How are you keeping Jesus the main thing? | Acts 13:13-52 | Dave Stone

♪ Higher than the mountains that I face ♪ ♪ Stronger than the power of the rain ♪ ♪ Yeah, constant in the trial and the change ♪ ♪ It is one in me ♪ ♪ It remains ♪ ♪ If you know what, sing it loud as you can ♪ ♪ We say ♪ ♪ Your love never fails, never gives ♪ ♪ It never runs out on me ♪ ♪ Come on, your love never fails ♪ ♪ Never gives, never times ♪ ♪ Yeah, so your love never fails ♪ ♪ Never gives, it never runs out on me ♪ ♪ Oh, yeah, come on ♪ ♪ Come on church, let's have church this morning ♪ ♪ We say, hold it on ♪ ♪ Hold it on, it on, it on, it goes ♪ ♪ Yeah, and it overwhelms ♪ ♪ It satisfies my soul ♪ ♪ Come and I never, ever have to be afraid ♪ ♪ 'Cause this one thing ♪ ♪ If we make sin again, this one thing ♪ ♪ This one thing ♪ ♪ It remains ♪ ♪ Everybody singing your love never fails ♪ ♪ It never gives, it never runs out on me ♪ ♪ Yeah, so your love never fails ♪ ♪ Never gives, it never runs out on me ♪ ♪ Your love never fails ♪ ♪ It never gives, it never runs out on me ♪

♪ Oh, yeah, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Yeah, so your love never fails ♪ ♪ It never gives, it never runs out on me ♪ ♪ Oh, yeah, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Oh, yeah, so your love never fails ♪ ♪ It remains ♪ ♪ There's nothing that can separate my heart ♪ ♪ From your brain and heart ♪ ♪ Sing it out your love, your love never fails ♪ ♪ Say your love, your love never fails ♪ ♪ Come on, it's a reason I need to say ♪ ♪ Sing it out your love never fails ♪ ♪ Oh, yeah, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Come on, we say, on and on ♪ ♪ On and on and on and on and on ♪ ♪ It goes right all the way ♪ ♪ It all the world is as fast as my soul ♪ ♪ And I've never had to have ♪ ♪ Never, ever happened to be afraid ♪ ♪ Why, 'cause it's one thing ♪ ♪ Yeah, it remains ♪ ♪ That's the proof of it that there's one thing ♪ ♪ It remains ♪ ♪ Your love never fails ♪ ♪ It never gives up ♪ ♪ It never runs out ♪ ♪ Sing it out your love, your love never fails ♪ ♪ It never runs out ♪ ♪ Say your love, your love never fails ♪ ♪ It never gives up ♪

♪ It never runs out of me ♪ ♪ Yeah, it never hurts ♪ ♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah ♪ ♪ Come on, baby, if you're glad ♪ ♪ That we serve a God that never fails ♪ ♪ Never gives up ♪ ♪ It never runs out ♪ ♪ Can we skip a verse in Jesus ♪ (audience cheering) - Thank you for that truth, love. You never fail us, you never will. Your help comes from Jesus, thank you. (gentle music) ♪ God, I look to you ♪ ♪ I want the overwhelm ♪ ♪ Give me vision ♪ ♪ God, I love to you ♪ ♪ Your well and my help comes from ♪ ♪ Give me wisdom ♪ ♪ You know just what to do, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪ (gentle music) ♪ God, I love to you ♪ ♪ I won't be overwhelmed ♪ ♪ Give me vision ♪ ♪ To see things like you do ♪ ♪ God, I love to you ♪ ♪ Your well and my help comes from ♪ ♪ Give me wisdom ♪ ♪ You know just what to do ♪ ♪ I will love you, Lord, my strength ♪

♪ I will love you, Lord, my shield ♪ ♪ And I will love you, Lord, my rod ♪ ♪ Forever all my days ♪ ♪ I will love you, God, and I will love you ♪ ♪ And I will love you, Lord, my strength ♪ ♪ I will love you, Lord, my shield ♪ ♪ And I will love you, Lord, my rod ♪ ♪ Forever all my days ♪ ♪ I will love you, God ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, hark of the rain ♪ ♪ Sing it out, sing hallelujah ♪ ♪ Hark of the rain ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, hark of the rain ♪ ♪ Forever all my days ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, hark of the rain ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, hark of the rain ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, hark of the rain ♪ ♪ Forever all my days ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ Oh, we sing hallelujah ♪ ♪ Yes, we sing hallelujah ♪ ♪ Oh, we sing to Father ♪ ♪ Oh, where I tell the promise of unto Him ♪ ♪ And I will love you, Lord, my King ♪ ♪ And I will love you, Lord, my King ♪ ♪ I will love you, Lord, my shield ♪ ♪ I will love you, Lord, my Lord ♪ ♪ Forever all my days ♪ ♪ I will love you, Lord, my King ♪

♪ And I will love you, Lord, my King ♪ ♪ I will love you, Lord, my shield ♪ ♪ I will love you, Lord, my heart ♪ ♪ Forever all my days ♪ ♪ I will love you, Lord ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, hark of the rain ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, hark of the rain ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, hark of the rain ♪ ♪ Forever all my days ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, sing, hallelujah ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, hark of the rain ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, hark of the rain ♪ ♪ Our God reigns ♪ ♪ Forever all my days hallelujah ♪ ♪ Our God reigns, hallelujah ♪ ♪ I am an instrument of exultation ♪ ♪ And I was born to lift your name above all names ♪ ♪ You hear the melody of all creation ♪ ♪ But there's a song of praise that only I can bring ♪ ♪ Come on, who else is worthy ♪ ♪ Who else is worthy ♪ ♪ There is no one only you Jesus ♪ ♪ Who else is worthy, yeah ♪ ♪ Who else is worthy ♪ ♪ There is no one only you Jesus ♪ ♪ You are the infinite God of the ages ♪ ♪ And yet you choose to make my heart your dwelling place ♪ ♪ But you healed my loneliness ♪ ♪ Showed me your glory ♪ ♪ So I have songs of thanks not even angels sing ♪

♪ Say who else is worthy ♪ ♪ Who else is worthy ♪ ♪ There is no one only you Jesus ♪ ♪ Who else is worthy ♪ ♪ Who else is worthy ♪ Come on, sing it out to him, we sing. ♪ There is no one only you Jesus ♪ ♪ Yeah, who else is worthy ♪ ♪ Who else is worthy, give him the glory ♪ ♪ There is no one only you Jesus ♪ ♪ Who else is worthy ♪ ♪ Who else is worthy ♪ ♪ Give him all to him ♪ ♪ Come on, come on ♪ ♪ Who else is worthy ♪ ♪ Give him the glory ♪ ♪ There is no one only you Jesus ♪ ♪ Who else is worthy ♪ ♪ Give him the glory ♪ ♪ Give him the glory ♪ ♪ Give him the glory ♪ ♪ We say the Lamb of God anointed one ♪ ♪ Holy, holy, the righteous one ♪ ♪ Who shed his blood to hold ♪ ♪ What the fathers look on Jesus Christ ♪ ♪ The Lamb of God who wants it is ♪ ♪ Who we sing and come on, sing and listen ♪ ♪ Holy, the righteous one ♪ ♪ We stand to prove to us ♪ ♪ Oh, there's only one ♪

♪ Come on, give it to him ♪ ♪ We say who else is worthy ♪ ♪ Who else is worthy ♪ ♪ There is no one only you Jesus ♪ ♪ Come on, sing who else is worthy ♪ ♪ Yeah, who else is worthy ♪ ♪ Oh, there is no one ♪ ♪ Come on, give it up, there is no one ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ There is no one only you Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Come on, lift it up all up the room ♪ ♪ We say, say who else is worthy ♪ ♪ Who else is worthy ♪ ♪ Come on, let it go ♪ ♪ We say, there is no one ♪ ♪ Who else is worthy, say who else is worthy ♪ ♪ Come on, give it ♪ ♪ Who else is worthy ♪ ♪ There is no one, say, there is no one ♪ ♪ One more time, there is no, there is no one ♪ ♪ Give it up, there is no, there is no one ♪ ♪ Who needs you ♪ ♪ There is no one ♪ (upbeat music) ♪ Come on, give it up all up the room ♪ ♪ Come on, give it up all up the room ♪ ♪ Come on, give it up all up the room ♪ ♪ Come on, give it up all up the room ♪ ♪ Come on, give it up all up the room ♪

♪ Come on, give it up all up the room ♪ ♪ Come on, give it up all up the room ♪ (upbeat music) - Welcome to Crosspoint. It's so glad that we get an opportunity to worship together. We're in a series of teachings called "Stay the Chorus" for our second week of the series. And I'm loving going through the book of Acts together and discovering together who we are as the church. And today we get an opportunity to hear from Pastor Dave Stone. And Pastor Dave Stone is a mentor and a friend of mine for quite some time, one that I've learned from, one that I admire, one that I respect, and that I look up to not just because he's the podium, this tall and as, yeah, okay, so we'll go back to this. So, Pastor Dave is someone that really in the pastoral world is a bit of a legend. He pastored at Southeast Christian Church for 30 years, and he's handed things off to Kyle Eitelman there. And since then, since leaving the pastor at full time, he's been investing in churches and leading and investing in other pastors. And as much as I admire and respect who he is in ministry, I admire and respect even more who he is outside of ministry with his family. And the way that he loves his family, his wife Beth, he has wife Beth, they have three grown children and they have 12 grandchildren, I think we have a picture, 12 grandchildren, they've got a 13th coming up next month,

and so they're getting ready for that. And just the way that he loves and cares for his family preaches more than even what he would say on a platform. And I came to this realization this past summer, it was that every pastor needs a pastor. And I came to a realization and conviction that while I have elders at the church and I have friends, I have mentors, I don't have a pastor. And so I began to pray about that and pray about who I should ask to be my pastor. And I felt like I would put Pastor Dave on my heart. And so I knew that would be a conversation we needed to have. So we set up a lunch, told me I wanted to meet up, something I need to talk to them about, a question that I'd want to ask him. And I was so nervous, 'cause what if he says no? Yeah, and so we set a date on the calendar, said everyone to me and I was gonna drive up to Louisville in classic Pastor Dave fashion. He was like, no, I'll drive toward you, I'll meet you. So we met somewhere in the middle. And when we met up, had the conversation, and I asked him if he would be my pastor. And of course he said yes, or else I wouldn't be telling you the story, but he said yes. And I can't tell you how much it means to me and to my family and to our church that he is, he said yes to serve as my pastor. And so I want to ask you to give a warm cross point welcome

to our friend and my pastor, Pastor Dave Stone. (audience applauds) - That means a lot, thank you, thank you so much. Thank you. Well, thank you, that was very kind of you, Kevin. And I love this man, you got a great leader. You're very blessed. I know you realize that and know that I hope that you do anyway. But I appreciate your kind words. He is more of a blessing to me than I am to him. I can promise you that. I do want to welcome all of our campuses. Thanks for being in worship today. This is Clergy Appreciation Month for another few days. So I want to say each campus- Here we go, start putting your hands together. We're grateful for Pepe at Bellevue, James at Dixon, Justin at Franklin, JB at Hendersonville, Bernie at Mount Juliet, Marissa at God Behind Bars, and Darren at Nashville. Thank you to all of these spiritual leaders, Pastor Kevin, thank you so much for the way you lead that team, and this is an amazing place because of the fact that God is front and center, and Jesus is the focus. Sometimes when I speak at a conference or a banquet, an administrative assistant will reach out and they will contact me, and they'll say, "Do you have any food allergies?" And I will write back and say, "Oh, I'm glad you asked because I'm lactose intolerant," which basically means that you can't eat any good food.

And I've also discovered that the news of my dairy allergy rarely gets passed on to the actual food people. I don't know why they're great at taking it, but they're not great at passing it on. So I'll be speaking at a luncheon or a dinner, and they will serve me macaroni and cheese with a glass of whole milk and buttermilk pie with a scoop of ice cream, right? That might be a little bit of an exaggeration. But a few years ago, there was one exception. I was at an event right here in Nashville. It was a dinner with about 70 people. The host had brought in a Grammy Award winner to have a private concert for us after dinner. He was seated at a different table about eight feet away from me, and the lady in charge of the meal was helping the servers deliver the entrees. And just after a young gal with a lot of pomp and circumstance, it had placed the plate down right in front of me. The lady in charge of the meal came running over in an allowed voice. She said, "No, no, no. He doesn't get that. He's lactose intolerant." The whole place shook. Everybody looked. Everyone from everyone was just staring at me. People were looking at me like, "You know, I knew there was something different about him." My face immediately turned bright red. Everyone is now gawking at me. Men, women, Grammy Award winners. They're just staring at me. I was so embarrassed at my own table.

The people on either side of me took their chairs and scooted over two inches. One of them was my wife. So that's the plight that I have. But I want you to know that every time that I come to cross point, they're on top of everything for me. I got a donut today that was gluten-free and dairy-free. And it tasted decent. It really did, all right? We're in a series out of the book of Acts. We've been walking through the book of Acts. You're learning a whole lot about it. I want to point out the obvious of what you've already seen. And that is that Christians are relying on the power of the Holy Spirit all throughout the book of Acts. You just see the Holy Spirit front and center. He's always there and they are so dependent on Him. We're going to pick it up in Acts chapter 13, verse 13. It starts by saying from Paphas, Paul and his companion sailed to Perga in Pamphylia, where John left them to return to Jerusalem. Sounds like a tongue twister, doesn't it, right? From Paphas, Paul and his pals pivoted to Perga in Pamphylia, right? But it's the beginning of another missionary journey. And this one is going to go to Passidian Antioch. And Paul and his friends, they enter into the synagogue. And there they're going to hear the readings from the law and the prophets. And the leader in the synagogue will invite Paul to address the crowd with any encouraging words that Paul might have. We pick it up in verse 16. Standing up, Paul motioned with his hand and said, "Fellow Israelites and you Gentiles who worship God, listen to me."

The God of the people of Israel chose our ancestors. He made the people prosper during their stay in Egypt with mighty power. He led them out of that country. And what we're about to study is actually the very first recorded sermon in the synagogue in the book of Acts. And Paul will preach it. If we were to divide this message into three different parts, the first section would be, "Remember the promise." Remember the promise. Paul reminds them of God's faithfulness all the way back from their captivity in Egypt and the dramatic deliverance to the time moves forward in their history. Look at verses 20 through 22. All of this took about 450 years, and after this, God gave them judges until the time of Samuel the prophet. And then the people asked for a king, and he gave them Saul, son of Kish, of the tribe of Benjamin, who ruled for 40 years. After removing Saul, he made David their king, and God testified concerning him, "I have found David, son of Jesse, a man after my own heart. He will do everything I want him to do." So Paul spans another stretch of time as he talks about the judges and then how the Israelites begged God for a king, like all the other nations had. God, sometimes he does, gave them the desires of their heart, and they got their king named Saul. He turned out real well. He was more interested in building his empire rather than God's kingdom. And eventually, God shows a young man named David, a man after God's own heart. Why is that important? Well, it's because it's King David. He was one of Israel's greatest kings, and more importantly, God had promised that the

Messiah, the Savior of the world, would come through David's family line. Look at the next verse, verse 23. From this man's descendants, God has brought to Israel the Savior Jesus as he promised. This is it. God made a promise, and he kept it. The long story of Israel was leading to someone. It was leading all the way to Jesus. So we're about to move from remembering the promise to the second stage of this, and that is to recognize the Savior. Everything comes back to Jesus. Everything comes back to his identity. Look at verses 26 and 27. Fellow children of Abraham, and you, God, fearing Gentiles, there's Gentiles there too. It's interesting. It is to us that this message of salvation has been sent. The people of Jerusalem and the rulers did not recognize Jesus, yet in condemning Him, they fulfilled the words of the prophets that are read every Sabbath. Paul is painting for them a picture to show that Jesus was who he claimed to be. That's why he mentions prophecy. Prophecy is one of the strongest proofs as to the authenticity of Scripture, but also the identity of our Savior. And yet, many who knew the Scriptures failed to recognize Christ's identity when He walked the earth. I do a lot of traveling, and so I find myself in airports quite frequently, and in order to get on an airplane, you have to be able to prove your identity. So I'll pull out my real life ID, and there must be certainty, and so you need to be able to prove and substantiate who you are. As Kevin mentioned for over 30 years, I preached at a church in Louisville, Kentucky, and I guess it was about maybe 20 years ago, one summer day, I went to lunch with a couple of other staff guys from the church, and we went over to a chili restaurant for lunch

where we often go, and when we came in, my two buddies, they went ahead and sat down, and I saw some different people from church, so I went over and said hi to different people and was kind of working through different tables, and then I saw this young lady over at another table, and she kind of motioned for me to come over, and so I just thought she was probably somebody from church, so I went over and said hey, how are you? She said I know who you are, I said oh really, and she said you're Craig Wood's brother, and I said no, no I'm not, I think you got me mistaken with somebody else. She said oh no, I know you're Craig Wood's brother, you're kidding me, right? And I said no, I'm really not, and she said are you sure? Well, at this point I am starting to wonder myself, right, because she was quite convincing, and I said to her, I said well I have one brother, he lives in Ohio, but his name is not Craig Wood's, I said I'm sorry to disappoint you, she said oh you're kidding me, you're kidding me, and although she didn't seem to believe my explanation, she reluctantly said okay, well I went over to my table and started eating with my buddies, I told them the story, they got a kick out of it, is that girl and her friend were walking past our table to leave the restaurant, I stopped her and I said hey I want to be honest with you, I actually do know a guy named Craig Wood's, I said he's dark-conflected, he has brown hair, and he's taller, he's about 30 years old, and as I said each thing, it was like a light bulb came on in her mind, a smile crept across her. no." Well, I started laughing, and she misinterpreted my laughter as part of some calculated cover-up. I said, "I'm really not." She looks at my two buddies and said, "He's Craigwood's brother, isn't he?" And in unison, they both said, "Yes, he is." And she said, "I knew it. I knew it all along." And you see her out in the parking lot pointing back at me and gesturing demonstratively to her friend, saying, "I knew it. I knew it all along." Her mind was made up. Cases of mistaken identity are more common than you may think, especially when it comes to the divine. And as a result, some people try to fashion God into what they want him to be. My God wants me to be happy, and so we begin to believe that something can't be wrong if it feels so right. My God would never allow me to go through health challenges, and yet Jesus says, "In this world you will have trouble but take heart for I have overcome the world." Or we throw a pity party for ourselves and say, "Oh, my God could never forgive me."

And yet if we genuinely are remorseful and repentant, he banishes our sin as far as the east is from the west. So here's the news flash. It doesn't matter what type of a God you concoct or fashion. The God as described in the Bible is the only God that matters. You see, like the woman at the chili place, if in your mind you already strongly believe something, then you aren't interested in listening to the facts. And so you will just continue to reinforce your own opinions that you've already arrived at. And that's part of what's going on here in Acts 13. Some of the people in the crowd who are listening to Paul teach. Some of them are Jews, and some of them are Gentiles. The Gentiles are new to this because in recent chapters, as we've studied here, it's been made clear that the gospel message is for everyone, for God so loved the world, not just the Jews. Verse 27, "The people of Jerusalem and their rulers did not recognize Jesus, yet in condemning Him they fulfilled the words of the prophets that are read every Sabbath." Did you catch that? He's not minsing any words. Paul's saying, "Hey, the Jews, the chosen people, you religious leaders, you missed the Messiah. You waited centuries for His arrival, and you were so focused on a military kingdom or a political kingdom that you missed the king. They didn't recognize Him. They had the Scriptures, but they missed the Savior. They had religion, but they missed the relationship. They had information, but they missed transformation. So it makes you wrestle with this question. What if the greatest danger isn't rejecting Jesus, but it's being around Jesus and never really seeing Him? Some of you maybe tried the religion stuff, and you found that you came up empty. It was just ritualistic rules and restrictions and legalistic leanings that left you empty. Something was missing, or more accurately, someone was missing. It was a religion, not a relationship, until you discovered that Jesus loves you unconditionally, and it's not based on your behavior. It's something called grace. And until you grasp that and accept that, you'll remain empty and feeling incomplete. And that's where you come in, because you can share that message of hope. You can share with others the message of Jesus, and it changes everything, and the emphasis and the focus has to be on Jesus. He must be central in our own lives and calling the shots. One of the best leadership principles is this simple truth. The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing. And Paul is saying Jesus is the main thing. Jesus should be front and center. Jesus should be the focus of our preaching and our talking with others

and the focus of our living. We want to make Jesus famous across Middle Tennessee. What's the most convincing proof that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God? What does Paul talk about when he has this audience's attention for a few minutes? Well, notice that Paul doesn't talk about the fact that Jesus was a powerful preacher, although he was. And Paul doesn't talk about his ability to heal, although he could. He doesn't bring in his culture, although we all know he could have done that. Instead, Paul beats a path to one weekend in the life of Jesus. Three days out of 33 years on this earth because it is the heart of Christianity, it is the hinge of history, and it's where our hope is. The death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Friday, that day when man was at his worst, but God was at his best, hmm. Verses 28 and 29, this is what Paul says. Though they found no proper ground for a death sentence, they asked Pilate to have him executed. And when they had carried out all that was written about him, they took him down from the cross and they laid him in a tomb. Friday brought the cross. Saturday brought silence. Jesus really was dead and gone. This wasn't a bad dream. It happened, but then came Sunday. And Paul is going to drive this home, the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Look at verses 30 through 33. But God raised him from the dead. And for many days, he was seen by those who had traveled with him from Galilee to Jerusalem.

They are now his witnesses to our people. We tell you the good news. What God promised our ancestors, he has fulfilled for us, their children, by raising up Jesus. This distinctive makes Jesus stand out from every other world leader. It's the resurrection of Jesus. No one can argue. Anyone who walks out of his own grave is whoever he says that he is. And his resurrection has implications for each and every one of us, because he conquered death, we can too. Hebrews chapter nine, verse 27 says, "These people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, he's paved the way for us." Jesus didn't die because he had to. He died so that you could, so that you could face death. And it would be okay. And with the apostle Paul, you can say, "Where oh death is your sting, where oh death is your victory." He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Heaven is our eternal address, made possible through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and that gives us hope. Last fall, I spoke at a weekend program in Scottsdale,

and I got to hear from another speaker. Her name was Tammy Jo Schultz. She was one of the first female fighter pilots to serve in the U.S. Navy. But she later became a Southwest Airline pilot, and she made headlines in 2018, when she safely landed a Boeing 737 after the engine exploded. It was heading from LaGuardia to Dallas Love Field, and she told the gripping story of the chaotic events and the instant wind some debris from the engine explosion came flying through a window, killing a passenger and leaving a gaping hole in the side of the airplane in row 14. But Tammy said that after she was able to get the plane out of a dive and limping its way, sideways in the air in the midst of the crisis, she got on the intercom, and this is what she said to all the passengers. She said, "This is your captain speaking. "We're gonna go to Philly. "We will land there safely." It's quite a story. The landing itself was miraculous, but she said that she later learned from the passengers that them hearing that announcement that they were going to the airport in Philadelphia changed things for the passengers. She said that having a destination gave them hope, and the same is true for the Christ follower.

And in Acts 13, Paul is saying, while you're living out this life on earth, have some confidence, if you are a believer, then your destination is in heaven, and that should give you hope. Here are the two most important verses in the entire chapter of Acts 13, verses 38 and 39. Therefore, my friends, I want you to know that through Jesus, the forgiveness of sins has proclaimed to you. Through Him, everyone who believes is set free from every sin, a justification you were not able to obtain under the law of Moses. What the Old Testament couldn't accomplish, Jesus could and did at the cross. Everyone who believes is justified through Jesus. I know that's a long word. Think of it like this, justification, it means it's just as if I never sinned. Jesus isn't just... He's not just the next chapter in Israel's story. Jesus is the story. History. History is His story. He is the fulfillment of God's promise and the source of forgiveness that we could never earn. Jesus is the focus. Accept Him as your Lord. His Spirit is promised to live inside of everyone who accepts Him.

His Spirit will guide you, but you have to lean in and you have to listen to the leading of the Holy Spirit. Recently, I walked into our kitchen area and my wife Beth was listening to something on her phone. And as I moved closer, I realized what she was listening to. It was a weekly podcast that I do for Christian leaders. And it was an episode that I had recorded a couple of months before, but it had just aired that day. And she started talking and having a conversation with me while the podcast continued to play in the background. But the longer she talked, the more I found myself focusing on what I was saying on the podcasts in the background. I mean, it was riveting material, right? (congregation laughing) And so as she's talking, I'm trying to think, well, what is it I'm gonna say next? Well, I wonder what I say now. Oh, but that was brilliant, right? You know, and you're listening to this and I'm looking at her and I'm kind of nodding with her. And then she asks me a question, you know, and we've all been there and you kind of him all around. And my wife deduces what's been taking place as my long pauses and my poor answers revealed that I'm half listening to her because my ears were tuned in to my voice rather than her voice. Are you ever guilty of tuning out the voice

of the Holy Spirit and the prompting of the living, breathing spirit of God so that you could hear your own carnal desires in your own version of what you should be doing? When you gave your life to Jesus Christ, you received the Holy Spirit. He lives inside of you. Hey, he could've lived anywhere he wants in the entire world. And yet he chose to take up residency in your heart and to live inside of you for some strange reason and to live inside of me. Why don't we tune into his voice? I mean, that's the only way we can experience his power is when we boldly listen and willingly obey his promptings and leadings. Let me ask you a question. If the Holy Spirit were to completely pull out of your life, would you even know that he was gone? Would you even realize it? Would it even stand out to you? Or do you live in the flesh so much in your own power that you don't even consult the Spirit? Remember the promise. Recognize the Savior. The third stage is respond to the gospel. When people hear the gospel, they are faced with a choice. Am I willing to put my trust in Jesus Christ? And they have to make a decision, to not make a decision is a no decision, to make no decision is a no decision

because the Christian life demands that you choose, that you accept Jesus. Verse 42, "As Paul and Barnabas were leaving the synagogue, the people invited them to speak further about these things on the next Sabbath." I love that. It should mean something to you all here in Nashville area as well. We call that an encore, right? It's saying you want more. At the end of the concert, you pull a lighter out or you start hollering for the song that they didn't sing. You start yelling encore, you want more. That's what they're saying. They invite them to speak further about these things. Look at verse 43. "When the congregation was dismissed, many of the Jews in devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, who talked with them and urged them to continue in the grace of God. And one of them to know that redemption becomes real for those in the crowd who dug deeper and investigated the truth, where many people put their trust in the Son of God because of their preaching. Earlier, I told you the story about the, going to that chilly restaurant and the woman mistook me for being the brother of someone named Craig Woods.

I did enjoy, after that happened, sharing that story at my home church. It also went out to a radio audience and to a TV audience. And for the next few weeks, "Hey, look, there's Craig Wood's brother." It was funny the first 30 times, you know. But after several months, that kind of died out. But one day, our preaching department was at that same restaurant. And as I was sitting down, I heard a woman's voice say, "Look, there's Craig Wood's brother." And I turned around and it was the woman. It was the woman that started this whole fiasco, right? So I walked over to her table and I put my hand out and I said, "Hey, my name's Dave Stone." And she said, "I know that now." She said, "I heard that you told the story." I said, "Well, I may have mentioned it to a couple of people." She said, "That's not what I heard." And her check was sitting there on the table, and so I picked up her check and said, "Hey, let me get this for you." And she said, "Oh, no, you don't need to do that." And my buddy leaned in and said, "Oh, yes, he does." If you had any idea how much mileage he's gotten out of that story, he needs that. What happened? What changed her mind? My guess is that in the days or the weeks that followed our initial conversation that someone whom she trusted presented her with some undeniable evidence and information as to my identity. And it tipped the scales to where she realized who I wasn't and who I was. And that's what's happening for some of the people right here in Acts 13. And as Paul speaks, the Holy Spirit moves, and hearts are softened, they listen to the

facts, they hear the testimony from changed lives, they acknowledge who Jesus is and what He's done. And the same thing happens today, when you speak up rather than clamming up, when you say a good word on behalf of Jesus, when you talk to others about your faith, that doesn't happen in your workplace or neighborhood unless you are sharing the gospel with others. Let me ask you, is Jesus the main thing in your life? Is He your focus? Do people see Jesus in you? Many accepted Christ and leaned into a relationship with Him, but not everyone. But the Bible says that the Jewish leaders were jealous of the crowds that Paul and Barnabas were attracting. And so they verbally abused them and they publicly criticized them. But that opposition didn't cause their faith to waver or their resolve to diminish or their message to change. In fact, they say to the Jewish leaders, since you've rejected the very Messiah that you waited for, we're preaching to the Gentiles. We're inviting them into this relationship with God through Jesus Christ. So in spite of resistance and hatred, they continued to speak boldly because they relied on the power of the Holy Spirit. The power of the Holy Spirit shows up when you speak up. But if we're not careful, the longer that you are a Christian, the easier it is to allow the gospel message to become just old and familiar. His grace and forgiveness just become kind of routine and we lose our boldness or we can share openly and often, and if we do, then like Acts 1349 says, "The word of the Lord spread through the whole region." And when we open our mouths and when we become living sacrifices for Christ, that description can be an apt description of cross point in what we do throughout Middle Tennessee. Now that passage isn't merely asking people to learn something about Jesus, it's asking them to decide what they will do with Him. That's at the heart of Acts 13 because Jesus died and rose again.

Your past can be forgiven, your standing can be changed, your future can be different, your past forgiven, your present justified, your future changed. And for that to happen, Jesus must be the Lord, Jesus must be the Master, He must be the focus of your life. He must be the main thing. Several years ago, the executives at Disney World were surprised to find from their exit surveys that there were some people who were actually leaving Disney World and they were disappointed. You say, "Oh, I don't know how that could happen." And then you start thinking, "Well, maybe there are a few reasons." But the exit survey showed that it wasn't because it cost too much. would have been what I thought. It wasn't because -- to ride a short ride. That wasn't why they were leaving disappointed. It was a common thread. You know what the thread was? The exit surveys revealed that all these people had come to see somebody, but during their visit, they never crossed paths with this somebody. And you know who it is? His name? Mickey Mouse. So the Disney's executives were defensive at first and they thought, well, you know what? I mean, we can't have several Mickey Mouse's running around because what if you're on a tram and you're going from one place to another part of the park and you say, hey, look, kids, there's Mickey Mouse. Well, there's Mickey Mouse over there, too. You know, here, Mickey, there, Mickey, everywhere,

Mickey, Mickey, no, you can't do that. They said that'll blow the aura of Disney World. So you know what they did? They created an opportunity and at noon, every day down Main Street, there is a parade. And guess who the grand marshal is? It's Mickey Mouse. And if you want to see him, you have the opportunity to see him. And this way, no one leaves Disney disappointed. Let me tell you something. People who come to church, whether they are a believer or they are a non-believer, whether they realize it or not, they are coming to see one person. It is not the lead pastor. It is not the worship pastor. It is not the student pastor. His name is Jesus Christ. May we never disappoint them. And may they see Jesus in each of us. Do people see Jesus here in this church? Through the leaders, through those of us who attend here. Let's take it a step farther. Do your neighbors and guests in your home see Jesus when they come to your house? Do they see Jesus in your behavior on that work trip? Do they see Jesus in your words at that ballgame? Because whether you realize it or not, that's who people need to see, it's Jesus.

The main thing is to keep the main thing. Here's Acts, chapter 13, in a nutshell. God promised a savior, Jesus is that savior. What is your response to Jesus? Let's pray. Lord, would you move at every campus? Would you soften hearts? Would you have people's heads and hearts turn in your direction? And Lord, may they not leave the campus where they are without talking to someone and getting this issue settled before they leave today? Lord, I thank you for the prayer warriors who pray at the end of every worship service. I pray that people will come and be prayed over. The people will say, oh, Lord, I've been walking in the flesh more than living by the spirit or relying on the spirit. Or I need to turn my life over to Jesus. I just need to make him the main thing because it's suffered recently. So Lord, would you work in hearts? Move as only your spirit can, and may we be open to that leading. It's in the powerful name of Jesus. We pray. Amen. Amen. ♪♪ [BLANK_AUDIO]