I WILL build my Church - Acts 13:1-12

[0:00] God is good, amen. To be forgiven of much Go ahead and turn open to Acts 13 We're gonna look at verses 1 through 12 this morning before we dive in Want to mention for our readers out there. We have a new book for our dead theologian society Secret thoughts of an unlikely convert you can get it out at the resource board or the info desk and It's quite a story Rosario Butterfield and her conversion and It will encourage you so I want to encourage you for that with that for our men We have a men's burst this Thursday morning 6 a.m. And if I'm gonna get up Misery enjoys company so Would love to have a few of you join us We'll be in the coffee corner and we'll be looking at a few of the proverbs together On Thursday morning With that let me pray for our time and then we'll dive into our study. So join me

[1:12] Father first we want to say thank you Thank you for Jesus Thank you that you would love sinners That you would die for sinners That you would make something new out of our lives Thank you that you gave everything that we might be called your children Lord we want to pray for those that are hurting and suffering Whether be here and spoke can around the world Lord we think of those in the Ukraine Lord we pray for our brothers and sisters. We pray for the churches Lord that you would Bring the encouragement they need For another day to serve to walk in courage and to continue to make the gospel known through deed through word Lord you tell us that those whose mind has stayed on you then

[2:19] Exists in perfect peace And Lord we want our mind to be attuned to yours this morning Lord whatever is needed here this morning Would you provide?

[2:32] for each of your children That there's some here that don't know you I pray today They would confess you Jesus is Lord and Savior and they would know the joy of new life forgiven life Would you speak to us now through your word through your spirit then Jesus name and all guys people said amen The message and the march of the gospel cannot be halted Not in the first century not in the 21st century And it cannot be halted because it's based Not upon Man's ideas or his ingenuity or his efforts It cannot be halted because it's grounded on the very specific promise of God He says this I

[3:36] Will build my church He says that Matthew 16 I Will build my church and in our study thus far in the book of Acts we have observed this Reality that Jesus is indeed building His church in fact, it's a reality that in the 21st century. We are forever tethered to as we read the pages of this book we have simply entered into our own history and It is a beautiful history It's the March of God to call sinners unto himself and how does God choose to build his church Well, he does though through people reaching people and we've already seen that in our study thus far we we met Philip and We saw his bold evangelism in Samaria and then sharing the good news with this influencer to Ethiopia

[4:45] He saw Peter who went up and down the coast of the Mediterranean and shared the good news chiefly in Caesarea We observed Stephen that line-hearted evangelist and By preaching the gospel and then being executed seeing God's people scattered throughout the region as far as Phoenicia Cyprus and Antioch as it tells us in Acts 11 verse 19 and it's brilliant God has scattered his people these first missionaries and This is where we pick up our narrative this morning and in the story of Acts This is where the story shifts Because in verses or in chapters 1 through 12 God's eye has been focused on Jerusalem chief character being Peter and now his gaze turns north some 300 miles to the city of Antioch and

[6:00] So this is that demarcation point the second half chapters 13 to 28 and We will be focused now on Antioch and the missionary activity that is accomplished through this daughter church Jesus has committed to the task of building his church He has chosen to do so Through people but the thing that I want us to reckon with and to hear this morning is Jesus will build his church and he will do it either because of us or in spite of us and I Can't imagine being at the marriage feast of the Lamb and celebrating the ultimate victory and the fact that God has has has grown a family for himself and to have nothing to celebrate in terms of what we have done to contribute

[7:04] To have in a sense sat on the bench Jesus is going to build his church forth and we have a choice Whether we're going to be a part of that We're whether he's simply going to do it in spite of us and so today We're just going to consider five ways And I wrestled whether to put this in the negative or the positive But I kept it in the negative of five ways. We're telling God use somebody else But I know we're intelligent enough to conversely see what this means in the positive so let's just begin and work through the the text together this morning beginning in verse one Luke writes now there we're in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers Barnabas Simeon who was called Niger Lucius the sireen Menein a lifelong friend of Herod the tetrarch and

[8:07] Saul The church at Antioch there's incredible ministry occurring in this city the least likely of places It's a third leading city of Rome It is the Roman capital of Syria It's a bustling commercial center With a lot of activity It's a progressive city Cicero says of it. It is a place of learned men and liberal studies There is a veneer of advancement and learning and Yet Antioch this city is a moral cesspool It's a city where good is evil and evil is deemed as good In fact, there's a shrine just five miles south of the city shrine to Daphne popular destination site for locals and out of towners to visit the local temple prostitutes one historian of the day actually speaking figuratively wrote of Antioch the sewage of Antioch was pouring into the rivers of Rome

[9:25] So Antioch was outpacing Rome an immorality and vice even influencing and Yet this is where God Decides to set up his base of operations to reach the Gentile world with the gospel Why why Antioch Well if God came to rescue sinners what better place than to set up shop, right?

[10:00] Sin City of the ancient world and If he can rescue an Antioch he can rescue anywhere Jesus says I will build my church. I Will build my church Well the first thing that we learn about this particular church in Antioch from verse one We we learned something of the congregation specifically the leaders We see that we have a list of individuals Barnabas. We know he's from the island of Cyprus and He was actually sent to Antioch From the Jerusalem church. They hear the ministry going on. They're like let's send Barnabas up there Help with the work. We also meet a couple men from North Africa Simeon called Niger which translates black So he's a dark-skinned individual and then Lucius from Cyrene that is a city in North Africa and Then we have this individual and in my studies. They just kept catching my attention manaean

[11:07] This man from the upper crust of society Raised as a foster brother to Herod antipas Herod antipas is the uncle of Herod a grippa who Eric shared about last week eaten by worms Antibas his uncle Jesus called the Fox in Luke 13 He's the one that had John the baptizer beheaded This is a bad family the herds and yet Two men raised together and yet manaean comes to faith in Christ It's a diverse group and then of course we have Saul from Tarsus some 85 miles north of Antioch and he's serving in this church solely because of the humility of Barnabas Who gets there and sees the work and says man. I got a guy. I got a guy who's gonna fit Who's gonna be far more effective than me and he grabs Saul and brings him to Antioch a

[12:12] Diverse group. I love that we see a plurality of leaders This is a healthy church as a result and it's a beautiful church just the gospel mosaic that is present here It's present in the pulpit. It's present in the pews and I want us to know this It's not diversity simply for diversity sake its diversity because Antioch ministers in a very diverse city Which tells us that this church is?

[12:40] Reaching there Jerusalem But you know this wasn't always the case for Antioch the fact that it was a diverse group of believers In fact, we read back in Acts chapter 11 Says in verse 19 and 20 it says now those who were scattered because of the persecution That arose over Steve and traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch now catch this Speaking the word to no one except Jews But there were some of them men of Cyprus and Cyrene who on coming to Antioch spoke to the Hellenists also preaching the Lord Jesus So think about this the Christians at Antioch initially They had a profile for who they would invite Who is worthy of the gospel?

[13:36] We're simply going to speak to the Jews and it's not until some godly men from North Africa and Cyprus They show up and they're like stop it What are you guys doing?

[13:49] The gospel is for the nations Jesus is for everyone First way we tell God to use someone else By build his church we create our own profile for who's welcome here at fourth We're warm towards only Those that look like us Inviting kind or maybe we're we're warm only to those that are good-looking You notice how I separated those you Gonna figure out probably this afternoon you're gonna just realize what I did Like passage they just called me ugly. I'm just it's gonna click Or maybe It's only those that have grown up in the church that that would fit here at at fourth Man first way we tell God to use someone else man. We create a profile of who is welcome here and so the question for us is have we prioritize or have we prized secondary issues over the gospel

[15:06] That have somehow shrunk Those that would feel at home here What is that profile?

[15:20] Is political affiliation a necessary precondition for someone to be welcome at fourth? Now we would never say that outwardly But we need to think about this We need to think about this do political conversations find too much airtime in the hallways the foyer of our Gathering because when we gather who are we here to celebrate and to worship into a door?

[15:55] It's not the man in the White House and so it's easy to kind of you know But whoever sits in power is not our Messiah They're not gonna rescue us. They're also not gonna damn us to hell And we need to give thought to this What about our our educational choices as a family for our for our children And I have seen churches that you go in and it's like there's a there's a spirit there. This is the homeschool church We care about our kids and their discipleship or this is the the public school church We care about evangelism Making sure our kids are ready to share the good news Frankly, I don't care how you educate your kids. I do care that you educate them Be thoughtful be confident whatever choice that is But don't measure whether somebody would belong here or not based upon some secondary issue

[17:05] We should never think oh I'm not gonna invite this person to our worship gathering gathering because they just wouldn't fit in I Can't invite that person You know that greaves the heart of God And I know how our senior pastor feels because I've spoken to him about it and you know what he will say Invite them all Invite them all Let them come and let them stumble over the gospel or receive words of life Invite them all Have we created a profile of who we would invite to our gathering Let's continue verses two and three It says while they speaking of the leadership We're worshiping the Lord and fasting the Holy Spirit said set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them

[18:08] Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off So this is a church that is pursuing hard after the Lord We see here that they're doing so through worship Rather service is is the word here or through fasting and prayer is obviously a part of that And I would just say as an aside on fasting fasting I have time to give you a theological lecture on fasting but Just to say briefly fasting is not an in and of itself The goal isn't to draw attention to yourself Jesus very clear In Matthew 6 he says hey if you're fasting I know your head wash your face It's not for for you to broadcast to others That this is what's happening And you're not doing it simply to do it. You're doing it in order to draw near to God

[19:09] So a very simple definition of fasting is to give up a good For a period in order to pursue a better Giving up a good in order to pursue the better And in this case at Antioch they were replacing food With prayer God we want to seek your face. We want to seek your presence and in the midst of that God speaks God has a message for this church And the message is this set apart from me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them Second way that we tell God to use someone else to build his church Is by holding tightly to our will and our plans above gods This was God's will this was his plan for these two men And maybe you're thinking Jay like I would love to do God's will if he would just give me a clear message on his will for the work to which I have called him

[20:18] God's will if he would just give me a clear message on his will for my life Let me give you a concise matrix in in terms of determining God's will And it's threefold number one You want the Holy Spirit to speak to you about God's will for your life He already has He already has He has 66 books In fact Peter says it's it's men moved carried by the Holy Spirit. They spoke But this is the breath of God God's voice He's spoken There is plenty that he has already revealed in the book that he wrote

[21:27] Man, I want to know God's will what's God's will He has revealed so very much But Jay I want you know, no, no, you know, I want a special word. I want a special word You want a special word Just make sure you're not already ignoring the words that he's given Spend a number of years as a college pastor I still recall a conversation with a young man who was trying to figure out God's will It's God calling me to ministry. What what's God doing? And and he's like like man I need a word from the Lord I need a special word. So I gave him one I said, why don't you stop being so physical with your girlfriend?

[22:23] Why don't you stop sleeping with her? Why don't you stop sleeping with her? You start there First s4 3 This is the Lord's will Your sanctification That you have stained from sexual immorality Why don't you start there?

[22:41] He's already revealed it and then wrestle with the next thing How about that? He didn't appreciate that Church, don't expect God to bring greater clarity about your life If you have already turned a deaf ear towards that which he has already said Amen?

[23:06] Second way In terms of figuring out God's will And I think this is an observation I'm just making simply here Did God speak to the leaders at Antioch while they were sitting idle?

[23:17] No No He says while they were worshiping The Greek word there Liturgeo Where we get a word liturgy from Translates to minister or to serve They're serving So as you are seeking to determine God's will Waiting on God is not synonymous with that inactivity To wait on the Lord is not to be inactive God revealed himself in the midst of ministry that was occurring And in terms of Paul and Barnabas They were given clear directives But this was not the occurrence every day Do you realize that Paul and Barnabas had been serving faithfully in this church for an entire year?

[24:13] It says that in Acts 1126 it says for a whole year they met with the church and taught a great many people So it wasn't the typical means of God giving a very specific word They're simply serving. They knew that the Lord had called them to that So as you're trying to discern the Lord's will let me encourage us. Let's not be inactive Inactive in fact, let's do what we know the Lord delights in and serve the body Serve the church and in the midst of doing ministry often the Lord will Bring greater clarity About what that next step happens to be in your life and then the third way in terms of Determining guys will just draw near to the Lord Draw near to him daily Let him refine shape your desires And as he does that Do what you want

[25:17] That doesn't sound that doesn't sound like the Bible No, do what you want If you're delighting in the Lord It says in Psalm 37 for delight yourself in the Lord and he'll give you The desires of your heart So somehow God works through our Godly desires I have a friend who Wanted to be a carpenter He's got okay with that He loves the Lord Delights in the Lord Still felt like I want to be a carpenter That's what he is He's doing what he wants And in his carpentry, that's his mission field He builds tree houses for a living But that's his mission field He builds expensive tree houses You've probably seen the show And maybe you didn't know There's a Christian on that crew It's a buddy of mine's names Griffin

[26:20] He listens to the Bible on audio as he builds tree houses Like six seven hours a day I think he's been through I don't know how many times he's been it's just It's incredible and he's got influence And if you watch the show, you know, there's some some wacky ideas from that company But they listen to Griffin That's his mission field does what he wants That's a short version In terms of God's will But here Lord has made it very clear About Paul and Barnabas What the Lord has for them and so the church says your will God we want them here These guys are gifted But your will is just have them go out So it says after they fast and pray they laid hands on them and they sent them out There's a great image, right?

[27:19] As you go we go As you go we go Let's look at verse four and five So so being sent out by the Holy Spirit They went down to Seleutia and from there they sailed to Cyprus when they arrived at Salamis They proclaimed the word of God in the synagogue of the Jews They had John to assist them I have a map and We see from Antioch they head down to Seleutia and they sail to the port city of Salamis They're on the island of Cyprus By the way this first missionary trip of of Paul it takes about two years Perhaps 47 48 ad Somewhere in there and

[28:20] And Paul's plan as he gets to the island of Cyprus is simply this I am going to walk With Barnabas and I'm glad I have Barnabas because this is his hometown so Barnabas is the gps and I'm going to walk with Barnabas and John mark cousin of Barnabas. We learn in Colossians 410 But we're going to walk 90 miles Of the island from east to west And along the way We're going to do one thing We're going to preach Jesus. We're going to share the gospel That's the plan And it's it's it's thought out it's strategic because they're going to the synagogues and in the synagogues you have As Paul being the apostle to the Gentiles you have Gentile God fears present So I'm going to speak to this audience This is a good fishing hole And so Paul is strategic in the way that he carries out his ministry

[29:27] And I love that he is Committed to say man, I'm going to go where there's folks I'm going to go where there's unbelievers I want an audience You know it's one of the reasons I continue and I've committed to continue to drive for uber because I need to be around unbelievers I mean I like most of you Okay, that's that's an overstatement no I'm um When are we around unbelievers church?

[30:02] I know that mission and vocation they've have to intersect For those With careers they have to My career doesn't allow me to be around a lot of unbelievers Every staff meeting Tuesday morning. I'm looking around the room I mean I'm like scott we could try to you know convert eric again. I mean I don't know So we have to position ourselves. So wherever the lord has you And it's one of the reasons as a church that we We want to gather when we gather we use it well But outside of you gathering with believers I mean, I think we can ask you to gather twice a week, but any more than that When are we around unbelievers?

[30:49] Fourth doesn't exist simply for can you know for transfer growth. We'll see people come to meet Jesus Paul's being strategic And and I love that but the third way we tell God to use someone else It's by living a life where we prioritize the temporary over the eternal God use someone else They're about the eternal me. I'm about the temporary And I know as you look at this third point. You're like Jay man. You're so sneaky. That's like the same thing That's like the same as point number two. I know It's called repetition You know when Paul goes to Cyprus, it's not a vacation He's there to snatch people out of the fire of hell There's a talks about in jude 23 Paul was about the gospel. He was about the gospel seeing it take root into person's heart

[31:50] He was there then strategically to root it into a community by planting churches. It's brilliant And that's the essence of missions If we're going to send missionaries it has to be about the gospel And it has to be connected to local ministry that's happening through a local church Because that's the pattern that we see as we read the pages of acts But see even missions can lose The eternal as a priority the gospel and they can become about simply Temporary things we're going somewhere just to simply improve the lives of those that are living in that place And that's a good thing. That's not a bad thing. It's a good thing But I want us to understand That we actually accomplish both if we keep missions about the gospel because If missions about the gospel Cultures improve when God's people exist in a community

[32:56] The solution to man's problems is not altering his surroundings. It's altering his heart Which is why we're going to be about the gospel do we want to see people's lives improve of course Of course But it happens when God reaches in and changes the heart of an individual There is a border town between Cambodia and Thailand poipet It is known as the sex vacation capital of the world children are trafficked there daily You know what the solution is? It's the gospel It's the gospel As part of a church planning network back on the west side Who had a strategy to plant 100 churches along that border town presently today? There's 25 that exist They've been planted in poipet On this border town where children are being trafficked and as a result of these now 25 churches sex trafficking has gone down

[33:59] Because the soldiers that were trafficking kids they're now a tenney church God has altered the heart It's powerful It's beautiful And just as paul was a missionary and on cypress here we're we're the same as folk hand It's no different But only as effective As to our affections being centered on the gospel Not on temporary things Do we think about the eternal does The notion of eternity does it burden us man's eternity What's captured our heart What's captured our imagination We just finished uh with a winter olympics. I think three people watched um

[35:04] But Eric ladell we know of this man gave up running the hundred meter race in 1924 Favor to win it, but he gave it up because of a conviction man. I'm an honor god with my life And for him it was like i'm not going to run on sunday A close friend of his summed up his life and he said this of eric Things is helpful in terms of our hearts affections being centered on that which Is in the heart of god and is given to the eternal his friend says this about eric. He was literally god controlled his thoughts judgments actions and words To an extent. I have never seen surpassed And rarely seen equaled Every morning he rose early to pray and read the bible in silence Talking and listening to god Pondering the day ahead And often smiling as if at a private joke

[36:06] Isn't that beautiful? It's so good Friends what's got your eyes off of The lord what temporary thing Get rid of it You want to be about the eternal you got to spend time with the one who Is eternal Men Sorry to beg you not begging you and pestering you three problems this month We can all do it I can even read a chapter a day Come on we can do that You got six chapters to read because it's march 6, but you can catch up Hear god's voice And I love this image of eric ladell just silent before the lord hearing and smiling god you're speaking god you're speaking

[37:11] Let's continue look at verses 6 to 8 When they had gone through the whole island as far as pathos They came upon a certain magician a jewish false prophet named bar jesus He was with the proconsul surges paulis a man of intelligence Who summoned barnabas and saul and sought to hear the word of god But elimus the magician for that is the meaning of his name opposed them seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith So paul's team They walked the entire island 90 miles They arrived at the capital city On the west coast and they come across a false prophet Who has the ear who has influence over the governor the roman governor surges paulis Over this island a cypress Bar jesus

[38:15] That would have been a common name actually Once he brews just means son of salvation And perhaps just indicative of faithful jewish parents And yet this man instead of seeking god as as he's matured He's abandoned himself for the sake for the sake of for the sake of the temporary I want the good life I want influence And he's so enamored with himself. He's actually taken the name elimus which actually means the sorcerer That's what he calls himself. Hey, I am the sorcerer I'm enchanted by my ideas And this man doesn't like paul Because he's showing up he's preaching jesus and and doesn't like that the governor wants to hear from paul because he's afraid he's gonna lose influence I've got his ear. He loves the new ideas that I bring him

[39:19] The bad theology is gonna damn him. But man, he loves it And I get to sort of hitch my wagon to his And I get the good life I get influence. I get power So paul get out of here man You're reckoning the thing that I got going Well What does This false prophet do tries to keep the governor Away from hearing the good news But recall what did jesus promise?

[39:57] I will build my church I will build my church I will build my church Does the sorcerer have power To keep this man from repenting if it's in the heart of god To bring him to salvation No Bar jesus versus god Let's pick god. We are here's a review herod versus god Herod's eating work. I mean guys You can't stop you can't stop the march of god And his kingdom purpose of building his church Is paul intimidated by this this charlatan Fortune teller this new atheist whatever you want to define him as look at verses 9 to 11 But sol who was also called paul by the way the first time we see the greek name being used this used from here on out Because why paul his mission field gentiles i'm not going to use my jewish name names mean something

[41:01] I don't want that to be a stumbling block. I'm just gonna go by paul It's a filled with the holy spirit looked intently at him and said How's this for a greeting you son of the devil You enemy of righteousness Full of deceit and villainy Will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the lord?

[41:27] And now behold the hand of the lord is upon you and you will be blind and unable to see the sun for a time Immediately missed and dark and fell upon him and he went about seeking people to lead him by the hand I think there's mercy in this Perhaps paul reflecting on his own experience So having the lord smite him he's like be blind for a season. We may meet this man in heaven The story doesn't tell us how it ends in terms of his salvation Fourth way we tell god to use someone else We allow fear to keep us silent And I would say we allow the fear of man to keep us silent Notice paul doesn't nuance the truth with this man You're like a hidden reef says in june 12 looking to spiritually shipwreck anyone willing to listen to you

[42:34] This man is just spouting bad theology and by the way when we nuance and when we redefine we redefine the gospel It's the synonymous with being silent. It's worse But it's the same thing When we redefine the gospel what we're left with is no gospel I had a conversation this week Individualist said hey, I don't like a god that threatens us with hell for rejecting him And my brilliant response was Okay I I'm with you can create a list Shall we make a list of all the things?

[43:27] In the word of god that we struggle with Because I can help you But see at the end of the day Just like peter He's got words of eternal life I said this individual, you know what we can create that list, but here's the thing Jesus has forgiven me of so much So make the list We need to be careful that we don't alter the gospel so that it's just a little more palatable To those in the world God's not a genie Waiting to give you a wonderful life in terms of health and wealth If you just have enough faith The bible is clear on that front life doesn't always get better We saw James was executed while peter was released. They both loved the lord with a whole heart

[44:36] My threshold for bad gospel is low Suffering Our salvation was accomplished through suffering Life doesn't necessarily get easy of a dear friend John Paul He is a refugee here in America from the dr. Congo He was imprisoned because of his faith. He was beaten because of his faith. His wife was beaten and imprisoned because of her faith In recent conversations, he'll sometimes say oh You know and he's hurting continues to hurt to this day over injuries sustained But he loves the lord with the whole heart. Don't tell me it's a lack of faith It's the tolerance should be low for all of us read the book. I just suggested secret thoughts

[45:40] Rosario Butterfield god blows her life up To rescue her from an eternity in hell Jesus intends to build his church It's a fourth. We need to have courage to share the news to share the good news It's the power of god unto salvation faith comes from hearing. So we have to speak we have to speak Amen Well, how does the story conclude look at verse 12 Says then the proconsul believed He believed When he saw that what had occurred For he was astonished at the teaching of the lord You know, it's interesting. This is the only Recorded conversion on cypress we have here in the new testament This is it

[46:41] This is it Paul walked 90 miles. This is the only conversion we hear of Is it worth it? Yes For paul Yes Yes, I think the fifth and final way we tell god you someone else Is when we resolve to sacrifice little For the advance of the gospel I think a prayer for all of us god Let my zeal not be for comfort God don't let this desire for comfort comfort suffocate my heart for people The bottom line here is people met jesus as a result Of another christian willing to minister at real cost To himself

[47:42] This is a two-year endeavor For paul. This was the first of three missionary trips for paul. He was a tent maker He wasn't riding on somebody else's dime He's bringing his own income not to be a stumbling block to those that he shares the good news with And if you want the full list of things he was willing to endure Go and read 2nd chrithians 11 And there's a list of of hardships That he experienced Suffering he was willing to endure To see some come to know Jesus is lord and savior So Encouragement For those of you that have suffered for the lord God uses that to advance his kingdom Scripture tells us Remember in Philippians paul he's in prison He's saying hey, this is for the advance of the gospel Jerome Church father in the fourth century says the church of christ has been founded by the shedding of its own blood

[48:53] But folks whether we Choose to be the ones Or we say god use someone else the lord is going to build his church And he's going to do it either because of us or in spite of us I love what it says in Matthew 16 because he says you know what i'm going to build my church the gates of hell the gates of Hades can't prevent it And in fact What he's saying is death can't Stop this from occurring in fact i have gone And i have unlocked the doors from the inside Death is now a transition home Jesus says in revelation 118 I have the keys now. I have the keys of death and hades Jesus will build his church Folks this story is somewhat of a tragedy

[49:55] Because this individual elimas this this sorcerer bar jesus It's a tragedy because you know what? He could have been the means to bring salvation To sergius polis He could have he could have enjoyed that been a part of it Sergius polis came to faith But he came to faith in spite of that man Not because of him Let that not be said of us forth Take one of these five Ask the holy spirit to convict you on the one Three of them are repeats you can look at your notes and you'll notice that I'm getting at something Maybe it's because the lord convicts me. Let's pray father. Thank you for time together Thank you for the promise that you indeed will build your church Gates of hell can't prevent it Death can't prevent it

[50:57] There's no sting No victory Death has been put down Jesus you you entered into death and and by your resurrection defeated it Lord we want to be a people that are useful in your hands So lord if there's things that we Need to repent of Even today lord spirit of God convict us We don't want to limit the folks that we would invite here We don't want to prize our plans Temporary things Unwilling to sacrifice And therein just stay in silent God we want to be useful We know that faith comes from hearing and we want to have courage to speak Thank you that there are That there are brothers and sisters in this church that have courage to speak and lord Let their courage let us borrow and let it let it sharpen us For lord we want to be useful in your hands

[52:00] We want to see you We want to see you God we want to be useful in your hands We want to see you use forth Lord we want to celebrate Baptisms folks experiencing new life New creations God what a joy there's nothing better than to be useful in your hands So give us an appetite For that which delights your heart Jesus we walk today in perfect peace Because indeed it is you It is you that will build your church It is you that have the the keys Even to death itself and lord we know how the how the future goes because You're the one that determines when the age of man is done

[53:02] You're the one that can open the seals Not some man in office somewhere it's you Jesus so we rest in your sovereignty we rest in your providence we rest in your goodness And we want to be a part of the march of God Amen