Let God Keep Leading The Mission

Well, good morning, would you help me welcome all of our campuses who are worshiping with us today. So good to be with all of you. I want to thank you so much for your prayers last week. We had hundreds of people take bags that came to know Jesus last week, even down the prison. It's tough to know everybody that responds. The Lord knows those who are his, but we did have one prisoner specifically that gave his life to Christ. He was telling one of our guys with tears in his eyes, he goes, I got to go call my mom and tell her that her prayers made a difference. So that was pretty cool. So thanks for your prayers. If you did come to know Christ last week, welcome back. We're so glad that you're here. Also just to let you know, for those that are traveling to Israel with Kimberly and I, we're so glad you're coming. You received a note from me yesterday. We are opening up another bus because we have so many people that want to go. This will not affect our ability to interact with you or do things. As a matter of fact, it's going to enhance it. It gives us opportunity to have some stuff at the hotels we didn't have before. So I encourage you to stay registered and we're just trusting that the timing will be right in October. It's going to be a great time to go and that we're going to have a phenomenal trip. So with that, let's continue our worship today. Let's go before the Lord and get ready to hear him from his living and active word. Would you pray with me? Our Father in heaven, we do give you all glory, honor, and praise. What a privilege it is to gather in your house with your people to sing praises to you because you and you alone deserve our honor, our worship, and all of our best.

Lord, be pleased with us today as we worship you, as we get ready to hear from you, because Lord, we as a people believe that every time your word is faithfully and accurately proclaimed, that it is you who are speaking. And we get the privilege of hearing you today. So our prayer 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. I want to start with a question this morning and ask you, who is leading your life? Who or what is leading your life? All of us are being led. All of us are being pulled along by someone or something. It could be your desire. It could be your ambition. It could be your past. It could be a relationship. Or you could say, because you're in church, well, it's Jesus. But before you answer quickly, really think about who is it you're listening to? What is it you're listening to? And how is that directing how you live? Jesus wants to direct your path. Jesus wants to be in control of your life. If you're born again, you know that. And so often we use the illustration of a car that, you know, you shouldn't be driving. You should let Jesus be driving. We even have a song, let Jesus take the wheel. You know, you should be in the passenger seat, maybe in the back seat. But all analogies break down.

I don't really think that that's true, because really what we find in the New Testament, when we're empowered by his spirit, oftentimes Jesus is like, you take the wheel, but I'm going to tell you where to go. I'll tell you how fast to go, how slow to go. I'll tell you where to steer. Other times, if you've lived in the Christian life long enough, there's going to be times where Jesus tells somebody else to take the wheel and ask you to get in the back seat and encourage them while they're driving. And there's times in your life, you're like, that's not fair. It's my turn to take the wheel. I should be doing all this, right? But if you're going to let Jesus lead your life, then it's important that you spend time with Jesus. Like for those of you who say, Jesus is leading my life. If you didn't read your Bible or pray it all this week, you can't say that with any sincerity. You only follow who and what you're listening to. And so the question this morning is, who's leading your life? I want to encourage you this morning, let God lead your life. Let God lead the mission of your life. Let God take you on an adventure because there's nothing more spectacular and glorious than letting Jesus Christ lead your life. It doesn't mean that every season of your life is going to be fun. It doesn't mean that every season of your life is going to be great. But if Jesus Christ is leading your life, you will bear much fruit and you will bring God great glory. So today we're going to talk about five reasons why you should let God lead the mission of your life. Why you should let God be the one that's in charge. Why it should be him that you're seeking

and him that you're asking the questions to. And to do that, we're going to be back in the book of Acts. It's been a little while since we've been in the book of Acts. We're in Acts chapter 16 this morning. And if you remember where we left off, Paul and Barnabas had a massive dispute. Barnabas wanted to bring John Mark on a missionary journey. And Paul said, heck no, no way. John Mark abandoned us on our last one. I'm not bringing him along. Barnabas argued, hey, we can build into him. He's going to be okay. Paul's like, I don't have time for that. I need people I can trust. And there was such a heated dispute, they split up. And Barnabas took John Mark and went off on a journey. And Paul took Silas. And this is where our story picks up in following the apostle Paul and what he's going to do. And in this section, this is a long section. There's a lot going on, but I'm telling you. Many people read the book of Acts and they conclude things like this. We see all these miraculous things. Why don't we see this today? And they falsely conclude, well, that's just how God operated then. He doesn't do those kind of things anymore. But the Bible says Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

Perhaps the reason that you're not experiencing the fullness of everything Jesus has for your life is perhaps that Jesus is not the one leading your life. And so today I'm gonna give you five reasons why Jesus needs to lead your life. And we'll start in Acts chapter 16. And here's what the word of the Lord says. He says, Paul came also to Derbe and to Lystra and a disciple was there named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek and he was well-spoken of by the brethren who were in Lystra and Iconium. Paul wanted this man to go with him and he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those parts for they all knew that his father was a Greek. Now, while they were passing through the cities, they were delivering the decrees which had been decided upon by the elders and apostles who were in Jerusalem for them to observe. So the churches were being strengthened in the faith and were increasing in number daily. And as the story begins, so Paul and Barnabas, really good friends. Barnabas is encouraged and discipled. Paul and him have done missionary journeys together. They've gone and preached the gospel. They built churches, strengthened churches. Now there's a departure. They're not gonna hang out anymore

because they disagree on whether John Mark should come with them. Paul's gonna take Silas. Barnabas is gonna take John Mark. And this is where our story picks up. But here's why you need to continue to let God lead the mission. I'm gonna give you five truths this morning. The first is this. You need to let God keep leading the mission because methods continually change, but the gospel never does. Methods always change, but the gospel never does. Now I want you to notice this. It says Paul came to Derbe and to Lystra. And if you know anything about what we've read in the book of Acts, I mean, we see in Acts chapter 14 where he was in both of those cities. In Derbe, we don't read much other than he made some disciples there. People were converted there. But in Lystra, Lystra is where Paul went, where he preached the gospel and he did such a good job. They're like, we're listening to the voice of a God. It's Hermes and Zeus. That's who Paul and Barnabas are. And they're like, guys, don't worship us.

We're just speaking on behalf of God. And then they turned on him. And in Lystra is where they stoned Paul and left him for dead and dragged him outside the city. Paul got up after that, walked back into Lystra, spent some time with the disciples and left. Now guess where he's going. Paul is going right back to the city where people tried to kill him. For what purpose? To make sure the church is strong. So does Paul seem to be going back for his own benefit? Does Paul seem to be going to a city where he's gonna live his best life now? No, Paul is going back because that's where Jesus wants him to go. And he's gonna go back to these cities to make sure that the church of Jesus Christ and the saints of God are flourishing. And notice what happens. He meets Timothy there. We read about Timothy all through the New Testament, son of a Jewish woman. We know about Eunice and Lois, his mother and grandmother. And his mom was a believer. His grandmother was presumably a believer, but it says his father was a Greek, meaning this. His father probably wasn't a believer. And it says that Paul wanted this man to go with him because everybody spoke so highly of him.

So he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those parts. Now it's really interesting. We haven't been in this book for a little while, but in Acts chapter 15, one of the problems they were having is that Judaizers were coming in and they were saying, okay, we do believe that Gentiles can get saved, but if they're not circumcised, they're not really saved. In other words, they're not truly converted unless they get circumcised too. It's the same group of people that say, Jesus by himself is not enough. You gotta add something. You gotta add good works. You gotta do all this. And so there was such a confusion that they came to the apostles and the elders in Jerusalem and said, you know, what do we do? Do we need to tell all these Gentiles? Hey, come to Christ. And they're like, this is awesome. And then they say, now you gotta get circumcised too or you're not really a Christian. Is that what we have to do to everybody? And the apostles came back and gave them four things that they needed to do. You can see it in Acts chapter 15, verse 29. It says that you should abstain from things

sacrificed to idols and from blood and from the things strangled and from fornication. So things sacrificed to idols were serving those things that stay away from people that serve false gods and other idols. Stay away from sexual immorality. That's bad. And then he said, stay away from the blood and animals that have been strangled. Why? Because that would build unity because if you were around that as a Gentile, that would have been offensive to Jews. And so what the elders were saying is, do the things to keep unity. Don't worship other gods and don't slip into sexual immorality. That's it. So no, you don't have to be circumcised. So why does Paul in the very next chapter take Timothy and have him circumcised? Because methods have changed. Because Paul knows that to reach the Jews, they'll never ever listen to him if they find out Timothy's not circumcised. So for the sake of the gospel and the sake of advancing the gospel, not for Timothy's salvation, but for the sake of reaching his fellow countrymen, the Jews, he's gonna have Timothy circumcised

so that they can preach the gospel. That's it. Because we read in Galatians chapter two, they wanted Titus to get circumcised and Paul's like, we're never circumcising him. Because they wanted Titus to get circumcised to prove that he was Christian. And Paul's like, you don't need to do that. We're not gonna do that. Here's the truth. Methods always change, but the gospel never does. And here's why that's important. Because we love to come up with rules and keep them no matter what. It's more comfortable for us. We don't like to change. Any of you that say you like to change, you're fooling yourself because you're sitting in the exact same seat you sit in every single week. The only time we like change is if nobody else has to change and the change benefits us. But if we have to change to benefit others, it's always uncomfortable. And so it's easy for us as Christians to start making little rules as we walk with God. I won't do this, I won't do this, I won't do this. I will do this, I will do this, I will do this. And that is not necessarily bad in and of itself as long as you have an open hand

to listen to the voice of God at any given moment where the Lord may take one of your little things that you do and say, no, you can do that. Or no, you shouldn't do that. See, the holiness movements have always started with people that are well-meaning people that are like, I'm not gonna drink, I'm not gonna play cards, I'm not gonna smoke, I'm not gonna, great. But then they become these rules. Like you can't watch movies, you can't do anything. And then people come along like, why can't I watch a movie? Because you can't. Because that's wrong, it's unspiritual. Well, no, the Bible says to guard your eyes, but the Bible doesn't say you can't watch a movie. And so we end up making these rules and then we love our rules more than we love God. Here's the whole point. Are you listening to how the Lord is leading your life in any given moment? This is what I have for you today. I mean, for most of us, the way that we wake up, even if we're the praying type and we're reading the Bible to see what God wants us to do, we bring our schedule before the Lord. Lord, here's the meetings I have today. I need you to go before me in these meetings. Here's what I'm doing today.

Here's what I need you to do. Here's what I need you to bless. But what if the Lord doesn't want you to do any of that stuff? I mean, a better prayer is, this is the day the Lord has made, I'll rejoice and be glad in it. Lord, this is what's kind of on the schedule, but if you want me to change any of it, I'll change any of it. And who do you want me to be as I go out? And what do you wanna change? And what are you gonna shut? And what are you gonna open? I just wanna make sure, Lord, at the end of the day, I've always done it your way and you're pleased with the way I handled every situation. And my eyes have been open to share the gospel with people. Like, that's how the Lord wants us to live, not just today, but every single day of our lives. And if we're really walking with the Lord, then we're listening to the Lord. We're studying his word because I wanna do what he's telling me to do. I'm not gonna listen to just my pastor. He's not inerrant. The word of God is. He's not authoritative. The word of God is. I've gotta see what the word says. I need to hear what my God's saying.

I got things going on. I need to know what he wants me to do. And what's Paul's point in doing what he's doing? He wants to share the gospel with everybody. First Corinthians 9.22 says, to the weak I became weak that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that I may by all means save some. What if the Lord asked you to go to some place and identify with a group of people to share the gospel, but you know by identifying with that group of people, it's gonna put you in a different light and people are gonna think differently of you. If the Lord leads you, then you go. And who cares what anybody else says? And if the Lord keeps you away, you stay away. You do what the Lord calls you to do through the truth of his word. I mean, you have to realize methods always change. Like you do not have to have a worship team to have worship. Did you know that? You don't even need instruments to have worship. You can sing hymns or you can sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. You can make a song up about the word and how much you love Jesus. You can sing Jesus loves me this I know for the Bible tells me so. That can be worship.

But what tends to happen in our DNA is we go to a place that does things a certain way and we think that's the way it's done. The reason I always encourage people to do some cross-cultural mission trips is because when you do, you'll meet people that love the same Jesus like you that worship nothing like you. They dance. They sing different than you. They preach way longer than me, believe that or not. I mean, they just go for hours. And that's what they do. And that's what's normal to them. What's normal to you is. not necessarily right, it's just a way to do it, right? And we need to make sure that the focus is on Jesus and not on our method. Our methods don't matter, but the message does. It can be different worship styles, it can be different places. Even in our own ministry here, we don't do things the same way we did when we first got started. That's okay, things evolve, things change, it's fine. But what can never change is the fact that Jesus Christ is Lord and he's the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through him, amen? So methods continually change, but the gospel never does,

so be open to what the Lord says. Because Paul could have left that meeting and said, hey, I'm going to share the word with all the churches to strengthen them. Here's only the four things you have to do, so there's no way I need to circumcise Timothy. But he's listening to the Lord and saying, Timothy uncircumcised is gonna be a burden to where you're going sharing the gospel, so make sure you circumcise him so that there's no burden in sharing the gospel with these Jews. So he does what's necessary in order to share the gospel. He does whatever he needs to share the gospel. Shy of sin, he's not gonna, you don't need to hang out with sinners in such a way that you act like them to share the gospel, that never, God never asked you to be unholy to share the gospel. But God may ask you to go to someplace that's somewhat unholy, God may ask you to be around some people that are unholy so that you can present the truth of God to them. So keep God leading the mission because methods will continually change, but the gospel never does. Second is this, you need to understand the Holy Spirit's more powerful than your strategy. The Holy Spirit is way more powerful than your strategy. Notice how in verse five, all the churches were strengthened in the faith and they're increasing in number, why?

Because God's doing it, notice this, they pass through the Fergan and Galatian region and having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia and after coming to Mysia, they were trying to go to Bithynia and the Spirit of Jesus did not permit them and passing by Mysia, they came down to Troas. So check it out, they're wanting to go to some different places and the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus, the same one who's inside of you is saying, closed door, not gonna happen, you're not going there. Now we read this really fast and it's cities and then we're gonna go here but it didn't work out, but think about your own life and all the things that you plan to do and you're moving this direction, you spent four years in a high school to get into this college that you've been dying for. Door's closed, you can't get in. Doesn't seem to make any sense, why? Because God shut it and he's got you going a different direction or you spent four years at a college to get this job at this company with this group of people and the door shuts. God uses green lights and red lights all the time in your life to get you where he wants you to go. So you have to pay attention because if you don't, you'll try to knock down the door

that the Lord is closing and that never works. Sometimes in your life, the very path you think God is taking you to was only to get you to the next step because he's gonna take you in an entirely different direction. See, we love to plan out the next five and 10 years and I'm not necessarily saying that's wrong. It's good to have a trajectory or a direction so long as at any moment, if the Lord says pivot, you're fine pivoting. I believe I'll be here for the rest of my life but I'm telling you, if tomorrow the Lord told me to move to Africa, I'm pivoting. I wanna be in the center of God's will all the time. And so many of us were like, I want that too. But here's how you're praying. Think about all the aspects of your life. Think about your finances, think about your relationship, your marriage, your children, your home, your car, everything you have. The way you pray is, Lord, here's all the things you've entrusted to me. Lord, here's all the gifts that you've given to me. Lord, I didn't ask for any of them, you gave them to me. How do I best steward everything I have for you? And how do I just stay right in the center of your will so that you'll unfold all that? See, we love to have answers. When people ask us, teenagers, what are you gonna do when you grow up?

Even if they tell you, they don't know. You don't even know and you're 50, right? I mean, we love to tell people we know. That's why when I see these young guys going into ministry and I ask them what their strategy is and their plan and they pull out like a notebook of all their journals, like here it is, next 10 years I'm doing this, I'm gonna plant this many churches. I always wanna push it back to them and say, that's total excrement, but it's cool that you spent time thinking about it. Because the only thing that's gonna work is you spending time in front of the Lord and letting him guide your path. And that's why First Tuesdays will always be the most important meeting of our month to gather the saints together, to pray together, to say, Lord, we're here for you. You're the head of the church. What needs to change in me? What do you wanna do in and through me? What are we doing that's off? What do we need to do differently, Lord? This is all you. And the more we do that, the more we'll see the power of God unleashed in our church. It's just a fact. And you need to understand the Holy Spirit's more powerful than your strategy. One touch for the Lord.

is more powerful than 10 years in ministry. I remember being at a church in Post, Texas. Went with my aunt and uncle one Sunday, years ago, some 30 years ago, and it was at a time when I was wrestling with the Lord as to what he wanted me to do with my life. Was it ministry? I didn't know any ministers. I didn't know any pastors. I didn't know anybody like that. I didn't have a dad that did that. But I was feeling tugged at it, but I didn't know what that meant. Or is it coaching? Or is it business world? Or, Lord, what do you have? I wanna do whatever you want. Ended up at this church in Post, Texas. It was the pastor's last Sunday. He had like three different churches. This one, on the last Sunday, with his entire family there of like seven people, the total church membership was 24 people. I counted. I was one of 24. And I sat there and I don't remember the worship. I just remember the young son stood up and here's how they led worship. What hymns y'all wanna sing today? They picked them and he played them and we sang them.

Then the pastor got up and preached. Don't remember a thing he preached. Just remember at the end he kind of did this poem song that was all about giving your life to the Lord and how much it would matter for all eternity if you did. And the Spirit of God used that song, used that poem to touch my heart. And he started ministering to me so deep that I couldn't contain my tears. It wasn't like little like, you know, drying my eye tears. It was like snot bubbling. Both contacts popped out of my eye, tears. And I'm sitting there after the service holding my contacts and this like 80 year old lady came up to me and she's like, y'all want some Silane? And I'm like, yeah, I could use some Silane. And I'm putting my eyes back in and I knew there the Lord was saying it's ministry. But why? Because I was listening to the Lord. You can't plan out when you get to hear him. You can't plan out what you're gonna do. You realize it's him. It's his Holy Spirit. And if you let the Holy Spirit guide your life, it's good. Proverbs 16, nine says it like this. The mind of man plans his way, but the Lord determines his steps. Romans 8, 14 says for all those who are being led

by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. It's like this. I mean, if you've ever been in an airplane and you're getting ready to land and you're looking at your watch and all of a sudden somebody comes on and says, we're gonna need to circle around a little bit. You take one lap around the city and then you're taking two laps around the city. And then you're taking three laps around the city and you have to go to the bathroom. And you're like, this is very annoying, but you know that the pilot needs to listen to air traffic control because they see things he doesn't see. And if he said enough, Pastor Jeff needs to pee. And he landed the plane, it crashes. So he's listening to someone higher than him so that he can do what he needs to do. In the same way, we need to listen to the Lord because he sees the end from the beginning and he's guiding your path and he's taking you the way that you need to go. And especially when you're in a place that you say, this is never a place I'd wanna be. That's when you know when you're still seeking the Lord, he's got you, amen? Because his power is more powerful than any strategy that you could ever develop. So here's what happens.

Notice verse nine, Paul gets a vision. It says, a vision appeared to Paul in the night. A man of Macedonia, that's over in Greece, was standing and appealing to him and saying, come over to Macedonia and help us. And when he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. That's what he says. So here's what it is. He's been waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting. Gets a vision, come over here, and here's what he's gonna do. He's gonna go the way he senses the Lord wants him to go, but he's gonna keep listening. If the Lord calls you to go to a place, keep listening. Because we get this idea, okay, call me, I'm going. No, keep listening. What's he having you do? How's he having you live? Paul's not just saying, well, I'm going to Greece. That's where I'm gonna live for the rest of my life. Paul's going because he has a vision and he senses that's where the Lord wants him to go. And Lord, if you continue to open these doors up, that's where we're gonna be and you guide our path. And if that's not it, close that way down. We're just gonna go your way.

That's how he's praying. So they're gonna go over to Greece. And this is important because when the Holy Spirit sets things up, the Holy Spirit is more powerful than any strategy you have. Because notice what the third point is, and you're gonna see this happen. You wanna let God keep leading the mission because when the gospel engages a city, it disrupts everything. When the gospel engages a city, it disrupts everything. Most of us have a false idea that the purpose of the gospel is to get lost people saved. That's part of the gospel. The purpose of the gospel is to get people that are worshiping other gods to worship the Lord Jesus Christ and live fully for him on this side of heaven and advance his kingdom in a world of darkness. That's what the gospel does. The gospel not only saves and rescues you to heaven, the gospel empowers you with the Holy Spirit so you can live out kingdom principles in a world that doesn't want them. And so when the gospel really engages a person, it engages the whole city. That's what happens. So putting out from Troas, which is modern day Turkey, we ran a straight course to Samaras and on the day following to Neapolis.

And from there to Philippi. You may be familiar with the book of Philippians. This is where this church got started. Which is a leading city in the district of Macedonia, a Roman colony, and we were staying in this city for some days. And on the Sabbath day, we went outside the gate to a riverside where we were supposing there would be a place of prayer and we sat down and began speaking to the women who had assembled. Now it's interesting because you listen to this, like, why is Paul going to a riverside to talk to a bunch of women? I thought Paul went into the synagogue and talked to the men. Well, in order to have a synagogue, you needed at least 10 Jewish men in a city. There weren't at least 10 Jewish men there. So he's trying to find the place. God, where would you have me go? Who would you have me meet? What does it look like? They assume there's gonna be a prayer meeting over here. So they go to the prayer meeting because there's probably some people there that are God-fearing that he can talk to about Jesus Christ. That's why he goes there. It's not a strategy. Paul did not sit down and write,

once I get to Philippi, I'm going to the river to pray with women. I mean, it wasn't on his agenda. He's sensing where the spirit is leading him. And notice what happens. A woman named Lydia from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple fabrics, a worshiper of God, so she had her heart open to God, she wanted to know the true God, was listening to the Lord, was listening, and the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken of by Paul. So what's he going there to do? He's going there to preach the gospel. Sees these women, he starts proclaiming to them the kingdom of God and the Lord Jesus Christ being the way, the truth, and the life. And as this woman Lydia is hearing it, she's changed. She wants to have a relationship with Jesus. She wants to serve the living God. And notice what happened next. And when she and her household had been baptized, she urged us saying, if you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and stay, and she prevailed upon us. So what happens? She gets saved and she's gonna share the gospel with her family. Her family gets saved. They all get baptized.

And as they're baptized, she looks at Paul and says, hey, if I'm not presuming too much, why don't y'all stay here and make this your home base and I'll make sure you have enough food and this can be your shelter. Like you can't find that on Priceline.com. You can't rent out a place like that. You can't look for a hotel. I mean, God's like, if you follow me, I got you. I'm gonna introduce you to this woman. She and her whole family are gonna come to Christ. That's gonna be your home base. She'll take care of all your food and shelter. It's already taken care of because you trust me. See, when you trust God, you don't plan everything. You're trusting him in the moment for the things that he's going to do. And it says, and it happened as we were in that place of prayer that a slave girl having a spirit of divination met us who was bringing her master as much profit by fortune telling. Now, keep in mind this. When the gospel engages a city, it disrupts everything. Why? Because the word of God is living and active. It's sharper than any two-edged sword and it penetrates to divide both soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It judges the attitudes and the intentions of the heart.

Another reason it disrupts everything is this. John 3, verses 19 and 20 says, this is the judgment that the light has come into the world and men love the darkness rather than the light for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the light and does not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. So what are we called to do? Well, we're called to be the light. Jesus is the light of the world. You are salt and light. You're called to preserve the dark community from becoming putrid and you're to be a light in a dark world. But the problem with being a light in the dark world is that darkness doesn't like light. It likes staying in its darkness. May I be so bold as to tell you this morning that becoming a Christian is not about just getting saved so that you can come to a church and be comfortable and sing songs and hear the truth of God's word and stay all huddled up together. May I be so bold as to say that Jesus saved you and empowered you with his spirit to put you on a mission to advance his kingdom principles in a world that hates kingdom principles so that you can live as light among darkness. The gospel was never meant to be contained

inside the walls of a church. The church is just a gathering of the saints so we can live out the kingdom values out there. The gospel's for everybody. And if you're gonna live it out, you're gonna have some challenges because it's gonna disrupt everything. So notice what happened. There's this slave girl. She had a spirit of divination. That's literally translated. It's the. Python spirit. It's the it's a demonically inspired spirit that enables fortune-telling or Supernatural insight which is why if you want to study Deuteronomy 18 verses 10 to 12 and other places Don't go to a fortune-teller. Don't hang out with fortune-tellers. Don't get into astrology horoscopes Ouija boards. All that stuff is demonically inspired It's not like a jokey play around. I'll just dabble and just get away from it right this woman is Somebody who's making much profit by fortune-telling even today. There's people I call this 800 number Hey, go down the street talk to this part. They could tell you the future. Nobody knows the future except God But the devil may use somebody to tell you just enough to be like, oh, they really know something I need to go back. Don't listen to anybody. Only Jesus has your future. Amen and Following after Paul she kept crying out saying these men are bond servants of the Most High God who are proclaiming to you the way of salvation Are they bond servants of the Most High God proclaiming the way of salvation? They are so isn't that good press when you have a demon spirit and giving proper press? Not so much Because here's the truth if Satan can't prevent you from sharing the gospel He'll try to attach himself to it. So it feels like he's part of it Right Paul doesn't like this Paul doesn't need some demon spirit Proclaiming who he is. He can let Jesus do that for him. And so notice what happens

She continued doing this for many days verse 18. I love this. I love these five words, but Paul was greatly annoyed. I Mean you can read into that. I mean it just means what it means I mean for their days this woman is just traveling around. These are men of the Most High God proclaiming the way of salvation He's sick of it. And so notice what he does and he turned and said to the Spirit I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her and it came out at that very moment Right, can I just talk about freedom ministry and deliverance really quick? It's not a weird funky thing When the Lord delivers somebody it's immediate. It's not a big show. It's not a weird thing It's not like a pastor waving a coat and doing all sorts of freaky stuff When Jesus or Paul or any of the Apostles or what? I've seen today when somebody tells a demon to flee and leave and go to G. It's done We have authority in Christ greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world? Okay, not everything is a demon there's not a demon under every rock it's not that way but when somebody is truly Possessed by a demon spirit and you can speak to that You have no fear in the name of Jesus be gone and guess how quick it left like that Because demons have to listen to Jesus They just they just do and so it came out of her that moment and we would say is that a good thing or a? bad thing by the way a Woman who is demonized who is now free. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Okay, I just want to make sure you're with me because you guys look confused. It's a really good thing I mean if you're demonically oppressed and on your way to hell and there's nothing you can do about it Now you're freed up and you can turn to Jesus That's a really good thing, but it's not gonna be a good thing for her owners Because they've been profiting very handsomely at her and what she's been able to do And so it says but when her master saw their hope of profit was gone Like the business just died There's no more fortune-telling business. They're out of the fortune-telling business They seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the authorities and when they had brought them to the chief magistrates They said these men are throwing our city into confusion being Jews and proclaiming customs Which is not lawful for us to accept or to observe being Romans. You see what's going on. I Want you to look at this really really clearly Paul and Silas are letting the Lord lead

Paul and Silas are praying and seeking the Lord's direction Paul and Silas are right Smack dab in the center of God's will Paul and Silas are watching people come to Christ Paul and Silas are doing freedom ministry and seeing people delivered of demonic oppression. And do you know what they get for that? They're gonna get arrested They're gonna get beat that's what they're gonna get for that. Please don't tell me that if you're a Christian your life's gonna get easier There's no guarantee. It's gonna get easier There is a guarantee that anybody who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted Now if you say to me today, it's not true of me I'm one of those loving Christians I love everybody well then love more people Because some people even when you love them the way Jesus loved them will not love you back. They'll hate the fact that you love them. I Mean who was the most loving person that ever lived? Jesus what do they do to him? They killed him. What do they do to his apostles? The apostles, they killed them. What do they do to people who fully live out what Jesus wants? They don't want anything to do with you. Darkness hates the light, which means if you're living with godly principles and people don't like you or they're perturbed by you or they're disgusted by you, you may be right smack dab in the center of everything God wants you to be. Now, nowhere in the Bible does it say be a jerk. Nowhere in the Bible does it say be rude to somebody else. Nowhere in the Bible does it say to be hurtful to people. None of that stuff. But if you stay true to your convictions in Jesus and you love God and you preference other people but you love them enough to tell them the truth, there will be a group of people that do not like you. You should expect that.

I love you enough to tell you that. And it doesn't mean you're doing anything wrong because what they're gonna try to do is tell you, you know, stop this nonsense. We can't have this in our city. This isn't what Denver's about. This isn't what we're supposed to be. That's church stuff. Keep it inside the church. Jesus said, no, this is my stuff. This is my world. I own every inch of it. Keep preaching the truth. Amen. So notice what they're gonna get. Verse 22 says, and the crowds rose up against them and the chief magistrates tore their robes off them and proceeded to order them to be beaten with rods. These rods were to be about four feet long, maybe about an inch or two thick. I mean, you get pummeled. You would get bruised. Many people often died with this type of treatment. Why is this happening to them? Because they're telling people about the love of Jesus, because they desired to free a demonically oppressed woman and they ruined somebody's economic business. And so they're gonna get beat nearly to death. When they had struck them with many blows,

they threw them into prison, commanded the jailer to guard them securely. And he, having received such command, threw them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks. All right. Now check this out. So here's what they got for doing what Jesus wanted, for following the Lord's will and doing great things. They get arrested, they get mistreated, they get a mistrial, they get their shirt stripped off their back and they get beaten nearly to death. Then they get thrown not only into prison, but in the inner prison and they get their feet put in stocks. So picture like a wooden board with two places for your feet. Oftentimes they would stretch it out so that you would cramp up. You've been beaten and opened on your back so you can't lay back or sit down. And so you're writhing in pain, cramping up in your legs in a prison because why? Because you're right smack dab in the middle of God's will for your life. That's what's going on. Now we don't like that. And I'm not promising you that. What I am saying is oftentimes when we follow God,

things don't go the way we thought they were gonna go. I mean, for many of us, American Christians, we'd have been calling our congressmen. We'd be complaining. We'd have unforgiveness in our heart. We'd be thinking revenge, wait till I get out of here. Those guys are gonna feel it from me. Nobody can do that to me. I mean, all of those kinds of things. But notice this. I mean, God uses the gospel, it engages a city, it disrupts everything. It's doing everything God wants it to do. But keep this fourth one in mind. You need to let God keep leading the mission because God uses your circumstances to unleash his power and advance the gospel. He uses your circumstances to unleash his power and advance the gospel. I mean, your life is a curriculum so the gospel can be advanced. God's using everything in your life and he doesn't waste any of it. And it's oftentimes when you find yourself in the situation you don't wanna be in that the Lord is blessing it. Some of you know I played football at the University of Illinois years and years ago, thought I was gonna be the starting quarterback before my senior year.

Long story short, they kind of knocked me down the depth chart and said, we're gonna go with younger guys. And I was devastated. I was so angry. I was so mad. I had unforgiveness in my heart. Like I spent four years to play one. I mean, this is devastating. It was awful to me. But I remember when I told the Lord, okay, fine. I mean, I know you want me to quit. I'll just follow you. And the Lord told me in my spirit, I guess I'm not asking you to quit. I'm just wondering if you'd be my servant on the team. And I'm saying, Lord, that will be humiliating and embarrassing. I'll be the scout team quarterback as a fifth year senior. And the Lord said, I know how it feels to be humiliated and embarrassed. Again, I was just asking if you'd be my servant on the team. So I went back on the team. I can tell you in those four months that I was on the team that fall, I led more people to the Lord and discipled more people than I had in the entire college career that I had because I used that circumstance that was so awful to look to Jesus and say, hey, you do something with it.

God leads our circumstances in ways. And if you've lived long enough, you know, I'm telling you the truth where things don't work out the way you think they're gonna do. You think God's leading you to do this and he takes you over here and does that. And like that wasn't it. wasn't what I was seeing. And God's like, well, that's what I was doing all along. I had that planned for four years for you to fail at this. So I could put you in a situation to help my kingdom. Right, we don't see it that way. God sees it that way. And notice what happens here. I mean, this is what I want you to see. Because we use statements like this, like pressure produces diamonds and fire produces gold. I've seen pressure at my house and diamonds don't pop up. I've started a fire before, I've not seen gold pop out of it. See, it's not just pressure and fire. It's when pressure and fire hit the right kind of elements, then those things get produced. And oftentimes when God's putting the fire on, he's putting the pressure on, he's wondering, are you in a position now? Do I have your attention now, even though this isn't where you wanna be or how you wanted things to work out?

Do I have your attention? Because if you'll let me work through this, I got a great place for you to be. And oftentimes it's when we're in those positions, we're like, this is not what I signed up for. If this is what Christianity is, I'm out. No, those are the times that God's trying to build the greatest jewels in your life. Some of you are going through that time right now. And for those of you who are saying, yeah, I don't even know what you're talking about, don't worry, just take notes, it's coming. You will be in a situation that you don't wanna be in, that you didn't plan on, that God knew all along, hey, this is what I was gonna use to grow you. So notice, what are Paul and Silas gonna do? I mean, you're writhing in pain, you've been beaten nearly to death, it's midnight, you're in a cell, it stinks, it's horrible, there's terrible conditions, and notice what they do. But about midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God. And I love this line, and the prisoners were listening to them. Duh, I mean, these guys have been beaten to death, these guys have been mistreated in every way, and what are they doing? They're worshiping. Friends, the knee-jerk reaction in suffering is despair, or revenge, or unforgiveness,

or hatred, or frustration, or all of them. The supernatural response to any suffering is worship. Like, this is where I am, Lord, I'm gonna worship you, I don't even know what else I can do, but Jesus, I know you're still on the throne, I thank you for dying for my sins and rising from the dead, I thank you, you've covered me in your blood, I thank you, the Holy Spirit indwells me. This is a horrible circumstance right now for me, but I am so thankful that I still have you, I'm just gonna give you all the praise. And whatever you choose to do, God, I love you. That's worship, that's what they were doing. And that's when God's power gets unleashed. Maybe in different ways than you read about here, but that's when you see his power, notice this. And suddenly, there came a great earthquake so that the foundations of the prison were shaken, and immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone's chains were unfastened. So, as they're worshiping, earthquake, shackles come off, not just of Paul and Silas, but everybody in the prison, and all the doors open. And it's not because they're complaining or whining, it's because they're worshiping. And anytime you worship, God always opens a door somewhere. He always does. So, when you're down, when you're discouraged, when you're depressed, when you're confused, when you're uncertain, when you don't know,

just worship what you do know. Jesus is still on the throne, he loves you, he's coming back to rule the world, and you get to be part of his coming kingdom. Worship, give him praise. It doesn't say that Paul and Silas sang good. You don't get points for being a good singer. You get points for your heart posture, that you love Jesus, and no matter where you are, you're gonna glorify and honor him. And chains are falling off everybody. And notice this, when the jailer awoke and saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. So, when this is going on, the jailer kind of comes to, and he's like, wait, wait, wait, it's dark, chains are gone, doors are open, everybody's escaped, I know that my life is gonna be taken, so he decides he's just gonna fall on his sword and end it all. Like, that's what's going on. Same jailer, same prisoner that fastened the stocks, same one that was probably rude to them, same one who probably said some bad things, maybe spit on, we don't know. This same jailer, Paul could've just been like, cool. Paul could've just shut his mouth and not said anything, let the guy fall on his sword. He got what he deserved.

Silence is being complicit with evil. Paul wasn't silent. Paul cried out with a loud voice, saying. Paul didn't just kind of, hey, we're still here. He cried out with a loud voice, and here's what he said. Do not harm yourself, for we're all here. Don't do it, don't fall on the sword. Nobody's left, we're all here. Don't do it. And he called for the lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear, he fell down before Paul and Silas and he brought them out, and when he got them out of the darkness and he got them into the light. Well, here's what he said, "'Sirs, what must I do to be saved?' "'I wanna worship the God you worship, "'cause if you can be that mistreated "'and you can be that hurt "'and you can let someone like me mistreat you "'and do all those different things, "'and you're gonna worship your God, "'even in bad circumstances, "'and even when I was gonna kill myself, "'you spared my life, "'I wanna know the God you serve. "'I wanna know what I gotta do "'to have a relationship with that God, "'cause that's different than anything "'else I've ever seen.'"

And here's the truth, as a Christian, when you suffer, God is using you on a stage to an audience that you don't even see. I mean, isn't it true, isn't it a true believer, when you see another believer go through a really horrific time, and they're still worshiping the Lord through that really horrific time, it spurs on your faith? It's true when a non-believer sees a Christian suffer, and the Christian doesn't retaliate with their mouth, the Christian continues to entrust himself to God, worship the Lord, trust what he's gonna do, blesses them with his words. Isn't that what our Savior did when he was being killed and murdered, and his arms were stretched, and he couldn't breathe, and he was choking on his own blood? And what did he say? Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they're doing. It was a message, his life was a message that what he said he believed, he actually believed. So when they get that, you gotta realize God uses all your circumstances to advance the gospel. That's why Peter says it this way in 1 Peter 4, 12. Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you, but to the degree that you share

in the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that at the revelation of his glory, you may rejoice with exultation. I mean, Paul and Silas went through a painful, humiliating, potentially crippling trial, and what are they doing? They're worshiping the Lord Jesus Christ with everything they have, and using that to their advantage to share the gospel with people. And God always is doing things so that you can share the gospel with people. If you just open your eyes, every circumstance, and not always, not every single person you meet is willing to hear about Jesus, I get that, but they're more frequent than you might know. When I was on vacation this last couple months ago with my family, we flew down to Orlando in March, and we were just getting dinner together, celebrating my son's birthday, and as we typically do, I think we prayed before the meal. I know we prayed before the meal, but I think the person next to us saw us pray, and then during the meal, I heard them talk about Christ, and I could tell that this woman was sharing with the guy, and so I turned over, and I said, are you a Christian? And she says, I am, but he's not, and we started talking. 30-minute conversation with this guy. It was awesome.

My whole family's chiming in. It was like all five of us against him, and we weren't against him at all. We were for him, and we were having a blast at dinner, and then I said to him, I said, you know that the Lord flew us all the way from Denver just to have dinner in Orlando so we could tell you about Jesus? So we leave the restaurant, and he's pretty encouraged by this whole thing, and we leave the restaurant, and we're outside. Well, I walk outside, and there's these people, evangelists, passing out tracts, asking me if I wanna get saved, and so I'm like, well, I am saved, but thank you for doing this, and we prayed together, and all this kind of stuff, and then about 10 minutes later, we're standing there waiting for our Uber, and this guy walks out of the restaurant, and those people went up to him, and they started sharing the gospel with him, and he looked over at me. He's like, did you bring these people here? And I'm like, no, man, these people are from Orlando, and they wanted to come talk to you. He's like, man, I can't get away from this. I'm like, you never will because God wants a relationship with you, right? And here's the point.

The point is everywhere you go, if you're open to what God's doing in your circumstances, even when you're at your lowest point, God is building something special for you. He's just doing it. That's what he's doing. And so notice what happened. What did they tell him? He says, believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your whole household. It's simple. Place your faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. The fact he died on the cross for your sins, rose from the dead, put all your trust in him. Make him your act of worship, the one you worship. And they spoke the word of the Lord to him together with all who were in his house. And he took them at that very hour of the night, and he washed their wounds, and immediately he was baptized, he and his whole household. Well, why was his whole household baptized? Because Paul had shared the gospel with his whole household. So apparently his whole household got saved because in the New Testament, baptism follows conversion every single time. So they got saved, they got baptized. If you've been saved and you haven't been baptized since you've truly been born again, next step of faith, get baptized.

Sign up for baptism, we'll baptize you here. We'd love to do that. So they were baptized. And he brought them into the house and set food before them and rejoiced. having believed in God with his whole household. So now there's rejoicing. I mean, you talk about a horrible, horrible day, but was it really a horrible day or was it a great day? I mean, it turns out it was a great day. It was horrible getting to the place where they got to do that, but it was because of what they went through and endured that they were having a great day. And friends, I'm here to tell you that God is the one who orchestrates your circumstances. And sometimes I look back on my life, it's always been the times I'm the lowest, that I'm the most receptive, that God's used it the most to advance my life. I called a guy this week I hadn't talked to in about 23 years. I was in a residency program down in Little Rock, Arkansas in 2002. I knew God had called me to plant a church. I felt like I had heard him do that. I got there, there were four other pastors, there was five of us in this internship, and it couldn't have gone worse. I think I was the black sheep of the internship.

I asked too many questions. I would hear things back from the other guys in the group, like maybe you're just not called, brother. Maybe you should go find something else to do, all this kind of stuff. And to make matters worse, I went through a broken engagement at the time. So emotionally and spiritually, I'm totally distraught. Can't get anybody to follow me. And I remember this meeting that we had at a bagel shop. And I was talking to my friend about this. We hadn't talked in 23 years. And I said, he's like, I remember that. He told me the name of the restaurant. I'm like, I remember being there. I'm like, what you don't know is that I'm the worst in the world at fixing things in my house. When we have a light bulb that goes out, I call somebody to help because I just don't like fixing anything. And I said, you told me, as you sat across from me, that, hey, when you come back from Christmas, we need to know where you're gonna go plant. And if you're not gonna go plant, it's cool that you remain here. But he said, maybe you could get a job at Home Depot or something like that and hang out here in Little Rock with us. And I remember thinking, my life can't get any lower than it is right now.

I'm gonna stay in Little Rock to work at Home Depot. I mean, there's just no lower place. But it was during that time I was seeking the Lord and the Lord's like, no, I need you to move back home. And I was asking the Lord what he was doing. It was during that year that the Lord grew me so much. You know, and eight years later, I came out and planted a church here after God took me all over the world and preached. But looking back on that, we were talking on the phone. He's like, hey, I hope I wasn't too hard on you. I'm like, no, I would have said the same thing to me. And you were never mean. I just wanted you to know that everything turned out okay. And he said, we always knew you had it. We just knew it wasn't the right time. So I started asking him, like, what about these other four guys? And one is not pastoring anymore, but he's leading a seminary in Poland. The other one is in the business world. Another one leads a parachurch ministry. And then the one who is the most gifted of all, he's not even in the ministry anymore. And I'm like, these were the guys that told me I couldn't be a pastor, and I'm a pastor. Now, why do I tell you that? Because when you go through a low point, there's gonna be people that tell you things

that aren't true about you. Don't listen to them. Keep listening to God. Keep listening to God. There's nothing in your life that God's trying to rob from you. He who calls you as faithful, he will surely do it. He will surely do it. I mean, if you're looking at 2002, and I was saying to them, hey, in 2026, I'm gonna be the only one that's standing up preaching on a weekend. That would have been laughable. I was like the lowest of the low, black sheep in the internship, leaving early, all that kind of stuff. My point is for you, where have you gone through a trial? Where are you going through a trial? Where do you feel low? Where do you feel like, where's God right now? Those are the times to press in even closer to him because he's trying to build something in you, a beauty and strength that you could never otherwise have if you weren't going through it. I mean, think about Paul as he writes Philippians 1. Now I want you to know, brethren, that my circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel so that my imprisonment in the cause of Christ has become well known throughout the whole praetorian garden

to everyone else that my chains are for Christ. Or how about Joseph in Genesis 50, verse 20, after being mistreated by his brothers and sold into slavery, says, as for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result to preserve many people alive. I mean, God uses all things for those who love him. If you love the Lord, even when you're going through the low and you understand, as I'm in my low and as I never wanted to be here, and these were the worst of circumstances, my God is still worthy of my worship and Lord, I'll worship you until I get out of this. And Lord, I wanna do it your way and build what you need to build because I never wanna go through this again. Those are the times in your life that God will build the most strength. And so don't be surprised if you go through difficult things or embarrassing things or challenging things. It's all part of the curriculum to make you a more glorious vessel for the Lord, amen? And as he does this, then he does this final one. I know I'm going long today. You guys okay with that? He strengthens your convictions

to stand firm in truth and reject fear. When you go through trials, when you go through sufferings, when you do all that, he'll strengthen your convictions to stand firm in truth and reject fear. And when I talk about convictions, I'm not talking about what you grip. I'm talking about what grips you. I have conviction that the word of God is authoritative, not because I want to, it's because I know this book has authority. already over my life. I know this book is inerrant, I know I'm not. I know that I'm gonna be judged by every word in this book. So much so that when I hear somebody in my profession that doesn't believe this or said, well, I don't really know that it meant that or whatever, I get like an allergic reaction where I find myself very angry. Because I think everything in this book, all of it's completely true. So you just believe we're supposed to love the Jews because it says that, yes! Of course we are, because the Bible says that. You think Jesus is the only way? Yeah, because he said it. You think he's coming back and ruling on? Yes, he said it. You think he's the way, the truth, and the law?

Yeah, I mean, I just believe it all. Even the stuff I can't explain, I believe it all. Amen? And so what happens is, when you go through things, it strengthens your convictions. That's why you see in the Bible, have I not commanded you to be strong and courageous? Do not tremble, do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. Notice what happens. Now when the day came, the chief magistrate sent their policemen saying, release those men. Get them out of here. And the jailer reported these words to Paul, saying, the chief magistrates have sent to release you. Therefore, come out now and go in peace. Now you would think that would be the end, that'd be great. I mean, Paul doesn't wanna be in prison, so he's gonna go. But not Paul, because Paul's convicted, because Paul's a Roman citizen, and he didn't get a fair trial, and they beat him without a trial. So Paul says this, but Paul said to them, they have beaten us in public without trial. Men who are Romans, we're Romans, and they've thrown us into prison, and now they're sending us away secretly? No, indeed, in other words, no way. We're not leaving. We're gonna stick right around here,

but let them come themselves and bring us out. I'm convicted that I'm a Roman citizen. I'm convicted you tried me wrong. Don't you dare try to shoo me out of here in silence. You come down and apologize for what you did. You go tell them that. I mean, you talk about guts, you talk about conviction. I mean, that's the apostle Paul. And the policemen reported these words to the chief magistrates. It says this, they were afraid when they heard that they were Romans, and they came and appealed to them, and when they had brought them out, they kept begging them to leave the city. So now the chief magistrates are coming down, and they're saying, we're so sorry, we're so sorry. You're free to go. Would you please leave our city, please? We don't want you here anymore. I mean, that's what's going on. I mean, they're appealing to them now because they know they have no power. Now listen, listen, listen, you need to hear this. For God did not give you a spirit of timidity or fear, but a power, love, and discipline, which means this, fear is a spirit. Anytime fear comes upon you, there's this tendency to say, I gotta respond to the fear. They're making me fearful, so I gotta do what they say. It's the exact opposite.

If you don't respond to fear and you stand in truth, fear goes back on the person or group of people that are giving it to you. That's why in tyrannical governments, if you study this in the history of the world, the only group of people they fear are born-again, spirit-filled Christians. Because born-again, spirit-filled Christians won't change their convictions because of fear. That's the only group of people they know they can't control. So do not let fear control you. Do not let fear dictate what you need to do. Fear is nothing more than a paper tiger when you stand firm in your conviction and truth. When you say, doesn't matter what you do to me. These light and momentary afflictions are nothing compared to the weight of glory that's coming. Well, then we'll kill you. Oh, good, well, for me to be apart from Christ, the body is to be with Christ. And for me to live is Christ and to die is gain. So if you kill me, it's the goal of my faith. Whoop-a-dee-doo. Thank you. I mean, when you live like that, people have no power over you. They have none, right? So this is what we're seeing here. And so what Paul does is this,

when he gets urged out of the city, he doesn't just leave, notice what he does. They went out of the prison and entered the house of Lydia, the one that they had originally converted. And when they saw the brethren, they encouraged them and departed. Before we're leaving the city, we're going to church. We wanna make sure the church is strong so that the message that we started here continues. That's what he was saying. And so this is what you see. You see a group of people that are convicted. And so if you let the Lord keep leading you, it's not about your methods, it's about the gospel. It's about the fact the Holy Spirit's more powerful than your strategy. It's about the fact that the gospel, when it engages a city, it disrupts everything. If Brave Church is doing our job, Brave Church should bother people in our city in a good way, in a loving way, in a kind way to call things out, right? God uses your circumstances to advance the gospel. And when God advances the gospel, not everybody's happy about it. Like I'd be super happy if drug trading stopped in our city. I'd be super happy if sex trafficking in our city shut down, but not everybody'd be happy about that. The ones that are profiting huge from that wouldn't benefit. There are some people that are near this building.

There may be some people in this building that are part of that. And if you are, Lord have mercy on you. You need to repent and trust Jesus, amen. But I'm just telling you, if we stand for the truth in our culture, it will irritate people. And then what people will say is, well, they're not a very nice church. We're a very loving church. We love you enough to tell you the truth, and I'm telling you when Jesus arrives and you see him on the scene, we wanna be standing in the truth that he's called us to live, amen? So I wanna encourage you this morning. If you're in a trial, if you're going through suffering, that doesn't mean you're out of the will of God. As a matter of fact, many times it may be you're smack dab in the middle of it because you wouldn't have chose to be there. God put you there, and God's trying to build something beautiful in you, so trust him for that, amen? Would you stand and pray with me? Our Father, we give you all the glory and honor. Lord, sometimes we don't like the ways that you choose to do things. We have a way we wanna do things, but Lord, as you lead us, let us keep you at the center of all things. Lord, we love you and we bless you and we praise you

because we know that through you, you're able to do far more than all that we can ask or think according to your glorious power that is at work within us. To you be the glory in Christ Jesus and in the church forever and ever, amen, amen. Can we give God praise for his work today? Thank you, thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you so much.