What Do We Have to Offer Scotland?

If you're able to turn to the book of Acts and follow in Acts chapter 13, that will be very helpful.

Acts 13 · chapter mention

I mentioned before we read that this is part of the record of the first missionary journey of Paul and Barnabas recorded in the book of Acts.

And they were initially in the Mediterranean Islands in Cyprus and they left Paphos.

And when they were in these islands, Barnabas took the lead.

He was from Cyprus and probably it was natural and more comfortable for him as someone from those islands to be the first to speak and to engage with the people of Cyprus.

But when they left and went to the mainland of Asia Minor to what we would call Turkey today, Paul seemed to step up and to be the leading spokesman of that missionary team of three who arrived there.

Sadly, the team of three soon became a team of two because John Mark bailed out.

He abandoned his uncle Barnabas and his great friend Paul and went home to Jerusalem.

Later on, he would be an effective servant of Christ.

But Paul certainly had his confidence in Mark shaken by that.

But the work went on.

And so we read that they went on a Sabbath and they had two Sabbath, continuous Sabbaths in the area of Antioch in Pisidia when they were able to speak to the Jewish people and the people who were interested in their faith who gathered with the Jews in the synagogue.

So in the middle of verse 14,

Paul is the same rabbinic style.

He's like a rabbi preaching in the synagogue and he's using his body as well as his words to get attention and to speak.

And he says in the middle of verse 16,

There are lots of speeches in the book of Acts.

Sermons, we might even call them.

Or defences before kings and princes and rulers who held the lives of God's servants in their hands.

The book of Acts is a great encouragement to us in the day that we're living in.

Because we are called like Paul and Barnabas to be missionaries, to be on mission, to be those who are excited by the gospel and its power and who want to share it.

And this book of Acts is different really from all the other books in the word of God.

There's nothing quite like it in the Old Testament.

And the gospels and the letters that make up the rest of the New Testament are different again.

But Acts is a handbook on church life from the first years of the spread of the gospel.

John Calvin spoke about the value of this book to us.

And he said that this book, Acts, is the beginning of the reign of Christ and the renewal of the world.

I think that's a beautiful phrase.

The story of how God will make the world new is being told in this book of Acts.

And the story of how Jesus ascended to heaven, seated at the right hand of God, is ruling as king of nations, king of the church.

The story of the reign of King Jesus starts in the book of Acts.

He ascends in chapter 1, but he says, wait for the Spirit.

And the Spirit comes on the church in power and in the leading and empowering of the Spirit.

Mission takes place.

Thousands are saved.

Many are called to serve God as missionaries.

Peter, in the first 12 chapters, is the main leading apostle.

And most of his ministry is directed to Jerusalem and the Jewish people and Samaria.

And then from chapter 13 onwards, the shift and the focus moves.

Peter is still there, but there's more about Paul.

And Paul becomes the towering figure in the second half of the book of Acts.

And his mission breaks out beyond the Jews to Gentiles and comes to Europe.

Comes into the Roman Empire and eventually will reach our shores as well.

We can learn so much from the first steps that the Lord caused his church to take that will help us to take sensible steps in our day and generation.

So I want to answer a question this morning.

And that is, what do we have to offer?

What do we have to offer Stornoway?

What do we have to offer Lewis?

What do we have to offer Scotland in 2026?

2,000 years after the time of Paul and the apostles.

The scriptures and books like Acts tell us what we have and what we can share.

What we have to offer.

So let's look at Paul's approach, his method.

Two thoughts this morning about Paul and his offer that will maybe shape us.

And our offer to our nation today.

So the first thought this morning is that Paul's first sermon, as the leading apostle to the Gentiles,

Paul's first sermon offered facts and fulfillment.

Facts and fulfillment.

What do we have to offer?

The same as Paul.

We want content in our faith.

Content, truth in our message for our town, for our nation, for our generation.

We don't dumb things down.

We don't run away from deep truth, from things that will cause our minds to be filled with glory and worship and praise.

But we want to be stretched.

And we want our eyes and our hearts to be opened.

The synagogue rulers said to Barnabas and to Paul,

Do you have a word of exhortation?

That's in verse 15.

A paraklesis.

A word of encouragement.

The New Testament letter to the Hebrews.

The whole letter is described in Hebrews 13.2 as a word of exhortation.

A word of encouragement.

And it's kind of shorthand for what teaching and preaching and evangelism and disciple making is all about.

We take the word of God to mold and shape people.

We take the message of Jesus, the message of the word Old and New Testament,

and it is a word of strengthening.

It is a word of encouragement.

It is a word where God comes alongside you and fills you and makes you fruitful.

He is the comforter, the paraclete, the paracletos, the encouragement,

the exhortation of the word.

It's got to have content.

It's got to address the head and the heart.

It's got to fill your mind with the truth of the gospel and of Jesus,

and that will change your emotional and your will response to these truths.

If we just go for an emotional high,

if we just go for comfort,

without the content of truth like the cross and the resurrection,

people will soon run out of steam.

They will soon be running on empty.

But if our hearts are filled with the glorious word and promises of God,

the devil can do what he wants.

The devil can do his worst.

We are standing on the rock,

and God is our refuge,

and God is our strength.

The style of meeting that Paul was in in the synagogue in Antioch,

Pisidian Antioch, would be very familiar to us.

The way the Jews then worshipped was very like the simple style of Protestant and Reformed worship

that we still see practiced around the world today.

There is a call to worship.

There is a reading of the scripture.

There is a meditation and a teaching from that scripture.

There is a response in songs of praise.

There are, the Psalms were prominent in the synagogue worship,

as they ought to be prominent in our worship and in our praying as well,

shaping the heart.

The liturgy of the Bible becoming the liturgy of the heart.

There is confession of sin,

and there is the sense that sin is being declared forgiven

by the gospel being preached.

That feels familiar to us, doesn't it?

Well, let's never go away from that.

Let's never replace that.

The ordinary means of grace.

The gathering of God's people on the Lord's Day.

The sacraments.

What a blessing they are supposed to be to us as we approach them by faith.

Gatherings for prayer.

Times to encourage one another.

The paraklesis.

The exhortation.

The encouragement.

When the word gets dug into our hearts.

The way we dig our gardens and we feed our plants.

We do that spiritually.

When we open the Bible,

we let it speak.

And we understand its message.

And how did Paul go about this in Antioch of Pisidia?

Well, he gave them fact after fact after fact.

Content.

Information.

He explained the history of salvation.

What God did through the centuries for Israel.

And in this, he's actually copying the approach that the apostles took.

In the first half of the book of Acts,

Peter did the same on the day of Pentecost.

Peter quoted the same Psalms and the same prophecies

that Paul would be quoting to his audience a decade or two later.

And whether they were speaking to Jews who knew the scriptures,

or whether they were building a bridge to non-Jews, Gentiles,

who had very little awareness of the scripture.

The facts were the same.

The doctrine was the same.

The creator who has worked in redeeming, rescuing, saving.

The God of the Exodus.

The God of the monarchy under David.

The God of the promise to David that there would always be a king on David's throne.

These are the things that Peter stressed, that Paul stressed,

and that we today need to be aware of.

We need to have the same approach.

Stephen, in Acts 7, got martyred for giving a speech

to those who took up stones and killed him.

But it's the same.

It's the history of salvation.

It's facts.

Who is God?

What has God done?

And then drawing conclusions that lead people,

challenge people to repent and to believe the gospel.

So we've got facts, but we've also got fulfillment.

We've got information, content.

This is what God has done.

But one of the things the early church was very aware of

was that the story of salvation

is a story that proves the faithfulness and trustworthiness of God.

that God spoke in Isaiah.

That God spoke in the book of Psalms, in the second Psalm, in Psalm 16.

And then God fulfilled what he said.

The promise was fulfilled.

So facts and prophecy fulfilled.

I wonder if you like that kind of teaching

and if you like that kind of preaching

that is rich in Scripture

and making connections between Old and New Testament

and showing you Jesus from all the Scripture.

The New Testament scholar Don Carson

summed up the life of the early church like this.

He said,

Above all, they preach Jesus,

Jesus crucified and risen,

Jesus who pours out his spirit,

Jesus who inaugurates the kingdom,

Jesus who's drawing in Jews and Gentiles alike,

Jesus who's transforming men and women,

Jesus who's anticipating his own return,

Jesus who is already ascended to glory

and who will come again.

He is the man who is God,

who was promised,

and he has come,

and crucially,

he is an answer to death.

He has been raised from the dead.

So our first thought in looking at this passage

is what do we have to offer Scotland?

What do we have to offer our generation?

We offer facts and fulfillment,

the truth of the gospel

and the fulfillment of prophecy.

But the second thing that Paul's first sermon

in Pisidian Antioch offered

and that we have to offer

is resurrection hope through Jesus.

A huge amount of the New Testament teaching

is future focused.

It's focused on the return of Jesus.

It's focused on the resurrection of the body.

And it grounds all of this

in the historical fact

that Jesus uniquely

has been raised from the dead.

Jesus is not just another rabbi.

He's not just another teacher.

He is the one

who has been raised from the dead.

And so as Paul speaks to the people

in the synagogue,

he says in verse 28 and 29,

though they found in him

no guilt worthy of death,

they asked Pilate to have him executed.

And when they'd carried out

all that was written of him,

they took him down from the tree,

the tree of curse,

and they laid him in a tomb.

Verse 30,

but God raised him from the dead.

He appeared to many.

The witnesses are speaking about it.

Verse 32,

we bring you the good news,

the gospel,

that what God promised to the fathers,

this he has fulfilled to us

in their children by raising Jesus.

And he quotes Psalm 2

and Psalm 6,

Isaiah 55

and Psalm 16,

you will not let your Holy One

see corruption.

The resurrection

is a huge deal

for Paul

and for the early church.

And I think

when he went to Gentile groups

in Athens

and in other places,

he had the same basic message,

same basic approach,

whether people knew

the storyline of the Old Testament

or not,

he would speak about

Jesus,

Jesus,

Jesus,

his death

and resurrection.

And so often,

the resurrection hope

was

where people parted

and where people said,

we can't accept that,

we don't believe that,

we don't want to hear this.

It seemed

too incredible

to them.

let me tell you

a little bit

about my

recent ministry

in Inverness

and I hope

it will encourage you.

One of the

opportunities

that I have

is to get into

one of the local

high schools,

the academy

at Milburn.

It's a good school

and it's a really

interesting group

of staff

and of

young people.

and yet

most of them

have no connection

with a gospel church.

So there are

limited ways

to get involvement,

occasional assemblies,

a hot chocolate club

at lunchtime

that chaplains

go and run

maybe at Christmas

or at Easter

that might run

a little video

or something

that we put together

that's shown

in the morning

assembly times,

but it's pretty limited.

But occasionally,

I'll get asked

to meet

the first year pupils,

go into their

classrooms,

spend a period

or two

just answering

questions.

I have to tell you,

I'm amazed

at the questions

young people

have.

2025,

2026,

they're not

really asking

about political

stuff.

They're not

asking about

woke stuff.

They're not

asking about

gender ID

stuff.

The young people

are asking,

why are you

a Christian?

Why are you

a minister?

Is there

a heaven?

What happens

when you die?

What is a soul?

What's life

for?

these are

the right

questions

and they

are the

questions

that people

have always

been asking

and they

are the

questions

that the

gospel

answers

and I

suspect

that they

are the

questions

that the

vast majority

of people

that you

know

are asking.

are we

spending

enough time

in the

Bible

and in

prayer

to know

the answer

and be

able to

give a

reason for

the hope

that is

in us?

Are we

spending

enough time

with people

who are

not yet

Christians

so that

they trust

us and

know us

and will

want to

come with

their

question?

That's a

school and

that's a

cohort of

young people.

I wouldn't

say that

they're

necessarily

unique or

unusual but

I find it

so encouraging.

But I

also could

tell you

story after

story of

people in

their

twenties who

walk in

the door of

a city

centre church

full of

questions.

And they're

not people

often who've

grown up

with a

Christian

faith.

They're

often people

who have

grown up

with

atheist

parents and

atheist

grandparents

and they've

gone through

a secular

education that

did not

offer them

any spiritual

challenge or

information at

all.

And yet

they've

arrived at

18,

they've

arrived at

20,

22,

24,

and they're

saying,

what's the

point of

life?

What

explains

beauty?

What

explains the

variety of

life and

beauty?

Isn't there

a bigger

story?

Isn't there

a deeper

purpose?

And they're

going online

and they're

going to

YouTube and

they're going

to websites

and they're

going on

TikTok and

sometimes they

don't find

rubbish

answers.

By the

grace of

God,

they find a

Christian

answer.

They find

something that

points them to

the Bible.

So they go to

Amazon and

they buy a

Bible and

they say,

let me find

a church.

That's

happening in

France.

It's

happening in

Portugal.

It's

happening in

Spain.

It's

happening in

England.

It's

happening in

Scotland.

It's

happening in

Canada.

It's

amazing.

Are we

praying that

people who

are one or

two or

three generations

away from

the gospel

would be as

open as

many were

in the

book of

Acts?

To at

least hear

about the

resurrection.

To at

least hear

that there

is a

savior and

that we

need a

savior.

That the

universe has

a purpose

and that

there is

a king.

Has this

got through

to your

heart?

I don't

assume that

everybody here

in Kenneth

Street is a

Christian.

I hope

there are

many who

are not

Christians who

are here in

this gathering.

But I hope

the fact that

you're here is

not just to

please a

relative or

a spouse,

but that

you're here

because you

look for

truth and

you look

for meaning.

You will

find it in

Jesus Christ.

Christ.

Paul might

not have

been an

easy man.

He lived

through much

suffering.

He lived

through beatings

and shipwrecks

and all kinds

of things that

might have

made him

cynical about

people or

hardened, but

it didn't

because the

Lord Jesus

showed him

when he was

converted

all that

was ahead

of him

and all

that he

must suffer.

But his

calling

was go

and be

my witness.

Jesus does

the saving.

Paul's job,

go and be

my witness.

That's my

job.

That's your

job.

That's the

job of the

Christian church.

Go and be

my witness.

go and

say,

there's an

answer to

death.

There's an

answer to

the meaning

of life.

We have a

faith in

Jesus Christ

that is quite

different from

all other

belief systems,

quite different

from all

other faiths.

If you

have Muslim

friends,

and I hope

you do,

and I hope

you're a good

friend to

them,

at some

point,

ask them

what they

believe,

and maybe

they'll ask

you what

you believe.

The

fundamental

difference

between the

Christian faith

and perversions

of Christianity

and distortions

of Christianity

in the sects

or whatever,

and the

fundamental

difference

between

Christianity

and Islam

are the

facts

that we

believe,

the

fulfillment

in Jesus

that we

believe,

and crucially,

the story

of the

death and

resurrection

of Jesus.

Islam

denies that

Jesus died

on the cross.

Do you know

that?

Islam says

that God

would never

allow a

true prophet

of God

to suffer

death by

crucifixion.

well,

the facts,

Old and

New Testament,

predict it,

and it is

fulfilled in

history,

and there

is no

salvation

for the

world

unless a

good and

perfect man,

a new

Adam,

suffers and

dies in the

place of

imperfect

men and

women,

and leads

a new

humanity,

back to

the tree

of life,

back to

relationship

with God,

back from

death to

life.

That's

Jesus.

Islam says,

no, no,

he didn't

die,

there's no

death,

there's no

resurrection,

he's just

a prophet.

Jesus is

not just

a prophet,

he's God

in the

flesh,

who died

and defeated

death,

who died

and rose

again.

Other

religions

will tell

you,

go and

be a

better

human,

go and

be a

more loving

human,

go and

be nice,

go and

be forgiving,

go and

be kind.

Well,

how are you

going to

do that?

Because all

the religions

of the world

that tell

you to be

kind and

nice,

they don't

give you

the power,

they don't

give you

the ability

to be a

better human.

But if you

are joined

by faith

to Jesus,

he has

defeated

sin,

he has

defeated

lies,

he has

defeated

death,

and he

lives inside

of his

people.

Don't

make the

mistake of

John Mark,

who left

the battlefield,

left the

mission field,

and just

went home

to comfort.

Later,

John Mark,

thank God,

came back

to the

battle,

came back

to the

mission field,

was restored.

Paul found

him useful

later on.

But look

at the

world,

the way

Paul looked

at the

world.

This

world

belongs

to Jesus.

Let's

go and

get it

for him.

this

town,

this

island,

has a

great need.

Will they

hear from

me and

you and

from the

people of

God in

this

island,

how much

God has

done in

history,

in salvation

history,

and how

much he is

doing

still.

Verse 30,

God raised

him from

the dead.

You're

going to

know lots

of

hurting,

sad,

broken

folk

in the

year that's

ahead.

At some

point,

we have

to go

beyond just

being a

nice

neighbor,

asking how

you're

doing.

If you've

got a

hope that

has an

answer to

death,

you want

to share

that,

and you

want other

people to

have the

hope that

you have.

The great

evangelist

Billy Graham

was around

when the

space program

was getting

going,

and satellites

were getting

launched,

and for the

first time

in the

50s and

in the

60s,

photographs

were being

published in

newspapers and

on television

of the

whole globe

photographed

from space

for the

first time.

Billy Graham

was asked

what he

made of

it all,

these photos

of the

world,

and his

answer then

is one

that is

very attractive.

He said,

when I see

these pictures

of the

earth,

sitting in

the heavens,

I want to

reach out

and grab

the world

for God.

Have we

lost that?

Have we

lost that

sense that

this earth

belongs to

Christ,

that the

nations

belong to

him,

the Psalm

2,

vision of

reality,

the Psalm

16,

vision of

reality.

This is

my Father's

world.

This is

my Saviour's

world.

I want to

grab it

for him

so that

he will

get the

glory.

What do

we have to

offer Scotland?

Why are we

planting churches

in the borders

for the first

time in a

hundred years?

churches?

Why are we

wanting to

return to

the inner

Hebrides that

we've left?

Why are we

wanting to

return to the

Clyde Islands

that we've

left?

Why are we

wanting to

have strong

churches in

the towns

of Fife

or of

Clackmanonshire

or Stirlingshire

or the

Central

Belt,

the East

Coast?

Why go

back to the

northern counties,

Caithness and

Sutherland,

where there's

been just a

decimation of

the gospel?

Why?

Because

souls are

precious

and Christ

gave us

all for

them.

What do we

have to

offer

Scotland?

Facts,

truth,

sweet

doctrine,

fulfillment,

and

resurrection,

life,

and hope.

There's

nothing else

that will

change our

land.

Change a

government in

May might

make things

better,

might make

things worse,

but it

won't save

the nation.

A

revolution

in Iran

or a

revolution

anywhere else

on the face

of the earth

will change

some things

but it

won't change

the

fundamental.

But the

gospel,

Jesus

says,

Acts 1,

8,

you shall

be my

witnesses

in Jerusalem

and in

Judea

and to

the ends

of the

earth.

It's

still the

same.

We are

sent,

we are

on mission

and it's

glorious.

May the

Lord help

you here

in Stornoway

Free Church

and your

sister

congregations

in the

town and

in the

island

to see

the

Lamb of

God

praised,

worshipped,

adored,

followed

and may

this be a

year of

good things

and of

blessing.

Lord,

receive our

thanks for

this passage

and grant

that it may

be an

encouragement

to us

to pray

big prayers,

mighty

requests

to the

great God

of heaven

who can

only do

great things.

We ask

for our

nation

to be

gifted

to Jesus.

We ask

for this

community

and island

to be

gifted

to Jesus

as his

reward.

We ask

that many

will come

to know

and love

and fear

the Lord

in this

generation.

We especially

remember the

young

and those

who have

questions

but yet

have not

received an

answer.

Show us

how

to be

quick

and ready

and clear

with the

answer that

is in

Jesus.

And if

anyone here

today

has come

to find

the answer

in recent

days,

strengthen

them

to go

forward in

a life of

discipleship

and to

commit

themselves

fully

to the

Lord.

We pray

in Jesus'

name.

Amen.

Our closing

praise this

morning is

from the

Sing Psalms

version of

Psalm 96,

a great

psalm of

praise and

worship and

thanksgiving.

Psalm 96

from verse

7 to the

end,

the vision

of the

world

belonging

to the

Lord who

is its

king.

The tune

is our

guile,

Psalm 96

in

version

A from

verse 7,

all nations

to the

Lord as

cry,

the glory

that is

due.

We stand

and sing.

All

nations

to

the

Lord

as

cry,

the

glory

that

is

due.

Glory

and

strength

ascribe

to

God

and

praise

his

name

and

you.

A

durnish

course

with

joy

and

ring

and

offer

him

with

you.

Worship

the

Lord

in

holy

clear

all

earth

he

poured

in

power.

!

Tell

every

land

the

Lord

is

king,

established

in

the

earth

And

God

man

of

good

the

Lord

will

judge

the

people

The

sing

his

truth!

Let

him

rejoice

On

earth

be glad!

with

joy

let

oceans

ring

The

fields

and

all

in

them

will

shout

At

water's

trees

will

sing

The

all

will

sing

before

the

Lord

Who

comes

to

judge

the

earth

He

will

judge

the

world

in

righteousness

The

people

sing

The

people

sing

His

truth

Receive

God's

blessing

Lord

you are

our

king

hold

us

in the

hollow

of your

hand

and send

your

blessing

upon us

and all

whom we

love

the

grace

of the

Lord

Jesus

Christ

the

love

of God

the

Father

and the

communion

and

fellowship

of the

Holy

Spirit

the

Comforter

rest

on

you

and

on

all

God's

people

everywhere

today

and

forever

Amen

God