Acts 28:1-16

Good morning.

It's good to be here. It's good to be here with you.

If you haven't figured out, during the hot days of the summer, our church has, just like SeaWorld, splash zones.

There are places where the fans blow.

So if you are dying of heat, get up, move around, find a place where you can be comfortable as we look at God's Word together.

I don't want you dying out there.

I know it's getting a little warm.

But it is a good day to be here in the house of the Lord together.

So let's rejoice in that.

You know, it's one of the best opening scenes in modern television history.

A man lying on the ground and an eye pops open.

Do you remember it?

Some of you are too young to have seen the first episode of the series Lost that was a huge hit for 10 years.

That eye belonged to Jack Shepard.

And as he raised himself up in the middle of a bamboo forest, ran frantically trying to find out where he was,

and emerged onto a beach where at first silence as he looked one way and then the other way.

Chaos.

The sound of an airplane engine whirring in the background, overwhelming everything else, screams and cries.

And you realize that Jack Shepard had just been in a plane accident.

The plane had gone down.

And Jack was emerging into this scene of chaos.

Bewildered.

Afraid.

Uncertain.

Thankful to be alive.

But confused.

What do I do now?

Where do I go?

How do I proceed?

Friends, we haven't been in an airplane crash.

I would imagine most of you.

I don't know.

Maybe someone has.

But I think that this is something that happens to us often in life.

We go through some change.

We go through some transition.

And suddenly we're in this new situation.

And we don't know where we are.

And we don't know where we're going.

And we wonder, how do we go forward from here?

What does that look like?

Some of you are starting school this week.

Maybe it's a new school.

Maybe it's a new town for you.

Some of you are heading back to elementary school or junior high or high school.

And as you walk in that first day, some of you have, some of you will do it tomorrow.

You may experience a similar disorientation.

And ask the same questions.

Why am I here?

What has brought me here?

How am I going to get through this?

And friends, it doesn't even need to take a life transition for that to happen.

Sometimes life just comes at you, doesn't it?

And brings something unexpected.

Bring something overwhelming.

And you find yourself in this place of bewilderment and fear and uncertainty.

And as we stand there, we ask the question, God, where are you?

God, why am I here?

God, how do I move forward from here?

What is it going to look like for me to move ahead from where I am right now?

Well, friends, that's where our passage this morning takes us.

We are in Acts 28.

That's page 937 in your pew Bible.

If you've not been here all summer, we are preaching through the end of the book of Acts.

And this is the penultimate sermon.

Greg will wrap it up next week.

But this week is the second to last one.

And our passage speaks to that kind of disorientation and confusion and speaks words of hope.

If you remember last week, Pastor Nick read chapter 27.

Paul is a prisoner being taken to Rome.

And he's on a ship that ultimately wrecks in the sea.

And as we begin this passage, Paul and all the people in the ship have not been saved from the storm.

They have not been saved from the shipwreck.

But through the storm and through the shipwreck, God has carried them.

And God has brought them to the beach like Jack Shepard.

Wondering, why are we here and where do we go from here?

So, let's read together Acts chapter 28.

Acts 28 · chapter mention

We're going to read verses 1 through 16 together.

After we were brought safely through, we then learned that the island was called Malta.

The native people showed us unusual kindness.

For they kindled a fire and welcomed us all because it had begun to rain and was cold.

When Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and put them on the fire,

a viper came out because of the heat and fastened on his hand.

When the native people saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another,

No doubt this man is a murderer.

Though he has escaped the sea, justice has not allowed him to live.

He, however, shook off the creature into the fire and suffered no harm.

They were waiting for him to swell up or suddenly fall down dead.

But when they had waited a long time and saw no misfortune come to him,

they changed their minds and said he was a god.

Now, in the neighborhood of that place were lands belonging to the chief men of the island named Publius,

who received us and entertained us hospitably for three days.

It happened that the father of Publius lay sick with fever and dysentery,

and Paul visited him and prayed and, putting his hands on him, healed him.

And when this had taken place, the rest of the people on the island who had diseases also came and were cured.

They honored us greatly.

They also honored us greatly.

And when we were about to sail, they put on board whatever we needed.

After three months, we set sail on a ship that had wintered in the island,

a ship of Alexandria with the twin gods as figurehead.

Putting in at Syracuse, we stayed there for three days.

And from then, we made a circuit and arrived at Regium.

And after one day, a south wind sprang up.

And on the second day, we came to Puteoli.

There, we found brothers and were invited to stay with them for seven days.

And so, we came to Rome.

And the brothers there, when they heard about us, came as far as the Forum of Appius and three taverns to meet us.

On seeing them, Paul thanked God and took courage.

And when we came into Rome, Paul was allowed to stay by himself with the soldier who guarded him.

Let's pray together.

Lord, we are thankful for your word.

For in it, you speak to us.

And Lord, you speak to us not only information about you or what has happened in the past.

But Lord, you speak to us words of life.

Words that are meant to encourage our souls.

To turn our gaze towards you and to see you in all your majesty and beauty.

Holy Spirit, I invite you this morning.

Help us to understand your word rightly.

And to respond as you would have us to this morning.

We pray in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

In this odd little passage,

this odd narrative stuck at the end of this long book about God's work in building his church,

what do we see?

What is there for us this morning?

I think we see this.

We see a portrait.

It is a portrait of God's provision for his people pursuing his mission.

I want to talk about two key aspects of that this morning.

I want to talk about how God, both in building the early church in Acts and still today,

God is active.

I want to talk about what it is to understand his mission

and what it is to understand his provision for his people.

This is the big picture.

God's provision for his people pursuing his mission.

You may not have noticed it.

The most important verse, I think, in the big picture of this book of Acts is verse 14.

It is actually just the very last part of verse 14.

Right?

What does it say?

Look with me.

And so we came to Rome.

This is the most exciting thing that we have seen in eight chapters in the book of Acts.

Because Paul has been trying to get here for eight chapters.

Why?

Why?

Why is that so important for Paul?

If you go back, you realize Paul had gone to Jerusalem and there had been arrested and accused.

He had been brought before various courts.

And in defending his ministry and in proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ,

he had found himself imprisoned and on this inexorable process of heading towards Rome.

He had actually appealed.

He wanted to testify before Caesar.

He'd appealed to go to Caesar so that he could testify.

And so this is in some ways the climax of this whole great narrative from the last chapters.

Now a cynic might think the big reason why Paul wanted to go to Rome is simply so that Paul could defend himself and be vindicated

and be shown to be not a rebel against the Roman Empire.

And that this is simply a theological discussion between Jews and the new believers in Jesus.

But I don't think that's all that it was.

Paul, even though he was in chains, saw Rome as an opportunity.

An opportunity for a number of things.

If you go back in Acts 27, in the middle of the chapter,

God himself comes and says,

You're going to survive this shipwreck because you will testify before Caesar.

You will tell him about the grace of God and what he has done in Jesus Christ.

So God himself reminded Paul,

This is why you're going to Rome.

So you can testify, not about your innocence, but about the work of God in Christ.

We also see from the book of Romans that Paul had long wanted to go to Rome to bless the church,

to be with them, to encourage one another.

It's what we see in Romans 1.

And in Romans 15, we see that Paul had a greater vision too.

That Paul wanted to get to Rome to encourage the brothers there,

but he wanted to go beyond that.

He wanted to take the good news of Jesus Christ beyond to Spain.

He saw Rome as the launching point for a new mission

to reach people who had never before heard about Christ.

Friends, this was Paul's mission.

And you know what?

It was a costly one, wasn't it?

It was a costly one because he wasn't going willingly to Rome at one level, was he?

He was in chains.

He was a prisoner.

He was not a free man choosing to go where he would and when he wanted to.

But he was pulled along by those who held him captive.

And in those chains, he suffered years in prison, shipwrecks.

It's pretty remarkable.

And for Paul, as he saw this cost, he thought, well, this is worth it.

Why?

Because I get to tell others about Jesus.

I get to tell others that he is not dead, but he is risen.

And that makes all the difference in the world.

And so with that sense of vision, even though the cost on his life was high,

he was able to even walk through it in an incredibly gracious way.

As he pursued this mission, strikingly in this story, he was gathering wood.

Right?

He's not thinking, okay, I've been saved.

God said I'm going to get to Rome.

I'm just going to sit back and let people take care of me.

Right?

They shipwrecked.

They were cold.

They were wet.

It had started to rain.

And so Paul goes out and he's gathering wood.

Expending himself yet more for the sake of others.

Later on in our story, in verses 8 and 9, Paul's welcomed in.

You might have thought, oh man, Publius, this is like a day at the spa.

I finally get to relax.

I get some refreshment.

Oh, this is nice.

I need a break.

But Paul didn't see that.

Paul heard, oh, his father is sick.

Let me go pray for him and ask the Lord to heal him.

And then when he did, it wasn't just him, but the whole island, all the sick people on

the island came to visit Paul.

And during his time there, he had a ministry of healing the sick.

And so we see Paul pursuing the mission that God had put on his life to testify to the grace

of God.

It is why he's on the ship.

It is why he acts the way he does towards those in this story.

I wonder, friends, what about you?

What is the mission you're on this morning?

I'm here to tell you that God has a mission for you if you will take it up.

In Acts 17, verses 26 and 27, Paul, preaching to the Athenians, quotes this remarkable statement.

Acts 17:26

He says, I'm going to paraphrase here.

He says, God has determined the places that you live and the times that you live.

God knows that you are here in New Haven today.

It's not an accident.

God has determined these things for you and he's determined them for a purpose.

A purpose that you might seek God and that you might find him for he's not far from you.

I don't know if you may be here this morning and thinking, I don't actually know why I'm in church.

I'm not usually here.

I'm exploring this.

Or maybe you're thinking, I've been going to church for a long time and I'm about ready to pull the plug.

God has you here this morning.

God has you here in New Haven so that you might seek him and you might find him.

But friends, this is just the beginning of God's great call in your life.

In 1 Peter chapter 2, Paul, I'm sorry, the apostle Peter reminds the believers that he's writing to,

1 Peter 2 · chapter mention

ironically, probably in Rome, probably suffering great trials, he reminds them,

God has made you his special people, a chosen race, a royal people, a people belonging to him.

God has called all believers in Christ into his family, but not just so that they might be saved from the storm,

but so that they might also then, as he goes on, he says,

in order that you may declare the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness and into the kingdom of his beloved son.

This is the calling for all who claim the name of Christ,

that we should boast about our Savior,

that we would say, there is no one like him.

There is none other in the world who has been what he is for me.

This comes in joy, in worship.

It comes in testimony of this is how he's changed our lives.

It comes in the proclamation to a dying world that is losing hope,

that there is a Savior,

and he is the best thing that you will ever find.

And so, friends, he calls you

to take up this mission.

He calls you to embrace this.

Some of you are going to be in New Haven for a couple of years.

Some of you will be in New Haven for the rest of your lives.

Some of you are newly arrived.

Some of you have lived your whole life here.

The question is not actually where you are.

The question is, whose mission are you on?

God has a mission for you to know him

and to make him known.

It's easy.

It's easy for us to slide into having a very self-centered mission

for our lives.

I'm just here to get my degree and get out of here.

I don't even like the Northeast.

And it hasn't even snowed yet.

Some of you are thinking,

I know, I know, but I just got to raise my family,

earn my money,

get my ducks in order.

Eventually, I can do that, but not now.

I'm too busy.

I got too much other things to do with my life.

Friends, God says, no, this is not your mission.

He has called you here to be great students.

He has caused you here to raise your families.

Whatever your life situation here,

God has called you here.

And he wants you to honor him

in how you do those things diligently and well

and with an eye to the glory of God.

But friends, if we pursue those things

and we lose the mission of knowing God

and making him known,

we have lost our way.

Some of you may be this morning disillusioned

and weary.

You've been in the church for a long time

and you think,

I've walked that road.

I'm tired of it.

It's too hard.

We will see in just a minute

that God's provision for you is sufficient

to refresh your weary soul

and to see that though it is hard

and the cost is great,

there is no mission that is more worthwhile.

There is no higher calling

than to live for Christ and his kingdom.

Some of you may know the story

of a man named William Borden.

He was an heir to the great Borden Dairy fortune.

He came to New Haven in 1905

as a freshman at Yale.

He had every human advantage it seemed.

He was an outstanding student

becoming the president of Phi Beta Kappa.

He was an outstanding athlete

known as a rower and a sailor and a wrestler.

When he came to New Haven,

when he began his years at Yale,

he purposed that he was going to be here

for the sake of Christ and his kingdom.

He purposed to begin to pray for all of his classmates.

His sophomore year,

he gathered a few of his classmates together

and they created a systematic approach

to engaging every student in his class

so that they would know the good news of Jesus Christ.

But he didn't live with the myopic view

of just the ivory tower that he was in.

For he also lived in New Haven

when it was a great port city.

And he saw the wreckage

of the transient life of seafarers,

of sailors.

And so he started,

he walked off of campus,

down the street,

and began a ministry,

began reaching out

to men whose lives were being destroyed

by alcohol

and transience.

Transience.

He started the Yale Hope Mission.

And years later,

when he died,

as a young missionary in Egypt,

there were testimonies

that came from both

the rich and powerful

and the down and out,

declaring how this man

had lived his life

to know Christ

and to make him known

in every circumstance in life.

Some of you are students.

Go read Borden of Yale.

Go down to the bookstall.

Get it.

If you can't afford it,

just steal it.

No, really.

You can have it for free.

Go read about his life

and consider why are you here.

If you're a student

at one of the other universities,

go read it.

It's still applicable.

And you know what?

If you're not a student,

think about this.

It may not be

your classmates

and your campus.

It may be your workplace

and your cubicle workers.

It may be the other moms

and the play date.

It may be the friends

you hang out with

on Friday nights.

Whatever your circumstances are,

it may be the other ones

It will be your neighbors

for sure.

Who do you live near?

Wherever you are,

this is what God

has called you for.

Friends,

will you take up this mission?

Will you figure out

what your Rome is?

Having seen then clearly

what the mission of God is

for Paul

and then for us,

probably some of you

are thinking,

how do I get there?

What do I do?

How do I?

I can't do that.

That's completely overwhelming.

Well, friends,

this is the good news

of this passage.

Because Paul

was not only called

on a mission by God

as we are,

but Paul saw God

provide for him

every step of the way

and provided in surprising

and a great variety of ways

that some may be more common

or less common

but it's striking

how broad and rich

God's provision is

for his people.

These stories

that we read this morning

have a number of them.

Let's look at a few of them quickly.

The first one is that

we see God displaying

a supernatural power

on behalf of Paul

and his ministry.

Right?

This incredible scene

with the viper.

Right?

Paul's,

it's such an odd story,

isn't it?

I mean, really.

You're just reading along

and suddenly Paul's

collecting wood

and there's this viper

and, you know,

you read the commentaries

and they're like,

well, there aren't any

vipers on Malta today

so this must not be true.

Well, you know what?

2,000 years,

it's a small island

with lots of people.

They probably killed them all.

It's not that hard.

But the fact is,

it seemed,

as you read the narrative

of verses 4 through 6,

the natives saw the viper

and they knew

Paul had been bitten

and he's going to die.

Right?

So they knew

there were poisonous snakes

on the island

and they knew exactly

how bad it was.

And Luke doesn't even bother

to explain it very much.

He didn't say,

and God shone a light

upon Paul

and there was a great

display of light

and angels.

None of that.

He just says,

and Paul shook the snake

into the fire

and it burned up.

And they all waited

for him to die

and he didn't.

And the testimony

to these natives,

the word here,

natives,

it's so easy for that

to have a pejorative sense.

It originally just meant

people who weren't

Greek speaking.

So that's all it means.

The Maltese had their own

culture and language

and it was not like

a barbaric

or backwards society.

But they did have

their own beliefs

and superstitions.

And they believed,

oh,

the viper came out.

Clearly our God

is bringing justice

on this unrighteous man.

And God uses

even that misunderstanding

about the nature

of the spiritual world

and turns it on its head.

And suddenly Paul

is justified before them

and his ministry

is exalted.

Now he still has to clarify

just like he did

in some other seasons

in Acts.

Look,

I'm not a God

but I serve the true

and the living God

who has delivered me

today just as he's

delivered me

from so many other things

so that I might tell you

about Christ.

And then

he gets this

great hospitality,

walks into this man's house

and his father-in-law

is sick

and he probably had

something called

Maltese fever

which was a unique

disease that was

caused from the

milk of goats

on that island

that was discovered

in the 20th century

and therefore eradicated

but before then

this bug got in

and it killed people.

Fever and dysentery

were sort of descriptors

of this thing

that still existed

for a long time

after that.

And Paul walks in

and he prays

and he's healed.

And strikingly

if you're a student

of the big arc

of the Luke-Acts narrative

that Luke has written

for us to know

in Luke 4

Jesus walks into

Peter's house

and heals

Peter's mother-in-law.

Here Paul walks in

and heals

another man's

father.

But they're strikingly

different

because Jesus

comes in

and he says

I'm going to do this

so that you will know

who I am.

But when Paul walks in

he says

I'm going to do this

and I'm going to pray

to God

so that you know

what kind of God

I serve.

And there's this

striking distinction

between those two things.

And in the middle

of what do we see?

We see Paul

we see God

overturning

the natural order

of things.

Poison usually kills.

Maltese fever

usually dies.

And yet

the God

who Paul serves

is a God

who brings life.

And the message

that he brings

is one of eternal life.

And so

these supernatural

things happen

so that Paul's

message

is vindicated

and so that people

will listen

to him.

Friends

do we look

for God

to work

in supernatural

ways today?

I think

it's so easy

for us

to deny

that he does

this

or to think

well he doesn't

do it on my

timetable

so I'm just

not going to

believe in that

because I don't

want to be

disappointed.

friends

God

has

and God

is doing

works like

this today

to validate

the ongoing

spread of the

mission

the message

of Jesus

Christ

and him

crucified.

God

continues

to do

these things

today

in our

world.

But friends

I also

want us

to make

sure that

we don't

look

for

supernatural

things

only in

these

most

overt

and obvious

ways.

as I

have

thought

about

this

friends

is not

forgiving

someone

who has

deeply

hurt

you

or

resisting

a

temptation

to

fill

the

hungry

hole

in your

heart

with

some

worldly

promise

of

fulfillment

or

simply

acting

kindly

to

someone

where

you

will

gain

no

benefit

from

it.

Are

these

not

also

supernatural?

Are

these

not

also

things

that

do

not

happen

outside

of

the

work

of

God

in

our

lives?

So

friends

let us

not

sit

and

wait

for

God

to

part

the

Red

Sea

when

he

actually

simply

wants

to

make

us

patient

instead.

Both

of

them

are

supernatural

in

God's

work

in

our

lives.

And

we

need

to

embrace

a

broad

view

of

how

God

works

to

help

us.

He

comes

alongside

of

us

and

enables

us

to

do

this.

So

we

see

God's

supernatural

work

helping

Paul

and

helping

us

in

our

mission.

The

second

thing

we

see

is

the

kindness

of

strangers.

I

love

verse

two.

The

native

people

showed

us

unusual

kindness.

The

original

actually

reads

showed

us

no

small

kindness

which is

a beautiful

way of

saying

we were

overwhelmed.

It was

abundant

in the

kindness.

And

remember

where we

started.

These

guys have

just been

shipwrecked

on an

unknown

island.

They

might have

expected

bears

and wolves

or unhappy

natives

armed with

spears

and swords

who want

to imprison

them,

who want

to attack

them,

who feel

threatened

by them.

They

might

have

expected

all

sorts

of

things.

But

they're

with

Paul

and

Paul's

with

God

and

God

is

watching

over

them.

And

so

they

have

this

incredible

provision

from

the

natives

on

the

island

and

the

head

man,

the

most

important

person

takes

them

in

and

welcomes

them

and

treats

them

richly.

And

you

see

even

at

the

end

of

that

part

of

the

story

in

verse

10.

When

we

went

to

put

out

to

sale,

they

gave

us

everything

we

needed.

And

friends,

these

aren't

people

who

have

believed

in

Jesus.

These

are

not,

this

is

not

the

church

coming

alongside.

These

are

people

who

still

believe

in

the

God

of

justice,

who

still

willingly

and

embrace

jumping

onto a

ship

with

the

twin gods

of

Castor

and

Pollux

on the

front,

believing

that

having

those

gods

on the

front

will

save

them

from

shipwreck.

The

people that

God used

to help

Paul and

to encourage

him

are not

the people

you might

have

expected.

And

yet,

God is

there.

God

has

provided

for

Paul

to

get

him

back

on

his

journey,

to

get

back

on

the

boat

through

the

kindness

of

strangers.

They

have

all

they

need

for

the

ship,

for

the

sail

ahead.

I

remember

after

my

freshman

year in

college,

I went

on a

missions

trip

to

India.

Some

friends,

some

friends'

parents

were leading

the

trip.

We

arrived

in

Delhi

at

11

o'clock

at

night

expecting

to

connect

from

Delhi

to

fly

to

Bombay

where

we

were

then

going

to

be

met

by

people

we

had

never

seen

before

who

were

going

to

take

us

to

the

place

that

we

were

actually

going

to

settle

in

for

five

weeks

and

do

some

ministry

in

the

name

of

Jesus.

We

got

to

Delhi

and

the

plane

was

cancelled.

And

if

you've

ever

been

in

a

circumstance

like

this

it's

not

just

it

was

cancelled

and

there's

this

nice

person

who

speaks

perfect

English

who's

saying

and

we

would

like

to

take

care

of

you

and

help

you

rebook

your

flights

in

the

most

convenient

and

easy

way

so

that

you

can

get

to

your

destination

as

quickly

as

possible.

No

it

is

bewildering

and

confusing

and

you

think

how

in

the

world

do

I

get

from

where

I

am

now

to

where

I

need

to

be

in

a

timely

manner

and

we

had

no

idea

we

didn't

understand

the

systems

it

was

1130

at

night

all

the

offices

were

closed

down

I

mean

we

we

slept

in

the

airport

that

night

which

was

a

lot

of

fun

but

you

know

what

happened

along

the

way

George

happened

that's

all

I

could

tell you

his

name

is

George

and

God

looked

at

us

he

walked

up

to

the

leaders

of

our

group

and

said

maybe

I

can

help

you

he

got

us

in

the

right

lines

he

got

us

he

did

the

negotiation

which

included

new

fees

and

things

like

that

he

got

us

our

plane

tickets

and

helped

us

get

on

the

plane

to

the

destination

the

next

morning

we

called

him

George

the

angel

there

was

no

reason

he

needed

to

take

care

of

us

except

the

kindness

of

strangers

by

which

God

helped

us

get

to

where

we

were

going

to

do

the

work

that

he

had

called

us

to

do

friends

when

you're

stuck

do

you

ask

God

to

help

when

you

hit

those

points

where

you

think

I

don't

know

what

to

do

do

you

start

looking

for

God

to

intervene

because

he

does

and

he

will

let

us

not

fall

into

our

self

reliance

I'm

going

to

fix

this

American

mode

but

let

us

live

instead

by

faith

believing

that

the

God

who

has

called

us

on

this

mission

will

also

provide

for

us

all

that

we

need

in

every

circumstance

to

do

what

he

has

called

us

to

do

and

then

finally

friends

when

you

look

at

verses

11

through

16

you

think

why

is

this

here

it's

just

like

a

little

travelog

and

then

we

went

to

here

and

then

we

went

to

here

and

finally

we

got

to

Rome

this

whole

section

could

have

just

said

and

then

we

sailed

to

Rome

and

then

we

be

done

right

but

what

is

it

in

this

last

section

that

we

see

the

encouragement

of

brothers

isn't

it

striking

not

only

the

kindness

of

strangers

who

don't

know

this

God

but

the

encouragement

of

brothers

they

came

from

Rome

they

traveled

out

of

the

city

into

the

province

of

Rome

which

is

why

you

see

it

in

verses

14

and

16

they

entered

into

the

province

and

then

they

were

headed

towards

Rome

and

these

brothers

came

out

and

do

you

see

Paul

do

you

see

what

he

says

verse

14

15

on

seeing

them

Paul

thanked

God

and

took

courage

he

knew

that

this

was

another

provision

from

the

Lord

these

brothers

have

come

to

encourage

us

as

we

finish

this

journey

and

he

was

strengthened

he

was

encouraged

by

it

friends

I

wonder

if

you

viewed

coming

to

church

this

morning

like

that

I

get

to

worship

with

brothers

and

sisters

what

an

incredible

gift

from

the

Lord

I

am

weary

I

am

tired

this

has

been

a

long

journey

I

need

my

brothers

and

sisters

to

remind

me

and

to

encourage

me

and

to

help

me

on

the

way

for

those

of

you

who

are

starting

your

year

at

the

university

I

implore

you

make

this

your

commitment

do

not

forsake

the

fellowship

of

believers

there

is

no

assignment

done

there

is

no

extracurricular

activity

that

is

worth

losing

the

fellowship

of

being

a

part

of

a

local

church

now

I'm

speaking

to

the

university

crowd

because

it's

the

beginning

of

school

year

but

friends

I

know

there

are

many

out

you

who

are

not

a

part

of

that

who

are

also

thinking

why

do

I

go

to

church

it's

so

hot

the

preacher

goes

on

so

long

why

am

I

here

seriously

I

just

come

in

I

go

out

is

this

really

what

I

want

friends

I

want

to

tell

you

as one

of the

primary

ways

for us

to pursue

the mission

that he's

called us

to

we

can't

do it

alone

we

truly

can't

I

can't

tell

you

how

much

being

here

was an

encouragement

to me

in the

weeks

and months

after

Brandy

went

to

be

with

the

Lord

in

January

I

needed

to

be

here

even

when

I

was

completely

overwhelmed

even

when

I

didn't

have

the

energy

to

stay

and

to

fellowship

and

to

interact

even

when

I

couldn't

sing

to

be

here

with

you

all

was

such

an

encouragement

to

me

and

I

needed

to