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.
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[00:00:59] So we are in a series, right in the Book of Acts. And I'm gonna get right to it because there are four chapters I gotta cover today. Four chapters. And you're like, why four chapters? Because the Book of Acts, we're going through the entire Book of Acts and it's a lot of chapters. And so since we don't want to keep doing the Book of Acts till Jesus comes back, we are gonna cover four chapters today. But before we get into that, I do wanna give you an update for the legacy campaign that we've been a part of. The those of you who know we're trying to raise a million dollars in two years, and we've been talking about it, the update is 60% of the pledge for the million dollars has come through. So that's really exciting. It's really Great. Yeah. And 20% of actual money has come through. That's great. Also, this week was huge because we just locked in financing to make the deal happen. And so, yes, shout out to People's bank, local bank that jumped on board is going to be partnering with us. And so we're going to be able to just really get to work this year in that space. And so it's going to be really super exciting. Also, also want you to know this because for those of you who are like, you know what, I haven't really pledged. I'm not quite sure, but I've heard about it. I know. Here's the deal. I don't want you to miss out because this is pretty historic for the life of our church. And so you're thinking, I'm not quite sure if I can give a whole lot. It doesn't matter. Whatever you give, you still get to be. Get to say, I had a part to play in that. So, love for you to jump in. You can join the campaign start giving pledge. You can do that today. But it's gonna be super exciting to update you guys as we go further along with this. Okay, cool. So let's jump into how many chapters. Did I mention how many chapters? Four. Four. Okay, let's get into it. If you have the app, which you should get the app by now, right?
[00:02:49] Get the app.
[00:02:50] We are going to chapter 8, verse 8 to 11 today. We're gonna cover that again. The passages that I'm going to read are gonna be in the app again. I'm not gonna read all the chapters because I can't just. I mean, you can read for yourself, people. Come on. Okay, I'm not gonna even summarize these because there are a lot of things happening. What I am gonna do is I'm gonna talk about each chapter and just give you an idea of what I think God wants to tell us and speak to us today about it. Okay? So it's really fascinating. So, but if you're like, ah, four. Can I just. Can you just give me one big idea? I can give you one big idea. The big idea for this, for this, for this morning, it really comes down to this idea of recognizing God. So Ash and I love watching movies. My wife Ashley and I, we love watching movies. And I'm one of those people. And I don't know if you are. I don't know if you are, but when I watch a movie, it doesn't. I tell her, I said, you know who that person is? That person is from that person, that movie. She's like, no, no. I'm like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Or have you ever watched a movie? You're like, I know. Who. Who did he play? Who did he play? Who did he. Who did he. Now what I've realized that now is that Ashley and I, I don't think we've watched a movie without our phones.
[00:04:03] Have you done this? You look up people while they're like.
[00:04:09] If you watch a show, it doesn't matter. You're like, who. Who this. Oh, did you know? How tall is he? How old is this guy? How old is this guy?
[00:04:18] All kinds of information.
[00:04:20] But what's funny, though, is, like, she does not recognize people when. You know, sometimes in movies, I do all the time. Now I have a problem with real life people, though, because real life people. I'm like, yeah, buddy, who are you? Oh, I mean, I know you. I know you, but I don't know. I'm not quite sure. One time there was this lady at Target, and she was looking at me, and I was like.
[00:04:50] And she's like. And then she's like, you don't know who I am? And I'm like, yeah, you're right. And she's like, I'm Starbucks. She just said, Starbucks. I'm like, Starbucks. She's like, oh, she's my barista. I have my own personal barista. She's like. And I thought, oh, yeah. And so I started making excuses. I was like, ah, you know, you're out of context, first of all, and you're not behind a counter and where's my coffee? You know what I'm saying? Like, I just know you with my coffee. So I don't recognize you. And I told her, I don't recognize you because you're out of context. Anyways, after that incident, I was driving away and I heard God really kind of ask me this question internally. And the question was, do you recognize me out of context, Naeem? Do you recognize me out of context? So if there's any big idea to this talk, it's that, do you and I have the ability to recognize God out of context? Could God be working in a people or in a problem right now, and you just don't recognize him?
[00:05:50] And the big idea is that we have to recognize him and join him. So this is pretty much how Acts chapter eight starts. So Acts, chapter eight, the big point of that is, is that God uses. God uses chaos. That's what we realize In Acts chapter 8, God uses chaos in our lives. And when chaos happens in our lives, emotionally, financially, in our lives, the first thing we go is, I don't know where God is. Have you ever had that thought? Where is God in this? Are you gonna show up? Right? Are you gonna show up? Has he left? What's going on? God uses chaos. Why? Because Acts chapter eight. Eight, if you've been following along, Stephen has just died. And now this is getting crazy, the movement of Jesus. Because Acts is the beginning of the early church. And what happens, it says here, let me read you this first passage. It says, a great wave of what persecution began that day, sweeping over the church in Jerusalem. And all the believers, except the apostles, were scattered through the region of Judea. Now, Christians, or people who are, like, following Jesus or want to be, who've been baptized in Jesus, are like, I'm not quite sure what's happening. Why? Because Stephen Main figure was publicly executed. And so they're like, oh, no, what's happening here? Because God didn't do a miraculous thing and heal him or save him. And they saw him do this. And that movement right there, the Jesus movement, had a number one enemy. Number one, He. He had. The guy's name was what? Who?
[00:07:28] Saul. And it says here, but Saul was going everywhere to destroy the church. He went from what, house to house, dragging both men and women to throw them into prison. But the believers who were scattered preached the good news about Jesus. What?
[00:07:47] Everywhere they went, they started doing that. So what happens is it starts with persecution, it starts with chaos. But. But I gotta tell you, God uses chaos to kind of wake us up a little bit. I mean, Christianity as a whole has gone through chaos the last couple of years. I think it's woken up some people. It's like, oh, what do I really, really believe here? What's going on? What's going on? I mean, everything in the US it seems like, you know, politics have been. I mean, it's chaos. I mean, the world itself, governments are just in chaos, and it reveals certain things. And when persecution hits, not just the movement of Jesus here in the US but also all over the world, there's something that happens. And I know it's awful, but there's something that's woken up. See, God might be wanting to wake you up because you might be a little bit asleep.
[00:08:38] Maybe the chaos in your life is. I know it's terrible, but God's using it. God's moving in it. God wants to do something. And without it, I don't know if you can be and step into what God has for you.
[00:08:55] Here's why I say this. Okay, So I went through a Gulf War. I went through a war in 1990, if you know my story. I grew up in Kuwait and lived there my whole life. And I was loving my life, people. I was. I was like, I'm cool. That's great. I got me a girlfriend. This is before Ashley.
[00:09:14] Okay. And also, wasn't my cousin. Wasn't my cousin.
[00:09:17] Was not my cousin. My parents are first. First.
[00:09:22] First cousins.
[00:09:24] Yep. Oh, yeah.
[00:09:25] So whole arranged marriage thing, they were going to arrange my marriage too, kind of thing. But I was like, no, no, no.
[00:09:33] I got me a girl. I was like, this is who I'm going to marry. I had it all figured out. And then the war took place.
[00:09:39] Gulf War took place. If you guys don't know, it took place. And then I didn't end up graduating from high school.
[00:09:45] Country was destroyed. A lot of parts of it were. And I had no other choice in the sense but to come to the U.S. i didn't want to come to the U.S. in one sense, but when I came here, three weeks into it, I had a supernatural experience with Jesus. Changed the course of my life. I don't think I would come to the States without the Gulf War.
[00:10:05] And Gulf War is terrible. But out of that chaos, something happened. Something happened. Could God be doing something? Here's one of the things that happens. I'm gonna highlight something, is that when people started scattering around, things started just moving. God, people started leaning in. Because in the middle of chaos, that's when you lean in. That's when you're like, okay, good God, what are you saying? And so this guy Philip, he actually leaned in and he heard God say something to him. And. And so that's the next passage we'll read. In the book of Acts, it says the Holy Spirit said to Philip, go over and walk along beside the carriage. Okay? So there was a carriage. He says, go walk along. Philip ran over and heard the man reading the prophet who? The prophet who?
[00:10:49] Isaiah. So he goes over, okay? And then Philip asked him, he says, hey, do you. Do you. Do you. Do you understand what you're reading? So he's walking, the carriage is happening. He. He's gone wrong. He's like, hey, do you understand what you're reading? And the man replied, how can I unless someone instructs me? He's like, okay. So he's like, hey, come on. Come inside. So basically, he urged Philip to what? Come into the carriage and sit with him. The passage of scripture that he was reading was.
[00:11:18] It was from Isaiah.
[00:11:20] And this is what he was reading. Was reading was this. He. He was led like a sheep to the slaughter. This is about talking about Jesus. And as a lamb silent before the shearers, he did not open his mouth. He was humiliated and received no justice. Who can speak of his descendants, for his life was taken from the earth.
[00:11:42] Now we realize who is part of the story, right?
[00:11:45] That's the passage. And then the who asked Philip? The who? The eunuch.
[00:11:50] Important point here. There's a eunuch. This is the carriage of a eunuch. Ethiopian eunuch.
[00:11:58] He says, tell me, was the prophet talking about himself or someone else?
[00:12:04] So beginning. Beginning with this same scripture, Philip told him the good news about Jesus. And as they rode along, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, look, there's some water. What does he say? Why can't I be baptized? Let Me just tell you what's happening in this story. Okay, what's happening in this story is, number one, Deuteronomy in the Old Testament restricted anyone whose body was altered from worship. So a eunuch, a person from a different sexual orientation. Guess what? They are not allowed in worship. They're not. Deuteronomy was very clear of that.
[00:12:44] Then in Isaiah, because Isaiah is a very prophetic book, talks about Jesus a lot. In Isaiah, it actually talks where God speaks to the prophet Isaiah and he speaks to the eunuchs in verse, in chapter 56. And it says this. He says to the eunuchs, I tell you that you talking about their identity. You will be given a name more than. More special, more greater than sons and daughters, an everlasting name.
[00:13:18] And so there's all of a sudden this idea where God is.
[00:13:22] There's this inclusion happening. And so that is 56. What's interesting about that is when Philip entered into the carriage, he was reading and explaining the verse that I just read to you. And that's 53.
[00:13:38] And so where it says here, he started with 53 and kept on going. He goes in and explains that, guess what? This used to be the thing. Now, Isaiah prophesied this, and Jesus is the answer to this, that. It doesn't matter.
[00:13:55] It doesn't matter. You're all welcome.
[00:13:59] You're all welcome.
[00:14:01] Jesus was the person who did this. He.
[00:14:04] Because of Jesus, you can be baptized. So that's why he ends with, hey, there's water. What does he say?
[00:14:11] Can I have you? Why can't I be baptized? And to Philip, he'd be like, yes, yes, you can be baptized. Friends, this would not have happened if Philip's life didn't go through some chaos.
[00:14:24] Because what happened? Persecution broke out.
[00:14:27] So in the middle of chaos, God is bringing his kingdom and building his kingdom and wants to use you, but you got to walk alongside of people. Could God be telling you to walk along someone long enough for them to invite you in, that you could tell them about Jesus?
[00:14:48] There's a beautiful thing about just walking along, people waiting for them to invite you in.
[00:14:53] But it doesn't happen when our lives are all good.
[00:14:56] So that's chapter eight. Chapter nine. Let's go to chapter nine. Chapter nine. What's the big idea? Big idea is what God, what reaches the unlikely. He reaches the unlikely. What do we find here? Well, if you read, you know that this is where Saul becomes Paul.
[00:15:18] This is the big deal. The movement is going nuts here. It's like, what is happening the Book of Acts starts with the Holy Spirit because Jesus is gone. Okay? Holy Spirit hits. All kinds of things are happening. You've got this. Enemy number one, Saul. And now in chapter nine, all of a sudden, the person who hated the movement of Jesus went out. We just read it. Went out and was dragging people out and either executing them or putting them into prison. Guess what happens? He has a road to Damascus experience.
[00:15:55] If you don't know what that means, let me read it to you. It says here as he. This is Saul. As he was approaching Damascus on this mission. What was his mission, by the way?
[00:16:05] Yeah.
[00:16:07] And killed the movement of Jesus. A light from heaven suddenly shone down around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?
[00:16:23] Who are you, Lord? Saul asked. And the voice replied, I am who I am.
[00:16:29] I'm Jesus, the one you are persecuting. You thought you were persecuting people? No, you're persecuting me.
[00:16:39] You're doing this to me. And then he says, now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what. What you must do. Also, I'm gonna blind you.
[00:16:49] Because you ticked me off. That's what I'm saying. You ticked me off. I'm gonna blind you. That's gonna happen. So if you read on, you know, he doesn't know what's happening. Blinds it. He's like, doesn't know what's going on because God's not done. God reaches the most unlikely person, but then he has to check this out.
[00:17:10] He has, you know, because we know unlikely people in our life. Like. Like, for example, like, do you know someone in your life that as soon as they start talking, your eyes start rolling?
[00:17:24] And when they keep on talking, the longer they go. Your head's in it now. Your whole body's like, oh, my God.
[00:17:31] Have you ever read. Not read, but have you looked at your phone or something? And you're like, oh, my God, not again.
[00:17:37] What is just. Have you ever been in a meeting and you're like, in your head because you don't want to say it out loud, you're like, shut up.
[00:17:48] Like, just stop talking.
[00:17:50] Just stop talking. You have people in your life. They're probably part of your family that you're like, as soon as you don't want any, you don't want to hear anything they say. You're like, I don't believe it. In fact, they might be telling you the truth. And you're like, because you said it, I am not going to do it.
[00:18:11] The people in our life, they're unlikely. And God uses. So here's what happens. God uses a guy like him. Now he's changing him. But then God actually has to not just convince Saul.
[00:18:23] He has to convince you and me. Because we're in the story.
[00:18:26] What do you mean, we're in the story? Well, there's a guy named Ananias, and we are Ananias in the story.
[00:18:34] So here it continues. In Damascus, there was a disciple named what? Who?
[00:18:39] Ananias. And the Lord called him to him in a vision. Anais. And yes, Lord, he answered.
[00:18:47] So I'll just skip a little bit, because he tells him.
[00:18:50] He tells him what to do. He tells him, hey, Paul. You remember Paul, we're doing this. You got to go and heal him. You got to do all this thing.
[00:18:57] He's waiting on you. I've already told him that you're coming.
[00:19:00] And then. Then, because we do this, then Ananias explains the situation to God. Because sometimes God doesn't know.
[00:19:10] God doesn't know why this is a really big, bad idea. Like, why it's really hard. Like, have you ever prayed like, God? Have you ever considered, like, can I. Can we brainstorm a little bit? A better idea than what you're thinking here? Okay.
[00:19:27] Because he says so. I've heard many reports about this man. I don't know if you have.
[00:19:35] And all the harm he has done to your holy people in Jerusalem.
[00:19:43] He has come here with authority from the chief priest. I don't know if you know that. To arrest all who call on your name.
[00:19:55] But the Lord said to Anais, go. This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and the kings and to the people of Israel.
[00:20:09] He's like, hey, I know you. I know what you see about this person. But I see something else. Is there a person in our lives that we have written off?
[00:20:22] The person that we are like, no, no, no. They're too problematic.
[00:20:26] They're too problematic.
[00:20:30] Here's the thing. The people that you and I have written off God is not done writing their story.
[00:20:36] And I don't want to hear that. You know what I'm saying?
[00:20:39] Like, I think of the person, like, who is, like. Who's opposite to what I believe or opposite to. Like, he's seeming like the enemy of everything that I think is good in this world.
[00:20:50] And then I think, oh, and God is still pursuing them. I'm like, really, though?
[00:20:55] Because I feel like they're a little too far off.
[00:20:57] Or, you look at them and go, there's no way God. There's no way you would be nice to them.
[00:21:03] You know what he does? You know what she does?
[00:21:07] Come on.
[00:21:09] And here we see that God always uses the unlikely. He's pursuing them.
[00:21:17] He is. So here's the big question on the chapter. Who have you written off?
[00:21:22] Because God's not done writing their story.
[00:21:25] All right, we're going to go to the next chapter. Next chapter is chapter what, 10? What's the big idea there? God, what, breaks through barriers. He breaks barriers. In this chapter, God is breaking all kinds of barriers. Here's the problem. The Jewish movement, because Jesus was a Jew, was it. It was a Jewish movement. It was just a different. But now by chapter 10, it. They don't even recognize these people can be Jewish because they're doing all kinds of crazy things. In fact, at the end of this chapter, you realize that even the apostles, the people, they were like, they were the first apostles. They were very Jewish. I mean, they would practice all the Jewish things. I mean, obviously, they inserted Jesus into this. They believed he was the Messiah. But see, here's the thing. For Jewish people at the time, the Messiah was just, okay, the end of the book, they know how it's going to end. Jesus, the Messiah. The Jews have been waiting for a Messiah. The apostles just believe that Jesus was. And that's it. Guess why? They're still Jewish.
[00:22:25] They're still going to do all the Jewish things. They just happen to tell that, okay, that we know the Messiah has come. We're not waiting on him. All the other Jewish people who did not believe in Jesus were like, no, no, no, no, no. We're still waiting.
[00:22:38] We're still doing the things. And they're like, no, no, we're done. Because Jesus came. That was their biggest rub. But they were both, what, Jewish at this point. Now they're breaking out. What's happening is. And you'll see here, it starts with Peter. So Peter gets this vision. He gets this vision of a sheet that comes down from the sky and there's all kinds of food on it.
[00:23:04] And then he hears God's voice say, hey, eat. Eat of this.
[00:23:08] And all of those foods, a lot of them were stuff that Jewish people would not eat.
[00:23:14] It was not kosher, not halal, not anything.
[00:23:19] It was like, no, it's forbidden.
[00:23:22] You cannot eat this. And the voice of God that he heard was, eat it. You're good. You're good. And he has a problem. And here's where we pick it up.
[00:23:31] Then the Voice told him, get up, Peter.
[00:23:34] Kill. And do what?
[00:23:36] Eat. And what does he tell God?
[00:23:40] What are you talking about? Surely not, Lord. No. I mean, shoot.
[00:23:45] This can't be a God vision here. And then Peter replied, I have what? I have what? Never eaten anything impure and clean. I have not. I mean, I've held the line here. And the voice told him a second time, do not call anything impure that what God has made clean. And then this happened. How many times?
[00:24:10] Because it's Peter.
[00:24:12] It's Peter. He needs to be reminded. What? How many times?
[00:24:16] Not once.
[00:24:17] Not twice, people. How many times? Three times. Cock a doodle doo. Yes. Three times. I denied him three times.
[00:24:24] So he's like, okay, okay, okay, do this. All right, all right. Why was this? Why was. Why did he have an issue with that? He had an issue with that because if you read the story, Peter is now doing stuff that Jesus did. In fact, he just raised someone from the dead.
[00:24:42] Peter is keeping it on straight and narrow because he's doing some miracles in the house. He's also looked at as the guy who's gonna, you know, delete this thing. So he does not wanna mess up a good thing. He's like, I don't. I mean, I don't wanna mess up something because I had one vision of something, something, something. No, no, no, no. He doesn't wanna mess up anything. See, here's the problem. The problem is that when we get power, when we build something so big, what we want to do is we want to put barriers around it to make sure that we protect it.
[00:25:15] Like, even religion, even Christianity, I mean, because it gets bigger and bigger and bigger. Guess what you need to do? You got to put some barriers, you got to put some laws here. This is what we do. This is who we are. And we don't want to cross over because religion wants to do that. Why? Because it starts off thinking we want to conserve stuff, right? That's what conservatives are. They what? They want to conserve stuff, which is not a bad thing. They're trying to keep it. Because Jesus, you know, he was like, hey, I'm gonna go and reach gentiles. Peter does not do that initially. He's just all about the Jewish people. And here in this vision, it's like, what? Now what? We're gonna break barriers here? Why are we gonna do that? Why would I want to do that? Here's the problem. The problem is, is that when it comes to religion, when you allow other people in, when you break barriers and reach people groups that you Think that shouldn't be allowed in when it's exclusive. When you do that, you think you are watering down the message of Jesus.
[00:26:20] And here God's saying, you're not. You're just excluding.
[00:26:25] You're calling people and things impure that I have called what pure and clean.
[00:26:35] You're calling people untouchables, and I'm not calling them that. You've built up barriers and walls around stuff because you want to keep this together. And I get that. But that's not the movement of Jesus. See, religion always wants to gatekeep people.
[00:26:54] Did you know that? It always gatekeep people. Here's why Jesus in the New Testament says, what?
[00:27:01] I am the gate?
[00:27:03] Because religion will always gatekeep people.
[00:27:06] I am the gate. Guess what? They're gonna all come through me.
[00:27:10] So that's like, change. So right here, it's all coming to head, and Peter is losing his mind. He's like, I don't know what to do here. I don't know what to do here.
[00:27:22] He doesn't. Why? Because right where he's being talked to, there's a guy named Cornelius, a Greek person, not a Jewish guy, who has. Who God speaks to him and tells him to go call for Peter.
[00:27:36] And Peter gets invited to his house. And Peter's like, freaking out because he has not done anything unpure and clean. He has not walked into a unclean house. He's not done. He's like, no, no, no, I'm not touching it. And God's like, go into the house. Go into the house, do the things.
[00:27:53] And so ends up. Ends up Peter goes in and eats with him. And if you read the story, people find out, and they're like, you ate with the guy?
[00:28:03] And he's like, yeah, it was pretty good food. I'm just not gonna lie. Have you tried bacon? Hello.
[00:28:11] Hello.
[00:28:12] So he's like, oh, this is amazing, right?
[00:28:16] And then now he's got all kinds of situations because the Jewish movement is no longer Jewish.
[00:28:22] It's a big deal. It's a big deal because God's breaking barriers here.
[00:28:27] And so he says to them, let me read this. He says, you are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with or visit a gentile. But God has shown me that I should not, what, call anyone impure or unclean.
[00:28:49] See, God is always going to cross lines that we are afraid to step over. I mean, I know in my life, I'm just like. I just. I just don't know. Could God be saying Hey, I know this barrier that you've protected, that you've built around, and I know. Could this, could this be like a bubble that you live in?
[00:29:10] Because.
[00:29:12] Because I really want to burst your bubble.
[00:29:15] Because then to bless you.
[00:29:18] Because if I can burst this bubble of yours, you're going to see people that you've never seen before.
[00:29:24] You're going to see the kingdom move in such a way you never moved before. And friends, this is, this is so important right there. Verse chapter 10. Because that changed the game.
[00:29:36] It was like, oh, God wants hope for all people.
[00:29:43] Yeah, yeah. It's not Jesus for the Jews. No, it's Jesus for the, the world.
[00:29:51] It's everyone.
[00:29:52] It's everyone. So could, could, could you have put something, a barrier around our lives because God wants to step over it? Okay, last one, last one. Chapter 11. We got there, friends, we got there.
[00:30:08] Okay, chapter 11. What happens here?
[00:30:11] Well then, now obviously the movement is gone.
[00:30:15] I mean, people have been raised from the dead. Now it's not even just a Jesus thing. Other people are doing it. What's happening now? You got Jewish people eating with Gentiles, what the world's coming to? Come on, come on. You know, all kinds of restaurants opening up. You know, I'm saying fusion stuff is happening. They're like, what's going on now? It's not even like a trickle down effect in terms of like the movement of Jesus. It's not like, you know, you've got the apostles and you got these people and the special people and they get certain gifts and all that. Now what's all of a sudden happening is that God is using what ordinary people, ordinary people are being, stepping into miracles. Ordinary things are happening. Now the spirit of God is not like for the elite, it's for everyone.
[00:31:09] By chapter 11, it's all over the place. We read this, it says here, says those who had been scattered by persecution that broke out when Stephen was killed traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch, spreading the word only to the Jews. But some of them, though, however, men from Cyprus and Cyrene went to Antioch and began to speak to who?
[00:31:38] Greeks. Also telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus. And the Lord's hand was with them. And a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord.
[00:31:53] See, all of a sudden, ordinary people were starting to do things that only the disciples used to do.
[00:32:01] See, I wonder what would it look like for church to people?
[00:32:05] Church to believe that ordinary people can do extraordinary things when they trust and believe God.
[00:32:13] When you just Obey God. When you just do.
[00:32:17] You just do the ordinary, boring things, okay? You do the. I'll obey him. I'll do the things. You do the most courageous things. But God will put the little extra on thee. There he'll put the extra. And that started changing their world. It changes ours as well. When we just start doing things that are, honestly, countercultural, maybe a little bit. We just do things. We just live a little differently. It's like, ah, but why are you doing this? Because in Antioch, when normal people, ordinary people start doing this, things start to change. In fact, it changed so much. Let me read this to you. It changed so much that it says here, the last passage says here. Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Paul, for Saul. And when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year, Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught a great number of people. This is where Saul becomes Paul, like he learned from Barnabas. And we'll see that.
[00:33:14] And then it says here, and the disciples were called, what Christians first at what Antioch. Ordinary people started doing extraordinary things. Here's how they did it. They did stuff counter to the culture.
[00:33:33] So when the culture says it's natural to cancel someone or to hold a grudge, what's counter to that is that we forgive and we give grace when no one else wants to. Everybody wants to cancel, so and so we don't.
[00:33:52] It's different when the world says, maybe the culture says, hey, I want you. Take, take, take. We. We don't do that. We do the opposite. We give.
[00:34:01] We give.
[00:34:06] When.
[00:34:07] I don't know, when life, when the world, it just seems easy to be all about ourselves and our comfort and about me. When it's about our own stuff and our brand and our influence and whatever, whatever is ours.
[00:34:23] We don't choose comfort. We don't choose self focus.
[00:34:28] We choose sacrifice. We make it about, not us, something bigger than us that is extraordinary. That's just a normal person doing an extraordinary thing.
[00:34:42] When fear tells us, hey, just retreat. Don't do this, don't do that, we just step forward in faith. We just step into it. We don't know we're so scared to death, but we just do it. Why? Because it's counter to the culture.
[00:34:55] And when it's counter to the culture, it's counter to the norm. It's. It's more in line with Jesus.
[00:35:00] And these people started doing this. When the world around us tells us, hey, build walls, we start building bridges.
[00:35:10] See, these people started doing this.
[00:35:12] They Weren't not impressive people.
[00:35:15] They were not impressive people. They were just available.
[00:35:19] They were just open.
[00:35:21] They're just like God, we'll just do it. We'll do the opposite of what the world tells us to behave. We'll do it the way of Jesus. See, when the.
[00:35:29] Here's why they were first called Christians. Christians was not enduring term. They're being sarcastic at first. They're like, oh, you're acting like a little Christian. Or like a little Christ.
[00:35:45] That's the word, Christian. To act like him. See what they were doing, those people who were, like, coming out of Judaism, they basically did this. They're like, okay, we came from that history. Got it. We were born into a religion. Got it. Got it. But then they started doing basically this. They started living out the words of Jesus, the ways of Jesus, and the values of Jesus. And when we started doing that, they were called, what?
[00:36:13] Christians.
[00:36:14] Christians. You're acting like him.
[00:36:17] I wonder.
[00:36:20] I wonder if we shouldn't call ourselves Christians. I wonder if people should call us.
[00:36:27] Because when people call us Christians, we're living a different way when we just say, oh, I'm so and so, and I'm a Christian. Oh, where are you, though?
[00:36:38] I'm a little Jesus.
[00:36:40] Really? You're a little Jesus?
[00:36:43] Shouldn't someone else tell you that?
[00:36:46] But we have labels that we. I'm a Christian. Okay, you can clap. Yeah, yeah.
[00:36:52] So the movement is now going all over. So I wonder what chapter 12 will do. And that's for next week. All right, so let me pray for us. Can I do that and see how God could speak to us? God, I just pray.
[00:37:06] I pray, God, that as we've talked to and covered all these chapters, I wonder, God, what is something that I need to hear?
[00:37:13] What is something we need to hear?
[00:37:16] Do we need to hear that even though life is chaotic, you're in it.
[00:37:25] You're in the chaos.
[00:37:27] You're in the chaos.
[00:37:29] You're in the storm with us. You're not. You haven't gone anywhere.
[00:37:34] Things just moving around so much.
[00:37:37] We have no idea to recognize you.
[00:37:43] Is our life chaotic right now?
[00:37:48] God, Are you.
[00:37:50] Are you wanting to speak to me through people I don't want to hear from?
[00:37:57] Is that what today is about?
[00:38:01] You really want me to lean in and just listen regardless who's talking?
[00:38:07] Are you speaking through them?
[00:38:10] Could you be reaching them?
[00:38:12] Do you want me to do something? God? God, what are you doing? And how can I join you?
[00:38:17] Because I know you're pursuing those people.
[00:38:19] How can I pray for them?
[00:38:23] Because I know you're pursuing them.
[00:38:27] God, maybe today I've just put a fence around you about a fence, certain situation. I just. I just. I just. I just want to not let anyone in.
[00:38:42] And yet, God, you want to break through.
[00:38:45] You want to break through.
[00:38:48] You want to do something that just seems so strange and out of ordinary.
[00:38:54] In fact, it just seems even unholy.
[00:38:58] But yet, God, you want to break through.
[00:39:04] And God, for some of us, we just feel like we're just too ordinary to make any difference.
[00:39:11] And yet, God, this whole movement of yours is built by ordinary people trusting God to do the extraordinary.
[00:39:26] So, God, would you lead us? Would you guide us this week?
[00:39:30] Would you speak to us even now?
[00:39:32] Maybe we need to go light a candle and pray for someone. Maybe we need to go to the cross. Maybe we need to receive communion, reminding ourselves of who we are and how. You, you are the gate.
[00:39:50] You're the gate.
[00:39:52] No one else.
[00:39:55] God, speak to us.
[00:39:56] Thanks for listening to this message from Mosaic Church in Charlotte, North Carolina.
[00:40:02] For more audio and video content, Visit us at MosaicChurch TV.
