The Backward Journey

You find yourself today facing a need. You receive that word from the Lord and you ask the Holy Spirit to quicken it to become a rhema unto your own heart. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. O Lord Jesus, we thank youk for the abiding presence of he who is faithful and who will perform that which we commit to him. We surrender ourselves to youo in this hour, Lord, in Jesus name and all God's people say Amen. You may be seated, brother. And yet in the Word of God, you'll find over and over again, the people of God took time to celebrate. Celebration is very much a part of the Old Testament. In fact, feasts were appointed by God all the time. And we've had a couple around here and we're going to keep having them because they're part of celebrating. Anyone that ever thinks to become a Christian means that you give up having good times just hasn't met the same Lord Jesus that many of us have met, right? So as we share here for the next little bit, it's in a spirit of celebration and thanksgiving, but it's with a sense of the Lord's wanting to teach us some things as we look forward to another year. What I did as I prepared the teaching this week was to look at the life of Paul in conjunction with his missionary journey. And we're going to need to keep close to the Scriptures as we do this. I want to ask you to turn to Acts chapter 13 for just a moment. And I'm going to move as quickly as I can through this so that we can cover ground and yet not overlook the principles of the Word of God. Finally finding it. All right, Acts 13. Now, Before we do this and begin to follow this through here, I have to tell you how exciting it is for me to be able to read the Word of God and see the things that happen to the people here, happening to us. That is, you know, that's just an exciting experience. And if it's not happening with you and you're visiting today, we trust that by the time you leave here, you'll sense the same excitement that we have and you'll know that there is a place where God lives and the Holy Spirit is ministering and it's to his glory. If you need a Bible to follow along today, one of the brethren here is going to make one available to you. Just slip your hand up and it will come across the aisle at you. There's three things here. I want you to just listen to this. You're going to see parallels as we look through here of the work of God in the community as in the early church. So look for parallels for which to praise Him. Secondly, you're going to see points of growth in Paul's personal life. You're going to see parallels in the church life, points of growth in Paul's personal life, and an impartation, impartation of prophetic ministry into the future to establish the young churches. Now I've broken down the journey to try to make it palatable for you into a forward journey and a backward journey. Would you say those two words? Forward journey and a backward journey. And the journey begins at the church of Antioch. Look at chapter 13, verse 1. Now in the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers. Barnabas, Simeon, who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene Manaen, a member of the court of Herod the Tetrarch, and Saul. And while they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, set apart from me, Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them. Then after fasting and praying, they laid their hands on them and sent them off. Where did this happen? Church in Antioch. Alright, then I went on and I read through verses 4 through 12, which we won't read today, but that was their first stop. Okay, and then verse 13. Now Paul and his company set sail from Paphos and came to Perga and Pamphylia. And John left them and returned to Jerusalem. And they passed on from Perga and came to Antioch of Pisidia. Now I started thinking to myself, how are we going to keep all these places straight and how is this going to hang together? So I drew a map this week for you. And I find it kind of fascinating. I don't know how many times I've read this, but the Antiochs kept getting confused. And if you're honest, you'll admit with me, sometimes the names just go right over your head. You don't even know what you're reading. But I read here that he left the church of Antioch and went to the church in Antioch. Right away I figure I'm not getting the word of knowledge, Lord, and it's not happening. But here's where he started, Beloved. Oh, you got a pointed pen. Great, thank you. He started. We started here. This is Antioch, which is about 300 miles north of Jerusalem. Can't read the words. Jerusalem is down here, 300 miles to Antioch. And that's where he left Acts 13. And he traveled down here across the island to the island of Cyprus, visited these two towns. Nothing really significant happened. There they cast out a few demons and saved some people. And by the way, one of the persons that came to the Lord Jesus was a very intelligent man, the Bible says. I kind of like that. Don't read it improperly there. Okay. He came here to where they landed in the area. Now one of the things that's also confusing in the the scriptures is the regions and the cities. And you think, well, you know, they're going to the city of Galatia. Well, there is no city of Galatia. It's an area, it's a region, it's up here. And when they landed, they landed in Pamphylia and traveled on up to Antioch. The Bible mentions all these names and here's where they came. Now you need to know that that church in Antioch looks like a nice little ride. But there are 4,000 foot mountains between here and here. And a couple things to keep in mind that as you consider this church was Paul's desire, deep desire to take the Gospel where it hadn't been. And I'll go back in a minute over that and show you why it was so significant that he struggled that way. Okay. The church in Antioch that he left, I just, I'll have to pass over that. I had a bunch of things to say. Let me tell you this. When he left the church at Antioch, it was with what? How did they leave? What made them leave? They thought it'd be a good idea. Take that off a minute, bro. Holy Spirit spoke to him. Right? Okay. And one of the principles of the community we're finding is that God will speak to us in prayer. That's why we seek to be faithful in our prayer life. It's a community principle that we're living under. God will speak to us in prayer. They were sending church. The church in Antioch was sending people out. And that's the kind of church we want to be. Sending people out, hearing from the Lord, sending them out. I believe we're sending the Murlocs out into a ministry. The Lord spoke to them, we're standing with them. They've submitted it and the Holy Spirit to the eldership and we're with them in it. Alright. I mentioned in miracles on Cyprus and I kind of glossed over that. But you do need to see this. This is something you could easily miss. Look at chapter 13. I mean, yeah, chapter 13 and verse 13. Now John, John, Mark had joined them on the island of Cyprus. And in verse 13 you could gloss right over this, it says now Paul and his company set sail from Paphos and Came to Perga and Pamphylia and John left them and returned to Jerusalem. Why? Why? Didn't like where they were going? All we know is that it really, really bugged Saul or Paul. It really was a thorn under his saddle. And later on he won't let John go with him. And he and Barnabas separate over this guy. And there's a principle here personally that I saw is that the call of God in your life may divide. It may divide you from friends, it may even divide you from family. And you may not be understood or even agreed with. But to obey the call of God may cause some division. And you need to be willing to face that and to move in it. All right, now we're at Antioch, okay? And I mentioned to you, you want to stick that back up on that map. There was 3,600 to 4,000 foot mountains to get over number one, number two, along the trail that went from where they landed there at atelier and up to Antioch, there was notorious bands of robbers. So Paul had to go over the mountains, he had to get away from the robbers, and he had to do all of this while he was sick. He was sick. He was not a well man in many of these journeys. And I don't know how that fits into the faith teaching, but that's where he was. He wasn't 100%. And I believe it was because God made him continually depend on trust and grow in grace. There's a principle I saw here. When he got to Antioch, where did they go? McDonald's. On the Sabbath day, they went into the synagogue and sat down. They went to the God fearing people. And I believe a community principle is that God fearing people want to hear the message that the Lord is speaking through our community. Don't be afraid to share what God's doing to other people who are God fearing. Go to other churches perhaps. And sometimes we're real sensitive to not want to hurt their feelings or not want to sheep steal or something like that. And I think it's important to recognize that Paul went with this message where people were that feared God. He always went to the Jews first, every place he went. Now when he was there, he was not totally received. And there's a tremendous sermon here. It's the second longest sermon in the New Testament. But we'll skip all the way over it and get down to verse 42 of chapter 13. And as they went out, the people begged that these things might be told them the next Sabbath. And when the meeting of the synagogue broke up, many Jews and devout converts to Judaism. Those are proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who spoke to them and urged them to continue in the grace of God. The next Sabbath, almost the whole city gathered together to hear the word of God. But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with jealousy. Jealousy, by the way, is what killed Jesus Christ. If you read in the Gospels and contradicted what was spoken by Paul and reviled him and they ended up getting thrown out of the city, that's what happens over in verse 49, 50 and so on, end of verse 50, they were driven out of their district and they shook off the dust from their feet against them and went to Iconium. There's one other thing here. Paul and Barnabas were just faithful to do what God told them. And just to share the word, just to share something natural, something from the scripture with the people. And a personal principle is we speak. We just speak what we know and God gives increase. I heard the testimony the other day of Dion Dimucci, who some of you who are sort of from my generation would remember. Dion wrote the song and sang the song. Abraham, Martin and John and some. He sold 20 million records in the prom of his era of his musical career. And he came to Jesus, he says in his testimony, because somebody who lives next door to him just said to him one day in the midst of a conversation, you know, Dion, Jesus changed my life. He didn't tell him the technicalities of the resurrection. He didn't tell him all the ways in which we can authenticate miracles today. He just said, jesus changed my life. And Dion said, you know, I didn't remember a lot of other things that he said, but that just stuck in my mind. And that became the seed which God watered. And eventually this man who has a really significant ministry today, that's what brought him to the Lord Jesus. And God just says that be faithful, tell people what you know, tell people what happened to you and he'll bring the increase. Alright, they went to Iconium. Now we don't have time to go all the way through this and I'm trying to save moments. The main thing you need to see in the next seven verses is this verse four. The people of the city were divided. Some sided with the Jews and some with the apostles. Now let me tell you about Iconium. Back to the map, Paul. Okay, Iconium is right here. Here's Antioch. That's 90 miles. 90 miles they went. Iconium was not really a highly civilized area. Antioch was sort of the last frontier where the Roman culture had really pervaded. And they hadn't brought rule into Iconium completely by this point. There were more mountains and so on in here, and it was a rough time. And Iconium, to me, represents something spiritually as well as something physically. There's something that happened here. The farther you go in the Lord Jesus Christ, the more courage it takes to go on. The farther Paul went with the gospel, the more adversity, the. The more courage it took, the more adversity you faced, the more courage it took to go on. And never believe that once you make that initial commitment or that recommitment or whatever it is, that then you're going to slide. But you see, the more you go on, the more courage it takes, the more obstacles you face, because you're going deeper and deeper into the heart of God. This is what we see Paul doing in Iconium. And the Word, when he got there, divided those people. They went out and the word divided those people, and they couldn't stay very long, so they Left there. Verse 5. When an attempt was made by both Gentiles and Jews with their rulers to molest. And that means physically, to molest them and to stone them, they learned of it and fled to Lystra and Derbe. They weren't dumb, okay? They knew when to stand and when to move. And they're not ashamed to admit that they fled because the fulfillment of their mission was before them, okay? Now they're really in the outer reaches. Iconium to Lystra, this is like Cranberry Township. And at Lystra, the principal mark of that ministry or miracles. Verse 10, 9, and 10. Paul, looking at a man who was crippled from birth, intently looked at him and seeing that he had faith to be made, well, he said in a loud voice, stand upright on your feet. And he sprang up and walked. And when the crowd saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in Lycaonian, the gods have come down to us in the likeness of men. Let's flip back here to these principles, bro. Thank you. Okay. I mentioned that at the Ministry of Iconium, God's word separated. That's verse four. The farther we go, the greater courage it takes. That's the principles at Iconium. If you're taking notes, and I see that many of you are, and I believe that that will really seal this in your heart. At Lystra, we see that miracles may elevate men. There's a community principle here, brothers and sisters, that when something begins to happen, it's tempting to look at a Man and say, aren't you wonderful? And I appreciate what Paul says here. Paul and Barnabas, verse 15. Why are you doing this? We are also men of like nature with you and bring you good news. And he goes on. And so verse 18. With these words, they scarcely restrained the people from offering sacrifice to them. And beware. Beware that when God uses anybody in this fellowship to be a hand, a channel, but whereby a miracle is performed, don't elevate that man or that woman. Keep your eyes on the Lord Jesus. Now, I want you to. Here we are at Lystra, okay? And Cranberry, the uttermost parts of the earth. Look what he says. Here's the people. You've got to catch this. Verse 18. With these words, they scarcely restrained the people from offering sacrifice. These people were going to make them gods. Look at verse 19. Jews came there from Antioch and Iconium. And having persuaded the people, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city. City. Supposing that he was dead. Talk about fickle. Talk about being fickle. One day they're gods, the next day they're goons. And that happens overnight. I've seen the loyalties of people change. And there's a principle here, personally for you. Never build your security on the acceptance of people. Never build your security on the acceptance of people. You know, I could see Paul turning to Barnabas and saying, well, we have really got it here. We got it made. And the next day the Jews came down, persuaded the people that these guys were frauds, and they stoned them. There's only one security to build your life on, and that's the rock. That's your acceptance in the eyes of Jesus. Okay? Then they go on down to Derbe map again. See where Derby is there? It's the next town down. Who said what? Elwood City. Elwood City, yes. That is way out there. Derby. But look, verse 21. When they had preached the gospel of that city and made many disciples. Let's stop right there. Don't need to finish the verse. They didn't have any resistance. They were able to conduct their ministry, preach the gospel and make disciples. And I think there's an interesting important principle here, Paul, that effective ministry or establishment ministry involves discipling. I know that the lettering is getting worse, but I was getting closer to 10:30. Discipling, discipling. We ought to talk a lot more about that. But that's bringing yourself under discipline for growth. They made disciples. They just didn't make converts. Beloved. Look at that. There's a Tremendous obstacle in our hearts to become disciples. It's okay to become a convert. Disciple is one who's devoted to following Christ. Alright, so there they are in Derbe. Now a very crucial thing takes place. I'll finish the second part of number five in a moment. Map again. You've got to catch this, because this is the point of the message today. Here they are in Derbe. Right here. It's time to go back. Here's where they have to go. Antioch. Right here. Am I in the way? I probably am right there. Now, if you were here and you wanted to get there, and you weren't your wife, which way would you go? Where would you go? You'd hop down here to Tarsus, catch a little skiff and make it over to Antioch, right? That's all you have to do. That's not even 150 miles Derbeat Antioch. Or they could have even done it on the ground. But it would have been easier for Paul to go to his hometown, which was what? Tarsus, Catch a boat, jump over to Antioch. He could have been back in a couple of days. What did he do? He went back. He went back to Lystra, to Iconium, and to Antioch. And brothers and sisters, there's a very profound thing that took place here. It was an illogical move by all reasoning. The distance was about four or five times as great. His health would have terrifically impeded him going back through those mountains and those trails where the robbers were and everything else. The whole matter of his safety was at stake. The fact that he'd been thrown out of those towns, that there was hate being marshaled against him. He did the illogical and he went back. And there's a profound principle there that the way of God is not always the way of least resistance. Paul went back and performed what has been come to know. I'll call it the backward journey. Now, all of what I just described took place in about the space of a year to a year and a half. You don't get a sense of that when you read that. There's no time elements. There's no four months here, six months. It just happens. And so what I'm telling you is that Paul got to Derbe and started his trip back in about as much time as we've been here. Roughly. He's heading back. Now, why did he return? This is Roman numeral 2. Roman numeral I was a forward journey. This is number two. But why did he go back? Well, I'll just quickly say this. He went back because I Believe that he wanted the people to come into a fullness of the knowledge of the Son of God. You read not now, but when you go home, read the letter to the Galatians. And what did you see in that map where Galatia was? That's that whole area in there. That's these churches he's writing to. Okay. Paul writes to the churches in Galatia, and you find that he begins to exhort them to go on, and I'll refer to it in a minute. But he went back to bring them into fullness of knowledge. Number one. He went back because he enjoyed the fellowship of the people. And as you read later on there, you'll see that he made some relationships. Guess who he met in Lystra one day? A guy by the name of Timothy. Became a pretty important guy, didn't he? He enjoyed the fellowship. He had a passion to see these people established in the things of God. And I believe, profoundly, he went back to confirm his own faith. How many of you have ever been skiing, snow skiing? How many of you ever went down a hill and wiped out and wondered, should I get up again? I have a story I could tell you about the first time I took Carol, but she's sitting here today. She's not teaching, so I'm not allowed to tell you that story. But it had something to do with the ski lift. You can just use your imagination. But we both had to overcome obstacles. And anytime we do something where we are defeated or we face friction or tension, or we feel resisted against, it's a tremendously important thing that we don't give up. Right? Those of us who have children, when they fail, what do we tell them? Yeah, you're right. You ought to forget that. No, we say, get up, dust yourself off, do it all over again. Right? Paul needed in his faith to be confirmed, so he went back to the very places where he was hated and thrown out. Please remember that those of you who have been sharing your faith and people reject you, those of you in the schools, the high school kids, and you share. And every time you share, someone laughs at you. Get up, go back in to Lystra. Share your faith again. Now, what did he do when he was there? These are the final points this morning. I'm going to double Paul's salary after this. Okay? Praise the Lord. Look with me. Let's pick up verse 21, chapter 14. When they had preached the Gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch. And here's what they did. And brothers and sisters, can I say, may I say to you this morning, I believe this is the word of the Lord to our fellowship today at the end of one year. These are things that the Lord Jesus would speak to us. First of all, he spoke a strengthening or confirmation. Strengthening the souls of the disciples. That word in the Greek means to give further support or. And I like this the best, it's in the Phillips translation to give a fresh heart. A fresh heart. Paul recognized that the people were facing a lot of conflicts and a lot of resistance and, and the growth was giving them pain. And Paul came back to give them a fresh heart. Those of us that have been here for the whole year know that there's been some pain involved. And the Lord Jesus is coming and he's saying to you today, be heartened again. Be renewed in your vision, be strengthened in what I'm calling you to become. It was the same Lord Jesus that remember when the disciples were out in the boat in Mark chapter six, and they were rowing against the wind and not getting anywhere. That's how I feel like some of us probably are getting to that point right now in our home groups maybe, or in some of our ministries, people who are setting up every week and people who are involved in the teaching, ministry to the children and so on. We're rowing and the wind is against you. And it's not easy all the time to be at your home group every week. And the Lord Jesus comes along and he says, fear not, take heart. It is I take heart. Be renewed in your inner man. The strengthening of the souls of the disciples. You know the word for souls? There is the word which means mind, emotion and will. He's saying, in a sense he's getting them excited once again. How many of you come to a point where you need excited over again? I find it pretty encouraging that in here. Acts chapter 18, verse 23. On his third missionary journey, you know what? He says the same thing. He traveled all over Galatia and strengthened the disciples. Are you a strengthener to someone else? When they see you, do they end up leaving your conversation strengthened, encouraged? Or do they leave another problem? Ask God to make you someone that strengthens the souls of another. Alright, Number two, we don't have time to give this the full. I do want to show you one other thing. Look in Ephesians 3 with me. Here's what Paul did to strengthen. Now here he's praying for the churches at Ephesus, which are just to the west of these churches. Verse 14, 15, 16 for this reason, Ephesians 3:14. I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory, he may grant you to be strengthened with might through his spirit in the inner man. That's strengthening. Strengthening through his spirit in the inner man. Praise the Lord. That's what it means. You get established in the Word and you get strengthened inside. Now, the second thing here, back to Acts. The Bible says that Paul exhorted them. He exhorted them. Here's something to remember. Exhortation is not shaking your finger at someone and saying, you better do this. Exhortation is encouragement with support. You encourage someone to do it and you support them in it. That's exhortation. It's like positively moving with them. It comes from the word parakaleo, which is the word from which we get paraclete, which is the word for the Holy Spirit. That's his ministry. He encourages us with firmness to move on. That's what they're doing now. Look what he does. Two things. Please catch this. He exhorted them a. To continue in the faith. Menno. To abide. Abide in the faith, beloved. It's easy when things begin to get rough around you, to get your eyes and your rest broken. Get your eyes off the Lord and your rest broken. To find yourself slipping out of the faith, moving into the flesh. Faith in the flesh. When you start doing that, see, Paul went back to these places. And do you think the ones who stirred up the people and threw Paul out were really happy to see these other Christians growing? Tremendous resistance took place, tremendous fighting going on. And Paul encourages them, exhorts them, keep in the faith. Keep in the faith. Those of you who find it a struggle day by day to go into to your jobs, keep the faith, beloved. Abide in the faith. Don't turn from it. And then he says this. It's a profound word here, saying that through many tribulations, we must enter the kingdom of God. Through many tribulations. When you think of tribulation generally, what we think of besides the great tribulation. Tom, what did you say? Troubles. All right. Many people think of tribulation in terms of persecution. Troubles is even closer to the meaning. The word means afflictions, probably translated afflictions in some viewers. And. And it comes from the Greek word which means pressure. Pressure. Through much pressure, we must enter the kingdom of God. You know, I wish I could say this in such a way that you grab ahold of it. Paul wanted Them to know that though they had seen the kingdom of God and maybe become born again, it was through pressure that they would enter the kingdom. And, beloved, there is a profound difference. You look at John, chapter three, when Jesus himself says, answering Nicodemus, he said, if a man is born of the spirit, he will see the kingdom of God. If he's born of the water and of the Spirit, he will enter the kingdom of God. Some people don't think that makes a lot of difference. I think it makes a lot of difference. One is, yes, you're saved and you're all right. And the other is you're entering in. You're in the full realization of the kingdom of God. And it's through pressure that that happens. You're being molded. That's what pressure does, doesn't it? Take a lump of clay and God, he can rebirth you. He can give you a new heart, a new spirit. But it's the molding that takes pressure. And Paul says, we must go through that. And I know I look upon you and I know many of us are feeling pressure. Gee, Lord, you're really pushing me in this thing. I talk to people all the time who feel like God's on their back. And they want to say, get off my back, huh? But it's the pressure of God that's entering into you. See, if you can only look beyond the momentary pressure. This slight, momentary affliction, Paul says, is storing up for us an eternal weight of glory. The pressure is necessary that you enter in realization. Realization requires reshaping. What am I talking about? Well, our priorities. You might be born again, but you won't enter into the fullness of the kingdom of God until your priorities are reshaped. You might be born again, but you won't enter into the fullness of relationship until your relationships are reshaped and you pick your friends by God's standards and not just what's popular. Commitments. I know that this is pressure. I know that it requires something us. But that's what makes us viable men and women of the kingdom of God. And I want to say to you today, beloved, that I think at Northway we are at a point where the pressure is coming down. The pressure is coming down. And it's going to take a willingness to be shaped by God, to stick it out in a home group. It's going to take a pressure, a willingness to submit to that pressure, to be faithful into a call of a ministry or of a relationship, of your quiet time. Being with God takes pressure. I mean, it requires Something of you. Someone was saying to me the other day that, well, at Northway, the honeymoon is over, Things are still happening and there's still a lot of glory, praise the Lord. But the honeymoon, the freshness of coming every week and saying, wow, look who's here. Wow. Now we're down to being shaped that we might enter into. And I believe that we're on the threshold of entering. We're not right in the middle of it yet. And it's going to take that pressure, surrendering to it by. Are you willing to submit to that pressure? Are you willing to give yourself to it? Responsibility. That's the pressure I'm talking about. You know, there's a danger, I'll have to say this in love. There's a danger for some of us to be somewhat like the preachers that we all criticize who go out winning the world for Christ. And you probably know a bunch of them whose families are going to hell. It's a tragedy. And there's a sense in which many of us are. We might be out there doing all these great things for God, and our own local body here needs to have your input and your faithfulness and your life. The place of power are the places of suffering. Any man of God of whom I've read has said those same words in one way or another. David Wilkerson. You listen to David Wilkerson's testimonies. The place of power is the place of suffering. And I guess that makes sense because who suffered the most when was Jesus Christ at the height of his power on that cross? Because it's there that he broke the powers of darkness. And it's not going to come easy, beloved, but it's going to come. Hallelujah. Finally, he ordered them the discipline of order. When they had appointed elders for them in every church with prayer and fasting, they committed them to the Lord in whom they believed. I want to say this, that being organic is no excuse for being erratic. We can be natural and flow in the Lord, but it doesn't mean that we just spin off whenever we feel like it. But God orders us. And I think that the way in which the Lord is leading us is just. You know, Grant said pretty well what happened yesterday about this deacons thing. But I have to tell you, that was. When you hear how this happened, it's just so exciting because have you ever been in a situation where you've been praying and talking and trying to figure something out and you do it and do it for hours and, you know, it just isn't quite right. And then something breaks, and there it is. That's what happened to us yesterday. And God's ordering our body. He's ordering it. And that enables, people think, that order stifles the spirit. I think order releases it. When you know who's doing what and you know who is linked to whom, and so on. It can flow both ways, up and down. And that's wha