God can work through ANYONE!

September 25th 2022

Series: The Book of Acts

Sermon Title: God can work through ANYONE!

Topic: Journey through the book of Acts.

Key Passages: Acts 11: 19-30, Acts 7:59

Sermon Blurb: Everyone goes through good times, and bad times. We all have conflicts with other people at times. We see the same thing in the early church. In this message, we also see how they processed through that.

Sermon:

Well, hello everyone!

Family Moment

Believe it or not this will be our LAST sermon in the book of Acts this year!

Some of you might wonder why because we have been in the book of Acts for the last 5 months!

And if you were here last week we only got ½ way through chapter 11….which means we are not even ½ done with the book of Acts!

PAUSE

So why are we done after today……

Well because every October we pause whatever series we are in to focus on missions!

October is mission’s month!!!

But this year we are going to shake things up!

This year we are investing two months in missions!

Most of you probably don’t remember but earlier this year we told you that Pastor Kevin Harney was going to do some coaching with Pastor Adam and Pastor Bob.

Well….

That coaching has been going on all year, you might remember Pastor Adam was out at Pastor Kevin’s church in California in August.

And Pastor Kevin just wrote an AWESOME book

And he asked us to be a church that would walk through the major takeaways from that book this year.

So we are going to spend the next two months doing that and Pastor Kevin will be here in the middle of that series to do a teaching for us as well!

PAUSE

Then like always at Family Church the month of December will be focused on Christmas and Jesus.

PAUSE

So now you know what is going on from now until the end of the year!

PAUSE

So let’s shift back to today…...

Grab your Bible and open it up to Acts 11

New Person Bible Talk

App Talk

If you are new or newer to Family Church, we are so happy you are here today!

Let me catch you up just a little bit.

We are on a journey through one of the books in our Bibles called Acts.

We will continue that journey next year.

The book of Acts is a GREAT book for churches and Christians to study because it is all about how the early church operated.

PAUSE

As we have walked through the book of Acts we have seen good times for the church and hard times for the church.

Just like we all have GREAT seasons of life….

And hard seasons of life.

And today we are going to see the church on the heals of growth and great things…which we have been talking about that story for 3 weeks….

Now the church heads into a hard season….

PAUSE

And so here is what I want to do today.

I want us to read the rest of this chapter and then I want to rewind in the book of Acts….

Remind you all of something…..

And then re-read it and show you all something…..

So Acts 11….starting at verse 19

Acts 11: 19 - 30 19 Now those who had been scattered by the persecution that broke out when Stephen was killed traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch, spreading the word only among Jews.

20 Some of them, however, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch and began to speak to Greeks also, telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus. 21 The Lord’s hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord.

22 News of this reached the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. 23 When he arrived and saw what the grace of God had done, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts. 24 He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord.

25 Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, 26 and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.

27 During this time some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. 28 One of them, named Agabus, stood up and through the Spirit predicted that a severe famine would spread over the entire Roman world. (This happened during the reign of Claudius.)

29 The disciples, as each one was able, decided to provide help for the brothers and sisters living in Judea. 30 This they did, sending their gift to the elders by Barnabas and Saul.

Thus ends chapter 11.

Go back to verse 19 and then I will re-wind in remind us all of some things to give context

19 Now those who had been scattered by the persecution that broke out when Stephen was killed traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch, spreading the word only among Jews.

Stop there…..

Does anyone remember in what chapter of Acts Stephen was killed?

Chapter 7.

Now let me remind you some things about Stephen….

Stephen was a REGULAR guy like you and me.

He was not one of the close followers of Jesus when he lived on earth.

He was a regular dude.

A regular guy who loved God.

A regular guy who had faith.

A regular guy who was filled with God’s Spirit.

So, he was nothing special.

He had NO advantage in life over any person in this room when it comes to spirituality.

He was NOT a Pastor, or Rabbi or Elder….

He was just a regular guy following Jesus and doing what Jesus told him to do and Jesus was moving through him in mighty ways.

And because of the ways God moved in his life…. He ended up being killed by the Jewish leaders.

PAUSE

But flip back to chapter 7 and I want to remind us of something POWERFUL in Stephen’s death…..

In the midst of being killed……Stephen prayed…

In the midst of being pelted with stones…..Stephen prayed….

And I am going to read this prayer slowly….because it is sooooo humbling to me as a Pastor and I hope it is to you as well….

Acts 7:59 “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”

He says, God…..I am yours….

God, here I come!

God, I know this is the end!

God, receive my spirit….

60 Then he fell on his knees and cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he fell asleep.

He ends his life….by forgiving…..

He ends his life forgiving the people murdering him.

He ends his life asking God to not judge the people murdering him.

PAUSE

Stop and think about that…..

Stephen’s life ends by being murdered by a large group of people.

And Stephen’s last words are: “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.”

PAUSE

Here is the key takeaway for us all from Stephen…..

Forgiven people forgive.

Forgiven people forgive.

Forgiven people forgive.

I know there are people here today….that you are holding on to pain.

You are holding on to hurt.

You are holding on to offense.

You are holding on to the past.

You are holding on to the pain of what someone did to you.

What someone said about you…

And you do not know how to let it go….you can’t let it go….

By your own power, you can never let it go….

But when you give your life to Jesus FULLY.

When you understand the power of being forgiven by God.

That when you accept Jesus as your Lord and savior that he FREELY forgives you of EVER sin you have ever committed….

Once you experience that kind of forgiveness….

It is out of that we can forgive.

PAUSE

Take the passage we are in today…..

The church….

The people….

Look back at verse 19…..

They are being persecuted!

They are being attacked by their culture and the people around them.

People are saying and doing TERRIBLE thing to them…

BUT

But in the midst of that…..

Look at verse 21, 24 & 26……

The church is still growing!

People are still being reached!

BECAUSE people did not bow down to the social pressures around them.

Because people did not STOP sharing Jesus inside a culture that was killing them for talking about Jesus.

Because the early church continued to LOVE people that hated them.

Because of all that and more…..

The church continued to grow……

PAUSE

We live in a country that once was a Christian nation.

We use to be a country that valued Christian morals.

That is fading rapidly.

But hope is NOT lost!

If we will learn from the early church and apply what we learn to our lives we can turn things around!

PAUSE

Write this down:

God’s mission will always be accomplished.

Repeat

And it might be helpful to go back and remind us all what God’s mission was…..

As stated by Jesus in Acts 1…

Acts 1:8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

At the VERY beginning of this book Jesus said the GOAL of the church was to GROW and expand and reach people ALL over the world!

And as we have talked about…..

People back then.

Just like people today….

We prefer to stay in our comfort zones.

We don’t prefer to do SUPER hard things.

We don’t naturally say….

He lets move our family into a community filled with people we do not know or like their lifestyles……just so we can reach them for Jesus….

That kind of person is SUPER RARE back then and today….

So because we CHOOSE, and it is a choice…..

Because we CHOOSE not to listen to God sometimes he has to allow things to happen in our lives to accomplish His will…..

So persecution comes into the church and the church then is FORCED to spread out…..

And when they spread out…..

They do what Jesus called them to do in Acts 1….

Look at verse 19 again and then let me show you.

19 Now those who had been scattered by the persecution that broke out when Stephen was killed traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch, spreading the word only among Jews.

Now look at this Map

To help you all place this in the real world.

That is the Mediterranean sea.

At the bottom of the map is Egypt

That top is parts of Asia

The early church was born in Jerusalem.

The disciples had been scattered all over the Mediterranean coastlands after the persecution of Stephen.

As you can see on this map some moved over 400 miles north to Antioch and preached to Gentiles.

A great number believed, verse 21.

News of this reached the church in Jerusalem, verse 22.

So, the church sends out Barnabas to go see what is going on…verse 23.

PAUSE

Who is Barnabas……

Let me take a few minutes and explain who this great man of God is.

You might want to take note of these passages as we will not read them now but you can later…..

PAUSE

Barnabas is actually talked about throughout the book of Acts and other books.

Barnabas is first mentioned as a landowner who sold some land and generously donated all the proceeds to the apostles in Jerusalem (Acts 4:36-37).

Church tradition says that Barnabas was one of the seventy whom Jesus Christ sent out in pairs "as lambs among wolves" into every city (Luke 10:1-12).

The next time in Acts we see Barnabas is in chapter 9.

Barnabas was not afraid to stand by Saul during his time of change.

Barnabas was the FIRST person of influence and responsibility to extend his hand to Saul of Tarsus when ALL Jerusalem was still casting stones at him (Acts 9:26-31).

The disciples in Jerusalem, who knew Saul only as a fierce persecutor and murderer of the church were afraid of Saul.

The early church could hardly believe that the person who was destroying the church…. had TRULY been converted.

As everyone feared Saul and was suspicious, Barnabas came forward and showed great kindness toward him.

PAUSE

In Acts 9:27 Barnabas introduced Saul to the apostles so that Saul could tell them the story of his miraculous conversion and how he had preached with power at Damascus.

Then something amazing happens…..

Saul….becomes this GREAT leader in the church….

And without Barnabas, it may NOT have happened….

And as Paul climbs into greater prominence, Barnabas happily falls into a role supporting the church and Saul.

A few year after the passage we read today….. God sends out Paul, or Saul, and Barnabas to preach and teach together (Acts 13:2-3; 14:14).

Barnabas, this regular guy who just loved God and loved people.

Barnabas spent many years preaching the gospel all over.

PAUSE

But as anyone who has worked closely with others knows…..

Even great friends, or business partners, or family members can have conflict.

Barnabas and Paul had their moments of disagreement.

See Barnabas had a cousin named Mark, who wrote the gospel of Mark.

And a SERIOUS conflict arose between them over John Mark, Barnabas' cousin.

In Acts 15:36-41, Paul was upset over Mark's decision to leave them and their work, and this led to a definite breach between them.

Sharp contention caused Barnabas and Paul to head their separate ways……

Barnabas with Mark to Cyprus

Paul went with Silas to Syria and Cilicia.

And that conflict separated them for a LONG TIME.

PAUSE

For you deep Bible study folks……

You can see in Galatians 2:11 -13 that Paul is STILL made at Barnabas and calls him out!

PAUSE

But here is the point of all this……

We all can get hurt in life.

We all go through hard times.

I would be willing to be that every one that is high school age or older in the room today have been hurt by another person in some way.

That all of you have been offended by another person in some way.

That you have been backstabbed at work before.

That you have had a teammate do something you never saw coming.

That a friend has turned on you in a way you would never have imagined.

That a family member has gone off on you and deeply hurt you.

PAUSE

We all get hurt in life.

Even pastors like me….we get hurt in life too.

Even pastor’s wives get hurt by people.

But…..

But as Christians……

We have to forgive, and we have to seek reconciliation in relationships.

PAUSE

And Paul and Barnabas demonstrate this…..

Although Barnabas and Paul had their differences.

They were not irreconcilable.

Did they part ways for years….?

Yes….

Did they get mad at each other…?

Yes.

Did they probably say some things they regretted…..?

Probably….

But…..

A few years later…..Paul last reference to Barnabas is regarding the church's support of them (I Corinthians 9:6).

So we can see that by this time that Paul and Barnabas must have reconciled their past issues and were working together again…..

We would expect nothing less from two converted individuals.

PAUSE

This brings us back to that point again

Forgiven people forgive.

Our sermon title today is, “God can work through anyone.”

If God can work through a regular like Stephen.

If God can work through all these regular churchgoers who were persecuted and scattered.

If God can work through a regular guy like Barnabas.

If God can work through someone like Saul.

I hope you all see God can also work through you!

The only question today is…..

Will you allow God to work through you?

Will, you TRULY submit your life to God and follow God ANYWHERE he calls you to go.

PAUSE

I want to end with a time for all of us to open up our hearts and forgive.

I know there are people here today….that you are holding on to pain.

You are holding on to hurt.

You are holding on to offense.

You are holding on to the past.

You are holding on to the pain of what someone did to you.

What someone said about you…

And you do not know how to let it go….you can’t let it go….

By your own power, you can never let it go….

But when you give your life to Jesus FULLY.

When you understand the power of being forgiven by God.

That when you accept Jesus as your Lord and savior that he FREELY forgives you of EVER sin you have ever committed….

Once you experience that kind of forgiveness….

It is out of that we can forgive.

So here is my challenge for you all this week.

Life Application: Search your heart for any unforgiveness. Repent and ask God to forgive you for harboring unforgiveness. Seek out the person you were unwilling to forgive and let them know the forgiveness God gave you has changed you and you freely forgive them.

ADD EXTRA SONG and more prayer time for forgiveness.

Prayer!!

Offering!