We're right at the last part of Acts 15, but we'll be mostly in Acts 16 tonight. So we just had a little bit of homework there at the end. Acts 15, we just left the Jerusalem council after they'd released a letter to go to the Gentiles because the Gentiles were coming in. There was some question about what they should be doing and how they should be behaving. They had gotten some people who used to be Pharisees come up to their area and tell them that they needed to be circumcised and start keeping the Mosaic law. It finally gets to where it goes back down to Jerusalem where James is kind of the head over the church and they have this meeting and he tells them that, don't worry, God's not done with the Jews. He still has a place for them. But these rules and these laws and the things that they kept are no longer needed They came up with a pretty short list under verse 29 of x15 to abstain from meats from things that are strangled from Eating and consuming blood and from fornication and everyone seems to agree that that's a pretty good list a lot of those things Predate the law they go all the way back to Noah and the flood, and if not even the garden as far as fornication and things. And so they're just kind of just good basic standards. So then they send Judas and Silas to go back to Antioch with a letter kind of supporting this. And when they send the letter and then they send them to come and teach them about that. In verse 35, let me pick up there, it says, and Paul also and Barnabas continued at Antioch, teaching and preaching the word of the Lord with many, many others also. So they're there, they're staying in Antioch and they begin to preach. And then verse 36, and some days after Paul and Barnabas Paul said unto Barnabas, let us go again and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord and see how they do. So it's been a while since the first missionary journey. It's been about four to five years, we're estimating. He says, let's go back and do some follow-up. Let's make sure that they're staying in the way. Make sure they're staying on track, that no heresy has crept in. Make sure some Judaizer hasn't got up there and teach them in this. We can share with them this new dictate that's come. as far as what to abstain from, as far as idolatry goes, and then fornication, and see if they have any other questions that might pop up. And this kind of helps make sense how they go and do this, because this is what gets us a lot of our letters, is where Paul, if he can't physically go back, he'll write a letter and say, I hope to be with you soon, or here's an issue that you have, let me address that, and he fires them off and he sends them to him. It begins to make the New Testament make more sense to you as he approaches it that way. Verse 37 says, and Barnabas determined to take with them John, whose surname was Mark. He's like, we're going to go back on this journey. I want to take John Mark with us. We talked about Barnabas and John Mark, their relationship. They're either cousins or Barnabas is John Mark's uncle. So it's either his nephew or his cousin. Some just tell you flat out cousin, but it's kind of debated. And Acts 13, 13 was on the first missionary journey is where Luke makes sure he tells us that there was an issue that during the first missionary journey that John Mark kind of bailed on them. They get back, they just come off Cyprus. Cyprus was kind of a disappointment in that whole mercenary journey. I think they only record one convert. And so they don't know whether this is it. We're not really sure why he leaves. We don't know if it's just because he's young and it gets a little bit nervous. You know, it's like, ah, things are going not like I see. We're going to some strange countries with some strange things. I don't know what's going on. I want to go home. Some talk about, well, you know, consider what this missionary journey ends up doing. They spend some time in jail. Paul's beaten. There's a time where he's stoned to death and has to be, some say, raised back to life. We talked about it. And others just say, it's like, well, he came from a rich family and he's just kind of, Ready to go home. He was like, oh, this wasn't what I thought it would be. I wanna go back home. We don't really know. But Paul felt abandoned. It's like, hey, we were counting on you. We needed you on this trip. And right in the middle of it, you take off and leave us. So he's like, no, I don't want him to go with us. Verse 38 says, but Paul thought it was not good to take him with them, who departed from them from Pamphylia. and went not with them to the work. He's like, he abandoned us the first time, I don't want him with us. Verse 39, and the contention was so sharp between them that they departed asunder, one from the other, and so Barnabas took Mark and sailed to Cyprus. And so it's so much that the team, the tag team of Barnabas and Paul split up. Barnabas and Mark take the lower half. So they kind of divide up the trip that they were on. And so they stay in the Southern area. Paul's gonna, we'll see him meet up with Silas here. They're gonna go on the Northern work. But I think this is telling. Barnabas's name means son of encouragement. I don't know whether it's because John Mark is his nephew or his cousin, his family of some sort. But he's like, this boy's got potential. And he fights for that where Paul's like, I don't need potential. I need somebody who's gonna do the work. We don't need somebody bailing on us again. I don't wanna have that ministry on top of me. But I will say through that, two missionary groups end up going out. And so Paul takes on Silas and Barnabas and John Mark go down south. And so now they're going twice the area with more people. I will also say, you know, because you go through this a lot of contention, who was right, who was wrong? I don't know. But I also know, I think because Barnabas was the son of encouragement, because he did vest in him, we're beneficiaries. of the time that he put in with John Mark. Turn with me and help you go on a search to find the book of Philemon. Happy hunting. It's not one we go with very often. And so Philemon is to the right. I'll give you that clue. Philemon chapter one, which is an interesting short little book about slavery, but. But this is one of those letters where Paul is now writing on behalf of a friend. Then verse 24, Philemon one, verse 24 says, Marcus or John Mark, Artarchus and Demas and Lucas, my fellow laborers. And so Mark finds himself back in good standings with Paul. He calls him a fellow laborer. He's like, okay, I see some benefit. You've learned and you've done some work. Turn with me to second Timothy chapter four. Oh, sorry. Sword drills, sword drills, come on. 2 Timothy chapter four. 2 Timothy four and verse 11. This is Paul's last letter. He's near his death. We think he's in prison here, so it's right before he goes to be beheaded. But he writes this in 2 Timothy chapter four, verse 11. He says, only Luke is with me. But he says, take Mark and bring him with thee, for he is profitable to me for the ministry. And so he's writing a request and he's saying, when you come to visit, will you bring John Mark? I think he could be profitable for me. I would need to see him. And so whatever the rub was gets mended. I think the time and the effort that Barnabas puts in pays off because John Mark ends up becoming the amanuensis or a good friend with Peter. And then we have Peter's account of the gospel through the gospel of Mark. John Mark writes that for him. And John Mark's been around for a while. And the Mark account, which is also called the shooting script of the gospels because it says things like they sat down on green grass or they immediately went over here. It's kind of like a book of action and it has a lot of little weird details that they call it like a descriptive shooting script. But in that story, in his account, he tells a story that's not in others about when Jesus is being arrested that there's a guy who like, flees and runs away and kind of loses his clothes in doing it, but he's so desperate to get out of there, he runs and hides and everybody's thinking, that was John Mark telling on himself. He's like, yeah, I abandoned there. I'm in the book of Acts for abandoning. but God fixes wounded things. He's the one who mends the broken reeds, the bruised reeds or the smoldering axe. He's the one to go back and fan it into a flame again. And so that's good. And so I think Barnabas did his ministry and Paul had his ministry and they separated and the two came back together. And so I think that's encouraging. And so I'm glad for encouragers in my life and my ministry. I appreciate the encouraging notes I get and I know that others do as well. Encouragement, we can never have enough of. appreciation, thankfulness, kind words spoken among the brethren. The devil does his best to try to attack, to break down, destroy. And if he can do it in the church, and if he can make it bad that way, he wins a victory. And we're supposed to be on the same side fighting for this. So encouragement goes such a long way. So even in this little division, knowing that it was mended and that was, you know, eventually things were right is a great thing. And so that's pretty cool that that comes up there. We go back to Acts. Sadly, we don't hear from Barnabas again, because now the pathway is going to change and we're going to just follow Paul and Cyrus, but we'll pick up there in verse 40. It says, and Paul chose Silas and departed being recommended by the brethren unto the grace of God. And he went through Syria and Sicily, Sicily. that place, Cilicia, thank you, confirming the churches. So he goes back and just kind of confirms the things they've been taught and he gets on with it. So now we're ready for Acts 17. Verse one, yeah, I wrote 17, 16, sorry, I can't count. Verse one, then came he to Derbe and Lystria, and behold, a certain disciple was there named Timotheus, the son of a certain woman who was a Jewess and believed, but his father was a Greek. So this is where we meet Timothy. And so Acts chapter 16, sorry, I said 17. Linda corrected me. And so, Yeah, new Betty, yeah. We think Timothy's pretty young here, teenager-ish, maybe 20, but at the most. We think he was in the crowd during Paul's first missionary journey when he was near Derbe and Lystra. He has a Jewish mother, it tells us here, and a Greek father, so he's half Jewish. He has a good testimony, verse two says, which was well reported of by their brethren that were in Lystra and Iconium. So he has a good reputation, like this boy's on the ball. He wants to learn, he wants to serve. Verse three. Says, him would Paul have to go forth with him. He's like, I think he'd be good work. I lost a young man in John Mark. You know, he departed from me. Maybe this guy will stay with it. Maybe Paul just needed some young hands to kind of carry stuff and help him out on things. Paul would have him go forth with him. And he took and circumcised him because of the Jews, which were in those quarters, for they all knew that his father was a Greek. which kind of seems like odd timing. Paul is the one fighting real hard about circumcision not being a big thing in the previous chapter. And now he turns around and he circumcises him, which kind of puts some people like, wow, is he backsliding here? But I think it's mainly because he is Jewish. Now we have other encounters where he picks, I think it's Titus and stuff, where he doesn't do that with them because they're Gentiles. It's no big deal, but he's like, because of the Jews and they're gonna make a big stink about this, let's just go ahead and we'll be done with it so that they don't have any other arguments. And it seems like Timothy must've been okay with it. So they go along with it and do it. And so it just seems kind of odd that right after we fight about that, it's not a thing that he does it. But I think he just kind of thought this would be a lot easier. And so they do it. And so I don't know. I don't know how often they checked. Are you Jewish? I don't know why that's going on. I'm always kind of curious about that. Like how often is that? I don't know. I'm glad for dividers in the bathrooms. But somehow they always know. And so he deals with it and I'm glad we're out of that time. I would imagine it would have been a question. Because he's coming into the presence of the Jews in the synagogues and they know that he's half Greek Probably just gonna it's gonna come up, huh? Yeah. Yeah, they did. I did find it interesting. I think Notes here later. No, that's right here, but That The mother would have probably really instilled Judaism with him. I mean, it seems like she's the one who took part of the instruction. And we see that later with Moses. You know, you see that with his mom that instructs him and other places. And it is interesting because I heard in Israel today, your Jewishness is determined by your mother. And it's very Jewish way in which they do it and why they do it that way. They're like, a mom, we know she's your mother. Your dad could be questionable. She can say it's him, but is it him? You know, maybe it's somebody else. And so they're just kind of pragmatic in that way. There's no argument about who the mother is. She's sitting right here. We want you to deliver a baby. So they determine your Jewishness by your mother, by the female line in that way, which is kind of odd, but you know, it's also like, I don't know, tells about some morality over there, I guess. I don't know. But it's determined by that. And so there's always a question who the dad might be, but we can know for sure who the mother is. And so, But, you know, so we move on. So hopefully this is an issue that could come up much more. Verse four, and when they had went through the cities, they delivered them the decrees for to keep, you know, so they take the letters that they've had from the council that were ordained by the apostles and the elders, which were at Jerusalem about the whole blood and the fornication and the strangling things and the idols. They deliver that to him as well. Verse five, and so were the churches established in the faith and increased in numbers daily. So they go and they meet with all these and they check up with them and they're all doing good and they're encouraged in it. So now he's gonna go elsewhere, verse six, or five and six, or verse six, sorry, yeah. So now when they had gone throughout Phrygia and the region of Galatia, and they were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia. If you're like me, we read that, and we're like, I wonder how that happened. You know, the Holy Spirit, no. You know, what? We'll talk about it here in a little bit. Verse seven. So it says, and after they were come to Mycenae, they stayed to go to Bithynia, but the Spirit suffered them not. Like, they're not gonna go that way, too. So it seems like they're on a journey, but now somehow the Spirit's telling them, and they change direction. Verse eight. And then passing by Masia, they came down to Troas, verse nine, and a vision appeared to Paul in the night. And there stood a man in Macedonia and prayed him saying, come over into Macedonia and help us. So he has a vision, not a dream. It's at nighttime, but he's not asleep. So it's a vision that it's something that he sees. But now he has some clear directions. So it seems like the Spirit's been steering them a little bit by frustrating their paths a few ways, but now he's got a clear thing. We're gonna go to Macedonia. That's why we're saying send the light. We have the Macedonian call. Come, give us the gospel. Send the light, the blessed gospel light. And missionaries get that call. I had a missionary to Brazil check in with me today, and he was like, is it really as cold as they're saying up there? And I'm like, yeah, he's like, you can keep it. So I'm like, all right. But he was checking in saying he likes his warmer weather better. But, so he gets a vision. And verse 10. Well, before we get there, there's a lot of people that spend a lot of time on this vision wondering who the man is that he sees. I mean, if I just hear it's a vision, I'd just be like, okay, you got a vision. But there's people that have time where they speculate about, I wonder who he saw. And a lot of people have come to the conclusion they think he saw Luke. That it was Luke saying, come, because this city has the place where the medical school was, where he probably would have spent time. And then Luke shows up with him in the next first week. We kind of got a we earlier in a previous chapter that it seems like that Luke was with them, but we for sure have them here in verse 10. It says, and after he had seen the vision immediately, we endeavored to go to Macedonia and assuredly gathered that the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel unto them. So from my mind, it seems like Luke's already with them. So I wouldn't think, but it's kind of weird that they'd speculate it. But either way, somehow someone says we need the gospel. I would liken it into the reports we get now from Islam. where they're like, there'll be a man on the street corner. He'll tell you about Jesus. And they go to the street corner and like, were you the man in the vision? And the missionaries will be down there being like. Yeah, am I dressed like that? I guess I am. I can tell you about Jesus Christ. Is that what you want? They say, yes. I know, I read the book, I think Angel 2, seeking Allah, finding Jesus. Yeah, it's pretty incredible where he tells about things like that. And I've heard countless stories. Missionaries are saying that that's happening all the time, that people are seeking, honoring God, and yet God is giving them because dreams and vision is a big part of what Islam is, that he's using that. But they have to still talk to a person. And they still have a representative who shows up and teaches them. And so I'd recommend that book. I had it on audio. Did you have a physical copy? Yeah, but it. It is very good. Yeah, I'm getting the goosebumps now thinking about it. It's one of those that's really good. I'd recommend it. Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus. It's a good one. They kind of have stories like this man's journey. So verse 11. So it says, therefore, loosing from Troas, we came straight on the course to Samaritha, I love the names, and the next day to Neapolis, and from thence to Philippi, which is a chief city of the part of Macedonia, and a colony, and we were in the city abiding certain days." So now this was a big major city. It was a medical city. And so now they get the straight course. And it even says there in verse 11 that they came down with a straight course. And now that's interesting that the Navy people look at that and they're like, oh, that means they had the wind behind them and they were able to sell faster. And the scholars that have searched this, they find later they take the same course and the same passage takes them five days where this one took them two days. They were like, man, they must've had a favorable wind to get there in two days. You'll notice Luke must really like sailing and like boats, because he's pretty detailed about all the trips that they take and how they do it, and he writes it down. And I think that's pretty cool. But they end up in Philippi or the Dardanes, Dardania, which is basically seen as the boundary into Europe. And so now we've come out of the Asia area and the Middle East, and we're getting the gospel for the first time into Europe. And I gotta, I went to sleep on me. Give it a minute. I was wondering how long it'd stay awake. The cool news device that John found. And so I wanted to, I'm always curious about where these things are. And so where he is now, so he's come through, he hasn't been to Crete in this trip yet, but he was up into Turkey, but he's come over to right there, right near here, there's Macedonia, right in the middle where Philippi is right in this area. Let's see. There it is on a map where we can all recognize the boot of Italy. So here's where Antioch, where they started the trip out. He's come over to Derbe, Lystria, Iconium, goes back to Antioch, a different Antioch. Comes over to Troas, we just mentioned. Now he's at Nepalis, and there he's up at the northern part, Philippi. And this is where they're in past the Dardanians, or in the Dardanes, where he's in the European area. And so it's pretty neat to think about because this is what starts affecting you and I, as most of us are European descent. You know, let's go over the sons of Japheth. that the gospel goes and spreads forth from there. And it gives me appreciation of the dangers of these missionary journeys, because when you look at any of these European tribes at this point in time, they're terrifying. I mean, terrifying. Read an account of Boniface, or Boniface is what it looks like, about how he goes. These guys were brave. These guys are, these Viking-type Nordic, yeah, these are scary, let alone all the other people down there. Scary things, and they're going in and preaching the gospel. But it comes to this. wanted to go to, but he kept getting turned away. They were more than ordinary. They were in this area down here. He'll eventually get there and churches will go there. But yeah, so, but for some reason, God's like, don't go there yet. And we'll address, one of them will come up here in just a minute. But yeah, so he's keeping them away from areas where they're gonna go. So God's timing is perfect, right? And so we say that, and we're kind of seeing this flesh out here. Like, I need you to go this way. It'll be established. It's basically all the area where the seven churches of revelation are. That's the whole area that the Holy Spirit avoided him going to. And so, The Philippi is a city that was a major It was a source of a battle. I think it was one of the benefits of the whole Et tu, Brute? And Cassius and Brutus and they overthrow him and there's a battle that holds there. And so when through one of the, Cassius was so happy about them happening that he goes back to that city and he gives Philippi Roman citizenship. And they are very proud of that Roman citizenship that gave them a lot of power and authority. Paul's gonna use that later in this chapter about how his Roman citizenship gives him certain rights and protections, kind of like US citizens. We kind of have a privilege around the world for being, We used to. And so we're trying to gain it back. Privilege for being a U.S. citizens around the world to try to bring things back. And so they were pretty proud of that. It's to the point, they'll kind of come up in this chapter, but in the book of Philippians, which is written to these guys, in 320, he says, Paul reminds them, your citizenship is in heaven. Let's remember that. It's not that you just have a Roman citizenship. The true citizenship you should be proud of is your citizenship in heaven. And so we're reminded about that as well. We're children of God more than we are Americans. That we are here as strangers, pilgrims, ambassadors. It's hard for us not to picture God's throne and have an American flag over his right-hand shoulder. That's probably not the case. Probably not the case at all. Is he for us? He had been, I'd like to make him for us again. I think as a nation, if we can turn it, we want it to be for us at least. We want to try to have a revival in the nation to bring it back around. But I saw a map, I saw it was a picture the other day and I forget that country it was from, but it was showing Jesus fighting the devil and it had all the flags with him. And they had us listed on the devil's side and they were on Jesus' side and it was a European country. And it was like, oh, they see us as the great Satan. And we see us as the great, And so Satan causes division, and he likes doing that, but Roman citizenship is gonna play a part here. Yeah. Oh, I had that in here next, I think. Or I had it back, nope, that's my next thing. Come on. It was Serbia, just south of Romania, and I think it was, Yeah, Kosovo. I think it was that. I'm trying to think. The other map didn't have it either. It was the more Pauline map. No. I even looked to make sure. I thought, oh, I won't put my notes so I'll remember. But I think it was Kosovo. Just south of Kosovo there. Now I see it. I still, Levi probably Googled it by here in a minute. He's usually double checking me. But what does that one say? Nope, that's the old map. But yeah, it's an area that I found that I'm woefully unfamiliar with. And so Romania, I remember when the kids were at Tabernacle, they had a missionary to Romania. And the thing that they came home to tell them was like, this guy talked about, he went over a hill and got to the next hill and he came to a village. that they were living like knights and kings and stuff back in King Arthur times. So there might've been an occasional car, but it was pulled by a horse. And they didn't know anything that was going on in the outside world, that the mountains were so hilly and they were still separated and isolated. They were living still like it was the days of the middle ages. It's like, and now that's crazy. You know, that was going on. And so, yeah, that's a rough, different area there. And so verse 13 says, And on the Sabbath, you know, so they're in Philippi. On the Sabbath, we went out of the city by a riverside where prayer was wont to be made. And we sat down and spake unto the women which resorted thither. And so this tells us that in Philippi, there was no synagogue. Because Paul's habit, as we know, is he goes to the Jews first and then to the outermost part. You know, he goes in that way. And so there is no synagogue. And I guess the rules for there being a synagogue is that you need at least 10 Jewish men. And so there's not even 10 Jewish men. And if there is no synagogue, the Jews then had, well, where do we meet? We're gonna gather, we're here, we're Jewish, where do we meet? They would meet by a river. And so they'd go to a river and he's like, well, why? And I'm like, I had a verse immediately popped into mind. I couldn't find anybody else who supported it, but I'm like, I think I know why they did that. I think because of the Babylonian captivity. The Babylonian captivity, they went to a river. And I can show you, if you go to Psalm 137, But they mostly said, because it was a quiet place, it's a place secluded, living waters, and yeah, there's a lot of scriptural things I can think of, but I think that this one plays into it. When they were taken out of their land, before there were synagogues, when there was just a temple, Psalm 137 verse one says, by the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down. Yea, we wept when we remembered Zion. It's like they didn't have their temple anymore. They were taken out of their temple. The temple had been destroyed. And so they went by the river to gather to meet. And so I think that tradition continued. Personally, it says, we hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. For there they carried away us captive, required us a song, that they that wasted us required us mercy. Sing us one of the songs of Zion. Which makes me really curious about their music, enough that even the lost people are like, sing us one of those songs when you're talking about Zion. I know that, was you telling me that they all had like a little dance, that the Jews put on a performance as they would sing their songs. But because she's been to, huh? About this, yeah. So, but you know, it's just that, hey, sing one of those songs. I don't know, how can we be happy about it? You tore down our temple. We're out of our land. You know, we're not gonna do it. So they hung them up. It kind of ends rough here. Verse says, how shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land? If I forget the old Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. And so they're lamenting. So I would think this would be proper what they would talk about. We're not in our home country now. We're remembering our home country. We're in Philippi. Let's meet by the river. We'll sing the songs of Zion. We'll talk about these things. Verse six, if I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth. If I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy. "'Remember, O Lord, the children of Edom "'in the day of Jerusalem, who said, "'Raise it, raise it, even the foundations thereof.'" He's like, remember those guys that said, tear it down. Verse eight, "'O daughter of Babylon, who art to be destroyed, "'happy shall he be that rewardeth thee "'as thou has served us.'" They're like, oh, you might be winning now, but we know God ultimately wins and he's going to judge you. Verse nine is where it gets rough. Happy shall he be that taketh and dashes thy little ones against the stones. Ouch. They're looking for some vengeance to be paid out and that we're gonna be rescued and that they're going to destroy you. But if we go back to Acts 16 here, I have it right in my notes. So I think that's why. So they're gathered there. Plus river, you know, we always kind of gather at a bank of a river, you know, most people. And so it turns out there's a ladies group that is here meeting, because it's probably a pretty place. And I don't know what, if it's the Purple Guild, because we know Lydia is a, maker of purple, so some have speculated that. But verse 13 says, on the Sabbath day, we went out of the city by the riverside. Where prayer was want to be made, they were gonna go there to prayer. We sat down and spake unto the women, which resorted hither. So there was a ladies group that was there, verse 14. And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, like I said, that was a very specific thing, how they made it. And so there was like a guild that they have found in Thyatira that talks about it, of the city of Thyatira, which worshiped God, heard us, whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of by Paul. had been working on her heart and preparing it. She hears the truth of the gospel. She becomes saved and it ends up affecting her whole family. And so I look at verse 16. Oh, before I move on. So here, the first convert in Europe is a woman, which is pretty cool. And so some have even called this portion of the chapter, the European invasion. And so now the gospel has now invaded Europe and it starts with the lady Lydia. We have a man who follows closely thereafter. We won't get to him tonight, but they mentioned here's Thyatira. That was one of the towns that they'd skipped. And so some theorized that maybe Lydia went back to Thyatira and then maybe that's how the church gets established in there. We're not sure, but it's pretty interesting. Before we go forward, so the Lord has moved them by stopping a couple of different paths to make sure that they go through this way to get up into Philippi to be able to reach the first European convert, Lydia. So how did the Holy Spirit stop them? We read it now and we're kind of like, man, I wish I lived in the days of Acts where God just, you know, Holy Spirit just said, no, don't go that way, and yes, go this way. I wish for that. How often have I had that in my life? Not very. It's been more like, Lord, please. Many times here on Wednesday night, Lord, give us discernment, right? Lord, give us discernment in this area. Give us discernment in that area that we would do these things. Yeah. So I think as Luke writes this, it's in hindsight. It could be the first time they tried to go to that town. Paul was sick. We couldn't make it that day. Hey, Timothy had a sore foot. He wasn't able to work, so we laid an extra day. We missed a chance. That road was closed. Now we had to go another way. We went this way. It was blocked. Maybe the boat wasn't gonna go that way that day or something, whatever. And so Luke sees it that way, and as he looks back, it's like, the Lord prevented us from going those ways. Now we've gone this way, and the gospel's been taken to Europe. So I think some of it's hindsight, yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Threw me in jail now, all of a sudden. Yeah, yeah, he just didn't give us the details. I wish he'd do that this day, today. He does. Every time doors get closed for us, that we never know what would have happened because the door was closed. So we didn't go that way. And things happen, yep, no. There's been times where it's like, oh, I had a flat tire, then I get up the road later and it's like, oh, it was a bad accident. Do I have a flat tire that stopped me from having a bad accident? And I thank the Lord for that flat tire. I'm late to work, I got yelled at, but hey, I'm glad it happened. I went to the birth of my grandson Jacob in the middle of the summer. My daughter-in-law's sister was there and we're in the waiting room for way too long. And I told him I would give that hotel a one-star rating. The chairs were horrible to sleep in. It was a bit, you know, it's like, you know, but a baby's being born and we stayed outside and we waited. She just comes skating in because she just left a Bible camp down by the river. And she goes, when she left, we were sitting around bored, waiting in the waiting room, waiting for a baby to be born. And she was telling me, she was, when I left, it was a magician. It'd probably be somebody you'd like. And he was doing this neat trick, and she starts describing this trick. And I'm like, that's legit magic. That's a legit trick. That's not like, you know, what I do, you know, with a coloring book or something. You know, it's like, oh, that's a legit, you know, I'd take some money to have that trick. And I'm like, I got his information. And so I sent him an email and asked him and he said, hey, I am booked till spring. There is no way I can make it. And I was like, oh man, I really wanted you to come in October. You know, that's Houdini's birthday. Halloween magic kind of go together. It'd have been a great way for an outreach. Well, the church that he was scheduled for had some construction that took longer than they thought. And so they had an opening that came up that allowed him to be able to be, here in October, where we were able to get into five schools, three public schools, where he was able to go and pass out tickets in two Christian schools. And we were able to sell out the Art Craft Theater to the point where they had to write signs with marker, because they didn't have a sold out sign. And because we had standing room over, people asked for another night, but his time schedule didn't work out that way. But we had scores of people respond to the gospel. I would say now looking back, all those things that the Lord was moving and working. He had an engine break down and that had us kind of team up with a missionary that played a part in Joel's salvation, you know, when he was younger that we knew and got to know his son that he's here. So a lot of different things that turned out in hindsight that the Lord was working, opened doors, shut doors, moved him here. The Christian school that he got to speak at, he was later able to go back and present and do a week there. And they were able to have two or three nights because the demand was so good and souls were saved. And so, yeah, it still works. And so sometimes we needed to stop and look backwards and see how God steered through that and acknowledge him in it. I remember a preacher whose house caught on fire and his guitar was damaged and the places he was trying to take it didn't work out. So he contacted a guy in Princess Lakes that worked on guitars and he delivered it to a show that he was doing right here that he was gonna present for us. Willie was gonna sing. So he comes, delivers it, sits here, just recently got saved. Is that not right? Right around there. Leave the place kind of a wreck a little bit because like all these things come flooding in. Dave Carmody, he goes on to have a YouTube channel where he talks about guitars and presents the gospel, shared with over 40,000 people last year. I think God was moving and working in those things. I think God was doing that. And I could do that a whole bunch more times in this room. how God has moved and worked and drawn things together. We can give God the glory for how things are lining up. Some stories are just being written. Some are still in the middle and the throes of it, but God is moving and God is working. And so it's pretty cool to stop and think, God moves in our congregation. God moves among this people. We need to remember that and not see all the bad things or all the things going on in the world. And where is God? He's here. He's still moving. He's still working. Do we seek his face? Do we ask for direction? Do we see it all as negative? Or do we see that maybe God was moving in that? Maybe God was working in that. If you seek through that, God's gonna move all the more easier. I take heart in that. I'm encouraged by that, that God of the universe is in our midst. moving and working in his people. I think that's exciting. And I'm glad for a passage like this that puts those little hints in there to say, think on that. That's good things to think on. Verse 16. It says, and it came to pass that as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with the spirit of divination met us, which brought her master as much gain by susane. Hmm, this is interesting. Divination there is, Interesting, it's the word python. You're like, like the snake? Kind of like the snake, python. It's the oracle of Delphi. Anybody ever heard of the oracle of Delphi? Oh, I went to sleep again. I bet you a hundred percent it was a serpent. That was telling this girl. And so a Python there starts for a pathenia. It was a serpent that dwelt in the land that used to be called Pytho or Pythos. And it was said to guard the Oracle of Delphi. And this was this girl that would get possessed. and give proclamations. It was said later that Apollo, the Greek God Apollo slayed Python. He was his enemy and took care of him. So this was a spirit of divination. This was a connection to the underworld is how it's tied together to foresee a diviner. The Oracle of Delphi is probably one of the most famous oracles in the pagan world, especially in the ancient world. And all accounts of it, don't pass it off as a trick or somebody who's just manipulating, some clever magician who comes in and get you to manipulate you to make you think it was something. They all talk about that there was something with it, there was something about it. They were said that this girl, it was always a girl, she would be possessed by Apollo. And her temple was at the bottom of Mount Parnassus. And, advice was thought by different leaders. They would come to her about all kinds of things to find out whether to go to war, whether they should fight this battle or not, laws that they should make, whether they should do those. They come to her about everything. There were certain days that they were allowed to kind of seek her out all the more. But they said that, this is her there, she's sitting on, they said it was always like a tripod chair. that she would chew the laurel leaf, kind of like the laurels of a crown. She would chew on those, because the laurel tree was associated with Apollo. And that they think that there were gases, they talked about gases of a fissure that was in a cleft in the rock that she would sit over in this spot in the bottom of a cave. And that they said it would come over her and that she would have this power to be able to, to tell the future, to be able to foresee the future, which the Bible prohibits quite a bit. There you can see she's on a three-footed stool, sitting on some vapors that are coming up as people are waiting for her to answer as she channels, breathes these gases and channels whatever the answer to the question is. I got one more Iraq. Well, how do we know? It could just be an artist rendering, but we do have some artwork left for that time where she's sitting. She's got her little laurel leaf, whatever thing she's drinking. She's on a tripod, kind of a stool as they would ask her a question. In that area, this area, the Greeks thought they called it the navel of the earth or the belly button of the earth. They thought it was where civilization started. And there's a spot that they called the navel. It's a big circle spot and it's very near where the Oracle of Delphi would be. It seems like she had power. These guys are making money off her. If she's wrong all the time, they would quit. You know, it's not Cleo that used to be on the 1-800 number. That's the 80s reference for those of you who watch TV in the 80s. We don't call it much like divination or susane now. It's usually like channeling or something like that. They open up and I'm gonna be a portal. I'm gonna let the other world speak through me. There's nothing new in the new age. It's all old thing repackaged for the new consumer. And it's all wrong. The Bible is against it. God says, you seek me, you trust me. You don't go some other way. Verse 16, it came to pass as she went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with the spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by Sussane. The same followed Paul and us and cried saying, these men are the servants of the Most High, which show unto us the way of salvation. Clearly see why they're mad at her, she's got it wrong. No, she's got it right, right? This is the way of salvation. These men are from God, they're telling it that. But Paul gets irritated, look at the... Verse 18, and this did she many days. She follows him around saying the same thing. These men are the men of God. These men are telling us the way of salvation. But Paul being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ, come out of her. And at the same, and she came out that same hour. So this demon leaves her that same hour. We'll get to the ramifications of that next week. But what she said was right. So why didn't they just let her continue on? Why did it bug them? See, Jesus, it was the same way. The demons would always be, this is the son of God. This is him. Why have you come to torment us before the time? They knew that there was judgment that was facing them, right? They knew it and they would say it. And Jesus was like, be quiet, shut up. I don't want you saying these things. Why? because say she sits there, say they let this go on, so Paul and Silas are there, say they're there three weeks, three months, whatever it is, and she sits there, yes, these guys are right, yes, they're right on, and then they leave, and then she's like, oh, these guys are right, they'll tell you the right thing. Oh, you know something they forgot to tell you? You gotta make sure you do X, Y, Z, or you can't do this, that, and the other thing. And you know, you can really miss a target if you're off by one degree. Doesn't seem like much, but in sailing, they say if you're one degree off and you go for a real long time, you're thousands of miles away from your destination. That's where the devil does his work, being so close, so close. Yeah, at some point, he's a high ascended master, he's an avatar that'll show us the way. Just enough truth in there to get you to buy the hook and to take it in that way. Street preachers have talked about how you'll have your group, you pray, you come together, you start preaching, then some of the congregation, that's right, brother, you're preaching to brother, then that guy will go over and start a fight with somebody. Now that taints anything that you've been trying to do because we didn't know who this guy was, you know what they're doing, or they were like, in the middle start trying to pass out their information and they're Jehovah Witnesses or they're Mormons trying to get them that way. And he's like, they'll always try to come in seeming like they have the truth, but they'll do something just a little bit off to throw it away, which leads to disaster. And so Paul's like, no, we're stopping this now and there's not gonna be ramifications from this, but we're gonna show you and we're gonna reveal it for what it is. Yeah, Tim. Yeah, so no validation to, yeah, okay, she might be saying this right, yeah, but yeah, nothing, don't believe. Well, he don't suffer him to live, right? Looks like we need to stop it. And so I guess in Paul's way, at least, no, we just cast the demon out and there's no more there. We're gonna see that that doesn't get him in any small trouble. It gets him in a lot of small, big trouble as it happens, but. God moves and works and all that too. And we get the first male convert through it. And it's pretty interesting. That's where we get the term bringing down the house. That comes up and so especially from singing. And so some interesting things with the music, what they sing, what they're doing. I encourage you to kind of read ahead and we'll come back and we'll take that on next week. So I appreciate you being here.