How Are You Fulfilling Your Purpose? | Acts 14:21-28 | Kevin Queen

listen man it's good to be in the house of the Lord my name is Desi it's so good it's a worship it's on everybody online God the heart bars what's happening it's good to see you listen man songs 147 begins by saying praise the Lord how good it is to sing praises to our God and it is good not only is it good but it feels good come on man when we sing praises to our God God gives us his joy and his joy is our strength so can we get some strength in the building this morning can we get some energy in the building this morning come on everybody cut your hands like this yeah enter his gates with thanks enter his courts with praise bring him a shout of joy sing of his endless faith yeah for the Lord is good and his love endures his love endures forever say we remember this yeah we remember this music oh how good that it is to see praise to the Lord oh how great it's a name above all day yeah say from the rising of the morning sun to the setting of the same oh how good that it is to see pray come on we've got to see like this we say rivers will clap their heads and mountains will lift their song we remember this oh how good that it is to see praise to the Lord oh how great is a name above all day from the rising of the morning sun to the setting of the setting oh how good that it is to see pray we say we say how good it is come on everybody put your hands up like this say oh how good that it is to see praise to the Lord oh how great is a name above all day oh the rising of the morning sun to the setting of the same yeah we've got every breath inside our love forever we will sing to the Lord oh how good that it is to praise to the Lord oh how good that it is is to see pray how good it is how good how good how good it is to see pray how good it is to worship him today with you guys let's continue in this worship continue to sing about his goodness how great it is we can have every voice in the room to sing this together (gentle music) ♪ Here we go in the darkness ♪ ♪ In the darkness we were waiting ♪ ♪ Without hope, without life ♪

♪ Till from heaven you came Iranian ♪ ♪ There was mercy in your eyes ♪ ♪ To fulfill the law and process ♪ ♪ To a virgin came the word ♪ ♪ From a throne of endless glory ♪ ♪ To a cradle in the dirt ♪ ♪ On every voice you sing praise ♪ ♪ Praise the Father ♪ ♪ Praise the Son ♪ ♪ Praise the Spirit ♪ ♪ Three in one ♪ ♪ Not a glory ♪ ♪ God of glory ♪ ♪ Majesty ♪ ♪ Praise forever to the King ♪ ♪ Of kings and ♪ ♪ To reveal the kingdom coming ♪ ♪ And to reckon shall the lost ♪ ♪ To redeem the whole creation ♪ ♪ We did not just vice a cross ♪ ♪ For even in your shock ♪ ♪ Get soft to the other side ♪ ♪ Knowing this was our salvation ♪ ♪ Jesus, for a sick you died ♪ ♪ Oh, praise the Father ♪ ♪ Praise the Father ♪ ♪ Praise the Son ♪ ♪ Praise the Spirit ♪ ♪ Three in one ♪ ♪ God of glory ♪

♪ Majesty ♪ ♪ We praise forever to the King ♪ ♪ Of kings ♪ ♪ Let's pray ♪ ♪ In the morning that you rose ♪ ♪ All of heaven held its breath, you sing ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ And the ten rose from their tombs ♪ ♪ And the angels stood in awe ♪ ♪ For the souls of all who come ♪ ♪ Through the Father our restore ♪ ♪ In the church of Christ was born ♪ ♪ And the Spirit hid the faith ♪ ♪ Now this gospel to the Lord ♪ ♪ Shall not kneel, shall not fade ♪ ♪ On His blood in His name ♪ ♪ In His free of my every ♪ ♪ For the love of Jesus Christ ♪ ♪ Who has a way to return me ♪ ♪ Take praise above us ♪ ♪ Praise the Father ♪ ♪ Praise the Son ♪ ♪ Praise the Spirit ♪ ♪ Praise the Spirit ♪ ♪ Praise the Spirit ♪ ♪ Praise the Spirit ♪ ♪ For the Father for me ♪ ♪ Lord of glory ♪ ♪ I just see the only place ♪ ♪ Forever in the King ♪

♪ Praise the Father ♪ ♪ Praise the Son ♪ ♪ Praise the Spirit ♪ ♪ Three and four ♪ ♪ God of the glory ♪ ♪ Majesty, praise forever dear to the King of King ♪ ♪ Praise forever to the King of kings ♪ ♪ We praise forever to the King of kings ♪ ♪ Of kings ♪ (gentle music) ♪ Praise forever to the King of kings ♪ ♪ Praise forever to the King of kings ♪ ♪ Praise forever to the King of kings ♪ (gentle music) ♪ Praise forever to the King of kings ♪ (gentle music) (upbeat music) ♪ Oh Lord, my God ♪ ♪ When I am lost and wonder ♪ ♪ Consider all the worlds that hand at me ♪ ♪ I see the stars ♪ ♪ And I hear the rolling thunder ♪ ♪ Thy power throughout ♪ ♪ The universe displayed ♪ ♪ And this seems my soul ♪ ♪ My savior God to thee ♪ ♪ How great thou are ♪ ♪ How great thou are ♪ ♪ Then seems my soul ♪ ♪ My savior God to thee ♪

♪ How great thou are ♪ ♪ How great thou are ♪ ♪ And when I think ♪ ♪ That God is son not sparing ♪ ♪ Send him to die ♪ ♪ Our scares can take it ♪ ♪ That on the cross ♪ ♪ My burden gladly bearing ♪ ♪ He bled and I ♪ ♪ To take away my sin ♪ ♪ It seems my soul ♪ ♪ My savior God to thee ♪ ♪ How great thou are ♪ ♪ How great thou are ♪ ♪ Then seems my soul ♪ ♪ My savior God to thee ♪ ♪ How great thou are ♪ ♪ How great thou are ♪ ♪ How great thou are ♪ ♪ When Christ shall come ♪ ♪ With shout, proclamation ♪ ♪ And take me home ♪ ♪ What joy shall fill my heart ♪ ♪ Then I shall come ♪ ♪ I'm home by the racial ♪ ♪ And then proclaim ♪ ♪ My God, how great thou are ♪ ♪ It seems my soul ♪ ♪ My savior God to thee ♪ ♪ What great thou are ♪

♪ How great thou are ♪ ♪ Then seems my soul ♪ ♪ My savior God to thee ♪ ♪ How great thou are ♪ ♪ How great thou are ♪ ♪ This seems my soul ♪ ♪ My savior God to thee ♪ ♪ How great thou are ♪ ♪ Why don't you Jesus ♪ ♪ This is my savior God ♪ ♪ My savior God to thee ♪ ♪ How great thou are ♪ ♪ How great thou are ♪ ♪ To thee, how great thou are ♪ ♪ How great thou are ♪ ♪ How great thou are ♪ ♪ How great thou are ♪ ♪ Whoa ♪ Father, you were great. ♪ You were the one that's great ♪ ♪ I thank you that right now you are here. ♪ And you were great. ♪ Thank you, Father, for being the same God that created this universe and knit us together. I thank you that you are the one that knows us by name. It's amazing to me that you know the names of every person in this room right now, that you know the name of every person that's watching online through these cameras, you know the name of every woman at God behind bars, and that you've given plans for our life, meaning

and value for us, not as employees or as leaders, but as sons and daughters. Would you help us know that we matter to you? Or if anybody in this place today may feel far from you, hasn't placed their faith in the trust in Jesus, by grace through faith in Christ, that today would be that day. There'd be newness of life in this place today, and that you would empower us and that we would leave so that the city of Nashville, our neighbors and those around us, one person at a time, would experience your love because of the way that we live. That we would leave this place and preach the gospel and when absolutely necessary use words, but that we would preach the gospel in action, in serving, in seeing people and loving people, because you loved us, how great is our God? So we make much of you today, and we just say thank you that you have made a way for us to know you, because you know us. So speak to us today, I'm praying, in Jesus' name, Amen, Amen, hey, while we're standing, I want to share for ten seconds with you, part of my story and journey, really part of how I got here is that I have a dad who served in the military and then as a first responder and had some tough times in the journey and that's where he found Jesus and then he prayed for a call in my life and I get to serve as campus pastor here because of veterans like my dad. I get to stand here freely and praise and worship God because of veterans like my dad and some of you are in the room, so I just want to say thank you, thank you for serving, thank you for sacrificing so that we, you and me, can have a place to gather freely and sing about a great God. You may be seated. We honor you today. Welcome to Crosspoint, so glad that you are with us today. All the campuses across Middle Tennessee, ladies who are joining us that got behind bars and those with us online. It's good to be back today. My wife, Rian and I, we were in Georgia. We had an opportunity to preach at a friend of mine, Jason Britt, pastor of the church

called Bethlehem church, right outside of Athens had a chance to preach there last week and it was special for me and it was special for me because we got to preach, we got to be where Raleigh, our oldest daughter, where she's on staff, where she works and so it's a special to be able to preach there and they do a Thursday night service and so we're walking in the first service and my daughter Raleigh, she looked at me and she said, "Dad, do you get nervous before you preach?" I said, "Well, Raleigh, there's a fear of the Lord that I feel in our sense but I don't know that I'd say that I get nervous and I said, "Why? Are you nervous?" I was like, "Why are you nervous?" She said, "Dad, don't mess this up." And so-- (congregation laughs) So, I'm gonna try not to mess this up today, and my prayer is not that you would see me, but that you would see Jesus, and that you would hear a word for Him from Him, as we're looking at this series called "Stay the Course," and we're in the book of Acts, and so you can turn with me to Acts chapter 14, verses 21 to 28, and as you're turning there, I'll set this up with a story. This past summer, at the beginning of the summer, my son, our son, Durham, who is-- He's a sophomore at Auburn, and he came home from school. He said, "Dad," he said, "I'm gonna run a race." I wanna run a race, and I said, "Well, tell me about this race." And he said, "It's a 50-mile race." And my first thought was, "What's her name?" Because surely, there's some girl that has talked you in to running this race.

He said, "Well, there's no girl." He says, "Just me and my friends." And so he starts training. And by the end of the summer, he'd been training for this race, but then some of his friends called him up and said, "Hey, instead of doing a 50-mileer, we're gonna do a 50k." And are you up for that? He said, "Yeah, so 50k is still 31 miles." And so it was 31-mile race, and on race day, we drove down to Talladega to support him and to encourage him. And we saw him at the start, and we saw him at the finish, and we saw him at the halfway point. And so this is the video of, at the start, they're just going out, they're running. And he's excited, but he's smiling really big 'cause that was the start. And as we're following him, it's kind of different following because I was following him. We were following him on "Find My Friends." And so all we're doing is just watching this little dot go through the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. And so we're watching him go. And then here's a picture of the finish. And so this is when he was crossing the finish, still smiling, he is smiling. And when it was over, I asked him. I was like, "Man, that's 31 miles through the woods. How did you know where to go? Like, how did you know where to go?

That's a long way through the woods." And he said, "There were these little flags along the way. There were these little flags that were planted that I would just look for the next flag and just keep going. I'll just keep going, looking for the next flag." And I was thinking, "Man, that's a lot like life." It's a lot like life in that there are these markers along the way to encourage us and to help us keep going. But life is more like an endurance race than a sprint. In a sprint, you just kind of close your eyes and just go as fast. I mean, sometimes you just close, I know, 'cause I've done it. I'm just like, "Please get this over." And so just 40, if you're running 40 yards, you just kind of just go and you can see the finish line the whole time. But in life, we can't see the finish line. We don't know when the finish line's gonna be, but it's more like an endurance race where we just keep going. And in life, the reality is if we don't pay attention and if we miss a mark or we can get off the trail, we can lose our way, we can end up somewhere we never wanna be. Like, Tuscaloosa, somewhere for all of our students, that's not where they wanna be. They were like, "How do we keep going? "How do we keep going in this race?" And with a 40-yard dash, like we can,

we don't have that much time to think, but in an endurance race, you got a lot of thoughts. Like, "Why am I doing this?" And can I finish? And can I keep going? And what is the purpose? So you have a lot of time to think to yourself kind of thoughts in an endurance race and look for the markers I've been thinking about today. My prayer is that you would be encouraged to keep going. It's not quit, don't give up, to stay the course. So we're talking about in this series and I wonder who needs this reminder today, maybe in your marriage or in your parenting, whether it's toddlers or whether it's teenagers or in your ministry or in your career, maybe in your recovery journey, keep going. Maybe you're paying off debt, keep going. Maybe in your grief and in your great sadness in life, maybe in a health situation that you're in, I just want to encourage you with some words that our friend Jason Britt were talking to him and said, "Jason, what's the most important lesson you've learned "in 15 years as a senior pastor?" He said, "It's this, if you don't quit, you win." Oh, that's a good word. Whatever you're going through today, if you don't quit, you win. And faithfulness is the reward and the finish line is the reward

and we want to finish well. And in fact, we've been looking at this journey of Paul and Barnabas as they were on their first journey. They didn't know it was the first one. They didn't know there would be many to come, but they're on that journey, and as we've looked at this, and just kind of give you a recap of what they've been doing. They've been preaching the gospel. They've been making disciples. They've been starting churches. They've been sharing Jesus everywhere they go. They've been taking the gospel to the Gentiles, to the non-Jews, and so they're going from town to town, just to recap it with a map, and just tell you where they've been. They left Antioch, and they went to Cyprus, and there was a Roman governor there. They shared the gospel, the Roman governor, who came to faith, and then they continued going. They went to Poseidon, Poseidon Antioch, and the whole town gathers to hear the word of God, and people began to put their faith and trust in Jesus, coming to faith, and the religious crowd, well, they get jealous, and then they end up running them off, and they run them out of town, then they get to Iconium, and here there was, in Iconium, there was a plot to actually kill Paul and Barnabas, and so they hear about this plot. They flee, and they leave, and they go to the next town, to Lestra, and God heals a man there

who had never walked before. And so the people, actually, they think that Paul and Barnabas are gods, they go to worship them, and Paul and Barnabas turn them to the one true God, and then there were some folks from Iconium that had traveled there to stir up trouble against them. The crowd begins to riot, and the people, Stone Paul, they drag him outside of the village, thinking that he's dead. They leave him for dead, and he gets back up. The disciples gather around him, and Paul gets back up. After being able to be in stone and left for dead, he gets up, and he walks right back into the city. I'm just like, man, what a picture of staying in the course. And so then from there, they go to Derby, and they go to Derby, and that's where we're gonna pick up today in verse 21. They preach the gospel in that city, and one, a large number of disciples. Let's pray right there. Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for your truth. We pray today that faith would be strengthened, that hearts would be encouraged. We pray that the spirit of God would be poured out, and that you would do a work in every heart. And God, for those who have not received the gospel, we pray that today would be the day of salvation. God, for those who have walked you with you for a long time,

but the good news needs to be good news. And the power of the gospel would give encouragement to hearts today. We pray, Holy Spirit, that you would move in us. And God, that every person, an earshot of this word, lives would be changed by the power of your word, by your spirit. And it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen, amen. So Paul and Barney, they get to Derby, and it's there where they begin to preach. It says they preach the gospel, and in that city, one, a large number of disciples. And what is the gospel? I'm glad you asked the question. The gospel, you'd be surprised how many people grow up in church, grow up in faith, and don't know what the gospel actually is. The gospel, that word gospel means good news. It's the good news declaration, or the good news announcement. How many of us know? We live in a world that desperately needs good news. And they live in a world that needed good news, and the good news is this, the gospel is this, is that God made you, and he formed you, he made you for himself. You are not an accident. God made you on purpose, and he made you for a purpose. And the purpose of your life is to know him,

to have a relationship with him, and to walk with him. You were made for God. And God is a holy God. So that's the good news as you were made for God. It's the beginning of the good news. Here comes the bad news. The bad news is because of our sin, because of our brokenness, because of our selfishness. There is a separation between us and God, a holy God. And we can't close that gap no matter how hard we try. And God's not okay with the gap. In fact, God loves you so much that he gave his son Jesus to do what you could never do. Jesus lived a perfect life. He lived that perfect life for you. And he laid his life down on the cross. As a sacrifice for your sin, he died in your place, took your sin, took my sin, took our sin upon himself. Jesus gave his life for us so that we could be the death that we deserved. He took upon himself, the Bible says, "For the wages of sin is death." Means our sin deserves death. Jesus died that death on the cross for us. But good news, he didn't stay dead. Three days later, he rose from the dead. And Jesus is alive. And through Christ we find forgiveness, through Christ, we find life, through Christ, we find a relationship with that holy God.

He closed the gap that sin caused. And for all of us who have put our faith and who's coming back for us. For all of us who have put our faith and trust in Jesus, we have eternal life. And so we don't have to wait until we die to receive eternal life. Eternal life starts now. And so we begin that relationship. So Paul and Barnabas, they go and they're proclaiming this good news message. And these people in Derby, they're hearing it for the very first time. I want you to imagine, imagine they're hearing it for the very first time. They don't know this good news. All they know is they know what it's like to have emptiness inside. They know what it's like to be weighed down with sin and guilt and shame. They know what it's like to be turned inward in their life and long for something more. And so they hear this message that through Jesus, that their sin can be forgiven. They hear that their shame is not, it's not something that they have to care for the rest of their life. They hear that death and they were afraid of death. They hear that death is not the end. And so they see these two guys that come

and proclaim this message. One of them Barnabas, he looks like, the other one looks like he's just been hit by a truck. 'Cause he's been stoned and left for dead. Paul is delivering this message. They have their attention and Derby, it says that many of them, a large number of them, became disciples. They find Jesus, but once you see this, they didn't just find Jesus, they followed Jesus. That's what it means to be a disciple, not just converts as in they receive this truth, but they devote their lives to it, to follow Jesus. And it's a move of God. And as I've been thinking about this, the only reason that Paul and Barnabas got to see this is because they didn't give up. 'Cause they stayed the course. I mean, really, wouldn't have been reasonable for Paul to go, hey, I'm gonna go home now because they just tried to kill me. Paul would go, look, I'm gonna tap out of this race. I'm gonna call it in, I'm gonna phone it in. I'm gonna head back to the house, but he didn't. He didn't give up on what God called him to do. And so if you're taking notes, you can write down this way. Paul did not let the pain of what happened in Lestra keep him from the purpose God had in Derby. Paul did not let the pain of what happened in Lestra in his past keep him from the future that God had for him.

He didn't let what he had experienced the hurt and the pain that he experienced in Lestra keep him from what God had in Derby from the future that God had. In Galatians 6-9, Paul writes this, he says, "Therefore," he says, "Let us not become weary and doing good, "for at the proper time we will reap a harvest "if we do not give up." Maybe he was thinking about what had happened in Derby in Lestra, those two cities coming together. But he was thinking about what happened in Derby and that there was a harvest at the experience because they did not give up in Lestra. And then I think about what was shocking, what they do next, look at what they do next. It says then they return to Lestra to Iconium and Antioch, strengthening disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith. We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God, they said. Did you see that? They returned. They went back to those cities. They went back to Lestra and Iconium and Pascidian Antioch to the places where they had been run off, the places that they had been threatened and the places that they had experienced violence. They went back to the places where they experienced the most opposition and pain. There were shorter routes, there were safer routes,

there were easier routes, but instead they chose the places where they had experienced pain because there was something that mattered more than pain. It was strengthening the hearts of those believers who needed encouragement. And I've been thinking about this this week and I've been praying for you and so that's your question, is there something in your past that you're running from that God is calling you to face? Maybe it was a place, maybe it was a person, maybe it's a failure or a regret, something that happened. Listen, what we refuse to face and heal from continues to shape us. And so they go back to those places because there are believers in those cities who are living in fear. There are believers in those cities who are afraid and do you know that fear is contagious? There are a lot of things that are contagious, but fear is one of the things that's most contagious. Do you know another thing that's contagious though? It's courage. When somebody with courage or somebody with faith or somebody with peace shows up, man, it's contagious, I'll prove it to you. His name is Joe Montana. When I was growing up, Joe Montana was like, he was the greatest quarterback when I was growing up in the NFL. And Joe Montana had a nickname.

Anybody know what his nickname was? You know why his nickname was Joe Cool? 'Cause he was cool. And Joe Montana would show up number 16. He would show up in the, it didn't matter how many points they were down. It didn't matter how much pressure was going on. It didn't matter how high stakes the game were. Joe Montana would show up and everybody could be freaking out and Joe Montana would show up and he would. And people look around and they go, "Well, if Joe's cool, we're cool." Joe's not worried and what happened was his calm was contagious. His peace was contagious. His courage was contagious. The non-anxious presence that he had was contagious. Listen, church, in a world that is filled with fear, we are the ones who carry the peace of Christ. In a world where everybody is freaking out, we're the ones who carry the peace of Jesus into the huddle. And so Joe Montana, he carried this peace and we're called as followers of Jesus to carry peace. And now, once you see, this is what Paul and Barnabas did. They went to these towns. I mean, think about it. The last time they saw Paul and Barnabas, people were trying to kill him. They came back into town and Paul and Barnabas just walk into town. I don't know if they were strutting,

but they walked into town and people are going, "If they're not afraid, we don't have to be afraid." Because Paul believed that to live his Christ, to die his game, which means if I live, I'm living for Christ, if I die, I'm with Jesus. And so we've been crucified with Christ, therefore we no longer live. It's Christ that lives through me. And so for Paul understood that he's already a dead man, what you gonna do to a dead man? He's already alive. What's the worst thing that can happen? They try to kill me again. And so Paul lived with this courage that was contagious. Barnabas lived with this courage that's contagious and they're carrying it into every town that they go to. And so they bring that peace, they bring a non-anxious presence, but they also shared truth. Look what they said in verse 22. It says, "Straighthen the disciples "and encouraging them, remain true to the faith." Don't give up on your faith. This is what they said. "We must go through many hardships "to enter the kingdom of God." Now that's not a verse that you're gonna find on a mug at Hobby Lobby. That's not a three by five card or a verse of the day that people tend to go to.

We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God. I wanna tell you what that means, but before I do, let me tell you what it does not mean. It does not mean that through a lot of hard work and through a lot of suffering, that's how we earn our way to heaven. That's not what it means. Because the suffering endured so that we could have access to heaven is what Jesus paid on the cross for us. Jesus paid that price for us. We don't get to heaven because we suffer for Jesus. We get to heaven because Jesus suffered for us. So that's what it does not mean. What it does mean is that the kingdom of God is the rule and reign of Jesus. It's where the power and presence of God is experienced. The kingdom of God is where Jesus Christ is Lord. And what Paul and Barnabas are saying is when Jesus is Lord of your life, you need to know there are gonna be hard things that happen. There's gonna be trials that we go through. There's gonna be adversity that we experience in this world. But the presence of trouble doesn't mean the absence of God. Let your heart bring that in. The presence of trouble does not mean the absence of God. It's why Jesus, when he's gathered with the disciples in John chapter 16, he says in this world, you will have in this world, you will have trouble. But take heart, I have overcome the world.

You know when Jesus said this in the upper room, what was about to happen? He was about to die on the cross. Jesus is with the disciples in the huddle in the upper room. He's saying, look in my eyes, I'm not afraid. I'm not afraid of the cross. I know there's a resurrection. And so he said to me, you can trust Jesus saying, you can trust in me because I have overcome the thing that's overwhelming you. Know that today beloved that you can have faith and trust today because Jesus has already overcome the thing that is overwhelming your heart. He says, take heart, be encouraged. I've overcome the world. And so Jesus brings that kind of peace into the huddle and he brings that kind of peace into the church today so that we can trust in him and bring his peace into the world that we can continue to show up. And so that's what Paul and Barnabas did. They show up, they offer them truth and then they establish leaders. Look at verse 23, it says, Paul and Barnabas appointed elders for them in each church and with prayer and fasting committed them to the Lord and whom they had put their trust. They don't leave these churches leaderless. They appoint leaders. If you want to go far, go together. See, Paul and Barnas weren't just concerned about going fast.

They were concerned about building something that would last. And one of the most important things that we do is establish leaders in the church. Leaders who, like Paul, I want you to see this, it lays it out. It says they appoint leaders, elders, and it's plural, which means that there's a plurality of leaders to pastor, to shepherd, to oversee these churches and these believers to provide spiritual oversight. And it says they're intentional. They're intentional with it, which means that there's this verse that says don't be hasty to lay on hands, like, don't be, don't be, don't be hasty to lay on hands. And for a long time there was confusion with that verse, I was like, do you, doesn't mean you touch people when you pray? You don't touch people when you pray, I didn't know what to do with that. What we really was talking about there is that don't be quick to appoint church leaders. Like watch their lives, examine their lives, see, and Paul, he lays out. He lays out, in 1 Timothy 3 in Titus 1, these qualifications, specific qualifications for church leaders for elders. It says, and do it, it tells what they do it with prayer and fasting. They do it with prayer and fasting, so there's this seeking the Lord and the decisions that we make and who we entrust leadership to, we do it prayerfully. And then it says they committed them to the Lord. They committed them to the Lord. They say, we're entrusting leadership to you, but our ultimate trust is in the Lord. And it's in His faithfulness. And so it's why one of the things we're going to do in one church, and if you don't know, we have something incredible coming up on Wednesday night, I love it, we get to do it two times a year, and it's bring all six campuses together to come together to our national campus and to worship together. And it is one of my favorite nights as a church when we get to come together, and we worship and God just continues to show up in such a powerful way, and you can't experience it if you're not in the room.

And we gather in the round together, and just every year we've seen God bring healing, we've seen hearts encourage, we've seen encounters with God. It's a powerful night for us as a church, and one of the things we're going to do that night is we're going to pray for and bless and affirm the elders of our church as a way of encouraging them, and blessing and committing them to the Lord, our elders and our trustees. They'll just be a part of the night, but I'm going to just tell you, if you call Cross Point, the church home is going to be a night that you don't want to miss, and so that's coming up this Wednesday night. But that's what Paul and Barnabas do. They affirm the leaders, and then they continue on, verse 24. It says, "After going through Bassidia, they came to Pamphylia, and when they had preached the Word in Pergah, they went down to Atlia, and from Atlia they sailed back to Antioch where they had committed to the grace of God for the work they had now completed." I just underlined in my Bible, completed, as I thought about that. It's a two-year journey, it's two chapters in our Bibles, but it was a two-year journey, two-year journey that they finally got back. They got back to the place where it all started, and it took two years of their lives. And the assignment, here's what I want you to say, the assignment was finished, but their purpose was not. The assignment was completed, but their calling continued. I just want to encourage your heart with this. Don't confuse your assignment with your calling. Your assignment is temporary. Your calling continues. Your assignment was for a season. Your purpose is forever. Your purpose is to know God and to make him known. And that's going to happen wherever you are. But your assignment, your assignment is something that God calls you to for a specific time. And the gospel is what rescues us in this world from placing our identity in an assignment.

You better make sure you don't place your identity in an assignment because assignments change. But the truth of who you are in Christ never changes. So you need something, specifically someone, to put your identity in that will not change in this world. Assignments change, jobs change, titles change, promotions change, platforms change, relationships change. There are many things in this world that change. But the one thing that never changes is who you are in Christ and who you are to God. So the gospel rescues us from having the shifting foundation of placing our identity and our worth and our value in things that change. but from the one who made you. Your identity doesn't come from success, from your success, it comes from your Savior. Your identity doesn't come from where you work, it comes from the one who is at work in you. Your identity doesn't come from what you do, but from what Jesus has done for you. And if we wanna know how to finish an assignment well, man, we look at Paul and Barnabas 'cause they put on a master class. And so just lay it out. Look at how they hit the finish line. The first thing is that they recognize it's by God's grace. It is by God's grace. It was God's grace that called us. It was God's grace that sustained us. It was God's grace that brought us back home. The second is they give glory to God. Look with me, there's 27, it says on arriving there,

they gathered the church together and they reported all that God had done through them and how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles. We give him all the glory. So we give God glory, we got God praise. And one of the ways they do that is they give a report, they give a testimony, they say, "Let me share with you what God has done." And in verse 28 it says, "And they stayed there a long time with the disciples." They stayed. See sometimes faithfulness looks like going and sometimes faithfulness looks like staying. In a world that's constantly pursuing other things, faithfulness looks like staying so that God can do the work in us that prepares us for the next assignment. Once you think about this, Paul and Barnabas had experienced some of the greatest pain that they had known in their lives. I mean, they were run off, they were rejected. There were plots against their life. People tried to kill them. And they've been through a lot of opposition. And I was thinking, how does some of the greatest wounds that we experience life happen? Well, that they happen through people. You think back through your story, some of the greatest wounds we have in lives,

in our lives happen through people. They happen through relationships. Can I tell you how God brings the deepest healing to our lives? It happens through relationships. It happens through people. And here's what the enemy wants us to do. The enemy wants us to experience, take the pain that we've experienced in our past and isolate ourselves from the very thing that God would want to use to bring healing to our hearts. And if we allow isolation to take place, here's what happens. That bitter root grows and we cut ourselves off from experiencing the healing and the wholeness that happens from staying. And God wanted to bring healing to Paul and to Barnabas and it happened as they were with the disciples, as they were in this community of faith, as they had the believers around them. But it requires faith to trust again, to believe again, to have hope again. And that happens in a community of faith. And my prayer for you today is that you would be strengthened and that you would be encouraged. And there's more that God wants to do in that than just a message. It's gonna require getting some disciples, getting some believers, getting some other people around you.

And my prayer for you is that you would be encouraged. Man, where you feel, and there's some today where your hearts are heavy and you feel like giving up. You feel like giving up in family. Or you feel like giving up on a relationship that you're trying to repair or maybe giving up on a job where you're the only Christian, where you're the only believer that you know there or maybe giving up on a ministry or maybe it's giving up on a calling or maybe it's a dream that you've been pursuing and you're tempted to give up or maybe it is your recovery journal and you're fighting the same battle every single day or maybe it's your health and you've got some health challenges or maybe it's your faith and you've been praying and you've been trusting, you've been pouring out your heart before God and there's a miracle that you've been contending for, something you've been praying for, maybe it's life. Maybe you find yourself in a place where you've despaired of life and you need to know that God is with you and God is for you and he has a plan for you and God hasn't given up on you and that his calling and he has more for you and so the encouragement for your heart is maybe you're tired of being tired. It's that you don't have to run alone.

Do not run alone, man. There was this moment where I got to see Durham running with his friends and he was on this race and I realized he's not running alone. I mean, he had his buddies who were running with him and they were with him in the race. You weren't built to run alone. You weren't made to run alone and at no point during those 31 miles did he ever have to wonder, will there be somebody at the finish line who cares about me? Will there be somebody who's waiting for me? I got another picture there be anybody at the finish line waiting for you, the truth, the gospel truth is that in Christ if you put your trust in Christ that he will be waiting for you and one day you will see him as he is and that all will be made as it should be and so until then we continue running this race but we don't run the race alone. Let me just encourage your heart with Hebrews chapter 12. I'm going to read this passage and there's a secret that's in here and it's a secret that I want you to take hold of and we start in verse 1 and it says therefore since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, we're not running alone. There's a great cloud of witnesses in heaven cheering us on. Let us throw off everything that hinders in the sin that so easily entangles and let us run with perseverance. There's a race marked out for us. There is a race marked out for you. There's a race marked out for us and you're not going to find your race by trying to run somebody else's race. There is a race that's marked out for you. So how do you keep going when you're tired? How do you keep going when you're weary? How do you keep going when you want to give up when you feel like I can't take another step. Verse 2, here's the secret by fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. That's it. That's the secret. We fix our eyes on Jesus, the one who started and the one who was faithful to complete the work

that he started in you. So the question is how do we fix our eyes on something we can't see? How do we fix our eyes on someone that we can't see? You know how to fix your eyes on something you can't see? And we do it all the time. Fix our eyes on the stock market. Fix our eyes on politics. Fix our eyes on retirement. Fix our eyes on relationships. Fix our eyes on a promotion. Fix our eyes on a dream. Man, we know how to fix our eyes on other things. And what the Word of God is telling us is if we need strength and encouragement today that we fix our eyes on Jesus. Look at Jesus who for the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. The truth is he ran the race for you. He's already completed the race for you. He's already finished the race for you and it says for the joy set before him he endured the cross. What was the joy that was set before him? It's you. You were the joy set before him. You were why he went to the cross. So he already experienced everything that we experienced. He experienced the rejection, the loss, the betrayal, the abandonment, the suffering and he did not quit. Why did he not quit? It's you. He went to the cross to do for you what you could never do for yourself so that you wouldn't have to run alone. So that you could receive his spirit to give you strength, to keep going. So verse 3, consider him who endured such opposition from sinners so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. Did you catch it? Consider him. Think on him. Meditate on him. Focus on him. Fix your eyes on him. Consider him. So what do you do when you feel like giving up? Consider him. What do you do when you feel like hanging it up? Consider him. What do you do when you don't know where to go? Consider him. What do you do when you don't know if you can keep going? Look to Jesus. What do you do when you've been knocked down and you don't know how you can get back up? Consider him so that you don't grow weary and lose heart. You know what happens when we consider him? Is we lose weary and we gain heart. We gain courage. And it's courage not just that we need but courage that the world around us needs to see in the hope of Jesus. And so I want to pray for you and pray with you. At first for those who have never trusted Jesus that today you would receive him. The second would be an invitation for us as a church to lift our eyes to him. And I believe today that something's going to happen as we worship. As we close with a song, I believe we're going to worship the weary Let's pray together, Father. Thank you for your word.

Thank you for your truth. Thank you for the reminder of how our hearts are strengthened and encouraged in the race that you've called us to. So God, I pray today if there's anyone who has not put their trust in Jesus that needs to receive the gospel, the truth of the gospel, like those men and women, boys and girls in Derby, that it is still the power of the gospel that changes lives. So today if that's your heart, I want to invite you to pray a prayer like this and just whisper it. Father, thank you for sending Jesus to down the cross for me. I've sinned and I need your forgiveness. Jesus, I put my faith and trust in you. Turn from my sin and I turn to you and I ask you to save me. I want to run this race for you on earth and live with you forever in heaven. Thank you for saving me. Father, I pray for each and everyone who made that their prayer today. Would you give them the courage to tell somebody to come down front and to tell our prayer teams? Would you give them the courage to go public with their faith through baptism in a couple of weeks? And then God, I pray, for those of us followers of Jesus, the disciples of Jesus, I want to pray that as we sing these words and as we commit ourselves to you, God, I pray that as we sing these words and as we commit ourselves to you, God, I pray that you would do the power of your spirit. You'd wash off the weary, that you give fresh strength and encouragement, that the power of your spirit would be made manifest in our lives, in our hearts, that we would experience your power, your energy, your strength, to run this race and to not run alone. In Jesus' name we pray, amen, would you stand with me, sing together. Jesus, how I love the name Jesus, what a price you paid, the cross, the grave, the spirit who overcame lives and loves, and I find my strength in you, my champion, it's not going with me, you are me, you are me, and so I run, leaving my chains behind me, I run,

knowing you'd go before me, if I crawl, if I stumble through you, I'll keep my eyes on Jesus. Jesus stood in the face of fear, Jesus, protect her in part of here, you let the promise go away, the promise so headed away through the earth, so I run, leaving my chains behind me, I run, knowing you'd go before me, if I crawl, if I crawl, if I stumble through you, I'll keep my eyes on Jesus. I run, I run, leaving my chains behind me, I run, leaving my chains behind me, I run, ♪ Don't grow weary, don't give up ♪ ♪ We can trust in the Father's love ♪ ♪ Lift your head, raise a shout ♪ ♪ Our God is here, here with us now ♪ ♪ Don't grow weary, don't give up ♪ ♪ We can trust in the Father's love ♪ ♪ Lift your head, raise a shout ♪ ♪ Our God is here, here with us now ♪ ♪ Don't grow weary, don't give up ♪ ♪ We can trust in the Father's love ♪ ♪ Lift your head, raise a shout ♪ ♪ Our God is here, here with us now ♪ ♪ 'Cause I find my strength in you ♪ ♪ My champion ♪ ♪ If not, you go with me ♪ ♪ And I'll be there ♪ ♪ And so I run ♪ ♪ Leaving my chains behind me I love ♪ ♪ Knowing you've all before me ♪ ♪ If I walk, if I crawl ♪ ♪ If I stumble through it all ♪ ♪ I'll keep my eyes on Jesus ♪ ♪ I'll keep my eyes on Jesus ♪

♪ Don't grow weary, don't give up ♪ ♪ We can trust in the Father's love ♪ ♪ Lift your head, raise a shout ♪ ♪ Our God is here, here with us now ♪ ♪ Don't grow weary, don't give up ♪ ♪ We can trust in the Father's love ♪ ♪ Lift your head, raise a shout ♪ ♪ Our God is here, here with us now ♪ ♪ Yeah ♪ ♪ Oh, here's here with us now ♪ ♪ I know what I'm up, here's here with us now ♪