Out of Their Way to Be Together

Acts 14:24-28 July 30, 2023 Pastor Ricky Alcantar

Thesis As Christians, we are called by God's design to go out of our way to go together in ministry, because Jesus went out of his way for us.

Series

Paul's First Missionary Journey

Type

Expository

Tone

pastoraldidacticcelebratory

Method

grammatical-historicalcanonicalapplicatory

What's in this sermon

The shape of the argument

18 units across exposition, application, illustration, theological claim, and conclusion. The pastor's argument is built from these moving parts.

Pastoral correction · unit #15

"The pastor transitions to corporate application, announcing that the church will hear mission updates demonstrating partnership in church planting (India and Prague) and care for the needy. This frames the coming reports as living embodiments of the sermon's thesis."

Doctrinal loci· 6 surfaced

Pastoral Theology · 2 Christology · 1 Covenant Theology · 1 Doxology / Worship · 1 Ethics / Moral Theology · 1 Sanctification · 1

Bible citations· 11

Illustrations· 1

personal story · unit #4 — The pastor tells a personal story about reluctantly going out of his way to help his wife get a special shark cake for his 4-year-old son's birthday. His initial resistance melts when he sees his son's joy, illustrating that going out of your way is worth it when it serves someone you love.

Theological claims· 6

As Christians, we go out of our way to go together. unit #5
Christian ministry is together ministry—there is no individual Christian ministry of a lone ranger. unit #7
God's design from Abraham through the New Testament is to form a people, not isolated individuals—we are living stones meant to be built together. unit #8
When we walk together as Christians, our joys are doubled and our sorrows are halved. unit #12
When we are together in ministry, we accomplish far more than we ever could alone. unit #13
We go out of our way to minister together because Jesus went out of his way for us—that is our pattern and our model. unit #14

Read it

Full transcript

17,153 characters 18 units ~19 min reading time Listen instead →

0 · The pastor welcomes the congregation, introduces himself to new attendees, and invites people to fellowship after the service

It's me, guys. Welcome to Cross of Grace, and if you're new around here and maybe you've started attending during the summer, I'm sorry if I did not get a chance to meet you yet. I'm Ricky, I'm one of the pastors here at the church, and I really would love to share a shaved ice or a— as we discussed, I was talking with somebody in the break, they're not really raspas. Raspas is like we need the giant block of ice with the little guy going You know, but they're good. They're the best we could do without the giant block of ice.

And if you have a few minutes, we'd love to meet you, get a chance to get to know you and hear your story. And a great way to do that is stick around after the service and fellowship with us a little bit.

1 · The pastor transitions to the scripture reading by engaging children in the congregation, asking them to hold up Bibles and affirm together that they are reading God's Word

We're going to be in the book of Acts, finishing our study of Paul's first missionary journey. So kids— any kids have a Bible today? Any kids bring their Bible?

Can any kids have a Bible? Any kid have one? One per— somebody's got a Bible. You have a Bible? Oh, great job.

Can you hold it up for me? And kids, if you just grab a Bible, grab your parents' Bible if you have to. If you're a kid, grab a Bible. You guys got one? Hold it up in the air.

Hold it up in the air with me and say, "This is God's Word." Can you say that? "This is God's Word." Good job. We're going to be reading God's Word today. And we're going to be— your parents can help you find Acts chapter 14. We're finishing our study, as I said, of Paul's first missionary journey.

2 · The pastor reads Acts 14:24-28 aloud, framing it as surprising but fully inspired scripture meant for the congregation's growth

We've seen some amazing things during this missionary journey, but there's one more lesson God's word has to teach us today. And it may be a surprising one. And it may be actually first when we read this, you might think that's not a lesson at all. But remember, every part of God's word is inspired by God and breathed out by God for our help and our edification and our growth. So let's read Acts chapter 14.

We're going to begin reading in verse 24. This is God's Word. Then they passed through Pisidia and came to Pamphylia. And when they had spoken the word in Perga, they went down to Attalia, and from where they sailed to Antioch, from where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work that they had fulfilled. And when they had arrived and gathered the church together, they declared all that God had done with them and how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles.

And they remained no little time with the disciples. This is God's Word.

3 · The pastor prays for God's blessing on the preaching, on the congregation's Sunday, and for their hearts to be stirred as they hear what God has done

Lord, we pray that you bless the preaching of your Word. Bless our Sunday, Lord. May we, as we seek to emulate this passage and hear updates, may you stir our hearts as we hear what God has done among us.

Amen.

4 · The pastor tells a personal story about reluctantly going out of his way to help his wife get a special shark cake for his 4-year-old son's birthday

Well, I don't know about you, but I do not like detours. I don't like going out of my way. And this week, my son Anson, who is 4 years old, who used to be the king of babies, and he is no longer at 4 years old the king of babies. He declared himself to be the king of the brothers this week.

I was like, well, your brothers may dispute that, but he's going with it. And he turned 4 years old, and as my wife went to go pick up his car seat, cookie cake at Sam's. She got this special cookie cake made for him, but there was a problem with the card that we had. And so, uh, we— she asked, would you bring your membership card just so I can check out and get this thing? Mine's not working.

I try to go to the customer service. This will be faster. And so I was going by and I thought, I can go, but it's going to be out of my way. And so I thought, listen, if I go— if I stop here and go help with the cookie, I'm going to be late for my meeting. Potentially I'm going to be stressed for this meeting.

Meeting's not going to go well. My next meeting is going to be stressed and it's not going to go well. And my rest The rest of my day is gonna be ruined if I go out of my way. That's what I was thinking. So I show up, did not wanna go out of my way.

I was grumpy, showed the person the membership card at Saddam's. Grr, here it is, you know? Walk over, grr, with all these people. And I arrive and I see my son. My son is having a particular kind of birthday he was excited about, and it was a shark birthday.

He wanted a shark birthday, and so we got shark balloons, we got a shark piñata, and there was a particular special cake we just had to get. 'Cause I was thinking to myself, why not just get another cake? Why not just get cookies? I'll just buy some Chips Ahoy. He's 4 years old.

He's not going to know the difference. Here's a cookie. It's a shortcake. No, he knows the difference. And I arrive and I was thinking detours are not worth it.

Going out of your way is not worth it. But this is what I saw when I arrived at the store. Do you have that picture, Kathy? This is him. He, what kind of shirt does he have on, kids?

A shark shirt. And if you, you can't really see it, but behind him in the cart, there is a cake with shark fins all over the cake and a shark coming out of the cake. It was a shark cake for a shark birthday. And when I arrived, he goes, Dad, we got a shark cake for my shark birthday. And I realized, I would go out of my way every time for this kid and his shark birthday.

Right. And I realized sometimes going out of your way is worth it depending on what you go out of your way for. Right.

5 · The pastor states the sermon's central claim: Christians go out of their way to go together

I wish I could look at that picture of Anson all day, but thank you for putting the map back up, Kathy. Sometimes it's worth going out of your way.

And what we're going to learn briefly before we hear our updates from our mission partners is just this: as Christians, This text shows us that we go out of our way to go together. So if you're a kid filling in your notes, that's the big phrase: we go out of our way to go together.

6 · The pastor maps Paul's journey, emphasizing the dramatic distance—450 miles by boat—Paul traveled to return to Antioch

And we're going to see in this text that Paul goes out of his way. So last week we talked about him being stoned at Lystra and then going on to other areas like Derbe, and then he goes back to, uh, city in Antioch to check on the church. So Let me just— I wish we had a map that we could show all this out, but just trust me on this, that when he goes from city in Antioch to Derbe, he goes approximately almost 200 miles down the road, and then he comes all the way back 200 miles to check on the church, to see how they're doing, to encourage them.

That's the encouragement we got last week. And then this week, You know, you just see some names of cities like, okay, whatever, whatever. No, no, no. He goes all the way down to the coast and goes from one side of the Mediterranean 450 miles to Antioch in what is now modern-day Turkey on a boat, which is very much out of the way. It's not like Paul was, like, going from one place to the next.

He's like, "Oh, you know what? I'll stop back in at Antioch and see how everybody's doing." No! It's like, I don't know, there's no even El Paso equivalent. Maybe it's like I'm in Canutillo and I'm gonna go visit my friend in Horizon 'cause it's on the way. It's not on the way.

It's the opposite of being on the way, right? And yet that is exactly what Paul is doing. Why? 'Cause I think this text shows us this is God's design.

7 · The pastor argues that Paul's journey reveals a pattern repeated throughout Acts: Christian ministry is never done alone

As Christians, we go out of our way to go together.

And we see that in a couple of ways. First, we see that this is actually a fulfillment of God's design across the whole book of Acts and really across the whole Bible. Nobody in Acts is doing any of this work alone. Paul and Barnabas are sent out as missionaries, but they're sent out together. The church that sends them out is not just a guy sending them out, it's a whole church of— and a group of elders, we read about in Acts 13, that send them out.

When the church gathers to make a decision in Jerusalem in Acts chapter 15, they They come together to make that decision. When Paul and Barnabas set up churches along the way in these new places, they don't just set up one guy, leave him in charge. No, it says they appoint elders. They appoint— plural— a bunch of people in that town to oversee the church. Why?

Because Christian ministry is together ministry. There is no individual Christian ministry of a lone ranger just out. Maybe your picture of Paul the Apostle is just he's this lone ranger. He's just like, "I'm Apostle Paul and I'm here. I don't need anyone else." And he's just going down.

And that's not the picture of Paul. Paul, every time you see him in the New Testament, has people with him. In fact, people helped identify— Barnabas helps identify Paul's gifts and brings him to Antioch to start his ministry in the first place. And we see that this is God's design. God's design is that we do this together.

8 · The pastor traces God's corporate design from Abraham (called to create a people, not just a person) through the New Testament (1 Peter 2's living stones metaphor)

God comes and calls Abraham and says, "Through you I am going to create a new and redeemed people." He says people, not person, family, not individual. That's the arc of the Old Testament. And then in the New Testament, God speaks about his desire to form for himself a people. In 1 Peter 2, Peter speaks of it as living stones that aren't meant to just exist on their own. Kids, how many— how cool of a thing can you build with one Lego?

How cool is your build going to be with one Lego? It's going to be terrible. It's a terrible— I don't care how cool the piece is. It's like, this is the coolest piece ever. It doesn't matter.

It's one Lego right there, right? You get 10,000 of those. Okay, now you can build something cool, right? 950, it's going to be awesome. And that is what Peter is saying.

Listen, we're meant to be living stones built together. That's God's design.

9 · The pastor applies the truth that ministry together will be inconvenient—requiring travel across town or meeting at uncomfortable times

And so let me just encourage you, this applies on an individual level and kind of a corporate church level. On an individual level and on a church level, ministry together is going to be inconvenient at times. It's going to take longer at times.

We're going to have to go out of our way at times. Sometimes, you know, we can come and say, listen, I'm willing to be in fellowship with other Christians, but it's just got to be— I can't have to go out of my way for this. You know, you're like, oh, we got a great, great small group of people that are just like you. They'd love to encourage you. Where is it?

Oh, it's over there. If you're a native El Pasoan, you know what I'm talking about. When you're like, it's on the other side of the mountain. Sheesh. No way, man.

There's no way I'm driving over to the other side of the mountain. It's like driving to California. You might as well, right? Like, oh, my community group's in California. Oh, sure.

Great. Sounds good. That's what El Pasoans think about the other side of the mountain. And maybe, or okay, you have a group of guys that you're going to meet with or a group of women that are meeting before work to study the Bible. And you're like, awesome, I'm in.

When is it? At 6:00 AM. No, I'm out. I'm out. I'm out now.

I'm not going to do that, right? Christian ministry together, together ministry is inconvenient. We'll have to go out of our way, but that is part of God's design for us to be together.

10 · The pastor expounds Acts 14:27, describing the joy the Antioch church would have felt hearing Paul and Barnabas's report in person

And the result is when we do this, we actually experience more of God's glory and more joy in our own lives. Look at verse— what is it?

Verse 27. It says, when they arrived and gathered the church together, they declared all that God had done with them and how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles. They just— they were able to share in person about all the events that we just spent the summer exploring with Paul. And can you imagine how encouraging, how exciting it would be to have Paul and Barnabas come back, share in person, man, we were over here, this guy got saved. There was basically a riot in this city.

A bunch of people came to know the Lord. God healed this person. There's a church in this city and that city and this city and that city. All when there was none when we started this journey. You guys made that happen.

Do you imagine what that would feel like for the church in Antioch? You'd feel like, man, The Lord is at work. The Lord is doing amazing things and we're part of it. These guys came from our church. This is amazing, right?

This is meant to be God's design.

11 · The pastor cites Acts 15 to show that sharing ministry reports brought great joy to all the churches Paul and Barnabas visited on their way to Jerusalem

It says later in Acts 15, when they have to go to Jerusalem, they go along the way. And it says, as they pass through the churches, they described in detail the conversion of the Gentiles and it brought great joy to all the brothers. Meaning, as they just were going on the road, taking this story on the road, and people everywhere rejoicing.

12 · The pastor articulates a principle of shared Christian life: joys are doubled and sorrows are halved when we walk together

When we do ministry together, I've heard it said, when we minister together, when we walk together as Christians, our joys are doubled and our sorrows are halved.

Meaning, whatever is joyful in our lives, we enter into the joys of our brother or sister. And when we're experiencing a joy, when they enter into it with us, it's doubled. But sometimes life is hard, sometimes things are heavy, and yet we find We find that as things are heavy, when somebody comes along and is willing to bear that weight with us, it feels just a little bit less heavy. This is the way we're meant to live the Christian life.

13 · The pastor argues that partnership in ministry multiplies effectiveness

And last thing I'll just say, point out about this, is that when we are together, we accomplish far more than we ever could alone.

Like this church in Antioch may never have been able to reach people in the cities of Lystra and Derbe, but through their partnership in the gospel, with Paul and Barnabas, they are a vital part of ministry to people 250 miles away, which is amazing. Paul and Barnabas, we see them accomplishing more together than they were alone individually as God brought them together. The church in Antioch needs the church in Jerusalem, as we'll see in Acts chapter 15, but the church in Jerusalem needs the church in Antioch. These churches need one another, and that's the design of God. As we travel through the New Testament.

Christians go out of their way to go together.

14 · The pastor makes the gospel connection explicit: we go out of our way to minister together because Jesus went infinitely out of his way to save us

And let me just make one brief gospel connection here. We do this this way, we do ministry together, we go out of our way to be together, to do ministry together, because Jesus went out of his way for us, right? Jesus was not obligated to come to earth. He was not obligated to live a perfect life and die the death we deserved and rise be risen with new life, that we might participate in that new life in him.

And yet Jesus chooses, in a sense, to involve himself into our mess for our good. That's our pattern. That's our model. That's the way that if he is— Jesus is our model for ministry, we should see in the example of Jesus, man, he doesn't need the disciples. Those guys are sometimes the worst.

They say weird stuff. They don't know what to do. They want to call fire down from heaven on people sometimes. They're a handful. And yet Jesus' example is he goes out of his way to go together, to go with them, to bring others along.

That's what he's done for us, and that's the way we respond to others.

15 · The pastor transitions to corporate application, announcing that the church will hear mission updates demonstrating partnership in church planting (India and Prague) and care for the needy

And so, for the next few minutes, we're going to get the privilege now of trying to apply this text to our church. And we're going to see, not just on an individual level, but on a church level, what it looks like for our church to go in partnership with others. We're going to see that in two areas: in church planting in India and in Prague, and as well as in care for the needy. One of the examples we see in the New Testament as well is that the early church was concerned with the care of those in need, and there's offerings taken up so that those in need could be cared for.

So we're going to see two examples of that as well.

16 · The pastor issues concrete applications: stay after the service to connect with local ministry organizations, or fill out the church website form to join a community group or discipleship relationship

And let me just— before we transition to that, let me just challenge you if you're a Christian. What would it look like to take one step today in terms of doing your Christian life with others? What would it look like to go out of your way so that you can go with other people? Maybe that is, listen, I want to be involved in the ministry in the city of El Paso, but I don't know where to start, and I'm just out there by myself.

Listen, stay afterwards, meet some of the organizations doing good gospel work in our city and in our area. And see how you can get involved with mentorship or help or on a college campus. Go with others. Or maybe this is the day that you decide, listen, I'm finally going to fill out that form on the church website and say I'm ready to be connected to a church community group, or I want to get connected to somebody for discipleship because I don't want to do this alone. I want to go with others.

And I'm going to warn you, if you sign up for an organization and if you sign up for a community group, you sign up for discipleship, it's going to be out of your way. It's not going to be like, "Oh, I can just mentor this kid on my way to church, you know, on Sunday mornings." No, you're going to have to go out of your way. He'd just run alongside your car and you could mentor him on the way. No, it's not going to work.

You're going to have to go out of your way, but going out of your way is God's design and it's good, and we do far more together than we ever would alone.

Amen?

17 · The pastor transitions from the sermon proper to the mission update segment, introducing a video from Pastor JP in India

Well, with that, we're going to invite up our first person from India, but they're on a video. So we're going to hear from our friend Pastor JP, and he's going to tell us about the

Where this fits

Recent preaching context

The three sermons immediately preceding this one in the preaching schedule.

Jun 4, 2023

You Don't Have to Go But You Can't Stay Here

Every Christian is sent into the world with everything they need — God's people, God's Word, God's Spirit, and God's hand — to faithfully proclaim the gospel in whatever cultural context they inhabit.

Acts 13:1-12

Jun 11, 2023

It's Not Religion, It's Reality

Paul's sermon in Acts 13 provides a transferable model for gospel proclamation that moves from acknowledging God's sovereignty in history, to confronting human brokenness, to presenting Jesus as the superior Savior, to calling for a decision—a pattern every Christian can use when God providentially opens doors for witness.

Acts 13:13-41

Jul 23, 2023

Do Hard Things

Christians can and must do hard things with God's help, because the path to the kingdom of God runs through tribulation, not around it.

Acts 14:19-23

July 30 · This sermon

Out of Their Way to Be Together

As Christians, we are called by God's design to go out of our way to go together in ministry, because Jesus went out of his way for us.

Acts 14:24-28

Take it further

Discuss · apply · pray

Small groups

6 discussion questions

In Acts 14:24-28, Paul and Barnabas go 450 miles out of their way by boat to return to Antioch and report to the sending church. What does t…

Daily readings

5-day reading plan

This week we follow Paul and Barnabas from their first missionary journey back to Antioch, learning how God designs his people to minister together—not as isolated believers, but as a covenant community whose joys are doubled and whose witness is multiplied.

Prayer

Father, Make Us a People Who Go Together

Father, we come before you grateful that you are a God who goes out of your way for us. You sent your Son to leave the glory of heaven and w…

Family table

Going Out of Our Way for Each Other

Paul and Barnabas sailed 450 miles out of their way just to report back to the church that sent them. This prompt invites your family to thi…

Couples

Going Out of Our Way Together

What struck you most about Paul and Barnabas going 450 miles out of their way to report back to Antioch? Where is the Spirit calling you to…

Memorize

Acts 14:27

This verse crystallizes the sermon's central claim: Christian ministry is fundamentally together ministry. Paul and Barnabas don't report privately or send word—they gather the church and declare what God has done *with them*, establishing that our joys are doubled and our participation in gospel advance is confirmed when we gather as a people, not as isolated individuals.

Small-group discussion

6 questions for your group this week

In Acts 14:24-28, Paul and Barnabas go 450 miles out of their way by boat to return to Antioch and report to the sending church. What does their choice to make this journey tell us about how they understood their relationship to the church that sent them?

Acts 14:26-27

→ Why do you think it mattered to them that the church *hear* what God had done, rather than just know it happened?
Ricky said that 'Christian ministry is together ministry—there is no individual Christian ministry of a lone ranger.' Where in your own life do you feel the pull to do ministry alone, or to keep your spiritual life private rather than shared with others?

→ What would change if you brought that area into community instead of trying to handle it by yourself?
The sermon emphasizes that God's design from Abraham through the New Testament is to form a *people*, not isolated individuals. How does this challenge the way our culture (and maybe your own instinct) tends to think about faith as a personal, individual journey?

1 Peter 2:5

→ What's at stake theologically if we treat Christianity as something we can do alone?
Ricky claimed that 'when we walk together as Christians, our joys are doubled and our sorrows are halved.' Can you think of a time when you experienced either doubled joy or halved sorrow because you were in community? What made the difference?

→ What kept you from experiencing that togetherness in other seasons, and what would it take to change that?
The text shows that Paul and Barnabas went out of their way—it was inconvenient, costly, and required sacrifice. What does it cost *you* right now to go out of your way to do ministry together with others in this church?

Acts 14:24-26

→ Is that cost something you're willing to bear, and if not, what's underneath that resistance?
Ricky's final move was to say, 'We go out of our way to minister together because Jesus went out of his way for us—that is our pattern and our model.' How does the reality of what Christ did for you change your willingness to go out of your way for your brothers and sisters?

Acts 13:47 / Christology

→ What's one specific way you could go out of your way this week to serve or encourage someone in this congregation?

Draft · pending review

Daily readings · Monday–Friday

5-day reading plan

Monday Acts 13:1-3

Notice how the Antioch church sends Paul and Barnabas out—not as solitary missionaries, but as representatives of a sending body. The church lays hands on them, fasts, and prays them into the work. From the very start, Paul's mission is rooted in the covenant people of God, not in individual heroism. When we do ministry, we do it as part of something larger than ourselves.

Tuesday 1 Peter 2:4-5

Peter describes the church as living stones being built into a spiritual house. A single stone has little purpose; its strength and beauty emerge only in relation to the stones around it. We are not called to be individual believers standing alone, but to be fitted together into God's household. The very architecture of God's people assumes we belong to one another.

Wednesday Acts 15:1-2

The Jerusalem council gathers because disagreement has arisen in the church. Rather than Paul and Barnabas settling the matter in isolation, the whole body comes together to discern what the Spirit is saying. Conflict in community is inconvenient, costly, and necessary. God designs his people to work through disputes together, not to fragment into smaller, more comfortable groups.

Thursday Acts 14:24-26

Paul and Barnabas could have sailed directly home, but instead they backtracked 450 miles by boat to Antioch to report to the sending church. This detour was deliberate, costly, and purposeful. Every time we choose to go out of our way to gather, to encourage, to serve alongside others, we are living out the gospel pattern—because Jesus went immeasurably out of his way to rescue us.

Friday Acts 14:27-28

Paul and Barnabas gather the church and report all that God had done—and the church listens, rejoices, and recognizes themselves as participants in God's advance. Their joy is not a private feeling but a corporate reality. As we gather this week, ask: How does the presence of God's people double my joy in what he is doing? How does their witness confirm that I am part of something infinitely larger than myself?

Draft · pending review

Pray together this week

Father, Make Us a People Who Go Together

Father, we come before you grateful that you are a God who goes out of your way for us. You sent your Son to leave the glory of heaven and walk among us, to go the distance of the cross itself so that we might be reconciled to you. We thank you that Jesus did not accomplish redemption alone, and we praise you that you have never designed your kingdom to be built by isolated individuals, but by a people called together, covenant-bound, meant to be built together as living stones in your house (1 Peter 2:5).

We confess, Father, that we often live as though ministry is something we do alone—in our private faithfulness, in our personal choices, in our solitary walk with you. We resist the inconvenience of going out of our way to minister alongside our brothers and sisters. We choose what is comfortable over what is costly. And we miss the joy that only comes when we labor together, when our victories are doubled and our burdens are shared, when we gather to report what you have done and find our hearts made glad in the fellowship of your people (Acts 14:27).

But here is the good news: you have called us not to walk alone, but to walk together. You have given us the Holy Spirit who binds us as one body. You have shown us in Christ himself the pattern of inconvenience borne for the sake of love and mission. By the power of his resurrection, grant us the courage to go out of our way—to show up, to labor together, to report our joys and sorrows to the gathered church, and to confirm one another in the gospel advance.

Make us, Father, a people marked by togetherness. Give us grace to embrace the inconvenience of ministry together. Help us to see that when we go out of our way to be with one another, we are following the pattern of our Savior and participating in your eternal design. Let our church be a place where no one ministers alone, where the joy of the Lord is multiplied in our gathering, and where we are continually reminded that we are stronger, braver, and more fruitful together than we ever could be apart. To you be all glory and praise, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, now and forever.

Draft · pending review

Sunday-evening family table

Going Out of Our Way for Each Other

For the parent

Paul and Barnabas sailed 450 miles out of their way just to report back to the church that sent them. This prompt invites your family to think about what it means to go inconvenient distances for people you love. Listen for stories of sacrifice or togetherness that emerge naturally.

Paul and Barnabas could have just gone home after their trip, but they sailed way out of their way to go back and tell the church everything God had done. Can you think of a time someone went out of their way for you—like driving extra, staying late, or changing their plans? What did that tell you about how much they cared?

works for ages 7+

Draft · pending review

Couples · three questions over coffee

Going Out of Our Way Together

What struck you most about Paul and Barnabas going 450 miles out of their way to report back to Antioch? Where is the Spirit calling you to go out of your way for the sake of the gospel together?
In what ways have you felt the joy of ministry *together* as a couple—and where might you be drifting toward doing faith as isolated individuals instead of as partners in Christ's mission?
Who is one person or couple you could invite into your life this week—not perfectly, but inconveniently—so that your joys might be doubled and your sorrows halved in the gospel?

Draft · pending review

Memory verse this week

Acts 14:27

And when they arrived and gathered the church together, they declared all that God had done with them, and how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles.

Why this verse: This verse crystallizes the sermon's central claim: Christian ministry is fundamentally together ministry. Paul and Barnabas don't report privately or send word—they gather the church and declare what God has done *with them*, establishing that our joys are doubled and our participation in gospel advance is confirmed when we gather as a people, not as isolated individuals.

Draft · pending review

Where this was preached

About the church

Cross of Grace Church

About us · What we believe

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# Cross of Grace Church

A church preaching expository sermons through the books of the Bible.

## Sermons
- [You Don't Have to Go But You Can't Stay Here (Acts 13:1-12, 2023-06-04)](/CoGElPaso/sermons/2023/06/you-don-t-have-to-go-but-you-can-t-stay-here)
- [It's Not Religion, It's Reality (Acts 13:13-41, 2023-06-11)](/CoGElPaso/sermons/2023/06/it-s-not-religion-it-s-reality)
- [Do Hard Things (Acts 14:19-23, 2023-07-23)](/CoGElPaso/sermons/2023/07/do-hard-things)
- [Out of Their Way to Be Together (Acts 14:24-28, 2023-07-30)](/CoGElPaso/sermons/2023/07/out-of-their-way-to-be-together)

## About
- [About the church](/about)
- [Plan a visit](/visit)

The page itself ships with Schema.org Article + Church markup, Open Graph + Twitter cards for share previews, and a canonical URL. Transcripts are server-rendered HTML — no JS dependency for the readable body.