Perseverance in the Face of Opposition - 08.02.26 - Stephen Hinson

Love for you to come and be a part of that day.

We're going to have a special service.

We're excited about what God's doing in the lives of our missionaries, and it'll be a chance for us to experience some of that.

So don't miss it, August 16th, two weeks from today.

I want to start with a question this morning.

And that question is simply: what's the hardest obstacle that you have had to overcome?

What's the hardest obstacle that you have had to overcome?

Wherever you are in your journey, whatever your experiences have been, what's the one thing that you're like, I am not sure I'm going to get past this?

I think it's important sometimes for us to reflect and think about what that might mean for us because it speaks to kind of where we are in our journey.

This past year, uh, Valerie and I, along with uh Wes and Rosemary Wallenweber and Janet Coleman, who are part of our church, we were allies at Cross Purpose, and we were supporting a cohort that graduated earlier this year in March.

And uh and Valerie and I got to support Project 16.

And you can see them on the picture behind us.

I'm the one in orange, if you're looking for me.

And uh this was an amazing group of people, and one of the things that was compelling about being an ally is you get to know the stories of the people that you get to spend time with.

And I envision a day when all of the allies for the North Metro cross-purpose site come from Revived Church.

We'll be a better church for it.

Valerie and I had a life-changing experience.

It was an opportunity for us to, we didn't fully know what we were getting into, but once we got into it, we're like, okay, we're here, and we're going to absorb it.

And one of the things that struck us about this experience, working with these people, these amazing people over six months, was learning at the retreat their stories, their stories of origin, how they navigated their circumstances, and what brought them to this point or at that time, this point, and where they were with cross-purpose.

And one of the things that stuck out most for me was the magnitude of the obstacles they faced.

For example, there was one who overcame childhood cancer.

There was one who, as a teenager, had to go to work to support younger siblings while living in a home that didn't have adequate heating and cooling or even parental support.

There was one who at a very young age had to physically intervene to protect their mother and younger brother from an abusive father.

There's a young mom who has lost custody of her children and is still to this day fighting to get those children back.

So when I asked this question, what obstacles, what's the hardest obstacle you've had to overcome?

I'm talking about really hard things.

Maybe you can resonate with some of the items on this list, or maybe you have a similar story.

And one of the things that we learned over the last two weeks from Grayson and Brian is that the Holy Spirit set Paul and Barnabas aside and said to the church, send them out for the work that I've got to do.

And I think we're, and we're gonna wrap up that first missionary journey today in Acts chapter 14, but to kind of fully appreciate where we are in Acts 14 and what Paul and Barnabas are going through through this missionary journey, I think it helps just have a refresher about where we started at the beginning of Acts.

Acts 14 · chapter mention

Jesus at the very beginning of Acts says, I've got to go away to his disciples, and said, But as I go, the Holy Spirit's gonna come and he's gonna empower you, and you're gonna take the message of my hope to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

And through the power of the Holy Spirit, as he descended upon the believers, the launch of the church happened in Acts chapter 2, and we saw God do all these amazing miracles, and we saw thousands of people come to know Jesus as their Savior.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

In addition to that, we see the church respond in unity to submission, and the Holy Spirit, through that unity and submission of the church, sees and helps the church grow and expand.

But as the church grows and expands, they begin to meet resistance.

And the reality is there are people who just really aren't interested in the message of Jesus.

And there are antagonists who will nip at our heels to distract us from the hope that we have in Jesus.

And that resistance grew and grew.

And we get to the point where Stephen was stoned for his faith.

He was martyred for his faith because of his testimony for the gospel.

Then in Acts chapter 9, we have this very pivotal moment where the one Jew, Saul, who was on his way to arrest, persecute, and suppress the message of hope that the disciples and the apostles were taking, he meets God face to face and is converted.

Acts 9 · chapter mention

What's cool about that is as he begins to then change his tomb because of his transformed heart, we see the message start to open up to the whole world.

We see that the message of Jesus isn't just for the Jews, but through the visions of Peter and the and the conversion of Cornelius, we see that the message of Jesus is for everybody.

And as the message grows, and as the church expands, and as the church grows, the persecution of the church also grows.

So here we are.

We're in Acts 13 and 14, and we have this missionary journey in chapter 13.

The Spirit says, Set aside for me Paul and Barnabas, and so the church sets aside Paul and Barnabas, Barnabas for the Lord's work, and they go off on this missionary journey.

And I brought a I brought a map so that we can kind of I'm visual on some things, and I think it's important to look.

And of course, Gail, I left my my pointer backstage, so that's all right.

But as you can see over here on the right side of the map, there's Antioch in Syria.

This is where Paul and Barnabas began their missionary journey.

That's where they were set apart, and they traverse across Cyprus and they come over to Pamphylia and to Perga.

Oh, look at you.

All right.

Someone invite her to lunch today, okay?

All right, so this is where they start.

And as they navigate this beginning of their journey, we they go, they go through Barnabas' hometown and they come up to Perga, and we and we get all the way up to this Antioch up here.

It's a different Antioch, it's Pasidian Antioch.

And that's where we left the story last week.

And we're gonna focus on this portion of their journey today.

And when we take a look at the conclusion of this journey in Acts chapter 14, what we're gonna find is that Paul and Barnabas experienced things they probably didn't plan for.

Acts 14 · chapter mention

The reality is, for whatever they were facing, they probably weren't really expecting to experience what they experienced.

So together we're gonna read Acts chapter 14.

Acts 14 · chapter mention

We'll take a deep breath and we'll read it together, and we're gonna start in verse 1.

Now at Iconium, they entered together into the Jewish synagogue and spoke in such a way that a 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 with the apostles.

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

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

He was crippled from birth and never walked.

He listened to Paul speaking, and Paul, looking intently at him and seeing that he had the 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 Laconian, The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men.

Barnabas they called Zeus and Paul Hermes, because he was the chief speaker.

And the priest of Zeus, whose temple was at the entrance to the city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates and wanted to offer sacrifice with the crowds.

But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of it, they tore their garments and rushed out into the crowd, crying out, Men, why are you doing these things?

We also are 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 and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness.

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

But Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and having persuaded the crowds, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead.

But when the disciples gathered about him, he rose up and entered the city, and on the next day he went on with Barnabas to Derby.

When they had preached the gospel to that city and made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.

And when they had pointed elders for them in every church with prayer and fasting, they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.

Then they passed through Pisidia and came to Pamphylia, and when they had spoken the word in Perga, they went down to Italia, and from there sailed to Antioch, where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work that they had fulfilled.

And when they arrived and gathered the church together, they declared all that God had done with them and how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles.

And they remained no little time with the disciples.

Let's pray.

Lord, we just invite you in this room today.

We just want you to be here and to hover over us and to be among us.

Lord, your word is powerful, and we just invite you to teach us and to help us hear what you would have revived church and individuals of a revived church know about your presence and how we can be in that presence with you, Lord.

Lord, I just pray for the removal of distractions.

If there's something that I say that is wrong or confusing, I just pray that that will be laid aside and that we will focus on the message that you have for us in the confidence of your son Jesus.

Amen.

That's a lot.

And to say the end of chapter 14 or the end of this journey had a lot of excitement would be an understatement.

So I figured we'll just order pizza, we'll have lunch here, and we'll just walk through all of it together.

Does that sound good?

Okay, we probably won't do that.

I didn't put it in the budget.

But one thing is certain that we read in Acts chapter 14.

Acts 14 · chapter mention

Paul and Barnabas persevered in the face of opposition as they proclaimed the gospel and they helped plant new churches throughout the region.

That phrase alone, perseverance in the face of opposition, really doesn't seem to do justice for what they experienced.

And as we look deeper in the text, I think there are three things that we can learn from Paul and Barnabas that will help us understand what we can what perseverance in the face of opposition means.

Perseverance stands firm against opposition.

Perseverance remains faithful to the mission.

Perseverance strengthens others.

I mean, to start, I think we should be honest with ourselves, or I'll be honest with you, and then you can decide for yourself.

But we live in a culture of convenience, do we not?

I mean, I remember, I am now at the point when I ask Valerie if she will order something on Amazon if we can get it the same day.

Like I that I don't have a grid for what I used to do when I was 10 years old.

I mean, we live in a culture of convenience.

You'll watch a two-minute reel trying to get some ideas, or you'll go to Pinterest and you'll say, Hey, I want to make that.

Oh, look, there's this awesome thing.

I'm gonna do it right the first time, and then when it goes wrong, you just kind of get mad at the content creator and you go, errr.

And I'm not sure it ever looks as good as when they put it on their video reels.

But we just throw it aside and then we move on to the next thing because we don't want to have any type of inconvenience hold us back from the things that we feel like we want to enjoy and endure.

The challenge is Acts 14 paints a completely different picture and what we should practically expect when we follow Jesus.

And I'm grateful that Paul and Barnabas give us a blueprint on how to do it.

Amen.

First, perseverance stands firm against opposition.

Chapter 14 opens with Paul and Barnabas going to the synagogue in Iconium.

And Brian shared last week that's what they did earlier.

This was a natural custom for them.

They were going to go to a new town.

They said, We'll go to the church where we know, and we'll start there, and we'll just start proclaiming the good news of Jesus.

And it's crazy what happened.

If you read that, you find out that in two weeks, in the second, by the second week, the entire town showed up to hear what they had to say.

And the response was profound as a result of that.

But not everybody was necessarily happy with what they were hearing.

Part of this was because it was new to them, and a lot of this was because this was a message that was open to everyone, not just the Jews.

You see, the message of Jesus was designed for everyone.

That's what he said in his entire public ministry.

And walking through these experiences from town to town, Paul and Barnabas are getting this major glimpse of what it means to take the good news of who Jesus is to their communities.

There were Jews in opposition to this message, as we learned early in the chapter, and ultimately they were driven.

Paul and Barnabas were driven out of Iconium, but they were not deterred because they knew the importance of the mission that they had received and the importance of the gospel message of Jesus.

This initial opposition that they see in chapter 14 is just the tip of the iceberg for what they will experience.

So let's go back and look at verse 2 and just ground ourselves a little bit.

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

While they were there in Iconium, there were these detractors who were trying to basically discredit Paul and Barnabas and confuse people and get them upset because they were watching people accept Jesus and become Christians.

So what did Paul and Barnabas do in verse 3, the very next verse?

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.

Paul and Barnabas said, fine, if you want to keep bringing your distraction, we're just going to stay.

And we're going to keep preaching.

And God's going to keep honoring his word.

And God does honor his word because through their preaching and through their proclamation, we see signs and wonders.

What they were focused on was not themselves, but what the Holy Spirit had driven, had commended them to do.

And at some point, though, we find that they become aware of a plot to do some serious harm.

So the Holy Spirit gives them the wisdom and discernment to know that they have done what they needed to do in Iconium, and so they left.

And then they go to Lystra, not too far away, and in verses 8 through 10, we see what happens.

As soon as they get to Lystra, Paul notices a man.

In three different ways in one verse, we understand that this man can't walk.

He was lame.

He was that way since birth, and he couldn't walk.

We aren't sure how he was able to do this, but somehow Paul was able to look at this man and could see and could discern that this man had a faith that would heal his physical ailment.

So, as Paul would do in a loud voice, he said, get up and walk.

And literally, that's exactly what the man did.

Sometimes the way Luke writes is so succinct that we can kind of miss the magnitude of the moment.

And for me, this is one of those things.

I mean, I've been walking most of my life, but I didn't start out that way.

Right?

Neither did you.

You can't remember.

But here was a man who had never walked, yet he had a faith that Paul could recognize and he was instantly healed.

And not only was he instantly healed, it's not like his illness or his his condition was healed, he was healed and he was able to fully function as if he'd been walking his whole life.

Do you ever think about little things like that?

The magnitude of how God works and how he works through the transformation process in our hearts.

The depth of his healing was profound.

First, it was his faith that was recognized.

It was his faith.

This man's faith was what was recognized.

Second, it was the physical healing that was so significant that he was able to immediately begin to engage the people around him.

The other part of this that I think is interesting and we should probably give some perspective to is if this was a man who was an adult and had never been able to walk, he would have been known in his community.

He would have been known.

They would have said, hey, that's the man.

Yesterday he couldn't walk.

Today he's beating me in a hundred-meter dash.

What's going on?

And so the response of the people is interesting.

And because Paul and Barnabas most likely didn't know the language, the Lyconian language that they were speaking in, they didn't realize that as the people saw this miracle happen, they actually began to worship Paul and Barnabas.

Did you catch that?

They actually began to worship Paul and Barnabas instead of the living God who actually did the healing in the man in the first place.

Paul and Barnabas, once they figured out what was going on, they said, Stop, you've got to stop this.

And they tore their clothes.

And the the Greek mythology of Zeus and Hermes was really paramount in that region of the world, and it was legend in that community, and there's a lot that goes behind that.

But once Paul and Barnabas realized what was happening and they were pleading to stop, their custom to tear their clothes would be an indicator that they were trying to reject the blasphemy that they were listening from the people.

Because the people had a displaced faith.

The people saw this healing and said, I want some of that.

These are the guys.

And Paul and Barnabas said, No, no, no, no, no.

It's not us, it's the living God.

And he began to tell them of all the evidence God provided them to know that they could know that he was the living God.

The rain, the harvest, the food, the gladness and joy.

So if you ever want a blueprint for the importance of miracles, but not the ultimate value that we think miracles can be, Acts chapter 14 is perfect.

Acts 14 · chapter mention

Paul and Barnabas get to Iconium and they're preaching the gospel hard, they're going after it, and God's showing favor, and they have miracles that they're doing, signs and wonders.

We don't know what they are, but they're happening.

And for an extended period of time, it did not convince the people.

And then when they get to the Lystra, God allows another major miracle to happen.

And the people instead of worshiping God, they end up worshiping Paul and Barnabas.

Miracles are important, but miracles aren't the be-all-end-all.

It is the source of those miracles that is the true and living God who gives us the understanding about his sovereignty and how he chooses to work.

And when he invites us into his mission, he will empower us to be a part of it.

One of the things that's interesting is when we face opposition, we have a choice.

When something comes my way, no matter how insignificant or significant it might be, I have a choice.

Am I gonna stand firm and continue to proclaim?

And I'm gonna oppose that opposition, and I'm gonna say, I'm sorry.

This is not gonna work for me.

I don't think it's gonna work for you.

When we do that, we help set up a muscle called perseverance, and that perseverance also then lets us begin to remain faithful to the mission.

Paul and Barnabas were really working hard to redirect this Lyconian.

Worship from them to God.

That was what they were focused on.

But their circumstances were about to get a lot more dire, and it happened really quickly.

It's interesting.

Is there someone in your life that you just really are irritated by?

Don't raise your hand.

Like, is there someone that just you're like, man, I could just punch them in the nose right now?

Right?

Are you so angry at them that you might be willing to go to some length to exert that anger on them?

Well, that's what happened here.

There were Jews in Pisidian Antioch, where we ended chapter 13 in Iconium, that were so opposed to Paul and Barnabas that they made the journey down to Lystra.

They had to walk almost 150 miles.

I don't know how much enemus or hostility you have to have to be able to walk 150 miles just so you could look at someone in the eye and punch them in the nose and say, stop it.

Or worse, right?

There is a measure of opposition and hostility that is baked into these opponents of Paul and Barnabas that is really kind of immeasurable.

Let's see what happens in verse 19.

But the Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and having persuaded the crowds, so these are the crowds in Lyconia, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead.

That's all it reads.

It's not like, well, one, Luke is very succinct in his writing, and he's kind of a matter-of-fact writer, so he just gives us the facts a lot of times, and that's important because that's what matters.

But it's not like they went out to your walking path in your backyard and picked up some pea gravel and hurled it at Paul and Barnabas.

Stoning was a common public form of execution.

We saw it earlier in Acts with Stephen and the Jews who traveled all this far, all of this anger that just every step of that 150 miles that they walked would just build and build.

They got to the point where they literally stoned Paul.

And it's not like, hey, did we do it right?

They knew how to stone people because it was a public form of execution, so they would know if someone was dead.

He probably was thrown off a small cliff and a large boulder was thrown on top of him, aiming for his torso, and if that didn't work, then they would just throw large rocks and boulders until they were convinced he was dead, and they were convinced that Paul was dead.

That's what they did to Paul, literally and physically.

But I'm telling you, the very next verse is just as crazy as verse 19.

But when the disciples gathered around him, he rose up and entered the city, and on the next day he went on with Barnabas to Derby.

I don't really know what to do with all of that if I'm being honest with you.

Luke doesn't tell us what the disciples were doing there, or the disciples that were there, but I'm guessing they were praying.

They're like, Lord, this is your messenger.

Like, is this it?

They're praying.

But Paul gets up.

He goes back in to Lystra, and then the next day he and Barnabas make their way to Derby.

I don't have a grid for this largely because I have a pain tolerance that approaches zero.

I don't like if I get a paper cut, the urgent care comes to mind.

So when I hear a story about the this type of physical harm, and that Paul and Barnabas get up, go back into the city, and then they keep going, I I'm not sure.

I'm just being honest, I'm not sure I would have the wherewithal to do that.

Would you?

I don't know how you find the intestinal fortitude to navigate a challenge like that.

Maybe there's something going on in your life that is just so overwhelming you and so weighing you down that there's literally no way you can get around it.

I don't know.

But I when I when I see what's happening here, I'm not sure that I, Stephen Henson, will have the capacity to be able to do that.

But here's the amazing thing the capacity of Stephen Henson is not relevant.

It's the capacity of the Holy Spirit.

And the Holy Spirit is able to do in his sovereignty what he wants to do for the sake of his message and for the glory of his kingdom.

So Paul and Barnabas, they get up and they go to Derby and they do the same thing.

Perseverance remains faithful to the mission.

There's a third lesson I think we learn from Paul and Barnabas in this passage, and it speaks to that perseverance strengthens others.

Paul and Barnabas had reached the geographical end of their journey.

So let's see if I can do a little smarter here.

So this is where they were.

This is where they faced such opposition that they stoned Paul.

Then they made their way over here to Derby.

Alright?

I'm talking to the maps.

You're just gonna have to bear with me here.

Stephen Henson would go, hey, this is where we were sent from.

Let's just go back.

Let's go.

Oh, look, there's my hometown.

There's Paul's hometown.

Let's go see my family.

We'll eat a home-cooked meal, and then we'll go back to our church.

I mean, that is literally the most logical thing you could do if you're going on this missionary journey.

But what's interesting is, and that distance was only about 250 miles total.

That's what I would do, but what we read in verses 21 through 23 is literally the opposite of what Stephen Henson would do.

Let's read it together.

When they had preached the gospel to the city and made many disciples, that's in Derby, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.

And when they had pointed elders for them in every church with prayer and fasting, they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.

The reality is you really cannot overestimate the influence that encouragement can have for other people.

You can't overestimate the influence that strengthening others and encouraging them has for other people.

When we are faithful and serving the Lord, he will bring favor to that faithfulness and he will manifest that favor in whatever way he chooses.

Paul and Barnabas, on this missionary journey, on their way out, they were proclaiming the message.

They were evangelizing, they were inviting people into a relationship with the Lord.

And when they got to the end of it, they said, we've got to go back because we need to help and strengthen and encourage the people who just accepted Jesus.

So their mission turned into one of discipleship and making more disciples and helping these new churches that were formed to create an environment where they could continue the message of Jesus.

They could have taken that direct back to Syrian Antioch, but they didn't.

And the opposition they faced would have been a compelling reason to do so.

But what we see happen to Paul and Barnabas further instructs and encourages us today for how we think about our church and other churches with us, because the churches that were formed, like every stop along the way where they faced the opposition, it's not like those opponents of Paul and Barnabas were flown in from somewhere else.

They were people who lived in those communities.

And there were people who accepted the saving grace of Jesus in those communities.

And those people would still have to deal with those opponents.

That opposition would be real.

But there are three things I think that happen when we see what Paul and Barnabas did.

When they see Paul and Barnabas come, hey, Paul's back.

I thought he was dead.

People tried to kill him.

When they saw Parnabus and Paul come back through, they could say, if Paul and Barnabas can do it, so can we.

The second thing is that Paul and Barnabas remembered and knew them and wanted them to be healthy.

They wanted them to be robust as a body of believers and helping them understand that they can spread the message of Jesus.

And sometimes the obstacles we face are for someone else to come to a greater understanding of Jesus, more so than some solution for us.

This week I had the opportunity with Grayson and John to lead the spiritual formation class at Cross Purpose.

And in that class, this particular lesson I got to lead was pain and suffering.

So it was just part and parcel with this week, right?

So we're talking about pain and suffering.

What is it?

Where does it come from?

Why does it happen?

What's our response to it?

And we we we set the day up so that the leaders can participate.

And uh what I witnessed two leaders have an exchange as we were walking through pain and suffering, and I I could have never scripted the exchange that they had, and I loved Grayson and John, and I just said, Well, we're gonna let them have this conversation.

Because there was a leader in the room who the week earlier had said that she was just starting to come back to her faith in God because she was angry at God.

She was mad at God because of a difficult circumstance in her life.

And in that difficult circumstance, she said, God, why do you not love me?

Why do you do this to me?

This is not helping me in any way what I'm trying to do in this world.

And she had kind of abandoned her faith.

And as we were walking through the pain and suffering conversation, she opened up and she said, I need help.

I I said some really bad things about God and to God.

I need some help trying to figure out how to reconcile where I am in that.

And before I or Grayson or John could say anything, there was another first-time participant leader in the room.

He said, Sister, I've got something to share with you.

And as soon as I heard that, I said, Well, I'm gonna just sit back and we're gonna see what happens.

And he began to describe a personal circumstance in his life that was extremely difficult.

And when I say difficult, I mean it's really difficult.

And he began to talk about how he would probably never fully understand why that circumstance happened, but he was convicted to not let the lack of his understanding prevent him from moving forward.

That's what he said.

And then in his encouragement to this other leader, he said, with each step you take, it might not get easier, but it will get lighter.

Why that happened to you might be for someone else to learn from.

Keep going and let that heal you.

I mean, there are people who are opening their hearts to the living God and are responding to the call that Jesus has for all of us.

That's happening right here on this campus.

These transformation conversations, and we have these stories in our room right now.

These stories are happening.

Revived Church is a church that's on mission.

We're on a mission that God has given us.

Literally, our mission is to live and love like Jesus, right where you are.

We want to see the peace and the prosperity of our city and surrounding area flourish across economic, relational, and spiritual domains.

We want to see how God transforms lives, and it happens on this campus.

But here's the interesting thing: it also can happen exactly where you are tomorrow morning at 8.30.

And it can happen where you are Thursday morning at 11.30.

Or next Saturday afternoon at 4 o'clock.

You see, Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5.20 that we are therefore ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us, we implore you on behalf of Christ to be reconciled to God.

As Jesus followers, we are his ambassadors.

And when we see the stories and the testimonies of people walking through cancer or marriages that are resurrected, or illness that's overcome, or the ability to walk through a painful loss with grace, when we see these stories but we don't share them, the church can't be built up.

To strengthen and to grow as a church means that we have to be able to understand what God's doing in our lives and how that doing can help our being and we can then begin to relate to others.

So, how does revived church create environments for that?

Well, for the last two plus years, we took a huge step back and did a deep dive on what is the role of an elder at Revived Church.

We spent over two years understanding the role of elders.

The elders, the same elders that we have today, are defined and grounded by the elders that Paul and Barnabas established at each of the churches along the way in their journey.

We said, hey, we need to do a better job of what eldering looks like.

We have a plurality of elders that if you may or may not know this, but there's no single person that makes all the decisions for revived church.

We have a plurality of elders that come together and through the through prayer and discernment and discussion, we ask the Lord what he's doing and we ask for consensus on how he's doing that.

There's no one person that makes all the decisions.

There are literally four functions of an elder.

This is it, verse four to teach, to protect, to lead, and to care.

We meet every week.

And we literally meet every week, and every other week our pastors join us.

And over the last year, we developed a new mini flock system.

And that mini flock system is designed to help our members kind of have some, it's not a community group, it's not anything, but it helps us have a better understanding of who makes up Revived Church so that we can have better awareness of what's going on.

And we've implemented those mini flocks, and each elder and pastor has a subset of families that are primary on their list, and we're seeing fruit from that mini-flock system already because we are now way more aware of the needs that you have.

We're way more aware of the needs that you have than we would have been otherwise.

Marriages that are getting support, we're able to provide more prayer and support because of this awareness.

When we're on mission for God and we're learning how to flex a perseverance muscle, it's all about how do we stand in the gap for others when we strengthen others.

Like, Lord, how can we support each other?

How can we strengthen each other?

Quickly, there are two things at the end of chapter 14 that I'd love to highlight for us.

The first one is at the end of verse 22, Luke writes and reminds us that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.

Said another way, we're not going to enter the kingdom of God and not face opposition.

Like we see the favor that God showed in the early launch of the church, and we see the favor God shows throughout the testimonies of Paul and Barnabas, but we don't have only God's favor.

We have people who oppose God who are trying to tear us down, and that opposition is real.

And within that opposition, we have to respond and we have a choice to make.

And ultimately, what we learn is that perseverance in the Christian faith is not optional following Jesus.

It's a requirement.

It's a muscle that we need to learn to develop.

It's a muscle that we need to trust the Lord to help us develop.

The second thing is that Paul and Barnabas were anchored to their church.

They get through their entire journey, then they go back to their sending church and they spend a long time there and they tell everything that God had done on their journey to everyone at their church.

They were tethered to their local church.

The body of believers matters.

Because when we're together and we're pursuing the same mission together for the purpose of God's kingdom and his glory, God is going to honor that and he will work in and through us.

This morning, I'd just like to invite you to consider your relationship with the Lord.

Is there anything that you're facing that might be difficult for you?

If the answer to that is no, or it's not ever been yes at any time, that might be a thing to take to the Lord and say, Lord, am I missing something?

Is there something I'm trying to avoid because it might be too hard?

I would just invite you to just think about that and ask the Lord, is there anything in my life that's an obstacle that I'm trying to avoid?

And in that avoidance, am I not relying on you but myself to be able to self-regulate around what that obstacle might be?

Maybe there's something you need to take to the Lord this morning.

We'll have communion here in a moment, but maybe there's something you need to go down to the cross and pray, or maybe there's a prayer team member that you need to tap on the shoulder and say, Hey, could you just pray with me because I'm wrestling with something and I'm not sure I'm I'm wrestling with it in the right way.

You see, our temptation and our human tendency is when we face things, we see that we're alone in those things that could be difficult for us.

But the reality is we're not.

As we enter into a time of communion this morning, we do that in part because it helps us remember that we're not alone.

That Jesus, who gave himself for us after his public ministry, allowed us to be able to have relationship with him and took care of a sin problem that he didn't have, but I certainly did, and he pardoned us.

When we think about Acts chapter 14, and we think about where we are at this point in Paul and Barnabas's ministry, one of the most important things that we can remember is that we're not alone and that perseverance in the face of opposition is doable because we have a Holy Spirit who loves us and it empowers us.

Acts 14 · chapter mention

And the same spirit that raised Jesus from the dead is the spirit that lives within you and me right now, if Jesus is our Lord and Savior.

So the question is, do we live like that?

So the the opportunity for you this morning as we move into communion is to reflect on where the Lord might be pointing something out to you in your life.

And Sam and the band are gonna play some music for us, and I just invite you to pray over that for a minute, and then as you are able, I'd invite you to come and take part in our communion.

Let's pray together.

Lord, we love you.

We thank you for how you pursue us.

We thank you for the testimony of Paul and Barnabas and the lessons that we can learn about perseverance as a result of their faithfulness to you.

May we be responsive to your call on our lives, and may we seek your presence in everything that we say and do.