Episode Transcript
[00:00:02] Speaker A: Welcome to the Chroma Church podcast.
[00:00:06] Speaker B: So if you've been with us, you will know that we've been doing a series on Acts and we are up to chapter 16.
I'm going to give you a brief overview of Acts 15, and then we're going to go into Acts 16. I'm going to talk to you about how Paul leads his brand new team. Oh, man, there's some stirring with the Christmas. Christmas leaflets.
All right, great job, guys. Well done.
Amazing.
But the first thing I wanted to talk about today, I just want to just briefly mention communion. The power of communion is that, okay, sometimes we take communion, don't fully understand the depth of the nature of it.
I don't know if you guys know this, but in the Old Testament, what happened was, is that the Jewish people, the Israelites, they were not allowed to eat any meat with any blood in it. Because the Bible says that when you take the blood of an animal or blood of a beast, is some of the translations that you take on the life of that thing. So the reason why we have kosher meat in Jewish communities is because it's completely drained of all the blood. Now, what's really interesting is that Jesus in John 6 says this. Eat my flesh and drink my blood. I don't know if you guys remember this story, but when he says, eat my flesh and drink my blood, everybody leaves. Because they're like, this is too hard. This teaching is too hard. And what happens is that his disciples remain, his 12 disciples remain. And he says, are you not going to leave as well?
And they say, well, where else would we go? We've got absolutely nothing. We've given up everything for you. And the principle in terms of communion is that you give up your life, you give up everything in order to receive Jesus life.
And so when we take communion, we're taking on the life of Christ. It's why it's really important. The other thing we have to understand about communion is that Jesus was breaking with the mold around what the blood was meant to be for which is the life of the animal. And so what happens is this. Jesus says, if you receive my blood, you take on my life. You guys. Okay, so what Jesus is saying is, as you take communion in remembrance of my death and my resurrection, then eventually my ascension, you are taking on my life. You're taking on the life of Christ. It's why communion is a healing meal. The Lord's supper, Eucharist, whatever you want to call it, it's a healing meal because when you take on the blood of Christ. Now, our Catholic brothers and sisters believe in the transubstantive nature of the Eucharist, which means that they believe the body or the bread and the wine become the actual body and actual blood of Jesus Christ. We wouldn't hold to that in the Protestant denomination, but that's where they get this thought from. But we need to understand that the translated thing is this, that you take on the blood of Christ, you take it on and receive his life for your circum. Your situation, and for your healing. So when we take communion, it isn't just a ritual. It is us saying, jesus, we lay down everything that we can do, we get rid of it all, because actually we want to follow you with everything and we receive your life that defines us and transforms us. Is that all right with you guys? So that's why we take communion. So next time we do it, you'll understand the depth of the revelation that when Jesus says, eat my flesh and drink my blood, what you'll know is that it means this take on my life. And then you get to walk out less like you and more like him, which hopefully is the whole purpose of your life. Amen. All right, great. So we're going to go into Acts 16, and we're going to complete a thought around Acts 16, talking about Paul and his new team. But first we're going to stand together. We're going to read from verse one. So will you stand with me? We're going to honor the word of the Lord in this place. If you don't go to the gym, you don't need to, because we are up and down in this place. So here we go. Acts 16, 1, 15.
Starting with verse one, Paul came to Derby and then to Lystra, where a disciple named Timothy lived, whose mother was Jewish and a believer, but whose father was a Greek. The believers at Lystra and Iconium spoke well of him. Paul wanted to take him along with the journey, so he circumcised him because of the Jews who lived in the area, for they all knew that his father was a Greek. Just Paul. Acts 15 was all about how Paul said, you do not need to be circumcised to come into the promise of Christ. And yet he circumcises Timothy. So I'll explain why he does that. We'll do that in a minute. As they traveled from town to town, they delivered the decisions reached by the apostles and the elders in Jerusalem for the people to obey. So the churches were strengthened in the faith and grew daily in number.
Verse 6. Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the Word in the province of Asia, which would have been Turkey, by the way, Asia Minor. When they came to the borders of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to. So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas. During the night, Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, come over to Macedonia and help us. After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the Gospel to them. Verse 11. From Troas we put out to sea and sailed straight for Samothrace. And the next day we went to Neapolis. From there we traveled to Philippi, a Roman colony in the leading city of the district of Macedonia. And we stayed there several days. On the Sabbath we went outside the city gates, the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer. We sat down and began to speak to the women who had gathered there. One of those listening was a from the city of Thyatir, or maybe Thyatira, named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth. She was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul's message. When she and the members of her household were baptized, she invited us into her home. If you consider me a believer in the Lord, she said, come and stay at my house. And she persuaded us this is the word of the Lord. Praise be to God. You can grab a seat.
All right, so Acts 16 is the beginning of Paul's second mission, his second missionary journey. And to understand Acts 16, you kind of got to get a grip of Acts 15. So I'm going to summarize that for you real quick, because in Acts 15 we have got this thing called the Council of Jerusalem, which basically meets and convenes. In order to understand do you have to be circumcised and follow the law of the Old Testament, the law of the Jewish people, to come into the promise of Christ. That council decides that you do not need to have the law of circumcision or any other law that you have to do in order to become a Christian and walk in the faith with Jesus Christ. So what they do is they put an end to what's called the Judaizers. They put an end to their teaching that you must be circumcised to be a Christian, or rather you must participate in all of the Jewish foundational laws. In order to come into the full inheritance of what Jesus did on the cross. So that's really important.
And after what happens in the Council of Jerusalem, Silas is sent out as a prophet. He goes and speaks to them. But what's fascinating is that then we get to the point where Barnabas and Saul have this big fall. You guys, if you guys are here. Last week, Steve spoke about this where Barnabas and Saul have a fallout. They disagreed sharply. Luke says, and it's over. This guy called John Mark. And John Mark, Paul believes he's a deserter. And he says, I am not taking him with me. So John Mark goes with Barnabas to Cyprus where Barnabas is born. And then Paul takes Silas to Derby and Lystra. So I want to make. Just be clear about this. Acts 16 is a gateway to a whole new story. So Acts 15 is the end of the first missionary journey. Acts 16 is the beginning of the second. And it's a brand new team, brand new people, brand new leaders. And I want to talk to you real quick in two hours about how it looks like for Paul. That was a joke, didn't go down very well. How it would look like for Paul to lead this brand new team. And if you are leading at work, if you lead in your home, which if you're a parent, you do, if you're leading your children, if you are leading your friends to Christ, which hopefully at some point all of us are doing, then these principles are for you. And I'll talk to you about how Paul leads people, how he leads his followers into the journey he's about to take them on. On.
So here we go. We're going to go through four points and the first one is this.
When Paul leaves Barnabas and John Mark, he gets Silas, goes to Derby and Lystra, and in Lystra he finds Timothy, who is well spoken of all the people and adds Timothy to his team. Silas has already been sent out in Acts 15 to walk a journey with the churches about the Council of Jerusalem's verdict, about the Judaizers who were trying to get people circumcised. So Silas has actually gone ahead and he's already trained for the moment that Paul is walking him into. Timothy is added to the number afterwards. So here's what Paul does. First, he gets his people ready. Listen, if you have anywhere, any idea, any geographical location, anything in work, whatever it is in your family where you're leading people into a new phase or a new season, the principle is this, get your people ready in order that they can go into the land and conquer it, the land that the Lord has got for them. So what does Paul do to Timothy now? Timothy's like 20 to 26, something like that, in this moment. And Paul circumcises Timothy. And, you know, every dude in here like, shivers right when they hear that, because actually, there's something really powerful to know that Paul is actually asking Timothy to sacrifice himself, sacrifice the comfort of how he is in his personhood, in order that he would be a better fit for the people they're going to see, which are the Jews who would receive him if he was circumcised. So what happened is the council in Acts 15 said, you don't need to be circumcised to come into the promise of Christ.
But Paul actually acknowledges that this is true, but says to Timothy, hey, listen, this isn't about you being forced into doing something to inherit a promise. What this is, is me asking you, will you lay down your comfort in order that you will be better presented to the people who we're going to see? Can you see the difference between those two things? And so what happens is Paul gets Timothy ready to go into the place where they're about to go and do his second missionary journey. And he knows that there is more of a landing place for the gospel if Timothy is circumcised because he is, in fact, already Jewish. So instead of putting a block for the people they're trying to reach, he asks Timothy, and Timothy voluntarily says, yes, I will do this. He asked him to lay down his comfort and sacrifice in order that he could be the best person possible to reach the people of Lystra and Derby. Did I just make sense? So when you are building teams, raising family, taking people on a new journey, get them ready for the place they are going to conquer. Hey, so I've got. My daughter is three. Eden is three. She.
One of our key things that we do with our kids is that every night we read the Bible. This is the first book we read. We do story time. I don't know if you guys do this. We do story time at the end of the night and we read the Bible. First thing, we have this beginner's Bible with a good news Bible. We know all the pictures and the lions and all that stuff. And what happens is that every night we read the Bible, they get to choose their story.
So Eden, she's three. She said, daddy, I really want the one about Jesus dying on the cross.
I was like, okay, okay, cool. I mean, that's A good story. Like, why that one in particular? And we have it in audio as well. Our daughter, she suffers from hearing loss, so we have it in audio as well. And what happens is that in the audio, there's a bit where they bang the nails with a hammer and it goes clink, clink. And she said, that's my favorite bit.
That's why I want to hear the story. And I was like, oh, man, we raising like some sort of psychopath. Do you know what I mean?
And what happened was, is that she was like, but, Daddy, before you read it, can I tell you what it is?
And she recited five pages of the Good News Bible off by heart.
That's insane, right? I was absolutely. I cried. I was absolutely stunned that she could do it word for word. She'd heard it, we'd read it so many times that word for word. She had walked a journey through that story with the hammer and the nails. And it captures her so much that she memorized it. Hey, guys, listen to me. Bring your kids to church.
Talk to them about Jesus in your homes. Read them the Bible. Sometimes I forget to read the Bible first, and then I. Daddy, we haven't read the Bible yet. I'm not sorry. My bad, my bad. And actually, there's something powerful that when you start something in your home, that sets a trajectory of the ground that you want your family to take. In other words, Bible knowledge. In other words, learning who Jesus is. Christianity, the depths of the faith. Start them off where you want them to go. Prepare your family, prepare your people for where you want them to inherit.
Bring them to church. We have an amazing, amazing kids work here. It's phenomenal. They have their own worship, the sparkly lights. They have, like, glow sticks. Sometimes my kids come out with all sorts of craziness. Like the other day they came out with clay pots. I'm like, what am I gonna do with a clay pot? But bring them to church. Bring them. Because when we set them up for the ground they're gonna take on, we become the floor. Our seeding becomes the floor for the next generation. If you wanna raise legacy in your life, raise your kids in the way of the faith. Bring them into an understanding that in your home environment and also in the church environment. Bring your kids to church.
Amen.
Even if it's raining, even if it's windy, even if the dog is barking. I'm saying bring them. Bring them to church. The other thing that Steve and Juliet did for all of us here is that what they're trying to build in us. They're trying to build in us a worshiping people who when the Lord comes, we step into the ground that he has for us. And can I tell you how we do that on a regular basis here, which Steven Juliet have established for us, is that for a minimum of two and a half or three hours, all the staff team are standing worshiping Jesus on a Sunday, minimum two and a half, probably nearer three hours every Sunday. So we are being trained how to step and live in God's presence in order that when he comes, we can go where he is going. Because we recognize his voice, we recognize his presence, and we get to walk that journey with him and hang on to his coattails as he prepares the ground for us. So when we say come forward in worship, it's for that reason. Come. There's nothing necessarily special about the stained bit of carpet up here, but actually there is something powerful to know that when you step into the presence of God, we are preparing your hearts. He is preparing your heart to go and inherit the ground that he's given to you.
Come and worship. Come and do that thing.
One of the reasons why Stephen Juliet do that on a Sunday is for all of us. But Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, not Saturday, because everyone's tired. Sunday, we worship every night here. Every night, this place is saturated in worship. Why?
Because if you learn how to worship, you will walk a life with your head held high and your shoulders back. Not driven to anxiety or driven by depression. You'll be driven by the power and the peace and the grace of God that will project you into your destiny.
If we learn to worship this great king of kings as we're being taught to on a Sunday and every night of the week, watch your life change.
Wherever you're going, whoever you're leading, prepare your people, prepare your children, prepare their hearts. Prepare yourselves for worship. To follow where he is going. That's number one. We're going to go quicker.
Number one, Paul says. Paul prepares Timothy. It's a sacrifice and it costs him something, but he prepares him in order that they can go and conquer the land God has called them into. Number two is this.
Paul knows his new team need a win. Hey, how many of you guys lead teams? Just quick, just show me how many of you guys lead teams in work. Okay? Awesome. You guys know that sometimes your teams need a quick win. Sometimes you've had a hard week, sometimes you've had your even in your family lives, right? You've had a hard week, quick win, Mackie D's or whatever. It is, you know, like, what's the quick win? So what Paul does here is that he takes Silas and he takes Timothy and he goes back to the places of his greatest success, Derby and Lystra. So he takes Silas to Derby, they go to Lystra, and Timothy is added there. And the reason why he goes there is because in Acts 14 and 15, Lystra, you remember, is the place where they did so many miracles that people started worshiping them as gods and they had to tear their clothes and say, we are not God. We just all working on his behalf. You guys remember that story? So Paul takes Silas and Timothy back there. Why? Because he wants them to start off with a win in their new team dynamic.
I used to work in social work and I got given a whole bunch of money to set up a new team called the Edge of Care team. Right? This was years ago, 10 years ago, years ago. And what happened was, is that I was given this money. I chose the exact personnel who I wanted to be on this team. But I knew that in order to, number one, justify my funding and also number two, to give my team a quick win, I needed them to have something where they could have a success in front of them. So do you know what I did? Oh, man. Is this live stream or maybe I shouldn't confess this. Sorry, Havering government.
But what I did was, is that I scoured all of the relevant criteria for our team and then all of the caseloads of social workers who would refer into them. And I approached the social workers and said, can I have these cases? Social workers were like, of course you can. Anyone a social worker, you got enough cases, right? So when someone comes to you and says, can I have your case? You're like, ding, ding, ding, let's do it. And what happened was, is I took all of the ones whose parents engaged with the local authority, who had already had a trajectory on the upwards slant and all also who didn't have years and years of government intervention. And I chose all of them and I divided them out between my team and nearly every single one of my team had a quick win.
Because when we lead, we're going to take people into hard places.
When we lead our family, when we lead our teams, we're going to take people into hard places. There's going to be pain on the journey. There's going to be for these guys. Coming up, prison.
So what do we do? Lay the foundation of success early on, quick wins. Hey, are my car parking guys in here, friends? Oh, John, thank you, Jonathan. Amazing. I think Keith's outside trying to figure out what he's going to do with his life after this. But what's happening is our car park team have been drenched probably three weeks in a row. They are amazing. They park your cars. Sometimes you don't smile, but that's okay because it's raining. But actually, guys, when these guys come at 8:30 in the morning, do you know what I do? I get them a cup of coffee straight away. Why?
Because I know they're about to walk out into the pouring rain and park cars for an hour and a half.
Quick win. I'm not doing much. It's just black coffee as well. There's not even any milk and sugar. It's perfect. But all I'm saying is to give people a quick win. Steve and Juliet, when they planted their church in Southend, Steve met a busker under the train bridge in Southend and he said to her, hey, do you want to come lead worship in my church? That's a risk.
And what happened was, is that she ended up singing on and writing songs for one of the most famous and most successful worship albums. It was actually album of the year in 1998. I did my research, and what's important to know is that from busking under a bridge, she came and used the. Utilized her gift for the Lord. And in order that the Lord would be made manifest in her life and the people who listened to her, she actually got her name on a record label. Now listen, what we're doing now in Cromer, as they've planted here, we're going back to a place of success for Steve and Juliet.
They've already seen success in the music industry, in the Christian music industry. And now they have a son, Joel, who leads this team who are, by the way, phenomenal. Do you guys know how amazing it is to come here on a Sunday and listen to this? It is absolutely incredible. They lead us into worship in such a powerful way. Emily and Chris did such a great job this morning. But the reason why we are living in that space is because Steve and Juliet are taking us back to the place that had success in. In the first place. Quick wins. And now guess what?
These guys are writing songs that people across the world are starting to sing.
You're part of something very special. And it isn't because anyone's a hero. It's because God is good.
Start people off with quick wins.
Steve said to me, whenever anyone preaches for the first time, it's the best preacher anyone's ever done. Quick win. Don't give negative feedback too fast. If you're leading a team, don't give negative feedback too fast. Let that thing grow. Quick wins for people. So Paul is getting his people ready. Paul is giving them a quick win, going back to the place of his initial success. That's the first two. The third one is this. He waits on the word of the Lord when he doesn't know what to do next. Hey, listen, how many of you guys are desperate to short circuit the timescale for your destiny? I'm like this, right? I'm like this. I'm like, hey, what I really want is this time to be released. When I was 25, I wanted to be like some footballer, right? And never happened. Clearly I can't play football that well. And when I was 30, I was like, I'm never going to minister because my dad's a pastor. What I'm going to do is I'm going to be the youngest children's social work director in London. That was my goal at 30. And here I am, I'm 38 years old. I'm doing the exact opposite of what I said I thought I would do. And I still have dreams that have not yet come to pass. Listen, you cannot short circuit your destiny days by trying to exhibit your own timescale and hold the Lord accountable to that. He is not accountable to your timescale, he's accountable to his timescale. And he will release you when there are two things in your life. Number one, the character to steward, the call, which, by the way, often comes through suffering, pain, waiting and patience.
And also when you have a team around you that will not let you fall when it gets too hard.
So what Paul is doing, they're on the verge. They're at a place called Mizia in Bithynia, and the Lord is blocking them from going into the next phase of the missionary journey. And some of us, including me, I'm like, the devil is stopping me. You guys ever been here? The devil is stopping me and my destiny days. How many of you guys know the devil can't stop your destiny days because God's in charge of them?
Which means this. If you're in a period where the doors don't seem to be opening, don't look for the enemy, look for the spirit.
Because sometimes there's a block there in order that you could grow up to grow into your destiny.
Moses did this, right?
Oh, man, it's 1:00.
Moses did this.
Moses was raised in Pharaoh's household.
He was a Jew he knew he was a Jew. He knew deep down he was going to rescue or help rescue the Jews from slavery. So what did he do? First he tried to take his destiny into his own hands and short circuit the timescale by killing the Egyptians slave owner or the person who was whipping the Jewish slave and killed him. What happened? He spent 40 years in the wilderness until he met Yahweh in the burning bush.
And at that moment he was released into his destiny days. Some of us don't like the 40 years in the wilderness. Amen. But tell you what. He would not have released the captives through the 12 plagues and the 10 plagues. Sorry. And the return of the Lord Unless he is stewarded his wilderness season well. And by the way, he then went and spent 40 more years in the wilderness and still didn't get in.
The heroes of our faith, of the Judaicristian ethic, aren't the ones who get what they want. They're the ones who steward their journey.
Did you hear what I said? The heroes of the Judgia Christian faith are not the ones who get what they want. They're the ones who steward their journey. Even in the wilderness.
And so what Paul does, he waits. He waits for his Macedonian moment.
I thought that was good. Fine. His Macedonian moment.
When the Lord reveals to him the next stage of his journey, he doesn't try and short circuit it. What he tries to do is wait on the Lord, hear the Lord's voice clearly and go in that direction. And his team come along with him. By the way, in verse nine we find that Luke is added to their number at the moment. So now they're four friends.
If you're looking for a Macedonian moment in your life, if you are looking for the word of the Lord in your life, you will find it. When you seek him above the destiny you think you're entitled to seek his word first and he will open the doors for you. He has good plans for you. He has pleasing and perfect will for you. People say to me, how do I hear the voice of the Lord? I'm like, go to 1 Thessalonians 5, 16. Rejoice always. Pray continually.
Then you will know the will of the Lord for your life. How do you know the will of the Lord for your life? You spend absolutely every moment you can in his glory presence. And then he'll release you. That's what will happen. So Paul prepares his team.
He gives them a quick win.
And then he waits on the word of the Lord to project them into the next stage of their journey. And the last thing is this. And I'm going to end here. The fourth thing Paul does is that he, because of his faith that the Lord appeared to him as the man of Macedonia, he walks into Macedonia, which is the first foray into Europe, into Philippi, and he receives everything and more as a result of his faith. Why?
Because when they go, and this was Paul's habit, when they went to a place, they looked for a synagogue to start preaching. But there's no synagogue in Philippi.
That's why they ask around and find out that there's a prayer meeting among believers in God by the river. Just so you guys know, in order for there to be no synagogue, there would have to be fewer than 10 Jewish men present in the whole of Philippi.
Because if you had 10 Jewish men, they could constitute a synagogue and go further in terms of worship of Yahweh. But there weren't enough men. So there were fewer than 10 men in the whole of Philippi. So Paul has taken his team under the word of the Lord, and they've gone to the most pagan place they could find. Find possibly.
They. There's no synagogue. There's no plan. They ask around, and they go and find a bunch of women praying by the river. Hey, I've got to tell you something. If men don't rise up, women will.
I'm just saying, men, stand up. Come on, let's go.
Stand for our faith.
The true hero is not the one that batters his enemy. The true hero is the one that dies for his enemy and is resurrected through the pain. Let's go, men. Let's not let the women stand up instead of us.
And what happens is this, is that they meet this lady called Lydia. So through the place of faith that the Lord has spoken in Macedonia about going to Macedonia, they meet Lydia. Why is that important? Because Lydia, number one, is a Greek, but she's actually taken on Jewish customs or that has not converted to Judaism. So it means that Timothy and Silas, the Greek and the Hebrew come together and they actually find someone who actually can be taught both sides. So Timothy's circumcision is not in vain. And Silas preaching to the converts in Galatia is not in vain. They come together, they find Lydia. She's important for that reason. The second reason why she's important because she's rich.
She's a seller of purple cloth.
Luke is very keen to establish this fact because he wants us to know that when you follow in faith, the Lord will release the provision in Order that you can walk your journey of destiny.
And the third thing is this. She gives them a base, her home, to work their mission from.
For some of us, we are in a place where we feel like there are no Jews. There's no. I mean, this is a. This is. This is like symbology, right? I'm not saying this is real. I'm saying, like for us, we feel like Paul and Silas did and Timothy and Luke, that we're completely foreigners, we have no one of our kind, we don't know where we're going, there's no synagogue and God is leading us. But I need to tell you something, that just round the corner is the river where Lydia is praying.
So don't give up because you think you heard wrong. Find the river and find Lydia. She will restore your faith in the Word with provision, a house to base yourself from and the conversion to the vision that you have. There's something so powerful to know that Lydia is a key point in this story. So Paul going to come into land right now.
Paul builds his team on these four principles. Number one, he gets them ready for the land they're about to conquer.
Number two.
What's number two?
Yes, thank you very much. Gives them a quick win. Gosh, I forgot my notes. Well done. Gives them a quick win. He takes them back to his place of first success. Number three, he brings them into an acknowledgement that he is not going to try and turbocharge his destiny or try and short circuit the timescales God has. He waits on the word of the Lord. And then number four, as a result of his faith, he finds his Lydia, the one that provides the resource that he needs, the one that provides the home, the base that he needs, and also the one that is converted as the first person in Europe converted to the faith of Jesus Christ. If you want to lead your team, your family, your friends to Jesus, if we follow these principles, I believe we'll see major success, as Paul did, as we take this gospel of Jesus Christ and flood the earth with it.
Wherever you are on this journey, whether you're just beginning and preparing, whether you're going after your quick win, whether you are in a place where you're waiting on the word of the lor, or whether you are in the destiny days, but it looks like something that you. Something different to how you thought and you're waiting for your Lydia. Wherever you are, don't despair.
Stand on the faith and promises of God in your life and he will come through for you and your destiny. Days that will be released not just for you, but for the generations that are to come.
[00:33:44] Speaker A: Thanks for listening to the Chroma Charge Podcast. If you enjoyed this message, you can like and subscribe. You can also join us in person or online every Sunday at Cromer Church. For more information about us, including our ministries, events, worship and how to donate, visit our website at Cromer Church.
