Sunday May 04, 2025
"The Lord Who Goes Before Us" Acts 11:1-30
This Sunday, studied Acts 11. This is a crucial chapter in the progress of King Jesus’ mission to advance His kingdom to the ends of the earth. The mission of the gospel takes a decisively new direction for mission: the Gentile world. The center for missionary activity shifts from Jerusalem to Antioch. Adjustments to expectations need to happen everywhere.
If there is anything that is true about the mission of God and the Christian life, it is this: Expect the Unexpected. Most of us don’t like an unpredictable life. We resist adaptation and change, but when God is on the move, we need to be ready. As the old gospel goes: “When the Spirit says move, you gotta move.”
The reality of the Christian life is that God often works in ways that we never expected, and we would rather not go. He moves us out of our comfort and into his transformative mission, where He changes the world while He transforms us. Amy Carmichael, the famous missionary to India, once prayed this prayer: “Do anything, Lord, that will fit me to serve Thee and help my beloveds.” Her heart's desire was to go to China with China Inland Mission. Little did she know that she would end up spending most of her life in India ministering to young Hindu children who were rescued from a life of servitude in Hindu Temples. Her life was a series of twists and turns that eventually led to her being housebound and bedridden for the last two decades of her life, simply writing and praying. And what an incredible influence her prayers and writings had on generations of missionaries.
Friends, the great comfort in our lives is not that life goes the way that we had expected. The great comfort is that God has gone before us and will go before us and lead the way. This Sunday, our sermon is called “The Lord Who Goes Before You.” I hope and pray that this will comfort those of you who are in tough places in life and will invigorate all of us as a church community, knowing that our God is a missionary God and He is already ahead of us for the sake of His kingdom cause. We can trust and follow Him.
If there is anything that is true about the mission of God and the Christian life, it is this: Expect the Unexpected. Most of us don’t like an unpredictable life. We resist adaptation and change, but when God is on the move, we need to be ready. As the old gospel goes: “When the Spirit says move, you gotta move.”
The reality of the Christian life is that God often works in ways that we never expected, and we would rather not go. He moves us out of our comfort and into his transformative mission, where He changes the world while He transforms us. Amy Carmichael, the famous missionary to India, once prayed this prayer: “Do anything, Lord, that will fit me to serve Thee and help my beloveds.” Her heart's desire was to go to China with China Inland Mission. Little did she know that she would end up spending most of her life in India ministering to young Hindu children who were rescued from a life of servitude in Hindu Temples. Her life was a series of twists and turns that eventually led to her being housebound and bedridden for the last two decades of her life, simply writing and praying. And what an incredible influence her prayers and writings had on generations of missionaries.
Friends, the great comfort in our lives is not that life goes the way that we had expected. The great comfort is that God has gone before us and will go before us and lead the way. This Sunday, our sermon is called “The Lord Who Goes Before You.” I hope and pray that this will comfort those of you who are in tough places in life and will invigorate all of us as a church community, knowing that our God is a missionary God and He is already ahead of us for the sake of His kingdom cause. We can trust and follow Him.
In Christ,
Kevin Dibbley, Senior Pastor
Join us this coming Sunday - Outdoor Service at 10am - 1 Service only. Bring a chair and/or a blanket to sit on lakeside!
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