Would You Drink the Cup

we take things nice and slowly as we look and see what God is doing in the big picture of expanding the gospel from Jerusalem to Judea and to Samaria and to the ends of the earth. My name is David Humphrey and I'm the pastoral care and missions pastor here at United City Church in Umber, Texas. We're excited to be your church family while you're incarcerated, but we're going to be even more excited when you get out and you can come and be a part of our church in person. We love you very much. Please grab your Bible and a journal, perhaps a pen, and be ready to take some notes, and let's learn together through the book of Acts. Amen. All right, for those of you that are going to be watching this soon, welcome to verse by verse. Everybody in the room say hello. Yeah, I wish you could see everybody because there's a bunch of them tonight. Literally. We got a packed room. It's good to see. Very few empty chairs and we'll make room for more if we need to. Okay, so that's a working recording in progress. That's a good thing. We're having a little bit of technical something, but we're going to be tonight in Acts chapter 11. We're going to start in verse 27, but before I do, as always, especially when we maybe haven't been together in a couple weeks, I want to be sure we catch up with where we are. Obviously, we talked two weeks ago about how the church of Jesus Christ has been scattered across the Mediterranean. They're saying it's related to persecution. That's the specific way that God is getting them to move, but God just has a way of just getting people to move one way or the other. And so what we noticed in the story last time was that the people in these different regions, it's not the gospel. It's not only moving from Jerusalem to other regions. It is now moving from other regions back to Jerusalem. It's kind of ping ponging all around the Mediterranean. So now it's starting to get on the island of Cyprus and we're getting up to places like Antioch, which is in modern-day Turkey, which we're going to be there tonight a little bit in the story. So we also, two weeks ago, looked at the Jesus followers got a new name. Remember what it was? Christians, right? We saw the birth of that name Christian and what a, you know, that we can sort of take advantage or maybe really not think about how special that is, guys, to be called a Christian. What an honor, right? Don't you want to be called? Like, she's just like Jesus. Like she reminds me of Jesus or he reminds me of Jesus, because we are, we're Christians. So we don't need to take that as well. I just can't, you know, I'm a Christian. I'm a, no, we're Christians. We are, we are belonging to Christ. So that's a beautiful thing. So tonight, we're going to just start in verse 27 and we're just going to walk through these last four verses of chapter 11, because as you can imagine, there's a lot here. And then we'll see if we can actually get into chapter 12 tonight. I think we will. So it says, now in these days, prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. One of them named Agabus stood up and foretold by the spirit that there would be a great famine over all the world. This took place in the days of Claudius. So the disciples determined everyone according to his ability to send relief to the brothers living in Judea. And they did so, sending it to the elders by the hand of Barnabas and Saul. So if you've read the book of Acts, this is easy to just kind of, all right, it's just kind of some information, but there's a lot happening here and I don't want us to miss the beauty of this, especially because spoiler alert, if you haven't read ahead to chapter 12, this is really beautiful. It's about to get really ugly fast. Okay. I mean, like it's just getting, getting tough. So let's just pause in this beautiful moment and take it first by verse as we do. So verse 27 says, in these days, so at the same days that they're getting the new name Christians and all this, it says the prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. Now, we've talked about what is it, what is the role of a prophet? And this is the same word that's used for like prophets like Isaiah and Jeremiah and things like that. But the gift of prophecy, okay, really, it kind of goes in two directions. Can anybody remember what one of the things is that a prophet does? Don't overthink this, okay? Yeah, for the future. Yeah, sometimes prophets literally do speak about something that's going to happen in the future. So sometimes it is future telling, but it's not always future telling. Sometimes it's just what? Yeah, it's just like forth telling, right? So it's speaking for God, okay? So these are still men who are coming down from Jerusalem to Antioch. Now, I don't know if you've ever thought about this, but Jerusalem is not north of Antioch. So That's not just a slip of words.

Whenever you speak of coming from Jerusalem, almost always in the scripture, Greg knows, right? It's coming down. Why is that? It's elevation, right? Jerusalem is an elevated area, right? So Jerusalem is kind of set on a mountainous area. And so it's like coming down like the city of God, we could more we could take this down a long rabbit trail. That would be a lot of fun because there's so many places in the scripture where the mountain is a place where people meet with God. So Jerusalem is on an elevated. Some of you guys have been there. So you know that I've not, I've not been there, but I'll be there one day. Probably going to wait till it's free. (audience laughs) Meet you in the new Jerusalem, how about that? So, but you come down from Jerusalem, but we talked two weeks ago about Antioch is actually to the north, okay? So you came down from Jerusalem and headed north to Antioch and Antioch was the spot where there were a lot of Hellenists. We just read two weeks ago versus 20 and 21 that there had been this huge outpouring, right? And a lot of Hellenists were giving their lives to Christ, okay? Those were some believers who had Greek backgrounds. That is actually that location.

Now Antioch is modern day like the southern tip of Turkey. And you can go to Antioch today. You can see some ruins of a lot of things. And there are still some believers there, not a lot. As you know, what do you know about the current religious climate in Turkey? Yeah, it's primarily a Muslim area. And you can look, we talked about this a few weeks ago, right? You can look all across the Middle East and a lot of the places where the church first took hold are currently, we could say overrun by Muslims. So it's just part of the way things have landed and where we are at this stage in the game. But that's not where they were at the time. So what you've got is you've got Antioch, where there were a lot of these Hellenists believers. It was one of the cities where Paul would later establish as one of his missionary bases. So Antioch is a very important city. This is not gonna be the last time you hear about Antioch. If you have the Bible with maps in the back and you probably do, just check out your maps. We're not gonna pull out the maps or anything in here tonight, but check it out and just follow the geography. And you can watch some of this. So then it says in verse 28, then one of them, one of whom? One of the prophets who came down from Jerusalem to go up to Antioch, you might say. It was named Agabus.

And Agabus stood up or told by the spirit that there would be a great famine over all the world took place in the days of Claudius. So let's talk about that for just a minute. So Agabus shows up, this is not the only time you'll see him in the book of Acts, although it's gonna be probably next year before we get there. And literally it's toward the very end. I think it's chapter 23 or somewhere way down the road that Agabus is gonna prop back up. And we can't be positive it's the same one, but there's no reason to think it was a different one. It all fits within the timelines. So Agabus is a prophet of God and it says that he spoke, but how did he speak? By the spirit, right? So what that tells us without any doubt, he of course has had the indwelling of the Holy Spirit now. And he is speaking for God and he is speaking up and he had the gift through the Holy Spirit to foretell something that was going to happen. And that did happen. I mean, Luke, just make sure to say, and it did. It happened and here's the time and you can look it up in the history books. So what was it that he was foretelling, or that he was foretelling? Yeah, there's gonna be a famine.

We know what a famine is. So there's gonna be a serious situation. There's gonna be enough food. This is not, we can think about times in the Old Testament, like where Joseph knew ahead of time that there was gonna be a famine and dreams and all those things. So we don't know exactly how God spoke to him that it was gonna happen, but we just know that he foretold a great famine across the world. When it says across the world, that's probably more about the known world, right? Which is the Roman world, which is all the world there was, to their minds. So across that part of the world. So at this was the time, it was both a prophecy of the future, but it was also a call to help, okay? He was saying, this is gonna happen. There's gonna need some help. And of course, the believers, the disciples, it says from spoke up and said that they were gonna do something about it. Now which disciples, verse 29, Because every time we see the disciples, we're thinking of the 12 disciples, aren't we? Yeah, if you start looking back, it only makes sense. This is the people in Antioch and the way you see it is, it says that they were sending relief to the brothers living in Judea. And Judea is the area where the Jerusalem was in. Kind of like Houston is in Harris County, right? So you might, it's not a county, but it's kind of like the the area. So when the beginning of the

book of Acts, it says in Jerusalem and in Judea, that was basically like saying, okay, Jerusalem like Houston and the surrounding county and just kind of going out from there. So Judea is not a city. Judea is a region. Okay, does that make sense? So that's how we know that it was the disciples in Antioch who are sending gifts to the disciples or who they called here the brothers living in Judea. And let's be careful and take a minute in verse 29 to see a little bit more of the description of how they were sending. We see who they sent it with and that's that's important, but we're not going to look at that first. It says that they were giving everyone how? According to his ability. Now that's a beautiful little phrase right there. Okay. Everyone according to his ability. In other words, some might have had more ability than others. I bet there were some little tiny widows might gifts that probably went in that offering basket that went. And there were probably some big gifts. The reason why I suspect there were really big gifts is because Antioch was a city with a lot of wealth. Guys, that was a prosperous area. It was a port city. So it was a place where there was a lot of commerce. There were a lot of wealthy people there. And so what we see here is people who probably had a lot more means than those in another little little town. Of course, Jerusalem is not a little town. I guess I should say. But in another city did not have what they needed, but another church is now sending to that church. Now can you think of ways that we see that specifically lived out today? Church planting. Church planting. Okay. How is that similar? This is not, they weren't planting the new church in Jerusalem, but but how is it similar? Because it is. I agree with you wholeheartedly. Because you're helping others. That's right. So our church by God's grace has means that some of these little tiny churches that are just, I mean, they're just getting started, right? I mean, they're, they're doing great to get a $200 in the offering plate on a Sunday. And that's not going to support everything that they need to move forward. So that's one of the reasons why our church invests in church planting. Pastor Chris celebrated it on Sunday morning. Okay. One of the newest church plants that we're investing in is a church called Riverside Church. And it's in Denver, Colorado, which is just growing like wildfire. I think it's the third fastest growing city in the nation right now. And it is a very secular place. There are not a lot of evangelical churches there. Yeah. Yeah. And so, so they're in need of more. And so God keeps sending more and more laborers there. Well, those laborers, just like these laborers, for different reasons need, need resources. And so we are giving according to our ability, right? Because we by God's grace manage the resources that God

gets to us. And we feel that stewardship is everything that comes in here cannot just be for here, right? We care about the little churches and the, and everybody else that needs some help. And so, we normally enter into these church planting partnerships for anywhere from three, four to five years. The reason why we don't go forever and ever with one group is because the goal is for them to become self-sustaining. And so we don't want to give in a way that would actually be hurting them. We want to give in a way that is helping them along. So that's something that we get to do as a church and it's, it's beautiful because of good stewardship we can, we can share. Now, I love this term everyone gave according to his ability because frankly, it reminds me it never matters how much you give. Yeah, it's the, it's the heart guys. A five dollar gift and a five million dollar gift can actually have to. difficult to give as somebody else who gives a $5 gift. Yeah, it's exactly, yeah, it's not about equal giving, it's about perhaps equal sacrifice, right? And so I love that we have a, yes, I've probably heard in our church, we have what's called the vision team and some of you might even be on the vision team. The vision team are people in our church who tithe, but they have elected, they would like to be a part of a ministry in our church where they can find out ways that they can give above the tithe. Because, and it doesn't matter, that might be a dollar. You don't have to be wealthy to be on the vision team, not at all. It's just, I've got this much extra resource or I've got this, it doesn't matter how much. It's, I want to be a part of something a little bit more than just the tithing. And so it's a joy to be a part of that. And that's how we're able to do amazing things and, and do things because God's people are giving according to their ability. And, and I love that. Now, does this remind you of anything else in the book of Acts that we've studied along the way? Does this, this little story of giving to someone else in need in the church, can you think of anything that they, any example they might have been following? Okay, the widows, absolutely. Yes, they gave to the widows and the widows were giving. What else? Could you, you might remember there's a passage, it's like almost, it's been so long ago, it's been a year ago. Okay, literally we've passed a year now. Okay, it's Acts chapter two. Honestly, it's one of the most well-known passages in the book of Acts because it describes the early church and the things that they did. And one of the things that they did was they, they gave to each other. Well, that early church was where? It was in Jerusalem. Well, isn't this interesting that now the church in Antioch is following the example of the church in Jerusalem and see it's

starting to go back and forth. You see, now we're starting to see the gospel moving and the, and the generosity flowing. That's because God's people, listen guys, God's people hold what we have like this. We do not hold it like this. And that's a, that's a church, that's all of us guys. That's right, it's not ours. We're just all stewards. Okay, this great big beautiful multi-million dollar building that we're, that we, that we're sitting in tonight, we are a steward of this building. We're responsible for this building. We're responsible to use it for the gospel, but not just for what's happening in United City because you know what will happen in a couple of weeks? There'll be this exact room. We'll probably have 10 or 15 church planners from the Northeast Houston region. Some of them are not even Baptist. Can you believe that? And they're going to be in here and we're going to encourage them for how we can, how can we plant churches up in, up in our region? Because guys, we got tons of people. Guys, we got thousands of people moving into our region. Do you think we have enough churches in Northeast Houston? The answer is no. We do not have enough churches to reach and to meet the needs of all of the people in these regions. Guys, up 99, y'all know how it's just, just like it's just exploding up there. Guys, there are hardly any churches up there. Out in Huffman area right now, we talked about Grace Bridge on Sunday. I mean, it's growing and all that guys. Huffman, have you ever, have I driven out to Huffman lately? Have you driven out today and lately? Guys, it is just exploding out here. Guys, we are not keeping up with the number of churches that we need to reach these people. So we got to keep our generosity flowing, right? And we got to keep encouraging. So we, anyway, all those things about stewardship and I hope that you know that whatever a gift ever, whatever gift comes from you, it's not about amounts. It is about sacrifice, right? And we want to hold things, hold things lightly. Anyone else have a comment on that before we move on to verse 30 yesterday? Just a quick question on Agabus said he spoke in the spirit. The spirit had given him that information to share. Can you read from that that he would have been a believer in Jesus or? Yes, I do believe that he was a believer in Jesus. Absolutely. Yeah. There's no reason to think otherwise. We don't have any other specific information about him, but I don't see, there's nothing that would make me question it. Yeah. Speaking to when he's listed as speaking by the spirit there in verse 27. Again, we'll see him again, but a lot of times we can see, okay, well, where are they speaking the truth? Because if they speak of prophecy,

did it actually come to be, you know? And sometimes the prophecy may be for a thousand years from now, Right? I mean, Daniel. I mean they happened hundreds and and thousands of years down the down the way So a prophet it's not always immediate, but yeah, we can see that So yeah, I just love this idea of the church in Antioch following the example of the church in Jerusalem And now that the generosity is flowing in all these different directions. So I just think that's beautiful now who was it that they sent the Sent the money by Yeah, they said they did so sending it to the elders By the hand of Barnabas and salt now when it says to the elders now most of us We are in our church. We don't have anyone in our church that it called in an office of an elder Some of you may have had been in churches where they had the office of elder, okay? So I just I don't want to hop over that different churches have different understandings of what they mean by elder But this would translate to the church leaders the designated leaders of those churches, okay? So sometimes you hear of all this is an elder led church or this is a deacon led church Our church if you would compare those two things we would be an elder led church because we are led by a staff of Men and women of God who have been given charge over this body Our deacons serve as servants in this church I've been in churches that were deacon led churches and the deacons kind of told the preacher what he ought to do and what he ought not to do and We maybe we've been in those churches right? That's not how our church runs. Our deacons literally they every one of our deacons That's got a list of widows and widowers that they're checking on and They're going into the hospitals and they're helping serve and and they'll they'll do whatever things we need them to do And I believe that's the biblical what a deacon is meant to be and they they come alongside and help with our staff and do things But that's that's another conversation for another day But I get excited about when I see our deacons doing the work the biblical work of a deacon That's that's that's as it should be so that's how the money got there So literally they probably took up an offering and who knows what kind of receptacle it was and they handed it to them I promise they didn't you know wire them any money or anything like that I mean it was literally they handed it to them and and they took it took it down there could have been by boat We don't really know how that all happened

But but anyway, they finally got it to the brothers and sisters in Jerusalem and I know that they were so so grateful so Chapter 12 I want us to jump in here and at least to get started with verses one through five because it's all been real sweet and real touchy-feely and really nice and Sorry to inform you, but it's about to get gruesome So about that time Herod the king laid violent hands on some who belonged to the church and killed James the brother of John with the sword And when he saw that it pleased the Jews he proceeded to arrest Peter also This was during the days of unleavened bread and when he had seized him He put him in prison delivering him over to four squads of soldiers to guard him Intending after the Passover to bring him out to the people So Peter was kept in prison, but Ernest prayer for him was made to God by the church It's gonna get really good next week. I promise but let's let's just pause and let's just experience what's what's literally happening here because this is This is a pretty historic. It's a sad moment But it's a historic moment I'd let's let's take it step by step if you look at verse one about that time Herod The king laid the violent hands on some who belong to the church now let's pause because if you've read the Bible you've heard the name Herod and there's a lot of Herod's and And they're all related, but they're not all the same person. Okay, who's the Herod that you know the best? Birth of Jesus, right there. That's Herod. Okay, that is Herod the great Okay, so this Herod here is Herod agrippa the first It's the grandson of Herod the great Herod the great had a son named Herod and not Herod had a son named Herod Okay, it's kind of you know drip drip drip drip drip right down So Herod the great is the one who ordered the killing of the babies We remember him. He's the one that they took off right? Yeah, all the two-year-old and under So then Herod the great son, which is Herod agrippa's father was Herod Antipas Anybody know what he did famous? That's John that's the one that ordered the killing of John the baddest Okay, so we don't like him either So he was a bad guy. We got Herod the great was a bad guy. Herod Herod Antipas was a bad guy And now we got Herod agrippa following in his father's footsteps and his grandfather's footsteps

Why? What are they so upset about? Yeah, they're threatened by it. A lot of powers that be over all of history feel threatened by this gentle, beautiful movement of Christianity. Why? They don't like to lose control. And I'm telling you, there's something about Christians. Christians just feel free. Christians know that they have a different king, and they exalt that king. So we can read it, right? Cover to cover. I mean, Daniel is exalting. He was not going to bow to the earthly king. I mean, we can just look over and over at all of these who are unwilling to bow to the earthly king because they've got another king. And so that really bothers earthly rulers, especially the ones that have got big egos. And a lot of them do, right? They've just got big egos because they're like, I'm super exciting, and I'm super important. And everybody's going to bow to me. And the Christians are like, no, you're actually not. Thank you for what laws you're doing that are good, and thank you for the good things that you're doing. But I have a higher king, and I'm in a different-- I'm a citizen of a higher community, right? We're citizens of heaven.

So that's very frustrating for men like Herod. So if you look at this, it says that Herod, the king, laid violent hands on some who belonged to the church. I find this super interesting when you contrast it with the last verse. Somebody read 1130 again, chapter 11, verse 30. [INAUDIBLE] By the hands of Barnabas and Saul. But isn't that beautiful and sad? What a contrast. The hands of Barnabas and Saul are being used for good. And they're beautiful hands, and they're carrying help to people in need, from the wealthy to the poor, in the very next sentence. And violent hands are the kind of hands that Herod had. And he probably wasn't using his own violent hands, right? This is just-- these are his men, right? He's letting others do his dirty work. So he's laying violent hands on some who belong to the church. I mean, the sweet little church. What problem is the church causing? But he was just threatened, right? He didn't like that. And so not only were violent hands put on the church, but he killed James. James, the brother of John with the sword. Now, I want us to back up a little bit, and let's think about this James, OK? Brother of John, son of Zebedee. So we've known these two for a while.

Guys, there's some other James in the Bible. James, the author of the letter, James, that was Jesus's half brother. So that's a different James, OK? But this is James and John, the sons of thunder. Remember them? Because they were like super energetic, and they just went for it, and I loved it. I want us to flip back to the book of Mark for a minute. Because when I was doing some study finishing up this morning, I was struck by the story of James and John, one of the most famous stories of James and John in a conversation they had with Jesus. And I never thought about how it related to this. So let's look at it together. Mark chapter 10, verses 35 through 45. I'm going to read it. It says, "And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came up to him and said to him, 'Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.'" He said, "Well, what do you want me to do for you?" I can't imagine you wonder how Jesus said that, right? And they said, "Well, grant us to sit one at your right hand and one at your left in your glory." And Jesus said to them, "You do not know what you were asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?" And they said to him, "We are able." And Jesus said to them, "The cup that I drink, you will drink." And with the baptism with which I am baptized,

you will be baptized. But to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant. It is for those for whom it has been prepared. addicted at James and John. And Jesus called them to him and said to them, "You know that those who were considered rulers of the Gentiles lorded over them, and their great ones exercised authority over them, but it shall not be so among you, but whoever would be great among you must be your servant. And whoever would be first among you must be slave of all, for even the son of man came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many." Guys, this, oh this is just such a beautiful story, but this story has an interesting side to it when we look ahead at where we are tonight. Because I always sort of picture to Jesus indignant with James and John when they said that, but did you notice this time? The disciples were indignant, but it never says Jesus was. I'm not so sure Jesus was that upset with them about asking them. I think he kind of looked at it as well, that was kind of an immature thing to ask. Yeah, kind of like children, because Jesus looked at them like, you know what, they just don't know what they're talking about. But at least they're trying. What I hear in Jesus's conversation here is him not putting them down, but kind of building them up and saying, number one, he was speaking as one under authority. It's not even mind to say who's going to sit in those places. That's not even for me. See, Jesus lived under authority. He's under the Father's authority. Although he is the sovereign king of the universe, and let me just tell you guys, I got to hear the first sermon in the Colossians series today. You know, we're starting Colossians on Sunday. That's my favorite letter in the New Testament. Just get ready, guys. It's so good. So anyway, that's just, I'm telling it's just going to be, it's going to be so amazing. But guys, I don't think Jesus was that upset with them. He lays out for them. Some, I would say, not, not really crystal clear specific things about it. But what he does say is, interestingly, the verse 39, the cup that I drink, you will drink. Now what cup is Jesus speaking of right here? He is speaking of his death. Jesus said in the garden right, the cup, if it could pass

from me, I'd rather not. But not my will, but yours be done. I'm willing to drink the cup, and Jesus drank the cup. Jesus says, you know, he says, you know, basically, you know, he says, well, what do you want me to do for you? Of course, grant me to sit at your right hand when you're left. You don't know what you're asking. Are you able to drink the cup? And they said, we are able. And then Jesus goes on and says, actually, you will. That's what we saw tonight. Is James drinking the cup? James had that cup of martyrdom. Okay, we this is the first of the apostles to be martyred. That's why I said this is a very historic moment in the history of the church. It's not the first martyr. Who was that? Stephen. But Stephen was not one of the apostles. Now the apostles, here's number one. Guess what? He's not going to be the last one by one by one by one guys. They're just going down. They're going down. I think there's a good chance that maybe John did understand after James died. Of course, I can't say that with absolute certainty. But I want us to take this conversation just a little bit further to the book of Revelation. Revelation chapter 3 and verse 21, most of us, if you've read Revelation much at all, you know that one of the first two or three chapters are some letters to the churches. One of the most famous of those letters is the letter to the church in Laodicea to whom that Jesus was not too excited with the church at Laodicea because they had become lukewarm and so we're not going to read the whole letter. But I want us to look at verse 21 in that letter because he's already talked about being spitting them out and all that kind of stuff. But look at verse 21. The one who conquers, I will grant him what? To sit with me on my throne. of glory just said we could sit with him on his throne as I also conquered and sat down with my father on his throne there's a lot that is just spoken right there about the authority and the blessing and the honor that Jesus puts on his followers and those who would particularly pay the ultimate price and so this is at the end of that letter you know they become lukewarm in their devotion but that's not the only thing in that letter it also says this the one who conquers in other words everybody's not going to be losing their first love

and all of that there's some are gonna conquer you're gonna stand firm to the end and Jesus is promising something that is literally scandalous Jesus is saying I sit on a throne and they can sit with me on my throne because I also conquered what did he conquer he conquered sin and death now he conquered sin and death in a way that James did okay I'm not in any way trying to equate James death is not the same as Jesus death James was a sinner saved by grace just like we are sinners saved by grace but James paid the ultimate price and Jesus predicted that he would right there in that early conversation and then of course we don't have a lot of the specifics of the story but what we know is he was killed with the sword and I kind of think if we're gonna base it on Revelation chapter 3 that there was quite a welcome for James because you know a servant is not greater than his master and if they did it to Jesus why should we ever be surprised that they would do it to us guys we you know we live in 21st century and you know in our little suburban lifestyle and guys we don't know anything about persecution and I don't know anybody that's you know none of my friends have died for that right now but we've seen some martyrs in the last we've seen a martyr in the last year right we've seen a modern martyr somebody who died for the cause of Jesus Christ so guys we shouldn't be surprised or shocked I mean yeah of course it's it's sad and all those things but guys this is just part of the way it is and then you probably know this because I've said it in here before there are more people persecuted for their faith and dying for their faith today than there were in when the Bible was written we think this is like an old-timey thing and that's what happened back in those days no guys it's happening more in 2026 than it did in these days we just don't live in the circles where that's happening that's not happening in a task arena okay but it is happening in the world and and so we should have a sympathy and a prayer for the people who are experiencing this but guys I just have no doubt that James in this somehow got his wish James said yeah yeah we can do that and James experience that yes please do go back to mark in the Sun Sun's a thunder yes but there's the story you just

relate to us about what Jesus said to him about drinking the cup remember he also very well you be baptized into the baptism but I'm I'm basic if you go to Romans 6 okay if you look at it look at what Paul's talking it says in verse three do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Jesus were baptized into his death thank you very therefore with him by baptism into death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the father we too might walk in the dunes of life thank you so he was kind of given him a double yes he was that's I'm glad that you shared that parallel something else that hit me in this it's this is not only the first of the apostles this is the first of Jesus's inner circle I find it really interesting that the first apostle to die was one of Jesus's closest friends remember Peter James and John mount a transfiguration a lot of places where they're the only three that were witnesses to it so this is a this is a holy moment can you imagine Jesus welcoming James into heaven guys this is a this is a powerful powerful moment and you know one of the things that I find interesting when you start talking about martyrdom and and Christians and and why It's because a Christian is so bold. Because what do they have to lose? I mean, what did Paul say? For me to live is Christ and to die is game. It's like, I mean, what have I got to lose? Right? I mean, I get to live in fellowship with Jesus Christ in this life. So that's amazing. I get to have daily time in my own personal love for him and throughout the day. But he's like to die. Like that's actually game. That's gonna be better than this, right?

But some of you are like these old bodies limping around and all the problems and the aches and pains and things that we have, right? Guys, we have a future that's bright and hopeful and exciting in heaven. And so we don't need to be afraid of death in any way, shape or form. You know, we're full of life when we consider death. So that's what makes Christians the boldest people on earth. 'Cause they're not afraid to die. And they're like, okay, you know what, I'm gonna be fine. So we'll see, we'll read a little bit more about what happens next week. I want us to wrap up here. Of course, you know, it's also interesting that a second member of Jesus' best friends immediately then goes to prison. And we'll pick it up there next week when we begin to look more at that and why they thought it would take four squads of soldiers to guard Peter, boy. They really thought he was something. They're like, well, we didn't send quite enough soldiers for Jesus, who knows what Peter's gonna do, right? So it's just kind of interesting the way that it all plays out. But what I would like for you to do, I'm gonna close in prayer. And then I'd love for you to turn to your tables and ask a few questions.

But the questions that I would love for you to answer really twofold. Number one, what does it mean or how have you experienced the joy of giving? And I wanna get the words exactly the way the scripture says it, according to your ability. Everyone according to your ability. So the joy of giving, if you wanna share something about the joy of giving, that's not bragging to one another, it's just sharing the joy of generosity. If you've had that joy, and then if not that question at the very least, just share something that stood out to you from the study. Maybe God spoke to your heart something that he didn't really stand out to somebody else at your table, that will be a blessing. So I hope that you will do that. I'm gonna close this in prayer and then we'll have some conversations like that. Father, once again, we just are so excited about your word and God, this opportunity to look in on the early church, God, the beautiful and the brutal. But God, you said precious in the sight of the Lord or the death of his saints. And so Lord, of course, we think, oh wow, James was killed. But James graduated into glory, God, and I know, was so glad to see Jesus again, 'cause I know he'd missed him. And so Father, we just pray that we would have the same boldness, God, that James and John and Peter

and these early apostles had to share the gospel wherever we go. God bless everyone who under the sound of my voice today in Jesus name, amen. All right, have some good conversations at your tables. Thanks again for joining us, verse by verse, through the book of Acts. I hope that you have learned a lot more importantly. I hope that you'll apply these things to your life this week. Share it with a friend. Great thing for you to just have some discussion with the other people around you, share the things that God is doing in your life. Again, remember the Bible is a book about God, far more than it is a book about us. So let's learn about him, let's grow to love him more and more. Here at United City, this is not the only thing that we have on the Pando app. We would love for you to follow some of our other content, watch some of our worship services, along with the music and the messages, as well as podcasts. We've got a lot of great content and we would love for you to follow that. Also, if you would like to be in touch with us here at United City, the best way to do that is by writing us a letter. You can address that to prison ministry at United City Church, 1-9-9-0-1, Townsend Boulevard,

Umbeltexas-77-33-8. We'll read that, we'll pray for you and somebody will write you back. God bless you and we'll see you in the Word. [BLANK_AUDIO]