Acts 13; Mission

[0:00] Well good morning and a warm welcome to this morning's service today. A special welcome to those who are visiting with us. It's good to see a number of visitors with us today and you are very much welcome here. It's a summer Sunday school for the children and that includes the visitors children and the Sunday schools for those with primary school age. Tea and coffee will be served at the close of the service and all are welcome to that.

[0:32] And maybe just a little word on this. Could parents, I speak first to myself but to all the parents as well, could we maybe just be reminded to keep an eye on our children after the service? I'm conscious one or two people have said to me that children being children have ventured over into dangerous places in the wilderness of the behind the hall and there's obviously roads as well and cars passing so if we myself first would be reminded to just keep an eye on our children when we've got the coffee time after the service. Evening service is at 6 and I will, God will, be conducting that service. Elders meet for a prayer at the match tomorrow at half class 7 and the ladies Bible study I think meets tomorrow at 8pm. I know there's a change of venue to this. Come in. I know there's a change of venue for the ladies Bible study tomorrow night. Pardon? But it has yet to be arranged. Teenie is down with a bug and so that house is out of bounds. So maybe if the ladies who go to the Bible study could hang about at the end and meet with each other and figure out where to go. That's at 8pm tomorrow evening. First Truth Fellowship meets in the trip to Scotland Hall on Tuesday at half past 7 as usual and the prayer meeting is on Wednesday at half past 7 here as usual. Service next Sunday morning will be as usual conducted by myself and the Sunday school. The normal programme will resume next Lord's day. And as I intimated last Sunday there's no evening service in Tarbert here next week as we have been invited to attend the evening service at the Leave a Barre of Communions. And I want to encourage as many as possible who can to go along to that. It's very encouraging when we get joined by those and other congregations at our own communion season. And so let's be an encouragement to those who are alongside us. So that's next Sunday evening. Leave a Barre of Communions. If anyone requires transport to the service just have a chat with one of the elders at the end of the service. And if that's if there's those people let's be can't even. I think these are all the information so let's begin our service and worship God and sing to his praise. We sing from Psalm 27 to begin with.

[3:03] The Lord my light and saving hell. Who shall make me dismayed? My life strength is the Lord of whom then shall I be afraid. We sing from verses 1 to verse 6 of Psalm 27. We sing to God's praise and we stand now to sing.

[3:24] The Lord my light and saving hell. Who shall make me dismayed? My life strength is the Lord of whom then shall I be afraid.

[3:54] I be afraid. When He calls me we sing from Hai putting treasure in his blood from grace. And you are blind to His glory. When God else have in heaven and hear in heaven so tired. And long nogsna. Thank you. Against me, though I'm close and crowned, my heart gives me a blessing.

[4:46] Though all the day she'll rise, I will be confident in this.

[5:03] One day I love the Lord behind, and will be new of shame.

[5:20] That all day of my life I pay, when there's no time free in.

[5:36] That I, the beauty of the Lord, be holy and admire.

[5:52] And that I in His holy face may reverence me in white.

[6:08] For He, the sl vibe will Ryan.

[6:22] Amen. Amen.

[7:22] Amen. Amen.

[7:54] Let's unite our hearts in prayer together. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, we thank you for the fact that you have drawn us here and that you have put the desire in our hearts to come.

[8:15] We thank you, Lord, that we are able to say with the psalmist that we will sing, that we will bring our praises to the Lord because you have filled our hearts with a joy that is steady, a joy that is not dependent upon the changing circumstances of this life and the changing circumstances of this world.

[8:38] But we thank you that the joy that you have given to us is the joy of your salvation of us. And so we thank you, Lord, that we can say with the psalmist, the Lord's my light and saving health.

[8:53] Who shall make me dismayed? And we thank you, Father, that when the Lord is our light and our saving health, we have no one and we have nothing to fear.

[9:05] We thank you that we need not be dismayed when Jesus is the rock of our salvation. We thank you that he is the one who left the realms of glory to come to this world.

[9:19] We thank you that he lived that life that was sinless for us. We thank you that he went willingly to a cross to die and pay the price for our sins, the price that we could never pay.

[9:33] And Lord, we thank you that he rose and that today we remember that Jesus not only died, but he rose again, triumphant from the grave. And we thank you that he pleads our cause at God's right hand, even as we bring our prayers now.

[9:49] And we thank you that he is the one and the only one who is omnipotent to save us. And so we pray that as we lift up Christ in our worship, as Christ is lifted up in the reading of the word and we pray in the preaching of the word, we ask, Lord, that we may be drawn in faith to him.

[10:11] And Lord, that we may be true and spirit-filled in our worship this morning. Thank you for all who are gathered here, for those who live here and who are here steadily week by week, and for those who are visiting with us, bless them.

[10:28] And particularly pray and encourage them and refresh them on your time in Harrison here with us. We ask, Lord, for those of our own company who are away as well, and we commit them to you wherever they might be.

[10:41] We pray in particular for those whose desire would be to be here this morning, but who are unable to because of circumstances, responsibilities and work.

[10:52] For those who are struggling with their health and who are in hospital or who are waiting to go to hospital for procedures. We pray especially for Neil Cameron this morning as he goes to Glasgow or waits to go to Glasgow.

[11:08] We ask that you would be with him and that you would go before him and that you would go with him. And Lord, that you would uphold him over the course of this week as he awaits whatever procedures are necessary.

[11:20] And we pray for others like him, some who are recovering from surgeries and who are at home, and some who are waiting for further treatment. Be with those who are in hospital. Be with those who are in homes and who are being cared for.

[11:34] Be with those, Lord, we pray who are coming to the end of their time in this world. And we ask, Lord, that you would be near to them and that you would keep their eyes, the eyes of their souls fixed upon Christ.

[11:50] We thank you that when the Lord is our shepherd, he is the one who guides us through death's dark veil into life that is everlasting. And so we pray for those who are on that threshold, that you would steady them and that you would fill them with that joy.

[12:06] That as Stephen of Old saw Christ, that we would see Christ welcoming them at home to that place that's prepared. We pray, Lord, for the children who are here with us and we thank you for them.

[12:18] And we ask, Lord, that you would be with them. We pray for holiday clubs that are happening this week and have happened over the summer. We pray for those who have been at camps and returned.

[12:29] And we ask, Lord, that you would bless and continue to use the seed that was sown in these places. We pray, Father, for those teenagers who are making decisions about next year at this point in time.

[12:43] And we ask, Father, that you would guide them. We thank you that you are the sovereign God and that you promise that you work all things together for the good of those who are in Christ.

[12:54] And so, Lord, as they acknowledge you, we pray that you would direct them and that they would use their lives for your glory. We pray, Lord, for this coming week and for all that's ahead of us.

[13:07] We don't know what is ahead of us, but you are the God who knows all things, the Alpha and the Omega. And we pray that you would direct us and enable us to live for your glory. We pray for meetings scheduled for the prayer meeting, for Bible studies.

[13:21] We ask, Lord, that you would bless us as we seek to come together and worship. We pray that you would send us out from here with the gospel in our lips. We pray for our congregations that have been vacant and who are sending out calls even in the course of this week.

[13:36] We think of the high, free and stormy. We ask, Lord, at this critical point in their history as a congregation that you would guide them and that they would know your leading and your presence with them as they meet on Tuesday to send out a call.

[13:53] And we ask now, Lord, that you would guide us as we would come. Cleanse us, we pray, from our sin. Cleanse us in the blood of Christ. Empty us of all that we turn in on ourselves and would seek to lift up ourselves and fill us with the Holy Spirit, we pray.

[14:11] So that Jesus would be lifted up and that we would bring to him our worship. And we pray all these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Boys and girls, would you like to come out with the fun, please?

[14:24] Thank you.

[14:54] How are you all today? All fine? Looking forward to going back to school on Thursday? I thought that. It's good to have summer holidays as well with us today. Lovely to see you. I've got something to show you this morning as I usually do, but I need somebody to give me a hand in taking it in. Who's going to volunteer to help me?

[15:18] Now, I'll take Alistair and Joseph. Come on in. We're going out. We're going to go back to the next one.

[15:30] I'll take it. I'll take it. I'll take it.

[16:04] I'll take it over here. Take it over here. Take it over with the cables. John Strutter is just looking at his two new apprentices.

[16:19] There we go. Thank you. Thank you. Right, you can sit down now. What is this, boys and girls?

[16:31] It's a wheel. It's a wheel, yeah. Does it look okay to you? No? What's wrong with it? Bethany, you tell me. No one from our family is allowed to answer this question.

[16:45] What's wrong with the wheel? What looks like it's wrong with it? Yeah. If you look closely, this side looks okay, kind of, doesn't it?

[16:59] But if you turn around on the other side, look at it. Do you see it? It's absolutely burst. Do you see that?

[17:09] All the way along there? It's burst. And so I can't leave that in the car, can I? And this happened to me.

[17:21] Well, it didn't actually happen to me. It happened to my. On Wednesday afternoon. She'd been at the beach at Luskentire.

[17:32] And thankfully she got back from Luskentire okay. And then she went to the swimming pool, I think, in Tarvard. And then she went from the swimming pool to Brownie's shop. And then she went to the swimming pool.

[17:45] And she said that when she was at the shop, the wheel was absolutely fine. And then when she got to the swimming pool, she got out of the car and thought, What's that smell?

[17:56] And it was burst. And the car was kind of going over on one side. And there was bits of rubber all the way down the road from the swimming pool. And so that's what happened on Thursday afternoon.

[18:08] And thankfully the emergency services were on hand to change the wheel. Gordon was there and the fireman was there as well at the time. And so the wheel got changed and on went the sprayer.

[18:20] But that's what happened on Wednesday afternoon. Not a very good thing to happen, is it? But it could have been much worse if it happened on the road to Luskentire.

[18:31] But do you know what happened on Wednesday morning? Wednesday morning, I was standing at the window. And I looked out the window at the view, which is amazing.

[18:43] And I saw the car and I said to my friend who was with me, Myles, staying with us for a few days. I said, Myles, that tire at the back looks a bit flat, looks a bit soft.

[18:54] I must check that. And I didn't check it in the morning. And look what happened in the afternoon.

[19:05] And so that tire reminded me this week, and I want to remind you as well, of the danger of putting things off. The danger of delay.

[19:17] And you know boys and girls, the most important thing for us is not our cars and it's not our stuff. It's our souls. It's our hearts.

[19:29] And God has told us that we have a problem, hasn't he? And what's the problem of our hearts? What's the problem of our hearts?

[19:41] It begins with sin. And sin is a big problem. Sin leads to death.

[19:52] But God loves us. And so who did he send to deal with our sin? Jesus. Jesus. And Jesus went to the cross to pay the price for our sin.

[20:04] And Jesus says to us, Trust me. And ask me to forgive your sin and take it away. And I will be your savior.

[20:15] And you will be safe. And when does he want us to trust him? Is it when we're 65? Is it when we're 75?

[20:28] Is it when we're 25? 15? When Joseph? Today. Jesus doesn't want us to delay.

[20:40] Because to delay is danger. Because we don't know how long we're going to be in this world. We don't know how long we'll be hearing God speaking to us.

[20:51] And so the Bible says, 2 Corinthians chapter 6 verse 2. Now is the day of salvation. So boys and girls, I want to say to you, and I want to say to everyone.

[21:05] Trust Jesus. Let's not play with our souls. Let's not risk the danger of leaving this world without him. But let's trust him today.

[21:17] Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you that you love us. And we thank you that you love us enough to tell us about the problem in our hearts.

[21:28] We thank you that you've told us about our sin. And we thank you, Father, that you sent Jesus the Son to be our savior. We thank you, Jesus, for coming to this world and being willing to go to the cross to die for our sin.

[21:44] And Lord, we thank you that even today the Holy Spirit is at work in this place and in our hearts telling us to trust Jesus. And so, Lord, we pray that we wouldn't delay, that we wouldn't put things off, that we wouldn't say in our own heads, we'll do it another day.

[22:02] But we pray that even today we would come to Jesus and say, we're sorry for our sin. Please come into our lives and be our savior and be our Lord.

[22:13] And we pray these things in Jesus name. Amen. We're going to sing now and we're going to sing the words on the screen. And they're also in Mission Praise 67.

[22:24] And we sing this whole hymn to God's praise.

[22:36] We stand up as we sing to praise God. So that's chapter 13.

[22:52] And I'll just read it from the end of chapter 12, where we were studying last week. We have the situation where Herod will not buy and worship, where he will not worship God.

[23:05] But he takes the worship to himself and he is judged. Verse 23. But verse 24 of Acts chapter 12 says, But the word of God continued to increase in strength.

[23:17] When Barnabas and Saul had finished their mission, they returned home from Jerusalem, taking with them John, also called Mark. And then we come to Acts chapter 13, where we come on to this missionary journey.

[23:30] Verse 1. In the church at Antioch, there were prophets and teachers. Barnabas, Simeon, called Niger. Lucius of Cyrene. Manion, who had been brought up with Herod the Tetra.

[23:43] And Saul. Quite a diverse group. While they were worshipping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.

[23:56] So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and set them off. The two of them sent on their way by the Holy Spirit went down to Seleucia and sailed from there to Cyprus.

[24:08] When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the Jewish synagogues. John was with them as their helper. They traveled through the whole island until they came to Paphos.

[24:21] There they met a Jewish sorcerer and false prophet named Bar-Jesus or Bar-Joshua. They were saying some of your translations. He was an attendant of the proconsul, Sergius Paulus.

[24:33] The proconsul, an intelligent man, sent for Barnabas and Saul because he wanted to hear the word of God. But Eleus the sorcerer, for that was what his name means, opposed him and tried to turn the proconsul from the faith.

[24:48] Then Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked straight to Eleus and said, You are a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right.

[24:59] You are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery. Will you never stop perverting the ways of the Lord? Now the hand of the Lord is against you. You are going to be blind and for a time you will be unable to see the light of the sun.

[25:14] Immediately mist and darkness came over him and he groped about seeking someone to lead him by the hand. When the proconsul saw what had happened, he believed, for he was amazed at the teaching about the Lord.

[25:28] From Pathos, Paul and his companions sailed to Perga and Pamphylia, where John left them to return to Jerusalem. From Perga they went to Pisidian Antioch.

[25:39] On the Sabbath they entered the synagogue and sat down. After the reading from the law and the prophets, the synagogue writers sent word to them saying, Brothers, if you have a message of encouragement for the people, please speak.

[25:52] Standing up, Paul motioned with his hand and said, Men of Israel, and you Gentiles who worship God, listen to me. The God of the people of Israel chose our fathers.

[26:04] He made the people prosper during this day in Egypt. With mighty power he led them out of that country. He endured their conduct for about 40 years in the desert. He overthrew seven nations in Canaan and gave their land to his people as an inheritance.

[26:21] All this took about 450 years. After this, God gave them judges until the time of Samuel the prophet. Then the people asked for a king and he gave them Saul, son of Kish, of the tribe of Benjamin, who ruled for 40 years.

[26:38] After removing Saul, he made David their king. He testified concerning him, I have found David, son of Jesse, a man after my own heart. He will do everything I want him to do.

[26:49] From this man's descendants, God has brought to Israel the Saviour, Jesus, as he promised. Before the coming of Jesus, John preached repentance and baptism to all the people of Israel.

[27:03] As John was completing his work, he said, Who do you think I am? I am not that one. No, but he is coming after me whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.

[27:14] He came from the tree and laid them in a tomb.

[27:47] But God raised him from the dead. And for many days he was seen by those who had traveled with him from Galilee to Jerusalem. They are now his witnesses to our people. We tell you the good news.

[27:59] What God promised our fathers, he has fulfilled for us, their children, by raising up Jesus. As it is written in the 2nd Psalm, you are my son.

[28:10] Today I have become your father. The fact that God raised him from the dead, never to decay, is stated in these words. I will give you the holy and sure blessings promised to David.

[28:23] That is Isaiah 55. And so it is stated elsewhere, you will not let your holy ones see decay. That is Psalm 16. These are all scriptures that the Jews would have been so familiar with.

[28:35] And Paul was on to say, for when David had served God's purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep. He was buried with his fathers and his body decayed. But the one whom God raised from the dead did not see decaying.

[28:48] Therefore, my brothers, I want you to know that through Jesus, the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Through him, everyone who believes is justified from everything you could not be justified from by the law of Moses.

[29:06] Take care that what the prophets have said does not happen to you. And there is this quotation from Habakkuk. Look you scoffers, wander and perish. For I am going to do something in your days that you would never believe, even if someone told you.

[29:21] As Paul and Barnabas were leaving the synagogue, the people invited them to speak further about these things on the next Sabbath. When the congregation was dismissed, many of the Jews and the right converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas who talked with them and urged them to continue in the grace of God.

[29:42] On the next Sabbath, almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord. When the Jews saw the Christ, they were filled with jealousy and talked abusively against what Paul was saying.

[29:54] Then Paul and Barnabas answered them boldly. We had to speak the word of God to you first. Since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles.

[30:08] For this is what the Lord has commanded us. I have made you a light for the Gentiles that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth. Isaiah 49.

[30:20] When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honored the word of the Lord and all who were appointed for eternal life believed. The word of the Lord strayed through the whole region. But the Jews incited the God-fearing women of high standing and the leading men of the city.

[30:37] They stood at persecution against Paul and Barnabas and expelled them from their region. So they shook the dust from their feet in protest against them and went to Iconium.

[30:48] And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit. Amen. And may God bless that reading of his word.

[31:01] Don't seem to lie with us in fear and garages. I'm sorry, but I don't care.

[31:17] I'm sorry, but I'm sorry. I'm sorry, but I'm sorry. I'm sorry, but I'm sorry. I'm sorry, but I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry, but I have to have faith in the system, but I'm sorry, but I me like pleads and knew me soon and can't complain.

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[35:50] Amen. We sing again to God's praise. We sing this thing from Psalms and Psalm 18 and the first two stanzas of that psalm.

[36:06] Be what I love, O Lord, my strength. My fortress is the Lord, my rock. And he that doth to me deliverance afford my God, my strength, whom I will trust, a buckler unto me the horn of my salvation and my high tower.

[36:23] As he would sing these two stanzas in Gaelic and we remain seated to sing this same phrase. Amen. oan oan out oan Thank you.

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[48:38] And I know you conund Internet. salvation of God in all its glory and to feel its power. Then as a result of their quickening they begin to pray. New power comes into the preaching of the ministers. And the result is that large numbers who were previously outside the church are converted and brought in.

[49:00] End of quote. And that's what we see here in Acts. Acts. The church revived in worship.

[49:15] The church sees in worship and driven to praying. And so as Barnabas and Saul go out to preach they do so with the prayers of the saints undergirding and saturating everything.

[49:31] And so the preaching is powerful and the preaching is effective in drawing many who are outside and unconverted inside to conversion in Christ.

[49:44] And I suppose it all gels with John 15 which is such a key passage. Jesus says to his disciples he says to the church today apart from me you can do nothing.

[49:57] And yet when we come and worship we are enabled not to be apart from God but to be intimate with God and the Holy Spirit fills us and comes in and that's when you can expect to see God do great things in us and through us.

[50:19] But it all begins with worship. Not with a procedure not with a method not with a technique but with worship. Worshiping the Lord and fasting verse 2 I don't want to say much about this but let me just say a wee word about fasting.

[50:43] Fasting is something we hear very very little about. I've grown up in the church from that size and I don't know if I've ever heard a sermon on fasting.

[50:55] I to be quite honest until fairly recently thought it was something that we just no longer do. But if you go to Matthew 6 Lord's Prayer and how Jesus speaks about fasting afterwards his assumption is that we will fast as part of worship.

[51:19] It goes hand in hand with prayer. And we might say well what's the point in fasting? What does it do? What does it change? What's it got to do with anything? And one commentator John Scott says this he says fasting is a negative action abstention from food and other distractions for the sake of a positive one worshipping and praying.

[51:44] And that puts a new light in fasting. And maybe what God is calling some of us to do is not so much fast on food although he might be maybe he's calling us to fast on Facebook maybe he's calling us to fast watching Emmerdale Farm every night for a period maybe he's calling us to fast the three hours that we sit in front of the television or the two hours that we spend on the internet and devote that time to worship to being with him.

[52:15] So mission begins with worship and the second point that we have here is mission involves proclamation mission involves proclamation speaking out you've probably heard that quote that gets rolled out from time to time it's usually attributed to St.

[52:41] Francis of Assisi I'm not sure how accurate it is but the quote goes something like this with various versions of it teach the gospel use words only if necessary and I suppose there's some positive in that quote the positive is that our lives should speak out of the Christ who lives within us our lives should be distinct and should look different to the world and so the world should be able to see even if we're not speaking that there's something different to us but Barnabas and Saul as they undertake this missionary journey show us that mission involves not just showing out but also speaking out that mission involves not just practice but also proclamation verse 4 the two of them sent on their way by the Holy Spirit went down to Sebusia and sailed from there to Cyprus when they arrived at Salamis they proclaimed the word of God in the

[53:44] Jewish synagogues so I want to take a moment and think about what does it mean to proclaim the word of God what does it look like or sound like to proclaim the word of God to speak out and there's two elements within this and they're kind of intertwined as we navigate through the verses but we can note two elements to this biblical proclamation and the first thing is that it's spirit filled verse 4 the proclamation is spirit filled and we know that because we're told that we see in verses 2-4 that the spirit is the one who led them while they were worshipping the Lord verse 2 and fasted the Holy Spirit said set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them that's a point actually to do with the ministry of the word and sacrament we don't decide this is something that we're going to do

[54:47] God calls us it's a calling it's not a choice and so the spirit of God is the one who calls and says set apart from me Saul and Barnabas for the work to which I have called them so after they fasted and prayed they placed their hands on them ordination and sent them off the two of them sent on their way by the Holy Spirit went down to Solution and sailed from there to Cyprus and so we see that verse 2 to 4 the spirit is the one who initiates this the spirit is the one who is leading them and then when they get down into the heart of the situation that they're in in Cyprus the spirit is the one who is filling them we see that in verse 9 and the courage with which Paul spoke as he addressed Elemas the scotero is a courage that comes not from himself but from the Holy Spirit who is in him so biblical proclamation is spirit filled and if

[55:57] I take a second to apply this I have to say that my experience is let me start with a question when did you last ask that God would give you an opportunity to proclaim Christ when did you last pray in the morning that God would give you an opportunity in that day to be able to proclaim the gospel because my experience is that when I pray for opportunities to share Christ in the course of the day I get them and I get the words to say when I need them but my experience also negatively is I must confess that when I stop praying for opportunities to share Christ I don't seem to get them or maybe I am not sufficiently tuned in to God to recognize them and so the lesson here is that we are to pray daily that we will be led by and filled with the

[57:08] Holy Spirit so that we will have opportunities to and the ability to share the gospel message whatever God causes us to be in work and play here there everywhere so mission involves proclamation and that proclamation is spirit filled and secondly it's Jesus filled and it's the Holy Spirit as he fills us that enables us to speak of Christ the Holy Spirit is sometimes described as the shy one of the Trinity he doesn't seek to draw attention to himself he seeks to lift up and draw attention to Jesus if you go through scripture and read and study you'll see that and in these two places that's what we read actually happens what they said was true of Christ in Cyprus from verses 4 to verse 12 they proclaim the word of God now we don't have a record of what exactly was said but who is the word of

[58:11] God who is God the word it's Christ and they proclaim Jesus in the Jewish synagogue and they proclaim Jesus most robustly in conversation with Elimus they proclaim Jesus persuasively as they dialogue with the pro-consul this intelligent man Sergius Paulus and notice it's Barnabas and Saul it's they plural who are proclaiming Christ and so we not just me but we must proclaim Jesus when I was leaving the church last Sunday morning I think it was one of the most encouraging comments at the door was a comment from somebody that indicated that in what sense I wasn't missed when I was away I was away for three weeks by the way when I was away I wasn't really missed what the guy said was these elders did a great job you could have stayed away for a few more weeks now that's encouraging and that's a healthy and that's a biblical set up we proclaim the gospel because it's the one gospel it's the same gospel the

[59:30] Holy Spirit is the one who fills each one as we proclaim the good news about Jesus Christ and not just me and not just the elders but every believer proclamation is not limited to a platform or a platform and a table and a hall proclamation includes Jesus filled conversations not church filled conversations not minister filled conversations but Christ filled conversations speak about him and his grace Colossians 4 6 let your conversation be always full of grace seasoned with salt so that you may know how to answer everyone and so every single person here and elsewhere who is a believer has a ministry it may not be the particular calling of being set apart for preaching each

[60:33] Lord's day but everyone who is a believer has a ministry everyone has a commission Matthew 28 and so believers believe and proclaim the word of God as Barnabas and Saul did in Cyprus and then in Pisidian Antioch they take this journey from Cyprus they go over the marshland they go up into the mountains and we have more detail there on the text we're given the sermon notes essentially of Paul's first recorded sermon and predictably Paul's first recorded sermon is all about the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ it culminates in the death and the resurrection of Jesus I have no time for this to go into detail but if you just stand with me in these verses as Paul addresses the Jews there he's deep in the Old

[61:34] Testament because he knows that they all know this and they all agree this he meets them where they're at he meets them where he knows they will understand and agree with him first of all and then he speaks to Jews about what God did for those who didn't deserve or merit anything verse 17 he speaks about how God graciously chose them verse 18 he speaks about how God graciously endured their conduct and their persistent bad behaviour for so long verse 19 he speaks about how God overthrew nations for them and God gave them land verse 19 he gave them judges verse 20 he gave them kings as they asked for verses 21 and 22 and ultimately he comes to the crescendo of this that he gave them Jesus verse 23 and following everything leads to Christ the saviour who would live and who would die and who would rise again and secure salvation verse 30 for everyone who would believe and turn in him so Paul teaches

[62:47] Jesus proclamation is spirit filled and it's Christ filled not me filled not you filled not church filled but Christ filled and Paul is bold and he is clear in saying we Jews did not recognise Christ when he was here we rejected him as Paul had but God is gracious and so Paul appeals to them do not make the same mistake again verse 38 therefore my brothers I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you through him everyone who believes is justified what is justified means means that we are made just as if we had never sinned through him everyone who believes is justified from everything you could not be justified by from by the law of Moses take care that what the scoffers have said does not happen to you look you scoffers wander and perish for I am going to do something in your days that you would never believe even if someone told you and so

[64:07] Paul says don't scoff like I scoffed he says don't perish like I was once perishing believe in Jesus accept forgiveness of sins and be justified through the death and the resurrection of Christ and that is spirit filled Christ filled biblical proclamation and Paul's sermon is as relevant to us today here as it was to them there on that day and just as they responded we are called to respond and that takes us to the final brief point mission involves provocation mission starts in worship mission involves proclamation of Christ and finally mission involves provocation now we know some things are designed to provoke us positively

[65:17] I was preparing at the end of last night and an email fired through this amazing sale in some shop 75% off only until tomorrow 75% off only until tomorrow don't miss out don't delay act and that's not just information in an email that's not just facts for my interest that's designed to make me want to buy buy buy that's designed to make me respond to evoke a response and the gospel offer is designed to evoke a response and that's what happened in both places in Cyprus the word of God Jesus is preached and it provoked a reaction verse 12 the pro-consul he saw what happened and he believed he was amazed at the teaching about the Lord Jesus and so he trusted him and then in verse 8 we read same word same message and yet

[66:24] Eleus rejected and opposed the message and opposed Saul and Parnabas as they gave it Eleus stood and he rejected the message just as Saul of Tarshish had Saul must have looked at Eleus and saw something of himself in him because he had stood where Eleus was standing Paul had verse 11 been a child of the devil an enemy of everything that is right he had been perverting the right way of God he had been full of deceit and trickery but God met him and God knocked him down and God blinded him as he blinded Eleus and he in turn believed Eleus we don't know if we ever did but just note in Cyprus same gospel same proclamation two responses polar opposites one believes one furiously rejects and then the Pisidian

[67:29] Antioch same reactions some followed Christ and after hearing the sermon wanted more and more and more you see that in verses 42 to verse 44 others heard the sermon they heard the message they rejected it and they hated it and they determined they would persecute Saul and Barnabas and they would not rest until they were evicted and taken away same sermon poor opposite reactions and the point is as a finish you can't sit on the fence when it comes to Jesus provokes a reaction so you can't sit here neutral Christ and his gospel provokes a reaction you can hate it and you can dismiss

[68:39] Christ and you can pay for your own sin eternal in hell or you can love this gospel and recognize it as good news and receive Jesus and be assured of forgiveness of sin and eternal life but you must respond to Christ verse 46 we had to speak the word of God to you says Paul first we had to speak the word of God to you Jews first since you rejected and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life we go now and turn to the Gentiles that's us same gospel we hear how will we respond

[69:47] Archie McPherson giving the final word salvation is God's gift damnation is our choice we need not be lost so let's look to Christ and find salvation in him let's pray our heaven father we thank you that the same gospel message which you called Saul and Barnabas to proclaim to the Jews and then take to the Gentiles we thank you that that message has been preserved and it has travelled to him we have it in our own ears this morning we thank you that Jesus lived as was predicted that he came as the one who was promised we thank you that he died on that cross for sinners we thank that he rose to justify sinners and we thank you that eternal life is promised to all who will look to him and believe in him and so we pray that this morning we would not reject the gospel message we pray that we would not delay and dabble in the danger that attracts but that we would trust and accept

[71:38] Christ for us to this time and we pray this in Jesus name Amen we sing to conclude from mission praise 757 and the words which will be on the screen 757 a kind of sins of the fact that we can know health that we can know security in our souls as we would to Jesus when peace like a river attendeth my way when sorrows like sea waters row whatever my lot you have taught me to sing it is well it is well with my soul sing this whole hymn to God's praise we stand again to sing and I may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ in the love of God the Father and the fellowship