Remain Faithful and Steadfast

1st Corinthians 15 verse 50 I Tell you this brothers flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable

Behold I tell you a mystery We shall not all sleep But we shall all be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet

For the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised Imperishable and we shall be changed for this perishable body must put on the imperishable and this mortal body must put on immortality when we when the

Perishable puts on the imperishable and the mortal puts on immortality Then shall come to pass the saying that is written death is swallowed up in victory.

Oh death. Where is your victory? Oh death Where is your sting? The sting of death is sin and the power of sin is the law

But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ Therefore my beloved brothers be steadfast immovable always abounding in the work of the

Lord Knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain So we've heard speak the word we've heard preach

Jesus as Lord and now our brother is going to take us to the next step Listen be attentive pray that God will use it

You know, it's so easy It's so easy to sit and just take in information

It's a little more difficult to think through and say, okay, what do I need to do with this? and how does this how do

I do this where I am in my world and The things that I face so I'm anticipating again the

Lord blessing us as Mark brings us his word. So mark preach the word All right.

We're back at acts 11 and a Couple more verses.

We're almost at the home stretch Remain faithful Speak his words

Preach he's Lord and be a Christian is what we want to hang over your heads and impress in your hearts

Because that's the encouragement we need that's the encourage me we need in this day and this this time and it's our

So I will read to you again 11 acts 11 and I want to read 19 19 through 26 to set it in your minds

Once again, and we'll focus on all we'll focus in on them verses 22 23 and 24

Hear the word of the Lord Now those who were scattered because of the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenician And Cyprus and Antioch speaking the word to no one except Jews, but there were some of them men of Cyprus and serene

Who coming into Antioch spoke to the Hellenists also preaching the Lord Jesus? And the hand of the

Lord was with them a great number who believed turned to the Lord The report of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem and they sent

Barnabas to Antioch When he came and saw the grace of God, he was glad and he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the

Lord With steadfast purpose for he was a good man full of the Holy Spirit and faith and a great many people were added to the

Lord So Barnabas went to Tarsus To look for Saul and when he had found him he brought him to Antioch For a whole year they met with the church and taught a great many people and in Antioch the disciples were first called

Christians thus far is the reading of God's Holy Word.

Let's pray God in God in heaven we

We come to you because this is your word and as we open this word we pray that you would open our hearts pour into us

All that you have for us Give us the understanding and wisdom to carry out these words and these commands

We Pray Oh God that we would leave here With great joy and gladness because of your grace that has been given to us

We pray Lord that as we think about remaining faithful that we're not alone the grace of God is your kindness your

Wonderful Favor to us to continue in This grace and so as we think about these words we pray that you would

Magnify Amplify these words Into our spaces and Not only of our hearts, but our homes this county this state

We pray that the church permeates this culture with your truth And that we would never tire of being faithful and that what you've called us to do

I pray that we would be steadfast and unmovable always abounding in the work of the Lord Knowing that our labor is not in vain in the

Lord. This coming to the conference is not in vain But Lord unite us to this truth ignite us

To carry it out in Jesus name. Amen The report of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem and they sent

Barnabas to Antioch When he came and saw the grace of God He was glad and he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the

Lord with steadfast purpose For he was a good man full of the Holy Spirit and of faith and a great many people were added to the

Lord Now we see very clear the Lord blessed this church He is blessing this new planted church in Antioch It is different from Jerusalem because it's in a different location different people.

It is not filled with Jews the the normal audience

But it is filled with people unlike them in the sense of their understanding of God their lifestyle and so God blessed the efforts of this newly planted church and now

The call was to remain faithful Steadfast one purpose don't change the message don't change the purpose don't change

What has been? successful in the home church in Jerusalem And there we want to look at Three things as we look at these three verses

Three things God blesses the church Where there is the gathered body the grace of God and godly men the gathered body the grace of God godly men godly leaders

What more can you say to a church that has? Blossomed that has been blessed by God Because of the grace of God and their faithfulness to God What more can you say but to remain faithful?

Remain faithful to keep on keeping on and we need to hear that from time to time Because when things don't change or things look much of the same that is a part of the ordinary grace of God To continue doing the same things faithfully albeit we need to hear

Keep on keeping on remain faithful steadfast one purpose and so when we look at These three things the gathered body the grace of God and godly leaders

We want to look at how the gathered body is blessed and God has blessed

We see that in the last session where God's hand is on this newly planted church not because of the innovation not because of the new tricks and the flashy lights or the things that they will

Implement in the church. It was the ordinary means of grace the faithful Coming of the

Saints the faithful gathering of the Saints the faithful the faithful Communing of the Saints and I want you never to be discouraged or never to tire of that ordinary means of grace that God provides

He does wonderful things through the gathered body of Christ and we see that in verse 22 this report this report of this came to the ears of the church now

This is the church in Jerusalem And and they were hearing of what was going on in Antioch and not only did they hear what was going on They wanted to see and I and confirm what was going on in Antioch They wanted to confirm that the blessing was happening that God's hand was truly in the church

And that they were staying faithful remaining faithful to what happened in Jerusalem and now that it would be transplanted or carried out and carried over and Antioch the gathered body

The gathered body was a blended was a blended togetherness. It was a one body of Jews and Gentiles And again,

I believe I mentioned that it was not manufactured. It was not forced because when the grace of God is on his body when the gathered body in his name

Comes together they come under that under that umbrella of Consistency the crack with Christ at the center and so Jews and Gentiles People that don't dress like you look like you

People that don't even talk like you They were gathered together as a gathered body

It was it was here that the followers of Jesus were first called Christians We'll talk about that on the

Lord's Day But we must make note that they were called Christians because they were being

Christians You know if this was the normal rhythm of life

That was carried on from the headquarter church or the home church From Antioch the church launched the first mission and so they spread abroad into the the

European Exploits of Macedonia They would they would reach

Europe and it is conceivably that we wouldn't even be a part of the church if The church doesn't move on and go into these

Places where God had pushed them because of the persecution of Stephen in fact the murder of Stephen that scattered the

Saints far and wide and In gathering in scattering the

Saints far and wide they they scatter the mission and the message far and wide With the ability and the probability of reaching more people

Reaching the Saints of God reaching his sheep reaching those that belong to him

I want you to never belittle the body the body of Christ the gathered body sometimes we get frustrated or If we can use that word bored

It's especially from the outside looking in when the culture comes into the church where they visit the gathered body and they don't see

Things that excite them when you don't see things that move their flesh and move their minds to be attracted to Something other than the truth of the word the centerpiece of the gathered body we center around the

Word of God We center around the preaching of Christ the speaking of his word

And that's something that is precious and that we need to cherish Because this gathered body is replicated this this means of grace is replicated from Jerusalem All the way to Antioch 300 miles away almost the same distance as Buffalo to Leroux and If you think about it

So excited so Joyful and so glad with the people of God That they traveled and they they they thought it worth it they thought it was worthy

To continue and replicate replicate what was what

God was doing in Jerusalem to take it all over the world

The gathered body they heard and drew in Jerusalem and and sent a representation and sent

Barnabas to go check it out and confirm what was going on And this is this is an awesome thing that the hand of God would be so mightily on the people of God that it would be

Seen and heard Far and wide we want the the truth of Christ to be seen and heard far and wide

We don't want to again make a name for ourselves We don't want to have the attention drawn to us

But we certainly want to be to make much of our Christ of our

Lord And what he is doing the evidence of that will be plainly seen to all

And so the gathered body is is precious and the gathered body is necessary The gathered body is not optional the gap the gathered body is absolutely

Vital Vital to the life of the church. God blesses the church where there is the gathered the gathered body in his name next we see the grace of God the grace of God When he came and saw the grace of God, what is the grace of God?

Can we take that for granted? Do everyone do everyone know the grace of God? I'm depending on the grace of God, right?

I hope you're depending on the grace of God when you hear his word as pastor

Tim mentioned we always sometimes always struggled I would say with applying that word in In specific ways, what do

I do from here? What what do I how do I implement this in my life? We don't have to struggle with that question in the sense where we are discouraged but we struggle with that question because we belong to God and we want to please him and we we want to Submit our way to him.

We want to live as unto him But the grace of God is a is a wonderful thing because it's his favor.

It's his unmerited unearned kindness In other words you and I can't do anything and work hard enough for this thing and that should give us great rest great confidence

If you're working your finger to the bone and you should right Paul says it was the grace of God, but I worked harder than all of them and So the grace of God Certainly creates a response in his people, but we don't work for the grace of God And I've used the word manufacturer and makeup or force of more than a few times

But I want you to hear that because the grace of God was evident in this gathered body The grace of God is his favor.

It's his blessing. It's a gift. It's this hand It's his hand on us

As this grace of God is Observable. That's one of the things that we see what was going on in the the church at Antioch Is that his grace had permeated and it was evident and observable.

It was not hidden in a corner It was not where you have to look real close to see if God is working

God was indeed working because his hand was there people believed and they were turning from their own way to Christ And so the grace of God is

Observable it was observable to the to to those that with that were without you can see it.

You can see where God is What God is doing? You can see the work that he is accomplishing and You can see that God can only accomplish what was being done this mix of people could not have

Mind you no named people no big names They were speaking his word they were preaching he is

Lord and they were affecting a culture They were infiltrating a culture a big city with big city vibes

With all the vices with all the shocking lifestyle with all the immorality and the idolatry and all the things that goes goes along with Most major cities and little cities, but the grace of God was visible and evident

And God's hand The hand of the Lord was with them The grace of God is most visible to the world as it is seen in the

Church of Jesus Christ We experience his grace every day We experience his grace week by week and it should be visible to the people of God that we understand grace

That we depend on grace And so this grace that was observable in the

Antioch Church This this church that was not an organization but a living organism a body a gathered body of believers where they

Depended and leaned and loved this grace. They operated out of this grace the body of people who are

Collectively known as followers of Jesus They were being Christians They were walking in a normal way

When I say normal, I mean they were walking in this ordinary way doing the same things

That God had blessed walking in grace

Walking in the blessings of the Lord these followers

Who have been recipients of God's saving grace They make

God's grace visible In other words when you receive that grace that when you're a recipient of that grace other people witness that grace the world witnesses that grace the world witnesses when you and I have been saved by amazing grace saved by the grace that They indeed search for by grace you and I were saved are being saved and will be saved

And so to go back to the working definition What is grace grace is the favor of God the blessing of God the unearned the unearned kindness of God?

And when we walk in that grace When we understand that grace when we cherish that grace

When we rest in that grace That grace is evident to those that are lost to those that need

Christ And it becomes it becomes a part of our Speech becomes a part of our proclamation if you're only fueled by If you're not fueled by grace you you're you're living on fumes

If you're not fueled by the grace of God you're living on fumes you are running yourself to the quit trying to accomplish trying to do trying to be and One of the things that is so clear here in these few verses is that the grace of God was evident in this church

This gathered body believed the Lord Jesus Christ They believed in his work and who he was and they rested in that grace and God blessed that Resting and that depending that faith in him because he he multiplied

And not so much again. We look at the church multiplication, but the When people come to the

Lord that adds to the church That adds to the church, but but the important thing here is that they were that they were

Saved unto the Lord. They were added to the Lord. That's a very that's very different language as opposed to added to the church

But they were added to the Lord They believe and they turn and they were added to the

Lord and we That are recipients of this grace

We have to be reminded that we are not living by the

Dictates of our own will they're not Working to ourselves. We're not trying to accomplish something to be saved or to gain grace

We're working and we're doing because we are saved because we have this grace and that makes all the difference in the world

When you live out your Christian life when you are living in such a way That you are reflecting or you're living in response to what

God has done. God loved us He first loved us and therefore we love him.

We cannot twist those things around We cannot flip those things around we must

Rest in that divine order God's grace also teaches us to deny worldly desires and to live sensibly

Righteously and godly in the present age Titus 2 12 The grace does the grace of God doesn't just teach us that we have something

But the grace of God teaches us that we must do something So anyone that understands grace anyone that has this grace is not just living

Because God has has done something and I'm done this church modeled

The blessing of God and They not only shared their faith and preached

Christ is Lord, but they rested in the completed work of Christ and They worked hard They worked

They work to represent the grace of God. They work. They work to represent the blessing of God Jerusalem was the home of the gospel

Advancement the very place Christ commanded the Apostles to be a witness to first you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth

Because the work was was done and the work was Accomplished so to speak in Jerusalem, they were pushed out because of the persecution and now

Barnabas was tasked to investigate what they were hearing

To confirm the word that was being preached and the grace of God that was reported to be present

Barnabas himself was again from Cyprus the the little island off the coast and Barnabas was named

His name was Joseph, but the Apostle called him Barnabas and it's it's interesting that they called him

Barnabas because it reflected who he was Just like we read they were called

Christians because it reflected who they were When he came and saw the grace of God, he was glad He was glad Because he was an encourager

He was a lifter he was an equipper Barnabas Which means the son of encouragement

It was Barnabas that sold the field Right. We are often distracted with Ananias and Sapphira who wrongly

Who wrongly took the their property and lied to the

Holy Spirit? But before them the precursor was Barnabas. He sold the field and gave the money

To the church. He laid it at the Apostles feet The church in Jerusalem sent a man of God who was equipped with the gift of encouragement

To encourage the new church that was being formed in Antioch. And so the report is this it came to the ears of the church the church immediately sent a

Good man a holy man a man full of the Spirit To confirm what was going on This word encouragement or encouraged has the meaning of exhorted.

I Pray that that's what I'm doing. I pray that that's what's regularly going on that we're being exhorted not just preached to yes

But exhortation is involved in the preaching where we're helping you apply it to to life live that Preaching out live that information as pastor

Tim said out exhortation and encouragement go hand in hand

And so Barnabas is pleading with them to remain faithful. This is one of the things that I want you to to go away with To remain faithful the room remain faithful speak his word

Preach he's Lord Be a Christian We're finding out and we're seeing and in clear language that what a

Christian is Over the last couple days at least we've seen

To remain faithful is to speak the Word of God it's to speak his word to preach that he is

Lord to be faithful to that message and so Barnabas pleads and Encourages and celebrates and he's glad the scripture says and tells them to remain faithful much like Paul when he was in the synagogues and they were clamoring to to hear more and they

Said to come back the next week and he said to continue in the faith

And so this exhortation is a gift of grace that God gives to some in the body of Christ Yes, that's right.

He gives that gift of exhortation or encouragement to some It is one thing to teach

God's Word but exhortation urges people to walk it out live it out to it for it to for it to extend

Beyond the walls of greeting each other and fellowshipping fellowshipping with one another in the church

Exhortation is indeed a part of preaching So we have the gathered body.

We have the grace of God and now we have godly leaders Godly leaders you can't imagine a church without godly leaders

You can imagine a bad church. You can imagine imagine an unhealthy church You can imagine a church that might be growing and overflowing

But that doesn't mean it has godly leaders godly leaders godly men verse 24

For he was a good man. We're talking about Barnabas full of the Holy Spirit And that's why he was a good man because he's full of the

Holy Spirit You are a good man or a good woman because you are filled with the

Holy Spirit. That's not a title reserved for a few That's a that's a title reserved for those that are

Full of the Holy Spirit that have the grace of God that are saved by God For he was a good man full of the

Holy Spirit and faith and a great many people were added to the Lord But I want to just look at that for a moment for he was a good man and full of the

Holy Spirit The true church the church that God blesses throughout history has never been without godly men

Luke states that Barnabas was a good man and full of the Holy Spirit and so Godly men one of the things that is evident and clear.

I believe is that they recognize and admit That they need help Godly men recognize and admit that they need help and they surround themselves with other men who admit the same

Hold them accountable lift them up encourage Exhort them

Barnabas knew that he needed help and he had a gift from God to encourage and exhort the people but the people needed discipleship

And that's where we're moving on through this passage. We're moving on to the passage where we end in verse 26 where They had spent time but to get to get to that point to get to the discipleship to get to the teaching to the explaining

To Building one another up to stirring one another up This good man this encouraging man this man full of the

Spirit Barnabas Knew just the person He sought out the person and that could help them better teach the

Gentiles. There was no other No one other than Saul When Saul first came to Jerusalem after Jesus met him on the road to Damascus and the disciples were afraid of him not believing

He was a disciple. It was Barnabas who took Saul in and brought him to the

Apostles he brought him into the to the fold and introduced them and Vowed for him and declared to them that he was indeed a disciple.

He was indeed One who belonged to God he had received the grace of God Being an encourager

He recognized and helped equip the church further. He pushed the church further along this was a godly man and again, this was not that Barnabas was particularly special indeed

He was special because God had point had reserved him and and and set him aside for this task

But I want us to all understand that the church Whether new or old

Needs godly men Godly men full of the Spirit godly men that will remain faithful and steadfast the church must have the gathered body accompanied by the grace of God and Finally godly men living out and depending on the power and the purpose of the

Holy Spirit And that's my challenge to you.

I want you to just observe The church I want you to observe the grace of God Day by day in the life that you spend with each other the time that you spend observe the grace of God Appreciate the grace of God look for the grace of God Look for the effects of the grace of God in your life and then the lives of others that's what we do as the gathered body and then we cultivate and We encourage godly men and that's how we will

Understand and realize how God blesses The church with the gathered body the grace of God and godly men

That's my challenge to you that you as you depart from here today you you think about These things because this is this is nothing

Fanfare about it. This is just the just the constant encouraging constant exhorting constant

Lifting one another up in the grace of God Some people needs to hear and be reminded of the grace of God.

They're struggling They're struggling in their life to to be acceptable to God or by to God or they're struggling to To realize and rest in that that unbelievable kindness that God only gives and I'm here to tell you to Those of you that are stronger those of you that are bearing the infirmities of the weak trust in that grace

Exhort your brother and sister in that grace You're the gathered body.

You're you're the one that is your brother's keeper in such a special way that you would lift them up you would strengthen them and In an effect or as a result

The godly men the godly men that will be or take the take the forefront or take the mantle of Encouraging other godly men earlier.

I said that godly men recognize or admit when they need help We also need to be reminded of that again and again

Because we're not our own we have been bought with a price. We belong to God and we are not our own

We are not the macho men that the world wants to label us as we're

God's men We're made men made in his image built and formed in his likeness

With all the humility with all the grace that God can give and I pray that you as the godly men under this or in this congregation

Will walk out these truths Will walk out these truths along with the remainder of the rest of the congregation

Realize that you are the gathered church and realize that you are operating in the grace of God because his hand is on his church.

I don't have to wonder or I don't have to guess that that his hand is on this church

But his hand is on this church because he promised that that would be so For those that are faithful That remain faithful and steadfast

That speak his word That preach his Lord Uncompromisingly And to those that are create those

Christians that are gathered in his name Let's pray together. Lord.

I'm glad to see your grace operating in This place in this church and with this people

I'm glad to come together in fellowship and commune with the body of Christ 300 miles away from home, but we come together

In the joined hands and joined hearts To encourage one another

I Have no new words But I have your word

I Have your word that is able to save and to strengthen and to encourage and lift

And I came all this way to remind the people of God to remain faithful To continue to speak his word

No matter what the culture says no matter what the majority rules No matter what policies are in place

To speak your word to preach no Lord, but Christ No King, but Christ I pray

Oh God that These people would be reminded your people your sheep your beloved

Would understand that we're Christians and to be

Christian is to be like Christ Not only to proclaim his name But to walk even as he walked

To live and think and believe and trust and Be eager to do the

Father's will So help us Lord we pray We pray

Oh God that you would remind us of these things in the night season Don't let at any time them slip away let your word hold fast as We hold true to your