SPEAKER_02: This podcast is brought to you by Grand Parkway Baptist Church, helping people to know, enjoy, and glorify God.
SPEAKER_02: For more information about Grand Parkway, visit Grandparkway.org.
SPEAKER_01: Father, help us to rest in that.
SPEAKER_01: You've washed us white as snow.
SPEAKER_01: God, thank you.
SPEAKER_01: Just simply thank you for the forgiveness of sin.
SPEAKER_01: And thank you that we get to be heralds of this incredible message to the darkest places.
SPEAKER_01: God, I as this sir, as this uh the service is full with things, with a baptism, a beauty dedication, God, I pray that this honors you, Lord.
SPEAKER_01: We're so grateful for the blood that was spilled in Calvary.
SPEAKER_01: Now, would you please bless the teaching and the preaching of your word?
SPEAKER_01: Would you still our minds and our hearts to hear what you have for us here today?
SPEAKER_01: God, thank you for who you are, and I pray these things in your name.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe seated.
SPEAKER_01: Good morning.
SPEAKER_01: How are you?
SPEAKER_01: Awesome.
SPEAKER_01: If you have Bibles, would you grab those and go to Acts chapter 11?
SPEAKER_01: Acts chapter 11.
SPEAKER_01: If you don't have one, you can relax as the words, I'm gonna uh uh the text we're preaching from is gonna appear here on the screen.
SPEAKER_01: Um we had a full service, I'm gonna dive right in.
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna be verses 19 through 30.
SPEAKER_01: I'm just gonna summarize the first 18 verses here um for you.
SPEAKER_01: So over the last few times we've studied in the book of Acts, we've looked at a man named Cornelius, okay?
SPEAKER_01: Um up until this point, um, Jews are sharing the gospel with other Jews.
SPEAKER_01: But with the story of Cornelius, it's so intriguing because you have a Gentile man who actually comes to faith in Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Cornelius gets saved through the ministry of Peter, and word spreads that this happens.
SPEAKER_01: There's a Gentile that gets saved.
SPEAKER_01: And Peter comes back to the church in Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_01: And in a stunning twist, they don't give him a raise for that.
SPEAKER_01: He doesn't get any extra PTO or a gift card.
SPEAKER_01: What he gets is he gets questioned.
SPEAKER_01: They question him, hey, what do you think you are doing?
SPEAKER_01: Okay, so this religious party, they're still stuck in the religious mindset that the gospel was reserved for the Jews.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, it was reserved for the rural followers.
SPEAKER_01: So therefore, Peter starts explaining to him, listen, God shook my snow globe.
SPEAKER_01: God shook my snow globe, and what that means is Peter's Jewish brain is trained to think clean, unclean.
SPEAKER_01: Jewish, gentile, us, them, us, them, us, them.
SPEAKER_01: And Peter explains it, listen, I had a vision, and that vision turned into a mission, and God told me, make no distinction.
SPEAKER_01: So I preached the gospel to Cornelius.
SPEAKER_01: God showed Peter that the gospel is for everyone.
SPEAKER_01: It's not reserved for the rule followers, but it's also moving out to the rule breakers.
SPEAKER_01: And in verse 17, he's telling them that salvation is a gift.
SPEAKER_01: And he's explaining to the church in Jerusalem, listen, this gift is going places we didn't expect.
SPEAKER_01: And he says something hilarious in verse 17, right here.
SPEAKER_01: He says this if God gave the same gift to them as he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God's way?
SPEAKER_01: And there's a legendary moment of silence.
SPEAKER_01: And then they glorified God.
SPEAKER_01: Today it looks like we're going to the Gentiles, too.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: And that's where we are.
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna land here in verse 19.
SPEAKER_01: So we're gonna look at verses 19 through 30.
SPEAKER_01: It says this.
SPEAKER_01: Now those who were scattered because of the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except Jews.
SPEAKER_01: But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who on coming to Antioch spoke to the Hellenists also, preaching the Lord Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed turned to the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: And a report of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent to Barnabas, uh they sent Barnabas to Antioch.
SPEAKER_01: And when he came and saw the grace of God, he was glad, and he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose, for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith.
SPEAKER_01: And a great many people were added to the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: So Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch, and for a whole year they met with the church and taught a great many people.
SPEAKER_01: And in Antioch the disciples were first called Christians.
SPEAKER_01: Now in these days, prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch.
SPEAKER_01: Now one of them named Agabas stood up and foretold by the Spirit that there would be a famine over the world.
SPEAKER_01: This took place in the days of Claudius.
SPEAKER_01: So disciples determined, everyone according to their ability, to send relief to the brothers living in Judea.
SPEAKER_01: And they did so, sending it to the elders by the hand of Barnabas and Saul.
SPEAKER_01: It's the word of the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Now, in the early 1800s, there was a playwright, a guy who wrote plays, his name is John Dennis, and he came up with the revolutionary way.
SPEAKER_01: This is before sound machines, he came up with the revolutionary way to make the sound of thunder during plays.
SPEAKER_01: He had somebody standing backstage with the metal thing and they would strike and it would sound like thunder.
SPEAKER_01: He premiered this in a play of his in 1709.
SPEAKER_01: And it sounded awesome.
SPEAKER_01: But the play wasn't that good at all.
SPEAKER_01: So after just four days, the play was shut down.
SPEAKER_01: And a few days later, they were premiering another play called Macbeth in the same theater.
SPEAKER_01: So John Dennis shows up as just a fan, as a spectator, and he's in the crowd and he's listening and he's watching the play.
SPEAKER_01: And there's a scene in this play where there's a storm.
SPEAKER_01: And he's like, wait a second.
SPEAKER_01: I know that sound.
SPEAKER_01: And he realized they took his invention.
SPEAKER_01: Someone stole his invention.
SPEAKER_01: So he stands up and he says a curse for it.
SPEAKER_01: I get that would give me fire right now.
SPEAKER_01: And he says, Quote, they rejected my play, but they stole my thunder.
SPEAKER_01: They stole my thunder.
SPEAKER_01: So listen, something was obvious and familiar to him.
SPEAKER_01: So he named it and it stuck.
SPEAKER_01: In that same way, the passage we just looked at, okay, Antioch is making a lot of noise.
SPEAKER_01: And people are watching from the outside in, and something looks familiar and obvious to them, so they named them Christians.
SPEAKER_01: And it stuck.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, up until this point, they've been called disciples, they've been called saints, believers, brothers, witnesses, or even followers of the way.
SPEAKER_01: But right here is the debut of the nickname Christians.
SPEAKER_01: And my question we're gonna explore in our short time together is this hey, what was obvious and familiar that warranted this nickname?
SPEAKER_01: So think of John Dennis in the crowd listening.
SPEAKER_01: Wait a second.
SPEAKER_01: Like it was I know that.
SPEAKER_01: I know that tune.
SPEAKER_01: I know that noise.
SPEAKER_01: That's mine.
SPEAKER_01: It's my machine.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: So what was obvious here, what was obvious and familiar about these believers that warranted that nickname?
SPEAKER_01: Well, the first thing you see here in the text is that they saw darkness as an opportunity to be a light for Christ.
SPEAKER_01: They saw darkness as an opportunity.
SPEAKER_01: Listen, it darkness to them was not a fuel for their pride.
SPEAKER_01: Like, look at all these heathens.
SPEAKER_01: Good thing I'm a Christian.
SPEAKER_01: It wasn't a fuel for their irritability.
SPEAKER_01: This world's going to hell in a handbasket.
SPEAKER_01: No, they saw darkness as an opportunity to be a light for Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Look at verses 19 through 21 again.
SPEAKER_01: It says this.
SPEAKER_01: Now, those who were scattered because of the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except Jews.
SPEAKER_01: But some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who on coming to Antioch spoke to the Hellenist also, preaching the Lord Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: And the hand of the Lord was with them.
SPEAKER_01: And a great number who believed turned to the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: So a few weeks ago, I showed you people in London who made art out of trash.
SPEAKER_01: And I told and I pointed to the fact that this is what God does.
SPEAKER_01: He makes beautiful things out of us and he makes art out of our situation.
SPEAKER_01: He's the ultimate artist.
SPEAKER_01: And verse 19 is an example of that.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, the persecution of Stephen scattered the saints.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, he turned a murder, a brutal murder, into international missions.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, so people were spreading the gospel, but only to other Jews.
SPEAKER_01: But look at verse 20.
SPEAKER_01: Look at verse 20 again.
SPEAKER_01: It says this.
SPEAKER_01: But there were some of them.
SPEAKER_01: This seems to be a theme just in the Christian culture, even today.
SPEAKER_01: There are people who are um they're okay with the status quo.
SPEAKER_01: They're not rebels against the status quo, but they're always thinking, is there a more faithful way to be the people of God in this moment?
SPEAKER_01: But there were some of them.
SPEAKER_01: And this, some of them, okay, started sharing the gospel with the rule breakers.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, now there were Gentiles, and these rule breakers were actually coming to know Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: So there, but before this point, there were Gentiles who did come to Christ before, okay?
SPEAKER_01: We saw um the Ethiopian eunuch.
SPEAKER_01: But the Ethiopian eunuch was already reading his Bible when Philip came.
SPEAKER_01: But he came to Christ.
SPEAKER_01: So there is also Cornelius.
SPEAKER_01: But Cornelius already had a reverence for Yahweh that fleshed itself out in him being generous and him praying continually.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: Antioch is a whole different animal.
SPEAKER_01: This is a different beast.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, so I have a map here that I'm gonna show you.
SPEAKER_01: Um, you can just ignore the colors and ignore the numbers, but I want to show you the distance between Antioch and Rome.
SPEAKER_01: So Antioch, um, as you can see here on this uh on this map, this is the third largest city in the Roman Empire.
SPEAKER_01: This is the capital of Syria.
SPEAKER_01: So if you can see it right there, I should have circled it or something.
SPEAKER_01: This is the capital of Syria right here to your to your right, left, right, to your right.
SPEAKER_01: Um, it was a very, very diverse place.
SPEAKER_01: People from all over the world were here.
SPEAKER_01: And as you can see, it's pretty far from Rome.
SPEAKER_01: And yet, there was a famous Roman comedian at the time who said the sewage of Antioch has been spilling into Rome for a long time.
SPEAKER_01: By this he meant the debauchery from Antioch continues to make its way over to Rome 1300 miles away.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, this city was in part notorious for some of its debauchery.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, there were worship of multiple gods, there was cult prostitution.
SPEAKER_01: This was a spiritually dark place.
SPEAKER_01: This was no longer them preaching to Cornelius.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, these were pagans smack dab in the middle of paganing.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know if that's a thing.
SPEAKER_01: And yet, these unnamed people, these unnamed mavericks said, let's tell them about Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Let's tell them about Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: So these days, my favorite worship song says, I'm gonna praise him anyway.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, if you can catch me up and down West Airport blasting that song and screaming, I'm gonna praise him anyway.
SPEAKER_01: And but these unnamed people, we don't know who they are, had the remix down pat.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna preach him anyway.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna talk about him anyway.
SPEAKER_01: They sought darkness as an opportunity to be a light for Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Now, our our youth pastor's name is Ian.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, but forget about that for a second.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, um in Latin, um, the ending Ian, I A-N, meant the party of.
SPEAKER_01: So Christ Ian literally meant the party of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, Christians were saying the word Christian was literally saying like Jesusites or Jesus people.
SPEAKER_01: It's describing people who were associated with Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: So what warranted the nickname for Christians is that Christ was continually on their lips despite their environment.
SPEAKER_01: There were lights in the world.
SPEAKER_01: They weren't the point, they weren't selling themselves, but Jesus was the hero of their story.
SPEAKER_01: Not their political party, not their country, not their personality, not their therapist, not even their church.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus was the hero of their story.
SPEAKER_01: And friends, that's freeing.
SPEAKER_01: When Christ is the hero of your life and your story, that's freeing.
SPEAKER_01: And what you see here is when Jesus is the hero of your story, you can evangelize without any fear.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 20 says, but there were some of the men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who on coming out Antioch spoke to the Hellenists also, preaching the Lord Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: They were preaching the Lord Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: This is amazing.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, this is a place that's been nicknamed the abode of the gods.
SPEAKER_01: There is Zeus, there is Poseidon, there is Artemis, Apollos, Adonis, Athenus, Athena.
SPEAKER_01: Yet they presented Jesus as the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: They would have been familiar with the word Lord, but they presented Jesus as the only Lord.
SPEAKER_01: He is the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: And friends, that is beautifully offensive.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes we say things so much we don't even remember, we don't even think about them at all.
SPEAKER_01: I had a friend of mine that was um discipling me in uh in high school, his name is Jordan, and he I remember him telling me the story of him going on a college campus and getting his guitar and singing the song Our God is greater at a college campus.
SPEAKER_01: And as he's singing, going, Our God is greater, our God is stronger, our God is higher than any.
SPEAKER_01: He hit him.
SPEAKER_01: This song is really offensive, but that's what you see, that's what you see here.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, that's what they they knew that the gospel was power.
SPEAKER_01: They knew that the gospel was power.
SPEAKER_01: Romans 1:16 says it like this I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God.
SPEAKER_01: Notice what it doesn't say, it doesn't say it is powerful or it has power, but it is the power of God for salvation to anyone, to everyone who believes, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
SPEAKER_01: Listen, if you have a powerful bomb in your hands or a detonator in your hands, and your commander tells you, Hey, it's time, press the button.
SPEAKER_01: Be a good soldier, press the button.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, your form in pressing the button, your technique, and how cool or how put together you look in pressing the button doesn't matter.
SPEAKER_01: Even your competency up to that point doesn't even matter.
SPEAKER_01: It's just be faithful enough to press the button in that same way.
SPEAKER_01: Your job would be just to simply unleash its power because your commander told you to.
SPEAKER_01: And that's what they did unanimously, faithfully, and powerfully.
SPEAKER_01: But when Jesus is the hero of your story, you can evangelize without any fear, not selling yourself, you can evangelize without any fear.
SPEAKER_01: And you can also lead without any ego.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, verses 22 through 26.
SPEAKER_01: The report came, the report of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_01: And they sent Barnabas to Antioch.
SPEAKER_01: And when he came and saw the grace of God, he was glad.
SPEAKER_01: And he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose.
SPEAKER_01: For he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith, and a great many people were added to the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: So Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul.
SPEAKER_01: And when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch.
SPEAKER_01: For a whole year they met with the church and taught a great many people.
SPEAKER_01: And in Antioch, the disciples were first called Christians.
SPEAKER_01: So the mothership church at this time is a church in Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, there's people are hearing that this church in Antioch is becoming bigger and bigger and bigger.
SPEAKER_01: So they send Barnabas 300 miles to go see what's happening over in Antioch.
SPEAKER_01: And Barnabas starts doing what only Barnabas could do.
SPEAKER_01: He starts he starts uh he starts acting out his nickname, okay, encouraging anything that moves.
SPEAKER_01: He's encouraging everyone.
SPEAKER_01: So um he tells him to remain faithful and keep going and give it their all.
SPEAKER_01: But instead of playing hero ball, he leaves again to go get Paul to help him.
SPEAKER_01: And they do ministry there for a year.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, Barnabas walked into a situation where he could have been a big-time megachurch guy, mega church pastor.
SPEAKER_01: He could have soaked up the praise and saved the day, got all the glory and affirmation, maybe even a book deal at the very end of it.
SPEAKER_01: But he understood that it's too dark to play these games.
SPEAKER_01: It's too dark to live life on selfie mode.
SPEAKER_01: The gospel takes us out of selfie mode.
SPEAKER_01: What the gospel does, it makes us less about me and more about mission.
SPEAKER_01: Remember, the church is not just some organization that you can rise up in and to feed your ego, but this is an organism in which Jesus is the head and he is the hero.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus dying on the cross outs us as bad heroes and bad gods.
SPEAKER_01: And because of this, he realized verse 24 says he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith.
SPEAKER_01: So he he didn't have this ego about him.
SPEAKER_01: I got this.
SPEAKER_01: But he did good shoulder-to-shoul work with Paul for a year.
SPEAKER_01: This is ego-less leadership that would have been a light in a dark place.
SPEAKER_01: All sorts of religions around there was all about building yourself up.
SPEAKER_01: But yeah, he had the humility to ask for help and he could lead without the ego.
SPEAKER_01: Overall, this church was successful because they saw darkness as an opportunity.
SPEAKER_01: They weren't annoyed or eager to escape people with different beliefs.
SPEAKER_01: That's my question to you.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: What a world we're living in right now.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, think about what's happening over in the Middle East and think of what's happening with the sexual revolution here where we're at.
SPEAKER_01: As you watch the darkness of this world, what stirs in you?
SPEAKER_01: Is it persistent irritation?
SPEAKER_01: Or do you see this with eager opportunity?
SPEAKER_01: Okay, this is time.
SPEAKER_01: But what's so different about this church in Antioch is that they were thinking, uh, we were made for this moment.
SPEAKER_01: We were made for this moment right now.
SPEAKER_01: So um what what war into the nickname?
SPEAKER_01: Okay, the nickname was because they they saw darkness as an opportunity to be light.
SPEAKER_01: Second, they also saw um uh the constant conversion to Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, constant conversion to Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Look at verse 21.
SPEAKER_01: And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed turn turned to the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, and the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed turned to the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: So years ago, um at the MTV uh awards, music awards, um Um, Justin Bieber won an award, and he got on stage.
SPEAKER_01: But who do you thank whenever you you win an award?
SPEAKER_01: What do you do?
SPEAKER_01: So he got this award and he says, I want to say thank you so much to not only God but also Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: And what happened then?
SPEAKER_01: The internet did what the internet does best, and they roasted that man.
SPEAKER_01: So what happened?
SPEAKER_01: People started making videos with selfie videos going, hey, I want to thank my mom and dad, but also my parents.
SPEAKER_01: Hey, I want to introduce you guys to my my cat and my dog, but also my pets.
SPEAKER_01: What are they doing?
SPEAKER_01: Because they're making fun of the fact that they they think he sounds redundant when he says that.
SPEAKER_01: When he says, I want to thank God, but also Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, and some of you had that same thought whenever we read this passage right here.
SPEAKER_01: Um, and a great number who believed turned to the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: For some of you, that sounds pretty redundant uh language.
SPEAKER_01: But what's happening here is this is referring to real conversion.
SPEAKER_01: Real conversion.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, real conversion has twin sisters.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, there's repentance and there's faith.
SPEAKER_01: And in this passage, you see um many of them who believed their faith turned to the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: That's repentance.
SPEAKER_01: So they didn't just get the nickname because they were um Christ came from their lips, but they also got the nickname Christians because they saw lives transformed by Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: And that was happening a lot.
SPEAKER_01: And listen, not many things in this world can preach as loudly as a changed life.
SPEAKER_01: One of the biggest, most shiny, most neon billboards for Jesus is a life transformed in the name of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: There were conversions happening.
SPEAKER_01: And this was actually a supernatural thing that was happening from the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, conversion is a natural response to a supernatural act of God in you.
SPEAKER_01: Because before conversion, there is something called regeneration.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, anyone who is truly converted first has to be born again or regenerated.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, and you and I are helpless in this.
SPEAKER_01: God does this.
SPEAKER_01: This goes all the way back to the garden with Adam and Eve.
SPEAKER_01: It's not a cute story about temptation or obeying God, but what happens is it's tragic.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, what they did got you dead.
SPEAKER_01: You need to be born again.
SPEAKER_01: Christianity is not just about tweaking your personality so you can fit into this Christian subculture.
SPEAKER_01: It's about new life or new birth.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: And what happens in regenerations that the Holy Spirit puts his uh puts his hands on your dead heart and like a defibrillator goes, all right, clear, and then boom.
SPEAKER_01: And what happens then?
SPEAKER_01: You are made alive to see the filtiness of your sin and also the necessity and goodness of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: So what happens then is you turn from your sin and you tore you go towards Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: So there's a turning from and a turning to.
SPEAKER_01: That's repentance and faith.
SPEAKER_01: They're two sides of the same coin, and this is what keeps happening over and over and over and over in the church at Antioch.
SPEAKER_01: Now, what is true repentance?
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: True repentance is what I call it, it's a holy U-turn.
SPEAKER_01: It's a holy U-turn.
SPEAKER_01: What you're not doing, this is repentance is not cleaning yourself up in order to go to God.
SPEAKER_01: Repentance is going to God in your filth and trusting that He can clean your heart and your mind.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, we shouldn't think of repentance as something that we should do before we come to God.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, there's people who try to get in shape before they join a CrossFit class, lest they be embarrassed.
SPEAKER_01: Or people who take a shower before they take a bath.
SPEAKER_01: That's not what that's an erroneous way of thinking of repentance.
SPEAKER_01: It's the very act of coming to God and trusting that He can clean our hearts and our minds.
SPEAKER_01: So Charles Spurgeon calls it the twin sister of faith.
SPEAKER_01: And it's not just feeling bad, it's literally turning away.
SPEAKER_01: 2 Corinthians 7.10 puts it like this for godly grief produces repentance that leads to salvation without regret.
SPEAKER_01: Whereas worldly grief produces death.
SPEAKER_01: So this is a changed mind about God, a changed mind about yourself, a changed mind about sin, a changed mind about righteousness.
SPEAKER_01: So repentance is uh uh is heartfelt sorrow for your sin, renouncing your sin, and a commitment to forsake your sin.
SPEAKER_01: That's repentance.
SPEAKER_01: Now, on the other side of the coin, there is there is saving faith.
SPEAKER_01: Saving faith is just you're personally, whenever you have saving faith, it is you're personally trusting that Jesus has the forgiveness of sins and he is Lord and He can give you eternal life.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: That's that's saving faith.
SPEAKER_01: Now to trust him, you need three things, and I'll be quick on these three things.
SPEAKER_01: Number one, you need to knowledge of who he is.
SPEAKER_01: In order to trust someone, you need to know who they are.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: So if you are a young parent and you're at Sugarland Town, Sugarland Mall, I don't even remember what it's called, first colony mall, and you get a text message that your babysitter canceled, and you go, Oh man, my babysitter canceled.
SPEAKER_01: What if some random man goes, I'll watch your kids?
SPEAKER_01: What's wrong with that?
SPEAKER_01: You don't know them.
SPEAKER_01: In order to trust, okay, you you need, in order to trust someone, you need to have knowledge of that person.
SPEAKER_01: Listen, the higher the stakes are, the more you need to know them.
SPEAKER_01: So if some 18-year-old knocks on my door and it's like, hey, uh uh, can I cur, can I cut your grass for money?
SPEAKER_01: Can I cut your I live in an apartment, so it doesn't work.
SPEAKER_01: Um can I wash your car um for for like 10 bucks?
SPEAKER_01: I guess, sure.
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
SPEAKER_01: But if I get wrongly accused of murder, and I'm at Denise with my friends, like, oh man, I got accused of murder.
SPEAKER_01: And some guy things like, oh, I'll be your lawyer.
SPEAKER_01: No, the stakes are too high.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know you.
SPEAKER_01: The higher the stakes are, the more you have to have knowledge and trust, or you have knowledge and identity and character.
SPEAKER_01: So you're not coming to saving faith if you believe that Jesus is just a nice guy who taught cool stuff.
SPEAKER_01: Saving faith includes the knowledge of who Jesus is and why he died.
SPEAKER_01: You need knowledge.
SPEAKER_01: Well, listen, knowledge itself is not enough.
SPEAKER_01: There are demons shaking in their boots because they have the knowledge.
SPEAKER_01: They have that knowledge, they know who he is.
SPEAKER_01: So, besides knowledge, you also need agreance.
SPEAKER_01: You need agreance.
SPEAKER_01: You have to agree that Jesus didn't just say the truth, he is truth.
SPEAKER_01: These are not just opinions he's saying, these are truth.
SPEAKER_01: Listen, no one killed Jesus for one of his awesome acts of kindness.
SPEAKER_01: So whenever he um filled or he fed an entire stadium with the little kid's lunchables, no one wanted to stab him after that.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: It's because of what he said.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, and what you need for saving faith, there needs to be agreements of what he talked about when it comes to God, life, sin, death, hell, righteousness.
SPEAKER_01: You have to understand these are not opinions, but God talking.
SPEAKER_01: So you need knowledge, you also need agreance.
SPEAKER_01: But again, agreance isn't enough either.
SPEAKER_01: Famous atheist podcasters are saying, you know, Sermon of the Mount's actually pretty good.
SPEAKER_01: And I agree with that.
SPEAKER_01: You can find him all over the place.
SPEAKER_01: So knowledge isn't enough, agreance isn't enough.
SPEAKER_01: What you need is personal trust.
SPEAKER_01: You have to call on him yourself.
SPEAKER_01: You can't relate to him like it's a packed arena, and you're at the very top of the nosebleeds, and the concerts all the way down there, like, okay, well, this is no, no, you have to personally go to him.
SPEAKER_01: Because Romans chapter 10 says this for there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord who is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him.
SPEAKER_01: Everyone who calls on him will be saved.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, they will be saved.
SPEAKER_01: So they got their nickname, not only because Jesus was coming from their lips, but because transformed lives were happening.
SPEAKER_01: That's the progression of this text.
SPEAKER_01: It's it's lips, it's lives, it's also hands.
SPEAKER_01: So they got the nickname because they were turning, people were turning from idolatry and turning to the one Lord, Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: And lastly, what's obvious and familiar about these believers that wore into the nickname, okay?
SPEAKER_01: They saw crisis as an opportunity to show compassion.
SPEAKER_01: Look at verses 27 to 30.
SPEAKER_01: Now, in these days, prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch, and one of them named Agabas stood up and foretold by the Spirit that there would be a great famine over the world.
SPEAKER_01: This took place in the days of Claudius.
SPEAKER_01: So the disciples determined everyone according to his ability to send relief to the brothers living in Judea.
SPEAKER_01: And they did so, sending it to the leader, to the elders by the hand of Barnabas and Saul.
SPEAKER_01: So there's prophets coming up to Antioch and they're saying, Hey, listen, a famine is about to strike, and the church in Jerusalem needs help.
SPEAKER_01: So a crisis is about to occur.
SPEAKER_01: And how does the church in Antioch react?
SPEAKER_01: Okay, do they storm over to H E B and stockpile on toilet paper?
SPEAKER_01: Good times, huh?
SPEAKER_01: Boy, good times.
SPEAKER_01: Um no, instead of moving inward, the Bible says they determined to give.
SPEAKER_01: And the people who had a lot gave a lot.
SPEAKER_01: People who had little gave that.
SPEAKER_01: Now, if you've noticed, we've been teaching through Acts now for a long time.
SPEAKER_01: If you've noticed, um, we're being really repetitive about the topic of generosity.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, I hope you notice in our study Acts how natural it is for Christians to evangelize and be generous.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, as natural as it is for a baby to cry or a baby to want their mom, that's how natural it is for someone who's been truly converted to have a big mouth for the gospel and open hands when it comes to their stuff.
SPEAKER_01: That's the natural response for the Christian because they're born of their father.
SPEAKER_01: And what's in the heart of the father?
SPEAKER_01: Two words, give and forgive.
SPEAKER_01: We're called to that.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, we've been born of the father.
SPEAKER_01: We are we are called to that.
SPEAKER_01: Listen, you bear the name of the most generous king there ever was.
SPEAKER_01: How could you not be generous and compassionate people?
SPEAKER_01: How could who do we think we are not being generous and compassionate people?
SPEAKER_01: Alexander the Great.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, Alexander the Great, he took over the world at like a very, very young age.
SPEAKER_01: And one day when he's sitting on his throne, he hears that there is a man on his army who's being a coward.
SPEAKER_01: The plot twist, this man's name is also Alexander.
SPEAKER_01: So Alexander confronts him and says, Hey, what's your name?
SPEAKER_01: And the kid stuttered, uh, Alexander.
SPEAKER_01: And the story goes that Alexander pushes him down and goes, You have two options change your conduct or change your name.
SPEAKER_01: In that same way, goodness, we're bear the name of Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Should we not be as generous as he was in giving himself?
SPEAKER_01: Second Corinthians chapter 8 says that um he made himself poor to make us rich.
SPEAKER_01: This is actually how Christianity spread.
SPEAKER_01: Compassion and generosity in the face of crisis.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, Christianity didn't spread in the Greco-Roman world because they had best technology and big, big old churches.
SPEAKER_01: One of the major reasons it spread was through infectious diseases.
SPEAKER_01: The people in other religions, whenever infectious diseases would break out, peace.
SPEAKER_01: I'm out.
SPEAKER_01: They don't have a hope beyond this world.
SPEAKER_01: It's like I'm out of here.
SPEAKER_01: And they would leave.
SPEAKER_01: And the Christians would move in, knowing this world is a prelude to the next.
SPEAKER_01: I have a God who made himself sick for me, made himself die by his wounds, we're healed.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore, I'm there's a crisis, and I'm gonna be compassionate in this crisis.
SPEAKER_01: Heaven is already secured, therefore, this crisis is an opportunity to show compassion.
SPEAKER_01: They were living in a different, they were living for a different world where Christ was.
SPEAKER_01: That was obvious.
SPEAKER_01: So they were called Christians.
SPEAKER_01: So, what was obvious, familiar about these believers that warranty the nickname?
SPEAKER_01: For them, darkness was an opportunity to be light for Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, they didn't look around and go, man, I can't wait to go back to my Christian cocoon where things were comfy.
SPEAKER_01: Or I can't wait to, I'm so much better than no, no, no.
SPEAKER_01: This is an opportunity.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, what is light for?
SPEAKER_01: No one holds a light up against the sun.
SPEAKER_01: No, you light is for dark places.
SPEAKER_01: They were they saw darkness as an opportunity to be light for Christ.
SPEAKER_01: They had a hand in consistent conversions to Christ, and they saw crisis as an opportunity to show compassion.
SPEAKER_01: I pray that this is true of you, and I pray this is true of uh us as a family.
SPEAKER_01: Let me pray.
SPEAKER_01: Lord Jesus, um thank you for your those two words at the center of your heart.
SPEAKER_01: Give and forgive.
SPEAKER_01: Make obvious the dark spots of our lives where we can be a light, Lord.
SPEAKER_01: I I repent of even having in my own heart those tiny thoughts.
SPEAKER_01: Man, they would never come to know the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: So I just repent of having a questioning your power in the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: I thank you for um the nickname that's stuck, and I pray that we can live out that nickname as disciples of yours.
SPEAKER_01: It's in your saving name, I pray.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: So, as is true every Sunday, we like to preach and then give you some soul spirit to think about what you've just heard.
SPEAKER_01: Um, but would you um look here at these questions?
SPEAKER_01: What you can do is you can journey in your mind with one of these questions, or you can take a picture and just think about these things and ruminate on this week.
SPEAKER_01: But I'm gonna give you about 90 seconds just so you can think about um what you just heard, Lord.
SPEAKER_01: I believe that you're contending with us.
SPEAKER_01: I I pray that you can continue to preach to us.
SPEAKER_01: Holy Spirit, will you again open the eyes of our heart so we can see the dark places that we're called to and be a light there?
SPEAKER_01: Thank you for net, thank you for dawn, but individually, let God, I pray that we haven't lost sight of being lights of the world, the lights are meant to shine in dark places, Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: So point out to us different spaces in our lives where we can be light.
SPEAKER_01: God, I I pray that we warrant the nickname.
SPEAKER_01: That's a Jesus person.
SPEAKER_01: That's a Jesus, that's Jesus it right there.
SPEAKER_01: I pray these things in your name.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Um, thank you so much for being here this morning.
SPEAKER_01: Um, as always, it's a pleasure.
SPEAKER_01: My name is Leo.
SPEAKER_01: I'm in.
SPEAKER_01: I'm the teaching pastor um here at Grant Parkway.
SPEAKER_01: If you're new here, welcome.
SPEAKER_01: Um, some of our uh pastors are gonna be down front, ready to meet you, ready to pray for you, ready to help you process anything that you have in mind.
SPEAKER_01: Would you mind just texting?
SPEAKER_01: Welcome to that number here on your screen.
SPEAKER_01: That gives us a record of your of your visit here.
SPEAKER_01: And then and if this is your church home and today's the day you worship through generosity and tithes and offerings, we have a uh a box around here in the room where we would like where you can do that, or you can also um give online um as well.
SPEAKER_01: Um we like we'll always like to make you aware of what's happening here in life of our church.
SPEAKER_01: Would you please point your attention to the screen?
SPEAKER_00: Here's 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: Did you know that we have a church app?
SPEAKER_00: You can use it to get involved, register for events, listen to sermons, podcasts, and more.
SPEAKER_00: Find it wherever apps are available for your devices.
SPEAKER_00: Come and join us for our 2023 Kids Advent Choir.
SPEAKER_00: All kids are invited from ages 5 and up.
SPEAKER_00: It'll be on Sunday, December 17th during first and second service.
SPEAKER_00: Mark February 23rd and 24th in your calendars because Women's Weekend is coming back.
SPEAKER_00: It is a two-day gathering at our church of women all across our city of all ages.
SPEAKER_00: We'll learn, connect, and sing songs that remind us of the sustaining reality of God and his word.
SPEAKER_00: Lindsay Frederick will be leading in worship.
SPEAKER_00: Teaching the word will be Beverly Brown, Carleen Searcy, and Jen Wilkins.
SPEAKER_00: You do not want to miss these two powerful days.
SPEAKER_00: Finally, today after Second Service, there will be a young adult Friendsgiving in the student building.
SPEAKER_00: Come and enjoy free pancakes, waffles, games, and fellowship.
SPEAKER_00: We hope to see you there.
SPEAKER_00: For more information or to register for these events, please visit our website at grandparkway.org.
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_01: Um young adults.
SPEAKER_01: So we typically I'm I'm I overseeing young adults' ministry here.
SPEAKER_01: And what typically happens on a regular Sunday is we have a class together, so we learn together, and then we sit back there and worship together, and then after church, we have lunch together.
SPEAKER_01: And today it's happening again, but it's happening here in the warehouse.
SPEAKER_01: So if you're a young adult, we would love, love, love to have you.
SPEAKER_01: Even if you've never been before, we would love, love to have you.
SPEAKER_01: So would you stand and receive this blessing as you as you go out?
SPEAKER_01: Children of God.
SPEAKER_01: You are lights of the world.
SPEAKER_01: Think differently than the world does when it comes to darkness.
SPEAKER_01: Think differently than the world does when it comes to crisis.
SPEAKER_01: You've been empowered to go out and be light.
SPEAKER_01: Go do so in the name of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: I declare these things in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.