God’s Owner’s Manual On Local Church Reproduction

Review

Turn to Acts 13.

In Acts chapter twelve, God’s sovereignty shined brightly over the darkness and evil that Herod Agrippa brought to Jerusalem. God allowed James to be executed for the faith, but God also caused Peter to escape Herod’s prison. The sovereign king was overruled by the sovereign Creator. The Christians believed that God was sovereign and this gave them steadiness and boldness in spite of the circumstances.

Herod was humiliated by this turn of events, so he went down to Caesarea to attend to some kingly business. When Herod’s audience began to worship him as God, Herod was overruled again as God took his life and claimed the glory that He deserved. Herod died a horrible death, but as verse 24 says, “the word of God grew and multiplied.” The Christians continued to move forward together.

Message

That brings us to Acts chapter thirteen. Next to the Great Commission of Matthew 28, this is arguably the greatest chapter on worldwide missions in the entire New Testament. Acts chapter thirteen is God’s Owner’s Manual On Local Church Reproduction.

At my house I have a box in my closet that contains nearly every owners manual that I have. Beyond the fact that its all in one place, it’s as disorganized as it can possibly be. If I buy a product and receive an owners manual, I throw it into that box. It’s a mess, but at least I know where to look if I need to track down a particular owners manual.

Acts chapter thirteen is God’s owners manual on how local churches should reproduce other local churches. God’s desire is for all the world to hear about salvation through Jesus Christ and that is accomplished through the organization called the local church. Today we will see how God lead the local church at Antioch to reproduce itself and start other local churches across the Roman Empire. This is God’s plan and pattern for every Bible preaching church. God’s desire is that we might reproduce ourselves and plant another Baptist church in some other place so that others might hear about Jesus Christ.

Acts chapter thirteen provides an overview of how it gets done:

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The team is selected, sent out, and serving - Acts 13:1-13.

Read Acts 13:1-13.

The church at Antioch had a wonderful blend of leaders. Time doesn’t allow us to look in detail at each of these men, but rather, notice what they were doing when the Holy Spirit selected Barnabas and Saul for this ministry.

Read the beginning of verse two.

God found them doing two things:

Ministering to the Lord

Fasting

Ministering to the Lord is not complicated. They were serving God by serving alongside and among their church family.

But they were doing something else also: they were fasting. Now in our day of comfort and convenience, fasting is not a popular thing. We’ve neglected it. Fasting is denying the normal things of life so that you can pursue the eternal things of God. It is setting aside the normal demands of life for a time so that you can seek God with a greater intensity than you typically do.

You might refrain from eating

You might refrain from entertainment

You might refrain using some particular technology or from a hobby

The point is, you change up your normal routine of life so that you can spend more time seeking God!

When the leadership of this church was faithfully serving God and seeking God, then God moved.

Application: Christian, it’s very simple, God looks for those that are seeking Him and serving Him. Those are the people that He can use in greater ways.

Church family, if we want to see God send a team out of our church some day, we must be busy seeking Him and serving Him.

The local church fasted, prayed, and laid their hands on Barnabas and Saul. Throughout the Bible, laying on of hands is a sign of identification.

Acts—The Church Afire The Commission of the Church Militant (Vv. 1–3)

They were saying in effect, “Brothers, we are with you in this great enterprise. As you go, we go. We are part of you.”

So the church, in conjunction with the Holy Spirit, sent them out. Here’s where they went.

Next slide here: map 1

Next slide here: map 2

The story of this first missionary journey is told in Acts chapters 13-14. They would travel roughly 1500 miles over the course of two years - probably AD 47-48. Their method was fairly simple.

They would arrive at a new city and if it had one, they would find the nearest Jewish synagogue. There, they would preach Jesus Christ. If some believed, they would be discipled and a new church would be planted in that city.

That’s the pattern they immediately begin following in Cyprus, but like most good things, it doesn’t go exactly as planned. Some opposition develops.

Sergius Paulus, the Roman proconsul that was appointed to rule Cyprus, heard of Barnabas and Saul and wished to hear their teaching, but they were opposed by this magician, Elymas.

Application: You can count on it, as soon as something good and right gets started, the opposition will not be far behind.

It is at this moment that God works a great miracle through Saul and the magician is struck with a temporary blindness. It was a confirmation that these men were sent from God and the proconsul believed on the Lord.

Notice that Luke begins referring to Saul by a different name in verse nine. Up until this point he has been Saul of Tarsus, but going forward he is known as Paul the apostle. Why the change?

“Every Roman citizen was given three names at birth; he would also have other names that reflected his ethnic background. Saul was Paul’s Jewish name; Paul was [his] Roman [name]…As Paul now confronts the Gentile world, Luke is going to refer to him by the Roman name Paul to the end of the book (except for [a few] references within the Jewish culture…)” - Stewart Custer, Witness to Christ, page 186.

The team set sail from Cyprus and soon landed in modern-day Turkey.

How does a local church reproduce?

First, a team is selected, sent out, and begins serving.

Secondly…

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The Savior is preached and people are saved - Acts 13:14-43.

Read Acts 13:13-16.

Since God was mightily using Paul, Barnabas graciously steps aside and allows Paul to take the leadership of the team. Remember, Barnabas was the one who had been instrumental in Paul’s life soon after his salvation. This was a noble thing for Barnabas to do. Paul leads the team inland to Antioch in Pisidia, different from Antioch in Syria.

Next slide here: map of Perga, Antioch Pisidia, etc

In Antioch Pisidia, they locate the Jewish synagogue, where they are invited to speak.

Paul takes the opportunity and rehearses the history of Israel from their time as slaves in Egypt until the time of David. He then declares that Jesus Christ was a descendant of David and was the Messiah. Paul walks them throughout the Old Testament Scriptures, showing that they all pointed to Jesus as the Messiah and Savior of the world. He challenges them to believe on Christ so that they could be forgiven of their sins.

Let’s see the congregation’s response in verses 42-43:

Read Acts 13:42-43.

After the service ended, the Gentiles, who were permitted to sit at the back of the synagogue, asked to hear them the next Sabbath day. Besides that, it seems that many Jews and Gentiles believed, because Paul and Barnabas urged them to abide in the grace of God and to be faithful to Him. Even if they had not yet believed, it’s evident that they were earnestly seeking God and Paul was urging them to continue doing so.

Application: What direction are you going in life? Are you seeking God like these individuals were, or are you rejecting God’s favor that He shows as He draws you to Himself? God wants you to be saved if you are not already. God wants you to know Him personally and if you do know Him, He wants you to continue on and abide in His favor.

“How do I do that, Pastor Tim?”

Keep seeking Him.

Knowing God more intimately must be your #1 priority in life, but the problem is, that goal is often crowded out by other things - even good things.

“Once I get settled into my new house, then I’ll have more time with God.”

“Once I get a new job or get a different shift, then I’ll start going to church more and I’ll have more time with God.”

“Once I get back from summer vacation, then I’ll have more time with God.”

Somehow, it never quite works out that way. Something else always comes up. The path away from God is traveled one day at a time, one distraction at a time. So continue in the grace of God. Abide in His favor. Abide in His presence.

The Savior is preached and people are saved. Paul urges them to remain in the grace of God.

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The team is expelled, but the people continue on - Acts 13:44-52.

Read Acts 13:44-52.

I am often amazed at the power of one little flame of fire.

Several weeks ago it was a Friday morning and I was working on projects around my house. One of the projects was a large pile of cut branches and brush that I needed to burn. It had been drying out for a few weeks and I really wanted to get it cleaned up.

We have a fire ring out behind our house and so Bradley and I decided to tackle that project. I knew some rain was on the way so it felt like the perfect time to get that stuff all cleaned up and do it safely.

I setup some kindling, put a small fire starter square where I wanted it, and struck a match, immediately igniting a small flame. About three hours later, that one little flame of fire had consumed the brush and all that remained was a large pile of hot embers in my fire ring.

Paul and his team brought the flaming light of the Gospel to Pisidian Antioch. Even though they were expelled from the city, the fire continued to burn on without them.

This was not the first time that Paul was chased out of a city. It would happen over and over again during his ministry, but the seed of the Gospel had been planted and now it could not be stopped. God’s plan from the very beginning was that Gentiles also should be saved. Salvation was not exclusively for the Jews! God chose that the Gentiles could be saved also! And so many Gentiles believed!

Paul and his team were expelled from the city, but the new believers continued on. They were excited! They were forever forgiven of their sins! They were at peace with God now! And although Paul and his team were gone, God the Holy Spirit was with them.

With a new-found excitement, they began to gather and study the Old Testament Scriptures for themselves. They continued in prayer, in fellowship, and in the apostle’s doctrine. A new local church had been born. The church in Antioch of Syria had reproduced itself and a new church in Antioch of Pisidia had been birthed. It was a baby church. It needed to grow. But in time, the little flame would grow brighter and stronger.

Conclusion

This is the process that needs to happen at our church. Church family, I don’t know the timeline, but I do know that God wants us to plant another church.

And then another church.

And then another church.

And so on.

If anyone asks you why our church exists, tell them that there’s two main reasons:

To tell others about Jesus Christ and to disciple them

To plant churches that will plant more churches.

That’s how the South became the Bible belt! Churches planted churches! God called ordinary people like you and me to go and start other churches where there were none! Those people surrendered to go, so God did extraordinary things through them! May God do it again through us!

Application: Christian, get on board with that vision! That’s God’s desire for us! Make that the desire of your heart also.

Start praying regularly that God will call someone out of our church to go plant a church.

“Pastor Tim, that could never happen. Our little church could never do that.”

You need to repent of your unbelief and start praying bigger prayers. Our God can do that.

If you want to see God select a team out of our church, then be sure you’re busy doing two things:

Seeking God

Serving God

Be willing for God to select you.

Are you surrendered to do whatever God wants you to do with your life?

Let’s be a church that follows God’s owner’s manual on local church reproduction.