Sunday, April 21, 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 hope that we have because of Your Son, Jesus Christ.

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A hope that remains. A hope that abides because of Your Holy Spirit.

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We thank You for the grace that You have given.

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And pray for more grace. We thank You for the faith that You have given.

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Pray that You would help us in our unbelief. Pray that You would bear us up in the truths of Your Word, by the power of Your Holy Spirit in the hope of Christ as we consider

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Your unchanging glory in our changing times.

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And I pray that You would give us courage as we consider our own state, our own challenges, our personal experiences, what goes on in our families, how things go with our church.

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And in all these things, Lord, give us courage and hope and joy. Help us to trust

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You, to walk in Your ways, knowing that You direct our paths.

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We pray all these things for the sake of Jesus Christ, the one with whom You are well -pleased.

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Amen. I invite you to open your Bibles and turn with me to Acts 13.

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Acts 13, we'll begin reading in verse 49, and read through chapter 14 and verse 7 as we continue to look at not a demolition derby, but a gospelization derby.

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A lot of dust is getting stirred up. A lot of conflict is occurring, but we are to understand the contours and the character of that conflict.

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We may undertake it for Christ. We must understand that opposition, complaints, slander, persecution, all these things are part of discipling the nations.

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The fury, the anger, the opposition, all of this is not a bug, it's a feature of what it means to preach the good news of the kingdom, that Jesus Christ is

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King, and that all should bow the knee to Him. As we have looked in Matthew 10, as we have surveyed through parts of Acts already, we've seen that conflict is to be expected and understood, undertaken for Christ.

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And this morning, as we look at the last portion of our passage, we'll see that sometimes, sometimes some conflict, some stages of conflict, should be avoided if possible, if wise, and if righteous.

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So I invite you to stand with me as we read God's holy word, beginning in Acts 13, verse 49.

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And the word of the Lord was being spread throughout all the region. But the Jews stirred up the devout and prominent women and the chief men of the city, raised up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them from their region.

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But they shook off the dust from their feet against them and came to Iconium, and the disciples were filled with joy.

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And with the Holy Spirit. Now, it happened in Iconium that they went together to the synagogue of the

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Jews, and so spoke that a great multitude, both of the

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Jews and of the Greeks, believed, but the unbelieving Jews stirred up the

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Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brethren.

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Therefore, they stayed there a long time, speaking boldly in the

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Lord, who was bearing witness to the word of His grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands.

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But the multitude of the city was divided, part sided with the

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Jews and part with the apostles. And when a violent attempt was made by both the

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Gentiles and Jews with their rulers to abuse and stone them, they became aware of it and fled to Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia, and to the surrounding region.

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And they were preaching the gospel there. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.

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You may be seated. When you read through those exciting historical portions of the

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Old Testament, and you find God giving instructions to His people about their upcoming battles, have you ever noticed how strange they sometimes are?

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And what a wide variety of divinely initiated tactics and strategies there are.

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Okay, Israel, you're going to cross the river on dry ground, and then you're going to go marching around Jericho about 13 times.

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Blow trumpets and yell. That's awfully a strange way to assault a stronghold like Jericho with those kinds of walls and that kind of defense.

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Okay, Israel, now you're going to go stand over here in these bushes, and you're going to wait until you hear the marching of angels in the branches above you, and then you're going to attack.

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Once again, awfully strange. We're going to conduct this assault by putting the orchestra out front.

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Such strange instructions from the Lord to His people as they face serious tests of their faith in Him.

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Serious situations wherein many people may die. They might lose their freedoms.

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They could lose their national sovereignty. They might not be ruling themselves anymore.

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Who knows what will happen to their families back home? And yet here are the instructions that the Lord gives to His people on the eve of battle.

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And although the instructions were different in these situations, the reasoning was the same.

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God would preface these instructions by saying, I am the Lord. It's the same reason every time.

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I am the Lord who brought you up out of Egypt. Don't forget who I am. Don't forget what

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I do. Therefore, follow these instructions. It's like the response of the parents to the little child in a dangerous or complex situation.

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Come here, do this, stand there, don't move, drop that, pick that up, whatever the instruction is.

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And it makes no sense to the all -wise toddler or the even wiser teenager.

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But at some point, there's no time, there's a crisis, and all the parent can say is all the parent needs to say, because I'm your dad, because I'm your mom, because we've been in situations like this before.

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You need to trust me, okay? And there is a sense of that going on here in the book of Acts.

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In a very short space of story, we have Paul and Barnabas running three different plays.

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It's the same opposition almost every time. The Jews get upset, they rile up the locals, and they get the civil magistrate on their side, and now they're coming for blood.

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They're coming after Paul and Barnabas. They're sowing discord amongst the city. And yet, at one point, we have

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Paul and Barnabas keeping on till they get kicked out. We have another situation where the opposition is fierce, but they stick it out.

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We're going to dig in, we're gonna get entrenched here. And then at the very end of our passage, they're on the run.

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It's three different responses. It's like they run three different plays in the same situation.

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And as you think about the book of Acts, you can find the same type of variety happening.

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There's the deacon named Stephen who preaches the gospel, sees that there's opposition, and he continues on.

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And he just goes toe to toe until everyone is so mad that they arrest him, and then they stone him to death because he won't stop it.

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And then his fellow deacon, Philip, and the persecution breaks out beyond Stephen, and Saul of Tarsus is breathing threats and murder against the church.

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Philip heads out. He doesn't stick around. He doesn't go toe to toe.

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He heads to Samaria and preaches the gospel there. He finds an Ethiopian eunuch by God's grace and preaches the gospel to him.

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He goes over to the coast, Caesarea, preaches the gospel there. Didn't stick around where the

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Christian murdering Jews were located. There's a contrast between James and Peter.

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There's James arrested by Herod, killed by the sword. Herod's orders executes

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James, and it pleases the Jews, so he arrests Peter and puts him in the same jail.

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And Peter is waiting execution, and then Jesus busts him out of jail. Does Peter stick around and say, well,

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James got killed by the sword. I guess that's what I'm supposed to do. No. When Jesus of Nazareth, the risen

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Lord Jesus Christ, busts you out of jail, make the most of it. Peter went out preaching.

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It's like, I'm going to hide from the authorities, and I'm going to run my guerrilla evangelism. Come and get me if you can.

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So there's James who dies for the faith. And Peter who flees for the faith. Stephen who dies for the faith.

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And Philip who gets out of town for the faith. Paul is an example of both. One time we have him escaping the walls of the city by means of a basket in the night.

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And then we have him appealing to Caesar, knowing what it means. So, how do we know?

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How do we know which one is the right play to run? We need to ascertain and apply the authority and worthiness of Jesus Christ.

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He's the unifying focus of these varied responses to gospel opposition.

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We have to respond to gospel opposition with the wisdom and knowledge of Christ. It's not going to look exactly the same every single time.

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Right? It's not a Hallmark movie. It's not the same script every time. There's going to be variety.

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Things are not going to look the same, feel the same, occur the same. That's why we need wisdom.

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We need the wisdom of Christ in response. So, we've been looking at how to get kicked out with joy, how to stick it out with faith, and how to bail out with hope.

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Our Savior teaches and provides us with all that we need to respond to gospel opposition.

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All that we need. This is the way it was with the disciples, wasn't it?

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Time and again, we see the disciples. And the most remarkable thing about the disciples is what?

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Not that they were fishermen, not that there was a tax collector, not that there was a zealot. The most remarkable thing about the disciples is that they were with Jesus.

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That's what stood out the most, is that they were with Jesus. After His ascension, the most remarkable thing about the disciples was that they had been with Jesus.

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Whatever the situation is with the disciples, even though those situations change, sometimes they're in the boat trying to get across the

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Sea of Galilee because they were fleeing the angry authorities in the region of the

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Gadarenes because there was a whole flock of pigs that just ended up in the water and died.

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Sometimes they're in the doldrums. They're just out there fishing, fishing, hoping to get something for the next day.

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Sometimes we find them in danger. They're frightened, frightened by the wind and the waves.

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But whatever situation it was, the point was they were with Jesus. He's the constant.

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So, kicked out with joy, sticking out in faith, bailing out in hope. Look at verses four through seven again.

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But the multitude of the city was divided, part sided with the Jews and part with the apostles. And when a violent attempt was made by both the

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Gentiles and Jews with their rulers to abuse and stone them, they became aware of it and fled to Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia and to the surrounding region and they were preaching the gospel there.

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Look at that, they fled. They fled. How often do we think about Christians running away?

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Not the normal discipleship material, is it? I mean,

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Fox's book of martyrs is not a book about Christians who ran away. We might get the idea as some did very early on that the only righteous thing to do is to seek martyrdom and die.

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That that was somehow better. We don't really talk about Christians fleeing, although our history is full of it.

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You know how often Christians have run away? A lot. Christians have often been running from the law.

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Even the pilgrims who helped settle this area of the world were on the run, fleeing religious persecution in hopes that their children and their great grandchildren and all the generations to come would have a better life.

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Hope, they were bailing out. Bailing out of England, bailing out of Holland, bailing out of Europe, coming to the

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New World, bailing out, fleeing and running with hope. It's a common enough story in the

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Christian experience and certainly something we find in the Scriptures. But running away does not sound very heroic.

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Running away, it sounds like a defeat. Sounds like something has gone wrong. The Christians don't have enough faith.

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They don't have enough courage. They don't have enough wisdom. Why would they be fleeing and leaving certain areas and going to better areas?

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Is that really a good thing? It sounds like defeat. A retreat doesn't sound right.

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General Douglas MacArthur made a bold amphibious gambit in 1950, turned the tide of the war in Korea.

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But it positioned the 10th Corps and the 1st Marine Division a ridge too far in the

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Chosin Reservoir. The general in charge, the Marine General O .P. Smith said, it was overheard saying, that Genghis Khan wouldn't have tackled it.

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Because their position was famous not only for its overextension, but also for its elevation.

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And plus, it was below zero. And so on the morning of November 27th, 1950, the 15 ,000 soldiers of the 10th

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Corps were surrounded by 120 ,000 Chinese soldiers. And being surrounded, they knew their job.

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They had to break out of the encirclement and get back to the main lines. This maneuver cost the

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Marines 200 men per mile. 200 men per mile.

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Though they inflicted more casualties than they received. When a wartime correspondent asked

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General Smith whether or not Americans ought to be retreating, he colorfully dissented concerning the term retreat, and then said, we are just advancing to the rear.

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So advancing to the rear is a little bit long for military terminology. So it had to be shortened up. Now it's called a tactical retrograde, which rolls off the tongue.

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It's a beautiful term, tactical retrograde. And this is what Paul and Barnabas are up to. Did you notice? They are surrounded by people who want to kill them, but they have a mission to accomplish.

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So what do they do? They flee. They advance to the rear.

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They take a tactical retrograde so they may continue to preach the gospel. They may continue to make disciples.

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Now consider this division that is in place in Iconium. So we may understand the nature of it.

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The multitude of the city was divided, part sided with the Jews and part with the apostles. This is not a normal division in Iconium.

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How long had everything been settled that the division in town was the

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Jews versus the Gentiles? A very natural kind of division.

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But now it's the unbelieving Jews along with the irate

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Gentiles, the pagans. So it's the polytheists and the monotheists together.

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It's the devout women worshiping Zeus, and it's the devout chief men of the synagogue worshiping

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Yahweh, working together hand in hand. Isn't unity a beautiful thing? What brings them together is their hatred for Christians.

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Their hatred for Christians. Nothing so unifying as a common hate. And they are determined to put an end to this nonsense that has turned their city upside down.

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It is the Jews and those that they have poisoned and stirred up versus the apostles, those whom they are discipling in this new and fledgling church here in Iconium.

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This division is not a natural division, not a fleshly division.

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It is a gospel division. It is a spiritual division. It is one that Jesus Himself said was bound to happen.

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In Matthew 10, verse 34, He says, do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.

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I did not come to bring peace as in Jesus is the answer for how everybody can believe whatever they want and still get along, but He brings a sword.

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A sword that's going to divide those who are for Him and those who are against Him. Those who are going to repent and find refuge in the

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Son and be blessed versus those who will plot a vain thing and rage against God's anointed. He's going to make it clear, you see.

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He clarifies it. He brings the sword. And where does the sword emerge from our Lord?

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From His mouth. Meaning that the sword He brings is the word that He proclaims and the word that He proclaims causes a distinction and therefore a division.

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God's word does not return void, but accomplishes the purpose for which He sent it. And that purpose is to save.

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And it's to sanctify. And it's to sift. There's a distinction that occurs through the preaching of the word, through the sharing of the word, through making disciples, through even just the reading of the text.

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There's a sifting that occurs, a clarification of who's who in the world. It's not about ethnic divisions or racial divisions or class divisions.

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It's are you in Christ or are you out of Christ? Everywhere the gospel was preached, the lines began to be drawn differently.

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They stopped using the socioeconomic ethnic maps.

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They stopped using the statistics given to them by identity politics. That's not where the lines are drawn.

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The lines are drawn between those who are in Christ and those who are out of Christ. This division is one that has long been established.

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There was a moment in time when the entirety of the human race was unified. They had come together in a project, one that was of most lofty grandeur.

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They were ready for transhumanism 6 ,000 years ago as Adam and Eve, the entirety of the human race, united together with a goal to go beyond their current status, to be more than what they were, to become like God himself and therefore eat the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

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Not only was all humanity united in this endeavor, but they are also united with the devil himself.

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All in agreement that God was wrong and man and the devil were right.

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World peace, isn't it a beautiful thing? World peace reigning on earth.

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And what did God do when world peace and unity was achieved? Genesis 3 .15,

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God says to the serpent, I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your seed and her seed.

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He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel. God picked the fight.

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God picked the fight. He said, no, that's not gonna happen. You're not gonna be in unity. You're not gonna be in unity and rebellion against me.

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The humanity and the devil are not gonna work together against me. I will put enmity. And so he brought division between the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman.

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And that division continues to this day. To divinely ordained, divinely blessed division, which is still present in the world today at the spawn of Satan and the seed of Christ are at war.

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The nature of that conflict looks different. Different times, different places among different people, but the conflict continues.

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The division can only occur when there is distinction. If the church and the world are not distinct from each other, then there is no persecution and there is no evangelism.

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If there is nothing to call the world to repent from, to come out from, if there is no

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Christ who demands repentance and submission to his authority, if the church is like unto the world so that there is little distinction between the two, then you have no grounds for evangelism.

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And many people desire it to be that way because they also want to avoid persecution.

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The very condition necessary for evangelism is the fertile ground for persecution.

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They go together. Matthew chapter five. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

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Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for my sake.

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Rejoice and be exceedingly glad for great is your reward in heaven for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

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So you're going to get persecuted, but it's part of the discipleship. Expect that it's going to happen.

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Verse 13, you are the salt of the earth. Jesus says, expect persecution, expect persecution, expect persecution, by the way, you're the salt of the earth.

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And then he says what? If the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned?

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Why would the salt lose its flavor? I'm tired of getting persecuted. I'm tired of everybody tasting what

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I'm cooking and saying, you're salty. It's too distinct.

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The old Chinese proverb is that the nail that sticks out gets hammered. And it's possible the

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Christians are going to be tempted, to say, you're saying happy is the man who's persecuted, but I'm not that happy.

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I don't understand what's going on, this is chaotic. But Jesus says, you're the salt of the earth.

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It's your job to be distinct, to stand out, to do things. If the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned?

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It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men, forgotten, ignored, useless.

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Os Guinness two decades ago said something to the effect of the church and trying to be relevant has lost all its relevance.

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Jesus says, you are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden, nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket and on a lamp stand and it gives light to all who are in the house.

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It's not about you shining off your personal talents. It is Christianity refusing to hide the light for fear of persecution.

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Let your light so shine before men that may see your good works and glorify your father in heaven. It's about him after all.

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So the division that's occurring in Iconium is to be expected.

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It is not to be circumvented. Now, there is grave danger to Paul and Barnabas in verse five.

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A violent attempt was made by both the Gentiles and the

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Jews with their rulers, notice, sanctioned by the civil magistrates, to abuse a term of reviling.

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We're going to publicly shame them and show everybody what happens if you oppose the people in charge and stone them.

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Meaning we're going to shame them and then we're going to kill them. So there is a sense where this is not like what happened in Pisidia.

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Here in Phrygia, the rulers were like, we're not just going to kick them out of the county, seat them to the county line so they don't come back.

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We're going to humiliate them publicly and kill them so that everybody will stop talking about this

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Jesus of Nazareth. That's how they're going to handle it. This is the fruit being borne by the poison sowed by the

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Jews in verse two. Bitterness laced with pride spews forth in violence.

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This, or these are the receipts of the so -called marketplace of ideas.

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You either agree with the implicit religious claim to the marketplace of ideas, or you will be shut down.

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You will not have a business. You may not have your freedoms. You may not end up with your life. If you decide to disagree with the implicit religious claim to the marketplace of ideas, there is not a neutral space in which

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Christians may compete. It is an authority conflict everywhere at all levels.

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This is life -threatening to Paul and Barnabas, and so they are confronted with something that is fearful, and they have a big decision to make.

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But they have two reasons why they don't have to fear. Two reasons why they don't have to fear. Matthew 10, 28 says, do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.

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Rather, fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. In other words, don't fear men. Fear God.

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Fear God. If you fear God and you recognize God as holy and just, and the fact that He's gonna judge all mankind, and that sinners are gonna spend an eternity in hell, if you fear

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Him and keep His values straight, then you're gonna keep on preaching. You're gonna keep on speaking, keep on making disciples, because I fear

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God. If you fear a man, it's a snare, and you'll go to and fro into silence.

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Another reason not to fear, John 16, verses 32 through 33. Jesus said, indeed, the hour is coming, yes, and now has come that you will be scattered.

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He's talking to His disciples. You're about to be scattered. The shepherd is struck and the sheep scattered.

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Each to his own and will leave me alone, and yet I am not alone because the Father is with me. Verse 33, these things

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I have spoken to you that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer,

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I have overcome the world. There's two reasons why you don't have to fear.

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See, the decision is not, do I stay in this scary situation, but am

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I more scared to leave or to stay? Fear is not the motivating decision -making factor.

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It's not about, well, I think I'll be less afraid if I run than if I stay.

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I mean, leaving and going to a new situation is scary. It's fearful, the unknown.

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Some people would say, better the devil you know than the devil you don't. Everyone's trying to make a decision, which one is less scary?

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But that's not the motivating factor, fearing man or fearing death. It's not the motivating factor.

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It's fearing the Lord. The decision that they have, Paul and Barnabas have a decision, are they going to stay and likely get stoned to death or will they leave and find refuge?

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And find refuge. See that in verse six, they became aware of it and fled to Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia and to the surrounding region.

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They fled. That term fled in the Greek is kataphuge, F -U -G -E at the very end there, you transliterate it.

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Fuge, refuge, that's where we get our word fuge from. They're looking for safety, looking for safety.

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Is it right to run and look for safety? Is it Christian to run and look for safety?

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To seek refuge is as Christian as dying for the faith. And we already died in Christ on the cross, ready to give our lives for Him if that should be the case.

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But didn't we all also flee to Him for refuge? Didn't we?

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Didn't Psalm 2 say we flee to Him for refuge? What about Hebrews 6? It says that we might have strong comfort, strong consolation, who have fled for refuge.

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Same word as in our text here in Acts. Fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us.

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Running in hope, fleeing in hope, finding safety in hope.

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We found hope and safety in Christ. We fled to Him for safety, even as we died in Him as we are saved.

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So when it comes to the real world, if I need to die for Christ, I will die for Christ. If I need to flee for Christ, I'll flee for Christ.

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One is as Christian as the other. What makes the difference? What makes the difference? Our decision -making can only be illuminated and integrated in Christ.

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Proverbs 3, 5 through 6 says, trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not into your own understanding and all your ways acknowledge

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Him. He will direct your paths. James 4 .15

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reminds us, we ought to say if the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that. And trusting ourself to our good

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King Jesus. Notice the decision -making bore fruit in verse seven and they were preaching the gospel there.

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So they run away, they go to Lystra and Derbe, they go to the cities of Lycaonia. Here's another region of Galatia.

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They were in Pisidia, then they were in Phrygia, now they're in Lycaonia. They're just moving through the counties of the state of Galatia there in the empire of Rome.

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What are they doing there? They're preaching the gospel. They're preaching the gospel. Now, we don't know the tactics of their fleeing, we just know the strategy of it.

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We don't know if one of their Christian brothers put their hummus at half off down in the marketplace and gathered a crowd and distracted the authorities so that Paul and Barnabas can slip away, slippery

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Paul. Maybe they used the basket maneuver again, I don't know what the tactics were, but we know the strategy.

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Keep alive, keep breathing, keep preaching Jesus. That happens again and again in our passage.

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In verse 49 of chapter 13, the beginning of our passage, what it said, the word of the Lord was being spread throughout all the region.

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Look at verse three of chapter 14. Therefore, they stayed there a long time speaking boldly in the

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Lord. And then verse seven, they were preaching the gospel there, what's the strategy? Keep preaching

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Christ, keep declaring Christ, keep alive as his heralds in enemy territory, keep declaring the glory and goodness of Christ.

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This was not a retreat into silence. It was a redirection of service. They didn't compromise the truth, not that kind of fleeing.

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They were fleeing so as to continue the task. It was a tactical retrograde. It's too hot here.

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We're about to lose our lives, but to lose our opportunity to keep preaching, we're going to advance to the rear and keep serving our

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Lord. When Christians are disgraced and displaced for their love of Jesus, and they faithfully continue despite death threats or despite suffering so that they can tell somebody else the good news, and they're willing to risk themselves again and again, it's a

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Christian's finest hour. It doesn't have to be a martyrdom. It could be a fleeing and a suffering to stay alive and keep going.

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The idea is to live to fight while it is day. Ecclesiastes 3 .1

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says to everything there's a season, a time for every purpose under heaven. And then Solomon goes on to say,

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God's sovereignly in charge of all those seasons and all those times. And Christ is the son of all that wisdom.

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How do you know what to do in which situation? Maybe you ought to consult with the

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King of the universe. Check in with your master, check in with your Lord. Pray, consult his word and follow in obedience.

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We have the pattern of Jesus Christ. How many times did the Jews try to kill Jesus? And they didn't succeed on the first try.

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There was more than one time when they picked up stones to stone him or they're going to throw him over a cliff.

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And yet, Jesus did not let them do that. He would disappear from their midst.

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He would go a different way. He would stop it somehow. He left regions.

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Sometimes it says that he left regions because people wanted to kill him. Why did he do that?

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Why did he flee more than once? So as to finish all his father had for him to do.

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It's a Christian thing to die for the faith. It's a Christian thing to flee for the faith.

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The Christian thing to suffer for the faith. The Christian thing to succeed and see fruit.

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In John chapter nine, Jesus explained it this way. Verse four, I must work the works of him who sent me while it is day.

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The night is coming when no one can work as long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. Time to work.

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Time to be busy while there is light. While we have opportunity. There may be times when we don't have opportunity.

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Work until you have to run. Do what we can while we can.

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Ephesians chapter five, verses 13 through 16. But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light for whatever makes manifest is light.

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Therefore he says, awake you who sleep, arise from the dead and Christ will give you light. Verse 15, listen to this.

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See then that you walk circumspectly, carefully, strategically. Not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time because the days are evil.

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You know, we're not being faithful servants to our Lord Jesus Christ who has commissioned us as his heralds to look about at how bad things are getting and say, well, here in a little while, everything is gonna go to pot, so I'm just gonna sit back and keep my head down.

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Excuse me? That is neither the courage of Stephen nor the courage of Philip.

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Are things bad? They've been bad for a long time.

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We're not the only generation that has seen horrible things. We're not the only generation who thought it was the end of the world.

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We are not unique. We are not special in our suffering. I'm sorry, we're not.

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Christians in every generation have looked at terrible things happening around them and are absolutely convinced there is not a tomorrow.

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But Jesus Christ is in charge. And he has faithfully and continually built his church and the gates of Hades has not prevailed.

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Just like he said. So, live to fight while it is day.

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Does this mean a retreat at times? Does it mean fleeing at times? A pulling back from certain situations at times?

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Yes. Is there suffering involved with that? Yes. But who gets to say if we stay or if we go?

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Jesus Christ does. He's the Lord, he's the King. And he's our refuge. Either way, either way, it's going to be a win.

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He, it's his preeminence, why we do what we do. It's all for him.

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Relationships can turn fully hostile, situations can get really dangerous, but why would we continue? How would we continue?

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Because of the worthiness of Christ. When we reflect on the disciples, the most important thing about them was that they were with Jesus.

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The most important thing about them is they had been with Jesus. And Jesus told his disciples, even in his news, that he was going to depart from them.

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That he would not leave them orphans and told them, you need to abide in me. If you abide in me and my words abide in you.

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Right? The most notable characteristic of Christians is that we have been and are with Jesus.

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There are the disciples, fleeing the angry Gadarene coast, fishing in the Galilean sea, fearing for their lives in a stormy gale.

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Well, it's the same. Jesus is with them in the boat. Every single time.

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Jesus is with them in the boat. When we keep our eyes on Jesus, we can get kicked out with joy.

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We can stick it out with faith and we can bail out in hope, not necessarily in that order, over and again, till the day that we're taken up to glory.

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Let's close in prayer. Father, we thank you for the time that you have given to us and I pray that you would grant us this wisdom to know when do we stand the ground, keep speaking, turn that cheek when it's slapped.

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When do we shake the dust off our feet and move on? When do we lay our lives on the line or pack up our bags and move on?

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Lord, we need this wisdom. We pray that you would make it clear to us in light of your glory, in light of your worthiness.

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And I pray that you would continue to guide us and shepherd us in all of your love and all of your wisdom and that we would rejoice in your truth.