 But let me begin by reading verse 19 and 20 here in Acts chapter 14. Luke writes, then, Jews from Antioch and Iconium came there and having persuaded the multitudes, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing him to be dead. However, when the disciples gathered around him, he rose up and went into the city and the next day he departed with Barnabas and Taderbe. And so Paul and Barnabas have been sent on a missionary journey. We know that by looking back into chapter 13. And they were in a place there called Antioch, Syria. And the elders had sent them out to minister. We saw how that the elders had fasted and they prayed and they laid hands on them and they sent them out. What they were doing was giving to them authority to go out in the name of Christ and to evangelize. So they traveled to a place called Cyprus and began to minister there. They ministered to other places, eventually arriving at a place called Pasidian, Antioch. And while there, they were preaching. The response, as we've seen, was incredible. Many Jews and many Gentiles were being saved. Now how did they react? And we're going to see that because this leads to what we're going to be looking at today. How did they initially react to this incredible response? You see, in our day, many evangelists will simply take account of the converts. But Paul and Barnabas didn't do that kind of thing. Paul and Barnabas actually stayed and ministered to the new believers. You see, one of the things I want to remind us of is that true salvationism. They'll say, we shouldn't steal, we shouldn't lie, we shouldn't commit adultery. They'll agree with those principles and in doing so, many times they'll say, well, they get those principles from the Bible and therefore I'm a Christian. And in fact, no, they're simply saying things that are true. But that doesn't necessarily mean that they know the Lord. That doesn't mean that they're genuinely converted. You see, because true salvation is more than agreeing with something as being said. It is what is called a conversion. It includes a repentance. It includes turning away from sin. And it's evidenced by a lifelong change in the way that we believe and the way that we live. You see, Paul wanted these people to understand what it meant to follow Christ. Because of that, he remained with them and he spoke to them, he taught them. Acts 1345 says that they persuaded them to continue in the grace of God. When it says they persuaded, that word persuaded simply means to urge. They urged them to continue to persevere in God's grace. You see, they knew their mission. The mission was to make disciples, not deciders. That's what Jesus called the church to do. Not to go out and have people agree, stand or raise their hand or come forward, but actually go forward, to actually be transformed. And so Jesus had said in Matthew 28, 19 and 20, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything I've commanded. You surely am with you always, to the very end of the age. So these new converts are in need of discipling and that's what was happening. He persuaded them to abide in the grace of God. Not everybody was pleased that this was taking place. We saw that persecution began to rise against him, unbelieving Jews opposed what Paul was preaching. So that led to Paul spending even more time preaching to Gentiles. And again, many of them were believing in God's word was spreading throughout the region opposition exploded. Paul and Barnabas were expelled from that region and it resulted in them leaving Pasidian Antioch and going to a place called Iconium. They entered into the synagogue. Many believed the gospel. Once again, unbelieving Jews reacted angrily. They began to poison the minds of the people against the apostles. In spite of this persecution, God moved mightily through signs and wonders, but the city became divided. Some were siding with the Jews, Jews who didn't believe others were siding with Paul. The opposition provoked a violent attempt to abuse and to stone them. So once again, they fled going further south to two cities, one called Derby and the other Lystra. Now, while in Lystra, God moved through Paul. A crippled man had been healed. And the impact was so profound that the city began to explode with emotion. They thought Zeus and Hermes had come into the city. And the priests of Zeus brought oxen to sacrifice to Paul and Barnabas. And when he did that, Barnabas and Paul tore their clothes and told him, you need to stop and Paul emphatically told them, we're only men. It wasn't me who healed a crippled man, it was God. It's the God who is above all gods is what he was saying. And he began to speak to them. He spoke of the God of creation who graciously has allowed the heathens to even live. And even though they didn't know him or honor him, he's still provided for them. And that's this common grace. And this common grace is provided for this man to be healed. Now, Paul said previously he had, God had allowed nations to walk in their own ways. But God now has sent his son and through Jesus Christ, he's calling all people to repent. And it was through these things that he shared. And then they were restrained. Now, I want to share a little bit. It's kind of an aside here, but I think it's of interest. And it's something that I, as I was preparing, I thought, this is interesting enough to share with you. It's not stated here, but it is possible that two women were saved at this time that we later on see in Scripture. In 2 Timothy chapter one, verse five, that verse speaks of a grandmother by the name of Lois and her daughter who was named Eunice. Lois and Eunice. They lived in the area of Lystra. Now, we may not really know Lois and Eunice, but we do know Eunice's son because Eunice had a son that we all are aware of. His name was Timothy. Now, Timothy's father was a Greek, but his grandmother and mother were both Jews. And it's through the ministry of these wonderful ladies that Timothy was raised with faith. And he was brought up in the Word of God, which prepared him for salvation. In 2 Timothy 3.15, Paul said to him, how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. Let me share something very briefly with you, but I think it's important enough to share. Ladies, you don't know those of you who are mamas and perhaps you who have young children. You don't, and I don't want to say it like I'm some authority in this. Let me find a better way to say it. You don't know. We really don't know who it is that we're raising. We really don't know that. Every parent here knows what I'm trying to say. We really don't know what our kids are going to turn out to be like. We in faith raise them. We want them to know the Lord, we want them to serve God, but we really don't know what God's plans are for them. We know that the Word of God teaches us to train up a child in a way he should go when he's old, he will not depart from it. We know that, and we do what we can to provoke them to follow the Lord. And Eunice and Lois were involved in the life of a young boy named Timothy. Timothy's dad was a Greek, a pagan, but his mother was a faithful Jewish. And she and the grandmother raised Timothy in the Word of the Lord. The next pastor of this church may be in one of our ministries right now. They may be in the high school ministry right now. We just don't know it. Some mother and some daddy, but mama, has been raising him in the ways of God. You see in the life of Timothy, Lois and Eunice and Timothy were there in Lystra, and Paul was preaching in synagogues. There's no doubt that they heard the gospel. We know it because Paul makes it clear. That's how they came to faith. Paul calls Timothy. We'll see this in chapter 16. He brings them to faith in the Messiah. It makes it very clear to their butt. Paul, when he speaks of Timothy, he speaks of him this way. There's only two men in the New Testament that are ever spoken of like this. He says, my son, my genuine son. There was Titus, who's referred to as his son, and there's Timothy. And Paul had a ministry. When he came into Lystra, he preached the gospel. Timothy was prepared through the Word of God. So it's more important for us as parents, and I'll include dad and mom in this. It's more important for us as parents to do our best to raise our kids to fear the Lord. It is much more important for us to do that than to make sure that they're in a soccer team or a baseball team or a football team or a basketball team. It is more important for us to prepare them for eternity. And a lot of parents are forgetting that. It's much more important. The chances of them ever making a living as a professional is very small. Very few are gonna become professional athletes, but every one will stand before God. And it's very important for us to remember that. And sometimes when you read our scripture, we're not putting into context always taking place. Paul was in Lystra. He's preaching in synagogues. People are hearing. People are getting saved. There's a woman named Lois. There's a woman named Eunice. They have a son named, and a grandson named Timothy. Timothy eventually becomes a son of the apostle Paul because he'd been prepared by the word of God. You don't know what God wants to do in your children's lives, those of you who are parents. You don't know. Prepare them. Give them the word of God. Now they may wander away for a while. They do. They wanna forge their own testimony. I remember one of my kids saying that to me, Daddy, I wanna have my own testimony. And I raised them in this way. I said, you don't want my testimony. You don't wanna make the mistakes I've made. You don't wanna do the things I've done. You don't wanna go the places I've been. You don't wanna go to the depths that I've descended. I raised you so you didn't have to have a testimony like that. I don't want you to know the darkness that I've gone through. And yet sometimes they decide they're going to. And what do you do? As a parent, you pray for them every day. Sometimes, many times with tears and you cry out to God on their behalf. Father in Jesus' name, I pray that you will touch my kid. Lord, please touch my kid before I do. No, please touch my kid so that they come to faith in you. So that they live for you, Lord Jesus, please. I just, that's just a little addendum to this because it speaks of him being in this city but we need to know that there were people there that he was ministering to and we know that there was a womb to women there and a young boy, young one who came to faith in Christ through this powerful preaching and Timothy became a powerful pastor in the word of God. And so that's bringing us to where I want to begin our study here in verse 19. They had done this work. The people wanted to sacrifice to them and it says in verse 18, moving into verse 19. With these saints, they could scarcely restrain the multitudes from sacrificing to them. But verse 19, then Jews from Antioch and Iconium came there and having persuaded the multitudes, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing him to be dead. However, when the disciples gathered around him, he rose up and went into the city. The next day, he departed with Barnabas to Derby. So antagonists have come from Pasidian, Antioch and Lystra. The Jewish opposition from these two cities have joined. The fact that the opponents came from Pasidian, Antioch tells us something that reveals intensity because Pasidian, Antioch was over 100 miles from Lystra. It was a five day journey to get there. It seems that they were trailing the apostle Paul. They wanted to disrupt him. It's the same spirit that Paul himself had prior to coming to faith in Christ. Remember, he was breathing out threat means on his way to Damascus. He was willing to travel miles in order to stop this gospel movement from taking place. Well, it's the same spirit that he himself had once had and now they're doing the same kind of thing. Now, when it was there in Lystra, as mentioned, a man who had been crippled from his mother's womb had been healed and the miracle did not convert the people to faith in Christ. There's been seasons in the church's history where people are pushing and pushing and pushing the miraculous. Well, the fact is the miracle did not convert people to faith in Christ because miracles can't do that what it does is draw attention so the word of God can be spoken. And so he's been working there preaching and verse 19 says he, having persuaded the multitudes they had won over the pagan crowd and they were turning them against Paul. Their emotions had been stirred by the miracle but they remained unsaved. Now Paul had said, listen, we're only human beings. While they're saying what they're the only human beings, they could also be demon possessed, they could even be sorcerers. And that's what these people are basically saying, they're turning their minds against him and it's amazing how faster minds could be changed. Before they said these are gods but now they're saying they're worthy of death. And so what do they do? Verse 19 says they stoned Paul, they dragged him out of the city, supposing him to be dead. Now Paul has already been persecuted. He had been kicked out of the city in Antioch according to chapter 13 verse 50. But this time the persecution was violent. The people stoned him. Now we read of such events and we can fail to consider how terrible that is. We think well this happened to people like Paul 2,000 years ago. Or we can say well didn't God say he was gonna suffer through persecution? Because Acts 9.16, God told the man named Ananias that he was gonna show him how many things he must suffer for my name's sake. So isn't that just Paul who's suffering? The fact is no, suffering takes place in the body of Christ from the beginning to now. Years ago I had the opportunity to go to China. I was in Beijing. We went there to bring Bibles. We smuggled Bibles in suitcases. And some people said why would you do that? We did that because there were no Bibles for the churches because in the Chinese church they have what they call the Three South Church and it's a government church. They basically have to preach whatever the Chinese government says. And so you have home churches, underground churches. And they don't have Bibles. When they have a Bible what the pastor would do is he would actually cut up the 66 books of the New Testament and he would give them to different people in his congregation. And then he would contact the people in the congregation and say I'm gonna be sharing out of this particular passage I need that chapter of that book. And that's what they were doing. So we were told about it and we took part in bringing Bibles to the underground church in China. So while I was there we had the opportunity, I had the opportunity to go to a park in Beijing. I don't have a clue, it's such a huge city but we went there, they took me at night, took me into a park and I had a translator with me who showed me into this park, took me into this park. And I came into an area where there was a park bench under a light and the rest of the park was pretty much dark and it was empty. And I was instructed just to sit next to this man. So I sat next to the man and I can say his name now, he's probably been with the Lord now for a number of years but his name was codenamed Panda, that was his name. And so I sat next to him and as I sat next to him he's looking forward and I'm looking forward and I'm supposed to be acting as if I'm just resting on the bench, well he talks. And he speaks to me and he says that he had been part of, he was a pastor. He said and when Mao began to purge Western influence in that great purging that took place in 1976 to 86 he was arrested. They were trying to purge all Western influence out of China. They didn't want the church there. They didn't want any kind of faith there. So he was part of this purging and they took him and they put him in prison and he's sharing a story with me and he had a few kids. And he started talking to me about how he had been a pastor how he was put in prison. He spent several years in prison. And as he's speaking to me looking forward I'm just looking at a man who spent years in prison for being a Christian. He tells me about his kids and he says he had to leave his wife behind and she had no way of supporting herself and how difficult it was. He said I had several kids. He said but the last, my son, he said my son was a baby when they took me. He said and as I spent time in prison he was raised in a way that caused him to not have a faith in a God because the system there is anti-God. The communist system is atheistic. And as I was listening to him I started being so convicted about all the opportunities that we that I have as a man in the United States to raise my children in faith and to not have somebody taking them away. At least that was that way then. All those who shall live godly lives in Christ Jesus Paul says 2 Timothy 312 will suffer persecution. All do. It is something that happens. You see the fact that they took and stoned the apostle Paul gives us an insight into why they did that. They considered him to be a false teacher and false teachers were normally executed by stoning according to Deuteronomy, the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy 13. They may have influenced the people, persuaded the people that these men were actually magicians that they were sorcerers, enemies of true religion. Paul mentions this. In scripture he had received stoning one time and in 2 Corinthians 11.25 he says that. He says, one time I had been stoned. And so they stoned him as if he were dead. It says in verse 19, notice supposing him to be dead. The word supposing simply means that they considered or regarded him dead. They were certain that he died. And so later in 2 Corinthians when Paul is writing in chapter 12 verses two through four, commentators have mentioned that Paul may have been speaking of this when he said, I know a man in Christ who 14 years ago, whether in the body I don't know, whether out of the body I don't know, God knows. Such a one was caught up to the third heaven. And I know such a man, whether in the body or out of the body I don't know, God knows how he was caught up into paradise and heard inexpressible words which is not lawful for a man to utter. There are commentators who believe that he in fact had died but he was brought to life. Now imagine the disciples, the fury, the sorrow, the fear, the agony that they went through. It's interesting to note here that it was Paul and Barnabas who were doing the work but only Paul was stoned. For those who wanna be leaders, maybe you'd rather be Barnabas than Paul. Well, verse 20 says when the disciples gather around him, he rose up and went into the city. Now these disciples hadn't been attacked so they take him that he might be buried. It may have included Lois and Eunice and a young man named Timothy. But imagine how they felt when Paul got up and went back to the city. I had the opportunity of ministering in India on two different occasions. When you combine both of the trips that I've taken to India, I spent almost a month in India. While I was there on the first occasion, I met a man, his name was Moses Palos. And Moses Palos was an evangelist as many of the men that I met well in India. And Moses was a very impressive man, if you will. And when I had gotten home, sometime after I'd gotten home from the second journey, I received some information about Moses Palos. Moses Palos had gone to a village in the region of India that he lived and served. By invitation, the villagers had said, could you come and share with us this message that you're giving in our area? Moses didn't realize that he was actually being set up because the people who invited him to this particular village were very fanatic Hindus. And they wanted to put an end to this man and his ministry. So Moses doesn't know this and he takes his young son with him and they go to the village. As they enter into the village, they are set upon by villagers who beat them and took him to the center of the village where there was an oak tree, I believe it was an oak tree that was in the center. It was the oldest tree in the village. And so they took him to the village, into the village, into the area where that tree was and they tied him and his son, who was a young boy at the time, 12 or 13, and they tied him to the tree. And they got rods and they began beating them. They beat them so badly that his kidneys were damaged. He was unconscious, they were beating him to death and they set him up so that the village, some of you won't believe this, others know about this. They had somebody who was a skinner who would skin people in the village. And they sent for him so that he could come and skin them alive, but they couldn't locate him. So they released him. He was almost dead and they released him. And he and his son were so damaged they had, it takes several weeks for them to recover their health. Everything was beaten severely. You know what he did? He went back to the village. He went back to the village. The spirit of the Lord said, go back. And he and his son went back. And when he arrived in this small village, if you've been in India, you understand that they can be separated by miles and all. And he comes into this village. And when he goes into the village, the people see him and they come running. Many of them run to him and they say, please come. We've been hoping you'd come because what had happened is the tree that he had been tied to, the oldest tree, was the place that they offered their sacrifices to their demon gods. And the tree died after he had been tied to it and beaten. The tree died. And they said, we know that we have offended this God that you serve. And we want you to help us to no longer be offensive to him. And he led these people. The whole village came to faith in Jesus Christ when they heard of the God who could destroy it. I'm telling you, these things happen. We read these things in books and all, but these things happen because our God is alive. And when he recovered, and it wasn't a total recovery, he just said, let's go back. He went back. He wouldn't back down. Why is that? Well, you cannot defeat the one who refuses to give up. And so he went and he wanted to minister more. Well, in verse 21, it says, when they had preached the gospel to that city, because he departed with Barnabas to Derby, when they had preached the gospel to that city and made many disciples, they returned the Lister Iconium and Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and saying, we must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God. Now I want to develop this with you for just a moment. It says the next day he left. He went to Derby. That was about a 30 mile trip to the Southeast. His body has got to be sore. He's fatigued, but he goes anyway. And what does he do? Verse 21 says he preached the gospel, made many disciples. In spite of the pain and the discomfort, Paul remained faithful to his call. He loved them and ministered. And then he began to also, as it says, return. He returned to Lister Iconium and Antioch. Now, Paul was not only an apostle. Paul refers to himself as a loving teacher. I was in a Bible class many, many years ago where the professor, and it was a secular college class. It was in a Christian college, secular college, and the professor spoke of the apostle Paul and said he was just an intellect. He was a brilliant thinker, but he never realized that Paul was much more than a thinker. He was a man who loved deeply. He was a man who wrote 1 Corinthians 13, telling us what love is. He's the one who spoke to us and said that God demonstrated his love toward us in that while we were yes and his Christ died for us. Paul was someone who knew the love of God and the love of God motivated him to minister to people. And that's what he did. He said in 2 Timothy chapter one, verse 11, I was appointed a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher. And in these things, he was a man who was found faithful and so what does he do? Well, he returns to strengthen the souls of the disciples. Notice verse 22. Now, how is he gonna do this? How is he gonna strengthen them and exhort them to continue? How is he gonna do this? He's gonna do it by teaching them the word of God. These are new believers and they need to be discipled in the ways of God through the word of God. They require soul food. They need the word of God and spiritual growth and strength that's gonna come from the word of God. That's how it happens. The spiritual strengthening doesn't come through believing in a variety of things, though you do. The spiritual strengthening of your life comes through being fed God's word. Because God's word has a power, it strengthens us from the inside. When you read your Psalms, Psalm 19, I'll just give you an insight into this out of verses seven and eight. Listen to what Psalm 19, seven and eight says. It says, the law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise, the simple. The statutes of the Lord are right. Rejoicing the heart, the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. So when he says the law of the Lord is perfect, the word perfect means that it lacks nothing for completeness. It is a complete revelation. It's an unerring guide of conduct. It ministers to every facet of our lives. It is trustworthy. The law of the Lord, he's saying is perfect. And what does it do? Verse seven it says, the law of the Lord converts the soul. The word convert means to refresh or revive the inner person. It transforms you inside and out. Any broken person can be healed by the word of God. When Jesus called Peter, James, John and Andrew, in Mark chapter one, he said to them, follow me and I will make you to become fishers of men. And it speaks concerning that a couple of the guys were busy mending their nets. The word mending is used speaking of what they were doing. They were mending their nets. When you look at the word mending, what it means, and then you go to Ephesians 4, 11 and 12, it says, God appointed some to be apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers for the equipping of the saints. The word equipping is the same basic word as the word mending. I was sharing at a pastors conference just last couple of weeks ago at our pastors conference. And I was sharing with the pastors and I said the thing that you need to do is you need to mend the nets. You need to make sure that you're giving the word of God to the people because it's the word of God that heals. It's the word of God that works from within. It's the word of God that gives him purpose. It's the word of God. And don't get caught up in doing other things that will not reach and heal and repair them because that's what we've been called to do. You see the word of God converts the soul. The word of God heals and repairs the broken pieces of your life. And when we fail to apply the word of God, we aren't gonna be healed in the way we want to be. And so what happens is you need the word of God. And why is Paul doing that? Why isn't Paul saying, well, you remember, I raised up an AS, he was crippled. Do you remember that miracle? Remember all, no, he says to them, I'm strengthening your soul. How does he do that? By God's word. Why, because it's God's word that heals us. It speaks concerning the fact that it is a testimony and it's sure that word testimony speaks of it being a divine witness and it sure speaks of it being unmistakably reliable. God will do what God said he will do and what happens, it makes the simple wise. The one who is lacking discernment, the one who is naive can become wise in godly living and no more open to every wave of deception that can remain steadfast. And when he says, the statutes of the Lord are right rejoicing the heart. The word statue speaks of guidelines for godly living. God's word teaches us how to live in a way that pleases him and they're right because they show us the way we should go. And the result is the rejoicing of our hearts. By knowing and obeying is where the result is joy that comes from God, are you without joy? It comes through the word. It comes through following and it comes through obeying. That's where it comes from. And when we reject the things of the Lord, we're not gonna have joy. But we have joy because we receive the word of God. It's like Jeremiah 15, 16. Your words were found, I did eat them. Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart. I'm called by your name, oh Lord God of hosts. So Paul's desire was for these new believers to be discipled into maturity. The first thing he wanted was for them to be strengthened in their souls. Later on, he's gonna speak to the elders of the Church of Ephesus. And his words to them are simple and to the point. In Acts 20, 31 and 32, he said this, he said watch and remember that for three years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears. So now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of his grace which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified. I commend you to the word of his grace which is able to build you up. It's the word of God that strengthens you internally and so what he's doing is he's exhorting them to continue in the faith. He's encouraging them to continue. When he says to continue in verse 22 it means to persevere in the walks of the Lord. You see when God's word is received the enemy attempts to undermine its effectiveness. We saw that with Alamos, he tried to turn the Sergius Paulus from the faith in chapter 13. It also happened when Paul preached in a synagogue in Pasidian Antioch because Satan attempts to seal God's word before it can even produce. You see, when people come forward for an invitation what we try to do here is to disciple them into maturity. We desire to strengthen their souls, exhort them to continue in the faith. Well, why would he say that? Because many tribulations are gonna occur. We must go through many tribulations as we enter into the kingdom. You need to know that affliction and suffering and that tribulation is part of following Christ. It's part of what it means to be a believer. Jesus said these things I've spoken to you that in me you might have peace in the world you shall have tribulation but be of good cheer. I've overcome the world. You might answer an invitation, you may laugh, you may cry, you may sense a relief. You might have someone tell you that now that you're saved everything's gonna be better and it may be for a little while but later life seems to become more difficult even worse than it was before. You might have immediate problems. You can begin to wonder whether or not salvation is real whether you really had that. Paul wants them to know that life can be difficult. To the Thessalonians in 1 Thessalonians 3 verse 4 he said indeed when we were with you we kept telling you in advance that we were going to suffer affliction and so it was and so it came to pass and so it came to pass as you know. We told you and affliction occurs. One of the things that I've discovered is that affliction isn't pointless. It's during the time of being pressured that my faith has actually had an opportunity to expand. Everybody knows that if you work out that it isn't fun, some of you guys like to. It's not fun. I thank God I'm too old to work out anymore so I can talk about it. But you know it's not. Anybody who hits the weights or runs, you know that it's not really that enjoyable when you first begin to get up early in the morning to put your shoes on. I don't wanna do this. Then you do. You start to run and you run out of breath and your legs hurt and you get dizzy and that's just running from your bedroom to the front room. It gets worse when you're outside. When I was in the military I was at the airborne. The airborne is known as runners. That's what we do. So we ran. I ran three miles every day. I ran the only day off was on Sunday. I ran every day. You run everywhere. That's what I did. I ran every day. Hit the weights every other day. Played handball. It's in great shape. But I can tell you the first time I was starting to run again, I can tell you I hated every step of it. I can tell you that. I can still remember I was running with three or four friends we were running through a forest. We used to run through a forest and we'd hit this eventually at the street. And I was in the midst of running. I'm saying to myself I'm gonna stop. What's with you? I was a Christian so I was saying don't be so proud. Just stop. Be humble. In fact, I just wanted to stop running and I wanted to spiritualize my laziness. But as I was running, we happened to run by some young high school kids who were there in a field. And one of the instructors was there and he was teaching these kids about being airborne soldiers. And we were running and I heard this guy when he said to the kids, there you go kids. There are some airborne soldiers. And all of a sudden I, yeah, I still remember that. I said, yeah, I got it. I have an airborne soldier. Now I was a proud idiot. But I, you know when you hit the weights, you know what it feels like the next day? Your back, your arms, everything hurts, right? You said, why am I doing this? I don't need to do this. But you press past that and before you know it, you start hitting some goals and when you hit those goals you feel good about that. These are the things that happen, right? You're hitting goals, you're achieving things. And you know that if you, well, it was that old saying, you know, there's no gain without pain and you know that. Well, if that's true in things that really at the end don't matter that much, how much more so? When we encounter opposition, when people are saying, I think you're an idiot and you're a fool, why do you believe these things? Cause they're doing it much more openly now. You guys are tyrants, you guys are Nazis, you guys are, you know, everything. What are you talking about? And then some Christians just get quiet. No, it's not gonna get better, it does proceed to get even worse. Because once people see that there's a weakness in you, they like to capitalize on that. So a long time ago, a long before I was called Pastor David, a long time ago, when I was 20, 21, 22, I made up my mind, I'm gonna stay strong with the Lord. I'm not gonna let somebody tell me to go back to the vomit that I used to eat, to the mud, like the pig that I've been washed from. I'm not going back there. So I had to make up my mind that no matter what I went through, I was gonna remain strong. Why? Cause I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Cause I will make it. That's just a bottom line thing. There are a lot of Christians who are dropping out of the race. There are a lot of Christians who don't want to push the extra rep. No, it's worth it at the end. You're strengthened and you become a leader and people respect you. And they say, I'd like to hear from you. What is it? And now you have credibility cause they've watched you go through these things. And so we do go through hard times, of course. In James one, two through four, it says consider it pure joy my brothers when you encounter trials of many kinds because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Allow perseverance to finish its work so that you may be maturing complete not lacking anything. And so finally you say, you've only got through a couple of verses. Are you gonna get to verse 28? Yeah, I am. Here we go. So verse 23, so when they had appointed elders in every church and prayed with fasting they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed. And after they had passed through Pesitia they came to Pamphylia. Now when they had preached the word in Perga they went down to Italia and from there they sailed the Antioch where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work which they had completed. Now when they had come and gathered the church together they reported all that God had done with them and that he had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles and they stayed there a long time with disciples. So to follow up for growth to take place there needed to be spiritual leadership. So Paul didn't leave the church without it, without leadership. He didn't just say, you know, just a, you guys can take turns leading. No, he appointed elders. Now these elders were relatively new in their faith and so he appointed them. Now the word appointed can be understood as being recognized by the people that would be similar to how the first deacons had been appointed in Acts six, first three, when they had said, brethren seek out from among you seven men of good reputation full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom whom we may appoint over this business. So these were people that were recognized. These are men that were believers. They were already respected. People would listen to them. They were to lead the church and they would have been intensely trained by the apostle Paul. See, the church recognizes those who are leaders. You don't have to give them a title. People know that they are. Why? Because the quality of their life inspires them. It inspires them. So you know somebody who loves the Lord and all, he's really in a sense a leader and in a fellowship like this, there are many people who have those kinds of qualifications who are able to, because they love the word and because they're in prayer and all, that they're trustworthy and all. And yet there was this group of men that they placed in there. Why? Because the church recognized them as an elder and that's what happens. And so they appointed them in that way, appointed them to that. It says that in verse 23, they prayed with fasting and commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed. And so that again is similar to how the deacons in chapter six of Acts had been appointed. It says in Acts six verse six, they set them before the apostles when they had prayed, they laid hands on them. And now they make their way back verses 24 through 26. And notice they went back to Antioch. It says again, strengthening the churches as they went. They're continuing to disciple them. Verse 27, when they had come and gathered the church together, they reported all that God had done with them, that he had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles. So they may have been gone up to two years. The leaders and members of the church wants to know how that mission went. And the church in Antioch would especially be blessed here. Many Gentiles have been saved. Notice how it says in verse 27, that God had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles. That's a way of saying he opened the door to his house and welcomed them in. He opened the door to his house and he welcomed them in. They became family. They stayed there verse 28 a long time with the disciples. They were able to be there to rest and to continue ministry. And it's estimated they stayed there for around two years. It says they stayed there a long time with the disciples. They had opportunity to regain their strength to continue ministry and to wait on the Lord who's going to continue using them in a very powerful way.