How Kingdom Leaders are Built Differently

Great to have everybody. As you heard from our elder chair Kelly Hacker last week, as he was talking about taking ground and some of the things that are going on. One of the reasons we've waited to do renovations here in Englewood is so that Seth Gruber and his team could be here in June on June 5th and 6th. They're doing the last stand. It's the only place they're doing it in the entire country. There's probably 35, 40 speakers that are coming in from all over the place. If you can be a part of this, you're going to want to be a part of this and you can sign up on the QR code there. There's a code. If you go to brave to get 20% off to be a part of this, we'll just encourage you to come. I know it's going to be a great thing for us as a church to host them. And with that, let's continue our worship this morning as we go before the Lord and get ready to hear his living and his active word. Would you pray with me? Our Father in heaven, we do give you all glory, honor and praise for who you are. What a privilege it is to gather in your house with your saints to worship your name, to seek you in prayer and to hear your word. And Lord, we're gathered here this morning because we need a word from you. And we as a people believe that every time your word is faithfully and accurately proclaimed, that it is you who are speaking. So our prayer this morning is speak, Lord, for we are ready to hear. And so now for all those who have gathered who desire to hear the Lord Jesus Christ, speak directly to you, who will believe what He tells you and who will by faith, put into practice what He shows you. Will you agree with me? Very loudly this morning by saying the word amen, amen. There's a massive difference between potential and proven performance.

There's a massive difference when you see someone and you say, oh, look what they could be versus someone who's actually doing it. This weekend was the NFL draft and before the NFL draft, many coaches and scouts and players all gather together and they decide, hey, who can run the fastest and who can lift the most and what is their potential, who has good college game film? And then they make decisions based upon who's available to draft somebody and pay them a lot of money to do a job for them. And every time that's done, coaches know this may happen, this may not happen because the reality is even if you're drafted in the first round doesn't mean that you're actually going to do anything in the NFL, but you have all the potential to do it. You just may not accomplish it. The same is true in the kingdom. When you were born again, when you place your faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, that he died for your sins that he rose from the dead and you repent of your sin and you turned to Jesus, not only were you forgiven all your sins in that moment, but you were in dwell with the Holy Spirit who gifted you for service. He gifted you in a way so you can build up other people in the body of Christ so that the kingdom of God can be advanced. So when you want to talk about potential, there's potential in every single believer. Every believer has the Holy Spirit and every believer that has the Holy Spirit has been gifted and every believer that has the Holy Spirit that's gifted is expected to serve. And so from God's perspective, when he looks down at believers, he says, you have incredible potential. The question becomes, how then do I move from potential to performance? And when I use the word performance, I'm not talking about how we work for God. It's how does God work in and through us? How is it that God can really take hold of our lives and we're living in such a way that we know this is who I am, this is what I was designed for, this is what I was created for, and I have great joy in doing what the Lord has called me to do? And if you ever wondered what that looks like and how God builds kingdom leaders, that's

what we're going to talk about today. How does God do it? What does God do? What are the choices that we need to make in order to see that happen? So I encourage you this morning, open your Bible up to Acts chapter 18 and Acts chapter 18, we're going to take a look at this idea of how God builds kingdom leaders. And for this message, I'm going to give you five truths about how he does it, which are genuine steps that you can take if you want to be used and have influence for the Lord Jesus Christ in your life. As you're turning to Acts 18, you'll remember where we left off, where Paul was on Mars Hill, he was refuting the Stoics and the Epicureans of the day, he was telling them how Jesus Christ was Lord, some people thought he was crazy, other people were saying we want to give you a listen, and there were yet others that said we want to believe what you believe. We're going to be followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. And it says in chapter 18, verse 1, after these things, he left Athens and went to Corinth, and he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome. He came to them, and because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them, and they were working for by trade, they were tent-makers. And he was reasoning in the synagogue every Sabbath, trying to persuade Jews in Greek. So let me give you the first way that got... Kingdom leaders labor faithfully before they lead visibly. Kingdom leaders labor faithfully before they lead visibly. Gifting is not the same as proven faithfulness. It's just not. Just because you're gifted, just because you can doesn't mean that you're being used.

What's Paul doing? He leaves Athens, he goes to Corinth, and notice who he met. He met a man named Aquila, who was a native apontus, and why is he there with his wife Priscilla? It says he's there because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome. If you study history at that time, what you'll find is that because of who Jesus is and who he was and what was going on, that those Jews who were becoming Christians were telling all the other Jews, Jesus is the Messiah, Jesus is the Christ, and the Jews who didn't want to believe that were saying no, he's not, and there were schisms forming all over the place. And so Claudius said, enough of this, my job is to keep the peace in Rome, so I'm kicking out all the Jews. We still want to deal with this stuff. What you guys believe religiously, that's your own business as long as Rome is stable, so everyone was kicked out. So Priscilla and Aquila could no longer stay in Rome, so they come to Corinth and that's where they are, and notice what it says in verse two, and he found a Jew named Aquila. When Paul goes to Corinth, he doesn't know Aquila's gonna be there. He's not going to stay at Aquila's house,

we just read that he ends up staying at their house because Aquila and Priscilla provide him a place to be, so when Paul's gonna go do his faithful ministry, he doesn't know where he's gonna live, he doesn't know what he's gonna do, he doesn't know how he's gonna earn his keep or anything like that, but we learn what he's doing is he's being faithful with what he's been entrusted with. And here's what he's been entrusted with, notice what the text says, it says they were working for by trade, they were tent makers. So he's using the skillsets that he has, a tent maker not only made tents, a tent maker worked with goats, hair, and leather, and they could have done curtains and all sorts of things. Paul was a blue collar worker that was skilled in what he did, and he was using his resources to take care of himself so that he could do what God called him to do, which was go to the Sabbath and start reasoning with the Jews that Jesus was the Christ. So here's what you don't see Paul do. He doesn't say, hey God, if you open up the door in Corinth and you give me a platform and I get enough support, I'll go to that town, I'll take the stage and I'll preach. Here's what he says, God has called me to preach the gospel. A door is open for me to go to Corinth. I'm going and I'm gonna trust that when I get there that God will take care of what I need to do.

Until that time, I'm just gonna labor faithfully in what he's entrusted me with. If you wanna grow as a kingdom leader, be faithful with the things that the Lord has entrusted to you now. One of the biggest lies of the enemy is yeah, you're gifted, yeah, you're good, but you should do that later. You know what? You need to go to college first. Once you get done with college, then you can start thinking about how you wanna serve the Lord. But I wouldn't do that. You should get married first. Then you should think about how you wanna serve the Lord. Oh, but now you're ready to have kids. So make sure you have your kids first and then you can think about how you wanna serve the Lord. So you gotta buy a house too. So make sure you get your house in order too while you're raising your kids so that you'll be ready. And then when they leave, then you'll be ready to serve the Lord. But you gotta pay for college. So make sure that you pay for college and take care of them. Then you'll be ready to serve the Lord. But wait, you probably don't have enough money to retire and who's gonna take care of you. So make sure you build up your retirement 'cause once that's in place, then you can serve the Lord.

Now that you're retired, you really don't have time to do all that 'cause there's a lot of responsibilities. So someday will happen. And that's what the enemy does to each and every one of us. Friends, this is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. The question is not when will you invest? The question is will you invest today? What's he entrusted to you now? If you're a student, he's given you a privilege of studying and doing that. Are you doing all that for the glory of the Lord? If you have a job, are you doing all that for the glory of the Lord? If you have neighbors, are you serving them for the glory of the Lord? If you're married or you're serving your spouse to the glory of the Lord, if you have kids, are you growing them up to the glory of the Lord? If you have resources, are you using them all for the glory of the Lord? Are you able to lay everything out before the Lord and say, Lord, you've given me this day, you've given me this resource, these resources, you've given me this influence. Am I stewarding everything I can to the best for your glory? That's what Paul was doing. Paul's not waiting for opportunity. He could say, man, I'm tired, I'm a tent maker. I mean, you guys don't know how hard it is.

I'm working, I'm barely making ends meet here in Corinth. I'm living with this couple, I don't even know. This is so hard, it's not what he's doing. He's so thrilled he can be in Corinth and use his tent making skills. which is the reason he is there to testify that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, amen? And so he's spending his time reasoning in the synagogue, every Sabbath, and trying to persuade Jews and Greeks. What you don't read about is how good of a tentmaker he was. The Holy Spirit doesn't tell us how many tents he sold. It doesn't tell us about the goat hair that he made just perfectly and how excited he was about it. Because the Holy Spirit wants us to know that the reason he's in Corinth is to tell people about Jesus. The reason you live where you live is because God wants you to tell other people about Jesus. God wants you to live for Jesus and not keep it a secret that the reason you're living the way that you live is because you love Jesus. So be faithful when you're not seen. Labor faithfully before you ever lead visibly. Jesus told us the same thing. In Luke chapter 16 and verse 10 he said, "He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much." And he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much. Here's what he's saying, who you are right now is exactly who you'll be 20, 30, 40 years from now. I've heard people say in the church and I used to be one of them when I was younger, I'd say things like this. You know, I just want to make a lot of money because when I make a lot of money one day I'm going to give a lot to the church. You won't give one percent more to the church if you won the lottery today than what you give right now. You say, "I wouldn't bet." No, you wouldn't. You would find ways to spend it because it's a character issue. Who you are now is who you're going to be later. So the question becomes are you allowing God to build everything into your life now so that later you're still growing in those very things? That's what he wants you to do. And some of us are like waiting for like the perfect opportunity to serve the Lord. But here's what the Lord says. Colossians 3, 23 says, "Whatever you do, do your work heartily as unto the Lord and not to men." And the promise of the Word, I love this Scripture in Proverbs 22, verse 29 talks about if you're skilled in what you do, if you really work hard at it.

He says, "Do you see a man skilled in his work? He will stand before kings. He will not stand before obscure men." Here's the reality. Sometimes we see people in light or they have, let's say they have a really strong marriage and they say, "Man, I want a really strong marriage like you." If somebody really has a strong marriage, it's because for the life of their marriage they've had a lot of little conversations and conflicts and back and forth and done things right over a period of time over a period of time over. And then you see the fruit of that and think it just automatically happened and it didn't. Or you see somebody who's an entrepreneur and they're super successful, but you didn't see when they just started out all the little things they had to do back and forth and all the little things they had to do to work with their employees and get to where they are. And for many of us, we get these ideas as to how we want to serve the Lord. So we get an idea like this, like, "I have a teaching gift. The Lord gave me a teaching gift. Hey, Pastor Jeff, when are you going to let me preach?" Right? And we have a lot of young people that would rather have a microphone than set up a chair. And so sometimes the young guys that want to be pastors will ask me, "How do I grow a church like you?" I'm like, "I can't tell you that, but what I can tell you is how I got started. I got started when I was in college and any time anybody would ask if there was anybody that would come tell somebody about Jesus I would volunteer." Any time that I had the opportunity to do that, I didn't care if there were a lot of people, little people, I didn't care. I just wanted the opportunity. Any time I had an opportunity to lead a small group, anytime I had the opportunity to tell people about, "I want to learn. How do you do that?" I remember talking to the campus crusade for Christ, people like, "Hey, I think there's like six people that want me to lead a small group. How do I do it?" I don't even know what I'm supposed to say. They said, "Well, come to ours and just copy it." And so I did. Right? When I started out in ministry in the church as a youth director, we had four kids. I couldn't have been more excited. Right? And here's the thing. Sometimes we're waiting for, like, the perfect opportunity because, like, in the business world, like, I'm a somebody, or you don't know who I am because I'm awesome. And so as soon as the church has an opportunity like this, give me a ring, let me know. God doesn't build leaders like that. God is looking for faithful people that serve whose character is being built over time so he can invest in them.

I mean, those of you who say, "Well, I want to get stronger. I want to go to the gym." When you go to the gym, you're not going to max out at 300 or 400 pounds on the bench pressure first time there. It's going to take time in the gym, time, and get reps. The only way that you can learn to grow in your gifting is by serving the Lord. And all I wish I could tell you that I knew I had a teaching gift and the only thing I ever did was teach. I didn't think I had a teaching gift. All I wanted to do was tell people about Jesus, so if there was a way that I could go with somebody that was a good teacher, I would go carry their bags so they could do that and I could watch them teach. I didn't care if I got to do it. I wanted to see somebody who could. Right? right? And so so often in the As soon as you have a title with my name on it, as soon as you give me people that will come listen to me, as soon as everybody in the church recognizes who I am, I'm ready. Oh, and by the way, if you can give me money and resources, I'll sign up for that too. That's not how God builds leaders. God builds leaders by saying, "God, where can I serve? Where would you have me serve? Where would you have me serve in obscurity just so that I can get the message of Jesus out?" Before you're asked to lead something, here's what I would say, serve somewhere, 'cause if you cannot serve, you cannot lead. In the kingdom, if you cannot serve, you cannot lead. What did Jesus look for? I mean, all the apostles he picked were also rans.

They were leftovers. Every Jewish kid in that day would have had a rabbi for them. They didn't have any rabbis, 'cause they were just like leftovers. But here's what he found. He found people that we'd be willing to give their entire life to serve him. That's who he was looking for. He wasn't looking for talent. All you have to do is read through the gospels to know that. He wasn't looking for gift in this. All you had to do is read through the gospels to see that. He was looking for service and faithfulness to him. That's all he's looking for. If you're here today and you're 10 years old, say, "I wanna make a difference for Jesus." Just say, "Jizz, I'll serve you anywhere you'd have. I'll serve any way you would want. I just wanna honor you." And you will have a life that reflects the glory of God. Faithfulness in the small thing prepares you, but when God opens a door, something else is required. And here's the second principle of kingdom leadership. Kingdom leaders are built because they go all in at the first sign of opportunity. Now, notice this. Paul's making tents. Paul's working with all the different things that he's doing.

He's a blue collar worker. He shows up on Saturdays. He's reasoning with the Jews. He's praying for them, but notice this in verse five. But when Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Macedonia is Northern Greece, Paul began devoting himself completely to the word, solemnly testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ. Now, here's what happens. Silas and Timothy come down and they begin to tell them, "Paul, you should be really encouraged 'cause the gospels out and churches are flourishing and it's all starting." But they also brought him a monetary gift. And that monetary gift that they bring Paul that we'll read about here in a second, didn't tell Paul, "Hey, you no longer have to stay at a cool and Priscilla's house 'cause now you can get your own home." It didn't say, "Hey, you can get some new transportation or you can get some better food." What it told Paul is now that you have resources, you don't have to make tenses frequently and you can devote all your time, not just Saturdays, not just the Sabbath, but you can devote all your time to solemnly testify to everybody that Jesus is the Christ. So what's Paul do? As soon as he gets the opportunity, he's like waiting and waiting and waiting. And now here's the opportunity.

The opportunity is not that the city has invited him to do anything, the opportunity is, I can devote myself full time to telling the world about Jesus and that's what he begins to do. We read in Philippians, I'll say second, well, let's start with 2 Corinthians 9. 2 Corinthians 9, you see this specifically. 2 Corinthians chapter, I'm sorry, 2 Corinthians 11 verse 9, he says, "And when I was present with you and was in need, I wasn't a burden to anyone for when the brethren came from Macedonia," that's what we just read about. "They fully supplied my need and in everything, I kept myself from being a burden to you and will continue to do so." Here's what he said. He's like, "Hey, when I came to Corinth, I made tents and I continued to make tents and I reasoned within the Sabbath. Once I received more resources, I still wasn't a burden to you, but I was able to dedicate even more time, full time to you because the reason that I exist, Paul knew the reason he existed was to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. That's why God put Paul on the planet. And he understood his calling was to preach, was to raise up leaders and plant churches and he spent his entire ministry doing that. If you want to be faithful to the Lord, it's a long time service in the same direction and that's what the Lord blesses.

It's not doing this for a little while and then doing this for a little while and then doing this for a little while. And some of it is our culture generationally, like for some of you that are old like me, you'll remember this when you were growing up and you played a sport or was in something and you didn't want to do it anymore, what did your parents say? Well, you're going to stay in that until it's over. You're not quitting this. You're going to stay there, right? Can I get an amen from anybody? Okay. Whereas now it's like, well, if you're not happy, try something else. Let's make you happy. Let's find where it's happy. And so then we get this idea that in order to serve the Lord, I got to be happy. It's got to be serving me. Not really having fun with these four year olds so I must not be into that. Not having fun serving high five must not be into that. I'm not having fun being an usher, it must not be that. I mean, here's the thing. Nobody said Christian service is fun. Just ask the one who's right. Paul, Paul was shipwrecked. He was stoned to death and left for dead.

He was beaten with rods. He was constantly in prison. And yet what was he saying the whole time? I consider my life worth nothing other than to know the surpassing value of Christ. I consider all my present sufferings good because it reminds me of who Christ is. That's what I want, right? That's what's going on with Paul. And even when he's been through all these different things, what is he calling these light and momentary afflictions are worth nothing compared to the weight of the glory that is to come. That's what he's saying. Now we tend to serve and something goes bad for us once. And what do we say? Oh, I hate this place. Brave just doesn't know how to do this. Oh, I'm out of here. I'm going to another church. But when you go to the other church, it'll be the same way. And it'll be the same way and it'll continue to be the same way because God wants you to use your gift and keep using it and be looking for opportunities to multiply the gifting that you have within you, right? That's what God has. So go all in at the first time. Paul goes all in. He's not kind of half-stepping it. He's not saying, well, you know,

I don't know if I feel like it. Paul sees an opportunity to tell more people about Jesus. That's why he's on the planet. He's going to do everything that he can to do that. And we see this in the disciples and we tend to make fun of them when they do this. Like Jesus one time was walking on the water. He was going to the other side 'cause that's where he told the disciples to go. And on the way to the other side, he passes their boat. He's about ready to pass them by. And what happens? Everybody's freaking out. They think it's a ghost. And what's Peter say? Hey, Lord, if that's you going over to the other side, call me to come to you and I'll walk on the water with you. And Jesus said, come. Peter gets out of the boat and starts walking. We don't know how long you walked. But then he sees the winds and the waves and then he goes down. And then we read the story like, what a fool. Who would have got out of the boat? That's not the point of the story. The point of the story had Peter continued in his faithfulness. He would have walked to the other side with Jesus. That's the point of the story. The point of the story is he's the only one out of the entire boat that took a step of faith.

The question becomes for us when we hear the Lord prompting us, what are we going to do? Because for some of us, because we're waiting for the perfect condition, the perfect time, here's what we say. One day I will. One day I will is not a calling and one day I will is not faithful. If you're called, you do it now, no matter what it costs you. A calling means it's it. When I was in my young 20s, I remember I was going around and I was asked to teach Sunday School at our church. I started teaching Sunday School. Some people were telling me, you're really good at teaching. I'm like, I don't think so because I don't even know what I'm doing. And they're like, no, you're actually good. We enjoy coming to your class. I'm like, OK, cool. So I was trying to ask people how you teach and what you do, because I didn't know how to do it. But I found that I was enjoying that more than my job. I sold life insurance, so that's why. But I found that even when I was selling life insurance and I was asking people questions about the future and where they were going, I would ask spiritual questions about what they believed and how important that was to their life. And if the conversation ever got to shift towards Jesus, I remember being so excited even if I didn't sell anything or didn't set anything up, I'm like, I went out of that meeting in Giddy, like I got to tell them all about Jesus.

I got to encourage them in Jesus and all that stuff. I'm like, Lord, I would love to do that full time. That was awesome. That's what I want to do. And I remember one time just feeling so compelled because every time I got to give a testimony or preach or lead Bible study or whatever, like that's what I want to do. And so I went and talked to the only pastor that I knew at the time that was faithful. And he was one of my pastors growing up. And I knew he was a strong, strong guy. He had been a federal judge in Texas. And he preached like that. I remember when we had confirmation class in seventh grade, all the confermans would be right in the first two rows. And the year before it was my turn, he called a dude out. I remember his name, too. He called him out in the front row and said, Eric, I'm preaching to you. I made this message for you. And you're not listening. And I need you to pay attention. And I remember next year, when I sat in that chair, I didn't hear a word he said, but I didn't look to my right or to my left. And so I was going to go see him because I was going to tell him, like, I don't know who to talk to. I don't know what I'm supposed to do with this thing inside of me. And I wanted to talk to him, but I didn't want to talk to him because I knew he was going to tell me, well, if God's telling you to do that, you've got to do it. And I remember we went to an I-hop.

We had breakfast together, and we sat down and shook my hand, and we started talking. And I said, well, here's what's going on. And I was telling him what's going on in my life, and what I've done, and what was going on in college, and how Jesus had saved me, and what I wanted to do. And I said, I'm really feeling like I need to do this all the time, but I don't know what that means. He said, well, that's a call to preach. And I said, well, I don't even know what that means. And I don't know that I want to do that. I don't know that I want to be a minister like you. I don't know that I want to wear a clerical robe. I don't know that I want to be in a church. He looked me in the eye and said, well, don't worry about it. He goes, you don't have to do anything for the Lord. He goes, as a matter of fact, if you can do anything else in your life, then that and find satisfaction. Let me tell you something. You're not called to do it, and I would encourage you, don't do it. And I remember in that moment being like, ah, that's awesome. And in the same moment feeling like, I have to do this. You know what I'm saying? And it was one of those things where here's the problem that we have. We like to see the future. We're told as Americans, see the future. Hey, what's your next 40 years? Hey, we tell high school kids, where are you going to college? What are you going to be when you grow up as if they can have an answer to that question? Give me a break. You don't even know what you're going to do two years from now on. So how are they going to know what they're going to do for the rest of the world? They can't. And Jesus doesn't expect us to. He says thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. Here's how much light God gives you about this much. And when you know that he's pulling you in the light, you step in it. And when you bring the light with you, then it lights up the next place. But I find that it's rare when God shows you way down the road. Here's where it is. And even when you think that's where it is, he takes you on a circuitous route all the time

and never leads you the way you think you're going to go. So it's present faithfulness with what God's called you to do. And there's too many of us that are waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting. Hey, one day I will. One day I will. That's not a calling. That's disobedience. If you're called, you start now, no matter what the cost is. And for those you're saying, well, as I'm listening to you, I'm not called to that. I'm called in the business world. I'm called the coach. I'm called fantastic. Then do all of that for the glory of the Lord. Paul's a tent maker for heaven's sakes. Doing it all for the glory of the Lord. You don't need a title. All you need to do is be obedient. So my encouragement to everybody in the church, stop waiting for perfect clarity. Well, I don't know where my gift is yet. I don't know where to serve. Pick a place, serve there. You will discover very quickly if you're gifted at it or not. And if it's not your ultimate landing place, here's a great idea. Switch. Find something else. There's plenty of opportunity. And if you tell me, Pastor Jeff, I've been here for a while, I can't find one place to serve in Brave Church. Please come see me after I will put you to work. I promise you, there's a place for you. And I know there is theologically because God's gifted you and called you to serve the body first. And God wants you to do that. So labor faithfully before you leave visibly. And then when you get the opportunity, go all in at the first sign of that opportunity. Third is this, stay obedient when the assignment gets hard. Stay obedient when the assignment gets hard. That's what we need to do because notice what happens here. So Paul goes and he testifies and he's doing all these things. He's doing more than just reasoning. Now he's going all in. But notice for six, it says, but when they resisted and blasphemed, he shook out his garments and said to them, "Your blood be on your own heads. I am clean. From now on, I will go to the Gentiles." What do they do? They're resisted and blasphemed. This is not when somebody, you're sharing the gospel with them and they're like, "I need to think about that or I'm not so sure I'm ready." That's not this. This is, I'm sick and tired of you telling me about Jesus. Don't ever tell me about Jesus anymore. Jesus is not the only way. He's not what you think He is. You're being a big it and I don't want any part of you. That's what they were doing. So Paul was shaking off the dust

of his sandals just like Jesus told him to do. Just like Ezekiel was told saying, "Hey, your blood is on your own head." As the faithful minister of the gospel, what you want to do is tell people the gospel of Jesus Christ. Their response to it is their deal. I want to preach in such a way that when you meet Jesus, there's no way any one of you can say, "I didn't know He was the only way to heaven. I didn't know He was going to hold me accountable to how I live." That's my job to tell you that. Your job is to respond. If I don't tell you that, your blood's on my head. Pastor Jeff never told us you will not be able to say that. I promise you. Jesus Christ died on a cross for the sins of the world. He rose from the dead. He's the way, the truth, and the life. And no one comes to the Father except through Him. And the reality is you can have a relationship with Him too when you repent of your sins and trust Him. And He's there waiting with open arms. And if you do, He'll forgive all your sins and welcome you in. And if you don't, you will meet Him personally and He will say, "Get away from me, you worker of iniquity, I don't know you." And you'll be cast into hell for all eternity. I'm telling you the truth. I'm not lying. And here's why, because I care more about God's judgment on me than I do what you think about me. So stay obedient even when the assignment gets hard. So He shook out the dust on His sandals and said, "Hey, your blood be on your own heads." And verse 7, "Then He left there and went to the house of a man named Titius Justice, a worshiper of God who, notice it, this is Whose house was next door to the synagogue? So Paul's like, I'm done with you Jews 'cause you're blaspheming the name of my Lord. And who does God open up the door with? A guy named Titius Justice, where's his house? It's right next to the synagogue. I mean, when Paul preaches, the synagogue's gonna hear him. It's awesome. Now look at this. Christmas, the leader of the synagogue, believed in the Lord with all his household and many of the Corinthians when they heard

were believing and being baptized. So this guy here, Christmas is his name. Christmas, here's the word of the Lord. As Paul's been reasoning with him, he's like, I believe. And he shares the gospel with his family, his family believes. They're baptized. They're like, well, if Christmas is listening to this, we need to listen to this too. And several other people are persuaded and convinced that Jesus is the Christ. And so there's scores of people now that are coming to Christ that are now meeting next door to the synagogue in Titius Justice's house as they teach the gospel there. That's what's going on. And then Paul got this word. And I love this word. It says in verse nine, the Lord said to Paul in the night by a vision, "Do not be afraid any longer, "but go on speaking and do not be silent. "For I am with you and no man will attack you "in order to harm you, "for I have many people in this city." Now how comforting might that have been to Paul? Considering that every city he went to, he was either rejected, beaten, stoned, left for dead, ridiculed, thrown into prison. I mean, that was just the normal lot

of every city that he went into. And now as he's praying at night, the Lord shows up and says, "Hey, Paul, don't worry about it. "Nobody's gonna harm you in this town. "I'm with you. "There are many people that I have called for my name "that are right here. "Keep right on doing what you're doing "and nobody's gonna touch you." I would have been like, finally, a reprieve. And so notice what Paul does. And he settled there a year and six months teaching the Word of God among them. Cool, I'll say here a year and a half. 'Cause this has been a pretty rough second missionary journey. But I'm willing to hunker down here if nobody's gonna touch me. And here's what I would say, be obedient when the assignment gets hard. Galatians 9 says, "Let us not lose heart." Paul says at the end of his life in 2 Timothy 4-7, "I have fought the fight. "I have finished the race. "I have kept the face." Do you know why the Scripture talks so often about perseverance and endurance? Run the race with perseverance, endure under the trial? Do you know why the Bible talks so much about that?

Because if you're following the Lord, there's so many times you're gonna wanna quit. If you're doing what the Lord's called you to do, there are times you're like, "Why am I even doing this?" This is way too hard and I don't see the fruit of what God wants me to have. Why am I, I'm gonna quit. Quit means you've been, endure means, I've been knocked down or I'm weary or I can't take anymore, but I'm gonna get up and I'm gonna keep on going. And here's the truth in ministry, like anything else, it's not how you start, it's how you finish. It's not how excited you are at the beginning about this new thing you're doing, it's how faithful you are in enduring when it's not very fun and it's not very exciting. It's like marriage, anybody can get excited about their wedding day. If you can't, you definitely shouldn't get married. But you can get excited about your wedding day, but it doesn't mean everything's easy street after you get married, you know that's not true. And so how do you endure through that? How do you make that work? Same is true in ministry and we have faulty expectations and here's the faulty expectations. Everybody in the church is a believer, that's not true. Everybody that is a believer always does the right thing. That's not true. Nobody in the church is selfish, that's not true.

So people have faulty expectations 'cause you go and you serve and you're like okay, I've been in a cadre, they really love me, I'm gonna lead a cadre. And then you lead a cadre and the people that you're leading a cadre with, half of them don't show up after you spent all week praying for them and preparing for the night. And then you're frustrated. And then you talk to them and they're like yeah, well I didn't feel like coming 'cause we were busy. And then you don't feel like that was a good excuse so then you talk to them and now you're at odds with each other and you're like, what am I even doing this for? Like I'm giving my time and they're not responding. And if you don't know what I'm talking about, go serve with our four-year-olds for five weeks and you'll understand what I mean. Nobody's giving me the kudos I deserve, those four-year-olds they don't appreciate me, right? I mean, here's the thing, we expect that because everybody's a believer, we're all gonna get along as a perfect, happy family, we're all gonna see things the same way and all my service is gonna be appreciated by everybody and I'm gonna appreciate everybody else and we're just gonna be one big, happy family. Is your family like that? I don't know any family that's like that.

Families take work, marriages take work, churches take work and we as Christians need to be able to work with one another and stay obedient even when it gets hard. Businesses that make it, when it gets hard, they hunker down, marriages that make it, when it gets hard, they hunker down. to watch the thing fully grown with fruit bearing on it. You wouldn't expect that. You know it takes time. It takes seasons and the same is true about serving the Lord in ministry. He may have put a call in your heart like, Hey, one day I see you doing this, but it hasn't happened yet and it hasn't gotten there yet. And that's okay. Just keep being faithful with what he's called you to do. Don't confuse passion at the start with faithfulness over time. The kingdom is not built by men and women who start strong. It's built by men and women who remain and endure even when it's hard. And here's what I tell you, whatever God's called you to, it's going to have a sense of difficulty to it at some point in time. Otherwise, you wouldn't need God and you wouldn't depend upon him. And the truth of the matter is the reason God takes you through seasons that are hard is so you'll depend upon him more. You'll need this word more. You'll need prayer more because in order to endure and be the person God wants you to be while you're enduring is really challenging. And here's the difference about ministry. In the business world, I can have a private life and I can have a public life. In the business world or in the political world, I can say, well, I had an affair. Yes, but that didn't affect who I am publicly. Good luck saying that in ministry. It's false when they say it now, but in ministry, there's there's no room for it because your life is a fishboy or transparent. It's not only what you're doing. It's who you're becoming while you're doing it. Are you able to say you're sorry? Are you able to say I haven't arrived there yet? Are you able to say I'm still growing in this? Are you able to say I let you down? I could have been better at that. Thanks for your grace. Are you able to let God build your character because who you are is way more important than what you do. It so pains me in my soul when I see somebody who I know loves Jesus who's serving Jesus, but find out there's been this secret sin in their life for a number of years that finally comes out and gets exposed. And it's just so wounding. It's devastating for that person. It's also devastating for everybody they've been

ministering to. It's just it's sick. I mean, I'm old enough now. I say to my wife and my kids all the time and to our leadership team, if I can finish the race and at the end of my life, I've been faithful in the word and I love my wife and I love my kids and I've done that. I'm pretty happy no matter what happens in my ministry because I'm so sick and tired of people that aren't fulfilling their calling because they lack the character to fulfill it. And this is what God wants to do. He wants us to stay obedient when it gets hard. Amen? And so he settled there for a year and a half, but then once you settle in a place, once you're going that direction, then you need to do this fourth thing. You need to trust God to guard what he assigns. Kingdom leaders trust God to guard what he designs and what he assigns. Kingdom leaders aren't holding onto it themselves. It's not up to me. I can't you'll learn pretty quick. You can't make things happen. You'll learn pretty fast. It's going to have to be God that does the work. If you're really seeing what the Lord's called you to do, you're going to depend more on prayer unless upon your own efforts. You're going to see your total inadequacy to do the things that God wants you to do and what he's going to have to come and do in and through you. And that's a good thing because notice what happens with Paul. Now, he's just gotten the word. Don't worry. Nobody's going to harm you. And in verse 12, but when Galileo was the pro council of Achaia, Achaia's southern Greece, where where Corinth is, the Jews with one accord rose up against Paul and brought him to the judgment seat. The judgment seat was a raised platform in the public square, the Bema seat. That's what it was where ruling was going to be made. So right after God gets done telling them, don't worry. No, he's going to lay a hand on you. Guess what they do? They drag him before the pro council and notice what happens. They were saying, this man persuades men to worship God contrary to the law. But when Paul was about to open his mouth, Galileo said to the Jews, if it were a matter of wrong or a vicious crime of Jews, it would be reasonable for me to put up with you. But if there are questions about words and names in your own law, look after it yourselves. I am unwilling to judge these matters and he drove them away from the judgment seat. So God's told Paul, don't worry. Nobody's going to touch you. They dragged Paul before the judgment seat. They say, Paul's teaching people to worship in a way that's contrary to our law. Paul's about ready to open his mouth and defend himself like he always does. He doesn't have to because Galileo the pro council speaks up like, Hey, if this were a matter of something that we actually cared about in our society,

which I don't, because this isn't murder. This isn't theft. This is he's not doing anything wrong. This is your religious ideas, which only cause problems. I'm not going to rule on any of this. So get away from me. So what did that do? Paul's still free to go share everything he wants to share. What does that also mean? The Jews have no political pressure to stop him from doing So God has sovereignly given him a window to do everything that he needs to do. And so he's going to trust God to guard what he assigns. Now, notice what happens next. I love this text. It says, and they all took hold of sausanings. That's the Jews, the leader of the synagogue and begin beating him in front of the judgment seat, but Gaglio was not concerned about any of these things. Okay. That verse is so loaded. It's awesome. So check this out. Remember we had Christmas that was the leader of the synagogue? Christmas got saved, right? So now there's this guy named sausanings and sausanings is a leading this rebellion against Paul, sausanings brings all the Jews to the judgment seat and tells the pro council, here's what Paul's doing wrong. And the pro council says, we don't care. I don't care. I'm not ruling on this and get away from me. And when they do, guess what happens? All the Jews of the synagogue start beating sausanings. I mean, punching him, beating him. Maybe they had six. The Bible doesn't tell us how they beat him, but they were, they were beating him. And Gaglio was watching and he's like, I don't care. You guys can do whatever you want.

If that makes you happy. Now you might not think anything of that, but I would like you, I'd invite you to hold your finger there and open up to 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 1. We have recorded in scripture two of Paul's four letters that he wrote back to the Corinthians, probably letters two and four. So first Corinthians is probably his second letter, but notice, notice what he writes. Paul called as an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God and sausanings. Our brother. So what happened? Well, as Paul standing there watching sausanings get beat, he probably pulled him aside, says this Jewish thing ain't working out too good for you. Is it? There's another way. It's Jesus. You should come join him and he did. Right. Paul took advantage of every single opportunity and the Holy Spirit puts it in the word so that we know even when things look bad, God is always working out good. Amen. So Paul's dragged in front of court and this is the same. Here's what I would say. Confidence is not the same as trusting God, trusting in God, because here's the deal. When you have confidence, you can have confidence in yourself. Like, I think I can do this. Trusting God is totally different. Trusting God is like, I know I don't have what is needed to make this work. But God, I trust that you can and I'm going to keep stepping, believing that you can work in and through me. And notice verse 18, Paul having remained many days longer because we don't know he's there for a year and a half, took leave of the brethren and put out to see

for Syria. So he's going to Syria and with him were Priscilla and Aquila. In censuria, he had his haircut. That was the poor city for he was keeping a vow. Now the Bible doesn't tell us what his vow was. It could have been a Nazarite vow and Nazarite vow meant you didn't drink wine or strong drink. You didn't go near dead bodies and you didn't cut your hair. And it was a way of showing devotion to Christ. Now we know this about Paul. He was completely free. He didn't need to make a vow of any kind. But for whatever reason, Paul was determined in his own spirit for this season to vow to the Lord, here's how I'm going to live. And here's what I'm going to do. Not because of obligation, but because of his love and genuine concern for Jesus. So not going to drink any fermented drink. I'm not going to go near a dead body, which for the Jews, a dead body was representative of what sin caused. So Paul was going to wholly consecrate himself to Jesus during his time in Corinth so that his ministry and his message might go forth with more power. So now he's leaving Corinth, cuts his hair, he's getting ready to leave. He's getting ready to go to Syria and notice what happens next. Verse 19, they came to Ephesus and he left them there. So he left Priscilla and Aquila and censuria and he came to Ephesus. Now he himself entered the synagogue and reason with the Jews. And now he's going to Ephesus and doing the same thing. He's done to every other city he's been to. And when they ask him to stay for a longer time, he did not consent, but taking leave of them saying, I will return again at the Lord's will at the Lord

wills, he set sail from Ephesus. And when he had landed at Caesarea, he went up and greeted the church and went back down to Antioch and having spent some time there, he left and passed successively through the Galatian region in Fergia, strengthening all the disciples. So what happens? He goes, he goes into Ephesus. It's really interesting because he goes to Ephesus and they're actually asking him to stay and he doesn't even wait. He's like, no, I'm moving on. Why? Because in Paul's life, he's constantly asking the Lord, what would you have me do? And I'm going to be obedient to that. Paul sensed that the Lord was saying, no, continue to move on. And he said, OK, if the Lord wills, he'll bring me back. Now we're going to get in chapter 19. He's going to bring him back. He spent time with the Ephesians. He wrote a book back. He wrote a letter back to the Ephesians. He, he loved the Ephesians. But in that specific time, he wasn't moved by the need of the congregation or the need of people he was moved by how God was prompting him. He was trusting God to do what God wanted to do. And too often what happens is we can cross over a line where we're doing work and we think to ourselves, I got to keep doing it this way. the things are gonna fall apart. And I can tell you from being in a lot of different ministries, especially planting a church, when we didn't have many people, I felt that way often, like I'm white knuckling it,

like we have four months in the bank, we got nobody coming and is this gonna go, and I gotta make this work and all. But the reality is, it's got all the time. And if you can get to a place where like God, it's yours, and you don't need me, 'cause by the way, do you know God doesn't need any of us? It's so freeing. I know God doesn't need me to make brave church go. God doesn't need any one of you to make brave church go. God can raise up 20 of our replacements in a snap of a finger without us even trying, right? The question is, are we being faithful with what he's entrusted to us now? And Paul's trusting the Lord, 'cause what's Paul's called? As an apostle who's seen the resurrected Christ, his job is to preach the gospel, plant churches and grow up leaders, that's it. So what's he doing in every city that he goes to? He's preaching the gospel, he's calling up leaders and he's planting churches. That's all he's doing. And when he gets done in one city, he's going to the next, he's doing all that. It's faithful focus in the direction to which God has called you to do. He's not checking with other people, saying what do you think? As a matter of fact, this whole missionary journey got started because him and his best friend Barnabas

got at odds with each other 'cause Paul knew what he was called to do and Barnabas knew what he was called to do and they skisomed over John Mark. Paul's like, I'm called to preach, raise leaders, plant churches, John Mark's not one of them. He left us last time, we're done with him. Barnabas is like, I'm called to encourage the saints and build people up even though they aren't ready, just like you used to be and I'm not leaving him. So they skisomed. Barnabas did his thing with John Mark, Paul goes and does his thing. What's your thing? What's God put you on the earth to do? What must you do? Calling isn't later, calling's now, I have to. I have to, if I don't, I'm being disobedient to the Lord. For Paul it was, woe to me if I don't preach the gospel. If I'm not preaching the gospel, woe to me. 'Cause here's the reality, this beam-a-seat, I wanna tell you something about this beam-a-seat. The beam-a-seat talked about in 1 Corinthians 3 when you stand before it as a believer that's born again in Christ. Here's what's not gonna happen. God's not gonna bring up your sin. You're not gonna see your sin anymore. There's nobody there accusing you of your sin. Do you know why? Because Jesus said it is finished, he paid for it in full.

So if you're born again and you've trusted Christ, great news for you, you don't have to deal with your sin again when you meet Jesus. Here I took care of it. The beam-a-seat for us, according to 1 Corinthians 3, is from the time that you trusted Christ, how well did you serve him with all the resources he gave you? And the Bible makes it pretty clear, some's gonna burn his wood, hair, straw, some's gonna burn his gold and precious jewels and rubies and silver and all that stuff, but the fire will test the quality of your work and the quality of your work will result in rewards or responsibilities in the coming kingdom and your ability to give God more glory. So for the believer, there's no fear in you meeting Jesus. But for the believer, there is accountability to how well we serve the Lord with the resources and gifting that he's given to us. So here's the question I ask as your pastor, are you giving God your best? When you stand before Jesus, can you say, "Hey, with what I had, I wanted you to have it. "This is my house, this is my resources, "this is my bank statements, these are the gifts, "this is my family, this is who I am, "and Lord to the best of my knowledge, "they're all yours and I'm leading the way you want me to go "and if I'm not, you can move me any way you want "and I'll do whatever you wanna do."

And when you live like that, there's a massive return on investment, there's greater glory for Christ and there's more of a blessing for you here, amen? So trust God to guard what he assigns and then finally do this, this big, this may be the biggest one. Invite input from the body of Christ before being sent. Invite input from the body before being sent. Now, notice verse 24. It says now there was a Jew named Apollus, an Alexandrian by birth, an eloquent man came to Ephesus and he was mighty in the scriptures. This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord and being fervent in spirit, he was speaking and teaching accurately the things concerning Jesus, but acquainted only with the baptism of John. And he began to speak out boldly in the synagogue. So here's a guy named Apollus. Apollus was mighty in the scriptures, he knew the Old Testament super well, the Hebrew scriptures, he's testifying that Jesus is the Christ, he's heard about the baptism of John, the baptism of John was repentance for belief in the coming Messiah, he knew all that and he was doing a good job of expounding the scriptures and he was fervent in his spirit, he was passionate about what he was saying,

he's like, listen to this, you gotta pay attention, but notice what happened. It says, but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately. So what Priscilla and Aquila didn't do was to stand up while he was teaching and say, hey, you're not totally right. They didn't publicly shame him, they didn't make him look bad, but they pulled him aside and said, hey, could we talk to you about something? You know about the baptism of John, you're right. But do you understand that when he died on the cross for your sins and he rose from the dead and you repent and believe in him that the Holy Spirit of God comes to dwell in your life? Do you realize that you're completely forgiven from your past, your present and your future sins? Do you realize that you've been given a new identity and a new title and a new name? Do you realize it's no longer you trying to live to please God but God is already pleased and that you get to live your life with him working in and through you? Did you know that the Holy Spirit wants to release power and gifting in your life to help bless other Christians and help them go and he's like wow I wanted to know that. I find it interesting, I find it interesting that professional athletes pay a lot of money to have a coach come help them with something they do all the time better than 99% of people. Whether it's a golf swing, whether it's throwing a pass or whatever they pay a lot of money to coaches that can help them do that better. I find it interesting that CEOs pay thousands of dollars to be part of leadership networks and leadership groups so they can be told how they can be a better CEO. I find it interesting though that in the church, if anybody ever wants to share how you could

be better at something, our response typically is who are you to talk to me about anything. Like I'm doing the best I can, I'm doing better than you. I mean the church should be the place where we love each other enough to share with people hey good job but you could even get better if you understood this or I know you're trying but that's not your gift. But what do we tend to do in the church? Somebody sings on the platform, everybody knows they're awful, everybody's like who's that? But then when you see them after the service what you say is great job. It wasn't a great job, you know it wasn't a great, God knows it wasn't a great job. But instead of telling them hey love you enough to tell you you have other gifts that you haven't explored yet let me help you explore those gifts so that you can use them for the glory of God we tend to tell people hey yeah you're really good but I don't think you are. Why do we do that in the church and why are we so offended if other people want to help us get better? I mean church should be the one place if there's people that genuinely love us that can talk to us. So here's a question, who do you have in your life that can talk to you about you that you'll listen to? Do you have that? I have that. I have it from about five people at least and I listen to other people that I don't even know that have good things to say to me. Here's the thing, if you're unteachable you can't fulfill God's mission for your life. If you got all the answers you can't fulfill God's mission for your life. Who's speaking into you? Who's the person that can look you in the eye and say I know you see it this way, you're wrong. You need to pray about that, you need to see it, who do you listen to like that? Because that's what Apollos is doing, he's not telling a quill in Priscilla, who do you think you are?

I'm a man of God, I'm doing, it's not what he says. Matter of fact, notice this, and when he wanted to go across to Achaia, the brethren encouraged him. So that means brothers and sisters in Christ are telling him you're really good at this and wrote to the disciples to welcome him and when he arrived he greatly helped those who had believed through grace, for he powerfully refuted the Jews in public demonstrating by the scriptures that Jesus was the Christ. So what happens? As they share with them, not only does he respond well, but then they send him off because that's what you do in the church, you always commission people because if you're going to be doing something in the church but you've never done anything in the church, don't come in and say, hey, I can do this better than anybody, give me a title, why don't you serve faithfully so there's other brothers and sisters in Christ that see you serving faithfully and there's fruit to your ministry and then it grows and expands and people see it and be like, yeah, look it. You can do that. The people are coming because here's what the problem is in church. Here's my gift, pastor. If you just bring me 20 people and you give me like $10,000 a month and you do this, I will do a great job for you. Friends, that's not ministry, that's ridiculous. Ministry is I have a burden to go do something. I don't know anybody else in the church that has that burden. I'm going to go start doing it. I'm going to invite some other people that want to do that and if God's in it, he'll bless it and encourage it and then as it grows, God resources that and then it becomes something. That's how all ministry in the kingdom grows and who is it that's speaking into your character and how do we know that you're qualified and what does it look like? That's what the Bible says when it comes to elders, don't be hasty to lay hands on them. You want to get to know who they are.

Can they handle this? Can they not handle that? What's their marriage like? What's their kids like? Because your life speaks more about Christ than your gifting, amen? And this is what we see here. This is what we see. And so the question is not, can you lead? The question becomes, can God trust you in his church to lead? Because nothing is more important. Tell me one thing that's more important than telling people about Christ or helping people grow in Christ so that when they meet Christ, they can hear the words well done. And this is what we see here. We see how God builds a kingdom leader We see it in Paul's life We see it in many others throughout the New Testament and God is in the process of building your life Where is he calling you to serve? What does it look like for you to serve? You said I don't have enough time to serve what you're really saying is Jesus isn't that important to me There are other things more important. I'm too busy right now now don't get me wrong If you just had a baby yesterday, well, there's seasons, okay Take a break if you've been wounded take a break or get all that but don't make your break like five years You know, there's time to heal and there's time to get back involved and oftentimes I find it's when you serve that God brings the healing back to you So today the way we're going to enter services by taking communion because this is the only reason we gather the Centrality of what we do is the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ So I'd encourage you to have those elements ready and as you hear this song sung over you Reflect on the fact that God's not only forgiven your sins But God's called you to be great for him and giving you through his Holy Spirit all the potential of accomplishing everything He's set forth to do in your life. So would you pray with me our Father in heaven? We give you glory honor and praise and Lord as we prepare our hearts to take this meal which you instituted Lord, would we be ready to respond to you Lord not only show us our sin But show us how much forgiveness we have and how cleansed we are in Christ

How perfected we are in you and positionally how ready we are to serve you and then Lord remind us that you are Central to our worship and we give you all the praise all the glory and it's in Jesus name. We pray. Amen [MUSIC PLAYING]