Where Do We Go From Here?
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Sermons can be powerful and emotional at the moment they are preached. But their effectiveness can be seen most clearly in the days and weeks that follow.
Certainly, God will use words to bring about immediate heart change, but that can truly only be discerned in time. So for Sunday Morning Missionaries, the response to our time together is just as important as the time together.
One of the most compelling stories in the New Testament occurs in Acts Chapter 2. In response to having met and spent time with the risen Lord, Peter and Jesus' other followers (about 120 of them) are gathering regularly to pray. At one point, when they were together, the Holy Spirit descended on them, indwelt them, and empowered them. The Spirit's arrival drew so much attention that people from across Jerusalem gathered around the place Jesus' followers were meeting. For many of them, this would be the first day of their new life. What they witnessed and what they heard would have such a profound effect on them that the course of their lives would forever change.
Jesus' followers were proclaiming God's powerful works, but what made it most astonishing was that as they spoke, everyone who gathered around heard it in their own native language. Not only were they hearing about God's powerful and majestic works, but also they were witnessing it firsthand. Some of the people in the crowd tried to deny what they were seeing. They tried to say Jesus' followers were drunk. But whoever heard of wine giving you the ability to speak clearly or coherently in any language, let alone multiple languages? This was obviously God's work.
From among Jesus' followers, Peter steps forward and, in spite of the accusations, preaches the first Gospel message. Fully inspired by the Holy Spirit, Peter proclaimed Jesus' eternal identity, His sacrificial death, and His resurrection. His message is easily summarized by Acts 2:36, "Let all of the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified."
When Peter quit preaching, God didn't quit working. The Spirit used Peter's words to affect a deep response in those listening. The Scripture says, "When they heard Peter's words, they were cut to the heart, and asked, 'What shall we do?'" They wanted to know how to respond to this truth that they had just come to understand. Peter's answer called them to a life marked by what they now believed about Jesus. We know their response was genuine because as chapter 2 closes in verses 42-47, Luke writes of the devotion of these new believers.
As a preacher, I pray regularly for the Holy Spirit to anoint my words and ask that they be inspired like Peter's words were inspired. I ask that He not quit working when I quit preaching. I pray that every person I preach to be cut to the heart and desperate to know how to respond. I pray that those who attend our church picking and choosing what they want like they are filtering through clothes on a department store rack are so radically affected by God’s truth and grace they cannot be the same. I pray they are empowered to respond like those earliest believers in the Gospel message because they are so moved by God’s power and presence that they want to direct all of their life to bring glory and honor to the Creator who chose to be their Savior. I pray that even those who have grown and become Sunday Morning Missionaries are sent out as Everyday Missionaries.
The Sunday Morning Missionary came to church to worship by serving others and to model Gospel power so others might hear this great news. She comes to join with her family united in Christ and empowered by the Spirit to offer up authentic, heartfelt worship to our awesome God while encouraging others to do the same. He came to sit under the teaching of God's authoritative and life-changing Word, to hear from God, to be sanctified by God’s truth and exhorted by His grace. Together they now come to the moment that awaits us all when brought face to face with the great news of God’s work in Christ for us, "Where do I go from here? What do I do now?"
Like Peter and the entirety of Scripture, my answer is to live in faith; trust Jesus and act accordingly. Sunday Morning Missionaries long to know “what now?” because they know they are about to be Sunday Afternoon Missionaries, Work Place Missionaries, and Neighborhood Missionaries. When Jesus said, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you,” He was defining for us what the entirety of our lives is to look like and how our worshipful response to His truth should look. Everywhere we go, everything we do and every circumstance are opportunities to worship and glorify God by leading others to worship and glorify God.
Where do we go from here? We step into the next moments and circumstances of our life with this one singular motive: whatever you do, do all to the glory of God (1 Cor 10:31). You see, Sunday morning isn’t the only time we are called to worship on mission. We worship by living out His mission in faithful, obedient and Gospel-motivated response to His truth Sunday through Saturday, 24/7/365.
Sermons can be powerful and emotional at the moment they are preached. But their effectiveness can be seen most clearly in the days and weeks that follow.
Certainly, God will use words to bring about immediate heart change, but that can truly only be discerned in time. So for Sunday Morning Missionaries, the response to our time together is just as important as the time together.
One of the most compelling stories in the New Testament occurs in Acts Chapter 2. In response to having met and spent time with the risen Lord, Peter and Jesus' other followers (about 120 of them) are gathering regularly to pray. At one point, when they were together, the Holy Spirit descended on them, indwelt them, and empowered them. The Spirit's arrival drew so much attention that people from across Jerusalem gathered around the place Jesus' followers were meeting. For many of them, this would be the first day of their new life. What they witnessed and what they heard would have such a profound effect on them that the course of their lives would forever change.
Jesus' followers were proclaiming God's powerful works, but what made it most astonishing was that as they spoke, everyone who gathered around heard it in their own native language. Not only were they hearing about God's powerful and majestic works, but also they were witnessing it firsthand. Some of the people in the crowd tried to deny what they were seeing. They tried to say Jesus' followers were drunk. But whoever heard of wine giving you the ability to speak clearly or coherently in any language, let alone multiple languages? This was obviously God's work.
From among Jesus' followers, Peter steps forward and, in spite of the accusations, preaches the first Gospel message. Fully inspired by the Holy Spirit, Peter proclaimed Jesus' eternal identity, His sacrificial death, and His resurrection. His message is easily summarized by Acts 2:36, "Let all of the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified."
When Peter quit preaching, God didn't quit working. The Spirit used Peter's words to affect a deep response in those listening. The Scripture says, "When they heard Peter's words, they were cut to the heart, and asked, 'What shall we do?'" They wanted to know how to respond to this truth that they had just come to understand. Peter's answer called them to a life marked by what they now believed about Jesus. We know their response was genuine because as chapter 2 closes in verses 42-47, Luke writes of the devotion of these new believers.
As a preacher, I pray regularly for the Holy Spirit to anoint my words and ask that they be inspired like Peter's words were inspired. I ask that He not quit working when I quit preaching. I pray that every person I preach to be cut to the heart and desperate to know how to respond. I pray that those who attend our church picking and choosing what they want like they are filtering through clothes on a department store rack are so radically affected by God’s truth and grace they cannot be the same. I pray they are empowered to respond like those earliest believers in the Gospel message because they are so moved by God’s power and presence that they want to direct all of their life to bring glory and honor to the Creator who chose to be their Savior. I pray that even those who have grown and become Sunday Morning Missionaries are sent out as Everyday Missionaries.
The Sunday Morning Missionary came to church to worship by serving others and to model Gospel power so others might hear this great news. She comes to join with her family united in Christ and empowered by the Spirit to offer up authentic, heartfelt worship to our awesome God while encouraging others to do the same. He came to sit under the teaching of God's authoritative and life-changing Word, to hear from God, to be sanctified by God’s truth and exhorted by His grace. Together they now come to the moment that awaits us all when brought face to face with the great news of God’s work in Christ for us, "Where do I go from here? What do I do now?"
Like Peter and the entirety of Scripture, my answer is to live in faith; trust Jesus and act accordingly. Sunday Morning Missionaries long to know “what now?” because they know they are about to be Sunday Afternoon Missionaries, Work Place Missionaries, and Neighborhood Missionaries. When Jesus said, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you,” He was defining for us what the entirety of our lives is to look like and how our worshipful response to His truth should look. Everywhere we go, everything we do and every circumstance are opportunities to worship and glorify God by leading others to worship and glorify God.
Where do we go from here? We step into the next moments and circumstances of our life with this one singular motive: whatever you do, do all to the glory of God (1 Cor 10:31). You see, Sunday morning isn’t the only time we are called to worship on mission. We worship by living out His mission in faithful, obedient and Gospel-motivated response to His truth Sunday through Saturday, 24/7/365.