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The Church on the Launching Pad
Acts 13:1-3
In 1983, a movie was
released called “The Right Stuff”, a documentary of the US Space Program.
After years of testing and sending animals into space, it came time
for the first manned space flight.
And on
In Acts 13, the church is
on the launching pad, the gospel is on the move, foreign missions gets it’s
birth here, w/ the first missionaries sent out of the church.
And what started in the hearts of a few people is about to be sent to
the far reaches of the globe.
And that’s what the Lord wanted, right?
Acts 1:8
…ye shall be
witnesses unto me both in
A broad outline of the book
of Acts would be:
Chapters 1-7…the gospel
fills the city of
8-12…to Judaea and
beginning in ch. 13…to the
whole earth.
And this is our example…we
have a mandate as the
And another thing,
technology is what has helped mankind go further and deeper into space, and
today our church has more of a global impact because of technology.
We can reach people right thru the computer.
The website sermon ministry has made it around the world.
There are now many thousands of subscribers and many more who use the
site. 20,000 sermons are
downloaded every week. And we
ought to use technology. Paul
used everything at his disposal.
To speak to a crowd, he may have to cup his hands, or seat the folks on a
hillside, but if he had a sound system, he’d use it!
If he could have a 15 passenger van, he’d really go to town.
He didn’t have anything over 1 horsepower [think about it!]
But if he could have a world wide web, he would have!
Most of our subscribers are
pastors and missionaries around the world using the outlines, illustrations,
PowerPoint visuals, and jokes that for some reason they feel need to be
carried around the world!
Seriously though, our impact as a church is multiplied hundreds of times as
each of them shares the good news of the gospel to their congregations!
It’s time for the church to
be more than a building. We must
be a monument that stands tall in the community.
We must affect those across the street, but also around the world.
We must each, individually, take on some global responsibility.
It’s time for GBC to be famous for the gospel…again!
And we'll talk about missions and take pledges in one of our Revival
services.
And Acts 13 lays before us
the simple plan of how to get the job done.
Let’s look at how they did it, God’s way…the gospel on the launching
pad…
Look w/ me at the 4
elements present in our text:
1. The
v. 1 “in the church”—that’s where missions is supposed to begin, not
thru the UN, the Red Cross, or otherwise, though we should be thankful for
any good work that may be done by such organizations.
Missions should begin in
the local church. It was the
church that confirmed the calling of Saul and Barnabus, and we’ve had people
right here come before us to tell us of THEIR calling, praise God!
It was the church that confirmed those men/commissioned them to
go/sent them forth…it was the church!
Within the first few words
of this missions handbook of chapter 13 we find that it is to begin “in the
church”!
v. 2 Whom did God tell to separate and send them out?
The church!
v. 3 Who did this? The
church!
Which church?
Well, not all…not many!
Notice where this church was located…
Wonder why?
Why would God move the headquarters/center of ops?
Many historians and Bible scholars say that the church at
Folks, God always moves on
when a church loses its missions mindedness and compassion for souls.
Many today sit in church thinking only of themselves, and what’s
wrong in their life, saying, “bless me, bless me”, not knowing that the
very fix to their problems begins w/ them living for something OTHER
than themselves!
I already mentioned that it
began in
Then it went to
Our Bibles tell us where it
went next…to the church at
Next, God moved his
headquarters to
Next was Rome, and it was
good for a time, but then came the rise of Catholic dogma, which replaced
Holy Scripture, and ritual replaced relationship, and ceremony and
sacraments took the place of salvation…and God moved on!
Then
From there, England became
the center of activity, and had mighty revivals for about 100 years, and
they were the launching pad for world missions…and great men like William
Carey left England for places like India, and Hudson Taylor for China, and
many others…but eventually the church died and spiritual lethargy spread
like the plague had, and God moved on!
Then
And I must raise the
question, as we see our nation falling spiritually, could it be that God is
getting ready to move on? As the
fires of evangelism go out in our land and in our churches because of
worldliness, complacency, and comfort, should we expect God to remain?
Look at America today:
we put on nice clothes, leave our nice homes, driving our nice cars,
we come to a nice building w/ nice pews and a nice atmosphere, we hear a
nice sermon, go eat a nice meal, take a nice nap…w/ no thought whatsoever to
the fact that millions and billions are still w/out hope, didn’t have a nice
day, and never will unless they are reached w/ the good news that we are
soooo spoiled with…now folks, that’s not nice!
God is not obligated to
continue to use
GBC was once famous for the
gospel, and the people were proud to invite others to hear it in power, and
not ashamed to witness boldly no matter the cost, and faithful even when it
was convenient, and they gave ‘til it hurt, so we can sit here in what
they paid for!…I believe that this
church will be willing to do something like commit to a revival, fast and
pray, or help save Mrs. Sheree’s life in children’s ministries, or drive
that vehicle or rock that baby!
My prayer is that God will
keep His hand on
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 that God is working and moving, and like to try to claim to be a part
of the movement, but God doesn’t do great things in their midst, and they
don’t see souls saved, they just sorta watch as others make it happen.
Then there’s those who have
lost sight completely and have no clue.
Ask them if they are saved and they’d say, “saved from what?”
They’ve degenerated to the status of a social club.
I wanna be that 1st
church that makes things happen, now how about you?
The
2.
The Commanders of God
v. 1-3 Names of 5 men, leaders of the
church, and they prayed and fasted.
No wonder God used this church as a launching pad.
There must be truly spiritual leadership.
Now, that is a major challenge to me.
I want to confide in you [don’t tell anybody, ok!] that I am greatly
challenged by that. Sometimes I
feel like I’ve got a lot more skills than spirituality.
I’m pretty good at challenging others to take a step up, but I can’t
expect anyone to go where I don’t go myself!
I may be able to design services, but that doesn’t make me right w/
God. Perhaps I’m musically
gifted, but what does that have to do w/ my heart?
Maybe I have good outlines and good content that other pastors are
liking to use, but what does it do for
you if I’m not a true man of God?
You need spirit-filled
leadership…you deserve it, and you shouldn’t settle for less.
And I’m committed not to settle for less, because I want God’s best.
And this comes thru prayer and fasting…from food, yes, but from other
things like tv, or other hobbies or pleasures that you usually give time to.
Fasting comes when you get so hungry for the spiritual that you let
go of the physical for a time!
And then you show God you’re serious, and that’s when you get His power on
your life!
And it doesn’t stop w/ the
Pastor. You need
The church/commanders of God…
3.
The Call of God
v. 2 It was the
Spirit that called. “The Holy
Ghost said…” It was unmistakably
God, not their momma. Saul and
Barnabus didn’t put themselves into the ministry…they didn’t make a career
choice…they were God called. And
I believe that God is still calling, Amen?
I remember God’s call at
youth camp at the age of 14, and it was real!
I had been pretty fickle like a lot of young people.
I was gonna be a policeman and a fireman for a few days, then play
professional tennis, I wanted to be a pilot until I found out I was color
blind. I wanted to be a stand up
comedian for a while there…thank God I didn’t try to make my living that
way! When I committed myself to
full-time ministry I wonder if my folks wondered “how long will this last?”
But it was of God, and this is the 20th year!
God called me, and that makes all the difference in the world.
I wasn’t ready for the
challenge, but I didn’t need to be, I just needed to be willing to answer
the call. God doesn’t call the
equipped, He equips the called!
Where God guides, He
provides, where He leads, He feeds, where He directs, He protects, and where
He sends, He expends the resources necessary to make it all work out!
And if you think God may be
calling you, you can’t do better than to answer!
He’s called some of our own already, and I’m praying He calls more!
The church/commanders/call of God…
4.
The Commission of God
v. 3 We have the
privilege of helping send people around the world.
How many times have we
knelt at this altar and you joined me in laying hands on missionaries and
sending them out, under the authority of this local church!
I’m proud of our missions
program, which has grown in our time here with more than 25 missionaries we
support on continents around the globe.
And if you’re not on board, you ought to get on board.
We have many good folks we want to support, and good news:
only 4 people making a $5/wk. pledge above their tithe would make it
possible to add another missionary!
And when I hear from the treasurer that we have it then we can take
them on!
I said all of that to say
this: we each need to be
praying, and we each need to be giving, helping to send, but that’s not
enough…we can’t “buy” our way into full obedience…we also must go to our
world! In other words, we need
to be a balanced church, local as well as global …
Listen to what Paul said in
56 A.D.:
Romans 15:19
…from
What was Paul saying?
Simply that he had done everything he was commanded to do, taking the
gospel to those near and far.
And it’s my prayer as the pastor of GBC that this month every member of GBC
could say the same thing…I’ve taken responsibility across the street and
around the world!
You say, “but, I’ve never
been there!” Yes, but you
prayed, you gave, and thus, you went!
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All Sermons and PowerPoint Slideshow Presentations ©Copyright Jerry Shirley and Grace Notes Ministries® unless otherwise credited. These resources are yours to use freely, but only in public worship services or private study groups and devotions. They may not be sold, republished or retransmitted in any form without written permission.
