JUL 24 2016 | Acts 13

Sea Change Church · "Acts 13" · Adam Stadtmiller · July 24, 2016
Acts 13
Automated transcript. Not reviewed for accuracy.

Acts chapter 13 and verses 13 and following. From Paphos, Paul and his companions sailed to Perga in Pamphylia, where John Mark left them to return to Jerusalem. For Perga they went on to Pisidian Antioch, and then on the Sabbath they entered the synagogue and sat down. And after the reading from the law and the prophets, the synagogue rulers sent word to them saying, Brothers, if you have a message of encouragement for the people, please speak.

And standing up, Paul motioned with his hand and said, Men of Israel and you Gentiles who worship God, listen to me. The God of the people of Israel chose our fathers and made the people prosper during their stay in Egypt. With mighty power he led them out from that country. He endured their conduct for about 40 years in the desert and overthrew seven nations in Canaan and gave their land to the people as an inheritance.

And all this took about 450 years. And after this, God gave them judges until the time of Samuel the prophet. And then the people asked for a king, and he gave them Saul son of Kish of the tribe of Benjamin, who ruled 40 years. And then after removing Saul, he made David their king. And he testified concerning him, I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own hearts, and he will do everything I want him to do.

From this man's descendants, God has brought to Israel the Savior, Jesus, as he promised. Before the coming of Jesus, John preached repentance and baptism to all the people of Israel. As John was completing his work, he said, Whom do you think I am? I'm not that one. No, but he is coming after me whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. Brothers, children of Abraham, and you God-fearing Gentiles, it is to us that this message of salvation has been sent.

The people of Jerusalem and their rulers did not recognize Jesus, yet in condemning him they fulfilled the words of the prophets that are read every Sabbath. Though they found no proper ground for a death sentence, they asked Pilate to have him executed. And when they'd carried out all that was written about him, they took him down from the tree, laid him in a tomb.

But God raised him from the dead, and for many days he was seen by those who traveled with him, from Galilee to Jerusalem. And they are now his witnesses to our people. And so we tell you good news. But God promised to our fathers he has fulfilled for us their children by raising up Jesus, as it is written in the second psalm, You are my son. Today I have become your father.

The fact that God raised him from the dead never to decay is stated in these words, I will give you the holy and sure blessings promised to David, and you will not let your holy one see decay. For when David had served God's purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep. He was buried with his fathers, and his body, it decayed. But not so with the one whom God has raised from the dead.

Therefore, my brothers, I want you to know that through Jesus, the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Through him, everyone who believes is justified from everything you could not be justified from by the law of Moses. So take care that what the prophets have said does not happen to you. Look, you scoffers, wonder and perish. I'm about to do something in your days you never would believe, even if someone told you.

As Paul and Barnabas were leaving the synagogue, the people invited them to speak further about these things on the next Sabbath. When the congregation was dismissed, many of the Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, who talked with them and urged them to continue in the grace of God. And on the next Sabbath, almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord.

When the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and talked abusively against what Paul was saying. And then Paul and Barnabas answered them boldly, We have to speak the word of God to you first. Since you reject it, since you don't consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we turn to the Gentiles, to the nations. For this is what the Lord commanded us.

I have made you a light to the nations that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth. And when the Gentiles, the peoples, heard this, they were glad. They honored the word of the Lord. And all who were appointed for eternal life believed. And the word of the Lord spread through the whole region. But those same Jews incited God-fearing women of high standing and leading men of the city.

They stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, expelled them from the region. And so they shook the dust from their feet in a protest against them. It went on to Iconium. And yet the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit. God bless to us your word. And Pastor Adam, as he teaches, in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Thank you, brother.

Thanks, buddy. Great story of the beginnings of Paul's missionary journeys. And before we begin, I want to let you know that we are replicating that in our little church on the corner. We have missionaries out on the field right now that's from your pews that sit in the pews next to you. And Johanna Stearns, kind of a later life missionary. Where are you, Johanna?

Where are you? Are you here? Stand up if you would. Johanna Stearns is here. Let's give her a hand. She is going to the Dominican Republic next week. When? August 8th. So she'll be going there. If you want to know about her trip, she'll be in the back afterwards in Connection Corner. Just got back not too long ago from the island of Lesbos. And you wouldn't have thought yourself 20 years ago that you would be doing it.

You wouldn't have thought yourself 20 weeks ago that you would be doing all this, right? But exciting to see you stepping out in faith and just moving. And so who knows where God is going to lead you as well. Let me just pray. And if somebody on the usher team would close the back doors, the ones on the street. Thank you, Sean. He's got it. Lord God, bless this message and this word.

As we think about how to change the world, God, we change it from the four corners that we speak of here. The corner of our hearts, this very corner of this church is on, Lord Jesus. The corner in which we all live individually and to the four corners of the earth. And we bless you in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. If you could change anything in the world, what would it be?

If you had the ability to reach out and to touch something with perhaps a spirit of generosity, to touch something with a spirit of peace. If you could change one thing, just one thing, what would that be? Now let's take it back from the world and ask you this. If you could change one thing in this city or the city in which you live, what would that, just one thing.

You only get one thing. What would that thing be? If you could touch something with joy or perhaps remove depression from that city, would that be a big enough thing to change? And let's take it back even a little closer to home. If you could change one thing in your surrounding friend network, in the groups of people in which you live near and by, what would that thing be?

If you could change one thing, get even a little closer to the bone here. What if you could change one thing in your life? Just one thing. Maybe that seems a little more doable, right? What would that thing be? I want to say that we see Paul and Barnabas with a mindset in this scripture that they can change the entire world, to go to the four corners of the earth.

But understanding that that change has to start with the corner of your heart. And we talk about that on a regular basis. We're going to continue to talk about that. It's a very simple plan that we have here at this church, four corners. And you can pretty much explain it in about 15 seconds. We want to see the corner of our hearts changed. We want to see this corner changed.

We want to be really good neighbors. We want this church to represent who you are in the pews, who Jesus is, in a way that is dynamic, where people look and they say, wow, what are they doing? We want to see your corner changed. The reason we have those signs up in the back representing the different cities is because Bird Rock, UTC, Carmel Valley, the large group of travelers from Oceanside that are beginning to come.

And I want you to know we're trying to start a small group in Oceanside. And we've got one in Solana Beach in the works as well. So we're kind of making that happen. And then the fourth corner, the four corners of the earth we want to see changed, just dynamically changed. Paul had a mindset of understanding the four corners. And what we always want to start on is here in our hearts.

And he was a man that was completely dedicated to God. We're going to look at a four-point way, our plan, in which Paul changed the world. Now, I'm not huge for systematic legalistic programs. But I believe that the Scripture can show us some very important principles that are easy to grab hold onto and to assimilate into your life. Because I believe this, if you change the corner of your heart, it's going to be impossible for that not somehow to change the four corners of the world.

Because you are going to affect somebody who maybe you'll only see them once, but you will give a generosity. And then they will go back to where they live, maybe in Russia or Hawaii or somewhere else. And they will be changed because of the way that you lived. And so we are always starting with the corner of our heart. If you get the corner of your heart right, the four corners of the world will be changed.

Let me just say that. If you get the corner of your heart right and you say, on this place, we will stake a claim for Jesus, then the four corners of the earth will be changed because you will be coming in contact. God will lead you through his purposes to the people that he wants to change. You never know who you're speaking to. Have you ever met somebody and you have a relationship with them and then all of a sudden you find out, wait a second, they're the son of a king?

You find out something about them and you're like, whoa, I had no idea. Or you find out some amazing thing. God is going to bring people into your path. And I want to say he's looking for people because spiritual currency is our hearts. We can do a lot of things, but he wants our hearts to be pure, to be changed. And he will find those, like David mentioned in this scripture, like Abraham, like Moses, like you, who he says, I can use this person for my purposes.

I can use them for my eternal purposes. Let's look at the four things that David does to change the world, excuse me, that Paul does to change the world. Paul and Barnabas. Four things in your notes. The key understanding is how did Paul change the world in which he lived. Starts with an attitude of surrendered obedience. Number one, starts with an attitude of yes to God.

Starting with yes. I mentioned that a long time ago and I was surprised at how much that played in the congregation. Many of you still come up to me and say, hey, I remember when you spoke about starting with yes. I believe we're in a world that is becoming inculcated with fear and being overwhelmed. And if the enemy can get you to live in a state of chaos, then we begin to start with no.

Because we are overwhelmed. If the enemy, and look at our culture around us, we're being overwhelmed. I thought we were going to make it through a seven-day mourning period without another seven-day mourning period overlapping it. We made it about five to six days, I think. The flag is once again at half-mast or at half-staff. And we live there and I wonder if we can make another seven days.

But in the midst of that, we see that God is wanting to change our hearts so that we might make a difference. And so becoming in a surrendered obedience. And so we see that people in this scripture that are completely surrendered, and if they are overwhelmed, we don't have the ability to start with a yes. I want to say if you're living in chaos, if you're living in constant being overwhelmed, and there are seasons of that that have nothing to do with you, it's harder to start with yes.

We start with no. Because there is fear and we have to look out for ourselves. I want to say that one of the things that we want to do is be a people that start with yes. And so when it comes to generosity to your neighbor, well, I've been just trying it as I drive through La Jolla. I don't know if the roll through. Does anybody notice the roll through that you get in La Jolla?

It's kind of like some of the intersections are wide and they're not right. So one side is wider than the other section. So it allows this person to kind of just follow the person behind them before you get to go through. Anybody else notice that? That kind of like roll through, like I never really stop, but you can wait twice for two cars? It made me so angry.

Now, this is my new thing. Sometimes I'm letting them go, but they're already halfway through the intersection. Or the, I don't know you're here. I never saw you. I never saw you. You know I'm here. It's being generous. Interest. Just being generous. Starting with yes. You can go first. Matter of fact, three of you can go first. One of my friend's evangelistic strategies was when you were holding the door open for somebody.

There's, you only, what's the distance, right? The cultural distance. Is it four or five feet? Kind of depends on how fast they're walking. But if you're standing here and holding a door and a person's here, do you continue to hold the door? No, absolutely not. You kind of just go in and go in and let them go. There's this thing. And his evangelistic strategy was to push that boundary out to like here.

And then it gets awkward for the person who's walking in the door. You'll notice that they start hurrying up for you, you know? He would just hold the door. That was his evangelistic strategy just so he could talk to people. I thought it was really, really interesting. They start with yes, surrendered obedience. Two, it's proclaimed with knowledge.

Paul had a knowledge of the scriptures. He had a knowledge of what God was doing in his life and around him. Three, it's shared with a grace-filled boldness. And with warning. A church that doesn't know how to have warning is a church that doesn't often speak truth. It's a sin to give a warning these days. Does that make sense? If you warn people what sin is, then it is often considered the greatest sin these days.

Let me assure you that we will stand in front of God and he will ask us and we will be accountable for what truth that we allowed and which things we did not allow. We will be held accountable for every word we say. I want to say I'm much more willing to take the wrath of society on the things that I believe are truth than I am to stand in front of God and have him question me on the matter.

Full stop. A church that does not have a sense of warning. Now, some churches want to live in warning. I don't want to be a church that is constantly living in warning. Like, oh, end of the world, end of the sky is falling, sky is falling. But when it comes to things that are moments of truth, are we willing to speak truth no matter what it is?

And the fourth thing, which Paul was definitely willing to speak truth, spoke some very bold truth to some Jewish leaders. And he was a Jew. And it did not go over well. But the Gentiles received it. And four, there's a dedication to practicing and experiencing joy. Practicing and experiencing joy. Joy is something you need to practice. You have to practice it.

It doesn't just show up. It is something that you practice. And Harry spoke about that. Let's start with verse 1, with verse 22. It starts with a surrendered obedience. So if you want to change the world, it's going to start with being a person that is yes to God in a surrendered obedience. And when God says, are you willing to do this, you say, yes, God, anything you want.

I think it's interesting that Jesus says over, or the scriptures say in the New Testament, close to a dozen times, ask me anything you want and I will do it. But doesn't that preclude that we should also be able to ask and say to God, God, ask me anything you want and I will do it. Let me just ask that. When was the last time you said that to God?

I realize it hadn't been in my prayer life for a while. It hadn't really made the register. But to stand before God and say, anything you want, Lord, ask me and I will do it. He says that to you. But do we say it to him? Surrender to obedience. And so we see, let's look at verse 22 in the scripture. And I think this is the key to this text. It's a very long piece of scripture.

As they would say in seminary, a large pericope. Huge. And Jim read a lot. Pastor Jim read a lot of it. But what is this saying? And I think the core thing that it is saying is showing an example of people who were completely surrendered so that God could establish his purposes in their lives. Not their purposes, his purposes. So it highlights people that said to God, anything you want, yes.

Anything you want, yes. Whatever you want, I'm willing to do it. Yes, yes, yes. It highlights Jesus. It highlights Moses. It highlights David. We have Paul and Barnabas. The whole passage is about saying yes to God, anything you want. That's a tough place to be. And so let's look at just one of the core verses that says that. And I believe this perhaps might be the core verse of this entire passage.

Verse 22. After removing Saul, he made David their king. That is God making him their king. God established the throne of David. God testified concerning him. I love that. What does God testify concerning you? How good, you know, how good, how powerful if God testifies concerning your life? God, you know, when he just, when God talks about you, my friend David down there or Tony or whatever your name is, just, I just want to tell you about her or him.

They're amazing. And God does that. Jesus constantly sitting before the throne of God, speaking about his love for you. It says, God testified concerning him. I have found David, son of Jesse. Who? A man after what? My own heart. This currency of heaven is heart. The currency of heaven is hearts. We can, you know, light off a lot of fireworks in our life and do a lot of things like the Pharisees did to impress people and to make it look like you're doing things.

God understands hearts. That's the currency of heaven. Where is your heart? Do you have a bitterness against somebody? Is there something here? It's the currency of our hearts. Now, I love this next verse. He will do, read this with me. He will do everything I want him to do. Pow! Wow. Let me read that again. He will do some of the stuff I want him to do.

Every once in a while when he decides to get around to it, David will do what I want him to do. If he has enough time in his schedule, he will do it. No. This is the same as Jesus. This is the same as Moses. Not that they didn't have mistakes. But when it all came down, push came to shove. They make a mistake, they come back. They ask forgiveness and they get back on track over and over again.

And the character of their nature, even though it might take some time, Abraham failed multiple times, they come back to a place of saying, God, I will do whatever you want me to do. Powerful. He will do everything I want him to do. I want to say this is a spiritual characteristic of all great biblical heroes. And it is a spiritual characteristic of all great spiritual people of our day.

It is a spiritual characteristic. It is maturity. It is where the rubber meets the road in Christian spirituality. Will you say what he wants you to say, even though it might not be popular? Will you go where he calls you to go? Will you give what he calls you to give? Will you enjoy the blessing that comes along with that? It is a spiritual characteristic of all great biblical heroes.

Here we see an attitude necessary to live within the will and purpose of God. Verse 36. Let's go to that. Now when David had served whose purposes? God's purposes. And I love this. Where did he serve them? Within his own generation. God took the work of David and he's going to be remembered forever, it says. And today we're being blessed by the life of David.

Where are you called to live? In your generation. You were equipped. I'm not sure David could have lived in this generation. But God has brought you into this generation for such a time as this. And you will be here until he's done with you. Because it's all about his purposes. You know, as long as we keep getting into this idea of what our purpose is.

Our purpose is to be about his purpose. If we do have a purpose, it's about being after God's purpose. And I want to say God's purpose is a lot more fun, a lot more free, and a lot more filled with blessing. And once again, can we please detoxify ourselves from our own personal purpose? You're the star. You're the highlight. When you figure out exactly what you're supposed to do, you will be happy.

That is not true. God has a purpose. And just serving and delighting in God is your purpose. To be a person after God's own heart that says yes to anything he calls you to do. What's God asking you to do? What have you been saying no to? Not that he doesn't have the grace to sustain you through this. But what have we been saying no to? Now David served God's purposes in his own generation.

And then he fell asleep. And when God's done, he's going to tap you out. I want to say I just want to be about his purposes. And we sang today to kiss his feet. I want to say if I could, I believe this with all my heart. If I could go to heaven and just kiss Jesus' feet for eternity, never see his face, never anything else except to kiss the wounded feet of the Savior, I can say this with full conviction and honesty, that would be enough for me.

More than I deserve. If I just got to kiss, you would smell the fragrance that he was anointed with before his burial. I can just picture, sometimes I just picture myself like David Levy is doing these meditations where we focus on Scripture and let the Scripture bless us. I focus myself, even though it's not in the Bible a picture of me kissing Jesus' feet, it's still biblical where I pray and I kiss his feet and I meditate on that.

Are you meditating on the Scripture? It will give you a deeper knowledge of the Scripture. Let's go to number two. It's proclaimed with knowledge. Paul not only had a message, he had the knowledge to back it up. It says often that in verse, excuse me, let's go to verse 16 and 17. Standing up, Paul motioned with his hand and said, Fellow Israelites and you Gentiles who worship God, listen to me.

Why did he say listen to me? Because he had something to say. I want to say that when we equip ourselves by knowing the Word of God, we put ourselves in a position to have something to say. Because we're saying God's words, not our own opinions. My wife said to me yesterday, You seem like you're becoming entrapped in your own opinions again lately.

Oh, totally right. Good word. She said it in love. She's amazing. I allowed myself into the news cycle for a little bit. Nothing will just give you a nice utility belt, like the bat utility belt of your own opinions, like watching the news cycle. Start, oh, who did this? Because it's meant to do that, to get you angry and upset and keep our minds off Colossians 3.

Is it Colossians 3, David? To fix our mind on things above. Fix our mind. Where are you fixing your mind? Paul's mind was fixed on things above. And it said he stood up and he said, Listen to me, the God of people of Israel chose our ancestors. He made the people prosper during their stay in Egypt with mighty power. He led them into that country. And then he goes on.

He basically gives the entire history of Israel just on a whim. He just happens to be there. They're like, Why don't you say something? Okay. Boom. Nails it. You know why? Because he knew his Bible. So, I want to say, it's not that hard to know your Bible. We have so many resources and tools. And it's so easy. I don't understand this book. And like, when we think about the Bible, I think sometimes all we think about is the genealogies.

Like, oh, I could never get to. The Bible is fascinating. I've begun to listen. I wasn't a good Bible reader. But I've begun to listen to the Bible on an app called Daily Audio Bible. Brian Harden came here last year. Daily Audio Bible. I listen to it every day. This is my fifth year that I've gone through the entire Bible. I've probably missed maybe 50 days in five years.

Every night I listen to it. Five years through the Bible. I finally know who Josiah is. You know? You know, I finally know that... I didn't even know this. That Samaria was the capital of Israel. Because when the kingdom split, Rehoboam took the southern kingdom. Jeroboam took the northern kingdom. Jeroboam didn't want people to come to Israel, to Jerusalem.

Jerusalem. Because they would become loyal to Jerusalem. So he made his own little Jerusalem in Samaria. I thought there was Israel, Samaria, and... I don't need to go into it all. I was messed up. I had no idea who the kings were. Anathephel. I know who that is now. I know about David's council. And it's become fascinating. You know who your favorite Bible teacher should be?

Anybody know? You. You should be your favorite Bible teacher. That you are the one that is invested in Scripture. There are so many resources. The internet is so alive. The question is, do you want to know God's Word? It is fascinating. In fact, I don't listen. I listen to the chronologies now. I listen to the family histories. And God teaches me through them.

Because I remember that name. That person did this. Or you find out that Rahab the prostitute is in the line of Jesus. In the lineage of Jesus. The Word of God. I want to say, commit yourself back to this book. Know this book. If you don't know this book as a believer, you have nothing really to say. You have a bunch of opinions. And you have your story, which is great.

And you have your testimony of what God has done with you. But this book will keep you grounded. Know this book. Become committed to it. It's a beautiful book. Recommit yourself. Go to Bible study fellowships. Go to Jim's class. Listen to teachers in the Word. Get a great Bible. Spend money on it. We spend money on everything we're into, right? Everything we're into.

I thought yesterday, what if I bought a flat screen TV from my house with a computer that just flashed the Word of God up all day long on my computer? I was like, that could cost a few hundred bucks. That's a lot of money. And I thought, I'll buy a surfboard for that. What do you invest into the Word of God? Be knowledgeable. That's number two. Number one was this.

A surrendered obedience. Number two, be knowledgeable. Recommit to knowing the Word of God. You should be your number one Bible teacher. When you come here, I should be confirming to you what God already spoke to you all week. That this isn't the only place you get revelation. That God, the Holy Spirit, is speaking to you. That it isn't all held here in the pulpit.

Let's go to number three. Number three. It is shared with a grace-filled boldness. It's good news. With grace and boldness. It also, if it needs to, will give a warning. The good news. Verse 32. We tell to you the good news. The gospel is good news. What God promised our ancestors. He has fulfilled for us, their children, by raising up Jesus. As it is written in the second psalm.

You are my son. Today I've become your what? Your father. What good news. You have a loving father. God is not some universal energy. The Judeo-Christian scripture says God is a father. And he loves you like a father. And the importance of a father in a life. That he's a loving father. That would say, I will send my son. Because the cross and you was enough for me to send my son.

That's the message. That is such good news. And we have eternity with a father. Such good news. Do we share it like it's good news? When we share the gospel, are we excited about the gospel? I'm becoming, the more I spend time with God, the more I get excited about the hope and the joy. The more the darkness is coming in the world, the more I'm thinking, but I have an answer.

But I have an answer. Let me just tell you about the good news. Are you willing to receive it? Second, it's filled with grace. Do you see how they share it? They share it with grace. They share it in a way that is truthful and strong. But there is a way to share the word of God that is, I guess, I saw someone wearing a shirt this week that said, practice gracism.

I thought, that is so cool. You know, we have all these racial tensions and all these things. Somebody said, practice gracism. I thought, that is so cool. That when you share, we want to share the love of God with grace. Look what it says in verse 43. When the congregation was dismissed, many of the Jews did accept the word and devout converts to Judaism.

These are the Gentiles. Followed Paul and Barnas who talked with them and urged them to continue on in what? The grace of God. You know, when someone sees you, do they see grace dripping from your life? Are you just in bondage to your own opinions? That's true. My wife was right. I just become in bondage. I'd let everything that's going on. All of a sudden, I get my little encampment.

She says, it feels like you're circling the wagons. I'm like, totally true. They're coming to get me. Back into grace. Back into the good news. Back into the love of God. Swimming, drowning in the mercy and love of God. Wanting to share that. Do you drip of grace? Are you just a big opinion? When I say, seriously. I mean, everywhere we look, it's all about who can have an opinion.

Let me give you an opinion. God is good. He's a good God. And I want to swim in his love. It's filled with grace. And do you share? But at the same time, verse 46 and 47, you've got to share with boldness. Then Paul and Barnabas answered them boldly. We had to speak the word of God to you first, since you reject it and do not consider. Listen to that.

Since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life. Pow. Wow. Then we're going to turn to the Gentiles. For this is what the Lord has commanded us. I have made you a light for the Gentiles that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth. I'm going to say, it says in the notes right there, little truth will ever be shared without a commitment to boldness.

Little truth will ever be shared without a commitment to boldness. This goes for heterosexual sin in the church. Sleeping together before you're married, which we see all the time. We've almost lost that. Living together before you're married. You know, different sexual things that we are seeing in our society. We are being told things that are being changed.

And the question is, are we willing to stand up and say, this is the truth of God? This is what we believe God says about these for a reason. Paul is willing to stand up and tell the truth because one day we will be held accountable to what we share and to what we say. And so are we willing to share what is true with the word of God? But Paul was willing to share, and if they wanted to reject it, he said, fine, I will go to the people who want to receive it.

If you want to reject it, I will go to the next person because he's always looking for people. I want to say the world right now is filled with people who want to receive and are looking for a gospel to receive. And I wouldn't, after a certain point with certain people, you just need to let them be so that you can go to those that are hungry.

Who's hungry in your life? And how are you sharing it when they look at you that there is so much grace on you? They're like, they told me something I didn't want to know, but they are loving me in such a way. I don't get it. It doesn't make sense. And four, the last thing. There's a dedication to practicing and experiencing joy. Verse 52. And the disciples were what?

After all this process, after they had spoken the word of God, after they had said some very difficult things, after they had said many things that were hard to hear, it says after that, the byproduct of that was that they were filled with what? With joy. That this way of living, these four things that they did, had a byproduct of joy. It created joy in their life.

It said, you know, the four things that we spoke about, it says, starts with surrendered obedience, proclaimed with knowledge, shared with grace-filled boldness, and a dedication to practicing and experiencing joy. That brought joy into their life. How's your joy meter doing? How's your joy meter? Let's look at verse 52. And the disciples were filled with joy and with what?

The Holy Spirit. There was a filling. There was an indwelling. When they were in God's purposes, doing these things, even though there was difficulty. They met difficulty with power. It says joy, let me, in your notes, joy is different than an emotion. Joy is an eternal spiritual attitude rather than an emotion. Let me read that again. Joy is an eternal spiritual attribute rather than an emotion.

Now, joy will affect your emotions, but joy is not an emotion. Joy is something that is sourced from heaven. Emotions come and go. But joy is something that is static in heaven, that we can harvest from heaven, and that can be applied to our lives. And that's something that we can try to lean into and to practice. And when we practice joy, we not only open ourselves up to receive joy from the Holy Spirit, but also to have our emotions changed by joy.

Dr. Edith Egger said it. Harry said it last week. And I'm saying it again this week, that joy is a choice. Joy is something that needs to be practiced. We are built for joy. But because of the things that have happened in the world, we have moved away to making joy difficult for us to experience. And finally, joy is a tangible experience of the Holy Spirit's presence.

These were byproducts of this type of on-mission living. That the byproducts of living on mission. Jim, would you help us there? The byproducts of living on mission was joy and power and the experience of the Holy Spirit. That's it. Let's have our worship team come forward. Lord God, we want to thank you, Jesus, for what you're doing in our lives.

God, you've called us to live on mission. You've called us, God, to go to those people that we are called to, Lord God. We ask, God, that you would give us an understanding of how you want us to change the corner of our heart to this corner we live on, to the corner in which we all dwell, to the four corners of the earth. And we bless you in Jesus' name.

Amen. Amen. Let's stand. Let's stand. Let's stand. Let's stand.