Well, very good. You didn't get too confused. Well, open your Bibles to the book of Acts and chapter 14. We're studying in Wednesday nights, the life of Paul. And we are, um, in the concluding his first missionary journey, by the way, there is an outline tonight, since we don't have the PowerPoint, we did prepare, um, just a basic outline for you. And it was out on the member care desk. As you came in, does anybody want one? Didn't get one, but would like to have one. Okay, maybe Rob, or that's right, Steve's got it. Okay, just. So we're in Acts 14, and for the last couple Wednesday nights, we thought about the Great Commission, as we read in verse 21, that they preached the gospel in Derby. and taught many there and then returned again to Lystra. Need up here, needs one. Anybody else need one? Raise your hand. Okay, in the back row there. John, Connie. All right. By the way, next Wednesday night, the plan is to do missionary prayer letters. So those of you that are watching live stream, we won't be live streaming next Wednesday night. We'll just be reading some missionary prayer letters and praying for missionaries next Wednesday evening. So come prepared for that next week. They preach the gospel and they taught many. And that really sums up the Great Commission to make converts, preaching the gospel, leading people to saving faith in Jesus Christ, and then teaching them to follow him, to become disciples of Christ. But tonight is, we want to kind of wrap things up in Paul's first missionary journey. I've entitled it tonight, Finishing the Job, because we're just looking at the conclusion of this first missionary journey. And Acts 14.26, tells us that they sailed back to Antioch. They had left Antioch, if you remember, and that's where the journey began. That was their sending church for this journey. And so they returned there. It says, whence they had been recommended to the grace of God. But notice this last phrase, for the work which they fulfilled. That tells us that they finished the job that they were given to do on their first missionary journey. The word fulfilled means to bring to completion. You know, the Bible doesn't tell us exactly how, but they knew the limits of their tasks. They knew under the leadership of the Holy Spirit, you know, when they get the derby, it's time to turn around and go back. And they went back over the cities that they had preached the gospel in on the way out. And somehow the Bible doesn't tell us. God didn't choose to include the information to let us know how they knew the job was done, but it was. And so, as we read there in verses 21 through 25, Luke kind of summarizes the conclusion of their journey. As he's gone through that journey, there are times when he has stopped and given us a lot of information. At, was it at Pathos, we read about, Sergius Paulus in Limas, when he goes to Antioch, we read about the preaching of the gospel there, and we get a glimpse into Paul's presentation of the gospel. Luke doesn't tell us that everywhere he went. It doesn't tell us exactly the words that Paul gave when he preached the gospel, but so he's giving us a sample there. He tells us about some of the persecution and different things. So we get glimpses of this journey and events that happen. There's a lot that Luke just kind of skims over and doesn't give us details about. And so, but we get the things that God wants us to see. We get a glimpse of the work that was done on this journey and really kind of sets the stage for the other journeys of Paul. As Paul makes two more missionary journeys, he does so in a similar vein. This is kind of like the example of what Paul's missionary journeys were like. But we have this summary of the concluding work the concluding part of their journey. They went back again to the places. They returned, verse 21, again to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch. They went back to the places where they had preached and made disciples. And he tells us that they confirmed the souls of the disciples and ordained elders and committed them to the Lord. But there's just kind of an interesting note here. When they get to Derbe, they turn around and went back. They could have, gone on, they could have gone back to Antioch by land. They're right at the edge of the Taurus Mountains. They could have crossed the mountains, gone into Paul's hometown of Tarsus, and made their way back around the Mediterranean Sea, the coast of the sea, and back down to Antioch that way. But you see something about, number one, the courage of the Apostle Paul, as well as the leading of the Holy Spirit, that they went back to the very places they had been run out of. As a matter of fact, Paul had been stoned and left for dead at Lystra. But he went back to Lystra. He had been run out of Iconium, but he went back to Iconium. He had been run out of Antioch, but he went back to Antioch. You know, Paul was not afraid to go back. The Holy Spirit led him in that way, and he went back to those very places to help establish the believers there. even though he had been persecuted and stoned for preaching the gospel. Someone noted that John Wesley made the statement, always look a mob in the face. John Wesley knew what it was to face the kind of things that Paul did. There were times when Wesley had to literally quiet a mob and he did in preaching the gospel because he was opposed like Paul was. He didn't back down. I've been reading about Mary Schleser, who may be familiar to you, a missionary of bygone days who went to Calabar. You know, I've heard of Mary Schleser for years, since I was a child. I've heard of her and a little bit of her story. I had never read a biography about her until recently. But I was also interested in, I didn't know where Calabar was. So I finally decided to look on a map and discovered that Calabar's in Nigeria. So she's one of the early missionaries to Nigeria. But when she was preparing to go, she was in Scotland, raised there. Her father died when she was young. She had to go to work in the factories to help support her family. She started working in Sunday school She was teaching in Sunday school. She wanted to be involved in a Sunday school that was actually in a bad part of town. And they agreed to let her go, but she always, they told her, you can go down there and do that, but you always have to have somebody go with you. But one day she decided to go on her own, to go early, set things up, and she got met by a bunch of bullies. And they backed her up against a wall, and the leader, had a piece of metal that had sharp edges on it, razor sharp edges, it was said, and he was trying to intimidate her. You know, you have no business in our neighborhood. You need to leave. You need to go home. And he said he dangled that piece of metal in front of her face, and it was swinging back and forth, and he kept moving it closer and closer and closer, trying to scare her, intimidate her to leave and go home. And she just, she stared him down. And he kept doing that until it actually cut her head, forehead. But she didn't flinch. She didn't leave. And at that point, he bagged down because of her courage. And actually, she ended up talking those guys into coming into the Sunday school and that bully got saved and served the Lord. But it prepared her because when she went to Calabar, she's working among the natives there and dealing with chiefs. There were many times that she had to face down hostile chiefs. She was opposing, there was a lot of killing that went on, and she was opposing that. And there were times, literally, when just her courage was all that stood between her and death. Obviously, the Lord was watching over her. But she would stand up to them and face them down. She had the same kind of courage that Paul had to go back to those places where he had been persecuted and to help the believers there. And so we read about the fact that they passed through Pisidia, it tells us in verse 24. And then they came to Pamphylia and they preached the word in Perga. If you remember when they were on their way out, They had finished the island of Cyprus and they made their way north to the mainland. They landed at Perga. And it doesn't tell us, the Bible doesn't tell us that they'd had any ministry in Perga on the way in, but on the way out they did. And then they went over a little further west to Italia and preached the gospel there. And then they got on a ship at Italia and sailed back to Antioch. and where they had been recommended to the grace of God for the work which they fulfilled. And when they got back to the church, they gathered the church together and they told them about all that God had done with them and how he'd opened the door of faith under the Gentiles and abode there a long time with the disciples. So they went back to the church that had sent them out and and they reported on what they had done. That's what we see missionaries do today. They go out, they work for a while, they come home on a furlough, and this becomes a furlough for Paul because he turns around sometime later and goes back out on a second journey, but he comes back and tells the church what God had done. And so, you know, even as they're going home, they're opening new territory and getting the gospel to others who have never heard. Let me make one other note, and I want to get into the heart of the message tonight, but I do want to note one thing, though, that I think is interesting about Paul, as I've studied his missionary journeys, and I was thinking about even the frontline video that we watched Sunday night, for those of you that were here, and I noticed this with the first frontline video that we watched of North Africa, and then this past Sunday night, we were looking at the work in Albania and Kosovo and Montenegro, But the missionaries, though they had a, if you will, they had a home base, but they didn't go in and park and work there with a little group of people or a church there and never go out. I think it's interesting that those frontline missionaries are constantly going out to reach new people. And you know, I'm not a missionary. I've never been a foreign missionary. I've been a home missionary, but never been a foreign missionary. So I hesitate to say a whole lot on this point. But I wonder sometimes when we read about missionaries and they go and they camp out in one place and they basically just try and get this one church started and all their energy is focused on this one place and they never go beyond that. That's not what I see Paul doing. Paul did at times settle in one place for a while, but even when he was doing that, it was a home base from which he went out. We read about his third missionary journey. Paul went to Ephesus. He spent three years in Ephesus. But the Bible says that while he was there, all of Asia heard the word. In other words, even though Paul was based in Ephesus, he didn't just stay there. for three years and never go anywhere else. He went out from Ephesus there in that three year period. He's out and he's sending others out. They're reaching out beyond Ephesus. As Paul is going to these cities, he's always looking for new territory and though he goes in and he's there for a while and he gets some people saved and he leaves and granted the Holy Spirit is moving them, using the persecution to move them, but Paul's not staying in one place. He's not content just to reach a few people here and no more. He's always looking for new territory. Again, we're talking about Mary Schleser and thinking about her, as she went to Calabar, she started out at a place called Duke Town, which is where all the missionaries were. It was an expensive place to live. She's on a missionary salary, but she has to pay her own way. She said a lot of the time they entertained the ship's captains and dignitaries that came because it was kind of the capital city of that area of Calabar. And she felt like she was wasting her time. She wanted to get to the inland where the villages were, where the natives were that needed the gospel. And she kept praying about it and pursuing it until finally the Lord opened the door and she was able to go into the interior. But David Livingston's motto became her motto. She said his motto was, I don't care where we go as long as we go forward. And that was her heart. I don't care where we go, we're just going to go forward. Always looking for new territory to open up. There was a group in the jungles that were cannibals. And one of the most fierce tribes in that region. And her heart was to reach them with the gospel. And she kept asking for the opportunity to go. And finally, she was granted that opportunity. And she went in and preached the gospel. And some of them got saved. But she was wanting to go forward. She wasn't content to stay in one place and work there always going forward, always opening new territory. And that was the Apostle Paul. And I think there's a lot of missions is moving in and yes, getting a base established, but working out from that base into outlying areas and not just camping out of one place, reaching one small group of people, but trying to reach as many people as possible in a region or in an area. And so that's what Paul's doing. And he's, you know, even he's going back and he's helping those whom he has won to the Lord, even in those cities, as he's left them, he goes back to help them. And so as I look at this tonight, that's the synopsis, that's the summary of this concluding portion of his first missionary journey. But I want to note two things specifically. I want to kind of focus on two things that they did as they concluded this first journey. The one is that they established converts. And the second is that they established churches. And we'll try to move through this quickly. But think about the fact that they established converts. It says in verse 22 that they confirmed the souls of the disciples and they exhorted them to continue in the faith and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God. They're establishing the believers. And one of the things that we were reminded as we think about this is that tribulation is a part of the Christian life. that we are to expect trouble, tribulation in our life as Christians. Matter of fact, Hebrews 12.1 tells us we are to run with patience the race that is set before us. The writer of Hebrews describes a Christian life as a marathon and that we have to endure. that there is a course of life that God has set before us, the Christian life, when we begin the journey as a Christian, that there is a path that we are to follow. There's a race, a course that is set before us. God has a plan for our life, a path for us to follow. But as we follow that path, we have to do so with patience or endurance. In other words, it's not easy. If you've ever done any running, particularly long distance running, it's not easy. And, you know, many times you have to work through till you get your second wind and it makes it a little bit easier. You can keep going, but it's not easy. It's difficult and it takes determination. It takes that patience, that endurance. You know, your lungs are trying to tell you to quit and your legs are telling you to quit and you have to keep going to finish the race. You have to overcome all the things that are against you. And in the Christian life, there are trials and tribulations that come into our life. And the Bible tells us that we just have to keep pressing on, enduring those troubles and tribulations. And Paul was very honest with his converts. He told them, you know, your entrance into the kingdom of God comes through much tribulation. This is just a part of what it means to be a Christian. We're not in the kingdom age yet, the age when Christians will be with the Lord and will be glorified and the tribulations, the trouble will be over at that point. But right now is a time when we are working towards that, we are moving towards the days of the kingdom. And we know that in this time, as we live in this life, before that time of glory, that we're gonna have to suffer troubles and trials and tribulations and persecutions. Paul wrote to the Thessalonian church He says, when we were with you, we told you before that we should suffer tribulation, even as it came to pass, and you know. You know, everywhere that Paul went as he's preaching the gospel, he faced opposition, he faced tribulation. The churches were established in the face of persecution and opposition. And yet, Paul kept going, even on his first journey. He gets run out of town. What does he do? He goes to the next town. He gets run out of that town. What does he do? He goes to the next town. He gets stoned and left for dead. What does he do? He gets up, and he goes on to the next town. Paul understood, you know, this is a part of the Christian life. This is a part of getting out the gospel. This is the cost of being involved in the work of God. That's what it costs to do this. And we keep going. And so we face tribulation. By the way, the word tribulation is It's used in a lot of different contexts in the New Testament. It's used of the great tribulation that will come. And you know from the book of Revelation, the difficulties that people will face in that day as God is pouring out His wrath and the Antichrist is attacking people and God's people and oppressing people. It's used of a woman in labor. You ladies that have had children understand that pain. It's used of the struggles of widows and orphans, particularly in Bible times. In America, it's challenging sometimes for widows and orphans, but they're taken care of. But in Bible times, it was harder for them. If you were left widowed, they didn't have a job. They couldn't just go out and get a job and make a living. They were dependent upon others, orphans. And so the struggles that it would be for them just to survive day after day after day, that's a tribulation. Paul had a tribulation of his heart as he was concerned for the Corinthian church, as he was burdened for the spiritual well-being of the church. He describes that struggle in his heart, that burden that he had in his heart as a tribulation. It's used of Paul's sufferings in Jerusalem, of Joseph's troubles in Egypt. You kind of get the idea that trouble comes in a lot of different forms. And yet it's all part of living as a Christian. There are those today that want to say that, you know, get saved and all of a sudden all your problems are over. God has all the answers and everything's gonna be great and you're not gonna have any more problems, but that's not the picture that is painted in the Bible of the Christian life, just the opposite. Because it's through trials and tribulations that we grow. It's through trials and tribulations that the word of God is advanced. And Jesus said in John 16.33 that he wanted us to enjoy peace even though in the world we will have tribulation, trouble. And yet God wants us to have peace in the midst of all that. Paul wrote to Timothy in 2 Timothy chapter 3. And he refers to this first missionary journey when he tells Timothy, first of all, he says, you've fully known my doctrine, my manner of life, my purpose, my faith, my long suffering, my charity, and my patience, and the persecutions and afflictions which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra. Again, what happened at Antioch? He was run out of town. What happened at Iconium? He was run out of town. What happened at Lystra? He was stoned and left for dead. Timothy was from Lystra. Timothy had seen all this. He understood all this. He knew all this firsthand. Paul tells Timothy, you know all that I endured and all that I suffered, but the Lord delivered me out of them all. But he didn't want him to say this, yea, all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. Timothy, this is what you need to expect. This is normal Christianity. If you are going to determine to live a godly life, And that's the idea, all that will live godly in Christ Jesus, the word will there means to choose or to determine. If you want to live for God and serve Him, you have to understand that there's a price to pay in doing that. That if you really want to serve God and live a life that's pleasing to God and a life of holiness and a life of spiritual growth, the very fact that, you know, that's your heart, I want, man, I want to be all out for God. I want God's best for my life. I want to serve God. I want to live for God. I want to grow in Christ. Then just mark it down that when you, when that is your heart, that that is going to lead you to trouble, to tribulation. And that's not a bad, not in a bad sense, but that's what it's about. That's, that's what will happen, Paul says. And he's challenging Timothy, you know, don't, don't turn away from that, embrace that. Because, again, that's the way God helps us to grow, and it's the way that the gospel goes forward. But Paul, even as he is reminding those new believers that this is the Christian life, he's also concerned because he knows that they could turn away, they could fall by the wayside if they are not determined He's confirming the souls of the disciples. He's exhorting them to continue in the faith. You remember a man named Demas? You familiar with that name? And Paul says of Demas, he hath forsaken me having loved this present world. When things got difficult on the missionary journeys, Demas was an associate of Paul later on and things got tough and Demas decided, you know what? I'd rather enjoy the pleasure of this world than to suffer for Christ. And so he turned away. Mark had turned away in this journey. We're not told exactly why. We think it had something to do with the hardships of the journey, the hardships of the task that was given to him. He turned away. And Paul was concerned about that. He wrote to the Thessalonian believers that he had sent Timothy to them to establish them and comfort them concerning their faith. He said, I don't want anybody to be moved by these afflictions. I don't want anybody to fall away because of all this. You know, we all know believers, or professing believers, and God only knows their heart, but we know believers that have fallen away. They face some tribulation, some trouble has come into their life, and they have turned away from the Lord. And it may be, you know, a family issue, they lose a child, a husband or a wife leaves, some other trouble like that, and they just, you know, they blame God and they just turn their back on God. Well, that's, those troubles and trials that come into our life, we should not turn away from God just because of those things. We should understand that this is part of being a Christian. And even when people make bad decisions or do wrong things, and it affects us, God doesn't ordain or make them do the bad things, but God is still using those troubles and tribulations in our life for good. We know that all things work together for good to them that love God and are called according to his purpose, no matter what it is. Jesus, when he told the parable of the sower, and he talked about the different types of soil, and then he was, as the disciples asked to understand, and he was explaining it to them, and he talked about the seed that fell on the stony ground, he said, that's like people who hear the word and immediately they receive it with joy, but they don't have any root in themselves. There's no reality to it, it's just they make an emotional decision. whether it's a decision for salvation, or they're challenged about some aspect of their Christian life, and their heart is stirred, and their emotions are stirred, and they say, that's what I need to do, and they make a decision, they make a commitment, I'm gonna do that, I'm gonna get saved, or I'm gonna serve God in that way, and they make an emotional decision, but there's no depth to that decision, there's no thinking of the cost. And so Jesus said, they endure for a while, but afterward, when affliction or persecution arises for the word's sake, immediately they are offended, they fall away. Paul was concerned about these new converts. He didn't want them to fall away. And so he goes back and he challenges them, continue in the faith. Don't stop, don't quit, keep going. Tribulation, the fact that that is a part of the Christian life necessitates this confirmation, this confirming of the souls. The word confirm means to fix something so that it stands upright and immovable. It's the same word that is used to Jesus when it says that he set his face steadfastly to go to Jerusalem. He had made up his mind, he's going to the cross and nothing is gonna stop him. And that's the same word that is used here. Paul said, I want these new converts to be so settled in their faith and their trust in Christ that they won't turn aside. They understood that they needed help with this. You know, when a new tree is planted, usually you stake it so that it stands up, and you put the stakes in the ground, you put the wires out from the tree to those stakes, and you leave that there while the tree is, the roots are getting down into the soil until that tree can stand on its own, and that's kind of the idea of Paul's confirming the souls. He's like providing the stakes and the ropes that'll hold the tree in place, these new believers in place. He's helping them to understand what the Christian life is all about, to understand that this tribulation is just normal, it's part of it, and to encourage them to stand in the face of that. When a child is learning to walk, it holds on to things or people until it is steady on its feet. And so, likewise, a new believer, a young believer in Christ, or even at times immature believers need support to stand and walk as a Christian until they grow up sufficiently to stand on their own. And so that's what Paul's doing. And again, he's fulfilling the Great Commission because the Great Commission is not just making converts, it's making disciples, and they needed to be helped while they're growing. till they can stand on their own. So Paul goes back to these people that he's led to Christ, and he's helping them, providing support for them, helping them to stand, helping them to understand what they're gonna have to endure, what they're gonna face, so that they will stand, so that they won't be moved by these afflictions, and that they would continue in the faith and not turn away from the Lord. And I would remind us tonight, and I would challenge you tonight, to understand that continuing in the faith is a choice that you must make as a child of God. And continuing to practice your faith is a choice that you have to make as a child of God. No matter what happens, no matter how people treat you, no matter what happens in your life, what tribulations or troubles come into your life, make up your mind that you will not quit Don't quit. You know, we walk by faith, and one of the things that means is we don't walk by feelings. In other words, we don't do just what we feel like doing. When we are determined to serve the Lord, we press on even when we don't feel like doing it. In Galatians 6-9, Paul wrote, Let us not be weary in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap if we faint not. If we don't quit, He wrote to the Corinthian church, therefore my beloved brethren, be you steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord for as much as you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. It pays to serve the Lord. Don't quit. Don't quit. Don't quit reading your Bible. Don't quit praying. Don't quit attending church. Don't quit witnessing. Don't quit serving the Lord. Don't quit giving to the Lord. Don't quit. Just keep going. No matter how hard it gets, or difficult, no matter how you feel, don't quit. That's the message that Paul is giving these new converts. Don't quit. That's what he means when he's confirming their souls and exhorting them to continue to faith. Don't quit. Don't turn aside. Don't embrace new doctrine. Don't don't depart from the faith in that sense. But don't turn away from the Lord and stop following him and serving him and living for him. Don't do that. Keep going. It's hard. It is hard. There are days when you don't feel like it. There's Sundays when, frankly, you don't feel like getting out of bed. You know the story about the man who, it was Sunday morning, the alarm went off and the wife said to her husband, you need to get up, we need to go to church today. And he said, do I have to? And she said, yes, you have to, you're the preacher. Sometimes preachers don't feel like getting up and going to church on Sunday. But we can't live on our basis of our feelings. Keep going. Not only did he establish the believers, but he established churches for the believers. It says that when they had ordained them elders in every church. So as Paul went back to these cities, he gathered the people together and gave them spiritual leaders. The word elder there, It literally means old, but in this case it refers to spiritual maturity. It's interesting to me, and I don't have the answer to this question, but how is it that Paul, these are new believers, and yet Paul can go back almost immediately, within months of them being saved, maybe even within weeks of them being saved, and he can find mature believer, believers that are mature enough to become elders. And the only answer that I have, the only conclusion that I could come to was they've been grounded in the word because many of these believers had either been Jews or Gentiles who had been practicing Judaism. So they had a foundation in the word of God. And all of a sudden, when they come to know Jesus Christ, now they not only know the Bible, they know Christ, and the two go together, and they quickly make progress in their spiritual life because they have a solid foundation in the word of God already. And I think that must be how they were able to ordain elders so quickly in these churches, but they did, they provided spiritual leaders. And so they ordained elders. And those elders were tasked with shepherding the church and overseeing its ministry. Peter wrote in 1 Peter 5, the elders which are among you, I exhort them also an elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ and a partaker of the glory which shall be revealed. Feed the flock of God, which is among you, taking the oversight thereof. not by constraint, but willingly, not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind, neither being in lords over God's heritage, but being examples to the flock. Those are the kinds of men that Paul's putting in place in these churches, men that will feed the church, men that will oversee the spiritual well-being of the church, men that will be examples to the church of what it means to live the Christian life. And those elders are to be followed. The writer of Hebrews says, remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God. Who's he talking about? Those who have the rule over you. He goes on to tell us who they are. Those who have spoken unto you the word of God. That God gives those elders spiritual leadership and responsibility for the spiritual well-being of those under their care. That the church needs to follow its pastor. whose faith follow considering the end of their conversation, their lifestyle, obey them that have the rule over you and submit yourselves for they watch for your souls as they must give an account that they may do it with joy and not with grief for that is unprofitable to you. I want to share this one personal illustration. Recently a man passed away. that was a part of our first church, pastored in Georgia for 12 years. A man that was a very, he was a, what's the word I'm looking for? Anyway, heavily involved in the ministry. He was a very faithful member and involved in the ministry. And under my spiritual oversight as a pastor, and he passed away. And it hit me like it has never hit me before. As I thought about him standing before the Lord, and I had to ask the question, did I do what I should have done to prepare him for that day? Because that is a part of a pastor's responsibility, because we are going to stand before the Lord. The pastor and the church is going to stand before the Lord one day. And the pastor's going to give an account for whether he's done his job to prepare the church for that day, for the church to be able to give a good accounting in that day. And the church will answer for whether they have followed the pastor's leadership. If he has faithfully done his job, have they followed him and benefited from that by submitting to really the word of God as the pastor presents it? Because if he's doing his job right, he's giving you not his word, but God's word. And so it is authoritative. And so have you followed the teaching, the instruction that your pastor has given you? Because that's going to be a question for you in that day. And so Paul set these elders in the church who would have the spiritual oversight of the church to feed the church, to see after their spiritual well-being. And in doing that, he also, it tells us, he commended them to the Lord. He presented them to the Lord. They belonged to the Lord. The Lord had saved them. And you know, Paul's leaving. He set up elders, but ultimately it's God that has to work. I would write to the Philippian church, I'm confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. And so they prayed for the churches, set up elders in the churches, commended them to God, and went back to Antioch. So let me just challenge you again tonight as we close. Don't quit. Keep on for the Lord. Pray for one another. Paul, they prayed and fasted and commended them to the Lord. We ought to do that for one another, because it's the Lord that enables us to keep on. It's the Lord that enables us to grow. And then as the word is faithfully preached, submit yourself to the word of God, because that will enable you to give a good accounting in that day when you stand before the Lord. Don't come to that day and wish you had done it differently. Wish you could go back, because it'll be too late then. Just like it'll be too late for those who never trust Christ as Savior in that day, they'll not have another opportunity to be saved. We'll never have another opportunity to serve the Lord than we have right now. To live for the Lord, to be obedient to the Lord, we have that opportunity now. So don't put it off, don't delay. Serve the Lord, follow the Lord's teachings. Keep on keeping on for the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's stand for prayer. Our Father, we thank you for these closing words dealing with Paul's first missionary journey and the challenge that it sets before us. Lord, we pray that your word will bear fruit in our lives as we've considered some of these truths tonight. And Lord, we know there's much more in this passage that could be brought out, Lord, as we've studied it, this is the things that you've laid on our heart. And so I pray that it will impact our lives for our good and for your glory. We ask in Jesus name. Amen.