I hope you are enduring this heat wave! This is warm even for a Southerner. It almost makes me miss Pittsburgh winters!

Last Sunday, talked about keeping our eyes on Jesus in the midst of storms. A pilot friend share with me the image of a pilot keeping the plane rudder straight, even if the storm is pushing the plane up and down and all around. As long as our rudder stays straight, we will make it through the storm and into clear air.

This week, Chris Buda will be preaching and sharing about the storms Paul and Barnabas faced on their first missionary journey. In chapter 13, they are commissioned by the church at Antioch to go and spread the gospel. They see many people converted on Cyprus and in what is modern day Turkey. God did many signs and wonders through them, and his power was evident to all.

Even with the power of God behind them, though, they faced fierce opposition. In Lystra, the crowd wanted to treat them as gods and sacrifice to them. They barely escaped that crowd only to run into a group of Jews who hated what they were doing. The Jewish crowd seized them and stoned them and left them for dead. But the Lord delivered them, and they were able to continue their missions work in another town. When one town expelled them, they shook the dust off their feet as a warning and moved to the next place.

How would you feel if you had those experiences? If in every place you tried to do the work of the Lord, you faced fierce opposition and even possible death? Most of us would want to quit! But instead, Paul and Barnabas "were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit" (Acts 13:52).

I pray that that be true of us! May we be filled with joy and the Holy Spirit, especially whenever we face opposition. It is a constant struggle. Paul and Barnabas faced opposition from inside the faith and outside the faith. In these chapters, the opposition was actually strongest from their own people.

This is where we come back to the image of the rudder. Paul and Barnabas kept the rudder pointed straight at Jesus. They knew their calling and they knew the power of the Holy Spirit. They trusted him to lead and guide. They trusted God, like Andrew Brunson did, "to protect them, unless not protecting them would bring God more glory."

The Lord is moving powerfully in our church. My mentor Bill Enns told me this morning that of the 29 churches he coaches, not one is having the impact we are having with unchurched children. God is bringing us people who need to hear the gospel. And wherever the gospel is being shared, there is opposition. Please be praying that our team would be filled with joy and the Holy Spirit regardless of opposition. Please pray about how you might come alongside this team to pray for, support, and serve with them.

May God be glorified and may others come to know Him, as we keep our eyes on Jesus through all the storms we face.

Blessings,
Pastor Carolyn