Latest / Cumberland Trace Church of Christ (Formerly Lehman Ave Church of Christ) / "A Study of the book of Acts" by Neal Pollard - Part 5

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"A Study of the book of Acts" by Neal Pollard - Part 5 · Cumberland Trace Church of Christ (Formerly Lehman Ave Church of Christ)

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  Good morning. We are in the book of Acts. We haven't said this to this point, but I
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  think it bears mentioning as we are studying Acts from a specific standpoint. Chris Young
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  did an outstanding job, and if you go back and watch Bible class on YouTube, I would
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  recommend that you go back and look at the two quarters that he taught the book of Acts.
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  It was the last quarter at Lehman, if I'm right. Is that right, Chris? And the first
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  quarter here. And so he did more of an expository approach, where he's walking through verse
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  by verse. You'll notice today, and I originally was supposed to be Acts 8-11, Hiram and I
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  talked and said that's just really, I don't want to frustrate y'all or me, so we're going
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  to shrink that down. Acts 9 is pretty long, so we're going to spend some time in that,
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  and then it's a good break, and he'll pick up in chapter 10. But what we see as we look
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  at the book of Acts is something that we see when we look at the Cumberland Church of Christ.
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  And that is that it is never the case that we are dealing with one challenge at a time.
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  Now maybe as the church gets started in Jerusalem, the problems haven't really begun. There's
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  challenges, sure, to try to get a message out that had never been heard before, to get
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  people to believe something that they had rejected just a few days before that. And
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  so I get that, I understand, but it doesn't take them long to be a community who are seeking
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  to accomplish the will of God until they start having a variety of challenges. You've got
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  to learn how to juggle as God's people because those challenges are coming from different
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  directions. And I don't know we see it any more clearly than we see it when we get to
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  Acts 8 and 9. Now the challenge that had begun in Acts chapter 6, the struggle with the needs
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  being met, and then immediately one of the servants who looks a lot like a deacon goes
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  out and he begins to share the gospel in the community because a physical servant who's
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  chosen by the church needs to be a spiritual person as well. He goes out and he tangles
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  with the religious establishment in the community. And as a result of that, ultimately he gives
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  his defense and he gives up his life. And the challenge that has started with trying
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  to penetrate hearts with the gospel and unbelievers who aren't ready to hear it causes things
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  to escalate and intensify. And out of that, that challenge is not yet resolved, but it's
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  going to be resolved. And we're going to see one kind of challenge here. So we'll think
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  for a moment, it's not a parallel to us exactly. It's hard for us to walk in the sandals of
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  the Jerusalem Christians who are leaving their homes and are leaving their homelands, their
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  hometowns, and they're forced to go somewhere else. So we're going to find in Acts chapter
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  8 in verse 1 the two reasons for the challenge here. First is the death of a faithful, beloved
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  Christian. I don't know how long the church has been in existence when Stephen loses his
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  life, but I do know that there's loud lamentations made over him. There's great sorrow because
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  of his loss, maybe because of what they thought it might mean for them, and that now the pressure
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  is going to be turned on them. But that's the first part of the challenge. And the second
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  part of the challenge is the guy who's toting the coats has now become the chief persecutor.
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  And he has set his sight on the church as it existed. It only existed in Jerusalem at
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  that point. And that he is ravaging the church. We're going to look at some other statements
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  made about Saul later on in the class today. But he is just, you can almost see a lion,
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  can't you, with his teeth bared and going after a prey. That's what Saul is doing. And
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  he is getting the permissions from the highest authorities outside of the Roman Empire that
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  he can. And he's gotten permission to go into houses, and he is dragging out Christians,
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  pulling them out of their houses, and carrying them off bound to prison. So what are they
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  going to do? How are they going to respond to that? So that's going to be one challenge.
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  And we're going to look at two different challenges that are completely different from this when
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  we go to Acts chapter 9. So as we get into Acts chapter 8 and we see how does this challenge
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  resolve? Challenge. Saul is persecuting the church like it's never been persecuted before.
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  What's the solution? How do they solve it? Okay, in Acts chapter 4, they pray. We see
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  that when Peter and John are first pulled into some adversity with the chief leaders
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  of the Jews. They go somewhere else. Alright, Acts 8 and verse 4 is the solution. They,
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  those that were persecuted, went everywhere preaching the Word. Alright, and so the response
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  to the challenge that we're going to see today is going to come out of that. Now remember,
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  Acts chapter 8 and verse 4, they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching
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  the Word. This is in the result to responding to Saul's persecution. The Holy Spirit is
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  going to press pause and it's going to hit play again in Acts 11 and verse 19. I want
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  you to keep that in mind because when you go to Acts 11 and verse 19, it says, out of
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  the persecution, the scattering that was caused by the persecution regarding Stephen, and
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  then it's going to pick up where they're going and sharing the gospel in those places. So
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  what's happening in between 8-4 and 11-19? Well, just kind of a condensation of that
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  is we're going to look at one example of a Christian who goes everywhere preaching
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  the Word. And that Christian is who? Philip. Alright, so we're going to see Philip as he
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  focuses on a group, the city of Samaria, and on an individual, the Ethiopian eunuch. Alright,
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  that's going to carry us through most of chapter 8. And then in chapter 9, we are going to
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  see something that's more connected to chapter 1 and verse 8 than chapter 8. Do you remember
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  when Jesus has the apostles gathered together in Jerusalem? He's about to step on the cloud
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  and he says, you'll be my witnesses. What does he say after that? Anybody remember?
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  You'll be my witnesses beginning in Jerusalem. And then? Okay, let's don't skip the middle
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  part. Who is it? Samaria, Judea, and then the uttermost parts of the world. Alright,
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  so that's a road map for the book of Acts. Now what's happening in Acts chapter 8? Philip
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  is going where? Samaria, part 2 of the mission that the apostles are given. And where does
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  Peter go in Acts chapter 9? Kent. It's not Samaria, it's not Jerusalem, and it's not
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  the uttermost parts of the world. It's Judea. And so we're going to focus on his ministry
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  in Judea. And as a part of that ministry, in that general part of the world, who is
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  he going to encounter in chapter 10? We won't get there today. Cornelius. Alright, so the
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  gospel is going to go to the Gentiles. So Luke is going to focus on the remainder of
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  Peter's significance to the Great Commission. And you can almost split the book of Acts
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  in half, can't you? First half is devoted to whose ministry? Peter's. Second half? Paul's.
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  So when we get to chapter 12, we're going to see Peter one more time. Acts chapter 11,
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  we're going to glimpse a little bit, a little bit of a more of an introduction to the new
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  Christian Saul of Tarsus and how Barnabas encourages him. And then starting in 13, it's
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  the missionary journeys and the gospel goes to the whole world. Now what I want us to
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  do in the first part of this class, we're going to see three things, hopefully, three
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  challenges. And again, if you haven't caught up with us, we've adapted our approach to
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  the challenges. Instead of saying that chapters indicate specific challenges, we're looking
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  at challenges as they arise in the book of Acts. And so the challenge here in Acts chapter
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  8 is the challenge to responding to persecution. If you want to say adversity, if you want
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  to say resistance so that we can make better application to our lives, we're not facing
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  what Stephen and the other Christians were facing at this moment in time to where we
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  go out the door, we share Christ with a co-worker, a family member, a friend, a person in government
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  that we may encounter. We don't have to worry about going to jail or losing our lives at
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  this point. But we're going to face some costs associated with that. I want us to see something
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  in what Philip does here that serves as a pattern for us. Now it's interesting that
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  there are some distinct differences between the Samaritans and the Ethiopian eunuch. If
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  you were to try to contrast them, what would you say are the differences from each other?
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  What do you know about the Samaritans? The Assyrians, that's right. The Assyrians,
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  okay. And so those who would be less kind would refer to them contemptuously as the
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  half breeds. Those who, they might in their terminology, though the culture would have
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  been different, would have said those that were biracial. But this was not so much about
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  skin color as it was culture and religion. But they are first cousins. They are related.
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  They come from the Semites. They're all, they kind of share the same blood, mostly.
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  What about the Ethiopian? Different race. How do the Samaritans worship? Up to this
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  point, remember the Samaritan woman? They're worshiping up in the mountains. How about
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  the Ethiopian eunuch? What is he? Jew or Gentile? It's a trick question. He's a Jew. He's a
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  Jew. Is he a Gentile? He was born a Gentile, but what does he appear to be based on what
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  Luke tells us? A convert, a proselyte. He's been to Jerusalem to worship and now he's
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  on his way back. And so you have these contrasts, but do you notice that Philip approaches them
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  the same way? Now I want us to notice those things in Acts chapter 8. By the way, which
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  Philip is this? There's two Philips. Is this the Apostle? Can we textually prove it's not
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  the Apostle? Yes. If you have your Bibles open to Acts 8, 1 through 4, you have the
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  answer. How do we know it's not Philip the Apostle? When everybody was scattered and
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  whenever we're preaching the Word, who's the exception? The Apostles, alright? So this
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  Philip is who? He's one of the seven. Again, a man with a physical task who is able to
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  do spiritual work. What a template, what a guide, what an example for those who would
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  serve as deacons today. Alright, so let's look at his similarities. There's a similarity
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  in how Philip began. How does Philip begin with both of these groups? It's simple. He
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  goes up and he speaks up. You look at verse 5 and verse 30. It begins with his going up
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  and opening his mouth and proclaiming the Gospel. That's how he began in both places.
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  It's where we begin. We've said before, sometimes we overcomplicate evangelism. We think that
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  we've got to intricately weave this relationship with somebody that takes months and years
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  to curate and cultivate. And yet those who have had such success in evangelism will tell
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  you that oftentimes it's just a matter of going up and saying, what? Okay, that's what
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  Philip does. It's another way of saying, would you like to study the Bible with me? Is it
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  that simple? Should we try that? Should we make that a test, congregation? Let's set
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  a goal of all of us saying at least three times between now and the end of December,
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  somebody in our life, would you like to study the Bible with me? I would love to see the
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  statistics. I know it's not going to be 100%. Do you think it might be 33%? Do you think
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  one out of three might say yes? And if so, we're going to have to have some special classes
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  on how we can all sit down and make these Bible studies work. He goes up to the Samaritans
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  and he begins to share the Gospel. So far as we can tell, nothing deep and intricate
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  about this, but especially when we see what's going to happen in response to that. And he
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  goes up to the eunuch who is a ripe opportunity, this nobleman, and he just has this discussion
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  about studying the Bible. And I want you to notice also what Philip did. There's something
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  that he does in both cases that I want us to notice. In both cases for him, the teaching
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  began with the miracles that he did. You'll notice in verse 6 and verse 7 that he casts
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  out unclean spirits out of those. He cleanses them. He heals the paralyzed and the lame.
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  But why is he doing this? What's the purpose? Sure, it benefits those people who receive
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  that. Can you imagine? It's to get their attention. It is to get them to listen to what it is
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  he has to say. Now, how does he do that with the eunuch? What's extraordinary? What would
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  have been extraordinary to the eunuch about Philip? Where is the eunuch when we meet him?
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  OK, we'll talk more about that in just a minute, but we want to find out where he is first.
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  What part of the road is this? Is this a cluttered... It's a desert place. There's indications that
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  if there's anybody else in the scene, we're not told about it. And so there's not a big
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  crowd here. And so here you are, reading the book of Isaiah, you're coming back in your
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  shoes, and all of a sudden, here comes this guy. Would that get your attention? And then
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  when he comes up out of the badristry waters, man, wouldn't that be something? I want you
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  to imagine that, right? Whoever's doing the baptizing, they come out of the water with
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  the person, the person's rejoicing, and then the baptizer disappears. I mean, not slips
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  past you, they're gone. They're somewhere else. Surely that got his attention. In both
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  cases, it was to confirm, to make the message more powerful. Now, why don't we have that
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  today? I mean, it would certainly make the Bowling Green Daily News if we healed a paralyzed
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  or lame person. Why doesn't that happen today? So Acts chapter 8's going to show us that
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  because Philip's not able to pass those gifts along. The apostles have got to come and impart
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  those gifts. That's how the miraculous gifts were transferred, and the apostles have long
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  since died. John would have been the last to die at the end of the first century, but
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  more than that, they couldn't do this. I know that the nobleman from Ethiopia had the Old
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  Testament scroll, but he didn't have the New Testament. And so this new covenant that was
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  being brought by the ones who are sharing the gospel of Christ, they're verbally teaching
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  a message that they have got to get solidified in people's minds as truth by some means.
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  God's still doing that. He's still using supernatural means, and that is, He's given us the message.
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  It's complete. And so we have a record of what's there, but we have a completed word
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  that we can share, and time has proven that it gets people's attention. All right? So
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  he, yes ma'am? Yeah. No. So the Spirit, that's a great point. I'm glad you mentioned that
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  lest I move past it. The Spirit functioned, obviously, in what took place with Philip
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  here. He is empowering the miracles that take place. And what's the Spirit's role in the
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  Word today? I mean it's all over the New Testament. God convicts us. God speaks to us. God communicates
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  His will. God turns our heart through the Word, not through a direct operation on our
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  hearts, but through the power of the Word. Hebrews chapter 4 and verse 12. So the Spirit
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  definitely is communicating through the Word, as Jesus said He would, John 14, 26 and John
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  16, 13. All right. So in both instances, the message is accompanied by signs, and in both
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  instances, Philip took the message in the same direction. Yep, go ahead. Absolutely.
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  And whenever we're teaching something like that, people need to see, especially when
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  they're long entrenched, we're going to see that in Acts chapter 9 with Saul of Tarsus,
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  that this definitely is from God and not from men. Yep. Absolutely. Yeah, because we have
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  a countercultural message. It's different than what is being preached in the world.
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  It's even different if we're following New Testament Christianity from what the religious
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  world as a whole is teaching. And so how do we codify that? How do we get that firmly
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  in the minds of people? Those principles still operate. That's good. Now I want you to notice
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  something else. What Philip does with the Samaritans, he does with the eunuch. He takes
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  the message in the same direction. Look at verse 12 if you have your Bibles open to Acts
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  chapter 8. It says that Philip preached good news about the kingdom of God and the name
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  of Jesus Christ. Obviously, there's a lot of details left out. We don't have the particulars,
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  but if we are curious about what that might be, let's just go back to Acts chapter 2,
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  and let's read Philip's sermon. Let's see the consistency. Even read Acts chapter 7
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  in Stephen's sermon. Look at Paul's sermon to Antioch of Pisidia in Acts 13, and all
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  the way through, you're going to see a consistent message that's taught. And as the result of
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  the message, they believe, they believe the good news about the kingdom of God and the
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  name of Jesus Christ. Just in verse 35, we see that Philip told the good news to the
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  eunuch about Jesus. Now, what was involved with the good news? Created faith, verse 12
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  and 13, and also verse 37. By the way, this is not a textual criticism class, but how
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  many of you see verse 37 missing in your text? Does it go from 36 to 38? I think if
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  you have an ESV or a New American Standard, that's true, right? New King James, you have
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  a footnote? You have a study Bible that says something about verse 37? Just in there. It's
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  in brackets, all right? Harry, you are a graduate of a school of preaching. What is that? Some
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  of us may see those brackets and have no idea. Is that just set apart? What does that
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  mean? It means some people, I'm going to say some, think that manuscripts, it's not. Okay,
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  all right. So that's why I wanted you to see that. If you didn't hear what Harry said,
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  some say because it's not in some of the ancient manuscripts that it doesn't belong in the
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  Bible. We could talk about the different grades, A through D, as to whether it belongs in the
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  text or not. I'm going to make a point about that, but Mike wants to make a point. Okay,
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  so basically then all of your versions are saying that. Don't let that get you concerned
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  in any way. So let's say that we can at least say there's a possibility that it doesn't
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  belong in the text. Does it change anything? That's why I want to connect it to the parallel
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  in verse 12 and 13. When Jesus is taught and the good news of the kingdom is presented,
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  is there evidence that the eunuch believes? What's the evidence? Okay, he's reading from
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  the Old Testament, so he's a believer, that's for sure. But Vivian, what did you say? He
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  says, look, here's water. What prevents me from being baptized? Why? Why would he have
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  a conviction strong enough to stop the chariot in the middle of nowhere to get baptized in
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  the water? And so let's... the same thing is being taught, the same thing is happening,
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  and the same result happens. But what we would do at this service if we didn't spend a moment
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  and say is, why, when the Samaritans believed, did the eunuch believe? Why did the eunuch
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  were men and women baptized? And Simon the sorcerer baptized? And when Philip preaches
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  Jesus from Isaiah 53, and as the result of their study together, the eunuch sees water,
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  why does he say, what prevents me from being baptized? I know that for some or many of
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  you, this may be Fundamentals 100, but we don't need to miss an important point given
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  the climate of our religious world as a whole. What does it tell us? Okay, go back to Acts
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  238, and it is, it's that, that's the 100 point right there. First time he's preached,
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  Acts 2, they say, what shall we do? Peter's response matters. He says, repent and let
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  each one of you be baptized for the remission or forgiveness of sins. What does that tell
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  us about those who did not gladly receive the world and their sins? It tells us a lot
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  of things. They didn't act on their faith. It also tells us what about their sins. They're
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  not forgiven. So when Philip goes and he preaches to the Samaritans and when he preaches to
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  the eunuch and he shares the good news of the gospel of the kingdom, they know their
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  sins need to be forgiven and that God's means, his point, where he does this is in baptism.
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  Is baptism more important than faith? No. Is faith more important than baptism? No.
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  It's like saying, here's what God says is essential to do. What can we leave off the
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  list? Later on, we're fixing to look at Saul in chapter 9. In Acts 22 in verse 16, we have
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  another definitive statement where Ananias is going to preach to Saul of Tarsus. He has
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  met the Lord on the road to Damascus. He goes to Damascus and there's Saul. And as a part
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  of what he says, he says, and now why do you delay? Arise and be baptized and wash away
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  your sins. What does that tell us? If Saul is not baptized, is his sins washed away?
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  Are his sins washed away? No. It's an important theme in Acts. And I only say this to say
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  guys, this is not our doctrine. This isn't our view. This is the biblical view. And Philip
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  is spreading the gospel. He's one of the ones who are scattered abroad, going everywhere
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  preaching the word. And this is what you do when you share the gospel. Regardless of whatever
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  we see in the religious world as a whole, we've got to go back to the New Testament
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  and see what the church did from the beginning. Again, I know that is a very basic point,
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  but it's still so missed by the majority of sincere, wonderful folks who are trying
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  to follow Jesus. Yes, sir. So often, he has the kind of heart, we'll talk about that,
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  that is needed in order to help somebody obey the gospel, is that heart of humility. You
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  know, receive with meekness the implanted word, James 1 and verse 21. Laura?
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  And we talk that, we call that follow-up sometimes. And we're going to see that in
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  Acts chapter 9. That's a great point. If I can hold on to that. I'm trying to be an efficient
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  clock manager and I'm not even trying to be overly ambitious. I'm just trying to do two
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  chapters today. We're still in chapter 8. So let me hit this really quick here. We want
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  to see what the hearers did. The hearers did the both thing in both places. And the thing
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  I want to emphasize is what they always seem to do when they obey the gospel, they rejoiced.
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  And that's so key. We talked about that a few Sunday nights ago when a lot of you were
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  at camp. But that's such a part of the book of Acts, is when people obey the gospel, there's
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  joy. What I want to just notice real quick are some lessons from Acts chapter 8 before
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  we leave it. And that is, first of all, that adversity should never mean apostasy. You're
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  going to have setbacks in your Christian life. There are things that are going to happen
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  that are very difficult. Unless we begin to wallow in self-pity, we don't see the early
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  Christians doing that. When they are being driven out of everything they knew, their
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  comfort zone, in an extreme way, they didn't turn away from the Lord. And so whatever we're
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  struggling with, we should remind ourselves of these Christians and say, because things
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  are going hard in my life, should not mean that I give up on the Lord. Because of so
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  many folks who have been through so much who have held on. Yes, sir?
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  In the moment, when bad things happen to people, we turn inward and think it's because God's
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  got some problem with me and he's punishing me. But most of the time, God takes bad and
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  turns it into good. And he took that bad, what seemed to be terrible, and turns it into
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  good. And that's the cycle of Acts. It's when we
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  are given a challenge and we respond in a God-honoring way. We do what God says to do.
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  Success follows that. I don't know if any of you ever, I know some of you have, hit
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  your some digit with a hammer or maybe accidentally stapled yourself with a gun or something.
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  In that moment after that, if you can remember, guys and then girls, do you remember seeing
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  anything? Anybody ever seen spots? In that moment, and it lasts for a little while sometimes,
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  that's all you can see. Or maybe I just have high blood pressure, I don't know. But anyway,
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  it's happened to me on multiple occasions. You lose sight of the project, of everything
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  else around you as you tend to that injury. And sometimes I think it's what we do spiritually.
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  Man, we get smacked in that moment and all we can see is that. Not God at work, not how
• 27:18
  others may be positively impacted as the result of what happens to that. God's not punishing
• 27:23
  us. He's not doing something to hurt us. It may not be God at all. God's providence is
• 27:28
  going to be at play to work through that. But if we'll just hold on, we'll see what
• 27:32
  He's at work to do. Number two, put the emphasis on the Word. I'll just say, go through Acts
• 27:36
  chapter 8 and see the emphasis on the Word. Verse 4, verse 14, verse 25, and that's where
• 27:42
  it always needs to be. Not what I think, what you think, how I feel you feel. Put the emphasis
• 27:47
  on the Word. Man, we can agree on that. Number three, old struggles can resurface. You'll
• 27:53
  notice we're not picking on poor Simon the sorcerer, but he's a reminder to us that if
• 27:59
  you grew up in the church, you still had struggles in your pre- and post-Christian life. Isn't
• 28:05
  it amazing? Those things tend to come back around. You conquer one, another one comes
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  along and you're still working on that. Simon the sorcerer is a great example of somebody
• 28:15
  who had a problem. He was known as the great in town. He holds people captive. He humbles
• 28:23
  his heart, verse 10 through 12. He obeys the gospel. He wants salvation. And then he sees
• 28:28
  Philip first and then he sees Peter come and lay his hand on folks and that's all he can
• 28:32
  stand. He says, I want to buy it. And Philip says, you're back where you were. That's us
• 28:39
  so often. I've never looked down on Simon the sorcerer because I've been there. And
• 28:47
  each of us have that. Number four, a humble hearer helps to make an effective teacher.
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  You see that with Simon. Man, how does he respond to the rebuke of Peter? It's a humility
• 28:59
  that says, please pray to God that none of these things happen to me. And you certainly
• 29:03
  see that with the eunuch. Here comes Philip up to the chariot and says, do you understand
• 29:08
  what you're reading? You know, have you ever had that tendency? Oh yeah, I got this. I'm
• 29:12
  fine. Look, I'll figure it out. He doesn't do that. He says, how can I except some man
• 29:18
  should guide me? Let's pray that we all always maintain that spirit. I don't care how long
• 29:25
  you've been a Christian. To be able to say, I want to have a humble and open heart because
• 29:31
  that makes every teaching more impactful. Just a random example that came to mind. If
• 29:39
  there's ever a sermon on or a Bible class on gossip, how about orient your thinking
• 29:47
  a little differently? Instead of picking out in your mind the three people you think are
• 29:51
  the most gossipy people that you know, why not say, hmm, when did I do that? How have
• 29:59
  I done that? Is this a temptation for me? How do I know? Let me listen. Maybe I'll learn
• 30:05
  some things. They'll tell me what gossip is, how to deal with it, so forth and so on. And
• 30:10
  that's what's happening here in Acts chapter 8 is all I'll say. Joy accompanies obedience.
• 30:14
  We've already said that. That's Acts chapter 8 from the perspective of the challenges.
• 30:19
  Anybody got in some very, very, very, very, very brief comments they want to make before
• 30:22
  we move to Acts chapter 9? All right, Acts chapter 9. We're going to see a challenge
• 30:27
  of changing here. And of course, this is the conversion of Saul. I can't think of anybody
• 30:32
  who had a more drastic change in their life than Saul did. We meet him as a man holding
• 30:39
  the coats of the killers of Stephen, and he goes off the scene praising God for his grace.
• 30:45
  2 Timothy chapter 4 and verse 22. Is there something in your life that you want to change?
• 30:54
  Is there something in your life that needs to change? If so, then I think that Saul of
• 31:01
  Tarsus in his story, though there are some elements of it that may have no bearing on
• 31:06
  where you are right now in your spiritual life that helps because above everything else,
• 31:11
  the challenge that Saul shows us here is the challenge of changing. And it seems like that
• 31:17
  challenge goes in three directions. First of all, he's got to change religion. He's
• 31:22
  got to change his relationship with God, and we see this. And one of the things that strikes
• 31:27
  me, if you have your Bible open, go to Acts chapter 8. I want to show you a series of
• 31:31
  verses real quick. And this is the number of statements about Saul's pre-Christian
• 31:37
  life and his attitude toward Christians that shows what a dramatic change of religion that
• 31:41
  he makes. Look at 8.1. Saul approved of Stephen's execution. Look at verse 3. Saul ravages the
• 31:49
  church. Same verse. He enters house after house. Same verse. He dragged off Christian
• 31:56
  men and women, and he put them in prison. Go over to chapter 9 and verse 1. Picks up
• 32:02
  the story of Saul. It says, he was breathing threats and murder against the disciples.
• 32:10
  Same verse. He goes to the high priest, ultimate religious authority in the Jewish world, asks
• 32:15
  for the power to take Christians out of the synagogues, multiple, plural, of Damascus,
• 32:22
  and bring them bound to Jerusalem. I hadn't thought about that. Here's what he's saying.
• 32:26
  I want to go up. Damascus is a good distance from Jerusalem. I want to go all the way there.
• 32:32
  I want to go into the synagogues. I don't know if kind of as a plant, where he's just
• 32:37
  hiding there and he's just waiting to hear that they're Christians. And then hearing
• 32:41
  that, knowing that, having the evidence, he can bring them bound and take them all the
• 32:45
  way to Jerusalem. Does he parade them? Does he make a show of this? That's before he changes.
• 32:52
  Look at verse 4 and 5. What does Jesus say? Here's the most condemning verdict. You're
• 32:58
  persecuting me. Then in verse 13 of chapter 9, he did much harm to the saints at Jerusalem.
• 33:07
  And then verse 14, Ananias is conversing with the Lord and he refers back to Saul's power
• 33:11
  from the high priest to bind Christians. And then in verse 21, he destroyed in Jerusalem
• 33:17
  those who called on the name of Christ. Now, all of this was an expression of his faith
• 33:25
  in God. So how does that have to do with you and me and the changes we need to make? Anybody
• 33:32
  see any possible parallel or connection? Alright, we're going to see some things about Saul
• 33:39
  that, and of course he has some pretty good persuasion. The Lord speaks to him on the
• 33:42
  road to Damascus, but when he sees his need to change, he does. Yes, sir?
• 33:46
  I always like to see the big picture, you know, of God at work, but we just need to
• 33:53
  be aware too, think about this. Paul's persecution of the church actually was part of the catalyst
• 34:00
  that's led to the church's expansion, you know, out into other areas.
• 34:07
  Absolutely.
• 34:09
  I like to see the big picture, so even though after Paul's conversion, but his persecution
• 34:14
  was a motivator and a catalyst to the expansion of the church.
• 34:18
  Absolutely. Yeah, you're going to see that all the way through. No action of the devil,
• 34:22
  no action of any opponent of Christianity, including the Jews, is going to stop God's
• 34:26
  purpose from being realized, because God has the benefit of perfect foreknowledge, of omniscience,
• 34:32
  and so he's already seen this. I don't know if y'all play chess, I'm not much of a chess,
• 34:36
  I was in the chess club in sixth grade, there was a pretty girl in there, and I still know
• 34:41
  very little about chess, sorry, but she's long since gone.
• 34:47
  Can you imagine playing chess with a grand champion master who is almost like they're
• 34:52
  reading your thoughts, they already know ten moves ahead? That's God, through all these
• 34:56
  things that are going on, he's not going to be fooled or stymied by the opposition. Yes,
• 35:00
  ma'am?
• 35:01
  I was just thinking about Galatians 1.15, when it says that God set him apart in his
• 35:06
  mother's womb, I don't know what that means.
• 35:08
  Okay, so I'm not sure I can explain that in eight minutes, but it may be a good question
• 35:14
  and answer for this month, but she asked how did God separate out Saul from his womb, of
• 35:20
  course that's assuming his cooperation with the will of God, just like Pharaoh, God forced
• 35:26
  Saul and used him knowing how he was going to be, to me it's a cool point. Does God look
• 35:32
  at our lives before we're born, was that just something that belonged to the miraculous
• 35:35
  age? And the thing is, am I going to cooperate with his purpose? What could God be doing
• 35:41
  with my life if I am on board in serving him with the talents that God gives me, the doors
• 35:47
  that God opens to me, and that's what happens here. Alright, but we can give a fuller answer
• 35:51
  maybe later. What made it hard for Saul to change? There's so much, I want to encourage
• 35:57
  this, we're going to look at maybe, I'm going to kick the can down the road, we're going
• 36:01
  to look at Acts 22 and Acts 26 and we're going to see this again and see what a radical change
• 36:05
  this was for him, to leave what he knew was right, why is that so hard for us to make
• 36:13
  a change?
• 36:14
  But we all want our way, and we have been told all of our lives to change from that,
• 36:22
  you know, it's got to be hard because I've talked to my sister in law once and she could
• 36:29
  not make the change because she said, you don't understand how hard it is for me to
• 36:35
  leave what my parents have taught me all of my life. And we all want our way, and that
• 36:42
  is why it's very hard to change. Absolutely, absolutely. That's a good point.
• 36:49
  Yes.
• 36:50
  He needed to be taught himself as a master teacher.
• 36:53
  That's the thing we're going to find in Acts, is people acting in ignorance. Look at how
• 36:57
  invested he was. I mean, look at this, this is not a guy sitting on the sidelines of Judaism.
• 37:01
  He is up front and he is involved. He was convicted that he was right. Go to Acts 23
• 37:06
  verse 1. Brethren, I've lived with a clear conscience before God to this day. I wasn't
• 37:12
  out there trying to do wrong, I was trying to do what was right. Keep that in mind. I'm
• 37:16
  talking about if you're studying with somebody else, that people aren't trying to do contrary
• 37:23
  to God's will. They're convinced that they're right. He already had a community, and he's
• 37:28
  shining that. It's hard to turn away from the community in which you find yourself.
• 37:32
  And he had to face, somebody said this, that he was wrong. Anybody else have a problem
• 37:37
  doing that? Saying I was wrong? I may not have been right in this. I don't know, why
• 37:44
  is that? That's a philosophical question. I don't know if we'll answer that.
• 37:48
  My mother was baptized at 87 years old. She had come out of denomination.
• 37:58
  And she lost children because of it.
• 38:04
  So it goes back to the cost.
• 38:06
  Yeah. And she said, I didn't lose anything
• 38:10
  because I'm going to put Jesus first. And she had to be convinced, if you know what
• 38:20
  I mean. And she read, and Brother Bennett spoke with her. But anyway, she told us, she
• 38:27
  said, do you know what it feels like when all of your life, you were that committed
• 38:34
  and you were convinced you were right? Yeah.
• 38:38
  And you were actually wrong? That's tough.
• 38:41
  And she said, I know how it felt. That's what I remember her telling me that.
• 38:49
  That's incredible. You know, Paul said, the things that I gained, I counted as lost.
• 38:53
  That I may gain Christ, Philippians chapter 3. He had to change relationships.
• 38:58
  But he had a changing relationship with the Jews. They were, he was the golden boy.
• 39:02
  But now that he's preaching Christ, they're after him.
• 39:05
  Until the day he dies, they're after him. And then he has a changing reputation.
• 39:09
  How do the disciples first see him when he first becomes a Christian in Jerusalem?
• 39:15
  I'm not sure he's really on our side. And you can't blame him.
• 39:20
  How many faces is he looking into of families whose lives he changed forever?
• 39:24
  Maybe just weeks before. So let's give him a pass there.
• 39:29
  It's a little hard, but I also want you to find out the change.
• 39:33
  And this is, study Barnabas. Look at verse 27.
• 39:37
  There is so much that is help to us.
• 39:41
  Because of what Miss Laura said, when folks become Christians, they need our help.
• 39:45
  When they've made all these changes, like Saul of Tarsus did.
• 39:48
  Get personally involved. Barnabas doesn't say, hey, somebody needs to go
• 39:52
  and catch up with this new Christian. He takes it on himself, as he often does.
• 39:57
  Connect them with the leaders. In this verse, it's the apostles.
• 40:01
  And he shows, he brings him to the apostles and gets them connected.
• 40:05
  We need to get them connected with the church leadership.
• 40:09
  Get to know their history. How is it that Barnabas, he knows all of Saul's story.
• 40:13
  How do you get that? You don't just get that reading the bulletin
• 40:16
  or saying hi to somebody at church. You've got to get in their lives.
• 40:20
  Advocate for them. Believe in them. Don't we all need that?
• 40:24
  Don't we want folks who will come along and be our cheerleader and say,
• 40:27
  I think this person can do X, Y, or Z. That's what Barnabas does for Saul.
• 40:31
  And then notice their growth. He says, man, look at what he's already been doing here.
• 40:35
  Let's capitalize on that. Now, I want to just say this.
• 40:39
  Boy, I wish I had time. Just look at 28-30
• 40:43
  and see what the church gave Saul. All of this is part of the solution.
• 40:47
  This is what he gave them. They gave him.
• 40:51
  They did. They changed their way of thinking and they extended to him fellowship,
• 40:55
  whereas at first they were afraid to. They trusted him.
• 40:59
  Now, I'm not saying we should give a blanket trust to people who have
• 41:03
  a particular sin problem. We're talking about specifically in the realm of religion
• 41:07
  where exhibited change has occurred that maybe there's guardrails,
• 41:11
  there are training wheels, but you don't
• 41:15
  put people on the shelf forever. I'd say when somebody
• 41:19
  has made a mess of things in their Christian life
• 41:23
  or maybe there's a bad moment in their Christian life.
• 41:27
  So often if we're not careful, what we do is we say they're on a lifetime of probation
• 41:31
  whereas we're hurting them, we're hurting the church, and we're hurting
• 41:35
  ourselves because that's not what we need to do. We need to recognize the change
• 41:39
  that people are trying to make in their lives and that's what the church does here.
• 41:43
  And then they offer him assistance. Yes, ma'am?
• 41:47
  ...
• 41:51
  ...
• 41:55
  ...
• 41:59
  ...
• 42:03
  Well, and unfortunately
• 42:07
  people can be people sometimes and that's the how not to
• 42:11
  do it. That's not the ax model for sure. I want to just
• 42:15
  say this in the last 20 seconds I have. The challenge of loss
• 42:19
  we don't want to gloss over. I would urge you
• 42:23
  to go back and read Acts chapter 9 verse 32 through 43 and it's so cool
• 42:27
  I think Barrett taught on Barnabas and I think that Hillary
• 42:31
  taught on Tabitha, Dorcas
• 42:35
  and I want you to think about people that we've lost here.
• 42:39
  I had a list of names but I thought, you know, I'm not going to be exhaustive, I'm going to miss some folks
• 42:43
  but there are people who when they leave this earth, they leave a hole in their wake
• 42:47
  and that's Dorcas and we know that this was
• 42:51
  a loss they were dealing with. It's evidenced by their emotion and I just want to share
• 42:55
  the first point and I won't hold you beyond that. There's evidence
• 42:59
  of their deep emotion. Verse 38, they plead.
• 43:03
  They go 17 miles. They send two people to go and beg
• 43:07
  Peter to come back and to raise her from the dead. Another evidence
• 43:11
  is seen in their care of the body. I don't know anywhere else in Scripture where they
• 43:15
  wash the body. Jesus' body is anointed but they wash hers
• 43:19
  a sign of great respect and honor and another
• 43:23
  is they place the body in the upper room. In the ancient
• 43:27
  world, how quickly do they bury folks? So you're going to go out the door
• 43:31
  they go upstairs, why? Faith, expectation
• 43:35
  that Peter will come and do this and of course there's the weeping, the mourning
• 43:39
  which was very common. Here's what I'm going to do
• 43:43
  I think I may drop this in Daily Bread because I was
• 43:47
  geeking out over Dorcas. That was pretty cool and I'm not able
• 43:51
  to teach much of it. We've got too much Acts left so look for Dorcas
• 43:55
  Tabitha in the Daily Bread this week. Alright, thanks very much for your attention.