The Faithful Life of a Christ Follower | The Gospel, The Kingdom, The World

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Hey, well, good morning, good morning and morning church and happy new year. I mean, you made it, right? Uh, you made it through the holidays, you made it through grandma being at your house, you made it through the family and you are here today. And, and, and, and good news, good news. Catch this. You are 100% in your church attendance, uh, for the year as of today. Some of you made it, you made it. Uh, so good news, uh, good news in that. And then also, some of you, I happen to notice some of you are already killing it when it comes to your New Year's health resolutions, right? I mean, you have gone to the gym like three times. You've ate less in the last three days that you did just on New Year's Eve. Amen. Can I tell you, that's where most of us are.

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And you're already noticing that your clothes are fitting a little bit different and you're making it. Well, look, it is January and we are just so glad that you're here. And we're actually just so glad because this time of year actually is one of our favorite times of year because January represents a moment in all of our lives that we can not only look back at last year and the last season of our lives, but we can also look forward to this next season of our life. That is actually one of the best parts of January is that it's a, it's a natural restart. It's a natural moment to where we can pause and begin to put some goals in our lives, to be, to put some new principles in our lives or some new things to where we can, what most of us would say, "Be the best me that I can be, " right?

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But here's what I wanna challenge us with also with January, along with our health goals and along with our fitness goals or being the best mom or dad or student or whatever you wanna be. Let me just ask you this. Have you ever thought about January being one of those moments in our lives where in my spiritual life, I can put some priorities and I can put some principles and I can put some things into my life, maybe some new commitments in my life to help me this year begin to point to Jesus. Well, look, that's what I want to look at this morning, all right? And it's actually one of the things that the Book of Acts points us back to. Now, if you're not, if you haven't been around, Burn Hickory for a little bit, we, as a church, we've been walking through this letter from Luke.

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It comes right after the gospels. It's the first letter that was written to the church as a whole, to all of us in a post-resurrection way. And it's actually an amazing letter that shows us the church. It shows us what it looks like to walk in the Holy Spirit, and it shows us how to live out the gospel. So for the last months, other than our Christmas break that we took to look at the coming of Jesus, we've been walking through the Book of Acts. Now, if you're new, all right, if you're new, which I've, I've seen some of you out there, thanks for being here. Here's the good news for you. The Book of Acts is not one of those books like one of your Netflix series that you can't enter into on like episode seven, all right? The Book of Acts, every message that we have from this book can stand on its own.

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And today, actually, not only that, but today we're starting a new part. Today is part three, all right? It's part three of our studies. Now, if you haven't been here, let me roll back with you just for a moment what has happened in this letter. All right? In Acts chapter one, we have Jesus after his resurrection giving his disciples and giving us what we should say is the goal of our life. It's actually the thesis statement for this whole book. In Acts chapter one, verse eight, it says, "But you will receive power. When the Holy Spirit comes on you and you, here's the goal for our lives. You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and all of Judea in Samaria and to the ends of the earth." So Jesus leaves his disciples with this message and at that moment, Jesus ascends back to the Father.

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Now, that's Acts chapter one. It was, that was the goal, right? Well, in Acts chapter two, we see Pentecost happen. That's the coming of the Holy Spirit. 3,000 people are saved and the church has started after Peter preaches. In Acts chapter three, we see Peter, the apostle become kind of the standout leader, the chief preacher along with everybody else representing Jesus. In Acts chapter four, in Acts chapter five, we see the church is growing. They're devoted to scriptures. They're devoted to fellowship and the workings and the apostles teaching. They're reaching hundreds and thousands of people for the name of Jesus so much so that the Jews really and truly begin to get mad at them and persecution starts. In Acts chapter six and seven, we see this man named Stephen. He is chosen as a disciple of Jesus. He is then made into the first martyr that we see in scripture.

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He's stoned at that very moment. In Acts chapter eight, the church from that moment of stoning, it is spread through the area. The Christians begin to push out all in the region, which is good news because now this little group that was just in Jerusalem has now moved out to Judea, has moved into some of Samaria, and that's where we catch it in Acts chapter 10, when Peter reaches the first Gentile Cornelius. In Acts chapter 11, it gives us this calling that all of us have on our lives at Antioch, it's where we're actually first called Christians, little Christs. That's what it means. And then finally, I know you're catching all this. And finally, in Acts chapter 12, that was our last message from the series. We see Peter in prison praying to God and God delivering him an escape from prison. And at that moment, in Acts 12, here's why I said all this, our focus changes from seeing Peter as the focus in Acts leading the church to now we begin to see some new people come into the scene.

Acts 10 · chapter mention Acts 11 · chapter mention Acts 12 · chapter mention

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We see these two guys named Paul and this other guy named Barnabas, all right? So every week, so far, we've seen God move, we've seen the gospel proclaimed. We've seen the church beginning to move into the world, moving from Jerusalem to Judea to Samaria. And then today, we start our journey today in Acts chapter 13. If you got a copy of scripture, I want you to go ahead and turn with me there. Today is the mark to where we actually get to see the gospel begin to move into the whole world. And really and truly, we are here today as a result of what was began in these moments with the Apostle Paul. So the Apostle Paul, here's what's happening, moves with his friend Barnabas from his sending church of Antioch, right? Of Antioch. If you look in the back of your Bibles and all those maps that I'm sure you study all the time, you'll be able to see this.

Acts 13 · chapter mention

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The Apostle Paul moves from ascending church of Antioch. They move over to the aisle of Cyprus, that's Barnabas' home. Then they move to Perga and Panphilia. Then they move to Antioch, Poseidon. I know you know all this. I'm just reminding you, right? And then they begin to get kicked out of literally every single city that they're in for the gospel because the Jews, they're just getting more and more and more and more stirred up about this name of Jesus. And then we get to our text today. Acts chapter 13, verse 49. Here it is. Here's what it says. It says, "The word of the Lord spread through the whole region, but the Jewish leaders incited the God fearing women of high standing. Don't mess with the women. Amen. There it is. And the l- and the leading men of the city, they stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas and expelled them from their region.

Acts 13:49

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So they shook ... W- watch what Paul and Barnas did. They shook the dust off their feet as a warning to them and they went to iconium and the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit. Now, don't get lost in the city names. Don't get lost in the region names. What's happening here is the Jews are running them out of the cities. They don't wanna hear about Jesus. They don't wanna hear about the message and the resurrection of Jesus. They're running them out in a, not in a good way, but in a threatening way. So what do Paul and Barnabas do? Paul and Barnabas, they, they, they fire off a couple of Facebook messages and instant messages and, and they, they, they complain about the situation. No, that's not what they do. They actually, at this moment, Paul and Barnabas push farther into the region of Galatia.

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Now, Galatia's not a city, okay? That's why when you look at the book of Galatians, it is not to a city, but it's to a region of Roman control, all right? So they push farther into Galatia, and that's where we're picking them up today on what we would classically call their first missionary journey. So if you've ever been in church and you've ever heard about Paul's first missionary journey, one of the things we're gonna do today, God willing, is we're gonna actually see the whole first missionary journey of Paul in Barnabas. And here's what I wanna pull from it, from this text, especially being the first Sunday of January. I want us to see today from this text what I would just kinda call some spiritual resolution ideas. Why? Because I think, like I said earlier, January is not only a good time to put down some new health markers, but it's also a good time to put down some new spiritual markers in our life.

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So I wanna give you some things today for you to consider for the year 2026 that can point you and point me in a way that we can even more glorify God as what I would call faithful followers of Jesus. In Acts chapter 14, here's what it does for us. It actually gives us a display of seven things that we should have in our lives that shows that we love God, that we love people, and that we're on his mission. All right? So here's what we're gonna do. I'm just gonna walk through the text today. I'm gonna point out some attributes, some faithful characteristics of followers of Jesus that they had and that we should also consider being part of our plan for this year. Let me give you the first one. We see it all through acts. Let me give it to you and then I'll read it to you in the text.

Acts 14 · chapter mention

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Number one, faithful followers of Jesus. Here it is. Write it down. Number one, they speak with boldness. They speak with boldness. Now, what does that mean? That means this. When I say speak with boldness, I mean that every single one of us that have been redeemed, that have been, that have become a follower of Jesus have a responsibility in our life to speak the gospel over people's lives. That is who we are and what God has saved us to do. This is not just for preachers. This is not just for life group leaders or teachers or Wednesday night leaders. No, no, no, no. We've seen all through the book of acts that the church grows, God is glorified when every one of us that have been redeemed begin to speak the gospel boldly. Let me show it to you in Paul and Barnabas' life here in Acts chapter 14.

Acts 14 · chapter mention

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Here's what it says. Verse one," At iconium, Paul and Barnabas went as usual into the Jewish synagogue where they, might want to underline this word, spoke so effectively that a great number of Greeks believed. But the Jews who refused to believe stirred up the other Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers. "So Paul and Barnabas spent considerable time. You see those words, right? They're doing what? Speaking boldly for the Lord who has confirmed his message of his grace by enabling them to perform signs and wonders. The people of the city were divided. Some of them sided with the Jews, others with the apostles. There was a plot afoot among the, both the Gentiles and the Jews together with their leaders to mistreat them and stone them. Verse six. But they found out about it and they fled to the Laconian cities of Listra and Derby and to the surrounding country.

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Verse seven," Where, what did they do? They continued to preach the gospel. "Now, notice some of the words that just stand out in here. The word regularly comes to mind. This wasn't a one-off event publicly. This wasn't just in little silent secretive moments. Effectively, they spoke with wisdom and, and, and eloquence boldly. In other words, they spoke it with a, with authoritativeness about them. Also that they backed it up by their actions, but also on top of all those things noticed also that they also had a love for people. They also had a love for people, meaning this. When they spoke boldly, their, their message was not a message that was meant to be offensive. It was meant to be loving. That was their message. They weren't offensive on purpose, but the message was divisive in many ways. Here's what I found out about people.

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Most of us don't share the gospel for one of two reasons. Number one, our lives don't back it up and we just don't care enough to share the gospel. Or number two, we feel like it just makes us angry when people pushes back up against us. We just kind of feel like it. So we don't do it. We don't share the gospel. But are you seeing what's happening in these God's lives? They realize that this is a divisive message, but they love the people enough to in love, present the gospel over their lives. Listen, the gospel is defensive and it's divisive. It really and truly is, but not in a way that, that we should like take this up and be divisive on purpose. It's divisive because the darkness wants nothing to do with the light. It's divisive because pride wants nothing to do with submission.

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It's divisive because my self-centered living in a lot of people's lives wants nothing to do with laying everything at the foot of Jesus. You see what I'm talking about there? But as we're speaking boldly, the point is to speak with boldness, but always back it up with love. And I love that that's how the apostle Paul does it. He was the model. So here's the question I got for our lives. Does this describe us? When was the last time you spoke the gospel out loud to someone's life with boldness and love over their lives? So what happens in the moment here? They get run out of town, right? So Paul and Barnabas, they, they get run out of town, then they end up in Listra. And what do they do? They, they keep, they keep preaching, right? Look at verse eight. Watch what it says in Listra.

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There sat a man who was lame. He had been, uh, that way from birth and had never walked. He listened to Paul and was speaking. Paul looked directly at him, saw that he had faith to be healed and called out and watched what he said," Stand up on your feet. "At that, the moment the man jumped up and began to walk. So what are they doing? Paul and Barnabas, they move to the next city. They continually speak with boldness. They continually speak the message of hope, the message of love, the message of Christ's power over every single brother and sister's lives. And then not only that, which we should be doing in our lives, but number two, right? The second one down. Faithful followers of Jesus not only speak with boldness, but they walk with divine power. They walk with divine power. Now here's what I mean by that.

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We just saw not only are these guys speaking the word of God over people's lives, but they're showing the faithfulness of God in these people's lives. But, but, but I can feel the pushback. But Matt, that's the Apostle Paul we're talking about here. I get that. But I want you to keep something in mind when you're reading scripture, okay? Keep this in mind. This was not Paul's power doing this. You know how easy it is to read, uh, the disciples' lives, how easy it is to, to read what Jesus did, how easy it is to read what the Apostle Paul did. How easy is it just to discount it in our lives and go, " Well, I'm not like them. "Let me just speak to that for a minute. Number one, no, you're not like them. But number two, the same power, here it is.

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The same power that they operated out of is available to every single one of us. Yes. Every one of us. Do you, do you grab that? When you're reading scripture, do you see it through the lens of yes, it is happening then? But here's the great part about the Book of Acts. It is exactly the same today. We have the same Holy Spirit. The same power is available to us. The same presence of God is offered to us. The same mission is offered to us. My job is not to compare my life to the Apostle Paul's life. This is not Paul just making this happen. And thank goodness. Why? Because if it was just Paul making this happen, there's no reason for us to look at it because we're not Paul. But what this is showing me is this, every one of us that have given our lives to Jesus now had the same power inside of us through the Holy Spirit that it took to raise Jesus from the grave.

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It's in you. It's there. The difference between Paul and us is that Paul has learned how to walk in it, how to receive it, how to sense God's movement in his life and live out the power and the presence of Jesus. So what's happening? They're speaking the word of God. They're showing the power of God in there, in all of these people's lives. Now, if you put both of these two things together, it leads me to the third thing about what it looks like to faithfully follow Christ. Number three, they're also living in their spiritual giftedness. I want you to write that down. Here's what that means. That means this. What Paul and Barnabas are doing is they're actually using who God has made them and walking that out amongst the people that they meet for God's glory. Here's what that means. Also, it means that not every single one of us has the same gift, but let me tell you something and teach you something this morning.

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Every single person that has ever been saved and redeemed by Jesus has been given a gift from God to be used for God. All of us, every single one of us. And that means that all of us have been gifted this ability to be used for his kingdom. They're there, but the question is, have you ever learned what yours is? That's the question. You say," Man, how in the world would I ever learn what that is? "Here's how you can learn. One of the great ministries we have at this church is a ministry called the Place Assessment. I put a QR code up on the screen for some of you because you have never matured in your faith enough to find out what it means for you to live out your spiritual giftedness. Here's maybe a goal for 2026 for you. Yes, it's to get thinner.

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Yes, it's to run a 5K. Yes, it's to be the stronger and younger you, but also what would it be like for all of us to learn what it is that God has made us and how I can live this out? This is exactly what this assessment does. You can reach out to their team this week. They'll reach back out to you. And what would it be for all of us to learn who I am in Jesus and how God has made me? Because here's the great part. Not all of us are preachers. Not all of us are teachers. Not all of us have the gift of evangelism, but we've all been given something. Whether you're the eye or the hand or the foot or the heart or the mouth of God, you've been given something. And when the church begins to say," I'm gonna operate in that giftedness, "we begin to see things happen like we're seeing in the Book of Acts.

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So they're speaking boldly. They're walking in the divine power. They're living out this giftedness that God has made them. And what has happened? They're not only speaking over people, but Paul actually reaches down and heals this lame man that has never walked. And here's what happens. The people, man, they get excited. Excited is an understatement to what has happened in the text, but there's a plot twist. In fact, look at verse 11. Watch what it says after Paul heals this guy. It says," When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted in a Laconian language, the gods have come down to us in human form. "Barnabas, they called Zeus and Paul. They called Hermes. That's not Herez, all right? That's French and that's a purse. This is the Greek God, all right? Barnabas, they called Zeus. Paul, they called Hermes because he was the chief speaker.

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The priest of Zeus, whose temple was just outside the city, brought bulls and reefs to the city gates because he and the crowd wanted to offer sacrifices to them. Now, Paul's right there because you, you gotta say this. I'm not gonna lie. I might've paused in that moment and just enjoyed the moment. Don't judge me. All right? You would it too, all right? But I want you to see the example of a true Christ follower here that not only stands boldly, walks with power and lives in the giftedness, but write this down and then we'll talk about it. Number four, true followers of Jesus stand in humility. They stand in humility. What does that mean? Humility literally just means that anytime attention is pointed onto me, I deflect it to he. It's the best way I can remember how it works. Anytime someone points their attention to me, I point it towards Jesus.

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Now, what's going on in this scene? These guys, they heal this man, and now the whole town erupts and they think they are Greek gods. In fact, watch. Let me read the rest of the text, verse 14. It says this. It says," But when the apostles, Barnabas and Paul heard of this, they tore their clothes and they rushed out into the crowd shouting, friends, why are you doing this? We too are only human. Like you, we are bringing the good news, telling you to turn from those worthless things to the living God who made the heavens and the earth and the sea and everything in them. In the past, he let the nations go on their way, yet he has not left himself without testimony. He has shown kindness by giving you rain from the heavens and crops from their seasons. He provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy.

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"Verse 18," Even with these words, they had difficulty keeping the crowd from sacrificing to them. "Let, let me, let me set the scene in your mind just for a minute on this. The crowd, the crowd was all about, in this moment, they were lifting Paul up. They were lifting Barnabas up. They were calling out to them as if they were these Greek gods. And Paul and Barnabas was like, " No, no, no, no, no. That is not us. You need to look to Jesus. "Now, let me answer the elephant in the room. How in the world can you go from just healing a man to the whole crowd thinking that you are the Greek God, Zeus and Hermes? How in the world can that happen? Let me explain to you really quickly. Has really not a whole lot to do with the message, but just in case you're wondering.

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In this town of Listra, if you remember in your Greek mythology, now look, I'm gonna put the Bible right here and I'm gonna talk about Greek mythology for a minute. All right, it's all a fable. It is all a myth. Don't even send me an email. All right, here it is, okay? Listen. In Greek mythology, I'll say it again. This town of Listra had this fable, had this legend that years and years and years and years, years before when the Greek gods ruled the world, right? When that was happening, that the Greek Gods, Zeus and Hermes, actually visited Listra to see what the hospitality of that town would be like if they came down in a human form. This is the story that they told. They came into the city of Listra, these two Greek gods, Hermes and Zeus, they knocked on every door there.

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No one received them. No one gave them anything. They finally get to the outside of town, and there was an old couple on the outside of town that welcomed them in, showed them some hospitality, and at that very moment, Hermes and Zeus killed every person in the town except for this old couple, and the old couple repopulated the whole town under the name of hospitality and Listra. Now, listen, I know as crazy as that sounds, if you ever go with us on one of Paul's journeys, you will just get sick of here in Greek mythology, all right? Because it's where they all were. And now, now, now, let me put the dots together. Now, Paul and Barnabas walk into town, they healed this man that had been lame his whole life, and now the town is like, " Wait a minute, we're not gonna get it wrong this time.

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This must be the gods. "Now you know some history, all right? So what are they doing? They lift them up, they begin to worship them. And Paul and part of us are like, " No, no, no, no, no. You don't worship us. This has nothing to do with us. Everything we do is for King Jesus. "To which you and I go, " Matt, what in the world does that have to do with me? Oh, it has everything to do with us. Why? Let me ask you this. How much of your time do you spend deflecting away from yourself and to Jesus and how much of time do you spend pointing to yourself? If you had to do a time audit of your last year of your life, how much of your time was it all about me, all about my stuff, all about my desires and all about myself and how much of your time was pointing and deflecting to who Jesus is in your life?

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"Oh, I love this right here because this just reminded me that my life is to just humbly stand for the king and point to him. In fact, Paul said it like this later on in life in one Corinthians nine, he says," For I'm the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle because I persecuted the church of God. And by the grace of God I am for I, I am what I am. "Oh church, what would it be if 2026 was the year that all I can say about anything that is good in my life, it is by the grace of God. I am what I am. Back to the text, right? Back to the text. They're humbly submitted to Jesus, but the scene changes really quick. Why? Because some people begin to get mad, right? I don't know why.

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It's such a big deal when you say don't worship me, but evidently it was a big deal. Also, it just points to how fickle culture is, right? Of when we don't allow it to worship people. So some brothers come from another town, everybody gets upset. The place is stirred up, turned the city fully against Paul and Barnabas and watch verse 19. It says," For some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and they won the crowd over and they stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city thinking that he was dead. "Are you seeing how fast this goes from we wanna worship you to we're gonna stone you? Oh, that is a great message of what culture is, isn't it? Because that's how fickle it is. So obviously things aren't going according to plan. Why? Because there is a forest in this world that doesn't want us to stand for Jesus, that doesn't want us to thrive in Jesus' name.

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This forest thrives on pain and shame. It wants to steal, kill, and destroy. It's been here since the beginning of time. We have to deal with it today, but remember greater is he that is in us than is in the world, all right? This in the world. So what happens? They stone Paul. Now I don't think they just threw some little rocks at him like a little dog getting out of town. No, think Acts chapter seven where Stephen is stoned to death. They stone Paul is a form of execution. This is way more than your neighbor not wanting to talk about Jesus and you getting your feelings hurt, all right? This is way more than you not get invited to the party because you're the Christian girl, right? This is they stoned Paul for what he believes. And then they stone him in such a massive way.

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They thought he was dead. They drag him out of the city because he's a Roman citizen. And if Rome found out about this, there was no trial and they would be in trouble. They drag him out of the city and they leave him thinking Thinking that he was dead. Thinking that he was dead. Now, some commentators and some people who are not right, I might add, say that Paul actually died here and then he rose back in the moment. And that's how he received his, his vision in 2nd Corinthians 12. But that is not the case in scripture. Number one, the Bible's really clear here where it says they thought he was dead. That wouldn't be in the Bible if they, if he wasn't dead because he was dead, right? They wouldn't have said that. Number two, that word thought literally means a misconception. It's used 10 times in the New Testament, five times in the book of Acts, meaning they thought something was true that wasn't true.

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And thirdly, the Holy Spirit is not in any position to minimize resurrections. I mean, don't you think that it would have been very, very clear if the Apostle Paul would have risen from the dead here and there might have been a little commentary about it? I mean, for goodness sake, we just spent three verses about a guy we don't even know that never walked and now is walking, right? So obviously here, he wasn't dead. They just thought he was dead. They stoned him so bad, they drug him out of town to which you think, "Well, man, that must have been enough to shut him up." <laugh> No. Look at my favorite verse in chapter four. Watch this. Oh, you're gonna love it. Verse 20 says, "But after this, but after the disciples had gathered around him," in other words, the boys got around him, what did he do?

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Paul, he got up. Now, how do you go from thinking you're dead to getting up? Has to be God involved. Amen. There it is. He got up and what did he do? He went back in the city. Paul's a dog. Amen. There he is. He's like, "No, no, no, no, no, no. You do what you want to. I know who my God is and I know who has me and I know who's saved me and I know who's protected me. " And watch what happens. Then the next day, him and Barnabas left for Derby. Now, this is not a miracle of res- of resurrection, but it is a miracle of restoration. Paul, he gets up, he goes back into the city and he's like, "Let me tell you about my God." He preaches that night and then the next morning, him and Barnabas walk 30 miles even farther into Galatia.

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You can't keep him down. And what a quality of believers could just grab hold of this in 2026. Write this down for this year. Write this down. No matter what happens on this earth, no matter what happens in people or what they say or do, write this down. Believers in Jesus, we just should not quit. We just shouldn't quit. In a culture that says if it's hard, it must not be right. We as believers in Jesus should not quit. Why? Because Jesus never quits on us. Do you know how many times Jesus could have thrown in the tile? You know how many times Jesus could have hung it up in the Garden of Gethsemane? On the cross? How many angels he could have called down to himself? No, don't quit living the gospel because Jesus never quits for you. And behind every obstacle is an opportunity for us to show who Jesus is.

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We should be some of the most, some of the most strongest people on the earth that no matter what comes at us, no matter what culture throws at us, no matter what family throws at us, no matter what work throws at us, that there is a quality about us that looks to Jesus and Jesus' power and says, "Hey, do what you will. I know that I'm just passing through this. " That's the gospel. In fact, Paul says it later on in Colossians for he says, "Be wise in the way you act towards outsiders and make the most of every opportunity." Speaking to these same brothers and sisters in a letter that he wrote to all of Galatia. In Galatians six: nine, he says, "Let us not become weary and doing good." Why? For at the proper time, we will reap a harvest if we don't give up.

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Church, never quit. Never quit living, never quit speaking, never quit representing Jesus no matter what life throws at you. I can tell you this, it's worth it. It's worth it. But Matt, it, it looks like Paul and Barnabas quit. Didn't they just leave the town? Oh yeah, they left, but did you see what they did? They went even farther into Galatia. You see that they're not taking their toys and going home because it's hard. No, no, no, no, no, no. They're like, "Okay, I get you. I hear you, boys. We're going even farther." They go even farther into Galatia and then what do they do? And then at that point, they then leave from there. They go from Derby back through every town that they had been thrown out of till this moment. Do you realize that they're going back through every town that either they were stoned at, they were run out or that they were persecuted in?

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In fact, look at verse 21. Watch what it says. It says they preached the gospel in that city and they won a large number of the disciples and then they returned to Listra. In other words, they went out to Derby, they preached the gospel in Derby, won a bunch of people for Jesus and Derby, and they're like, "Hey, we gotta go back to those pagans that try this tone us. We gotta go back to them and share who Jesus is. " And they went back to Listra. And then where did they go? To Iconium. No, that's where they just came from and got run out of town. And then where did they go? And Antiyach, that's where they first started this whole thing. Strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to do what? To remain true to the faith. We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God.

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They said, "Oh man, when I was reading these verses this week, what ran through my mind in this moment right here is this fact, and it's probably hit me because I'm just not really good at it, is that not only as a faithful follower of Jesus, do I need to speak with boldness and live in my gifts and stand in humility and not give up. But I also ... Write this down. Second to last one. I also need to fol- I also need to love enough to follow up with people's lives. That's what they're doing, right? They're revisiting every one of these towns that they have led to Jesus, revisiting and loving on them and discipling them. Why? Because the great commission is to go into all the world and make disciples, not just tell them about Jesus, but make disciples. You know what hit me this week?

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A question came into my mind this week that's probably more for me than it is for you, but I think it's for you too. It's this question like this. Who is it in your life that you are caring enough for the sake of the gospel right now that you are continually following up and discipling right now? Who is it in your life that you are walking through? Are you seeing these words in verse 21 that you're continually speaking the gospel over? Verse 22, that you're strengthening. That Greek work means to hold up when they can't do it. Verse 22, that you're encouraging. Verse 22, that you're pushing, not just once, but as a lifestyle. Oh, church, what if 2026 was the year that we began to see an army of believers that cared enough, not just to preach Jesus once, not just to live Jesus once, but we follow up, we follow up, we follow up.

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We become the most loving people on the planet, the most caring people on the planet, the most giving people on the planet, the most people that come behind people, even when it's hard for us on the planet. It's just exactly what these brothers are doing. What if that's 2026 for us?

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I think we'd make a difference like we've never seen before. This is what would happen. And here's the last one. Not only did they follow up with people, but here's the last one. It kind of encompasses all of them together. Number seven, faithful followers of Christ. They give God the glory. They give God the glory. What does that mean? That means that no matter what comes our way, they were always reshaping it back to who Jesus is. Let me read it to you and they'll show you how true this is. Verse 24. We'll finish up with this. It says, "After going through Posada, they came to Pamphilia. When they had preached the word in Perga, they went down to Italia. We're gonna have a test on this later. You'll get it. All right." <laugh> And from Italia, they went and sailed back. Here's the point I wanna make.

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They sailed back to Antioch. Remember, Antioch's the place they came from. It's the place that we're launched out of. It's the place that believed in them and encouraged them and commissioned them. Watch where they had been committed to the grace of God. Oh, here it is. For the work they had now completed. Verse 27 on arriving there. In other words, when they got back home, they gathered the church together. And what did they do? They reported all that God had done through them and how he, God, had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles. Let me bring this into our language. Here it is. They're tired. They're bruised. They're scared. They're scarred. They're wearied. They've been away from their family for over a year and a half right here, emotionally and physically. They're broken down. And at this moment, they, they have moved all the way up through Galatia.

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They've now moved all the way back down through Galatia. They're now crossed the tar- the tarsis mountains. They're now jumped on the last boat. They're pulling into Antioch. They're home. They're sending church. And all they can say is you can't believe all that God has done in us. Oh, what a goal. What a goal. They can't believe all that God had done in their lives. It was for His glory. It was for His renown. It was all for God. What an example for us. What if 2026 was the year that we laid down ourselves? We laid down our pride. We laid down our glory. We laid down all the peripherals and our minds and all we could do is just say it's for the glory of God that I live. What an example. Are you giving God this kind of glory? Are you pointing to your glory or God's glory?

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Does my life put him on display or does it put me on display? That's the questions. And what happens when we give God the glory? Oh, verse 26, right? Bible just told us that what did they do? They completed their task. Do you feel the weight in that? They fulfilled the work. God said, let me close with this. God looked at Paul and Barnabas at the church of Antioch before this mission, and God said, "Go and do it. " But the problem is most Christians here go and do it, and they look around like that ain't me. You're not talking to me. You must be talking to somebody else. I don't have the gift in this. I don't have the time. I don't have the resources. I don't have the stuff. We just proved that we do. But oh, Paul and Barnabas, when they heard go and do it, what did they do?

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They went and did it. They went and did it. I got to thinking about this week when I was studying this. What would it be like at the end of my life? What would it be like at the end of your life? At the end of our lives, we stand before King Jesus. We stand before His heavenly thrown. We stand there. What would it be like for Him to look at me and look at you and say, "Matt, you did it. You did it. " Listen, I don't know what goals you put in your life for this year, but out of every other goal I can think of, I want that to be my goal. To stand before Jesus this time next year and say, "I did it. I did it not out of pride, but I did it for you. I did it out of your power.

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I did it out of your grace. And I did it for your kingdom." How do we do it? Speak with boldness. We live in the divine power. We stand with humility. We live out of our giftedness. We don't quit. We love enough to follow up with people who just give God the glory. Oh, I love this chapter because it shows us what does it look like to live the life that God has called us to live