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Part 1, Acts 12:1-25
Sermon Notes: Acts 12
Introduction: The Value of Hard Work and Pleasing God
My son Nathan wants a shotgun for his August birthday. At $500, I told him, “You’ll have to work for it this summer.” Despite my efforts to guide him, his “genius and diabolical” plan was to call Grandma and other relatives for donations to avoid chores. We had to talk: You can’t outrun hard work. Comfort is a great reward, but a terrible pursuit.
This week, reflecting on unmet expectations, sorrow, and joy, I sense God has us exactly where we need to be in Acts 12. Themes like prayer, martyrdom, rescue, authority, and glory fill this chapter. Yet, the core truth is this isn’t just “Acts of the Apostles,” but the Acts of the Holy Spirit. It’s frighteningly easy to prioritize our own needs and comfort. I invite you to pause, ask the Holy Spirit to reveal something personal. This text will tempt us to point fingers, but if we honestly examine our own direction, habits, and motives, we’ll grasp the essence of Acts 12: Our lives should please God. It’s not just “What would Jesus do?” but “What will I do because of what Jesus has done for me?”
Verses 1-5: Pleasing God Through Earnest Prayer
At the end of Acts 11, Barnabas and Saul delivered funds to Jerusalem. Now, in Acts 12, we find King Herod violently persecuting the church. James, one of the original Twelve, is martyred—the first apostle to fall. This is an intense time for the church. Herod, seeing this pleased the Jews, arrests Peter.
Notice Herod’s motivation: he acts to please others. We are in a constant battle of who we please, what we worship, and why we do what we do. As leaders, the temptation to please everyone for comfort is strong, but our ultimate responsibility is to please our Heavenly Father. This unfolds during the Days of Unleavened Bread leading to Passover—a time when God historically provided and delivered His people. The tension asks: Will God provide and deliver again?
In this crisis, the church does what we are called to do: they make earnest prayers to God. Whatever your season, pray earnestly. Pleasing God always begins with seeking God.
Verses 6-10: Pleasing God Through Trust and Obedience
In verses 6-10, God answers those earnest prayers, even before they realize it! The night before Herod’s planned execution, Peter is sound asleep, handcuffed between two guards, with more at the door. His deep sleep signifies profound trust in God’s control. As Psalm 127:1-2 says, “He gives to his beloved sleep.” Peter is sleeping so deeply the angel has to hit him to wake him!
This is an angelic jailbreak: chains fall, light shines. But notice, Peter still has to “get dressed, get your shoes on, and follow.” We please God with our lives when we follow God. Even in miraculous moves, we must respond obediently. God initiates, we respond. God opens doors, we walk through them. God does the miraculous, we do the mundane. Following means obedience in motion, even when we don’t fully understand.
We also learn something unique about our God: this is His world, and we are living in it. An angel is sent, light shines, guards don’t wake, iron gates open – what we call miraculous, God calls a “Thursday evening.” It’s no big deal to Him. This reminds me why I want to please God: He’s God. I’m not. This is His world, it revolves because He tells it to. That’s why I follow, why I want to please Him. I belong to Him. And when I remember that, everything becomes clearer.
Verses 11-17: Pleasing God Through Fellowship and Faith
Peter, having miraculously walked out of prison, finally realizes, “Now I am sure that the Lord has sent His angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod…” This wasn’t a dream; it was real. And what does he do? He goes to church—specifically, to Mary’s house where the church is gathered, praying. This is key: Peter chooses fellowship. Just as prayer connects us to God, fellowship connects us to the family of God. You cannot have one without the other and expect to live a life that truly pleases Him. It pleases God when we gather as His family.
Then, a scene straight out of a sitcom: Peter knocks, Rhoda answers, recognizes his voice, and in her excitement, leaves him knocking outside to tell everyone! Their response? “You’re out of your mind!” or “It must be his angel!” Meanwhile, Peter is still knocking. What’s wild is that this church had enough faith to pray, but not enough faith to believe God would actually answer. Yet, God still answered. This is encouraging for anyone who has ever prayed with a little faith and a lot of doubt.
Ephesians 3:20 reminds us that God is “able to do exceedingly, abundantly above all that we can ask or think.” He doesn’t need perfect faith; He responds to earnest prayers and even mustard-seed faith. It pleases Him. So, church, keep asking, seeking, and knocking. The God who delights in your prayers is the same God who does more than you can imagine. As James 5:16 says, “The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.” Our prayers and our fellowship please God. This is why we are here together on a Sunday.
Verses 18-23: Pleasing God by Glorifying Him
While the church rejoices in Peter’s rescue, Herod’s world unravels. He wakes, expecting an execution and public praise, but Peter is gone. Chaos erupts. The guards are executed, and Herod flees to Caesarea to save face.
There, people from Tyre and Sidon approach him for peace during the famine, dependent on him for food. Herod, in royal robes, delivers an oration. They flatter him, shouting, “This is the voice of a god, not of a man!” He loves it. But we all do this, don’t we? We’re prone to worship something, to desire glory that isn’t ours. When we don’t worship God or give Him glory, it’s sin. This is God’s final straw with Herod.
Isaiah 42:8 states, “I am the Lord; that is my name; my glory I give to no other.” God will not share His glory. So, an angel strikes Herod down, and he is eaten by worms. This scene is devastating yet poetically beautiful. We are in a famine during Passover, remembering God provided and delivered. Peter was delivered; now, will God provide? Herod tries to claim glory for provision, setting himself up as God. God strikes him down, eaten by worms, to remind everyone: He is God, He shares His glory with no one, and He will provide. Herod cannot provide food for people, but he can provide food for worms.
What do we glean from this? If you want to please God, your life must glorify Him. Jesus teaches in Matthew 5:16, “Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” God isn’t against your good deeds, influence, achievement, or leadership. But He is absolutely against you keeping the credit or glory. The moment your life becomes more about your name than His, you’re on dangerous ground.
Our God deserves all glory and honor. If you live a life representing God, all you do becomes a platform for Him. You don’t sit on the throne; you kneel, for at Jesus’ name, every knee will bow. Our greatest privilege is to please God through all we do and allow His name to be glorified.
Verses 24-25: God Multiplies Faithfulness
There’s a direct correlation in this chapter: persecution, God receiving glory, and the Word of God increasing and multiplying. In redemptive history, God is pleased when evil is exposed, His people trust Him, and the gospel advances beyond human planning. Even through suffering, God multiplies His mission. What a powerful legacy: James martyred, Peter delivered, Herod struck down—and still, the Word of God increases. The church doesn’t quit. God entrusts John Mark to Barnabas and Saul because it pleases Him. They move forward through sorrow, joy, and chaos, living to please God.
I told you about Nathan’s plan to get what he wanted without hard work—the reward without the process. We often want glory without the grind, fruit without faithfulness, God’s power without the prayers of the saints, Peter’s rescue without the church’s perseverance. But Acts 12 doesn’t offer shortcut Christianity. It shows a church that pleases God through prayer, faith, obedience, fellowship, and surrender.
So, I ask you today: Are you living to please God? I’m trying to live by the advice I gave Nathan: you can’t live like effort doesn’t matter and expect your life to matter. You can’t seek comfort above all and expect to please the One who carried a cross. But if you want your life to count, to truly please God, then learn from Acts 12: pray like it matters. Trust when it’s hard. Follow when it’s unclear. Give Him the glory. And watch how our Great God does “exceedingly and abundantly more than we can think or ask” as He increases and multiplies His Word.
Part 2, Acts 13:1-12
Sermon Notes: Acts 13:1-12 – Updating Your Default Settings
Introduction: The Power of Default Settings
How often do you think about breathing? It’s an involuntary rhythm, like our morning routines or how we make coffee. Life is full of such “default settings”—patterns we follow without conscious thought, formed by our past, chosen habits, or even needing change. For me, it’s writing in Google Docs; I recently updated my default settings so every document starts exactly how I want it.
Why does this matter? Because you have default settings too—ways you live, think, and respond. In Acts 13, we meet a church whose default was worship. It wasn’t an add-on; it was their rhythm. And in that rhythm, God spoke.
What’s your default setting? If you feel stuck or spiritually dry, you might not need an overhaul, but a reset. By God’s grace, Jesus wants to update your default settings. He meets us in our everyday worship and ministry. The mission of God doesn’t always require a boat trip or disaster; it begins with worship, the Word, and a willingness to yield to the Holy Spirit.
Verses 1-3: Mission Begins in Worship and Yielding
Barnabas and Saul return to the diverse church in Antioch. Luke names five key leaders: Barnabas, Simeon (likely the one who carried Jesus’ cross), Lucius, Manaen (raised with Herod the Tetrarch), and Saul (the former persecutor).
Then, a pivotal moment: “While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said…” (Acts 13:2). This “worshiping” or “ministering to the Lord” wasn’t just a praise band; it implied their entire lives, public and private, were oriented toward serving God. This was their normal rhythm, their default setting.
God spoke in the midst of their ordinary, obedient worship, not their striving. This challenges us: What are my default settings? What comes out when life is on autopilot? If we’re not actively investing in our marriage, family, church, and relationship with Jesus—through the Word, adoration, prayer, and fasting—then what we truly desire might not be God Himself, but merely the byproducts of being close to Him. We want the kingdom, but without the King.
When our worship becomes transactional, simply to get something from God, we miss the heart of the relationship. God doesn’t need our worship or fasting; we need them! These rhythms reshape our hearts to walk in step with the Spirit. God has already made the first move, giving His Son, relating to us as a Father, not an employer.
If we break free from this transactional mindset, we realize worship, fasting, and prayer are postures that prepare our hearts to yield to His will. When your life’s default is communion with God, He speaks in the ordinary, He calls, He sends, He moves. The only thing required is a willingness to yield. This is where mission with God truly begins.
How do we do this? It starts with putting our faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior—the first yielding that changes everything. Then, we become imitators of God, as Ephesians 5:1-2 says, “walk[ing] in love, as Christ loved us.” Just as my son David imitated my morning ice cream habit after seeing my routine, we imitate God by spending time with Him and learning His rhythms. God is preparing us as a church. Let’s commit together to cultivating these holy rhythms, desiring more of God’s fruit for our lives, this valley, and His kingdom.
Verses 4-7: God-Given Opportunities in Faithful Rhythms
After the church lays hands on them, the Holy Spirit sends Barnabas and Saul out. Mission follows worship and yielding. They travel to Seleucia, then sail to Cyprus (Barnabas’s home). In Salamis, they immediately preach in the synagogues—a spiritual rhythm for Saul, “first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.” Saul, a man of the Word, uses his gift with clarity and conviction. Many of you share this calling; don’t overlook your gift for sharing God’s Word.
They cross the island to Paphos, a Roman hub of power. There, God opens a door: they meet Sergius Paulus, an intelligent proconsul who “wants to hear the Word of God.” He is curious and searching.
Here’s the principle: When we walk in the ordinary rhythms God has given us—faithful in our giftings, calling, and worship—God provides opportunities for extraordinary Kingdom work. Extraordinary moments are built on ordinary faithfulness. The Spirit spoke to men already serving, not those waiting for a sign. A faithful understanding of God’s voice comes through healthy, holy rhythms. When these are in place, God offers opportunities to walk in.
God rarely builds something extraordinary on a shaky foundation. He moves through people whose default settings are worship, prayer, obedience, and a willingness to yield. The Antioch church didn’t manufacture revival; their fasting was part of their worship rhythm, from which the Spirit launched a global mission. Similarly, Paul isn’t forcing the moment; he’s walking in his gifts, working his rhythms, and following the Spirit. And suddenly, a Roman official is ready for the gospel.
If you’re longing for breakthrough or waiting for an open door, don’t just chase the moment. Tend to your rhythms. When worship is your default, God will bring you into moments you could never manufacture.
Verses 8-11: Opposition Reveals Our Rhythms
When you walk in your calling, follow the Spirit, and live in rhythm with worship and your gifts, opposition comes. In verse 8, we meet Elymas the magician, also known as Bar-Jesus (“son of Jesus”), who is clearly a fraud. He tries to block the gospel message from the proconsul, knowing his power and prestige are at stake.
This is when “Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit,” confronts Elymas. This is the first time Luke uses Paul’s Roman name, signifying his full step into his role as apostle to the Gentiles. Paul delivers a powerful prophetic rebuke: “You son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of deceit and villainy, will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord?” (v. 10). This is spiritual warfare.
Then comes the judgment: “The hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind.” Notice the parallels: Paul, once blind and opposing the Way, now filled with the Spirit, mirrors Elymas’s blindness. Paul is living proof of transformation. His rebuke is a prophetic invitation: “Elymas, I was you. God met me, changed me, and filled me. You could have that too.” Paul acts not in anger, but in rhythm, secure in his identity, using his gifts, imitating Jesus.
When we walk in the Spirit, rooted in His Word and secure in our calling, we don’t panic in the face of resistance. We speak truth, stay faithful, and let God handle the outcome. Opposition is okay; it doesn’t mean God isn’t working. It’s a call to test and refine our rhythms, forging endurance and character. Opposition should not break our rhythms; it reveals our default settings. If you’re facing opposition, press into your rhythms, reminding yourself of your purpose.
As Ephesians 5:8-10 says, “at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light… and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord.” It’s a blessing to accept God’s work in your life. Imagine if Elymas had surrendered to God’s disciplining hand, like David in Psalm 63:8, “My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.” God disciplines those He loves. That hand, when surrendered to, would hold him up. This is what God does for us when we turn to Him, as He did for Proconsul Sergius Paulus.
Verse 12: Fruitfulness Through Faithful Rhythms
“Then the proconsul believed, when he saw what had occurred, for he was astonished at the teaching of the Lord.” (Acts 13:12). When Paul walked in God-given rhythms—Spirit-led confrontation and faithful teaching—everyone benefited. He didn’t separate worship from boldness, or truth from love. He didn’t run from opposition; he remained in rhythm. And the result was fruit.
The proconsul believed, not just because of the miracle, but because he was “astonished at the teaching of the Lord.” Here’s our takeaway: Opposition and fruitfulness are not enemies; they often go hand in hand. God sees your life holistically—your calling, battles, gifts, relationships—and wants to bear fruit through all of it. When we walk in the Spirit, stay rooted in worship, and remain faithful in our rhythms, people will see it, and some will believe.
(Invite the worship team up)
Conclusion: Updating Our Defaults for God’s Mission
We often want fruit without friction, breakthrough without battle. But God works holistically, using all of it—your calling, battles, seasons of silence and power, steady rhythms, and stretching moments—to form a life that points others to Jesus.
The invitation today is simple and strong:
- What are your default settings?
- Are you living in a rhythm that allows the Spirit to speak?
- Are you building your life on worship, the Word, and a willingness to yield?
As we’ve seen in Acts 13: The mission of God begins in the presence of God. It continues in the power of the Spirit. And it bears fruit through faithful rhythms.
Perhaps today, it’s time to hit the “update” button. To surrender your defaults. To let Jesus rewrite your rhythms. We become the kind of church where worship is our lifestyle, the Word is our language, and yielding to the Spirit is our joy.
I told you about Nathan’s plan to avoid hard work. He wanted the reward without the process. And the truth is, so do we. We want the glory without the grind, the fruit without the faithfulness, God’s power without the prayers of the saints, Peter’s rescue without the church’s perseverance. But Acts 12 doesn’t offer shortcut Christianity. It shows a church that pleases God through prayer, faith, obedience, fellowship, and surrender.
Are you living to please God? As I advised Nathan: you can’t live like effort doesn’t matter and expect your life to matter. You can’t seek comfort above all and still expect to please the One who carried a cross. But if you want your life to count, to truly please God, then let’s learn from Acts 12: pray like it matters. Trust when it’s hard. Follow when it’s unclear. Give Him the glory. And watch how our Great God does “exceedingly and abundantly more than we can think or ask” as He increases and multiplies His word.
When we are faithful—with our sons and daughters, our wives, our churches, our community—God multiplies that faithfulness into legacy. From Abraham to Antioch. From Antioch to Belmont County. From your house to the next generation. So pick up your shovel. Don’t grow weary. Be strong in the Lord. Remain faithful with steadfast purpose. And let your life proclaim this truth to the world: “My God is faithful, and He has called me to faithfulness.”
Part 3, Acts 13:13-52
Sermon Notes: Acts 13:13-52
The Apostle Paul’s Mission and Message
Introduction: From Behind the Iron Curtain to the Mission Field
I was born in 1961, a turbulent time in the United States, marked by the Vietnam War, racial tension, the Civil Rights movement, the hippie movement, and Cold War anxieties. I remember “Duck and Cover” drills in elementary school, wondering what a school desk would do in a nuclear exchange—unless they just wanted to identify my pile of ashes!
I was always intrigued by life behind the Iron Curtain, glimpsing it only during the Olympics. That changed in the late 1980s. As a Christian foreman in a plumbing company, my apprentice, Paul Lange (who would become a missionary), drove me to jobsites so I could read articles about the Iron Curtain’s collapse. Then, on November 9, 1989, the Berlin Wall fell.
In April 1989, I made my first mission trip to Europe, to Austria. In 1990, I moved there, and by February 1991, I was in Baja, Hungary. We were among the first missionaries from our movement to plant churches in Europe. Now, there are over 100 churches across the continent.
Moving to Hungary then was fascinating. My only prior glimpse of life there was the Olympics. Now, I was seeing it firsthand. It felt like a time machine to 1945; there was little development during the Soviet occupation. I had to adjust to a completely different way of life.
The Mission
I. Acts 13:1-5 marks the early church’s first proactive mission, inspired and sent by the Holy Spirit.
Slide #1: The Apostle Paul’s first and second missionary journeys. Sent out from the church in Antioch of Syria.
II. Last week, Pastor Aaron covered their first stop on the Island of Cyprus, Barnabas’s home (Acts 4:36).
Slide #2: The Island of Cyprus.
III. Acts 13:4-12 records the apostles’ ministry in Paphos.
Acts 13:5 mentions they took “John to assist them.”
IV. Acts 13:13-14 records the journey from Cyprus to Antioch of Pisidia.
They sailed from Cyprus to Perga, where John (also known as Mark) left them to return to Jerusalem.
Slide #3: Location of Perga.
We don’t know why John Mark left, but we know Paul disapproved (Acts 15:37-38).
It’s possible he shied away from the dangers of prevalent bandits on the road to Antioch of Pisidia.
Slide #4: Location of Antioch of Pisidia. Probably took the green route.
Perhaps he missed his favorite falafel stand in Jerusalem, or his plush bed, or his mother. Whatever the reason, Paul was unhappy. John Mark was later restored to Paul’s favor (2 Tim. 4:11-12).
Once, I received a text accusing me of taking God’s money to travel the world. My life has been enriched by seeing many places, but it wasn’t for tourism. Living in a foreign country, apart from everything familiar, can be challenging.
My first winter in Hungary in 1992 was one such challenge. Around Christmas, the few missionaries I served with had returned to the States. I was alone. Severe weather lasted two weeks, with so much snow that no one could come to church one Sunday. For over a week, I had no human contact. I remember looking out the window at the snowstorm, starting to feel like Jack Nicholson in The Shining. I lay on the floor calling out to God, and saw my suitcase. The thought came: “What am I doing here? I should be back in sunny Southern California with my family at Rodrigo’s Mexican Food Restaurant!”
The point is that these men set out on a mission to places of danger, discomfort, and unfamiliarity.
These men weren’t originally from Israel proper. Barnabas was from Cyprus, and Saul (Paul) grew up in Tarsus.
Slide #5: Location of Tarsus.
Paul grew up in Tarsus, a vibrant city with a diverse religious landscape—a melting pot of Greek, Roman, and Eastern traditions, including pagan cults. Tarsus had a thriving Jewish community, to which Paul belonged, having been raised in a Pharisee’s home.
Paul was fluent in Hebrew, likely Aramaic (the common language of the Jews), and Greek (the common language of the ancient world, much like English today). But he would find himself in places where communication was challenging.
When we first moved to Hungary, we didn’t speak a word of Hungarian. I was studying German, thinking I’d return to Austria. Only after a couple of months in Hungary did I stop German and start Hungarian. We’d go to the same restaurant nightly. The only things we could read on the menu were pizza and cola, so that’s what we ate. It cost under two dollars then. After a couple of weeks, tired of pizza, I tried to find something else. I did my best Tarzan impression to our waitress, Julianna, pointing and grunting. She looked at me strangely, went to the kitchen, and returned with a plate of raw ground meat with a raw egg on top. I pushed it back and said, “Pizza!”
Paul was also born a Roman citizen, likely from a wealthy family who purchased citizenship. This was a privilege and proved useful during his missionary travels.
The point is, Paul understood the world he was entering on this mission. Nevertheless, he would face many challenges.
The Message
I. Acts 13:14-41: The Apostle Paul’s first recorded sermon in the synagogue in Antioch of Pisidia.
A. Acts 13:14-16: The Setting.
Antioch of Pisidia was initially a Greek colony, but by Paul’s time, it was Roman. It had a large enough Jewish population for a synagogue.
Slide #6: Location of Antioch of Pisidia.
The audience consisted of “men of Israel” (Jews) and “those who fear God” (Gentiles) (13:26, 43). Jewish synagogues had three sections: for Jewish men, for women, and for Gentiles interested in the one true God—those who rejected Roman and Greek polytheism and were drawn to the God of the Jews. These Gentiles accepted the Old Testament as God’s Word, giving Paul a reference point for the gospel.
It was customary for a guest to share with the congregation (:15). Paul, of course, seized this opportunity to preach the gospel.
B. Acts 13:16-23: Paul provides a brief history of the Jews, leading up to David.
(Acts 13:23-24 ESV) “Of this man’s offspring God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus, as he promised.”
God promised King David that the Messiah would come through his descendants.
These people believed everything up to this point; they knew the Messiah would come from David’s line (2 Sam. 7:12-14).
God promised a Savior, and He delivered.
Slide #7: (2 Cor. 1:20 ESV) “For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory.”
Amen means “true” or “so be it!”
Acts 13:24-25: Paul clarifies John the Baptist’s ministry. John pointed people to the one coming after him.
John testified that Jesus was the One.
Slide #8: (John 1:29 ESV) “The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”
C. Acts 13:26-28: Paul preaches that by not recognizing Jesus, they condemned Him to death.
Acts 13:27 says, “because they did not know Him, nor even the voices of the Prophets which are read every Sabbath.”
The Jews in Israel didn’t recognize Jesus as the Messiah, though the prophets predicted His coming.
Slide #9: (John 5:39-40 ESV) “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.”
If our Bible Study doesn’t lead us to the person of Jesus, we’ve missed the point. It is in Jesus that we find life!
Slide #10: (John 14:6 ESV) “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
In Revelation, Jesus rebukes the church in Laodicea for being lukewarm, telling them:
Slide #11: (Rev. 3:17 ESV) “For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.”
This church was materially wealthy but spiritually destitute, yet they didn’t realize it; they were deceived. Then Jesus says:
Slide #12: (Rev. 3:20 ESV) “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.”
This is a horrific picture. Jesus is writing to His church, but He is outside, knocking, excluded from their service. I wonder how many churches meet on a beautiful Sunday, unaware that Jesus is outside, trying to get in!
D. Acts 13:29-37: Paul brings his message to the focal point of Christianity: the resurrection of Jesus.
Slide #13: The resurrection of Jesus does a few essential things:
Validates everything Jesus taught.
Gives the believer faith that a relationship with Jesus is possible.
Assures believers that the penalty for sin has been paid.
Assures believers that death has been conquered!
If the resurrection didn’t occur, our Christianity is meaningless.
Slide #14: (1 Cor. 15:14 ESV) “And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.”
(1 Cor. 15:17 ESV) “And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.”
(Acts 13:32 ESV) “And we bring you the good news that what God promised to the fathers.”
Again, God had promised Salvation to humanity since Adam and throughout the Old Testament prophets. This gospel is such good news that it can’t be kept a secret. It needs to be proclaimed “till the whole valley knows” about the Salvation in Jesus—and the world!
My realization that a whole continent didn’t have what I was experiencing motivated me to take it to Europe. Later, that realization expanded to other parts of the world.
E. Acts 13:38-41: The conclusion consists of three main points:
Acts 13:38: In Jesus is the forgiveness of sins.
Acts 13:39: In Jesus, there is freedom.
Slide #15: (John 8:36 ESV) “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”
Acts 13:40: Warning not to miss out. Dismissing the evidence that in Jesus is salvation.
II. Acts 13:42-52: The response to the gospel. There are three takeaways:
A. Slide #16: Fruit
There were many converts, including Jews and Gentile converts to Judaism, who followed Paul and Barnabas. Also, the Gentiles loved the news that God’s heart was to reach them.
B. Persecution
Paul and Barnabas were reaching Gentiles without the law of Moses and circumcision. In the Jews’ eyes, they were bypassing the “Jewishness of God.” People didn’t have to become religious to receive Christ.
Sometimes, Christians can put obstacles in the way of new converts. For example, I’ve been criticized for being too open concerning:
Baptism.
Giving communion to those who haven’t been baptized.
C. Joy
The persecution didn’t hinder the Gospel but furthered it.
Conclusion: God Multiplies Faithfulness Through Our Rhythms
We want fruit without friction, breakthrough without battle. But God works holistically. He uses all of it—your calling, battles, seasons of silence and power, steady rhythms, and stretching moments—to form a life that points others to Jesus.
So the invitation today is simple and strong:
What are your default settings?
Are you living in a rhythm that allows the Spirit to speak?
Are you building your life on worship, the Word, and a willingness to yield?
Because here’s what we’ve seen in Acts 13: The mission of God begins in the presence of God. It continues in the power of the Spirit. And it bears fruit through faithful rhythms.
Perhaps today, it’s time for you to hit the “update” button. To surrender your defaults. To let Jesus rewrite your rhythms. We become the kind of church where worship is our lifestyle, the Word is our language, and yielding to the Spirit is our joy.
I told you about my son Nathan and his brilliant (but slightly shady) plan to avoid hard work and still get what he wanted. He wanted the reward—but not the process. And the truth is, so do we. We want the glory without the grind. The fruit without the faithfulness. The power of God without the prayers of the saints. The rescue of Peter without the perseverance of the church. But Acts 12 doesn’t give us that kind of shortcut Christianity. It shows us a church that pleases God through prayer, through faith, through obedience, through fellowship, and through surrender.
Can I ask you a question to take a walk with today and put feet to your faith? Are you living to please God? I’m trying to live in the advice I gave Nathan: you can’t live like effort doesn’t matter and expect your life to matter. You can’t seek comfort above all and still expect to please the One who carried a cross. But if you want your life to count; If you want to live in a way that truly pleases God, Then let us learn from Acts 12: pray like it matters. Trust when it’s hard. Follow when it’s unclear. Give Him the glory. And watch how our Great God does exceedingly and abundantly more than we can think or ask as he increases and multiplies His word.
When we are faithful—with our sons and daughters, our wives, our churches, our community—God multiplies that faithfulness into legacy. From Abraham to Antioch. From Antioch to Belmont County. From your house to the next generation. So pick up your shovel. Don’t grow weary. Be strong in the Lord. Remain faithful with steadfast purpose. And let your life proclaim this truth to the world: “My God is faithful, and He has called me to faithfulness.”
Don't Lose the Treasure
Sermon Notes: 2 Corinthians 4 – Treasure in Jars of Clay
Introduction: The Medium is the Message?
My name is Luke, like he said. I’m a pastor from Chicago. I have a wife and three teenage sons and an elementary school-age daughter, and they wouldn’t want to sit that close to me either. So no problem that you’re all sitting towards the back there. Just teasing. It’s been a great day already in this church. I really have a lot of affection for your pastor. I’d love to preach to you now. If you have a Bible, I hope you’ll turn to the book of Second Corinthians in chapter four.
If you’d like to stand for the reading of God’s word, we’d love for you to. Second Corinthians, chapter 4. This is God’s word for us today:
2 Corinthians 4:7-18 (ESV)
But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed. Always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you. Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, “I believed, and so I spoke”—we also believe, and so we also speak, knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will also raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence. For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people, it may increase thanksgiving to the glory of God. So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.
This is God’s word. You may be seated.
I’ll never forget it. I was a college student, taking the train in and out of Chicago to do my undergrad studies at Moody Bible Institute. I was young and impressionable. I was walking through the train station—pre-COVID, super busy, bustling, people going every direction. I saw a lady walk out of the Dunkin’ Donuts line with a cup of Dunkin’ Donuts coffee. Then I saw her pull a white Starbucks cup out of her pocket, pour the Dunkin’ Donuts coffee into the Starbucks cup, throw the Dunkin’ Donuts cup away, and walk out. What did this tell me? For whatever reason, she wanted to seem like she had Starbucks coffee.
Oftentimes, we deal with this reality that in our modern world, the medium is the message—how something is communicated is more important than what is communicated. You see this in the news and media: little attention is given to what is happening in a story, and a lot to how someone said something. This is a problem because, for you and me, the people who tell us about Jesus often have too much influence on how we understand Him. Too often, we take our cues from the messenger rather than Jesus Himself.
Our human tendency to focus on the packaging over the package, like the Dunkin’ coffee in the Starbucks cup, damages us. This is what Paul is talking about here in 2 Corinthians 4: the fragile nature of people who hold the gospel for us. Daniel Kahneman, a well-known writer, says, “The exaggerated expectation of consistency is a common error. We’re prone to think that the world is more regular and predictable than it really is.”
Point 1: The Container is Fragile, Don’t Lose the Treasure
When Paul says, “But we have this treasure in jars of clay,” the treasure he’s talking about is the truth of Jesus. He said a few verses before, “We’re not preaching ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, the God who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts.” That’s the treasure: the truth of Jesus—who He is, His death, His resurrection, His coming return.
Paul says, “we have this treasure in jars of clay.” (If you were around in the 90s, that was a Christian band name.) I memorized this verse as a kid in the King James Version, where it called them “earthen vessels.” Paul is talking about something common holding something sacred. He’s saying, “We have this treasure in a paper cup you could put your coffee in.” I had coffee this morning in the lobby; no one thought to reuse that styrofoam cup. (Not my church, not my problem.)
We have the treasure in jars of clay to show. Why? Paul says, “It’s to show us and to show everyone that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.” The reason the treasure comes in common packaging—a clay pot easily thrown away in the first century, a white paper cup not worth much in the 21st century—is to remind us that the thing that matters is the treasure, not what the treasure comes in.
Paul describes every person who holds the treasure of Jesus as fragile, inferior, expendable. He understands himself to be a vessel that contains and conveys a message to a world endlessly taught about self-love and self-esteem. Paul is pushing something different. He’s saying, it’s not that I’m greater or lesser than others. It’s not that you and I, as people who have the truth, are better than people who don’t. We’re just all people.
Why that matters for you and me is Paul is saying the treasure of who Jesus Christ is is the significant thing. The people that hold it are not. This relates to the idea of low anthropology: the concept that people are fragile, inconsistent, and self-centered, just like I am. This is significant because too often we think we see ourselves clearly as people in process. We see ourselves as faithful one day and not as faithful the next. We describe ourselves as “prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love.” We understand ourselves that way, but too often we experience and understand others based on their presentation, the medium they’re giving to us. This is why author Anne Lamott says, “You should never compare your insides to everybody else’s outside.”
We understand on some level that we are broken and flawed. Yet so many people of faith lose track of their faith when they find that the container holding the treasure is fragile.
The container is fragile. Don’t lose the treasure.
I know too many people whose parents brought them to church, then their parents got divorced, and the person decides maybe the faith wasn’t real. I know too many people who loved God and being in church, then a youth pastor did something stupid, or a trusted pastor disappointed them, and they decided the whole thing was stupid. I know too many people who trusted a politician, a teacher, a company, and when they found that the thing they trusted was as inconsistent, fragile, and self-centered as they know somewhere in their heart they are, they just quit the whole thing.
Paul is trying to say to you: the treasure of Jesus is contained in something common. So don’t be surprised when the thing that’s common disappoints you.
Point 2: The Path is Difficult, Don’t Lose the Treasure
In the next verse, Paul shifts: “We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed.” This is four different ways of saying the same concept. Paul means:
- I can be afflicted, but not crushed: struggling immensely, but still going. (Maybe today, you planned to be here for the early service but made it to the third.)
- I can be perplexed, but not driven to despair: stressed without being stressed out; bothered by lots of stuff, but still moving forward.
- Persecuted, but not forsaken: people can look down on me for my faith, but I still know God is with me.
- Struck down, but not destroyed: I can be in physical pain, but still trusting God with my whole heart.
Paul is saying here that the path is difficult, don’t lose the treasure. This message needs to be heard in 21st-century America because many have been given a “health and wealth and prosperity” view of faith. They’ve heard that if you have enough faith, you’ll be healed, your life will get better, you’ll fit into your college jeans, your kids will live exactly as you want, or your life will be perfectly fulfilled. This is simply not biblical Christianity. The New Testament is filled with the idea that the path God calls us to walk is difficult. And some people, when the path gets difficult, lose the treasure.
I had a neighbor whose elementary-school-age daughter was missing an arm due to an infection. Her dad, upon learning I was a pastor, said, “I was going to a church, and they told me if I’d had more faith, my daughter’s arm wouldn’t have needed to be amputated.” I want to go find that pastor with a couple of baseball bats! That is not Biblical Christianity.
Biblical Christianity is this: Paul says in the next verse, “Always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.” What does he mean? It’s in our suffering that people see that the thing we believe in is actually true.
“For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you.” Paul is grabbing onto some Greek philosophy that contentment in suffering was the best way of displaying cosmic power. Death is something none of us can escape. But Paul is saying, for the person of faith, the march towards death has purpose. Paul is saying, the story you and I are living is the story of suffering. But don’t lose the treasure.
I love our country, but one thing that’s really messed up is the American Dream. It leads many to think that if I’m not making progress, I’m doing something wrong or God is mad at me. Oftentimes, God trusts the people He loves most with difficulty, because that difficulty turns into a megaphone that shouts to the world who He really is and that He’s really true.
What Paul is saying to the Corinthian Church 2,000 years ago, and maybe to you and me on this rainy Sunday in July of 2025, is this: The story that we’re living right now is a story of suffering. But that doesn’t mean I have to lose the treasure. It doesn’t matter what my bank account says, what relationship frustrations I’m feeling, what my boss says, or the things I’m dealing with.
- You can’t take my praise away from me. I am going to praise God on the good days and the bad.
- You can’t take my tithe away from me. I’m going to be generous when it feels good and when it’s difficult.
- You can’t take my faith away. I’m going to believe in God when I can see it and when I can’t.
- You cannot take away the love that I have for the people in my life.
Like Job said, “Though he slay me, yet will I trust him.” The story that we are living is suffering, but I refuse to lose track of the treasure.
Point 3: Suffering, Grace, and Glory
The next verse says, “Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, ‘I believed, and so I spoke.’ We also believe, and so we also speak, knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will also raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence. For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people, it may increase thanksgiving to the glory of God.“
What Paul is doing here is describing a pattern: more suffering leads to more grace leads to more people saved leads to more thanks leads to more glory.
I had a guy in my office this week who had been coming to my church in Chicago for a while. This was our second meeting. He was raised ethnically and religiously Jewish. Life was fine until he went through a divorce and his business struggled, leading to deep depression. His ex-wife, who hated him, was so worried she said, “You need to come with me to church. I don’t know if you’re gonna make it otherwise.” (Rock bottom is when someone who hates you is worried enough to invite you to church!)
This guy sat in my office and described how he started coming to church, sitting in the front. I watched him over months slowly open to God. This week, in his mid-60s, he asked if I would baptize him because he has faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. (Yes, that guy with the glasses liked it. Everybody else, not sure.)
His life followed this pattern: his suffering opened his heart to the grace of God. The grace of God allowed him to be added to the number of people saved. Here’s where we all come in: when he tells his story next Sunday at our outdoor baptism, his story will produce an overflow of thanks to God. And that overflow of thanks brings more glory to God.
This is why you and I have breath in our mouths right now. You were put on this planet with that breath in your lungs for the purpose of bringing glory to the God who made you and loves you. That’s why Paul says in the next verse, “So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.“
To lose heart is to feel like what’s happening now isn’t worth the effort towards your destination. My teenage sons are in football summer camp—week five, headed into week six. They wake up at 6 AM, practice in the heat, get yelled at in the film room, hit the weight room. They come home exhausted. One said, “Dad, I don’t know if I can keep doing this. Can we just get to the games already?” But if you know football, the team that wins in the fall is the team willing to do the work of preparation in the spring and summer. I told him, “No, you’re going back to practice tomorrow because I’m not going to let you lose heart.”
Paul says, “We don’t lose heart.” Even though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. We know this is true. The older you get, no matter what you do (Botox, creatine, gym memberships, flattering clothes, hair transplants in Turkey), the outer self is ultimately wasting away. But our inner self can be renewed day by day. Paul is saying, even though your body is weakening, don’t lose the treasure.
The Roman world, like ours, worshipped youth and vitality. The loss of that could trick some into thinking the best days are behind. This is common everywhere. I learned about a pseudo-scientist named David Sinclair who believes he’s found secrets to aging that will allow people to live forever. It’s going to be tough for that guy when he dies and meets Jesus face to face, isn’t it? Life expectancy is going up, but the outer self is wasting away. That doesn’t mean the inner self needs to be destroyed.
Have you ever noticed this strange divergence as people waste away? Some become sweeter, more generous, softer to the things of God, while others become more bitter and cranky. My wife’s grandmother, in her mid-90s, raised on the south side of Chicago, lived through the Depression and still won’t spend a dollar. Yet, all she wants to talk about is how much she loves her family, how proud she is, and how she’s ready to go to heaven. She has no complaints, no issues, no bad attitude. She doesn’t want an iPhone or streaming. She just loves God and her family and wants to go to heaven. That’s what it means to be renewed inside even as the outer self wastes away. Paul is saying: pull these two things apart. You can be dying on the outside and more alive than you’ve ever been on the inside. Just because your body is weakening doesn’t mean you have to lose the treasure.
I feel intimidated by your pastor’s hairline, personally. It’s not the same for me as it once was. And man, that guy’s got a head of hair. And then I met the youth pastor, and his hair is maybe even better. It’s unbelievable what they got going here.
The next verse says, “For this light momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen, but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.“
Paul is comparing the process of aging and dying, describing it as “light” (not heavy) and “momentary” (short). How could he have the audacity to describe aging and dying this way? Because he’s comparing it to what awaits those who die in Christ: an “eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.” Paul, a master of words, reached into his vocabulary to describe what awaits a person who loves Jesus, and all he could say was, “can’t compare it.”
He’s describing a “now and then” contrast:
- Now vs. Then
- Outward man vs. Inward man
- Wasting away vs. Being renewed
- Light momentary affliction vs. Eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison
- Things that are seen (transient) vs. Things that are unseen (eternal)
Paul is saying, don’t be focused on now; be focused on then. Don’t have your eyes on the pain of now; have your eyes on the promise of the future. As my outward life conforms ever more closely to the crucified Christ—as my situation mirrors Jesus’ pain and difficulty—the more what is happening inside of me becomes like what happened to Christ in His full glory after resurrection.
Paul is saying, don’t lose the treasure. You lose the treasure if you think life is all about the here and now, or if you pay too much attention to the fragile people who told you the truth about Jesus, or if you somehow think that just because you know God, your life is going to get easier.
The whole point of this message and this text, the reason I got on a plane (and didn’t even know I’d go through West Virginia to get to Ohio!), is to say this: Don’t lose the treasure.
Most of us will never be in the same room again until we meet in glory. This is probably our only chance to share a church service like this. I came here to say: Don’t lose the treasure.
Don’t allow yourself to think of people in a way that will distract and frustrate you. Grab onto this idea of low anthropology: people are fragile, inconsistent, and self-centered, just like I am. Don’t be bamboozled or shocked when people disappoint you. They will. Hold on to Jesus. He will never disappoint you.
I adore your pastor; we’re very good friends. I remember when he moved from San Diego to Ohio, and I thought, “Do you know there are no oceans in Ohio?” It all happened quickly, and he was so excited to plant his family in this church. I’ve learned this morning what a great history this church has, full of faithful people who’ve been together a long time, honoring God. He has a beautiful family structure, like mine—three boys and a girl—a beautiful wife and kids. He was telling me earlier about all the dreams and hopes he has for this church, how you’ll continue to reach the community, and all the things he hopes will happen together.
It’s all fantastic and wonderful, but if you put your trust in a person, that person will almost certainly let you down. They will disappoint you. They will frustrate you. They will do things that don’t go the way you want. And what I came here to say today was, don’t lose the treasure.
Conclusion: Trust the Treasure, Not the Trophy
So, I was at my mom’s house over July 4th. If you’ve been in this stage of life, every time I go to my mom’s, she tries to get me to take things from my childhood home. She handed me this trophy: third grade, Colt League basketball, 1996-1997. It didn’t have my name or an award—just a participation trophy. That was a big thing when I was a kid: your parents wrote a check, here you go, great job.
I remember proudly putting that trophy, and others like it, next to my bed so anyone who walked in could see. These trophies were a way of showing, “I’m something,” I thought. Then you get to a point in life, and it goes from a trophy to maybe a relationship, a college acceptance, a place you can afford to live, a house, a boat, retirement, your kids’ accomplishments. All through life, we’re drawn towards these things.
As my mom handed this to me, it popped right to the scene in Revelation chapter 4, where the elders and angels are around the throne of God. It says they cast their crowns—they lay down their accomplishments, they give away the things that felt significant—and just cry out in worship and praise to God.
You’re going to love people better in your life and be filled more with joy as you walk through your days if you love people, but trust in Jesus, because He is the treasure. When we get those things confused, we end up really hurting ourselves and each other.
Maybe that’s helpful to you today. Let’s pray together.
God, I’m grateful for the chance to be in this room with these saints. I pray that we’ve been honoring you and encouraging each other. Anything that’s useful, I pray it would stick to their hearts. Anything that was not fruitful, I pray that you would let it fall straight to the ground. Please help us, Lord. We want to honor you in every way we can. In Jesus’ name I pray. If you agree with these prayers in Jesus’ name, please say amen.
