SPEAKER_01: This podcast is brought to you by Grand Parkway Baptist Church, helping people to know, enjoy, and glorify God.
SPEAKER_01: For more information about Grand Parkway, visit Grandparkway.org.
SPEAKER_02: Good morning, everybody.
SPEAKER_02: Would you join me in prayer?
SPEAKER_02: Lord Jesus, we want to thank you.
SPEAKER_02: Thank you for this book that we're about to study.
SPEAKER_02: Lord, I thank you that you work through the apostles and those under other 120 people, and because of what happened in this book, we stand here today.
SPEAKER_02: Thank you for their radical obedience to you, Lord.
SPEAKER_02: And I pray that we'd get more and more of that in our own hearts.
SPEAKER_02: Lord, would you come and would you work in our hearts?
SPEAKER_02: I pray this morning as I'm preaching, would you speak through me?
SPEAKER_02: Would you challenge us?
SPEAKER_02: Would you encourage us?
SPEAKER_02: Lead us closer to you, Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: We want to know you more.
SPEAKER_02: In your name I pray.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: So we're going to be in Acts chapter 1.
SPEAKER_02: You can sit down.
SPEAKER_02: Acts chapter 1, verses 12 through 26.
SPEAKER_02: Acts 1, 12 through 26, let me just give you a little bit of background of where we're at here in Acts.
SPEAKER_02: And what I want you to think about first is if you were one of those apostles, what kind of emotions would you be feeling at this point?
SPEAKER_02: The emotions that they were going through.
SPEAKER_02: So think about it.
SPEAKER_02: 40 days earlier, Jesus had died on the cross.
SPEAKER_02: And for those two days before he rose again, must have been some of the saddest days in their entire lives.
SPEAKER_02: They must have thought, what were we doing?
SPEAKER_02: Why were we following this guy?
SPEAKER_02: He's not the real deal.
SPEAKER_02: He's dead.
SPEAKER_02: What was I doing with my life, right?
SPEAKER_02: Must have been so disappointed.
SPEAKER_02: And then he rises again.
SPEAKER_02: And your life's completely changed.
SPEAKER_02: Your hopeless life, now you're suddenly hopeful.
SPEAKER_02: And then he spends 40 days with them, explaining to them from Scripture why this all happened, what's going on, and you have Jesus teaching you each and every day.
SPEAKER_02: It must have been amazing, amazing.
SPEAKER_02: And so last week at the end of the end of Neil's message, he he said this verse, and these were the words from God to them.
SPEAKER_02: He said, You're going to receive power when my Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you're going to be witnesses in Judea, Samaria, and to the Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria to the ends of the earth.
SPEAKER_02: That's what you're called to.
SPEAKER_02: So here's what you guys need to do: wait here in Jerusalem for my Holy Spirit to be poured out, and then go.
SPEAKER_02: Right?
SPEAKER_02: Like that is that's their marching orders.
SPEAKER_02: Okay, so that's where we're at.
SPEAKER_02: Let's read chapter 1, verses 12 through 26.
SPEAKER_02: Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olive, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day's journey away.
SPEAKER_02: And when they'd entered, they went up to the upper room where they were staying.
SPEAKER_02: Peter and John, James, Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James, the son of Alphaeus, and Simon the zealot, and Judas, the son of James.
SPEAKER_02: All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women, and Mary, the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.
SPEAKER_02: In those days Peter stood up among the brothers, the company of person was in all about a hundred and twenty, and he said, Brothers, the scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: For he was numbered among us and was allotted his share in this ministry.
SPEAKER_02: Now this man acquired a field with the reward of his wickedness, and falling headlong burst open in the middle, and all his bowels gushed out.
SPEAKER_02: And it became known to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_02: So the field was called in their own language Acadelma, that is field of blood.
SPEAKER_02: For it is written in the book of Psalms, may his camp become desolate, let there be no one to dwell in it, and let another take his office.
SPEAKER_02: So, one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us, one of these men must become with us a witness to his resurrection.
SPEAKER_02: And they've put forward two Joseph called Bar Sabbas, who was also called Justice, and Matthias.
SPEAKER_02: And they prayed and said, You Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which one of these two you have chosen to take this place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.
SPEAKER_02: And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthews, and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.
SPEAKER_02: So, guys, we know what's coming in chapter two, right?
SPEAKER_02: Chapter two, the Holy Spirit is going to be poured out, tongues of fire, one of the most amazing stories, and has a huge impact on church history.
SPEAKER_02: And this is kind of the passage before that, right?
SPEAKER_02: And it's a little bit like, well, can we just get to chapter two?
SPEAKER_02: Like that's what I want to get to.
SPEAKER_02: Like that's the exciting part, right?
SPEAKER_02: But here's kind of what I want to put before you this morning.
SPEAKER_02: I think if chapter one hadn't happened, if this passage hadn't happened, I don't know if we ever get chapter two.
SPEAKER_02: Um, how many of you have seen Avengers Endgame?
SPEAKER_02: Right?
SPEAKER_02: And yeah, the great part about that movie is at the end, that battle, right?
SPEAKER_02: Like it's amazing.
SPEAKER_02: All like all the fighting and amazing.
SPEAKER_02: But do you remember the scene before the battle?
SPEAKER_02: And and I couldn't remember it.
SPEAKER_02: Like I actually was thinking, like, do I even remember that scene?
SPEAKER_02: I have no idea what happened to it.
SPEAKER_02: I remember the battle, I remember everything that happened in that, but I do not remember the scene before the battle.
SPEAKER_02: I had to go back and look.
SPEAKER_02: So I went back and I looked at the scene, and it's actually, you know, they've collected those five infinity stones, the same stones that previous movie, Thanos had snapped his fingers when he put them all on, he snapped his fingers and he wiped out what?
SPEAKER_02: It was like a third of humankind all died, right?
SPEAKER_02: So they get these five stones, and Iron Man makes this glove that you can put on this mechanical glove, and the idea is they're gonna snap their fingers again, and then it's gonna bring everybody back, right?
SPEAKER_02: But I didn't even remember that.
SPEAKER_02: All I remembered was the battle.
SPEAKER_02: But in that movie, if if the guy never snaps his fingers, the battle never happens, right?
SPEAKER_02: You see that.
SPEAKER_02: And I think it's the same in this book.
SPEAKER_02: If this passage doesn't happen, I don't know that we get Acts chapter 2.
SPEAKER_02: Yes, God's sovereign, yes, it was gonna happen, and it did happen, but you understand what I'm saying here.
SPEAKER_02: This is an important passage.
SPEAKER_02: So let's let's begin.
SPEAKER_02: So they return to Jerusalem from the mount called Olive, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day's journey away.
SPEAKER_02: And it's just that this is them, the first thing you need to notice, and this is all through the passage, they have a heart to want to obey God.
SPEAKER_02: And so they go to this place that's like it's about a half of a quarter or to three-quarters of a mile away, and it's still in Jerusalem, and they go to this place, probably to like the the previous upper room, might have been the same one, we're not sure, but they're in an upper room, it had to be a big facility for all these people to fit in, and they're they're just seeking God, right?
SPEAKER_02: And so as you're growing in Jesus, you more and more should have a heart that wants to obey him.
SPEAKER_02: And you're gonna see that through this passage, how they more and more they just want to obey Jesus, they want to do what he has asked them to do.
SPEAKER_02: And so that's what they're doing here.
SPEAKER_02: As we continue, we get to verse 13.
SPEAKER_02: They enter, they go to the upper room, and where they were staying, and Peter and John and James and Andrew and Philip, so all these disciples, it lists 11 names, were there.
SPEAKER_02: So this is significant for two reasons.
SPEAKER_02: The first one is there's only 11 names, and that's because Judas betrayed Jesus, and so he's no longer considered part of the 12, and it's because he's passed away and he betrayed him.
SPEAKER_02: There's another reason this is here, though, as well, and this is early on in this book.
SPEAKER_02: Um, this book was written probably about 30 years after Jesus' death, right?
SPEAKER_02: And if you'd read this book, what you would see is they they had to, there was a cost to the this witness, this message that they were going to carry, there was a great cost to it.
SPEAKER_02: They they end up getting in prison, they get beaten.
SPEAKER_02: Some of them die because they're witnesses to Jesus' resurrection.
SPEAKER_02: They pay a great price for this.
SPEAKER_02: So the early believers, when they would have read this book, right?
SPEAKER_02: This is like 30 years after Jesus died.
SPEAKER_02: So Luke writes this book and then they would have got it.
SPEAKER_02: And as they're reading it, they wouldn't read this, these names, it's just, oh, that's a list of the disciples.
SPEAKER_02: It would actually read as a list of martyrs.
SPEAKER_02: The majority of these disciples at this point in history have already passed away.
SPEAKER_02: They've been martyred for the kingdom.
SPEAKER_02: It'd be almost like if you're reading a newspaper and you're reading obituaries.
SPEAKER_02: That's what you're reading here.
SPEAKER_02: Uh I'll give you an example.
SPEAKER_02: Peter, they when he when they wanted to kill him, they said, We want you need to be crucified.
SPEAKER_02: And they did it, they were gonna mock him.
SPEAKER_02: They're like, You're a Christian?
SPEAKER_02: Well, we'll crucify you.
SPEAKER_02: And Peter's like, Oh no, I'm not worthy to be killed in the same way my Lord Jesus was killed.
SPEAKER_02: Crucify me upside down.
SPEAKER_02: Right?
SPEAKER_02: That's just an example.
SPEAKER_02: All of these guys, like one of them died in Iran, another one in India.
SPEAKER_02: They really did take the gospel to the ends of the earth.
SPEAKER_02: But this is in here.
SPEAKER_02: Well, why is Lou put this in here?
SPEAKER_02: What's this in here today for us?
SPEAKER_02: We need to realize that there's a cost to this message.
SPEAKER_02: Your life is not going to be easy if you follow Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: There will be some times that are difficult.
SPEAKER_02: People will make fun of you sometimes.
SPEAKER_02: It won't always be simple.
SPEAKER_02: You may face persecution, you probably will face persecution, but the message is it's worth it.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus is worth it.
SPEAKER_02: If you really get the gospel, and you really get that he really did die for your sins, he really has forgiven you and wiped your slate completely clean.
SPEAKER_02: And not only has he done that, but he said, You're now righteous in me.
SPEAKER_02: I give you my righteousness and you're now perfect in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: That's amazingly good news.
SPEAKER_02: And it's the kind of good news that what they all decided was we can't keep this to ourselves.
SPEAKER_02: We've got to go and share it with other people.
SPEAKER_02: And if we die, we die.
SPEAKER_02: That's what they decided.
SPEAKER_02: So look at verse 14.
SPEAKER_02: All of these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer together with women and Mary, the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.
SPEAKER_02: So what you see with the early church is they're amazingly unified.
SPEAKER_02: They're all together, they're devoting themselves to prayer.
SPEAKER_02: And this is like what we all want the church to be.
SPEAKER_02: I I was talking to a guy a couple years ago, and he he said to me, he said, Brent, if you if you make unity your goal, you'll never get unity.
SPEAKER_02: I'm like, that's kind of negative, a little bit debt.
SPEAKER_02: But then I started to think about it and I was like, yeah, he's right.
SPEAKER_02: If unity is my goal, I'm not going to get unity.
SPEAKER_02: He said, Here's what you need to make your goal.
SPEAKER_02: Make your goal seeking Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: If seeking Jesus is your goal, then a byproduct of that will be unity.
SPEAKER_02: And so what you see with these people is they're seeking Jesus, they're waiting on the Holy Spirit to come, right?
SPEAKER_02: And then they also know their mission, right?
SPEAKER_02: Like they know what God's called them to.
SPEAKER_02: He's called them to be witnesses to this resurrection.
SPEAKER_02: Seek Jesus, wait on the Holy Spirit, and know your mission.
SPEAKER_02: And when you have those three things together, you're going to have a unified body of Christ.
SPEAKER_02: So if you have any disunity in your life right now, if there's some believers that you're like, yeah, we're getting a little sideways here.
SPEAKER_02: I I would ask you, maybe, maybe look at your relationship with them, and they're one of these three areas.
SPEAKER_02: Are you are you kind of out of whack, right?
SPEAKER_02: Are one of you not really seeking God right now?
SPEAKER_02: Are you not really waiting on the Spirit, or does one of you not realize the mission that you've been called to?
SPEAKER_02: And I would say it's probably one of those three things, right?
SPEAKER_02: The second half of this passage has some interesting stuff as well.
SPEAKER_02: It says, with the women.
SPEAKER_02: And I think modern day we look at that and we're like, yeah, no big deal.
SPEAKER_02: Of course there are women there.
SPEAKER_02: But you got to understand the context this was written into.
SPEAKER_02: This wasn't our context.
SPEAKER_02: This was the Bible context.
SPEAKER_02: This was their culture.
SPEAKER_02: And in their culture at their time, there weren't, it wasn't like there's a ton of feminists.
SPEAKER_02: I don't know if there were any feminists.
SPEAKER_02: If you were a woman, you were you were a property of your husband, right?
SPEAKER_02: That's the kind of culture this is written into.
SPEAKER_02: And so Luke is being very counter-cultural by adding in it wasn't just the men in the upper room, the women were there too.
SPEAKER_02: What's Luke saying?
SPEAKER_02: He's saying, women, you have value, you have worth, you can do things for the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_02: Yes, men and women have different roles, but women, you have value and worth, and you can make a difference for God's kingdom as well.
SPEAKER_02: So you can see that throughout this book.
SPEAKER_02: He includes this kind of stuff all throughout the book, and it's like Luke's kind of whispering to you, you have value and worth too.
SPEAKER_02: The second thing in here is even more interesting.
SPEAKER_02: It says, Mary, the mother of Jesus and his brothers are there too.
SPEAKER_02: That's interesting.
SPEAKER_02: So if you're a skeptic in our church this morning, if you if you're coming here and you're like, yeah, I like the church, I met some nice people, I even think Jesus is a nice guy, but I don't know that I would say that he's God.
SPEAKER_02: That's a little bit too far for me.
SPEAKER_02: This is a passage that you have to deal with.
SPEAKER_02: Because you can lie to your friends, and your friends will often believe you.
SPEAKER_02: But if you try to lie to your mom and your brothers, it's not gonna go well for you because they know you too well.
SPEAKER_02: So, chapter one, Jesus, he's basically saying, I rose from the dead, I died on a cross, and I did all that for you, and that is the truth, and I'm gonna be coming back with in the form of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_02: And his Mary, his mother, and his brothers are like, Yeah, we believe that, and we're gonna be there, and we are waiting right now for this Holy Spirit to come.
SPEAKER_02: Do you see what a what a strong apologetic that is for the fact that what Jesus is saying, it's not just a bunch of garbage.
SPEAKER_02: They wouldn't be there if they knew Jesus was a liar.
SPEAKER_02: They know that he's the truth.
SPEAKER_02: So if you're a skeptic this morning, this is something you have to deal with.
SPEAKER_02: And it's something that should begin to move your heart closer to Jesus and convince you that this is really the truth.
SPEAKER_02: He really did die and rise again.
SPEAKER_02: And if you're a believer today, you should be greatly encouraged by the fact that Luke included Mary, the mother of Jesus, and his brothers were there as well.
SPEAKER_02: Verse 15.
SPEAKER_02: In those days, Peter stood up among the brothers.
SPEAKER_02: Peter stood up among the brothers.
SPEAKER_02: Anybody else catching what I'm catching there?
SPEAKER_02: That's weird for me.
SPEAKER_02: So if you remember the past book in Luke, so we'll just go with Luke.
SPEAKER_02: At the end of that book, right before Jesus dies, he goes to Peter and he says, Hey man, you're gonna deny me three times tonight.
SPEAKER_02: And Peter, full of bravado, is like, No, I won't.
SPEAKER_02: I'm willing to die for you, man.
SPEAKER_02: I will not deny you three times tonight.
SPEAKER_02: What's Peter do?
SPEAKER_02: Denies Jesus three times that night.
SPEAKER_02: And now in Acts, the very first apostle to stand up is Peter.
SPEAKER_02: How did Peter deal with that shame?
SPEAKER_02: So in our culture, I don't know that we completely get shame.
SPEAKER_02: Like there are cultures that are honor-sham cultures that's certainly not ours.
SPEAKER_02: I think at our at this point in our culture, I don't know that we feel much shame about our sin.
SPEAKER_02: I think we actually should probably feel more shame about our sin, and it would probably be better for us.
SPEAKER_02: But I used to live in an honor-shamed culture.
SPEAKER_02: I lived in Taiwan.
SPEAKER_02: And I remember one day I'm walking down the street, and there were these two fruit stands that these two older gentlemen ran.
SPEAKER_02: They were almost exactly the same.
SPEAKER_02: They sold fruit to people.
SPEAKER_02: One day I walk by and I see that these two older men are arguing.
SPEAKER_02: They're both in their 70s or 80s.
SPEAKER_02: And the argument keeps to get more heated.
SPEAKER_02: And as it gets more heated, a bigger crowd starts to form.
SPEAKER_02: And eventually it comes to fist.
SPEAKER_02: And I and I know why they're fighting.
SPEAKER_02: I don't know what they were fighting about, but I know why they were fighting.
SPEAKER_02: One of those men had shamed the other man.
SPEAKER_02: And he realized the only way I'm gonna get my honor back is I've got to beat him up.
SPEAKER_02: And if I beat him up, then I can get my honor back.
SPEAKER_02: And that is why they're fighting.
SPEAKER_02: And so there was no way you were gonna stop him, you just gotta let it go.
SPEAKER_02: And so we all stood back, we let it go.
SPEAKER_02: I don't know if you've ever seen older guys fight, but they're a little bit wobbly, they're almost falling down.
SPEAKER_02: One of the guys pulled the shirt over the other guy's head and starts wailing on him.
SPEAKER_02: It was it was crazy.
SPEAKER_02: There was blood, glasses were broken, it was.
SPEAKER_02: But that's an honor-shame culture.
SPEAKER_02: So with Peter, we never see anywhere that he went and beat anybody up.
SPEAKER_02: There's no way that this was resolved in that, in man's way of resolving things.
SPEAKER_02: What happened with Peter?
SPEAKER_02: How did all that shame that he was feeling?
SPEAKER_02: I mean, Peter did probably, in my opinion, probably the most shameful thing that you can do.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus, one of his best friends in his hour of greatest need, denies he even knows him.
SPEAKER_02: And Jesus has now been proven he's he's the he's the son of God, the savior of the world.
SPEAKER_02: That's super shameful.
SPEAKER_02: How did he ever deal with that?
SPEAKER_02: Well, remember, Jesus has been speaking to them for 40 days.
SPEAKER_02: And we actually have record in John, Jesus spoke specifically to Peter.
SPEAKER_02: And here's the thing that Peter got: He finally understood I'm a witness to the resurrection.
SPEAKER_02: And what the resurrection means for me is when Jesus died on the cross, my shame went with him.
SPEAKER_02: He buried my shame in the ground, and now when he rose again, he's given me honor.
SPEAKER_02: And that's why I can now get up and be the leader of all these apostles.
SPEAKER_02: If you don't believe me, go to 1 Peter 2.9.
SPEAKER_02: 1 Peter 2.9.
SPEAKER_02: This is this is what Peter says.
SPEAKER_02: These are his words.
SPEAKER_02: But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
SPEAKER_02: And so when we read that, we're like, man, that's encouraging.
SPEAKER_02: Thank you, Peter, for writing that for us.
SPEAKER_02: And he did.
SPEAKER_02: In a sense, it was written for you.
SPEAKER_02: But here's something I know.
SPEAKER_02: When I preach sermons, I try to, you know, I want to know my audience and I want to preach a message that's going to impact you.
SPEAKER_02: But also every time I preach a sermon, a lot of it is for me as well.
SPEAKER_02: Right?
SPEAKER_02: And I think Peter, when he wrote this, he was also preaching to himself.
SPEAKER_02: And he was saying, Peter, this he's saying, you know, this isn't just for them, this is for me too.
SPEAKER_02: I'm a chosen race.
SPEAKER_02: I'm a holy nation.
SPEAKER_02: I am a royal priesthood.
SPEAKER_02: I'm a people that is God's own possession, and he's called me, he's taken me out of that darkness and all that shame of my sin, and he has brought me into his marvelous light, and the light has washed the shame away.
SPEAKER_02: And now he's given me honor in place of that shame.
SPEAKER_02: So anybody here this morning that you're feeling some shame over something you did in the past, like right now, as I said that, you think of it and you're like, man, I can't believe I did that.
SPEAKER_02: That was so dumb.
SPEAKER_02: Peter did something, I promise, it's way dumber than what you did.
SPEAKER_02: And he was able to get past it because of this truth of the gospel, that he's no longer that old person, but he is a new creation in Christ.
SPEAKER_02: And God has taken his shame, and instead he has replaced it with honor.
SPEAKER_02: Let's carry on.
SPEAKER_02: Verse 15, second half of it here, and it's in parentheses.
SPEAKER_02: It says, the company of persons was in all about 120.
SPEAKER_02: About 120 people.
SPEAKER_02: So what we just found out, Jesus uses 120 people to take the gospel to the ends of the earth.
SPEAKER_02: That is crazy visionary.
SPEAKER_02: To stand in front of 120 people and say, hey guys, we're going to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, we're going to go to the ends of the earth.
SPEAKER_02: We got this.
SPEAKER_02: Let's do it.
SPEAKER_02: That's crazy visionary.
SPEAKER_02: So if a guy came to you this week, if a pastor of a Southern Baptist church of 120 people, if he came to you this week and he says, Hey, I think God spoke to me.
SPEAKER_02: God is calling me and my church.
SPEAKER_02: We're going to go to the nations.
SPEAKER_02: We are going to affect every single nation on earth.
SPEAKER_02: That is what God's called us to.
SPEAKER_02: If a guy came to me and said that, I'd be like, man, what are you talking about?
SPEAKER_02: Are you in some kind of cult?
SPEAKER_02: Like what?
SPEAKER_02: That's too visionary for me.
SPEAKER_02: It's too big.
SPEAKER_02: Like, what's going on with you, man?
SPEAKER_02: Have you been smoking too much weed?
SPEAKER_02: Like, what is too much, right?
SPEAKER_02: Here's the clear distinction, though.
SPEAKER_02: This is a vision from God.
SPEAKER_02: It's not a vision that came from man's heart.
SPEAKER_02: So I wonder if there's anybody this morning.
SPEAKER_02: Maybe maybe you have a dream that God has placed on your heart.
SPEAKER_02: Not your own dream, but a dream that He has placed on your heart.
SPEAKER_02: If He has placed a dream in your heart and it really is from Him, it's going to happen.
SPEAKER_02: There's nothing that can stop it.
SPEAKER_02: Maybe you're a little bit scared to share it even with other people, but if He has placed a dream on your heart, it will happen.
SPEAKER_02: Maybe this is a season of waiting.
SPEAKER_02: Maybe you need to spend some time in prayer and just be praying and waiting for the right time to share it with other people.
SPEAKER_02: But if he has placed a dream on your heart, it's not your own dream, it's his dream, it will happen.
SPEAKER_02: Verse 16.
SPEAKER_02: 16 through 19.
SPEAKER_02: It says, Brothers, the scripture had to be fulfilled with the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: For he was numbered among us and was allotted his share in this ministry.
SPEAKER_02: Now this man acquired a field with the reward of his wickedness, and falling headlong he burst open in the middle, and all his bowels gushed out.
SPEAKER_02: And it became known to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the field was called in their own language, Acadelma, that is the field of blood.
SPEAKER_02: So this is another one of these passages.
SPEAKER_02: First of all, you see Peter's high view of scripture here.
SPEAKER_02: He says in the first verse here, the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand by the mouth of David.
SPEAKER_02: So he's referencing Old Testament Scripture, and he's saying the Holy Spirit spoke through David as he wrote this.
SPEAKER_02: So the apostles, you see here their view of scripture, they believe that all of Scripture, all the Old Testament, is the very words of God.
SPEAKER_02: And that's what I'm saying is that's what we should be believing as a people of God, too.
SPEAKER_02: We should believe that the Old Testament and the New Testament are the very words of God.
SPEAKER_02: So that's the first thing we see.
SPEAKER_02: The next thing we see, this is another one of those passages that I think it's a good one for the skeptics.
SPEAKER_02: So there's a story about Judas where it says, you know, that he how he killed himself and he bought this field, right?
SPEAKER_02: The issue with this passage is if you go to Matthew 27, Matthew chapter 27, turn there with me.
SPEAKER_02: Matthew 27, 3 to 8, it says this.
SPEAKER_02: It's the exact same story, but just note some of the differences.
SPEAKER_02: But then when Judas, his betrayer, saw that Jesus was condemned, he changed his mind and brought back 30 pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders, saying, I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.
SPEAKER_02: They said, What is that to us?
SPEAKER_02: See to it yourself.
SPEAKER_02: And throwing down the pieces of silver in the temple, he departed and he went and he hanged himself.
SPEAKER_02: But the chief priest, taking the pieces of silver, said, It's not lawful to put them in the treasury since it's blood money.
SPEAKER_02: So they took the counsel and bought brought with them the pot they took counsel and bought with them the potter's field as a burial place for strangers.
SPEAKER_02: Therefore, that field to this day has been called the field of blood.
SPEAKER_02: Do you see the differences?
SPEAKER_02: So if you're a skeptic here, you're probably like, Man, that's not true.
SPEAKER_02: The Bible's that's messed up.
SPEAKER_02: The Bible says one thing here and something else here.
SPEAKER_02: Can't believe this.
SPEAKER_02: This is actually proof that the Bible is accurate.
SPEAKER_02: So I've read some books on this.
SPEAKER_02: I also talked to a member of our church, Michael Jackson, he's a policeman for the Sugarland Police Department, right?
SPEAKER_02: And I so I talked to him this week, and I and here's what he said when when um when you're an eyewitness of a traumatic event, you think that you remember everything perfectly.
SPEAKER_02: But the thing is, because of the emotions that spring up during that eyewitness event, you often don't remember things as perfectly as you think you do.
SPEAKER_02: And so what policemen have learned is when a bunch of people are giving their eyewitness testimonies, they actually expect that the testimonies aren't going to be exactly the same.
SPEAKER_02: But they're all seeing it from a different angle.
SPEAKER_02: And just because they see it from a different angle doesn't make something untrue.
SPEAKER_02: It just means it probably fits together a little more differently than you may think.
SPEAKER_02: Right?
SPEAKER_02: And in fact, policemen, if you give your eyewitness testimony to them and three people have the exact same testimony and there's no difference at all, it makes them a little suspicious because they're like, maybe these three people talked and they said, hey, we don't want to get in trouble, let's make sure we share the exact same thing.
SPEAKER_02: Okay?
SPEAKER_02: And so, if you look at this passage, it actually, like Luke and Matthew didn't get together and say, hey man, this Jesus thing is not true.
SPEAKER_02: So let's make sure we have this exactly the same and let's put that in the book.
SPEAKER_02: That's not what happened.
SPEAKER_02: They simply were eyewitnesses and they wrote their account.
SPEAKER_02: So this makes this more trustworthy.
SPEAKER_02: And both of these things can actually be true.
SPEAKER_02: Judas could have hung himself, and then after he hung himself, somebody cut him down or he fell down, and when he fell, he could have landed on rocks or something, and his bowels could have gushed out.
SPEAKER_02: That could have happened, and probably is what happened.
SPEAKER_02: Another thing, it's that one passage seems to hint that the chief priest paid for it, the other passage seems to say that Judas paid for it.
SPEAKER_02: Well, in Matthew 27, when he gives the chief priests that money, do they ever truly accept it?
SPEAKER_02: They don't really.
SPEAKER_02: They're like, no, we don't want it.
SPEAKER_02: They don't ever put it in the treasury, and then they kind of go and buy the field with it.
SPEAKER_02: And so I think the chief priests, in their mind, Judas had bought the field, not really them.
SPEAKER_02: Do you see that?
SPEAKER_02: And so both of these eyewitness accounts can actually be true.
SPEAKER_02: And I don't think there's I also read in one of the commentaries, it said no lawyer or judge would have any trouble with this testimony.
SPEAKER_02: They would all say, Yeah, this is they're they're both telling the same story.
SPEAKER_02: And so this isn't something that should discredit scripture.
SPEAKER_02: It should actually make scripture more true and more reliable to us.
SPEAKER_02: You see that?
SPEAKER_02: All right, so let's go, 120 to 26.
SPEAKER_02: Acts 120 to 26.
SPEAKER_02: For it's written in the book of Psalms, may his camp become desolate, and let there be no one to dwell in it, and let another take his office.
SPEAKER_02: So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us, one of these men must become with us a witness to his resurrection.
SPEAKER_02: And they put forward two.
SPEAKER_02: Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also called Justice, and Matthias, and they prayed and said, You Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which one of these two you've chosen to take the place in this ministry in apostleship with Jesus with Judas turned aside to go to his own place.
SPEAKER_02: And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthews, and he was numbered among the eleven apostles.
SPEAKER_02: So these apostles, during these 40 days, and and then now we're a little bit after, I think they spent their time just pouring through scripture.
SPEAKER_02: They had the Old Testament open and they're pouring through it, and as they're looking at it, it's coming alive to them in a way it never has before.
SPEAKER_02: Because now they're looking at it through the eyes of the resurrection, and they're seeing things completely different.
SPEAKER_02: And what they're looking for, and this is again, this heart that is tilted toward, I want to obey God, they're looking for God, what do you want us to do?
SPEAKER_02: How do we obey you?
SPEAKER_02: And one of the conclusions that they reach is that even though what Judas did was terrible, it was actually God's will because he'd spoken of it happening beforehand.
SPEAKER_02: And then they find the scripture, this is from Psalms in verse 20, Mays can't become desolate, let there be no one to dwell in, let another take his office.
SPEAKER_02: Those are two passages in Psalms, and they see from this we need to replace him, right?
SPEAKER_02: Like that's something that needs to happen.
SPEAKER_02: So in your life, you probably have times where you face difficult decisions.
SPEAKER_02: This is the first difficult decision that the church is facing.
SPEAKER_02: What do you need to do?
SPEAKER_02: What are some steps that you can take to help you be more likely to reach a good conclusion?
SPEAKER_02: The first thing that you need to do is you need to look to scripture.
SPEAKER_02: When you're facing a difficult decision, do what Peter did, get into the Bible, start digging in and saying, God, what do I need to do?
SPEAKER_02: Why do I need to do it?
SPEAKER_02: Help me to find some truth here, right?
SPEAKER_02: So look at Scripture, let Scripture be your guide.
SPEAKER_02: The next thing you need to do is you need to use your common sense.
SPEAKER_02: Use your common sense.
SPEAKER_02: And so that's where they say, you know, we need to find someone that was with Jesus this whole time.
SPEAKER_02: You know, probably one of those 70.
SPEAKER_02: One of those 70 that's been with Jesus and with us this whole time.
SPEAKER_02: And then we also need somebody that is a witness to the resurrection.
SPEAKER_02: They need to have been there when Jesus rose from the dead.
SPEAKER_02: And so that narrows the list down for them a lot, right?
SPEAKER_02: There's something else here that's quite in.
SPEAKER_02: So number one, see what scripture says.
SPEAKER_02: Number two, use common sense, but there's something here that I don't want us to miss.
SPEAKER_02: And it's almost like, you know, you can read right over it and not notice it, but it says, one of these men must become with us a witness to this resurrection.
SPEAKER_02: No big deal, right?
SPEAKER_02: That's actually a pretty big deal.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus asked them to do that back in 1.8 to be witnesses.
SPEAKER_02: And now they're saying, we're gonna be witnesses.
SPEAKER_02: Do you understand the weight of that?
SPEAKER_02: I mean, back in in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, Peter is a witness to Jesus dying, and he gets so scared he denies Jesus three times.
SPEAKER_02: And the reason he denies Jesus three times is if you're if you're part of a religious group and the religious leader gets killed, and you say, Hey, I'm with them, they're probably gonna kill you too.
SPEAKER_02: Right?
SPEAKER_02: Like that that's just normal logic.
SPEAKER_02: Like that's what happens in places where persecution is rampant.
SPEAKER_02: So all of these disciples in this moment, and and it, and there's no pushback.
SPEAKER_02: You don't see anywhere in the text is like, oh, wait a minute, that's a little too much.
SPEAKER_02: I don't know that I want to be part of that.
SPEAKER_02: I don't want killed.
SPEAKER_02: No, that Peter just says, hey, he he's become with us, all of us, a witness to this resurrection.
SPEAKER_02: We need somebody else that's gonna do that.
SPEAKER_02: And you don't see you don't see this guy Justice or Matthias say, oh, wait a minute, I don't know that I want that on me.
SPEAKER_02: No, no, thank you.
SPEAKER_02: They're like, no, yeah, we want this.
SPEAKER_02: And and and it's this the sense that if we die, we die, but the gospel has to go forward.
SPEAKER_02: The gospel is worth it, right?
SPEAKER_02: The next thing they do is they pray.
SPEAKER_02: So get into the Bible, find the truth, use your common sense, and then pray.
SPEAKER_02: Say, God, I need wisdom.
SPEAKER_02: Come speak to me.
SPEAKER_02: Show me what you want me to do.
SPEAKER_02: And then the final thing that they do is they just trust it to God.
SPEAKER_02: They say, God, we've done our best to try to make a good decision.
SPEAKER_02: It's in your hands now, and we trust in your sovereignty.
SPEAKER_02: We trust in your sovereignty.
SPEAKER_02: And so they they cast lots.
SPEAKER_02: Casting lots, I think modern-day equivalent, it's like flipping a coin, right?
SPEAKER_02: It's like heads is Matthias, tails is gonna be the Bersabbas justice guy.
SPEAKER_02: And they they do that, and Matthias is the one that comes out.
SPEAKER_02: And this is the last time you see something like this in scripture, actually.
SPEAKER_02: And it's because I believe in the next chapter, my assumption is the Holy Spirit comes and now he's the one that is gonna lead us to truth.
SPEAKER_02: We don't need to flip coins anymore.
SPEAKER_02: We can trust that he will guide and direct us.
SPEAKER_02: But the the this prequel to the big scene, I mean, the thing that we're waiting for is the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_02: I mean, some of you probably came to church this morning, like, can we just skip this passage and get to the good stuff in Acts chapter two?
SPEAKER_02: And what I want you to see this morning is if this doesn't happen, if the end of chapter one doesn't happen, I don't know that chapter two ever happens.
SPEAKER_02: It's because they had these hearts that were bent toward God and tilted toward obedience, that wanted to obey everything he said, that searching through the scriptures and, like, God, what do you want us to do?
SPEAKER_02: We want to follow you, we don't want to mess this up, we want to be your people and we want to follow and run after you, Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: That that's that's the thing that we've got to get.
SPEAKER_02: And they pray that they have this bold statement that we want to be witnesses to this resurrection, and they know exactly what that means.
SPEAKER_02: They know what it means.
SPEAKER_02: Later on in Philippians 1, 21 through 23, Paul, who will show up on the scene here in a couple chapters in Acts, Paul says this, and I think this is the heart that you see these people living out all through this book.
SPEAKER_02: Philippians 1, 21 to 23.
SPEAKER_02: He says, For me to live as Christ and to die as gain.
SPEAKER_02: If I'm to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me, yet which I shall choose, I cannot tell.
SPEAKER_02: I'm hard pressed between the two.
SPEAKER_02: My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that's far better.
SPEAKER_02: And so Paul's heart is to live as Christ and die as game.
SPEAKER_02: If I stay here, I'm gonna preach the gospel.
SPEAKER_02: But if I if I if I die, I get to be with Jesus, and that's far better.
SPEAKER_02: I'd love to die right now.
SPEAKER_02: I'm ready to go.
SPEAKER_02: This is the heart that the apostles carried.
SPEAKER_02: I don't think we'd be here as a church if they didn't carry it.
SPEAKER_02: There's a story, uh Nick Ripkin, he wrote the book Insanity of God, and toward the end of the book, he he has this story.
SPEAKER_02: Um so it's kind of the last chapter of the book, and he's like, he what he was doing, he was going around the world and he was interviewing the persecuted church.
SPEAKER_02: And he was trying to find out, you know, how do these people do this?
SPEAKER_02: How do they live as a persecuted church?
SPEAKER_02: So his last leg of his journey, he was gonna land in Bangkok, Thailand, and he was gonna go to Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam.
SPEAKER_02: That was his plan.
SPEAKER_02: And as he lands in Bangkok, he checks his email, and there's this guy that's from Central Asia, and this guy says, Hey, I really think you need to come here to visit.
SPEAKER_02: Can you come?
SPEAKER_02: I think the Lord wants you to come.
SPEAKER_02: And he writes back and he says, I just can't, man.
SPEAKER_02: This this trip has been scheduled.
SPEAKER_02: I'm I'm here in this region of the world right now.
SPEAKER_02: Next year, though, I can come.
SPEAKER_02: And so he goes to the first place, he goes to Cambodia, visits, has a wonderful visit, gets back to Bangkok.
SPEAKER_02: He has another email from this guy in Central Asia.
SPEAKER_02: And the guy's like, Hey, I really think you need to come.
SPEAKER_02: I think God wants you to come.
SPEAKER_02: Can you please come and visit us?
SPEAKER_02: And he's like, a little more forcefully this time, he's like, I'm not gonna be able to come.
SPEAKER_02: Like, my this this trip's been scheduled for a couple months.
SPEAKER_02: I need to be here right now, I'm not gonna be able to make it.
SPEAKER_02: So he's about to leave for the next phase of his trip, and he gets a phone call.
SPEAKER_02: He gets this phone call, and this pastor says, Hey, I know you were coming to visit our country, but the guys that you were gonna visit, they just got imprisoned.
SPEAKER_02: So I don't think you want to come here unless you want to stay here longer than you want to.
SPEAKER_02: You might end up in prison if you come here.
SPEAKER_02: How about you wait till later when things cool down?
SPEAKER_02: Hangs up the phone.
SPEAKER_02: So he goes back to Bangkok, checks his email again, and again he has an email from this guy in Central Rage.
SPEAKER_02: At this point, he's kind of fed up with the guy.
SPEAKER_02: He's like, Listen, I cannot come, I will not be coming.
SPEAKER_02: You're gonna have to wait until next year.
SPEAKER_02: I won't be coming.
SPEAKER_02: But this guy, again, he writes him, he's like, hey, you need to come.
SPEAKER_02: I think God wants you to come.
SPEAKER_02: And he's he just he finally just tells, I'm not coming, it's not gonna happen.
SPEAKER_02: So then he he starts to head off to the next portion of his journey, and he is on his way there, and he gets another call.
SPEAKER_02: And this time they say, Hey, the guys that you wanted to visit, the pastors you were coming to this country to visit, they were all in motorcycle accidents this week.
SPEAKER_02: They're in prison now, and because not in prison, they're in the hospital now, because they're in the hospital, it has brought kind of uh the authorities are now looking at us more closely, and if you come, you're gonna get us in trouble.
SPEAKER_02: So please don't come.
SPEAKER_02: He's like, Well, I don't have anything to do now.
SPEAKER_02: And so he gets he gets back to Bangkok.
SPEAKER_02: He has another email from the guy in Central Asia.
SPEAKER_02: The guy says, Hey, I really think you need to come.
SPEAKER_02: I think God wants you to come.
SPEAKER_02: And he emails back and he's like, fine, I'll I'll come.
SPEAKER_02: And so he he flies to this country in Central Asia, and they've worked out how they were gonna meet and what the guy looked like.
SPEAKER_02: And so he gets to the airport and he sees this guy coming toward him, and behind the guy, there's five other guys.
SPEAKER_02: So he comes toward him, they greet one another, and he says, Hey, who are these five guys behind you?
SPEAKER_02: The guy says, I don't know them.
SPEAKER_02: I thought you knew him, I don't know them either.
SPEAKER_02: They say they know you.
SPEAKER_02: I don't know them.
SPEAKER_02: And so he's like, Hey, if if neither of us know these guys, this is a serious security risk.
SPEAKER_02: I'm out of here.
SPEAKER_02: Call me if things are okay, but I'm gone.
SPEAKER_02: And the guy leaves.
SPEAKER_02: So now he's just with these five guys he doesn't even know.
SPEAKER_02: So he's like, Well, I'm out of here too.
SPEAKER_02: I don't want a serious security risk.
SPEAKER_02: So he starts heading over to the ticket counter to buy a new ticket, to fly out.
SPEAKER_02: These guys are tugging on his clothes, saying, Don't go, don't go.
SPEAKER_02: And finally, one of these guys says, We're followers of Jesus, we're Christians.
SPEAKER_02: This makes him turn around.
SPEAKER_02: He begins to pray.
SPEAKER_02: He starts to hear a little bit of their story, and they convince him, come with us, we want to take you over to the city and we can explain things.
SPEAKER_02: So he gets in the car, they go to this small town, and they sit in this apartment, and so it's him sitting here with these five guys just staring at him, smiling.
SPEAKER_02: And he's like, I don't know what to do.
SPEAKER_02: So he starts to share with him, you know, I've been going around the world talking to persecuted people, and he's fine, finally he just says, I don't know why I'm here.
SPEAKER_02: What is going on?
SPEAKER_02: And they all start laughing.
SPEAKER_02: One of them spoke English and was a translator.
SPEAKER_02: So they all start laughing, and they say, You don't know why you're here, but we do.
SPEAKER_02: And they start to share their story with him.
SPEAKER_02: All five of these guys individually share a story of how they had dreams and visions that made them hungry for God.
SPEAKER_02: They then individually, miraculously, each, all five of them found a Bible.
SPEAKER_02: All five of them read the whole way through the Bible multiple times.
SPEAKER_02: Multiple times they read through the entire Bible.
SPEAKER_02: When they did that, they realized that Jesus is the truth.
SPEAKER_02: He's the real deal.
SPEAKER_02: That's who I want to follow.
SPEAKER_02: And they made a decision to follow Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: When they made that decision and their families found out, their family kicked them out, didn't want them there anymore.
SPEAKER_02: And they and because of the state of that nation and the state of the persecution against them, they said, We got to get out of this country or we're gonna die.
SPEAKER_02: And so they go to the next door country that was also persecuted, but not quite as badly, and they go to this border town.
SPEAKER_02: In this border town, all five of them did not know each other, they run into each other, find out that they're all believers, and they get an apartment together and they start meeting every night from 12 to 3 a.m.
SPEAKER_02: and praying and worshiping God.
SPEAKER_02: And they do it from 12 to 3 a.m.
SPEAKER_02: because they don't want to get in trouble with the local authorities.
SPEAKER_02: So they're doing this, and then about two months ago, they say, we that night, two months ago, we started to pray and we said, God, will you send us someone to help us?
SPEAKER_02: We know how to be Muslims, we know how to be communists.
SPEAKER_02: We do not know how to be Christians in a Muslim country.
SPEAKER_02: Send us someone who understands persecution and understands how to live out our faith.
SPEAKER_02: Send us someone like that.
SPEAKER_02: And then they said, Tonight at 1.30 a.m., we're praying, and God says, Go to the airport.
SPEAKER_02: We got in the car, drove to the airport, and then God said, The first white man to come off the plane, you need to go and talk to him.
SPEAKER_02: He gets off the plane and they go directly to that white man.
SPEAKER_02: So listen, that's why you're here.
SPEAKER_02: They said, we want to know why it is taking you two months to get here.
SPEAKER_02: And Nick had to say to them, guys, I think I missed it.
SPEAKER_02: Like I had this plan of the places I wanted to visit, but I think God had a different plan.
SPEAKER_02: And he wanted me to come here.
SPEAKER_02: I'm sorry it took me so long.
SPEAKER_02: I'm sorry I was disobedient for so long, but I'm happy to be here with you.
SPEAKER_02: And he spends the next week just explaining to them how to follow Jesus, what it looks like to be a Christian, what it looks like to live as a Christian in a persecuted place.
SPEAKER_02: Here's my point, guys.
SPEAKER_02: If you'd read the Gospel of Acts, you would find that all through it, there are amazing stories of their obedience, but there are also amazing stories of them just screwing up.
SPEAKER_02: Like the apostles are far from perfect.
SPEAKER_02: They mess up regularly.
SPEAKER_02: But the thing that you will see throughout it is they have this kind of heart lean toward God.
SPEAKER_02: They want to obey.
SPEAKER_02: Their humanness gets in the way sometimes, but they want to obey Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: My question for you this morning is are you are you growing toward Jesus?
SPEAKER_02: Are you finding yourself more and more wanting to obey?
SPEAKER_02: Do you find yourself more and more, I need to get into my Bible.
SPEAKER_02: I'm hungry.
SPEAKER_02: I need more of that in my life.
SPEAKER_02: Or, you know, do you know that God's calling you to do something and you're just like, yeah, I'm not gonna do it?
SPEAKER_02: Is that a really easy thing for you to do?
SPEAKER_02: Because we we want to be a people that don't grow cold toward God, but our hearts should be getting stirred up more and more and more.
SPEAKER_02: We should want to follow Jesus with everything we have.
SPEAKER_02: Right?
SPEAKER_02: Let's pray.
SPEAKER_02: Lord Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: I thank you for this text.
SPEAKER_02: Thank you for these men and their obedience to you, Lord.
SPEAKER_02: It's radical obedience.
SPEAKER_02: They were willing to follow you no matter the cost, Lord.
SPEAKER_02: And I think sometimes in our American churches it can almost be too easy to follow you.
SPEAKER_02: We don't face the level of persecution that they end up facing in this book, Lord.
SPEAKER_02: We don't.
SPEAKER_02: So I pray that you would fill us with more boldness.
SPEAKER_02: Help us to lean into your grace more when we mess up, Lord.
SPEAKER_02: And help us to be a people that follow you with everything we have.
SPEAKER_02: In your name I pray.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: So something we like to do here at our church is we just like to give you a little bit of time.
SPEAKER_02: You just heard that message, and let's just let it settle in your hearts a little bit.
SPEAKER_02: So we have some questions here.
SPEAKER_02: And we want you to just think, you know, we don't want you to just hear the word of God.
SPEAKER_02: We want you to be a people that go and do the word of God.
SPEAKER_02: So what you're really asking God right now is, God, I heard that.
SPEAKER_02: What do you want me to do this week?
SPEAKER_02: How can I obey you this week, Lord?
SPEAKER_02: Okay, so I want to give you some time to do that, and then I'll be right back.
SPEAKER_02: So, Lord, I'm trusting that you're speaking to us right now.
SPEAKER_02: And I pray that you you would have spoken to us in such a way that we'd we'd have some assignments that we need to go and complete for you this week, Lord.
SPEAKER_02: I pray that you'd give us the grace to follow you well this week, Lord Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: Your name I pray.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: So if you are new to our church, we want to welcome you here.
SPEAKER_02: Um, there's a couple things you can do.
SPEAKER_02: Right after service, the pastors will be here.
SPEAKER_02: You're welcome to come and ask us questions.
SPEAKER_02: As well, there's a there's a text here.
SPEAKER_02: If you want to text us, we would love to get lunch with you and just hear your story and find out who you are and know you better.
SPEAKER_02: So feel free to do that as well.
SPEAKER_02: There are offerings, offering boxes in the back.
SPEAKER_02: And if you one of the ways you want to worship this morning is through giving, that is where you do that.
SPEAKER_02: Um, the final thing that we have here is there's a short video that we want to show you, and it's just like this is what's happening in the church, and there's some things you can get involved in, okay?
SPEAKER_00: Here's a look at what's happening at Grand Park Way Baptist Church.
SPEAKER_00: If you're new, text welcome to 281-626-5707.
SPEAKER_00: This way we can know you're here and get you connected with the church.
SPEAKER_00: As a reminder, Bible studies for students, bridge, and adults are now at 1030 a.m.
SPEAKER_00: This is a great opportunity to set a new rhythm where you worship together as a family at 9 o'clock and then attend your age-appropriate Bible study.
SPEAKER_00: For all adults 60 and over, join us for lunch and connection on April 19th from 1030 a.m.
SPEAKER_00: to 1 p.m.
SPEAKER_00: At Grand Parkway, we believe you are the most experienced people and that you're still in the game.
SPEAKER_00: Come and invite your friends to the varsity.
SPEAKER_00: Armor of God Standing Firm is a new women's study that is starting up on April 26th from 6.30 to 8:30 p.m.
SPEAKER_00: It's a four-week look at Ephesians 6 and the armor God gives us so we can stand firm.
SPEAKER_00: Childcare is available.
SPEAKER_00: Register for both of these events and childcare at grandparkway.org.
SPEAKER_00: Finally, pray for our France team.
SPEAKER_00: They'll be leaving March 18th for Lyon, France to assist our missionary partners, the Marshall family, prepare their grounds for summer camp.
SPEAKER_00: If you have any questions or want someone to pray for you, find one of our pastors at the front of the stage at the conclusion of our service.
SPEAKER_02: One final announcement.
SPEAKER_02: Um, if you're interested at all, this summer, end of June, beginning of July, we're gonna take a team to Romania.
SPEAKER_02: If you have any interest in that, there's gonna be a meeting over in the fellowship hall.
SPEAKER_02: It's the one in the green building, it's the back room back by the kitchen.
SPEAKER_02: Anybody's welcome to come.
SPEAKER_02: Men, women, you're welcome to come on that trip.
SPEAKER_02: Um, just come over there and I'll meet you over there in a bit.
SPEAKER_02: If you guys could stand with me, I wanna I wanna bless you as you head out.
SPEAKER_02: So, Lord Jesus, I bless these people this week with a ferocious hunger that wants more and more of you.
SPEAKER_02: And I pray that that ferocious hunger would grow.
SPEAKER_02: I pray that as they're they're on sports fields, they're on vacation this week, they're at work this week, they'd have a ferocious hunger for you, Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: And it would grow and grow, and it wouldn't be satisfied, they just want more and more of you.
SPEAKER_02: I bless them with that this week, Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: In your name I pray.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.