Power to Save the Nations

One of the things I like to do when I meet someone new is ask them what their story is. It's important to learn where they have come from, to learn about their experiences so that I can know who they are. I want to kind of press this in to think about this as we think about ourselves that it's important for us to know where we came from. It's important for us to know where we've been and what we hope to do and to always remember where we are in our present life in midst of our bigger story. This is extremely important for us as Christians, because we have to recognize our present moment is not just our bigger story, but the bigger story of God himself. As Christians, we have to realize there's something much grander and greater going on, that's been going on for thousands of years, that's part of God's plan. It helps us always keep our lives in perspective, where we're constantly asking, what is God doing, what has God been doing, and how can I trust God that he's going to keep doing it. It's helpful for us because there's two temptations that we regularly wrestle with. One, we can be tempted to think too much of ourselves. As Christians, when we think about that bigger picture of God, we resist the temptation to think too much of ourselves because we realize God had to send his own son to die for our sin. We're oftentimes tempted to think too little of ourselves. We're reminded of that great position we now have that Mike prayed for earlier, praised God for. We're adopted into the kingdom of God as His own children. This grand story, these grand truths have to constantly be present in our mind. As we look to Acts today, and if you're new to this, what we do is we go through books at a time, and we're in the middle of Acts. We're actually right in the middle of Acts today. We're in Acts chapter 13, page 921, if you're using a pew Bible. And what we're seeing is a significant shift. And we see Luke putting us in the midst of God's big picture plan, we see Paul recognizing his place in God's big picture plan, and we see them being faithful. Because God's plan is clear. God's plan is a powerful plan to save sinners. first the Jews and then the Gentiles in hearing the gospel. What we're going to see this morning is what we've been seeing throughout the book of Acts. God's gospel is powerful to save sinners. So you've already heard that story or the text read. Again we're in Acts 13 and I want to highlight verses 1 to 3. And the heading here that I've got is the gospel goes out. And this is a significant moment for the church because this is the first recorded intentional sending out of men to preach the gospel. Other men have been sent out by churches, but that was to go see what God was already doing in evangelism. In Acts 13 verse 1, we have from Antioch the first men recorded that we know of who are going to go out and preach the gospel somewhere else. They're gathered, and they're gathered in the church. They don't have a church building. They're gathered as God's people, and we see here there's prophets, there's teachers, there's many named, and then the Spirit spoke. While they're praying and fasting, two disciplines of the Christian life, verse two, the Spirit said, verse two. Now Luke records what's necessary. He doesn't say how the Spirit spoke. It could be one of these prophets stood up and simply said, thus the Holy Spirit says. Or it could be that as the whole church was praying, everybody was convinced of the same thing simultaneously as the Spirit worked in their hearts. We don't know. But it is clear the Spirit has clearly spoken. And the message is, set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I've called them. that they must be set apart to be sent out. The Spirit is initiating the missionary activity. The Spirit is initiating a new movement from the Church of Antioch to send out these two men. And notice what they do next. Then after fasting and praying, they lay their hands on them and sent them off. This laying on of hands is a symbolic gesture to say we're with you. We're partnered with you in ministry. We're going to send you off, but we're not sending you out to be rid of you. We're sending you out so that we can rejoice in what you're going to do, so that we can pray for you, partner for you. It's a commitment when you symbolically lay your hands on someone. The men are set aside for work. They're set aside to be part of the work of Jesus Christ proclaiming the gospel. Now let's see what that work looks like. We have two specific instances. Luke has put these together for us. Verses 4 to 12 tell of the first one. And they went down to Seleucia. From there they sailed to Cyprus. And there they arrived at Seleumus. And they proclaimed the word of God in the synagogue to the Jews. And this is following Paul's clear pattern. The one we saw in Romans. He goes to the Jew first and then the Gentile. They finally end up at the end of the island. And this island is where Barnabas is from, Cyprus. And here we are introduced to two different people. The first is Sergius Paulus. He's a proconsul. That means he's the governor. He is a Roman official. He's a powerful man, and Luke goes out of his way to tell us he's an intelligent man. And the Roman official, he's saying, Paul and Barnabas, will you come and speak so that we can hear the word of God? He's requesting to hear the word of God as a Roman official, and then we have another character. He has two names. He's Bar-Jesus, which means son of Jesus, or son of salvation, and Elimus, which we're told means magician. He's a false prophet, he's a false teacher, and he's of Jewish descent. He's deceptive and dangerous. What Luke is setting us up for is that he's a charlatan. He's professing to be someone important that people should listen to, but he's clearly opposed to the Word of God, because the procounsel, he's saying, I want to hear the Word of God, and as Paul and Barnabas are proclaiming the Word of God, he's distracting them from the Word of God. So Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit. Look at verse 9. And actually here's where we see this name change. Saul, who is a Jew, he takes on the name Paul, which is a name that's more fitting for his Gentile mission. He's filled with the Holy Spirit. He looks intently at this false teacher and he says, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness. What Paul first says is a verdict. And there's actually a bit of an irony here in that this man's name is Bar-Jesus. He's presenting himself as someone who is part of salvation. He's presenting himself as someone who's part of God's plan of salvation. But Paul is saying, no, your true allegiance in nature is that of connected to the devil. You're a son of destruction, not a son of salvation. You're not promoting God's righteousness. You're an enemy of all that is good. You're hindering the Word of God. He speaks of his character, he's full of deceit, full of villainy. He's not like Barnabas, he's not full of the Spirit. Second, Paul gives a punishment. The punishment is that this man's eyes will be temporarily blinded. And I believe this is doing two things. One, it's demonstrating the man's state. He's a blind man claiming to be able to see to lead others. But the blindness is demonstrating, no, this man himself is blind. He doesn't see what he's actually doing. He's not one who can see God and lead others to see him. The second thing is the fruit of it for the procouncil. Look at verse 12. In the Roman official, the Gentile, he believed. when he saw what had occurred. For he was astonished at the teaching of the Lord Paul of Barnabas at Antioch and Poseidon. Paul does this miracle to make clear who this Bar-Jesus is. He's really the son of the devil. And he does it so this man who's wanting to hear the word of God sees the power of God, sees the truth, and he believes. The gospel goes out in power. The Gentile believes the Jewish false prophet is judged. Now this is just a simple setup for what's going to happen next. It shows the power of God to save, it shows the power of the gospel, and it shows there's opposition, and it shows there's a movement here from Gentile to Jew. Our next story makes this even more clear, and this is the longer section. He sailed from Paphos to Perga and Pamphylia, and John left them and returned to Jerusalem, but they went on from Perga and from Antioch into Poseidon. On the Sabbath day, that is on Saturday, they went and they preached in the synagogue. Now, what happens next is extremely important in the bigger picture of Acts. Remember in Acts 2, that's when the Holy Spirit came down, and the church is born, and Peter preaches the first Christian sermon. Well, if you go back today, and I'll encourage you to do so, look at that sermon that Peter preached first to the Jews gathered in Jerusalem, and compare it to what Paul does here in Acts 13. And what I think Luke is trying to show us is that there's two different apostles who are going to go to two different people, but they're preaching the one Lord Jesus Christ. God is moving from the Jews because they've rejected Jesus Christ, and he's now emphasizing the gospel that spreads to the Gentiles. This is a turning point in Acts as it moves from Peter to Paul, from Jerusalem to Antioch, from Jews receiving to the Gentiles receiving. Now, Peter's still preaching. This is not what Luke's going to record. There's still a church in Jerusalem, but that's not the emphasis that we're going to see. Jews are still coming to faith, but that's not where Luke is going to emphasize the movement of the gospel. Let's look at verses 13 to 25. The gospel goes out, the gospel has power, we saw that with the pro council, but now the gospel, as Paul begins to preach, I want us to see it's a promised gospel. There's a couple things that really connect this entire chapter together. One, the Spirit sends them out. The Spirit fills them with power, and then in the end, the disciples are filled with joy because of the Holy Spirit. Something else we see throughout this is the Word of God, the Word of God, the Word of the Lord. It's been promised, it's been fulfilled. The Word of God is central in all of the story, and what Paul wants to make clear as he goes to the synagogue first, is that God has made many promises. God has kept all those promises. The emphasis here is on what God has said and what God has done. Paul begins to speak to them. He motions with his hand, men of Israel, and you who fear God, that is Gentiles who are worshiping God according to the Old Testament, believing in those promises, listen. And this message has three parts, as all good sermons do, and mine has five. This particular point has three sections. 17 to 20, it's the calling and the exodus. And here is the emphasis, God has called you and then he put up with you for 450 years. He called you and then you just murmured and grumbled and committed idolatry for 450 years. And God kept his promise. And then verse 21 through 23, you enter into the land, and what do you ask for? You ask for a king. So God gives you the kind of king you wanted, he gives you Saul. But that's not the king God wanted you to have, so after Saul, he gave you David. David was a man who did what God's desire was. And the key verse I want us to land in here is verse 23. of this man's offspring, speaking of David, God has brought to Israel a savior, Jesus, as he promised. God made a promised people with Abraham. God carried them into Egypt. God saved them from Egypt. God carried them into the promised land. Now we have David, and God made many promises to David that a king like him would rule with perfect righteousness. Israel, listen. This man David who you think so much of, he was at the end. God made promises that one would come after him of his offspring, and it has been promised. It is now fulfilled. He is Israel's Savior, Jesus Christ. The third section here in the promised is verse 24 and 25, and he shows up with the, he emphasizes the kind of last pointer. John the Baptist. He's the last Old Testament prophet pointed to Jesus Christ, but he actually got to see Jesus. John the Baptist says, I am not worthy to untie this man's sandals. He's reminding them that John the Baptist himself testified that Jesus Christ is the Son of Satan. Now, beginning in verse 26, he goes from showing how this salvation was promised, and that's important for the Jews because he wants to make sure there's Christianity is not some rabbit show from Christianity. No, it's the fulfillment of what God has said. Here we see the gospel is Jesus' death and resurrection. And Paul, he's not shy about making a clear point. Brothers, beginning in verse 26. brothers, sons of the family of Abraham, those who have been called by God as His promised people, and those among you who fear God, the Gentiles who said, I won't be part of that people. To us has been sent the message of salvation. Paul and Barnabas are standing up and saying, we have been given the message of salvation, and now we are giving it to you. And he wants to make the point clear by contrasting those who've been received the message of salvation with those who are in Jerusalem. Notice what he says next. This would probably be offensive to many of the Jews listening. For those who live in Jerusalem and their rulers because they did not recognize them nor understand the utterance of the prophets which are read every Sabbath. Those Jews who were committed to studying the Word of God every day, those who were given the responsibility of teaching God's people, God's Word, they did not understand what they were reading. Therefore, they did not recognize Jesus. John's Gospel sets this up perfectly. He came to His own, and His own knew Him not. They did not recognize Him, therefore they rejected Him. Paul's making a bold claim. We're the ones that's telling you what all those Old Testament passages really meant. They didn't get it. It gets even more pointed. They fulfilled, look at the end of verse 27. They fulfilled all of those passages by condemning Christ. And though they found him in no guilt worthy of death, they asked Pilate to have him executed. Here Paul is getting to the point of the gospel. And one of the amazing things about the gospel is that God uses evil for good. God the Father allowed his son to be murdered by the hands of wicked men so that those wicked men might also be able to believe in that son and be saved. That is the power of the gracious God that we know of from scripture. Paul's gospel is the same as Peter's. Those Jews who should have been leading Israel to worship Jesus, they had him executed. They carried out all that was written of him. Without knowing that their sin was actually fulfilling what Scripture said under God's sovereignty, they murdered the Son of God. Then look at verse 30. These two words are always the sweetest words in all Scripture. After highlighting and emphasizing what we do, and that is sin, Scripture always points us back to what God does, and it's a great, strong contrast. Those wicked men who should have known Jesus Christ, when they're teaching the Word of God, they murdered Him. They executed Him by putting Him to death on a tree. Verse 30, but God. Their actions were to kill the Son of God, but God. raves Him from the dead. But God raves Him, demonstrating that everything Jesus said He was and would do was true. He was a Son of God who came to be like us in every way. He's a Son of God who died so that we might be saved from our sins. He's a Son of God whose death was not a meaningless murder. But once for all took away our guilt. He's risen. He is risen, and now God has made it clear He's a son. He's a savior. And this wasn't some kind of mystical resurrection. It has a mystery to it. But Jesus Christ appears. There are witnesses. This is something that had to happen in history. This is something that God has done. Look at verse 32. And we, those who have been given that message of salvation, we bring you the good news that what God promised to the fathers, this he has fulfilled to us, their children, by raising Jesus Christ. Again, you see Paul's trying to put this in the bigger picture. This wasn't some kind of new plan. This is what God has always promised, and now you can look and you can see he's fulfilled what he's always said he would do. And interestingly, the verses he goes to are the same verses Peter goes to in Acts 2. We see there, Psalm 2 quoted, you are my son that I have begotten you. Jesus Christ, he's the son of God. That's why death could not hold him. I will give you the holy and blameless and sure blessing of David. We see here that God has given Jesus Christ that inheritance of the king who's going to bring about a righteous rule. One of the beauties here is that God has made promises. See, even right there in Genesis 3, after we reject God, God makes a promise. A son will be born who's gonna reverse the curse. God makes a promise to David that a son of yours will reign forever. All those promises of the Savior are found in Jesus Christ. He's the perfect prophet, he's the perfect priest, he's the perfect king. And if you think about the king, let's look at verse, the quotation of Psalm 16. Again, a key part of Peter's message. David prays, you will not let your holy ones see corruption. Well, as Peter and Paul both say, well, David died. He did see corruption. Now, we don't know the trouble that David was in at that exact moment, but he's praying truly, knowing that God is good, knowing that God is going to preserve his life, knowing that somehow God is not going to let him see corruption, but his body was buried, and it is still buried today. As Peter says, he fell asleep and lay with his fathers and saw corruption, Paul says. See, David was not just speaking of himself here. David was, by the power of the Holy Spirit, without David even knowing it, I think. Speaking of a greater King, speaking of that future King who would not see corruption, Jesus Christ. The promise of the resurrection was clear already in David's writing. Even though David had not been completely aware of it and the beauty of it is David will not see final corruption because Jesus Christ was raised and Jesus Christ is going to raise David to new life. The power of the gospel is that Jesus Christ is risen. He now gives you two clear things. Verse 38. If we believe Jesus Christ died on the cross as a son, as an innocent man, he is raised again by God, here are the two things that we can receive. Verse 38. Let it be known to you, therefore, brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. And by him, everyone who believes is freed from everything which you could not be freed by the law of Moses. So here you are, you're similar to the synagogues. I've been trying to preach the gospel that Paul's preaching. And there's two benefits we get. There's two benefits that you can have by receiving this. Now you've heard it and that's different than receiving it. Receiving it means you're going to believe it. Those two benefits are forgiveness forgiveness before a holy God who is righteous, because Jesus Christ is the only one who is truly innocent. And when we stand before God, and we stand before him in our own sin, his judgment is going to be sure. It's going to be perfect, righteous judgment, and we will see how sinful we truly are at that moment. But today, we can be forgiven. If we believe that Jesus Christ died on our behalf, Stop believing we can fix ourselves enough to be right before God. Forget the idea that we're not sinful enough for God to ever judge us. No, we're sinful. We're so sinful, God had to send his perfect son to die for us. And today, if we believe in him, we can be forgiven. More than that, we can be free. The law of the Old Testament, the law of Moses, it was good. That was a good gift from a good God for God's people. It served as a tutor. It did have an expiration date, because Christ has come and fulfilled it, and now He has given us His new commandments. And now we're free. Free to obey the law of Christ. Free to see the glory of God. Remember, Moses' law could not let Moses see God's glory. But in Jesus Christ, we can see God's glory. That's just one of the many things we're now free to do the Old Testament law could not provide for us. We can be forgiven. We can be free. Paul continues, beware therefore, lest what is said in the prophets should come about. Look, you scoffers, be astounded and perish, for I am doing a work in your days, a work that You will not believe, even if one tells it to you. And as they went out, the people begged that these things might be told to them again next Sabbath. And after meeting of the synagogue broke up, many Jews and about converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, who, as they spoke with them, urged them to continue in the grace of God. And the grace of God, I believe, is a shorthand way of Luke saying they're believing the gospel. He's telling them, continue. As we look to verse 44, we see a new section. The gospel demands a response. Notice what happens. The next Sabbath, that is the next Saturday, almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord. Again, what Luke keeps pressing in is that the word of the Lord is driving this. The Holy Spirit is empowering the word of the Lord. It's a big setting. Everybody came. When the Jews, and I believe here Luke is primarily speaking of the Jews who were in power, because there's already Jews who believe. This isn't all Jews in this city, but he's speaking of some Jews. When they saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began to contradict what was spoken by Paul reviling him. Now that word reviling, whenever you have that word next to God, it means to blast him. Whenever you have that word next to man, it means to slander. Well, what they've decided to do is they're not going to take up a fight against the message that Paul is preaching, trying to contradict it. Rather, they're going to try to attack Paul himself. This is a simple and effective strategy in debate. It's called the fallacy of ad hominem. If you can't engage the idea, just try to cut the person who's actually presenting the idea down. You see, what Paul and Barnabas are preaching, it's the message of salvation. It's the Word of God that is true. And these men who are students of God's Word, they can't fight with Paul and Barnabas according to God's Word because it's too true. And so, because of their jealousy, they start attacking and reviling Paul. And they do this out of jealousy, is what Luke says. It doesn't mean, they don't say exactly what they're saying about Paul, but they say it's out of jealousy. And as we know from James, this is where disorder and fights come from. So those who've been influential religious leaders, I believe, are now being revealed the truth of the message. And instead of being able to go into that debate with Luke and believe or to fight with the words of God, they start attacking him. Notice here, it's a complete contrast to John the Baptist. They're trying to attack the gospel by attacking Paul, and John the Baptist, he's a true messenger of God. He says, I must decrease so that he must increase. These men seem to want to hold on to their little kingdom instead of believing in Jesus Christ, the true king. Look, Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly. Paul and Barnabas, they do not stop because of this attack. Paul and Barnabas, they spoke out boldly, saying, and these are important words in the book of Acts, it was necessary. These words show up in Acts, and this is always an important moment in Acts. Luke highlights certain moments by long sermons that are recorded, so we see that, but here we see this important phrase. It was necessary that the word of God be spoken to you first. since you thrusted aside and judged yourselves unworthy of eternal life. And behold, we're turning to the Gentiles. Just for some background here to remember, Paul's a Jewish man. Paul, in Romans 9, tells us how much he loves his brothers, Jews. He tells us he wished himself to be accursed because he loves his people, his race, so much that he would consider himself accursed if they would only believe. But here, in the midst of them attacking him, he goes and recognizes it is necessary, based upon the Word of God, Isaiah 49, it is necessary that the Word be spoken to you first, and now you have rejected it. And by your rejection, you judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life. They're not too sinful to save. God's grace is sufficient, but by their rejection, they themselves are deciding, we're not going to receive eternal life. The message has been presented to them, and they reject it. For the Lord has commanded us, verse 47, Paul, again, he's seeing himself in the bigger picture of the Word of God. He is not holding onto his desire that the Jews would believe. He doesn't keep pressing in. He doesn't defend himself. He simply says, I'm going to see this in light of what God is doing. I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth. He knows the Word of God, and he knows that right now, just as Joel was being fulfilled in Acts 2, now Isaiah 49 is being fulfilled right here in Acts 13. So the Jews, at least these Jews that are contradicting Paul, they thrust the Word of God aside, and they judged themselves unworthy. Look what the Gentiles do. And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing. And they glorifying the Word of the Lord, And as many were appointed to eternal life, believed. And the word of the Lord spread throughout the whole region. Notice again, the emphasis on the word of the Lord. The Gentiles hearing that they now get to be part of the kingdom of God. The Gentiles are gonna be equal heirs, co-heirs with the other believing Jews. They rejoice. They glorify God. And interesting, those who were appointed, they believed. The Word of the Lord has been proclaimed. The Jews have rejected it. The Gentiles have received it. They rejoice. The Word of the Lord is spreading. And then the Jews continue to incite trouble. Verse 50, And the Jews incited devout women of high standing and leading men of the city. They stirred them up, persecuting Paul and Barnabas, and drove them out of their district. But they shook up the dust from their feet and against them and went to Iconium. And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit. What a fantastic bookend for our story. The Holy Spirit sends Paul and Barnabas. The Holy Spirit empowers Paul and Barnabas. The Holy Spirit gives faith to those who have been appointed to eternal life. And now the Holy Spirit fills the disciples and they have joy. God is sovereign over all that's taking place here. The Word of the Lord is being emphasized and the Spirit is moving and changing. Our application for this morning is just one simple application. We must trust in the power of God's Word. It's continually referenced. There's promises, there's fulfillment. It's Paul telling us about all that God has said and what He's done. We need to be encouraged this morning. First of all, that God has looked at us in our estate, in our helplessness, and he made promises, and he alone is able to keep his promises. Paul wants to make sure the word of God is going out, and he makes it very clear, it's necessary. The Word of God has been declared. It is necessary that what is happening has been determined by God, and therefore, it is good. He sees what is happening is in the light of God. Now, let's just be clear. What's happening with Paul and Barnabas, it's unique in salvation history. It's unique in God's history. Paul and Barnabas are recorded in the Word of God forever. We're probably not. I'm almost assured that if whatever we might do today in 2000, 17, it's like we record it in God's Word. And we oftentimes can look at this and say, well, I'm no Paul, I'm no Barnabas. I kind of live a mundane life. Well, Paul and Barnabas, they're just people. They're actually sinners. Remember who Paul was. He was persecuting the church of Jesus Christ. You see, what makes Paul and Barnabas so useful right here is that they're filled with the Spirit. They trust the Word of God, and they're willing to be instruments in what God is doing by being set apart and sent. What makes them so useful is that they're faithful. You see, we can too oftentimes look at it and say, I have nothing to offer, but yeah, that's the whole point. Our usefulness is not based upon our strengths. Our usefulness is not based upon who we think we are. Our usefulness is based upon the power of God, the Holy Spirit, setting us apart, using us, and us being faithful. We can oftentimes see ourselves as too mundane and too insignificant. No. If you're a believer in Jesus Christ, you have the great promises of God with you. You have the great power of the Gospel with you. You have the power of the Holy Spirit in you. You're useful. The call is to be faithful. We can be used in mighty ways to proclaim the Kingdom of God. As we look at this, we have to also recognize that everything doesn't always work out the way we think it should. I believe Paul knew what was taking place because he was a student of God's Word. He's able to say it is necessary what is happening because of what God has said. One of the ways to be most useful is to be so scripturally minded that you're always interpreting things according to what God's Word has said. And yet we're not gonna have this kind of, oh yeah, this is exactly when Isaiah 49 is being fulfilled in my life. But we can guard ourselves from trying to use our own wisdom to figure things out. We need to be guarded against trying to use our own strength to get through trials, and just recognizing there's a bigger picture, there's a bigger plan, there's a bigger story, and we can be part of it. Lastly, I just wanna focus on verse 46 and 48, and I wanna contrast what Luke and Paul do here. These two passages are very interesting. I haven't yet quite scratched the surface of what's going on here, but I find them both just to be absolutely amazing. Paul turns to the Jews who are rejecting him, and he says, you have judged yourselves unworthy of eternal life. And then, when the Gentiles believe, he says, those who are appointed to eternal life have believed, Luke says. Now, the end is the same for both, eternal life. Those who reject, they judge themselves unworthy of eternal life, but those who believe, they've been appointed to it. This is very important for us to understand. God is not responsible for our sin. Man is always fully responsible for his sin. That's why Paul says so boldly, you've judged yourselves. unworthy. That's not God's fault. God's grace is sufficient to save the worst kind of sinner. Paul can say that because he was, he says. They're not too sinful to be saved. They just simply made the decision they're going to reject God. Therefore, they've judged themselves. And the emphasis there is on their responsibility. They are responsible for their sin. Notice responsible for those who believe. As many who were appointed. as many as God gave thee grace to have faith. Man is always responsible for his sin and God is always responsible for every blessing that comes to us. This is why we cannot boast in anything but Christ and his grace and his power to save us. We believe because God called us out of darkness and set us aside to believe in Jesus Christ. We've got to hear, we've received the Word of God, we've believed the Word of God, and that's because God's grace is not just efficient, sufficient, but it's effective. The beauty of it is that we get to enter into the story. We're called not only to be recipients of all the great blessings that this story tells us about, the forgiveness and the freedom, we now get to be participants, empowered by the Holy Spirit to continue to proclaim Your children? You get to be like Paul and Barnabas, trusting the Holy Spirit that as you proclaim the gospel, they might believe and you trust God's power to save them. Your family members, your neighbors, your co-workers. You see that rejoicing in the word of the Lord the Gentiles did? We can experience that today. by just simply being faithful to those who are around us, being faithful to those that we can proclaim the gospel to, and seeing how they might respond, rejoicing in the word of the Lord. Will you pray with me? Father, we thank you that you have given us your word, that it's trustworthy. You've kept your word. You've given us your son, We know you keep your promises. We know you love us. We know the extent to which you will go to save us, and we know you keep us, and all things work out for the good for those who love you. Lord, help us to see this bigger picture, to not have the tunnel vision that gets so focused on what we're thinking about right now today, but help us Lord to always remember, you've invited us into a greater story for your glory. You've invited us into a greater history where we get to know you and worship you and glorify you. Help us, Lord, to trust the power of the gospel to save us from our sins, and help us, Lord, to trust the power of the gospel to save those whom we proclaim it to. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.