SPEAKER_01: Welcome to Sermons from the Way Church KC, a community of licensed saints in Kansas City, following the way of Jesus and pushing back darkness together.
SPEAKER_00: Good morning.
SPEAKER_00: Good morning, good morning.
SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Way KC.
SPEAKER_00: We are going to uh stand for the reading of God's Word today.
SPEAKER_00: Today we're in Acts 14, 19 through 28.
SPEAKER_00: I'll give you a second to get there.
SPEAKER_00: Acts 14, 19 through 28.
SPEAKER_00: But the Jews came from Antioch in Iconium, and having persuaded the crowds, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead.
SPEAKER_00: But when the disciples gathered about him, he rose up and entered the city.
SPEAKER_00: And on the next day he went with Barnabas to Derby.
SPEAKER_00: When they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_00: And when they had appointed elders for them in every church with prayer and fasting, they committed them to the Lord, in whom they had believed.
SPEAKER_00: Then they passed through Pisidia and came to Pamphylia.
SPEAKER_00: And when they had spoken the word in Perga, they went down to Attilia.
SPEAKER_00: And then from there they sailed to Antioch, where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work that they had fulfilled.
SPEAKER_00: And when they arrived and gathered the church together, they declared all that God had done with them, and how he had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles.
SPEAKER_00: And they remained no little time with the disciples.
SPEAKER_00: This is the reading of God's Word.
SPEAKER_00: You can be seated.
SPEAKER_02: Great job.
SPEAKER_02: Well, welcome everyone to the Way Church KC.
SPEAKER_02: If we got haven't gotten the chance to meet, my name is Zach Schimmer.
SPEAKER_02: I'm the lead pastor here at The Way.
SPEAKER_02: If this is your first time here, welcome.
SPEAKER_02: We're glad you're here.
SPEAKER_02: We're a new church plant.
SPEAKER_02: We planted two years ago, two years and a week ago or so.
SPEAKER_02: And it's been a fun journey.
SPEAKER_02: Our mission, we talk about our mission statement a lot, is to follow the way of Jesus and push back darkness together.
SPEAKER_02: But something we don't talk about on Sundays as often is like kind of our vision statement.
SPEAKER_02: And I've been sitting with this this past week, and our vision is to be a community of misfits and saints who follow the way of Jesus and push back darkness together for the good of Kansas City and the sake of God's kingdom.
SPEAKER_02: So that's a sort of church that you're attending for your first time today, or maybe you've been uh coming for a little bit, or maybe you've been coming for a long time, whatever it may be.
SPEAKER_02: We're glad you're here.
SPEAKER_02: You are welcome here.
SPEAKER_02: One thing I do want to say to our uh first-time guests, um if you fill out after at the end of service during announcements, you'll have an opportunity to fill out a little connect card.
SPEAKER_02: Um you can fill it out digitally, you can fill it out with a paper copy and something new that we're gonna start doing is if you fill out that connect card, turn it back in, we're gonna give five dollars to an addiction recovery nonprofit.
SPEAKER_02: Um so for every connect card, that's five bucks to go towards an addiction recovery nonprofit.
SPEAKER_02: Sound good?
SPEAKER_02: Cool, cool.
SPEAKER_02: So, last Sunday was Resurrection Sunday, it was Easter Sunday.
SPEAKER_02: It was a sweet, sweet service, a sweet time with family, uh, sweet time celebrating the resurrection.
SPEAKER_02: But here at The Way Church, we celebrate the resurrection every Sunday.
SPEAKER_02: We're a resurrection people.
SPEAKER_02: That's what we're about.
SPEAKER_02: Um, Lana.
SPEAKER_02: And so we've uh to give us a little recap, we've been in the book of Acts.
SPEAKER_02: We've been walking verse by verse through Acts, and today uh we're jumping back into that.
SPEAKER_02: We'll look at Acts chapter 14, um, 19 through 28.
SPEAKER_02: So uh as Glenn read, um, but to give you a little recap, Acts chapter 14, verses 1 through 18.
SPEAKER_02: Um, what we saw is the Gentiles and Jews, they're they're divided over Paul's teachings.
SPEAKER_02: There's some who believe and some who oppose Paul.
SPEAKER_02: Um and then uh a lame man is healed, and the people uh attribute that healing to the Roman gods.
SPEAKER_02: Remember, they look at Paul and Barnabas and they worship them as Zeus and Hermes.
SPEAKER_02: They think they're these worldly little g gods.
SPEAKER_02: But Paul and Barnabas, they rebuke this false worship and they point to Christ.
SPEAKER_02: And kind of our thematic statement for that sermon was to turn from the things of this world to the living God.
SPEAKER_03: Yes.
SPEAKER_02: And today we see what happens right after that.
SPEAKER_02: So today we look at the second half of Acts chapter 14, verses 19 through 28.
SPEAKER_02: If you got your Bible, you can open it up to Acts.
SPEAKER_02: If you don't have a Bible, um, right outside the sanctuary doors, we have a Bible that you can have, that you can keep, uh mark up, tat up, all that stuff.
SPEAKER_02: Um so, as we begin, one of, if not the, greatest lies that we can be tempted to believe, I think, is this.
SPEAKER_02: If God is really with me, then life should get easier.
SPEAKER_02: Like, how often do we falsely think that in our heart and in our heads?
SPEAKER_02: That if God is really with us, then life should get easier.
SPEAKER_02: That's simply not true, and that's not what the Bible outlines.
SPEAKER_02: The book of Acts keeps showing us again and again the opposite.
SPEAKER_02: Again and again, the apostles encounter difficulty upon difficulty, but yet the gospel still advances.
SPEAKER_02: I think that what we could say is that what we see in Acts is that the gospel does not advance on a smooth paved road.
SPEAKER_02: No, the gospel, we could say, advances on a blood-stained road.
SPEAKER_02: In fact, the church father Tertullian puts it this way: the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.
SPEAKER_02: And I think that this passage here in Acts, it's one of the clearest pictures in the New Testament that we see that faithfulness does not exempt us from suffering.
SPEAKER_02: In fact, it often guarantees it.
SPEAKER_02: Who knows that when you are faithful, at times things get harder.
SPEAKER_02: And that's exactly what Paul and Barnabas are encountering right here in Acts.
SPEAKER_02: Paul and Barnabas, they've preached Christ.
SPEAKER_02: They've seen converts made, they've seen churches planted.
SPEAKER_02: And now the cost becomes painfully visible for them.
SPEAKER_02: What we're going to look at today, we're seeing Paul, he's stoned, he's dragged out of the city, and he is left for dead.
SPEAKER_02: And yet, the story doesn't end there.
SPEAKER_02: The story does not end in defeat.
SPEAKER_02: What we see is this section of Acts, it becomes one of the most beautiful portraits of resilient gospel ministry under the reign of the risen Christ.
SPEAKER_02: The author Luke, he wants us to see that King Jesus, remember on Sunday we talked about how Jesus is risen, he's reigning.
SPEAKER_02: King Jesus, he built his church through suffering servants, through strengthened saints, and through celebrating of sending churches.
SPEAKER_02: To point to another church father, John Chrysostom, many years ago, he was threatened with exile for preaching the gospel boldly.
SPEAKER_02: And his response was unforgettable.
SPEAKER_02: He says, You cannot banish me, for the world is my father's house.
SPEAKER_02: That is Acts chapter 14.
SPEAKER_02: The enemies of Christ think that suffering can stop the mission, but the gospel is not fragile.
SPEAKER_02: The church is not to be built on comfort.
SPEAKER_02: And Christ's kingdom cannot be crushed by stones.
SPEAKER_02: With that, our big idea is this: that the risen Christ sustains his people through suffering and sends his people to advance his mission.
SPEAKER_02: With that, there are three encouragements that I want us to take to heart from this text today.
SPEAKER_02: First, that the mission of Christ advances through suffering servants.
SPEAKER_02: Second, that the mission of Christ advances through established churches.
SPEAKER_02: And third, this one's kind of a mouthful, the mission of Christ advances through celebrating grace and through partnership.
SPEAKER_02: Let me pray and then let's dig in.
SPEAKER_02: Heavenly Father, we love you, we praise you, we thank you for bringing us here today to gather.
SPEAKER_02: Lord, I thank you for everyone that came today, despite the rain, to sit under the preaching of your word, to lift up songs of praise.
SPEAKER_02: Lord, I pray that you encounter us in a very real way today, Lord, that through your word, through your word that is living and active, that you would move on our hearts, that you would allow us to walk out of here transformed and on mission for you, for advancing your kingdom.
SPEAKER_02: Lord, we love you.
SPEAKER_02: Holy Spirit, you are welcome here.
SPEAKER_02: Would you guide, guard, and direct us?
SPEAKER_02: It's in the mighty name of Jesus I pray.
SPEAKER_02: And everybody said, Amen.
SPEAKER_02: So Acts chapter 14, verses 19 and 20, the Word of God says, But Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and having persuaded the crowds, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead.
SPEAKER_02: But when the disciples gathered about him, he rose up and entered the city.
SPEAKER_02: And on the next day he went on with Barnabas to Derby.
SPEAKER_02: So what we're looking at, we're still looking at Paul's first missionary journey, and this is directly after Paul and Barnabas are worshipped as Zeus and Hermes.
SPEAKER_02: Before there is celebration in Antioch, there are stones in Lystra.
SPEAKER_02: We see first that Jews came from Antioch and Iconium.
SPEAKER_02: And what I want us to notice is the relentless hostility of those who oppose Christ.
SPEAKER_02: These opponents are traveling nearly 100 miles from Antioch to Sidia and Iconium to Lystra.
SPEAKER_02: That's a long way to travel just to oppose someone, right?
SPEAKER_02: And that tells us something important.
SPEAKER_02: This is not some sort of random opposition that Paul and Barnabas are facing.
SPEAKER_02: No, this is organized resistance to the gospel message.
SPEAKER_02: The same crowd that just a few verses earlier wanted to worship Paul as Hermes now stones him and wants him dead.
SPEAKER_02: And the thing that we see is like human crowds, they're often unstable.
SPEAKER_02: Public opinion, it can be fickle, and the fear of man, it can be deadly.
SPEAKER_02: One moment, applause, the next, execution.
SPEAKER_02: And so that's just what the people try to do.
SPEAKER_02: They drag Paul out of the city and they stone him.
SPEAKER_02: And the author of Luke says that they supposed that he was dead.
SPEAKER_02: And so this isn't like he just got roughed up to teach him a lesson, right?
SPEAKER_02: No, they they had malice in their hearts and they beat this man to the point that they thought that they had killed him.
SPEAKER_02: Stoning, it was a brutal communal execution method in the time of the Bible.
SPEAKER_02: Large stones were hurled until the victim was crushed.
SPEAKER_02: And so what we see, they supposed that he was dead.
SPEAKER_02: Paul looked and appeared dead.
SPEAKER_02: And, you know, different people, different scholars would believe differently on the meaning of this, whether Paul actually died and was miraculously revived, or he merely appeared dead and then got up.
SPEAKER_02: Luke, the emphasis isn't about that though.
SPEAKER_02: Luke's emphasis is clear.
SPEAKER_02: Paul's survival is the preserving mercy of God.
SPEAKER_02: No matter what way you look at it, Paul surviving the stoning is the mercy of God.
SPEAKER_02: And maybe you've never been like stoned by like rocks and stuff and left for dead, but my guess is that you've encountered some difficulties in life.
SPEAKER_02: And the fact of the matter is, is that if you've made it through those things, that shows us that God's preserving mercy is with you.
unknown: Yes, it is.
SPEAKER_02: Then what we see is one of the most astonishing verses in all of Acts.
SPEAKER_02: Verse 20.
SPEAKER_02: When the disciples gathered about him, he rose up and entered the city.
SPEAKER_02: That is not the sentence that you would expect after a man is stoned and appeared dead.
SPEAKER_02: He went back.
SPEAKER_02: Back into the city that just tried to kill him.
SPEAKER_02: He got dragged out of the city and stoned, and now he's going right back into that city to preach the same gospel.
SPEAKER_02: That's courage.
SPEAKER_02: That's resurrection courage.
SPEAKER_02: That is courage that can only come from the Holy Spirit dwelling within Paul.
SPEAKER_02: What we see is that Paul's theology and Paul's life, it is shaped undeniably by the cross.
SPEAKER_02: The servant, the servant being Paul, is not above his master.
SPEAKER_02: Don't miss that.
SPEAKER_02: Paul is living a cross-shaped life.
SPEAKER_02: And family, we too should live a cross-shaped life.
SPEAKER_02: The fancy word for that is the cruciform life, a cross-shaped life.
SPEAKER_02: Look at the similarities we see.
SPEAKER_02: Christ, too, was rejected outside of the city.
SPEAKER_02: Paul is dragged outside of the city.
SPEAKER_02: Yet both, Paul the servant of Christ Jesus, they both continue the saving mission of God.
SPEAKER_02: Family, what this does, what these verses do, is they point us directly to Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: Our Lord Jesus was rejected by crowds.
SPEAKER_02: He was handed over by hostile men.
SPEAKER_02: He was crucified outside of the gate.
SPEAKER_02: And yet, he rose to continue his saving work through his spirit-filled church.
SPEAKER_02: Paul's ministry is cross-shaped because Christ's mission is cross-shaped.
SPEAKER_02: The cross is not only what saves us, no, it becomes the pattern for our discipleship.
SPEAKER_02: So we too are to live cross-shaped lives, following the way of Jesus, being with Jesus, becoming like Jesus, doing what Jesus did.
SPEAKER_02: I'm glad you're here today, Moody.
SPEAKER_02: Because this illustration, like I had you in mind, but then I was thinking in my head you were going to be gone.
SPEAKER_02: So I'm glad you're here.
SPEAKER_02: So I'll just really talk to you right now.
SPEAKER_02: So you do metalworking, right?
SPEAKER_02: Yeah?
SPEAKER_02: So Moody does metalworking, and so you're familiar with like an anvil, right?
SPEAKER_02: So a blacksmith's anvil, you can correct me if I'm wrong, is the heavy iron block on which the metal is shaped.
SPEAKER_02: For centuries, think about a blacksmith who's been working for a long time, generationally, his grandpa and his dad all were blacksmiths.
SPEAKER_02: So for centuries, the hammer has struck the anvil.
SPEAKER_02: The hammer delivers the blow, and the anvil receives it.
SPEAKER_02: What happens though, tell me if I'm wrong here, Moody, the blacksmith's anvil outlasts countless hammers.
SPEAKER_02: Right?
SPEAKER_02: The hammer goes bad before the anvil.
SPEAKER_02: Is that right?
SPEAKER_02: So the hammer strikes again and again, yet the anvil remains.
SPEAKER_02: And what I want us to see is that the same can be said for Christ's church.
SPEAKER_02: For 2,000 years, the world has hammered against Christ's church.
SPEAKER_02: Empires, mobs, ideologies, uh, deferring religions, persecution.
SPEAKER_02: All of these things have come against Christ's church, and yet the church remains.
SPEAKER_02: We are living in the proof of that promise.
SPEAKER_02: Why is that?
SPEAKER_02: Well, because the church is built upon the anvil of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_02: And so, with that, we have no reason to worry, we have no reason to be weary, we have no reason to fear, we have no reason to not be willing to be suffering servants of the Lord as Christ was.
SPEAKER_02: And I think if we're being honest, some of you are weary because obedience has become costly.
SPEAKER_02: Maybe it's at your place of employment, maybe faithfulness at work is costing you influence.
SPEAKER_02: Like, oh, you you missed out on that promotion because you were remaining faithful at work.
SPEAKER_02: Maybe it's that gospel conviction is costing you relationships, you were standing on the truth of God's word and it's cost you a relationship.
SPEAKER_02: Maybe you're in ministry or you were in ministry, maybe that vocation of ministry is costing you emotional strength.
SPEAKER_02: Maybe it's raising your children in Christ.
SPEAKER_02: Maybe raising them as in a Christian household is costing them sleep.
SPEAKER_02: Maybe it's costing you tears.
SPEAKER_02: Well, the encouragement, whatever it is for you, like whatever situation you're walking through, like write it down, write it on your heart.
SPEAKER_02: Whatever that is, take heart.
SPEAKER_02: Because what this text shows us is that suffering does not mean that Christ has abandoned you.
SPEAKER_02: I think so often we can think like, hey, I go through a little suffering, and that means that God is distant, that Christ has abandoned me, but that is not what the text says.
SPEAKER_02: No, no, no.
SPEAKER_02: It may just be the evidence that you are walking closely with him.
SPEAKER_02: So, what is astonishing about Paul's suffering here is that it does not turn him inward.
SPEAKER_02: He doesn't retreat into like his own little bubble.
SPEAKER_02: No, it turns him outward.
SPEAKER_02: The man who is left for dead becomes the man who is determined to strengthen others.
SPEAKER_02: Luke now shows us that perseverance in suffering is never merely personal.
SPEAKER_02: Christ, he sustains his servants so that they can stabilize his church.
SPEAKER_02: Point number two this morning is that the mission of Christ advances through established churches.
SPEAKER_02: The mission of Christ advances through established churches.
SPEAKER_02: Acts 14, verses 21 through 23, the word says, When they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith.
SPEAKER_02: And saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_02: And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting, they committed them to the Lord, in whom they had believed.
SPEAKER_02: So after all that they had endured, what do Paul and Barnabas do?
SPEAKER_02: They go back.
SPEAKER_02: They don't go away from danger, they go right through it.
SPEAKER_02: Lystra, Iconium, Antioch.
SPEAKER_02: The very places where they've been planting churches and where they had encountered opposition become the places that they invest in pastorally.
SPEAKER_02: It's the place where they're trying to grow deep gospel roots in the churches there.
SPEAKER_02: And this should be instructive for us.
SPEAKER_02: It shows us their goals.
SPEAKER_02: Their goals aren't like church attendance, their goals aren't decisions.
SPEAKER_02: No, their goals are disciples.
SPEAKER_02: Luke's doctor, Luke, says that they were strengthening the souls of the disciples.
SPEAKER_02: And this word here, it carries this idea of fortifying, of stabilizing, of making firm.
SPEAKER_02: The ministry that Paul and Barnabas are participating in is a church-strengthening ministry.
SPEAKER_02: They're strengthening the churches in Antioch.
SPEAKER_02: They're strengthening the church in Iconium.
SPEAKER_02: They're strengthening the churches that they planted in Lystra.
SPEAKER_02: So they're emphasizing like biblical doctrine.
SPEAKER_02: They're emphasizing encouragement.
SPEAKER_02: They're putting wind behind the sails of the churches there.
SPEAKER_02: They're emphasizing leadership.
SPEAKER_02: They're emphasizing perseverance in the faith.
SPEAKER_02: And then Paul says something key.
SPEAKER_02: Through many tribulations, we must.
SPEAKER_02: Enter the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_02: And this is just like, he's just keeping it real.
SPEAKER_02: This is kingdom realism.
SPEAKER_02: The Greek word for tribulations here is thylipsis, and this speaks of crushing pressure.
SPEAKER_02: So what Paul is doing is he's discipling these young believers in these churches into a theology of suffering.
SPEAKER_02: It's an understanding that suffering will come as you walk with Christ, as you live the cross-shaped life.
SPEAKER_02: Paul's not getting up and giving them some like self-help sort of message, some really cool little TED talk.
SPEAKER_02: He's not promising them comfort.
SPEAKER_02: No, he promises them Christ's sustaining grace.
SPEAKER_02: And the same promise is for us today.
SPEAKER_02: We're not promised comfort as believers.
SPEAKER_02: What we're promised is Christ's grace to sustain us.
SPEAKER_02: And I think for me and Chelsea as church planters, as like our leaders that have been here for a while since the inception of this church, just two short years.
SPEAKER_02: Anyone who's been in ministry any length of time, I think you can attest to it that this is true.
SPEAKER_02: Through many tribulations, we must enter the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_02: Now, I I don't know about you guys, but I've not yet been dragged outside of the city and stoned.
SPEAKER_02: But I've taken some lumps and some bruises along the way.
SPEAKER_02: I've walked with a limp through some days.
SPEAKER_02: Maybe that's your story too.
SPEAKER_02: And I think what that shows us is that the enemy does not want gospel preaching churches.
SPEAKER_02: He doesn't want more churches being planted in hard-to-reach places.
SPEAKER_02: But what the word says is that Christ will build his church.
SPEAKER_02: Christ will build his church.
SPEAKER_02: It's not Rivers' responsibility to build Christ's church.
SPEAKER_02: It's not Glenn's responsibility to build Christ's church.
SPEAKER_02: It's Christ who will build his church.
SPEAKER_02: And so with this, we should have peace because we have Christ's sustaining grace.
SPEAKER_02: Then verse 23, they say that it says that they appointed elders in every church.
SPEAKER_02: And this is a significant milestone in early church history.
SPEAKER_02: What this is, this is likely some of the earliest formally recognized local church elders among Gentile congregations.
SPEAKER_02: And even in like frontier, frontline missions work, Paul's instinct is ecclesiological, which means like building organization of the church, how the church is organized.
SPEAKER_02: So what Paul does, he establishes a plurality of leadership.
SPEAKER_02: He grounds the church in shepherding oversight, and then he entrusts the flock to God.
SPEAKER_02: So as Paul is planting churches, there is this instinct toward healthy local church governance under Christ's lordship.
SPEAKER_02: And that may be something that you're not interested in hearing about today.
SPEAKER_02: But what I want us to encourage you with, because we're preaching verse by verse, what I want to encourage you with with that verse, is that this is the same sort of thing that we're trying to implement here at this church.
SPEAKER_02: It's been written into our bylaws from day one.
SPEAKER_02: It's something that we're going to implement and continue to implement because this is what the Bible outlines for us to do and to live out.
SPEAKER_02: Plurality of leadership, shepherding, oversight.
SPEAKER_02: The flock being entrusted to God.
SPEAKER_02: And really, ultimately, what I think this section of text shows us is that Jesus does not merely save individuals.
SPEAKER_02: Like, yes, he saves you personally and individually, but also what he's doing is gathering a flock.
SPEAKER_02: He is the chief shepherd who appoints under-shepherds for the care of his people.
SPEAKER_02: What Paul and Barnabas are doing is that they're carrying forward Christ's own church-building promise.
SPEAKER_02: I will build my church.
SPEAKER_02: Christ will build his church.
SPEAKER_02: Wildfires, they ignite instantly.
SPEAKER_02: I think what was it last week or the week before that there was like a burn ban because in Kansas because they didn't want any wildfires, because it just spread, get to the Flint Hills.
SPEAKER_02: That wouldn't be good.
SPEAKER_02: And I think oftentimes we look at church, we look at ministry as wanting to create some wildfires.
SPEAKER_02: We want to like just something quick, something easy.
SPEAKER_02: But that's not what scripture shows us.
SPEAKER_02: I at my house I have a sycamore tree in the front yard.
SPEAKER_02: Anybody ever seen a sycamore tree?
SPEAKER_02: Those suckers are big, right?
SPEAKER_02: It's required years of rooted growth.
SPEAKER_02: And I think many ministries they want wildfire moments, but Christ, he builds sycamore tree Christians.
SPEAKER_02: Deep roots, strong trunks, weather-tested endurance.
SPEAKER_02: This is what strengthening the church and the strengthening of the saints looks like.
SPEAKER_02: This is what Paul and Barnabas are doing.
SPEAKER_02: And I think that if we're being honest, this speaks powerfully to church life today.
SPEAKER_02: Your calling is not only to survive trials personally.
SPEAKER_02: Like you've walked through a trial, you've survived it.
SPEAKER_02: That wasn't only for you.
SPEAKER_02: Your calling is to become a source of strength for others.
SPEAKER_02: What Paul is doing, he gets stoned, left for dead, he gets up, he preaches the gospel, sharing the good news of what Christ has done in his life.
SPEAKER_02: And the same is true for us.
SPEAKER_02: If you walk through some tough days, that wasn't only for you, that's for you to share with others of what Christ has done in your life.
SPEAKER_02: Hey, the Lord brought me through these things because that gives encouragement and hope to others.
SPEAKER_02: So ask yourself this morning: who around you needs some encouragement?
SPEAKER_02: Who needs to some grounding in the truth of God's word?
SPEAKER_02: Who needs reminding that hardship is normal for a Christian?
SPEAKER_02: Maybe ask yourself this: who am I helping to become stable in Christ?
SPEAKER_02: The same gospel that strengthens the saints also sends praise back to the sending church.
SPEAKER_02: That's what we see as we land the plane in point number three.
SPEAKER_02: Point three, the mission of Christ advances through celebrating grace and through partnership.
SPEAKER_02: That's what we see.
SPEAKER_02: The church at Antioch is celebrating what God has done through Paul's ministry.
SPEAKER_02: Acts chapter 14, verses 24 through 28.
SPEAKER_02: Then they passed through Pisidia and came to Pamphalia.
SPEAKER_02: And when they had spoken the word in Perga, they went down to Italia, and from there they sailed to Antioch, where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work that they had fulfilled.
SPEAKER_02: And when they arrived and gathered the church together, they declared all that God had done with them, and how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles, and they remained no little time with the disciples.
SPEAKER_02: So this final movement that we see in Acts 14, it's beautiful.
SPEAKER_02: Paul and Barnabas, they returned to Antioch.
SPEAKER_02: Antioch, remember, several weeks, a month ish ago, we looked at how Antioch was their kind of sending church.
SPEAKER_02: They sent them out for this first missionary journey.
SPEAKER_02: So this is important to look at because what it shows us is that missionaries do not exist independently of the church.
SPEAKER_02: That's not like the biblical rhythm that we see.
SPEAKER_02: No, they are sent by local churches.
SPEAKER_02: We have had the privilege of sending a missionary to Southeast Asia.
SPEAKER_02: And I was just texting with her this morning.
SPEAKER_02: We hop on Zoom calls with her.
SPEAKER_02: What is that?
SPEAKER_02: Like once a month?
SPEAKER_02: It's for encouragement, for mutual encouragement.
SPEAKER_02: She's not on her own.
SPEAKER_02: She is sent by us, and she has brothers and sisters on the ground as well.
SPEAKER_02: And she has and was and will continue to be sent by the Way Church KC.
SPEAKER_02: Or think about this.
SPEAKER_02: I was just talking to Dolly about this this morning.
SPEAKER_02: What Dolly feels burdened on his heart to do is to return to Malawi, Africa, and plant a church there.
SPEAKER_02: And so, us as a church, we're not like, hey, let's just keep Dolly here.
SPEAKER_02: No, let's equip him, let's put wind behind his sails to be sent and do the work of the ministry in his home country.
SPEAKER_02: So when in 2028 or whenever it is, when we send Dali to plant a church in Malawi, he's not going to be out on an island on his own.
SPEAKER_02: No, he is sent and always will be a part of our way family.
SPEAKER_02: And I share that with you because that's what's happening in the book of Acts.
SPEAKER_02: Paul and Barnabas, missionaries, they are sent by the church.
SPEAKER_02: They are sustained by the church, and they are accountable to the church as they plant churches.
SPEAKER_02: And so they return to Antioch, they return to their sending church, and Luke says that they gathered the church together and declared all that God had done with them.
SPEAKER_02: All that God had done with them.
SPEAKER_02: Notice what they're not declaring.
SPEAKER_02: Not all that they had done, not all that they had accomplished.
SPEAKER_02: Not, hey, I'm Paul, look at me, look at all I did.
SPEAKER_02: No, that's not at all what he's saying.
SPEAKER_02: All that God had done.
SPEAKER_02: And that's a truth for us because faithful missionaries, faithful ministry leaders are never heroes in their own report.
SPEAKER_02: No, they are simply witnesses to the divine grace of the Lord.
unknown: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: You know, Rachel, she'll come back into town in October.
SPEAKER_02: Um, Rachel Kelly will, um, and she'll give us a report on what God's been doing in Indonesia.
SPEAKER_02: And I can pretty much guarantee you it's not going to be look at me, it's going to be look at God.
SPEAKER_02: Right?
SPEAKER_02: And that's how it should be.
SPEAKER_02: You know, we think about like, yeah, just missionaries that are in far-to-reach places and hard-to-reach places.
SPEAKER_02: But the same is true for us as well.
SPEAKER_02: If you're a part of this church, then my hope for you is that you see that you too are a missionary where you live, where you work, and where you play.
SPEAKER_02: And so, as you're living as a missionary where you live, where you work, and where you play, the stories should never be, look at what I did.
SPEAKER_02: It should always be, look at what God did.
SPEAKER_02: Luke emphasizes what God did in Paul and Barnabas' first missionary journey.
SPEAKER_02: He says, how he had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles.
SPEAKER_02: That phrase, it's glorious.
SPEAKER_02: Because the mission, it succeeds because God opens doors that the heart cannot open for themselves.
SPEAKER_03: That's right.
SPEAKER_02: This is grace in missionary form.
SPEAKER_02: The nations come to Christ because Christ himself opens the door, opens the door of faith for the Gentiles.
SPEAKER_02: And what this does is it should point us to the resurrected Christ, who we preached on this verse last week, where he says, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
SPEAKER_02: And then I don't know if you guys remember what I said about this, but I said that in the Greek, all authority, it means all authority.
SPEAKER_02: All authority.
SPEAKER_02: It doesn't mean like some authority, it means all authority.
SPEAKER_02: Authority over your life, authority over where you live, authority over everything in this world.
SPEAKER_02: That's what's happening here.
SPEAKER_02: So the Gentile mission is the unfolding triumph of the ascended Christ.
unknown: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: We looked at the Great Commission last week on Easter Sunday.
SPEAKER_02: Acts 14 is the Great Commission in motion.
SPEAKER_02: We're seeing the wheels turning on the Great Commission as the gospel goes to the nations.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus is gathering his sheep from every tribe, every nation, and every tongue.
SPEAKER_03: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: Think about this.
SPEAKER_02: As Paul and Barnabas go back to Antioch, it's as though they're missionary, it's as though they're soldiers from the front lines of war returning back to give a report.
SPEAKER_02: They're essentially taking photos from the front lines of war to show to their sending church, saying, hey, victory has been secured.
SPEAKER_02: The battle is real.
SPEAKER_02: The suffering is costly.
SPEAKER_02: Like I bet when Paul went back to Antioch, he was bruised up, right?
SPEAKER_02: He probably didn't look, like, he probably looked rough.
SPEAKER_02: He was a living picture of the suffering that he'd endured for the sake of the gospel.
SPEAKER_02: And he's standing there in front of his sinning church saying that the gospel prevails, that the triumph belongs to the king.
unknown: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_02: So that's why celebrating matters, right?
unknown: Yes.
SPEAKER_02: We should be a people who celebrate everything.
SPEAKER_02: Because Christ is already won, right?
SPEAKER_02: So that's not, there's no uncertainty about that.
SPEAKER_02: Christ is already won.
SPEAKER_02: That's something we should celebrate all year, not just on Easter Sunday.
SPEAKER_02: So will we be a church that learns to celebrate God's grace?
SPEAKER_02: I think so often the church in the Western world celebrates personalities and celebrates production value.
SPEAKER_02: But the reality is what we should be celebrating is God's grace, being living and active and moving in and among us.
SPEAKER_02: So what does that look like practically?
SPEAKER_02: Well, it's like, hey, let's celebrate the heck out of it when there's a restored marriage.
SPEAKER_02: Let's celebrate the heck out of it whenever an addict is set free from the bondage of addiction.
SPEAKER_02: Let's celebrate when a believer perseveres in the faith through a tough time.
SPEAKER_02: Let's celebrate it when people put their yes on the table and said, I'll go wherever you call me God.
SPEAKER_02: Maybe that's Southeast Asia, maybe that's the Middle East.
SPEAKER_02: Maybe that's planting a church here in the U.S.
SPEAKER_02: Maybe it's a ministry to disciple young people in the creative arts, whatever it is.
SPEAKER_02: Like, let's celebrate the heck out of that.
SPEAKER_02: Henry Blackaby, in his book, Experiencing God, he says to find where God is moving and join him there.
SPEAKER_02: So we should be a people who are joining in the mission of God.
SPEAKER_02: Joining in the opening of gospel doors.
SPEAKER_02: So here's the truth for us: a healthy church, are we a healthy church?
SPEAKER_02: I hope so.
SPEAKER_02: I think so.
SPEAKER_02: A healthy church is thrilled by what God is doing beyond its walls.
SPEAKER_02: Packing this room out on Easter Sunday is cool, but we should be way more thrilled by what God is doing outside of these four walls.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: So, Ashton, you can come up and close us in song.
SPEAKER_02: That is Acts 14, and we're going to continue walking through Acts.
SPEAKER_02: And so as we begin to close, I just want to ask you.
SPEAKER_02: Have you ever thought about yourself as a missionary?
SPEAKER_02: Have you thought about yourself as a missionary?
SPEAKER_02: Amen, Lynn, I know you have.
SPEAKER_02: But have you ever thought about yourself as a missionary?
SPEAKER_02: That doesn't mean it doesn't always mean going to some far-off, hard-to-reach place.
SPEAKER_02: What I want to encourage you with is that you are a missionary right here today, where you live, where you work, and where you play, God has sent you on mission.
SPEAKER_02: Every day when we close our every Sunday when we close our service, I say three things.
SPEAKER_02: Say love, y'all, peace, and you are sent.
SPEAKER_02: That last part is critical.
SPEAKER_02: You're being sent out to do the work of the gospel ministry.
SPEAKER_02: Just as the Great Commission calls us to.
SPEAKER_02: In Acts 14, it teaches us that rhythm.
SPEAKER_02: The rhythm of Christian mission.
SPEAKER_02: There's a rhythm of suffering.
SPEAKER_02: Hate to break it to you, but there's some suffering that you may have to endure.
SPEAKER_02: But there's some strengthening.
SPEAKER_02: You were strengthened by the grace of God.
SPEAKER_02: And then there's some celebrating.
SPEAKER_02: Let's be a people who celebrate.
SPEAKER_02: This is the life of the church.
SPEAKER_02: Like when you boil it down, it's pretty simple.
SPEAKER_02: That's what we see in Acts 14.
SPEAKER_02: Paul, he bleeds.
SPEAKER_02: And just spoiler alert, this won't be the last time that Paul bleeds or is beaten or is bruised.
SPEAKER_02: Paul bleeds, the saints are strengthened, and the church rejoices.
SPEAKER_02: The mission advances.
SPEAKER_02: And behind every scene, behind everything we see in the book of Acts is the risen Christ.
SPEAKER_02: And we should see the risen Christ again today because Jesus too was rejected.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus was crushed, and Jesus was raised.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: And now he empowers his people.
SPEAKER_02: So church family, way, church family, do not lose heart.
SPEAKER_02: Your suffering is not wasted.
SPEAKER_02: Your labor is not unseen.
SPEAKER_02: The mission is not fragile.
SPEAKER_02: Christ will build his church.
SPEAKER_02: In Christ, he's still opening doors.
SPEAKER_02: He's still strengthening the saints.
SPEAKER_02: He's setting captives free, yes.
SPEAKER_02: And let me just tell you, Lana, that the gates of hell still cannot prevail against his church.
SPEAKER_02: So here is the call.
SPEAKER_02: If you are suffering, persevere in Christ.
SPEAKER_02: If you are strong, strengthen others.
SPEAKER_02: And if you see grace, celebrate it loudly.
SPEAKER_02: And lastly, if God opens a door, walk through it boldly.
unknown: Yes.
SPEAKER_02: Because the same Christ who sustained the early church in Acts will sustain us at the Way Church KC'd today.
SPEAKER_02: I'll pray and then let's close in worship.
SPEAKER_02: Heavenly Father, we love you, we praise you, we thank you that you are ascending God.
SPEAKER_02: That you have sent us to do the work of the ministry, to make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_02: And we praise you that you are with us always until the end of the age.
SPEAKER_02: Lord, whatever it is that we've walked through, if there's difficulty, if there's heartache, if we've been beaten and battered, Lord, we praise you that your sustaining grace has kept us through it.
SPEAKER_02: So Lord, once again, we bow to you today.
SPEAKER_02: We turn our lives and our will over to you today, and we declare that you are King.
SPEAKER_02: You are worthy of being bowed to, that you are good to send us, and that it's all for your glory and for our good.
SPEAKER_02: We love you, Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: We praise you.
SPEAKER_02: It's in your mighty name I pray.
SPEAKER_02: And all God's people said, Amen.
unknown: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Thanks for listening.
SPEAKER_01: Join us Sundays at 10 30 a.m.
SPEAKER_01: in the Rosedale neighborhood of Kansas City.
SPEAKER_01: Or find us anytime at thewakeac.church.