I Kings 20-21:29, Acts 12:24-13:15, Psalms 137:1-9, Proverbs 17:16

I Kings 20-21:29, Acts 12:24-13:15, Psalms 137:1-9, Proverbs 17:16

 

            Last Thursday we read Acts 9 and on Sunday Pastor Scott gave a great message about Ananias.  You should have seen me bouncing in the car after.  I was pumped!  He is one of my favorites in the Bible…for real.  I know I will never be a Paul, a Charles Spurgeon, or a Billy Graham, but maybe I can be an Ananias.  In the coming years if that chapter ever land on my day, I will run with it more.  But in the mean time we were challenged at the end of the service with practical ways we can live like Ananias.  How are those challenges going?  How have you been kind, radically generous, a friend to the unfriendly?  Today we will take it a step further...how to live like an Ananias and a Paul on a spiritual level.   

 

            Acts 13 tells the story of the beginning of Paul's missionary journeys across the Mediterranean.  Paul went out to new lands, different languages, strange foods, and to people that had not heard or known the truth and hope of Christ.  This is the beginning of history…the beginning of how the world changed and how God used these men to do it.  These men were "In the church…and while they were WORSHIPING the Lord and FASTING, the Holy Spirit said, 'SET APART for me Barnabas and Saul [Paul] for the work to which I have called them."  So after they had FASTED and PRAYED, they placed their hands on them and sent them off." (Acts 13:1-3)  These are the ways that God's mission was accomplished by men. 

           

            The people of the church are found in a community.  They are together in church at this moment.  (But mind you, they can be in community where ever, not necessarily church.)  Together this community of believers worshiped The Lord.  They most likely were together in song, in prayer, and in study about the Lord.  They Worshiped together.  Next, they Fasted.  Nikkie truth: I have not done much fasting in my life.  A few times, yes, but I have not practiced this much, but this is a way that God used these men.  In reference to this verse John Piper said, "They were fasting to seek the leading of the Holy Spirit in the direction of their mission. You could call it Master Planning if you want to. The upshot was more magnificent than any other Master Planning effort the church has ever undertaken.

They were hungry enough for God's leading that they wanted to say it with the hunger of their bodies and not just the hunger of their hearts. "We want your leading, O God! O Holy Spirit, what is your will for the mission of this church?"  (http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/sermons/prayer-fasting-and-the-course-of-history) Through this they listen for direction, and they heard the voice of the Holy Spirit.  God spoke to their hearts…they heard His voice, they prayed, and they obeyed.  Barnabas and Saul were sent on a course that would change the world and thank God they obeyed.  These men and first leaders of the church lived through these actions and ways and God used them.  They were not stuck in the busy-ness that I talked about last week.  They lived a life of worship and this is how they did it.  Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen are men that we never hear of or talk about.  They were not like Paul, but were like Ananaias.  They were believers who prayed and equipped others in the background and god used them.  This is how God can use us to change our neighborhoods, our cities, our country and our world.