Church Expansion - Part 2

Bryan Chapell: There's something I have to listen to in these people. They speak with courage. They speak of a Savior who loves past sin. They love each other despite past sins. I have to listen to these people. And he believes the gospel as the spirit blows in such people.
Guest (Male): So glad you joined us for today's Unlimited Grace, the audio broadcast ministry of pastor and author Bryan Chapell. In today's lesson, Pastor Bryan shares the second half of the message from Acts 13. We learn in this passage how early Christians were able to look past differences and conflicts for the advancement of the gospel. What would it mean if today's church were to unite just as the early church did? You can find this lesson and many others when you visit unlimitedgrace.com. And while you're there, look for Pastor Bryan's book, Unlimited Grace. Dr. Chapell reminds us of the power and mercy of God's grace that motivates and inspires us to serve our Heavenly Father. Let's hear now from Dr. Bryan Chapell as he shares the second half of the lesson, Church Expansion.
Bryan Chapell: In Acts 13, we get the first roster of the officers of the early church. And in doing so, we find a people who are not only humbly seeking to follow the wind of the spirit, but humbly willing to yield to the people that God is bringing into the church for his own purposes. Who are those people? Chapter 13, verse one: "There were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon, Lucius, Manaen, and Saul." Now I'll just confess to you as I was this week studying up on this chapter, this was better than ancestry.com. I mean, you just start looking at person and connection and connection and you say, "Amazing is this work of the Holy Spirit preparing for the spread of the gospel." We need to hear what it means when the people of God in the earliest centuries are saying unity is not in uniformity. Unity is welcoming those so different, so devilish in perhaps my understanding or background that the grace of God is so great that I bow before the work of the spirit in ways that I struggle even to do. Think of our culture where we are, where national leaders cannot even shake one another's hands, cannot even listen to words without tearing them up, where we recognize that simply insulting and hating people is just part of political gamesmanship. We're church people sometimes say things they should never have said as well and have forgotten what it means to give respect to those who do not deserve it for the sake of the ministry of Jesus Christ. What would it mean if we believed, really believed, that the same spirit who was present in Acts 13 is present here and calling us into his ministry by the same way he called those early Christians, saying to them and to us, "Spirit of God, change them," and we would be ready for the change by lifting our sails to the work of the spirit and say, "Blow spirit, blow even into my heart if you must, that I might go as you intend, where you intend as your will would direct." If we really believed that, that being in unity, by humility, was the way that the spirit blows, we might even be able to hear a letter like this without being angry. "Dear Mr. Chapell, I've been compelled to write to you about something I feel very strongly about. I've moved away from here to attend my university, and with this move, I've had to seek a new church. The church I'm attending makes a huge effort to reach out to our community. The worship consists of," oh you know this is going to be dangerous, "the worship consists of hymns, contemporary gospel songs, and even songs in different languages, all within the same service. I feel motivated by the Holy Spirit to write to you about this because of the amount of diversity at Grace. If we started doing the same, whatever lines or walls stood between people who feel out of place and not welcome at our church, those lines and walls would start to be erased. In this church where I attend, scripture was read in not just English but in other languages. I know it'd be a hard transition. Worship leaders of this church told me how difficult it was for them. It was something that made people stretch and grow outside of their comfort zone. But in the end, it benefited everyone. I know we already have incorporated ESL, English for the second language of many internationals among us. I know we've already incorporated ESL, but I feel like our church can take another step into embracing the whole body of Jesus Christ." Now you can say one of two things. You can either say, "Ouch, how dare she?" or you can say, "Praise God, this is somebody raised in our church with the priorities of the gospel who is wanting us to have the spirit blow, to change us, to extend us, to extend the gospel to all kinds of people." What we say: a church for all generations and peoples. Somebody young in our church actually believes the spirit could do that and is saying to us, "You have taught me well. I want to be that kind of church, this kind of church, in Acts 13." Oh, what will that require? New direction that is spawned by devotion that is deep. It's so interesting to see how the church begins to make progress. Verse two: "While they were worshipping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, 'Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.'" What is the church doing? It's been persecuted. It's been moved out of homeland. It's been moved away from affluence. And what are they doing? They are worshipping. They have every right to complain, but they are worshipping as though glorifying worship is the place where the spirit begins to work in the hearts of his people. You know, so often when those of us who counsel young people are trying to help them think about career and life path, we say, "Listen, it's easiest to turn a car in motion. If you're just going to sit still and back up and do nothing, you're unlikely to find the direction you intend." And for us, we know that worship is the motion of the Holy Spirit. It's God's people in worship that are discovering priorities for their hearts, priorities for God's people, priorities for his church. And that worship is in itself challenging to us because it involves not only that consistent devotion, "while they were worshipping," as though it just keeps on happening regardless of the challenge. There is with that consistent devotion gospel dependence. Verse two: "while they were worshipping the Lord and fasting." Verse three: "Then after fasting and praying, they laid their hands on Paul and Barnabas and sent them out." Now we all know about the process that we just did with Stephen and Courtney. We pray and we have a service to lay hands on them and send them out. And it is a blessing to be inspired by young people who are saying, "Pay any price, go anywhere for the sake of the gospel." And we know that's one of the ways the Holy Spirit works. But it's the church in prayer first. What is prayer? Prayer is by its very nature confession of the need of the Lord beyond my strength and ability. "Lord, I can't do what you ask. We can't be the church that you require if you don't work." It's what Stephen said: "Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain." Unless the spirit blows, we have no hope of doing the work of the spirit. And that spirit blows as we kneel down before the Lord and say, "God, we need you to do something." And it's not just putting a holy aura of ceremony. It is profound confession of the people of God. We can't do this apart from your spirit. And the same is true of fasting. Now I must tell you that when I was raised in a church that would focus upon fasting, what often was emphasized was when you fast, what's going to happen is you're going to focus entirely upon God and not even upon your need, which I would just tell you, I never quite achieved. Because when I fasted, I got hungry. And I wanted to focus on the God, but my stomach is making me focus somewhere else. What if I didn't perceive fasting as some way to ritualistically pay off God so that he would be nice to me? What if what I perceived was fasting as the physical form of prayer? That what we are doing is we are pushing away from our nourishment, from what would strengthen us to say, "God, it's not in my strength, but only in your strength that I can do your will." And my hunger is not betrayal. My hunger is worship because what my hunger is saying is, "You're weak. You need nourishment." And it's actually in your weakness that the spirit is going to blow. "Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit," says the Lord. Do you know where that comes from? That comes from Zechariah, where the people of God were in great deprivation. But the full quote should help us: "This is the word of the Lord to the leader of God's people: not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord of hosts. Who are you, great mountain? Before this man of God, you shall become level. And he shall bring forth the topstone from you with shouts of grace, grace, grace to all." And our weakness he is made strong. Not by our affluence, not by our decisions, not by what is in us, but when we are pushing away from self, on our knees in prayer, fasting, saying, "Not in my strength, not in what my nourishment provides, but entirely by the work of the Holy Spirit." I believe the spirit will come, not as I confuse my strength with his strength, but as I confess my weakness so that he might show himself strong. Blow spirit, blow, as I confess I need you and this church confesses the same. When that happens, what we begin to do is say, "God, show us, show us what you want, not what we want. Show us what you want to do." And that's what happened here. As verse two, the spirit says, "Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them." Identify the workers and the work. It's what the elders did in this church just a couple of weeks ago, saying as best we could, "What are the needs of our community, not what are the needs of our church? What are the needs of our community? What is our mission? What is our call? How has God gifted us with workers and resources so that what he has made us to be, we are fulfilling? Not our comfort, not our desires necessarily. But as we assess as best we can how the Holy Spirit has been blowing in this generation, previous generations, and the generation to come, how do we set our sails to that wind? And in doing so, we are asking the spirit to accomplish what we could not accomplish in our power, which ultimately is requiring us to proclaim him with courage, not our own.
Guest (Male): You're listening to Unlimited Grace, the audio broadcast ministry of pastor and author Bryan Chapell. Would you say that you're burdened by some chains of addiction, some patterns of sin, or habits of apathy? Would you like to be set free from that and enjoy joy, peace, true satisfaction? Well, the good news, it's possible. Pastor Bryan says so in his book, a powerful book titled Unlimited Grace. Based on Pastor Bryan's decades of teaching the good news of Christ and his amazing grace, this book Unlimited Grace will take you on a personal journey to discover how grace not only frees you from the guilt and shame of a sinful life, but also provides the daily fuel you need for joy, which is your strength as a Christian. Request your copy of Unlimited Grace—that's the title of the book—when you go online to unlimitedgrace.com. The web address again, unlimitedgrace.com. Now more from Bryan Chapell on today's Unlimited Grace.
Bryan Chapell: What are the needs of our community, not what are the needs of our church? What are the needs of our community? What is our mission? What is our call? How has God gifted us with workers and resources so that what he has made us to be, we are fulfilling? Not our comfort, not our desires necessarily. But as we assess as best we can how the Holy Spirit has been blowing in this generation, previous generations, and the generation to come, how do we set our sails to that wind? And in doing so, we are asking the spirit to accomplish what we could not accomplish in our power, which ultimately is requiring us to proclaim him with courage, not our own. How does the spirit blow? Not just as we have humility that leads to unity. Not even just as we begin to say, "I need the power of the spirit," but claiming it, begin to proclaim the gospel with courage. What does that require? Verses four and five: "So being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they," Paul and Barnabas, "went down to Seleucia and from there they sailed to Cyprus." Now I've already said earlier, whose home is that? Barnabas. Now just think of this. The first place he proclaims the gospel is in his hometown, to his family. Who do we most hate expressing the gospel to? The people who know us. Our weaknesses, our frailties, our hypocrisies. And we say, "They know me, they won't listen to me." In your weakness, if you would confess that, the Holy Spirit can work. Not by might, nor by power, nor by reputation, nor by wisdom, but by the spirit. We speak with courage even to family. We speak with courage even to enemy. I mean, there's this strange account of this magician who seems to have somehow entranced the people of the area so that even the leader, the proconsul, is not willing to listen to Paul. And Paul says, "You son of the devil." I'm not saying this is always the way to share the gospel. "How dare you try to make crooked the straight way of the Lord?" And what he is doing is he's willing to say what may be hard to say for the sake of the gospel. But he goes right into the jaws of the lion, willing to say what must be said, as hard as it may be. Do we have that challenge in a culture that concludes that gender is fluid and same-sex relationships are to be celebrated, marriage is optional and divorce is inevitable, life begins and ends when it's convenient for you, and political animosity is acceptable as long as somebody disagrees with you, and pornography is fine as long as no one finds you out? To speak into that, there's danger there. There's difficulty there. Even in the church, there's danger there. Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit. I say what needs to be said. I'm not talking about being tactless. I'm not talking about wandering away from people into isolation. Here is Paul and Barnabas going right into the hometown, speaking to the difficult situations, believing the spirit will use it. And ultimately what they are doing is they are speaking truth to power so that by the 12th verse, you recognize that even the highest leader is recognizing, "There's something I have to listen to in these people. They speak with courage. They speak of a Savior who loves past sin. They love each other despite past sins. I have to listen to these people." And he believes the gospel as the spirit blows in such people who will in humility embrace the power of the spirit with courage, whether you're called to family or enemy or power to address. We send Stephen and Courtney and recognize they face great challenges. But we don't just spit in the wind and hope the best. We say, "Lift your sails. We'll help you do it. We'll lift the sails too." Some of you need to go to Springfield. Some of you need to back them up. Some of you need to help them financially and say, "Blow spirit, blow. Help them, help us be the kind of church you need us to be." Because our comfort is not the place where the spirit is most likely to be working. Last night, I got an email from Christian leaders in China. I'll just read you a portion: "Dr. Chapell, as you know, the Wuhan pneumonia is spreading in China causing tens of thousands to be patients under treatment. As a speaker this August in Hong Kong, I'll go to the Hong Kong Bible conference, quarter million people scheduled to come if the government allows. They say we would like to invite you to write a short message to the saints here that we could be comforted, encouraged, and inspired." I must tell you, I got that email and said, "I don't even think I'm worthy to write to believers who are going through such difficulty and harm and pressure. How can I write?" All I think I could do was try to find words from scripture: "Brothers and sisters in Christ, as I read the challenges you now face in China—tens of thousands under treatment for pneumonia, public activities suspended, schools closed, church meetings suspended, leaders in the church without freedom to proclaim the gospel—I only write to tell you the eyes of the worldwide church are upon you. The eyes of the angels are upon you. But most of all, the eyes of King Jesus are upon you. Around the world, believers are praying for you with strong confidence in the eternal purposes of God who will never falter. Your courage in faith inspire fellow Christians around the world. The prayers of the worldwide church are being offered to the Father in your behalf, and we know that the Holy Spirit intercedes for you with groanings too deep to utter, fulfilling the purpose of God for your life so that all things will work together for good. These temporary afflictions are working for you a far more exceeding and eternal weight to glory. For the things of God are being fully revealed by the work of his saints for the glory of his son. I and my church will pray for you in the words of the apostle Paul: we remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in the Lord Jesus Christ. For we know, brothers and sisters loved by God, that he has chosen you and he has sent his spirit to help you." He has, and not just them. But we who would lift our sails to the wind of the spirit and say, "Blow spirit, blow." We kneel before the power of God and we yield to the message of the gospel. "Blow spirit, blow," and we believe you will work in us for the gospel that is in Jesus Christ. Hi friend, this is Pastor Bryan. I'm glad you decided to tune in and listen, and I would consider it a privilege to pray over you today. Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, what a privilege we have to come to you in prayer. Your word says that we can come to you about anything, not just the big things, and not just the things that we think we have figured out. Instead, you love us so much that you say do not be anxious for anything, but in everything by prayer and petition with thanksgiving for your certain care, we can offer our requests to you. And then because we know that the God who controls all the outcomes of things on earth and for eternity cares this much for us, the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard our hearts and minds for whatever we face with Jesus. We do not expect our prayers to end all our trials before Jesus comes, but we know that you will use our prayers, Father, to make all things work together for good until Jesus returns. Thank you for this promise and assurance. Give us the peace and the strength we need through these promises and assurances we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
Guest (Male): That's Pastor Bryan Chapell, and you've been listening to Unlimited Grace. If you've missed anything that you'd like to hear once again, just visit unlimitedgrace.com. And when you do so, you can sign up for Pastor Bryan's daily devotional sent right to your inbox. While you're there, also be sure to request a copy of the book from Dr. Bryan Chapell called Unlimited Grace. We'll send you a copy right away as our way of saying thanks for your most generous financial support. Please be sure to join us next time as once again we endeavor to put Christ at the center of our efforts so that lives might be transformed by his unlimited grace. This ministry is brought to you by Unlimited Grace Media and continues to be made possible with your generous financial support.