Turning the world upside down - pt. 11

[PreacherE]

They were active in Missions

Acts 13:2-3

'As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.

'And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.'

At the beginning of Acts we see the church focusing their efforts only in Jerusalem. In Acts 5:16 we read that people were coming from other cities to Jerusalem to be healed and to hear the message of Christ. The apostles were not carrying forth the Gospel to the uttermost part of the earth as He had told them to do in Acts 1:8. While the church was to witness in Jerusalem, they were not to just stay there. In chapter 8 we see the church beginning to take the Gospel out into Judea and Samaria as God had commanded them. In our text we see the latter part of Acts 1:8 coming to fruition. Through the efforts of Paul (and others as well) foreign missions would start to become a vital part of the church's ministry.

1. They were busy ministering to the Lord.

We, as Christians, should spend time ministering to the Lord each day. This simply means to be occupied with service to Christ. Every Christian has something they can be doing for the Lord. Not everyone's called to be a preacher, missionary, or evangelist; but every Christian is called to be a witness. We need to minister to God by being a witness of the Gospel. We need to minister to the Lord by doing what He has called us to do as well. He has a will for every Christian's life and we need to be living in His will. By living in His will and doing His work then we are ministering to Him.

We also should be ministering to the Lord through our praise and worship of Him. We should spend time simply praising and worshiping God for who He is. Many times the only reason some Christians go to God is when they have a need or want. We need to take some time to simply praise and worhsip Him. When we are spending time ministering to the Lord then we will be more apt to feel the leading of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

2. They sent Barnabas and Saul out to the mission field.

At the end of verse 2 we see that the Holy Spirit called Barnabas and Saul to a specific work. He spoke to those mentioned in verse 1 that they might separate them for the work. In every church that is busy with the work of the Lord and is ministering to Him the Holy Spirit will be calling people out of that assembly to do a work for Him. We need to be listening to the leading of the Spirit in our own lives so that we might know God's will for our lives. When God calls someone in our church to serve Him in the mission field then we need to help them in that work.

After they were called out to the work we see that the church fasted and prayed over them. We need to pray over our missionaries, especially those who are called out of our own church. Our missionaries, and other called into the ministry, need our prayers just as much, if not more, than they need our money. We need to lift them up in our prayers and not just as a passing thought either. We should earnestly be praying for them, their families, their ministry, and their needs. Missionaries, both foreign and domestic, need our prayers.

Lastly, we see that they gave these men their approval and their support. If the Holy Spirit calls a man out of our church to the mission field then we should place our full approval and support behind him as long as his doctrine is right. We should be active in supporting missions. A church that is active in supporting missionaries will be maximizing their effort to fulfill the Great Commission. By supporting missions we also become fellowhelpers with them as John told Gaius in III John 8. By being fellowhelpers with them then we will receive fruit towards our account (Philippians 4:17).

A church that is active in missions is one who will be helping to turn the world upside down.

In Christ,

PreacherE

[Jim]

Quote:A church that is active in missions is one who will be helping to turn the world upside down.

PreacherE, this statement has become very real to me lately. Very real. it is 100% true.

Love in Christ,

Jim

[Bro Nobody]

Amen! The church is not the place for evangelism…WHAT?....its where you build and train the evangelist to launch from…And it is where you bring those evangelized… to be trained…Teach the fruit to GO and bare and harvest more fruit. Had that thought from the last few days. Just got back from a evangelism conference here in Central America. And it was really good. I took 7 of our men. Our men were loving the conference and wanted to stay but we were not prepared to do so. 2 of the men had to get back. One preacher in the mountain had his congregation still waiting(100 folks) as we arrived an hour late for their reg tues service. (tried but could not call them). Plus we picked up another’s grandfather who has prostate cancer and is quite sick and needed to return to our city (The truck now stinks really bad…its hot pee, vomited rotten food in the seats and carpet from the sickening curvy mountain ride back) wee…One of our pastors led him to the LORD a few weeks ago…The least I could do is go the second 100 miles…
None of our men had been exposed to Ind Bapt preachers preaching to preachers(Turbo button on the pulpit) And want more…

We were kicking around some Ideas on the way home and thought about maybe a weekend all night revival service in the Lighthouse(when it is more ready) and invite some preacher boys down here to our mission where its hot and preach a yard from hell….
Hmm
Also working toward a river trip in the north on the “little” Amazon. (the largest basin after the amazon) We are planning(hoping) to go Easter week(most men can get a week off then). The goal is to spend a week on the river preaching in as many places as possible. Playing evangelism movies hand out scripture ect. Plus scout out for a place to land a plane and return with doctors for medical evangelism later and a possible church plant… When we get them ready (was donated $450 in special sealant paint and patch material and our teen boys are working at it…kinda) we will have 2 inflatable boats to take. One a ex military 20’wth a 50hp motor another a 14 foot avon with a 35 hp motor. One for people one for gear. Drive one tow one ie spare engine. It will be a week long trip up a large amazon like river basin. It will be costly because we must carry all we need with us 100 gal water, 100 gal of fuel 200 meals, audio video equipment tents ect. Plus transport it all to the river. One of our men is from the area and still speaks the Indian dialect. One of the speakers at the conference wants to go. I said sure we need alligator bait…someone to throw in that allows the rest to escape…Kinda old school mission work…but then again I am kinda old school everything.. or just old.