03-24-19 Kevin Goins - Balancing the Far and Near

“Balancing the Far and Near” Acts 12:25-13:3

Some churches today have elected to focus their attention on reaching out to the people who live near and around them. Other churches have decided to devote their prayer and financial support to international workers who will take the Gospel to people far away. Do we have to make an either-or choice, or can we do both? If we decide to do both, how can we balance our efforts? Our text today has some help for us.

I No matter where our ministry is directed, our life needs to be spent on ______________ (12:25).
A. “Mission” comes from the Latin mitto which means to ________.
B. If we are followers of Jesus we are sent people. He will send us _________ to do __________.

II Whatever God has called us to do, we should not limit our ministry to those ________ at hand (Acts 1:8; 13:1-3).
A. Acts makes it clear that while the church is called to do many things, its first priority is to carry out the ________ _____________
B. It is as if God has established a law that says, The f________ we are willing to look beyond ourselves, the h__________ we become.

III To take Jesus to those far away we must ________ with those who are near to us (13:1).
A. You cannot have a Great Commission if you do not have a s________ church.
B. The problem with the Jerusalem church is not that they began by evangelizing the people around them -- their problem was that they did not want to move ________ that point.
C. In evangelizing the city of Antioch the church refused to accept any kind of w_______ or b__________.

IV Last, to have a balanced ministry, a ministry that pleases the Lord, we must be an ______________ church (13:2-3).