How Do You Take Compliments? | Acts 12:19 to Acts 13:3 | Kevin Queen

Then anybody come ready to praise the Lord today. Come on y'all. Well my name is Anthony, this here is Christina. We want to say hello to our friends watching online and our friends with God behind bars. God bless you guys. Listen, if you're a follower of Jesus, the Bible says this about you. This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old mind is gone, a new life has begun and this is the gift from God. And who brought us back to Himself through Christ? Can I get a hallelujah for that? All right y'all. There is no one too far gone, there is no mountain too big, there is no chain that He can't break. And so let me hear y'all say freedom. Come on y'all say freedom. Let's worship the Lord. Come on, do the sunset free. Oh it's free indeed, I'm not who I used to be, I'm not who I used to be. Here's amazing grace, took away my shame, I'm not who I used to be, I'm not who I used to be, I've been born again, I'm a child of God, the old is gone, the new life has come I'm born again. Lord you bury my death on that road, I can cross, you call my name, you raise me up, I'm born again. Come on y'all. I've been welcoming to a family, look at what he's done for me, look at what, oh I've got a brand new star, I've got all I need, look at what he's done for me, look at, oh every way, I've been born again, I'm a child of God, the old is gone, the new life has come I'm born again, the Lord you bury my death on that road, I can cross, you call my name, raise me up, I'm born again. You are worthy, oh you are worthy, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, it's a whole new world of freedom,

it's a whole new life I've lived in, and it's all because of Jesus, amen? All my pasties that am buried, and now my future's just beginning, and it's all because of Jesus. Come on, that's right y'all, it's a whole new world, it's a whole new world of freedom, it's a whole new life I've lived in, and it's all because of me, come on y'all tell 'em, my past is dead and buried, and my pasties that am buried, now my future's just beginning, and it's all because of Jesus, come on every boy, I've been born again, I'm a child of the old years gone, the new eyes come, I'm born again, I've lived in, Lord you bury my death on that road, I can cross, you call my name, you raise me up, I'm born again, you call my name, you raise me up, I'm born again, you raise me up, I'm born again, the old years gone, the new eyes come, I'm born again, I want y'all to sing this with me, we're gonna raise the hallelujah, come on, hallelujah, like that, here we go! hallelujah, yeah, hallelujah, hallelujah, I'm born again, come on he's worthy y'all, hallelujah (upbeat rock music) (upbeat music) ♪ Oh, we born, born again ♪ ♪ Oh, honey, I didn't do ya ♪ ♪ Oh, honey, I didn't do ya ♪ ♪ Oh, I'm born again ♪ ♪ Oh, boy, I'm over done ♪ ♪ Honey, honey, I didn't do ya, honey, I didn't do ya ♪ ♪ Oh, honey, honey, I didn't do ya ♪ ♪ Oh, boy, I'm born again ♪ - Sister Marcia, raise the Lord. - Hey. - Hallelujah, he is worthy to be praised. Thank you, God, King of freedom that you've given us. Yes, we're missing together church. Every voice from the front to the very back. We lift his name, who is high, high, and lifted up.

Come on. Come on, he's sitting like this. ♪ A thousand generations ♪ ♪ Falling down in worship ♪ ♪ To sing the song of ages to the man ♪ That's right. ♪ All who've gone before us ♪ ♪ And all who will believe ♪ ♪ Will sing the song of ages to the man ♪ ♪ Okay, you know what you're seeing ♪ ♪ 'Cause your name, come on ♪ ♪ Your name ♪ ♪ Your name, tell your stands above and all ♪ ♪ And all thrones and dominions, come on ♪ ♪ Imposition, your name stands above ♪ ♪ They're all, come on ♪ ♪ And the angels cry, you sing ♪ ♪ All creation cries ♪ ♪ And you all lifted high ♪ ♪ Holy, holy forever ♪ ♪ Yeah ♪ ♪ And if you have been for years ♪ ♪ And if you have been with me ♪ ♪ Sing the song of ages to the man ♪ ♪ That's right ♪ ♪ And if you walk in freedom ♪ ♪ If you walk in freedom ♪ ♪ If you bear with me ♪ ♪ Sing the song of ages to the man ♪ ♪ Oh ♪

♪ We'll sing the song forever and demand ♪ ♪ And the angels cry ♪ ♪ Holy, holy forever ♪ ♪ All creation cries ♪ ♪ Holy, holy forever ♪ ♪ You all lifted high ♪ ♪ Holy, holy forever ♪ ♪ To only forever ♪ ♪ Hear your people, hear your people say ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ To the King of Kings ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Holy, holy forever ♪ That's right. Come on, we should get down. Come on. It's your name. Come on. ♪ Your name stands above the mark ♪ Come on, sing it like we mean it. Come on. ♪ It all throws ♪ ♪ All power checks ♪ ♪ Your name, come on ♪ ♪ Your name, your name, come on ♪ ♪ It's the highest your name ♪ ♪ It's the greatest your name ♪ ♪ It stands above the mark ♪ ♪ But the heart runs ♪ ♪ Take a million all powers ♪ ♪ And this nation is your name ♪ ♪ It stands above the mark ♪ ♪ And the angels fight ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪

♪ Happy age, sure ♪ Hear your people say, hear your people say Oh, to the King of Kings, holy You will always be holy, holy forever You will always be holy, holy for you You will always be holy, holy forever And the angels cry, oh, creation cries You are lifted high, holy Hear your people, hear your people say Oh, to the King of Kings, holy You will always be You will always be holy forever Yes, thank you for all that this is Scripture says in Colossians 1, 15 through 20 You could read along behind us here The sun is the image of the invisible God, the first born over all creation For in Him all things were created, things in heaven and on earth Visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities All things have been created through Him and for Him He is before all things and in Him all things hold together And He is ahead of the body, the church He is the beginning and the first born from among the dead So that in everything He might have the supremacy For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him And through Him to reconcile to Himself all the things Whether things on earth or things in heaven By making peace through His blood shed on the cross We are going to continue in worship church Sing this out There was a moment when the lights went out

When death had claimed its victory The King of love had given up His life The darkest day in history There are no cross they made for sinners For every curse His blood had told One final breath and it was finished But not the end we could have known For the earth began to shine And the day was done What sacrifice was made In the heaven's world All hail King Jesus All hail the Lord of heaven # All hail the Savior # # The world # # Oh, He is our Savior # # Hallelujah # # Hallelujah # # There was a moment when # # The sky lit up # # A flash of light breaking through # # When all was lost, He crossed eternity # # The King of life was on the moon, yes # # And a dark hold true # # Where our Lord was made # # In one miraculous way # # To live forever change # # We change forever # # All hail the King # # Jesus only did all #

# All hail the King # # All hail the King # # All hail the King # # All hail the King # # All hail Jesus # # Oh, the thunder of the glory # # Of heaven and earth # # All hail Jesus # # All hail the Savior # # The world # # Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah # # You are worthy # # You are worthy, come on # # Hallelujah # # Come bow before the King of King # # Hallelujah # # Confessed that he is living up # # Hallelujah # # He goes # # Let us go # # In all of heaven # # Sing it # # Oh, we sing it # # Oh, we sing it # And all we cry out for, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. ♪ O'er hell keep ♪ ♪ O'er hell keep ♪ ♪ O'er hell keep ♪ ♪ O'er hell keep ♪ ♪ He is a señor ♪

♪ O'er hell keep ♪ ♪ O'er hell keep ♪ ♪ O'er hell keep ♪ - Welcome to Cross Point and welcome to Nashville. Those of you who have recently moved to town, just want to extend a welcome to you. One of, there's this unwritten rule in Nashville, just go ahead and let you in. If you've lived here for a while, maybe you know about it, it goes something like this. If you see somebody that's famous or if you see a celebrity, see somebody who is well known, here's what you do. You treat them normal. So it's kind of this unwritten rule in Nashville. If you see somebody famous, you act like they're not. So you play it cool, no staring, no asking for a selfie, no autograph, you just play it real casual, play it cool, and pretend like you don't know. Now, I'm gonna tell you, it's kind of trippy the first time it happens, so. I mean, we just moved to town and we're at the Starbucks and Green Hills, our face one, our family went to, and it was also the Starbucks that Keith Urban would go to. And I remember the first time that it happened. I just have to tell myself, here's what I tell, "Don't be weird, don't be weird, don't be weird." 'Cause, see, I know myself, and I can make it weird real fast. I have to tell myself, Kevin, don't start singing one of his songs. Don't tell him, you know, blue is your color.

Kevin, don't be weird, don't be weird, don't be with just order your coffee. Because that's the Nashville rule. The Nashville rule is treat famous people like they're normal. Now, today we're gonna see the Agrippa rule, and the Agrippa rule is a very different rule, and the Agrippa rule is this, treat normal people like they're a God. Treat normal people like they're a God. Once you look with me in Acts, chapter 12, it's what we're gonna be today. We're gonna pick up in verse 19. Says, "Then Herod went from Judea to Caesarea and stayed there. He had been quarreling with the people of Tyre inside, and they now joined together and saw an audience with him after securing the support of Blastus, a trusted personal servant of the king. They asked for peace because they depended on the king's country for their food supply. And on the appointed day, Herod, wearing his royal robe, sat on his throne and delivered a public address to the people. They shouted, "This is the voice of a God, not of a man." And immediately, because Herod did not give praise to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died. All right, thank you for coming to Cross Point by your heads with me, and we'll pray, and go home.

Now, so, man, that's the thing about preaching through a book of the Bible is eventually you get to the verse about the God that was eaten by worms, and you have to preach on it. And I believe that God has a word for us in this, but I do think we need to pray 'cause we need His help. So let's pray together. Father, we thank you for your word. And like those disciples, Jesus, we say, you alone have the words of life. God, you have the words that we need to hear, so we pray, Holy Spirit, that you would speak to each one of us, God, I pray that each person would hear a word from you. You know their heart, you know their struggles, you know their temptations, God, you know our trials, you know where we need to hear from you. Would you speak today? God, we have an encounter with you. I know I need to hear from you. So God, would you even have some preach? I'll just pray that it'd be a double-edged sword, that it would cut all of our hearts, the hearts of the giver and the hearts of the listener, and that we would become more like you, Jesus, and that you would do your work today. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen, amen. Now the question is, what's going on here? So let me just run it back and remind you that this is Herod Agrippa.

He's the grandson of Herod the Great, the one who killed the babies when Jesus was born, tried to kill Jesus as an infant. And so Herod Agrippa is the one earlier that we saw in the chapter. He's the one who was persecuting Christians. He was, he killed James, he put a bunch of believers in prison, he put Peter in prison, and Peter miraculously escaped. And when Peter and America escaped, Herod went to Caesarea. Now Caesarea is this beautiful Mediterranean kind of escape. It's where the royalty and the elites would go to go get out of the congestion and the heat of Jerusalem. It was this wealthy city that was on the coast, and it was one of Herod's favorite places to rule from. Now it was named Caesarea. It was basically named after. It was named after Caesar Augustus, which was kind of a power play. It's a kind of curry favor with Rome. And Herod gets there, and there is another. There's a power struggle that's going on. We find tire inside in which we're two wealthy cities, they've come to him to ask for help because they depended on Herod to get their food and their grain, and because they couldn't just walk in and walk in and get an audience with the king, they used blastus, this man.

They used him to get in Herod's presence and to get in the king's court. And so Luke sets all of this up because he wants us to see the flattery if it's taking place. Now, flattery is when you tell somebody what they want to hear because you want something from them. So when you tell somebody what they want to hear because you want something from them, flattery is different than encouragement. We're supposed to encourage others, but the difference between flattery and encouragement. Encouragement is sincere and flattery is calculated. Encouragement builds them up, flattery puffs them up. Encouragement is about them and flattery is about you. See, flattery is a compliment with an agenda staple to it. And the scriptures warn us of flattery. In fact, Proverbs, chapter 29 says, those who flatter their neighbors are spreading nets for their feet. Evil doers are snared by their own sin, but the righteous shout for joy in our glad. What the wisdom writer is telling us and what God's letting us know is that flattery will eventually backfire. Flattery will eventually be a trap for the other person and also it hollows us out. It says the righteous have joy and are glad, but flattery will keep us from that.

And so they flatter Herod and Herod is an insecure leader and insecure leaders are more susceptible to flattery because they find their value in the praise of people. And so Herod, he hears from them, and I just put this way on my nose, if the Nashville rule is to treat a famous person normal, the Agrippa rule is to treat a normal person like their God. If the Nashville rule is to treat a famous person normal, the Agrippa rule is to make a person, a non-person everything, and that's what they've done. They say to him in verse 22, they shouted, this is the voice of a God, not a man. Now they weren't saying that was a great speech. That was a really great speech. What they're saying is that you're not like us. You're a God. And so they put that praise on Herod and Herod doesn't resist them. He just kind of, he receives it. He basks in their praise. Verse 23, because Herod did not give praise that were praise or glory, because he did not give glory to God. An angel of the Lord struck him down and he was eaten by worms and died. There we go with the worms again. Now what's interesting and what's fascinating about this is what Josephus writes, because Josephus is a first century historian

who's writing at the same time and he's not a believer. He's not a Christian. And so a first century historian who's writing a historical record for the government, he writes this in his book Antiquities. You can read about it. And Josephus gives this historical account and it's amazing how what he writes corroborates with what Luke writes in Acts. He said Herod entered the theater in Caesarea wearing a garment made holy of silver. So once you imagine that your ancestry on this coastal town and Herod walks into the theater, he walks us into the theater with this garment that's just laced with silver. And when the sun hits that garment, I mean, it is just, it's brilliant. It says that it was illuminated by the fresh reflection of the sun's rays. So what he's wearing just lights up and just the brilliance of Herod just shows up in the theater that day. And Josephus says this, the people declare him to be God and Josephus writes, the king did neither rebuke them nor reject their impious flattery. What is impious flattery? It's when you give another human being praise that is due to God. It's when you give a human, a person, a creative person,

the praise that is due to the creator and Herod did not reject their praise. So the people give Herod God's flowers and Herod keeps them as his own. What should he have done? He should have done what Peter did. You remember in Acts chapter 10, Peter says, "Get up, I'm only a man." He says, "Don't worship me, worship God with the security." He said, "No, look to me, look to God." And so he redirected the attention and the glory to God. But that's not what Herod did. And Josephus gives this account. He says, "And when he had been quite worn out "by the pain in his belly, "he departed this life being the 54th year of his age "and in the seventh year of his reign." 54 years old at the height of his success at the pinnacle of his kingdom and his rule and his reign on the throne with people declaring, "You are a God to us." In a moment, it's over. In a moment, he's done. But it's never really just a moment, is it? I mean, whenever somebody blows up their life, it's never just a moment. You can usually go back and see a series of private concessions. You can see private decisions. And some of us have known the pain of failure

and we can go back and learn from those things and go listen, there were other things. There were concessions that were made. There were compromises that were made that led to that moment. And we can go back in Herod's life. We can, in fact, we can look at the beginning of the chapter. And we see a pattern. In verse three, it says, "And when he saw that this met "with approval among the Jews, "he proceeded to seize Peter also." So in the moment when Herod sees, when he sees that putting James to death, that people loved it, well then he went and got Peter also. When the approval of man becomes your God, you'll sacrifice anything to get it. Even people become expendable. And so Herod, he's not asking the question what's right or wrong, he's asking the question what will get the likes, what will get the approval of people. And so there's not conviction, there's compromise in chasing the approval of man. In Acts chapter 12 is a picture of Luke 14, 11, where Jesus said anybody who exalts themselves will be humbled. He said for those who humble themselves will be exalted. So anybody who exalts themselves, Jesus is saying the bigger the ego, the harder the fall. The bigger the ego, the harder the crash. And I think the personal application is this,

don't take what belongs to God. Don't take what belongs to God. What belongs to God? In Psalm 24, it says this, it says the earth is the Lord and everything in it, the world and all who live in it. So what belongs to God, it was an open book test. Everything, everything belongs to God. How much do you think about it? Seriously, what do you have in your life that God has not given to you? Your life belongs to God, everybody take a breath. That breath that you just took belongs to God, the gifts that you have belong to God, the talents that you have belong to God, your resources belong to God, your opportunities belong to God, your family belongs to God, your relationships belong to God, the influence you have belongs to God, success belongs to God, everything we have in life is on loan. It's just for a little while, it belongs to God. We are not owners, we are stewards who have been entrusted to what God has given to us to steward it for his glory. There's one time where they came to Jesus, they tried to trap it, tried to trap Jesus in the debate. So religious leaders came to him and said, they tried to have a conversation about taxes, everybody wants to talk about taxes. So they came to Jesus, they said, hey,

should we pay taxes to Caesar or not? They thought they had him? Jesus said, who has a coin? One of them reaches in the pocket, pulls out a coin. Jesus said, and it was against the law to have a graven image. And so even in giving them a coin, Jesus got him. He said, what are you doing carrying one of these? But Jesus said, who's on this coin? They said, Caesar, you probably know it. He said, give to Caesar what is, he's like, Caesar's on this thing, give it back to Caesar. He said, but whose image is on you? He said, give to God, what is God's? You have been made in the image of God, you were made by God, you are not self-created, you were made by God, you were made from God, you were made for God is for His glory. And sometimes we can lose awareness of this. Sometimes we can get amnesia with this. Sometimes we can forget this, especially in a city where there's so many gifted people in a community, in a place where there's so many accomplished people, so many who are so gifted, just gifted, gifted people in the arts and entertainment and business and finance and healthcare technology and athletics and education, so many highly accomplished people, achievers that God has given you success. And I don't think, I don't think that there would be

anybody who'd be so blatant to come to you and say, you know what, you are not a human, you are a God. I don't think anybody would say that, but they might treat you like one. They might lavish praise and accolades and offer you favors, there might be things that would be given to you in opportunities and words that would be said. And somebody might not say you're a God, but they might say, the way you sing is not human. The way you lead, that is so uncomfortable. There is nobody, nobody who can do what you do. And so the words that would be said, your leadership is unbelievable, your business savvy, your entrepreneurship, incredible. Your creativity, there has never been anyone like you ever. Your intelligence, otherworldly, your talent unreal. on God's glory, what happens is we can start believing our own press releases. And we can start taking these things. If we don't have a rhythm in our lives of bringing who we are to the glory of God and reminding ourselves that our life is about God's glory, well, what can happen is we can become the most important person in our world. That's why I love what Corey Timboum said. She said, when people come to me, come up to me and give me a compliment, I take each remark as if it were a flower. And at the end of the day, I lift up the bouquet

of flowers I've gathered throughout the day and I say, here you are, Lord, it's all yours. Isn't that beautiful? So you receive a compliment, receive the compliment, but give thanks and glory to God. Somebody gives you praise. You redirect the praise. You give glory and honor to God. Somebody gives you glory. Well, the response is you give thanks and glory to God. Receive the encouragement. Just redirect the praise. Receive the encouragement and redirect the praise. Give God the flowers and here it doesn't. And God reminds him who's God. And I don't think there's a scarier place to be than to have no fear of God in your heart. Romans chapter one talks about the judgment that's to come for those who withhold glory from the Creator, those who worship created things rather than the Creator. And here it is a picture of what happens with that. Now, once you see the reversal, Acts chapter 12, it starts with James is dead. Peter is in prison and Herod is winning. And then the end of the chapter, James is in heaven. Peter is free and Herod is dead. Verse 24, but the word of God continued to spread and flourish. You know, nothing can stop the word and work of God. Here can't stop it, governments can't stop it,

persecution can't stop it, suffering can't stop it. It's not saying that we won't suffer in life. It's just saying that suffering can't stop, suffering won't stop the word and work of God, that the mission of God goes forward. And this is, the question is, well, where does it go next? Is the word continues to spread and flourish? Goes to Antioch, which leads us to the Antioch rule. Verse 25, when Barnabas and Saul had finished their mission, they returned from Jerusalem, taking with them John, also called Mark. Cool little side note, this is the same Mark who wrote the Gospel of Mark. And so he's just making a cameo appearance right here. He's gonna show back up in a couple of weeks. And so this is Mark. In verse one of chapter 13, it says, now the church at Antioch, there were many prophets or there were prophets and teachers. Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius Cyrene, Manain, who had been brought up with Herod, the Tetriarch, and Saul. Now Luke puts this little side note for us that Manain grew up with Herod. And so they were like, they grew up together. And I was thinking about that, one became King, and the other became a leader in the church. One devoted his life to his own kingdom, and the other to the kingdom of God. And so here we have this thriving, growing,

Gospel-centered community in Gentile territory. Remember, this is Antioch, was the first church among the Gentiles. It was the first place, and how did this church get started? Well, there were two people, we don't know their names, just two ordinary people who went to Antioch and started talking about Jesus. One was from North Africa, one was from Cyprus, and they both go to this Gentile territory and just start proclaiming the Gospel, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, that he came to earth and lived a perfect life, a life we could not live, and died of death in our place where our sin was placed upon him on the cross. And he is raised from the dead, he ascended to the Father, in all who put their trust and their faith in Jesus. They receive eternal life, they receive, they're made right with God. They receive peace from God, and the Holy Spirit comes and lives in them, and they become part of a new community. They become a part of the family of God. They find purpose and meaning and hope in life and carrying this mission forward to become like Jesus, to become transformed and be made like him, and to live on mission with him, to carry out his mission in the earth, and they're just preaching to the Gospel, and people are hearing that, and they're like, is that for me too? And they're saying, that's for you, and that's for you,

and that's for you, and this mission goes forward, and Antioch becomes like this Amazon distribution center for the Gospel. Just people putting on their-- And so you've got people in all of this diverse group of people, all different parts of life, all different experience in life just going. Their most important job in life, regardless what's on their business card, their most important job in life is giving the hope of Jesus to those who do not know. This is this beautiful expansion of the church where the Word of God continues to spread and flourish, a place where people are sent out to share Jesus. And so if the Nashville rule is to treat famous people like they're normal, and they'd grip a rule is to treat normal people like their gods, the Antioch rule is to give glory to God and make Jesus the famous one. It's to give glory to God with our lives and make Jesus the famous one, him. In England, there was a civil war back in the 1600s. The civil war was going on in great division in the country. There were blood on the streets. And the pastors and theologians got together, they said, "Hey, if we don't whittle down our faith through the essentials, if we don't come together and say, this is what we agree upon, we will have nothing to give to the next generation." And so a world filled with division, they came together and they created what's called the Westminster Catechism. And in the Westminster Catechism, the first question is they're saying, "What faith do we hand off to the next generation?" The first question in the Westminster Catechism is, "What is the chief end of man? What is the primary purpose of mankind?" And you know what they let out the whole Westminster Catechism with? The chief end of man, man's chief end, is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. Isn't that good? The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever.

If you've ever wondered, "Why am I here?" You are here to glorify God and enjoy him forever. I don't know if you walked through the doors of the church today knowing that that was your—but you're going to leave knowing that that's why you're here on the planet, to glorify God, to bring glory and honor and praise to God, to glorify God and enjoy him forever. Now, one of the books that just marked me as the book "Desiring God" by John Piper read it when I was in college in that book, what that book says, it says that the chief end of man—he takes it twice a little bit—he said that the chief end of man is to glorify God by enjoying him forever. He says this. He says that God is most glorified when we are most satisfied in him. Man, if y'all were amen and people, that would have been a good—I know you're amen and John Piper, but that is a word right there. That God is most glorified when we are most satisfied in him. And so what we see here at this church at Antioch is that they are glorifying God. They're enjoying God. Look at what they're doing. It says while they were worshiping the Lord in fasting, the Holy Spirit said, "Set apart for me, Barnabas and Saul, for the work to which I have called them." That word "worshiping" means ministering to God. It means to minister to God—I don't know what your ministry is, but I know what your most important ministry is. Your most important ministry is to minister to God, to bless God, to worship him, to give him glory, to give him honor, to give him praise. It says they are ministering to God. They are great. How do you minister to God? You bring him your affection. You bring him your attention.

You bring him your surrender. You listen to his word. You obey. And here's the scary thing sometimes, is that we can bring the Nashville rule into our worship. That we can be in the presence of the most glorious one in all of the universe, and we can play it cool. That we can treat God like he's normal. That we can just kind of walk in and walk and maybe come in late and just kind of hang out with our coffee. I love coffee. I've had about six cups today, but so we can come in and we can just kind of like just casual, just maybe sing a little bit, maybe listen a little bit, maybe check our phone a few times, maybe check out and leave early, and we just forget who we're talking to. We can forget who we're singing, we can forget who we've been invited to pull up a chair with. We're talking about the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords and the Almighty God and the Lamb of God, the Redeemer, the risen Lord, the way, the truth, and the life, the one who was and is and is to come. So we can forget that sometimes, but when we remember who we're talking about. And here's the thing about glory. It's that when we see glory, we're drawn to it. When we encounter fame, we wanna watch. When we get around greatness, it draws us in. And when we recognize, when we realize whose presence that we're in, it begs a response to God, we worship you. Man, I know sometimes we can come into worship and we can think this song and say, "Man, I hope I get something out of today." And I'm with you, our prayer, my prayer, is that you would get something out of every time we go,

that you would have an encounter with God. But Acts chapter 12 flips the question, and the question is, what am I giving to God today? Instead of, what am I going to get from God? The question is, what am I bringing to God? Am I bringing my heart? Am I bringing my worship? Am I bringing my praise? Am I bringing my obedience? Instead of us evaluating church, where we say, "God, would you evaluate me? Evaluate my heart." I mean, this is one of their fasting. It says that they're fasting and they're praying. Fasting says, "God, I want," I mean, when you come to worship fasting, you've already, you've predecided that you're gonna give God. Like you say, "God, I want you more than a sandwich. "I want you more than breakfast. "I want you more than anything else, God. "I want you." And fasting, fasting is not. And what fasting is, it's giving up something we want for something that we want more. And I don't know about you, but like, I don't like fasting, 'cause I like to eat. Infasting is the decision that we make of saying, "God, my desires can get all out of whack." My desires can get all out of whack. My heart can get out of order.

And what fasting does is it grabs my desires by the shirt collar, says, "Look to him." And fasting is not how we get God's attention. You already have God's attention. Fasting is how we give God our attention. And so they're fasting, they're praying, they're seeking the Lord, they're saying, "God, we want to hear from you and look what happens." The Holy Spirit speaks, "Set apart from me, "barnabas and Saul, for the work to which I have called them." You see what God said? He said, "Then give me Barnabas and Saul." I want you to remember, who's Barnabas and Saul? They're the leaders. They're the teachers. They're the ones who are leading the thing. They're the franchise players. Give me Akunya and Olsen. Like that's, I know some of y'all are still wounded by a brace fans, we're getting over it, but like, God's saying, "Give me the franchise players. "Give me Barnabas and Saul." They're mine. And what Antioch says is they say, "God, we're not gonna hold on to our best. "We're gonna send our best." When God asks for your best, that's the litmus test. Is this just a song that I'm singing, or is this a life that I'm bringing? When God asks for your best, and so they open up their hands

and they send their best, so after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off. They sent them off, this is Antioch rule. The Antioch rule saves us from their gripper rule. The gripper rule makes it about us. The Antioch rule makes it about him. How does this happen? How do we make Jesus famous in our city? It happens one person at a time. One conversation at a time. One invitation at a time. Got an email this past week from Sasha. She recently moved to Nashville. Her husband, he has a residency at Vanderbilt, and she moved to Nashville. They checked out the church, and they began praying, "God, if this is the church that you have for us, "would you make it clear?" And on a flight back to Nashville from Michigan, she said, "I was sitting next to two very kind gentlemen "and uncle and his nephew, "who initiated a conversation with me "and asked if I was from Nashville. "I explained that my husband and I had recently moved there "and the uncle immediately began "to tell me about cross point. "Even before he knew I was a believer, "I told him that we had been going to the Nashville campus "and we were seriously considering it. "Although he and his family attend the Franklin location,"

shout out Franklin, "he reassured me "about the community and the groups. "And this was all before I had even told him "that I was a believer. "He then offered to take my husband and me out "for lunch or dinner sometime. "He was a complete stranger to me "from a different generation in a stage of life. "And yet he welcomed me so warmly and genuinely. "That interaction alone felt like such a God-ordained "little moment." Isn't that cool? This is how we make Jesus famous. One conversation at a time, one invitation at a time. I don't know nephew's name, but I just like, man, when I read that story, I was like, I want to meet them. So I would say, I want to encourage you, because your story encouraged me. It reminded me of Acts, chapter 11, verse 23. It says, "When he arrived and saw what the grace "of God had done," when Barnabas first showed up at anyhow, "when he arrived and saw what the grace of God had done, "he was glad and encouraged them to remain true "to the Lord with all their hearts." Crosspoint, when I think about what God is doing through you in middle Tennessee, it encourages my heart. And I just want to encourage you, keep going. Keep going as a church. When kids are finding and following Jesus' students or meeting Jesus for the very first time

and being discipled in their faith, college students, God is moving in the college ministry. And what we're seeing right now, we just give him glory, we give him honor, we're seeing God move. Young adults, families, we're seeing families coming. We're seeing entire families baptize, coming to faith together. We just celebrate, we give God all the glory. Only God can do that. We're seeing people that are putting their faith and trust in Jesus' midlife. See people who are retired, who are finding purpose and serving and using their gifts. The kingdom, we're seeing God move in such a powerful way. And man, as we are in a famous city with a lot of famous people, we're saying Jesus, we want you to be the most famous one. That you would be made famous among us. And it's the gospel that sets us free from the Nashville rule and the Agrippa rule. Here's what I mean. The Nashville rule is good to some degree, but even famous people need Jesus. They need biblical community. They need repentance, any forgiveness, any faith, and they need hope, any missional purpose in their life, just as much as anybody else. So the gospel sets us free from that. The gospel sets us free from the Agrippa rule, because when we give other people the praise

that God deserves, it will hollow us out. And when we become about ourselves, we miss out on the purpose that God has for us. And what the gospel does, minds us at the ground is level at the foot of the cross. And that every person you encounter is made in the image of God, by God, for the glory of God. And the only way that they can find fulfillment and satisfaction and true joy and hope in life is through meeting Jesus and following Him and joining Him in that mission to make Him famous. So this is the place where we gather as the church every single week to make much of Jesus together. So we started thinking about how should we end today? It only seemed pleasing to the Lord that we went in with a song and give us an opportunity to minister to Him and to declare what is true. And so I just want to lead us in a moment of prayer together. And then we will sing and declare His fame and His Lord. Let's pray together, Father, we thank you for your word, we thank you for your truth. And today we just, we want to give you the flowers. Holy Spirit, we ask if there's anywhere where we are not, if there's anywhere we're withholding. If anywhere we've taken what belongs to you, God. And today, would you open up, when we open up our hands, will we just open up our hands so you don't have to pry our fingers? And in that place of surrender, God, that we would be open to receive what you have for us. But Lord, that it would come from that place of us

giving to you our worship, giving you worth, honor, praise. We declare you are worthy of it all. In a world of Caesars, we declare you are king. It is your glory, your fame, your honor, your renown, that's the desire of our hearts. And so we lift you up as King, Lord Jesus. It's in Christ name we pray, in Christ name we sing, would you stand with me? Let's sing together. (gentle music) ♪ All helping Jesus ♪ ♪ All hail, Jesus ♪ ♪ All hail, the Savior of the world ♪ ♪ All hail, Jesus ♪ ♪ All hail, Lord of heaven and earth ♪ ♪ All hail, Jesus of heaven ♪ ♪ All hail, the Savior of the world ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Let everything be found before the King of King ♪ ♪ Let everything be found ♪ ♪ Let everything be found ♪ ♪ Let everything be found before the King of King ♪ ♪ Let everything be found before the King of King ♪ ♪ All we're singing over ♪ ♪ Every voice we cry out for ♪ ♪ And all we cry out for ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ You woke me up before the anyone ♪ ♪ You woke me up before ♪

♪ Don't fuck you all around me ♪ ♪ Head to you all around me ♪ ♪ You deserve the glory ♪ ♪ You deserve the glory now ♪ ♪ You woke me up before the anyone ♪ ♪ You woke me up before ♪ ♪ I promise you all around me ♪ ♪ Head to you all around me ♪ ♪ You deserve the glory now ♪ ♪ You are worthy to be proud ♪ ♪ You won't hide and lift it all ♪ ♪ Hey ♪ ♪ You're worthy to be proud ♪ ♪ You deserve the glory now ♪ ♪ All hell keeps you ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ All hell keeps Jesus ♪ ♪ All hell save your love ♪ ♪ The world ♪ You