Naylor Community Christian Church
Naylor, Georgia
I. Introduction
--
turn in Bibles to Acts 12:24
Acts 12: 24 But the
word of God continued to spread and flourish. 25 When Barnabas and Saul had
finished their mission, they returned from Jerusalem, taking with them John,
also called Mark.
Acts 13:1 Now in
the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon called
Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen (who had been brought up with Herod the
tetrarch) and Saul. 2 While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy
Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have
called them.” 3 So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on
them and sent them off.
-- this morning, we are continuing our series on hearing
God -- on knowing and understanding that God still talks to us today -- that
because of Jesus and His death and resurrection, we live in a time when the
curtain has been torn -- when the veil has been lifted -- and when we can enter
directly into the Holy of Holies -- into the presence of the Lord God Almighty
at any time and in any place
-- and hopefully, as we have gone through our study
together, you have come to realize that the Lord God is speaking to us today --
that He calls out to us through His word -- the Bible -- in our prayers --
through the church -- and in our circumstances
-- so far in this study, we have looked at how God speaks
to us in our world today through the Bible and prayer -- this morning, we will
be looking at how God speaks through His church
-- even
as imperfect as our churches may be today, this does not stop God from speaking
through us and to us and into the world as we live in His Kingdom and serve as
His ministers and representatives of the Kingdom to others
-- I have already cautioned you in the earlier messages
that the primacy and priority of how God speaks to us through these four ways
-- the Bible -- prayer -- the church -- and circumstances -- are different --
they do not carry equal weight, and they are not mutually exclusive
-- let me explain what I mean by this -- when you are
trying to hear from God -- when you are listening for His voice and trying to
discern His will for you and your life -- the first place you should go is the
Bible
-- above
all other means by which God speaks to us, His written word is His primary
means of communication -- this is where we hear God’s voice the most clearly --
this is the medium by which He speaks to us the most -- and the messages that
we hear from Him in the Bible should take precedence over anything else we
might hear through the other means of God’s communications in the world today
-- when God speaks to you through the Bible -- when you
know that He has spoken -- you need to move and act on what He has told you -- and
He’ll speak to you through prayer and confirm the message from His word -- that
is primary -- that is the way He usually communicates with us today
-- and for most of what we do -- for most of how we live day-to-day
-- the Bible and prayer are all we need -- when we’re in a relationship with
God and He’s speaking to us on a regular basis and we’re hearing His voice and
responding to Him in faith and in action -- then we can go about our daily
lives, moving and living and acting in response to what God’s word is telling
us to do
-- but there will be times when God speaks and He is
calling us outside the ordinary -- outside the comfortable -- when He calls us
to do something more -- and when that happens, God not only speaks through the
Bible and through prayer, but He gives us confirmation through other means so
that we can trust in Him and have faith in His word
-- think about the Old Testament story of Gideon and the
fleece from Judges 6 -- in this chapter, God spoke to Gideon and called him to
lead Israel against the Midianites and to restore the worship of God in the
nation -- Gideon was a fearful man -- he was scared of the calling -- he was
scared to lead the people -- he didn’t feel he was worthy or capable of doing
so
-- so, when God spoke to him and told him to save Israel
by striking down the Midianites, Gideon asked for confirmation -- he prayed to
God and said, “If this is truly what you want me to do, then I will lay this
fleece on the ground at the threshing floor -- if the fleece is wet with dew
and the ground around it is dry, then I will know that you have spoken and that
you will save Israel by my hand”
-- and sure enough, when Gideon woke the next morning,
the fleece was sopping wet while the ground around it was dry -- he squeezed
the fleece and wrung out a bottle full of dew from it
-- but Gideon’s fear took hold again, and he prayed to
God for confirmation one more time -- “this time,” he prayed. “If you are going
to use me to save the Midianites, then let the fleece be dry and the ground
around it wet with dew” -- and when Gideon arose the next morning, that was
exactly what happened -- the fleece was dry -- the ground was wet -- and Gideon
accepted God’s call to lead the nation of Israel against the Midianites
-- we live in a different time and place than Gideon --
and we have something that Gideon didn’t have -- we have the very presence of
the Holy Spirit within us who speaks to us and opens our eyes to God’s word and
impresses on our hearts and souls His message
-- we don’t need to put out fleeces to confirm whether
it’s God speaking to us or not -- no, when God speaks to us through His word,
the Holy Spirit will confirm it as He opens our eyes to God’s message and
reveals it to our heart -- either through the reading of the Bible or,
secondarily, through prayer
-- but when God calls us to do something for Him that is
out of the ordinary -- out of the norm -- then He will give us confirmation
through other means -- the church and circumstances
-- the church is the entire body of Christ -- it is the
family of believers who are present in the world today -- those people who have
been washed in the blood and saved through the grace and power of Christ Jesus
and who are filled with His Holy Spirit
-- when we talk about the church, we’re not just talking
about this congregation, but the body of Christ universal -- and it is through
God’s church that He confirms the message that He has given us through the
Bible and prayer
-- usually, we will receive confirmation through the
members of the church that we are part of our -- our local congregation -- the
family that we gather with to worship and do life together with God on a
regular basis
-- but sometimes, God speaks through other members of His
church -- other believers you know at work or in your social life -- sometimes
strangers who come up and tell you that God has given them a message for you --
sometimes through songs or preaching or teaching that you might hear -- in
person or on the radio or the internet
-- and then, after you have received the message from God
in the Bible and through prayer and have received confirmation through the
church -- through God’s people -- God will orchestrate the circumstances in our
lives to make His call happen -- the right door will open up at just the right
time -- the money will come -- the opportunity will present itself -- those are
the ways God orchestrates time and space to get us to move and respond to His
message
-- so, if you are hearing a message from God to do
something greater -- something more -- something outside your comfort zone --
He will confirm it to you
-- you
will see all four of these ways God speaks to us start to line up -- in other
words, what you read in the Bible and understand to be a message from God for
you will be confirmed in your prayer time -- this will be reinforced through
the church -- through the messages that the church gives you, and not just this
group of believers, but the church of Christ in the world -- and, finally, you
will see your circumstances line up as God directs your will and your path
-- and that’s the order of confirmation that you need to
take -- the Bible first, then prayer, then the church, and then circumstances
-- and it has to originate with God speaking through the Bible and through
prayer
-- if
you are just hearing something through the church or through your circumstances
that you don’t see confirmed in Scripture, then it is not God’s word -- God
will always speak to you through His word first and foremost -- and then, if it
is God’s word, then God will confirm it for us through prayer, the church, and
circumstances -- it doesn’t go the opposite direction
-- God
doesn’t speak through circumstances first -- and we’ll talk more about that
next week -- and He doesn’t speak through the church without first giving the
church His message and call through the Word and prayer
-- so,
keep that in mind -- be careful to examine and confirm what you are hearing to
make sure it is coming from God and not from any other source
-- I can share with you what this looks like through my
own life -- I’ve shared with you before about Kim and my journey back to God
and into the ministry -- when we moved back to Georgia from Tennessee, we ended
up joining a Methodist Church in Morven -- it was a small church, mostly older
women when we started, and they just took us in like we were their long-lost
children -- it became a true home for us -- it was like a family
-- and, because of this, we really got involved with the
church -- every time the doors were opened, we were there -- Sunday School --
Sunday morning worship -- Sunday night services -- Wednesday night Bible study
-- we really got involved in church and in the lives of these people
-- after a while, a couple of young couples started
coming to the church and the pastor asked me to lead a new Sunday School class
-- I had never done that before -- I loved Bible study -- I loved learning
about God through reading His word -- but I had never considered being a
teacher before
-- but during my devotional times I had started reading
some things that sounded like God was speaking to me -- passages where God was
calling people out and sending them to teach others about Him -- to proclaim
His word -- and when I prayed, I kept hearing a similar message from God -- so,
I thought, “Okay, maybe this is what God has been telling me -- He wants me to
be a Sunday School teacher” -- so I took the job
-- and this class started to grow from two couples to
three and then to four until we filled up the room where we were -- but at the
same time I was leading that class and attending Bible study, I kept hearing
the same message from God’s word and from prayer, “Go -- I have called you to
proclaim My Word -- I have called you to teach me people” -- and I was
thinking, “But, I’m already doing that -- why do you keep asking me to do what
I’m already doing?”
-- and, then it started -- when I’d leave church on
Sunday morning, the pastor would shake my hand and say, “Want to preach
tonight?” -- and I’d just say, “No -- that’s not my job -- that’s yours” and
then I’d go on
-- and
then, every now and then, people in the church would say in passing, “You’re
good at teaching -- have you ever thought of being a preacher?” -- “No, never
thought about it -- that’s not what I’m called to do”
-- I started hearing messages on the radio over and over
about God calling people into ministry -- even on the Adventures in Odyssey
children’s radio drama show -- they had a whole series about a man who God was
calling to become a preacher
-- it
reached the point where I would just turn the radio off and not listen when I
realized that that was what the message was going to be about -- I started
hearing it more and more in Bible study -- in the songs we sang in church --
from the people -- from everyone
-- at one point, we had a guest speaker come to church
and he preached a message on the ministry of reconciliation from Paul’s second
letter to the Corinthians -- and as he preached on what it meant to be an
ambassador for Christ, he said, “Some in here are called to go into the
ministry” and when he said it, he looked right at me -- he didn’t know me from
Adam -- I had never met this guy -- but when he said those words, he looked
right at me and made it clear that God had spoken to him and that he knew what
God was calling me to do
-- what was going on in that moment was God confirming to
me through the church that what I had heard in the Bible -- what I had felt in
prayer -- this call that He had given me to go into the ministry -- was real --
God used His people to speak to my heart about becoming a preacher
-- after all of this, I finally sat down with Kim and
told her we had to talk -- and I said, “I think God’s calling me into the
ministry” -- and she said, “Well, yeah -- everyone already knows that”
-- so, I went to the pastor and talked with her -- and
she responded like Kim did and then she said we needed to bring this before the
whole congregation -- to seek their confirmation that this was the word of God
-- and so, one Sunday morning, she brought me down front and told everyone what
was going on -- the entire church affirmed that God was indeed calling me to go
into ministry -- and all the members of the church laid hands on Kim and me,
and prayed for us and started us off on this grand adventure that we are in
today
-- that is what it looks like when God speaks to us today
-- it begins with the Bible -- it is confirmed by prayer and by the church --
and then God lines up the circumstances to make it happen
II. Scripture Lesson (Acts 12:24-13:3)
-- we see the exact same thing going on here in these few
verses from Acts with Paul and Barnabas
-- just to share with you the context of what’s going on
-- all of us are familiar with the story of the Apostle Paul -- he started out
as Saul the Pharisee -- the one who hated the Christians and who went about
from place-to-place persecuting them
-- one day, while he was traveling to Damascus, Saul had
an experience with Jesus on the road and became a believer -- he immediately
started telling others about his experience and how Jesus had changed his life
-- but Saul wasn’t accepted in the church -- the people were scared of him and
thought this might just be a scheme to infiltrate the church and to find more
Christians
-- but one of the early church leaders, a guy by the name
of Barnabus, met Saul and heard his story and knew that Saul truly had changed
-- so Barnabus took Saul under his wing and brought him to the church at
Antioch -- and together, Barnabus and Saul started teaching in the church --
basically, they started a Sunday School and a Bible study
-- and, slowly, Saul started to gain the trust of the
other people in the church -- in fact, when God told the church that there was
going to be famine and the church took up an offering for the people in Judea
so they could survive the famine, the church sent Saul along with Barnabus to
carry the money to the church leaders in Jerusalem
-- so, let’s look at this passage again -- look back at
Acts 12:24
Acts 12: 24 But the
word of God continued to spread and flourish.
-- I want you to stop there -- this is just a short,
little verse -- most of our translations have it as the summary verse of the
previous section about Herod’s Death -- and because of the way it’s grouped
together in our Bibles, we kind of just read it and go on to the next section about
Barnabas and Saul being sent off
-- but when you understand how God speaks to His people
in the world today, this verse is like a blinking light -- it’s glowing red --
it is the key verse to what is going on with Barnabas and Saul
-- “the word of God continued to spread and flourish” --
this is not just speaking about the message of the gospel that the church was
preaching and proclaiming in the communities -- this was the word of God --
coming to them through the Scriptures and through prayer and through the Holy
Spirit
-- it all begins with the word of God -- it always begins
with the word of God -- and we have to remember that -- we have to know that --
we have to live that
-- we live in a wondrous time where we have smart phones
and the internet and so many resources at our fingertips -- we have so much
information that we can access -- we have more access to information than
anyone in the previous 2000 years would have ever even conceived of
-- but we have to make sure that we aren’t relying on
that cacophony of information instead of the word of God -- it always begins
with God’s word -- and before we try to move and act and do anything with the
information and the noise that we are hearing in the world today, we need to
first stop and see what God is telling us through the Bible and through prayer
-- don’t get ahead of God
-- and this is especially true in this political season
we are in as we’re hearing such different messages from each political party
and so much disinformation and mistruth from each candidate -- how do we filter
through the noise to get to the truth? -- how do we get past the multitude of
messages to what is true and right?
-- we begin with the Bible and what the Bible says about
selecting leaders -- read God’s word -- from the Old Testament to the New, God
has told us what He looks for in leaders and what the world looks for in
leaders -- and it’s not the same thing -- when the world picks leaders, they
end up with King Saul -- when God picks leaders, they end up with King David
-- don’t listen to what people say -- listen to who they
are -- and let God tell you what His criteria for leadership is -- look at
God’s word, and choose who you will vote for based on God’s word and not
political parties or political pundits
-- verse
25
Acts 12:25 When
Barnabas and Saul had finished their mission, they returned from Jerusalem,
taking with them John, also called Mark.
Acts 13:1 Now in
the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon called
Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen (who had been brought up with Herod the
tetrarch) and Saul. 2a While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting
-- the first thing we see in these verses is the church in
communion with God -- the church functioning in accordance with God’s word
-- God
had already identified and raised up leaders in the church -- men who were
gifted in leadership and in teaching -- men who were noble of character -- who
were gifted through the Spirit -- who were called to prophesy and teach -- called
to proclaim His word to that local gathering of believers
-- just as an aside, notice that there was not just one
leader -- one pastor -- but God had raised up several individuals who shared
leadership responsibilities in the church as God had gifted them -- too often
in our churches today, we assume that God has called one person -- the pastor
-- to do the ministry -- but that’s not true -- God has called every person in
a church to minister in the ways that He has gifted them -- ministry in the
church is not limited to one person, but is given to all
-- as we look here, we see the church doing two things --
first, they’re worshiping -- they are going to God and praising Him for who He
is and for what He has done in their lives -- that is our first act as
Christians -- that is our main purpose as a church -- that is why God created
us and why we exist -- to bring glory to God through our praise and worship and
actions and to extend His glory to others
-- secondly, we see them fasting -- that means that this
church was actively seeking God’s will and direction for their lives -- when we
fast, it means we abstain from food and from other distractions so we can
clearly hear God’s voice and so we can know what God wants us to do -- we put
aside the things of the world so we can be open to listening to God
-- this is a picture of a church who is seeking to hear
from God -- who knows God speaks to them -- and who come together to hear His
voice and to get ready to respond to what God is calling them to do
-- this is a picture of what we should be doing as God’s
church in this place -- we should be worshiping God and listening for His voice
and responding to His call -- and this begins when we hear Him through the word
and through prayer and through His people
-- look at the second part of verse 2
Acts 13:2b …the
Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I
have called them.” 3 So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their
hands on them and sent them off.
-- as the church fasted -- as they listened with their
whole hearts -- the Holy Spirit spoke to them and told them what to do -- He
told them to set apart Barnabus and Saul for the ministry He had called them to
do -- and that’s exactly what they did
-- now, there’s a couple of important things to see here
-- the first thing we see is that this calling -- this
setting apart of Barnabus and Saul -- was done at the direction of God and not
the church -- God is sovereign over all, and that includes the church -- the
Bible tells us that Jesus created the church and formed it to be His body here
on earth with Jesus as the head -- this means that the church should move and
act based on what God tells it to do and not what the people in the church tell
it to do -- too often, we let tradition and rituals dictate what a congregation
does rather than wait for Jesus and respond to His call and His direction
-- in this case, the church listened for God to speak --
and they didn’t move and they didn’t do anything until they heard from God --
the whole point of today’s message is that God speaks to the church just like
He speaks to individuals
-- and a
functioning church should be hearing from God and receiving confirmation that
what they are reading in their Bibles and hearing in prayer is what God is
calling them to do
-- secondly, look what they did after they heard from God
-- they confirmed what they heard through fasting and prayer -- remember what I
said, when God speaks, He speaks to us in all four of these ways -- the Bible,
prayer, the church, and circumstances
-- we must be careful that when we think we have heard
from God we don’t just move out and do it until He confirms it in at least one
other way -- in this case, the church heard the Holy Spirit tell them to set
aside Barnabas and Saul -- and then they waited until they got confirmation
through more prayer and fasting
-- third, the church laid hands on Barnabas and Saul --
this is an act of confirmation and affirmation by the church for these two men
-- there is no doubt in my mind that both Barnabas and Saul knew they were
being called to go out as missionaries and spread God’s word throughout the
Roman Empire
-- in fact, when Saul had his Damascus Road experience,
Jesus told Ananias that He had appointed Saul to be His missionary to the
Gentiles -- Saul was aware of this -- he was just waiting until he had
confirmation
-- and the gathering of the church and the laying on of
hands was confirmation that the church had heard from God what Saul and
Barnabas had already heard in their hearts and were setting them aside as
missionaries to the nations
-- and, finally, we read the church sent them off -- once
God has spoken -- once we have received confirmation in other ways -- through
prayer or the Bible or church or circumstances -- then we must act on what God
is telling us to do -- we have to do it
-- when I was with the Methodist Church, God spoke to me
and began to impress on my heart that He was calling our church to begin a
ministry to the Hispanics in the area -- this was made clear to me through
God’s word, as God led me to passages about carrying for the strangers and
foreigners in our land -- and I was getting it through prayer -- I was carrying
a burden for the Hispanics in my heart -- and the Spirit was telling me that
God wanted us to reach out to them
-- and I
was not the only one who felt this -- I was not the only one that God was
speaking to -- He spoke to others in the congregation, too -- several of them
had come to me and said that they felt God was telling them to have the church
buy a van and go out and pick up the children of the migrant workers and bring
them to church and that their parents would begin to come, too
-- God
was confirming through the church that what I others were hearing through the
Bible and through prayer was that He wanted us to begin an outreach to the
Hispanic community -- everywhere we looked -- everything we read -- we kept
getting the same message as God spoke to us through His church
-- one
day, I brought in a guest speaker for a Sunday morning service to tell us about
their ministry and how the church could support it -- he started sharing about
his ministry and then he stopped -- he just stood there for a moment and then
he said, “You know, I’m not going to talk about Lifelines Ministry today -- God
is telling me to share with you a different message -- I want to talk about the
possibility of your church beginning a Hispanic ministry” -- and he spent the
next thirty minutes laying out for us a plan to reach out to the Hispanics
around us and to bring God’s word to them
-- it couldn’t have been more obvious that God was
calling us to step out and start this ministry -- it was like a flashing neon
sign from God saying, “Do This!”
-- we
had confirmation from His word -- from our prayers -- from the church itself --
not only our local church but the extended body of Christ as evidenced by this
guest speaker -- and then the circumstances just fell into place -- other than
my calling to the ministry, I have never been more sure that this was God
speaking -- this was like something right out of the Book of Acts
-- so, I responded -- I moved -- I brought it up before
the finance committee and the administrative council and they said, “No --
we’re not going to do this”
-- and I argued with them -- and I told them this is what
God wanted us to do -- and they said, “No” -- they did not want “those people”
in their church
-- they heard the word of God -- it was confirmed by the
Spirit in prayer and through the church -- even through people not associated
with this congregation -- and the leaders of the church heard all that and saw
the evidence of what God was calling them to do -- and they still said, “No”
-- and when that happened, I could almost tangibly feel the
presence of God leaving that church -- not that God wasn’t there -- He promises
to never leave us or forsake us -- but when we clearly heard what God wanted us
to do and then refused to do it, He moved His hand off of us -- He took His
blessing from that church -- and He sent that Hispanic ministry to another
church in the area -- and that church heard it and responded and has grown into
the largest church in that county
-- from that point on, attendance in our local
congregation declined -- at worship -- at Bible Study -- at all events -- while
this other church grew and grew and continues to grow and to see God work
through them and in them in amazing ways
-- when we hear from God -- as individuals and as a
church -- when we know that God is calling us to do something, we must do it --
just like the church at Antioch did
-- they heard from God -- they confirmed the message
through fasting and prayer -- they affirmed Barnabas and Saul -- and then they
sent them out
-- the lesson is, “When God speaks, we respond” -- plain
and simple
III. Closing
-- so, let’s bring this all home -- what role does the
church play in helping you hear from God?
-- the church is God’s megaphone -- through His church,
God confirms to us the message that we have heard through His Word and through
prayer
-- if God is truly speaking to your heart and is calling
you to do something for Him, then He will confirm it through others -- you’ll
hear that message reaffirmed in other ways -- through prayer, through the
church, and through circumstances
-- when you believe God is speaking to you -- when you
think you are hearing God tell you or the church to do something -- don’t sit
on it -- you should bring it before the church and seek confirmation from His
people
-- as Dr. Henry Blackaby says, “Don’t ever be afraid to
let the body of believers assist you in knowing God’s will -- take the counsel
of the people and go to God for clear direction”
-- if the church is telling you the same thing that you
believe God has told you through His Word and through prayer, then you can
proceed with confidence
-- God speaks through the church -- He confirms His
message and His call through His people
-- so, people of God -- let us open our ears and our
hearts this morning -- let us hear the word of God -- let us cry out to Him
through worship and prayer and fasting -- let us seek His word and His voice in
the Bible -- and let us get ready for what He is going to do -- for what He is
going to call us to do -- as His church in this place
-- and when we hear His call -- when we hear His voice --
let our response be, “Yes, Lord!”
-- let’s pray
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