“The best thing that you can do for me is to make sure you keep your church healthy. I can’t do the work there if churches are unhealthy here.” - Mack Stiles Healthy churches are needed for global missions but global missions are also needed for healthy churches. God has designed global missions and the local church to be inseparably connected to one another. The health of one fuels the health of the other. The zeal of one fuels the zeal of the other. I. God Uses Local Churches to Strengthen and Advance His Global Mission - Acts 9:26-30 Initiation: God Initiates Missions Within the Local Church - Acts 9:26-27 “And when he had come to Jerusalem, he (Saul) attempted to join the disciples. And they were all afraid of him, for they did not believe he was a disciple. But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles and declared to them how on the road he had seen the Lord, who spoke to him, and how at Damascus he had preached boldly in the name of the Lord.” Acts 9:26-27 "Thus Joseph, who was also 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.” Acts 4:37 “Barnabas believes the best of Saul and is not full of skepticism; he trusts that the Spirit can reform even the hardest heart. ... Though all else are fearful, Barnabas knows the Lord works in unexpected ways. God’s people need to be ready for the unthinkable.” Patrick Schreiner Incubation: God Develops Missionaries Within the Local Church- Acts 9:28-29 “So he went in and out among them at Jerusalem preaching boldly in the name of the Lord. And he spoke and disputed against the Hellenists.” Acts 9:28-29 Paul’s calling and his teaching and ministry need to be both validated and developed within the framework of the local church! Paul has a calling. He has a deep commitment. He needs a community. Paul has a calling: “Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the glory of God…” Romans 1:1 Paul has a clear conviction: “and thus I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named lest I build no someone else’s foundation…” Romans 1:20-21 Paul has zeal for the mission: “I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit— that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, kinsmen according to the flesh." Romans 9:1,2 Paul has a calling. He has a deep commitment. He needs a community. Preservation: God Preserves and Protects His Missionaries Through the Local Church - Acts 9:29b-30 “But they were seeking to kill him. And when the brothers learned this, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus.” Acts 9:29b-30 II. God Uses Global Missions to Strengthen and Encourage Local Churches. - Acts 9:31 “So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit it multiplied.” Acts 9:31 What God produced in the church: Peace Maturity Reverence Comfort Numerical Growth “I’ve finally figured out why I left those services feeling spiritually unsatisfied as a child. I discovered more truth. But simple truth. Our God is a loving God. Yes. He’s a merciful God. Yes. But he’s even more so a God of DISCIPLINE. OBEDIENCE. A JEALOUS God. . . . I feel it’s my calling to share the joy of God, but with exclamation, more so, the FEAR OF GOD. The balance. Knowing the power in what he can build, and also what he can destroy.” - Kendrick Lamar Consider Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. He had a clear mission but He was calling His disciples to pray with him. If Christ needed the support of others for his mission, how much more do we need each other? Application Questions: What has your personal experience of missions been like in the local church? How closely would you say that you are to any missionary? What’s it been like? How have they impacted you and vice versa? What are ways in which we can encourage and protect our missionaries? Have you ever considered missions? Would you want to try it? Which of those 5 areas of impact on the local church resonate most with you? (peace, maturity, reverence, comfort, numerical growth) How does missions give weight to the reality of God and foster reverence for God in our lives. How can we pray about this together? My Notes: