1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:29,980 Jesus, your name is power, breath and living water, such a marvelous mystery. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who is the Lord Almighty. 2 00:00:29,980 --> 00:00:59,960 The walls and ears and ears to come. With all creation I sing praise to the King of Kings. You are my everything, and I will adore you. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and ears and ears to come. 3 00:00:59,960 --> 00:01:29,940 With all creation I sing praise to the King of Kings. You are my everything, and I will adore you. 4 00:01:29,940 --> 00:01:59,920 Worthy is the Lamb who was slain. Holy, holy is He. 5 00:01:59,920 --> 00:02:29,900 O Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder, consider all the works thy hand hath made. I see the stars, I hear the mighty thunder. 6 00:02:29,900 --> 00:02:59,880 The path throughout the universe displayed. Then sings my soul, a Savior God to thee. How great thou art. How great thou art. 7 00:02:59,880 --> 00:03:29,860 How great thou art. How great thou art. When through the woods and forest glades I wander. And hear the birds sing sweetly in the earth. 8 00:03:29,860 --> 00:03:59,840 When I look down from lofty mountain grandeur. And hear the brook. And feel the gentle breeze. Then sings my soul, my Savior God to thee. 9 00:03:59,840 --> 00:04:29,820 How great thou art. How great thou art. Then sings my soul, my Savior God to thee. How great thou art. How great thou art. 10 00:04:29,820 --> 00:04:59,800 That God his Son not sparing. Send him to die. I scarce can take it in. That on the cross my burden gladly bear. He bled and died to take away my sin. 11 00:04:59,800 --> 00:05:29,780 Then sings my soul, my Savior God to thee. How great thou art. How great thou art. Then sings my soul, my Savior God to thee. 12 00:05:29,780 --> 00:05:36,780 How great thou art. How great thou art. 13 00:05:36,780 --> 00:05:54,780 Sometimes we live life in the middle of a storm, left out in the open, exposed to the elements. No matter where we look, protection seems miles away. Shelter feels out of reach. 14 00:05:56,380 --> 00:06:11,380 Lately, these storms have grown stronger, more intense, more difficult to bear. Where do we look when we can't see the way forward? How do we find safe harbor? 15 00:06:11,380 --> 00:06:22,980 In the midst of the ebb and flow, God promises to be our refuge and our strength. Our ever-present help in times of trouble. 16 00:06:22,980 --> 00:06:33,980 In our most desperate moments, we can rest safely behind the rock of our salvation, protected by the shadow of His wing. 17 00:06:33,980 --> 00:06:45,980 Yes, life has its troubles, but our God is a mighty fortress, our stronghold, our refuge. 18 00:06:52,980 --> 00:06:54,980 Amen. 19 00:07:22,980 --> 00:07:29,980 Amen. 20 00:07:52,980 --> 00:07:54,980 Amen. 21 00:08:22,980 --> 00:08:52,960 Good morning. A little bit of a different service this morning as the church is empty, which is a very strange feeling to be sitting here all by myself. Also have kind of a lot of screens happening, one to control the slides, one to play a little bit of music, one to make sure the camera's pointing in the right direction. 22 00:08:52,980 --> 00:09:14,980 So we will try to make it all work this morning. So I'm thankful for you, whether you are watching live with us right now at 10:15 or you're watching this a little later today or this week, it's my prayer that God will encourage you with His Word. 23 00:09:14,980 --> 00:09:27,980 So I want to read from the 61st Psalm as we think about how God helps and how He cares and takes care of His people. It says this: 24 00:09:27,980 --> 00:09:38,980 "Hear my cry, O God. Listen to my prayer. From the end of the earth I call to you. When my heart is faint, lead me to the rock that is higher than I. 25 00:09:38,980 --> 00:09:49,980 For you have been my refuge, a strong tower against the enemy. Let me dwell in your tent forever. Let me take refuge under the shelter of your wings. 26 00:09:49,980 --> 00:09:57,980 For you, O God, have heard my vows, and you have given me the heritage of those who fear your name." 27 00:09:57,980 --> 00:10:04,980 Let's have a word of prayer. Father in heaven, I know things are different this morning for a lot of us. 28 00:10:04,980 --> 00:10:14,980 I know I'm missing being with my brothers and sisters in Christ. I just ask that you would use this time to encourage us, to strengthen us. 29 00:10:14,980 --> 00:10:22,980 That you would lead us to the rock that is higher than I, that's bigger than we are, that's stronger, that's safer. 30 00:10:22,980 --> 00:10:33,980 That you would help us in a world that sometimes feels like it gets turned upside down so frequently, that you would remind us that strength, hope, and comfort is in you. 31 00:10:33,980 --> 00:10:44,980 Be with us as we spend some time together, even though we're far apart this morning. May you encourage our hearts and souls. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. 32 00:10:44,980 --> 00:10:55,980 So our service will be a little bit different. We'll just do sort of one song. It's always hard when you're at home and I'm here by myself. 33 00:10:55,980 --> 00:11:10,980 So maybe you don't feel like singing to your phone or your TV, but maybe just spend some time letting the music sort of prepare your heart as we get ready to open God's Word. 34 00:11:10,980 --> 00:11:22,980 So we're going to start by just reminding ourselves about the goodness and the greatness of God and all the reasons we have to bless Him. 35 00:11:22,980 --> 00:11:27,980 Bless the Lord, O my soul, O my soul. Worship His hope. 36 00:11:52,980 --> 00:12:07,980 Holy Name. Sin like never before, O my soul. I worship Your Holy Name. 37 00:12:07,980 --> 00:12:21,980 The sun comes up. It's a new day dawning. It's time to sing. 38 00:12:22,980 --> 00:12:43,980 Sing Your song again. Whatever may pass, and whatever lies before me. Let me be singing when the evening comes. 39 00:12:43,980 --> 00:13:11,980 Bless the Lord, O my soul. O my soul. Worship His holy name. Send like never before. O my soul. I'll worship Your holy name. 40 00:13:13,980 --> 00:13:37,980 You're rich in love, and You're slow to anger. Your name is great, and Your heart is kind. For all Your goodness, I will keep on singing. 41 00:13:37,980 --> 00:14:01,980 Ten thousand reasons for my heart to apply. Bless the Lord, O my soul, O my soul. Worship His holy name. 42 00:14:01,980 --> 00:14:14,980 I sinned like never before. O my soul, I'll worship Your holy name. 43 00:14:14,980 --> 00:14:28,980 And on that day when my strength is failing, the end draws me. 44 00:14:28,980 --> 00:14:40,980 And my time has come. Still my soul will sing Your praise unending. 45 00:14:40,980 --> 00:14:47,980 Ten thousand years and then forever more. 46 00:14:51,980 --> 00:15:03,980 Bless the Lord, O my soul, O my soul. Worship His holy name. 47 00:15:03,980 --> 00:15:17,980 Sing like never before, O my soul, I'll worship Your holy name. 48 00:15:18,980 --> 00:15:30,980 Bless the Lord, O my soul, O my soul. Worship His holy name. 49 00:15:30,980 --> 00:15:43,980 Sing like never before, O my soul, I'll worship Your holy name. 50 00:15:44,980 --> 00:15:57,980 Yes, I will worship Your holy name. Lord, I'll worship Your holy name. 51 00:16:14,980 --> 00:16:34,980 All right. We'll be in the book of Acts in just a minute. Teaching, sitting down this morning, still recovering a little bit. I want to have a word of prayer, just sort of an announcement about what's going to happen next. 52 00:16:34,980 --> 00:16:48,980 We'll spend a little time in God's Word. We'll sort of end gathering together around the table, and then have a word of prayer and wrap it up. I'm going to go ahead and pray for our time together. 53 00:16:48,980 --> 00:17:00,980 Father in heaven, help us. Sometimes we feel weak. We feel tired. We feel worn out. We feel sick. We just ask that you would take care of us. 54 00:17:00,980 --> 00:17:13,980 That this morning as we gather, although different from what we're used to, different from maybe what we're comfortable with, we just ask that your Word would be a blessing to us. 55 00:17:13,980 --> 00:17:21,980 That you would help us to see that in the midst of our struggles and difficulties, you are at work and you are doing wonderful things. 56 00:17:21,980 --> 00:17:29,980 We ask that you would nourish us with the gospel. That you would help us to see the good news about Jesus, who has come to save us from our sins. 57 00:17:29,980 --> 00:17:34,980 That you would help us to see how your Spirit has equipped us for the work of ministry. 58 00:17:34,980 --> 00:17:38,980 I thank you so much for Jesus. It's in His name we pray. Amen. 59 00:17:38,980 --> 00:17:51,980 We're going to be in Acts 18 in just a minute, and before we get there, we're going to spend some time moving through some other parts of the Bible to sort of help us get there. 60 00:17:51,980 --> 00:17:58,980 And I want to begin this morning with Exodus. And Exodus, if you've been in church for any period of time, 61 00:17:58,980 --> 00:18:07,980 is a pretty familiar story, right? God's people, having come to Egypt as a family, have grown into a nation. 62 00:18:07,980 --> 00:18:15,980 They have come to escape famine. At the time when they arrived, the family of Joseph was second in command of all of Egypt. 63 00:18:15,980 --> 00:18:21,980 They're important. They're powerful. Things are good. But over time, and as the years pass, 64 00:18:21,980 --> 00:18:30,980 they lose their importance and they go from being politically powerful to the slaves of the Egyptian Empire. 65 00:18:30,980 --> 00:18:40,980 And so as the book of Exodus opens, God's people are suffering, and they're struggling, and they're slaves far away from home. 66 00:18:40,980 --> 00:18:51,980 And God immediately goes to work to save them. And one of the things that God does is He raises up His man Moses to deliver them. 67 00:18:51,980 --> 00:19:05,980 And what you find in the beginning chapters of Exodus is a picture of God preparing Moses in Pharaoh's house and in the wilderness for the ministry that would follow, and then it turns to conflict. 68 00:19:05,980 --> 00:19:16,980 As there is a conflict between Pharaoh and God, as God through His messenger Moses says, "Let my people go," and Pharaoh says, "I don't think so." 69 00:19:16,980 --> 00:19:28,980 You see, Pharaoh doesn't have room in the budget to hire workers to replace all of these slaves. And so what God does is He begins to bring about a series of sort of miraculous disasters. 70 00:19:28,980 --> 00:19:39,980 We call them plagues on Egypt. You have water and the blood. You have frogs. You have lice. You have darkness. You have all of these terrifying things if you're Egyptian happening to you. 71 00:19:39,980 --> 00:19:51,980 And so nine of these miraculous disasters have rained down on Egypt. And after each of them, Pharaoh has hardened his heart and refused to let the people go. 72 00:19:51,980 --> 00:20:00,980 And before the last disaster comes, something remarkable happens. God will tell Moses to give a message to the people. This is what He'll say in Exodus 11. 73 00:20:00,980 --> 00:20:08,980 "Speak now to the hearing of the people that they ask every man of his neighbor and every woman of her neighbor for silver and gold jewelry." 74 00:20:08,980 --> 00:20:15,980 Basically, God says to the Hebrews, "Go to your Egyptian neighbors and say, 'Hey, I want your silver and gold jewelry.'" 75 00:20:15,980 --> 00:20:27,980 And what's funny is that the people give it to them. And so as they're preparing to leave Egypt, they are taking with them much of the silver and the gold of Egypt. 76 00:20:27,980 --> 00:20:37,980 The final calamity, the death of the firstborn son, is brought upon Egypt by the hand of God, and the people leave. 77 00:20:37,980 --> 00:20:44,980 And they're not just leaving Egypt. They're leaving with their possessions. They're leaving, it says, with their livestock and their cattle. 78 00:20:44,980 --> 00:20:54,980 They're leaving with much of the silver and gold of Egypt. And then what happens? As they travel out into the wilderness, 79 00:20:54,980 --> 00:21:02,980 as they come down this valley between two mountains, and in front of them is the sea, Pharaoh changes his mind. 80 00:21:02,980 --> 00:21:13,980 And he pursues with his armies and with his chariots. And what does God do? God saves his people. 81 00:21:13,980 --> 00:21:22,980 He blocks the army. He parts the Red Sea. They walk across on dry ground. And then, as Pharaoh tries to follow, 82 00:21:22,980 --> 00:21:28,980 God collapses the sea, destroying their enemies. And you have to wonder about the Hebrew people, 83 00:21:28,980 --> 00:21:35,980 because now they've seen God's power in these ten plagues that have shown God's power over rivers and over animals 84 00:21:35,980 --> 00:21:41,980 and over bugs and over amphibians and over light and over darkness and over life and over death. 85 00:21:41,980 --> 00:21:50,980 They've seen his power over the sea, and here they are. God has done amazing things. And in Exodus 15, 86 00:21:50,980 --> 00:21:57,980 for the first half of the chapter, they praise God and then immediately began to complain. 87 00:21:57,980 --> 00:22:02,980 "You brought us out here, and there's nothing to drink." And so what does God do? 88 00:22:02,980 --> 00:22:10,980 He provides water for them to drink. So if you're keeping track, God has now delivered them. He has provided for them. 89 00:22:10,980 --> 00:22:18,980 The sea has parted. Water has been given to them. God is so very great. And so what immediately happens next? 90 00:22:18,980 --> 00:22:24,980 Chapter 16, "Well, you haven't given us anything to eat." And so God gives them food. 91 00:22:24,980 --> 00:22:31,980 And he doesn't just give them food in sort of a normal way, but God causes manna to rain down from heaven. 92 00:22:31,980 --> 00:22:38,980 This bread, delicious bread, rains down from heaven six days out of the week. You gather up enough. 93 00:22:38,980 --> 00:22:43,980 On the sixth day, you gather up enough for two days, and the next week you start all over again. 94 00:22:43,980 --> 00:22:53,980 For the next 40 years, God miraculously does all of your grocery shopping. 40 years of heavenly bread. 95 00:22:53,980 --> 00:23:00,980 So if you're keeping track, God has delivered them from Egypt. He's provided a way across the seas, defeated the armies of Pharaoh. 96 00:23:00,980 --> 00:23:07,980 He's given them water in the desert, bread from heaven, and then what happens, right? 97 00:23:07,980 --> 00:23:13,820 You think they would have learned to trust God, but they don't. After seeing all of these things, 98 00:23:13,980 --> 00:23:21,980 in chapter 17, what happens? They're grumbling again about water. And so what does God do? 99 00:23:21,980 --> 00:23:28,980 He provides water for them. And so it seems like after chapter 17, the next chapter seems to go pretty well. 100 00:23:28,980 --> 00:23:34,980 They arrive at Mount Sinai. God makes his covenant with them, and it seems like things are going well. 101 00:23:34,980 --> 00:23:42,980 God's providing his rules and instructions, his guidance for his people. And then you get to chapter 32. 102 00:23:42,980 --> 00:23:49,980 And Moses has been talking to God for a long time. He's up on the mountain. People are down by themselves. 103 00:23:49,980 --> 00:23:55,980 And so what do they decide to do? Rather than patiently waiting, what they do is they say, 104 00:23:55,980 --> 00:24:02,980 "Hey, remember all that gold and silver we got from Egypt? Let's get it together. Let's make our own God." 105 00:24:02,980 --> 00:24:09,980 And this is ridiculous. This is the equivalent of when I was a kid. And mom would, for example, pick me up from school and say, 106 00:24:09,980 --> 00:24:19,980 "Oh, I got to run into the grocery store real quick." And so I'm sitting there in the car, and she's gone, and she's gone, and it seems like forever, and I say, 107 00:24:19,980 --> 00:24:30,980 "All right, well, she's just not coming back." And so I get into my school backpack and make my own mom out of construction paper and markers, right? 108 00:24:30,980 --> 00:24:35,980 You say, "Well, that's ridiculous. Your mom is obviously in the grocery store, and she's obviously coming back." 109 00:24:35,980 --> 00:24:50,980 Well, same for the Israelite people. It's ridiculous, right? God has brought them this far, provided them protection, split the sea, given them water, food, more water. 110 00:24:50,980 --> 00:25:00,980 Moses is on the mountain. Moses is coming back, and here they are worshiping a false God. It's still not enough. 111 00:25:00,980 --> 00:25:12,980 It gets even worse. In Numbers 11, right there, "We're tired of all the bread. We want something different." It's a constant complaint, a constant problem brought before God. 112 00:25:12,980 --> 00:25:28,980 For the next 40 years, grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble, continually forgetting how God parts the sea, how God gives them water in the wilderness, how God gives manna from heaven, how God speaks to them from the mountain. 113 00:25:28,980 --> 00:25:38,980 Why were none of these things enough? Why were none of these things good enough for the Israelites? And I think the answer is this: 114 00:25:38,980 --> 00:25:50,980 In their moment of struggle, their eyes were focused not on the greatness and the goodness of God, but on the problem that was in front of them, right? 115 00:25:50,980 --> 00:25:58,980 So instead of seeing how God has provided, they just see their thirst. Instead of seeing how God has fed them, they just see their hunger. 116 00:25:58,980 --> 00:26:06,980 Instead they see how God has been incredibly trustworthy. They look at their fear that Moses isn't back that, right? 117 00:26:06,980 --> 00:26:13,980 They focus on the problem, they worry it, and they're consumed by it, and they lose sight of the goodness of God. 118 00:26:13,980 --> 00:26:21,980 We've experienced this. We've all experienced that overwhelming problem. Maybe we focus on it and we're thinking about it. 119 00:26:21,980 --> 00:26:27,980 We're consumed by it. It's occupying. It just seems overwhelming. And then what happens? We sleep on it. 120 00:26:27,980 --> 00:26:34,980 And we wake up the next morning and we realize that problem wasn't nearly as big as we thought it was, right? 121 00:26:34,980 --> 00:26:41,980 We've gotten some distance. It's not occupying all of our vision. That's the problem with the Israelites. 122 00:26:41,980 --> 00:26:48,980 Their problems are occupying all of their vision at the sea. That's all they can see is destruction. 123 00:26:48,980 --> 00:26:55,980 In the desert, all they can see is that they're thirsty. All they can feel is the hunger of their stomachs. 124 00:26:55,980 --> 00:27:00,980 All of these things occupy their vision and they don't see the goodness of God. 125 00:27:00,980 --> 00:27:07,980 Because their problems and their struggles take center stage. They shift their focus from God to their struggles. 126 00:27:07,980 --> 00:27:15,980 And it makes their struggles seem bigger, which they aren't. And it makes God seem farther away, which He is not. 127 00:27:15,980 --> 00:27:23,980 And it's a struggle that you and I face. You see, this problem of elevating our problems and diminishing our view of God 128 00:27:23,980 --> 00:27:31,980 is not unique to Israel in the wilderness. It's one of the reasons that the psalmist will say this: 129 00:27:31,980 --> 00:27:38,980 "I lift up my eyes to the hills. Where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth." 130 00:27:38,980 --> 00:27:45,980 And what the psalmist is saying to his soul is that I can focus on my problems and the struggles and the hurts 131 00:27:45,980 --> 00:27:51,980 and pile them up in front of me and be overwhelmed. Or I can look to the God who is bigger than all of them. 132 00:27:51,980 --> 00:27:59,980 Notice things in perspective. It's not unique to Israel in the wilderness. It's not unique to the psalmist. 133 00:27:59,980 --> 00:28:08,980 In Matthew 14, Jesus has just fed the 5,000, and he stays behind to pray, sends the disciples across the lake in the boat. 134 00:28:08,980 --> 00:28:14,980 In the middle of the night, the wind is picking up. The boat is struggling. The waves are getting bigger. 135 00:28:14,980 --> 00:28:20,980 And so Jesus goes out to the disciples, and he doesn't row. He doesn't swim. 136 00:28:20,980 --> 00:28:29,980 He just strikes out walking across the water. The disciples are a little unnerved by that because people don't generally walk on water. 137 00:28:29,980 --> 00:28:36,980 And when they finally realize that it might be Jesus, Peter says this, "Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water." 138 00:28:36,980 --> 00:28:41,980 And he said, "Come." So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to the Lord Jesus. 139 00:28:41,980 --> 00:28:47,980 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and began to sink, and he cried out, "Lord, save me." 140 00:28:47,980 --> 00:28:53,980 So you see what happens to Peter? Jesus walking on the water. Peter says, "Jesus, if it's really you, let me come out." 141 00:28:53,980 --> 00:28:58,980 Jesus says, "Come on out." Peter hurtles over the side of the boat, starts walking on water, and then what happens? 142 00:28:58,980 --> 00:29:07,980 Reality begins to set in. He looks around and realizes that people can't walk on water, and the waves are big, and the wind is fierce. 143 00:29:07,980 --> 00:29:16,980 And he takes his vision, and he turns it from Jesus to all of the problems, all of the struggles, all of the fears, 144 00:29:16,980 --> 00:29:26,980 and what happens? He begins to sink. The moment he takes his eyes off of Jesus. 145 00:29:26,980 --> 00:29:35,980 That's why in Hebrews 12, the writer tells the struggling Christians in Hebrews 12 that we are to fix our eyes on Jesus, 146 00:29:35,980 --> 00:29:45,980 the author and perfecter of our faith, with the ultimate purpose that we would not grow weary and lose heart. 147 00:29:46,980 --> 00:29:50,980 What I want us to do as we look at our text in Acts this morning, 148 00:29:50,980 --> 00:29:55,980 as we wrap up what is the third missionary journey, 149 00:29:55,980 --> 00:30:00,980 I want us to see how God is at work in the midst of our struggles, 150 00:30:00,980 --> 00:30:03,980 in the midst of our hurts, in the midst of our difficulties. 151 00:30:03,980 --> 00:30:09,980 Because from our perspective, it can seem like things just aren't going very well. 152 00:30:09,980 --> 00:30:14,980 But when you see what God is doing, you realize that something wonderful is happening. 153 00:30:14,980 --> 00:30:19,980 Just like the Israelites in the wilderness, focused so much on their struggles, 154 00:30:19,980 --> 00:30:23,980 they don't see the goodness and greatness of God, and they grumble and complain. 155 00:30:23,980 --> 00:30:27,980 Just like Peter, who sees the size of the waves and gets fearful. 156 00:30:27,980 --> 00:30:33,980 Just like the struggling Hebrew Christians who are seeking to turn away from Christianity because of their struggles. 157 00:30:33,980 --> 00:30:41,980 The encouragement that I want to give to you this morning is that we want to fix our eyes on Jesus. 158 00:30:42,980 --> 00:30:45,980 Read our text, not very many verses this morning. 159 00:30:45,980 --> 00:30:52,980 Acts chapter 18, verses 18 through 23, if you would like to follow along. 160 00:30:52,980 --> 00:31:02,980 It says this, "After this, Paul stayed many days longer, and then took leave of the brothers and set sail for Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila. 161 00:31:02,980 --> 00:31:08,980 At Centuray he had cut his hair, for he was under a vow, and they came to Ephesus, and he left them there. 162 00:31:09,980 --> 00:31:14,980 He himself went into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews, and when he had stayed for them for a longer period, 163 00:31:14,980 --> 00:31:18,980 they asked him to stay for a longer period, and he declined. 164 00:31:18,980 --> 00:31:24,980 But on taking leave of them, he said, "I will return to you if God wills," and he set sail from Ephesus. 165 00:31:24,980 --> 00:31:29,980 And when he had landed at Caesarea, he went up and greeted the church and went down to Antioch. 166 00:31:29,980 --> 00:31:35,980 After spending some time there, he departed, and he went from one place to the next throughout the region of Galatia and Perga, 167 00:31:36,980 --> 00:31:42,980 strengthening all of the disciples." So this seems like, on the surface, sort of a typical travel journal, right? 168 00:31:42,980 --> 00:31:48,980 I keep a record of where I've been so I can get my Roman Revenue Service mileage deduction when I file my taxes. 169 00:31:48,980 --> 00:31:56,980 This isn't just simply a record. It's not simply just a sort of a transitional paragraph 170 00:31:56,980 --> 00:32:01,980 so that your literature teacher who's grading your writing will be happy. 171 00:32:02,980 --> 00:32:08,980 This is ultimately the testimony of a successful conclusion to a missionary journey. 172 00:32:08,980 --> 00:32:17,980 It's ultimately the testimony to how God has been at work in the wilderness of broken plans and deep opposition. 173 00:32:17,980 --> 00:32:25,980 We find Paul coming back to where he started the church that he maybe would have liked to have gone to in the beginning. 174 00:32:25,980 --> 00:32:30,980 Ephesus, he's back, teaches for a short time. He'll return again in chapter 19. 175 00:32:31,980 --> 00:32:42,980 Ultimately, he's finally on the way home, and God has been good in the midst of the desert of broken plans and the desert of strong opposition. 176 00:32:42,980 --> 00:32:49,980 Let's go back and just remember a little bit of what's happened during this missionary journey. 177 00:32:49,980 --> 00:32:55,980 In Acts chapter 15, Paul wants to take Barnabas and go back to all the churches. 178 00:32:55,980 --> 00:32:58,980 Barnabas says, "Yeah, I'm ready to go. Let's take Mark." 179 00:32:59,980 --> 00:33:08,980 They don't want to take Mark because Mark has been incredibly unreliable, and they disagree so strongly, they simply, there's no reconciling. 180 00:33:08,980 --> 00:33:16,980 They go their separate ways. Kind of like a "This mission trip isn't big enough for the both of us" kind of scenario. 181 00:33:16,980 --> 00:33:24,980 And so before Paul's trip even begins, it's in disarray. He chooses Silas and he sets out. 182 00:33:25,980 --> 00:33:36,980 Along the way, he'll stop and he'll pick up a young believer named Timothy, and so Paul begins this missionary trip already with his plans in disarray, not going the way that he had planned. 183 00:33:36,980 --> 00:33:43,980 In Acts chapter 16, they try to pick a destination. Everywhere he goes, he's blocked. He goes this way. He's blocked. He goes this way. 184 00:33:43,980 --> 00:33:46,980 God says, "No." He goes this way. God says, "I don't think so." 185 00:33:46,980 --> 00:33:53,980 They finally go to the only place they can go, the city of Troas, and God gives them a vision and sends them to Macedonia. 186 00:33:53,980 --> 00:33:59,980 They travel to Philippi, where they make some remarkable converts sharing the gospel. 187 00:33:59,980 --> 00:34:09,980 They have Lydia. They have a slave girl possessed by demons. They have a Philippian jailer, but they end up being beaten, thrown in prison. 188 00:34:09,980 --> 00:34:15,980 They go to Thessalonica, where they're driven out of town by a mob after three weeks, then to Berea, 189 00:34:15,980 --> 00:34:20,980 where things seem to be going well until the mob from Thessalonica shows up, chases them out of town. 190 00:34:20,980 --> 00:34:28,980 Paul gets to Athens by himself, sneaking out of Berea in the middle of the night, preaches for a while, 191 00:34:28,980 --> 00:34:36,980 goes to Corinth, and in Corinth he is out of money, he's out of companions, and he's discouraged. 192 00:34:36,980 --> 00:34:42,980 And we know he's discouraged because God makes it a specific point to encourage him. 193 00:34:42,980 --> 00:34:47,980 God comes to him in a dream and is like, "Don't be discouraged." Why does he have to say that to Paul? 194 00:34:47,980 --> 00:34:57,980 Because Paul is discouraged. Paul will end up staying in Corinth for more than a year and a half. 195 00:34:57,980 --> 00:35:07,980 And now we saw this morning in our text, he's on his way back home, and it's safe to say that this journey looks nothing like what Paul planned out in his head when he left. 196 00:35:07,980 --> 00:35:14,980 We've all had that, right? Where we have something that we're planning out and it's going to work out a very specific way, 197 00:35:14,980 --> 00:35:21,980 and when we look back on it, it's like that nothing, nothing worked like I wanted it to. 198 00:35:21,980 --> 00:35:26,980 That's what's happened with Paul. Nothing's gone according to Paul's plan. 199 00:35:26,980 --> 00:35:33,980 And it's important to understand it hasn't gone according to Paul's plan, but it has gone according to God's plan. 200 00:35:33,980 --> 00:35:37,980 Think about how we deal with these kind of disappointments, right? 201 00:35:37,980 --> 00:35:43,980 When things don't work out how we want to. Are we like the children of Israel where we're in the wilderness grumbling? 202 00:35:43,980 --> 00:35:48,980 Maybe we just get tired. Maybe we don't grumble. We just sort of give up. 203 00:35:48,980 --> 00:35:53,980 I was thinking a couple weeks we had that whole lot of snow and then a whole lot of ice on top of the snow. 204 00:35:53,980 --> 00:36:04,980 I let our dog Kaiser out first thing that morning, and he walks outside into the snow and promptly, because it's so icy, just tips over, which was hilarious. 205 00:36:04,980 --> 00:36:11,980 He was not amused. I was. He turns, walks back into the house, and is like, "You know what? I'm just going to hold it until spring." 206 00:36:11,980 --> 00:36:20,980 This is unacceptable. I give up on winter. Sometimes we feel like that. It's snow again. It's going to give up on winter. 207 00:36:20,980 --> 00:36:27,980 How do we deal when things don't work out according to our plans? Do we grumble? Do we complain? Do we give up? 208 00:36:27,980 --> 00:36:34,980 Maybe we try, through the force of our will and our strength, to try to make something happen. 209 00:36:34,980 --> 00:36:46,980 What happens to Paul is he trusts God. He allows God to lead him and guide him through the wilderness of opposition and broken plans. 210 00:36:46,980 --> 00:36:54,980 And I want you to see what God has accomplished. As we come to these verses in Acts 18, and Paul's getting back and sharing with the churches what has happened. 211 00:36:54,980 --> 00:37:02,980 Do you want to know what he can share with the churches? He's able to share with the churches that the gospel has come to Europe 212 00:37:02,980 --> 00:37:11,980 for the very first time, right? It's not just an Eastern religion anymore, but it's moved out into Europe. 213 00:37:11,980 --> 00:37:18,980 He can share the encouraging gospel testimonies, how God brings them to this town of Philippi, and we don't know where to go, 214 00:37:18,980 --> 00:37:25,980 so we end up at the river, and there's some ladies in a prayer meeting, and we share the gospel, and God opens their hearts to understand, 215 00:37:25,980 --> 00:37:31,980 and they become Christians. And then there's a servant girl filled with demons, and we cast out the demons, 216 00:37:31,980 --> 00:37:38,980 and that causes a riot, and we're thrown into jail, but in the middle of the night, we're able to share the gospel with the jailer, 217 00:37:38,980 --> 00:37:48,980 and he becomes a Christian. Think about the training of the ministry of Timothy, who will go on to encourage these churches. 218 00:37:48,980 --> 00:37:55,980 Sometimes in place of Paul, because Paul can't be there, he'll send Timothy to help. Timothy has gotten hands-on training 219 00:37:55,980 --> 00:38:04,980 and practice in sharing the gospel. So the gospel has come to Europe, into Greece. We've seen powerful 220 00:38:04,980 --> 00:38:09,980 and wonderful conversions. We've seen the testimony of Christians, like those in Berea, who studied the 221 00:38:09,980 --> 00:38:15,980 Scripture to make sure that what they're getting is the truth. But there's more than that. Because of 222 00:38:15,980 --> 00:38:19,980 Paul's broken plans and all of these things, you know what he does? He'll end up writing a letter to the 223 00:38:19,980 --> 00:38:25,980 Philippian church. In your Bible, it's Philippians. He'll write a letter to the Thessalonian church, 224 00:38:25,980 --> 00:38:31,980 not just once but twice, 1st and 2nd Thessalonians. He'll write a couple letters to the Corinthian church, 225 00:38:31,980 --> 00:38:40,980 1st and 2nd Corinthians. Because Timothy begins in ministry, Paul will, on this trip, eventually write 226 00:38:40,980 --> 00:38:47,980 Timothy some letters, 1st and 2nd Timothy. You're looking at seven books of the New Testament that 227 00:38:47,980 --> 00:38:55,980 have their root in this journey that didn't go according to plan. The journey that seems like a 228 00:38:55,980 --> 00:39:01,980 chaotic mess of broken plans, sneaking out of town in the middle of the night, incredible confrontation. 229 00:39:01,980 --> 00:39:07,980 But there's more than that, right? As Paul gets dragged before the courts in Corinth, what happens? 230 00:39:07,980 --> 00:39:15,980 The ruler of the region makes the declaration that Christianity is legal. It's a legal religion. It's not 231 00:39:15,980 --> 00:39:21,980 illegal to preach Christianity. It's not illegal to proclaim Christianity. So not only do you have 232 00:39:21,980 --> 00:39:27,980 this foundation of ministry in Paul's life where he meets all these people, shares the gospel with all 233 00:39:27,980 --> 00:39:33,980 these people, trains Timothy, you have books of the Bible coming out of the churches that are founded 234 00:39:33,980 --> 00:39:43,980 here, and you have the future for these churches prepared by the legal judgment. God has been at work 235 00:39:43,980 --> 00:39:51,980 in the midst of Paul's chaos and broken plans. And I want you to see this. And I want you to be encouraged 236 00:39:51,980 --> 00:39:59,980 this morning, because in a world where it seems like everything falls apart, this is not my plan for how I wanted 237 00:39:59,980 --> 00:40:05,980 this Sunday to go, right? I didn't want to have COVID. I didn't want to be distant. I didn't want to be separated. 238 00:40:05,980 --> 00:40:15,100 But what you find from seeing Paul is that God is at work even when our plans just sort of fall apart. 239 00:40:15,100 --> 00:40:22,060 And the lesson that we see in all of these things is that we focus on what truly matters. We lift our 240 00:40:22,060 --> 00:40:27,100 eyes to the hills, because it's easy for us to look at how much we struggle and how thirsty, like the 241 00:40:27,100 --> 00:40:33,020 Israelites, or how hungry, or how big our problems are, but rather look to the goodness of God. That's 242 00:40:33,020 --> 00:40:39,020 what Paul does. Even though at times he's discouraged and struggles, he looks the goodness. That's why he 243 00:40:39,020 --> 00:40:46,620 takes this vow in Acts 17 that we read about where he has to cut his hair, a Nazarite vow. In part, 244 00:40:46,620 --> 00:40:53,980 he's rededicating himself deeply to the service of God. Because Paul looks back at all the detours 245 00:40:53,980 --> 00:41:00,940 and all the different things that happen, and he says, "Look, God was at work." Not just in the Greek 246 00:41:00,940 --> 00:41:09,500 church, not just for Paul, but you and I. If you read Philippians, Corinthians, Thessalonians, 1-2 Timothy, 247 00:41:09,500 --> 00:41:16,540 all of these have their root in what happens in Paul's broken plans. So this morning I want to 248 00:41:16,540 --> 00:41:23,660 encourage you, when things don't go according to plan, to not be discouraged. Don't grumble like the 249 00:41:23,660 --> 00:41:29,820 Israelites did. Don't give up like it's so easy to do when things seem difficult, but rather lift your 250 00:41:29,820 --> 00:41:38,940 eyes to the hills to see where your help comes from. As we get ready 251 00:41:38,940 --> 00:41:47,580 to break the bread and drink the cup together, I want us to consider for a minute what we're focused on, 252 00:41:47,580 --> 00:41:53,100 because we tend to focus so many times on the things that are small, that don't matter, the things that 253 00:41:53,100 --> 00:42:01,980 distract us. So one of the things our big dog, Dodger, does from time to time is he will make a break for it 254 00:42:01,980 --> 00:42:08,700 out the front door. He likes to tour through the neighborhood, sniff all the sniffs on the different 255 00:42:08,700 --> 00:42:15,020 trees and mailboxes. I say hello to his dog friends along the way, and he likes to ignore me as I follow 256 00:42:15,020 --> 00:42:21,180 him in the car, going, "Dodger, it's time to get back in the car." So the one day this week when I was not 257 00:42:21,180 --> 00:42:27,900 feeling well at all, Dodger makes a break for it. So I'm in pajama pants, no shoes, in the car, 258 00:42:27,900 --> 00:42:34,140 chasing him down the street, going, "Dodger, please get back in the car," right? And he's distracted by 259 00:42:34,140 --> 00:42:40,300 this smell and that dog, and he's just having the time of his life. And thankfully, I met some new 260 00:42:40,300 --> 00:42:45,580 neighbors, and they were getting out of their car, and Dodger comes up and says, "Hello, friends, new 261 00:42:45,580 --> 00:42:49,260 people." And they try to grab him, and he won't grab him. So the lady who's getting back from grocery 262 00:42:49,260 --> 00:42:55,580 shopping does something wonderful. She reaches in the back of her minivan, got a baby in one arm, 263 00:42:55,580 --> 00:43:03,660 and then pulls out this giant brisket. I was just like, "Hey, hey, Dodger, you like brisket?" And 264 00:43:03,660 --> 00:43:09,900 it's just dangling this brisket. And she leads Dodger over, and he's like, "Oh, who doesn't like brisket?" 265 00:43:09,900 --> 00:43:16,060 Right? This is far more interesting than all those little smells here, a little dog yipping at me over 266 00:43:16,060 --> 00:43:22,940 here. They're in real nourishment to be found in this brisket. And because of her luring him with 267 00:43:22,940 --> 00:43:31,180 something substantial, I was able to bring him home. You and I are a little bit like Dodger sometimes, 268 00:43:31,180 --> 00:43:36,940 right? We're running after all those things that are inconsequential, chasing this and chasing that. 269 00:43:36,940 --> 00:43:43,340 And here is God holding out the one thing that truly nourishes us, right? The good news of the 270 00:43:43,340 --> 00:43:53,340 gospel. It's the brisket. It's the meat that keeps us going. That Jesus, the Son of God, died in your 271 00:43:53,340 --> 00:44:01,980 place for your sins. He rose again, giving you the victory over sin and Satan, death and hell, and over 272 00:44:01,980 --> 00:44:09,740 your fears. And you and I don't have to run. We don't have to hide. We don't have to be afraid. Because God 273 00:44:10,780 --> 00:44:16,940 has saved us. He saved us through his Son, but then he's given us the gift of the Spirit who equips us and 274 00:44:16,940 --> 00:44:25,180 strengthens us for the ministry of the church. And you and I, so many times, we're running, chasing this 275 00:44:25,180 --> 00:44:34,780 and chasing that. Running here and running there, and we're missing the meat of the gospel that nourishes us. 276 00:44:36,060 --> 00:44:43,500 It's one of the reasons that coming together to remember the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus is so 277 00:44:43,500 --> 00:44:52,940 important. It's why we break the bread and drink the cup. It's because this is the gospel that nourishes 278 00:44:52,940 --> 00:44:59,420 us, that fixes our eyes on what's important. We've talked about how the Israelites elevated their problems 279 00:44:59,420 --> 00:45:05,180 to the center of their vision and minimized God, and how Peter elevated the wind and the waves and 280 00:45:05,180 --> 00:45:10,780 minimize God, and how it would have been easy for Paul to have elevated his broken plans and the 281 00:45:10,780 --> 00:45:18,860 problems and to minimize the goodness of God. And so this morning, what communion does for us is it 282 00:45:18,860 --> 00:45:26,780 resets us. It takes our eyes off all of these other things, and it puts them on our Savior. So I'm going 283 00:45:26,780 --> 00:45:33,100 to pray and partake, and I would encourage you, if you have communion elements, you're welcome to partake 284 00:45:33,100 --> 00:45:41,100 with me at home. If not, this is a good time for quiet and meditation, to remember the good news 285 00:45:41,100 --> 00:45:47,740 of the gospel, to see how God has worked, and to refocus and repent of all those areas we have chased 286 00:45:47,740 --> 00:45:58,220 after the inconsequential. Let's pray. Father, thank you for Jesus. Thanks for grace. Thanks for saving us. 287 00:45:59,260 --> 00:46:04,940 Thank you for the cross. Thank you for the suffering that Jesus endured on our behalf, that we could be 288 00:46:04,940 --> 00:46:10,460 saved. Thank you for this bread and cup. I ask that you bless it. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. 289 00:46:10,460 --> 00:46:20,300 Paul says this, "What I received from the Lord, that I also delivered to you, the Lord Jesus, on the night 290 00:46:20,300 --> 00:46:25,420 when he was betrayed, took bread. When he had given thanks, he broke it and said, 'This is my body, which is for 291 00:46:25,420 --> 00:46:40,300 you. Do this in remembrance of me.'" In the same way also, he took the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is 292 00:46:40,300 --> 00:46:51,820 the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me." For as often as you 293 00:46:51,820 --> 00:47:03,340 eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes." I want to do one more song, 294 00:47:03,340 --> 00:47:12,460 "Be Thou My Vision," an old hymn, but a good one. One that I think should express the prayer of our heart, 295 00:47:12,460 --> 00:47:18,300 that our vision should be fixed on God. So we're going to go ahead. I'm going to play that, and then 296 00:47:18,300 --> 00:47:23,740 I'll, I'll be back with you just for a minute more after, after that. 297 00:47:23,740 --> 00:47:43,740 Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart. 298 00:47:45,340 --> 00:48:12,380 Lord be all else to me, save that thou art, thou mightest thought, by day or by night, waking or sleeping, thy bright light. 299 00:48:12,380 --> 00:48:39,420 Riches I heed, nor man's empty praise. Thou my inheritance, now and always. Thou and Thou are 300 00:48:39,420 --> 00:49:06,460 only first in my heart. High King of Heaven, my treasure now all. High King of Heaven, my 301 00:49:06,460 --> 00:49:33,500 victory won. May I reach Heaven's joys, O Bright and Sun. Hearts of my own heart, whatever before. Still be my vision, O Ruler 302 00:49:33,500 --> 00:50:00,540 I'm thankful for all of you who have been here today. I'm thankful for all of you who have been here today. I'm 303 00:50:00,540 --> 00:50:08,780 thankful for all of you who have joined us this morning, whether you are on Facebook or 304 00:50:08,780 --> 00:50:16,140 on YouTube. I think we'll be back next Sunday. Looking forward to being back with you next Sunday. 305 00:50:16,140 --> 00:50:27,580 It is a kind of a strange experience to sit here and not see any of you. Just a little red light over 306 00:50:27,580 --> 00:50:34,140 here in front of me, so I am thankful for you being here, and I'm thankful for that. If you have any 307 00:50:34,140 --> 00:50:40,940 prayer requests or things that we can pray for you, you can shoot a message or an email or text to us 308 00:50:40,940 --> 00:50:45,740 via any of these streams. Just wanted to let you know that I'm thankful for you. 309 00:50:45,740 --> 00:50:54,620 I'm looking forward to seeing you again. We're going to kind of play Wednesday night 310 00:50:54,620 --> 00:51:01,260 by ear. I think I should be good to go. I'm feeling a lot better than what I have been 311 00:51:01,260 --> 00:51:07,420 feeling, but I got a couple more days before we're through everything. Just keep the rest of our 312 00:51:07,420 --> 00:51:14,300 family and the rest of those who are struggling with this in your prayers. I'm going to go ahead 313 00:51:14,300 --> 00:51:19,980 and have a word of prayer, and we'll wrap it up this morning. Father in heaven, I thank you for your 314 00:51:19,980 --> 00:51:27,340 goodness. I thank you for how you provide. I thank you for the technology that things like this possible. I 315 00:51:27,340 --> 00:51:36,220 know it's different for a lot of us to meet this way, not something that I'm used to, and I know that we 316 00:51:36,220 --> 00:51:43,260 miss being with one another, but we're thankful that you have given us this through your common grace of 317 00:51:43,260 --> 00:51:51,020 technology that we can gather together into fellowship from afar. So encourage our hearts, 318 00:51:51,020 --> 00:52:04,140 help us take you as the focus. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. 319 00:52:13,260 --> 00:52:15,260 Amen. 320 00:52:43,260 --> 00:52:44,260 Amen. 321 00:52:44,260 --> 00:52:45,260 Amen.