Prioritizing God FIRST

April 2nd 2023

Series: The Book of Acts

Sermon Title: Prioritizing God FIRST - Acts 14

Topic: Journey through the book of Acts.

Key Passages: Acts 14

Sermon Blurb: In this message, we will see how we need to keep God in the #1 priority spot. We will also see what we need to do when we keep God there and our culture attacks us.

Sermon:

Hello Family Church!!!!!

Family Moment

Welcome back to our study through the book of Acts!

Grab your Bible and open it up to where we left off last week,

Acts 14

As you are getting there….

Let me catch up any guests we have today.

The book of Acts is all about the church that was launched by Jesus shortly after his resurrection and return to heaven.

Last week we saw the church gathering and sending off some of their best people to reach more people for Jesus.

And we saw them doing a GREAT job at it!

And this week we will see more of that as well!

We have seen the church growing like crazy!

Starting at just 120 people…

Now with thousands and thousands of people in the early church.

We have also seen the culture the church was born in trying to destroy it, and we will see more of that today.

We have seen the other religious organizations around it trying to destroy it, and we will see that again this week.

But God is God….and God’s church will never be stopped.

PAUSE

So, let’s pick up in chapter 14 of Acts and see what God has for us today.

Acts 14 At Iconium Paul and Barnabas went as usual into the Jewish synagogue.

Let’s just pause here for a second….

Like we say often, we are talking about REAL human history.

Here is a map.

As you can see there is Iconium (Eye-Cone-E-Um) on the top center.

That is in modern-day Turkey.

And if you have your Bible and look at the titles further on in the chapter you will see those places as well on this map.

Today they will travel just South to Lystra and then to the South East to Derbe.

Then back to Antioch you see to the far right in Syria.

PAUSE

Paul was like Pastor Bob, our missions pastor, traveling all over the world to reach people for Jesus!

PAUSE

Let’s keep reading…..

There they spoke so effectively that a great number of Jews and Greeks believed. 2 But the Jews who refused to believe stirred up the other Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers.

If you remember I told you when we started this series to circle every time in the book of Acts God talks about the church growing or people coming to faith.

This right here marks the 19th time so far.

Remember when we are trying to build God’s Kingdom others will try to stop us.

So don’t be surprised today when you try to start a Bible study at school or work and you face opposition.

That happened thousands of years ago and will today as well.

The KEY is to NOT give up!

And today you will see just how Paul NEVER gave up!

Verse 3

3 So Paul and Barnabas spent considerable time there, speaking boldly for the Lord, who confirmed the message of his grace by enabling them to perform signs and wonders.

4 The people of the city were divided; some sided with the Jews, others with the apostles. 5 There was a plot afoot among both Gentiles and Jews, together with their leaders, to mistreat them and stone them.

6 But they found out about it and fled to the Lycaonian cities of Lystra and Derbe and to the surrounding country, 7 where they continued to preach the gospel.

Go back to the map again…

So see again….

People want to kill them so they leave the town they are in and head to another town….

NOT to hide…

But to continue to do what just got them almost killed.

PAUSE

Let me ask you a question…..

When someone attacks your faith what do you do?

Repeat

Really think about that…..

When someone at school or college says, “You cannot talk about God here.”

When you boss says, “Leave that religious crap at the door.”

When someone on Social Media attacks Christianity….

Do you just give up?

Do you just say I cannot lose my job….

PAUSE

Add a story like this for you or someone you know…

And I know….some of you think right now….

That is easy for you to say…because you’re a Pastor….

Let me remind you all…..

I worked in the REAL world just like all of you for years.

I had plenty of bosses tell me to check my “four letter word Christian morals at the door and do what they said or they would fire me.”

I have had my faith challenge in college.

I have had friends, and family, challenge my faith.

We ALL have to make a choice….

Do we cave…

Do we give up…

Or do we keep living for God to the best of our ability…

PAUSE

And understand that living for God does NOT mean we win EVERYONE to Jesus!

Right here Paul and Barnabas FAIL at getting everyone to believe!

They could NOT win everyone over.

Just like Jesus did NOT win everyone over.

Just like you and I will NOT win everyone over.

Our job is not covert everyone to faith…that is God’s job.

Our job is just to do what God leads us to do….

Let’s keep reading… verse 8…..

8 In Lystra there sat a man who was lame. He had been that way from birth and had never walked. 9 He listened to Paul as he was speaking. Paul looked directly at him, saw that he had faith to be healed

10 and called out, “Stand up on your feet!” At that, the man jumped up and began to walk.

Pause there for a second…

Paul was NOT there when Jesus did something just like this in John chapter 5.

Barnabas was NOT there.

So, I wonder what made them think they could do this….

What made them think that they could heal a person like this?

PAUSE

I am not going to answer that….

I am going to just let that sit with you all to ponder….

PAUSE

Verse 11..

11 When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted in the Lycaonian language, “The gods have come down to us in human form!” 12 Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul they called Hermes because he was the chief speaker.

I think that is kind of funny…

Paul is the leader but Barnabas they thought was the head Roman God.

Here is a picture of whom they are calling Paul…..Hermes pic

Here vs a picture of whom they are calling Barnabas… Zeus Pic

Who would you rather be!!!!

LAUGH!

PAUSE

Let’s keep reading…..verse 13…..

13 The priest of Zeus, whose temple was just outside the city, brought bulls and wreaths to the city gates because he and the crowd wanted to offer sacrifices to them.

Pause here for a second…

Let’s make sure we are clear…

That verse ends with “sacrifices to them”

Them NOT being the God Zeus….

Them MEANING offering sacrifices in honor of Saul and Barnabas!

Why?

Because again they think they MUST be God’s to do what they are doing.

They think clearly they are NOT just mortal men but something more.

Why???

Because everyone knows back then, and still to this day, that normal humans cannot do miracles!

Even people that do NOT believe in God if something cray like this happens it causes them to pause and ask HOW and WHY!!!!!

PAUSE

And the people here want to honor them as God’s.

The people want to give them the BEST they have.

The people want them to stay and bless them more.

PLEASE keep that in mind with what you see happens next.

PAUSE

Let me pose a question to you to help get your mind ponder deeper…

I want you to ask yourself this question….

What would I do if others wanted to honor me for what God did in my life?

Repeat

Really think about that for a second….

If God gave you a GREAT idea in a dream and you implement it at work….and your boss wants to HONOR you…what would you say?

Will you give God all the credit?

If God gave you great physical talents to be a GREAT athlete….and you make the game-winning shot…and the girl or guy you have been dreaming about wanting to be yours FINALLY notices YOU….

Will you give God all the credit?

If you pass a test you know you should have passed…

Will you give God all the credit?

If God does something through you that is AMAZING and you could get a GREAT bonus at work or a BIG promotion…

Will you give God all the credit?

Think about that…..

LONG PAUSE

Right here in the Bible…

They want to do all that and more for Paul & Barnabas…

So how do they respond….

And what can we learn????

Verse 14….

14 But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of this, they tore their clothes and rushed out into the crowd, shouting: 15 “Friends, why are you doing this?

We too are only human, like you. We are bringing you good news, telling you to turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made the heavens and the earth and the sea and everything in them.

16 In the past, he let all nations go their own way. 17 Yet he has not left himself without testimony: He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy.”

18 Even with these words, they had difficulty keeping the crowd from sacrificing to them.

Stop reading there..

Do you see what they did!!!!

They said STOP!

This was NOT us!

They said DO NOT HONOR US!

This was not us this was God!

They ask them to turn away from the NORMAL social customs!

They do NOT want the honor of NORMAL social customs!

They want ALL the honor to be directed toward God alone…..

PAUSE

So think again about that question I just asked you…..

If you were in their shoes today…..

What would you do?

Would you make sure to profit off what God did?

Would you make sure to take the advantage God just gave you?

Would you TAKE or would you GIVE…

PAUSE

And their response becomes even more amazing when you see what happens next…..

Verse 19….

19 Then some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and won the crowd over. They stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city, thinking he was dead. 20 But after the disciples had gathered around him, he got up and went back into the city. The next day he and Barnabas left for Derbe.

Stop there…..

The same people who just wanted to honor them as living Gods…

Some other people come along who have a PERSONAL agenda…

Those people convince them they must be terrible people because they do not want to follow NORMAL social customs….

So they might as well kill them….

And so they do!

They stone Paul!!!!!

This means they pick up real stones and everyone starts throwing them at Paul until he is dead!

You might remember is what Paul use to do to Christians as well!!!!!

Ironic hu……

PAUSE

So, they think they killed Paul because he is bloody and not moving….

So, they drag him out of town and leave for the wild animals to come to eat….

PAUSE

Wow….

What a flip-flop….

One second everyone loves you and you are like a God!

Then the next second everyone hates you and is trying to kill you.

PAUSE

Have you ever been there?

Maybe you were the star athlete and then you got hurt and all of a sudden no one cared about being around you anymore.

Maybe you were the rising star and at work and everyone doted on you…then you made one bad call and now you are like the red-headed stepchild….

Maybe everyone in the family LOVED you and then something happened and now everyone avoids you….

Maybe you had TONS of friends….and then you accepted Jesus and now everyone avoids you like the plague…..

PAUSE

Here is the question I would like to pose…

What do I do when I am following God, but it seems like everyone is out to get me?

Repeat

Well….you are hopefully not surprised by my answer….

Let’s study the Bible and see the answer!

Church….

I am telling you….

They BEST place to look for answers is always in the Bible!

The answers you are looking for are NOT found by watching the View!

The answers you are looking for are NOT found in a self-help book!

The answers you are looking for are NOT found in more money!

The answers you are looking for are NOT found in another relationship!

The answers you are looking for are NOT found in substances that help you escape your reality….

PAUSE

Let’s see what Paul and Barnabas do….Go back to verse Verse 19…..so we can keep this in context….

19 Then some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and won the crowd over. They stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city, thinking he was dead. 20 But after the disciples had gathered around him, he got up and went back into the city.

AND WHAT CHURCH!!!!!!

went back into the city.

Went where church?

He went right back into the town where he was almost killed….

Wow!!!

Can you imagine having that kind of boldness in your faith.

That no matter what our culture tries to do to you….

That you will get up and without FEAR walk right back into the same place.

PAUSE

This is one of the things that amazes me so much about the early church.

We have seen TIME after TIME.

The culture trying to stop the church.

Other religions trying to stop the church.

People in the early church were killed.

People in the early church were beaten.

People in the early church were thrown into jail.

And they keep sharing the Good News of Jesus!

It is like they do not care about anything other than trying to win as many people for Jesus as possible….

PAUSE

It makes me think about the Pastors who got thrown in jail during covid for having the gall to allow people to worship Jesus.

Church you may not realize this but that did happen in the US and Canada!

And I want you to know our church board talked about the fact that it could happen to us!

And we talked about whether we would be ok with that….

Would we be willing to risk that…..

And we said ABSOLUTELY!

Why…..

Because we see in the Bible the model that we follow God…not man…

And the board probably went with it because they knew it meant Pastor Adam would be the one in jail not them!

Laugh!!!!!

PAUSE

Paul goes back into the city then….

The next day he and Barnabas left for Derbe.

The next day they head to the neighboring town…. And who wants to guess what they do…….

That right!

They do the exact same thing that go them almost killed…..

Verse 21….

21 They preached the gospel in that city and won a large number of disciples.

That marks the 20th time they have talked about the church growing now in the book of Acts!

Then they returned to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch, 22 strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith.

They made sure to keep investing in the people they lead to Jesus to help them stay strong!

That is why we offer Bible studies!

Small groups!

Weekly services!

And so much more!

Because we want to help strengthen all of you, just like you see happening in the Bible….

PAUSE

I have said this before….

Our model at Family Church is REALLY simple.

Real the Bible.

Learn from the Bible.

Apply the Bible into our lives.

Everything we do at Family Church is based on what God shows us in the Bible….

PAUSE

Let’s keep reading…..

“We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God,” they said. 23 Paul and Barnabas appointed elders for them in each church and, with prayer and fasting, committed them to the Lord, in whom they had put their trust.

24 After going through Pisidia, they came into Pamphylia, 25 and when they had preached the word in Perga, they went down to Attalia.

26 From Attalia they sailed back to Antioch, where they had been committed to the grace of God for the work they had now completed. 27 On arriving there, they gathered the church together and reported all that God had done through them and how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles. 28 And they stayed there a long time with the disciples.

PAUSE

What an amazing story!

What an amazing example for all of us to think about today.

What an example of standing strong and doing what God calls you to do no matter what others say or do to you….

PAUSE

Let’s wrap this up with a life application today…..

And for those of you who are new, or newer, to Family Church.

We love to end our messages with an application point to your life.

Something that you can take away from the message and apply to your life this week.

This week’s life application says this……

Life Application: Examine your life to see if there is an area of your life where you are not standing strong for Jesus. As a result of today’s message, I will ____________________________ ________________________________________.

Let me encourage you to write down one simple thing you WILL do as a result of what you learned this week….

And watch what God does!!!!

Let’s Pray…..

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