From Antioch to Antioch

The title of the message is from Antioch to Antioch.

I mean the.

Apostles started out as missionaries in Antioch. They came to

another Antioch after the persecutions of scattered Christians from Jerusalem

to Samaria. Antioch in Syria became the center for a loving, evangelistic,

dedicated church that was a discipling church that was not

focused on itself, that was focused on others. And when

the love of God reaches you as a church, you

reach out to make a difference in the lives of

people don't know Jesus. And so they were mentoring leaders

that would change the world for generations. So much of

what we are today we owe to the Church at Antioch.

The Church at Antioch was not a social club church.

How know about you. I like having social interactions, but

I don't want to go to a church that is

a social club church, that is a naval gazing church. Snooty,

this is what I'm about, you know them and all that. No,

the Church at Antioch, it was not a social club

church where your focus was on parties, dances, ball games,

the theater and the like. No, it was not a

forum community of philosophical smarties who engage in paralysis analysis

of ideas and social issues and theology.

Nope, it was not.

A church that preoccupied itself with virtue signaling as it

celebrated its grand accomplishments, its holiness, while it pointed fingers

at other people who weren't all.

There wasn't anything like that.

You wouldn't find the church at Antioch talking about how

perfect it was.

No, not at all.

Antioch was a mission driven church, full of love, empowered

by the Holy Spirit to share the Gospel of Jesus

Christ with the then known world now one thing and

one thing alone. And motivated the Church at Antioch. The

believers at Antioch in Syria wanted men, women and young

people everywhere to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ, to

be saved by the Gospel of Jesus Christ, to be

transformed by the power of the Cross of Christ. And

they were all about freedom in Jesus, not licentiousness, not

getting along with whatever you want to get by with.

They were about setting men and women free in the

Gospel of Christ. And that's exactly what we should be

about here as well. And for this worthy cause, this

amazing church raised up prophets teachers, evangelist, Bible workers, people

who had the gift of hospitality, who were heaven bent

on conquering Hell and conquering their world for the Cross

of Christ. Now, how many of you like to say

it with me today? Let us be another church at Antioch.

Here are you with me? That is why we have

been called It'd be a marvelous thing today if we

had Reaching Hearts International model ourselves after the Church at Antioch.

And Acts eleven twenty six, we learned that it was

at Antioch that believers were first called Christians. When you

live like they did, when you are focused on the

mission of the Church, when you care about other people,

when you are loving, Bible centered, you are a Christian.

Last week we learned in Acts thirteen that Barnabas and

Saul later named Paul were chosen to be missionaries. Now,

I was a student missionary of the Marshall Islands for

one year. I've asked this before. How many missionaries do

we have? You've been a missionary in something gone overseas

for a little bit, Joanne Katie. Yeah, various ones have

been missionaries, all right. Paul and Barnabas. John Mark met

up with them but they actually they Paul and Barnabas

sell to Cyprus. They started teaching and preaching on this

island of unbelief, and on this island of unbelief they

turned it to Christ. It became a Christian island. Barnabas

and Paul and then John Mark came later. He left

his mama in Jerusalem, Mary and came out there to

work with the guys. They turned that island upside down

as they shared the Bible, as they preached the prophecies,

as they talked about the Cross of Christ and hearts removed.

There was Satanic opposition to them, where the devil raised

up smart alic intellectual types that tried to bring him down.

They couldn't.

They couldn't refute the reason of the apostles. And they

were even They even won the pro consul Sergius Paulus

to Jesus Christ as they opposed the magic man.

What was the name of the magic man? Do you remember? Now?

By the way, this is an inscription you see on

the screen here of Sergius Paulus. We saw that I

went to this spot and we actually saw this. But

he was a real person. He was one to Christ.

There's this physical inscription. How many of you remember the

name of the magic man we preached about last week.

What was his name? Bar Jesus. Does anybody remember what

it means? You can go to the next slide. What

does it mean? It means son of Jesus, And he

was anything but a son of Jesus. Paul called him

a son of the devil. And he was there opposing

them with magic. And by the way, any kind of

supernatural magic, occult kind of thing that we find slipping

into our lives through media, through music, or any other means,

can do the same thing in your life. It can

oppose your relationship to God through the power of the Holy Spirit.

He had to call him out on it, and he

was blinded, and God blinded him so he could see.

So the proconsul was converted to Christ. And even the

magic man, I mean God didn't kill him.

God was trying to reach him.

Why because Christ loves even those who oppose his truth,

and he'll intervene to save them too, if they will

be saved. Friend, God loves false prophets and wizards. He

loves people who are living in the midst of all things.

And God will show himself to them if they will

allow him to blame them to the world so they

can see Jesus. So he was blinded for a time

and then his eyes were opened from Paphos, and that's

the spot where the Greeks believed that Aphroditi was brought

from the foam and the oldest tradition. They set sell

to Perga and Pamphilia. And we have been to these spots.

My wife's father took us to these different spots. It

was amazing to retrace the footsteps of Paul. John Mark

at Perga left to go back to home to marry

his mother in Jerusalem, so that he just had enough

of this missionary to worry him out. But Barnabas and

Paul stayed at it. Acts thirteen fourteen picks up the

story at this point. But they passed on from Perga

and came to Antioch of Pasidia. And on what day,

what does the Bible say? In it's light here on

the Sabbath day, they went where into the synagogue and

set down.

That's an amazing verse.

Paul and Barnabas had journeyed from Antioch to Antioch, from

Antioch in Syria to Antioch at Pasidia and present day Turkey.

They came to the place named as the same name

of the place they left. They had come to another Antioch. Now,

in the Greek language, antioch literally means to hold instead

of it's an idiom. In the Greek language, it means

to cover one's back. Have you ever had someone covering

your back when you're in trouble? Boy, you guys need help.

I can tell that already. One person said, yes, I've

had people coming you know. I'll tell you who covered.

Elder Mervyn John covers my back here at Reaching Hearts.

Is that a good thing? Man?

I get nothing done without my head? Elder he covers

my back. Well, the church at Antioch was that kind

of church. It covered people's backs who've been beat up

in life. It was in the business of cop say,

not allowing people to attack people growing in the faith.

And now they came to another Antioch that was a

fertile field for a Christian opportunity. The church at Antioch

was a godly kind of place. Now, the Church at

Antioch covered the backs of the starving Christians in Jerusalem.

They raised money, they sent it Jerusalem so brethren that

were outside of their church would be helped with the

riches of their church.

And of course that was famine relief.

They did the same when they sent missionaries to Cyprus

and out because they were covering the backs of others

who needed to hear the truth. They were a church

that did not allow discouragement to prevent them from mission.

Now you can gauge your spiritual life in this way.

If you are always thinking about how bad it is

for you and you're not covering the back of people

who are new in the faith coming to Christ, you

got the wrong focus. If you've been in the church

a number of years, it's time to dig in. Accept

the fact that Christ died for you, accept the fact

that you're accepted, accept the fact you're growing, and start

working for other people so your Christian experience can improve.

But it's about them, not about you. The Church of

Antioch was that way. It was an outer driven church. Now,

Reaching Hearts International, what's our name here? Reaching say it

with me? Reaching Hearts internationals church? Okay? Sometimes church? Do

you realize that was not our name at first? Our

name at first was Healing Hearts International. You know why

we changed it? So you can say no, there were

two reasons. One was someone got the trademark Healing Hearts.

The other reason is the Lord didn't want us to

have that name because that name is all about us

being healed. And Brother Christopher Jonathan came to me about

within the first year. He said, we got the wrong name.

We need to shift from Healing Hearts to Reaching Hearts,

and God had saved the trademark for that. You realize

this church has trademarked that name so that we can

operate in the world as Reaching Hearts International, and that

means it's not about us, it's about them.

Some of us don't realize.

Here Reaching Hearts Church has raised up churches in Goa,

We've raised up churches in other places. We have helped

to fund an evangelistic seminary that started in Brazil. We

have been mission driven in numerous mission trips, and a

lot of those young people that were part of that

have grown up, gone to college and moved on. Now

we have a whole new generation of young people and

kids who need to feel and experience the same kind

of thing on a greater level. So the Church of

Antioch was that kind of church according to Google AI.

I mean, I have you ever go to Google AI

to get an answer. Okay, well, don't trust them all

the time, but I google AI this one. The journey

from antiocop Syria to Antioco Pasidia was about four hundred

to five hundred miles on foot and then by boat

in some of those spots. And that's treacherous waters too, Pasidia.

I mean, so they were really on the move.

They were.

I mean, I get tired after five miles walking five hundred.

They didn't care. They want to take Christ wherever they

could go, as far as you can. Pasidia comes from

a Latin word that means meadows.

Meadows.

Now, I have a place that I really like, not

because I like it so much, but my wife does.

Does anybody Does anybody know of a little place called

meadows in Colombia? Okay, well they have this what do

they call I'm drawing a blank here, Diana, she's not

here outside.

It's not yogurt custard.

My wife loves custard, and they have the best custard

at Meadows in Columbia. I would go to meadows just

to be with Diana, because that's our date thing. Let's

go to meadows. And she'd noticed that's the spring and

things are starting up again. But I'll get chocolate custard

because that's the only kind of anything I get, And

she'll get vanilla custards. Where ying and yang, but we

have one thing in common. We put cherries and whip

topping on both of ours. And I asked for the lards,

she asks for the medium. And that's how it is.

I like chocolate. Yeah, A save some for you.

I'll try, all right. But here at Pasidia.

If I heard to ask you next week, what does

paciiti mean? What would you say? Based on the slide,

it means meadows meadows, friends, There are fertile fields in

the world for sharing the gospel, and far off lands

and near there are meadows waiting for us to come

and plant seeds for us to look for sheep, for

us to make a difference. Your neighborhood is a fertile

field for sharing Jesus Christ. Your neighbors should have you

praying for them on occasion. It won't hurt them and

it won't hurt you. Paul was about one third into

his first missionary journey, which would be about fifteen hundred

miles in all, when he finished and came back to Antiochopseyria.

One third end means.

That this was the early part of the missionary January,

when the gospel was reaching foreign lands for the very

first time. There was electricity in the air. We are

making a difference. The Holy Spirit is opening up the world,

and that meant there was an adventure still ahead. How know

about you?

How many you like to live boring lives?

Anybody here? Keep the hands down all right now? How

many of you want to live lives of adventure? Put

both hands up there, you go, adventure. Look, it's adventuresome

to look to help people come to Jesus. It's adventure

some to go out and make a difference somewhere. It's

an adventure. That's your thing to make a difference in

the church as well. God is in the saving business,

and we should be about it. Luke is careful to

record and acts thirteen fourteen that Paul kept the Sabbath

just like Jesus did. In Luke for sixteen he came

to the synagogue on the Sabbath right there in Antiochopasidia.

I have been to that very spot where.

That synagogue was at, and that synagogue was about as

big as these two rows here you see, that's it

not much bigger. And we have sat there at the

ruins of that thing, and we had worship. Brought me

really close to the story here the history in Luke,

who wrote both Acts, and Luke is careful to record

that the early Christians were keeping the Sabbath day, just

like Jesus kept the Sabbath day. Turned to Luke four sixteen.

Luke four sixteen the slight for sixteen. And he came

to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and he

went where where did Jesus go? That's just like they

did at any Akama city. He went to the synagogue,

and as his custom was on what day on the

Sabbath day, he stood up to read, Now did Christ

come to church every now and then?

Are often based on this.

It was his custom to a tend church on what

day the Sabbath day. Okay, it should be our custom

to do the same. In Acts thirteen fourteen, Luke records,

and on the Sabbath day they went into the synagogue,

excuse me. And on the Sabbath day they went into

the synagogue and sat down. Thank you for this water

up here.

Thank you.

The early Christians were Sabbath keeping Christians, not Sunday keeping Christians,

as some modern teachers would have you believe. There's no

evidence of that any testament. Friend, if you want to

embrace Apostolic Christianity, you need to keep the seventh day

Sabbath on Saturday. Jim, thank you so much for this

children's story.

Thank you.

Which is a sign and a seal of righteousness by faith.

You see, we keep the Sabbath.

Not just because Jesus created the world, but we keep

it because of redemption in Deuteronomy five. We are finished

by faith on the seventh day, we rest in the

finished work of God in our lives. Christ said he

has finished at the cross, and he rested on the

Sabbath day after Good Friday. We rest in our Savior.

The Sabbath is a sign and seal of the Gospel

of Jesus Christ. And that's why it's called the Son

of Man is Lord of the Sabbath. It is the

Lord's day because it points to the Cross, it points

to creation and so many other things. So the early

Christians were Sabbath keeping Christians, not Sunday keeping Christians. It

wasn't until the fourth century that we see a lot

of Sunday keeping going on, but there's still Sabbath keeping

going on. In the fourth century, it takes the armies

of the Byzantine Empire to shut down Sabbath keeping. Christianity

in the Western Empire. In the world, it endured to

the sixth century and then through the Middle Ages. It

was a persecuted group of Christians. Friends, if you want

to embrace Apostolic Christianity, keep the Seventh day Sabbath. The

Early Church refused to set aside one precept of the

ten Commandment Law of God to be Christians. They didn't

come along and say, oh, the law is nailed the cross.

The early Church didn't say anything like that. The Early

Church said, you know what, Jesus was now to the

cross because we broke the law. And because we broke

the law, he was now to the cross. We're gonna

keep it, not to prove something to God, but because

Christ is the law, the lawgiver hung on Calvary's cross,

and we will honor it because we love the one

who is the law.

The early Church refused to break it.

Today, many Christians set aside the Fourth Commandment and the

Second Commandment because of Church tradition, they bring idols in

the church, and they set aside the Fourth Commandment, shifting

from Saturday to Sunday.

The early Christians.

Were wholly obedient to the law of God, and we

should be the same at the time of the end.

One Corinthian seven nineteen Paul is writing to the Church

of corinth for neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision.

But what matters to the Christian but keeping the commandments

of God. So this idea that the law of God

has been nailed to the cross, Paul would not agree

with that Romans three point thirty one. Do then we

then overthrow the law by this faith question? Here's the answer,

he says, by no means. On the contrary, we uphold

the law. You see, the law is not a means

of righteousness. In First Romans ten to four, Paul says

that Christ is the end of the law for righteousness.

We don't use the law to earn our way to Heaven.

We don't use the law to prove something to God.

But Christ is not the end of the law as

a moral standard. The law as a schoolmaster, leads us

to Christ. It is a mirror that shows us our sin,

and thus we come to God. You do away with

the law, You do away with your ability to perceive

sin and your ability to come to Jesus. We need

the law in that sense. It's not our savior, but

it points to him. The church that is ready for

the second coming of Jesus, who will be just like

the Apostolic Church. It will have the obedience of faith.

They will keep the commandments of God, and them have

the faith of Jesus. Revelation fourteen, verse twelve. Now, this

verse describes the group that gets the victory of the

mark of the beast and his image that sees Jesus

come on a white cloud.

In Revelation fourteen. Here's the description.

Here is a call for the endurance of the saints,

those who what keep the commandments of God and the

faith of Jesus. So if you're going to a church

that tells you that God changed his law, you're in

the wrong church.

You hear me, you are.

And if you're going to church that talks about the

law all the time but doesn't talk about Jesus in

the Gospel, you're going to the wrong church. The early

church had both of these rights. They weren't a legalistic,

perfectionistic church, but they were obedient by faith and they

knew how to repent when they needed to. But they

were also a church that had faith in Jesus, that

had the faith of Jesus, that recognized the gospel that

we need a savior who died for our sins, who

was buried, who was raised, And in that mix they

were held as faithful Christians. It's not complicated really. In

Acts thirteen fourteen, Paul and Barnabas went to church on

Saturday to keep the Sabbath and Antioch of Pasidia.

That's a fact. Acts thirteen fifteen.

After reading of the law and the prophets, the rulers

of the synagogue sent to them saying, brethren, if you

have any word of exhortation for the people, say it.

At this point, the ruler of the synagogue opened up

a whole can of gospel worms. When he asked Barnabas

and Paul for a little input to spice up the discussion.

On the Sabbath day. They come in.

They looked like they were knowledgeable. Paul was waiting for

this invitation forthrightly he addressed the Jews, and that little

synagogue with a patriotic love for the Jewish people. Paul

did not insult the Jewish people to win them. Paul

appealed to them from their rich heritage as the people

of God. Now I've had some car trouble in the

last couple of three weeks. I've had it for a while,

and I'm in a journey because the Lord is making

sure I meet certain people. So I have my son's

car and I'm driving my wife to work. And it's

been spending four hours on the road going to North

Baltimore and back North Baltimore and back and doing my

work in between visitation the like lots of miles. Well,

one day decide I'd hang out at guitar center in

north of Baltimore.

Is that a good idea? Yeah? I go in.

I get these acoustic guitars, and I start whacking on them,

you know, and doing some folks singing and stuff in

the little back room. And I met a guy from

NASA that we talked about Christ for about an hour

and a half. I met another man who was having

a life change experience with the Lord. He was singing

there and we talked about songwriting. But the last event

that really sticks out my mind is when I ran

into two Jewish young boys who are trying to pick

a guitar. They had these little hats on that are Jewish,

you know, great looking little hats, and I thought to myself,

it looks like my head when I'm you know, in

the back a little bit.

See.

But they were Jewish, and I like the Hebrew Bible,

so I went up to them. I started trying to

help them. I said, no, I don't work here. I'm

not really a person trying to sell your guitar.

Oh, they were relieved.

Then I gave them advice, well, this looks like a

good one, that one. And I've studied guitar making enough

to know how to pick out a good guitar. So

finally they landed on a Yamaha guitar about two hundred

and fifty dollars, and they were playing it, and I

played a little bit to show that it worked, and

it was intonated right and the like. By then it shifted.

I said, where do you guys come from? He says,

we've been to Jerusalem for one year. I said really,

he said, yeah, one year? What did you do there?

We went to Jerusalem to study the Torah. They were

in university studying the tra in Hebrew. They read the

entire Hebrew tra through and man, what an education they

must give these kids. I mean when I would go

to seminary, very often pastoral students would say Greek Hebrew yuck.

And yet these young men Hebrew, yes, my kind of

young men. And they were Jewish, and they were very knowledgeable.

I mean, as we were talking about the Tara, you know,

I alluded to Genesis fifteen one. I said, who do

you think this person is? In Genesis fifteen one? I said,

what do you mean? I said, well, it says the

word of the Lord came to Abram and a vision saying.

They said, well, saying in Hebrew's Lemar. I said, yes,

they knew their Hebrew. I said, but notice the word

of the Lord is a person who is that? Of

course you and I know in the beginning was the word.

The word was with God, The word was God, that

was Jesus right there in Genesis fifteen I was trying,

and I said, what about in Exodus twenty four when Yahweh?

Whoops?

I made a mistake, because they never say Yahweh, They

say husham. The name right and I said, out an eye,

and they don't even say out an eye. So they

must have been really Orthodox. So I was messing up.

I said, excuse me, yabe, I meant at deny the

Lord Jehovah, you know, but they were very kind to me.

I said, but next to twenty four one. Have you

ever noticed that Jehovah is speaking. Yahweh is speaking, and

he says to the people, come up to Yahweh on

the mountain. But he's speaking. He didn't say come up

to me. He says, come up to Yahweh. Yahweh has

a Yahweh.

On the mountain.

Now we know from the spirit of prophecy that the

Father and the son together right at Mount Sinai. I

mean they gave the ten commandments. It wasn't just one,

but right there you have in the text of the

Hebrew Bible, Jesus says, Yahweh, coming up. Who's on the

mountain with Yahweh? And so the Lord Father and his

son were there at the cross, was the father and

the son of the Calvary's cross. When Abraham and Isaac

went up to the cross, they were both together. At

foretaste and the slaughter hand knife was reprepresentation of the

Holy Spirit that God the God had suffered at Calvary's Cross.

So I was sharing that with him. And then they said,

he said, let's I have a question for you. They

said they knew I as a pastor, said, we had

some Christians that came to us recently, and they really

went after us. They went to Isaiah fifty three, and

they really tried to, you know, pin us down with

Isaiah fifty three. How many of you know what Isaiah

fifty three talks about. Isaiah fifty three talks about the

servant of the Lord. It starts in fifty two, who'll

be exalted and lifted up? And we know that's the cross,

who'd be marred beyond human semblance. That was his beating

all the sins that be placed upon him. It says

he would bear their iniquity like a lamb that has

led to the slaughter. He opened out his mouth, and

then it says, and by his knowledge shall my righteous

one make many to be counted. Righteous righteousness comes from

the righteous one who dies. Of course, they couldn't connect

the dots on there. And these rude Christians had taken

Isaiah fifty three and hit them over the head with

that thing. Is that how we are to.

Use the Bible? No?

So I felt bad about that and said, could you

explain that to me? And I felt impressed right then

and there to not try and prove anything to these

young men. I said, let me share with you some connections.

Isaiah fifty three is being alluded to by Daniel nine.

And I showed the parallels cut off out of the

land of the Living mess Messiah will be cut off

everlasting righteousness, righteousness, just the parallels. I just articulated it.

Daniel is referring to Isaiah. I said, oh really, yeah, really,

And did you know in the Dead Sea Scrolls, two

hundred years before Christ there is a document that quotes

Daniel nine. They said, no, what is it? Eleven Q

the most Cazadec document be a page. And I said,

look what the Jewish people have given us, such a

rich heritage of documents and truth. And they said, well,

it's not just ours. The Denzi Scrolls are for the world.

Wasn't that kind of need of them? They had this

broader view? And so I showed him where it quotes

this time Prophecy in Dale nine as ten jubilees. A

jubilee is forty nine years. Ten is how many can

I help me with the math? Ten times forty nine?

What for a ninety Now, that's the same thing as

the seventy weeks in Dale nine twenty four seventy sevens

are cut off for your people, your holy city, to

put it into sin, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to

atone for iniquity, to seal up, to bring it to

seal up vision and profit. I said, hod zone and

not be when they understood the Hebrew and to anoint

the Kodesh Kudasheim, the Holy of Holies, And we were

looking at that, and they were saying.

Wow, that's kind of something.

Then I said, this is a time prophecy, And without

drawing on the board, I simply said, Sir Isaac Newton,

one of the greatest minds, the greatest scientists who's ever lived,

studied this time prophecy. And then they really perked up,

and I just went from the decree the restoring bill

Jerus from the autumn four and fifty seven B would

be seven weeks all right, four eight and then sixty

two weeks. That's sixty two times seven four and thirty

four years eighty twenty seven, and then they're eighty twenty seven. Yeah,

and then it says until machiachnaged a messiah prince would

show up in that year. And I said, so the

Deasy Scrolls is two hundred years before this, quoting this

prophecy expecting the Messiah based on Dale nine, which is

referring back to Isaiah fifty three. They did not write

me off. They didn't say, oh, you know, forget it.

They were like, wow. Now one of them was sitting

back with his guitar kind of like this, and the

other one was engaging with me. And guess what the

name of the man was who was engaging me. The

young man his name, the one with the guitar was

sitting back, was neft to lie. The one who was

engaging me, his name is Daniel. And I and I said, look,

you know angels in the Glen dot Org, the book

Daniel and whatever. Don't think your life is random. That's

my point here. Don't think that you're going through things

that's just about you. When your car gets broken, when

bad things happen, it's for the good of others that

God puts you into circumstances you would never have been in.

So I hung out at Guitar Center for a divine appointment.

That's the point I'm trying to make. Let me get

back here, all right, Acts thirteen sixteen. So Paul stood

up and motioning with his hands, I said, men of Israel,

you're the fear of God.

Listen. That's a loaded statement.

It was common in both Jewish culture and Roman culture

to make a hand in motion to silence the group

and to command attention.

I don't know what he did.

He may have done something like this, which means be quiet,

or he maybe done something like this, he lowered his hands,

or he may have done something like this. You know,

you need to watch it, you know. I don't know,

but he did something. He motioned with his hand. He's

he said, men of Israel, you that fear God.

Listen.

He didn't attack them like they were unbelievers. He recognized

they were God fears. He sought common ground, assuming the

positive that they were sincere believers as he was friends.

We don't gain good ground for God in the meadows

of the mission field by rudely proving points, by trying

to put down other churches, trying to denigrate people who

disagree with us and acting like we're smarter than them.

We don't win that way. Paul appealed to the Jews

at Antioch, and he said, listen. It's a whole lot

easier to talk than to listen. Friends, there are times

when we need to listen to God's word instead of

pontificating about God's word. When you come to the subject

of God's word and you're arrogant by trying to proof

of proof, you're not in the same venue as Paul.

When God sends a messenger of truth into your life,

you need to slow down listen to that person has

to say. Be attentive to the word of God. You

may never have another opportunity to listen. So listen to

the word of God, and let the word of God

change you so you can come to know God. He

has been said by Jidu Krishnamurti, and I'm not a

fan of his religious philosophy.

Be got this right.

He said, you cannot listen with opinions. If you're just

bringing your opinions all the time, it's hard to hear

what the other person saying. First John for six Watershed

Verse for the Christian first John for six. We are

of God. Whoever knows God, what does he do? Listens

to us, and he who is not of God does

not listen to us. By this we know the spirit

of truth and the spirit of error. Listen, friend, you

don't have to prove your points. God will lead people

in to your life who listen to the truth, and

you can share it in love, and don't try to

force it. If they're not they're not willing to listen.

You can't force people. People have to come to God

through the Holy Spirit. At this point, Paul recounts the

rich history and legacy of the Jewish people as he

argues in an intellectual way that Jesus is the logical, historical,

historical outcome for God's leading the Jewish people. He is

the prophetic outcome of the promises of the Old Testament.

The missing link they need in Judaism is Jesus. Now, friends,

before Jesus is our Messiah. Jesus is the Jewish Messiah.

God sent Jesus for his people first, before he sent

him to send his disciples to the world. And God

has never given up on his precious people, the Jewish people,

and one of the reasons why the Jewish people have

a hard time turning to Christ is because of Sunday keeping.

Why would they join a Christianity It violates the covenant

of the Ten Commandments. That makes no sense. Acts thirteen seventeen.

The God of this people, Israel chose our father's Paul says,

and made the people great during their stay in the

land of Egypt, and with uplifted arm he led them

out of it. Here Paul is quoting Exodus six y

six in the Greek Septuagin translation of the second century

b c. Here's what he says. Say therefore, to the

people of Israel, I am the Lord, and the word

Lord is all capital letters, Yahweh. I will bring you

out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. I will

deliver you from their bondage. I will redeem you with

an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment. In

this verse, God announced himself by name, I am Yahweh.

I am the Lord. I am the I am who

I am kind of God. I'm the God who is

the Ten Commandments. The Angel Lord said that at the

Burning Bush, the Angel Lord is Yahweh. He promised three

things to his people, I will bring you out from

your burdens. Number two, what's the second one? I will

deliver you from slavery? What's the third one? I will

redeem you with an uplifted arm and mighty acts of judgment. Now, friends,

those are the things that I need in my life

for God to do. I have burdens my life. You

have burdens. Come on, I will bring you out from

your burdens, God says. Number two. Have you ever been

enslaved anything like a habit or or simple tendency? I

will deliver you from slavery. Number three, you ever felt

like you're just an outsider? You can't belong, God says,

I will redeem you with an uplifted arm and mighty

acts of judgment. God will act to bring you to him.

So Paul continues in verse eighteen with the history of

God's people in the wilderness and the Promised Land. And

if you have your Bibles Acts thirteen eighteen, I'm gonna

read down to twenty three. I'm just gonnake a single

point with each verse, and for about forty years he

bore with them in the wilderness. That means God is patient.

God is patient. Verse nineteen and when he had destroyed

seven nations in the land of Canaan, he gave them

their land as an inheritance for about four hundred and

fifty years. God keeps record. God keeps record verse twenty

and after that he gave them judges until Samuel, the

prophet God intervenes verse twenty one. Then they asked for

a king, and God gave them Saul, the son of Kish,

a man of the tribe of Benjamin. For forty years.

God listens, and the forty years represents a hard time.

God is there verse twenty two. And when he had

removed them, he raised up David to be their king,

of whom he testified and said, I have found in David,

the son of Jesse, a man after.

My heart who will do all my will.

God raises up godly leaders who will not pick and

choose what they are to obey. They will do all

God's will. God is looking for a generation of avenist youth.

He's looking for a generation of evangelical youth. He's looking

for a generation of anybody who will choose to keep

all of the commandments of God and the faith of

Jesus and not compromise in their life. Like David did

of this man's posterity Verse twenty three, God has brought

to Israel a savior. You know, how can you go

to church and not believe that you need a savior

in your life. I mean there are people go to

church to just look smart. People go to church just

feel important. People go to church so they can socialize friends.

I go to church because I need a savior in

my life. And Paul says of this man's posterity, God

has brought to Israel a savior. Yes, shu uh Jesus

yay susan Greek, as he has promised. Friends. The last point,

God keeps his promises. We can't make it without God

keeping his promises. Paul's asserting that God's promises in Exes

sixty six to bring them out of bondage, to deliver

them from slavery, to redeem them with power. As he

came in fulfillment for the Jewish people, he brought Jesus

Christ prophetically to get it done. Frins, Jesus is the

true Israelite, who is the true and best hope for

the Jewish people and for the whole world too. Friend,

you may have a rich religious history like the Jewish

people do. There's nothing bad about their background. A rich

bank account like many of them have too. They know

how to handle money. But if you don't have Jesus,

you don't have anything. See, you're poor, You're pitiful, blind

and naked like the latesty in church is without Jesus

and your bereft of a white robe for the Judgment Day.

Without Jesus, dear heart, Jesus is not an option in

your life. Jesus is the answer you need for your life.

God's promises are yes in Jesus. Paul says in Second Corinthias,

there's not one of us here today who can deliver

themselves from evil on the inside. You can try all

you like, you can't over it, and you cannot overcome

evil by trying hard. You have to come to gie

Jesus and receive the Holy Spirit to overcome evil. So

as not one of us here today who can do that,

evil also comes at us from the outside. It tacks

us in life. We can't meet the challenge without Jesus. Friends,

you cannot stand before God and the Judgment Day with

no fear of shame unless you stand in the white

robe of Jesus.

Righteousness.

And this is what's wrong with final generation theology that

we hear at times, because it has you focusing on

you too much to where you'll never get perfect, but

you'll think you are. See, it's when you don't think

you're perfect. It's when you realize that you're struggling and

you call on Christ's name. It says whoever calls in

the name of the Lord will be saved in Joel

and among the remnant, whom the Lord is called a

humble People relying on Christ will develop character perfection, but

not realize that because they're not focusing on themselves. They're

focusing on Christ and service, like the Church of Antioch was.

So Paul reminded the Jewish leaders of the synagogue that

David was a man after God's own heart, but Jesus

is God's own heart. David messed up in his life

like many of us have messed up, and so David

was a man after God's on heart. Because David came

back to God, he said, this against the only of

my sin, And then what was evil in thy sight?

Verse five, Behold I was brought forth an iniquity Verse

six of Psalms fifty one behold that desire's truth and

the inner being Verse seven of Psalms fifty one. Purge

me with hissip, and I will be clean. Wash me

and I'll be whiter than snow. Verse eight. Fill me

with joy and gladness when he's repenting. Hide thy face

from my sins and blought out all my iniquities. Now

that is a man after God's own heart. Created me

a clean heart. O God, put or knew and right

spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence,

and take not thy Holy Spirit from me. You pray

prayers like that in your prayer life, and you will

have the Holy Spirit in your life. In the gift

of Jesus. God gave God to save us from our sins.

He didn't give a substitute, didn't give a demi. God.

He gave God.

God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself. Paul says,

not counting our trespasses against us, David was a man

after God's own heart because David brought his sins to God.

Paul asserts that Jesus is the fulfillment of the promise

to the Jewish people. Friend, Jesus is the fulfillment of

the promise for me in my life. I need Jesus.

All right, I'm sunk. Anybody out there joined that club,

raise your hand. You need Jesus, okay, Acts thirteen twenty

three of this Man's Posterity. God has brought to Israel

a savior Jesus as he promised. Friend, your life may

be full of nose every time in the past. Your

life may be a no go kind of life that

is dead at the starting line. Maybe know is all

you've ever heard from people, No no, no, no no,

and you feel put down. You have no opportunities. You

can't see yourself making a difference. I grew up in poverty.

I grew up in a place I don't even talk

about how bad it was. I know what it's like

to be hungry. I know what it's like to live

in degradation. And the Lord reached out to me at

the age of fifteen, and all the nose I'd ever

heard all my life were replaced by yes. And I

took a faith leap to go to a school.

I didn't even know how to pay it.

And that opened myself up to the Gospel and others

who led me to Christ. I know from experiences is

true and it rings in your ears at times. No,

you can't make it, Yes you can, dear heart, Jesus

is the yes you need to overcome the nose. Jesus

is the promise fulfilled that brings you out of slavery,

that delivers you and redeems you. Jesus, this is the

way out of the woods when the forest is on

fire and you can't put out the fire. I like

to read on three sixteen seventeen closing, because I would

like to rededicate my life to Christ today after reading

what happened at Antioch. How many of you with me,

raise your hand you want to do that. Let's let's

read this together as we recommit our lives to the Lord.

For God so love the world that he gave his

only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish

but have eternal life. For God sent the Sun into

the world not to condemn the world, but that the

world might be saved through him. I'm just going to

very simply say, if you feel the Lord moving on

your heart and you say, Pastor, I need to be baptized,

I need to come to Christ and be a Christian,

raise your hand.

Just raise it. Anybody out there.

Okay, if you've if you've fallen away from the Lord

and you come home, raise your hand. Let the Lord

know you're coming home helping everyone. Just recommit your life.

To the Lord. Raise them high. Okay. Let's pray. Father,

seal the word in our hearts. Give us Jesus and

his name. Amen.