14:1 Now at Iconium they entered together into the Jewish synagogue and spoke in such a way that a great number of both Jews and Greeks believed. 2 But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers.13 So they remained for a long time, speaking boldly for the Lord, who bore witness to the word of his grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands. 4 But the people of the city were divided; some sided with the Jews and some with the apostles. 5 When an attempt was made by both Gentiles and Jews, with their rulers, to mistreat them and to stone them, 6 they learned of it and fled to Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia, and to the surrounding country, 7 and there they continued to preach the gospel.
Paul and Barnabas at Lystra
8 Now at Lystra there was a man sitting who could not use his feet. He was crippled from birth and had never walked. 9 He listened to Paul speaking. And Paul, looking intently at him and seeing that he had faith to be made well,210 said in a loud voice, “Stand upright on your feet.” And he sprang up and began walking. 11 And when the crowds saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in Lycaonian, “The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!” 12 Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul, Hermes, because he was the chief speaker. 13 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. 14 But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of it, they tore their garments and rushed out into the crowd, crying out, 15 “Men, why are you doing these things? 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. 16 In past generations he allowed all the nations to walk in their own ways. 17 Yet he did not leave himself without witness, for he did good by giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness.” 18 Even with these words they scarcely restrained the people from offering sacrifice to them.
Paul Stoned at Lystra
19 But Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and having persuaded the crowds, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead. 20 But when the disciples gathered about him, he rose up and entered the city, and on the next day he went on with Barnabas to Derbe. 21 When they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, 22 strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God. 23 And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.
14:1 Now at Iconium they entered together into the Jewish synagogue and spoke in such a way that a great number of both Jews and Greeks believed. 2 But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers.13 So they remained for a long time, speaking boldly for the Lord, who bore witness to the word of his grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands. 4 But the people of the city were divided; some sided with the Jews and some with the apostles. 5 When an attempt was made by both Gentiles and Jews, with their rulers, to mistreat them and to stone them, 6 they learned of it and fled to Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia, and to the surrounding country, 7 and there they continued to preach the gospel.
Paul and Barnabas at Lystra
8 Now at Lystra there was a man sitting who could not use his feet. He was crippled from birth and had never walked. 9 He listened to Paul speaking. And Paul, looking intently at him and seeing that he had faith to be made well,210 said in a loud voice, “Stand upright on your feet.” And he sprang up and began walking. 11 And when the crowds saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in Lycaonian, “The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!” 12 Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul, Hermes, because he was the chief speaker. 13 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. 14 But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of it, they tore their garments and rushed out into the crowd, crying out, 15 “Men, why are you doing these things? 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. 16 In past generations he allowed all the nations to walk in their own ways. 17 Yet he did not leave himself without witness, for he did good by giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness.” 18 Even with these words they scarcely restrained the people from offering sacrifice to them.
Paul Stoned at Lystra
19 But Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and having persuaded the crowds, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead. 20 But when the disciples gathered about him, he rose up and entered the city, and on the next day he went on with Barnabas to Derbe. 21 When they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, 22 strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God. 23 And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.
Redeemer exists to celebrate and declare the gospel of God as we grow in knowing and following Jesus Christ.
Joel Brooks:
If you would, turn in your bibles to Acts chapter 14. Acts 14. And we'll begin reading in verse 1. Now at Iconium, they entered together into the Jewish synagogue and spoke in such a way that a great number of both Jews and Greeks believed. But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers.
Joel Brooks:
So they remained for a long time speaking boldly for the Lord who bore witness to the word of his grace granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands. But the people of the city were divided. Some sided with the Jews and some with the apostles. When an attempt was made by both Gentiles and Jews with their rulers to mistreat them and to stone them, And they learned of it and fled to Lystra and Derby, cities of Lyconia and to the surrounding country. And there they continued to preach the gospel.
Joel Brooks:
Now at Lystra, there was a man sitting who could not use his feet. He was crippled from birth and had never walked. He listened to Paul speaking and Paul, looking intently at him and seeing that he had faith to be made well, Barnabas, they called Zeus and Paul Hermes because he was the chief speaker. And the priest of Zeus whose temple was to the entrance of the city brought oxen and garlands to the gates and wanted to offer sacrifices with the crowds. But when the apostles, Barnabas and Paul heard of it, they tore their garments and rushed out into the crowd, crying out, men, why are you doing these things?
Joel Brooks:
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. For He did good by giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness. Even with these words, they scarcely restrain people from offering sacrifices to them. But Jews came from Antioch and Iconium. And having persuaded the crowds, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead.
Joel Brooks:
But when the disciples gathered around him, he rose up and entered the city. And on the next day, he went on with Barnabas to Derbe. When they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith and saying that through many tribulations, we must enter the kingdom of God. And when they had appointed elders for them in every church with prayer and fasting, they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed. Pray with me.
Joel Brooks:
Lord, as we read your word, we're struck with, the intensity of what we find there. How the men we read about, they didn't just go through life. They didn't just stroll through, but God you, you gave them a purpose, a mission. They understood that, And I just see such an intensity there that is, that is lacking when I look at the modern church. So God, I pray that you would use tonight as we, as we walk through this text, may you, waken something up in us.
Joel Brooks:
May you remind us of who we are as your children. May you remind us of our calling as your church. God to do this, we need to hear from you. And so in this moment, in this place, I pray that my words would fall to the ground and blow away and not be remembered anymore. But Lord, may your words remain and may they change us.
Joel Brooks:
We pray this in the strong name of Jesus. Amen. I'm going to get my once every 10 years sports reference out of the way. Today's a pretty special day. It's, you know, 46th Super Bowl.
Joel Brooks:
That's going to be watched by, I don't know how many hundreds of millions of people around. I love how they give Roman numerals to to the thing to, I don't know, add some prestige or some form of importance to it. But that's not at all why this is a special day. It's a special day because it is the anniversary of a really important event, one that was not observed by millions and millions of people, one that was probably not observed by even 100 of people. But on February 5th 18 12, so exactly 200 years ago today, Adaniram Judson married a woman named Anne, and right when they got married, they packed their bags and headed off as missionaries to India.
Joel Brooks:
They were the first to be commissioned by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. This board was actually created in order to send the Judson's because before this time, America did not have any mission agency at all. This was the first. And so, 200 years ago today marks the very first sending of American missionaries out. The Judson's went, they arrived in Calcutta.
Joel Brooks:
They lasted only 1 year in India before they were kicked out. And so they went to Burma. En route to Burma, they had their first child, who died in birth. When they arrived, in Burma, their difficulties just continued. The language is extremely hard and Adoniram was a brilliant man.
Joel Brooks:
He he had mastered Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, and now he was trying to master the the Burmese language and all the customs, that they had there. And it was really hard because people didn't know what to make of him and they wanted to, to label him as like a Buddhist priest or some weird religious nut guy. And they didn't know who he was, why he was there. During all of this time of study and adjusting, he and his wife had another child whom they lost at 17 months. Still, they pressed on.
Joel Brooks:
They learned the language. They learned the culture. It took 6 years before they saw their first convert. It was a 35 year old timber worker up in the hills. During this time, as he's still learning their language and as he's still growing, he, he dedicated a large chunk of it to to trying to translate the New Testament into Burmese, and he was able to do that after being there 12 years.
Joel Brooks:
And after 12 years, he had a total of 18 converts, and then he released the New Testament in the native language, and he was promptly arrested. He was actually tortured by tongs in front of his wife before he was thrown into prison where he spent about 2 years of his life in prison. And he was, repeatedly tortured. He was half starved. Often he was put in shackles by his feet and they would suspend his feet up to where only his shoulders and his head would rest on the ground.
Joel Brooks:
And that's how he lived a lot of his life for 2 years. While he was gone, his wife tried to carry on with the mission. She was actually pregnant when he was arrested. So she had a baby while he was in prison, but this baby was so malnourished. They didn't have any money because the mission agency had dropped them.
Joel Brooks:
Not enough results, not quite the right, right theology that they were hoping for because they converted to be Baptist. And so, they were dropped, and they were they were isolated. They were alone, and and she didn't have any money. The baby was so malnourished. She would go up and down the streets, and she would beg other mothers to please nurse her own baby.
Joel Brooks:
Eventually, she couldn't keep it up, and she died. Her husband's released from prison, has the baby, who dies 6 months later. So now Adoniram, they've they've he's lost 3 of his children. He has only 3 children. He has lost his wife.
Joel Brooks:
He spirals into depression, but he still perseveres with his work. He met a woman named Sarah Boardman, who was the widow of another missionary. And, she was a great comfort to him during this time. And, and he was able to rededicate himself to the work and he ended up translating the entire Bible into Burmese. Well, they got married and they lost 3 of their children, And then Sarah got sick and died.
Joel Brooks:
And Aden Arm continued his work, continued pouring himself into the Burmese people for about 35 years. The result of that labor, the result of that labor and all of those heartaches, all of that persecution is this. Although he didn't see much fruit at all at the time. Today, there are 3,700 churches that trace the roots back to Adoniram. There are over 2,000,000 people who attend those churches.
Joel Brooks:
These were our first American missionaries from 200 years ago. And many have followed in their footsteps. Many who were inspired by them just, just 25 years after they left, people like John Williams and James Harris, they were inspired by the Judson's. And so they went off to the knee new Hebrides Islands to reach also a very hostile group. And so they landed on the island on November 20th.
Joel Brooks:
They died November 20th, Just minutes after landing. 3 years later, more missionaries came. They lasted 7 months. Then more missionaries came, and they were killed, and it was just wave after wave after wave. Here's the fruit of their labor.
Joel Brooks:
Today in these islands, 85% of the 200,000 people who live there call themselves Christians. I mean, it's it's remarkable. You could go on and on about all of these missionary stories. We've been looking at the very first missionary journey with Paul and Barnabas. I guess the journey of all journeys, the one that just, that laid the foundation for everything that would follow, the the journey that changed the world.
Joel Brooks:
You know, Paul and Barnabas, they were set apart by the Holy Spirit. They were sent out by the church of Antioch to go and to make disciples of all men. And I wonder I mean, I wonder what they felt during that time. I mean, it's just it was a room smaller than this, and the Holy Spirit says, Set apart these people and send them off. I wonder what they felt, what their expectations were as they were to go on this this missionary journey.
Joel Brooks:
Go around the world declaring Jesus is Lord and that his grace saves. Well, this is what happened. We've read through it. Their first stop is at Cyprus and a sorcerer opposes them. Their second stop is in Pisidian Antioch, where they were persecuted and they were driven out of the city.
Joel Brooks:
Next, they went to Iconium where people began to stone them. So, they flee to Lystra, which is where we are now in the story, and it ends with Paul they stone Paul, you just kind of gloss over that. But they stone the man. That is a mob surrounding people, hurling sharp rocks, heavy rocks, breaking open skin, likely breaking bones, possibly losing teeth as, as these, as these rocks are hitting him. This is real anger, real hatred, real persecution that's happening to Paul.
Joel Brooks:
And he's finally knocked unconscious, and they drag him out thinking he's dead. And I'm wondering if this is how he thought it was all gonna go. He wrote to Timothy, later in life, which I think is interesting. Timothy was born and raised in Lystra. He likely became a Christian, he and his mother and grandmother, during this time, during this journey.
Joel Brooks:
And he writes Timothy this, words that would have resonated with him. Says, Timothy, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. Everyone. Now, raise your hand if you like that verse, like, you know, you really love that verse, you know, it's on your refrigerator bumper sticker, you know, that's just, you want to make t shirts with that. You know, little verses under here for the big game.
Joel Brooks:
I've never liked that verse. And so as any good, you know, pastor or seminary would do, you really want to study it to see if there's that loophole that's there. And, and so I I study this. And just so you know how a lot of verses have that little footnote there. You know, if you have your ESV Cadillac study bible, you know, there's like footnotes everywhere.
Joel Brooks:
And a lot of times it says this verse is not, in the best manuscripts. Sorry. This verse is in every manuscript. It's there. So you could do a word study you now have on the word everyone.
Joel Brooks:
It means everyone. I did a word study on the word persecuted. It means bad things will happen to you. Okay. And so bad things will happen to everyone who seeks to live a godly life.
Joel Brooks:
And we know what a godly life is. That is seeking to live a life that fulfills a great commission. That is seeking a life that is going to go out and try to make disciples of all men. If you are actively doing that, you will be persecuted. You want to avoid persecution, avoid the great commission.
Joel Brooks:
It's kind of it's it's that simple. I I don't like this verse. I mean, I don't like pain, and, honestly, I don't like it because I haven't really been persecuted. Look back at the text verse 2. Says, but the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers.
Joel Brooks:
So I wonder what's gonna follow this so. So they remained for a long time, speaking boldly for the Lord who bore witness to the word of his grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands. I mean, there seems to be almost this disconnect between 23. There's these Jews coming in. They're poisoning everybody's minds.
Joel Brooks:
There's this opposition that comes in. So, the the logical thing to do is we've got to stay here a long time. And Paul never in any way saw opposition or persecution as a obstacle to the proclamation of the gospel. If anything, he saw it as a platform from it, for it. Because persecution brings a clarity to the gospel in a way that, prosperity never can.
Joel Brooks:
And so, when persecution comes and you still proclaim the gospel, there is such a clarity there. People get it. They know you don't love Jesus because you get things. You don't love Jesus because things go well. You love Jesus because you believe it, and he's changed your heart.
Joel Brooks:
There's this clarity there. And you see that all through the book of acts. I love it that after Paul is stoned, he's dragged out of the city and he's thought to be dead, and there's disciples who gathered around him. Where these disciples came from, who knows? Apparently, his word did take some effect, and he just kind of pops up, shakes himself off, and he goes straight back into the city where there's still an angry mob that just stoned him.
Joel Brooks:
And then he decides the next day, all right, I'm gonna continue my missionary journey, but I'm not going any further. I'm gonna go back to all the cities that persecuted me. And he goes backwards to every city that opposed him. It's unbelievable. Now, it it begs a question as I'm reading through this.
Joel Brooks:
What would have happened if Paul had had prayed like I often do, God, could you, could you please just maybe set up the right opportunity for me to share? Could you please maybe get rid of the opposition? Could you please maybe go ahead and soften some hearts? Give me some fertile ground in which to sow some seeds. Could you please remove every threat of hardship?
Joel Brooks:
God, I'm just waiting for you to provide the right moment. And then when that right moment is provided, I'm going to come through with the gospel. What if Paul had waited for that, the right moment? These people would have never heard. What if Adanayam had waited for the right moment in Burma?
Joel Brooks:
No one would have heard because there was no right moment. And I know some of you, I've heard a number of you talk about family members or friends who are lost, and how you you hurt for them. You want desperately to see them come to know the Lord, and your prayer has been, God, just will you provide the right moment. I'm waiting for the right moment to share. And it's not that you're scared.
Joel Brooks:
It's not that you're not bold in your faith. Well, I guess you're a little scared at what their reaction would be. If I do this, everything changes. Our relationship changes. Our friendship might end.
Joel Brooks:
I might lose my job. I might do all of this, and so you're waiting for that right moment. Well, let me tell you, you are right. You might lose those things. The relationship between you and your parents might never be the same again, or you and your friends might never be the same again.
Joel Brooks:
We've already read this. When the gospel is proclaimed in the city, it says the gospel divides. The gospel has an amazing power. The gospel saves, the gospel heals. You see that here.
Joel Brooks:
But then, the gospel also produces anger, the gospel produces violence. The gospel unites families, and the gospel divides families. But anytime the gospel is truly proclaimed and is heard, it's always going to be one of those two reactions. People either come to love the Lord, or they will come to hate the Lord. But, there's never this numbing effect that I see so much across the churches in America, in which there's just this numbness.
Joel Brooks:
And and and it's this numbness. People around us are just kind of numb because there's nothing to divide or to unite. There is no proclamation. Because we're scared of the reaction. Just need to know that the gospel will have the reaction that it has.
Joel Brooks:
Has the power to divide and has the power to unite. The power to heal and save and the power to produce anger and division. But we are to proclaim that gospel. The reason the majority of us and here in this room have likely never been persecuted simply because we keep our mouths shut, waiting for the right time. One of the things I love about Paul is the guy will not shut up.
Joel Brooks:
Never shuts. It's gotta be infuriating to the people who stone him, and he comes back and grinning to the same city. It it is infuriating that the guy will never shut up. But it's not just words. There's power with those words.
Joel Brooks:
Look at verse 7 Or verse 8, now at Lystra or verse 7, it says, and there they continue to preach the gospel. Now, Elisha, there was a man sitting who could not use his feet. He was crippled from birth and had never walked. He listened to Paul speaking and Paul looking intently at him and seeing that he had faith to be made well, said in a loud voice, Stand upright on your feet. And he sprang up and began walking.
Joel Brooks:
Paul had words and Paul had deeds. Paul had a gift of healing. I mean, he did. You see this. He he would often he would heal people.
Joel Brooks:
He had that gift. Perhaps, you have a different gift, whether it's through, through a miracle, or whether it's through using a gift of generosity, using a gift of hospitality, love and kindness, praying for healing, whatever those those giftings that you have, you use them to validate the word. Here, Paul spoke in word and empower. Notice verse 9. I was going to jump over this, but I can't.
Joel Brooks:
It's too good. It said he listened to Paul speaking and Paul looking intently at him and seeing that he had faith to be made well, he said in a loud voice, this. Alright. I hope that's familiar to you. This is the 3rd time we have this phrase here in Acts in which Paul looks intently at a person.
Joel Brooks:
Actually, Peter and John do it one time, then Paul does it another time, and then he does it again here, In which he says, look, he's looking intently in the person's eye, and there's always something amazing that happens after that, whether it's amazing judgment or amazing healing, but something is going to happen. I once got a call from a woman who she worked downtown, she worked with troubled teenage girls, and she said that she was about to pull her hair out. I go from just wanting to slap these girls with the truth because they keep making the same mistake over and over and over and just say, will you quit doing it? To just breaking down and crying and wanting to give them a hug. I was like, I go back and forth.
Joel Brooks:
I don't know what to do. Joel, what am I supposed to do when I meet with these people? And I remember I was reading through this, through acts at this time. I said, why don't why don't next time you're encountering somebody like that, look them in the eye. Look them in the eye and pray, holy spirit, what would you have for this person?
Joel Brooks:
I'm not gonna give you, you know, like, you know, open your bible and, okay, there you go, rebuke. Just seek the lord. Look the person in the eye. And do you know what happens when he looks somebody in the eye? It means a couple of things.
Joel Brooks:
It means, 1, you've committed yourself and you're not ashamed of what happens next. You've committed yourself. You can't look somebody in the eye and then walk away. I mean, how awkward is that? You know, you know, you take the time, you're like, look at me.
Joel Brooks:
You've committed. Now, now, you're in a position that requires faith for for whether it's giving a word or whether it's for for performing a deed. And then, you know, whatever follows, you're not ashamed. You're not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ to meet that person. I think if we did this day to day I mean, there's we always pray for ministry opportunities.
Joel Brooks:
You know what? Ministry opportunities, look somebody who's hurting in the eye and prayed, holy spirit, what would he have for this person? There's our ministry opportunity. Let's move on. I've been talking a lot about persecution in this text.
Joel Brooks:
We're gonna, we'll get past some persecution here. But I want to talk about another threat to the proclamation of the gospel is perhaps a greater threat and persecution, and that is idolization. After Paul and Barnabas heal this cripple man, immediately the people at Lystra want to idolize them. They want to worship them as gods. So, so they, they heal this man and they're not rejected.
Joel Brooks:
They're everything but rejected. They're adored, they're praised, they're less make sacrifices. Let's have a parade. Let's have a feast for these people. Let me tell you, we do this all of the time to when we find somebody who's truly gifted from the Lord, operating in their gifts so often, we idolize them.
Joel Brooks:
We somehow we we make them superhuman, and so if we come across a preacher who is really, really good, God has gifted a preacher be really good. You know what? We idolize them. We also give them like this superhuman status. For instance, you know, how often do you ever hear somebody mentioned the name Bethlehem Baptist Church?
Joel Brooks:
Most Most people are like, we're in the world's Bethlehem Baptist Church, and they're like, oh, it's John Piper's church. Oh, you just idolized the man. It's not his church. It's Christ's church. He is a preaching pastor there.
Joel Brooks:
But but we we we take a person who has been gifted by God, and we we elevate them to this superhuman status. Several years ago, I was the director of a college ministry. By the way, Lauren made the mistake of telling me this story. It's all her fault. College students are especially prone to idolizing people.
Joel Brooks:
You know, whether it's some celebrity or it's a, it's a preacher or pastor, they idolize them. And so during the time where I was doing college ministry, I'm sure there was a number of students who idolized me. Well, Lauren, one time, she was out running errands and she ran into, a young lady who has come up through the ministry, and it came up that Lauren was my wife. And that woman said, oh, my gosh. You are so lucky.
Joel Brooks:
Alright. And Lauren told me this. I mean, it's like gold in my hands. And so I cannot tell you how many times I have brought that back up And to which if if Lauren gets upset at me, Joel, why why are you leaving your clothes on the floor? Joel, why have you done this?
Joel Brooks:
Lauren, just remember you were so lucky to be married to me. Alright? Just remember that. Let's keep this in perspective. But we we we idolize people.
Joel Brooks:
You know, Paul would rebuke the Corinthians later for idolizing people because, that's like, I go to John Piper's church. They idolize people. And I love Paul's response to them in 1st Corinthians. He says this, What then is Apollos? What is Paul?
Joel Brooks:
Servants through whom you believed as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither the one who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives growth. Love it. Paul doesn't respond with who is Paul or who is a policy.
Joel Brooks:
He says, what are we? We're tools. That's what he's saying. We're a tool. That's it.
Joel Brooks:
We're nothing more than servants. God is everything, and this is not some false humility. This Paul understood who he was, and he understood how much God had saved him, and he wasn't gonna let anybody put him on a pedestal, because it took away from the gospel. He never would tell people, you need grace. He would always say, we need grace.
Joel Brooks:
All right. We need it. Let me tell you one of the reasons that Paul and Barnabas are are so fearless in the face of opposition, how they embrace persecution, how they share their faith with everyone. They encounter the reason they refuse to be idolized, all of it comes back to this gospel of grace, the gospel of Jesus Christ. There's a puzzle here.
Joel Brooks:
I mean, when you're reading through this, look at verse 18. Says even with these words, they scarcely restrained the people from offering sacrifices to them. But Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, then having persuaded the crowds, they stoned Paul. Alright. Yeah.
Joel Brooks:
I mean, do you all sees like some kind of little disconnect there? There's a parade coming of of priest wanting to worship Paul and Barnabas. They're bringing sacrifices, and they're like, don't sacrifice. No, don't make sacrifices to us. And they're like, you're gods, you're Zeus, you're you're Mercury, you're you're gods.
Joel Brooks:
He's saying, don't do this. Some Jews come back. Let's stone them. I mean, it switches like that from 18 to 19. They're going from being praised to being stoned.
Joel Brooks:
As you just got as what what in the world could the Jews, these Jewish religious leaders be saying to these Gentile religious leaders to make them turn on Jesus like that? What possibly could have happened? And it was very important because these Jewish religious leaders traveled a 110 miles here to say this to them. And and the Jews and the Gentiles, they didn't they didn't get along together. What was their common ground?
Joel Brooks:
These Jewish leaders, they wouldn't have said, well, you know, Jesus really isn't the Messiah. Because the Gentiles would have said, we don't care anything about your faith. Who cares about the Jewish faith? I don't care if it's the Messiah, not the Messiah. Get away from us.
Joel Brooks:
That that would not have been the common ground. The common ground would not have been, hey, you know these people are troublemakers. And they're like, who cares? They just healed somebody. They're not troublemakers.
Joel Brooks:
It would have been, hey you know, they they they say Jesus, a man was God. They think Paul and Barnabas are gods. I mean that would not have been a big big thing to them. Alright. It it really boils down to to the message.
Joel Brooks:
Once again, it brings they're bringing clarity to the gospel. Likely what the Jews are saying is this, what they have always said. You know what they're saying. They're saying all that ritual you're doing, all those sacrifices you're doing, all of that means nothing. You know what?
Joel Brooks:
That because that's what they told us, that all of our performances, all of our works were nothing. That we're not saved by any of these things. We're saved by grace by this person, Jesus Christ. That would have been their common ground. It would have been that message of grace, the message of the gospel.
Joel Brooks:
And Luke does such a good job to point out in these couple of chapters here, just that grace was the theme. In chapter 13 verse 43, it says, he urged them to continue in the grace of God. Acts 143 says, they bore witness to the word of his grace. Grace was the theme of the message they were bringing. You know, there are so many people today who need to hear the grace of our lord Jesus Christ.
Joel Brooks:
Our mission is still the same, and I I hope we regain this intensity. We don't go through nightlife just with this numbness around us. This morning, I got to my office, around 5 in the morning here. And so I pull up, and I'm setting out the church sign on First Avenue North. And as I'm setting it up there, a prostitute comes up, and it was a 6 foot tall, slender prostitute, and she walks right up to me, right as I put the sign out.
Joel Brooks:
And I just catch this brief glimpse with her eyes, and she looks at Redeemer Community Church. It's like and instantly just bolted across the street. Just shame all in her eyes. And I gosh, I hated that. How desperate you would have to be to 5 o'clock on a Sunday morning to approach some stranger that you see on the street.
Joel Brooks:
So, right after that happened, I hear a noise going on in the side of the building. I look and there's somebody dumpster diving in there, trying to get whatever they could find. I was like, all around me, Lord, are people just desperate. And they don't need to be told, hey, you know what? You got to get your life in order.
Joel Brooks:
They need to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. They need to hear the grace of him. Hey, I'm not saying you need the gospel. I'm saying, we need the gospel. I'm a man just like you.
Joel Brooks:
I am a sinner just like you. Don't ever think it is me and them. And I I pray that we could be a church that recaptures that urgency to proclaim that message to the people around us. Pray with me. Lord, we need the gospel.
Joel Brooks:
We're not just saved by the gospel. Moment, God. Right now in this moment, I pray that your spirit, where he needs to, would rebuke us for our complacency, that he would wake us up and show us that why, why is it that everybody around us is so numb? And it's because we don't proclaim. So God give us an intensity, give us an urgency to live the godly lives that proclaim your gospel.
Joel Brooks:
And I pray that you would use that to waken up many to your truth. Holy spirit, make that so. Let me pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen.