God's Curriculum for Building Courage

would you help me welcome all our campuses who are worshiping with us today? (audience applauding) It's so good to be with all of you. For those of you that are with us, for the last stand this week, and you know what an incredible time it was. That's here with his daughter today, it was great. (audience applauding) But a special thanks as well. If you give some appreciation to all of our staff and volunteers that helped serve all weekend to make it a great event, I'm so thankful for that. (audience applauding) A couple things to bring to your attention just before we get started, this morning, on the word. Have you seen our new website yet? (audience applauding) Yeah, you seen our new website? (audience applauding) Seven of you have. It's, I would say it's a lot better than our last one, but that's not a compliment. But you may want to check it out, there's a lot of good information there, easier to navigate and do different things. So, check that out. And then, prayer requests. Pray for us this week. We've been doing due diligence for several months

going into reconstruction here and renovation and what we're gonna do, not really reconstruction. Renovation is what we're doing. And as we do that, we're looking that June 21st would be our last Sunday here in Inglewood here. We would start meeting in Brave Academy, which was our first building for the period of weeks that we'll have for that. But be praying, we still have been talking with the fire department, Chair Hills Village, with a lot of fun conversations there, just making sure we've dotted our eyes, crossed our T's. And so, be praying for that. If things go well, we'll let you know. But Father's Day the 21st, we're hoping will be our last Sunday here before the renovations get started, okay? And with that, let's get ready to hear God's word this morning. Our Father in Heaven, we do give you glory, honor, and praise for who you are. What a privilege it is to gather with your saints in your house to worship your name. You are worthy of all of our praise. You're worthy of being sought. We seek you this morning in prayer. And Lord, we're certainly excited to hear your word. And the reason we're excited, Lord, is we believe that every time your word is faithfully and accurately proclaimed that it is you who are speaking, so our prayer this morning is speak, Lord,

for we are ready to hear. And so now for all those who have gathered, who desire to hear the Lord Jesus Christ, speak directly to you, who will believe what He tells you and who will by faith put into practice what He shows you, will you agree with me very loudly this morning by saying the word, amen, amen. Courage is contagious. Did she say amen? That's awesome. Can we say amen one more time? - Amen. - I like it. Courage is contagious. Courage begets courage. When you see someone that stands with a courageous heart and does what they're supposed to do, something inside of you says, I wish I could be more like that. Something to me wants to rise up and be that way. And oftentimes when we read God's word and we see stories of men and women that stood with courage, we say that's so great that they did that. I wanna be like that, but our experience is different. Our experience, because we have an enemy, the devil that lies to us all the time, tells us this, you can't do that. You're not like them. God doesn't work that way through someone like you. Now we talked last weekend that all of us

that are born again have a testimony. And while they come from different places and different strands, we all have the exact same story. I was, we all have that story. I was dead in my sins. I was under the wrath of God. I was in need of a savior, but God. But God sent his son Jesus, the second person of the Trinity who had always existed who fulfilled the law, who died on the cross in my place, who took the full measure of God's wrath, who was buried, who rose again. And through repentance and faith, I have a relationship with him. I was, but God. And now, now I'm walking in a different path. I'm on mission differently because of the Holy Spirit who empowers me. And then we said, then this. Because I was, but God, and now, then this. This is what happens and we can't pick that, then this. But what is important for us to know is that God has gifted each and every one of you to serve him faithfully. God has given you a deposit of his Holy Spirit in your life. God has given you different personality. He gave you different gifts. He gave you different passions. And they're all placed there by him so that you can use them for his glory.

But to use them for his glory is going to take courage. And here's the question. What's God's curriculum for building courage in you? How does he do that? Because I think some of us are always looking for the courage pill. Like if I could just take this pill or just read this one verse, or I could just pray this one prayer. I mean, what is it that you do when you see somebody that's courageous? Like what did you do to get there? God has a curriculum for how to get you there. Did you know them? God wants each and every one of his things to be courageous. And so if you've ever wondered, I know I have these gifts, but I don't feel like I can live out the courage So this morning, we're gonna take a look at God's curriculum to build courage in and through you. And to do that, we're gonna be in Acts chapter 23, Acts chapter 23, and as you're turning there today, we're gonna start in the beginning, work our way through the entire passage. I'll pick up where we left off. You remember that Paul was told not to go to Jerusalem. He was instructed not to go. He had prophetic words over him saying, "If you go, you will experience chains and imprisonment await you." And he was saying, "Why are you breaking my heart?

I'm hearing the same word." That's why I'm supposed to go. I'm ready to go and even die if I need to. I'm hearing the Holy Spirit say the same thing to me. But the answer is not back up, the answer is move forward. So he goes and gets exactly what he experienced. He's put in chains, he's being carried off to the barracks as we saw last week. And as he's being carried off to the barracks, the soldier realizes he's a Roman. He's like, "You're a Roman?" He's like, "Yeah, I'm a Roman." He goes, "Can I talk to this crowd?" And the same crowd that's trying to kill him, he sees an audience to preach the gospel too. So he puts up his hand and everybody silences. He speaks to them in a Hebrew dialect that they all understand. And so a hush comes over the crowd. He shares the gospel with him. He shares his ministry. And everything goes well until he says, "That's when God sent me to the Gentiles." And then there's an uproar. They wanted nothing to do with him. It got so bad they had to cart him off to the barracks to make sure that he was safe. And this is where our story picks up. It really picks up in Acts, chapter 22, verse 30. 'Cause after he'd been putting the barracks, this is where the story picks up, notice this.

But on the next day, wishing to know for certain why he had been accused by the Jews, he released him and ordered the chief priests and the council to assemble and brought Paul down and set him before them. So the Roman soldiers are like, "I wanna find out what's going on." So we're gonna bring the whole Jewish council together and figure this out. And this is where our story picks up. Paul looking intently at the council said, "Breathering, I have lived my life "with a perfectly good conscience before God up to this day." Then the high priest in an eye has commanded those standing beside him to strike him on the mouth. Now check this out. So Paul's looking intently at him. And here's what he says. "Breathering, he's using relational language. "He's not trying to overstep. "He's not putting anybody down." And all he says is, "I have lived my life "with a perfectly good conscience before God up to this day." Here's what he's saying. "Since my conversion, I have tried to live my life "in such a way that God would be honored with me." That's what I'm trying to do. Have I done it? I don't know.

I'll find out when I get to heaven. But to the best in my ability, I have a clean conscience before God. The Holy Spirit is not convicting me of sin that I haven't repented of. There's no unforgiveness in my heart. I have tried to live with a clean conscience before God. When Ananias the High Priest hears this, who steeped in religiosity, who steeped in Judaism, but doesn't have a relationship with Christ, what he hears is Paul being blasphemous and saying, "I'm perfect, I don't do any wrong." That's what he's hearing. So he has the guard next to him, strike him on the mouth. Now, this is against the law. You couldn't strike someone until they had been accused. Now, Paul, he's gonna know the law. Paul's very familiar with Jewish law. So, what's Paul gonna do? All Paul does is look intently at him and says, "Hey, my whole life, I have lived my life "with a perfectly good conscience before God "up into this day." And he gets smacked across his mouth. So, what would you do as a Christian? I'm sorry, shouldn't have done that. Maybe I'm gonna spoke. That's not what he says. Then Paul said to him, "God is gonna strike you, you whitewashed wall."

(congregation laughs) Don't you love that? He's not gonna back down at all. Do you sit to try me according to the law and in violation of the law, order me to be struck? Are you gonna try me according to the law that you say you have and yet you're gonna strike me which goes against the law? Like, who do you think you are? He's calling him a whitewashed wall 'cause he looks good on the outside, but on the inside, he's dead. Jesus called the Pharisees whitewashed tombs on the outside, they looked all good. They're all cleaned up and inside, they were full of wickedness and greed, right? What's Paul saying? "I know who I am. "I've lived a good conscience before the Lord, "my entire life up into this point. "You're gonna strike me and not keep the law "and yet you're putting me on trial here "about the law. "Who do you think you are?" But notice what happens next. But the bystander said, "Do you revile God's high priest?" And Paul said, "I was not aware, brethren, "that he was the high priest."

He goes, "I didn't know. "I didn't know, brothers. "I didn't know he was the high priest." And then he quotes Exodus 22, 28, "For it is written, you shall not speak evil "of a ruler of your people, okay? "Here's what I want you to see about Paul. "Paul has bravado, Paul has confidence in the Lord, "but where is Paul's authority coming from? "His authority is the word of God." So Paul stands firm until he realizes, I didn't know he was the high priest. Now that I know he's the high priest, I'm not gonna say that 'cause this is my authority. If you're gonna be courageous in the Lord, this must be your authority. Not your bravado, we're gonna do this for the Lord. This, what Jesus said, 'cause what you see in Paul is, he's willing to humble himself on a dime and be obedient to the word of God, amen? And here's what I want you to see is this story starts off 'cause all that's happened here is Paul stood before him, said he's had a perfectly clean conscience, gotten struck in the mouth, he's called him out on that, and then he finds out he's the high priest, and so he submits. Here's what I want you to see. If you're gonna build courage, this is one of the ways that God's builds courage in your life 'cause it's not automatic.

But when your faithfulness is questioned, which it will be if you walk with the Lord, stand firm in your calling. When your faithfulness is questioned, stand firm in your calling. It's not a matter of if. No matter what you're called to do, and in this section, Paul's calling is to take the gospel to the nation, specifically to the Gentiles, whatever you're called to do, and whatever you're faithful in doing, there will be people that question what you're doing and why you're doing it. Every single time. And it's not just those outside the church, it'll be those inside the church. They will question your faith, why are you doing it this way? Have you not read? Have you not seen? What's Paul gonna do? He's not gonna back down from his calling. He's gonna stand firm in his calling. He's not gonna back down and say, "Well, I know these guys aren't interested in Jesus. "I'll just tuck my tail and run." He's gonna stand firm. And that's what we're called to do too, 'cause notice what he does next. He's, Paul not only is very intelligent,

but he has high emotional IQ. But perceiving that one group were Sadducees and the other Pharisees. Now, when you hear this, that probably doesn't mean a lot to you, but these were two different Jewish groups. Both were conservative groups. The Pharisees were politically conservative. They were religiously conservative. They believed in the law. They believed in the word of God. They also believed in angels and demons. They also believed in the resurrection from the dead. That's what they believed in. The Sadducees were a conservative group as well, but they did not believe in angels. They did not believe in demons. They did not believe in the resurrection of the dead. That's why when Jesus gets questioned by Sadducee about marriage in heaven and what it was going to be like, it was coming from a group of people that didn't even believe in the resurrection. That's why they were Sadducee. I mean, that's, right? I mean, remember that song? So at the end of the day, I mean, this is a miserable group. So Paul, being a Pharisee, he recognizes how they differ from each other. And he's gonna make a statement to get them

to be concerned with one another. Notice this, Paul began crying out in the council, brethren, I am a Pharisee, a son of a, of son of Pharisees, and I am on trial for the hope and resurrection of the dead. So who's gonna agree with that? Pharisees believe in the hope and resurrection of the dead. Sadducees don't believe in the resurrection of the dead. I mean, they don't believe in it at all. He knows exactly what he's doing. As he said this, there occurred such a dissension between the Pharisees and Sadducees and the assembly was divided. For the Sadducees say there is no resurrection nor an angel nor a spirit, but the Pharisees acknowledged them all. And there occurred a great uproar and some of the scribes of the Phariseic party stood up and began to argue heededly, saying, we find nothing wrong with this man. Suppose a spirit or an angel has spoken to him. So there's this big argument. The Pharisees are like, hey, hey, hey. Maybe a spirit spoken to him. Maybe an angel did talk to him. We have no problem with that. What's he doing wrong? We see nothing wrong with this. So now they're not against Paul. They're debating one another, but notice what the Sadducees say.

It says this. And as great discussion was developing, the commander was afraid Paul would be torn to pieces by them and ordered the troops to go down and take him away from them by force and bring him back into the barracks. So Paul's gonna go back into the jail cell. He got protected to get into jail cell the first time when they were gonna kill him. Now he got the Jewish counsel and all of them are upset. They're ready to tear him to pieces because they're mad at Paul because he's dividing all of the Jewish leadership. So as they're debating with each other and they're so mad at each other, now they're mad at Paul 'cause he's the greatest common enemy. And he's the greatest common enemy because he's doing exactly what Jesus called him to do, which was to go there and do what? Preach the gospel to who? The people that wanna kill you. Like that's his calling. So he doesn't back down. He's not backing down at all. When God calls you forward, he doesn't want you to turn back, amen? So stand firm in your calling. And we see all throughout Paul's letters how he was always allowing Jesus

to be the center of his life. to please men? If I were trying to please men, I would not be doing what I'm doing." Or how about in 1 Corinthians 1558, "Be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord." Or 2 Timothy 1, 8, when he's writing to young Timothy, "Do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord." I mean, when people came at Paul and he said different things about Paul, he wasn't very concerned. He was one of my favorite scriptures in the New Testament, often overlooked in 1 Corinthians chapter 4 verse 3. He says, "But to me, it is a very small thing that I may be examined by you." I love that. I mean, as Paul's doing his ministry, here's my translation, "I really don't care what you think about me. I really care a lot about what he thinks about me." And here Paul's on trial and everybody's coming at him, "What authority, what authority do you have?" Paul's not backing down because he's not concerned with their authority because he's watching the authority and he cares more about what the authority thinks about him. And in your calling, as you continue to walk with the Lord, it goes from a shotgun to more of a rifle approach where you, as you walk more and get seasoned more in the Lord, this is more what I must do. These are my passions. These are the area. I mean, they're fired up. For some of you, it's evangelism, right? For some of you, it's the unborn. For some of you, it's encouraging one another. For some of you, it's making sure community happens in the local church.

For some of you, making sure the word gets preached, right? I mean, everybody's got a different passion edge. I do. I know. I mean, for me, it's men, it's the message of the word and it's missions. I mean, that's me. I'll die on a hill for those things. And when you're doing those things and you're all in with those things, there will be people that say, "What do you think you're doing?" And when you're being faithful to Jesus and that happens, here's what he's calling you to do. Just stand firm and don't back down. You stand firm in your calling. You just keep taking baby step after baby step after baby step. You don't let someone else dictate to you what the Lord has already shown you that you need to do. Amen? I mean, we see this. We heard a bunch of stories this weekend about this. I mean, the William Wilbur Forest story for a couple of decades, he had a passion. He had a burden to end slavery. It was overwhelming to him, incrementally, little step by little step by little step by little step losing friends, losing influence, losing everything until he got to the end of his life when he knew that England was going to sign it so that slavery would be done away with. And he never really got to see or experience what that was going to be like, but he gave his life to it. Some of the things that you're going to give your life to, you're not going to see the fruit of in your life. Amen?

But when your faithfulness is questioned, stand firm in your calling. I wasn't taught that when I became a Christian. I thought, "Well, if I go into ministry, everybody's going to like me because I'm doing what God wants me to do." Now, it's never been like that. There's not a week that goes by where somebody questions what I'm doing or why I'm doing it. I mean, it just happens all the time and it's okay, but it's what God uses to build courage and build more resolve in you when you do it. And it's God's way of preparing you for what he has coming next. The second thing I want to tell you is this, when your witness seems ineffective, when your witness seems ineffective, when the ministry God called you to seems ineffective, refresh yourself in the Lord, refresh yourself in the Lord. Now, let's think about this mission trip Paul's just taking. Everybody's told him, "Don't go to Jerusalem. If you go to Jerusalem, you're just going to be chained and put in prison." Paul's like, "I'm ready to go and even die. I've got to go to Jerusalem." So he goes to Jerusalem. What happens? He gets chained and put in prison. He preaches the gospel to the people that want to kill him, nobody comes to Christ, goes back into prison, comes out and talks to the Jewish leaders, tells them all about who he is. They even get it out and they're wanting to kill him so he goes back in prison. I mean, nobody's coming to Christ. We sang Lord send revival this morning. There's no revival happening. I mean, this is from a human standpoint, Paul's doing exactly what God's called him to do and he's not seen any results.

Have you ever done exactly what God's called you to do and not seen any results? Then you're not doing what God's called you to do. Because if you do what God calls you to do, there's going to be seasons you don't see any results. Some of you, some of you, listen to me, some of you would say this. You've bought a lie of the enemy. If you're born again, if you're born again today, just raise your hand real quick so I can see him. Okay. If you're born again, you're God's witness. But several of you that raise your hands will say this, I'm not really good at it. I'm not really an evangelist. I just never know what to say. I get tongue-tied. I mean, I've been a Christian for like 30 years and I've told people about I've never seen anybody come to Christ and the enemy lies and says that's because you're not an evangelist and you're not good, so stop sharing the gospel. It's a lie. Some of you seed the gospel. Some of you are people that seed the gospel where people say there's something different. there yet but they're doing this and they're doing this. Even Billy Graham would say if he were still alive, he used to say it all the time. When he would do crusades, he would, God used him as a harvester to preach the gospel in a clear, effective way where people would stream forward and receive Christ. But most of the people they counsel that receive Christ would say on average they'd heard the gospel 25 times before they responded that night. Well, how did they hear that? Because of all of you that said you're not good at evangelism. See, the Bible says once those, one sows, one waters, one harvests, but who cares? God gets all the credit because he's the one that does all the work. But here's the thing, the enemy will always show you. I mean, if you're going to plan a church, he'll show you how you're terrible at it. If you start a ministry, he'll show you how you're terrible at it. If you decide to help tutor kids after school, he'll show you that you're

terrible at it. The enemy is a liar of anything God calls you to. And when you feel that and experience that, you need to be refreshed in the Lord. I mean, the Bible doesn't tell us how Paul felt, but we can ascertain from what's going on. He's doing what he's doing, but he's seen zero results, nothing effective, and yet check out what happens in verse 11. But on the night immediately following, the Lord stood at his side. Now that's kind of cool. If the Lord's ever stood by my side, I've never seen him. The Lord stood by his side and said, "Take courage, for as you have solemnly witnessed to my cause at Jerusalem, so you must witness at Rome also." What's he saying? Paul, take courage. Paul, be happy. You've done a really good job. You did exactly what I sent you to do. I wanted my testimony to get out. I wanted my message to be heard by these people, and you were faithful. You did exactly what I wanted you to do. With no results, yet Romans 1, 20 says that all men one day will be without excuse. There will be those in that crowd that heard the apostle Paul proclaim the good news of Jesus to them that will be without excuse. Friends, your witness is important to the glory of God so that the world can hear the gospel. Whether they respond or not, that's up to the Lord. All you must do is testify to him. Amen? And isn't it neat, isn't it neat that Jesus appears by his side in a season where he probably feels like, "It's not going so well. I don't know that I'm doing so good." And he's like, "You've done exactly what I wanted you to do here. You've been faithful." I mean, imagine, I mean, if there's a preaching hall of fame in heaven, Noah's got to be first place. The brother preached for 120 years, and he was called by God a preacher of righteousness. And you know what his harvest was? His wife, three boys, and their wives. That's it. Everybody else died. I mean, for 120 years you preach, and you get, you know, seven converts. We would think by our standard, that's not very good. By God's standards, what a faithful preacher. Stop looking at the results because you don't see them and start looking at the faithfulness that God's called you to. And be refreshed in the Lord. It's the, it's the Lord who refreshes you. It's the Lord who says, "Good job." When you're discouraged, when you're frustrated, just refresh yourself in the Lord and say, "How do I do that?" Get in the Word. Spend time in His presence and prayer. I mean, David did this. You remember when he was giving the camp at Ziklag, and it was kind of their home-based, and they went back only to find that it was totally destroyed, burned up. They'd taken all their wives and kids. And when they got back there, it says in 1 Samuel 30 verse 4, "Then David and the people who were with him lifted their

voices and wept there until there was no strength in them to weep." I mean, they wept until they couldn't weep anymore. They went home. Their whole villages burned down. All their wives are gone. All their children are gone. And they weep until they can't weep anymore. And then it got worse because now they're going to turn on David, and in verse 6 it says this, "Moreover David was greatly distressed because the people spoke of stoning him, for all the people were embittered, each one because of his sons and daughters." Like David, "My kids are gone because of you." But notice this verse, "But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God." Where do you go when you need to get strength? You go to the Lord. Isaiah 40, "They that weighed upon the Lord will renew their strength. They will mount on wings of his eagles. They will walk and not grow weary. They will run and not faint." That's why God tells Joshua three different times, "Be strong and courageous." I can testify to this in my own ministry. It's still the place I go. I go to Jesus. He's the only place that can give me the courage that I need, the strength I need, the hope I need, the refreshment that I need. It's in his word. I remember when we did our very first fundraiser to buy the building that we have here next door or this now Brave Academy. We're about 400 people-ish at the time. And this building became available. But the way that all of it worked out is we had six days to raise $1.73 million to get that building. But we just prayed about it as elders. I was burdened, I'm like, this is our chance, we got to do this. There's no other option if we stay in the school, it's not going to work. If we buy a building and redo it, we're going to outgrow it by the time we get there, this is our chance. And the elders agreed, we agreed, we're like, let's go, we can do this. So I remember that Sunday I preached a message on the vision as to why we needed to go. It was probably one of the best messages I've ever preached in my life, just so you know. I mean, I was fired up, everybody was fired up, it was awesome. And it was until I left the church that day and I was driving home about 12.30. And here's what I begin to think, that was the stupidest message you've ever preached in your entire life. Not only are you not going to raise $1.73 million, you're going to not even raise half of that. And the people are going to wish they had their money back and they're going to leave your church.

And you can't afford to lose people because you don't have a lot of people. And you might be out of a job in like three weeks from now, you're going to be looking for work. And I was having all those conversations in my head driving home. And I kept having them all week. And I was doing devotions and I was just like frustrated, I'm like, oh Lord, why do we do this? Maybe we don't need to do this. And we were scheduled to have a meeting over there on Saturday night at six o'clock where everybody's going to bring their money forward and kids brought piggy banks and all this stuff. And it was Thursday, I remember I was in my office, I was reading through Psalm 27 and I got to verse 13. And I had just been telling the Lord, like, Lord, I'm so sorry I did this. Lord, I know we're not going to get it. Have mercy on me. I'm so sorry. Don't ruin your church. Don't hurt these people. It's my fault, all that stuff. And I read this verse. I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. And as I read that verse, I heard the Lord say, you've forgotten. I'm coming to the meeting Saturday night and it's done. And I sat at my desk and I wept and I knew we had the money. And even that night, you know, we were talking to our elders, I'm like, I don't need to talk to you. I already know we're going to get the money. And by God's grace on Sunday, they unveiled what we had and we didn't raise $1.73 million. We raised $1.93 million in six days. Amen. And that was a miracle, but refreshing myself and the Lord was necessary. And I can tell you story after story after story after story of heartbreak and challenge and turmoil and stuff. Where I've had to go before the Lord and it still happens. Where I'm praying to Him, seeking Him, Lord, I need a word from you. Whether it's for one of my children or for my marriage or for my art church or for whatever is going on. Where we're pleading and crying out to Lord, Lord, I need you. And Lord has a way of showing up and being super encouraging. So when your witness or your ministry seems ineffective, refresh yourself in the Lord. Amen.

Let me give you a third one. When the odds seem overwhelming and they will, when the odds seem overwhelming, trust God's providence. Trust God's providence. If you do what God calls you to do, you do not have the resources, ability, strength or anything to do what He's called you to do. If you say, "Well, I can do what God's called me to do," then you're not doing what God calls you to do, you're doing what you're able to do. God always calls you well outside of your comfort zone like, "I can't do that, I am not good at this," and you get stretched. And then the odds seem overwhelming and God calls you to trust His providence. Notice this, the story continues when it was day, the Jews formed a conspiracy and bound themselves under an oath saying that they would neither eat nor drink until they had killed Paul. There were more than 40 who formed this plot. They came to the chief priests and the elders and said, "We have bound ourselves under a solemn oath to taste nothing until we have killed Paul." Now, therefore, you and the council notify the commander to bring him down to you as though you were going to determine his case through a more thorough investigation and we, for our part, will stay ready to slay him before he comes near the place. So, here's the deal, it's going to go from bad to worse. Now he's back in the barracks and there's a plot that comes against him. 40 men are saying, "We're going to fast until he's dead. We're not going to eat or drink a thing, here's what you're going to do." Hey, Jewish leaders, invite him down, tell the Roman commander you need a more thorough investigation to really understand what's going on so that he'll be invited down, don't worry on the way the 40 of us will slay him. So, now there's a murder threat on Paul's life, but you have to trust God's providence in this. Here's what I would call providence. Providence has God's invisible hand accomplishing his visible plan. That's what Providence is. Providence has God's invisible hand accomplishing his visible plan. So, notice what happens. But the son of Paul's sister, that would be Paul's nephew, heard of their ambush and he came and entered the barracks and told Paul, because you could go in and out of the barracks and So he tells Paul what's gonna happen. Paul called one of the centurion's to him and said, lead this young man to the commander for he has something to report to him. So he took him to and led him to the commander and said, Paul the prisoner called me to him and asked me to lead this young man to you since he has something to tell you. The commander took him by the hand and stepping aside, begin to inquire of him privately,

what is this that you have to report to me? And he said, the Jews have agreed to ask you to bring Paul down tomorrow to the council as though they were gonna inquire somewhat more thoroughly about him. And then he tells them, the nephew tells the commander, I mean, it's pretty cool. So do not listen to them. For more than 40 of them are lying in wait for him who abound themselves under a curse, not to eat or drink until they slay him. And now they are ready and waiting for the promise from you. So the commander let the young man go instructing him, tell no one that you have notified me of these things. So when the plot comes, Paul's nephew, here's about it. Paul's nephew comes, tells Paul. Paul says, I need to get you to the commander, calls the Roman guard, says, take him to the commander. He's got something to say. He gets him there, the commander pulls him by the arm, says, what is it you have to say? He said, hey, there's an ambush set for my uncle. They're gonna kill him on the way. They're gonna come to you and say they wanna investigate him more, they don't wanna investigate him more, they wanna kill him. So don't let him go. Why? I love my uncle.

And he's gonna be dead. That's God's providence. How is it that his nephew knows? We don't know. God did. God wanted to make sure that he was preserved. God wanted to make sure he was taken care of. Here's the truth. If Jesus said, you've done my cause at Jerusalem, now you gotta do it at Rome. What do you think the likelihood of Paul getting to Rome is? I'd say it's pretty strong. Because when God speaks, he delivers, amen? And so here's what we see. And you need to understand this. As a born-again believer, if you're living in the fullness of Christ, God is going to come through for you every single time. Here's a verse, Romans 8, 28, you know it. And we know that God causes all things to work together for good. How many things does God cause to work together? All things. For what? For good? To those who what? Love God to those who have been called according to his purpose. Well, how do you know if you love God? John 14 says, if you keep his word, you love God. So for those that keep his word, those that are loving God, God works all things together for his good, according to his purpose. When you're living out the purpose, when you're living out the mandates,

when you're being obedient to the word, when you're repenting, when you need to be, when you confess your sin, when you forgive others, when you're walking it out, not perfectly, but increasingly, and you're growing with Christ, then God says, I'll work it all out for good. It's all good. That's who I am. And we need to take heart in that, because so often the devil lies and says, this is going down, this is not gonna happen for you. You'll never get married, you'll never get pregnant, you'll never find the right guy, you'll never have a job that you enjoy. You'll never have kids that are walking with, you'll never, you'll never, that's the devil's lie in your life. God says, no, no, no, if you obey my word and you walk with me, I can do far more abundantly than all that you can ask or think according to my glorious power that has worked within you. Amen? When the odds seem overwhelming, you trust God's providence. That's why I like Proverbs 21.1. So many of us are afraid of people that have authority outside of us. God has all authority, did you know that? The king's heart is like channels of water in the hands of the Lord. He can turn it wherever he wishes. Yeah, but the government said, God's like, yeah, but I say. Yes. You understand? I mean, do you know who we serve? We serve the eternal almighty God. And even when things go wrong, sometimes we ask, like, why me? Why is this happening to me? I've tried to be good God and you're doing this to me, right?

That's not biblical, by the way. This is 1 Peter 4, 12, beloved. What's that saying? I love you, I saved you, you belong to me, you're mine, you're cherished, beloved. Do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing as though something strange were happening to you. Why are you so surprised? It's through these trials that God is forging courage in your life. You ask to be a disciple of Jesus. You want to be a courageous one. And when things go wrong, why are you upset as if something strange were happening to you? But to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may read. Paul said he wanted to fellowship in the sufferings of Christ. We don't say that. There's nobody here. So I'm looking forward to suffering this week. It's so un-American. It still goes against all the values. But if you're walking with the Lord, do not be surprised at the fiery trial you're going to endure. Some of you are going through them right now. Some of you are coming out of them right now. Some of you unbeknownst to you are getting ready to go into them right now. But it's all through the trials that God teaches us how to endure, how to hold onto Him, how to make Him Lord. And as you get forged through the fire, courage continues to grow.

And step of faith after step of faith after step of faith as you grow in courage, you take the next step of faith but your steps get bigger, but they don't feel bigger because each one's the hardest step. And you've seen God come through where you haven't seen Him come through before. So when the odds are overwhelming, don't lose heart. When the odds seem like this is never going to happen, don't lose heart. Be encouraged, just trust God's providence. His invisible hand can deliver his visible plan. He can say yes when the whole world says no, amen? I mean, think about Joseph in Egypt after he was sold by his brothers into slavery, spent years in prison, all that stuff becomes number two in command. And then he sees them years later begging him for food. He's got every right to execute him. If you hadn't have matured in the Lord and it would have been like day three, he probably would have killed them all. That's not how the story ends. As he reveals himself to his brothers and weeps before him, he says, "You meant evil against me, "but God meant it for good." I'm who I'm supposed to be because of what you did. If you hadn't have done what you did, I wouldn't have been where I was supposed to be. Have you ever noticed, especially those of you that are older, that it's the trials, the bad things, the things you couldn't control

or the bad decisions that you make, that you wish you could go back and repeat, that when God redeems those things, those are the things that have made you the strongest, not all the good things. I mean, we know that to be true, but then it's like, I'm gonna be perfect for no ones 'cause I don't want anything bad to happen to me. It doesn't work that way. Trials are a part of the Christian life, suffering is a part of the Christian life. And the more you suffer for doing good, the more you're gonna understand who your God is. Jesus is God. He put on flesh, not for 33 years, but for all eternity to identify with us. Massive downgrade. Took all the wrath of God for you, rose from the dead, has watched you your whole life, begged you to come to him. If you've never come to him, he'll do it 'til your last breath. But if you have come to him, he has an unconditional love for you forever. But how did we treat him when he got here? He was spit on, he was mocked, he was falsely tried, he was punched, he was smacked, he was crucified, he suffered, he was beaten, he suffered as you share your faith, as you grow with Christ, as you do what God calls you to do.

Don't be surprised when you suffer. And the more you suffer, look to Christ and realize he did way more than that for you. Amen? And it's the sufferings of Christ that grow us in our ability to wanna share the faith of God. I mean, when the odds seem overwhelming, just trust his providence. I mean, sometimes we as Christians think we're losing. We're losing. Have you seen our world? We're losing. I mean, it's going to hell in a hand basket at rapid rate. We're losing, that's what we say. We've already won. This is a temporary place. (audience applauds) The kingdom is coming. We fight for what's true and what's right and what's good and what's beautiful and what's excellent and what's noble because that's who our king is. And we're witnesses of his coming kingdom until he gets here. But friends, I got news for you. There will be no utopia here on this planet until the Lord comes and rules. And so what he wants us to do is live his kingdom values out now until he gets there so that when he gets there, he can set up his kingdom and we'll be doing the same thing that we've been doing all along, amen,

with a group of people that want to do it. I mean, I'm not worried about who gets elected in the next election. I'm looking forward to the monarchy that is to come. When King Jesus sits on his throne and rules the whole world, amen? It's going to be awesome. But we see this all the time and we, it looks like David's down and out. It looks like Paul's down and out. He's been beaten. He's been shipwrecked. There's no way David can beat the light. There's no way the sea's going to part. There's no way and God comes through every single time. We love those stories in the Bible. We love those stories in athletics. There's no way they can win. This is over. It's a hook that came back. We love those stories. That's the story of the church. There's no way. They're so mounted against us. But all it takes is those who hear the voice of the Lord to say, hey, Lord, as long as it's me, I'll be used by you, however you want me to do, and I'll keep taking steps forward, and I'll trust you to do what you want to do. Just trust is provenance.

The hand that you can't see to deliver the results that you've been praying for, amen? And then finally is this, when it feels like nothing is working and there's gonna come a point where it feels like nothing's working. Like I'm beating my head against, I'm doing the same thing. I've always been, it's not working, it's not working, it's not working, it's not working. Keep the mission moving forward. Keep moving towards that mission. Don't ever stop taking steps of faith. Don't ever stop taking steps of faith, especially when it gets hard. Notice what happens here with the Apostle in Acts 23. After they get the report of all the people that want to kill them, Paul's gonna get moved. Now notice this, I love this verse. Verse 23, "And he called to him two of the centurians and said, get 200 soldiers ready by the third hour of the night to proceed to Caesarea with 70 horsemen and 200 spearmen." Here's what I'm gonna need. I'm aware of this threat against Paul. So in the middle of the night, I need you to do this and I need you to do this now. I need 470 armed men to take care of this brother. How cool is that? From a group of people that want to kill him, they're gonna protect him like he's the king. Why?

Because God's not done with him yet. And you've heard it said and it's true, the man of God or the woman of God and the will of God is immortal until Jesus says so. I mean, someone 39, listen, listen, listen. All of your days were ordained before one of them came to be. Most of you here, if you're old enough, you know your birthday or you've been told your birthday. You don't know your death date. Jesus knew both before he created the world and they were both set. You can't control your death date. Did you know that? We think, well, if I eat healthy, if I do this, how many people do you know that have eaten healthy and done all the right things and fall over dead at 33? It happens. Why? Because there's not one person that arrives in heaven where Jesus looks at and I'm like, I wouldn't expect in you. I mean, it just doesn't have. I mean, everything's been set, but we're so fearful. Like today can be the day, today can be the day. And I'm not telling you not to be responsible and do all those things. That's not the point. The point is so many times we're fearful to do what the Lord's called us to do because of the consequences we think it's gonna be.

But God put you here specifically to do the very thing he called you to do. So when it feels like nothing's working, keep moving forward. If you start a cadre here at Brave, it's gonna, you're gonna have a season where it feels like it's not working. It's just not working. If you're serving kids' ministry, it's gonna come a day to feel like it's not working. They're not listening to me. If you're, if you're on a service team here and you're working in the, you know, directing parking, there's gonna come a time where you're like, I don't even know why I do this. Nobody even notices me. I don't even know that I'm doing that much of a good job anyway. I mean, there's always that lie from the enemy that comes in and says, your life doesn't matter. We can do without you. God says, no, no, no, you're fearfully and wonderfully made. I've chosen to use you to get my work done. I don't need you to get my work done, but I want you to be the one to get my work done 'cause I want you to experience me through the work I'm doing through you. If Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John were all about everything Jesus did in his earthly ministry, the book of Acts is what he's still doing

in his earthly ministry through his people. Amen? He wants to do it through you. And so when it feels like nothing's working, just keep moving forward. Jesus' whole ministry, nothing was working. I mean, here were questions that he was asking his disciples. Are you still so dull? Are you gonna leave me too? Why is it that you call me Lord, Lord, and do not do what I say? I mean, it wasn't like this big encouraging discipleship group. Jesus was trying to bring them along to live on mission and trust him in a way they'd never done before. It wasn't working. When Jesus went into the grave on Friday, it didn't seem like it was working, but he came out on Sunday. He empowered his disciples at Pentecost. We're here today because of the work he's gotten done through his church up until now, and there'll be others that will come to Christ if we do the work we're called to do, amen? So when it feels like nothing's working, just keep moving toward the mission. Paul said, in Philippians 3, I forget what is behind, and I strain towards what is ahead to receive the prize of the upward goal in Christ Jesus. In Luke 9, 62, Jesus said,

no one after putting his hand to the plow, looks back, is fit for the kingdom of God. Hebrews 12 says, let us run the race with perseverance. Maybe you study any Christian in history, whether a biblical Christian or somebody outside the church that's made a significant impact, I promise you there was a season in their life that they wanted to quit and maybe several of them, where it didn't seem like it was gonna be working, didn't seem like it was good, didn't seem like they had made a difference, but you don't get to see everything God sees. You ever taken off on an airplane, on a real cloudy, rainy day? pierce through the clouds and realize it's really not a cloudy rainy day at all, it's very sunny. It's just that the clouds got in the way. You don't see everything God's going to do. You can't see His hand in everything. He doesn't allow you to see everything. He doesn't explain Himself on everything and He doesn't have to. But I promise you this, there's nobody, there's no human being that He'll ever have to answer to for why He did what He did. Because He only knows what to do that is right and good and perfect and true. So when He's calling you to do something, these are experiences that you're going to have. You're going to have this feeling like, I'm doing what God's called me to do and they're questioning everything I'm doing. If that happens, just stand for Him in your calling. You're going to have people that say, you're going to have times that are like, I'm doing

what God wants me to do, but I'm totally ineffective. It's not making a difference. It's not doing any good. Just refresh yourself in the Lord. There's going to be times where the odds seem overwhelming. Like I think this might be the end, but just trust His providence. And then there's going to be times where it feels like nothing at all is working. I'm doing what God says is that it happened and this isn't what you promised. Just keep moving forward and trust His Word. Amen. That's what He wants you to do. All the stories you like in the Bible were people that had overwhelming odds that overcame because of their faith in Jesus. No way David Slays go life, but he did. No way the Red Sea parts, but it did. No way God can feed two million people in the wilderness out of nothing, but he did. No way He can provide water for all of them, but he did. No way God could use a person like Peter or Paul to advance the gospel, but he did. No way Jesus could rush from the dead, but he did. And you have the life of the Son of God in you through the Holy Spirit, so that Jesus can still accomplish all of His earthly ministry that He's always wanted to accomplish in and through you. So when you go through these experiences, here's why. He's building courage in you if you're willing to continue to take steps of faith. So wherever you are today, this is not a day to beat yourself up, should have known better. I wish I would have heard this message 30 years. This is like today, here's where I'm at Lord, I'm going to keep stepping forward with you and I'm going to trust you and I want you to use my life for your glory. Amen. Amen.

Would you stand with me? Our Father in heaven, we do give you all praise, glory and honor for who you are. We love you and we thank you. And Lord, we want to see you move in and through our hearts, so we do want to see revival in our land. We do want to see Denver, Colorado, know you and glorify you. And Lord, the results are yours, but Lord, let us be a church that honors you, glorifies you, builds one another up and advances your kingdom so that you can get all the work done that you want. For your great name, we give you all the glory, honor and praise in Jesus name and all God's people said. Amen. Could we give God praise for his word today? [BLANK_AUDIO]