The Book of Acts | Is Your Faith Costing You Anything | Pastor Billy Humphrey

Acts 14 puts Paul and Barnabas in Lystra, where a man with crippled feet sits and listens while Paul speaks. The man has never walked a day in his life, but Paul sees faith stirring in him and calls out, “Stand up.” The man jumps to his feet, starts walking, and the whole city has to make sense of a thing nobody can explain.

The crowd gets the miracle right, but gets the name wrong. The people of Lystra reach for the story already in their bones, the old tale that Zeus and Hermes once came as ordinary men and punished the town when they were not welcomed. So when a lame man walks, the crowd does not think first of the living God. The crowd thinks, “The gods are back,” and the priest of Zeus starts bringing bulls and flowers for sacrifice.

That mistake is not as ancient as it sounds. The Lystrians had Zeus and Hermes, but contemporary people have crystals, manifesting rituals, horoscopes, good vibes, wellness spirituality, and all sorts of ways to explain grace without naming God. The longing underneath all of that is real. The image of God in a person reaches toward something bigger, but the nearest framework cannot hold the weight of the moment.

Idolatry does not always look like bowing down to something ugly. The danger often comes when genuinely good things quietly become the thing a person cannot live without. Rest is good, therapy is good, medication can be good, career and family and security are good, but an idol does not have to replace God out loud. An idol “just goes first.”

Paul and Barnabas tear their clothes because worship has gone sideways. They are not flattered. They are horrified. Paul calls the people to turn from “worthless things” to the living God who made heaven, earth, sea, and everything in them. The living God has been sending rain, harvest, food, and joy long before they knew his name.

Acts 14 also shows how quickly a crowd can shift. The same people who want to worship Paul soon stone him and drag him out like a dead man. Paul gets up, goes back into the city, and tells the believers that following Jesus will cost something. Subtle faith may avoid friction, but it also goes nowhere. Nearness to Jesus always has a price tag, and distance from him is free.

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Key Takeaways

• 1. Miracles need the right name. The crowd in Lystra did not deny that something supernatural happened. The problem was that their old story named the miracle wrongly, so worship got aimed in the wrong direction. A heart can recognize wonder and still misread the Giver, which means gratitude needs truth as much as emotion. [10:16]
• 2. Good things can go first. Idolatry often begins with something useful, healthy, or even necessary. Rest, therapy, medication, family, and success become dangerous when they move from gift to foundation. The issue is not desire for security or meaning, but trusting a created thing to give what only the living God can give. [15:53]
• 3. Comfort can become worship. Whatever gets reached for first in crisis may reveal the true altar of the heart. Comfort is not evil, but comfort becomes worship when it becomes the place a person runs instead of God. The question is not merely what helps, but what has become ultimate. [17:07]
• 4. God was behind more. Paul tells the Lystrians that rain, crops, food, and joyful hearts had been evidence of God’s goodness all along. The living God had been near before they had the right language for him. Grace often precedes recognition, and God’s kindness may be present in places a person has misnamed for years. [20:53]
• 5. Nearness to Jesus costs something. Paul’s bruised body shows that following Jesus is not vague spirituality or safe private belief. A faith that never touches money, speech, anger, relationships, or obedience may simply be untested. Distance from Jesus is free, but closeness will always press against preferences.
  
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Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [00:55] - Hardcore Music and a Water Bottle
• [05:37] - Paul and Barnabas Arrive in Lystra
• [07:25] - The Crowd Calls Them Gods
• [08:08] - Zeus, Hermes, and Lystra’s Story
• [10:16] - The Miracle Right, the Name Wrong
• [11:42] - Counterfeit Gods Then and Now
• [13:37] - When Good Things Become Ultimate
• [17:07] - What Gets Reached for First
• [18:38] - Turn to the Living God
• [21:39] - Truth Does Not Always Dislodge Idols
• [22:50] - Paul Is Stoned and Left for Dead
• [25:12] - Following Jesus Will Cost Something
• [29:15] - The Man Reaching for God
• [31:55] - An Invitation to Respond

Bible Reading

Acts 14:8-20
“Now at Lystra there was a man sitting who could not use his feet. He was crippled from birth and had never walked. He listened to Paul speaking. And Paul, looking intently at him and seeing that he had faith to be made well, said in a loud voice, ‘Stand upright on your feet.’ And he sprang up and began walking. And when the crowds saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in Lycaonian, ‘The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!’ Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul, Hermes, because he was the chief speaker. And the priest of Zeus, whose temple was at the entrance to the city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates and wanted to offer sacrifice with the crowds. But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of it, they tore their garments and rushed out into the crowd, crying out, ‘Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men, of like nature with you, and we bring you good news, that you should turn from these vain things to a living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them. In past generations he allowed all the nations to walk in their own ways. Yet he did not leave himself without witness, for he did good by giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness.’ Even with these words they scarcely restrained the people from offering sacrifice to them. But Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and having persuaded the crowds, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead. But when the disciples gathered about him, he rose up and entered the city, and on the next day he went on with Barnabas to Derbe.” [05:41] [06:13] [07:40] [18:59] [22:39]

Galatians 6:17
“From now on let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus.” [24:17]

Acts 14:22
“strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.” [25:26]

Observation questions

1. In Acts 14, what does the crowd do after the man is healed, and how do Paul and Barnabas respond when they realize what is happening? [18:59]
2. What reasons does Paul give the people of Lystra for turning from “vain things” to the living God? What examples of God’s goodness does he point to? [20:18]
3. What sudden change happens in the crowd later in the passage, and what do they do to Paul? [22:39]
4. According to Acts 14:22, what message does Paul give the believers after all of this happens? [25:26]

Interpretation questions

1. The crowd recognized that something supernatural had happened, but they gave the miracle the wrong name. What does that show about how people can experience grace or wonder and still misunderstand God? [10:16]
2. Paul says God had already been giving rain, crops, food, and gladness to these people before they knew him rightly. How does that shape the way a person might think about God’s activity in places where faith is still confused or misdirected? [21:16]
3. Paul and Barnabas call the idols of Lystra “worthless things,” even though the people were sincerely reaching for meaning. Why can something feel spiritually meaningful and still fail to bring a person to the living God? [22:00]
4. Paul’s scars and his words in Acts 14:22 connect closeness to Jesus with suffering. What kind of cost might faithful obedience bring in ordinary life, even when it does not look like persecution in Paul’s exact form? [28:48]

Application questions

1. When pressure hits, what tends to be reached for first: prayer, control, distraction, approval, comfort, a plan, or something else? What might that reveal about what has quietly gone first in the heart? [17:07]
2. Good things can slowly become ultimate things. Is there a good gift right now—rest, family, work, therapy, medication, success, security, or something else—that has started to carry more weight than it was meant to carry? [15:53]
3. God may have been behind more than has been realized. Looking back over the last year, where might God have been providing, protecting, or showing kindness even if it was explained away at the time? [20:53]
4. Subtle faith avoids friction, but it also goes nowhere. In what part of life would following Jesus more clearly create some real cost right now—speech, money, relationships, habits, honesty, forgiveness, or obedience? [27:34]
5. Paul went back into the same city where he had been left for dead. What would courage and steadiness look like in one hard place right now instead of backing away from it? [24:48]
6. The living God is better than the things that break under pressure. What has been leaned on lately that is starting to crack, and what would it look like to bring that place honestly before God this week? [18:38]
7. Nearness to Jesus always has a price tag, and distance from him is free. What is one specific step toward Jesus that feels costly right now, but also worth taking? [28:48]