Sent by the Spirit [LIVE] - 05/17/2026

Good morning, Graceway. How are y'all doing? Good, we're excited to be here this morning with you. Sing to God, you kingdoms of the earth. He rides through the heavens and gives strength to his people. Cast all your anxiety on him, for he cares for us. Let us worship the God of all grace who will restore and strengthen us. We come with humble hearts, trusting his power and his care. God of all grace, we come to you in the in-between, between what has been and what is still to come. You have not left us without your word, without each other, or without your care. As we gather this morning, humble our hearts, quiet our anxious minds, and draw us into the prayer Christ prays for us, even now. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord, amen. Come on, y'all. Come on, everybody, let's sing this. ♪ I'll praise in the valley, I'll praise on the mountain ♪ ♪ I'll praise when I'm sure, and praise when I'm doubting ♪ ♪ I'll praise when I'm number, and praise when surrounded ♪ ♪ As praise is the water, my enemy's drowning ♪ ♪ As long as I'm breathing, as long as I'm breathing ♪ ♪ I've got a reason to praise the Lord of my soul ♪ ♪ I'm going to praise the Lord of my soul ♪ ♪ And I'll praise when I'm feeling, I'll praise when I don't ♪ ♪ I'll praise, cause I know, you're still, you are still in control ♪

♪ My praise is a weapon, it's more than a sound ♪ ♪ My praise is the shout that brings Jericho down ♪ ♪ As long as I'm breathing, as long as I'm breathing ♪ ♪ I've got a reason to praise the Lord of my soul ♪ ♪ I'm going to praise the Lord, oh, said I won't be quiet ♪ ♪ I won't be quiet, my God is alive, how could I keep it inside ♪ ♪ I'm going to praise the Lord of my soul ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord, come on put your hands together, let's praise the Lord this morning ♪ ♪ I'll praise the sound, praise cause you reign ♪ ♪ I'll praise cause you rose and defeated through grave ♪ ♪ I'll praise cause you're faithful, praise cause you're true ♪ ♪ I'll praise cause there's nobody greater than you said ♪ ♪ I'll praise cause you're sound, praise cause you reign ♪ ♪ Praise cause you rose and defeated through grave ♪ ♪ I'll praise cause you're faithful, praise cause you're true ♪ ♪ Praise cause there's nobody greater than you, Praise the Lord of my soul, praise the Lord, praise. . ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord of my soul, yes I will. Praise the Lord of my soul, yes I will. Praise the Lord of my soul. ♪ ♪ I won't be quiet, my God is alive. How could I keep it inside? Won't be quiet. I won't be quiet, my God is alive. How could I keep it inside? Won't be quiet. I won't be quiet. How could I keep it inside? Won't be quiet. ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord. Oh, my soul. Praise the Lord. ♪ Come on, put your hands together. Let's praise the Lord. Imagine giving the highest praise. Hallelujah. Come on, let's sing. You won't fail me now. You won't fail me now. And though it is the same God who's never late, He's working all things out. You're working all things out. Yes, I will lift you higher than the longest valley.

Yes, I will bless your name. Yes, I will sing for joy when my heart is heavy. All my days, oh yes, I will. Whoo! Come on, sing it out. I count on one thing. The same God that never fails will not fail me now. You won't fail me now. And though it is the same God who's never late, He's working all things out. You're working all things out. Yes, I will lift you higher than the lowest valley. Yes, I will bless your name. Yes, I will sing for joy when my heart is heavy. All my days, oh yes, I will. For all my days, oh yes, I will. And I choose to praise, to glorify, glorify the name of all names that nothing can stand against. And I choose to praise, to glorify, glorify the name of all names that nothing can stand against. Sing it out. I choose to praise, to glorify, glorify the name of all names. I choose to praise, to glorify, glorify the name of all names that nothing can stand against. Oh, yes, I will lift you higher than the lowest valley. Yes, I will bless your name. Yes, I will sing for joy when my heart is heavy. All my days, oh yes, I will. For all my days, oh yes, I will.

For all my days, oh yes, I will. Come on and give the Lord a shout of praise this morning. Every one of his promises, yes and amen. And what a privilege it is to worship him. Y'all, welcome to Graceful. Y'all doing all right today? Come on, yeah. Hey, if you are new here and I haven't met you yet, I'm Pastor Jeremy, one of the pastors here at Graceful. I'd love to meet you after service. We can hang out at Guest Central, so just stop by there. Me and a few of our leaders will be there. We'd love to just shake your hand and get to know you. If you are new here, there's a QR code on the screen, or you can go to graceway.app and click new here. We'd love to just tell you a little bit about what's going on here at Graceway and just begin to get connected to you. I'm going to invite our ushers to make their way down. We're going to receive today's tithes and offerings, and just want to just say again, thank you for your generosity. Thank you for your giving. It's allowing us. us to do so many wonderful things and be able to do ministry and to do the things the Lord's called us to do. And I wanna remind you that it is just an opportunity for us to say, Lord, this isn't my stuff. And God, you've given this to me. And so what a privilege it is for us to return it back to him.

Let's go to the Lord in prayer as we prepare to do that. God, we thank you this morning that we get to proclaim your praises on high. God, that we get to stand in this place and worship you. What an incredible thing that is, Lord. We thank you, God, that we get to do that. And today, as we prepare to give, I pray, Lord, that you would just help our hearts. Lord, as we give back to you what you've given to us. God, it's our way of saying thank you. It's our way of saying, Lord, this isn't mine. And God, I want you to bring your future kingdom right here into the present. So Lord, we're asking for you to bless this offering here at Graceway, in our community, Lord, and across the globe with what's given. So God, we thank you for how you have provided for us. As we continue in worship today, Father, we are asking you to move in our hearts. So Holy Spirit, do a good work in us. What if we've walked in a little hardened today? I pray that you'd soften our hearts, that we would hear from you. God, that you'd quiet the noise. And then, Lord, we would hear your voice clearly. We wanna bring you the honor, the glory, and praise. We ask you all these things in the name of Jesus and all God's people said, amen. Let's keep singing. We sang this song last week.

I'm sure you know it by now. Let's lift up the name of Jesus. ♪ I could sing your name for all my days ♪ ♪ All my life and still find more to love each time ♪ ♪ Jesus be the name ever on my lips ♪ ♪ It's sweeter every time that I call on you ♪ ♪ There's just something about your name ♪ ♪ There's just something about your name ♪ ♪ There's just something about your name ♪ ♪ Makes me cry holy ♪ ♪ There is no other name ♪ ♪ There is no other name ♪ ♪ There is no other name ♪ ♪ Jesus you're the name ♪ ♪ You have been the friend who never left me ♪ ♪ Never left ♪ ♪ I won't forget your faithfulness ♪ ♪ Jesus be the name ever on my lips ♪ ♪ It's sweeter every time that I call on you ♪ ♪ There's just something about your name ♪ ♪ There's just something about your name ♪ ♪ There's just something about your name ♪ ♪ Makes me cry holy ♪ ♪ There is no other name ♪ ♪ There is no other name ♪ ♪ There is no other name ♪ ♪ Jesus you're worthy ♪ Come on, sing it out. ♪ There's just something about your name ♪ ♪ There's just something about your name ♪

♪ There's just something about your name ♪ ♪ Makes me cry holy ♪ ♪ There is no other name ♪ ♪ There is no other name ♪ ♪ There is no other name ♪ ♪ Jesus, you're worthy ♪ ♪ You're so worthy, so worthy, Jesus, Jesus ♪ Come on, sing it out, His name. ♪ Jesus, your name is light, the morning light ♪ ♪ The one the darkness can't deny ♪ ♪ The resurrection and the life, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus ♪ Jesus, your name can save, your name can heal, your name can make the storm be still, you never fail, you never will. Jesus, Jesus, the bread of life, broken for us, the wounded and the worthy won, the first and last and still to come. Jesus, Jesus, the king who overwhelmed the grave, the love who will forever reign, the name above all other names. Jesus, Jesus be the name, Jesus be the name, Jesus be the name that gets all the glory. Jesus be the name, Jesus be the name, Jesus be the name that gets all the glory. Jesus be the name, Jesus be the name, Jesus be the name that gets all the glory. Jesus be the name, Jesus be the name, Jesus be the name that gets all the glory. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, Jesus. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, Jesus. There's healing in your name. There's healing in your name. There's healing in your name. It makes me cry. There's freedom in your name. There's freedom your name. There's freedom in your name. It makes me cry holy. There's salvation in your name. Salvation in your name.

Salvation in your name. There's salvation in your name. It makes me cry holy. Jesus be the name. Jesus be the name. Jesus be the name. Jesus be the name. That gets all the glory. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. There's just something about that name. that name. that name. Master Savior Savior Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Like a fragrance after

the rain. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. That all heaven and earth proclaim. Come on, sing it out with me. Kings and kingdoms will all pass away. There's just something about that name. Come on, let's pray together, God. We come to you right now in the Son who you exalted, the Spirit who speaks of you. We lift up the name of Jesus. We lift it up over this generation, over our country, over our state, over our city. We lift up the name of Jesus over this church. We lift up the name of Jesus over our elementary kids and our high schoolers, over our young adults, over our young marrieds. We lift up the name of Jesus over our marriages and over our finances, over our mental health,

over the things that keep us apart, over the areas that we disagree. We speak the name of Jesus where our faith is small and the enemy seems big. We speak the name of Jesus where our belief is absent. We speak the name of Jesus in all of the gaps, in all of the cracks, in all of the areas, Lord, that we cannot do it, that we cannot move it, that we cannot change it. The things that our heart loves, the things that our minds desire, the things that matter to us, Lord. Our name doesn't move it. And in a day where people are trying to make a name for themselves, in a day where people are trying to make a platform for their brand, only the name of Jesus. There's just something about it. Where the name of Jesus is, darkness has to go. Where the name of Jesus is, salvation is available and freedom is available. Where the name of Jesus is, things move. And Lord, we need you to move in our midst. We need you to move on our behalf. And so we declare the name of Jesus and we thank you for him. We thank you for your grace in sending him. We thank you, Lord, for what he has done and what it makes us. We thank you, Lord, that you never give up on us. We thank you, Lord, that one day Jesus will come back to this, his creation, and redeem it for himself. And at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess. And we pray, Lord, that that day would be today. But if it isn't, thank you for giving us a head start. We love you, Lord, and we ask you now through your spirit and your word to make much of Jesus in our hearts. And we thank you for it in his name and all God's people said, amen and amen. Hey, welcome to church. How are you?

So good to see you. So good to see you. Hey, if you're a guest and I haven't had the chance to meet you, my name's Tim. I get to serve as the lead pastor here. We're honored to have you. Thanks so much. I want to say hello to our first-time guests, folks who haven't been here before. We appreciate you. Appreciate you being here. If you're watching us online, man, thanks for joining us in that way. And then fellas, brothers, members at Crossroads Correctional and Ozarks Correctional, we love you. Happy Sunday to you. If you haven't been here for a minute, you can see we're a bit in progress, all right? For those of you under the age of 30, that is what's called a projector screen, all right? And that is called a projector. Yeah. For those of you who already knew that, I know that you are at least not young. Amen? All right. We're getting to see the progression of technology here. And I just want to remind you a couple of things. Just first off, it's going to get a little uglier before it gets prettier. Just again, these are great times for us just to remind ourselves church isn't all this, okay? And in fact, it may just be that sometimes the church just needs a break from all this and that we just need the simplicity of God's presence and God's Word and God's people. And so, my hope is that just over the next couple of weeks as it gets a little uglier that you just come in here locked into, hey, in the simplicity of this, I'm going to lock into the voice of God, and that maybe this is a sweet time.

not a bummer of a time. Now, you don't need to send me an email and say, we should just keep it this way. We ain't keeping it this way, all right? We got guests coming, and we want it to look nice, but I'm excited for what God is going to do. Another thing I'm excited about—if you have a Bible, by the way, get over to Acts 13. That's where we're going to be today. So, I have a friend in town today, him and his family. I met him in Indianapolis when I was running a residency program, and he had come through that program, and then he was my assistant for a little while, and then he went back to his home state of Michigan and has been a pastor there, and now he's planting a church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. And I'm so proud of him, so excited for him to be here, but the thing that I just want to point out to you is that he didn't start as a church planter. He started as a resident at a church. And what is a resident at a church? It's somebody who says, man, I think God has a call on my life, and I just don't know if I have the knowledge or the experience or the access to do that. I wish that a church would just help me take some steps of obedience toward my calling. That's what the residency is, and because we're a church that wants to help you take steps of obedience toward what God has for you, we are relaunching the residency here in June. And so, I want you to understand that if you're in the room today, first off, whether you know it or not, God has a calling on your life. It might not be for vocational ministry, might not be that you need a residency, but for some of you, you're having an argument with God that you just need to stop. And you just need to do what God's telling you to do. And you say, well, I don't know how to do that. You should get into the residency and let us help you sort that out. And so, if you're interested, you can go to visitgraceway.org backslash residency. You can stop at the next steps desk. But I would love for some of you to just pray about, God, okay, I'm going to get serious about the steps of obedience that you have on my life. I'm going to let my church come around me and help me with clarity and education and access, and I'm going to hop into this two-year residency and we'll see what God has to do on the other side. Sound good? Okay, both of you are like, I'm not saying amen to that. All right, that's fair, that's fair. Hey, let's pray. We got a lot to get to today. I'm excited to hear from God. Let's ask Him to speak clearly. Lord, we thank You for Your Word. Thank You for Your Holy Spirit.

Thank You for Your people. Thank You, Lord, that everything is present for You to do something powerful. And we ask that You would. And we ask that You would prepare our hearts for what You have to say. Give us a posture of obedience. We thank You for it. In Jesus' name, amen. When I was a younger man, I spent some time rock climbing. Had some friends who were rock climbers, and they said, hey, why don't you come with us? And I kind of got into it for a little while. Got to spend some time with some pretty legit rock climbers who all, you know, all of these different cultures have kind of a language connected to them. I remember talking to a guy, and he was talking about this thing called summit weight, summit weight. And I was like, what is summit weight? And he said, well, the higher you climb, the more ruthless you have to be about what you're carrying. And so, there are things that are pretty manageable at lower levels, but the higher you go, those things actually get dangerous. And you have to have a plan for shedding those things or it will actually—it won't just get in your way, it will really mess you up. And so, a seasoned climber, if he knows he has a big climb, he will plan the point on the rock at which he'll drop that gear or that food or that whatever, because he doesn't need it anymore. It's going to keep him from going higher. You can probably see where I'm going here. Yeah. There's some tension to following Jesus. And most of us, if I stopped in the lobby and I said, hey, God wants to take you higher in whatever, you would say, yeah, man, that's why I'm here. Most of us want God to do something, want God to speak, want God to move, want God to grow, but at the same time we refuse to let go of the things that weigh us down. And the higher you try to go, the more dangerous it is to hang on to those things. When you're just a step off the ground, hey, I get it. But when you're trying to go to places you've never been with God, it doesn't just get in your way, baby, it's dangerous for you to try to hang on to that. And this shows up in Scripture, right? Abraham, Joseph, Moses, Elisha, David, the disciples, Jesus doesn't say, hey, bring your nets. He says, leave them. They're going to get in the way of where I want you to go. And I know too many Christians that are exhausted following Jesus, not because God's promises aren't true, not because God has abandoned them, no, because they are trying to climb while carrying things that God told them to surrender. I'm going to tell you something that is not popular.

But I wouldn't be a good pastor to you if I didn't tell you. Before God does something through you, he often, and by often I mean always, he always asked for something from you. You say, I just want God to use my life. Okay. I'm just telling you there's going to come a point. There's going to come points where he's going to ask you for something. And you're going to say, God, why do you want this from me? And he's going to say, maybe not in this language, because where we're going, it's dangerous for you to be carrying it. Not trying to take something from you, I'm trying to give something to you. And that thing is going to get in the way. And so in Acts chapter 13, we have a shift in the book of Acts. It's not the church in Jerusalem, it's the church in Antioch. And Antioch is the first place that church people are called Christians, and it would have been a derogatory term. It would have been like little Christians, right? They're so patriarchal, they're so exclusive, they're so old-fashioned. You know, all the things people say today. The same thing is happening here, because Antioch wasn't a Christian city, it was ethnically diverse, but it was also religiously pluralistic, meaning the only thing you couldn't be is one thing. Heard that before? Yeah. Yeah. And Luke starts, and he introduces us to the leadership team at Antioch, and it's significant. He talks to us about Simeon. Simeon was African, by the way. Lucius was from Cyrene, which was in North Africa. Mannan had been connected to Herod the Tetrarch's court.

Barnabas was from Cyprus. Saul was a Jewish Pharisee from Tarsus, which is southeast Turkey. And Luke doesn't give us the names of these ethnically, socially, culturally diverse leadership team just to fill space. He didn't have a word count, right? No, he's showing us that the church, from its very beginning, has been of the nations and to the nations, because we serve a God who loves the nations. Now when I say this, I want to take real quickly on this, because I'm hearing this more and more and more, people saying about Christianity that it is connected to one culture. There is a culture that Christianity comes from, and they're just trying to use Christianity to control you. And what I want to say is, I don't know if these people are not educated or just have not read their Bibles, but the idea that the church comes from the white culture is just categorically, obstinately ignorant to say. It's just not true. It's just not true. In fact, the church in Antioch, I would have been the minority. Are you with me? Why? Because the church has always been of the nations, to the nations, because we serve a God who loves the nations. And one day, all the nations will bow down before the king, and they will all give him the honor that he is due. So let me just help you. If you are in here today, and because of your culture, you have some misgivings, like, should I really get connected to the church? I mean, it seems like it's kind of like a white thing. Hey, read your Bible. Read your Bible. Let me help you.

Read your Bible. That's not what was happening. Not what has been happening. Now, we could have a broader conversation, but let's just start it there, all right? Acts 13 and verse 2, while they, all those leaders in the church, while they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, because that's what churches do, right? Like church, right, church? Like we worship and we fast, because Jesus didn't say, if you fast, he said, when you fast. While this is happening, the Holy Spirit said, set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them. So they're in the middle of 21 days of prayer and fasting in January. It's cold. And they're piling into the church. And in the middle of them, I'm going to use a big word, consecrating, what's the word consecrating mean? Setting themselves apart to God's purposes. While they are putting themselves in a posture to say, God, we're yours and whatever you want to do, during that, God calls Saul and Barnabas to, to leave the church and go do something that God had already ordained for them to do. John Piper is famous for saying, mission exists because worship doesn't. And this is true. It's true that mission exists because there are still places on this planet that people have never heard the name of Jesus, let alone worship the name of Jesus. And this is a lot of the places that we go as a church. We, we almost exclusively go to unreached people groups. Why? Because the Great Commission says every ear needs to hear. Every ear needs to hear. And so, mission exists because worship doesn't.

And I would, I don't know. I don't want to contradict Dr. Piper, but I would also say this. Mission exists because worship does. Watch. As the church worships, mission pops up. You know, it's interesting. We're living in a time with all these worship movements. And why don't they stick around? Let me help you. Because they don't lead God's people to mission, they just lead God's people to concerts. In the Bible, when God's people worship and consecrate themselves, God pops up and says, here's what I want you to do. Why? Because missions exist because worship doesn't, and missions exist because worship does. And so this phrase, set apart, echoes Old Testament language of, again, this word, consecration, to be set apart for God's purposes. Consecration, to be set apart for God's purposes. Consecration, to be set apart for God's purposes. Come on, you got your Scrabble word for the day, amen? And so Paul, Saul, and Barnabas are not dream teamers who have this big plan. No, they are worshiping Jesus, and God claims them for a specific assignment. We do not ask and come to God and say, here's what I want to do, God. No, we come to God and say, what do you want me to do, God? One is ambition, the other is consecration. And so, as the church is facedown in the presence of God, God says, eenie, meenie, miney, Saul and Barnabas go. And the church in Antioch, watch, sends their best. Why? Because the priority of the church is mission. And so we send our best to the most important things.

Mission in the Bible tells you not to stay, and mission in the Bible tells me to not try to keep you. This is an important thing. I've said this to you before. If you could see the blueprint in my mind for every person who is here, I would want people to come, hear about Jesus, surrender their lives to Jesus, get discipled, get established in their faith, in Scripture, in prayer, in fasting, in worship, in generosity, in community, in mission. And once they are equipped for the ministry that God created them for, my plan is for them to leave. You say, your plan for me is to leave this church? No. No. That's not my plan. I would keep you forever. I feel better when the room is full. Come on, somebody. It's not my plan. It's God's plan. Now for some of you, going means you will stay in Kansas City and this will be your church home until Jesus comes back. But for others of you, you know doggone well you aren't supposed to stay in Kansas City. You know doggone well that God's got plans for you someplace else and you're just too afraid to consecrate yourself for the plans that God has for you. And I get it. We're going to talk about this later. But this is the way the Bible talks about this. So Saul and Barnabas, they leave Antioch. And this would have been a challenge. Remember these are people.

These aren't cartoon characters. They have picked up their life and they have left the place that they have been loved and serving and they go to Barnabas' hometown, Cyprus. And they decide that they're first going to go to the synagogue and we see this show up in Saul's life. When he goes to a new city, he goes to a place of worship or a place of political and religious debate. Again and again and again. Same thing happens to begin here and they bump into two people. The first is a guy by the name of Sergius Paulus and the other is a guy by the name of Elemus. Now, Sergius Paulus is a Roman proconsul, which means he is a military commander or a governor of a region. He's a big shot. Are you with me? In Acts 13 tells us he's a man of intelligence who summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God. This man is spiritually seeking the good news of the gospel. Elemus, consequently, in Acts 13 and verse 8, is a magician. And he opposed them, that meaning Saul and Barnabas and Sergius Paulus, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith. So this isn't just a man who says Christianity isn't for me. This is a man who is saying, I want to keep you away from Christianity. He isn't just skeptical, he is actively obstructing somebody else from believing. And by the way, this happens all the time. This is a reoccurring pattern because the gospel, don't get this twisted, the gospel threatens false power, threatens false idols, threatens false control, and so when the gospel light begins to shine, spiritual opposition always arises. When God is at work, the enemy is at work. This is why some of you, you're going through a rough time.

You say, God, why? Why are you abandoning me? He's not abandoning you. He's at work, and because he's at work, the darkness is rising at the same time. And so this man, Elimus, tries to obstruct the gospel from Sergius Paulus, and listen to what Paul says to him in Acts 13, verse 10. You son of—no, it's in the Bible, for real, relax, I'm not going to cuss on the stage. You son of the devil. Come on, somebody. We ain't playing games out here. You son of the devil. I got all different kinds of ways I can say it. Stand in my mirror. Son of the devil. Son of the devil. All kinds of ways. You enemy of all righteousness, full of deceit and villainy. Why is Saul punching this dude in the throat? Here's why. Because God tells shepherds to not only care for the sheep, but to confront the wolves. And sometimes, sometimes the thing that keeps somebody who is not yet a follower of Jesus from seeing and hearing the gospel is a Christian who is willing to confront a person or a culture that tries to obstruct them from the faith. You see, a good shepherd doesn't just love sheep and ignore wolves. And a good shepherd doesn't just hate wolves and ignore sheep. No, it's got to be both. It's got to be both. And Paul announces that Elymas will be blind for a time, and this is funny to me. I told you before that the early church is not as creative as you think. So remember, who was the guy who was obstructing the faith who got struck with blindness on

the road to Damascus? Saul. And so his first opportunity to go out as a missionary, someone's trying to obstruct, and he goes, what should we do to this guy? I know, I will call him, you son of the devil. And then I will blind him just like Jesus did to me. So Elymas is trying to keep Sergius Paul as spiritually blind, and Paul says in response to it, no, you're going to be physically blind, but in the grace of God, just for a time. Just for a time. And who else had their eyesight restored to them? Saul is just doing what he has seen and heard. He's just doing what he has seen and heard. And so once Elymas is blind, verse 12, then the pre-council believed when he saw what had occurred, and he was astonished for the teachings of the Lord. As soon as that spiritual warfare, God's people were victorious. The gospel proceeded and worked. Verse 13, Paul and Barnabas go to the synagogue. Paul takes his Old Testament, shows how David leads us into John the Baptist, and both were pointing to Jesus. Watch, Paul didn't view the Old Testament as something that needed to be replaced. I want to help some of your theology right now, because some of you think, oh, the Old Testament, we don't do the Old Testament anymore. That's been replaced with the New Testament. No, it hasn't. It's been fulfilled with the New Testament. It's been fulfilled. Jesus said, I didn't come to do away with the law. I came to fulfill the law. And too many Christians now know, oh, that doesn't apply to us anymore. Yes, it does.

It's fulfilled in Jesus. So we look to Jesus who does for us what we don't think applies to us anymore. And David is somebody who Saul is saying, hey, David was speaking of Jesus. John the Baptist was speaking of Jesus, and y'all rejected him. And Saul is going to begin to give us some theological nuance. He says the reason that y'all rejected Jesus is he didn't know your Bibles. And in rejecting Jesus, you actually fulfilled the Scripture. Isn't this interesting, that some of us are so self-actualized that we think to ourselves, my rebellion is what's going to keep God from doing what God wants to do. And I hear it from people who are rebelling, and I hear it from people who used to rebel. And I hear it from them, and you say, you don't understand what I did. And what I want to say to you is that even your rebellion is woven into the sovereignty of God. Even the thing that you regret, it's not like God's like, shoot, I didn't know they were going to do that. Saul is saying God knew you were going to rebel, and He built it into His plan, and He let you kill Jesus because He knew, verse 30, that He was going to raise Him from the dead. People think that you're playing chess with God. Can I tell you, you aren't even playing checkers. Come on, somebody. You aren't even playing checkers. God is sovereign. The church was always the plan of God. Israel was not the plan of God. of God, and then, oh, shoot, they said, no, I guess I'll go to the dirty Gentiles. No! God always intended to save all people in all nations. Let me help you, because some of your — some of y'all's politics are wrapped up in this. There is no Jew and no Gentile. There is no God's working with us, but one day, so we got to — no, it's the church. It's the church. And the church wasn't plan B, the church is plan A. The church is plan

A. Why? Because the church has been of the nations, to the nations, because we love a God who loves the nations. So the idea that God has this special thing that we got to figure out how to do, and it's not the church, now you misunderstand the Bible. Read the book of Galatians. It'll help you. It'll help you. And so Paul gets done giving the gospel, and in Acts 13 he says, let it be known to you, our brothers, that through this man, Jesus, forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to everyone. And by Him, everyone who believes is freed from everything. You hear the everyones and the everythings? From everything, that you could not be freed by the law of Moses. Forgiveness of God doesn't come from your morality. Forgiveness of God does not come through your ethnic identity. Forgiveness of God does not come through your religiosity. Forgiveness of God comes through Jesus. And he says in verse 13, look, you scoffers. Y'all think I get up in your face. I ain't ever called you, you son of the devil. I haven't done that. I mean, I'm going to from now on, but. He says, look, you scoffers. Those of you who want to do that, what does he say? Be astounded and perish. All right, Saul. You know the gospel, it's interesting. It's amazingly inclusive and exclusive at the same time. It's inclusive because who can have a relationship with God through Jesus? Anyone. What are all the ways that I can have a relationship with God? Only one. Anybody can come to God through Jesus. Doesn't matter where you're from, what you did, who you did it with, or how you felt the next morning. Anyone can come. God does not want you to be separated from him for all eternity, so he sent Jesus. Who? Anyone. Well, what are all the ways I can get there? Oh, no, no, that's only one. That's only one. That's Jesus. You've got to come to God through Jesus. And the result is that the people who hear him say, would you please come back next Sabbath day and talk to us about this? And the scripture tells us that the next Sabbath day, the whole city gathered to hear the gospel. And the Jews get frustrated. And the Jews start to contradict what Paul is saying. And Paul says, look Jews, you had your chance. You punted the pooch. And so God made the gospel available to all nations to the Gentiles. And the Gentiles are like, to us? Yes, to you. The gospel is available to you. And the Gentiles are like, this is incredible. And revival breaks out. 13 and verse 49, the word of the Lord was spreading throughout the whole region. It's amazing. It's amazing. The idea, they actually made it hard to go to hell in Antioch. You

know, it's impossible to understand Acts 13 without remembering Acts 9. In Acts 9, this guy Saul, this Judaic, pharisaical assassin, knocked off his horse on the way to Damascus and has a Christophany. And God intersects his life. And God comes to Ananias in Acts 9 and verse 15 and says, that guy, Saul, is a chosen instrument of mine to carry the name, my name before the Gentiles, the kings, and the children of Israel. He says Saul is a chosen instrument of mine. I claim him for a specific work. This is the word, consecration. To be claimed for a God-given purpose. And we read Acts 9 and we think that it is all happening sequentially. It's actually a compressed version. So after the road to Damascus, Saul goes to Arabia. And after Arabia, he goes to Damascus. And after Damascus, he goes to Jerusalem three years after Acts 9, according to Galatians 1. And the church, three years later, is afraid of him because his reputation precedes him. And so he's only able to stay for 15 days. But he's helped by Barnabas, and he gets to meet Peter and James. While he's there, he has... has a vision, and in the vision, two things happen. One, you gotta leave Jerusalem because you're not safe. And two, I call you to the Gentiles. I consecrate you to the Gentiles. Notice what I'm trying to say. Paul's clarity didn't happen on the road to Damascus. It happened three years later in another vision. And so we know that after Jerusalem, Saul goes back to his hometown, Tarsus, and begins to use it as a hub of ministry to Syria and Cilicia. This is all Galatians chapter one. And while he is there, the gospel reaches Antioch. So Barnabas is sent from Jerusalem to Antioch. When he gets to Antioch, he says, you know who I need? I need Saul. So he goes to Tarsus, and Saul comes back

to Antioch from Tarsus. Say amen if you're chatting with me. Amen. There comes a point where poverty and famine have broken out in Jerusalem. And so Saul and Barnabas go back to Jerusalem to encourage and bring funds from the church to the church at Jerusalem. We know that they had come another time, Saul and Barnabas, with a man by the name of John Mark, who is the author of the gospel of Mark. And apparently between Acts chapter 12 and Acts chapter 13, they have found their way back to Antioch. Are you with me? Yes. What I need you to understand is that we look at Acts chapter nine and we go, that's crazy that it all happened there. That was years of time. It wasn't for three years that Paul understood why God knocked him off his horse on the road to Damascus. And watch Acts 13, when it actually comes to fruition, is 11 years later. It didn't happen the next day. It didn't happen the next day. So let's pick this idea up for a minute. Because some of you, you are grappling with the idea of your own consecration. God, what do you want from my life? So let's talk about it.

So number one, there is no clarity without consecration. There's no clarity without consecration. Let me make this general if I can. We do 21 days of prayer twice a year. In January, we pray and fast. And in August, in July, we pray and feast. And the reason that we do that isn't so that we can get what we need, the reason that we do that is consecration. More specifically, when we come into this room, we typically sing three or four songs. We pray, we give, we do all those things. Can I tell you, those things aren't appetizers for the sermon. Those are consecration. What does that mean? It means that 21 days of prayer isn't God, give me what I need. 21 days of prayer is God, everything I have is yours. And when you come into this room, and if I can just be honest with you, you hang out in the lobby and you drink the coffee and you come in on the third song, you're missing a great opportunity not to get to sing, no, to remind your heart and tell God, God, through this song, everything that I have is yours. You wanna be a part of a move of God. Be a part of a church that every chance they get, prayer, fasting, giving, singing, praying, they say, God, we have everything we need. God, we are entirely yours.

We're entirely yours. And it is in this place, this place of consecration that God claims Saul and Barnabas. They get clarity in the midst of consecration. Let me make it more specific. Are you still with me? So personally, this means that spiritual direction is always connected to consecration. A repeated voluntary posture of God, I'm yours. God, whatever you want. God, I surrender. But watch, many Christians want clarity without consecration. God, just tell me what to do. And what happens is God saves us. You remember these days, right? God saved you and you were like, bro, everything I have is, I wanna give my whole life to God. And you were putting yourself on the altar. Every opportunity that you got. But the longer things went, you started pulling pieces of yourself off the altar. Normally in America, it starts with your money. And then it goes to your time, and then it goes to your gifts, and then it goes to your girl. Have you seen her? She's so cute, it's unbelievable. You get. And then it goes to your job.

And by the time you find yourself in a place where you are looking for clarity, you have already taken back all the things that you thought are yours. And so you say to God, God, can you just give me clarity? And God says, based on the ball. In your pockets, it looks like you are yours. But consecration is what provides clarity. Saying to God, God, everything is yours is what gives us clarity. Guidance is given in the context of surrender. My yes is already yours, God. For what? Whatever He asked for. And some of us are messing with the recipe and expecting the blessing of clarity. Please do not come to me and say you are praying for the thing while you do the thing that God is telling you to not do. No, you aren't. You aren't looking for God's clarity. You are looking for God's permission. No, don't order your life in a way that rejects the authority of God and then ask God to bless it. Don't order your life in such a way that says it is up to me, and then when push comes to shove, say, God, can you give me clarity? No, you got it. Right? Well, now I don't know what to do. Well, you never did know what to do. But look at you with your bulging pockets. Clarity comes from consecration. This is why it's a heartbreak to me when I see a young adult who are desperately looking

for God's best for your life, but you don't read your Bible, you don't pray, you don't come to 21 Days, you don't sing while we worship, you don't give, and then you come and say, God, give me clarity. Too late, baby! God, give me a better job. God, give me more money. God, give me a better life. No, it's up to you! You aren't consecrated. You son of—no. Why I got to come to church every Sunday? Because you're consecrated. Why I got to give? Because it's not yours. I work for it. Okay. Call me when you need something from God. But this is what we do. Consecration means I give up control. This is what it means. As they worshiped and fasted, God said, time to go, guys. No, no, we like it here. Hey, I claim you. You aren't your own. And Barnabas and Saul were not minor figures. They were significant leaders, and things were going great. Sending them would have cost the church, just like putting Isaac on the altar would have cost Abraham. Just like going back to Egypt as a wanted felon would have cost Moses. Just like carrying the Son of God would have cost Mary.

Just like Peter leaving behind his nets cost him. Just like Peter leaving behind his old self in repentance after he denied Jesus. It cost him something. You can't have consecration without change. And so Paul and Barnabas, because they're consecrated, have to change. They've got to leave. And because the church is consecrated, the church has to let them go. You can't have control and consecration. But watch, we want clarity without consecration, and we want control, and we want it quick. That's why I say to you, 11 years later, some of you, I used to think God had a call in my life. Well, did God change His mind? What happened? God used to want me to be a pastor. God used to want me to be a missionary. God used to want me to be this and this and this. What happened? I know what happened. You started taking things back, and now it's just too uncomfortable to do that level of change. And, let's just be honest, it takes too long. Three years, my guy Saul didn't even know why God had saved him. Three years! And 11 years before it comes to actuality, you can't have control and consecration. If you don't want change, you're going to hate following Jesus. Number three, consecration cannot help but produce conflict. Acts 13 does not move from consecration to comfort, it moves from consecration to conflict. And this is the pattern of Scripture and this is the pattern of your life, that when you take a step toward God's purposes, you aren't met by encouragement, blessing, and comfort. You're met by conflict.

And so Saul and Barnabas are sent, and yes, they bump into opportunity, but they also bump into opposition. Why? Because consecration in a person—and let me just say this. We think that consecration is a church word for church Bible characters. No, we're talking about you. We're not just talking about, well, Pastor Tim, no, you. Consecration threatens the kingdom of darkness. When somebody says, God, everything I have is yours, whether you mean it or not, the kingdoms of darkness go, what? Because it threatens darkness just like it threatens comfort, just like it threatens idolatry, just like it threatens false power, just like it threatens the parts of you that want control and don't want to surrender. Listen, when you decide to obey Jesus, there will be conflict. There will be spiritual opposition. There will be cultural pressure. There will be people who prefer the old version of you. There will be conflict in your own heart. Listen, consecration exposes competing alliances, and some people want enough Jesus to be comforted, but not enough Jesus to be conflicted. Do not be surprised when obedience gets hard. I am stunned. I've been doing this for almost 30 years. I am stunned how we are surprised about things that happen all the time. When you decide, I'm going to take the generosity jump, expect your greed to get worse. When you say, I'm going to pursue purity, expect your temptation to intensify. When you say, I'm going to forgive them, expect all the memories that create the bitterness to come back en masse. When you say, I'm going to step into calling, expect to be illogically afraid. When you say, I'm going to step into mission, expect opposition.

Expect it. Expect it. You don't surrender everything to God and not have the kingdoms of darkness go. He ain't doing that as long as we're watching. Oh yeah, I am. Yes I am. And Jesus said, in this world you will have trouble, but take heart. I've overcome the world. I'm building a church. The gates of hell can't do a doggone thing about it. And yet we have Christians negotiating with God and surprised when they take a microstep of obedience and a stiff breeze comes by. I just thought it was going to be easy. I just thought no one was going to say anything. Can I tell you the enemy believes the Bible more than you do? He knows what happens when you believe in generosity, believe in purity, believe in forgiveness, believe in faithfulness, believe in calling, believe in mission, but he's not going to raise a fist if he can do it with a breeze. You can't have clarity without consecration. You can't. And consecration means you lose control. That's what it means fundamentally. And when you lose control, you invite conflict. If you're somebody who can't handle conflict, you're going to hate following Jesus. You're going to hate it. Now if you like winning, you're going to love following Jesus. And then lastly, consecration means that I move with conviction. I love this. God says, I claim them. Y'all are being sent.

And so what'd they do? You know, we ought to do a poll on, hey, what do you think I should, hey, let's set up a board in an LLC. So now God said, get out of here. And they're like, okay. And when they got there, they didn't have a whiteboard session. No, they got out on the streets and they started giving the gospel. And when it got hard, they kept going. Conviction, very simply, is the commitment to God's will. Conviction is what enables you to move when the assignment is costly, to be steady when people do not understand, to be courageous when opposition comes, to be faithful when your feelings fluctuate. And a lot of people confuse clarity with certainty. We think, if God is calling me to do this, it will feel this way, and I will know all the details. And I will be completely confident, and I will not be afraid, and I will understand how everything is going to work out. You have not read your Bible. What did God say? Send them. What else, God? Go. Remember Isaiah? God says, I'm looking for somebody to send, and Isaiah goes, I'll go. Have you ever thought to yourself, what didn't Isaiah say? Where do you want me to go? How long will I be gone? How much money are you going to give me while I go? What's the star rating of the hotel that you'll be putting me up in? How will my wife respond?

How will my kids do while I'm gone? What will my mental health be like while I'm there? Will the flight be bumpy? I hope not. I hate bumpy flights. I mean, you know. No, what did Isaiah say? Consecration. And some of us think that consecration means conviction, that conviction means certainty. Conviction means that I don't need the plan because I'm following the person. Conviction means that God doesn't give me the blueprint. Watch. He gives me the next step. This is why I say this to you all the time. We aren't leading God. We are following. That is consecration. God, I'm entirely yours, everything. My soul, my mental health, my thoughts, my desires, my actions, my marriage, my kids, my finances, my work, my calling, my free time, my talents, my treasures, everything. What do you want me to do? And God says, turn that way. And we go, and then what? No. No. Just do what I told you to do. And when you need to know, I'll tell you. Well, I don't like not knowing. I thought you said everything I had was yours, God. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding.

So the chapter ends, and the Jews, when revival breaks out, the Jews bring persecution through influential means to Saul and Barnabas. And here's what the scripture says, and the disciples, here's their response, were filled with joy in the Holy Spirit. When I was 19 years old, God called me to be a pastor. I was going to be a state highway patrolman or an artist. I'm a complicated individual, all right? And I felt like God called me to be a pastor, and so I ran it through my mentors and my pastors because I'm under authority. Don't step over that. And they were all like, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. And so, I turned toward being a pastor, and God sends me to Indiana. Why I got to go to Indiana? God, well, there's a really cute brunette and, you know, okay, cool, I'll go to Indiana. And then we go back to Ohio for about 10 years, and I'm a senior pastor, and I feel this calling and this conviction. I've got this new wife, and if I'm honest with you, man, it was hard. Because I didn't know what I was doing. I just got this calling, and I got this book, and I'm not—sometimes I'm not even sure about the calling, and I'm definitely not good at preaching the book. Man, God, what are we doing? Go to Madison, Wisconsin. God, why are we going to Madison, Wisconsin? I've got some things I'm going to teach in Madison. Okay, all right. And we're there, and it goes a little bit better because I'm starting to learn how to hear from God and starting to learn how to lead people better, but still, man, I'm like, I'm out over my skis. And so, God, I know that you've called me to this, but is this it? Is this the thing?

And God, just do what I told you to do, son. Okay, okay, okay. All right. There came a point where I felt under authority and in my time with God that we were moving away from Madison. We were going to move back to Indianapolis for a little bit of time, and the last day that I am at the church that we were leading, this lady comes up to me. I'd never seen her before. She said, hey, this is my first time at this church. I said, okay, it's good to meet you. She said, I hear that you're leaving. And I said, I am. And she said, I was sitting back there and I felt like the Lord gave me a word for you. And I was like, if you use the phrase golden waterfall, like, I'm going to call security over here. Like, don't. And she goes, I don't think that it'll be weird. And I said, well, it's already a little weird, but, you know. And she goes, so I'm sitting back there and we don't know each other. And I said, I felt like God wanted me to come up to you and tell you, the thing I've been preparing you for isn't the next thing, it's the thing after that. And I said, what'd you say? And she said, I don't know. I just, I don't think the thing that you think you're going to is the thing. I think it's the next thing. Do you know what the next thing is? It's this thing. And I told you that when I was 19, I felt like God had given me a vision for a room that I had never been in. And I told you the first time I've ever stood on this stage, I was like, this is that room.

Can I tell you, a lot of years, and can I tell you, even since we've been here, a lot of good, also COVID, a lot of kindness to God, faithfulness to God, a lot of heart. But can I tell you my overarching emotion about being right here? Do you know what it is? I can't believe I get to do this. I can't believe. It's like being filled, filled with joy, filled with the Holy Spirit, and sometimes good and sometimes bad, and yeah, there's persecution, and yeah, they don't like me, and yeah, you messed that one up, kid, and yeah. But the conviction of knowing I'm supposed to be right here, wouldn't trade it for anything. Wouldn't trade it for anything. But can I tell you, can I tell you that level of joy? Can I tell you what it takes? And not to say that I've done it perfectly, but I had good pastors and good mentors. Here's what it took. God, whatever you want. God, I just want what you want. I just want to serve you, God. I don't want to stand before you and have not been faithful to you, God. As best as I know how, everything I have is yours, God. And God will never use or misuse or lose what you entrust to Him. And you can wake up one day and go, can you believe we're here? No, it's not perfect. It's not heaven. But the joy of conviction, the joy of consecration, it isn't a take. It's a give. God's trying to take it from you. He's trying to give you something. But the only way you get what God wants to give you is empty your hands to Him. So here's how I want to end.

I want you to stand up. And I don't want to make it weird, but I also don't want you to forget this. I just want you to put your hands out like this, okay? And I want to teach you something real quickly, and then I'm done. Are you all good? Okay. I want you to hold your hands up, and I just want you to picture this is all the things. You with me? This is your past. This is your future. This is mental health. This is bills. This is marriage. This is the kids. This is stress. This is anger. This is resentment. This is all the things. Okay? And here's the truth. There are things that God wants to put into your hands and into your life, but there is not room for them as long as you try to control them. And so what I want you to do, I don't even need you to feel it, is I just want you to say, God, all this, I just give this to you. I can't carry this any longer. I know you want to take me to higher places, but this is in the way. I want to give you just a minute to talk to God right now with whatever the thing is. The highest crimes require the least attachments. Prayer team, why don't you come on down. God I thank you for the prayers that are being prayed right now.

Whether we know it or not, prayers toward freedom, toward restoration. Because Lord when we surrender and give it to you, when we say God I just want what you want, when we are consecrated, anything is possible. And Lord I pray for this church, in our 84th year of existence, all the things that we have collected, all the things that we have carried, some of them good, some of them bad, and I just simply as a senior pastor of this house say God we want everything you want and nothing that you don't. Everything that this church is, is entirely yours. Would you consecrate her? Would you sanctify her? Would you strengthen her? Would you build her? Lord you don't need us, but we do need you. So we empty our hands to you right now and we ask you to place into our hands in your time and your purposes for your glory and our good what you have for us. We trust you in the waiting, we trust you with what is next. Lead us Lord. We thank you, we love you. And in Jesus' name all God's people said amen and amen. Hey prayer team come on down. If you came prepared to give and you didn't you can do it at the boxes in the back, growth track step three in the third service. Hang on, everyone look at me. Hey fam, this week, this week put God first. This week seek God first and see what He does, all right? I love you, have a great week.