Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Hey, guys, this is naive. And you've reached the Mosaic Church Podcast. So excited that you're part of our listening community, and I'd love for you to be even more connected. So check out our website. There's more content there, and there's more opportunities for you to get connected in our ministries and events as well. Also, love for you to share this content if this has blessed you. I know that God wants to use you to bless other people with it, so share this podcast.
[00:00:28] Lastly, would you consider supporting this ministry? This is made possible by other people's generosity, and I'd love for you to pay it forward.
[00:00:39] Join us to reclaim the message and the movement of Jesus together. So would you consider giving to this ministry? I know that God is able to do immeasurably more through us when we come together. Thank you so much. God bless you and enjoy.
[00:00:59] Good morning.
[00:01:02] How we doing?
[00:01:04] Awesome. Awesome. So it's Mom's Day, and I gotta give a shout out to my Pakistani amiji, so I gotta do that. And so I got a picture. I got a picture. Let me see if I can pull that up. Can we pull up a picture of my mom? Let's see that. Oh, look at that.
[00:01:17] Yes. We celebrate 80th birthday. This is her 80th birthday this year. Yes. This is my amiji. She's the funniest thing. I feel like she gets funnier. She gets older. I think that's true with all old people, though. They get funnier, I think. Or meaner. But mostly funnier. Mostly funnier, right? What's so funny about her is that when she calls me and we talk every week, it's always on a Monday night.
[00:01:40] But when she calls me, though, she always FaceTimes me. But just audio.
[00:01:46] It's just audio. It's not FaceTime video. It's an audio. And we tried a video, and I had a conversation with her chin for 40 minutes.
[00:01:56] I was like, mom, fix it. And she's like, okay, okay, okay. And then now it's her forehead. I was like, all right, mom, that's fine. That's fine. It's all funny. But you know what? She is amazing. She raised five kids in Kuwait and then came here, got us through so much, and so I'm so, so grateful for her. I was talking to her the other day, though. It's so fun. She was like, hey, I've got to give Zakat now. Zakat. If you don't know, Zakat is a basic tithe for Muslims. Okay? So Zakat is the money that People, they give. They're required to do that. And so she was like, I want to give my zakat to Mosaic. And I was like, mom, that's awesome. You know Mosaic is a church, right?
[00:02:37] She's like, yeah, just take it. And this is not the first time she's given.
[00:02:42] She continually gives. She's actually given to every campaign that we've ever had. She might be the only Muslim mom that gives to a Christian church, but she does.
[00:02:53] She's awesome. So I just want to acknowledge all the moms out there, all the grandmoms out there, all of you guys visiting. Thank you so much for doing all things. And all the ladies as well. Because, I mean, statistically, I mean, there are more ladies in charge of things these days. More CEOs, more entrepreneurs, more college grads. And so the women are going to be taking over. And I'm just. I just feel I should be nice to them now, because you're gonna take over the world, so.
[00:03:19] Right, right. So thank you. Thank you, thank you. All right, so if you are visiting, let me just get you up to speed. We are in a series on the Book of Acts, and we started on right after Easter Sunday, and we're going through the Book of Acts because Acts, that book started right after Easter. So the Holy Spirit shows up, Jesus leaves. And so we're walking through all of the Book of Acts. Here's the good news. The good news is we're going to be done soon, I think. But the bad news is we're gonna be here till Christmas. You know what I'm saying? Cause we're going almost chapter by chapter, but this morning, I'm gonna cover three chapters. So I don't wanna summarize this for you. You can read on your own. But we are on chapter 14.
[00:03:59] Actually. No, sorry. We are on chapter 12.
[00:04:02] Chapter 12. What chapter is it anyways? Okay, so if you've got an app, you can follow along, the notes are in there as well. And today, friends, I have four points. Four points. Usually my messages are pointless, but today I have four points. All right, so we're gonna go through it. Four points and three chapters. So let's just jump right into it. What's happened? So what's happened is, like, if you follow along, if you don't know. Here's what the deal is. The Holy Spirit has come down. Jesus is gone. The disciples are trying to figure out how to be a Christian without Jesus. Because back in the day, they just walked with him. Whatever he did, they did and all that. And they knew, you know, like, praying to God was easy because it was like, hey, you know, hey, we need to do this. But now he's gone. It's all over. And so they're learning to have a relationship with God. Like, we have to. You know what I'm saying? Because we didn't have Jesus walking with us. So these guys are figuring it out. And what they were discovering. They're discovering a lot about the Holy Spirit. They're discovering all about this invisible God. And they just don't know because, again, I mean, it's not the same thing, right? If you have someone with you, walking flesh, you know, flesh and bone, Jesus, it's so much easier. I feel like my relationship with Jesus would be so much better if I could just text him, you know what I'm saying? And he would text me back.
[00:05:22] If he doesn't, if he stops texting me back, I'm like, this is not good. But anyways, so they're trying to figure this out. So what we find in these chapters is people. They're trying to figure out who God is, because God's doing some incredible things. So chapter 12, basically, what happens is, is that there is.
[00:05:37] There's a lot of things happening at the same time. There's some miracles happening at the same time. While there's hardships, there's persecution. So it's kind of interesting. And so the first point I want to make here is that when we get into chapter 12, though, is this. And that is that God's power. God's power is. Help me out. Is what.
[00:05:56] It's what? Unpredictable. Is what?
[00:05:59] It's unpredictable. It's unpredictable. Which is not helpful.
[00:06:05] It's not. I like my movies unpredictable. Jim saying, if I figure out a movie already, I'm like, why am I even watching this? So and so is gonna happen.
[00:06:14] Okay. I like my coffee.
[00:06:17] Yes, ma'. Am. Yes, sir. Yes, I do. I do. I do. What else we like Predictable. Anybody? We just wanted to be. Yeah.
[00:06:24] Huh? Paycheck.
[00:06:26] Yeah, we do.
[00:06:27] Yeah, we do. Taxes, too. That'd be great.
[00:06:30] Yeah, we want to do that. Yeah. But when it comes to God, we don't want gods to be unpredictable. You know what I'm saying? That's tough to have a relationship with a God whose God's power is unpredictable. And so what we realize is that they're figuring it out that God, this God they're trying to serve through the power of the Holy Spirit, is truly unpredictable. And they have to wrestle with this idea. Are they gonna follow a God who is unpredictable because his power is unpredictable. But his presence is not.
[00:07:00] So his presence is predictable? Very much so. It's his presence, but his power seems to be like. I'm not quite sure he shows up the way we think he's gonna show up. And so as we jump into chapter 12, what we read is this. That about the time King Herod devoted his attention to mistreating certain members of the church, he had James, the brother of John.
[00:07:23] What?
[00:07:24] Executed. Which means what?
[00:07:27] Yeah. Thank you for that sound effect. Yes, thank you.
[00:07:30] When he saw how this pleased the Jews, he arrested. Who? Peter. Peter. Peter, yeah. He arrested Peter too. This happened during the day of unleavened Bread. After capturing Peter, Herod had thrown him into prison with 16. How many?
[00:07:47] 16. 16 soldiers in squads of four to guard him. I don't know why, but Peter needed all that. Okay.
[00:07:55] Herod wanted to bring Peter to trial in front of the people after Passover. So meaning is the idea is that he was going to be there for a minute.
[00:08:04] So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was helping out. What were they doing? They were praying. How hard?
[00:08:13] Very hard. To God for him. Remember that? Remember that? So what's interesting here is that you find that you've got James.
[00:08:24] James who's executed now. So what's happening? People are getting healed, but then people are also getting killed. People are being raised to life. And a guy like James, I mean, I can't believe God's power didn't show up to save him. What's happening? Why is this? Why is this happening?
[00:08:44] What's going on? And now they see Peter in jail as well. Now, I want you to understand this. There was a time, there was a moment when Jesus was around. He was starting off his, like, ministry stuff, you know, he was starting out and doing some miracles and all that. And there was a guy named John the Baptist. Anybody remember John the Baptist? Make some noise, right? John the Baptist. Who was he? Anybody know? John the Baptist was Jesus, what cousin? So I would just think that John the Baptist knew exactly who Jesus was. I mean, do you really know your cousin, but which you kinda do okay with Jesus? He did.
[00:09:16] So what happened? I don't know if you know the story, but here's what happened. One day, John the Baptist got imprisoned. He got imprisoned and he was waiting to be executed. He was gonna be beheaded. Now he was serious. So he sent message to Jesus and said, hey, Jesus, yo, your boy, your boy is in trouble.
[00:09:34] Your boy's in trouble. Okay? And Jesus basically sent the message that Says, yes, but I'm not coming to save you.
[00:09:44] So John, if you remember that story, John actually sends message back to Jesus, and he said, says this. He says, are you the Messiah, or should we keep on looking?
[00:09:59] Wow.
[00:10:01] If anybody knew who Jesus was, it would be what, John?
[00:10:07] He's like, you're not coming to save me.
[00:10:11] Oh, oh, so you.
[00:10:14] So you're. I got. I got you wrong.
[00:10:18] I thought you were the Messiah. My bad.
[00:10:21] You guys all look alike.
[00:10:27] Yeah, I guess I should keep on looking.
[00:10:30] Why did John say that? Because he said that. Because. I understand. Because John was basically saying, if the Messiah that I was hoping would show up would be a messiah that saves his cousin.
[00:10:47] Like, not a God whose power is unpredictable. No, you come and save me because I'm John, your cousin who's prepared the way for you. And Jesus is like, I'm not coming. And the. The issue right there is this. The struggle is when God does not show up in his power in our lives, what do we do?
[00:11:06] I think we do exactly what John does. And that is, are you the one? Are you really God? Because everything is falling apart. Nothing is being kept safe. Everybody's hurting, there's disasters happening. And if you were really God, you would actually, what, show up.
[00:11:23] You'd show up.
[00:11:25] And here Peter is now in jail. And he probably was one of the disciples that was there when Jesus told them, hey, John, I'm not coming to save you. So now James was just executed. Peter's in there. What do you think Peter's thinking?
[00:11:42] Yeah, it's over.
[00:11:43] It's over. I mean, love Jesus, but apparently he doesn't come.
[00:11:47] Apparently he doesn't like to do that.
[00:11:50] So what do we do when we realize that God's power is unpredictable? I know for me, I find myself going, I just doubt the character of God because when I don't see his hand moving, I doubt his heart carrying.
[00:12:06] When I don't see his hand, when he doesn't show up, he doesn't come in power. I just start doubting.
[00:12:13] And I want you to know that God knows that.
[00:12:15] And. And these disciples were learning this, that just because God's power doesn't show up, that doesn't mean his presence is not there.
[00:12:25] It's there.
[00:12:27] And that's the hard part. The hard part is we struggle with, like, well, then why doesn't God just show up? Well, see, if you have a relationship with someone where every time you ask them for something, they show up. If every time you ask, you receive, you have a transactional relationship, why because it's predictable. Hey, this is what I do. When I ask, I get. When you do this, I can trust your hand. You always deliver on time, and I end up having a transactional relationship with you. I don't need to trust your heart. I don't even need to care about your character. All I want is my delivery.
[00:13:08] Oh, that's all I want. I mean, I have a really great relationship with Amazon. Do you?
[00:13:13] I do.
[00:13:15] I don't. Do I care? Their character, heart, all that stuff? Sometimes I do, you know, big corporation, but most of the time, I just want my stuff.
[00:13:24] And I'm gonna have a problem if I don't get my stuff. That's all I paid for Prime. Come on. Hello.
[00:13:31] So I wonder if God's saying, hey, you're never going to learn to trust my heart if you're always looking at my hand. So God's power is unpredictable. These guys were learning that. The other thing that we're also learning is this. That God. This is kind of funny. I think that God answers prayers that we barely believe in.
[00:13:53] Have you ever prayed a prayer? And you were like, I don't even believe in it, but I'm just gonna do it. I'm just gonna pray for it. Have you ever prayed and in your mind, you're like. You're praying something and you're just like. You're just basically rolling the dice. You're like, I just hope this works.
[00:14:09] I just hope this works. Why? Because you've heard beautiful prayers, right? Like, have you ever heard a prayer in public before with some people? Like, I have. You know, I have pastor friends, and sometimes the pastor friends will gather together and we're in conferences and someone will pray. And after they get done praying, I'm like, wow.
[00:14:26] Like, that was so beautiful. I'm like, yes to everything. I'm a yes to that prayer. You have to be yes to that prayer guy. That was. Oh, wow. That was amazing. I. I mean, don't get me started to pray because my words are terrible, but it's like. But if they're so beautiful, let's just answer that. Let's just do that. And what I realized is that sometimes, most of the times, I don't know if those are just beautiful words, but do they actually have belief with them? And then I think, well, they gotta believe it. And if you don't believe it, you're not gonna receive it. So you don't. So I don't receive because I don't believe. And so I just. And what I realized here what the disciples were realizing is that God actually answers prayers that we barely believe in. That's how good God is.
[00:15:15] So you remember we ended that passage where Peter's in jail? And the prayer, the church was praying. How hard?
[00:15:22] Very hard. Here's what's funny about that. Okay? So what's funny about that is that right after that, when you read, it's.
[00:15:29] There is an angel that shows up in prison for Peter.
[00:15:34] Peter doesn't understand what's going on. He thinks it's a dream. The angel comes, gets him out. They walk out of the prison, everything opens up for them. Those 16 guards are gone. The whole thing. He walks out there, he's on the street, and then he thinks, I'm just gonna wake up. You know? Have you ever had a dream where you're like, oh, this is. Is this real? Is this real?
[00:15:55] Because this is. This is awesome. And then you wake up, you're like, this is not. This was so real. It felt so real. So he wakes up, and it feels so real, but he's like, this is not real. He just thinks it's a vision, but then realizes he's actually on the street. He's out of prison. He can't believe it. And so we read, he says, and when he realized this, this is Peter, he went to the home of Mary and the mother of John Mark, where.
[00:16:21] Where many were gathered. For who? What?
[00:16:24] For what?
[00:16:26] Food? No, what were they praying for?
[00:16:29] Peter? Yes, for him. Okay. He knocked at the door, at the. At the door in the gate. And a servant, gay girl named Rhoda, came to open it. This is funny. When she recognized Peter's voice, she was so overjoyed that instead of.
[00:16:48] Instead of what?
[00:16:50] Opening the door, she ran back inside and told everybody, peter. Peter's standing at the door. He's standing at the door. He's staying. He's outside.
[00:17:00] And what do they say?
[00:17:02] You're out of your mind.
[00:17:03] You are out of your mind, they said. And she said, no, he's really outside. He really. Outside. They're like, no, no, no. He cannot be outside. He cannot be outside. We have decided.
[00:17:13] We've decided. The men have decided. This is what we've decided.
[00:17:17] We've decided it must be what an angel. Now, could you imagine being Roto right there? You're like, I'm sorry you've been praying for Peter, but you think.
[00:17:31] You think there's an angel out there.
[00:17:34] Not Peter, but an angel.
[00:17:38] And this angel has traveled through space and time, but cannot go through doors.
[00:17:49] And this angel is waiting to be let in because it's a vampire and you have to let them in.
[00:17:57] Is that's what you're telling me?
[00:17:59] You guys are telling me that no way it could be Peter that you've been praying for to get out. It could be Peter.
[00:18:07] It's an angel, and I'm the one out of my mind?
[00:18:12] I'm the one. Have you ever thought that at work you're like, and I'm the one who's crazy. Oh, okay. Am I, Am I.
[00:18:19] Am I the one? They're like, no, no, it's gotta be an angel. It's gotta be an angel. It's gotta be an angel.
[00:18:25] And then they obviously go out there, and Peter's like, what are you. What are you guys doing?
[00:18:29] What are you guys doing? First of all, super excited that you're excited for me, but open the door next time.
[00:18:35] And the disciples are like, oh, how are you here?
[00:18:39] Because they were praying for something they what barely believed in.
[00:18:46] They were like, we're gonna pray really hard, but when it happens, it cannot happen. Like, it's not. We're not gonna believe it. I think God does this to us sometimes.
[00:18:57] He treats us with so much grace and mercy and goodness that he's like, hey, I know you don't believe this.
[00:19:04] I know you don't believe this because I didn't show up at this time. I know you don't believe I care for you. You think I'm not gonna provide, it's okay. You know what's so freeing is knowing regardless how you grew up, let me just tell you, maybe you grew up in a faith that says, hey, hey, if you believe it, you'll receive it.
[00:19:27] I don't believe the grace I have, but I receive it all day. I don't believe that I deserve the goodness of God in my life, the patience of God in my life, but I receive it all the time.
[00:19:39] I get answers to prayers that I barely believe in. And isn't it a good thing that God treats us not based on what we believe?
[00:19:47] Because if we did, we would have some good days, and we would then have some really bad days.
[00:19:55] His mercy is predictable.
[00:19:59] His presence is predictable. He just shows up and he answers prayers. He answers prayers all the time. Okay, the third point. Third point, we go into chapter 13.
[00:20:10] So we just finished chapter 12, chapter 13. There's a lot of things happening here. So I want to point out one big thing that happens here which is really significant for the. The movement of Jesus, okay? And here's what happens. I want to Read this passage to you. And it's chapter 13, verses 1 through 3.
[00:20:27] It says here, Barnabas, Barnabas. And then Simeon called the black. It's just so weird. It's not strange, but it's because he was a black guy. They called him the Black. Okay, and then what's this word? Lucis, from Syrian. And then what's this? The manna can't have easy names like Naim.
[00:20:52] He was a close friend of Herod since childhood. Again, a fact that we did not care about. Okay? This is because Luke is writing this. And Luke's writings are always detailed, okay? He wants to point out everything. Then he says, and Saul were prophets and teachers in the church of Antioch. Okay, what's the point? What are you trying to get to? He's basically saying all these people were together and they were worshiping the Lord and fasting. And then something happened, the Holy Spirit. The what? The Holy Spirit said something to them. He said, set Barnabas and Saul apart for me. Let's put them apart. And I want them to do the work for which I have called them. And after fasting and praying, they all came together and they laid their hands on Barnabas and Saul and released them from their work in Antioch. Okay? Here's why this passage is so important.
[00:21:48] Anybody hear of things called mission trips? Anybody? Mission trips? Any? Raise your hand if you have mission trips, Right? Mission trips, yeah. Yeah. So this is the beginning of what a mission trip is.
[00:22:00] So before that, they didn't have mission trips.
[00:22:03] We came up with mission trips because of this passage. See, what happens is these people are.
[00:22:08] Are there. They hear the Holy Spirit gives them a strategy to do something to further the kingdom. What they're basically saying is, I want you to pick these two people, and these two people you need to fund.
[00:22:21] You need to fund them their travels. And they're going to go from city to city, they're gonna go from different places, and they're going to talk about Jesus all over. And then they're gonna actually go and start churches. So that's exactly what the rest of Acts is, is Paul and Barnabas right here. They're freed up to go do this, and they're getting funded, and they go out and they start churches, different places. And then Paul writes to these churches, have experiences with these churches, and then ends up writing letters to them. And that's why we have all these letters in the Scriptures. Like, for example, the book of Galatians is actually a what, a letter? Ephesians is a letter. Corinthians is A letter. All these are letters.
[00:23:10] Why? Because at that point when they did this, it changed everything to them. They were just trying to survive here because they were being persecuted. And all of a sudden the Holy Spirit said, no, this is what I want you to do. All of that would not have happened, all that would not have happened unless they had created space to hear God. So point number three is this. Point number three is this. If I haven't given it to you, I'll tell you what. God wants you to hear.
[00:23:40] Hear. So you can actually see.
[00:23:43] For so many of us, we want to see. We want to see God moving in our lives. We want to see what the next step is. We want to see what we want to see. We are visual people. We look at our phones all the time. All the time. I can't remember the last time I watched a movie without my phone.
[00:23:57] I mean, I'm just always with my phone. Why? Because I'm looking at things. Looking at things. We're all looking at this. You can, what do they call it? Doom scroll and go into it. You're like, oh, you're just looking, looking, looking. And we're used to believing, taking in, reacting to things we see.
[00:24:16] Things we see.
[00:24:18] And here I believe God's saying, you need to create a space for me.
[00:24:24] You need to create a space so you can actually hear me.
[00:24:27] And I wanna show you something, but you have to actually hear me say something before you can see it.
[00:24:34] You're gonna see Paul and Barnabas do some amazing things, but I'm so glad you took the time to just hear me. This is what I'm telling you. Could God be telling you to create a space for him to hear him and not get better at prayer requests?
[00:24:52] See, I don't know about you, but sometimes with me, I do a lot of things on the go.
[00:24:58] I mean, I like my coffee to go. I like text messages to go. I call people on the go. While I'm on the go. I do a lot of things. I mean, sometimes like talking to my mom even, you know, I'm always. I'm walking while I'm doing it. I'm just on the go. I like to do that. And what I also end up doing is I do prayers on the go, prayers on the go. Driving to someone like, ah, just prayers on the go.
[00:25:25] And I think for some of us it's just simple. God says, hey, prayer is not practicing how to present your requests.
[00:25:36] Prayer is creating space so you can. So you can hear me. Because I want to tell you something. It's a strategy. I want to tell you something that will really fundamentally change the way you play the game in one sense.
[00:25:49] And so they did this, and then it changed the. The game for them.
[00:25:55] Last point. Last point is this.
[00:25:58] Are you letting people's approval and praise shape your identity?
[00:26:07] All right, well, the answer is yes. So we can be done with that. That's easy. That's easy. That was done. Let's just pray, right? That is just. I mean, who doesn't? Who doesn't? Seriously, man. Who doesn't? How many of you like a little bit of flattery with your coffee? Okay.
[00:26:25] Okay. How many? Like, a couple. Compliments with dinner? Yeah, we do. Yeah, we do. How? We all do. We all love it. Love it. We all love attention. Even people who don't like attention like attention their own kind of way, but they like attention. We all like attention. We all like to do this. We like. Oh, my goodness. Yes, we do. Yes, we do. So what happens? Why is this point so important? Here's why. Because now these. Paul and Barnabas are going out. They're funded. Now the game has changed. They're moving different places. They're going different places and miracles are taking place. In one point, the people are convinced they went to a Greek place. And so you have Greek mythology there. And so they were, like, looking at Paul and Barnabas and they're like, oh, wow. I think these guys are super. They're metahumans or they're like something else. Maybe they're demigods. Maybe they're gods. In fact, here's what the passage says. It says here in chapter 14, it says, when the crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted in their local dialect. They all shouted, started shouting, these men are gods in human form.
[00:27:33] They're gods. They decided that Barnabas was a Greek God. Named who?
[00:27:39] Zeus.
[00:27:40] Paul's like, yeah. I mean, sorry. Barnabas is like, yes, yes. And Paul. It was what? Hermes. Which I'm sure Paul was like, why am I Hermes?
[00:27:49] Why am I Hermes? I've done more miracles. I should be Zeus. I got Zeus's beard I could do anyways. All right, so.
[00:27:56] But he said he was Hermes since he talked too much. Apparently, he was a chief speaker.
[00:28:03] Now, the temple of Zeus was located just outside of town.
[00:28:07] Oh, wow. Okay. So the priests of the temple. The priests, not the people. The priests. And the crowd brought bulls and wreaths, flowers to the town gates. They prepared to offer what, Sacrifices to apostles. But when the apostles, Barnabas and Paul, heard what was happening, they did what? Which Is really strange. They did what? They.
[00:28:32] They tore their clothes, which is understandable response. No, not really, but they tore their clothes. They're trying to do this because they tore their clothes and ran out among the people, which sounds like streaking, but it's not. It's not. It's not okay. Shouting. They're shouting. They're like, friends, why are you doing this? And to them, they're like, why are you doing this? Okay, so why are you doing this? We are merely, what, humans, just like you.
[00:29:00] And we just come to you to bring good news that you should turn from these worthless things and turn to the living God who made heaven and earth, the sea and everything in them. So they're like, ah, don't do this, guys. We're just humans. Yeah, but you're doing miracles. I know, I know, I know. But it's because of this holy spirit that has come in because Jesus left and explained that to them. He says, yeah, we were able to do these incredible things that we don't understand.
[00:29:26] And, you know, you and I can't totally relate to this because we're like, I don't know, the last time I raised someone from the dead, if that means give them coffee, yes, maybe. But I haven't really. I don't know if I've healed people. I don't know if I've done this, but these people are like, yeah, they're getting all the attention, Getting all the attention.
[00:29:44] But here's the important part of this. They knew. They knew. They just intuitively knew that they could not live their lives or be fueled by the flattery of people.
[00:29:59] Their vision, their purpose, all of the stuff people support, like, if they could not rely on that to be the fuel. See, if you have a goal in life, a purpose, a dream, if you have a vision for your family, if you have something that you believe, like, hey, I'm talented, I gotta do this. I believe in this product. I believe in this company. I believe in this. If you have a mission, I just want you to know you cannot allow people, Other people's flattery, other people's approval to shape that identity. Because if it shapes your identity, I mean, you feel great when they're all for you, but you'll get crushed when they reject you.
[00:30:40] You just get crushed.
[00:30:43] You just get like, just. Has a text message ever messed you up?
[00:30:48] And they didn't even say anything because they just didn't text you back and it just messed you up, the rejection. Some of us don't try things. Why? Because you're like, there's a chance of rejection. There's a chance of failure. We just don't want. Because we just need to just be told of ourselves.
[00:31:07] We're good. We're good. We're good. We're good. So we don't want to try something.
[00:31:11] And, friends, that is the recipe for disaster. And Paul and Barnabas did not get into that. Here is why. Because if you just keep on reading, I'll just. Let me just read you that, right? Just keep on reading. They tell them, hey, hey, hey, listen, listen. We're not the gods. We're not the gods. You need to do this. You need to do this. If you keep on reading, it says this, but even.
[00:31:32] But even what? These words, Paul and Barnabas could what, scarcely restrain the people from sacrificing. So now that the priests are all. They're doing it. They're doing this. They're. They started a service. It's happening.
[00:31:49] They start happening. So, Paul, they're like, what's going on? And then all this is the next sentence. It says. Then some. Some what?
[00:31:57] Jews arrived from Antioch and. What's that word?
[00:32:01] Iconium. And then they did what?
[00:32:04] They won the crowd to their side.
[00:32:08] You go, from what? They won the crowd to their side. Okay, okay. And then they did what? Can you believe what I'm reading here? They what?
[00:32:19] They what?
[00:32:21] They stoned Paul Hermes and dragged him out of town thinking he was dead.
[00:32:32] I thought I was a Greek God.
[00:32:35] And they're like, no, he's actually not. And then all of a sudden, I mean, talk about cancel culture width stoning, like, you know what I'm saying? Like what he said.
[00:32:46] But the believers gathered around him.
[00:32:51] He got up and did what?
[00:32:56] He went back.
[00:32:57] He went back in town.
[00:32:59] He's like, I'm Hermes. No. He wheels back into town.
[00:33:04] And the next day he left with Barnabas.
[00:33:07] So what's happening here?
[00:33:10] What's happening here? Is it think it's a lesson for us?
[00:33:16] That's what people sometimes do.
[00:33:19] I'm for you. I'm for you. I'm for you.
[00:33:23] I hate you.
[00:33:25] What.
[00:33:26] What's happening here? And we see this not just in this culture, we see it all over social media. You're awesome. You're awesome. Awesome. Awesome. Oh, I can't believe he did what. What is happening? What's happening? And if you live your life like that. If I live my life like that, which, I gotta be honest, I did for a minute, I'm just gonna go.
[00:33:50] And besides just throwing up, I'm like, I'm gonna be depressed because I'm gonna give other people power to influence my peace, my identity.
[00:34:04] And we cannot, cannot and should not do that.
[00:34:10] So as we end here, what is God saying to you?
[00:34:14] What could God be saying to you?
[00:34:17] Are we allowing us to do that? Because we can't.
[00:34:21] We can't because, you see, when we allow other people's.
[00:34:25] When we allow other people's opinions to shape our identity, what we might be kind of saying to God sometimes is that I don't really believe what you say about me.
[00:34:35] I'm just gonna believe so and so.
[00:34:39] And that, that's not. That's a recipe for disaster.
[00:34:44] When we think about, like, this idea of. Of, you know, God wants to.
[00:34:53] God wants you to hear something.
[00:34:55] And we're like, I just want to see it. What we might be saying to God is like, I don't have time. I just need you to show me on the go here. I don't have time for you. I don't have quality time for you. If you could just tell me what I know and keep going.
[00:35:11] I mean, do we really want that in our relationship with God? Because that's what these disciples were hearing, that that's not what God wants.
[00:35:20] Does this idea of, like, God answering prayers that we barely believe in, what do you think God is saying? God is saying there? He's saying, hey, listen, don't stop praying.
[00:35:30] Don't stop praying.
[00:35:32] I still need you to do that.
[00:35:34] Even though you might think, oh, your words are not that great. No, you gotta still keep praying.
[00:35:39] And then also, even though that his power is unpredictable, his presence is not. His presence is not.
[00:35:47] And so for some of us, and some of you ladies, even today, you're carrying a weight that's so heavy and so invisible that truly no one understands. And I'm not going to claim to know that I understand at all.
[00:36:04] I just know this. I know that you've got a God who's his goodness and mercy, who truly sees you, who truly knows you, truly loves you. And he's the one who wants to talk to you today.
[00:36:19] He wants to give you something that no one else could ever, ever give you.
[00:36:24] So can I pray for us?
[00:36:26] Let's pray. Lord God, thank you so much for your love for us.
[00:36:31] Thank you for reminding us, God, as we look at the.
[00:36:36] The early church, their struggle to figuring out who you are, you doing things that are just unexplainable at times. They're just trying to figure you out, and we're trying to do the same.
[00:36:48] But thank you that we were reminded again today that God, in the midst of everything that we are feeling, in the midst of how close we feel to you, you are close to us.
[00:37:01] God, sometimes we believe that we are so far away from you.
[00:37:04] And the truth is, I don't think we could.
[00:37:09] I don't think humanity could ever go far from you.
[00:37:14] I don't think we have the capacity to.
[00:37:18] And you, God, are always drawing near.
[00:37:21] So God help us today.
[00:37:23] Some of us, we're just not sure if you're going to show up. Some of us not sure if our prayers matter. Some of us, we're not sure if this taking the time to. Am I really going to hear something? Some of us are like, I don't know. I just struggle with rejection. I'm not quite sure. God, give us the power, the strength, the courage to be the people we were created to be.
[00:37:49] God, as we receive communion or light a candle today.
[00:37:54] If you go to the cross today, God, remind us, remind us once again the kind of God you are.
[00:38:01] Just thank you for that.
[00:38:04] Thanks for listening to this message from Mosaic church in Charlotte, North Carolina.
[00:38:10] For more audio and video content, visit us at MosaicChurch TV.
