WEBVTT 00:00:00.800 --> 00:00:07.000 Good morning. Ooh, that works. I've known Jeff Simpson. We were back here in November 00:00:07.000 --> 00:00:11.259 and I mentioned that I've known Jeff since I was a freshman in college about 15 years 00:00:11.259 --> 00:00:17.480 ago, which sounds gross to say out loud. And yes, Jeff did have this beard in eighth grade 00:00:17.480 --> 00:00:23.100 is what I've been told. I've been doing my best to keep up with him to mix results. But 00:00:23.100 --> 00:00:27.420 yeah, my name is Chris. My wife Emily is here with me. Our three boys are downstairs, Azari 00:00:27.420 --> 00:00:33.380 who's nine, Killian who's about to be seven, and Josiah who's four. And we are thrilled 00:00:33.380 --> 00:00:37.120 to be back. We were back here in November kind of sharing initially who we were and what the 00:00:37.120 --> 00:00:41.780 Lord is calling us to do. We were missionaries for a little bit in Moscow, Russia from 2014 00:00:41.780 --> 00:00:46.340 to 2017. And for the last few years, we've been stateside doing some ministry. We serve 00:00:46.340 --> 00:00:51.140 as elders at our local church up in Frederick. And we're excited to go back into the mission 00:00:51.140 --> 00:00:56.880 field again, hopefully and faithfully and prayerfully for the long haul with our three boys. 00:00:56.880 --> 00:01:02.520 And so that's a little bit about us. And I will say even with sort of all those marks 00:01:02.520 --> 00:01:07.280 of spiritual maturity in our lives, there are still some nights that I will go to sleep 00:01:07.280 --> 00:01:12.520 unsure if I've had any water on that day. So that's me, a little high and low. Yeah, 00:01:12.560 --> 00:01:16.700 there you go. A little high, a little low. We're going to be in Acts 13 today. I encourage 00:01:16.700 --> 00:01:20.900 you to open your Bible. There's some verses in your pamphlet, in your brochure, in your 00:01:20.900 --> 00:01:25.960 program. But we're going to be zooming through the rest of the chapter as well. If you're 00:01:25.959 --> 00:01:32.500 unfamiliar with the book of Acts, it is most simply the record of the early church. It's 00:01:32.500 --> 00:01:37.819 a book that catalogs how the gospel began its spread across the earth. And a good summary 00:01:37.819 --> 00:01:41.919 of this book comes from the very first chapter where Christ, before he ascends to heaven, 00:01:41.919 --> 00:01:47.739 he declares to his disciples, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, 00:01:48.039 --> 00:01:54.119 and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. 00:01:54.120 --> 00:02:03.240 Put another way, simply, you will tell people about me here, there, and everywhere. But before we get 00:02:03.240 --> 00:02:12.980 to the everywhere, we're going to start here, in this local body of believers, in this church here in DC. 00:02:14.439 --> 00:02:19.680 A question as we start, what is your dream for your church? 00:02:19.680 --> 00:02:29.219 What is your dream for your local church here? Do you dream for this place to be filled with new 00:02:29.219 --> 00:02:35.520 people? Have you been dreaming just for that one friend to finally walk through the doors? 00:02:37.580 --> 00:02:43.020 Do you dream that your church would grow and have multiple services or a snazzier social media presence? 00:02:43.020 --> 00:02:46.960 Are you dreaming for the day that you will one day worship in your new building? 00:02:48.100 --> 00:02:56.060 What is your dream for your local church? Do you dream at all? Do you have hopes and longings for 00:02:56.060 --> 00:03:02.540 this group of people here? Or maybe you find yourself a part of church for so long and you've been 00:03:02.540 --> 00:03:08.620 disappointed time and time again that you've learned to keep your dreams and your hopes and your 00:03:08.620 --> 00:03:17.960 expectations low? So low that maybe a worm could crawl over them? Or maybe there's a third group of people 00:03:17.960 --> 00:03:24.060 here. Maybe you're just checked out altogether. And maybe you didn't even know that you could or should 00:03:24.060 --> 00:03:30.780 dream for your local church. And regardless of where you find yourself in the process today, I want you to see 00:03:30.780 --> 00:03:39.620 this morning as an invitation. An invitation to dream. And an invitation to dream really, really big. 00:03:41.039 --> 00:03:44.879 And so we're going to be in Acts 13. Like I said, we're going to start this morning with some prayer. 00:03:45.319 --> 00:03:49.319 I'd invite you to pray for me that as we go through this, that I would say the words that the Lord would 00:03:49.319 --> 00:03:54.340 have me to say. Pray for yourself, for your brothers and sisters here, and we will get into this. And so if you 00:03:54.340 --> 00:04:02.699 would, let's pray together. God, I give you these next few minutes. We are hopeful that you will do 00:04:02.699 --> 00:04:09.620 something sweet with them. And so we pray today, as today we think about world missions, as we think 00:04:09.620 --> 00:04:16.620 about your presence, not only here, but around the world, would you stir our hearts? Would you change 00:04:16.620 --> 00:04:24.319 the way that we think? Would you transform what we believe about ourselves, about you, and about the 00:04:24.319 --> 00:04:28.740 world? God, we give you these next few minutes. We pray that you do something sweet with them. We love 00:04:28.740 --> 00:04:35.099 you and thank you that you first loved us. Amen. Amen. All right, so Acts 13, it starts with, 00:04:36.680 --> 00:04:43.139 now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon, who was called Niger, 00:04:43.560 --> 00:04:50.759 Lucius of Cyrene, and Manan, a lifelong friend of Herod the Tetrarch and Saul. Our setting is Antioch. 00:04:50.759 --> 00:04:56.219 The chapter opens with a description of this local gathering of believers. There's a local church 00:04:56.219 --> 00:05:02.219 going on in the city of Antioch, which is located in Syria. It is the capital of the Roman province of 00:05:02.219 --> 00:05:08.639 Syria at the time, and it is home to half a million citizens. It is the third largest city at New 00:05:08.639 --> 00:05:13.519 Testament times, with Rome and Alexandria being the only cities in the modern world that are bigger. 00:05:14.240 --> 00:05:19.339 We see back in Acts 11 how this church got started. Verse 21 of Acts 11 says, 00:05:19.339 --> 00:05:23.519 the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number believed and turned to the Lord. 00:05:23.959 --> 00:05:29.639 The report of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. 00:05:30.079 --> 00:05:36.159 Verse 24 of chapter 11 says, a great many people were added to the Lord. Verse 25, and so Barnabas 00:05:36.159 --> 00:05:41.579 went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he had found him, he brought him back to Antioch. 00:05:42.079 --> 00:05:45.959 So the background of what's going on, we have a local church that is beginning in Antioch. 00:05:45.959 --> 00:05:51.699 The hand of the Lord was clearly with them. They are growing, and the Jerusalem church, sort of the 00:05:51.699 --> 00:05:57.859 mother church, hears about this, and they send Barnabas to see what's going on, to see if their faith 00:05:57.859 --> 00:06:05.579 is legit or not. So Barnabas goes and says, yes, it is legit, and in fact, I need some help, and I know 00:06:05.579 --> 00:06:11.899 who to call. I'm going to go to Tarsus. I'm going to get my buddy Saul, also known as Paul, and so ministry 00:06:11.899 --> 00:06:17.219 begins at this local church in Antioch. But what else do we know just from this first verse about 00:06:17.219 --> 00:06:23.500 this local church? We know for a fact that it was diverse in every sense of the way. Racially and 00:06:23.500 --> 00:06:27.739 socioeconomically, we see that we have Barnabas, who's a Jewish native of the island of Cyprus. 00:06:28.039 --> 00:06:33.239 He's wealthy enough to own land. We see this back in Acts chapter 4. We have Simeon, who was called 00:06:33.239 --> 00:06:39.159 Niger, who was a believer from Africa. We have Lucius of Cyrene, who's another African believer, this time 00:06:39.160 --> 00:06:44.760 from the Roman capital of Cyrene in Libya. We have Menaean, who's a lifelong friend of Herod the 00:06:44.760 --> 00:06:51.840 Tetrarch. This guy is a childhood friend of Herod Antipas, who reigned in Galilee during Jesus's 00:06:51.840 --> 00:06:58.740 ministry. This is the same Herod who beheaded John the Baptist, one of the chief enemies of the church. 00:06:59.020 --> 00:07:05.040 This guy's friend is a part of this church here in Antioch. So we see that it's diverse in its 00:07:05.040 --> 00:07:11.300 backgrounds. It's also diverse in its spiritual giftings, who's present, who is serving. It says 00:07:11.300 --> 00:07:17.140 there is prophets and there is teachers, these sort of offices of spiritual giftings. Barnabas was 00:07:17.140 --> 00:07:22.340 originally called Joseph in Acts, but the apostles renamed him to Barnabas, which means son of 00:07:22.340 --> 00:07:27.000 encouragement. So we have this spiritual gift of encouragement going on. We'll see that Paul will 00:07:27.000 --> 00:07:33.259 teach extensively on spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians 12 through 14. So we know that he himself is bringing 00:07:33.259 --> 00:07:39.240 a whole smattering of spiritual giftings to this local church as well. They were diverse. 00:07:41.000 --> 00:07:47.099 They were also devoted to worship, verse 2, while they were worshiping the Lord and fasting. 00:07:47.839 --> 00:07:53.099 While they were worshiping. The implication here is that this is a common occurrence. While they were 00:07:53.099 --> 00:07:59.800 doing this thing that they always do, they devoted themselves to worship. They spent time worshiping the 00:07:59.800 --> 00:08:07.220 Lord and fasting. This regular practice of denying themselves the comfort of food in order to seek 00:08:07.220 --> 00:08:14.900 the Lord. Fasting is always deeply intertwined with the discipline of prayer as well. And so at the outset 00:08:14.900 --> 00:08:22.879 of this morning, we have a local church that is diverse, that is genuinely following the Lord to the best of 00:08:22.879 --> 00:08:30.139 their ability, that is following rhythms of worship and praising the Lord, rhythms of seeking the Lord 00:08:30.139 --> 00:08:39.000 through fasting and prayer. And while this local church was devoting itself to worship and to fasting 00:08:39.000 --> 00:08:47.720 and to praying and to the Word, we see that the Holy Spirit said, verse 2, set apart for me Barnabas and Saul 00:08:47.720 --> 00:08:55.019 for the work to which I have called them. The Holy Spirit says, put another way, that God shows up to 00:08:55.019 --> 00:09:00.960 the party that they're having. Like he issues a simple command, like I hate to interrupt your regularly 00:09:00.960 --> 00:09:10.960 scheduled worship ceremony right now, but I need those guys to come with me. And as we see, they were ready. 00:09:10.960 --> 00:09:18.639 They didn't say no. The people didn't say, but like wait, like Paul and Barnabas, like they're our teachers. 00:09:18.840 --> 00:09:24.480 Like we need them to stay. Like we're in the middle of growing as a local church. Like we're in the middle 00:09:24.480 --> 00:09:29.379 of doing things. We're in the middle of carrying out our own vision for how the gospel is going to be 00:09:29.379 --> 00:09:37.120 spread locally here. Like you can't take those guys. Acts 11 24 describes Barnabas as a good man who is full of 00:09:37.120 --> 00:09:44.700 the Holy Spirit and faith. Paul is going to go on to write 13 of the New Testament books. These guys were 00:09:44.700 --> 00:09:52.259 vital to the operations of this local church. And if they go, who is going to do the things that they did? 00:09:53.980 --> 00:10:00.899 I don't get the sense that any of this sort of arguing happened because verse 3 tells us what happens. 00:10:00.899 --> 00:10:07.419 Then after fasting and praying, they laid their hands on them and they sent them off. 00:10:09.059 --> 00:10:13.379 We have a local church that was diverse and reflective of the many people in their city, 00:10:13.799 --> 00:10:19.199 which was committed to worship and to fasting and to praying. And then we see it was open to the 00:10:19.199 --> 00:10:25.240 leading and the guidance of the Holy Spirit. It was ready to move when they were called on to act. 00:10:25.240 --> 00:10:32.200 And so as we kind of start thinking about bleeding into this idea of missions, before we get there, 00:10:32.600 --> 00:10:41.899 as we begin to dream about this local church, are we committed to worship? Are we committed to 00:10:41.899 --> 00:10:46.919 fasting and to praying? Are we open to the leading and the guidance of the Holy Spirit? My assumption 00:10:46.919 --> 00:10:52.279 as a visitor is yes, based on my friendship with Jeff and all the things that he talks about the church, 00:10:52.279 --> 00:10:59.399 but also just in our time here, I see a commitment to worship. I see a commitment to prayer and to the 00:10:59.399 --> 00:11:05.959 Lord and to faithful teaching of his word. And so if those things are true, really the only question 00:11:05.959 --> 00:11:15.679 for us is, are we ready to move if and when we are called on to act? Are you ready to move when called 00:11:15.679 --> 00:11:22.000 on to act? Are you setting yourself up to be used by the Holy Spirit? Are you committing yourself 00:11:22.000 --> 00:11:27.620 personally, not on Sundays, but Monday through Saturday to worship and to praying and to fasting 00:11:27.620 --> 00:11:35.799 and to the word? Do you dream about how God might want to use you as an individual to build up his body? 00:11:37.659 --> 00:11:41.919 Because we see these next few verses that we're going to go through, God does not want to use us 00:11:41.919 --> 00:11:52.899 just for us. In these four walls, here in the local, God wants to use us as individuals in the there and in 00:11:52.899 --> 00:12:02.620 the everywhere. We see this, verse 4, this church had a global reach. Verse 4, so being sent out by the 00:12:02.620 --> 00:12:08.719 Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia and from there they sailed to Cyprus. They head south to the 00:12:08.720 --> 00:12:15.000 closest port city from Antioch and then they set sail to Cyprus, which is an island about 130 miles 00:12:15.000 --> 00:12:20.720 away. They land on Cyprus at the port town of Salamis. We continue in verse 5, when they arrived 00:12:20.720 --> 00:12:26.320 at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews. And when they had John 00:12:26.320 --> 00:12:30.639 there to assist them, verse 6, and when they had gone through the whole island as far as Paphos, they 00:12:30.639 --> 00:12:36.600 came upon a certain magician, a Jewish false prophet named Bar-Jesus. And you see in your program, 00:12:36.600 --> 00:12:42.940 what follows is a confrontation between Paul and this magician. It ends in verse 11 with the magician 00:12:42.940 --> 00:12:49.620 being blinded by God. And the Roman regional leader sees this and he believes the gospel as a result. 00:12:50.360 --> 00:12:57.139 In verse 12, you see that he was astonished at the teaching of the Lord. And what we see here in this 00:12:57.139 --> 00:13:02.980 first instance is the start of a pattern of work that the Holy Spirit has called these men to. 00:13:02.980 --> 00:13:10.220 You're going to sail far from home. You're going to preach the word and you're going to push back the 00:13:10.220 --> 00:13:15.600 darkness. They leave from Antioch, they head south, they sail to Cyprus, they travel across the whole 00:13:15.600 --> 00:13:23.779 island preaching along the way, and in Paphos, this Roman procouncil is saved. Now that, by any standard 00:13:23.779 --> 00:13:28.920 of a missionary trip, is mission accomplished. Like we went, we shared the gospel, somebody received it, 00:13:28.919 --> 00:13:39.519 like we did it. Let's go home. But it doesn't end there. Verse 13. Now Paul and his companions, they set sail 00:13:39.519 --> 00:13:45.179 from Paphos, and they come to Perga and Pamphylia. And John left them and he returned to Jerusalem. 00:13:46.000 --> 00:13:51.299 But when they went on from Perga and they came to Antioch in Pisidia. Now this is another city named 00:13:51.299 --> 00:13:58.139 Antioch. In fact, there was like 17 cities called Antioch in New Testament times because the Assyrian 00:13:58.139 --> 00:14:03.000 king who had conquered the land, you know, hundreds of years before, he loved his father, 00:14:03.219 --> 00:14:08.079 and he named 17 cities after him. But this is a different Antioch, far in the north. 00:14:08.659 --> 00:14:15.299 This is in the province of Galatia in modern-day Turkey. So our home church is in Antioch in Syria. 00:14:15.299 --> 00:14:21.219 Perga, we've gone to Cyprus, we've shared the gospel, an individual has been saved, and now we're 00:14:21.219 --> 00:14:28.279 going far north. We stop in Perga, and we continue on land straight north until we get to Antioch in 00:14:28.279 --> 00:14:36.259 Pisidia, in Galatia, or modern-day Turkey. And once again, we see that these men, they settle into the 00:14:36.259 --> 00:14:42.179 work that they started in the local church back home. The local church that was diverse, that was 00:14:42.179 --> 00:14:46.279 devoted to worship in the Word, and they continue these practices on. They do the same thing in 00:14:46.279 --> 00:14:51.279 Cyprus, and we're going to see how they do this in this new city of Antioch in Pisidia. 00:14:52.859 --> 00:14:58.179 We're in verse, yeah, verse 14 now. Verse 14 of Acts 13 says, 00:14:58.179 --> 00:15:05.959 On the Sabbath day, they went into the synagogue, and they sat down. And after reading from the law and 00:15:05.960 --> 00:15:12.540 the prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent a message to them. It says, Brothers, if you have 00:15:12.540 --> 00:15:19.360 any word of encouragement to the people, say it. These believers, bless their heart, had not heard 00:15:19.360 --> 00:15:25.720 of the golden rule, which is do not give a pastor the microphone. Like, you are in for a world of 00:15:25.720 --> 00:15:31.100 waiting and listening and preaching. Because what happens is for the next 25 verses, Paul preaches to 00:15:31.100 --> 00:15:39.879 these men. For the next 25, he starts with, Men of Israel and you who fear God, listen. And then from 00:15:39.879 --> 00:15:46.420 verses 17 through 42, he just preaches the Word. We don't have time to go through all of those verses 00:15:46.420 --> 00:15:50.920 there, so I'll summarize them. But we see that basically what Paul does is he'll go through the 00:15:50.920 --> 00:15:56.720 whole history of his people. He goes through the history of his people laid out in the Old Testament, 00:15:56.720 --> 00:16:03.360 from Egyptian slavery to the Exodus to the judges and the time of the kings. He talks about Saul, 00:16:03.440 --> 00:16:11.300 the first king, and David, the second king of Israel. And in verse 23, he brings the past into the present. 00:16:11.920 --> 00:16:19.420 And he says, Of David's offspring, God has brought to Israel a savior, Jesus, as he promised. 00:16:19.419 --> 00:16:27.120 Jesus, Paul declares, is the promised one. The ancient of days, made flesh, the cornerstone that 00:16:27.120 --> 00:16:34.159 the builders rejected. In verses 27 through 37, Paul captures the life, death, and resurrection of 00:16:34.159 --> 00:16:40.879 this man, Jesus. And in verses 38 through 39, some of the most beautiful verses in the book of Acts, 00:16:41.339 --> 00:16:48.039 he says, Let it be known to you, therefore, brothers, that through this man, Jesus, forgiveness of sins, 00:16:48.039 --> 00:16:54.599 is proclaimed to you. And by him, everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you 00:16:54.599 --> 00:17:03.259 could not be freed by the law of Moses. This is a bold declaration and a fearless proclamation of the 00:17:03.259 --> 00:17:13.299 gospel. Verse 42, As they went out, the people begged that these things might be told them on the 00:17:13.299 --> 00:17:18.539 next Sabbath. We were joking about, before this, that if I ended up going long, just play like the 00:17:18.539 --> 00:17:23.879 Oscars speech music, so that way I knew when to get off. And I was told that, you know, oftentimes people 00:17:23.879 --> 00:17:34.980 are never wishing that the pastor or the preacher would have spoke longer. And yet, these people begged Paul 00:17:34.980 --> 00:17:42.940 and Barnabas to come back and to continue preaching, to continue this message about this man, Jesus, 00:17:43.500 --> 00:17:50.779 through whom freedom is possible. Would you come back and tell us more? The next Sabbath, verse 44, 00:17:52.140 --> 00:17:55.900 almost the whole city gathers to hear the word of the Lord. 00:17:55.900 --> 00:18:06.640 The whole city gathers to hear the gospel preached. And in typical fashion, if you follow the spread of 00:18:06.640 --> 00:18:12.440 the gospel across Judea and Samaria and beyond, we see that the leadership, specifically the Jewish 00:18:12.440 --> 00:18:19.460 religious leadership, does not like what's going on. And so, because they are jealous and because they 00:18:19.460 --> 00:18:25.820 are against the gospel message, they stir up trouble. They kick Paul and Barnabas out of the city. 00:18:25.900 --> 00:18:32.259 And it might seem like, at this point in the missionary journey, like, okay, like, you know, 00:18:32.340 --> 00:18:37.720 we've done our job. We've been blacklisted from Galatia. You know, they took our passports. Like, 00:18:37.740 --> 00:18:44.200 we can't continue on. Like, I know missionaries who have been kicked out of different countries and, 00:18:44.300 --> 00:18:49.500 you know, they kind of have like a book report or a report card of like, hey, I can't go there 00:18:49.500 --> 00:18:52.960 anymore. I can't go there anymore. I can't go there anymore. And it's like this badge of honor that 00:18:52.960 --> 00:18:58.519 they were. And for Paul and Barnabas here, like, they should go home at this point. Like, 00:18:58.559 --> 00:19:02.120 they're out of resources. Like, they've been kicked out. They've been almost killed a couple times. 00:19:03.920 --> 00:19:12.539 But it's not the end for them. Verse 46 says that Paul and Barnabas, they spoke out boldly, 00:19:13.579 --> 00:19:19.460 saying that it was necessary for the word of God to be spoken first to you, to the Jewish people. 00:19:19.460 --> 00:19:24.759 Like, this was always the plan. This had to be the plan, that salvation would come through the 00:19:24.759 --> 00:19:31.600 Jewish people. And as a result, it would come to them first. But since you thrust it aside and you 00:19:31.600 --> 00:19:38.980 judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are going to turn to the Gentiles, people who are 00:19:38.980 --> 00:19:43.680 not Jewish, people who are outside of the faith family that was originally instated with Father 00:19:43.680 --> 00:19:49.759 Abraham. Like, we're going to go where this message has not gone before. We're going to turn opposition 00:19:49.759 --> 00:19:55.900 into opportunity. And if you guys don't want the gospel, we're going to go to those who do. 00:19:57.340 --> 00:20:07.120 Verse 47, because, for, so the Lord has commanded us, saying, I have made you a light for the Gentiles, 00:20:07.119 --> 00:20:15.699 that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth. And if we're reading along this story, like, 00:20:15.759 --> 00:20:21.359 we should pause. We should think, like, I thought these guys, Paul and Barnabas, were just going 00:20:21.359 --> 00:20:27.739 on, like, a short-term mission trip south. I thought maybe they would do some island hopping in the 00:20:27.739 --> 00:20:33.179 Mediterranean. I thought maybe they'd meet with some local believers and be encouraged. I thought maybe, 00:20:33.180 --> 00:20:37.480 you know, they would take some photos and they would post them and they would get some likes and then it 00:20:37.480 --> 00:20:46.560 would be game over and they would return to their local church as heroes. But God has other plans for 00:20:46.560 --> 00:20:59.440 his church. He has other plans for his local church. God has designed the local church to have global reach, 00:20:59.440 --> 00:21:07.740 reach, to bring the gospel to the ends of the earth, it says. After chapter 13, we'll see that 00:21:07.740 --> 00:21:13.059 Paul and Barnabas, they head off and they go to Iconium, to the cities of Lystra and Derbe, before they 00:21:13.059 --> 00:21:18.840 decide to head home finally to give the report. All in all, they visit 10 cities in three countries in 18 00:21:18.840 --> 00:21:25.940 months. And this is Paul's first missionary journey. But, like, let's not lose the thread here. 00:21:25.940 --> 00:21:32.279 We started with a local church that was devoted to God's word and to worship and to fasting and 00:21:32.279 --> 00:21:38.259 praying. And now we see that this church somehow has global reach that spans towns, cities, and 00:21:38.259 --> 00:21:46.420 countries. But the goal is not just to travel and to see the world. Lastly, we're going to see that this 00:21:46.420 --> 00:21:56.340 church has eternal impact. Recap the chapter with me so far. Verse 12, Paul and Barnabas, they get to 00:21:56.340 --> 00:22:05.360 Cyprus, they preach the word, and one person is saved, the Roman procouncil. Verse 48, in response to 00:22:05.360 --> 00:22:10.080 declaring that Paul and Barnabas were going to turn their attention to the Gentiles, we see that all the 00:22:10.080 --> 00:22:15.880 Gentiles who heard this began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord. And as many as were reported 00:22:15.880 --> 00:22:22.500 to, appointed to eternal life, they believed. This chapter ends with the word of the Lord spreading 00:22:22.500 --> 00:22:28.860 throughout the whole region. Chapter 14, when they get to Iconium, they enter the Jewish synagogue, 00:22:29.040 --> 00:22:35.280 and they spoke in such a way that a great number of both Jews and Greeks believed salvation for the 00:22:35.280 --> 00:22:42.120 individual would have been worth it. If all they did was spend 18 months pursuing one person, and that 00:22:42.119 --> 00:22:46.799 person came to Christ, it would have been worth it. The party in heaven would have happened either way. 00:22:47.479 --> 00:22:53.319 And I tell people, like, if my family goes to Europe, and we spend the next 30 years, and one person is 00:22:53.319 --> 00:23:01.259 rescued from darkness and brought from death to life, it will have been worth it. But the inspiration and 00:23:01.259 --> 00:23:06.519 the encouragement, it's not only ever just one person, because we see that there's salvation for the many 00:23:06.519 --> 00:23:14.480 offered and applied to as well. A great number of people come to the faith through Paul and Barnabas 00:23:14.480 --> 00:23:20.980 in these new cities when they turn their attention to the Gentiles. And the result of this work is not 00:23:20.980 --> 00:23:29.400 temporary. When we tell people the gospel, we do not offer short-term fixes for long-term problems. 00:23:29.400 --> 00:23:39.340 We do not give people band-aid cures for deep brokenness. What we give people is the word of God, 00:23:39.700 --> 00:23:46.759 the truth of the gospel, that God has brought not just to Israel, not just to a select few, 00:23:47.040 --> 00:23:52.700 not to the people who are lucky enough to be born in a certain place, but to the world, a Savior, 00:23:53.259 --> 00:23:58.100 Jesus, the Son of God and man, through whom the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed, 00:23:58.099 --> 00:24:03.639 and by whom we are finally set free from the things we were not able to be freed from before. 00:24:05.259 --> 00:24:07.319 Do we believe this? 00:24:09.879 --> 00:24:16.819 Do we, here in D.C. and beyond, we want to be a church that has eternal impact, 00:24:18.279 --> 00:24:26.459 that has global reach, that starts with committing ourselves to the word and to worship and to fasting 00:24:26.460 --> 00:24:33.220 and to praying. If this is not your dream for your church, then the invitation is to dream bigger. 00:24:35.700 --> 00:24:40.000 Dream about what the Lord might be doing here locally. 00:24:42.200 --> 00:24:49.299 Dream about what the Lord might do through you that would shape the faith of unreached people groups 00:24:49.299 --> 00:24:55.960 across the world. Luke 10.2 says, you know, the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. 00:24:56.559 --> 00:25:02.259 Three and a half billion people with a B are unreached right now, which means that they live in a place 00:25:02.259 --> 00:25:07.899 with less than 2% of a faith presence there. The harvest is plentiful. 00:25:09.079 --> 00:25:12.579 Ask the question, Lord, would you send me? 00:25:12.579 --> 00:25:17.480 Would you dream that? Would you be bold enough to ask that question? 00:25:19.500 --> 00:25:21.839 Dream about going. 00:25:22.399 --> 00:25:26.039 I've been in enough churches and I've attended enough missions conference that typically, 00:25:26.220 --> 00:25:29.059 when this time wraps up, the invitation is always like, man, 00:25:29.139 --> 00:25:33.519 I hope that one or two of you would feel the call to go. 00:25:33.519 --> 00:25:43.779 But what if a few of you were called to stay and the rest went? 00:25:46.019 --> 00:25:52.599 Can we imagine the impact on the Great Commission might have if dozens or hundreds of believers left? 00:25:54.900 --> 00:25:58.500 Dream about going. Dream about supporting those who go. 00:25:58.500 --> 00:26:07.539 What would it look like if our purpose and our goal and our aim in life was to know God 00:26:07.539 --> 00:26:15.900 and to make him known here, there, and everywhere to the ends of the earth? 00:26:17.319 --> 00:26:18.319 Would you pray with me? 00:26:21.960 --> 00:26:25.099 God, you are good and you've called us to do good things, 00:26:25.359 --> 00:26:27.579 not just here, but across the earth. 00:26:28.500 --> 00:26:33.880 God, as we see the history of how your church started, 00:26:35.720 --> 00:26:40.240 we can see how you use ordinary people to accomplish incredible things. 00:26:42.500 --> 00:26:47.319 God, we want to expect great things from you and we want to attempt great things for you. 00:26:47.359 --> 00:26:50.319 God, would you give us the strength and the courage to do that? 00:26:50.319 --> 00:26:55.980 God, would you give us the faith to say the words, 00:26:56.099 --> 00:26:59.240 here I am, Lord, send me, I'll go. 00:27:02.139 --> 00:27:08.200 Because we see the way that you've laid out for your church to expand over the face of the earth. 00:27:08.339 --> 00:27:14.419 Would you be calling people here and now to go and to support those who go 00:27:14.420 --> 00:27:17.460 and to continue the work that started in Acts, 00:27:17.539 --> 00:27:20.060 but will not stop until you come again? 00:27:21.380 --> 00:27:22.380 Lord, we love you. 00:27:22.500 --> 00:27:24.259 Thank you that you first loved us 00:27:24.259 --> 00:27:27.759 and have invited us to participate in this work alongside you. 00:27:27.759 --> 00:27:30.700 In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. 00:27:31.480 --> 00:27:31.720 Amen. 00:27:31.720 --> 00:27:31.799 Amen.