Introduction: Courage

I want to start this morning by reading you one of my favorite speeches from any movie. You let me know at the end if you've figured out what movie this comes from?

Courage! What makes a King out of a slave?
Courage! What makes the flag on the mast to wave?
Courage! What makes the elephant charge his tusk, in the misty mist or the dusky dusk?
What makes the muskrat guard his musk?
Courage! What makes the sphinx the seventh wonder?
Courage! What makes the dawn come up like thunder?
Courage! What makes the Hottentot so hot? What puts the "ape" in apricot?
What have they got that I ain't got?
Courage!

What movie did it come from? That's right, the Wizard of Oz.

I read you that because today's message is a message about courage.

We live in a trying time. The world is turning sharply against the message of the gospel. They never really liked it - they always have held Bible believing Christians in scorn - but they are very, very vocal about it now and growing more so all the time. They are beginning to, more and more, push anti-biblical and frankly anti-common sense ideas. This whole transgender bathrooms thing is a good example. There was some news this week about adult strollers. Yes - you heard that right. Not for handicapped people. Just for adults who want to be kids again. There are people out there who "self-identify" as a six year old, even though they are fully grown. Trans-toddlers I guess you would call them. It's absurd.

But it's also accepted and more and more it's going to be mandated. So what is a Christian to do?

I think we ought to speak out boldly against it. We ought to be loving. We ought to remember that these folks that are pushing this stuff are souls for whom Christ died and they are just manifesting different symptoms of the same sin we all struggle with. But we have to speak out for truth.

But here is the thing you have to understand: When you speak out for truth when it's not popular - their will be consequences. You can't have your cake and eat it too. If you take an unpopular stand - it you won't be popular. If you tell the emperor that his new clothes don't exist, you might end up in prison. Some people will believe you - some people will despise you.

If there is one message, one truth, that has always been unpopular, that has always made people angry - it's the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Listen, if you boldly share the gospel of Jesus Christ - there will be consequences. But there will also be miracles.

If we are going to share the gospel as we ought to, it's going to require courage.

Our story this morning is a great example of that.

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Take your Bibles and turn with me to Acts 14. Acts 14. We are going to look at almost all of the passage today. This is the last real story in what was Paul's first missionary journey - and it's an interesting one.duc

Let's take a look:

We are going to read 7 chapter 14 verses 1-20.

"And it came to pass in Iconium, that they went both together into the synagogue of the Jews, and so spake, that a great multitude both of the Jews and also of the Greeks believed. But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles, and made their minds evil affected against the brethren. Long time therefore abode they speaking boldly in the Lord, which gave testimony unto the word of his grace, and granted signs and wonders to be done by their hands. But the multitude of the city was divided:and part held with the Jews, and part with the apostles. And when there was an assault made both of the Gentiles, and also of the Jews with their rulers, to use them despitefully, and to stone them, They were ware of it, and fled unto Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia, and unto the region that lieth round about: And there they preached the gospel"

"And there sat a certain man at Lystra, impotent in his feet, being a cripple from his mother's womb, who never had walked: The same heard Paul speak:who stedfastly beholding him, and perceiving that he had faith to be healed, Said with a loud voice, Stand upright on thy feet. And he leaped and walked. And when the people saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in the speech of Lycaonia, The gods are come down to us in the likeness of men. And they called Barnabas, Jupiter; and Paul, Mercurius, because he was the chief speaker. Then the priest of Jupiter, which was before their city, brought oxen and garlands unto the gates, and would have done sacrifice with the people. Which when the apostles, Barnabas and Paul, heard of, they rent their clothes, and ran in among the people, crying out, And saying, Sirs, why do ye these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein: Who in times past suffered all nations to walk in their own ways. Nevertheless he left not himself without witness, in that he did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness. And with these sayings scarce restrained they the people, that they had not done sacrifice unto them"

"And there came thither certain Jews from Antioch and Iconium, who persuaded the people, and, having stoned Paul, drew him out of the city, supposing he had been dead. Howbeit, as the disciples stood round about him, he rose up, and came into the city:and the next day he departed with Barnabas to Derbe"

The title of the message is "When they throw rocks."

I listen to a political commentator named Ben Shapiro a lot. I first heard about Ben Shapiro because of some things that kept happening when he visited college campuses. He'd get invited to speak by some college group and then people would protest. They would shout at anyone who tried to get in. They would go into his meeting and yell. They would pull the fire alarm. People that actually want to go to the meetings have to find an alternate entrance because, often, protesters will block the door.

Now, this guy is a pretty level headed guy. He's not a skinhead. He's not a Nazi. He's not a racist. He just says common sense stuff and some of it isn't politically correct and so his detractors will do almost anything to shut him up.

But they've never thrown rocks. They've never tried to kill him.

In the story this morning - Paul deals with all kinds of opposition - culminating in him being stoned. A mob literally through rocks at him until they thought he was dead.

Let's see why. I'm breaking down my message this morning into three parts:

• What the haters do
• What the courageous do
• What God does

Let's pray and then get into this story:

This passage takes place in three cities. First Paul travels to Iconium

He does in Iconium exactly what he did last week in Antioch of Pisidia. He goes into the synagogue and he preaches the gospel. He tells people about Jesus and how Jesus died to save them.

And He has the same results. A great multitude believe. That's awesome. Praise the Lord. That's a great multitude who will be in heaven. Who will have Christian homes and raise Christian kids. That's fantastic.

But not everyone liked it. In fact, some people hated it. Look at verse 2:

"But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles, and made their minds evil affected against the brethren."

So, let's look at our first point...

1. What the haters do

and the first thing they do is:

They reject the truth.

Notice this - some people believed - some people resisted. To some people it was the greatest news they had ever heard but to others it was fighting words.

There are going to be people who, when they hear the gospel, get angry. Get mad. It's the best news in the whole world - but most who have heard it rejected it.

That's what many of these people in Iconium did, but they went beyond just rejecting the truth, they...

They slandered the truthful

They did something about it.

They went around spreading lies about Paul and Barnabas.

This has always been one of the Devil's favorite tactics. You know, in the early church the Romans believed all kinds of crazy things about the Christians, including that the Lord's supper was a human sacrifice. THey thought they were political revolutionaries. Crazy and unbelievable stuff. But people said it about them and some people believed them.

Slander.

Do you know if you take a bold stand for God - some people won't like it? Some people might even say some untrue things about you. They might even say you've joined a cult. They might call you names. They might even run around with their fingers in their ears and shout nanna-nanna-boo-boo.

Several years ago there was a push to kick Chick-fil-a off of the Eastern Illinois campus because, in their words "it didn't fit their values." I wrote an article in the paper and I said basically - that if you go down this route - where does it stop?

Would you believe that a few weeks later, there was an article in the paper about me? Someone who I've never met called me all kinds of nice names like false prophet and bigot.

Look - if you are going to preach the gospel and take a stand for the truth not everyone is going to like it. Some people will hate it.

That's part of it.

But in Paul's case, it went beyond slander. They moved from slander to:

Threats

Look at verse:

" And when there was an assault made both of the Gentiles, and also of the Jews with their rulers, to use them despitefully, and to stone them, They were ware of it, and fled unto Lystra and Derbe"

The slander didn't work well enough. People were still believing the gospel and getting saved. So the enemies of the gospel ratcheted it up a notch and started planning to stone Paul.

Now notice - it mentions the rulers here. There were some powerful people in on this. And they are making plans. They are conspiring.

Church - let me tell you that if you stand for the truth - no matter how lovingly - there may be people who conspire against you. You may be passed up for a job promotion. You may be ruled out in public service. It may be worse.

So Paul so how serious this was and he decided it was better for him and Barnabas to leave. No shame in that. So they went on to Derbe and Lystra. These were nearby cities, but outside of the governmental reach of Iconium. It would be like going from Mattoon to Terre Haute.

And what did they do in Derbe in Lystra - the same thing they did in Iconium, the same thing they did in Antioch of Pisidia - they preached Jesus.

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Now, there is an interesting story here. I'm not going to get into it very much. But when Barnabas and Paul were preaching in Lystra, they healed someone and due to some local tradition, they were mistaken as gods. They even had the local priest come out and try to offer bulls to them.

So immediately their message changed to "we aren't God's but let me tell you about God and His son Jesus"

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This brings me to the fourth thing that the haters sometimes do. Sometimes...

They hurt

In Lystra, some of the people from Iconium caught up with them and started making trouble and telling lies there and this time - they did stone Paul. They literally got a mob to pick up rocks and throw them at Paul until he was dead (or at least they thought.) Then, because they didn't want to get in trouble, they dragged his dead body outside of town.

Now, Paul wasn't dead. We'll get to that in a second.

But here is the point - sometimes the haters do hurt you. Sometimes it goes beyond threats.

We support a missionary named John Leonard. Brother Leonard was starting a church in one of the worst slums in Brazil. God was blessing. People were getting saved. Lots of people.

When those people got saved, they stopped buying drugs from the local cartel. They stopped putting money in their pockets. So after enough of this went on the cartel put a hit on John Leonard's life and one day, outside of their church, a hit man walked up to John Leonard and shot him multiple times and left him for dead.

Sometimes, if you serve Christ, people will hurt you. Real violence can happen. We are fortunate that it doesn't happen here in AMerica very often but it could.

So what do the haters do? Everything they can to hurt the message of Jesus Christ.

But let's move on and look at...

2. What the courageous do

What did Paul and Barnabas do in this harsh opposition? I want you to see three things:

First,

They keep speaking the truth in the face of lies.

I love verse 3, Paul and Barnabas are getting lied about. They are getting slandered. Threats are starting to come in. And what is their response? Look at verse 3:

"Long time therefore abode they speaking boldly in the Lord, which gave testimony unto the word of his grace, and granted signs and wonders to be done by their hands"*

They didn't run from trouble - they tried to teach their way out of trouble. They knew they had the truth so they just kept preaching the truth and telling people what God had said.

The old preacher John Wesley used to say

"Always look a crowd in the face"

You can do that when you have the truth. You aren't afraid of scrutiny - you invite it. You aren't afraid of questions - let them come - you'll answer them.

Do you know what I want to do when people are saying nasty things about me? I want to get out of there. I want to run. But that's not what Paul did. He kept on preaching.

I think a second thing we see that he did and that courageous people do is....

They keep trusting the God they can't see in the face of the enemy they can see.

This is amazing faith. You have an angry crowd of people around you and they are threatening you and they are lying about you and they are trying to shut you up. That's scary.

But Paul and Barnabas just trusted God. They trusted God's truth to do it's work. They trusted God's power to back them up. They trusted God's calling on their life. They trusted God.

I was listening to a lecture this week about Martin Luther. We don't agree with everything Luther did or said, but their is no doubt he loved God and was used to open the doors of true salvation for many, many people.

When Luther was on trial before the Pope's court - he could have lost his life. He could have been mercilessly tortured. Many people before him had. He was before the most powerful forces on this earth. But do you know what he said, he said

Here I stand, I can do no other. So help me God.

It takes faith to trust God when you are going through the valley of the shadow of death. It takes faith to trust God when the enemies are hurling their darts and sharpening their teeth.

But it's not a foolish faith - because no matter how powerful the enemies may seem they aren't more powerful than God.

Let me show you one more thing that the courageous do:

They keep going in the face of more.

When Paul and Barnabas hit the wall in Iconium, they went to Lystra for more of the same. What's amazing is what we see at the end of the chapter. Paul got stoned. Not Bob Marley stoned. Literally bludgeoned to the point where everyone thought he was dead.

And what does he do? Look at verses 19-21. These are some of the most amazing verses in the Bible:

"And there came thither certain Jews from Antioch and Iconium, who persuaded the people, and, having stoned Paul, drew him out of the city, supposing he had been dead. Howbeit, as the disciples stood round about him, he rose up, and came into the city:and the next day he departed with Barnabas to Derbe. And when they had preached the gospel to that city, and had taught many, they returned again to Lystra, and to Iconium, and Antioch"

Paul gets up when everyone else thinks he's dead and he go's right back into the city where he was stoned. Then he goes right back to preaching the gospel. Eventually, he even visits these cities again where so many people hated him.

He kept going.

Hold your finger here and turn with me to Acts 20 for a second. Acts 20. Look at verse 24. This is Paul talking about all that he's gone through for the gospel and look what he says in verse 24:

"But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God"

That's courage.

I told you about John Leonard getting shot. He's paralyzed from the waste down. Do you know where he is today? He's in a slum in Brazil preaching to people from a wheelchair.

Listen folks, keep serving God. Keep standing for the truth. If it's hard keep going. If they throw rocks keep going. Don't let the darkness put the light out. Keep it shining bright for Jesus.

There is one more thing I want to show you before we close and that is:

3. What God does

We've seen what the haters did and what the courageous did. Let's see what God did here. Let me quickly go through this:

First,

God empowers

God empowered Paul and Barnabas to preach in the middle of opposition. He empowered them to even do miracles to back up his word.

You know there is this old saying "God will never give you more than you can handle." It's poppycock. It's ridiculous. God gives us more than we can handle all the time. But do you know what - he's there to handle it with us and there is nothing He can't handle.

So God empowers. God empowers you to speak in the first place. He empowers you to keep going when it get's tough. He empowers you to be bold in the face of enemies. He empowers you to get up when they knock you down.

But that's not the greatest thing that happens in this passage. The greatest thing is...

God saves

Here is the greatest thing about this story - everywhere Paul went and the gospel was preached - people got saved. Even when the enemies were hurling rocks and throwing lies - people were believing the gospel and having their lives changed.

So I ask you - was it worth it? Was it worth the lies and the danger and the violence?

Souls are in heaven today that would be in Hell. I'd say it's worth it.

Let me read Paul's statement in Acts 20 again:

"But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God"

Paul looked back at all this and said - I finish my course with joy. I get to tell people about Jesus and see Jesus change their lives. Yes. It's worth it.

Church - in open Antioch - the gospel works. In pagan Lystra - the gospel works. in violent Brazil - the gospel works. In communist China, the gospel works. In Godless china - the gospel works. In Mattoon, Illinois - the gospel works.

Will it take courage - yep. Will their be consquences - you betcha - but one of those consequences will be people getting saved. That's worth it.

Let's stand and pray.