Neighborhoods to Nations: A Church that Changed the World

Good morning church family, it's great to see you and if you are a guest in the room or guest online, welcome to you awesome. For those in the room, we always say, "Stick six with us, stick six weeks to get to know us as a church and allow us to get to know you and see if this might be where God desires you to connect and plug in." And if you are new here, we've been going through the book of Acts, so you're going to need a copy of God's Word. If you don't have one, we would love to give you one as a gift today. We have some in both of our lobbies and the magazine racks you can grab on the way out as a free gift to you because we do believe that God speaks to us through his Word. And that's why we walk through it. We are in Acts chapter 11, so if you have your Bible, go ahead and make your way there. We finished up Acts 10 last week and we saw the love of God to pursue us, to seek us out and how a lot of times we think things are accidently in our lives and it's God's hand guiding us to exact place where we need to be. We also saw God saving work. Jesus's life and his death and his resurrection and his coming again and that gives us hope and meaning and purpose in this life. And we also saw the great gift of God as He gives us His spirit to dwell within us. And it all started this last week, chapter 10. It all started with the gospel going to the nations. It started with the man named Cornelius and then kind of fanned out from there into different regions. At the beginning of chapter 11, we're not going to cover it today, but the beginning of chapter 11, what Peter does is he comes back to the church in Jerusalem, the only church of that time and he tells them what's happened and he recaps the whole story that we covered in Acts chapter 10. So I thought about just reprieving the exact same message I preached last week, but figured we just go ahead and jump to the second part of Acts chapter 11. We're going to pick up in verse 19. This is an important passage, an extremely important passage because as more and more people started to believe in Jesus and to follow Jesus, they realized in Jerusalem that one church was not enough. That one church was not sufficient to shepherd and to love and to care for people. And so what we're going to find in Acts chapter 11 is that the church of Jerusalem helps to plant the very first church in the New Testament. And so this is the first church plant and this church plant guy is going to use to shape the world. So pick up in verse 19 and we'll go through the end of the chapter. Says now those who are scattered because of the persecution that arose over Stephen. Now remember a few weeks ago we talked about Stephen how he preached the gospel and he was stoned for it and then persecution broke out in Jerusalem and so the gospel spread as Christians went and traveled so far as to go to Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch speaking the word to no one except Jews. But there were some of them men of Cyprus and Sireen who on coming to Antioch spoke to the Hellenists preaching the Lord Jesus and the hand of the Lord was with them and a great number who believed turned to the Lord and the report of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem and they sent Barnabas to Antioch when he came he saw the grace of God and he was glad he exhorted them to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose for he was a good man full of the Holy Spirit and a faith and a great many people were added to the Lord. So Barnabas went to Tarsha's to look for Saul and when he had found him he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they met with the church and taught a great many people and in Antioch the disciples were first called Christians. Now in those days prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch and one of them named Abogus stood up and foretold by the Spirit that there would be a great famine over all the world and this took place in the days of Claudius. So disciples determined everyone according to his ability to send relief to the brothers living in Judea and they did so sending it to the elders by the hand of Barnabas and Saul. This is the word of the Lord. Let's go to him in prayer now. Father in heaven we thank you for the church. The world doesn't understand it the enemy would love to destroy it. Sadly humans sometimes abuse it or abandon it but Lord you sustain it. You even call the church your bride. You love the church far more than we ever could. So Lord as we walk through this passage today I ask and plead with you that you would give us a deeper love for your church. Well we as your church today desire to hear from you and to follow after you to be your disciples. So would you give us understanding to your truth? Would you bring comfort to the weary today and conviction to the comfortable? Would you correct us when we've strayed from you and ask the truth from this passage? Would remain in our lives and in this church long after our time this morning. For Lord in order for that to happen you need to speak clearly to our hearts and our minds that we would hear. We need you to clearly to to mold and to shape our hearts that we would respond well. So Lord speak and help us to respond we pray. It's in Christ's name we ask. Amen. When we think about the church we tend to downplay the importance of church in the history of the world. We do. In thinking through how God has shaped this world with these pillars of culture and community and countries around family and government and church we kind of put church at the bottom wrong if we even included in any of those things. But I believe that the church has the greatest impact than you could ever imagine. I think God desires for the church to do far more and if we could see the church from God's point of view I believe we would stand in awe and wonder. I think we tend to believe that the only hope for change in our culture or in our nation is the government. But I believe that our hope rests in Jesus Christ and his church is the one that actually changes hearts and changes the world. Now as I make this claim or this idea let me show you one example of this idea in this passage. We just read it but in verse 28 it mentions a man named Claudius. Does anybody even know who Claudius was? Imagine that some of you may know who this person was. Maybe some of you are like yeah I know Claudius. I know him he was the emperor of Rome at that time. And he was but it's fascinating how he became the emperor of Rome. It's intriguing the circumstances that worked it out. Let me tell you a little bit about Claudius. He was not to be next in line to be the emperor of Rome. They were being raided and soldiers were going around killing different people in the royal family and they come across a room where Claudius is in. This is true story. You can read it in history books. Claudius was hiding from these soldiers that were coming in behind a curtain. It's just like a Tom and Jerry cartoon. His toes were sticking out the bottom of the curtain and the soldiers look at this guy. They pull him out and they realize you know what? We can kind of mold and shape this guy. This guy would be a good emperor. We should keep him alive. And so they end up making him emperor. Now what's fascinating is his mom didn't believe in him. His mom didn't even believe that he could or should be the emperor. There was one statement his mom said and she said this about Claudius. Mother nature started to work on him and then abandon the work. She would even use her son as an illustration for stupidity. Whenever she thought somebody did something dumb she would say you're as dumb as my son Claudius which that's a tough go right? Like thanks mom. If your mom doesn't even believe in you. And yet as they put him into an emperor of position they found that he was a pretty capable person. He expanded the empire. He built public works. It's a fascinating guy. He also had a lot of sadness in his life. He was married four times. Divorce two killed one was probably killed by the last one. So it's a hard go on the love side as well. But here's the thing. Most of you didn't know that. Most of you have no idea who Claudius was. No idea. And he was the emperor of the most powerful empire of that time. And yet as we read through the list of this some of you you're very familiar with Saul who got saved and sent out as a missionary Paul. Some of you might even say I know this guy Barnivus. You would know these guys and not even know the one who was the emperor of Rome. Why? Because what happens in this church in Antioch God uses to shape the world. This church starts. They love and worship Jesus. And as they follow after Jesus they launch missionaries out after missionaries after missionaries to where the gospel gets to the ends of the earth because they're being faithful to worship and to follow after. after Jesus. So as we read this, this emperor is a footnote in this passage, a footnote. To give us a period of time in which this happened. Man, what I'm saying behind this is sometimes what happens in the halls of power is not ultimately what shapes history. Maybe the most powerful thing happening today is what we're doing right here right now as churches gather and worship Jesus. To talk about God and what he's up to, to watch him change lives and change the world. And what I want us to see is we look at what God does in this church of Antioch is not just to get a historical lesson and have historical information. My prayer and my desire is that we would be like them. That we would look at this church, that God used to shape and change the world. And that we would reflect a model in our lives and in our church. So there's five characteristics of this church that I want to highlight from this passage. Five, and these are foundational characteristics of any healthy church, but five that I want to highlight. The first we find in verses 19 and 20, and it's this, that a healthy church proclaims Jesus through the word. A healthy church proclaims Jesus through the word. Did you notice this when I read it? This truth is mentioned twice, twice in this passage, just in case we missed it. In verse 19 it says, "The people, the Christians come into the city, they walk around and they're speaking the word," verse 19 says. And this speaking the word, this is not preaching like what I'm doing now. This is not a proclamation where a sermon has been crafted. No, they are just talking about things that they've read in the Old Testament, things that they've heard about in the Messiah and they've seen fulfilled in Jesus. The hope they see in the God that they worship and they follow after. This is the things that they're talking about. They're just speaking the word as they walk along. This is not pastors. These are just average everyday people. How did this spiritual community start to change in ancient world? They did it by just talking about the word of God. This isn't a difficult thing to do, but it is an intentional thing that we must try and strive after. Now it says in verse 20 that they preach the Lord Jesus. So some people show up and they're just talking and they're speaking the word and they're probably going to the Jews first 'cause that's the lowest hanging fruit. Those are ones that knew the Old Testament and they should share the gospel with the Jews but it continues to branch out as other people come in and they preach and it says the Lord Jesus. This is a big deal because we saw last week in chapter 10 that Jesus is not just the Lord of a certain sect of people. He's the Lord of all and he desired for his good news to go to the ends of the earth to all nations. He's the Lord of all and notice what they're preaching. They're preaching the Lord, the Lord Jesus. And we've taught about this again and again, but I say 'cause it's important. The Lord is not a poor beggar pleading for you to believe in him. He is the Lord God Almighty. The one who created everything and spoke it into existence. Yes, he is Jesus, the one who saves, but he is the Lord in which we obey and we follow. Remember, remember how we saw Jesus as Lord as we went through the gospels. Jesus at one time spoke words from his mouth and it calmed creation, it calmed, a storm, a storm obeyed his words. Jesus would cast out demons. He would heal those who were sick. Sickness in the spiritual world obeyed the Lord Jesus. Even death itself obeyed the word of the Lord. Jesus raised several people from the dead and even himself was raised from the dead. Why? Because he is the Lord, the Lord over all. That's when we come to Jesus. It's not just forgiving of my sins, but God, what are you calling me to do? What are you asking me to do? How can I serve you? How do I follow and chase after you? That's what it means to be a disciple that you're following after him. We do this because he's Lord. What's so confusing, so confusing to my own heart as I rebel against Lord is thinking of these truths. It's so confusing that nature obeys him. Spiritual forces obey him. Sickness and death obey him. And yet we as humanity look at Jesus as saying, no, I don't think I'm gonna do that. I don't think I'm gonna obey. I kinda like the way that I'm doing things and my way is a good way, so I'm just kinda kind of stick to that. What these people do is they come on the scene, how they change a world of something. We gotta stop living for ourselves, to start living for him. He is the Lord, he'll save us, he'll remove shame and guilt and sin from our lives, and then he and his goodness will lead us and guide us for he is the Lord. This is the one. This is the one that they're preaching and proclaiming. Now the application for this point is simple. I mean a healthy church should be preaching the word of Jesus as Lord. Now for those of you that are in high school about to go off to college or even college students or even those who might be considering moving. Before you move or before you choose a college, look for a healthy church to be a part of. Oftentimes the question is that we think about when we move, center around our housing and our bank account, which are to be considered. They are. But we think is there a nice apartment for me to live in, is there a nice home that I could have? Are I'm not gonna get paid enough money? And yet we never stop to ask the question, what about my soul? My body's taken care of, yes, but it's my soul gonna be cared for. Is there a church there that's gonna open up the word and to preach it day in and day out? Is there a community that's gonna care for me and point me to Jesus and when I fall down, help me up and when I wander, spur me back. I mean are these even things that we're considering in our lives? 'Cause this is foundational. Let us ask the important questions before we make important moves in our lives. And if you ever attend a church where they don't preach the word and they don't point to Jesus as Lord, then don't go back there because it's not a church. At least not in the eyes of God, it's just not. So that's the first characteristic. Let us be a church that reflects this that preaches Jesus as Lord and preaches His word. The second characteristic of a healthy church we find in Antioch is that it believes and turns to the Lord. Healthy church believes and turns to the Lord. In verse 21, it says a great number of the people believed and turned, two things happen there. They believed in turn. This is life transformation. This is what God does, He changes us, He shapes us, He molds us for our good and for His glory. Believed in turn. This whole idea of turning, this is the word that we would say would be repentance. Repentance. And if you've heard that word in church or maybe you're new to church and you haven't heard that, what it means is that you literally change what you believe. You turn from something to something else. And these people are reshaping what they believe about this world and about how they've been designed and how God has saved them. They're changing what they believe and they're turning to the Lord. This idea of repentance or turning is found all throughout the scriptures. Even in the book of Acts, remember Peter preaches in Acts chapter three, warning people to repent and believe. Those Peter's first sermon after Pentecost. You rewind a little bit farther and you get to John the Baptist, the four runner of Jesus. As he begins his ministry, you see, he says, "Repent and believe for the kingdom of God is at hand." Peter's preaching it. John the Baptist is preaching it. Jesus preached it. In the Gospel of Mark, the very first words you see Jesus preaching in his public ministry is this, repent for the kingdom of God is at hand. Repentance is huge, believing and turning. So oftentimes when we hear repent or turn, we often have like a negative connotation in our mind over this, that if I confess and I repent, then it's gonna lead me to feeling guilty and shameful for things that I have done or left undone. And I gotta tell you, that's a lie from the enemy. The Bible is extremely clear that as we call it, we confess our sins before God. We find forgiveness, peace and the word it uses is refreshment, refreshment. This is what Peter talked about in Acts chapter three What he called people. to repent and believe. Acts 3 verse 19, this will be on the screen you'll see here. Says, "Repent therefore and turn back that your sins may be blotted out in times of what refreshing may come for the presence of the Lord." We repent, we find refreshment. If you're like, "Man, my soul is so weary." Maybe it's because it's sin that you're covering up or you're hiding from or you're ignoring. God is stirring your heart. You would repent and turn from those things and find refreshment as you draw near to the Lord and he draws near to you. See, some of us don't feel refreshment in our lives because we are running from God. We're trying to find refreshment in everything from entertainment to social media to friends to food, which all of these things aren't bad in and of themselves, but they are terrible gods. They may not satisfy your soul. They cannot refresh you. And when you come to Jesus, you find refreshment as you repent and believe. Refreshment for our lives does not come by sprinkling a little bit of Jesus in our lives. That's not where we find it. Refreshment does not happen in our lives by just adding Jesus to our lives, but instead by turning over our lives to Jesus. Your life is not an almost complete cake that just needs the icing of Jesus on top. It's not a house that just needs an accent wall and needs some decorative pillows. Jesus does not come into our lives to fit into the margins of our lives. He came to re-white our story. The only way for us to experience this refreshment and this life changes to repent. The great reformer Martin Luther said that when our Lord and Master Jesus Christ says repent, he intended it to be an entire life of believers to repent. All of Christian life is repentance. So some of you hear repentance and you're like, "Oh, that's what I did at one point in my life as I believed in Jesus." No, there are still battles in our hearts and our minds over sin. And every day we wake up and we're like, "God, we want to choose your way and not my way," because we are just like we say, we are so prone to wonder, so prone to leave the God that we love. We just are. So repentance is not just a one-time inaugural experience, but a daily trust in Jesus to forgive us. And the third characteristic we see in a healthy church that we find in Antioch is they rejoice at God's grace. They rejoice at God's grace. Now up until this point, the primary magic that's happened within the church is happened in Jerusalem. It's where the apostles were. This is where a lot of miracles were going on. This is where the church is growing and expanding. And yet all of a sudden, here they hear the gospel is doing something amazing here in another city. And so we're like, "We've got to figure out this is legit." And so they look at Barnabas and they're like, "Barnie, we want you to go and check this out." Okay? So they send Barnabas to go and to see what's happening in Antioch. And look at his response in verse 23 as he sees it. He says, "I saw the grace of God and was glad." He saw the grace of God and he was glad. He was at Envious. He didn't show up on the scene as see God's grace and say, "You know what? I really feel like Jerusalem's worship is better." You know what? Their worship is way better in Jerusalem than out here. And we have Peter that's preaching in Jerusalem. And whoever's preaching over here in Antioch, they don't hold a candle to what's going on in Jerusalem. So like, "Man, it's way better over there." That's not what we find. You don't see him folding his arms. The saying, "Nope, it's just not as good." He was glad when he saw the grace of God. He even encourages them to remain faithful to the Lord and steadfast in this purpose. This is a hallmark of a healthy church that we would celebrate the grace of God in the lives of others. We're going to celebrate the kindness of God even if it doesn't come through us. So when we see God doing great things in our city through different ministries and different churches, we want to celebrate those things. It's not about selfishness or ego or pettiness. No, this not it's about. It's about celebrating God moving in the lives of people. That's one of the reasons why when we do baptism here, we clap and we celebrate as they come out of the water. Why? Because we're saying we're celebrating with you and what God has done in your life. Genuinely, when it's the last time that you've celebrated and rejoiced in God's grace, not in your life, but in other people's lives and in other churches. Our God is not just the God of West Cabirra's Church and we talk about this. He's not just the God of West Cabirra's Church or the God of Charlotte or the God of North America. He's the God of the nations. So when we see God moving around the world in different missionaries that we partner with in support, we try to bring that to you church to celebrate at the grace of God that's happening, not just here, but around the world. Fourth characteristic of a healthy church that you find in this is that a healthy church is served by good men. A healthy church is served by good men. Not only unpack this because this is probably where we'll spend the majority of the time we have left. You see in verses 19 and 20 how the gospel makes it to Antioch. And don't miss it, it's important. The Church of Antioch was founded by unnamed men. Did you see that in verse 20? There were some of them, some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene. That's who started the church. Some guys. Not Peter, not James, not John. Paul isn't even on the scene yet though he will be their first pastor. No, it's founded by some guys. We don't know if they had any kind of training. They've got zero church planning experience. We know that because this is the first church ever planted. And yet when they heard the gospel leave, they shared that with others and they started this church in Antioch. And it says the hand of the Lord was with them. And pray that the hand of the Lord to be with us would be with you. So we think about this, the reality that we don't even have these people's names. Let us be okay with being in the shadows serving the Lord. Living in obscurity. And obscurity does not mean uselessness. It doesn't. Nicholas von Zinsendorf, great name. He was a reformer in Germany and he was a pioneer for the Protestant mission movement. He actually started a prayer movement that they prayed for 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and this prayer movement that Zinsendorf started lasted over a hundred years, over a hundred years where people were praying. And it was through this prayer movement that it influenced the gospel going to the ends of the earth. It did. And he once said this, and I love this. He said, this is kind of the goal for his life. He says, "Preach the gospel, die, and be forgotten." "Preach the gospel, die, and be forgotten." This is what he wanted to spend his whole life to it. Pointing to Jesus, his glory, his greatness, his goodness, and I don't even care if people will remember me. I want him to remember Jesus. I want him to know him. And the irony of it is he pointed people to Jesus. People do remember his name. And you see in this passage that there are other specific people named that helped this church in Antioch flourish. I mean, there are some people that are just some people that helped, but then there are other people that are named like Barnabas in this chapter. Did you know that Barnabas wasn't even his real name, his given name? His name was Joseph. Barnabas was his nickname. He got his nickname Barnabas because Barnabas means son of encouragement. And he was such an encourager in his life that people are like, "You know, we're changing your name. We know that your mom will give you the name Joseph. We're going to call you Barnabas because you encourage so many people." Which is, I'm reading this and thinking about that truth this week. The question I'm asking is, if you guys had to name me, what'd you name me? And if your friends and family or coworkers had to name you, based upon your life, what'd they name you? Barnabas is called the encourager. And we see throughout his life, he continually found ways to encourage people to love and to follow after Jesus. We don't have time to turn to this passage, but in Acts chapter 4, it tells us that his name was Joseph and they saw a knee within the church financial need. And so he met the financial knee by selling some property and giving them. He says, you need money, I've got it. I'll help you. Later on, everybody. Everybody's fearful of Saul because Saul was persecuting people and then Christ saves him and nobody wants to get around Saul because they're like, "This guy's murdering Christians. We don't want to be around them and I want to fall in that boat." And yet Barnabas, the encourages like, "I'll go meet with him." And he goes and he sits with Saul and he brings him into the church. You see here in Jerusalem, they're nervous about what's going on in Antioch. Is it real? Is this really God's grace? Is there something different? There's a fear and so what Barnabas does is he goes. He's like, "I'll go check it out." I'll go see what's going on in the church. He encourages them over and over again. Let us not underestimate the power of encouragement. Encouragement is like calcium to our courage, making it stronger, giving it support. Let us encourage one another. It also says that there's another name Saul. That's Paul that will show up on the scene and this church allows him to teach and gets launched out by this church as the first missionaries to go. Now as I speak of these men that serve the church, healthy churches are served when good men get involved. And I'm not saying there's not a place for women, okay? I'm not saying that. We've already seen the Luke tab those mentioned and how she did all these amazing works and the Bible highlights what she did in the early church. We'll get to this lady, Lydia, in a few more pages. God uses Lydia to impact the early church as well. Women are a big part of the story too. But what I am saying is that good churches thrive when men decide to serve. Men church is not just my wife's thing or a woman's thing. It's our thing. God raised you up to be a part of the church. And you've heard the old statement that all that's needed for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing. To do nothing. But the inverse of that is true. All that's needed for good to thrive is for good men to choose to serve. And we get to the end of verse 23 and you see it spilling into verse 24 of the description of what it looks like for a man to serve well. And this would apply to any Christian, but think about it, men. If you're looking for a purpose statement for your life, this should be it. This is mine. This is mine. I was walking with my son. We're walking the dog the other day. And my son's like, "Dad, I know you like different books to the Bible, but is there like one verse that you love more than others? If you can only pick one verse, like what is one of the most famous verses for your life?" And I said, "Son, it's this. It's Acts 1124. This is what I aspire to be. I said, "I want to be a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith to see a great many people come to know the Lord." This is what I'm chasing after. This is what I'm running after. I hope this is on my tombstone one day. I mean, some of you are trying to figure out what to live for and you're chasing after all these different things, the pleasures of the world or moving up the corporate ladder. Maybe we should reorient our lives to chase after these things. That would be a good man. And this isn't speaking of moral righteousness. Such a different word. Jesus said that nobody is good apart from him. This is speaking of a person of high moral character. Maybe we be good men, be a good husband to love our wives. Maybe we be good dads to love and to discipline our kids. Maybe we be good friends. Maybe we be filled with the Holy Spirit, the kind of person that loves being in the presence of God and puts ourself and our families in a place and in an environment where we can be close to God and to hear about God. Maybe we be people full of faith. When the opposite of faith is not doubt, it's fear. Some of us live in fear. If you read through the gospels, you'll see there's a lot of people that struggle with doubt. Even when it's disciples, it's called doubting Thomas. And I hate it for him. For all of eternity, people are going to say, "Oh, Thomas, you're the doubter." He's going to be in heaven and be like, "Well, yeah, but I was also like a disciple and I'm like, "I help serve people. I tell these other things." And we think about him as the doubter. There's multiple people in this. People came to Jesus with their doubts. Even one man came up and he's like, "Jesus, I believe, but help me with my unbelief." And Jesus didn't look at Thomas. He didn't look at this Roman man to say, "Get away from me. I don't have time for doubters." No. He was sensitive to them. You struggle and you doubt, pick up your doubts and follow after Jesus. Follow after Jesus. And as we do this, as we are good men, as we serve the church, as we do these things and live them out, we'll see the end of verse 24. We'll see a great many people who are added to the Lord. We will. Because God will move in and through us. And as I've read this passage this week and I've thought about this, it's the idea of a great many people who are being added to the Lord. It shaped my prayer life that I would pray more boldly that we would see people come to the Lord. If you are a bold prayer, if you really want to pray bold, it says that early church daily will see people come to believe in Jesus. So I challenge you to pray that God would save 365 people in our church this year. If you want to pray bold, that every day that we see somebody come to faith and if you're like, "That's too bold for me, Ryan. Let's take you down on a notch." Just say, "God, would you say 56 people this year? One a week. We see so many trust in Jesus and find this life both here and now and for all of eternity." And I said 56, there's 52 weeks. We'll go with 56, okay? One a week and then some for God's glory, all right? The last characteristic that I want to see is the healthy church is united in generosity. Unified in generosity. And you see this at the very end, a great famine spreads over the world. And again, you can look in the history books in the reign of Claudius. There's, I believe, four different famines that happen. There's four different years of his reign where there's a famine that hits and it's serious famine. And what's fascinating is where the famine is happening. It tells us, "Famil is over all the world, over all the world." Now what happens when we feel scarcity in our lives? We want to shrink back and hold on to everything we can. We go and grab all the bottled water and toilet paper we can get, right? And maybe some shock themselves so that neighbors don't come still, our water and toilet paper, right? But here we have the early church that when a famine hits the whole world, they don't turtle up, they don't shrink in. They say, "You know what? I wonder if the people over there in Antioch need help." So we should send some money from Jerusalem to go that would support them. That's what happens here. You know why? Because those who know grace show grace. See what you see in early Roman times is that literally when famine would hit, when plagues would hit city, Romans would abandon. They'd abandon their families. They would leave their wife and their kids coughing and sick and they would leave them behind. And Christians show up on the scene that have experienced the grace of God in light. We'll stay. We'll stay. And it shaped a world. This generosity to love and to care and provide for others, it shaped the world. Christianity grew because of their kindness and generosity. And later on when Rome fell and barbarians came in, you had the Germans and the gosses and the vizigosses. When they showed up on the scene, Christians said, "You know what? These people are wrecked of the empire, but I bet you they need Jesus." And so they stayed and Christianity was even able to thrive underneath these kingdoms. Because generosity like this changes communities. It does. And notice too in verse 29, it says that everyone, everyone sent relief. It's not just that they're like, "Well, we're really wealthy. Those really wealthy people, they support." And it's like, "No, everybody according to their ability, according to their ability, they served and provided relief." And church, I just want to say across the board, I am grateful for West Gabbars Church because you are a generous church. I'm not talking about generosity because we are hurting or in a bad place financially. We're in a great place and I'm thankful for that. We're talking about generosity because this passage talks about generosity. And I would just say how grateful I am to you for your generosity. And if you could talk to our missionaries around the world, I do and I would just express their gratitude towards you. They have told me time and time again, "Thank you because of your giving. It supported us. It's encouraged us. It's allowed us to do these things for Jesus." So thank you for your generosity. Thank you for your faithfulness to give so that the gospel can continue to go from neighborhoods to nations. Bye, your heads with me. Father in heaven, we bow before you now. We thank you again for your church and we pray. We pray, Father, we've heard these things that you would lead us to be obedient to them. Whether that is the need to be generous or maybe to be content and serving it in obscurity. Or maybe your call for us today for some of us is to be an encourager to people. Perhaps it's to teach somebody else the word. Share with them the very thing that we have been learning. Or whatever it is, or would you help us, would you help us as individual Christians to be a bright light and as a church, to be a healthy church, reflecting these truths? Or we desire to be a church that helps the world and not hurts it. So Lord, help us. Would you help us now? Would you help us even now to sing as people who believe what it is that we just heard and read? Lord, we pray all of this in Christ's glorious name. Amen. Church, let's stand now and let's sing to Jesus.