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Beautiful. Good morning, everybody. My name is Drew. I'm the pastor here at Hope Heights. Thrilled that you're here with us, especially if you're visiting or checking us out. We're really glad you're here. We're going to take some time now to jump into the Word, into Scripture, and today we got a lot of it. And continue our series that we're doing in the Book of Acts. This is a tricky question. There's lots of places I'd love to go, but it reminds me of places I've never went and probably never will go. And it reminds me of. This question is something that my friend and I would talk about all the time, starting when I was in middle school. So in the mid-90s, my friend Bill lived down the street. He was a few years older than me. And one of the cool things about Bill was that he had a car. His dad bought him a car. This is. This is AI's version of Bill. And I actually asked it to give me a picture of me and bill in his 85 Ford Taurus. It's pretty accurate. That's not what I look like exactly. Not what Bill looks like, but. And it also knew that Bill made me sit in the back somehow, which is fantastic. It gives you a little insight into our friendship. So I was like, a little bit younger kid in the neighborhood, and Bill was a cool kid. He had all, like, the newest gaming systems, always. So we like to hang out at his house. Anyway, his parents bought him an 85 Ford Taurus, this beautiful piece of machinery that sat in his driveway. And we would spend a lot of time in this car. We would sit in it and listen to music. And he eventually bought a CB radio. We would talk to truck drivers, which maybe isn't a safe thing to do either, but we had lots of fun in there. And we'd spend hours and hours talking and hanging out. We'd go in the summer and turn the AC on, but we never went anywhere because Bill didn't really finish Driver's Ed for a while. So for years, we hung out in Bill's 85 Tourist. In fact, there was a point where his dad had to change the tires because they got, like, rotted from not moving. In the winter, it would be covered with snow, but we'd make a little path and get in there and hide in there and hang out. And we would ask this question, where would we love to go? We talk about all the road trips we're gonna take in his Ford Taurus all over Wisconsin. And we're gonna go to Chicago whenever we want. We can go anywhere and we're gonna see each other someday. We're gonna go to college and we're gonna drive in the Ford Taurus. We had all these plans in this sweet car that actually never happened. By the time Bill got his license, the Ford Taurus had essentially rotted. I guess sitting there, it didn't really roll very well. It ran and there was air conditioning and the radio worked. But other than that, it wasn't real great. It's just kind of a crazy picture, right? I think it's a picture of. I've had lots of moments in my life where I find myself in a Ford taurus, a sweet 85 Ford Taurus, talking about where I want to go. Even thinking like that sounds great, but not moving, not going. And so I love to hang, love to be with people even there hanging. But we didn't go anyway, this is today, I think one of the encouragements God's gonna give us as we are in the Book of Acts, we're gonna see one of the, what they call the first missionary trip of Paul and Barnabas. And it's a time where they do go and that hopefully will encourage us with what that looks like to actually go to maybe not just sit in our torch, maybe talk about it. What does it look like to be people who go, and not just because we're supposed to her, because God will be angry, but like we're actually moved to want to go. Bill didn't actually get his license until Bill got a girlfriend when he was a junior, I think in high school. And his girlfriend encouraged him to get a license. She said it would be cool if he had his license. And suddenly he was very motivated because his license, that happens when you're in high school. And so suddenly, I guess I wasn't motivation enough, but she was. And he suddenly got his license and also spent much less time with me. What does that look like? What does it look like? People who are actually moved to do stuff. Not just, I guess I have to do this. How much of our life feels like that, but what does it look like to people who are moved towards something? So we are in the Book of Acts. And today we have a lot of past, a lot of scripture to roll through. So we're gonna get going here. The book of Acts for us has been this opportunity to continue the story of Jesus. We see Luke is one of the writers of the gospels. We see him write about the life of Jesus from his birth all the way to his death and resurrection. This incredible story of our God. And then this story continues as, as Jesus, as God is. The Spirit builds the church. And we really just see that same thing happen now through God's people in the book of Acts. And so we've already seen lots of things. We are starting in chapter 13 today. So we are really in the middle of it. And we've seen the Spirit come onto people. People be able to talk in different languages and it unite the church together. People get healed, people could never walk, are healed. And thousands of people come to want to be a part of this family. It's changing lives, God moving people. A guy named Philip to meet an Ethiopian on a road that God sent them from two different places to meet in this moment so that he could help him understand the gospel. And this good, good news. It's incredible. And even someone, Paul or Saul, who was persecuting Christians, he was actually hurting Christians, dragging them out into the streets, arresting them. And he was changed. He encounters Jesus and has changed story after story of this. And we only get this little glimpse of it in the book of Acts. All these stories of thousands of people happening all at once. And this story just keeps going. And so what we've seen so far is it starts in Jerusalem and it moves out as Jesus said, this will start in Jerusalem and move to the ends of the earth. And it has moved to the Ethiopian, it has moved to Samaria, just outside of it. And last week we moved into a place we called the Gentiles, the non Jewish people in the city of Antioch. A great metropolis, a center of culture, of wealth of influence in the area. It moves there and we see people starting to come to faith in Antioch. It's this cool picture and a guy named Barnabas. And a guy named Barnabas goes and gets Paul or Saul, the one that has converted from being against the church to being a big part of the church in Antioch. And today we're going to see the first time where it kind of now we're seeing from Antioch, the Church of God. It's this multiplication of like now people there know and they can't not send people to tell others around them. And so today we're going to see this first, they call it the first missionary trips of Paul and Barnabas. And we're going to get to go on their little adventure. They're going to be some boat rides, there's going to be some walking, there's going to be some near death experiences. It's a pretty wild. And so we're Going to hop right into it. We're going through certain passages in 13 and 14, but we're going through 13 and 14. So hold on. We're going to try to chug through that pretty quick and hopefully in the end we'll be reminded. Why would someone, why would they be moved to do this? Put themselves in danger to move to new people, cross cultures? It's pretty nuts. It seems like, why in the world, Paul, would you just stay in Antioch? It seems like a pretty nice place. Why would you do that? And hopefully we can be encouraged ourselves to do that. So we're gonna start right in the beginning of 13. This is where we left off last week, the church of Antioch. Barnabas and Saul had stayed there for about a year teaching and equipping and encouraging the church there as it grew. And now it mentions some of these key leaders in that church. Now, in the church at Antioch, there are prophets and teachers. Barnabas, Simeon, called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene Manaen, who had been brought up with Herod, the tetrarch. He was connected to, like, high leadership in the community there. And Saul, who we know was actually part of a group of Jewish people who were killing and persecuting Christians. These are the people now who are leading the church now. They're worshiping the Lord and fasting. And the Holy Spirit said, set apart for me, Barnabas and Saul, for the work to which I have called them. So take Barnabas and Saul. I have work for them to do. So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off. So they've sent them. That's a very church Bible word that we like to use. They send them off. Jesus used this word as he was sent. He's going to send them off. So they prayed, they said, lord, what do you want? They're asking the Spirit to teach them and to call them and to direct them. And they said, send Paul and send Barnabas. And the two of them, sent on their way by the Holy Spirit, went down to Seleucia and sailed from there to Cyprus. So this is it. They left. The Spirit is on them and it's moving them to this new place. Just kind of a picture here I want us to get at. I want us to think of ourselves here as little boats. So we're in our boats. We got this cargo with us. If you're thinking of Paul and Barnabas, they have this cargo, this good news that they're carrying with them. They this news that they've been given and they Go, I gotta take this to the rest of the world. And they have their sails down and the spirit starts moving. And they say, what do you want with us, spirit? Where do you wanna move us? And so they decide to put their sails up. Cause what happens when you put your sail up when you're in a sailboat? The wind then, right, pushes you, directs you, takes you somewhere. And so it's this picture, right, that the spirit is moving them. They sense the spirit as the wind was blowing and they put their sails up. So there's this partnership in this. It's God is definitely doing all this, but he's definitely also doing this with them. And so it's this partnership in that they put their sails up. And now the winds, the Spirit has moved them. As God first makes his move, they say, I'd like to join you, God, in what you're doing. And you see it happens through this beginning of prayer and fasting, this dependence on who God is. So as we start here, thinking about this is the first kind of step. What does it look like to move? To go. It's first, God, what are you doing? I need you, I'm dependent on you. The gospel has to change us. And then it's to go, I'm actually gonna put the sails up. I'm actually gonna say, I'm gonna let you push me towards something. That alone can be a pretty hard thing to do. What does it look like to say? I'm gonna allow you to lead me and I'm gonna let my sails be blown by you? Well, that's what happens. They literally actually do that. They leave. They move from Antioch, if you see up in the corner here, and they head to this coastal town, which then they take a ship to Cyprus. Cyprus is actually where Barnabas is from. So their first move is to a community they actually know people. They know. Now it's cross cultural in a way, because now they've come as followers of Jesus to people who are not followers of Jesus. So they're helping having to explain that. But these are people, they would know they people, they'd understand the culture. It's a great place to first move because they would understand maybe how to talk to the people there and what it would look like. And so they move to this island. They actually find themselves moving across this island from the east side to the west side is where we're going to see them move. And they're going to end up here in this Paphos place that we're going to see here as we Continue in X. So when they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the Jewish synagogues. This was the pattern we're going to see. They first go to the Jewish synagogues, which are kind of like the gatherings of Jewish people, sort of where we see a lot of the churches start because they're Jewish people meeting there. They go there first because they understand the scriptures, they understand even this, all the prophecies. And hopefully they'll go, oh, they've all been fulfilled in Jesus. He's the Savior we've been waiting for. And they could see these synagogues essentially turn into churches. So that's where they're going to go as they go into these towns. At least if the towns have synagogues and they bring a friend. John was with them as their helper and helper here. If you're wondering, John isn't like he's not like an intern, like an unpaid intern. Like he gets some coffee and stuff. It's essentially like he's coming to assist them in the ministry there. It's just a cool moment of like, we also brought John and probably even they think maybe some other people too. They traveled through the whole island until they came to Paphos, where they. They meet a Jewish sorcerer and a false prophet named Bar Jesus. That's getting exciting, right? We've already seen a sorcerer named Simon, and now we're going to see another sorcerer, a false prophet. Luke here at least tells us right away. So we know who this guy is. His name is Bar Jesus, which, the name Jesus is Joshua, which means salvation. And Bar Jesus would mean the son of salvation. So this guy calls himself the son of salvation, which would make him sound very right, important, really valuable if he carries salvation, if his family brings salvation. And he was an attendant to the proconsul, which is the leader, one of the head leader of the area, if not the island. Sergius Paulus, which is just a great name. It sounds like a soccer player. The proconsul, an intelligent man, went for Barnabas and Saul because he wanted to hear the word of God. So this leader in the community says, I want to hear from these. I've been hearing stuff. I want to hear from these guys. And Bar Jesus is not a fan of that. But Elymas, which is his name, the source word for is what this name means. It's the other way to say his name opposed. Kind of like when we say Saul and Paul, there's like a Greek and Aramaic name. This would be one of his names. Opposed them and tried to turn the proconsul from the faith. So he sees this leader who he has influence on, starting to turn, actually, maybe believe this stuff, actually hear the good news and turn to Jesus. And he goes, I don't want that. Maybe you can assume that, like, he has some influence. Maybe there's some. Some of his income is involved in this, his power. All those things he's seeing, like, I'm not gonna be now the source of prophecy, of spirituality, of religion for this person. If he turns to Jesus, if he leaves bar Jesus for Jesus, for real salvation, that's scary to him then. So he opposes them. Now Saul is going to respond. And then Saul, who is also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looks straight at Elimus and said, there's an encounter here. They're in the city. The leader of the area is there. His, like, spiritual council is there. And he says, don't believe these guys. And Paul looks right at him. So those moments where we see a pretty strong response and Luke tells us the Holy Spirit, it's not just Paul upset, it's the Holy Spirit. You are a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right. We don't hear any language before that. Like, that might have been the first time Paul met this man. Nice to meet you. You're a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right. You are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery. This is the Holy Spirit speaking through Father. He's really just bringing to light the truth of what's happening here. You will never stop perverting the right ways of the Lord. Now the hand of the Lord is against you. You are going to be blind for a time. Not even able to see the light of the sun. This is intense. He meets. He's there with this leader. And the leaders, like, influenced this spiritual. Probably his spiritual leader. And maybe the region, the area spiritually is now coming against Paul. And Paul in a similar way is like a version of Paul. And Paul says, what's going to happen is you're going to go blind for a season here, which is what happened to Paul. You're going to have the same experience that I'm going to have that I had. And in a sense, Paul was doing the same thing. He understands what it means to be bar Jesus. You're a child of the devil, enemy of everything that is right. You've come up against God and you're going to be blind. It really is a picture again of what he really is. Spiritually, he's blind. And so I'm going to give him this physical version of that. Immediately, mist and darkness came over him. And he groped about seeking someone to lead him by the hand. Went from this leader, this prophet, a man who could see the word prophet, or even like a seer is something they would call him. Someone who could see into the future, into hearts, into God's world. Now is blind, can't see. When the Four Council saw what had happened, he believed, for he was amazed at the teaching about the Lord. So we get this great first moment in their travels. He encounters a person opposed to the gospel. And in that moment he comes against them with the truth. This is not true, what you're doing. This is actually evil, what you're doing. You're actually working not for the. As the son of salvation, but the wording here, a child of the devil. You're actually working as you're the son of Satan, not the son of salvation. This is what happens. It's this picture of essentially what we will see over and over in the book of Acts and we see even in our own lives, right? There's a. There's a response to the good news. There's a response to the gospel response to Jesus in my own heart and in the people around me. And sometimes is someone going, this is incredible. And they believe and they're changed and they rejoice. And sometimes they say, no. It's like a toddler, it's a kid who you bring them food and you don't know if they're going to go like, no. And you're like, two minutes ago you wanted that thing and now you don't. Or they might like, eat it and eat so much they get sick, right? Oh, thank you so much for the food. This is. This is what happens to the gospel. We're gonna see over and over with Paul, and we've seen already these responses to it. It hits right to the heart. And then there's a response of what happens there. We see salvation. Not come to the son of salvation, but instead blindness. Disconnect. He goes from leading to groping about, seeking someone to lead him. This is just the beginning of what we see. I think as the wind blows, as the Spirit moves, we put our sails up and it takes us somewhere. Seas start to get rough at times. Sometimes that means we say, this is not true. This is true. We get to speak truth in what is actually how the world works and what God has set up for the world's work. And. And we still, though, get to feel the Rocky seas, the water splash up. But in that, if you think, see what Paul did, he still brought the cargo. Not of Paul, not of wise arguments. He didn't call about like some kind of debate with this man in public. He just said, I brought truth with me and here is the truth. And you have not brought truth with you. Again relying on the Spirit, allowing God to move him in that moment, right? He put his sails up and said, God, tell me what I need to tell this person. Even if they're hard, hard words. Well, they keep moving. This happens there with a lot of other things I'm sure that we didn't get in the book of Acts, but all sorts of things happening as people come. You can imagine one of the key leaders in their community now comes to faith would probably change that community also. And so now they move. We hear again on a boat, maybe jet skis. I don't think jet skis were invented then. I don't know the timeline of that. But on a boat they now move up into Perga. And then from Perga. Some of these stories we get are like they went there and then they proclaimed the good news and people came to know and then they went to another Antioch. Now there's actually a lot of Antiochs in the ancient world. They're named after a well known leader. And so there's 16 Antiochs. And so in order to help know which Antioch you're at, they give you, you know, other names with them, which is why it's called that. You're wondering maybe why there are two Antiochs. There's actually 16 in the region. They move to another Antioch and the same thing happens. They go to a synagogue, they meet with Jewish leaders there and they, and they get an opportunity again to share this good news. They brought the cargo with them, the wind has blown them there and they bring in the cargo to say, we want to share with you this incredible thing that we have that we've been given that God also has for you. After the reading from the Law and the Prophets, now they're in the synagogue. The leaders of the synagogue sent word to them saying, brothers, if you have a word of exhortation for the people, please speak. So they come and hey, you want to talk to these people? And he goes, yeah, for sure I do. Standing up, Paul motioned with his hand and said, fellow Israelites, you Israelites and you Gentiles who worship God, listen to me just for time. He then goes through passages, he unpacks. He essentially shows the cargo and says, hey, do you Remember this. God rescued you through Moses. He gave us this great deliverer. God gave us judges as he is a judge. He gave us these kings. Remember all these amazing things that happen. And then in verse 23, from this man's descendants, God has brought to Israel the Savior, Jesus, as he promised. He brought us this deliverer and this judge and this king. And now he has brought us the one you've been waiting for, we've all been waiting for. And then he goes on and essentially unpacks the Gospels in a few verses. Jesus is here. He's come. He's actually the greater, better deliverer and the judge and the king. He is our Savior. He takes this moment to go. Here is really quickly. Here is our people's history and what we've been waiting for. And he's come. He's come. It's the gospel. He shares the gospel again. It's all he's got with him. That's all the cargo he has in the gospel. And he shares it with them. And then from here he goes to this moment. This is a great history lesson. And what happened? Who came that Jesus came. Oh, that's great. That's cool. That he came, that those things happened. And then he turns it. He wants to make this connection between their head, this history, and the knowledge of what they know and their heart. They want to see him change. Like he wants to get in to the place where they really their desires are, where their emotions are, where they're like, where their decisions, their motives are to their soul. So he unloads this cargo for them, shows it to them. Here's the stories of our deliverer, our king, our Savior. He came through John the Baptist. Remember, John the Baptist was waiting for someone. This was the one. There was miracles. And he died. And he rose. There's. There's just these shadows of him. And he's the object that's been casting these shadows. It's like he. It's like the box now gets opened. The boxes are labeled deliver and our history and our people. And he goes, open up. Anyone seen Indiana Jones? When they open the Ark of the Covenant and it like the light comes out and it melts them. He wants to see hearts melted, not so that Nazis melt and die, but so that they are changed people. There's a moment where like he goes, and this is it. Everything you want and everything we desire. It's true. Therefore, my friends, I want you to know that through Jesus, this Jesus we're telling you about, the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. You can be forgiven through him. Remember all the sacrifices we did and all the things you were trying to follow so you could be forgiven and made right. It's all through this one. The light is starting to beam out of the car through him. Everyone who believes is set free from every sin. A justification you are not able to obtain under the law of Moses. You so wanted this. And friends, it's here. I think there's a just a joy in Paul and Barnabas as they move to these cities and they get to sit with people and say, hey, how you doing? And part of that is like, I so want to be forgiven. I so want to be free from sin, controlling my life. I so want to be done with these habits that are like destroying me or my family or my life or my head or my heart. And he says, I have really good news. And he cracks open the cargo and he says, it's here. His name is Jesus. At your deepest desires and your hurt and your loneliness and your loss, there is forgiveness that brings healing and restoration. This forgiveness gives you an identity. It gives you a direction and a purpose in your work. It actually gives you a family that you so desire. All of your desires are here in this person, a cure for your aching heart. So he moves them from this great history to this moment of the heart changing. And they see it happen. It's pretty incredible. And so this happens. This is the exciting part. We see rough seas where they're opposed and we see moments where the gospel is heard and it changes people. And then we see more people not so happy as well. When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honored the word of the Lord. And all of them who appointed, and all who were appointed for eternal life believed this moment ago. There's people there who are waiting and had no idea that some friends from Antioch were going to take a boat to their town and bring them the thing they've been waiting for. And they had it. The word of the Lord spread through the whole region. But the Jewish leaders incited the God fearing women of high standing and the leading men of the city. They stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas and expelled them from the region. So again we see numbers increase. We see this over and over in the book of Acts. Luke likes us to be reminded and and the church grew and there was opposition. They ran them out of town. Thankfully, their mission was just to go to people, so there was more people they could find. So they shook the dust off their feet as a warning to them and went to Lisonia the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit. I like that. Luke lets us know that they weren't like, why did we do this? So discouraged. Why have we been here? But they instead are filled with joy, knowing we came and delivered the good news and people responded, and lives are changed forever. Communities are changed forever. Kids are gonna be born into homes where they're gonna know the Lord. It's gonna change generations and whole families. They know that when they get there, there'll be people who will rejoice, and there's people who will recoil. There's parades thrown for the goodness of God, and there's persecution. There's joy and anger. But they can continue on because they know it's not about them. People loving Paul and Barnabas or somehow coming over to their cool message or idea or thought or plan. But instead, they know they just get to carry this good news that they've been given. That's all they're entrusted to do and move. Put up their sails and move. And so they keep moving. They now move to another town, Iconia. I saw. I love it. That sounds like a Minnesota town. And they stayed there for a while. They're in synagogues and other groups. They preach the gospel, they're teaching. They're living with them. All these, again, these aren't happening, like, in a day. This isn't a quick road trip. These are. A lot of these places are staying for a while, getting to know the people, getting to share life with them, getting to share the gospel with them. Then there was a plot that was learned that some people were again trying to kill. Actually, this time Stone, Paul and Barnabas. And so they decided that maybe they should move on from there. That's usually the wind blowing a little bit, hey, these people are gonna try to kill you. And they're like, I think God's telling us to go somewhere else. So they did. They went south a little bit to Lystra. In Lystra, there's a man who was healed. He could not walk. Does this sound familiar? And they. He healed. They. They pray for him, and he's healed. He can walk again. It's the same picture that we saw earlier in Acts. And we see Jesus. Do they go? Of course. This is how the gospel works. We see people who can't walk now be able to walk. It's beautiful. It's this cool picture again as they travel through the land. And this one, interesting. These people are not of necessarily Jewish descent. They. Their religious background, their worldview isn't Necessarily Jewish. And so they think it's Hermes and Zeus from. Of course, Hermes and Zeus are in town. They know the story of Hermes and Zeus. And so they actually bring bulls to sacrifice to them, thinking that the gods have come to their town because this man was healed. Now they think it because there's a story told by the poet, the Roman poet Ovid, where Zeus and Hermes. Hermes has the cool shoes, right? Yeah, he has the cool shoes on. They actually come to visit a town. The gods come down to Earth to visit a town. And this couple in town shows them hospitality, and they're given, like, wealth and prosperity, and someone else does not show them hospitality, and they are not rewarded. The story, terrible judgment falls on those who did not show them hospitality. So they know this story. It's a famous story for them in their religious context and their culture. And so when two men come to town and a man is healed who could not walk, they go, we know this. This is Hermes and Zeus. So they celebrate these two, and you know what they do? They go, we have to make sure they feel loved, they feel cared for. We have to show them hospitality. Cause if we do not, we know what happens, right? Terrible things happen. And so they come and they bring them this bull and they want to throw them a party. They, you know, want to celebrate them because they got to make sure that they're good to the gods so the gods will be good to them. Because you don't want to be the gods to be angry with you, right? Because they live in a system, kind of an economy of their. Of their worldview, of their religion, their spirituality is that we do good stuff for God and God gives us stuff, right? It's. It's really the basis of all religion. And so Zeus and Hermes is here, and we gotta do good stuff. Cause maybe they'll do more good stuff for us. They. It's interesting. They're just. It's. It's like out of their. Out of this world that God could come so gracious show such charity as in, I will give you something. I will be kind to you. I will rescue you. I will heal you and make you walk. Because I'm God and I choose to care for you. Not because you did things to me or were hospitable enough to me. It's like, really. I think it's just out so far out of what makes sense from what they grew up in or what they understood culturally, what they understand. So grace is, like, foreign, which also means it's going to be. Tastes so sweet. When they understand it, it's very similar that we saw earlier in. Last week in Antioch. The church there raised money and sent it to the church in Jerusalem. And historically, in the books of Rome, there was historical documents with notes written. Like, we don't understand why they would give to them and not get anything in return. It didn't make sense. We need to, like, create a new word which many years later, they create the word charity out of that which comes from the word for grace. Because it, like, doesn't compute. And I think for these people, let's have a lot more grace for them, it doesn't compute. Why would these men come and then through them, God? So they actually respond to them. They say, oh, no, no, no, no. We just have a. We just brought cargo on our boat. Like, we didn't. We don't actually do this, but we can tell you who did. It's interesting how they say it. Friends, why are you doing this? We are too. We are too only human, like you. We are bringing you good news, telling you to turn from these worthless things to the living God. They're. There is a living God who has healed this person. You made the heavens and the earth and the sea and everything in them in the past. He let all nations go their own way, yet he has not left himself without testimony. He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons. He provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy. This is an interesting. It doesn't actually say, like, turn to Jesus, your Savior, right? But he explains to them, I think, in the language they would understand. Would you like your hearts filled with joy? There's a God who has provided and cared for you. Feels a lot kinda like Romans 1. There's a God we can know because of what he's given us and how he's been around us. And his kindness can change you. It actually did change them. They responded to this guy being healed, but they responded as if they need to give to God. So he keeps giving them and. And not realizing God has already given them grace. And the joy comes as we understand this great grace. What a gift to a people, to a people who have not heard that we have a living God who deeply cares for you, that in your brokenness and your sin and your really unhospitable lives, he still comes and heals you and puts Jesus joy in your heart, not because you are so hospitable to him, but because he is so hospitable to us. It's just great news. They get to share with them. It's not us. We get to just bring this good news that we've been carrying with us. So he had this really cool moment, right? And then we get that what we've been getting in the Book of Acts. We get strong resistance. Then some of the Jews came from Antioch, Iconia, and won the crowd over. They came and convinced them, kind of like Bar Jesus was trying to do. They stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city thinking he was dead in one verse. Things change quick. Paul, they think he's a God. And then pretty quick they go, I guess you're not. And they stone him to the point they think he's dead and drag him outside the city. There's some commentaries that say they wonder, like, was he actually. They would have known, like, if someone had died, Was he actually dead? Is this like a little quick miracle? We don't really get much information on. They drag him outside the city as if he's dead. But after the disciples had gathered around him, he got up. They assumed this could. Could mean like, they're saying they gathered and prayed for him, which could be like, did Paul die and did disciples pray and the Spirit raised him from the dead? Or maybe he's just really hurt really bad. They pray for him. He got up and he ran, right? No, he goes back into the city. That's wild. Okay, I guess the wind's blowing you back in the city. The next day, he and Barnabas left for dear so opposition. They try to stop Paul. You can't stop Paul. Not because Paul's so strong, but because God's so strong and God wants his good news shared. This is a moment where I think for Paul, he has to stand up and say, I was almost killed in that city. And he has to make the decision, I'm going to go back into that city. They do leave, but it's a decision, I think, that is so rest on his new identity as a follower of Jesus, as a disciple, as a missionary to his people, that he goes, my calling here is to be put up my sails and let God move me to this people. And what happens, happens, because I know exactly what's going to happen. Even if they accomplish their goal of killing me, he says later in his writings, like, that's gain for me. I can't. I can't lose in this. But it does really highlight how intense this got. We saw Bar Jesus oppose them. We saw people get upset with them. We saw plots to kill them. And then we actually see it play out. Here, where they try to kill him. The seas got really rough. Like, water's in the boat. We're going down. This is it. Lord, take me this. I'm ready. This is a moment, I think, in Acts where I think, if I can put my place, my person, like in Paul and Barnabas place. And I think the seas get this rocky, the wind's blowing me, my sail is up, but I so want to take the sail down. I want to hide in the boat. I want to maybe, like, abandon the boat. Maybe I just want to abandon the cargo in the boat. I'm like, what if I just stop talking about grace and truth? What if I stop leaning into the gospel and believing it's true? Maybe that will get me through this hard thing. How can I relieve the scary waves, this opposition? I probably would stop relying on the winds of the spirit. I'd maybe start pulling out my oars to be like, okay, I'm just going to get to the closest shore. And you don't get to tell me where to go anymore because you've moved me into hard things. That's how I feel like when I'm in the storm. I don't want your spirit to. To move me to go places because those places are so joyful and so hard at the same time. How can this be? Makes me think of Peter on the boat from this story with Jesus. Peter's on the boat, and Jesus asks him to walk on. On water. And there's this moment where I think he's worried about walking on the water and less about the God who's in front of him, who can allow him to walk in the water. Are we just trying to figure out how to walk on water and get through the thing? Or are we putting our faith in the one that we know can navigate us through the rough waters that has already navigated us through the hardest, roughest waters ever in death and sin, and has come out on real smooth waters, has given us a home and a land and a family in him. It is hard, hard, hard, though. So Paul and Barnabas encounter some pretty big storms, but they know this is what they're called to. What else are we going to do? We have all this good news. We got to bring it to those around us. So then they find themselves. They move on to the last city in this first journey. And then actually what happens is they don't just shoot back. You think, oh, it's a quick ride. They go to Tarsus, where Paul is from. They could probably stay with his grandma. She could make him a tasty dinner. They could hang out there and see family for a few days, recover. He can tell them the cool stories. And then they could go to Antioch. Right? That's a quick little group. You don't even have to take a boat, maybe. But they decide to actually go through. I think this is really cool. This is his whole kind of journey. And they actually decide to go back through all of them. Then they return to Lystra, Iconia and Antioch, strengthening disciples and encouraging them to remain true in the faith. This phrase, remain true in the faith, we heard earlier in Antioch, they encourage the church to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts. It's the same phrase, encourage them to continue to remain true with their hearts to the Lord. We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God. It's quoted. You imagine them telling the stories of what they went through. And then they threw a bunch of rocks, and then they pulled me outside the city. They thought I was dead, and then I wasn't. And then I went back in the city. We're gonna go through some hardships. Yeah, you are, Paul. Holy cow. Yeah, we are. They appointed elders and leaders in those things. You see what they're doing? They're going back through the same way to encourage and equip and actually build up those churches. This is really the same model we use now, right? We send. We plant churches places. We send people places. And then as we see growth, we see the gospel change people. We find ourselves continuing. How do we grow the people there? How do we encourage the people there? How do we support them and make sure people are leading them to still share the same good news? It's this amazing first journey we see with them. It says, they get back. This is my party hat. I can't imagine the many months, years they get back and they get to share, it says, with the church, the grace of God. They say, you wouldn't believe what happened. We got to the island, and the guy who leads the island. Yeah, yeah, Sergius. Yeah, you know him. He believes. It's crazy. It's changing the whole community. Yeah. And then these people got really angry with us, so we moved on to the next town. And then in that town, a guy walked, and they thought we were Greek gods. And we're like, no, no, no, no. We're just men. This is the coolest thing. But then they tried to hurt us again. It's this story after story of God's grace and his goodness and the good news getting spread all over Just assume there was some kind of party and stories going on. What an encouragement even to that church, that they even came back alive. And then with stories of the gospel moving throughout the world, it's this great picture, right? We. The winds are blowing. We decide to put our sails up and God to move us towards people or places or things with this good news. And we get to share that with people and see people come. We get to see some rough seas. But in the end, God gets glorified. We get this great joy of seeing people's lives changed and that new life and joy in their hearts. It's this beautiful picture. Where do we see this? Well, this week was hard not to see it as I think of the many women, especially moms, around me. So who. Who else, like, moves into hard things with, like, a mission of knowing, like, this is. Seems almost crazy with a dependence on a God. I can't do this. I need God to do this. Well, it's Moms Fun Week to get to highlight moms and other women who are moms to me. Moms go into unknown worlds, places every day, unknown smells. They move right in there. They bring joy, and they love those people. They persevere in the mess. Real hardship, the real pain. They're persecuted. Some of you in this room buy. Some of you in this room sometimes feeling left outside the city for dead. And they get up and they move right back into the city because they have really good news for these people around them. They share wisdom, they teach. They share truth. They stay with you and they comfort you. They equip you and grow you. And many of the moms I know pray a lot. They have to trust the people to the Lord. I can do all I can do. In the end, the Lord has them. We hear that over and over as we hear stories from all of you and your kids. And that must be really hard. The storm must be huge. And I do. I just have to trust that God has my kid. We saw that in our dedications a few weeks ago. People say we're trusting our kids. Holy to you, Lord. We see that in parents all day. Just one picture, right, of how we see that. Why would they do that? Many, many of you in this room, many moms, because they really. It's one of the ways they've been called. The winds have blown and they put their sails up, and God said, I'm gonna move you into this space with these people. And many of us have benefited from that person coming and caring for us. This doesn't just come Cause Paul and Barnabas were awesome, or moms are awesome, right? It comes because Christ has done this for us and it has changed us, and we now get to do that with Him. Jesus says this after his resurrection. He says, peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, the first missionary, Jesus comes across the culture from holiness and goodness to this. That's a culture change to brokenness in a world has come to bring good news, and he's changed people. And I'm sending you now. We. We get sent by him. And with that, he breathed on them and said, receive the Holy Spirit. I think I find myself often in this place. I'm sitting in my car talking about all the things I'd love to see specifically spiritually in my family, in my community, in my own life, in the world. And I talk all day long, maybe even on the CB radio, talking to people about it. But we don't really go anywhere, and the car rots. What does it look like for us to be people who put our sails up, maybe move into some shady waters, some. Some rocky waters, but we know we have this thing that we have to take to the people around us. I want to encourage you in three different areas here as we end what that would look like. First. I think the first application, right? The first thought might be, wow, like, what does that look like? Yeah, someone in this room should be a missionary. They should go, yeah, maybe somebody should go plant a church somewhere so more people can know this good news. And maybe that is, as the winds blow, as you put your sail up, do you feel the spirit move you towards carrying good news? Maybe cross a culture to people who are different than you, maybe even speak a different language than you? You know, it would be a little rough, would be hard, would go like, oh, this is nuts. Even that maybe your family would think was crazy. When Kelly and I first told our family that we were leaving, our last, my job as a youth pastor, a big church there. My dad's like, but that church is really big. Isn't that. Why are you moving to the cities and not getting paid? And I said, well, because I feel like God's calling us. And he said, you need to know I think you're crazy. I said, thanks, dad. He just, this is a good dad. You need to clarify. I was like, okay, I love you. I think you're insane. What is. Maybe that's a little bit right? You go, what do people think about. I want to encourage you. This is how this happens. Someone stops you and says, have you thought about this moving towards other people, maybe that's far away to another place, to another country. Maybe it's to a scarier place. Maybe it's your family moving somewhere to support a church in another place. There's churches all over the world that would love a. A semi stable family who loves the Lord, who can encourage them, Right? Maybe it's. Maybe it's just here. What does it look like to move towards people and things here? What does that look like? That'll put up our sails. What's keeping us from that? This is really the pattern of our week even is we gather here to remember the gospel and then we send you out, hey, let's go now, take it with you. Put up your sails and see where you get to bring this good news. Or maybe see what I did there. A little picture shift. Maybe it's just in your own home, maybe it's in your own neighborhood. You go, I'm not. I don't feel called. I'm putting the sail up. God's not taking me to Denmark. I don't know, maybe, right? But maybe he's just. Maybe he's blowing me down the street a little bit to my neighbor. Maybe he's moving me towards a coworker. Maybe he's moving me towards someone who's in my house with me. Hey, they need to hear good news. Do you have good news for them? Maybe less about you're just a human like they are, but could you bring good news and see healing in them to the last part of this? I've been really encouraged this week and challenged. How much do you bring? Are you like a missionary to your own heart? How much do you bring good news to yourself? This is the place. I think I struggle some days I'm not even seeing it in my own life. There's days I go, drew, you need to open that car. Go. Remember this good news and be changed just like you saw these people changed. And that might be just the place to start. This works with your home, works with the people out in your community and in the world. What does it look like to be people who are moved and we go and we trust? It's not our good news. It's God's good news. And, man, it can change people. And they're going to be really hard seas, but worth it. Nancy Guthrie is actually really encouraging to you. Recently, she wrote a book on the Book of Acts, and this is her encouragement to us. At the end of chapter 14, she writes about how this could be discouraging. It could feel like too big of a thing. It could feel like someone else needs to do this. Here's her encouragement. My friends, as you do what God has called you to do, rest in knowing that God is sovereign over salvation and that he uses your proclamation of his gospel goodness to save some and harden others. Don't be discouraged when the gospel creates division and when the task he has called you to and equipped you for is complete. Expect to experience incredible joy over having been used by God himself to open the door of faith for someone else. That sounds like a late night. I'm overwhelmed. Mom talk. That's really good news. It's true. We get to experience this great joy just knowing we're doing what God's called us to and allowing him to change hearts. I want to invite our worship team up here and we're going to do now is we're going to sing about all this good news that we have because of Christ. A couple of things to consider. When brought the good news. Have you believed? Have you said yes to it? Today would be a good day if you haven't. What keeps you from raising your sail? There's probably a lot of things on that list. Keeps you from being moved by God. Who is in the boat with you. It's cool. Barnabas and Paul didn't go alone, so. So who's with you and who is God moving you towards? We love to worship and continue worshiping in lots of ways here at Hope. One of the ways is we take communion. Communion is an opportunity for us, commanded by Jesus himself. He said, when you gather, remember that I died and I rose from the dead, that my body was broken, my blood was shed. I took the punishment that you should have, but I took it so that you could have life. And so we remember that each week as we take communion out in the hallways, there's crackers and grape juice. Encourage you to go out there, take an opportunity to pray, maybe even do that with someone else and take communion. We also sing. We're going to sing some good news to one another. We also have people who love to pray for you. They're in the back of the room. They'd love to pray in any way for you. They'll have yellow lanyards on both sides of the room. Please take them up on that. And we also give as a way to respond. We see this all throughout the book of Acts, in the history of the church. And the gospel gets ahold of us. One of the ways God blows in our sails is he encourages to give so that the ministry can continue. So we pray that is an opportunity for you to let me pray really quick and we're going to keep worshiping. Lord God, you have been really good to us that you have come and were sent to us and you've changed us. And Lord, now I pray we would carry that good news to others. And today, Lord, we need it even carried to us. So I pray right now as we sing these words, they would be true to us. They would root out all things that are not you and it would transform us and we'd experience incredible joy and it would cause us to just have to take that to others. Lord, we pray that there would be more people who would know you this week in our community, in our lives, that we'd see more churches started and we'd see more people move around the world to share this good news with others. Pray this in your son's good name. Amen.