God’s Plan for Missions 1

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So let’s begin our study together. This morning if you have your Bible I want you to turn with me to Acts chapter 13. And we’re going to begin a series which I’ve entitled God’s plan for missions that is going to cover chapter 13, 14, and 15.

When we come to the book of Acts we are reminded that the book of Acts is tracing how the work of the Holy Spirit is moving the church outward in its witness. You recall that when we started this great study in this great book entitled The Acts of the Apostles that Jesus had commanded his disciples that they were to go to Jerusalem and they were to go to Samaria and they were to go to the uttermost parts of the earth.

When you begin to study the book of Acts chapter 1 all the way through chapter 7 we see this great work that God is doing among the people in Jerusalem that they were literally witnessing the church.

The church being attitude, people believing in Christ every day, the church daily, the Bible says, was added to. But then God brought about persecution and opposition to the church, which caused the disciples to begin to spread out into Samaria, which was the second phase of his great commission to the church.

You recall in chapter seven and chapter eight and even chapter nine how the gospel went into the Samarian region and how God was working effectively and bringing people to true salvation. We come all the way now to chapter thirteen, and this is the inception or the inauguration of the church going beyond Samaria.

For we have not forgotten the commission that Christ has given the church and that it is to go. to the uttermost parts of the earth, that the promise that God has given that he will be with us is not that we would just huddle together and that we would just rejoice together and that we would be satisfied together, but the promise of his presence is that we would go to the ends of the earth with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The book of Acts also contains the record of Paul’s ministry. In Acts 13, we see the first missionary journey coming together that the Apostle Paul would lead. He and his team, which would include Barnabas, were set apart and set forth from the church in Acts 13.

Pick up with me in verse one this morning of Acts 13. Now in the church that was at Antioch, there were certain prophets and teachers. Barnabas, Simeon, who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaiian, who had been brought up with Herod the Tetrarch and Saul.

As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, “‘Now separate to me Barnabas and Saul “‘for the work to which I have called them.’ “‘Then having fasted and prayed and laid hands on them, “‘they sent them away.’ “‘So being sent out by the Holy Spirit, “‘they went down into Seleucia, “‘and from there they sailed to Cyprus.

“‘And when they arrived at Salamis, “‘they preached the word of God “‘in the synagogues of the Jews. “‘They also had John as their assistant.'” Now Acts 13 is a unique chapter in the New Testament, because it’s a milestone text as it marks a radical shift in the mission strategy of the church.

The strategy that the early church had did not result from hours of studying data, analyzing trends, and debating the best course of action. Instead, During a season of worship and praise and prayer, they heard the voice of the Spirit of God and they obeyed that voice.

That voice told them to separate two men out of the church and that they were to lead a missions team to take the gospel to the ends of the earth. This morning, I want us to focus our attention on the calling of mission.

Our text is verses one through five. There’s three things I want you to learn about the calling of missions. For this lays the foundation for us as a people of God and as a church family, what is gonna be the theology and the philosophy of our missions program at the Opendoor Church.

You’ll see first in the midst of this calling that there was the place of their call. the place of their call, the missionary work involves churches sending people. What was this place? Well, we see in verse 1, it says, the church that was at Antioch.

We come down to verse 2, the Bible says, they were ministering, praying, worshiping, and fasting, and the Holy Spirit said, Now separate to me, Barnabas, and Saul, for the work which I have called them.

The place that God called his people to serve was in the local church. When we say, where will the future missionaries come? Where will the future ministers of God, where will the pastors come from? Where will the servants of God come from?

They will come from the church. That’s why it’s essential that the church be missions -minded, that the church be a place where the fire of God is felt and the knowledge of God is learned. That we understand that this is a place where our faith is inspired and our faith is rooted, and that our faith is challenged.

We see this displayed several times in the book of Acts, chapter 9 and verse 20. The Bible tells us, referring to the disciples who were at Damascus, that immediately he preached Christ in the synagogues, that is, that he is the Son of God.

What God had done is that he had raised up Saul, and as he came to Christ, and as he believed in the Lord, he began immediately to preach Christ. Where did he go? He went into the synagogues, where the Jewish people met.

He went to tell them about the Lord Jesus Christ, but it was through the local church that he was called. We jump over to chapter 14 and verse 27 of Acts. The Bible tells us in verse 27 that when they had come and gathered the church together, the church never knew anything about not being together.

That was just their practice. and their pattern and they always came together but the Bible says that they reported all that God had done and that he had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles what was happening is that Barnabas and Saul who had already gone out on their first missionary journey and they were reporting back to the church all that God had done how people were being saved lives were being changed and that there was the transformation of the gospel in the hearts of many lives but the church had gathered together and we see how the church is this special place in the calling of missions jump over to chapter 15 and verse 3 so being sent on their way they passed through Phoenicia Samaria describing the conversion of the Gentiles and they caused great joy to all the brethren the place of the call is the church Why is it essential for you to be connected to a local church family?

Well, certainly one of the reasons is that this is the place that God uses to call out His future servants. This is the place that He is calling all of us to missionary work. This is the place that God is doing His effective work.

And though we understand that we are the temples of God in our own bodies and that the Spirit of God dwells within us, that there is something unique and there is something special, when the people of God come together in that place that He has granted to them and given to them, that in that place, the anointing of heaven and the call of God is upon the people of God that when they are inspired in their faith,

that they are to go forth and to share the gospel of Jesus Christ. The Bible says that it was in this place, the church at Antioch. I’m back in verse two of chapter 13 that they ministered to the Lord.

That meant that they were spending time in prayer. It wasn’t that they were isolated, that the church was separated, but the church had come together and they had prayed because remember what I’ve always taught you, God has chosen to work through prayer.

And He’s not only chosen to work through your individual prayers and personal prayers, but He has chosen to work together through corporate prayer. If anything stands out in the study of the book of Acts, it is how often the church came together and prayed.

Because it was in that moment that as they were having this powerful prayer meeting, that they received direction from the Spirit of God. And that these directions were that they were to separate Barnabas and Saul who would later be Paul.

And they were to be sent out to another place. It must have been exciting for the church at Antioch to see that God would pick among them two individuals who would go forth with the gospel. Now we propose a question to you this morning to consider.

How do you How does a church send missionaries? Well, I think it has to begin with prayer, doesn’t it? That we’re always praying, Lord, raise up among us your servants. Not that we are not all servants of God, but God is calling some to special tasks and special responsibilities, not only within the church, but that He is calling them to go to the regions beyond.

That He is calling that each and every one of us would recognize that a part of our prayer time personally and corporately is to pray that God would raise up and that He would call men and women to serve Him.

But there is not only the responsibility that we are to pray for one another, but we also recognize that we must be willing to part with our brothers and sisters in Christ. Is there anything more difficult than to have God, to call?

a couple, a family, an individual out of our church, and we love them so much, and we’ve spent so much time with them, and they’ve been a blessing to the church, but God has called them to another field.

It’s not easy because some of you, they’re your family, they’re your children, but I want you to know it is of the highest honor that God would choose a church, and that God would choose someone in your family to be able to take the gospel to the ends of the earth, because what it says is that God has high trust in your child or has high trust in that individual that they would carry the gospel of Jesus Christ,

which is the greatest treasure of all the world. It supersedes the gold and the money and all the stocks and bonds of this world. It exceeds it all that they would take the treasure of heaven and take it to the people of the world.

A church must send missionaries by not only praying, but also partying, but also they must be willing to pay for the missionary. Perhaps a better word is that we’re to support financially missionaries out of our church.

I like to be a part of a church that is missions minded and that they understand the value of not just saying, brother, we’re praying for you, and hope that they do well, but that we get behind them financially.

You say, Pastor Mike, why do we do faith promise giving? Because it’s the challenge upon you and I as the brothers and sisters of Christ to step up our game above and beyond our tithing and above and beyond our regular giving to the church that we would give extra to support the missionary and that we take the plan of that as we co -opt together as a family that we can do more together than we could ever do by ourselves.

And that as we stand with these missionaries and we help them to meet the needs that they have that we are able to support them to fulfill the special calling that is upon their life. Now, when you might ask the question, how can I get involved?

and missions. Well, I want to just tell you right out of the gate that it always begins with prayer. And so we bring in these missionaries. We ask them to set up a table. We ask them to give you a prayer card.

And I know it might be old -fashioned and I know it might be outdated, but I’m just telling you that you need something to remind you to pray for missionaries. But the bottom line is I would encourage you as God’s people that whenever we have a missionary, make sure you get their prayer card and make sure that you’re praying for these missionaries.

No missionary is coming in this pulpit unless they have been vetted and approved. It’s not that I’m trying to be mean and difficult, but I want to make sure that they align with us and that we’re committed to spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ and that we’re working together to advance the cause of Jesus Christ.

And so if you see someone up here, you’ve got to know that the elders and the deacons and the pastors are all behind this person and we need to get behind them and we need to support them with our prayer.

Every missionary will tell you that the most thing that they value is your prayer. The second way that you can get involved in missions is to connect. And what I’m trying to tell you this morning, Church, is that you gotta find a way to get to know these missionaries.

You sign up for their email list, you sign up for their newsletter, you sign up for any possible way that you could communicate to them, you send them birthday cards, you send them anniversary cards, you send them encouragement cards, you send them emails and you send them text messages and you let them know that they are loved and they are appreciated.

There’s hardly a week that doesn’t go by that people don’t hand me a card or send me a card and say, pastor, we love you and we appreciate you. Do you understand how all this keeps me encouraged? And I live in this wonderful luxury of encouragement and this beautiful place where people are supportive of the pastor, but I want you to know that there are missionaries out there who never get a word of encouragement.

Every day they’re out there slugging, the devil’s beaten down on them. And I don’t know if you know this, but missionaries are real people with real emotions. What would it mean to a missionary if you were to connect with them in just a small, tangible way and let them know that they are loved and appreciated and that you are praying for them?

With today’s technology, there just is no excuse why we can’t connect with our missionary families. The third thing I would challenge you to do to get involved in missions is to give. God never called me to go to the regions beyond, but he did call me to use my platform to rally his people to get behind his missionaries.

Listen, here’s where I tell people to start. Would you start with one dollar? I’ve never had anybody say to me, pastor, I can’t give a dollar to the missionary. Every one of us, no matter who we are, where we’re at in our faith, I think we have enough faith to say, I wanna support the missionary.

You can do that. You can give through our giving box. You can give online. You can give through our app, however you choose. to give, you can make it happen and give to missions so that we can continue to get behind these folks.

I want to thank you, church. Recently, our church did a scripture assembly. We assembled over 38 ,000 Bible booklets, amen? Wasn’t that wonderful? But I want to tell you something that a few weeks later, we completed raising over $7 ,000 to help those Bible booklets to go to the mission field.

And I want you to give glory to God this morning, a great hand of praise. Just two weeks is all it took. And God’s people rallied around. They gave over $7 ,000. Now, look, missionaries don’t have money to buy Bibles.

So we got behind Beacon of Truth Ministries, and we put those Bible booklets together. Those Bible booklets are going to go to the mission field free of cost. And we said, not only are we going to help put put them together, but we’re gonna pay for the shipping, we’re gonna pay for the printing, and we’re gonna pay for the ink, we’re gonna pay for the paper, and we’re gonna pay for whatever it costs so that it can get into the hands of the missionary and the missionary can get it into the hands of people who need the Lord Jesus Christ.

Don’t you understand church more important than anything that’s going on in this world politically that the most important thing in this world is that people come to know the Lord Jesus Christ as their savior?

That is why we give our time. That is why we give our talents. That is why we give our treasure. That is why we sacrifice. And if it’s just a dollar, just start there. If your faith is only a dollar, then start there.

Praise the Lord. Let’s start right at a dollar and say, I’m gonna give to the missionary one dollar a month, one dollar a week, whatever God lays on your heart. Give as God has purposed in your heart, the Bible says.

And then friends, watch God grow. Watch him grow your giving. Watch him continue to show you that he’ll meet every need in your life. But anyways, the fourth way to get involved is to go. Now, it doesn’t matter to me whether you go across the street, around the world, go.

Who’s stopping you from randomly knocking on people’s door, randomly visiting people, or who’s stopping you from sharing Christ? The way that God intended is not that we had a special day to visit, but that every day we’re interacting with the community and that we’re sharing Christ, inviting people to church, and helping them to know the gospel of Jesus Christ.

And so whether you’re doing that where you work, or whether you’re doing that on a mission trip, it doesn’t matter to me, let’s just all be involved in going. Missionary work always involves people. So I want you to see the second part of this call is not only the place of their call, but the people who were called.

We’re introduced in verse one that we have prophets and teachers. These prophets and teachers, they taught the word of God and they instructed the local congregation. in Antioch, and they would share God’s word with the people.

We’re introduced to them. A list is given to us who these individuals are. But what we see is out of the midst of them is this, that when God calls a person, he always calls a person who’s already busy for him.

Now, some of you might say, I wanna go to the mission field, then get busy. Well, no, I’m gonna wait till God calls me, and I’m gonna wait till the heavens rend, and he gives me a special assignment.

No, here’s how God works. God calls and opens new doors for those who are already active in the gospel. That’s how God works. Jesus taught us that if we’re faithful in the little, that he will make us leaders or rulers of much.

And the point is, we have this responsibility to stay busy. that long before we get this opportunity, God wants us to take the first opportunity he gives us, some of you are praying, and you’re praying about being a Sunday school teacher, you’re praying about helping out in the nursery, you’re praying about helping in the children’s ministry, you’re praying, and listen to me, my friends, God is not on vacation.

What God wants you to do is get busy. He wants you to get up from your prayer time and get involved and find a place to serve. And let me tell you, those are the people he’s gonna call. Those are the people that he is gonna call, those who are already active, serving God, and they are involved.

So we should cooperate with Christ in discovering and setting apart people who are actively serving God, and that we should do everything we can to help those people to be able to sense that God has got a special calling on them.

Jesus said, you have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you that you should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain that whatsoever you shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it to you.

Don’t misunderstand, God is not a genie up there that anytime you pray and ask him, he’ll give you whatever you want. But let me tell you this, that God is more than ready. He is more than ready to answer your prayers that are according to his will for those who are actively bearing fruit for his cause.

If you are a person who said, I’m not gonna be involved anymore, and I’m just gonna sit on my tough and never do anything for God anymore because of A, B, or C, then, friends, you’re putting a lid on your prayer life.

But when you get involved and serve God, and you start bearing fruit for God, then you’re gonna see God’s hand of blessings and power upon your life, and that as you are bearing fruit, he is answering your prayers according to his perfect will because the people that have a anointing from God are not people who just sit in the pew.

God did not call you to come sit in the pew and just soak in the word and do nothing, but God has called you. I want you to come sit, hear his word, soak it up, and get out there and serve. Find your place in the church.

Find your place in the community. Find your place and get active for Jesus Christ. Get up off the couch and get back to serving Jesus Christ and be a people who are faithful to his calling. I am asking you to stay busy for the Lord Jesus Christ.

The people who were called were busy. They were busy for God. Now the third thing I want you to see here is the purpose of their call. So we see here in verse three, they fasted, they prayed, they laid hands on them, and they sent them away.

Now let me just say something here about the laying on of hands. Again, we’ve seen this several times in the Old Testament, in the New Testament. The laying on of hands was the church confirming the call.

The leaders of the church would lay hands upon those servants. It was what we often refer to as an ordination service. It was saying that we approve the call, we believe the call, and we are sending forth this individual to serve the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now we have people sometimes, and they don’t want to be approved by the church. They just wanna do their own thing. They don’t want to be submissive to the leadership of the church. And I want you to be careful of those people who just pop up and throw up a sign and think that they are from God.

Listen, my friends, there is a process. There is an approval process. And why is it that God would have this special laying on of hands by the church, that the missionaries would be sent by the church is so that we would protect the people from false teachers.

You know there are people out there who claim to be something when they are nothing. When you know that there are false teachers who are wolves in sheep’s clothing, who are devastating people’s spiritual lives, and there are too many that submit themselves to these individuals just because they threw up a sign and rented a room and say, I’m a pastor, and they got their ordination on the internet,

which I don’t see in the Bible. Ordination doesn’t come from the internet. It comes, you are sent by the church. You must be sent by the church, and you must be alert to this church, and you must be aware of this.

And if there is something that emerges out of the Bible, that a pattern that we can follow, it is that the church sent forth the people, and they acknowledged the call by laying on of hands. Nothing magical about the hands.

Nothing mystical about the laying on of hands, but a symbolic expression from the church leadership that we stand with this person, and we stand for this person, and we believe that they have a special calling upon their Lord.

lives. Be alert to that. What is the purpose? We come to verse four. We see two things that emerge in verse four and five. The Bible says, so when being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus, and when they arrived in Salamis, they preached the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews, and they also had John as their assistant.

The purpose is twofold. It’s real simple. It’s nothing profound, but it’s there. Reach the world, number one, and preach the word. Here it is, church. Every Christian is called to do something to advance the gospel of Jesus Christ.

You can’t get around it. It’s in Matthew 28. We are called to go, and therefore all of us must understand that we minister under a divine mandate, and that mandate is that we would reach the world. In Acts chapter 13 and verse 47, the Bible says, for so the Lord has commanded us, I have set you as a light to the Gentiles, that you should be for salvation to the ends of the earth.

You are here to take the gospel to someone, to be a light to someone. If you’re trying to figure out, why am I here? Why did God not take me home? Why did God just leave me on this planet? To be a blessing, to be of light, to be a person who can share the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Hear me church, you don’t have to be afraid. When your job is done, God will call you home, but you’re not leaving a minute early before your job is done. God has an assignment on every believer. He has a task upon every believer.

And that task is to be fulfilled by that believer. Whatever skill sets, whatever talent he has given you, you are to use it to reach the world. To be a missionary, you must reach people. But the key is that you must be willing.

Barnabas and Saul were willing. Willing to depart, willing to go, willing to sacrifice, willing to make an effort. And so here’s a simple question for you to consider this morning. Are you willing? Are you willing to give out a track?

Are you willing to invite someone to church? Are you willing to pray for someone who talks to you about a need? Are you willing to strike up a conversation? Are you willing to pray for your children and grandchildren to be saved?

Are you willing church? Because this is where it starts. This is where it starts. We said our first purpose of the call was to reach. The second is to preach. There’s much that can be said, but let me simply say this.

Every one of us are missionaries, and we are missionaries with a… message. We have a unique gospel message that deserves a hearing and we have a responsibility to take it to the ends of the earth. We are called to bring a message of hope to people that we meet every day.

And I pray that God will move upon each of us and that we will sense that call. We’ll understand God may call some out of our church to go to the regions beyond. He is called all of us to be active serving Him in the advancement of the kingdom of Christ.

Let me tell you what will save America. What will save America won’t come from the White House. It won’t come from Congress. It’s going to come from the church house. When the people of God get out there and start witnessing and leading people to Christ, that’s when America will change.

One soul at a time. The Book of Acts is the story of how the early church understood the words of Jesus when he said, as the Father has sent me, so send I you. Now that the church has faced persecution, it’s spreading out beyond Jerusalem and it’s sharing the gospel with new people and now it is spreading like wildfire.

That’s the plan of missions, is to make disciples of all nations, of all people groups. So I hope that as you see this plan, that you’ll pray for the fulfillment of this plan throughout this world. This is Pastor Mike Sanders reminding you that in Christ there is hope worth having.