Where in the World are We Going

Where in the World are We Going?
Acts 13:1-4

I think I was led to this text because of the way it resonates within me of the importance of prayer and fasting and its relevance to our present situation. For over a month now Gateway Baptist Church has been discussing and praying about the direction of our church and how we should use the resources that we have been blessed with for the glory of God and to carry out the Great Commission.

Things have rapidly changed in our city and in our church in many wonderful and remarkable ways. We’ve been blessed here with so much; God has placed us in one of the most exciting cities… at least in Canada, maybe the world. This is unprecedented- the nations are coming to us in such diversity from every nation, tribe and tongue. The fact of the matter is that, if you want to impact the world, you can do it right here.

For example, two weeks ago we sent three ladies to cold call in one of the apartment buildings. By afternoon they had 10 Sudanese children in bible study. We’re going back there tomorrow and I am excited about what will come of it and the potential it will have for the Sudanese church plant.

In our Basket ball camp, I am sure that we had more then 14 different nations represented by those 65 kids. They heard the gospel, many of them for the first time. And God will use that to draw them to His self… maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but according to his time which he purposed in Christ before the foundations of the earth.

And do you wonder what God will do with 500 Burmese when they get here next month? These people had the courage to live out their faith in one of the most hostile anti-Christian nations on earth. And now they’re coming here- to Surrey. What’ll they think of the way we live as Christians here?

Then there’s the Korean church and the potential for sharing children’s ministry with them- to help them grow to help us grow (it’s reciprocal). I’m certain that God brought Billy Do here and he confirmed it to me, because what are the odds of finding a Korean pastor who loves the Puritans as much as I do? God brought them to Gateway for a reason.

Then when you consider the massive amount of construction in our city and the revitalization that has occurred in the real estate and how the radically shifting demographics of this community give me new hope for the dynamic nature of our ministry here.

Look out the window, the skyline you see is going to be drastically altered in the next couple of years. Expect to see thousands more people living in high-rises, offices with office workers, thousands of students at SFU Tech institute, and a transportation hub that will be a model for other cities.

How exciting to think of the impact that this church can have on our community, on our country and even the world as long as we make the gospel central to our influence. But this raises a lot of questions. And for the most part, they are not questions whose answers can be explicitly found in the Bible. And so we are left in the dark to grope our way through it. But God has not left us in total darkness (Read the text).
Tomorrow the mission team is planning a revival service… actually, what we mean is an evangelistic crusade. Does God want us to do it? Why wouldn’t he- the Bible implies that we should and gives examples of such campaigns… look at Acts 2:14-16; 22-24; 37-41.

Will God do the same thing tomorrow that he did in Jerusalem? I don’t know… the Bible doesn’t say. So what should we do?

The church at Antioch was probably asking similar questions. They formed a planning committee of prophets and teachers, which I think is just a catch-phrase to describe the spirit empowered kind of leaders that they were.

They had a question (or questions) that they needed answered from God and my guess is that it was a similar question to ours, “what’s the next phase for Antioch Baptist church? What should we do now that we have all these believers gathered together and we have all these ministries and leaders and resources?”

Judging from the Holy Spirit’s response to their question, I think their question was likely more specific; something like “Where in the world should we go?” “Should we send one of our own people and if so who?” “Does it need to be an Apostle, or can it be a layman?” “Should it be one man, or a team?” “Should we train them?” “How will we finance them?”

So what did they do, Verse 2 says they “ministered to the Lord”, read that, “they worshipped him.” And while ministering to Him, they fasted…. You know, everything that Luke records is for our instruction. It is not incidental to the story that they were praying and fasting and then the Lord spoke. What Luke wants us to see is that God chose to make this prayer and fasting group the catalyst for a mission that changed world history.

“Aw no, here he goes…. Now he’s gonna ask us to fast!” I know that’s what some of you may be thinking. I thought something similar, “Aw no, now I have to ask them to fast.”

“Fasting is just a quaint Middle Eastern practice, it’s not relevant to us. We have supermarkets that are overflowing with produce, and a new TnT market, and food courts and golden arches- we don’t have time to fast, we’re too busy eating.”

The truth is that we have nothing that drives us to God. Nothing that makes us hunger for him because we are so self-satisfied.

Once, when France threatened to invade Britain in 1756, the King of England called for a day of solemn prayer and fasting. John Wesley recorded his impressions of it in his journal,
The fast day was a glorious day, such as England had never seen since the Restoration. Every church in the city was more then full a solemn seriousness fell on every face.
Later Wesley wrote in his journal that, “Humility (had been) turned into national rejoicing for the threatened invasion had been averted.”

There are countless events recorded in the Bible, before and after Jesus, of how fasting benefited God’s people, for example, Second Kings 18 records that,

5 Hezekiah trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel. There was no one like
him among all the kings of Judah, either before him or after him. 6 He held
fast to the Lord and did not cease to follow him; he kept the commands the Lord
had given Moses. 7 And the Lord was with him; he was successful in whatever
he undertook. (1-7).

Jesus fasted too. For forty days he fasted in preparation of Satan’s temptation. We sometimes think the temptations came as a result of the fast, as though Satan came to Jesus in a time of weakness. But the truth is, Jesus made himself weak because that was when he would be strongest.

So this is nothing unusual to find the disciples of Jesus calling for a fast in the church. Look what happened when they did, “The Holy Spirit spoke….” When was the last time this church heard the voice of the Holy Spirit? When was the last time you as an individual heard the Holy Spirit speak? Isn’t His voice, the thing we need to hear the most?

Don’t we each have questions that we want God to ask? Questions like, “who should I marry?” “Should we have kids?” “Why can’t we have kids?” “Should I quit my job… Should I leave my abusive spouse… should go to a new church…. Should I become a missionary, a pastor, a Christian?” Do you want to hear from God?

Maybe there is a problem at home, a family member has fallen away from the Lord, or does not know him. Maybe you have a need that you have brought to God so many times that you’ve just given up. Maybe your just not hungry for God? Your needs drive you more then the one who supplies your needs. That’s idolatry! Fasting will help you to tear down those idols.
Let me give you three things that fasting can do to help you in your walk with Jesus:

1. One of the things that Fasting does is it makes us feel the spiritual hunger that we have become so numb to. The physical hunger pangs remind us that there is an even greater spiritual hunger pang and we have just learned not to feel it any more.

2. Another thing fasting teaches us is how to be holy. After all, if I can deny this most basic urge to satisfy my stomach, how much stronger will I be to deny other less vital, though more pernicious urges that separate me from fellowship with the Father who is holy. It drives me to dependence upon him for strength.

3. And fasting is God’s means of working through us to accomplish His will- it results in God’s action. No I am not saying that fasting plays upon God to manipulate Him to do our will. Once when King David’s son became ill, “David pleaded with God for the child. He fasted and went into his house and spent the nights lying on the ground” (2 Sam 12:16). But after the child died, he cleaned himself up and ate. When his servants questioned him about his changed behaviour, he answered,

“While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept. I thought, 'Who knows? The
Lord may be gracious to me and let the child live.' But now that he is dead, why
should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not
return to me." (2 Sam 16:22-23

).

If you have a question for God, or a request or a hunger, fast now before the child dies… Who knows, God may let him live, He may give you what you ask. But he wants you to hunger for Him first.

Conclusion:
So here’s what I want us to do. I am calling for a fast at Gateway Baptist Church. I hope that it is not just I, but God who is calling for it. And if it is God, we need to heed his voice.

Some people can start today: if your last name begins with a letter from a to h, then I want you to give up 1, 2, or 3 meals today or tomorrow. It can be dinner; it can be lunch; it can be dinner tonight and breakfast and lunch tomorrow so that you won’t have to go a whole day, but you will have fasted for 24 hours. Then I want those whose last names begin with i to p to do the same thing Tuesday and finally I want those whose last names start with q to z to fast on Wednesday.

Here’s what I want us to pray about while we are giving up our meals:
1. Pray for the mission team that’s here this week; for backyard bible club, for park evangelism, and especially for the Evangelistic services that will be going on Monday through Wednesday. Ask God to show you who you can invite. Pray for the preachers and the message.
2. Pray for the future direction of our church and the plans that we need to make as we seek to glorify God and accomplish the Great Commission. (tell the story about Jesus and the fishermen).
3. Pray for others: friends, neighbours, coworkers, family, the lost, missionaries, the persecuted church…
4. Pray for your need(s). Everyone here has something that they should be like David about. Everyone here has a temptation that they should be like Jesus about. Everyone here has a question that they should be like Antioch church about.