Acts 14:19-28. Making Disciples in the Local Church. September 19 Sermon.

excellent so uh so good uh to be together uh we've gathered together in different ways i was just thinking about last year at this time we were meeting outside i think we did that ten weeks straight ended at the end of september uh and that was there was there was really good things about it but man i was blind after seeing the sun reflect off that concrete for an hour so there's a lot of good things about being together in this place yeah the pandemic has changed a lot of things in how we how we have gathered over time but man it's important that we continue to gather and uh speaking of the pandemic just continue to pray for a number of people in the community affected by it including people in our own church had won one person in the hospital over the last week but out again and so grateful for that but a number of people continue to be affected glad that uh that you're able to gather and if you're comfortable gathering in a group like this which most of you i assume are since you're here grateful for it just those people who are going to be listening to this online later because you're not yet comfortable in a group welcome back whenever you can come back if you feel more comfortable coming in here wearing a mask great we love you if you feel most comfortable not wearing one great we love you we just want to be together and so uh grateful that we get to do that today thank you for your generosity in all sorts of ways that gives our leadership the confidence to say hey we're not just struggling to pay our bills so we're saying no you know what there's a need somewhere else and it's not doesn't make sense for us to send somebody uh over uh to nigeria they've got people in nigeria who need some work they need a roof on their school god's given us way more than we need we're gonna give and so uh maybe you didn't know this either our sunday school teachers all were talking to their their students about it in sunday school today so kids if you you know got a couple dollars or something or some coins that you decided you're going to bring next week your teacher will have an envelope for you they can put it in there and we'll kind of put that all together and see how much we come up with to hopefully finish a roof on this school in in jos nigeria so thanks for your generosity my name is jeremy and get to be one of the pastors of the church we are working our way through the book of acts on sunday mornings and we are now at the portion uh the book of acts is just about how jesus work continues uh through it's a sequel to the book of luke and so in the book of luke we hear of jesus birth life death resurrection and then we get to acts and it's the sequel it's how jesus work continues and in acts chapter 1 jesus ascended to heaven but he promised that his holy spirit would be dwelling in all those believers that they might be his witnesses in jerusalem that's where they started out and we looked at that in chapters one through seven and then to judea and samaria we saw that in chapters eight through twelve and now we've started this journey through the last portion of the book where we're seeing the gospel go to the ends of the earth and so we've been covering since the beginning of chapter 13 what is often called paul's first missionary journey where paul and barnabas were sent out called by the holy spirit sent out by the church from antioch which had become the new home base antioch in syria there's a map i think that's going to be up on the screen here in a second antioch in syria that red line is their trip out they stopped in the island of cyprus we read through about what happened there and then they went back up to the mainland of what is modern-day turkey and we were told about what happened at some of the stops there as well when we left off well one thing maybe we should note is that oftentimes it wasn't that like i mean if you're if they were like me they'd have a itinerary laid out in a spreadsheet that would say here's the day and time that we're going to leave this place and go to this place that's not why they left each place most of the time they left a place to go to another place because the people in that place wanted to kill them right so they were threatened in some way and needed to flee to a new location and they would go to a new location luke as he writes this tells us of four gives us details about four of the stops that they made on the trip and in three of them one in chapter 13 one early in chapter 14 and one that we're going to see today the reason that they left that spot is because they were chased out when their lives were being threatened what they chose to do next they're in the town of lystra is where we left them last sunday what they choose to do next and where they choose to go might be a little surprising to us but it's going to highlight for us too the work that god does when holy spirit empowered believers commit to the long hard work of making disciples in the local church we're going to see it in the first century paul and barnabas doing that there planting churches establishing churches making disciples in churches and we get to be a part of that very same thing where people empowered by the holy spirit some some people planted a church here in iowa falls in 1983 ever since then the church here by god's grace has been making disciples god's doing work god was doing work there god's doing work now and it's a joy to be a part of it if you're able to would you stand as we read god's word today we're looking at acts chapter 14 verses 19 through 28 i'll pray and then we'll read father thank you for the gathering that we get to enjoy now and i thank you that our gathering is grounded in the gospel of jesus christ thank you for the ways that we've gotten to hear that clearly sing that proclaim that as we've gathered together and now i pray that you would be exalted as we look at your word and that your holy spirit would be at work in us that we might be molded and transformed and changed according to your word in jesus name amen god's word says this acts chapter 14 verse 19. but jews came from antioch and iconium and having persuaded the crowds they stoned paul and dragged him out of the city supposing that he was dead but when the disciples gathered about him he rose up and entered the city and on the next day he went on with barnabas to derby when they had preached the gospel to that city and made many disciples they returned to lystra and to iconium and to antioch strengthening the souls of the disciples encouraging them to continue in the faith and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of god and when they had appointed elders for them in every church with prayer and fasting they committed them to the lord in whom they had believed then they passed through pisidia and came to pamphylia and when they had spoken the word in pergo they went down to italia and from there they sailed to antioch where they had been commended to the grace of god for the work they had fulfilled and when they arrived and gathered the church together they declared all that god had done with them and how he opened a door of faith to the gentiles and they remained no little time with the disciples amen you can be seated maybe you'll find it helpful uh inside the bulletin along with that connecting point which i'm just so grateful every month leanne does a lot of work to put that together very grateful just for the stories we get to hear of god's work and people in our own church also in there is a sermon notes page and life group guide if you want to take some notes there's a spot for you to do that and follow along there remember when we left off that paul and barnabas were had been chased from iconium to this rural area of lystra previously they had gone mostly to cities and cities where they knew the language and knew the people so they would start out in a synagogue but remember in lystra they don't really know those people and they don't know the language right so they have all sorts of barriers to proclaiming the gospel but god does a healing work at one point through through them for one guy and and the response of the people there was that they tried to worship paul and barnabas they nicknamed them zeus and hermes they thought the gods had come down to them in human form and so so paul and barnabas their whole message is don't worship us we're not gods we're not zeus and hermes and they want to hear let them know that it's jesus they should be worshiping so they're trying to share the gospel with these people we left off with this word like scarcely could they uh contain the people from trying to make sacrifices to them right that's where we left off and then we come to the first verse of today's passage jews came from antioch and iconium remember those were two cities they had already been in cities that they had been chased out of but jews came from antioch and iconium and having persuaded the crowds they stoned paul and dragged him out of the city supposing that he was dead there are people bent on opposing the gospel and they were not content to just chase paul and barnabas out of their cities they followed them down to this rural area seeking not just to threaten them with words but to kill them with rocks right that was that was the goal and so they're coming to do that work stopping the spread of the gospel and the crowds in that city who just moments before were about to worship paul and barnabas as though they were zeus and hermes had just been persuaded by poem barnabas not to make sacrifices to them but now the crowd is persuaded to join the people that want to throw rocks at them until they die right so the crowd is is pretty easily suede and fickle it seems and the beating that they that paul especially endured must have been pretty brutal did you did you notice that as i read that i mean they threw rocks at him until they had to drag his body out of the city supposing that he was dead it's not that they had inflicted a cut and a bruise here and there they actually thought he was dead and they leave him there to die but then we read this in verse 20. but when the disciples gathered about him he rose up and entered the city and on the next day he went on with barnabas to derby okay they had dragged him out of the city the disciples gathered around him he rises up though they thought he had been dead he rises up goes back to the city takes the rest of the day off almost dead i'm going to take the rest of the day off but the very next day he's traveling from lystra to derby you see paul's commitment to proclaiming the gospel of jesus christ whatever it takes he's committed to preaching the gospel and making disciples so he goes on from barnabas from he with barnabas to derby verse 21 when they had preached the gospel to that city that's primarily what they're doing right they're not there to do social work first and foremost they're there to preach the gospel and to make disciples so that's what they do verse 21 when they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples right they're just doing what jesus said to do our memory verse for this week is just matthew 28 19-20 i think it is the great commission right all authority in heaven and earth has been given to me jesus says therefore go and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the father the son and the holy spirit teaching them to obey everything i commanded and behold i'm with you always to the end of the age right so they're just doing what jesus said to do they're going to a new place and making disciples going to the nations verse 21 tells us they preached the gospel to that city made many disciples then this is the surprising part like you just read it like oh names another town i don't know i've never been there right but listen to this they returned to lystra and to iconium and to antioch does the next site have a map on it brooke i can't remember if i put one on there maybe not but but you saw the map before right saw the map before and if you if you saw their route there you see that red line they had gone from antioch and had gone up as far as antioch and pasitia a different antioch now they had traveled to lystra and derby they're halfway home right if they're in derby and they just want to get back to their home base where they know it's safer in antioch of syria they're halfway there but notice what it says they do here in verse 21 it says they were going to go back they returned to lystra and to iconium into antioch remember i mentioned there was three times where they got run out of town because their lives were being threatened you know what three towns those were lystra antioch and iconium so they're thinking you know where we need to go back to the places where the people want to kill us that's where we need to go right why why why look at verse 22. strengthening the souls of the disciples encouraging them to continue in the faith and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of god just as it wasn't easy for paul and barnabas to preach the gospel in those places it wasn't easy for those that believed the gospel to continue in the faith they would have endured the same kind of persecution that paul and barnabas were threatened with and paul and barnabas love the church enough that they don't just kind of blow in blow up and blow out right that's not their ministry their ministry isn't just i'm a missionary i'm going to preach the gospel you guys figure it out we're leaving no they come back and they make sure that as they've established churches in those localities that the believers there are being strengthened that's what discipleship looked like strengthening the souls of the believers that's why we continue to gather together as a church that we might strengthen one another that our souls might be strengthened as the gospel is proclaimed encouraging them to continue in the faith and nobody would have had a better testimony of hey through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of god then a guy who was beat up to the point that he almost died just a little bit ago right they're going to listen to that guy so they're doing the work of making disciples and they're doing it in the local church look at verse 23 and when they had appointed elders for them in every church with prayer and fasting they committed them to the lord in whom they had believed if you read the rest of the new testament elders or pastors or shepherds or overseers all the same word are called by god to shepherd the church through ministry of the word and prayer the way i talk to our elders about it is we are to know the flock lead the flock feed the flock and protect the flock no lead feed and protect that's what shepherds are to do that's what elders are to do and so as paul and barnabas go back to these cities they're concerned about getting the local church set up so that disciples can be made there in the local church under the faithful service of faithful elders so you notice there it said in every church they appointed elders for them in every church and how do they do it they do it with prayer and fasting committing them committing them to the lord in whom they had believed because yes paul and barnabas have a great role as missionaries elders have a great role as shepherds but ultimately the people of the church belong to the one who died for the church right the flock belongs to the chief shepherd the good shepherd who laid down his life for his sheep we're kind of three different bees we are the body right and jesus is the head we are the branches and jesus is the vine we are the bricks and jesus is the cornerstone and three different ways that scripture talks about the body of christ and so it makes sense that paul and barnabas doing everything they can to appoint the right elders to set things up that disciples might be made in the local church under the faithful leadership of elders but in the end we've got to commit these guys to the lord with prayer and fasting that's what we did that's why ron brought up on monday night we just said here's a bunch of people that are serving the church in a bunch of different ways we need to commit that that's we're going to do next week actually during the worship service pastor nick's just going to be leading us in prayer for those that are serving especially in children's and youth ministry right and we want to be doing that on our own committing them to the lord through prayer and fasting fasting was just a way to focus their minds and hearts as they withheld them withheld food from themselves for a time while they prayed so one application point is this keep at the long hard work of making disciples in the local church keep at the long hard work of making disciples in the local church ron mentioned that list and it is two pages uh because it came from me and uh i counted up the number of names on there's 120 names on that list now some people's names are on there three or four times uh so probably i don't know 70 different people's names serving in different ways in the church uh pretty incredible and i know i missed some stuff and only six of us three part-time custodians one part-time secretary and two full-time pastors only six of us are getting paid in any way for it everybody else you're just giving up sometimes an hour sometimes multiple hours of your week to serve the church because we believe that the the commission of the church is to make disciples right and so the long hard joyful grueling work of making disciples it's inconvenient it's messy but that's what we're called to do and i'm so thankful that we have so many people who are responding to god's call to be about the work of making disciples one other thing that i should note though i think there's 43 names on the list uh who are specifically focused on ministry to the next generation so children's and youth ministry requires 43 volunteers okay we believe that the next generation needs to hear the gospel of jesus christ and be trained to serve him to believe uh what is taught what i didn't list though were all the people parenting children because all like those 43 volunteers they give you know one two three hours a week to children's and youth ministry parents we give a lot more time per week than that to children's and youth ministry right we have a great opportunity disciple making is not a one and done drop them off farm it out endeavor right disciple making is the ongoing work that god has given to parents especially a book that uh i found really helpful is just this book called family discipleship leading your home through time moments and milestones by match handler and adam griffin i've got kind of an extended quote from it that is going to be up on the screen too so you can follow along but here's here's the quote if you are a parent you are automatically in the position of disciple maker in your child's life yes your family discipleship is valuable for the whole church and your community and the whole church should be invested in seeking seeing your kids come to know their savior but you should also know that training your children to know and follow christ is a job that first and foremost belongs to you though you are far from alone in this mission god rests the responsibility for their christian education squarely on your shoulders family discipleship is not a joyless duty for which you should reserve some leftover energy it is a priority of the highest order and the essential centerpiece of your household rhythms making disciples at home is not one more thing to add to your list of parental tasks it is the thing with all your family has going on you may think you don't have time for family discipleship the truth is with all your family has going on you can't afford not to be dedicated to family discipleship this is what we are called to have the privilege of being called to and the heavy responsibility parents now we know that with parenting there's no like do this get that formula you know like i put this in and here's what pops out that's not the way it works but there is evidence that kids learn to be disciples by watching their parents follow jesus the most important thing you can do for your kids is follow jesus right so do our kids see us reading the bible valuing the church praying do our kids hear us confessing our sins and asking for forgiveness do our kids hear us talking about jesus a lot do our kids see us letting our faith in jesus determine how we spend our time and our money do our kids see us making sacrifices to love our neighbors do our kids hear us avoid gossip and talk only in ways that build others up your kids see us run to jesus as we battle anxiety and all sorts of other hurts jesus disciples learn to follow him by living with him our kids are going to learn to follow jesus by us following jesus and living with them right what a calling when i was first apparent one book that i read said a number of things that stuck with me one of them is this remember that paul and barnabas committed them to the lord with prayer and fasting in the end they did all sorts of work but in the end they realized i got nothing i can't make this happen i need to commit them to the lord this quote here it is the key is to understand that our children don't belong to us they belong to god our goal as parents must not be limited by our own vision i am a finite sinful selfish man why would i want to plan out my children's future when i can entrust them to the infinite omnipotent immutable sovereign lord of the universe right making disciples is a work that happens in families who are working together to make disciples even in the local church there's a partnership there i'm grateful that we see that as a church all right let's finish this passage with the last few verses plus one more quick point of application we're coming to the end i don't know if i mentioned that at the beginning by the time we get to the end of this chapter and five more verses 24 to 28 we're getting to the end of what is called their first missionary journey paul will go on three missionary journeys plus a journey to rome so we're getting to the end of the first one here they're intending to go back to antioch in syria as their home base so we're just told here's how they get there verse 24 then they passed through pasidia came to pamphilia and when they had spoken the word in perga they went down to italia and from there they sailed to antioch so that gets them back to where they started a couple of stats on this uh that is estimated to be a their journey 1581 miles just so we just kind of went over this in like four weeks and and it's two chapters in the bible it probably took them almost two years to make this journey and was most likely about 1581 miles according to luke's pretty pretty detailed historical records that's a long trip we didn't have the kind of conveniences we have for transportation but by god's grace through many dangers toils and snares they've come back to where they began right they're back at their home base in antioch now luke doesn't say that they took a nap when they got back but i bet they did like like i would have taken a couple naps at least upon my return to antioch but here's what luke does tell us they did oh by the way i'll finish verse 26 it says where they had been commended to the grace of god for the work that they had fulfilled i love that remember in antioch it listed some leaders and paul and barnabas were among them remember how we talked about how the church unselfishly recognized how good would it have been to have paul and barnabas leading your church that would have been awesome but the holy spirit called paul and barnabas to go be missionaries so the church faithfully sent them laid their hands on them prayed for them and sent them off and now they've come back two years later or whatever and god has been faithful in answering their prayers the work they had been sent out to do had been fulfilled god was faithful and the gospel had gone to the nations now verse 27 and 28 what are they going to do while they're back in antioch when they arrived and gathered the church together okay of course that's what they're going to do get the church together they declared all that god had done with them okay that's what the church does when the church gathers together declares all that god had done with them and how he had opened the door of faith to the gentiles of all the things they could have told about the you know this guy got healed we got run out of town paul got beat up so bad we thought he was dead instead the story they tell is the story of how god has opened a door of faith to the gentiles right that's the story they tell of the work that god has done and then it says in verse 28 and they remained no little time with the disciples they needed to rest probably get some medical treatment right they needed to rest and recover and get prepared for what was coming next the second missionary journey will come in a bit there's going to be kind of a pause we're going to look at it next week in chapter 15. you can go ahead and read ahead that'd be great but you're going to see that paul has to take a break from the missionary journeys and go back to jerusalem because there's a pretty important theological dispute going on in the church and that's still kind of the center of things so he's got to go back and be a part of that council so so that's going to happen in chapter 15. but one final application point paul and barnabas gathered the church together they decided to share what god had done our church is spending uh no little time together many of us right uh there's just a lot of time that we get to be together as church lots of opportunities uh you know a number of you just got started in a life group last week or are going to get started in one this week so we get together in life groups people are getting together for breakfast people are getting together for lunch people getting together for bible studies book clubs people are getting together for youth group for sunday school we're together a lot and that can be a really good thing and the most natural thing when people get together is small talk we'll talk about you know it's cold hot rainy not rainy they won they lost you know like just kind of small talk kind of stuff that's fine it's fine to use small talk sometimes but man what if more and more our conversation as we got together as the church was hey what's god been doing that's what happened here when the church got together paul and like let's get them together let's talk about what god's done that's often a question in the life group guide what has god been doing in and around you over the past weeks we want to know what god has been doing so i hope that becomes more and more what we talk about as a church we can talk about the amazing grace right that saved a wretch like me we can talk about how through many dangers toils and snares god has brought us to the point where we're at today that's how we're going to end we're going to end by singing that song but uh let's first respond to god in prayer oh god i'm thankful for your word we're fickle but you are always faithful we are weak but you are strong and we just thank you for the work you've done we thank you for the work you have done we thank you for the work that you are doing we're thankful for the work you have yet to do and i pray that those who are with us today who have not experienced your saving work we know that's the kind of first and foremost and primary and most important work that is to be done that that somebody who is lost will be saved that somebody who does not worship jesus as lord and savior would come to a knowledge of him and receive the free gift of salvation i pray for those who are with us who have not experienced that that you would give them just kind of like a holy discomfort that pushes them to ask someone to share the gospel with them i pray that those of us wretches who have been saved who have failed again and again will be amazed again by your grace and that our amazement with your grace and mercy toward us would propel us to go out and do the work you've called us to do to make disciples of all nations starting in our own home and in our own church in our own community empower us to do that work for our good for the good of others and for the glory of your name amen

Channel: Iowa Falls Evangelical Free Church

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Id: t16afrRB0vE

Length: 30min 52sec (1852 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 19 2021