Acts 11:19-20 | Antioch

Zach Cunningham continues a series on the book of Acts. 

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Good morning, welcome back. Glad that you're here. Hey, everyone, my name is Zach. I am one of the pastors here. And yes, wow Thursday night uh was exciting. Thursday morning was even more exciting. Yes, I've got some personal news. Can I introduce you to my newest daughter? Okay. Let's go. Yes. Thank you. Thursday morning, three days ago, my third born was born. Her name is Winnie Elizabeth, and she came, and mama is healthy, baby is healthy. You know, the other two kids are pumped. Uh EJ is making her feel loved. Caden is making her tough. Uh, with within four seconds, scratches on her face all over, okay? And so Caden's making her feel loved as well. And so, anyways, we're so thankful to God. Uh, I feel like the blessed man of Psalm 128. I got little olive trees around my table and just feel so blessed. That God is blessing my family with kids. And I just want to say at the very beginning, thank you to the church. We have felt so loved by you guys caring for my wife, the text, the meals, the gift cards. Just want to say at the very beginning, thanks for cheering on young families. We love babies being born in this church. And uh, you know, I love being a dad, and there's something unique about holding a new baby uh where you feel you feel the weight of the world. You may not feel heavy because the babies are so light, but you feel the weight of the world, these little babies. And also, having babies makes you think a lot about the future. Like you're holding this little baby, like I wonder what they're gonna be like in five years, ten years, eighteen years from now. What's my family gonna be like? What is she gonna love? What is she gonna do? Like, there's something about new life that makes you think a lot about the life beyond today. And that's a thought I've had a lot recently because my wife hasn't just had a baby in the last week, but she's also been asking me to plant a tree in my front yard uh because the grass is dead. Okay, if you come to my front yard, it's just absolute nonsense, mainly because of my incompetence, but also because, like Drake said, it has not rained here in 40 years and 40 nights, whatever it is, okay. And uh I tell her this, it's my incompetence, but if God wanted the water or the grass alive, he would sprinkle it and water it himself. That's what I told my wife. But anyway, I'm team tree, okay? I need to plant a tree. Here's the deal, though. I don't know anything about planting a tree. Uh, I thought you just dug a little hole and you get a little tree, you know, tree seed and you plant it there and pray and water it, okay? And I can't be trusted with that. But, anyways, I've done a lot of research in this tree thing. That's not what you do. The first question you have to ask when planting a tree is what do you want it to look like in 50 years? Which is a weird question to think about, because I don't know much about trees in 50 years. You gotta ask the question, what kind of tree do you want? Do you want big branches? How far are the shade? How deep are the roots? Like what kind of tree you want in 50 years impacts the decisions you make today. And that idea is a is a thought I've had a lot recently, not just because of the baby and I have to plant this tree, but also, like Drake said, we've planted this church. And like Drake said, we're coming up on a year. We are still planting this thing. And the question I'm asking a lot about this church is what kind of church do we want to be? Not just today, but in 50 years. And so if you've been with us for a while, that's a question I have to ask this morning is what kind of church do you want King's Church not just to be, but to become later? And are we on the right track? Like, what kind of culture do we want to have here at King's Church? And are we on track uh to that? And if you're new, if you're joining us, hey, shout out to the pioneers. Where my TW Pioneers at? Shout out, let's go. Class starts tomorrow. Hey, welcome. But if you're new, you you know, you come to church and you maybe you're looking around at different churches, you should ask the question, not just like, do I like the church? Or like, is the preaching helpful and encouraging, and I hope it is. Is the worship music good? I'm biased, I think it is. You shouldn't just ask the question, do I like the people? You should ask the question, is this a church I want to belong to and contribute to? Or in other words, is there a mission here at this church that you want to help propagate? Everybody's looking for a community to belong to, but also a cause to give themselves to. And you gotta ask the question, is this church the culture and the mission something I want to give the next four years or next 40 years towards? Because the decision that we make today, it does impact that. And I start there because we're back in the book of Acts, and in Acts chapter 11, we get one of the very first church plants. Like if you want to read the Bible and go, man, we're planting this church here in Denton, where do we see that in the book of the Bible? Well, Acts chapter 11 arguably is one of the most first intentional church plants, and in it, we're gonna find this church in Antioch, this city uh over there a long time ago. Uh, this God's gonna use this little church to do massive things. In fact, it's gonna change the world. Like a movement of Christianity is arguably gonna be sent out from this church in Antioch. And while that's a unique church that God's gonna use, there's something about the culture of that church that I think is worth noting and worth praying is true of our church uh today. Okay, I want to show you quickly five things about the culture of this early church plant that I want to pray is true here as well. And as we look at it, the only way this is gonna be a church that that you know that resembles these five things is if this is your church and you ask the question, am I helping contribute uh to this kind of culture as a church? Don't just put it on staff, but are you contributing uh in these five ways? Sound good? That's what we're looking at. We're back in Acts 11. If you got it, say got it. Now skip down to verse 19. Okay, we're in 19. We're gonna skip ahead. Acts 11, verse 19 says this. Luke is writing. Now those who had been scattered as a result of the persecution that started because of Stephen made their way as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except the Jews. Okay, which is interesting. Okay, what's happening here? Let's get our bearings, because Colossoons, you've been away from the book of Acts in a while, and people are new. I I've got a map I want to show you. It's gonna be hard to see. Uh, it'll help you visualize, but also summarize the book of Acts so far. Okay, you can see Jerusalem down here at the bottom. And guys, so far, all of the action and excitement has happened in Jerusalem, right? Jesus got crucified there. He was buried in Jerusalem, resurrected in Jerusalem. The church was started in Jerusalem. Thousands of people are getting saved in Jerusalem. All the excitement is in Jerusalem until a massacre comes to Jerusalem. And our guy Stephen, one of the leaders of the church, stands up, he gets stoned, and what happens is people get scattered all over the known world. Okay, which seems like bad news, Stephen getting killed, until you realize, guys, the rest of the book of Acts is basically detailing the spread of the gospel. Why? Because of the death of Stephen. Okay, which is a point we made before, and it's worth repeating. Can God use pain for his purposes? Well, absolutely he can. Right? So I don't even know what your pain is that you're going through, but I do know a God who can who loves to use pain to accomplish his per his purposes. He uses the blood of Stephen to advance his church. Okay, so now they leave Jerusalem and they make their way up north. It says through Phoenicia, that's a region, and then to these places, Cyprus, this island, and then to a place called uh Antioch. Okay, and it says something unique here. It says they're only preaching the word. Look at what it says. To nobody except who? The Jews. Okay, which makes sense at that time to these people because they were Jewish people. Jesus was a Jewish Savior. This was a Jewish movement. They weren't wrong, but they were limited, especially what God was doing in this time. But notice verse 20. Look at verse 20 again. But there were some of them, men from Cyprus, that little island, and Cyrene, who came to Antioch, and they began speaking to the Greeks also, proclaiming the good news about the Lord Jesus. Okay, so something different happens in 20 than 19, right? We got men from Cyrene, uh, which is off the map. It's like Libya, North Africa, and then these dudes from Cyprus, the island, and they roll up to Antioch. And it says this they're not just preaching to the Jews, but they got no limits on who they're preaching the gospel to. Yes, the Jews, but also to the Greeks. Okay, which makes sense when you consider where these guys are from. They were Jewish Christians, but they were living in a Greek culture. They're surrounded by different culture and different influence. And so these guys, things begin to click in their minds like it did Peter two weeks ago, that Jesus didn't just come for one ethnic people, but he came for people from all different communities. He isn't just king of the Jews, he's the king of the world. Okay, which is obvious when you consider Antioch. Like, why Antioch? Um, we know a little bit about the city of Antioch. It is a unique place back then. Okay, it's the third largest city in the world, uh, behind Rome and Alexandria. Probably half a million people. Uh, but in some ways, guys, as you consider Antioch, it is not the place that you think a church plant would like survive and stick. Because Antioch had a reputation, uh, not just for being rich and diverse and cosmopolitan, but it was also morally bankrupt. Okay, this was a city that was built around pleasure. Okay, one writer, when describing Antioch, said this: that life there was a perpetual festival of vice revolving around baths, brothels, the theater, and the circus. Okay, it was a place that was the center of pagan religions across the world. Okay, that like was filled with sexual immorality, magic, astrology. It's all woven into the life of the city. One of the activities for the cults there uh was prostitution as a form of worship. They would take the young boys and young girls and exploit them as a way of worshiping their deities. Okay, if you thought Denton was crazy or Vegas, like Antioch, it's wild, it's dark and it's disturbing. And yet God chose that place, that bed of weeds, to plant his most beautiful rose, this early church plant. And we get our first mark of this church plant and how it started. Uh notice what it says. Go back to verse 19. It says they spoke the word. Can you see it? What does that mean? Spoke the word. Well, go back to verse 20. It says they were proclaiming the good news about the Lord Jesus. Or to summarize it, here's the first thing that they're doing in this church. Number one, they shared the good news. This was a church that was founded on the proclaiming, the sharing, and the declaration of the good news about Jesus. And that word proclaiming, if you can see it, and the phrase good news, they're actually related. It's actually the same word in the Greek, it's a verb here. Okay, it's where we get the word uh evangelism, proclaimed to evangelize, but also the word gospel. Uh, good news is literally gospel here. And there's something inherent to it about the gospel. It's a proclaiming thing, it's a word that's dynamic, it requires proclamation. And so you can see it here. The church in Antioch was founded, the very beginning of the church started by some dudes rolling up, sharing the good news. Well, what is the good news? What is the gospel, right? Well, I imagine they showed up and started preaching the gospel in a macro sense, like a 30,000-foot gospel. Creation, that there is a creator God, fall, that sin has fractured the world, redemption, that Jesus has come to redeem us, but also culmination, that he's gonna come and make this world new. He's coming back. But they also probably shared the gospel on a personal micro sense. It's not just God created the world, he created you. And it's not sin fractured the world, but also you sinned. We've all sinned. And Jesus didn't just come to redeem the world, he came and lived the life that you should have, and he died the death that you should have, and then he rose again. Three, we just think about this. He rose again three days later, so not so that if you put your faith in him, not just the world will be a new creation, but 2 Corinthians, you will also be a new creation. You can be born again through faith in him. This is the gospel, this is what's happening here. This is the good news of the Lord Jesus. And so we want to be a church here at Kingsturch is also, like Drake said, committed to the good news, not just as pastors preaching on a Sunday or staff, but everybody playing a role in sharing the gospel. That's what's so fun about the origin story of Antioch. Notice who founded it. Like, what does Luke say? Look at their names. It's not there, right? We got no clue who started the church in Antioch, okay? It's incredible. Like this church, this world-changing church, we don't know who their names are. It's a bunch of nameless, faceless people, ordinary Christians who share the gospel with these people, telling them not about their name, but we just sang it. The name that it's above every name, that salvation is found in the name of Jesus. And that's the heart we want to have here as a church. Just ordinary people speaking the word of God. That's how God does it. Okay, I've seen this firsthand in my life. Okay, I'm a Christian today because of the faithfulness of my grandfather sharing the gospel with me. So you see, family sharing with families, right? My wife is a believer today because a friend named Peyton invited her to a worship service and shared the gospel. Okay, her dad, Peyton's dad's here today, the Petries. Okay, so you see family with family, but also friends sharing with friends. Uh, I was excited this last week. Uh, while I didn't get to go to Thursday night, I did get to help table on campus. And I rolled up, and Owen and Krimy both told me that not only are they passing out flyers on campus, but they're sharing the gospel. And two dudes came to faith at the table, okay, right there on UNT's campus. And we can get excited about that. Like standing by the fountain, hearing about the living water, the fountain, right? And I told Owen this. I'm so thankful for our college staff. And I'm so happy that on Thursday nights, Owen can stand and preach the gospel to hundreds. But I'm even more proud of him for not just preaching the gospel to hundreds, but sharing the gospel with one and caring about the lost one. And all of our college staff, just caring about the gospel, sharing their faith. This is what we're called to do. It's the best thing we did last week, share the gospel on campus. Why do we do it? Because we believe the good news is the power of God for salvation, right? Romans 1, 16. We're not gonna be a church that's ashamed of the good news, because the good news is the power of God to save and transform lives. Okay, which is the second thing we see here in the Church of Antioch. First, they share the gospel, but also they see lives changed. Guys, God was with them. A movement happens in Antioch. You see it twice here. Look at verse 21 first. It says this the Lord's hand was with them, and a large number who believed turned to the Lord. They turn and believe. And then look down at the end of verse 24 again. Large numbers of people were added to the Lord's. And or in other words, here's what the church was doing. They were faithful to share the gospel, and God was faithful to save. Okay, can you see it here? You can see God's sovereignty and salvation here, that God's hand was with them, and God was adding to their number. Large numbers of people were turning away from their sin and all the pagan stuff happening in Antioch, and they believed in the message. And that is what we want to be about here as a church. That's why we planted this church to see lives changed with the gospel. That's why last summer, 60 people from across the country moved to Denton, Texas to plant this church. These are people whose lives and hearts were changed by the gospel. Okay, I could just go down the list. I could tell you Aaron's story of redemption, Roderick's story of freedom, Hunter's story of grace. Just all these people who've had a life-changing moment with Jesus who are prayerfully praying that God would change more lives here in Denton. And by God's grace, look around. Guys, has He not already done this in this church? God's hand is with us. Our prayer is not just uh that we'd uh reach more Christians in Denton, though we have people who whose hearts resonate with the vision and even uh Christians who are college students coming and joining our church. Guys, we're all about that. But our prayer also is that he would seek and save the lost. And we'd see new believers get saved and get baptized here. And we have seen this, guys. I uh just last November. I'll never forget our first baptism service uh back in November. Why? Number one, because it was freezing cold and outside. Uh and we broke a TV that morning. You know, it was quite the morning, but also because of the story of 16 people, mostly college students, getting baptized. Just all these stories of God changing lives. And I'll never forget a Connor story. Connor got up, and I think he's a UNT student, track guy, and he gets up and he shares his story about how he lost his mom to cancer when he was 16. And there's not a dry eye in the house or out in the park. And he shares his story about how he struggles with is God real? Is God good? Why would God allow this to happen? But then he comes to college and he gets surrounded by a community like this and AIA and FCA. And he realizes that God can use his scars to tell the message of God's grace. And he gets baptized and he tells the story to our church. Guys, this is what God is up to, okay? We we love stories like that. And we know that there's more in front of us, okay? There are people even in this room who recently have had a life-changing experience with Jesus, like the prodigal son coming home to him. And we're praying that you guys would share your stories as well. We got another baptism service coming up in a few weeks on our birthday Sunday, okay, September 13th. We're gonna put that same horse straw right here. Uh, and I think we already have some people who've said yes to it. And so if that's you, guys, we'd love uh to walk with you towards baptism, the first step of obedience and following Jesus. There's a form online. You can fill it out, take 30 minutes or so. Our team will sit with you and talk to you about it. But we'd love to celebrate the grace of God in your life, uh, which is actually the next thing we see here in Antioch. Okay, they celebrate grace. Look at verse 22. Okay, word gets out that all these people are coming to faith in Antioch of all places. 22. News about them reached the church in Jerusalem, and they sent out Barnabas to travel as far as Antioch. Okay, so word gets back to the mothership about the gospel breaking out in Antioch. And so they're like, we need to send a dude to check this out, okay? See what's happening, see if it's legit. And the guy that they send is a very unique dude. It says they sent a guy named Barnabas. Uh, can you guys remember the last time we saw Barnabas and what God did through him in the book of Acts? It was back when Saul Paul was going around killing Christians and followers of Jesus, but now he's a follower of Jesus. As Saul, he rose up to the Christians, like, hey guys, I'm one of you now. And you guys remember the response of the disciples. They're like, no, no, no, we're not rocking with Saul. Like, Saul is not our guy, like, we doubt we'll see you in heaven and we don't want to see you on earth. That's their response to Saul. But guess who rolls up? Barnabas. And when Barnabas looks at Saul, he doesn't first see Saul's mess, he first sees Saul's grace, the grace of God uh in his life. And guys, what happens in Antioch is almost the same song, different verse, okay? They send him uh to Antioch. He rolls up to this new church. And you gotta think about it, this is a new church, like in a weird city. There are a bunch of Gentiles there, like Jerusalem. They're not really overseeing it. There's no elders making sure they do it right. And what does Barnabas do? Like, does he roll up to this church and he sees the grace of God? Does he say, yeah, but the music was loud? Like he start criticizing the church. Does he go, yeah, but the train comes by, the chairs are very uncomfortable there. Um, one is one is gonna break midsermon, and just we all know it's gonna happen. So that's you, I'm so sorry. Um, but does Barnabas do this? Like, does he show up and guys, does he initially critique their theology? There's probably a lot of wonky stuff happening there, right? Does he initially correct their practices and try to conform it to the church in Jerusalem? Like, what does Barnabas do when he rolls up? Well, look at what it says. Verse 23 When he arrived and he saw the grace of God, he was glad and encouraged all of them to remain true to the Lord with devoted hearts. Or in other words, he celebrated grace at work in this other church. And you can see it here. Like he doesn't have a heart of cynicism that we so often have, like when we hear stories of God's grace. Like, nah, God's not really doing that. And he doesn't have a heart of jealousy where he looks at and goes, oh, why isn't God doing this in my life? Or why doesn't he do this in my church? What does he have? A heart of encouragement. He encourages them. Uh, he's living up to his namesake, right? Barnabas literally means the son of encouragement. So this is what Barnabas is doing here. And my prayer, uh, one of my prayers for King's Church, is that we would be a church full of barnabases, okay? People who are quick to celebrate the grace of God in other people's lives. Not discounting it, not being initially uh suspicious. We want discernment, but our, I just want our gut reflex to be grace, okay, to see it, to be encouraging. So when we got college students who come to faith and they got a rough past and rough edges, uh, we don't discount that or push them away. No, we celebrate that. And we say, Come to the fold, welcome to the table. This is what healthy churches. Do. This is what healthy Christians do. We see the work of God in other people's lives, we celebrate, but also we see the work in other churches and we celebrate, right? Like part of our story as a church is other churches doing this for us. So when we rolled into Denton and the well church and Argyle heard about us, well, Pastor Matt Harding sat me down and said, How can we help? When Bo Hughes at the village down the road heard about us, he said, Hey, here's the key to our building. Come gather here. When JT at C3 heard about us, he said, How can we help? This is the story of how our church got started. And guys, we want to be a church like that that celebrates the work of God, even if it's not under the banner of King King's Church or the banner of Salt Company, as long as it's under the banner of Jesus, we celebrate that. So whether it's at Denton Bible Church down that road, or if it's right next door in Freedom Church meeting in that parking lot, guys, when we see the baptism tank that they bring out into that parking lot, we should celebrate that and be happy with them. Not to have a heart of cynicism. And so the challenge for you guys and for us is this: like when you hear God working in someone else's life, your friends, maybe they take ground against sin that you're still struggling with. Or maybe they share the gospel, and unlike you, who don't, you know, don't see fruit, maybe they see great fruit. Does your heart immediately go to cynicism or jealousy, or does it go to encouragement? Let's be a church that is so secure in what God is doing in this room and in our hearts that we see the grace of God and just get excited for what God is up to. Now, uh moving forward. I love what Barnabas does next, because notice what he does. He's pumped about the grace of God, but he doesn't just leave them there to figure it out themselves. Okay, yes, the spirit is moving, uh, but the spirit is never unmarried from doctrine. Okay, which is why uh Barnabas does what he does next. Look at verse 25. So then he went to Tarsus, like West, down the road, to search for Saul. And when he found him, he brought him to Antioch with him. And look at this. For a whole year they met with the church and taught large numbers. Okay, can you see it here? See, all these people are coming to faith, and Barnabas goes, I need help. Like we've got to teach these people. And notice who he sends for Saul. Like the same Saul we were just talking about earlier. Why does he go get Saul? What makes sense, right? Think about this church in Antioch. This is a diverse church. It's in a diverse city. It's not just Jews coming to faith, but it's all these Gentiles coming to faith. So we need somebody who can speak both languages, both literally and metaphorically. And we're gonna learn this about Saul going forward. That's Saul to a T. This is the chosen instrument from God. So Saul's the perfect dude to roll in this church. And notice what it says they did for a year. It says they met with a church and did what? Taught them. Like they teach. Like they don't go, hey, these people are getting saved, like they're all good. No, no, no. They don't think spiritual excitement is a replacement for biblical depth here. They're not at odds. And they go, these are new believers. They didn't know who God is and who Jesus is and what he came to do. Or in other words, the fourth mark of this early church is they were serious about God's word. Uh they're serious about God's word. Like for a whole year they taught it. Okay, and guys, think about that Bible class. Like if you're in that room, large numbers of people in the room. Um, think about how awesome that class would have been. Uh, they spent a year uh teaching. Well, what were they teaching? Uh they didn't have that Bible in their hand. And so they had the Old Testament, maybe formally, all of it, the Old Testament, uh, but also uh they probably had the oral tradition of the Gospels, right? This is the eyewitnesses of Jesus, but who's teaching the class? Saul. Uh, the dude who wrote two-thirds of the New Testament is there. And while at this point he hasn't written those letters, you gotta imagine the ideas that you find in Romans, first and second Corinthians, first and second Thessalonians, Colossians, Ephesians, like all these ideas are coming to light in that room for a year. They're serious about God's word, pointing to Jesus. And likewise, we want to be a church, like Drake said, that is serious about God's word, a Bible church. That's why our normal pattern of teaching the Bible is this, like just taking books of the Bible. Uh, not because it's the only faithful way to teach the Bible, uh, but because it does do something for us. It helps us read God's word. It helps us not avoid the hard things in God's word. Uh, we can't uh avoid certain doctrines that we don't want to talk about. It make that make us uncomfortable. Uh so all we do is open the Bible and ask the question, what has God said? Uh, because it's true that if we want branches that reach far, we're gonna have roots that go deep. Uh we wanna be learners, right? People who are humble, learning God's word, which is fun about the next line uh that it says next. Okay, look at the end of verse 26. Two things about who we are in Christ. It says this the disciples were first called Christians at Antioch. Uh first it says the disciples, okay, which is the Greek word for learner. Like a disciple is a learner, okay? Yes, it's a follower of Jesus, but it's a follower with an orientation towards learning. It's somebody with humility that goes, I don't know everything. Like Jesus, teach me, even though I've already heard John 4 a thousand times. God used this in my life. Every Sunday is an opportunity to learn from God's word. Like this is the kind of people they are. Make me more like Jesus, which leads to the second word here. It says they're first called Christians there, people who belong to Christ. And think about why it popped up in Antioch. Like it makes sense because there's something new happening in Antioch. It's the first gathering that's mixed here. They the people, it says they were called Christians, so it's an outsider calling this group something, and they didn't know what to call them. Why? Because they couldn't just call them Jews. Like, oh, it's just some weird Jewish Jewish like sect. Well, they can't call them that because all these Gentiles are coming in. It's a mixed bag here. And so what do they call them? They go, these people are so associated with Jesus, we'll just call them Christians. People who are like Jesus, uh, which is a great encouragement for us uh this morning. Like, does the world see our church and you, your life, the way you live, the values you have, the way you speak, and go, that person is so associated with Jesus. They we'll just call them Christians. Do people in your life who know you know you're a Christian? That's a good question to ask here. Are you associated with the Lord? Um, this is what it takes. People who are serious about God's word, people who keep coming back to Jesus say, make me more like you. We want deep roots, roots that produce long branches, which is actually the legacy of this church, and we'll wrap up. You see, the legacy of the church in Antioch is the final thing we see here because this church, like the church in Antioch blows up. Okay, like it is such a success story in the city of Antioch. It's reaching Jerusalem. The whole known world is gonna hear about uh Antioch, and their heart immediately, you have to you have to see it in Antioch. It it doesn't go inward. Like, look at us. Wow, look how like how much we helped God accomplish what he's doing here. No, guys, the heart and the legacy of Antioch is not one that's uh inward, but one that's outward, like it bleeds out. How do we know that? Well, if you read the end of Acts 11, uh there's this famine that comes to the region. And what does the church in Antioch do? They send help and they send money. And then in Acts 13, something crazy happens at the beginning in a couple chapters in this church. Uh they're looking at their story, just reflecting on what God's doing, and all these Gentiles are coming in, and they go, wait a second, there's a lot of Gentiles out there, there's a lot of nations that don't know Jesus, and they have this heart, like, we need to go take the gospel to the nations, which makes sense. And so, what do they do? Uh, in Acts 13, they set aside Barnabas and Saul and send them out to go reach the nations. And you gotta think, like, they don't just send two random dudes, like sitting in the back who need something to do. No, they send Barnabas and Saul. Like, these are legends. They sent their best to go reach the nations, people who are compelled by the gospel. And you can see it here. This church in Antioch, the fifth mark of their church, what they're most known for is they are ascending church. Ascending church. Like when the Spirit of God came to them and said, Hey, set aside your two best, they don't respond with closed fists, but with open hands. And guys, that is the same heart that we share here at King's Church. We don't want to be a church that hoards the best leaders, the best people, money or influence. No, we want to receive everything that God has given us uh money, people, whatever it is, with open hands, willing to send it wherever God wants. Uh, so much so that my hope uh is that the best fruit of King's Church does not happen in the walls of King's Church. Uh I can imagine the fruit, hopefully, prayerfully, the best fruit that happens here are college students who come for four years. Uh we reach them, uh, we disciple them up in the Lord, and then guys, they're probably not gonna stay in Denton. They're probably gonna get sent out uh to live the next 50 years of making disciples wherever they're at. Okay, maybe it's some families in this room who like the 60 that moved here, uh, go on a church plant. Uh guys, that is something we're praying towards. And my prayer is when that happens, that a hundred people would leave our church. All of you are called by the Lord. Uh a hundred people would leave the church uh to go plant another church. Uh guys, that's what we're about here as a church. Like we're willing to plant trees even if we don't sit under the shade of that tree or eat the fruit of that tree. If the best thing that happens at King's Church is in this season, we preach the gospel, uh, we raise up laborers, and we plant ten churches, and then this church dies. Guys, that would be a success. That'd be one of the greatest things that could happen of our church. Like that's what we're about here. Uh, not the name of King's Church, but the name of Jesus. Uh like I've heard it said, we don't just want to be a mega church, we want to be a mother church, a sending church. Nothing wrong about big, as long as we're sending, as long as we're moving forward. That's the legacy of Antioch. And I hope and pray that that's the kind of church uh we want to be. One that preaches the good news, uh, one that is celebrating grace, one is that committed to the scriptures, uh, and one that ultimately sends our best to help people find great joy in Jesus. Uh and I'll close with this. You know, what's fun about preaching this sermon here in Denton, of all places, is that in a very similar way to Antioch, you ever wonder how the gospel came here to Denton? Like one of the first Christians arriving in North Texas here. Do you guys ever wonder that? Well, I looked it up. Guys, AI is powerful, but it's gray, okay? It's gray, and so don't come at me later. But so here's what I found. Before the city of Denton even existed, like before Denton was a city, in 1855, uh there was a little town called Alton. You guys know this, maybe Old Alton Bridge. And uh it was the county seat at the time, it was a small little community. And that year, in 1855, uh some Christians whose names we don't know uh rolled up and they didn't have a church building. And so guess what they met? A hotel ballroom. Uh and they didn't have a building, uh, they didn't have space or money, but they did have Christians and they had the gospel. And they started this little church, this little Baptist church. And what's funny is what happens actually in the story is very quickly, Alton, this little town, begins to vanish. Uh, there was this Methodist preacher who came around these streets and shared the gospel. Uh, and so this new community was named after him. Uh, his name was John Bunyan Denton. And Denton steals the county seat from Alton. I imagine there's a lot of controversy there. Well, anyways, Alton starts to disappear, uh, and the city is gone, and the hotel room is gone, uh, and the church is those people are gone. But you know what's not gone? The gospel in this place, in this city. Because people, ordinary Christians, met wherever they could, and God used them to take the gospel further than they could ever imagine, both out but also into the future. And guys, that's our prayer as a church is that God would use this bunch of ordinary people uh in any space we can find to preach the gospel that would outlive us and even this church. And so the charge to you this morning is all these different culture pieces of this church, are you contributing to this or are you just sitting around? Like, are you someone who's sharing the gospel uh with people in your life? When is the last time, believer? If you're not a believer, don't listen, but believer, when's the last time you shared your faith with somebody? Like when's the last time you celebrated grace in your heart, that you saw lives transformed? When's the last time you were somebody who was willing to send everything you have to see the gospel transformed? It's only gonna work if all of us play our part to build a church that outlives us and takes the gospel forward. And to that end, let me pray that God would do that in my heart and also in your heart. Lord, I'm so thankful for Antioch. And I know all the churches in our network just love this passage because of what it's done in our hearts. God, this church was so committed to the scriptures, to the gospel, uh, to worship, to life transformation. I can just imagine the baptism testimonies being shared uh in Antioch. Um, and Lord, I'm so thankful that your grace shines bright in dark cities. And so, Lord, today as we find ourselves in Denton, downtown, uh, in this wedding venue uh with all these people, Lord, I pray would you have our hearts resonate with this culture, with this vision, that we wouldn't just belong to a church that's insular or is thankful for grace received, but we'd be one that's outward and that we'd extend grace to the campus, to our family, to our friends. God, help us care more about what you're doing in the city than just in these walls. Every Bible preaching, gospel-believing church in the city. Would this morning have been a great morning for them? Would salvations have happened in other college ministries last week? God, the harvest is plentiful. We need more laborers, more churches in the city of Denton. That is exploding. We need churches in crumb, sanger, prosper. Lord, would you do it in this place? Would you use more Texas to reach the corner, the vineyard you planted us? And would everybody in this room take ownership of that? Help us do it. It's in Jesus' name I pray. Amen. You guys can stand and let's sing to the Lord.