When Your Story Becomes Your Sermon

nation in the world. Amen. So happy Memorial Day to each and every one of you. A couple quick things. The last stand will be here Friday and Saturday, June 5th and 6th. We're hosting it here at our church. It's the only one they're doing across the country. Some great speakers are going to be here. Nick Vukovic, the man that has no legs, no arms. He signed up this week to be part of that. We're hosting. Amen. I'm just telling you, it's a great opportunity and their ministry is giving us 50% off if you use the discount for Brave Church to go and do that. Even if you can't come to the whole thing, would strongly encourage you to be a part of this. I know that you'll be thoroughly encouraged. Also, coming up in June, I believe it's the 15th through the 19th, is High Five. We've been doing High Five for well over a decade. It is the greatest thing we do for our kids all year. We have about a thousand kids that are already signed up on both of our campuses, but you have until Tuesday to sign up your child. I promise you they'll have a great experience. They'll get to hear about Jesus. We have kids come to Christ every single year. Kids grow every single year. If you're looking for a place to serve, even if you can't serve all five days, we promise you we can use your service. It's a great time. And also, even if you're not a part of it, would you please be praying for us during that week? It's a special week and a special time for our kids and their spiritual warfare against it and everything like that. So with that, let's continue our worship this morning. Oh, I got to say this too. Can you stand up, Andy? Okay. This is Andy Schmidt. Give him a round of applause real quick. So Andy worked for Campus Crusade for Christ at the University of Illinois. When I was there, when I started praying, could you bring somebody in my life that knows you better than me that can help me grow? That's the man that got brought into my life that helped disciple me and grow me. And I'm very grateful for you. And I say every painful thing, we didn't treat him well. There were times he'd come invite us to go to Campus Crusade and I'd be like, I'm not going. He's like, well, what are you guys going to do? I'm like, we're just going to watch TV. I mean, that's how I treated him. So he was great and helped me grow in Christ and a lot of the things that I'm today is because of him. So he's here today with his nephews and brother-in-law. So thanks for being here. Glad you guys are here with that. Hey, let's continue our worship this morning as we go before the Lord and get ready to hear his living and active word

among us. Father, we give you praise, glory and honor for who you are and for what you're doing. Lord, what a privilege it is to gather in your house with your people to sing praises to you because you and you alone deserve all the praise. We thank you for the gift of your son Jesus who died and rose for our sins. We thank you for the gift of the Holy Spirit who indwells all of us who believe and convicts the world of sin, righteousness and judgment. And Lord, we're encouraged this morning to hear your word proclaimed because we as a people believe that every time your word is faithfully and accurately proclaimed that it is you who are speaking, so our prayer this morning is, speak Lord for we are ready to hear. And so now for all who have gathered who desire to hear the Lord Jesus Christ, speak directly to you, who will believe what he tells you and who will by faith put into practice what he shows you. Will you agree with me very loudly this morning by saying the word amen, amen. Courageous obedience has a cost. Courageous obedience has a cost and part of being a Christian is to obey what the Lord teaches us. As a matter of fact, in the Great Commission after Jesus says, all authority and heaven and earth has been given to me, says therefore go, make disciples of all nations, baptize them in the name of the Father, Son of the Holy Spirit. And then what does he say? And teaching them to obey or teaching them to observe all that I've commanded you and I'll be with you always till the end of the age. So part of being a disciple of Jesus Christ is obedience. It's not radical obedience or courageous obedience. Obedience is just obedience. It means if God says it in his word, I'm going to do it whether I feel like it or not. But here's the truth. If you are obedience to Jesus, it's going to lead to something called suffering. The Bible says everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. 2 Timothy 3, 12. Paul also talks about this. In Philippians chapter 3, he says, I want to celebrate in the power of Christ's resurrection and in the fellowship of his sufferings being conformed to his death. You can't read through the New Testament without seeing suffering all over the place. And for many of us as Christians, we say we want to be obedient until we know it's going to cost us something. Until we know we're going to suffer. Until we know we're going to go through this and if I go through this and if I'm obedient to Jesus, this is going to be really, really hard. And that's usually where we back off. And then we have a false theology that teaches, well, God's only for you to have fun. He's only here for your

good. And if it's really hard, that's probably not God. That's false. If you follow God, things will get hard. If you have a godly marriage, your marriage will be hard. If you If you have a godly job, you know, live for Christ in your job, it will be hard, right? And so there's suffering that comes. There's a cost of courageous obedience. So what do we do when we're dealing with that? When we know that by doing what God wants us to do, it's gonna lead to a place that's gonna be difficult for us. What do we do? What is the cost of courageous obedience? And that's what I wanna talk to you about today. And to do that, we're gonna be in Acts chapter 21, Acts chapter 21. And as you're turning to your Bibles in Acts chapter 21, you'll remember Paul is just leaving the Ephesian elders. He's knelt down with them. He's wept, he's told them. He must go to Jerusalem. In Acts chapter 20, he says in verse 22. And now behold, bound by the spirit, I am on my way to Jerusalem. I've gotta go to Jerusalem. The Lord's put Jerusalem on my heart. And this is where our story picks up. It says this in verse one of chapter 21. When we had parted from them and it set sail, we ran a straight course to cause in the next day to roads and from there to Patera. And having found a ship crossing over to Phoenicia,

we went aboard and set sail. When we came in sight of Cyprus, leaving it on the left, we kept sailing to Syria and landed at Tyre. For there the ship was to unload all its cargo. So what this sounds like as you're seeing all this unfold, it's just like a story. It feels like a travel journal. Like in the olden days, it'd be a trip tick in the modern day of the Google map. You're just kinda following this pathway. But what's the big deal? Here's the first thing I want you to see. That the cost of courageous obedience stays the course when loved ones pull you back. The cost of courageous obedience stays the course when loved ones pull you back. Now think about this, Paul's just leaving the Ephesian elders. They didn't want him to go to Jerusalem. He said, "I must go, I'm bound by the Spirit. I need to go." So he's gonna go and where's he go? He travels through all these different cities. He goes to Coss and to Rhodes and Patera and go into Cyprus and Syria. And no place that he goes, even though he knows people, even though there's people there that are friends of his, even though he's got Christian community, even though he has all these things going on, he's continuing to do the mission

that God is calling him to do. And notice this, verse four, after looking up the disciples, we stayed there seven days and they kept telling Paul through the Spirit not to step foot in Jerusalem. So here's what his loved ones are telling him. Don't go, don't go to Jerusalem. We love you enough to tell you, don't go. These aren't just some out of town folks. These are spirit-filled believers. These are people that are praying, that are spending time in church, that are spending time with the Lord, that are growing with him. And they're saying, as we pray for you, don't go. This is bad. This is not the direction you wanna go. Now let me tell you something. When you follow the Lord, there will be times that those that are close to you, that love you, that may know the Lord, will tell you that the way you're going is not the way you're supposed to go, but it's still the way you're supposed to go. Now you're gonna see this in how the Holy Spirit works in unity, but gives specifics. So these people are saying, don't go. Paul's already been bound by the Spirit to go.

So Paul's praying, and Paul's like, the Spirit's telling me to go. You're praying, the Spirit's telling you, don't go. There's one Holy Spirit. There's always unity in what the Holy Spirit says. If you ever hear me say, well, the Spirit of God told me this, and it's different than what the Spirit of God's revealed in his word, guess who's wrong? Me, right? So at the end of the day, there's always unity in the Spirit, but there's different interpretation of what the Spirit is saying through that one revelation, their specific application. And so here's what we have going on. So they're saying, don't go, Paul's like, I gotta go. So notice what happens in verse five. When our days were ended, we left and started on our journey. Well, they all, with their wives and children, escorted us until we were out of the city. After kneeling down in the bench and praying, we said farewell to one another, then we went on board the ship and they returned home again. So keep in mind, this isn't just a few people telling Paul, like don't go, don't go. These are dads, wives, children.

These are families that he knows really, really well. And here's the truth. There is a depth in Christian community that you can't touch anywhere else. There's relationships you build in the body of Christ that you can't build with somebody that's not in the body of Christ. You can play sports with people not in the body of Christ. You can be on a drama team with people that aren't in the body of Christ. You can go to school, people that aren't in the body of Christ. You can share different things. But there's a depth of fellowship that comes when you meet another born-again believer. Amen? And here's what happens in the church. Because it's so special, Jesus said, "Go make disciples." We're like, no, we're about community. We're about loving one another. And there are over 51 and others in the New Testament. We're called to love one another, pray for one another and carry one another's burdens and admonish one another. And community's really big, but community always comes out of mission. It's when we're living on mission for the Lord that these friendships get built. It's when we're living on mission for Christ that these relationships get strong

and that's what's going on. So Paul is not wavering just because of his love for people. Paul is not wavering just because of his love for those families. Paul's like, the spirit told me, I gotta go. So I'm going. Verse seven, when we had finished the voyage from Tyre, we arrived at Tullamas and after greeting the brethren, we stayed with them for a day. On the next day we left and came to Caesarea and entering the house of Philip the evangelist who was one of the seven, we stayed with him. You'll remember back in Acts chapter six, when the apostles said we must devote ourselves to prayer and the ministry of the word. And there was a food distribution problem among the Hebrew and Greek widows. And they said, pick seven men filled with the spirit. Philip was one of those guys. Philip was also the guy that led the Ethiopian unit to Christ. What the text is trying to show us that Paul is now circling back. He's gonna stay at Philip's house and he's a mature Christian believer who's been faithful to the Lord for a period of time. He was known as faithful earlier. He's still faithful and none of those verse nine. Now this man had four virgin daughters who were prophetesses. So he has four unmarried daughters who are prophetesses.

What's a prophet? Prophet is one who has their spending time with the Lord. Get a word for somebody and share it. It's a word for encouragement. It's a word for exhortation. It's a word for comfort. Prophetic and prophecy do not mean you have to accept everything that somebody says. But it's kind of like you, if you're counseling somebody or talking to somebody and some words come out of your mouth and you think, wow, that was really good. They need to listen to that. That's the Lord. That's prophecy. That's encouraging, that's building. I wouldn't have thought of that. That's what he's where. And what he's trying to make the point of is not that these women were pastors 'cause that would go against everything that Paul's also taught in 1 Timothy 2 and in 1 Corinthians where women are not the teacher, have authority over a man. They're not to be the public teachers in the church. But as gifted women of God, they get word of the Lord and they're sharing it with other people and that's what they're doing. So the case that he's trying to make as Luke is writing this is he's going into a very spiritual family.

It's not just that Philip knows the Lord and his wife may know the Lord who we don't hear about, but his daughters all know the Lord and they're walking in the fullness of the Lord. So these are people that he knows well. - And notice what he says, as we were staying there for some days, so they've been staying in Philip's house, so they've been eating meals together and doing stuff, a prophet named Agabus came down from Jerusalem and coming to us, he took Paul's belt, bound his own feet and hands and says and said, this is what the Holy Spirit says. In this way, the Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles. When we heard this, we as well as the local residents begin begging him not to go to Jerusalem. So what happens? So a prophet comes into the house, his name's Agabus. Agabus takes Paul's belt from around his waist. Somehow, he's either kneeling or sitting or something. He binds his own hands and his own feet and he says, this is what the Holy Spirit is saying. I spend time with God and here's what's gonna happen. If you go to Jerusalem, you will be bound just like this and be handed over to the Gentiles. And when everybody in the room heard, they're like, this is the spirit that resonates with what I'm hearing. Don't go, we're begging you, don't go. Now what should Paul do?

Shouldn't Paul say, I know you're all full of the spirit and everybody I talk to is hearing the exact same thing. I guess I won't go. Even though I heard God tell me I need to go, I won't go. That's not what he says. Do you know what he's gonna say? It's powerful. Verse 13, Paul answered, what are you doing? Weeping and breaking my heart. For I am ready not only to be bound, but even to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus. What are you doing? Why are you breaking my heart? And here's what you're gonna hear now. I'm hearing the same thing you are. There's one spirit. He's telling me if I go, I may be bound. He's telling me if I go, I may die. I'm hearing the same thing you are, but here's the difference. He's told me to go anyway. You're hearing what the Lord's doing and you're trying to preserve me from what God has. Friends, self-preservation is not a quality that's highlighted in the New Testament, giving of your life to Christ is. Right? Judas went and hung himself, and for the eleven left, ten of those were martyred, according to church history. And one was banished on an island. I'm sure if the parents and people that knew those apostles would be like, "I don't need to do that." You know, you still love Jesus and be in the church. Why are you giving your life, right? And here's what you'll find.

Sometimes it's the people closest to you, even people that are hearing the Lord, that are hearing the same thing as you want to protect you from the very same God is calling you to. Does that make sense? Now, keep in mind, it's not like Paul's not listening to them. Here's what I would say. If you're hearing God say something and there's no other Christian brothers and sisters that know you that are hearing anything remotely and they're saying just the opposite, you probably want to pay attention to that. Paul's not hearing them say the opposite. They're saying the same thing God's saying to him, but they're understanding of it's different. They're saying, "If you go, it's going to be trouble." And Paul's like, "That's why I'm going because I'm going there to bear witness to him. Why are you breaking my heart? Why are you hurting me? I told you all along. It wasn't about me. It wasn't about my life to live as Christ to die as gain. These light and momentary afflictions are nothing compared to the glory that is to be gained. Like, why would you keep me from doing what I'm called to do?" That's what he was saying. And here's the truth. Courageous obedience stays the course when loved ones pull you back. I've seen it when people get called to do something in ministry and good Christian parents that raise their kids in the church like, "Well, you don't want to go there." That's dangerous or you won't make any money or how are you going to do that or how are you going to live or all these different things? But you stay the course even when loved ones pull you back. My wife never ever pulled me back. My wife for all of our marriage has always been supportive of anything that Lord has shown us to do. But when we moved out here to Denver and we were going to come, she had serious questions and we were good ones. Like, what are we doing? And where are we going to find people and how are we going to market and is there any money in this? Or where do we get that and is there a building that we meet at and who's going to do the website? And I gave her the same answer every time. I don't know. But I know we got to go. And so then she began processing because she's a wife and she's a nester and she cares about our kids and she cares about me. And I remember one time we were having a discussion and she said, okay, so we're going to put our house in the market. We're going to take like a bed or a couch with us. We're going to be in an apartment. We're going to go try this thing for a while. And if it doesn't work, we'll just move back home. And I thought, no, we're going. So I called the moving company and I said, can you come pack us? And they said, we only have a time two days from now. I said, come, pack everything. We didn't even have a time to purge. And so I told my wife, hey, by the way, they're going to come pack everything in our house in two days.

So be ready. And we've moved everything out. And when everything got moved out, it was symbolic of we're never coming back. If this thing doesn't work out, it doesn't matter. But we've got to be obedient to this thing. We've got to go, right? And sometimes God calms us to things like that. Sometimes it's in your job. Sometimes it's in your school. Sometimes it's in your marriage where God's calling you to be the man or woman God wants you to be. But you know, by doing it, it's going to bring some suffering. Amen? Think about Jesus in Matthew chapter 10, verses 37 to 39. He told us about this. He told us it's not about community. He told us it's not about family. He said, he who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. And he who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he who does not take his own cross and follow after me is not worthy of me. He who has found his life will lose it. And he who has lost his life for my sake will find it. What's Jesus's call? Hey, come die for me. Come die with me. Die to yourself. Let Christ live in you through the Holy Spirit and then let me guide your path every day for the rest of your life. And so you stay the course even when loved ones pull you away. I mean, think about the story of Abraham and Isaac. I mean, what would have been going through Abraham's head when he's coming up the pathway, he's going to sacrifice his son. And Isaac's like, Dad, where's the sacrifice? And he's like, the Lord will provide knowing full well, you're the sacrifice. And he's carrying wood on his back. He's like, I'll explain this to my wife tonight. I mean, this is going to be a difficult day. And yet, what's he doing all the way through? I'm going to listen to the Lord all the way through. I'm never going to stop listening to the Lord and praise God. He doesn't because when he's rather split his son's neck, he hears, stop. Now I know that you'll be willing to do everything I want you to do. Now I know you're faithful. Why do God do it? Because he wanted Abraham to know that Abraham was willing to do what God wanted him to do. And oftentimes God calls us. So don't turn off your ears. Well, God's calling me to do this. Keep your ears on. Keep reading the word. Keep studying what God has. What's your next step? Keep going after him, but stay the course even when loved ones pull you back. Amen. Number two is this courageous obedience flexes personal freedom without surrendering truth. It flexes personal freedom without surrendering truth. and since he would not be persuaded, we felt silent remarking, "Hey, the Lord's will be done." Paul, if you've heard the Lord, like we've heard the Lord,

and your outcome is you gotta go. Our outcome is we wish you to stay 'cause we know it's gonna be hard for you. But if you're gonna go, the Lord's will be done. We trust it. We're all hearing the same thing. We just wish you'd stay. And it says, "After these days, we got ready "and started on our way to Jerusalem. "Some of the disciples from Caesarea also came with us, "taking Nansen of Cyrus, a disciple of longstanding, "with whom we were to lodge. "After we arrived in Jerusalem, "the brethren received us gladly. "And the following day went in with us to James, "and all the elders were present." That's likely James, the half brother of Jesus, who's running the Jerusalem church. So now they're all gathered with the elders in them. And after he had greeted them, he began to relate one by one, the things which God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry. So when Paul gets to Jerusalem, he meets with the leaders in the church, he meets with all the elders, and he begins telling them one by one. Here's what happened in this city. Here's what happened in this city. Here's the name of this guy. Here's what happened in this person.

Here's the demon that was cleansed out of him. Here's the churches that were strengthened. And here's one by one, by one, by one, by one, telling them all the stories. Here's where I was shipwrecked. Here's where I almost lost my life. Here's where I was stoned to death. All those different things, one by one, just telling them all this to let them know that the Gentiles are receiving faith in Jesus. That God is alive, and he's doing everything he said he was gonna do. And when they heard it, they began glorifying God, and they said to him, "You see, brother, how many thousands there are "of the Jews of those who have believed, "and they are zealous for the law, "and they have been told about you, "that you are teaching all the Jews "who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, "telling them not to circumcise their children, "nor walk into the ways according to their customs." So here's what's going on. He's like, you know a lot of Jews have said that Jesus is the true Messiah. But many of them are hearing what you're saying to the Gentiles, and their understanding of it is that you're saying forsake Moses, forsake the law, and they're upset about it. Paul never said to forsake Moses.

Paul never said to forsake the law. Even through the book of Romans, he talks about how the law is good, if the law does what the law is supposed to do. The law highlights the holiness of God. The law shows me my sin. The law points me to Christ. That's what Paul's point is, it's great. What he does say is that Christ is the fulfillment of the law. That if you've been born again, Jesus Christ lives on the inside. The fulfillment of the law through the Holy Spirit is in you, not so you can go break the law, but so that Christ can live out his laws in and through you. And so it's not about the covenantal, our ceremonial system that was set up. It's about what that foreshadowed. It's about Christ in you, the hope of glory. But there were a lot of Jews who had come to Christ, who were mad. There were a lot of them that were saying he's against us, because when they came to Christ as Jewish, they believed Jesus is Lord and they stay Jewish. And so now they're hearing like, oh, I don't really have to be Jewish. Did you do all that? No, you don't. You need to trust Jesus and that's it. And they were upset about this. And the elders knew when they find out you're here, it's not gonna go well.

And so they came up with this plan that's gonna massively backfire. They asked in verse 22, what then is to be done? They will certainly hear that you have come, therefore do this that we tell you. We have four men who are under a vow, take them and purify yourself along with them and pay their expenses so that they may shave their heads and all will know that there is nothing to the things which have been told about you, but that you yourself will also walk orderly, keeping the law. Here's what he says. He says, James says this, the elders say this, hey, listen, there's four guys doing a Jewish purification which will most likely a Nazarite vow where you don't shave your head, you don't have fermented beverage, you don't go near a dead body. If you'll do that, Paul, they'll see how serious you are about Judaism. They'll see you're not against Judaism. That will be good. Now, there's a lot of theological debate of, did Paul bend, was Paul trying to caveat and do all these things? That's difficult for me to believe considering he's willing to go die for his faith, that he would do that. What I see here is that he's obedient

to the leadership in the church. Like, if you think that's what I need to do because God's given you that authority, I'll do what you do for unity in the body. I'm willing to do that. And so that's what he's gonna do. And then they tell him concerning the Gentiles, verse 25, who have believed, we wrote having decided that they should abstain from meat, sacrifice to idols and from blood and from what has strangled and from fornication. We've talked about all that. They made it really, really, really easy for Gentiles to believe and then keep unity between Jews and Gentiles. That was the only thing that they had them do. That was the purpose. And so now he's telling him, hey, take this vow, that way the Jews will see that you're still Jewish and it won't cause an uproar. Then Paul took the men and the next day, purifying himself. giving notice of the completion of the days, a purification until the sacrifice was offered for each one of them. So Paul does this, it's gonna backfire huge. Now, if you're sitting here in the 21st century, you're asking, what's the big deal? This whole Jewish Gentile thing, what's it like? Well, here's what I would say. There's a lot of methods that we keep our hands on,

a lot of traditions that we like to think, that we have conviction about, that we have freedom in, that we think everybody else needs to think just like us. Did you know that? I mean, we have a ton of them. I just came up with a few so we could have fun in church this morning. I mean, here's the principle, holding truth tightly while holding preferences loosely is really, really important 'cause there's modern equivalence and secondary cultural expressions that churches sometimes tend to make absolute and they're not absolute. Now, these things I'm gonna mention, I promise you, you have convictions on them 'cause I have convictions on each one of them. But they're all secondary things and good Christians can think differently about all these things. And if they don't think like me, they're wrong, but they can still do that. God gives them liberty to do that. So what about worship style? How should we worship? Should we worship with hymns? Should we worship with an organ? Should we worship with piano? Should we have a band and play more contemporary music? Should we sing more contemporary songs? Should we do choruses?

Should we have a choir? Should choirs wear robes? Should we just have no music at all because it distracts from the Lord? Should we have music but make it all a cappella because musicianship stresses out, you know, it distracts from the Lord? Should we put the worship team up in the balcony so nobody sees them looking forward when we, I mean, what's the right way to do it? They all can be the right ways to do it. What about dress expectations? Suits honor the Lord. And some brother in first service say amen, he wouldn't even wear in a suit. (congregation laughing) And others would say no, jeans are authentic, just come as you are. I mean, you can come any way you want to brave church. You can come wearing a suit. Sometimes I'll wear one, you can come wearing jeans, you can do whatever you want. But different people have different understands. What about service lengths and format and what happens in the church? Should a church service always be under an hour? Not a brave, right? What about communion? What's the message? Are we gonna take it weekly?

Are we gonna take it monthly? Are we gonna use stations around the church? Are we gonna have individualized cups? Is the pastor gonna have one cup and everybody comes through and dips their bread in it? What's the bread gonna be made of? Is it a wafer? All sorts of different understandings. What Bible translation should we use? I mean, Jesus clearly used the NASB 95. (congregation laughing) But not everybody believes that. Some are KJV only, some like the NIV, some like different versions 'cause they understand it better. Like what's the right one? What about church aesthetics? What should it look like? Should it be stained glass windows? Should it be high church? Should we have pews? Should we have chairs? Should it be as uncomfortable as the ones here in Inglewood? (congregation laughing) What about men wearing hats in church? Can they wear hats? Can they not wear hats? Hey, how about tattoos? That's the big one. Or visible body art? Is that rebellion or is that showing Christian liberty?

I mean, I don't know. What about alcohol liberty? Bible says do not get drunk. There's some Christians that say that means you should never ever drink. If you're gonna be a witness, there's others. They could say I could have a glass of wine with my dinner. What's right? We could divide the church over that today. What about schooling, Christian school, homeschool, public school, private school? Where are you gonna go? What about holiday observance? What do we do on Christmas? What do we do on Easter? And here's one that makes every Christian upset. What about Halloween? Where do you land on that? Or political culture? What should be shared from the pulpit? What's our cultural expression? How much should be shared? What shouldn't be shared? Why should we share it? What about ministry methods? Should we do small groups? Or should we do adult Bible fellowships? Should we do Sunday school? Should we do it in the church? Or should we do it in homes?

How do we make disciples? What about technology? Do you have to have a Bible like this? Or can you use an app? Some people get very, very upset if you don't have the right kind of technology. What about missions methodology? Are they short-term mission trips? Or do we plant churches? Or do we work with pastors? Like what's all that? I mean, if we go through this, I promise you. We can divide our church in 15 different areas very, very quickly today. See, the question is not what's right. 'Cause a lot of people want to ask the pastor, what do you think? And the reason they're asking is, I want to know that you agree with me. And if you agree with me on all 15 things, we might stay it brave. Or they're asking because they don't want to ask God what He wants. 'Cause see, here's the question. It doesn't matter what I think about the liberties that you have or don't have. Here's the question, will you ask the Lord what's best for me and what best benefits my brothers and sisters in Christ? I'll do whatever that looks like.

If you'll do that, this stuff works out pretty quickly. And you can hold on to the doctrines of the faith, like Jesus and Him crucified in His resurrection and the inner and see the Word and all that. But some of these other things, they can change. I know for those things for me, all of them have changed over time. They'll probably still continue to change and that's okay. Amen? But you flex personal freedom. That's why Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9, "To the Jews, I became a Jew." I mean, I've become like all men in order that I might save some. I'll do whatever it takes to get the gospel out, amen? So be willing in your courageous obedience to flex your own personal freedom without surrendering the truth. Let me give you a third. Courageous obedience perseveres under false accusation. It perseveres under false accusation. Notice what happens in verse 26. "Paul took the men and the next day purifying himself along with them, went to the temple, giving notice of the completion of the days of purification until the sacrifice was offered for each one of them." So he did it, notice this. "When the seven days were almost over, the Jews from Asia, upon seeing him in the temple, began to stir up the crowd and laid hands on him.

Crying out, men of Israel come to our aid, this man who preaches to all men everywhere against our people and the law and this place. And besides, he has even brought Greeks into the temple and has destroyed this holy place. For they had previously seen trophamists, the Ephesians in the city with them, and they supposed or they assumed that Paul had brought him into the temple. There's no evidence Paul brought him into the temple. He wouldn't have done that. But what are they doing? They're stirring up a riot. They're saying things about Paul that aren't true. They're getting people that don't know the truth about Paul to get all worked up on the inside, to get all the crowds upset because they don't want Paul to keep doing what he's doing. So he's being falsely accused. What are you doing? You're falsely accused. You persevere under the false accusation. I mean, the Bible is replete with people who have been falsely accused. Think about Stephen in Acts chapter 6 and Acts chapter 7. False witnesses accused him of attacking Moses in the temple. And here's really the interesting point of that, he was martyred and put to death while Paul was standing there watching him as he was falsely accused. Now Paul's on the other side.

Or Daniel whose enemies could find no legitimate fault so they manufactured accusation against him. Or what about Joseph? Joseph's one of the few men in the Bible that honor the Lord morally, that when Potiphar's wife is gonna come after him, he flees sexual immorality like Paul tells us to do. I mean, he's running out of the room. How does he leave his cloak 'cause she's stripping him? She's wanting him. She takes his cloak and all that's left is his cloak because he's so moral to Jesus that he's going on his way. And what does she tell her husband? Look at Joseph tried to seduce me. He came into my place. I even have his coat here, he left it. And he went to prison for a period of years because of that. Or what about our own Lord and savior? Jesus Christ was put to death based on false claims and false charges. And so the question is not, will you be falsely accused? If you show courageous obedience, you will. And it's not just people 'cause your battle's not just against flesh and blood. The enemy always goes after those that are living courageously for Jesus. If you do, you will be falsely accused. So when you are, what do you do? Well, we do what Jesus does. We do what Jesus did.

In first Peter chapter two, verse 21, for you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example to follow in his steps. So Christ suffered as an example. So when you suffer, you'll know what to do. Who committed no sin nor was any deceit in his mouth. Jesus is the only human being 'cause he's fully God, fully man, truly God, truly man, all at the same time who never sinned. And even though he'd never sinned, he was still falsely accused and what did he do? And while being reviled, which means to be verbally abused or accosted, he did not revile in return. While suffering, he uttered no threats, but entrusted himself to him who judges righteously. What did he do? When people were cussing him, when people were reviling him, he wasn't coming back at him. Like, you don't know who you're missing with, right? When he was being put on the cross, being yelled at, you call yourself the son of God, you think you're gonna save the world, you can't even save yourself. He wasn't like, you just wait. No, he entrusted himself to his father who judges righteously. What do you do when people say mean things about you? What do you do when people accuse you?

You entrust yourself to the Lord, and you don't revile back, and you don't seek revenge, and you don't go get them. You say, Lord, I see that you see what I'm seeing, and it's really, really painful and it hurts, but I'm trusting myself to you. Or how about this one? Matthew chapter five, verse 11, when Jesus was teaching the sermon on the Mount, he said, blessed are you when? In other words, happy are you. You should be thrilled to death when this happens. Blessed are you when people insult you, Not when you do something silly or sinful or wrong, but when you do something and you're following the Lord and people are still coming after you and insulting you and persecuting you to do this, he says, "Rejoice and be glad for your reward in heaven is great, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you." Hey, you're living for Jesus that work and people are coming after you and they're staying all sorts of lies about you and they don't like you being there. Rejoice and be glad for your reward in heaven is great. You're in a school where not everybody believes in Jesus and even if you go to a Christian school, not everybody your Christian school believes in Jesus and you're there and you're living for Jesus and some people are falsely accusing you. Rejoice and be glad your reward in heaven is great. In the same way they treated Jesus, in the same way they treated the prophets, guess what? You're getting to experience a little bit about how Jesus was treated and how they were treated to. You get to share in the fellowship of the sufferings of Christ or how about John 15 verse 20 where Jesus said, "Remember the word I said to you, a slave is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you." Where do we think we get out of this thing? We've relegated Christianity to be something other than what the Bible teaches. We think Christianity is a safe self-preservation, stay in community, love each other, make it perfect. God's got a favor. He's got to give us a lot of money. He's got to give us a lot of health. It's all about me, me, me. There's nowhere in the New

Testament. The New Testament as you've been called to come and follow him and listen to him and do what he tells you at any given moment and continue taking step of faith after step of faith after step of faith. If you do, it won't be easy. If you do, suffering is going to be a part of it. If you do, people will falsely accuse you and when they do, rejoice and be glad for your reward in heaven is great. Amen? That's what he's telling us. And here's the truth. I know this is a difficult message, but it should bring a lot of comfort to those who are walking with Jesus. Because we get this false idea that, "Well, if I serve in the church, everybody's going to pat me on the back and tell me I'm awesome." Well, if I live out my faith in the world, people are going to say, "What a great Christian guy or gal they are." Well, if I do what God wants me to do, I'm going to have favor on my life. Yeah, you do have favor on your life, but not everybody likes your divine favor. Darkness hates the light. So what do you do? You keep shining the light. You keep shining your good works, even when other people don't like it. And if you suffer, rejoice and be glad for your reward in heaven is great. You always persevere under false accusation. You say, "Well, Stephen died." Yeah. And he went to heaven that very moment. Paul died and he went to heaven the very moment that he did. Jesus died. He had told the thief today, "I truly tell you, today you'll be with me in paradise." I mean, why are you... I mean, Christian, you shouldn't be afraid to die. Like, that's like the goal of your faith. Now, how you die? I get it. We were a little scared of that. I mean, I always picture like maybe on a Sunday afternoon, 40 years from now, watching a Broncos game and just go to be with the Lord. I mean, that would be awesome. You know, I mean, if I could pick out... But death itself for the believer is the most glorious part of your life. It's the goal of our faith. It's to meet the one who's going to make us fully alive and remove the presence of sin forever and ever. Amen. And it's not a morbid thought. Like, I want to get out of here. It's a Christ-centered thought of, "I want to live for him as long as I can, but when I go, that's the goal I get to have." Amen. So persevere under false accusation. And then let me give you a final one. Graduous obedience sees God's providence in the midst of chaos. Graduous obedience sees God's promise and providence in the midst of chaos. So after they falsely accused him, this is where we're picking up, verse 30, "Then all the city was provoked and the people rushed together and taking hold of Paul," now watch this language. "They dragged him out of the temple and immediately the doors were

shut. When they were seeking to kill him," notice that, "a report came up to the commander of the Roman cohort that all Jerusalem was in confusion. And he took along some soldiers and centurions and ran down to them. And when they saw the commander and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul." Now, did you hear all that? Sometimes we try to make Christianity so safe and so tame. And I do realize for younger kids, we have to share some things that aren't as graphic. I totally get that. But sometimes we take the truth of this and turn it into like a flannel graph or a board that's like, "Paul got taken out of the temple and he was walked down the street and it wasn't going well, but a Roman soldier came along and helped him." That's not what happened. He got dragged from the temple. What's he doing in the temple? He's honoring the Lord. And what happens? They come in and drag what do they want to do when they got him out of the temple? They slammed the door shut and tried to do what? Kill him. They're trying to kill him. And because they're such a riot, the Roman guard gets noticed and comes in and it's when they saw the Roman centurion and the soldiers, they stopped doing what? Beating him from the time they got him out of the temple and shut the door as they were beating the tar out of him. He would have died if the Roman centurion and soldiers had not shown up. I mean, this isn't like a scene where, you know, it's been a tough day for Paul. This is a horrible day for Paul. Paul's going to die in minutes if that Roman centurion doesn't show up. So just think about what your attitude would be if they came and kind of broke up that scenario because this is where our story continues. Notice this, then the commander came up and took hold of him and ordered him to be bound with two chains, prophecies coming true. Didn't Agabus tell him if he went to Jerusalem, he would be bound in chains? Guess what's happening to him? Exactly what the spirit of God said was going to happen to him. So he's bound in chains, two chains and they begin asking who he was and what he had done. So they're asking the crowd, like, who is this guy? What's he done? We just know we got to get him out of here. He's a troublemaker. But among the crowds, some were shouting one thing and some another. And when they cannot find out the facts because of the uproar, he ordered him to be brought into the barracks. So he's like, who is this guy? What's going on? One crowd shouting this, one crowd shouting that we don't know what they're shouting, but nobody can agree. He's like, just get him into the barracks. Let's keep this guy safe until we can figure out what the heck's going on here. And so now Paul is being guarded by tons of

soldiers in chains, getting ready to go into the barracks so that he can be safe. He's going to prison again, which is not anything abnormal for him. That's where he went every time he got into a town. But notice what happens next. But when he got to the stairs, he was carried by the soldiers because of the violence of the mob for the multitude of the people kept following them, shouting away with them. So even as he's being carted away to safety, everybody's shouting away with him, like, kill him. We hate this guy. Now, if that was going on in your life, what would you be thinking if you're getting into the safe barracks? Finally, safe. I'm calling my attorney. I'm a Roman citizen. We're going to put an end of this. I know the people that beat me. I have my rights. I mean, is that what we would do? Not Paul. Notice what he does. He sees God's providence in the midst of chaos. And as Paul was about to be brought into the barracks, he said to the commander, may I say something to you? And he said, do you know Greek? Paul speaks to him in Koine Greek, says, do you know, may I say something to you? He's like, wait, wait, you know Greek? He goes, then you're not the Egyptian who some time ago stirred up a revolt and led the four thousand men of the assassins out into the wilderness. So you're not that bad guy that did all those things? Like, you speak Greek. You're not that guy. You're not the Egyptian guy. But Paul said, I'm a Jew of Tarsus in Solisia, a citizen of no insignificant city and I beg you, allow me to speak to the people. What is Paul thinking? What a great opportunity for missions. God's going to use my persecution and pain as my pulpit. Hey, can I just ask you something? Can I say something to everybody? Because I got a word from the Lord on high that I need to get out because even though they beat me and even though they've been mean to me and even though they've treated me falsely, I want to make sure they know the love of Christ. I want to make sure that the very people that beat me don't end up in hell because they know that there's a God that loved them so much. He sent his son to die on the cross for them and I want them to know the love of that Christ because that's the love of Christ that saved me. Do you see him? He's not losing his focus. He's not thinking about himself. He even told the people, why are you weeping for me? I'm going there to die. That's what I'm doing. That's my ministry, right? So now he's in the middle of his ministry. This situation that to the world, to all of us that are reading it, like this is terrible. But he realizes his story is his sermon. Amen? And so he asked to talk

to the people in those first 40 when he had given him permission. So the centurion gave permission. Paul standing in the stairs motioned to the people with his hand and when there was a great hush. Now this crowd's been in chaos. Now all of a sudden there's a great hush. He spoke to them in the Hebrew dialect saying, so now he's going to talk to all of his countrymen in Hebrew, right? Powerful story. God always uses your pain and your persecution to give you a platform. That's your pulpit. You don't need one of these to tell your story. Amen. God's providence unfolding to preserve God's people. Who would have known? We've talked about Corrie Tenboom before. Being held in concentration camps, one with fleas where her sister was begging her, you know, let's thank God for the fleas. God tells us to thank him for everything. She's like, "I can't thank God for the fleas," but she started thanking God for the fleas and only found out years later that it was because of the fleas that the guards refused to come in and hurt them because they didn't want to get fleas, so it allowed them to have Bible study. Thank God for the fleas. Paul and Silas in prison, they had a platform when God opened the doors. I mean, everything that God designs in your life, even and especially the uncomfortable, most painful situations are what God can use to redirect your life and give you a story. Romans 828 says, "And we know that God causes all things to work together for good for those who love God and who are called according to His purpose." Here's what it means. If you're a born-again believer, He loves you. And if you know that He loves you, then everything that's going on in your life is not happening to you. It's happening for you. And if you understand it's happening for you, then even if it's confusing and uncertain and you don't understand it, you can begin to pray like, "Lord, I know this is for my

good. It doesn't feel good. It's not comfortable. I'm suffering. What do you want me to learn? And how do you want me to respond? And what do I need to do next? How do I continue taking a step of faith when this is not very fun for me? Right? That's what it means. And God promises when you get to heaven, there's never going to be a person in heaven saying, "You owe me an explanation because you're going to see it and you're going to be like, "Ah, that's why. Thank you, God." Right? I mean, if Paul hadn't have gone through this, we wouldn't be sitting here celebrating Christ today. The apostles hadn't given their lives. We wouldn't be sitting here today if so many men and women throughout church history hadn't given their lives. We wouldn't be here today. Or you called to give your life. I mean, I think about Joseph, we've talked about him a little bit already, faithful man of God, he was sold into slavery by his brothers. I mean, he ended up going to a different nation. He ended up in jail. He ended up all these different things until he became second in command because of God's favor. And when his brothers come to see him and they recognize him, they feel horrible for what they'd done to him.

And he says this to him, Joseph says, "In Genesis 50-20, as for you, you meant even evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result to preserve many people alive. You intended to hurt me? God's plan all along was to use me to save the nation of Israel." So I forgive you. Even the bad things that happen in your life, and especially the bad things that happen in your life are all part of God's curriculum to grow what he wants to grow in you. And it's through trials that he gets you there. Blessings don't get you to the same place that trials get you. I mean, if I ask everybody, hey, who in the last three or five months has experienced some level of suffering, right? Every hand would go up, right? Why? Because if you're walking with Christ, that's normal. And that's why you yearn for his kingdom to come and for his will to be done. But when you live for him, you know the end is better than the beginning. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who remained faithful to Christ during the Nazi regime in Germany who was hung just weeks before the war ended. When he was being hung, these are the last words that he ever said. He said, "This is the end. For me, the beginning of life." Or Jim Elliot, one of my favorite missionaries I've read about, had everything going for him, wanted to do whatever the Lord wanted, left an athletic career, left a business career to go down to the Aukkah Indians, the head hunters, to tell them about the love of Jesus. And on the first day of the mission field that he got on after dropping gifts for about a period of months, he was spirited to death within minutes by these people. Later his wife got to go meet them. Later hundreds of that tribe came to know Christ.

But there were a lot of people that said, "You're a fool. Why would you give up so much?" And here's what he said before he went. He said, "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he can never lose." Friends, you are God's plan A for sharing the gospel with the world. Suffering is a part of what that gospel looks like. Suffering is what grows relationships deeply. The more you suffer, the more you understand what it looks like to be like Christ. And the more you'll yearn for his love in the heart of other people. When you suffer, it's not time to play the victim. When you suffer, it's not time to get revenge. When you suffer, it's not time to ask why me, why not them. When you suffer, it's God's blessing in your life because he's entrusting you with something great if you'll press into it. Don't be surprised at the fiery trial that you endure as though something strange were happening to you. God wants you to use your experience as his curriculum for what he's building so you can continue to walk with him. So today the way we're gonna end our services by taking communion together on our campuses. So I encourage you to get these elements and hold them in your hands as a song is being sung over you. Then we'll come take these elements together as a family after this song. But I want you to remember this. This is the gospel. The gospel is not about you becoming better. It's not about you becoming religious.

It's not about you doing all these different things. It's about the understanding that God the Father sent his son to be the savior of the world, that Jesus died on the cross for your sin, that there's no way for you to enter into heaven apart from him, that you deserve God's wrath, but that God sent his son so that you could be spared. And if you'll turn from your sin and trust Jesus, you can have life in his name. And if you have life in his name, this supper is a reminder of all that Christ has done for you. So as you hear this song sung over you today, you can prepare your hearts any way you want by standing, sitting, kneeling. And let's just prepare our hearts being reminded of all that Christ has done for us. Let me pray for you, Father in heaven, we give you glory, honor, and praise for your word. We thank you for who you are. And Lord, as we celebrate this meal collectively as a family, Lord, remind us of the depths of our sin and all that you've forgiven. And we give you all the glory, honor, and praise in Jesus' name, amen. (soft music) [MUSIC PLAYING]