Brace Yourself for a Bumpy Ride

“Paul and his companions sailed to Perga … where John left them to return to Jerusalem.”
– Acts 13:13

James Gilmour was born in Scotland in 1843, and at a young age felt God calling him to the mission field. As he read Jesus’ command in Matthew 28:19-20 to “go and make disciples of all nations,” he became convinced that if he stayed home, he would be disobeying God. He said, “to me the soul of an Indian seems as precious as the soul of an Englishman, and the Gospel as much for the Chinese as the European.” So, after graduating from college, Gilmour went to seminary and trained as a missionary.

When Gilmour was in his mid-20s, his dream came true. He was sent out to be a pioneer missionary in Mongolia. Gilmour learned the Mongolian language, built relationships and preached the gospel to all who would listen. But after four years of pouring his blood, sweat and tears into his great missionary effort, James Gilmour wrote in his diary: “In the shape of converts I have seen no result. I have not, as far as I am aware, seen anyone who even wanted to be a Christian.” And after 21 years of missionary work, Gilmour died of typhus fever a few weeks before his 48th birthday.

The world looks at James Gilmour’s life and says, “What a waste!” But God looks at James Gilmour’s life and says, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” We’d like to think that good ministry is easy. That it always leads to thousands of lives being transformed by the power of the gospel. But the truth is, more times than not, Christians who pour their blood, sweat and tears into God’s ministries find it to be a very bumpy road. Even the great Apostle Paul discovered this to be true.

Called by the Holy Spirit, Barnabas and Paul set out on the adventure of a lifetime: to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ throughout Northwest Asia. Their first stop was Cyprus, the island where Barnabas was born and raised. And Luke writes in Acts 13:5 that “John was with them as their helper.” This was John Mark, Barnabas’ cousin. About 10 years later, Mark would write the second of the Gospels in the New Testament. But at this point, John Mark was a young Christian, and he was pretty green.

In verses 4-8, Luke traces the journey of Paul and Barnabas through Cyprus. In the city of Paphos, they ran into resistance from a Jewish sorcerer named Bar-Jesus, an advisor to the local pro-consul. Since Bar-Jesus practiced Satanic sorcery, he knew that if his boss accepted Jesus as his Savior and Lord, he’d probably be out of a job. So, Bar-Jesus selfishly tried to convince his boss NOT to accept Christ. But God’s message prevailed, and the pro-consul became a believer and follower of Jesus Christ.

Barnabas and Paul did some good ministry in Cyprus. But it didn’t come easy. They faced a fair amount of pushback, and that pushback seems to have made a big impact on both Saul and John Mark. After their endeavors in Cyprus, the three men boarded a ship and sailed 200 miles northwest to Perga, where John Mark threw in the towel and went back home to Jerusalem. Many have speculated about why John Mark jumped ship partway through their missionary journey. Some make the case that he was homesick for his hometown; others suggest that as Barnabas’ cousin, he felt offended that Paul was being promoted while his cousin was being demoted. Still others suggest that the journey was just too grueling for John Mark. It wasn’t as rosy as he had imagined. He couldn’t take the heat, so he got out of the kitchen. I think this is the most likely explanation.

At this point in his life, John Mark’s heart wasn’t in it. So, he didn’t stick it out when things got tough. But years later he became one of Paul’s most dedicated helpers in ministry. He had learned that good ministry is rarely a bed of roses. But if God is in it, it’s worth everything that we pour into it. Take these two life lessons to heart:

Life Lesson #1: Our culture desperately needs to hear you and me speak and live out God’s word with boldness and conviction. When Paul preached in Acts 13, he preached with power and conviction, whether he was preaching to Jews in a synagogue or confronting a self-centered sorcerer. Paul spoke God’s true word with boldness and conviction. Sadly, in our day, there are far too few Christians who do that. Truth be told, there are too few pastors who do that.

Life Lesson #2: Good, life-changing ministry is rarely easy. Most often, it’s really hard. It is a thrill helping sinners get saved. It is a blast seeing God’s Word transform Christians’ character. It is a joy to witness broken relationships being restored. But at the same time, it can be exhausting. And at times it will tear your heart out.  There will be times when you think you have nothing left to give. Like Mark, you’ll find yourself saying, “This is so much harder than I expected! I’m tired, and I just want to go home!” Good ministry is hard, but it’s the BEST kind of hard. It’s ALWAYS worth the effort.

Take it from Paul, who wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:58: “Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.” Stay in the kitchen. Sure, it’s hot but that’s only because God is hard at work preparing a feast like no other.

Dane Davis is the pastor of Impact Christian Church in Victorville. Join us at Impact for Sunday services: in person at 9 a.m., or online at 10 a.m. on YouTube or Facebook Live. For more information, visit www.GreaterImpact.cc.

Preparing for Change

“Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” – Acts 13:2

A certain man went to see his cardiologist, and the report wasn’t good. His cholesterol was high. Several of his arteries were 40 percent clogged. So, the doctor told him, “You need to make some changes to your diet. You should start by cutting out red meat.” The man thought that was a good idea … so he promptly stopped putting ketchup on his hamburgers.

We don’t like change very much, do we? But here’s what Albert Einstein said about change: “The measure of intelligence is the ability to change.” And the journalist Sydney J. Harris put it this way: “Our dilemma is that we hate change and love it at the same time; what we really want is for things to remain the same but get better.”

I imagine the Christians in Antioch would have said much the same thing. The Church in that city was firing on all cylinders. Under the leadership of Barnabas and Saul, the Holy Spirit was drawing hundreds, possibly thousands, of people to salvation. They were baptizing those new Christians and teaching them all that Jesus wanted them to know, so they could grow in their faith, lead many others to salvation and bring glory to God. I can just imagine a group of Antioch Christians coming out of a worship service and saying, “This feels like heaven on earth. I hope this never ends!” But a big change was coming to their church.

For a whole year in Antioch, Barnabas and Saul were used by God in an amazing way. People were drawn to that church, including a few Christian prophets from Jerusalem. One of them, a man named Agabus, prophesied that “a severe famine would spread over the entire Roman world” (Acts 11:28). The church’s response was immediate: “The disciples, as each one was able, decided to provide help for the brothers and sisters living in Judea” (v. 29). As far as we know, this is the first time in church history that a special offering was taken to help Christians hundreds of miles away. And amazingly, the offering was collected before the Judean Christians even had the need that would have prompted them to ask for help. That’s Christian charity at its best: meeting needs even before a brother or sister in Christ shares the need … at times, even before the person knows he or she has a need.

The Antioch Church entrusted Barnabas and Saul to deliver this special offering to the church in Judea, which would have taken at least a couple of months. That required the church to make some adjustments, because Barnabas and Saul were a critical part of their leadership team. But soon after Barnabas and Saul returned, they received a set of marching orders for a much larger and more important mission: “While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, ‘Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them’” (Acts 13:2). God made it clear that their ministry in Antioch was temporary. It wasn’t a final destination for them—it was a launching pad.

After fasting and praying, the Church family in Antioch did what must have been one of the most exciting yet heart-wrenching things they’d ever done: “They placed their hands on them and sent them off” (Acts 13:3). It probably didn’t make complete sense to the Antioch Christians. But they were obedient to the leading of God’s Spirit.

Here are a few life lessons we can take from these world-changing events:

Life Lesson #1: Christ calls us to be cheerful givers who give freely and generously to God’s work. And the most generous givers don’t wait to be asked to give. I find what the Antioch Church did in Acts 11 to be SO inspiring. Perhaps Paul had the Antioch Christians in mind when he wrote in Philippians 2:3-5, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus.”

Life Lesson #2: As Chuck Swindoll once said, “Let’s be willing to release gifted men and women without reluctance. And when you are called by God to go to a place you would never have expected to go, there’s no need to be afraid of change…. Faith and risk go hand in hand.” Sometimes God calls Christians to leave one church and go somewhere else. We need to be okay with that. And at whatever point God calls you or me to go, we need not be afraid. God knows what He’s doing.

Life Lesson #3: In the words of missionary Henry Martyn, “The Spirit of Christ is the spirit of missions, and the nearer we get to Him, the more intensely missionary we must become.” Regardless of whether God calls you to go or to stay, He is calling you to be a missionary.

So, if you are growing in your faith and deepening in your relationship with Christ, but you are not impacting more people around you for Christ, there’s something wrong. Wherever you are, make sure you are sharing Christ with others.

As Barnabas and Saul left Antioch, they had probably talked about where they were going. But I think it’s safe to say the Holy Spirit doesn’t give them a detailed road map. Much as He did with Abraham, He simply said, “Go.” And they obediently went. A big change had come to the Church at Antioch, and I am so thankful that they were smart enough and—more importantly—obedient enough to accept it from the hand of God.

Dane Davis is the pastor of Impact Christian Church in Victorville. Join us at Impact for Sunday services: in person at 9 a.m., or online at 10 a.m. on YouTube or Facebook Live. For more information, visit www.GreaterImpact.cc.