This weeks Sermon May 11th @ First B Jackson

May 11, 2025 · Acts

Series · Acts · Week 78 of 120

Scripture referenced 7 passages

The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.

Acts 15 the main text of the sermon, the Jerusalem Council

1 Some men came down from Judea and taught the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised after the custom of Moses, you can’t be saved.”
2 Therefore when Paul and Barnabas had no small discord and discussion with them, they appointed Paul and Barnabas, and some others of them, to go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and elders about this question.
3 They, being sent on their way by the assembly, passed through both Phoenicia and Samaria, declaring the conversion of the Gentiles. They caused great joy to all the brothers.
4 When they had come to Jerusalem, they were received by the assembly and the apostles and the elders, and they reported all things that God had done with them.
5 But some of the sect of the Pharisees who believed rose up, saying, “It is necessary to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses.”
6 The apostles and the elders were gathered together to see about this matter.
7 When there had been much discussion, Peter rose up and said to them, “Brothers, you know that a good while ago God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the nations should hear the word of the Good News, and believe.
8 God, who knows the heart, testified about them, giving them the Holy Spirit, just like he did to us.
9 He made no distinction between us and them, cleansing their hearts by faith.
10 Now therefore why do you tempt God, that you should put a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?
11 But we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they are.”
12 All the multitude kept silence, and they listened to Barnabas and Paul reporting what signs and wonders God had done among the nations through them.
13 After they were silent, James answered, “Brothers, listen to me.
14 Simeon has reported how God first visited the nations, to take out of them a people for his name.
15 This agrees with the words of the prophets. As it is written,
16 ‘After these things I will return. I will again build the tabernacle of David, which has fallen. I will again build its ruins. I will set it up,
17 That the rest of men may seek after the Lord; all the Gentiles who are called by my name, says the Lord, who does all these things.
18 All of God’s works are known to him from eternity.’
19 “Therefore my judgment is that we don’t trouble those from among the Gentiles who turn to God,
20 but that we write to them that they abstain from the pollution of idols, from sexual immorality, from what is strangled, and from blood.
21 For Moses from generations of old has in every city those who preach him, being read in the synagogues every Sabbath.”
22 Then it seemed good to the apostles and the elders, with the whole assembly, to choose men out of their company, and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas: Judas called Barsabbas, and Silas, chief men among the brothers.
23 They wrote these things by their hand: “The apostles, the elders, and the brothers, to the brothers who are of the Gentiles in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia: greetings.
24 Because we have heard that some who went out from us have troubled you with words, unsettling your souls, saying, ‘You must be circumcised and keep the law,’ to whom we gave no commandment;
25 it seemed good to us, having come to one accord, to choose out men and send them to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul,
26 men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
27 We have sent therefore Judas and Silas, who themselves will also tell you the same things by word of mouth.
28 For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us, to lay no greater burden on you than these necessary things:
29 that you abstain from things sacrificed to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality, from which if you keep yourselves, it will be well with you. Farewell.”
30 So, when they were sent off, they came to Antioch. Having gathered the multitude together, they delivered the letter.
31 When they had read it, they rejoiced over the encouragement.
32 Judas and Silas, also being prophets themselves, encouraged the brothers with many words, and strengthened them.
33 After they had spent some time there, they were sent back with greetings from the brothers to the apostles.
35 But Paul and Barnabas stayed in Antioch, teaching and preaching the word of the Lord, with many others also.
36 After some days Paul said to Barnabas, “Let’s return now and visit our brothers in every city in which we proclaimed the word of the Lord, to see how they are doing.”
37 Barnabas planned to take John, who was called Mark, with them also.
38 But Paul didn’t think that it was a good idea to take with them someone who had withdrawn from them in Pamphylia, and didn’t go with them to do the work.
39 Then the contention grew so sharp that they separated from each other. Barnabas took Mark with him, and sailed away to Cyprus,
40 but Paul chose Silas, and went out, being commended by the brothers to the grace of God.
41 He went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the assemblies.

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Acts 10

Peter's vision of the sheet and his visit to Cornelius's house, cited to show God made no distinction between Jew and Gentile

1 Now there was a certain man in Caesarea, Cornelius by name, a centurion of what was called the Italian Regiment,

2 a devout man, and one who feared God with all his house, who gave gifts for the needy generously to the people, and always prayed to God.

3 At about the ninth hour of the day, he clearly saw in a vision an angel of God coming to him, and saying to him, “Cornelius!”

4 He, fastening his eyes on him, and being frightened, said, “What is it, Lord?” He said to him, “Your prayers and your gifts to the needy have gone up for a memorial before God.

5 Now send men to Joppa, and get Simon, who is also called Peter.

6 He lodges with a tanner named Simon, whose house is by the seaside.

7 When the angel who spoke to him had departed, Cornelius called two of his household servants and a devout soldier of those who waited on him continually.

8 Having explained everything to them, he sent them to Joppa.

9 Now on the next day as they were on their journey, and got close to the city, Peter went up on the housetop to pray at about noon.

10 He became hungry and desired to eat, but while they were preparing, he fell into a trance.

11 He saw heaven opened and a certain container descending to him, like a great sheet let down by four corners on the earth,

12 in which were all kinds of four-footed animals of the earth, wild animals, reptiles, and birds of the sky.

13 A voice came to him, “Rise, Peter, kill and eat!”

14 But Peter said, “Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.”

15 A voice came to him again the second time, “What God has cleansed, you must not call unclean.”

16 This was done three times, and immediately the vessel was received up into heaven.

17 Now while Peter was very perplexed in himself what the vision which he had seen might mean, behold, the men who were sent by Cornelius, having made inquiry for Simon’s house, stood before the gate,

18 and called and asked whether Simon, who was also called Peter, was lodging there.

19 While Peter was pondering the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Behold, three men seek you.

20 But arise, get down, and go with them, doubting nothing; for I have sent them.”

21 Peter went down to the men, and said, “Behold, I am he whom you seek. Why have you come?”

22 They said, “Cornelius, a centurion, a righteous man and one who fears God, and well spoken of by all the nation of the Jews, was directed by a holy angel to invite you to his house, and to listen to what you say.”

23 So he called them in and provided a place to stay. On the next day Peter arose and went out with them, and some of the brothers from Joppa accompanied him.

24 On the next day they entered into Caesarea. Cornelius was waiting for them, having called together his relatives and his near friends.

25 When Peter entered, Cornelius met him, fell down at his feet, and worshiped him.

26 But Peter raised him up, saying, “Stand up! I myself am also a man.”

27 As he talked with him, he went in and found many gathered together.

28 He said to them, “You yourselves know how it is an unlawful thing for a man who is a Jew to join himself or come to one of another nation, but God has shown me that I shouldn’t call any man unholy or unclean.

29 Therefore also I came without complaint when I was sent for. I ask therefore, why did you send for me?”

30 Cornelius said, “Four days ago, I was fasting until this hour, and at the ninth hour, I prayed in my house, and behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing,

31 and said, ‘Cornelius, your prayer is heard, and your gifts to the needy are remembered in the sight of God.

32 Send therefore to Joppa, and summon Simon, who is also called Peter. He lodges in the house of a tanner named Simon, by the seaside. When he comes, he will speak to you.’

33 Therefore I sent to you at once, and it was good of you to come. Now therefore we are all here present in the sight of God to hear all things that have been commanded you by God.”

34 Peter opened his mouth and said, “Truly I perceive that God doesn’t show favoritism;

35 but in every nation he who fears him and works righteousness is acceptable to him.

36 The word which he sent to the children of Israel, preaching good news of peace by Jesus Christ—he is Lord of all—

37 you yourselves know what happened, which was proclaimed throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee, after the baptism which John preached;

38 even Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.

39 We are witnesses of everything he did both in the country of the Jews, and in Jerusalem; whom they also killed, hanging him on a tree.

40 God raised him up the third day, and gave him to be revealed,

41 not to all the people, but to witnesses who were chosen before by God, to us, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.

42 He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that this is he who is appointed by God as the Judge of the living and the dead.

43 All the prophets testify about him, that through his name everyone who believes in him will receive remission of sins.”

44 While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell on all those who heard the word.

45 They of the circumcision who believed were amazed, as many as came with Peter, because the gift of the Holy Spirit was also poured out on the Gentiles.

46 For they heard them speaking in other languages and magnifying God. Then Peter answered,

47 “Can anyone forbid these people from being baptized with water? They have received the Holy Spirit just like us.”

48 He commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to stay some days.

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Galatians 2

cited as a parallel account of the Jerusalem Council meeting

1 Then after a period of fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus also with me.

2 I went up by revelation, and I laid before them the Good News which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately before those who were respected, for fear that I might be running, or had run, in vain.

3 But not even Titus, who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised.

4 This was because of the false brothers secretly brought in, who stole in to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage;

5 to whom we gave no place in the way of subjection, not for an hour, that the truth of the Good News might continue with you.

6 But from those who were reputed to be important (whatever they were, it makes no difference to me; God doesn’t show partiality to man)—they, I say, who were respected imparted nothing to me,

7 but to the contrary, when they saw that I had been entrusted with the Good News for the uncircumcised, even as Peter with the Good News for the circumcised

8 (for he who worked through Peter in the apostleship with the circumcised also worked through me with the Gentiles);

9 and when they perceived the grace that was given to me, James and Cephas and John, they who were reputed to be pillars, gave to me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, that we should go to the Gentiles, and they to the circumcision.

10 They only asked us to remember the poor—which very thing I was also zealous to do.

11 But when Peter came to Antioch, I resisted him to his face, because he stood condemned.

12 For before some people came from James, he ate with the Gentiles. But when they came, he drew back and separated himself, fearing those who were of the circumcision.

13 And the rest of the Jews joined him in his hypocrisy; so that even Barnabas was carried away with their hypocrisy.

14 But when I saw that they didn’t walk uprightly according to the truth of the Good News, I said to Peter before them all, “If you, being a Jew, live as the Gentiles do, and not as the Jews do, why do you compel the Gentiles to live as the Jews do?

15 “We, being Jews by nature, and not Gentile sinners,

16 yet knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, even we believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ, and not by the works of the law, because no flesh will be justified by the works of the law.

17 But if, while we sought to be justified in Christ, we ourselves also were found sinners, is Christ a servant of sin? Certainly not!

18 For if I build up again those things which I destroyed, I prove myself a law-breaker.

19 For I, through the law, died to the law, that I might live to God.

20 I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I that live, but Christ lives in me. That life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself up for me.

21 I don’t reject the grace of God. For if righteousness is through the law, then Christ died for nothing!”

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Amos 9

James quotes from it about rebuilding the fallen shelter of David and all nations called by God's name

1 I saw the Lord standing beside the altar, and he said, “Strike the tops of the pillars, that the thresholds may shake; and break them in pieces on the head of all of them; and I will kill the last of them with the sword: there shall not one of them flee away, and there shall not one of them escape.

2 Though they dig into Sheol, there my hand will take them; and though they climb up to heaven, there I will bring them down.

3 Though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out there; and though they be hidden from my sight in the bottom of the sea, there I will command the serpent, and it will bite them.

4 Though they go into captivity before their enemies, there I will command the sword, and it will kill them. I will set my eyes on them for evil, and not for good.

5 For the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, is he who touches the land and it melts, and all who dwell in it will mourn; and it will rise up wholly like the River, and will sink again, like the River of Egypt.

6 It is he who builds his rooms in the heavens, and has founded his vault on the earth; he who calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out on the surface of the earth; Yahweh is his name.

7 Are you not like the children of the Ethiopians to me, children of Israel?” says Yahweh. “Haven’t I brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt, and the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Syrians from Kir?

8 Behold, the eyes of the Lord Yahweh are on the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the surface of the earth; except that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob,” says Yahweh.

9 “For, behold, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all the nations, as grain is sifted in a sieve, yet not the least kernel will fall on the earth.

10 All the sinners of my people will die by the sword, who say, ‘Evil won’t overtake nor meet us.’

11 In that day I will raise up the tent of David who is fallen, and close up its breaches, and I will raise up its ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old;

12 that they may possess the remnant of Edom, and all the nations who are called by my name,” says Yahweh who does this.

13 “Behold, the days come,” says Yahweh, “that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the one treading grapes him who sows seed; and sweet wine will drip from the mountains, and flow from the hills.

14 I will bring my people Israel back from captivity, and they will rebuild the ruined cities, and inhabit them; and they will plant vineyards, and drink wine from them. They shall also make gardens, and eat their fruit.

15 I will plant them on their land, and they will no more be plucked up out of their land which I have given them,” says Yahweh your God.

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Jeremiah 12

blended into James's composite quotation about restoration and bringing them back

1 You are righteous, Yahweh, when I contend with you; yet I would like to reason the cause with you. Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why are they all at ease who deal very treacherously?

2 You have planted them. Yes, they have taken root. They grow. Yes, they produce fruit. You are near in their mouth, and far from their heart.

3 But you, Yahweh, know me. You see me, and test my heart toward you. Pull them out like sheep for the slaughter, and prepare them for the day of slaughter.

4 How long will the land mourn, and the herbs of the whole country wither? Because of the wickedness of those who dwell therein, the animals and birds are consumed; because they said, “He won’t see our latter end.”

5 “If you have run with the footmen, and they have wearied you, then how can you contend with horses? Though in a land of peace you are secure, yet how will you do in the pride of the Jordan?

6 For even your brothers, and the house of your father, even they have dealt treacherously with you! Even they have cried aloud after you! Don’t believe them, though they speak beautiful words to you.

7 “I have forsaken my house. I have cast off my heritage. I have given the dearly beloved of my soul into the hand of her enemies.

8 My heritage has become to me as a lion in the forest. She has uttered her voice against me. Therefore I have hated her.

9 Is my heritage to me as a speckled bird of prey? Are the birds of prey against her all around? Go, assemble all the animals of the field. Bring them to devour.

10 Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard. They have trodden my portion under foot. They have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness.

11 They have made it a desolation. It mourns to me, being desolate. The whole land is made desolate, because no one cares.

12 Destroyers have come on all the bare heights in the wilderness; for the sword of Yahweh devours from the one end of the land even to the other end of the land. No flesh has peace.

13 They have sown wheat, and have reaped thorns. They have exhausted themselves, and profit nothing. You will be ashamed of your fruits, because of Yahweh’s fierce anger.”

14 Yahweh says, “Concerning all my evil neighbors, who touch the inheritance which I have caused my people Israel to inherit: Behold, I will pluck them up from off their land, and will pluck up the house of Judah from among them.

15 It will happen, that after I have plucked them up, I will return and have compassion on them. I will bring them again, every man to his heritage, and every man to his land.

16 It will happen, if they will diligently learn the ways of my people, to swear by my name, ‘As Yahweh lives;’ even as they taught my people to swear by Baal; then will they be built up in the middle of my people.

17 But if they will not hear, then I will pluck up that nation, plucking up and destroying it,” says Yahweh.

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Isaiah 45

blended into James's composite quotation, 'who has long since declared it, is it not I, the lord'

1 Yahweh says to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have held, to subdue nations before him, and strip kings of their armor; to open the doors before him, and the gates shall not be shut:

2 “I will go before you, and make the rough places smooth. I will break the doors of brass in pieces, and cut apart the bars of iron.

3 I will give you the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that you may know that it is I, Yahweh, who call you by your name, even the God of Israel.

4 For Jacob my servant’s sake, and Israel my chosen, I have called you by your name. I have given you a title, though you have not known me.

5 I am Yahweh, and there is no one else. Besides me, there is no God. I will strengthen you, though you have not known me;

6 that they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is no one besides me. I am Yahweh, and there is no one else.

7 I form the light, and create darkness. I make peace, and create calamity. I am Yahweh, who does all these things.

8 Rain, you heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness. Let the earth open, that it may produce salvation, and let it cause righteousness to spring up with it. I, Yahweh, have created it.

9 Woe to him who strives with his Maker— a clay pot among the clay pots of the earth! Shall the clay ask him who fashions it, ‘What are you making?’ or your work, ‘He has no hands?’

10 Woe to him who says to a father, ‘What have you become the father of?’ or to a mother, ‘To what have you given birth?’”

11 Yahweh, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker says: “You ask me about the things that are to come, concerning my sons, and you command me concerning the work of my hands!

12 I have made the earth, and created man on it. I, even my hands, have stretched out the heavens; and I have commanded all their army.

13 I have raised him up in righteousness, and I will make straight all his ways. He shall build my city, and he shall let my exiles go free, not for price nor reward,” says Yahweh of Armies.

14 Yahweh says: “The labor of Egypt, and the merchandise of Ethiopia, and the Sabeans, men of stature, shall come over to you, and they shall be yours. They will go after you. They shall come over in chains; and they will bow down to you. They will make supplication to you: ‘Surely God is in you; and there is no one else. There is no other god.

15 Most certainly you are a God who has hidden yourself, God of Israel, the Savior.’”

16 They will be disappointed, yes, confounded, all of them. Those who are makers of idols will go into confusion together.

17 Israel will be saved by Yahweh with an everlasting salvation. You will not be disappointed nor confounded to ages everlasting.

18 For Yahweh who created the heavens, the God who formed the earth and made it, who established it and didn’t create it a waste, who formed it to be inhabited says: “I am Yahweh; and there is no other.

19 I have not spoken in secret, in a place of the land of darkness. I didn’t say to the offspring of Jacob, ‘Seek me in vain.’ I, Yahweh, speak righteousness. I declare things that are right.

20 “Assemble yourselves and come. Draw near together, you who have escaped from the nations. Those have no knowledge who carry the wood of their engraved image, and pray to a god that can’t save.

21 Declare and present it. Yes, let them take counsel together. Who has shown this from ancient time? Who has declared it of old? Haven’t I, Yahweh? There is no other God besides me, a just God and a Savior; There is no one besides me.

22 “Look to me, and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other.

23 I have sworn by myself. The word has gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and will not be revoked, that to me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall take an oath.

24 They will say of me, ‘There is righteousness and strength only in Yahweh.’” Even to him shall men come; and all those who raged against him shall be disappointed.

25 All the offspring of Israel will be justified in Yahweh, and will rejoice!

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Ephesians 2

briefly noted as not yet written at this point but referenced as the source of saved by grace through faith

1 You were made alive when you were dead in transgressions and sins,

2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the children of disobedience;

3 among whom we also all once lived in the lusts of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.

4 But God, being rich in mercy, for his great love with which he loved us,

5 even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),

6 and raised us up with him, and made us to sit with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,

7 that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus;

8 for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,

9 not of works, that no one would boast.

10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared before that we would walk in them.

11 Therefore remember that once you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called “uncircumcision” by that which is called “circumcision”, (in the flesh, made by hands);

12 that you were at that time separate from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of the promise, having no hope and without God in the world.

13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off are made near in the blood of Christ.

14 For he is our peace, who made both one, and broke down the middle wall of partition,

15 having abolished in his flesh the hostility, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man of the two, making peace;

16 and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, having killed the hostility thereby.

17 He came and preached peace to you who were far off and to those who were near.

18 For through him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father.

19 So then you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God,

20 being built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the chief cornerstone;

21 in whom the whole building, fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord;

22 in whom you also are built together for a habitation of God in the Spirit.

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Recap

The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.

Acts 15 brought the Jerusalem Council to First B Jackson on Mother's Day weekend. Pastor Mark worked through the passage verse by verse, showing how the earliest church wrestled with a question that still matters: are people saved by grace through faith, or do they have to take on the works of the law as well? The answer the apostles landed on still defines what it means to be the church.

What was said

The trouble started when men came down from Judea to Antioch and told the Gentile believers there that unless they were circumcised according to the custom of Moses, they could not be saved. This was not a fringe opinion. Some who held it were believers themselves, people from the sect of the Pharisees who had trusted in Jesus but had practiced a careful, law-observant life their whole lives. Their concern was not wicked, Pastor Mark said, but it was wrong, and Paul and Barnabas had a heated argument with them before the church decided to send them all 300 miles to Jerusalem to settle it.

On the way, Paul and Barnabas passed through Phoenicia and Samaria describing in detail the conversion of the Gentiles, and everywhere they went it brought great joy. When they arrived in Jerusalem the church received them warmly, but the question came up again immediately. The apostles and elders gathered and there was much debate, which Pastor Mark said was exactly right. Fallible people gathered in the name of God, praying to be led humbly by the Spirit, need to debate these things.

Peter stood up and reminded the room of what they already knew. God had chosen him to carry the gospel to Cornelius and his household, and had given those Gentiles the Holy Spirit in exactly the same way he had given it to Jewish believers. He made no distinction between them and us, Peter said. Then he pressed the point: why would they place on the necks of these new believers a yoke that neither their forefathers nor they themselves had ever been able to bear? The Old Testament record, Pastor Mark noted, is one king after another doing evil in the sight of the Lord. The law was real, but no one could carry it.

Peter's conclusion was direct: we believe we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, in the same way they are. That sentence, Pastor Mark said, silenced the room. The debate stopped and people began to listen as Paul and Barnabas described the signs and wonders God had done among the Gentiles on the first missionary journey.

Then James spoke. He drew on the prophets, including Amos, to show that what Peter had just described was not a surprise to God. He had already said he would rebuild the fallen shelter of David so that the rest of mankind, the nations, might seek the Lord. The experience in the room matched what God had declared long before. On that basis James gave his judgment: do not make it harder than it needs to be for Gentiles who are turning to God.

The four things James asked Gentile believers to observe, avoiding food sacrificed to idols, blood, things that were strangled, and sexual immorality, were not presented as conditions of salvation. Pastor Mark described them as practical guardrails for a mixed community, things that would allow Jewish and Gentile believers to worship and eat together without causing each other to stumble. The letter the council sent back to Antioch said plainly that if they kept themselves from these things, they would do well. When it was read aloud, the congregation rejoiced over its encouragement.

Pastor Mark closed by pulling the thread through to the present. Unity in Christ is possible, he said, but only by the Spirit. If two believers are in disagreement, at least one of them is not listening to the Holy Spirit, and it might be both. The Jerusalem Council showed what happens when people humble themselves, debate honestly, and let the Spirit bring them to one mind. That is still how it works.

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.

Peter told the Jerusalem Council that God 'made no distinction' between Jewish and Gentile believers, cleansing their hearts by faith. Where in your own life have you been tempted to add requirements on top of faith in Jesus, either for yourself or for others coming to faith?
The sermon described the Pharisees who raised the circumcision question as 'well meaning people' with 'good intentions' who practiced a holy life intently. How do you guard against letting sincere religious commitment drift into placing burdens on others that go beyond the gospel?

and 3 more questions in the guide

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0:00 And things. When I approach a holiday, think, what did I say the last time this rolled around? So, I made a list and it struck me as funny and I'm going share it with you. 2013, my first Mother's Day here. I blew it.

0:14 I didn't mention it at all. 2014, I sang a Leonard Skynyrd song to close the book of James. 2015, I went to Guatemala on a mission trip. 2016, missionary spoke. 2017 was a debacle.

0:38 All of the records have been destroyed. Actually, it goes on like that for a while. The one that I was going to describe my mother was in where 2021 and I gave a fairly detailed description of my mother and how there how she met my dad and all the different stuff, you know. Body cast and Vietnam and all kind of stuff. I can I can share it with you if you want to hear?

1:04 But the text was revelation and I said, happy Mother's Day and now turning to the seven bowls of the wrath of God. It's comical. 2024 was on repentance and that fits, right? A lot of us have really good advice that our mothers have given us all of our lives and we walk against it and against it and against it and we love her but at the same time, we just kind of go against it and that was like, wow, that was that actually is fitting. Well, that's what the text said.

1:37 So here we go. We're gonna turn to the text. If you see Mother's Day in there, tell me afterwards. But here we are at Acts fifth oh, this is this is to remember. These are the bands that I've quoted from this stage.

1:49 And there are various group and I was gonna do one this morning and thankfully I left the left it on the printer and you don't have to go for that. It was Doug Stone who grew up fairly near me. Doug Stone is famous for, I'd be better off in a pine box on a slow train back to Georgia. But his lesser hit was don't tell mama. And I think we all kind of have that when we're walking against what our mama has shown us.

2:14 We have a bit of that. I know not every mama is great and gives good advice. I know that but don't tell mama I was drinking. I couldn't leave this world knowing mama I met Jesus with whiskey on my breath. Now, the theology of it actually is pretty good.

2:30 It ain't the drinking that keeps you out, right? And mama was directing and he was like, he was ashamed and embarrassed but at the same time, he knew where he was headed. Right? Anyway, I yeah, spared you that one. Remember that Jesus said, will build my church.

2:47 Would you do that? Remember that Jesus said, I will build my church. So, in the process of Acts 15 today which is the Jerusalem Council. Remember, that Jesus said, I'm working on this. Actually, you know, the church is the bride of Christ.

3:02 If you think about it that way, it's a little weird if you're a guy. It's a little weird, you know. But no one can have God for his father who has not the church, capital C for his mother, right? So, that's an angle and since Pentecost was the birth of the church, right? Pentecost is the birth of the church and then, we're growing up.

3:23 The church is growing up and we've seen the first missionary journey. That's where we left off last week. We left off in Antioch. They had made the loop. What I said was so cute.

3:35 I mouthed it like seven seven times and then I changed over into Spanish and I was like, this isn't making any sense. So cute. So, Antioch is where we are and some men came down from Judea. Now, if you look at a map and you see Antioch and Jerusalem which is the center of Judea, you might look at that and go, that's up. Well, that's the way we think.

3:58 Our maps tend to be north up. There's tend to be east west oriented anyway but they go more by elevation in the scriptures and so, Jerusalem is like the top of the pass, the comparison and then Jericho is 3,500 feet below that and Antioch is even below that. Antioch is only two twenty feet above sea level. So, that's about 300 miles. Some men came down from Judea and they began teaching the brothers in Antioch, unless you're circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.

4:33 Now, what have we been seeing in Antioch? We have been seeing the growth of the church, the body of Christ is growing, and people are accepting it and on Paphos, we see Sergius Paulus, a Gentile believe and then up in Pasidian Antioch, it says that some Jews believed and some Gentiles believed and then down in Lystra, Jews and Gentiles, Jews and Gentiles, Jews and Gentiles, it's a mixed bag. Unless you're circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved. That's the message. And after Paul and Barnabas had a heated argument, no little argument, literally, from the Greek.

5:08 No little argument. It was not a small argument. And a debate with them where they were both kind of throwing scriptures at each other. After that, the brothers determined that Paul and Barnabas and some others of them should go up to Jerusalem. Again, there's that.

5:26 So, it's 300 miles for the guys to get there to start spouting heresy. Then, it was 300 miles for Paul and Barnabas to go back to Jerusalem to the apostles and to the elders concerning that issue. Listen, what is it that we believe? What is it that we preach? Are we preaching a gospel of grace or are we preaching the same old covenant works that we've been preaching?

5:52 Looking forward to a new covenant that will come but we don't understand that. So, we're just going to do, you know, the old thing about, well, you just tell me what to do. You give me a list and I can do it. You tell me and you tell me what to do and I can hit that. Anything that I can aim at, I can eventually hit but that's just not the case.

6:09 If you have broken the law in one bit, you've broken the whole law and so by the time you figure out what it is you're aiming to hit, you've already broken it. So, Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were going to go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and that was therefore, after being sent on their way by the church, they're passing through both Phoenicia and Samaria and Phoenicia is just North of Galilee and then Samaria is just South of Galilee. It's on the way during that 300 miles. It's the latter portion of the trip but what it says that they were doing through Phoenicia and Samaria was describing in detail the conversion of the Gentiles. Now, Phoenicia would have been a mostly Gentile area.

6:51 Even Galilee is Galilee of the Gentiles and so when they're coming back through, these folks would have been familiar with the message of Jesus. They would have been familiar with the fame of Jesus but for Paul and Barnabas coming down from Antioch and passing through and describing in detail the conversion of the Gentiles. They were bringing, it says, great joy. There's joy in the house of the Lord, right? They're bringing great joy to all of the brothers and sisters and it says all of the brothers and sisters in sort of an emphatic way and it's not making a distinction between Jewish or Gentile believers.

7:24 They're bringing joy to everyone who knows Jesus. So, when they arrived in Jerusalem, they were received by the church, by the apostles, and by the elders and they reported all that God had done with them and I imagine they were very very excited. It's sort of a a first missionary journey. The next thing we hear about is these folks spouting heresy and then they're going to go down to Jerusalem to get this cleared up. If you're in the men's study down the hall, we covered Galatians two this week.

7:56 I I believe that Galatians two is about this very meeting. The Jerusalem Council is what it's come to be known as and so, you can read a separate version in Galatians. I'm not going to go into that one today but it'll probably come up from time to time. So, they reported. They received by the church, the apostles, and the elders and they reported all that got it done with them but some and it's not all, okay?

8:21 Don't paint it with a broad brush that it says some of the sack of the Pharisees who had believed. So, these are believers. They're people who've trusted in Jesus but the way that they have lived their life for their whole life is in a pharisaic tradition. And we hear that and we go, oh, that bad. Well, it was the holiest people that they had going.

8:41 It was the people who really cared. These were the church folk. Okay? These are the ones who considered a personal practice, if not relationship, a personal practice of Christianity was something that the Pharisees really really believed in and so some of that sect of the Pharisees who were believers in Jesus, now they're Christians and they're saved by the blood of the lamb. So don't don't get it mixed up.

9:05 It'll be clear but some of the sect of the Pharisees who had believed stood up and said, but yeah, it is necessary. It's absolutely necessary when God came and he gave the law to Moses. It it was that and you know, we gotta do that. We've been doing this our whole lives. How is it that that doesn't matter at all?

9:26 And so, they were arguing the point. The same point that the guys came up and started spouting in Antioch. And so now, there are, they're believers. Don't just throw them to the wolves. Okay?

9:39 Don't think that these are all wretched, horrible. These are well meaning people who have a holy life that they practice, I would say, intently and with good with good intentions, let's say. And they say it's it's necessary to circumcise them and to direct them to keep the law of Moses. After they believe, bring em in. Bring em in and show em.

10:02 Bring em in and teach em how to act, right? It's for me a parallel here. If you grew up in church, if you grew up in a a staunch church, let's say, you might have a history of this where you know the way to act in church. You know the way to act because you've been taught how to act but when you believe, it becomes a a different thing. It's because it's not based on works that were saved.

10:32 Right? But some of us hang on to these things and insist on these things. Oh, seersucker on Mother's Day. Lennon after Easter. It's just sort of a thing, you know.

10:44 The traditions, I mean, it's necessary to circumcise them. It's necessary to direct them to keep of the law of Moses and the apostles and the elders came together to look into this matter. Wherever two or three gathered in my name, they are mine in the midst. The apostles and elders said, we do need to consider this. Now, I'm standing over here because the legalistic ditch for years and years, I've been saying, you've got a legalism that is not the gospel and you've got licentiousness over here that's not the gospel and you've got the gospel and it's the answer for both but it's not in between the two, okay?

11:18 It's the answer for both of em. The apostles and elders came together to look into this matter, and there had been much debate. Have you all ever been to a business meeting? Or an elders meeting, or board of trustees meeting? We're supposed to debate.

11:35 We're supposed to. We are fallible human beings who gather in the name of God and pray to be led humbly by the spirit of God. We need to debate this stuff. We need to. So, after there'd been much debate, Peter stood up and he said to him, brothers, y'all know that in the early days, God made a choice among you that by my mouth the Gentiles would hear the word of the gospel and believe.

11:59 They already knew Peter's story from Acts 10, his meeting with Cornelius. They knew it because when he came back to Jerusalem, he had to defend himself. They knew Peter's story from when Peter and John went to Samaria and they went to Samaria because the Samaritans had believed and when the apostles got there, God had delayed and gave them the Holy Spirit. Peter says, just as he had given us the spirit. Exactly the same way.

12:28 And so, brothers you know, early on, God made a choice among you that by my mouth the Gentiles would hear the word of the gospel and they're believing. By the way, Gentiles with a capital g here, Gentiles is everybody else. It means the nations. It's anybody that is not of Jewish descent and belief. And God, who knows the heart, Peter goes on, testified to them, giving them the Holy Spirit just as also he did to us, in the same manner that he did to us.

12:59 And so, Peter and John saw it and then Barbasons, Paul, we've been following now and we're seeing the same thing happen with them. If you go to Galatians two, you'll see that the apostles in Jerusalem doing this and Paul doing this outside like in Antioch and Cyprus and up in Cilicia and all over. That those were separate events but they're both led by the same lord and in Galatians two, Paul's reason for going down from Antioch to Jerusalem, he says, I want to make sure I'm preaching the right thing. I got it directly from Jesus but I also want to be on the same page. Unity in the body of Christ is incredibly important.

13:43 It is what Jesus prayed for in the garden. On the night he was betrayed, when he was arrested. He was praying that we would be unified and so our unity is important enough to have the debate, to pray humbly together, to get together, and come to an agreement to what is acceptable behavior. God, who knows the heart, testify to them given the Holy Spirit just as he also did to us. That was an act earlier.

14:08 I didn't put that in apparently. But I've already told you about it. Cornelius's house and in Samaria. And he made no distinction between them and us. Actually, when the sheet was lowered from heaven in Acts 10 and it was filled with all types of animals, take Peter, kill, and eat.

14:26 That whole thing at Cornelius before Cornelius' house. He says, make no distinction. What I've called clean, you don't call unclean. And so Peter got that and he resisted it. Three times.

14:40 And then he got the message. And as soon as he kinda got the message, knock knock on the door. There are these folks from Cornelius' house. He goes back and then he finds himself, good Jewish boy, walking into the home of a Gentile. Oh my goodness.

14:57 Like, God made no distinction between us and them. We are to carry the message to them. That's it and he says specifically, Peter says, by my mouth. He made no distinction between them and us. That's Acts 10.

15:12 Cleansing their hearts by faith. Now, Paul hadn't written Ephesians at this point but we know that we are saved by grace through faith. It'll go on to tell us that here. He made no distinction between them and us. Peter says, and he cleansed their hearts by faith.

15:30 Since this is the case, they had no works. They were not circumcised on the eighth day of the tribe of Benjamin, all that stuff. They weren't. They didn't have the works. So, since this is the case, that he saves by faith, that he makes no distinction between Jew and Gentile.

15:48 Since this is the case, why is it that y'all are putting God to the test by placing upon the neck of these new learners, disciple means learner. These new learners, why are you putting a yoke which neither our forefathers nor we have been able to bear? Have you all read the Old Testament? Oh my goodness. So, we're in Kings, second Kings right now in the first B in the Bible and it's amazing to watch and just hear so and so was made king when he was this many years old and he served for three months and he did evil in the sight of the Lord.

16:25 So and so was king for this long and he did evil in the sight of the Lord. He did not do anything to stem the tide of idolatry. They failed over and over and over. The truth is all of us fail. All of us have failed.

16:40 Why is it that you're putting to the test, putting God to the test by placing upon the neck of the disciples a yoke which neither our forefathers nor we have been able to bear. Peter says this, but we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you believe that? It is by his grace. It is unmerited favor.

17:01 That's how we're saved. The unmerited favor of God. Amen. Thank you. I thought you're going to add something about Mother's Day.

17:09 Many of our mothers are very gracious. No, sorry. We believe that we're saved through the grace of our Lord Jesus faith. Lord Jesus and it's by faith that says above that. In the same way as they also are.

17:23 He says, it's gotta be by grace through faith. It has to be. That's the only way that it happens and so, since he's making no distinction, how are we saved? In the same way, both of us, whether you're Jewish or you're Gentile. And all the people kept silent.

17:43 Just linger in that for a moment. All of the heated argument and debate and Peter kind of silenced the room. The Holy Spirit silenced the room. They kept silent and they were listening. They were listening now to Paul and to Barnabas as they were relating all of the signs and wonders that God had done through them among the Gentiles.

18:02 We talked about those over the past couple of weeks. At Lystra, the healing of the lame man that caused such a stir that the priest of Zeus came in and I'm sure they were telling them all the details about what God was doing through them among the nations and after they stopped speaking, James, James, James the brother of Jesus, after they stopped speaking, James responded saying, brothers, listen to me. Simeon, this is interesting. When you see Simeon right here, there are couple of different simians in scripture you think, oh, was that the same Simeon that said he could die in peace now that he had seen Jesus? No, that was a long long time ago.

18:42 I think he died in peace. Was it Simeon like Simeon the the one who is called black from our earlier study up there in Cyprus? No. This is Simon Peter. But it's the most Hebrew way you can say it, and they're in Jerusalem, and that's who he's talking to.

19:02 James has a very Hebraic character about him. If you read his book, you can see that. But Simeon, Simon, Peter, has described how God first, sorry, God first concerned himself about taking a people for his name from among the Gentiles and he says, James knows his Old Testament and he is going to do sort of a salad of Old Testament prophets here and this is not the way that I would do it. I'm going to say but I am not writing a holy writ, you know. I'm not led by the Holy Spirit in the same way that he was to have revelation for all of us forever but he says the the words of the prophets agree with this.

19:43 Just what Peter was saying goes along with this. After these things, I will return and I will rebuild the fallen Tabernacle Of David. I will rebuild its ruins and I will restore it. He's building up David's throne basically. So, that the rest of mankind may seek after the Lord.

20:01 I am making a way for the Gentiles to know and so that all the Gentiles will who will be called by my name, says the Lord who makes these things known from long ago. Now, again, I wouldn't do it the same way James did it but I'm not James. He takes from Amos nine right here. I will raise up the fallen shelter of David. I will rebuild it as in the days of old.

20:24 Jeremiah 12 and I will bring them back. I will restore. And Amos nine twelve and then all the nations who are called by my name. He's reaching out. He could've gone to a lot of other places that say, you are supposed to be a light to the Gentiles.

20:42 It's as plain as day that that's what they were supposed to be but Jesus ends up fulfilling that where they had in various degrees of success but still failed. Isaiah 45, who has long since declared it? Is it not I, the Lord? So, all of those things mixed together give us what James says right there in sixteen, seventeen, and 18. He's saying, not only is this our experience in the right now and in the early time in Samaria and in Cornelius' house and all this like Peter is saying.

21:16 It's not just that. God already told us that this is what's going to happen. He could have used Joel which Peter used on the day of Pentecost. He could have used other places from Jeremiah about the new covenant. He didn't have to.

21:28 But getting through there, he says, therefore, because of that, it's my judgment. James was the one that was sort of in charge. It's my judgment that we do not cause trouble for those from the Gentiles who are turning to God. Peter just said, if you put that yoke of the law on em, it's it's that's too heavy to carry. There's too much.

21:52 You, he, they just met Jesus and now you're going to give em all of the law and sit that on top of him. The whole book of Galatians is basically, listen, you believe by faith. Why are you walking away from faith and going back to a life of law that you cannot hit? Faith is on Jesus. Law is on you.

22:12 Therefore, it's my judgment that we don't cause trouble for those from the nations who are turning to God but that we write to them, that they abstain from things contaminated by idols. Because that's absolutely, absolutely too difficult for a Jewish person to get over. Idolatry is, I mean, the first commandment, right? No other gods before me and so, if we're going to survive Jewish and Gentile and we're part of one church, there's some things that just make a a Jewish believer want to gag and that's one of them. Don't eat meat offered to idols.

22:50 To abstain from acts of sexual immorality. Paul calls it, he says, all all sin's bad. He said, but there's a certain kind where you're sinning against your own body and sexual immorality is that type. It's just not good for you. You have liberty in Christ, you have freedom in Christ, this is not good for you.

23:11 And, from what has been strangled, that's a part of the it is a part of the old law, but again it's one of those things that would just cause someone to wretch. And if we're going to be together, you don't want be serving stuff that's going to make your guest wretch ideally. I've got lots of missionary stories about that. And both ways actually. We had friends one time who were eating something and they found it to be so detestable and they're you're supposed to eat whatever is put before you.

23:39 And so they're eating it and they're just kinda knocking it back. Honestly, they had it was blood. That was part of it at least. And so as they're eating it, they're like and so they're they had it. As anybody turns around, they kind of put it in a little container and took it with them.

23:56 They invited the same folks over to their house. They had ham sandwiches, mayonnaise, mustard, ham sandwiches, and that's what you, you know, it's a casual Sunday afternoon. On Monday, I lifted up a couch cushion and found half of a ham sandwich. It was the grossest thing those people had ever eaten. Anyway, I'll get back to this because it's gonna come back up on us.

24:22 So, from for from ancient generations, this is this is James' reason for saying, these four things are in their own special category. It's really so that we can get along. Right? When Paul says later on, Paul will say, you know, think of others ahead of yourself. Jesus has said, think of others ahead of yourself.

24:41 Don't put a stumbling block in their way. That's a part of this. For from ancient generations, Moses, who has those who preach him in every city, no matter where we go, we've already have this group of people that we should start with them because they ought to know and recognize and we don't want to have a practice that would just gross them out. And we don't want to have a practice that's going to cause us struggles. The sexual immorality was rife in the Gentile population all around.

25:09 Different sexual morays for different cultures, but sexual immorality is something that people recognized even if they didn't practice it. So, times, Moses had been preached every city. He's in the synagogues, every Sabbath, and this is a good starting place for us to go. There's a lot on this slide right here. So, it's words are small, smaller than I usually do.

25:32 Then, it seemed good to the apostles and to the elders. It seemed good. Does that sound spirit led? Yes. They're gathered in his name.

25:41 We're gathered in his name. We as a church and as a group of elders and as a body, we have to decide who's going to paint the fence. We have to decide the mundane stuff of life. You know, what are we going to what are we gonna do? Lord, show us how you would have us spend the money.

25:59 Right? Show us how you would have us spend our time. Show us how you would align and ordain our services. It seemed good to the apostles and elders with the whole church to choose men from among them to send to Antioch. So now they're in Jerusalem.

26:14 They're going to send people 300 miles again back up to Antioch and these were the ones. With Paul and Barnabas, they sent Judas who was also called by Sabbath. How would you like to have the name Judas in this time? Pretty tough. Judas.

26:27 Oh, yeah. We call him for Sabbath. And Silas. Silas and they were lead and this is the Silas that Paul is going to be with in the second missionary journey. Spoiler alert.

26:39 That leading men among the brothers and they sent this letter to them. So, James said, I think we ought to write a letter and so this is the letter. The apostles and the brothers who are elders to the brothers and the sisters in Antioch and in Syria and in Cilicia, up here, Antioch. It's Turkey nowadays on Taqia, Turkey, Cilicia, and Syria is north of Antioch. Who are from the Gentiles?

27:04 Y'all who are from this place, who are from the nations, greetings. Since we have heard that some of our number, folks from here, the epicenter, where this thing got started. Since we have heard that some from our number to whom we gave no instruction have confused you by their teaching and they have upset your souls. It seemed good to us having become of one mind. We got together until we decided on it, right?

27:38 I'm not a political guy. I really really appreciate people who can get together and decide on stuff that matters especially when it's favorable for everybody. It seemed good to us. Having become of one mind, Men who to select men to send to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul that y'all sent us. These are men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

27:59 They can be trusted. Therefore, we've sent with them Judas called Barsabbas and Silas who themselves will also report the same things by word-of-mouth. I don't want you to be confused about this stuff. I want for you to know. For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to lay and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than these essentials.

28:21 We're going to we're going to ask you to follow this stuff. I think it's for practical reasons again I say. We decided on a time when we would meet. Right? There's a time here at 09:00 in the morning or somewhere thereabouts where we get together and at eleven.

28:36 So it's we decide on stuff that you abstain from things sacrificed to idols, That you abstain from blood. That's used in a lot of Gentile cooking not at all in Jewish cooking or in Muslim cooking by the way. From things that were strangled or from acts of sexual immorality. Those are the essentials. Those are just these four things and they don't just stop there and say, it's a matter of salvation.

29:03 You have to do this this way. God can't save you if you no. It's none of that. It says, after that, if you keep yourselves free from such things, you'll do well. It's about the advance of the gospel.

29:15 It's about getting along and getting together. One of the things that I like the most about the seminary I attended is they set out at the beginning that you kind of signed off. You weren't going to quibble over the minors. You're going to major on the majors and you you're going to allow for people matters of conscience and you're to allow for different denominational slants and you're not going to argue over these things. They called it evangelical unity which I really appreciate.

29:41 Then farewell. I love the greetings and farewell. Dear so and so. Truly yours, James. So, when they were sent away, they went down to Antioch.

29:53 Again, elevation down 300 miles to Antioch and after gathering the congregation together, delivered the letter. What do you think the response to that letter was? When they had read it, they rejoiced because of its encouragement. Now, we might look at it and go, there were four things that they left. Those things are, those are things in the law.

30:11 Can you believe that? They, no. They had six thirteen really difficult things. Wool and cotton together. I mean, all the different six thirteen laws but they just had these four that are probably, it's going to go well for you if you go there.

30:27 When they'd read it, they rejoice because of its encouragement and Judas and Silas also being prophets themselves. They encouraged and they strengthened the brothers. This is somebody coming from one place to another place. Oh, good news from a far country. We love it.

30:42 To get together in Kenya or Uganda or South Africa recently and just be of the same family. I have more in common with with those folks joining together with them on a Sunday morning. It's immediate. It's just like that. Then, I do with lots of folks that live within a mile of me.

31:00 This is fun for a preacher too. Judas and Salas, also being prophets, encouraged and strengthened them with a lengthy message. After they'd spent time there, they were sent away from the brothers and the sisters in peace. There wasn't an aggravation. There wasn't a, okay, is it going to be Antioch or is it going to be Jerusalem?

31:23 Tune in next week. No, it's none of that. They're in peace. They have settled the question and it really is about grace and anytime we get together and we try to make it about anything else, we're backing up from the Jerusalem Council and I don't care what your denominational affiliation is or what your particularities are that you feel like is gotta be the way that's gotta be. No, it doesn't.

31:47 They left in peace and they left to those who had sent them out. So, again, there's a time where a missionary goes out to do a mission and then they come back home and that's kind of cool. Back to Jerusalem, go Judas and Silas and maybe a few others but Paul and Barnabas stayed in Antioch. They were teaching and they were preaching the word of the Lord with many others also and that's it. That's the that's the message.

32:15 With his spirit is, how many holy spirits are there? There's one. There's one spirit. If you are in disagreement, if you're in a disagreement with a brother or sister in Christ, at least one of you is not listening to the Holy Spirit. It might be both of you.

32:39 Okay? Unity in Christ is possible. It's only possible by his spirit and that's what we saw happen in there today and I know that there's been news this week. There's an American pope and there's all kinds of stuff and they said, what does that have to do with me? I'm baptist.

32:54 Well, the unity of the body of Christ is incredibly important and we are incredibly divided and so, I say, Holy Spirit, Holy Spirit, would you allow us to hear the still, small voice that guided these guys that can guide us now if we will humble ourselves. Lord God almighty, would you do? What only you can do? In Jesus name, amen. Would you stand with me?

33:27 And we're going to sing. You've already won. That is the cool thing because Jesus is building his church. He know, we know he's going to win. We know that the church triumphant.

33:39 That is all believers of all times will will go forward. So, in In Christ Jesus name, we pray. Lord spirit, would you fill us with exactly what we need to go forward today. In Jesus name, amen.

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