Go for His Glory

Introduction

You guys have been so cool this week in listening and learning so I want to give back a little tonight and I want to start by teaching you a cool new word to take back to your friends at school The word is antipodal. When things directly oppose each other, they're antipodal. Geographers use antipodal for places that are on the exact opposite sides of the earth from each other. Currently, we are in Ft. Worth, TX. Can anyone guess which point on the globe is antipodal to Ft. Worth?...Try the southern Indian Ocean. Now, no one really lives there because well, its an ocean. But the nearest city to this location is around Perth, Australia which is about 11,500 miles away. It would take you between 23 and 25 hours just to fly there. That’s pretty far. But what if a close relative lived there? Maybe even though it was very far, you may consider taking that journey, because you love them.

Jesus had performed the greatest act of love the world had ever known just a short while ago. He died for the sins of the world and was miraculously raised from the dead, proving his power over death, Hell, and the grave. Now, as Jesus is preparing to take his rightful place at the right hand of God in Heaven, he wants his followers to know there is work for them to do and that work will take them all over the world. There was no social media back then. As crazy as it may seem to you here today, there were no cell phones and no internet back then. Word traveled by word of mouth. Horses and carriages were the cars, and people were the newspapers. Jesus was commissioning a group of mailmen to carry the story of his life. This was a story that would transform the world as we know it. this text shows us that the power of God’s work in Christ is for everyone to hear, everywhere. Guess what, for those of us in this room who are followers of Jesus and for those in this room who we are believing God will become followers of Jesus, He is calling us to carry the story as well.

Big Idea: God wants you to go global with His good news!

After his resurrection, Jesus is here speaking to his followers and instructs them a few verses earlier to remain in Jerusalem because that’s where they would receive the “Father’s promise”. The promise he is speaking of was the baptism or immersion with the Holy Spirit. To be baptized with the Holy Spirit is to be immersed into the life, presence, and power of God through the Holy Spirit, becoming united with Christ and incorporated into His body, the Church. The emphasis is not merely on receiving an experience but on being identified with Christ and empowered for His mission.

Jesus had already given them the knowledge they needed to live according to his ways. The Holy Spirit was going to be given so that they would have the power needed to heed his words. Jesus tells them to wait in Jerusalem because that is the place where they will receive what they need to go where he’s about to tell them to go and do what he is about to tell them to do. Waiting can be so uncomfortable. We can become impatient. The followers ask him when he is going to handle the political stuff they've been dealing with under Roman imperialism. They’re tired of the way things are in their world and rightfully so. But Jesus has to shift their focus from the political to the kingdom. The Holy Spirit that is on the way has the power to ratify the political parchment of persecution that plagues the Jews and believers of that day but it itself, but the Holy Spirit to ratify their hearts to be the transformation that the world needed to see. There was something Jesus wanted them to do and there were placed Jesus wanted them to go and they needed power.

How do we go global with God’s good news?

Go where you are

Question:

Who has God already placed in your life that needs to know Jesus, and what is one practical way you can show them God's love?

Illustration: Have you ever looked down a spiral staircase from above? An example would be Hodge Hall at Princeton Theological Seminary. There are different floors, but they all start from the same place. In John 17, Jesus prays a trilogy of prayers in which rather than concentric circles, which are layers of circles that have the same center but never touch, depict more of a spiral, where there are layers of circles of which each layer is drawn from the same origin. He prays for himself, his disciples, then all believers but as you read that chapter you realize it all starts with the same center, the same source, the same example; Jesus himself. He prays that what he desires to see in the world happens because they’ve first seen it in Him. It’s got to start somewhere!

Key Truth: Your first mission field is the place God has already planted you.

Go where God calls you

Question:

Have you ever felt God leading you to do something that made you uncomfortable? What happened, or what kept you from doing it?

Key Truth: God often calls us beyond our comfort zone, but He also promises His power through the Holy Spirit.

Go for His glory

Question:

When you make decisions, whose approval matters most to you—God's or other people's? How can you tell?

Key Truth: Our mission isn't to make ourselves famous—it's to make Jesus known.

Remember that city far far away from here, Perth Australia? Well even though that’s the furthest point from where we are do you know they’re not as different from us than you may think. One main reason is the primary language there is English, just like here. If we were to travel there we would be able to understand much of what they would say and vice versa aside from any cultural lingo that may trip us up, but the language is the same and that would be a unifying factor.

Just like English serves as a bridge between people who live on opposite sides of the world, the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross serves as a bridge between all of humanity. All of us have the same set of instructions in order to become family with one another Christians and that is this Romans 10:9 “If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” John 3:16 “For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” If that’s what it takes for us to be family with one another but more importantly for us to be family with God, ill take the trip. Put me on a plane, a boat, a bus, get me to my potential family because God is doing an amazing work in the world and the world is much bigger than Ft. Worth. So go friends. Go on mission not for God but with God and see the amazing things God wants to show you that He has already been doing in and through your brothers and sisters around the world. As you go, remember, you’re not the savior. Jesus is the savior. You don’t need to civilize them or bring culture to them. God has already made them with unique gifts and a cultural story. All you get to do is carry the good news to awaiting ears, for the glory of God. So how far will you go?

Discussion Questions:

Which is harder for you: sharing your faith with a stranger or with someone you know? Why?

How can we tell the difference between God's leading and our own feelings?

If you truly believed you were Jesus' witness everywhere you go, what is one thing you would do differently this week?

Imagine every student lived like Acts 1:8 this week. How would your school, team, neighborhood, or friend group be different?