What Makes a Great Church?

A great church isn't defined by the size of its platform, it's measured by its capacity to produce spiritually consequential people.

In this sermon on Acts 13:1–12, Lead Pastor Neil McClendon unpacks the foundational marks of the church at Antioch. Moving beyond superficial metrics, Pastor Neil outlines how a healthy local body relies on a variety of foundational spiritual gifts, practices corporate spiritual disciplines like fasting and watchfulness, and sends out bold believers into the world. Discover what it looks like to be fluent in the gospel, aware of human need, and full of the Holy Spirit in your everyday life.

In this episode, we cover:

• What Makes a Great Church: Looking at Antioch's model of developing a sustainable culture over relying on single personalities.
• Platform Gifts vs. Foundational Gifts: Why every believer's unique spiritual gift is essential for the health of the church.
• The Discipline of Watchfulness: Cultivating self-awareness to guard against subtle sin patterns and align with God's Spirit.
• Characteristics of Consequential People: How to grow in gospel fluency, spiritual boldness, and an awareness of deep human needs.
• Traffic in the Words and Works of Jesus: Demonstrating the living power of God while remaining anchored in biblical truth.

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Transcript

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SPEAKER_01 0:04

This podcast is brought to you by Grand Parkway Baptist Church, helping people to know, enjoy, and glorify God. For more information about Grand Parkway, visit Grandparkway.org.

SPEAKER_02 0:19

Amen. Let's pray together, Church. Lord, thank you. We understand that that we were like the prodigal son. We once were lost, but we've been found and we were dead and we've been brought back to life. And so we never want to get over that, Lord. I want to preach today from a freed heart, like a man that's not looking for approval, but like one who has it. And Lord, we understand that not only are we in Christ, but Christ is in us. And this is our only hope of glory. So we don't apologize for that. We don't try to tamp that down where everybody around us feels comfortable. No, we want everyone around us to taste and see that the Lord is good. So we want to walk in everything that is ours. We want to experience everything you have for us. And this morning, Lord, we need you by your spirit to illuminate to illuminate the word so we can see what kind of a church that you've called us to be. Lord, this is our prayer. Make it our experience, we ask in Christ's name. And everyone said, Amen, amen. You could have a seat. If you've got a Bible, I invite you to take it and open up to Acts chapter 13. Acts chapter 13. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Acts of the Apostles. This is the book in the Bible that kind of records how the church kind of was birthed in chapter 2. We've been, if you're visiting today or you're new, just very a couple Sundays, we started in the book of Acts. We're typically preaching through a book of the Bible. It's called expository preaching because this is how you nourish the faith of a congregation over the long haul. We don't want our Sunday morning service to be the experience for you. We want you to be so equipped, so understand God and His Word and His ways that you are the experience that people have out in the culture. If that makes sense, say amen. Acts chapter 13. Now let me tell you something random, okay? In 2008, the Clemson Tigers college football team, they went seven and six. They lost to Nebraska in the Gator Bowl that year by a score of 24 to 21. Six games into the season, after the sixth game, their coach was the son of a famous coach, Bobby Bowden. His name was Tommy Bowden. He quit or he was invited to quit. Amen? And they had a losing record, and they had an offensive coordinator, a little shrimpy guy named Dabbo Sweeney. Dabbo Sweeney, they said at the end of the season, they gave him an interview for the head coaching position almost as a courtesy because they needed the big name coach that was going to be a draw. Well, after all the people interviewed, Dabo Sweeney got the job. Here's why Dabo Sweeney got the job. The athletic director who was over the hiring process said, Dabbo, everybody talked about the team who we got coming back, who we recruited. We got this five-star, we got a couple three-star guys, we got about four four-star athletes. We're going to be great, and we're recruiting out of the junior class. They all talked about the team. Dabbo Sweeney was the only person they interviewed that talked about building a program that produces great teams for years to come. Now, you may be thinking, what's this got to do with the Bible in Acts chapter 13? Because we're going to read about a church that's located in a city called Antioch. It's modern-day Syria. Now, the church at Antioch was a church that developed a great program that consistently cranked out great teams, that consistently produced people that changed the world. The church at Antioch, let's read about it in Acts chapter 13, starting to verse 1. It says, now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon, who is called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Menea, and a lifelong friend of Herod the Tetrarch. By the way, Herod the Tetrarch was the guy that beheaded John the Baptist. So this cat grew up with him. So see, your your kids can have some crazy dysfunctional friends and still turn out okay. I'm just trying to help you out, students. Anyway, he says he grew up with Herod the Tetrarch and Saul. While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, Set apart for me, Barnabas and Saul, for the work to which I have called them. And then after fasting and praying, they laid their hands on them and they sent them off. So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down from Seleucia and from there they sailed to Cyprus. When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews, and they had John to assist them. And when they had gone through the whole island, as far as Pathos, they came on a certain magician, a Jewish false prophet named Bargesus. He was with the proconsul Sergius Paulus, a man of intelligence, who summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God. But Elabus, the magician, for that's what he's that's the meaning of his name, he opposed them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith. But Saul, who is also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him and said, You son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy, will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord? And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and unable to see the sun for a time. And immediately mist and darkness fell upon him, and he went about seeking people to lead him by the hand. Then the proconsul believed when he saw what had occurred, for he was astonished at the teaching of the Lord. Let me begin by asking you a real practical question. Could you be trusted with that kind of power? To where somebody opposed you and you just said, Listen, I'm gonna I'm you're gonna be stricken blind right now. Bam. I took a little random survey of our staff this week, and every one of them laughed and said, No, I don't think I can be trusted with that. Uh absolutely, but see, here's the thing, we'll get to that in in the end. I want to talk to you today about what makes a great church. What makes a great church? Let me be clear and lay back cards on the table. I don't, I'm not trying to, I don't have a formula, and this is what we're gonna do, and this, this, this, this. I want us to look in the Bible and see this is a great church that they had a established program, and it wasn't what what what you would think of, how churches in America especially try to become great. What makes a great church? What makes a church great? First of all, a variety of giftedness. Verse one says this. They were in the church at Antioch, prophets and teachers, and then it began to list them all out, and they're diverse, they're from all different neat uh parts of the country. Okay, some white, some black, some Jew, uh, some they got all kinds of people in this thing. And so a variety of giftedness, what you see mentioned here when he talks about prophets and teachers, this is what I mean by variety. Prophets and teachers, prophets, inspiration, teachers, information. You need both. Uh, but those are what I call prophets and teachers of what I call platform gifts. Um, but the church is nourished by what I call foundational gifts. Foundational gifts. What do you mean? Uh the church in Antioch never was dependent upon the platform gifts, the people that stood up and taught. I mean, think about it. They sent out Barnabas and Saul, whose name was changed, and he later becomes the Apostle Paul. Talking about, do you think they ever regretted letting that guy go? See, here's the thing. Like many of us, Paul or Saul, as he's still called right here, his name doesn't change until verse nine. Uh, he wasn't who he was going to one day become. It's kind of like back in last year's NFL draft, uh, the Carolina Panthers had the number one pick, and they picked their quarterback out of Alabama, and they passed on a guy named CJ Stroud. Yes. And yes, they lost yesterday, but I promise you what they're all saying, and the commentators are saying, hey, this is this guy's rookie year. They're gonna be back. They're building a great, they've got a great program mentality, and they're gonna produce great teams for years to come. So get your season tickets now before they go up more, even more in price. There's my little plug for the Houston Texans. Now, they say they sent out Barnabas and Saul to the work that God had called them to do because they had a variety of gifts in it. They had platform gifts. A church never should become dependent upon platform gifts. You should enjoy them, you should say, yes, they play a role, but the church is nourished and fueled by by what I call foundational gifts. You say, What do you mean? I I don't know what you mean by foundational gifts. Let me show you in the Bible. This is in Romans chapter 12. There's a couple places in the Bible where the Bible kind of lists off what I call spiritual gifts, which means if you're a Christian, you have a spiritual gift, you have this unique capacity to do things, that to do this, this, this thing that's kind of like, hey, this is this comes naturally for me, even though it's a supernatural gift, it comes naturally to me. The Bible lists them off in Romans chapter 12, verse 4. It says, For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function. So we, though many are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another, having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them. Having gifts, we have different gifts according to the grace that's been given to us, but let us use the gift. Don't look at somebody else and go, I wish I had that gift. I wish I was like, I wish I could sing like that, I wish I could lead like that. No, use your gift if prophecy in proportion to our faith, if service in our serving, the one who teaches in his teaching, the one who exhorts in his exhortation, the one who contributes, that means gives in generosity, the one who leads with zeal, and the one who does acts of mercy with cheerfulness. And so he lists off. This is not an exhaustive list. There's other places like in 1 Corinthians 12, I believe, where it lists some other gifts. But right here, you see the gift of prophecy, you see the gift of service. Every time I read about the gift of service, I think about my experience. Every Monday I pull into the parking lot. And here towards the end of the parking lot down here is parked the Honda that belongs to Ed Sinders, there's a man in our church. Ed Sinders comes every Monday morning and he cleans all the toys and organizes all the rooms in the children's building. Ed Sinders has the gift of service. There's no fanfare, there's nobody clapping, the staff doesn't line up both sides of the hallway and holds our Bible up and he walks under it. No one's here when he gets here. I think he has the key to the building because he gets in before we even get here. Here's the kicker. Ed Sinders is 87 years old. See, when you have the gift of service, you never outlive your gifts. You never go, you know what, it's time for this younger generation to take over. I've done enough. No, no. If service in our servant, the one who teaches and is teaching right now over in the adult building, Tommy Hammer is teaching a Bible study. Tommy Hammer, I think, is in just in this church alone, but I think he's done it for more years than this so long. He has taught a Sunday school class, a Bible study, whatever you want to call it, Bible communities. I've heard everything for 28 years. Why? That's his gift. It's what he does. He understands that. The one exhorts and exhortation, the one who contributes or gives in generosity. I have a friend that will tell you his spiritual gift is giving. We were having lunch one day, and I said, Man, what is that like? And he said, Well, I want to become a reverse tither. And I was like, What? And he said, Yeah, I want to get to the point where I live off 10% and I give away 90%. And in that moment, I just thought, you know what, that's not my spiritual gift. I bless that. Peace out. That's good. And I looked up, he had tears in his eyes. And I was like, wow, you are excited about that. Yes. Well, see, you you you get an inkin, an inkling, and an inclination about what your gift is because when you get to exercise it, it excites you. The one who leads with zeal, the one who does acts of mercy with cheerfulness. And see, this is what I mean by foundational gifts. The church should never, and my concern is that the church in America has come to depend upon platform gifts instead of understanding foundational gifts. Here's what I'm saying: we need every one of you to understand your spiritual gift and to be operating for the good of our church out of that gift. Does that make sense? Say amen. Because it's not just about who's talking and who's preaching. Like someone said to me the other day, oh man, I tell you what, I just love our church. I said, Why do you love our church? Well, I just love the preaching and the teaching. And I said, Do you think that's all there is to our church? And they looked at me like, oh, this got awkward. Yes, and we don't, I want you to enjoy the preaching and teaching. When Leo stands up here, I stand up here, Wade stands up here. Whoever stands up here, I want you to enjoy Clyde and Lindsay, whoever's leading, all of that. But understand that we never get to our full potential if you're not exercising your gift to the glory of God and the betterment of your church. Now you say, I don't understand what my spiritual gift is. Uh let me give you a simple way to clue into your spiritual gift. Three questions to ask yourself. Number one, what comes naturally to you? What comes naturally to you? Secondly, what does the church, Capital C, affirm about you? What does the Christian community around you affirm about you? I remember I'd been a Christian maybe a month and a guy named Brian Price. He was an older guy, he was a music minister. Remember when they were called music ministers? And he stood up there and he did this with his hands. He asked me to lead a Bible study on Wednesday night, and I said, What is a Bible study? And he said, Well, it's just a part of the Bible that really has kind of set your heart on fire. And I was like, Cool, that happens almost every night in my bedroom. Are you kidding me? Absolutely. And so the next Wednesday night, I shared a Bible study. Afterwards, it came over to me and he put his hand on my shoulder and he said, Son, that was impactful. Students are still talking about that. Neil, if God's called you into ministry, don't run from it. Submit. I went home, I put my Bible on the dresser, didn't touch it for two weeks. Scared me to death. I was like, You have lost your ever-loving mind. I do not like to dress up and I don't talk like these people talk. And about two weeks into that, I was laying in bed and I just started crying. And I was like, What is going on? And I just missed it. It was, I looked up at the clock, it was 2 11 in the morning. I got up, turned on my bedroom light, and got my Bible and got on my knees and said, God, I'm so sorry. I don't know what I'm afraid of. And he said, It's okay, that's okay. And I just cracked it open and started reading. That was the moment when Brian Price put his hand on my shoulder and said, If God is calling you, I'd never thought about this before, but after that I couldn't stop thinking about it. Why? Because I understood that the church that I was a little part of, the little first Baptist church in a small town, was affirming something about me that I didn't see in myself. Here's the last practical question to help you clue into your spiritual gift. Is there anything you do that is draining and yet you are filled? Is there anything you do that is draining and yet you are filled? That's that's an indication. Like if you up, if you ask Tommy Hammer, hey, don't you get tired of preparing to teach and blah, blah, blah, he will tell you, oh, it just fills me up. And you'll be like, that's your gift. Absolutely. See, the first thing I want you to understand is that what makes the church at Antioch great, what makes a great church is a variety of giftedness. Secondly, is the practice of spiritual disciplines. It's verse two and three. Look, it says, verse two says, While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, Set apart for me, Barnabas and Saul, for the work to which I have called them. Then after fasting and praying, they laid their hands on them and sent them off. What do I mean by the practice of spiritual disciplines? It's in the text you see three spiritual disciplines. You see worship, prayer, and fasting. And by the way, it's always good to pair fasting with something else. Like if you're going to fast, which means abstain from food, then don't just abstain from food because you're just holding your breath till you can eat again. At mealtime, instead of eating, spend some time praying or spend some time reading scripture or make two phone calls and encourage somebody if your spiritual gift is exhortation, whatever. But but but but but pair it with something else because fasting is not punishment, it's preparation. Now, by the way, this is what's called a corporate fast. When they as a church we're fasting, we do that here at Grand Park Way. It's not mandatory. Matter of fact, our next fast day is Tuesday, two days from now. And now you don't have to send me emails and say, oh, Pastor, I can't fast with you on Tuesday. You don't have to send me emails and say, I can't fast all day, I can just fast some breakfast. You can fast from one meal, two meals, the whole day, whatever, okay? Because here's the thing: fasting increases our sensitivity to the Lord. It turns down the volume on everything else in our life. It turns up the volume on the Holy Spirit's voice in our life. Now, Jesus talked a lot about fasting, okay? Here's probably one of my favorite passages. This is from Matthew 6, verse 16. He says, And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. I remember when I was in college, our BSU, it was called the Baptist Student Union back then, for World Hunger Day, they would declare a fast, and all of us are supposed to fast. We were some of the most miserable, grumpy people we've ever been around. We were always just checking the clock, how long till we can eat? We didn't understand it. For us, it was just, hey, we're just gonna white knuckle this. Look what Jesus says. Contrast that. A bunch of grumpy college kids kind of keeping score. Hey man, have you eaten anything? Did you drink something? You drank some orange juice. That's regular fast. Bunch of legalists, Jesus says, hey, don't look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly I say to you, they have received their reward. Now hear this. But when you fast, anoint your head, wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others, but by your father who's in secret, and your father who sees in secret will reward you. See, the church at Antioch practice spiritual disciplines corporately. They worship, they fast, they pray. Now you may be sitting here thinking, I don't know what a spiritual discipline is. What do you mean by this? Probably the best definition I've ever heard about a spiritual discipline was given by a man named Dallas Willard. Uh Dallas Willard said this. He said, A discipline, a spiritual discipline is an activity within our power. We have the capacity to do this. Something we can do, which brings us to a point where we can do what we at present cannot do by direct effort. You may be thinking, man, there's no way I could do these things. Then you need to engage in a spiritual discipline that gives you the capacity to do what you cannot do right now just through direct effort, just through trying harder. Now, there's a couple of different categories. I want to show you these categories. I'm only going to talk about one of these things, but I want you to understand there's what's called disciplines, spiritual disciplines of abstinence, which means I abstain, I don't do things. They help me not to do things, and then disciplines of engagement. And I'll I'll just tick off the list. Disciplines of abstinence, solitude, silence, fasting, frugality. What is frugality? I have a friend that 10 days a month, he will not spend one penny. Yes, somebody over here got oh, he won't buy a coke, he won't pay a bill, nothing. And he's fabulously wealthy. And he has been since shortly after college. He said, I just understood the frugality, and I just said that for 10 days out of the month, I'm not gonna eat, out, I'm not gonna spend a penny. That's frugality, chastity, secrecy, sacrifice, watchfulness. Now, disciplines of engagement are study. These are things you do: worship, celebration, service, prayer, fellowship, communion, submission. Now, again, disciplines of abstinence and discipline of engagement. I just want to look at that list. Don't try to rattle those down. You can just take a picture. I want to draw your attention to the one that that's made the biggest difference in my life. Uh, and sometimes it's positive and sometimes it's negative because I see myself as I really am. Okay. Uh remember last week I talked about being in Walmart, and some of you texted me and emailed me. You're like, oh, I say I didn't. Uh here's the one that people consider the whetstone of all the spiritual disciplines because, hey, it this is the one practice that keeps the other spiritual discipline sharp. And it's in that disciplines of abstinence, at the very bottom, watchfulness. Watchfulness. Now, if this is the first time you've heard that word and you're like, I have no idea what that is, say amen. Yes, yes, it it's not something we talk about much in the church. Matter of fact, I think it's in Matthew 26, Jesus says, watch and pray lest you enter into temptation. This is kind of the foundation for the spiritual discipline of watchfulness, okay? Watchfulness is basically you don't watch other people. Like you ever go to a restaurant or to the mall, whoo, prime people watching right there. You ever get in public settings and you find yourself watching everybody else? Say amen. Yes, watchfulness means that you turn that gaze upon yourself and it increases your self-awareness, not for the sake of increasing your self-hatred, it increases your self-awareness for the sake of integration or you living out your faith. Do you ever you ever watch yourself and just kind of realize, oh my gosh, I do not like that about myself? Oh my gosh, why do I feel like every social setting I'm in, I've got to control everything. Why can nobody do this as good as I could do it if I was doing their job? That's watchfulness. And it's not for the sake of self-hatred, it's so you won't sin. Like, let me read you a long quote about watchfulness that this is like, oh, this is why every one of us in this room should walk out of here and go, you know what, I want to practice a discipline of watchfulness, just becoming aware. Your spouse should not have to point things out to you, men, all the time. You should, because of watchfulness, you should be saying to your wife, hey, can I can I share something I became aware of about myself this week? Because your wife will be like, Oh, yes, please do tell. I want to write this down. This is uh this for me kind of uh highlights the need for watchfulness. A man named Brian Hedges said this. He said, the discipline of watchfulness includes both negative and positive aspects. Negatively, we're to ruthlessly guard our hearts from sin and temptation, making no provision for the flesh. This requires a cultivation of self-examination, where we take regular inventory of our personal tendencies towards particular sins. What the Puritan Isaac Ambrose called Delilah sins. Listen carefully, beloved. Delilah sins. Delilah sins like Samson's Philistine mistress, like to sit on our laps and whisper sweet nothings in our ears, but they will betray us to our foes in a heartbeat and cut off our moral strength. These are the specific sin patterns we've cultivated through willful and habitual sin, like deep ruts that furrow a muddy road. These vices are etched into our lives through daily routines, self justifying rationalization, and continual repetition. See what I mean by watchfulness? Now, the Puritans, you say, Who are the Puritans? Puritans are people that a long time ago they took very, very seriously everything the Bible said. And they were very, they were known for the practice of spiritual disciplines. I just want to draw your attention to that little phrase, Delilah sins. The ones that like to sit on your lap and whisper sweet nothings in your ear, but they will betray you to your foes in a heartbeat and cut off your moral strength. These are the specific sin patterns you've cultivated through willful and habitual sin. Watchfulness. Watchfulness. If you look at, we put that list back up there. The church at Antioch, they practice spiritual disciplines. Just look at the disciplines of abstinence and the disciplines of engagement and just pick out one of those. And maybe just ask yourself, hey, which one of those do I want to experience this week? Which one of those do I just want to start practicing this week? It could be, it doesn't have to be watchful, it could be anything. It could be secrecy. Secrecy, what does that mean? They're under the disciplines of abstinence. That means that not everybody knows everything you do. Not everybody has to know when you do something good. Like I was walking down the hall the other day carrying something for somebody else, and I said, Hey, I'm serving. Come out and notice because otherwise it doesn't mean as much. Yes. Yes. Watchfulness makes me very aware of that. Now later on, one of the monks that works here says, Hey, were you being serious? Kinda. Now I don't want you to notice, but don't kid yourself. If you don't know that it means more when people notice, you just kind of preen like, thank you. You don't know, you've never took watch over yourself. They said, but you say that a lot. Yeah, because I need a lot of help remembering it. No, I don't want you to notice. But I want all of us as a team here on staff to just practice secrecy. No us know everything we do. So just pick out any one of those. Solitude. Solitude. We call this at my house fasting from people. Some of you women are like tomorrow. Yeah. Yeah, I just sometimes I just have to fast from people. I just it's just it's just solitude. Learning to be alone with yourself, which sounds great. But let me just warn you, when you get in real solitude, you see yourself more clearly than you ever had before. And you got to ask yourself, do I really want that? Do I really want that? Here's the third thing what makes a church great, and what makes a great church? It produces consequential people. It produces consequential people. Let me just read, starting verse four. So being sent out by the Holy Spirit, by the way, the church sent them out. And the church was so in tune with the Holy Spirit that it's just it's one and the same. Because verse three says, hey, after uh then after fasting and praying, they laid their hands on them and sent them off. Look at verse four. So being sent out by the Holy Spirit. The church exists to be in sync with the Holy Spirit. Being sent out by the Holy Spirit. They went down to Seleucia and from there they sailed to Cyprus. When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the synagogues and the Jews, and they had John to assist them. They'd gone through the whole island as far as Pathos. They came upon a certain magician, a Jewish false prophet named Bar Jesus. He was with the proconsul Sergius Paulus, Paulus, a man of intelligence who summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God. But Elamus, the magician, for this is the meaning of his name, opposed them, seeking to turn them, turn the proconsul away from the faith. But Saul, who is also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him and said, Now, by the way, sometimes you need to speak like this, but if you're not full of the Spirit, this just sounds like anger, not prophetic utterance. He looked intently at him and said, You son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, you're full of all deceit and villainy. Will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord? This is the way you talk to a car dealer. Amen. No, no? Oh, okay. Anyway, it's just a joke. If you're a car dealer, now you said, What do you mean it produces consequential people? One of the problems in the American church is that people become enamored with their church and talk more about their church or what their church is doing, how their church is awesome, how their church is better than any church in the city, and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And it's as if being a fan of their church is the expression of their faith. And what ends up happening is you have a bunch of little Christians who go to a big church and you have the perpetuation of the model in America. We have these big churches that produce little Christians. Now, let me be careful. Let me be clear. I want you to love our church. I want you to love this church, okay? If this is your church home, I want you to love it. But look here, hear my heart. I don't want you to talk more about this church than you talk about God and what God is doing. I I it's not enough for you to think, oh man, this church is great. I want you to change. I want you to become. I want you to grow and develop into who the Bible says you are. So let me just tick off as I close this morning some characteristics of spiritually consequential people from these from verses four to twelve. The first one is simply there that they are gospel fluent. Look at verse five. Verse five says, and when they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews. Have you had it? Have you tried to have a religious conversation with a Jewish person lately? Now, the the Jewish population was so vast there was multiple synagogues. It wasn't just one. And so Paul goes right into the den of lions and he proclaims the gospel in the synagogues of the Jews. Now, they proclaim the word of God. Gospel fluent means that you understand the whole counsel of God's word. Not you know the whole Bible, but you understand what the gospel is, what the gospel isn't, and you're not going to be deterred. That's one thing. The first place that Paul went, this was his pattern. It's Romans 1.16, it says, I'm not ashamed of the gospel. It's the power of God and the salvation. To the Jew first and then to the Gentile. He always went to the Jew first. He always went to the synagogue. Not because he was trying to pick a fight, but because religious people have historically gotten it wrong about God. Let me say that again. Not because he was trying to pick a fight or be, hey, look how daring I am. I'm going to film the street evangelism and put it on YouTube. No, religious people have always gotten it wrong about God. And so he starts with the most religious people on the island: a synagogue, a church full of people who are experts on the truth and dropouts on the way. So to be a consequential person, you got to be gospel, you got to be fluent in the gospel. Secondly, you got to be aware of man's need. Look at verse 7. Verse 7 says this. It says, verse 6 says, and when they'd gone through the whole island as far as Pathos, they came upon a certain magician, a Jewish false prophet named Bar Jesus. He was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus. Now, the proconsul, he's like a political ruler over this island. Look how the Bible describes him: a man of intelligence who summoned Barnabas and Saul. Why? The Bible says he sought to hear the word of God. That word sought means to crave, demand, or search intelligently for. Why would someone that was so politically connected, so uh a man of authority, who has groupies around him, he's got a little magician on staff. This false prophet who's kind of doing magic tricks for him because he's bored. Why does he seek out? Why does he send for Barnabas and Saul? Here's why. Because deep at his core, he's seeking to hear the word of God. When I say you're aware of man's need, you got to understand that everybody you run into needs to understand what God's word says. Not just about salvation, but about everything. Like I'm having a conversation recently in my office with someone, and the guy kept saying, Well, you you you probably disagree with me. You probably disagree with me. And I said, You're you're trying to make this personal. In reality, it's spiritual. He said, What do you mean? I said, This is not a horizontal discussion or dilemma. This is vertical between you and God. When you reject what the Bible is saying, you're not rejecting me as a pastor or as a counselor, you're rejecting God's word. Because what he was saying to me was, you know, hey, me and my girlfriend, you know, we, you know, we, you know, and and and you know, you probably disagree. And I'm just kind of sitting there. And I said, Yeah, yeah, I disagree. Not because I'm mad at you or anything. And he's like, well, I mean, it's just a I mean, this is, you know, it's almost 2024. Now, really, I didn't have a calendar. Uh but see, it's almost like there's a timestamp on the truth in our culture today, especially when it comes to our morality. Let me just say this: you believe the gospel. You ever want to be gospel fluent until it comes to our morality or our money? But let me just say this: you and I believe the gospel inasmuch as we apply it to our biggest appetite. And if you're not willing to take the gospel and lay it down, because I just said to the guy, hey, listen, by the way, God's not against two people having sex. God invented this thing called marriage. And in Song of Solomon, God looks down after they consummate their relationship and says, Eat and drink deeply, O lovers, imbibe, get drunk on each other's body. Have you ever gotten drunk on your girlfriend's body? I don't think I got that yet. Yeah, yeah. Well, you're not doing it right. And he just turned blood red. And I said, Yeah, so you hooking up and hanging out and moving in with your girlfriend and coming out here and trying to justify and righteousness, I'm not mad at you. I'm not preaching again. I'm just saying you're not doing it the way God created you to do it. You're not experiencing it the way God created it, because it should not come with a sign of shame. And he's like, I didn't see this going here. I said, Yeah, you want me to get mad and I'm not going to. He said, Yeah, I mean, she cries a lot. I'm not gonna ask you when. And he said, Yeah, I mean, yeah, after the fact. Yeah, you know what she's saying? I I don't think this is the way we were created to experience this. Well, no, I ask her, she says, I don't know why I'm crying, I'm just sad. I'm telling you, you're welcome. You see, when I say be aware of man's need, I'm not saying he doesn't need to, you know, oh, hear what the Bible says about, you know, fornication, sex outside of marriage. No, you're not experiencing it the way God intended, God spoke down blessing on people and said, hey, get drunk on each other. And he's like, Well, I appreciate your time. Does this mean we're done? Yeah, you've given me a lot to think about. Then my work here is done. You see, don't just think here's it's not man's need to agree with you, it's man's deep down core soul need to understand what the Bible says. And my concern is that when it comes to morals and money, they already know what you're gonna say. It's gonna be some self-righteous instead of I don't think you're doing it right. If you're not getting drunk on each other, something's missing. You shouldn't be crying afterwards. You should be like, whoa, what a friend we have in Jesus! I wish I could see your faces. You're like stop talking. We're talking about a great church. Yes, you know what makes a great church? Great marriage is to have great sex. That's all the men. Amen. Write that down, honey. The pastor said it. Here's the third thing. We're moving on now. Some of y'all go quietly, putting your hands over your kids' ears. Don't listen to this. Here's a third characteristic of spiritually consequential people. They live full of the spirit. After verse 7, you get to down to verse 9. Look at what it says. He says, but but uh but Elamus, the magician, that's his name, he opposed him, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith. And always, hey, don't believe those guys, because then you're gonna have to disbelieve me in verse 9. But Paul, full of the Holy Spirit. But Saul, who who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him and said, You son of the devil, you are the enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy. Will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord? And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and unable to see for the sun for a time. And immediately mist and darkness fell upon him, and he would he went about seeking people to lead him by the hand. Now, you may be thinking, I asked you, can you be trusted with this kind of power earlier? And you're like, Oh, that's kind of harsh. Look at me. It's not harsh for a man who's full of the spirit, who himself has experienced blindness. Back in chapter 9, Paul, who is Saul, who's persecuting Christians, God knocked him to the ground and made him blind. Somebody led him by the hand. So Paul knows firsthand that light can come out of darkness. And so he speaks darkness on this guy, and God strikes him blind. This is what it means to be full of the Spirit. When you're full of the Spirit, you to be full of the Spirit, you are at the mercy of what you're full of. And I just say this boldness comes from fullness. If there is no fullness, there can be no boldness. It's just personality on steroids. It's just you saying what you want to say, and oh well, I'm a prophet. No, that that's not the way it works, but thank you very much, Mark Driscoll. Here's the last thing, uh, the characteristic of a spirit's a consequential person. They traffic in the works of Jesus and the words of Jesus. Listen very carefully. Look at verse 12. He says, the very end, he says, in the proconsul, the important politician who is intelligent and yet had this soul hunger for the word of God. Can somebody, can can everybody not suck up to me and someone tell me the truth? Then the proconsul believed when he saw what had occurred. Hello. This is the works of Jesus. He believed when he saw what he had, could what he observed. Up to this time, he had this little magician doing little parter tricks, David Blaine on retainer. But he sees the power of God and he believes. And when he saw what had occurred, for he was astonished at the teaching of the Lord. Now, those are two separate things. Look at me, and we're done today. You're still with me saying amen. He said, Hey, he believed when he saw what had occurred. That's the works of Jesus. But what astonished him was the words of Jesus. He was astonished. He was starstruck. He was God-smacked, as they say in England, at the teaching of the Lord. Consequential people trafficking both. They're not afraid of the works of Jesus. As a matter of fact, when they're conversing with people, sometimes in your spirit you got to say, Lord, we need I need the works of Jesus to be manifested right here. Can you do what only you can do? Because I can't do it. And this important politician goes, Wow. Okay, I apparently there's a obviously there's a power greater than this, Yehu. But what astonishes him is the words of Jesus. And this is what makes the church great. And this is what makes a great church. It's that they have a variety of giftedness. They don't just rely on the prophets and the teachers. Everybody's doing their part. They they understand that, they get it. It's not news to them. They're not like, oh my gosh, so and so's not preaching. Ah, I wish I wouldn't have come. Can I get a gas voucher so I can go back home? No, it is like, oh my gosh, yeah, I'm here. I'm gonna exercise my gifts. They practice spiritual disciplines. They practice spiritual discipline. And that church produces consequential people. Again, we don't gather on Sundays for you to be impressed by what happens up here or out in the lobby. We gather on Sundays for you to be equipped to be consequential people. Let's pray together. If you're our guests, just relax. We like to teach the Bible and then give you some soul space to think about it. And so let me voice a prayer and then we'll just uh think just for a little bit. Some questions come up on the screen. That's for our consideration, and we'll we'll we'll process those in our community groups when they meet. Let's pray together. Lord Jesus, thank you for this time. Now just brood over us. It's easy for us to want to strip mind out of the text, the parts that kind of stimulate us. We want the power without the responsibility, and that just leads to spiritual abuse, manipulating people for the church's end. So, Holy Spirit, just brood over us and press in on us the practical and yet powerful nature of the gospel. Father, we want to be equipped people who don't back away from duty or danger. Not because we trust ourselves, but because Christ in us and we are in Christ. The consequence of that is authoritative, consequential people, not big personalities, but consistent men and women of faith who begin to invade the kingdom of darkness and take back what belongs to you and to us. And so, Holy Spirit, press in on us everything necessary today. Let the rest fall to the ground. This is our prayer. We pray in Christ's name. And everyone said, Amen, amen. If you're a guest, I want to say thanks for being here today. You're always welcome. If you have any questions about anything you saw or heard today, some of us will be available down front. We'd love to answer that. Or if you're like, hey, I'd like to have a conversation, just come up and just say, Hey, I'd like to get coffee or a meal or something. Well, I'd love to make that happen. I'll meet you anywhere. I'll come to your house. You can come to my office, whatever, okay? Uh but if you're a guest and this is your first or second time and you've never let us know you're here, if you would just text welcome to that number on the screen. Uh, we will not show up at your house. We'll just probably shoot you a text back and just say, hey, we want to help you take the next step in your spiritual journey. That's all we want to do. We have different things going on in the life of our church, uh, events and opportunities to help you become further equipped to take your next step. And so we make you aware of those every week by our video announcements. So give your attention to the screens and let's see what God's doing this week.

SPEAKER_00 40:03

Here's what's happening at Grand Parkway Baptist Church. Pine Co. is bringing all their fun and great staff back to Grway. Campers will experience Jesus through Bible study, worship, and time with their counselor, as well as participate in tons of great activities. This is for kids who have completed kinder through fifth grade. It'll be on June 17th through the 21st. Registration opens this Tuesday, January 23rd on Grandparkway.org. God has a grand adventure in store for each of us. We were lost and separated from God because of our sin. But through Jesus, God made it so that there will always be a way back to him. At Trinity Pines Camp, we will set sail to discover what it means to be lost and what it means to be found. Climb aboard and embark on a voyage to find who God has made you to be. So save the date for Bridge Camp that'll take place on the same week of Pine Cove on June 17th through the 20th for fourth through 6th graders. Be on the lookout for more information on Bridge Camp and registration. DNow is an in-town, overnight, weekend-long student experience. It has several key factors including worship, teaching, service projects, and relationship building that takes place at the church, work sites, and host homes. The theme this year is Bear Witness, looking at scripture throughout the Bible, focusing primarily on the fact that we are witnesses of God's kingdom here on earth. The cost is $100 per student. If you have more than one student attending, there is a discount available. Email Kendall at grandparkway.org for the promo code. This is a weekend you do not want to miss out on. We're expectant of what God will do. Finally, come and enjoy our two-day women's weekend where we will learn, connect, and sing songs that remind us of the sustaining reality of God and his word on February 23rd through the 24th. The deadline to register is February 18th. You can register on one of the computers in the lobby. For more information or to register for these events, please visit our website at grandparkway.org. If you have any questions or want someone to pray for you, find one of our pastors at the front of the stage at the conclusion of our service.

SPEAKER_02 42:30

We'd like to conclude our service with a spoken blessing. So if you would stand to your feet. And as you exit this morning, don't tell the people in the lobby what's coming. Just walk out and shake your head and go, Good luck. Go with God. Hold your hands out. You're the salt of the earth and the light of the world. And in these words, Jesus is communicating his expectation that you be consequential people. You may not be who you're going to become, but today's a part of that becoming process. Dig in, listen, take to heart everything you heard. And as you leave now, take it with you and live it out. In the name of the Father and the Son, the Holy Spirit. Amen. Bless you.