Perseverance and Discernment [LIVE] - 05/24/2026

Grace Way, happy Sunday. It's so good to see you. So good to see you all. You all look absolutely amazing. Whether you're viewing online or in person for the first time, welcome to Grace Way. The spirit of God has been poured out on all flesh. Sons and daughters prophesy. The young see visions, the old dream dreams. There are many gifts, but one spirit. Many members, but one body. We come as one gathered by the spirit who unites us. Come Holy Spirit, fill this place and renew our hearts. We worship the God who breathes life into his people. So come Holy Spirit, fill us as you filled that upper room with wind, with fire, with courage, and with life. You have been poured out on all flesh and you dwell among us still. Renew your church today. Unite us in your gifts and send us out as those who have been breathed upon by the risen Christ, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Come on, y'all. Let the church say, amen. Amen. It's so good to see y'all. It's time to worship King Jesus. Come on, tell your neighbor, wake up. It's time to worship King Jesus. Come on, let me see you move. All my delight is found in you. All my delight is found in you. So your joy is a force that can't be broken.

Your hope is a gift that won't be stolen. It's contagious, infectious, it's burning in my soul. There's a limit found, I know, when grace and mercy overflow. Love has come to set me free. I've got this joy inside of me. All my delight is found in you. So find me in the flood. Find me in the living water. I'm so full of grace and it's overcome. Is that good news? We're full of resurrection power. Can you feel it now? This holy rush of perfect love. Can you feel it now? Feel it crashing down on us. Come on, did you come to worship King Jesus? Let's go. Come on. There's a limit found, I know, when grace and mercy overflow. Love has come to set me free. I've got this joy inside of me. There's a limit found, I know, when grace and mercy overflow. Love has come to set me free. Come on, the joy of the Lord is your strength and it has no sorrow. Yes Lord! Come on, let's take this time to ask the Lord to rest on us as we worship Him today. Amen. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Lord. As the Spirit was moving over the water, the Spirit come move over us. Come on.

Come rest on us. Come rest on us. Calm down, Spirit, when you move you make my heart pound. When you fill the room, you're here and I know you are moving. I'm here and I know you will fill me. Calm down, Spirit, when you move you make my heart pound. When you fill the room, you're here and I know you are moving. I'm here and I know you will fill me. Fire and wind, come and do it again. We need your Spirit, yes we do. Come on. And as the Spirit was moving over the water, the Spirit come move over us. Let's ask Him. Come rest on us. Would you rest on us? As the Spirit was moving over the water, the Spirit come move over us. Come rest on us. Come rest on us. I feel the fire. Fire and wind, come and do it again. Open up the gates, let heaven on in. Come rest on us. Come rest on us. I feel the fire. Fire and wind, come and do it again. Open up the gates, let heaven on in. Come rest on us. Come rest on us. Calm down Spirit, when you move you make my heart bounce. When you fill the room, you're here and I know you are moving.

I'm here and I know you will fill me. Calm down Spirit, when you move you make my heart bounce. When you fill the room, you're here and I know you are moving. I'm here and I know you will fill me. Come on, the presence of the Lord is in this place. With hands lifted all over the room, say Father we need you to come and fill us with more of your love. With more of your presence, Jesus. Holy Spirit come rest on us. Come on, you're all we want. You're all we want. Come on, sing. Holy Spirit come rest on us. You're all we want. You're all we want. Holy Spirit come rest on us. You're all we want. You're all we want. Sing Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit come rest on us. You're all we want. You're all we want. Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit come rest on us. You're all we want. Come on, Holy Spirit. We need you, we need you Jesus. Won't you rest on us. You're all we want. Won't you come down, come down. Spirit when you move you make my heart move.

When you fill the room. You're here and I know you are moving. I'm here and I know you will fill me. Spirit when you move you make my heart melt. When you fill the room you're here and I know you are moving. I'm here. Come down, calm down. Spirit when you move you make my heart melt. When you fill the room you're here and I know you are moving. I'm here. Won't you come down, come down. We need your spirit. We need your breath. You're here and I know you are moving. I'm here and I know you will fill me. You didn't come here by accident today. Say Holy Spirit I know that you're moving so come and fill me with more of your love and more of your presence. Fire and wind, come and do it again. Open up the gates, let heaven on in. Come rest on us, come rest on us. Come on say fire. Fire and wind, open up the gates, let heaven on in. Come rest on us, come rest on us. Fire and wind, come and do it again. Open up the gates, let heaven on in. Come rest on us, come rest on us. Fire and wind, come and do it again. Open up the gates, let heaven on in. Come rest on us, come rest on us. Come on give the Lord a shout of praise this morning. Come and rest on us Holy Spirit. Come and be present in this place as we worship you today. What an incredible thing. It's so good to see you all here at Graceway this morning. What a beautiful day the Lord has given us. We can celebrate that can't we? That's right. Hey if you are new here to Graceway I would love a chance to meet you. I'm Pastor Jeremy, one of the pastors on our team. And as soon as service is done you can go to Guest Central right outside there. A few of our leaders would be there to greet you. And if you are new here, y'all we upgraded. We got some seat back pockets this week. Come on. So there are some connect cards in those seat back pockets or you can hit the QR code that's on the screen behind me. Let us know that you're here. We would love to get to know you. I'm going to invite our ushers to make their way down and as they do, I want to take a moment and just talk about something we call the generosity jump here at Graceway. If you've never given before, if giving, if tithing and offerings, if that's a little bit new to you, my encouragement for you would be to take the generosity jump. And what that is, is you just agree with the Lord, hey I'm going to give this amount every week for the next six months. And just begin to engage in the process of generosity and watch how the Lord will honor that and will bless that. And that's one of the things we just want to encourage you to do if that's something new for you. The other thing this morning that we're doing is we're going to be taking the Lord's table together, communion together as a family. And on the night that Jesus was betrayed, he took bread and he broke it. And he said this is my body broken for you. And he took the cup and he said this is my blood poured out for you. And he said do this in remembrance of me. So why do we take communion? To remember. We take communion because we forget. We take communion because we get busy. And we forget the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. So as we begin the next song, I want to invite some of you to just pray.

What a great moment for you to just say Lord I need to just either confess some things or lay some things out for you. Or maybe for the first time this week I just need to say thank you for what you've done for me. Thank you for the sacrifice at the cross. About midway through Lashi I will call you down. Once you've gotten your elements you can go back to your seats and take it as we worship together. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Father we thank you for this morning. That when we woke up today you knew our names. You knew who we are. You gave us new mercies. We thank you for that Lord. We thank you today that we get to give. That we get to just take the abundance that you've given us and just return it back to you Lord. We ask for you to make this offering a blessing Lord. To our church, to our community, to the world. And then Father as we remember you today in communion. Help us to not forget your sacrifice. Help us to not be so busy, Lord, that we forget what you've done for us. So in the quiet of this moment, Holy Spirit, as you rest on us, speak to our hearts. Show us if there's something in us, Lord, that you want out, that we need to confess, that we need to lay at your feet today. God that we would walk to this table in gratitude. Help us to bring you the honor and the glory today. It's in Jesus' name we pray, and all God's people said amen. Let's take this time to reflect the blood that was shed on Calvary.

Let's take this time to reflect the blood that was shed on Calvary. You hide me in Your sight. So You made a way across the great divide. Left behind heaven's throne to build it here inside. So there at the cross You paid the debt I owe. Come on. You broke my chains, freed my soul for the first time I had hope. Thank You, Jesus, for the blood You've bled. Thank You, Jesus, it has washed me white. Thank You, Jesus, You have saved my life. Brought me from darkness into glorious light. I'd like to take this time to invite our communion team down. Brothers and sisters, there's communion also at the top in the balcony. Come on, let's receive communion together. You took my place, laid inside my tomb of sin. You were buried for three days, but then You walked right out again. And now death has no sting, and now life has no end. For I have been transformed by the blood of the Lamb. Thank You, Jesus, for the blood You've bled. Thank You, Jesus, it has washed me white. Thank You, Jesus, You have saved my life. Brought me from the darkness into glorious light. There is nothing stronger than the wonder, work, and power of the blood, the blood. Like all the suns and dawns, we are ransomed by our Father through the blood, the blood. There is nothing stronger than the wonder, work, and power of the blood, the blood. Like all the suns and dawns, we are ransomed by our Father through the blood, the blood. Thank You, Jesus, for the blood of my life. Thank you, Jesus. You have won me over. Thank you, Jesus. You have saved my life. You brought me from the darkness into glorious light. Glory to His name.

Come on, if you know it. Glory to His name. There to my heart was the blood applied. Glory to His name. Awesome, awesome, awesome. Come on, let's pray together. God, we thank you, Heavenly Father, that before the foundations of the earth you determined that you would send your only Son to this, His creation, that had rebelled against Him. And the plan was not for Him to be enthroned, to be celebrated, to be lifted up. The plan was for Him to be murdered. The plan was for Him to be humiliated and betrayed. The plan was for you to allow your creation to kill your Son. And I admit, Lord, that if I were in your seat, I wouldn't have done it. I admit that if I were the creator and my creation had rebelled against me, I admit that I would make them extinct. I admit that I wouldn't let it stand. I admit that I would do everything in my considerable power to make them pay justly for what they had chosen to do. And so, it goes without saying that we are confused but grateful that you would love us. It goes without saying that we don't know what to say to so great a love. It goes without saying that thank you does not seem like enough, that one hallelujah and one mouth doesn't seem to get it done. And yet we are here because of the blood of Jesus. I thank you, Lord, that every person within the sound of my voice, no matter what they've done, who they did it with, how long they did it, or the consequences of it, that because of the blood of Jesus they have been made white. Old things are passed away. Everything is being made new. Lord, where else do we have to turn than a God who would love us this much? And so we come into this simple room and we sing songs and we pray and we give, and it's not a drop in the bucket of what you deserve. But we give you what we have, Lord, and we thank you and we worship you and we honor you. Come on, church, take a couple minutes right now and tell God that you love him.

Come on, tell him thank you. Come on, remember who you were before God saved you. Come on, remember what it felt like to wake up in the morning with no hope. You were stuck. You were in bondage. And then come on, remember the day that the lights came on. Remember the day that the Holy Spirit made you new. Remember the day that God saved you. Remember the day that you understood that God, before the foundations of the earth, had planned to save you. We thank you, God, for Jesus, and we ask now that your Holy Spirit would rest on this house. He is welcome to move and to speak and to change. We're surrendered to you, Lord. Thank you for who you are. Speak to us now. Make much of Jesus. Break what needs to be broken and rebuild what needs to be rebuilt for your glory and for our good. In Jesus' name, all God's people said, amen and amen. How you doing, family? So good to see you. Why don't you pass some peace to each other before you grab your seat? ? . All right, fam. Are we good? Man, it's so good to see you. Thanks so much for being here today. I love getting to worship with you. If you're a guest and I haven't had the chance to meet you, my name's Tim, I'm the lead pastor here. We're honored to have you today.

Come on, church. Say hello to our first-time guests in the 930 service. We appreciate y'all. If you're watching us online, wherever you are in the world, we know we've got folks watching all over the world, literally. Man, God bless you. Let us know how we can pray for you. Throw a comment in the comment section, and then men, brothers, crossroads, Ozarks, we love you. Come on, church. Say hello to the correctional facilities. So excited for what God is doing. Obviously, we're a bit of a work in progress right now with our auditorium, a little bit of a refresh. And so just hang in there. That's going to be done for 21 days of prayer at the end of July, and excited about that. Lots going on this summer. Probably at the top of the list that we're excited about every year is student summer camp. Student summer camp, yeah, yeah. And let me talk to you. You know, I'm 48 years old, and I feel like every generation is like our generation had it the hardest, right? Y'all don't understand the streets that we grew up on. But you know, if you ever want to bring into question what is the necessity and the potential of this generation, just look at everything that the enemy's thrown at them. I mean, this world right now, it is bananas—conflict, confusion, chaos. Feels like every morning the news is a new horror flick, isn't it? And I want you to see with spiritual eyes, man, for years, this is the generation that everybody predicted they're the ones who are going to kill the church.

And I really think they're the ones that are revitalizing the church. So excited about this generation. So excited about our student leader, Pastor Brandon and Miss Tara, doing just a phenomenal job. So, you get to see the public side of him. I get to see the private side of him, laboring and praying and working like crazy to come to all the things, to wage war in the spiritual for your families. And so, so excited for summer camp. Here's what I need from you. There's some costs around summer camp. We live in a transitioning neighborhood. The cost isn't our cost, it's the camps that we go to, especially the size of the camps that we take. And I just never want green paper with dead guys on it or Bitcoin or any of those things to get in the way of a young man or a young woman having a chance to hear from God. You know, the world gets our students 51 weeks out of the year, and we get them for one week. And I'm here to tell you it's more than enough. It's more than enough. We're going to take their phones. We're going to take their video games. They're going to freak out for about 24 hours, all right? What am I going to do? Why? Why? God, why? Right? Yeah. And in the, in the space that gets created in their soul and their spirit, come on, God's going to meet them. And so, I can't think of a better investment.

You know, right now it's funny, you go, go on the, on the interwebs and all these investments with these prospective returns. So, let me tell you this, you invest in sending a kid to camp, there's no better return than God saving that young man or that young woman. And it's not a matter, it's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when. I'm telling you, every year God saves young men and young women at camp. God calls them. God frees them. And so, I'm asking you, I don't ask very often, but I'm asking you on top of your normal giving to reach into your pocket and make it possible for us to send young men and young women who otherwise wouldn't be able to go to camp, all right? You can go to visitgraceway.org backslash camp offering. You can look at the QR code behind my head right there. We're going to be talking about this over the next couple weeks, but just want to give you an opportunity. And as always, there's no guilt trip. We're not going to lock the doors until you give. We're not going to do anything stupid like that, all right? I'm just going to ask you to please ask God, do you want me to be connected to camp? And if he says no, don't think about it again, all right? Is that fair? You ask God. Don't worry about me. You ask God. And if God says yes, I just want you to do what he says. If God says no, I'll see you next Sunday, and we'll do this again, okay? But be praying about that. And we've got a lot to get to. Acts 14, if you have a Bible, if you don't have a Bible, stop at the next steps desk. We would love to give you one.

Let me pray quickly, and then we've got to get after it. Are you happy to be here today? I am happy to be here with you in our tore-up auditorium. It's going to be a good day. Lord, speak to us now by your Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit, rest on this house. We quiet ourselves before you. We want to know and enjoy you, God. So we trust where you're taking us. Be glorified. Show us your goodness. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. I want to start with a bit of a hot take. I love Kansas City. I really do. I illogically love Kansas City. We've got great food. We've got great coffee. We've got great art. We've got really good culture. We've got pretty good sports. We've got a great airport. Don't come on me. You can't see the standings. We've got a pretty good airport. We're growing. It's easy to get around. I mean, it's like illogically. If you've not lived anywhere else, you don't know. It's weird how easy it is to get around Kansas City.

Great people, and for my money, the best church in the world, Kansas City, right here, yeah, for my money. So, I love, love, love Kansas City. I get to travel a lot. I've been able to be all over the world. This is home. Really something that I asked God to do before we moved here, and His grace, He's done it. So, firstly, I do not love, I mean, really do not love Dallas. I don't like it. I don't like it at all. I love Fort Worth, but Dallas, no, no. So I could stand up here all day, but let me just give you a couple reasons I don't like Dallas. First, let's pick up this fake competition around barbecue that we have. So, I don't know if you know this, it's Kansas City barbecue and Texas barbecue, a city against a state, and not just a state, the second largest state, number three, number two is twice as big as number three, number three is California, Texas is twice as big as California, and I just think it's interesting that in order to even get on the field with us, you have to bring us an entire state, and that just gives you why this is so fake. It's not Dallas barbecue, it's not Houston barbecue, it's Texas barbecue against little old us, and you still can't beat us, that's number one. Number two, number two thing that I don't like is I think that when Satan created an airport, he put it in Dallas. I have gotten delayed and canceled and lost in the Dallas airport better than any airport in the world. It is the worst airport, it's not close, send me your email, I don't care, it's the worst email in the world, that's number two. Number three, let's talk about football. The other thing that I do not like about Dallas is Cowboys fans, okay? And there's not that many things in the world that you can say that something is overrated

and that it's an understatement. You get what I'm saying? Cowboys fans every year, this is the year, no it's not, no, no, no, it's not. You're probably going to go eight and eight and miss the playoffs, okay? Or squeak in the playoffs and then get curb stomped by Houston, okay? So traffic, barbecue, football, and then number four is actually the biggest one. So recently I was in Dallas, I have to go a fair amount, and I made a new friend, he's from LA. Have you ever been to LA? Traffic's not great, right? Traffic's not great. So my guy was a businessman and he has a self-driving Tesla, okay? And I said, how's that work in LA? I mean, the traffic's terrible. He's like, it's honestly great, I can just get into my car, I don't really have to pay attention to it. He goes, but when I come here, Dallas, he goes, I literally cannot use my Tesla. That's not how bad the traffic is, how bad the roads are. So when you get into your car and punch in an address, and anywhere in Dallas, just plan on Siri saying back to you, recalculating, recalculating, recalculating. Like wherever you go, it's just dumb to try to get there. And the thing that's crazy about it, if I'm going to be fair, is that... is that following God is a lot like driving in Dallas. You didn't even see it coming, did you? You didn't, you're just like, oh, wow, yeah. You know, we tend to think that following God is we get saved and God hands us a map with point A to point B and says, memorize this and I'll see you when you get there. But how many of you know,

if you've been following God for longer than 38 seconds, you know that you get headed in a direction and God's spirit says recalculating. You go, what do you mean recalculating? You said we were going there. He said, no, you said we were going there. You said that we were going there. In Acts 14, the missionary journey feels like a constant recalculation. Stay here, leave now. Be bold, run. Don't receive worship. Go back to the place that they tried to kill you. Can I help you today? And this is worth the price of admission. And by that, I mean how messed up our parking lot was. Sorry about that, all right? Assuming that following God is going to be a straight line is gonna get you frustrated and lost. We have to learn how to follow God in real time. We have to learn how to follow God in real time. So if you have a Bible, get over to Acts chapter 14. In Acts chapter 13, we see the intentional launching of the church and Antioch's missionary movement. They send Paul and Barnabas. Acts 14 gives us what it actually looks like. And I love this because the chapter is not some romantic theory. It shows what happens when mission collides with culture, when God's kingdom collides with the world's kingdom.

And I told you this a few weeks ago, that mission fundamentally is about the confrontation of another person's culture. But we can't be on mission and not let God confront our culture. Lots of Christians want to take our culture someplace else. And I think before you go, God says, there's a couple of things about you that I wanna confront before you go and confront somebody else. And so Acts 13 is about God colliding with our culture toward what we called consecration, toward being set apart for the plans and purposes of God. Acts 14 is about a consecrated life and what the experience is, is they collide with the kingdoms of darkness. This is one of the great things about the book of Acts. It's not theory, it's not abstract, it's not detached from reality. And Acts 14 is not some travel log. No, these are real cities with real people, with real history, with real identities, with real collisions in the spiritual. So Acts 14 is located in the Roman province of Galatia, Asia minor, modern day Turkey, real place. And the recipients of the churches that we are going to see planted later become recipients of the book of Galatians. And these places matter because it reveals the different dimensions

of the gospel's collision with the world. Different cultures perceive and receive the gospel differently than other cultures. And you're gonna see that in the text today. So in Acts chapter 13, Paul and Barnabas are sent from Antioch of Syria. So just think of my hand, like the map here, okay? Not my right hand, my left hand. So at the tip of my pointer finger is Jerusalem. 350 miles north to Antioch of Syria, as the crow flies about 500 miles if you took a road. Okay, right at my knuckle here. Paul and Barnabas are sent from Antioch of Syria, as in modern day Syria. They go a little bit south to Seleucia, which is also of Syria, about right here. And then they leave from Seleucia and they go to Cyprus, which is kind of in between my pointer finger and my thumb. Say amen if you're tracking with me so far. And so from Cyprus, which is Barnabas' hometown, they go northwest, kind of to the tip of my thumb out here, to a city called Perga. And two things happen in Perga. One is the team kind of falls apart. John Mark, who is the author of the gospel, Mark leaves the team and he goes back to Jerusalem. This creates a lot of tension between Paul and Barnabas. The other thing that we think happened, according to Galatians chapter four, is that in Perga, Saul, Paul gets sick.

Now history tells us that this area was really ripe for malaria. And it's possible that Saul gets sick and that they go away from the coast, north to Antioch of Pisidia, to get Paul into a better climate and culture for. or where he got sick. We don't entirely know that to be true. So again, picture Jerusalem, Antioch of Syria, Seleucia, Cyprus, Perga, and then they go straight north, like right here. Are you with me? Can you see it? Right here to Antioch of Pisidia, and then they're gonna go southeast a little bit to the three cities that we're going to talk about. So three cities, Iconium, which was urban, think Kansas City, Lystra, which was like suburban rural, think Lone Jack, all right? And then Derby, which was rural, think Peculiar, Missouri. Yeah, right? Yeah. Yeah. And so let's see what happens in each. Are you still with me? Okay, in Acts 14 in verse one, Iconium. So this was a major trade route. It's a crossroad city. And let's pause for a second.

The gospel is strategic in cities because everything gets amplified in the city. Cities are gathering centers for all different kinds of people. In fact, whenever I was praying about God bringing us what ended up being Kansas City, I asked God, God, take me to a medium or a large city. Why? Because if the gospel takes root in a city, the culture will amplify what God is doing farther in the city than it does in the country. God love for the country, but strategically the city is where culture gets made. At the same time, culture and urban environments tends to produce polarization because cities have competing ideas and competing power structures. So many different kinds of people in the city that not only is there a megaphone, but there's also a polarization. We need more gospel-centered churches in Kansas City. And we need gospel-centered churches that are connected to something bigger than themselves. We don't just need more storefront. We do our own thing. We don't talk to anybody, we're right, and everybody else is stupid kind of churches. No, we need churches with a kingdom perspective here in Kansas City. And if God in his grace would let that start somewhere else,

we'll join them. But if it doesn't start somewhere else, why not have it start right here at Graceway in good old Raytona Beach? Acts 14 and verse three. So they, that being Paul and Barnabas, remain for a long time. And what do they do? They speak boldly for the Lord. They bear witness to the word of his grace, and they have signs and wonders that are done by their hands. So they plant a church, they preach the gospel, and they bear witness to the kingdom. Acts chapter 14 and verse one, a great number of both Jews and Greeks. So they break through the cultural barriers in the city, and they're seeing people who don't look like each other, talk like each other, vote like each other, or even like each other, all coming to faith. 14 and verse four. So the city becomes divided. Because the gospel gets amplified in the city, it can go further faster. It also creates division and polarization. Why? Because the gospel divides before it unifies. How many of you know God saved you and he separated you from some things before he connected you to some things?

Yeah, Jesus actually said in Luke chapter 12, hey, I came to bring a sword. I'm actually here to confront religious power, ethnic superiority, economic idolatry, political identity, personal autonomy. Some of y'all, your gospel is just too soft. Come on, the gospel is about a kingdom. And there's a violence to it. And when the gospel is proclaimed, it's not about how charismatic it is, it's about how powerful it is in the spiritual. And the gospel intends to break things, intends to divide things, intends to cut things. And they're preaching and it's working. And then in verse five, when an attempt was made by both Gentiles and Jews. Watch, people coming to faith, Jews and Gentiles, and then an attempt made by both Jews and Gentiles with their rulers to mistreat Paul and Barnabas and to stone them. Not to get them stoned, that's a different kind of thing. To stone them, throw rocks at them until they die. And they learned of it and they fled to Lystra. Remember I said, following God is more like driving in Dallas than it is in Kansas City. It's going great, God. Hey, y'all better get out of here. What? No, no, no, you called us here and now I'm calling you someplace else.

I'm calling you Lystra, recalculating. And you can either pick to stay here or you can pick to follow me. And so verse eight, Lystra. A couple things about Lystra. Lystra was a Roman colony under Augustus, and it was created and built up for military and political control. It was viewed as its geography being strategic, and so Rome puts this city there. And a lot of retired Roman soldiers settled there, and in spite of the Roman influence, there was this undercurrent of local and indigenous tradition, a lot of local folk religion. Okay, so there's a lot of competition in the city that both amplifies and divides what's happening. Not as much in the Berbs, and even less in the country, right? Less competition and division around ideas in the country, and this is going to get explained in the text here. A man comes up to Paul, and he is crippled, and Paul heals him. And look at verse 11, the crowd's response, the gods have come down to us in the likeness of men, which, if I'm honest, feels like a little bit of an exaggeration. Like lots of times in the Bible, you see somebody healed. Not a lot of times in the Bible do the people that see it go, the gods are here! Like bro, calm, calm down. What is going on here? Here's what's going on, culturally. We see this from the Roman poet Ovid, that many, many years ago, there was a myth, a legend, that Zeus and Hermes had visited Lystra. And they had been disguised as humans, and the people rejected them. There was actually one elderly couple by the name of Philemon and Bacchus who welcomed them, and Zeus and Hermes, because they are rejected, judged the area, and why are now the citizens of Lystra going, it's the gods! Because they're afraid to make the same mistake twice.

And in fact, what do they say? They say, oh, Paul and Barnabas, you must be, it's not random, Zeus and Hermes. This is interesting, because this is not random emotionalism. This emerges from this culture's memory. You see, people interpret God through the categories that they already possess. Every culture hears the gospel through its existing assumptions. The miracle here was actually from God, but because the culture was so pronounced, it got distorted by the people of Lystra. And this is one of the great challenges of missions in this day. Today, people often interpret Christianity through, and if I can be straight with you, people politicize and weaponize Christianity, because they actually understand the culture better than the church does. So people today interpret Christianity through consumerism, through politics, through race, through ideology, through individualism, through nationalism, through age. And so the gospel, hear me, has to first connect to the culture. You have to say something in a way that the culture understands it. And you have to say, not what you want is stupid, no, what you want is misplaced. Because what is the culture trying to do? They are trying to monetize, many times, the affections of the citizens. And they say, you have this problem, give us 13 easy payments of $19.99, and we will make your problem go away. You need purpose, you need connection, you need hope, you need optimization, we'll help you. And so the church comes in and goes, that's stupid. No, their desire is right. It's just misplaced. And so we connect to the gospel, but we also have to confront with the gospel, why? We have to point out where the culture is making promises that it can't keep. And we have to say, that can't give you that. I know it says that it can, but can I introduce you to the, actually the only one who can

give you what you most desperately need and desire? His name is Jesus. And right now, I am preaching 748% better. Y'all, y'all are killing me. Killing me. So watch how Paul preaches to the people of Israel. He doesn't talk about Abraham, he doesn't talk about Moses, he doesn't talk about covenants. What's he talking about? He talks about rain, and crops, and seasons, and joy, and creation, and man, I wish I had more time on this. I really do. I really wish that I could dunk this and then like hang. on the rim a little bit. Because can I tell you, telling a gospel that is shaped by your culture to somebody who is outside of your culture is the reason that it's not working. And we are so indoctrinated by our culture, we presume that everybody agrees with our culture. And what we do is we don't want our culture to be messed with, so we put the gospel on top of it. And then we say, here, here's the gospel. And they say, no, that's not the gospel. Can I prove it to you? Some of you got saved in the 1960s. And you got saved with a thing called Romans Road. And here's you, and here's God, and then in the middle is a thing called sin. And you're a sinner. What do you mean I'm a sinner? Well, you're a sinner. I'm not a sinner. Well, yeah, yeah, like you've made mistakes. No, I haven't. I'm a good person. Look at the cliff. Like, you're on the cliff. I'm not on a cliff. You're on a cliff. No, no, you're on a cliff because you're a sinner. I'm not on a cliff. You see, what are you doing? You're taking what God used to save you, and you're presuming it on how God wants to save them. And I could go on and on and on on this. I could give some of y'all with your Republican gospel, and some of y'all with your Democrat gospel. I can give some of y'all with your white suburban gospel, and some of y'all with your black urban gospel. I can give some of y'all with your rich and comfortable gospel, and some of y'all with your God's still faithful even when you poe gospel. And what does the church do? The church for years is so far down the curve of culture. Why? Because we don't think

we're a part of it. And God says, hey, don't be of it, but be in it. This is why I say to you, you know the best way to do mission? Love people, be a friend, share a story. Can I tell you, it's the oldest way and it's still the best way. But somewhere along the way, we took culture and tried to mush it into the gospel instead of just letting the gospel stand on its own. Hey, I don't know what happened. I was going this way, and then one day, God knocked me off my horse. I was doing that and loving that and doing it with them and waking up feeling that way because of them and because of me. And then one day, bang! God saved me, and I realized that I was a sinner. Bro, you think I'm—you're a sinner? I know I'm a sinner. Now, I'm not trying to say you're a sinner, I'm saying I'm a sinner. Hey, listen, let's talk about this. Let's talk about this. Let's just watch the game together. No, no, no, I want to talk about it now. Are you sure? We can watch the game. No, no, I want to hear more about it. You want to hear about my story? Anyone in here not have a story, by the way? Yeah, everyone in here has. So, you want to hear about my story? We can just watch the game. No, no, tell me more about this, like, sinner and Jesus thing. OK. I was there, then Jesus, now I'm here. And I don't deserve to be here. I deserve to be there. You know, I'd love for you to see this. I'd love for you to come and see. This Sunday, 8 a.m., 9.30, 11.15. This Wednesday, we got small group. Or how about Friday, we just go out and eat some wings and drink some Coke? Diet Coke? And I'll tell you a little bit more about it. Come on, everybody in here can be a missionary. But you've got to stop telling a gospel that is encumbered by your culture and just get them to Jesus. What did Paul say? In order to reach Jews, I became a Jew. In order to reach those under the law, I became as one under the law. In order to reach those outside of the law, I became as one outside of the law. Some of us just go, the gospel's got to fit into my culture. No, it doesn't. If that's your gospel, your gospel is too soft and too small. So, Paul's doing his thing. Paul is planting another church, but then the Jews from Antioch and Iconium, here they come in the rear view mirror, having persuaded the crowds. Why? Because crowds are fickle. They stone Paul and they drag him out of the city, supposing that he was dead. In other words, they didn't miss. They thought they had killed him. They drag him out to the city dump and they leave him there to die. Just one side thing here. So, Lystra becomes important later because it's the hometown of a young

man whose name? It's Timothy. And it is likely that Timothy either witnessed the stoning of Paul or heard about the stoning of Paul. So when Paul comes back and invites him into ministry, it is not in the assumption of fame. It is in the assumption of faithfulness. I'm just saying, even while somebody is throwing stones at you, it might not have anything to do with the stones. It might have to do with who's seeing them throw the stones. It matters how you respond. It matters, it matters how you respond to conflict and, and, and difficulty. Listen, what would have happened if Timothy had seen Paul give up? I'll bet you we wouldn't have the book of 1 and 2 Timothy. So they leave, they leave Paul on a heap, the trash dump, and here's verse 20. When the disciples gathered about him, he rose up and entered the city, and on the next day, he went on with Barnabas to Derby. Okay, now, don't, don't just gloss over this. Paul, they didn't miss. Paul, look at your face. Paul, look at your arm. Paul, look at your chest cavity. Paul, look at, look at your knee. Paul, just take a break. Why wouldn't Paul just take a break? Here's why. Consecration. Got to redeem the time. People need to hear the gospel. I'm called to something. So let's go.

The next day. So Derby was a little bit further. It's more remote, and Luke simply says this about it. They preached the gospel to that city and made many disciples. No riots, no miracles, no chaos, just discipleship. And Acts has this pendulum swing, dramatic public moments, and quiet, enduring formation. And this is life. This is this church. And Tuesday at E1. You need both. You need both. This is what we see. We see slow, quiet, relational, beneath public visibility. But can I tell you one of the things that is the Achilles heel of the American church? We don't like things that aren't visible. We like visibility. But can I tell you most good things that get built, get built anonymously? This is the most incredible thing about Acts 14. So it's not that Paul and Barnabas make it to Derby. It's that after Derby, do you know where Paul goes? He goes back to Lystra, then back to Iconium, Lystra where he got stoned, Iconium where the plan was hatched, Antioch, Pisidia where he got sick. Why? Why? Because the apostolic movement is not just about expansion. It's not just more. It's about establishment. Can I tell you, we need church planners and we need pastors. And some of y'all, you're like, God hasn't called me to be a pastor. Awesome.

Has He called you to be a planner? We need starters and strengtheners. I'm an entrepreneur. Great. Start something for God's glory. I'm more of a leader. Great. But what we see is God moving in different ways according to the calling that He has on people's life. All right. So are you all still with me? Okay. Now let me land the plane here and then I'll be in my seat. So this text has this undercurrent that I don't want you to miss. The first, I already said it, is consecration. You can't understand Acts 14 without Acts 13. God claiming Saul and Barnabas, Paul and Barnabas for the work of the ministry. And can I tell you, if you're a Christian here, God has consecration for you. God wants to claim me. You say, but I'm busy. Yeah. God wants to claim you out of that. You say, but I built this thing. I know, I see all your pronouns are messing me up. I built this thing. It's yours. Yes, it's mine. I built it. That's not consecration. That's not stewardship.

And that's not, that's not what God created you. That's not what God saved you for. Now, I'm not saying don't build things, steward things. I'm not saying that. Don't send me an email. But I am saying consecration isn't, I built this. Consecration is you are building something and I want to be a part of it. And then once consecration happens, it's knowing where to go. when to stay, when to leave, what to say, what not to say. You see that in Acts 14, right? And I see this a lot of times. I see people who aren't consecrated, and then I see people who are consecrated but don't know what to do once they're consecrated. So let's say this. First off, fruitfulness and opposition almost always coexist, and I want to keep pushing on this. And I want to untangle this knot that has been put into the American church, and this knot can only exist in a country like America where we're as rich as we are. Here's the knot, that open doors mean that God is present. If it's easy, it must be God. And that resistance means that we should run, because if it's hard, it's probably not God. Can I tell you? We're the only church in the history of the church that thinks this. We're the only church that thinks, God would never ask me to do something hard. Why would He do that to me? He loves me. So Acts presents the opposite. In fact, Acts says when resistance is there, it actually confirms that the kingdom is disrupting something. And we need leaders who remain steady in the tension.

We need leaders with courage and conviction. This is why consecration matters, because consecration makes sense of discomfort. It makes sense of confusion. It provides clarity here when there is no clarity there. It keeps me moving forward when things are hard. It keeps me faithful when my feelings aren't keeping up. And let me just — this one's for free, OK? Can I tell you what consecration does? It means that compliments and criticisms are worth about the same. And I had to learn this a long time ago. A long time ago, I had to realize that if I'm really God's man, if you criticize me, it doesn't mean that much. Now, there are some people, if they criticize me, I listen. But the vast majority of the time, your criticisms are worth about as much to me as the compliments of somebody that I don't know. Now, I'm grateful for both. But if I'm God's man and I'm doing what God wants me to do, your criticism shouldn't knock me off my horse. When a leader is constantly trying to please somebody, that if anyone says you shouldn't have done that, it's crushing. That's a not-consecrated leader. At the same time, if a leader is always looking for a compliment, that's a not-consecrated leader. I'm here to tell you, consecration means criticisms and compliments are worth about the same, because I already know who I am, I already know what I'm going, I already know who I'm doing it for. And so, we've got to get off this idea that if it's God, it will be easy. You've got to read your Bible. You've got to read your Bible. And then, once consecration and the ability to step into difficulty, because I am not

my own, then I need to grow in and practice discernment. OK, so this story reminds me of the story of the consolidation of David's kingdom after Saul's fall. It's in 1 Chronicles, and the chronicler is telling us all the people that were at the behest of David. And he's not just giving us all the military might, he's giving us a theological framework for who is necessary in the spiritual when we've got to go to war with the world. Are you with me? And in Acts, or in 1 Chronicles 12, he says this, now of Issachar, men who had understanding of the times to know what Israel ought to do. So the chronicler lists military tangible assets, warriors, shields, archers, commanders. And it also describes Issachar, and it doesn't say strong, lots of guns, lots of people. It says, no, their strength was discernment. Their strength was discernment. And discernment is not the ability to gather information. It's not the ability to know trends. It's not the ability to stay current. You just need a Google account to do that. That's not discernment. Discernment is the ability to see with spiritual eyes, to understand with spiritual mind the activity of God. To understand the context in which God is working, and to know how to respond to what God is doing. That's discernment. If prophecy is what happens next, discernment is what do we do now. And we need some leaders in the church in all All this change and all this chaos and all this overload of information, we need leaders to say God's over there in this context, let's go that direction. We need discernment. We need to know how to respond, not how it used to be.

We honor what God has done in the past, but can I tell you the past, the past isn't today. We need some new wineskins. Thank God for old wineskins. We need some new wineskins, and it's not the future. It's not, let me tell you what's going to happen next, like a lot of Instagram influencers. No, no, tell me what God's doing now. God, what are you doing now and here and now? I don't need, I don't need the past and I don't need prophecy, I need discernment, God. And here's the good news. The good news is you can grow in discernment. You can grow in discernment. We can in mission as a church, and you can in your own walk with God. And so, I want to give you how to do that. It's very simple. I want you to take good notes, and then I'll be in my seat, sound good? I'm still preaching like 79% better than you all are responding, but I guess I'll just have to deal, deal with it today, all right. How do I grow in discernment? Here it is. Number one, do you have a relationship with God? Now, I don't want to step over this, because this is, this is the fundamental thing about it. Jesus said, I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. Paul said, 1 Corinthians 2, the natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God because they are spiritually discerned. So let me talk to two groups of people. First is you if you are in here and you are not a Christian. You are not, you are not religious. You are somebody who has never surrendered your life to God, to Jesus, placing your faith

in Jesus and becoming a follower of Jesus, a part of the Kingdom of God. If that is you, no matter what information you have, you cannot see. Bible says you are spiritually blind. You can see lots of things in the physical, but in the spiritual, you cannot discern what God is doing from what Satan is doing. And Satan is a liar and a deceiver and a marketer. And the problem is some of us in here think we are doing what God says, but you can't see the difference. You say, what do I do? Surrender your life to Jesus. And I'm telling you, the first miracle you will experience is, oh, wow, OK. Secondly, are those of you who God has saved, but you don't have a relationship with God. You have God as Savior, but not God as Father. And the only time you think about God is when you come in here and I jam Him in your face. And can I tell you, even though you might go to heaven when you die, and I say might on purpose, you're not walking with God. Even though you have the ability to see, you can't see because you don't know the things of God. You don't know God. You don't enjoy God. So you certainly can't discern the difference between right and wrong, up and down, east and west when it comes to the spiritual. So number one, do you have a relationship with God? Number two, do you have a relationship with God's Word? Not the same thing, by the way. Psalm 119, your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. Proverbs 6, the commandment is a lamp and the teaching a light. Here's what a Christian looks like. And some of you, this is what you look like. And I'm talking to you men.

Because if, if this church is anything like national averages, men in this country, outside of being in church, read their Bible, I can't even believe this is true. God, let this not be true, this church. Two times a year. Can I tell you what you are, men? Spiritual leaders in your home, leaders in our community. Even though you have sight, you operate like you're blind. And that's why you think she's cute. She ain't cute. That's why, that's why you think that's a good deal. That ain't a good deal. That's why you think you ought to do this, because you don't know God. You don't enjoy God. You don't have a relationship with this book. And you think you're slick, but you make messes every week. where you go because you act like a blind man, because you don't spend time in this book. And I want to be straight with you here, OK? I want to be, I want to be real with you. Some of you go, well, I don't know where to start. And even though, man, what a soft question. Start at the beginning. But for those of you who need the help, let me help you. Read a proverb a day. Today is, I don't know what the date is, the 24th. Go home and read Proverbs 24, and tomorrow, what should I do tomorrow? Read Proverbs 25. And then go to the New Testament and start in the Gospel of John. And just read two chapters a day, but do it every day, man, why? So you can see.

So you can see. And man, man, I love you. I do. I love you. But come on, there is more at stake than the game. There is more at stake than what's on the phone. There is more at stake than how you feel. There is more at stake than your job. There is more at stake. You say, well, I can't see it. I know. I know you can't see it. Come on, man. Your girl deserves better. Come on, man. Your family deserves better. Come on, man. Your church deserves better. Come on, man. Your church deserves better. Make time so you can see. Number three, are you humble? The wisest man who ever lived, God comes to him and says, what do you need? And how does Solomon start? He starts with what he doesn't know. He starts with what he — the wisest man who ever lived — you should not miss this — starts with what he doesn't know. You know, we, we get this wrong. What did he say? Solomon asked for wisdom.

He didn't. He started with what he didn't know. And let me tell you, if you're in here today and you're not consecrated, your next step this week, today, is to say, God, everything I have is yours. But once you've done that, here's a great place for you to be. I don't know. You say, it doesn't feel like a great place. I know. But it is. Because not knowing is better than you think you know and be wrong. Knowing you know keeps you from discerning what is true. Because you stop looking. You stop — you think you know. A discerning man, woman, young man, young woman says, God, I don't know what to do. Good start. Number four, are you listening? First Corinthians 3 and verse 9. Solomon doesn't ask for wisdom. He says, give me an understanding mind. And in the Hebrew, what that means is give me a listening heart. You want discernment? Love God. Know and enjoy Him. Get your nose into this book. Don't act like you know stuff. Not in the spiritual. Now, I know you know how to do the thing and build the widget and run the company and fix the car. But in the spiritual, get your nose in the book. And when you come to the book, don't come to the book with what you know.

Come to the book and say, I don't know. And then when God starts to talk, here's what you say. God, give me a listening heart. Why? Because the opposite of discernment is talking. No, I don't know, God. This is what we do. We come to God and we tell God what our problem and our perspective answer is. And God says, when He stops talking, I'll give Him discernment. I love y'all. I do. I do. Number five. First, do you have a relationship with God? Do you have a relationship with God's word? Are you humble? Are you listening? Number five, are you obeying? Listen to John 7. If anyone will do God's will, he will know whether the teaching is from God. What does God say? If you want to know what is true, I will show you. Hebrews 5, for those who have their powers of discernment trained, how? By constant practice to distinguish good from evil. Talking about practice. God does not give more revelation to those who aren't obeying what He has already said. And I push on this regularly, because we're in the information age, and we just assume more is always better. It is not. Obeying what you know is better.

And some of us are collecting theology. Logical information and we still haven't been baptized What are we doing I Just want to do another book study. No, you haven't even done the book study. You just did. Oh, I already did that No, you haven't God will not give more revelation if you have not applied and obeyed the revelation that he already gave you God give me a better marriage. You don't even love her as Christ loved the church God give me a better husband. You don't even submit to him God. Give me more money You aren't even faithful with the money. I already gave you God. Give me more wisdom You ain't even using the wisdom you have access to men. You haven't read your Bible since 2022. I Just want discernment no you don't You're a product of your culture not a product of the kingdom And if Acts 13 you will consecrate yourself and it acts 14. You will say God. I want you I want to know what you say I don't know how to do it, but I'm listening and whatever you tell me to do. The answer is yes Why because I'm consecrated Here's the question It's a very simple question and it's not for me to answer it's for you to discern What is God calling you to not what he used to call you to not what is he going to call you to What's God calling you to right now And you're gonna have to Get with God and you're gonna have to get into God's Word and you're gonna have to humble yourself you're gonna have to listen to God's Spirit and to God's Word and to God's people and You're gonna have to say this feels more like driving in Dallas than in Kansas City Yeah But God, I just want what you want And God, I just want to be pleasing to you. And so whatever you ask me to do you already have my yes Just

Give me the next step And I'll do it And let me tell you what will happen. You will wake up one day in a place. You never thought you would be And you will be very clear that the GPS was not your intellect your affluence your network It will be the Spirit of God Ordering and orchestrating your life and let me tell you on that day You wouldn't trade that for any amount of money For any amount of parties for any amount of network for any amount of cuties or or whatever you call good-looking guys Because you'll say I have walked with God And I followed him and he has been faithful and I trust him and he is worthy and everything that I gave him. He never Misused it or lost it. His promises are yes and amen and Jesus. Church, you receive this today? Why don't you stand up Prayer team come on down if we can pray for you. I'm gonna pray for you. Don't be trying to get out of here All right. I'm gonna pray for you in a minute prayer team. Come on down growth track in the next service during the next service Giving boxes in the back once you put a hand up and let's pray Father I continue to pray for this church that you would consecrate her Lord you've been faithful to her for now in our 84th year. No one would debate that and We are in a new season many of us new to this family and it is important for all of us to say Collectively and individually God everything I have is yours everything that I am is yours. God. I just want what you want And God, I love you and God I am in this moment And God, I love you and God I am in this book, but God I don't know what to do so will you speak will you lead I am listening and Then as you speak because you always do You already have our yes God order our steps Make the path clear Bring your future kingdom into the present for your glory and for our good in Jesus name we pray and all God's people said Amen, and amen church. I love you. Have the best day. We'll see you next week