I hope you mean what you said just now when you
said, we have come with open hearts. Oh, let
the ancient words impart. See that word impart.
You might hear that and you're like, what does
that even mean? And what I think of is like imparting
wisdom. I'm going to lay this on you. I'm going
to give this to you. I'm going to bestow this
to you. I'm going to put this on your heart.
And my prayer this morning, my prayer this week
has been that God would use his word, that God
would use his spirit to transform our hearts,
that he would impart something on us that will
challenge us, that will stir us up for love and
good works. And so this morning, I want to say
something that I didn't have written down. I
guess I just kind of, we're going to call it
the spirit. You might call this me just wanting
to talk about something else other than what
I wrote. I don't know what you'll call it. I'm
going to blame it on the Spirit. So I was thinking
as we're singing about how sometimes when bad
things happen, it produces the most beautiful
fruit. And I don't know if you've ever felt that,
if you have ever thought about that. What I started
thinking about was when I was just seven years
old. I think my math is right there. When I was
seven or so years old, Hurricane Katrina struck
the Mississippi Gulf Coast and it wiped out my
hometown. And I thought about how we were all
devastated and how life was chaotic and there
was a lot of uncertainty, there was a lot of
fear, there was a lot of worry. And in that,
there was a church right across the street from
our apartment complex that little did I know
just two years later would be the church that
would baptize me into Christ and the church that
would disciple me and be the leading reason that
I am who I am today. And I didn't know that that
would then lead to maybe 12 years later. baptizing
one of my family members in that very church,
who then a few years after that would have a
stroke that would lead to a rekindled relationship
with their husband, and that would lead to that
husband now going to church every Sunday, who
before that was anti -religious. And he's still
not sure about the whole Christianity thing,
but he's at least interested. And we can have
conversations about church. We can have conversations
about scripture. And my hope is still because
he's an older man and there is no telling when
his time on earth is going to come due. But I'm
hoping that in all of this time, he is asking
questions that God is going to answer and that
he will give his life to the Lord. But that doesn't
happen if that loved one doesn't have a stroke
and that doesn't happen or she doesn't come to
Christ if I don't ever go to that church and
I don't ever go to that church if Hurricane Katrina
doesn't happen. Sometimes when bad things happen,
it produces the most beautiful fruit. And I think
about my five -year -old son who today turned
five years old and how at five years old, I had
no clue what a loving father was like. I had
no clue what a loving family was like. And the
idea of being excited to go to church was not
something I would have ever thought of. But now
my five -year -old son is so excited to just
invite people to church. And that doesn't happen
if not for Hurricane Katrina. Sometimes bad things
happening produce the most beautiful fruit. And
I thought of that. And I don't even know how
it works, but it works that it connects with
what we're talking about this morning. Because
in Acts chapter 13, we find a church that produces
beautiful fruit throughout their region because
of bad things happening. We find a church that
was being persecuted, that was run out of their
home. that was run out of Jerusalem because they
were afraid of their lives being taken from them
because of the gospel. And so this church, these
Christians, they find themselves in Antioch,
which is this place that is like one of the largest
cities in the Roman Empire. But it's not just
a large city. It is one of the most pagan cities
in the Roman Empire. And they land in this city
and immediately start preaching the gospel to
everyone that would listen. Jews and Gentiles
alike. And God blessed it. And this beautiful
fruit comes from it. This church is known for
their generosity. This church is known for their
transformation in their community. This church
is known for looking like Jesus in the crazy,
dark world that they lived in. And that doesn't
happen if not for the martyrdom, the murder of
Stephen. And this church... Changes the world.
In Jerusalem, the church in Jerusalem catches
wind of this and they start hearing about all
of these great things that these Christians that
were their contemporaries were doing in Antioch.
And so they send our friend Barnabas, this son
of encouragement, they send him to go check this
out to find out what's going on in Antioch. Why
is it that they're doing so much good? Why is
it that they're having such an impact on this
community? And so Barnabas goes there and what
he finds is it's so good. He finds that these
people, they are changing the world and it's
because they are devoted. to God. They are devoted
to Christ. They are devoted to making sure all
people hear those holy words, that good news,
that gospel message of Jesus Christ crucified,
risen again, ascended into heaven so that we
could have a place in the kingdom of God. And
Barnabas is so encouraged by this. The son of
encouragement is encouraged. He goes and he gets
his friend Saul, who we know as Paul. The former
enemy of the church who just a few weeks ago
we met, the guy that was standing there as they
were stoning Stephen, Barnabas goes to get Saul
and he brings him back to Antioch because he's
like, Saul, you've got to see this. What they're
doing is amazing. They are changing the world.
They are doing something crazy and it's awesome.
And he brings Saul there. And Saul and Barnabas
teach at the church in Antioch for a whole year.
This was actually the church where believers
were first called Christians, where they were
first referred to as these little... because
they were truly a church that set the standard
for churches. And so now that we have that idea
that bad things happening produce the most beautiful
fruit, and now that we have this idea of what
the Antioch church was, this church that was
changing the world because they were so bold
and unashamed about the good news of Christ,
now that we've got that laid out, I want us to
read our sermon this morning is going to be over
three verses, really five verses, but mainly
three. So I hope I can give you 30. minutes out
of that. Verses one through three, we're going
to read them together and then we'll kind of
walk back through them. If it's underlined, I'd
love for you to read it with me. Now, there were
in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers,
Barnabas, Simeon, who was called Niger, Lucius
of Cyrene, Menean, a lifelong friend of Herod
the Tetrarch, and Saul. 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. Then after fasting
and praying, they laid their hands on them and
sent them off. The first thing I want us to notice
is how Luke names these key figures in the church
there. We've talked about Barnabas, of course,
who himself is a Jewish Christian. He comes from
a Jewish background, but now he is a follower
of the Messiah. We've talked about Saul before.
Maybe you know him as Paul, this reformed Pharisee
who used to hunt Christians down for a living,
but now is doing everything he can to make Christians.
And then you have these other guys that maybe
you're not as familiar with, guys like Simon
called Niger, which likely just means... he was
a black man from Africa. And so you can imagine
that he doesn't look like the people at this
church in Antioch, but hey, that's okay. And
then there's Lucius from Cyrene, a man from North
Africa. We could maybe assume that he was also
black, but either way, we know he's not from
there. And then Manian, who was this contemporary
of Herod. He was a friend of Herod. He grew up
with Herod, which means that he probably came
from old money. Like this was a guy that came
from a very politically elite class. And so you've
got this group of people, this very diverse group
of people, like this was DEI before that was
ever a thing. And this is what the church looks
like. This is what the church is. It's these
different races, different classes, different
types of people, cultures, and backgrounds all
in the same family. And you can imagine how bold
of a proclamation of the kingdom of God that
was. You see, this is a church that understood
that in order to fulfill the mission of God,
they had to be made up of all kinds of people.
They had to be made up of all types of people
from every background because Jesus called us
to bring the gospel to all kinds of people. He
didn't call us to bring the gospel to people
that were just like me. He didn't call you to
bring the gospel to people that were just like
you. He called us to bring it to all nations,
to all creation. That was the mission. And the
church in Antioch very clearly understood the
mission. Not only did they understand it, but
it was their constant focus. It was this thing,
there's a song right now, and it's one of the
lyrics is, your praise will ever be on my lips,
meaning it will always be on my lips. And if
it's always on my lips, it's always going to
be on my mind. And what I think about when I
think about the church at Antioch is that God's
glory, the good news was always on their mind.
And this mission to proclaim it was always on
their mind. They didn't turn it off when they
were at the football game so they could say whatever
they wanted. They didn't turn it off when they
were at the bar so they could drink however much
they wanted. They didn't turn it off when they
were at work so that they could do things that
were questionable morally so that they could
do that to make more money. They didn't do that.
It was always on their mind. It was a constant
focus. It was who they were. Their identity was
a people on mission for Jesus. And that identity.
was there long before they ever did anything
impressive. It was there long before they ever
acted in a way that changed the world. That's
who they were, and they simply acted on it. And
so the first thing I want us to know this morning
is identity precedes activity. I have to know
who I am. I have to know whose I am. I have to
know what I belong to, who I belong to, in order
to fulfill what it is that I've been put on this
earth to do. That's what I mean when I say identity
precedes activity. A church lives on mission
when it knows whose it is. And so we asked the
question this morning, whose are we? And I think
if you're a member, if you're a contributing
part of the body of Christ here in Blairsville,
then you know who we are. At least you should.
We are the Blairsville Church of what? Christ.
We are the Blairsville Church of? Christ. We're
not the Blairsville Church of Donovan. We're
not the Blairsville Church of Georgia. We're
not the Blairsville Church of Chad or Phil. We
are the Blairsville Church of Christ. That's
who we are. It's whose we are. It is who we belong
to and our mission is whose? Christ's. And so
we have to live like it. Our activity has to
match our identity. And the way of God, the way
of Christ is to sin. If our identity is in Christ,
if that's what our bloodline is, then we have
to act like our bloodline. I'll tell my kids,
and I think I've said this before, I will tell
them when they ask, well, how come we can't say
that? Or how come they get to say that? Or how
come they get to do that? And I'll say, because
you aren't in their family, you're in my family.
And in my family, we do things this way. And
in God's family, God sends. And he doesn't just
send anything, he sends his best. And in Jesus'
family, he sends, and he doesn't just send anything,
he sends his best. God sent Jesus, and Jesus
sent the Spirit, and Jesus sent the church. And
so then the next question is, is if they send
their best, what will the church send? What will
the church do? Because if our lineage is a family
of senders, we can't be content to sit here and
do nothing. Or worse, we can't be content to
sit here and hoard all that we have. We follow
the example of our rabbi. We follow the example
of our father. And so we'll figure out what we're
going to send. We have to send. I want us to
look at how the church in Antioch realized that
they too needed to send. something and what that
something was. We look at verse two. 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. You
see, this church heard directly from God because
they were seeking God. They were worshiping God.
They were fasting. They were pouring some out
of themselves so that God would fill them with
something better. They were hungrily seeking
God, and God showed up. I said it last week.
For those of you who were here, I hope you remember
this. If not, I hope you do after today. God
loves to show up where God is wanted. When the
church is hungry for God, God shows up. God will
always fill what his people are hungering for.
When the Israelites were wandering in the wilderness,
God gave them food, did he not? And he gave them
water and he gave them shade. God shows up where
he's wanted, where people are hungry, God feeds.
And so the church in Antioch, they seemed hungry
to me. They seemed like a people that wanted
God and God showed up for them. As far as we
can tell from the text, they weren't asking God
for anything specific. It doesn't seem like they
were asking for a nicer building. It doesn't
seem like they were asking for a new preacher.
It doesn't seem like they were asking for a bigger
Sunday crowd or newer worship songs. They just
wanted to experience God and glorify Him. And
because of this want for God, God shows up. And
that wanting God himself, not just what he can
do for you is a beautiful, but it's also a dangerous
thing. Because sometimes when you want God, he
shows up in a way that you may not have wanted.
Think about it. Like all of these things that
happen, these feelings, these calls we have to
give up certain things for ourselves or stop
doing certain things for ourselves or stop going
certain places. Sometimes we don't want that.
I wanted to be a country singer. I wanted to
write songs for a living and live in Nashville
and be able to make a living on music. But guess
what? I'm here preaching. This does not look
like me on stage with a guitar singing country
songs. But you know what? I'm far better off
for it. This is far more beautiful than any song
I could ever write. Sometimes it's not what we
want, but it's what we need. But God shows us
when he shows up. And what he handed Antioch
was a call. It probably wasn't what they wanted,
but it was a call to send out, to give up their
best. Think about who he called them to give
up. Saul. This great preacher, this very knowledgeable,
noble person that he knew all of the scriptures.
Now he's just on the right team. And then you
have Barnabas, this great son of encourager.
How many of you would like to have someone that's
so encouraging that his nickname is literally
the son of encouragement? And you're like, you
would want that person around. We would want
them in this church. You probably would want
him as a preacher over me because I seem to just
be challenging, not encouraging. And so we want
those guys and they probably don't want to give
them up. But guess what? God said, give them
up so you know what they did. They gave them
up. They gave them up all for the sake of the
mission because it is not our place to hoard
what God has blessed us with. It is our place
to send it out. Why? Because we come from a family
of senders. And the leadership of this congregation
here in Blairsville has been doing what the church
in Antioch has done or did. We've prayed, we've
fasted, we've sought God. We're still doing that.
And one thing that I love, and I love to brag
on our elders, we've got a really good group
of elders. These guys, these men love God. They
love his church and they are honest and earnest
about what they are doing in their service. And
they have prayed and I have prayed and our deacons
and all of you, we've been praying about what
God is going to do and we want God. And so in
seeking God and hungering for God, We believe
we're being called to send our best to do two
things. And those two things, very specific,
small group and discipleship and the next generation.
We believe that we need to pour into our small
group ministries because as much as and as cool
as this is, this is not where real discipleship
happens. It's around a coffee table and it's
in a kitchen around a dinner table. Real discipleship
happens in small group settings. It happens in
close personal connections and conversations.
And so we believe that we need to pour into that,
which is why we're bringing Buddy Bell in to
do a small group workshop for us next month.
So by the way, I want everyone to be there. If
you are a member, if you're not a member, we
want you to be there because this is going to
help us to relaunch and kind of figure out a
better way to more effectively conduct a small
group ministry. But it's also why we've asked
you to be in prayer about how you might and how
we might contribute, yes, monetarily, but in
other ways toward the hiring of a youth minister.
Because we see the need for these things and
we feel like those two areas specifically are
how we might answer the call of God to send our
best to fulfill the mission. And I want you to
hear me clearly. I'm not saying I heard a voice
from heaven. I'm not saying the elders have.
They might have. You can talk to them about it.
That's not what I'm saying. I'm not saying the
Holy Spirit verbally spoke to us. What I'm telling
you is that several men who love this church
family, who love the kingdom of God, have been
seeking God and His direction, and we believe
this is it. This is our next step to sin. And
with a call always comes a cost. And the cost
is obedience. The church in Antioch exemplified
this in verse 3. Then after fasting and praying,
they laid their hands on them and sent them off.
And see, this wasn't the church giving them a
pat on the back and just saying, all right, we'll
see you later. Write us sometime. Come back and
report how your work's going. This wasn't them
just like, all right, guys, go on and we'll miss
you. This was them putting their hands on them,
praying over them, blessing their work and sending
them off. It was them giving up. some of their
best. It was them giving up some of their best
leaders. It was them giving up guys that they
really wanted to keep. Like I said, these aren't
just random church members. These are key figures.
Like to put it in another way, this would be
like the Chicago Bulls shipping off Michael Jordan
and Scottie Pippen in their primes to some other
team and then not actually getting anything in
return for it. Can you imagine how crazy that
would be? I mean, like if you're a basketball
or a sports fan, you know what I'm saying. That's
giving up your best when you're not getting anything
in return. And you don't do that unless you truly
believe in the mission and who's called you to
do it. And this requires more than your own comfort.
This requires more than your own personal want
and desire. It's saying the kingdom of God, the
mission of God is far more important than me
and what I want and what I need. I mean, churches
all the time are just yaying about like, well,
I want it this way and I like it this way. And
like, I'm all for preference. I have my preferences.
My wife will tell you I'm a very particular person.
But when it comes to the mission of God, it's
about what God needs from us, not what we want
for us. Also of note is this almost certainly
cost them their money and resources. You think
about mission work. We've got some missionaries
in the room. We've got people that have been
missionaries or have family that were missionaries.
And they can tell you that mission work doesn't
come free and it doesn't come easy. And you have
supported missionaries. We had a mission Sunday
in December and it was awesome. I was so impressed
by this church. More importantly, I was so impressed
by God and the way he moved to this church to
do some good work over in Africa. And we're doing
some good things with missionaries. So we understand
that that costs something. physical. Like it
costs something tangible. But the church in Antioch,
they're generous and they're mission minded.
So they do what they need to do regardless of
what it costs because of the mission. And so
I want you to hear something this morning. Yes,
mission is costly and we can't act like it's
not. We can't pretend like it isn't. We can't
just skirt around it and say, well, you know,
everything should just be free. Yeah, I agree.
I wish that were the case, but the truth is.
It's not. We still live in this world. And unless
you guys want to live like on a commune and just
like have plants and take care of each other
that way, which let's talk about it, right? Unless
y 'all want to do that, we still live in society
where things cost and there are real needs that
have to be met that require resources and finances.
And so mission is costly. And if it isn't costing
you anything, If the mission isn't making you
uncomfortable, if it isn't stretching you a little
bit, it isn't a mission, it's just sentiment.
If it's not costing you anything, it's just,
man, I really hope that works out. Somebody will
take care of that. I heard a story about a church
where they had visitors coming and nobody would
ever invite them to their small group or a Bible
study. And so these visitors show up They show
up, and everybody's like, hey, how you doing?
We're so glad you're here. We're so glad that
you visited our church this Sunday morning. And
that was it. And then the visitors show up again,
and it's the same thing. And then the next week,
it's the same thing. But nobody ever invites
them to have their lives changed. And so finally,
the visitor's like, hey, are y 'all going to
ever, like, you know, act on this stuff we've
been talking about in the sermon, or is it just,
hey, how you doing? Because if you're going to
act on it, you're going to invite them to a Bible
study. If you're going to act on it, you're going
to try to be in a discipleship relationship with
them. See, we can't just say cool things. We
can't just say we want these things to happen.
We have to act on them. Otherwise, it is just
sentiment. And I don't know if you've ever heard
about good intentions. But good intentions don't
do everything, do they? So we've got to act.
We have a mission as a church family. It's a
pretty simple one too. It's simply to bring the
gospel to everyone we can and make disciples
who make disciples who make disciples who make
disciples who make disciples and I could keep
on going because it should. We have that mission
even and especially including those who are not
like us. And unfortunately, just like in Antioch,
the mission is going to cost us. It's gonna cost
us three things that I want you to remember this
morning. Three things, and I got this from Phil,
so I'm gonna give him some credit. I think he
got it from someone else. It's gonna cost us
our time. It's gonna cost us our talents, and
it's gonna cost us our treasure. The mission
costs. It's going to cost us our best regardless
of how uncomfortable it might make us, but the
cost is worth it for the sake of the kingdom
because there is no shortage of young people
in this community, in these mountains, who are
unchurched or completely spiritually homeless.
There is no shortage of people in this church
family and out in that community who need to
have a small group relationship, who need to
have people discipling them. There's no shortage
of people who need to have their lives changed
by the gospel. And we have the opportunity to
change their lives, to transform their lives.
Like I told you, my life doesn't change if not
for the Long Beach Church of Christ. And my family's
life doesn't change if not for the Long Beach
Church of Christ. And what they did was they
committed to the mission regardless of how uncomfortable
it made them. And my question for us is will
we commit to the mission regardless of how comfortable,
uncomfortable it makes us? Because the truth
is we don't reach the others. We don't reach
the not like us by accident. And we don't do
it by waiting around, hoping they'll wander through
our doors. And if we can just get them through
the doors. We'll take care of the rest. That's
not how that works because the sad reality is
every day that we wait to disciple them is another
day that someone or something else disciples
them. Every single adult or person over the age
of like 13 in this room has a cell phone and
on that cell phone is thousands or thousands
of things wanting, millions of things really,
wanting to disciple your children, wanting to
disciple those children, wanting to disciple
you. Every day you turn on the TV, you see the
news, you see the shows, you see these things,
and they are wanting to disciple you. And they're
wanting to disciple the people out there. Every
day you get on social media, people are trying
to disciple. And disciple does not always mean
a good thing. There are bad things in this world.
There is an enemy that we believe is real and
his name is Satan and he is doing his work. He
has his own disciples and he is trying to make
his own disciples. Every day we wait is another
day the enemy covers more ground. And so our
leadership believes that we need to act, that
we need to get on it because this is not going
to wait. We believe that bringing someone here
to Blairsville, to go after that different group,
to go after that other group, that next generation.
That's our act of obedience to the same kind
of call that Antioch answered when they sent
Saul and Barnabas 2 ,000 years ago. But please
understand this because I need this to be very
clear. This isn't a pet project of the elders.
This isn't Chad and Phil just want to tinker
and see how things work. And this isn't just
a pet project of mine. This is something that
is going to require the entire family. of God
that meets here in Blairsville. It requires every
single one of us because it doesn't happen by
accident and the enemy has all hands on deck
and we need those too. Many people prayed in
the church of Antioch. Many people fasted. Many
people gave. Many people worked so that the mission
could be accomplished and that's what we need
too. The entire church has to own this mission
or it will fail. The entire church. We've all
got to be on the same page. We've all got to
be pulling in the same direction. We all have
to lay our hands on this initiative. And I want
to show you what's on the other side of obedience
to the call. Because like I said, the obedience
costs and it can stink and it really stretches
you. But on the other side of it, it's something
beautiful. Because remember, bad things often
produce really beautiful fruit when God's involved.
In Genesis. Joseph says, what you meant for evil,
my God meant for good. That does not mean God
made that happen so that good. It means God figured
I can work here and I can do something amazing.
And then the apostle Paul, the guy that we were
talking about that got sent off with Barnabas,
he says, all things work together for good for
those who love God. And so when it costs us,
we believe that God is going to do something
special on the other side of it. Here's what
happens in Acts 13, verses 48 through 49. When
the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing
and glorifying the word of the Lord. And as many
as were appointed to eternal life believed, and
the word of the Lord spread throughout the whole
region. You see, what those verses are talking
about is Saul and Barnabas just preached the
gospel to the Gentiles. And what they did was
they told them this good news of Jesus Christ,
how he came to this earth to forgive and redeem
all creation. And the Gentiles are hearing this
for the first time, and they're hearing that
it's available to them, that this was meant for
them too. And they rejoice. They worship God
because they know the good news has come to them.
And the word, the good news, the gospel of Christ
spread throughout the region like a wildfire,
and it changed the world. And all the good things
in this world, the hospitals, the charities,
the orphanages, like the good stuff of this world,
it all comes from the kingdom of God. Check the
history. It all comes from the kingdom of God.
But that doesn't happen if the church doesn't
do its job. And so I'm just asking, what are
we waiting for? What more do we need to say?
What more does God need to prove? That if we
will work, great things will happen. If we will
just suffer for a little while, the good fruit's
on the other side. The Gentiles, these outsiders,
those that were not like them, they were reached
and their lives were changed. That's the payoff
of obeying the call, of staying on mission, of
keeping that mission on your mind always. And
that's what I'm putting on the table for you
this morning, to obey the call. to send our best,
to spread the good news in this community, in
this world. And so this morning, I'm asking this
congregation one simple question, because we
love to say this in the churches of Christ. We
love to put it on our signs. We love to put it
on our websites and our bios, that we are the
church of the New Testament, that we are the
church of Acts. We are the church that was established
in AD 33. And I'm just asking, are we? And if
we are, Will we act like it? If our identity
is that, it should come before some activity.
And if we are going to be the church of Acts,
the church in Antioch, then we will this morning
have the chance to lay our hands on this work.
In just a moment, I'm going to pray over us.
And I'm going to pray over the call that the
leadership here believes that we've been given.
If God has been stirring something in you during
this message or over this past few months, if
you sense God calling you to be a part of reaching
the next generation, of reaching these others
that need the good news, that need their lives
transformed, I'm asking you to settle that with
God in your heart and in your mind. However that
looks for you, settle it with God. Is it going
to be your time? Is it going to be your talents?
Is it going to be your treasure? And you'll have
the ability to commit to that. As we leave this
morning in the lobby, over on the side table,
we've got these next -gen pledge cards. And even
if you have no intention this morning of filling
this out and pledging anything, I'm asking you
to take one and pray over it. Pray over the person
sitting next to you that may be considering how
they're going to pledge to go on mission with
this congregation. Pray over the people that
aren't thinking about it so that maybe they will
think about it. But I'm asking you because what
we did a few months ago was we asked you, you
know, if you're willing to partner with us, just
come talk to us. And the truth is, is I believe
we have more out there that need to respond to
that call, that want to. I believe you because
you've talked to me about it. You've talked to
our leadership about it, that you want to pledge
your commitment to this mission. And so this
morning, we are going to have this card. It's
in the lobby. If we need more copies, I can print
more. That's no problem. But we just want everyone
to start pulling in the same direction to reach
what we believe is our most fertile grounds of
gospel initiative. We believe the next generation,
one, they need the gospel, but here's another
thing, they want it. The next generation wants
it. In fact, and I should have put this stat
on the screen, the next generation, and by that
I mean the millennials and Gen Z, are among the
most engaged people, the most engaged generation
right now in churches. They're coming. The question
is, what are we going to do? What are we going
to do for them? There's a church in Atlanta right
now that is exploding because they live with
this mission in mind, and it's a simple quote,
until all have heard. That we are going to do
what we need to do. We're going to preach the
gospel. We're going to go where we need to go
to who we need to go to until all have heard
the good news. And you know what that church
has made up a lot of? Young people, millennials,
Gen Z, the generation that everybody wants to
talk about. They're ruining the world. Yeah,
maybe. But guess what? If we can change their
life, they'll be the ones saving the world. So
we ask the question, what will we give? to save
that generation's life and the one beyond it
and the one beyond it. I don't know about you,
but I've always heard, leave this better than
you found it. And I'm not going to be here forever.
I don't think I've got that much time left. And
here's the thing, 100 years isn't that much time.
So even if I've got 100 years left to live, I
don't have that much time left. And neither do
you. And so right now, in this moment, in this
context that we are in, What will we do to leave
this place better than we found it in? I'm not
just talking about the Blairsville Church of
Christ. I'm talking about this world. What will
we do? What will you do? What will the church
do? So once you've prayerfully responded on your
card, I'm asking that you please bring it back
to one of the shepherds, to me, to anybody in
leadership that you trust with your card. You
can drop it in the box out there, which we use
for our offering. Like I said, you can hand it
to one of us. This card is essentially your amen
to this mission. It's your saying, yeah, I'm
in. What do I do? How can I help? Y 'all, Antioch
worshiped and they gave their best. They sought
God and God showed up. I said it a few months
ago. We cannot bring the fire, but we can stack
the wood. And all I'm asking, all we're asking
you this morning is how will we, as a church
family, stack the wood to light a fire in the
next generation to change this world for the
better? That's the call. And so I'm asking that
we partner together and we do the very same thing.
I'm going to pray for us and then we'll have
a song of invitation. If you need to respond,
if you need prayer, if you need the church to
lay hands on you because you are struggling,
I want you to know that we do want to encourage
you. We do want to be like Barnabas and give
you some love this morning and help prop you
up so that you can make it through another day,
another week until we gather again. We want to
be here for you. So if you need anything, come
after we pray and as we stand and sing. Let's
pray together over this mission. Father God.
You're so good. And the way that you work in
all things, and the way that you can take a storm
that wipes out a community, the way that you
can take persecution that runs these people out
of their homes, Father, the way that you can
do extraordinary things through the worst tragedies,
Father, that is proof that you are so good. And
God, So many people in this room have a story
to share about your goodness in their life. So
many people in this room have a story to share
about the goodness they've witnessed because
of your divine activity. And so, Father, my prayer
this morning is simply, will we share it? Will
we do everything we can to share our testimony
of a good God who came to this awful world to
make it good again? And will we do everything
we can to bring as many people as we can into
the good world you have in store for us? Because
God, I want to truly make heaven crowded. I want
to force you to have to build more and more and
more rooms. God, I want to make heaven constantly
throw parties. And we can't do that if we sit
on our hands. We can't do that if we hoard the
good news. We can't do that if we hold back what
we have been blessed with. And so God, my prayer
is that everyone in this room, church member
or not, will see your goodness and decide, I
need to act. I need to respond to the goodness
of God. And as Tim said earlier, when he talked
about the offering, Your goodness, your activity,
your redemption in our lives should produce a
response of self -sacrifice, of giving our entire
lives. I heard a story last night about a man
who worked in Wall Street, and he wanted to commit
his life. Somebody asked him, how much do you
feel like you need to earn in this world? And
he said, I want to earn so much that I can give
90 % and live off of 10. God, help us to be of
that mindset. To be of the mindset that I don't
need as much as the kingdom needs because the
kingdom needs something poured into it so that
we can bring it to as many people as possible.
God, there's so many people that need you. There's
people in this room that need you. My prayer
is that we will keep talking. We will keep telling
of the good news of Jesus, those ancient and
holy words. We will keep spreading that until
all have heard and until we have made disciples
that make disciples that make disciples in this
world. and until you are glorified in all nations,
with all creation, of all generations. Father,
bless our mission and help us to always keep
it at the forefront of our mind. We love you
and we praise you. We thank you so much for doing
beautiful things in this world. It's in Jesus'
name we pray. Amen. If you need anything, please
respond to the invitation and come as we stand
and as we sing.