SPEAKER_00: All right, we're going to be in Acts chapter 18, and just I'm just gonna I'm not gonna read it up front, but I'll preach the text or read the text as we go.
SPEAKER_00: So Acts chapter 18.
SPEAKER_00: A local church is at its strongest and its most vibrant when every member uses their gifts for the glory of God and the good of his people.
SPEAKER_00: Several years ago, a few of our teenagers, my son being one of them, uh they were in the uh Central High School marching band.
SPEAKER_00: So several times I would go to watch them perform here and on the road.
SPEAKER_00: And I'll tell you this uh warmups tended to be ear-piercing.
SPEAKER_00: Everybody's doing their own thing, tuning their own instrument.
SPEAKER_00: But something happened when the director, the band director, would raise his or her arms.
SPEAKER_00: The instrumentalist all playing their own instruments, would begin participating in one unified song.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm telling you, the result was almost magical, it was breathtaking.
SPEAKER_00: And do you know?
SPEAKER_00: Here's what I believe.
SPEAKER_00: I believe that is a picture of what real life community church could be.
SPEAKER_00: Because Christ is our conductor, amen.
SPEAKER_00: And think of us, each church member member as an instrument.
SPEAKER_00: Now, if only a few of us are playing, the song that we're singing is going to sound weak and thin and me leave much to be desired.
SPEAKER_00: But just imagine if every one of you were involved using your gifts, I'm telling you, our song would sound like it's meant to sound beautiful, powerful, wonderful, breathtaking.
SPEAKER_00: Today, the message is simple.
SPEAKER_00: I just want to admonish each of you to offer yourself to the Lord as a vessel that he can use.
SPEAKER_00: Like, how many want to be used of the Lord?
SPEAKER_00: So I first I want to thank the many, many volunteers that we have in this church who serve so relentlessly.
SPEAKER_00: It's amazing.
SPEAKER_00: But if you're not involved, like my prayer for you today is that you will begin using your gifts for the Lord within the context of this ministry.
SPEAKER_00: And there's two reasons I think you should consider what I'm I'm asking.
SPEAKER_00: One, I'll be honest, my motive is selfish.
SPEAKER_00: We need you.
SPEAKER_00: You know what?
SPEAKER_00: We've got trumpet players playing trumpet and trombone, because some trombone players aren't playing their own instrument.
SPEAKER_00: And so we got people serving not only in their giftings, but in other ministries because people who are gifted in those areas have not stepped up.
SPEAKER_00: We need you.
SPEAKER_00: But my motive this morning, you'll be glad to know, is not totally selfish.
SPEAKER_00: Because here's my promise to you if you will regularly and faithfully use your gifts for the Lord, you'll never be the same.
SPEAKER_00: Like it's amazing.
SPEAKER_00: Think about this.
SPEAKER_00: When you are serving in this church, and you sit back and you see the hungry fed, like we do, and you see the homeless find shelter, and you see the broken and the hopeless receive hope.
SPEAKER_00: And most importantly, when you witness the lost being saved, and you know, I've had a part in this.
SPEAKER_00: Can I get a witness from some volunteers to say you will never be the same?
SPEAKER_00: Like you will never recover, and you will never sit back and be a spectator again.
SPEAKER_00: At some new people who are here at the church, and before they even made a commitment to start coming, it said, Pastor, please find something for us to do.
SPEAKER_00: It's a blessing to serve.
SPEAKER_00: Even more than that, can I just tell you that what I want for you more than anything is to hear one day when you stand before the Lord Jesus Christ and give an account for how you have used the gifts he has given you, I want you to hear those beautiful words.
SPEAKER_00: Well done, good and faithful servant.
SPEAKER_00: Now, in our text today, we see how God uses and desires to use every believer.
SPEAKER_00: We read in these 11 verses about four people or people groups, the Apostle Paul.
SPEAKER_00: We're introduced to Apollos.
SPEAKER_00: We read again of Priscilla and Aquila, this married couple.
SPEAKER_00: And then Luke mentions some unnamed believers.
SPEAKER_00: And what we're going to learn, what we're reminded of in the text is this.
SPEAKER_00: You might say, well, you know what?
SPEAKER_00: I'd like to be used of the Lord, but man, I'm not really that talented.
SPEAKER_00: I can't sing or I can't preach.
SPEAKER_00: Well, that's all right.
SPEAKER_00: Because do you know that being used of the Lord is not ultimately about talent?
SPEAKER_00: You know what it's about?
SPEAKER_00: It's about the posture of the heart.
SPEAKER_00: And so in our text today, I want to give you three keys to being used by God.
SPEAKER_00: And here they are heedfulness, humility, and honesty.
SPEAKER_00: Number one, you want to be used by God.
SPEAKER_00: God uses the heedful, and that just simply means to heed God is to obey or submit to his will.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, wherever God calls you to go, whatever he calls you to do, you do it.
SPEAKER_00: And we see this first with the apostle Paul.
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 18.
SPEAKER_00: After this, Paul stayed many days longer and then took leave of the brothers and set sail for Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila.
SPEAKER_00: At Kentra, he had his he had to cut his hair, for he was under a vow.
SPEAKER_00: And they came to Ephesus, and he left them there, but he himself went into the synagogue and he reasoned with the Jews.
SPEAKER_00: Now listen to this.
SPEAKER_00: When they asked him to stay for a longer period, he declined.
SPEAKER_00: So we've been following for some weeks Paul's second missionary journey.
SPEAKER_00: And it's not been easy, has it?
SPEAKER_00: He has traveled by this point about, well, 2,000 plus miles over rough terrain and rough seas.
SPEAKER_00: And he's weary from that.
SPEAKER_00: And so you he gets from one place to another, and he gets, you know, his journey gets even more tiresome because he's not real welcomed in most places.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, think about it.
SPEAKER_00: He arrives on this journey first in Philippi.
SPEAKER_00: Some business owners lie about him, accusing him, don't like him.
SPEAKER_00: Take him and have him beaten and then thrown unjustly into a prison cell.
SPEAKER_00: So he goes to Thessalonica.
SPEAKER_00: And there's kind of a riot that starts in the synagogue.
SPEAKER_00: And he has to run for his life.
SPEAKER_00: So he goes to Berea and he can breathe for a moment because the Bereans have their Bibles open.
SPEAKER_00: They're like, man, what you're saying makes a lot of sense.
SPEAKER_00: But it doesn't last long because the Jews who don't believe in Jesus from Thessalonica hear that he's in Berea.
SPEAKER_00: They're like, we're going to get him.
SPEAKER_00: And so they send a mob to Berea, and Paul has to flee again.
SPEAKER_00: Then he goes to Athens.
SPEAKER_00: And he's debating with philosophers and they're mocking him.
SPEAKER_00: And he leaves Athens and he gets decorant.
SPEAKER_00: And that wasn't a great experience either.
SPEAKER_00: My point is this Paul today arrives in Ephesus.
SPEAKER_00: And the people ask him to stay.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, Paul must have had to do like a double take.
SPEAKER_00: Like, did I hear you right?
SPEAKER_00: Like, you want me to stay?
SPEAKER_00: They hear what he says, they respond to it, and they're like, Paul, we want to learn more.
SPEAKER_00: Could you stay?
SPEAKER_00: Now just put yourself in Paul's position.
SPEAKER_00: You are weary from traveling.
SPEAKER_00: You are emotionally and physically exhausted from all the garbage you've had to put up with.
SPEAKER_00: And now you're in Ephesus.
SPEAKER_00: You're in Ephesus.
SPEAKER_00: And the people are kind.
SPEAKER_00: They're feeding you.
SPEAKER_00: They bring you Chick-fil-A.
SPEAKER_00: Come on, somebody.
SPEAKER_00: And they say, Hey, Paul.
SPEAKER_00: I wasn't to that point yet, but that's all right.
SPEAKER_00: I'm using Chick-fil-A in my message twice today, I guess.
SPEAKER_00: But uh that's so great.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, but but but they say, Paul, listen, put your feet up a while, stay with us.
SPEAKER_00: Like, imagine, you know, I've had some exhausting years in ministry.
SPEAKER_00: And I let's say I go to Cancun and do a missions trip, and they're just like, uh, Pastor, why don't you stay a while?
SPEAKER_00: I'd be like, sign me up.
SPEAKER_00: Sign me up.
SPEAKER_00: But it's interesting here that Paul says, no.
SPEAKER_00: He declines, he declines their offer.
SPEAKER_00: Did I lose the microphone there?
SPEAKER_00: Let me grab another one.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, there we go.
SPEAKER_00: So he declines their offer.
SPEAKER_00: That's so interesting to me.
SPEAKER_00: What's wrong, Paul?
SPEAKER_00: I promise you this.
SPEAKER_00: It's not because, it's not because Paul is not tempted to stay, I promise you that.
SPEAKER_00: But but we we get a an idea of why he doesn't stay because of verse 21.
SPEAKER_00: It says, look at verse 21.
SPEAKER_00: On taking leave of them, here's what Paul says, I will return to you what?
SPEAKER_00: It's all right, you can say it.
SPEAKER_00: If God wills.
SPEAKER_00: You know why Paul doesn't stay at that point?
SPEAKER_00: Was it because it's not the will of God for his life?
SPEAKER_00: He heeds God's will.
SPEAKER_00: Now, let's go back to my Chick-fil-A picture.
SPEAKER_00: So this is uh Ken Shaiku and his wife, Gracie, good friends of mine, they are missionaries in Kenya and Eldorette, Kenya.
SPEAKER_00: So Ken uh years ago came to the United States to go to Bible college in Ohio.
SPEAKER_00: And he went to Bible college, he made friends, he he became part of a network.
SPEAKER_00: And Ken, who is actually from Kenya, Ken from Kenya, pretty easy to remember, he made a lot of connections.
SPEAKER_00: It would have been easy for him to stay in the United States and pastor here.
SPEAKER_00: And it's like, well, why would he want to do that?
SPEAKER_00: Well, Chick-fil-A.
SPEAKER_00: He was afforded here a lot of commodities and luxuries that he just did not experience in Kenya.
SPEAKER_00: And so I'm that was a great temptation.
SPEAKER_00: Just stay here.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, I'd be in ministry, be fine.
SPEAKER_00: But he went back to Kenya.
SPEAKER_00: As a matter of fact, a very poor and even dangerous part of Kenya.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: It's Jan, you've you've been, it's not the nicest place in the world, is it?
SPEAKER_00: It's the slums, it's the slums.
SPEAKER_00: No, what now wait, Ken?
SPEAKER_00: Why, when you could pastor in the US of A, why would you go to the slums?
SPEAKER_00: One reason, God told him to.
SPEAKER_00: God can use somebody like Ken and Gracie because they heed God's will.
SPEAKER_00: And you know, could it be you say, well, the Lord's just not using me?
SPEAKER_00: Could it be that the problem is not God's unwillingness to use you, but that you're not willing to do what he's actually calling you to do?
unknown: Come on.
SPEAKER_00: It's like, well, if I can't be on in the spotlight, I'm I'm just not gonna serve.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, what if what if the Lord calls you to clean our bathrooms?
SPEAKER_00: Like that's that's not that's an important job, yeah?
SPEAKER_00: What if he calls you to to to pull weeds outside and make his church beautiful?
SPEAKER_00: What if he calls you, like many of you he did, to to house the homeless and literally stay up all night to watch homeless people as we house them in this building?
SPEAKER_00: Do you know we have trouble?
SPEAKER_00: We've got some faithful ushers, and thank you for those who are serving.
SPEAKER_00: A couple of weeks ago, we couldn't even find anybody to take the offering.
SPEAKER_00: Makes no sense to me.
SPEAKER_00: Could it be that if God is going to use this, we actually ought to go where he wants us to go and do what he be willing to do what he's called us to do?
SPEAKER_00: So God uses the heedful.
SPEAKER_00: Number two, God uses the humble, and we see this through the life of Apollos.
SPEAKER_00: Look at verses 24 and 25.
SPEAKER_00: Now, a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus.
SPEAKER_00: He was an eloquent man, note that, competent in the scriptures, note that he had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and being fervent in spirit, note that, he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Note that.
SPEAKER_00: Though he only knew of the baptism of John.
SPEAKER_00: So let's just review this man Apollos.
SPEAKER_00: He's a skilled speaker.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, one of those preachers, man, just eloquent, just draws you in.
SPEAKER_00: How many wish you had one of those this morning?
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for not raising your hand.
SPEAKER_00: He's charismatic, fervent of spirit, and he's extremely intelligent.
SPEAKER_00: This is a scholar.
SPEAKER_00: Now, what's the risk that comes with being a great orator, a scholar, and very charismatic to having a great personality?
SPEAKER_00: What's the risk?
SPEAKER_00: It's pride.
SPEAKER_00: Big head, that's right.
SPEAKER_00: Proverbs 26, 12.
SPEAKER_00: Do you see a man who is wise in his own eyes?
SPEAKER_00: There is more hope for a fool than for him.
SPEAKER_00: Intellectual, uber intellectual people who are also super gifted and charismatic tend to be prideful.
SPEAKER_00: But Apollos contradicts this stereotype.
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 26.
SPEAKER_00: So he began to speak boldly, Apollos in the synagogue, but when Priscilla and Aquila, this husband and wife ministry team, heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately.
SPEAKER_00: Now, JP, you're a professor.
SPEAKER_00: What would you do?
SPEAKER_00: You how long have you been uh teaching at college level?
unknown: 12 years.
SPEAKER_00: 12 years.
SPEAKER_00: You're pretty well studied.
SPEAKER_00: PhD, yes.
SPEAKER_00: Imagine a freshman coming in after an accounting class and saying, JP, you know, pulling you aside, you know, you did pretty good.
SPEAKER_00: But listen, you're missing some things.
SPEAKER_00: JP, how would you respond?
SPEAKER_00: Don't answer that.
SPEAKER_00: Listen, think about this.
SPEAKER_00: This charismatic, well-trained intellectual is preaching in the synagogue.
SPEAKER_00: He's got the stage.
SPEAKER_00: This is so interesting.
SPEAKER_00: And Priscilla and Aquila.
SPEAKER_00: Priscilla and Aquila go up to him.
SPEAKER_00: Now, verse 25 says this.
SPEAKER_00: It says that Apollos taught about Jesus accurately.
SPEAKER_00: But what did it say?
SPEAKER_00: He only knew about the baptism of John.
SPEAKER_00: So here's here's the point here.
SPEAKER_00: Apollos knew, you know, he knew about John the Baptist.
SPEAKER_00: Remember, John the Baptist was announcing the kingdom of God is at hand.
SPEAKER_00: Repent.
SPEAKER_00: The Christ is here, is essentially the message.
SPEAKER_00: And so Apollos believes the message.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, I believe that Jesus who everybody's talking about.
SPEAKER_00: I believe he's the Messiah.
SPEAKER_00: So everything he knew he taught accurately.
SPEAKER_00: But there's some things he didn't know.
SPEAKER_00: And scholars believe it's possible that he word has not even got to him about the death and resurrection of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: It's possible that he doesn't know about the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.
SPEAKER_00: Whatever it might be, his knowledge is limited in some capacity.
SPEAKER_00: And so Pursuant and Aquila, they take him very kindly aside and explain, you know, you're doing pretty good, but you miss some things.
SPEAKER_00: Now think about this.
SPEAKER_00: In the writing of the ancient world, people would often be listed in orders of importance or leadership.
SPEAKER_00: And so this is so odd.
SPEAKER_00: It's an anomaly.
SPEAKER_00: Priscilla, the wife of Aquila, is lifted first, which means she probably took the lead in going, hey, Apollo, she missed something.
SPEAKER_00: And the husband's going, Yeah, she's right.
SPEAKER_00: Think about that.
SPEAKER_00: You never did that in the ancient world.
SPEAKER_00: Like women's testimonies, they didn't even hold up in court.
SPEAKER_00: A woman like this would never correct a man.
SPEAKER_00: At the same time, these are blue-collar workers, they're tent makers.
SPEAKER_00: And yet, these blue-collar tent makers, husband and wife, have the audacity to say, Apollos, you're missing something.
SPEAKER_00: But how does Apollos respond?
SPEAKER_00: It's so beautiful.
SPEAKER_00: The text does not say explicitly, but I'm going to show you why we can assume that he responds with humility.
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 27.
SPEAKER_00: And when Apollos wished to cross the Achaia, the brothers, this is other Christians, encouraged him.
SPEAKER_00: So they're validating him.
SPEAKER_00: And they wrote to the disciples to welcome him.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, we they they they wrote the disciples in another city and said, Hey, Apollos is coming, he's great.
SPEAKER_00: Now, why would they say that about him if he had just written Priscilla in Aquila off?
SPEAKER_00: Are you with me?
SPEAKER_00: You know, if you're going to be used by God in the most powerful way, you've got to have some humility.
SPEAKER_00: And realize you don't know everything.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you probably need to look to you, the person sitting next to you right now and just say, hey, he's talking to you.
SPEAKER_00: You don't know it all.
SPEAKER_00: Husbands and wives are having words right now.
SPEAKER_00: I do marriage counseling Mondays through Friday.
SPEAKER_00: Listen, let me show you how this works.
SPEAKER_00: Our very own Dr.
SPEAKER_00: Buskie right there, PhD in ministry, what, 52 years?
SPEAKER_00: More 70 years.
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: Well, goodness gracious, even more than I thought.
SPEAKER_00: How long did you pastor?
unknown: 40 years.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, 40 years.
SPEAKER_00: And then you were in missions, started schools.
SPEAKER_00: Brilliant, brilliant man.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm just gonna be honest, Dr.
SPEAKER_00: Busky, when you first came, I was a little intimidated.
SPEAKER_00: Especially because I talk about John Wesley quite a bit, and that was your dissertation, right?
SPEAKER_00: So um, I was pleasantly surprised to receive, after Dr.
SPEAKER_00: Busky had been here a few weeks, an email that said, Pastor, I never saw that text that way.
SPEAKER_00: And every week, about from then on, I get some encouraging message.
SPEAKER_00: Now, to be sure, I have learned a lot from him.
SPEAKER_00: But you know what?
SPEAKER_00: Dr.
SPEAKER_00: Busky, with 70 years of ministry experience and a PhD, isn't beyond saying, maybe I could learn from this 47-year-old pastor something.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not saying you learn a lot from me, but something, a nugget every once in a while.
SPEAKER_00: And Dr.
SPEAKER_00: Busky, let me say to you, that's one of the reasons I love you so much.
SPEAKER_00: That is humility.
SPEAKER_00: You never make me feel like less because I'm not as experienced or as educated as you.
SPEAKER_00: So thank you for that.
SPEAKER_00: That's humility.
SPEAKER_00: Listen, how many of you like to be corrected?
SPEAKER_00: You know, one of the most frustrating things uh in my ministry is um when church people come up to me, you know, I've preached something and uh they say, Well, that's not what I was taught.
SPEAKER_00: And I'll show them in the Bible where it's pretty clear, and maybe I could be wrong.
SPEAKER_00: Like I have to be open to that too.
SPEAKER_00: But generally, it's the other person that's not.
SPEAKER_00: I'm just joking.
SPEAKER_00: Um, but listen, I can show them in the Bible clearly, and they won't even consider it.
SPEAKER_00: Well, I've been a Christian for 20 years.
SPEAKER_00: Well, you've been wrong for 20 years, perhaps.
SPEAKER_00: You want to be used by God, you've got to be humble.
SPEAKER_00: Let me move on.
SPEAKER_00: God uses not just the heedful, not just the humble, but he uses the honest.
SPEAKER_00: This is my favorite point.
SPEAKER_00: We see this both in Priscilla and Aquila and in Apollos.
SPEAKER_00: Let's just go back to Priscilla and Aquila for a second.
SPEAKER_00: Priscilla and Aquila, I mean, did it not take great courage to go up to them and say to Apollos and say, I think he got it wrong?
SPEAKER_00: I think you're missing something at least.
SPEAKER_00: Like this is fascinating.
SPEAKER_00: He would have come with great risk to them socially, and I mean, he could have responded with great hostility.
SPEAKER_00: But in spite of the risk, here's what I want you to say.
SPEAKER_00: God had moved on on this married couple to speak something, and if we're gonna be used by God, not only must we go where he calls us to go, we must say what he has called us to say.
SPEAKER_00: We've got to be honest.
SPEAKER_00: Look at Apollos.
SPEAKER_00: Let's go down to verse 27.
SPEAKER_00: So now he moves on and he ministers in another location that said, so when he wished to cross the Achaia, the brothers encouraged him and wrote the disciples to welcome him.
SPEAKER_00: When he arrived, he greatly helped those who through grace had believed.
SPEAKER_00: For watch this, he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, showing by the scriptures that Christ was Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe he didn't get the memo how this has gone from previous people, right?
SPEAKER_00: For previous people.
SPEAKER_00: Think about Paul.
SPEAKER_00: Everywhere he's gone, he started in the synagogue, and generally speaking, it's not gone well.
SPEAKER_00: And it's not like they're just disagreeing, they're trying to kill him.
SPEAKER_00: Let's just go to Jesus himself, who claimed to be the Christ, inaugurating God's kingdom and to be the Son of God.
SPEAKER_00: How did that go for him?
SPEAKER_00: Not well, it put him on a cross.
SPEAKER_00: But you know what?
SPEAKER_00: What I love about Paul and what I love about Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, think about Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, when he dealt with the Pharisees, he had some things to say to them.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, these are the religious leaders uh of the Jewish people, think their man closer to God than anybody, and Jesus says you're a brood of vipers, you're whitewashed tombs, uh, you know, you look pretty and shiny on the outside, but on the inside you're dead.
SPEAKER_00: And he even calls them the sons of the devil.
SPEAKER_00: Boy, that won't win you many friends.
SPEAKER_00: Why would he say that?
SPEAKER_00: Was he just trying to be mean?
SPEAKER_00: No, God gave him a word, and regardless of what they think about it or what anybody else thinks about it or what would happen to Jesus, he knew it put him on the tree.
SPEAKER_00: But he said, Oh, I came to tell you something.
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to say what you have, what I have to say.
SPEAKER_00: Now, faithful ministry involves saying what needs to be said.
SPEAKER_00: Think about this.
SPEAKER_00: How difficult is it to tell a loved one that without Christ, hell awaits them?
SPEAKER_00: Like, that's not fun.
SPEAKER_00: But are we called to tell people that?
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: How grueling is it to tell someone from another religion that's served some other God their whole entire life, and you say, Oh, by the way, I think, I think you're serving the wrong God.
SPEAKER_00: As a matter of fact, it's not even an option because Jesus is not a way to the Father, He is the way.
SPEAKER_00: That's not fun to tell someone that.
SPEAKER_00: How gut-riching is it to do what God has called us to do?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus said it very clearly.
SPEAKER_00: What do you do when a brother offends you or sister in Christ offends you?
SPEAKER_00: What do you do when you see a brother or sister in sin?
SPEAKER_00: You go and you confront them, and this petrifies most Christians.
SPEAKER_00: And fair enough.
SPEAKER_00: And so they don't do it.
SPEAKER_00: Why don't why don't we say what God is calling us to say?
SPEAKER_00: And I'll just put it as plainly as I can.
SPEAKER_00: It's because it comes with a price when we speak the truth.
SPEAKER_00: But let me say this.
SPEAKER_00: You're gonna pay a price if you speak the truth, but you're gonna pay a price if you're silent as well.
SPEAKER_00: You just have to decide what price am I going to pay.
SPEAKER_00: Look at Charlie Kirk.
SPEAKER_00: He had something to say on these hyper liberal woke campuses.
SPEAKER_00: He had a message to bring students.
SPEAKER_00: And so you see his life ended in assassination, and you go, Well, man, that's a tragedy.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, okay, I get it.
SPEAKER_00: And you say, Well, maybe, maybe, maybe he shouldn't have done that.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, I think if Charlie could come back, I think he'd do it a hundred times over and over and over.
SPEAKER_00: And here's why.
SPEAKER_00: Because yes, did saying something cost him his life?
SPEAKER_00: Yes, it was a price to pay, but being silent when he had something to say would have cost him a great deal more.
SPEAKER_00: Infinitely more.
SPEAKER_00: Let me just illustrate this.
SPEAKER_00: Um, Jordan Peterson um made that point using the story of Jonah.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm not quoting him, I can't remember everything he said, but I just want to give credit where credit is due.
SPEAKER_00: He's the one that got me thinking about this.
SPEAKER_00: You know the story of Jonah, yes.
SPEAKER_00: So remember, um in Jonah chapter one, he's he's a prophet, right?
SPEAKER_00: Jones is a prophet, and God comes to Jonah.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Listen, there's a city called Nineveh, and their wickedness has come before me.
SPEAKER_00: Like it's a vile city.
SPEAKER_00: And God tells Jonah, you know what?
SPEAKER_00: If they don't repent, there's 120,000 plus people there.
SPEAKER_00: If they do not repent, I'm actually gonna wipe them out, annihilate them.
SPEAKER_00: And so, Jonah, here's what I want you to do: I want you to go to Nineveh, and I want you to tell the 120,000 people from the king down, repent, or God's gonna kill you.
SPEAKER_00: Well, Jonah doesn't much like this, and fair enough, right?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, the the first of all, the Nineveh's it's the capital of Syria or Assyria, and the Assyrians are sworn enemies, sworn enemies of Israel.
SPEAKER_00: Jonah's people.
SPEAKER_00: Beyond that, they're a brutal people.
SPEAKER_00: I won't even get in to what they did to their captives.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's horrific.
SPEAKER_00: It'd make you squirm this morning.
SPEAKER_00: And even more, you know what?
SPEAKER_00: I think Jonah a little bit, well, he doesn't, he doesn't want them.
SPEAKER_00: He's like, God, just go ahead and kill him.
SPEAKER_00: Like, I don't care.
SPEAKER_00: I don't like them, anyways.
SPEAKER_00: Go for it.
SPEAKER_00: And so God says, Jonah, you're going to Nineveh.
SPEAKER_00: What does Jonah do?
SPEAKER_00: He he boards the first boat, going in the opposite direction, as far away from Nineveh as you can, as he could go.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because he didn't want to pay the price of telling the truth.
SPEAKER_00: Well, how did that work out for him?
SPEAKER_00: He's on this boat.
SPEAKER_00: So great, such a great story.
SPEAKER_00: He he's on this boat, and God sends a storm, like a Violent storm.
SPEAKER_00: And the and the sailors are thinking, wait, we've had smooth waters until this guy got on the boat.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's maybe it's him.
SPEAKER_00: These are pagan sailors.
SPEAKER_00: And say so they go uh to they go to Jonah, and what's Jonah doing?
SPEAKER_00: He's sleeping.
SPEAKER_00: And you know, when you don't say what God has called you to say, you have to live in some kind of a blissful ignorance.
SPEAKER_00: Because, okay, let's let me illustrate this.
SPEAKER_00: You're supposed to share Christ with someone in your family who doesn't know the Lord, and you don't have the courage to do it, and you stay silent and it eats at you night and day.
SPEAKER_00: So what do you have to do?
SPEAKER_00: You have to sleep and stay busy so you don't think about it and it make you crazy.
SPEAKER_00: They wait, they wake Jonah up, they go, Jonah, um, do you feel what's going on out here?
SPEAKER_00: Like, do you sense the storm, like our ships breaking apart?
SPEAKER_00: And they said, Jonah, do you have anything to do this?
SPEAKER_00: And Jonah says, Yeah, you know what?
SPEAKER_00: I ticked off the God of all creation.
SPEAKER_00: It's probably me.
SPEAKER_00: But interestingly, he he doesn't say, Well, you know what?
SPEAKER_00: God's pretty merciful.
SPEAKER_00: If I repent, maybe the storm will stop.
SPEAKER_00: He so doesn't want to speak what God has told him to speak.
SPEAKER_00: What's he do?
SPEAKER_00: Throw me overboard.
SPEAKER_00: And I mean, truthfully, think about this, guys.
SPEAKER_00: Does it not seem sometimes like it would be easier to die than to speak the truth in some situations?
SPEAKER_00: But see, he thinks, okay, they'll throw me over, it'll be over quick, and and I'm done.
SPEAKER_00: But it doesn't go like that.
SPEAKER_00: God sends a big fish, right?
SPEAKER_00: You see, Jonah's being silent.
SPEAKER_00: By the way, I had GPT make that for me.
SPEAKER_00: It's pretty cool.
SPEAKER_00: Um big fish comes up.
SPEAKER_00: This beast in the waters from the depths of the sea comes up and clenches his jaws around Jonah and swallows him.
SPEAKER_00: Jonah's in the belly of the well.
SPEAKER_00: And the Bible says that it takes him to the abyss.
SPEAKER_00: This is analogous to when Jesus died and went to the abode of the dead.
SPEAKER_00: You know where Jonah's out?
SPEAKER_00: You know the price.
SPEAKER_00: You know the price of not saying what God has told him to say?
SPEAKER_00: It's hell.
SPEAKER_00: And I don't mean absolutely literal, I mean hell on earth.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you know this.
SPEAKER_00: When you have something to say and you don't say it, it eats at you.
SPEAKER_00: It's hard to sleep, it's hard to eat.
SPEAKER_00: It's the price that we pay.
SPEAKER_00: So finally, Jonah, after three days, has all he can take.
SPEAKER_00: And what and what's he?
SPEAKER_00: He repents.
SPEAKER_00: And the the the whale, the big fish, vomits him out on the shore, and finally he shares, though still reluctantly, Jonah's a character, man.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, and and the people, he he talks to Nineveh and they actually repent.
SPEAKER_00: Now, you know, think about this.
SPEAKER_00: When you're not honest in saying what God's told you to say, it doesn't just impact you, it impacts everybody in your boat.
SPEAKER_00: Your church, your home, the kingdom of God, and the lost people who need to hear.
SPEAKER_00: Some of them are maybe have 40 days before they're wiped out.
SPEAKER_00: But you're not willing to take the risk to share the gospel with them.
SPEAKER_00: Saying what we need to say comes with a price.
SPEAKER_00: But again, let me say this.
SPEAKER_00: Remaining silent is a much greater cost.
SPEAKER_00: Can I get a witness?
SPEAKER_00: I wanna, as we think about this, God uses this text, God uses the heedful, he uses the humble, and he uses he uses the honest.
SPEAKER_00: You still may be thinking, well, that's all great, but still, I don't have any distinctive talent that I can't sing or teach, or you know, I'm not a prolific writer like Paul or an orator and charismatic like Apollos.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not a teacher like Priscilla and Aquila.
SPEAKER_00: The good news is you don't have to be any of those things.
SPEAKER_00: Look at verses 27 and 28 one more time as I close this out.
SPEAKER_00: And when he, Apollos, wished to cross the sea, the brothers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him.
SPEAKER_00: Now it's easy to read over.
SPEAKER_00: In this story, you know, every word in the every every single letter and word in the Bible is important, yes?
SPEAKER_00: So this is not trivial.
SPEAKER_00: We read about ordinary believers who play a part in God's mission, and Luke doesn't even mention their names, probably doesn't even know their names.
SPEAKER_00: Yet, without their encouragement and commendation, Apollos would have never had the opportunities he was afforded.
SPEAKER_00: Listen, if you're truly from central or eastern Kentucky, you better love your wildcats.
SPEAKER_00: When our basketball team does well, you know, we tend to look to the star players and the head coach, and we credit them, right, for winning season.
SPEAKER_00: And fair enough, I mean, that's obviously a massive part of it.
SPEAKER_00: But you know, they're not the only ones who contribute to a UK success.
SPEAKER_00: Think about the assistant coaches who stay up late watching game field film.
SPEAKER_00: Think about trainers and strength coaches who keep the players healthy or equipment managers who make sure everything's where it needs to be and the team has what they need.
SPEAKER_00: The scouts who recruit, we even, do you know at the University of Kentucky, we even have practice squad, uh practice squad players who are not even on the roster.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not just talking about bench players, I'm talking about practice squad who will never be in a game, but they are day in and day out in practice challenging the star players.
SPEAKER_00: And don't forget the team chaplain, the by the way, if somebody from the Kentucky staff is uh listening and you need a chaplain, sign me up.
SPEAKER_00: Um, what about the academic professors, the managers, and especially the janitors who keep the gyms clean and the facilities clean?
SPEAKER_00: Most of us will never know their names.
SPEAKER_00: Like, can anybody in here say the name of the equipment manager for the Kentucky basketball team?
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: Think about this.
SPEAKER_00: We don't know their name, but without them, the program would fall apart.
SPEAKER_00: Do you know that's how church is?
SPEAKER_00: That's how church is.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you, I mean, I see you because I'm here all the time.
SPEAKER_00: But some of you, many people in this church, don't know your name, and at least they don't know what you do.
SPEAKER_00: And they look up here and they see a church that's growing, or whatever, and they think, man, those pastors or or or those singers, or man, that that that youth department or this, but what they don't see is the many of you who are doing the little things day in and day out.
SPEAKER_00: And without you, this church would not be what it is today.
SPEAKER_00: God wants to use you.
SPEAKER_00: We see in the story of Paul and Timothy as they travel, God uses the young and the old.
SPEAKER_00: Timothy was very young.
SPEAKER_00: We see from Priscilla and Aquila that God uses both men and women.
SPEAKER_00: We see with Apollos and blue-collar workers, God uses the intellectuals and he uses those who work with their hands.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't matter.
SPEAKER_00: It's not about your intellect, it's not about your age, it's not about your gender, it's about your willingness.
SPEAKER_00: Can I just tell you one more story?
SPEAKER_00: I know it's late.
SPEAKER_00: Can I just give you one more story?
SPEAKER_00: I just finished a book last night called Praying Like Monks, Living Like Fools.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: And uh, it's written by Tyler Staten.
SPEAKER_00: And he's just a man devoted to prayer.
SPEAKER_00: He now does pastor a church, but listen to this.
SPEAKER_00: When he was in eighth grade, eighth grade, the summer before his eighth grade year, he had his mother, where's my youth at?
SPEAKER_00: Listen, eighth grade.
SPEAKER_00: He had his mother drive him to the school, Pastor Jerry, every morning during his summer break.
SPEAKER_00: And he circled, he walked and circled that building, that middle school, every single day, carrying a yearbook with him.
SPEAKER_00: And he prayed for every single classmate every day for the entire summer.
SPEAKER_00: When school started, he so wanted to keep this up that he had made his mom start taking it like six in the morning.
SPEAKER_00: How many of you want to adopt that teenager?
SPEAKER_00: Come on, somebody.
SPEAKER_00: Listen to this.
SPEAKER_00: This is so beautiful.
SPEAKER_00: As he's praying, the Lord lays it on his heart to start a Bible study.
SPEAKER_00: But he doesn't know a lot, he's in eighth grade.
SPEAKER_00: But it's not about his knowledge.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord's leading just to tell people about Jesus, just to open up the Bible and read the scriptures with an eighth-grade class.
SPEAKER_00: And he heeds God's voice.
SPEAKER_00: And he goes to his principal at the beginning of the school year and he says, Sir, I believe God wants me to start a Bible study before school.
SPEAKER_00: Would that be okay?
SPEAKER_00: And the preacher or the principal said, Well, I guess we can try it.
SPEAKER_00: And Tyler thought, you know, nobody's gonna show up.
SPEAKER_00: So he was surprised when in just a few weeks it was about a standing room only.
SPEAKER_00: And I can't remember the number, so don't quote me on this, but it was something like by the end of that eighth grade year, Pastor Jerry, 70% of his classmates professed Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
SPEAKER_00: Now, if God can use, if God can use an eighth grader to lead an entire class almost to the Lord, what can he do with you?
SPEAKER_00: What can he do with you?
SPEAKER_00: You know, Jesus He came and he heeded God's voice, he was humble, not counting equality with God, something to be grasped, but he took on flesh and humbled himself and became a servant, washing the feet of his disciples, even he was honest, saying always what needed to be said, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, calling people out, calling them to repentance, and he heeded God's voice to the end.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, you know, you think of Gethsemane, not my will.
SPEAKER_00: If this you know cup can pass from me, Lord, if there be any other way, let it pass, but not my will, yours be done, and he hung on that cross, and he was honest to the very end, those final words it is finished.
SPEAKER_00: If you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ today, the one who heeded God's voice, the one who came in humility, King of kings who humbled himself, and the one who was honest.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, I bid you to come to him today.
SPEAKER_00: That's first.
SPEAKER_00: Secondly, if you know him, if you know him, I I pray today that you will say, like Paul, like Apollos, like Priscilla and Aquila, and the unnamed believers, and like the prophet Isaiah, here I am, Lord, send me.