Fuel For The Mission

This podcast is brought to you by Grand Parkway Baptist Church, helping people to know, enjoy, and glorify God.

For more information about Grand Parkway, visit Grandparkway.org.

God, we were made for more.

Namely, we were made for you.

Thank you that through the redeeming love, through what happened at Calvary, we get to not enjoy you now, but enjoy you forevermore.

And that inheritance is kept, it's undefiled, it's unfading, it can't expire, it cannot be stolen.

It is kept by you.

God, thank you for who you are.

We change, we go through mood swings, but God, you don't change.

And now as we transition in our worship from the singing to the listening to your word with God, would you please open up our hearts and open up our minds to get a little closer to you?

I pray for chains to break in this room.

And only your blood can do that.

So, Holy Spirit, I ask that you can be yourself in this space for the next 30 minutes.

Be yourself in this space and break chains, oh Lord.

It's in your beautiful name I pray.

Amen.

May you be seated.

Good morning, Hara.

We good?

Hey, favorite Bibles, we just go ahead and grab those and go to Acts chapter 14.

Acts 14 · chapter mention

Go ahead and go to Acts chapter 14.

Acts 14 · chapter mention

It's uh weird to we're we're in the midway through Acts.

I don't know if that's easy to believe or hard to believe.

I don't remember when we started, but we're gonna be in Acts chapter 14.

Acts 14 · chapter mention

Favorite Bibles, you can just relax as a text when be referencing is gonna be here on the screen.

But we're gonna mean the first um 18 verses of chapter um 14.

Now, as you well know, um via my consistent references, um there was a time in my life where ball was life.

Okay, basketball was life, but before that, there was a life I had before that.

So before Kobe Jordan and LeBron and Iverson Rockets, before that, okay, um, there was um these two gentlemen right here.

So I have a picture I want to show you.

So only real ones know who this is.

Who is this, by the way?

Anyone know?

Exactly.

There you go.

So these right here are the Hardy Boys.

They might not look like much, but if you're born in 1993-ish, these men captured your heart too.

So these are wrestlers um in the WWE, um, not like the real wrestling Olympics, like they were the good fake wrestling with storylines, okay?

I was watching that quite a bit, um, but these were two brothers and they were a tag team.

Voted one of the most um great, the greatest tag teams of all time.

They're actually 12-time tag team champions.

And actually, my brothers and I would jump off of couches onto the floor from floor to couches, floor couch bed.

We would do all sorts of acrobatic things copying these two gentlemen.

Matter of fact, I have a picture right here.

This is them living their best, their best life.

Now, as you see in the corner here, there's a ladder right there to the left.

That's not an accident, it's not under construction, but this was one of their specialties, okay?

Ladder matches.

What happens in ladder matches is that the the belt, the championship belt, is actually dangling from the ceiling.

And you fight to the death down here, and then you get the ladder, and then you climb up the ladder and get it, and whoever gets it wins.

But at any time during the fight, okay, you can use the ladder as a weapon, a jumping off point.

You can actually wait till your opponent gets up there and then push him off the ladder.

But this was their specialty.

This is one of the best at making or doing this very, very dangerous event.

Okay, they would put themselves in pain and danger, and actually um they are not 25, okay?

They actually started in the mid-90s and they're still going right now today.

Now, for normal people like us, the natural question becomes how on earth could these two men continually put themselves in harm's way like this?

How on earth could these two men purposely put themselves in harm's way, in danger like this?

Okay, that question is very relevant for the text we're gonna tackle this morning.

The last two times we've been in Acts, we've been looking at another tag team, okay, not the Hardy boys, okay, the godly boys.

I was debating whether or not to say that.

But we've been looking at this tag team, okay, Paul and Barnabas.

These are two men who've been set apart by the Holy Spirit, filled with the Holy Spirit, and sent by the Holy Spirit on basically the first international mission trip, and they're doing the same type of thing.

They're putting themselves in harm's way on purpose.

And what they're doing is almost anti-the American dream.

Okay, we're supposed to, as you get older, get more and more comfortable.

They're going the other way.

They're not drifting towards comfort, they are running towards hard, they are running towards difficult.

And last time we saw these two, they're being persecuted because of their faith.

Paul preached, and some people begged them to stay, and they were converted, and other people were persecuting them.

And you would think they'd be done with ministry for a while, but here they go.

So this is the second stop on the first international mission trip.

We're gonna read it here in Acts chapter 14.

Acts 14 · chapter mention

Let's look at the let's look at the godly godly boys.

I mean verses 1 through 18.

It says this.

Now at Iconium, they entered together into the Jewish synagogue and spoke in such a way that great number of both Jews and Greeks believed.

But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers.

So they remained for a long time, speaking boldly for the Lord, who bore witness to the word of his grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands.

But the people of the city were divided.

Some sided with the Jews and some sided with the apostles.

When an attempt was made by both Gentiles and Jews with their rulers to mistreat them and stone them, they learned of it and they fled to Lysra and Derby, cities of Lyconia, and to the surrounding country, and there they continued to preach the gospel.

Now at Lyshra, there was a man sitting who could not use his feet.

He was crippled from birth and had never walked.

He listened to Paul speaking, and Paul, looking intently at him, seeing that he had faith to be made well, said in a loud voice, Stand upright on your feet.

And he sprang up and began walking.

And when the crowd saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in Lyconian, The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men.

Barnabas they called Zeus, Paul Hermes, because he was the chief speaker, and the priest of Zeus, whose temple was at the entrance of the city, brought oxen and garlands into the gates and wanted to offer sacrifices with the crowds.

And when the but when the apot when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard this, they tore their garments and rushed out into the crowd, saying, crying out, Men, why are you doing these things?

We are also men of like nature with you, and we bring you good news that you should turn from these vain things to a living God who made heaven and earth and the sea and all that is in them.

In past generations, he allowed all the nations to walk in their own ways.

Yet he did not leave himself without a witness, for he did good by giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons and satisfying your hearts with food and gladness.

Even with these words, they scarcely restrained the people from offering sacrifice to them.

It's the word of the Lord.

Now, this shows persistence.

They're doing the same thing, knowing there's gonna be a difficult result.

So, same strategy, hit up Little City, hit up the synagogue first.

Same message, they're not switching it up to be more palatable, same message, okay, same weird accolades thrown them.

I don't know if you caught that, but people are worshiping um Paul and Barnabas.

In this area, in Iconium, or yeah, in Iconium and in light, this area, there is this legend that Zeus and Hermes one time came down in the likeness of man, and no one believed them, no one welcomed them except this older couple.

And what happened was Zeus and Hermes lit the whole place on fire and killed everybody except this older couple.

So this is probably, they're probably being worshipped here out of fear.

But they have the same response to that.

They call it blasphemy.

This is the same thing, difficult results.

And our question this morning is hey, what was the fuel behind their persistent life?

What was the fuel behind their running to danger, running to difficulty?

What was the fuel behind their persistent life?

Now, there's a lot of them, but in this passage, there's two obvious ones.

Number one, what was the fuel behind their persistent life?

Number one is they believed God.

They believed God.

Back in the beginning of the Bible, there's a man named Abraham.

He was older, he was comfortable, he was married, he was wealthy, and he was also childless.

Okay, his wife was barren, and and God promised that he, I know you're, I know you're an older man, I know your wife is barren, but I am going to give you a child, and that child is gonna be swollen up into a country, and I'm gonna use that country as an instrument to save the entire world.

And there's actually a scene in Genesis 15 where he tells Abraham, hey, look up.

Okay, look up at all the stars, and just know that I'm not done with you.

That's how many descendants you're going to that are going to come from you.

And the Bible says, against all hope, against all rationale, against all um uh things that are natural to see, the Bible said Abraham believed the Lord.

He believed the Lord.

Listen, there is a difference in believing in God and believing God.

Believing in God, these are ascribing to facts.

And that's important.

We have midweeks, we have Sunday mornings.

It's important to get knowledge.

We are absolutely called to know about our God.

We're called to, of course, believe in God.

However, that can't be enough because even demons are currently doing that.

The same type of facts that bore you scare them.

Like you might sometimes get bored about Jesus died for our sins and he rose again.

That might bore you, but demons are currently shaking as they think about that.

Hey, he ascended, he's coming back down.

Our time is short.

We gotta tempt, we gotta, we gotta they they they believe in God as well.

But there's another category, believing God.

This is not just ascribing to facts, this is trust in a person.

There's trust in a promise.

And these men are obviously in that second category.

They are running towards danger because they're trusting in a person, not just leaning to facts.

And they're trusting two specific facts about a person.

One, they're trusting that a person, um that Jesus would do what he promised.

Do what he promised.

Look at verse one one more time.

Look at verse one.

It says this.

Now at Iconium, they entered together into a Jewish synagogue and spoke in such a way that a great number of both Jews and Greeks believed.

Where are they?

Okay, Iconium.

You know what that's not?

It's not Jerusalem, it's not Judea, it's not Galilee, it's not Nazareth.

Listen, this is a road game.

They are now flirting with the ends of the earth.

They're in raw pagan territory.

Matter of fact, one scholar says this this is the first foray of the gospel into raw pagan territory where superstition and the superstition behavior is king.

In other words, they are the away team, and this is a road game.

And yet, they're trusting Jesus' last words.

What was Jesus' last words right here?

This is the great, being known as the great commission.

This is Matthew 28.

It says this go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you.

And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age.

They're doing this whole thing with the song stuck in their head, Jesus is king and Jesus is with us.

He is king and he is with us.

My question is this what courageous thing would you finally get done if you trusted that God was really with you?

What courageous thing would you finally get done if you trusted that God was really with you?

So I didn't show it here.

This is Matthew 28, verses 19 to 20, but um what happens is this this this great commission, uh, Jesus is calling to make disciples.

Matthew 28:19–20

Go make disciples of all nations.

Now that that's pretty scary.

Jesus knows it's pretty scary, so he sandwiches it into incredibly comforting things.

The first thing he says, hey, um, all authority in heaven and earth has been given to me.

That's the top bun.

The bottom bun is I am with you always.

Okay, I am with you always.

If you were given the ability to see God's throne next to you this week, okay, he is king and he is with me.

If you were able to see God's throne next to you this week, what would be the obvious difference in your life?

I know we don't live by sight, we live by faith, but faith is the conviction of the things that we don't see.

What would be the obvious difference in your life?

If you could see his throne right next to you, but they did.

They lived in such a way, they trusted that God would do what he promised.

Hey, we are in a different beast, we're in a different land, but God is king and God is with us.

So they trusted God, trusted that God would do what he promised.

They believed in God in such a way they knew that he would do what he promised.

And furthermore, they believed God in such a way that they trusted that he would answer specific prayer.

That he would answer specific prayer.

Look at verse 3.

So they remained a long time speaking boldly for the Lord, who bore witness to the word of his grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands.

That right there, that verse three, is the key to this, the rest of this passage.

That's a summary, that's a summary passage for a lot of their mission trip.

Okay, this is the key verse right here.

What's happening here, this passage is showing us this is there's a partnership between Paul and Barnabas and God.

Okay, this is uh the the the real the real partnership is between these two men and the Lord.

They speak boldly, God acts miraculously.

Proclamation by speech, confirmation by signs.

Natural speech by these two men, supernatural sign by God above.

That's that's the team right there.

That's what's happening right there.

Now, I to my fault, I know nothing about politics.

I don't know anything.

Okay?

Facebook is how I found out it's an election year, right?

I keep seeing the same few memes.

I'm like, oh, I this is this is that, this is the year we choose again.

Okay, that was fast.

But one thing I do know, I learned this week there's something called the stand by your ad provision.

Stand by your ad provision.

This started back in 2002.

This is for candidates who are running for something, running for office locally or statewise or federal.

This is stand by your ad provision.

And it states that any candidate that's doing a commercial, whether that commercial is on the radio or commercials on television, any candidate that's doing a commercial, quote, a statement by the candidate that identifies the candidate and states that the candidate has approved that communication.

Okay, so if I was running for office, okay, which I won't, but the commercial, if I did, would be amazing.

Just Bibles and basketballs everywhere.

Right?

At the end of it, according to this act, and you've seen this before, it would say, My name is Leo Almeida, and I approve this message.

In that same way, these two men, Barnabas and Paul, they are walking commercials.

They are walking commercials for the greatest news in the universe.

And what's happening here is that the miracle that they do, that's God speaking, saying, Hey, I am Jesus Christ and I approve this message.

That's what's happening here.

The miracle itself wasn't the point.

The miracle itself wasn't the point.

The message was the point.

The miracles pointed to the veracity of the message.

They partnered with God in getting it across, and this itself was a major act of trust.

Verse three is a sign that Barnabas and Paul believed God because this partnership was all in answer to specific prayer.

Back in May, we looked at a prayer that shook a house.

This is early in the book of Acts.

We looked at a prayer that shook a house.

This is back when um Peter and John got arrested.

This was one of the first, probably the first real opposition that the first that the church took.

Excuse me, they got in custody, they were threatened, and they were released.

And they come home, and their prayer ends like this.

Okay, listen closely.

It says this, and now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant your servants to continue to speak your Lord your word with all boldness, there's one, while you stretch out your hand to heal and signs and wonders performed through your name, through the name of your holy servant Jesus.

God, help us to be bold with your word and help us to be bold in your word and work on your behalf, and you work on our behalf.

Okay, we speak boldly and you confirm from up above.

Okay, their partnership was prayed for.

And Paul and Barnabas are reaping the benefits of this answer prayer.

God answered it specifically.

And we can what can we learn from this?

When they prayed this back in Acts 4, they were terrified.

They were scared.

They were confessing this, this is terrifying.

And God, we need you to come through in a major way.

God, this won't work unless you come through.

This will be just another movement that fizzles out unless you come through.

Matter of fact, they're even an opposing named uh um is Paul's old teacher back in Acts 5 says that he says, Listen, unless God is with them, this is gonna fizzle out itself.

They were learning that Jesus' words weren't a metaphor.

Jesus didn't say, Hey, you're gonna get spiritually arrested and spiritually thrown in the court.

No, it's gonna happen literally.

Those things are going to happen.

Okay, and then they prayed specific prayers, they were vulnerable in their prayers, and the church was expectant that God would come through in these prayers.

They believed God in such a way that they became expectant.

Do you have you gotten into the habit of just tossing up religious phrases with no real expectation that God will come through?

Our father is not honored by him asking us stuff, by us asking us stuff, when we think, uh, there's a he's probably not gonna do that anyway.

That does not honor dads here on earth or our heavenly father.

1 John chapter 5 says this this is the confident confidence that we have towards him.

1 John 5 · chapter mention

That if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.

And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the request that we have asked of him.

God is not honored by you praying things that you don't think he will actually do.

What fueled their persistence is they didn't just believe in God, they believed God.

And friends, listen, knowing that difference can make a huge difference.

They knew that God was faithful to his word and God answered specific prayers.

They believed God.

Furthermore, what was the fuel behind the godly boys?

I want that to get stuck in your heads when you're reading a line and say, Oh, godly boys.

What was the fuel behind their persistent life?

Okay.

The power of grace.

Number two is the power of grace.

Now, as you know, again, by references I make here on the stage, is that um I went to um Oklahoma State University.

Okay, nobody ever goes, whoa, about that, but I went to Oklahoma State.

Um, it is what my feelings aren't hurt or whatever, it's whatever.

Uh, I'm thankful.

I'm thankful, I'm thankful.

Um, what a lot of people don't know um is I actually um went to college for free.

Okay, I went to college on a full scholarship.

Now, when I tell people that, I stop right there.

Strategically, I stop right there and let people's mind wander to Leo is awesome land.

Let people think, wow, he must be really smart.

Or he played sport.

I didn't know they gave out scholarships for bodybuilding.

This is this is amazing.

But it's a strategy to stop right there conveniently.

But now, did I actually go on a full scholarship to Oklahoma State?

Yes, not lying, but there's more to that story.

There is something called WOMS, okay?

West African Management Services, okay.

This is an Angolan company that wants to invest in the future of our country, Angola, by sending students internationally and paying for their education.

They actually made a partnership with the parents with the place my parents worked, and since I am the son of my parents, they sponsored me and paid for me to go to school.

So I got to go to school for free.

Now, there's no clapping after that.

You see that?

Um, I don't leave that part out because it's a mouthful.

It's not a mouthful.

That wasn't long story short.

That was pretty easy to explain.

Two, three sentences.

I had that.

I leave that out because I want you to think I earned it.

I want you to think that I earned it.

I low-key don't want you to know that it wasn't because of my grades, but it was just by grace.

That's what I want you to take away from that.

But that's that's the reality for a lot of us.

Our default settings of our heart are typically set to works righteousness.

We like to earn stuff.

It's not that not set to grace, but it's set to works.

I mean, look at the way society talks.

Whenever a famous beloved celebrity dies, as secular as they can be, when a famous beloved celebrity dies, man, people go, man, he was so talented, he was so generous, he was so giving, he was such a good dad, he was such a good friend, he's in heaven looking out for us.

There's statements underneath that statement.

Underneath that statement is the reality, he's done enough good things down here.

If there's a heaven, he's in it.

Okay?

Our hearts are set towards righteousness.

And then furthermore, um, our society reinforces this.

Job descriptions.

Okay, a lot of job descriptions, they have a section that says, hey, um, where independence is encouraged.

We don't want to have to look over your shoulder.

Can you work independently?

It's encouraged and it's rewarded.

How well can you do things on your own?

That's rewarded, but frankly, it's opposed to grace.

Okay, we love a good story.

Well, I listen, I like a good story where someone pulled themselves up by their bootstraps.

We like that.

It's celebrated, but again, opposed to grace.

Okay, our annoyance with people who just ask for a handout is normal, it's everywhere.

But again, it's opposed to grace.

We don't like grace because in essence, grace says your effort doesn't really matter here.

Your contribution doesn't super matter right now, right?

But his grace fueled these men.

Okay, the the grace of God was not something that Paul and Barnabas examined, it was something that they each, both of them, each of them actually experienced.

And it actually led to them parachuting into hostile um territory.

It's because of grace.

A lot of people in our society think grace is a jacuzzi to swim around in your shortcomings.

Oh, I was born this way.

God is gracious.

It parachuted them into incredible ministry.

For A, they were comforted by His by His common grace.

Comforted by His common grace.

Look at verses 15 through 17.

It says this.

Men, why are you doing these things?

Okay, they're worshiping them.

Men, why are you doing these things?

We are also men of like nature with you, and we bring you good news that you should turn from these vain things to a living God who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them.

In past generations, he allowed all the nations to walk in their own ways.

Yet he did not leave himself without witness.

For he did good by giving you rains from heaven, fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness.

They're trying to worship him by calling them Greek gods, but Paul and Barnabas, they appealed to God, the real living God, and a God that was preaching there before Paul and Barnabas.

They can be bold in that situation because they knew they weren't alone.

Technically, they actually weren't pioneers.

They were not God's battering ram into a new situation.

God has already been whispering to this people group through his goodness.

God had been preaching to them and inviting them in through the goodness of rain, harvest, delicious food, gladness.

This is something that the theologians actually sometimes call um common grace.

Common grace.

Some of us have heard the term common grace.

This is God's goodness to everyone.

This is God being gracious and good to everyone.

This is saved or not as a witness to himself.

Okay?

Um, this is all we're in scripture, Psalm 145, verse 9 says this the Lord is good to all, for he has compassion on all that he has made.

Psalms 145:9

Jesus is preaching, he says this God causes his son to rise on the evil and the good, and sends the rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

And Jesus also says, Jesus, or Jesus, God is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.

That right there is common grace.

It's God's goodness to everyone, saved or not, as a witness to himself.

Therefore, an atheist enjoying a bowl of spaghetti has everything to do with the goodness and patience of God.

The pride parade typically takes place in June, on a sunny day in June, and as they march, even though they are contrarily celebrating something that is against the will of God, the fact that they're enjoying the sun on their skin, that's a picture of God's goodness and patience.

And these pagans here, superstitious as they were, worshiping Greek gods, could God have been whispering to them through his goodness.

They could be bold knowing that they were that God was already the forerunner.

And so could you.

Some of us can believe that whenever you are approaching somebody to talk about Jesus or you're about to mention Jesus, whether you were in your office or at a park or in the gym, that that person is a blank slate.

No, no, no.

You have to trust the fact that God's already been whispering to them through spaghetti and the sunsets and just the gladness that they experience in their heart.

They are not blank slates, but they were comforted by God's common grace.

So they were God was the forerunner.

Furthermore, they were inspired by his saving and transforming grace.

Verse 3: the gospel is nicknamed the word of his grace.

Or some of your Bible say the message of his grace.

Okay, divine grace is the subject matter of the gospel.

In the Old Testament, um, the word grace is defined as um to bend or to get low or to stoop low in kindness to an inferior.

So it's getting low, getting eye level, and blessing someone who is undeserving.

And God has done that through Jesus with us.

God has gotten eye level with us through Christ.

The gospel is a message of grace.

And this rings very true, especially for Paul.

Remember what he was doing not long before this.

If they were giving out superlatives at Pharisee State University, the least likely to love Jesus probably be Paul.

He was arresting and overseeing the death of Christians to the role, and now he's at the role of an apostle.

God gave him salvation, and God gave him a ministry.

That is grace.

Yes, not only a salvation, which is infinitely, infinitely kind of God, but also God gave him a ministry.

In fact, Luke, who wrote this, is doing something subtle but powerful here.

I don't know if some of you you caught it.

Okay, let's look at Paul again in verses 8 through 10.

It says this.

Now at Lystra, there was a man sitting who could not use his feet.

He was crippled from birth and had never walked.

He listened to Paul speaking, and Paul looking intently at him, seeing that he had faith to be made well, said in a loud voice, stand upright on your feet.

And he sprang up and began walking.

This right here is the Bible, assuming that you've been reading your Bible.

Okay.

The author, Luke, is not this by the way, the book of Acts is not written to be preached like something.

It was written as a letter.

Okay.

This is um the Bible, Luke assumed that you've read all the way back.

This should give you a flashback all the way to Acts 3, what Peter did.

He says this in Acts 3, he says this, and Peter directed his gaze at him.

So remember, Paul looked intently at him, and Peter and Peter doesn't think Peter directed his gaze at him, as did John.

They said, Look at us.

And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them.

But Peter said, I have no silver and gold, but what I do have, I give to you.

In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.

The grace of God is such it has the power not only to save, which we could stop right there, has the power to save, but also has the power to transform and give you a ministry.

So they were fueled by God's grace, comforted by his um uh common grace, inspired by his saving grace.

Those are the two obvious things that fuel the life of these men.

They believed God and they experienced the power of grace.

Now, um just in closing, I'll I'll say this.

This is um in our Christian life, we need persistence.

Okay, this is more of a marathon than it is a walk in the park.

Okay, doing the will of God, not just evangelism, like these two, doing the will of God, there will be pushback, there will be obstacles, there'll be opposition, danger, fatigue, negativity, and all sorts of things, but may we be a people who believe God.

Not just lean or assent to things, but actually believe God in such a way that we trust his promises and pray expectantly, and may we experience grace in such a way that we are emboldened to share.

Let's pray, God.

Thank you for this passage.

Thank you for um your grace um made for you, but it's only because of redeeming love that we you've made available, Lord.

So thank you so much for who you are.

Um I pray that the message of grace can be something that can continually melt our hearts and minds.

We love you.

It's in your son's name.

We pray.

Amen.

Now, as is our tradition, um, we like to preach the Bible and give you some soul space to think about it.

So these are some questions right here for your mental worship.

Um, you can look at them and just go through them in your head as you're sitting there, or you can take a picture and just chew on these throughout the week.

Nevertheless, I'm gonna step back now and just allow you some mental worship.

Holy Spirit, you have saved us, you are saving us, you will save us.

We're thankful for you and what you are doing.

Hear it from our heart away.

Thank you for what you're doing in this church.

Thank you for what you're doing in our hearts individually.

It's your son's amazing name, I pray.

Amen.

Well, as always, church, it is um so good to be with you.

Um, if you are new here, um, welcome.

We have a number here on the screen.

If you just text welcome to this number here on the screen, that gives us a record of your visit.

And after the service, we're gonna have some pastors down here.

I'm ready to process with you, ready to pray with you, ready just to meet you.

But um, thank you so much for being here today.

And uh, if this is your church home, it is a place to consider home.

Um, and today's the you worship through the giving.

Um, we have some boxes around the room that you could do so, and you can do so online as well.

Now, we always want to keep you um aware of what's happening um in life of our church.

Would you please direct your attention here to the screen?

Here's a look at what's happening at Grand Parkway Baptist Church.

For all adults, 60 and over, join us for lunch and to connect on March 7th.

At Grand Parkway, we believe you are the most experienced people and that you are still in the game.

Come and invite friends.

If you weren't able to attend Neri's Promise last month with us, no worries because you'll get another opportunity on March 5th.

We'll be reading Bible stories to the children and showing them the love of Jesus.

Finally, today is the last day to register for Women's Weekend.

If you are a woman, you are invited.

If you are a young woman in the 7th through 12th grade, you are invited.

If you are a man and have any women in your life, your job is to urge them to come and to make it possible for them to come.

This is not an annual event, so you don't want to miss this unique time together.

For more information or to register for these events, please visit our website at grandparkway.org.

If you have any questions or want someone to pray for you, find one of our pastors at the foot of the stage at the conclusion of our service.

Uh with me here for a second.

I do have one more announcement here for you.

Um I want to announce today that I'm gonna be stepping down from my role as teaching pastor here at Graham Parkway.

Um this is news to you, but uh my wife and I we've been praying and seeking counsel for months and believe this is the way the Lord is actually leading our family.

Um, right now I'm in grad school.

Some of you know I'm I'm in seminary, and I'm gonna transition my energy to finishing school and taking actually a step back, a break from ministry, a sabbatical.

Um, right now I'm in I'm in grad school, and um sometimes it can be brutal.

And um I graduate here in May, and um my my role is gonna be finishing strong and and resting well, and right resting well peace is important as well.

So um I'll be um uh I've been preaching and teaching pretty on stop since December 2015.

Um, pretty non-stop.

And that's been, gosh, the honor of my life.

And I I want another 40.

I want another 40, 50, however the Lord gives me.

But for about a year, I've been thinking a lot about about um how a break would nourish my soul.

So this is a chance for me to look back, look in, look up, and look forward.

That's kind of my my motto here for the next um eight to 12 weeks or so.

But um, as my wife and I were praying and seeking counsel and assessing my fit um here for the last several months.

Um, we feel like the best thing to do is to step down and create space for someone to come on staff who's a better long-term fit for Grant Parkway.

Um, we want someone who is here, who is called to be here as a shepherd that's here for the long haul.

You deserve that.

Um, so I'm gonna be stepping down from my role.

Today's not my last Sunday.

Um, my last Sunday is March 10th.

Um, but we wanted to go ahead and announce it here today that I'll be stepping down.

Now, these types of things are bittersweet.

Um, and such is life at a local church, where we have people texting welcome, you have people who are stepping, stepping down, and I've been um avoiding um February 18th like the plague.

Um it's been hard, and and today, as I was preaching, I could feel myself not wanting to look out to you because this has not been just two years.

This has been six years of gospel partnership that I'm so proud of.

For as a guest speaker to here on staff, and from the bottom of my heart, gosh, um, it hurts so much today, but from the bottom of my heart, I want to say um I am extremely grateful for you and for my time here.

I am so incredibly thankful for you and for my time here.

Your kindness, I'm gonna say this quickly because I don't want to cry.

So, your kindness, your generosity, and your encouragement has been written on my heart.

It's written on my heart.

And even right now I'm struggling to make eye contact.

I told myself, look at the railings in the back, look at the railings in the back.

Um I love you deeply, but the same way that God was faithful in bringing me here, he is faithful and sending me somewhere else and leading me out.

And I have to, I have to go where the Lord calls.

Um God is doing something powerful at Grant Parkway, and I'll always stand by that.

In fact, before I got this job, somebody told me that church is about to blow up in the best possible way.

And I hear I'm stepping down a day, but I'm here to tell you that is true.

Um, that is still, still true, and I am honored to have been a part of this for this season.

Um, I know you'll be rooting for me, I just want you to know I'll always root for you no matter what.

So thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Thank you.

Let me say two things.

Uh, you can say standard, this will be brief.

Let me say two things.

First of all, Leo, I want to say to you, thank you for your investment and involvement in the lives of these people.

You've done a good job of preaching and teaching the gospel, and uh, these people are we're gonna miss you.

We're gonna miss your gifts.

Uh and so I want to say to you publicly, thank you.

I appreciate you.

Uh, thanks for being here.

I'm sad to see you go.

Uh, but I'm excited for you and Charlotte and what's next.

Let me say this to us as a church: never make anyone feel bad for doing what they feel like God's put in their heart to do.

Uh, should you miss him?

Absolutely, you should miss him.

But don't use guilt or something, and then just say, hey man, I'm excited for you.

We believe God has a good plan for you.

We believe God has a good plan for Grand Parkway.

And so let's be faithful to pray for Leo and Charlotte.

Uh, he's gonna finish seminary this semester and then take a break.

He's been going hard since 2015.

So let the man breathe and then get some clarity about what's next, okay?

And so let's not consume him upon our, oh man, let's be, hey, I'm sad, I'm excited for you, and I'll be praying for you, okay?

Does that make sense, church?

Say amen.

Amen.

Leo, we love you.

We're glad you're here.

Close us out, man.

Why'd you open our eyes?

What the smoking blessed?

Would you put your hands out for me?

Put your hands out for me.