WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.899 I chose this reading because it was a passage 00:00:01.899 --> 00:00:05.059 I had to speak on recently. I won't go into all 00:00:05.059 --> 00:00:07.719 the reasons why, but I had lunch with the new 00:00:07.719 --> 00:00:10.259 vicar of a church and I told him that his church 00:00:10.259 --> 00:00:13.179 was the only one I'd ever been banned from preaching 00:00:13.179 --> 00:00:17.019 in. And he said, well, we could fix that. So 00:00:17.019 --> 00:00:21.500 I ended up choraling a song at St Bartholomew 00:00:21.500 --> 00:00:24.339 the Great. in the city of london with this passage 00:00:24.339 --> 00:00:28.440 chosen and also a far less weird passage about 00:00:28.440 --> 00:00:31.280 sort of handover from one king to another which 00:00:31.280 --> 00:00:33.520 you could have you know made relevant for any 00:00:33.520 --> 00:00:36.780 boardroom in the city so i chose to speak on 00:00:36.780 --> 00:00:39.439 this one on the passage with the miracles and 00:00:39.439 --> 00:00:42.320 the religious mania and the attempted murder 00:00:42.320 --> 00:00:46.520 and i told them i had chosen to speak on this 00:00:46.520 --> 00:00:51.659 passage because that was the one the author presented 00:00:51.659 --> 00:00:57.380 to us as typical for our christian lives not 00:00:57.380 --> 00:00:59.679 necessarily in you know all the crazy details 00:00:59.679 --> 00:01:03.340 but in the shape that is here so first heading 00:01:03.340 --> 00:01:09.049 this is what normal looks like Look down, look 00:01:09.049 --> 00:01:10.650 back at it. It certainly doesn't look normal, 00:01:10.689 --> 00:01:12.609 does it? There's a man who was lame from birth 00:01:12.609 --> 00:01:15.629 and had never walked. Paul commands him to stand 00:01:15.629 --> 00:01:19.450 up and he jumps up and he walks. No rehab, no 00:01:19.450 --> 00:01:23.329 physio, no muscle and bone regrowth, which has 00:01:23.329 --> 00:01:26.530 the impact you'd expect. A well -known local 00:01:26.530 --> 00:01:29.390 figure, dependent on the community maybe for, 00:01:29.469 --> 00:01:33.370 what, 30 years? Now jumping and walking. So they 00:01:33.370 --> 00:01:36.879 go wild for Paul and Barnabas. And the obvious 00:01:36.879 --> 00:01:39.620 conclusion in a religious Greek city is they 00:01:39.620 --> 00:01:43.159 must be gods. Paul is Hermes because he's the 00:01:43.159 --> 00:01:46.859 chatty one, and Barnabas is Zeus. And they want 00:01:46.859 --> 00:01:50.859 to worship them, temples and priests and sacrificial 00:01:50.859 --> 00:01:54.180 animals and roots. So Paul has to work out what 00:01:54.180 --> 00:01:57.659 to say. And did they? What did they not train? 00:01:57.700 --> 00:02:00.959 Did they train you here what to say on the occasion 00:02:00.959 --> 00:02:04.709 of the youth group thinking you are gods? They 00:02:04.709 --> 00:02:07.409 told me, use the summer to write your first wedding 00:02:07.409 --> 00:02:10.430 sermon and your first funeral sermon. But if 00:02:10.430 --> 00:02:12.530 you need it, these verses, it's there. That's 00:02:12.530 --> 00:02:15.150 what you say when they think you're a God. And 00:02:15.150 --> 00:02:20.289 Paul, he gets quite upset, doesn't he? This is 00:02:20.289 --> 00:02:24.169 one more way that you can tell Jesus he really 00:02:24.169 --> 00:02:28.169 did think he was God. Because anyone else in 00:02:28.169 --> 00:02:32.370 monotheism would react the way that Paul does 00:02:32.370 --> 00:02:37.189 here. Abraham, Moses, Paul, Muhammad, it's the 00:02:37.189 --> 00:02:41.530 same. He tears his clothes, rushes out and shouts, 00:02:41.550 --> 00:02:44.610 we're only human, there's only one God, turn 00:02:44.610 --> 00:02:48.030 to him, stop sacrificing to us. So you'd think, 00:02:48.050 --> 00:02:50.689 phew, crisis averted, we're all going to be okay 00:02:50.689 --> 00:02:55.469 now, but no. Weird week is not yet over. Some 00:02:55.469 --> 00:02:58.270 of Paul's fellow countrymen from the last city 00:02:58.270 --> 00:03:01.620 on the tour, they show up. And the crowd that 00:03:01.620 --> 00:03:04.719 had loved Paul so much they wanted to worship 00:03:04.719 --> 00:03:09.180 him on Thursday is suddenly so angry with Paul 00:03:09.180 --> 00:03:14.740 they want him dead on Friday. It's quite a rollercoaster. 00:03:14.800 --> 00:03:17.560 They stone him to death, or they try to. They 00:03:17.560 --> 00:03:20.639 only stop because they thought he was dead. And 00:03:20.639 --> 00:03:24.000 he crawls away injured and bleeding to Derby. 00:03:24.860 --> 00:03:29.900 And all of that... The author presents to us 00:03:29.900 --> 00:03:35.120 as if it was here to teach us what normal looks 00:03:35.120 --> 00:03:39.060 like. It's the same pattern as Peter's first 00:03:39.060 --> 00:03:41.639 miracle and sermon in Acts 3, not first, first 00:03:41.639 --> 00:03:44.319 miracle in Acts 3 and 4. It's the same as the 00:03:44.319 --> 00:03:46.740 range of reactions through the whole book. And 00:03:46.740 --> 00:03:48.960 Paul tells us in verse 22, look down at verse 00:03:48.960 --> 00:03:54.860 22. What does Paul want to tell all the Christians 00:03:54.860 --> 00:04:00.060 in the region? Does he want to say, look, I'm 00:04:00.060 --> 00:04:03.020 sorry. Sorry I offended everybody. I hope it 00:04:03.020 --> 00:04:06.180 all settled down for you. Normally, it's not 00:04:06.180 --> 00:04:08.060 like this normally. Does he want to say that? 00:04:08.080 --> 00:04:13.460 Verse 22. We must go through many hardships to 00:04:13.460 --> 00:04:19.100 reach the kingdom of God. This is normal. And 00:04:19.100 --> 00:04:22.600 I hope from two rows. I hope this is kind of 00:04:22.600 --> 00:04:26.720 miserably encouraging for you in October. I think 00:04:26.720 --> 00:04:28.500 if we'd said this to you in June, that would 00:04:28.500 --> 00:04:32.360 just have been miserable. But three, four months 00:04:32.360 --> 00:04:38.860 in now, many hardships. That is normal in the 00:04:38.860 --> 00:04:42.100 life that you have chosen. You should expect 00:04:42.100 --> 00:04:47.610 wild swings of approval and disapproval. And 00:04:47.610 --> 00:04:50.589 some may even want to worship you. And then the 00:04:50.589 --> 00:04:55.250 same people, they may want to kill you. That 00:04:55.250 --> 00:04:59.290 is what normal looks like. Okay, but more than 00:04:59.290 --> 00:05:04.329 that, second, this is what success looks like. 00:05:05.089 --> 00:05:09.069 So look ahead to verse 26. Verse 26, they return 00:05:09.069 --> 00:05:12.170 to base back to Antioch, which is the place they 00:05:12.170 --> 00:05:14.629 were sent out from. And it says, verse 27, they 00:05:14.629 --> 00:05:19.250 gather the whole church. For a report. What would 00:05:19.250 --> 00:05:22.029 you have told them about in the reports? Yeah, 00:05:22.029 --> 00:05:25.430 that people of Pisidia, they're mad, aren't they? 00:05:25.509 --> 00:05:28.230 One week it's the bulls and the sacrifices and 00:05:28.230 --> 00:05:30.589 the next week it's the rocks and the murdering. 00:05:30.610 --> 00:05:33.290 We've had a horrible time. It's really dangerous. 00:05:33.529 --> 00:05:36.709 I never want to go there again. That's what I 00:05:36.709 --> 00:05:39.529 would have told them. Look down at verse 27. 00:05:40.970 --> 00:05:45.750 They reported all that God had done through them. 00:05:46.439 --> 00:05:50.560 and how he had opened a door of faith to the 00:05:50.560 --> 00:05:55.620 Gentiles. And this is what success looks like. 00:05:56.139 --> 00:05:58.680 He says, you committed us to the grace of God 00:05:58.680 --> 00:06:01.160 before you sent us. Verse 26, they do that here 00:06:01.160 --> 00:06:03.639 at Oak Hill. Pray for you before you went out 00:06:03.639 --> 00:06:05.480 to be women's workers and children's workers 00:06:05.480 --> 00:06:08.120 and assistant pastors. God's grace be with you. 00:06:08.139 --> 00:06:13.220 Paul says it worked. And God worked what God 00:06:13.220 --> 00:06:18.089 did through us. And what he had experienced with 00:06:18.089 --> 00:06:20.970 the wild rollercoaster of positive and negative 00:06:20.970 --> 00:06:25.629 reactions, what we saw happening really was a 00:06:25.629 --> 00:06:30.269 wide open door for Gentile people to have faith. 00:06:31.720 --> 00:06:34.560 In Acts, this is the first time they've deliberately 00:06:34.560 --> 00:06:37.600 gone out to offer the Christian rescue to every 00:06:37.600 --> 00:06:40.060 kind of people. Gentiles have been becoming Christians 00:06:40.060 --> 00:06:42.040 for a bit, but this is missionary journey number 00:06:42.040 --> 00:06:45.660 one. Let's see if God really meant it when he 00:06:45.660 --> 00:06:49.279 said that anyone at all could call on the name 00:06:49.279 --> 00:06:52.779 of Jesus and be forgiven and be rescued from 00:06:52.779 --> 00:06:57.720 death and live forever. Just as a reminder to 00:06:57.720 --> 00:07:02.740 family here, of why your daughter, your brother, 00:07:02.920 --> 00:07:06.920 your dad has launched themselves on this unusual 00:07:06.920 --> 00:07:10.500 journey of college and then service in a church. 00:07:11.220 --> 00:07:14.939 It is because they are convinced that the door 00:07:14.939 --> 00:07:18.399 is wide open and that Jesus, he will welcome 00:07:18.399 --> 00:07:22.579 anyone who walks through it and that they can 00:07:22.579 --> 00:07:26.120 give the rest of their lives, they want to, to 00:07:26.120 --> 00:07:28.550 helping people find their way in there. And the 00:07:28.550 --> 00:07:30.769 message here actually is no matter how miserable 00:07:30.769 --> 00:07:35.550 they are and their service is, if you were to 00:07:35.550 --> 00:07:38.970 say to them that you want to talk about Jesus 00:07:38.970 --> 00:07:41.910 and find out if it's worth believing in him, 00:07:42.069 --> 00:07:46.050 they would come back full of joy and tell us, 00:07:46.069 --> 00:07:50.610 look what God has done. The door is open, even 00:07:50.610 --> 00:07:57.149 for my sister, for my mum. So this is what success 00:07:57.149 --> 00:08:01.350 looks like. That's point two. It is not whether 00:08:01.350 --> 00:08:04.910 they like you in wherever you've been sent since 00:08:04.910 --> 00:08:08.170 leaving here. It isn't whether things go to plan. 00:08:08.730 --> 00:08:11.730 I wonder this morning, have there been some stories 00:08:11.730 --> 00:08:14.949 swapped? You'll never guess what my church did 00:08:14.949 --> 00:08:17.149 in the summer when the vicar went on holiday 00:08:17.149 --> 00:08:19.670 and I was on my own for the first Sunday. It 00:08:19.670 --> 00:08:24.399 was just me. No, success is people walking through 00:08:24.399 --> 00:08:28.480 that open door, receiving forgiveness from Jesus, 00:08:28.540 --> 00:08:33.100 and starting to walk through many hardships to 00:08:33.100 --> 00:08:37.120 enter the kingdom of God. Okay, so this is what 00:08:37.120 --> 00:08:39.259 normal looks like, and this is what success looks 00:08:39.259 --> 00:08:42.559 like. And third point, this is also what ministry 00:08:42.559 --> 00:08:46.980 looks like. And there is so much in Acts on what 00:08:46.980 --> 00:08:48.320 ministry looks like. You should really have a 00:08:48.320 --> 00:08:51.559 course on Acts, I feel, here at Oak Hill. What 00:08:51.559 --> 00:08:54.980 you should do and what you should expect. I just 00:08:54.980 --> 00:08:57.559 want to show you some possibly surprising things 00:08:57.559 --> 00:09:03.519 from verses 21 to 25. So in your head for this, 00:09:03.620 --> 00:09:06.980 you need to pull up in your mind the map of the 00:09:06.980 --> 00:09:10.559 Mediterranean. So they had left big Antioch, 00:09:10.559 --> 00:09:13.320 which is kind of in the armpit. of Turkey. So 00:09:13.320 --> 00:09:16.320 this is Turkey. Antioch is in the armpit of Turkey. 00:09:16.519 --> 00:09:20.240 And they went on to Cyprus, and then they went 00:09:20.240 --> 00:09:22.279 to another town called Antioch. That's annoying 00:09:22.279 --> 00:09:24.700 and confusing, isn't it? Little Antioch, kind 00:09:24.700 --> 00:09:27.419 of halfway along the arm. And then they worked 00:09:27.419 --> 00:09:31.519 their way inland. Iconium, Lystra, Derby, is 00:09:31.519 --> 00:09:35.799 that what Greeks pun, my saying? The key thing 00:09:35.799 --> 00:09:39.279 you need to know about Derby is that Derby means 00:09:39.279 --> 00:09:43.860 nearly home for Paul. In fact, not just nearly 00:09:43.860 --> 00:09:47.320 back at Antioch. There is a direct route from 00:09:47.320 --> 00:09:51.500 Derby to Granny for Paul. Paul is from Tarsus, 00:09:51.639 --> 00:09:54.080 so assume with me that Paul's granny still lives 00:09:54.080 --> 00:09:57.100 in Tarsus. Certainly his old workmates and his 00:09:57.100 --> 00:09:59.480 friends do. There's a direct route there. He 00:09:59.480 --> 00:10:02.799 uses it often later in the book. It's no distance. 00:10:03.000 --> 00:10:06.299 Just go and see Granny. You've had a rough few 00:10:06.299 --> 00:10:09.159 weeks, Paul, haven't you? There's bruises all 00:10:09.159 --> 00:10:12.230 over your body. Go and see Granny. But whatever 00:10:12.230 --> 00:10:18.009 you do, don't go back. Don't go back to the places 00:10:18.009 --> 00:10:21.389 that mistreated you. Look at verse 21. Preached 00:10:21.389 --> 00:10:23.970 in that city in Derby won a large number of disciples. 00:10:24.129 --> 00:10:29.850 The door's still open. Then they returned to 00:10:29.850 --> 00:10:34.230 Lystra. You're going the wrong way for Iconium 00:10:34.230 --> 00:10:37.990 and Antioch. He does the whole journey in reverse 00:10:37.990 --> 00:10:41.269 again. Isn't that a shock? And I never knew that 00:10:41.269 --> 00:10:43.230 until somebody pointed out, my childhood at school, 00:10:43.269 --> 00:10:46.409 I had to draw Paul's missionary journeys, maps 00:10:46.409 --> 00:10:50.330 of them. Nobody ever told me this. He was not 00:10:50.330 --> 00:10:53.090 all about the sort of big fly -in evangelistic 00:10:53.090 --> 00:10:56.090 meeting, happy to see new converts and then move 00:10:56.090 --> 00:10:59.210 on. That is not Paul at all. He is desperate 00:10:59.210 --> 00:11:03.990 to go back, verse 22, to strengthen and encourage 00:11:03.990 --> 00:11:06.529 them. It's the same, isn't it, in all of his 00:11:06.529 --> 00:11:09.789 letters. So worried about you, desperate to see 00:11:09.789 --> 00:11:12.090 you, to strengthen your faith. Now I really live 00:11:12.090 --> 00:11:14.730 because I've heard you are still following Jesus. 00:11:15.850 --> 00:11:20.149 Ministry looks like going back. Did you see even 00:11:20.149 --> 00:11:23.029 the city of Stoneham today got up and he went 00:11:23.029 --> 00:11:26.710 back for one more day. I don't know how difficult 00:11:26.710 --> 00:11:30.250 things have been for you since the course finished 00:11:30.250 --> 00:11:34.899 this summer. Probably. alongside the stories 00:11:34.899 --> 00:11:37.980 you did tell, there are ones that you don't want 00:11:37.980 --> 00:11:41.480 to tell. And frankly, the last year for me has 00:11:41.480 --> 00:11:43.259 been the hardest year of my ministry, perhaps 00:11:43.259 --> 00:11:47.259 of my life. The things that happen in churches 00:11:47.259 --> 00:11:51.299 and in normal local towns like Iconium and Lystra 00:11:51.299 --> 00:11:55.519 and Derby. And do you know in 2 Timothy 3, when 00:11:55.519 --> 00:11:58.620 Paul says that all who want to live a godly life 00:11:58.620 --> 00:12:01.179 in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, and you think, 00:12:01.179 --> 00:12:04.539 yeah, except me. when he says that. Do you remember 00:12:04.539 --> 00:12:06.740 the chapter begins with a list of place names? 00:12:07.080 --> 00:12:10.279 Do you remember that? You know all about what 00:12:10.279 --> 00:12:14.840 happened to me in three named places. And I always 00:12:14.840 --> 00:12:17.159 assumed those were the three worst places that 00:12:17.159 --> 00:12:21.000 he ever went to. The three best examples. The 00:12:21.000 --> 00:12:23.159 places that really hated me. Three towns. Do 00:12:23.159 --> 00:12:26.960 you know which three he picks? Antioch, Iconium, 00:12:27.120 --> 00:12:30.500 and Lystra. It's just the first three places. 00:12:31.259 --> 00:12:35.080 he ever went on the first missionary journey 00:12:35.080 --> 00:12:42.500 normal successful ministry um is that what you 00:12:42.500 --> 00:12:47.460 signed up for normal successful ministry and 00:12:47.460 --> 00:12:49.159 just briefly look at what he does when he goes 00:12:49.159 --> 00:12:53.200 back maybe this will remind you um and uh you 00:12:53.200 --> 00:12:54.940 know from this chapter you'll get another three 00:12:54.940 --> 00:12:57.980 months or another three years or 30 years from 00:12:57.980 --> 00:13:00.710 this chapter And they go back because ministry, 00:13:00.769 --> 00:13:04.309 it is all about strengthening disciples. It's 00:13:04.309 --> 00:13:07.450 about growing mature believers. Our church, where 00:13:07.450 --> 00:13:09.289 we are in Central London, we love a good event. 00:13:09.970 --> 00:13:12.629 Sometimes they're huge. We had 14 ,000 people 00:13:12.629 --> 00:13:15.350 at our carol services last year. The Sun newspaper 00:13:15.350 --> 00:13:18.230 this week began advertising our carol services 00:13:18.230 --> 00:13:21.730 by name. We have a marketing genius on my staff 00:13:21.730 --> 00:13:24.629 team. But for the last four and a half years 00:13:24.629 --> 00:13:27.470 I've been there. I've spent most time trying 00:13:27.470 --> 00:13:29.509 to get everyone to see that, you know, people 00:13:29.509 --> 00:13:34.289 at an event is nice, but it's not the goal. Each 00:13:34.289 --> 00:13:38.409 person through the open door with Jesus needs 00:13:38.409 --> 00:13:42.970 to be strengthened and to grow into a mature 00:13:42.970 --> 00:13:45.450 disciple, whether she is seven years old in your 00:13:45.450 --> 00:13:48.990 children's group or 97 years old in your local 00:13:48.990 --> 00:13:52.889 care home. And the strengthening, it happens 00:13:52.889 --> 00:13:56.289 when you tell them the truth. So look at the 00:13:56.289 --> 00:13:58.610 rest of verse 22. Would you say this is an encouraging 00:13:58.610 --> 00:14:02.110 message? Give us some encouragement, Vicar. We 00:14:02.110 --> 00:14:06.590 must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom 00:14:06.590 --> 00:14:11.769 of God. Going through the open door, it is wonderful 00:14:11.769 --> 00:14:14.990 because Jesus is wonderful. And all our guilt 00:14:14.990 --> 00:14:17.250 is taken from us and a never -ending future with 00:14:17.250 --> 00:14:19.889 Jesus after death is placed in front of us. But 00:14:19.889 --> 00:14:26.870 the journey there is we must. not may, and many, 00:14:27.049 --> 00:14:31.450 not some, hardships to enter the kingdom of God. 00:14:32.269 --> 00:14:35.710 Paul wants them all to know that how they treated 00:14:35.710 --> 00:14:40.629 him was normal. And he wants them strong enough 00:14:40.629 --> 00:14:44.389 to stand up in it, convinced Jesus is worth all 00:14:44.389 --> 00:14:47.350 of the normal hardships that come with following 00:14:47.350 --> 00:14:49.860 him. And I do actually think you get toward this. 00:14:50.039 --> 00:14:52.179 A colleague of mine has been in Matthew Sleeman's 00:14:52.179 --> 00:14:54.799 course on the book of Acts and says this verse 00:14:54.799 --> 00:14:57.440 apparently the beta course, is that right, of 00:14:57.440 --> 00:15:01.220 every church. So just ask three months in or 00:15:01.220 --> 00:15:06.820 nearly 30 years in, is this still what I am teaching 00:15:06.820 --> 00:15:11.879 people? And if not, am I really helping them 00:15:11.879 --> 00:15:15.279 to finish the journey? Do you remember when Paul 00:15:15.279 --> 00:15:18.200 writes to Thessalonica? maybe only been with 00:15:18.200 --> 00:15:21.200 them for three weeks, been run out of time again, 00:15:21.559 --> 00:15:24.519 he's able to say, remember, you remember how 00:15:24.519 --> 00:15:27.700 I kept telling you that we were destined for 00:15:27.700 --> 00:15:29.740 persecution, maybe not even the beta course, 00:15:29.779 --> 00:15:33.639 in the first three weeks. You'd get this again 00:15:33.639 --> 00:15:37.659 and again from Paul. And look at verse 23, you 00:15:37.659 --> 00:15:39.440 go back and you strengthen, you tell them about 00:15:39.440 --> 00:15:42.519 the hardships, and you set up churches. You put 00:15:42.519 --> 00:15:45.860 in place the people, people like those graduating 00:15:45.860 --> 00:15:50.019 today. who, like verse 23, we pray over and fast 00:15:50.019 --> 00:15:53.320 over and commit to the Lord, who we trust in 00:15:53.320 --> 00:15:55.340 them as they trust in the Lord for the work they 00:15:55.340 --> 00:15:59.639 have to do. Go and build a church in the place 00:15:59.639 --> 00:16:02.620 of the crazy, wild worship pool and stone to 00:16:02.620 --> 00:16:06.360 death place. Go and do that there and everywhere. 00:16:07.139 --> 00:16:11.259 Because this model of eldership, it is the support 00:16:11.259 --> 00:16:14.799 framework of the open door of faith for anyone 00:16:14.799 --> 00:16:18.149 and everyone. It's the way the strengthening 00:16:18.149 --> 00:16:20.929 happens and the church survives, what you've 00:16:20.929 --> 00:16:24.029 given yourself to. So normal, successful ministry. 00:16:24.330 --> 00:16:27.129 You still up for that? I want to give you two 00:16:27.129 --> 00:16:28.850 final thoughts. They're both a bit Anglican, 00:16:28.850 --> 00:16:30.289 I'm afraid. I know not everyone in the row in 00:16:30.289 --> 00:16:31.710 front of me is Anglican. I hope that's okay. 00:16:32.769 --> 00:16:35.730 The first one comes from somebody else's sermon. 00:16:36.110 --> 00:16:39.610 It was the first time I was involved in a sort 00:16:39.610 --> 00:16:43.250 of rebellious ordination. And the previous principal 00:16:43.250 --> 00:16:45.409 of Oak Hill, Mike Obey, came and preached at 00:16:45.409 --> 00:16:47.929 St Helens. And to be honest, I didn't listen 00:16:47.929 --> 00:16:50.509 to the whole sermon because the Bishop of London 00:16:50.509 --> 00:16:53.590 had just said he couldn't be bothered to do the 00:16:53.590 --> 00:16:55.730 litany. So I was for the first time ever doing 00:16:55.730 --> 00:16:58.570 the whole litany in BCP English on no notice. 00:16:58.590 --> 00:17:00.450 So I was a little bit distracted and stressed 00:17:00.450 --> 00:17:03.509 at the time. But I do remember he said this. 00:17:04.029 --> 00:17:09.750 Mike said, your generation must do better than 00:17:09.750 --> 00:17:15.069 we did. And again, I didn't listen to every word, 00:17:15.109 --> 00:17:19.049 but he meant the Acts 14 package by that. He 00:17:19.049 --> 00:17:23.150 meant take this seriously. Tell people about 00:17:23.150 --> 00:17:26.970 the hardships. Go back when things are difficult. 00:17:27.109 --> 00:17:29.789 Teach doctrine, probably, he meant, knowing Mike, 00:17:29.950 --> 00:17:33.650 because they need to understand what it really 00:17:33.650 --> 00:17:37.109 is like. Your generation must do better than 00:17:37.109 --> 00:17:40.680 we did. And then the Bishop of London, the previous, 00:17:40.740 --> 00:17:42.259 previous one, not the one who's about to be an 00:17:42.259 --> 00:17:44.279 Archbishop, the Bishop of London, he said that 00:17:44.279 --> 00:17:47.680 was a Victorian sermon, which meant he liked 00:17:47.680 --> 00:17:50.859 it. The only thing better from him would have 00:17:50.859 --> 00:17:54.779 been a Cappadocian sermon. So this is serious, 00:17:54.839 --> 00:17:59.559 what you have begun. Thank you, and please do 00:17:59.559 --> 00:18:03.420 better than we have done. And then the final 00:18:03.420 --> 00:18:05.700 thought I want to give you is from Archbishop 00:18:05.700 --> 00:18:09.119 Cramer 500 years ago from the BCP. When I was 00:18:09.119 --> 00:18:12.660 a DDO, I used to read all this with all my ordinands. 00:18:12.720 --> 00:18:14.460 Well, now it's long enough ago, there's no ordinand 00:18:14.460 --> 00:18:18.619 of mine left at Oak Hill. The exhortation in 00:18:18.619 --> 00:18:23.160 the BCP ordination service. I'm going to translate 00:18:23.160 --> 00:18:25.180 into modern English for the sake of time. It's 00:18:25.180 --> 00:18:27.119 talking about the job that you've now started. 00:18:27.779 --> 00:18:34.420 And he says, it is so important and so hard that 00:18:34.420 --> 00:18:38.059 it can only be done by prayer. and studied the 00:18:38.059 --> 00:18:43.200 scriptures and in the life that matches. So if 00:18:43.200 --> 00:18:46.380 it was easy, well, you could do it however you 00:18:46.380 --> 00:18:49.019 wanted. You could leave out the beta course material 00:18:49.019 --> 00:18:51.880 if you didn't like it. People wouldn't need strengthening 00:18:51.880 --> 00:18:54.339 or eldership. You wouldn't need to go back. And 00:18:54.339 --> 00:18:57.980 if it was unimportant, well, you wouldn't need 00:18:57.980 --> 00:19:01.000 to do it at all. You wouldn't need to put yourself 00:19:01.000 --> 00:19:02.799 through all the pain if it was not important. 00:19:03.839 --> 00:19:05.720 Was it nice being back in college this morning? 00:19:06.559 --> 00:19:10.380 Maybe you're thinking of staying. It's great 00:19:10.380 --> 00:19:11.980 to hear about the MA in Christian Leadership, 00:19:12.140 --> 00:19:16.059 and please do it, but not just because things 00:19:16.059 --> 00:19:17.740 have been difficult in your first three months. 00:19:18.900 --> 00:19:21.180 If the first three months have been harder than 00:19:21.180 --> 00:19:24.119 your three years here, four years here, and it's 00:19:24.119 --> 00:19:27.740 weird being back even because of what you've 00:19:27.740 --> 00:19:31.099 been through, that might be because what you've 00:19:31.099 --> 00:19:37.460 been doing is so important. and so hard at the 00:19:37.460 --> 00:19:41.660 same time. So praise God that Paul went back 00:19:41.660 --> 00:19:45.200 to normal successful ministry. Thank you for 00:19:45.200 --> 00:19:48.480 giving your lives to that and pray that you and 00:19:48.480 --> 00:19:52.140 I would keep going through the hardships until 00:19:52.140 --> 00:19:54.339 we see Jesus in the kingdom of God.