SPEAKER_03: This podcast is brought to you by Grand Parkway Baptist Church, helping people to know, enjoy, and glorify God.
SPEAKER_03: For more information about Grand Parkway, visit Grandparkway.org.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray together, Church.
SPEAKER_00: Father, we thank you, Lord, for your goodness and love to us.
SPEAKER_00: Indeed, you are the good shepherd who leads us on.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, we pray, Lord, that as we turn our eyes to your word, may we behold you.
SPEAKER_00: May you give us a vision of who you are.
SPEAKER_00: And may you be for us the joy that we need here this morning.
SPEAKER_00: And so, Lord, show us Christ this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Remind us of all of who we are in Him.
SPEAKER_00: And help us, Lord, to see the life that you are calling for us to live with your church on mission for the glory of God and for the good of your people.
SPEAKER_00: We pray all this in the precious name of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: You may be seated.
SPEAKER_00: Well, it's good to see you all here this morning.
SPEAKER_00: If you're visiting with us, my name is Julian Solis, and I'm the spiritual formation pastor here at Grant Parkway.
SPEAKER_00: And uh we are so thankful for you all here worshiping the Lord with us.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm also thankful for something else as well.
SPEAKER_00: I am very thankful for the weather.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: I'm also thankful that some of you stopped melting.
SPEAKER_00: And so I'm glad that you are all here in one piece.
SPEAKER_00: And so we've had some hot days, but praise God for the weather that we have here this morning.
SPEAKER_00: I'm also thankful to open God's word with you.
SPEAKER_00: And if you have a copy of God's word, go to Acts 21.
SPEAKER_00: Acts 21, and we're going to be in the first 16 verses in Acts 21.
SPEAKER_00: Many of you know that we've been walking through the book of Acts, and we have been journeying along all throughout what God has been doing in the early church.
SPEAKER_00: And as we find ourselves in the second half, we have the Apostle Paul, who's become a focal point.
SPEAKER_00: And so we have been journeying along with Paul and with the missionary team that has been accompanying him.
SPEAKER_00: And we find ourselves here in Acts 21, verses 1 through 16.
SPEAKER_00: And as you are finding your place there, I want to remind you of a story that some of you may know, and some of you may be new to this story, but back in 1956, there were five missionaries who wanted to take the gospel to Ecuador.
SPEAKER_00: And these five missionaries, they devoted themselves to Christ.
SPEAKER_00: They studied God's word, they did their time in seminary and whatnot, and they took their families, their wives and their children, and they moved to Ecuador so that they can bring the gospel to people who have not yet heard of the good news of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And while they were there, they came across a tribe called the Waidoni tribe.
SPEAKER_00: And as they were ministering to these people, they started to make connection and they started to provide assistance for them.
SPEAKER_00: And then all of a sudden, one tragic day, these five young men, they lost their lives to this tribe.
SPEAKER_00: There were some men in that tribe who had speared these five men and they became martyrs for the faith.
SPEAKER_00: Well, Life magazine, they had picked up on that story, and they had brought that story to America's attention.
SPEAKER_00: And all of a sudden, we were all captivated by these young men who had all of their lives ahead of them, who have given themselves for the good news of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: It makes us scratch our head and makes us ask why would somebody do that?
SPEAKER_00: Why would somebody so young go live in such a dangerous place, take their families, and go move there so they can tell somebody about Jesus Christ?
SPEAKER_00: Well, there was one missionary, and his name was Jim Elliott, and he had one of the most inspiring quotes that we not only have for foreign missions, but I believe for Christian living.
SPEAKER_00: And he pins this down in his journal.
SPEAKER_00: He says, He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.
SPEAKER_00: Let me say that one more time.
SPEAKER_00: He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.
SPEAKER_00: That's why he gave his life to Christ and to missions and to seeing the gospel even to dangerous places.
SPEAKER_00: But I want to tell you in the same way, the Apostle Paul, he captures for us the same heart.
SPEAKER_00: And we're going to see that in the text here this morning.
SPEAKER_00: And my hope and my prayer is that for us as a church, that we would live on mission for the Lord, that we would continue to live on mission for the Lord, so that we would have the same pleasure of living for Christ and proclaiming him wherever he sends us, even when it's dangerous to do so.
SPEAKER_00: So as we look at God's word together, we want to see what it looks like for us as a church to live on mission, who to do it with, how to do it, and who to do it for.
SPEAKER_00: So let's read together in Acts 21, as we pick up here in verse 1 in our story.
SPEAKER_00: The word of God reads as follows.
SPEAKER_00: And when he had parted from them and set sail, we came by straight course to Kos, and the next day to Rhodes, and from there to Peter.
SPEAKER_00: And having found a ship crossing to Phoenicia, we went aboard and set sail.
SPEAKER_00: So we have some of the details of all that's going on, but then notice in verse three where they come to next.
SPEAKER_00: When we had come inside of Cyprus, leaving it on the left, we sailed to Syria and landed at Tyre, for their ship was to unload its cargo.
SPEAKER_00: And having sought out the disciples, we stayed there for seven days.
SPEAKER_00: And through the Spirit they were telling Paul not to go to Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: When our days there were ended, we departed and went on our journey.
SPEAKER_00: And they all, with wives and children, accompanied us until we were outside the city.
SPEAKER_00: And kneeling down on the beach, we prayed and said farewell to one another.
SPEAKER_00: Then we went on aboard the ship, and they returned home.
SPEAKER_00: When we had finished the voyage from Tyre, we arrived at Ptolemaeus, and we greeted the brothers, and stayed with them for one day.
SPEAKER_00: On the next day we departed and came to Caesarea, and we entered the house of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the seven, and stayed with him.
SPEAKER_00: He had four unmarried daughters who prophesied.
SPEAKER_00: While we were staying for many days, a prophet named Agabas came down from Judea.
SPEAKER_00: And coming to us, he took Paul's belt and bound his own feet and hands and said, Thus says the Holy Spirit, this is how the Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.
SPEAKER_00: When we heard this, we and the people there urged him not to go up to Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: How does Paul respond?
SPEAKER_00: In verse 13, then Paul answered, What are you doing?
SPEAKER_00: Weeping and breaking my heart, for I am ready not only to be imprisoned, but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And since he would not be persuaded, we ceased and said, Let the will of the Lord be done.
SPEAKER_00: After these days we got ready and went up to Jerusalem, and some of the disciples from Caesarea went with us, bringing us to the house of Nathan of Cyprus, an early disciple with whom we should lodge.
SPEAKER_00: This is the reading of God's word.
SPEAKER_00: Now here's uh what I want to do today.
SPEAKER_00: I want to show you three things from this text that I believe will help us as a church as we seek to live on mission together.
SPEAKER_00: There's three things I think to take note of here.
SPEAKER_00: And here's the first thing I want you to see is that you are to live on mission selflessly with your church.
SPEAKER_00: You are to live on mission selflessly with your church.
SPEAKER_00: You might remember from last week that Paul and the missionary team they leave Ephesus and they had a tearful goodbye because Paul was telling them, listen, this is the last time you're gonna see my face.
SPEAKER_00: And in the same way that we saw in our text, they knelt down and prayed with the church, and then they continue on their voyage.
SPEAKER_00: And where is Paul headed?
SPEAKER_00: He's heading to Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: He's looking to go there because the Lord has called for him to testify of Christ there in Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: And along the way, Luke gives us here all the details of all the pit stops that they're making and all that's taking place on their last journey, their third journey before Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: And I have a graph for us here that you can kind of see and have a little mental picture of where Paul is journeying.
SPEAKER_00: Here in this section, we have the last bit of the story of what happens on Paul's third missionary journey.
SPEAKER_00: And something that's interesting that we see, for example, in verse one, we see the pronoun we used a lot.
SPEAKER_00: The author says, when we had parted from them and set sail, we came by straight course to cos.
SPEAKER_00: When we had come inside of Cyprus, we set sail.
SPEAKER_00: We 16 times the author uses the word we.
SPEAKER_00: This is unlike the first half of Acts.
SPEAKER_00: Luke, who's the author, he's writing and giving us a detailed account of all that God was doing with the apostles.
SPEAKER_00: But here in the second half of Acts, he's incorporating himself into the story.
SPEAKER_00: And that's because the author, he is journeying along with Paul, with that missionary team, as they're taking the gospel everywhere they go.
SPEAKER_00: What y'all want you to see is this one, God is at work in leading the apostles and these teams to spread the gospel everywhere the Lord has called.
SPEAKER_00: Remember, Jesus himself says in the beginning of Acts that you're gonna go to Jerusalem and there you're gonna receive the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: And from Jerusalem, the gospel is gonna go forth to Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.
SPEAKER_00: And that's what God is doing in this second half in the book of Acts.
SPEAKER_00: He's using the Apostle Paul, he's using this missionary team, and he's taking the gospel everywhere that the Lord has calls and is strategic.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord is leading them on, telling them which place to go next.
SPEAKER_00: Here, Luke says, This is our voyage.
SPEAKER_00: This is where we went.
SPEAKER_00: And something to capture here is what's interesting is that Paul is rolling with the team.
SPEAKER_00: He has a team of people, and they are for us an example of what a church is to be about on mission together for the glory of God and for the good of the lost, that they would hear of the good news of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And so this team, sometimes they would go ahead of Paul.
SPEAKER_00: And as Paul uh comes to them and goes to where they're at, they're proclaiming the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: They're establishing churches, they're ministering to churches, sometimes to the churches that they've established, sometimes to others whom the other apostles established, but all together this team is set on mission for the glory of God, to proclaim Christ, to bring encouragement to others.
SPEAKER_00: They are an incredible, an example for us of what it means to give your life to something, to be devoted to something in selfless, Christ-like love.
SPEAKER_00: And that's what they're doing.
SPEAKER_00: They're devoting their lives to Christ, who first devoted his life to them, who gave up his life so they would have life.
SPEAKER_00: And now take that message of life to all who would hear it.
SPEAKER_00: That is a team that's on mission.
SPEAKER_00: It just reminded me uh when I was younger, um, I was playing baseball.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm not talking college or anything, I'm talking about Pee-wee League, but uh I remember playing baseball, and uh, I just remember one year we just had a great team.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, the team was stacked.
SPEAKER_00: And I come from a small town just down the road here, um south of Wharton, a place called Bowling.
SPEAKER_00: And I remember playing baseball there.
SPEAKER_00: And so once you knew which team you're on, you know everyone else is gonna be on those other teams.
SPEAKER_00: You know, because everybody, you know, small town and whatnot.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, oh man, we're gonna kill these guys.
SPEAKER_00: This is gonna be great.
SPEAKER_00: But that team, you know that it takes more than just good players, you need good coaching.
SPEAKER_00: Thankfully, we had great coaching, and we were all dedicated and part of a special team to win that first place trophy, which still sits on my grandmother's, you know, you know, uh room there.
SPEAKER_00: But but all of us know what it's like to be part of something special and to work together on something special, whether it be on a team or at work or on a project or as a family, there's something wonderful about having a sense of purpose and significance and being a part of something great as you accomplish something great together.
SPEAKER_00: How much more is this team, this missionary team, who's living for the glory of God?
SPEAKER_00: How much more should we feel that as a church as we set our eyes on the mission and ministry before us as we look to proclaim Christ together as well?
SPEAKER_00: This is what it must have felt like for this team living for gospel ministering to being glory to Christ.
SPEAKER_00: But living on mission, it involves a selfless dedication to Christ, doing ministry with your church, but it also involves selfless ministry to one another.
SPEAKER_00: Living on mission involves uh mission to your church, not only with your church, but to your church.
SPEAKER_00: We see this in verses three through six.
SPEAKER_00: Look again at what uh verses three through six say.
SPEAKER_00: Notice who is being served here.
SPEAKER_00: Luke records for us uh the voyage and where they stop next, but then they land at Tyre in verse three.
SPEAKER_00: And there the ship was going to unload its cargo, and so they needed they needed to stay somewhere for seven days, and so they sought out the disciples there in Tyre, the church of Tyre.
SPEAKER_00: And having sought them out, they stayed with them.
SPEAKER_00: And through the spirit, notice how they served Paul and this team, they prophesied and they told Paul of what was to happen in Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: They also gave him counsel, they were telling him to not go.
SPEAKER_00: You see, their concern and their love for the apostle Paul here.
SPEAKER_00: But then I love in verse 5 that sweet moment again, as after those seven days were over, they accompanied him back to the ship and they went with their wives and with their children.
SPEAKER_00: And you have this beautiful scene that they're on the beach, they got on their knees and they were seeking the Lord, the Lord's will, and the Lord's goodness for them as they would continue to go on their voyage toward Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: But what do we see with those disciples there entire?
SPEAKER_00: You can imagine them providing hospitality and service and company to the Apostle Paul and to this missionary team.
SPEAKER_00: You see them using their spiritual gifts to help and to build up and to minister to Paul.
SPEAKER_00: You see them praying for them, giving counsel to them, showing the love of Christ to them.
SPEAKER_00: In the same way, we want to be a church that utilizes our spiritual gifts, that shows hospitality to one another, to use our gifts so that we can build up each other so that we can further one another on in the mission that the Lord has called us to serve together in.
SPEAKER_00: Paul, he's not saying, Hey, I'm an apostle, I don't need you to minister to me, or hey, don't be all up in my business or anything.
SPEAKER_00: No, no, no.
SPEAKER_00: He he lets them in.
SPEAKER_00: He avails himself to their ministry, he lets them serve the team.
SPEAKER_00: He's he's all about all that God has for him through the body of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And what an example that we have for us.
SPEAKER_00: And the question I have for you, church family, is do you see yourself in that way?
SPEAKER_00: Do you see yourself gifted by the Spirit to serve your church family?
SPEAKER_00: Gifted by the Spirit to show the love of Christ to one another so that you may encourage one another and to spur each other on in all of the goodness that the Lord has for you and for this church.
SPEAKER_00: There's a uh company down here in Stafford that uh manufactures safety relief valves.
SPEAKER_00: And uh this company, they were a great company at one time, but then they started to have some problems in the warehouse, things got chaotic there.
SPEAKER_00: And in the office, which was right there next to the warehouse, people weren't really working together, and things were a little a mess.
SPEAKER_00: But then they hired a new GM, and that GM he comes in there and he says, okay, guys, here's what we need to do.
SPEAKER_00: If we're gonna be a successful company, then we have to serve one another better.
SPEAKER_00: Because the healthier that we are as a team, the better that we can be for our customers.
SPEAKER_00: Our customers are expecting our product, they want a good product, and they want it on time.
SPEAKER_00: So, from the top down, here's what we're gonna do: we're gonna serve one another, beginning with me.
SPEAKER_00: In that GM, he helped build a culture of service so that they could serve the line who would produce a good product and get it out on time to their customers.
SPEAKER_00: That businessman knew what it took in order for them to be effective in the mission they had.
SPEAKER_00: Now, listen, church family, if people in the business world get that, how much more should we get that?
SPEAKER_00: We cannot be the kind of church that we need to be to be effective for the name of Jesus unless we get healthy and get better at serving one another, unless we get good at doing community well.
SPEAKER_00: Because the more that we serve each other, build each other up, use our giftedness in the body of Christ, the better that we can be in being effective in our mission for Christ and for his namesake and for his glory.
SPEAKER_00: And by the way, that's what's going to be attractive for a world looking in.
SPEAKER_00: The way that you and I love one another, serve each other, the same way that you see here, prayerfully, you would see in us a church that is hospitable, a church that voluntarily shares and gives, that's all in on the mission of God with our resources and with our time, showcasing vulnerability, allowing us to speak into one another's lives, having difficult conversations about difficult decisions.
SPEAKER_00: That's what we see here that the church is doing here entire, for example.
SPEAKER_00: But if we're going to be a church that is going to be healthy in our mission, we need to be healthy in our ministry to one another.
SPEAKER_00: We need a display of substantial community.
SPEAKER_00: My encouragement for you here today is to lean into community.
SPEAKER_00: Everywhere that you have an opportunity to be a part of community here at Grant Parkway, lean into it.
SPEAKER_00: Not just be present, but be all in.
SPEAKER_00: And let the Lord use you and use others to minister to you as well.
SPEAKER_00: The third thing I want us to see here is that living on mission, it means living your life selflessly for the name of Jesus, for the name of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: We want to live selflessly like Christ, sacrificially like Christ, with our church and to our church.
SPEAKER_00: But why do we do it?
SPEAKER_00: Who do we do this for?
SPEAKER_00: We want to do it for the name of our Lord, the name of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 7.
SPEAKER_00: In verse 7, we see that the apostle Paul and the team, they lead higher.
SPEAKER_00: And then we see that they go to Ptolemaeus, they stay there a day.
SPEAKER_00: Again, the disciples there, they're serving uh the apostle and the team there, the apostle Paul.
SPEAKER_00: You see that theme all throughout.
SPEAKER_00: But then they come to Caesarea and they stay with Philip, the evangelist there.
SPEAKER_00: And we have a little commentary about who this Philip is.
SPEAKER_00: He's one of the seven, one of the seven who?
SPEAKER_00: He's one of the seven deacons from Acts chapter six.
SPEAKER_00: He's also the same Philip who was the evangelist from Acts chapter eight, the one who ministered to the Ethiopian eunuch and then was teleported out and brought to another city.
SPEAKER_00: So this is that Philip.
SPEAKER_00: And what else is interesting is that we're told that he had four unmarried daughters who prophesied, which is interesting because what I think about is what if you were the guy who wanted to marry one of those girls?
SPEAKER_00: What if you were the guy and you're like bragging about how great your dad was, and then one of those girls were like, Yeah, well, my dad he evangelized and it was teleported, you know?
SPEAKER_00: Or uh what if you were, you know, you had this great proposal idea and it was gonna be all secretive, and you were gonna go and it was gonna just be awesome, and then you proposed, and she said, I knew you were gonna do that.
SPEAKER_00: Um I'm a prophet, you know.
SPEAKER_00: But it wasn't these women who prophesied to Paul.
SPEAKER_00: If they did, it wasn't recorded, but we see in verse 9 that there was another person who comes down from Judea.
SPEAKER_00: His name is Agabas, and he's the one who provides Paul with an interesting prophecy.
SPEAKER_00: He dropped It like the prophets from the Old Testament in the way that they would do it.
SPEAKER_00: But he takes Paul's belt and he binds his own hands and his feet.
SPEAKER_00: And he says, The person whose belt this is, this is what he's gonna be like in Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: The Jews are gonna bind him and he's gonna be handed over to the Gentiles.
SPEAKER_00: Agabus, he just drops this prophecy bomb in front of everybody there.
SPEAKER_00: And naturally, the missionary team and also the disciples there in Caesarea, their love, their love and concern for Paul, they're saying, Paul, don't go to Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: If danger awaits you, don't go to Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: If you're gonna be in prison there, don't go to Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: The disciples at Tyre said that.
SPEAKER_00: Now the disciples here in Caesarea, they're they're they're they're telling us, they're telling you, don't go.
SPEAKER_00: Logically, if you're a missionary and God has called you to go and take the gospel everywhere you go, why would you go to Jerusalem and be imprisoned?
SPEAKER_00: That doesn't seem like it'd be in keeping with God's will for your life.
SPEAKER_00: They're telling Paul, don't go, don't go.
SPEAKER_00: They're trying to reason with him logically.
SPEAKER_00: But what they forget, or maybe what they didn't see, is that the Holy Spirit has been at work in Paul's life, leading him and telling him that his destiny is to go to Jerusalem and to testify there.
SPEAKER_00: See, in the mysterious and wonderful plan of God, in the sovereignty of God, God intends Paul to go to Jerusalem and to make Christ known there.
SPEAKER_00: We see this, for example, in Acts 19.21.
SPEAKER_00: In Acts 19, 21, it says, Now after these events, Paul resolved in the spirit to pass through Macedonia and Achaia and to go to Jerusalem, saying, After I have been there, I must also see Rome.
SPEAKER_00: He resolved in the spirit, capital S.
SPEAKER_00: The Holy Spirit is at work, leading him to want to go to Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: But then in chapter 20, in verses 22 to 24, our text last week, we see this again as well.
SPEAKER_00: And now, behold, I am going to Jerusalem, constrained by the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me.
SPEAKER_00: Here at this time, the Holy Spirit is letting him know that you are going to be going to Jerusalem, and I don't know what's going to happen there, except for that I know that everywhere I go, imprisonment and afflictions await me.
SPEAKER_00: But now in chapter 21, the Spirit, through the prophecy of these disciples, it's becoming more and more clear what exactly is going to happen to him when he goes to Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: That imprisonment does await him.
SPEAKER_00: And guess what?
SPEAKER_00: That imprisonment, that suffering, that hardship, it's not outside of the will of God.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, the Holy Spirit is going to confirm his leading in Paul's life when we get to chapter 23.
SPEAKER_00: I just want to give you just a preview for that next text.
SPEAKER_00: But in chapter 23 and verse 11, it says, the following night the Lord stood by him and said, Take courage, for as you have testified to the facts about me in Jerusalem, so you must testify also in Rome.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord will be the one who would lead Paul to Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: And Paul's imprisonment wasn't outside of the will of God.
SPEAKER_00: And the Spirit is encouraging Paul and saying, hey, be courageous, take courage, Paul, because as I brought you here, I'm also going to take you to Rome.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord, in his sovereignty, in his plans, he knows what he's doing.
SPEAKER_00: He's leading Paul on in all that he has for the Apostle Paul and that missionary team.
SPEAKER_00: And so, Paul, if you think about it, he knows how to organize and live his life.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't organize and live his life for pleasure.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't organize and lead his life to recklessly head into harm's way.
SPEAKER_00: No, he lives his life.
SPEAKER_00: He organizes his life after the will of God, realizing that even when suffering and pain and difficulty come his own way, it doesn't necessarily mean that I'm outside the will of God.
SPEAKER_00: But I can courageously live for what the Lord has for me, trusting that this is going to be for God's glory and for the good of God's people.
SPEAKER_00: That smells like Jesus Christ to me.
SPEAKER_00: That's exactly what the Lord intends to do in and through Paul, in and through God's people.
SPEAKER_00: And if you think about it, the Apostle Paul, he was to be an example, not just for the church then and there, but for the church here in us, right now, today.
SPEAKER_00: He's an example for us, reflection for us of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And I think Luke, he's intentionally showing us the parallels that we have between Jesus and Paul.
SPEAKER_00: And just got this graph, the real quick, quick graph I wanted to show you.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus himself, and this is all from Luke.
SPEAKER_00: This is his first volume.
SPEAKER_00: The author Luke, who wrote Acts and Luke, Jesus, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: Paul resolves in his spirit to go to Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, he begins his journey and he takes his apostles with him.
SPEAKER_00: Paul, he begins his journey and he's accompanied by a team.
SPEAKER_00: But guess what?
SPEAKER_00: The apostles, the disciples of Jesus, they didn't understand what was going on.
SPEAKER_00: Why are you going to Jerusalem, Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: Why do you want to intend intentionally go where they're going to do harm to you?
SPEAKER_00: They didn't get it, they didn't understand.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, Peter tries to dissuade Jesus in the same way Paul's missionary team.
SPEAKER_00: They're like, Paul, what are you doing?
SPEAKER_00: We don't understand your decision making here.
SPEAKER_00: And they tried to dissuade him from going to Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: But the Lord knew what he was doing with the Apostle Paul.
SPEAKER_00: And he knew what he was doing through our Lord Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: That suffering was not outside the will of God for them, but it was through the suffering that the Lord would use those works for the good of his people.
SPEAKER_00: Paul was a unique example for us, and it teaches us that sometimes when we choose to follow Christ, it brings difficulty.
SPEAKER_00: It brings suffering.
SPEAKER_00: Imprisonment, if you think about it though, it didn't stop or it didn't hinder Paul's ministry.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, when you read the book of Philippians, Paul says, listen, I'm not ashamed of what's happening to me.
SPEAKER_00: Because with my imprisonment, it's bringing courage to other people to go and share and make much of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And so he can embrace his change, knowing that the Lord is using it for people to take courage themselves and to go and be bold for Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And if we didn't have Paul's imprisonment, we probably wouldn't have the letters that we have in the New Testament, the letter, the prison epistles, Philippians, Ephesians, Colossians, the letter to Philemon.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord was not wasting Paul's imprisonment, but he was using it.
SPEAKER_00: He was using it in ways that are bigger than our comprehension.
SPEAKER_00: But I know what you're thinking because I was thinking the same thing.
SPEAKER_00: When I read, for example, verse 13, when Paul responds here, let's just read it again real quick.
SPEAKER_00: Paul saying, What are you doing?
SPEAKER_00: Breaking my heart, weeping for me.
SPEAKER_00: They're all crying and making this sad moment.
SPEAKER_00: And Paul's like, What are you doing?
SPEAKER_00: Listen, I am ready not only to be imprisoned, but even to die for the name of the Lord Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: But even to die for his name's sake.
SPEAKER_00: And you were probably thinking, but what I'm thinking when I first read that.
SPEAKER_00: God just shattering all my little suburban sensibilities.
SPEAKER_00: Because I thought God wants to make me happy and safe.
SPEAKER_00: That's how I treat myself, that's how I treat my kids when they when my kids go to church.
SPEAKER_00: I asked, did you have fun?
SPEAKER_00: Did you have fun today?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I don't know why do we always ask our kids that?
SPEAKER_00: Did you have fun?
SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah, I want you to go do this.
SPEAKER_00: Was it fun?
SPEAKER_00: You know, but following Jesus, don't get me wrong, is a lot of fun in that.
SPEAKER_00: We should be having fun and joy, but it's not always safe.
SPEAKER_00: It's not always safe.
SPEAKER_00: Go ahead tomorrow when you go to work.
SPEAKER_00: Start telling people about Christ and see how popular you'll be the next day.
SPEAKER_00: Proclaiming Christ, following Christ, not always safe, not always fun.
SPEAKER_00: But boy, there is sure an assurance to know that you are living in the will of God, following the likeness of your Savior who's given up his life for you.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes we must endure the cross for the joy that's set before us.
SPEAKER_00: But how did the team respond?
SPEAKER_00: What did the team do in their response?
SPEAKER_00: After they realized in verse 14 that they could not persuade Paul, they stopped and they entrusted this decision to the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And what did they say?
SPEAKER_00: Let the will of the Lord be done.
SPEAKER_00: They entrusted themselves to the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And then what happened in verse 15?
SPEAKER_00: After these days we got ready and we went to Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: The whole missionary team, they accompanied Paul.
SPEAKER_00: They said, Okay, this is what we're doing, this is where we're going.
SPEAKER_00: And you can see right here, these were the these are the ride or die homies.
SPEAKER_00: These are the guys who are like, all right, let's go.
SPEAKER_00: This is God's will for us.
SPEAKER_00: And so they make their way to Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: And as we wind down here, church, I just want to ask you, what if we believed this?
SPEAKER_00: What if we believed God's word today?
SPEAKER_00: What if we believed that this is what it means for us to live on mission with our church, to our church, for the name of Christ?
SPEAKER_00: How would that change who we are as a church family?
SPEAKER_00: Maybe it would mean that we would leave behind us the passing pleasures which never satisfy.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe it would allow us to love the Lord Jesus more.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe it would give us a grander vision of what it means to live our lives for Christ's namesake.
SPEAKER_00: If we really believed this, maybe we would become more hospitable.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe we would lean into community.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe we would be ready to jump at the opportunities that we have as a church, the many opportunities we have to make known Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, who became man, took our place, died for us, forgave our sins, so that we would have life and life abundantly.
SPEAKER_00: This text helps us see that that abundant life is not always outside of suffering, because abundant life is following Christ no matter what comes our way.
SPEAKER_00: I want to come back to that original story of those five missionaries that gave their life in Ecuador.
SPEAKER_00: You would think that that would be the end of the story.
SPEAKER_00: You would think evil has won.
SPEAKER_00: Here, these people came to give their lives so that people would know Jesus and they they killed the messenger.
SPEAKER_00: But the story doesn't stop there.
SPEAKER_00: I have this uh picture for you to see.
SPEAKER_00: These are the the wives and the children that were left behind.
SPEAKER_00: These are the widows and the orphans that uh that became widows and orphans when they lost those men.
SPEAKER_00: But you know what these women did?
SPEAKER_00: They continued as missionaries.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, two of the five, they stayed in Ecuador ministering not only to the people of Ecuador, but to that tribe where their husbands had just died.
SPEAKER_00: Jim Elliott, his wife Elizabeth, uh, they had a daughter together, her name uh was Valerie, and she actually goes and she lives in the tribe with them to bring them the good news of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And I remember watching the documentary and she's telling the story, and she's saying, Yeah, and then Jim's parents and my parents, they were asking me, What are you doing?
SPEAKER_00: And every parent in here is thinking the same thing, what are you doing?
SPEAKER_00: Why would you want to go to that place, to that village?
SPEAKER_00: But something was compelling her to live beyond what logic was telling her.
SPEAKER_00: And that is, these people need Jesus Christ, they need to hear of the good news of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm here to use my vulnerability, to use my opportunity to go and do just that.
SPEAKER_00: See, these women, they were friends of the tribe, and those tribal men, they would not take violence against women or the children.
SPEAKER_00: And so they, as they came into the tribe, they allowed them and permitted them to stay.
SPEAKER_00: And that was the means by which those men began to have their hearts broken and melted and be open and receptive to the good news of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: But what compels missionaries like that?
SPEAKER_00: What compels the apostle Paul to say things like the way he does in verse 13?
SPEAKER_00: It's the resurrected Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, who is alive forevermore, who sits and reigns on the throne of heaven, and who gives us to be a part of something special as a church, as a team, to live on mission for his namesake, for his glory.
SPEAKER_00: And I want to tell you, friends, he is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.
SPEAKER_00: You pray with me.
SPEAKER_00: And Father, we think about you and your glory and your sovereignty, and your ways are so far beyond us.
SPEAKER_00: Your plans are so great and so beyond us.
SPEAKER_00: And yet, Lord, you've given to us your word.
SPEAKER_00: You've given us texts like this one here in Acts 21.
SPEAKER_00: And Father, I pray, Lord, that your word would break up our hard hearts and make them follow ground.
SPEAKER_00: And Father, I pray that you would begin to have your way in us, that you would continue to lead us on, that we would live for the glory of Christ and for the good of one another and for the good of lost who need to hear the gospel of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: So, Father, while we live in a world which would distract us from this high calling, this great and admirable calling, we pray, Lord, that we would lock our eyes on you and be reminded of our cause of church.
SPEAKER_00: That along the way, Lord, that we would give ourselves to the sweet community that is the pleasure and right of all Christians everywhere, and that, Father, we would enjoy deep community as we serve each other.
SPEAKER_00: And as we do, Lord, grant us grace to live on mission for your namesake.
SPEAKER_00: Just to give you some opportunity to further reflect on how the Lord wants to move in your life.
SPEAKER_00: We have some questions for your consideration on the screen.
SPEAKER_00: Will you continue in just a moment of mental worship and begin asking the Lord how he wants to further move in your hearts, that you would take your next step?
SPEAKER_00: Just take a minute to do that.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Father, we thank you, Lord, for your goodness and love to us.
SPEAKER_00: And so, Father, we pray, Lord, that we would learn what it means to walk in your design, to be a part of a church that lives on mission.
SPEAKER_00: And so, Lord, we pray that you would be glorified in and through us.
SPEAKER_00: And that, Lord, we would make much of your great name.
SPEAKER_00: And we pray all this in the precious name of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And God's people said, Amen.
SPEAKER_00: We have a few announcements for you, so if you could turn your attention to the screen.
SPEAKER_01: Our desire is to provide opportunities for you to meet, connect, and grow with other people who are in the same life stage as you.
SPEAKER_01: These new classes will all be using the Gospel Project Curriculum for adults, which is the same curriculum that our preschool children and the bridge ministries use, so you have built-in opportunities for spiritual conversations with your kids each Sunday.
SPEAKER_01: Due to God's provision, progress, and presence, our church is experiencing steady numerical growth.
SPEAKER_01: This growth now requires an expansion of our physical space.
SPEAKER_01: It's time to enlarge our children's building to accommodate preschool children's and the bridge ministries.
SPEAKER_01: The cost for this expansion is$2.6 million.
SPEAKER_01: And to help fund it, we are holding a special hilarious Sunday offering on October 6th.
SPEAKER_01: We are asking everyone to pray, listen, and give whatever God leads you to.
SPEAKER_01: This offering is in addition to your regular tithe, going above and beyond to support the project.
SPEAKER_01: Every penny collected will go directly towards the expansion.
SPEAKER_01: On October 13th, we'll share the results of the Hilarious Sunday offering and outline the next steps for meeting our growing needs.
SPEAKER_01: Here's an important message about this year's men's weekend.
SPEAKER_01: Who can separate us from the love of Christ?
SPEAKER_01: Tribulation, distress, persecution, peril, sword?
SPEAKER_02: No! Nothing else in all creation can separate us from the love of God.
SPEAKER_02: Attention, men, we are thrilled to tell you about our men's weekend coming up on October 18th and 19th.
SPEAKER_02: You may be thinking, I've got a lot to do and probably much better options.
SPEAKER_02: But I would argue that you have no better options than to get closer to your Saviors, closer to churchmen, and understand better yourself, the Bible, and those you should be relating to as Christ would relate to them.
SPEAKER_02: On October 18th and 19th, Chuck Land will be our guest speaker.
SPEAKER_02: So make sure you plan to join us right here on our campus.
SPEAKER_02: To register, go to grandparkway.org/slash events.
SPEAKER_00: All right.
SPEAKER_00: Well, I want to thank you again for visiting with us.
SPEAKER_00: For those of you that are visitors here, uh, if you would uh text uh this number on the screen, um we would love to have a record of your visit.
SPEAKER_00: Uh also for those of you that um came ready to worship and giving, there's some offering boxes in the back as well.
SPEAKER_00: And uh and lastly, I want to let you know if if you would like prayer, um, some pastors will be available here down front, and we would be happy to pray with you as well.
SPEAKER_00: Would you all stand to your feet?
SPEAKER_00: We'd like to conclude our service with a spoken blessing.
SPEAKER_00: And so can you put out your hands like this?
SPEAKER_00: Dear friends, the Lord has graciously loved you and called you to life in him, an abundant life in living for him.
SPEAKER_00: You've been gathered to be reminded of the good news of Christ, and as you go, and you go with the blessing of the Lord to make much of him you're dismissed.