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Welcome to the Be Disciples podcast . With your

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host , cal Morris , dakota Smith and David Glevin

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, we are studying the book of Acts

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. Welcome , guys . How are you doing this

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morning ? How

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are you doing ? How

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are you doing ?

1:23

How are you doing ?

1:27

How are you doing ?

1:45

How are you doing ? How

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are you doing , how

2:35

are you doing , how

2:53

are you doing , how

3:03

are ?

3:03

you doing .

3:20

How are you doing ?

3:46

How are you doing ?

3:51

How are you doing ?

4:11

How are you doing ?

4:33

How are you doing ? How

4:53

are you doing ?

4:58

How are you doing ? How

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are you doing , how

5:34

are you doing ?

6:03

How are you doing ? How

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are you doing ? How

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are you doing If

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we remember where we were Paul's preaching

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. Verse 42 and 43 also says

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the following as Paul and Barnabas

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were going out , the people kept begging that

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these things might

7:02

be spoken to them the next Sabbath . Now

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, in the meeting , of the synagogue had broken up

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. Many of the Jews and of the God-fearing proselytes

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followed Paul and Barnabas who

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, speaking to them , were urging them to continue

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in the grace of God . So we know

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that another Sabbath is

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being anticipated . The people want

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to hear more . Before we actually dive into the text , any

7:22

other thing that you guys would

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want to add , as it pertains

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to where we've been the last couple of weeks

7:29

.

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Well , one thought , as you were

7:32

just recapping , that was their

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urgency that they speak

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the next Sabbath , and

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they're hungry for the Word , they're

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hungry for the truth , probably

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with some sort of fear and trepidation

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, like you know . We need to know this . This

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is a message that was missed , and we're

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hearing it and we're accepting it . We need to

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know more because we don't wanna miss out , but

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I think there's power in their response where

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they say go in the

8:01

grace of God , god will

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provide you what you need . Like

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, don't worry about what you're missing

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now . You will hear what you need to hear

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when that time comes . That's

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what I heard , that as you were recapping .

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Yeah , I mean they were urging them to continue in

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the grace of God , right , and

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you see that phrase , the grace of God , actually a lot

8:23

in Acts .

8:24

So Well , I mean all

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of the different people that he's mentioned , the

8:28

deliverers , you know

8:31

, the examples of God's grace for

8:33

the people , helping them understand

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who those people were in their history

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and breaking that down for them and

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then for them to really understand what it means

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to continue in the grace of God instead of

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, you know , so structured

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under the law , under continually doing these

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things , but living , you know , almost

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a faithless life or

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not a grace filled one , but just this works

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, works , works , works , works . And he's urging

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them continue in what we're saying , continue

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in the grace of God . Don't allow

9:02

these other things to pull you back from

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having a listening ear to what Jesus

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has done on the cross . I mean , he's really trying

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to change the Jews here . He's

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really trying to change and persuade them to

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say you know God , you've

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seen God work . Now

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keep in that faith , keep

9:19

in that grace . And so I

9:21

think Paul is really he

9:24

knows , because he is a Jewish

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man who's well trained in

9:29

the ways of that they're living , and so he's

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really pushing them and he's obviously the

9:34

way it's responding . They're following him , they

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wanna hear more , they're excited

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. So he's gonna

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keep going and I can't

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even imagine being a Jew in this situation

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like , okay , what you're saying , I

9:47

get it , I'm connecting with it , I understand our history

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. Now you're telling me about Jesus and

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I'm trying to make this connection and I wanna continue to learn

9:54

more . So I think there's a building

9:56

up here in the preaching of the gospel

9:58

and they're excited .

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I think too , maybe at a larger level , it

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seems like the book of Acts has now

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taken the official pivotal

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turn . You know the first 12

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chapters , you saw the majority of the apostle Peter's

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ministry and , yes , there was preaching

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, but there was also a ton of healing in

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divine miracles . But

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I think now you're gonna start to see , the

10:19

greatest emphasis of the book

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of Acts is Paul's ministry first

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missionary journey , second missionary journey , third missionary

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journey , and in each of those you're

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going to see these long discourses of Paul

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preaching , paul preaching , paul preaching , paul preaching

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. And it's like the focus

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is now turning towards what the word

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of God is doing for

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people who have not yet heard of the good

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news . And I think that point

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right there is what ushers us into

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today's passage , versus 44

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to 52 . What is the word

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of God doing to people

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who haven't yet believed ? So

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we begin verse 44, . The next

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Sabbath , nearly

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the whole city assembled

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to hear the word of the Lord

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. And I think that's the main

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idea that catapults us right the whole

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city assembled to hear the

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word of the Lord . That's the focus , verse

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45, . But when the Jews saw

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the crowds , they were filled

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with jealousy and began

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contradicting the things spoken

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by Paul and were blaspheming

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. Paul and Barnabas

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spoke out boldly and said it

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was necessary that the word

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of God there it is again be

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spoken to you first , since

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you repudiate it and

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judge yourselves unworthy of eternal

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life . Behold , we

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are turning to the Gentiles

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, for so the Lord

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has commanded us . I have placed

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you as a light for the Gentiles

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, that you may bring salvation

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to the end of the earth . Guys

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, this is halfway through our passage . But verse

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44 to 47 , any

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initial thoughts that you might have , I mean , how does

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44 to 47 just

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kind of strike you in the face

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, for lack of a better way to put it ? This morning

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we're studying the Bible

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. We

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see the immediate rejection of

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the Jews . How can we get the plane

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off the ground ? Let's go .

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Well , we have two groups of Jews

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, because we just read in 42 to 43

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that there are some Jews who are

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listening and who are learning

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and wanting to hear more . And then we

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have a group of Jews that are clearly

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going against Paul and Barnabas

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here , who are reviling them , contradicting

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the things that they're saying it says here

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, and so we definitely have two groups of

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Jewish people you could kind of break them off One's

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who have a listening ear , who possibly

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are being converted , and we

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have a group of Jews who are clearly

12:54

going against him . So the

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crowd is mixed when it comes to

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what they're accepting , when

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it comes to this message . So I

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just see the tension there between the Jewish people

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. Some are believing , some are

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not believing , and that is riling

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them up . But I also think it's cool that almost

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the whole city is gathered . Yeah

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, what an amaze . Just

13:16

to be a fly on the flying around seeing

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that happen . Paul's preaching to a whole

13:20

city that's cool .

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Yeah , and maybe in ancient times that might be

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the size of a city

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like ours right now , ottawa . We don't

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know the exact population , but I know

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cities were not necessarily as

13:33

they are today , but

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I mean Ottawa is like 13,000

13:37

people . Even if the whole city of Ottawa gathered

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, that would be a sight to see . Yeah

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, imagine that .

13:43

Yeah , it'd be a big crowd . We

13:45

have the car show coming up this weekend . That's

13:47

true here in Ottawa . And we're going

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to evangelize . Yeah , that's a lot of people

13:52

. That's probably one of the biggest events in Ottawa . So

13:54

you can imagine the streets lined

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with people all the way down Main

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Street into our park , at the Enforce

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Park , which is a massive park , but just people

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and people gathered . And what if that was all

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just to hear the gospel ? That'd

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be amazing . And that's what's happening here with Paul . People

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are intrigued . Whether they like it or they

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don't like it , they're coming to listen .

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Yeah , that reminds me , by the way , we need to make

14:15

a video this week reminding people of the evangelism

14:18

training we're going to be doing Saturday morning . And

14:21

then , david , you had a thought .

14:23

Well , I mean the people , the

14:25

whole town came out and there's , I'm

14:28

sure , numerous

14:31

intentions , reasons for

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them to come out , like we were talking about the car

14:35

show . If everyone was coming out to hear the gospel

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and we can't assume that everyone

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was coming out In that

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time they didn't have YouTube

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and Facebook and all those entertainment things

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. So when something's going on , you go and

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you see what's going on , but

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when you're talking about to hear the word

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, to hear the word of the Lord , there's

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two different responses to that . And

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when you hear something , when you

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have faith , when you have a zeal for

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God , you respond . If

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you hear something that you believe is not true

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, you be filled with

15:15

a godly zeal against it , like this

15:18

is not the truth about God . But

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here it intentionally

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says they were filled with

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not zeal , not a

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godly anger , that this is not

15:29

true , that this isn't . But they were filled with

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jealousy and

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that's a heart condition and that can

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be seen . I mean , that's not

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something that you have

15:39

to be trained . You can see the fruit

15:41

from somebody's heart and how that's coming out . So

15:43

how they responded was not

15:45

because necessarily

15:48

they were defending

15:50

what they

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felt was true about God , but they were

15:54

defending what they were holding on

15:56

to in their own works

15:59

, in their own tradition , and

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so their response

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was a false response , it

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was a fleshy .

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Yeah , I do find it interesting that if

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you just read verse 42 , it says you know

16:11

they were begging them to come back the next Sabbath

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, right . And then the next Sabbath

16:16

comes , verse 44, . They

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assembled to hear the word of God . And I find it really

16:21

intriguing that the moment

16:23

that set them off was when

16:25

they saw , you know , that

16:29

other people from the crowd were coming that were not

16:31

Jews , right , they were filled with

16:33

jealousy , so on

16:35

one hand , their heart was beginning

16:38

to be inclined towards the preaching

16:41

already a

16:43

week in advance . But the moment

16:45

you throw some Gentiles in there , I

16:47

mean they're set off and it's like they changed their mind

16:49

, which that I

16:51

mean . That's a form of hatred

16:53

and partiality and sin that God

16:55

never called Israel to to begin with , as

16:58

we see in the next coming verses .

17:00

Well , and Paul even says here it was necessary

17:02

that the word of God be spoken

17:04

first to you . That's right , like

17:07

guys , we came to you first

17:09

and it's

17:11

not like we just like bypassed you and

17:13

went to the Gentiles . I mean , you know

17:15

. Paul even points out like we've come to

17:18

the synagogue , we've come here to preach

17:20

to you guys , to the Jews , because

17:22

you need to know this , you need to know the Messiah has

17:24

come . So , yeah , I find

17:26

it interesting he even appeals to their arrogance

17:29

a little bit in what he says

17:31

to try to get them to listen . Again

17:33

, I see the persuading of Paul We've

17:35

come to you first , those

17:38

who are the chosen people

17:40

from God , who are Israel , and

17:43

so it kind of makes that distinction

17:46

between the Israelites and the

17:48

Gentiles .

17:49

Well , he even quotes Isaiah 42-6,

17:51

. I've placed you as a light for

17:53

the Gentiles , that you may bring salvation

17:56

to the end of the earth . He's

17:59

trying to remind them . This was supposed

18:01

to be your purpose , but now , because of your

18:03

rejection , paul uses the actual

18:06

words . We are turning to the Gentiles

18:08

You've judged yourselves unworthy

18:10

of eternal life right , the

18:12

salvation message that you were

18:14

supposed to be bringing . So

18:17

, I mean , I just find it ironic

18:19

. They thought that they were

18:21

rejecting the message because

18:25

of the people , but they

18:27

were also rejecting a responsibility

18:30

that God had for them , based on the message

18:32

for those people . So

18:35

it's like , in a sense , they're rejecting three

18:37

things . So

18:41

, yeah , this is pretty bad . So how

18:45

do we bring that down to

18:47

application for today , though ? Like if our listeners

18:50

are listening and they're thinking , hey

18:52

, this show is supposed to be an

18:54

opportunity for me to learn how to sit down with

18:56

the Bible at the coffee shop with somebody

18:58

else . I'm trying to read the Bible with , like

19:02

, what am I supposed to do with this ? How does

19:04

this get played out in our actual lives ? We

19:06

don't typically live in a context where

19:09

there's many Jews in a synagogue around

19:11

the corner . So how do

19:13

we apply this ?

19:15

I mean as Christians , I think we can fall into the same

19:17

place as the Jewish people

19:20

, right ? So if we're believers in Jesus Christ

19:22

, we know what he's done for us and

19:24

so we're saved and we're like , okay , I

19:26

go to church and I get myself involved

19:28

in church things and I read my Bible and

19:31

I just hang around a bunch of Christians Well

19:33

, if that's all you do , you're

19:36

gonna end up just like the Jewish people here

19:38

, where you're not living out

19:40

. The Great Commission , which

19:42

was obviously in Isaiah , was

19:45

already kind of talked about , right , what

19:47

the Jewish people were supposed to be like . They were supposed

19:49

to be a light to the world . They're supposed to be examples of

19:51

holy living , set apart from the world

19:53

, living for God . And then there's

19:55

Jesus and the Great Commission to go

19:57

and make disciples of all nations , teaching

20:00

them to observe the things that I have

20:02

commanded you baptizing in the name

20:04

of the Holy Spirit . So I think it's , if

20:06

we don't participate in

20:08

the Great Commission , paul's participating

20:11

in the gospel not just believing

20:13

the gospel , but participating in the gospel

20:15

. The Jewish people are not participating

20:18

. They're staying in their own bubble within

20:21

the Jewish people . Look at us , we're

20:23

self-righteous and they're not even

20:25

following God's word and they're

20:27

not even doing the thing that sets them apart . They're

20:29

doing the things that sets them apart for themselves . We

20:32

can get stuck in that too and keep ourselves

20:35

in a Christian bubble , not discipling , not

20:37

evangelizing , not an active believer

20:39

following Christ . So I think our

20:41

hearts can fall into the same place . So

20:43

we're no different than the Jewish people . We're

20:46

still humans and we're still sinners , and we can still

20:48

fall into that .

20:49

Well , yeah , and Paul says we are turning to the Gentiles

20:51

, which means the Gentiles were now the ones

20:53

to take the responsibility . But that doesn't mean that

20:55

the Gentiles can't neglect their responsibility

20:57

as well . So , david , your thoughts

20:59

on that ?

21:01

I was thinking about the , as

21:04

Christians , as we are

21:06

addressing , well , other

21:08

communities of believers , other individuals

21:11

, other groups within our realm , well

21:13

, you know , within our network , and

21:16

I can think of churches , I can think of ministries

21:18

. I think we can all think of churches

21:21

and ministries that we lament are going

21:23

in a direction that is outside of

21:26

biblical truth

21:28

and are

21:30

being , you know , just

21:32

sponging up culture and going

21:35

with the direction of culture and

21:37

going away from the word . And I think that it's

21:39

important for us who are

21:41

seeking to stand firm on the word

21:43

of God and staying with scripture , to

21:47

speak to those communities , to to

21:50

use our voice for that . But we can get stuck

21:52

in a bubble of arguing with

21:54

them and , you

21:56

know , out of fear for them

21:59

, and to

22:02

get caught up in arguing that . But I think

22:04

we do speak the truth and we move on . I

22:06

mean , I'm thinking of this passage where it says after

22:08

the Gentiles heard this , they rejo . Well

22:10

, I don't know what the word was , I gotta look at it , but

22:12

they were excited . Yeah , you know , it

22:16

said they were . When the Gentiles heard

22:18

this , they began rejoicing and glorifying

22:20

the word of the Lord and

22:23

as many as had been appointed to

22:26

eternal life believed . And

22:28

it's , you know , the excitement of those

22:30

who are receptive to the truth , who

22:32

are tuned to the Spirit . And we can't spend

22:34

too much time arguing amongst

22:36

ourselves , as Christians , that we have to . We do

22:39

have to seek out those who are

22:41

hungry for the truth and the Word

22:43

You're dead on .

22:44

I really think that's true . I'm

22:46

gonna say something that's

22:49

gonna sound controversial , but

22:51

it's really just for the benefit of the listener

22:54

. It's really out of the best possible

22:56

heart . So take this in context

22:58

of what I'm saying . The sum total

23:00

of our Christian life is

23:03

not a Bible study Like

23:06

. The final outcome of Christian maturity

23:08

in your life is not sitting around with other believers

23:11

, just reading the Bible perpetually

23:13

and never breaking out and actually

23:15

reaching people who are lost . Now

23:17

, if you heard , are you saying we

23:20

shouldn't do Bible studies ? No , you need to be in fellowship

23:22

with other believers , absolutely . Are

23:25

you saying that you know we shouldn't

23:29

enjoy time with other believers and we shouldn't prioritize

23:31

the church ? No , none of that's what I said . What

23:33

I am truly saying is , if you've

23:35

constantly found yourself in Bible

23:37

study after Bible study after Bible study after

23:39

Bible study , with mature Christian after mature

23:42

Christian , after mature Christian after mature Christian

23:44

, and you're not discipling

23:47

a less mature Christian or

23:49

being discipled by a more mature

23:52

Christian yourself , or bringing

23:54

along a non-believer so that the Word of God

23:56

impacts their heart to become a Christian , then

24:00

you are essentially

24:02

setting

24:04

the bar too low for how God wants

24:06

you to . Keyword participate

24:08

in the Gospel . If

24:11

you're in a Bible study with mature Christians

24:13

all around and it stays that way , something's

24:16

got to change , because otherwise

24:18

, you know you just , you continue to edify

24:20

each other , but nobody else benefits from that

24:22

. And I think we , as Christians , we know

24:24

how to play the holy huddle and

24:27

sometimes we don't know how to break out , and

24:29

our evangelism tool is the

24:31

Bible . So let's get people involved

24:33

. I know that sounds controversial , but what do you guys think

24:35

? Am I on ? Am I off ? Like , can

24:38

we become stagnant ?

24:40

Yeah , we can't . I mean I just think of . I

24:42

mean it's kind of a typical discipleship

24:45

example in our own church

24:47

body . If we're not discipling the

24:50

less mature believers or the younger

24:52

people , or in that just younger in their

24:54

faith it could be any age , but just younger

24:56

in their faith the church

24:58

won't continue in that location very long

25:00

, it won't . It'll end up dying off . I mean

25:02

, we're in Ottawa and we're around a bunch of farmers

25:05

, so imagine a farmer has a few children

25:07

but that farmer never teaches their children

25:10

how to farm , but expects them

25:12

to take over the farm when he's done farming

25:14

, same as the church . If

25:16

you do not spend

25:18

time teaching the younger generation

25:20

or the less mature believer to

25:22

become leaders in the church , to become teachers

25:25

in the church , to become those people to continue

25:27

the church . There'll be no church in that , in your town

25:29

. That's right . Same thing . So we have to be

25:31

. We have to be intentional

25:33

about our discipleship and intentional

25:35

about our evangelism , because all

25:38

you're going to see is a bunch of churches getting old

25:40

, yeah , and eventually they won't be there anymore

25:43

, and that is not . That's a sad day . I don't want

25:45

those lampstands to be taken . I know I want

25:47

those lampstands to shine , as the

25:49

church is supposed to be a light on

25:51

a hill and we're supposed to be that in our community

25:54

. So let's keep doing that .

25:55

The farming illustration was dead on

25:58

, because if there's nobody to carry

26:00

on the family farm , who else

26:02

does it ? Nobody's going to just learn

26:05

on their own . Everybody

26:07

needs to be discipled , and churches die

26:09

when they forget about healthy

26:11

participation in the gospel period .

26:14

Yeah , and I mean , I

26:16

see that example in this community of generational

26:19

farms being sold , and

26:21

I'm not saying someone didn't just choose another life to

26:23

work something else , sure , but the example still applies

26:26

. We want our church

26:28

to be here way beyond us

26:30

, three right , unless Jesus

26:32

returns , and then it doesn't really . It doesn't

26:34

, it doesn't hold the same purpose anymore . But

26:37

until that time , we

26:39

don't want this to be a place

26:41

where this building becomes something else . We

26:44

want it to be a gathering of the saints . We want it to be

26:46

a place where we do huddle , but

26:48

that huddle results in a

26:50

game-winning play or a game-winning drive

26:53

where we score some touchdowns , which is people

26:55

getting saved and people getting baptized . So that's

26:57

what we want to become and that's

26:59

the church . The identity that we have

27:01

is to live sent here at Ottawa Bible , and

27:04

this is a passage that helps us do that .

27:06

And we're looking for that genuine excitement of

27:08

coming to faith , the genuine excitement of

27:10

people who once were

27:14

not , once did not believe , once

27:16

were not a part of the fellowship , once did

27:18

not have the promise of eternal life through Jesus

27:21

Christ . The excitement in

27:23

hearing that , the excitement in being a

27:25

part of that , the excitement of baptisms

27:27

, of the joy that the church

27:30

gets to experience in that , the joy of having

27:32

a Bible study where a young person just gets

27:35

it and gets excited and plugs in

27:37

and we can , in the church

27:39

, get excited about the

27:41

wrong things and get focused on the wrong thing

27:43

. Well , not necessarily the wrong things , but put

27:45

more focus on , like you said , you

27:48

know , when the good thing shadows

27:50

, overshadows the best thing , it

27:53

becomes a bad thing . I think that was Kyle's

27:55

quote . I like that . I'm looking at this sign

27:57

that we have up in here make

27:59

mature and multiply . When

28:02

the

28:06

spirit of God multiplies and more

28:08

people come to faith , we want to

28:10

make them mature so that then they can multiply

28:12

and then they can be

28:14

made mature . One of the most frustrating things

28:16

for me in ministry is when I'm spending so

28:19

much time with 50 , 60

28:21

, 70 year old believers and who

28:23

want to be spoon fed , you know

28:25

, and dealing

28:27

with conflicts and things that they should already

28:29

be living out in their life a biblical

28:31

model for living , but

28:34

haven't got it yet . And it's like I'm dealing

28:36

with the same things with you guys that I

28:38

am with the middle school , you

28:40

know . It's like get it and let's go

28:42

mature , because we need to multiply

28:44

, we need to

28:47

be Exciting

28:49

other people for the Lord .

28:50

Yeah , I mean it's it's kind of . It's kind of like

28:52

the Jews were in a generation

28:55

of their , their faith being

28:57

this Individualistic

28:59

type of it . This is our faith .

29:01

We're the Jews . It's not for the Gentiles , it's not

29:03

for anybody else like .

29:04

This is my individual faith that I'm gonna live out

29:06

myself . I'm gonna go to synagogue , I'm gonna

29:08

follow the law , yeah , and it's it's . It's

29:10

just individually between me and God , and

29:14

God's like I . Actually I gave you

29:16

guys a mission . I gave you guys a mission

29:18

to reach the world right With

29:21

who I am , and so we can't

29:23

do that as a church and we , the church

29:25

today , has fallen into that . In general . I'm not saying

29:27

auto Bible , I'm just saying the church universally

29:29

has fallen into a place when

29:32

we've become more internal

29:35

than external . It's not

29:37

bad , like you said , to study God's word , to be

29:39

equipped to go do the work , but if you're studying

29:41

God's word not to be equipped to

29:43

go do the work of the ministry , right , then you're

29:45

not following the Bible . Yeah , so we

29:48

have to be equal . I mean right here , as we continue

29:50

reading it talks about . They began rejoicing

29:52

and glorifying the word of the Lord

29:54

, the word , the Bible , the scriptures

29:57

that Paul is teaching them there

29:59

began to rejoice in the word , and

30:01

we are also gonna need to do the same thing

30:03

.

30:04

Yeah , yeah , I was just speaking to Dr

30:06

Jim Baugh this last week on the

30:08

phone Trying to get him out here to Ottawa

30:10

we're talking about a date in the spring yeah

30:12

, awesome . And you know , for one

30:14

of our OBC academies and

30:16

he was saying you know , it's

30:19

tough in the New Testament to find direct

30:21

commands where the church is told to go , because

30:24

the direct commands is to make disciples . It's

30:27

tough to find direct commands where Jesus said

30:29

to go , because that was already totally

30:31

assumed that they would go . Yeah

30:33

, I mean , the implication is , I

30:35

don't see Any other

30:37

option . Of course you're gonna go and

30:39

when my Holy Spirit comes upon you , you

30:42

will most definitely be my

30:44

witnesses and all of Jerusalem , judea

30:46

, samaria , to the ends of the earth . So I

30:48

mean Jesus For his disciples

30:50

. He was just assuming they would go , that's

30:53

, there was no question about it , right , Didn't

30:55

even need to be talked about . So I

30:58

think for Israel , because they lost out

31:00

on that participation , at

31:02

least as a whole . This

31:04

is how we're wrapping a bow on this section of the

31:06

scripture , but Now it's

31:08

the Gentiles job , and 1 Corinthians

31:10

10 tells us that these things happen to Israel

31:13

as an example for us , so that

31:15

we may not sin in the same way .

31:16

So yeah , yeah , we're supposed to be

31:18

a going people Right

31:20

, always on the move . That's right . I mean I don't

31:23

know if you said that . Somebody said this recently like , as

31:25

Christians , you know , a lot of times in America

31:27

we talk about building roots somewhere

31:30

in a community , and I think there's a place

31:32

where God calls you to build roots in a community

31:34

and stay there , but I don't think those roots should

31:36

be so deep that you're not listening to God's

31:38

command to go to the next place , as he Calls

31:41

you to do so . Yeah , our roots should be in

31:43

heaven , our citizenship there , not

31:45

our citizenship on earth , and we should be a going

31:48

people , moving , moving , moving , reaching

31:50

more people . That should be our attitude . That should be where

31:52

our eyes are focused on .

31:53

Yeah , it's not either , or it's both and yeah so

31:56

verses 48 to 52 we've

31:58

we've taken the first half

32:00

of this conversation pretty far . Nevertheless

32:02

, looking at the example of not to follow

32:05

with the , the Jews , looking at the example

32:07

of who to to follow , actually the Gentiles

32:09

verse 48 when the Gentiles

32:12

heard this , they began

32:14

rejoicing and Glorifying

32:17

the word of the Lord . I always

32:19

I find this phrase really interesting rejoicing

32:21

and glorifying the word of the

32:23

Lord . And Then it goes on to say

32:25

and as many as had been appointed

32:28

to eternal life believed

32:30

and the word of the

32:32

Lord . There it is again , like the fourth time

32:34

in our passage , and the word of the Lord was being

32:36

Spread through the whole region

32:39

. Why ? Because they were going verse 50

32:41

but the Jews , again

32:43

the problematic people in this passage

32:45

Insided the devout women

32:47

of prominence and the leading men

32:49

of the city and instigated

32:51

a persecution against Paul and Barnabas

32:54

and drove them out of their district

32:56

. But they shook off the

32:58

dust of their feet and protest

33:00

against them and went to Iconium Shaking

33:04

off the dust of the feet . We find that from Matthew , chapter

33:06

10 , verse 52 . And the disciples

33:08

were continually filled

33:11

with joy and Filled

33:13

, or you could even say empowered , with

33:16

the Holy Spirit . So , guys , a couple of

33:18

things that we see in verses 48 to 52

33:20

. What else are you noticing ?

33:23

Well , the word of the Lord continues to go on

33:26

, that's right . And you , I do notice here

33:28

that Paul's

33:30

preaching is being called

33:32

what he's preaching the word of the

33:34

Lord . That's right . So we're gonna

33:36

get Paul's letters later in the New Testament that

33:39

are God's words that he gives

33:41

to us , and I'm not saying every word

33:43

Paul says is the word of

33:45

God , but his letters are the word of God and

33:48

he's preaching the gospel , which is the word

33:50

of God , yeah , and so we know that Paul

33:52

is being faithful to the message

33:54

of Jesus Christ and

33:56

that's what he's preaching . Paul isn't preaching

33:59

the gospel of Paul . Paul's

34:01

preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ and

34:03

what is it leading to ? Where ? What is happening

34:06

in this city ? Well , there's

34:08

a stirring up , politically right

34:11

of high-standing women and

34:13

men to To force persecution

34:16

upon those preaching the word . Yeah . Now

34:18

, this is this is not rare

34:20

, yeah , today , this isn't rare . Throughout

34:23

history , this is a common occurrence of

34:25

when the gospel is being spread in a place that

34:27

people will oppose it and depose

34:29

it to the point where they will want to make it illegal

34:31

or against the

34:34

day . So and the culture . So we see that

34:36

happening here . This is kind of a the

34:38

persecution of the gospel happening early

34:40

on in a city , but Paul following

34:43

scripture in Jesus's words , and what it means to

34:45

dust off your feet , yeah , and to

34:47

go to the next city well , and that's just the

34:50

negative outcome .

34:51

Right , yeah , the preaching of the word of the Lord

34:53

, david you mentioned Earlier

34:56

, and as many as had been appointed to

34:58

eternal life , believe that's a positive outcome

35:00

of the preaching of the word of the Lord , the

35:02

. The word of the Lord prepares this

35:05

phrase here , believe

35:07

it or not . This , this phrase , this half sentence

35:09

or so , has been argued about by many theologians

35:11

from many theological camps , because

35:14

it says and as many as had been appointed

35:16

, or literally selected , to

35:18

eternal life , believe so . Someone

35:20

take the predestination route . Others

35:23

would say , hey , the word appointed here

35:25

can actually be translated as prepared

35:27

, and it was the preaching of the

35:29

word of God that Prepared the heart , so that

35:31

then of course , they believe

35:33

they had been prepared for two weeks in a row , and so on

35:35

and so forth . So , and

35:38

this passage specifically , I actually

35:40

think , contextually the word Prepared

35:42

works better than appointed

35:45

, because you see the emphasis on the word

35:47

of God being preached over and over and over the , the preparation

35:50

of the Bible , right , and then of

35:52

course I think God , the Father , uses that to draw

35:54

and woo a person's heart , but

35:56

I I think it's better to see this

35:58

is people had been prepared because

36:01

the word of the Lord has been preached , and

36:03

Paul says how will they Hear

36:06

or excuse me , how will they believe if they have not

36:08

heard ? And I think

36:10

this is the very thing happening . The preaching is the

36:12

preparing .

36:14

Think , especially here . You see , you

36:17

have to work a lot harder against the word of God

36:19

Then you do to just

36:21

speak the word of God , like there's

36:23

this , paul is just speaking

36:26

. The word of God is sharing the gospel

36:28

truth about Jesus , ministry

36:31

, life , death , their

36:33

resurrection , and People

36:37

are responding to it I In

36:41

the two ways either , you know

36:43

, with excitement and vigor or with , oh

36:46

, we have to fight against this . Yeah , the

36:48

word has power . I mean that's

36:50

all he's speaking is the word . But

36:52

then if they're kicking against it , they've

36:54

got to drum up all this , all this

36:56

earthly support Against

36:58

it . But we need

37:00

no other support than the Spirit of God .

37:03

Yeah , that's very well . That's very well

37:05

said . They've got to drum up other

37:07

support , earthly support . That's well said

37:09

, and I think the outcome of

37:11

this type of ministry is

37:13

Joy . They're filled

37:15

with joy and they were filled with the Holy Spirit

37:18

. Now , guys , I don't know about you , but I

37:20

enjoy my job . If

37:22

you could call it that , it's almost

37:24

unfair . But there are tough days

37:26

. For instance , yesterday I felt like I had a really

37:28

tough day , but those are the outliers

37:31

like . For the most part , I

37:33

love what I'm doing and

37:35

feel like I'm consistently filled with

37:37

joy and Empowered

37:39

with the Holy Spirit as I do so , and

37:42

I think all of that is tied to word-based

37:45

ministry .

37:47

Yeah , I mean I love the joy

37:49

here . I remember , you know when there's times I remember

37:52

being at Walmart with you and there was that guy that rejected

37:54

the gospel like pretty hard yeah , but like

37:56

you leave , even in the rejection you leave

37:58

like yeah

38:01

, yeah , badge of honor . Like

38:03

you're just the Holy Spirit's like we got rejected

38:05

. Yeah like there's an encouragement , even

38:08

though you don't want that guy to reject it . Your heart is like

38:10

, no , I want you into the gospel , yeah , but

38:12

I think the Holy Spirit in

38:14

you goes . You , you were obedient

38:17

, mm-hmm . You were obedient to what I asked

38:19

you to do . And then there's joy that

38:21

comes in obedience to the Lord . I think people

38:23

miss out when they look at Christianity

38:26

and they think of well , you got to follow rules

38:28

, or God says you have to do this , and

38:30

that , like I don't think you understand . When

38:32

you're obedient to God , it is the most

38:34

joy filled experience that you

38:36

can ever have in this life is doing

38:38

the will and desires of God . I

38:41

don't , I can't explain another joy that's greater than

38:44

that .

38:45

This could be seen as just wanting to look

38:47

at every situation with rose colored lenses

38:50

, but the that

38:53

walk away , the walk away . When

38:55

you share the Lord with somebody , either

38:59

way , if it's the harder , the harder

39:01

they reject it . I Mean

39:03

, look at Paul . I mean he , he

39:05

fought against Jesus hardcore , but

39:08

then he turned hard too . And you

39:10

don't know what the Lord is doing in somebody's heart

39:12

. When they reject hard , they

39:15

might walk away from that and that truth

39:17

is still sitting on their heart . If there's any receptive

39:19

part of their spirit , any

39:23

ounce , if they have a

39:25

desire for the tree , that

39:27

is gonna work its way into their heart

39:29

, although if it's hard to reject it . But

39:31

there is still hope that the Lord is gonna

39:34

work in that seed . And then you walk

39:36

away from somebody who You're

39:38

just not sure you're like . Well , they were

39:40

kind of on the fence , they were really wobbly

39:42

again . Still , the

39:44

Lord is working on it . We're

39:46

working with the spirit and the

39:48

spirit doesn't stop working when we walk away

39:51

.

39:52

Well , I hope that today you are encouraged

39:54

by the word of God in

39:56

Acts , chapter 13 . You're encouraged

39:58

to go share the gospel . You're encouraged to go disciple

40:01

, because it's what we're being taught

40:03

, it's what Jesus commanded us to do . So thank you

40:05

for listening to the be disciples podcast . We hope

40:07

that you join us each week as we

40:09

tackle a book of the Bible , as we grow

40:12

, as we become equipped to go do the Work of

40:14

the ministry . Thank you so much for listening

40:16

. Have a blessed week , you

40:48

.