Speaker 1: Welcome to DeSoto Hills Baptist Church.
Speaker 1: Our Sunday morning services are weekly at 9 and 10 30 am.
Speaker 1: You're listening to an audio recast of this past week's service.
Speaker 1: We hope you enjoy.
Speaker 1: God bless.
Speaker 2: We'll be this morning in Acts, chapter 11.
Speaker 2: I'm going to start reading in verse 19.
Speaker 2: As you turn there in this, this passage, there's an interesting thing that happens in this passage in down in verse 26.
Speaker 2: For the first time in verse in acts 11, verse 26, the first time followers it's the first time followers of jesus are called christians.
Speaker 2: It's the first time we see that word in the Bible and actually, interestingly enough, the word for Christian is only found three times in the New Testament.
Speaker 2: It's found here in Acts 11, 26.
Speaker 2: It's found in chapter 12, or in chapter 26, verse 28.
Speaker 2: And it's found in 1 Peter 4, verse 16.
Speaker 2: Now, as you look at those and if you wrote those down and want to look that up later in the day, what's interesting about this is, in the New Testament, when believers are referred to as christians, they're referred to as christians by people who aren't christians.
Speaker 2: It's not really a self self-designation of themselves.
Speaker 2: John polehill, one of the the commentators that I read, he he he says that that believers really prefer to be called believers, um, sometimes disciples or followers of Christ.
Speaker 2: They don't really refer to themselves as believers.
Speaker 2: It is people from the outside using a new designation for followers of Christ.
Speaker 2: Tony Morita, another commentator.
Speaker 2: He says here's why that happens Because Christians are.
Speaker 2: There's something totally new to people in the New Testament.
Speaker 2: And so they're not people.
Speaker 2: Christians are not people who are known by ethnicity, they're not people who are known by nationality.
Speaker 2: It's this new thing.
Speaker 2: You can't really call Christians a Jewish movement, because what we've seen, what we saw last week, what we're going to see today, is Christians are.
Speaker 2: There's Gentiles who are becoming Christians, and they're not becoming Jews first, they're becoming Christians.
Speaker 2: They're going from being lost to saved and they're not going through Judaism.
Speaker 2: It's a new thing.
Speaker 2: Also, you can't call Christianity a Gentile movement, because there are Jews who are becoming believers, and so it's a new thing.
Speaker 2: And Merida goes on to say that this is something that even today in the New Testament, we should see.
Speaker 2: He writes this even today, some assume that one's religion is based on one's ethnicity, social class or family.
Speaker 2: But the Antioch followers of Jesus showed the world something beautifully different about Christianity.
Speaker 2: The church in Antioch was like an embassy of the kingdom of God.
Speaker 2: These people gave the world a picture of what Jesus kingdom, when fully consummated, will look like one day.
Speaker 2: These, these individuals of different backgrounds, displayed unique values, showed a unique way of life and preached a unique message.
Speaker 2: They didn't just blend into culture, they were different, and modern Christians should be described similarly.
Speaker 2: Modern Christians should be described similarly.
Speaker 2: Is that something that we as the church?
Speaker 2: When people look at us and when they say Christians, do they see a unique value system, do they see a unique culture?
Speaker 2: So, people who aren't just blending into the culture, but people who are preaching a unique message.
Speaker 2: As we come to our passage today, we're going to see that happening.
Speaker 2: In our passage today, what we find is that God is continuing to advance his kingdom among the Gentiles and we see that evidenced by the fruit that they bear.
Speaker 2: Now, as we look at this, we, we understand and we talk about this every week.
Speaker 2: This is a, this is a, a story, a specific story about a particular group of people.
Speaker 2: That happened a long time ago.
Speaker 2: So we have to ask ourselves the question what can we learn from this?
Speaker 2: How can we, how can we see what happened and what is God showing us?
Speaker 2: What are the truths that God are is showing us in this?
Speaker 2: I think, for us today, what?
Speaker 2: What we find in verse 23, when Barnabas exhorted the church, here's what he called them to do.
Speaker 2: He called them to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose church.
Speaker 2: I think, from today, as we hear this message, that's the challenge for us is to remain steadfast, remain faithful in the Lord with a steadfast purpose.
Speaker 2: So the challenge for us, then, is to remain faithful.
Speaker 2: Today, we want to seek to answer the question.
Speaker 2: If we want to remain faithful, the question we want to seek to answer is how did they remain faithful?
Speaker 2: If the challenge is for us to remain faithful, hopefully we can look at this church, this early church, and how they remained faithful and see how we can do that as well.
Speaker 2: How did they remain faithful?
Speaker 2: I invite you to stand with me this morning as we read Acts, chapter 11, starting in verse 19 and finishing out the chapter.
Speaker 2: If you're able, again, I ask you to stand as we give honor to the reading of God's word Acts 11, 19.
Speaker 2: Now, those who were scattered because of the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except Jews.
Speaker 2: But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who, on coming to Antioch, spoke to the Hellenists, also preaching the Lord Jesus, and the hand of the Lord was with them and a great number who believed turned to the Lord.
Speaker 2: The report of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem and they sent Barnabas to Antioch.
Speaker 2: When he came and saw the grace of God, he was glad and he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose, for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith, and a great many people were added to the Lord.
Speaker 2: So Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch.
Speaker 2: For a whole year they met with the church and taught a great many people, and in Antioch the disciples were first called Christians.
Speaker 2: Now, in these days, prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch and one of them, named Agabus, stood up and foretold by the Spirit that there would be a great famine over all the world.
Speaker 2: This took place in the days of Claudius.
Speaker 2: Over all the world, this took place in the days of Claudius.
Speaker 2: So the disciples determined everyone, according to his ability, to send relief to the brothers living in Judea, and they did so, sending it to the elders by the hand of Barnabas and Saul.
Speaker 2: Let's pray together.
Speaker 2: God, we are thankful for your word and we are honored for this privilege that we have to open your word, because you have revealed yourself to us through your word.
Speaker 2: So, god, we pray today as we seek to uncover the depths of scripture.
Speaker 2: That spirit, you will lead us as we seek to uncover the depths of Scripture.
Speaker 2: That Spirit, you will lead us.
Speaker 2: That God, you will continue to reveal yourself to us and you will change us for all eternity.
Speaker 2: Jesus, it's in your name we pray.
Speaker 2: Amen, you may be seated.
Speaker 2: So again, the question that we seek to answer is this how did they remain faithful?
Speaker 2: If the call is for us to remain faithful with a steadfast purpose, well, how did they remain faithful?
Speaker 2: Well, the first thing I think we see here is that they proclaimed.
Speaker 2: They proclaimed the gospel.
Speaker 2: They proclaimed the gospel, they proclaimed the good news.
Speaker 2: It begins with it from the very beginning.
Speaker 2: Now, those who were scattered because of persecution that arose over Stephen, they traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus, and Antioch Hear this, speaking the word to no one but the Jews, but then, in verse 20, but there were some of them, men of Cyprus, who, coming to Antioch, spoke to the Hellenists also.
Speaker 2: They spoke, they proclaimed the Lord Jesus, they told who he was, they did what he was doing.
Speaker 2: But there's some things I want us to see here.
Speaker 2: First, why are they there?
Speaker 2: See, why they're there?
Speaker 2: He tells us because they were scattered because of persecution.
Speaker 2: We've seen this, the persecution of stephen, back in acts, chapter 7 and 8.
Speaker 2: And then, as you look at acts 8, 1 here's what it says and saul approved of his execution and there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.
Speaker 2: We've seen this scattering be a good thing before as well, back in Acts, chapter 8, even right after this, philip travels to Samaria, not travels down to our travels to Samaria, not down, but he travels to Samaria and and in Samaria he proclaims the good news to the Samaritans.
Speaker 2: And what do we see happening?
Speaker 2: The Holy Spirit coming to these Samaritans and we see a Samaritan Pentecost where, where many are saved because and they, but peter philip was there because of persecution, because he was scattered because of that.
Speaker 2: And now, as we come to acts, chapter 11, these people are there, they're in these regions, they're in antioch because of persecution, because God had allowed persecution to happen and they had moved out because of that.
Speaker 2: And listen, I need you to hear this today, church, as much as we don't like it, listen, I'm not going to stand here and tell you that I like persecution.
Speaker 2: Bring it on.
Speaker 2: But sometimes persecution is needed and we will sit, we'll stop and we'll sit and we'll think god, why?
Speaker 2: Why are you allowing this to happen?
Speaker 2: And I'm just telling you it happens because god is sovereign and because he is a good god and we can trust him.
Speaker 2: And persecution sometimes is needed to break us out of the comfort zones that we have created.
Speaker 2: To break us out of the comfort zones that we have created, to break us out of the apathy that we have created to make us, hear me, depend on him.
Speaker 2: Sometimes we just get in places where we are not dependent upon god.
Speaker 2: We are dependent upon everything but him.
Speaker 2: We're dependent upon our ability.
Speaker 2: We're dependent upon God.
Speaker 2: We are dependent upon everything but him.
Speaker 2: We're dependent upon our ability, we're dependent upon our availability, we're dependent upon on the things that we know, we're dependent upon the people around us and we're dependent upon all these things except for God.
Speaker 2: So sometimes what persecution does is it comes and it allows us to break out of those comfort zones so we become dependent upon the only one who is able to do anything, and that is God himself.
Speaker 2: But listen, as we talk about persecution, let's be very careful not to misconstrue persecution with punishment.
Speaker 2: Listen, the church was persecuted here in Acts not because they had done wrong or bad things.
Speaker 2: They were persecuted because Jesus told them that, hey, persecution is going to come, just get ready for it.
Speaker 2: They persecuted me, they're going to persecute you as well.
Speaker 2: But sometimes we do things and bring things upon ourselves and it's not persecution, it's punishment.
Speaker 2: Sometimes, because of sin that we are living in, we face punishment.
Speaker 2: We don't need to get those two things mixed up.
Speaker 2: They are two separate things.
Speaker 2: But let me tell you what is amazing about our good and gracious God.
Speaker 2: You, what is amazing about our good and gracious God he can use punishment to teach us dependable to depend upon him as well.
Speaker 2: Listen, church, we need to depend upon God and these people are going out and the gospel is spreading to the uttermost parts of the world because persecution has come and they have spread out.
Speaker 2: Another interesting thing that I think we need to point out is the beginning of verse 20.
Speaker 2: But there were some of them, some of them.
Speaker 2: There's no names given.
Speaker 2: This is not apostles, this is not the disciples or the seven chosen like Barnabas.
Speaker 2: I mean, we see Barnabas in the story, but that's not who it begins with right here.
Speaker 2: It's not Philip, it's not Peter, it's not John, it's not the apostles.
Speaker 2: It's not Peter, it's not John, it's not the apostles.
Speaker 2: Some of them, some of them, began to spread the gospel to people that they came in contact, to everyone with whom they came in contact.
Speaker 2: And listen, I hear it all the time.
Speaker 2: Grant, I'm not a preacher, you're the preacher.
Speaker 2: Okay, I get it.
Speaker 2: God's called me to stand up here and do this, and he may not have called you to stand up here and do this, but I tell you what he has called you to do.
Speaker 2: He has called you to be witnesses of him In Jerusalem, judea and Samaria and to the uttermost parts of the earth.
Speaker 2: It is some of them, people that we don't know, people that we have never seen, people that we may never see again, people that we will never know their names, this side of heaven, who simply went and told about the lord jesus.
Speaker 2: Hear me today, church, hear me.
Speaker 2: God is calling us to be witnesses of Him, to proclaim Him, and if we are going to be faithful, like these believers here in the first century, and if we're going to be faithful with a purpose, a steadfast purpose, we need to be witnesses of Him.
Speaker 2: We need to be proclaiming that Jesus is Lord with all in whom we come in contact.
Speaker 2: They were faithful to the purpose that they had been given Proclaiming that Jesus is Lord with all in whom we come in contact.
Speaker 2: They were faithful to the purpose that they had been given.
Speaker 2: We should remain faithful as well.
Speaker 2: Second thing I think we see here is this Not only did they proclaim, but they taught.
Speaker 2: They taught.
Speaker 2: See what happens after they began to proclaim jesus his lord and in verse 21, the hand of the lord was with them and a great number believed and turned to the lord.
Speaker 2: And then the report came to the ears of the church in jerusalem.
Speaker 2: I had to check it out.
Speaker 2: Is this for real?
Speaker 2: Is Is this going on?
Speaker 2: Because see, listen, you and I know about what happened at Cornelius's house because we have hindsight, it's always 2020.
Speaker 2: We get to look back and see that the Holy Spirit fell on those Gentiles in Cornelius's house.
Speaker 2: We had the.
Speaker 2: We have the opportunity of hearing Peter come and proclaim that.
Speaker 2: And listen, I understand as well that there were people in the church.
Speaker 2: We just talked about it last week how Peter came and defended his rationale for telling the gospel to Cornelius and the people in his house, and we saw the Holy Spirit fell, and we even saw the church at the end of our passage last week in verse 20.
Speaker 2: They proclaimed then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to salvation.
Speaker 2: We've seen that happen, but now it's not happening in a contained area.
Speaker 2: Now it's bigger.
Speaker 2: And while the church proclaimed last week, god is all okay, god's god's, he's letting it go to the gentiles as well.
Speaker 2: What we are going to find.
Speaker 2: While those words came out of their mouths, their hearts had not been yet fully changed.
Speaker 2: Because this is going to be an issue that is faced all throughout the new testament, almost every letter of paul.
Speaker 2: In some way he is addressing how, how people are wanting the gentiles to become jews first.
Speaker 2: We're going to see it in a couple of chapters, even here in acts.
Speaker 2: He's going to have to stand up at the jerusalem council and defend it away, defend it again, and so.
Speaker 2: So there are some who just haven't set their hearts on this as well, but?
Speaker 2: But?
Speaker 2: So they send Barnabas.
Speaker 2: Now, just an interesting side point.
Speaker 2: This is really the first time that something like this has happened and they didn't send an apostle.
Speaker 2: Remember back in Acts, chapter 8, when this same kind of thing was happening in Samaria?
Speaker 2: Who did they send?
Speaker 2: Peter and John.
Speaker 2: It's not an apostle this time.
Speaker 2: Church is growing, they're counting on other people, so they send Barnabas, and I love how Luke describes what Barnabas saw and what Barnabas did in verse 23.
Speaker 2: We've already made reference to it.
Speaker 2: Let's read it again.
Speaker 2: He says to it.
Speaker 2: Let's read it again.
Speaker 2: He says when he came and saw the grace of God, he was glad and he exhorted them to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose.
Speaker 2: Here's Barnabas, the son of encouragement, who is coming to this church and he is seeing what is happening and he is seeing that the Holy Spirit had fallen upon him.
Speaker 2: And so here's the word he exhorted them.
Speaker 2: Now listen, this is part of teaching that we overlook a lot of times, but there are enough teachers in here that know exhortation.
Speaker 2: It's a part of teaching.
Speaker 2: You need it.
Speaker 2: So Paul is coming and he is exhorting them.
Speaker 2: He is moving.
Speaker 2: Barnabas is coming.
Speaker 2: Did I say Paul?
Speaker 2: Barnabas is coming and he is teaching them.
Speaker 2: He is exhorting them to remain steadfast in their faith, to remain steadfast, to remain faithful with a steadfast purpose he is teaching, but then, as the hand of god falls and and more and more people are coming to the faith, barnabas looks around and says know what?
Speaker 2: This is a little bit too big for me.
Speaker 2: And he remembers a guy who was sent back to Tarsus, a guy named Saul.
Speaker 2: Isn't it amazing?
Speaker 2: Isn't it amazing what we just read in Acts, chapter 8?
Speaker 2: Why they're here preaching the gospel?
Speaker 2: Because of persecution.
Speaker 2: Do you remember the beginning of Acts, chapter 8, verse 1, that we just read?
Speaker 2: And saul approved of the execution?
Speaker 2: So now these people are in antioch because of persecution brought to them by saul.
Speaker 2: Barnabas is seeing the holy spirit falls and fall, needs help.
Speaker 2: And so who does he go get Saul?
Speaker 2: It tells us he goes to Tarsus, which was not.
Speaker 2: It was about an eight-day trip from there and, according to the language, barnabas probably had some difficulty finding Saul and bringing him back.
Speaker 2: But when he did, when he found Saul, when he brought him back to Antioch, it says that they taught for about a year.
Speaker 2: They taught them.
Speaker 2: They taught them Scripture, they taught them Jesus, they taught them what Jesus had said and did.
Speaker 2: They taught them how to live as Christians and they needed it.
Speaker 2: They were in a city called Antioch.
Speaker 2: Do you know about Antioch?
Speaker 2: Population of Antioch was probably somewhere between 500,000 and 800,000 people.
Speaker 2: To help you grasp that, nashville has around 700,000 people.
Speaker 2: I mean, sometimes we hear first century town and we're thinking Pontotoc, nashville, listen.
Speaker 2: And this was a place that was very pluralistic culturally.
Speaker 2: Cultures were coming in from Antioch.
Speaker 2: It was a great place of trade.
Speaker 2: There were roads coming through, there was a port there.
Speaker 2: It was a major trade city.
Speaker 2: It was the third largest city, the third largest city in the Roman Empire.
Speaker 2: It was huge and culturally it was very pluralistic.
Speaker 2: And you know how else it was plural, pluralistic.
Speaker 2: It was pluralistic religiously.
Speaker 2: They worked me.
Speaker 2: They worshiped many greek false gods and they worshiped them in ways that were super immoral.
Speaker 2: And if these young Christians in this young church were going to proclaim the gospel and if they were going to teach and disciple people in the gospel, they needed to be grounded.
Speaker 2: So Barnabas and Saul went about teaching them so that they could do that Church.
Speaker 2: We do that, we strive to do that.
Speaker 2: At least we should.
Speaker 2: Today.
Speaker 2: We call this teaching discipleship.
Speaker 2: It's a big word among churches now.
Speaker 2: Call this teaching discipleship.
Speaker 2: It's a big word among churches now.
Speaker 2: Discipleship to, to teach people how to, how to live and be believers and listen a culture that is culturally and religiously very pluralistic.
Speaker 2: Like antioch, we should be discipling, we should be teaching.
Speaker 2: Again, you may say, grant, that's why we're here, so you can teach us.
Speaker 2: I get it.
Speaker 2: Good, I'm glad you're here, but the call is not just for me to teach.
Speaker 2: The call is not just for David to teach.
Speaker 2: The call is not just for Laura to teach.
Speaker 2: The call is for the disciples to teach.
Speaker 2: The call is not just for Laura to teach, the call is for the disciples to teach.
Speaker 2: That's what Jesus told the disciples go.
Speaker 2: Therefore, we've talked about this can be translated as you are going, listen as you are living your life.
Speaker 2: Let me give you an example of one just just small thing, small way that you can do this.
Speaker 2: Next week, we're going to start taking up the offering again.
Speaker 2: We haven't done it since covid.
Speaker 2: We're going to start doing that again.
Speaker 2: We've we've got people lined up to do that and listen through conversations of while we're doing this, the greatest one to me, that that stuck out, stuck out in conversations, and it was a recurring conversation.
Speaker 2: It was.
Speaker 2: It was a recurring thought among leadership in our church.
Speaker 2: It's this we need to do this so we can teach a younger generation.
Speaker 2: As you're going, as you're just doing the things you're commanded to do, as you're doing the things that God has called us to do, don't just go around doing them by yourself, but include other people.
Speaker 2: As you're living, include other people and say look, here's why I read my Bible, this is how I read my Bible.
Speaker 2: There's tons of other ways to do it, but this is how I do it.
Speaker 2: Let me show you.
Speaker 2: Let me show you how I pray.
Speaker 2: It may not become how you pray, but let me show you how I pray in communion with God.
Speaker 2: As you're living, as you're living in your household, with your kids, with your grandkids, with those around you, as you're going to your job, with the people that you know, as you have proclaimed the gospel and maybe they have come to know Christ through that proclamation.
Speaker 2: Take a few moments, take some time and say hey, let me show you how we do this, because what we are doing is unique to the rest of the world.
Speaker 2: It is different from the rest of the world.
Speaker 2: But hear me, if we, church, don't take the opportunity to teach and to disciple, people are going to be discipled and that's how we wind up with all kinds of outlandish doctrines within the church.
Speaker 2: We must be be teaching this early church.
Speaker 2: They remained faithful.
Speaker 2: They remained faithful by proclaiming, they remained faithful by teaching and they remained faithful by helping.
Speaker 2: This last little section is starting in verse 27.
Speaker 2: People from Jerusalem came down.
Speaker 2: It even names one of them, a guy named Agabus, and he was.
Speaker 2: They were prophesying and and listen, I've told you this before and and usually when I'm talking about prophecy, old Testament prophecy it is not always about foretelling, it's about forth telling.
Speaker 2: This is what God says.
Speaker 2: But here what's happening is they are foretelling and this guy named Agabus he is.
Speaker 2: He is foretelling that there is going to be a, a famine that comes across the world.
Speaker 2: Luke gives us a little side note in the parentheses and says this actually happens during Claudius.
Speaker 2: If you go back and look at history, there were famines that happened in Claudius, during Claudius's reign, in the Roman Empire, in Judea it happened.
Speaker 2: In Egypt it happened.
Speaker 2: And in other places across the world we see a famine happening.
Speaker 2: And so what?
Speaker 2: What he is telling, telling them actually happened.
Speaker 2: But here's what the church did when they heard this again hear this when they heard this foretelling, hey, this is going to happen.
Speaker 2: What they did is they gathered together and, according to each one's ability, they took up a collection To help Listen.
Speaker 2: And most of the times, what we do here in church Not just at the Soda Hills, but in the church what we do is very reactive, and I'm not saying that's a bad thing, because there's a lot of things that happen in our world that we have to react to.
Speaker 2: There are natural disasters that happen that we have to react to.
Speaker 2: There are, there are tragedies that happen that that no one was ever expecting, to which we have to react and listen.
Speaker 2: Can I brag on you a little bit?
Speaker 2: Church DeSoto Hills has always been so good in that reaction.
Speaker 2: There's a hurricane that happens somewhere and people are coming to me all the time how can we help?
Speaker 2: What can we do?
Speaker 2: There's a tragedy that happens around here and people are coming to me and saying how can we help, what can we do?
Speaker 2: And that is a great thing and I'm not telling you to stop that.
Speaker 2: But, church, hear how this church remained faithful.
Speaker 2: It wasn't just about reacting and being reactive.
Speaker 2: They were becoming proactive in what they did.
Speaker 2: They were becoming proactive in being ready and seeing God move.
Speaker 2: They were helping.
Speaker 2: They were giving each to their own ability sacrificially to meet needs.
Speaker 2: Church, let's look around us and become proactive.
Speaker 2: So now you ask, grant, this is great.
Speaker 2: They remained faithful by being, by proclaiming and teaching and helping.
Speaker 2: How can we do that?
Speaker 2: You know, just this week I was in a meeting for the Mississippi Baptist Convention down in Clinton.
Speaker 2: When I was there, they gave a statistic that shocked me.
Speaker 2: Let me tell you, in the United States of America the whole country about only only about 35 percent of the population of the United States claims any kind of religious belief.
Speaker 2: That can be any kind.
Speaker 2: That can be Muslim, buddhist, name it, mormonism, anything.
Speaker 2: Only about 35% of our country claims that.
Speaker 2: And you may say, grant, about what I figured?
Speaker 2: Okay, here's the shocker in the state of Mississippi, only about 25 percent of the population claim any kind of religious belief, any kind of religious belief.
Speaker 2: That's not just Christianity.
Speaker 2: So, in actuality, believers, christians, in the state of Mississippi, there's less than 25%.
Speaker 2: Here's what that means when you walk out of your house and you look at house, house, house and consider your house.
Speaker 2: It's four houses.
Speaker 2: Statistically.
Speaker 2: Statistically, those three houses around you have no religious affiliation, because I'm going to assume your house does.
Speaker 2: You want to know the need and the urgency to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ to those around you, here, here, not just in those places that we talk about all the time, the big cities or whatever that we are so afraid of and we think, oh, they need Jesus.
Speaker 2: Listen, we need Jesus here.
Speaker 2: It is clearly evident.
Speaker 2: We must be proclaiming the gospel, remaining faithful, with a steadfast purpose and also because of that church, hear me, we must be discipling, we must be teaching, we must be teaching people and helping people understand how to live in a culture where three-fourths of the people around them don't know jesus.
Speaker 2: Over three-fourths don't know jesus.
Speaker 2: How are we going to live in that culture?
Speaker 2: Yeah, church is important because, look, we try to do it.
Speaker 2: Your children are going to go to Sunday school and they're going to learn about Jesus and how to be in a relationship with Him.
Speaker 2: Your students, your preschoolers, they're going to learn that today, listen, hopefully you are going to leave this place and go to a Sunday school class where you can learn how to live for Jesus in a pluralistic culture.
Speaker 2: If you're not in a Sunday school class, shameless plug.
Speaker 2: You need to get in one, because it is uber important that we learn how to live in a culture where we are in the very, very small minority, so that we can be proclaiming Jesus, and in church, we also need to be helping.
Speaker 2: If we are going to remain faithful with a steadfast purpose, we need to be serving.
Speaker 2: Are you I hear all the time, grant?
Speaker 2: How can I serve?
Speaker 2: Where can I serve?
Speaker 2: And that is a great question.
Speaker 2: The first answer is Just say Find a place and jump in.
Speaker 2: If that's not the right place, find a different place.
Speaker 2: Let me tell you what we're going to do in september, though, and we're going to be doing this a couple times a month.
Speaker 2: In september, we're going to begin to recognize different ministries in our churches and needs that they have.
Speaker 2: We're going to have a video that we show during the worship service.
Speaker 2: We're even going to set up a table out in the grand hall where you can go sign up right after the service.
Speaker 2: Honestly, if you left my sermon and go sign up to serve, my feelings would not be hurt at all.
Speaker 2: If we're going to remain faithful with a steadfast purpose purpose.
Speaker 2: We must be serving church.
Speaker 2: Are you proclaiming to your neighbors, to your co-workers, to your family?
Speaker 2: Are you telling them about jesus?
Speaker 2: If we're going to remain faithful with a steadfast purpose, we should be.
Speaker 2: Are you teaching those who know how to walk with Jesus?
Speaker 2: If we're going to remain faithful with a steadfast purpose, we should be Church are you serving?
Speaker 2: Are you helping?
Speaker 2: If we're going to remain faithful with a steadfast purpose, we should be.
Speaker 2: And hear me, because we are teaching a unique message and we are a unique people and the call is great.
Speaker 2: I understand so many of you are sitting there thinking I can never do this, grant, and you are absolutely right.
Speaker 2: But hear me, god does not need your ability.
Speaker 2: God does not even need your availability.
Speaker 2: God wants your dependence upon Him and he will take care of it.
Speaker 2: Remain faithful with a steadfast purpose.
Speaker 2: I'm about to enter into a time of invitation.
Speaker 2: I want to pray for us.
Speaker 2: As I pray, the musicians are going to come in.
Speaker 2: After I pray, we're going to invite you to stand.
Speaker 2: We're going to invite you to stand and then we're going to invite you to make a decision.
Speaker 2: Listen, there are no doubt some of you who are sitting here today that are part of that 75% that doesn't know Jesus.
Speaker 2: Hear me tell you this Jesus came and he lived a perfect life and he died on the cross and he arose three days later.
Speaker 2: For you, I have people to tell you.
Speaker 2: We see people all the time who have no purpose in life.
Speaker 2: He gives us a steadfast purpose when we trust in him.
Speaker 2: If you have never trusted in Christ, this morning, as we sing, we invite you to come forward.
Speaker 2: I want to pray with you.
Speaker 2: There are counselors who will take you out and tell you how you can do that.
Speaker 2: Maybe, if you have, this morning, though You're not remaining faithful, or at least you have this morning, though you're not remaining faithful, or at least you have not you have lost the steadfast purpose.
Speaker 2: We invite you to come this morning.
Speaker 2: I want to pray for you.
Speaker 2: Or maybe you just need to come and kneel at these steps and cry out and repent to god.
Speaker 2: Look, I know you can do that from your seat and there's nothing wrong with that either.
Speaker 2: Or maybe you just need to come and kneel at these steps and cry out and repent to God.
Speaker 2: Look, I know you can do that from your seat and there's nothing wrong with that either.
Speaker 2: Listen.
Speaker 2: We invite you to step out, to move and remain faithful with a steadfast purpose.
Speaker 2: If you're looking for a church home, here's the amazing, amazing thing.
Speaker 2: You don't have to do this by yourself.
Speaker 2: God has given us each other.
Speaker 2: He's given us each other to encourage one another, to exhort one another, to teach one another, to proclaim with one another, to serve with one another.
Speaker 2: You don't have to do it on your own.
Speaker 2: He's given us the church.
Speaker 2: If you're looking for a church home, we invite you to come.
Speaker 2: Whatever decision you need to make, pray that this morning you will make that decision.
Speaker 2: Let's pray together.
Speaker 2: God, we love you.
Speaker 2: Thank you for how you love us, god, I pray as you are moving this morning, as you are working.
Speaker 2: Speak to our hearts, lord Jesus, speak to our hearts today, as you are calling.
Speaker 2: Help us to answer.
Speaker 2: Give us the faith that we need.
Speaker 2: God, we love you, jesus.
Speaker 2: It's in your name we pray.
Speaker 2: Amen.
Speaker 2: Stand with us this morning.
Speaker 1: If you have a decision to make, now is the time.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to this week's sermon.
Speaker 1: If you have any questions for our pastor, Now is the time.