Sunday Service - 2026-09-27

Welcome to the Lansdale Life Church podcast.

If you're seeking a closer relationship with Jesus Christ, this podcast is for you.

Thank you for joining us today.

Well, good morning, everyone. I'm pinch-hitting for the wonderful pastor that's on vacation,

and I'm glad that he can do that. And we're going to be talking today. You can turn in your phones

to Acts 13, 13 through 52. It's a long passage. And I want to encourage you, there will be

something for every one of you today. I'm going to be breaking it down into three major categories.

Part one is, again, the encountering salvation. Part two is encountering opposition. And part three

is encountering great love. So we're going to be talking about these things. And we just ask you,

Lord, that you would give us clarity and that you would give us vision for who you are

through Paul's writings and his sermon in the synagogue. So we ask these things in Jesus' name.

Amen. All right. The idea of opposition is not new. We have it in our culture. We have it

in our job. We may even have it in our marriage. We have it friend to friend, peer to peer.

And what does opposition to the gospel mean? It simply means this, a resistance to God's truth

that seeks to keep people from hearing, believing, or responding to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

And that's what happened in the passages that we'll be reading.

So let's pick up in this chapter what this is all about. We're going to look at the synagogue

service that Paul and Barnabas attended. The back story that goes along with this,

first of all, maybe some of you don't quite understand what the synagogue function was.

It certainly was not like the temple and the priestly ordination that went on there.

It was fundamentally a Jewish gathering around prayer, scripture, and reading and instruction.

It was not a place to sacrifice anything. It was where the local people in the towns

came to worship. For one, prayers were made to God, acknowledging him as creator. So that's

nothing new for us. First, the Torah, which is the first five books of the Bible, was read,

and that's what we call the law of Moses. It was read publicly so people could hear that.

And then the public reading would then come in the half-terra, meaning the book of prophets.

So we have two different obligations there that people would listen to.

And after the scripture was read, someone would explain or teach from what had been read.

So why did the leaders choose or invite Paul and Barnabas that were out of towners to come

and to share? Well, first of all, it was a custom that they would give visiting people

to come and give an opportunity to speak, to put out there what was on their mind.

Visiting teachers would often be invited to give an exhortation or word of instruction.

Note, Paul's message was being heard by just ordinary people. Gentiles, Jews,

people from very different social positions, some of which could not even read or write.

Most of the common people were slaves and that they did not have access to the scripture that

the educated Jewish leaders had. So Paul took these truths that we'll be looking at

about God and he formulated them and communicated them in a way ordinary people could understand.

And that's obviously the goal of any teacher is to take the complex and make it simple so all

could understand. So that's some of the background. And what's interesting about this

whole thing, when they came in there, Paul didn't even have the issue before him that

he was going to preach. They just asked him, and what an opportunity. Here he didn't even

have to gather a crowd. He didn't have to advertise a meeting like we do. And he didn't

have to convince people to come. They were already there. And what's interesting about

they gathered together to hear the scriptures. So that's the background and the setting that

we have this morning. And they were really spiritually interested as we'll get into this.

So part one, again, if you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior, or you're thinking

about it, or talking about it, or ruminating about what this whole thing about Christianity

is about, this part is for you because it may give clarity to some of the indecisions

or concerns within your heart. So let's look at chapter 13 verses 13 through 48.

Now what I did, instead of reading it all, I broke it down into bite-sized modules so we

could basically kind of configure these things together to see what Paul was doing.

So verses 17 through 19, it talks about God being faithful in that God chose us as a nation.

He protected us during the time in Egypt, and he guided us as we left Egypt and went

to the Promised Land. So as he went on, God's preparation for us in verses 23 through 25,

Jesus comes from a royal lineage of David. It was talked about. He was being prepared

to usher in the kingdom of God. And then item three, Jesus the Messiah.

So this was strange for people. He taught and he was rejected. And Jesus then was crucified.

There was no justification for his death, but anyway, he was crucified. Jesus is risen,

verses 30 through 37. God raised Jesus and he lives today. That was his proclamation.

And then verses 38 through 39, forgiveness of sin through faith. And then the last element in

here, everyone who believes in Jesus is saved, verses 47 and 48. So let's break this down

and take a look at what was said. Paul's building a case to these people. Some very unlearned,

some knew the scripture, some did not, but he was going to challenge each one of them as he

laid this out. He was talking about Christ as the power of God unto salvation. There's no other way

to be saved, no other way to have an eternal life, but through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Another thing, most people in ancient Greece and Rome believed that they're in some kind of God.

They were very attuned to Gods of the field, Gods of agriculture, Gods for protection,

warrior Gods, so they had an understanding of what God was. A little different understanding,

but yet they did. Jesus the Messiah was new to them. God is present in his creation and does

things that man does not expect. They would expect certain things to happen, but this Messiah

coming to the earth was different to them. They couldn't understand that.

And then Jesus crucified, here is a God that was able to die and also willing to die. That was

alien to them, to even think about that, that a God would give up his very life or even have

he had a life. And then another element in Jesus's origin, it was difficult for the Greeks to

believe in bodily resurrection. It was just alien to their understanding. So he was opening up all

these things to them and introducing them to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. And then another

one, forgiveness of sins, that Jesus can forgive sin through faith in him. That was also a new,

an understanding to them. And then last, everyone who believes in Jesus is saved. Paul helped them

understand who Jesus was and what sort of God they should believe in. So he set the stage for all this

and some people's hearts were pricked. Some people's hearts were not willing to give,

other ones inquired, but what we have basically is an understanding that there was a whole new

element of Christianity that was given to these people. It was difficult for these

people to believe that God could become man. That's interesting. Or even have emotions.

Because remember, most of the Gods were what? Sticks, stones, maybe a little bit of concrete,

wood, and so forth, that he would cry and that he would even love. That was different to them.

But what Paul did, he told them what sort of God that they should be worshiping. This was, again,

antithetical to what they believed. So what does the Scripture show us? That God's word produces

a dividing response to this word. And we'll talk about that in a bit. The gospel exposes what

people keep hidden in their heart. We all know that that is experienced. The Lord brings

things to your remembrance that you didn't think about for years and you ponder them and then you

begin to give them up to the Lord. In John 3.19 it says, men love darkness rather than light

because their deeds are evil. For everyone that does evil hates the light. And that was us. We

wanted to keep those things unto ourselves. The gospel then also confronts, and this is what Paul

was talking about, even human pride. In 1 Corinthians 1.18 the message about the cross

doesn't make any sense to lost people because it was alien and what he was doing is bringing

clarity. And then the gospel challenges those people and challenges us today to believe in

the Lord and challenge us our beliefs and loyalties. There was a silversmith in Acts 19

named Demetrius that said, this man of Paul is upsetting a lot of the people,

but also the temple of the great Goddess Artemis will be countered for nothing.

And her magnificence is also about to be destroyed. Now, why do you think he said that?

Remember, he was a silversmith. He made a lot of money selling idols of silver to people that

came into town, and he didn't want that income to be destroyed. And then the gospel calls us for

surrender. And maybe this is where some of you have difficulty with. Surrendering, not arguing

with God, but surrendering. Luke 9.23, if any man will follow me, let him deny himself and

take up his cross daily and follow me. There is now one question that is before us

as we have read these things. And that is not what did the people do with Paul's sermon.

That's not the issue. The issue today is what am I doing with the gospel once I have heard it.

And if you are resisting the Lord Jesus today, if you haven't turned your life to the Lord,

if you haven't given up the Lord, this would be a good time to do it because God works in strange

and wonderful ways. When the gospel confronts our souls, some will resist, and maybe that's you.

Some will defend themselves. Well, I'm not such a bad person. I'm good. I'm going to get to heaven.

Maybe. I've done good things for people. None of that counts. It's what he's done for you.

Some will hold onto their pride, and then some will allow fear to control them. Well,

what if I give up all these things? What's God going to do? I used to think when I was small

that if I gave my heart to the Lord, I ended up being a missionary. I didn't want to be that.

But of course, God turns all that around. He gives you the desires of your heart,

and then some will continue serving their own loyalties. That's the travesty of it all.

So if you give yourself to the Lord, this is what happens. The Holy Spirit draws us to Christ.

As we listen to the gospel, the Holy Spirit begins to convict us, exposing sin, wrong attitudes,

desires we have ignored and even accepted. So that's the challenge. What we thought was hidden

is brought right into the light, not to condemn us, but to show us the need of a Savior,

to show us that we need the Lord. So the question is, am I willing to yield my life to Christ?

And maybe that's the question that you have to answer yourself this morning. Surrender

is just not agreement. It is a wholehearted yielding of our lives to Jesus as Savior.

How many have found that as you live your life in Christ, as you yield, things get better for you,

and you can begin to either walk through the dilemmas of life or be delivered from them,

whatever the Lord chooses. As we desire and surrender to the Holy Spirit, He transforms us.

He gives us a new purpose and empowers us to live for His glory. That's what He does.

So now, that's the question that you have for those of you that are thinking about salvation

or have been confronted with salvation, as we've talked about here. And that's what was

in the heart of the people. They were convicted. This was a new thing to them. And Paul got up and

expounded. I don't know how long he did, but I would imagine it was a very long sermon,

and he put all these things together for the benefit of these people.

Remember, there was unlearned. There were slaves. There was freemen. There was the Jewish

electorate in this service. And we'll see what happens. Now, some of you may be encouraging

opposition in your life. That opposition could be secular. It could be opposition

as you give your testimony to people, as you walk your life in the Lord out,

and in the concourse of life, you may get opposition. How many have opposition when you

started to open your mouth and talk about the Lord? Yeah, okay. Well, this is what we're

talking about you this morning. So in verses 48 through 50, we see this begin to materialize.

So the next Sabbath, which was then a week later,

Paul had left, and he then came back in, and the people were anxious. And almost the whole

city came together to hear the word of God. That shows you how the word penetrates.

There must have been a lot of buzzing in that town. You ought to hear the evangelists that

came to town last week. You ought to come. So the synagogue was filled.

So some believed, thank the Lord, but some rejected. And that's always the case.

It's your decision. And then the opposition increased. So the same gospel that brought joy

to some of the individuals provoked hostility in others, especially the Jewish leaders.

I wonder why this is. Well, we'll find out.

When the Gentiles heard the word, it says they were glad and glorified the word of God.

That's wonderful. Now, the next part of this is, originally, these same Jewish leaders that

invited them to speak the week before rejected him. Now, why is that? They became filled with envy

because he was bringing all these pieces of the Old Testament of the Torah, of the hard Torah

together. And they wanted to speak against these things because the status quo that they had

was their position, was their income, was their stature in the community, and they didn't want

to give this up. They became jealous and hostile, it says in the word, toward Paul and Barnabas.

And the Jewish leaders turned to others and asked them to talk against Paul and Barnabas.

And they started making trouble for them. So we all, automatically, those of us that

have raised our hand, we see opposition coming. And they insulted Paul and opposed his message and

rejected his preaching. And then, finally, they even chased them out of that part of the country.

So you see, there was a great division here, those that were rejoicing and those that were opposing.

So now, let's take a look at some bad news here for those of us that have opposition.

The Gospel, I want to declare to you, is always opposed. A powerful pattern in Acts exists.

It repeatedly demonstrates one sobering reality. The Gospel advances in spite of opposition,

suffering, and persecution. Paul said this, we are troubled on every side, yet not distressed.

We are perplexed, but not in despair. Acts 4 said this, Peter and John were what?

Were threatened not to speak anymore. That's not bad enough. In Acts 5, the apostles were beaten

and forgiven to speak. In Acts 7, Stephen was murdered because of what he said.

Now, I don't know that we're going to go that far.

Acts 8, Paul or Saul was persecuted and the believers were scattered.

Acts 12, James was murdered and Peter was bound and impressed. Boy, isn't this good news?

And then Acts 14, Paul almost was stoned to death. Acts 16, Paul and Silas beaten and imprisoned.

And the mobs were, again, were opposed and laughed at the ministries and the missionaries.

And then Acts 19, anger and confusion led to a riot in Ephesians. On Acts in John 20, it says this,

if they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. So that's what we end up dealing with.

So I ask, what is the opposition to the giftings that you walk in? What opposition do you have?

So you see in the scriptures that as we begin to launch out and begin to declare

God's mercy and His love and open our mouth about who we are in the Lord

and the giftings that we have strengthen us, there will be opposition.

So is it rejection of your message?

Is it the culture that we live in, the culture of criticism? Could be.

The discouragement of people that don't respond. Let me tell you a little bit of a story.

My uncle was a missionary to Canada amongst the Canadian Indians, and he was on a reservation.

At that point in time, you could build a house on the reservation. That's where he and his wife

lived. They then built a community center, and that was good. They even helped indigenous

people learn to work on their outboard engines and even build outhouses.

And as an aside to the story, about 1030 at night, one Indian man came over and he knocked on

Norman's door, and he said, I need help. So Norman went over to his place, and here he built the

outhouse inside of his house, and he couldn't get it out. So they kind of take it all apart.

He didn't know. So that's the type of education that he was giving.

But every Sunday he would come and he would prepare a sermon, and there was a couple

ladies there, a couple of men, and there was this man, excuse the French, but he was drunk

and he was in the service and whatever. My uncle loved him. And then he left. He didn't

hear from him for a long time. Then he came back, but he was resistant to the gospel.

Long story short, my uncle retired. He moved back into Canada, and he died. And then the last story

that we heard, the very man that he ministered to that was the drunk is now the pastor

of the church in that congregation, in that community. It's a wonderful how God works.

It really is. So you see that you don't look at the small picture. You look at the long picture

of things. This is the long game that we play. We put the word out there. We see the word,

and God brings the increase. So maybe it's false accusations against you, ridicule or mocking,

verbal abuse with distractions and threats, and people believing less in biblical authority today

than ever before. Well, I think this or I think that. And then demonic conflict and opposition.

I don't know how many of you keep up on Jonathan Cahn. Do you know who he is at all? Well,

he is quite a profound scholar in the Jewish community. And he writes books, and they're very

relevant to the time. Well, this last book that he wrote, he was talking about the opposition that

he had. And every time he publishes a book, and he has about 11 of them, there is opposition in his

life. But at this point, at the bottom, conflict that was demonic, he had written the book.

He got on a plane to do his book tour, and he realized that something may happen. It was

in his spirit. Well, long behold, coming back, nothing happened. He did his book tour. He said,

okay, he's on the plane. He wanted to rest. So this man next to him was there, and they struck

up a conversation, and he told the man what he did. And the man was very interested in what

done. So Jonathan thought, wow, this is a good opportunity. I won't rest my head. I'll just talk

with him. So as the story went on, and they kind of slowed down their conversation, and then all of

a sudden, this man got up in the plane, came over, and started to argue with Jonathan Cahn,

two seats over. So Jonathan kindly did his thing, and he excused himself, and he wanted to move

somewhere where there was no other place to move. And this guy got hostile. And it was so bad

that man came lunging at Jonathan with his hands going to be around his neck,

and the two stewardesses pulled him away, and he was in handcuffs. And it was quite a scene

on the plane as he talks about this thing, but he just told us that story. The fact that here he

was writing a book and the demonic reaction through this man, and he couldn't realize it

because he was so open before, opposed him, and he was wondering what that was all about.

And he never did find out what happened to the man. But it's the idea that we can get opposition

from what we have. Anybody ever have anybody put their hands around your neck? No, I don't think

so on that one. But anyway, so please do not allow rejection to silence your witness.

That's what this section is about. Paul and Barnabas did not respond to rejection by

retreating. They certainly did not. It says in Acts 13, we turned to the Galatians. In other words,

they weren't accepted. They were booted out of town. They went to another place,

and they decided what? To be the voice under the Gentiles. And then today,

you need to hear this, those of you that are thinking about the cost of ownership of

salvation, the cost of articulating your faith. Don't stop speaking simply because someone rejects

it. It's not your responsibility to bring them to closure. It's who? It's the Lord, okay?

And then don't let criticism or social pressure or misunderstanding or even hostility

determine whether you will remain faithful to be a witness. Please, please, please.

So now, how do you overcome this opposition for those of you that have experienced it,

those of you that are walking in the Lord? Please don't measure the success of the gospel

by the resistance that you encounter. Sometimes people are just dead. Remember,

they are dead as unto the Lord, and they don't react. We had dinner with a couple not so long

ago, and I had asked the Lord to open their hearts. Nothing happened, and it was about ready

to leave, and we were going to get up and leave. And something was said, and I asked Gail, I said,

the lady, I said, well, did you ever think about life after death? She looked at me, she said,

I never thought about that. And I thought to myself, I mean, life after death, you don't

think about these things. I guess because we're Christians, we don't block that out,

because we know that it's going to be better over there than here. But I couldn't believe that.

So anyway, they're on our prayer list. So our responsibility is faithfulness. That's

what we have to be. And it's not trying to control the results. Results we have to leave

to the Lord. I mean, He may work years and years on people's hearts. Paul preached, some believed,

as we had heard, some opposed Him, and then Paul continued to be faithful.

What did they do? They shook the dust off their clothes and went to the next town.

We are called to proclaim Christ faithfully, and God is responsible for the outcome.

You don't have to convince anyone. The testimony is like what you see in court cases.

You were called to be a witness. You provide your information. You don't argue with the judge.

You don't argue with the jury. All you do is give your testimony. You don't have to win

every argument. How many used to work that way? Well, you know, a notch on my belt and,

you know, we're going to see people get saved. That's not the way. It's a living testimony.

And we don't have to overcome every critic. So, they're critics. That's all right.

I'm not affected. Who do we serve? The Lord. Prayer and intercession for those in need. Now,

this is where it becomes interesting. I want you to wait on the Lord and allow the Spirit to

prepare the hearts and open opportunities for you to relate to these people.

If God lays a person on your heart and thinks, okay, I've got a witness,

lay some groundwork, pray to the Lord to ask the Lord, what would you have me say to this person?

So, you've got the burden, and all you're doing is developing an understanding of what God wants.

The Holy Spirit will begin to open doors for future conversations with those people

to share about Christ. You want to cede the opportunity. You just don't want to go out

there and give them 35 minutes of your testimony and ask them to come to the altar. Relational

evangelism is important. You build the bridge, and you begin then to set forth God's standards

and His love. So now, opposition is out of the way. So, for those of you that need great joy,

this is your portion here, verses 49 through 52.

In verse 49, it says, the gospel spreads everywhere. Think about that. Paul,

he ceded the word, he put it out there, people rejoiced, and then he left, and then

the gospel spreads. Opposition comes, and then Paul and Barnabas move forward in spite of the

situation. And believers then remain faithful and joyful and filled with the Spirit.

So, people can be rejected and criticized, but the word of God continues to spread

in every direction. Think about what we're experiencing in Iran. For those of you that

are up on the news and listen to a lot of the direct commentary coming from people that are

contacted or connected in Iran, there is a move of God unbelievable. Now, I tried to verify this

to three different sources, but the number seems to stick that out of the 75,000 mosques,

almost 45 to 50,000 of them are closed because people don't want to do that anymore.

There are ladies walking around without the Punjab or whatever the garb is on.

You get pictures. I mean, this fellow shows scenes and snippets of people downtown in

Tehran. You know, they're just living their life like normal. And then the home churches,

which are very secretive, there's not a real good count on that, but they think there's about

23,000 to 28,000 home churches, and people are just getting baptized and getting filled with

the Spirit. And it's just amazing. Then, of course, you have heard about the people that

are Muslim getting visions of God coming to them and loving them, and they don't know what this

is. And I think we've had one individual here that talked about the church that he knows over

in Turkey. The entire church is made up of Muslims, and each one had a visitation from God.

I mean, it's just amazing what God does. So the opposition comes. Opposition cannot stop

the Gospels from spreading. We already said that. Then Acts 13 doesn't end with Paul and

Barnabas retreating. They will not retreat. They will go on. Very brave individuals.

All right. Joy is possible even in opposition. And that's what I want you to think about.

The disciples had just experienced rejection and persecution, yet their circumstances did not

determine their joy. The Spirit gave them strength to continue. Now, as this declaration that is

before us, the opposition to surrendering is real. We talked about that. There is a fight

within us to do that initially. The cost of Christianity, as we know it, those that are in

Christianity, it's expensive. It's a price to pay. A lot of times we give up all our old friends.

Some of us have had to change our jobs and so forth. But at the end of the day,

Christianity is well worth that commitment. But the redeeming gospel brings us fulfillment,

fulfillment not otherwise experienced in this life. Now, let me talk about what that fulfillment is.

And this verse says it all, Acts 1349, and the word of the Lord was spread abroad throughout

the whole country, just by virtue of what Paul did that one Sunday morning,

and then followed up the next Sunday morning. Also, this last verse in Acts 1351, immediately

after Paul and Barnabas are opposed, says, and the followers in Antioch were filled with joy

and filled with the Holy Ghost. And then likewise, our new life in him brings us to a

peace that passes all understanding after we give our life to him. Now, this is the important part.

Additionally, and there's a cue for your folks. Okay. The freedom that we have and what we see

in others produces great joy in our heart. It's not just the joy that we have. It's the joy that we

see being fulfilled in the life of other people as they come to the Lord.

Think about the regeneration, how joyful you were when you first came to know the Lord.

And that joy abides in us. But when you see somebody that you've either worked with

or know personally come to the Lord, what does it do? It just lightens your heart.

And that's where the joy comes from. Christian freedom is not merely the absence of restrictions.

It is the freedom to do what? Live in Christ, walk in his grace, see his transforming work

in the lives of other people. That's the reward that we have. Not only just to go to heaven,

the free ticket obviously is, again, what some people have. Well, I know the Lord and that's

it, and that's all they do. They just wait for the Lord to come and that he will, again,

take them to heaven. But it's the objective that we have through opposition of the ministry and the

giftings that each one of us have that bring joy to us when we see the results. And in some instances,

we may not see the results. There are people that we've been praying for, Joni and myself,

for years. And every once in a while, we ask the contact or inquires about what's

interesting about this person or that. No, nothing has changed. We'll continue to pray on.

So his transforming work in the lives of others is important for us to see.

There is something deeply joyful about watching other people discover this freedom and have

experienced it ourselves. In other words, it's even greater when a person that you have worked

with even goes on to greater heights than you in the Lord. Have ministry and do different things.

And then when someone who was burdened discovers God's grace, we rejoice. Think about that. People

that you know that were burdened with sin. And when someone is trapped in sin begins to walk in

obedience, we rejoice. And then when someone that was discouraged discovers hope in Christ,

we rejoice. We are glad to have them as one in the family to celebrate the Lord Jesus as Savior.

And then when someone far from God comes to salvation, that's the wonderful thing. We rejoice

in that. So, question for you. When the door begins to open, will you have something to say

about the Lord? Well, I don't do those things. I'm simply a servant in the house of the Lord. I do

this or I do that or I clean bathrooms or whatever. Okay, that's great. But what happens when somebody

inquires of you? Because what happens in your life, whether you believe it or not, there's a

different presence and aura that you provide when you come in contact with people that are

unsaved. Now, it may not be stated. It may not be admitted. But how many have ever had people

come to you and say, you know, there's just something about you. You know, you're different.

You know, that's what it should be. And that difference is what we capitalize on

as far as an opportunity. So, when God opens the door, I want you to be ready to speak.

It doesn't have to be profound. You already know that as you pray for these individuals that

God may lay on your heart, that you give what the Lord wants you to give. Or instantaneously,

when you're walking down the street in the grocery store, somebody is in contact with you.

You say something and conversation can open up. What I find that most of life,

all of us are too busy and we don't have time to just say hello, open conversations,

be there, talk about the weather, talk about the kids, and then obviously,

sometimes the conversation comes around. And when that does, I want you to be ready to give

a testimony of what God has done for you. You may not always know when that opportunity is coming.

Well, I'm not ready. You're never ready. You're never ready. Let the Holy Spirit work in your

life. Be attuned. That's why you should spend time in God's presence to know that when he

speaks to you, you hear the voice on the inside. Say, do this or do that. Again,

there was only one time in my life that I heard one audible word from the Lord.

One audible word. It's on the inside, the impressions that you get, the Spirit telling

you to do certain things or not to do certain things. Then you may not know who will ask you

a question. Well, I have friends and they never say anything, but sometimes they men.

I have a dear friend of mine that I discipled some 30 years ago. He's a bocce player. He's

now retired. He plays bocce three or four or five times a week during the summer. Well,

we got talking some years ago about his relationship with these guys and it was

okay and whatever. And I said to him, I said, did you ever give testimony?

Yeah, I did. Well, this past two years, one team that he has, all the guys play on another team.

So he has contact with them two times a week and there were seven or eight guys and they all came

to the Lord within two years. He didn't open his mouth for years and then all of a sudden

he began to say that there is a mission field out here. Just because I'm playing bocce, that

put it right out there in somebody's face. So consequently, these guys are hard.

They're contractors and they're professional people and they've all got stories and all of

a sudden one gets sick and then they say, well, Danny, pray for me sometime. And so Danny goes

over and lays hands and then all of a sudden another guy, his wife has cancer and it's spread

and there's about 14 people that have come to the Lord. And it's wonderful when you allow him to work

as he wants to through you. All right. Now that we have, again, the encouragement of salvation,

the encouragement of opposition, the encouragement of great joy, I want us to pray. Okay.

So Lord, we thank you for today. We thank you for your word and for the powerful example that

you have set forth in this chapter of Acts. Thank you that you were a God who calls and

sends and empowers and uses ordinary people like us to accomplish extraordinary things from your

kingdom. Lord, we want to believe that. For those of us that are walking in fear, Lord,

take away the fear, I pray in the name of Jesus, that we can open our mouth. And Lord,

help us to be like Paul and Barnabas, people who are willing to say yes when you call, not maybe,

because if we spur in your spirit, Lord, it gets harder and harder to hear your voice.

Give us courage to speak your truth, even when it's difficult or unpopular

and even met with opposition as we talked about today. Father, remind us

that rejection doesn't mean failure. When people reject the message and criticize us and discourage us

or try to close the door, help us not to become silent or give up. And Lord, teach us to remember

the truth in Acts 1349. The word of the Lord was being spread throughout all the region.

And Father, thank you for the freedom that we have in you.

Father, help us to remember that our responsibility is faithfulness

and the results belong to you, Lord. You give the increase for your glory. It's not ours, Lord,

it's yours. We just want to see people come into your kingdom. You want children, Lord,

that are following you to come to know you, Lord God. And let us be part of that.

So Father, today, send us out from this place with renewed courage in our heart, either to give you

our lives in salvation or to understand the opposition that we have and that we will walk

through it and be the testimony that you want. And Lord, if we need great love and joy, we ask

Father that we can see this joy in the lives of other people as they come to know you and value

their relationship in you. We exalt you in the name of Jesus as we speak the truth. In Jesus' name,

everyone said amen. God bless you.

Thanks for joining us at Lansdale Life Church as we praise God and discuss His word.

Don't forget to join us for Worship Live Sunday mornings at 10 a.m. Eastern on YouTube.

Be blessed and have a great day!