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The Beginning of a Movement - The Blueprint Series
45 Plays6 months ago
In this sermon, Ridley Barron preached about the resilience and commitment needed to spread the gospel despite opposition. He emphasized the importance of maintaining holiness, fostering intimacy with God, and turning hearts away from bitterness. Drawing parallels with Paul and Barnabas' mission, Barron discussed the disruptive concept of grace, the significance of enduring hardship, and the miraculous events that strengthened their message. The sermon highlights the need for churches to support new believers, appoint elders, and remain steadfast in their mission. Barron concluded with a call to embrace the relentless pursuit of spreading God's word and living out joy before the world.
Timestamps:
00:00 Shift from Jerusalem to Antioch propelled church growth.
05:49 Church growing in China, Africa, India, reassurance.
07:53 Paul and Barnabas flee persecution, preach gospel.
11:42 Gospel disrupts ranking, signs follow preaching.
13:23 Gospel divides, love God above all.
16:52 Falsely hailed as gods, apostles preach truth.
21:45 Common grace, God's work, Paul's strategic approach.
23:28 God gives us purpose; life is not accidental.
26:42 Paul stoned, but survives and continues preaching.
30:53 Suffering tests faith and leads to reliance.
35:29 Church famous for pointing at world's faults.
36:49 Father invites intimacy through dancing in life.
39:26 Reconnect with God, share joy, spread hope.
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Transcript
Introduction and the power of Acts
00:00:00
Speaker
Acts chapter 14 this morning, as we continue to walk through the book of Acts, I want to invite you to turn there or follow along on the screen if you did not bring your word this morning. And i was just this is a great opportunity for me to say this to you. If you don't have a Bible, let us know. We'd love to get you one. We believe that inside that book is life-changing truth and everybody needs it. So um as your attorney there, I wanna just very quickly tell you,
00:00:29
Speaker
Your church is in very, very good hands. I spent the last three days with the most amazing church staff I've ever been a part of. Just a great, great group of people.
00:00:42
Speaker
oh And they're not great just because they got talent or skill.
00:00:51
Speaker
They're great because they love this body of believers and they love God and they want the two to constantly be walking hand in hand. um Just the prayers that were offered up this weekend. I come away from a weekend like this with a lot of energy because I come back to a church. I feel like it has a laser focus on where it needs to be headed.
00:01:11
Speaker
um weekends like this So thanks for your prayers and for your support as we went away.
Paul's missionary journey and the spread of Christianity
00:01:16
Speaker
So Acts chapter 14 today, we're digging into the story of the first missionary journey by Paul. You remember over the last few weeks, we've talked about Paul's conversion, Paul's being a part of what was going in the church at Antioch, the shift of the focus from the church in Jerusalem to the church at Antioch, which really became the sending church that made the church a worldwide phenomena and growing the church.
00:01:41
Speaker
So today, Paul's gonna go out and he is going to begin to share the story across the different places. As I've been looking over the last several months at how I wanted to do this, I told the eight o'clock crowd, there are about 10 different directions you can take this passage of scripture. So this morning, I'm gonna take you in all 10 different directions.
00:02:00
Speaker
I just couldn't decide which one to do, so um um we're going to touch on a little bit of all of it. We're going to talk about what the Word does when the Word is presented because here's what we're supposed to do as the body of believers. We're supposed to spread the Word. One of the things that we focus on here as a body is that we want to be a church-planting church. We want to multiply churches in Middle Tennessee and across the nation.
00:02:23
Speaker
We're starting a church in Lewisburg here in just a few short weeks called Cross Hills Church. This week, Pastor John and I will be headed out to Denver to sit down with a ministry partner out there in Denver that we're going to be partnering with in the years ahead. We'll be doing mission journeys out there to encourage that church plant. We want to be doing church planting. Well, how do you do a church plant? Very simply, you preach the word.
00:02:45
Speaker
In fact, if you wanted to get right down to it and be technical, this evening and through the course of this week, 22 different churches will be meeting out of this church in the homes of this community. They're called life groups, but that's all ah that's all a life group is. It's the church meeting around the body of Christ, meeting around the word of God. That's what makes a church. And so as we continue to spread on the word of God, the gospel, the good news,
00:03:11
Speaker
we are fulfilling the the purpose of a church. That is, after all, the calling of a church, to go to all the world and preach the gospel. And when the church starts preaching the gospel, we're no longer the church.
00:03:23
Speaker
We are no longer the church. We're nothing more than a social club. We're nothing more than just a group that's supporting the community. We're no different than the Red Cross. We're no different than any other organization out there. So the church has to constantly be preaching the gospel. Now here's what happens when the gospel is preached.
The divisive nature of the gospel
00:03:40
Speaker
People get divided.
00:03:42
Speaker
There are people who support and believe the word, there are some who don't. This morning, if you are here and you think I'm on the fence, I'm trying to decide what whether or not I want to believe this word, I wanna alert you, you are not on the fence because there is no fence. You either believe or you don't. If you're putting off belief, you're not believing.
00:04:08
Speaker
So don't rest in that, and and I get it that some of us struggle, some of us don't have the faith to just completely accept this, but I want you to understand you don't have to have all the answers about Jesus to follow Jesus. right I don't understand how a car works, but I get in a car every single day and work and follow that car, drive that car, right? Your your understanding, your faith in Jesus Christ is enough when you say, I believe that Jesus is the Son of God and he died for my salvation.
00:04:39
Speaker
You don't have to understand everything about who he is or how his character is is displayed to the world or how he operates or why he does certain things. That's part of your growth process as a follower of Jesus to learn more about him. If you ever knew everything there was to know about God, he would stop being God and you would be God.
00:05:00
Speaker
so there's There's a place of faith that has to be accepted. there There is no division between I don't know and I do know. There is either I don't know or I ah do know. I don't believe or I do believe.
Church growth in challenging regions
00:05:15
Speaker
Then after there is this division that's caused by belief, persecution comes, opposition comes. If you follow the story of Paul through the book of Acts, every time he preached, there was opposition and division that was started.
00:05:30
Speaker
But what's so amazing about the church is that every time that happened, the church grew. The church grew, and here's why. The church is not hindered by opposition. The church is not stopped by opposition. If you follow the church around the world today, if you follow where the fastest growing places in Christianity in the world are, they're in places like China,
00:05:59
Speaker
Places like Sub-Saharan Africa, where Islam is trying to wipe out Christianity. Places like India, where Christianity is being legislated out of existence, they think. That's the place where the church is growing the fastest. You know what's happening in America, where we have the freedom to worship the way we want to? The church is dwindling. The church is falling asleep at the will.
00:06:26
Speaker
Jesus himself said, I'm going to build my church and the gates of hell itself will not prevail against it. So if you're sitting around wondering what's gonna happen next election, if you're wondering what's gonna happen in the next decade as opposition continues to grow in the church in America, let me reassure you the church is in a very good place, it's in God's hands. And nothing America does can stop the movement of the church.
Paul and Barnabas in Iconium
00:06:53
Speaker
May have to go underground,
00:06:55
Speaker
May have to go behind closed doors, but the Holy Spirit doesn't get stopped by closed doors. It continues to move. So I wanna read the story, we're gonna break down the story as we go through it. I wanna break apart some things. Basically what I'm looking at here as I take you in these 10 different directions is what happens when the gospel goes out the way the gospel should go out. So chapter 14 beginning in verse one is it says, in Iconium they entered the Jewish synagogue as usual and spoke in such a way that a great number of both Jews and Greeks believed. But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers.
00:07:33
Speaker
So they stayed there a long time and spoke boldly for the Lord, who testified to the message of His grace by enabling them to do signs and wonders. ah Put a note right there. We're going to come back and reference that in just a second. I want to break that down a little bit more for you. It says, But the people of the city were divided, some siding with the Jews, others with the apostles.
00:07:53
Speaker
When an attempt was made by both the Gentiles and Jews with their rulers to mistreat and stone them, they found out about it and fled to the Lyconian towns of Lystra and Derby and to the surrounding countryside. There they continued preaching the gospel.
00:08:10
Speaker
So what happens here in the story is Paul and Barnabas, as was their typical strategy, went straight to the synagogue there in Iconium. And the reason they would do that, and the reason Paul did that in most of the places he went, was because Paul would go to the place where he had common ground with people.
00:08:27
Speaker
He would find the Jews because at least the Jews had a biblical understanding. They had the Old Testament in common. They believed in the Torah. They knew about the Ten Commandments. They knew the prophecies of the Messiah. So Paul, Barnabas, these guys would go and they would start in the synagogue because there was this common place to start their conversation. Keep in mind in the story at the end of Acts chapter 13, Paul and Barnabas had just been run out of the synagogue because of their teaching of the gospel.
00:08:56
Speaker
So they go, they begin to talk, and these Jews get upset, and they begin to stir up the Gentiles and make them angry at Paul and Barnabas. And here is the focus of their anger, the grace of the Gospel.
00:09:10
Speaker
They didn't like the grace of the gospel. Now here's why, twofold. Number one, the Jews didn't like that the Gentiles were being invited into this story. They didn't even like the fact that it was now getting outside of the chosen people and that now anybody who would choose to believe would be there. But here's the bigger problem, the one I think we relate to today. Grace messes us up because we like to earn what we get.
00:09:36
Speaker
We like to rank ourselves, right? How many of you knew that this week the AP top 25 college football poll came out? Y'all are a bunch of liars. I know y'all see this stuff. The eight o'clock service, not one person raised their hand. I'm like, come on, Jackie Powers. You're a band, my fan. I know you saw it. I think it's because you don't want to raise your hand because Georgia Bulldogs were number one, according to that AP poll. See, I know what y'all are doing.
00:10:02
Speaker
Now, it's a thing that we do in our society. And if you think it's just in sports, if you think it's just in competition, we do the same thing sitting in church. Well, that family, we're we're better than that family over there. ah we We do more for the church than they've done, or sometimes they're much better than we are. They're much more holy than we are.
00:10:30
Speaker
And the problem with grace is that it disrupts all of that ranking that we do of ourselves. Because grace says none of you are worth this, but every one of you can have it. You can't do anything to earn it. You can't do anything to lose it. It's yours for the taking.
00:10:48
Speaker
And Grace messes with that and that makes us feel uncomfortable. I coached my son's baseball years ago when he was in five, six, seven year old group. And in the town that we live, the small town we live, they decided like all genius Americans do, we're gonna remove competition from this. We're not gonna keep score.
00:11:05
Speaker
So they turned off the scoreboards, took them down, and I thought, this ain't gonna work, okay? We're all human, even these five-year-old boys, okay? So sure enough, I'm standing there coaching third base, and every time a little boy crossed the plate, kid in the dugouts over there dirt going, one to nothing, two to nothing. and We're beating them 17 to three. I mean, they were keeping up with it all the way through. Guys, if you don't think that kids are born with a competitive nature, you haven't watched. And we don't lose that nature.
00:11:34
Speaker
We don't, we become CEOs, we compete against the other companies that are out there. We buy a house, we're competing with our neighbor's house. We rank everything and the gospel ruins that and it makes us uncomfortable. And that's what was happening in this town and why these Jews didn't understand this and didn't like this. I told you I wanted to come back to something here because I think it's really, really important. In verse three, notice it says,
00:12:01
Speaker
um They spoke boldly for the Lord who testified to the message of his grace by allowing them to do signs and wonders. He gave them signs and wonders as an affirmation of what had already been preached. We need to make a note of that.
Miracles affirm the gospel message
00:12:18
Speaker
The order in the Bible is always that signs and wonders and miracles always follows the preaching of the gospel, never the reverse.
00:12:27
Speaker
Okay, here's why that's important. Today we have lots of churches, lots of ministries, lots of evangelism crusades that are heretical in nature because they do their miracles, they do their signs, they do their wonders first. And what that does is it points all the attention to the one who did the miracles. Whereas if you preach the gospel first, the miracle affirms the gospel that's been preached.
00:12:56
Speaker
Okay, that's the right order. If you read through the Bible, it's always the way it happens in the Bible. It's always the way it's done. Let's talk about the gospel, let's present the gospel, let's teach the truth of God's word, then let the miracles come along and affirm what we have already spoken. But if you do it in the reverse order, then it's Apostle so-and-so, he gets the glory, or Reverend so-and-so, he gets the praise because it points it towards the man or the woman who has done the miracle. That's an important thing for us to remember.
00:13:26
Speaker
Something else, this point of division that's created here and every time that the gospel preach is preached is a reminder that Jesus' words to his disciples when he was here on the earth was, I come not to bring peace, but to bring a sword. The gospel again divides us. Jesus even went so far to say, if we don't love him more than we love our father and mother, then we are not fit to be his disciples.
00:13:53
Speaker
Now I want you to be really careful about hearing that because Jesus did not say, Jesus did not say if you don't love me instead of your father and mother. He said if you don't love me more than your father and mother. And the reason that's important is because every right relationship that you and I are blessed with is right because we have right perspective with God first.
00:14:19
Speaker
I don't have the ability to love my wife the way she deserves if I don't love God the way he's worthy of. If I'm not in right relationship with God, I can do good things and I can make good attempts, but I am never ever gonna love my wife the way she deserves if I don't love God the way he deserves. Get that party straight, your relationships become better and more whole and more sturdy and strengthened.
00:14:45
Speaker
but you keep trying to do it. the The Bible puts it a different way too, and this is really important. Bible says, what what is the profit of man if he gains the whole world but loses his soul? What good is it if Ridley has a million friends but he doesn't know Jesus? What good is it if I'm the most popular guy in town but I don't have a one-to-one relationship with the one who created me? Make sure you get that priority right, get that order straight. Let's keep reading in verse,
00:15:12
Speaker
It says, in Lystra a man was sitting who was without strength in his feet. He had never walked and had been lame from birth. He listened as Paul spoke. After looking directly at him and seeing that he had faith to be healed, Paul said in a loud voice, stand up on your feet. And he jumped up and he began to walk around.
00:15:32
Speaker
So this man has never walked, never been able to stand up on his feet. Paul is there and here's the affirmation of what I just got through talking to you about. Paul's preaching, the man listens and it leads to faith. And that faith opens the door for the miracle that's about to happen. Says he was listening to him and he looked at him and Paul looked at him in the eye and he said, that guy's got the faith to get up and walk.
00:15:55
Speaker
And so he got up and walked. Now, the thing that I find very interesting in scripture is that everywhere in scripture that you see somebody who was lame, they always get up and want to dance. Right? I mean, if you've been laying in the dirt for 40 years, you'd probably want to dance if you had the opportunity to walk, right? Can I just tell you, some of you are lame. You didn't expect to hear that this morning, did you?
00:16:20
Speaker
Some of you are lame, and what I mean by that is you've forgotten God's given you the ability to dance. He's given you the ability to rejoice. You walk in here in the morning, some of you look like you're still laying in the dirt. You look like you're still dwelling in the past, living in the past, holding onto the past. You've been given the ability to dance and jump and run and sing. Do it. Because in doing it, you bring the world right to the feet of Jesus.
00:16:50
Speaker
so that they can say, oh, he's the reason you're up and moving around. He's the reason you are the way you are. He's the reason for that smile on your face. Quit being lame. All right, verse 11.
00:17:06
Speaker
It says, when the crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted, saying in the Lyconian language, the gods have come down to us in human form. Barnabas they called Zeus and Paul Hermes because he was the chief speaker. The priest of Zeus, whose temple was just outside the town, bought bulls and reeds in the gates because he intended with the crowds to offer sacrifices.
00:17:27
Speaker
The apostles Barnabas and Paul tore their robes when they heard this and they rushed into the crowd shouting, people why are you doing these things? We are people also just like you and we are proclaiming good news to you that you turn from these worthless things to the living God who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and everything in them.
00:17:47
Speaker
In past generations, he allowed all the nations to go their own way, although he did not leave himself without a witness, since he did what is good by giving you rain from heaven and fruitful seasons and filling you with food and your hearts with joy. Even though they said these things, they barely stopped the crowds from sacrificing.
00:18:08
Speaker
You see, the people here the people here lost sight of the source of the joy that they had been given. And they began this incredibly dangerous mistake of accrediting Paul and Barnabas with all the good things that they were hearing and the good things that we're seeing. Now, this this is a dangerous situation for Paul and Barnabas. I mean, let's remember, they're guys just like us, right?
00:18:31
Speaker
It would have been real easy to preach the sermon and have those people come to them and for them to look at God and go, well, we did our part. We can't help that they want to give us all this stuff. We we can't help that they want to lay this at our feet. We we can't help that right now the the attention's on us.
00:18:47
Speaker
but Paul and Barnos are very quick to correct the mistaken identity.
Understanding common grace and creation
00:18:52
Speaker
We aren't the source of your joy. He is. We aren't the one that brings you joy and we aren't the one that's going to be able to heal you. We're not the one that's going to be able to fix your situation. And this is a reminder we can't put trust in man because if you look at this situation one minute they're wanting to worship them and then very quickly in the next they're wanting to stone them.
00:19:14
Speaker
It's a quick change of opinion about who they are. But it would have been real easy for Paul and Barnabas just to play in and to give into this situation. And it's dangerous because the human body has this real sensitivity to it. You see, you pat the human body on the back and it often goes straight to the head. And your head starts to swell a little bit. So let this be a word of caution. Don't ever take glory from God because he has a way of humbling those who do.
00:19:44
Speaker
He has a way of bringing us back down to earth and reminding us of who he is versus who we are. Now, something else that they talk about here that's real important just by way of discipling you. Verse 17 talks about this. He says, he did not leave himself without a witness since he did what is good by giving you rain from heaven and fruitful seasons and filling you with food and your hearts with joy.
00:20:11
Speaker
He did not leave himself without a witness. Paul talks about this in Romans chapter one. Pastor John just prayed about it a minute ago. Creation is a witness to the reality of God. Every man according to Romans chapter one is without excuse because God's given plenty of evidence for all to see this. Now what Paul's talking about here is something we call common grace.
00:20:34
Speaker
Common grace. What is common grace? Well, think about this. Last night when it rained on your yard, it also rained on the atheist's yard next to you, didn't it? This year, a bunch of people in this community planted gardens. The Christian might have gotten tomatoes out of his, the atheist got tomatoes out of his the same way. Every day in this world, people who don't acknowledge there is a God have healthy babies who were born.
00:21:00
Speaker
Why? Because of the common grace of God. What that specifically means for us is that our God is such a loving God, he chooses to give blessings to those who acknowledge him, as well as some to those who don't acknowledge him, because he's just that kind of a God.
00:21:17
Speaker
And Paul later talks about it, and you hear me say this phrase a lot around here, it's his kindness that leads us to repentance. So by pouring out common grace on believer and non-believer, he opens the door for all to see that he exists and that he is a God who is that way.
00:21:35
Speaker
Now, specific grace is what you and I normally experience. As followers of Jesus Christ, we're given certain blessings that no non-believer receives.
Genesis and the foundation of belief
00:21:44
Speaker
That's a specific grace that we have, but common grace says the same rain that falls on your field falls on the non-believer's field next to you. That's just a point of understanding of how God chooses to work. Now, in verse 15, there's something really important here.
00:22:00
Speaker
He says at the end of that verse, the God who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and everything in them. I wanna talk a second about strategy that Paul used when giving the word.
00:22:13
Speaker
This may be helpful for you as you day by day are sharing the gospel because that's part of your responsibility. Remember I said that when Paul walked into a town, typically he would go straight to the synagogue to begin to talk to people who already had common ground with him. This story and the one that's going to come in Acts chapter 17 later when Paul goes to Athens are the only two instances in scripture where Paul is addressing pagan people.
00:22:37
Speaker
people who had no Jewish background, okay? So Paul couldn't go in and begin to talk to them about Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob because they didn't know nor did they care who those people were. Instead, he went all the way back to the beginning of the story where we all have everything in common and said, there is a God and he created it all. There is a God who spoke all this into existence. I wanna say something to you, congregation, you need to hear this very well.
00:23:08
Speaker
If we don't get Genesis right, then John 3 16 doesn't matter. If we don't understand that there is one true, right, holy, powerful God who's created all of this, then the world wins and the importance of Jesus is removed. Now let me connect the dots for you.
00:23:28
Speaker
You see, the idea that God spoke everything into existence means that every single one of us in this room have a purpose that was given by God. But if God is removed from the picture and some random big bang created this, that means that every single one of us are in accident, that every single one of us live by chance, and that every single one of us have no purpose to our lives. It's just this random bouncing around of atoms.
00:23:57
Speaker
So what happens next if you carry that thought out logically? What's inside the womb of a mother is nothing but a mass of cells. You can kill it if you want to because it doesn't matter. It's not a human being. It's not, as Jeremiah put it, something that God formed with his fingers in the womb.
00:24:18
Speaker
Can I just reassure you this morning, there is a God and he knows you by name. Every single tear you have ever cried, he caught. Every single wrinkle of your body, he has formed. Every single laugh that comes forth from your mouth, he was the source of joy that brought it to you. And every single day of your life, the Bible tells us, has been numbered by a holy,
00:24:45
Speaker
go There's nothing about you that's an accident. And this may shock you, but the fact that you're here today is no surprise to him. He knew you'd be here before he formed you. Now let's go one step further, because this is where it really becomes a problem.
00:25:02
Speaker
If you don't believe the book of Genesis to be real as it was written and inspired by God, then you don't believe there's something called sin because there is no right and wrong. And if there is no right and wrong and there is no sin, then you and I don't need a savior. See where I'm going? Go to the average college student in America, walk onto a campus and say, is there an absolute right and wrong? And 90% of them will tell you no.
00:25:30
Speaker
And when they tell you know what they're saying is, I don't need your Jesus because there's nothing wrong with me. That's a complete contradiction to Romans 3.23 that says we all stand in need of a Savior because all of us is sinned and fallen short of His glory. And can I just tell you there's a part of me that like sets the pastor aside sometimes and as a human being wants to scream at the TV and go, how stupid are you people?
00:25:54
Speaker
Do you not read the paper? Do you not see how bad we are towards each other? Do you not see what the natural evolution of man is that if we were left alone to our own devices, we would beat each other down, we would tear each other up, we would rip each other apart. There's no hope for man except for God.
Paul's perseverance and courage
00:26:14
Speaker
So you've got to believe that Genesis is true and if you get Genesis wrong, your foundation is ruined.
00:26:21
Speaker
So don't underestimate the importance of the entire book that you and I call the Bible. We like ah we like to get stuck over there in the New Testament, and and and we understand why, right? Jesus is a good gift, but you can't have Jesus if you don't have God in the beginning. So get that right, understand the importance of that. Next thing, verse 19 and 20.
00:26:44
Speaker
It says, some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and when they went over the crowds, they stoned Paul, dragged him out of the city, thinking he was dead. After the disciples gathered around him, he got up and went into the town. The next day, he left with Barnabas for Derby. They stoned Paul, dragged him out, thinking he was dead. He got up, came back to the city, and left with Barnabas. Remember what I told you? One day, they're worshipping him. The next day, they want to stone him.
00:27:14
Speaker
The believers are standing around Paul and crying. Imagine their feelings. Many of these people have just heard the gospel for the first time. For the first time ever, their eyes have been opened to their need for a savior and Paul has said, let me introduce you to who that savior is. And the man who introduced you to Jesus is now lying on the ground and you think he's dead. You think his life is over. We don't know for sure, but most likely in that crowd were three people. A grandmother named Lois,
00:27:43
Speaker
a mother named Eunice, and a young man named Timothy. The same Timothy who would later join Paul in his second missionary journey and become the pastor of a church and the recipient of two letters in the New Testament, first and second Timothy. Imagine what they're feeling. Imagine what they're seeing. And imagine what went through their heart in that moment when God whispered to Paul, get up son, I'm not done yet. Get up son, we're not through.
00:28:14
Speaker
Get up off the ground, dust yourself off, because there's still business to be taken care of. And I love Paul's response. He goes, hey guys, we got to go back into town. I don't think they heard me the first time. I don't think they got the message the first time. I think I got to go back, because God wants me to go back. You quit weeping, let's get to work.
00:28:37
Speaker
I refer you back to my statement earlier in the sermon. Some of you still laying in the dust.
00:28:44
Speaker
Some of you are still laying in the dust going, well, they hurt my feelings. They cast a stone at me. They disparaged me. They didn't look at me the right way. They didn't speak to me the right way. And God is whispering to you, would you get up out of your dust and get back to work? Because if they can nail me to a cross and I can still love you, I'm pretty sure you can handle a stone or two.
00:29:11
Speaker
I'm pretty sure you can get back on your feet, go back to what I called you to do, because my work is not done until I say it's done. And you gotta quit laying around in the dust, whining about your past, complaining about the way people treat you. Because if your concern is the way people treat you, you're not gonna handle persecution real well when it comes. It's gonna lock you down in a way that you have never, ever dreamed.
00:29:39
Speaker
and the gospel will never come out of your mouth as you're too busy complaining.
00:29:47
Speaker
Verse 21.
Supporting new believers and church growth
00:29:49
Speaker
It says, after they had preached the gospel in that town and made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, to Iconium, and then back to Antioch, strengthening the disciples by encouraging them to continue into faith and by telling them, it is necessary to go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God. If you take notes in your Bible, highlight that, circle it, underline it, draw stars around it, and now read it again with me. It is, y'all are not reading with me.
00:30:14
Speaker
It is necessary to go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God. If any of you ever uttered the words, why is God doing this to me? There's your answer right there. You're going, well, why in the world would God put me through hardship? Well, I can give you a lot of reasons. Number one, hardship reveals the genuine nature of your faith. You see, anybody can praise God when life's going well, right?
00:30:44
Speaker
Anybody can praise God the moment after a baby is born healthy and welcomed into the world. Anybody can praise God the day after you get the promotion and the raise. Anybody can praise God when you get to move into the new house that you dreamed about. But can you praise God the day after the doctor calls and says the answer's not good. Can you praise God the day you've just had a fight with your wife and your marriage is struggling and say, God, I still believe in you.
00:31:12
Speaker
because the genuine nature of your faith is exposed by the hard times you go through. Another reason why we go through suffering is because it causes us to lean into God more, right? When you're desperate, when you're hurting, when you're discouraged, that's when you lean into God and say, God, I need you right now. Your faith seems to be hidden for me in this moment, but I know you're there and I'm trusting you.
00:31:42
Speaker
Let me give you another reason. When you go through suffering and come out the other side, there's no better witness to a world that's watching. And remind you, this isn't just a New Testament teaching. The psalmist in chapter said, I'm gonna walk with you through the valley of the shadow of death, not around it, not over it. I'm not gonna keep you from going into it, but when you go through it, I will be there.
00:32:12
Speaker
And if you think you're gonna get into the kingdom of God without hardship, you're reading the wrong Bible.
00:32:20
Speaker
It says they went back through these churches um for several reasons. Number one, they wanted to strengthen the new believers. It's important. When people come to faith because of you and I sharing the gospel with them, it's equally important we come back to them and continue to walk with them and disciple them and encourage them. Don't just invite somebody somebody to Jesus and leave them by themselves.
00:32:41
Speaker
come alongside of them and strengthen them. It also says they came along to encourage the new churches. They wanted to make sure those new churches were walking the right direction, that they were doing the right things. And so they sent Paul and Timothy back into those churches. When we plant churches, we need to build them up and make sure they're strong. This partnership with church with Cross Hill down in Lewisburg, our church plant, it's an ongoing relationship. We're not sending them out the door and saying, good luck. Hope it goes well.
00:33:11
Speaker
No, we're and we're entering into a partnership with the church because we are all the body of Christ. Working together for the same cause. I wanna plant 2,000 churches before this is all over with. And that's next week. I wanna send the gospel as many different places as we can. The only thing that limits us is two things. Number one, you're willing just to give to support those efforts. And number two, some of you are wrestling with the call that God's put on your life to be a part of that.
00:33:37
Speaker
Some of you in this room today will be the future core group of another church. You will be the future pastors, youth pastors, worship leaders of another church. But that's only if we submit ourselves to his direction. Third thing that he sent back they went back for was because they wanted to appoint elders in every church. That's what we just had the opportunity to do here this morning. Again, I'll say this to you, no one man should ever leave lead a church.
00:34:05
Speaker
I tell our staff on a regular basis, guys, ladies, do not let down your guard. Do not compromise your holiness. Do not give in to temptation. Do not let your reputation be soiled by bad choices. Hold each other accountable and be willing to be held accountable. Because almost on a daily basis here in our country, I read of another minister who has been sidelined by immoral choices. Unethical behavior.
00:34:36
Speaker
And most of the time, there's guys who've been thrown out there on their own without anybody to hold them accountable. Don't ever let that happen in this church. Lastly, verse 24 through 28, let me wrap it up.
00:34:50
Speaker
It says, they passed through Pisidia and came to Pamphylia. After they had spoken the word in Perga, they went down to Atalia. From there, they sailed back to Antioch where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work they had now completed. After they arrived and gathered the church together, they reported everything God had done with them and that he had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles and they spent a considerable time with the disciples.
Focus on positive testimonies
00:35:20
Speaker
The church has become famous for being a bunch of complainers.
00:35:26
Speaker
The church, big C, not here, the church has become famous for a reputation of wanting to point at the world and go, look at how bad you are. Look at how awful you people are. Look at all the bad things you're doing.
00:35:41
Speaker
And can I submit to you that what these guys did was they didn't want go back and talk about the stoning, they didn't go back and talk about the the persecution, they didn't talk about the conflict or the bitterness, they went back and talked about all that God had done. They talked about and rejoiced in the good things that they the Lord had done. As a church, little see, we're gonna draw more people to God by what he's done rather than what they're not doing.
00:36:10
Speaker
They already know what they're not doing. They watch the same news you and I do. They have the same conscience inside of them that tells them there is some kind of right and wrong that's out there, whether they try to acknowledge it or not. What they need is for you and I to get up and dance. What they need is for you and I to get up and to celebrate the goodness of God. What they need is for you and I, as the old saying is, to draw flies with honey than with vinegar, right?
00:36:40
Speaker
They don't need to be reminded of the situation of this world. What they need to be reminded is that there is a holy God who loved him enough to send his one and only son. And that through his life, death, burial, and resurrection, we've been given the um opportunity to become intimate with the holy, powerful God. I had three girls, myself as a dad, and all three of them loved to dance.
00:37:06
Speaker
especially the two youngest would come to me sometimes and say daddy show me how to dance teach me how to dance and what I would do is the music was playing as I would reach out my hands and I would take them by the hand and they would step on my feet we did this a lot of times at weddings and we would dance and in that moment what was happening is that I was leading them by my movements to understand what the beauty of the flow of music and dancing was supposed to look like. That's the kind of intimacy the father invites you to. He says, if you'll receive me, just take my hands and step on my feet and let me guide you through this life. Let me show you the beauty of how this is supposed to work.
00:37:56
Speaker
I'll show you where your next step's supposed to be, I'll show you when I'm supposed to dip you, I'll show you when it's time to spin you around and through it all you will experience the greatest joy you could possibly know. And the only danger is when you step off of my feet and let go of my hands. If you don't have that kind of intimate relationship today with God,
00:38:19
Speaker
And can I just be real good, straight, complete, honest with you? I'm a guy. Guys hate it when we talk about intimacy, right? You start talking about intimacy, the first thing you're going is, oh, I didn't talk to my wife about our anniversary. I didn't hold my wife's hand when we were walking across the parking lot. I didn't tell her how I was feeling yesterday when I came home from work. That's what we're thinking. Guys, that's not what intimacy with God looks like. and to me was Intimacy with God is my heart beating with his heart.
00:38:48
Speaker
It's my will lining up with his will. It's following him day by day, moment by moment through the journey he's invited us into. If you don't have that kind of relationship with God, male or female, this morning you could start it, right here. There's some of you in this room too who have fallen prey to that whole thing we were just talking about. We've become bitter about this world. We're so easy to complain, so easy to be negative.
00:39:19
Speaker
And what the world's invited into is something that's really not appealing, it's religion. Religion doesn't free people, it actually strangles them. So maybe today you just need to turn your heart back over to God and say, God, will you teach me how to dance again? Will you teach me how to rejoice in you in a way that's appealing to the world?
00:39:41
Speaker
One of my favorite passages from the Old Testament prophets is Zephaniah 3.17 that says, the Lord of heaven rejoices over you with singing. Will you join me as we pray? Father, we thank you for this morning for the words of scripture that bring life and joy and peace to us. Thankful for the lives of men who shared that gospel day after day, month after month,
00:40:10
Speaker
through struggles and trials, persecutions and conflict and division. Lord, they kept on knowing that before them laid the prize that they were pushing towards. Because of that, we are here today. Now it's our turn. Now it's our turn to live out this joy before a world that's watching so that they might have a chance to know.
00:40:36
Speaker
Any in this room who need to know Jesus today, I pray, Father, would be the day of salvation for them, that they would receive what Christ so freely has offered to them. In Jesus' name I pray, amen.