How Does God Fulfill HIS Mission?

[0:00] Please take your Bibles or your devices and go to the book of Acts chapter 14.

[0:14] Acts 14, if you're visiting with us, you can pull that black Bible out in the chair in front of you and go towards the back and find page 104.

[0:26] Acts 14, we're going to do the whole chapter. The whole chapter this morning, I couldn't really break this up.

[0:37] I guess I could have, but it didn't seem like it would be appropriate to kind of flow together. Acts 14, again page 104 in that black Bible.

[0:52] I'm going to read the passage as we do always. And we'll begin our study. Acts 14.

[1:05] And it came about that in Iconium they entered the synagogue of the Jews together and spoke in such a manner that a great multitude believed, both of Jews and of Greeks.

[1:16] The Jews who disbelieved stirred up the minds of the Gentiles and embittered them against the brethren. Therefore they spent a long time speaking boldly for the Lord, who was bearing witness to the word of his grace, granting that signs and wonders be done by their hands.

[1:34] But the multitude of the city was divided. Some sided with the Jews and some with the apostles. And when an attempt was made by both the Gentiles and the Jews with their rulers to mistreat and to stone them, they became aware of it and fled to the cities of Lycaonia, Lystra and Derbe and the surrounding region.

[1:55] And there they continued to preach the gospel. Verse 8. And at Lystra there was sitting a certain man without strength in his feet, lame from his mother's womb, who had never walked.

[2:07] This man was listening to Paul as he spoke, who, when he affixed his gaze upon him, had seen that he had faith to be delivered, said with a loud voice, Stand upright on your feet. And he leaped up and walked.

[2:18] And when the multitude saw what Paul had done, they raised their voice, saying, in Lycaonian language, The gods have become like men and have come down to us.

[2:30] And they called Barnabas Zeus and Paul Hermas, because he was the chief speaker. And the priest of Zeus, whose temple was just outside the city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates and wanted to offer sacrifice with the crowds.

[2:44] But when the apostles, Barnabas and Paul, heard of it, they tore their robes and rushed out into the crowd, crying out and saying, Men, why are you doing these things?

[2:57] We are also men of the same nature as you. Preach the gospel to you, in order that you should turn from these vain things to a living God, who made the heavens and the earth and the sea and all that is in them.

[3:10] And then a generation has gone by, he permitted all the nations to go their own ways. And yet, he did not leave himself without witness. And that he did good, and gave you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness.

[3:28] And saying these things, they would difficulty restrain the crowds from offering sacrifice to them. But Jews came from Antioch and Iconium. And having won over the multitudes, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing him to be dead.

[3:43] While the disciples stood around him, he rose and entered the city. And the next day he went away with Barnabas to Derbe. Verse 21. And after they had preached the gospel to that city, and many disciples, and made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, and to Iconium, and to Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, saying, through many tribulations, we must enter the kingdom of God.

[4:13] And when they had appointed elders for them, and every church, having prayed with fasting, they entrusted them to the Lord in whom they had believed. And they passed through Pisidia, and came into Pamphylia.

[4:27] When they had spoken the word in Perga, they went down to Atalia. And from there they sailed to Antioch, from which they had been commended to the grace of God, for the work that they had fulfilled. And when they had arrived, and gathered the church together, they reported all the things that God had done with them, and how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles, and they spent a long time with the disciples.

[4:48] How? How? How? How do you do it?

[5:00] It's one thing to tell someone the what. That's important. But people want to know how. How do you do that?

[5:11] How do you do this? You want to know how? Go to wikihow.com. Seriously. How to add sales tax.

[5:24] How to make Dijon mustard. How to get rid of baby hiccups. How to get rid of crickets. How to become a prison warden, Daniel. How to remove tomato sauce off of cloth.

[5:40] Even how to heal a broken heart. Seriously. You look up wikihow.com. You can see all these different things. How to do this. How to do that. How, how, how, how, how.

[5:54] Okay. On the more serious side. How do you live the Christian life? How do you get rid of that temptation in your life?

[6:08] How do you give the gospel? How do you give the gospel? We have this statement. Acts just do it. Be who you are. Let God use you to fulfill his mission.

[6:25] How? How does God do it? How will God use you? How does God use you?

[6:37] How can God use you? How? How? Probably a way you can, in one word, how you can put this message is, simply, how? The how of the statement.

[6:49] How will God use us to fulfill his mission? How does he do it? I'll give you a short statement. Then I'll give you a longer statement.

[7:03] How? No. God uses everyday Christians to fulfill his mission by having them proclaim his gospel of grace in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's how.

[7:14] That's how he uses you. You just proclaim the gospel. The gospel of grace. How God has been so gracious to you. Forgiving you of all your sins.

[7:26] Living, dying, rising. Repent and trust. Just everyday Christians. Here's a longer statement for you.

[7:39] How? God uses everyday Christians to fulfill his mission. How? By having them proclaim the gospel in the midst of opposition and suffering. He uses their faithfulness to bring about conversions.

[7:52] And then what happens, he launches and encourages and then entrusts a new local church. So what happens is, we are giving people the gospel, proclaiming it, we'll face opposition, but in the midst of that, people will come to Christ, and in the midst of that, you'll have a church, new church birth out of that.

[8:12] Or the growth of a present one, so to speak. This is how. This is the how. How will God use us to fulfill his mission?

[8:25] You see here, in our text, despite all the opposition to the gospel, a large number of people became disciples of Jesus Christ. But these disciples need to be strengthened, encouraged, towards faithfulness, perseverance.

[8:38] They need leaders. And entrusted to the Lord with prayer and fasting. That's that encouragement, that's that entrusting in the local church.

[8:50] So, when the good news is proclaimed, opposition is inevitable. And that is usually followed by suffering.

[9:02] But see, it also brings growth. True, lasting conversions. And even the launching of new churches. And new churches, they need strengthening, encouragement, leadership. Well, actually, present churches need that too, huh?

[9:14] And all this, God's grace is sustaining his people. God's grace is sustaining us. I mean, like, quick time here.

[9:28] Iconium, they preach, there's a response, opposition, violence, they flee. Lystra, Derby, they healed a man, people hailed him as gods, they preached the truth, Jews pursued them, stone Paul, to Derby.

[9:40] Make disciples, return the Christians, to encourage them, set up leadership, boom, they're back home. I mean, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam. That's what Luke does in this chapter. He just gives it to us.

[9:51] Highlights, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, moving, moving, moving. And so we get the principle here about how God just uses normal everyday Christians just to proclaim the gospel.

[10:03] Well, first, we need to ask the question though, we need to ask the question, what? Then we can move to how. What is the gospel? What is the gospel?

[10:14] Four words for you. God, humans, Jesus respond. God is just, he's the creator, the sustainer, the benefactor of all. He's a kind, good God. He is righteous and just.

[10:27] Humans, we don't give him the glory he deserves. We don't worship him as he deserves. We've broken his law. We should be condemned, all of us.

[10:37] Jesus. God shows his love to sinners by sending Jesus, the eternal son of God, taking on flesh, being perfect where people failed, he was perfect.

[10:53] Righteous totally. And yet was crucified as a sinner, as a substitute for sinners, he died for sinners in their place. And was physically resurrected from the dead.

[11:03] And God was so satisfied with that. He vindicated him. He brought him back to life. And then the response. For all those who turn away from sin and put their trust in Jesus Christ.

[11:18] Repent and trust Jesus. Alone. Faith alone in Christ alone. That's the gospel. That's the what? That's what we proclaim. So that what I just took, what?

[11:30] 45 seconds to say to you? That's going to bring opposition. That's going to bring conflict with your neighbor. That's going to bring conflict with your kid.

[11:43] That's going to bring conflict within your family. That's what's going to happen. This is gospel truth. But that's what God does. He just uses normal, everyday Christians to do that.

[11:54] That's how you fulfill his mission. We just proclaim. Let's go through. I'm going to give you kind of these principles from the statements that we looked at earlier. Different principles. Just one word type principles.

[12:07] Notice. We proclaim. There's conversion slash launching of a new church. And yet there's opposition and suffering. Or suffering. So proclaim, conversions, opposition, we suffer.

[12:18] I mean that's kind of what happens. Suffering, not always, but usually. Opposition, not always, but usually.

[12:31] And those verses, 1 through 21, then 24 to 25. So starting here in verse 1, they come to Iconium. A rugged location, somewhat isolated, but a ruling center in the region.

[12:47] A mixed culture. Lots of Jews, but also dominated by Gentiles. Notice the custom. When they entered the synagogue of the Jews together, spoke in such a manner, a great multitude believed both of Jews and Greeks.

[13:01] Speaking of Jews, proselytes, and even God-fearers, those that were not circumcised, but they worshiped the God of Israel. The apostles spoke the word and God used it in such a way that a large number both believed in Jesus.

[13:17] So God will use His faithful instruments as He proclaimed the good news. He uses wherever we're at within your community, when you go to the gym, at work, at home, whether you're a mother giving your five-year-old the gospel, or talking with your 60-year-old son who lives in another state.

[13:51] You're meeting with a customer who asks you a spiritual question. You have a co-worker who's speaking, talking with you about different spiritual things. Or you're talking to a resident in Jerome.

[14:07] We just faithfully proclaim. We just give someone the gospel. The gospel can, you can do it in 30 seconds. 30 to 60 seconds.

[14:20] God is a just God. He's a creator. We've rebelled against Him. We're not His worshipers. We should worship Him, yet we don't. And yet God's merciful. He sent Jesus who lived and He died for sinners in our place.

[14:35] And He resurrected from the dead. And He calls us to repent and trust in Christ. I did that in 20 seconds. I mean, that's all it takes. That's the God. And that's the power of God.

[14:46] That's how God will use us to fulfill His mission. We just proclaim this truth. Now, mind you, yet when the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is proclaimed, it will, I put always, I guess we could say always.

[15:01] I shouldn't necessarily put that. It will bring opposition. There will be opposition. Look at verse 2.

[15:13] The Jews who disbelieved or were disobedient to the truth, literally, stroked the minds of the Gentiles and bittered them against the brethren. They pulled these unsaved Gentiles to the side to work against Paul and Barnabas.

[15:32] And then they embittered their minds or they poisoned their minds. Look, friends. We faithfully proclaim that the evil one will bring resistance, opposition to the gospel.

[15:51] Opposing us personally? He'll come against you. He'll remind you of your guilt. Oh, look at you. Look at you giving this person the gospel. You're not worthy to say that. You're a loser.

[16:06] Your five-year-old will fight you. Your relative will ignore you. Your neighbor will not really want to talk to you. Or, as would happen to me and Jerome on Friday, nobody really wanted to talk.

[16:23] They pretty much avoided me. Whoever, there will be opposition, friends. But, look at the resolve.

[16:37] Verse 3, Therefore they spent a long time speaking boldly for the Lord who was bearing witness to the word of His grace, granting that signs and wonders be done by their hands. The resolve and the faces opposition, they spent a long time there speaking boldly for the Lord, who bore witness to Paul and Barnabas, authenticating His word, the word of His grace, His gracious word.

[17:05] By having them do signs and wonders. The Lord supported their work of proclaiming. One writer put it like this, quote, The greater the opposition, the bolder they became.

[17:22] Friends, when there's opposition, when there's opposition, do we fold by pulling out or giving up? Or do we continue to press on?

[17:33] It's hard to endure. But you know what? Opposition to the gospel is evidence that the gospel is working.

[17:46] When the five-year-old or when the neighbor or the relative, the son who live in another state, or whoever, your spouse, or the people of Jerome, when there's opposition, when there's resistance, you're doing something right.

[18:05] You're doing something right. When the evil one comes against you and says you're an idiot and you're a fool and you shouldn't be saying that, you're doing something right. You're doing something right.

[18:21] What gives us endurance? What gives us endurance? Support from the Lord Himself. We're going to see this in just a few moments later on. How God, you're going to see later on in chapter 14, God's grace sustains us.

[18:40] God's grace sustained Paul and Barnabas. He encourages us to continue to testify to His grace. For Paul and Barnabas, he did it through signs and wonders.

[18:51] God will authenticate his message. I'm not saying He's going to do signs and wonders. No. I'm telling you God will authenticate His message. And so, we are so taken by the word of His grace that we're totally compelled to proclaim that sinners can receive that same grace that we received.

[19:13] The grace that God showered upon us. Grace. Such great grace. And we're proclaiming the word of His grace with God Himself supporting us.

[19:29] The result? The city was divided. Verse 4. Some sided with the Jews, some with the apostles, and when an attempt was made by both the Gentiles and Jews with their rulers to mistreat and stone them, they became aware of it and fled to the cities of Lycaonia, to Lystra and Derbe and the surrounding region.

[19:48] And there they continued to preach the gospel. Do you want to take the opportunity to physically assault Paul and Barnabas in the midst of that division? Now, that tells us something, friends.

[20:01] One writer puts it like this, quote, neither miracles nor persuasive argument can effect conversion without that work of God's Spirit, end quote.

[20:16] You can tell that five-year-old until you're blue in the face, the gospel. You can tell that son, you can tell that granddaughter, you can tell that parent, you can tell that person, that co-worker, that resident of Jerome, until you're blue in the face, the Spirit of God is needed.

[20:35] Friends, be encouraged and faithfully proclaim the truth as God gives us His sustaining grace, just sustaining us. Plot was discovered, Paul and Barnabas, they fled, so they can go preach somewhere else, that's why.

[20:55] Went to the province of Lycaonia, 18 miles south of Iconium, and there they preached the gospel. And you see this pattern, they proclaim the gospel, there's convergence, opposition, persecution ends up coming, so they go elsewhere to proclaim the gospel.

[21:09] And they do it all over again. notice verse 8, Lystra, a man without strength in his feet, lame from the mother's womb, never walked. The people of Lystra, they had a reputation for being rustic, they were not very learned, they were militant, intractable, non-Roman, uncivilized.

[21:31] So while Paul spoke, the man was listening, he was totally lame, no strength, lame from birth. And Paul saw he had faith to be delivered or saved or healed, it says in our text, from his crippled condition.

[21:47] Obviously, the picture of the miracle shows Paul's message was in a spiritual direction. He's not just about doing miracles. And notice he says, with a loud voice, end of verse 10, stand upright on your feet, and he leaped and he walked.

[22:03] He jumped up and he started walking. Well, the Gentiles saw the power that healed this crippled man. It says, they raised a voice, saying in the Lycaonian language, the gods have become like men have come down to us.

[22:20] Barnabas was called Zeus and Paul Hermas because he was the chief speaker. Why this reaction? The Latin poet Ovid, he records a legend.

[22:36] Listen to this. There was a visit by the supreme god Jupiter, Zeus to the Greeks, and his son Mercury Hermas to the Phrygian hill country, kind of this area.

[22:51] They disguised themselves as mortals and they were seeking lodging. All the people turned them away except for this elderly couple.

[23:02] They welcomed them. the elderly couple gave them the last of their food. Well, lo and behold, they revealed that they were the gods. The result that their house of this elderly couple was transformed into a temple and they were made priests and then the gods destroyed that land and all the people on it.

[23:22] So the Lycaonians, they're thinking, wait a second, the gods did that before. We don't want that to happen again. This is who Paul and Barnabas are.

[23:34] This is what they're thinking. This is why, notice verse 13, the priest of Zeus, he comes out with oxen and garlands to the gates and offers sacrifice with the crowds. Now at first, Paul and Barnabas, they didn't understand what was going on because they're speaking in their own language.

[23:49] The people are. And they could have taken advantage of this rustic, gullible people. But notice, they really wanted to enhance their understanding. They wanted to point them to the one true God.

[24:00] We'll see that in just a second. Notice, Paul and Barnabas, they figured out what they were doing and they strongly reacted to them. Notice, when the apostles heard of it, they tore their robes and rushed down to a crowd crying, why are you doing these things?

[24:18] Tearing their clothes was a way to describe, this is blasphemy uttered against God, not to mention to try and get their attention. They didn't want to receive homage or honor, detracting from giving glory to the one true God.

[24:34] Why are you doing this? We are mere mortals like you. We are also men of the same nature as you. We are no different from any of you.

[24:45] Stop this nonsense. And notice what he gives us, the goal. We preach the gospel to you, that you should turn from these vain things to a living God and may the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them.

[25:03] The goal was to preach the good news to you so you would turn from your vain worship of the gods and idols to serve the one true living God and may the heaven and the earth and see everything that is in them.

[25:14] That's our goal. That's our focus. To proclaim the gospel. gospel. And this turning is what true repentance entails.

[25:27] From idols to the living God which implies seeking a relationship with God. See, conversion means you turn from other objects of devotion and you give one's absolute devotion to the one true God.

[25:41] I put up 1 Thessalonians chapter 1 verse 9. Paul says this about the church in Thessalonica for they themselves report about us what kind of a reception we had with you and how you turn to God from idols to serve a living and true God and to wait for his son from heaven and be raised from the dead Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.

[26:12] So Paul is saying we're calling you to change from dead idols to serve the living true God. the one who created everything. The good news of the Lord Jesus Christ it calls people to turn away from sin and worship the one true God.

[26:31] Reveal himself ultimately in his eternal son Jesus. So notice what Paul does here. Notice how he proclaimed God as creator and then sustainer and then the benefactor verse 16 and the generations gone by he permitted all the nations to go their own way and yet he did not leave himself without witness.

[26:53] He did good gave you range from heaven and fruitful seasons satisfying your hearts with food and gladness. God is the creator God's the sustainer God's the benefactor.

[27:06] In the past Paul says God let the nations go their own way and that he did not reveal himself in a special way like he did with Israel. That's what that means.

[27:17] He permitted the nations to go their own way. See God did not give direct active spiritual guidance of revelation to the nations of the world only to his chosen people Israel.

[27:31] He did not directly offer salvation to the nations of the world. He had to become an Israeli. He had to become of the Hebrew people. So there was nothing that was given to the nations directly but yet he did not leave himself without a witness.

[27:52] What's the witness? General revelation. And that God cares for all people. How? He gave rain, seasons, food for the joys of life.

[28:07] He provided enough food and joy so that they'd be satisfied. God shows his kindness to all. Even today God shows his kindness to all. Now somebody says to you automatically what? Well people are starving in the world today though.

[28:22] Right? But that's because sinful men stifle people and they selfishly take food away from them as a way to control people.

[28:33] God will judge them severely for this. So God shows his great kindness and goodness to everyone by having people enjoy the benefits of life and his creation.

[28:48] The pleasures of this life are meant to direct one to the worship of the one true God. You worship only him. He's the one and only true God.

[29:02] This is what's called common grace. Common grace is God's favor to all. It's not a grace that saves. But it's a grace that God gives so that way the person who is yesterday or this afternoon will barbecue their hot dogs and their hamburgers.

[29:26] people who might be down there I don't know are the cardinals playing down in Phoenix? I don't know let's say they are. Cardinals are playing down in Phoenix. People go down there they have on the back of their trucks they have their hamburgers cooking they're eating and enjoying that together they go to the football game enjoy the football game they come home they enjoy rest they get up and they go to work that's just God's grace to them.

[29:55] They don't deserve that. we should be consumed right now we should have been consumed thousands of years ago but because Jesus died on the cross God looked forward and now looks back to that cross and he shows grace to everyone and he's holding off his judgment because of the cross that's called common grace so Paul's saying this is what it is and yet you guys are you're committing idolatry idolatry worshiping other gods is condemned because it is a distortion of the truth about the one true God you should worship only him are you here today you're not worshiping the one true God come repent turn away from idolatry turn away from the other gods and put your trust in Jesus Christ the one and only true God he will save you he will love you and give you grace so he says

[31:03] Gentiles who do not have special revelation definitely have general revelation so they're without excuse Paul says this in Romans chapter 1 God's wrath is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth and unrighteousness because that which is known about God is evidence among them for God made it evident to them how since the creation of the world his invisible attributes eternal power divine nature have been clearly seen being understood through what has been made so they're without excuse now Paul had not yet gotten to Jesus he's first establishing that there's only one true God to whom all are responsible maybe his message was cut short it's quite possible because he's speaking and notice what it says in verse 18 saying these things they were difficult restraining the crowds from offering sacrifice to them he's talking to them about this and they're trying to keep them from offering the sacrifices to the people to them as from the people maybe never even got to Jesus notice how time passes maybe it was only hours and Jews they kept track of

[32:26] Paul and Barabbas look at verse 19 they came from Antioch and Iconium they showed up and they spoke against them and the Jews persuaded this fickle crowd despite the miracle crowds are fickle aren't they stoning Paul they leave him for dead it was mob violence Barnabas wasn't there we don't know why notice what happens verse 20 all the disciples stood around him from Lystra they surrounded Paul they helped him get back on his feet and he went back into the city this guy's crazy notice it says the next day he went away with Barnabas to Derbe notice it happens so the the gospel is proclaimed there's conversions but there's opposition and here there's definitely suffering and they run so they can go proclaim it to somebody else here it is put up here on the screen gospel proclaim opposition arises persecution ensues they move to the next city disciples are made a church is planted boom boom boom boom boom they go to

[33:50] Derbe 35 miles southeast of Lystra notice it says verse 21 after they preached the gospel to that city and made many disciples they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch it seems they preached the gospel they made many disciples evangelized they were teaching they were edifying there didn't seem to be any opposition by God's grace praise the Lord so here you have we looked at the principles proclaim conversions opposition suffer that's what happens notice though we come to the next few points the next part is there's encouragement that takes place and then we entrust encouragement and then we entrust 21-23 notice it says in verse 21 they preached the gospel then they went back to those churches the church that just got through stoning them the church that just got through bringing about all this opposition they went back there wow this shows that they had trust that they trusted in

[34:58] God and were confident he would take care of them and deliver them they're entrusting themselves with God they're entrusting themselves to God and his sustaining grace and notice what happens verse 22 strengthen the souls of the disciples encouraging them to continue in the faith saying through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God strengthen them in three ways strengthen their souls exhort them to continue in the faith and taught them about continuing trials or tribulations as Jesus disciples and then the important leaders to help teach them and shepherd them kind of the blueprint so to speak for the church so notice strengthen their souls encourage them to remain solid in the faith they needed that reminder because this perseverance will not be easy it will entail persecution suffering tribulation through which they would enter the full arrival of God's kingdom apparently these believers were facing opposition hardships persecution themselves they needed some encouragement friends we need encouragement it's hard to be a faithful proclaimer it's hard to be a faithful proclaimer follower it's hard to be a faithful follower that's why it says through many tribulations you must enter the kingdom of

[36:36] God the final vindication after death as a matter of fact Paul actually says here it is necessary for us to enter God's kingdom through trials and tribulations remember that word that we've been using that Luke's been using day D-E-I delta epsilon iota it is necessary it must happen friends this is God's plan we will suffer he will suffer that's his plan if jesus suffered while he was on earth so will his disciples some more some less physical ailments sickness cancer persecution and notice how

[37:44] Paul and Barnabas set the example set the example to the believers they face suffering themselves Paul didn't say oh but many trials and tribulations I gotta get out of here prosperity gospel that kind of doesn't work hey you know what they just stoned me I know what it's like I know what it's like to suffer I know what it's like I mean it says in Luke chapter 9 verse 22 Jesus said the son of man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and scribes and be killed and be raised up on the third day if they hated Jesus they're gonna hate you so what do we do what can we do we keep repenting and trusting we keep remembering the gospel in the face of suffering and hardships we remember his great love remember his love for you and Jesus

[38:54] Christ that's what we remember he sustains us by his grace notice what he does here to help in the process to help them to encourage them to help shepherd them through this process what does Paul do what does Barnabas do verse 23 and when they had appointed elders for them in every church elders plural in each church singular so each church had a plurality of elders this is why we believe here at Cottonwood Bible Church that it's God's plan for there to be a plurality of elders for each local church and it's biblically correct for us to elders they pastor and oversee it's used interchangeably churches don't have elders that's the biblical model elders or pastors or overseers who are shepherding

[40:00] God's church they shepherd them through the fact that they're going to go through trials and tribulations because when you proclaim the gospel there's going to be opposition and as new churches were planted Paul and Barnabas they appointed leaders for those churches notice with prayer and fasting then what did they do they entrusted new leaders and they entrusted the church to the Lord's service his safe keeping his care and this is not an administrative detail these elders will care for and spiritually shepherd these new churches as they're going through the tribulations to keep encouraging them to help remember them God's grace is sustaining us yet keep in mind a church is still a church even without leaders or elders so you have this whole process taking place proclaim conversions opposition suffer there's encouragement there's entrusting and then notice how this ends which is really how it all has been sustained how God sustains us his grace verse 24 to 28 they kind of reversed their route they came to progress spoke the word there but then they sailed from

[41:22] Italia to Antioch from which they had been commended by God's grace to the grace of God for the work that they had accomplished or fulfilled their safe return from the mission what do we see here we see God's grace cared for them throughout his mission and enabled them for his ministry even in the midst of severe opposition and suffering for proclaiming his gospel of grace and his grace will enable you too Christian he will sustain you by his grace 27 they arrived gathered the church they reported all the things that God had done the church gathered together reported them all that God had done especially what he's done how he opened a door to the Gentiles and the whole church was involved they all together sent out

[42:30] Paul and Barnabas and so they reported back it was an encouragement to them but showed how God was showing his grace and sustaining them by his grace as they were proclaiming grace notice how God was at work gospel was proclaimed people respond opposition mounted suffering is unleashed new churches are launched pastoral cares administered leadership's appointed new church are commended a relationship is established and friends he's at work among us just be who you are Christian just be who you are a member of Cottonwood Bible Church let God use you to fulfill his mission how?

[43:17] proclaim conversions will come but be mindful there will be opposition you'll suffer and we need that encouragement we entrust ourselves to the Lord he's going to sustain us by his grace and allow him to sustain you by his grace as you proclaim the gospel of grace a lot for us to see a lot that we've seen in this passage so let's take a few moments have a few moments of silence where you can ponder and think and consider what we've seen in God's word maybe at this time the person that you've been given the gospel to has come to your mind repeatedly maybe at this time you want to take a moment and pray for that person that God would work in their heart and they would respond to the gospel whichever the case let's take a few moments ponder what we've seen in God's word and then we'll do our time of giving and sing in our last two songs in our closing prayer

[44:21] ASMR