When Ministry Gets Hard, Keep Going | Acts 13:13–52

[SPEAKER_00]: So, Acts chapter 13, my message title, rather, ministry is hard, don't give up.

Acts 13 · chapter mention

[SPEAKER_00]: Ministry is hard, don't give up.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you take nothing away from today, other than that, then that's, I think, a solid message to take away from this.

[SPEAKER_00]: How many of you guys have ever served in ministry in any capacity, a few of you, all right?

[SPEAKER_00]: Now, if you've been here the last few weeks or two weeks to be specific, we talked about

[SPEAKER_00]: Two weeks ago, that ministry, our first ministry, every single one of us has one, some of you like, well, I haven't served in ministry.

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, our first ministry is unto the Lord.

[SPEAKER_00]: Right.

[SPEAKER_00]: We saw the early church that gathered together and it says, as they were ministering to the Lord, the Holy Spirit spoke.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so I just want to encourage you guys, you might not think you have a ministry, but you certainly do.

[SPEAKER_00]: So don't downplay that.

[SPEAKER_00]: But

[SPEAKER_00]: For those of you who have been in maybe a ministry of like at the church and you're in service to other people, you probably understand this that ministry can be hard at times.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's show of hands if you've ever had just difficulties in ministry, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: It's like there's times and I'll share probably a lot today I'm praying and for God to just give me wisdom to share what needs to be shared

[SPEAKER_00]: wisdom and self-control to not share what doesn't need to be shared, but I have a lot of just things where I could talk about this for days in ministry and how it's difficult.

[SPEAKER_00]: But the message title again, my hope for us to see as ministry is hard, don't give up.

[SPEAKER_00]: The last couple of weeks we talked about what ministry is, of course, first and foremost, it's unto the Lord.

[SPEAKER_00]: But as we are worshiping the Lord, ministering to the Lord, that's where we get the if you will mission.

[SPEAKER_00]: What's next?

[SPEAKER_00]: You're like, well, what God, what do you want me to do?

[SPEAKER_00]: What do you have for my life?

[SPEAKER_00]: And that might be your prayer today.

[SPEAKER_00]: And might I encourage you that, hey, as you come to worship the Lord, minister to the Lord,

[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe then that next step would come.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's like, okay, well, I'm supposed to go and forgive that person or I'm supposed to go and serve those people or whatever it may be and that's what we saw with the early churches as they were ministering to the Lord the Holy Spirit spoke and said set apart Paul

[SPEAKER_00]: in Barnabas.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we saw at the Holy Spirit sent them out on their first missionary journey.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now, just kind of picture this.

[SPEAKER_00]: This would be some breakthrough ground breaking, revolutionary stuff.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like today, it's like we got missions, missionaries who go all over the world.

[SPEAKER_00]: And like this is a maybe it's

[SPEAKER_00]: normal today, if you will, is like we've heard of this, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: You've heard of missionaries, like there's people that go over different countries to take the gospel to all, so that all might hear and all might come to faith in Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: But this is like the first missionary.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is the first instance of world missions, if you will.

[SPEAKER_00]: But what we need to understand is that ministry, yes, it's real, we all have a ministry to some degree, but just because God calls you to something or to a ministry does not mean it's going to be easy, right, maybe that's a word for some of you today.

[SPEAKER_00]: We look at church and ministry and sometimes we can, I don't know, romanticize it, like all man that would be so awesome, like, you know, and you just have this vision when I first came on staff at Calvary Tucson, I first came on staff as a janitor, I don't know if you guys knew that, but that was my first like entrance into working at a church.

[SPEAKER_00]: Um, and I don't know, going into it.

[SPEAKER_00]: I just thought like do they're gonna be like praising Jesus all day and like having Bible study like all the time Anywhere you go, you know, and it wasn't like that.

[SPEAKER_00]: I was like super let down But it was like the reality of it was like hey, these guys like got other things that they also do throughout the day They're not just sitting here playing worship music and learning new songs and doing a Bible study, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: You realize that sometimes like they have lives and there's other things

[SPEAKER_00]: that need to be done.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so we can be let down sometimes.

[SPEAKER_00]: But just because God's called you to something, just because He's open a door does not mean that's going to be smooth sailing.

[SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes we assume that if God's called us to it, well, everything's just going to easily fall into place.

[SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes it does.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we praise God for that.

[SPEAKER_00]: But sometimes it's a struggle.

[SPEAKER_00]: Isn't it?

[SPEAKER_00]: Right?

[SPEAKER_00]: It's like, well, we think, well, the next door is going to open.

[SPEAKER_00]: We think, here's one, this one that I've learned is like, oh, people are going to be supportive.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like, when we came out to plant this church, they're definitely worth some of you are tuning in online that supports to this day and God bless you and we're grateful for you.

[SPEAKER_00]: But like, I just thought, like, man, you know, everyone and my friends are going to support us and it's like, you know, that some of them did, but some of them didn't.

[SPEAKER_00]: And it was kind of like this, like, dude, come on, like, we're going to plant the church.

[SPEAKER_00]: So that people may know Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: Don't you want that?

[SPEAKER_00]: And I don't know.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's a little bit of a let down, we think things will just work out and that's not always how it happens.

[SPEAKER_00]: A lot of times obedience to God as we talked about last week will actually lead us into opposition with others, those in the world, oftentimes obedience will lead us to difficult circumstances.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then we'll see a bit of this today in Acts chapter 13.

Acts 13 · chapter mention

[SPEAKER_00]: So if you have your Bible, we're going to read Acts chapter 13 verses 13 through 15 right now.

Acts 13:13–15

[SPEAKER_00]: We're just going to take this in bite-sized pieces and says, now Paul and his companion set sail from Paphos and came to Purgah in Pamphelia and John left them and returned to Jerusalem.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that's one that we're going to kind of key and on.

[SPEAKER_00]: John left them and returned to Jerusalem.

[SPEAKER_00]: Verse 14, but they went on from Purgah and came to Antioch and Poseidia and on the Sabbath day, they went into the synagogue and sat down.

[SPEAKER_00]: Verse 15, we'll read this one as well.

[SPEAKER_00]: After the reading from the law and prophets, the rulers of the synagogue, sent a message to them, saying, brothers, if you have any word of encouragement for the people,

[SPEAKER_00]: Say it.

[SPEAKER_00]: So, we have this scene.

[SPEAKER_00]: Just remember, like, okay, Jesus is he was crucified on the cross, buried in the grave, resurrected, revealed himself to hundreds of people right.

[SPEAKER_00]: Acts chapter 1.

Acts 1 · chapter mention

[SPEAKER_00]: He meets with the disciples.

[SPEAKER_00]: He says, Hey, you guys are going to be my witnesses.

[SPEAKER_00]: Here in Jerusalem, in the outskirts in Judea to Samaria to the ends of the earth.

[SPEAKER_00]: Right.

[SPEAKER_00]: He says that you're going to be my witnesses.

[SPEAKER_00]: The Holy Spirit's going to come and power you.

[SPEAKER_00]: And this is the

[SPEAKER_00]: precisely what's starting to happen in Acts chapter 13, they're going out led by the Holy Spirit, and they're going on these missionary journeys to the ends of the world.

Acts 13 · chapter mention

[SPEAKER_00]: They've preached in Jerusalem, they've gone to Judea, Samaria, now they're going all over the Roman Empire, if you will.

[SPEAKER_00]: But what we see here in verse 13 is Paul and his companions as they set sail, it says, John left them.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now, this is going to be what you can call conjecture or my own opinion, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: This isn't like, oh, we can go look up in Scripture and see why he specifically left.

[SPEAKER_00]: What happened in Paul or John's life, rather?

[SPEAKER_00]: But what we can do is we can kind of take some, I don't know.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think we can learn something here.

[SPEAKER_00]: Right, John, this is John Mark.

[SPEAKER_00]: And in other instance, we'll see it probably in a few weeks or maybe a couple of months in the book of Acts, where he comes back into the picture.

[SPEAKER_00]: But John Mark, he accompanied Paul and Barnabas, and he's on this missionary journey.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's kind of their assistant, if you will, and assistant pastor, assistant minister, whatever you might want to call him.

[SPEAKER_00]: But we don't know exactly why he left

[SPEAKER_00]: And it goes back home to Jerusalem, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: His, but what I do think we can probably deduce, I don't know if that's the right word, but we can, from other texts is that we can see that whatever the reason was, Paul wasn't happy about it.

[SPEAKER_00]: Because later on, John Mark comes back and Barnabas is like, yo, John Mark's back, and let's take him with us, or maybe it's Peter that brings him back, I think it is actually, and Paul, at that point, is later, he's like, no, absolutely not.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like, you left us.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like, I can't rely on you, and there's a whole division that comes about, but why he left, we don't know.

[SPEAKER_00]: Exactly, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: What happened?

[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe someone was sick in his family.

[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe I don't know.

[SPEAKER_00]: I was even thinking earlier, just like maybe his wife was pregnant and his kids on the way and he's like, dude, I gotta go like be there for, I don't know.

[SPEAKER_00]: But what I will say is again, I think there's something to it that Paul didn't agree with him leaving, but he let him leave.

[SPEAKER_00]: And what I can tell you from my experience and trying to kind of picture this scene in my own life is that ministry is hard.

[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe he just left because it was hard.

[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe he left because while people can be difficult, it's hard when you're trying to love someone who's stubborn, right, they're critical of every single thing that you do, they're selfish to agree, they're resistant to correction.

[SPEAKER_00]: Right, it's hard.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know if you guys know this or experience this.

[SPEAKER_00]: I know not everyone's been in maybe pastoral ministry, but those of you have kids sometimes, you can understand,

[SPEAKER_00]: deeply, but they can also be so frustrating, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: Because, man, I just love you.

[SPEAKER_00]: I care about you.

[SPEAKER_00]: I want you to understand these things, get they do things where you're like, don't you get it?

[SPEAKER_00]: That's not where you're supposed to, no, I said don't do that, you know what I mean?

[SPEAKER_00]: It's just, this is the picture.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so ministry is oftentimes, man, we're pouring ourselves out for people.

[SPEAKER_00]: Trying to make yourself available to love people, and to serve people, and to meet people's needs.

[SPEAKER_00]: And you can do all these things.

[SPEAKER_00]: He had at the end of it, you realize sometimes that man, people are difficult.

[SPEAKER_00]: And again, I don't mean any offense here, but I mean, we are difficult.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm difficult sometimes, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: I get into moods where I'm like, I don't want to do anything.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't want to be nice.

[SPEAKER_00]: Can I just have a day off?

[SPEAKER_00]: No, anyone?

[SPEAKER_00]: No, sorry.

[SPEAKER_00]: But man, like, people can be difficult.

[SPEAKER_00]: You want to see them grow spiritually and you try to do everything that you can.

[SPEAKER_00]: You pray for them, like, when you're at home and they're at home, you're praying for them.

[SPEAKER_00]: Right, when you're with them, you pray for them, you do whatever you can get.

[SPEAKER_00]: They just don't seem interested in taking that next step.

[SPEAKER_00]: And you just want so bad.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know if you guys have friends or family members who you just want so bad to know Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: Anybody have some people like that in your life, like one of my best friends.

[SPEAKER_00]: I want him, and I know that he knows the truth, but he doesn't, you know what I mean?

[SPEAKER_00]: It's like the Bible says, faith without works is dead.

[SPEAKER_00]: Some of my friends, like my old school friends, or like that, they got faith, but there's no fruit.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm like, but you say, believe, but you're living a different way.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I just want so badly, then just take that next step.

[SPEAKER_00]: See what living in faith actually looks like, feels like in your own life.

[SPEAKER_00]: What God might do, but again, people are difficult and you can't, and that's what I've learned is you can't make anybody grow spiritually.

[SPEAKER_00]: And what I've learned in life and I'm still learning, is like you can't make anybody do anything that they don't want to do.

[SPEAKER_00]: guys realize that.

[SPEAKER_00]: What is one of the things, so I come from part of my story, I struggled with drugs and alcohol.

[SPEAKER_00]: Part of the like AA thing, I can't remember verbatim, but it's like you have to want help for yourself.

[SPEAKER_00]: Is anyone familiar with some of this stuff?

[SPEAKER_00]: Like, you can't help a drug addict who doesn't want to get clean.

[SPEAKER_00]: If they don't want to get clean, like, they're not going to get clean.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's just the bottom line.

[SPEAKER_00]: You can love them to death, come through for them, pray for them, you bring them food, you take them wherever to the hospital to rehab, whatever, do all these things.

[SPEAKER_00]: That they don't want it, it's not going to happen.

[SPEAKER_00]: And it's the same thing with, like, Jesus, and people, and I want you to know Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: But if you don't want to know Jesus, there's nothing I can do, and it's frustrating.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's heartbreaking at times, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: It's like, man, I just, we love you, whatever it is.

[SPEAKER_00]: But if they don't want it for themselves, well, then they're not going to have it.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's another part of ministry where people, not only difficult at times, but people will disappoint you.

[SPEAKER_00]: How many of you know?

[SPEAKER_00]: People will let you down.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you don't write that down because that's that's something you need to realize.

[SPEAKER_00]: Pastors will let you down.

[SPEAKER_00]: I know some of you are like, well, Nick, this is your job.

[SPEAKER_00]: Aren't you supposed to come through?

[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, I have a wife and three kids and I work another job 50 hours or so a week.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like, I can't do everything.

[SPEAKER_00]: I would love to.

[SPEAKER_00]: But I will disappoint you at times.

[SPEAKER_00]: Why weren't you there?

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, I was at work trying to make a living.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I can pay for my house so we could have some, you know, understand, like, I'll disappoint you.

[SPEAKER_00]: The person sitting next to you will disappoint you.

[SPEAKER_00]: You're spouse.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you're married, we'll probably disappoint you or has disappoint you many times.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's why you get an argument sometimes, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: Because, well, I didn't do the dishes.

[SPEAKER_00]: I know, I'm just a huge disappointment and disgrace to the earth.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'll do it tomorrow.

[SPEAKER_00]: Uh, no.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's what I tell Amber some times, no.

[SPEAKER_00]: That I didn't do the dishes, that's what it is.

[SPEAKER_00]: People will disappoint you, and you invest in community, you invest in them, and sometimes they're just gonna, they're gonna walk away, they won't show up for you.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's good intentions, but it's difficult.

[SPEAKER_00]: And what we can tell you, like, from ministry's heart is caring for other people, I mean, it's exhausting at times.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's needs that never seem to end.

[SPEAKER_00]: One pastor, when I got into pastor, you know, as an intern at Calvary Tucson, and he just told me, because you could kind of see me, like, I'm like a work, a hall like I'm a workhorse, like, let's just go, let's go save everybody, like whatever, like let's go, I'm down for whatever, you know, burn ourselves out for Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I know, I've learned, that's maybe not the always the wise route.

[SPEAKER_00]: But he saw that a little bit in me.

[SPEAKER_00]: He said, Nick, you just need to know, like there is no shortage of ministry.

[SPEAKER_00]: And what he's trying to tell me is like, Nick, you're trying to like, solve all the problems today.

[SPEAKER_00]: And like the thing is like, you're gonna try and solve these all.

[SPEAKER_00]: And like tomorrow there's gonna be just as many if not more.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like it's not going to, and there's no shortage of ministry.

[SPEAKER_00]: So ministry can be very exhausting.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like there's ministry when you're trying to minister to other people.

[SPEAKER_00]: Right, there's always another conversation that needs to happen.

[SPEAKER_00]: Other responsibilities that need to be fulfilled.

[SPEAKER_00]: And sometimes you're doing all of these things while you're trying to manage your own family, your job, personal things that you're going through, ministry can be exhausting.

[SPEAKER_00]: Another thing about ministry being hard is ministry doesn't always, and most often, doesn't produce immediate results.

[SPEAKER_00]: You think, well, if I go love that person, they'll probably come to church next Sunday, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: And if they come to church, they'll probably give their life to Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: And man, I wish that were true.

[SPEAKER_00]: But I, that just isn't the way it always works.

[SPEAKER_00]: You're like, well, if I pray for that person long enough, surely they'll give their life to Jesus, things will start to change yet.

[SPEAKER_00]: You do that, and nothing changes.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's frustrating.

[SPEAKER_00]: I want to see growth, Lord.

[SPEAKER_00]: Right?

[SPEAKER_00]: You faithfully,

[SPEAKER_00]: Teach God's Word, share God's Word with people at work, and people don't.

[SPEAKER_00]: always receive it, doesn't, they don't apply it to their lives.

[SPEAKER_00]: You serve weak in, weak out.

[SPEAKER_00]: You do all these little things, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: We talk about being faithful in the little things.

[SPEAKER_00]: God will entrust you with much.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I really believe that it is about the little acts of faithfulness that God will start to do bigger things in, in around us.

[SPEAKER_00]: But you do these things week after week, and you're like, but nobody cares, nobody notices, you're like, I did the dishes every day, you don't get a thank you when you do the dishes, you just get a reminder when you don't sometimes.

[SPEAKER_00]: The guy at my work and one of my bosses he's very much the type he doesn't tell you like thank you for doing your job Anybody like that?

[SPEAKER_00]: It's like one of my best friends lives in Washington as this way I'm not gonna tell you thank you for doing your job.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's your job.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like, you know, or good job doing your job Like that's literally, I don't know.

[SPEAKER_00]: I disagree.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm like I think people need encouragement, but hey, what do I know?

[SPEAKER_00]: But some people you just do all these things week in week out and like man, nobody, nobody sees, nobody cares, it's exhausting.

[SPEAKER_00]: And again, who knows why John Mark left the ministry, but again, something happened.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's a disagreement between them or there's something I just think we boil it down and he's just man, this is hard.

[SPEAKER_00]: I thought it would be one thing and it turned out to be the complete opposite, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: And again, we'll see eventually John Mark does come back into this group.

[SPEAKER_00]: He eventually writes the gospel that we know as the gospel, uh, Mark's gospel account.

[SPEAKER_00]: So we know that God brought him back in a very powerful way, but what caused him to walk away?

[SPEAKER_00]: We don't know, but I just think my own thoughts is just man, ministry probably got hard.

[SPEAKER_00]: Or maybe life got hard and he just had a, you know, what people say today, moral failure.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know.

[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe Paul's like, you can't serve right now.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know.

[SPEAKER_00]: But what we know is that he left.

[SPEAKER_00]: Verse 14, though, what we also know is says, but they went on.

[SPEAKER_00]: Paul and Barnabas, the other guys, they kept going.

[SPEAKER_00]: And you guys got to understand this here today, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: The mission continues.

[SPEAKER_00]: The ministry continues.

[SPEAKER_00]: You can leave and you can say, man, it's too hard.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm done.

[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe you mean it and it will.

[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe you don't mean any ill intentions at all.

[SPEAKER_00]: But you're just like, man, I'm done.

[SPEAKER_00]: I can't do it.

[SPEAKER_00]: But here's the thing.

[SPEAKER_00]: God's mission will continue.

[SPEAKER_00]: with or without you, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: And I mean, my heart is a pastor.

[SPEAKER_00]: I want each and every one of you to be involved in the mission that God has for our church, like that we would go out so that people would know Jesus, that we'd set up our church, tear it down on Sunday, so that people would know Jesus, every single thing that we do, so that people would know Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: And the mission will continue.

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, even with me, if something were to happen to me, I'm not here next Sunday, it's gonna keep going on.

[SPEAKER_00]: Right?

[SPEAKER_00]: It's like God will continue to do his work, but he wants, and he invites each and every one of you to participate in his work.

[SPEAKER_00]: Here on earth.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I think we take it for granted, because we just think of that.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's like, well, I don't have enough time.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's hard.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, it's ministry and ministering to other people is not convenient all the time.

[SPEAKER_00]: But do we look at it this way like, man, the God of the universe, he's created this plan of redemption.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I'm going way off notes here, but I think this maybe this is where God wants us to go.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's created this plan of redemption for humanity.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we can see it unfold throughout the Bible, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: The Old Testament.

[SPEAKER_00]: There was one way.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's the Old Testament law.

[SPEAKER_00]: This was the set as part of people for God, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: So that, like, hey, these are my people called by my name, but it would to be an example to the other nations.

[SPEAKER_00]: But it wasn't a fulfillment, and we know Jesus came right in New Testament, God, the Messiah, He fulfills it.

[SPEAKER_00]: We'll see some of this in Acts chapter 13.

Acts 13 · chapter mention

[SPEAKER_00]: But then he dies on the cross.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's bearing the grave resurrects, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: Anyone who comes to me, I mean, can have everlasting life, essentially is the gospel message.

[SPEAKER_00]: And what he's done, though, is he's entrusted this message to what we call the church.

[SPEAKER_00]: And again, I don't think we always appreciate this because we just think of well, serving at the church being part of a church as hard.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's difficult.

[SPEAKER_00]: And you'd be correct.

[SPEAKER_00]: That is, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: Ministries hard at times.

[SPEAKER_00]: serving people as hard because people are difficult right one of my friends told me he's like because we're we're pastoring sheep and the Bible says we're all sheep and he's like man sheep bite hard um that's what happens in ministry you get bit sometimes not because you didn't think wrong just because you're trying to feed the sheep and help them out.

[SPEAKER_00]: But God has this plan of redemption, and the church is, I think the crucial part of this, especially nowadays, like this unfolding revelation, the church is the body of Christ.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I know you guys, we can think, right, church is something new attend.

[SPEAKER_00]: The service you go to on Sunday, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: We say things like, are we going to church this Sunday?

[SPEAKER_00]: Or what's going on at church this Sunday?

[SPEAKER_00]: But really,

[SPEAKER_00]: biblical terms is you and I we are the church right each and every church that's like gathering in locations we just make up the bigger church capital C church you see you understand where I'm going

[SPEAKER_00]: And God has ordained this to be the case.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's chosen to use fallen people to redeem us, right, to save us, forgive you, bring you into the fold of God, to go out and be a light to the world.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's his decision.

[SPEAKER_00]: What God Almighty has chosen to do.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so again, when we think of church in ministry, like this should be, we look at it with man.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's a tremendous privilege.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's an honor to be able to serve God's people.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's an honor to be able to privilege to teach God's word.

[SPEAKER_00]: I am not worthy or deserving.

[SPEAKER_00]: Neither are you, but God is graciously allowed me a place in His church.

[SPEAKER_00]: Right, Jesus says, this is my church.

[SPEAKER_00]: I will build my church.

[SPEAKER_00]: Not, oh, Nick's gonna build his church.

[SPEAKER_00]: No, this is all about God, all about Jesus, all about the Bible.

[SPEAKER_00]: And again, when we think about like ministries, just you think of, well, that's what you're supposed to do, but God is inviting each and every one of us in.

[SPEAKER_00]: I told our team earlier today, just like we need each and every person in our team.

[SPEAKER_00]: But the Bible tells us how that the church, like we're like a body, like our physical body, and that each of us, we play a different part.

[SPEAKER_00]: Right, like your body has different members, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: You've got five fingers and you've got two ears, like kind of thing, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: They all play different parts.

[SPEAKER_00]: And some of them more important than others, some of them less important.

[SPEAKER_00]: But everything's important, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: You're like, well, I don't really need, I don't know, for me, I cut off my finger tip a long time ago.

[SPEAKER_00]: It was like 15 and 16 years old.

[SPEAKER_00]: It was accident.

[SPEAKER_00]: Anyone ever cut their finger.

[SPEAKER_00]: Not just like a paper cut, I'm talking like this is okay.

[SPEAKER_00]: We got one.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's a guy who worked last week.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's like, oh yeah, I lost my finger tip.

[SPEAKER_00]: I said no way, dude, let me see.

[SPEAKER_00]: And anyways, it was a bonding moment.

[SPEAKER_00]: You think about your fingertips like I'm not that big of a deal and not playing that big of a role well go cut your finger tip off and see how it affects your whole body You know, I'm saying like that's on my right hand.

[SPEAKER_00]: I had to learn how to write left hand.

[SPEAKER_00]: I had to go to high school like well trying to figure all this stuff out and it's very disruptive

[SPEAKER_00]: because every single part of your body plays a part whether it's bigger or small and when you when one part is injured or whatever it doesn't like I mean for church wise doesn't show up it's felt within the whole body of Christ.

[SPEAKER_00]: And again, he's called us into this, it's a tremendous privilege, it's an honor, it's exciting, but it is difficult because there's an enemy who wants to destroy, distract everything that God's trying to do within his church.

[SPEAKER_00]: Satan knows God's plan, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: And now he's going to try and disrupt it, distract us from it,

[SPEAKER_00]: Pull us away from him as much as he can.

[SPEAKER_00]: But here's again the point that I was making is that ministry that's going to keep going.

[SPEAKER_00]: God's plan will be done.

[SPEAKER_00]: His will will be done with or without you.

[SPEAKER_00]: My prayers that it would be with you.

[SPEAKER_00]: That you'd be with God.

[SPEAKER_00]: God, what are we doing?

[SPEAKER_00]: What are you doing here in Hado, Texas or with the fervent church or whatever church you might call your church home?

[SPEAKER_00]: God, what are we doing?

[SPEAKER_00]: The mission continues.

[SPEAKER_00]: You can be a part of it or you can be left on the sideline.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think of how many of you have read the book, Esther Old Testament.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's interesting book.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's one of the books that doesn't talk about God first hand, which is interesting, like, why is that in the Bible?

[SPEAKER_00]: But it's a story about the Jews.

[SPEAKER_00]: And anyways, there's a verse, Esther chapter four, verse 14.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I mean, it's he attention.

[SPEAKER_00]: You got what's his name?

[SPEAKER_00]: I can't even remember, but anyways, the guy is trying to kill the Jews and Esther is going to go and basically speak up in this time and then Mordekai, he's like the good guy, but they're relaying this message back and forth.

[SPEAKER_00]: Mordekai says this to Esther, he says the verse 14 of chapter 4, for if you keep silent at this time relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews,

[SPEAKER_00]: From another place, but you and your father's house will perish and who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?

[SPEAKER_00]: How many of you have heard that for such a time as this?

[SPEAKER_00]: You're like, I never read Esther, but I heard that before my hey, maybe God put you here for such a time as this.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's from this situation.

[SPEAKER_00]: What more to guys saying is like, hey, like if you don't go speak this God will raise up someone else to do it

[SPEAKER_00]: You have an opportunity to fulfill this, to be a representative of God, to maybe be involved in this huge thing that he's doing in their day and age.

[SPEAKER_00]: And it's the same for us, man, God has invited you in, but if you don't answer the call, you don't step up to the occasion, God will use someone else.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I mean, God is gracious, he's forgiving, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: You can walk away from God and he gives you second, third, fourth, fifth chances, right, to come back.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we can, I don't know, some of you, you play this game and I played that game where it's like, well, God, I'm all in and then I fall away a little bit and I get distracted and then I'm all in again.

[SPEAKER_00]: God's gracious, but I think there's one day when his patience will come to an end.

[SPEAKER_00]: You think, I don't know if you think you're a patient person, when anyone here call yourself a patient person, but I think of God, I don't know if you're like now, I don't want to.

[SPEAKER_00]: But think of God on my end, talk about patient.

[SPEAKER_00]: He sees and knows everything.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not just talking about just you, but everything that's ever happened in the history of the world, because he created the world after all.

[SPEAKER_00]: Right?

[SPEAKER_00]: He could have destroyed all of it.

[SPEAKER_00]: He could have said, man, I'm done with humanity.

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, he did do some radical things, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: There's the flood that came and then Noah get him in the ark and things of that nature.

[SPEAKER_00]: But he let humanity go on.

[SPEAKER_00]: Hey, here's a second chance.

[SPEAKER_00]: Here's a third chance.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's a fourth chance.

[SPEAKER_00]: Come back to me, but there will be a day when God says enough is enough.

[SPEAKER_00]: There will be a day on the year, Trumpets below.

[SPEAKER_00]: We will see Jesus come back from heaven.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know what's going to look like, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: I've heard it's described as Air Horse One.

[SPEAKER_00]: Rice coming in, our Lord and Savior, and that will happen one day.

[SPEAKER_00]: And at that moment, I believe like, hey, time is up.

[SPEAKER_00]: You had your chance.

[SPEAKER_00]: God's invited you in.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's asked you to pay repent.

[SPEAKER_00]: Come to me that you might have eternal life.

[SPEAKER_00]: Be a part of this bigger thing called the church and what he's trying to do in it.

[SPEAKER_00]: But there will be a day when his patience runs out.

[SPEAKER_00]: And there's not going to be any more.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'll get around to it tomorrow.

[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe next week, I'll do that thing.

[SPEAKER_00]: Right, God's mission though, it will go on.

[SPEAKER_00]: He doesn't need you, per se, but he wants you.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so we'll see later on that John Mark's story, even though he's leaving, he will come back later on.

[SPEAKER_00]: Verse 16, though, moving on.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's as so Paul stood up.

[SPEAKER_00]: And motioning with his hand, he said, men of Israel and you who fear God listen.

[SPEAKER_00]: So just remember, they're on this missionary journey.

[SPEAKER_00]: John Mark is just left.

[SPEAKER_00]: They just keep going.

[SPEAKER_00]: All right, you don't want to come with us.

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, we got to obey God.

[SPEAKER_00]: We got to remain faithful to what he's called us to do.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so they're in the synagogue and remember, it says that they sent messages to them.

[SPEAKER_00]: I hate if you got any encouraging words, like we want to hear it.

[SPEAKER_00]: So Paul's like, oh, I got something to say.

[SPEAKER_00]: Right, most you need with his hand, I don't know how it is, but you know, just any speaker, I have moved my hands a lot.

[SPEAKER_00]: But most you need with his hand, the men of Israel, you who fear God, listen, verse 17, the God of this people, Israel chose our fathers and made the people great during their stay in the land of Egypt, and with uplifted arm, he led them out.

[SPEAKER_00]: He says in for about 40 years,

[SPEAKER_00]: He put up with them in the wilderness.

[SPEAKER_00]: And after destroying seven nations in the land of Canaan, he gave them their land as an inheritance.

[SPEAKER_00]: Verse 20, all this took about 450 years.

[SPEAKER_00]: And after that, he gave them judges until Samuel, the prophet.

[SPEAKER_00]: Then they asked for a king and God gave them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin for 40 years.

[SPEAKER_00]: And when he had removed him, he raised up David to be their king.

[SPEAKER_00]: Of whom he testified and said, I have found in David the son of Jesse, a man after my own heart, who will do all my will.

[SPEAKER_00]: of this man's offspring, God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus, as He promised, before His coming, John had proclaimed a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel.

[SPEAKER_00]: And as John was finishing his course, he said, what do you suppose that I am?

[SPEAKER_00]: I am not he, no, but behold, after me is one is coming, the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to untie.

[SPEAKER_00]: Let's just pause there for a second, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: So Paul, he gets this opportunity to speak, because they're still on mission.

[SPEAKER_00]: All right, the Holy Spirit sent me for this reason.

[SPEAKER_00]: God opens the door, says, hey, guys, if you have anything encouraging to say to the people of Israel, we'd love for you to speak and Paul says, okay, sure.

[SPEAKER_00]: I got something to say.

[SPEAKER_00]: Then what he does is he goes through Israel's history.

[SPEAKER_00]: My emphasizing particular things of what God has done.

[SPEAKER_00]: He said, God has chosen Israel, that was his choice.

[SPEAKER_00]: You might disagree with it.

[SPEAKER_00]: You might say, hey, that's messed up.

[SPEAKER_00]: They're messed up people.

[SPEAKER_00]: Why do they get to have that?

[SPEAKER_00]: We don't know.

[SPEAKER_00]: God says, I chose him.

[SPEAKER_00]: It says, God delivered them from Egypt, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: Remember the story, if you remember Old Testament, that the Israelites, they were taken as slaves, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: This is Exodus chapter one, essentially we could start to see it.

[SPEAKER_00]: Why are they any Egypt to begin with is because there was a famine in the land if you remember Joseph was there He was like the little Runt brother, but he ended up becoming vice president of Egypt and then his brothers come over to get food And that's why they're there in Egypt and there was Blessings for them because they knew Joseph and Joseph was buddies with Pharaoh and there was like this connection They had an inside man, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: But then once that Pharaoh died another Pharaoh was raised up and he says why do we have all these Israelite people like

[SPEAKER_00]: on the ends, like they're not part of our us.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so they start to afflict them, and it says they start to enslave them, and for 400 or so years, they're slaves in Egypt.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's a long time, is it?

[SPEAKER_00]: Right, like I'm talking like that's generations, multiple generations, that's not just one person's lifetime.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like there's people who, that's all they knew is, yeah, it was born, that's just what we do.

[SPEAKER_00]: We work for the Egyptians, and we make bricks and straws, and that's all they did their whole life.

[SPEAKER_00]: And it says that God delivered them from Egypt.

[SPEAKER_00]: You remember that God raised up Moses.

[SPEAKER_00]: I say, hey, you're going to go tell Pharaoh, let my people go because if he does it, well, I'm going to bring these different plagues.

[SPEAKER_00]: And through and with a mighty hand of God, God made Pharaoh eventually let him go.

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, it took some time.

[SPEAKER_00]: And sadly, for Pharaoh, I mean, it took the death of his first born before he says, okay, fine, I'll listen.

[SPEAKER_00]: And even after that, he lets him go and then he regrets it almost instantly.

[SPEAKER_00]: He said, what have we done?

[SPEAKER_00]: Let's go get him.

[SPEAKER_00]: But it was too late where I got it delivered them from Egypt.

[SPEAKER_00]: throughout the wilderness got provided for them, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: God gave them the land that he had promised Abraham and Genesis chapter 12 says, hey, go to the land that I will show you.

Genesis 12 · chapter mention

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to make you a great nation and you're descendants many and I'm going to give you this land.

[SPEAKER_00]: God gave them that land and it says God raised up prophets, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: And then they won and this is kind of the

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know, human nature that we see play out there, but it's even in our own lives.

[SPEAKER_00]: But it's like, okay, God sent prophets, prophets where people who spoke for God, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: They're messengers, if you will, kind of the Old Testament pastors might be a way to think of it.

[SPEAKER_00]: And they would preach God's Word, God would give them a message, they'd go and preach it, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: But then they want it more.

[SPEAKER_00]: the people did because they looked around at the other nations like hey they got a king that nation over there they got a king the esterians they got a king you know all the people have a king but we don't have a king god uh we want a king we want to be like them and there's something dangerous when you look around at things they got i want what they have

[SPEAKER_00]: Because God says, you don't need a king.

[SPEAKER_00]: I will be your king.

[SPEAKER_00]: I will be your God.

[SPEAKER_00]: You will be my people.

[SPEAKER_00]: And you would think that that'd be like, man, okay, sweet.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like, that's a good deal.

[SPEAKER_00]: Right?

[SPEAKER_00]: He said, no, we want a king.

[SPEAKER_00]: So Saul gets chosen this tall, dark and handsome guy.

[SPEAKER_00]: He looks like he's got all together.

[SPEAKER_00]: Right?

[SPEAKER_00]: They they bring him in with with Saul.

[SPEAKER_00]: Really a good guy.

[SPEAKER_00]: He started pretty good, but then like he started to make all kinds of different compromises, and then God would allow him, I mean, for one, he would take his spirit from him, and then he would let him be tormented by an evil spirit.

[SPEAKER_00]: Because God's like, I'm not with you anymore, Saul.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then God raised up David.

[SPEAKER_00]: Right, David was the runt of his brothers too, and there's something to it.

[SPEAKER_00]: God takes the unlikely and he puts them in places of, uh, I don't know, influence.

[SPEAKER_00]: I remember the story of David.

[SPEAKER_00]: David, his, uh, Samuels come into anoint the next king, because God's like, hey, uh, one of the sons of Jesse is going to be the next king.

[SPEAKER_00]: Go over there and anoint him.

[SPEAKER_00]: So Samuels shows up and looks over all of them, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: I'll, I'll, what is it?

[SPEAKER_00]: Six of them?

[SPEAKER_00]: I think they're seven total with David.

[SPEAKER_00]: I could be wrong.

[SPEAKER_00]: It looks over all of them and like they're the big brothers, the strong ones, like you would think that for sure we got the next king in this group and he says, no, none of these are yet.

[SPEAKER_00]: He has any more sons and it just tells us something that Jesse, he knew beforehand like, hey, get your sons together because Samuel's coming and check it out.

[SPEAKER_00]: So you would think he would have got David but tells you something about Jesse and what he thought of his youngest son where he's like, ah, David.

[SPEAKER_00]: He just plays with sheep and goats all day like that's just what he does like he's not a not king material Samuel that will go get him What happens right little little David comes over.

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean who knows what the scene looked like hey dad What's going on right and then god tell Samuel like this is The next king of Israel right imagine his brothers at that point too I would they've been probably a little upset to say least

[SPEAKER_00]: But God raised up David, and Paul's telling them all about this history, and he talks about David and how David is, or let's just read it again, I'm going to mess it up, verse 22.

[SPEAKER_00]: says he raised up David to be their king of whom we testified I found in David the son of Jesse a man after my own heart who will do all my will.

[SPEAKER_00]: Then verse 23, this one's important of this man's offspring, David's God has brought to Israel a Savior Jesus as he promised.

[SPEAKER_00]: So what Paul's doing is he's tying all the Old Testament or even just the history of Israel together in a way that all strings together to point to Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's pretty masterful if you

[SPEAKER_00]: And so he's telling them all this history, verse 26, he says, brother, son of the family of Abraham, and those among you who fear God to us has been sent the message of this salvation.

[SPEAKER_00]: For those who live in Jerusalem and their rulers because they did not recognize him nor understand the utterances of the prophets, which are read every Sabbath.

[SPEAKER_00]: Just think about that.

[SPEAKER_00]: saying you guys hear this every Sunday or every Saturday rather, every Sabbath for them, but you don't understand these things.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's just fulfilled them by condemning him, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: He's talking about the Jews who crucified Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: They would read the Word, but then they see Jesus, the Word in the flesh, like literally there and they're like, no, you're not it.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's no way like you being a man or actually God and what they do they crucified them.

[SPEAKER_00]: They condemn Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: It says, and though they found in him no guilt worthy of death because Jesus was innocent, amen, he never did anything worthy of his punishment.

[SPEAKER_00]: It says, they asked Pilate to have them executed.

[SPEAKER_00]: So this would be something that would be pretty fresh.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like, there would be

[SPEAKER_00]: Certainly, eyewitnesses alive that Saul Jesus crucified around this time, but also eyewitnesses of Jesus' post crucifixion alive, like he is risen, and so this would be still a fresh news story to some degree, if you will.

[SPEAKER_00]: Again, Paul's tying all this history together.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's pointing

[SPEAKER_00]: Because when they had carried out, all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in the tomb.

[SPEAKER_00]: But God raised him from the dead.

[SPEAKER_00]: And for many days, he appeared to those who had come to him with, with had come up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now His witnesses to the people, these are people alive in this time of writing, probably, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: verse 32 says, and we bring you the good news that would God has promised to the fathers, this He has fulfilled to us, their children by raising Jesus, has also it is written in the second Psalm.

[SPEAKER_00]: You are my son, today I begotten you.

[SPEAKER_00]: And as for the fact that he raised him from the dead no more to return to corruption, he has spoken in this way.

[SPEAKER_00]: I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David.

[SPEAKER_00]: Therefore, he says also in another Psalm, you will not let your holy one seek corruption verse 36.

[SPEAKER_00]: For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep and was, that's just a way of saying he died.

[SPEAKER_00]: He fell asleep, he died, was laid with his fathers and saw corruption, but he, whom God raised up, Jesus did not see corruption.

[SPEAKER_00]: Let it be known to you, therefore, brothers, that through this man, forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you.

[SPEAKER_00]: Paul's making this whole masterful sermon all to point to Jesus, because again, that's what it's all about.

[SPEAKER_00]: We miss Jesus, well, then we miss everything.

[SPEAKER_00]: The Old Testament doesn't really matter if you don't have Jesus as the fulfillment of it.

[SPEAKER_00]: Right, the New Testament doesn't make sense or have any power of Jesus did not fulfill the Old Testament.

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

[SPEAKER_00]: If there is no Jesus, if he didn't come down, do what he did, if he's not true, if he's not real, well, then this doesn't make sense, but all that Paul said is, it's all about Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: And there's eyewitnesses that can tell you of that.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now, we live 2,000 plus or so years removed.

[SPEAKER_00]: So we can't say, hey, did you where you there?

[SPEAKER_00]: Like, no, we weren't there.

[SPEAKER_00]: But we have his historical documents written down by eyewitnesses in the lifetime of other eyewitnesses who could verify and say, hey, if that, you know what I'm saying?

[SPEAKER_00]: It's like we have reliable information.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now, we can say, no, I believe he is who he said he is.

[SPEAKER_00]: No person, pretty much nobody I've ever met anyways, has ever said I don't believe Jesus was a real person who walked on the surface of you.

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, maybe found people to say that.

[SPEAKER_00]: what you'll find more often is they'll say no I believe Jesus is real because there's so much evidence that shows that he was a real person like even Muslims believe Jesus was a real man they don't believe he was God they think he was a prophet of God and they think that what who was in Muhammad was the greater prophet and Jesus was the lesser prophet or whatever it was they believe but most people will say that believe in Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: But where they have this distinction is they'll say well, I don't know if he's God, if I believe he's God.

[SPEAKER_00]: But again, we have so much historical evidence that tells us that Jesus is real, not more than that.

[SPEAKER_00]: He fulfilled the Old Testament, things that only the Messiah, the promise one could do.

[SPEAKER_00]: And again, Paul's weaving this all together and he just preaching Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's preaching Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: Where was I at verse 30?

[SPEAKER_00]: 38.

[SPEAKER_00]: All right, let it be known to you.

[SPEAKER_00]: Therefore, brothers, that through this man, forgiveness of sins is proclaim to you.

[SPEAKER_00]: Right?

[SPEAKER_00]: This is the gospel message, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: Like, hey, you could have, you could be forgiven today.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm just going to come to Jesus, verse 39.

[SPEAKER_00]: And by him, everyone who believes is freed from everything, from what you could not be freed by the law of Moses.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that's important, especially for his context and his audience, a bunch of Jewish

[SPEAKER_00]: Probably men, maybe there's some women listening like on the outskirts of it.

[SPEAKER_00]: Mostly Jewish men are gonna be there, and he says, hey, the things you can't even do or accomplish while you're trying to abide by the law.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's like, Jesus came to fulfill that.

[SPEAKER_00]: So you could be free to that burden.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I know you think you got to do all these religious rituals, every single day to try to be a good boy or a good girl and earn God's love and earn his acceptance, but he says, no, Jesus died so that you could be freely accepted in.

[SPEAKER_00]: And you could be free today.

[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe for some of you coming in today, you come in, you don't know what you think about.

[SPEAKER_00]: the Bible and church and all these things, but you hear a little bit of the message of Jesus, you could be forgiven today.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's as simple as saying, God, forgive me.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm a sinner.

[SPEAKER_00]: I believe in you.

[SPEAKER_00]: Bible says that if we confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord, we believe in our heart, that God raised them from the dead, that we will be saved.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's too easy.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, it's got to be harder than that.

[SPEAKER_00]: No, that's how good God is.

[SPEAKER_00]: He lowered it so far, like a child can understand, like, you know what I mean?

[SPEAKER_00]: If you have kids, like, do you believe in Jesus?

[SPEAKER_00]: And they're like, oh yeah, believe in Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: Who is Jesus?

[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus is God.

[SPEAKER_00]: You're like, this is it.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like God makes it so simple.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yet us, I mean, we messed it up.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's really what it is.

[SPEAKER_00]: We make it so complex.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm undeserving.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, you are like that's literally the part of the gospel But I messed up.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I know like Jesus like that's why I died Right for you like to cover your sin my blood to cover your sins.

[SPEAKER_00]: You're good.

[SPEAKER_00]: All you got to do is just follow me Believe in me.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's a Paul makes this masterful sermon verse four.

[SPEAKER_00]: He says beware there for

[SPEAKER_00]: Right, warning, preaching Jesus, trying to let you know that you could be freed and forgiven of your sin, but hey, warning, beware, less what is said in the prophets should come about.

[SPEAKER_00]: Verse 41, look, you scoffers, be astounded in parish, for I am doing a work in your days, a work that's you will not believe, even if one tells it to you.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so Paul's like, hey, I'm giving you gold here, but hey, beware, may it not be

[SPEAKER_00]: that you saw it, but you denied it, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: That you, I don't know, you were scoffers, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: It was just kind of like, I don't know, they didn't believe it.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's like, let it not be said of you.

[SPEAKER_00]: Verse four or two says, as they went out, the people beg that these things might be told them the next Sabbath.

[SPEAKER_00]: I was like, Paul, if that's all that Paul said that day, that's how he ended his sermon, I mean, what a sermon ending, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: Beware, let this not be set of you that you be these scoffers and that God did this work in your day, but you didn't wanna believe it.

[SPEAKER_00]: Amen, have a good day, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: It's like that's Paul's ending to his sermon, but then he ends in and it says that they wanna know more.

[SPEAKER_00]: Paul, can you teach next Sunday?

[SPEAKER_00]: Next Saturday.

[SPEAKER_00]: Right.

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, part of the ritual of that day, too, was like they had the temple, um, people would come to the temple and like Jewish men could teach in the temple.

[SPEAKER_00]: Right.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's instances where Jesus taught in the temple and other rabbis would teach in the temple.

[SPEAKER_00]: It wasn't like, oh, I go to this church and there's only one teacher there.

[SPEAKER_00]: So like, would you, would you, would you stay a while?

[SPEAKER_00]: When you come back and tell us more next Sabbath day, verse 43 and after the meeting of the synagogue broke up, many Jews and devout converts to Judaism, followed Paul and Barnabas.

[SPEAKER_00]: So we see that man God's working in and amongst these people.

[SPEAKER_00]: who as they spoke with them, urge them to continue in the grace of God.

[SPEAKER_00]: The next Sabbath, so we're talking about a week later, almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord.

[SPEAKER_00]: How incredible is that?

[SPEAKER_00]: I heard of a, I'm sure some of you heard of this, but there was an event last Saturday and Dallas with at the Cowboys Stadium, I guess, which is in Dallas, but you know what I'm saying?

[SPEAKER_00]: At the Cowboy Stadium, and it was with what's the pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell, and I don't know all of what happened in transpired there, but there's 80,000 people who went there for like basically to my understanding like a prayer and worship night.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know what I'm talking about?

[SPEAKER_00]: Like how cool is that?

[SPEAKER_00]: How crazy is like 80,000 people?

[SPEAKER_00]: Like there are people out there who just want to hear and know about God more.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I think it's incredible.

[SPEAKER_00]: And again, we just lose sight sometimes.

[SPEAKER_00]: In the busyness of our life, we forget that there's other people who want what we know about.

[SPEAKER_00]: right they want what we have you have salvation you have understanding of the gospel they want it and they would believe if we just share it if we just open our mouth and speak just a little bit about it and so we see here Paul speaks and then they come back next week and the whole city comes out

[SPEAKER_00]: Gather together.

[SPEAKER_00]: Verse 45.

[SPEAKER_00]: But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began to contradict what was spoken by Paul, reviling him.

[SPEAKER_00]: So again, like there's obedience on Paul's part, and then comes opposition.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's not weird, it's not unusual.

[SPEAKER_00]: As you try to obey God, you start to serve as part of the church in some way, capacity.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's going to be opposition, there's going to be difficulties.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's going to be people who will try to tear you down and discourage you, because again, people can be difficult at times.

[SPEAKER_00]: Verse 46 is in Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly.

[SPEAKER_00]: All right, you want, I don't know how it would go down, but hopefully when we get to heaven one day, we can replay a bunch of this.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like, I don't want to just read about it, God, I want to see this on like Tvo, heaven Bible story.

[SPEAKER_00]: You don't have to talk about anybody.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's like, I want to see what happened there.

[SPEAKER_00]: It says, Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly, saying, and it was necessary that the Word of God would be spoken first to use, since you thrust it aside and judged yourselves and worthy of eternal life behold, we are turning to the Gentiles.

[SPEAKER_00]: What is he saying?

[SPEAKER_00]: He's saying, hey, the Word of God, the gospel, it came to you.

[SPEAKER_00]: You had your chance, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: Like, because they're trying to contradict with Paul's preaching, which is Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's like, you already had your chance.

[SPEAKER_00]: Right?

[SPEAKER_00]: Again, you can be with God,

[SPEAKER_00]: quit or do whatever else you want, but hey, his word, his mission, his gospel, it's going to continue moving forward.

[SPEAKER_00]: And he says, you, you've judged yourself on worthy of eternal life.

[SPEAKER_00]: Nobody's doing this except your own unwilling unbelieving self.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then he says, behold, we're turning to the Gentiles.

[SPEAKER_00]: everyone who's not Jewish, which this would have been breaking news, headline, front page, Paul, or Saul of Tarsis, who now believes in Jesus, you know, all kinds of, is preaching to the Gentiles that they could be saved.

[SPEAKER_00]: That would have been breaking news.

[SPEAKER_00]: Wait, what?

[SPEAKER_00]: No.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like I thought that God was only for the Jews, and he's like, no, God desires all to be saved.

[SPEAKER_00]: Verse 47, for so the Lord has commanded us saying, I've made you a light for the Gentiles that you may bring salvation to the read it with me to the what, anyone got your Bible open?

[SPEAKER_00]: Corners are the earth, ends of the earth, thank you, one person, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: It's on the screen, hopefully.

[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe you're awake, hopefully as well, I don't know.

[SPEAKER_00]: But I made you a light for the Gentiles to take the message, the salvation gospel to the end of the year.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's to anyone in everyone.

[SPEAKER_00]: In verse 48 says, and when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing, they're like, wait, what?

[SPEAKER_00]: I could be saved.

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, I was told my whole life by my Jewish friend at school that I was outcast.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not allowed to be here.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm a mistake.

[SPEAKER_00]: Right, you're telling me that God loves me?

[SPEAKER_00]: that he died for me too, that I could be forgiven and have eternal life.

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, how incredible would that be?

[SPEAKER_00]: Talk about it again, breaking news, like, wait a second.

[SPEAKER_00]: What the Gentiles can be saved and the Gentiles here, like, wait.

[SPEAKER_00]: What we can be saved, they're excited, rejoicing, glorifying the Word of the Lord.

[SPEAKER_00]: And as many were appointed,

[SPEAKER_00]: And as many as we're appointed to eternal life believe, so there's revival essentially happening as Paul and Barnabas have continued the ministry, even though John Mark left because maybe it got too hard and difficult, but again the mission continues and they continue to preach Jesus and as they

[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, babe, God continues to work in incredible ways.

[SPEAKER_00]: And the last few verses in the Word of the Lord was spreading throughout the whole region.

[SPEAKER_00]: Right, it's like, I mean, it's just going.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's no stopping this.

[SPEAKER_00]: Verse 50, but the Jews inside of the devout women of high standing in the leading men of the city stirred up, they stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas and drove them out of their district.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I mean, there's opposition increases even more.

[SPEAKER_00]: I love this, verse 51, but they shook off the dust from their feet against them and went on to Iconium, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: They went to the next place, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, they don't want us anymore.

[SPEAKER_00]: And even Jesus says that, right, hey, go to that house, but if you're not received, it's like just dust your feet off and go to the next place.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that's literally what they're doing, okay?

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, we went here, we preached Jesus, a bunch of people got saved, but now they want to kill us or whatever the case may be.

[SPEAKER_00]: They're stirring up persecution.

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, I think we've planted enough seeds here.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now it's time to go preach the gospel with some other people who haven't heard about Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so they go on to the next one in verse 52 is in the disciples.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: Persecution comes and they're filled with joy.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think there's something to that.

[SPEAKER_00]: When you know you're doing what you were made to do, even when it's hard, it's enjoyable to agree.

[SPEAKER_00]: You're like, okay, but well, it's worth it.

[SPEAKER_00]: People are getting saved, people are being encouraged, are being restored in some ways like okay it's worth it, and you would rejoice even when there's persecutions, but in closing today, a few things I'll close quickly, John Mark has left, right, but the mission continues.

[SPEAKER_00]: Right Paul preaches Jesus, the mission continues.

[SPEAKER_00]: Some people receive the gospel, some people reject the gospel, the mission,

[SPEAKER_00]: continues.

[SPEAKER_00]: Paul and Barnabas, they face persecution.

[SPEAKER_00]: Again, and again, it seems the mission continues.

[SPEAKER_00]: And 2,000 years later, here today, the mission continues.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're still preaching the same gospel.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so a few things, if you want to take notes, you can jot these down, but three challenges or reminders for you.

[SPEAKER_00]: Number one, don't let difficult people keep you from serving or following God.

[SPEAKER_00]: Ministry is hard, people are difficult.

[SPEAKER_00]: People are people is really what it is.

[SPEAKER_00]: People will let you down.

[SPEAKER_00]: But don't let difficult people keep you from serving God.

[SPEAKER_00]: Number two, don't miss the privilege of participating in what God is calling you or inviting you to be a part of.

[SPEAKER_00]: All right, God doesn't need you to accomplish His purposes, but He wants you to be a part of it.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so don't miss out on what God's doing and wants to do.

[SPEAKER_00]: Be a part of the mission in a number three.

[SPEAKER_00]: Don't measure faithfulness by visible results.

[SPEAKER_00]: All right, some will believe, some will reject you in the message of Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: Our responsibility, just like Paul and Barnabas, is just to be faithful, faithfully proclaim Jesus, be a witness of Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: The Bible says we're ambassadors, which just means we're representatives of Jesus to the world around us.

[SPEAKER_00]: Our job is just to be faithful,

[SPEAKER_00]: in that and trust God with the results of what happens, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: God hasn't called you to be, I don't know, responsible for the result.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's called you to be just faithful with what He's giving you, He's giving you the gospel message.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so even though you might not see,

[SPEAKER_00]: progress because ministry's hard at times.

[SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes we're just planting.

[SPEAKER_00]: I remember first year or two out here, I worked for myself for a period of time doing a lot of remodeling type of work, and I just taking a lot of jobs, right, and this one, they wanted their,

[SPEAKER_00]: Backyard the grass because they had a pool like a standing pool, you know what I'm talking about But it killed all the grass and like all we want to get the grass back, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: And well anyways, like I thought that would be easy and like okay cool whatever, you know Like we're just going to go till up the ground.

[SPEAKER_00]: This ground was like rock hard And I was that this is in the summer time And Texas in the summer turn up the ground.

[SPEAKER_00]: Is that sound like a good time to anybody here right not so much, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: But I remember like I

[SPEAKER_00]: Kind of hated it, but I'm like, I'm gonna do it, best I've had a ability.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I remember God like speaking to me in that moment, where it's like, this is what you're doing.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like, here, that's why you've moved here.

[SPEAKER_00]: But the ground's hard.

[SPEAKER_00]: You can't just go plant seeds, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: What does Jesus say?

[SPEAKER_00]: Like, all the seeds that scattered on the hard path will, the birds are gonna eat it up.

[SPEAKER_00]: And it's not gonna ever take root.

[SPEAKER_00]: And he's like, God was telling you, you're breaking up the ground.

[SPEAKER_00]: And it has to be broken up first.

[SPEAKER_00]: Before you can start to plant, but man, breaking up the ground is hard work.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's not enjoyable all the time, but it is worth it.

[SPEAKER_00]: And even though you might not see results, I mean, maybe some of us were the ones to break up the ground.

[SPEAKER_00]: Others of us were the ones who plant, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: Some of us were the ones who water the stuff that's planted, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: But overall, God brings the growth.

[SPEAKER_00]: So, with that said, we're going to close in worship and communion at this time.

[SPEAKER_00]: But Father, we thank you for this time and your Word, God your Word is encouraging.

[SPEAKER_00]: It is alive and active.

[SPEAKER_00]: in Lord, I just pray that, I don't know, you've encouraged us to some degree in our lives in specific ways, specific areas, maybe you've pointed out specific things in our lives that need to this be changed.

[SPEAKER_00]: Lord, maybe we're on the verge of giving up Lord on serving you or getting involved in ministry, God, because it's hard at times or because we've been hurt.

[SPEAKER_00]: But God, I pray that we would

[SPEAKER_00]: Find our strength in you.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's you're the one who has called us, you're the one who will sustain us, you are the one who will provide, you're the one who's going to get us through.

[SPEAKER_00]: Because we've got help us just to turn our eyes to you.

[SPEAKER_00]: And as we draw into your new God, we pray that you draw near to us.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that's you'd use us so that people would find everlasting life in the name of Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we pray in Jesus' name, amen.

[SPEAKER_00]: Thanks again for joining us today.

[SPEAKER_00]: We hope you're blessed by the message.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you need to connect with us or you have prerequisite visit fervent.church and we'd love to hear from you and love to be praying for you.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now go out there, live a fervent life so that people may know Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: We'll see you on the next one.

[SPEAKER_00]: Peace.