The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.
Acts 13:1-12noted as the previous week's passage, beginning of the first missionary journey
1 Now in the assembly that was at Antioch there were some prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen the foster brother of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.
2 As they served the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, “Separate Barnabas and Saul for me, for the work to which I have called them.”
3 Then, when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.
4 So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia. From there they sailed to Cyprus.
5 When they were at Salamis, they proclaimed God’s word in the Jewish synagogues. They had also John as their attendant.
6 When they had gone through the island to Paphos, they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew, whose name was Bar Jesus,
7 who was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, a man of understanding. This man summoned Barnabas and Saul, and sought to hear the word of God.
8 But Elymas the sorcerer (for so is his name by interpretation) withstood them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith.
9 But Saul, who is also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, fastened his eyes on him,
10 and said, “Full of all deceit and all cunning, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord?
11 Now, behold, the hand of the Lord is on you, and you will be blind, not seeing the sun for a season!” Immediately a mist and darkness fell on him. He went around seeking someone to lead him by the hand.
12 Then the proconsul, when he saw what was done, believed, being astonished at the teaching of the Lord.
Paul and Barnabas entering the synagogue at Pisidian Antioch on the Sabbath and being invited to speak
14 But they, passing on from Perga, came to Antioch of Pisidia. They went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and sat down.
15 After the reading of the law and the prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent to them, saying, “Brothers, if you have any word of exhortation for the people, speak.”
God choosing the fathers and making the people great during their stay in Egypt
17 The God of this people chose our fathers, and exalted the people when they stayed as aliens in the land of Egypt, and with an uplifted arm, he led them out of it.
God removing Saul and raising up David, described as a man after God's own heart who will do all God's will
22 When he had removed him, he raised up David to be their king, to whom he also testified, ‘I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after my heart, who will do all my will.’
John the Baptist proclaiming a baptism of repentance and declaring he was not the one but one greater was coming
24 before his coming, when John had first preached the baptism of repentance to Israel.
25 As John was fulfilling his course, he said, ‘What do you suppose that I am? I am not he. But behold, one comes after me, the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to untie.’
those in Jerusalem not recognizing Jesus or the prophets, finding no grounds for death yet asking Pilate to execute him
27 For those who dwell in Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they didn’t know him, nor the voices of the prophets which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled them by condemning him.
28 Though they found no cause for death, they still asked Pilate to have him killed.
proclaiming the good news of the promise fulfilled by raising Jesus, quoting the second Psalm
32 We bring you good news of the promise made to the fathers,
33 that God has fulfilled the same to us, their children, in that he raised up Jesus. As it is also written in the second psalm, ‘You are my Son. Today I have become your father.’
God speaking that he will give the holy and faithful mercies of David, Jesus never returning to decay
34 “Concerning that he raised him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption, he has spoken thus: ‘I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David.’
warning not to let the words of the prophets come upon them, quoting Habakkuk
40 Beware therefore, lest that come on you which is spoken in the prophets:
41 ‘Behold, you scoffers, and wonder, and perish; for I work a work in your days, a work which you will in no way believe, if one declares it to you.’”
people begging Paul and Barnabas to speak again next Sabbath, many following and being urged to continue in the grace of God
42 So when the Jews went out of the synagogue, the Gentiles begged that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath.
43 Now when the synagogue broke up, many of the Jews and of the devout proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas; who, speaking to them, urged them to continue in the grace of God.
Paul and Barnabas declaring it was necessary to speak to Jews first but since they rejected it turning to the Gentiles
46 Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly, and said, “It was necessary that God’s word should be spoken to you first. Since indeed you thrust it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles.
the Lord's command quoted: I have appointed you as a light to the Gentiles to bring salvation to the ends of the earth
47 For so has the Lord commanded us, saying, ‘I have set you as a light for the Gentiles, that you should bring salvation to the uttermost parts of the earth.’”
Jews inciting prominent women and leading men, persecution against Paul and Barnabas who shook dust off their sandals and went to Iconium
50 But the Jews stirred up the devout and prominent women and the chief men of the city, and stirred up a persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and threw them out of their borders.
51 But they shook off the dust of their feet against them, and came to Iconium.
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
The pastor was away on April 20 for Easter, performing a wedding in Georgia, so this was his first Sunday back in the pulpit. He picked up Acts 13 right where he left off, walking through Paul and Barnabas's first missionary journey from Paphos to Pisidian Antioch, and wove in stories from his own recent trip to Uganda to show that God is still moving the same way He always has.
What was said
After John Mark quietly slipped away at Perga and headed back to Jerusalem, Paul and Barnabas made a direct push inland to Pisidian Antioch. The pastor noted that archaeology around that city turns up inscriptions bearing the Paulus family name, suggesting Sergius Paulus, the Roman proconsul just converted in Paphos, may well have sent them there with a reason. The point was not to prove a historical detail but to show that God tends to move through connections, just as He did when Carl's mother passed along word of a missionary family in Uganda who had been robbed and beaten.
In the synagogue at Pisidian Antioch, Paul was invited to speak and he did what every good preacher does with that audience: he started with the history they already knew. He traced the line from the choosing of the fathers, through Egypt and the wilderness and the judges and Saul and David, arriving at the promise. The crowd had been hearing the law and the prophets read on a schedule every Sabbath for years, and Paul's point was that they had the whole story in front of them without recognizing where it was pointing.
That point on the line is Jesus. Paul moved from David to John the Baptist to the cross to the empty tomb, and the pastor paused there to say plainly that the resurrection is the central event of all history. Paul's argument to the synagogue was that the same scriptures they read every week, the Psalms included, were not talking about David when they spoke of a holy one who would not undergo decay. David died, was buried, and decayed. Jesus did not.
Because of the resurrection, Paul could proclaim forgiveness of sins and freedom from the one thing the law was never able to provide: actual redemption. The law is good at showing a person where they fall short, the pastor said, but it cannot make anyone right. That freedom is in Jesus alone, and rejecting it, Paul warned by quoting Habakkuk, is done at a person's own peril.
The reaction split the room. The next Sabbath nearly the whole city showed up, and instead of rejoicing, the regular synagogue crowd grew jealous. They began contradicting Paul, and the pastor was careful to say that contradicting the claim that Jesus is the fulfillment of God's promise is not just disagreement, it is calling good evil, which is what blasphemy actually means. Paul and Barnabas responded by turning explicitly to the Gentiles, citing their commission, and those who believed did so with joy.
That summary line, "the disciples were continually filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit," became the frame for everything the pastor shared about Uganda. The driver Joram, the photographer Brenda who turned out to be a believer, the Catholic guide Michael who finished scripture verses, the missionary family smiling after a violent break-in, the Rescue One More team in Kampala, none of them were there by careful planning. They were there by connection, the same way Paul ended up in Pisidian Antioch. The joy and the Spirit are not confined to people who have been formally sent. They belong to anyone who says yes to the gospel and keeps moving.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages
in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
Paul reminded the synagogue crowd that God made Israel great during their years of slavery in Egypt, and suggested that hard times make for great men. When have you seen difficulty produce something meaningful in your own life or in someone you know?
Pastor Nathan pointed out that when we think of David, many of us go straight to Bathsheba and Uriah before we get to 'a man after God's own heart.' Why do you think it is easier to remember a person's failures than the overall posture of their heart toward God?
Speaker 1Good morning, everybody. How are you? Alright. We're here. We're here together.
Would you stand? I'm gonna ask Emily if she'd come forward and sing along. You have a stand by Judy. You're gonna go stand by Judy. Is there a microphone we could get, Blake?
I'll I'll come we'll get them started and then I'll come get the mic. How about that? Amen. How about when we all get to heaven? That was a peppy one.
Amen. Y'all can have a seat. I've got a couple of announcements, literally. One of them is Awana is on. It's on tomorrow night.
It's not a regular club night exactly. So there is a workshop for the Pinewood Derby cars happening tomorrow where you can work on them here. A little bit of help cutting things out, making that refinements for the Grand Prix which will be next week I think, couple weeks. We've got also the Awana store is tomorrow night. So that is being set up and that should be ready.
So that's Awana. Everything else that you need to know. There are lots of things going on but everything else you need to know should be on the website and I'll say, Nick Stern does a great job of keeping that website pretty fresh and up to date. He sends out the weekly emails for everybody who wants some. And if you want to know more, you can go to firstbjackson.org.
That being said, he is traveling again to the Camino De Santiago in Spain. He is walking, hiking that long path with his twin brother Chris. And so would you pray for them? They see this as a ministry opportunity and it's really really encouraging to hear the stories of what's going on and when they get back, you'll have more I'm sure. But I would appreciate it.
That's literally all the announcing that I'm gonna do today. Did I miss anything or skip anything that y'all are precious about that you would rather me say? Good. Would you stand with me? And we're gonna sing the song, which is now I belong to Jesus.
A song that I did not grow up singing, but I love. Jesus my Lord will love And the next one will be the longer I serve. I did grow up singing this one. I mentioned the same guy every time. Freeman Kuh, an older man.
He always did this like on senior citizen Sunday. And it's just a beautiful song, Gaither's song. Amen. Y'all can have a seat. I'm going invite the ushers to come forward.
Thank you. Judy and Emily are gonna play a piece together for the operatory hymn. Would you join me? Lord God Almighty, I'm overwhelmed by how good you are to us, Lord. I that song, the longer I serve them, the sweeter you grow.
It's true. Lord, would you allow us the continual joy that comes from knowing you? Would you allow us the continual joy of knowing that forgiveness of sins is possible and it's actively true. Lord God Almighty, thank you that when we fall short, you have made the way. Lord, we ask that you would use us as your humble and obedient servants to do your will and your way, lord.
In this offering right now, I pray that everything that goes in these plates would be used for just that purpose, your will done in your way and for everything metaphorical that we place as an offering before you, Lord, our time, our talents, our conversations, the meditations of our heart, the ponderings of our mind. I pray that we'd be focused all of that on you and that you would use every single bit of that, Lord, and that that would advance your good gospel. In Jesus name, we ask that we'd be a part of it. Amen.
Speaker 2Thank you, Judy and Emily. And and may I just interject? I'm I'm the guy sitting at the in in the back right now. But do you know that we Judy has a very special birthday today. So would you join me in singing happy birthday to Judy?
Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday you.
Speaker 1What to Happy a blessing to this valley. What a blessing to this valley. Yep. Judy was telling me she played a played a funeral yesterday and she's been on call basically for fifty years to play when everybody in it ever anybody needed anything. We just appreciate you, Judy.
Thank you very much. Oh, is it time? Is it my turn? Yeah. Amen.
Here we are. So, I skipped Easter or so it seemed. I skipped it. I didn't really skip Easter. I just did Easter somewhere else.
There was a couple that was getting married and they had scheduled for April 27 to be their marriage date for a good long while and the venue where they were getting married closed. They closed. Completely closed. I said, yes to doing a wedding in Georgia on 04/27/2025 and a couple months ago, they said the venue closed. They just let us know.
We were scrambling looking Georgia in the summer in the springtime as a fantastic place to get married and so everybody was booked and they said, well, we've got the we've got the Sunday before or the Saturday before ready. I'm sorry, twenty sixth or the twentieth nineteenth and they said, we've got the Sunday before and they said, we'll take it, we'll take it, we'll take it, and then they found out it was Easter weekend but I still wanted to it. They were very very dear friends both of em and it was a fantastic time to be there. We did get to see Paschal. Thank you and I'm so glad that Carl got to present on Easter and I've heard nothing but great things.
So, that is fantastic. The last time we talked, last time I stood up here and talked towards y'all was Acts thirteen one through 12 and it was the beginning of the first missionary journey. If you'll look at a map and you'll see that they started in Antioch which of Syria is what we call it Antioch was up there on the upper right of your screen and they started in Antioch and there was a diverse group of pastors and elders there together in Antioch and they got together and they prayed and they fasted and they prayed and what they heard from the Holy Spirit was set aside Paul and Barnabas for the work that I have called them into and Paul and Barnabas received the commissioning from that crowd of diverse elders and they went on the first missionary journey. They went down the hill from Antioch to Seleucia. They sailed from Seleucia and went over to Salamis.
It is Salamis, not Salamis. Salamis, Cyprus up on the upper. It's a harbor right there as you can see and it says, and they went all over the land of Cyprus and so they went all about. Cyprus is where Barnabas is from. So Barnabas, the son of encouragement, his real name is Joseph.
He is from Cyprus and he knows the land, he knows the culture. If you all remember, a little fellow that used to work at Smith's, not this big, you know. We sent him back out to his home country. He knows the culture. That's one of the things he was looking forward to the most is knowing the language and knowing that he was saying exactly what he wanted to say instead of feeling like he was guessing although his English was perfect and his Spanish was really good too.
Barnabas in Cyprus at home, they make it all the way across to Paphos. Paphos is where they ran into a false prophet of Jewish descent named Bar Jesus. Right? Elimas, but we don't wanna talk about him. I wanna talk about the guy that listened to the message.
The guy who listened to the message was Sergius Paulus. Sergius Paulus is a Roman pro consul. He was in charge of the island of Cyprus. So, that's a big win. He wanted to hear the word of the Lord and he invited him and you when you're a missionary and somebody wants to hear it, yeah, that's great.
Then, he invited him in even though Elimas was trying not to for him not to listen. He believed the gospel and was saved and that's the first straight up Gentile without being the God fearer, without knowing the plan ahead of time that we hear about in the New Testament. So, this guy, Paphos, Sergius Paulus. Now, the next place that they're gonna go, let's just start right where we left off. We left off in Paphos.
Now, Paul and his companions, his companions that we know of were Barnabas and John who's also called Mark, John Mark. Barnabas and John Mark at least and there might have been others. Paul and his companions put out to sea from Paphos and they came to Perga and Pamphylia. Those of you who are map people are loving acts at this moment. Paphos to Perga across the Mediterranean Sea, it's sort of a harbor, it's a safe place to start the journey and they get to Perga and it says, Blake, the clicky clicker quit clicking.
Okay. Now, in Perga of Pamphylia, it says John, who's also known as John Mark, left them. It does not say why. We don't know why. We don't know if it was dengue.
That's what some people posit that it might have been dengue fever. Who knows? Could be but it doesn't say. John Mark left them and he returned to Jerusalem. So, we see he was with them on the first part of the journey but when they got to Perga in the harbor there, he's like, I'm catching a boat back home.
Most likely, he went to Caesarea, that'd be the normal place to get inland to Jerusalem and he just left. Now, we'll hear about this later. Paul will mention why what he did and Barnabas has a different story and they have a sharp disagreement but that's for several weeks in the future. John Mark went back to his mama's house, right? Last time we heard about John Mark, it was John Mark's mother's house is where Peter went when he was set free through that angel, right?
And so, his name keeps coming up. He was with him for the first part of the journey but then he left. Now, going on from Perga, they arrived at Pisidian Antioch and that is up over some passes and up in Turkey. It is actually it's why? That's what I'm trying to say.
Not it's actually. I was thinking of the next town. Pisidian Antioch. Why go there? Well, don't know.
I didn't get a strategy. I didn't get the prospectus. I wasn't here this Sunday that they got up and told me what their plans were. They didn't we don't know why but Jesus said, as you are going, you'll be making disciples. Right?
Now, Paphos, Sergius Paulus is the guy who is converted right here. We have Paul being called Saul up until this point and from that point on, he's called Paul which is fine. That's his name. But from Paphos, Sergius Paulus, there's a lot of archaeological evidence. Enough that you can't really ignore it.
That around Pisidian Antioch, the border stones around the town have inscriptions for his family name. And to say, why why was it? Well, Perga, that makes sense. It's a harbor town. You stop start stop and start from there.
But they went straight directly to Pisidian Antioch. There are people that go so far as to say, Sergius Paulus' family was established in leadership in Pisidian Antioch. And I don't know this. I can't say it because it's not scripture but the archaeology points that direction. There are stones here that say, Sergius Paulus was the proconsul during this time.
There are stones around town that say, the Paulus family is in charge at this place, at this time. And Luke is such a great historian. William Ramsey and his study and lots of people since have found it. I've got pictures and an article right here if you want to read it. Every commentator that I've read mentions this.
Wapus City and Antioch connections. When we left to go to Africa, I went to go see see somebody I already knew there. When we were in South Africa, we had no plans for where we would be in the middle of the trip. We left knowing we would start in South Africa and we left knowing that we would end up in Kenya but the time between, we didn't know. In fact, the the Sunday we left, I I asked you all to be praying for us, right?
Because we didn't know what was going to happen. Well, connections are what happens. I'll mention more of that later on. Actually, I'll mention it right now. So, Carl, the Sunday before we left to go on this journey, Carl's mother prays every day with a missionary's mother and there were missionaries in Uganda that this mama reported to Carl's mama who reported to Carl who told Tanya and me right before we left and said, hey, I just heard of something.
After I asked y'all to pray, where where should we go? So my mom just called and said that there's this family in Uganda. We had no plans for going to Uganda, but this family had had a break in in the place and their six guys came in and broke into the missionary's house, beat a security guard most of the way to death. And then came in and broke into these two homes and it was dangerous. It was hard.
We wanted to check on them. They wanted I mean, Carl's mom just wanted us to pray for him but Carl said, you think you can get to Uganda? I said, Africa is a big old place, Carl. We didn't have any visas for Uganda, didn't have anything else but we're praying for where we would go next. Let me get back to the scripture.
So, at Pisidian Antioch, perhaps because of Sergius Polisenko, go see him. He accepted the gospel. Go see my family. Tell them the story. Tell them I sent you.
At Pisidian Antioch on the Sabbath day, they went into the synagogue That was their custom and they sat down. Now, after the reading of the law and the prophets which is normal in every synagogue still, every synagogue starts off with the reading of the law and the prophets. The synagogue officials sent word to them and said, brothers, if you have any word of exhortation for the people, say it. Tell us. And that's something by the way that we don't do it so much here in The States.
I think we've got a little bit of I don't know if it's quality control or just not want things to get out of hand but wherever we go in the world, I tell you what, you better have a sermon in your back pocket because they will say, well, brother, you've come all this way. What does God have for us from you today? Okay. Brothers, if you have any word of exhortation for the people, say it. So, Paul stood up and motioned him with his hand, men of Israel.
Friends, Roman's countrymen. Now, he says, men of Israel, that's the first group and then he says, and you who fear God. Those are two distinct groups. They're in the same place gathered in the synagogue, the point of assembly. And he goes on, the God of this people, Israel, chose our fathers.
God in his rescue attempt for the world started with one guy, started with one family, and built from there. The God of this people, Israel, chose our fathers and he made the people great during their stay in the land of Egypt. If you think about their stay in the land of Egypt, they were slaves, but God was making them great. They became such a great nation of people, multitudes of people that the pharaoh was even thinking, oh, if they start an insurrection, I'm not sure we could handle it. Let my people go peacefully.
Let my people go. Let my people go. God made the people great during their stay in the land of Egypt. That actually should tell us a little something. Hard times make for great men.
With an uplifted arm, he led them out from it. For a period of about forty years, he put up with them in the wilderness. I love that he put up with them. These are stiff necked people you've given me, Lord. We wanna go back to Egypt.
It was better in Egypt. You were slaves in Egypt. He put up with them. In fact, he put up with them and he let the older generation die off before entering into the promised land. But Paul is telling a history that all of them would agree with.
Right? This sounds a whole lot like Stephen's speech right before he was stoned. When he had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, he distributed the land as an inheritance. All of this took about four fifty years and after these things, he gave them judges. Do you all remember the time of the judges?
We just got through it and first be in the Bible about a month ago, I guess and in Judges, it says and it was the time of the judges when each man did what was right in his own eyes. Oh, and so God gave him judges to say what was right and what was wrong and to lead them but it was still a theocracy. He was in charge and he set for them judges who did amazing things. Some of them reluctant. After these things, he gave them judges, still a theocracy, until Samuel the prophet.
And when Samuel the prophet was speaking for God in this theocracy, they asked for a king. How'd that go? Well, Samuel, lord, they want a king. They want to be just like all the nations around them. They want a king and God says, oh, they don't want a king.
They don't know what they want. Go back to him and tell him, when you get a king, he's going to tax you. He's going to take your young men and send them to fight and he's going to take the young women for his own and he's going to mistreat and abuse because that's what kings do and they said, we want a king. Samuel said, they want a king. So, God gave them Saul because he was tall.
That's the only that's the only qualifications I see in the Bible for Saul being the guy. They gave him Saul, son of Kish, who's a man of tribe of Benjamin, that's good. For forty years, he was the king and he was the Lord's anointed. He was. He was not a good guy.
As we read about him, he constantly went astray, constantly. He constantly trusted in things that were not God. He constantly trusted in supernatural power not constantly. He consulted other supernatural powers. He broke God's heart and he treated Israel just the same way that kings treat their lands just like God said he would.
Now, after God removed him, this is important. After God removed him, so he raises up David to be their king. Now, David, David had the chance to kill Saul over and over and David had already been anointed as the next king at that point. David, it was clear that he was going to be it and Saul was jealous and he was upset but it was God who removed him. Why?
Because David would not touch the Lord's anointed. He knew better. David, let me just let scripture speak Concerning by the way, what do you think of when you think of David? Bathsheba. I'm glad you think that.
I want to think that. I think that a lot of us when we think David, a man after God's own heart. This is where we get that from, right? It's an old testament. It's restated in the new but I think a lot of us when we think of David, we think of Bathsheba, we think of him killing Uriah.
We think of all the bad stuff first. But God raised up David to be their king concerning whom he, God, also testified and God says, I have found David, the son of Jesse. He's a man after my own heart. Who will do all my will? Ain't that great that that's God's opinion of David?
That is. He didn't bring up all the other stuff. David falls short but the thing about David is that he trusts God to bring him back. He trusts the spirit of God. When he is confronted with his own sin, his first pleading is, don't remove your Holy Spirit from me, lord.
I, he resisted it to sin. He resisted it but the fact that he's after God's own heart is he trust him. When he's confronted with his sin, he repents and moves on going forward. Now, from the descendants of this man, David, according to promise, this is important. According to the promise, he's speaking in the synagogue to the people who read the law and the prophets every week and they're supposed to be looking for a prophet, Moses said, like me.
You should listen to him. He will raise him up. From the descendants of this man according to the promise, God has brought forth for Israel a savior and very quickly thereafter. Jesus, No doubt about it. It's clear.
The savior is Jesus. After John had proclaimed before Jesus is coming, a baptism of repentance. Now, he goes from David to John the Baptist. That's a thousand year span right there. He's telling the history.
He's telling everything up to that and then, y'all remember John? John the Baptist. John had proclaimed before Jesus is coming, a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. He was out there preaching every day and it was like a voice crowned in the wilderness. Make straight the way for the Lord.
Get your sins in front of you and turn from them. Repent, right? That's John's message. The baptism of repentance and he did that to all the people of Israel and while John was completing his course, I like this, thinking about being on mission for God and thinking about Paul and Barnabas being on a traveling mission for God. He's saying, John had his course, we've got ours, most certainly you have yours.
After and while John was completing his course, he kept on saying, what do you suppose that I am? Who do you all think that I am? I am not the one but behold, one is coming after me. I'm just preparing the way, the one for the one that's coming after me. This guy's sandals of his feet, I'm not worthy to untie.
And then when he saw him, he said, there he is. Behold the lamb of God. This is one who comes to take away the sins of the world. The sins that you're repenting of, he's got em. Brothers, sons of Abraham's family, that's the one group, and those among you who fear God, that's the people who are kind of partial proselytes, who are there showing up.
To all of us, the message of this salvation has been sent. In a way, him retelling the story and proclaiming it. He's gonna keep on proclaiming it but him telling that story saying, you're hearing it right now. It's a lot like Jesus preaching in Nazareth when he says, today, this sermon has been fulfilled in your hearing, right? So, he is proclaiming this message of salvation.
For those who live in Jerusalem, Mark is back in Jerusalem by the way. I don't think it's a cut. For those who live in Jerusalem and their rulers, they were recognizing neither Jesus nor the declarations of the prophets which are read every Sabbath. Come on, people. We've been getting together for years reading through the law and the prophets on a schedule.
We go through it. Y'all know me for this long that I'm just going to start where I stopped last time I talked and I'm going to go where it feels comfortable to stop. They had a definite kind of like the book of common prayer. They knew where they were going to be. Each Sunday, they knew where they were gonna start and stop from the law and the prophets.
They didn't recognize from all of this proclamation of the law and the prophets. They didn't recognize Jesus was the fulfillment because they didn't really understand what it was. For those who were living Jerusalem and their rulers recognizing neither Jesus nor the declarations of the prophets which are read every Sabbath. They fulfilled both the law and the prophets by condemning Jesus. It was a different way of thinking about that and though they found no grounds for putting him to death, they asked Pilate that he'd be executed.
They didn't hold the power to execute him and so they asked Pilate. This is the Easter week, the Holy Week story. Right? And we just probably all reread this section of scripture that kangaroo court that condemned him. Actually, the kangaroo court found him innocent seven times in a row and condemned him anyway.
Now, when they carried out everything that was written concerning them, he's talking about law and prophets which you're hearing, you're hearing, you're hearing. Those of you in Pascena at Antioch, you've been hearing this message and it's pointing forward to someone and I'm telling you who it is. When they had carried out everything that was written concerning Jesus, they took him down from the cross. They laid him in a tomb but God raised him from the dead. Resurrection Sunday, amen.
This is the Easter message. God raised him from the dead. Men put him to death and God raised him from the dead and for many days, he appeared to those who came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem. The very ones who are now his witnesses to the people. And we also, we proclaim, preach, we say out loud, we preach to you the good news of the promise that was made to the fathers that God has fulfilled that promise to those of us who are descendants by raising Jesus.
The resurrection is where it all changes. That's the thing. The central point of all history period is the resurrection of Christ. He's proven that the promise was true by Jesus' resurrection and here it is. It comes up a lot in Acts.
It comes up a lot wherever the gospel is going forward. It has to be about Christ. God has fulfilled the promise to those of us who are descendants by raising Jesus as it is also written in the second Psalm. Now, he's going to go in to sort of proving something for the crowd that's assembled there. The second Psalm, you all know that hymn, don't you?
You're my son. Today, I have begotten you. As for the fact that he raised him from the dead, never again to return to decay. He has spoken in this way. I will give you the holy and faithful mercies of David.
Therefore, he also says in another Psalm, y'all know this one too. You will not allow your holy one to undergo decay. Now, think about this. I know it's confusing for you. This is what Paul is saying to this gathered crowd.
I know it's confusing for you. You read that and you go, who's he talking about? David after he had served God's purpose and he did as God commanded. He fell short but then he trusted God to recover. He served God's purpose in his own generation.
He fell asleep. He died and he was buried among his fathers and he most certainly underwent decay. But whom God raised Jesus did not undergo decay. Jesus is the fulfillment of this promise. It's not David.
I know you've read it that way and you've wondered how that can be true. This is the one who will remain eternally on that throne of David. Therefore, let it be known to you brothers that through Jesus, forgiveness of sins is being right now proclaimed to you. There is salvation in one name and one name alone and that name is Jesus and Paul is saying that without any doubt about it. Therefore, let it be known to you brothers that through him forgiveness is of sins is proclaimed to you.
If you reject it, you do so to your peril and through him, everyone who believes is freed from all things from which you could not be freed from the law of Moses. Now, in the men's lunch study, on Thursdays, twelve to one where we have a lunch study with no lunch. That we're studying Galatians right now. Galatians one one through 10 is what we're on last week and the whole book of Galatians is written to people. Actually, these people.
Pisidian Antioch is in Galatia. He's proclaiming and we'll get to it. A gospel of grace because the law cannot save. He's saying right here and through him, everyone who believes in Jesus is freed from all things from which you could not be freed from the law of Moses through the law of Moses. The the law is good at letting you know how you fall short.
It is not good at redeeming. Therefore, see that the things spoken of in the prophets does not come upon you. Now, they've already had the law and the prophets presented that morning. Paul's gonna quote something from one of the prophets. It's actually Habakkuk.
In Habakkuk one, he says, don't let this come true concerning you. It's gonna come true concerning some folks. Don't let it be you. I'm proclaiming Jesus as the way to to be made right, the way, the truth, the life, the savior of the world. Don't let this be true of you.
Look, you scoffers and be astonished and die that way, perish. For I'm accomplishing a work in your days, a work which you will never believe, though someone should describe it to you. I'm here describing it to you. You can reject it but if you reject it, you do so to your peril. Habakkuk one five, look, look out among all the nations.
You can translate that Gentiles. You can also translate it heathens. Look out among all of the peoples and watch and be horrified. Be frightened speechless. Now, I'm accomplishing a work in your days that you would not believe it even if you were told.
In context in Habakkuk, he's talking about a coming destruction. But he's also talking about working his plan through that destruction. So, I hear stories of dreams and visions and people coming to Jesus because they had a dream and then they found somebody and that's not the way that it happened to me. I got it through Sunday school and preaching and Bible and all that. That's the way I got it but look out among the nations and see how God is moving.
Look out and see. Don't let this be true of you, Paul says. Don't let it be true of you that you're astonished and you're not believing. He's saying, I'm saying, God is going to do what he's going to do. He's going to fulfill his promise.
As Paul and Barnabas were going out, the people repeatedly begged them to have these things spoken to them again next Sabbath. What a great thing for a preacher to hear. After the service is over and everybody's repeatedly begging you to come back and tell them more next week. That's great. Not normal but it's great.
Now, when the meeting of the synagogue had broken up, many of the Jews, that one group and of the God fearing proselytes, that other group who meet together every Sabbath, they followed Paul and Barnabas. They wanted to hear more of this and they were speaking to them. Paul and Barnabas were speaking to them and urging them to continue in the grace of God and if you're studying on that lunch study in Galatians, the whole book of Galatians is about turning away from the grace of God and trying to go back into the law, trying to live under the burden of the law instead of experiencing your freedom in Christ. So, the grace of God is what it's to be about. Actually, I want to mention something right here too.
This first journey, Nick and Chris are making about 18 miles a day from what I understand. 15 to 18, maybe 20 on a long day but that's about how fast they were rolling through these places. They were stopping and hey, we want to hear more next next Sabbath. So, they hung around till the next Sabbath but then they moved. They weren't there for very long and in fact, the second missionary journey, they stay longer each place they go and the third, they stay a lot longer each place they go and I'm sort of of the opinion these days that just a glancing blow of the grace of God and having it shared to you, it's sufficient to save you but having having someone continue in the grace of God with you for a while helps and I think Paul discovered that.
That the message of the good news is good but it's really easy to get drawn back in especially when you're followed by a group of people that are trying to get you to Judaizers or whoever they might be to go back under the yoke of the law. The the next Sabbath, nearly all the city assembled to hear the word of the Lord. Now, this cracks me up because I grew up in a congregational style church and I think most of us probably have. At some point seen that there's a steady group of people that come to church every Sunday but then when there's going to be a vote. There's going to be a vote and the whole place is full, right?
Because they've got, we're not letting that happen and then the other side, we're not letting that happen either. And they they go back and forth because people are like people. The next Sabbath, nearly all the city assembled to hear the word of the Lord and that sounds like a great thing but when they saw the crowds, when the common folk, the Jews that were normally there at synagogue saw how many people showed up, they were filled with joy because people were there? No. It says they were filled with jealousy because that out of towner came in and he got everybody.
I can't believe they come out here and they don't they don't ever come to church anyway. You can hear people go and get some mire. You can hear the murmuring, can't you? They saw the crowds are filled with jealousy, began contradicting the things that were spoken by Paul and it says, they were blasphemy. Now, for us, when we read the word blasphemy, most of us probably think of specific curse words.
Blasphemy is when you say these few things, right? Taking the Lord's name in vain but blasphemy is when you call good evil and you call evil good. That's blasphemy and so what they were saying is all of Paul's teaching about Jesus being the fulfillment of the promise of God and they were contradicting that and that's blasphemy. Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and said, hey, it was necessary that the word of God be spoken to you first. First, for the Jew, then, for the Gentile, right?
God had this family and he's given you every opportunity to see what he was trying to say and we're here and it's important that we tell you this first but since you repudiate it, you reject it. Like I've said earlier today, the good news of the gospel has been presented. In their case, the good news of the gospel and Jesus had been presented. It was necessary for us to come to you first, but since you repudiate or reject it, and since you yourselves consider yourselves unworthy of eternal life. So, there's the old covenant where if you do, if you do, if you do, but you can't, Right?
The law, you can't and then, there's the gospel that says, the new covenant and the blood of Jesus. He walked out a perfect life. He had a perfect record. He had that to bestow upon anyone who would believe and he made it very clear. He died shedding innocent blood, a once for all sacrifice.
It was necessary that the word of God be spoken to you first since you repudiate it and you reject it and you consider yourselves unworthy of eternal life. You can't live out the law. And if you think you can, you're rejecting it. You're rejecting the grace of God. Behold, we're now turning to the nations.
We're turning to the heathen. We're turning to the Gentiles. For so the Lord commanded us. If you think about Paul's conversion while he was still blind, Jesus said, you're gonna be my God to the Gentiles. Paul loved his people so much.
Paul loves his people so much that everywhere they went, he started in the synagogue first. First of all, they have a backlog of having the whole Old Testament. They should know the law and the prophets. They should be able to recognize it properly. Preached.
You should be able to recognize Jesus as the Messiah. He started there but then he'd spread on to the Gentiles. There was already Sergius Paulus and Patmos. There's already Cornelius in Caesarea. For so the Lord has commanded us, I have appointed you as a light to the Gentiles that you may bring salvation to the end of the earth.
Now, the u capitalized there is point towards Jesus but Paul knows that he is proclaiming Jesus. Jesus is the light of the world but when Jesus said, you go now. You're the light of the world. Take my salvation to the very ends of the earth. You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea, in Samaria, and to the uttermost parts and where is Pisidian Antioch?
As far away as the gospel has reached as far as we know in scripture. When the Gentiles heard this, Cyrene is further away by the way, if you're a geography person, I know that, but it's not mentioned in scripture. There were people from Cyrene that had already accepted. When the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord. They paid attention to the message and it brought them great joy but that is the Gentiles when they heard this.
They began to rejoice and glorify the world and all who had been appointed to eternal life believed and it says all right there because it didn't matter if they were of the godfearing group or of those faithful who had been coming. It doesn't matter if they were of the just one vote, one issue voters that came in for the big meeting. If they believed, they were appointed to eternal life. So, at this point, sometimes people go, the Calvinist Armenian debate. Here it is again.
The sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man. I want to simplify that for you right now. The gospel has been proclaimed. Here today, the gospel has been proclaimed. There that day, the gospel had been proclaimed both Sabbath.
If a person heard it, and said yes to it, they're the elect, okay? If you hear it today and you reject it, you do so to your peril. If you accept it, you are the elect. It's that simple. Did you hear it?
Yeah. Do you accept it or do you reject it? And the word of the Lord was being spread throughout the whole region and that's the way it goes forth. People who are willing to proclaim it, say it out loud, the kerygma, the proclamation of the word. But, the Jews incited the devout women of the prominence of prominence and the leading men of the city, the folks who were naysayers and aggravated, incited the devout women in prominence and the leading men of the city and they instigated a persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and they drove them out of their region.
Instigated for the grammar nerds among us, the heiress, active indicative third person plural from epigero. It's translated as instigated. It's only used twice in the New Testament. Both times it's an act and both times it's a negative sense because what it means is to arouse someone against something, to stimulate someone against something, or to excite someone, agitate them against something. Have you all watched the news lately?
Doesn't matter which channel you watch, both sides are attempting to instigate you against someone. It's what they do. Fear is a great motivator. Anger is a great motivator. Instigated is negative.
Now, you might say, we'll stir up one another in loving good works. Yes, that's a different word. You can stir people up towards what is good, but you can also very easily stir them up towards what is bad. And this is what happens when they when they rejected it, repudiated it, they shook the dust off the sandals, and they went on down the road to Iconium. Hey, from Pisidian Antioch over to Iconium.
Konya, Turkey is Iconium. A lot of these are names of the current day Turkish cities sound a whole lot. Antakya is Antioch and Konya is Iconium. And the disciples were continually filled with joy with the Holy Spirit. I had three more minutes of information in the first service.
I have no idea what they were. But this summary statement of that, I wanna use this as a jumping off point and the disciples were continually filled with joy with the Holy Spirit. For those who have accepted it, it is the power of God. It's unto salvation. It's absolutely wonderful.
It's the best news ever and you can go forward filled with the spirit and joy in your heart. Yeah, you have bad days but like David, get up. Turn to him. You know, the Uganda portion of our trip. So, last time we were together, I shared the first part of their first missionary journey and I shared the first part of ours in South Africa where we met up with our friends.
I've known them that with the contact, Mahindra and Bob, and we were there and we were seeing all the things that God was doing through their ministry there, and then we didn't have visas like I said for Uganda, but I called back here about seeing that family and I said, hey, fellow who goes to the lunch study, what's your contact over here? I've heard you talk about Uganda and do you know anybody that I can call that could help us? And he goes, yeah. His name is Andy. This is his number.
Called Andy. He said, have you applied for a Visa? No. You're way behind. Okay.
I know somebody. We can make this happen. And so we start the process and we got the Visas we needed. Looking back through the pictures on my phone, I saw pictures of all the stuff we saw everywhere and I saw like five pictures where I'm trying to take a passport picture of myself, some of them of Tanya. The Uganda portion of our trip, we were able to get in legally, everything was hunky door, nobody cheated.
We got in and the first day, this is us building a hospital. That doesn't make any sense to y'all, does it? I don't know why we were there. I do know why we're there. We're going to see that family but the guy who was connected to the guy here, Sergei Pauls told us to go see the folks in Pasidian Antioch.
He told us to go see Andy. Andy is in charge of a fund that helps with all kinds of good projects like hospitals and clinics and neighborhoods that don't have them. And so this is one of those. We ended up there and, know, building a hospital, touring a hospital that was being built. But there are Christians that are building this hospital, and they're doing it to help the community that does not have one.
Amen. That was the first day where we met our driver and an administrative assistant of Andy who was in The States at the time. And there's there she is. That's the only picture I have of her. She's riding the passenger side of that vehicle.
Lisa and Joram is our driver and they drove driven us around that day and on the way to that hospital that we went past this big old church. Actually, it looks like a mall but he said, it is both. It's a mall on the Bottom Floor. It's a sanctuary in between and it's a penthouse up top for the prophet. The prophet, there's a prosperity gospel has really taken root in Uganda.
It is the thing like ignorance was the thing in Pisidian Antioch. Ignorance to the gospel was the thing in Pisidian Antioch. That's what they went to fight. When we got to Uganda, actually, when I talked to Andy on the phone, he said, listen, man. There's plenty that God is doing here but I wouldn't start off with I'm a pastor.
I said, well, I hardly ever do. You know, but wouldn't start there. Now, there is one missionary reaction says, well, I'm here to present the gospel. Why wouldn't I tell people I was a pastor? He said, because when you mention that you're a pastor, they're going to think you're rich because the prosperity gospel has taken root and the richest guys are the biggest prophets and apostles, whatever.
So if you say you're a pastor and you're from The States, they're immediately gonna think you're rich, set you up for robbery, set you up also for all kinds of bad stuff. I wouldn't mention it to start off with, get to know where you are, who you are, with all that sort of stuff. So our driver and this administrative person, dedicated believers, we love them dearly. When we would start talking about something and maybe Tanya start a verse and then finish the verse. When I saw four or five raindrops on the the windshield of the car, I said, let there be showers of blessing and I am not joking.
Both of them said, showers of blessing we pray. It's so cool and like we just fell into the family of God and it was wonderful. Driver, administrative assistant, not professional missionaries but carrying the gospel with them everywhere they went, recognizing that it can go awry. Prosperity gospel is not gospel, it's hogwash. It benefits the guys at the top of the chain only.
It's a big Ponzi scheme. It's terrible. Do not be a part of it, period. The prophet when we rode past, I won't call his name if you ask me, I'll tell you who he is. But the prophet shows up in a chauffeur, Range Rover and when he's walking into the church, people lay their suit jackets down in front of him and he walks on that to get into the sanctuary.
Yeah. One of the richest men in the country. Tapped into some supernatural source probably. There are a lot of prophecies that he's made that have come true for the geography but it ain't of God, Right? I mean, when Paul when Saul sought the seer, it's not saying that wasn't supernatural.
It just wasn't God. So here we are. We actually got lost on this trip to go see that family. Google Earth is close sometimes. Google Maps are close sometimes.
Not real close in Uganda, honestly. They headed out in the middle of nowhere and we went and we went two and a half hours out into the boondocks. That is a lot of bananas. We passed a lot of bananas on that trip, and as we were going to see these folks, this is the family. This is the family that had their house broken into, had a lot of things stolen.
I will say this that their computers and their phones and their money and lots of, you know, personal money, but inside job, somebody that knew that they had been to the bank. He he had been to the bank that day, figured he had a bunch of ministry money because Christians are all rich. Right? Broke in and assaulted the guard, nearly killed him, and this is a family smiling. Jonathan and Alana, and they have one kid with them right there, two more of them wandering around the property.
It was good to see them. This is our driver and our photographer. I didn't mention this. The photographer was there when we were touring the hospital. She took about a thousand pictures as Tanya's estimation felt like 3,000.
Every time we turned around, she's taking a picture of, oh, here they are in hard hats. Here they are touring this. Here they are in the septic tank. Brenda and Joram were a delight. They were carrying the gospel with them and it was fantastic.
Actually, Brenda. So, I told you that the first day, we went to that hospital and Brenda was a photographer but we didn't know whether she was a believer or not. They didn't know. Lisa didn't know her. Joram didn't know her.
We didn't know if she went. Chances are, if she went to church, she went to the prophet's church and so they had already told us the day before and said, listen, you can lose friendships really easy by saying anything against this prophet. If you say anything against him, there are whole the whole flock has been trained not to touch the Lord's anointed. And so they cut you off immediately. Cults do that.
Account no accountability for the head honcho at the top is a terrible recipe. I ask you please. Hold me accountable. Like, we need to. We have elders.
We have groups that watch and stuff like that. I don't need to I don't need unchecked power. Nobody does. Anyway, this gal, when she got in the car the next morning, we got in at 04:30 in the morning. We get out on the road and we're headed down to see these folks and when we passed that church that looks like a mall with a penthouse, she goes, oh, I can't stand that place.
It's such a and we're like, oh. We got a four hour drive in front of us and we didn't know what, but she was finishing the verses and finishing this. This is Tanya roasting bananas alongside the road on the way. Next portion of our trip, Solongo Lutembe. This guy Actually, this guy in the back behind Tanya there.
Solongo Lutembe means father of twins, Lutembe was our guide. He took us out of this place, that's a rhinoceros laying down behind us. So we did get this take a day, one day here, where we got to see some animals. We got amazing pictures. This is Murchison Falls National Park and that's Solongo Lutembe, also he goes by Michael.
Much easier to remember. That's Murchison Falls where the whole Nile goes over a fall. It's like the brink of Upper Falls, but it's the Nile. This is the low point of the trip for geography majors. That's great.
Delta Point is the lowest part of the country. This is the very lowest part right along a lake in Uganda. And then, we got to be with him. Now, this is a brother in Christ. He's a brother in Christ of the Catholic flavor and for the first couple of days, he was kind of feeling us out not knowing why exactly we were there and we then hit upon finishing each other's verses, finishing each other's songs.
You know, it was really good. Really, really good. He's got a great family. He loves them dearly. And then, when we said, you know, there's another ministry that a lot of people in Jackson support and we have supported.
And I called ahead and said, if you can come by, come by. We went there too. This is called Rescue One More. They have a place in Kampala. And so none none of those are kids that they're helping, those are some of the people who are helping the kids though.
It's pretty cool to go to somebody's gala in their backyard here and then within a year be sitting with them in Kampala, Uganda with virtually no plan to be there. God is still fulfilling his promise. And the disciples were continually filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit. It's amazing to see how God is working and just to be on the go with him whether you're Jorm the driver or somebody who has actually been sent out by church to go do something. We can all do this.
This is the summary statement. I'll close and then we'll sing the last song. Alright. So here we are and the disciples were continually filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit. Would you stand with me?
I'm praising God for having had the opportunity to go and to see what's going on and I pray that we would be helpful. And grow alongside. Take my life and let it be. Thank you, Emily. Amen.
And as a benediction today from second Corinthians one twenty, it's good that God is still fulfilling promises. No matter how many promises God has made, they are all, yes, in Christ and so through him, the amen is spoken by us to the glory of God. Would we be about the master's business? In Jesus name, we ask for your empowering spirit to guide and direct and to empower. Amen.
