You’re Overcomplicating Obedience to God | Acts 13:4-12

[SPEAKER_00]: It's a set of part for me, Barnabas, and Saul, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: And then the church, if you remember last week, they actually get around them, they pray for them, they lay hands on them as they're sending them out, because us as humans, we just recognize God's call on people's lives, and we want to pray, and we want to send them out, but really, it's not our doing, it's God's doing.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so here, it's like the Holy Spirit is sending them out, and he has sent them off.

[SPEAKER_00]: And again, Luke makes it clear.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's like the church prayed for them, but this is the work of God in their life.

[SPEAKER_00]: This wasn't Paul's idea.

[SPEAKER_00]: So wasn't Barnabes's idea or his clever plan.

[SPEAKER_00]: This was God directing their steps.

[SPEAKER_00]: And if you know this proverb, it's a famous one, probably three, verse five and six, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: It says, trust in the Lord with all your heart.

[SPEAKER_00]: You guys know what I'm going, anyone want to...

[SPEAKER_00]: Trusting the Lord is all your heart, and he will make your path straight.

[SPEAKER_00]: But it's like, hey, I want to trust you God, and I'm going to follow you, even though I don't know what's ahead, like the next step will arise at some point, and we got to just understand there's a difference between asking God to bless what we want to do, of course, we would like it to go our way, but God has His own plans.

[SPEAKER_00]: right and he's made us for his plans.

[SPEAKER_00]: You understand that?

[SPEAKER_00]: He didn't make us for you to go do your own thing and live the American dream and I mean maybe that's part of it to some degree right he's like yeah sure you can I don't know God can do whatever he wants to do but you get what I'm saying like not God bless my plans and my business endeavors and whatever it's like God what are you doing what do you want to do in my life with my life and I want to surrender myself unto whatever that

[SPEAKER_00]: right we talked about last week again just got what are what are you doing how can I be a part of it and so Paul or Saul Paul realized that's the same person right in Barnabas they they go out and i just loved the the simplicity of it there's no at least we don't have any more details they didn't argue or say okay or were going to go has this going to work who's going to provide for us are you going to pay for the feed to take the ship over to

[SPEAKER_00]: Cyprus, you know, like there's no discussion it seems it just seems as if they heard from God and they went.

[SPEAKER_00]: Right?

[SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes it really is that simple.

[SPEAKER_00]: We just make it too complex.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like, what God was going to happen if I do that?

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, do we trust God or do we not?

[SPEAKER_00]: Right, if God tells us to go, don't you think he's gonna provide?

[SPEAKER_00]: Don't you think he's gonna make a way?

[SPEAKER_00]: He is the way maker, like he's the one who's gonna make a way where there is no way.

[SPEAKER_00]: He'll bring you to a wall just to show you that he's gonna make a way through it over it, under it, around it, something's gonna come through.

[SPEAKER_00]: God's not gonna lead you to a dead end for a dead end sake, he has a plan.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so, it's so simple, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: The Holy Spirit just told him to go,

[SPEAKER_00]: And they go.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so they traveled from Antioch to Celicia, which would be a nearby port city.

[SPEAKER_00]: I get the picture of Houston, like a billion cities within and what we call Houston, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, Austin, similar, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: If you guys live in Hudau, but you talk to someone who is not from around here, where do you tell them you live?

[SPEAKER_00]: Usually Austin because you're like it huddled what's huddled?

[SPEAKER_00]: I live in Austin, okay?

[SPEAKER_00]: It's a little thing outside.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know round rock.

[SPEAKER_00]: No, you don't know that either.

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, Fluegerville.

[SPEAKER_00]: No, you never heard that George Town.

[SPEAKER_00]: Nothing.

[SPEAKER_00]: No, oh, Austin.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, well, I've heard of Austin.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, that's where I live.

[SPEAKER_00]: Right.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so it's like I get the picture though.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's like this is a port city outside of Anniac.

[SPEAKER_00]: It would have been probably 15 or so miles away, but they go to Celicia because they're going to get on to a ship or a boat and they're going to sail to Cyprus.

[SPEAKER_00]: Cyprus, a fun fact about it, this is where God's leading them, it seems, but Cyprus is where Barnabas is from.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's like Barnabas' hometowns, his stomping grounds, you know what I mean?

[SPEAKER_00]: It's like he's going back home and I kind of love that picture in a way, because God's leading them somewhere where at least one of them is familiar with the cultural context and like the whereabouts, you know?

[SPEAKER_00]: And God will do that sometimes and he'll use your background, your experience is where you came from and you're up bringing to minister to different people.

[SPEAKER_00]: And they go there and if you look at verse 5, what did they do when they arrived?

[SPEAKER_00]: They proclaim the Word of God.

[SPEAKER_00]: That was it.

[SPEAKER_00]: Right?

[SPEAKER_00]: It's like they didn't make it complex.

[SPEAKER_00]: They make it super.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know, complicate.

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, God, what do we do now?

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, tell them what you know.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I think even for you and I like this could be something real practical for you to take home today and apply to your life is that you know more than you think you know.

[SPEAKER_00]: You guys are like, well, Nick, can you pray with my friend?

[SPEAKER_00]: And I'll pray with your friend, your family member, whatever.

[SPEAKER_00]: For sure, any time, like I'm, that's, my life is God.

[SPEAKER_00]: I want to minister to people wherever he leads.

[SPEAKER_00]: But do you realize that God has placed you in a particular context to minister people around you?

[SPEAKER_00]: Like, well, I don't know how to answer their questions.

[SPEAKER_00]: What's I, well, do you, what do you know, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: Like, I mean, our kids, my oldest, he has like really deep questions about the Bible, which like, it's stumped the pastor, you know, and it also was dad, which is great.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know.

[SPEAKER_00]: And you know, but sometimes that's the answer.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's like, well, what about this?

[SPEAKER_00]: And you're like, well, I'm not sure, like, let me look into that.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we can talk about it more, and that could totally be the case in your particular context.

[SPEAKER_00]: Someone brings something up.

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, what about this?

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, what about, oh, I heard about church history and at some point, you know, they're actually killing people and all that.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's like, what about that?

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, people will use different things to try to kind of attack, but maybe they're just curious, and but you know more than you think, you know, do you know Jesus?

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, if you know Jesus, you know enough, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: Like, hey, I don't know how to explain revelation, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: Nobody really knows how to explain the book of Revelation in this perfect sense, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: Everyone has theories, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: And so some of my ask you about that, but do you know God who is Jesus, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: The book of Revelation is the revelation of Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: Do you know Jesus?

[SPEAKER_00]: that he came as a man, but he's God in the flesh.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, Jesus, He died for your sins on the cross, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: Because He's so loved the world.

[SPEAKER_00]: He became sin who knew no sin so that you and I, right, your friend at work, so that you could become His righteousness.

[SPEAKER_00]: And they might be like, well, I don't understand that.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that's okay.

[SPEAKER_00]: But you have a ministry.

[SPEAKER_00]: You have a particular audience that you could reach that I can't reach.

[SPEAKER_00]: that the person's sitting next to you can't reach, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: There's people in your life that God puts you there for a reason to be a light in that particular area.

[SPEAKER_00]: So God will use different backgrounds and experiences, relationships, cultural settings to bring us into this.

[SPEAKER_00]: And when God does bring us into this opportunity, you'll need to over-complicate it.

[SPEAKER_00]: You just share the word of God.

[SPEAKER_00]: Right?

[SPEAKER_00]: It's like you might not, again, know the deeper, harder theological things, but what do you know?

[SPEAKER_00]: John 3 16 perfect, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: Like, especially for a non-believer, they probably already know that one too.

[SPEAKER_00]: All right?

[SPEAKER_00]: So John 3 16 forgot so love the world.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's you.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's me, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: You talked to your friend where it will God, can never love me.

[SPEAKER_00]: No, literally, the Bible says he does.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like, John 3, 16, you ever heard of it?

[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, yeah, for God's so loved the world.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, you live in the world, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: That's you, as me.

[SPEAKER_00]: And you preach the Word of God.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so they get to this place.

[SPEAKER_00]: They proclaim the Word of God.

[SPEAKER_00]: They didn't go there to build some mega church or make their own reputation.

[SPEAKER_00]: They weren't trying to make a platform or get a following for themselves.

[SPEAKER_00]: They went there,

[SPEAKER_00]: to proclaim Jesus, and sometimes, again, we just over-complicate obedience, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: Just simple obedience.

[SPEAKER_00]: God says, hey, go do this.

[SPEAKER_00]: We should just do it, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: Don't over-complicate.

[SPEAKER_00]: Don't over-think it.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know if you're like me.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm definitely an over-thinker.

[SPEAKER_00]: I like to think through every scenario, like what could happen, and I'm also, I'm definitely

[SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes I'm optimistic, but I'm like kind of the opposite of optimistic.

[SPEAKER_00]: I go in as a pessimist.

[SPEAKER_00]: The worst is going to happen, and then I come out an optimistic.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm like, OK, you know, I don't know.

[SPEAKER_00]: Never mind.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm sharing more than I should.

[SPEAKER_00]: Anyone in relate, no?

[SPEAKER_00]: Amen.

[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you.

[SPEAKER_00]: But we over-complicate things.

[SPEAKER_00]: We overthink it and it's like literally just it's so simple, like just share Jesus, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes God's calling us as simple obedience and maybe that's more like just love your spouse.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, love your spouse.

[SPEAKER_00]: Disciple your kids spend time with their kids, serve in your church.

[SPEAKER_00]: These simple things, but we over-complicate well, how is this gonna happen?

[SPEAKER_00]: Where am I gonna find time?

[SPEAKER_00]: It's like just stop asking all these questions and over-thinking it and just go and do it.

[SPEAKER_00]: Right?

[SPEAKER_00]: Go, share the gospel, forgive, pray.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we don't have to know what God's going to do or how it's going to turn out for us just to simply obey today in the hearing now.

[SPEAKER_00]: On verse 6,

[SPEAKER_00]: It says when they had gone through the whole island, as far as pathos, they came upon a certain magician, a Jewish false prophet, important to note, false prophet, named Bar Jesus, which is interesting.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'd be Son of Jesus, but Jesus would be a popular name back then as well.

[SPEAKER_00]: that's kind of his name on the street anyways it says he was with the pro council surgious Paulus a man of intelligence so this guy's smart to some degree he's also in a position of authority so he's he's the pro council he'd be kind of like the governor of that specific area if you will and so he's with uh... you got this false profit you got this governor uh... authority figure

[SPEAKER_00]: a man of intelligence, and it says that this guy in this position, it says who summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God.

[SPEAKER_00]: So this guy who's in this authority position, he wants to know more.

[SPEAKER_00]: He probably heard about these guys, two guys are on the island, they're going from city to city, and they're preaching this word of God, and I want to hear about this too.

[SPEAKER_00]: Right, so he's probably like, hey, can I hear about it?

[SPEAKER_00]: Can we get them here some way somehow?

[SPEAKER_00]: But then check out the next part says, but align this, the magician for that is the meaning of his name.

[SPEAKER_00]: So that's the bar Jesus, the false prophet.

[SPEAKER_00]: It says he opposed them, check it out, seeking to turn the pro council away from the faith.

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, what we can note here is obedience doesn't mean there won't be opposition, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: The Barnabas and Saul, they encounter two different, very different people, right, Sergius, Paulus, a Roman governing authority of Cyprus, probably presumably.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's described as an intelligent man, he's smart, and he's also described.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's someone who's open to the truth of God.

[SPEAKER_00]: He wants to know, he wants to hear the word of God.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then you have the other character, bar Jesus alimus.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's a Jewish false prophet, practiced sorcery, is a magician, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: Or we could say witchcraft, even, probably.

[SPEAKER_00]: And he's, here's an interesting thing.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's associated with the Pro Council.

[SPEAKER_00]: But what we see is he's totally different because he actively opposes Barnabes in Saul.

[SPEAKER_00]: So just pictures, we don't have a whole ton of details.

[SPEAKER_00]: We have more and we'll see it in a minute.

[SPEAKER_00]: Saul will review him.

[SPEAKER_00]: But just imagine how it's going right Paul and Barnabes come there.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like I heard that you wanted to hear about Jesus and we'd love to tell you about him.

[SPEAKER_00]: And he's got in the flesh and then you have a Lymeus in the background.

[SPEAKER_00]: No, he's not.

[SPEAKER_00]: Right, he died for your sin.

[SPEAKER_00]: No, he didn't, right, he rose from the grave.

[SPEAKER_00]: No, he didn't, that was false, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: Like, I don't know, he's just bringing up things, trying to bring up false evidence, probably even.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like, no, I had eyewitnesses saying that he is still in the grave, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: If you remember when Jesus resurrected the governing authority didn't want the word to get out, so they spread the lies.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like, oh, well, they just must have stolen the body.

[SPEAKER_00]: And they put them somewhere else, and then of course Jesus comes back alive and he reveals himself to over 500 eyewitnesses, and he's like, actually, I'm alive, but anyways, just imagine the scene.

[SPEAKER_00]: They're trying to preach the truth, and you have this antagonist, just antagonizing.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't even know, discouraging you, and that's hard.

[SPEAKER_00]: I know it's probably easy to say right now, but in our own life, just a little discouragement.

[SPEAKER_00]: can just totally throw you off track.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like a little bit of some opposition all of a sudden, you're like, what am I even doing?

[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, yeah, you're right.

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I guess I'm not smart enough, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: Especially if someone who's like, oh, I have a degree in philosophy and stuff, and they come into the equation.

[SPEAKER_00]: I love philosophy, anybody else, but also at the same time, I'm like, philosophies, a bunch of garbage.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm sorry.

[SPEAKER_00]: I love it and I hate it.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm just like, it's made up.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're just deep thinking about nothing, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: I think I said this story before my philosophy teacher, um, when I first started going to college, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: He's like, what's two plus two, you know, in the whole class, like four?

[SPEAKER_00]: Is it?

[SPEAKER_00]: Like, what kind of stupid stuff are we doing here?

[SPEAKER_00]: Like, yes, it's four, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: Give me two apples and two apples, and how many do you have?

[SPEAKER_00]: Teacher four, a whoa, what is two, or what is apple?

[SPEAKER_00]: Like, you know what I mean?

[SPEAKER_00]: Just messes with your head, that's why I like it.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that said, it's gonna be like, we think really deeply, but also it's like, we're not going anywhere with philosophy.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're just, I don't know, thinking ourselves so way.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so, but a little bit of opposition from someone who maybe seems more intelligent than you, they come into the equation, you're trying to tell your friend, it work about Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then they're like, actually, there's documents that say blah, blah, blah, blah.

[SPEAKER_00]: Right, and then you're like, well, how do I...

[SPEAKER_00]: handle that because in all of a sudden it's very it's discouraging it catches you off guard it's opposition and opposition never announces itself just be aware hey opposition i i hate what you're saying i'm gonna come talk to you and ruin your plans tomorrow no doesn't do that right opposition just comes like when you're feeling good about yourself like i'm taking a step of obedience today

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm doing what God's call me to do today.

[SPEAKER_00]: Man, I'm going to go out there.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to preach the gospel.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to whatever it is, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: When we planted this church, it's like, we're going to go out.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're going to plant the church.

[SPEAKER_00]: I got faith.

[SPEAKER_00]: God's going to provide, and he has provided, so don't get me wrong.

[SPEAKER_00]: But when we came out here, boom, COVID, world shut down, all this stuff, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: It's like, how are we going to survive just like me and our family, yet alone plant the church?

[SPEAKER_00]: Opposition doesn't announce itself.

[SPEAKER_00]: Opposition comes.

[SPEAKER_00]: And it's discouraging, but we must push through the opposition, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: So we got two guys.

[SPEAKER_00]: One wants to hear.

[SPEAKER_00]: One is trying to tell him, no, no, you don't want to hear, because there's going to tell you lies.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then you got Barnabas and Saul who are coming to proclaim the Word of God.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so one thing to note on opposition is that when you experience opposition, that doesn't mean you're outside God's plan, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: I would argue, if you're taking a step of faith, like sincere faith, like I believe God's call me to do this, or say this, or whatever it is, you're taking a step of faith in your experience opposition.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think it's proof that you are actually obeying.

[SPEAKER_00]: Right.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's like it's literally it's proof.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's evidence, tangible evidence that hey, you're actually in the fight and Satan hates what you're doing.

[SPEAKER_00]: Also, and that's, again, that's the part that's not encouraging.

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, I don't want to target on my back, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: It's like, well, the good news is Jesus has won the whole war.

[SPEAKER_00]: But hey, we got some battles to fight still here, because we got some souls to win for Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that's what Jesus wants to do.

[SPEAKER_00]: He wants to use you to be a witness in this world so that people would know him, that they would come to find everlasting life.

[SPEAKER_00]: But opposition doesn't mean you're doing something wrong.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now there is opposition.

[SPEAKER_00]: that that is when you're doing something wrong.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know what I'm saying?

[SPEAKER_00]: Like when we're Jonah, you know what I'm talking about?

[SPEAKER_00]: Like like, like Jonah, God's like, hey, Jonah, once you go preach the Ninevites, you're gonna tell him, hey, you got 40 days, or a repent or in 40 days, God's gonna wipe you guys out.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, that's the message.

[SPEAKER_00]: And Joe is like, I hate to minimize.

[SPEAKER_00]: Go ahead and wipe them off the plane.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't care about them.

[SPEAKER_00]: Anyways.

[SPEAKER_00]: Right?

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't want that.

[SPEAKER_00]: And this is my own conjecture, my own way I view scripture sometimes.

[SPEAKER_00]: But I do believe it.

[SPEAKER_00]: Something of that nature happen.

[SPEAKER_00]: And Joe and I, what did he do?

[SPEAKER_00]: He gets on a ship and he goes the opposite direction.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not going to need him.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_00]: Go ahead and burn him all.

[SPEAKER_00]: Send him to hell.

[SPEAKER_00]: All right.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so he gets on the boat, then he encounters a whole storm.

[SPEAKER_00]: right so like Jonah could have been like oh opposition I must be doing what guys do but no like that's not the case he's running from God and God will use storm arms or opposition in our life to actually get us back into obedience for him instead of Jonah when he's going out there there's a storm and the people like they're they're sailors that's what they do

[SPEAKER_00]: And they're afraid for their life, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: Like if you're on a cruise ship and I don't know what you call them sailor, boat driver, scared for his life, wouldn't you be a little freaked out?

[SPEAKER_00]: Like wait a second, this is what you do, man.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't want to hear you say and we might die today.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like I want to make it to where we're going.

[SPEAKER_00]: So they're all crying out to all their gods, nothing's happening.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then Jonah's like, you know, he's probably just sitting in the background.

[SPEAKER_00]: Quietly, guys.

[SPEAKER_00]: I know what it is, well, what is it?

[SPEAKER_00]: Yahweh told me to go to an end of a, and obviously we're not going to an end of a, I think that's what it is.

[SPEAKER_00]: And Jonah's solution is just throw me overboard, kill me, save yourselves right, and they do throw them overboard.

[SPEAKER_00]: They're probably cool, alright?

[SPEAKER_00]: Deal, you wanna go?

[SPEAKER_00]: Anyways, but like there's storms opposition.

[SPEAKER_00]: It doesn't mean always mean that you're in obedience, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: There's storms of disobedience.

[SPEAKER_00]: So just understand that.

[SPEAKER_00]: But when you're stepping out in faith, you know that God's called you to do this And you know that this is what what he has for you.

[SPEAKER_00]: You don't know what's on the other side or how it's gonna work out

[SPEAKER_00]: like those storms or those opposition trials are proof that you're on the right path.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now, I think when you're in a storm of disobedience, you'll know it like Jonah.

[SPEAKER_00]: You're saying, this is happening because I'm running from God.

[SPEAKER_00]: Right?

[SPEAKER_00]: So there's a difference in that.

[SPEAKER_00]: So just understand, the Barnabas and Saul, they're sent out by the Holy Spirit.

[SPEAKER_00]: They're preaching His Word.

[SPEAKER_00]: They encounter opposition here.

[SPEAKER_00]: But obedience will lead us into times of, right, directly into times of opposition.

[SPEAKER_00]: We've already seen through the Book of Acts in Acts 4, Peter and John, they're arrested for preaching Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like, well, you're doing what God called you to do.

[SPEAKER_00]: Why are you in jail?

[SPEAKER_00]: because opposition is coming.

[SPEAKER_00]: Acts chapter 7, Stephen has killed for his faith in Jesus, right?

Acts 7 · chapter mention

[SPEAKER_00]: And then Stephen, he gives one of the greatest sermons really ever right before he stoned to death, proclaims Christ, it's rather amazing.

[SPEAKER_00]: Acts chapter 8, the church is scattered because of persecution growing in that area, so they all start to kind of go to different outskirts cities.

Acts 8 · chapter mention

[SPEAKER_00]: Acts chapter 12, James, the apostle James, he's executed, he's beheaded for his faith, Peter is in prison.

Acts 12 · chapter mention

[SPEAKER_00]: Probably was lined up to be next, but God broke him out of prison.

[SPEAKER_00]: God amount of jail free.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then Acts chapter 13, where we're at

Acts 13 · chapter mention

[SPEAKER_00]: opposition, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: There's always going to be opposition for the man or the woman who's walking in faith.

[SPEAKER_00]: Second Timothy chapter 3 verse 12, write this down.

2 Timothy 3:12

[SPEAKER_00]: If you're like, well, I don't know.

[SPEAKER_00]: I feel like it should go well.

[SPEAKER_00]: It says this, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

[SPEAKER_00]: I feel like, man, I want to just please you, God, I want to do what you want.

[SPEAKER_00]: You created me, I want to fulfill that plan, just know there will be opposition, there will be persecution, and that's not a bad thing, that's something that, yeah, it's uncomfortable.

[SPEAKER_00]: We don't wish it upon ourselves, but it does strengthen us.

[SPEAKER_00]: Strengthens you, your faith, strengthens your witness to others who are like, how could you go through that and not give up on God or run away from God?

[SPEAKER_00]: All of a sudden people want to draw in and say, how did you find strength from God in that different in that particular opposition?

[SPEAKER_00]: but all who desire to live a godly life will be persecuted.

[SPEAKER_00]: Right?

[SPEAKER_00]: The enemies say and he wants to turn people away from faith.

[SPEAKER_00]: You want to turn people away from Jesus, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: A lime is right here, verse 8.

[SPEAKER_00]: says he's seeking to turn the pro-council away from faith, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: Paul, in Barnabas, they want the best for the God.

[SPEAKER_00]: They want to see him in heaven one day.

[SPEAKER_00]: They want him, says, sins to be forgiven.

[SPEAKER_00]: Him to receive Jesus, yet aliamus here is seeking, which gives the implication of he's actively pursuing to turn him away from Jesus, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: And here's the thing to know, like his opposition isn't

[SPEAKER_00]: His opposition is directed at the gospel message, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: Had Saul and Barnabas came in and say, hey, you know, like, good day, and they leave Jesus out of it.

[SPEAKER_00]: They probably would have been received, alignment, and then we'll go get coffee, be best friend, everything's cool.

[SPEAKER_00]: But you bring Jesus into the equation.

[SPEAKER_00]: People are all sudden super offended.

[SPEAKER_00]: People don't like to hear that they're a sinner, but it is true in the less, but there will be opposition that comes.

[SPEAKER_00]: We just understand there's a spiritual battle that's going on around us, the unseen realm, if you will, that you can't even see.

[SPEAKER_00]: If we could see with spiritual eyes, I think we'd be pretty, I don't know, awestruck to say the least of what's going on.

[SPEAKER_00]: But there's spiritual battles going on for souls, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: Satan wants to steal souls, and now he doesn't necessarily need to destroy your life per se, but if he keeps you from believing in Jesus, and here's the big thing.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think Satan is okay if you come here to church, and you hear the gospel message, but he doesn't want you to do something about the gospel message, you understand?

[SPEAKER_00]: Like if he's like, if you're like the kid illustration, oh, I heard what you said.

[SPEAKER_00]: And if you don't do it, it sounds like that's cool.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'll take that.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, because like no obedience is disobedience, you know?

[SPEAKER_00]: Partial obedience is this, well, I kind of did, I went to church.

[SPEAKER_00]: I know that's still disobedience, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: You didn't do what God told you to do.

[SPEAKER_00]: So Satan's okay with that and there's opposition going on, but also understand not every difficulty we go through is spiritual opposition.

[SPEAKER_00]: All right, sometimes we're like, oh, I stubbed my toe.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'll say things out to get me, you know?

[SPEAKER_00]: Or something, you know, like, he just, he hates me.

[SPEAKER_00]: And maybe there is something there.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's Satan moved your dresser.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know, you know, but probably not more so.

[SPEAKER_00]: You're just a little clumsy.

[SPEAKER_00]: You got to turn the light on, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: Especially when you have kids, you got to be careful where you walk, you know, hot wheels in my house are all over the place.

[SPEAKER_00]: You ever stepped down a hot wheel cart and anybody, I mean, it takes you like for a ride and it hurts at the same time.

[SPEAKER_00]: Anyways,

[SPEAKER_00]: It's like, no, that's not saying he didn't put the hot wheels there to try and make you fall in your day.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's just your five-year-old kid who put his 5,000 hot wheels cars everywhere.

[SPEAKER_00]: Anyway, sorry, it just needed.

[SPEAKER_00]: Nobody, maybe not 5,000, but my son has a lot.

[SPEAKER_00]: But not every opposition that we face is automatically all it's Satan, it's the enemy.

[SPEAKER_00]: I not everyone who disagrees with you is the enemy.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think this is important to note, Ephesians 6, 12.

[SPEAKER_00]: It tells us our fight, our wrestles, not against flesh and blood.

[SPEAKER_00]: But it's against spiritual powers and authorities.

[SPEAKER_00]: So when someone disagrees with you, doesn't mean, oh, you're Satan, you're out to get me.

[SPEAKER_00]: We want to fight people.

[SPEAKER_00]: Our goal is not to fight people.

[SPEAKER_00]: Our goal is to win people over to save people.

[SPEAKER_00]: You understand?

[SPEAKER_00]: Like we're all on the same team.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's like when you see people in the world, just think of it this way.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's like, well, that's a teammate who got captured.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like under the lies of the enemy.

[SPEAKER_00]: They're enslaved to sin.

[SPEAKER_00]: We want to set them free with the message of Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: We want to win them over to the good side, if you will.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so think of it that way.

[SPEAKER_00]: So when you go against people, we're not trying to tear them down for the sake of proving ourselves, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I'm sure many of you are like me.

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I love listening to the sermons.

[SPEAKER_00]: I love listening to, I don't know what you could call them.

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, like their sermons, but they're

[SPEAKER_00]: more debates, I guess you could say, there's guys at their apologetics, anyone like apologetics, the defense of the faith, but a lot of times apologetics turns into attacking another individual to try to tear them down and make them look foolish.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that's not the goal of preaching the gospel.

[SPEAKER_00]: I just have to say that.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like when you go to work and you find a non-believer, my goal is not to make you feel like an idiot because you don't believe in God.

[SPEAKER_00]: My goal is like, dude, I want you to literally see the truth.

[SPEAKER_00]: I want your eyes to be open to see that you're under deception.

[SPEAKER_00]: I want you to be free, man.

[SPEAKER_00]: I want you to experience the abundant life I've found in Jesus, because I used to be just like you.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I think when we forget that, that we used to be enslaved to sin too, like then all of a sudden we get this pridefulness of like we're better than them, because we're saved and they're not.

[SPEAKER_00]: And yes, we have salvation, which is better, but we're humans.

[SPEAKER_00]: Our fight is not against other humans in humanity, but there is a time when we do stand up.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's going to be times when we disagree.

[SPEAKER_00]: There will be conflict.

[SPEAKER_00]: There will be probably heated arguments at times which we're going to see here in a second.

[SPEAKER_00]: Saul's going to just totally revoke this guy in a moment.

[SPEAKER_00]: But just understand our fight is not against flesh and blood.

[SPEAKER_00]: So you might have someone you disagree with, put different political view, religious view, whatever.

[SPEAKER_00]: They're not your enemy, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: Satan is your enemy.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like they are people we want to win over.

[SPEAKER_00]: They're people we want to minister to.

[SPEAKER_00]: So just understand maybe the difference in some of that verse 9 says, but Saul, who is also called Paul.

[SPEAKER_00]: filled with the Holy Spirit, that's important to note.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's not doing this in his own power.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's not doing this out of anger or rage.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's filled with the Holy Spirit.

[SPEAKER_00]: Looked intently at him, aliamus, and he said, check it out, you son of the devil.

[SPEAKER_00]: You enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy, where you not stop making crooked the straight pass of the Lord.

[SPEAKER_00]: And now behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and unable to see the sun for a time.

[SPEAKER_00]: Immediately missed and darkness fell upon him, and he went about seeking people to lead him by the hand.

[SPEAKER_00]: So what happens here?

[SPEAKER_00]: Saul, Barnamus, they go because this guy wants to hear about the Word of God, they're telling him the Word of God, this aliamus character rises up.

[SPEAKER_00]: He opposes the message.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's trying to actually lead this guy away from Jesus and Saul speaks up, records this confrontation, if you will.

[SPEAKER_00]: And it says again, Paul filled with the Holy Spirit.

[SPEAKER_00]: Again, we just got to maybe re-emphasize that.

[SPEAKER_00]: He wasn't losing his temper.

[SPEAKER_00]: flying off the rail, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: He was responding in the spirit.

[SPEAKER_00]: by the Holy Spirit to someone who's actively attempting to turn someone away from Jesus, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: Being filled with the Holy Spirit, I mean, it will empower us to say some things in bold and new, I guess we could say as well.

[SPEAKER_00]: But being filled with the Holy Spirit doesn't mean there won't be difficult or heated conversations at times.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's gonna be times when we got to stand up for what's true.

[SPEAKER_00]: All right, some people, we don't just back down because, like, well, you know, again, like, well, Nick said, I'm not, you're not my enemy, so I don't want to fight with you.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's like, no, well, we still want to stand for truth.

[SPEAKER_00]: You understand the difference, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: Like, there's a difference between standing for the truth and tearing somebody down.

[SPEAKER_00]: like be literally in somebody.

[SPEAKER_00]: And in this moment, I mean, Saul's just standing for the truth for God's word.

[SPEAKER_00]: And what we can take, maybe a note of here's obedience, requires courage, because I mean, it takes courage to speak up, especially if it's what Paul saying, you son of the devil, well, like, who says that?

[SPEAKER_00]: You know what I mean?

[SPEAKER_00]: Like, that's like,

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know, it feels like explicit language in a way, and maybe it is in that sense, but sometimes obedience requires courage.

[SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes faithfulness to God, obedience to God requires confrontation along the way.

[SPEAKER_00]: Those oppositions, if you will, and sometimes when we go in obedience, it requires us to just stand and speak the truth.

[SPEAKER_00]: The proverb, I didn't write down which one this is, but it says that the enemy multiplies kisses but the love of friend or the wounds of a friend, sorry, can be trusted.

[SPEAKER_00]: And you might think, well, what friend is going to wound me?

[SPEAKER_00]: That doesn't sound like a friend.

[SPEAKER_00]: What it means is, like, your friends will tell you the truth.

[SPEAKER_00]: You guys have friends like that who tell you something.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, like, hey, man, you got something in your teeth, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: It's like, my wife's good about that with me all the time.

[SPEAKER_00]: You got something in your teeth, and I'm grateful for that, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: Because, oh, nobody else tells me, I'm like, I've been walking.

[SPEAKER_00]: I ate that four hours ago.

[SPEAKER_00]: Nobody's told me, and I've talked to a probably 50 people.

[SPEAKER_00]: My wife's, you got something in your teeth.

[SPEAKER_00]: Man, wow, thank you.

[SPEAKER_00]: The wounds of a friend, I get hurt because it's embarrassing.

[SPEAKER_00]: But your friends will also tell you stuff where it's like, what are you doing, wasting your time doing that stuff, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: One of my best friends, he said this and I told the story before.

[SPEAKER_00]: But when we were at dinner, and this is before I gave my life back to Jesus, he'd given his life to Jesus somewhat recently, he was on fire.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we're out, we were watching, I think it was the NBA Finals in having wings, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: And he said, Nick, when are you going to stop smoking the devil's lettuce?

[SPEAKER_00]: Which means marijuana weed right obviously so and that was convicting And it's like oh, I feel like he was the only one one of few that I would listen to in that sense because other people who don't know me Or didn't know stuff about that.

[SPEAKER_00]: I probably wouldn't list like you don't know me You don't know when I'm gone through right you just try to like make yourself feel better in that sense But my friend he knows me and he said that thing and it cut to the heart and it was it was convicting

[SPEAKER_00]: to say, ladies, but your friends, a close friend, will tell you the truth even if it hurts.

[SPEAKER_00]: And sometimes obedience requires being courageous to just stand for the truth and say, dude, you're not following, what God has for you.

[SPEAKER_00]: You're not honoring God in this situation, whatever that may be, but we're to speak the truth, be a messengers of the truth.

[SPEAKER_00]: Paul sees the deception that he's trying to actively do in the pro-Council's life.

[SPEAKER_00]: He calls him an enemy of righteousness, right, he's making crooked, the straight past of the Lord.

[SPEAKER_00]: You're making it more complex, and you're trying to make it, you know, like something that's not.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so what he's saying is alignness isn't just confused.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's actively working against Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we live in a world where there's plenty of voices speaking against Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, you can go find someone who will agree with anything that you want to try to say or believe.

[SPEAKER_00]: You understand?

[SPEAKER_00]: It's like, just because it's on YouTube does not mean that it's true.

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I have a YouTube channel, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: Just because I said something on YouTube, it doesn't mean that it's true, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: You could have a YouTube channel.

[SPEAKER_00]: I had a friend, he's this conspiracy theorist, which I love hearing about conspiracy theories.

[SPEAKER_00]: This was probably 15 years ago.

[SPEAKER_00]: So what was 15 years ago, then close to 2010?

[SPEAKER_00]: I think YouTube came out in 2007, Ish, maybe I'm wrong.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's when the iPhone came out.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's right.

[SPEAKER_00]: You guys, I don't know, I don't want YouTube.

[SPEAKER_00]: But anyways, it's probably 2010, 11, somewhere in that range.

[SPEAKER_00]: YouTube's relatively new, you know, and like, I understood, like, these are just people that make videos.

[SPEAKER_00]: And you had this conspiracy theory, and he would always, as his evidence, always send me a YouTube video, and it was terrible.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like, it was like this, I could have made a better video.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so to me, I'm like, if you're trying to convince me of this truth, like give me something better, like, just because it's on the internet.

[SPEAKER_00]: definitely doesn't just mean it's true right just because on YouTube or you saw some famous person say it or preach it even doesn't always mean that it's true we live in a world where there's plenty of voices you can go find a church who believes something that's totally not of the Bible there's plenty of those out there but it's like just because someone says it doesn't mean that it's true then there's people our world today

[SPEAKER_00]: Especially here in America, we're trying not us, but the culture is trying to redefine truths, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: They're like these philosophers, what is truth?

[SPEAKER_00]: They're like pilot, you know, with Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: What is truth, even, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: And what is it even matter?

[SPEAKER_00]: And they have all these questions, and they try to redefine, well, I'm just going to live my truths, and you live your truths, and we'll just try to co-exist together.

[SPEAKER_00]: But the problem is, like, no, there's only one truth.

[SPEAKER_00]: So as Christians, we got to know the Word of God, so that's one thing, maybe you feel unacquipped to talk to someone about Jesus, well, the good news is like, hey, you have the everything you need right here, like you know what I mean, I know today because I read and studied the Bible, God's Word.

[SPEAKER_00]: you can know more about God by just simply studying God's word.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you don't have a Bible today, we have some on the table over there.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think we have some more on the trailer.

[SPEAKER_00]: We want to get one into your hands so you can read it and learn it, study it for yourself.

[SPEAKER_00]: What does God say about this?

[SPEAKER_00]: We'll look it up.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's in the Bible.

[SPEAKER_00]: You could use tools like Google to help you navigate it.

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, where does it say this in the Bible?

[SPEAKER_00]: Type that in the Google, all of a sudden you can be like, boom, there it is.

[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, cool, you know, Psalm, whatever it is.

[SPEAKER_00]: But anyways, like we got to be students of the Word of God, so that we can recognize when Allah is presenting itself.

[SPEAKER_00]: Because I think the greatest lie is one that has a little bit of truth mixed in, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: It sounds pretty good, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, there is some truth in it, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: But yet, at the end of the day, like if it's a half truth, it's still alive.

[SPEAKER_00]: So we got to know the word of God, so that we can recognize when someone or something is opposing it, where am I at in here, verse 12, no, 11, 9?

[SPEAKER_00]: 11.

[SPEAKER_00]: Alright, verse 11.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is, and now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and unable to see the sun for a time.

[SPEAKER_00]: Immediately missed and darkness fell upon him.

[SPEAKER_00]: He went about seeking people to lead him by the hands.

[SPEAKER_00]: So again, Paul, in this moment, he's very courageous.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's full of Holy Spirit.

[SPEAKER_00]: And he essentially proclaims this kind of, and he seems like a curse upon him.

[SPEAKER_00]: But I think it's interesting, because you got to understand, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: Paul's context, like his testimony.

[SPEAKER_00]: I, when he saw was actively opposing the church.

[SPEAKER_00]: He was trying to tell people, no, no, no, Jesus, don't believe in Jesus, that's, that's not the Messiah.

[SPEAKER_00]: All right, he'd go out there, he's killing people, he was there, Stephen was at, it says that he was at, or they threw their coats at the feet of Saul while they stone Stephen.

[SPEAKER_00]: Saul approved of his execution right that was Saul that was Paul like it's a super similar thing like aliamus is here he's trying to oppose the message of God and I don't know I wonder if Saul just sees himself in him and I know exactly what you're thinking right now I used to be just like you matter fact that was worse than you you're just arguing I used to kill people

[SPEAKER_00]: for believing in Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: I used to put them in prison for believing in Jesus, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: And I don't know.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then with his story, right, Saul's on the road to Damascus, and then what happens?

[SPEAKER_00]: God intervenes, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: Boom, he's struck blind.

[SPEAKER_00]: Right, struck blind, and then Jesus says, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: And in that moment, he's like, who are you?

[SPEAKER_00]: Like, what's going on?

[SPEAKER_00]: He says, I am Jesus, and you're persecuting me.

[SPEAKER_00]: You're persecuting my church, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: And that's part of his story.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so in this sense, he's on the other side now, where he's saved, he's surrendered his life to Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: So all, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: And now he encounters this guy who's just like who he used to be.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I just think it's of God in a way where it's like, hey, what did God do?

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, he makes a Lymeist blind for a season.

[SPEAKER_00]: But it's interesting.

[SPEAKER_00]: context that he ever repented of his sins, or his belief, or came to know Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: The contrast there between Saul who was struck blind, he surrendered to Jesus, alignment is struck blind.

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, that's like a miracle, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: You can't just do that, that doesn't just happen every day, but he, as far as we can tell, did not repent, did not receive Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: and then verse 12, if this will be the last verse of today.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is verse 12, then the Pro Council, the governing official guy, who wanted to hear about God in the first place, is that then the Pro Council, what does it on the screen help me if it's there?

[SPEAKER_00]: believed is it on the screen or you read it in your Bible.

[SPEAKER_00]: Verse 12, Acts 13, 12, then the Pro-Council believed when he saw what had occurred for he was astonished at the teaching of the Lord.

[SPEAKER_00]: Then the Pro-Council believed, Sir, G.S.

[SPEAKER_00]: Paulus, this guy.

[SPEAKER_00]: He hears about God.

[SPEAKER_00]: He wants to know more.

[SPEAKER_00]: He invites them over, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: There's two guys.

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, really, there's three there, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: Saul and Barnabas arguing.

[SPEAKER_00]: For God, the other guy arguing against God and the end result because Saul stood up for the truth and he stood for God.

[SPEAKER_00]: He was full of the Holy Spirit.

[SPEAKER_00]: The end result is that this guy, Sergius Paulus, becomes a believer that day.

[SPEAKER_00]: Right?

[SPEAKER_00]: Because they went to proclaim the Word of God.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now understand this, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: He saw a miracle happen for sure.

[SPEAKER_00]: Right?

[SPEAKER_00]: Oh man, he was struck blind.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's crazy.

[SPEAKER_00]: But what have we been seeing throughout the Book of Acts is, I guess, miracles are real, miracles happen.

[SPEAKER_00]: We see them and we witness them today, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: God comes through in specific ways, but the miracle is not the end of it, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: The miracle is just the miracle we say, the miracle is the doorway for the message.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's the vehicle for the message.

[SPEAKER_00]: It gets at our attention, like, wait a second.

[SPEAKER_00]: What?

[SPEAKER_00]: You just made that guy blind?

[SPEAKER_00]: Boom, because he was arguing with you.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like, wait, wait, I want to know more.

[SPEAKER_00]: What happened here?

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, let me tell you more.

[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus is real, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: And maybe Saul even told him a little bit about his own story.

[SPEAKER_00]: I let me tell you what God did to me.

[SPEAKER_00]: He struck me blind too.

[SPEAKER_00]: But I got my sight back.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I started to not just my physical side.

[SPEAKER_00]: I got my spiritual sight to see that I was totally blind before.

[SPEAKER_00]: right and so he he goes out there he's preaching the gospel this guy sees this miracle but he hears the message and he believes now just again thinking of our message tile the the other side of obedience got called us to obey now there's no way Paul and Barnabas could have known that this guy was going to come be believed really probably and even know

[SPEAKER_00]: All right, but what they didn't know is God sending us.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so something to take home for yourself today is what does God tell in you to do right now today?

[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe it's to let something go, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: An addiction, a bad habits, a sinful action.

[SPEAKER_00]: God say, hey, you need to get this out of your life.

[SPEAKER_00]: You need to repent of it, turn from it.

[SPEAKER_00]: What does it, if you know what that is, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: And if this is you, if I'm talking to you, like you know what that is.

[SPEAKER_00]: That God has already convicted you of it.

[SPEAKER_00]: but you haven't obeyed or maybe you obeyed a little bit, but you're like, it's hard and you experience opposition, and you gave up.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's like, give back up and obey, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: Because then next thing, you know, like, you don't know what's on the other side of your obedience.

[SPEAKER_00]: What's next?

[SPEAKER_00]: Right?

[SPEAKER_00]: And God will use the things you go through.

[SPEAKER_00]: I know we beat ourselves up like, man, I shouldn't have done that, I shouldn't have said that.

[SPEAKER_00]: Whatever it is, but God will use that later on as we continue to obey and you face opposition and people will probably see things like, man, you were like me?

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, I thought you were just always, you were born a Christian, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know, most people don't assume that about me, like, oh, but Nick, you're just, you've always been good, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: But like, as a pastor, like, they just think, well, you probably haven't, you know, sinned, like, I have, like, well, I don't know, might be surprised.

[SPEAKER_00]: I have a testimony as well.

[SPEAKER_00]: But God will use those things as we walk out in obedience.

[SPEAKER_00]: Right?

[SPEAKER_00]: What is God calling you to do?

[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe it's something he's convicting you to serve more or pray more, be more bold at work for that person who's always, I don't know, speaking against God.

[SPEAKER_00]: You're like, man, I think someone needs to stand up and say something to that guy or that girl.

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, maybe God's telling you that you're that person and he's to say something.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know, but you know, and so go out in obedience and again, you don't know.

[SPEAKER_00]: You never know what's on the other side, but what I do know is that there's always something on the other side of our obedience.

[SPEAKER_00]: because God always has something more in store.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so as you go out to obey God, to please God to worship God through our life, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: To the things we do and say where we go, it's like God's going to start giving you the next step.

[SPEAKER_00]: The first step though, it's like he's just gonna give you most of the time it's one thing at a time.

[SPEAKER_00]: Hey, go do this.

[SPEAKER_00]: One of my friends, many pastors have preached these messages, but I remember one of my friends back home, he preached a message and it was about obedience and about hearing God.

[SPEAKER_00]: And he said, maybe you're here and you're like, man, I haven't heard from God in a while.

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I resonated with me at that point, too.

[SPEAKER_00]: I was like, man, like, yeah, I feel like it's been a while.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know, and then he said, well,

[SPEAKER_00]: think back to the last thing that you know God told you to do and ask yourself did you ever do it all right it's like oh maybe God said hey need to repent of this sin and then you know hey months go by years go by and you feel like you haven't had an experience with God because God still waiting for you to do what he's already said before he gives you the next instructions you get it

[SPEAKER_00]: So, I don't know, my hope, my prayer for us is that we can see this, learn from Barnabas and Saul.

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, they weren't perfect people, but they were, they just went out in obedience.

[SPEAKER_00]: They didn't ask a whole lot of questions, they didn't over-accomplicate things, but they went out and they preached what they didn't know.

[SPEAKER_00]: They stood for Jesus, they preached Jesus, and as they did, yes, opposition came, but man, opportunities came, and someone came to know Jesus that day.

[SPEAKER_00]: Amen.

[SPEAKER_00]: Father, we thank you for this time in your word that it's exciting.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's alive and active.

[SPEAKER_00]: We thank you that you are alive and active Lord and In us and amongst us Lord and I pray that this morning as we just entered into a time of Worship and communion that we could reflect on our own lives Lord and what you have Maybe spoken to us a while ago, but we've put in the back burner

[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe we forgot about or maybe we just got discouraged and we let opposition and discouragement win.

[SPEAKER_00]: But I pray that today, Lord, we'd be reminded of what you want us to do, Lord, and that we would go out and we'd seek to actively obey, Lord, that we would do what you said, that we wouldn't just be hereers of your word, but we would be doers.

[SPEAKER_00]: of your Word God and that as we go out Lord I pray Lord that opportunities would arise ones that we never even expected Lord that you would use us in a way to draw people unto yourself.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I pray that you give us the right words at the right time, the right actions Lord, just wherever we go, that we could be a witness in all the world God.

[SPEAKER_00]: So just use us, Lord, speak to us, remind us of the things that you have for us, and prays in Jesus' name.

[SPEAKER_00]: Amen.