Sermon Cloud

Acts 13:1-12

The church at Antioch was the birthplace of all foreign missions. The work of foreign missions began with a prayer meeting among five men who had a zeal for obeying Jesus Christ and seeing the gospel spread to the ends of the earth. Barnabas, Simeon, Manaen, Lucius, and Saul were men who had a clear understanding of the mission that had been given to them by Christ. The church at Antioch sent these men forth and supported them on their mission.

The model set forth by the church at Antioch, provides us with five marks that exemplify the kind of church that has a mindset for missions. By God's grace, this example should help our church to develop a global vision to take the gospel to everyone in the world who has yet to hear it. The people of the church at Antioch were:

1. WELL EQUIPPED by their leadership (v. 1)
2. WORSHIPERS of the Lord (v. 2)
3. WILLING to send and be sent (v. 3)
4. WISE in their course of action (vv. 4-5)
5. WARRING against the forces of Satan (vv. 6-12)

Missions exist because worship does not. There is a whole world out there that does not acknowledge God and does not worship Him. James Montgomery Boyce eloquently stated "The mission of the church is sending people by the church under the leadership of the Holy Spirit into areas of the world where the name of Jesus Christ is not known and God is not worshiped."

A mindset for missions starts with a strong relationship with Jesus Christ and a heart of missions flows out of a heart of worship. If we are not consumed with worshiping the Lord ourselves we will not care about the worship of others!