WEBVTT 00:00.051 --> 00:02.013 [SPEAKER_00]: Today we're in Acts chapter 14. 00:02.073 --> 00:07.158 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm tidaline today's message built to endure, built to endure. 00:07.178 --> 00:13.844 [SPEAKER_00]: And if you've been with us throughout the book of Acts, you've seen this theme kind of just, it almost feels like, wasn't that last week's message? 00:14.025 --> 00:17.067 [SPEAKER_00]: Like, did you talk about that last week or two weeks ago? 00:17.148 --> 00:18.289 [SPEAKER_00]: And you'll see this theme. 00:18.309 --> 00:19.550 [SPEAKER_00]: It's a reoccurring theme. 00:19.610 --> 00:21.552 [SPEAKER_00]: Now, I know it might be like, well, hey, we've already. 00:21.952 --> 00:34.281 [SPEAKER_00]: heard that or listened to that, but it's something that is important to note for you and I that this is going to be a recurring thing not only in the book of Acts, but in your life in my life as we follow Jesus. 00:34.722 --> 00:38.345 [SPEAKER_00]: As you step out in obedience, there's going to be opposition. 00:38.365 --> 00:40.987 [SPEAKER_00]: And we're going to see this time and time again. 00:41.007 --> 00:45.930 [SPEAKER_00]: And so again, today's message might seem like what I thought we already talked about that last week. 00:46.070 --> 00:48.012 [SPEAKER_00]: Last week we talked about ministry is hard and 00:48.372 --> 00:49.053 [SPEAKER_00]: Don't give up. 00:49.113 --> 00:49.794 [SPEAKER_00]: Keep going. 00:49.834 --> 00:52.577 [SPEAKER_00]: Keep obeying God and keep pursuing what he has for you. 00:52.957 --> 00:54.699 [SPEAKER_00]: Today we're going to talk about endurance. 00:54.759 --> 00:56.922 [SPEAKER_00]: And so how many of you guys just show of hands? 00:56.942 --> 00:57.523 [SPEAKER_00]: Let's have some fun. 00:57.543 --> 00:58.724 [SPEAKER_00]: How many of you love endurance? 00:59.144 --> 00:59.585 [SPEAKER_00]: Anything. 00:59.845 --> 01:00.005 [SPEAKER_00]: No. 01:00.606 --> 01:05.011 [SPEAKER_00]: You guys, I mean sports, fitness, CrossFit. 01:05.151 --> 01:06.713 [SPEAKER_00]: No. 01:06.993 --> 01:07.234 [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah. 01:07.754 --> 01:25.482 [SPEAKER_00]: farming you need endurance there well so there's a race some of you I've never done this race and to be honest I don't know that I ever would do it, but There's a guy that goes to this church's name's Luke he's in the back who signed up you can pray that he gets into this race But it's called the G1M Ultra go one more ultra 01:26.022 --> 01:37.226 [SPEAKER_00]: It's a backyard marathon style last man standing race if you guys ever heard of something like this I mean, this is like pretty brutal and so anyways, it's the premise is easy, right? 01:37.266 --> 01:49.571 [SPEAKER_00]: So it starts with 150 runners and you run 4.2 roughly miles every hour Now if you just do the math it's like well that's a what it would like you could run 10 minute mile and you'll have 01:50.311 --> 02:01.441 [SPEAKER_00]: 20 minutes, right, to rest, to sleep, to eat, go bathroom, whatever you need to do, you're like, okay, 10 minute mile, like to me, I'm like, I feel like I could keep a 10 minute mile pace for quite a long time. 02:01.941 --> 02:12.911 [SPEAKER_00]: Well, so the thing is you run 4.2 miles afterwards, you come back, again, you have 20 minutes or whatever time it could be one minute, and then at the top of the hour you go out again for another lap of 4.2 miles. 02:14.172 --> 02:16.073 [SPEAKER_00]: Now, it's a last man standing race, right? 02:16.093 --> 02:19.776 [SPEAKER_00]: It's the literally they keep going until there's one guy. 02:19.796 --> 02:27.482 [SPEAKER_00]: Now, this race, there's been two of them here in Texas, and I want to say the Georgetown lander areas where the ranch is that they do this. 02:28.242 --> 02:30.204 [SPEAKER_00]: And it goes for about three days. 02:30.264 --> 02:31.124 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm not even joking. 02:31.164 --> 02:34.086 [SPEAKER_00]: 70, two hours, 70, something hours. 02:34.186 --> 02:37.008 [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, how many of you guys like, yeah, I want to do that. 02:37.409 --> 02:38.970 [SPEAKER_00]: I don't think I ever want to do this. 02:39.450 --> 02:42.113 [SPEAKER_00]: But the thing about this race, you're like, why are you talking about this Nick? 02:42.133 --> 02:43.754 [SPEAKER_00]: Was this half to do with today's message? 02:44.114 --> 02:45.356 [SPEAKER_00]: Well, it's about endurance. 02:45.396 --> 02:49.519 [SPEAKER_00]: And the thing about this race, it's like, it doesn't matter how strong you are. 02:49.539 --> 02:52.002 [SPEAKER_00]: It doesn't matter how fast you can run a mile. 02:52.442 --> 02:54.984 [SPEAKER_00]: It's literally who won't quit. 02:55.665 --> 02:58.626 [SPEAKER_00]: who won't quit, who has the heart in the drive? 02:58.646 --> 03:03.828 [SPEAKER_00]: And I want you to see today in our text is like, we'll see Paul and Barnabes that go through some stuff. 03:04.188 --> 03:11.031 [SPEAKER_00]: Paul is almost stone to death, beaten to death, that he has this endurance towards like he won't quit. 03:11.051 --> 03:12.332 [SPEAKER_00]: He has this just, 03:13.612 --> 03:15.493 [SPEAKER_00]: desire to keep on going. 03:15.853 --> 03:19.095 [SPEAKER_00]: And so again, we're going to talk about built to endure. 03:19.155 --> 03:26.799 [SPEAKER_00]: So throughout Acts, we've seen this pattern, as I've said before, there's people, God's people, they obey God, God gives them direction. 03:26.839 --> 03:29.420 [SPEAKER_00]: He tells them, go preach to the gospel and they start sharing. 03:29.900 --> 03:34.122 [SPEAKER_00]: And we've seen the gospel indeed does go out and it does advance. 03:34.162 --> 03:40.944 [SPEAKER_00]: Now, if you guys know your Bible, you know that the Word says that God's Word does not return void. 03:41.024 --> 03:42.104 [SPEAKER_00]: Have you heard that before? 03:42.124 --> 03:45.405 [SPEAKER_00]: That's a Bible verse right down in your note, but go look it up later. 03:45.425 --> 03:49.727 [SPEAKER_00]: It's like whenever you preach God's Word or you share it with the coworker, you need to believe. 03:49.747 --> 03:53.288 [SPEAKER_00]: You've got to have faith that, hey, God's Word is not going to return void. 03:53.368 --> 03:55.709 [SPEAKER_00]: It's going to do exactly what's intended to do. 03:56.169 --> 03:57.930 [SPEAKER_00]: But now it might not do what you want 03:58.930 --> 04:00.871 [SPEAKER_00]: And that's kind of defeating attached. 04:00.891 --> 04:02.532 [SPEAKER_00]: Like, well, I want to lead him to Jesus. 04:02.752 --> 04:05.274 [SPEAKER_00]: And I shared Jesus with them, and all they did was reject me. 04:05.294 --> 04:07.055 [SPEAKER_00]: It's like, well, God's Word doesn't return boy. 04:07.095 --> 04:08.476 [SPEAKER_00]: It's doing what needs to do. 04:08.977 --> 04:17.222 [SPEAKER_00]: Some things just take time, but the gospel's going out with Paul, with Barnabas, the early disciples, as they're preaching, God's Word is advancing. 04:17.302 --> 04:24.627 [SPEAKER_00]: Many are coming to know Jesus, but as I said already, as they obey, there's opposition that follows closely behind. 04:25.167 --> 04:29.649 [SPEAKER_00]: We often assume that, hey, if we're doing what God wants us to do, things should go smooth, right? 04:29.909 --> 04:31.249 [SPEAKER_00]: Like, it should be smooth sailing. 04:31.269 --> 04:34.070 [SPEAKER_00]: It should feel easier, at least easier than this. 04:34.530 --> 04:41.053 [SPEAKER_00]: But sometimes obedience to God puts us directly in the path of hardship, hard things, trials. 04:41.613 --> 04:46.995 [SPEAKER_00]: And now, as we've talked about this week after a week, none of us want trials, I don't think. 04:47.715 --> 04:51.238 [SPEAKER_00]: We don't enjoy them, even though James says, hey, count it all, joy brothers. 04:51.739 --> 04:58.605 [SPEAKER_00]: When you experience trials of many kinds, and you guys are like, man, I think James was off his rock or he's just a little crazy when he wrote that. 04:58.946 --> 05:00.687 [SPEAKER_00]: But he really does me, count it all joy. 05:00.707 --> 05:04.231 [SPEAKER_00]: And now, how can we, I'm getting way ahead of myself and out of order, but that's fine. 05:04.271 --> 05:06.353 [SPEAKER_00]: We're just gonna roll with it. 05:06.673 --> 05:08.034 [SPEAKER_00]: How could we count it all joy? 05:08.847 --> 05:13.391 [SPEAKER_00]: When we face trials, persecution, what we can see is, well, God is training you. 05:13.992 --> 05:18.075 [SPEAKER_00]: He's building you to endure something else later, right? 05:18.095 --> 05:29.406 [SPEAKER_00]: It's like when you think about these runners who run this race, you know, 4.2 miles every hour, for 70 something hours, you know, like it's craziness, but it's like they didn't get there by chance. 05:29.466 --> 05:30.386 [SPEAKER_00]: It was training. 05:31.387 --> 05:33.269 [SPEAKER_00]: In training is hard, right? 05:34.049 --> 05:37.131 [SPEAKER_00]: Training for anything, you can apply that to whatever you might want. 05:37.151 --> 05:46.538 [SPEAKER_00]: But Acts chapter 14, where we're at today, shows us a little bit of what it looks like to remain faithful through some pretty difficult persecution. 05:47.079 --> 05:57.146 [SPEAKER_00]: Now, the question today, I think I want you to consider, is not just if you are following Jesus, or if you will follow Jesus today, 06:00.575 --> 06:01.576 [SPEAKER_00]: when things get hard. 06:02.737 --> 06:05.720 [SPEAKER_00]: Will you continue to follow him when the trials come? 06:06.481 --> 06:12.487 [SPEAKER_00]: Will you continue to follow Jesus when opposition that you didn't expect comes your way? 06:13.048 --> 06:22.318 [SPEAKER_00]: Now let's read Acts chapter 14, where it's starting verse 1, says, now at Iconium, they entered together into the Jewish synagogue and spoke in such a way, 06:23.218 --> 06:26.259 [SPEAKER_00]: that a great number of both Jews and Greeks believe. 06:26.299 --> 06:27.860 [SPEAKER_00]: Now, we're like, well, who went? 06:28.140 --> 06:31.921 [SPEAKER_00]: Well, if you remember Paul and Barnabes, they're on this missionary journey. 06:31.961 --> 06:33.182 [SPEAKER_00]: They went to Antioch. 06:33.202 --> 06:34.582 [SPEAKER_00]: There was the early church there. 06:34.622 --> 06:36.163 [SPEAKER_00]: They worship God together. 06:36.203 --> 06:37.163 [SPEAKER_00]: They prayed together. 06:37.563 --> 06:39.264 [SPEAKER_00]: Right, and God spoke to them. 06:39.544 --> 06:43.185 [SPEAKER_00]: Said, hey, set a part, Paul and Barnabes for the work that I have for them. 06:43.545 --> 06:45.306 [SPEAKER_00]: And they went out on this missionary journey. 06:45.346 --> 06:47.988 [SPEAKER_00]: So now they were in Antioch at one point. 06:48.028 --> 06:49.729 [SPEAKER_00]: They've gone to a few different areas. 06:49.769 --> 06:51.009 [SPEAKER_00]: Now they're at Iconium. 06:51.050 --> 06:52.370 [SPEAKER_00]: They entered together. 06:52.390 --> 06:56.153 [SPEAKER_00]: The Jewish synagogue where Jews would meet and worship God. 06:56.873 --> 07:01.296 [SPEAKER_00]: And they spoke in such a way that a great number of both Jews and Gentiles believed. 07:01.316 --> 07:06.659 [SPEAKER_00]: And now what we can see is there's success there, which is encouraging, right? 07:07.159 --> 07:10.842 [SPEAKER_00]: It's like, they're obeying God and they're seeing God's Word go out. 07:10.862 --> 07:14.685 [SPEAKER_00]: It's planting into the hearts and minds of men and women and they're hearing this. 07:14.745 --> 07:21.911 [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe for the first time or maybe this, the light bulbs coming on and they're like, oh, I get it now and they're coming to believe in Jesus. 07:21.931 --> 07:23.012 [SPEAKER_00]: This is exciting. 07:23.032 --> 07:24.693 [SPEAKER_00]: This is the good stuff, if you will. 07:24.933 --> 07:27.255 [SPEAKER_00]: The stuff we celebrate, this is what we're here for, right? 07:27.275 --> 07:29.596 [SPEAKER_00]: We planted this church so that people may know Jesus. 07:29.937 --> 07:41.045 [SPEAKER_00]: We want both Jews and Gentiles, Greeks, to believe in Jesus, and it says verse 2, but the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers. 07:41.425 --> 07:50.592 [SPEAKER_00]: And we see this here again, it's like obedience, there's some success there, because God has them there for a reason, but at the same time there's opposition. 07:51.292 --> 07:58.981 [SPEAKER_00]: direct, almost immediate opposition, which can be discouraging to say the least. 07:59.702 --> 08:09.052 [SPEAKER_00]: But the unbelieving Jews, they stir up this opposition, but verse 3 shows us that despite the opposition, says that, so they remained a long time, I love that. 08:09.857 --> 08:16.627 [SPEAKER_00]: All right, it's the opposition came, they preach in Jesus, and there's the enemy trying to stir up. 08:17.128 --> 08:21.475 [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know, maybe they're lying to them, know these guys are liars, and they're not telling the truth. 08:21.535 --> 08:24.840 [SPEAKER_00]: And Jesus isn't really who they say that he was, whatever the 08:26.654 --> 08:33.740 [SPEAKER_00]: lie might have been, but they face this persecution and their first response is to stay longer. 08:33.760 --> 08:37.203 [SPEAKER_00]: All right, they don't retreat just because things got hard. 08:37.543 --> 08:47.511 [SPEAKER_00]: Now we will see in a little bit, there's a case where they're seeking their lives and then they will eventually move on to the next city, the next mission, if you will. 08:48.192 --> 08:51.535 [SPEAKER_00]: But consider for yourself, what is your first response when things get hard? 08:52.895 --> 08:54.496 [SPEAKER_00]: What do you, do you retreat? 08:55.738 --> 08:56.678 [SPEAKER_00]: Do you quit? 08:57.619 --> 08:58.260 [SPEAKER_00]: Do you give up? 08:59.701 --> 09:01.122 [SPEAKER_00]: Do you try to find something else? 09:01.162 --> 09:03.084 [SPEAKER_00]: God, this must be a mistake, right? 09:03.104 --> 09:04.145 [SPEAKER_00]: This is too hard. 09:04.886 --> 09:05.946 [SPEAKER_00]: What do you want me to do? 09:06.647 --> 09:15.695 [SPEAKER_00]: I've shared with the men's group the last couple Saturdays, and I might have even shared from here, but at my work, so I work at UPS in a hub. 09:16.075 --> 09:17.637 [SPEAKER_00]: Some of you guys are like, I'm here with Guggen. 09:19.578 --> 09:35.437 [SPEAKER_00]: But this is it really is a testing ground for me and it's it's brought me to the point where like God is almost breaking me And it brings me to the point I'm not a guy to say I quit or I can't or I won't I believe I can do all things to Christ who strengthened me and I really want to do that 09:35.998 --> 09:40.679 [SPEAKER_00]: But this place is brought me to a point where I really feel like, I don't know if I can do this anymore. 09:41.240 --> 09:47.642 [SPEAKER_00]: And so I've been put in this place where you could say, like, it's a worldly picture of opposition. 09:48.202 --> 09:49.962 [SPEAKER_00]: But it's like, everything is going crazy. 09:49.982 --> 09:51.263 [SPEAKER_00]: You got hundreds of packages. 09:51.303 --> 09:54.744 [SPEAKER_00]: And we're in a conventional hub where we literally sort things by hand. 09:54.764 --> 09:55.904 [SPEAKER_00]: I might have said that before. 09:56.284 --> 09:58.145 [SPEAKER_00]: Like, you know, you guys are like, what was 26? 09:58.205 --> 09:59.545 [SPEAKER_00]: It's all automated in robots. 09:59.585 --> 10:01.146 [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, like, some hubs are, 10:01.846 --> 10:02.586 [SPEAKER_00]: Arza's not. 10:03.107 --> 10:07.749 [SPEAKER_00]: Arza's literally your package comes down a bell and they're like, okay, Austin, Texas, goes on the yellow belt, right? 10:07.789 --> 10:09.009 [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, this goes on that belt. 10:09.029 --> 10:17.873 [SPEAKER_00]: And so you can just imagine though, hundreds of packages coming down every minute, we're stuck on, I now run the sword aisle, which is the worst place in there. 10:18.254 --> 10:20.915 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm not even joking. 10:21.675 --> 10:24.336 [SPEAKER_00]: There's a guy on the sword aisle, he said he's going to come to church one day. 10:24.377 --> 10:26.698 [SPEAKER_00]: I wish you would have came today, like, you know what I'm talking about? 10:26.758 --> 10:27.138 [SPEAKER_00]: Tell him. 10:28.393 --> 10:29.553 [SPEAKER_00]: But anyways, it gets crazy. 10:29.573 --> 10:31.214 [SPEAKER_00]: You're on this like three foot wide. 10:31.494 --> 10:32.034 [SPEAKER_00]: It's a sword. 10:32.134 --> 10:33.395 [SPEAKER_00]: I'll just aisle on this side. 10:33.415 --> 10:35.695 [SPEAKER_00]: You got hundreds of packages coming on this side. 10:35.715 --> 10:39.496 [SPEAKER_00]: This is where all the belts are going to the load wall to load the packages. 10:39.536 --> 10:41.537 [SPEAKER_00]: Now it's just the packages are just coming. 10:42.117 --> 10:42.277 [SPEAKER_00]: Right? 10:42.297 --> 10:48.839 [SPEAKER_00]: And it's like you have this moment where I mean UPS, like working in the hub, it will make you or break you quite literally. 10:49.359 --> 10:50.919 [SPEAKER_00]: And it's like you have this moment where it's like, 10:53.260 --> 10:53.441 [SPEAKER_00]: Right? 10:53.461 --> 10:57.125 [SPEAKER_00]: We can continue pressing on or it's like what's your response? 10:57.145 --> 11:00.929 [SPEAKER_00]: Some people they literally they come in the UPS thing It's gonna be great awesome. 11:00.949 --> 11:10.339 [SPEAKER_00]: We got good benefits, which is true But then the belt start rolling things get hard and what's their response is I don't think I can do this anymore 11:10.659 --> 11:30.862 [SPEAKER_00]: which honestly I'm like that's fine like I don't know how I do it or anyone does this sometimes right but it's like as long as you're honest but like what's your response not just at work but when hard things happen when persecution comes or when things get uncomfortable because again like I work for me it's like I want to quit in that moment I want to say I don't know if I can do this anymore 11:31.463 --> 11:33.264 [SPEAKER_00]: But at the same time, I'm a supervisor. 11:33.284 --> 11:35.185 [SPEAKER_00]: It's like, my team needs me. 11:35.225 --> 11:36.145 [SPEAKER_00]: Like, what am I going to do? 11:36.265 --> 11:37.606 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to bail on you guys. 11:37.626 --> 11:38.826 [SPEAKER_00]: Like, what does that mean for them? 11:38.866 --> 11:41.828 [SPEAKER_00]: And just think of people in your life who might rely on you. 11:42.488 --> 11:42.688 [SPEAKER_00]: Right? 11:42.768 --> 11:43.589 [SPEAKER_00]: Things are getting hard. 11:43.609 --> 11:44.289 [SPEAKER_00]: They're difficult. 11:44.309 --> 11:46.790 [SPEAKER_00]: You're on the verge of saying, I don't know if I can do this anymore. 11:46.830 --> 11:48.731 [SPEAKER_00]: And you're trying to find another way. 11:48.771 --> 11:51.832 [SPEAKER_00]: But you feel like also, well, God has me here for a purpose. 11:51.853 --> 11:52.813 [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know what it is. 11:53.553 --> 11:56.815 [SPEAKER_00]: But if you were to quit, who's following behind you? 11:57.838 --> 12:06.351 [SPEAKER_00]: Some of you might be at like a work, a job opportunity, or situation, maybe you're supervisor, but maybe you don't have people you're supervising, but you have kids at home. 12:07.112 --> 12:09.916 [SPEAKER_00]: What does it look like if you, man, I don't know if I can do this. 12:10.755 --> 12:11.776 [SPEAKER_00]: What does it say to them? 12:11.796 --> 12:19.345 [SPEAKER_00]: Right, and you got to understand, God's puts you right where you are right in this time, 2026 for some purpose. 12:19.646 --> 12:20.507 [SPEAKER_00]: You guys believe that? 12:21.247 --> 12:22.849 [SPEAKER_00]: Like literally, he didn't make you on accident. 12:22.869 --> 12:30.358 [SPEAKER_00]: Like, oh, whoops, I meant to make you hundreds of years ago, or hundreds of years into the future as a mess up accounting. 12:31.099 --> 12:31.900 [SPEAKER_00]: problem, right? 12:31.960 --> 12:34.062 [SPEAKER_00]: No, he made you for such a time as this. 12:34.903 --> 12:48.195 [SPEAKER_00]: And as if you read through Esther, I mentioned it last week, is it Mordakai who says to Esther, he's like, basically, if you don't do this thing, like, God will raise up somebody else. 12:48.775 --> 12:54.179 [SPEAKER_00]: But you will suffer, you're going to go through hard things either way, like there's no way ever-rounded. 12:54.199 --> 13:14.472 [SPEAKER_00]: So just understand in a way, God has you here for a specific purpose, a plan, and I believe I mean the grand scheme is so that people may know Jesus, but that plays out very differently in our lives, but we're going to experience persecution, opposition, hard things that are going to make you want to quit or question what you're even doing. 13:15.367 --> 13:18.549 [SPEAKER_00]: And so in this moment, just kind of picture this, they're preaching Jesus. 13:19.009 --> 13:20.850 [SPEAKER_00]: Some are coming to believe in Jesus. 13:20.870 --> 13:24.812 [SPEAKER_00]: There's success there, something to be excited and encouraged about, right? 13:24.832 --> 13:28.614 [SPEAKER_00]: But then there's the other people, the Jews who stir up the Gentiles. 13:28.654 --> 13:37.659 [SPEAKER_00]: Just imagine the Gentiles, they're like the baby Christians, they're probably like they hear Paul and they're like, oh, Jesus was God, man, I want to know more. 13:37.679 --> 13:40.060 [SPEAKER_00]: And then the Jews come in like, no, no, no, no. 13:40.100 --> 13:40.921 [SPEAKER_00]: He's wrong, right? 13:41.161 --> 13:43.082 [SPEAKER_00]: So they're just going to be pulled back and forth. 13:43.102 --> 13:44.343 [SPEAKER_00]: Well, who's telling the truth? 13:45.298 --> 13:48.740 [SPEAKER_00]: And the Jews would poison their minds and they would try to lead a mystery. 13:48.760 --> 13:51.062 [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, it's evil stuff that they were doing. 13:51.082 --> 13:53.563 [SPEAKER_00]: But then again, it says they remained for a long time. 13:53.643 --> 13:54.644 [SPEAKER_00]: They didn't retreat. 13:55.965 --> 13:57.065 [SPEAKER_00]: They persevered. 13:57.385 --> 13:59.987 [SPEAKER_00]: They pushed in a little bit further. 14:00.027 --> 14:01.608 [SPEAKER_00]: Right and says the next part of verse three. 14:01.628 --> 14:04.930 [SPEAKER_00]: They were speaking boldly for the Lord. 14:06.079 --> 14:06.959 [SPEAKER_00]: Things got hard. 14:07.719 --> 14:09.340 [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, it's almost like they got louder. 14:10.220 --> 14:11.260 [SPEAKER_00]: No, we're not gonna give up. 14:12.221 --> 14:15.402 [SPEAKER_00]: Right, when someone like, I don't know, ridicules you for your faith. 14:16.122 --> 14:17.642 [SPEAKER_00]: Coming to church on Sunday, right? 14:17.662 --> 14:21.083 [SPEAKER_00]: You could have been in watching football right now at your friend's house or whatever. 14:21.103 --> 14:22.804 [SPEAKER_00]: You're gonna go to church seriously again. 14:22.824 --> 14:23.944 [SPEAKER_00]: Don't you go every Sunday? 14:24.324 --> 14:28.445 [SPEAKER_00]: Right, so that's a chance for you to press in and say, yeah, I'm gonna go church you wanna join me. 14:28.925 --> 14:31.526 [SPEAKER_00]: Right, speak boldly, speak up for the Lord. 14:31.546 --> 14:34.367 [SPEAKER_00]: It says, they spoke boldly for Lord who bore witness. 14:34.927 --> 14:39.292 [SPEAKER_00]: to the word of his grace granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands. 14:39.332 --> 14:45.639 [SPEAKER_00]: Verse 4, but the people of the city, that they're ministering to, they were divided. 14:46.620 --> 14:48.061 [SPEAKER_00]: Some sided with the Jews. 14:49.743 --> 14:50.584 [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe you're right. 14:51.005 --> 14:51.545 [SPEAKER_00]: After all, 14:52.366 --> 14:54.228 [SPEAKER_00]: some sighted with the apostles. 14:54.989 --> 15:05.261 [SPEAKER_00]: I think I believe what you're saying, says verse 5, when an attempt was made by both Gentiles and Jews, so they got a group together. 15:05.281 --> 15:06.683 [SPEAKER_00]: We don't know how long this is either. 15:06.703 --> 15:08.665 [SPEAKER_00]: It says they stayed for a long time. 15:08.705 --> 15:11.028 [SPEAKER_00]: This might have been a month, might have been a few years. 15:12.752 --> 15:30.794 [SPEAKER_00]: But they stayed for a while, but eventually, in attempt, a conspiracy, if you will, the conspired, not conspiracy theory, don't you guys think that's interesting, conspiracy theory, something we're like, well, as the two, or as not, it's like, but if we conspired together like that, we're making a conspiracy, you know what I mean? 15:30.954 --> 15:31.314 [SPEAKER_00]: Anyways. 15:32.776 --> 15:35.237 [SPEAKER_00]: Just me, I'm just think too weirdly about it. 15:35.277 --> 15:44.943 [SPEAKER_00]: But when an attempt, a conspiracy by both Jews and Gentiles that come together with their rulers to mistreat them and stone them. 15:44.963 --> 15:47.624 [SPEAKER_00]: So they're not just like, oh, we're gonna beat them up a little bit. 15:48.084 --> 15:49.265 [SPEAKER_00]: But we're gonna stone them, right? 15:49.305 --> 15:53.648 [SPEAKER_00]: It's stoning, a proper stoning would be with rocks, but not just like pebbles. 15:53.688 --> 15:55.268 [SPEAKER_00]: Like we're just gonna throw some pebbles at you. 15:55.309 --> 15:58.670 [SPEAKER_00]: It's like with some significant rocks that would definitely 15:59.831 --> 16:05.115 [SPEAKER_00]: hurt to say the least, and wouldn't just be one, but it would be a death sentence, essentially. 16:05.855 --> 16:15.982 [SPEAKER_00]: If you lived through a stone, and it's like, well, you know, praise God, but wouldn't be, that wouldn't be the desired outcome of a stone in a proper stone. 16:16.002 --> 16:19.645 [SPEAKER_00]: In verse 6 it says, they learned of it, so the disciples, Paul, 16:20.325 --> 16:28.329 [SPEAKER_00]: Barnabas says, and at this point, it says they fled to Lystra and Derby, cities of Lyconia and to the surrounding country. 16:28.349 --> 16:31.390 [SPEAKER_00]: And there they continued to preach the gospel. 16:31.790 --> 16:35.632 [SPEAKER_00]: And so what we see again, the pattern is they go out in obedience. 16:36.212 --> 16:36.392 [SPEAKER_00]: Right. 16:36.412 --> 16:37.653 [SPEAKER_00]: There is some success. 16:38.113 --> 16:39.815 [SPEAKER_00]: Some people do come to know Jesus. 16:39.835 --> 16:43.877 [SPEAKER_00]: They're believing in Jesus, but at the same time there's opposition, things get hard. 16:44.198 --> 16:45.519 [SPEAKER_00]: They stay a little bit longer. 16:45.559 --> 16:50.262 [SPEAKER_00]: They preach a little bit louder and then eventually they're trying to kill you now. 16:50.362 --> 16:56.086 [SPEAKER_00]: So like, okay, well, maybe it's time to let them cool off a little bit and we'll go to the next city. 16:56.106 --> 16:57.147 [SPEAKER_00]: And they just move on. 16:57.187 --> 17:00.809 [SPEAKER_00]: The mission hasn't changed, but the locations a little bit different. 17:00.829 --> 17:03.391 [SPEAKER_00]: They go to the next city and it says, what do they do? 17:05.152 --> 17:06.136 [SPEAKER_00]: to preach what? 17:07.401 --> 17:09.048 [SPEAKER_00]: The gospel, the good news. 17:09.929 --> 17:14.252 [SPEAKER_00]: Like the message doesn't change based on location or person that you're talking to. 17:14.272 --> 17:21.456 [SPEAKER_00]: The message is the same wherever they go and says verse eight, says now at Lister there was a man sitting who cannot use his feet. 17:21.956 --> 17:24.217 [SPEAKER_00]: He was crippled from birth and had never walked. 17:24.237 --> 17:36.585 [SPEAKER_00]: He listened to Paul speaking and Paul looked intently at him and seen that he had faith to be made well said in a loud voice, stand upright on your feet and he sprang up and begin walking. 17:37.385 --> 17:48.793 [SPEAKER_00]: Verse 11, and when the crowds saw that Saul, what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices saying in Lyconium, the gods have come down to us in the likeness of men. 17:49.594 --> 17:55.518 [SPEAKER_00]: Barnabas, they called Zeus, and Paul Hermes, because he was the chief speaker. 17:56.628 --> 18:05.418 [SPEAKER_00]: And the priest of Zeus, whose temple was at the entrance to the city brought oxen and garlands to the gates, and wanted to offer sacrifice with the crowds. 18:05.718 --> 18:09.822 [SPEAKER_00]: But when the apostles Barnabes and Paul heard of it, I want you to take note of this. 18:09.883 --> 18:15.469 [SPEAKER_00]: They tore their garments, rushed into the crowd, crying out, man, why are you doing these things? 18:16.440 --> 18:28.926 [SPEAKER_00]: We also are men of like nature with you and we bring you good news that you should turn from these vain things to a living God who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them. 18:29.327 --> 18:30.927 [SPEAKER_00]: Now let's pause here for a minute, right? 18:30.967 --> 18:39.412 [SPEAKER_00]: So this is pretty packed, there's a lot going on, but again they've gone to the next city because there's persecution, people are seeking their lives so like, well let's go 18:42.542 --> 18:48.564 [SPEAKER_00]: Paul's walking around preaching, probably just like you normally do, hey, you know Jesus, let me tell you about him, right, hey, what about you? 18:48.884 --> 18:57.986 [SPEAKER_00]: And he's telling people about Jesus and some guy who can't walk, he hears of him, and Paul says, hey, stand up, stand up right on your feet. 18:58.566 --> 18:59.406 [SPEAKER_00]: And the guy stands. 18:59.446 --> 19:02.427 [SPEAKER_00]: He hadn't stood in his whole life that we know from Scripture. 19:03.007 --> 19:04.968 [SPEAKER_00]: And what this is, I mean, it's a miracle. 19:05.528 --> 19:15.679 [SPEAKER_00]: right I mean these things don't just happen every day it's not just like oh well that's just normal every day occurrence it's just another Monday in uh like coney in or whatever listre 19:16.481 --> 19:23.286 [SPEAKER_00]: But Paul heals this man, and what happens is Paul heals him, the crowd around the people around. 19:23.767 --> 19:28.450 [SPEAKER_00]: They start to attempt to praise and worship Paul in Barnabas. 19:29.471 --> 19:33.534 [SPEAKER_00]: Now, I just, I don't know, this is my own thoughts on this. 19:34.174 --> 19:37.137 [SPEAKER_00]: It would be real easy for Paul in Barnabas to be like, oh, 19:38.859 --> 19:41.861 [SPEAKER_00]: I do have some special powers. 19:41.901 --> 19:44.462 [SPEAKER_00]: I want to bring you sacrifices, right? 19:44.482 --> 19:57.809 [SPEAKER_00]: Which would be in other words, I mean, maybe we could be today, it'd be like, I'm gonna bring you money and things like stuff for you so that you can just live a lavish life, they bring in ox and all these things. 19:58.049 --> 20:01.591 [SPEAKER_00]: It'd be real easy for Paul and Barnabas to say, I think we've made it. 20:01.611 --> 20:03.592 [SPEAKER_00]: I think this is where we should stay. 20:04.568 --> 20:09.271 [SPEAKER_00]: We've got success, we've got people who are hearing us, they don't not only hearing us, but they like us. 20:10.451 --> 20:23.198 [SPEAKER_00]: They're listening, and they're going to bring sacrifices and things of this nature, but to do that, would be to steal God's glory, would be to twist the message. 20:23.999 --> 20:29.942 [SPEAKER_00]: I'd be real easy to take these things and maybe just say, well, we won't tell anybody else, right? 20:30.262 --> 20:31.503 [SPEAKER_00]: I'd be real easy to, 20:33.991 --> 20:50.742 [SPEAKER_00]: Compromise I suppose when people are praising you and I don't know I think this is just something to consider for ourselves when you do something right you just you're obeying God And someone says, oh, thank you so much and like you're so I don't know amazing whatever What's your response? 20:50.762 --> 20:52.363 [SPEAKER_00]: Are we like thank you? 20:52.383 --> 20:58.508 [SPEAKER_00]: I have amazing, you know Or is it hey, it's not me it's God 20:59.500 --> 21:20.408 [SPEAKER_00]: All right, that's literally what Paul and Barnabas do here, but I just think it's something for us to check because those kind of little things, those subtle things can easily take us off track because what that does is it feeds our pride a little bit, makes you feel good, makes you feel important, makes you feel successful, next thing you know you're following your own desires, your feet in your own flesh, 21:22.098 --> 21:24.580 [SPEAKER_00]: and we forget about God, it's a dangerous thing. 21:25.080 --> 21:27.202 [SPEAKER_00]: And so, Paul and Barnabas, they hear about this. 21:27.222 --> 21:30.224 [SPEAKER_00]: Their first response is kind of an old testament response. 21:30.244 --> 21:31.465 [SPEAKER_00]: They tear their clothes. 21:32.086 --> 21:35.148 [SPEAKER_00]: By it and they go out there and says, man, why are you doing these things? 21:35.208 --> 21:36.409 [SPEAKER_00]: That's verse 15. 21:37.110 --> 21:38.831 [SPEAKER_00]: Right, like, what's no stop? 21:40.132 --> 21:41.333 [SPEAKER_00]: We don't want this, right? 21:41.433 --> 21:45.636 [SPEAKER_00]: We are also men of like nature with you. 21:46.837 --> 21:48.078 [SPEAKER_00]: In other words, like, hey, we're the same. 21:49.702 --> 21:49.883 [SPEAKER_00]: Right. 21:50.123 --> 21:51.726 [SPEAKER_00]: We came from dust to dust. 21:51.746 --> 21:52.608 [SPEAKER_00]: We were returned. 21:53.089 --> 21:55.433 [SPEAKER_00]: God created me, but he also created you. 21:56.535 --> 22:01.825 [SPEAKER_00]: We're similar and we nothing special about us, but he says, but we bring you good news. 22:03.642 --> 22:05.802 [SPEAKER_00]: But you should turn from these vain things. 22:06.923 --> 22:11.604 [SPEAKER_00]: This idle worship is really what they're doing to a living God. 22:12.944 --> 22:26.427 [SPEAKER_00]: Turn from these false gods that have no life, have no promise, have no anything to really offer you to the real true one-in-living God, Yahweh, said who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them. 22:27.167 --> 22:32.198 [SPEAKER_00]: Verse 16, He says, in past generations, He allowed all the nations to walk in their own ways. 22:32.258 --> 22:32.418 [SPEAKER_00]: Right? 22:32.458 --> 22:35.364 [SPEAKER_00]: God is, and we still see this even today. 22:35.404 --> 22:38.070 [SPEAKER_00]: God gives us freedom to make our own decisions. 22:38.913 --> 22:43.077 [SPEAKER_00]: Now, some people will use that to say, well, God's giving me freedom, so I'm going to do whatever I want to do. 22:43.717 --> 22:43.997 [SPEAKER_00]: Right? 22:44.017 --> 22:44.718 [SPEAKER_00]: Isn't that what? 22:45.739 --> 22:46.660 [SPEAKER_00]: This is America. 22:46.740 --> 22:55.167 [SPEAKER_00]: I can do whatever I want to do, but the Bible tells us not to use your freedom to sin, to pursue yourself in selfish ways. 22:55.227 --> 22:58.690 [SPEAKER_00]: And so he's like, in past generations, he allowed him to walk in their own way. 22:59.390 --> 23:04.555 [SPEAKER_00]: Verse 17, yet he did not leave himself without witness. 23:05.843 --> 23:09.234 [SPEAKER_00]: It's like, yeah, God lets you do whatever you want to do. 23:10.804 --> 23:16.527 [SPEAKER_00]: But he also has a witness at any particular point like in history, right? 23:16.648 --> 23:18.509 [SPEAKER_00]: In our lives, people will say, well, I didn't know. 23:19.569 --> 23:21.651 [SPEAKER_00]: I think God would say different. 23:22.231 --> 23:25.373 [SPEAKER_00]: And I love Paul's example. 23:25.393 --> 23:30.236 [SPEAKER_00]: He says, for he did good by giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons. 23:31.076 --> 23:34.358 [SPEAKER_00]: Satisfying your hearts with food and gladness. 23:35.039 --> 23:36.720 [SPEAKER_00]: Because you might be like, well, wait a minute. 23:36.760 --> 23:37.220 [SPEAKER_00]: Where did he? 23:37.940 --> 23:39.742 [SPEAKER_00]: have a witness in our life. 23:40.323 --> 23:47.970 [SPEAKER_00]: And Paul testifies just to just, I guess, basic common grace as John MacArthur would say. 23:48.290 --> 23:56.038 [SPEAKER_00]: Common grace, it's grace that's experienced by those who don't believe in God and those who do and every one in between kind of thing. 23:56.678 --> 23:56.898 [SPEAKER_00]: Right? 23:56.938 --> 23:59.320 [SPEAKER_00]: The rains come down on the good and the evil. 23:59.960 --> 24:00.141 [SPEAKER_00]: Right? 24:00.161 --> 24:02.082 [SPEAKER_00]: The sun shines on the good and the evil. 24:02.102 --> 24:06.325 [SPEAKER_00]: The food we eat got provides for both the good and the evil person. 24:06.345 --> 24:10.228 [SPEAKER_00]: And so he uses it as such a basic yet powerful example. 24:10.268 --> 24:12.229 [SPEAKER_00]: It's like, God has a witness here. 24:12.249 --> 24:15.812 [SPEAKER_00]: Yes, he's allowed you to do pursue your own ways. 24:16.592 --> 24:19.335 [SPEAKER_00]: But also all through this time, he's been calling you. 24:20.056 --> 24:21.417 [SPEAKER_00]: He's been chasing you to hell, right? 24:21.437 --> 24:23.760 [SPEAKER_00]: He's been providing for you, trying to get your attention. 24:23.780 --> 24:24.721 [SPEAKER_00]: Like, hey, I'm here. 24:24.841 --> 24:26.403 [SPEAKER_00]: I got something better for you. 24:27.324 --> 24:29.246 [SPEAKER_00]: I think of Romans chapter 1. 24:30.708 --> 24:37.095 [SPEAKER_00]: If you guys know it, or if you have your Bible, Romans chapter 1 will just read a couple verses. 24:41.895 --> 24:52.949 [SPEAKER_00]: I think of Romans chapter one, Paul writes this letter to the Christians in Rome, but he says, this is verse 18, we'll pick up in Romans chapter one. 24:53.250 --> 24:58.596 [SPEAKER_00]: For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all and godliness and unrighteousness of men. 24:59.177 --> 25:02.259 [SPEAKER_00]: who, by their unrighteousness, suppress the truth. 25:02.339 --> 25:03.719 [SPEAKER_00]: And it's just the powerful picture. 25:03.759 --> 25:05.320 [SPEAKER_00]: It's like, hey, they're evelness. 25:05.640 --> 25:06.641 [SPEAKER_00]: They're pressing down. 25:06.681 --> 25:08.442 [SPEAKER_00]: They're suppressing what God's trying to tell them. 25:08.462 --> 25:10.263 [SPEAKER_00]: Like, hey, God has a better plan for you. 25:10.583 --> 25:11.243 [SPEAKER_00]: You're a sinner. 25:11.263 --> 25:12.324 [SPEAKER_00]: You need salvation like not. 25:12.344 --> 25:13.084 [SPEAKER_00]: I don't want to hear it. 25:13.104 --> 25:14.265 [SPEAKER_00]: They suppress the truth. 25:14.705 --> 25:15.686 [SPEAKER_00]: This is verse 19. 25:15.746 --> 25:20.668 [SPEAKER_00]: For what can be known about God is playing to them, because God has shown it to them. 25:21.148 --> 25:25.591 [SPEAKER_00]: All right, so in other words, it's like, hey, God's trying to get your attention. 25:26.091 --> 25:27.852 [SPEAKER_00]: It's not like, oh, maybe he will one day. 25:27.932 --> 25:29.012 [SPEAKER_00]: No, he's already doing it. 25:29.613 --> 25:31.934 [SPEAKER_00]: And even in our lives, God's trying to get your attention. 25:31.954 --> 25:36.856 [SPEAKER_00]: But he says, verse 20, for his invisible attributes, things we can't see. 25:37.776 --> 25:43.579 [SPEAKER_00]: Namely, his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly perceived 25:44.569 --> 25:45.550 [SPEAKER_00]: which is interesting, right? 25:45.590 --> 26:00.288 [SPEAKER_00]: His invisible attributes, things we can't see, have been clearly seen or perceived ever since the creation of the world and the things that have been made and this is the hardcore part where Paul says, so they are without excuse. 26:02.285 --> 26:06.747 [SPEAKER_00]: Well, God never told me, no, he's been telling you a lot of things. 26:07.827 --> 26:09.088 [SPEAKER_00]: He ever seen a sunrise. 26:09.128 --> 26:11.409 [SPEAKER_00]: He's saying, hey, I'm y'all way. 26:12.049 --> 26:12.929 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm God Almighty. 26:13.530 --> 26:14.790 [SPEAKER_00]: He ever seen a rainbow, right? 26:14.810 --> 26:15.991 [SPEAKER_00]: It's like a lot of people see the rainbow. 26:16.011 --> 26:17.791 [SPEAKER_00]: He's like, oh, wow, look, that's amazing. 26:17.811 --> 26:22.933 [SPEAKER_00]: It's like, God's like, hey, that's my sign of my promise that I'm not gonna flood the earth again, right? 26:22.973 --> 26:26.555 [SPEAKER_00]: His next, his new covenant is like, hey, I'm gonna save the earth. 26:28.103 --> 26:37.648 [SPEAKER_00]: You look at, I mean, scientists try to study the human body and they're just, you know, I mean, if you're a science nerd to any degree, you know this to be true is just like, things are just so fascinating. 26:37.708 --> 26:38.688 [SPEAKER_00]: How does this work? 26:39.428 --> 26:44.491 [SPEAKER_00]: Right, and that's kind of just the idea, and it's like, God's saying, I am who I am. 26:44.511 --> 26:50.634 [SPEAKER_00]: I'd say that, well, God never told me and I never knew, and I mean, that's, 26:53.681 --> 27:04.066 [SPEAKER_00]: You might think that's true, but God's gonna have a lot of evidence against you if you were in like a court setting to say, no, I've been trying to tell you for a long time. 27:05.306 --> 27:11.189 [SPEAKER_00]: So Paul says, man, we in Acts chapter 14, sorry, because I got a good news, guys. 27:12.470 --> 27:17.075 [SPEAKER_00]: good news that hey there's a living God who's real and true and he loves you. 27:17.095 --> 27:20.859 [SPEAKER_00]: It's calling you to get a turn from these vain things. 27:22.240 --> 27:23.441 [SPEAKER_00]: Trying to get your attention. 27:24.642 --> 27:26.024 [SPEAKER_00]: Right, so verse, um, 27:27.680 --> 27:37.864 [SPEAKER_00]: 18 says, even with these words, they scarcely restrained the people from offering sacrifice to them, which is interesting, right? 27:38.684 --> 27:42.025 [SPEAKER_00]: Hey, what it means is right, they're like, hey, you healed a guy. 27:42.465 --> 27:43.806 [SPEAKER_00]: The gods have come down. 27:44.646 --> 27:51.569 [SPEAKER_00]: These guys are amazing, let's worship them, let's praise them, give sacrifice to them, and then their response is, no, not us, Jesus. 27:52.724 --> 27:53.644 [SPEAKER_00]: No, no, it's not us. 27:53.704 --> 27:54.325 [SPEAKER_00]: It's God. 27:54.385 --> 27:56.265 [SPEAKER_00]: He's the one who's trying to get your attention. 27:56.306 --> 27:57.026 [SPEAKER_00]: We are not God. 27:57.046 --> 27:59.467 [SPEAKER_00]: We are just men, but He's got a plan for you. 27:59.487 --> 28:06.210 [SPEAKER_00]: And it says that even though they're trying to correct them, they couldn't restrain all the people from offering sacrifices to them. 28:06.790 --> 28:10.671 [SPEAKER_00]: Now, keep that in mind because it's like it seems like they're on good terms with the people. 28:10.731 --> 28:11.372 [SPEAKER_00]: Would you agree? 28:12.312 --> 28:18.475 [SPEAKER_00]: Like, well, man, they like them, but verse 19. 28:21.378 --> 28:31.544 [SPEAKER_00]: says, but Jews came from Antioch, and Iconium, which are places that Paul and Barnabas have just come from in past times, they're missionary journey. 28:32.425 --> 28:36.207 [SPEAKER_00]: They've come from Antioch, and Iconium, and haven't persuaded the crowds. 28:37.528 --> 28:41.411 [SPEAKER_00]: All right, this is like a picture of when Jesus is crucified. 28:42.364 --> 28:44.425 [SPEAKER_00]: Pilots says, hey, what do you want me to do with them, right? 28:44.445 --> 28:46.125 [SPEAKER_00]: He's like, I find no guilt in the man. 28:46.145 --> 28:49.546 [SPEAKER_00]: If you read the gospel accounts, you'd feel the same, right? 28:49.586 --> 28:50.966 [SPEAKER_00]: There's no guilt in Jesus. 28:50.986 --> 28:52.307 [SPEAKER_00]: He's perfect, spotless. 28:52.347 --> 28:54.207 [SPEAKER_00]: All he did was love and have compassion. 28:54.527 --> 28:57.028 [SPEAKER_00]: Want to save people and pilot senses some of that. 28:57.048 --> 28:58.649 [SPEAKER_00]: It says, hey, I find no guilt. 28:58.689 --> 29:00.429 [SPEAKER_00]: What do you want me to do with them to the crowds? 29:00.449 --> 29:01.729 [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, the crowds. 29:02.150 --> 29:05.170 [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, there was Jews in the crowds stirring up the crowds. 29:05.731 --> 29:07.111 [SPEAKER_00]: So I say, hey, crucify him. 29:08.155 --> 29:09.696 [SPEAKER_00]: Right, it's like, and then you just picture the scene. 29:09.736 --> 29:16.919 [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, just this mob mentality is like, someone came there to not say crucify him today, but everyone else is doing it, right? 29:17.600 --> 29:21.441 [SPEAKER_00]: It was the move of that time and it's very similar. 29:21.481 --> 29:26.584 [SPEAKER_00]: The Jews came from Anniac, having persuaded the crowds, stirring up something within the crowds. 29:26.984 --> 29:32.887 [SPEAKER_00]: It says they stone Paul and dragged them out of the city, check this out, supposing that he was dead. 29:34.578 --> 29:41.479 [SPEAKER_00]: Now, we don't know exactly what this might look like, but I think we understand that this was pretty severe. 29:42.723 --> 29:43.404 [SPEAKER_00]: All right, what does that mean? 29:43.424 --> 29:46.866 [SPEAKER_00]: Well, he's probably at the very least, I would say he was unconscious. 29:47.767 --> 29:50.429 [SPEAKER_00]: Suppose, you don't see someone say, I think he's dead. 29:51.330 --> 29:52.691 [SPEAKER_00]: Like if they're walking around, right? 29:52.711 --> 29:55.173 [SPEAKER_00]: It's like, you know, they probably knocked him out. 29:55.233 --> 29:57.995 [SPEAKER_00]: Unconscious, he's probably bleeding, who knows what. 29:59.457 --> 30:02.519 [SPEAKER_00]: And so this is, it's interesting, though. 30:03.620 --> 30:09.585 [SPEAKER_00]: It's interesting because the people who were, I mean, praising him one moment, 30:10.983 --> 30:12.685 [SPEAKER_00]: are persecuting him the next. 30:13.666 --> 30:28.722 [SPEAKER_00]: And this is maybe just a side note to take, but it's like if you live for the praise of people for the acceptance of people, they might praise you one moment, but you mess up, you'd make the wrong move and they might be your worst enemy the next. 30:29.423 --> 30:32.966 [SPEAKER_00]: Why you've heard the phrase or term, right, it's like getting stabbed in the back. 30:33.647 --> 30:45.095 [SPEAKER_00]: All right, so that's because like a someone you loved or you cared for and you're trying to pour out and like you felt like, man, we got a connection and the next thing you know, they change for some who knows why sometimes, right? 30:45.735 --> 30:48.357 [SPEAKER_00]: But if you live for the praise of people, you're going to be disappointed. 30:49.278 --> 30:53.200 [SPEAKER_00]: If you live for the acceptance of people, you're going to be let down. 30:54.061 --> 30:58.744 [SPEAKER_00]: But like if we can redirect like, hey, we got a bigger thing in mind, we're trying to live 31:03.752 --> 31:03.932 [SPEAKER_00]: Right. 31:03.952 --> 31:06.095 [SPEAKER_00]: It's like, so when people let me down, I was like, it's okay. 31:06.115 --> 31:14.764 [SPEAKER_00]: God, I want to, I want to endure, but if people's all you're living for, when those things happen, it's going to be hard to press on. 31:17.187 --> 31:22.493 [SPEAKER_00]: But Paul, he's dragged out of the city, the people think he's dead. 31:26.398 --> 31:38.005 [SPEAKER_00]: And then it says, but when the disciples gathered about him, I think it together, maybe they prayed for him, laid hands on him, says he rose up and entered the city. 31:38.966 --> 31:42.468 [SPEAKER_00]: And on the next day, he went on with Barnabes to Derby. 31:43.488 --> 31:51.673 [SPEAKER_00]: So just to emphasize, and we're gonna build this for the rest of our message a bit more, but call to endurance. 31:56.157 --> 31:58.149 [SPEAKER_00]: targets almost killed. 32:00.048 --> 32:09.014 [SPEAKER_00]: And if that happened to us, I think we'd probably like, okay, I need to find a different, whatever, different path, a different job, a different place to live. 32:09.054 --> 32:14.978 [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know, what would your response be but Paul's response as he gets back up then he goes back into the city? 32:15.759 --> 32:20.502 [SPEAKER_00]: If Paul's obeying God, preaching the gospel, doing the right thing and he almost gives his life. 32:21.102 --> 32:27.367 [SPEAKER_00]: Now, if you know anything about Paul, this would not be his last encounter, at least last close call with death. 32:28.187 --> 32:30.308 [SPEAKER_00]: All right, you guys familiar with Paul a little bit. 32:30.688 --> 32:33.650 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to read part of second Corinthians chapter 11. 32:34.490 --> 32:35.931 [SPEAKER_00]: Versus 24 or 28. 32:36.291 --> 32:39.033 [SPEAKER_00]: This is Paul right to the church of Corinth. 32:39.053 --> 32:40.514 [SPEAKER_00]: He says, five times. 32:41.534 --> 32:43.375 [SPEAKER_00]: I've received at the hands of the Jews. 32:43.756 --> 32:46.377 [SPEAKER_00]: The 40 lashes, less one, right? 32:46.417 --> 32:50.879 [SPEAKER_00]: So this would be a one-whip short of a death sentence. 32:50.919 --> 32:52.840 [SPEAKER_00]: 40 was considered to be a death sentence. 32:52.880 --> 32:53.921 [SPEAKER_00]: Nobody lives past that. 32:53.941 --> 32:55.282 [SPEAKER_00]: He says, five times. 32:55.842 --> 32:58.143 [SPEAKER_00]: I've gotten 39 lashes, right? 32:58.203 --> 33:01.626 [SPEAKER_00]: Verse 25, he says, three times, I've been beaten with rods. 33:02.306 --> 33:06.789 [SPEAKER_00]: Once I was stoned, which is right here in Acts chapter 14, right? 33:06.969 --> 33:20.097 [SPEAKER_00]: He says, once I was stoned three times, I was shipwrecked, a night in a day I was a drift at sea, on frequent journeys and danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people. 33:20.777 --> 33:33.865 [SPEAKER_00]: Danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers in toil and hardship through many a sleepless night in hunger and thirst, often without food and cold. 33:34.586 --> 33:41.190 [SPEAKER_00]: He says, in a part from other things, there's the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches. 33:41.210 --> 33:42.611 [SPEAKER_00]: What was he trying to say here? 33:42.631 --> 33:45.173 [SPEAKER_00]: He's like, man, I've been through some things. 33:45.873 --> 33:49.576 [SPEAKER_00]: Now, I think if we can take anything from today, from Paul, it's like, what is he? 33:49.616 --> 33:52.399 [SPEAKER_00]: He's an example for you and I of someone who endured. 33:53.260 --> 33:54.080 [SPEAKER_00]: He's faithful. 33:54.841 --> 33:56.963 [SPEAKER_00]: He doesn't quit when it gets hard. 33:56.983 --> 33:59.525 [SPEAKER_00]: He doesn't quit when he almost dies, right? 33:59.545 --> 34:01.307 [SPEAKER_00]: He gets back up and what's his response? 34:01.327 --> 34:02.868 [SPEAKER_00]: Well, I'm going to go back into the city. 34:02.888 --> 34:10.495 [SPEAKER_00]: All right, like God's going to provide or guide or whatever and like God guides him to the next place and what happens is like, well, now I'm getting beaten with rods. 34:11.075 --> 34:28.396 [SPEAKER_00]: All right, again, you would probably think, like, if we were to base our persecution as a way of saying, am I in God's will or not, or like, well, maybe I'm not because I'm experiencing some was so much opposition, but again, what we see throughout the book of Acts is like obedience brings opposition. 34:29.230 --> 34:50.157 [SPEAKER_00]: So when you face opposition, it's almost like, okay, we're in the race, we're training, we're enduring through this, right Paul gets beaten with shipwrecked, all the things, yet through it all, he continues to follow Jesus and to serve the church. 34:51.578 --> 34:56.460 [SPEAKER_00]: Right, being obedient definitely doesn't mean things are going to be comfortable. 34:57.540 --> 35:01.042 [SPEAKER_00]: I know in America that's kind of the American dream and that's what we want, right? 35:01.062 --> 35:05.904 [SPEAKER_00]: We want to get the house and car, dog, American dream, right? 35:05.944 --> 35:12.507 [SPEAKER_00]: Family, all the stuff and we want to be set up for what we think is success. 35:13.427 --> 35:22.677 [SPEAKER_00]: But it'll be, it's to God, might mean that you're going to be coming through some difficult things in this life. 35:22.697 --> 35:35.730 [SPEAKER_00]: Again, we can't build our faithfulness on what other people say or don't say, but we got to follow Jesus and realize that this is that following Jesus will cost you something. 35:37.110 --> 35:57.667 [SPEAKER_00]: I know you probably might say some of you thinking, well, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, 36:01.150 --> 36:02.352 [SPEAKER_00]: And that's the start, right? 36:02.573 --> 36:03.775 [SPEAKER_00]: I've received Jesus. 36:04.316 --> 36:05.137 [SPEAKER_00]: That's okay. 36:05.418 --> 36:08.042 [SPEAKER_00]: You signed up for the race, right? 36:08.062 --> 36:09.464 [SPEAKER_00]: The G1M Ultra. 36:10.326 --> 36:14.253 [SPEAKER_00]: But then following Jesus, like, well, hey, it requires obedience. 36:15.950 --> 36:33.940 [SPEAKER_00]: time or goes off means you got to start running you got to start moving you got to do something right and so following Jesus not always easy but I will say this is that it is always worth it and it's hard to to know that sometimes when we look at things outwardly but just believe God's he's doing something in you 36:34.941 --> 36:42.904 [SPEAKER_00]: When you're sharing the gospel, when you're preaching Jesus, living for Jesus, God's doing something a bigger work than you probably even realize. 36:43.945 --> 36:51.068 [SPEAKER_00]: But doing the right thing, the following God is not the easy thing. 36:54.490 --> 36:54.830 [SPEAKER_00]: Verse 21. 36:58.340 --> 37:03.364 [SPEAKER_00]: So when they had preached the gospel to the city, because so they went on to another city. 37:03.404 --> 37:05.906 [SPEAKER_00]: Now Barnett, they went on to Derby. 37:07.026 --> 37:11.090 [SPEAKER_00]: So when they had preached the gospel to that city and made many disciples. 37:11.630 --> 37:13.271 [SPEAKER_00]: So again, we see some success. 37:13.591 --> 37:19.075 [SPEAKER_00]: When the word goes out, the words planted, the word brings forth fruit. 37:20.056 --> 37:23.219 [SPEAKER_00]: So they made disciples, says they returned to Lystra. 37:23.819 --> 37:27.021 [SPEAKER_00]: Now Lystra was the place where Paul was stoned. 37:28.042 --> 37:31.524 [SPEAKER_00]: Right where he almost lost his life like why would you go back there? 37:32.645 --> 37:32.825 [SPEAKER_00]: Right. 37:32.905 --> 37:33.225 [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know. 37:33.245 --> 37:34.506 [SPEAKER_00]: I just think it's interesting. 37:34.986 --> 37:46.132 [SPEAKER_00]: After preaching in derby making disciples they go back to Lystra, the city that he was left for dead and it tells us though, you're like, why would you do that verse 22? 37:46.152 --> 37:50.595 [SPEAKER_00]: So strengthening the souls of the disciples, 37:52.147 --> 38:00.211 [SPEAKER_00]: encouraging them to continue in the faith and saying that through many tribulations which we must enter the kingdom of God. 38:01.532 --> 38:19.461 [SPEAKER_00]: Now knowing what Paul's gone through or at least up to this point stone and almost beaten to death becomes back he's like why are you here Paul you're gonna get you're gonna die but he just has such a shepherd's heart if you will and he goes for the sheep and says I need a strength in you guys 38:20.353 --> 38:25.176 [SPEAKER_00]: by the Paul would have just retreated and he went back to maybe where ministry was a little bit easier. 38:25.596 --> 38:31.860 [SPEAKER_00]: He leaves the church in the listred, I just fend for themselves, I'm praying for you. 38:32.618 --> 38:34.379 [SPEAKER_00]: My prayer does work, it's powerful. 38:35.240 --> 38:39.263 [SPEAKER_00]: But what I think, I mean, how encouraging would it be? 38:39.743 --> 38:43.646 [SPEAKER_00]: Paul comes back, risk his life again to tell you endure. 38:43.666 --> 38:47.068 [SPEAKER_00]: He's like, I've been through some things, guys. 38:47.088 --> 38:48.829 [SPEAKER_00]: He's like, I know you're scared for your life. 38:48.909 --> 38:52.872 [SPEAKER_00]: I almost lost my life, but let me tell you, you need to endure. 38:53.372 --> 38:56.115 [SPEAKER_00]: It goes back to strengthen the souls, right? 38:56.135 --> 38:59.939 [SPEAKER_00]: He's trying to teach them, encourage them. 38:59.959 --> 39:07.566 [SPEAKER_00]: He's encouraging them to continue, again, endure and saying that through many tribulations. 39:08.487 --> 39:10.107 [SPEAKER_00]: We must enter the kingdom of God. 39:10.147 --> 39:12.748 [SPEAKER_00]: Hey, obedience will bring opposition. 39:13.708 --> 39:15.669 [SPEAKER_00]: But God is going to bring the victory. 39:17.069 --> 39:21.770 [SPEAKER_00]: We're going to go through tribulations, but this is part of living for Jesus. 39:21.810 --> 39:26.551 [SPEAKER_00]: And I just love that He gives that little bit of right. 39:26.571 --> 39:32.032 [SPEAKER_00]: It goes back to where He got beat up, but He goes back to strengthen those who believe. 39:37.323 --> 39:47.105 [SPEAKER_00]: Susan, when they had appointed elders from for them in every church, then just go to list really went to Iconium in Antioch, which is kind of where it started, this whole mission. 39:48.226 --> 39:55.167 [SPEAKER_00]: It says they go to strengthen souls and encourage them to tell many, through many tribulations you must enter the kingdom of God. 39:55.507 --> 40:03.149 [SPEAKER_00]: Susan, when they appointed elders for them in every church with prayer and fasting, they committed them to the Lord and whom they had believed. 40:03.189 --> 40:07.170 [SPEAKER_00]: And so that's part of the reason they went back, because we got to strengthen the church. 40:07.951 --> 40:10.893 [SPEAKER_00]: We got to raise up some men who are going to serve the church, right? 40:10.913 --> 40:24.545 [SPEAKER_00]: We got to raise up some elders, elders would be another word, pastor, servant, minister, if you will, then elder, they're raising them up for them in every church, which is kind of important, right? 40:25.025 --> 40:46.010 [SPEAKER_00]: in a way it's like we got to find some guys because I mean Paul is probably realizing quickly like we can't keep this up forever going to Antioch, Lystra, Derby this there that the other thing and try to keep them together we need to raise some men up that are going to feed the sheep and that's what God does and says through prayer and fasting it's not something they took lightly 40:47.370 --> 41:04.715 [SPEAKER_00]: I think church leadership should never be taken lightly where it's just like, hey, we got a spot to fill and You look like a good person to hop in here like we want to through testing through prayer through fasting We want to see hey, who is God raising up here and I think Paul and the disciples I'm sure they took some time. 41:04.775 --> 41:12.298 [SPEAKER_00]: It says and as God revealed these things they committed them to the Lord and whom they had believed verse 24 41:15.127 --> 41:18.851 [SPEAKER_00]: Then they passed through Pocidia and came to Pamphilia. 41:19.612 --> 41:23.717 [SPEAKER_00]: And when they had spoken the word in Pergr, they went down to Atalia. 41:24.337 --> 41:31.045 [SPEAKER_00]: And from there they sailed to Antioch where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work that they had fulfilled. 41:34.288 --> 41:46.151 [SPEAKER_00]: And when they arrived and gathered the church together they declared all that God had done with them and how he opened a door of faith to the Gentiles and they remained no little time with the disciples. 41:47.011 --> 41:57.033 [SPEAKER_00]: So the kind of the picture is they come full circle, right a couple chapters ago or at the beginning of chapter 13, rather, they're sent off from Antioch. 41:57.073 --> 42:02.215 [SPEAKER_00]: They go to these different places, many come to believe but they're definitely experience opposition but now they 42:04.395 --> 42:08.576 [SPEAKER_00]: the church of what they've seen, of what God has done, and that's important. 42:08.596 --> 42:13.917 [SPEAKER_00]: Not, hey, this is what we did, man, you should have heard my message, right? 42:13.957 --> 42:14.857 [SPEAKER_00]: No, this is what God did. 42:14.877 --> 42:21.379 [SPEAKER_00]: You wouldn't believe how he's bringing people to know him, and says, and they remain no little time, right? 42:21.399 --> 42:22.359 [SPEAKER_00]: They spent time there. 42:22.879 --> 42:26.240 [SPEAKER_00]: But in conclusion, I'm going to wrap this up pretty quickly. 42:26.260 --> 42:27.140 [SPEAKER_00]: I want to talk about 42:28.225 --> 42:37.097 [SPEAKER_00]: enduring trials, or maybe even why, why does God use trials in the first place? 42:37.137 --> 42:45.428 [SPEAKER_00]: A few verses I'm just going to rattle a few off for you, but jot them down, maybe read them, study them, write them on the tablets of your heart for when trials do come. 42:45.888 --> 42:47.770 [SPEAKER_00]: You can encourage yourself through God's Word. 42:48.130 --> 42:50.793 [SPEAKER_00]: James 1, verse 2, through 4, count it all. 42:50.893 --> 42:54.196 [SPEAKER_00]: Joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds. 42:54.236 --> 43:03.325 [SPEAKER_00]: Again, we're like, what joy says in a happy situation, but he says, verse 3, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 43:04.221 --> 43:09.643 [SPEAKER_00]: In other words, you know that these trials help you eventually endure more. 43:09.803 --> 43:18.365 [SPEAKER_00]: As in verse 4, let's steadfastness have its full effect that you may be perfect and complete lacking in nothing. 43:18.385 --> 43:31.669 [SPEAKER_00]: The testing of our faith produces steadfastness and God will start to use these difficulties to develop you and I spiritually to mature us. 43:33.070 --> 43:43.196 [SPEAKER_00]: All right, endurance, and then we could think of a runner or a sport or whatever, but endurance isn't developed by avoiding difficult things. 43:44.177 --> 43:48.920 [SPEAKER_00]: Think of the gym, you want to get stronger, like you have to go through resistance. 43:49.560 --> 43:51.361 [SPEAKER_00]: There's got to be some weight on the bar, right? 43:51.821 --> 44:08.691 [SPEAKER_00]: There's got to be something that you're pushing against, like endurance, strength, we can't get stronger by avoiding difficult things and running from every hard thing that comes into our life, but we got to faithfully walk through them. 44:09.791 --> 44:15.935 [SPEAKER_00]: Another verse is how God uses trials, first Peter, one, verse 6 through 7. 44:17.785 --> 44:42.451 [SPEAKER_00]: says, in this you rejoice though now for a little while, if necessary, you've been greeted by various trials, trials have come, and he says, these trials have come, so that the tested genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise, in glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 44:42.891 --> 44:43.811 [SPEAKER_00]: What does he say, and he's like, 44:48.172 --> 44:54.675 [SPEAKER_00]: All right, because it's easy to say, hey, I love God, and man, he's so good and awesome when your life is good and everything's smooth sailing. 44:55.395 --> 44:59.557 [SPEAKER_00]: When things get hard, people hate you, it's hard to get through to the next day. 44:59.877 --> 45:04.759 [SPEAKER_00]: Well, it's a little harder to praise God, but God's like, hey, the trials come to test your faith. 45:05.643 --> 45:07.685 [SPEAKER_00]: Are you really a believer, right? 45:07.745 --> 45:09.247 [SPEAKER_00]: I said earlier at the beginning, it's like it. 45:09.868 --> 45:11.930 [SPEAKER_00]: My question is not, do you believe in Jesus? 45:11.970 --> 45:18.177 [SPEAKER_00]: Although if you don't, I want you to today, but what happens when things get hard will you still follow Jesus? 45:19.158 --> 45:22.342 [SPEAKER_00]: Why are you in He's like the testing comes to prove? 45:22.382 --> 45:24.024 [SPEAKER_00]: Are you legit? 45:24.985 --> 45:25.786 [SPEAKER_00]: Are you all in? 45:26.875 --> 45:43.531 [SPEAKER_00]: right because the trials come to prove our faith genuine so that after the trials we can come through and we can maybe like James we can rejoice and count on joy like hey I endured some trials like I I guess my faith is is real right I've been tested I've been strengthened 45:44.492 --> 45:49.936 [SPEAKER_00]: It says, maybe, found a result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 45:50.777 --> 45:53.659 [SPEAKER_00]: And this one might be my favorite one about trials. 45:54.459 --> 46:03.366 [SPEAKER_00]: Romans chapter five, verse three and five, three through five, Paul reign to the church there. 46:03.386 --> 46:06.948 [SPEAKER_00]: He says, not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings. 46:07.429 --> 46:08.990 [SPEAKER_00]: Very similar to James, right? 46:09.010 --> 46:11.332 [SPEAKER_00]: Kind of all enjoying like, man, these guys are crazy. 46:12.152 --> 46:17.779 [SPEAKER_00]: But when you know what's on the other side, you're like, okay, I'm going to be strengthened. 46:18.339 --> 46:19.761 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to be matured. 46:19.781 --> 46:22.544 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to come out a little stronger. 46:22.564 --> 46:27.550 [SPEAKER_00]: He says, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance. 46:29.228 --> 46:31.930 [SPEAKER_00]: and endurance produces character. 46:33.031 --> 46:41.756 [SPEAKER_00]: And character produces hope and hope does not put us to shame because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. 46:42.677 --> 46:43.557 [SPEAKER_00]: Right, suffering. 46:44.458 --> 46:48.280 [SPEAKER_00]: When we're obeying God, it's not meaningless in the hands of God. 46:48.300 --> 46:53.702 [SPEAKER_00]: He's going to use it to shape you, to test you, to mold you, to build you, strengthen you into the man or the woman. 46:54.102 --> 46:55.103 [SPEAKER_00]: He wants you to be. 46:55.183 --> 47:00.445 [SPEAKER_00]: Understand, it's like, so when you go through some hard things, and you come out on the other side, like, doesn't it? 47:01.285 --> 47:09.709 [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know, it's encouraging in a way, where it's just like a man, like, God is, you just see how God got you through it, I guess, is the best way to see it. 47:10.189 --> 47:11.270 [SPEAKER_00]: You're like, I didn't give up. 47:12.250 --> 47:20.756 [SPEAKER_00]: I just pressed into the Lord, and he's got me through it now, and you're on the other side, you have an opportunity to minister to others who go through similar trials. 47:20.796 --> 47:32.444 [SPEAKER_00]: I believe that's a big part of why God's called us together, together as the church, to carry each other's burdens, to pray for one another, to encourage one another, because you might be like, man, I'm going through some hard things right now. 47:32.904 --> 47:34.105 [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know if I can do it. 47:34.545 --> 47:40.810 [SPEAKER_00]: I want to quit, but then you hear someone else who went through the same thing, and they're on the other side of it, and you can almost see 47:42.108 --> 47:47.053 [SPEAKER_00]: You made it through, you're still good, right? 47:47.073 --> 47:49.214 [SPEAKER_00]: Like, you're still, you still love God and praise God. 47:49.235 --> 47:50.936 [SPEAKER_00]: Like, okay, maybe there is hope for me. 47:51.997 --> 47:53.238 [SPEAKER_00]: After all, right? 47:53.258 --> 47:58.863 [SPEAKER_00]: Even like Paul, it goes back to Lister to tell him, like, hey, you've got to endure some suffering and persecution. 47:59.063 --> 48:01.546 [SPEAKER_00]: Paul's the perfect guy to speak about it. 48:02.627 --> 48:06.450 [SPEAKER_00]: And he's just an example to them, because this is just part of the process. 48:07.691 --> 48:11.372 [SPEAKER_00]: Spiritual maturity doesn't happen by chance. 48:12.212 --> 48:27.477 [SPEAKER_00]: It happens through God shaping and molding us through I mean life Hard things come their seasons that we wouldn't choose for ourselves Couple more verses Hebrews 12 verse 10. 48:27.497 --> 48:27.537 [SPEAKER_00]: 11 48:29.559 --> 48:34.704 [SPEAKER_00]: So for they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he is speaking of God. 48:34.744 --> 48:38.507 [SPEAKER_00]: Disciplines us for our good that we may share his holiness. 48:39.308 --> 48:49.837 [SPEAKER_00]: For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but it later yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. 48:51.058 --> 48:52.580 [SPEAKER_00]: Now, I think that's interesting, right? 48:52.600 --> 48:58.549 [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, those of you who are parents, we want to discipline our kids, and do your kids like it when you discipline them. 48:59.451 --> 49:00.392 [SPEAKER_00]: No one's kids do, right? 49:00.432 --> 49:03.797 [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know my kids like, you're so mean. 49:03.857 --> 49:05.279 [SPEAKER_00]: I hate to whatever, you know. 49:06.140 --> 49:19.186 [SPEAKER_00]: No, no, but I don't like discipline in the time, but it's like you know that it's like if discipline has its work, like we're teaching them, we're training them, and hey, this is not how you behave, whatever, maybe we've talked about our kids, right? 49:19.226 --> 49:21.827 [SPEAKER_00]: And our Heavenly Father is the same way, he will discipline us. 49:22.507 --> 49:24.849 [SPEAKER_00]: there are consequences to our actions. 49:24.869 --> 49:26.490 [SPEAKER_00]: We're like, well, but my sin is paid. 49:26.531 --> 49:27.111 [SPEAKER_00]: Yes, it is. 49:27.171 --> 49:28.272 [SPEAKER_00]: Again, we have salvation. 49:28.312 --> 49:28.973 [SPEAKER_00]: That's secured. 49:28.993 --> 49:31.355 [SPEAKER_00]: If you're in Jesus name, you follow him. 49:31.375 --> 49:35.158 [SPEAKER_00]: But hey, there's consequences for your actions. 49:35.738 --> 49:41.743 [SPEAKER_00]: Are you might do something that causes discipline to teach you something. 49:42.444 --> 49:44.346 [SPEAKER_00]: But God will discipline those he loves. 49:45.746 --> 49:53.030 [SPEAKER_00]: And it will produce the fruit of righteousness to those who are trained by those who endure. 49:53.050 --> 49:58.633 [SPEAKER_00]: And we'll close here. 50:01.454 --> 50:04.776 [SPEAKER_00]: Going back to Acts chapter 14. 50:07.644 --> 50:10.665 [SPEAKER_00]: Verse 24 through 28, the last part there, right? 50:11.645 --> 50:13.726 [SPEAKER_00]: They keep going, essentially. 50:14.726 --> 50:24.610 [SPEAKER_00]: Paul and Barnabas, they complete their journey, return to Antioch, and they gather the church together, or gather together with the church, and report all things that God is doing. 50:25.450 --> 50:37.000 [SPEAKER_00]: right, despite opposition, suffering, setbacks, the gospel continues to advance, and God receives all the glory in this, and so just consider for yourself today. 50:37.040 --> 50:45.287 [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, Paul's journey, his faithfulness, if you will, he faced rejection, persecution, nearly lost his life, but he didn't quit. 50:46.127 --> 50:56.700 [SPEAKER_00]: He didn't give up, he continued preaching, continued discipling, continued risking his life so that other people might know Jesus and be strengthened in Jesus' name. 50:57.120 --> 51:03.327 [SPEAKER_00]: And it's not because Paul was so great, right, but it's just that he was faithful to Jesus. 51:04.445 --> 51:11.207 [SPEAKER_00]: So maybe you're tired today, you're going through something that has you on the verge of quitting, or I don't know. 51:11.727 --> 51:13.447 [SPEAKER_00]: Trying to find another way out. 51:14.288 --> 51:18.889 [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe following Jesus would become difficult, serving, has become exhausting. 51:20.649 --> 51:25.971 [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe you've been hurt by someone or something, but I wanted to just say, don't quit. 51:27.511 --> 51:33.017 [SPEAKER_00]: into pushing, pursue the Lord, lean into God's Word, lean into prayer. 51:33.037 --> 51:35.860 [SPEAKER_00]: This is one thing for in my own walk with the Lord. 51:35.880 --> 51:45.010 [SPEAKER_00]: I feel like this past week God is, I don't know, not that he's, it's not new, but just this heart of, I want to have this heart and this posture of prayer. 51:48.253 --> 51:52.437 [SPEAKER_00]: And so it's like, I want to, I just push it, push it into prayer. 51:52.457 --> 51:53.238 [SPEAKER_00]: God, here I am. 51:53.778 --> 52:02.426 [SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes, I don't know if you're like me, but I'm like, well, I know I have a lot that I could pray about, but sometimes like, but what, what do I need to pray about right now? 52:03.387 --> 52:05.148 [SPEAKER_00]: I God, what do you want me to pray about? 52:05.188 --> 52:06.009 [SPEAKER_00]: God, here I am. 52:06.029 --> 52:09.051 [SPEAKER_00]: And I just want to be in this time of God just, 52:09.982 --> 52:10.382 [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know. 52:10.422 --> 52:10.983 [SPEAKER_00]: You used me. 52:11.003 --> 52:13.424 [SPEAKER_00]: I want to be broken for things that break your heart. 52:13.444 --> 52:18.708 [SPEAKER_00]: I want to be excited and rejoicing for the things that make you excited and rejoice. 52:18.728 --> 52:21.990 [SPEAKER_00]: I want to pray for anything you want me to pray about. 52:22.030 --> 52:22.791 [SPEAKER_00]: That's just for me. 52:22.811 --> 52:23.692 [SPEAKER_00]: It's like, I don't want to quit. 52:23.732 --> 52:24.672 [SPEAKER_00]: I don't want you to quit. 52:25.673 --> 52:26.393 [SPEAKER_00]: Press in. 52:26.934 --> 52:27.574 [SPEAKER_00]: God is good. 52:27.594 --> 52:28.595 [SPEAKER_00]: He has something for you. 52:28.615 --> 52:30.456 [SPEAKER_00]: When things get hard, you don't run away. 52:30.496 --> 52:32.297 [SPEAKER_00]: We don't find another route. 52:32.317 --> 52:33.138 [SPEAKER_00]: We don't quit. 52:33.178 --> 52:33.618 [SPEAKER_00]: We just say, 52:40.367 --> 52:42.970 [SPEAKER_00]: God, if you don't come through, I don't know what's going to have. 52:42.990 --> 52:44.031 [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know what's going to do. 52:44.392 --> 52:51.941 [SPEAKER_00]: What I'm going to do, but what you'll find is as Scripture says, as we draw close to God, there's a promise in there. 52:52.001 --> 52:53.283 [SPEAKER_00]: He will draw close to us. 52:54.900 --> 52:56.801 [SPEAKER_00]: He's not as far away as you might think. 52:56.821 --> 52:57.901 [SPEAKER_00]: God, have you abandoned me? 52:57.981 --> 52:59.362 [SPEAKER_00]: No, he's just one prayer away. 52:59.402 --> 53:01.102 [SPEAKER_00]: God, here I am. 53:01.863 --> 53:05.564 [SPEAKER_00]: You might feel like, no, I've done too much and I've pushed God off for too long. 53:05.604 --> 53:08.225 [SPEAKER_00]: Go read some of the Psalms, right? 53:08.345 --> 53:10.926 [SPEAKER_00]: Read some of the things that David writes about his life. 53:10.946 --> 53:12.107 [SPEAKER_00]: He wasn't a perfect man. 53:12.127 --> 53:13.627 [SPEAKER_00]: We know that, right? 53:13.647 --> 53:15.488 [SPEAKER_00]: He just very open and honest with God. 53:15.508 --> 53:17.509 [SPEAKER_00]: Here I am, Lord, like, forgive me. 53:17.949 --> 53:21.050 [SPEAKER_00]: Claims me of my transgressions, my equities, right? 53:21.070 --> 53:21.950 [SPEAKER_00]: He's like, I'm the sinner. 53:21.990 --> 53:22.671 [SPEAKER_00]: I've blown it. 53:23.351 --> 53:26.812 [SPEAKER_00]: But he doesn't run away from God, he runs too God. 53:28.112 --> 53:32.853 [SPEAKER_00]: He follows and runs too God, God comes near to Him, same as true for us. 53:33.713 --> 53:41.555 [SPEAKER_00]: And so the thing I'll close with, I'm gonna close with this verse, first Peter 510. 53:43.656 --> 53:48.337 [SPEAKER_00]: And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, 53:49.653 --> 53:59.668 [SPEAKER_00]: who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. 53:59.688 --> 54:01.290 [SPEAKER_00]: All right, endure. 54:01.330 --> 54:01.971 [SPEAKER_00]: Don't give up. 54:02.011 --> 54:05.196 [SPEAKER_00]: Let God's perfect work be done in your life. 54:06.317 --> 54:19.991 [SPEAKER_00]: don't run from the trials, pray through the trials, see God through the trials and just understand that the goal is not at the end of the day, not an easy life, but we want to have a faithful life, amen. 54:21.332 --> 54:34.562 [SPEAKER_00]: So, Father, we just thank you for your word today that we can look to it and be encouraged, convicted, guided, Lord, and I just pray that you're doing a work in each and every one of us in some way, shape, or form. 54:34.582 --> 54:38.465 [SPEAKER_00]: Those of us going through a trial right now, I pray that's you would strengthen us. 54:39.025 --> 54:44.810 [SPEAKER_00]: That you pour out your spirit, Lord, of freshness, that we would draw near to you that we wouldn't push you off or 54:45.804 --> 54:48.245 [SPEAKER_00]: Run away or quit, over there. 54:48.265 --> 54:56.230 [SPEAKER_00]: We just come before you, seeking what it is that you want from us, for us, God, that you'd bring us peace. 54:57.151 --> 55:05.815 [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, George says that your peace, it surpasses understanding Lord and that as we bring our prayers, our requests to you, God, that's you hear us. 55:05.975 --> 55:07.736 [SPEAKER_00]: And so, God, I just pray for us today. 55:07.797 --> 55:13.300 [SPEAKER_00]: Every man, woman, child here, that's you would pour out your spirit upon us, that you would fill us with peace. 55:14.020 --> 55:26.222 [SPEAKER_00]: That you'd give us knowledge and wisdom to understand that trials are not without purpose, Lord, but that you can use them to sharpen us, to strengthen us, to 55:28.674 --> 55:37.785 [SPEAKER_00]: to build some spiritual soldiers out of us, that we can go out into the world and preach your gospel and live your truth and be the light wherever we go. 55:37.825 --> 55:44.713 [SPEAKER_00]: And so God just strengthened us this morning, encourage our hearts, Lord, and draw us near, and we pray this in Jesus' name. 55:45.434 --> 55:45.834 [SPEAKER_00]: Amen. 55:46.254 --> 55:47.455 [SPEAKER_00]: Thanks again for joining us today. 55:47.475 --> 55:48.995 [SPEAKER_00]: We hope you're blessed by the message. 55:49.055 --> 55:55.717 [SPEAKER_00]: If you need to connect with us or you have prayer request visit fervent.church and we'd love to hear from you and love to be praying for you. 55:55.977 --> 55:58.978 [SPEAKER_00]: Now go out there, live a fervent life so that people may know Jesus. 55:59.058 --> 56:00.159 [SPEAKER_00]: We'll see you on the next one. 56:00.379 --> 56:00.619 [SPEAKER_00]: Peace.