Get Moving or Get Out God’s Way Acts 13:1-3
On May 5, 1961, Alan Shepard climbed inside a little capsule attached to a rocket. As he sat on the launching pad, the countdown began. The entire future of our space program rested upon that launch being successful and that day the US became the leading nation in the race for space.
In Acts 13, the church is on the launching pad, the gospel is on the move and the first foreign missionaries are sent out from the church. What started in the hearts of a few people is about to become a global event.
The church is doing what the Lord commanded in, Acts 1:8 “ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.”
Here’s how the book of Acts breaks down.
Chapters 1-7…the gospel fills the city of Jerusalem
Chapters 8-12… gospel moves out to Judaea and Samaria
beginning in chapter 13…The whole earth becomes the focus of the church.
God has given a mandate to His church, to get the gospel out and there are three ways you can participate in missions. You can pray for missions. You can give to missions. And you can go into the mission field. But the truth is that you ought to be willing to do all 3!
Technology has helped mankind go farther and deeper into space, and today the church has a tremendous global impact because of technology.
I believe that we ought to use technology and if you pay attention, you’ll see that Paul used everything at his disposal.
When he spoke to a crowd, he may have had to cup his hands and shout, or seat the folks on a hillside so his voice would carry better. I can’t help but believe that if he had a sound system, he’d use it! If he had a bus, it would be filled. I don’t believe he would sit back and watch another group drive by his area to reach the people he was sent to reach. There would be no need for a church, across town to drive by and pick up people in his area to get them to church.
I am willing to say that if he had access to a world wide web, he would have used it to reach those he couldn’t get too!
It’s time for the church to be more than a building. We must affect, not only, those on our street, but also around the world. We must each, individually, take on some global responsibility. It’s time for EBC to be famous for the gospel, like she was in days past!
And Acts 13 lays before us the simple plan of how to get the job done.
Today I want to begin looking at how the church did it, God’s way.
There are 4 elements I want you to see in our text and I’m breaking the message into two parts and I’ll go ahead and tell this week may sting a bit.
This week I want to focus on the church, not the church universal but EBC.
1. The Church of God: Verse 1.
According to verse 1 EBC church is where missions is supposed to begin, not the UN, the Red Cross. Now don’t misunderstand, I am thankful for the work being done by these organizations BUT missions should begin in the local church.
It was the church that confirmed the calling of Saul and Barnabas, It was the church that commissioned them and sent them out!
We can see, within the first few words of chapter 13, that the spreading of the gospel [missions] is to begin “in the church”!
Look at verse 2. Whom did God tell to separate Saul and Barnabas to send out? The church!
Now notice verse 3. God made the church responsible for the calling and the sending of these two men! The church… not the community!
Which church is God using? It wasn’t the church at Jerusalem, where it all started!
This is why I titled the message “Get Moving or Get Out of God’s way.”
Notice the church with the worldwide mission project is in Antioch, not Jerusalem. Why?
In the early days of Christianity, Jerusalem was the center of operations.
But now Antioch has somehow become the launching pad for the church.
Why would God move the headquarters from Jerusalem to Antioch?
Many historians and Bible scholars say that the church at Jerusalem became limited in its focus. They lost their compassion for lost souls.
Hear me church!
God always moves on when a church loses its compassion for lost souls.
There are those sitting right here and in other churches, this very day, who are thinking only of themselves, and what’s wrong in their life. They are saying, “bless me Lord. Bless ME.” We need to understand that the very thing that could solve our problems begins with living for something/someone OTHER than ourselves!
Antioch was a much smaller church than the Jerusalem church, but God decided to use it because it was a church with a heart for others!
Let me show you something that you may not know.
The spreading of the gospel began in Jerusalem, but they became narrow in their focus. They couldn’t see past Jerusalem and God moved on.
Then it went to Antioch for many years, but eventually, when they lost their burden for the lost, God moved on from Antioch.
Our Bibles tell us it went next to the church at Ephesus.
This church was experiencing tremendous power, yet we read in Revelation 2 Jesus rebukes them because they lost their ability to love, and God moved on!
Next, God moved his headquarters to Constantinople, until Christianity became dry and dead there…and God moved on.
Next was Rome, and ritual replaced relationship, and ceremony and sacraments took the place of salvation…and God moved on!
Then Germany experienced great revival, but history says that skepticism crept in. Rationalism took the place of soul winning and missionary work and God moved on!
From there, England but eventually the church died and spiritual laziness spread like the plague and God moved on!
Then America came on the scene, and for many years we have been the center of world outreach…a Christian nation which has sent out tens of thousands of missionaries from our shores.
But there is a question that begs to be asked, as we see our nation falling spiritually. Could it be that God is getting ready to move on?
Have the fires of evangelism gone out in our land and in our churches because of worldliness, self-righteousness, and comfort?
I want to let you in on a little secret.
God is not obligated to continue using America for His world outreach!
And hear me Church! Nor is He obligated to use EBC, unless we stay true to the scriptures, no matter the cost. Unless we remain firm in the mission God has given us, unless we continue to sacrifice for the sake of lost souls, GOD WILL MOVE ON!
We may be okay with sitting on our back pew but God will find someone else to get His gospel out!
EBC was once on fire for the gospel, and the people were bringing others, and this place was filled. They came to hear the Word! The men and women of days gone by were not ashamed to witness boldly no matter the cost! They were faithful even when it was inconvenient, and they gave ‘til it hurt, so we can sit here in what they paid for!
The church, of those days, was willing to do something no matter how insignificant or noticeable it was. They were willing help in children’s ministries, or drive that vehicle or rock that baby. They didn’t wait for someone else to do it!
My prayer is that God will keep His hand on America, and that EBC can always be a part of God’s plan, even if our nation goes to pot around us!
They say there’s 3 kinds of people in the world:
Those who make things happen
Those who watch things happen
Those who wonder “what happened?”
The same can be said about churches.
Some churches get on fire for God, for missions, for outreach, and they impact their world. They make things happen.
Then there’s churches that know God is working and moving. They go around bragging about being a part of the movement, but God doesn’t do great things in their midst, and they don’t see souls saved, they just sort of sit around watching other churches make it happen.
Then there’s those who have lost sight completely and have no clue. They’ve declined to the status of a social club. They have no clue.
Which one are we?
I want to be part of a church that’s making things happen! How about you?
Today EBC has a choice to make. We can either get moving or get out of God’s way and let someone else do what God called us to do.
And ladies and gentlemen, the choice is yours…
