Read Acts 13:1-3
You smell smoke first. Then you run and see the house is on fire. Between you and the fire is a well with buckets beside it. Do you run and single‐handedly throw buckets of water on the fire, or do you wake up other firefighters to battle the blaze? Hopefully the point of the parable is obvious.
Not everyone should become missionaries to foreign lands. Pragmatically, it takes many more people working at home to support one person who goes to the mission field. If everyone went to the mission field, who would rally the support and catalyze the next generation of missionaries? It takes many senders in order to send. That is what we read in today’s passage.
The church in Antioch was a sending church. By God’s leading, they set apart Barnabas and Saul (a.k.a. Paul) to become missionaries. They not only “sent them off”, but they supported them also through their finances and through their prayers (people pray for what they pay for!). Because of a great number of artisans, craftsmen, farmers, city officials, and various other workers who attended the church in Antioch, Paul and Barnabas were able to proclaim Jesus city‐to‐city on the island of Cyprus and throughout Asia Minor (modern day Turkey).
Yesterday’s devotion asked, “Are you ready to go?” Did you take that question seriously? Did you pray about that question? The fact is, every Christian already has a clear command to “go” (Matthew 28:19), and so we must prayerfully determine if we are called by God to stay. If we are not traveling abroad to make Christ known, then we know we are certainly supporters of the sent. We will pray for and pay for the mission. After all, God has blessed us to be a blessing!
So, are you to be a sender or the sent? May your life demonstrate the conviction of your calling from God. After all, the Bible tells us that God smells smoke! He has chosen us to fight the fire one way or another.
You smell smoke first. Then you run and see the house is on fire. Between you and the fire is a well with buckets beside it. Do you run and single‐handedly throw buckets of water on the fire, or do you wake up other firefighters to battle the blaze? Hopefully the point of the parable is obvious.
Not everyone should become missionaries to foreign lands. Pragmatically, it takes many more people working at home to support one person who goes to the mission field. If everyone went to the mission field, who would rally the support and catalyze the next generation of missionaries? It takes many senders in order to send. That is what we read in today’s passage.
The church in Antioch was a sending church. By God’s leading, they set apart Barnabas and Saul (a.k.a. Paul) to become missionaries. They not only “sent them off”, but they supported them also through their finances and through their prayers (people pray for what they pay for!). Because of a great number of artisans, craftsmen, farmers, city officials, and various other workers who attended the church in Antioch, Paul and Barnabas were able to proclaim Jesus city‐to‐city on the island of Cyprus and throughout Asia Minor (modern day Turkey).
Yesterday’s devotion asked, “Are you ready to go?” Did you take that question seriously? Did you pray about that question? The fact is, every Christian already has a clear command to “go” (Matthew 28:19), and so we must prayerfully determine if we are called by God to stay. If we are not traveling abroad to make Christ known, then we know we are certainly supporters of the sent. We will pray for and pay for the mission. After all, God has blessed us to be a blessing!
So, are you to be a sender or the sent? May your life demonstrate the conviction of your calling from God. After all, the Bible tells us that God smells smoke! He has chosen us to fight the fire one way or another.