Amen. Let us turn our confessional reading This evening, page 212 in the Forms and Prayers, we looked at really the beginning of question and answer 27. Last week, in many ways, we'll still be considering the last part of that. Leaf and blade, rain and drought, fruitful and lean years, food and drink, health and sickness, prosperity and poverty, all things in fact. come to us not by chance but by his fatherly hand. And so we persevere. We press on through whatever the season is that we have. And that's what question 28 focuses in on. And we'll be thinking especially about the adversity that the apostles face in Acts chapter 14. But our reading is question answer 28. It's page 212, I'll read the question, question 28 together, let's say the answer. How does the knowledge of God's creation and providence help us? We can be patient in adversity, thankful in prosperity, and for the future we can have good confidence in our faithful God and Father. that no creature will separate us from his love for all creatures are so completely in his hand that without his will they can neither move nor be moved. So our confessional reading let's turn now to Acts chapter fourteen. We were in Acts 14 last week as well for question answer 27. For those who were here, we read about Paul and Barnabas at Lystra, how the people there thought that they were Zeus and Hermes. They try to worship them. Paul and Barnabas tear their clothes. They say, no, you cannot do this. But even with these words, they scarcely restrained the people from offering sacrifice to them. That was 14, verse 18. We pick up now at verse 19, and we'll read through 23. After the gospels comes Acts, page 1,174, most of the few Bibles. Acts chapter 14, beginning with verse 19. But Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and having persuaded the crowds, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead. But when the disciples gathered about him, he rose up and entered the city. And on the next day, he went up with Barnabas to Derbe. When they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, They returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith and saying that through many tribulations, we must enter the kingdom of God. And when they had appointed elders for them in every church with prayer and fasting, they committed them to the Lord. in whom they had believed. So far the reading, the grass withers, the flower fades. The word of our Lord endures forever. Dear congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, persecution of others for the Christian faith is real. The Christians who are different from the world, we are called to be different, are often the targets of persecution. It's true that there are others who are persecuted, who are driven from their home, who are made to become wanderers and sojourners, but the Christian faith, is often singled out and has often been singled out. Or if it's not singled out, it's going to be on the list, we might say. And so we think even of the list in Afghanistan. Who is on that list? Well, the young, growing church in Afghanistan. The church which is very small, but growing rapidly. The church which has had measures of freedom over the last years. They are now being targeted. they are on the list. And so Mindy Bells, an editor for World Magazine, she reported this, that the Taliban said, quote, they know where the church house leaders are and what they are doing. And this is clearly coming as a threat. The young, growing, small church in Afghanistan is on the list. And certainly if we think about a much larger church, a huge amount of the Christians on the whole world, we think of the Christian brothers and sisters in China and how they are targeted. They are on the list. Well, this is not new. Many have faced even life-threatening persecutions throughout the centuries because of Christian beliefs. And so it is here for the apostles. They have even life-threatening persecution in their adversity as they continue to go through Asia Minor. And we see in this text then, after even the very attempt on the life of the Apostle Paul, a pattern for what to do in the face of adversity. And we'll say this again, but let us already pause and say here. If these are the kinds of things which the apostles and the new disciples and new believers did in the face of adversity and persecution, how much more ought we to be sure that we continue in these kinds of things when we're not facing life-threatening persecutions? as we are not now, and hopefully we will not have to, though we never know what the future comes. And so here's a pattern for what to do in the face of persecution. Here's patterns for how we are to be together as the people of God at all times. So our theme this evening is when adversity comes, believers stay together and we see even some specific things that believers are to do together suffer persecutions together open the word together reinforce confidence together and build the church together. So first this suffering of persecution the The persecution here is of the extreme variety. The Jews who deny Jesus, they've followed Paul and Barnabas all this way. are now going to attempt to put Paul to death in the Jewish form of capital punishment, which is stoning. They've been following and seeking after Paul and disrupting him for many miles. We can look back at 14 verse two. But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers. And here in Lystra, they come and they're able to convince the people of Lystra that stoning is necessary. You know, the people of Lystra just tried to worship Paul and Barnabas. Now that Paul and Barnabas have convinced them that they are human, that this ought not to be done, they are now disappointed by the humanness of Paul and Barnabas. They now see them as spiritually strange. They say, you can do whatever you want, put him to death. So the Jews take up stones, they throw them at the Apostle Paul and they drag him out of the city and they leave him for dead. But the Apostle Paul is not alone. Now, in verse 20, when the disciples gathered about him, we don't know who these disciples were. Were these disciples who had come from another town? Were these some who had believed within Lystra? Probably it's a few that had believed within Lystra. We might think of the man who was crippled and he was saved and he had faith. Maybe he's one of the ones. Maybe this is one of the first places he walks as he walks to go be with the Apostle Paul and to care for the one who he thinks has been put to death. Perhaps Timothy. Timothy is from Lystra. It's possible he is one of the disciples who gathers around the Apostle Paul here. But whoever it is, this is what's important. They are there. In the face of life-threatening persecution, For the Apostle Paul who's been publicly humiliated and dragged through the city when they thought he was dead, they do not abandon him. They go out. They stand around him. And then of course they find out he is not dead. God has preserved him. God still has work for the Apostle to do. And then the Apostle Paul will not abandon others because of the distress that he is facing. People of God, in the best times of blessing and in the severest times of distress, let us be together as believers. Let us go outside the city gate. Let us walk to find our fellow believers. Let us be together. Let us never abandon. The Apostle Paul was not abandoned, and as we'll see as we continue to march through this text, the Apostle Paul will be diligent to not abandon others. Let us be together. And the Apostle makes it clear in another place that the greatest reason we can suffer together is because we follow the example of Christ who suffered first. And so Paul speaks in Philippians 2, our assurance of pardon passage this morning about Christians being united, having the same mind together and following the example of the obedience of Jesus Christ. Or the Apostle Peter says it simply this way in 1 Peter 2 verse 21, for to this you have been called because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example so that you might follow in his steps. So we suffer together and we open the word together. This takes us to our second point. Notice here, Paul and Barnabas, they depart for Derby the next day. And now, once they're in Derby, they have a decision to make. You see, in Derby, they have almost made a complete circle. They could just continue on their way. It could continue on a familiar road. I might encourage you even to take out a map of Paul's first missionary journey and look at this later this week. They are making a circle, and to get back to where they started would not be that difficult. There's a short road. There's an available option. A familiar option because what is one of the cities on that short route? It's Tarsus. Where is Paul from? Paul is from Tarsus. There is a shorter, much shorter route available to them. They could just finish the loop. They could go through Paul's hometown and they could be back where they started. They have a decision to make. They could do that or They could take the much longer, much more difficult journey, retracing their steps, spending the emotional energy to encourage new believers that they had just met in their journey out, possibly facing the persecution which they have had in many of these cities, and of course, all the physical energy of retracing all those steps. What are they gonna do? Are they gonna take the hard road or the easier road. Well, they're going to retrace their steps. They're gonna pour out the energy it requires to be together with new believers and then to open the word together. Let us not miss this. They are working to be with those who are already believers. These are those who were just converted. You see, people of God, it is good to speak the word first. It's good to have the word coming to someone who's never heard it before. But let us never think that it's somehow second-class energy spent, that it's somehow a lesser work to labor to be together with those who are already believers. Do you see that in the Apostle Paul, the greatest missionary who's ever lived, retracing his steps? The Apostle Paul was especially appointed by God to preach the gospel to the Gentiles who had never heard it before. And the Apostle Paul goes the hard road, does the hard emotional and physical work of being with those who are already believers. We are to be together. We are to be not just together in any way, but be together with the word open. And so this is what Paul and Barnabas do as they go back through the towns where they have been. They returned to Lystra and they preached the gospel as they go. They are always preaching. They are always teaching, discipling. We must always hear the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ, but the good news is never alone. It is to be accompanied with discipleship. A disciple is a learner. A disciple is one who is growing in the whole counsel of God, not only the good news of the gospel, we might say. And so this is the pattern. This is the pattern. And then as they continue on, they're not only opening the word, but they're reinforcing confidence as they go back, as they return. And so that takes us to our third point and into verse 22. As they're returning to Lystra and Iconium and to Antioch and to all these places, they're reinforcing confidence together. For there's not only the preaching and the making of disciples, but there's also all of this labor. to encourage one another. Again, notice this is energy consuming labor. Is it easy to pour out oneself to be an encourager and strengthening and to be with others? This is not always easy labor at all. and it might be labor that would have adversity. Thankfully, it looks like the adversity Paul and Barnabas have been facing is slowing down, but they're returning to all these cities where they faced it, and they are doing it for those who are already believers, and they are strengthening their souls. and encouraging them, not just in any way, but in the way of the faith. Continue in the faith, not a faith, but the faith. There is only one true faith, the faith that trusts in God. As the apostle will say it in Ephesians 4, there's only one faith, one Lord, one baptism, one God, and Father of all. People of God, let this keep us from spending too much of our energy on things outside of the essentials. We should be more devoted to the things of the word and strengthening and encouraging each other there than we would be devoted to things outside of that, such as politics or sports. We have a calling as citizens in this world, it's true, but our first work is the work of the faith and pouring out our time with the word open and with reinforcing confidence and encouraging others in the faith. These are the things we are called to do. And again, this is true whether we're facing times of adversity or whether we're in times of blessing where we might have time and opportunity for all kinds of other things. This is to be our focus. This is to be what we are always doing together, encouraging, reinforcing confidence in the faith. May we then not only work to be together, but when we are together, to be focusing on that, the faith, and encouraging one another there. Let us never shrink away from the hard work of serving each other in this way. You know, again, we can speak about what's good and what's also good, and we think of serving each other in concrete ways, that is a good thing. It's good to serve each other doing something physically, picking somebody up, raking somebody's leaves, all kinds of things tangible are good. But here it's speaking together. It's being in each other's presence and encouraging another with words in the faith. This is what we're called to do together. Again, those other things are good as well. But if someone becomes perhaps older and reaches a point where physically they can't do some of those other forms of serving, and they might think my days of serving are up. Well, this is so far from the truth. Reinforce the faith together. when even someone who's elderly and really not able physically to do much at all anymore, what can you still do? You can still encourage in the faith. And this is a major part of what we are all called to do together. Let us be reinforced. Let us be encouraged in the faith together. And then building up the church together. All of this, even though we may be facing many tribulations, the apostle says at the end of verse 22, but through many tribulations we enter the kingdom of God, and as we come into verse 23, we see that they continue building the church together. They're not only building believers up, but they're also literally church building in the work of appointing elders. This is something that we might call official business of the church. We read in other texts that appointing office bearers includes the laying on of hands, for example. And we might think that maybe this is one thing that when the church is facing adversity we might not do it. Church is facing adversity and persecutions. This might be something that we might put on the shelf, right? Well, let's not worry so much about having elders and everything. That might just make us more organized. That just might make us an easier target for persecution. So let's just put this on the back burner for now. Let's postpone this. Let's do it at another time. No, no. The apostle Paul, is going to intentionally build the church, even in times of adversity. The appointing of elders is always to be part of the work of the church. We are an official organization. We are all part of a body. We're all part of the church, and that church has leaders. and those leaders are appointed. So when the apostles are present, they do the appointing, the anointing, the laying on of hands. The word in the Greek for appointed actually includes the idea of a hand reached out The apostles do this when they're present. When the apostles are not present, in the pastoral letters, we see that the other office bearers do this. The other office bearers will then do the laying on of hands if there's no apostle around. And we think of other texts as well, such as Acts 6, which tells us that the congregation has a part to play. We put all of this together and We try to follow that pattern, that pattern of the congregation having a say, having a vote, but then the office bearers being the ones who do the laying on of the hands, and we seek to follow that pattern. So that's even reflected in the words of our agenda for our congregational meeting coming up. We're trying to put together the details, the passages that speak about this, but what's important is that even if it's a time of persecution when we think it's maybe not something we should do, this is an essential part of the work of the church together. That we would continue to build up the church. That we would continue to have elders who are shepherds under the chief shepherd Jesus Christ and in their submission to him to be willing and loving leaders even as the full family of faith is submitting to them all together and so that's the language of First Peter 5 and of other passages. We live in a world that's increasingly anti-authority. Many are almost attempting to be against any form of authority. really impossible to take that kind of stand with genuine consistency, or it's very difficult to do so, but we are living in an increasingly anti-authority age, and so we might be embarrassed by details like this. We might be embarrassed that the building up of church by the appointing of office bearers is so essential. You do it even in the face of persecution, but this is what we are called to do, whether we live in societies where there is too much authority, like ancient Rome, and too high of a view of authority or in societies where there's often too low of a view of authority as is common among many today. This is what part of what we are to do together. We must not stop building up the church together, even as we must not stop building up each other, even as we must not stop opening the word together. and we come to our conclusion by remembering this. This is true. In the face of suffering, even severe persecution, this is true, people of God, at all times. These are the kinds of things that we are called to focus on. When we might be devastated by persecution, or when we might be distracted by the peripheral things of the world, whatever it is. We are to come back to these things. We are to come back together to these things. This is not an exhaustive list. If we were to add one more point tonight, it could have been prayer and fasting because that was included in the appointing the office bearers. We could say more, but it's these kinds of things that we are to focus on and come together to do. Amen. Let us pray. Lord God almighty, we pray that you would unite us together with your word open and with the good news upon our hearts. Lord, may the kinds of of things that your.