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Thanks Drew for reading the Scripture and to our youth for setting the scene so memorably.
That video actually represents at least two or maybe three hours of work.
Job well done and we look forward to that becoming a regular feature.
Our text in Acts today begins about two or three years after the story about Peter and more than 12 or 13 years after the beginning of the book of Acts.
A lot has happened since then.
When we started with the book of Acts, it had only been a few weeks since Jesus died and rose again.
At that time the disciples asked Jesus, “Look, are you now going to finally set up your kingdom from Jerusalem and rule over our enemies?”
Jesus said, nope.
Jesus said, I’m going back to my Father.
Your’e going to take the good news of salvation by grace alone through faith alone and you’re going to tell people outside of Jerusalem.
You’re going to move further and further out into the world, to Judea, to Samaria, and finally to the ends of the earth.”
Jesus also said, “I will not leave you alone.
I will send you my Spirit and He will go with you and before you.
He will continue on earth through you what I have begun.
He will give you power and boldness and the gift of speech and everything you need to carry my message of salvation to the ends of the earth.”
When we pick up today in Acts 13, that mission is well underway.
Peter is beginning to fade into the background.
Paul is showing up more and more.
Already, Christianity has another base of operations.
No longer is Jerusalem where everything is happening.
More and more the church at Antioch is where things are happening.
Christianity is becoming less and less a subgroup within Judaism and more and more of a global movement, moving out to the Gentiles, just as God promised through the prophets centuries before.
But our text this morning records something unique that had never happened up to that point.
Acts 13:1-3 records for us the first planned “mission trip” of the church at Antioch.
‘The church at Antioch does not just put money in an envelope and send it to mission agencies.
The church at Antioch does not merely pray for the missionaries who are already out there serving.
God calls them to appoint their own missionaries and send them out into the world.
And the main thing I want you to see this morning is this: the main takeaway is this: Are you ready?
Just four words.
[SLIDE: TODAY’S TAKEAWAY]
Today’s takeaway:
Worship leads to missions!
[SLIDE: THE PLAYERS]
The players:
Barnabas: an encourager, from Cypress
Niger: a man of African descent
Lucius: an evangelist w/ a heart for Gentiles
Manaen: a believer w/ friends in high places
Saul: the apostle Paul
[SLIDE: FROM WORSHIP TO MISSIONS]
From worship to missions:
The church gathers
The church worships
The church obeys
The church prays
The church gives, sends, & goes
Five things today.
Worship leads to missions.
How?
The church gathers, the church worships, the church obeys, the church prays, and the church gives, sends, and goes.
Let’s get going!
#1: The church gathers
The first thing we see is so obvious that we might well miss it.
We don’t start with worship.
We start with gathering.
Coming together as the one people of God precedes the worship of God.
Look at verse 1 with me: “Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers...”
There was a strong teaching and preaching ministry at Antioch in the church there.
This would continue long after the apostles were gone.
But that is not the focus here.
Notice that our focus is immediately drawn to a particular church in a particular city.
Our attention is drawn not so much to the who and the what but the where.
At Antioch.
You can’t see this in my translation but you might be able to see it in yours.
How many of you have the NKJV?
How about the old KJV?
They both have it.
If you don’t have it I’ve put it on the screen for you.
Acts 13:1 (NKJV)
Now in the church that was at Antioch there were certain prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.
Before the church worshiped or gave money or prayed or sent, they gathered.
They gathered together as the church in a particular place and time.
We often think of churches in terms of what we get or don’t get out of it, and we know better, that church is not only about getting and receiving but about giving and serving.
But for the moment, let’s think in terms of what we get from worship.
Live-stream vs. in-person
You will never grow as a Christian watching church at home
You can never get from a livestream all that God intends you to get
You can never get from a livestream all that God intends you to get from worship, which is why livestream will never work toward your sanctification and growth as a Christian like in-person worship will.
Reality check!
Sunday worship service is not about you & God alone.
Your personal devotion is about you and God.
But corporate worship is about you, and God, and the other people in the room.
Why is this?
This is because the Sunday morning worship service is not about you and God.
Your quiet time, your devotional time, that is about you and God.
But once you come in and sit down in here and corporate worship begins, it is about you and God and the person beside you, the person in front of you, the person behind you.
Love the Lord your God with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength, Jesus says, and then right after says “and your neighbor as yourself.”
Church is about both.
And it is biblical.
“Pastor, show me where in the Bible it says I have to go to church”?
Right here, Heb 10:24-25.
We sing the great hymns of the faith together.
We sit under the preaching of the word together.
We go to Golden Corral and stuff ourselves together.
That is how God has ordained it and it is very good.
The church gathers.
Next, the church worships.
#2: The church worships
When we gather together as a church, we do so for a purpose: we gather together in order to worship together.
Notice how verse two presents the worship of the church at Antioch, almost — not as an afterthought, but as a given.
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