(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Man, this morning I'm continuing what I preached last Sunday morning about Paul's first missionary journey. So this is a continuation of that journey. We went all the way through Chapter 13 last week, so we're going to jump back into the middle of Paul's missionary journey, starting in Chapter 14 of the Book of Acts. Now on this first missionary journey, he goes through Cyprus, and he goes throughout what we now know as Turkey, or what the Bible calls Asia. It's often referred to as Asia Minor. And so on the second and third missionary journeys, he'll get into Macedonia and Greece. But on this first journey, he's in Cyprus and modern day Turkey. So it says in verse number 1 of Chapter 14, it came to pass in Iconium that they went both together, this is both Paul and Barnabas, into the synagogue of the Jews, and so spake that a great multitude, both of the Jews and also of the Greeks, believed. But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and made their minds evil-affected against the brethren. Long time, therefore, abode they, speaking boldly in the Lord, which gave testimony unto the word of his grace, and granted signs and wonders to be done by their hands. Now the first thing I want to point out here in verse number 1 is where the Bible says that they so spake that a great multitude, both of Jews and also of the Greeks, believed. This shows us right here that how we preach the Gospel is a determining factor in how many people are going to get saved. Because he said, they spake in such a way, they so spake that a great multitude of people got saved. Now in what way did they speak that caused so many people to get saved? Well it says in verse 3, long time, therefore, abode they, speaking what? Boldly. When the word of God is preached boldly, people are going to respond to it more than when it's preached weakly or softly, timidly, apologetically. That is not the way to reach people. If you want to reach multitudes with the Gospel, you've got to have boldness. You've got to preach the word of God boldly. The fruit of the Spirit we often think of, love, joy, peace, that has to do obviously with the Holy Spirit's ministry in our lives internally. But there's another fruit of being filled with the Holy Spirit. Back in Acts chapter 4, you don't have to turn there, verse 31, it says, and when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and they spake the word of God with boldness. And so the fullness of the Holy Spirit results in the word of God being preached boldly. Paul often prayed for boldness in his letter to the Ephesians, for example, in chapter 6. He said, pray for me that utterance may be given unto me that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the Gospel. And so being filled with the Spirit gives us boldness. It's a good idea to pray for God to give us boldness. And when we go out soul winning or when we preach behind the pulpit, we need to preach with boldness if we want a lot of people to get saved. That's what Paul and Barnabas accomplished here. Now what do we mean by boldness? You know, we don't want to misunderstand this. Some people who don't understand boldness will sometimes try to simulate this or fake this by just being obnoxious or being a jerk or just getting loud or something. That somehow represents boldness. That's not what boldness is. Boldness in our modern vernacular would probably best be described as confidence. You know, if we were to use our 2019 lingo, confidence, preaching with confidence, preaching with authority, preaching with power. You know, the Bible says of Jesus Christ that the people marveled at his doctrine because he taught them as one having authority, not as the scribes. When we say boldness, we mean coming to people and not lacking confidence in the message, but knowing what you believe and getting up and preaching it as fact, preaching it as absolute truth, not getting up and saying, well, you know, this is a belief that's out there. You know, you have to get up and preach it with authority. Why? Because the Bible has authority. Is there any doubt that the Bible is the word of God? No. We need to get up and preach it without doubt, without acting like there's room for other views or other religions out there. Wrong. Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. And when the apostles preached that, you know what it says right after that? Oh, they saw their boldness. Right after that statement was made that said this is the only way salvation is, only through Jesus. So we need to speak with authority, preach the word of God with authority, with boldness, with confidence. Now, how do you get boldness? Well, like I said, you know, the fullness of the Holy Spirit, you pray for boldness. But another practical way to get boldness when out soul winning is just by going soul winning more. The thing about it is that whenever you're doing something that's new to you, you're going to be a little bit uncomfortable. If you were to get up and preach your first sermon, you're going to be nervous, right? A thousand sermons later, you're not going to be nervous. You know, I remember the first time I performed a wedding. I was very nervous. Why? Because I'd never done it before. Okay. Once you've done 40 weddings or something, then you're not as nervous anymore. So it's normal when you go out soul winning in the flesh to be nervous. And I can remember starting out soul winning, being nervous. Well, that's where you pray for boldness. You rely on the Holy Spirit, but also just getting out there and doing it over and over again is going to build your confidence. And you know, the Bible talks about how going through experiences in our life will produce hope and patience and, you know, we go through things and we see God come through. And the more times you've gone out soul winning and been successful, that's going to build your boldness and your confidence for doing soul winning. But if you go out and you're weak about the message and you're watered down or pastors who get up and preach weak and watered down sermons, they don't get results. You've got to speak in such a way that many people will believe by preaching the word of God boldly. And that's what Paul and Barnabas did here. But in verse two, it says, but the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and made their minds evil affected against the brethren. Long time, therefore, abode they speaking boldly in the Lord, which gave testimony unto the word of his grace and granted signs and wonders to be done by their hands. But the multitude of the city was divided, part held with the Jews and part with the apostles. So we see the bold preaching of God's word, bold soul winning, bold preaching behind the pulpit and it causes a division, right? Because there are going to be some people who believe the word of God and some people who reject it. Some people go with the apostles, some people are going with the Jews who are the biggest opponents of Christianity at this time and in this chapter and maybe even of all time, right? Amen. But anyway, so there's a division. Look, God's word always brings division. All the way back to Genesis chapter one, when God is speaking the world into existence, the verb that keeps coming up over and over again is God divided. You know, God divided the light from the darkness. God divided the waters above the firmament, from the waters below the firmament. God divided the sea from the dry land. God divides the day from the night. And over and over again, God's word brings division. That should be the signal in chapter one of the Bible that God is not the God of unity at all costs. Hey, let's all just unite at all costs, wrong. We need to divide over certain things and the word of God is going to bring that division. There are going to be people who align themselves with truth and people who align themselves with error and we shouldn't shy away from that or want to just get along with everybody. There has to be a line that we draw where we can't get along with certain people. We cannot have fellowship with certain people. We cannot accept all religions and all teachings and all doctrines. There has to be a line that's drawn. So when the word of God is preached boldly, it produces division. The Bible says in verse five, and when there was an assault made both of the Gentiles and also of the Jews with their rulers to use them despitefully and to stone them, so they're trying to kill them, then they were aware of it and fled unto Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia and unto the region that lieth round about and there they preached the gospel. Now, isn't it interesting that it gets violent? I mean, here's the apostle Paul and Barnabas getting up and preaching the word of God. They're not inciting anyone to violence. They're not doing any fighting or anything like that, but their message is so powerful. The preaching is so bold and so many people are getting saved that the Jews end up having to resort to violence to put it to a stop and the devil is going to continue to do this. It's not just a one time thing that happened in the book of Acts chapter 14 constantly throughout history, throughout the Bible, and even today you'll see people using violence to stop the word of God from going forth. Why? Because it's such a powerful message. The light is so powerful that the darkness can't combat it. If you remember Stephen a little bit earlier in the book of Acts, it said that they could not resist his preaching. They could not debunk his preaching. His spirit and his doctrine was something that they just could not combat, so what did they end up doing? They ended up killing him. And today we see that there are people who want to silence the word of God, even on YouTube or Facebook. They want to shut down Bible preaching. They want to ban me and other preachers from foreign countries so that we can't get in there and evangelize. What are they so afraid of? If they're so right, if their doctrine is true, then why do they have to use violence or the threat of violence or force or somehow silence the word of God? Because of the fact that they're wrong. And it shouldn't be so scary to them for the word of God to just be preached, and if people believe it, great. If they don't believe it, well, that's up to them. But not according to the devil. He will do everything he can to stop the word of God, and he will stop short of nothing, not even using violence. And that's why, throughout history, Christians have been persecuted. Many have even been thrown into prison or even killed for the cause of Christ. And that's what we see in this chapter. Now what's Paul's reaction to this? When they resort to violence, he gets out of there. He flees. It says when he's aware of it, at the beginning of verse 6, and he knows that they're coming to try to stone him, he gets out of there, and it says he fled under Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia, and under the region that lieth round about. Now is this Paul being fearful or being a baby or just, you know, buckling under the pressure? Absolutely not. Jesus Christ even taught, when they persecute you in this city, he said, flee ye into another. So there's nothing wrong if you're about to get arrested or you're about to get killed or you're about to get beaten up for the cause of Christ. There's nothing wrong with just geographically getting out of there to avoid that because we see that throughout scripture. And I think Paul and Barnabas were doing the smart thing here by just getting out of there rather than just sitting there and allowing themselves to be killed. If you can get out of there, if you can escape, then escape. Now what I do think is wrong, though, is under persecution and pressure from the world and the devil and his crowd is when we start backing off on what we're preaching. And that's what we see Paul not doing here. We don't see Paul trying to compromise with the Jews, changing his message, watering down the teachings of God's word, or just kind of just going in a bunker and laying low for a while. I think that the right way to respond to severe persecution, I'm not talking about minor persecution. When severe persecution comes like this where it's actually deadly, I think it makes perfect sense to just shake the dust off your feet and go somewhere else and move on somewhere else. It does not ever make sense to compromise the word of God or just stop soul winning or stop preaching. Don't stop doing it. Just do it somewhere else. If God closes one door, just go through the next open door. And so I believe Paul did the right thing here by leaving Iconium when he finds out they're going to kill him. And so he flees into Lystra and Derby. Now unfortunately, Paul is fleeing from the frying pan and into the fire, but he doesn't know that yet. So in verse number six it says, they fled into Lystra and Derby, cities of Lycaonia and under the region that lieth round about. And there they preached the gospel. And there sat a certain man at Lystra, impotent in his feet. The word impotent means lacking power. Think about the word omnipotent. Omnipotent means all powerful. Well impotent means not powerful, no power. So when it says he's impotent in his feet, his feet are basically just limp. They have no strength. They have no power. So he cannot stand on his feet because he is crippled. The Bible says he is a cripple from his mother's womb who never had walked. The same heard Paul speak, who steadfastly beholding him. So Paul is steadfastly beholding this crippled man. And perceiving that he had faith to be healed, said with a loud voice, stand upright on thy feet. And he leaped and walked. And when the people saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in the speech of Lycaonia, the gods are come down to us in the likeness of men. And they called Barnabas Jupiter and Paul Mercurious because he was the chief speaker. Then the priest of Jupiter, which was before their city, brought oxen and garlands under the gates and would have done sacrifice with the people. So here, because the apostle Paul heals a man that they all knew. They had seen this guy. They had known him his entire life that he was born crippled. He was just a beggar that they would pass by on a daily basis. And when they see this man jump up and he's leaping and walking, instead of thinking about the God of the Bible, these people are steeped in their own false pagan religion. So they've got their religion of their false gods, their Greek slash Roman gods here, you know, Jupiter and Mercurious. And that's what they're thinking, oh, these are the gods, you know, our false pagan gods have taken human form and walked among us. And so they want to be quick to do an animal sacrifice to Paul and Barnabas because they want to show hospitality to the gods so they can get more favors or more blessings from these gods. So they go to get oxen because they're actually going to kill the oxen and do an animal sacrifice, like a burnt offering unto Paul and Barnabas. Now obviously this is not the reaction that Paul and Barnabas are looking for. This kind of freaks them out. And so they want to jump in and intervene. They don't want someone burning a sacrifice unto them. So they jump in and stop this from happening. It says in verse number 14, which when the apostles, Barnabas and Paul heard of it, they rent their clothes, meaning that they tore their clothing. So they begin to rend their garment and they ran in among the people crying out and saying, sirs, why do you these things? We also are men of like passions with you and preach unto you that you should turn away from these vanities unto the living God, which made heaven and earth and the sea and all things that are there in, who in time past suffered all nations to walk in their own ways. Nevertheless, he left not himself without witness in that he did good and gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness. And with these sayings scarce restrained they, the people that they had not done sacrifice unto them. So they barely could talk them out of it. I mean, they're just like, nope, we're sacrificing to you. And they're like, no, don't do it. So they have to like fight them, rip their clothes and, and just beg them not to do these sacrifices. They're like, is this some kind of test? You know, we're going to sacrifice anyway. No. So they're trying to tell them, look, your religion is vain. Your religion is a lie. It's false. And we're here to turn you away from that false religion. Now there's an interesting statement that's made here when he says that in time past, that God had suffered, verse 16, all nations to walk in their own ways. This is very similar to what Paul preaches in Acts chapter 17, verse 30, when he talked about how they thought that God could be made into an image out of gold or silver or stone. And he says the times of this ignorance God winked at, but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent. And here it says that in time past, he suffered all nations to walk in their own ways. Nevertheless, he left himself not without witness, et cetera. What's the Bible saying here? Well, remember in the Old Testament, God's plan was to have his one model nation, his one pattern nation, the nation of Israel that would be a chosen people to be a light to the Gentiles. So that that would be an example nation where they would teach the rest of the world about the God of the Bible. Israel would preach the word of God to everyone else. And of course, that didn't work out and Israel failed at that mission. And so in the New Testament now, God's not using one nation. God doesn't have one flagship nation that's going to preach to the rest of the world and reach the rest of the world. All the prophets are going to be coming out of that nation and going to these other nations. That's not God's plan. In the New Testament, God has a new chosen people made up of all believers. It's not a physical nation. It's a spiritual nation that's actually of all nations, red, yellow, black, and white. Everyone who believes on Jesus Christ in whatever part of the world is the new chosen people and it's their job to evangelize. So what he's saying now is, look, this is not an Israel thing. This is something for all nations of the world. We're trying to turn everybody away from these false religions. Everyone needs to convert to Christ. Everyone needs to believe on Jesus Christ and you're going to be one of God's chosen people as well if you get saved, if you believe on Christ. But he's trying to break down this idea that this nation has this religion, that nation has that religion. And people today still have that same idea, don't they? Where they think, well, the only reason you're a Hindu is because you're from India and the only reason you're a Christian is because you're from America and the reason that you're a Muslim is because you're from the Arabic world or Indonesia or Pakistan or whatever. But that is not true. Now it is true of the Hindus. I mean, pretty much if you're a Hindu, yeah, you're Indian or you're just some super trendy California person who's trying to get, you know, you just want that ohm sticker on the back of your car and you like to go to yoga and whatever. But the point is that it is true that many religions of this world are very national in their identity, right? Like when you think of Hinduism is a certain part of the world where pretty much all Hindus either are or come from. And not only that, when we think of Sikhism, it's the Punjab. That's where they're all from, that Punjabi region of India and Pakistan. And if you see them anywhere else in the world, they came from the Punjab, right? And when you think of Muslims, obviously there are certain parts of the world associated with that. And so on, Buddhism, it's pretty much going to be East Asia that's involved in Buddhism. But when we think of Christianity, Christianity is in every nation in the world. This isn't just some uniquely white man religion, European religion, it's not even from Europe originally, right? It's originally from Galilee, it's originally from Palestine, it's originally from the land of Israel. And so Christianity permeates Africa, Asia, I mean if someone said they're a Christian, you can't predict whether they're going to be black or white or Filipino or Asian, I mean they could be any of those things, okay? Because God is reaching people in all nations with the gospel of Jesus Christ in the New Testament. He's using us to do that. His great commission was to go teach all nations. So there's no excuse to say, well I was just born a Hindu, well it's time to convert to Christ. Well you know, it's just because of where I was born, well wrong because a bunch of Hindus have converted to Christ, a bunch of Muslims have converted to Christ, a bunch of Buddhists have converted to Christ, and God is commanding all men everywhere to repent. Well it's just who I am, change, repent. Well I was just born to repent, right? Well you know, it's just my family, nuts to your family, repent and believe the gospel. Just continue in that because it's your culture, your family, religion, you know you need to change what you believe and receive Christ as savior. So that's what Paul is preaching to them. And what's interesting is that these very people are white people. They're Europeans, right? Because where is he? He's speaking in the Greek-speaking world. At this time, Turkey was part of the Greek-speaking world and it was part of European culture and so forth. And later on he's going to be in Macedonia and Greece. And you know, I've said this to the Native Americans, you know, I've been out soul winning on the Indian reservation and run into Native Americans and said, well you know, you've got your white man religion of Christianity but we've got our local religion, we've got our gods, we've got our traditions and so forth. And you know, I've told those people, as I've said, well you know what, as a white person, you know, I actually have my pagan gods too. You know, I could be talking about Zeus and Thor and all those types of paganism practices but you know, we've converted away from that to Christianity and you need to as well. Everybody in the world, whether it's Africa, Asia, Europe, they all have their satanic pagan gods. Whether it's Scandinavia or Greece or India, Africa, Native Americans, they all have these pagan gods and goddesses and then there's Christ. Then there's the true God and eternal life. And so, don't let people turn that on you and try to say that Christianity is the white man's religion. Wrong. Now, thank God that a lot of white people have accepted Christ but you know what, it's for everybody. A lot of Indians have already accepted Christ and so, you know, we need to preach the gospel to everybody and people need to get away from this cultural or ethnic or national identity with a certain religion. And you know, even a lot of white people are stuck on, well, we're Catholic. You know, because they're from certain countries where they're orthodox or whatever. Hey, change. Okay. The word of God trumps all that and so, don't get sucked into pagan false religion just because it's your ancestral tradition. We're all of one blood. We're all in the same boat on this earth and we're all gonna be held accountable by God and we're all required to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation. And so, they try to turn them away and they restrain them from doing sacrifice. Look at verse 19. It says, and there came thither certain Jews from Antioch and Iconium who persuaded the people and having stoned Paul, drew him out of the city supposing he had been dead. So, he left Iconium because of the plot to get him killed. He heads over to Lystra and at Lystra, this story takes place where he heals the man, they think he's a god, they try to worship him, he stops them. But then what we see next is that the bad guys from Iconium, they bring the plot with them to Lystra and they, the Bible says, persuaded the people in Lystra to kill Paul. It says in verse 19, who persuaded the people and having stoned Paul, drew him out of the city supposing he had been dead. Now it's kind of interesting the way God chose to write this because everything in the Bible is the way it is for a reason. Nothing in the Bible's incidental, coincidental, or accidental. Isn't it interesting how fast this changes, how in verse 18, people are trying to do a sacrifice to him and calling him a god. And then literally in the next verse, the same people are persuaded to kill him. And they think that they killed him. I mean, they stone him and they think he's dead and they walk away like, alright, we just killed him. Don't you think it's kind of interesting that in one verse they go from proclaiming him a god to killing him? This is not the only time you see this in the Bible, by the way. Acts 28 is pretty similar when Paul gets bitten by the serpent and he ends up feeling no harm and they proclaim him to be a god. A minute ago, what did they say a minute ago? Oh, he's a murderer. He's a horrible person. You're a god, you know. What we see is that sometimes these extremes of praise are often not sincere or from the heart, flattery, you know, when people are all of a sudden just immediately your best friend and just immediately they think that you're just the greatest person in the world or they just met you and they're just way too quick to just become your best friend and they just love you so much. And, you know, these are the same people that are going to turn around and stab you in the back. They're going to turn around and stab you in the back. The same people who were screaming, Hosanna, blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord, just a few days later were screaming, crucify him. And that's why when Jesus, early in his ministry in the book of John, was having all kinds of success and everybody's believing on him and things are going great, it says he committed not himself unto them, though, because he knew what was in man. He knew that being popular today does not ensure that you're going to be popular tomorrow. Okay. So we need to be careful and cautious when we see people that are just a little too quick to be our best friend, a little too quick to just praise us and exalt us and especially to flatter us or shower us with compliments that are over the top. What could be more over the top than saying, you're a God? Isn't that pretty much the most over the top compliment that anyone could ever give you? Saying you're a God and then they're ready to kill you in the next breath. So the point is, beware of flattery, beware of praise, and it's easy to get sucked into this as human beings because we like to have our ego stroked, right? And somebody tells us how great we are and it's just like, well, yeah, well, I guess, yeah. Thank you. You know, we need to stay humble. And staying humble when people are praising us, if anything, it should make us a little bit cautious. When people are giving us an abundance of praise, we need to be cautious of that because that can often be a flattering tongue or it can be someone who's just so unstable that this is the same person who's going to just blow up and, you know, it's like they can either be your best friend or your worst enemy. And I think we've all known people like that. We could probably all tell a story about someone in our life who we thought was going to be our best friend and just immediately turned on a dime and just became our worst enemy. Somebody who just started out just so buddy-buddy and then just boom. And look, I can't even count how many times, just in the ministry, how many people. And you know, think about the trash cans that are out there, okay? And when I say trash cans, this is a term that I use for people and YouTube channels and ministries that literally only exist as a response to Faithful Word Baptist Church. They have no independent identity except that they're just anti-Pastor Anderson. Just a whole YouTube channel is dedicated to attacking Pastor Anderson, whole ministries that that's all they're built on. They're just like a trash can for all the Faithful Word rejects to go to. So anybody who gets thrown out of Faithful Word Baptist Church, anybody who gets disgruntled or upset at Pastor Anderson, they all go to the trash can, okay, where they can all get together and have like a support group for enemies of Pastor Anderson. But here's what's interesting. You know what all these people almost all have in common? That if you go back in time, they were all praising me and how great I am and in many times over the top, many times overboard in their praise and overboard in their affection, overboard in just how excited they are about faith. That's how it turns out, folks. So like it makes me cautious of those kind of people because those are the same people that want to stone you to death in the next verse. So anyway, I've always thought that was interesting in this story, how God chose instead of giving us any detail between verses 18 and 19 because it escalated a little quickly there, didn't it? I think he didn't give us the detail on purpose because he's trying to highlight the turn on a dime. You're God. You die, you know, just that fast. Okay. So look at verse 20. I mean, they drew him out of the city and they thought he was dead. I mean, they stoned him. You can imagine the pain and suffering of being stoned and surviving. They think he's dead, but he's not dead. So they drag him out of the city, leave him there and he's laying there and no, albeit as the disciples stood around about him. So basically the disciples are standing around him. They're having the funeral, you know, poor Paul, you know, they're sad, they're upset. And while they're standing around him, he rose up so you can imagine this. I mean, he's, you know, he's bruised, he's bloody, he's injured and he's laying there and then it's like, Hey guys, you know, he actually gets up. Wow. So it says that he actually rose up and came into the city and the next day he departed with Barnabas to Derby and when they preached the gospel to that city and it taught many, they returned again to Lystra and Tyconium and Antioch. Now this seems a little crazy. Hey, let's go back to Lystra. Let's go back to Tyconium. These are the people who just killed him, right? I mean, he didn't actually die, but for all intents and purposes, they practically killed him. What I see here as I'm looking at this, to me, it seems like he didn't go back there and just necessarily start doing public ministry again. He didn't just go there and just start preaching in the synagogue or something. I think what he did was he just passed back through and met with the believers and what does it say in verse 21? It says he returned again to Lystra, Tyconium and Antioch, confirming the souls of the disciples and exhorting them to continue in the faith and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God. Now that sermon is really going to pack a little more of a punch when the guy who's delivering it to you was just stoned and left for dead. So I'm sure he's still bloody and beaten and bruised. Even if some time had gone by, even if weeks have gone by, it's going to take a long time to be fully healed from that if you're ever going to be fully healed from that. So he's standing up and telling them, look guys, you saw what happened to me. It happened in your town. We must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God. And so he's preaching to them, he's exhorting them, look, continue in the faith. Don't quit. Don't back down. Don't stop. Look, I have been arrested and beaten and killed and I got to get out of here, but you guys need to keep on believing in Christ, preaching the gospel. Don't quit. Don't give up. Because we have to through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God. And they had ordained elders in every church and had prayed with fasting. They commended them to the Lord on whom they believed. So they're saying, you know what, you guys are in the Lord's hands now, we're commending you to the Lord, you're his responsibility now, we're going to move on and evangelize somewhere else, but God be with you and they commended them unto the Lord. So I don't think Paul is just being stupid because I can see here that he's trying to avoid getting killed every chance he gets. But at the same time, he's not going to stop doing the work of the Lord. He's going to keep on preaching, keep on evangelizing, keep on doing the work of God. And notice the work of God goes forward. I mean, look, we know how the story ends. I mean, these places got evangelized, the gospel went all throughout Europe and all throughout the entire world. And these people did continue in the faith. They did keep the gospel going unto us today. Here we are in 2019 still preaching the Bible because there's been a chain of Bible believing Christians from then until now. And you know, we're still reaping the benefits of the apostle Paul's work here. So it says we must through much tribulation in the name of the kingdom of God. It's interesting when you think about that word tribulation and if you study that word in scripture, you'll find that most of the time it's talking about believers going through tribulation and believers are never exempt from tribulation in scripture. It's quite the opposite. The Bible says that, and if you would flip over to 1 Thessalonians chapter three, 1 Thessalonians chapter three, and you know, these arrests and fleeing this city and getting stoned, these are all examples of tribulation in the lives of Paul and Barnabas. But it's interesting, in 1 Thessalonians chapter five, verse number nine, it says, For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. And people will use this scripture to say, well, there's no way Christians could go through the tribulation because we're not appointed to wrath. So they're conflating the tribulation in God's wrath. They're mixing these two things up. Now when the Apostle Paul and Barnabas were going through tribulation, were they experiencing the wrath of God? When they got stoned in Lystra, were they experiencing the wrath of God? When they had to flee Iconium, were they experiencing the wrath of God? When they were arrested here, when they were whipped here, beaten there, were they experiencing the wrath of God? No, they were in God's pleasure. They were in God's grace. God was very pleased with them. The wrath of God and tribulation are not the same thing. And these things are not to be confused with one another. So the Bible used this word, we're not appointed to wrath. So we don't have an appointment with wrath. That's not what God has in mind for us. That's not what God has planned for us. We are not appointed to wrath. We are rather appointed to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. Go back to chapter three, though. Look at chapter three. And as you're turning to chapter three, I want to make sure that you understand the fact that the words affliction and tribulation are synonymous in the New Testament. So as we study the New Testament, we will see these words used interchangeably. Like in Matthew 24, when it talks about, then shall be great tribulation, such as was not from the beginning of the world to this time, nor ever shall be. In Mark 13, that same statement is listed as, then shall be great affliction. So in Matthew 24, it's great tribulation. In Mark 13, it's great affliction. These two words are used interchangeably. Watch how they're used interchangeably here in 1 Thessalonians chapter three, verse three. That no man should be moved by these afflictions. For yourselves know that we are what? Appointed thereunto. So are we appointed to wrath? No, but are we appointed to these afflictions? He says that no man should be moved by these afflictions. For yourselves know that we're appointed thereunto, for verily when we were with you, we told you before that we should suffer tribulation, even as it came to pass, and ye know. So isn't it interesting that in verse three and four of chapter three, he says, we are appointed to these afflictions. We are appointed to tribulation. We told you before that we would suffer tribulation. Then in chapter four, he talks about the rapture, and then in chapter five, he says we're not appointed to wrath. I'm sure that's just a coincidence, right? That 1 Thessalonians three says you're appointed to tribulation, 1 Thessalonians four teaches the rapture, 1 Thessalonians five says we're not appointed to wrath. Well guess what? That's exactly how it's going to happen in the end times. We're going to be here for the tribulation, then the rapture's going to take place, and then after we're gone, God's going to pour out his wrath. So the trumpets and the vials of God's wrath are after we're already gone, okay? We will already be raptured before that, and we will not be here for the destruction of Babylon because that's at the end of the seventh vial, right? That's at the very end of God pouring out his wrath. But are we going to be here for tribulation? Yes we are. Christians throughout history have always gone through tribulation. They've always gone through affliction, and some day is coming, tribulation, such as the world has never seen. And we will, if it happens in our generation, be present for that. And even if it does not happen in our lifetime, we will be present for other tribulation because all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. And we are going to go through times of trouble, that's another word that's used synonymously with tribulation affliction. We are going to go through times of trouble. We will go through trials and tribulations in our lives. We must, through much tribulation, enter into the kingdom of God. That sounds like a good idea for a song, maybe we could write a song called Through Tribulation. Oh, never mind, it's already out there. So that's what the apostle Paul is teaching them in Acts 14, the exact same thing he's teaching them there. When he says, look, don't be moved by these afflictions. Don't you know that we're appointed to this? That no man should be moved by these afflictions for yourselves, know that we're appointed there unto, for verily when we were with you, we told you before that we should suffer tribulation, even as it came to pass, and ye know. So what stops us from being moved by tribulation when we know it's coming? That's why God gives us so many warnings in the Bible, look, this is what's going to happen, this is what's going to be, count the cost. And yet we see today sometimes there are people who just at the faintest little whiff of persecution, they're gone. I mean when things are going great, boy, they're in church, they're coming, everything's great, and then as soon as the church comes under attack, as soon as they start getting flack from family and friends, as soon as it starts to hurt them, maybe even financially, all of a sudden they're gone. We've all seen that before, haven't we? You know, as soon as they pull up to church and there's some sodomites out there holding up a sign or something, they'll just turn the car right around and drive home. Because they're that weak. And you know, there's no chapter in Fox's Book of Martyrs for people who had to walk through picketers to walk into the church service. Okay, there's no chapter in Fox's Book of Martyrs for someone who lost their job for preaching the Word of God. Now look, I'm not downplaying those things, I've been through those things. You know, I lost my business a while back for preaching back in 2009 sermons that I preached, and you know, a lot of my preacher friends have lost their jobs recently. You know, Pastor Grayson Fritz, Pastor Patrick Boyle, Pastor Dave Berzins, a whole bunch of my preacher friends. And look, this is the country that we're living in now in America, where you preach the Bible when you're off the clock and you get fired from your job for preaching the Bible. Or for some tweet that you made on your own personal time, something that you posted to Facebook on your own personal time that's from the Bible, and you're losing your job now. You know, this is the world we're living in. Well you know what, if that scares you, well then you know what, you might as well just hit the road, because it's only going to get worse. We must through much tribulation enter into the Kingdom of God. You know, you need to be willing to go through some difficulties in your life for the cause of Christ. You know what, sometimes you might have to lose a job, or get hurt in some way, or lose money, or lose friends, or lose family. This is the sacrifice that we make to be a Godly Christian. And look, I hope that God blesses you and protects you and that everything goes great, but I know from experience you're going to go through some hard things in your life. Nobody goes through life just living an easy life, unless they're just a do-nothing. But if you start actually making some waves, if you start actually winning a multitude to Christ, if you start actually doing great things for God, there is going to be opposition. And if you don't think there's going to be opposition, you're crazy. Or you just haven't been reading the Bible. There's going to be a battle. And if you're not willing to fight that battle, then you might as well just pack it up and go home. Okay, and be a loser, be a nothing, be a nobody, let the whole world go to hell, so that you can just be really comfortable, and then you can die in your sleep and go to heaven, after living a perfectly comfortable life with your three-car garage and all the toys and all the paid vacations and everybody likes you at work and you're the employee of the month. Okay? But you know what? That's not realistic if you actually want to do something for God. You're going to go through tribulation. You're going to go through affliction. Now look, everybody loves the apostle Paul. I mean, I don't think that anybody would say that the apostle Paul was a bad Christian. And I don't think that anybody would not want to probably trade lives with him at the judgment seat of Christ. You know what I mean? We wouldn't mind if the records got a little mixed up and we got treated as the apostle Paul. You know, everybody wants to be the apostle Paul. Every missionary. Every missionary looks to the apostle Paul as their hero. He's the missionary in the Bible, right? Think about all the independent fundamental Baptist missionaries that are out there in the world today serving Christ in the foreign fields, and I bet you if you ask them for their inspiration, their hero, how many of them would say, oh, that's the apostle Paul? But then you see how they won't preach hard because the tiniest little bit of persecution and they panic. They fold like a deck of cards. How is Paul your hero? Paul's getting beaten here, arrested here, run out of town on a rail. Funny, I don't see you getting run out of town on a rail. Well, you know, I'd rather just, you know, be more stable and I'm going to reach these five people in the next 50 years or whatever. It's like, well, you know what? I'd rather reach a multitude and get thrown out and run out on a rail than to reach five people over the course of a decade and be really stable. You know, people accuse me of being unstable and, you know, unstable. Well, you know, I'd rather be unstable and get a lot of work done for God than to be stable and doing nothing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're stable at zero. You're holding steady at zero. It's really easy to be stable at zero. You know, you know, one of the steadiest ways that you could be is just to lay on the floor and you just lay down and do nothing. I mean, it's very stable when you're laying in bed doing nothing, you know, but when you get out there and start doing stuff, you know what? Yeah, there are going to be waves. There are going to be setbacks. There are going to be fights. There are going to be battles. There's going to be drama. Why? Because we're doing stuff. Amen. And by the way, I'm very stable because, you know, I've been married to the same woman for 19 years. I've been pastoring the same church for 13 and a half years. I've only lived in three cities in my entire life. Okay. I still have a relationship with both my parents and all my siblings. So I'm actually a stable person, but they, they, you know, oh, you're on sale. Really? Because the old IFB average pastors for two years at each church. That's the average how long an old IFB pastor lasted his church. So it's pretty easy to point the finger and say, oh, the new IFB is unstable because this guy had to step down or this guy switched churches or whatever. Well, you know what? Still more stable than the average church in America. Amen. And this church is totally stable because we've had the same pastors since the founding and we believe the same stuff and we have a lot of the same members that we've had through the years. And so, but, but you know what? At the end of the day though, okay, I'm unstable. Fine. Fine. I'm unstable, unstable, but getting things done, you know, I'd rather do that. Then to be a do nothing. So what's your goal in life? Just stability. Is that your goal? Just, I just want to be really calm and stable and, or is your goal to do great work for God and maybe, maybe you will end up having to switch jobs or switch cities or whatever. Look, I'm glad I've been able to stay in the same city for 13 and a half years, but you know what? I'd rather preach the truth and get run out of town on a rail than to just be here for 50 years because I laid low. You know, I, and look, I hope to be here for the next 50 years. I hope to die here in Phoenix, Arizona and to live and die here and never to move anywhere. But you know what? I'm not going to lay low because it's not worth it. Stability is not the ultimate goal. Unity is not the ultimate goal. The ultimate goal is doing the work of God, reaching people with the gospel, winning people to Christ, establishing churches, teaching them to observe all things that Christ commanded. So that's what we see in this chapter. Let me finish up with the very end here. It says in verse 24, and after they had passed throughout Pisidia, they came to Pamphylia and when they had preached the word in Perga, they went down into Italia and then sailed to Antioch from whence they had been recommended to the grace of God for the work which they fulfilled. So we, here we see Paul is coming full circle. If you remember at the beginning of chapter 13, he departed from Antioch on the missionary journey and now he's returning to Antioch. This is why this is referred to as the first missionary journey because when he comes back full circle to where he started, the journey is over and then the second journey is going to take off again from Antioch and go other places. So it says in verse 27, when they were calm, they gathered the church together. They rehearsed all that God had done with them and how God, excuse me, and how he had opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles and there they abode long time with the disciples. So the biggest thing we can learn here from part two of Paul's first missionary journey is that when you do a great work for God, there's going to be a fight involved. I mean, all throughout chapter 14, there was a lot of persecution. People are divided. People are attacking them. They have to flee. They end up being assaulted. They're being attacked from so many different quarters and when you do a great work for God, there's going to be opposition. Boldness is the key, right? That's what caused the great works to be done, preaching boldly, but you can't expect realistically to get up and make a bold stand for God and preach the word of God boldly and do a bunch of works for God and then the devil and his crowd are just going to take that line down. Is that what you really think is going to happen? No way. There's always going to be a pushback. There's always going to be a reaction, okay? They're always going to strike back, but the question is, are you ready for it? If you go into it ready for it, it's not going to stop. Did it stop Paul? I mean, Paul even went back to Lystra after being stoned there and he used it as an object lesson to say, hey, we're going to go through much tribulation as we enter the kingdom of God, so you need to decide right now today that you're willing to go through hard things. You're willing to make sacrifices. You're willing to suffer for the cause of Christ because if you're not willing to do any suffering, you're not going to do anything for Christ. You will be the one who quits as soon as things get hard, so we want to make sure that we are steadfast and unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord for as much as we know that our labor is not in vain in the Lord. You know what? Things are going good right now. The economy is thriving. In America today, people are doing well financially. The economy is thriving. Unemployment is at a record low. Everything is going good. This is the time when a lot of Christians are just going to start to enjoy the things of this world a little too much and just start to think, man, I'm starting to finally enjoy the comfort. This is the life. This is so good, and you know what? You don't want to be like Demas who loved this present world. Don't get to the point where you just love your life in this world so much and you just love the way things are going to where you just don't want to rock the boat, and now all of a sudden serving God has to take a back seat to you making sure that your little perfect life goes forward. You know what? My life is not perfect. My life has never been perfect, and my life will never be perfect, but you know what? In spite of our imperfect lives, we can do a great work for God. Let our job be volatile. Let relationships be volatile if that's what it takes to do great work for God, because this life is just a vapor that appears for a little time and vanishes away. So don't get too comfortable in this life or else God might have to make you uncomfortable to shake you out of your apathy. Going out soul winning in this heat is uncomfortable. Is it uncomfortable to go out there in this heat soul winning? A lot of churches in this weather would just cancel soul winning for the whole summer. A lot of churches in America, they cancel soul winning for the whole winter, but you know what? I'd rather go out there and be in discomfort to go soul winning in the heat. I'd rather go out and experience that discomfort than for God to look down and see me sitting around and doing nothing while the world goes to hell and say, you know what? I got to put this guy through some discomfort. He's getting a little too comfortable there. I'd rather choose my own suffering. I'd rather put myself out in the oven for an hour or two, winning souls, than for God to have to put me in the proverbial oven in my life as a chastisement or a chastening. I'd rather just get out there and do the work that God wants me to do voluntarily than to have to be pushed into it. And look, and I do want to just give a public service announcement this time of year. You do have to be careful out there, especially if you're not from around here. A lot of people, this is their first summer or they're just visiting for the weekend. You've got to be careful. You need to salt your food, salt on your food, and you need to drink plenty of water. Don't say, well, I'm going to do fasting all weekend so I can do better soul winning. There's a time to fast and there's a time not to fast. Summer in Phoenix, Arizona when you're going soul winning is not the time to fast. And you know, some of you hyper spiritual types will criticize me for saying that because you're just going to fast all day and then go out soul winning wrong. We've had too many people pass out like that. So be sure that you eat and drink, but you know what, it's not going to kill you to get out there in the heat to save people from a worse heat in hell. Get out there for an hour or two so that somebody doesn't have to spend eternity in hell. And look, if it's too hot for you, take a break. Sit in the shade, get something to drink. And by the way, let me never hear that anyone criticized someone for taking a break from soul winning in this heat and sitting in the shade with a lemonade. All right. You need to sometimes sit in the shade with a lemonade. Sometimes just 10 minutes in the shade. You can just sit down for 10 minutes. Hey, let's catch our breath. Drink a lemonade, get in the shade and then get back out there and do it again, right? So know your limitations, but don't just be a do nothing. Get out there and go soul winning, you know, don't quit for the summer because you know what, when you quit for the summer, next thing you'll know, oh, it's too hot. And the next thing you know, fall rolls around and then you're just too busy even when the weather's perfect. So let's keep out there. Let's keep doing the work. Let's keep pushing it. Let's keep standing for God and count the cost. Be willing to pay the price. Be an apostle Paul. Be a Barnabas. Don't be a do nothing. Let's borrow this word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for your word, Lord. Thank you for this great passage in Acts chapter 14, Lord, help us to apply it to our lives and to look to Paul and Barnabas as heroes of the faith that pioneered the gospel in Europe and Lord, just help us to be modern day apostle Paul's modern day Barnabases and help us to be great Christians that take Paul's advice to go through much tribulation in our lives. And in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.