Scattered: People of the Good News

Good morning. All right, so we are going into

the time of reading Scripture. If you don't have a Bible with

you, you can find one under your seat and we're going to be

reading Acts 8 one through 4. If you're using the Bible under

your chair will be on page 861. All right, let's read together.

And Saul approved of his execution.

And there arose on that day a great persecution against the

Church of in Jerusalem. And they were all scattered

throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the

apostles. Devout men buried Stephen and

made great lamentation over him. But Saul was ravaging the church

and entering house after house. He dragged off men and women and

committed them to prison. Now those who were scattered

went about preaching the Word as the word of the Lord.

What's going on? Port City family and friends,

how are we doing? Good.

My name is Tanner, one of the pastors here.

It is a privilege to be with you and y'all at Port City.

We are passionate about helping people understand what the

church is, or rather who the church is.

Y'all as we just had those verses read over us.

Hopefully you noticed that Saul went and ravaged the church.

He did not burn down buildings, he did not erase brands from

websites right Like what he did is he had names, people, faces,

associates, a list if you will. I spoke with some partners in

the gospel who live in Eastern Europe right now, and they told

me this week that in their context of about a million

people, there are 100 known believers.

That's the church where they are.

They have names. And so we're we're passionate

about helping people understand that this is what you were

created to be a part of. You were created to be a part of

a people that know King Jesus, that make him known, that do

life together like a family and like a team.

And many times we can bring expectations of the way the

world does organizations to the church.

We like to say here that the church is a people that are

organized, not an organization with people, but the

organization of a people. So you could, I'll say this a

lot today. The church is a who, not an it.

It's a who, not an it. It's a who, not a what.

But we can bring a lot of it expectations to a who thing.

And it's a little confusing, if that makes sense.

And if you have only ever been at a church, but not a part of a

church, we invite you to be a part of our fellowship, our

community, our congregation, our who, if you will.

So I'm going to pray just over our understanding of this as we

as we dive into Acts 8 here. And then we'll, we'll, we'll

look at this text here today. OK, let's pray.

Our Father, God, we love you. Thank you that you came to

purchase a people, to make a people, united to you through

your Son by the Spirit and united to one another, a people.

And God, your people are gathered all over the world

right now. And Lord, there are multiple

local expressions of your people.

God, I pray you would help us grow on our understanding of

ourselves as a people. And God, there are some I

believe in our midst. You're calling to be a part of

your people, be a part of a local fellowship.

You know their stories, you know the timing, you know the things

you know, even if they believe in you.

So God, we just pray you connect dots for all of us as we sit

under your word and understand what you did back in Acts,

you're doing all over the world even now.

So we love you, Lord, open our eyes to understand these things.

We pray in Christ's name, Amen. Y'all don't know if you've ever

been in like a trying time, a hard time, a confusing time,

maybe a pressure filled time. But this is a pressure filled

moment in the life of the church.

Very confusing moment, very hard moment.

A huge moment in world history really where the church gets

forced up out of Jerusalem. Last week we ended with the

stoning of Steven. And just imagine like

persecution breaking out to the point you don't even get to go

back and pick a couple items from your house.

You don't have a house like you. It's over.

Like get your kids and let's go. People who are refugees often

tell stories like that of like, you don't get to go back and and

grab your five things like it's it's leave now.

Like that's kind of the situation.

A severe persecution broke out and the disciples started

scattering and the leaders stay behind in Jerusalem, The text

tells us. So it's a very intense time.

It's a confusing time. It's a a very huge moment in the

life of the church. And maybe you're here today and

you don't follow Jesus. You're not a part of the church,

but you could just relate to like, sometimes it's just a

little confusing what you're supposed to believe.

There's TikTok telling you everybody's a genius on TikTok.

You know what? I right they, they know how to

give you the best life in just three steps.

Even in the church, there could be mixed messages like, is my

life supposed to be easy if I follow Jesus?

What does it mean to follow Jesus?

Lot of people just put their trust and hope in politicians

and just be a good person. So there's a lot of confusion as

to even what to believe. We all in today's text, the

church is in a hard moment, but it thrives under these

circumstances. We're going to see the church

get scattered but thrive, come alive in many ways even without

their leaders. So what I want us to do is

imagine what it would have been like to be in Judea or Samaria

and some people come into your city and start telling you about

this Jesus stuff. So we're almost going to be like

a Co worker of a new believer, if that makes sense.

Like imagine you work in a leather shop.

You're a Tanner, somebody, you're working in a leather shop

and some weird joker rolls up in your store looking for a job.

They're on the run and they follow some dude named Jesus.

You all know nothing. So we're going to put ourselves

in that coworker's shoes and just hear what they would have

been hearing. Does that make sense?

And start to understand who the church is, what this Word stuff

is, who Jesus is. And I got 2-3 points for us

today. Number one, we're going to talk

about the word #2 we're going to talk about the church #3 we're

going to talk about God. If you are ready, let me hear

you say I'm ready. OK #1 the word somebody say the

good news, good news. Let's read our text one more

time for today. And Saul approved of his

execution. And there arose on that day a

great persecution against the church in Jerusalem.

And they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea

and Samaria, except the apostles.

Devout men buried Stephen and made great lamentation over him.

But Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after

house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to

prison. Now those who were scattered

went about preaching the word. Somebody say the word in our.

Text there you you hear this language of preaching the word.

I don't want you to think. Like what I'm doing right now,

even though some of that was going on, it just means they

were good newsing. It literally means the the Greek

word is eongelion, like Evangelion.

Like evangelizing. They were good newsing their

area. Like I'm about to good news you

about some food in Norfolk. You ready?

How many all have had classic Donuts?

Anybody raise your hand? The rest of y'all just got good

news. They exist.

KLASSIC. You are now blessed with the

knowledge that it exists and you need to eat it.

OK, you have been good news. You have been gospelled.

OK, That's what they were doing. They were coming with news.

That's primarily what this whole Christian movement is.

It's a certain kind of news. OK, so they were preaching the

word means they were sharing the news about Jesus.

This is coming off the heels of last week's sermon where Steven

was stoned. So literally they took a bunch

of stones and killed him. After a sermon we studied last

week, they lay down kind of their their garments at the feet

of a man named Saul. And the church begins getting

persecuted like crazy. So they are scattering into the

surrounding regions of Judea and Samaria.

And they everywhere they go, like the leather shop we are in,

they they're getting jobs, they're relocating and they just

start good newsing those people with have you heard about

classic doughnuts? But it's not about classic

doughnuts. It's about the Lord Jesus.

So what I want to do is just think for a second what would an

early church? You're being good news.

What would the marks of their message to you be?

Does that make sense based on what we see in Acts?

What would they tell you if you worked with this person?

What are some of the things you've never heard about Jesus?

You don't know nothing. What would they tell you?

Right here are 4 marks of the good news #1 The good news is

about the king. The good news is about the King.

Later in the book of Acts, in chapter 17, you can write this

down verses 6:00 and 7:00. Some followers of Jesus, we're

getting in some trouble for good news in their area, OK?

And what tended to happen is the news would offend people and

they started a mob. They're like, we don't like this

news, OK? And they reject the news and

listen to what they accuse these Jesus people of.

You ready? That's what it says.

And when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and

some of the brothers before the city authority shouting.

These men who have turned the world upside down have come here

also, and Jason has received them.

And they are all acting against the decrees of Caesar, saying

that there is another king. Jesus, y'all, did you catch what

made their news unbearable for them?

They said these people are saying there's another king.

Y'all, The good news of the gospel is that Jesus is the

King. That's the first part of the

news. Caesar is not in charge and

y'all in that time period. Caesar was in charge.

He could kill you. You paid your taxes.

Or you got in a lot of. Trouble.

That the Romans were were the source of all comfort.

They could give you all pleasure.

They could give you everything if you bow the knee.

You could keep your gods, do your little religious game and

feel like a good person. Whatever you want to do, as long

as you acknowledge that Caesar is Lord.

But these Jesus people were saying there's another king.

It's not Caesar, it is Jesus. So y'all primarily what the

announcement. The good news is that the king

of the world right now is a dude named Jesus.

He is God himself. He is not dead.

That's some of the news you learn about this king.

He's not just a religious artifact.

He is currently reigning over all things.

And So what begins to happen as you're hearing this news in that

leather? Shop is you realize these

Christians, which they weren't even called that yet at this

point in the book of Acts, aren't a new religious group.

It's more like they're part of a entire new nation, a Kingdom

that doesn't geographically locate itself.

It can go anywhere. And the king of these people is

this Jesus. Does that make sense?

So like they, they still at some level obey Caesar and pay taxes.

They're not like, forget Caesar, but their ultimate allegiance is

not to Caesar. It is to this Jesus.

So as you're hearing this news as a Roman citizen, that would

blow your mind a little bit. There's somebody more powerful

than Caesar. How can that?

Be. So this is part of the news

you're hearing. Caesar's not in charge.

Jesus is. Here's the second mark of early

church. Good newsing or or preaching the

word, if you will #2 The good news is about the Kingdom.

The good news is about the Kingdom.

So every king has a Kingdom. OK, you can write down Acts 1/6

through 8, right before Jesus left the earth.

So he's, he dies, he raises from the dead, he's with his

disciples for 40 days. And before he leaves, one of his

disciples just goes, Hey, Jesus, So like, are you about to like

restore the Kingdom now or like the what's next?

They're basically asking, is heaven coming to earth right now

or like, where do I need to stand?

What is can I be on your right hand or your left?

What you going to do? And Jesus says back to him, the

Father knows those things. You just relax.

You're going to be my witnesses from Jerusalem to Judea, Samaria

to the ends of the earth, and you'll be filled with the Spirit

in a number of days. Bye.

And then he. Leaves, then he leaves.

OK, another thing I encourage you to go do is go look at the

last verses of the book of Acts. I'm not going to do it for you

right now, but it literally says that the the main character by

the end of the book of Acts is a man named Paul, who is actually

the Saul in today's text. He goes, undergoes A radical

conversion, becomes a Jesus preacher instead of a Jesus

killer. OK.

And it says in the last words, the book of Acts is he was in

Rome preaching about the Kingdom.

You see the? King has a Kingdom and the

Kingdom is here. That's what the Bible teaches,

that these Jesus people were communicating.

The King has come, and the Kingdom is here.

So their question of are you going to restore the Kingdom?

Is them asking is it fully coming now?

Like, when does it fully come? It's still a broken place.

We just have to walk outside our door and see some of the things

we see in our neighborhoods. We see pain, we see people

lying, we see people dying. The the Kingdom is not fully

here yet, but it has come in part, you know, these early

believers, we're confident saying the Kingdom is here and

this Kingdom is different than Rome.

You do more than pay taxes. It's a whole new ethic of love.

It's not about power. It's not about pleasure.

It's about. Love of neighbor.

It's about forgiveness, loving your enemies.

These are the customs of this new Kingdom.

So again, you're in the leather shop like there's a king.

They operate different than us Roman citizens.

Their allegiances to this king. They operate in this Kingdom

with each other. They're like a family.

They hang out together. These people are different than

us. They eat this bread and drink

this juice. They're always together.

They're kind of blowing my mind. Here's the third mark about the

good news they would share with you.

The good news is about everything that matters, y'all?

This is really big so I want to understand what I'm about to say

in the New Testament after Jesus is risen.

I'll share a couple of verses again from Acts 17.

The early church was so confident and spoke with

authority because of 1 fact Jesus is alive.

OK, so here's what that means. Let me read these verses over

you again. Paul says this in a sermon to a

bunch of people who are not religious at all.

OK, this is what he tells them. The times of ignorance God

overlooked. But now he commands all people

everywhere to repent because he has fixed a day on which he will

judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed.

And of this he has given assurance to all by raising him

from the dead. Here's the way the New Testament

writers and believers like in this leather shop we're

imagining, think because Jesus is alive.

Jesus is right about everything because he defeated death.

Here's what Here's what every human being is asking.

OK, whether you grew up in a religious home, what would be

called a Christian home, or any any religion of any sort, or

you, the most secular person in the world, you don't believe

nothing. That's fine.

Here's what your soul is asking. Where do we come from?

Where are we going? What is wrong with us?

Everybody pretty much agrees something's wrong.

How does it get made? Right.

And how can you be sure? Like how can you be sure of your

answers to those 4? And here is what the Bible

teaches. We came from Godfather, Son.

Holy Spirit made all things, and he made humanity in his image.

Where are we going To an eternal destination, either with him or

apart from him. What is wrong with us?

Sin is what's wrong with us. The Bible presents the story

that we were born to image God and His perfection and love and

outward focus on others and God. But in our sin Adam and Eve fell

and so did we. We are so focused on ourselves.

We were not made to be or made to be like a mirror focusing

outward. But in our sin we just are so

self absorbed on. All the pain in the earth goes

back to that issue that we are inwardly focused in our sin and

not outwardly focused on others. How can it be made right through

King Jesus Some kind of way, as we will talk about, we talk

about every week. The solution is through his

death, burial, and resurrection. His life, his death, his

burial's resurrection. Jesus came to do for us what we

could not do for ourselves. And how can you be sure?

Here's the Bible's answer. Here's the book of Acts answer.

Because Jesus is alive, that's how.

We know if he ain't alive, we should go home.

We should go to Classic Donuts right now.

If he ain't alive, none of it matters if he ain't alive, it's

just it's just a different version of be a nice person and

you can be sure if there is some afterlife, you can be confident

because you're a open minded good person, you know, and it's.

Just like that's just not what the Bible teaches y'all.

We believe this stuff because Jesus is alive.

So the early Christian movement was spreading like wildfire

because the questions everyone was asking, they had the

answers. To because Jesus was alive, so

the Jews were asking questions like how does the Bible story

about Yahweh, about Jehovah, about the the exodus, about the

people of God? How does it?

Where does it? Go.

When does it get fulfilled? When does it go to the next

level? And the answer is Jesus.

He fulfilled the story, and now he's taking it to a new level.

And the Greeks were asking questions like, what is the

point of life? You know, in Rome you could get

anything. You wanted if you had the right

money, right? Your, your, your sexual

preferences. You could do what you want.

There was gambling like crazy. There was all kinds of stuff.

Does that sound familiar to you? You could do whatever you wanted

in Rome. This is not new in world

history, the moment we live in right now.

But what also was happening in Rome is they had all power, all

comfort, all sense of. They could do whatever they

wanted, and they knew they still had nothing deep down.

I was made for more than my comfort.

I was made for more than my pleasure.

I was made to know God and the stories about Zeus and all this

stuff and chaos and the earth was made out of chaos ain't

working. That's because they're not true

stories. They're fake false gods that

don't tell the truth about where we came from.

And so for every question, Jesus was the answer.

For every problem, Jesus was the solution.

That's why the gospel was spreading like crazy.

So Port City Church, I just want you to hear that with your life,

what you get to do in front of your coworkers, like in that

leather shop, is live with joy and a looseness and then you

obey Christ. So they're watching you follow

this king. This isn't just like a cool

hobby. You're actually doing it.

You're living out the self sacrifice.

You're living out the Sermon on the Mount.

You're laying down your preferences, you're serving your

neighbor. You're doing these things.

And then with your words, you have a healthy.

Sense of authority One of the things that they said about

Jesus when he would teach is like people almost were

dumbfounded because he spoke with authority and true biblical

authority isn't me yelling at you in Jesus name it's actually

just. What you're saying is.

True. Like you have the words of life

and friends, I just. Want you to hear you have the

words of life. That doesn't make you arrogant.

I get the sense of a little bit of presumption.

How can you know? But you don't know 'cause you're

you. You know because he's alive.

Your your confidence. Isn't in you.

It has nothing to do with you. It has to do with Jesus.

That's the great irony. So everybody thinks they has

answers to questions. The question is why you got your

answers to your questions. And our answer is, 'cause He's

alive. And he's God.

And I'm not that don't make you arrogant, that makes you humble

if it's putting your authority and your confidence in Jesus.

So does the church need more training on evangelism?

How to answer your neighbors questions?

Yes, and their specifics. But the church would.

Spread like wildfire if we realize you have the answers to

everything you need. You have all that you need.

You have all authority in Christ and you have the answers to the

questions they're asking even if they don't ask you them they

asking them. I promise you I promise you they

are last mark of the good news of the early church.

The good news is about. You here's the good news is

you'd be standing in that leather shot with your friend,

or you'd be the person hearing it from your new friend.

And then your friend would just say, you want to know this king,

you want to be in this Kingdom. Do you want the answers to all

of life? You would just be invited to

understand this and make it your own.

And you would be. If you're hearing this, you're

hearing, wow, these people actually love this king.

They know him. This is not just a set of

beliefs. This is a person they know.

This is a God that you can know. This isn't random stuff.

This is a God who loves them, who serves them.

They pray to him, They meet with him.

This is relationship. Some of the words that they

would use with you are identity, belonging, and purpose.

Yo, you were made to find your identity in this God, in this

King, in this Jesus. You were made by him.

You were made to know Him, to to relate to Him.

He made your personality. He puts you in your zip code.

He knows everything about your story.

He loves you. He made you in His image and you

are invited to find your identity in your relationship to

Him belonging. You were made to belong to a

community of people who share this identity in Jesus who are

family, not because of blood, not because we all like the same

sports teams, but because we all trust this Jesus who has saved

us. And we were made to share the

purpose of just making him known to our neighbors and to go into

leather shops and tell people about them and, and good news,

our our environment, our workplaces.

And I just want you to hear today those of you who don't

know Christ. We invite you to.

Take your place to find your identity in Christ, to find your

belonging in this church, and to find your purpose being good

newsers with us to receive this good news as your own and the

the the hard news of the gospel. But it is good news is that you

don't default into this. God's not going to force your

hand, and neither are we. But you have to put your

volitional trust in this king. You have to step over the line

into his Kingdom. You have to be transferred out

of darkness into His marvelous light.

You currently are in darkness. You follow a different king.

You're in a different Kingdom. You want nothing to do with the

Lord. And the hard news of the gospel

is that you've got to agree with God about.

That you have to agree with Him that you are a Sinner.

You have to agree with Him That you need a Savior.

You have to agree that you were wrong and He is right.

Peter would say in the first sermon in the book of Acts, he

said save yourselves from this crooked generation.

And they say that all in Acts are like yo, save yourself while

you can. And I just want you to hear

y'all, this place is busted. It just is, man.

We living on the Titanic a little bit and that's not

something that's not new. That's not because.

Anything going on in a current world event that's been going on

for 2000 years, This place is just busted.

It is it's, it's sinful. It plays to your desires.

It makes you feel like you're a king or queen and you're not.

You're not the creator of all things.

You're not in charge. You were made for more than just

pleasure seeking, more than comfort, more than feeling like

you're a good person and reading a cool article.

Every once in a while. You were made to show your

allegiance to King Jesus. And to to love him and enjoy him

to get out of the center stage of the movie and let him take

over. But currently you are running

the show and that's your problem.

And you've got to repent of your sin and put your trust in

Christ. So please save yourselves from

this crooked generation. OK, That's the good news is

you're invited to all of that. All right, now let's talk about

the church. See all the word is the good

news. The Church are the good.

News. People, we are the ones who

carry all of this good news. We are the ones who embody this

good news. As I read back over our text,

there are 5 references to the church.

I want you to look for them. Some of them are direct, some of

them are indirect. But as we read, look for them.

You ready? And Saul approved of his

execution, and there arose on that day a great persecution

against the Church. There's number one in Jerusalem,

and they who is they? They is the church that's 2.

Were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria

except the apostles devout men buried Stephen and made great

lamentation over him but Saul was ravaging the church number

3IN entering house after house he dragged off men and women who

are those men and women they're to church and committed them to

prison. Now those who were scattered,

who are they? The church went about preaching

the words. That's. 5 references and all of

them, I hope, scream one message to you.

The church is the people. The church is the people.

The church is the people. It's the people who trust King

Jesus. It's the people.

Who are united to one another? Church.

This is who we are. We are the church.

The church is a who, not an it. It's a people, not a place.

It's a who, not a what. Hey y'all, Part of what we're

passionate about here at Port City is we're trying to

structure everything we do and don't do to help us understand

we're a who, not a what. We're a who, not an IT.

Now we got a website that's OK. We got an Instagram, that's OK.

We meet in a building, that's OK Will it always be this building?

Probably not OK. You know, in our family our

we'll drive around Norfolk and if we get an eye sight of this

building, I hear from the back. There's port city and I'm like.

Just the thought of, you know, in the the little brain thinking

that we own this giant building is hilarious.

But we try. When we're on our A game, we say

back, yeah, Port City meets there.

We're trying to communicate. Port City is the people who

chooses to gather in the second floor cheetah print, you know,

room. We are the people.

Amen. We are the people.

We're trying to communicate through everything we say and

do. Don't say don't do that.

The church is the people, and it's OK to be an organization of

a people. Yes, we are 5O1C3 all the good

things, but the church is the people.

We're trying to make it so that literally, if this whole church

right now got scattered all over the United States or elsewhere

and you did not have a pastor with you, you'd be fine.

Like, I genuinely believe that about the people who are part of

this church, not just at this church, but a part of it, you'd

be fine. You would find some people to

gather with. You would practice the

sacraments, you'd sit under leadership, you would submit to

one another. You would good news, your

environment, your coworkers. You would tell them Jesus is

king and not Caesar and not your.

Boss, OK, that's what you would do.

You wouldn't. You wouldn't need us now.

We are called in our roles to be here.

The apostles who stayed behind in Jerusalem, we're doing what

God called them to do. God had just set the church up

where they did not need them to go forward and praise the Lord

or we would not be here today. So if you only ever seen the

church as an it and not a who, maybe today is the day you go

from seeing it as an IT to a who.

Maybe if you just, and again, thinking of it as an IT is you

like it's. I like organizations, I like

Planet Fitness, I like that gym. I go to it and then when I'm

done with it, I can't afford it no more.

I just hit unsubscribe, you know?

And listen. I'm not knocking you.

I used to think of the church that way.

OK, but if you've only ever operated within that headspace,

there's so much joy and so much calling that God is calling you

to as a who that you're just not going to experience if you think

of the church as an it. So maybe today is the day that

you step into I belong to this people.

I'm not just at this place. I belong.

I I I, I take my place. I'm a glue myself to these

people in covenant. We going to chase King Jesus

together. Here's the last little thought

experiment about the whole people versus place.

How would somebody have gotten on Saul's list?

Think about that. There were no bibles, so even if

you owned one that don't get you on the list.

What got you on the list? It's through your repeated.

This is how it happens even now in certain parts of the world.

Want to know how they found out and put you on the list?

How certain governments put you on the list is who through, who

you associate with is the house you keep going to on a Sunday.

It's the place you keep going to.

And that girl that we know is on that list and you keep being

with that girl on that list. Listen, this is the point I'm

trying to make. We think people think of us for

how we relate to him. What I'm trying to get you to

see is you wouldn't even get on the list if you didn't have a

them. Does that make sense?

Some of us think we die for Jesus, but you don't have a

them. You just think it's you and Him

and actually you want a hymn without a them.

But if you have a hymn without a them, they wouldn't even view

you as one of them. Does that make sense?

You don't even get on the list if you don't got a them.

You get on the list for how you operate in them and how it

associates. You with him, does that make?

Sense the way. The New Testament thinks about

it. It is your neighborly action and

identity that gets you associated with him.

It's not you saying I know him. They'd be like, no, you don't.

You don't do that meal. You don't do that thing.

You ain't with those people. You don't say those.

You don't you don't you ain't, you ain't you ain't one of them.

If you ain't one of them, you can't claim him.

Does that make sense? That's how you got on the list

was they knew you were with that girl.

So go get that girl who's always with that guy you got on the

list because you were one of. Them.

Does that make sense? So if you just know him and you

think you're getting the advantage of not having a them

but I know him and I don't got to deal with them.

Hey, I understand because them's can be annoying.

Amen. And all of us got a story of

them one time messed with my Mama and now all of us, my

family will even have an allergy to them.

We just like him. Let me just let me tell you, I

got allergies to them and I'm one of them y'all.

The point isn't that port city is the best them of all time.

The point is we just to them united to him and you going to

have to learn how to do them different and all of us got

baggage. None of us have a great family.

None of us know what we doing, but we learning how to them

because we know him. But if you look at them and say

I don't want them, I just want him.

Him is trying to make you with him.

Him died to make us. With them?

Does that make sense? Like imagine, like a family.

Photo that Jesus would take. Does that make sense?

Like. There's no category for hymns

without them's in the Bible. That's just how the Bible thinks

about it. And I know you're at we're all

at different stages in terms of even how many times you've been

here, but just take what I'm saying, Download it, process it.

I'd love to process. It with you and we'd love for

you to be a part of this them united to him.

Amen. I do that a lot by the way,

where I either that made a lot of sense or this might not be

the church for you. You know what I'm saying?

If he don't make no sense. I'm sorry man, our other, our

other teachers are much clearer, I can assure you.

OK, point #3 God, yo, we are the word is the good news.

The church is the good news, people, God is the good news

God. The irony of this text is God.

Is not mentioned in it. Right.

But he's orchestrating the whole thing, right?

God be like that. Stephen gets murdered, which is

a mournable tragedy, y'all. When we use terms like God, God

made this happen, or God is sovereign.

What we mean by that is God is orchestrating the moment with

all the ingredients at play, but God is not capable of evil.

God did not kill Stephen. The people stoning him did and

they will be held accountable for their stoning of Steven.

But God used Steven stoning to scatter his church which

accomplishes his purposes and Acts 1.

The Jesus said you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and Judea

and Samaria. They are now in Judea and

Samaria because Steven got stoned and God.

Took him like a salt shaker. You're the salt of the earth and

is just shaking them around the area.

That's what God is doing through this tragedy.

It doesn't mean he threw a stone at Stephen.

Does that make sense? God is incapable of evil.

He tempts no one, but he is so smart that he uses even the

schemes of those most opposed to him to afford his purposes.

Does that make sense? So God is a genius.

We learned later in Acts 11 that actually they're scattered even

further than Jerusalem in Judea, like in Samaria, they go further

than this and we'll we'll pick up on that later in our series

in Acts y'all. So a few quick things about God

and I'm done. Number one, God is a genius

y'all I feel. The need to say that because we

don't put God in genius category.

He's nice, he's loving, he's judgy, I guess, which we think

is a bad thing. But you need a good judge,

people. I promise you, you do let a

tragedy come to your family and then say no judge.

Not a big deal. You need a judge.

You just need a kind one who is just y'all.

God is judge. He is good, He is loving.

He's also a genius. He is a strategic genius.

He's a better leader than any leader book you ever read.

God's a better leader. He just took a.

Movement of 11 people. In chapter 1 and within a few

months it's now thousands of people and doesn't need a leader

to be healthy. And it is spread geographically

pre phone, pre anything. God is a genius.

He leaves the apostles behind and says y'all good, go ahead.

And the movement, you could argue, would not get to where it

would go had God done it any other way.

That's because God is a genius. I just want you to hear God is a

genius. We separate this up of like I

need all my. Leadership stuff away from the

Bible, but then I go to the Bible for spirit.

We've so allowed our culture to tell.

This Bible goes in this one category.

This one tiny little thing. Let me tell you, it goes in

every category. God is the greatest.

OK #2 God loves the nations, He loves people, He loves

geographies. He loves every zip code.

He loves all types of people and languages.

He wants everyone to be good news.

Everybody deserves to be good news.

You can't make nobody go to classic doughnuts, but you could

tell them it exists. You know what I'm saying?

Nobody makes you do nothing. But news is something you live

in light of. Everybody deserves to hear that

there's a king. It ain't Trump, it ain't Putin,

it ain't Harris, it ain't none of them.

The King is Jesus. America ain't in charge, your

boss ain't in charge, your mom ain't in charge.

Jesus is in charge. Everybody deserves to hear that

that he's alive. Everybody deserves to hear that

they're a Sinner and they need a savior.

So y'all just tell people about them?

Just good news. People ain't your job to do

nothing to them or for them. We just get to good news then

and let God have his way in them and then get them around the

good news. People, they need to hear the

news. They need to see the news.

Third thing God is. Way ahead of us.

He's a genius. He loves the nations and he is

way ahead of us. Y'all, God is so ahead of us.

We never would have conceived of this plan.

Never. And I think.

We could see God is a genius in the book of Acts, but then we

take our life, we're like, but why am I going through this

thing? I get that God's a genius in the

big level. I see he's doing that, but

where's he a genius for me, you know?

And we think that we can. Oh the big he applies to but not

mine. I just want you to hear that God

is way ahead of you and God is with you.

He's not telling you. Get over it and just wait and

watch. He is with you in it.

But y'all just hear me. He's way ahead of you.

He can. See what you'll see and then go,

oh, I see now. I see now why you didn't load me

up on goldfish before we went. To Golden Corral I see now, but

the kid can't see that. They just want the goldfish.

I'm like just. Trust me, they got soft serve

for days. Just trust me, just trust me.

Good things are coming y'all. God sees what you can't see.

I don't know what you're going through.

If I sat with you I would sit in it with you and so would God.

And he is trying to sit in it with you, but he's also ahead of

you. You could trust.

Him. OK y'all, many of you know the

story of Jim and Elizabeth Elliott.

OK? Such a cool story.

They're they're a missionary couple in 1956, they're in

Ecuador with a group of people who'd never heard about Jesus.

They didn't know there was a king.

They had their own kind of system of religious thinking of

who gets to go to the blessed place, all that stuff.

And they'd never been good news. They never heard the news.

So they gave their lives to getting the gospel to these

people. They were violent people.

They were known to kill. Outsiders don't come near.

So they made the agreement, their whole team.

We will not use weapons in any way to share the gospel because

if we die, we know where we going.

If they die, we know where they going.

So things kind of went the way maybe on paper they thought they

would go, which is the group of men who were sharing the gospel

with them were speared to death and died.

OK. Two years later.

Jim's wife Elizabeth and another person related that team and

Elizabeth's daughter reenter that area in 1958 with those

people and they keep good newsing them.

They let them stay. They live there for a while.

She works on translation with them.

They share the gospel with them over and over and over and crazy

stories go down and the whole tribe ends up believing the good

news. They believe like you are right,

we are wrong, like we were trapped.

We we were enslaved to the wrong ideas about who God is.

Now we see the radical forgiveness that they displayed.

And one of the things that's so amazing, y'all, is that God is

doing that kind of stuff all over the world in different ways

and big flashy ways and little ways when we just forgive people

in our workplace who wrong us. And one of the things I love

about I I love listening to Elizabeth Elliott.

She's dead now, but has a lot of talks and stuff recorded.

Y'all, her life was a hard life. She lost another husband after

that early died early, I think of cancer.

I could be wrong, but I think that's right.

It's just funny how many people would ask her.

They would ask and she she, they'd be like, they basically

said this every time, some kind of way.

Is my life going to be like yours if I follow Jesus?

She's like, what do you? Mean well, God do that stuff he

did to me. If I follow you, she's like, I

don't know. She's like, well, do you?

Like him. It's like, of course I love him.

So you don't like basically they were saying I don't want to do

it if my life gets hard to the extent it's getting hard for

you. And she would like graciously

imagine being asked that like, everywhere you went, every city

in the country. Do you like your life?

Yeah, what I love. About it, though, because

obviously Jim is sort of the Steven character in our you

know, he's killed the gospel goes forward, but even for the

people left behind, life is life is challenging and it's not not

everything feels like a cool it. Looks cool when you read it.

Living it is hard. Can we say that being in that

leather shop on the run, a refugee life is hard?

I met a young man one time from a a country where he was a

refugee. He was in the States, had just

gotten there. And it's not true of all

refugees, but for some of them the dream is to stay in America.

I'm safe now. I'm good.

We hit the Lotto. We here, we good.

Well, this guy was like, I got to go back.

He was like 18. He worked at Walmart.

He's like, we got to go back. Baby, they don't know nothing.

They don't know this. He got the gospel in a camp in

his process of coming to America.

And instead of viewing it as the promised land, he's like, I got

to go back. They don't know.

I was so challenged by that. So hear me that I understand

that life doesn't always feel as hype and as cool maybe as these

verses make it seem when we could zoom out and.

See what God's doing? I know that tomorrow we're just

in the leather shop and that dude ain't listening to us.

Are y'all tracking with me? But y'all, God is in it.

Your labor is not in vain. Keep sharing, keep trusting.

God is way ahead of you. He loves you, He is.

With you and then you can look at people a little behind you on

the journey going. Is it worth it?

We're all Elizabeth Elliott a little bit.

Hey, man, somebody somewhere is looking at you.

Maybe it's your kids, or maybe it's a friend going.

Is it worth it? You can look back at them and

say, yeah, it's worth it. It's way better than going back

where Jesus ain't king and out of the king, like I hated that.

I'll take this. Any version of this is better

than any version of that. And that's the truth.

So if you don't know Jesus, we invite.

You to take your place with us. And if you do know him?

Don't give up. Your labor ain't in vain.

Keep good news in everybody, including yourself in your

midst. OK?

Let's pray. Our Father, we love you.

Thank you so much for the good news.

God, it's just news that invades us.

There was a time we didn't hear it.

There was a time we didn't know it, and then once we hear it, we

can't unhear it. God, you are king, we are not.

You're in control, we are not. You are good, we are not.

God, We agree with you. Right now I pray for my friends

who have not yet agreed with you, have not repented of their

sin, have not turned, have not given their life over to you.

Would you, by the power of the Holy Spirit, lead them to give

it all up, to lay their lives down, to trust you with

everything they have? God, would you save them?

And I pray for your church, your people here.

God, help us grow in our identity as a people.

Would we? Good news, our friends, our

coworkers, the streets we live in.

We pray in the mighty name of Jesus, Amen.