Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Foreign.
[00:00:12] All right, so I want to draw your attention. We're going to go through the whole text, but I do want to draw your attention to verse 27 before we begin in verse 1, to a phrase that I think is counterintuitive to the way that we typically think about the Christian life. Certainly counterintuitive to the way that many of us enter into the Christian life with certain expectations for what it's going to be like. Okay, and this is what verse 27 says, is what the Apostle Paul says, inspired by the Holy Spirit. I think this is really important for us friends, to hear this and to believe it and to allow this to become our expectation for life.
[00:00:58] This is what he says in verse 27.
[00:01:00] Through many tribulations, we must enter the kingdom of God.
[00:01:06] I just want you to think about that for a moment.
[00:01:10] The word tribulation means trial. It means suffering, it means persecutions.
[00:01:16] What Paul's saying is a deeply profound theological statement that that has massive practical implications for your life.
[00:01:27] If you think that following Jesus is supposed to be painless, you will not make it.
[00:01:34] If you. And listen, and I'm included in this. We are pain averse.
[00:01:41] We will do anything, take anything, avoid anything in order to not feel pain.
[00:01:50] We don't like pain and it's normal not to like pain.
[00:01:55] It's odd to enjoy pain at the same time.
[00:02:01] The Bible is emphatically clear that the life, that the Christian life will be filled at times with pain, not always pain, beauty, joy, hope, comfort, and many tribulations for the Christians in the room.
[00:02:28] You and I will die with sin still in our hearts.
[00:02:35] You, you will not reach a place of perfection on this side of heaven.
[00:02:40] That's why the hope of heaven is such a big deal for you and for me to look forward to a day when you see the face of Jesus for the first time and you are without sin and pain for the first time and forevermore. This life, even if you live to be a hundred, even if you live like the biohackers say, to be 120, which I don't think any of us will, it, it's, it's a, it's minuscule compared to the time that you and I are going to spend with Jesus in heaven for those who belong to him, without pain, without suffering, without where he's going to wipe away every tear from our eyes.
[00:03:23] So the hope of heaven gets us through the pain. But on this side of heaven, friends, you will have pain. Paul says we will experience tribulation.
[00:03:37] Many tr. Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God. Through many tribulations, we must enter the kingdom of God. So that's the framework that I want to talk about today. I want to give you a quick example and then jump into the text with the APostle Paul.
[00:03:51] But 1539, a man named William Tyndale was burned alive at the.
[00:04:01] Burned on a stake alive in England by the king of England, Henry vii.
[00:04:06] And the reason he was burned alive was because his life goal, what he believed to be his purpose in life, and we would say that in many ways this is true, was to translate the Bible from Hebrew and Greek into English. It is the reason that you and I hold an English Bible today.
[00:04:26] So Tyndale, his life work is translating the Bible. He does the New Testament first from Greek to English, and then he gets the first five books of the Old Testament from Hebrew to English done as well. Before Henry VIII sends spies, he had been. He had left. He had fled from England.
[00:04:46] And Henry VIII sends spies to go and basically tell him, like, hey, you're doing great work. You ought to continue to translate. Hey, by the way, come follow me into this. He ends up following him into an alleyway. And it's there in the alleyway that Henry VIII's men capture him and take him captive, which eventually would lead to his death. But by that time, Tyndale had already translated the Bible from Greek, the. I'm sorry, the new testame from Greek into English. And that Bible had been distributed out into the people of England. It had been smuggled into England. So the common man, woman, now had access to a Bible that formerly only the Catholic priests were able to interpret. You see why the Protestant Reformation was such a big deal?
[00:05:26] Because prior to that, the ordinary person didn't have access to a Bible. So the priest could say whatever he wanted to say, make the Bible say whatever he wanted it to say in order to control the people.
[00:05:36] And Tyndale was like, no, his big thing was the farm boy. He's like, the farm boy is going to know the Bible better than you do by the time I get through with it.
[00:05:46] And so just this amazing act of God. Tyndale gets caught, he gets captured, he's burned alive at the stake, will not recant his faith, will not recant.
[00:05:55] This mission to translate the Bible, and he's killed for it, but he dies glorifying God.
[00:06:03] What was it that kept Tyndale going through the midst of that tribulation? He entered the kingdom of God through many tribulations. What was it that kept Tyndale going. I think it's similar to what we see in the life of the Apostle Paul. What. What is it that would cause a man who's stoned outside of the city, left for dead, to rise back up and go back into the city?
[00:06:28] And why can't you and I, brothers and sisters, as followers of Jesus, have the same thing, whatever that thing is? So let's talk through the passage, and let's seek to answer that question today. What is it that keeps a Christian going through the many tribulations that we can and should expect in life prior to entering into the kingdom of God that's already been purchased for us by Jesus? Okay, so let's look at the passage together. Acts 14. We'll start in verse one.
[00:06:57] We'll read the first seven verses and talk about a few things, and then we'll. We'll carry on verse 14 or, sorry, chapter 14, verse 1.
[00:07:06] 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.
[00:07:24] 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.
[00:07:33] But the people of the city were divided. Some sided with the Jews and some sided with the apostles.
[00:07:40] When an attempt was made by both Gentiles and Jews with the rulers to mistreat them and to stone them, they learned of it and fled to Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia, and to the surrounding country. And there they continued to preach the Gospel.
[00:07:57] All right, so a little bit of contextual background here. Remember there, this is all happening in and around the Mediterranean border, the Mediterranean Sea.
[00:08:06] We talked several weeks ago about the very first overseas mission trip that took place with the Apostle Paul and Barnabas, where they're sent from Antioch over to an island called Cyprus.
[00:08:19] While they're there, they preach the gospel. They encounter a false prophet. God does amazing things. He saves a Roman centurion. All these things happen. And then from the island, they travel again onto land, onto the coast to a place called Iconium. Now, all of the cities listed in this passage in Acts chapter 14 are within the Galatian province. Okay, so Paul later is going to write the book of Galatians, and he's going to write it to the churches in these cities.
[00:08:44] Okay? And so a lot of what we see in terms of the opposition from the Jews and the kinds of false messaging that they bring into these places, he's going to address in the book of Galatians.
[00:08:54] So it says that he goes to Iconium. They enter into a Jewish synagogue, which, again, was custom for Paul and Barnabas. They're taking the gospel that is for everybody, both Jews and Greeks. But they're going to take it to the Jews first, if appropriate. They're going to take it to the Jewish synagogue. They go into the Jewish synagogue and it says that they speak in such a way that a great number of both Jews and Greeks believed. Now, I read this yesterday, and it was really interesting to me. It's not what I anticipated. Maybe you already know this, but the only historical record we have of the appearance of the Apostle Paul says that he was short and bald and he had bushy eyebrows and he was boatlegged.
[00:09:33] And I read that and I was like, well, that wasn't the picture I had of the heroic apostle Paul. Right? Like. And so it's just. It's interesting. But the reason I share that with you, one, is to paint a picture. Remember, we're talking about real people here, okay, that really lived like you and I. Not superheroes, but real people filled with the spirit of God. That's where their power came from. It's the Holy Spirit. But it says that Paul and Barnabas spoke in such a way that a great many people believed. And it might be tempting for us in reading that passage to think, wow, Paul must have been an amazing orator.
[00:10:06] And maybe he was. I mean, obviously he had. He had gifts to preach and various things like that. But when you picture that man that I just described in and of himself isn't powerful enough to do the mighty act of God that we see happening in the Book of Acts.
[00:10:23] Something else was happening. And Paul later writes about this in First Corinthians, he says this. I didn't come speaking words of eloquence to you.
[00:10:32] I came preaching Christ crucified.
[00:10:35] And Romans, Chapter one would say that it's the gospel, the grace of God in the person and work of Jesus Christ. That is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. What a glorious reminder for you and I today in the midst of this culture that we live in, right, that. That elevates man to be reminded that you and I can do nothing in the heart and life of another individual. We desperately need the Holy Spirit to move. It's the only hope that we have.
[00:11:04] What a glorious freedom. I feel that freedom. I get to stand up. I don't have to entertain you. And man, praise God for that. I'm not good at that.
[00:11:12] I don't have to enter. I, I can just, we can just talk about what the Bible says and trust that anything good that happens in your life is a result of the grace of God.
[00:11:21] What an awesome freedom that is.
[00:11:24] That should embolden you to share the gospel with your non Christian friends.
[00:11:29] You don't have to have all the answers. You don't have to have words of eloquence. You don't have to look awesome.
[00:11:34] As a matter of fact, some of those things are actually a hindrance, not a help because then you begin to rely on yourself and not on the Holy Spirit.
[00:11:43] So they spur they words they spoke.
[00:11:48] But it wasn't their eloquence that made dead hearts alive. It was the spirit of God.
[00:11:56] A large number of both Jews and Greeks believed.
[00:12:00] But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers. Again, common theme through the Book of Acts. Common theme in the life of a Christian. When God's gospel is advancing, when his kingdom is advancing, the devil will come against it and he'll use whatever means necessary. And remember that God and Satan are not in some sort of like intergalactic battle against one another, as if the sides are even. Satan is totally subservient to God. He's a creature. God is the creator. He has to do what God tells him to do and allows him to do.
[00:12:36] Okay, but nonetheless Satan's main prerogative in the Book of Acts and in our lives is to do anything he can to turn us away from Jesus.
[00:12:45] Doesn't matter how he does it. That's, that's his whole game plan, is to turn you and I away from Jesus. And so the unbelieving Jews, they come and they stir up the Gentiles and they poison their minds against the brothers with false teaching, with false teachings.
[00:13:06] So they remained for a long time speaking boldly for the Lord. They didn't allow this attempted diversion to deter them from the mission.
[00:13:19] Stay, Preach, preach boldly preach the truth. Preach the gospel.
[00:13:26] And then it says that God bore witness to the word of his grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands. So God is validating the message, so to speak, by doing signs and wonders. Signs and wonders are never an end in and of themselves. They always serve the purpose of glorifying God and advancing his gospel. And so all this is going on. But it says that the people of the city were divided. Some sided with the Jews Some sided with the apostles when an attempt was made by both Gentiles and Jews with the rulers to mistreat them and stone them. They learned of it. Paul and Barnabas learn of it, and then they fled to list Estra and Derby. Okay, so they're. Now, if you. If you imagine, I'm going to draw a map for you up here, invisible map. If you imagine that they're north, okay, persecution comes. They're trying to drive them out. And so they're going to move south 60 or so miles. They're going to go south. The, the number of miles that these two men traveled in order to preach the gospel is just mind blowing. You just can't. Just can't imagine it. So they travel south to these two provinces, Lystra and Derby, cities of Lyconia, to the surrounding country. So they go from a more, you know, kind of city based context to a more rural based context. And that's where we find ourselves in verse eight. So look at verse eight with me. I'm going to read through a large chunk of scripture and then we'll talk about it again. Verse 8. Now, at Lystra, there was a man sitting who could not use his feet.
[00:14:52] He was crippled from birth and had never walked.
[00:14:57] 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.
[00:15:10] And when the crowd saw 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 and the priest of Zeus, whose temple was at the entrance of the city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates and wanted to offer sacrifice 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? 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.
[00:15:50] In past generations, he allowed all the nations to walk in their own ways. Yet he did not leave himself without witness.
[00:15:57] For he did good by giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness.
[00:16:04] Even with these words, they scarcely restrained the people from offering sacrifice to them. This is crazy, crazy story. All right. So outside of this particular City, there stood a temple for the Greek little G God, Zeus.
[00:16:19] This is. And, and, and the people in Lystra believed this fable, that Zeus and Hermes at one point had actually come to their city disguised as men, looking for a place to lodge. But none of the people in the city were willing to welcome them in. And so because of that, eventually, the story goes, they ended up cursed. And so now come these two men, Paul and Barnabas, who come in preaching this message.
[00:16:44] God accompanies their message with signs and wonders. And so the people are seeing all of these things happen. The signs and wonders that we read about in the text is that a man who can never formally walk was now able to walk. If you and I saw that, like, I don't. I don't know what it would do to me. It would make my brain explode if I saw a man who was never able to walk.
[00:17:02] All of a sudden, at the.
[00:17:05] The words of another man rise and begin to walk. It would just. I just wouldn't have a category for that. And so they see God do this miraculous work, which by the way, resembles what Peter did, what the spirit did through Peter. In Acts chapter three with the lame man, we see this miracle happen and the people of the city don't know what to do with it. And so they begin thinking, praising Paul and Barnabas as little G gods, Zeus and Hermes. Okay, now I want you to think back at Acts chapter 12. At the end of Acts chapter 12, Herod, the king, stands up and he gives a speech.
[00:17:43] And it's such a great speech that the people in the audience begin to praise and worship him as God. And what does Herod do?
[00:17:50] Nothing.
[00:17:52] He receives the praise and the worship. And within an instant, the Lord strikes him dead.
[00:17:59] It says that he struck, struck dead by an angel of the Lord. And it says that worms eat his body. It's a really graphic depiction of Herod's demise.
[00:18:09] And so a similar thing is happening here. The people come and they begin to worship Paul and Barnabas as these Greek gods. And Paul's immediate response, Barnabas immediate response is to tear their clothes and say, hey, we're men just like you. The only thing we come doing is bringing you good news.
[00:18:25] We come to proclaim to you the good news that God is holy, that we're created in his image to worship and love and enjoy him forever. But because of sin, we've been separated from God. But God in love, has sent his. His son took on human flesh, lived the life you couldn't live, died on the cross for Sin rose from the grave. And now salvation and forgiveness of sin and reconciliation to God is available to any sinner who, by the grace of God, repents and believes the good news. That's the only thing we have to bring. You come to boast in nothing that I do, but only in the cross of Jesus Christ. That's. That's the good news that we proclaim. And so he began to plead with them, stop worshiping us. We're just men. We have that. We. We only come to bring you the good news. And Paul doesn't have the time to get into all of what I just shared with you. The incarnation of Jesus, the perfect life, death, resurrection of Jesus. He doesn't even have time to get in all of that because the mob and the crowd are so intense around them, worshiping them. So Paul has gone. Paul and Barnabas, from being driven out of iconium, on the verge of getting killed, to being worshiped. What a ride.
[00:19:35] A crazy life Paul's living.
[00:19:38] They want to kill him. They want to worship him, okay? And so he flees the persecution. He comes to a new place, and now they want to worship him. And he's pleading with them to stop doing so. And so he begins to proclaim.
[00:19:49] He begins to proclaim who God is through the means by which these people would know and understand rural context.
[00:19:58] And so he uses creation.
[00:20:03] Look at what he proclaims.
[00:20:06] He says in verse 15, why are you doing this, men? Why are you doing this? 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.
[00:20:19] And this is what he says about the living God. He made the heaven and the earth and the sea and. And all that is in them.
[00:20:28] And so he begins by simply articulating God as the creator of everything. He says, hey, friends, you can look around and you can see creation. See the beauty of creation. See the trees, see the Mediterranean Sea.
[00:20:44] See the skies and the stars and the moon and the sun. See these things.
[00:20:49] Stop worshiping vain things.
[00:20:51] Worship the one who made what you can see.
[00:20:54] He's the creator of all.
[00:20:57] He says in past generations, he allowed all the nations to walk in their own ways. Yet he did not leave himself without witness, for he did good.
[00:21:06] Remember, God always does good.
[00:21:10] God never does evil. There's no evil in him.
[00:21:14] He only and always does good.
[00:21:18] He did good How? By giving you rains from the heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness.
[00:21:31] Whether you're a Christian or you're not. Yet A Christian. You understand what Paul's saying. Good food, good friendships, laughter, joy, relationships, beautiful weather, rains.
[00:21:47] All of these kinds of things gladden the human heart.
[00:21:52] Who's the source of them?
[00:21:56] Well, the. The fundamental problem that you and I have friends as human. Human beings is that we have.
[00:22:04] We have chosen to worship the creature over the Creator, to take the good things that God's given for the enjoyment of man that are ultimately meant to point us beyond those good things into something even greater, namely Him.
[00:22:23] We've rejected him, and rather we've chosen to worship the good things, thereby making the good things not as good as they were intended to be.
[00:22:34] You ever notice that when you're trying to find fulfillment in something created, it never comes through for you, like, if I could just do this thing, that would get me from A to B and I'd be happier. And yet you do the thing and you find that it doesn't necessarily take you from A to B, because creation was never intended to do that for you and I. It was always meant to point us to the one who can.
[00:22:57] Who can truly satisfy the heart's desires.
[00:23:01] And so Paul is using this apologetic with his hearers to say, you know, all of the good things that you've experienced that have made your hearts glad, there's a source behind all of them, and it's the God of creation.
[00:23:16] But he isn't even able to get to the best news, which is the sending of Jesus, because the mobs continue to surround him and do crazy things.
[00:23:26] It says, even with these words, they scarcely restrain the people from offering sacrifice to them.
[00:23:32] So the people are continuing to worship. They're continuing to offer sacrifice to Paul and Barnabas. And let's look at the remainder of the verse, starting in verse 19.
[00:23:41] So in the midst of all of this, it says, Jews came from Antioch and Iconium.
[00:23:47] And having. So they traveled a long ways. The Jews traveled from Antioch and Iconium, which is where Paul and Barnabas were. They. They hear of what's going on and they're like, you're not going to get away from us, buddy. So they travel all the way down to Lystra, where Paul and Barnabas.
[00:24:04] They came from Antioch and Iconium. And having persuaded the crowds again, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead.
[00:24:17] But verse 20, when the disciples gathered about him, he rose up.
[00:24:22] What a crazy.
[00:24:24] Just. I mean, it's the grace of God, but Paul was crazy, man.
[00:24:28] He rose up and entered the city.
[00:24:31] And on the next day, he Went on with Barnabas to Derby. So they travel again. They go a little bit further south from Listed to Lystra to Derbe. Was traveling south.
[00:24:42] So they travel.
[00:24:44] They travel again from Lystra to Derbe.
[00:24:48] When they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch.
[00:24:58] So I'm going to stop there. Before we close with verse 22 and 23, William Tyndale dies burned alive for the sake of getting the Bible into the hands of ordinary people.
[00:25:19] Now, I venture to say, and I've read his biography, and. And I just. This is just true of the ways that God has used men and women, ordinary men and women, throughout redemptive history.
[00:25:29] Extraordinary purposes, that the driver behind Tyndale was not getting the Bible into the hands of people in and of itself.
[00:25:40] He loved God.
[00:25:43] He was captivated by the love of God in Jesus Christ.
[00:25:47] He adored God.
[00:25:49] And in his adoration of who God is, he says, I've got to get this book into the hands of ordinary people so they can love him too.
[00:25:59] What. What drives the apostle Paul? It's a supernatural act of the Holy Spirit. He's lying there dead. I don't know what all of that means or looks like, but I would imagine his eyes were closed and he was unconscious.
[00:26:10] He had just been stoned. And then his eyes open, he gets up and he hops up and he brushes himself off. And he and Barnabas go back into the city. That's a crazy thing to do.
[00:26:19] And he doesn't just go back into the city. Timid, he continues to preach the Gospel.
[00:26:25] Nothing will stop me from preaching that message.
[00:26:30] Loved God, knew the love of God in Christ.
[00:26:35] He would later say in his letter to the Corinthian Corinthians that the love of Christ controls me, controls us.
[00:26:45] Because we have concluded that one has died for all. Therefore all have died. One of my consistent weekly prayers for you and for me and for my wife and for my kids is that you and I would be compelled by the love of God. And as a result, we would simply love him more. Because a church that actually loves God is going to be fire.
[00:27:06] Everything we do is for that purpose.
[00:27:10] All the theology, all the Bible studies, all the.
[00:27:14] All the things that we do is intended that by the grace of God, you and I might love him more.
[00:27:23] Because when Christians are compelled by the love of God, they do crazy things in the positive sense of the word.
[00:27:31] He goes back in and he preaches the gospel.
[00:27:36] And it says in verse 22.
[00:27:40] He went back in, doing this.
[00:27:43] This is what he was doing. Compelled by the love of God, strengthening the souls of the disciples.
[00:27:50] So there were Christians there.
[00:27:53] There were Christians there who were living in the midst of persecution and they needed to be strengthened.
[00:27:59] So he goes back in strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them. They need to be encouraged.
[00:28:08] To do what?
[00:28:10] To continue in the faith.
[00:28:14] To continue in the faith of the gospel.
[00:28:17] Not to lose heart. What? What? How were the Jews poisoning the mind of the believers? I. I'm getting this from the book of Galatians. As to what Paul would go on to write.
[00:28:25] Coming in and saying that salvation is by faith in Jesus and by what you do.
[00:28:32] Poisoning their minds away from the truth.
[00:28:38] That salvation is by grace alone, not faith in Jesus plus what you do.
[00:28:49] Grace alone, faith alone. Christ alone.
[00:28:53] His finished work is sufficient.
[00:28:57] I can't add any value to what Christ accomplished on the cross for me.
[00:29:02] Totally and utterly sufficient.
[00:29:04] Continue in the faith.
[00:29:08] Continue to believe that there is no other faith.
[00:29:12] There's no other message.
[00:29:15] There are.
[00:29:18] This is not my notes. So we'll see how this goes.
[00:29:21] There are lots of politicians who preach a false gospel.
[00:29:26] Lots of them.
[00:29:31] Any other gospel Paul says is of the devil.
[00:29:36] Nothing short of that.
[00:29:39] It's anathema. He says in the book of Galatians it's to be accursed. It is from the devil.
[00:29:46] There is no other gospel. It is not Jesus plus works. Jesus plus circumcision, Jesus plus social justice. Jesus plus this or that, whatever.
[00:30:02] Christ alone, Grace alone, faith alone. Christ alone. That's the message you need for your soul to be strengthened.
[00:30:12] That's the message non Christians outside of the walls need for their salvation.
[00:30:20] We call them to turn from vain idols to the living God who made himself known fully in the person of Jesus Christ. There is no other message.
[00:30:32] That's it. It's the only message. There is one mediator between God and man. The man Jesus Christ. Not two, not three. Not Allah, not Mormonism, not Jehovah's Witnesses, not living a good life. Christ, one mediator. That's it. And it's the greatest news in the world.
[00:30:51] That Christianity isn't about us making our way to God. It's about God descending to us to bring us to Him. What a glorious message you have to you and I have the privilege of proclaiming. And you don't have to look awesome and you don't have to sound awesome. Think about our bow legged friend.
[00:31:10] You need the power of the Holy Spirit. You need the word of God.
[00:31:14] You need to cultivate, by the grace of God, a deep love for God and a knowledge of his love for you. And so I want to conclude my sermon by asking you this question as we Finish in verse 23.
[00:31:26] Where does that happen?
[00:31:29] Strengthening the souls of the disciples, a call to remain true to the faith.
[00:31:36] Where? Where does that happen?
[00:31:38] Look at verse 23.
[00:31:42] When they had appointed elders for them in every church with prayer and fasting, they committed them to the Lord in whom they believed.
[00:31:57] Christianity is not an individualistic endeavor.
[00:32:04] Friends, you. You and I cannot follow Jesus and reject the church.
[00:32:11] You can't do that. That's not an option.
[00:32:15] And I hear it all the time online.
[00:32:18] I'm a Christian, but I don't go to church.
[00:32:21] That's not the way that God intended it to be.
[00:32:26] Ephesians 2 paints this.
[00:32:28] Ephesians 2 and 3 are amazing.
[00:32:30] If you don't want to take my word for it or the word written there, which you should, you should take that word. But Ephesians 2 and 3 paint this glorious picture of the church.
[00:32:39] Says that the church is the manifold wisdom of God.
[00:32:46] That through the church, through the manifold wisdom of God, this bringing together of Jews and Gentiles united through faith in Jesus Christ, that the message of the Gospel is proclaimed to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.
[00:33:01] Meaning what you and I do on Sundays is nothing short of warfare in the heavenlies.
[00:33:08] When we come together and sing, when we come together and sit under the preached word, when we come together and take communion together, when we baptize, when we fellowship, when we love each other, when we forgive each other, when we choose not to hold grudges, when we, despite all the various backgrounds in the room and religious experiences and ethnicities and all of those things, we proclaim the message of the Gospel to the heavenly places.
[00:33:33] It is an act of war that you and I meet here on Sunday mornings and during the week.
[00:33:39] How does God strengthen our souls? How does he encourage us and strengthen us to remain true in the faith? It's through the church.
[00:33:48] Paul saw the saw. This is such a big deal and embedded within the intent and plan of God that he's willing to enter into harm's way again, not just proclaiming the Gospel to non Christians, but to go and establish churches.
[00:34:02] So if translating the Bible from Greek and Hebrew to English was William Tyndale's driving passion, the planting and establishing of churches was Paul's.
[00:34:13] There were already churches in the city. But they needed elders, qualified men to come who would shepherd the flock of God. Among them, Hebrews 13. The reason Hebrews 13 says, Obey your leaders, those who teach the word of God to you is because that your elders.
[00:34:31] I will have to give an account to God.
[00:34:37] We don't talk about that enough when we talk about pastors have to give an account to God.
[00:34:45] But this is the. This is the. The means by which God created you and I to flourish.
[00:34:51] We are reconciled to God and we're reconciled to one another. So my closing encouragement for you friends is simply this. Commit to the church.
[00:35:01] If you're already a member of rhc, praise God.
[00:35:06] If you're not yet a member, it doesn't have to be rhc, but it needs to be a healthy Bible believing Jesus, exalting church.
[00:35:14] Commit to the church. This is the plan of God, that God would bring redemption and reconciliation to all things, to the person work of Jesus Christ through his church.
[00:35:24] And so let me, let me close with this quote here. I just want to define to you what a church is.
[00:35:30] Okay? So I'm gonna read this quote, I'm gonna pray, and then I'll lead us in a time of response.
[00:35:38] Here's what a local church is. And this is really important. And I would encourage you maybe take a picture of this or if you have a photographic memory, maybe. That's great, you can use that, but probably better to take a picture of it. This is really important, and we're gonna be talking about this a lot at Redemption Hill in the coming months.
[00:35:53] This is what a church is. A local church. A local church is a group of Christians who regularly gather in Christ's name to officially affirm and oversee one another's discipleship in Jesus Christ and his kingdom through gospel preaching and gospel ordinances. Friends, brothers, sisters, we need this. We need it because we will face tribulations of many kinds. We must enter the kingdom of God through many tribulations. And the means by which God will sustain us and keep us is in the context of the local church. Amen.
[00:36:28] Let's pray together.
