Midweek Review #24 (Acts 14:8-28)

You say that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.

You say that. You know, I actually take this literally and I tried this this week when I was studying.

I said, I'm just going to say this to people. I said it to my kids where I was driving, I was like, hey kids, I got something to tell you.

They perked up and I said, through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.

And they just said, oh, okay, and what was that about? And then Timmy said, he's a preacher, he says stuff like that.

But I take it literally. You say that. You say that to one another because it will strengthen and it will set the right expectation for what this

Christian life is. It's not a joy ride. It is hard, but it is good and he's with us.

And in the end, we enter the kingdom. And in the end, that little baby that was thrown into the sea will be resurrected and will be with the

Judsons in glory. In the end, we enter the kingdom of heaven, but it's a hard road.

Number four, in verse 23, when they had appointed elders for them in every church, this is the biblical model.

Notice the plurality there. It's not elder singular as if one pastor is running everything.

It's a plurality of elders, but they're appointed in order to lead. So the congregation is led by elders.

And so what we do in the church is we support the leadership and we submit in a godly way, in a humble way, to humble leadership from elders.