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Amen, so Acts chapter 14 is the chapter that finishes up the first missionary journey of Paul as it's called. It's his first time he's sent out. Hopefully you have your map in front of you and we'll look at it a little bit this evening, kind of give us some context of what's going on. But as you can see in Acts chapter 14, we're not going to get through the whole thing. We're going to get through about verse number 16 tonight or verse number 15. But go back, if you would, to verse number 46 of, actually verse number 45 of chapter number 13. You can tell that things get a little sketchy in Acts chapter 14 and there's a little bit more action against the disciples, against Paul and Barnabas, of course. John Mark has left at this point, left when they hit the port of Perga before they even went to Antioch. He took off and went back to Jerusalem. And as you can see in Acts chapter 14, things get real. Things get violent against them. Look at verse number 46 of Acts chapter 13 where the Bible says, then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold. The reason that it says that is because they knew that at this point, you know, the pressure, the stress of the people, they were starting to upset some people in the area. Waxed bold, meaning they kind of like, they had to grow stronger in order to continue. So it says they waxed bold because they were starting to stir some people up is what was happening on this journey. Now go to Acts chapter 14 in verse number 1. Keep your place in Acts 13. We'll go back to one more verse there. But it came to pass in Iconium. So now they've gone on from Antioch, the second Antioch. This is an Antioch that they set out from. This would be at the top of your map. This is in what would be modern day Turkey, this Antioch. And then they went over to Iconium. They're traveling to the east here and it says that they both together in the synagogue of the Jews and so spake that a great multitude of both the Jews and also of the Greeks believed. So they went to Iconium. They preached as they preach in Acts chapter 13 and Jews and Gentiles got saved. But look at verse number 2. But the Jews, the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and made their minds evil against, against the brethren. Now go back to verse number 45 of Acts chapter 13. So it says they went to Iconium. They preached in the temple there and many Jews believed and many Gentiles believed. Okay. But the Jews that didn't believe stirred up everybody. It was the Jews that didn't believe that started causing trouble. Why? Look at verse number 45 of Acts chapter 13. I'm not going to re-preach this whole detail as I did last week. But it says, but when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with what? They were filled with envy. Now in Romans chapter 11, and we, we talked about replacement theology, how the Jews were, you know, the Jews that did not believe were cut off and the Gentiles were grafted in, in Romans chapter 11. In Romans chapter 11, it gives us the reason. One of the reasons for that was to provoke the Jews, the unbelieving Jews or the Jews that hadn't heard yet provoked them to jealousy because here they were seeing that the gospel is free to anyone that believes. And before, you know, the Jews had gotten this kind of this high and mighty, you know, attitude towards the Gentiles and the Romans and whoever wasn't a Jew that, hey, you know, we're God's people and we're the only ones that have salvation. Look, it was never like that, first of all, but they had gotten all high and mighty about this. Those unbelieving Jews are going to be cut off and the Gentiles that believe are grafted in and that's Israel. So as we believe in Jesus Christ today, you are Israel is what the Bible teaches. All right. We talked about that last Wednesday. It's very simple doctrine and it's over and over in the Bible. It's very clear that modern day, you know, Israel is those that believe on Christ. That's what the Bible teaches about Israel. But it's interesting that it says that in Romans chapter 11, it says to provoke them unto jealousy. One of the reasons that the Gentiles were brought in was to provoke the Jews unto jealousy. Like maybe it would spark them to come to the truth. All right. But it's interesting in verse number 45 that it says these Jews were filled with what? They weren't filled with jealousy. They were filled with envy. They're filled with envy. So of course, in the Bible, jealousy is a good thing. So many times people today say, oh, he's just jealous or she's just jealous. The Bible teaches everywhere that jealousy is always good. What is jealousy? Jealousy is being protective over something that's mine. I'm jealous of my wife. It's okay for you to be jealous of your wife. It's okay for a wife to be jealous of her husband because she's mine. I'm hers. There's no problem there. Okay. It's something that belongs to you that you're protective over is jealousy. In Exodus chapter 34 in verse number 14, the Bible says God's name is jealous. So jealousy can't be a bad thing because God is jealous. God says again and again, I am jealous. He's jealous for us. Okay. But it's interesting that these envious Jews, why would the Bible use envy there? Envy is being covetous. Envy is bad. If I'm envious over something, I am envious over something that's not mine. If I see somebody that has a nice car and I'm upset that they have a nice car, that is not jealousy. That is envy. Because that's their car. It's not mine. If I see somebody that has a good job and I want that job, look, that's covetousness. That's lusting over something that's not mine. That's what envy is. Envy is sinful. Envy is bad. So it shows here that the unbelieving Jews were envious towards the disciples and the Gentiles that believed. They were envious, meaning they were upset over something that wasn't theirs. And you're right. It wasn't theirs. I mean, it could be theirs if they would believe, but it wasn't theirs. So anyway, the point is, is that it was these envious, unbelieving Jews that were stirring up all the trouble and stir up all the violence that we see starting to come to fruition in Acts chapter 14. Let's keep going. Acts chapter 14. Look at verse number 3. It says, long time therefore abode, they speaking boldly in the Lord. So what did they do in Acts chapter 13? In Acts chapter 13, they waxed bold. They grew bold. Here it says they're speaking boldly. So in verse number 2, it says they have people that are upset at them and stirring up people against them. And then it says they stayed there a long time. I mean, you start to get an idea of the type of men that Paul and Barnabas are here in Acts chapter 14. It says a long time therefore, abode, they speaking boldly in the Lord. Because look, you have people against you, people threatening you. That's going to take some boldness to continue. You know, it's going to take some boldness to continue preaching what they're preaching. Which gave testimony under the word of his grace and granted signs and wonders to be done by their hands. But the multitude of the city was divided, the part held with the Jews and the part with the apostles. And when there was an assault made both of the Gentiles and of the Jews with their rulers to use them despitefully and to stone them, they were aware of it and fled to Lystra and Derbe. Now look at your map. Cities of Lyconia and unto the region that lieth round about. So now, they went further south, they went to Lystra and Derbe. And then they stopped and they laid low, right? No, look at the very next verse. It says, and there they preached the gospel. So this, the city of Derbe where they start preaching the gospel after they were basically pushed, they were basically going to be killed in Lyconium and they escaped and they went to Lystra and Derbe, they started preaching the gospel there. And look at Lystra, verse number eight, sat a certain man at Lystra, impotent in his feet being a cripple from his mother's womb who had never walked. The same heard Paul speak who steadfastly beholding him and perceiving that he had faith to be healed. That's interesting. Verse number nine, turn to, actually you turn to Matthew chapter 17 and I'll read for you James chapter one. Turn to Matthew chapter 17, Matthew chapter 17. The Bible here says that Paul perceived that he had faith. What's the significance there? This is kind of a recap of Sunday morning's concept, but the point is this, in James chapter one I talked about on Sunday morning, the Bible says, for let no man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord in verse seven, but in verse number six. So it basically says in verse number six, it says, let him ask in faith nothing wavering. So in verse number six of James chapter one, it's saying, if you have wavering faith, don't expect anything of the Lord is basically what James chapter one, six and seven is teaching. And I went over this in detail on Sunday morning, but the whole point is like your faith, you may be saved today, you had saving faith and you trusted on Jesus. But the point I'm trying to make is that your faith is important in your life. Your faith is important in your life. Look at Matthew 17 in verse number 19. Look at the disciples. The faith, you know, was important to the disciples. Why? You say in what way? Verse number 19 of Matthew 17. So he perceived in Acts chapter 14, he perceived that this man had faith and then he healed them. Okay. He healed him. All right. Look at verse 19 of Matthew 17. Then came the disciples to Jesus apart and said, why can we not cast him out? They were trying to cast out this demon from this guy and the disciples couldn't do it. And Jesus came and he did it. Look at verse 20 and Jesus said unto them, because of your unbelief, for verily I say unto you, if you have faith as a grain of a mustard seed, you shall say unto this mountain, remove hence to yonder place and it shall remove and nothing shall be impossible to you. Howbeit this kind go out, not out, but by prayer and fasting. So Jesus basically, he's not talking about unbelief in him. He's talking about just, you know, lack of faith. So this is just a really important lesson to just, I want to just drive this home again just for two minutes tonight as I talked about Sunday morning. But look, your faith is not just, Oh, I'm going to get saved and believe and trust on Jesus Christ. Look, that's going to get you to heaven, but your faith and your lack of faith and God can do will affect you greatly in your life. That's what Jesus is teaching here in Matthew chapter 17. They basically, they didn't have the power to do a godly work because of their lack of faith. Why? Because they didn't believe God could do it. God is saying, if you have faith, you can do anything. If you have faith, look, when you pray, when you pray, do you believe God can do it? Don't go and say prayers, don't go and say prayers, and then in your mind, not believe that God can help you with that problem. This is what Jesus is saying. This is what we see with Paul. How many times did Jesus say, how many times that, you know, he, he, he heals somebody and then he says, thy faith has made the whole, I mean, how many times did he say that to people? It was your faith because they had faith that he could do it, which tied directly to their faith that he was the Messiah, faith that he was God. So look, what you lack, you lack because of lack of faith, basically, is what I'm trying to get you to understand. Our faith matters. As a saved believer, your faith matters. And look, I'm not saying that you're never going to have doubts, I'm not saying that you're never going to waver in your life, but the point is you need to get into the spiritual things, get into the Bible, feed yourself spiritually so you get stronger spiritually, your faith gets stronger, and guess what? You will be stronger. It literally works that way. That's what Jesus is saying. Right? He's literally saying you can move a mountain if you have that kind of faith. All right? Look, go back to Acts chapter 14, go back to Acts chapter 14. None of this is the main points I want to get at tonight. I'm just trying to get to that point. Look at verse number 11. When people saw that what Paul had done, so Paul, I'm sorry, verse number 10. He said with a loud voice, stand up on thy feet, and he leaped and walked. So the man's faith worked with Paul and God, of course, and healed this man. Verse number 11. And when people saw, now here's what we're getting at tonight, all right? And when people saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices saying in the speech of Liconia, the gods are come down to us in the likeness of man. And they called Barnabas Jupiter and Paul Mercurius because he was the chief speaker. Then the priest of Jupiter, which was before their city, brought oxen and garlands onto the gates. So where are we at here? We're kind of right across the sea from, look at your map, all right? We're right across from Greece. We're up in modern day Turkey. But we're in the Roman Empire here, okay? So these Gentiles are calling Paul and Barnabas these Roman gods, all right? If you look up Jupiter and Mercury, these are Roman gods. I mean, the main god in Roman culture was Jupiter. So Barnabas actually got the better deal here, all right? Barnabas, he got to be called Jupiter. That's why there was the priest of Jupiter. Jupiter was like, he was basically, he was brought out of Zeus, out of Greece, Greek mythology. If you've ever studied Greek mythology, you know, don't study it. There's no point in it. But I mean, you know, Zeus was the head guy, and then there was the 11 other gods. There's many other Greek gods. But Mercury, or Mercurius as it's called here, is kind of the god of, he's the god of travelers, the god of the economy, god of visitors, things like this. This is who Paul gets the title of because he's the chief speaker. So basically, you know, Mercury was kind of this god. He came out of the god Hermes, by the way, that was the Greek god. So if you look at the Roman gods, and then you go and you like look at where they came from, the Roman gods, the vast majority of them came out of the Greek gods, right? Like Zeus, Jupiter, Mercury, Hermes was the Greek, was the Greek equivalent, Ares, the god of war that was the Greek god of war, the Roman god was Mars. And Mars is brought up in Acts chapter 17, again, where Paul is speaking at a certain place that's named after the god of Mars. But the point I'm trying to get at is that many of these Roman gods that these people, these Gentiles here believed, they came out of Greek mythology, okay, it was kind of a copy, kind of their version of this area in the world that they conquered. All right, I mean, there's the whole story of, you know, then they made up the story of how Mars, you know, he had these two sons, Romulus and Remus, this was the foundation, this is the story of the foundation of Rome. These two, these two boys were thrown in a river and they were raised by a wolf. This is the Roman story on where the city of Rome came from. They're raised by a wolf, these two brothers, and then they came back to this and they founded this city and then Romulus killed his brother Remus and he named the city after himself, Rome. All right, so that's kind of the mythology there. But the whole point is this, turn to Deuteronomy chapter 7. I want to give you two points tonight, an application from these points on what we see with these Gentiles or Romans in this case, just calling Paul and Barnabas these gods and see where these gods came from. The interesting thing is this, the first point is this. It's interesting that a conquering empire, a conquering empire Rome, who conquered Greece in this case, you know, Rome, the Roman Empire ruled over the Greece, the Grecian Empire or the Grecian area, I guess I should say for not that long, like 300, 350 years maybe. It wasn't that long that they ruled over the Greeks. But the point is they adopted much of their mythology, much of their gods, they just kind of gave it their own names. Doesn't that seem counterintuitive? You would think it would work the other way, that a conquering empire would come in and then force the people of that area to adopt their gods. But that's not how it works. That's not how it works at all. As a matter of fact, God knew this, that it didn't work this way. Look at Deuteronomy chapter 7 in verse number 1. This is why this counterintuitive is human behavior of adopting the gods of a nation that you conquer. It seems silly, right? You conquer the nation. Just think of like, it doesn't really work that way with companies, like you have some company come and take over a smaller company and the smaller company kind of has to do everything the way that the new big company says to do it. But for some reason with people, when nations overtake nations, they adopt the gods of that area. And God knew this and He warned the children of Israel about this very phenomenon in Deuteronomy chapter 7. Before they went into the promised land, look at Deuteronomy chapter 7 in verse number 1. People wonder, you know, people have so much confusion about the Old Testament. They say, oh, you know, these are the wicked people who don't understand the Bible, don't believe in God. And they're like, oh, the Old Testament just, you know, God was genocidal. Well, in a certain sense, He did tell them to go in and wipe out all of these other people in these nations that they went into the promised land. That is very true. Look at verse number 1. But why is that? Look at verse number 1 of Deuteronomy chapter 7. When the Lord thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and hath cast out many nations before thee, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than thou, and when the Lord thy God shall deliver them before thee. So it's saying, God is literally saying, you're going to go in and you are going to conquer these people. You're going to go in, you're going to conquer, you are going to overcome them. Why? Because I'm going to give you the victory. But now look at verse number 2. And when the Lord thy God shall deliver them before thee, thou shall smite them and utterly destroy them. It says you shall defeat them, make war with them, utterly destroy them. It means wipe them out completely. Thou shall make no covenant with them. He's like, no treaties, no deals. Wipe them out completely. Nor show mercy unto them. Now look at verse number 3. It says, neither shall thou make marriages with them. So God just keeps like adding all these details to it. Like first of all, if you utterly destroy them, you don't have to worry about anybody marrying anybody if they're utterly destroyed. But God knew what they were going to do. God knew that they were going to start making deals with them. They were going to start, you know, hey, if we keep these people here, we can tax them. We can get money from them. But look what God says. He just keeps warning them again and again. Thy daughter shall not give unto his son, nor his daughter shall thou take unto thy son. You say, what's the deal? Are these people racist? You know, it's like, no, God says there's one blood, all nations are of one blood in Acts chapter 17. The problem here is who their gods are. All right. In Genesis chapter 15 in verse number 16, God basically tells, he tells Abraham, this is 600 years before when Abraham has made the promise by God that he will inherit this promised land. God basically tells him, you're not going to inherit it now because the, the iniquity of these people is not full. He's like, they're not, they're not, they haven't, they haven't provoked my wrath enough. But God is basically giving Abraham the prophecy of what he's going to do to these people after they have provoked his wrath. These people have provoked God's wrath. So the Israelites coming in to the Amorites, the Hivites, the parasites, the Jebusites and the Canaanites and all these nations, it was judgment upon them for their wickedness. It was judgment upon them for all the horrible, terrible things that they had done, all the false gods that they worship, all the child sacrifice that they had done, all they just, the wickedness. Cause at this point in Deuteronomy chapter seven, the iniquity of the Amorites is full at this point. And God's judgment is coming down upon them. All right. So there's kind of two sides to that coin. It was God's judgment, but also fulfilling the promise of the children of Israel. All right. But look, the point is, why did God tell them, why didn't God say, just make them your servants? God told them, utterly destroy them, make no covenants, no marriages, nothing with them. Why? Look at verse number four of Deuteronomy chapter seven. This is why folks, the same reason that the Romans adopted the culture and the false gods of the Greeks, for they will turn away thy son from following me. This is the Lord speaking here. He's saying your, your children will start adopting their false gods, that they may serve other gods. So will the anger of the Lord be kindled against you and destroy thee suddenly. Why would the anger of the Lord be kindled against you if you serve other gods, lower case G, because he's jealous. Because his name is jealous. Why? Because you are his. That's why. And it's okay for God to be jealous of that. God is just saying, do this to protect your future generations. So I don't have to come and destroy them. This is I'm destroying Amorites. All of these Canaanites, right? Look at verse number five, thus, but thus shall you deal with them. You shall destroy their altars and break down their images and cut down their groves and burn their graven images with fire. He's like, have nothing to do with this wickedness, right? God knew what would happen and we see it demonstrated with the Romans. They go and they conquer this land. They're the strongest. They're the best. What do they do? They adopt their gods. They can't even come up with their own pagan gods. They adopt all these Greek pagan gods. Now guess what? Does the Roman Catholic Church now start to make more sense? As the Romans, they adopted all these false gods from the Greeks and then 300 years later, this Roman Emperor named Constantine comes along and he's like, huh, this Christian thing, this Christian cult seems pretty cool. So what does he do? He melds that in to his pagan gods that he has. Why do you think we end up in the Catholic Church of all these saints being worshiped? Of all this, they have goddess worship in the Roman Empire and in the Greek Empire. You know, the Catholics basically worship Mary. They pray to Mary. They pray to all the saints and it's funny because these gods, the Greek gods, the Greek gods are very similar to what the Catholics have made the saints. The Greek gods, they were actually like, they weren't gods like our God. Turn to Numbers chapter 23. These Greek gods and then these Roman gods, they were actually like men. They were like sinful beings. They went and they made mistakes and they had lust and they had wars amongst each other and they did all these wicked things but they just, they were gods because they just had more power than normal man. They just had more power than normal men. Kind of like the saints where they're like normal men that just all of a sudden they have more power. Guess what? The saints are all saved people, folks. If you are saved, you are a saint. That's what the Bible teaches. There's no elevating anyone to a certain position of demigod or any of this weird stuff. You can just totally see how this pagan adopting of these cultures turned into the Roman Catholic Church. It is so clear just looking at what happened. Now look at Numbers chapter 23 and look at verse number 19. The Bible says God is not a man. It's interesting because God says, look, I'm not like you. I'm not just some other guy. I'm not just some guy that has more power than you. It says God is not a man that he should lie, neither the son of man that he should repent. Hath he said and shall he not do it or hath he spoken and shall he not make it good? The Bible says God is not like us. He's not a man with extra power. God is way higher than us. So here's the point I'm trying to get at with this first idea of being called, these guys are being called Jupiter, they're being called Mercury. They're being expected to be, they're like, hey, they healed somebody, they did a miracle, they must be gods. The point is God knows that people will adopt all these weird pagan cultures of people that they're around. All right, of people that they're intermingled with, people that they marry. That's where Numbers chapter 7 and many other places in the Bible, God warns against this. That's why in the New Testament we have this doctrine of separation. In 2 Corinthians chapter 6 where it says, hey, come out from among them and be ye separate. That's why as Christians we are supposed to be separate from the world. Why? It's the same methodology that God was telling the children of Israel. Why? Because if you don't come out from people that talk pervertedly and profanely and just are just hanging out and doing wicked things, guess what? You will start to sound like them. You will start to act like them. You will start to act and do the things that they do. If you start, you're like, oh, but I'm a Christian and I'm just going to go to bars so I can witness to people. It's like, no, that's not what will happen. You will go and you will adopt those things. That's why God has this doctrine of separation, that we shouldn't be part of sinful things. We should be not only getting the sin out of our lives, but we should be getting the sinful world, the worldly areas of our lives that we're part of, we should be coming out of those things. You even go and you're hanging around the wrong people, the wrong crowds, you're going to start to look differently. You're going to start to act, talk, and even look like them. That's why God says, be ye separate, because even the Romans adopted what the Greeks were doing. You're like, but I'm saved, but look, you're supposed to come out and be separate, or look, you're going to become like the world. You think you would be the only worldly Christian out there? There's worldly Christians all over the place, because guess what? You can't lose your salvation. You could go be a worldly Christian that's separated from nothing. Happens all the time. Go back to Acts chapter 14. All that to say this, that's where the doctrine of separation came from. The doctrine that we call separation is just what God has been telling his people since the beginning. Come out from among them. Make no covenant with them. Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers, the Bible says. Look at Acts chapter 14 and verse number 14. Now Paul and Barnabas, they hear that they're being called gods, and look what they do. Like, hey, this is awesome. Like this is great. This is proof right here that the disciples, I mean, this alone is proof that Jesus is the Messiah. Because these disciples, most people that started religions, I don't care who you talk about, whether it's Buddha or Muhammad or what other founder or Joseph Smith or what other founder of any false religion you can find out there, there was a reason that they did it. They did it for money, for power, for fame, for land, you know, for attention. They did it for these things. There was literally nothing in this for the disciples at all. As a matter of fact, when they were called gods, they were like, whoa, like no. I mean, you'd think it'd take some time to enjoy that one if you were just making this up. If this was just a big farce, you'd think you'd be like, hey, they think we're gods. Let's enjoy this for a while. But they knew who they were there to serve, and they rent their clothes, meaning they were just, they were overly upset. They just rent their clothes and ran in among people crying out. Look, they're afraid of God. They're afraid of God thinking, look, they have fear of God if they would even claim for a second to let these people believe this. Crying out and saying, sirs, why do you do these things? We are also our men of like passions with you and preach unto you that you should turn from these vanities unto the living God, which made heaven and earth and the sea and all the things that are therein, who in times past suffered all nations to walk in their own ways. Nevertheless, he left not himself without witness, and that he did good. Now he just launches, he uses it to launch into the gospel, which is pretty brilliant here. He did good and gave us rain from heaven in the fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness. And these things scarce restrain they to people that they had not done sacrifice unto them. So he gives glory to God. He tells them, hey, it's God that made the heaven and the earth and the sea, because what do they make all these gods for? I mean, they're making all these gods to make gods of the sea, gods of heaven, god of the stars, god of the moon, right? So that's my second point tonight is that people, and this is kind of proof of God himself and proof of the conscience that he gives us in Romans chapter two, but people have a propensity to worship something. You know, we see that here with these pagans. You know, God has rules against it. Turn to Romans chapter one. So God, God knew that, you know, a person just born and just left to himself will just have a desire to worship something. I believe that that's part of our conscience. I believe that that's part of our conscience that we just know there's a God, we know there's a greater power. And then you have Satan coming in and he's just going to try to fill in those blanks for people so they can worship anything except the one true God, right? God even makes specific rules about not worshiping, you know, certain things. You know, the Bible says he's jealous, as I said. His name is jealous. Look at Romans one in verse number 25. People, God actually made rules against worshiping animals. I mean, think about these rules that God has to make. But look at Romans chapter one in verse number 25. It says about these people, it says they changed the truth, who changed the truth of God into a lie and worshiped and served the creature more than the creator who is blessed forever. Amen. In Romans chapter one, verse 25, God is just explaining, you know, kind of the history of people that have turned against him and he's saying, look, there's people out there that they forget about the creator, but they'll worship an animal, they'll worship the creature himself. I mean, look, this happens today. There's tribes, I think, in Japan where they still worship bears and all these different things. People literally worship animals. I mean, they elevate animals, you know, over people. The Hindu religion, they elevate cows, you know, in, you know, in this church we elevate the cows to the grill in this church. But I mean, people still do this today. There's still animal worship today. I mean, in, you know, even on a lesser scale than literally worshiping the animal or making them, you know, a partial deity or whatever it is in Hinduism, then you have people that just elevate animals over people. You know, they elevate animals over people. These are like the PETA people, you know, where they elevate animals to the same level as people, where some people put, you know, animals over people. I mean, it's, I mean, this is how you can see somebody who's pro-abortion and a PETA member because they literally put animals' lives over human lives. Right? Look, God is against this. This is not of God. People worship the earth. You know, many tribes and many different pagan religions worship the sun, the moon, the stars. It's the same as animals. Look, we're not supposed to worship, you know, the creation over the Creator. All right? Turn to Romans chapter 1. Turn to Romans chapter 1 and verse number 20. Elevating the earth above where it belongs is also a sin. Look at Romans chapter 1 and go back a few verses to verse number 20. I mean, the Bible says the main role of the earth, this is the main purpose of the earth. Other than sustaining us, this is the main purpose for the creation around us, for the purpose of man's eternal destiny right here. Look at verse number 20. It says, for the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead, so they are without excuse. So this is your answer to what about the kid that grew up in South America that never heard of Jesus? This is the answer to that right here. Everybody, the Bible is saying in Romans chapter 1 and Romans chapter 2, everybody started with two of the same things. The first thing is everybody has the creation around us. Everybody can see the creation. You can walk outside, you can see the trees, you can see the clouds, you can see the birds, you can see the animals, you can see what God created, you can see the amazement of that. And if you listen to the conscience, the law God wrote in your heart in Romans chapter 2, verse number 15, and you match those two things together, you'll be like, oh yeah, there's a God somewhere, I better figure out what he wants from me. Everybody starts with those two basic things. But look, the modern day, so that's the purpose of the creation, not rabbit trail, the purpose of the creation is proof of God. It's proof, I mean a painting is proof of a painter. Nobody would walk up to a painting and say, oh, that's an accident. Nobody would walk up to a car and think somebody didn't build it. Nobody would walk up to a bridge, a building, anything that is put together and say, oh, there wasn't a designer, there wasn't a builder to that. Nobody would even think about that, yet with the most amazing creation ever, which is this world that we live in, this world that we live on, the universe around us, people would just be like, oh, it's an accident. The Bible says that the creation is there to point us to God. The heavens declare the glory of God, the Bible says. The beauty of it declares God's existence. So people better see that and start looking for God and start seeking him and then the Bible says you'll find. If you seek, you'll find. But look, this modern day environmentalist, this modern day, what do they call it? They don't believe in God, so what do they call it? They call it Mother Earth. Look, it's not real, there's no Mother Earth, it's fake, it's something somebody made up, it's not real, it's non-existent, there's just the creation that points us to God. You say, well, what about, you know, what about, what about Christians? Can't Christians care about, you know, this is the big thing today, you say, can't Christians care about the environment today? Well, yes, you can care about the environment and be a Christian, but you've got to keep it in context. You have to keep it in context because the environment is here not only to point us to God but it's here for us. It's you have to keep it in the context and, you know, in the context of stewardship and basically the context of the concern for people. There's your Christian environmentalist right there, like I'll just give you a couple examples, like just trash, there's trash. Trash isn't going to end the world. I hate trash. I can't stand trash everywhere. California has trash all over the place. California is like a landfill. And I'm like, I can't figure out why liberals who love the environment, why they can't stand this. There's trash, I've never, if you've been to any other city in the United States and you've come to California, these cities are filled with trash. You say, well, what's the context? Well, you know what, I don't like trash all over, I don't like needles all over, I don't like sharp glass everywhere in the context of it's not safe for people, it's not safe for kids, it's not good for, it's not good for, you know, everyday living. For what? For people. I don't like smoke. I don't want to fill the air with smoke. Because why? Because that'll hurt people. How about this one? Clean water. I mean, people need clean water. Did you know that there's like 1.5 or 1.4 million deaths a year in the world because people don't have clean water to drink? Why aren't we concerned about that? Because the context of modern day environmentalism is not concerned for people, that's why. 25% of people in the world, I mean, this is crazy, I didn't even know this one before I wrote this sermon. 25% of the people have no access to safe drinking water in the world. That's crazy. I mean, look, even if that's an over-exaggeration, even if it's 10%, that's insane. I wonder how much of that, guess what? We have the technology to make clean water, did you know that? We have the technology to fix these things, but the environmentalist today doesn't care about people. As a matter of fact, the earth-worshipping environmentalist today thinks people are the problem. They will identify people as the problem. It's completely anti-biblical. It's completely against the Bible. It's completely against God. There's articles, you wouldn't even have to search long. There's an article I just read just a few months ago about how the modern day environmentalist doesn't want to have children because having a child puts out like seven times more CO2 in that child's lifetime, you know, with the resources it takes to raise a child and all this stuff, than like the 10 next greatest CO, I mean, this is crazy. It's completely anti-biblical. People believe this, but the modern environmentalist today literally say there are too many people. That's the problem. That, you know, it's Mother Earth and that's above people. The Bible says children are inheritance of the Lord. And I mean the fruit of the womb is his reward. The Bible says that children are a blessing. They're saying children is how God blesses you. Like go have as many kids as you want to have. That's what the Bible says. Look, the point is, this modern day environmentalist, it's all another form of pagan worship. That's what it is. Turn to Exodus chapter 20. That's why God made all these rules. God's like making all these rules, like don't worship a rock, don't worship a piece of wood, don't worship an animal, don't, you know, and you're just like, you look at all these rules that God made and you're just like, boy, how he's put up, he has put up with us for 6,000 years is pretty amazing. Look at Exodus chapter 20 and look at verse number three. God says, as he says, thou shall have no other gods before me. And then he gets into detail. All right. Thou shalt make unto thee, thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, excuse me, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them, for I the Lord thy God, and may what? Jealous God. Jealousy is good. You are his. Visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children of the third and fourth generation of them that hate me. Because guess what? You start worshiping a block of wood, guess who else is going to do it? Your kids, and your kids' kids, and your kids' kids' kids' kids' kids. God's trying to stop us, trying to warn us from doing this. Leviticus 26 verse one says, he shall make no idols nor graven image, neither rear you up a standing image, neither shall you set up any image of stone in your land to bow down unto it, for I am the Lord your God. So there's a lot of talk about graven images here. Would you agree? Again, look at the Catholic church. What do they have everywhere? Statues of people, statues of saints, statues of, I mean, relics. They're literally worshiping items. They're worshiping bones. I remember I went to Armenia and this Orthodox church, and they literally had this big, this church was this massive marble church like you've never seen. And you go in there, and in the back of the church is this massive shrine. It's all made of marble. There's this little tiny piece of glass, and everyone's going, and they're just like kissing the glass. And I'm just like, why are they, you know, this was before COVID, okay, but I mean, still, I'm not a germaphobe. I was like, this is gross. People were just slobbering all over this glass, kissing this glass, and I'm like, what's in there? It's like a finger bone of like some guy that died hundreds of years ago. And they're literally, so what God is saying about making graven images here is he's saying, it's out of the context of like, don't worship these things, okay? Now, I'll give you my, like, my opinion, and I have friends that even differ a little bit on this, on what a graven image is, but look, a graven image is something that is carved that is a likeness of something that has, that is supposed to have religious power or that you would worship, all right? So there's many things like this in the Catholic faith, right? There's like a picture of Mary you put over your door. That's a graven image. That's not Mary. That's some random drawing somebody made, but it's put over a door. It's put in a picture on a wall over someone's bed. The crucifix, same thing, totally blasphemous. That's not Jesus on that cross, but it's a graven image. Why? Because you think that it's giving you some kind of power. You think that it's giving you some kind of protection. It has some religious significance. It's a graven image. You're not supposed to be, it's taking, look, God is jealous of those things and he wants those things gone. He doesn't want us to have anything. It's just that Roman paganism being brought in and intertwined with Christianity, all right? I mean, statues of Buddha in people's yard, statues of Mary in people's yards, all these different religious icons in people's yards that you see out sowing, these are graven images. I don't care if it's a lion or what it is. If it has any kind of significance that you think it's giving you protection, a gargoyle is a graven image because it's supposed to, gargoyles that were put on corners of buildings, they were supposed to like protect the building from evil spirits. It's a graven image. It's a false god in the eyes of the Lord. We need to stay away from those things, all right? Now, look, here's what's not a graven image, okay? Like a deer head on my wall, all right? That's just awesome, all right? I'm not worshiping the deer head, okay? And as a matter of fact, it's a celebration of God's creation. It's a celebration of, you know, like a beautiful animal that God created, all right? I don't worship. Maybe I did a little bit the first week. No, I'm just kidding. But, I mean, I have like a, I have a little, many years ago, I started collecting these little carved ducks, like, I like ducks, so I started, you know, every now and then you get these little mini decoys that somebody hand carves and paints of different breeds of ducks. I don't know why. I just thought they were nice to have on a desk, and, you know, but I don't worship them. They're not religious of any kind. I don't believe that that's a graven image, okay? Now, I mean, look, I have some friends who are pastors that say they stay away from all that stuff, and that's fine. That's a standard. That's fine as well, but, I mean, that's my, you know, interpretation of Leviticus chapter 26. It says, you know, to not bow down to these things, all right? So it's these things that you think that are going to give you a religious power, you know, the crucifix around your neck. I'm not trying to hurt your feelings if you have one right now, but, you know, that is a graven image because that's something that you feel like is, you know, giving you religious power or its significance. You know, it's these types of things that we should stay away from. You know, just a display of creation or a painting of a scene of nature or something is not a graven image, all right? So anyway, that's just the two points that I wanted to make on Acts chapter 13. We're going to, you know, looking at the journey here, I told you in Acts chapter 13 and Acts chapter 14, I basically told you that the majority of the journey was covered in Acts chapter 13. So if you look at your map in closing tonight, you'll see that in Acts chapter 13, we basically went from Antioch on the right, we went to the island of Cyprus, we had two stops there, we went up to Perga, that's where John Mark left, then we went up to Antioch. So it is true that most of the journey itself or most of the trail, as you would call it, is covered in Acts chapter 13, but this thing is nowhere near over. Why? Because it's an out and back trail, all right? It's an out and back trail, if you're familiar with hiking trails, they did not go back, they did not go from Derb and just go straight back to Jerusalem. We're going to talk next week about the long road home for these guys, all right? We're going to talk next week about the last half of Acts chapter 14, we're going to talk about the road home, why they took that road, and what it tells you about our lives and what God wants from us when we finish up the last half of Acts chapter 14. But for tonight, we'll end there and we'll look at the road back next week. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.