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 Welcome to the Lansdale Life Church podcast.

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

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 Thank you for joining us today.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 So is it rejection of your message?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 this is your portion here, verses 49 through 52.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 Father, help us to remember that our responsibility is faithfulness

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 everyone said amen. God bless you.

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

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

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 Be blessed and have a great day!