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Well, good morning.
Glad that you guys are here with us, whether you're joining us here in person or whether
you're online, regardless of where you are, I want to ask you to grab your Bible and open
it up to Acts chapter 2.
We're going to spend a lot of time looking at several different passages in Acts this morning
as we continue on with our series called Family Traits.
As you turn there, I want to kind of emphasize something that's going to happen this week,
because we didn't give you a ton of a heads up about this, but want to make sure that everyone
hears this and has the opportunity.
Normally, in the life of what we've done as a church over the last several years, that
this is the Sunday where we bring our kids up on stage, we recognize our teachers, we recognize
our homeschool parents, we recognize the workers in our school system, we recognize our college
students who are oftentimes away at school, and then we have an opportunity to pray for all
of them.
Because what we believe is there's no greater mission field than the school system.
Whether you're talking about public school, private school, homeschool, elementary school,
middle school, high school, college.
And what God gives us is the body of Christ is a wonderful opportunity to mobilize that group
of people to go and be missionaries at whatever school setting that you have.
Well, we're not able to do those type things right now, so we want to do something different.
And I hope you noticed it on the announcements, is that this Thursday at 7 o'clock, if you fall
into any of those categories, right, you're a parent with kids in school, you're students
in school, you're workers in the school system, you're a homeschool parent, maybe some of you
for the very first time as you're navigating down that path.
If you're a college student, if you're a grandparent with kids in school, and you just say, you know
what, this year maybe even more so than ever, we need to make sure that we're covering our
kids and our schools and our workers and our teachers in prayer.
And so what we're going to do this Thursday night from 7 to 8 o'clock is the staff is going
to gather out in the loop of the parking lot and to give you the opportunity to have kind
of a drive-through prayer time.
So you don't have to get out of your car, you don't have to roll down your window, you
don't have to do anything, but just to give us the opportunity to come through, to circle
up around you, to pray for you, to pray for your family, for teachers as you're going into
this, administrators, school workers, but for also our students at all ages, right?
We just want to make sure that you know that you're being prayed for and to give us the
opportunity to pray over you.
And so please make that an opportunity to come by this Thursday night so that we can pray
for you.
As we continue on in our study on family traits, we are looking at Acts chapter 2 and Acts chapter
4 each week as kind of our foundation scripture.
And what we're looking to is to see what it looks like to discover the traits and the characteristics
of the early church.
So there's been a movement of God, right?
God has been calling people, God has been using people all throughout scripture, but something
phenomenal happens in Acts.
It's the story of the development of the early church, and then what we see from that is the
growth of the kingdom of God like we haven't seen before.
And what we begin to also see is the development of the followers of Christ in a unique and different
way than ever before.
And so we're asking ourselves the question as we, as we navigate through these two passages
of scripture, what does that look, what did that look like for them?
And then what are those characteristics?
What are those traits?
And then what does that look like for us in the church of 2020, right?
The same bride of Christ from, from the early New Testament church in Jerusalem to Lexington,
South Carolina.
And while those things may, may play out application wise differently, the truth of what they're there
for, what they sought to accomplish of what God placed in their heart still rings true today.
There's been a lot that's changed, but the values, the traits, the DNA of the church remains
consistent.
And so last week, as we looked at these, what we began to focus in on was, was the idea of
truth, that God's word is truth and that they devoted themselves to that.
In fact, in Acts chapter two, which we'll read in just a second, it says that they devoted
themselves to the apostles' teachings as they taught on the truth of God and proclaim the
gospel of Christ, that the church as a whole devoted themselves to that.
Not to Greek philosophies, not to pagan teachings, but they solely based their lives on the truth
of the scripture.
And then in Acts chapter four, it says that the apostles were going and sharing the testimony
and as a result, people were getting saved, which the word testimony means that they are
speaking to what is true as is evident in their life.
So they spoke to the truth, but they live the truth and the power of what God does in that.
And this is what people had committed themselves to.
And so we as a, as a church wants to continue to model what is in scripture.
We've established that this is true 100% and fully that God's word is enough, that God's
word is perfect, that God's word is powerful, that God's word is accurate in you and I.
Not only can we allow it to be the foundation of our life, but we can allow it to guide us
and God's word is powerful and it works in through us.
And so this week, what we want to continue on looking at those same passages of scripture
is to understand that it also establishes the fact that every single person who is a follower
of Jesus Christ is a missionary, that you and I are giving the calling as sons and daughters
of God to be missionaries.
And so let's read starting in Acts chapter two by looking at verse 42.
It says,
And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship and to the breaking
of bread and the prayers.
And all came upon every soul and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles.
And all who believed were together and had all things in common.
And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all as any
they had need and day by day attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes.
They received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all
the people.
And the Lord added to their number day by day, those who were being saved.
Now flip over to Acts 4.
Start reading in verse 32.
Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul.
And no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own.
But they had everything in common.
And with great power, the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the
Lord Jesus.
And great grace was upon them all.
And there was not a needy person among them.
For as many as were owners of land or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was
sold and laid it at the apostles' feet.
And it was distributed to each as any had need.
Thus Joseph, who was called by the apostles Barnabas, which means son of encouragement,
a Levite, a native of Cyprus, sold a field that belonged to him and brought the money and
laid it at the apostles' feet.
So we see this great work that is happening and taking place in Jerusalem.
And it's gained, it's been put into place because what the church has embraced, and we're
going to see how they get there and understand this word that we talk about often, is they
embraced the reality that they were all missionaries.
Now they might not have referred to themselves as that, but as we begin to understand what
the word missions means, we begin to see this characteristic in the church, that it wasn't
just on the apostles, but that was the agreement, the posturing, the obedience of all to say,
hey, you know what, regardless of how young I am or how old I am, how long I've been a believer
or how new I am to my faith, that we accept the opportunity that God has granted us and
called us to and laid before us, that you and I are missionaries.
And so I want us to define the word missions.
When we talk about missions, what do we mean?
Now, for many of us, when we think of missions, we think of the people who are overseas.
We think of the missionaries who have left here and gone there to be missionaries for God.
And that's a part of it.
It's an aspect of it that I'm so grateful for, as God calls men and women to leave the comforts
of their own culture, to go to places where people speak a different language, where people
have a different culture.
And in many, many instances, people have never even heard the name of Jesus.
And so they go and they sacrifice and they leave to make known the truth of God.
And it's one of the things that I value that so much that it's the important piece that we
even see it as we leave.
So as we leave here today, if you're here meeting with us on campus, as you walk out,
there's the map of the world and there's crosses all over it.
And it represents men, women, and families who have answered the call in their lives to
go to another country, to surrender their life to the call that God has for them.
And as you turn down the hallway, you see the pictures of the faithful men and women who
have said yes.
But you also see the pictures of the lives that are being impacted by the gospel, which
is so very important.
So what does it mean, though, to think of missions more broad than that?
That it's not just them who are the missionaries, but it is us that we are the missionaries as
well.
And so I've got a definition that I've been working on that makes sense to me, that helps
me understand what is meant by missions, and it is this.
Missions we are going to define as this, the work of God done by the people of God so
that those who do not know God can come to know God.
Now, if you want to write that down, I want to repeat it to you.
Missions, the work of God done by the people of God so that those who do not know God can
come to know God.
It's a full piece of what that looks like.
If you take out any aspect of that, it ceases to be missions.
If it's just people doing work, then it's just people doing good work.
If you take out the Christians who are doing the work, then it is definitely not missions.
It is the work of God, which looks a lot of different ways.
You know, I've done missions where I put roofs on houses.
I've done missions where I've taught at pastors' conferences.
I've done missions where I've done VBS.
I've done missions where we've just gone and prayer walked in an area.
But it is a work that is done that God has called us to.
It is a work that is done by people who were saved.
And it is a work that is done with the hopes, whether directly or indirectly, that people who
do not know God know God, whether it's Lexington, whether it's Haiti, whether it's Greece, whether
it's India, whether it's North Africa or North Carolina, where people who do not know God can
have the opportunity to know God.
And so we see the fullness of that in it.
God's work done by God's people so that those can know God.
And that's what you and I are called to.
Whether you're a student that's going to head off in a couple weeks to go to your school for
the first time in five months, or to a missionary who will get on a plane as soon as the borders
are open and travel to a faraway place, that you and I, we have all been given the challenge
by God to do the work that he's set before us.
Why?
Because we've experienced his grace, the good grace that we just sang about, so that others
can know him.
Not so that we can stand back and say, look at what we've done, but look at who God is.
So let's dive into this a little bit more and try to understand missions fully.
You and I need to begin with understanding that seeing missions as the work of God.
Seeing missions as the work of God.
Acts 2 27, what we just read.
And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.
A little pop quiz for us, all right, as we talk about getting back into school.
Who added to their number?
God did.
We can't remove missions and view it as the work of man, as look at what I've done, look
at what I've gone and accomplished.
You and I have to see the work of missions, the salvation of man in beginning in the work
of God.
And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.
Missions is not just a physical work.
Missions is not just a relational work, but missions is a spiritual work where God is active
and where God is moving.
Look back, turn to Acts chapter 1.
At the very beginning of this book, as we understand and see what it looks like when the men and women
of God are going to proclaim the truth of God and how nations are going to be impacted.
Do you understand that as you read through the book of Acts, what you're going to find is that
the gospel is going to spread from Jerusalem to North Africa to the Middle East to Asia and
to Europe.
This is the impact of this wonderful, wonderful book of what we see.
And it happens.
What begins to spark this forward is a verse that we've read so many times that for so many
of us, it falls on deaf ears.
Acts 1 verse 8.
Jesus is getting ready to leave.
And he's got a group that is there.
And he says, you're now my missionaries.
It's you.
I can't stay here.
So here's what this looks like.
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.
And you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the
earth.
And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up and a cloud
took him out of their sight.
And while they were gazing into heaven, as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white
robes and said, men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven?
This Jesus who was taken up from you into heaven will come in the same way as you saw him go into
heaven.
There's a group of followers of Jesus.
This isn't a conference of 100,000 people.
It's a small group of faithful that have remained.
Everyone else is scattered.
Everyone else is in fear.
And even this group is afraid.
But Jesus was resurrected.
Their Savior, their Messiah, their rabbi, their teacher.
And he's back with them.
We thought you were gone, but now he's back.
And he comes back to him and he says, but I'm going to leave again.
And you, you're going to be the tool that's going to take the gospel.
You're going to be the one who has watched what I've done over my three years of ministry
here.
And you're going to go.
Now, I don't know about you, but you begin to feel the burden of what these men begin to
feel, but Jesus says, but here, but missions is spiritual because don't worry because you're
going to receive power.
Jesus says, I'm, I'm going to give you something and here's what I'm going to give you.
It's not knowledge.
Okay.
It's not wisdom.
It's not a way of how to talk people into things.
It's not a strategy.
Jesus says, I'm going to give you the Holy Spirit of God, the third person of the Trinity.
That divinity is going to live inside of you.
The spiritual act of missions.
And Jesus says this, it's for a purpose.
It's for a reason, not so that we can run around and high five each other because of what
we have, which makes us different than others.
He says, no, no, no, that's not it.
I'm giving this for a reason.
So you have the Holy Spirit in you.
If you're a professing believer in Jesus Christ for a purpose.
And Jesus says, so, so that you'll be my witnesses, right?
This is the reason.
This is the plan of God of all that God could have done in his sovereignty and his grace.
And he said, no, this is it.
The Holy Spirit in you.
And so they're standing there and they're kind of looking up.
They see Jesus leave.
And in that moment, they're waiting.
They're waiting.
Flip to Acts chapter two.
Flip back to that.
Look at verse one.
The Holy Spirit comes.
Continuing for us to see missions of spiritual work.
This is when the day of Pentecost arrived.
They were all together in one place.
And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind.
And it filled the entire house where they were sitting.
I want you to picture this, okay?
Have you ever heard a storm coming, right?
So imagine you're in your house and you hear the thunder from the distance.
You begin to see the lightning pop.
You begin, as you look out your window, you begin to see the rain and the wind blowing,
the pine trees.
And then all of a sudden, you begin to hear the shingles of your house begin to flap.
You begin to hear the rain as it falls upon your roof.
Now, you're sitting there and you're watching it approach.
And then all of a sudden, it's in with you.
The windows aren't open.
The doors aren't open.
The roof is still there.
But now the storm that was approaching has filled the room where you sit.
And this is what the apostles find themselves in.
And it says,
And divided tongues as a fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them.
And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.
Now, there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men of every nation under heaven.
And at this sound, the multitude came together and they were bewildered because each one was hearing them speak in his own language.
So here's what happens.
They're in the room.
The Holy Spirit falls on them.
They begin to speak in tongues.
Now, I want to clarify that because it can mean a lot of different things for a lot of different people.
They begin to speak in languages.
Not unknown languages.
They begin to speak in known languages that they didn't know before.
So, like, get this.
I don't know anything in Portuguese.
But imagine in this moment, for somehow that I can't explain, I begin to communicate in Portuguese.
And sitting right here in row number one, right in front of me, is a man who doesn't know the gospel.
He doesn't know who Jesus is.
And he doesn't speak English.
But he's here.
And when I began to communicate to him, you're all confused.
You've never heard it before.
But it resonates to him.
And his mind is blown away.
Because in the language in which I speak, speaks the truth of the gospel to his heart that he's never heard before.
The wonderful work of what God begins to do.
This cannot be explained as anything else other than the mission of God.
And verse 7 says,
And they were amazed and astonished, saying,
Are not all these who were speaking Galileans?
And how is it that we hear each of us in his own native language?
The power of God.
Where it begins, in the mission of God.
That missions, what you and I have to understand, is that God is at work.
The most honest that you and I can be when it comes to missions is to admit to ourselves this.
We can't do it.
We can't fulfill it.
But God can.
In that passage of scripture, we see that because missions begin in our work of the spirit of God, that God is with us.
God's with us in that the Holy Spirit living in us.
That God gives us the power to fulfill what he's called us to.
And even more importantly, God provides us.
He provides us the people, the situation, and the means to fulfill the mission of God.
God appoints it all for us.
God gives us the power of the Holy Spirit.
God gives us the people that we interact with on a day-to-day basis.
And God gives us the means to fulfill the mission.
God is going to see the work through you that he began in you, both in your salvation and in the work that God calls you for.
That's what God is going to do.
But there's another aspect of it.
Yes, missions is the spiritual work of God, and it's what we see.
But we also see that missions is the obedience of man.
In Acts 4.32 that we've already read,
Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul,
and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him were his own,
but they had everything in common.
So when we see the early church that is formed during this time,
we see that it is men who have come from all over the known world.
And here is where they find themselves.
In Acts chapter 2, it said that within Jerusalem represented every nation.
And they get saved.
And within the church, there's this level of unity as there's the investment of the men and women of God of what they've come to do.
You see, here's the point for us, guys.
Is that for us, we need to begin to see missions as the obedience of man.
God did not intend for us to be spectators.
God intended for us to participate.
But so many of us want to sit on the sidelines and encourage those that are in the game.
And God's saying, no, no, no, no, no, no.
You want to encourage those that are in the game?
Then go get in the game.
Go get in the game.
This is what we're here to do.
And it's an obedience that he set before us.
When Paul talks about salvation and what it looks like in Ephesians chapter 2,
he begins to walk through and explain what we were like before Christ.
He then explains the work that Christ does.
And then in Ephesians 2.10, Paul sets before this group of believers that is there the expectation that God has for those who are now saved.
And here's what he says.
He says, for we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should what?
That we should walk in them.
So Paul is saying, like, look, you and I, as messed up as we've been, as messed up as we are, and as messed up as we will be, right?
You and I are the story of God.
When we were created in him for a reason and for a purpose to go and do good works, which God prepared beforehand.
And the phrase that I love that Paul uses in Ephesians and in Galatians, that we will do something with these works, that we will walk in these works.
We've talked about this before, and we'll continue to talk about it.
What does it mean to walk in what God has for us?
It means this, missions is not just something I go to, but missions is who I am.
That the works of God and obedience do not exist, for me, solely when I get on a plane and go somewhere,
but exist in my life, in every aspect of my day-to-day life.
That my life of obedience to God is found more in what I do and what I've gone and who I am in my life than in a gathering of a worship service or getting on a plane and going to the other side of the world.
I can't tell you, I cannot wait until the time comes in the reality in which we are, where I can get to an airport with my passport and take off and go.
I'm supposed to go to India this year, killing me because I can't go.
But the truth is, the mission of God didn't stop for me because I can't take my passport and go somewhere.
Because God's given me a unique opportunity now to be a missionary exactly where God has placed me.
In Matthew chapter 23, Jesus is talking to a group of Pharisees, and he's preaching a message.
I read a pastor that used this way to describe Jesus' message.
He said, this is one of the messages that got Jesus killed.
Meaning this, that Jesus is going to say a lot of things in Matthew 23 that a lot of people didn't like.
And that caused a lot of people to want to bring harm to Jesus, to shut him up and to shut this movement down.
And Jesus is standing there with a group of scribes and Pharisees, and he says, woe to you.
And here's what he means when he says that.
You can't escape hell with who you are right now.
And he begins to describe them.
And he says, even though, like, even though you tithe, and you tithe on, even to, on mint and dill and cumin, meaning this, like, even though you tithe on all that you bring in with your money and all that you have and all that you've been gifted, you neglect what matters to the heart of God.
Even though you do all these religious things, your heart's not right with God.
He describes them in two different ways.
The first way Jesus describes them in Matthew chapter 23 is he says, you're like a plate and a cup that's dirty on the outside.
And when you clean it off, it comes back to being dirty again.
Meaning, like, you do a really good job of cleaning up the outside of it, but where the stain really lies is underneath the surface, and it just resurfaces again and again and again.
Jesus also says, he says, look, if that doesn't get you enough, he says, you're like whitewashed tombs looking good on the outside, but on the inside, you're dead and you're hypocrites.
Because all of your religious actions don't matter if your heart isn't surrendered to God.
You see, when missions begins to come from us, when missions begins to be who we are, we find that it's in our internal obedience to God to begin with that is found in repentance and brokenness for who we are that God transforms us.
So here's the thing, like, you and me, we're missionaries.
We're missionaries.
We can't ignore it.
We can't say that we don't know that.
God's word tells us that.
We're missionaries.
And so you've got to make the choice.
Are you ready?
Are you willing?
And where are you going to go?
Where are you going to go be a missionary?
And I think an important part for us to see in Scripture, and we're going to close with this, is that we're called to be missionaries to all.
To all.
Paul in 1 Corinthians 9 is dealing with a difficult group of people.
With a group of people who are fighting for what they want and what they want to do and how their world and their life should be.
And Paul paints a perspective for them.
And he says this in 1 Corinthians 9, 19.
For though I am free from all, here's where it comes.
Paul says, look, even though I've been set free from the burden and the obligation that man has placed upon me,
I surrender myself and become a servant for all.
Meaning I think less of me and more of you.
For a reason.
The fullness of the heart of the missionary found in here.
Not so that people can look back at Paul and appreciate all that he's done and all that he's accomplished.
Not so that Paul can raise more money for his church planning goals that God has placed before him.
But for Paul, there's a very specific reason for everything that he does in his surrendering of his rights and his goal to serve all.
And he doesn't hide it.
He doesn't write it in a complicated way.
He says very clearly that I might win more of them.
The heart of the missionary.
With all that he longs for and all that he desires.
So do we embrace the work of God done by the people of God?
So those who do not know God can come to know him.
The call of the missionary that all of us have been given.
Would you pray with me?
Lord, we come to you this morning.
We thank you for this wonderful, wonderful calling that you've placed on our lives.
The opportunity that we have were to be a part of the work that you were doing.
That we begin to see and understand missions as your work and your plan and your timing, Lord, and your power.
It's the work of God.
But it is not done.
Missions is not done by the sunset and the mountains and the trees and nature, Lord.
Lord, that the mission of God, the work of God is done by the people of God.
Who gather in your churches.
Who sing praises to your name.
And who many walk out of their gathering.
Ignoring.
Disobedient.
Lord, my fear is that for so many of us, we're a plate that's been cleaned on the outside, but it's still dirty within its core.
That we're a whitewashed tomb that looks pretty from the outside, but on the inside is dead.
Lord, can we acknowledge that our first step of obedience is surrender to you.
It begins with repentance and confession.
Jesus, you died for us.
That you offer us salvation.
When we recognize that we're a sinner.
That you are holy.
And that we need you to save us.
And God, for those of us who have made that cry, that statement of our life.
Lord, could we embrace that we need to live our life in such a way and with such a purpose.
So that those who do not know you can come to know you.
Lord, may we be a mobilized group of missionaries.
And it's in Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
In just a minute, we're going to stand and we're going to worship.
Just like we do every week.
And just like every week, you're going to leave.
In just a minute, you're going to be done watching the service online, taking part of it here.
And you're going to make a decision.
It's the work of God that God is doing.
But are you in it?
Are you in it?
Are you a fan on the sideline or are you a player in the game?
I want to say, no, I surrender all my rights.
I surrender all that I am so that I can serve all so that they may know him.
The cry of a missionary, the heart of God.
Would you stand as we worship him?
Thanks again for listening to the Willow Ridge Church weekly podcast.
We hope that you enjoyed listening to this week's message.
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