Welcome to Books of the Book.
My name is Mark Howard and I'm
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a pastor in the Michigan
Conference of Seventh-day
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Adventists as well as my brother
Jim here who is my co-host. He's
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also a pastor. He's on one side
of the state of Michigan and I'm
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on the other and occasionally
we see each other when we go to
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places like this and study the
book of Acts. We are here. We've
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been going through the book of
Acts chapter by chapter pretty
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much and in our last time
together, Jim, we were studying
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about Paul in Athens and
how when Paul was in Athens his
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heart was burdened with the fact
that the city was overtaken with
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idolatry and that those
individuals hadn't had the
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opportunity to hear the gospel
message. We see Paul laboring
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there in Athens and he
worked very diligently to try to
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present the gospel in
terms to meet the minds of the
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philosophers of Athens. But we
find at the end of his time with
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them that his results were not
what they had typically been.
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We find a shift in his ministry
as he comes into chapter 18.
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The Bible says... In fact before
we go into reading the Bible
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our custom has been to ask the
Lord to bless our time. So I'd
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invite our viewers to bow their
heads and we're going to ask
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God to bless our study of his
word. Father in heaven, as we
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turn our attention to your word
now we just pray that the Spirit
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of Truth would lead us into
truth, not just intellectual
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truth, Lord, but truth in our
hearts and in our lives and we
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ask and pray in
Jesus' name. Amen.
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In Acts chapter 18 verse 1, the
Bible says, After these things
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Paul departed from Athens
and went to Corinth and he found
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a certain Jew named Aquila. Now
before we comment on that, I was
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just going to say we ended our
last program with I believe it
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was I Corinthians chapter 2
and verse 2 where Paul says, and
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it's coming right into this
ministry in Corinth from Athens.
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I determined to know
nothing but Jesus Christ and him
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crucified. In other words, the
apostle realized that the most
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power he ever had when he
preached was not trying to be
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eloquent, but preaching
the simplicity of the gospel of
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Christ. So he comes into Corinth
with that mindset. The Bible
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says, He found a certain
Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus
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who had recently come from
Italy with his wife Priscilla
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because Claudius had commanded
all the Jews to depart from Rome
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and he came to them. So
because he was of the same trade
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he stayed with them and worked
for by occupation they were tent
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makers and he reasoned in
the synagogue every Sabbath and
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persuaded both Jews and Greeks.
A couple of things grab my
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attention here. First of
all Aquila and Priscilla, these
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tent makers. Paul joins with
them. In all the work that Paul
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was doing Paul supported himself
by manual labor and helped to
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support those of his ministry
like Luke and Timothy and others
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that he took with him. Manual
labor was not something that was
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beneath the Apostle Paul. It's
interesting that if you go back
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into the Old Testament
scriptures you understand and
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and you look at the culture of
Judaism itself it was required
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that every Jewish boy
learn a trade that he could use
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throughout his life no matter
what else he happened to do.
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Paul had learned the trade of
tent making and he puts it into
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practice with this couple.
Furthermore, it says in verse 4
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that he reasoned in the
synagogue every Sabbath and
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persuaded both Jews and Greeks.
It's interesting, Jim, to me
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that everywhere the Apostle Paul
goes he starts working. We don't
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see that Paul went to Corinth
and he'd had a hard time in
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Athens and so he took a couple
weeks off, he went fishing, he
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went sightseeing, he went and
tried to get a tan on the beach
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He's right back at work and
every place he goes we find this
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phrase, He reasoned in the
synagogue every Sabbath and
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persuaded both Jews and Greeks.
He had a fixed purpose of
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preaching the gospel of Christ
and seeing souls converted.
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That's right. Well let's pick up
in verse 5 where it says, When
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Silas and Timothy had come from
Macedonia, Paul was compelled by
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the Spirit and testified to the
Jews that Jesus is the Christ.
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Here's a little bit of
that emphasis on Christ and him
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crucified. We see that in
Corinth as we are about to see
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the results were very good
because of this. It makes me
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think about that attempt he
made in Athens to appeal to the
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intellectual philosophy of those
in Athens and how sometimes in
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our day we find that we want
to meet the minds of people in
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their particular generation
or their particular status of
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situation and certainly we need
to be sensitive to those things,
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but when it comes right
down to it, sometimes we put our
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emphasis on trying to be
relevant to people above the
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fact that the Bible itself
is relevant and the gospel is
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always relevant, transcendent
across all cultures and
generations and we should
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recognize what Paul
recognized that you know what
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happened there in Athens, while
it was a good attempt, really
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didn't bear a lot of fruit.
And what he did here in the
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simplicity of the gospel just
speaking to the heart of the men
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and women in Corinth and really
appealing to the gospel of
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repentance and forgiveness
in Christ, simply by giving that
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gospel we see a very different
result here in Corinth. Now if
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we keep reading, it says in
verse 6, But when they opposed
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him and blasphemed, he shook his
garments. Now first of all our
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viewers need to understand when
he shook his garments that was a
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symbolic representation of
shaking, similar to when they
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shook the dust off their feet
against them. It was to say, We
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made you the offer,
the invitation and you have
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rejected it and therefore our
hands are clean of the matter.
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That's pretty much described as
he continues and it says in the
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next part of the verse, he says
to them, Your blood be upon your
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own heads, I am clean. From now
on I will go to the Gentiles.
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Now when we read this particular
passage, it says, From now on
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I will go to the Gentiles, we
need to recognize that he's only
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talking about here in Corinth.
He's been preaching to Jews and
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Gentiles and he will continue
to teach Jews. In fact, later
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when he gets to Ephesus in
chapter 18 and verse 19, it says
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that he himself entered the
synagogue and reasoned with the
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Jews. So he's just talking about
these particular Jews that have
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rejected him. He's not going to
continue ministering to them in
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Corinth. In verse 7 it says,
And he departed from there and
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entered the house of a certain
man named Justus, one who
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worshipped God whose house was
next door to the synagogue. Then
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Crispus, the ruler of the
synagogue, believed on the Lord
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with all his household and
many of the Corinthians hearing
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believed and were baptized. Now
a couple of things we're noting
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here. Number one, we have
another example of not only
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Crispus but all his household
and you see the power of the
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influence that someone can have
on their family when they make a
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right decision. We need to
remember that we don't live in
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a vacuum and when we make
decisions for Christ we have a
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sphere of influence. When we
make a decision against Christ
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we have a sphere of influence.
I think about our youngest
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brother, Ron. When I was growing
up, I grew up in a very worldly
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environment and without the
Lord and he kind of patterned
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his life in the same way. I
remember thinking about after
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my conversion how awful it was
that he had had me as a model.
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Fortunately I later had the
privilege of baptizing him and
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he's with the Lord and serving
the Lord fervently. But we just
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need to think about that. All
through the book of Acts we see
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the power of influence, not just
of the apostles, but of everyone
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in their own sphere.
That's right and I would like to
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appeal to our viewers, whether
in your own experience or maybe
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you are a person of influence
in your family. For father's
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especially I would appeal to
you to be faithful to the Lord
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because you carry a lot of
influence. Perhaps you have
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friends of yours that are
leaders, and again, I would
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speak to fathers. Fathers have
an incredible influence in the
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home and even statistically when
a mother in a home becomes a
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Christian there's a 17% chance
that the rest of the household
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will become Christian. When the
father becomes a Christian, it's
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over 90% chance. Sometimes we
know people who are leaders in
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their homes and we don't say
things. We don't try to appeal
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to them. Paul, he appealed
to these people that he saw who
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could be leaders in their
homes and we see the results.
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The whole household is converted
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That's right and sometimes
we shy away from believing
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something because of opposition
in our household, but we find
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that when we're faithful
and when we follow the Lord
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regardless of what pressures we
might have, it's the best thing
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we can do for our household.
And we see this wonderful
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experience once again of
the whole household being saved.
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Now in verse 9 it says, Now and
the Lord spoke to Paul in the
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night by a vision. Do not
be afraid but speak and do not
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keep silent for I am with you
and no one will attack you to
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hurt you for I have many people
in this city. Then in verse 11,
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it says and he continued there,
there in Corinth, a year and six
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months teaching the word
of God among them. This is
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powerful. It's interesting.
We read the book of Acts and
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everything is happening in rapid
succession but the book of Acts
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covered a period of over 30
years and there was a lot of
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work that we don't see that
was going on in the book of Acts
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by the different members in
the churches, by the apostles
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themselves. We see some of
the highlights, some of the
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supernatural things, certainly
drew Luke's attention. But here
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we see this pattern that the
Apostle Paul builds of not just
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going into an area, baptizing
some people and running off to
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the next area. He was there for
a full year and six months. The
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great commission was
not go and baptize...
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And he was teaching the word
among them and he was with them
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day in and day out and
teaching and I'm sure modeling.
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That's right. You know the great
commission doesn't just say we
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are to go and baptize, but
we're to go and make disciples
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baptizing them and then teaching
them to observe all things that
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the Lord has commanded us. So
sometimes we think our work is
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completed when we've studied
with someone, we've baptized
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them and then we move on to
the next. Often times we'll have
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evangelistic efforts and we'll
stir up a lot of interest and
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then after that's over
that list of people who showed
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interest in the Bible...
That's usually about a month's
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worth of time. That's
right. It takes about a
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month to get through that
series. Then that list of people
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that came sits on a desk
somewhere or maybe we follow up
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with a couple but we just stir
up the area but we don't bind
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it up and we don't lead to what
we're really to be leading to
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which is to making disciples.
Disciples are self-denying.
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Disciples are faithful to
be fishers of men and if we're
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going to really be developing
the work of God, we're going to
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have to start going beyond
just baptizing people and start
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training people to be workers.
Paul stayed with this group
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until they were whole-hearted
in their own ministry in their
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own area, ministering to others
and that was the effectiveness
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of the early church was their
focus on that discipleship.
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Absolutely. We'll see that a
little bit more in the chapter
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as we go on. In verse 12, it
tells us that, of course he's
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here for this period of time, it
says, When Gallio was proconsul
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of Achaia the Jews with one
accord rose up against Paul and
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brought him to the judgment
seat. So once again the Jews are
00:12:50.64\00:12:54.11
stirred up and they bring Paul
to the judgment seat, Saying
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this fellow persuades men to
worship God contrary to the law
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and when Paul was about to open
his month Gallio said to the
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Jews, If it were a matter of
wrong doing or wicked crimes O
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Jews there would be reason why
I should bear with you. But if
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it is a question of words and
names and of your own law, look
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to yourselves for I do not want
to be a judge of such matters
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and he drove them from the
judgment seat. The Bible says in
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verse 17, Then all the Greeks
took Sosthenes, the ruler of
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the synagogue and beat him
before the judgment seat but
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Gallio took no notice of these
things. Now once again the Jews
00:13:27.11\00:13:30.57
who don't believe are trying to
stir up trouble for the apostle
00:13:30.61\00:13:34.04
and it's interesting that
in this place the Lord has a
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different way of rescuing Paul
from the situation and those
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who are opposing him now God
is able to impress Gallio and he
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says I'm not even going to hear
this matter. You guys see to it.
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And for whatever reason those
who are nearby begin to beat the
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ruler of the synagogue and
Gallio looks the other way.
00:13:55.79\00:13:59.14
Probably they knew that their
charges against Paul were not
00:13:59.18\00:14:02.98
fair and he felt they deserved
it but one way or another the
00:14:03.02\00:14:07.02
Lord delivers the apostle from
this situation and he goes on to
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minister. And we'll look at that
but we're going to take a break
00:14:11.08\00:14:15.04
here and then we're going to
come back to see what happens
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next as Paul returns to
Antioch. So stay with us.
00:14:17.66\00:14:20.36