Launching Pad
Read Acts 13:1-14.
I've never seen a rocket or a space shuttle take off "in person," but I remember when every launch of the shuttle was a big event. News anchors would break into whatever shows were on to cover the countdown. Eventually, such launches became "commonplace," the networks stopped covering them in detail, and then they no longer took place at all. But I remember the excitement, the joy of watching that huge rocket push away from the launching pad and up into the heavens, sent from earth to learn and do new things. That's why engineers and scientists had labored for so long to build the shuttles: to see them launched.
What if, on one of those early flights, the newscasters had broken into regular programming and said, "Well, it's a beautiful day and the shuttle is perfectly positioned on the launch pad. But we're just going to sit here for an hour and watch it stand there on the launch pad. Then we'll come back next week and do the same thing. And the week after that. And—well you get the idea"? Crazy, right?
And yet—isn't that what we often do in our Christian journey? We come to church on Sundays for an hour or so, we take in what we can and then we go out—to do and live pretty much the same as we did before we came in. Friends, the church is not a resting place. It's a launching pad, designed to send us out (launch us) into the world to learn and do and make a difference.
That's what the Antioch church was to Paul: a launching pad. Paul and his co-laborers, I'm sure, became very comfortable during their time in the Antioch church. They grew in their faith, worked out their theology. But God had something different in mind for them, and they must have sensed that or they wouldn't have been fasting and worshipping, listening for the voice of the Holy Spirit. When the Spirit said, "Go" to Paul and Barnabas, they began to make plans to go, with the support of the whole church. The Spirit is like Mission Control. When the Spirit says, "Go," we're supposed to go.
He calls to us every day to "go" into the mission field that is our daily work and life, so many are content to stay. Are we listening? Can we imagine ourselves responding? Will you allow the Spirit to launch you into ministry today, even if he takes you to unexplored places?
I've never seen a rocket or a space shuttle take off "in person," but I remember when every launch of the shuttle was a big event. News anchors would break into whatever shows were on to cover the countdown. Eventually, such launches became "commonplace," the networks stopped covering them in detail, and then they no longer took place at all. But I remember the excitement, the joy of watching that huge rocket push away from the launching pad and up into the heavens, sent from earth to learn and do new things. That's why engineers and scientists had labored for so long to build the shuttles: to see them launched.
What if, on one of those early flights, the newscasters had broken into regular programming and said, "Well, it's a beautiful day and the shuttle is perfectly positioned on the launch pad. But we're just going to sit here for an hour and watch it stand there on the launch pad. Then we'll come back next week and do the same thing. And the week after that. And—well you get the idea"? Crazy, right?
And yet—isn't that what we often do in our Christian journey? We come to church on Sundays for an hour or so, we take in what we can and then we go out—to do and live pretty much the same as we did before we came in. Friends, the church is not a resting place. It's a launching pad, designed to send us out (launch us) into the world to learn and do and make a difference.
That's what the Antioch church was to Paul: a launching pad. Paul and his co-laborers, I'm sure, became very comfortable during their time in the Antioch church. They grew in their faith, worked out their theology. But God had something different in mind for them, and they must have sensed that or they wouldn't have been fasting and worshipping, listening for the voice of the Holy Spirit. When the Spirit said, "Go" to Paul and Barnabas, they began to make plans to go, with the support of the whole church. The Spirit is like Mission Control. When the Spirit says, "Go," we're supposed to go.
He calls to us every day to "go" into the mission field that is our daily work and life, so many are content to stay. Are we listening? Can we imagine ourselves responding? Will you allow the Spirit to launch you into ministry today, even if he takes you to unexplored places?
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