Read Acts 16:11-22 and take note of the following:
Today, to learn more about the Apostolic heart, read Acts 16:1-7.
‘When nobody around you seems to measure up, it’s time to check your yardstick.’
We need to stand (fight) for the cause and not for the crowd. Don’t go after the bleating of the sheep.
An example of this is when Paul arrived back in Jerusalem to give feedback on what God had done, and people had different advice to give.
And despite Paul taking their advice (Acts 21:23 – So do what we tell you) he was arrested regardless (Acts 21:27).
We need to walk with this in our heart that we have heard from our King.
I heard the beat of a distant drum in 1972, and I am still hearing it today.
‘Don’t measure the day by the harvest – but by the seed you have sown.’ There is a day coming when we all will stand and behold the harvest, but for now we need to sow the seeds.
It is difficult to go where you don’t want to go – different cultures, different customs and different conditions – but to be there, oh the joy and the honour! We need to know that in these strange environments we serve a God who is for real.
We have a King and we have a message!
Napoleon once pointed in the direction of China and said: “There lies a sleeping giant – don’t wake them up.” Today China is like that giant waking up. The devil also pointed at Christianity and said: “There lies a sleeping giant, don’t wake them up.” If they were to embrace the Apostolic, he (the devil) will be in trouble.
When going to the nations:
We do not go out into the nations to get the t-shirt, or because we feel we have to as others are going. We go because we are compelled by the Holy Spirit.
We cannot understand that He is coming back again, but He IS coming back and He gave us some orders (read 2 Timothy 4: 2, 3 and 5).
We need to:
And when He comes back, and we have fought the good fight, finished the race and kept the faith, this is what we will receive (verse 8) ‘ … in store for me, the crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day …’
This weekend, make yourself a cup of coffee, return to your computer, and then click HERE to watch a video on our Sudan 2008 trip.
We went there to continue building a facility, to be used as a venue where we could train the local church leaders.
I hope you enjoy our journey …
Thank you to Brett Michael Innes for supplying the video clip.
More on 2 Timothy 4:6-8 –
A favourite Comrades Marathon runner was asked what motivates him to run such a race, and he said:
We need to enjoy our walk with God. But at the same time we need to dig deep and break a settler’s mentality. There is a race to be run, and it all be WORTH IT.
In order to break the settler’s mentality we need perspective of who we are in Christ.
Not being a settler will cost you your life, and your walk.
‘For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day – and not only me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.’ 2 Timothy 4:6-8
Paul, as an old man, was ready to go home. He had been obedient to the call of God and on reflection of his life he was able to say that he had been true to the Word of God. He had endured hardship but he had fulfilled his objective in life.
If we want to fight the good fight of faith, and finish the race, we need to hear what God wants for our life and we need to know that it’s all about Him.
How do we disciple nations?
There is really no other way to achieve this goal but through planting New Testament churches in every country of the world (Acts 14). Paul’s pattern was to travel to areas and plant churches. We see in Acts that they spread out and witnessed by planting churches, not just evangelizing – through Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the uttermost ends of the earth.
And what constitutes a church?
It is not the number of people. A New Testament church is where there has been Godly appointed leadership in the form of elders and deacons, and where there are believers.
We must be so careful not to just see people saved and then leave them to fend for themselves. We don’t do this with our natural children and shouldn’t do it with our spiritual children either. We need to see those who have come to Christ knitted into local churches.
