Sunday, May 5, 2024 AM

Sunnyside Baptist Church

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Let's go to the Lord together in prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank

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You for the reminders today as we have read Your Word and as we have sung

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Your praises of how worthy You are, how glorious You are.

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I pray that You would fix this in our minds and hearts today, that You would help us by the light of Your glory to be revealed in the face of Jesus Christ, to properly see ourselves from Your point of view.

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We who have been made in Your image to live according to Your Word, to give glory to Your name.

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I pray that You would deliver us from diabolical gods, from lesser glories, from idols, from false forms of worship, and that You would help us to worship

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You in spirit and in truth. To truly rejoice from within and to exult without in Your name and in Your glory to Your praise.

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We pray these things knowing that we are dependent upon You for them. We pray them in the name of Jesus Christ.

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Amen. I invite you to open your Bibles and turn with me to Acts 14.

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Acts 14. And we're going to be reading verses 8 -18.

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So Acts 14 verses 8 -18.

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The title of the sermon today is that men make diabolical gods.

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Do you remember what the disciples used to argue about a lot? Who was the greatest?

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I'm so glad that in our advanced modern evangelicalism, we're so past that, we don't get caught up with those things anymore.

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Oh, silly disciples. If we were in the same situation, we would never have made those same mistakes, right?

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Oh, and beyond the Gospels, we find arguments going on amongst the early

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Christians and the early church. And they would argue about genealogies.

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They would argue about apostolic credentials and who was the better apostle.

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In 1 Timothy and Titus and in 1 and 2 Corinthians, you can read all about those controversies.

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It was still the same thing. Who was the greatest? Who was the greatest? Who was more impressive than the others?

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A lot of people today are like, we need to get back to being the early church. Well, I think we're well on our way.

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We're so caught up with the men God uses.

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Instead of caught up with Jesus, they should be preaching. Now this summer for our

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Sunday school for our summer session, we're going to be talking about what makes for unity in the church. What makes for unity in the church.

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One thing that definitely makes for disunity is the elevation of men.

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Elevation of men. I invite you to stand with me as we read our text together.

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Acts 14 beginning in verse 8. This is the word of the Lord. And in Lystra a certain man without strength in his feet was sitting, a cripple from his mother's womb who had never walked.

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This man heard Paul speaking, Paul observing him intently and seeing that he had faith to be healed said with a loud voice, stand up straight on your feet.

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And he leaped and walked. Now when the people saw what Paul had done, they raised their voices saying in the

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Lycaonian language, the gods have come down to us in the likeness of men. Barnabas they called

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Zeus and Paul Hermes because he was the chief speaker. Then the priest of Zeus whose temple was in the front of their city brought oxen and garlands to the gates intending to sacrifice with the multitudes.

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But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard this, they tore their clothes and ran in among the multitude crying out and saying, men why are you doing these things?

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We also are men with the same nature as you and preach to you that you should turn from these useless things to the living

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God. Who made the heaven, the earth, the sea and all things that are in them.

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Who in bygone generations allowed all nations to walk in their own ways. Nevertheless he did not leave himself without witness in that he did good.

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Gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons filling our hearts with food and gladness.

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And with these sayings they could scarcely restrain the multitudes from sacrificing to them.

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This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. You may be seated. Authority claims which elevate men are diabolical.

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A long time back we defined witchcraft as demonic appropriation of alternate authority.

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The idea that we could try to claim that this man is so exalted and so much higher and lifted up and closer to God and so on and so forth and therefore we ought to listen to what this elevated man has to say is different, qualitatively different than appreciating teachers and preachers.

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Thanking God for them. And it's qualitatively different than recognizing that there are hierarchies and authority within a church or within a family, within a society.

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They're not the same thing. But they can blend easily in our hearts which often are factories for idols.

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I remember when I was a pastor of Liberty Baptist Church which was started as a capital

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IFB Independent Fundamentalist Baptist Church. And so we got all the publications about the latest concerns within the

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IFB boxing match. Demolition Derby.

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And quite often, some great grand exalted preacher would say something that contradicted some other great grand exalted preacher and the publication war would be on.

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And they would begin to cite other great grand exalted preachers who had said similar things, each one to their own sides and they would be at war for a good six months or something else would happen.

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And it was always very silly controversies. But the division that was going on was not at all silly.

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Very displeasing to the Lord. And I took from this not the fact that they disagreed on whether or not you should teach the natives

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English so that they could learn the King James. That wasn't the main issue that they were arguing about.

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The main issue was which grand exalted man should have the say in the situation.

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And that's not unique to the IFB. You find it in mega churches. This widely platformed person said such and such.

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Well, this widely platformed person said such and such. And they don't agree. Well, this person has 10 ,000 more people coming to his church than this person, so the same thing happens in groups.

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Well, we can't disagree with what the magisterium says at the Roman Catholic Church, because they're all special and appointed and they all said this thing, and so that's what everyone has to agree with.

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Or the collection of friendships that make up Big Eva. Well, the Big Eva said this, and therefore we ought to agree.

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When man is elevated and exalted, the result is the loss of unity.

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But when Christ is elevated and exalted, we find the increase of unity.

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Much more agreement. Far more expressions of love and fellowship.

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When Paul was trying to defend his apostleship to the Corinthian church, and of course he had a very special place in his heart as he planted the church there and spent a year and a half with them, teaching them the gospel.

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And as others had come in whom they found to be more impressive, their records with more credentials than what

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Paul had when he came to them, he found that they began to stray and began to believe things that were contrary to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

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They began to add things into the mix that were causing disfellowship in their own church.

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And even allowing for sin to continue rather than dealing with the issues.

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All manner of controversies and problems in the Corinthian church. And Paul's trying to get a hold of them from a distance.

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He wants to be with them, but he has to try to grab hold of them from a distance. And he wants them to listen to him and not to ignore him and say, well,

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Paul is just this lowly kind of apostle, but we have super apostles that we're listening to.

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And Paul writes to them and says, what am I supposed to say? What kind of credential do you think that I need to have with you that you would listen to what

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I'm doing and trying to serve you and struggle for your spiritual good?

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He says in 2 Corinthians 3, verse 1, he says, do we begin to commend ourselves?

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Do we need, as some others, epistles of commendation to you or letters of commendation from you?

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Listen to what he says in verse 2. You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men.

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Clearly, you are an epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but by the

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Spirit of the living God. Not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of flesh that is of the heart.

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And Paul says, I'm not sufficient for this. This isn't something that just comes naturally to me.

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What is he saying to them? He's saying, I can only do this work that I've been called to do by the power of Jesus Christ, and the only commendation, the only credential that I have among you is the fact that by ministering to you,

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Christ has been written upon your hearts. What is the controversy in Corinth?

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Oh, we're of Peter. We're of Paul. We're of Apollos. Paul is saying, the only credential

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I want to have among you is the fact that when I minister to you and I preach to you and I write these letters to you, that the end result is that Christ is written on your hearts.

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Not me. The power which accompanies the preaching of the

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Gospel. An example here in Acts 14. The healing of the man that was born lame.

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The power that accompanies the preaching of the Gospel is for the glory of Christ.

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It is for the exaltation of the risen Lord Jesus Christ. It is not for the exaltation of men.

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All glory should be ascribed to God alone, through Christ alone.

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We need to be careful. We need to beware lest we allow the veneration of men, the veneration of teachers, the veneration of preachers, the veneration of spiritual leaders to displace our worship of Jesus Christ.

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Our worship of the one true God. So our passage exhorts us to beware hero worship and to believe

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Heaven's witness. Now in verses 8 -13, we find that Paul and Barnabas are preaching the

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Gospel. And as Paul's preaching, he looks over and he sees this man who's been a cripple. He's just a beggar.

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A cripple from birth means that he's going to be the lowest rung of society. He's just a beggar dependent upon everybody else.

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But as Paul's preaching, he sees this man and he... Paul can tell this man beliefs.

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This man's face must have been a painting full of joy and confidence and agreement and warmth.

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This man is hearing and he's receiving. He's believing. He is rejoicing in the

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Gospel of Jesus Christ. And so, Paul is preaching a particular message. And this man is agreeing with that message.

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In fact, he's more than agreeing. He's entrusting everything that he is to this truth, this

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Gospel, this glorious One, Jesus of Nazareth, who is the Christ, the Son of the living God, who was killed upon the cross, but was raised from the dead three days later.

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Who was ascended to the right hand of the Father. The risen King. The risen Emperor.

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The risen Lord Jesus Christ. Who brings the good news of salvation and forgiveness of sins to all nations.

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And this is such good news to this man. He is overjoyed with this news. And Paul looks at him and says, stand up.

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Be healed in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. The man's believing in Christ. The man is healed by Christ.

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And it's a wonderful thing. Very much like the situation we find in Acts chapter 3.

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When John and Peter went to the temple at the hour of prayer, and there by the gate beautiful was a man who was born lame.

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And just like that man when he was healed, this man also walks and leaps. But in this situation, we do not hear the praising of God from the crowds.

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What do we hear? We hear the praise and worship of gods.

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These people from the region of Lycaonia. These people from the town of Lystra.

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See an amazing miracle take place and they immediately fill in the gaps with the mythology they knew best.

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The Greek pantheon of gods. And they had a story that circulated through their region that Hermes and Zeus once upon a time took upon the forms of human avatars and were passing through a particular valley in the region.

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And they tried to find hospitality at one house and the next and everybody turned them away until finally a poor man finally gave them lodging and they immediately turned his place into a palace and killed everybody else with a big flood.

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Well, the priest of Zeus there in Lystra is not going to make that mistake. We're going to have ourselves a big welcome party for Hermes and Zeus and we're going to start offering up sacrifices to them.

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And so of course Paul and Barnabas have to work double time to put the brakes on.

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But what is the attraction of idolatry? Why worship someone like Hermes or someone like Zeus?

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Something so obvious and strange. The attractions of idolatry are both obvious and subtle.

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The obvious attractions of idolatry is simply fleshly pleasures. You see the gods being made in the image of men are crafted in such a way that they only please men.

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The gods give me stuff. The gods give me happiness.

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The gods give me pleasure. The gods give me power. The gods are made in the image of sinful men.

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And so they make gods that do what they want them to do. And the gods even do more.

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The gods will sit there where you tell them to sit. And the gods will say what you tell them to say.

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The gods will behave as you have intended for them to behave. And it's all about giving a credential to yourself, an excuse to yourself.

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It's a self -ratifying type of worship. Oh, I'm a worshiper of Zeus and he's all about this, and so am

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I. It's kind of giving yourself permission. So in idolatry there's an obvious type of attraction, but there's also a subtle type of attraction.

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Because the objects of worship are considered to be higher than oneself, but not too high.

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Higher than oneself, closer to the divine than oneself, by understanding the secret ways of this thing that you worship or this person that you worship, being on the inside of this idolatry, there is a sense in which you elevate yourself.

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This secret knowledge. This special ritual. I'm in the in crowd of these people who know this one person who is so impressive.

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There is a self -elevation. I am in the company of greatness. I am in the company of deity.

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I am closer to God because I'm with this one person who's closer to God. The subtle attraction of idolatry.

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And it's just easier. It is easier to hitch your spirituality to someone in your life than to someone who gave you life.

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Easier to hitch your spiritual satisfaction to a gathering of spiritual people than to look to Jesus Christ himself in all of his blinding authority and glory.

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So it's a subtle thing and an obvious thing why creation gets idolized.

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Notice how Paul and Barnabas respond. They respond both vigorously and loudly.

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They are vigorous in their self -humbling, in their condescension. And they are very loud and clear.

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They are vociferous in their clarification. We are not gods.

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We are not gods. We don't agree with your kind of excitement. But the first thing they do is they act very ungodlike as they vigorously humble themselves in front of everybody.

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Notice what they do. As soon as they understand what's going on, at first it's going on, the worship and the excitement is being expressed in the

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Lycaonian language. But as soon as Paul and Barnabas understand what the folks are up to, what the hubbub is all about, why they're so excited, why everyone is rushing to the front of the city to get their sacrifice on, as soon as they understand, notice what they do.

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They undignify themselves. They tear their clothes in a gesture that is very visceral and loud and visual, obvious.

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We are grieving. We are upset by what is happening here. Tearing your clothes is, in this particular case, something akin to losing a third of your wealth.

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People just didn't go around tearing clothes for the fun of it. Your clothing, your arraignment, was very much a part of your personal wealth.

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It was very expensive to have. And if you're on the road living on a missionary budget, they're tearing their clothes.

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They're saying, this is awful. They're getting everyone's attention. We do not agree. And they're running.

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Dignified men in the ancient Near East did not run. It's part of Jesus' point in telling the story of the prodigal son.

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The fact that the father saw his son coming back to him and the father ran to meet him. Dignified men of the ancient

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Near East just simply did not run. But here is Paul and Barnabas running among the people, tearing their clothes and saying, this is terrible.

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They don't care what it makes them look like. They are against this veneration.

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They are against these people putting them up on a pedestal and saying, wow, these are the gods among us.

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They also are vociferous in their clarification. They are very loud as they make the point.

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They say, men, we are men. They say, sirs, we are mortal. We're no big deal.

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We're not qualitatively different from you. They say, we have the same passions as you.

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We have the same nature as you. We have the same sufferings as you.

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We experience the same things. We're not gods. We're not divine. We're not elevated.

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We're not floating above you. They're saying, we match. And so they're saying, do not venerate us.

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Do not elevate us. They're comparing themselves with the people there saying, we're the same.

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But there's also something different, isn't there? Something different about Paul and Barnabas from all these folks there in Lystra, isn't there?

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They're saying, we have a message. We're here to preach to you that you should turn away from these worthless things.

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Notice they say in verse 15, men, why are you doing these things?

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We also are men with the same nature as you. And we preach to you.

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Greek word for preach. Euangelizo. Where we get our evangelism from. We gospelize to you that you ought to turn from these useless things to the living

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God who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and all things that are in them.

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So there's a contrast. You're turning to dead things. You're worshiping

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Zeus and Hermes, and you're looking up and seeing in the stars what you think are the lights of the gods.

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And you're going to sacrifice to dead things. And you have a dead religion. And we come and we're preaching to you a gospel of the living

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God. And you need to turn away from those idols, from these useless, worthless, empty things.

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And they didn't use a kind word to describe the core beliefs of the

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Listerans. They didn't use a kind word. They didn't use a soft word.

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They used an accurate word. They said useless.

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In the Greek, it's a term that means it's the kind of thing where you're squeezing some sort of fruit and you're trying to chew on it and gnaw on it, and after all the effort to get some kind of nutrition from this fruit, you end up with nothing.

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He says that's your idolatry. That's your worship. It's worthless. It's meaningless. You're going to all this effort, and you're squeezing a dry sponge.

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You're gnawing on a stone. You're getting nothing out of this. Turn away from that to the living

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God. The contrast is very clear here between the living God and dead, worthless idols.

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This is a contrast that, of course, the Scripture makes time and again. Psalm 115. To the scoffers and to the mockers, the psalmist says, our

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God is in heaven. He does whatever He pleases.

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What a contrast for the idols and the idolaters who say that their gods do whatever they please.

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The idolaters set the schedule. My gods do this. My gods do that. But our God is in the heavens, and He does whatever

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He pleases because He's alive. Verse 4 of Psalm 115.

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Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands. They have mouths, but they do not speak.

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Eyes they have, but they do not see. They have ears, but do not hear. Noses they have, but they do not smell.

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They have hands, but they do not handle. Feet they have, but they do not walk, nor do they mutter through their throat.

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Listen. Those who make them are like them, so is everyone who trusts in them.

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We become like what we worship. To worship dead idols is to be dead spiritually.

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To set up for ourselves mediators by which we can venerate them and feel closer to God leaves us dead and blind and useless.

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We become like what we worship. Paul and Barnabas want those made in the image of God to worship God. So they would become godly.

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And the mediator by which they know God is Christ who is the image of the invisible God. They would look with all of their heart and with all of their soul and with all of their mind upon the

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Lord Jesus Christ and be saved. It is only in view of the

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Creator that the creation makes sense. Why turn to creation?

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Why make a big deal out of anything that has been made? Well, because it's effectively distracting.

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So Romans 1 says that the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth and unrighteousness.

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Well, if they're suppressing the truth and unrighteousness and trying to ignore the real issues, what are they paying attention to?

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Verse 21 says, because although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts and their foolish hearts were darkened.

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Professing to be wise, they became fools and they changed the glory of the incorruptible

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God into an image made like corruptible man and birds and four -footed animals and creeping things.

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Do you hear the demise? I mean, you could almost forgive someone for worshipping a hero of theirs who saved their business and saved their marriage and was always quoting

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Scripture to them and always praying for them there at their bedside whenever they needed them and so on and so on. You could almost forgive them for worshipping someone like that.

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A man. But then it goes on, down to the birds who are flying at least and then the four -footed animals on the ground and the creeping, then the bugs they're worshipping.

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The bugs! The bugs will save us and our planet. Therefore, God also gave them up to uncleanness in the lust of their hearts due to some of their bodies among themselves who exchanged the truth of God for the lie and worshipped and served the creature rather than the

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Creator who was blessed forever. Amen. Paul and Barnabas don't want this for the

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Lystrans. They don't want this for the people who live in Lycaonia. They see them in their idolatry in the throes of their idolatry and they're rushing out among them saying, stop, stop, stop.

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We're just like you. Don't worship us. Don't give your heart and your life to dead things.

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Turn to the living God. Only in light of the Creator does the creation make sense.

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The living God is the only God. He's the Creator and He is sovereign over all.

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There is just simply nothing left for anyone to do. God made it all.

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He did not have a subcontractor for the rivers. He didn't farm out the stars.

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There's nothing for anybody else to do. He made it all.

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He created it all. And He sustains it all. He provides for it all.

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He keeps it all going. And He's shepherding all of creation and all of history into the fold of His glory.

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There's just nothing for anyone left to do.

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The same word about our salvation, by the way. How God creates,

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He also saves. There's just nothing left for anyone to do.

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Christ has done it all. God has done it all. There's just one mediator.

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And it doesn't include your favorite preacher, teacher, pastor, author.

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Not qualified. Psalm 33, verses 6 -9 says, By the word of the

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Lord, the heavens are made, and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth. He gathers the water of the sea together as a heap.

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He lays up the deep in storehouses. Let all the earth fear the Lord. Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him.

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For He spoke, and it was done. He commanded, and it stood fast. What's the song?

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What a mighty God we serve. Why idolize creation?

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We shouldn't. And everywhere the gospel goes, idolatry must retreat.

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Everywhere the gospel goes, the veneration and worship and adoration of men must go away.

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We can see where the gospel really takes hold in a people, in a family, in a church, where the exaltation and veneration of men fades away, and the exaltation and worship of Christ increases.

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1 Thessalonians 1, verses 8 -10, Paul says, For from you the word of the Lord is sounded forth, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place.

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Your faith toward God has gone out, that we do not need to say anything. For they themselves declare concerning us what manner of entry we had to you.

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This whole time Paul is just saying, in general, everybody knows you believe in Jesus Christ. Everybody knows that you're born again.

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Everybody knows that you're Christians. And what's the specific evidence he gives? How you turn to God from idols to serve the living and true

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God and to wait for His Son from heaven whom He raised from the dead. You hear how the hopes of the people, turned away from the emperor, turned away from the weather, turned away from the crops, turned away from military victories, and turned to Jesus Christ who is reigning at the right hand and will come again.

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You hear how the hopes shifted and changed? Everywhere the Gospel goes, idolatry must be on the defensive and retreat.

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We must not settle for lesser mediators and tailored Gospels. There is one mediator.

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In 1 John 5, verse 21, the apostle concludes his letter, little children, beware of idols.

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After spending so much time telling them about who Jesus Christ is, final word, beware of idols. Don't settle for something else or someone else.

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The exaltation of God and Jesus Christ means the humbling of all men. Now what's the problem going on in Lystra?

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They've just been ignoring the Creator their whole time. Their whole life, they've just been ignoring the Creator. They've been explaining the harvests away as something else.

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They've been explaining away the weather patterns as something else.

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They've been explaining away the birth of their children and the growth of their children as something else.

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They've been explaining away getting sick and getting healthy again as something else.

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Oh, it's this God, it's that God, it's based on how devoted we are in this fashion or that fashion.

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They've been explaining the Creator away all their lives, but Paul makes it impossible now.

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He says of this living God that He made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and all things that are in them, there's just nothing for anyone else to do.

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And he says in verse 16, who in bygone generations allowed all nations, don't think political, think language, culture, ethnic, allowed all people groups to walk in their own ways.

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Nevertheless, He did not leave Himself without witness in that He did good.

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He gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons filling our hearts with food and gladness. And with these things,

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He could scarcely restrain the multitudes from sacrificing to them. So what is Paul saying? All that good that you've enjoyed, that was from God, the one true living

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God. Don't ascribe these benefits, these good things, these blessings.

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Don't say this was because of this lesser God or this kind of happenstance. Don't look at men or the creation to explain how it is that you've been so blessed.

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They say God, for a time, allowed all nations to walk in their own ways.

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How did we end up with those nations anyway? God judged all people at the

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Tower of Babel, confusing their languages and from all these different languages came all these different languages and families.

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But not without hope, for God promised that in the seed of Abraham all the nations, all the families of the earth would be blessed.

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So hope in the Savior. Hope in Christ. And God did not leave the nations without a witness because He was doing all this good all the time.

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Now, when Paul says that He allowed all nations to walk in their own ways, this doesn't mean that He was approving of their idolatry.

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It was that He had put no particular direct revelation to them, but He had spoken to who?

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To Israel. And then Israel declared to the nations who this God is. So this is a description of the way it used to be.

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There was a difference between the Jews and the Gentiles. But now, it's different.

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He said in bygone generations. But not now, because the Word of God is coming to you directly and saying to you, give up your idols.

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See, the Gospel of Jesus Christ goes to all nations everywhere in the

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New Covenant. And everybody must deal with that. Everybody must deal with the authority of Jesus Christ. Everyone must deal with who

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God is as revealed by Jesus Christ, and they must repent. And so God left a witness to all nations.

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If we had time, we'd read Genesis 8 and 9. But we don't have time. But there when

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God makes a covenant with Noah and all of His descendants, He clearly states, I'm going to keep on giving you rain.

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I'm going to keep on giving you food. Never again, He says, never again am

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I going to cut off all men. He said that.

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His promise is to Noah. He said, never again am I going to curse the ground. Man, every thought of his heart is evil continually.

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He's evil from his youth. And so He says, I'm not going to cut off all men again.

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I'm not going to curse the ground again. We're going to keep the rain coming. And the rain is going to be filled up with sunshine.

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And just so you remember that, I'm going to send the rainbow in between the rain and the sunshine to remind you that I'm going to keep life going on this earth.

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And I'm not going to cut off all men. And I'm not going to curse the ground anymore because He's just going to cut off one man.

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Cut off one man whose blood was shed upon our behalf. And He's not going to curse the ground. He cursed one man who bore the curse in our place and for our sake that we would be brought into all the promises and blessings and life of God.

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And so He did give a witness to all nations, whispering of the One to come.

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And He has come. And He died and He was raised. And Paul is preaching that good news to these pagans.

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And essentially, to borrow a line from Paul Washer, as they're so hyped up and excited about this lame man getting up and walking,

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Paul's basically saying, I don't know why you're clapping. I don't know why you're clapping.

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Right? Your dead gods and empty idolatry have left this man a cripple all his life.

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So don't start clapping and think that your gods have healed him now because they sure haven't. It was the risen

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Lord Jesus Christ who healed him. And He condemns their idolatry at the very same moment

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He's proclaiming the hope of Jesus to them. This is just shocking to me.

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They can scarcely restrain the people from sacrificing to them. They're so desperate to have a god in their pocket.

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They're so desperate to have a god as their neighbor. So desperate to have someone right there, tangible, touchable, controllable.

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What's the attraction? God is just too big.

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Too strong. Too worthy. Too holy for our comfort.

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Because unlike the other gods, He just doesn't do what He's told to do. He doesn't speak as He's told to speak.

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He doesn't behave as we want Him to behave. So, give us anything.

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Give us science. Give us medicine. Give us politics.

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Give us virtue. Give us a strong man. Give us a big brother. Give us anything.

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Anything but God as God. It's diabolical. It's diabolical to elevate men, either as an individual or as a group.

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It's diabolical. It's not of the Lord. Ultimately, we need to exchange our fear of man, which is a snare, with the fear of God.

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And the fear of God is expressed by our submission to Jesus Christ. Our bowing the knee.

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Bow the knee to Jesus Christ. And what do we find in our fear of the

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Lord? In our submission to Jesus Christ? We do not find a snare. We do not find a snare that grabs us by the leg as a helpless bird flopping back and forth, tossed to and fro by every wind.

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No. We find liberty. We find freedom in our submission to Christ to live as those made in the image of God.

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Let's pray. Father, we thank You so much for the time You've given us in Your Word. I thank You for this story.

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And although it feels very chaotic in the story, and I don't know what our brothers

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Paul and Barnabas felt like, failures or as successes, but Lord, You give us this word by Your Spirit, Your servant

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Luke, to remind us of the dangers of idolatry and also the glories of Your Son, Jesus Christ.

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I pray that You would help us to rejoice in Your truth and set aside our veneration of men to worship