Tony Campolo

Cumberland Presbytarian Ministers Conference on Pastoral Development and Evangelism- Session 2 (Lecture)

Tony delivered this sermon at Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Russellville, AR on October 13, 2010

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  1. We are called to declare the Gospel
  2. Sometimes we have to ask ourselves what is this gospel that we are declaring
  3. Why did Jesus come into the world?
  4. Before you can be affective, you have to define your mission
  5. If we were to ask Jesus what his mission was and he had to sum it up in one sentence, he would say, “I have come to declare that the Kingdom of God is at hand.”
  6. The environment can change people, and people can change the environment
  7. Jesus changes everything
  8. Leviticus 25- The Sabbath has three components. It is more than just a 24 hour day…  (a) Keep the 7th day holy  (b) The 7th Year: Allow the land to rejuvenate itself, don’t wear it out  (c) The 50th Year: The year of the Jubilee- all debts cancelled, all prisoner set free, all land returned to the original owners
  9. We are more interested in saving the banks than the common man who is losing his house
  10. The Sabbath is restoration of the person, restoration of the land, and restoration of society
  11. John Wesley once preached that there was no addition to the church, but a bunch of blessed subtractions
  12. Isaiah 61- When the Messiah comes, he will bring about the Year of Jubilee
  13. Luke 4- Jesus reads from Isaiah 61
  14. Those who the religious establishment calls abominations, unacceptable, rejects, these are the people that respond to Jesus and become part of His Kingdom
  15. 1 Corinthians- God has call those who the world calls nobodies, nothings to be part of His Kingdom
  16. Story about Tony’s pastor friend who has a church in Kansas.
  17. The first concept of the Kingdom of God among the ancient Jews was the fulfillment of Jubilee
  18. The next image of the Kingdom of God is like a wedding feast, a gigantic party
  19. Deuteronomy 14:22-27
  20. The Kingdom of God is a gigantic party
  21. Story about Tony’s teacher friend in Minnesota who wanted to throw a real “senior” prom.
  22. Story about Tony throwing a birthday party for Agnes, a prostitute in a diner in Honolulu.
  23. We have a God who can make everything new again
  24. Jesus said “Come to me all ye who are heavy laden and burdened”
  25. Matthew 22
  26. Paul writes, I came not with the excellencies of words, but with the Holy Spirit
  27. Center down on Jesus by repeatedly saying the name of Jesus
  28. Every morning should be a time of stillness where you surrender to the infilling of the Holy Spirit.
  29. Story about the man who was in distress sitting next to him on the plane and Tony just leaned on him.
  30. Romans 8- “And that same power that was in Christ Jesus and raised him from the dead, that same power shall be in your mortal bodies”
  31. You can have all of the forms and still not have the power
  32. Ephesians 4
  33. Your church will grow when your laity become evangelists
  34. Our task is to edify the saints to do the work of the evangelists
  35. It is to be the normative member of the church that has to be empowered to connect and connect like Jesus connected.
  36. Story about the deacon that didn’t “deac.”
  37. Your job as a pastor is to turn your people into Jesus. That the same Christ that was in Jesus would be alive in each of them. That they, reaching out with his energy, power, glory, and majesty will touch those who are around them.

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Reference ID: 10132010 930AM

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