When You Gotta Go

Big Bear Lake, CA

When you gotta go, you gotta go. 

Our friends returned to the mission field last week. They had to go. 

In January, they left Kyiv (because, you know, war) and returned to the United States but it was always temporary. They have a call on their lives. Os Guinness defines calling, saying,

"calling is the truth that God calls us to himself so decisively that everything we are, everything we do, and everything we have is invested with a special devotion and dynamism lived out as a response to his summons and service.” [1]

Jeff preached on Acts 13 yesterday and he touched on the topic of calling. He explained how when you have a court summons, you have to go, because a higher authority has told you to be at a certain place at a certain time. What he failed to mention is that he has a subpoena to appear in court next month. Dun dun dun. 

Don’t worry, he’ll be going in as a witness. A few weeks ago, someone rang our parsonage’s fancy-schmancy-video doorbell, it called Jeff, he looked at the cameras, and it was clear the person was up to no good. It was nice of the burglar to call us. Jeff scurried over to the church. One broken window discovered later and Jeff has a date with the law.

In Acts 13, the believers in Antioch were doing normal church practices (worshiping and fasting) and during a normal meeting, the Holy Spirit spoke. 

“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.’ So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off.” Acts 13:2-3

So in the midst of staying, Paul and Barnabas were called to go.

This passage is awesome and touches on the core values of our church. 

1. We believe prayer is a priority. We believe that apart from Jesus, we can do nothing of eternal value.

2. We are passionate about God's Word. We desire to know and obey God by seeking truth from the Bible and applying it to our lives.

3. We believe that meaningful connections happen in small groups where we cultivate accountability, care, and spiritual growth. 

4. We know that we can accomplish nothing without the empowerment of the Holy Spirit.  

5. We are a river, not a reservoir. The great commission mandates that we GO and make disciples. We train, encourage, and support our church members to be sent out.

As the Lord allows, we try to keep these core values and meet regularly with a sense of expectation, but without an agenda. We don’t want to open any doors ourselves. We just want to follow Jesus where He leads us.

Where He goes, we’ll go, and where He stays, we’ll stay. 

And in staying, and in going, we lift up our prayers to God. Pray for the person who broke our church window who needs Jesus. Pray for the Hopes. Pray Luke 10:2, that there would be more laborers in the field to be sent out. And if you’re in the Chula Vista area, feel free to drop by our Sunday night prayer meeting, our Tuesday night small group, or our Sunday morning service as the Lord leads.

When you gotta go, you gotta go.

1. Guinness, Os. The Call. (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc. 2003), 4.