There's something behind us worth celebrating, but we must look to the future. Eastland Baptist Church has a legacy and an impact we can be proud of. This should compel us to look to the future with hope.
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Salvation is by grace through faith alone. It is in our nature to try to merit God's favor, but we can't. We have liberty. However, we should not become evangelists for our liberty. Liberty understands freedom, but doesn't use it for selfish indulgence.
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Paul and Barnabas demonstrated incredible courage and resilience through rigorous missionary work and even returning repeatedly to dangerous locals. Such ruggedness is languishing in modern culture, but it must be part of Christian character.
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Paul's efforts in taking the gospel to the known world were truly extraordinary. However, in kind and type, they should not be unique. To cause trouble in the body of Christ is incredibly dangerous and ignorant because we do not know the extraordinary lengths God is going to, through people, to accomplish His plans and purposes.
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In Acts 13, Paul preaches his first significant sermon recorded in the book. 400 miles from the start of their missionary journey, Paul and Barnabas began preaching the gospel in Antioch of Pisidia. Paul's message was calling people to a point of decision so that they might be saved. God is calling His people to truth, and He's asking us not to forsake it. Certain truths we reject to our peril. To marginalize any truth is to diminish our lives. Knowing truth helps and saves no one. That truth must move one to a point of decision.
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It is vital that, as Christians, our orthodoxy be followed with a lived out doctrine that can be observed. Visibility gives us viability.
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Acts 13 marks the beginning of the missionary endeavors of the early church, which became their primary purpose and focus.
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Waiting in Tarsus
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There is wisdom for us in understanding and aligning ourselves with the purposes of God. There is incredible foolishness in and consequences for aligning ourselves against Him.
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A determination to give generously above and beyond what was required was the heart of the early church, as it should be the heart of every believer.
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By Acts 11, the seed of the gospel that started in Jerusalem was spreading rapidly throughout the known world, with Antioch soon becoming a hub, bursting at the seems with new converts. The church in Jerusalem sent a man to train and encourage these recently converted former pagans. They sent a "good man" named Barnabas, who was known as an encourager.
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Prejudice is the grouping of people by a particular character trait deemed as lesser. It is human nature to be prejudiced towards those who are perceived as different. However, there is absolutely no place for prejudice in the Christian life. We are all sinners before God, and we are all the objects of His love as demonstrated in the life and death of Jesus Christ. God forbid that we say, "God forbid" to someone who needs His love.
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The Encouragers
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After Paul was saved on the Damascus road and before the began his ministry to the gentile world in earnest he spent 3 years in Arabia. This was a time he spent with the Lord and growing in the spirit. We spend too little time alone with the lord and our contemporary culture often makes this even more difficult.
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Paul’s encounter with Jesus on the Damascus road teaches us that no person, no circumstance, and no difficulty is beyond the reach and transformational power of Jesus Christ!
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Tabatha was an exceptional woman who left an incredible legacy and hole in her absence. She walked worthy of her calling as a Christian, and we are to do the same. We should consider our legacies and walk worthy of our calling.
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The success of the gospel can be credited to the membership of the church. The strength of Eastland is directly tied to the missional mindset of each and every member.
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Stephen was a man of faith so filled with grace that those murdering him saw in his face the countenance of an angel. They saw not hatred, anger, or pain but the manifested grace of God. The grace of God allowed Stephen to overcome unbelievable abuse and hardship. Mastering self is life’s hardest task. God’s grace enabling us to take abuse and hurt is a miracle in itself. We must ask ourselves: to what degree do we have power over our own selves? By whom and what are you controlled?
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God is a God of order; that is clear in creation. He expects there to be order in the church. However, the church is not a business, and if you remove the Holy Spirit, the church becomes worthless. We must be both organized and Holy Spirit filled. We must be people of God who walk with God, and we must get our hands dirty in the service of the church. The church will be hurt by a neglect of the spiritual and the organizational. We all must do both, and we all must do our part.
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The miracles of the early disciples were done within the context of sharing the gospel. Multitudes of people found healing, and this healing gave opportunity for preaching. All of Jerusalem was filled with the doctrine of the early church. This preaching of the gospel led to imprisonment by the religious establishment on multiple occasions. However, the early church was determined to obey God rather than man and they went right back the preaching the gospel, which is what had led to their imprisonment in the first place. God has given the church a singular mission, and it is vital that we keep the main thing the main thing.
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