to Isaiah chapter 49. Isaiah chapter 49, beginning in verse 5. If you remember this from last week, you're remembering well, because we read it last week. We may read it again. Isaiah 49, beginning in verse 5. And now the Lord says, he who formed me in the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him and gather Israel together to himself, for I am honored in the eyes of the Lord and my God has been my strength. He says, it is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth." Now turn with me, please, to Matthew 16, words that probably are very familiar to you. Matthew 16, beginning in verse 15. Jesus is speaking very personal question makes it to every one of us But what about you he asked who do you say I am? Simon Peter answered you are the Christ the son of the Living God Jesus replied blessed are you Simon son of Jonah? For this was not revealed to you by man, but by my father in heaven And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it." Now turn with me, please, to the book of Acts, Acts the 13th chapter, as we continue on in our study of Acts. I think you'll get the picture as we go on here. Acts 13, beginning in verse 1. Acts 13, beginning in verse 1. In the church at Antioch, there were prophets and teachers. Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Menean, who had been brought 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. Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them. So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off. The two of them, sent on their way by the Holy Spirit, went down to Seleucia, sailed from there to Cyprus. When they arrived at Salamis, they pre-proclaimed the word of God in the Jewish synagogues. John was with them as their helper. They traveled through the whole island until they came to Paphos. There, they met a Jewish sorcerer and false prophet named Bar-Jesus, who was an attendant of the proconsul Sergius Paulus The proconsul, an intelligent man, sent for Barnabas and Saul because he wanted to hear the word of God. But Elimus, the sorcerer, for that is what his name means, opposed them and tried to turn the proconsul from the faith. Then Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked straight at Elimus and said, you are a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right. You are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery. Will you never stop perverting the right ways of the Lord? Now the hand of the Lord is against you. You are going to be blind. And for a time, you will be unable to see the light of the sun. Immediately, mist and darkness came over him. And he groped about, seeking someone to lead him by the hand. When the proconsul saw what had happened, he believed. For he was amazed at the teaching about the Lord. And from Paphos Paul and his companions sailed to Perga and Pamphylia, where John left them to return to Jerusalem. From Perga they went on to Pisidian Antioch, On the Sabbath, they entered the synagogue and sat down. After the reading of the law and the prophets, the synagogue rulers sent word to them saying, brothers, if you have a message of encouragement for the people, please speak. Standing up, Paul motioned with his hand and said, and then there comes the sermon that he preached, a tremendous sermon and one that I want to analyze with you someday. But now let's go on over to verse 38. At the close of the sermon. Paul says, therefore, my brothers, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Through him, everyone who believes is justified from everything you could not be justified from by the law of Moses. Take care that what the prophets have said does not happen to you. Look, you scoffers, wonder and perish, for I'm going to do something in your eyes that you would never believe, even if someone told you. As Paul and Barnabas were leaving the synagogue, the people invited them to speak further about these things on the next Sabbath. And then look in verse 44. On the next Sabbath, almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord. When the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and talked abusively against what Paul was saying. Then Paul and Barnabas answered them boldly. We had to speak the word of God to you first. Since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles. For this is what the Lord has commanded us. I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth." When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honored the word of the Lord. And all who were appointed for eternal life believed. The word of the Lord spread through the whole region. But the Jews incited God-fearing women of high standing and the leading men of the city. They stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas and expelled them from their region. So they shook the dust from their feet and protested against them and went to Iconium. The disciples were filled with joy and the Holy Spirit. And then chapter 14, at Iconium, in verse 4, The people of the city were divided. Some sided with the Jews, others with apostles. There was a plot afoot among the Gentiles and Jews together with their leaders to mistreat them and stone them. But they found out about it and fled to the Lycanian cities of Lystra and Derbe and to the surrounding country where they continued to preach the good news. In Lystra, there sat a man crippled in his feet, who was lame from birth, had never walked. He listened to Paul as he was speaking, and Paul looked directly at him, saw that he had faith to be healed, and called out, Stand up on your feet. At that, the man jumped up and began to walk. When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted in the Lyconian language, The gods have come down to us in human form. Barnabas they called Zeus and Paul they called Hermes because he was the chief speaker The priest of Zeus whose temple was just outside the city brought bowls and wreaths to the city gates Because he and the crowd wanted to offer sacrifices to them But when the Apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of this they tore their clothes rushed out into the crowd shouting men Why do you doing this? We too are only men human like you and We're bringing you good news telling you to turn from these worthless things to the living God Who made heaven and earth and sea and everything in them and then verse 19? Then some Jews came down from Antioch and Iconium and won the crowd over they stoned Paul Dragged him outside the city thinking he was dead But after the disciples had gathered him around him. He got up went back into the city Next day he and Barnabas left for Derby They preached the good news in that city, won a large number of disciples. Then they returned to Lystra, Iconium. They returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch, strengthening the disciples and encouraged them to remain true to the faith. We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God, they said. Paul and Barnabas appointed elders for them in each church. with prayer and fasting committed them to the Lord in whom they had put their trust. After going through Pisidia, they came to Pamphylia. And when they had preached the word in Perga, they went down to Italia. And from Italia, they sailed back to Antioch, where they had been commissioned to the grace of God for the work that they had now completed. On arriving there, they gathered the church together and reported all that God had done through them and how he'd opened the door of faith to the Gentile. Now, that's the whole great first mission that God sent Paul out to. And if we were focusing on any particular words, it'd be the second verse of chapter 13. While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said to those there in Antioch, set apart for me Barnabas and Saul, for the work to which I have called them. You see, God had promised or prophesied from the very beginning of time that His people would have dominion and that they would be a light for the Gentiles to bring His salvation to the ends of the earth. And Jesus had promised that He would build His church, the gates of hell would never be able to stop it, prevail against it, and that His people would become His witnesses beginning in Jerusalem, but then all Judea, and then Samaria, and then to the ends of the earth. But everyone was so slow to get that point. And I'm not too sure, but that we are still slow to get that point. The Gentiles hadn't even heard the message yet. And the Jews kept thinking that it was all just for them. No one had the vision for reaching out to the ends of the earth with a gospel message. It was just for Palestine. And they were just keeping it to themselves just there at the other end of the Mediterranean Sea. But Jesus Christ had gone right on preparing for his promise, the accomplishment of that, that was to go to the ends of the earth. Whether they understood it or not, he had gone right on laying the groundwork for that right there in Palestine. Everything that Christ had done in the book of Acts, chapters 1 through 13, each chapter is a new event in his laying the groundwork for the thing that's happening now today in these next chapters. where he says, now, now, I want you to separate me to me, Paul and Barnabas, for the work which I have given, call them to, for reaching the ends of the earth. Now, last week, you children drew a picture. Well, actually, it began a long time before last week. But I want you to draw another picture, two, three other pictures today. It'd be a big assignment. But get your paper ready. You drew a picture back there several weeks ago about Stephen. When he was trying to tell everyone about this, he was trying to tell them that this good news was not just for them at the end of the Mediterranean, but this good news was for the whole world. He was trying to... You know what they did? They stoned him for it. You drew a picture of their stoning him. And then Christ raised up a man named Philip. He was another deacon who went down to Samaria And he preached the precious gospel message to those utter horrible Samaritans, half-breeds, unbelievers, blasphemous people. But they believed. And you also drew the picture of how he preached this same Stephen, preached the gospel to the Ethiopian eunuch who was on his way back down to Africa. And then you drew a picture describing how Christ twisted Peter's arm when he was there on the rooftop. and had him go over to the home of a Cornelius. And there was a whole house full of Gentiles who were suddenly converted, just as much converted as any of the Jews had ever been. And then you drew a picture of a man named Saul. You remember that? On the road to Damascus, about that great light that hit him. And he was converted. He hated the Christians and the Christian church, doing everything he could to kill them. But he was converted. And last week, we heard about how unnamed evangelists, people who were just trying to escape getting killed. Herod had gone on a rampage, and he'd killed James, the brother of John, and he had imprisoned Peter, and he was trying to kill Peter. And he would kill anyone. And so the Christians were just escaping. But every place they went, they told other people the good news about Jesus Christ. Now, they could be right with God. And some of them had gone down to Antioch, and there they preached the gospel even to the Greeks. But all of this is still in the Promised Land, at the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea. And all of this, they're still thinking, just belongs to us, me, we, ourselves, and I. The Gospel is for us, over here. And anything that was beyond the Promised Land, the Ethiopian eunuch, and maybe even up in Danegok, was just sort of by accident. But through it all, Jesus Christ has been laying the foundation for doing what he said he would do. And he said, you will be my witnesses in not only in Jerusalem and Judea and in Samaria, when that groundwork is laid and you can see that it's for real and what it'll do. When I'm ready, then we'll send it on out to the ends of the earth. I'll prove it first here so you'll know that it's true. And then you can see what it'll do someplace else. Now today, Christ is sending us, Paul and Barnabas, out deliberately into other parts of the world. And children, here are the three pictures I'd like you to draw. First one's a map. I don't know how many of you have drawn maps before, but this is a map of the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea, showing Paul's first great mission. I don't like to call it a missionary trip. I don't find God using the word missionary anyplace. I think the men who left our aircraft carrier and going out on a mission, if you had said, now you are missionaries, they'd say, what's that? A mission? We may get killed before we get back. This is a mission. Somehow or other, that emasculates it. When you talk about a missionary, I'm in favor of missionaries. Don't misunderstand me. But I think that Satan has won a big victory at that point where he began causing us to think of that. But this mission, the first great mission that God's sending Paul on, I want you to draw a map. Now you can use the map in the back of your Bible if you want to. And incidentally, we're going to have these pictures put up. I'm going to be asking some people if they'll evaluate these pictures from week to week, and then we'll have some prizes for these later on. So pay a little attention to this. And I want you to draw that map there. and you'll show the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea, and Jerusalem's down here, and way up north is Antioch, and then the sea comes out here, and then there's Cyprus, and that's a little island there. And then they went from Cyprus on up north a little bit to Italia, and Perga, and then way up on the mountains to Antioch, and then around to Iconium, and Lystra, and Derbe, and then all the way back again. Now that's the first picture, just a map. The second picture is of the Apostle Paul. I want you to show something about his endurance, probably being stoned to death. Remember, we read that in there a little bit ago there at Lystra, stoned to death. And he just caught up after being stoned to death and went right ahead. Oh, that tells us something about Paul. And then the third picture is of the Apostle Paul showing his determination after he got to Derbe. He turned right round and went right back to the same place that had stoned him and all those other places, his determination. There's three pictures of Paul showing the map, and that would have taken a lot of courage. God says, they're the ends of the earth, Paul. Go after it. And Paul knew how to divide that up and start in. Courage. And then endurance. And then showing his determination or his vision for reaching the world. Those are the three pictures, and that's a lot of pictures for you today. But see what you can do with them. You've done beautiful work so far. It's an exciting and wonderful mission that Christ is assigning to Barnabas and Saul. Set apart for me, he says, Barnabas and Saul, for the work to which I have called them. Not for you. Don't set them apart for you. Set them apart for me. Not for the work to which you have called them. but for the work to which I have called. How do most mission boards call people? To themselves and to the work to which they have called them? I really fear that. I really do fear that. There's so much emphasis put upon the relationship between the one who is called and the people who are sending them that somehow or other God gets shut out of that picture. And when God is shut out of that picture, it really cripples the creativity and the initiative and so many of the other things that he's building into the people. He doesn't say anything about where they're to go, and neither did the people in Antioch. He just calls them to himself. He says to the church at Antioch, now I'll use you to call, but you remember that you are calling these people to me. and that they are being called to the work to which I have sent them." There's a very important distinction there and one that we're going to hear more about next week. Somehow or other, calling them in such a way that they are called to God and set apart for the work to which He has called them helps to bring out the courage and the endurance and the determination in Saul and Barnabas. We don't really know why they went to Cyprus first. Cyprus was Barnabas' home. That's his home. So maybe that was it. But I think there was a bigger reason than that. Cyprus was an island. It's a kind of pilot plant. You can see the results in terms of the entire nation. And the things that are going to be happening, as we're going to see them in a moment here in Cyprus, happened every place else that they went to for the remainder of Paul's life. I think I saw a little bit of this three weeks ago when we spent that two weeks, three weeks in New Zealand. We saw God working in over a hundred churches, in the Parliament in New Zealand, in the businesses in New Zealand. And there was a witness and a ministry to the entire island. It was a good place to begin. They landed on the east coast of the island, the city named Salamis, and they went straight into the synagogues to speak to the Jews first. That's what Christ had commanded. They preached in every synagogue all the way across the island, about 90 miles one end to the other. I rode that on a motorcycle a few years ago. And it's a longer 90 miles than most 90 miles here. It seems longer. But they found every synagogue all the way across there. And they preached to the Jews. But in Paphos, a very interesting thing took place that tells us something about the character of Paul and the character of any person that God sends out on this kind of a mission. There was a man there by the name of Sergius Paulus, Roman proconsul, governor, a very intelligent man. He wanted to know about the truth. He heard about these two men, and so he sent for them. I'm sure the whole island heard about them. And so they sent for them and asked them to explain what they were doing. And Paul began explaining to Paul, Paul explaining to Sergius Paulus who Jesus is and what he had done and how a man could be made right, the same message that he preached everywhere. But there was another Jew present, a prophet named Bar-Jesus, a Jewish prophet. His name means son of salvation. The Bible says he was Elimus Magus, an expert sorcerer, a very shrewd, wily man. He was part of the proconsul's court, an advisor there for the proconsul. The Bible says he kept distracting the proconsul's attention, trying to turn the proconsul from the faith, arguing against Saul. And so finally, it says, Saul looked straight at Elimas, fixed him with his eye, and said, you are a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right. You are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery. Will you never stop perverting the right ways of the Lord? Now the hand of the Lord is against you. You are going to be blind and for a time will be unable to see the light of the sun. And when Elimas became blind, the proconsul believed. he saw. As a Gentile, he was converted by the very blindness of the Jew and the refusal of the Jew to believe. That was the thing that really brought about the conversion of the Gentile. God used it in such a way that it converted him. Now that was an important development Christ worked. But it's just the beginning. A direct approach to the Gentiles in this case It did not avoid the Jews. It did not cut them out. It did involve preaching to them even when they were trying to distract. But it would not allow that distraction to keep the Gentiles from hearing the Gospel. Saul silenced the Jewish prophet Bar-Jesus in order that the gospel could be heard by the Gentiles. From Paphos, they sailed west, a little bit west and mostly north to the seacoast of what we call Turkey today, probably landed at a port named Atalia, walked 12 miles inland from there to Perga, and then headed up over the mountains, 100 miles of hard mountain climbing to the capital of that country, Pisidian Antioch. Two Antiochs, one in Syria and this one in Pisidian. This is Pisidian Antioch. It's up in the mountains. It's the capital of Galatia. Now we're in Paul's native country, although it's a long distance from where we are clear over to the Tarsus, where he'd grown up. It's interesting, though, that they went first to Cyprus, which is Barnabas' home country, and then they went second to this country, which was Paul's home country, Galatia, really. The important thing here, though, is that John Mark left them. Just a little sentence in there that says John Mark left them. He'd been their helper. May have been the cook, may have been the person who helped them in other ways, may have done some counseling and ministry or testimony, but we don't know what the word means when it says he was their helper, but we don't know why he left. Maybe it would have been a real setback and a disappointment, though, to Paul and to Barnabas. Maybe John Mark had had enough. He just wanted to go back home and he lived in Jerusalem. Maybe he just wanted to go back home where it'd be a little bit easier to his mother's cooking and some other things like that. He lived there, we know, with his family. Maybe he had been offended by the way Paul handled the Jewish prophet down at Paphos. Maybe he was afraid of that hard climb up into the mountains. There were robbers. It was a hard trip, a hundred miles of it. Maybe he was offended by Paul's illness. When Paul wrote to the Galatians later, in Galatians 4.13, he reminds them how when he had first come to them, and this is the first time he's come to them, quote, it was because of an illness that I first preached the gospel to you. His thorn in the flesh may have been, and this is good speculation from good source, a kind of chronic malaria. which crippled many of the visitors who came to the flat, marshy lands around the area where Paul and Barnabas had landed. We don't know how long they were there. There were swamp lands along the coast. The doctors have described the effect of that malaria as being like a red-hot iron bar pushed straight into the brain. So you can't even see straight. and the body writhes in pain. It may help to explain why Paul later on described how ashamed he was of his conduct. It may help to explain why Barnabas and Paul seemed to have not ministered in Perga and Italia on the way in, but then as quickly as they could had gone on up into the mountains. The mountains are 3,500 feet high above the sea level to get away from the heat and to get up into the cool. Regardless of what it was, though, it would have been a very discouraging time for Paul. Paul sick, John Mark leaving, and yet he marches on and on. And it tells us something, even then, of his determination. A hundred miles up into the mountains in Antioch of Pisidia, the Antioch of Pisidia, there are two Antiochs, remember, they asked Paul to preach on the spur of the moment. You have to be prepared to preach, pray, and die. And he did. And I'd like to ask the men who are contemplating that maybe God would use them in future ministry to analyze those two sermons, this one in chapter 13, and then the other one that he had preached over there to the Jews, the one he preached to the Jews, and then later on, the one he preaches to the Gentiles. A powerful explanation. exposition to the Jews of the gospel message, and many believed. But there in Antioch, there were those who reacted. And then the Gentiles were converted. The same thing was happening now on a larger scale that had happened there in Paphos. As the Jews rejected, then the Gentiles came to life and responded. But the Jews also stirred up persecution and finally drove Paul and Barnabas out of their region there in Antioch. So Paul and Barnabas shook off the dust from their feet and moved on to Iconium. Iconium was another 100 miles east and a little bit south of Antioch. Again, they began preaching in the synagogue of the Jews. Again, when the Jews rejected, the Gentiles began to believe. Again, they were persecuted as persecution was stirred up against them. This time, they slandered Paul and Barnabas and they plotted to kill Paul and Barnabas. So once again, they went on, driven now by persecution, this time to a little backwoods town called Lystra. And here a new challenge and a new opportunity awaited them. As far as we know, there was no beginning in a Jewish synagogue there, but rather it was a direct approach to a Gentile man who was lame from birth. Ever heard that before? Very similar to the one that Peter had healed in Jerusalem. He heard the gospel and he was believing. And Paul looked directly at him, saw that he had faith to be healed, and called out, Stand up on your feet! And at that, the man jumped up and began to walk. And now, a little interesting side light is that many years before this, There's a tradition that's told by Ovid and by a number of the others about how Zeus, the god, had come down to earth in the form of man. And he and his son had been walking among there and trying to find a place to stay overnight, and nobody would take him in. And so he cursed that part of the land and had a terrible flood and other troubles that really cursed the land. So at this point, when the priest of Zeus, whose primary temple, he has the primary temple in that whole town, saw this happening, he immediately assumed that these were the gods who have come back down to earth again in the form of man. So the priest insisted on the people, he saw the man healed, and he insisted on the people bringing their sacrifices, and they bowed down, and they called Barnabas Zeus, and they called Paul Hermes. But when Barnabas and Paul understood, and they were speaking in a different language, so it took them a little while to catch that point, but when they understood what was happening, they tore their clothes and they rushed out into the crowd and they said, men, why are you doing this? We are only human like you. And then Paul preached to the Gentiles a powerful sermon. And that's the sermon to the Gentiles. The gospel never changes. But Paul always adapted his sermon to the people who were hearing it. It's the same gospel, but there's a different approach. And it helps us to see the flexibility of Paul. The gospel message never changed, but the way he preached it did. Very shortly after they had tried to worship Paul and Barnabas, and Paul and Barnabas had stopped them, then some other Jews came down from Antioch to Iconium. The ones who had tried to kill him in Antioch and Iconium before brought their plot on down to Lystra this time, and they actually persuaded the crowd there in Lystra to kill Paul. Fickle crowd. One day they're praising him and worshiping him. And the very next day they're stoning him to death. And they did try. They stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city thinking he was dead. But after the disciples had gathered around him, he got up. Dead man. Dead. Can't you see as he begins to move? And the rest of them looking at that. He's dead. But he won't stay dead. And he sort of rolls over and begins to squirm and stands up and goes back, right back into the city again. And the very next day he went on to the next city and he was preaching the same gospel, probably dropping blood every step of the way, but could not be stopped from preaching that gospel. Amazing, amazing miracle. I think maybe it was at this time, this was the situation that the Apostle Paul was describing in the letter to the Corinthians, when he described about how he himself had seen into the third heavens, but he would not boast about that. He would boast about the other incident that had taken place on this first great mission, that is, his thorn in the flesh. I think that's why Paul puts those two incidents so close together. The one, tremendous experience seeing into the third heaven. The other, cause for shame. And yet, the very thing that God used in leading him to grow in grace. The kind of grace that he needed as he went on to Derbe, still preaching the gospel. Derbe was 60 miles on south and east. Later, he said, of all these experiences, I bear in my body the marks of Jesus. You just couldn't stop him. He had a purpose. There was a determination and a vision that was more important than life itself. Kill me. Kill me. This thing will go on. You can kill me if you want, but this thing will go on. But that's not all. It would have been so easy to go from Derby up around that corner of the Mediterranean Sea to his hometown, Tarsus. It would have been so easy for Paul to have gone back the easy route from Derbe to Tarsus and Tarsus down to Antioch. But he doesn't do that. From Derbe, he gets up and he goes right back to Lystra, the place they had stoned him. And he goes right on back to the next town and then the next one, Antioch. And then he goes back to the seaport from there. He goes back from Derbe, to Lystra, to Iconium, where they'd plotted to kill him, and then to Antioch, and then to Perga. And he's preaching the gospel every place he went. And we're told what he does when he goes back through, retraces his steps to each one of those places. We're told what he does. And I want to just mention it right now. He was strengthening. He did three things. He strengthened the disciples, encouraging them to be true, to remain true to the faith. He appointed elders in every church and he committed them to the Lord. Now next week, be two weeks from now, next week when I'm here next, I want to explain what that meant because there's a very, very essential factors in the building of the church and why it is that it grew the way it did from nothing to the area where that whole part of the world was evangelized within a 10-year period. Dr. Luke summarizes Paul's message as he went back through those cities where he had been before by saying, we must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God. What a commentary on Paul and Barnabas. We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God. That certainly was what they had been doing. As soon as he got back home to Antioch in Assyria, on arriving back at the church, they gathered the church together and reported all that God had done through them and how he had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles. Now there's one application, maybe it's in three parts this morning. There are three features of the character of the Apostle Paul that are very, very important. The first is his courage. And there are factors that make up courage. He could follow difficult instructions in the face of real danger. But, Lord, I don't really want to go into those Jewish synagogues because they're not going to respond, and that's dangerous. Paul, I have commanded you to go first into those Jewish synagogues. You must take the gospel there. Aye, aye, sir. And that's where Paul always began. He never tried to short-circuit that. He never tried to get out of something just because it was dangerous. Now that, too, is courage. He's no coward. He went on to Lystra. After he had been stoned there, stoned to death, and he'd gone on to Derbe, he came back to Lystra. That is courage. And he kept everything, he put everything that he had into it. That is courage. Those are factors in courage. A second feature of his character is his endurance. Other people could stay at home where it was pretty easy, comfortable. But Paul just couldn't do that. Personal privileges were not more important to him than Christ's purposes. That is a major factor in endurance. No matter how it hurt, is another one. No matter how many other people defaulted, like John Mark. No matter how humiliating his thorn in the flesh and how badly his head hurt. He maintained his commitment to the goal that Christ had set, the work to which Christ had called him. That is endurance. He worked hand in glove with Barnabas. He wasn't just a lone ranger out there on his own, unable to work with anyone else. That is endurance. Those are factors in endurance. And finally, his determination. That's the third factor, his determination. His vision, his life purpose. He somehow knew that there was no shortcut. There was no other way, except through his suffering, that Christ's purposes could be accomplished. And he was still determined that that would be accomplished. And Paul knew, too, how to break down a big world assignment into step-by-step stages. That is part of determination. He began in Cyprus. The things he learned there, he carried on with him into those other places. I think he was almost expecting that stoning there in Lystra, because he could see how when the Jew had rejected, then the Gentile believed. And this probably carried with him, even up there at Lystra. And he would never be distracted. That is determination. He would never be distracted, not by the false Jewish prophet, Not by the people who have voted to worship him one day and the next day tried to kill him. Not by the default of John Mark. That is determination. Now those are three essential factors in the life of any man or woman. Determination, endurance, and courage. Those three essential factors you see in the life of the Apostle Paul. Endurance and courage. But you know, without Jesus Christ, those things become major pollutions and weaknesses of character. Determination becomes stubborn obstinacy without Jesus Christ. Bullheaded unwillingness to hear or listen or work together with anyone else. Endurance without Jesus Christ becomes sullen stoicism, self-pity, self-imposed martyrdom without Jesus Christ. And courage without Jesus Christ becomes fatalism. Like Thomas there that day, Jesus said, I've got to go back down and comfort Mary and Martha. Lazarus has died. And Thomas said, well, we might as well go with him. Perish with him, we'll die too. Later on, Thomas grew out of that. But to begin with, that's what it was like without understanding this feature of character. How is it with you today in all three of these? What is your life purpose? Stubbornness, I'm dug in here, I'm not going to change. Endurance, sullen stoicism. OK, I've been hurt. I'm just going to stick it out. Courage, blind fatalism. This has happened to me, and so I just am going to take it. Or is it a case of the kind of determination that the Apostle Paul demonstrated there. They could knock him down, but they couldn't knock him out. He would go on. Endurance? Boy, he demonstrated that at every step of that road. Courage? Courage? He wasn't blind. He could see all kinds of ways. When it was a Jewish congregation, he could speak to them this way, but it was the same gospel. When it was a Gentile congregation, he could speak to them, but it was the same gospel. He'd find a way of getting the job done and a sense of responsibility that sent him right back up through those same cities and then down out. You know, it's interesting that in a period of 10 years, he never started one mission. The Apostle Paul never started one mission. We talk about founding missions. He was never interested in founding missions. He just went out and founded churches. God founded them through him. We'll hear more about that next week, a week after next when I'm back then. But in the meantime, check your own life and your own heart in terms of your determination, your endurance, and your courage. God, thank you for allowing us to see so intimately into the life of a man who's human like we are and who needed to be changed so much so that you would take him out for three years of tutoring in the wilderness and then park him back home in Tarsus after he failed in Damascus and failed in Jerusalem. Lord, you parked him back home in Tarsus as a failure for six or seven or eight years, a failure in life. But then, Lord, you called him. called him to yourself and you sent him. Lord, it seems as though you're still teaching him with the thorn in the flesh and the vision of heaven. You're still building into him an understanding of what you meant when you said, my grace is sufficient for you because my strength is made perfect in your weakness. God, I'd pray that you would bless every one of us as we would evaluate our own determination, vision, purpose, our own endurance, our own courage. God, keep building us and keep changing us. So long as we live, keep changing us, building into us your character. God, we'd thank you if you would use us in your building of your church. In Jesus' name, amen. Let's close by singing together from Psalm 72C. This is the record of the church and how she grows. We'll sing the first three stanzas and then pause before singing the 11th stanza, the last stanza. 72C. Let's rise to sing. On hilltop's stone a little grape I've ever done with fruit shall bend. New life the city shall attain. She shall, like grass, grow and extend. She shall, like grass, grow and extend. Long as the sun his name shall last, it shall endure through ages.