To The Ends of The Earth

August 16, 2026 | To The Ends of The Earth | Acts 11,13, 28

Will Davis

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Over the last several weeks we have been walking through the book of Acts asking a simple question: What can we learn from the early church about making disciples?

We have watched Christ empower His church through the Holy Spirit.

We have seen Him form His people into a community devoted to the Word, fellowship, and prayer.

We have watched the church face opposition, persecution, and even internal struggles pop up.

Through all of it, one thing has remained true.

Christ continues to build His church and advance His gospel.

But this morning, as we close out this series, I want us to ask a few other questions.

What is all of that discipleship supposed to produce?

Why do we gather?

Why do we teach the Word?

Why do we invest in one another?

Why do we want faithful believers and strong churches?

Is our goal simply to gather more people together when we meet, to teach people more Scripture, and to make people as comfortable as possible inside the church?

If you would answer yes to those questions, then I think you have missed the point of this series.

Now, those things are not unimportant. The church must gather, and we must teach the Word faithfully.

But those things are not the end goal; they are part of how Christ prepares His church for the mission He has given us.

We don’t gather simply to have our felt needs met or to grow in knowledge for knowledge’s sake.

We gather to worship Christ, to be shaped by His Word, to encourage one another, and to be equipped to carry out the mission Jesus gave His disciples in Acts 1:8: that they would receive power from the Holy Spirit and become His witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the end of the earth.

Everything Luke records after that is the unfolding of that promise. The church gathers. The church is discipled. And then the church is sent out.

This morning I want us to look at what it means to be a faithful church, a church that makes disciples, sends disciples, and boldly proclaims Christ wherever He sends them.

And to understand how that happens, we need to begin not in Acts 13, but a couple chapters earlier, with how the church at Antioch came to exist in the first place.

I. A Faithful Church Makes Disciples

Acts 11:19–30 19 Now those who were scattered because of the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except Jews. 20 But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who on coming to Antioch spoke to the Hellenists also, preaching the Lord Jesus. 21 And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed turned to the Lord. 22 The report of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. 23 When he came and saw the grace of God, he was glad, and he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose, 24 for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And a great many people were added to the Lord. 25 So Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, 26 and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they met with the church and taught a great many people. And in Antioch the disciples were first called Christians. 27 Now in these days prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. 28 And one of them named Agabus stood up and foretold by the Spirit that there would be a great famine over all the world (this took place in the days of Claudius). 29 So the disciples determined, every one according to his ability, to send relief to the brothers living in Judea. 30 And they did so, sending it to the elders by the hand of Barnabas and Saul.

Before we come directly to Acts 13, I think we need to understand where this church at Antioch came from.

Because Acts 13 does not begin with a missionary organization. It begins with a local church. And that local church did not appear out of nowhere or from some well organized church planting organization.

Luke tells us in verse 19, Now those who were scattered because of the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch speaking the word to no one except Jews.

It is important for us to remember that when persecution broke out in Jerusalem, Christians were scattered. From a purely humanistic point of view, it looked like the church was being torn apart. Stephen had been killed. Saul was ravaging the church. Believers were being dragged from their homes and thrown into prison.

But what looked like defeat became the very means Christ used to advance His mission.

Acts 8 told us that those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the Word. And now in Acts 11 Luke picks that story back up. Those scattered believers kept moving. They went farther north. 

Some of these scattered Christians traveled to Phoenicia. Some to Cyprus. And eventually some reached Antioch, which is in modern day Syria. That matters because Antioch becomes one of the most important churches in the entire book of Acts.

But before that it becomes the church that sends Paul and Barnabas into the Gentile world.

But notice how that church begins.

Not with apostles, not by some well organized church planting group. Not with famous missionaries. In fact Luke doesn't even give us the names of the people who first carried the gospel there. 

They were ordinary believers who had been discipled in Jerusalem and then carried what they had been taught wherever Christ sent them. The mission had moved geographically from Jerusalem into Judea and Samaria, and now it was beginning to cross cultural barriers as well.

Church, that is worth remembering.

Before Antioch ever became a faithful church, it was merely a place for Christians to escape persecution. But instead of hiding in fear they began to proclaim the gospel of Jesus. What the Pharisees thought would finally put an end to this sect, God used to take the gospel to the ends of the Earth. 

These persecuted Jewish Christians come into the city, and at first they do what would have seemed natural to them. They preach the gospel of Christ to other Jews. Verse 19 tells us they were speaking the word to no one except Jews.

And if the story stopped there, we might begin to think that this gospel was going to remain primarily among the Jewish people. But then we come to verse 20, and I love the first word Luke gives us: “But.”

That little word marks a beautiful turn in the story, much like that little word marks the turn in our story in Eph 2:4. But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who on coming to Antioch spoke to the Hellenists also, preaching the Lord Jesus.

These unnamed men understood something that the church was still learning to live out: the gospel of Jesus Christ was not only good news for the Jew. It was good news for the nations. Here “Hellenists” is referring to Greeks, or Gentiles. These men crossed a boundary that others had not yet crossed in Antioch. They took the gospel outside their own people and began proclaiming Christ to Gentiles.

And church, don't miss how significant that is in the story Luke is telling us, remember what Jesus said in Acts 1:8, You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.

Well, here it is happening. First with Cornelius in chapter 10, and now here at Antioch. The gospel is moving outward.

Jerusalem and the Jewish religious elite  could not contain it. Persecution could not stop it. Ethnic and cultural boundaries would not limit it. The gospel was going to the nations because Christ had said it would. And who does Christ use to do it?

Luke doesn't even give us their names. They aren't apostles. They aren't famous missionaries. They are simply faithful disciples who had received the gospel and understood that the gospel was meant to be proclaimed.

This is how the gospel spreads. Someone tells someone else. A disciple makes another disciple. That disciple makes another disciple. A church is planted. That church disciples believers. Then eventually that church sends disciples somewhere else.

And that is exactly what is happening here at Antioch. The church that will eventually send Paul to the Gentiles is born because some unnamed disciples were willing to take the gospel to the Gentiles.

And what was their message? Luke says they were preaching the Lord Jesus. There is the message again. Jesus. That has been one of the consistent themes throughout this entire series. The mission keeps expanding, but the message never changes. Peter preached Christ. Philip preached Christ. These unnamed believers preached Christ. And later Saul, the very man whose persecution God had sovereignly used to scatter these believers and advance the gospel, will himself proclaim the Christ he once persecuted.

Different messengers. Different places. Different people. Same gospel. Same Christ.

The mission can move into a different city. It can cross into a different culture. It can move from Jews to Gentiles. But the message remains the same. Jesus Christ. And Luke tells us in verse 21, And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed turned to the Lord.

Notice where Luke places the power. Not in their skill. Not in their strategy. Not in their personalities. The hand of the Lord was with them. That brings us all the way back to Acts 1. Disciple-making has never rested on human ability. Christ gave the commission, and Christ gave the Spirit who empowers the church to accomplish it.

We proclaim. God saves. And a great number of people believe. So now there is a church in Antioch. News eventually reaches Jerusalem, and the church there sends Barnabas. And when Barnabas arrives, Luke says in verse 23, When he came and saw the grace of God, he was glad, and he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose.

I love that. Barnabas sees what God is doing and his first concern is not simply that people made professions of faith or starting a new program that will get even more people to attend the local church. He wants them to remain faithful to the Lord.

That is discipleship. Conversion is not the end of the Great Commission.

It is the beginning of the Christian life. Jesus did not command His church simply to go and get decisions. He commanded us to make disciples. To teach believers to observe everything He commanded. Barnabas sees new believers and immediately begins strengthening them in their walk with Christ.

Then something important happens. Look at verse 25. So Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. Why does Barnabas go looking for Saul? Because there is work to do. There are believers who need to be taught. There is a young church that needs to learn and grow in maturity in Christ. And Barnabas recognizes that he does not and cannot do everything himself.

So he goes and finds another gifted man who can help disciple this growing body. Verse 26 says, For a whole year they met with the church and taught a great many people.

Don't rush over that, or miss this important detail Luke gives us. For an entire year. Barnabas and Saul invest themselves in this congregation. Week after week. Month after month. Opening God's Word. Teaching Christ. Correcting error. Encouraging believers. Helping young Christians understand what it means to follow Jesus.

That is how Antioch became the church we find in Acts 13. It didn't become a faithful church because someone held a missions conference. It became a faithful church because it had become a disciple-making church. 

Believers had been taught. Leaders had been developed. People were growing in maturity. The Word of God had shaped the life of the congregation. This fits exactly what we have been seeing throughout this series.

Now in Antioch we see the fruit. The gospel produced disciples. Those disciples were taught. Those disciples matured in faithfulness. And eventually those disciples became senders. That is what healthy discipleship does. Church, we need to understand something.

The goal of discipleship is not merely faithful Christians sitting in a church.

The goal is faithful Christians being used by Christ to make more disciples. We can know our Bibles. Attend Sunday School. Come to worship every week. Know sound doctrine. And all of those things are good and necessary.

But if all that truth terminates on us, we have missed the whole plot. Christ didn’t give us the church to sit and be comfortable and to hoard knowledge. Christ didn't give us His Word merely so that we could sit comfortably and accumulate knowledge. He gave us the church so we could be taught and in turn teach others. We are discipled so that we can disciple others. We receive the gospel so that we can carry the gospel to others. That is exactly what we see happening at Antioch. 

Their maturity even showed itself in generosity when they sent relief to the suffering believers in Judea. Verse 29: So the disciples determined, every one according to his ability, to send relief to the brothers living in Judea.

And notice something else with me. They didn't only send money. Verse 30 says they sent it by the hand of Barnabas and Saul. Even before Acts 13, Antioch was learning something about being a faithful church. They sent their resources. And they sent their people.

So here is the question for us: What kind of disciples are we making? Are we making disciples whose goal is simply to become comfortable members of EBC? Or are we making disciples who understand that everything Christ gives them is ultimately to be used for His glory and His mission? Because the church that sends disciples must first be a church that makes disciples.

And that brings us directly to Acts chapter 13. Antioch has received the gospel. They have grown. They have been taught. They have learned generosity. They have developed leaders. Now the church that was once reached by the gospel is about to become the church that sends out the gospel.

And what Luke shows us next is that a healthy disciple-making church must be willing to hold even its best people with open hands.

II. A Faithful Church Sends Disciples

Acts 13:1–4

Look at verse 1. Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen a lifelong friend of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.

Luke begins by showing us a healthy church with multiple gifted leaders from very different backgrounds. But what I really want you to notice is what they are doing in verse 2: While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting…

They're not holding a missions strategy meeting. They're not trying to come up with a five-year plan to reach the Roman Empire. They're worshiping. They're fasting. They're seeking the Lord. Their attention is first directed upward before it is directed outward. 

This is so important for us to understand. Because missions do not begin with random busyness.

Missions begin with worship. The church gathers, the church worships, the church is sent out, because Christ is worthy. We don't send missionaries primarily because people are interesting. We send missionaries because Christ deserves worship from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation.

And Antioch is centered on Him. They are worshiping the Lord. They are fasting. And it is in that context the Holy Spirit speaks. Not in a committee, not in an elders meeting, not in a special event, but the everyday normal rhythms of a faithful, worshiping church do we see the Holy Spirit speak.  Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them. Notice the language. “For me.”

These men ultimately belong to Christ. Not to Antioch. Not to a ministry team. Not even to themselves. The Holy Spirit says, set apart for me Barnabas and Saul. And notice something else. He says, for the work to which I have called them.

The Spirit had already called them, and now He makes that calling known through the church. Pay attention to the tension that is being created here. The Holy Spirit calls; the church recognizes, affirms, and sends. Verse 3 says the church sent them, while verse 4 says they were sent by the Holy Spirit. The Spirit works through the local church, not around it. 

This tension protects us from two errors. One is individualism. “I don't need the church. God called me.” The other is institutionalism. “We don't need the Spirit. We have a process.”

Acts 13 gives us something much healthier.

The Holy Spirit leading through a fasting, praying, and worshiping local church.

But there is something here that I think may be even more challenging.

Who does the Spirit tell them to send? Barnabas and Saul. Think about that. These aren't the two guys Antioch could afford to lose. These are probably the two men they would most want to keep. Barnabas had helped establish and strengthen the church. Saul had spent an entire year teaching them.

These are proven men. Gifted men. Faithful men. Useful men. If Antioch were thinking only about itself, the obvious answer would have been: “Lord, anybody but them.” We need Barnabas. We need Saul. Send someone else. But that isn't what happens. 

The church holds its best with open hands.

And I think there is a lesson here we need to hear. A church that is serious about the mission of Christ cannot measure everything by what benefits itself. Sometimes faithfulness costs us something. Sometimes the Lord may call someone we love to leave. Sometimes He may call a faithful teacher away from a class. Sometimes He may call a family to another country. Sometimes He may call a young man we have poured years of discipleship into to pastor somewhere else.

And when He does, our first thought cannot be, “But what will we lose?” The better question is, “How might Christ use them for His kingdom and how can we send them out well?” 

Healthy churches do not simply accumulate gifted people.

Healthy churches develop them and send them.

That is what Antioch does. And notice their response in verse 3, Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off.

They fast, pray, lay hands on them as a public affirmation of their calling, and send them. Yet verse 4 reminds us that behind the church's sending stood the Holy Spirit Himself.

Why does Christ empower His church? Why does He form us into a covenant community? Why does He strengthen us under opposition? Why does He purify us? Why does He disciple us through His Word? Why does He give pastors and teachers to equip the saints?

So that we can become a comfortable, well-taught group of Christians who gather in the same building every week? As Paul would say, By No Means!

The church gathers for worship. The church gathers around the Word. The church gathers for fellowship. The church gathers for prayer. But eventually, The church scatters. Some of us scatter across Longview and White Oak. 

Some scatter as teachers into schools. Some into offices. Some to job sites. Some into homes. And God may call some to scatter much farther. Across states. Across cultures. Across oceans. But whether He sends us across the street or across the world, the mission is the same.

Make disciples. Proclaim Christ. And send others to do the same. That is why I think one of the best ways to measure the health of a church is not simply by asking how many people we can gather.

Maybe we should also ask: How many people are we preparing to send out?

Are we discipling children who could one day take the gospel somewhere we have never been? Are we discipling young men who may become pastors? Are we discipling men and women who can explain the gospel clearly in their workplace? Are we willing to invest years into somebody and then rejoice when God calls them somewhere else? 

Because the mission does not belong to EBC. It belongs to Jesus Christ. And if Christ wants to take someone He has placed here and use them somewhere else for the advancement of His kingdom, then our responsibility is the same as the church at Antioch. Pray. Affirm. Support. And send.

Because a faithful church doesn't hold its disciples tightly. A faithful church sends disciples.

Antioch did not send Barnabas and Saul simply so they could leave the church. They sent them for a purpose, to carry the gospel where Christ had not yet been proclaimed. And Acts shows us what that kind of faithfulness looks like over time. It means going when it is difficult, continuing when there is opposition, and refusing to let suffering silence the message. So now I want us to jump from Acts 13 to the end of the book and see where a life of being sent eventually takes Paul. In Acts 28, after years of hardship, imprisonment, rejection, and suffering, Luke leaves him doing exactly what he was sent to do: proclaim Christ with all boldness and without hindrance. 

III. A Faithful Church Proclaims Christ With Boldness

Acts 28:30–31

Acts 13 shows us Paul and Barnabas being sent. Acts 28 shows us where that eventually takes Paul. Rome. And Luke closes the entire book with these words: 

He lived there two whole years at his own expense, and welcomed all who came to him, proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance. Acts 28:30–31

I don't think Luke could have chosen a better way to end the book. Think about everything that has happened since Acts 13. Paul has crossed cities. Countries. Cultures. He has been beaten. Imprisoned. Run out of multiple different towns. Threatened. Rejected. Shipwrecked. Falsely accused.

And now he is in Rome under guard. Yet what is he still doing? Proclaiming Christ. The mission that began when the church at Antioch laid hands on him and sent him out has never changed. He is still proclaiming the kingdom of God. He is still teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ. And Luke says he is doing it with all boldness.

That word boldness is important because I think our modern understanding of boldness has become far too weak. When we hear boldness, we may think of confidence. Someone who is outgoing. Someone who isn't afraid to speak in front of a crowd. Maybe someone with a strong personality.

That isn't what Luke is talking about. The Greek word Luke uses is parrēsia. It carries the idea of speaking openly, plainly, and freely without shrinking back because of fear. Biblical boldness is not loudness. It is not arrogance. It is not being argumentative.

Biblical boldness is the Spirit-empowered willingness to speak God's truth openly and faithfully regardless of the cost.

And that definition is important because we have already seen this word earlier in Acts. 

This same word in Acts 4. Peter and John had been arrested and commanded to stop preaching Christ. Yet the church did not pray for easier circumstances. They prayed, grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness. Now we come to Acts 28, and Paul is doing exactly what they prayed that Peter and John would do. Opposition increased, but the proclamation of the gospel continued. The threat never changed the message, and persecution never changed the mission.

You cannot teach people to observe everything Jesus commanded while apologizing for some of His commands. You cannot proclaim the kingdom of God while allowing the culture to determine which parts of God's Word are acceptable. 

A faithful church must be a bold church. And I want to be very clear about what I mean by that. We don't need to become louder. We don't need to become meaner. We don't need Christians looking for arguments. We certainly don't need arrogance disguised as conviction. 

But we desperately need Christians who are so firmly grounded in the Word of God that when the culture pushes against biblical truth, they do not move or shrink back. Our boldness does not come from thinking we are strong. It comes from knowing that Christ is.

Our boldness does not rest in our intelligence. It rests in the authority of God's Word. Our boldness does not come from winning an argument. It comes from the Holy Spirit empowering ordinary believers to bear witness to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

That takes us right back to Acts 1:8. You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses… Notice the order. Power. Then witness. Christ never sent His church into the world relying on its own strength. He gave us His Spirit.

That means biblical boldness is never self-confidence. It is Christ-confidence. We stand because Christ reigns. We speak because Christ commanded us to speak. We trust the message because the gospel is the power of God for salvation.

If our confidence rests in cultural acceptance, we will eventually compromise. Our culture increasingly finds biblical truth offensive, and the pressure will always be to soften it or remain silent. But biblical boldness refuses to change what God has said simply because the listener may reject it. We speak the truth with gentleness and love, but we speak it because Christ alone saves.

Weak modern Christianity preaches that loving people means never making them uncomfortable. You can break all the other commandments but you dare not ever break the 11th one, as the late Voddie Baucham said, “Thou shalt be nice”. The apostles didn't believe that. Jesus didn't believe that. Love speaks truth. And biblical boldness refuses to change the truth because the listener may reject it or it may offend them. Paul even while under Roman guard refuses to shrink away from the truth of the gospel.

Luke says he is proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you hear both sides of discipleship there? Proclaiming. And teaching. That is the mission of the church. We proclaim Christ to the lost. Then we teach those who believe to follow Christ. Evangelism and discipleship. Conversion and being steadfast in faithfulness. Going out from the church to proclaim and then making disciples. That is the Great Commission.

And Luke leaves Paul doing both.

Just look at the final two words of the book: without hindrance.

What a way to end Acts. Paul is under guard. The gospel is not. Paul's movement has been restricted. The kingdom of God has not. 

Rome can chain the messenger. Rome cannot chain the message.

The entire book has demonstrated that truth. Opposition came. The gospel advanced. Stephen was killed. The church scattered and preached the gospel. Paul was imprisoned. The gospel entered prisons. Paul was hauled before governors and kings.

Governors and kings heard about Christ. Paul was sent to Rome as a prisoner. And now the gospel is being proclaimed in the heart of the empire. The world kept trying to hinder the mission. Christ kept advancing it. That ought to give the church confidence. Because the mission does not ultimately depend on us.

Christ is still building His church. We simply have the privilege and responsibility of being faithful. And I think this brings the whole series together. Christ empowered His church. Christ formed His church. Christ strengthened His church. Christ purified His church. Christ scattered His church. Christ centered His church on the gospel. Christ sent His church.

And now at the end of Acts, His church is still proclaiming the good news with boldness. That is what a disciple-making church looks like. Not a church that is merely busy. Not a church that simply fills a calendar. Not a church satisfied that people come into the building. But a church that gathers together to worship Christ, is formed by His Word, and then goes out carrying the gospel to a lost and dying world.

The church in Antioch sent Paul. Paul carried the gospel across the Roman world. And Luke leaves him still proclaiming. Which means the question Acts leaves us with is not, “Did the mission continue?” We know that it did. The question is, “Will we be faithful with the part of the mission Christ has entrusted to us?”

Church, as we close this series through the book of Acts, I want us to go back one last time to where all of this started. Acts 1:8. Before the church preached its first sermon, before three thousand people were saved at Pentecost, before Peter and John stood boldly before the Sanhedrin, before Stephen was martyred, before persecution scattered the church, before Philip preached Christ in Samaria, before the gospel ever reached Antioch, before Barnabas and Saul were sent, before Paul ever reached Rome.

Jesus told His disciples exactly what He was going to do. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. 

And then Acts shows us Christ doing exactly what He said He would do. That is what we have seen throughout this series. Christ empowered His church. Christ formed His church. Christ strengthened His church. Christ purified His church. Christ scattered His church. Christ centered His church on the gospel. Christ sent His church. And everywhere they went, they proclaimed the gospel of Jesus Christ.

That is the book of Acts. And church, that is still the mission of the church. I think one of the dangers we face is that we can become very comfortable with a version of Christianity that mostly consists of gathering together a couple of times a week.

We must not become comfortable with a Christianity that simply gathers a couple times a week. The gathering of the church is essential, we need the Word, worship, prayer, fellowship, and the ordinances, but we don't gather merely for the sake of gathering. We gather to be equipped so that we can do the work of the ministry. We are discipled so that we can disciple. We are taught so that we can teach. We receive the gospel so that we can carry it wherever Christ sends us.

But church, there is something else I want us to understand before we leave this series. If you hear everything I have just said and walk away thinking, “I need to do more.” You missed the point.

Because Acts is not ultimately a story about what extraordinary Christians accomplished for Jesus. It is the story of what the risen Jesus accomplished through ordinary Christians. Jesus did not stand in Acts 1 and tell a handful of frightened disciples, “Go change the world. Good luck I’m out.”

He said, You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. Then He sent them. The command came with the power to obey it. And church, we desperately need to remember that. Because there is a danger on both sides. 

One danger is laziness. It says, “Someone else will do it.” “The pastor will evangelize.” “The missionaries will go.” “The Sunday School teachers will disciple.” “I'll just come to church.” But Scripture will not allow us to live that way. 

But there is another danger. It is believing that the mission depends upon us. That if we develop the right strategy, work hard enough, become bold enough, say exactly the right words, then we can build Christ's church. Scripture will not allow us to believe that either.

Christ builds His church.

The Holy Spirit empowers His church. God opens hearts. God saves sinners. God gives the increase. We proclaim. God saves. That truth is already woven throughout what we have seen in Antioch: the hand of the Lord was with them. Disciple-making never rested on their personalities or ability. That means we can go without fear. 

The same Jesus who said, Go therefore and make disciples of all nations also promised, And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age. That is where our confidence rests. Not in ourselves. Not in our programs. Not in our abilities. But in Christ alone. We can be bold not because we are strong, but because He is.

So Church, let us not be content merely to gather. Let us make disciples. Let us send disciples. Let us proclaim Christ with boldness. And when Christ says, Set them apart for Me, may we have the faith to send them.

Because there are still people who have never heard the name of Jesus. There are still disciples to be made. There are still churches to be planted. There are still nations that need the gospel. The ends of the earth have not yet been reached. And Christ has not yet returned. So the mission continues. But we do not carry that mission in our own strength. We go in the strength of Christ. We go empowered by the Holy Spirit. We go grounded firmly in the Word of God. 

We go proclaiming the same gospel that Peter proclaimed. That Philip proclaimed. That those unnamed believers carried to Antioch. That Barnabas and Saul carried out of Antioch. That Paul was still proclaiming when Luke laid down his pen. And until Christ returns, may the same thing be said about us. 

That we were found faithful. That we made disciples. That we sent disciples. That we proclaimed the kingdom of God and proclaimed the Lord Jesus Christ, with all boldness, and without hindrance.

Not for the glory of Emmanuel Baptist Church. Not so anyone remembers our names. But because Jesus Christ is worthy of worship from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. Church, Christ has given us the mission. Christ has given us His Word. Christ has given us His Spirit. And Christ has promised to be with us until the end of the age.

So let us go and make disciples.