Good morning, happy Saturday and happy September! I love September, lots of good things in September. Our anniversary is in September, the State Fair of Texas is in September and thank goodness, it finally starts to cool down in September! We also find ourselves entering into Labor Day weekend in September, I hope you all have a nice, long, relaxing 3 day weekend.
Margie & I have a big day before us with not just one party but TWO parties today! Some great friends we know from years ago in the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace program at church invited us over for some fun around the pool with them and their awesome kids. Then we’re on to the next party tonight. On our trip to Hong Kong back in July there were a lot of volunteers from Texas so we’re all getting together to share the great memories and plan some new ones! What a joy to be around great friends!
I’d like to take some time this morning to address the importance for the loving care for our Pastors. There was a heart breaking, soul wrenching story out of California this week about a young 30 year old Pastor that took his life after dealing with depression and the relentless struggles of Pastoring a large church. Our Pastors deal with so much that we are unaware of. A constant barrage from Satan, difficult people within the congregation, strong often unrealistic business and growth goals from church boards, personal attacks on their family, open criticism of how they live; I could go on and on. Read this quote from Pastor Paul Valo from Christ Church in Orlando, Florida:
"Depression is real and pastors are not exempt or defective who experience it. In this generation, pastors are expected to be business savvy, Instagram quotable preaching celebrities, fully accessible, deeply spiritual, not too young, not too old, and if a pastor doesn't quite measure up to someone's expectation at any given moment, they are given a two out of five star rating on Google. Wow! We have reduced the ministry to star ratings on Google! Let me recommend that you pray for your pastor and support your church faithfully! You'll probably never realize what they walk through privately. "
Openly giving out God’s Word is one of the most difficult jobs on the planet. Being in business most of my life I can personally testify to this. Most of my business ventures have been relatively simple, and for good reason, they are of no threat to the devil. The evil one is real, he was real to Jesus and he is real today. His job is to steal, kill and destroy (John 10:10) and his goal is to either delay or completely halt the work of God. My heart breaks for this young mother and her three boys left without a husband and dad. My heart breaks for this Pastor that must have felt so alone as he was literally surrounded by so many within the church. Please, never take for granted that your Pastor is surrounded with tons of love and support. It might just be the case that everyone thinks somebody else is doing it, when no one is doing it. Reach out to your Pastor this week and encourage him. Pray for him. Pray for his family. Pray for his protection from the evil one. Pray that God continues to provide him the strength to give out His Word boldly. Our Pastors need our love, support and prayers. Don’t wait another day, start today.
The 5 minute challenge continues on in Acts as we move directly through the book the way God laid it out. Today is Acts chapter 13. It chronicles the first missionary journey of the church. Recall back in Acts 1:8, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the Earth.” The book of Acts has three major divisions based on this verse; the gospel going into those three regions, Jerusalem, Judea & Samaria and lastly the ends of the Earth. We’ve seen the gospel go out in Jerusalem and the church started there. We’ve seen the gospel go out into Samaria and Judea and it was here that it was first presented to the Gentiles. Now here in chapter 13 it starts to go out into ‘the ends of the Earth.
The scene starts at the church in Antioch. This church was started as a mission and they continue on with a mind for missions. The church leaders receive a message from the Holy Spirit while they were worshipping and fasting (Acts 13:2) to send out Barnabas and Saul to share the Gospel. Now this was a huge step of faith as Barnabas and Saul were basically what we would describe today as the Senior Pastor and Associate Pastor of a very large church. Can you imagine a church today sending out their 2 senior pastors on a long mission trip? Most today would say this would ‘kill their church.’ But not here. I love the level of obedience in the early church, if the Spirit spoke they did it.
So Barnabas and Saul, “being sent by the Holy Spirit” (Acts 13:4) debark on a mission for God. We also find out here in Acts 13:5 that they had John Mark with them to help. Now this is the same Mark that will later write the gospel of Mark. He’ll also play a big role in this trip later in the chapter and then between Saul and Barnabas later on in the book.
The pattern of their mission trip is to hit the towns and speak in the synagogues first. It was customary in the day that to gain information from Jerusalem, the religious center of the world, that visitors from there would be asked to share at worship times. Of course you know that Saul would always take advantage of this open floor!
Very early in the trip we find Saul encountering a false prophet, a sorcerer that had latched onto a Roman Deputy, seeking to usurp his power. The sorcerer seeing the power of Saul and Barnabas fiercely opposed them and was persuading the deputy to dismiss their message. Saul calls upon the Spirit and blinds the man, indicative of him being alerady spiritually blind and now he is physically blind. Now this is very important to note that Saul here has the power of performing ‘sign gifts’ that only the apostles have used up to know. It seems here God has ordained His 12th apostle instead of Matthias that was elected by the apostles casting lots back in Acts 1:26.
As a result of Saul’s sign of blinding the sorcerer, the Roman Deputy believes. Now I think its super important to note that here is officially where Saul’s name changes to Paul in the scripture. Acts 13:9, “But Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at Him.” On his first missionary journey, right after performing a sign through the power of God to save the soul of Roman Gentile official, we hear the name Paul. So why Paul? Paul means “small or little” and many believe that he took the name as an act of humility before God. What a great place to be before God. Humble. On your knees, His servant, doing the will of your Lord and master. What a world it would be if we were all humble servants of God and others.
Now not long after this we see the departure of John Mark. We don’t get much elaboration here, but we do later in Acts 15. Basically, the going got tough and John Mark split, he went back home and left Paul and Barnabas. It must have really caused some hard feelings in the moment. In fact, it causes Paul and Barnabas to have such a disagreement over John Marks leaving that they split up for good. The disagreement in Acts 15 has Paul not wanting to take John Mark on another mission trip because of him deserting him before. Barnabas does and takes him. Thank goodness God gives us second chances. John Mark goes on to man up and grow up with God, he writes the Gospel of Mark and later in 2 Timothy 4:11 Paul writes, “Luke is alone with me, Get Mark and bring him with you for he is very useful to me for my ministry.” Don’t give up on people, God’s not done with any of us.
Paul and Barnabas continue through their trip proclaiming the Gospel and God is being glorified. But guess what? (are you guys getting as tired of hearing this as I am of saying it?) Yep, the ol’ Jewish religious leaders see this thing getting a little too big and successful for their like and they “stir up the leading men and devout women” (Acts 13:50) and drive them out of the city. Same story second verse. A hard heart is such a terrible thing to see. The Word of God is all around them, salvation is at their doorstep, yet the lost resist God and drive Him out of their sight. That could be a definition of our world today.
For the second day in a row one of the last verses sets the tone for the entire chapter. Acts 13:52, “And the disciples were filled with Joy and the Holy Spirit.” Friends, that’s the whole point. That’s simply what God wants for us. It’s the reason we exist, it’s the reason we share the gospel with others. “But I came to give life—life that is full and good. (John 10:10 ERV)
There is an entire world of people out there today that do not have life. They do not have it to the full. They do not have it to the good. There is only one way to this life, through the blood of Jesus Christ. My friends take this message to the world and give them life.
Tell the world of the treasure you’ve found. Tell them today.
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