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Light In a Darkened World - The Blueprint Series
52 Plays2 months ago
In this sermon, Ridley Barron preached about the power of persistence in ministry and the foundational role of the church amid cultural challenges. He delved into Paul's journey to Corinth, highlighting the apostle's resilience and strategic vision for spreading Christianity in a diverse and economically significant city. Barron reflected on personal experiences and struggles, emphasizing the importance of supporting one another within the church community. He illustrated the crucial role of the Holy Spirit in guiding decisions and underscored the necessity of prioritizing God above all else to lead effectively. Barron encouraged continuous dedication to gospel conversations and practical service, fostering unity and strength within the body of Christ.
Timestamps:
00:00 Celebrating lives through faith, missions, budgeting milestones.
06:12 Paul faces challenges in a large slave-populated city.
08:30 Claudius expelled Jews; Aquila and Priscilla befriended Paul.
12:51 Paul shifts focus to receptive Gentiles next door.
14:12 Persuasion, conflict, and rejection in worship practices.
18:30 He wants to be found while hiding.
22:10 Prioritize God to effectively lead and love.
23:56 Received rumor they've found someone; skeptical response.
28:11 God guides us through the Holy Spirit.
30:59 God leading me; scripture understanding, Thursday struggle.
34:53 Keep faith in God, not fear.
37:24 God is with you; rely on His strength.
41:46 Keep doing good; you're making a difference.
44:57 Seeking prayer and conversation for life's challenges.
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Transcript
Serve Saturday Event and Gospel Conversations
00:00:00
Speaker
If you wanna turn to Acts chapter 18, and as you're headed there, I wanna take a second, as I always do, just to celebrate some really good stuff with you. I love being able to do this. First of all, yesterday, for those of you who aren't aware, it was our Serve Saturday. We do this a couple times a year where we go out, we spread out in the community, we serve all over the place. I haven't heard the final number from John, so I'm gonna say 500 people were serving yesterday.
00:00:27
Speaker
give or take one or two. ah But it is cool just to see your church out doing those kinds of things, loving on this community, because we are not just a church in this community, we are the community. So we want to be there serving and loving people and helping to take care of the needs. Now, two other really cool things. Number one, if you were here at the beginning of this year, every year I do a ah kind of a vision casting sermon for the year head. We kind of set some vision, some goals, some dreams for our church. One of those goals was that this year we would together as a community, have 10,000 gospel conversations this year. As of this past week, we have 9,700 that we have had over this past year. um
00:01:09
Speaker
And the reason I want to celebrate that is because every single one of those is another opportunity for somebody to hear that Jesus Christ has for them the things that they are looking for in this world. I mean, this ah this world's crazy, right? I mean, we're going to talk about a lot more this morning, but it's a crazy place. And there are people who are looking for hope. They're looking for purpose. They're looking for direction in their
Church Budget Goals and Future Plans
00:01:30
Speaker
lives.
00:01:30
Speaker
Any way we can do that, whether it's sending a group of people to Lewisburg to plan a new church, or sending out mission journeys over the next few years, or you just being Jesus in this community, that's a celebration that we want to we want to have. Second thing, or third thing, I lost count, third thing,
00:01:45
Speaker
um Last year, when we set our budget, we're in the process of doing budget for next year, but last year when we set our budget, we set two goals. One of them was basically our operating goal, the one that would cover all the ministries to make sure that we're doing all the stuff for our students, our youth, our mission trips, those kinds of things.
00:02:02
Speaker
And then the second goal was the one where we would actually be putting money towards our own building, getting ready for that process, okay? Lower goal, if we have a average Sunday offering this morning, we will meet our lower goal right here at the end of September, which is huge.
00:02:19
Speaker
Thank you very much for that. Thank you for faithfulness and giving, which means, in principle, every dollar you give going forward for the rest of the year is is going towards our building and puts us that much closer to turning over dirt out there, which hopefully is not too far away. So continue to pray for that. Yes, as you look around you, you might figure out we need a little bit bigger building. and Thank you for being kind, for showering last night, for using deodorant this morning. All those things are important.
00:02:45
Speaker
um So I'm excited about all that. So Acts chapter 18, as we're continuing this journey, ah there's one other thing I want to tell you. If you've been here, you know that we've been in the book of Acts for about seven years now.
00:02:57
Speaker
and It just seems that way. But we've got just a few weeks left in the book of Acts, but I wanna go ahead and prepare you for next year. Our ministry team has been getting together. We're we're still finalizing all the things around it. John and Kyle and I are sitting down talking about it. But next year, we're gonna challenge the church to read through the Bible together chronologically with us.
Bible Reading Initiative
00:03:17
Speaker
We're going to have a reading plan we're going to put out. It's going to be on our website. We also are going to be talking with Lifeway about the possibility of getting chronological Bibles where you could buy them on a discount because of bulk sales. Every single week you will have six days of reading, a seventh day to catch up for those of you who fall behind. But six days of reading and then on Sunday morning we will come in and we will preach the passages you have been reading that week to to kind of go a little bit deeper. And then in the life groups, the D groups will be offering extra material so that you can even go even further with your conversations with your groups. So, couple of things for you to be thinking about. Number one, gonna be reading the Bible next year. Let me kinda get my brain around that idea. Number two, find a life group to get into because that's gonna be a place where we come in and reinforce those messages. Again, it's a place where you can go a little bit deeper than we can even go on Sunday morning. Our goal as a staff and as elders of this church is to immerse you in the word of God. What I do up here is no good.
00:04:15
Speaker
without the word of God. What we do in our life groups, no good without the word of God. So you need this not just on Sunday morning for 20, 30, 45 minutes. It is a daily thing. So we want to help you, encourage you, and immerse you in that. So be praying about that. We're excited, as you can tell. I'm very excited about this. I think it's going to be a life-changing thing for us who participate in it. So be praying about that.
00:04:38
Speaker
All right, Acts chapter 18. Let me catch you up if you weren't here last
Paul's Journey to Corinth
00:04:41
Speaker
week. Paul leaves Athens and he finds himself headed down the road. Athens was a very secular community. We talked about that last week. A lot of different false communities of religion that were going on around there, but by the time he arrives in Corinth, he realizes he has jumped from the frying pan into the fire.
00:05:00
Speaker
Corinth is an awful city. It is ah very, very immoral. Think Vegas on steroids. um There were practices from all kinds of different religions that have made their way to Corinth. Mid-Eastern, excuse me, Eastern, Far Eastern mysticism kind of things. The worship of Isis, which was an Egyptian god. Of course, there were Jewish synagogues. And also, the big thing in town was the cult that worshiped Aphrodite.
00:05:28
Speaker
Aphrodite was the Greek goddess of love. The Roman version of that is the name Venus, you might recognize. um So all of this stuff is going on there. Paul walks into this town and he's immediately taken back by all of the things that he sees around him. um Keep in mind, Paul was very tired by this point, as you can imagine. He is probably 50 years old.
00:05:51
Speaker
At this point in the journey through the Book of Acts, he's walked more than 2,000 miles and traveled by boat more than 1,000 miles. Just so you get a grasp of that, that would be like him at 50 years old walking from Raleigh, North Carolina all the way to Denver, Colorado.
00:06:08
Speaker
so So you can imagine he's a little overwhelmed, he's a little tired, maybe even a little frustrated and disheartened because it seems like everywhere he goes he gets a little bit of success but he can't get a whole lot of traction because people are rebelling, rejecting, sometimes running him out of town, sometimes trying to kill him. So that's where we pick up the story today.
00:06:26
Speaker
um Corinth, a town of historians tell us probably about 600,000 people at this time. so It was a very large city, but here's the shocking thing. About 400,000 of them were from the slave trade.
00:06:42
Speaker
so Paul recognized the potential of this because quite literally people were being brought in from all over the world living in this city. Now when you think slave trade, don't think of what you the horrors of what we had here in the United States, which obviously very, very unacceptable. That day and age, many times slavery was much more of an indentured servitude kind of thing. A lot of times families would offer themselves for slavery so that they could get the basic resources they need until they could buy their way out of slavery, which was an option.
00:07:14
Speaker
Of course, there were some places where there were, you know, military prisoners were taken for that kind of thing. The point is that they're bringing all of their culture with them when they come to this town. So very much like the Big Apple, it's ah it's a very mixed bag that Paul walks into and begins to minister to these people.
00:07:30
Speaker
um So Paul knew that a church there would be huge because as people came and went from that city being a major city of commerce, it literally would give them the opportunity to go all over the world. And I'm very thankful that Paul was a tough dude. He didn't back away from the challenges that would be in a city like this.
00:07:49
Speaker
the opportunities that would be there, and of course the things that God could do through a good church in that place. So Acts chapter 18 verse one, what we're gonna do, just so you're with me, we're gonna go through this, I'm gonna fill in some of the gaps on what we're learning and reading today, and then I wanna talk to you about some points of application from this story, and then there's an extra section for those of you who take notes, you're gonna be mad because there's no blanks, because I just came up with this this morning, this last part, so you'll just have to fill it in on your own.
Paul's Ministry with Aquila and Priscilla
00:08:16
Speaker
Acts 18 verse 1 it says after this he left Athens and he went to Corinth where he found a Jew named Aquila a native of Pontus who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla because Claudius had ordered all the Jews to leave Rome.
00:08:31
Speaker
Historians tell us this probably happened around about 49 AD. Claudius, who was the emperor of Rome, had tried numerous times to kind of squelch what was going on in the Jewish synagogues. And again, most historians tell us that probably what he was trying to squelch was the fact that Jesus was being introduced to the Jewish synagogues, which was creating a whole new uproar in the town. So after trying to squelch it a lot of other ways, passing laws and things of that nature, he finally just threw them out of Rome.
00:08:58
Speaker
And this is where Aquila and Priscilla come. Now Aquila and Priscilla are really cool because in this story they began a relationship with Paul which is one of the most um most beautiful relationships, friendships in the New Testament. In fact later Paul would describe the two of them as being just the the credible partners in the work of Christ Jesus and even laying their own necks on the line for him.
00:09:20
Speaker
And so there's this beautiful intimacy between them, the the picture of what they do together, those kinds of things. um Another interesting thing about Priscilla and Aquila, Priscilla of course is the wife. She, I think they're mentioned like 10 times in the New Testament. Five of those 10 times, her name is mentioned first when they are listed, which is an interesting thing because in that day and age that was not common practice.
00:09:43
Speaker
There's possibly two reasons for that. Number one, she came from a very prominent Roman family and because of that um people might have recognized her name more than Aquilis as they were being listed. More than likely though, it's a recognition of the fact that Priscilla prayed and excuse me played an incredible role in the strengthening and establishing of churches, Christian churches around the area. She was not a pastor, she was not an elder, she just was a very strong helper to Aquila and of course Paul as they were establishing these churches. So in recognition of that, um they listed her first.
00:10:18
Speaker
Let's keep reading. It says, since they were of the same occupation, tent makers by trade, he stayed with them and worked. What we see through the course of Paul's ministry is that he would go back and forth between being a bivocational minister and a full-time minister. The bivocational part being he was a, it calls it a tent maker here, the the Greek word it actually literally means a leather worker of any kind, not just tents.
00:10:42
Speaker
And so he would support his own work doing that, but from time to time we would read of stories like later on where the church at Philippi would send an offering to support his work, and you're gonna see here that when they do that, Timothy and Silas deliver it, he is given the opportunity to work full time and not have to work bivocationally.
Preaching to Corinthians and Gentiles
00:11:01
Speaker
ah Verse four, it says, he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and tried to persuade both Jews and Greeks. When Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul devoted himself to preaching the word and testified to the Jews that Jesus is the Messiah. So here's the really cool thing. You've probably done this before, been in a situation where you're doing some kind of work, maybe it's manual labor, maybe it's just some tedious task.
00:11:25
Speaker
and some friend or group of friends shows up, you remember what the feeling like was when your spirits were lifted in that moment because you see friendly faces, people who come alongside of you. This is exactly what happens when Timothy and Silas arrive. Timothy specifically comes with two things that really just kind of boost Paul's energy in this season. and One of them, of course, is the offering that comes from Philippi, which as it says here, gave Paul the ability to devote himself, the idea they're being fully devoted to just preaching.
00:11:53
Speaker
The second thing that Timothy does for him is that Timothy comes bringing word from the church at Thessalonica. Later in first Thessalonians, Paul would reference this specific thing, but the word coming from Thessalonica is the church is good, it's going strong, and of course that encouraged Paul's heart to know that one of his churches was doing very, very well. um Verse six, when they resisted and blasphemed, he shook out his clothes and told them, your blood is on your own hands, I am innocent from now on.
00:12:24
Speaker
I will go to the Gentiles. So he shook out his his clothes and got the dust off them. This is kind of a reference back to, if you remember the story where Jesus sends out the apostles to go and begin to talk to people about his name and his kingdom. And in those situations, he said, if you ever get one of those situations and they don't listen, shake the dust off your shoes and move on. It's Paul's way of saying, you don't like me, then I won't like you back, nanny booboo.
00:12:51
Speaker
And that's kind of the way he he approached it, you know? I mean, if you're going to treat me that way, then I'll treat you that way, and I'll go to the Gentiles. Now, what it didn't mean was that Paul was not going to pay attention to the Jews at all. Later, we're going to read in just a few verses that the the head of the Jewish synagogue will actually become a believer. But um what he is saying is, I'm going to turn my attention to the Gentiles because they seem to be more open and receptive to everything I'm trying to do here.
00:13:15
Speaker
Verse seven, so he left there and he went to the house of a man named Titius Justice, a worshipper of God, whose house was next door to the synagogue. Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, believed in the Lord along with his whole household. Many of the Corinthians, when they heard, believed and were baptized. And I'll just very quickly wanna highlight this again. We've heard this over and over and over and over and over and over again in action. I try to highlight it to you. The first act of obedience for anyone who follows Jesus Christ is baptism.
00:13:45
Speaker
And notice that they always did it right then, right there. I accept Jesus. The next thing I want to do is figure out how to get myself into the baptismal pool with ah with a minister. So think about that. The Lord said to Paul in a night vision, don't be afraid, but keep on speaking and don't be silent. For I am with you and no one will lay a hand on you to hurt you because I have many people in this city.
00:14:06
Speaker
He stayed there a year and a half teaching the word of God among them. While Galio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews made a united attack against Paul and brought him to the tribunal. This man, they said, is persuading people to worship God in ways contrary to the law. As Paul was about to open his mouth, Galio said to the Jews, if it were a matter of wrongdoing or of a serious crime, it would be reasonable for me to put up with you Jews.
00:14:31
Speaker
But if these are questions about words, names, and your own law, see to it yourselves, I refuse to be a judge of such things." So he drove them from the tribunal. And they all seized Sophonese, the leader of the synagogue, and beat him in front of the tribunal, but none of these things mattered to Gallio.
00:14:49
Speaker
So, Sophonese becomes the new leader of the synagogue because the old leader of the synagogue, Crispus, becomes the follower of Jesus Christ. And the first thing they do to welcome Sophonese to the role of being leader of the synagogue is they take him out front and beat him. So, congratulations, Sophonese.
00:15:04
Speaker
But later on in 1 Corinthians we find out that Sothanes also becomes a follower of Jesus Christ. He is introduced by Paul as being a fellow brother in the faith. It's pretty cool. The reason that Galio probably didn't do anything in this instance was because Not because he loved the Jews and supported them as much as he didn't want to set precedent the other pro consuls around the area would have to follow by getting involved in religious matters. So he was being very prudent to say I'm not going to get involved in this so that others don't feel an obligation to do it as well. We're going to keep our nose out of those things.
00:15:38
Speaker
After staying for some time, Paul said farewell to the brothers and sisters and sailed away to Syria, accompanied by Priscilla and Aquila. That's the first time where they're mentioned in the opposite order. He shaved his head at Cincre and because of a vow he had taken. Now, if you know anything about the Bible, you might recognize that this vow is the same kind of vow that was taken by Samson in the Old Testament. It is a Nazarite vow. And what they would do in this instant is they would allow their hair to grow out um no No razor, no blades of any kind to touch it. And then after the fulfillment of the vow, because the vowels were typically for a certain season of time, they would go to Jerusalem, they would cut their hair, and they would take that hair to the temple and offer it as a sacrifice to show their commitment and devotion to God and and in that vow.
00:16:25
Speaker
The interesting thing here is that Paul probably did it to say to the Jews, hey, I'm still one of you. I'm not forsaking my Jewish heritage. I'm just a follower of the true Messiah now. So don't think I've given up on you guys. But what is interesting is that he didn't follow the Jewish tradition to the nth degree. He actually cut his hair outside the city of Jerusalem, which makes it an interesting thing that Paul did there.
00:16:51
Speaker
When they reached Ephesus, he left them there, but he himself entered the synagogue and he debated with the Jews. When they asked him to stay for a longer time, he declined. But he said farewell and added, I'll come back to you again if God wills. Then he set sail from Ephesus. On landing at Caesarea, he went up to Jerusalem, greeted the church, then went down to Antioch.
Discerning God's Will
00:17:13
Speaker
So as I said, I want to talk a little bit about some things of application for us here, just as we continue to minister and love on people around us as we continue to walk our journey and try to figure out where God is taking us. um Sometimes even just trying to figure out where you're as ah maybe the head of your home saying, you know, where's where's my family going? Where do I need to take ah my family, my kids, my wife, my husband on these journeys? Where is God taking us? it Important things that we learned just from the life of Paul that we can take and apply to our lives. Number one, discerning the will of God isn't always easy. Amen.
00:17:50
Speaker
Anybody got the formula for figuring it out every time? Good. None of us feel bad then, right? I mean, the the will of God is a obviously the thing that we seek most. We know that being in the will of God is the thing that we desire. But sometimes, sometimes it just seems a little harder to discern what that is than others. There's a lot of reasons for that being the case.
00:18:14
Speaker
Sometimes we're too busy, sometimes we're too distracted, sometimes we're in a season of sin. And God's saying, you know what, until you get that cleaned up, we can't move on to what's next, so I'm not gonna reveal it to you. there's There's a lot of reasons why, but here's what I want you to hear, and that is this. God is not playing hide and seek with his will.
00:18:35
Speaker
He wants it to be uncovered. He wants it to be discovered. So he's not trying to keep it from you. He absolutely wants you to find it. I told the first service, it's kind of like, how many of you ever played hide and seek with a child when they were very, very young?
00:18:50
Speaker
You ever done that? And you get one of those hiding spots where you know there's no chance they're ever going to find you. You probably should take a snack because you're going to be there a while, right? So as you're there in that place and you're hiding in the hall closet or whatever and your child's running around going, where are you? Where are you? Suddenly you decide, OK, let me throw him some bait. OK? And so you start going, I'm over here. or you know, trying to cough and get them to get to you. And eventually they find you, and in that moment when they find you, there is such a squeal of delight and joy and laughter, and that's just you. Just imagine how they act, right? I mean, you're it's an amazing moment when that that happens. That's kind of how I picture God sometimes with us. He's not trying to hide from us, though. What he is doing is saying, I really would love for you to come and lean into me.
00:19:39
Speaker
I would love for you to seek me not just once every six months when you have a big decision. I would love for you to lean into me every single day and let's have this incredible relationship. And oh, by the way, when you find me, you're going to be really delighted. You're going to have great joy in your heart because you have found what you've been seeking all along and it's here. Jeremiah, prophet said, you know what, you will seek me and find me when you seek me with all of your heart.
00:20:03
Speaker
And you've heard this a couple of times from me now, that that's where we need to be is right in the middle of God's will. Second thing that you take from this is God may keep you from things that appear to be good. God may keep you from things that appear to be good. If you've been here over the last few weeks, you'll remember that Paul a couple of times wanted to go certain places and God said, nope, I need you to go over here. that's That's good, but what I have is better.
00:20:27
Speaker
um Repeat that phrase to yourself over and over again as you are praying God's will, because there are a lot of good things in life, but what you're seeking is not good things, you're seeking God things. You're not seeking what's good, you're seeking what's gooder, okay? You want what's best, and what's best is always gonna be what God has laid out in front of you. And it's really, really tempting because a lot of times what's good, what's good in our eyes is good because it's comfortable for us.
00:20:57
Speaker
right It's easier to s slide into your your comfy shoes and your shorts and your t-shirt and just kind of coast through life doing the good. And God's going, no no, no, no, no, I've got something far better. And it might mean you have to get up and go do something uncomfortable. It might mean you might have to have an uncomfortable conversation. But I promise you that this is where you want to be. Because it's far better than what you're going to seek for yourself. The best example I can think of is family. Family is a good thing, right? All of us love family.
00:21:27
Speaker
At least most of us. There are some we'd like to trade in every now and then. But for the most part, we love family because it's a good thing. It is a thing that God has given us. But if your family comes before God, then what happens is you most of the time lose both. You lose both. I mean, if you're not seeking God, that's why marriages fall apart.
00:21:50
Speaker
Right? And you can say, oh, I just need to give more time, more devotion to my wife. That's a good thing. And God's going, no, what you need to do is seek me more because then you'll be able to give to your wife what she needs. And your children, man, your children are good. You love your children 92% of the time and you want what's best for them. And so you seek that for them and you pursue that for them. But in that pursuit, if they become more important than God and your following of God, then you wind up losing them both.
00:22:18
Speaker
and you're over here loving all over your kids and God say no, until you get right before me, you can't give your kids the leadership, the love, the kindness, the grace, the compassion they need. You can give them good, I wanna give them better. And so sometimes God keeps you from things that appear good. God sees the big picture and may have things in store for you that you can't even see yet. So best illustration I can give you on this is you guys.
00:22:48
Speaker
Seven, seven and a half years ago, when I started, I had been traveling the country and speaking, and I told my wife, I feel like God's really telling me to get back into church and do pastoral ministry. She said, all right, let's start praying about it. Well, I started praying and I started sending out resumes. I had a friend email me. He said, dude, there's an opening at a church. I think you might be interested. I was like, okay, he sent me the church. It was Prince Avenue Baptist Church in Athens, Georgia. I'm a dog fan.
00:23:17
Speaker
Okay? That's like being invited to live in the suburbs of Jerusalem for for, you know, a dog fan. And so I'm thinking, this has got to be God's will. He's about to reward me for years of faithful service. So I got my resume together, made it look all nice and pretty, sent it into them. Silence. Crickets. After about three or four weeks, I thought, man, they're taking a long time in the search. So I emailed my friend, you heard anything? No, I haven't heard anything.
00:23:44
Speaker
man Okay, we're gonna keep leaning and we're gonna keep praying. It i just has to be God's will, right? I wouldn't have to change out any of my red and black gear. i just Everything would be good. Well, I got an email. He said, rumor has it they found their man. I'm like, they can't have. I haven't heard from him yet.
00:24:04
Speaker
That happened about, I think, if I remember it correctly, I think it happened about two weeks before I met Barbara Powers. Barbara Powers is the one that introduced me to this community, this church. Before that day, my only exposure to this town was the fact that me and my former staff had traveled through here 14 years ago to go to Henry Horton State Park and camp out together, came back into town and had breakfast at the country diner. And I thought to myself as I got out of the country diner to get back in the car, cute town, but I can't imagine I'd ever want to live here.
00:24:40
Speaker
thank you barbara Absolutely. um And can I just tell you, I would not trade one second of the last seven years with you guys. Not one second of it. I mean, this i'm this I'm saying this and I mean this with all my heart. If Prince Avenue called me tomorrow, I'd say, go dogs, but no. I'm right here with my people. Okay? the So, I'm so glad nobody yieldll rolled tide at me when I said that.
00:25:13
Speaker
but
00:25:17
Speaker
But here's the thing, God sees the big picture and sometimes you and I just don't have the ability to see that. Well, most of the time we don't have the ability to see that. God could not have, I mean, I could not have possibly have conceived being in a skating rink seven years from now that we're filling up four times and we're not quite four times, three and a half times every week and just knowing half of you people.
00:25:40
Speaker
I mean, gosh, and at least I sit around sometimes and it's kind of like you want to pinch yourself, because another family comes in the church and I'm like, he keeps bringing some of the coolest people into our church. So if you're a guest here today, God's got you lined up to be the next cool person in my life. And I'm ready for you to be here. I mean, this is such an incredibly fun and exciting journey that God has. It's got his hiccups, right? It's got his hiccups. I mean, I have to remind my wife I'm not perfect all the time, baby. just um 92% of the time. All right, following God's will is always right, even when the choices all seem to be good. Kind of touching on what we've already said a little bit, but his his choice, his thing is always right. Always right, even though on the surface it may look like it's questionable and you may be thinking to yourself, are you sure God? Yeah, absolutely. Every time that he points you in that direction, you know you're headed the right way. And here's the one that kind of hurts us a little bit.
00:26:37
Speaker
God doesn't draw out a road map of our lives for us, right? He doesn't. I know you because I am me and I'm like you. I would love to walk into church every Sunday on the information desk would be a little road map that says here's Ridley's road map for the week. Straight from God.
00:26:54
Speaker
And I would unfold it and look at it and go, I've got to have this conversation, i need to I need to go to this meeting, I need to pay this bill, my wife needs this many hugs this week, all those kinds of things. But you know what? If God did that, you know exactly what we do? I'm glad you'd ask. Because I do the same thing. We're we're gonna we're going to move this into the 21st century. Not a road map, you're Google Maps, okay? Google Maps says in 100 feet, turn right. No, I got a better plan.
00:27:23
Speaker
I'm gonna take a different route. There's a faster way. This is better. And instantly what you hear is that voice going, rerouting, rerouting, rerouting. One time we were in a town, we were using ah Google Maps, I think we were in Detroit, trying to find our way to a speaking engagement. She was freaking out. Like every time I turn a corner, reroute, reroute, reroute. I think I heard her go, whoosh. I mean, it was that bad. that That's the way we sometimes treat God's will for us.
00:27:50
Speaker
We pray, we pray, we pray, and suddenly we get that breakthrough. Something in scripture or maybe something in the nudge of the spirit in our heart says, this is what I want you to do next. And we're going, ah, I think I got a better way. I think I got a faster way to get there. I think I got a way that gets there. It doesn't hurt as much or doesn't require as much from me. And when we do that, what you hear is the Holy Spirit going, rerouting, rerouting. You're going to wind up where I want you. The question is, do you do it my way or do you do it the hard way?
00:28:17
Speaker
And so God doesn't draw out a roadmap for our lives, but he does give us a navigator. His name is the Holy Spirit. And he's gonna lead us in those conversations, those prayers, those searchings through the scripture. He's gonna lead your heart so you know exactly where to go. You just have to get yourself before him and immerse yourself in his words so that you can hear what he's got to say to you. All right, for all you type A personalities, that's where the notes end. And this is the part that guy gave me this morning.
00:28:45
Speaker
um we We live in tough times, right? I mean, I think every every generation could say that. But you have to admit, if you look around us, it's hard. It's hard. You don't know who to trust.
00:29:01
Speaker
um Things that used to be dependable and faithful you can't rely on anymore. This is the thing that just drives me crazy. I talked to a friend of mine about this this past week, we were having this conversation. I said, you know what bothers me so much about our country right now? And he said, what? I said, we keep catching people doing wrong and nobody pays a price for it. I mean, we're at a point right now in our election where we're voting for the best of the two liars.
00:29:28
Speaker
How sad is that? And neither one of them is going to be punished for anything they did. Biden's a liar, Obama's a liar, George Bush was a liar. Can we find one honest person who can lead us? One person? And it's not just the presidents. The Congress is that way. The governor's that way. It's just all the stuff that's all around. And that's just the political side of things. Prices are going up. Salaries aren't keeping up. Your kids are going crazy. The culture and encourages them to go crazier. I mean, it's just everything around you.
00:29:57
Speaker
And you get kind of tired and worn out, right?
Personal Struggles and Leadership Challenges
00:30:01
Speaker
So this past week, y'all did a fantastic job of loving me again by giving me and another monthly prayer retreat.
00:30:11
Speaker
I'm always very, very thankful for that, not only because you check on me and go, hey, how was your retreat, but because I know you're praying for me. um But Wednesday night, when I arrived at the house where I stayed this week, um i i didn't I didn't realize how tired emotionally and spiritually I was.
00:30:33
Speaker
looking Thank I know that. um So my wife calls me on Thursday. She said, what's God said to you this week? And I said, I'm gonna have to be honest with you, baby. I can't tell you. My mind is so many different places that every time I sit down to start to pray, it's like I can't can't focus. can't I can't and just can't hear. Any of y'all ever been there? I thought so. So she said, well, I'll be praying for you. Well, Friday morning I woke up
00:31:10
Speaker
And I think I want to call on you to tell you I was getting ready to leave and come back. And she said, well, what what have what have you felt? I was like, I don't know. I'm really not sure. I said, I think God's leading me back to something. Well, by the time I got home, he had taken a passage of scripture that I went on a Wednesday night that I actually had struggled with all day on Thursday and then got to Friday and he brought it back and he said, this is what I've been trying to tell you all weekend. Are you ready to pay attention?
00:31:34
Speaker
So in just a minute I'm gonna read it to you, but I wanna read the the passage where I wanna focus the the balance of our time here this morning. It's the passage where God appears to Paul in verse nine. He says, don't be afraid, but keep on speaking, don't be silent, for I am with you and no one will lay a hand on you to hurt you because I have many people in this city. He stayed there a year and a half teaching the word of God among them.
00:31:58
Speaker
So, Wednesday night, I sat down, like I said, I was completely tired and wiped out, but I thought, ah I need to get a good start to the week. So, before I crawled into bed, I pulled out something, started reading, read it again Thursday morning. This is what I read. It's God speaking to the prophet Ezekiel. He says, as for you son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel.
00:32:31
Speaker
When you hear a word from my mouth, give them a warning from me. If I say to the wicked, wicked one, you will surely die, but you do not speak out to warn him about his way. That wicked person will die for his iniquity, yet I will hold you responsible for his blood.
00:32:56
Speaker
And I just need to ask for your forgiveness this morning.
00:33:03
Speaker
I read that, again, Friday morning, God said to me, he said, really, what does a watchman do? I said, well, he watches. At which point God probably said, okay, smart, Elliot.
00:33:15
Speaker
a
00:33:19
Speaker
What does he watch for? Well, he watches for the enemy. And it just hit me like a bolt of blue, a lightning out of the blue. A distracted watchman is no good.
00:33:33
Speaker
because when he becomes distracted, the enemy gets in.
00:33:39
Speaker
So I need to apologize to you that I have been distracted. Sometimes by my own personal stuff, sometimes by just being really, really busy, sometimes by trying to take on too much, and quite honestly, quite honestly, sometimes because I looked at the road map and said, God, I've got a better plan. And when I do that, I stop being a good watchman and I allow the enemy to get to you, and that's my fault.
00:34:03
Speaker
I will have to answer for that. So I apologize, I am, I am. But I apologize for that because um we talk about it around here the whole time, the the best is yet to come. And it's gonna come because all of us are doing our part, the whole body of Christ. But as your shepherd, I gotta do a better job of protecting my sheep.
00:34:27
Speaker
And I'm afraid sometimes maybe I don't give you everything I'm supposed to give you and I think sometimes you get half of what you're supposed to get from me and I apologize for that. So, this this last part's for all of us. Because every one of you just nod your head and say, oh I get distracted, you get distracted, you get tired, get worn out running the journey. Sometimes look at God and go, I don't know that I can do one more day.
00:34:53
Speaker
So listen to what Paul has encouraging words from him,
God's Encouragement and Steadfastness
00:34:56
Speaker
from God. First of all, he says to him, do not be afraid. Do not be afraid.
00:35:04
Speaker
There's a lot to be afraid of in our culture, but if you get your eyes on what's out there to be afraid of, you miss out on what God's doing to lead you. You gotta to keep your eyes on God. You go back to the story in Matthew of Peter walking on the water,
00:35:23
Speaker
What caused him to sink? Took his eyes off Jesus. He started looking at all the things that might happen, all the the anxious things he could be worried about, and the minute he did, he began to fall. And so my encouragement to you from this story is this, do not be afraid. Every plan that Satan has for the world, God has a bigger one.
00:35:47
Speaker
Every power that Satan uses in this world can be squashed by God. There is nothing that Satan can do to you or this world that will unravel the sovereign authority of God. And there's never been a moment that anything in this world has ever happened that caused God for one second to be anxious. Do not be afraid.
00:36:08
Speaker
Second thing he says to him is speak and do not keep silent. Now to me this kind of ties into what he just said. He says don't be afraid. Why? Because I want you to keep doing what you're supposed to do. Keep speaking the truth. Keep speaking up about Jesus. Keep having those gospel conversations. Don't be afraid to speak his name in the workplace, in your neighborhood, at the ball field or school because he will honor your strength in speaking up.
00:36:34
Speaker
Now, he says, speak and do not keep silent. 9,700 gospel conversations this year is good, but you and I both know we could do 20,000. 600 people in this church every single week times 365, you tell me what it comes out to be. Because I can't figure it out right now in my head. Speak and do not keep silent. He also says, for I am with you.
00:37:03
Speaker
Can you come up with any better promise for your life than that one right there? God is with you. And when it says God is with you, it's not like he's down the street on the corner looking at you, he's that kind of with you. No, God is right here, right now, in this moment, with you in this season. As you're struggling with your marriage, God is with you. As you're struggling with your finances, God is with you. As you're struggling with the lust, the pornography, the addiction, God is with you. Here's the catch, until you decide to turn around and acknowledge that he's there, he might as well be a million miles away.
00:37:40
Speaker
You're going, why can't I feel him? Because you aren't trying to feel him. You're trying to direct your life according to your power, your wisdom, your strength, and your discernment, and you will fail. The reason Paul was so worn out by the time he got to Corinth is because he had taken his eyes off of God and was beginning to think about the situation around him and he became overwhelmed i mean can you imagine you're talking to infant church that's probably got fifteen twenty thirty thousand maybe fifty thousand people by this point
00:38:14
Speaker
and the city of corinth has six hundred thousand
00:38:19
Speaker
and there's these seasons i know it for all of us if we're walking this walk and talking this talk there's a season where you're going am i even making a dent and this world am i even touching one person at all and let me remind you that what god has called you to do is not to save people that's his job he's called youw to love so that they can come to know who it is that gives them power to do that so speak up do not be silent for i am with you the fourth thing he says there is
00:38:50
Speaker
for i have many people in this city anybody have a clue how many churches there are in marshall county that preach the name of jesus
00:38:59
Speaker
i don't cliff you have any idea appropriate answer would be one more starting in october there you go um and no we don't nobody has a clue right but think about those people who are in those churches maybe right now that are struggling i'm not goingnna call names there's probably a half dozen i can name right now that i know they're struggling what they need i can't tell god knows what they need but i do know what would encourage them is to hear a brother or sister come alongside of them and say
00:39:31
Speaker
let me pray for you let me encourage you how can we help your church be stronger had a phone call two weeks ago one of the churches in town that struggle don't have a pastor don't have a worship leader i said tell me what you need he said what do you mean i said do you need somebody to preach i got a lot of young guys that need to be tested lot of young guys that need to be preaching
00:39:53
Speaker
new worship team said i'm not going to overcommit my team i don't want to wear em out i said but i got some talented people that can come over there every now and then and help you out why because when one church gets stronger we all get strong but when when church starts to struggle we should all hurt because we're the same body and we need to love them and they need to be encouraged and i hope that you feel encouraged when another brother or sister comes alongside you at work and says hey dude you look like you're having a hard day can i pray with you because god has many of his children all over the world
00:40:25
Speaker
all over the world sometimes we get this mentality here in the united states like it's us against the world largest christian populations are in china india and africa right now growing like crazy why because it's a church under persecution and it's growing like gangbusters we've got it too easy here yeah see she agrees
00:40:51
Speaker
right lastly it says he continued a year and six months you're going what's what's that got to do with all this well i think there's a lot of places in the new testament where paul writes things out of previous parts of his journey glaciians chapter six verse nine is he's writing to the church at galatia he writes these words do not grow weary and doing good do not grow weary and doing good and i don't know this for sure there's no evidence to back it up but i imagine that maybe in that season paul's thinking back to a night in corinth when he was ready to give up
00:41:28
Speaker
and the spirit of god comes to him in a vision and says so get
00:41:35
Speaker
don't get weary don't get frustrated and down in yourself just put your foot in front of the next step
00:41:45
Speaker
just keep doing what i've asked you to do i promise i'm here and when you think you can't do anymore i'm still here
00:41:54
Speaker
do not grow weary in doing the good you're doing brother sister ah know after you've picked up the their bedroom for the fifteenth time you're going am i doing any good for this child after you've picked up your husband's underwear for the hundred time am i doing any good for this man i'm married to maybe in your workplace and i know some of you guys you've had bible studies in your workplace and it's still just two or three guys coming here thinking man why why is nobody else coming you're making a difference for two or three guys and those two or three guys could change the world
00:42:28
Speaker
every time you have a gospel conversation you ask that question well why why aren't people coming to know jesus christ you don't know what's happening to that seed that you plant even paul acknowledged that some people plant some people water and some people re so you just keep doing what you're doing and keep doing it fatefully god's got a plan and he's working it out you just want to make sure you're aligned with it
00:42:54
Speaker
don't grow weary don't grow weary you buy your head and close your eyes bring this to a conclusion real quick
00:43:08
Speaker
um i want to ask a really important question in this season real quick while your heads are bow
00:43:16
Speaker
ah
00:43:19
Speaker
shockingly was not surprised at the response to this in the first service
00:43:24
Speaker
if you right now are going you know what what you just said resonated with me pastor i am tired i am worn out i am frazzled ah feel like the weight of the world is on my head and on my heart ah feel like my kids are pulling one direction my spouse is couldn pulling the other direction my job has overwhelmed me my finances have got me all upset i am distracted right now this season in my life i just want to pray for you so if you would acknowledge that just by lifting your hand holding up
00:43:56
Speaker
around the room amen ah man and me yeah you know interesting thing put your hands down interesting thing is over twothirds of both services now have raised their hands so you need to hear this you are not alone my child you are not alone and this is why we need each other this is why we need each other
Community Support and Seeking God
00:44:27
Speaker
just a minute i'm gonna pray maybe what you need to do is come up here and let somebody else pray over you that their words lift your spirit in
00:44:39
Speaker
this is something we're very used to here at this church people do it every sunday so if you're a guess and you're going i don't know if i'm supposed to do this absolutely you do what the lord lays on your heart we have people up here who are ready and absolutely excited about the opportunity to pray with you maybe you're going you know what i'm feeling overwhelmed and i i have to be honest i know what it is it's because i don't know jesus at all i know about him but he's not my personal lord and savior and so maybe what you need right now is somebody to pray with you and have
00:45:12
Speaker
ah conversation with you about what that might look like for your life as i pray when we get ready to sing if you want that for you right now just come to this altar and if we have too many people come to this altar we'll hold off the third service and we'll stay as long as we need to and pray god you are so good so kind and precious to us
00:45:36
Speaker
we don't deserve what you do for us and yet you not only do it but you constantly remind us you're here to do it that you're here to stand with us to encourage us to lift our spirits and to give us grace and mercy when we fail
00:45:52
Speaker
it doesn't surprise you that we are overwhelmed it doesn't surprise you that we are burdened sometimes but but beyond what we think we can handle
00:46:03
Speaker
but i know it breaks your heart that we don't turn to you and say can you help us
00:46:08
Speaker
so father this morning would you help us just to swallow our pride and to acknowledge this season
00:46:17
Speaker
like i had to do friday when when you finally got my attention i
00:46:23
Speaker
i need you
00:46:26
Speaker
and need you nothing else everything else is just cherry on top i need you and when i have you when i find you and i'm in the middle of your will then all the other things start to fall into their proper places
00:46:43
Speaker
this morning father help us to respond and a true submission to you as you're speaking to our heart