Acts 14:24-28

Matthew Boehnlein: Well, good morning and welcome to the Baptist Tabernacle. If you would, please join with me in saying we're going to sing him number one if you want to use your hymnbook this morning. But it's going to be on the screen. Hymn number one, my savior's love. Let's sing it to the Lord. I stand amazed in the presence of Jesus

Unidentified: of Nazareth and on. He could be forcing. Ron. How marvelous, how wonderful and nice hotel.

Matthew Boehnlein: How marvelous. Wonderful is my savior's love for me, for me, it was

Unidentified: in the garden and he prayed not my will, but.

Matthew Boehnlein: I a. Here's what is

Unidentified: on Greece, blood, sweat drops of blood borne by how

Matthew Boehnlein: marvelous, how wonderful and

Unidentified: my hometown. This. Wonderful is my savior's love for me, verse four, he took my sins and my soul. He may name is Mary.

Matthew Boehnlein: Oh, boy,

Unidentified: the to Calgary. Somebody died of. This. And my Sawtell ever been. Of. As I say. Love for me.

Matthew Boehnlein: Amy.

Gary Boyd: Amen. Well, it's good to have you here with us today. Glad that you're able to be a part of the services this morning. We're going to go to law and order prayer and ask his blessing on our time together here tonight, not tonight, this morning. And, uh, is this right? The schedules. Right. All right, Brother Michael, come on up here and all in a word of prayer. And once he's done, you may be seated and I'll come back up here and give you some announcements.

Speaker 3: Let's pray, dear Heavenly Father, thank for this that you've given us to gather in your house, to worship you and honor you, to praise your name, Jesus Lord be with the pastures. He brings the message and let your spirit work or Jesus name we pray.

Gary Boyd: All right, yes, go ahead and have a seat. Well, it is good to have guests with us here this morning. And if this is your first time here with us at the Baptist Tabernacle or the first time in a long time, we are sure glad to have you hopefully received one of our weekly bulletins as you came in. And if you did inside of that, you'll find a connection card. And we would sure appreciate it if you'd fill that out with whatever information you feel comfortable sharing. We promise not to spam you or show up uninvited or anything like that, but we would like to have a record of your visit. And if you do feel that out, you can turn it in at the welcome desk and they'll give you a little gift to show our appreciation for you being here with us this morning. Several announcements to let you know about this morning. So if you just hang on, we'll get through these. And I'm sure it'll be a big blessing to you to hear all the stuff that's coming up. First, we are going to have a missionary with us April. Twenty first brother, Walter Clark to the country of Germany. He and his family will be giving us a report and an update in the service that night and as well as our children's ministry as well, April. Twenty third, we're going have a senior adult activity. They're going to be taking a field trip to the Shepherds Cross Sheep Farm. That'll be from 10:00 a.m. through lunchtime. There's a five dollar donation recommended to the farm and then they will go to lunch at Apple Barel Cafe one o'clock after the visit to the farm. This will replace the retread meeting, which would have normally been held on April 30th. So there'll be no retreads this month. They'll be doing the trip instead. May 8th is going to be our mother daughter brunch and we're excited about this. We'll be here at the church at 10 AM, and I believe they're going to be holding that in the gymnasium this year to provide more space for everybody to spread out a little bit. It's getting kind of cramped there in the fellowship hall. And so, ladies, they've got a very exciting and fun morning planned for you. I hope you'll make plans on being there. I'll bring a guest with you. There's a lot of special things that are going to be taking place on that morning, and I hope you'll be a part of it. May 9th, of course, is Mother's Day. And so we'll recognize all of our mothers in the service that morning and then there'll be no evening service on Mother's Day. So please make note of that. May 15th, the teenagers are going to be going kayaking. There's a kayaking trip scheduled. There'll be twenty five dollars per person. There will be a meeting with Brother Matt Sunday, April twenty fifth after the morning service for teens and parents who would like to know more about the kayaking trip. And I'll take place right over here by the keyboard. There is a deep interest meeting tonight after the evening service. Deegan's and Trusties. If you can stick around after the service, we're going to be doing a video conference call with our potential new staff member, um, a young man that we're looking at hiring to be our youth pastor so Brother Matt can transition to more of our adult ministries. And so we'll have that for them after the service tonight and probably won't take too much of your evening, maybe about an hour just for you to get to know him a little bit better. And so please pray for that. And I know you'll be in prayer as we talk to him about that. Last week was a huge blessing. We had such a great time on Easter weekend. We had about three hundred and fifty here for the egg hunt on Saturday. And then, as you can see from the report in your bulletin, about three hundred and thirty three hundred and forty people for the morning services if you combine them. And so very exciting time and glad that you were able to be a Bob hope you were able to be a part of that last weekend. It was an awesome time to be here at the Baptist Tabernacle. Ozon, am I missing something? Choir. Yeah, choir today for thirty and, uh, so make sure that you're there for that. Didn't the choir sound great last week? I love the songs that they picked out in the way they did them. Uh, it was very encouraging to my heart. And so if you have not joined the choir and you've kind of been thinking about it, then today would be the day. Uh, it's come on. They're going to be starting some working on new songs and all that kind of stuff. So please join. I know where the BO has been recruiting, uh, some folks. And so if you see Brother Bo walking up to you, you might want to quickly turn and run away. He's very convincing. Uh, and he can get you to join, uh, if he if he gets his hooks. And so anyway, it's quiet today for thirty and hope that you'll be a part of that. All right, brother. Man, you come. Let's all stand. We're going to sing.

Unidentified: That's how great thou art. Oh, Lord, my God, when I also someone. Consider all the science and I. I hear the Rolling Thunder by. Throughout the university's. Thanks.

Matthew Boehnlein: They've got to

Unidentified: help me now. My soul, my savior, God to thee. Now, right now. How great the.

Matthew Boehnlein: I like to do something a little different there. We're going to go to the third person at this time risk and have the ladies sing this third verse and then we get to the chorus of stuff. Everyone joined together and on the fourth will have just the men sing. We'll see how that goes. Maybe a little challenge for the men and the women to sing out here this morning. Let's sing it, ladies, on the third.

Unidentified: Everybody. Sings my song, my name. Now. All the men, when Cristel shall come back, love my son and take me home. At some. Role played by Ron. My. Thanks. Oh, great.

Matthew Boehnlein: Let's continue singing I love you, Lord, it's going to be here on the screen, let's sing it out as devotion to the Lord. As we've seen this together.

Unidentified: And I'm. Joyce. By. Bickie. And what you.

Matthew Boehnlein: Sweet, sweet sound in your ear. Amy.

Gary Boyd: We're never ushers come forward at this time as we prepare to receive our tithes and offerings. The thing I was trying to remember a second ago, and it hit me as soon as I walked away, um, as you mentioned on Wednesday night, um, brother Danny Baker, uh, passed away this past week. And so his funeral is going to be this Tuesday here at the church at two o'clock. Now, we would like to do is to prepare a meal, uh, for the family before that service. And so the meal will take place at twelve thirty and the church purchased the meat. But if you would be able to help us with sides and desserts as Kathy is going to have a meeting right over here by the keyboard after the service this morning, and if you would meet her over there, you let her know whether or not you'd be willing to to bring something that would be a big blessing. And so she'll be there as soon as the service is over. Appreciate all those of you that are faithful to give and support the ministry here. I was just looking back at some of the historical financial records from 2014 to today. And one of the things that I noticed, um, um, is the vision fund and, uh, just the ability that we have to do extra things and remodel different parts of the church. Uh, and of course, we're raising money right now for two projects, the teen room remodel and then also a new playground. And you can see in your bulletin last week, uh, several of you participated in that. And we're so grateful for that because we believe these are two projects that are going to enhance our ability to minister to families. And so we're real excited about what's God, what God's going to do through our church this year and in the future. And just appreciate all of you and those of you that are able to participate in those special projects where we're glad to be able to see those things happen. I'm going to ask Brother Joe Reynolds if he doesn't mind to come and pray, ask God's blessing on the offering. Once he's done, you may be seated and we're going hear a special from the Army and the Sharon Smith.

Speaker 3: Let's pray for them, Father. We love you, dear Lord, we thank you for your goodness and grace to us. Pray that you would just be with this service today. Open our hearts and minds to your word. Uh, just thank you, dear Lord, that we can give back to you and just bless this offering and let us use it wisely. And Christ name I pray. Amen.

Matthew Boehnlein: At this time, we're going to have a special I, Mrs. Chris Younger.

Unidentified: When I think of. And all the sites I see no walls of, just the of purple and gold and St.. Why should I be president? Why should I? After promising for the. And the way can one. In the presence of Joe. I stand before the. The kids, the bread. Starts to read the things I've done. As I hear the formal charges, the question fills my mind. And why should I not put an. To some. It's through the. That's. To play it through. For me. Not by

Matthew Boehnlein: works of my own righteousness

Unidentified: for fear. Michael. But because of that drug trade. Hanging on Mount Calvary, this is Michael. It's. When I'm walking through a valley

Matthew Boehnlein: and I feel there's no way. When the winds of sorrow threaten me and they took my water.

Unidentified: And that's when I turn to Jesus. And the price he paid for me,

Matthew Boehnlein: I can live

Unidentified: my. And praise to. And. It's through the. That's. To make it through the. Nadji. For me, not by

Matthew Boehnlein: works of my own righteousness

Unidentified: for filthy rags all day, but because of my drug trade hanging on Mount Calvary, this is my home. It's. But because of that old

Matthew Boehnlein: rugged tree hanging on

Unidentified: Mount Calvary. This is my deeply. It's.

Gary Boyd: And then what a great song for us to be reminded of here this morning and appreciate. Singing that for us today. I also appreciate our two instrumentalists that were willing to get up here and play with the congregational singing, and we've got many others in our church that have different

Speaker 4: musical abilities and talents. And hopefully we'll be able to get them plugged in and using those talents for the

Gary Boyd: Lord and as a blessing to the

Speaker 4: church during our times of

Gary Boyd: corporate worship here soon. And so excited about adding more instruments. And I don't know, maybe

Speaker 4: one of these days we'll have to move some stuff, expand the platforms that they have more room to sit up here. That'd be pretty cool problem to have, right? Those things excite me, but anyways, x 14, x chapter number 14 is where it will be this morning, X chapter number 14, verse number twenty four. And as you find a place there, if you would mind, join me in standing in order of reading God's word, if you are physically able x chapter number 14, verse number twenty four. We'll get a passage this morning that at first I thought we could skip this one. And then I felt guilty, and so we're not going to skip it and I think there's some good stuff here and hopefully at the end be like, I'm glad we didn't skip this part. First number twenty four acts, chapter 14, the Bible says, and after they had passed through pastilla, they came to paraphilia where they had preached the word and purger they went down to. And you're like, OK, I see why he wanted to skip this one and then sailed to Antioch from whence they had been recommended to the grace of God for the work which they fulfilled. When they were come and gathered the church together, they rehearsed all that God had done with them and how he had opened the door of faith under the Gentiles. There they abode long time with the disciples. Let's pray, Lord. I ask that you help us now as we look into your word, I pray that you give me the words you'd have to say to help the folks who are here to listen and apply it to here to their lives. It's in Jesus name, I pray. A man thank you may be seated. So. I don't know what you think about Preachers', whether you think he works two days a week, technically we work five days a week, but then Sunday is like a day off. Not quite. Essentially turns into a six day a week work week, which is. For a lot of things, not ideal, but I have to say. I love coming here as much as I'm up here at this building and this property, there's there's not hardly I don't if I could say there's never been a day, but I. There's been maybe a few, but not very often do I show up on the property here. Here I am again. I mean, there's really not a whole lot of monotony around here, every day really is a new adventure, something new to accomplish. I mean, progress is constantly taking place. I mean, you've been in those jobs where you're just like the. And it's just the same the same thing over and over and over. I was in college, I worked at Hobby Lobby loading trucks, and we'd pull the conveyor all the way to the back of the truck. And you sit there and you do this. Eight, 10, 12 hours, the same motion, and sometimes you switch sides so that you can work both sides of your body, good, strong core. Where are you going with this? I love my job, I love being here, I love all of you, I missed my Sunday school class last week. We had Easter, we didn't have Sunday school. And as I was getting ready yesterday, I thought, I'm kind of excited about seeing my Sunday school class again. And I just I really do. It's a really good life that that God has blessed me with. And I just I can't thank him enough for it. I really do love so much about what God has allowed me to experience. And I'm sure there's many of you who who would echo a lot of those same sentiments. I hope that you wake up every day excited, maybe not every day, but most days excited about what things God has in store for you. I hope you in your life, you are working somewhere where you feel like God has put me here. And there is a purpose for me being here. I hope you wake up most mornings and you think, look at all the blessings that God has blessed me with. I am just overwhelmed by by how good God has been to me. I'll never forget.

Gary Boyd: One time I remember my dad stood up in a testimony service. My dad, he doesn't show a whole lot of emotions.

Speaker 4: He's not like a robot or anything like that. I just don't get emotional very much. My dad got up and he started crying. You know, me and my three brothers are like. What is wrong, what is going on here? Dad's crying in front of people. And he was just talking about how thankful he was for his family and he just never thought God would let him experience some of the things he'd experienced. It was just a great it was a great testimony to what God had done. Seattle, I hope you know how much I appreciate each of you, how much I appreciate our workers, we've got some of the best volunteers. I mean, there are churches who would like literally take out a second mortgage to have some of you at their church serving and helping and and just doing all of the many, many things that that you do. And I'm thankful for you. But I'm thankful to God for you. God brought you here. God put you here at this church. I'm thankful for our churches financial situation. I told you a moment ago how I was looking back at some of the things, just seeing the growth of what God has been able to do. And can I say that? And what God has been able to do is very encouraging to see God at work in your lives, spend time with different different ones of our church members, either in my house or go out to eat or you come to here to the building and we we talk. And just as I hear the way that God is working and developing your spiritual maturity, your spiritual life, I should say praise the Lord really is exciting when you can look and see God doing things in people's lives and we give all the glory to him. And our passage this morning, we're going to look we're going to see how Paul and Barnabas were overwhelmed with how good God had been to them. Now, I didn't this didn't make it in my notes. I'm just going to say it now because it bears saying lot of times we don't make a big deal out of the quote unquote, smaller victories that God does or gives us in our life. A lot of times we wait till someone's like really, really, really old, maybe even after they have passed away. And then we say, oh, look what God did with their life. I think it's important for us to celebrate the victories, the accomplishments that God allows us to experience as we go. OK, Paul, I believe it's still a relatively young man, maybe maybe young, mid, mid, early 40s as he's taking this first missionary journey. He's definitely not Paul, the elder aged statesman that he becomes later on in life. I mean, this is relatively early on. Barnabus is probably a little bit older than Paul, but still both of these men, this is the first missionary journey. This is the beginning of the history of Paul's ministry that we look at. And yet, even after the end of the first missionary journey, there is great cause for celebration. The Bible tells us in verses twenty fourth or twenty six that Paul and Barnabas traveled back through the region of Galatia, which is where they've been revisiting the cities where they had gone through the first time. So it's like like your windshield wipers goes across once and then it has to go back the opposite way. Well, that's kind of what they they went through the first time. Now they're going to go back home to where they started in Antioch. But along the way, they make several stops to strengthen the believers who had been newly saying, you got all these new Jesus followers throughout the year, the region of Galatia, you say glacial, glacial. Where have I heard that? Galatians? There's a whole book written to these people. But anyway, they're going back through Galatia and they're just revisiting these cities. Now, think for a moment how it must have felt for them going to the regions of Persia and Cydia and pedophilia. The first time they're going in completely new. They didn't know anybody. They had no connections. The first time they go in, they're just a bunch of strangers, you know, and they're strangers. I mean, they're brand new. I mean, they're so new that that where was it iconium? They thought they were gods. You know, they just had no idea who these people were. But on the second pass, imagine how different the reception was instead of those sideway glances at the new guy, like, who are you? What are you doing here? What are you trying to sell? Don't look at me like you don't think those things somebody knocks on your door, you're like. Who is this what do they want? I'm not buying. OK, but somebody from church, good friend you've known for years knocks on the door Hey brother, it's been a while. Totally different. That's kind of the difference in reception that they're expecting on the way back through the first time suspicion, the second time open arms family reunion. And I believe that every stop that they make from each of these cities, the excitement and the thrill and the blessings just multiplied. They were just multiplied as they would go in. And they they would find these these new communities of Jesus followers that are welcoming them before they're having, you know, like stay with strangers. Now they've got people fighting with each other. Who's going to host Paul and Barnabas in their home? Who's going to host Paul and Barnabas for a meal? I mean, it's just totally, totally different experience. And I believe with each stop, they became more and more excited about what God had done. You know, sometimes it's hard to see what God is doing when you're going through the process and if you've been with us, you know that in each of these regions, Pergo pedophilia when they went in. Oh, yeah. There were some crowds at first that were curious about what these guys were doing, but it didn't take long before opposition showed its face, so much so that Paul was even stoned to death. In one of them. And I don't know, but that was probably a really easy day to be discouraged. You know, Paul gets up, he goes back in the city, says he spent the night in that city again the next morning. I don't know if I was Paul, if I'd be super thrilled about getting up at face in a new day. You ever heard someone say, well, I can't get much worse? You know, that it usually can. Mean much worse than yesterday, stunning to me. What are they going to do to me today? But as the missionaries retrace their steps, it is abundantly clear that throughout that first sweep through the area, God had accomplished something very, very significant. What a thrill they must have experience to realize that God had blessed their trip, God had used them to get the gospel to unreached people, and now there were countless lives that had been changed by the power of the gospel. First missionary trip had been a risky endeavor, and yet it had been a success. Paul and Barnabas, they finally inverse number, verse number twenty six, they get on a boat and they sail back to to Antioch. And the spirits of these missionaries have to be overflowing with what they had seen. I don't know if you remember this or not, but when you were a kid, do you remember when you got your report card? Maybe for some of you, there was not a time where you were just super happy to to like show that to your parents, but for some of you, I'm sure most of you, there was at least one where you performed better than you thought you were going to. And so you got that report card. You whipped open the envelope and you looked at it and you thought, oh, my goodness, mom and Dad would be so excited and you could not wait to get home and show it to your parents. When I was in first grade, I had a real bad habit of writing everything backwards. I don't know why I'd write all my letters backwards, my numbers backwards, everything my teacher, she told me, look, if you will do one test and write every letter and every no the right way, I'll give you a certificate. I probably told you the story before, if not just, ah, if I have just humor me. So I did I worked really hard, I wrote every letter, every no the right way, and sure enough, at the end she gave me a certificate. It was just a piece of paper and that graduation's on a great job. And so when I heard certificate, you know what I thought in my head? Gift certificate. And even when she handed me the certificate, it didn't register that this wasn't. A gift card. It was just a piece of paper, so I go home and I was so excited, thrilled to death, and so my parents, they were excited for me. They said, hey, you know what? That's great. We're going to take you. We're going to go to the movies. We're going to see The Lion King. And I was so excited to hold The Lion King. And then and then afterwards, we're going to go and we're going to get McDonald's and sausage, cause this could be great. It's so awesome. I was so thrilled, you know, that this had happened. And so I said yes. And my brothers came up like what was so exciting. So we're going to see The Lion King and afterwards we're going to McDonald's and I'm buying. At the money. That certificate was going to buy anything but didn't matter. I was thrilled to death and the excitement was building and then of course, I got scared. The Lion King, we ended up leaving before it was over. And where the lines are fighting and it's intense. Paul and Barnabas, they're on their way back to and they're just overjoyed. They cannot wait to tell everyone back home all that God had done. Is the Antioch was the place where Paul and Barnabas had been commissioned number twenty six, the Bible says this is where they had been recommended to the grace of God for the work which they fulfilled. Antioch was a place we know because we've studied it now. Antioch was a place that was a grace fueled ministry. Barnabas was the one who went to Antioch and was overwhelmed. He was he was so happy with the grace of God that he saw it at work in the church there at Antioch. And so it is no surprise that when when the people of Antioch, St. Paul and Barnabas out on this first missionary journey, they knew that if they were to be successful, it would be dependent upon God's grace. They knew that if these guys were going to go out to these these completely untouched regions of the world with the gospel of Jesus Christ, the only way they'd be successful is if God's grace was upon them. Certainly, Paul and Barnabas had natural abilities, certainly Paul and Barnabas had talents they definitely been trained in, and someone had taken the time to help develop these abilities. But God's grace was the key ingredient needed for the fulfillment of their mission. You know, sometimes God uses people who the world looks at and say, you have nothing to offer. Sometimes God uses those people, sometimes God uses the Daniels who are good looking, smart, talented of royal lineage. I mean, Daniel had everything going for him, you know, but I mean, God can use anybody. But whether he uses the person who the world considers to be talentless or whether he uses somebody like Daniel who has everything in his column, it's still God's grace. That leads to success in serving the Lord. Don't ever let yourself think that it's OK with me. Look at me. All I'm able to do what I'm capable of. And I know it's always God's grace. Anything worthwhile is going to happen. It has to be God that does it. God's grace had proven effective in Paul and Barnabas ministry because it empowered them to fulfill their mission. That's what says verse number twenty six at the very end there. And I think it's an awesome testimony that the Bible says their mission, their work was fulfilled. Oh, Lord, please, at the end of my life, could it be said that my mission was fulfilled? At the end of today, at the end of the service, could it be said that what we set off to do was successful? Could your people be encouraged and challenged for having been here today? As a youth pastor, sometimes you feel like, well, that was that even worth it? Right, I'm sure you feel that about some things you go out of your way to help somebody like like really you spend the time to do something extra to to be kind to someone to to show God's love to them. And they don't even acknowledge it. Was that worth it? We all want our mission to be fulfilled, to be completed and to be successful, fulfilling your lifelong mission involves fulfilling numerous short term missions. Is it God's grace isn't just one big event, it's for countless smaller events. I don't need God's grace when I'm standing behind the pulpit, I need God's grace when I'm sitting at my desk. I don't just need God's grace when I pull onto the property, I need God's grace when I'm at home. Testimonies of these victories, the testimonies of these successes of grace at work in our lives, they work together to prepare us for later missions and tasks. Look at your life right now. Maybe you're in your 30s, maybe you're in your 20s. Maybe you're in your 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s. Maybe you're in your 90s. Whatever stage of life you're in. If you knew. Twenty years ago, what your life would be like today, how would that have overwhelmed you? Twenty years ago, I was 12. You do what you tell what you tell a 12 year old, Gary, what thirty two year old Gary is going to be doing, that little boy is going to have some some complexes, uh, like. 12 year old Gary doesn't know what he wants to do with his life. God brings us along. Our own personal journeys of following Jesus, God's grace, I believe, builds in our life, he takes us through things that seem monumental at the time and his grace brings it through us through it. So then we look back and we say, wow, God brought me through that. And then, God willing, something else, maybe a little bit bigger, a little more intense the next time. And his grace brings us through it. And each time God is is stretching us, he's helping us to grow, is helping our faith to deepen and mature. And if we will follow God, if we will surrender our lives to him, then I believe our spiritual life can be one of consistent growth. Rather than. Oh, we really fell off the bandwagon there, although we're doing good. Oh, man, I'm just going to do what I want for a while. Doesn't have to be that. Is he? When we experience God's grace, it prepares us for future missions that God may have for us. But it's also true that when we experience God's grace and then we share that with others, that they benefit as well. God, doing something in your life has a benefit for other believers that are around you. It's good for Christians to hear what God's grace has accomplished in the lives of other Jesus' followers, and that's what happens upon the return of Paul and his team number twenty seven. The Bible says that the whole church got together to hear the missionary report. Verse twenty seven does not disappoint us when we come to it. Looking for evidences of God's grace in the text. Bible says when they were coming together had gathered the church together. They rehearsed all that they had done. Maybe you missed that they rehearsed all that they had accomplished. Oh, that's not what it says, was I say. I think God had done with them now. Now, Brother Gary, hold on a second. God was the one who got pulverized with rocks. That was Paul. I believe God was the one who stood up and delivered the great orations that drew the attention of the entire city. That was Paul. According to Paul, that's not where the credit should fall. Paul Barnabus, credit goes to God, what God had done with them, telling them how God had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles, and there was this there was a door was closed in, nobody getting through this door. But I walked up to the door open. It says God had opened the door. Faith, the gentile's. You see in both of these statements, it is clearly and unquestionably God that is at work in the lives of these missionaries. There's a couple of things that I think we can gather from this, and I think the people in Antioch were supposed to learn these lessons. Number one, if God did the work, then only God deserves the glory. I kind of like some glory if God does the work, God gets the credit. Number two. By highlighting the work that God had done. The people of Antioch are assured that God has honored their investment. You see, if you invest in a missionary life, that missionary comes back and says, look what we've done, we did this, we did that, we did this and we did that. And you're like, OK, but I mean, I was giving you I wasn't really giving it to you, was giving it to God. Doesn't God bless my investment. By these missionaries come back saying, God did this and God did this and God did this, like, oh. God honored what we did, God was pleased, are offering our sacrifice to him. And then I like this one, think about this. When God is the preeminent agent in the work, then opens the door for more human instruments to be used. So you might look at somebody that has had success serving the Lord and say something along the lines like this, well, I could never be like so-and-so. You're right, you never could because you're not so and so. But the same God who empowered so-and-so wants to empower you if God is the one that's doing the work. It doesn't matter who the human instrument is because it's all dependent upon God. Some of you don't think you can do certain things for the Lord. Because personally, I just don't have that ability. It's not about your ability. It's about what God's able to do. And if he is the agent at work, then he can use anybody. I mean, he used a donkey, for goodness sakes. Nobody represents that comment. So. But by giving a report that was focused on what God had done, Paul and Barnabas rightfully removed themselves from the spotlight. I believe that you and I need to be careful that we are quick to do the same. Everything in this tiny little section of scripture can be applied to our lives, God intends for us to see the personal joy that comes from letting him work in our life. God wants you to experience the pleasure that comes from letting him work through you. But we also see the benefit that others receive when our life is a testimony of what he has accomplished. It's great. To read about Paul and Barnabas doing this. But don't you want to experience it for yourself? It's great to read about Paul and Barnabas going and God doing great things through them and them coming back and giving all the glory to the Lord and everyone saying, oh, my word, what a great God he is. I mean, this was two thousand years ago. Isn't he still great? Isn't he still doing things through people's lives, don't you want him to do something with your life? I certainly do. I'm not satisfied with a life that only ever hears about what God is doing. Are you? Maybe you are. Growing up in a Christian home, my mom, OK, on going growing up in a home schooled Christian home. My mom would regularly have me read Christian biographies, David Livingston, I think I read a couple of biographies about him and I read Judson Hudson Taylor, Amy Carmichael, Nate St.. The list could go on and on and on.

Gary Boyd: Somebody was said to know who these people are.

Speaker 4: I'll give you my list and you can go look them up. All of these people saw God do great things in their lives, and many Christians, I believe, are content to read or hear about what God has done for others. It's fine. That's all they need, like some people live vicariously through their children, some Christians live vicariously through other servants. Why? Well, many times they're unwilling to surrender their lives to the grace of God. They're unwilling to yield themselves as instruments in his hand. This morning, I hope that you yearn for God to do something through your life. Don't you want to experience firsthand with the grace of God can do with you? Through you. What work or what mission does God want you to accept the way Paul and Barnabas accepted their mission? I don't know if this is true or not, I wrote this down, but I would assume if you're here today in the Holy Spirit lives inside you, you're a Christian. When I say God has a work, God has a mission for your life, you probably already have a good idea of what it is. My wrong about that. You probably already know what God, if you were to, like, totally surrender to him, what God would ask you to do.

Unidentified: Marong. I knew.

Speaker 4: For months. The God wanted me. It's to be a preacher, I just didn't want to do that. Didn't want to. When you heard I said earlier how much I love the life that God has given me. I didn't want it. It wasn't what I it wasn't my plan. I believe the Holy Spirit has probably already prodded you about an opportunity for God's grace to work in and through your life. I'm not trying to pressure anyone one way or another, but maybe one of the things that I'm allowed to say will resonate with someone's spirit today. Perhaps God wants to do something in your life through, I don't know, your witness to your family. For some of you, the greatest mission field you have is within your own family. God has placed you exactly where he wants to use you. For some of you, you may be the only person capable of reaching your family. Everyone else would be shut out, everyone else would be ignored, but you have an inroad. To reach people with the gospel. He doesn't need you to be eloquent, he doesn't need you to have all the answers, he just needs you to surrender to his will. Some of you have a mission to those you work with, just yesterday, one of our men was sharing with me how he has been talking to some of the guys he works with about Jesus. How many unsaved people crossed your path at work on a daily basis? Some of you have had the same job for decades. Do your coworkers know anything about your faith? I don't want to be obnoxious, you don't have to be obnoxious. If you surrender to God's grace, he will open doors for you to be an instrument in his hands. We believe God has the power to change the lives of your family. Power to change the lives of your coworkers. Perhaps for some of you. God has a mission through your ministry here at this church. Are you certain today that you are investing your time in the ministry that God would have you to invest in? Many of you are involved all over the ministry of this church. Are you certain that the ministries you're involved in are the ones that God wants you to be in? Did you get involved in an area just because someone asked you, did you feel obligated to to volunteer for a certain thing? Where is your ministry here at the Baptist Tabernacle, truly Holy Spirit lead. We don't want you to just fill in somewhere because you felt obligated, we want you to be active, to be serving the Lord here through the ministry of this church in the areas where you feel like God has called you to minister. Maybe you have too many obligations. Maybe today you have too few. Maybe today you need to take a step back and refocus your ministry efforts, maybe this morning you need to innovate in your ministry involvement. You see, you don't go to an inflexible church. You come to me and you say, hey, I've got this idea for ministry. I'm not saying that it's going to happen. But I want to hear it. And if there's something that we can do to help support and get behind that burden that God has laid upon your heart, if God is leading you to a point of ministry that doesn't even exist yet. Then we're going to do everything we can to explore how we can help you get it done. Many of you, I believe, are familiar with the personal pleasure that comes from yielding yourself to God. But there might be some who have only ever heard about it. This morning, I want to encourage you to learn from Paul and Barnabas the joy and excitement that they receive from letting God work through their lives. For those of you that have seen or perhaps are seeing God work in a real way, can I encourage you to share your testimony of God's power with anyone that will listen and maybe a few that don't want to listen? Who might be encouraged by the testimony of what God has accomplished in your life, some of you have seen some amazing things that God has done. I mean, indisputable God, things have happened in your life. I mean, just like. Tuck them away. Lock them in a box, never to be brought out again, and we should be shouting those things to anyone that is. Can we agree? That anything good that is accomplished in our lives is ultimately a result of God's grace. You didn't do it. You didn't deserve it. All the glory goes to God. Do you know why we have missionaries come back and report about what God is doing in all these far-off countries? It's not just to check in on them. We do this in the hopes that their testimony of God's work will have an effect on us. That that you or I will look at these very normal people. And realize that if God can use them, he can use me to. There isn't a question in my mind that somewhere in our congregation there are missionaries and preachers and youth pastors and Christian workers that God wants to use. Let's say that again at. Didn't seem to get a response, so. There isn't a question in my mind that somewhere in our congregation with the young or the old or the middle, there are missionaries and preachers and youth pastors and youth worker, Christian workers that God wants to use. What does your testimony say about God? One God to use my life as a testimony to my brothers and sisters in Christ that they too can have a good life serving God. One of these teenagers says, man, I feel like God might be calling me into the ministry, I don't want them to look at Pastor Boyd and say, look at him, he's miserable. He hates serving God. I do that I'm going to be miserable to. Listen, when you serve God, it's not perfect, it's not always easy, but it's a good life. And I love it. Maybe your testimony tells people about how God can help his children overcome abuse. You've overcome some things by the grace of God that most people never have to experience. God has helped you through it. You need to share that testimony, maybe your testimony tells people about how God gives victory over a life dominating sin. Man, you were in the clutches of this this is this sin you just couldn't get away from, and you finally gave it over to God and God said, I'll give you the victory.

Gary Boyd: And there are people sitting in here

Speaker 4: that need to hear that. Because they're going through the same thing that you went through, there are other people that are going through the same things that you're going through. We need to tell people about what God has done. Maybe your testimony tells people about how God can use anyone that will surrender their life to him. Paul and Barnabas experienced the thrill that comes from letting God work through their lives when they told their story, they gave God the glory. They made clear that it was he that was at work. He opened the door for others to be used as well. This morning, you and I can experience the same thing. We will surrender our lives to the Lord, his grace will enable us to make an impact and have an influence on others, and then we'll have a testimony to share with other people, not about what we accomplished, but what he accomplished in our lives. Don't you want that today? I do. We can experience that in our lives. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, I thank you for this day. Thank you for. The testimony of Paul and Barnabas, all of the wonderful things they witnessed, you do thank you, that they used their testimony to give you the glory to others who might hear them to you and what you're capable of. What I pray that we would do the same today or that you would take our lives. We would surrender them to you and your power through your grace. You would use us as your instruments this morning. Lord, I pray that you would help those who have seen you work and compelling and powerful ways help them to be bold and their testimony and their witness of what you're capable of. Well, I pray that we would focus on you at this time, which you want to do what you could do if we would just yield ourselves to your power in Jesus name, that I ask these things and then let's all stand. We're going to sing page three hundred and have thine own way. Lord God spoke into your life, your heart decision. You need to make me today. You need to surrender your will to the Lord. Not saying that you're going to be a preacher or anything like that, but there's just a mission that God has placed before you and you say, God, today I'm using my life to you. Maybe this morning you've seen God work, but you haven't been as forthcoming with the testimony of his power this morning. You say, you know what, Lord? Soon as you give me an opportunity, I'm going to share what you've done with somebody. I've spoken to your heart, there's a decision you need to make once you come, his brother Matt sings the song have

Matthew Boehnlein: died on the way. Lord have I. No way. Oh, the. But, uh, I am the.

Unidentified: Mold me and make.

Matthew Boehnlein: We have to find a way. While I am with. Eighteen year old kid and to. Have died on the way. Lord, have I don't with. Search me and try. B. m. Tuesday. Whiter than snow. Lord, watch me just now. Now has

Unidentified: in Cyprus. Uh.

Matthew Boehnlein: Humbly, I. Oh, I've known the way Lord have I don't waste.

Unidentified: Wounded and we.

Matthew Boehnlein: He helped me, I pray. The power of. Our surely is the. Fine, touch me and. Me, save your divine amen.

Gary Boyd: Well, thank you so much for being here with us today. Appreciate your good attention. Don't forget tonight for 30 we will have our choir practice. And we'd love for you to be a part of that if you haven't been a part of the choir before. We'd love to see you there. I know Brother Matt would be encouraged by a good showing tonight. And good, good opportunity is right now to rejoin the choir if you haven't in a while. And then also we'll have our service at five thirty. I'm looking forward to getting back into Solms with you. It's been a while. And so tonight we saw 19 and just kind of looking at what we know about God from nature and the university's created and then what we know about God based on his word and what that does for us. And so you come back tonight, Sol 19, very well-known. Some you'll recognize a lot of the verses that are there in that. And so please be there for that. And then, of course, deacons and trustees stick around afterwards for the video conference with Brother Clarence this morning. We are blessed to have another member of the Tuttle family coming to join our church. And I believe you were sick when everybody else came. And so it's not Aubrey, it's Audrey. And I made that mistake a couple of weeks ago, but she didn't even correct me. So that was very nice. But Audrey is coming and she would like to join our church by transfer of membership. And if you're excited by that, you're glad to have her here as part of our church family, let it be known by good, strong. Amen. Amen. And we're so excited that God has brought the Tuttles here to us from Utah and glad that they're here in Oklahoma and just trying to get used to the wind and the allergies and all of that wonderful stuff that comes with living here in the land of freedom.

Speaker 4: But anyway, so we're

Gary Boyd: glad to have her here. She's going to be down here at the front with her dad, if you don't mind. Come by and just greet her and get to know her a little bit and let her know that you're excited to have her here as a part of our church. I'm going to ask you, Brother Randy, if he doesn't mind, to come on up here and close our church and a word of prayer. And once he's done, you'll be dismissed. Thank you all so much for being here today. I'll be out in the four years. I'd love to get a chance to talk to you a little bit before you go and hope you'll be back tonight.

Speaker 3: Let us pray, dear heavenly father, we love you and we praise you and we thank you, Lord Jesus. Heavenly Father, we're so thankful this morning for this wonderful message that our pastor has brought us, Lord, it was anointed Lord and it was stirring Jesus and Lord, my prayer right now is that not one person in this building would go home today unchanged. Jesus, but that we would be fired up, Lord, because of the wonderful love and mercy and grace Lord that you have bestowed upon us. Lord, I pray that you would bless each and every person here. Lord, pour out your wonderful spirit upon them. I ask all this in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

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