Latest / Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast / #24463 - Ministry Blessings Seen and Unseen - Acts 13:13-52

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#24463 - Ministry Blessings Seen and Unseen - Acts 13:13-52 · Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast

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Welcome to the Study of God's Word with pastor and author Ed
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Taylor recorded live at Calvary Church in Aurora, Co To learn
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more about the many resources available through Abounding
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Grace Media or to tune into our live stream services, visit us
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online at Calvary, Co dot Church or download our free Calvary
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Church app. Now here's Pastor Ed to take us
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into our study. Amen.
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Take your Bibles. Open them to Acts.
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Chapter 13. We're in the middle of the early
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church, launching off into world missions.
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It's always been in the heart of God world missions.
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You remember the the most famous verse in all of history.
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Jesus is teaching this man by the name of Nicodemus John
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Chapter 3, verse 16. And what does he say?
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For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son,
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that whosoever would believe in him would not perish, but have
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everlasting life world missions. Lives changed forgiveness of
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sin. It begins in the heart of God.
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It doesn't begin with the church planning and prepping, coming up
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with some strategy. It starts with God and you can
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say it ends with God or continues with God, then ends
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with God. It doesn't start with us.
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This is the pattern revealed to us as we're studying the book of
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Acts, the history of the Church. This is the history of our
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church. We exist today because of the
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faithfulness of these men and women in what we are, what's
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commonly known as the early church, which is a reference to
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the gathering of believers in Jesus Christ in the 1st century,
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the 1st century church, or it's commonly referred to as the
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Early Church. This is the early Church now
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launching off in chapter 13 into what is known as world Missions.
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It didn't start there. Remember back in Acts chapter
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one, Jesus promised when the Holy Spirit comes upon you,
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you'll be my witnesses first in Jerusalem.
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So home base, everything starts in the home.
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Everything begins in the home. Then from Jerusalem to the out,
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if you take a map out, you'll notice the surrounding regions
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of Jerusalem and Israel today are known as Judea and Samaria.
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That would be as the the circle widens.
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You're going to take the gospel into Judea, Samaria.
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We've been reading that in the book of Acts, How it happened.
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Now in Acts 13, the gospel goes to the world.
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It starts not in the church in Jerusalem, though, but in the
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church in Antioch. It's an exciting thing to see
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the pattern that God has had. It's very natural to share the
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gospel, to tell people about what's happening in your life.
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Even though it might be a little awkward, you might be nervous to
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begin with. But like anything, things are
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awkward and you're nervous until you do them and they're like,
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oh, it wasn't that bad or it wasn't that hard, And you begin
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to share with people what God has done in your life.
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But so much in the church today has made sharing the gospel
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sound like a drudgery. Like you have to do it.
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You just have to do it. If you're going to be a good
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Christian, you need to share the gospel.
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You have to share the gospel. And it's not like that at all.
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I would even say go far to say, I would go as far to say this,
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You don't have to share the gospel if you don't want to
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share the gospel. You don't have to do anything
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for God if you don't want to do anything for God, which why I
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pause right here. This is where people take the
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videos that we post and edit them into something that says,
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look at this pastor. He says you don't have to do
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anything for God. So if you're going to edit me
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and misquote me, just make sure the edit goes a little bit
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farther because I'm not done yet.
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So that's just a little segment. So let me repeat it.
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Let's start over. You don't have to.
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Share the gospel. If you don't want to share the
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gospel, you don't have to do anything for God.
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If you don't want to do anything for God, however, you're going
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to have to have to answer to God for that.
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You're going to have to answer to God for the life that you've
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chosen. He's like, well, I don't need to
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share the gospel. I I don't need to read the
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Bible. I don't.
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I don't have to do anything. And I I think in a way, you're
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right. You don't have to.
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You need to think of it differently.
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It's not that you have to listen, it's that you get to.
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It's a privilege. It's not even thinking about
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what I have to do, what I don't have to do.
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It's a very natural part, like breathing and like your
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heartbeat of being a follower of Christ.
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You don't have to do anything You get to.
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God is doing something new in your life.
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You get to share of the opportunity for the forgiveness
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of sins. I know not everybody likes it,
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and I know not everybody's going to be happy.
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I know it's going to be difficult, but you get to you
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get to tell someone the truth about the condition of their
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life. Hey, I'm not doing it in a place
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of judgement or like I'm not standing over you like I'm
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better than you. Trust me.
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So if many of you, I know where you come from, that's where I
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was. But God, he intervened in my
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life and he wants to intervene in your life.
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And now I get to share with you the hope that's found in Christ.
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I get to share with you that God is ready to forgive you and
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remove the guilt and shame from your life.
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You get to. There you are, sitting in class
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with a student next to you Talk to them about the things of God
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You get to as you're shopping in Safeway and you have a
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conversation in the produce section, you get to talk about
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the things of God you get to with your mom and your dad and
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your grandma and your grandpa and your brother and your sister
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and your cousins. We get to this is natural.
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It's natural to be a church that sends.
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It's natural to be someone that is sent studying this church in
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Antioch. It's encouraging to see what a
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church looks like who's on mission with Jesus with his
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heart. It's encouraging.
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Let's pick up where we left off in verse 13.
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Now in Acts 13, it says. Now when Paul and his party set
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sail from Paphos, they came to Purga in Pamphylia.
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And John, departing from them, returned to Jerusalem.
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But when they departed from Purga, they came to Antioch in
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Pisidia, and went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day,
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and sat down after the reading of the Law and the prophets, the
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rulers of the synagogue sent to them saying, Men and brethren,
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if you have any word of exhortation for the people, say
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on. This is a very exciting time.
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In the early church. They didn't know that God was
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going to do this work. When they gathered together in
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the first part of Acts 13, when they came together to minister
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Lord, they didn't know. They didn't know that God was
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going to speak. And if God didn't speak, they
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didn't know what he was going to say.
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They didn't know that they that they were the beginning of world
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missions. And that's what makes living in
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Christ so exciting. You just don't know.
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You don't know what a day will bring.
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You don't know what a Bible study will bring.
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I mean, they just came expectant.
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And because they came expecting, God spoke and they responded.
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I mean, I think about you. I think about we when we come to
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church, we don't know what God's going to say to us.
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We have no idea what he's going to say.
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We just come expecting. I mean, for some of you, this is
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going to be a day of life change for you.
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God is going to have a work. He's going to speak to
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something. He's going to change your heart.
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Some of you will be born again today.
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But you didn't know that waking up this morning?
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This is just very routine and very normal.
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And this is how things are burned.
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They came expecting and they didn't even.
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I mean, really, if you think about it, they didn't even
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expect God to say, I'm not only going to speak and begin world
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missions, but I want you to send your two strongest people, the
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the most important people in your church.
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I want you to get along without them because I have a special
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work for them. And yet this church is so eager.
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It's like whatever, whatever you have for us.
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This is amazing. This is wonderful.
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Let's do this. Now a few things before we get
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into this. What's commonly known as the
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first missionary journey of Paul?
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He takes Barnabas. It started out with John Mark,
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and as they get through on this first missionary journey, our
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chapter before us also has the very first recorded message or
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sermon. Of Paul.
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And you notice it's not very long.
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The gospel presentation is kind of like, you know, how you, some
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of you in the business world or in school, you were taught to
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have your elevator pitch, you know, to have your resume ready
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in case some opportunity comes in the elevator.
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And you know, you don't have time.
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You got, you got in on floor one, you're getting off on floor
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15. So get it out, get it out.
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Well, you know, if you get in the elevators here, you only go
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from 1:00 to 2:00. So it better be very short.
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If you have an elevator pitch here, so here.
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Here is his elevator message. It's very quick, You can read it
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in a couple minutes, but it's not so much in the length as it
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is in the truth contained. Because truth is powerful.
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And we'll get to that in a moment.
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But a few things before we get in.
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First of all, I want you to notice something as you're
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reading through. Go back to verse four as we are
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going through actually verse 5. They head off to Cyprus.
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This isn't their first stop, so they're heading off to Cyprus,
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which was their first stop. And it says in verse five, they
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also had John as their assistant.
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Then they had all that stuff going on and on Cyprus they had
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Alimus resisting them, the pro counsel believe.
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And then they set sail and they are departing.
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And then in verse 13 it says John.
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This is the same John, this is John Mark.
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This is the same John now departs from them and returns to
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Jerusalem. It may not seem that big a deal,
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but it's a huge deal. This is a significant event in
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the life of the relationship between Barnabas and Paul.
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He's on the mission field, but after the first, the first go
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around in Cyprus, if you will, John decides.
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I want to go back to Jerusalem. The Bible doesn't tell us why.
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It doesn't give us all the details of why, although we do
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get hints later on. If you want to read ahead, in
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Acts chapter 15, Paul when he describes John leaving, he
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actually uses a strong Greek word that means to a pasta side
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to to move away and fall away like he abandoned them.
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And that word apostasy is describe people that abandoned
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God. And it it it inflamed Paul.
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He was very upset at that season of his life.
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So much so if you read ahead, you'll see that the relationship
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between Paul and Barnabas actually broke off because of
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John Mark. We don't know.
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We don't know exactly what was going on in his life.
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We do know it was a big journey ahead of him.
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We do know it was going to be very treacherous.
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We do know he's already experienced spiritual warfare.
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We know he was young. We we know that.
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Paul has a strong personality. We know all that, except that
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it's not recorded to it for us why he left.
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However, let me tell you what we do know, and this is important.
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I want you to receive it, even pray through it.
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We do know this. The life of missions and the
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life of a missionary is very hard.
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It's very difficult, very arduous and challenging.
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You add that perhaps a family, a couple going into the mission
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field, now it's doubled, or a couple with children.
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Now you have all kinds of complications that come with
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raising a family and all of the challenges that go on the
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mission field. And this is where it ties into
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us here now in the 21st century, because you come in and we come
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in. Into a church service, very
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routine, very regular. And we kind of know how it's all
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going to go down. We're going to start off with
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someone, whether it's me or whoever's teaching For me, we'll
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start off the service. Welcome everyone.
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We'll pray. We'll stand, The lights will go
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down, The music will start. We'll start singing.
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And Pastor Ian or whoever's leading worship is going to take
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us into the throne of God. And some of us are singing and
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some of us are crying and some of us are listening and some of
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us are resisting on and on. The whole rooms feel like that.
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And some of you is like OK. Get through the song.
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Get through the song. When the Bible study Bible.
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So Oh no, he can't have the Bible study.
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He has to talk about everything that's going on in the church.
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So here I am. I come up, I have the piece of
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paper. Sign up for the e-mail.
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Are you guys with me? You know how as the service
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goes. Yes.
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You can speak out loud. Are you with me?
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So I take out that piece of paper and then I read through
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the few that they give me, and I really mean it.
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And I want you to get involved. And I tell you to get the app
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and on and on. And then I always put the
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picture up on the screen. Or they do it for me of a
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missionary. Oh, the missionary.
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Another missionary. Get the missionary.
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Oh, I don't know who they are. I don't know where they're at.
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I don't even know where that isn't.
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Let's get going. Let's get going.
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Get to the Bible study or whatever it may be.
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Get over pastor, 'cause I made an order on Chipotle, and it's
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going to be ready on time. So just get over it.
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Get over it. Hurry up, hurry up.
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And it becomes routine. But, you know, we don't just put
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pictures up or I don't just stand up here just to burn time,
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you know, time is very valuable. Got kiddos downstairs and
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faithful servants, and time is very precious.
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So we're not just burning time or wasting time.
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I really mean it when I put a missionary up there and I go,
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look, they need your encouragement.
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We don't know what's going on in their life.
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We don't know what they're facing today.
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We don't know. We don't know.
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And and they maybe feel forgotten or maybe they who
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knows what they're going through.
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And I mean, I don't want you to like all these things are
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repetitive, but repetitive doesn't mean they're
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insignificant. They're very important.
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We reserve time specifically to stir you up so that God might
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get you. And I don't know, I don't know
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what it is, what announcement you're going to answer or what
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missionary you're going to connect with.
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But I'm telling you, God is ready to flip a switch inside of
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you that once it's flipped, it can't be turned off.
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Like like that switch you go, everybody you're talking about,
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like that switch to go all in for something, to to really
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invest your life. Just say, you know what?
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That's me, Ed. I've got a lot of time on my
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hand, and I just want to travel the world with these
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missionaries. I want to go from country to
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country, praying for them, encouraging them, strengthening
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them, sending them gifts, letting them know they're not
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forgotten. And God will do that.
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Who knows? You may even visit them one day.
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For me, it's Saturday mornings. Saturday mornings are unique.
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For me, it's kind of a hard day. So I I developed this habit many
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years ago. The house is kind of quiet and I
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get down from my DeVos and it's still dark and and so I just had
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to learn to do something on Saturdays that got my eyes on
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the Lord. And one of the things I reserve
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Saturday mornings for before I do anything when I'm doing my
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DeVos, before I get up and get ready, work out or anything is I
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reach out to our missionaries. Not all of them.
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I have them all set up in my WhatsApp and I'm just kind of
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praying about them and thinking about them and then I'll shoot
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them. A little note.
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So yesterday when I'm I emailed, I don't know, I texted, I don't
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know, three or four missionaries, I got this
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response. And this is something that like,
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you just don't know. Why did John Mark leave?
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We don't know. But I do know this.
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It was probably hard for him. He may have been homesick.
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It may have been too much for him.
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He maybe he thought one thing and didn't.
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Now I don't know if I want to do this anymore.
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Because missions is hard. You got spiritual attacks,
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you've got cultural adjustments, you got health issues, you got
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financial pressures. If you have kids, you might have
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kid issues as you're raising him another culture.
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It's just not easy. And he goes back.
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So I'm texting, I I sent a note out.
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I got a response almost immediately.
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He's on the other side of the of the world, you know, thousands
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of miles from here. I'm not going to share who it
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is, but I've been there. I've served with him.
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Amazing what God's doing. He's pastoring a church.
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And so I sent something to him, and this was his response.
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Timely Ed, I mean, how would you ever have, how would you ever
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know it's timely? You wouldn't.
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The Holy Spirit does. That's why he was on my The Holy
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Spirit knows. So he says.
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Timely Ed, thank you. Locked in a room all day
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preparing for tomorrow. The feeling of insufficiency.
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This is a pastor with a very thriving church.
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The feeling of insufficiency is tremendous.
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People worry about things going to my head.
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And don't realize the utter helplessness I feel continuously
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in communicating Jesus simply as he is.
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And that's what the brother needed.
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I mean, he's in. He's preparing for his message
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Sunday morning. He and and from my I didn't talk
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to him. I haven't followed up with him
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to talk to him because of dime differences, but it sounds like
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he's under the weight of some real unrealistic expectations.
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That people think one thing of him, and it's actually not that
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way at all. Pastors, you know, deal with
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that all the time. The weight of unrealistic
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expectations is unbelievable because it's just, you know,
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they say that pastors quit, usually over the criticisms and
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difficulties of just seven people.
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Of all the people they serve, it's seven people over the
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course of their life. It's the 7th 1:00, so don't be
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the 7th one, all right? It's the 7th one that pushes
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them over the edge. And we don't know what pushed
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John Mark over the edge, but we don't want our missionaries to
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be pushed over the edge. We want them encouraged.
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We want them remembered. And who knows, you may end up
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visiting them. You may end up going on a short
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term team. You may end up being.
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The Christina that's met in a class going, what are you doing
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with your life? Well, we're selling everything
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and we're moving to the mission field.
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We're like, wow, And encouraging some new believing punk that
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doesn't know what his future is. Just thinking, wow, I didn't
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know you could do that. And a whole new world is opened
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because of your commitment to God.
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So John Mark goes back another thing I want you to notice here,
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and we'll do our best to get through this, but I can't miss
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these things. The second thing I want you to
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notice is the is what happens between verse 13 and 14 where at
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the end it says John departing from them return to Jerusalem.
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But so there's a contrast you got one leaving the mission
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field departing. But when they that's Paul and
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Barnabas departed from Purga, they came to this other city,
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Antioch in a different region in Pisidia.
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They went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and they sat
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down. So here's another principle you
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got to understand. People will come and go.
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Sometimes they'll come and it'll be exciting.
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Sometimes they'll go. Sometimes they'll leave a
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ministry. I mean, we've seen it here in
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our church, where we've had leaders and pastors.
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Here, the many have come and go. Some have left really.
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Well, some have left. Not so well.
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Here's the principle. You ready?
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Even though John Mark is gone, the ministry continues.
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I don't want you to forget that. Even though this is a
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significant because he was an assistant to them, some help of
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them, now he's gone, They continue on.
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And that's God's will for your life too, in your own life.
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People will come and go, situations will come and go,
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hardships will come and go, but you need to continue on and what
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God has called you to do, that's the word of the Lord to someone
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right now, right? That's it.
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What am I supposed to do? And you won't believe what
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happened. Well, here's what you're
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supposed to do. I don't know how to answer the
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situation specifically, but I do know this.
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Don't quit. It's not.
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It's always too soon to quit. Don't quit.
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The ministry continues on. There are still things and
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people and situations that God wants to use you in.
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I mean, this is the model that God has given us.
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When things get tough, we continue on.
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When things don't go our way, we continue on.
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When we're not happy with decisions, we continue on.
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When you've been deserted by someone you trusted, continue
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on. When you've been betrayed by
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someone you entrusted, you continue on well.
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When you've been defamed or currently being defamed, what do
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you do? Say with me, Church.
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Continue on when you're discouraged.
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What do you do? Continue on?
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Discouragement is probably something we all share, so when
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you're discouraged. I've shared this in other Bible
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studies, but it's very important for us today.
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Like it is possible for you to be both discouraged and serve
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the Lord at the same time. You don't have to wait for
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everything to get perfectly in line the way you want it before
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you obey God. And a lot of, you know, here's
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the here's a secret. There's something that.
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It's an open secret, isn't it? But so many do serve the Lord
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faithfully and are discouraged at the same time.
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I mean, how can you not be discouraged?
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Like, even if you woke up today, this is the Lord's day.
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This is awesome. This is wonderful.
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And then you pull up the news before you Don't do it, but you
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pull up the news before you come to church.
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You're like, oh man, I'm all messed up again.
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This world is upside down. And and it is, it's so
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discouraging, but we continue on.
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We continue on. This is also a place where many
21:22
believe Paul contracted a very serious disease, perhaps
21:26
malaria. This is the region again, I'm
21:29
giving you a lot of details on this, but this is the region
21:31
known as Galatia. And you'll remember that Paul
21:35
wrote a letter to the Galatians. It's these people right here,
21:39
this church, this region. And because of the area, many
21:43
people believe that he had malaria, which would give you
21:46
severe migraine headaches and would mess with your eyesight.
21:50
And we know when he wrote to Galatians.
21:52
And that's the cool thing about reading the book of Acts.
21:54
When you get to the letters like Ephesians, we already we're
21:57
going to learn about that church or Galatians, that's now or
22:00
Corinthians. We see Paul and Corinth.
22:03
So we kind of introduced to the people that he's going to write
22:05
two years later here. This is where somehow it could
22:10
even be the thorn in his flesh. I I don't think the thorn in his
22:13
flesh personally was only medical, but it could be here in
22:20
Acts. So this is the region of
22:21
Galatia. Let's pick up now.
22:23
They're in the synagogue. They get this invitation at
22:25
verse 15. Hey, do you have anything to
22:27
share? Which is a tremendous open door.
22:30
Verse 16. Now then Paul stood up,
22:33
motioning with his hand, said men of Israel and you who fear
22:37
God, listen, the God of this people.
22:40
Israel chose our fathers and exalted the people when they
22:44
dwelt as strangers in the land of Egypt.
22:47
And with an uplifted arm, he brought them out of it.
22:50
Now for a time about 40 years, he put up with their ways in the
22:53
wilderness, and when he had destroyed seven nations in the
22:57
land of Canaan, he distributed their land to them by allotment.
23:00
After that he gave them judges for about 450 years, until
23:05
Samuel the prophet, verse 21, and afterward they asked him for
23:09
a king. So God gave them a son of Saul,
23:12
the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for 40 years.
23:16
And when he had removed him, he raised up for them David as
23:19
king, to whom also he gave testimony and said, I have found
23:23
David, the son of Jesse, a man after my own heart, who will do
23:27
all my will. This was the pattern of Paul,
23:31
because he is versed in the what we would call today the Old
23:35
Testament, the Law and the prophets.
23:37
He knows the Old Testament. He goes and understands that the
23:40
gospel was to the Jew first. When he would get into a town he
23:43
would look for a synagogue. Why?
23:45
Because he could immediately connect with them.
23:48
He could take the truth of the gospel and reveal to them what
23:51
they already know and what they've already been studying.
23:54
He comes into the synagogue. He's invited.
23:57
Like any rabbi, he's recognized as a rabbi, as any rabbi would
24:00
be. Hey, do you guys have anything
24:01
to say, man, you better have something to say.
24:04
And he begins this message. He begins his teaching with a
24:08
history lesson, and he basically takes them back to Egypt.
24:12
And here's what he's doing. He's revealing to them.
24:14
And at this point, you got to understand, if they're in the
24:16
synagogue, they're saying yes, yes, yes.
24:18
They're agreeing with everything he's saying so far.
24:21
And he takes them back. And he's doing two things.
24:23
He's saying, I want you to see the faithfulness of God and the
24:28
unfaithfulness of man. That's what he I want you to see
24:31
in our history. And that's what he's telling
24:33
them, our history. God has been so good to us, so
24:37
we have been so resistant. And we have rejected him at
24:40
every turn. And he takes them all the way
24:42
from Egypt, all the way through the wilderness.
24:45
Wandering. In verse 19, he summarizes the
24:48
whole book of Joshua. In verse 20, he summarizes the
24:51
whole book of Judges, brings them to the place of David, who
24:55
was very honored, very revered, a man after his own heart.
24:59
And he brings to that place. And they're like, yes, yes, yes,
25:03
yes, yes. As any would anyone would is
25:08
they're hearing what Paul is saying equal exactly what
25:12
they've been studying in the synagogue.
25:16
In this gathering here, Paul takes the opportunity to really
25:20
give them the truth because that's what they need.
25:23
And I know you need the truth. You need the truth spoken to you
25:26
in love to shake you and to shake me.
25:29
I need the truth so that it shakes me out of my thinking.
25:33
That might be different than what God desires for my life,
25:38
but it's going to be hard. You're going to see the result
25:40
in a minute. Not everybody's happy with him.
25:42
He has difficulties at every turn.
25:45
Now I want you to consider something before we move into
25:48
the rest of the message. And he turns a point here
25:52
because this message, this sermon if you will, that Paul is
25:55
teaching, if you read it through it, you can read it in a couple
25:58
minutes. It's not long at all.
26:00
It's a couple minutes. And if you remember through our
26:03
time in acts, if you're reading it, some of you did this, some
26:06
of you said you're reading it and you're thinking, man, this
26:09
sounds familiar. And you would be right, because
26:13
this message sounds almost exactly a shorter version of
26:18
what Stephen shared earlier in the book of Acts.
26:21
Stephen, the Table Waiter. This is the guy that said, hey,
26:24
use me, I want to serve the widows.
26:26
I I I want to help them. I want to encourage them.
26:28
I want to make sure they're taken care of.
26:30
And it was from that place of servanthood that we studied many
26:33
weeks ago that God raised up Stephen to be used as a
26:36
messenger of the gospel. And he had that opportunity to
26:39
share with the religious rulers. And as he was sharing with them
26:42
the same history lesson, the same faithfulness of God, the
26:46
same unfaithfulness of man, the reward for his sermon was they
26:51
murdered him. They stoned him to death.
26:57
Now we have to use our sanctified imagination for a
27:00
moment, because the Bible doesn't tell us what was in the
27:03
mind of Stephen at this time. But I can consider a possibility
27:07
that I want to share before you, because I know that many of you
27:10
have this feeling whether Stephen had it or not, we won't
27:13
know until we get to heaven. But I understand the scenario.
27:17
So you're a young guy and you don't have to be young, but
27:20
you're a man or a woman. You want to serve God.
27:22
God uses you, gives you tremendous opportunity.
27:25
It's amazing. And the reward was not what you
27:29
thought Stephen here, perhaps laying there in his last
27:33
moments. And when you think of stoning, I
27:36
don't want you to think of people throwing rocks that are
27:39
about this big, you know, like pebbles.
27:41
Stoning would be to get the largest Rock You could carry and
27:46
come over so close to the person and drop it on them.
27:49
Or if you had enough strength to crush their legs to crush their
27:53
head. It is a ugly, ugly vicious act
27:58
for those that say they represent God and in his final
28:02
moments in Stephen's mind. I want you to use your
28:04
imagination here for a second and just consider how he may
28:08
have felt wanting to serve God. Give God his all and there he
28:14
is. I gave the best message I could
28:15
and I was as accurate as I could, and they even agree with
28:18
me to the point. But when I got right down to it,
28:21
they were angry at me and nobody responded.
28:24
Nobody listened, nobody cares. And if he did think that if that
28:31
was a thought, he would be 100% wrong, wouldn't he?
28:37
Because not everybody at that gathering around Stephen was
28:41
stoning him. There was a guy there, standing
28:43
a little far back, holding everyone's garments, listening
28:47
to every word that Stephen said. You remember his name said out
28:50
loud, Saul of Tarsus was there. And you know what?
28:54
Stephen's message really got to him.
28:59
I'm one of those that believes that Stephen's message got to
29:02
him so bad that it made him the angry, vicious man that he was
29:07
in Acts 9. It pushed him over the edge,
29:10
like he just. I can't believe it.
29:12
He was right. He was right, but I can't
29:14
believe it. I have to change my life.
29:16
I have to change everything. I don't want anything to do with
29:18
that. But then look what they did to
29:19
them. And here I am with all the guilt
29:21
on my hands. I was holding their garments so
29:23
they could do it and it got to him so that now, 14 years later,
29:28
that's where we are. In Acts, 14 years after the
29:31
death of Stephen, you have Paul the apostle teaching the almost
29:37
the exact same message. You see what happens in our
29:42
lives when you might look at your own life and go look, what
29:44
do I have to my life? What what?
29:46
What do I have, what, what effectiveness have I had for
29:49
God? You know, you may have a great
29:51
career. You may have a lot of money in
29:52
the bank. You may have a lot of success
29:54
the way the world measures it. But when it comes to God, not so
29:57
much. And I think over the years, we
30:01
we just, we just have to redefine success.
30:05
It is not what God measures. It's not the way the world
30:07
measures. It's what God measures.
30:10
Because even, you know, with pastors, that's the world I live
30:12
in. Pastors like, well, I have a big
30:13
church. I'm successful.
30:15
Not necessarily. And what's a big church anyway?
30:17
God can save 3000 people in an instant.
30:21
What's a big church and what's a small church?
30:23
What difference does it make? Well, you know, I only have a
30:25
few people in my church. What do you mean you only have a
30:27
few people? Those people belong to God and
30:30
he has entrusted them to you. That's a big deal.
30:33
That's success. But I know there you sit there
30:36
and think, you know, I don't know.
30:37
I've tried this and I've done this and and I don't have any
30:39
outward success. You know, I think of, I think of
30:41
those that are serving in the Sunday school right now with the
30:43
kids, right? Well, you know, I only have a
30:46
couple kids in my class, only two kids.
30:48
I know one of them's yours because they don't behave and
30:50
they have to stay with you. So you got one your kid and
30:53
someone else's kid. And I, you know, my friend in
30:55
another church, he has so many kids in their Sunday school.
30:58
And I just don't think I'm a success.
30:59
No, no, no. God defines success differently
31:05
than the world. And in God's economy, success is
31:09
just one word. You ready?
31:12
This is success. You could even put if you were
31:14
doing a math equation. Success equals faithfulness,
31:23
faithfulness to what God has called you to.
31:25
That evens the playing field for all of us, because some of us
31:29
will have more, some of us will have less.
31:31
Some of us will it. It's different.
31:33
It's different. God does differently among us,
31:37
for sure. That's not the point.
31:39
The point is, or the real question is, have you been
31:43
faithful with what God has given you?
31:46
Faithfulness is success. And so you don't need to worry
31:49
about the numbers, you don't need to worry about what's
31:51
outward. You know, man looks at the
31:52
outward. God looks at the heart.
31:54
Stephen here, it's a he was faithful, so we can all go down
31:59
and go, well, you know, we'll be able to.
32:00
He knows now he's in the presence of God, but he's
32:04
faithful and I want you to be careful.
32:06
That's all God's looking for in your life.
32:07
Faithfulness doesn't matter what you have.
32:10
Be faithful with it. Use it for the glory of God.
32:14
You have much or have little. So now notice with me, let's get
32:17
back into the text here. They're with him so far at the
32:19
synagogue. Now things are turned to get him
32:21
to David. Verse 23 from this man's seed,
32:24
Speaking of David. So he's going to come from
32:27
David's lineage according to the promise God raised up for
32:30
Israel, a saviour Jesus. This is where, if this was a
32:34
movie, the music changes, the lights come down, the faces
32:38
change. This is going to be a challenge.
32:41
This is the challenge, But it gets better.
32:43
Verse 24, when John at first preached, this is John the
32:46
Baptist before his coming the baptism of repentance to all the
32:50
people of Israel. As John was finishing his
32:52
course, he said, who do you think I am?
32:55
I'm not he, But behold, there comes one after me, the sandals
32:58
of whose feet I'm not worthy to lose.
33:01
Men and brethren, sons of the family of Abraham.
33:05
Now he gets them back. Son, those among who you fear
33:08
God to you this word of salvation has been sent for
33:13
those who dwell in Jerusalem and their rulers.
33:16
Now he gets. Now verse 27 gets difficult,
33:20
because they didn't know him, nor even the voices of the
33:22
prophets which are read every Sabbath.
33:25
They fulfilled them in condemning him, and although
33:28
they found no cause of death in him, they asked Pilate that he
33:31
should be put to death. Now when they had fulfilled all
33:34
that was written concerning him, they took him down from a tree
33:37
and laid him in a tomb. But God raised him from the
33:40
dead. He was seen for many days by
33:42
those who came up with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are
33:45
His witnesses to the people. And we declare to you glad
33:50
tidings that promise which was made to the fathers.
33:54
God has fulfilled this for us, their children.
33:56
In that He is raised up Jesus, as it is also written in the
34:00
second Psalm. You are my son.
34:02
Today I've begotten you verse 34 And that He raised him up from
34:06
the dead no more to return to corruption.
34:08
He has spoken thus I will give you the sure mercies of David.
34:13
Therefore he also says in another Psalm you will not allow
34:16
your holy one to see corruption. For David, after he had served
34:21
his own generation by the will of God, fell asleep, which is a
34:24
euphemism. He died and was buried with his
34:27
fathers and saw corruption. But he whom God raised up saw no
34:33
corruption. And here's the conclusion.
34:36
Therefore verse 38. Let it be known to you,
34:39
brethren, that through this man is preached to you the
34:42
forgiveness of sins, and by him everyone who believes is
34:46
justified from all the things from which you could not be
34:49
justified by the law of Moses. Again, the pattern, God's
34:55
faithfulness, man's unfaithfulness, and he takes
34:58
them now all throughout the history, which is recent, of the
35:02
crucifixion, the burial and the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
35:07
These were Bible students. These were those that just
35:11
gathered. I mean, the synagogue gathering
35:14
would be the equivalent of like a church service where you come
35:17
around and you talk about the Bible and you study the Bible.
35:20
It would be even deeper than that in some degree because it
35:23
would be like, you know, going to seminary, being at a seminary
35:26
with all this, the very intelligent professors and those
35:29
that are studying, they pay big money just to study, study,
35:32
study, study, study, study. And it would be like Paul coming
35:36
to one of those classes and going, you guys been studying
35:39
about all, we study the Bible. It's all we do, we study the
35:41
Bible. And then Paul basically says you
35:44
missed it. Who do you think you are?
35:46
Missed it, rabbi. We we are students of the we are
35:51
rulers. Who do you think you are?
35:54
What do you mean we missed it? And Paul's right here.
35:57
This is he's not just teaching a message similar to Stephen.
36:01
He sounds like Jesus. He sounds like Jesus.
36:06
When Jesus said in John 5 verse 39, you search the scriptures
36:12
because in them you think you have eternal life.
36:13
But these are that which testify of me.
36:17
You know the Bible, but you don't know the God of the Bible.
36:21
And that's an indictment. And no wonder they're not going
36:24
to be happy. No wonder if Paul gets into
36:27
trouble again, because here they are, masters at the Bible, but
36:31
failures in life. And God loves them so much that
36:36
he sent someone to tell them that.
36:39
It's a very tense situation. He talks to them about
36:42
witnesses. He tells them that this has all
36:44
been seen. I mean, if you think about it,
36:46
the witnesses of the crucifixion and the resurrection are still
36:49
alive. They can go talk to him.
36:51
You don't believe me? Go talk to him.
36:52
They're right there. You can come to Jerusalem with
36:55
me. There are hundreds and hundreds
36:56
of people that witnesses with their own eyes.
37:00
Not only that, but notice he's quoting the Bible to them.
37:04
They already know this. It says what you're reading
37:07
here. This is what it means, what
37:08
you're reading here. This is what it means.
37:09
What you're reading here. This is what it means.
37:11
Jesus Christ, Messiah has fulfilled the scriptures and you
37:15
validate it by not believing it. They it says that they in not
37:21
believing it. It says even the voices of the
37:23
prophets, verse 27, which were read, have fulfilled in them
37:27
condemning them. And you know the Bible's clear.
37:30
Jesus said he didn't come to condemn.
37:32
It's your own actions that bring condemnation.
37:37
It's your own actions. It's not God.
37:39
God has made every way for you to be right, he says in verse 39
37:44
by him. Everyone who believes that's
37:47
man's responsibility is justified.
37:50
That's God's word. Justified is a real technical
37:53
term that Paul will go on to describe in depth in the Book of
37:57
Romans. When we studied Book of Romans,
37:59
I took weeks just to just to define for us as a church.
38:03
Justification, sanctification, glorification, Very important
38:07
doctrines. If you want more in depth on
38:09
them, you can get the studies online or on the app in the Book
38:13
of Romans. You can just put the word
38:14
justification in. It should pop up.
38:17
But enough for us today. What Paul is saying here when
38:20
you think of justification, I want you to remember it this
38:22
way. Let the words sound out just as
38:25
if I never sinned justify, just as if I never sinned.
38:31
That has how God sees you and me through Christ, which is
38:36
startling, isn't it? Because we don't even see
38:38
ourselves that way. I mean, when we wake up, you
38:41
know, like, you just think you wake up this morning, you're so
38:43
good. You haven't sinned yet.
38:44
You're just like, this is going to be a great day.
38:46
This is wonderful. I can't wait to go to church and
38:48
worship and sing. You get up and stub your toe,
38:50
oh, you Sinner. Now we know all comes out.
38:55
You're all upset, and then you get mad.
38:57
Or maybe you're on your way to church.
38:58
I can't believe we're late. What's going on?
38:59
We're going to get there. Oh, we're in the park and, OK,
39:02
let's go to church. You know, it's like like, we
39:04
can't even do that. We recognize we look at
39:07
ourselves and we're like, oh, and some of you, you have that
39:09
sensitivity about you. You beat yourself up, you
39:11
condemn yourself. None of that is from the Lord.
39:14
Why? Because you have been justified
39:17
not by your own works, but by the blood of Jesus Christ.
39:20
And somehow in eternity, God is able to see us through Christ
39:25
and say, you know what? That's my son.
39:26
That's my daughter. I love him very much, just as if
39:30
I never sinned. And then the God that justifies
39:32
us then sanctifies us. The word sanctification means to
39:36
be set apart. It also, in a technical,
39:38
theological way, describes the change that's going on in your
39:41
life. And you know you can do that.
39:43
You can look in the mirror and see change.
39:47
You can see you. It may be hard, you know you may
39:50
be you beat. You have a tendency to beat
39:51
yourself up and don't do that in the Lord because he is changing
39:54
you. You're not sin less, but you
39:57
have been sinning less. Why?
39:59
God is at work in your life. And you look back.
40:02
You know, I can move about 30 years like, Oh yeah, Oh yeah,
40:05
big change. And it's God's doing.
40:07
It's not my doing. And I can be encouraged by it.
40:10
That's how when you believe God works and he matches it
40:14
together, then he gives him a stronger warning as we wind down
40:17
here. Notice in verse 40 he says,
40:19
beware, therefore, lest you what has been spoken in the prophets,
40:24
come upon you. And then he says, behold, you
40:26
despisers marvel and perish. For I work a work in your day, a
40:31
work which you will by no means believe the one word declare it
40:34
to you and you go, what does he mean by that?
40:36
Well, again, he's quoting an Old Testament book by the name of
40:40
Habakkuk. It's important.
40:42
That's why we're dedicated here at this church to teach you the
40:44
whole Bible verse by verse, because it all fits together.
40:47
So he's actually quoting an episode in the life of the
40:50
prophet Habakkuk, who's watching God use another nation to bring
40:56
judgement upon Israel and he doesn't like it and neither
41:00
would we. And so he's looking at Babylon
41:03
or the Chaldeans and he's like, what?
41:06
God, What is going on here? Why would you do it this way?
41:09
I mean, we're Israel for goodness sake.
41:11
And God's response to him is this, hey, I'm God.
41:14
I'm going to bring judgement on my people any way I want to.
41:18
And what Paul's really telling them and they know this, it may
41:21
not hit so much for us in the in our western culture 21st
41:25
century, but I promise you, it hit the men and women in the
41:28
synagogue there, those that were listening from a distance and
41:31
those that were close. And that's this.
41:34
Paul's basically saying, look, if you don't believe you're
41:36
going to face judgement. And I know judgement is not a
41:40
popular topic in churches today. You know, there's this sense of
41:44
the feel good, touchy feely part of church.
41:47
Hey, come together so you can feel good and you can be
41:50
uplifted and you can live your best life now.
41:52
And you know God wants you to be uplifted and God wants you to be
41:55
encouraged and God wants you to have a life that's meaningful
41:58
unto him now. Yes, but he also wants you to
42:02
know that he sent Jesus Christ to save you from judgment.
42:06
I mean, if you think of forgiveness like a coin, like I
42:08
don't have any coins. But if you took one out and I
42:10
put a coin before you and I said, this is forgiveness.
42:13
On one side of the coin, we would write forgiveness.
42:16
You know what you'd write. On the other side of the coin?
42:18
Judgement. Because how could you ever, how
42:22
could I ever appreciate forgiveness if I don't realize
42:25
what I've been forgiven, what I've been saved from the value
42:32
of the blood of Christ. And that's where he is.
42:34
Here, this. These are heavy words.
42:36
I know they come quick. I know they seem simple enough.
42:40
But they come heavy and notice what it says.
42:42
In verse 42, when the Jews went out of the synagogue, the
42:45
Gentiles begged that these words might be preached to them the
42:48
next Sabbath. Now, when the congregation had
42:51
broken up many of the Jews and devout proselytes, they followed
42:54
Paul and Barnabas, who, speaking to them, persuaded them to
42:57
continue in the grace of God. This is important because when
43:01
you get to Galatians, and we'll share a little bit in our
43:03
communion time today. But this is the exact issue that
43:06
the Galatians had. They left the grace of God and
43:10
here he's telling them very early on.
43:11
This is it. This is what the region needs.
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It's like a a, a Rhema word, like a word of discernment
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through Paul. What you guys need the most in
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this region is grace. It's true for us too.
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Verse 44 now, the next Sabbath. So a week has passed.
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Almost the whole city came together to hear the word of
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God. But when the Jews saw the
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multitudes, they were filled with envy, contradicting and
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blaspheming. They opposed the things spoken
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by Paul and and here I see I just get they were so close and
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it was envy that ruined them. Jealousy.
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And it just reminds me as a pastor, I have to remind you
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this Be careful with envy and jealousy.
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It will wreck your life. They were so close.
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But when they saw that Paul had something they didn't have in
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just one week and it wasn't really Paul, was it?
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It wasn't Paul. It was God in Paul.
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It was God using Paul and Barnabas.
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They don't want the following of people.
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They don't want people to they they this.
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That is not why they're in this city, why they've dedicated
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their life to the mission field. They want to see people's lives
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change. But these guys they saw with
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envy and now they're in opposition.
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So close. Then it says verse 46.
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Paul and Barnabas grew bold and said it was necessary that the
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word of God should be spoken to you first.
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But since you reject it, you judge yourselves unworthy of
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everlasting life. Behold, we turn to the Gentiles,
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and let me just say this. The reason why they could reject
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it is because they had a free will.
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This was their decision. They judged themselves unworthy.
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God didn't make them rejected. God didn't create them in a
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position not to hear or not to receive.
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They of their own free will rejected the message and judged
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themselves unworthy. Notice verse 47.
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For so the Lord has commanded us.
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I have set you to be a light to the Gentiles that you should be
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for salvation to the ends of the earth.
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The gospel goes to the Jew first, then the Greek verse 48
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Now when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and
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glorified the word of the Lord, and as many as had been
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appointed to eternal life believed.
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We don't have time to develop this again.
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I've done it in other studies, but there's great debate today
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between the sovereignty of man and the free will, or the
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sovereignty of God and the free will of man, and I want you to
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see it in verse 48. Both of them are side by side.
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In the same verse you have the belief or in in the backdrop of
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rejection. So there's a contrast.
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There are those that reject of their own free will.
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There are those that believe of their own free will.
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In this case it was Jews and Gentiles.
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But also you see that God in his sovereignty has appointed them
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and they are of their now of their own free choice, their own
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moral volition, able to say yes or no.
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Just like today, you are able to say yes or no.
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Paul did not show up in the synagogue saying, oh, I don't
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know, I'm going to preach the gospel, but God has prevented a
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lot of people from believing, so I'll be OK with that.
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That is not how he showed up. He showed up to see that city
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get saved. He showed up to be faithful with
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the gospel and watch God do a work.
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And then he saw resistance. Why not?
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Because God get because they're filled with sin and envy.
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Because they're upset. They're not willing to come to
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him. They're rejecting him just like
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the rest of history. God is faithful man's unfaithful
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and theologians spend their whole life arguing about this.
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I just want the Bible to say what it says and just let it say
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what it says and leave the tension there.
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Because whenever there's tension you'll come to a place of
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worship of God. So it's like man, I don't
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understand this God, how do you reconcile it?
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And you almost. You can hear heaven say, I don't
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want you to reconcile it. Worship me.
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Yeah. But I want to figure it out the
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rest of my life. Yeah, but I want you to worship
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me. But I want to worship you by
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figuring out the rest of my life.
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Well, I want you on the mission field serving me.
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So any rate, verse 49 And the word of the Lord was being
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spread throughout all the region.
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So Paul didn't stop to debate it.
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And the Jews stirred up the devout and prominent women and
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the chief men of the city raised up persecution against Paul,
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which is going to be the rest of his life.
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This is how he's going to die under the weight of persecution
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against him came against Paul and Barnabas.
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They kicked them out from the region, expelled them, but they
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shook the dust off from their feet against them and came to
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Iconium. And the disciples were filled
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with joy and with the Holy Spirit.
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So many ways that we can take this text.
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You know, one thing I see right now is Paul is learning how to
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continue on. No matter what happens,
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resistance on Cyprus with the Limas continue on.
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John Abandons, you continue on persecution, they come against
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you, They want to destroy you continue on.
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So you know you're being trained.
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Everything that we're going through today is preparing us
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for what has been prepared for us.
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We're all in the place of training and growing.
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But not only that, the Holy Spirit is very active in this
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chapter. We've seen it already.
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The chapter opens up with the Spirit of God speaking, then
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he's equipping, then he's sending, and then notice at the
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end. And verse 52, the chapter ends
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with the disciples are filled with joy and with the Holy
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Spirit because those two always go together.
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That truly, no matter what's happening in our lives and
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whatever we're facing, we're going to be able to have the joy
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of the Lord and the presence of God.
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That he, when he's promised never to leave or forsake us.
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And you can be kicked out and you can be sent off, and you can
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be neglected or come against or persecuted or whatever it is you
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might be going, but you can end it with, oh, you know what?
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This is pretty excited. We're filled with joy and with
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the Holy Spirit. So God, as we prepare our hearts
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for communion today, it's our desire to settle ourselves
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before you and to remember your sacrifice on our behalf.
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And it's always a high and holy moment, for sure, but it's our
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desire to remember you today, as you told us to, and we just know
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you'll meet us right there. Jesus.
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Name. Amen.
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We pray that you've been encouraged by this Bible study
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delivered live from the sanctuary of Calvary Church.
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For prayer, call us at 87730 Grace.
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That's 877304. 7223 To listen to this message in its entirety or
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49:46
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app, Be Blessed as You Worship Jesus this week.