and Sapphira illustrated the new model. It meant having a proper heart of generous servanthood as the standard of behavior. (Acts 4:36-5:11)

The next lessons for the Church were in evangelism and witnessing. Stephen died holding firmly to his message. (Acts 7:59-60) Others scattered to the larger world outside Jerusalem taking the Gospel to new audiences. (Acts 8:1)

The first accounts from Luke’s report in the Acts of the Apostles examine these facets of their witness. There is also candid examination of consequent issues arising out of dealing from scratch with lost Gentile believers and discipling them. Every new Christian was witnessed to by a Christian who had been formed in all these lessons. As Luke reported, there was more than enough work to be done. Jesus had seen it coming and left a major prayer request for his disciples to take up in intercession.

The harvest is indeed plentiful, but the laborers are few. Pray therefore to the Lord of the harvest, that he may send out laborers into his harvest. Luke 10:2

Chapter One

The First Season

I’ve heard that naturalists who observe mother eagles in habitat see them initially line the bare sticks of their nests with soft grasses, mosses, and their own feathers. It makes things comfortable for the baby eaglets when they hatch. When it’s time to coax the eaglets to learn to fly, the mother eagle removes that soft cushion of grasses and feathers, leaving the bare nest too uncomfortable for the youngsters to stay there.

A similar pattern seemed to happen as the young church in Jerusalem began. The day it was born (Pentecost) the membership grew 2500% by sundown. Believers found great favor with the people. The apostles at first had no motivation to take up the commission Jesus had given them to carry their witness to the corners of the world and make disciples elsewhere. The new church was growing easily right at home. Why go to the trouble of leaving? Then Deacon Stephen was martyred and persecution got serious. That was when a serious travel and evangelistic missionary season began.

St. Luke reports this first harvest season in chapters 8, 9, and 10 of The Acts of the Apostles. He notices four categories of respondents to the Gospel message. The first category contained those who rejected the Gospel and persecuted its witnesses (Pharisees). The second category had baby converts still falling back into the familiar patterns of their pre-conversion lives (Simon Magus, but also Peter). The third category had the social rejects who were excluded from accepted society but who had valuable gifts to bring to the table (like Matthew the tax collector did among the Disciples, but now it was foreigners from among the Samaritans and Ethiopians). The last category contained murderers, literal and figurative, who were guilty of rebellion against God’s rulership of His own kingdom (Paul). These unlikely folks were being welcomed into the family by the Father, much to the consternation of the other loyal, faithful children.

Jesus had already met representatives of each category and provided the model he wanted us to follow with them. Now the time had come for an examination to begin. This would reveal if his disciples were going to act and harvest the crop he had sown.

The work of harvesting the crop proceeded on two tracks. The church began on the Day of Pentecost with the first track: large-scale crowd evangelism. Peter’s sermon won 3,000 converts. They were added to the small, close group of 120 who had begun that day with prayer in a secure upper room.

Most of the other New Testament histories and instructions examine the second track. Here were one-on-one encounters that could foster long-term growth in discipleship. I will examine both of these tracks and all four categories of respondents.

Reflecting on the first experiences of the Apostolic Church era gives us wise counsel and encouragement for our efforts in sharing Jesus with our world today. Our circumstances and opportunities have not changed.

Chapter Two

CROWDS

The initial birth of