 All right, here we go. Acts 14. We'll begin reading at verse 1. I'll read to verse 7. It happened in Iconium that they went together to the synagogue of the Jews and so spoke that a great multitude, both of the Jews and of the Greeks, believed. But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brethren. And therefore they stayed there a long time speaking boldly in the Lord, who was bearing witness to the word of His grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands. But the multitude of the city was divided, part-sided with the Jews and part with the apostles. When a violent attempt was made by both the Gentiles and Jews with their rulers to abuse and stone them, they became aware of it and fled to Lystra and Derby. The cities of Lyquania and to the surrounding region, and they were preaching the gospel there. So let me give you an introduction, a context and develop this. Chapter 13, as we went through Chapter 13, records how Paul had preached the gospel in a place called Pisidian Antioch. We saw that in Chapter 13, verse 14. And the result of him proclaiming the gospel in this place was that many Gentiles had come to believe in Jesus Christ as Messiah. At the same time, we noted that out of envy, many Jews began rejecting and began to argue and contradicting. So Paul's response was to inform them that they were responsible for their own judgment. He made that very clear to them. When he said in verse 46 where it says, it was necessary that the Word of God should be spoken to you first, but since you reject it and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles. And so Paul made it very clear that they were obstinately refusing the gospel, therefore were declaring themselves to be unworthy of everlasting life. And that was being demonstrated again by the rejection. So Paul recognized that he should minister to the Gentiles who were open to this message. And that helped him to realize that his ministry would be effective amongst Gentiles. These kinds of things, these kinds of experiences that we have where it seems that there's opposition very often only helps to clarify what God wants to do. We may want to do one thing and the Lord uses or allows certain things to occur that causes us to realize that this is not what he wanted me to do here, but he definitely wants me to do this someplace else. I'll give you an example. When I was a young man, 30 years old, I was an assistant pastor. And as an assistant pastor, the senior pastor of the church I was assisting in, ultimately said to me, you are not a pastor. What you are is a counselor. And the reason he would say that is because, one, he didn't think I was a pastor and two, because I was pursuing a degree in counseling at that time. And so he said, listen, you're not a pastor. What you are is a counselor because I did a lot of the counseling in the church. And he said, and so what we're going to do is we're going to strip you of your ordination. We're going to have you as a part-time helper. And he had this whole plan for my life. And so it was at that time that I realized that I wasn't called to that place there. I had a calling to some other place and that other place happens to be here. And that's how I began to minister in this area as the pastor of this church. So sometimes God will use opposition to help to clarify what your call is. And Paul knew that through the opposition of the Jews and the receptivity of the Gentiles, that he had ministry to the Gentiles. Now later on he would say to the Galatians in chapter 2, verse 7, the gospel for the uncircumcised has been committed to me. In 2 Timothy 1, verse 11, he said, he appointed a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles. And so through the opposition, he came to realize that God was expanding his calls to reach out to Gentiles. And so when he began to minister to these non-Jews, these Gentiles, well, they began to publish the gospel to all who would hear. And it began to spread throughout the entire region. And as in verse 49 of chapter 13, the word of the Lord was being spread throughout all the region. And so the gospel was going out and was being published by these who were becoming Christians. And so what happens, it begins to make the opposition even angrier. And they began to raise up persecution against Paul and Barnabas. So instead of getting angry at the persecutors, the result was a new ministry. And this ministry was in Iconium. So it says in verse 1 in chapter 14, it happened in Iconium that they went together to the synagogue of the Jews and so spoke that a great multitude, both of the Jews and of the Greeks, believed. So there was effective ministry taking place in the synagogue there. They were beginning to listen to what was being said. And they would be teaching them. And obviously the teachings that they were giving them would come out of the Old Testament. And thus they would be showing from the Old Testament that Jesus Christ is Messiah. So many Jews and many Greeks were listening to the message and many were coming to faith in Jesus Christ. As this is taking place, verse 2, unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brethren. Again, when God is moving, very often the enemy attempts to checkmate his hand. When God is doing something, very often the enemy begins to raise up opposition. It's always something to be aware of because we can become discouraged sometimes because we think, well, am I doing something wrong? Because look at how people are treating me. Look at how they're responding to me. How come they're treating me so cruelly? You're saying such incredibly, unbelievably bad things about me and it can cause you to become discouraged. Remember that the enemy very often when you are being effective will raise up against you, rise up against you in order to stifle what God's word is doing in the hearts of many people. The unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and it says, and they poisoned their minds. The word poisoned there literally speaks of embittering them. When it speaks of unbelieving Jews, the word unbelieving speaks of one who refuses to believe, one who refuses to obey. It's not that they're not at least intellectually understanding the claims of the gospel. They are refusing to believe what it says. They are obstinately rejecting what is being said. You know, you can agree with something in principle. You can even say, you know, I see that that's true, but still refuse to embrace it on a personal level. You can know what the gospel says and even know that the way it's being proclaimed is accurate and still reject that message. And so instead of embracing it, they stirred up the Gentiles. They urged them and they persuaded them to reject the gospel. They embittered their minds against the Christians. They said things about them in order to persuade people to reject them. In Matthew 5 verse 11, Jesus said it like this. He said, blessed are you when they revile and persecute you and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for my sake and say all kinds of evil against you falsely. And that's what's taking place. These people were stirring up the Gentiles and they were saying false things about the apostles. Now, how did they respond to this opposition? How do you respond to opposition? A lot of Christians today simply grow quiet. We don't want to be offensive after all, do we? I mean, we want to be liked by everyone, don't we? We don't want the gospel to be maligned or all, so we just get quiet. But in fact, that's not what they did. When the opposition was stirred up against them, notice what it says in verse 3. It says they stayed there. Therefore they stayed there a long time. Speaking boldly in the Lord, who was bearing witness to the word of His grace, granting signs and wonders to be done there in the hands. Instead of backing off and backing down, they stood their ground. They stood up and they spoke. I was in a college class and the professor asked a question and I would answer it sometimes. And I was in the class for some time and this guy who was seated next to me one time said to me this, I'll never forget how he... The professor asked a question and I answered it with the scripture. This was at Cal Poly Pomona. This wasn't in a Bible college. This was at Cal Poly. And this guy seated next to me and those of you who've been in classroom situations, you know how close a person is. He's within arm length. And so he turns to me and he says, can't you answer a question without quoting a Bible verse? And I said, no. I said, listen. I said, I'm only speaking from my perspective in worldview. My worldview is biblical. And thus I'm going to give answers that are coming out of scripture. Now I was 26 years old. You know, sometimes people think, you know, well, you know, pastor, of course you would speak like that. You know, you've been a Christian for a long time. You've taught the Bible for a long time. Of course, no, I'm talking about when I was 26 years old. It's never too early to start relying on the power of the Spirit when you speak the Word of God. Start when you're young and it becomes a habit of your life. So you're old and you think, well, I'm so feeble and so weak, they won't beat me up now. I'll tell them the truth, you know, with those, you know, through your false teeth. Don't go there. Just be honest and be real and understand. You know, we're not to be belligerent and we're not to be arrogant. You know, we don't want to be offensive with our personality. You know, I was very careful and want to be very careful not to be the kind of person that would mean, no, that's not the way it should be done. But at the same time, boldness speaks of confidence and your confidence comes in the knowledge that this is the Word of God and it also comes through the power of the Holy Spirit and prayer. And so you go in armed we used to call it armed and dangerous. You go in armed because you are walking in the Spirit and you're here for a reason and yes, I would do that in class. I would speak up for Jesus Christ in class and yes, there was opposition and yes, there was ridicule and sometimes, you know, they wanted to make you look stupid. They want to oppose. They want to persuade other people not to follow Jesus Christ. But we're not called to be quiet. We're not called to be chameleon Christians. We're called to be open in our faith. Listen, the world is open in their unbelief. They march in unbelief. They put things on TV. They put things in commercials. I was talking to Marie, just was it today? Last time I talked to her was today. No, we were talking recently and there's these Victoria's secret commercials. I turned to Marie and I said, my goodness, I said when did women start modeling in their underwear on TV? On TV. I'm videoing it. No, I mean in on TV. I mean, I grew up in a time when Ricky, Ricky, Ricardo and Lucy they didn't even sleep in the same bed. They didn't even sleep in the same bed and they had a kid named little Ricky and you wonder how that happened. They're never together. So evil is paraded openly, isn't it? And accepted openly. And if you disagree with it there's something wrong with you. Not with this world. But the fact is when they stirred up the minds of those people to be in opposition it only stirred up the strength of the believers to stand strong and to be confident and to say God move amongst these people and show, show yourself strong. And that's what he did because it says there were bearing witness to the word of his grace. Isn't that a beautiful way of speaking of the gospel? The word of his grace. They were bearing witness to the word of his grace granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands. And so God was blessing them and using them and they were ministering and God was bearing witness to that word to the gospel. Even as it says in Mark 16 verse 20 they went out and preached everywhere the Lord working with them confirming the word through the accompanied signs. And that's what was taking place. God was bearing witness of the truth of his message as they proclaimed it. Verse 4 but the multitude of the city was divided part sided with the Jews part with the apostles. So as in the city in Antioch the city was in an uproar and had become polarized and again that is what often happens when the gospel is preached and received. Remember Jesus said in Matthew 10 34 do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. Because what's going to happen is some will receive the word and others will reject it. And so he said it's not like I'm going to unify what's going to happen is when someone embraces Christ someone's going to be upset over that. It's polarizing and that's what it's taking place. Well in verses 5 through 7 when a violent attempt was made by both the Gentiles and Jews with the rulers to abuse and stone them. They became aware of it and fled to Lystra and Derby cities of Likonia and to the surrounding region and they were preaching the gospel there. So an angry mob is trying to rush and assault them. Again they are bold. They may be bold but they're not dumb so they leave. Now remember it says in Matthew 10 23 when they persecute you in this city flee to another and that's what they did. They left and so in verse 8 it says in Lystra a certain man without strength in his feet was sitting a cripple from his mother's womb walked. This man heard Paul speaking Paul observing him intently and seeing that he had faith to be healed said with a loud voice stand up straight on your feet and he leaped and walked. And so this is interesting here. I want you to notice how it's presented to us. There's a man, a certain man he says without strength in his feet and there he is and again he is crippled. And yet as this is taking place and he's emphasizing it he's crippled from his mother's womb he has never walked so he's emphasizing this man's condition. But it also says in verse 9 that this man heard Paul speaking and Paul observing him intently and seeing they had faith to be healed said with a loud voice stand straight up on your feet and he leaped and walked. And so this is a picture here of how the Lord was moving for years. Now when you look at this I want you to notice something and I'll take a moment to develop this with you. Notice how it says seeing that he had faith to be healed he said with a loud voice stand up seeing that he had faith to be healed the question I would ask is how would he know he had faith to be healed? How would you know that? Well this is what is an example of the gifts of the Holy Spirit in operation. The gifts of the Holy Spirit are supernatural grace gifts that God gives to us by his Holy Spirit. And you see various places in Scripture that speak concerning gifts of the Spirit. 1 Peter speaks concerning gifts. Romans 12 speaks concerning gifts. Ephesians 4 speaks of gifts and then you have in 1 Corinthians chapters 12 13 into 14 all speaking of spiritual gifts. So when you look at 1 Corinthians chapter 12 and you look at verses 8 through 10 those verses give what would be a list of the gifts of the Spirit and mentions in those verses mentions nine gifts of the Spirit. Nine gifts. The word of wisdom, the word of knowledge, faith healings, miracles, prophecy, discerning of spirits, tongues, interpretation of tongues. So what we have here is what is called the gift mix. It's the gifts of the Spirit that are working together. It's like bundled if you will. So there are various gifts that are taking place and in operation here. What you have is the supernatural knowledge. You have faith, you have miracles as well as healing. These are gifts of the Spirit that are taking place and the Apostle Paul is speaking to this man who has been crippled. And so God is able to do the impossible. We should expect that he will. This guy could never, he didn't walk from his mother's womb and Paul's looking at him and he has a word of knowledge. Knowledge being an information that he did not receive in a natural way. It's not that someone walks up to him and says, oh, he has faith to be healed. The Spirit of God notifies Paul. He has faith to be healed. And Paul steps out in faith in response to that and exercises other gifts. And one of the things that, and I'll take a moment to share this, just a moment, but I believe in a God who heals. I'll just put it that way. He doesn't heal upon my command and he doesn't heal upon my wishes and he doesn't heal simply because of my faith or anything like that. But I read my Bible and I look and I see how many miracles of healing Jesus performed. He performs a lot of miracles. A lot of healings. And I'm not going to try and go through so many of them, but you read your Bible, you know this. You'll see him cleanse lepers or stop an issue of blood open the eyes of a blind man, cause somebody who can't speak to speak. Cause of someone who's lame to rise up and walk. I mean, you see this word over again in the New Testament and you have to ask yourself, can he still do that? Has somebody tied his hands? Has somebody said to God, that was fine at that time but don't do it anymore because we don't need it because we've got the word and thus we don't need miracles to confirm to us that you're real. We believe and we trust you know what I believe in a God who heals. I believe in a God who does that because the Bible teaches that. Now, am I a healer? No. But is he a healer? Yes. Is he able? Why not? Why not? Why can't he? Not to say he will, not to say I can tell him to, not to say that I exercise faith and I twist his mighty arm behind his back until he cries uncle and heals whom I ask, but you have not because you ask not sometimes. And sometimes you ask until the day you're dying and it doesn't happen that he healed you. See, so I'm not the sovereign Lord. I simply worship the one who is and I feel it important for us to remember that. I feel it important for us as believers not to put handcuffs on God to trust him because you cannot go through the book of Acts without seeing God do so many supernatural things. And what has happened in our day, I believe strongly is we have intellectualized the faith to the point where we know how to talk about God moving and we can define how that happens and give instances in Scripture that he did, but we don't expect him to do it right here and right now. We just don't. We just don't. So what happens is my faith becomes theoretical if God would perhaps will whatever you know I just I've been I've been asking the Lord to remind me of how great he is because it's easy it's easy to say he did it then but he doesn't do it now. But I believe that he's the same God yesterday today and forever and if he wills he can. So let's close our eyes for a moment. Please just close your eyes for a moment because there are some in this room right now that have a need for God to touch your body. You have a need for God to touch your body and you want God to touch you and if you want prayer I want to pray for you in the middle of a Bible study. If you want prayer that God might touch you. Maybe the doctors have told you things that this can't be cured maybe you've gotten to the point where you think it's all over. Well I worship a God who is here and if you have a desire right now and if you say God would you touch me if you needed a touch from the Lord right now would you raise your hand let me pray for you right where you're at Father you see these hands in this room you know every single thing that needs to be touched every illness that needs to be eradicated every pain that is present you know and Lord I'm just asking I'm not pretending to be Paul I don't see this I'm just thinking you heal this man there are others that need healing today I'm asking you in Jesus name that you would show yourself strong on their behalf and that you would reach down right now and Lord you would touch their bodies and you would heal them Lord and Jesus you you get all every single ounce of glory for you are worthy Lord and you are able I'm asking you in Jesus name Lord to touch these whose hands are raised and heal their bodies long you did it for this man would you do it for them Lord by faith we just open our hearts to you and say yes Lord touch me thank you bless you Jesus you can put your hands down let's continue now as this has taken place notice verse 10 he leaped and he walked when the people saw what Paul had done they raised their voices saying in the Laikouanian language why doesn't it just say in the English language that's a hard word to keep trying to pronounce saying in a foreign language the gods have come down to us in the laikous of men Barnabas they called Zeus Paul Hermes because he was the chief speaker then the priest of Zeus whose temple was in front of their city brought oxen and garlands to the gates intending to sacrifice with the multitudes and so when they saw this take place they were immediately overwhelmed with this they were so overwhelmed that it brought to mind one of their myths notice how it speaks of Zeus here in one of their myths Zeus and Hermes had come to earth in disguise arriving at Lystra they asked for food and lodging but the locals refused them an old couple named Philemon and Bausis took them in in an act of vengeance the gods sent a flood and drowned the inhospitable villagers and then transformed their cottage into a beautiful temple of which they became the priest and priestess after their deaths they were turned into two beautiful trees and so with that in mind and seeing this amazing things the people were determined to be very hospitable and so they began to cry in verse 11 the gods have come to us in the likeness of men now we don't assume that Paul and Barnabas understood their language because it tells it that they were speaking in their own tongue Paul was brilliant but he wouldn't have a familiarity and dexterity in every language but as he sees the priest come running with oxen and garlands for sacrifice he figures out what is taking place and he knows what is about to happen and that moves them to action and so when this is happening it says in verse 14 when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard this they tore their clothes and ran in among the multitudes crying out and saying men, why are you doing these things we also are men with the same nature as you and preach to you that you should turn from these useless things to the living god who made the heaven, the earth, the sea who in bygone generations allowed all nations to walk in their own ways, nevertheless he did not leave himself without witness in that he did good, gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons filling our hearts with food and gladness and with these sayings they could scarcely restrain the multitudes from sacrificing to them so when it says the apostles Paul and Barnabas by the way that's a generic sense he speaks of men who have been delegated with authority, it's not that Barnabas is one of the apostles but he's one who had had church leadership lay hands on him and he was there to do ministry and that's how the word is sometimes used in scripture but when they see this taking place they tore their clothes and they ran in among the multitude so that reveals how deeply they rejected people's worship like it says in Exodus 34 14 you shall worship no other god for the Lord whose name is jealous is a jealous god so they're not about to receive the people's worship and they're rejecting it and thus they say in verses 15 through 17 why are you doing this we are simply men now it's interesting how he begins to minister notice with me that he doesn't quote the Old Testament he simply speaks to them as they are they're pagans and he notes something about nature he makes it very clear that they themselves are simply human beings they are not gods but he uses nature as a way to communicate to them and that's what he's saying when he says the living god in verse 15 who made the heaven the earth the sea and all things that are in them so he's speaking about the god that they would be able to know was in existence because nature cries out the reality of the one who created it you see nature is used as one of the evidences of a creator there's an interesting scripture found in Hebrews 3 verse 4 it simply says every house is built by some man he who built all things is god you know you we all know that you drive by an empty lot one day the next day there's not a house there you know it took somebody to design it took somebody to prepare it took somebody to build it and so it just makes sense every house is built by some man houses don't just fall out of the sky or instantly erupt out of the ground and so it's just an evidence that everything had to have a cause and god is the first cause every house is built by some man he who built all things is god the bible tells us in the book of romans chapter 1 verse 18 since the creation of the world his invisible attributes are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made even his eternal power and god so they are without excuse you go outside and you look at nature and you look at it's it's amazing intricacy and you can't possibly think it just exploded into existence with in that way it's been said you can take a microscope and you can you can get an artificial rose as beautiful as it may be though artificial and it looks and it can even smell like the genuine article because some roses that are artificial can actually looks so very natural but you take that rose and you put it under a microscope and because it's artificial the more you look at it the more flaws are evident under that microscope but if you take an actual living rose and you take a pedal and you put the pedal under a microscope the further you look at it the more delicate and intricate and amazing it becomes because the closer you look at it the more genius of creation you discover and so every house is built by some man he who built all things is God and Paul is simply pointing to the pagans pointing out to the pagans the fact that there is a God who does this work it isn't us we're just men no this isn't Hermes and Zeus no that's a myth no what we do is we preach the reality of the true God and that's the point that they're making and so they're pointing to nature and so as he's sharing about that in verse 15 Paul says turn from these useless things to the living God when he speaks of these useless things he's speaking of turning from idolatry because idols are useless turn from these idols that you worship because the idol can't save you and idol can't deliver you idols have no power of their own the psalmist likes to speak concerning idols and what happens when you worship them and he speaks concerning the fact that they have eyes but cannot see they have ears but they cannot hear noses they have but they cannot smell mouths they have but they cannot speak hands they have but they cannot feel and feet they have but they cannot walk and then the psalmist goes on to say and those who worship them are like them they're lifeless because life comes not through idols life comes through the living God and Paul is pointing to them the fact of the living God that they need to have a relationship with in Jeremiah 10 verses 3 through 5 it says the customs of the peoples are futile for one cuts a tree from the forest the work of the hands of the workmen with the axe they decorate it with silver and gold they fasten it with nails and hammers so that it will not topple they are upright like a palm tree they cannot speak they must be carried because they cannot go by themselves and then he goes on to say do not be afraid of them for they cannot do evil nor can they do any good and so he's pointing out you need to turn from useless dead idolatry and then he says in verse 16 that God allowed nations to walk in their own ways that's an interesting phrase he always says that the nations to walk in their own ways the nations speaks of the heathens the pagans somebody said the times of ignorance had been permitted by God and those who had lived in them would be fairly dealt with and judged according to their knowledge the ignorance and the sins of the Gentile world had been allowed to run their course as the law had been allowed to do its partial and imperfect work among the Jews leading both to feel the need of redemption and preparing them for its reception all were included in unbelief that God might have mercy upon all he says God had allowed this but these times ended with the coming of Jesus to planet earth and now God calls on all people everywhere to repent in act 17 it says in verses 30 and 31 these times of ignorance God overlooked but now commands all men everywhere to repent because he has appointed a day on which he will judge the world whom he has ordained he has given assurance of this to all by raising him from the dead and so he's preaching to them and notice in verse 18 with these sayings they could scarcely restrain the multitude from sacrifice into them then verse 19 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 to Derby so it seemed that there were some Jewish opposers that were trailing him it's interesting that the miracle performed didn't convert the people because miracles get your attention but cannot convert you so what happens is though they saw something amazing these people won over the pagan crowd and turned them against Paul and in verse 19 it says they stoned him they dragged him out of the city supposing him to be dead now he's already suffered through persecution we saw that in chapter 13 verse 50 when he had been persecuted and kicked out of the city in Antioch but this time the persecution turned violent the people actually stoned him when you think of stoning you'll think very often that stones are just like you went to the creek and there are some river stones there that's not what happened they're large large stones and it was not something that was light at all and it gives to us the understanding that stoning is part of capital punishment for heresy and so what they're saying is he's preaching a false message and thus should die as a heretic and so when they took these stones and began to stone him they thought he was dead Paul refers to this later on in 2 Corinthians 11-25 when he says once I was stoned I could say that too but in a different way and it was more than once shouldn't have said that so it says well how did they do this it's more than likely that what happened is they began to persuade the people around them that Paul and Barnabas and so they would say that they were just using tricks to do this they would also say to them that what they're doing is overturning your religious system they're having you turn away from the traditions of your ancestors and the religion that you have followed all of your life and thus they should be opposed because they're bringing new and foreign thoughts to you and some of you may or may not know this but one of the recorded greatest revivals or if you will or I won't say revival it wasn't a revival one of the most effective evangelizing periods occurred in ancient feudal Japan many centuries ago where Christian missionaries came to Japan for claiming the gospel and many Japanese hearing the message of the gospel were being converted to faith in Christ and the Shoguns the powerful warlord rulers of Japan were so in opposition to this that they began a persecution and they wiped out Christianity by killing all the Christians who had been converted there was a movie made not that long ago that kind of outlines that actually happened in history because they would say these are foreign ideas coming with foreign people we do not want that in our country that was one of the things that happened whenever missionaries would leave England and they would go to China and the Chinese being steeped in a rejection of foreign influence had a terrible time did not want to hear the message of the gospel from these foreign dogs and so that is something that still is to this day to this day you can go places and they will I have been to China I have been walking the streets in China and they will walk by you these Chinese in Beijing and they will call you a name and in Chinese it is literally foreign devil and they will say things to you because you are bringing your culture into a closed society they did not like it for centuries I mean China was so cut off from the world they built the great wall they do not want that influence see so this is not unusual what you are seeing here right now and so what takes place is they will come in and they would say God they are going to undermine your religious system these people are only magicians and so a moment ago you see somebody who has been healed and now they turn against those who have done the work because of the influence again of those who are in opposition and what did they do they were violent they stone Paul and dragged him out of the city supposing him to be dead so what does Paul do verse 20 when the disciples gathered around him he rose up and went into the city and started with Barnabas to Derby an amazing man an amazing man he got back up went into the city and he would not back down verse 21 when they had preached the gospel to that city and made many disciples they returned to Lystra Iconium and Antioch strengthening the souls of the disciples exhorting them to continue in the faith and saying we must through many tribulations in the name of God 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 the city they came to Pamphylia and when they had preached the word in Periga they went down to Antioch from there they sailed to Antioch where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work which they had completed 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 the disciples and so I'll be closing with a few thoughts here in verse 21 they preached the gospel and made many disciples so in spite of the pain in spite of the discomfort that Paul endured he just kept preaching why? because he loved them and he returned to Lystra Iconium and Antioch and continued to minister I want you to notice verse 22 it says here that he was strengthening the souls of the disciples and he was exhorting them to continue in the faith saying we through many tribulations we must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God what did Paul return to do? I want to look at a couple things as we're about to close he returned to strengthen the souls of the disciples strengthen the souls of the disciples how do you do that? how do you strengthen the soul of anyone? you strengthen the soul by feeding them spiritual food what he came to do is give them Bible studies to give them teachings in the word of God you see in order for them to become strong they needed God's word because spiritual strength comes through the word of God physical food will never make you spiritually strong remember 1 Corinthians 8 verse 8 food does not bring us near to God we are no worse if we do not eat and no better if we do so there are people who will say you know, you Christians really should not eat pork chops or Christians really should not eat or whatever that does not make me spiritually better because I do not eat pork or because I do not eat a certain or I eat more veggies than I do meat or whatever meat does not commend us into God it does not make me better it does not make me closer to him so when these people say well do not eat this and do not touch that because it makes you closer to God or you need to fast for a long time well if you fast too long you are not just closer to God you are going to go see him so you have to be real careful with that we need to remember that spiritual strength comes from God's word that is why I am so blessed I am not on a Wednesday night I really am because you want fellowship you want to worship you want the word of God that is so good that is how your soul is strengthened that is how you are encouraged in the things of the Lord that is how you grow in Acts 20 verses 31 and 32 Paul said watch and remember that for three days they did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears so now brethren I commend you to God which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified the word of his grace builds you up and gives you an inheritance Psalm 19 verses 7 through 11 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 the fear of the Lord is clean enduring forever the judgments of the Lord are true righteous altogether more to be desired are they than gold they are than much fine gold sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb moreover by them your servant is warned and in keeping them there is great reward that is why he gave the word of God and that is why you will hear me hear in this fellowship that's why you will hear me say every time we gather together in one form or another it's all the word of God it's the word of God and the power of the spirit of God that's what we need we don't need more entertainment we need more of Jesus there's no doubt about that I was reading yes amen amen I was reading something a mama wrote but it was recent it came to me on one of the feeds that I get on facebook and I might have said this recently but allow me if I have to repeat myself and she was saying that her husband who was in his mid 30s I think he was like 36 had died of cancer she's a young widow she has two small children less than 10 and she says my children are normal kids during the day and they cry at night she says because they miss their daddy and she said she said so I go to church she says I don't go to church to see how cool the pastor can dress and I don't go to church how cool the lighting is and the smoke on the stage she says I don't go there for the coffee bar she says I go there because I am a broken person in need of comfort and healing from Jesus Christ and the sad thing is in many churches they don't need another coffee bar they need the Lord to be present amongst them that's what we need right now we need it desperately in these last I'm telling you I am telling you that we need that desperately because it's smoke and mirrors in so many places it's entertainment and words and songs that really aren't even biblically accurate and people are enthusiastic and great crowds show up but a crowd in a church is always the same thing because the church isn't necessarily a crowd and so what we need is to be strengthened in the Word of God that's what Paul went to do these are converts who need to be growing in the grace and understanding of the Lord Jesus Christ he wants them to be mature so he exhorts them he teaches them and encourages them to continue in the faith he said continue in the faith you see when God's Word is received the enemy attempts to undermine its effectiveness and therefore remains strong you see when people come forward what we want to do is disciple them into maturity we attempt to strengthen their souls we exhort them to continue in the faith he also says that we will go through tribulation as we enter into the kingdom of God so affliction, suffering and tribulation is part of following the Lord that life doesn't always get better it sometimes becomes more difficult have you discovered that? it's true it's odd I had my problems that's why I got saved but after getting saved it seemed like I got different kinds of problems different kinds of pressures and I had people say to me I still remember this guy who said to me when you became a Christian you took the easy way out oh really really no I didn't because those who follow Christ are walking the road to death we're dying daily dying daily and so no it's not an easy road at all it's a difficult road but it's a road that God actually uses to increase us in him and refine our faith and so character will be developed through trials and thus he says you will go through this in verse 23 notice it says they appointed elders in every church that's essential there needed to be spiritual leadership Paul did not leave the church without spiritual leadership and they didn't simply take turns leading they had elders who were appointed over them and the elders led the church they must have been intensely trained by Paul when it speaks of prayer and fasting that reveals the spiritual seriousness in which their selection was made and then finally in verse 24 concluding it points out that they made their way back to Antioch and what they were doing is strengthening the churches as they went they would go and they would speak to them they would share with them and they would minister to them and ultimately what happened they arrived from where they had been sent out and they gave an account of what had happened it says in verse 27 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 the disciples and so they came and they gave an account of what the Lord was doing and they were all rejoicing together at what God was doing one last thing here and then we'll pray is that for me? I'm busy I'll talk later it speaks of how they went from place to place and were sharing with them ministering to them and sharing that's kind of like well one that's what we do in church services as we gather together when we share but there are times when a pastor like myself will go to another location to a different church and we'll share with them and encourage them that's what we do you know I'll be this month I'll be going to Indiana to teach at a pastors conference for the Midwest pastors you know I'll be going to New York in a few months to do a pastors conference I'll be doing another pastors conference in November I mean that's what we do we go and we train pastors and speak to people about faith we share the word of God with them we encourage them to remain strong and that's what we get in scripture that's what they would do at that time so they went and they ministered the word and churches sprang up and they placed leaders over them but Paul would go back and he would give them more insight and more time and he would share with them why because he wanted them to remain strong in the Lord and to grow and what was done then continues to this day where you go and you strengthen and encourage people to remain solid with Jesus Christ that's what we do and that's what God has called us to do