WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:16.760 Hi, my name is George Sinclair. I'm the lead pastor of Church of the Messiah. It is wonderful 00:00:16.760 --> 00:00:20.760 that you would like to check out some of the sermons done by Church of the Messiah, either 00:00:20.760 --> 00:00:24.879 by myself or some of the others. Listen, just a couple of things. First of all, would you pray 00:00:24.879 --> 00:00:31.500 for us that we will open God's Word well to His glory and for the good of people like yourself? 00:00:32.060 --> 00:00:37.920 The second thing is, if you aren't connected to a church and if you are a Christian, we really, 00:00:38.159 --> 00:00:42.560 I would really like to encourage you to find a good local church where they believe the Bible, 00:00:43.219 --> 00:00:48.739 they preach the gospel, and if you have some trouble finding that, send us an email. We will 00:00:48.739 --> 00:00:54.539 do what we can to help connect you with a good local church wherever you are. And if you're a 00:00:54.539 --> 00:00:59.320 non-Christian checking us out, we're really, really, really glad you're doing that. Don't 00:00:59.320 --> 00:01:04.659 hesitate to send us questions. It helps me actually to know, as I'm preaching, how to deal with the 00:01:04.659 --> 00:01:07.760 types of things that you're really struggling with. So God bless. 00:01:07.760 --> 00:01:25.100 Father, we're not honest often with you in terms of how we pray, and we're not honest with you often in 00:01:25.100 --> 00:01:32.640 terms of the doubts or curiosities that we have when we read your Word. But Father, we know that you know 00:01:32.640 --> 00:01:39.280 already in advance what we're thinking and what we're feeling, what we long for and what we dread. 00:01:40.180 --> 00:01:44.879 So we, and we're so glad, Father, that you do know us truly, and knowing us truly, still you died on the 00:01:44.879 --> 00:01:50.659 cross. Jesus died on the cross for us. So we ask, Father, that your Word would do a powerful work in 00:01:50.659 --> 00:01:56.340 our lives that help us to think more clearly about who we really are, who we really are at the level of 00:01:56.340 --> 00:02:03.299 our heart in the real world. And help us, Father, by your Word to know and see the real world and the 00:02:03.299 --> 00:02:12.680 real you, and to live in the power of your grace in light of the reality of you, the reality of 00:02:12.680 --> 00:02:17.539 ourselves, and the reality of this world. And we ask all these things in the name of Jesus, your Son, 00:02:17.539 --> 00:02:30.959 and our Savior. Amen. Please be seated. So one of the things which Christians often feel or think, 00:02:31.599 --> 00:02:37.439 and sometimes they talk to me about it, is, well, frankly, so much of what's connected to the 00:02:37.439 --> 00:02:44.180 Christian faith is frankly boring and uninteresting. I mean, that's what people will tell me. In fact, 00:02:44.180 --> 00:02:48.460 I don't know where people are in terms of their relationship with Jesus, who are here, or those of 00:02:48.460 --> 00:02:52.599 you who are online or listening to the sermon down the stream. And if you're outside the Christian 00:02:52.599 --> 00:02:57.200 faith, this might surprise you. But I've had many people over the years say, George, you know, I'll 00:02:57.200 --> 00:03:02.379 just be honest. I don't read the Bible. I find it just either very difficult or very boring. You know 00:03:02.379 --> 00:03:08.140 what? I love C.S. Lewis. I read C.S. Lewis instead, because it's just like I get way more out of it than when I 00:03:08.140 --> 00:03:12.080 read the Bible. You know, I'll have other types of people say, you know, George, 00:03:12.080 --> 00:03:18.780 I've just found more and more that there's just certain places, like if I go for a walk, 00:03:18.860 --> 00:03:24.380 in fact, I was just talking to somebody this week, actually, in a coffee shop, a big surprise to all 00:03:24.380 --> 00:03:29.020 of you. And they just said they've given up going to church because they're actually find themselves 00:03:29.020 --> 00:03:34.460 feeling way closer to God when they go for a walk in nature. I've had many people say to me that I, 00:03:34.580 --> 00:03:39.140 you know, frankly, George, I find prayer really hard, really boring. I get far more peace and 00:03:39.139 --> 00:03:43.659 satisfaction out of doing some yoga. And I've had many other people tell me, you know, frankly, 00:03:43.779 --> 00:03:48.219 George, I don't find the Bible helpful at all, not compared to this therapist that I've been 00:03:48.219 --> 00:03:53.199 talking to in the self-help books that I've been reading. And people will talk to me about that, 00:03:53.219 --> 00:03:57.219 and I'll have different things to say about it. The Bible text this morning that we're going to look 00:03:57.219 --> 00:04:03.159 at, apart from saying some very other profound things which we really need to hear, actually talks 00:04:03.159 --> 00:04:12.620 about this particular topic. So let's have a look. It's Acts chapter 14. It's 28 verses in the whole 00:04:12.620 --> 00:04:17.639 chapter. We just had Owen read sort of the funny, odd bit in the middle. We're going to look at the 00:04:17.639 --> 00:04:23.079 whole chapter. So Acts chapter 14, and we'll start reading at verse 1, and just sort of the context, 00:04:23.240 --> 00:04:31.300 right? Luke, Acts is an eyewitness-based history of the first 30 or so years of the Jesus movement, 00:04:31.300 --> 00:04:41.579 and so it's a history of that 30-some-odd years of the Jesus, written when eyewitnesses were still 00:04:41.579 --> 00:04:46.639 alive, where they could have either contradicted the writing, or people could go and check things 00:04:46.639 --> 00:04:52.600 out, because Luke, who wrote it, gives the equivalent of footnotes all the way through this. 00:04:53.139 --> 00:04:59.680 And what's just happened is the very, very, very first, and I know this is a dirty word in Canada, 00:04:59.680 --> 00:05:05.019 missionaries are a bad word for most Canadians, but the very, very first Christian missionary 00:05:05.019 --> 00:05:13.220 journey has been embarked on. The Sending Church is a church in Syria, and we've sort of had a bit 00:05:13.220 --> 00:05:18.939 of an account of Paul and Barnabas and John Mark, who ends up leaving, and they're first places that 00:05:18.939 --> 00:05:23.639 they've gone on their missionary journey, and we're now sort of in about the middle of the missionary 00:05:23.639 --> 00:05:29.019 journey when this has happened. The other thing that's important to know as the story opens is that 00:05:29.019 --> 00:05:34.579 Paul and Barnabas are fleeing is too strong a word. It sounds like you're running in terror of your 00:05:34.579 --> 00:05:42.159 life, but they're at least sauntering away because people want to kill them, and they want to kill 00:05:42.159 --> 00:05:48.620 them because they're Christians. And so Paul and Barnabas have left and are now coming to this city, 00:05:48.680 --> 00:05:55.199 and that's where our story takes up, and it goes like this. Now, at Iconium, they, that's Paul and 00:05:55.199 --> 00:06:01.180 Barnabas. It could be there's one or two others, but it's probably just Paul and Barnabas. Now, at Iconium, 00:06:01.779 --> 00:06:09.659 Paul and Barnabas entered together into the Jewish synagogue and spoke in such a way that a great 00:06:09.659 --> 00:06:18.680 number of both Jews and pagans believed. But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the pagans and poisoned 00:06:18.680 --> 00:06:26.959 their minds against Paul and Barnabas. Now, just pause here for a second. This is an important 00:06:26.959 --> 00:06:36.139 application, and it's very, very, it's very, very, very contemporary. When you don't have a good argument, 00:06:37.360 --> 00:06:43.800 and when the facts don't support your argument, and you're unwilling to change your mind, 00:06:43.800 --> 00:06:51.900 people often poison other people's minds. That's how you deal with it. I've just explained 80% of the 00:06:51.900 --> 00:06:58.199 media and 80% of social media. People who don't have a good argument, don't have the facts on their 00:06:58.199 --> 00:07:04.240 side, aren't willing to change, and as a result, they poison people's minds. So it's actually a very, 00:07:04.379 --> 00:07:09.080 very ancient problem. And by the way, I'm not saying that if you're watching this saying, oh, look, 00:07:09.079 --> 00:07:14.039 I'm not saying that because look at us, we're all like completely perfect. No, it's a warning to us. 00:07:15.740 --> 00:07:23.060 If your argument stinks, if the facts don't support what you believe, be willing to change your mind. 00:07:24.500 --> 00:07:30.539 That's what God wants, okay? Just that's a big application. Like, changing your mind to know 00:07:30.539 --> 00:07:36.740 the truth is a good thing. Poisoning people's minds instead, trying to shut them down, that's a bad thing. 00:07:36.740 --> 00:07:42.400 Anyway, so the story sort of continues. And oh, by the way, actually, it's really interesting. 00:07:43.160 --> 00:07:46.980 You know, just as this is another application in terms of reading narratives like this, 00:07:47.079 --> 00:07:54.000 always pay attention to the story arc, because a lot of times what you're learning, so on one level, 00:07:54.040 --> 00:07:57.980 we just learn it unconsciously by reading it, but it's actually important to sort of notice. So I'll 00:07:57.980 --> 00:08:03.259 read verse two again. But the unbelieving Jews, so many people have become Christians, both Jews and 00:08:03.259 --> 00:08:08.539 pagans. But those who didn't believe, they stirred up the pagans and poisoned their minds against the 00:08:08.539 --> 00:08:14.259 brothers. So what would we normally expect is going to happen now? Well, what we would normally expect is 00:08:14.259 --> 00:08:17.860 we might even give the advice, listen, if they're poisoning your mind, just move on, just go somewhere 00:08:17.860 --> 00:08:21.759 else. Like, that's what we would say. But what actually happens in the story, look at verse three, it's 00:08:21.759 --> 00:08:28.839 actually quite surprising. So, like it's a, like a reason thing or a for, like a logic step. So they 00:08:28.839 --> 00:08:34.980 remained for a long time. Isn't that surprising? They remained for a long time. They didn't let people 00:08:34.980 --> 00:08:41.059 poisoning other people's minds say, oh, I have to leave. Like, no. They stayed for a long time, speaking 00:08:41.059 --> 00:08:49.259 boldly for the Lord, who bore witness to the word of his grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their 00:08:49.259 --> 00:08:53.720 hands. And just pause here for a second. You're going to see in a moment I'll have some points on the screen, and I'm going 00:08:53.720 --> 00:08:58.200 to keep referring to this, the word of his grace. It's a wonderful way to describe what is involved in 00:08:58.200 --> 00:09:06.639 telling people about Jesus. It's the word of God's grace. Grace means God's kindness shown to you. 00:09:07.040 --> 00:09:15.040 His kindness, you don't merit his kindness, it's his unmerited kindness and goodness and love being 00:09:15.040 --> 00:09:20.840 bestowed upon you. That's what the gospel is all about. In the ancient world, especially for the pagan 00:09:20.840 --> 00:09:28.500 religions at the time, there's something which is still very similar to today. Today, kings and rulers 00:09:28.500 --> 00:09:35.899 send other people to die for them. Most of the gods in the world that have existed, they send, they have 00:09:35.899 --> 00:09:42.680 other people die for them. And there's this profound word of grace, something which is completely and 00:09:42.680 --> 00:09:49.120 utterly counterintuitive, that God seen, like, and if you think back to that parable of Jesus, that we're the 00:09:49.120 --> 00:09:53.320 people who didn't want to come to his kingdom. We're the people who beat up his prophets. We're the 00:09:53.320 --> 00:09:58.039 people who poison other people's minds because we just don't like the argument. We don't, there's too 00:09:58.039 --> 00:10:04.720 many inconvenient truths. And we're those people, and God's response, the word of his grace, is that God 00:10:04.720 --> 00:10:16.060 says, in the person of my son, I will die for them. Right? Kings say, go out and die for me. The true king 00:10:16.059 --> 00:10:24.139 says, I will die for you. That's a work of unmerited grace. That's what we share about Jesus, that it's a 00:10:24.139 --> 00:10:31.819 work of unmerited grace that seems upside down, inside out, and backwards forwards to the way that 00:10:31.819 --> 00:10:36.939 normally people think, that you would, that God would actually do that. He knows everything about me. 00:10:37.259 --> 00:10:44.419 He knows every dream I have. He knows every thought I have. And still, and by the way, folks, if I was just 00:10:44.419 --> 00:10:49.259 to put up on the screen, if God put up on the screen, the things I've thought, and my opinions, my 00:10:49.259 --> 00:10:54.819 judgments, all sorts of things, just from the last 24 hours, you would all be horrified about me. 00:10:57.219 --> 00:11:02.219 And God knows all of those things, and still Jesus died for me. That's the word of his grace. That's the 00:11:02.219 --> 00:11:11.819 story that we tell. It's a very, very beautiful phrase. But it continues, verse four. But the people of the 00:11:11.820 --> 00:11:17.480 city were divided. Oh, but no, go back for verse three. This is actually something else I missed here. 00:11:18.060 --> 00:11:22.080 Notice verse three again. So they remained for a long time, speaking boldly for the Lord, 00:11:22.600 --> 00:11:27.760 who bore witness to the word of his grace. So who's bearing witness? God's bearing witness. 00:11:29.140 --> 00:11:36.000 This is very important for you and me. I share the words of his grace, and God does the bearing 00:11:36.000 --> 00:11:42.820 witness. God does the greater work. We'll talk about this again in a moment. Verse four. 00:11:43.679 --> 00:11:49.700 But the people of the city were divided. Some sided with the Jews, the unbelieving Jews, and some with 00:11:49.700 --> 00:11:57.460 the apostles. When an attempt was made by both pagans and Jews with their rulers to mistreat Paul and 00:11:57.460 --> 00:12:03.940 Barnabas and to stone them, that would be to death, Paul and Barnabas learned of it and fled to Lystra 00:12:03.940 --> 00:12:10.320 and to Derby, cities of Lyconia and to the surrounding country. And there they continued to preach the 00:12:10.320 --> 00:12:16.480 gospel. Now, here's the first point, if you could put it up. The word of his grace and the work of his 00:12:16.480 --> 00:12:26.140 grace converts some and scandalizes others. Now, the phrase you see throughout the text, it says how 00:12:26.140 --> 00:12:31.720 God's bearing witness to his word. And at the end of the whole story, at the end of Acts chapter 14, 00:12:31.720 --> 00:12:36.639 we'll see that the whole missionary journey and all that was happening and all those who came to faith 00:12:36.639 --> 00:12:40.600 was the work of God's grace. And I've just combined the beginning of the story and the end of the 00:12:40.600 --> 00:12:46.660 story. In fact, all my four points will have that beginning, that the word of his grace and the work 00:12:46.660 --> 00:12:54.019 of his grace, that's God's grace, converts some and scandalizes others. I think I've shared with you 00:12:54.019 --> 00:12:58.920 before. I'll share it to you again. I'm getting old. I tell stories more than once. In every church that I 00:12:58.919 --> 00:13:04.399 came to for the first time, when I first preached the substitutionary atonement of Christ, that the 00:13:04.399 --> 00:13:09.740 wrath of God falls on him rather than me, every single one of the Anglican churches I've spoken 00:13:09.740 --> 00:13:14.959 at, every single one of them, I had two, I had a bigger response for the first time I've done it 00:13:14.959 --> 00:13:19.500 from any of the other sermons leading up to that. And I had a whole pile of people say to me, 00:13:19.579 --> 00:13:22.899 that's the most remarkable thing in the world. Why have I never heard it before? 00:13:22.899 --> 00:13:31.519 And I had just as many people say, that is a completely horrible way to speak. You should 00:13:31.519 --> 00:13:39.419 be ashamed of yourself. It both moved some hearts and scandalized others. And that's what you see all 00:13:39.419 --> 00:13:45.959 the way through this. So this is very important for three different reasons, even if we have to camp on 00:13:45.960 --> 00:13:52.259 it for a moment. Hopefully I remember the three reasons. The first thing is, we're sort of inundated 00:13:52.259 --> 00:13:59.019 with this idea that things should be easy, that things should just flow smoothly for us. And so if 00:13:59.019 --> 00:14:03.340 we speak in such a way, and then let's say the other churches or people in the church say, oh by the way, 00:14:03.379 --> 00:14:07.420 did you know that George spoke last night? Actually a couple of weeks ago I was speaking a little bit 00:14:07.420 --> 00:14:11.700 about what in terms of other religions and how Christianity views it, and two people got up and 00:14:11.700 --> 00:14:15.879 left the service. I don't know if you noticed it. They got up and left. Never seen them, never came 00:14:15.879 --> 00:14:21.120 back. And you know, people might say, well George, you know, good grief. Okay, some people became, 00:14:21.420 --> 00:14:25.240 you know, Christians, but all these people became men. Maybe you have to work on your delivery. 00:14:26.879 --> 00:14:30.860 You know, you have to maybe smooth some edges and stuff like that. That's the natural Canadian 00:14:30.860 --> 00:14:35.960 reaction to it, as if I've done something wrong, or we've done something wrong. But the fact of the 00:14:35.960 --> 00:14:41.460 matter is, is if you proclaim the gospel clearly and simply and humbly and winsomely, 00:14:41.460 --> 00:14:46.720 including the fact of saying that if you, if you just saw what went on in my mind, in my heart for 00:14:46.720 --> 00:14:52.280 the last 24 hours, you would be horrible. You can be, it's going to do both. It's going to both 00:14:52.280 --> 00:14:57.740 really convert and move people. It's also going to scandalize people. The second thing about this, 00:14:57.820 --> 00:15:03.940 which is really important, is to have a profound encouragement. You know, I've talked to you about 00:15:03.940 --> 00:15:08.639 conversations I have in coffee shops, and I've also tried to tell you at times what I, my attempt, 00:15:08.639 --> 00:15:16.480 my attempt was like flying a lead balloon, like it just crashes on the ground. I did a terrible job 00:15:16.480 --> 00:15:23.439 where I thought like a week later what I should have said. That's normal, folks. That's normal. 00:15:24.899 --> 00:15:31.179 And if you wait to have a perfectly canned talk, amongst other things, Canadians will say, 00:15:31.179 --> 00:15:36.120 well, that's a really nice canned talk. Like, why don't you speak from your heart? 00:15:37.259 --> 00:15:41.559 Right? So in other words, it's sort of like you can't win either way. Well, no, you can win either 00:15:41.559 --> 00:15:47.039 way. Just do your best to try to bear witness to Jesus. And maybe if you bear witness to Jesus, 00:15:47.179 --> 00:15:51.000 and people give you 17 objections, you don't know how to answer them, you just say, listen, 00:15:51.599 --> 00:15:56.919 there's this old children's hymn that says, Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so, 00:15:56.919 --> 00:16:03.539 little ones to him belong. You know, they are weak, but he is strong. And just say that, 00:16:03.639 --> 00:16:07.199 that's my hope. I don't know how to answer your questions. That's my hope, and he loves you. I 00:16:07.199 --> 00:16:10.620 mean, that's, maybe that's all you can say, but that's fine. It's just a matter of planting seeds. 00:16:10.719 --> 00:16:15.620 You see, the thing is, the word, you proclaim the word of his grace. You tell people about Jesus, 00:16:15.779 --> 00:16:19.699 about his great love, that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son to the end, 00:16:19.719 --> 00:16:24.559 that all who believe in him will not perish, but have eternal life. You just share those things, 00:16:24.559 --> 00:16:31.839 and God does the work. God does the work. Now, that's not saying you should be as dumb as you 00:16:31.839 --> 00:16:36.719 can be, and as rude as you can be. No, no, no. You try your best. But at the end of the day, 00:16:36.839 --> 00:16:40.939 what you want is to try to be clear, and you want to try to be humble, and you want to know, 00:16:41.139 --> 00:16:44.539 look, what is the point? The word of his grace and the work of his grace converts. 00:16:47.119 --> 00:16:53.559 Often sales guys and gals aren't good evangelists, because people can sort of tell that there's 00:16:53.559 --> 00:17:00.519 something too smooth about them, and that they're being played. It's amazing how many people, 00:17:00.519 --> 00:17:07.379 you even think for yourself, how many, you know, some of the people who had maybe a big way in 00:17:07.379 --> 00:17:13.440 pointing to Jesus, and a lot of them weren't really smooth. The third thing is this, and it goes back 00:17:13.440 --> 00:17:19.319 to the C.S. Lewis example that I said at the beginning, right? Like, George, you know, I don't get 00:17:19.319 --> 00:17:22.519 anything out of reading the Bible. You know, I really find it interesting when you read that. 00:17:22.519 --> 00:17:26.579 I didn't see any of those things in there, right? But, you know, I don't get anything out of reading 00:17:26.579 --> 00:17:30.379 the Bible. I find walking in the woods better than going to church, you know, yoga better than prayer, 00:17:30.539 --> 00:17:36.179 therapy better than, you know, reading the Bible. So here's the thing. You need to listen to the 00:17:36.179 --> 00:17:40.579 point again. The word of his grace and the work of his grace converts, and that, you could actually 00:17:40.579 --> 00:17:47.480 say within that, if I wanted to make it long, it justifies, sanctifies, and glorifies, like it does 00:17:47.480 --> 00:17:53.859 the whole thing. It's like, you know, those of you who know the story of the water being turned into 00:17:53.859 --> 00:18:00.799 wine at the wedding feast, you know, just very, and outlines Jesus' first miracle. They're at the 00:18:00.799 --> 00:18:06.819 wedding. They run out of wine. Jesus' mom asked Jesus to do something. There's all these stones that 00:18:06.819 --> 00:18:12.759 you put water in for washing, and Jesus says to the servants, fill those stones, those stone jars 00:18:12.759 --> 00:18:17.099 with water. Take them, you know, whatever, 100 yards, 100 meters away to where the steward is. 00:18:17.419 --> 00:18:22.079 Just do all of that, and the steward goes and tastes it, and somewhere between the water going in those 00:18:22.079 --> 00:18:30.179 stone jars and those 100 yards, the water turned into wine, right? Now, we all know if you want to make 00:18:30.179 --> 00:18:36.799 wine, you don't just put water in stone jars. It'll never make wine, not even in a hundred 00:18:36.799 --> 00:18:44.359 million billion years, but what's at work? They did what Jesus asked them to do, and Jesus made wine 00:18:44.359 --> 00:18:54.119 out of it, and that's the key to Christian growth. Jesus asked us to read the Bible, and if we read the 00:18:54.119 --> 00:19:01.139 Bible, he will make wine in our lives. Jesus asked us to pray, not ask as he tells us, you should pray, 00:19:01.140 --> 00:19:08.140 and we pray, and maybe at times we feel like there's the sky is stone and iron and nobody's 00:19:08.140 --> 00:19:15.620 hearing, but we pray, and God makes the wine. He said you should come and gather weekly with other 00:19:15.620 --> 00:19:23.660 people. You do that, and God makes the wine. You should celebrate the Lord's Supper, a variety of 00:19:23.660 --> 00:19:27.840 things like that. You see, what you do is you take some steps, and by the way, if you're saying, listen, 00:19:27.839 --> 00:19:31.879 I'm really having a hard time, God, you know, I'm not getting anything out of this. Could you please 00:19:31.879 --> 00:19:37.139 help me? I mean, part of the way is God doesn't just deal with it instantly. That formative making 00:19:37.139 --> 00:19:42.859 of wine might take some time, but that's the promise we have in the scriptures. When you do what Jesus 00:19:42.859 --> 00:19:50.299 asks you to do, Jesus will do a work in your life, and if you are just trying to do what you think is 00:19:50.299 --> 00:19:56.419 the right work, well, that's just you doing what you do. That's all you've done. It's just a version of 00:19:56.420 --> 00:20:04.240 you do you, and listen, I need more than me do me. I need something way more than that. 00:20:05.560 --> 00:20:11.120 Me do me is sort of a, well, it's nasty, poor, brutish, and short. I think that's from Shakespeare 00:20:11.120 --> 00:20:17.100 or something like that, but anyway, so what goes on? What happens next in this story? Okay, that was a 00:20:17.100 --> 00:20:23.840 long aside, but it's, I think, an important one. Verse four, oh, sorry, I've already done all of that. 00:20:23.839 --> 00:20:33.279 So here, here's what, so now we come to that odd story that, that Owen read, and like it's, it's, you know, 00:20:33.419 --> 00:20:37.619 the thing about this story is really neat. Some of you might notice that when you're looking at the 00:20:37.619 --> 00:20:44.519 words up there, the word pagan never shows up. What, what shows up there is Gentiles, and that's an 00:20:44.519 --> 00:20:49.379 accurate translation, and I could explain to you what it actually means, but the fact of the matter is, 00:20:49.380 --> 00:20:54.720 the next story is really important for us to understand something. It will help us to see our 00:20:54.720 --> 00:21:01.440 own world in a different way. I use it to translate as pagans, because that's who they're, they're 00:21:01.440 --> 00:21:05.960 dealing with. They're dealing with pagans, and this next story shows that the pagans really are pagans. 00:21:07.040 --> 00:21:12.180 Like, they really are pagans. Like, they're not just sort of really good kids who went to the 00:21:12.180 --> 00:21:16.340 Metropolitan Bible Church, and then they backslid for a couple of years, but they're fundamentally have a 00:21:16.339 --> 00:21:22.839 Christian, whole Christian. These are pagans. Like, this story really helps you to see how pagan the 00:21:22.839 --> 00:21:29.399 pagans are. Let's look at it again. Verse, verse 8. Now at Lystra, there was a man sitting who could 00:21:29.399 --> 00:21:37.220 not use his feet. He was crippled from birth and had never walked. He listened to Paul speaking, and Paul 00:21:37.220 --> 00:21:43.799 looking intently at him, and seeing that he had faith to be made well, and some of your Bibles will 00:21:43.799 --> 00:21:48.980 have a little footnote there, because the word well can also be translated as the word saved. It's 00:21:48.980 --> 00:21:54.159 one of those words that has a double meaning, and the text is implying both, by the way, that 00:21:54.159 --> 00:22:00.579 there's, that he can tell, Paul can tell that this man has come to not only put his faith in Jesus, 00:22:00.720 --> 00:22:06.839 but has made a longing to be able to walk to Jesus, and it's sort of an intertwined longing. Like, a lot of 00:22:06.839 --> 00:22:13.639 our longings are complicated. Am I the only one? I mean, sometimes they're not complicated. I just want 00:22:13.639 --> 00:22:17.240 to go to bed, right? Or just, I just need to eat. Sometimes they're not very, but a lot of times our 00:22:17.240 --> 00:22:23.099 longings are complicated. His was complicated, both being made right with God, and also being made well, 00:22:23.159 --> 00:22:28.279 and it was mixed up. But Paul somehow discerns this, and so verse 10, he said in a loud voice to the man, 00:22:28.379 --> 00:22:34.439 stand up right on your feet. Not because Paul's words have any power, but because he could sense that 00:22:34.440 --> 00:22:42.000 this man was having a work with Jesus. And it continues, and the man sprang up and began walking. 00:22:42.820 --> 00:22:47.559 And when the crowd saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in Lyconian, 00:22:47.759 --> 00:22:51.740 and by the way, that means that up until now, Paul's been speaking Greek. That would have been 00:22:51.740 --> 00:22:58.740 the common language. Just like when, this would be, all of you could give examples like that, but 00:22:58.740 --> 00:23:03.900 when I was in Angola, I had a translator who would translate everything into Portuguese, 00:23:03.900 --> 00:23:09.560 because that was the language. And in one of the places where I spoke, which was just an unreached 00:23:09.560 --> 00:23:13.880 people group that had just been reached with the gospel about five years earlier, I had to speak 00:23:13.880 --> 00:23:21.160 with two translators. I spoke in English, it got translated into Portuguese, and the local person 00:23:21.160 --> 00:23:26.800 translated into the local dialect. So Paul is speaking the common language, but here's what they say, 00:23:26.799 --> 00:23:34.960 verse 11. The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men. Barnabas, they called Zeus. Barnabas 00:23:34.960 --> 00:23:41.859 was probably older, and Paul, Hermes, because he was the chief speaker. And the priest of Zeus, 00:23:42.039 --> 00:23:48.859 whose temple was at the entrance to the city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates and wanted to offer 00:23:48.859 --> 00:23:58.519 sacrifice to Zeus and Hermes, to Barnabas and Paul. And he wanted to offer sacrifices with the crowds. 00:23:59.439 --> 00:24:05.019 But when the apostles, Barnabas and Paul, heard of it, they tore their garments. That's a sign of great 00:24:05.019 --> 00:24:10.959 distress. And rushed out right into the crowd, crying out. Now, just before I read what's going to be, 00:24:10.960 --> 00:24:17.100 just the way to understand these next few verses is what we actually see here, and I'm going to spend 00:24:17.100 --> 00:24:25.420 very little time on it, but what you have here is an outline of how Paul would come to speak to pagans. 00:24:26.660 --> 00:24:33.200 We might call it apologetics or pre-apologetics, helping them to understand either after conversion 00:24:33.200 --> 00:24:38.740 how the Christian faith works or maybe leading people up to accept it. And it's sort of an outline 00:24:38.740 --> 00:24:43.400 of how he would have talked, of his argument. Listen to what he says, verse 15. 00:24:44.299 --> 00:24:51.859 Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men of like nature with you, and we bring you good 00:24:51.859 --> 00:24:58.440 news that you should turn from these vain things to a living God who made the heaven and the earth 00:24:58.440 --> 00:25:03.380 and the sea and all that is in them. Pause, I'm going to read it again. We can just skip over vain. 00:25:03.380 --> 00:25:10.680 This is very important. Vain is a good word, but it's often a word that isn't used very much in English 00:25:10.680 --> 00:25:17.040 anymore. It's an example of you'd have to have a higher vocabulary to get what it means. 00:25:18.140 --> 00:25:20.280 Another way to translate it is worthless. 00:25:23.140 --> 00:25:26.200 I'll let that just sit with you. These gods are worthless. 00:25:26.200 --> 00:25:32.740 And that's why they're vain. To pursue them, you think they're going to lead you somewhere, 00:25:32.920 --> 00:25:36.740 but it's all in vain. It's worthless. It will lead you to nothing. 00:25:36.840 --> 00:25:38.779 It will not accomplish what you want to accomplish. 00:25:40.900 --> 00:25:44.220 I'll return to that, but it's a very bracing thing 00:25:44.220 --> 00:25:47.140 to have that Paul say that. 00:25:47.480 --> 00:25:49.920 It's another one of those examples. You know, with Paul, you often wonder, 00:25:50.100 --> 00:25:52.779 you think sometimes, Paul, why don't you tell us what you really think? 00:25:52.779 --> 00:25:57.160 Well, that's what he does. He sort of beat around the bush. 00:25:57.680 --> 00:26:01.579 He would be terrible in politics, right? Just tell us what you really think. No, no, no, no, no. 00:26:01.720 --> 00:26:05.059 All of his aides would be saying, no, no, no, no, no. Don't tell them what you really think. 00:26:05.779 --> 00:26:07.000 Let's massage that. 00:26:08.339 --> 00:26:10.379 We don't want anybody to know what you really think. 00:26:10.779 --> 00:26:13.899 Anyway, so I'll read that again. Sorry, verse 15. 00:26:14.059 --> 00:26:15.539 Men, why are you doing these things? 00:26:16.039 --> 00:26:20.960 We also are men of like nature with you, and we bring you good news that you should turn 00:26:20.960 --> 00:26:29.660 from these vain things, the worthless things, to a living God who made the heaven and the earth 00:26:29.660 --> 00:26:35.180 and the sea and all that is them. In other words, every insect, every creature, every fish. 00:26:35.840 --> 00:26:36.840 Verse 16. 00:26:36.960 --> 00:26:43.220 In past generations, he allowed all the nations, all the people groups, to walk in their own ways. 00:26:43.880 --> 00:26:46.559 Yet he did not leave himself without a witness. 00:26:46.559 --> 00:26:49.279 What's the witness? 00:26:50.419 --> 00:26:54.519 He did good by giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons. 00:26:55.720 --> 00:27:03.779 And not only is he doing good in that way, but he satisfies your hearts with food and gladness. 00:27:06.019 --> 00:27:11.079 Even with these words, they scarcely restrain the people from offering them, you know, sacrifice. 00:27:11.079 --> 00:27:15.519 So what's going on here is probably something like this. 00:27:16.019 --> 00:27:20.119 Years ago, I got invited to an international gathering. 00:27:20.299 --> 00:27:26.019 The first time I went to an international Anglican gathering, there were Anglicans from about 70 nations there. 00:27:26.419 --> 00:27:29.159 And it was really a very profound time. 00:27:29.279 --> 00:27:30.799 It was a bit of a scary time. 00:27:30.859 --> 00:27:34.619 It was my first time in rural Africa, and it was at a time when there was a travel advisory 00:27:34.619 --> 00:27:37.539 against Canadians going to that country because of terrorist attacks. 00:27:37.539 --> 00:27:41.119 Louise and I had to talk about it, whether I'd do it or not, and we decided we'd go. 00:27:42.299 --> 00:27:45.639 But one of the things that was just so wonderful was meeting Christians from all over the world. 00:27:45.759 --> 00:27:51.759 And one of the people that I met was a man who had grown up as a Hindu and became a Christian 00:27:51.759 --> 00:27:55.240 and became, in fact, an evangelist in India. 00:27:56.039 --> 00:28:00.559 And one of the things he told me was that it was quite possible in India, 00:28:00.559 --> 00:28:05.220 you would meet many people who'd hear about Jesus and have an attraction to them, to Jesus. 00:28:05.220 --> 00:28:07.720 And they would say that they'd become a Christian. 00:28:08.339 --> 00:28:13.779 But what really they had done is maybe before they were devoted to Krishna, 00:28:14.279 --> 00:28:18.180 but now they were no longer devoted to Krishna, they were devoted to Jesus, 00:28:18.319 --> 00:28:20.019 but they were still fundamentally Hindu. 00:28:21.579 --> 00:28:26.059 Like, they would have said, oh, I don't stop trusting in Krishna because Krishna doesn't exist. 00:28:26.059 --> 00:28:28.640 I just now, Jesus is who attracts me to. 00:28:28.720 --> 00:28:31.220 He's now my guy, right? 00:28:31.220 --> 00:28:37.100 And so he said, this evangelist said, one of the hard parts is actually getting people to understand 00:28:37.100 --> 00:28:39.559 that they have to actually abandon Hinduism. 00:28:40.299 --> 00:28:44.779 That if they give their life to Christ, it implies a whole different way of thinking. 00:28:44.920 --> 00:28:47.819 In fact, if you could put up the second point, Claire, that would be very helpful. 00:28:48.819 --> 00:28:54.440 The word of his grace about Jesus and the work of his grace changes how you think about everything. 00:28:54.440 --> 00:29:00.080 The word of his grace and the work of his grace changes how you think about everything. 00:29:00.279 --> 00:29:05.000 So I think maybe what's happened is Paul is maybe just doing, like, often now at weddings, 00:29:05.140 --> 00:29:07.640 if I think there might be a—well, actually, I do that at most weddings, 00:29:07.799 --> 00:29:10.660 but even if there's just a few people who are outside the Christian faith, 00:29:11.400 --> 00:29:14.180 but especially if I think there's a lot of people who are outside the Christian faith, 00:29:14.180 --> 00:29:19.440 I do my wedding sermon on the story of Jesus turning water into wine as a way to introduce people to Jesus. 00:29:19.440 --> 00:29:23.940 And let's say there was somebody who became very interested in Jesus and wanted to pursue him. 00:29:24.680 --> 00:29:30.200 Part of that conversion process would be for them to come to understand that it's not just believing Jesus, 00:29:30.360 --> 00:29:34.900 but it's going to change how you think about a whole range of things, how you understand the world. 00:29:35.779 --> 00:29:38.799 So I think maybe what Paul was doing is he'd been telling you about Jesus. 00:29:39.460 --> 00:29:42.480 This man came to faith. People might have been quite open to it. 00:29:42.480 --> 00:29:50.319 But then when they act like pagans, he realizes he needs to talk something. 00:29:50.519 --> 00:29:53.620 And all that little talk, it's a refutation of paganism. 00:29:53.860 --> 00:29:57.059 It's a refutation of pantheism. 00:29:57.259 --> 00:29:59.599 It's a refutation of panentheism. 00:29:59.880 --> 00:30:03.519 It's a refutation of naturalism. 00:30:04.360 --> 00:30:09.660 All an outline there with the idea that there's only one God who's created all things. 00:30:09.660 --> 00:30:19.460 And then that other flip side of it, that God is good and that he satisfies your longings through food 00:30:19.460 --> 00:30:25.060 and satisfies your longings for gladness and for joy and that he's the satisfaction of those things. 00:30:25.519 --> 00:30:29.140 And those are two very powerful types of apologetic arguments. 00:30:29.140 --> 00:30:35.140 And so what we see in this whole story is that... 00:30:36.940 --> 00:30:40.360 Well, let's just take for a second. 00:30:41.160 --> 00:30:44.360 I'm not saying that when we talk to people outside the Christian faith, 00:30:44.440 --> 00:30:49.560 we have to tell them that if they believe in another religion, if they trust Allah, that it's worthless. 00:30:49.900 --> 00:30:51.720 I'm not saying you have to say that to their face. 00:30:53.259 --> 00:30:55.720 In fact, in Canada, that probably wouldn't be very helpful. 00:30:55.720 --> 00:30:58.799 But you've got to know it. 00:31:01.059 --> 00:31:02.140 You've got to think it. 00:31:02.940 --> 00:31:08.960 This is very important because often people outside of the Christian faith are way better people than you are. 00:31:11.420 --> 00:31:12.160 They're nicer. 00:31:12.339 --> 00:31:12.940 They're kinder. 00:31:13.039 --> 00:31:13.579 They're smarter. 00:31:14.660 --> 00:31:15.920 They're way more devoted. 00:31:16.380 --> 00:31:19.339 They spend way more time doing meditation than you do praying. 00:31:19.539 --> 00:31:22.100 And they just seem to have their lives very, very, very well together. 00:31:22.099 --> 00:31:25.279 And we feel completely and utterly intimidated by them. 00:31:25.519 --> 00:31:28.500 And we need to understand that that's worthless. 00:31:31.379 --> 00:31:37.480 And part of the reason we can say that it's worthless is it's just a matter of being realistic in two different ways. 00:31:37.799 --> 00:31:39.899 The first way it's just being realistic is just this. 00:31:39.980 --> 00:31:40.879 Just think for a second. 00:31:40.880 --> 00:31:43.960 And this is the Christian claim. 00:31:44.680 --> 00:31:56.940 That for over a millennium, for over a thousand years, for at least 1400 years, there have been developed a profound overarching story that explains reality. 00:31:57.460 --> 00:32:04.520 There has developed over time profound texts that give profound insight into the human condition. 00:32:04.519 --> 00:32:07.680 There have been profound changes in law. 00:32:07.960 --> 00:32:12.119 There had been a profound account of the dignity and worth of every human being. 00:32:12.680 --> 00:32:13.680 And I could go on and on. 00:32:13.819 --> 00:32:21.500 And the mix of those, not only these very profound and powerful texts, this profound grouping of ideas, this profound overarching story. 00:32:21.500 --> 00:32:37.799 There have also been, for 1400 years plus, prophecies that God, the true God, the living God, not any idol, the one creator of all things, that he was going to do something to help to deliver people, to save people, because we could not save ourselves. 00:32:38.240 --> 00:32:40.099 And there are prophecies about that happening. 00:32:40.099 --> 00:32:55.059 And after 1400 years of all this, a man arrives by the name of Jesus, and by performing miracles, and by his teaching, he is understood to be, people know of who he is, and he says he's going to die on the cross. 00:32:55.159 --> 00:32:58.059 He says he's the culmination of these 1400 years. 00:32:58.519 --> 00:33:03.419 And he actually does die on a cross, something that he really couldn't completely orchestrate himself. 00:33:03.939 --> 00:33:05.179 He really is buried. 00:33:05.500 --> 00:33:07.179 He's buried for three days. 00:33:07.419 --> 00:33:08.740 He's completely dead. 00:33:08.740 --> 00:33:11.339 And on the third day, the grave is empty. 00:33:11.440 --> 00:33:13.000 The grave clothes are still there. 00:33:13.319 --> 00:33:15.059 They cannot ever find the body. 00:33:15.240 --> 00:33:21.500 And he appears alive in many places, in many ways, to convince people that he's actually completely and utterly defeated death. 00:33:21.680 --> 00:33:24.440 And if that is true, it changes everything. 00:33:27.900 --> 00:33:29.120 Remember what I said earlier? 00:33:29.539 --> 00:33:33.299 If you have a good argument with good truth, you have to be willing to change your mind. 00:33:34.599 --> 00:33:35.799 It changes everything. 00:33:35.799 --> 00:33:45.319 If that's true, it means that Hinduism, while it has some profound insights, is at root wrong. 00:33:45.559 --> 00:33:51.299 It means that Buddhism, which, by the way, has profound insights, is at a major level wrong. 00:33:51.740 --> 00:33:55.180 It means that Islam is wrong. 00:33:55.180 --> 00:33:57.779 It means that naturalism is wrong. 00:33:57.779 --> 00:34:01.019 That's just realistic thinking. 00:34:01.019 --> 00:34:09.119 And we might say, well, George, it's not right to say or think that other things are worthless. 00:34:09.259 --> 00:34:13.059 Well, that just means, first of all, you haven't actually followed that type of argument and thought about it. 00:34:13.059 --> 00:34:18.019 But it also means that you're not actually really being realistic if you give that objection. 00:34:18.259 --> 00:34:19.139 Why do you say that? 00:34:19.159 --> 00:34:21.940 Well, I can illustrate it very perfectly, very, very easily. 00:34:22.420 --> 00:34:29.360 Imagine for a second that you're flying and for some reason or other the plane is in trouble. 00:34:29.519 --> 00:34:31.279 It happens to be a plane with parachutes. 00:34:31.960 --> 00:34:33.639 And the plane is going to crash. 00:34:33.739 --> 00:34:36.460 You jump out of the plane with another person who knows how to parachute. 00:34:36.460 --> 00:34:43.019 You land safely and you come to a lost people group or a people group that doesn't really, hasn't had much contact with civilization. 00:34:43.480 --> 00:34:49.960 And they see that the person who, the pilot and you, and they see you coming down from the sky and they want to worship you as a god. 00:34:52.280 --> 00:34:53.119 What are you going to do? 00:34:54.880 --> 00:34:57.099 Are you going to say, this is the life? 00:34:59.300 --> 00:35:02.179 These people are going to worship me as a god for the rest of my life. 00:35:02.199 --> 00:35:03.260 I don't have to do any work. 00:35:03.460 --> 00:35:04.220 No more dishes. 00:35:04.219 --> 00:35:11.099 They'll just be, I can just lie on a couch and say more grapes, you know, more goat, more chicken. 00:35:11.679 --> 00:35:12.019 No. 00:35:12.759 --> 00:35:17.500 If you said that, if you gave that story and somebody said, that's not what I do, you'd all despise that person. 00:35:18.839 --> 00:35:20.139 What would you want them to do? 00:35:20.439 --> 00:35:22.099 You want to say, listen, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. 00:35:22.279 --> 00:35:23.279 We're not gods. 00:35:24.239 --> 00:35:25.779 And actually to think that way is all wrong. 00:35:27.159 --> 00:35:31.179 And if you don't agree with that, well, like really? 00:35:31.179 --> 00:35:35.480 You want to let these people continue to believe a delusion? 00:35:38.059 --> 00:35:45.440 You see, Canadians don't like, what's so powerful about the story, it reveals our hearts. 00:35:45.539 --> 00:35:47.579 We don't want to say that those things don't work. 00:35:48.799 --> 00:35:52.000 Yet really, if we're honest, you should say they don't work. 00:35:52.319 --> 00:35:52.919 If they don't work. 00:35:52.920 --> 00:36:03.079 If Jesus didn't rise from the dead, as Paul says later on, if Jesus did not rise from the dead, we should all get up right now. 00:36:04.519 --> 00:36:08.280 And I don't know, we have some people here who can probably tell us where the best Mexican food is. 00:36:08.360 --> 00:36:11.079 We have some people who can tell us where the best South Indian food is. 00:36:11.700 --> 00:36:14.519 Victor can tell us where just the best food is, period. 00:36:15.059 --> 00:36:16.840 In all sorts of different genres. 00:36:16.840 --> 00:36:20.960 And we might as well go out and do that because we're completely and utterly wasting our time. 00:36:21.100 --> 00:36:22.579 We're fully, fully deluded. 00:36:24.039 --> 00:36:25.300 But I don't think we are. 00:36:27.360 --> 00:36:30.740 The word of his grace and the work of his grace changes how you think about everything. 00:36:31.200 --> 00:36:34.800 It's partially in apologetics, in evangelism, and in discipleship. 00:36:35.420 --> 00:36:37.300 Let's just go through this story very quickly. 00:36:37.640 --> 00:36:39.100 It has a very surprising end. 00:36:39.160 --> 00:36:41.980 There's just two very brief lessons which are important for us to hear. 00:36:42.059 --> 00:36:42.820 So Paul does this. 00:36:43.079 --> 00:36:44.480 They stop them from sacrificing. 00:36:44.640 --> 00:36:45.500 What happens next? 00:36:45.500 --> 00:36:46.480 Well, let's look. 00:36:46.559 --> 00:36:47.000 Verse 19. 00:36:47.059 --> 00:36:48.139 A very surprising part. 00:36:48.260 --> 00:36:50.280 I intentionally had Owen not read it. 00:36:51.139 --> 00:36:51.840 Verse 19. 00:36:53.280 --> 00:36:57.780 But Jewish people came from Antioch and Iconium and having persuaded... 00:36:57.780 --> 00:37:00.360 So Paul and Barnabas, they want to worship as gods. 00:37:01.460 --> 00:37:04.219 But these people come and persuade the crowds. 00:37:04.900 --> 00:37:09.280 Having persuaded the crowds, they stoned Paul to death. 00:37:09.280 --> 00:37:10.559 Or at least they thought it was to death. 00:37:10.699 --> 00:37:13.420 And dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead. 00:37:13.420 --> 00:37:16.420 People have always been fickle. 00:37:17.300 --> 00:37:20.559 Brothers and sisters, when I say that once again, don't take it, yeah, those people have 00:37:20.559 --> 00:37:21.099 always been fickle. 00:37:21.180 --> 00:37:21.740 No, no, no, no, no. 00:37:22.079 --> 00:37:23.099 We can be fickle. 00:37:23.099 --> 00:37:29.239 If you just think everybody else is fickle and you have nothing in your life that's fickle, 00:37:31.039 --> 00:37:33.360 brothers and sisters, I have some news for you. 00:37:33.440 --> 00:37:34.519 You can be fickle too. 00:37:36.039 --> 00:37:39.259 And if that probably, if the person around you was to speak honestly, they'd say, yeah, 00:37:39.259 --> 00:37:40.920 I can think of 10 times you were pretty fickle. 00:37:41.779 --> 00:37:42.819 It's not a condemn... 00:37:42.819 --> 00:37:44.579 It's just like that's a problem. 00:37:44.579 --> 00:37:48.840 In verse 20, it doesn't tell you what the miracle exactly is, but verse 20, when the 00:37:48.840 --> 00:37:51.819 disciples gathered about him, he rose up and entered the city. 00:37:53.559 --> 00:37:53.960 Whoa, whoa. 00:37:55.159 --> 00:37:57.420 He went back into the place where they killed him. 00:37:57.420 --> 00:38:05.980 So one of the things about this story which is really interesting, you'll see that sometimes 00:38:05.980 --> 00:38:10.200 they leave persecution and other times they walk right back into it. 00:38:10.280 --> 00:38:11.940 There's no one rule about this. 00:38:12.019 --> 00:38:15.700 It requires the discernment and prayer and maybe community. 00:38:15.820 --> 00:38:17.360 But he walks right back into the city. 00:38:17.360 --> 00:38:25.400 And then the next day, continuing the verse, he went out with Barnabas onto Derbe. 00:38:25.800 --> 00:38:30.039 And when they had preached the gospel to that city as well and had made many disciples, they 00:38:30.039 --> 00:38:34.039 returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch. 00:38:37.340 --> 00:38:42.420 And strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith and 00:38:42.420 --> 00:38:45.500 saying that through many tribulations, we must enter the kingdom of God. 00:38:45.500 --> 00:38:48.980 Now just pause here and I'm going to get, actually, if you could put up the point, Claire, 00:38:49.079 --> 00:38:49.699 that would be helpful. 00:38:50.340 --> 00:38:51.059 Here's the thing. 00:38:52.199 --> 00:38:54.460 You go back and you read chapter 14, you make a little note. 00:38:54.659 --> 00:38:55.800 This is an astounding thing. 00:38:55.900 --> 00:38:58.840 At Derbe, Paul and Barnabas could have gone some other way. 00:38:58.900 --> 00:39:01.199 They're going to now go back to Antioch, the sending church. 00:39:01.300 --> 00:39:02.659 Maybe they realize they're running out of money. 00:39:02.760 --> 00:39:04.639 Maybe it's just time they've been gone a couple of years. 00:39:05.159 --> 00:39:08.360 They could have gone another way down this way to go to Assyria. 00:39:08.599 --> 00:39:13.980 But instead, they go right back to Lystra, right back to Iconium, right back to Antioch 00:39:13.980 --> 00:39:16.940 in every one of those cities that was places they tried to kill them. 00:39:17.300 --> 00:39:18.139 They went right back. 00:39:19.139 --> 00:39:20.980 It's not explained, but they went right back. 00:39:21.719 --> 00:39:25.300 The only explanation is that they went back to encourage them and do one other thing, 00:39:25.460 --> 00:39:26.519 which I'll get to in a moment. 00:39:27.320 --> 00:39:28.420 But here's the point. 00:39:30.579 --> 00:39:35.360 There's a lot of people who tell you that Christianity should be easy, and if it's not 00:39:35.360 --> 00:39:38.519 easy, you're sinning in some way. 00:39:38.519 --> 00:39:41.139 They're not telling you what the Bible says. 00:39:41.340 --> 00:39:46.380 The word of his grace and the work of his grace will lead you into tribulation on your 00:39:46.380 --> 00:39:48.219 way to your forever home. 00:39:51.079 --> 00:39:53.280 That's why the Christian faith requires courage. 00:39:58.880 --> 00:40:00.019 And then one other thing. 00:40:01.000 --> 00:40:02.199 Look at verse 23. 00:40:03.780 --> 00:40:04.340 And this is another. 00:40:04.480 --> 00:40:05.659 Going back to encourage... 00:40:05.659 --> 00:40:06.539 By the way, isn't it really neat? 00:40:06.539 --> 00:40:08.039 How do they encourage them? 00:40:08.059 --> 00:40:10.300 One of the ways they encourage them is so you're going to have tribulations. 00:40:11.559 --> 00:40:12.679 Actually, that is encouraging. 00:40:15.099 --> 00:40:15.800 You know what? 00:40:16.019 --> 00:40:19.059 Because I bet you there's a whole pile of people in this room who at different times 00:40:19.059 --> 00:40:19.539 in their life... 00:40:19.539 --> 00:40:24.099 I grew up in a type of context where it was the joy of the Lord is your strength, and 00:40:24.099 --> 00:40:28.219 what characterized Christians from other people is that we had way more joy, and our lives 00:40:28.219 --> 00:40:29.179 were more successful. 00:40:29.599 --> 00:40:34.019 And when I was feeling depressed, I felt even worse than just feeling depressed because it 00:40:34.019 --> 00:40:36.159 meant that I was a crappy Christian. 00:40:37.340 --> 00:40:41.259 And I'd look around at all these people with their smiles on their face, the joy of the 00:40:41.259 --> 00:40:43.199 Lord is our strength, you know, and all that type of stuff. 00:40:43.239 --> 00:40:46.059 And I'm feeling that I'm struggling with some hard times. 00:40:46.820 --> 00:40:48.599 And that only discouraged me. 00:40:48.780 --> 00:40:51.860 They might think they're encouraging me by telling you that life is going to be a bowl 00:40:51.860 --> 00:40:52.239 of chair. 00:40:52.239 --> 00:40:53.679 Like, it's... 00:40:53.679 --> 00:40:54.139 No! 00:40:56.459 --> 00:41:01.199 Because you accept the gospel, you have a forever home, and there is a kingdom that you 00:41:01.199 --> 00:41:02.319 now have a place in. 00:41:02.459 --> 00:41:07.599 And that kingdom both has its beginnings here on this earth, but really only is consummated. 00:41:07.919 --> 00:41:08.599 And you know what? 00:41:08.639 --> 00:41:11.299 On your way to that forever home, there are going to be hard times. 00:41:13.299 --> 00:41:15.959 But God's grace, Christ is with you. 00:41:15.960 --> 00:41:21.920 And this other part's also really important, and hopefully will be a church that encourages. 00:41:22.079 --> 00:41:24.519 Look what happens next in verse 23. 00:41:25.860 --> 00:41:26.760 That's the other thing they do. 00:41:26.820 --> 00:41:31.260 They encourage, and, verse 23, they appoint, and when they had appointed elders for them 00:41:31.260 --> 00:41:36.699 in every church with prayer and fasting, they committed them to the Lord in whom they 00:41:36.699 --> 00:41:37.119 believed. 00:41:37.920 --> 00:41:39.420 The final point, Claire. 00:41:39.420 --> 00:41:46.059 There, the word of his grace and the work of his grace form elder-led, or presbyter-led, 00:41:46.619 --> 00:41:48.240 missionary-minded churches. 00:41:49.400 --> 00:41:53.340 That's the word of his grace, and that's the work of his grace, to form churches. 00:41:53.740 --> 00:41:58.519 But churches that share the gospel, that have that type of health. 00:42:00.240 --> 00:42:04.639 And then just very briefly, they passed, verse 24, they passed through Pisidia and came to 00:42:04.639 --> 00:42:05.159 Pamphylia. 00:42:05.159 --> 00:42:09.619 And when they had spoken the word in Perga, they went down to Italia, and from there they 00:42:09.619 --> 00:42:14.199 sailed to Antioch, that's Syrian Antioch, where they had been commended to the grace 00:42:14.199 --> 00:42:15.980 of God for the work that they had fulfilled. 00:42:16.059 --> 00:42:17.679 That's where I got the work of his grace. 00:42:18.679 --> 00:42:19.980 The work of his grace. 00:42:21.339 --> 00:42:25.440 And when they arrived and gathered the church together, they declared all that God had done 00:42:25.440 --> 00:42:29.299 with them, and how he had opened a door of faith to the pagans, and they remained no 00:42:29.299 --> 00:42:30.519 little time with the disciples. 00:42:30.699 --> 00:42:32.659 Brothers and sisters, this is a beautiful story. 00:42:33.579 --> 00:42:34.759 Let's stand in prayer. 00:42:35.159 --> 00:42:49.159 Father, it's really easy for us to, you know, think that certain types of things really 00:42:49.159 --> 00:42:51.420 work for me, like maybe it's C.S. 00:42:51.500 --> 00:42:57.259 Lewis, or maybe it's reading that, I can't remember his first name, Strobel on spirituality, 00:42:57.799 --> 00:43:02.480 or maybe it's reading Gavin Ortlund, or something like that, and that seems way more powerful 00:43:02.480 --> 00:43:03.159 than the Bible. 00:43:03.159 --> 00:43:09.440 And Father, I know that you want us to read great writers like that and be formed by it, 00:43:09.539 --> 00:43:15.159 but Father, we ask that you help us to understand that when we just do what pleases us, we're 00:43:15.159 --> 00:43:19.420 just doing ourselves, and that doesn't actually accomplish anything, because in and of ourselves 00:43:19.420 --> 00:43:20.019 we die. 00:43:20.920 --> 00:43:25.300 But that you, Father, who are calling us to our forever home through Christ, that when 00:43:25.300 --> 00:43:28.719 we do what you ask us to do, that you're making wine in our lives. 00:43:28.719 --> 00:43:30.379 You're changing our lives. 00:43:30.879 --> 00:43:35.859 And so we ask that you help us to persevere in the simple means of grace, like sharing 00:43:35.859 --> 00:43:41.919 the gospel and being financially generous in the Lord's table and daily prayer and daily 00:43:41.919 --> 00:43:42.980 reading of your word. 00:43:43.099 --> 00:43:46.059 That you help us, Father, to be faithful in these things. 00:43:46.199 --> 00:43:49.859 And help us, Father, to be a church which isn't just concerned about making ourselves 00:43:49.860 --> 00:43:56.559 happy, but always has a concern to go, to reach those who do not yet know Jesus. 00:43:56.780 --> 00:44:01.019 To go, not just to our neighbors, but also to the end of the earth. 00:44:01.140 --> 00:44:03.720 And not just to the end of the earth, but also to our neighbors. 00:44:04.140 --> 00:44:09.579 That you would do that wonderful work in us, and that we, Father, your word and your gospel 00:44:09.579 --> 00:44:13.740 would so form us that we would be a church that encourages each other as well. 00:44:13.739 --> 00:44:18.639 And we ask all these things in the name of Jesus, your Son, and our Savior, and all God's 00:44:18.639 --> 00:44:20.299 people said, Amen.