Latest / Cumberland Trace Church of Christ (Formerly Lehman Ave Church of Christ) / "A Study of the book of Acts" by Neal Pollard - Part 9

Transcript

"A Study of the book of Acts" by Neal Pollard - Part 9 · Cumberland Trace Church of Christ (Formerly Lehman Ave Church of Christ)

0:10
Good morning. We made some trips to Cambodia
0:14
and sometimes when you're singing songs that are in a different language
0:17
and there's no way for you to figure out if you
0:22
could discern the words, it's one of those places where
0:26
There's nothing in the characters or in the words that will help you know what
0:28
you're singing. And so we sang one song, and afterwards we
0:32
asked— it was a real peppy song. We asked one of the preachers there
0:36
who could speak English what that song was. And he said, basically,
0:39
the gist of it is, be not hesitate. And so don't hesitate,
0:43
I guess, is the idea of that. And I thought of that just now when
0:46
I stood here and thought, I want to go back and talk to the AV
0:48
guys, but I'm sure the bell's going to ring. And so I stood here,
0:52
and not only did I waste that minute, but I've now wasted another minute of
0:55
yours by telling you that. So be not hesitate. And let's see if it did
0:59
what I hoped it would do there. He's going to get that up for us.
1:01
We're in Acts, the book of Acts. We're looking at our
1:05
study from a little bit different angle. Again, I always
1:08
want to remind you that Chris Young did a fantastic job for
1:12
2 quarters going through Acts and really laying out for us what
1:16
the Holy Spirit through Luke wants us to know about
1:20
the history of the church. And that's what the book of Acts provides for us.
1:24
And the thing that's remarkable when we're looking at halfway across
1:27
the world in a completely different culture with a lot of different cultural
1:32
challenges that they faced is how applicable
1:36
the book is. And so this quarter, Hiram and I are going through
1:39
the book of Acts with a very specific focus
1:43
in mind, and that is to look at the challenges that they faced. And if
1:48
you'll think about where we've been, there are so many diverse challenges that the church
1:51
faced. That we face today. And when we
1:54
look at Acts 16 through 18, the first challenge that we looked at in
1:58
Acts 16 last week is a challenge with regard
2:02
to the church's responsibility to collectively bring along those
2:06
who are going to be the leaders of tomorrow, those who are
2:10
the raw material of today that God is still at work in, in a way
2:13
that he'll have longer to work with them as they mature
2:17
and grow in Christ. It seems to me that the challenges that
2:21
Paul is going to face in Acts 16, 17, and 18 are
2:25
some of the more personal challenges that we have recorded for
2:29
us outside of Paul's writings itself. When you think about Paul
2:33
writing 2 Corinthians, and we studied that recently, and we came from
2:37
the thrust that Christianity is personal, and 2 Corinthians
2:41
is one of the most personal letters that he ever writes,
2:44
and it's going to be in the general timeframe of the missionary journeys in the
2:48
area in which we're looking. And then there's going to be the end of his
2:51
life when Paul writes that very personal letter to his son in the faith,
2:55
Timothy, in 2 Timothy. But Luke is going to record for us
2:59
some of the challenges that Paul himself faces
3:04
in the longest missionary journey. It's going to go for such a length, and it's
3:08
going to involve so much travel, and you can see that, and that's why
3:11
I wanted this map up here to talk about the first challenge
3:15
that we see today that we face,
3:18
and that is the challenge to submitting to God's
3:22
will. It's a very personal challenge. It's not just a
3:26
challenge for Paul, it's a challenge for the men who are along with
3:30
him, the missionaries, and there's going to be 4 by the time
3:33
that we see him arrive on the continent of Europe
3:37
to preach the gospel. Why is it
3:40
so hard for us to understand what
3:44
God's will is. Paul says to the Ephesians, don't be foolish,
3:48
but understand what the will of God is. You ever found yourself
3:52
in that situation where you're trying to ascertain, what does God
3:56
want me to do? Anybody else been there?
3:59
How do you go about finding the answer to that?
4:03
Okay, all right, you can read the Scriptures.
4:07
The Scriptures are going to be of great help. And in fact, we'll come back
4:11
to that. That's got to be the anchor point for us to know know what
4:14
the will of God is. Don't lean— trust in the Lord with all your heart
4:18
and do not lean on your own understanding. I'll come back to that in a
4:21
moment. I saw a hand in the back. Hiram? Okay, so I
4:25
think that's at the heart of the frustration that we face. There are going
4:29
to be elements in what we read in Acts 16 in just a
4:32
moment that are different than they are for us because God is going
4:36
to directly answer when it's implied
4:40
that Paul and the others are wanting to go in a certain direction. Wouldn't it
4:44
be nice that you're heading in a certain direction and all of a sudden,
4:48
God through the Spirit or through the Son or through the Father says, don't go
4:52
there, go there, don't do this, do this,
4:55
don't say this, say that. But don't we live in a religious
5:00
climate where that's the claim that's made? You ever heard anybody say,
5:05
God spoke to me and told me that this is what he wants me to
5:08
do. This is— and a lot of times it's, God wants me to enter
5:11
into this relationship. Or God wants me to practice this
5:16
particular thing. You ever heard a church do that? You ever heard—
5:20
I remember when I was living in Virginia that there was a congregation within 3
5:24
or 4 hours of us that I was very familiar with, and one of their
5:27
members called and said, hey, I'm really troubled by something that the
5:31
leadership has kind of been doing here in the last 4 to 6 weeks.
5:35
There has been a renewed study by the preacher on the
5:39
role of women. In the church. And he shared with
5:42
me a bulletin article that they had just printed. The elders' names
5:46
were ascribed to that, saying, the Spirit has led us
5:50
to this new conclusion. We're going to have an
5:54
egalitarian, an expanded role where women are going to serve, and they gave the
5:57
various functions. Everything, they said, but serving as elders and
6:01
as pulpit preachers. I never did follow the logic on
6:05
why they stopped there and why that was unique and special.
6:08
But they claimed that the Spirit had led them there.
6:12
So you've heard that, you have encountered individuals.
6:17
If that's not the case, and we'll talk in a moment why that's not,
6:20
and a lot of it hangs on what Miss Dolores said. A lot of times
6:23
these decisions, these pieces of guidance that
6:27
the Spirit, and it's usually the Spirit or God is sharing,
6:31
is in contradiction with what the Spirit revealed in his Word, leading us in
6:35
a completely different direction. But that being the case, we grapple
6:39
with what Hyrum said. Aren't there times in our lives where
6:44
we really don't know? We have the Bible to guide us,
6:47
to show us principles that can help us,
6:51
but how do we know when God wants us to use our talents in a
6:54
particular area? How do we know when
6:58
God is leading us in a specific matter of
7:02
our life? Where should we live? What job should we have? What ministry
7:06
should we engage ourselves in? How should we use our talents in the very best
7:14
Shouldn't we be on our knees? Yes.
7:18
Yeah.
7:22
Yeah.
7:25
Absolutely. And so a lot of times— go ahead, Bill.
7:34
Yeah, that's good.
7:40
So if we're, if we're being transformed by the renewing of our mind and all
7:43
this, we're talking about prayer. That's a different discipline than Bible study, and renewing
7:47
our mind is kind of a fruit or an outgrowth of that. So God has
7:51
left us with tools. We're not in the dark even
7:55
if we're not having the skies cleaved and God doing
7:59
what he does. In Acts chapter 16, verse 6 through 13,
8:03
we are able to glean
8:07
some principles. So let's say in Chuck's example that you pray,
8:09
God, which direction do you want me to go? And you're
8:14
through praying and you see before you, figuratively speaking,
8:18
2 doors and they're wide open.
8:22
You've prayed, you've studied God's Word, both of them are in accordance with God's will.
8:27
Which one do you choose?
8:30
Yes, ma'am. Sure.
8:37
He does. All right. So what comes to my mind is Proverbs 16:3,
8:40
commit your work to the Lord and all your plans will be established.
8:44
Um, I want to use a personal example only as inasmuch
8:48
as it illustrates the point. I don't, don't like to use personal examples, but,
8:51
um, 20-something years ago, a little over 20 years ago,
8:56
Cathy and I made a trip to Tanzania and we fell in love with that
8:58
work. You have some connection with that work through the years.
9:02
It's— at that time there was a 20-year plan that was only
9:06
2 years into the making and we
9:10
had the opportunity to go. The church where I was preaching,
9:13
the elders went with us and promised to serve as our overseeing elders if we
9:18
went over there and moved to work as missionaries in Tanzania.
9:22
It was— there was nothing that we saw. I mean, there were studies and baptisms
9:26
happening all the time. The need was apparent,
9:29
and there we were in a great work where the—
9:33
we felt like the Lord was using us,
9:36
and so we were faced with 2 doors, and we went on that trip.
9:39
We thought maybe the survey trip will seal it for us, and we'll just
9:43
know we need to stay here, or, man, it's so— a
9:47
parent that will just go to the next chapter of life and
9:50
leave Virginia. Didn't work that way. Did not happen that way at
9:54
all. And I remember sitting out on
9:58
a lawn chair in our backyard on multiple occasions and
10:02
looking up into the clouds and praying
10:06
to God in a way I hadn't before and pleading with him. Please let me,
10:09
you know, let me see. I don't know if I said, let me see an
10:12
elephant-shaped cloud if you would in the next spot. Well, I was saying,
10:15
please help me know. Didn't happen.
10:18
Didn't hear a word from him outside of
10:22
the Word and struggled with that for months and finally made
10:25
the decision. And I consulted somebody who pointed
10:30
me to Proverbs 16:3 in a way I hadn't seen it before to say,
10:33
and here was the explanation I got and it's lived with me since that time
10:36
and maybe it'll help you when you find multiple doors open. If you go through
10:40
this door and it honors God's will, then he'll use you
10:44
in this way to accomplish this for his kingdom.
10:47
But if you'll go through this door, you're still going to be a fruitful contributor
10:53
to the kingdom of God, and he's going to accomplish this through
10:56
you. You know, if we say the kingdom is bigger than any one of us,
11:00
then I knew in my, in my mind that if I left Cold Harbor to
11:03
go there, that, that, uh, that work was going to be just fine.
11:07
You know, it was on the, on the shoulders of the leadership to, uh,
11:10
to continue to do their work and for members to do their work and for
11:14
the who comes in to do his work. And I knew that if I didn't
11:17
go to Tanzania, that that work would be fine. And it has turned out that
11:20
that has been the case. An irony in all that is that less than
11:24
2 years later, we moved out to Colorado to the church that worked with all
11:27
of those extension schools. So I had an opportunity to teach in those.
11:32
You have had moments like that in your professional
11:35
life. You've had it in your spiritual life. You've had it in your family
11:39
life. To where you needed some help and some guidance?
11:43
That's where Paul finds himself. Let's think about it.
11:46
He has started this missionary journey. He's left Antioch of Syria and he
11:50
has made it to that Iconium and Lystra area where he's picked up Timothy and
11:54
he's already got Silas with him. And we're going to see here as he moves
11:58
over to Troas that somewhere along the way, he's going to pick up Luke.
12:00
He's got a dream team of missionaries and it's like, where can
12:04
I use these resources to the glory of God? Now, with that in
12:07
mind, with that extensive lead-in, let's look at Acts 16:16.
12:11
This is Luke's record of the missionaries as they continue
12:16
the early part of that second journey. It says, they passed through the Phrygian and
12:20
Galatian region, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak
12:24
the word in Asia. And after they came to Mysia, they were trying to
12:27
go into Bithynia, and the Spirit of Jesus did not permit them.
12:32
And passing by Mysia, they came down to Troas. And a vision appeared to
12:36
Paul in the night. A man of Macedonia was standing and appealing to
12:39
him and saying, come over to Macedonia and help us.
12:43
When he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go into Macedonia, concluding that
12:46
God had called us to preach the gospel to them. And so putting
12:49
out to sea from Troas, we ran a straight course to Samothrace,
12:53
and on the day following to Neapolis, and from there to Philippi, which is a
12:57
leading city of the district of Macedonia, a Roman colony. And we were staying in
13:01
this city for some days. And on the Sabbath day we went outside the gate
13:04
to a riverside, where we were supposing that there would be a place of prayer.
13:08
And we sat down and began speaking to the women
13:11
who had assembled. Now, as I have this map
13:15
up here, and I've never used the laser. I don't know if there's— is there
13:18
a laser on this? There is. All right, so Paul has left
13:23
here in Syria, Antioch, and he has gotten over here to Lystra
13:28
and Derbe and Iconium in this area right here in
13:31
green in the Galatian region. And he wants to know where to
13:34
go. Now, Paul is from the eastern— in Tarsus, he's from the eastern part
13:39
of the empire. And it seems like that's where he wants to go. And so
13:42
the places that he's angling for, particularly Asia, which is modern-day
13:47
Turkey, that's where he wants to go. Maybe it's because he's more familiar culturally
13:51
with the eastern part of the empire. But what God tells
13:56
him through multiple means is, I don't want you to go due north
14:00
to Bithynia. You can't go too far south. You're going to be at
14:04
the Mediterranean Sea. He doesn't say anything about wanting to go here.
14:07
And I don't want you to go through Asia. I want you to go all
14:11
the way over to the other side, hundreds of miles, 300 miles to Troas.
14:16
Or when they get there, I want you to go over— he has a
14:19
vision. I want you to go into Macedonia.
14:23
I don't know why God said no to him.
14:26
God specifically says, I don't want you to go.
14:31
And in fact, here he is with no other direction to go. He's standing
14:35
in Troas looking west, and it still takes a vision from God for him to
14:39
him to take his missionaries over into the
14:43
European continent, into the Macedonian region. By the way, this is that Balkan region.
14:47
Some of you guys like to take Viking cruises. I don't know if any of
14:50
you have taken any of those, like Bulgaria, Greece, Serbia,
14:54
Montenegro, areas that we would be familiar
14:57
with today. That's where Paul is led by God
15:01
to go. But this is not some obtuse geography
15:05
lesson. This is about— the emphasis here
15:09
is on divine leading. I want you to notice in verse 6, the Holy Spirit
15:13
says no. Verse 7, Jesus says no.
15:17
Verse 10, the Father says, yes, I want you to go in
15:21
this direction. It's time to tackle a new frontier.
15:24
Now, we can surmise that maybe this goes
15:28
along with Paul's sentiment. You remember Paul was saying that, I don't like to
15:32
take the gospel where it's already been. Well, if you think about Asia,
15:36
we're not given the history of that, but is the church established
15:40
in Asia, modern-day Turkey? Where do we read about
15:43
in detail those churches? There's 7 of them.
15:48
Revelation. All right, and so those churches are
15:52
established. Perhaps it is that God is saying, I've got John,
15:55
I've got others who I will dedicate
15:59
to that, although that's a later time period, I know. Somebody's done the groundwork.
16:03
And so you get to Troas. Did Paul establish
16:06
the church at Troas? I mean, he goes 300
16:10
miles and God says, I don't want you to do any work on the way.
16:13
You get all the way over to Troas. I don't want you to do any
16:15
work here. I want you to heed this vision. I want you to go over
16:18
into Macedonia and I want you to preach the gospel there.
16:22
Troas appears to have been established in some other way.
16:26
Here's how we know. He doesn't stop. At this time. There's no record
16:29
of it whatsoever. And then in Acts chapter 20, when he does on the 3rd
16:33
missionary journey go there, the church is well established.
16:37
And they stay long enough to partake the Lord's Supper and to worship
16:41
with them on that Lord's Day. Now Paul is going to mention the church at
16:43
Troas in 2 Corinthians chapter 2, but the
16:47
church is not established at Corinth yet. That's going to
16:51
happen in Acts chapter 18. So I don't believe that Paul had anything to do
16:55
with establishing the church at Troas. So God's saying, I want you to go into
16:58
this new frontier. The church is not been established
17:02
in Macedonia yet. So, there's the background of that.
17:06
And Paul is joined by Luke in
17:10
verse 10. We see this. This is just a matter of significance because the narrative
17:13
shifts from they to we. It's an interesting
17:17
note here before we get some of our application of the overcoming of the challenges.
17:22
How do they meet? Why do they meet? That is
17:26
Luke and Paul. Perhaps they were looking for a doctor.
17:30
Timothy and Paul are both sickly and Luke joins
17:34
them, but Luke is a brave coworker. He is stalwart
17:39
when others turn their backs on him. 2 Timothy chapter 4 and verse 11,
17:41
Paul is going to say much later, everyone has
17:45
forsaken me. Only Luke is with me. He gives a glowing
17:49
report of his work in Philemon in verse 24. And so Paul's
17:53
companions now include a prophet, a preacher, and a physician, and they're
17:57
all committed to a common cause. And that cause is what
18:01
brings them to Macedonia. It's a
18:04
cause that's supplied by God. Now, here's my question.
18:08
Do you ever ask, what's my Macedonian
18:12
call? Who is God calling me
18:17
to help? I think the very principles that we started
18:21
with should be employed. Now, that doesn't mean that every one of us
18:24
are looking for a ship to take us 300, 400 miles
18:28
somewhere else, to leave this congregation to go and work. It might
18:32
be there are individuals in this and other congregations
18:36
who are engaged in secular work who, for one reason
18:39
or another, develop an interest in, discover a
18:43
talent in, feel a desire for doing full-time ministry work and
18:48
maybe having those moments. I believe those moments are happening even here.
18:53
But is there another way in which you can have a Macedonian call
18:57
and never have to leave Bowling Green? If so,
19:01
how might that be? Okay.
19:05
Financially? Okay.
19:11
So that's a great— I would say a place to
19:15
go is Romans 12:6-8 and look at the talents
19:19
that exist in the body of Christ and to say, is there
19:23
some way that I can be exhorting in this
19:26
congregation that I'm not? Is there some way I can be serving in
19:30
this congregation that I'm not? Is there some way I could be leading
19:33
in this congregation that I'm not? Or adapting
19:37
the principle they're preaching or teaching. It's been,
19:41
it's been neat to see in the last 6 months several guys who
19:45
stand before us who have never taught before, and that in this
19:49
classroom and in the other adult classroom.
19:52
And maybe they, they had not known that that talent existed
19:56
in them. Is that maybe something that should be developed? So there's so many different
20:00
areas in which that can go. Yes, ma'am. What's happened that
20:03
I will meet somebody or get with someone,
20:07
maybe it's someone in the church or, you know, a need that I'm previously
20:11
aware of and I realized suddenly that— and
20:15
with prayer to help. So there's another variable that as we live
20:19
our lives as Christians and we mature, we become more like Christ,
20:23
we're renewing our mind, we're in the Word, we are engaged in prayer,
20:27
And that we are— keep our hearts sensitive because it's easy for
20:31
us to see opportunities and to turn our heads the other way,
20:35
and some do. But when we are made aware of something
20:38
that may be a Macedonian call— and by the way, it may not be an
20:42
area that's glamorous or an area that we might desire, but it may be a
20:45
needed area where God is calling us. It was a very direct call
20:50
in Acts 16:6-13. It's indirect in that we
20:53
are leaning on the providence of God, which is active and is at work.
20:57
Even if it is subtle and invisible and unseen,
21:00
so often we say, just look back and see God's
21:04
guidance and his deliverance into a
21:08
particular area or away from another. And I know it's
21:12
a well-worn adage, but I think it's true. Sometimes we can't see that
21:15
leading, that direction, that providence in the glass
21:21
ahead of us. It's by looking into the the rearview mirror, not the windshield.
21:25
And so here are individuals who God leads and
21:29
they accept the responsibility God gives them and the church
21:33
is established on an entire continent. Yes, sir.
21:37
No. Well, and have you
21:41
heard individuals say that there are going to be a lot of us who are
21:45
in heaven and there are those individuals who come up to us and who and
21:50
speaking to us say, I don't think I'd be here if
21:54
it wasn't for you. And maybe you had no idea of the word of encouragement
21:57
that you gave when they were just about ready to give up.
22:01
Or if you had a difficult
22:05
conversation with them that did not seem on the surface to have
22:09
gone well, maybe they left angry and you never knew how that went. And you
22:13
know what? They might've moved somewhere else, matured in Christ, and became faithful.
22:17
And what's even cooler than that is the thought that when they repented and were
22:21
restored, they went on to lead others to Christ, and maybe
22:24
you get introduced to them. And so, we're not aware— if our mindset is
22:29
that we are trying to live our lives according to God's will and we're
22:32
trying to look for the doors that he is opening, even if we can't see
22:36
the impact of it now, we can look back ultimately, if not
22:39
before, and we can see him at work. If we don't act, There's nothing to
22:43
look back and see for sure. Yes, sir. You said that it made— that
22:47
where we're called glamorous place, we don't have a
22:51
book of Athenians or Syracusans, but we do have one to the
22:55
Philippians, to the people of Philippi. That's right. Philippi was a backwater.
22:58
Yep. Yep. And we'll see starting tonight how
23:03
much that's the case for sure. All right. So here's a question before we
23:07
leave this. What is Cumberland Trace?
23:11
What is your mission? What's mine?
23:14
Where is our field? Have we asked God?
23:18
Are we checking on doors? Are we trying to go where he leads,
23:23
and are we going where he wants? How often do you pray
23:27
about this? It may not be where we prefer to go,
23:31
but where he wants us and where he needs us.
23:35
And I think it's encouraging for us to have Acts 16:6-13
23:39
in Scripture so we can look and see the mind of
23:42
God and what His desires are. And it goes back to something
23:46
Russell said. His desire, no matter what it is that we're doing in our Christian
23:49
lives, is that souls be saved through that. So all roads should
23:53
lead us in that direction. All right, any other
23:57
thoughts about Acts 16:6-13? I have the perfect
24:01
ability to leap past Acts 16:14 to
24:05
the rest of the chapter because We are going to actually look at that tonight
24:08
in our End of the Word study. So let's go into Acts chapter 17
24:12
for just a moment.
24:16
Here we have the challenge of meeting different reactions to the gospel.
24:21
In Acts chapter 17, it is devoted to the missionaries' work in 3 cities,
24:25
and they are Thessalonica, Berea, and Athens. And really,
24:29
it is dedicated to the work of the mission team in those first 2 places,
24:33
in Thessalonica and then Berea. And then it's a focus on Paul's
24:38
work in Athens by himself, which has a little mini
24:42
challenge as a part of this great challenge in Acts chapter 17.
24:45
They're not going to rejoin him until Acts chapter 18 and verse
24:49
5 in the city of Corinth. And when we look
24:53
at those 3 places, just top of mind, what do you think about with Thessalonica?
24:56
Just don't think too deeply about it. What do you think? Okay,
25:00
think a little deeper than that. Thessalonica.
25:05
Anything.
25:08
Okay, alright, so the missionaries had to leave because they were assaulted.
25:14
Thessalonians, the Thessalonian people.
25:20
Okay, where did Paul talk about that?
25:24
Alright, so you think there's 2 letters and there's 2 out of the 27
25:28
books of the New Testament that are dedicated to the church at Thessalonica.
25:31
All right, so Paul is going to write this church and we'll see when
25:35
he does that in just a moment. So Thessalonica,
25:40
a church that gets 2 letters from Paul, and you can think about
25:43
what you know about 1 and 2 Thessalonians. What are some of the— what
25:47
is kind of 1 and 2 Thessalonians devoted to?
25:50
Anybody know what's a big subject in both of those letters?
25:54
The return of Christ. All right, so that's remarkable
25:58
that Paul will spend some time to write to brand new Christians and
26:02
talk about the second coming of Christ and to clear up misinformation
26:06
about that. Perhaps as we read through the New Testament, one of the major topics
26:10
that there's misunderstanding about, and even so today. How about Berea?
26:15
All right, all right. So that's probably the most recognizable verse, maybe in
26:19
the, at least the first half of the chapter is Acts 17:11,
26:22
that they received the word with all readiness of mind and they searched the scriptures
26:24
daily to see if those things were so.
26:28
How about Athens? Unknown God.
26:32
Okay. So Paul preaches up on Mars Hill and he talks to them about
26:36
the unknown God. And to piggyback on what Nat said a moment ago,
26:41
we have a letter— letters written to the Thessalonians.
26:45
We have a glowing tribute, the gold standard of how
26:49
to approach the listening of the Word of God in Acts 17:11.
26:53
And then there's that power-packed Epistle to the Athenians,
26:56
right? I wonder what the condition of things are
27:00
in Athens. How does the church do there? Now, if you
27:03
want to kind of classify the different ways that they respond to the word,
27:07
in Acts chapter 17, we see the Thessalonians resist the word.
27:10
It's not how it is at first. At first, they're listening
27:14
to them as Paul reasons and explains to them out of the Scripture, and he's
27:17
preaching to them the resurrection and what's going to happen
27:20
Very quickly is a pattern that's emerging that we're going to see again.
27:24
And we can look in Corinth in Acts chapter 18, as the Jews show up,
27:28
they oppose him, they abuse him, and he's got to run
27:31
and get out of there. We see that in full display here,
27:34
that they have to run and they have to leave after 3 Sabbaths in the
27:38
synagogue. And then the Bereans, we see as those who are receiving the
27:42
word. In fact, that's Luke's word there, with all readiness of mind. And then
27:47
in Athens, we see ridiculing. The word. That's going to take place in
27:51
Acts 17:16-34. It's always good for us,
27:54
and I think in Bowling Green the answer might be different than it is other
27:57
parts of the country, even other parts of the country where I have lived.
28:01
Which of those cities do you think most describes what we face
28:04
every day? Berea?
28:08
Man, I hope so. Wouldn't that be great? Folks are
28:12
receiving the word, and I think there's evidence. For that. There are
28:17
a lot of folks who have sat down and studied the scriptures in the last
28:21
24 months who are now our brothers and sisters in Christ. We can give even
28:25
very, very recent examples. And they are sitting
28:29
and they're listening to the teaching and the preaching that's done, to those who
28:33
come up to them and want to talk to them about the gospel, and they're
28:38
accepting it if they can see it in the scriptures. I hope so.
28:43
For sure, yeah, and I think that's the value of looking at
28:46
this because wouldn't it be nice if God kind of laid it out there
28:50
for you? We talked about him not speaking to us and saying, this is where
28:54
I want you to go, this is the door. Wouldn't it be nice to be
28:57
able to look at somebody and judge the book by the COVID Don't you think
29:00
that would save you a lot of time? And wouldn't that make— maybe would you
29:02
think it would make your job in evangelism easier if you were to look at
29:06
somebody and to know for a fact they're
29:10
not going to study the gospel. And that might save you 3 months
29:13
of sitting down with them once a week and trying to teach them the Scripture
29:17
if you know with a certainty at the end of that they're going to
29:22
say, thanks, but no thanks. And then there's somebody else,
29:26
and you— it's like labeled in some way. This person is
29:30
good soil. Study the gospel with them.
29:35
Wonder why that's not the case. Why doesn't God provide
29:39
for us? He could have. He has the power and the ability to
29:43
do that. Why doesn't he do that? Do you see value in that,
29:47
in that challenge that God doesn't tell us who
29:52
the receptive and the unreceptive folks are?
29:56
What's, what, what's the value of that?
30:01
Well, for certain as the receiver, but I'm talking about us as the potential
30:05
teachers. Yes, ma'am.
30:08
Everybody deserves to hear. And so every soul
30:12
is equally precious and loved in the heart of God.
30:16
Joey. I mean, and if
30:20
it was the case, we look at somebody and a lot of the soil that
30:23
we might be putting the test to, we'd say never ever, they wouldn't do it.
30:26
And then we do that and And we discover that
30:31
we didn't know what lay beneath the surface and breaking up some ground makes
30:35
all the difference. And sometimes those folks are some of the most influential,
30:39
the most fruitful and productive converts that there are. Yes, ma'am.
30:46
Experience is a great teacher and the teaching the gospel,
30:50
Isaiah 55:10-11, never returns void.
30:54
And it may not be something that you see, in that person.
30:58
And it may be something that changes or that's honed or
31:02
is refined in you. We are always
31:06
blessed when we have the opportunity to share and to teach the gospel.
31:10
And so we know that he doesn't do that,
31:13
but there are great benefits that happen. And if you're a sharing church,
31:17
have you ever noticed this, that maybe a church makes a plan
31:21
that we want to do X and X doesn't turn out to be all that
31:24
successful, but then Y occurs as the result of that. Whenever we
31:28
engage in doing God's will. Good happens as the result of that.
31:31
Now, what I want to do is to look at 2 places that are very
31:34
different. I want to compare those, that is Thessalonica and Berea,
31:37
and see the similarities in those very different works. You have the
31:41
church that Paul and the others are run out of after a short period of
31:45
time in Thessalonica, and then you have that open-hearted people in Berea.
31:49
And yet there are some things that are true of both of those as you
31:53
see Paul working. They experienced success in both cities.
31:58
As they taught the folks in Thessalonica, there are Jews,
32:02
there are especially Gentiles, men and women who believe and
32:07
become a part of the body of Christ. The church at Thessalonica is established.
32:12
And of course, we see that taking place, prominent men and women in Berea.
32:16
So there's success as they spend their time in those places.
32:20
They were forced to leave both places because of
32:23
Jewish opposition. It's going to be
32:27
something that we see throughout the New Testament that long-felt,
32:32
firmly established religious views are
32:36
very difficult to eradicate from people's hearts and their minds.
32:40
When it has taken generations, especially for those views to
32:44
get codified, to get firmly in the minds and in the culture of a
32:48
society, it's hard to change that. And the
32:52
only means that God gives us to do that is to teach and preach the
32:55
Word. And there are going to be people like that in that first point that
32:59
do accept the gospel and do become followers of Christ,
33:03
but you're going to also encounter opposition from people who don't want to change and
33:07
don't like the fact that you're telling them that what they already believe is not
33:12
what God in his Word says is the case. But then those who
33:16
heard the gospel reacted. Now, there's a contrast
33:19
in the way that they reacted. As Paul speaks and he reasons with them
33:24
from the Scriptures on the resurrection, the reaction is largely
33:27
negative. When we look at the Bereans, they are characterized by
33:31
excellence. They received the Word.
33:35
They are characterized by eagerness. They did so
33:40
eagerly doing that. And they're characterized
33:44
by examination. They searched the Scriptures. This is a Spirit-led
33:48
apostle, one of the world's greatest Christians and greatest
33:53
missionaries, and they could have seen his resume. And yet,
33:57
as he is speaking to them, they get behind him and they study the
34:01
Scriptures, the Old Testament that they had, to make sure that this message is
34:04
consistent and it's right. That goes without saying.
34:08
Does it matter who's here or who's up there?
34:11
Whatever is said, Don't take it as gospel.
34:16
Don't accept it carte blanche. No matter how much you
34:19
like the speaker, no matter how— what a relationship you
34:23
have with them, the Bereans show us that you have got
34:27
to examine what's said. Now, that doesn't mean that you're so critical that you see—
34:30
you're looking for something in every little statement that's made, but that
34:35
you don't uncritically receive information because it doesn't matter who it is.
34:38
What matters is, does it reconcile with what Scripture says? And there's an
34:42
everydayness. They didn't wait for the next synagogue meeting.
34:45
They didn't wait for the next time of teaching,
34:49
but they were in the Scriptures every day.
34:52
All right, let's talk about Athens for just a moment.
34:56
When we get to Athens, we see Paul having some
34:59
of the most difficult work that he ever does.
35:03
He's the greatest missionary. That the church has ever known.
35:07
But for the first time since he leaves Antioch on the missionary journey,
35:11
he's all by himself. And he gets to a city that's renowned.
35:14
It is a place that is at the philosophical
35:18
center of the Greco-Roman world. And Paul seems to be overwhelmed
35:22
when he gets there. Many people say that Athens was Paul's
35:27
greatest failure. Why do you think they would say that?
35:31
Why would Athens be considered a failure?
35:37
Okay, first of all, he is trying to drill into granite with
35:41
a pickaxe. It is hard. Alright, why else would
35:46
people look at his experience in Athens and say,
35:50
Paul failed here?
35:55
Okay, there is a lot of opposition there, some mockery.
35:59
We already said ridicule was the way they received the word.
36:02
You think about Paul, he writes and he sends greetings to the various
36:06
churches where he's been. Do you see anybody from Athens?
36:10
You know, do you see any record in the New Testament of
36:14
the church being established in Athens? And so, somebody might say when
36:18
they look at that, there's no reference to a congregation,
36:21
no traveling companions, no mention of those that were there,
36:26
no one greeted in Paul's letters from Athens.
36:30
But here's the question, was Paul's work at Athens a success?
36:35
Absolutely. Why? What's our responsibility?
36:39
Plant the seed, to sow. 1 Corinthians 3:6-9,
36:44
we plant and water and God causes the increase. But if nothing
36:48
else is achieved in the work that's done at Athens, what can we say about
36:52
that as we look at it?
36:55
They heard. We see how they heard.
37:00
But what about when we face our Athens today? If Cathy's statement's right,
37:03
and I believe it is, especially look at our culture as a whole, there are
37:06
a lot of Athens in the United States. There are a lot of Athens in
37:09
Southern Kentucky. And when we go into our Athens, how do we handle ourselves
37:13
there? All we got to do is look at what he does there. For 2,000
37:17
years, the Holy Spirit has preserved this for us so that we can know
37:21
how God wants us to respond to that. And I think that what Paul
37:25
does in this lesson here is very helpful for us
37:28
in knowing how to reach people without a religious framework. Here's just
37:33
a real brief outline. He gives us 3 facts about God. He gives us 3
37:37
facts about man, and we see 3 responses to the gospel. Here's the 3 facts
37:40
that he gives us about God, and keep in mind that most
37:44
religions are based on a faulty view of God. So,
37:47
he lays this out for the Athenians. Number 1,
37:50
God made all things. That's the first fact about God.
37:54
That's verse 24 and 25. Number 2, God made
37:57
all men, verse 26.
38:01
And then number 3, God controls all things, verse 26.
38:05
That's how he leads out in trying to connect with them. And then the 3
38:09
facts about man are found in verse 27 through 30.
38:12
Number 1, man must seek God, verse 27.
38:16
Their god chiefly is Zeus. But even in mythology,
38:22
even in their philosophical religion, they teach us that
38:25
all men are looking for a personal relationship with God. And so
38:29
man must seek God. Paul says it, you do it whether you're trying
38:33
to or not. You're looking for something to rule your life. Man,
38:36
number 2, must worship correctly, verse 29.
38:41
And then number 3, man must repent.
38:45
And then we see the 3 responses to the gospel in verses 32 through
38:48
34. What are they? Verses 32 through 34,
38:52
how do they respond to Paul's message?
38:57
Mockery, delay, and believers.
39:03
I don't know, maybe that's not totally exhaustive. Maybe you could find some nuance in
39:07
that. Isn't that pretty much what we face? Mockery,
39:10
opposition, shutdown. We're done. You're dumb.
39:15
Why are you telling me this? Whatever that is, it falls into that silo.
39:19
A lot of folks will say, hey, it may be, I'll see you at church
39:22
Sunday, or let's meet next week. I don't know if any of you
39:26
have ever— do they still say ghosted? Whatever it is, if somebody
39:29
says, I'll study with you at this time, you get there and then they
39:34
don't answer the door, they're not home, and you try to reach out to
39:37
them and they're not to be found. Or, or More
39:41
often, you just reel me in a little
39:45
bit. I'm listening. I may even be present. I'll attend.
39:48
I'll be there. I'll listen to the gospel.
39:52
And one of these days, I'm going to become a Christian. I'm almost there,
39:58
but not quite. And then there are that
40:01
little small group there at Athens who believe and
40:05
become obedient. And so that helps us. Because we're going to find ourselves there.
40:10
So which one was the best of those 3?
40:14
They were all productive, productive in their own way.
40:18
No matter where we find ourselves, we're never wasting our
40:21
time when we're sharing the gospel, no matter what reaction we get to that.
40:25
All right. Well, I really wanted to talk about Paul and his fear in
40:29
Acts 18, and I don't know if Hiram is going to hit that.
40:32
If he does, then we'll look for that next week. Guys,
40:36
thanks very much for your attention today.