1 00:00:01,668 --> 00:00:05,121 Acts 11:19–26 2 00:00:06,356 --> 00:00:09,392 Now, those who were scattered because of the persecution 3 00:00:09,392 --> 00:00:13,947 that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus 4 00:00:13,947 --> 00:00:18,385 and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except Jews. 5 00:00:18,401 --> 00:00:23,707 But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who, when coming to Antioch, 6 00:00:23,707 --> 00:00:27,627 spoke to the Helenus, also preaching the Lord Jesus. 7 00:00:27,627 --> 00:00:30,280 And the hand of the Lord was with them, 8 00:00:30,280 --> 00:00:33,283 and a great number who believed turned to the Lord. 9 00:00:33,433 --> 00:00:37,070 The report of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, 10 00:00:37,070 --> 00:00:40,073 and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. 11 00:00:40,190 --> 00:00:45,829 When he came and saw the grace of God, he was glad, and he exhorted them all 12 00:00:45,829 --> 00:00:49,883 to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose. 13 00:00:49,883 --> 00:00:54,354 For he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. 14 00:00:54,754 --> 00:00:57,991 And a great many people were added to the Lord. 15 00:00:58,675 --> 00:01:01,678 So Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, 16 00:01:01,878 --> 00:01:04,881 and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. 17 00:01:05,348 --> 00:01:10,120 For a whole year they met with the church and taught a great many people. 18 00:01:10,120 --> 00:01:15,075 And in Antioch the disciples were first called Christians. 19 00:01:18,361 --> 00:01:20,029 Hey everybody, welcome to CCC. 20 00:01:20,029 --> 00:01:20,830 My name is Joe. 21 00:01:20,830 --> 00:01:24,033 I'm one of the pastors here, and I'm glad you've come. 22 00:01:24,601 --> 00:01:24,951 All right. 23 00:01:24,951 --> 00:01:29,522 This is the eighth week of our ten week series in the book of Acts. 24 00:01:29,522 --> 00:01:32,642 We're calling this series room for more. 25 00:01:33,359 --> 00:01:35,628 I told you last week that we're actually 26 00:01:35,628 --> 00:01:41,718 looking at the origin of this phenomenon we call the church, 27 00:01:41,918 --> 00:01:45,588 and I call it a phenomenon for a number of reasons, not the least of 28 00:01:45,588 --> 00:01:49,309 which is that it started with a handful of peasants. 29 00:01:49,476 --> 00:01:52,479 And now, 2000 years later, 30 00:01:52,912 --> 00:01:57,150 it has crossed through the centuries over oceans, 31 00:01:57,150 --> 00:02:01,671 through a bunch of different languages, through innumerable people groups. 32 00:02:01,671 --> 00:02:05,508 And right here to Hudson, Ohio. 33 00:02:05,959 --> 00:02:09,679 It's pretty remarkable that Jesus started the church 34 00:02:09,762 --> 00:02:14,801 and he didn't start it for the disciples and their friends and family. 35 00:02:14,868 --> 00:02:20,473 He started the church to be a movement to actually change the world. 36 00:02:21,157 --> 00:02:25,028 In acts chapter one, Jesus has died on the cross. 37 00:02:25,028 --> 00:02:26,029 He is resurrected. 38 00:02:26,029 --> 00:02:30,433 He spent 40 days appearing to the disciples, teaching them different things. 39 00:02:30,433 --> 00:02:35,471 He's about to ascend and he gives the last his last instructions to the disciples. 40 00:02:35,471 --> 00:02:38,508 This is what he says, but you will receive power 41 00:02:38,508 --> 00:02:41,794 when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, 42 00:02:41,794 --> 00:02:45,031 and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, 43 00:02:45,031 --> 00:02:50,069 and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. 44 00:02:50,720 --> 00:02:52,789 And then he ascends. 45 00:02:52,789 --> 00:02:56,593 And every one of the disciples stayed in Jerusalem. 46 00:02:57,227 --> 00:03:00,914 Jesus says, you're going to be my witnesses in Jerusalem, 47 00:03:00,997 --> 00:03:05,201 Judea, Samaria, the whole world, right? 48 00:03:05,235 --> 00:03:09,873 Not a single disciple went home, packed a bag, and said, I got Judea and Samaria. 49 00:03:09,923 --> 00:03:12,308 Anybody coming with right? Nobody. 50 00:03:12,308 --> 00:03:13,309 They just stayed there. 51 00:03:13,309 --> 00:03:15,912 They did remarkable things in Jerusalem. 52 00:03:15,912 --> 00:03:18,748 They led tons of people to Jesus. 53 00:03:18,748 --> 00:03:23,403 But I think sometimes we're in danger of being content 54 00:03:23,403 --> 00:03:27,307 with something less than what God wants. 55 00:03:27,991 --> 00:03:31,160 You know, right now we are in the midst of building here at. 56 00:03:31,711 --> 00:03:35,398 And while our sanctuary is being renovated, we've had to adjust 57 00:03:35,398 --> 00:03:36,599 to a lot of different things. 58 00:03:36,599 --> 00:03:40,587 We had to change what used to be our gym into a worship venue. 59 00:03:40,637 --> 00:03:43,439 We still have East Hall as a worship venue. 60 00:03:43,439 --> 00:03:44,591 That wasn't enough. 61 00:03:44,591 --> 00:03:48,027 So during the summer we had a tent outside in the parking lot. 62 00:03:48,027 --> 00:03:50,029 If we knew the weather was going to be like this, 63 00:03:50,029 --> 00:03:54,000 we'd still have the tent out there, but we collapsed the tent. 64 00:03:54,033 --> 00:03:59,923 Now we meet at the block during the ten 30 hour to make space for all of that. 65 00:03:59,923 --> 00:04:04,110 Now we hope if everything goes well that we will be in the sanctuary 66 00:04:04,110 --> 00:04:08,948 within a month, and then we'll be working on the kids 67 00:04:08,948 --> 00:04:12,552 area, and the kids area will be a mess, where 68 00:04:12,552 --> 00:04:16,322 we're building a two story playground and renovating the whole kids space. 69 00:04:16,556 --> 00:04:20,243 I tell you all that because sometimes it's easy to get fatigued. 70 00:04:20,276 --> 00:04:23,596 Ended up saying, why are we doing all this? 71 00:04:23,713 --> 00:04:25,598 Why didn't we just leave it the way it was? 72 00:04:25,598 --> 00:04:29,035 And the answer is because God's heart 73 00:04:29,235 --> 00:04:32,438 is always to make room for more. 74 00:04:33,389 --> 00:04:35,642 Always, always. 75 00:04:35,642 --> 00:04:38,594 God is always looking for more. 76 00:04:38,594 --> 00:04:42,115 That's why I love that our church has three 77 00:04:42,315 --> 00:04:47,003 monstrous goals to try to accomplish by the year 2050. 78 00:04:47,120 --> 00:04:52,041 We want to see 10,000 people come to know Jesus within a ten mile radius. 79 00:04:52,442 --> 00:04:55,995 We want to have plant 60 churches in Northeast Ohio. 80 00:04:55,995 --> 00:04:59,399 We want to give $30 million to missions. 81 00:04:59,682 --> 00:05:02,268 Those goals don't just come from us. 82 00:05:02,268 --> 00:05:07,507 They come from this verse where Jesus says, I want you to be my witnesses 83 00:05:07,957 --> 00:05:13,313 in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, to the uttermost parts of the world. 84 00:05:14,113 --> 00:05:16,316 So Jesus tells to the disciples 85 00:05:16,316 --> 00:05:19,352 that they all stay in Jerusalem. 86 00:05:19,435 --> 00:05:22,989 You know, Jesus told the story in the Gospels about a farmer 87 00:05:22,989 --> 00:05:27,276 who went out to so see that he threw seed all over the place. 88 00:05:27,276 --> 00:05:30,396 And in Jesus story, says the farmer, some of the seed 89 00:05:30,396 --> 00:05:34,200 fell on good soil, and the seed that fell on good soil 90 00:05:34,233 --> 00:05:37,353 had a harvest some 30 fold, 60 91 00:05:37,387 --> 00:05:40,390 fold, some even 100 fold. 92 00:05:40,440 --> 00:05:44,761 Seed was meant to be scattered so it could multiply. 93 00:05:45,561 --> 00:05:50,550 The title of this message is the church is multiplying. 94 00:05:50,633 --> 00:05:53,319 The church is multiplying. Here are my three points. 95 00:05:53,319 --> 00:05:58,558 The church multiplies when ordinary people are talking about Jesus. 96 00:05:58,991 --> 00:06:03,162 When just ordinary people are talking about Jesus, the church multiplies. 97 00:06:03,162 --> 00:06:07,316 When ordinary people are being changed by grace, 98 00:06:07,400 --> 00:06:11,521 and when ordinary people become extraordinary. 99 00:06:11,871 --> 00:06:12,839 All right. 100 00:06:12,839 --> 00:06:16,275 First, when ordinary people talk about 101 00:06:16,275 --> 00:06:19,278 Jesus, this is the way the passage starts. 102 00:06:19,278 --> 00:06:22,632 It says, now those who were scattered because of the persecution 103 00:06:22,632 --> 00:06:26,869 that arose over Stephen, traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus 104 00:06:26,869 --> 00:06:30,790 and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except Jews. 105 00:06:30,790 --> 00:06:35,828 But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who uncommon to Antioch, 106 00:06:35,828 --> 00:06:40,083 spoke to the Helenus, also preaching the Lord Jesus. 107 00:06:40,516 --> 00:06:43,403 Okay, so what's happened? 108 00:06:43,403 --> 00:06:48,841 Steven in chapter seven was murdered because he was preaching about Jesus. 109 00:06:48,841 --> 00:06:53,379 And then persecution hits everybody and they are run out. 110 00:06:53,429 --> 00:06:54,797 They run for their lives. 111 00:06:54,797 --> 00:06:58,000 Houses burned down, they lose their jobs, they leave 112 00:06:58,034 --> 00:07:01,387 family, friends, all of that, and they head out. 113 00:07:01,387 --> 00:07:06,509 And it seems like like Christianity is going to be extinguished 114 00:07:06,509 --> 00:07:10,746 by this persecution, but instead it 115 00:07:10,797 --> 00:07:14,033 remarkably spreads like wildfire. 116 00:07:14,550 --> 00:07:15,201 Okay. 117 00:07:15,201 --> 00:07:19,155 When I say ordinary people, I mean in these verses 118 00:07:19,155 --> 00:07:22,191 there are two names that are mentioned towards the end. 119 00:07:22,241 --> 00:07:24,477 One is Barnabas and one is Paul. 120 00:07:24,477 --> 00:07:25,761 They're the headliners. 121 00:07:25,761 --> 00:07:27,480 That's like Pastor Zach. 122 00:07:27,480 --> 00:07:32,401 Pastor Joe, like nobody else is mentioned by name. 123 00:07:32,718 --> 00:07:37,190 It just says they were all sharing Jesus first to Jews. 124 00:07:37,190 --> 00:07:40,443 And then some of them started sharing with the Helenus. 125 00:07:41,027 --> 00:07:45,715 Paul and Barnabas were called in after the church was already multiplying. 126 00:07:45,882 --> 00:07:47,600 But they're talking about Jesus. 127 00:07:47,600 --> 00:07:48,868 Let me stop right there. 128 00:07:50,002 --> 00:07:50,353 Okay. 129 00:07:50,353 --> 00:07:52,922 They have to run for their lives from Jerusalem. 130 00:07:52,922 --> 00:07:57,160 They go 500 miles north to what is now southern Turkey, 131 00:07:57,160 --> 00:07:59,479 to a place called Antioch. 132 00:07:59,479 --> 00:08:02,798 Right when they get there, they begin to. 133 00:08:02,882 --> 00:08:05,868 Now, if put yourself in that position, 134 00:08:06,068 --> 00:08:09,071 you've been run out of town because you've been talking about Jesus. 135 00:08:09,355 --> 00:08:10,907 You get to a place that you don't know. 136 00:08:10,907 --> 00:08:13,709 You see people that are other Christians that have run. 137 00:08:13,709 --> 00:08:14,827 Don't you think you would grab them 138 00:08:14,827 --> 00:08:18,631 and say, listen, let's worship at my house will worship in my basement. 139 00:08:18,631 --> 00:08:20,433 We'll still worship Jesus. 140 00:08:20,433 --> 00:08:22,001 Just keep our heads down. 141 00:08:22,001 --> 00:08:23,553 It's kind of scary. 142 00:08:23,553 --> 00:08:25,271 That's not what they did. 143 00:08:25,271 --> 00:08:26,956 They were talking to people about Jesus. 144 00:08:26,956 --> 00:08:29,308 They were talking to Jews, fellow Jews. 145 00:08:29,308 --> 00:08:32,995 It was the Jews, fellow Jews, who had run them out of Jerusalem. 146 00:08:32,995 --> 00:08:33,996 That's one thing. 147 00:08:33,996 --> 00:08:36,999 My second question is this what was that conversation like? 148 00:08:37,350 --> 00:08:40,203 Like somebody says, hey, where are you from? 149 00:08:40,203 --> 00:08:42,922 And they say, we're from Jerusalem. 150 00:08:42,922 --> 00:08:43,639 Oh, really? 151 00:08:43,639 --> 00:08:45,641 What brought you all the way to Antioch? 152 00:08:45,641 --> 00:08:49,562 Well, they burned our house down and they ran us out of town. 153 00:08:49,562 --> 00:08:52,715 And they said, why did they do that? 154 00:08:52,715 --> 00:08:55,351 And the answer is, because of Jesus. 155 00:08:55,351 --> 00:08:57,920 You want to hear about them, right? 156 00:08:57,920 --> 00:08:59,522 That's a tough sell. 157 00:08:59,522 --> 00:09:03,392 I you know, I was convicted by this because sometimes when I share Jesus 158 00:09:03,392 --> 00:09:08,030 with people, I always want to put him in a way that will enhance, 159 00:09:08,281 --> 00:09:11,601 like a supplement that will enhance, that will make their lives better. 160 00:09:11,601 --> 00:09:14,587 That's not what they that's not what they cared about. 161 00:09:15,187 --> 00:09:17,189 They were convinced that Jesus had resurrected 162 00:09:17,189 --> 00:09:21,227 that was the news and that he had come to forgive people of their sins. 163 00:09:21,227 --> 00:09:24,230 So they were telling anybody and everybody, 164 00:09:24,597 --> 00:09:28,834 you know, there's a song that I want sung at my funeral. 165 00:09:29,151 --> 00:09:30,686 It's called Give Me Jesus. 166 00:09:30,686 --> 00:09:33,923 And the refrain goes, you can have all this world, 167 00:09:34,473 --> 00:09:37,310 you can have all this world. 168 00:09:37,310 --> 00:09:39,111 You can have all this world. 169 00:09:40,079 --> 00:09:42,548 Give me Jesus. 170 00:09:42,548 --> 00:09:44,717 That's what these people are like. 171 00:09:44,717 --> 00:09:48,588 The church multiplies when ordinary people, 172 00:09:49,272 --> 00:09:54,043 people like you, are so convinced about Jesus 173 00:09:54,226 --> 00:09:58,547 that he becomes worth anything and everything. 174 00:09:59,315 --> 00:10:01,867 So you talk about it. 175 00:10:01,867 --> 00:10:04,787 The second reason that it spread 176 00:10:04,787 --> 00:10:07,840 is that it says that they first were talking to Jews. 177 00:10:07,840 --> 00:10:10,159 That's the first verse in verse 19. 178 00:10:10,159 --> 00:10:14,113 And then it says, but there were some of them, men from Cyprus and Cyrene 179 00:10:14,113 --> 00:10:17,116 who went coming to Antioch, spoke to the Helenus. 180 00:10:17,199 --> 00:10:17,833 All right. 181 00:10:17,833 --> 00:10:20,636 Helenus are Greek pagans. 182 00:10:20,636 --> 00:10:22,188 So there's a difference. 183 00:10:22,188 --> 00:10:24,640 Like Jews believed in God already. 184 00:10:24,640 --> 00:10:27,910 So it seemed like you just had to convince them 185 00:10:27,910 --> 00:10:30,913 that about Jesus, which was no small task. 186 00:10:30,913 --> 00:10:34,867 But Helenus, Greek pagans may or may not believe in God, 187 00:10:34,867 --> 00:10:36,836 certainly not the way Jews did. 188 00:10:36,836 --> 00:10:41,474 And they were not moral people, especially with sexual morality. 189 00:10:41,474 --> 00:10:43,309 They were wild, right? 190 00:10:43,309 --> 00:10:46,278 So what happened was that 191 00:10:46,278 --> 00:10:48,914 they started talking to everybody. 192 00:10:48,914 --> 00:10:52,268 Like, there's a story that Jesus tells in Luke chapter 15. 193 00:10:52,435 --> 00:10:55,388 You know, we tend to think of it as the story of the prodigal son. 194 00:10:55,388 --> 00:10:57,523 But a father has two sons. 195 00:10:57,523 --> 00:11:01,477 One is the older brother who does everything right. 196 00:11:01,510 --> 00:11:03,162 He's very moral. 197 00:11:03,162 --> 00:11:06,632 And then there's the younger brother who's super immoral. 198 00:11:06,716 --> 00:11:10,269 But in Jesus story, they're both separated from the father, 199 00:11:10,269 --> 00:11:13,723 and the father wants them both to come home. 200 00:11:13,789 --> 00:11:17,677 So what happens here is that these people, ordinary people, 201 00:11:17,677 --> 00:11:20,680 are talking about Jesus, but they're talking about Jesus, who 202 00:11:20,680 --> 00:11:24,116 they to people that they think might be interested in God. 203 00:11:24,150 --> 00:11:28,471 They're talking about Jesus to people that they think are far away from God. 204 00:11:28,521 --> 00:11:29,588 They don't care. 205 00:11:29,588 --> 00:11:33,042 They know that Jesus wants all of them, 206 00:11:33,242 --> 00:11:36,228 so they talk to everyone. 207 00:11:36,679 --> 00:11:40,282 So that's the first thing, is that the church multiplies 208 00:11:40,282 --> 00:11:44,070 when ordinary people are talking about Jesus. 209 00:11:44,387 --> 00:11:48,074 The second thing is the church multiplies when ordinary people are being changed 210 00:11:48,074 --> 00:11:49,475 by grace. 211 00:11:49,475 --> 00:11:52,828 So what it says beginning of verse 21, it says, in the hand of the Lord 212 00:11:52,828 --> 00:11:55,881 was with them, and a great number who believed turned to the Lord. 213 00:11:55,881 --> 00:11:59,719 The report of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem. 214 00:11:59,719 --> 00:12:02,121 And they sent Barnabas to Antioch. 215 00:12:02,121 --> 00:12:07,676 When he came and saw the grace of God, he was glad, and he exhorted them all 216 00:12:07,676 --> 00:12:10,880 to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose. 217 00:12:11,430 --> 00:12:16,235 That phrase, when he came and saw the grace of God, 218 00:12:17,720 --> 00:12:19,321 what does that mean? 219 00:12:19,321 --> 00:12:22,158 Like how do you see grace? 220 00:12:22,158 --> 00:12:24,427 Like grace doesn't come in a vial. 221 00:12:24,427 --> 00:12:27,113 Grace doesn't come in tablets. 222 00:12:27,113 --> 00:12:30,199 The only way you see grace is the evidence 223 00:12:30,199 --> 00:12:33,202 that grace has on someone's life. 224 00:12:34,203 --> 00:12:35,955 It put it this way. 225 00:12:35,955 --> 00:12:41,310 In 1843, Charles Dickens wrote a story called and he called it A Christmas Carol. 226 00:12:41,360 --> 00:12:43,562 It became a classic. 227 00:12:43,562 --> 00:12:46,549 It's about a man named Ebenezer Scrooge. 228 00:12:46,949 --> 00:12:48,601 You probably know the story. 229 00:12:48,601 --> 00:12:50,402 I'll just run through it quickly. 230 00:12:50,402 --> 00:12:52,321 Ebenezer Scrooge starts out. 231 00:12:52,321 --> 00:12:54,123 He is angry. 232 00:12:54,123 --> 00:12:55,307 He's frustrated. 233 00:12:55,307 --> 00:12:57,910 He's joyless. He's stingy. 234 00:12:57,910 --> 00:12:59,278 He's unkind. 235 00:12:59,278 --> 00:13:00,679 He's not compassionate. 236 00:13:00,679 --> 00:13:02,314 He just allows a guy. 237 00:13:02,314 --> 00:13:04,867 And then it's Christmas Eve. 238 00:13:04,867 --> 00:13:07,036 He's visited by the ghost of Christmas past. 239 00:13:07,036 --> 00:13:09,555 Christmas? Christmas future. 240 00:13:09,555 --> 00:13:11,907 He wakes up Christmas morning 241 00:13:11,907 --> 00:13:15,027 and he realizes that it's Christmas Day. 242 00:13:15,828 --> 00:13:18,147 And I always love the movie 243 00:13:18,147 --> 00:13:21,600 where it's George C Scott plays Ebenezer Scrooge, 244 00:13:22,117 --> 00:13:27,239 and he throws open the window and he is so full of joy 245 00:13:27,273 --> 00:13:29,241 and he yells down at a boy, 246 00:13:29,241 --> 00:13:32,628 and he gets him to go and buy the big goose for Bob Cratchit. 247 00:13:32,678 --> 00:13:35,631 He makes a huge donation to the poor. 248 00:13:35,631 --> 00:13:38,667 He ends up being full of joy 249 00:13:38,667 --> 00:13:41,670 and happiness and compassion and love. 250 00:13:41,921 --> 00:13:44,907 He is a radically different man 251 00:13:45,157 --> 00:13:48,477 now, when he would tell his story that in this, 252 00:13:48,511 --> 00:13:52,882 the story of the Christmas Carol doesn't go into this, but people could decide 253 00:13:52,882 --> 00:13:54,867 whether they were going to believe that 254 00:13:54,867 --> 00:13:59,188 he really experienced Christmas past, present and future. 255 00:13:59,438 --> 00:14:03,792 But they could not deny that he was different, 256 00:14:04,560 --> 00:14:08,998 that on December 23rd he was one kind of man. 257 00:14:09,315 --> 00:14:14,203 And on December 25th he was completely different. 258 00:14:15,271 --> 00:14:16,922 That's grace. 259 00:14:16,922 --> 00:14:21,911 I have a friend named Sanjay Kalra in Atlanta now. 260 00:14:21,911 --> 00:14:25,514 I used to live here in Hudson, and Sands would come 261 00:14:25,514 --> 00:14:29,351 to church every once in a while, but he wasn't serious about church. 262 00:14:29,401 --> 00:14:34,590 Word around town was that Sandy lived fast and loose in his neighborhood. 263 00:14:34,590 --> 00:14:39,912 He lived right off here on 303, and he had a house with a cupola on top, 264 00:14:39,962 --> 00:14:43,716 where if the light was on in Sanders house and his cupola, 265 00:14:43,749 --> 00:14:48,988 that meant that he was having a party, and his parties were known to be wild. 266 00:14:49,038 --> 00:14:49,638 Right. 267 00:14:49,638 --> 00:14:54,159 And then Sanjay experienced a crisis, and his life was kind of falling 268 00:14:54,193 --> 00:14:55,561 like a house of cards. 269 00:14:55,561 --> 00:14:59,148 So he came to church to meet with one of our pastors. 270 00:14:59,198 --> 00:15:03,319 It was a guy named Marshall Brandon at the time, and I love this story. 271 00:15:03,319 --> 00:15:07,156 So he comes in to see Marshall and seeing just crying and everything 272 00:15:07,189 --> 00:15:08,274 saying she told me the story. 273 00:15:08,274 --> 00:15:12,194 So he's crying and Marshall says, so singe. 274 00:15:12,227 --> 00:15:15,230 So your your life's not working for your plan is not working for you. 275 00:15:15,281 --> 00:15:17,549 It's just Christ says, no, it's not. 276 00:15:17,549 --> 00:15:19,718 Marshall says you want something different 277 00:15:19,718 --> 00:15:21,353 because, yeah, I want something different. 278 00:15:21,353 --> 00:15:23,122 So Marshall explains the gospel. 279 00:15:23,122 --> 00:15:25,240 He says, well, Jesus came. 280 00:15:25,240 --> 00:15:28,193 He lived in your place, died in your place, resurrected. 281 00:15:28,193 --> 00:15:31,714 If you give your life to him, he will forgive your sins, give you 282 00:15:31,747 --> 00:15:35,150 new life, Sanchez says. 283 00:15:35,150 --> 00:15:36,318 That's what I want. 284 00:15:37,953 --> 00:15:39,238 Marshall goes. 285 00:15:39,238 --> 00:15:41,040 Maybe tomorrow. 286 00:15:41,040 --> 00:15:43,192 That's what he said. Maybe tomorrow we'll go home and think about. 287 00:15:43,192 --> 00:15:46,962 It goes, no, no, I want, I want now. 288 00:15:47,713 --> 00:15:50,516 And Marshall goes, maybe tomorrow. 289 00:15:50,516 --> 00:15:52,267 And then San says he got 290 00:15:52,267 --> 00:15:56,155 down on his knees, grabbed Marshall's leg and said, give me Jesus now. 291 00:15:56,522 --> 00:15:59,508 And Marshall said, okay, now you're ready. 292 00:16:01,076 --> 00:16:04,880 Sanz radically changes within a month. 293 00:16:04,880 --> 00:16:09,718 There's not a person that Sanz knows that doesn't know he has changed. 294 00:16:10,152 --> 00:16:14,790 He made a list of all the people that he had offended here in town 295 00:16:14,790 --> 00:16:17,960 that he had wronged in one way or another, went to their door, 296 00:16:17,993 --> 00:16:19,161 knocked on their door. 297 00:16:19,161 --> 00:16:21,947 They would open the door and he would say, listen, I need to apologize. 298 00:16:21,947 --> 00:16:24,516 Ask your forgiveness for what I did to you two years ago. 299 00:16:24,516 --> 00:16:27,353 Will you forgive me? And they're going, what are you doing? 300 00:16:27,353 --> 00:16:28,671 Why are you doing this? 301 00:16:28,671 --> 00:16:30,756 You know, and he said, Jesus, 302 00:16:32,358 --> 00:16:34,393 Jesus. 303 00:16:34,393 --> 00:16:37,363 People could look at sins and they could say, you know, 304 00:16:37,363 --> 00:16:42,117 I don't believe that Jesus stuff, but they could not refute 305 00:16:42,434 --> 00:16:45,270 that was one thing one day. 306 00:16:45,270 --> 00:16:48,357 And he had completely changed the next day. 307 00:16:48,357 --> 00:16:51,076 That's grace. There's nothing more powerful. 308 00:16:51,076 --> 00:16:53,879 There's no more powerful testimony for for the gospel 309 00:16:53,879 --> 00:16:55,631 than grace that you see in somebody's life. 310 00:16:55,631 --> 00:16:58,634 Now, here's the question. 311 00:16:58,917 --> 00:17:01,470 What about you? 312 00:17:01,470 --> 00:17:05,441 I mean, if I asked, what evidence could you show me 313 00:17:05,791 --> 00:17:08,477 that grace has happened to you? 314 00:17:08,477 --> 00:17:10,913 Could you show me something? 315 00:17:10,913 --> 00:17:11,880 Could you tell me? 316 00:17:11,880 --> 00:17:12,514 Yeah. 317 00:17:12,514 --> 00:17:15,517 This is what I was like before. Jesus. 318 00:17:16,118 --> 00:17:19,121 But this is what I'm like now. 319 00:17:19,621 --> 00:17:23,242 Hey, we're about to do the Thanksgiving baskets thing. 320 00:17:23,242 --> 00:17:25,961 We have 2100 baskets this year, which means, 321 00:17:25,961 --> 00:17:28,147 you know, you fill it up with a Thanksgiving feast. 322 00:17:28,147 --> 00:17:29,715 It's supposed to feed, like, ten people. 323 00:17:29,715 --> 00:17:33,001 So that could be 21,000 people in this area 324 00:17:33,001 --> 00:17:36,755 that will have Thanksgiving because of our church, which is great. 325 00:17:36,955 --> 00:17:42,077 Last year when I went to the atrium when people were picking up baskets, 326 00:17:42,111 --> 00:17:47,316 there were three Akron University varsity basketball players in line. 327 00:17:47,316 --> 00:17:50,836 They took five baskets and they filled them up. 328 00:17:50,836 --> 00:17:51,987 They went to the grocery, 329 00:17:51,987 --> 00:17:55,991 filled them up with a Thanksgiving feast so that we could deliver them. 330 00:17:56,041 --> 00:17:59,628 What would make three varsity basketball 331 00:17:59,628 --> 00:18:02,831 players in the middle of the season decide to do that? 332 00:18:02,881 --> 00:18:03,549 You know what, 333 00:18:04,600 --> 00:18:07,069 Grace? 334 00:18:07,069 --> 00:18:09,872 That's what they tell you. 335 00:18:09,872 --> 00:18:14,393 Listen, the church multiplies when ordinary people are talking about 336 00:18:14,676 --> 00:18:18,313 people like you, talking to people about Jesus. 337 00:18:20,199 --> 00:18:21,316 The church multiplies 338 00:18:21,316 --> 00:18:24,319 when ordinary people, people like you 339 00:18:24,436 --> 00:18:27,756 are being changed because of grace. 340 00:18:27,923 --> 00:18:33,312 And finally, the church multiplies when ordinary people become extraordinary. 341 00:18:33,796 --> 00:18:37,483 It's the way the this passage ends, it says so 342 00:18:37,483 --> 00:18:41,236 Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he found him, 343 00:18:41,236 --> 00:18:43,589 he brought him to Antioch for a whole year. 344 00:18:43,589 --> 00:18:46,191 They met with the church and taught a great many people. 345 00:18:46,191 --> 00:18:50,429 And in Antioch the disciples were first called Christians. 346 00:18:51,029 --> 00:18:51,914 All right. 347 00:18:51,914 --> 00:18:55,067 So Barnabas goes and gets Paul the apostle, you know, 348 00:18:55,117 --> 00:18:58,120 and they says they they taught them for a whole year. 349 00:18:58,437 --> 00:19:03,192 Pastors act does a thing called Deep Dive where he does five hours on one subject. 350 00:19:03,242 --> 00:19:06,795 It's it's amazing he's going to do another one like next month. 351 00:19:07,279 --> 00:19:12,067 Can you imagine what it would be like to be taught for a whole year by Paul 352 00:19:12,117 --> 00:19:13,118 the Apostle? 353 00:19:13,118 --> 00:19:14,269 Right? Crazy. 354 00:19:14,269 --> 00:19:18,957 But the thing that got my attention was that last phrase where it says it. 355 00:19:18,957 --> 00:19:22,995 In Antioch, the disciples were first called Christians. 356 00:19:24,947 --> 00:19:25,714 Greeks 357 00:19:25,714 --> 00:19:28,917 like to give satirical names to groups of people. 358 00:19:28,917 --> 00:19:31,920 This was not a compliment. 359 00:19:31,920 --> 00:19:34,523 When they called them Christians, they were kind of. 360 00:19:34,523 --> 00:19:37,392 They were. They were calling them like little Jesus people. 361 00:19:37,392 --> 00:19:39,228 Like that was kind of what it meant. 362 00:19:39,228 --> 00:19:41,363 Little Jesus people. 363 00:19:41,363 --> 00:19:44,833 But the reason they had to do it is what I think is amazing. 364 00:19:44,833 --> 00:19:46,552 So I did some research on Antioch. 365 00:19:46,552 --> 00:19:49,037 You know, Antioch was a very metropolitan place. 366 00:19:49,037 --> 00:19:52,791 You know, you go to a big city and they talk about big cities being like 367 00:19:52,841 --> 00:19:54,826 a melting pot, because there are all these different 368 00:19:54,826 --> 00:19:56,595 ethnic groups that are all together. 369 00:19:56,595 --> 00:20:01,917 But I read an article that said that most cities are not really melting pots. 370 00:20:01,917 --> 00:20:05,671 They're more like bowls of soup that are really close together. 371 00:20:05,754 --> 00:20:09,708 Like you go to New York City, you have Little Italy. 372 00:20:09,758 --> 00:20:14,796 That's a group of ethnic people all in one place. 373 00:20:14,830 --> 00:20:17,316 So you go to Chinatown, another group of ethnic people 374 00:20:17,316 --> 00:20:19,718 go to Harlem, another group of ethnic people. 375 00:20:19,718 --> 00:20:23,121 So you have this these group of ethnic people 376 00:20:23,121 --> 00:20:26,441 that are separated from everybody else, right close to another 377 00:20:26,441 --> 00:20:29,761 group of ethnic people that are separated from everybody else. 378 00:20:29,795 --> 00:20:31,396 Right? So that's the city 379 00:20:32,347 --> 00:20:33,315 in Antioch. 380 00:20:33,315 --> 00:20:36,401 It was the same way, only more so because in ancient Antioch 381 00:20:36,435 --> 00:20:41,590 they built a wall around the city, which was normal, but a Antioch, 382 00:20:41,640 --> 00:20:44,443 they actually built walls inside the city 383 00:20:44,443 --> 00:20:48,313 because the people couldn't stand each other at all. 384 00:20:48,630 --> 00:20:49,798 So they would have, 385 00:20:49,798 --> 00:20:53,318 like Little Italy, all walled off so that you would keep them away. 386 00:20:53,318 --> 00:20:58,707 And then Christians came and Christians talked about Jesus 387 00:20:59,241 --> 00:21:02,794 to Greeks, to Gentiles, 388 00:21:03,195 --> 00:21:07,199 to Jews, to moral, to immoral, to people close to people far off. 389 00:21:07,199 --> 00:21:12,754 And all of a sudden they had a real melting pot of people 390 00:21:12,838 --> 00:21:17,042 from every ethnic group and every walk of life. 391 00:21:17,042 --> 00:21:21,713 And the one thing they had in common was Jesus. 392 00:21:21,730 --> 00:21:25,233 So when they decided to make a name for those people, 393 00:21:25,434 --> 00:21:28,720 they called them little Jesus people, 394 00:21:29,955 --> 00:21:32,841 because something remarkable had happened. 395 00:21:32,841 --> 00:21:36,762 And the remarkable thing that had happened was that people who had nothing else 396 00:21:36,762 --> 00:21:41,950 in common became like brothers and sisters because of Jesus. 397 00:21:41,950 --> 00:21:45,554 You're sitting around people you would have nothing in common with, 398 00:21:46,038 --> 00:21:49,708 but you come here and you have learned to love them 399 00:21:49,992 --> 00:21:53,428 simply because of Jesus. 400 00:21:54,513 --> 00:21:57,482 Jesus gave marching orders to the disciples. 401 00:21:57,482 --> 00:21:59,401 He didn't create the church 402 00:21:59,401 --> 00:22:02,521 for all of us to be alike and just for our friends and family. 403 00:22:02,521 --> 00:22:06,074 He created the church to be a movement that would actually change the world. 404 00:22:06,108 --> 00:22:09,678 And the church multiplies when ordinary people 405 00:22:09,678 --> 00:22:13,999 are talking about Jesus to anyone and everyone. 406 00:22:14,116 --> 00:22:18,003 When ordinary people are being changed by grace, 407 00:22:18,437 --> 00:22:24,109 and when ordinary people becoming extraordinary just by coming to worship. 408 00:22:24,109 --> 00:22:28,480 And when people see this group, they have to make a name for it 409 00:22:28,480 --> 00:22:31,516 and they call us Christians. 410 00:22:32,000 --> 00:22:34,636 Let's be the church. Would you pray with me, 411 00:22:35,587 --> 00:22:38,590 father in heaven, thank you for 412 00:22:38,707 --> 00:22:41,043 what you've written here in the book of acts. 413 00:22:41,043 --> 00:22:46,348 Thanks for the church that has traveled over centuries and through over oceans 414 00:22:46,348 --> 00:22:50,202 and through languages and people groups to right here in Hudson, Ohio. 415 00:22:50,519 --> 00:22:53,588 We pray to help us not to be content, but 416 00:22:53,588 --> 00:22:56,708 to always be looking for what you want to do. 417 00:22:56,708 --> 00:22:58,710 And I know you want room for more. 418 00:22:58,710 --> 00:23:03,548 I pray that you'll give us the courage to talk to people about Jesus. 419 00:23:03,632 --> 00:23:08,270 Just talk to him that you will give us the change us. 420 00:23:08,270 --> 00:23:11,523 Change the things inside of us that need to be changed. 421 00:23:11,523 --> 00:23:15,077 So when people look at us, they will not, will not be able to deny 422 00:23:15,560 --> 00:23:18,029 that grace has happened. 423 00:23:18,029 --> 00:23:20,282 And then I pray that you would make us extraordinary 424 00:23:20,282 --> 00:23:23,869 as a group of people who love each other, simply because you loved us first. 425 00:23:23,919 --> 00:23:24,953 Thanks. 426 00:23:24,953 --> 00:23:27,739 We pray this in Jesus name. Amen.