1 00:00:08,080 --> 00:00:10,480 Please take a seat, open your Bibles to the book of Acts 2 00:00:10,480 --> 00:00:15,600 chapter 14. Please check out tomorrow's 3 00:00:15,640 --> 00:00:19,240 devotion. I've written it and I've put a 4 00:00:19,240 --> 00:00:23,360 couple of questions there for you to look at in regard to the 5 00:00:23,360 --> 00:00:29,760 world events, Ezekiel 38 and 39. Will this current crisis, this 6 00:00:29,760 --> 00:00:34,240 war continue or what you know? And so I've put some passages in 7 00:00:34,240 --> 00:00:35,560 there. The answers are found in the 8 00:00:35,560 --> 00:00:39,640 book Always 38 and you'll see some interesting things in 9 00:00:39,640 --> 00:00:41,720 there. That's the daily devotion that's 10 00:00:41,720 --> 00:00:46,000 coming out tomorrow. Acts chapter 14. 11 00:00:47,360 --> 00:00:49,560 We shifted. There's a big shift that's gone 12 00:00:49,560 --> 00:00:55,040 from Peter, the early church to Peter, and now it's gone from 13 00:00:55,040 --> 00:01:01,880 Peter to so he's now called Paul and the first missionary journey 14 00:01:02,240 --> 00:01:04,800 and we'll see that completed tonight. 15 00:01:05,920 --> 00:01:13,840 Now what happened in Iconium? Iconium is in South Central, not 16 00:01:13,840 --> 00:01:16,480 South Central LA, but South Central Turkey. 17 00:01:16,480 --> 00:01:22,240 I find it quite fascinating that Turkey was one of the the very 18 00:01:22,760 --> 00:01:28,040 thriving places of Christianity. Galatia, it's called the church 19 00:01:29,120 --> 00:01:33,240 area of Galatia. And we see so much happened 20 00:01:33,240 --> 00:01:37,400 there and how today Erdogan rules over Turkey, It's a Muslim 21 00:01:37,400 --> 00:01:39,320 nation, how things have changed so much. 22 00:01:39,320 --> 00:01:45,200 But now it happened in Iconium. That's southern part of Turkey, 23 00:01:45,320 --> 00:01:49,440 central, southern central part of Turkey that they went 24 00:01:49,440 --> 00:01:51,960 together to the synagogue of the Jews. 25 00:01:51,960 --> 00:01:58,720 This is Barnabas and Paul and so spoke that a great multitude of 26 00:01:59,040 --> 00:02:03,640 the Jews and the Gentiles believed, as was the pattern, 27 00:02:04,560 --> 00:02:07,560 they would find a synagogue, they would sit there, they'd be 28 00:02:07,560 --> 00:02:11,480 recognised, especially Paul. He was a student of the great 29 00:02:11,480 --> 00:02:16,080 Gamaliel, rabbi teacher, and they would as part of the normal 30 00:02:16,080 --> 00:02:18,000 services, anyone would like to bring a word. 31 00:02:18,600 --> 00:02:20,560 Paul would take that opportunity, get up and start 32 00:02:20,560 --> 00:02:26,080 teaching about Jesus Christ. So both Jews and Gentiles or 33 00:02:26,080 --> 00:02:30,440 Greeks believed, but the unbelieving Jews. 34 00:02:30,440 --> 00:02:34,560 Now here's the thing. You know, we so wish that every 35 00:02:34,560 --> 00:02:37,520 time we spoke to someone that's a Christian would respond, don't 36 00:02:37,520 --> 00:02:38,880 you? You're like, oh, that sounds 37 00:02:38,880 --> 00:02:40,160 good. Yeah, but people don't. 38 00:02:40,680 --> 00:02:42,560 But everyone does. Actually. 39 00:02:42,560 --> 00:02:47,840 Jesus talks in the sorrow on the seed, one and four, one and four 40 00:02:47,840 --> 00:02:51,320 respond. Everyone hears, but only one in 41 00:02:51,320 --> 00:02:55,360 four actually responds in in the sermon and in the parable and 42 00:02:55,360 --> 00:02:58,400 the sour and the seed. But so even though Paul's this 43 00:02:58,400 --> 00:03:04,960 great preacher, astounding preacher, unbelieving Jews 44 00:03:05,960 --> 00:03:10,360 didn't receive it, stirred up the Gentiles and notice it says, 45 00:03:10,680 --> 00:03:14,560 poisoned their minds against their brothers. 46 00:03:17,000 --> 00:03:20,920 There is a battle that goes on and it's in our in our minds. 47 00:03:21,760 --> 00:03:28,720 Paul prays that we would when we're dealing with our unsafe 48 00:03:28,880 --> 00:03:32,240 loved ones, that we would pray that their minds would be open 49 00:03:32,240 --> 00:03:36,600 to receive the gospel. And so there's this battle of 50 00:03:36,600 --> 00:03:39,200 our thoughts. This is where the war goes on 51 00:03:39,200 --> 00:03:42,400 much most of it even in our in our own lives. 52 00:03:42,400 --> 00:03:44,080 You know, we wrestle not with flesh and blood. 53 00:03:44,360 --> 00:03:47,760 We get these thoughts, these attacks, they come in well. 54 00:03:47,760 --> 00:03:51,840 Here is where the spiritual battle is occurring in the minds 55 00:03:51,840 --> 00:03:55,760 of the listeners that Paul and Barnabas were preaching to. 56 00:03:57,080 --> 00:04:01,880 It says, therefore, notice, it says therefore they stayed there 57 00:04:01,880 --> 00:04:04,200 a long time. Why did they stay there? 58 00:04:05,000 --> 00:04:10,440 Because they wanted to continue, not to just be a pushover. 59 00:04:10,720 --> 00:04:14,400 They wanted to, we call it Christian apologetics. 60 00:04:14,400 --> 00:04:17,920 They wanted to argue the toss that Jesus is the Christ. 61 00:04:18,720 --> 00:04:20,560 They weren't just going to go, OK, we'll move on. 62 00:04:21,560 --> 00:04:26,040 No, they wanted to proclaim the truth of the gospel. 63 00:04:28,320 --> 00:04:32,400 Therefore, they stayed there a long time, speaking boldly in 64 00:04:32,400 --> 00:04:35,040 the Lord. The only way you can be bold is 65 00:04:35,040 --> 00:04:38,400 in Christ. Christ gives us the boldness to 66 00:04:38,400 --> 00:04:41,400 speak when there is spiritual opposition. 67 00:04:43,400 --> 00:04:47,800 Who was bearing witness to the word of His grace Notice? 68 00:04:48,080 --> 00:04:52,920 So they've been preaching about the grace of God through Jesus 69 00:04:52,920 --> 00:04:57,000 Christ, and God was supporting their preaching. 70 00:04:57,000 --> 00:05:04,240 How granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands. 71 00:05:04,920 --> 00:05:07,680 And so Paul and Barnabas would preach. 72 00:05:07,680 --> 00:05:11,840 That's the most important thing they're teaching then to support 73 00:05:12,800 --> 00:05:16,080 God's Word. The power of the Holy Spirit was 74 00:05:16,080 --> 00:05:20,280 allowing the impact on people's lives to change. 75 00:05:21,240 --> 00:05:24,040 They were changed by the work of God. 76 00:05:26,120 --> 00:05:32,880 God is always in control. But verse 4, the multitude of 77 00:05:32,880 --> 00:05:39,000 the city was divided, part sided with the Jews, part with the 78 00:05:39,000 --> 00:05:45,120 apostles. And when a violent attempt was 79 00:05:45,120 --> 00:05:50,280 made by both the Gentiles and Jews with their rulers, this is 80 00:05:50,280 --> 00:05:57,160 a mob to abuse and stone them. They became aware of it and fled 81 00:05:57,160 --> 00:06:01,520 to Lystra and Derby. In Matthew chapter 10, verse 23, 82 00:06:01,520 --> 00:06:07,800 there's a a verse we read over and it speaks of when 83 00:06:07,800 --> 00:06:14,000 persecution comes, Jesus says move on to the next city, move 84 00:06:14,000 --> 00:06:17,600 on to the next city. And so this is what they did. 85 00:06:18,000 --> 00:06:25,960 OK, OK, we're moving on cities of Laconia and to the 86 00:06:25,960 --> 00:06:29,920 surrounding region. What did they continue to do? 87 00:06:30,720 --> 00:06:33,320 Preach the Gospel? Notice this. 88 00:06:33,360 --> 00:06:37,800 I find this fascinating that over and over and over as 89 00:06:37,920 --> 00:06:40,400 impostors was going to start the Gospel of Matthew. 90 00:06:41,120 --> 00:06:43,640 We see Jesus do it. We see John the Baptist do it. 91 00:06:43,640 --> 00:06:48,120 We see Peter do it. We see Saul do it, Paul do it. 92 00:06:48,800 --> 00:06:54,800 I kind of wonder what where did the baton drop between the early 93 00:06:54,800 --> 00:06:59,640 church believers and what they preached in the modern day 94 00:06:59,640 --> 00:07:06,080 church that is the gospel because it is growing rare now 95 00:07:06,080 --> 00:07:10,720 to go into a church and hear the gospel of Jesus Christ talk. 96 00:07:10,720 --> 00:07:15,000 What is the gospel? The death, resurrection and 97 00:07:15,000 --> 00:07:18,880 coming again of Jesus. What the death on the cross 98 00:07:18,880 --> 00:07:23,240 means, the salvation of all those who'd received by grace is 99 00:07:23,240 --> 00:07:26,600 forgiveness and the coming of the Lord, the power of the Holy 100 00:07:26,600 --> 00:07:31,160 Spirit against sin to be forgiven, to be justified as we, 101 00:07:31,600 --> 00:07:35,000 as we saw it. Don't ever, don't ever fall for 102 00:07:35,240 --> 00:07:37,880 the thing. Well, we've moved on from that. 103 00:07:37,920 --> 00:07:41,280 You know, I mean, I am safe. No, we always need to hear the 104 00:07:41,280 --> 00:07:44,720 gospel. We always need to hear the 105 00:07:44,720 --> 00:07:47,440 gospel. We always need to be told the 106 00:07:47,440 --> 00:07:51,160 truth of the gospel. Calvary Chapel pastors we used 107 00:07:51,160 --> 00:07:52,920 to meet once a year, Annual conference. 108 00:07:52,920 --> 00:07:56,560 Pastor Chuck would teach and along with other pastors of 109 00:07:56,560 --> 00:07:59,640 Calvary Chapel be over 1500 pastors from all over the world. 110 00:07:59,640 --> 00:08:01,600 We would gather and you know what? 111 00:08:01,840 --> 00:08:05,720 We never learned nothing new. We never heard anything new 112 00:08:06,800 --> 00:08:09,280 because if it's new, it's not true. 113 00:08:09,400 --> 00:08:12,600 And if it's true, it's not new. And so should you. 114 00:08:12,800 --> 00:08:16,720 Peter in the his letter would say, I want to bring into 115 00:08:16,720 --> 00:08:21,160 remembrance, don't, don't yawn at the things of the Bible. 116 00:08:21,160 --> 00:08:24,240 Don't yawn at the book of Genesis and, and the fall of 117 00:08:24,240 --> 00:08:26,560 man. Don't yawn at, at, at, at, at, 118 00:08:26,720 --> 00:08:30,320 at at the gospel of Christ in your life and, and the impact of 119 00:08:30,320 --> 00:08:33,919 it. It is the message for a lost 120 00:08:33,919 --> 00:08:36,600 world. This is why Jesus came. 121 00:08:36,840 --> 00:08:43,600 He came to save sinners like us, and they were preaching the 122 00:08:43,600 --> 00:08:45,720 gospel there. No matter. 123 00:08:45,920 --> 00:08:49,400 They preach the word. It's interesting in Second 124 00:08:49,400 --> 00:08:53,040 Timothy chapter 4, verse 2, before Paul is about to be 125 00:08:53,040 --> 00:08:56,680 executed, he's in prison. He's in Rome, he's chained to 126 00:08:56,680 --> 00:08:59,360 the guards. These are his last words. 127 00:08:59,360 --> 00:09:02,920 So what are his last words to his faithful Timothy? 128 00:09:02,920 --> 00:09:13,280 He's about to meet Timothy, preach the word, 3 words. 129 00:09:14,600 --> 00:09:16,480 I'm going now, Timothy, I'm going to die. 130 00:09:17,400 --> 00:09:22,040 Preach the word. I hope you preach the word to 131 00:09:22,040 --> 00:09:27,920 your kids. I hope you never Tyre of telling 132 00:09:27,920 --> 00:09:32,320 them who Jesus is, why he died on the cross, what the cross 133 00:09:32,320 --> 00:09:37,560 means, how it works, how he rose from the dead, how this is the 134 00:09:37,560 --> 00:09:40,320 sign of the truth and that is coming again. 135 00:09:41,440 --> 00:09:45,120 And in Lystra, a certain man without strength in his feet. 136 00:09:46,040 --> 00:09:50,640 Now this doesn't mean he was injured or he came to Lane later 137 00:09:50,640 --> 00:09:55,320 in years. He a cripple from his mother's 138 00:09:55,320 --> 00:09:59,200 womb. Notice he's from birth, never 139 00:09:59,200 --> 00:10:02,600 walked. Sounds a lot like Axe earlier, 140 00:10:02,600 --> 00:10:05,520 doesn't it? Peter and John on the way to 141 00:10:05,560 --> 00:10:09,520 pray super and gold have I known but such as I have give I thee 142 00:10:09,840 --> 00:10:15,840 similar except in this situation Paul and Barnabas is not going 143 00:10:15,840 --> 00:10:17,720 anywhere. He's not preaching at the time 144 00:10:17,720 --> 00:10:21,520 it says and the Greek language and I looked it up says this man 145 00:10:21,520 --> 00:10:26,680 heard Paul speak speaking and what's what it's saying here. 146 00:10:26,920 --> 00:10:30,000 Paul was just sharing and talking with a group of people 147 00:10:30,520 --> 00:10:34,480 and this guy who's lame, he's sitting there and he's, he's 148 00:10:34,480 --> 00:10:38,880 cued in, he's connecting, he's he's sucking in everything that 149 00:10:38,880 --> 00:10:44,160 Paul's talking about to these other people and says Paul 150 00:10:44,160 --> 00:10:50,600 observing him intently, seeing that he had faith to be healed. 151 00:10:51,280 --> 00:10:56,760 Does this not sound like the same situation with Peter and 152 00:10:56,760 --> 00:11:00,400 John? Look, he looked at him intently 153 00:11:01,320 --> 00:11:04,920 and I want to explain this. It happens not a lot, but I've 154 00:11:04,920 --> 00:11:07,920 had it happen in my life and in this church. 155 00:11:08,680 --> 00:11:14,480 There are times when you're connecting with someone or you 156 00:11:14,480 --> 00:11:18,600 see someone connect and God gives you that kind of push, 157 00:11:18,600 --> 00:11:21,200 that exhortation to go. You need to go and pray for 158 00:11:21,200 --> 00:11:24,520 that. And, and this is a, it's a, it's 159 00:11:24,520 --> 00:11:27,040 an odd situation. There was a person in our 160 00:11:27,040 --> 00:11:30,480 church, they're not here tonight, and they were in 161 00:11:30,680 --> 00:11:35,360 sitting down and I knew there was something they were praying 162 00:11:35,360 --> 00:11:36,920 about. And I'm pretty, pretty sure it 163 00:11:36,920 --> 00:11:40,960 was about a job. And they were quite concerned 164 00:11:40,960 --> 00:11:43,040 about the situation. So I went over to them. 165 00:11:43,040 --> 00:11:45,600 I said, see, you're here tonight. 166 00:11:46,320 --> 00:11:49,080 What's the situation? I said, I'm praying about a job. 167 00:11:49,840 --> 00:11:51,200 Exactly. Let's pray. 168 00:11:52,160 --> 00:11:53,480 Let's pray that you get that job. 169 00:11:54,200 --> 00:11:57,280 It wasn't anything to do with me, it wasn't anything to do 170 00:11:57,280 --> 00:12:01,760 with him, but it was God connecting the dots at the time, 171 00:12:02,200 --> 00:12:05,640 moving through my heart with this person who was listening 172 00:12:05,640 --> 00:12:07,720 intently. We pray next day, have the new 173 00:12:07,720 --> 00:12:12,280 job next day. It doesn't happen all the time, 174 00:12:12,280 --> 00:12:15,240 but there are times when I'll say I need to pray with you now. 175 00:12:15,240 --> 00:12:20,080 I need to pray about this and it's God and hopefully over the 176 00:12:20,080 --> 00:12:23,280 years you get to recognise God saying this is the time to pray 177 00:12:23,280 --> 00:12:27,640 this without any doubts. This is what's this is what I 178 00:12:27,640 --> 00:12:31,120 want you to do. And so Paul does this notice 179 00:12:31,320 --> 00:12:35,760 Paul observing him intently, seeing that he had faith to be 180 00:12:35,760 --> 00:12:37,320 healed. He saw this guy. 181 00:12:37,720 --> 00:12:40,400 There was a connection. The light, the green light went 182 00:12:40,400 --> 00:12:44,320 on within Paul to go and God says this is what I want you to 183 00:12:44,320 --> 00:12:48,520 do. Paul goes and he says to him 184 00:12:48,520 --> 00:12:50,560 with a loud voice. So it's not like, oh hey, stand 185 00:12:51,000 --> 00:12:56,040 up. I think God, he doesn't do that. 186 00:12:56,040 --> 00:12:59,640 Notice he said it was the loud voice to him, so there's can't 187 00:12:59,640 --> 00:13:01,800 be any. I mean, this is not like hit and 188 00:13:01,800 --> 00:13:05,280 miss. He says with a loud 1 stand up 189 00:13:05,280 --> 00:13:08,000 straight on your feet and you go, well, how's he going to 190 00:13:08,000 --> 00:13:09,880 stand up straight? He's never walked in his life. 191 00:13:09,880 --> 00:13:12,160 He's never stood up on his feet in his life. 192 00:13:12,680 --> 00:13:15,800 Kind of like when Peter grabbed that guy's arm and lifted him up 193 00:13:15,800 --> 00:13:17,280 in the air. He could have just fallen back 194 00:13:17,280 --> 00:13:21,480 on his backside, couldn't he? But Peter knew, Paul knew. 195 00:13:21,960 --> 00:13:25,280 There are times in your life when you're praying that God 196 00:13:25,280 --> 00:13:27,400 will give you the green light and you're as you're praying, 197 00:13:27,400 --> 00:13:32,320 you go, this is on, we're on. There's no doubt about this. 198 00:13:32,720 --> 00:13:36,120 This is the Lord telling me to pray this away about this 199 00:13:36,120 --> 00:13:40,600 situation. God is the author of that. 200 00:13:40,880 --> 00:13:45,000 You see, here we see a desperate desire meets a passion for the 201 00:13:45,000 --> 00:13:47,760 lost. The man heard there was a 202 00:13:47,760 --> 00:13:52,480 connection of faith and a miracle occurred and it says and 203 00:13:52,480 --> 00:13:56,040 he leaped and walked. Now when the people saw what 204 00:13:56,040 --> 00:14:00,200 Paul had done, they raised their voices saying in Laconian 205 00:14:00,200 --> 00:14:02,320 language, I guess that's Turkish. 206 00:14:02,320 --> 00:14:05,600 I don't know. The gods have come down to us in 207 00:14:05,600 --> 00:14:07,880 the likeness of men and Barnabas. 208 00:14:07,880 --> 00:14:13,680 They called Zeus Paul Hermes because he was the chief speaker 209 00:14:14,120 --> 00:14:17,240 in the priest of Zeus, whose temple was in front of the city, 210 00:14:17,480 --> 00:14:19,720 brought oxen and garlands to the gates. 211 00:14:20,200 --> 00:14:23,360 They were going to have a big sacrifice with the Malchus cause 212 00:14:23,360 --> 00:14:28,720 all the gods have come to town. There's a story that sits behind 213 00:14:28,720 --> 00:14:31,520 this. It's not in the Bible was told 214 00:14:31,720 --> 00:14:35,760 that this is what part of the reason was that previously the 215 00:14:35,760 --> 00:14:42,320 gods, it's all myth had turned up to this location in Lystra 216 00:14:42,960 --> 00:14:46,040 and only two old people welcomed them and the rest of the town 217 00:14:46,040 --> 00:14:49,040 didn't and the rest of the town died and only two people lived. 218 00:14:49,680 --> 00:14:52,600 And so there's this this myth mythology behind this. 219 00:14:52,880 --> 00:14:55,840 So when this has happened, the towns go whoa, we're not doing 220 00:14:56,160 --> 00:14:57,840 missing out this time. We're on. 221 00:14:57,840 --> 00:15:00,840 We're in this. Now. 222 00:15:00,840 --> 00:15:03,920 I want you to notice this. A miracle occurs. 223 00:15:07,040 --> 00:15:10,080 What does Paul do? But when the apostles Barnabas 224 00:15:10,080 --> 00:15:12,840 and Paul heard this, they tore their clothes. 225 00:15:12,880 --> 00:15:18,040 A Jewish reaction to blasphemy ran in among the multitude. 226 00:15:18,040 --> 00:15:21,760 Hey, hey, stop, stop, stop, stop, man. 227 00:15:21,760 --> 00:15:24,640 Why are you doing these things? We are also men with the same 228 00:15:24,640 --> 00:15:28,920 nature as you and preach to you that you should turn from these 229 00:15:28,920 --> 00:15:31,200 useless things to the living God. 230 00:15:31,960 --> 00:15:34,560 Now I'm going to stop here because there's another lesson. 231 00:15:35,600 --> 00:15:40,760 Paul, in preaching to the Gentiles, didn't give them a 232 00:15:40,760 --> 00:15:45,200 lesson on Old Testament covenants and times. 233 00:15:46,440 --> 00:15:49,040 Why they they haven't got a clue. 234 00:15:49,040 --> 00:15:51,720 They don't know anything about never heard of Abraham, don't 235 00:15:51,720 --> 00:15:55,360 know anything about that or or Jacob or anything Egypt and 236 00:15:55,480 --> 00:15:59,280 stuff like that. No Paul and ministering to the 237 00:15:59,280 --> 00:16:03,120 Gentiles speaks to them about the God of creation. 238 00:16:03,360 --> 00:16:08,760 They that they can connect with that they can connect with. 239 00:16:08,760 --> 00:16:13,080 And so he says, notice, let me speak to you about the living 240 00:16:13,080 --> 00:16:18,000 God who made the heavens creator, the earth, the sea, and 241 00:16:18,000 --> 00:16:20,000 all things that are in them. I want to talk to you about the 242 00:16:20,000 --> 00:16:23,320 Creator God, the very first verse. 243 00:16:23,720 --> 00:16:27,000 In the beginning, God created heaven and the earth, who in 244 00:16:27,000 --> 00:16:31,320 bygone generations allowed all nations to walk in their ways. 245 00:16:32,400 --> 00:16:35,760 Nevertheless, He did not leave himself without witness. 246 00:16:36,040 --> 00:16:39,200 In that He did good. How did He, the blessings of God 247 00:16:39,200 --> 00:16:42,000 fall upon you? He brought rain from heaven, 248 00:16:42,320 --> 00:16:45,960 gave you fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and 249 00:16:45,960 --> 00:16:49,480 gladness. And with these sayings they 250 00:16:49,480 --> 00:16:53,480 could scarcely restrain the multitudes from sacrificing to 251 00:16:53,480 --> 00:16:57,120 them. Trouble is the crowd. 252 00:16:58,680 --> 00:17:02,640 Zeus. And who is the other God? 253 00:17:02,640 --> 00:17:15,520 Hermes then Jews from Antioch and Iconium lob, and having 254 00:17:15,520 --> 00:17:22,200 persuaded the multitudes, they stoned Paul, dragged him out of 255 00:17:22,200 --> 00:17:25,640 the city, supposing him to be dead. 256 00:17:28,440 --> 00:17:35,240 So as Paul's been stoned for preaching the Gospel, who do you 257 00:17:35,240 --> 00:17:40,000 think you thought of? Yeah, man, the circle had really 258 00:17:40,000 --> 00:17:43,360 changed. He's identifying with Stevens. 259 00:17:44,160 --> 00:17:45,760 He's identifying with the God of Steven. 260 00:17:47,920 --> 00:17:51,560 So they drag him out the city. It's a brutal beating to be 261 00:17:51,560 --> 00:17:54,520 stoned. And, you know, people don't go, 262 00:17:54,520 --> 00:17:57,280 oh, I'd recover out of that. Yeah, I just got a big boulder 263 00:17:57,280 --> 00:17:59,600 in the head. And another because this is a 264 00:17:59,600 --> 00:18:01,440 mob, and they're picking up boulders. 265 00:18:01,440 --> 00:18:04,320 First of all, they start off the big boulders that's to stun you 266 00:18:04,320 --> 00:18:06,200 and knock you out. And then they hammer you with 267 00:18:06,200 --> 00:18:09,920 the little bowlers, drag him out the city. 268 00:18:10,560 --> 00:18:16,200 He's dead, limp bodied. However, when the disciples 269 00:18:16,200 --> 00:18:19,160 gathered around him, you kind of wonder, is the disciples 270 00:18:19,160 --> 00:18:21,280 scratching on their head, going, we're on a missionary journey, 271 00:18:21,520 --> 00:18:25,920 what do we do now? Paul's dead, Where do we go? 272 00:18:26,880 --> 00:18:29,680 He's the Barnabas is there. But Paul's doing most of the 273 00:18:29,680 --> 00:18:31,520 preaching. Now what do we do? 274 00:18:34,480 --> 00:18:38,080 So they're standing around him and then he rose up. 275 00:18:39,360 --> 00:18:41,280 What does Paul do? Says let's get out of here. 276 00:18:41,280 --> 00:18:43,400 I've had enough of this mob. Nope. 277 00:18:44,120 --> 00:18:47,080 This. He's got bits and pieces hanging 278 00:18:47,080 --> 00:18:48,960 off his nose. Blood here. 279 00:18:48,960 --> 00:18:51,640 It's bruising. Right? 280 00:18:52,760 --> 00:18:55,720 And where was I with you? I want to tell you about Jesus. 281 00:18:55,720 --> 00:18:59,600 He just does it. You see, here's the here's 282 00:18:59,880 --> 00:19:04,200 here's what I see as about when a person gets saved. 283 00:19:04,200 --> 00:19:09,160 It doesn't matter what happens to you. 284 00:19:10,200 --> 00:19:12,640 It doesn't matter if the doctor says you've got four months to 285 00:19:12,680 --> 00:19:15,160 live. It doesn't matter if you lose 286 00:19:15,160 --> 00:19:18,240 your business. It doesn't matter if things 287 00:19:18,240 --> 00:19:20,320 aren't going well. I mean, getting stoned and left 288 00:19:20,320 --> 00:19:27,800 for dead, not going too good today, Paul, he didn't change, 289 00:19:28,520 --> 00:19:31,240 he continued. This is the race I've been given 290 00:19:31,240 --> 00:19:34,240 to run. He got back and began to run the 291 00:19:34,240 --> 00:19:36,480 race again, proclaiming the gospel. 292 00:19:37,600 --> 00:19:42,560 I want to let you see what salvation in a true believer 293 00:19:42,960 --> 00:19:47,720 looks like. It's real, it's mighty, it's 294 00:19:47,720 --> 00:20:00,700 powerful, and it is unstoppable. So the crowd turned. 295 00:20:01,940 --> 00:20:08,340 Now, as we'll find out later, there was a little kid in the 296 00:20:08,340 --> 00:20:12,040 crowd looking on. The dead body, I believe Paul's 297 00:20:12,040 --> 00:20:17,960 dead doesn't say, just as as if he was dead and his name is 298 00:20:18,720 --> 00:20:25,160 Timothy. So from this horrific scene with 299 00:20:25,160 --> 00:20:27,600 this person, here's another connection. 300 00:20:28,480 --> 00:20:35,200 This young boy says, God, he's been raised by Lois and Eunice. 301 00:20:36,200 --> 00:20:38,040 His dad's a Gentile, not a believer. 302 00:20:39,240 --> 00:20:43,120 If God says to this little boy as he sees this man laying on 303 00:20:43,120 --> 00:20:45,680 the ground, I want to be like him. 304 00:20:47,000 --> 00:20:51,040 I want to do what he does. And Timothy later would become 305 00:20:51,600 --> 00:20:53,880 the new Paul. Isn't it amazing? 306 00:20:55,360 --> 00:20:59,320 Isn't it amazing how the connection came to Timothy? 307 00:20:59,640 --> 00:21:01,040 Not over. Well, there I wasn't. 308 00:21:01,040 --> 00:21:02,880 Church of men are the heavens open up? 309 00:21:02,880 --> 00:21:05,760 And oh, that's this beam of light came down on a man. 310 00:21:06,080 --> 00:21:07,520 Everyone said you should be a preacher. 311 00:21:07,520 --> 00:21:15,400 No, he's looking at a dead person and when notice verse 21. 312 00:21:15,400 --> 00:21:18,640 I'm going to repeat it again broken record when they had 313 00:21:18,640 --> 00:21:25,960 preached what same stuff the Gospel to the city and made many 314 00:21:25,960 --> 00:21:28,360 disciples. They returned to illustrate 315 00:21:28,360 --> 00:21:32,480 Iconium and Antioch, strengthening the souls of the 316 00:21:32,480 --> 00:21:37,400 disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith and saying 317 00:21:38,320 --> 00:21:40,520 we'll stop there. Look at three things. 318 00:21:41,120 --> 00:21:43,560 When they had preached the gospel, first thing they did, 319 00:21:43,560 --> 00:21:46,080 that's our job, going to all the world preach the gospel. 320 00:21:46,240 --> 00:21:49,200 What's their second job? Because just going in the world 321 00:21:49,200 --> 00:21:50,840 preaching the gospel, that's not just it. 322 00:21:51,200 --> 00:21:54,280 Second thing is make them disciples. 323 00:21:54,640 --> 00:21:56,200 We've been told to do that as well. 324 00:21:56,400 --> 00:21:59,800 So you don't just lead someone to Christ now, you nurture them, 325 00:22:00,480 --> 00:22:03,320 pray with them, help them read the Bible, help them to 326 00:22:03,360 --> 00:22:05,560 understand the Bible, help them to grow on the things of the 327 00:22:05,560 --> 00:22:06,880 Lord. That's why church is so 328 00:22:07,120 --> 00:22:14,320 important. And thirdly, it says exhorting 329 00:22:14,320 --> 00:22:17,560 them to continue in the faith and go, guess what? 330 00:22:17,560 --> 00:22:20,520 Things are going to be just perfect. 331 00:22:20,520 --> 00:22:23,600 Now notice what Paul says exhorting them to continue in 332 00:22:23,600 --> 00:22:27,520 the faith. Look what he says saying this is 333 00:22:27,520 --> 00:22:29,800 how he exhorted them to continue to be believers. 334 00:22:30,640 --> 00:22:33,120 We must through many tribulations enter the Kingdom 335 00:22:33,120 --> 00:22:34,080 of God. What? 336 00:22:34,680 --> 00:22:37,440 How many people would hear that coming up The older core, you 337 00:22:37,440 --> 00:22:38,640 know that you come down the older core. 338 00:22:38,640 --> 00:22:40,480 Let me tell you, life's going to get really hard. 339 00:22:40,800 --> 00:22:42,080 Life's going to get really difficult. 340 00:22:42,720 --> 00:22:46,040 Things are going to go, you've just ended war. 341 00:22:46,560 --> 00:22:52,320 War is just started on you. And so Paul wrote that Timothy, 342 00:22:52,960 --> 00:22:55,560 he says if you're going to live for Christ in this world, what 343 00:22:55,760 --> 00:22:58,040 you shall suffer what tribulation. 344 00:22:59,480 --> 00:23:02,880 Why is it that we see him as a church today, the modern church 345 00:23:02,880 --> 00:23:05,840 today. It's so anathema about well, 346 00:23:05,840 --> 00:23:07,080 we're going through a tough time. 347 00:23:07,080 --> 00:23:09,760 You know, things are difficult. Kid at school says the teacher 348 00:23:10,000 --> 00:23:12,360 and he accused me. I'm a I'm a Christian and they 349 00:23:12,760 --> 00:23:16,440 they, they make fun of me and you know, guys at work and I get 350 00:23:16,440 --> 00:23:17,800 a hard time. My boss. 351 00:23:20,520 --> 00:23:26,320 Welcome to the Kingdom of God, to the army of the Lord, to the 352 00:23:26,320 --> 00:23:31,680 ministry of Christ. That's normal Christianity 353 00:23:32,000 --> 00:23:37,040 because that's what it is to live as light salt in a in a 354 00:23:37,080 --> 00:23:42,280 dark, putrid world. We, we got to recognise that 355 00:23:43,360 --> 00:23:47,160 somehow or over time we've only looked at the blessings of God 356 00:23:47,160 --> 00:23:50,800 going, oh, everything's just going perfectly well, I don't 357 00:23:50,800 --> 00:23:55,040 know about that. So we must through many 358 00:23:55,040 --> 00:23:57,040 tribulations, enter the Kingdom of God. 359 00:23:57,320 --> 00:24:01,840 So when they had appointed elders in every church and 360 00:24:01,840 --> 00:24:07,000 prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in 361 00:24:07,000 --> 00:24:11,360 whom they had believed God. Now these men that we have 362 00:24:11,360 --> 00:24:15,840 raised up here in this place, in this new church, we ask that you 363 00:24:15,840 --> 00:24:19,800 give them wisdom, guide them, grant them to lead this church, 364 00:24:20,200 --> 00:24:24,760 and then they ought to move on. In First and Second Timothy, we 365 00:24:24,760 --> 00:24:28,400 learned that Timothy was told how to look for and to appoint 366 00:24:28,600 --> 00:24:31,800 faithful men. You know what? 367 00:24:31,800 --> 00:24:37,640 Faithfulness is 85% turning up. That's what faithfulness is just 368 00:24:37,640 --> 00:24:42,480 turning up is 85% of faithfulness just turn up. 369 00:24:43,680 --> 00:24:48,920 If you turn up, God will use you during the Calvary Chapel days. 370 00:24:48,920 --> 00:24:54,240 Again, great glory. There was a couple of other Mike 371 00:24:54,240 --> 00:24:56,240 McIntosh. And now they're they're all, 372 00:24:56,240 --> 00:24:58,040 they're older than I am. That's pretty old. 373 00:24:58,520 --> 00:25:01,640 And they would, and I've told you before, but they would 374 00:25:01,640 --> 00:25:05,280 gather on their school holidays. They would come, imagine school 375 00:25:05,280 --> 00:25:06,880 holidays. They would come to the church 376 00:25:07,080 --> 00:25:11,160 and sit at the front of Chuck's office waiting to go and do a 377 00:25:11,160 --> 00:25:14,360 job. Hey, can you go and sweep up 378 00:25:14,360 --> 00:25:15,560 down. Yeah, yeah, we're on. 379 00:25:16,000 --> 00:25:18,520 Could you go down the shop, buy some new pencils for this? 380 00:25:18,600 --> 00:25:19,280 Yeah. Great. 381 00:25:20,120 --> 00:25:24,560 And those people, those young men, then became the actual 382 00:25:24,560 --> 00:25:27,080 pastors of churches, of Calvary Chapel. 383 00:25:27,720 --> 00:25:31,960 There's this, there's this, this desire to serve the Lord. 384 00:25:32,840 --> 00:25:37,440 Faithful men just is turning up. After they had passed through 385 00:25:37,440 --> 00:25:39,520 Presidio, they came to Pamphylia. 386 00:25:39,960 --> 00:25:45,480 Now, when they had preached the word in Perga, they went down to 387 00:25:45,520 --> 00:25:50,800 Italia. From there they sailed to 388 00:25:50,840 --> 00:25:52,960 Antioch. So remember, they've been in 389 00:25:53,320 --> 00:25:55,640 Turkey. So they hop on the boat on the 390 00:25:55,640 --> 00:26:00,640 coast of Turkey, and now they sail back the Mediterranean and 391 00:26:00,640 --> 00:26:04,600 they go back to Antioch in Syria. 392 00:26:05,080 --> 00:26:10,720 To the north of Syria, sorry, to the north of Israel is Syria. 393 00:26:10,920 --> 00:26:13,760 Antioch is there. Antioch had become the 394 00:26:13,760 --> 00:26:15,240 headquarters of the early church. 395 00:26:15,520 --> 00:26:23,560 Moved from Jerusalem to Antioch, from where they sail to Antioch 396 00:26:23,560 --> 00:26:27,120 where they had been commended to the grace of God, recommended 397 00:26:27,200 --> 00:26:30,200 commended to the grace of God for the work which they had 398 00:26:30,200 --> 00:26:33,760 completed. They've been away for about a 399 00:26:33,840 --> 00:26:38,240 year doing all this so far. First missionary journey. 400 00:26:39,640 --> 00:26:44,320 And when they had come gathered the church together, what did 401 00:26:44,320 --> 00:26:47,440 they do? They reported all that God had 402 00:26:47,440 --> 00:26:56,000 done with them and notices that he God had opened the door of 403 00:26:56,000 --> 00:27:00,120 faith to the Gentiles. Where did it start? 404 00:27:00,360 --> 00:27:05,960 Do you remember Acts chapter 10 with Peter and then Paul took 405 00:27:05,960 --> 00:27:10,560 over because Paul remember his calling was being Peter would go 406 00:27:10,560 --> 00:27:14,200 to the Jews and Paul would be the one who would lead the 407 00:27:14,200 --> 00:27:19,480 ministry to the Gentiles. And so they stayed there a long 408 00:27:19,480 --> 00:27:23,000 time with the disciples. The door. 409 00:27:23,320 --> 00:27:28,360 Did you know that that door to the Gentiles, that's us is still 410 00:27:28,360 --> 00:27:30,880 open. There was a time and I tell you 411 00:27:30,920 --> 00:27:35,800 as a Calvary Chapel pastor in Australia and in West Australia, 412 00:27:35,800 --> 00:27:41,760 it was, it was tough in California and the US Calvary 413 00:27:41,760 --> 00:27:43,840 Chapel, you used to, there used to be a joke. 414 00:27:43,840 --> 00:27:46,640 You used to put a sign Calvary Chapel out front. 50 people 415 00:27:46,640 --> 00:27:49,080 would come to church, 100 people would come to church in 416 00:27:49,080 --> 00:27:50,440 Australia. Calvary Chapel. 417 00:27:50,680 --> 00:27:54,240 What is that? No one knew. 418 00:27:54,240 --> 00:27:57,720 And I, I used to think I'd tell you, talk to Helen. 419 00:27:57,720 --> 00:28:01,120 We had just the kids coming to church, maybe one or two other 420 00:28:01,120 --> 00:28:06,920 people and we'd pray and pray and, and and and it was God 421 00:28:06,920 --> 00:28:10,480 teaching us I to be faithful. But B. 422 00:28:11,080 --> 00:28:14,400 What happened is Calvary Chapel San Bernardino in particular, 423 00:28:14,400 --> 00:28:19,640 under Pastor John Miller and other Calvary chapels connected 424 00:28:19,640 --> 00:28:23,000 with us through prayer and began to pray. 425 00:28:24,280 --> 00:28:28,840 And through prayer, I know that the hard hearted Australians, 426 00:28:29,920 --> 00:28:33,840 and we are hard hearted Australians, started to be 427 00:28:33,840 --> 00:28:36,560 softened. People began to come to Christ 428 00:28:37,960 --> 00:28:41,000 and then I got a job that happened to be with the state 429 00:28:41,000 --> 00:28:44,960 government police and I still am. 430 00:28:44,960 --> 00:28:47,680 I'm going for catching up with the Governor General and the 431 00:28:47,680 --> 00:28:50,280 Commissioner of Police next week just for casual, going for a 432 00:28:50,280 --> 00:28:55,160 walk together and Calvary Chapel was allowed to have this 433 00:28:55,240 --> 00:28:59,320 opening. It was all the work of God that 434 00:28:59,320 --> 00:29:02,080 we would be talked to the Premier, we would talk to other 435 00:29:02,080 --> 00:29:05,200 people and we would mention Calvary Chapel when we got this 436 00:29:05,200 --> 00:29:09,520 block of land here. Sadly, I'd never heard of 437 00:29:09,520 --> 00:29:15,520 Calvary Chapel, nor had the I can't think of his name now. 438 00:29:15,520 --> 00:29:19,480 He was a Governor General in waa lawyer, but doesn't matter, 439 00:29:19,480 --> 00:29:22,720 doesn't matter names. And I had to meet with them, him 440 00:29:23,280 --> 00:29:28,120 and Nigel, sadly, because we said, you know, we'd like to 441 00:29:28,120 --> 00:29:34,880 have a church here. And he said tell me what's a 442 00:29:34,880 --> 00:29:40,000 Calvary Chapel? And then they researched us, got 443 00:29:40,000 --> 00:29:43,200 a little bit more about in America and explained. 444 00:29:44,400 --> 00:29:49,920 And it was God who allowed us to go for them to go. 445 00:29:49,920 --> 00:29:54,480 You know what, We'll give you give you this block of land. 446 00:29:56,320 --> 00:30:00,000 We'll give you this block of land, millions of dollars worth 447 00:30:00,000 --> 00:30:02,920 of land. Just got to build a church on 448 00:30:02,960 --> 00:30:07,960 it. I went, oh OK, we're in a 449 00:30:07,960 --> 00:30:09,320 community centre across the road. 450 00:30:10,600 --> 00:30:13,480 Build a church. It's got like someone I used to 451 00:30:13,480 --> 00:30:16,560 say to people, it's like someone saying I've got a Rolls Royce, 452 00:30:16,560 --> 00:30:20,600 the latest Rolls Royce, it's worth 4.5 million. 453 00:30:22,520 --> 00:30:26,120 You can have it. If you give me $100,000 today, 454 00:30:26,200 --> 00:30:31,160 you go in cash. I haven't got $100,000. 455 00:30:31,240 --> 00:30:33,920 You know, it's like it's the deal, it's the deal. 456 00:30:33,920 --> 00:30:43,440 And I, I remember saying, Lord and the Lord pushed me aside and 457 00:30:43,440 --> 00:30:46,040 said, this is not your church. You have nothing to do with 458 00:30:46,040 --> 00:30:47,480 this. This is my church. 459 00:30:47,960 --> 00:30:52,280 I'm building it. And within seven years this 460 00:30:52,280 --> 00:30:57,240 church was owned. Within seven years, we never 461 00:30:57,240 --> 00:31:01,400 raised any. You got to put your house up for 462 00:31:01,400 --> 00:31:03,920 collateral. We went to a bank. 463 00:31:04,360 --> 00:31:08,280 All the banks got to be kidding, went to one building company 464 00:31:08,280 --> 00:31:11,480 said not a not a hope. This is when there was the GFC 465 00:31:11,480 --> 00:31:14,040 was going on the world financial crisis. 466 00:31:14,440 --> 00:31:20,320 We're going to build a church. And so we went to these places 467 00:31:20,800 --> 00:31:23,960 and then a bank said, yeah, we'll give you a loan. 468 00:31:26,800 --> 00:31:31,440 No guarantees now houses, you know, all the churches, if 469 00:31:31,440 --> 00:31:34,160 you've ever been around church, you know, people pledge their 470 00:31:34,160 --> 00:31:35,920 church. And then we have this, this 471 00:31:35,960 --> 00:31:38,400 metre on the wall that when we're nearly there, we're going 472 00:31:38,400 --> 00:31:41,120 there and let's, you know, let's, let's have another 473 00:31:41,280 --> 00:31:43,800 washing cars this weekend. We raised $300. 474 00:31:43,800 --> 00:31:47,760 We just need another $1,000,000. We got 300 so far. 475 00:31:48,600 --> 00:31:54,120 And God did it all. You see, God works miraculously. 476 00:31:54,120 --> 00:31:59,960 It's His work, and He invites you tonight, like Paul and 477 00:31:59,960 --> 00:32:04,560 Barnabas, to be connected by faith to His work. 478 00:32:06,960 --> 00:32:10,240 But you only get that connection as Paul and Barnabas did when 479 00:32:10,240 --> 00:32:15,040 they saw that man. If you're on the mission, if 480 00:32:15,040 --> 00:32:18,360 you're home and not on the mission, you won't see that guy. 481 00:32:18,360 --> 00:32:19,800 You won't even come across that guy. 482 00:32:21,200 --> 00:32:24,080 God has it worked for us. The door is open. 483 00:32:24,440 --> 00:32:30,200 God has opened the door. The time is short, the rapture 484 00:32:30,200 --> 00:32:33,040 is soon, the tribulation to follow. 485 00:32:34,800 --> 00:32:36,320 We live in exciting times.