Imagine facing relentless opposition, yet pressing on with courage and resilience to share the Gospel. This is the story of Acts 14, as Paul and Barnabas journey through trials, tribulations, and fierce resistance to spread the Word. We will take you through their inspiring narrative, shedding light on their faith, their teachings, and their unwavering conviction in the face of adversity.
Ever wondered how the teachings of Paul relate to modern church movements? Get ready to unravel a whole new layer of understanding about the Prosperity Gospel and the Progressive Gospel movement or the Emergent Church. We'll be drawing bold comparisons, contrasting the true essence of the Gospel with these movements, and extracting valuable insights that will encourage you to fortify your faith and find joy in the Gospel rather than personal prosperity.
Lastly, let’s reexamine the significance of Paul's ministry and the crucial role of eldership. Prepare to embark on a journey that takes us back to the roots of the church, exploring how Paul strengthened faith through tribulation and the grace of God. Together, we'll reflect on the importance of surrendering control to God, prioritizing the gospel in our lives and the essential role of discipleship and fellowship in advancing the Gospel. So, join us on this empowering exploration, and let's redefine our faith together.
Imagine facing relentless opposition, yet pressing on with courage and resilience to share the Gospel. This is the story of Acts 14, as Paul and Barnabas journey through trials, tribulations, and fierce resistance to spread the Word. We will take you through their inspiring narrative, shedding light on their faith, their teachings, and their unwavering conviction in the face of adversity.
Ever wondered how the teachings of Paul relate to modern church movements? Get ready to unravel a whole new layer of understanding about the Prosperity Gospel and the Progressive Gospel movement or the Emergent Church. We'll be drawing bold comparisons, contrasting the true essence of the Gospel with these movements, and extracting valuable insights that will encourage you to fortify your faith and find joy in the Gospel rather than personal prosperity.
Lastly, let’s reexamine the significance of Paul's ministry and the crucial role of eldership. Prepare to embark on a journey that takes us back to the roots of the church, exploring how Paul strengthened faith through tribulation and the grace of God. Together, we'll reflect on the importance of surrendering control to God, prioritizing the gospel in our lives and the essential role of discipleship and fellowship in advancing the Gospel. So, join us on this empowering exploration, and let's redefine our faith together.
Welcome to the Be Disciples podcast. With your host, kyle Morris, dakota Smith and David Glavin, we are studying the book of Acts. Welcome guys to the podcast.
Speaker 2:Good morning. Hey, this is our 99th episode 99, 99, 99. Yeah, we are getting close to 100. In our 100th episode we're going to have my mentor, dr C L Mitchell, come in and join us in the studio. He's visiting Kansas and he's planning on being here with us and completing that 100th episode, so we're excited to have him.
Speaker 1:Yeah, probably episode 101 and 102.
Speaker 2:That's right, we're going to do three all together.
Speaker 1:And be able to get him, take advantage of him being here as much as possible. We have this weekend. We have him coming because we have what we call OBC Academy, and the Academy is a place where we equip our church in biblical interpretation and into how to study the Bible. Specifically, this one is going to be the genre of the gospels and so, which includes what Narrative, discourse, parables, a lot of those things as we discuss God's word. So that's what we're doing this weekend and C L Mitchell's coming along.
Speaker 3:That's right, I'm excited I'm going to meet C L and.
Speaker 2:He's a good man.
Speaker 3:Yeah, After having worked with you for a few months or some things I want him to.
Speaker 2:Explain, explain, yeah, well, no to correct him off.
Speaker 1:You've been mentoring Dakota for a while.
Speaker 3:There's some things you need to recap with him.
Speaker 1:That's a good way to do it, though.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Work around, go to C L and then.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's not quite biblical, you know, going directly to Dakota, but I think it'll be effective.
Speaker 2:C L Dakota has so many flaws. I just need to speak to you. Can you polish that out?
Speaker 1:you know indirectly, to help me and yeah, so you know how you could help Dakota become a better leader.
Speaker 2:Help him to become a better person, please, just to yeah, gosh.
Speaker 1:He seems to have a critical spirit a lot of the time.
Speaker 3:That's just me yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, yeah, we have that this weekend, that's October 14th, at Ottawa Bible Church at 9 am. So if you're in the area, please, you are welcome to come join us, and then he'll be here Sunday, october 15th. He'll be preaching in both services, and so we would just want you to come out and join us for that. So please, come out as we do that. But let's go ahead and pray and we're going to get into the book of Acts. Father, thank you for our time together Studying your word, being able to just record this and to be able to equip and encourage all the listeners and so be with us today. We pray over our listeners, lord, that they would use this in a discipleship setting, that they would open their Bibles and go to a coffee shop with another, have lunch, just be able to be in fellowship over your word and just be blessed in their conversation together, lord. So equip us this morning as we read your word. Allow us to grow and understand of who you are because of the book of Acts. In Jesus' name, amen.
Speaker 2:Amen. So we have been in Acts, chapter 14. Last episode we concluded verses one through 18, and Paul has been bringing his ministry of the Word of God and the gospel to a number of different locations Lyconia, lystra, derby. You know the Jews have wanted to persecute him there. They wanted to stone him. Others are wanting to venerate him and Barnabas because you know of their healing of a man. So the opposition, the Satanic opposition, whether it be direct opposition to the gospel or be indirect opposition to the gospel by way of idolatry, paul's been facing it all. And we see at the end of verse 18, where we concluded last week, it says even saying these things with difficulty, they restrained the crowds from offering sacrifice to them. So what was taking place, of course, is you know it was becoming about them rather than about God and they were tearing their robes because of it. And so now we reach this week's passage proper, which is Acts 14, 19 to 28. Let me read it. It says but Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and, having won over the crowds, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing him to be dead. But while the disciples stood around him, he got up and entered the city. The next day he went away with Barnabas to Derby.
Speaker 2:After they had preached the gospel to that city and had 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 through many tribulations, we must enter the kingdom of God. When they had approached elders or, excuse me, when they had appointed elders for them in every church, having prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed. They passed through Pisidia and came into Pamphylia. When they had spoken the word in Perga, they went down to Etalia. From there they sailed to Antioch, from which they had been commended to the grace of God for the work that they had accomplished.
Speaker 2:When they had arrived and gathered the church together, they began to report all things that God had done with them and how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles. They spent a long time with the disciples. Maybe one would look at this passage 19-28, and just think that's just a typical passage in the book of Acts. Paul is continuing and persevering through some difficult things. What are some observations that we can make right away from this passage?
Speaker 1:What do y'all see Verse 19, he's stoned and dragged out of the city Right away. It's kind of a passage of he's going to this town, he's going to that town, he's discipling his appointing elders and doing the ministry. But amongst the ministry that's taking place is pain and suffering, like true persecution, stone people die when that happens and they drag them out of the city, their dead bodies out of the city. But Paul didn't die, paul continued. So we see a moment of almost death and it's almost like it's one verse and then it moves on. So it's kind of interesting how it's a significant event in Paul's life but it almost as if it just kind of moves on to what is going on.
Speaker 1:So I find that interesting in Acts Yep, he gets stoned, dragged out of the city and they continue to move forward. It just seems like it moves along, so like nonchalant. But that's not true. This is a big deal, what's happening to Paul, what's happening to the disciples, and so you kind of have to stop for a moment and look at verse 19 and recognize the severity of the ministry that's taking place, the consequences of the gospel that's happening and that to Paul. It's worth it and because he doesn't get stoned, get dragged out and then go.
Speaker 1:You know what guys? That's too much, I'm out. No, he just keeps persevering, he keeps going. So there's encouragement in the persecution that Paul fully knew who Jesus was and knew that it didn't matter life, death. I'm going to keep pushing for the gospel, and so that should be an encouraging place for us to sit in. Yes, hard to realize that happened to Paul, but also encouraging to move forward in our faith because of what Paul has done and the strength that God has given Paul in order to continue to do the ministry.
Speaker 3:One thing I noticed was this sequence of the butts and a sequence of like action, consequences, and if we back up, you know, it goes through 14. Paul and Barnabas were there in verse four, but the people of the city were divided and then this happened. And then, but this happened and then picking up in 14, you know, they did, they, this miracle occurred and the people were, you know, praising them. But the apostles heard of it, they lamented, they tore their clothes and then they, they got the crowds to to die down. And then in 19, but the Jews came and they thought they killed him.
Speaker 3:But while the disciples were Just this back and forth of action, consequence, you know, event and sort of aftermath. I like the fact that he it says not just nonchalantly, but as he was laying there, seemingly dead, while the disciples stood over him, in verse 20, he just got up and went where, right back into the city. It's like when he came from, where he was persecuted, it's he's driven not by the reactions of others to the gospel, but by by the spirit of God pushing him forward, not fearing men, as seemingly not fearing men at all.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and he goes back to the cities in which the men, the Jews, came from that did stone him. Yeah, like in the passage itself. So he gets stoned by these specific Jews who rallied up the people to stone him. He goes back into the city in which they stoned him and then he goes back to those cities in which those Jews came from to go spread the gospel to them. So it's not like he went oh no, I'm just not gonna go there anymore because they're gonna try to kill me. He just went back in and kept going then he returned to Lister.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they turned a little and then Antioch and the Cognum, like he went back to all the places when all these Jews are from that have actually been Pushing the crowds to stone him. So there's definitely I don't know if there's a lack of fear or just a straight trust in this is where the Lord has me and this is where he wants me, and he doesn't fear the people, he fears God more. So I just it's, it is. He doesn't run from adversity, but he almost leans in and says, no, these disciples need to know more about who Jesus is. People need to hear the gospel. And he keeps pushing. It keeps going.
Speaker 2:Well, if we were to look at literary context to Acts, chapter 9, verse 15 is the famous statement Jesus told this to Ananias, remember? Jesus called Ananias to go and visit Saul. And Ananias is like Lord, have you heard about how many disciples he's killing? And then Jesus said this Go, for he has a chosen instrument of mine to bear my name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel, for I will show him, I will show Saul how much he must suffer for my namesake. So we already know that. You know that chapter 9, verse 15 kind of sets the stage for and I think Paul knows that too.
Speaker 2:I don't think this, this is a surprise, for for Paul, I think Paul, and going through all of this suffering, understands that the Lord is in charge of the last day of his life. I think Paul also completely understands hey, before the end of my life, these things have to be accomplished, and until these things get accomplished I'm not gonna die. So you know, we may look at that one verse and say man, he got up the very next day after being stoned. I imagine Paul would have looked a little bit beaten up. I think of 2nd Corinthians where it says he bears on his own body. You know the, the marks of the Lord Jesus and suffering for him. That's a, you know, annotated version of, I think, what the verse says, but nevertheless Paul understands His ministry is not done until the Lord says so and I think it's really encouraging that, regardless of what takes place, he's gonna get up and he's gonna finish the Lord's work. No, no mere man will cancel his ministry.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and here we see the purpose of what Paul's doing. So he had preached the gospel in 21 and there were more disciples that were made Right and then he returned to these cities strengthening the souls of the disciples, so continuing to disciple them, to teach them, to encourage them in their faith. So seeing seeing Paul not give up, I think is an encouraging thing for the people. Like this guy is for real. He's not some like fake guy going around teaching. This guy is willing to die for what he believes and then and then it continues. This is insane that through many tribulations, we must enter the kingdom of God. So we must Enter the kingdom of God.
Speaker 1:So let's hang out here for a second, because I think we currently in in America and I think this has been going on for decades we have a teaching of scripture in the pulpit that talks a lot about what God is going to provide and that our life should become this. I don't know. This bliss of Everything should be Going well if you're following Christ and your life should. You should start to look a certain way, should look good, it should look comfortable, almost it should. There should just be this happiness that always comes out of you because you're a Christian and and your life here in America should be blessed and bountiful and and full of prosperity. And so there's this.
Speaker 1:There's a message out there in churches today where Pastors are saying if you're following Christ, you should be experiencing the blessings of Christ. But missing, I don't know, the whole book of Acts while teaching this, missing all of Paul's letters while teaching this, because clearly Paul's talking about Following Jesus is going to require suffering and tribulation. So we let's talk a little bit about the tension between what's being taught in some churches and what Paul is actually doing and what he's telling the disciples is going to happen in their lives.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, the statement where it says that he was encouraging them to continue in the faith. That word for encouraging literally means To encourage, meaning putting courage in. He is filling them with courage and encourages something that can only take place In view of something you don't want to do, but you know you must do. I Often have to practice courage when I go to the cardiologist every year because I hate doing it. It's not something I want to do, but despite how I feel I'm going to be prodded and prompted to do it.
Speaker 2:I think the word encouragement to and, in the original language, gives this picture of like a fire that's needing to be stoked, needing to be prodded, needed, needing to be kindled, and so he's continuing to kindle their faith. Why would he need to do that? Well, because if he's suffering and and they're gonna suffer, he's got to remind them. This is worse that we must Face affliction, you know, in order to enter the kingdom of God. And so today, where that message has gone wrong, in Western culture especially, is it says that in order to really be blessed by the Lord and to be given the Lord's favor, you know as un unmerited, unmerited favor. Nothing you've done, you've got to continue on and the evidence of that is money and and I.
Speaker 2:If we apply that same principle, that means that Paul actually didn't have the favor of the Lord. He had the, the cursings of the Lord. If we go with the prosperity gospel movement In the problem of the prosperity gospel is it completely rips it to shreds the actual gospel. It rips, you know the, the motive. I guess you could say it rips the whole purpose or why we're supposed to continue on in the faith. It's for the kingdom to come, not the kingdom of our own lives today.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it goes against. We also have not just the prosperity gospel movement, but we have a progressive Gospel movement as well, or the emergent church, which takes a different angle to the Christian life. That goes totally against, again, what Paul is doing. So if Paul is going into these places and encouraging them, or you're saying stoking the fire, prodding them, but also teaching them and helping them continue to move in their faith and and understand, there's going to be trials, there's going to be persecution, but it is worth it in the end it is worth it. Well, we have another church movement that says that talks about the freeing, the freedom of Christ, but beyond that, it seems to stop and say you are now free to almost be who you want to be in Christ and that is a freeing place to be, because you no longer need to be weighted down by the world, but you can just accept who you are and that Christ is like an addition or kind of like a buddy that stands next to you to make you feel good about yourself.
Speaker 2:It's a protection of your sins so that you can keep sinning right. That's what it is.
Speaker 1:But that's not what Paul's doing here, right? He's not going around saying you can keep being Jewish, you can keep following the Greek philosophers, but just make sure you attach Jesus to it so you're saved. It's not right. That's not what Paul's doing. He wouldn't have been stoned if that's what he was teaching. He was saying surrender to Christ and move away from everything else. So there was, there's a there's a huge contrast here between what Paul's doing and what he's teaching the true gospel and then what some other churches are trying to do today by either taking away or or adding to scripture. And so those are two movements that we see that are popular today, that we just need to be careful.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and I mean I see Paul bolstering the integrity of faith. I mean, if we look at the James connection where James Talks about, if anyone asks the Lord for wisdom, they must ask and not doubt. Anyone who doubts is like a wave tossed in the ocean. You look at Church movements, theological movements, philosophical movements of their time. I mean movements in the church of our time, where there's this wavering back and forth, there's Relativity, there's this your truth is your truth, but there's no foundation there. And I think his One thing that I noticed here as he goes back, it doesn't say whether the disciples were shaken or not. There were disciples still there, you know he encouraged them. So they needed encouragement but that even seeing him drug away, seeing him near death, they still believed. They just needed to be encouraged. And Paul's like almost the ultimate example, I think, of standing firm in your faith. Standing firm in your faith and resolve. I mean resolve for the gospel and his joy is in the prosperity of the gospel, not prosperity, personal prosperity that comes from the gospel, or faith.
Speaker 2:Maybe in addition to that, I'm kind of just realizing something that I face as a person all the time is the discouragement of the shifting sand of the culture that I live in. For instance, the America of today is not the same America of the 1990s that I grew up in. The America of the 1990s was not the same America of the 1950s. You can keep going back. It just seems like, while our nation was founded on Christian principles and influenced by the Reformation, our Constitution has the DNA of the Reformation and the scriptures all together, our system, our laws, our government. We are slowly moving away from objective truth, and objective truth can be sought because God exists. When you remove God from the picture and then you remove truth from the picture, now you're truly living in what's called a postmodern world.
Speaker 2:My thought is this there are times where I look back on the past and I'm like man.
Speaker 2:I really miss the world I lived in, where things used to seem a lot more secure. The reality is they never were actually that secure, because if you look at the kingdoms that have come about over time, you could start from the kingdom after Adam's fall and then Noah's day, and then you get to Egypt and then you get to Assyria, and then to Babylon and Greece and Persia and Rome, and then all of the modern empires and all the way up till today. Every single kingdom is going to fall because the only person who can bring in that perfect kingdom is Jesus. So this statement here through many tribulations, we must enter the kingdom of God it almost reminds me like, hey, you're going to face a lot more tribulations to come and you need to be okay with that. You need to be okay with stop reaching backwards as much and to start reaching forward of what's to come. Sometimes I grieve in my heart because of a loss of yesterday, but I need to remind myself of the hope for tomorrow.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I think, piggybacking off of that, if we just continue to the next verse, when we look at what happens in verse 23,. We're talking about Paul establishing a ministry through his own life, through his own example, staying true to the gospel, discipling people to ensure that they really know the truth, that they're not fooled, that they're not swayed by the culture. He does what. He appoints elders in these places, yeah, in every church, in every church. And so what are elders? Well, elders are overseers of the people, of the church, overseers to ensure what the word of God stays true, that it doesn't change, that it doesn't shift, that they're protectors of the people. They're supposed to put a fence around in the sense of the influence that comes in the church. They're supposed to say, whoa, that's not what Jesus said, that's not biblical. We need to push back against that. We need to protect the gospel, we need to shepherd our people.
Speaker 1:And so he ensures that, hey, I'm not going to be here forever.
Speaker 1:Right, I'm Paul, I'm going to travel and I have other places to be, but I'm going to appoint you elders that trust in the Lord, that are committed to the Lord, and they're going to be the ones to shepherd you. They're going to be the ones to keep you safe as much as possible. And so we have these elders that he appoints, these leaders of the local church, and so I think that follows what Paul's doing. Look, I'm willing to die for the gospel, and you need to also be willing to go through these things unto death. But we need to protect God's word, and by doing that, we're going to appoint men who love God, who love his word, and who will keep it safe and will keep it in their hearts and will do anything to protect against the wolves that may be among you or attacking from the outside. And so elders are really important, because that's the system in which Paul instills in these local churches as he goes about his ministry over and over and over again, to protect the word of God.
Speaker 2:I think, as we continue on in verses 24 to 28, we see, not only is Paul encouraging individuals to stay in the faith, not only is he recognizing that tribulations will come, not only is he following the leading of the Lord with prayer and fasting right, like he is clearly engaging with his faith and encouraging others to keep a genuine faith, like for there to be no shadiness, for there to be nothing hidden, like this is what it is you're going to be persecuted if you live this way. But then we get to 24 to 28, and it's really interesting that I think the emphasis is on the statement about the grace of God. They passed through Pasitia and came into Pamphylia. When they had spoken the word in Perga, they went down to Atalia. From there they sailed to Antioch, from which they had been commended to the grace of God for the work that they had accomplished.
Speaker 2:And so you can follow these towns and cities on a map. You can follow Paul's travels by boat and by foot. But he gets back and they say we commend you unto the grace of God for the work that has been accomplished. And I think there's a principle in that, and the principle is like is the work that you're accomplishing? Is that undergirded by the grace or by the empowerment of God, like there's a lot of things that don't matter that people waste their time on in ministry, but does it ultimately lead to the ministry of the Word and to making disciples? That's not for us to be challenged with.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think we should be challenged on that every day. What does our schedule look like? What does our calendar actually show? Does it show evangelism, discipleship, being in the Word, or does it show just meetings and tasks and things? And at the end of the week you go, man, I got to open my Bible, like once with somebody. That's not good.
Speaker 1:So I think Paul's ministry here, like you pointed out when you were reading, was about the Word Spoken, the Word which is the gospel, which is the script and the scriptures to the people, and so his ministry was what God has already done and what God has already said. And that's the ministry that we should continue today, and we can only do that ministry by the grace of God who has saved us, but not our own doing, but by his doing, and that we go and do the ministry by his doing and his leading, because Jesus is the shepherd and we are his under shepherds. So we are being led by the one who has spoken the Word and we need to remember that because I think we can sometimes, like any human and any job in any circumstance, likes to be in control of their situation day by day, likes to feel in control, but there is freedom in what Paul's doing here. He's traveling around giving all things over to God to do the work and allowing God to make the path that he wants Paul to go on. There's some freedom there and we can take the control that we're keeping in our own lives and then give it to the one who's actually in control Like it's a fake control that we think we have, when really we could just surrender that, live by the grace of God, teach his word, disciple people and move forward knowing that God's in control.
Speaker 1:He's got it. I'm just going to do the ministry that he is entrusted me with and I need to stay in that at all times. And that's harder than sounds easy when you say it sometimes like, oh, it's simple, just give it to God. But, man, it's so hard. You have to stay in prayer, you have to stay in the Word, you have to keep your priorities straight on God and be obedient to him, and so that's what Paul's doing, and that's a big deal. I think it shows us a great example of what we need to be doing. And you don't have to be a missionary, like a professional one, you don't have to be a pastor, just as Christians, is that what you're doing every single day?
Speaker 2:David, can you speak to that? Because I know that since you've come on staff, I mean you have a number of different roles. I mean primarily as our worship pastor and our youth pastor, right Underneath the overarching moniker of associate pastor. But you've got your hands in a lot of things, your stokes and a lot of fire, I guess, as people would say. But speak to that. The busyness of your schedule and the things that you're doing and the grace of God involved in that.
Speaker 3:Well, I find that convicting in that, when you look at what is driving Paul, and that is the furthering of the gospel, the sharing of the gospel to the unreached, the encouragement of the leaders that are being planted in the churches, those that are coming to faith, and also the reporting back, the spending time and prayer with the and in study with the, with the leadership of the church and Antioch, this sending this, sending church, from this perspective, I this convicts me because you look at Paul, paul's resolve to answer the call and, as you said, to do the work of God. He is not a man of the flesh.
Speaker 3:He's not driven by anything except for what God has called him to do, and I find that convicting as a leader in the church and being called to leadership in the church, and that I think it's just that much more important and Timothy addresses this for what leaders are called to, and that is we are not to be influenced by much drink, we're not to be men of more than one wife, we're not to be this, that we are to be focused on the spirit of God as it is leading us into ministry. And when you think about having your hands in different pots or lots of different ministries, it can be easy to get too focused on what do I have in my calendar this week, because I know Dakota is going to ask me and I need to look busy. He's going to ask. If it's not on the calendar, then it's not being done. But I mean, which is important, it's an accountability to what are we doing and what are you know, what is the Lord leading us into, looking ahead, and who are we to be talking to? But, but more importantly, are we opening the Bible with those that we're talking to? Are we in the word? Are we focusing on that? Not do we have the right songs picked out for Sunday, not do I have the right activities for the youth group? Not this, not that.
Speaker 3:It's focusing in on the intent of the things that we are doing, and that is to strengthen the disciples that we're working with, the disciples in the youth group. For me, the disciples that are serving every Sunday morning Am I strengthening them? Am I, am I in the word with them? Are we remembering that we are in Christian leadership, not just, not just performers on the elderboard? Are we using our gifts and abilities, talk, you know, focusing on the important parts of our discussions? And I think that, as leaders, that's important for us to, and I think we should be convicted by that. What is our time and our energies and our focus on? And that requires resetting, and I think that's why we pray you know we've started doing this this midweek check in and we pray with each other and encourage each other, and I think that's that's where that's at, just because, as leaders, we should take the example of Paul and our resolve as we push forward.
Speaker 2:I'm going to use an illustration that I've often used about preaching, but I'm going to apply it to you know, ministry in general. So in preaching there's an illustration that goes like this when you prepare your sermons, you're either someone who does no preparation and you just always consistently get up there and you're the guy who wings it right, and you're like a rock climber with no checkpoints. You just you're going to freestyle the whole thing and inevitably those guys fall, or you're going to be the type of preacher that so structures your sermon, every single word. You get up there in the pulpit and you're pretty much reading a manuscript, and that's just a straight ladder. Now you might accomplish your goal and getting to the top of the mountain, but it was boring along the way and all people did was, you know, seen here, a bunch of information.
Speaker 2:Then there's the guy that says you know, I'm going to prepare this message with checkpoints along the way. I'm going to put on my harness. There's a checkpoint here, a checkpoint there, checkpoint here, checkpoint there. You know enough, enough guard rails to keep me where I need to go to the top. But there's creativity along the way, right, and that guy preaches a sermon that's sound and structured, but it's also free flowing and it's personal, it's genuine. Take all those principles, now apply it to ministry. I think sometimes, like if we are the people that depend on the ladder man, that's just a boring, almost like spiritless led schedule, or we have no guard rails and then we fall and we're unorganized and you know we don't accomplish what we want. I think there's that room and ministry to say, lord, help me to have like a healthy discipline, but at the end of the day, I need your grace to be able to accomplish what I need to be able to accomplish. Like without your grace, without your empowerment, this ain't getting done.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think one of the things that I ask myself from time to time and this kind of helps me, because I sometimes get to this point where I just feel like I'm running and I'm running, and I'm running, and then sometimes I'm like am I really accomplishing anything? And I just ask myself the simple question is the task that I'm about to do? Advance the gospel.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:And if it's not, then I should just not do it Like I mean. That's just what it comes down to. It's a simple question is what I am doing going to advance the gospel? And if I can't truthfully just answer that a solid yes, then I need to reevaluate my schedule and my day and how I'm going about things, because that's the priority. That's the priority Paul has here and, by the grace of God, he allows Paul to keep going because he's proclaiming the gospel. So it could come down to, you know, fairly simple things.
Speaker 1:Like I'm going to read a book right now. Well, does this book help me advance the gospel? Okay, yeah, it does. It's going to equip me to do that. So I'm going to read this book. Hey, I'm going to spend the next half an hour in prayer. Does that help me advance the gospel? Of course it does. I'm relying on God for this time. And to go and advance the gospel. Hey, I have a meeting with someone. We're going to open the Bible. Sure, does you know? Those are things that are going to advance the gospel. If I, you know, have a meeting and it lasts an hour and a half and all it had to do is with these tasks that seem minuscule, that don't really matter. Like then it become oh my gosh this is taking forever Like this is pointless.
Speaker 1:This is not advancing the gospel. Those are things that drain you because they're just not doing the things that you really want to be doing, that are fulfilling, which is the gospel itself. So now, how does that translate to maybe a non-pastor? How does that translate to maybe a family? Because I mean people listening, I'm guessing you guys are not pastors, most of you, so I think that you can do the same thing with your family. Is what we're doing as a family, advancing the gospel? I think you can ask the same question yeah, and so. Are you spending time in the word with your kids? Do you have discussions about Sunday school lessons? Do you listen to worship music together? Do you? You know, just as you go about your day? Are you doing these things like those are productive things for the gospel and have meaning for your life and give you a solid foundation as a family. So you can apply the same question to any point of your life, because the gospel should be the foundation in which you stand on.
Speaker 2:I think, closing up the passage and I know we've gotten, I wouldn't say off track, but we've been on a long tangent concerning the grace of God and our life and in our ministry but verses 27 and 28,. When they had arrived and gathered the church together so here's the church, the people of the church saved ones. They began to report all things that God had done with them and how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles. And they spent a long time with the disciples. Here you see the church receiving reports of successful ministry activity. And then Paul and Barnabas decide to stay for a long time with those disciples.
Speaker 2:Paul was all about rubbing shoulders with the body of Christ so that they could again be encouraged in the faith, because God was the one who was on the move. And I think, maybe to close this up, we need to be mindful of what we're doing, because what we're doing also has an encouraging effect on others and can spur others on in the ministry. If we're not mindful and we've lost our purpose, it doesn't do much benefit. It doesn't bear much fruit to encourage others.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think there's something to learn here a little bit with Paul. Is he valued time with the church, not just like, hey, I'm going to pop in and do a sermon and move on? He really spent time with the church to disciple them, to help them grow. This was a slow process at times. Yeah, we think Paul is fast moving. He's on to the next. He does all these missions and, yeah, there are times for that and Paul does those things, but he truly spent time with the local churches to build them up.
Speaker 1:That's why we have the letters, that's why we have the church at Ephesus and, talking about unity, he understood who they were we're going to see an accent and how much he loved the elders in Ephesus and he wept with them because he was leaving them for the last time.
Speaker 1:I mean, he loved the church so much because it was the body of Christ. And I think at times we need to step back and look at the people who are in our church and say this is the body of Christ and we need to love them and we need to continue to shepherd them well and we need to love each other as a church because we're here for the gospel and I think Paul really understood that, what it meant to live that out, not just understand it in our minds, but to truly do it. And Paul is a great example of the earliest of church leaders to truly shepherd people well and to go spread the gospel. So I just think it's an encouraging thing. We see who Paul is, we see his personality, we see how God uses him, and I think we can do the same thing.
Speaker 3:Just to add one more thing. An illustration came to mind for me in thinking about the fellowship of believers, I mean, there's rest and there's peace when we are out in the mission field of life, working with people in the church. The reality is that these people are working in a culture that is not following the Lord, that they go to work and they're in places that are difficult to maintain our integrity and faith and we are discouraged often. We had a sporting clays event this last week that I went with some of the men in the church and there were 12, 15 men there. We split into two teams and we weren't opening the Bible necessarily. We opened with prayer and there was some encouragement in the beginning and then we went off and we practiced our shooting ability, some of us better than others.
Speaker 3:I was one of the worst, but as I'm walking with these men, one of the men commented. He said, man, this is just. He's like, can you just listen as we're walking along? He said. He said nobody's cussing, nobody's making crude jokes. He says I work on a construction site every week and I'm just weighed down by the culture that I'm working in and he's like it's just so great to fellowship with men who are engaging in conversation. That's uplifting and that's glorifying to God. And there was another conversation where two men were talking about mutual struggles and sharing the gospel with their family, with son-in-laws and children, and they were just uplifted and encouraged by that God-glorifying fellowship. And I think that that's important too, when you think of Paul spending a long time. They weren't reporting the whole time, they really weren't in Bible study the whole time, but they were living life together and I think that's encouraging and important for us to do as a church as well, just to remember that we're putting Christ at the center of those events as well.
Speaker 1:Great segue. We've got a men's Bible study that we have each and every week at 6 am at Corner Market, plus a man camp coming up in October, and so if you're in the auto area and you listen, please join us for those things, because we want to continue to equip men, encourage them as you walk through your life, and so men's ministry here at Ottawa Bible Church is continually growing, as we have multiple groups throughout the week meeting, learning spiritual disciplines. We're actually studying the book of Acts in men's Bible study as well. So, yeah, I think it's really important that men get together to have these discussions, to be encouraged, because they are. They're battling the ways of the culture, the evil one who's out to attack, and so we need to continue to encourage one another.
Speaker 1:So, thank you so much for listening to the Be Disciples podcast. Continue to share this with others. We want to encourage and we want to equip people to know God's word. We want you to be discipling other people. Make sure, as Dakota says, as we've mentioned twice in this episode, make sure your calendar shows it that you are meeting with people, that you are prioritizing the work in which you have been commissioned to do by Jesus Christ to go and make disciples. Have a blessed week everyone. We'll see you back for episode 100 with CL Mitchell and you don't want to miss it. See you all later.