Rethink & Return with Jason Shepperd
ABOUT PODCAST //
Rethink & Return invites followers of Jesus to reimagine the modern church and rediscover the simplicity of the New Testament. Each week, we open God’s Word and have real conversations about what it means to follow Jesus, shepherd His people, and live out the ways of the New Testament. Through honest conversations and biblical teaching, we challenge assumptions, explore decentralized leadership, and return to Christ’s design for His Church.
ABOUT HOST //
Jason Shepperd is the Founder and Lead Pastor of Church Project, a growing movement of House Churches across cities, states, and nations. With decades of ministry and church-planting experience, Jason has championed a decentralized model of leadership that equips ordinary believers to shepherd local communities in simple, biblical ways.
Rethink & Return with Jason Shepperd
Wrestling With God for a Move (Acts 11:19-24)
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This episode covers Acts 11:19-24 and the pivotal moment when the gospel began moving beyond the familiar and comfortable. Jason Shepperd and Dave Edwards explore what happened when some believers went further than they had gone before and began sharing the good news of Jesus with people outside their normal circles.
Through the story of Barnabas and the believers in Antioch, they unpack what it looks like to step outside our comfort zones, trust the Holy Spirit, and become people who genuinely want others to know Jesus. Barnabas wasn’t known as a great orator or a front-and-center leader. He was simply a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and God used him to encourage people and see a great number of people come to the Lord.
The conversation also explores what it means to pray and wrestle with God for an obvious move of God. Rather than simply looking for the event of revival, the focus is on the movement of revival—believers who are willing to contend for the hearts of people around them and live with a sense of urgency for the gospel.
Jason and Dave challenge Christians to embrace a “one more” mindset: one more person hearing the gospel, one more person coming to Christ, and one more life being changed by Jesus. They discuss how spiritual growth is never ultimately about ourselves, but about allowing God to use our lives for the benefit of others.
Whether you feel equipped to share the gospel or not, this conversation is a reminder that you don’t have to wait until you feel fearless. You can do it afraid, trust that the Lord’s hand is with you, and simply take the next step.
Additional Resources
- Watch or listen to Past Sermons
- Start With 7 (Daily Audio Devotionals)
- GOOD.GOD.GOSPEL. (How to Have Conversations Toward Salvation)
- Learn about Church Project Network and follow our NEW Instagram (@churchprojectofficial)
- Read this book by Jason: “A Church of House Churches: An Articulated and Applied Ecclesiology”
- Website
Hey, thanks for joining us for the Rethink and Return podcast. We get together and talk about the Bible. And we like doing that. I like doing that with me and Amigo DeVito. Hey, Dave. Always good to ride Shotgun, man. Dude, it's good to sit down and talk about the Bible. Dave and I have been doing this together a long time. Yep. Dave was a big preacher man on the stage. I was standing in line to talk to you after. I would ask you questions about the Bible. When I was a teenager, bro.
SPEAKER_01Right. We'd talk about sermons. Yeah. Remember those conversations.
SPEAKER_02Then you'd help me. And I'm like, what do I do? You helped me with that. And then um, yeah, then I started getting to be old enough to where I had a job and like could have you come in and speak. Right. Had to had to be a bigger church and have enough money though, because you were expensive, bro. Dave was an expensive speaker to bring in. Because you're the best of the best, dude.
SPEAKER_01Well, what would you pay for?
SPEAKER_02I've heard that. So Dave um came in, he deposited into our church and student ministry and you know, my spiritual life a long time, and then he came to work here like 12 years ago. Yep. Is that how long?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, 12 years ago.
SPEAKER_02So we've been working together 12 years. Dave preaches here at Church Project a lot. But uh then we'll hang out and we'll go to some undisclosed Mexican food restaurant at night that stays up until four in the morning. We'll sit in a booth and uh hash it out, man.
SPEAKER_01And this is what it's like. This is what we do at the sketchy Mexican restaurant that is very sketchy and very delicious. But it's the only difference is there's no mics and no chips and salsa. I mean, chips and salsa and no mics. No mics, no cameras.
SPEAKER_02Sometimes that's probably a good thing. But uh we do, you know, get into the word. And today, you know, I didn't preach a church project this week. I was away, but we're still gonna carry this on for something that I a conversation I did uh with our staff this week, you know, on Mondays, every Monday for 16 years, every Monday I'm in town with our team. Uh we have like a we spend some time in the word. We spend some time in silence as a practice we do as a staff. Spend some time in silence, and then we spend unless you're off doing other stuff, you know, wherever you guys were today. Haven't found that out yet. And so we spent some time in silence, and then we spend some time just singing and worship, and then we get into the word for a while. Right. And then we tell stories, you know, singing silent scripture stories every week, and then we talk about stuff, a little bit of words.
SPEAKER_01That's right.
SPEAKER_02But um, today this is what we jumped into. Usually we're walking through a book as a as of a Bible as a staff, but today I led our team through this Acts chapter 11. I'll read the verses. Great. Uh, starting in verse 19. Now those who had been scattered by the persecution in connection with Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, telling the message only to Jews. Some of them, however, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch and began to speak to Greeks also, telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus. The Lord's hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord. News of this reached the ears of the church at Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. When he arrived and saw evidence of the grace of God, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts. He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord. I walked through this with our team for a few reasons, but it's for me, it's just such a pivotal moment in the history of the church. Right. But I think it's a pivotal moment in any church, in the culture within the church. And this is what I want to point out. So the gospel is spreading, and it says here, you know, this is after uh Stephen gets stoned. I always like to say not the fun kind. Right. Because, you know, if you say stone, some people are thinking stone, haha, so I'll just say it. So anyway, it's an old joke, but I don't know how to not say it now. It's just linked in my mind. It's right. Can't undo it. Those who have been scattered by the persecution in connection with Stephen traveled this far, telling the message only to the Jews. So for me, they're sharing the gospel, uh, but in a more comfortable, familiar place for them because they know how to have the conversation. Right. I'm a Jew, I became a convert uh to Christianity. Uh, I believe that Jesus is a Messiah. I can talk to another Jew. Right. I can talk to somebody just like me. So somebody who believes in the one true God, I can actually take them to my Bible and I can walk them through the scriptures and show them the Messiah, and hopefully they'll believe what I believe. So that's what had been happening. They were telling the message only to the Jews. Right. But something shifted in verse 20. Right. This is amazing. Some of them went to Antioch and began to speak to Greeks also, telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus. So they really got out of their comfort zone. But this is a massive culture shift. Not only in the large church, but also in this local church. And I think this is a shift that has to happen in a local church before the next things happen. Wow. Okay. And here's the next thing that happened the Lord's hand was with them. That's right. And a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord. So this is going to happen twice in these short verses. A great number of people believed and turned to the Lord. Right. So first, well, we're going to unpack all this, but I'm just overviewing it. Really good. And then verse 22, news of this reached the ears of the church at Jerusalem. Like the church was centered in Jerusalem before this. And after this, it's going to actually, it's going to grow and become more significant and be centered in Antioch, which is in Syria. Right. So, you know, if you're in Jerusalem, you go north in Israel. In fact, if you're standing in in Israel on the north side, you've been there. Yeah. You know, you can look into. We go up when we go on a trip to Israel, we I take every group, I've never not taken them to the very tip of Israel in the Golan Heights, and you're looking over into Lebanon, you know, this beautiful mountain, and then you're looking down in the valleys of Syria. And so, but Antioch would have been a ways away, and it's a couple hours bus ride, so it would have been days and days of walking. But people in Jerusalem heard about it. I mean, news travels fast in churches, right? And uh travel fast here. And they heard about it, and they're like, we need to send somebody to check this out. And they sent Barnabas because you know, you you care about this doctrine that's being shared, church leaders do, and they're like, we need to send some people. So they send Barnabas, and look at what happened, verse 23. When he arrived and saw the evidence of the grace of God, he was glad. He encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts. So he walks up and he sees like this groundswell of new believers. Yeah, that's right.
SPEAKER_01Without a pastor.
SPEAKER_02All these people, well, yeah. I mean, I guess these people who were sharing the gospel were like they're they're I mean, shepherds' pastors, but they were sharing the gospel. New believers were coming to Christ. Barnabas walks up and he sees people now with a different language, different culture, customs, different skin colors, probably, different background. They're now following Jesus. He says he saw evidence of the grace of God and he was glad. Like, this is the stuff that makes you happy. That's right. And so he just encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord. And it says here in verse 24 about Barnabas, he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord. Like he was a good man. Jesus said, Why do you call me good? No one's good but God alone. And so that means that he was he was godly, he was godlike, he was living a godly life. He was living a godly life, he was a good man, he was full of the Holy Spirit. Like he was, like Galatians says, he walked by the Spirit, he lived by the Spirit, he kept in the step of the Spirit, he didn't quench the Spirit, he was evidencing the fruits of the Spirit, he was just full of the Holy Spirit and faith, like he trusted the Lord with his life. And then a great number of people were brought to the Lord twice in these verses. A great number of people believed and turned to the Lord. And that's what I mean, it made Barnabas glad. This is the stuff that makes you really happy. This is the stuff that makes a church happy. That's right. And a follower of Jesus happy. A great number of people turned into the Lord. And Barnabas was not, he wasn't Paul, man. He was no Paul. I mean, it I don't think it would ever have been said of Barnabas before this that he was an evangelist. I mean, he was a behind the scenes sort of the humble dude, shepherd guy, humble guy. And you can be up front, maybe Paul was humble too, but um he was just he was quiet. Like you don't have to be an outfront, the man, the leader of it all, like Paul, to see a movement of the gospel happen. Yeah. You can be a quiet man, but good and godly, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and see a great number of people come to the Lord.
SPEAKER_01I think that's super powerful because I think a lot of when it comes to when we look at the spread of the gospel, I think a lot of people think, well, I can't do that because I'm not outgoing.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01I don't have the personality for that. That's right. You got someone like Barnabas, yeah, who was man, he pled for people, you know, he he believed in people, he was friends with people, and it just created so much momentum.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Well, I mean, you know, as I told our team today, I I brought in the story of Jacob wrestling with God, and I'm like, this is what I care about, man. Yeah. I mean, this is why I'm here at our church. Yeah. I want to I want to remind people, I mean, like Barnabas did, I want to remind people to, you know, remain true to the Lord with all their hearts. We're gonna do that. But I want to see a great number of people brought to the Lord. This past week, you know, I was in Jacksonville, Florida at the church of 1122. You were there with me for a few days, some of our team was, and then, you know, I stayed for this thing, this thing called saturated, which is a old school revival. Right. And uh growing up, you know.
SPEAKER_01It still works, man.
SPEAKER_02Well, growing up for me, well, um I grew up in a church there where, you know, they do revivals in the fall and spring, and that meant like my son was like, Ty was like, What's a revival? Yeah. I'm like, well, there's a couple of words for it. But like uh, like the the noun of it is, you know, like a three or four-day event where you'd bring in different preachers.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_02And uh, you know, they share the gospel and you hear a different voice. And so I grew up doing that, and now this is what they're doing, but uh, but for me, I care more about not the event of a revival, but I care about the movement of a revival. And so I was able to, yesterday in Jacksonville, I stopped at the end of the gathering, at the end of the their service, and I told uh I told my kids, a couple of them were there with me, and Brooke I said, This is revival. We just witnessed 300 and something of the 900 and something people baptized this weekend, right or today, right here. And all it was was the sharing of the preaching of the word, the sharing of the gospel, singing songs of Jesus, and God's just breathed on that place, you know, like 5,000 baptisms this year or something. It's incredible. And I mean, dude, I I've been there enough to know it's not hype. And um, you know, and so my thing is for us here, why not here? We've been saying that for a while. And we've been praying, we started praying a year ago, a little over a year ago, for an obvious move of God. Yeah. And you know, my prayer with the Lord right now is, and like even from this week was do you not want to do that everywhere? And um I I pray that you would and that you would do it here. Right. And so, like I told our team, like Jacob wrestling with God, and he said, I'm not gonna let go. Yeah. And he got hurt doing it, you know, he got his hip displaced, right? But he and it seems like God enjoyed Jacob wrestling with him. And so for me, I just want our church to all of us to read verses like this and and say, I'm gonna wrestle with God and not let go until we see an obvious move of God like this. I mean, there's there are too many people out here who are lost and hurting and don't know the Lord, and I just want to see them become believers. And frankly, I don't have time for anything else. Right. I mean, I'm not spinning a plate here, I'm not passing time, you're not. Right. So many people here are not. And so I'm just calling our our church. I'm like, I'd like I told our team today, if you're not, if you're not wanting and willing to wrestle with God for this, right, it's probably not the right place for you. Yeah. And for our church, like this is the place where I want I want a church full of people who are just wrestling with God. I hope every believer in our church, everybody who calls themselves a Christian and calls themselves a part of our church that you, I'm just asking you, wrestle with the Lord and don't let go until we see a move of God where a great number of people were coming to the Lord and their lives are being changed by the gospel. Like I hope you're I hope house churches will do that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Like uh I would hope across our city this week that every house church, that people everywhere, all over our city and every neighborhood where there's a house church would be just wrestling with God. I I I hope every person in our church would do that when they get up and when they go to bed, just God, we're we're gonna keep asking you for this until we see it. And again, it it doesn't take some super gifted guy, it was Barnabas. Um, these people, we don't even know their name. Right? That's right. It just took them changing the culture from I'm gonna share the gospel where it feels safe to I'm gonna get outside my comfort zone and start to share it. I believe in it so much and I want people to have it. Like, this is the culture shift that I think it's gonna take in our church. And you know, at 1122, their their culture simply is one more. Like, how many, how many people are we praying to come to Jesus? One more. One more. Like every one of us would be like, one more. Man, we're we're we're not satisfied. You know, uh, one of the Rockefellers was asked one time, hey, how much money you're you're you're very wealthy, how much more money do you you need to make? And he's like, just one dollar more. Like that was always his answer. Just one more dollar, just one dollar more. Wow. And then he jumped out of a window of a building and killed himself because that doesn't satisfy. Right. But this right here, that's why Barnabas was it made him glad. Yeah, like this is what satisfies here. When your life is about one more person coming to Christ, let's let's live for that, man. That touches eternity.
SPEAKER_01I think, well, you're right. And I think people, when you talk about you, we we want our people and house churches to pray for it, we're really saying we want them to contend for the hearts of the people in this city.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And I think for me, like when as you led the staff through it, part of that was you had to have a willingness to be uncomfortable. You know, uh, you mentioned something about how most Christians only talk to other Christians about the gospel. Yeah. And so how how do you how do you think just an everyday believer out there is like, well, I got my Christian friends, how do they break out of that? Like, what do you what's the yeah, what's the way out?
SPEAKER_02I mean, that's the shift between Acts 11.19 and Acts 11.20. Yeah. Like the shift is I'm gonna get outside of my comforter comfort zone, my comfortable place, and I'm gonna search. I mean, these people, it they all came from Jerusalem. There's this diaspora, the dispersion. Yeah. So they all came from the same place. But some of the people went a little further. Right. And and they got out out of their comfort zone. Really good. And so, I mean, it's gonna take some people who are like, I'm gonna go further than I've been before. Yeah. I mean, I don't, I don't know. It says in verse 20, some of them, however, you know, began to speak to Greeks also. Yeah, it doesn't tell us why. Right.
SPEAKER_01It's just they started to do it.
SPEAKER_02It says some of them. Some of them. And so I think there are a lot of some of us.
SPEAKER_01That's right, we need some sums.
SPEAKER_02We need and I think there are a lot of us who are the some of us who would say, Hey, I I I want to be one of those people. I mean, I you know, one of the one of the basic hermeneutical principles of scripture is that you can't make an argument from silence silence. Right. So we can't say, what if they wouldn't have done it? What would have happened? Right. We don't need to. Um but I I can't ask a question here, what would happen if we did? Right. Like what would happen if some of us, some of us, however, it says in verse 20. Yeah. What if some of us, however, would go further than we've ever gone in sharing the gospel. I don't know if they were scared, I don't know if they are comfortable, I don't know if they are insecure. All I know is that they wanted lost people to hear the gospel. That's right. It's just that they began telling them the good news about Jesus. I mean, I think we've equipped people here with tools enough, like Good God Gospel. I told Jovi yesterday, I'm like, I came up with this whole big deal, and all you said was one more. One more. But I'm like, our people have the tools to go, I can't share the gospel. I mean, you know, but let's not make it so complicated. I mean, you don't have to know all the icons, they're there to help you. But the basic thing is, man, I want to I want lost people to be saved. And I think when we start to realize what Jesus has done for us, it when we live in that grace, awareness of grace, yeah. Uh, and the more we love Jesus, the more we love what he loves. And he came to seek and save the lost. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Well, I mean, I think that you know, you said it in one of the other podcasts that the gospel is the answer to people's questions. It is. And I think we have to become convinced of that. And that you remember a couple weeks ago you said, like, what part of the gospel would you not share?
SPEAKER_02That's right.
SPEAKER_01You know, and I think that I think we just have to get to the point. I know we always say we play the long game here and pastoring people, but that doesn't mean there's not a sense of urgency. That's right. Those two things go together. Yes, we're in this for the long haul, but there's also has to be born in that shift a sense of urgency. Like I I I need to have these conversations. I need to somehow get this person. If I you know, even when I was growing up, I I wouldn't I wasn't planning on being a speaker.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01But and I didn't really know what to say, but I always knew if I could get my friends to church that my pastor, my youth pastor could give them the answer. That's right. I think a lot of people is like, if I can just get this person to walk through the front doors and sit in a gathering and hear the gospel, yeah. I mean, I think that's where that's that inertia. Like that, those are the sums out there. Like, I'll just get I don't know exactly what to say, but I'm gonna bring people in.
SPEAKER_02Well, that's why we're a body. Like we're we're all helping each other. Like we as a church here are helping each other. Like you're equipped to do this on your own, but we're also here to help each other. Right. Like if you bring somebody to house church and introduce somebody to your friends who doesn't know the Lord, right? That conversation in the house church and the relationships, well, if if you're if you're in somebody's life, maybe and you bring them here on a Sunday, that may be a big part of how they come to the Lord. It doesn't have to be just you solo out there. Right. Like bring them into the body because we're all here. I mean, these people were all doing this together. That's right. And so we're doing this together. And it may be that, you know, you're having a good and then a god conversation and you don't really know how to get to the gospel conversation. Well, bring them here and they're gonna hear the gospel. So good. That's right. And then at lunch this week, you're gonna be able to ask them about it because they just heard the gospel explained to them, and you can start talking about it. I don't know, man, but at the at the end of the day, some of us, however, and and there there are some doing it, but when there's we'll see a movement that's we'll see a movement of God like this, when we see a massive movement of people in our church doing this, you know. I mean, you said a sense of urgency, like it says he was a good man full of the Holy Spirit. And when we're walking in the Spirit, we're that's how we sense, that's how we sense, hey, it's it's time. Like I can sense it. I I I can sense it. No, like I when the Lord is when I need to have a conversation, right? And sometimes I I know this in the moment, right? But a lot of times, and I I do it a decent amount. I mean, anybody who's with me knows, right? I'm having God in gospel conversations with people plenty, plenty. And so, yeah, and I look for it, I pray for it, I want it. But really, what I want is I just love that some of them, like people together were moving around. People together move to a city, right? Yeah, like if I had to plant another church, and please, God know, I like to tell people, like when I'm speaking at a for pastors, I'm like, if if if I had to plant a church again, it would be after I got swallowed by a well and spit back up on shores. Right. That's right. But if I did, here's what I would do I would preach the word, I would uh have simple Sunday gatherings and preach the word and worship the Lord. I would raise up house church pastors to pastor people and I would spread those all over the city, and I would serve our city through ministry partnerships, and I would turn that flywheel and do it again and again and again. That's all I would know how to do. That's all I know how to do here. And that's what we're doing, and we'll keep doing and we'll keep doing. But if I went to what I would be wanting and praying for is a group of people who would say, God moved me to this city to share the gospel. Right. If not, what are we doing, man? What is what is this church thing all about? To go sit in a seat sometimes on a Sunday and sing some songs and listen to a sermon? For me? Just for me, right? It's all about me. Yeah. No, I don't want to be about that, man. So I want God to use all of that to strengthen me so I can go out into my city and do what these people were doing. Exactly right.
SPEAKER_01Our spiritual growth is never about ourselves. Oh no. It's always, yeah, it's always to the benefit of somebody around us. We don't just grow so we can have more knowledge and feel better about ourselves. We grow to make progress, but it always God will leverage where we grow to use it in the lives of other people.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, you're right. You know, this past week I was on another podcast. And I said something like that. We're not going to be fully sanctified this side of heaven. Oh, that's right. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_02But we can be fully surrendered. Yeah. And so I want to be fully surrendered while I'm not yet fully sanctified. And so that means God's going to continually be working on all of us. Yeah. But being fully surrendered would mean that He's going to part of what He's sanctifying in us is this. If I haven't grown in this at all, I'm not fully surrendered. If I haven't changed in this at all, if my heart, my mind, my behavior hasn't changed in this, I'm there's something I'm holding back from the Lord. Right. Reputation, my fear, whatever, like uh like approval of people, like uh we gotta be fully surrendered. And if we are, that's right, he'll sanctify this in us, you know? Yeah. And so if if if we're not growing in this at all, I think something's really, really broken. If if we're not moved when we read a passage like this to go, please God. And so I'm calling myself to wrestle with God and not let go until this happens. I'm calling our team. I have two meetings this afternoon with different leaders in our church. I have dinner tomorrow night with different leaders in our church. I'm around and every meeting I'm having saying, look, if you if you're in leadership here, whether it be on our staff or our board or house church leadership or whatever, if you're in leadership here, man, what it means is that you're wrestling with God and not letting go until we see an obvious move of God here. Because it goes back to the original question. It wouldn't make sense to me that God wouldn't want to do that everywhere. Right. And so and it doesn't that need to be by in the same numbers. I mean, that's not gonna happen. Likely not. Maybe not anywhere else. I don't know, but but we would see an obvious move of God, which which this is an obvious move of God. We don't even know how many people it was. Right. They don't even list it here. Right. I mean, they do in the first church, 3,000 in one day. Stop parentheses here. Let me just say, for anybody to speak against a megachurch, you're biblically ignorant. Right. Because the first church that Jesus planted, he made a megachurch day one. Yeah. Like way over the line of a megachurch. He made a church so big that people today would be like, oh, I'm against megachurches. I'm like, it's Jesus' church, man. That's right. And he 120 is a really comfortable number. My favorite church size at some point was like 500, is big enough to do a little bit of damage, but small enough to know most people and be agile. But I mean, the Lord adds numbers to churches. And so uh 3,000 people in a church in one day, that was the Lord's doing. That's right. So stop criticizing the size of a church, man. And so go ahead.
SPEAKER_01Well, it's just like we're not gonna start turning people away, like, oh no, we're at a number. We can't we can't have you here. Exactly. Like that's that seems to be what people are implying. Like, it's too big. Like, well, we're just gonna stop sharing the gospel and just kind of put a cap on it.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. That's just un that's unrealistic. I love it. You know, my Joey Martin, my friend, says, Who who do you want me to tell to not come or to leave? Right. And so for me, we always want to have room for more, and we do, and we always will. We'll figure it out. But I want to I want to have to figure that out. Right. Because I want our people going, man, we're a great number of people were brought to the Lord. And it wasn't because of anybody. Barnabas was a good man and he was a leader in the church. That's what he spent his life doing. But he wasn't listed among the best orators. He was just a good man. He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith. That's it. And these other people were just willing to get outside their comfort zone. So I would say be willing to cross into an area of discomfort, a place you've never been before. I would hate for you to get to the end of your life and go, I held this back and I missed out. There's a level of gladness. Right. Like Barnabas saw, and he was glad. He was glad there's a level of joy, happiness, gladness in people's lives that they're totally missing out on. If you're not involved in lost people getting saved and lost people coming to Christ, and people disconnected from the body getting into the body, you're missing out, man. Right. And the rest of life, whatever you're doing, however good it is, it really is not as fulfilling as seeing people's lives get connected to Jesus and his church. That's right.
SPEAKER_01And I I think that, you know, every person needs to start by thinking about the value of the gospel in their own life. Like none of us would be where we are had it not been for the work of Jesus. And start with that and then think, okay, how can I hold withhold that from anybody in my sphere of influence? Totally. Right? Everybody walks here on Sundays wouldn't be where they were in their life were it not for the gospel. Totally. And so we we have to go, wait a minute. What it's done for me, it can also do for others. I think that's part of that shift of moving it out of just my little group of people that I know into the Greek world, you know, of people I don't know. Yeah. Whatever that what, you know, what that means for us. And then I noticed I wanted you to talk about it here. We were talking about going from verse 19 to 20, and it says they were preaching the Lord Jesus, and the hand of the Lord was with them. Oh, please. I mean, I think the idea that, you know, you're not out here by yourself going, well, what if I don't do a good job? And what if I'm not persuasive?
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Really, the hand of the Lord, if you're willing to go, the hand of the Lord will go with you.
SPEAKER_02Man, I um this is a prayer I pray a lot. Like um, I pray for other people and I pray for myself. I pray, God, God, would your hand be on me? And that if that would feel weird if it if it wasn't in the word, and maybe for some people it still feels weird. But for me, that's one of that's a prayer I pray for myself. Yeah. Like um, you know, there have been seasons in my life where I pray the prayer like Moses said to God, if you're not going with us, don't send us up, man. Right. Don't make me do this by myself. If you're not with us, please, I beg you, don't make me go.
SPEAKER_00Right.
SPEAKER_02I'm not gonna, I don't want to go without you. Yeah, and that's why I pray a prayer like this. God, would your hand be on me? Right. If you're calling me to this way, and and would your hand be on our church? Yeah. And so it that that prayer comes from this verse. The Lord's hand was with them. Like, uh, I mean, would his hand strength, protection, right, like comfort? Yeah, like I do this with my sons sometimes, and my daughters, but especially my sons, because it it I never got it. And so like just put my hand on their shoulder. Yeah. Sometimes I do it with other people too. Like um this past week with somebody who was going through a a real like a like a a sermon after I preached, somebody next to me had gone through something significant. Wow. And it it affected them deeply. And so I just put my hand on their shoulder. Like it's comfort, it's protection. And uh that's it it's his presence.
SPEAKER_01Presence, that's right. And so that's right.
SPEAKER_02I'm here with you, and uh, I'm keeping things from you. Like part of my prayer would be protect us from things, man. Yeah, like protect us from anything that's not of you. Yeah, I beg you, protect us from things that we can't see. Right. Some things we can see, but a lot we can't see. Would you protect us from things we can't see? Would you be with us? Would you be present with us? Uh, would you comfort us? I need that. So the Lord's hand, that's a that's a big phrase. I'm glad you brought that back up.
SPEAKER_01Well, and I th I I also think it's a hand of assurance. You know, like I love what you said, it's it's a hand of control and presence, but it's also, you know, the hand of assurance that however you try to get the gospel out, like if it feels awkward or you mess it up, yeah, the hand of the Lord is on you, he's gonna make something out of it. Like I've had moments in my life where I've tried to share the gospel and you wouldn't even know that I've ever read the Bible. You know what I mean? I mean, I just I just get tongue-tied or I sure I get caught up in a moment or whatever, but God always will use it.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Yeah, I mean, he he he wants to bless it. And so, I mean, even with my kids, if they're trying, I I love it. I think it's beautiful, you know. And so I think God loves it when we when we care about, when we even attempt the thing that's right, that he cares about the most. I mean, he he he died and rose again to pay for our sin and to invite us into a relationship with him and give us eternal life. So yeah, man. I would just say, I would just say, man, start praying for yourself. Good. Yeah, God, my heart doesn't want this yet. So would you make me want it? Like soften my heart, make me care about what you care about, make me love what you love, break my heart for what breaks yours. Uh if if you're just praying, here's here's what I'd say. If you're praying and waiting for the moment where you won't uh need courage, I actually think that's unbiblical. Because even Paul said, Would you pray that I'll have courage? Like Paul didn't wait. He by the time he wrote that, he had already been preaching the gospel. So that means that he preached when he even when he had fear, he kept preaching and he asked for more courage, but his lack of courage didn't keep him from sharing the gospel. That's right. And if you're waiting, I I pray for more courage. I pray that for myself. May I be bold? He's like, pray that I would be bold and speak fearlessly. But he he he still did it. He still did it even when he was afraid. Right. Yeah, and so if you're praying and waiting till you're I mean, that hasn't come in my life. That moment of never being afraid, right? No, fearless has never come in my life. So I'm praying that God will make me bold enough in those moments to do it. But I don't want to, I would miss so much of I would miss most of my life. I'd miss being married, I'd miss having kids, I'd miss preaching, I'd miss all if I waited until I wasn't afraid. Right.
SPEAKER_01You have to do it afraid. I mean, that's that's that's right. You got to do it afraid. And I also think people need to have some wins. You get you gotta be in some places where you share the gospel and someone gives their life to Christ. That also gives you confidence. And uh you made me think today, we were leading our staff through this, that you know, before I was out speaking, I worked on I worked for two evangelists as I was on an evangelism team. And so my role was to literally go into a city three days ahead of the crusade and share the gospel with people.
SPEAKER_02Crazy.
SPEAKER_01Like I just had to this is back in the day when you could walk on the school campuses and all that kind of stuff. But that's what I would do. I would go out and just share the gospel with kids, and I had to do it in unfamiliar places with people I didn't know what was gonna happen. And there is a level that if you'll if you'll just feel the fear and do it anyway, yeah, the hand of God will go with you.
SPEAKER_02That's beautiful. So this week, uh I met this guy to uh 10 months ago or 11 months ago, last October, he became a believer. So I met him one night this week. He was an Uber driver. He is an Uber driver, that's what he does full time. And he was driving someone somewhere, and he was having a conversation with the person in his car, and he said, I just knew that I was supposed to invite her to one of these, you know, saturated events. Yeah. This guy goes to 1122 in Jacksonville, young guy, I mean 26, 27, maybe. And so he's telling me the story, he and he's like, So I said, Well, what happened? He said, Well uh he said, I I took her to her place, and then I told her, Hey, I'll I'll wait for you and I'll give you a ride to this place tonight. You can go with me. Yeah. And so she's like, I'll do it. And so he took her to her her home, waited outside. Yeah, she got ready, took her to this place. Yesterday morning I see him again, and he's standing up by the baptismal because she just came to faith in Christ. Fantastic. And I mean, he's just a guy who he doesn't nearly have all the answers, yeah, but he loves the Lord and he loves the lost and he believes in the gospel and he's full of the Holy Spirit, and he's like, I'm gonna do what the Lord tells me to do. Just do the next right thing, just do the next thing. You know, as scripture says, and I heard again this week from Joby, like the first miracle, you know, Mary, Jesus' mother, told the servants, just do whatever he tells you. Yeah. And so that's what we are as Jesus, like the last come the great commandment, teach them to do everything I've commanded you. Just do what Jesus has told you to do. That's right. And he's told us to do this. So quit figuring out all the how. You probably have more than you know. Just take the next step. For this Uber driver, it was the next step is to get her, it's just to get her to come with me. It wasn't I shared the gospel of my Uber and she got saved. It was my next step was to be a bridge to get her to this place. Yeah. And then, you know, boom, the Lord saved her, and now she's baptized and getting grafted into a local body. And so I just want to see our all of our people have this kind of joy. And uh and I'll let's all wrestle with the Lord and not let go until we see this obvious move of God.
SPEAKER_01And stay uncomfortable.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Well, thanks for having the conversation.
SPEAKER_01Really good.
SPEAKER_02It's good. Hey, thanks for listening. Uh I'm glad you did. I hope that you'll wrestle with the Lord and not let go until we together see an obvious move of God. And for me, that would be a great number of people believe and come to the Lord. And that, like Barnabas told these people, he reminded them to stay true to the Lord with all their hearts. That's just what we want to do. Uh, love you. Good to see you, good to be seen by you. Hope you have a great week ahead. Uh, like this, share it, subscribe to it. That'll help other people find it. See you soon.
