April 29, 2018
Suppose you wanted to start a world-wide enterprise. How would you begin? How would you promote and appeal to people everywhere that what you have is something they need? It takes great marketing and advertising strategies, and of course, a very good product.
On May 8, 1886 in Atlanta, Georgia, John Pemberton changed the world. Dr. Pemberton was a local pharmacist who produced a special syrup. He put the syrup in a jug and carried it down the street to Jacob’s Pharmacy. They decided to combine it with carbonated water. They offered it to several people to get their opinions. They thought it was delicious and refreshing! So they decided to market it and began selling it for five cents a glass. The first year about nine glasses a day were sold. Today the enterprise is worth 1.9 billion coke products sold each day. With great marketing and advertising techniques such as using jingles and slogans like – “I want to buy the world a ______…”, or “It’s the Real Thing, ” and by using polar bears, Santa Claus, and Mean Joe Green, the world knows about the product that began in a pharmacy and went global. Coca-Cola is one of the success stories that began with a great product and has been successful now for 130 years.
Another great enterprise was launched over 2000 years ago. The Book of Acts is the account of how a spiritual enterprise began with a few devoted men who began a movement that has lasted all this time and is also a global enterprise. They did not impress people with advertising. They revealed to the world at that time the accounts of Jesus’ life, his ministry, and the Kingdom of God. They actively took the Word to the people. They had been commissioned by Jesus to carry on the work He began. Soon He was to ascend into Heaven. It was up to them to keep His word and His work alive. And they did. They did not do this for personal gain, but they had something the world desperately needed then and now. What they did was to begin the church, and they were dedicated to their mission.
See the Sermon Notes for full text!