4 So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus. 5 When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews. And they had John to assist them. 6 When they had gone through the whole island as far as Paphos, they came upon a certain magician, a Jewish false prophet named Bar-Jesus. 7 He was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, a man of intelligence, who summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God. 8 But Elymas the magician (for that is the meaning of his name) opposed them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith. 9 But Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him 10 and said, “You son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy, will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord? 11 And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and unable to see the sun for a time.” Immediately mist and darkness fell upon him, and he went about seeking people to lead him by the hand. 12 Then the proconsul believed, when he saw what had occurred, for he was astonished at the teaching of the Lord.
Paul and Barnabas at Antioch in Pisidia
13 Now Paul and his companions set sail from Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphylia. And John left them and returned to Jerusalem, 14 but they went on from Perga and came to Antioch in Pisidia. And on the Sabbath day they went into the synagogue and sat down. 15 After the reading from the Law and the Prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent a message to them, saying, “Brothers, if you have any word of encouragement for the people, say it.”
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,110 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.
4 So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus. 5 When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews. And they had John to assist them. 6 When they had gone through the whole island as far as Paphos, they came upon a certain magician, a Jewish false prophet named Bar-Jesus. 7 He was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, a man of intelligence, who summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God. 8 But Elymas the magician (for that is the meaning of his name) opposed them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith. 9 But Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him 10 and said, “You son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy, will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord? 11 And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and unable to see the sun for a time.” Immediately mist and darkness fell upon him, and he went about seeking people to lead him by the hand. 12 Then the proconsul believed, when he saw what had occurred, for he was astonished at the teaching of the Lord.
Paul and Barnabas at Antioch in Pisidia
13 Now Paul and his companions set sail from Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphylia. And John left them and returned to Jerusalem, 14 but they went on from Perga and came to Antioch in Pisidia. And on the Sabbath day they went into the synagogue and sat down. 15 After the reading from the Law and the Prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent a message to them, saying, “Brothers, if you have any word of encouragement for the people, say it.”
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,110 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.
Redeemer exists to celebrate and declare the gospel of God as we grow in knowing and following Jesus Christ.
Jeffrey Heine:
If you would turn to Acts chapter 13. It's also there in your worship guide. Acts 13. These past couple of weeks have been a, a special time in the life of our church. Last week was particularly beautiful.
Jeffrey Heine:
Just the time of fasting and prayer leading up to the service, and the Lord calling many people to full time missions, full time ministry. People clarifying whatever God's call is on on people's lives. The 4:30 service in particular, we had people coming forward in every service, but we ran out of room up here, and we were on the floor and in the aisles, just people coming and praying for one another. And there is nothing as a pastor that just brings me more joy than to see so many people saying yes to whatever God's call is on their life. And we're gonna we're gonna continue with this theme as we go through Acts.
Jeffrey Heine:
But it's gonna look a little different. The last 2 weeks, we spent 2 weeks looking at 3 verses. We're gonna spend today going over 2 chapters. Alright? We're gonna cover a lot of ground as we go through Acts.
Jeffrey Heine:
And the reason is, Acts lends itself to this. The narratives begin getting a little bit longer or you have some little micro stories in between. And sometimes, it's good just to take a step back and look at something holistically. And here, we're gonna look at Paul and Barnabas' entire missionary journey. We're just gonna kinda take a little bit more of a bird's eye view of their entire missionary journey.
Jeffrey Heine:
And But buckle up because we are going to cover a lot of ground. And so begin reading in Acts chapter 13, beginning in verse 4. So being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia. From there they sailed to Cyprus. When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews and they had John to assist them.
Jeffrey Heine:
When they had gone through the whole island as far as Paphos, they came to upon a certain magician, a false a Jewish false prophet named Bar Jesus. He was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, a man of intelligence who summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God. But Elymas the magician, for that is the meaning of his name, opposed them. Seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith. But Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit looked intently at him and said, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy, will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord?
Jeffrey Heine:
And now behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you and you will be blind and unable to see for some time. Immediately mist and darkness fell upon him and he went about seeking people to lead him by the hand. Then the proconsul believed when he saw what had occurred for he was the teaching of the Lord. Now Paul and his companions set sail from Paphos and came to Perga and Pamphylia, and John left them and returned to Jerusalem. But they went on from Perga and came to Antioch and Pisidia And on the Sabbath day, they went into the synagogue and sat down.
Jeffrey Heine:
After reading from the law and the prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent a message to them saying, brothers, if you have any word of encouragement for the people, say it. We'll stop there. This is the word of the Lord. Thank you, Jesus. If you would, pray with me.
Jeffrey Heine:
Father God, we have the same hopes and expectations that we have every week when we gather together under your word. And that is through your spirit, you would bring your word to life and it would do its work in us. May we hear you calling to us, Jesus. We wanna grow in our adoration, our affection of you. We wanna grow in our obedience of you.
Jeffrey Heine:
We wanna look like you. And so 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. We pray this in the strong name of Jesus. Amen.
Jeffrey Heine:
As we are looking at Barnabas and Paul being sent out as the very first missionaries in history, you gotta you gotta wonder. I've been I've been trying to put myself in their shoes and you just gotta wonder what they were feeling at that moment. What were they anticipating as as the elders gathered around them, laid hands on them, prayed for them, and they were sent out to be missionaries to a lost and dying world. Nobody had ever done anything like this. So they didn't really know what to expect.
Jeffrey Heine:
I'm sure that they were nervous as they were being sent out. But at the same time, it was a it was this good nervous energy. They were bright eyed and they were ready for what the Lord would have for them. They were well trained. They were eager.
Jeffrey Heine:
And then they were sent off. They didn't know what to expect. Perhaps they were expecting things would be like Antioch, In which, you know, they would go into a city and God has already prepared the place for them with dreams and and pretty much they just mentioned the name Jesus and revival happens and they pretty much have a Pentecost experience and and up grows the largest church in the world. Maybe, you know, that's what they're they're coming out of what they just experienced. Maybe that's what they are expecting as they go into city after city.
Jeffrey Heine:
That each city would welcome them with open arms. We're not really sure what they were expecting as they would take that step of obedience. I'm not sure what we're expecting when we answer the call that God has on our lives and we take those first step of obedience. It's an important question for us to wrestle with. What does it look like after we say yes to the Lord?
Jeffrey Heine:
If you, if you travel any and you're at the airport and you peruse through some of the books that are there, the, the supposed Christian books are there. What what it would lead you to believe is if you say yes to the Lord, it's going to be your best life now. Every day is going to be a Friday. Every day is gonna be better and sweeter than it was before. And that's what it means to follow Jesus is just everyday full of sunshine and rainbows and happiness.
Jeffrey Heine:
But but is that really what happens when we say yes to the Lord? I'm not sure what Barnabas and Paul were expecting as they took those first steps in obedience. But I can guarantee you that what they met that first day was not what they were expecting. The very first person they come into contact with is a Jewish false prophet slash magician slash sorcerer kind of fortune teller. Alright?
Jeffrey Heine:
This is one evil person. For one, it says that he was Jewish. But if you're a Jewish magician or Jewish fortune teller, under the law of God, that is the death penalty. And this is a person who is just flying an outright disobedience to the law. Does not care.
Jeffrey Heine:
He is a completely evil person that Paul, right at the bat, hits. You almost have to laugh out loud when you read this like that's really the first person you encounter on your missionary journey. It it reminds me a little bit of, I was coming home from a mission trip someplace I'd been gone for about 3 weeks away from Lauren. I was just eager to get home and, and I finally got in the plane. I sat down and I'm just ready to check out.
Jeffrey Heine:
And, I kid you not, the person who the Lord has to sit next to me introduces himself as a Satanist, and he was drunk. And I was like, really? Like of all, like, yeah, like of of all the people, only satanist I've ever met in my life, and literally next to me for the next 8 hours on a plane, And I just I was like, not doing it Lord. Like I'm tired. I was ready to like not do this.
Jeffrey Heine:
And I I can't go into everything that flight entailed, but I can just I can just kind of tease you with this last part that as we were landing, I finally looked at him and said, just so you know, I'm a Christian. It got a little crazy, ending with us wrestling in the aisle, him being arrested upon us landing. And when I finally go to see Lauren, and she's picking me up at the airport, I've got food all over me. I'm disheveled, and she's like, what happened? I said, don't give me a hug.
Jeffrey Heine:
I was just licked by a drunk Satanist. Just just wasn't what I was expecting. It's like, you you can't make this up, and and it's very similar here. Like, you really like a Jewish false prophet sorcerer person? Is the first person you encounter on a mission trip?
Jeffrey Heine:
Yes. It is. Now this fortune teller, if you will, he he worked for the proconsul. Who was an intelligent man and, a man of power. This person was apparently intrigued by the gospel and was Elymas, which is that, magician's name, didn't want at all his boss to listen to Paul.
Jeffrey Heine:
Once again, he was an evil man and and he was opposed to the truth. But more than that, he also knew that if his boss was converted, he'd be out of a job. Why would you need a fortune teller anymore if you were converted to Christ? And so this man just opposes Paul, just keeps going after Paul and we don't know how long this went on, but finally, Paul had enough. He had enough and it says that he looked intently in the man's eyes.
Jeffrey Heine:
He says, you son of a devil. You son of the devil. And it goes down from there. He just he blast into this man. And then through the power of the Holy Spirit, he strikes him blind.
Jeffrey Heine:
We're we're not exactly sure why Paul decided to do that there. And if you want to be optimistic, you could say maybe he was hoping the guy had a road to Damascus experience, like he did. And he was struck blind and he comes to know the Lord. Or maybe you could just say, well nope. That's the kind of judgment he deserves.
Jeffrey Heine:
A guy who says he could see the future can no longer see it all. And it was a judgment upon him. Anyway, this is what Paul did and the man immediately became blind and had to be led out, by others. And the proconsul sees that, and he's amazed and he believes. Look at verse 12.
Jeffrey Heine:
Then the proconsul believed when he saw what had occurred for he was astonished at the teaching of the lord. Now, I noticed this this proconsul. Once again, this intelligent man, he he didn't just believe because of the miracle. He was astonished at the teaching of the Lord. In other words, everything that Paul had previously been teaching about Jesus and about the resurrection and about resurrection power, he was intrigued by.
Jeffrey Heine:
But when he saw Paul do that, he said, this guy's not just blowing smoke, there's power in that teaching. There's truth in that teaching and he believes. So the teaching of the Lord, it comes in both word and in power. This is an important principle for us as a church. I wanna revisit this later.
Jeffrey Heine:
So this is the first encounter that Paul has. 1st encounter on his missionary journey. It's immediate opposition. But at least it was opposition from the outside. What happens next is worse, because it's opposition from the inside.
Jeffrey Heine:
Look at verses 13 and 14 again. Now Paul and his companions set sail from Paphos and came to Perga and Pamphylia. And John left them and returned to Jerusalem. But they went on from Perga and came to Antioch and Pisidia. We'll we'll just stop there.
Jeffrey Heine:
Now I I I realize it doesn't seem like we just read a lot, but there is a lot packed in those two verses. This is typical Luke in the way that he writes. He writes in a very subtle way. Sometimes you have to read in between the lines. If if you remember, he could say things like, in many days pass and then we find out later those many days are 3 years.
Jeffrey Heine:
I mean, he just he writes in this subtle way, but there is a lot happening here. The first is something actually that Luke doesn't mention, but we know from Luke Paul's writings that it happens at this point is that Paul becomes very sick at this point. He becomes incredibly ill. Paul here, if you notice, he makes a detour. He he leaves Perga and he which is on the coast and he climbs up 36 100 feet straight up to the mountains to go to Antioch and Pisidia.
Jeffrey Heine:
That's not the Antioch he came from. This is a different Antioch up in the mountains. And to get there is a climb of 36 100 feet through one of the most treacherous roads in all the Middle East. A road that's just filled with thieves, robbers. It's it's a dangerous road, but something makes Paul go up there.
Jeffrey Heine:
This is the region of Galatia that he goes to. You have to ask yourself, why would he do something crazy like that at this point? Well, Paul tells you in Galatians chapter 4. He writes why he did this. Why he first came to the Galatians.
Jeffrey Heine:
And he says, you know it was because of a bodily ailment that I came to you at first to preach the gospel. And though my condition was a trial to you, you did not scorn me or despise me. So apparently, in Perga, Luke doesn't make mention of it, but apparently here, Paul gets some kind of bodily ailment. He gets really sick. Some people speculate that this could have possibly been when Paul got his thorn in the flesh.
Jeffrey Heine:
We're not sure. Perhaps it was malaria. It was this low low marsh kind of area that Paul was at. We don't really know what happened to Paul, but we know that there was a severe illness that came upon him. And so now he's he's received opposition from the outside and now his own body is against him, failing him as he's going on this trip.
Jeffrey Heine:
And then it gets worse. And now, when his one of his friends leave him, John, who's John Mark here, leaves Paul and goes home. We're not exactly sure why John Mark decided to do this, to leave Paul at this part of the journey. We do know that Paul feels abandoned by him. He'll make that crystal clear later in acts.
Jeffrey Heine:
We could do some biblical speculation, if you will, as to why. I don't think as Christians, it takes much imagination to figure out why he left. There's a lot of transition happening in these verses. Notice that now, Saul is Paul. He'll forevermore now he uses the name Paul.
Jeffrey Heine:
There's a switch in his name. There's also a switch in his leadership. Barnabas is no longer the team leader. Paul is. So there's a change in leadership.
Jeffrey Heine:
And, Barnabas is just reduced to a mere companion. It's now Paul and his companions. You know, Paul and his compadres now are going. That's that's pretty much what it is. This is all it's it's Paul leading the show.
Jeffrey Heine:
And this had to take incredible humility and leadership for Barnabas to recognize God's anointing and hand on Paul to do this. I don't think John Mark could do what Barnabas was doing though. I don't think he could handle Paul taking the reins. Perhaps, John Mark was he was ready to go on this trip when it was his cousin, Barnabas, leading it. But now Paul, that's a different story.
Jeffrey Heine:
I mean, guys, I mean, you you know Paul some degree. We we read through his writings. We see him in Acts. You can only imagine you didn't have to be around Paul long to realize, oh gosh, that guy is a lightning rod for trouble. I mean, Barnabas and Elymas, I mean, that's not He wouldn't strike Elymas blind.
Jeffrey Heine:
Barnabas is the kind who's like, hey, you want to go get coffee? Thought maybe we go through the book of John together. You know, that's that's more of like Barnabas' style. Paul gets up there, son of the devil. And then strikes the man blind and you can almost picture John Mark like, what is happening?
Jeffrey Heine:
That's who Paul was. He was powerfully used by God. But he was also a lightning rod. And I think John Mark could see the storm clouds looming. In addition to this, we know that this is when Paul gets sick, terribly sick.
Jeffrey Heine:
And I can only imagine John Mark stepping up and be like, well, we gave it our best shot guys, but you know, now that Paul's sick, I guess we all just gotta go on home. You know, that makes that makes sense. Go on home. And Paul's like, We're not going anywhere. We're not we're just getting started.
Jeffrey Heine:
But Paul, you cannot go on in the condition you're in. We're not just going on. We're going up 36 100 feet through the most dangerous road there is. I just need some fresh air. I mean, you could just picture Paul saying this and John Mark is like, no.
Jeffrey Heine:
I'm out. I'm out. I see where this is going. And he leaves. And Paul makes it crystal clear in chapter 15, he feels abandoned by John Mark.
Jeffrey Heine:
And can I just say that I I love that the Bible includes these little details that if you just stop long enough, they kinda pop out? I love that it includes these things because it reminds us that these were real people with real struggles. They might have loved one another, but they didn't always like one another. They also struggle with changes of leadership like some of us do. Some of them struggled with picking up their cross and following Jesus.
Jeffrey Heine:
This was not a perfect church. And I actually find comfort in that. I can relate to what's happening here. Alright. So let me give you a summation of what we've seen so far in this first missionary journey.
Jeffrey Heine:
What you possibly can expect when you say yes to following God. Opposition from the outside. Opposition from the inside. Opposition from your own friends who might abandon you. The call to follow Jesus is a call to pick up your cross and to follow him.
Jeffrey Heine:
Jesus said, whoever wishes to save his life will lose it. Whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. Thankfully, Paul and Barnabas, they refused to back down, so they keep moving forward. I I can only imagine how hard that journey was for Paul. And whatever bodily ailment the guy had, which apparently was so severe, it was it was a hindrance.
Jeffrey Heine:
It was a trial to the Galatians just to have him there. I can't imagine how hard it was for him to make that trek and to go up there. But then when he gets there and he arrives and he preaches a sermon, I call it his Michael Jordan flu, you know, game here. It says That should've that should've been more of a reference for you people out there. Michael Jordan flew 1997 game 5.
Jeffrey Heine:
Michael Scottie Pippen had to carry him off, like, y'all don't That doesn't connect at all. What what are they teaching you in history? I mean, so he he gets there sick, but but he preaches an unbelievable message. It's actually the only full sermon we have of Paul. All the other sermons, he gets about 2 thirds in and then people start throwing rocks at him.
Jeffrey Heine:
He never gets to finish a sermon, but this is the only complete sermon that we have of him. And we're gonna look more at that at the end. But let's go to his next towns. Alright? He leaves this town of Pisidian Antioch, and then he goes to Iconium, where surprise surprise, they want to kill him.
Jeffrey Heine:
So they pick up stones and he's nearly stoned to death. And then they come to Lystra. And let's read these words in Acts 14 beginning in verse 8. Now at Lystra, there was a man sitting who could not use his feet. He was crippled from birth and had never walked.
Jeffrey Heine:
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. And when the crowd saw that Paul what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices saying in Lyconian, the gods have come down to us in the likeness of men. Barnabas, they called Zeus, and Paul Hermes because he was the chief speaker. Alright.
Jeffrey Heine:
So once again, Paul, he walks into a town. We're starting to get a pattern here. Alright. He walks into a town. He encounters somebody.
Jeffrey Heine:
And you read, he looks intently at them. It's the 3rd time we see this in Acts, where where you look intently in a person's eyes. And I think what's happening there at that moment is you're praying. Paul's praying. God, what would you have at this moment?
Jeffrey Heine:
And it's something different. Sometimes it's son of a devil, I am striking a blind. And other times it's, God, you want this person healed? But this is, I would say, a pattern for ministry for us is the people we encounter, we look them in the eye and we're asking, God, what would you have for this person at this moment? Use me however You want in this situation.
Jeffrey Heine:
And we see that here. And for this time, the man is given the ability to walk again. So this makes quite an impression on the townspeople. They they go bonkers over this. Immediately, like the priests of their, their their temple, they come in and they are worshiping or trying to worship Paul and Barnabas as gods.
Jeffrey Heine:
They say Barnabas is Zeus and they say Paul is Hermes and Paul and Barnabas are doing everything they can to keep these people from making sacrifices to them. So they have the exact opposite experience in this town as they had in the previous one. Previous town immediately opposed by people, people trying to kill them. Here, people trying to worship them. People are just so impressed with what they could do that they they literally want to bow down and worship them.
Jeffrey Heine:
Now don't worry, things are gonna change and they'll stone them by the end. Alright? It's just kinda how the way it goes. I I love actually the end of this is they stone Paul. They think he's dead.
Jeffrey Heine:
He pops back up, and it says he goes right back into the city. And Luke leaves out a detail I wish you would have put in, because if those people thought that Paul was a god when he raised somebody up thinking he was lame, imagine their response when they thought they killed him and he comes right back into the city. I would have loved to have seen what happened at that point, but Luke in typical fashion leaves that out. But we have opposition and then sometimes we have praise. Let's take a step back.
Jeffrey Heine:
What are the threads we could pull together here? What is the takeaway that we can have from Paul and Barnabas' first missionary journey? Is there any point of application that that we can have being 2000 years removed from from these events? I would say there's one thing that we can learn from this. There is something terribly wrong with the church today.
Jeffrey Heine:
I think when we read this, we have to walk away saying there's something terribly wrong with what's happening in the church today. I was talking with, some friends of mine. They live in Boulder, Colorado, And I asked them about some of the churches there. Now my friends there are not Christians, but they're interested to some degree. And so they've visited a number of churches.
Jeffrey Heine:
They, you know, visited a Unitarian Universalist church. They they visited some other community churches and things that were on the street. And, so I asked them about that. So so so how how was the visitation? How did those go?
Jeffrey Heine:
And they're like, well, I mean, it was okay. And I was worried because there was nothing that came across that either offended them or drew them in. It was That's the problem I would see with the church today. We're kind of, meh. There's nothing that's confrontational.
Jeffrey Heine:
There's nothing that's repulsive, and at the same time, there's nothing of healing power drawing people in. It has become today a perfectly acceptable thing to be part of a church. I mean, really, in America, if you go to all the mainstream denominations, you know, Methodist, Presbyterian, you know, Anglican, Reformed, what whatever you are, it's it's socially acceptable for you to be a member of one of those churches. But you know what? 2 things you're no longer gonna find at these churches is any kind of persecution or any kind of signs and wonders.
Jeffrey Heine:
Those things have fallen away. Rarely is the church today persecuted anymore. Now, I'm not saying it doesn't ever happen. I mean, some sometimes there's a Twitter rant about a church, you know? Poor us.
Jeffrey Heine:
But it's not like when we're meeting here, there's people picketing outside or there's people throwing rocks through our stained glass. The church as a whole is not persecuted at all anymore. But at the same time, there aren't any signs and wonders happening anymore. There's nobody running up and down the street worshiping saying, look what the Lord has done. He's he's healed me.
Jeffrey Heine:
Those things have fallen away. So what's happened is we no longer have the the highs and we no longer have the lows. We don't have the things happening in the church that we see here happening in the book of Acts. It reminds me of today, I'm I'm not feeling that well. Alright.
Jeffrey Heine:
So I've I'm super congested. Can't really really think well. And so I've I've taken some DayQuil. I hope it's DayQuil. And so, that that's why I've been taking.
Jeffrey Heine:
And and the result of that medicine is, my low or my bad. I'm a little bit better than I was early this morning for sure. But I'm also not quite as sharp right now. Alright? It got rid of my lows and it got rid of kinda my highs.
Jeffrey Heine:
And it makes me think, what is the medicine that the church is taking? What what is it what is it that we're putting in us to produce that? We no longer have the lows. I guess that's okay. But at the same time, we no longer are saying stand up and walk.
Jeffrey Heine:
We've lost the highs. No one gets stoned but nobody gets healed. The church is no longer slandered, but at the same time, the church is no longer praised or borderline worshiped like Paul and Barnabas were. We're, nah. The word that I would use to describe the American church as a whole is irrelevant.
Jeffrey Heine:
We've become irrelevant and I can't think of anything worse. It's not as if the world is looking at us and, and thinking, you know, well you know you're you're really good or you're really bad. The world's just not even thinking about us. We're we're irrelevant. But he I mean, you read through this, you could not ignore the church.
Jeffrey Heine:
Was there any way you could ignore Paul? There is no way you could ignore him and the message that he brought. I'm sure you guys are aware of it. It came out this past week. It was in USA Today.
Jeffrey Heine:
It was in AL.com. It was in a number of the papers all over the nation, the new Barna study that talked about evangelism. The statistic that I could not get over was this. Nearly half of all millennial Christians believe it is wrong to share their faith with those who believe differently. Nearly half of all millennial Christians believe it is wrong to share their faith with those who believe differently.
Jeffrey Heine:
It's no wonder we're irrelevant. Let that sink in. That means half of of the millennial Christians here believe that Paul was wrong. What he did was ethically, morally wrong to share his faith with these people. They believe what Peter did at Pentecost when he stood up to share was wrong.
Jeffrey Heine:
What Stephen did when he shared and he gave his life was wrong. That is not what the church should be doing anymore. And we wonder why we're at the position we're in as a church. The image I have is this, the church has been reduced to kind of a billboard status. You know when you're driving down the road to whatever your destination is, you you have the option.
Jeffrey Heine:
There's some billboards and you could kinda look at a billboard if you want to, but it doesn't change your destination. And God has not called us to be billboards. He's called us to be He's called us to be forks in the road. That's what we are. We're not something where a person is just gonna travel this direction their whole life and if they wanna look at us, fine.
Jeffrey Heine:
They're called that when they meet us, they have to go 1 or 2 ways. A decision is called for. We're a fork in the road. We're not a billboard. And it's time for the church to once again proclaim the gospel in word and in deed.
Jeffrey Heine:
I still believe in signs and wonders in the church, and I think we should pray towards that end. If if that's something you don't believe in, come and talk to me. But I'll give you some very practical signs and wonders that can happen this week no matter what. A sign and wonder can be this, if you this week become a radically generous person, if the way you give your money is just so extraordinary that they look at you and they're like, I don't know how a person could do that. That's supernatural.
Jeffrey Heine:
That's exactly what happens to Paul and Barnabas. They go in there and they heal a man and they look like, I don't know what happened, but they must be gods. The people weren't far off. It's not that they were gods, but they were doing something supernatural. If you get out here and you out in the world and become such a generous person, the world's gonna look at you and be like, I don't know what it is, but it's supernatural that anybody could be that generous.
Jeffrey Heine:
Or perhaps it's a radical hospitality this week that you invite the stranger in. And you do it so often and to people that no one else would invite in. You do it over and over. The world's gonna look and be, I don't know what that is, but it's supernatural. Or possibly God's calling you to forgive someone who has been incredibly hurtful to you.
Jeffrey Heine:
And you publicly forgive and you go overboard in your kindness to that person, the world's gonna look at that and be like, that's unexplainable. That's supernatural. And that gives you a platform for the gospel to be proclaimed, which we need to proclaim. The message that Paul preached here in Acts 13, it's almost identical to the message that Peter preaches at Pentecost. Same theme.
Jeffrey Heine:
It's the theme that the church needs to know and to sing and to proclaim all its days. And it's this, you go through and it's basically Paul saying, hey, God did this, God did this, God did this, God did this, God did this. He's going through all of history and he's saying, God is the one who holds everything together. Nothing has happened in this world that God has not declared. And you know what?
Jeffrey Heine:
It's all culminating in this moment. At this time, God in the great climax of all history, He sent forth His son, Jesus, who lived and then He died. We killed Him and He rose back from the grave. And through His resurrection, we now have eternal life and forgiveness of sins. And God in His sovereignty has brought you to this moment to make a decision.
Jeffrey Heine:
Won't you trust Him and follow Him as Lord? That's the good news of the gospel we believe and we proclaim. That's the medicine we've been given, if you will, that brings life to this world. And I pray that our church would come to understand the glorious and joyful implications of the gospel we believe and that needs to be proclaimed. My prayer is that as a church, we be a people, this day forward in both word and in deed, live out the very things we say we believe.
Jeffrey Heine:
If you would pray with me. Lord Jesus, I feel pressed to first ask forgiveness. Corporately, forgiveness for all of us because the reality is there are people we rub shoulders with every day who've never ever seen any sign and wonder from us, anything supernatural with us that would lead them to believe something extraordinary is happening in the life of that individual. Forgive us. And on top of that, there's people we rub shoulders with everyday who have never once heard us profess Your name, Jesus.
Jeffrey Heine:
Forgive us. Lord, I pray that you would reignite in us a passion for your name, for your glory to cover this earth just as the waters cover the sea, all for our joy and for your glory. We pray this in Your name, Jesus. Amen.