On Sunday, John preached on Acts 16:6-10, looking specifically at Paul and Silas' journey through Asia Minor.
In this story, Paul and Silas are traveling through Asia Minor (modern day Turkey), visiting some churches Paul had planted a few years earlier. After encouraging the Christians there, they decide to share the gospel in new areas. But strangely, the Holy Spirit sets up roadblocks in a couple of areas and won't allow them to preach in those places. After running into a couple of dead ends, Paul has a vision of a man from Macedonia (in Europe - modern day Greece) calling him to come across the Aegean Sea and help them. Paul and Silas immediately set sail for Macedonia and for the first time, the gospel is planted on European soil.
The sermon centered around what this passage has to say about the times when we encounter roadblocks. First, we discussed that God is in control, even when things seem to be bleak. Secondly, he is good, even in the roadblocks. He can use these tough times to make us more like Jesus, as well as to point us in a new direction.
With that in mind, we should make plans, but write them in pencil. We always should be open to the Holy Spirit "re-routing" us and changing our plans. In order to hear him speaking, though, we need to be consciously listening for his guidance.
We also discussed one specific area where the staff feels like God is leading VRBC - the area of evangelism. We'll be talking about this much more in the weeks to come...
Make sure to check out the podcast!
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
Sunday, May 19, 2013
Monday, May 13, 2013
May 12 recap
Hey everyone -
In this week's installment of the Big Story, Larry talked about the church at Antioch as described in Acts 13. And on Mother's Day, he described this church as a "Mother Church" - one who was "pregnant" with the gospel.
This church was filled with people who were giving their lives for the gospel. And the church consistently "gave birth"to new believers and new churches, as they sent out people from their own midst to spread the gospel throughout the world. In this particular story, the church sent Paul and Barnabas out on a missionary journey. The church at Antioch could have been selfish with their leaders and charged them with taking care of the local flock. But instead, they had a kingdom mindset that led them to celebrate the movement of the Holy Spirit wherever it was to be found, and to make all their resources available to participate in the extending of Christ's kingdom.
Larry concluded with an exercise comparing and contrasting the church at Antioch with our hearts and our church. And while there are many wonderful similarities, he also challenged us strongly to "close the gap" through the power of the Holy Spirit. He called us to turn our primary focus away from ourselves and our own needs, and toward those of people outside the church. If you missed the sermon, please check out the podcast and allow God's Word and Larry's sermon to inspire and challenge you this week!
In this week's installment of the Big Story, Larry talked about the church at Antioch as described in Acts 13. And on Mother's Day, he described this church as a "Mother Church" - one who was "pregnant" with the gospel.
This church was filled with people who were giving their lives for the gospel. And the church consistently "gave birth"to new believers and new churches, as they sent out people from their own midst to spread the gospel throughout the world. In this particular story, the church sent Paul and Barnabas out on a missionary journey. The church at Antioch could have been selfish with their leaders and charged them with taking care of the local flock. But instead, they had a kingdom mindset that led them to celebrate the movement of the Holy Spirit wherever it was to be found, and to make all their resources available to participate in the extending of Christ's kingdom.
Larry concluded with an exercise comparing and contrasting the church at Antioch with our hearts and our church. And while there are many wonderful similarities, he also challenged us strongly to "close the gap" through the power of the Holy Spirit. He called us to turn our primary focus away from ourselves and our own needs, and toward those of people outside the church. If you missed the sermon, please check out the podcast and allow God's Word and Larry's sermon to inspire and challenge you this week!
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