SEP 11 2016 | Acts 16

Sea Change Church · "Acts 16" · Adam Stadtmiller · September 11, 2016
Acts 16
Automated transcript. Not reviewed for accuracy.

His people and would encourage us as we hear the word as Pastor Adam shares to listen to this passage in Acts chapter 16 as providing examples and inspiration for how God builds a community has since the very first days in which people proclaimed him as Lord. Acts chapter 16. The writer Luke says, When they traveled from town to town, they delivered the decisions reached by the apostles and elders in the Jerusalem Council, chapter 15, for others to observe and obey.

And the churches were strengthened in their faith, and they grew daily in numbers. Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia. When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to.

So they passed by Mysia, went to Troas. And during the night, Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia, standing and begging him, Come over to Macedonia and help us. And after Paul had seen the vision, we, now with Luke, got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. And from Troas, we put out for sea and sailed straight for Samothrace, the next day to Neapolis, and there we traveled to Philippi, a Roman colony, the leading city of that district of Macedonia.

And we stayed there several days. And on the Sabbath, we went outside the city gate to the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer. And we sat down and began to speak to the women who had gathered there. And one of those listening was a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Theatera, who was a worshiper of God.

The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul's message. When she and the members of her household were baptized, she invited us to her home. If you consider me a believer in the Lord, she said, come and stay at my house. And she persuaded us. Lord, please bless this reading of your holy word to our hearts, these godly examples, and Pastor Adam, as he comes and opens the word to our ears, in Jesus' name.

Amen. Amen. Thanks, Big Jim. Anybody remember Big Jim's as a kid? Remember those? Big Jim's? Do you guys remember that toy? Anybody have that? It had, like, real rubbery skin? Am I the only guy that, anybody with Toys R Us? Oh, my goodness. Where am I? Good to see you this morning. I'm excited because we are launching into Paul's secondary, our second missionary journey today.

We've just finished Paul's first missionary journey, where he came back to Jerusalem and came back to Antioch and then went down to Jerusalem because a problem started in the first missionary journey. The problem was this. We have to reach different people different ways. There was a group of people that were going to the Jews, but remember that the gospel spread to the city of Antioch because some Gentiles decided, we want the Gentiles to know about how to follow Christ.

They wanted them to know about God's love. There started to be some problems between the new Jewish believers and the Gentile believers, and many of the Jewish believers were saying, hey, we need to make these Gentiles more Jewish. We need to make them more Jewish because there is this long history, and it's so amazing, and they really need to be a part of it.

One of the signs of Jewishness back in the day for men was circumcision. One of the laws that they said is they wanted all new believers, you have to be circumcised, and if you are not circumcised, you're not going to go to heaven. This is bad news for the Gentiles. Trust me, this is bad news for the Gentiles, especially as an adult. It caused some issues.

No wonder there was an uproar. And so they came to Jerusalem to talk about how do we reach different types of people, some that are following God, some that are not following God. We have to have a strategic plan to reach Gentiles, and when it talks about Gentiles, it's talking about people that are trying to follow God, who are not Jews, perhaps in other religions, perhaps in pagan religions.

It's talking about Gentiles who do not know God at all, perhaps have no idea who he is. It is a whole, I was going to say basket, but that's probably not a good term to use right now. It is a whole group of people right now that they need to reach. So today, when you would be talking about Gentiles, Paul would see that as people that were Hindu. He would see that as people who were Buddhist.

He would see that as people who were agnostic. He would see that as people who were atheist. He would see a group of people who were not Jewish in different stages of either trying to follow God in the best way that they know how, or how, or not following God, and he would try to reach them. So they come to Jerusalem, and they say, how are we going to do this?

Do people need to be circumcised in order to be saved? And the answer was no. The answer was no. It is Christ alone, and if you look at Ephesians chapter 2, verse 8 and 9, it says it is for grace, what? We have been saved. It says not by works, meaning a work can be doing something that you think God has told you to do. So being circumcised, not by works.

It is by grace that we are saved, because it is a free gift of God, so that no one can do what? Boast. It means you can't look at all the stuff you've done for God, and say, God's happy with me, because I've done all this stuff. The gospel is free. Jesus paid for everything on the cross, and the only thing that we need to do in order to be saved, that they came out of the Jerusalem council, was this, was that you need to believe that Jesus died on the cross, rose again, and is coming back again, and you are set free by his blood that he shed.

That's why we do communion. That's what they figured out. At the same time, they said we need to have a strategy to reach these different people. So, it is interesting that at the beginning of this story, Paul goes up to start his second missionary journey, to start telling the churches about what we figured out at Jerusalem. That's what's happening in the second missionary journey.

Paul is going around, and he's going to Jews, unconverted Jews, he's going to converted Jews, and he's going to Gentiles that have been converted, and unconverted Gentiles, to tell them what the message was of grace that came from the council of Jerusalem. What is so interesting is when Paul meets Timothy, he still has him circumcised. Matter of fact, it says that he circumcised him himself, and once again, I'm glad we didn't learn that in seminary, because it wasn't a part to want to go there, but nonetheless, Paul knew in order to reach Jews that this wasn't necessary, but it was important to them.

So, Paul said, in order to become, I'm going to become like them. Remember Paul says that in the scripture? I'm going to become like whoever I need to be. So, if there was a surf contest, you can be guaranteed that yesterday, Paul would have been on the beach with surf trunks on, a singlet, he would have cooked it out in the water, he would have done whatever he takes to reach surfers.

And so, in order to have standing with the Jews so that not to offend Jews, he went and asked and had Timothy circumcised that he might reach Jews. But he told them, we didn't have to do this, but we want to be open. And so, he had a strategy. I want to say today, the same thing is true. We need to have different strategies and different ways of reaching different types of people.

And you're going to see this play out here in the second missionary journey. As Paul goes to all types of people, many trying to follow God in different ways, but not having the final piece of the puzzle, which is the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. One thing I want to say today that is in the notes is that you can be a God follower and not know who Jesus is.

Okay, that might theologically seem odd to you. But God is in the midst of people's lives and working, and you can be following God, and God is leading people who have no idea who he is, just like he probably led you before you knew who he was. We'll talk about that in a moment because that is super important when we look at other people and value, even though they don't follow Christ, we need to value that God is in the midst of their life and that they are actively trying to follow God the best that they can.

We need to not just write off everybody, hey, if you don't go to church and go to Bible study, and if you haven't asked Jesus to come into your heart or to follow Jesus, then you're just a pagan, and then when you get on the other side of the line, then you'll have God in your life. Let me say that Romans 5.8 says that while we were yet sinners, Christ did what?

Died for us. That Christ is working in the midst of people's life. He's wooing them. He's calling them to himself, and he's been doing it for years, and some of them have been in other religions this whole time, and C.S. Lewis talks about this, that in the midst of them, in other religions, God is stepping in where he can and saying, okay, I'm gonna capitalize on that.

They want to love people. I'm gonna enter into their life, and I'm gonna draw them near it, and then at one time in their life, I'm gonna send a Rebecca to give them the final piece of the puzzle. I want to say the enemy, Satan, wants us as believers to ostracize people into these compartmentalized areas that they are not cared for by God, or that they are the enemies of God, and they are the enemy, and when we get them on our side of the line, then they will no longer be the enemy.

Let me say Jesus died for all mankind, and he is working, and it is his great intent that all of them would hear the message of the gospel, and that's why it's so important, and why I'm so pleased that we have people in our church that when push comes to shove, they will stand up and say, you know, follow Jesus. Let me tell you that other piece of the puzzle, so that's what Paul is doing here.

Let's look at the main course for today, and it's this, understanding Paul's plan for kingdom expansion through the art of disciple making. I would say the art of disciple making because Paul was an artist. He knew how to paint a canvas of evangelism when speaking to a Jew that had been raised in strict, you know, Judaism, but he also knew how to speak to a Greek who loved the new thought of the day.

The Greeks were just, they loved the newest thought, and you know, it's like that today. What's the newest thought, and if enough people think that that thought is right, then it must be right, and let's get on that train. Paul knew how to speak to that person, and Paul would morph himself like water has no form. It morphs itself into wherever place it goes in order to share the love and gospel of Jesus Christ, and so he did that, and he was really good at it.

So the first thing that we see is that it was an art of disciple making, and the other thing is Paul had a plan for kingdom expansion. I want to say, do you think about kingdom expansion? Kingdom expansion means this. We see it in Matthew 6, 9. It is where Jesus talks about praying the Our Father prayer. He says, Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.

And then what does he say? Your kingdom come, your will be done, where? On earth as it is in heaven. Let me just simplify what kingdom expansion is. It is making earth look more like heaven. It is making the place that you live, like your home, looks more like heaven. I challenged moms when I spoke to them yesterday, what's your car like? I remember car can be such a war zone when you have little kids, right?

And I was like, how do we turn your car into a sanctuary? I said, you know, you have everything you need for church in your car. You can have the best speakers in the world for kids. You can just put them on your little podcast and listen to it in your car. The best speakers will sit in your car with you and speak to you. You can have the best worship leaders in the world in your car.

I said, you can keep communion in your dash box if you want. And you can do it with graham crackers and pull over with the kids and take communion. What is the culture of your car? And that's just a very simple way to say, how do we make the place that we live look more like heaven? How do we take the terra firma of heaven and implant it into earth? And that is what Paul was all about.

Making Athens more like heaven. Making Ephesus more like heaven. And I would say to you, how do you make your home? How do you make your business? How do you make the coffee houses you go to, the dry cleaner you go to? I walk into the dry cleaner up the street all the time. The lady says, ah, pastor, good to see you, pastor. It's a Korean lady that works up there.

And she says, oh, we're gonna give you a 20% discount because you're a pastor. Is that politically incorrect? I don't know. That might be, but I'm gonna take my discount nonetheless. She says, you're cool, pastor. You have spiky hair. I said, cool. So cool. The one on the corner across from Panicam, let's give them some business. Let's just go bless them. Super cool.

Tell them you're a Christian. Maybe you'll get 10% off. Your kingdom comes. So Paul is going out with two things. There's two things you need to remember. Here's how you make the kingdom expand. Okay? You remember Matthew 6, 9 to ask the kingdom of God to come on earth. And the second is you go as a sent person. And that happens, as you'll see in the notes right there, in Matthew 19 and 20 where Jesus talks about the Great Commission to go out and to make disciples.

One of the best ways to make earth more like heaven is to share the message of the gospel that people start following Jesus. Christ followers are really good at making earth more like heaven. Three things we're gonna look at today in Paul's mission. Understanding his plan for kingdom expansion. One is, who are you traveling with? And actually, Carol corrected this for me.

With whom are you traveling? There you go, Carol. With whom are you traveling? Next is, where are you going? That's a good question. Where are you going? Where's God called you to? Do you have any idea where God has called you to? Once again, it's kind of surf church is kind of getting some focus today. But they know where God's called them to. They've called them to the Maryland surf team.

They've called them to Windensee. They've called them to the surfing community. They know where God has put it on their heart. Has God put anywhere on your heart? I know often it's so easy to have on our heart the house we wanna buy, the neighborhood we wanna live in. We have these incredible drives to be in places that we want to be for our own good. I would say, does that match the same drive that you have for sharing the gospel in those areas or perhaps areas you don't wanna be?

That God is saying, I wanna call you there. You're like, no, Lord, not there. No, I'm calling you there. Where is God calling you to? Number two. And number three, to whom are you going? And we'll talk about godly and ungodly people where God is in their midst and going with them. First thing we see is Paul comes to Derbe. Look in the verse there, verse one and two.

Let's pick these verses apart. Paul came to Derbe and then to Lystra where a disciple named Timothy lived. So he was a disciple. That means that he was a Christ follower. We also know that he was a Jew whose mother was a Jewess and a believer and whose father was a Greek. Now, if you understand anything about Judaism, you know that Judaism is passed down not from the father, even though it is a patriarchal religion, you are a Jew because your mother is a Jew.

Okay? It is passed down through motherhood. And we won't get into all the reasons why that is. You can Google that and find why they do that. But when the scripture says that women will be saved through childbirth, let me say what that means. It doesn't mean because you had a baby that you get to go to heaven, okay? If you've not understood that scripture.

It is because that Jesus and his Judaism, his Jewish line, was passed down through women and that the salvation of mankind and Judaism, how that was passed down through Jesus' lineage, came through birth and came through women. And we are saved because of that lineage through women. You get that? So that is what the meaning of that scripture. And so we see that this is a Jewish woman who is now following Jesus and has raised her son to know Jesus as well.

This missionary journey is taking place about 20 years or so after the birth, after the death of Jesus. It says here in verse 2, the believers at Lystra and Iconium spoke well of him. That is Timothy. And Paul wanted to take him along for the journey. Here's what I like about Paul. He's always building a team. Paul is on mission to surround himself with people he can trust.

Turn your notes over. We look at Timothy and it says, who was Timothy? Timothy. Most importantly, as we look back at the understanding of who Timothy was and it's a fabulous story. Google Timothy. Read about Timothy. Catholics would call him Saint Timothy. Timothy was not only trusted but I want you to write the word en hyphen in front of trusted. Paul entrusted Timothy.

That meant that he took not only trusted him to do things but he gave him things to do and he says, I am entrusting you to go do these things for me. I want to say, who have you surrounded yourself with that is entrusted? Who do you really trust? That you know that they will be there. That when that call comes at two in the morning or when there's something going on in your life that you know that that person will be there for you or that you can send them to do something and know that when they do it, it's going to be done right.

Scripture says only a fool sends a fool with an important message and that's true. And here's even a harder question. Are you a person that can be entrusted? I want to say 20 years ago, I don't believe I was a person that could be entrusted. I was part of a small group and that small group met one morning and there was extra guys at the small group and I'm like, oh, there's a lot of guys here today and they don't usually come.

And the whole purpose of the small group was to kick me out of the small group because they didn't feel that they could trust me. Ouch. Okay? So I got booted out of the small group. We'd been together for 10 years, 15 years since college. We'd been in each other's weddings and this whole thing. Painful. Absolutely painful. At the time, I believed that they were completely wrong until a period of five more years where God began to show me, no, it's true that you are not trustworthy.

I believe that's changed. Completely has changed in my life. But that was a fight for me to say, what kind of person do I want to be? Paul is looking to build a team of believers that he can entrust. And it's not just so he can trust them to go get him something. He is living in a contentious time where people need to be willing and able to die for the gospel.

The reason he takes Timothy and the reason last week he didn't want to take John Mark is because he didn't believe when push came to shove that John Mark would not, that maybe deny the gospel while being martyred. This is the world that he lived in. That people would perhaps get ready to stone him and John Mark, Paul was afraid, might say, no, no, no, no, no.

I don't believe in Jesus. I don't believe in Jesus. No, no, no, I'm out. I'm out. Just a good Jew. Just don't believe in him and would be out. That's what Paul was looking for. He was looking for people that he can trust to die for Jesus, to go to the cross for Jesus. Now, Peter gave up on Jesus, but we know that Peter in the end, God gave him a second chance.

We know that John Mark gets a second chance as well as it was spoken of last week. It says that he was, first of all, as we look at Timothy, first of all, he was the disciple. We know that. He was raised in the faith. It is so important that we raised kids to know where home is. That is why we are investing. That's why we're going to be asking you to invest with your time, your treasure, and your talent into our children's and youth ministries in the next year of 2017.

Just put that down, that that is going to be on the agenda to talk about. Because there is a generation of kids that have no understanding who Jesus is, and when push comes to shove and things get hard when they're in their 20s or in their early teens and all the things that happen, they have no idea where home is. We might have had a lot of kids who have left the church.

We've talked about 70%, 80% of kids that have left the church in the last 10 years. Well, let me tell you the good thing about those kids leaving the church. They know where home is. And I want to say, we want to do our best to keep letting kids know where home is and to make a decision. And I love what Kim's doing over there. So he was a kid that was raised in the church and he knew where home was.

Another thing, he was a faithful worker. In 1 Thessalonians, we see that Timothy was being sent on a regular basis, was being sent out by Paul to do incredible work of the gospel. In 1 Thessalonians, chapter 3, verse 2, look in your notes. It said, we sent Timothy, who was our brother and co-worker in the service and spreading of the gospel, to strengthen and encourage your faith.

This is one of three times we see Paul just sending him to do really difficult work into places where there's persecution, into places he could be killed. He basically says, we're sending Timothy. And if you look those verses up and you can take this and study afterwards, you will see that he goes from being just some kid that he meets on a missionary journey to being someone that Paul sends to do some of the greatest work of the gospel.

Here's three things we learned about Timothy. Number one is Timothy, sending is mentioned in those verses. Next, he becomes the leader of the Ephesian church. He actually gets raised up from being just a kid in church who's raised by his mom to being picked by Paul to be entrusted, to be entrusted with the work, to going to all these different places to comfort Paul, to strengthen other believers.

And then at the same time, it says that he ends up going to Ephesus and becoming the head of the church at Ephesus. This is the trajectory that we want to see our young people on. This is the trajectory that we want to see these kids that are in this building next door, these kids that are at the high school, get on so that they can lead God. And they might not all lead the church at Ephesus, but they might lead something to infuse the love of God into the community.

And here's the thing that's interesting. The last thing we see and we know at the age of 80 years old is that Timothy was stoned to death for standing up against the temple of Diana. He was stoned to death. Now if you remember in the book of Timothy that Paul writes to him about finishing what? He says, finish the race. There was this thing, don't let anybody look down on you because you're young.

Go forward, persevere. Let me say, Timothy did that. I love that about Timothy. That Timothy at 80 years old, 79 to 80 years old, stood up against a pagan thing that was happening in their city and didn't have to say, hey, you know, I don't want to offend anybody here to speak out against this. But he spoke out against it to the point where he was stoned to death.

Timothy. These are the kind of people that Paul surrounded himself with. I want to say, who is your fellowship? Who is the fellowship that you were traveling with? Who are those people? Second thing is, where are you going? That's a great question. And where is the focal point that God is sending you to? You know, one of the things I want to do is I put a line there that you can write down some of these things.

Do you have a place? Maybe write it down right now. Where is that place? Do you feel that there's a place that God is sending you to? Is there a place that he has called you to? One of the things we see with Paul, which was really interesting, is that Paul's agenda and itinerary was regularly being set and changed in the moment by the Holy Spirit. It was the Holy Spirit who set his agenda.

Now, Paul made plans in all these different things, but the Holy Spirit would come in, and we'll see this in verse six and seven. Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of, Jim, how did you pronounce that? Phrygia? There you go. I think I got it. And Galatia. Having been kept, circle that word, kept, by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia.

Interesting. Why would God keep you from preaching the word? And it says, and when they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of God would not allow them to. Paul let his entire itinerary be set by the Holy Spirit. Now, here's the thing that's interesting in decoding where God is calling you. We all want to know, right, where God is calling us to.

And understanding how God has called us to these different places that we are to go really takes a relationship, not a Bible study class. Let me say that again. I'm climbing the pulpit again. There I go. Understanding where God has called you to is going to take a relationship. Paul was not trying to find a map. He was trying to find a relationship with knowing the voice of the Spirit.

The Bible promises you that it says the sheep will know what? His voice. And so we want to learn his voice. And it is God's desire to teach you his voice as you journey through life. So look at a few key words here that I see. The first word is kept. Sometimes you'll want to go somewhere. You'll have a plan. You'll think it's the right things. But God, it says in Proverbs 16, will determine your steps.

I feel like God's called me here. You can be assured that when Paul went to this place that God kept him from, that when Paul went there, he thought he was going where God wanted him to go. Paul didn't get up in the morning and say, like Jonah, I don't want to go there. I'm going to go my own way and I'm just going to go this way. And God kept him like he kept Jonah and made Jonah put him in the belly of a whale.

No. Paul made the best decision that he knew how in the moment. I want to encourage you, there's nothing wrong with making the best decision that you know in the moment. There's nothing wrong with waiting, but there's nothing wrong with saying, let's just go here. If God doesn't want you to go there, you can be assured if you're dedicating it to him and you say, God, if you don't want me to go, don't let me go, that he will keep you from going there.

Man makes his plans, Proverbs says, but God determines what? Their steps. Right. That God determines your steps. And so it says that he was kept from going there. What I like is that Paul stepped out that day and tried to go somewhere. Look at the next word that we have highlighted. Paul tried. I love this. If you look down in verse seven, it says, when they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia.

I want to say, are you even trying anything? Seriously, like when it comes to following God, one of the ways to find out if God is calling you there or not is actually to try. To actually say, okay, well, you know what? I think he might be calling me to make an influence at the Ralphs I shop at. You know what? I'm going to try. Like, let me, let's just circle that one again.

Try. Make an effort. Try to go somewhere. Maybe God will open up a door like he says. You're either going to have God say no, he's going to say wait, or he is going to open up a door for kingdom, evangelism, mission, power, grace, love, his consolation. Where are you trying? Write down where you're trying. Are you trying? Or do we just kind of walk around, whatever happens, you know, kind of in a drunken stupor of not knowing and just be there, but actually having a focus and saying, God, I have a heart for this people.

I have an artist group I'm a part of. I want to be a part of it. Once again, we see that Jesus, though, would not allow them. Twice now, we see that God said no in this scripture. Trust God to say no. Sometimes things will not open. You'll say, but I thought I heard from God. I thought I heard from God. God is pleased that you tried. God is pleased that you tried, but sometimes he says no because he has another purpose.

And then the final thing, I love this, as you go down in the scripture, if you go to the back, I've lost it. I knew I should have put the verse there, but it says, when Paul made his next decision, the word that it's used in the scripture there in Acts is concluded. So Paul, after he saw this vision of the man in Macedonia, he just, now, come on, he had a vision.

Of course, you're going to conclude that, but nonetheless, he just made a decision. I think God is telling me this. Like, in the end, unless God comes to you in a vision and stands in front of you and tells you what to do, you're just going to have to make a decision, this is what I think God's telling me. Like, not so paralyzed by not being in the center of God's will where you just step out, but just as you go, go with the way maker.

Make a decision. Make a decision at some point and say, you know, I think God's calling me to this. Too many of us are waiting for an angel of light to show up in front of us to give us God's word where God is like, no, I want to build relationship with you. I want to send you out to go with me and make a decision. And then the final thing that we see here, number, point three is this.

To whom are you going? And I think this is so interesting that one of those listening, when Paul gets down to this other city, he decides to go to a place of prayer. Now, the interesting thing is the place of prayer, it says, was outside of the city, which means Paul was not going to the Jewish leaders at the time into the synagogue. He was going to a place of prayer to reach the common folk.

And when he goes to the water, it means he's reaching out to women because a lot of times women would be there, they'd be getting water, they'd be doing clothing, they'd go down to the side of the river. Paul is bringing the gospel to women. And we see this in this scripture because it says in verse 14 that one of the women listening was a woman from the city of, yeah, yeah, named Lydia.

A dealer, thank you, Jim, in purple cloth. That's why you have a PhD and I don't. Purple cloth. She ends up being one of the most influential people in this city. She probably had women working for her. She was probably not doing the dyeing of the clothes herself. She was overseeing this whole group. She was a businesswoman. She ends up being a powerful person in the gospel that God just touches her heart.

And here's what I think what's interesting. First of all, Paul, if you want to know where God's calling you to share, probably the first place is where you are. wherever you physically are. That, unlike Philip, you're probably not going to be transported to another city through transportation, teleportation. The place that you are, let's start there. Where is the places you go?

Where is the spiritual geography of your life? The thing about Paul, he did his best to conclude where God was calling him, but in the end, Paul preached to who was in front of him. Let me say that. Paul did his best to conclude, but in the end, whoever God put in front of him, like Rebecca did yesterday, or like Carol did in the office, whoever God put in front of them, he looked for a way to reach them with the gospel.

It says that Paul, God put in front of him, and in this case, it was a woman dying clothes. The final thing as we close is this. Lydia was a God follower. It says in that scripture that she followed God, but she didn't know Jesus. This is so important, and I already spoke about this today. We cannot believe believe that people are not following God just because they don't follow Jesus.

Scripture is very clear. Paul himself was not following Jesus, but he was trying to follow God. That people all over the world, that God is trying to use whatever they have decided, spiritual path that they are on, he is trying to woo them so that they can have the final piece of the puzzle. And what I love here is Paul didn't have to win the victory. It says this, all Paul did was speak.

It says she was a worshiper of God. The Lord did what? He opened her heart to respond to God's message. Here's the deal. Let me just assure you of one thing you cannot do. It's open a person's heart. You have no ability to do that. And unless a heart is open, they will never receive the message of Jesus. What you can do is share the message of Jesus. Hearts are open when we share because there is a power of the gospel to share.

We want to be a church that shares the gospel and moves forward. Amen? Amen. Let's ask that you stand. Have the worship team come forward. As we sing this final song, I want to encourage you to think through those three places. Who are you surrounding yourself with for this journey? The second would be where are you going? Where is God calling? Where are you trying to go?

Is there anywhere you're, are you even trying? The thirdly with, to whom are you going and sharing? That every person you see has the opportunity that if we share that the message of God would be open in their hearts. Chris, sing. I've heard a thousand stories of what they think you're lying, but I've heard the tender whistful of love in the dead of night and you tell that you're pleased and that I'm never alone.

You're a good, good father. It's who you are. It's who you are. It's who you are. And I'll look by you. It's who I am. It's who I am. It's who I am. And I see many searching for answers Far and wide But I know we're all searching for answers Only you provide Cause you know just what we need Before we say a word You're a good, good father It's who you are It's who you are It's who you are And I'm loved by you It's who I am It's who I am It's who I am Because you are perfect in all of your ways You are perfect in all of your ways You are perfect in all of your ways To us, Lord, you're perfect Oh, you are perfect in all of your ways You are perfect in all of your ways You are perfect in all of your ways To us, Lord, you are perfect in all of your ways It's who I am It's who I am It's who I am It's who I am Undeniable, I can hardly speak I can hardly speak He's so unexplainable I can hardly think as you call me Deeper still as you call me Deeper still as you call me Deeper still as you call me Deeper still into love Love You're a good, good father It's who you are It's who you are It's who you are And I'm loved by you It's who I am It's who I am It's who you are To give it away lavishly To go out to the place Consolation The place that you live One thing I'm praying for And I know that God is opening up There's a huge open door right now To the Muslim world The people that trace all the way back to Abraham So interesting now is There's these fights over hijabs And if you wear it And what I see is people that are self-identifying Say, hey, I'm a follower of God And in the midst of that I want to share the other piece of the puzzle Who Jesus is Paul wanted to reach out And I believe that God has specifically used What has happened in our history To open a chasm That the gospel can go to that people We want to love all people Gentile to the Jew first And then to the Gentile We want to reach out to Jews Tons live in my neighborhood That don't have the other piece of the puzzle They walk by my house on Saturday I want to tell them who Jesus is I want to tell the agnostic I want to tell the atheist I want to tell the Hindu I want to tell them all about the love of a father Love of a father It's a religion with a father To bring people back to that And that one day Every knee will bow And every tongue will confess That Jesus Christ is Lord To the glory of God the Father If you need prayer today Come forward I'm going to ask Elliot, Johanna And my mom, Pastor Jim To come forward and pray And if you want to be part of a prayer team We're going to be talking about that At the All Church Family Gathering Put your hands out if you would And let me give you a blessing today as you go Lord God, we pray, Jesus That you would fall mightily upon the homes God, I feel that there's people That need margin today They need more They need expanded boundaries, God And for the boundary lines To fall in pleasant places upon them, Lord God Expand their boundaries The boundaries of emotions Of finance, Lord God Of everything that they need, God Of healing, Lord Jesus On this place, God Bless this Bless the corner in which they live Let the word of God That if they read the word of God this week It'll speak a word to them, Lord God That if they share the love of God That you would open someone's heart to them, Lord God You would bless them now and cover them Lord, we need you La Jolla needs you And we send you with a blessing Now you are blessed And you leave here blessed In the power and purpose of God In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit Amen Amen The worship team's gonna continue Keep worshiping We love you guys We'll see you this week Because you are perfect in all of your ways You are perfect in all of your ways You are perfect in all of your ways To one You are perfect in all of your ways You are perfect in all of your ways You are perfect in all of your ways You are perfect in all of your ways You are good, good Father You are good, good Father You are perfect in all of your ways You are perfect in all of your ways You are perfect in all of your ways You are perfect in all of your ways You are perfect in all of your ways You are perfect in all of your ways You are perfect in all of your ways You are perfect in all of your ways You are perfect in all of your ways You are perfect in all of your ways You are perfect in all of your ways You are perfect in all of your ways You are perfect in all of your ways You are perfect in all of your ways This is nice to know that you are perfect in all of your ways Just as if you are perfect in all of your ways Savior and how you are perfect in all of your ways mirshider Amen You are perfect in all of your ways You are perfect in all of your ways Thank you are perfect in all of your ways It's who you are and I'm loved by you It's who I am It's who I am It's who I am It's who I am It's who I am