Daily Devotional

Have you ever had the opportunity to go on a mission trip? Maybe you've worked on houses (building, painting, or landscaping). Maybe you've been involved in Vacation Bible School in a small town, inner-city, or foreign country. At Campus Bible Church our students just finished serving during Biola Enrichment Days, Summer Jam at the Parks, and we are currently running Monumental Adventure (this year's VBS). What's undeniable is that we see God’s method of sending people all throughout the Book of Acts and throughout the Bible. God is a sending God.

We see it time and time again, and we look no further than the incarnation. What’s the most famous verse in the Bible? John 3:16 - For God so loved the world that He...what? He GAVE His only Son. He was sent. He came on a mission. Luke 4:43 - But he said, “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent.” John 12:49 - "For I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me to say all that I have spoken." Jesus was sent. God Himself left His place of glory, took on flesh, dwelt among people to reveal God’s goodness and His plan to redeem them.

In today's passage, the Holy Spirit instructed them to set apart Barnabas and Paul for the work God had called them to do. God separated these two men from the normal rhythms of being part of the church at Antioch for something else. It's important to remember that there is a going and a sending. We notice the church as the sending base for these missionaries. I pray we'd never forget that God calls His church to send and support missionaries to those who have never heard the gospel.

New American Standard Bible (NASB)
Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation