The Word Made Plain

Guest (Male): Welcome to The Word Made Plain with Senior Pastor Tony Clark of Calvary Chapel Newport News in Virginia. Currently, Pastor Tony is teaching a study in the book of Acts. Please open your Bibles to Acts chapter 14, verses 1 through 3.

Tony Clark: All right, let's dive into the Word of God together. Turn with me in your Bibles to Acts chapter 14. We're going to be looking at verses 1 to 3. Father, we are so grateful that you love us. We are so grateful that you have called us here today to hear your Word being taught. Lord, we pray that you will quiet the voices and the noise of this world so we can have ears to hear what the Spirit of God is going to say to us today through the Word of God. In Jesus' name, amen.

Amen. Acts chapter 14, we're going to be looking at verses 1 to 3. The title of this message is "Let's Do It Together Part 1." Now, Dr. John Maxwell said in his book *The 17 Indisputable Laws of Teamwork*, he has a chapter in there called "The Law of Significance." It says that one is too small a number to achieve greatness. Throughout history, no one achieved anything great by themselves. There was always someone else or a team that helped the person achieve that great task.

Well, what about Lindbergh? He flew across the Atlantic by himself. There was a team that made that happen. Well, what about... Lone Ranger had Tonto. You never achieve anything great by yourself. We're going to see that in these verses here. Now, we saw last time that Paul and Barnabas were chased out of the city of Antioch of Pisidia for preaching the gospel and seeing the entire city stirred up about Christianity.

So now they traveled southeast to the region of Galatia, stopping first in the city of Iconium. Look what it says there in verse 1: "Now it happened in Iconium that they went together to the synagogue of the Jews and so spoke that a great multitude, both of the Jews and of the Greeks, believed." Now, once they got to the city of Iconium, which was right around 60 to 80 miles southeast of the city of Antioch of Pisidia, I want to draw your attention to the phrase "they went together to the synagogue of the Jews."

There's another great quote by John Maxwell, which says, "Never do ministry alone." Even Jesus practiced this principle in Luke chapter 10, verse 1, when he sent the disciples out to preach two by two. It goes even further back to Moses in Numbers chapter 13 when the twelve spies were being sent out to spy out the Promised Land. It says in Numbers 14, verse 6, that Caleb and Joshua were paired together to go and spy out the Promised Land.

The point is, when we are ministering together with one another or with another committed believer like Joshua and Caleb were, or like Paul and Barnabas here, you're less likely to yield to temptation, to get discouraged, or to stop serving God. We can make up for each other's weaknesses as the two gifts are combined together. Even in Ecclesiastes, it says a threefold cord cannot be broken. Solomon in the book of Ecclesiastes, he says that if one person is alone, he can get cold. But when another person is with him, he gets warm. You never do it alone.

We make up for each other's weaknesses when the gifts are combined together. I have to ask us this morning, to whom are you teaming up with today? Who is your ministry partner? It takes a team, husband and wife to raise children. It took a team to have them, so it's going to take a team to raise them. I didn't say you and your living partner, I didn't say that, or you and your roommate. No, husband and wife. It takes a team to raise children.

When our evangelism team goes out, they go out as a team. No solo ministry at the church. It takes a team of people to make Sundays and Wednesdays happen. As you just stroll on in here and sit in your favorite chair, it took a team to enable you to be able to do that. A team to make sure that the clean team made sure that the place was clean when you came in, the restrooms are stocked and lights are turned on, and all... it took a team of people. It takes a team of people to make Sundays and Wednesdays happen as you just stroll on in here and say, "Let me get my favorite seat." There's no solo ministry here at our church or at any church.

So we see Paul and Barnabas, notice, went together to the synagogue of the Jews. This was their practice. Whenever they would go into a city, they would go into the city and immediately go into the synagogue to minister to the Jews. Why? Because had they gone to the Gentiles or the non-Jews first, the Jews wouldn't give them the time of day. So they would always make it their practice to go to the Jews first.

Also, because remember what Paul said in Romans chapter 1, he says, "For I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, it's the power of God to salvation, to the Jew first and also to the Greek." So they would go there because they understood if they went to the Gentiles first, the Jewish people would be like, "No, don't come to me with that mess." So they would go to the Jews first.

Now, notice how they were persecuted in Antioch of Pisidia and it didn't discourage them from moving on to the next city. I believe that they set a pattern for us here and I believe that we need the boldness of Paul and Barnabas to persevere in the face of opposition. We get so easily discouraged when hardships and hard times come our way. We're so quick to quit when opposition comes. Paul and Barnabas shook it off and moved on to the city of Iconium.

Now, that doesn't mean that opposition won't come again. Look at verse 2: "But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brethren." Every successful ministry will attract opposition from Satan. When a great multitude of both Jews and Greeks believed the gospel message in verse 1, the unbelieving Jews stirred up the unbelieving Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the believers.

I want to draw to your attention the word "unbelieving." The Greek word is *apeitheo*, and it means to disobey, disbelieve, or refuse to be persuaded by. It means that they heard the gospel and chose to disbelieve, disobey, or refuse to be persuaded by it. Since Acts 17, verses 30 and 31 says this: "God commands all men everywhere to repent, because he will judge the world by Jesus Christ." These Jews chose to disobey this command to repent.

The Greek word for repent is *metanoia*, and it means to have a change of heart and change of mind. It was a military word. It meant to walk in one direction, do an about-face, and walk in the other direction. It means to change the way you feel and think about a certain thing, and you need to feel and think the way God says. We need to repent, *metanoia*.

So not only did they choose to disobey this command to repent, but they tried to poison the minds of those who chose to obey the command to repent. The Greek word for poison is *kakoo*, and it means to be embittered, or to stir up against, or to poison. I see a lot of this going on in homes, in jobs, and in society as a whole. Whenever the gospel message is preached to a teenager, to a spouse, a coworker, or even a friend, there will always be someone who chooses to disobey the command of God to repent and try to poison the minds of those who chose to believe.

I see this all the time. I remember a woman brought here her grandson. She brought her grandson here to church and he chose to believe the gospel message. When we offered the invitation during a baptism for him to give his life to the Lord and get baptized on the spot, this kid came forward, teenager came forward. He went home and told his mother what had happened. He's all excited and everything and she tried to poison his mind against the gospel by saying, "You're not allowed to go back to that church," that his grandmother, her mother, is bringing him to.

When church times came around, she wouldn't allow him to come to church. His grandmother told me this story and I started praying for the kid and his mother. I saw him about maybe a month ago, maybe it was around the beginning of summer, and I told him how good it was to see him. I said, "It's good to see you here," and he had that look. I know the look, folks. Let me tell you something, God gives me discernment and gives folks discernment.

I know the look. I know a look when somebody's about to leave the church. I know the look when there's just mess going on at home. I know the look when a husband and wife are having problems. It always shows up on the woman's face, on her countenance. Because the Bible said the woman is the glory of the man, she reflects the man. She reflects what the man is doing to her. I can always tell.

This kid had this look on his face and I saw him, I just dapped him up and hugged, saying, "Bro, I'm praying for you, bro, praying for you." It's funny, after first service I saw his grandmother and I said, "How's he doing?" She said, "His own mother's trying to poison his mind against the gospel. His own mother."

The real question is this: how did they poison the minds of the people? Notice "poisoned the minds" of the people. I suggest to you it was through gossip, slander, and spreading rumors about Paul and Barnabas to try to discredit the ministry. I believe this is an area we all can grow in because we're all guilty of this at one time or another. Gossip. Gossip is saying behind someone's back that you wouldn't say in their face.

I call that a coward. Now because of social media, the cowards have a platform to just blast you behind a phone, just give you the business because they're a coward. They wouldn't say it in your face, so they blast you with words. Slander carries the idea of smearing a person's character or reputation. Rumors are unconfirmed stories about someone else. Now, you may be here and you may protest and say, "I'm not a gossip. I don't participate in slander. I don't spread rumors about other people."

Well, I'm going to ask you then: but do you listen to it? If you're listening as someone's character is destroyed or someone's reputation is assassinated, you participate in the process just as if you were speaking it yourself according to Romans 1 and verse 32. You approve of those who are doing this by listening to it. Romans 1:29 talks about a whisperer. Are you a whisperer? Do you love to whisper in people's ears about other people? If so, then you need to repent. You need to repent of it.

Here's the thing: if you're around a whisperer, just understand what they're whispering in your ear about someone else, they're going to whisper about you to someone else. I have a pastor friend and I don't really think he knows any better. You know, he may be a little touched, but God uses him. He has a successful church. God blesses him and God uses him to bring people to Christ. But he has a problem, you know. Whenever I'm around him, you know how the Bible said the Lord is in his holy place, let your words be few?

When I'm around him, my words are few because I know just like he's talking to me about somebody else, he's going to talk about me to somebody else. I know it. If you're a whisperer, guess what? Somebody is whispering about you. We need to repent of this kind of stuff. Now, when the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds, the question is: did Paul and Barnabas leave?

Look at verse 3: "Therefore they stayed there a long time, speaking boldly in the Lord, who was bearing witness to the word of his grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands." No, they stayed there and notice the length of time. They stayed there a long time. Why? To get them grounded in their new Christian faith by teaching them the Word of God. Now, this is amazing because I want to bring something to your attention.

There is a time to go when persecution breaks out like they did in the city of Antioch of Pisidia according to Acts 13, verses 50 to 52. But there is a time to stay as well, like they did here and stayed for a long time. I bring this up because many of you are on jobs and you're being persecuted for your Christian faith, passed over for promotions because you're a Christian. Now, notice I'm putting emphasis "because you're a Christian."

That you're not being passed over or persecuted because you're being a jerk or you're being obnoxious, or you think it's being holier-than-thou and you're just being a sourpuss on the job. No, that we're not talking about that. If you're genuinely being persecuted for righteousness' sake and maybe you think, "Man, it's time to leave, it's time to leave." You need to be prayerful and discerning because God could want you to stay and not only stay but stay a long time like Paul and Barnabas did here.

Not only did they stay a long time, but verse 3 goes on to say that they were speaking boldly in the Lord. The question is: what gave Paul and Barnabas this boldness? What gave them the endurance to stay there a long time in the midst of all this? Well, Acts 13, verse 52 tells us they were filled with joy and notice with the Holy Spirit. See, Jesus promised them in Acts 1:8, it says, "And you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth."

We know the Greek word for power is *dunamis*, and it means miraculous power, ability, or might. Miraculous power, ability, or might to do what? Be a witness for Jesus Christ. Not to be weird in church. Why people blame the Spirit of God to be weird? If you notice, they're not weird like that in Walmart or as they're walking around Sam's Club, because I'm in both of those places all the time. Lately, I've been at the mall a little bit, I never see them doing that in the food court.

Why people only wait to get here to get weird? Acts 4:31 says they were filled with the Holy Spirit and they did weird things? No, after they prayed and they spoke the Word of God with boldness. Acts 4:29 says when they prayed they said, "Lord, look on their threats and grant to your servants that with all boldness they may speak your word." Notice, they were filled with the Spirit. Jesus said you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be witnesses unto me.

That's Acts 1:8. Chapter 4, they were filled with the Spirit and they spoke the Word with boldness. The Spirit came upon them to be a witness. They were filled with the Spirit and they spoke with boldness. Then verse 29 says grant your servants that with all boldness we may speak your word. The purpose of the power of the Holy Spirit is to empower us to speak God's Word, to be a witness, not to be weird. It's a "W" but it's to be a witness, not weird.

The amazing thing is, why is that necessary? Because we would have the tendency in our own natural nature to be timid and afraid to speak God's Word in a society where it is not popular to speak the Word of God. We need the boldness to be able to speak through our timidity and our fear to share with a dying world how much they need Jesus Christ and need to repent of their sin. We need the power of God's Spirit, the *dunamis* power, the dynamic dynamo power to speak through our fear and our timidity, to speak to a people that so desperately need the gospel.

So if you feel timid and afraid to speak for God, do what these disciples did: they prayed and asked God to give them the boldness to stick around and speak his Word with boldness. So all because you're having a hard time on the job or in your marriage, it doesn't mean that it's time to leave. For your job, God may want you to stay there, notice, a long time to get those coworkers grounded in the Christian faith or to show them what a real Christian looks like.

You know, they all think that there's nothing but hypocrites in the church. That's what they think. So you stay there, notice, a long time to show them what a real Christian looks like. How about that as a thought? They did it here, Paul and Barnabas did it here. Sometimes we have to endure hardship as a good soldier like 2 Timothy 2:3. For you military people, you understand this. You've got to endure hardship as a good soldier.

There are good times in the military and there are some hardships. There are some great duty stations and there are some duty stations that are hardship. I was talking to someone else in Hawaii. "Oh, I just don't ever want to leave here." I bet you don't. Who would want to leave Hawaii? Hawaii is one step under heaven. You've got heaven, then you've got Hawaii right up under there. Who wouldn't want to leave there? "Oh, it was so good when I was over in Hawaii." I bet you did. Sometimes you've got to endure hardship as a good soldier.

You're a soldier. So you've got to endure hardship. We're soldiers in the army of the Lord. We've got to endure hardship sometimes. Sometimes we have to remember what 2 Timothy 3:12 says: "All those who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution." That's not in the latest promise book that you get from Amazon, maybe that's a little more accurate. You won't find that in the 7,000 promises: "All those who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution."

But sometimes we have to. This is what Paul and Barnabas are teaching us. Now, as they were grounding these new believers in the Word of God, God was confirming their message with signs and wonders, just like he promised in Mark 16, verses 17 and 18. It says as you are going throughout the world preaching the gospel, these signs shall follow you. It began to give us some examples of some signs that will follow believers in the context of evangelism as they're going out around the world sharing the gospel.

It says a list of things: serpents shall not harm you, if you drink anything poisonous it shall not harm you, all that kind of stuff. Because of social media, I saw a video. Christianity attracts the weirdest people.

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