Participants:
Series Code: SSP
Program Code: SSP180035A
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00:32 Hello and welcome to another 3ABN Sabbath School Panel.
00:34 We are so glad that you have joined us for a study 00:37 as we journey through the Book of Acts, 00:39 and see the growth, the explosion of Christianity 00:43 throughout the world there. 00:45 We are in lesson #9, "The Second Missionary Journey" 00:48 of the Apostle Paul, and before we go any farther... 00:52 I want to introduce to you to our panel here today: 00:55 Sitting on my left - Mr. Danny Shelton, Mollie Steenson, 00:58 Pastor C.A. Murray and Ms. Shelley Quinn, 01:01 and it's always a privilege to share with each one of you, 01:03 and thank you for the study that you put in, 01:06 for the preparation that you do to bring 01:08 the word of God to those people at home, 01:10 it's a blessing. I'm happy to do it. 01:11 So what I want to do right now is give you the website. 01:15 If you would like to download the 01:18 "Adult Bible Study Guide," if you would like to follow 01:22 along with us, you would go to the website that is: 01:24 ABSG.Adventist.org 01:29 that stands for "Adult Bible Study Guide".Adventist.org 01:34 and you can follow along with us or we always encourage 01:37 you here at 3ABN to visit your local Seventh-day Adventist 01:41 Church - they would love to welcome you in, 01:43 and you could join a Bible study group there. 01:45 Before we go any further and open up the word of God, 01:48 we always like to open up in prayer and Pastor C.A. 01:52 would you lead us in prayer today? Be happy to do so... 01:54 Gracious Father, Our hearts have been so 01:56 warmed and stirred as we've seen how Your Spirit 02:00 has moved so mightily to begin this church, this movement 02:06 which has circled the globe and called so many millions 02:09 of people to Jesus Christ. 02:11 We thank You for the power of the Holy Spirit which has 02:14 been seen in the life of Paul and Stephen, Peter, 02:17 and so many others, and we ask, Lord, 02:19 yea we beg for that same Spirit to attend us 02:22 here today, as we study Your word, as we try to 02:26 understand that we can be used mightily of Thee 02:30 if we will but surrender to You. 02:31 Help us to know, to understand and to do 02:35 and bless those who watch and who hear - may together 02:38 we be drawn that much closer to our precious Lord and Savior, 02:42 and we thank You, dear Father, in Jesus name... Amen 02:46 Thank you so much Pastor C.A. 02:48 We are in lesson #9 of our journey 02:51 through the Book of Acts. 02:52 This is on the second missionary journey of the Apostle Paul. 02:56 Two weeks ago, we looked at his first missionary journey, 02:59 that encompassed over 12,000 miles. Wow! 03:02 Paul and Barnabas set sail from Antioch and they 03:06 went with John Mark. 03:07 If I can pretend here... this is a map, 03:10 I don't have a map to show you, but pretend this 03:12 is Palestine and north of it is Antioch and then on the 03:16 west side is the Mediterranean Sea... 03:18 So Jerusalem is here, probably 300 miles north is Antioch. 03:22 They set sail from here, this is the first 03:25 missionary journey... they went to Cypress, 03:27 then they went north to what we would call modern-day Turkey 03:30 in here and they spent some time 2 years' worth from 03:34 AD 47 to 49, traveling through. 03:37 They went to Lystra and Derbe, and Iconium and Antioch 03:42 Pisidian and these other cities preaching the word of God. 03:45 Now we're on the second missionary journey 03:47 and they don't shorten the journey, 03:49 they extend the journey. 03:51 They over-doubled the miles that they do, 03:54 and they do between 2,700 and 3,000 miles 03:58 on the second missionary journey, 04:00 and this took place probably from AD 49 to 52 04:04 or it could be 50 to 52, 50 to 53- somewhere in there. 04:09 And if we hold up our little map again, 04:12 we have here... they departed from Antioch again, 04:14 the same place, but instead of taking the boat 04:17 to Cypress and going north, they took the land route 04:20 this way... they went up to Tarsus and they revisited 04:23 all the cities that they had ministered in before... 04:26 Lystra and Derbe and Iconium, and all of those. 04:28 Then they went over to Troas and they took a boat 04:31 because they received a call... 04:32 "Come over to Macedonia and help us." 04:35 They went over to Philippi, this is modern-day Greece 04:38 this section here and they went to Philippi 04:41 and Thessalonica and Berea, Corinth and Athens, 04:46 and that's our study today. 04:48 On this journey, instead of Paul and Barnabas, 04:50 it was Paul and Silas and Timothy joined them later. 04:54 And during the second missionary journey, 04:56 Paul also wrote the Books of 1 and 2 Thessalonians, 05:00 and maybe the Book of Galatians, we're not entirely sure 05:04 when that book was written. 05:05 Let's read our memory text and we'll go to the journey here, 05:09 We are in Acts 18:9-10 and we'll read it together, 05:14 and you can join us at home. 05:15 "Do not be afraid, keep on speaking, do not be silent 05:21 for I am with you and no one is going to attack and harm you 05:27 because I have many people in this city." 05:31 On Sunday, we look at back in Lystra. 05:34 Now last week we talked about the Jerusalem Council 05:37 in Acts 15 and the decision that the Gentiles did not have 05:42 to be circumcised in order to become Christians. 05:45 Circumcision was not necessary for salvation. 05:49 Just after that, we are in Acts 15:36... 05:54 "Then after some days, Paul said to Barnabas, 05:57 "Let us now go back and visit our brethren in every 06:01 city where we have preached the word of the Lord, 06:03 and see how they are doing." 06:06 You see, as you read the Book of Acts, and as you read 06:08 Paul's letters, his passion, his love for the people 06:12 the people that he ministered to. 06:15 "Now Barnabas was determined... notice that word, "determined," 06:19 to take John Mark with him." 06:21 Verse 38... But Paul insisted that they should not take 06:26 with them the one who had departed from them in Pamphylia, 06:29 and had not gone with them to the work." 06:33 So they had a little disagreement or should 06:36 we say - a large disagreement over the situation. 06:40 Why did Paul not want John Mark to go? 06:42 Well he had "deserted them," in the midst of their first 06:46 missionary journey and I asked myself, Mr. Danny, 06:48 can I even blame Paul? 06:51 You know, would I want a coworker, would I want 06:54 a partner in the journey, in the ministry, 06:58 who didn't pull their weight? 07:00 Who didn't really step forward... 07:03 who, when things got tough, "I'm going home to mama, 07:06 I'm not gonna be here." 07:07 So Paul says, "I don't want anything to do with him, 07:11 I want somebody else." 07:12 And the contention was so sharp for in verse 39... 07:16 it became so sharp, that they parted one 07:20 from another - so they actually split up. 07:22 Barnabas took Mark and sailed to Cypress, 07:24 but Paul chose Silas and departed being commended 07:28 by the brethren to the grace of the God." 07:31 So who was right in this situation? 07:34 Well, you could say, "Should one have 07:35 submitted to the other's authority?" 07:37 We know Barnabas initially was probably better known 07:40 and well-respected; he's the one who brought 07:43 Saul to the brethren in Jerusalem after his conversion. 07:47 But then by this point, you could probably say that 07:49 Paul has eclipsed Barnabas; he's better known; 07:52 he's beginning to write New Testament books; 07:55 he's a great preacher. 07:56 Are we called to ever give someone another chance? 08:00 I would say, "Absolutely!" 08:02 Barnabas chose to give John Mark another chance. 08:07 Later, this is a beautiful thing, many years later, 08:10 in 2 Timothy, this is the last letter that Paul wrote, 08:15 the last Epistle of Paul, 2 Timothy 4. 08:18 He's imprisoned and he is about ready to be killed... 08:21 And he says, "Get Mark and bring him with you, 08:25 for he is useful to me for ministry." 08:28 So that tells you that this sharp disagreement 08:31 was eventually reconciled, and that there was harmony 08:35 once again in their work. 08:36 So they departed on this second missionary journey. 08:40 Now before we get to Acts 16, and the first five verses 08:43 talk about Timothy joining the work... 08:45 These are my three take-aways from this 08:48 situation with John Mark... 08:49 #1... Our past mistakes don't always define our future. 08:55 Aren't you thankful that God can still use you? 08:58 I know I'm thankful He can use me even after 09:01 I messed up, after a make a mistake - God is still willing 09:05 to use me. 09:07 I think John Mark redeemed himself as it were, 09:09 he grew up - you could say. 09:11 He became a mature Christian. 09:13 #2... Our fractured relationship can be mended 09:19 and even restored. 09:21 God can heal your relationships in His time and in His way... 09:25 just like John Mark and Paul experienced the healing 09:28 in their relationship. 09:29 #3... And the third take-away I get from this is that 09:32 it is never too late to forgive someone who has hurt you. 09:37 It's never too late to reach out and say, "I'm sorry." 09:41 It's never too late to say, "Okay, I wanna do-over, 09:44 and can we heal this relationship?" 09:46 So let's look now at Acts 16:1-5... 09:50 This is Timothy joining the work. 09:53 "Then he came...this is Paul and Silas... 09:55 "They came to Derbe and Lystra ...remember they had been 09:59 at Derbe and Lystra... Lystra is where Paul had 10:02 been stoned and had been taken out of the city 10:05 and left for dead on the last missionary journey... 10:08 and behold a certain disciple was there, named Timothy, 10:11 the son of a certain Jewish woman who believed, 10:13 but his father was Greek. 10:16 He was well spoken of by the brethren who were at Lystra 10:19 and Iconium." 10:21 So Paul and Silas journey here, they met Timothy again. 10:26 We know from 2 Timothy 3:10-11, Paul's epistle there to Timothy, 10:31 that Timothy had witnessed Paul's suffering. 10:34 Timothy had been there, had been introduced to Paul 10:37 and Barnabas on the first missionary journey. 10:40 What is Timothy's heritage? His father was a Greek. 10:43 His mother and his grandmother were Jewish. 10:47 He had an excellent training, and probably tradition says 10:50 he was in his late teens when he met Paul, 10:54 and when he first began this journey with Paul 10:57 Now verse 3, to me, is very interesting in light of the 11:01 Jerusalem Council that we just studied last week. 11:04 Verse 3 says, "Paul wanted to have him meet Timothy, 11:07 go on with him." 11:09 Paul saw something in Timothy that he wanted. 11:11 He saw a young man who was on fire for God. 11:15 He saw a young man who had dedication and zeal, 11:18 and who would be passionate in helping him 11:20 support this work. 11:22 Paul wanted him to go and he took him and circumcised him, 11:26 remember his father was a Greek, so Timothy was not 11:29 circumcised yet. 11:30 He came and circumcised him because of the Jews who were 11:33 in that region, for they all knew that his father was Greek. 11:36 And as they went through the city, they delivered to 11:38 them the decrees to keep, which were determined by the 11:42 apostles and elders at Jerusalem." 11:44 So what was the decree that they were taking with them? 11:46 That would be the letter we read about in Acts 15 11:50 that James and the elders wrote saying that it is 11:53 not necessary to be circumcised in order to join the church. 11:57 and yet, Paul just asks, Timothy, 12:00 you need to be circumcised. 12:01 So, initially you can say, well why did he have to be 12:04 circumcised, if they're going out and delivering a letter 12:06 saying, "Circumcision is no longer necessary." 12:09 Well I believe, obviously, Paul understood... 12:13 It was not the requirement for salvation. 12:15 That is not why he had Timothy be circumcised. 12:18 It was to avoid prejudice among the Jews. 12:22 Some people still struggling with that. 12:24 And as an uncircumcised Jew, he would be forbidden to 12:28 enter the temple as well. 12:29 So they wanted to clear that up, so there would be no question 12:33 when Timothy went out. 12:35 Timothy is integral to the work 12:37 of Paul and Silas on their journey. 12:39 He is mentioned by name in Paul's letters more than 12:43 anyone else. 12:45 He is actually called an apostle. 12:47 In 1 Thessalonians 2:6, Timothy became one of the apostles. 12:51 He pastored the church in Ephesus and tradition says 12:56 that he was maybe martyred there around AD 97, 13:01 but he worked and he labored and he ministered. 13:04 He was, as it were, an ambassador, 13:06 a representative for Paul ministering to many 13:10 of the different churches. 13:12 So as we close here in my time, I want to look 13:14 at Timothy for just a moment... 13:16 The advantages that Timothy possessed because 13:19 of his godly heritage passed down to him 13:22 from his mother and grandmother. 13:25 We see the advantage of wise and careful early training. 13:30 Now you can come to Jesus no matter where you are 13:33 or you can be 100 and come to Jesus and He will 13:37 accept you just as you are. 13:40 At the same time, I think because of Timothy's 13:42 early training... and what does it say in 2 Timothy 3? 13:46 "From childhood, you have known the Holy Scriptures." 13:49 So because of his early training, he was especially 13:52 equipped as a young man, a late teenager, early 20s, 13:57 to already take his place in the gospel work and to 14:01 be an effective worker for the Lord Jesus. 14:04 Now we see here, after this, they journeyed, 14:07 and they wanted to go a couple of different places, 14:10 and the Holy Spirit forbade them. 14:12 The Holy Spirit said, "No, don't go there." 14:15 And then Paul, this is Acts 16:9... 14:20 "Paul had a vision at night, 14:23 and a man of Macedonia stood and pleaded with him 14:26 saying, "Come over to Macedonia and help us. 14:30 Now after he had seen the vision, immediately 14:33 we sought to go to Macedonia, concluding that 14:35 the Lord had called us to preach the gospel to them." 14:39 What I like about this is Paul is sensitive to the leading 14:41 of the Holy Spirit. 14:43 When the Holy Spirit says, "Don't go to this region," 14:45 he doesn't go, and then when he received his vision, 14:48 "Go over to Macedonia and help people," what happens? 14:50 Immediately, they got up, they went from Troas, 14:53 and took the journey over to Macedonia, 14:56 and that leads us to Philippi. 14:57 Okay, wow! All I can say is, next time put me before 15:03 Jill, not after her. 15:05 You had some great information, you do such a great job. 15:08 She has such a gift for teaching - thank you. 15:11 Well we're talking about "Mae-cedonia"/Macedonia, 15:14 however you want to pronounce it, 15:15 but Paul and his companions then traveled to Philippi, 15:18 and there, they established the first Christian 15:21 congregation in Europe, and I mean that's a big feat. 15:24 Okay, basically here on Monday, I'm going to be talking 15:28 through, it's Acts and you follow with me. 15:30 We're going to start with verse about 11 15:32 and go through maybe 30 some odd... 15:34 Now some of us know the stories, but I tried to 15:37 study this and just stick with it, but I seemed to get 15:39 sidetracked sometimes; my little mind brings up 15:42 some other thoughts, but what I want to talk 15:45 about here is that it says that Paul and those with him 15:49 decided they stopped at a riverside... 15:51 And it was on Sabbath and normally they would go 15:55 to the synagogue on the Sabbath, but this particular 15:57 time - maybe there wasn't a synagogue near, 16:00 but they met and there was some women who were 16:02 praying and they met with these and some were 16:04 Gentiles and some were Jews... 16:06 And so they went and met with them on Sabbath; 16:08 one of them was Lydia and Lydia had become a believer, 16:11 and Paul said, Hey, I should baptize you and your 16:15 whole house and basically he did and she said, 16:18 Well why don't you come over to our... 16:20 He's probably imaging Sabbath potluck, right? 16:24 We've just preached and been to the riverside... 16:26 hey, why don't you come over to my house and we'll feed 16:30 ya and we'll just have a great time and you can preach 16:32 to the rest of my household, this is gonna be a lot of fun. 16:36 So Paul said, "Great," well they were 16:38 going along and then guess what happens? 16:40 As they're traveling along, all of a sudden there's this 16:43 woman and this woman, she has the spirit of 16:46 divination... now I didn't really know what 16:48 divination was, so I decided to look it up to make sure... 16:52 But she had a spirit of divination which 16:55 her masters brought her. 16:57 This woman says here, I want you... 16:59 and she continued to follow Paul around and I think 17:03 she got on his nerves enough that he said, 17:05 "Okay, I'm going to handle this in a Spiritual way." 17:08 So guess what he did? 17:10 He told the demon to come out of her. 17:13 Well when that happened, that made 17:15 the folk very angry because that was their money. 17:17 She was their bread-winner. 17:20 So now, here's a woman that doesn't have the 17:22 spirit of divination. 17:24 I looked it up, it says, it's a Latin word, it 17:26 comes from "divinare," meaning to foresee or to be 17:30 inspired by a god... that's a little "g." 17:33 To practice divination is to uncover hidden knowledge 17:37 by supernatural means. 17:39 It also is associated with the occult. 17:41 It involves fortune-telling, soothsaying 17:44 as it used to be called. 17:45 For from the ancient times, people used divination 17:48 for a number of reasons; to gain knowledge 17:50 for the future, of course that's the way they can make money. 17:53 We have those today - people claiming... you can see them on 17:55 television - will tell your fortune. 17:58 The practice continues as those who claim supernatural 18:01 insight - read palms, tea leaves, what they call 18:04 tarot cards, star charts and many other things. 18:07 So that goes on, so Paul says, I'm going to have no 18:11 part in this, but the men said, "Okay, we've had 18:15 it, so somehow they were able to get him; 18:18 they took him into the city, into the marketplace, 18:21 and all of a sudden, they were able to get those 18:24 in charge to come... government leaders 18:26 to come and say, "You know what, we're going to put 18:28 these people in prison." 18:30 Now Paul, was going for potluck... he was going to have 18:33 a good time that day; felt like everything 18:36 was going to be going his way and now he finds 18:39 himself... so this time they don't want him out, 18:41 so they say, "Put him inside the prison as far as you can, 18:45 and they put stocks on his legs where he can't possibly, 18:49 Paul and Silas, they can't possibly get out of this thing. 18:52 Well now, you say, here's a guy, he's just had a rough 18:56 day, Sabbath is over, it's beginning the first day 18:59 of the week and on Sunday, but at midnight 19:03 what are they doing... instead of crying, screaming, 19:06 and begging and pleading and saying "Woe is me, 19:10 if I didn't have any bad luck, I'd have no luck at all." 19:12 They didn't do anything like that! 19:14 It says they were singing, and praising. 19:17 Praising God at midnight. 19:19 Now I don't think it's an accident and hopefully 19:22 you don't either, that right at that time, 19:25 all of a sudden there was this big earthquake... 19:27 So the earthquake comes and it's so big of an earthquake, 19:32 it had to be God-ordained of course, that it loosened, 19:35 not only opened the cells, but it loosened the binds 19:39 on them, I mean - that must have been some earthquake! 19:41 Probably off of the Richter scale, but then they 19:45 saw the jailer, and guess what he did? 19:47 He grabbed his sword and said, he's getting ready to 19:51 kill himself because he knew, let these prisoners out, 19:54 I'm dead... so they said, "Whoa, whoa, whoa... 19:56 Paul and Silas, don't do that; 19:58 you don't do that, we're still here." 20:00 Now this man couldn't imagine, 20:02 they were set free, and they didn't take off. 20:04 First of all, he had been listening to them 20:06 all evening, praying and singing praising the Lord. 20:10 So he was so amazed by that, that he actually said to them, 20:14 "You know what? I need what you have. 20:17 How can I be saved?" And what did they say? 20:20 "Believe on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, 20:23 then thou shalt be saved." That's right. 20:25 And in a short time, he took them, Paul and Silas, 20:29 to his home; they preached to the rest of his household, 20:32 and it says that they all were baptized. 20:34 Isn't that amazing - when God shows up, things happen! Amen! 20:38 Through His people, that's the amazing thing, 20:41 the love of God - that He could love us enough to even use us 20:44 as frail, human agents to take the gospel to the world. 20:48 So it wasn't Paul, we know that earlier in his 20:50 life, he was the persecutor, now he became persecuted, 20:54 but the blessing of God... I've always said this, 20:57 is on the go, "Go ye into all the world." 21:00 But I want to say something about baptism, 21:03 and this may be a little controversial, 21:05 I don't want to be too much so, so I'm going to stick 21:07 with the Bible, but we should realize that we're baptized 21:10 into Jesus Christ. Amen! 21:12 We are not baptized into a church, if you will. 21:15 A lot of folks will say, "I was baptized into the 21:18 church," you know, such and such date." 21:21 When we accept Acts 16:31, "Believe on the Lord Jesus 21:27 Christ and thou shalt be saved," 21:29 I have to take that at exactly what it says. 21:32 There are numerous Scriptures, Mark 16:16, Acts 22:16, 21:36 Galatians 3:17, Luke 3:16 and 21-30, Acts 8:36-38. 21:44 My point is here without trying to get too off-track 21:47 that we're baptized into Jesus Christ - that means we accept, 21:53 we believe, we want to do like Jesus when He was dead, 21:57 buried and resurrected, we're doing that in the 21:59 physical in water baptism. 22:02 Then we come out a new creature, but sometimes 22:06 we put so much emphasis being baptized in the church. 22:09 Now, does that mean that we don't need to worry about 22:11 doctrine and we don't need instruction? 22:13 Absolutely, we do and I don't believe that people 22:17 should be admitted into a church, a local church, 22:22 if and why would they want to be 22:24 if you don't believe what's being taught. 22:26 Let's say, for instance, there are people who say, 22:29 "Well I think it's okay to smoke and drink." 22:31 Well you know what? Join another church 22:33 because there are many of the churches whose pastors 22:35 smoke and drink or priests smoke and drink. 22:38 So I would say - join a church like that, 22:40 but I would like to just hear our people 22:43 understand that we're baptized into Jesus Christ, 22:46 and, yes, then we should be entered into church fellowship, 22:51 but it's not mandatory because the way the Bible says it 22:54 to me and if I'm mistaken, you all could tell me, 22:57 we're baptized into Jesus Christ, then we want to 23:01 join a church; that's where we get together; 23:03 that's where we begin to study and thank God for the 23:06 layman and the pastors and those helping us 23:09 because once you join a church, now you're part of a 23:12 family who are continually 23:15 working together to learn more and to evangelize to the world. 23:18 Then I want to say one other little point... 23:21 And, I hope I didn't mess that one up too bad, 23:23 but another little point was this... 23:24 On the Sabbath, when we started out, it says Paul and Silas 23:29 went to the river on the Sabbath, 23:31 there was no synagogue there. 23:32 This is interesting to me and people don't seem to realize it, 23:36 that 60 to 70 years after the crucifixion and resurrection 23:43 of Christ, these apostles and the new Apostolic Church, 23:49 they weren't going to church on Sunday because 23:51 of the resurrection of Christ, what day were they going 23:54 worshipping? Sabbath! Over and over and over... 23:56 Sabbath Scriptures: Acts 13, 14:42, 44; 24:02 Acts 17:1-2; Acts 18:4... I can go on, my time is 24:07 running out, but 60 to 70 to 80 years after the crucifixion 24:13 of Christ, the new church, everybody, 24:16 kept the seventh-day Sabbath. Amen! Amen! 24:18 No one said, "Oh well, because Christ died, I think now 24:23 we'll go to church on Sunday." 24:26 No, they didn't. As their custom was, 24:28 just as when it talks about Jesus... 24:30 so to me, it's very important for those of you watching 24:32 and listening today, let's do what Jesus did... 24:35 and that is to go to church on His Holy Sabbath Day. 24:40 And I just think it's such a blessing to study 24:43 and see what these people did because we need the fire, 24:46 we need what they had in the Book of Acts, 24:48 and that may be a newfound experience with the Holy Spirit. 24:53 Say "Lord, accept me just as I am, fill me with 24:56 the anointing of Your Holy Spirit," 24:58 when you do that, God will bless you 25:00 abundantly and exceedingly more than 25:02 you could ever ask or think. Amen! 25:04 Well Amen and Amen! 25:06 You know, I get to continue with this study 25:09 with Paul and Silas. 25:12 Paul and Silas were in Philippi. 25:14 You know, they didn't even have a synagogue there, 25:17 and they still got in trouble. 25:19 But what happened to Paul and Silas? 25:21 They got put in jail, did they not? 25:23 They got put in jail because they interfered with the 25:28 lady that had the demonic spirit and so in casting 25:32 that demonic spirit out, they no longer had their 25:36 source of income, but, boy, Paul and Silas 25:38 got persecuted a lot and now that's 25:41 what we're going to look at. 25:42 I get to look at Tuesday which is "Thessalonica and Berea." 25:46 So when Paul and Silas were released from prison, 25:50 they left Philippi, they and their companions 25:54 and they went to Thessalonica 25:56 which is the capitol of Macedonia. 25:58 now did we read earlier where they had this Macedonian call, 26:02 did they not? Where in vision, God told 26:04 them to go to Macedonia. 26:06 Now you would think, if God gave you the vision 26:08 and you're being obedient to Him, 26:10 that nothing bad is going to happen to you. 26:12 Well let's look at this... Okay, I'm going to start 26:14 in Acts 17:1-4... 26:17 "Now when they had passed through Amphipolis... 26:22 and if anybody wants to pronounce these words 26:24 better, you go right ahead... and Apollonia, 26:28 they came to Thessalonica where there was a 26:31 Synagogue of the Jews." 26:33 Now, then it says, "Then Paul, as his custom was, 26:37 went into them and for three Sabbaths, reasoned 26:42 with them from the Scriptures." 26:43 Now when it says that Paul reasoned with them 26:47 from the Scriptures, what Scriptures are we 26:49 talking about? Matthew, Mark, Luke and John? 26:52 No! They weren't even written yet. 26:54 This is from the Old Testament and look what 26:57 they were expounding... what Paul was expounding from 27:00 the Old Testament explaining and demonstrating 27:03 that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead 27:07 and saying, "This Jesus whom I preach to you is the Christ. 27:11 And some of them were persuaded; 27:13 and a great multitude of the devout Greeks; 27:17 and not a few of the leading women joined Paul and Silas." 27:21 Paul and Silas were having a very successful 27:25 evangelistic campaign. 27:27 God was blessing and great multitudes joined them. 27:31 That they joined them... seems to indicate 27:34 they formed a separate group and met apart from the synagogue, 27:37 possibly at Jason's house. 27:39 Now God is blessing, look at Acts 17:5... 27:44 "But the Jews who were not persuaded became... 27:49 what's that next word? Envious. 27:52 Now Jill, I'm going to quote this from the 27:54 New King James Version, but I want you to quote it 27:56 in the King James... I'm still a King James 27:58 Version girl, I'm sorry. 28:00 But from the New King James... 28:01 "For where envy and self-seeking exists, confusion 28:07 and every evil thing are there." 28:09 Now... "For where envying and 28:11 strife is, there is confusion and every evil work." 28:14 Every evil work, so they became envious. 28:18 What is envious? They had envy. 28:22 And where there is envying and striving, 28:24 there is EVERY evil work. 28:26 They took some of the evil men... 28:28 now this is what they did here in Thessalonica... 28:31 They took some of the evil men from the marketplace... 28:33 Now who is it that took them? 28:35 This is the Jewish rulers, the Jewish leaders. 28:38 They're the ones that were envious. 28:41 "... From the marketplace and gathered a mob, 28:43 set all the city in an uproar and attacked the house 28:47 of Jason and sought to bring them out to the people. 28:49 Now they were seeking to bring Paul and Silas out, 28:52 Paul and Silas weren't there. 28:54 But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason... 28:58 poor Jason, he was just a young convert... 29:00 and some brethren to the rulers of the city, 29:03 crying out, "These who have turned the world 29:05 upside-down, have come here too. 29:08 ... Jason has harbored them and these are all acting 29:12 contrary to the decrees of Caesar saying, 29:15 "There is another king - Jesus. 29:18 And they troubled the crowd and the rulers of the city 29:21 when they heard these things. 29:23 So when they had taken security from Jason 29:27 and the rest, they let them go." 29:28 So now, Paul and Silas aren't there. 29:31 Look in verse 10... 29:35 "Then the brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas 29:38 away by night to Berea." 29:40 And I got to thinking... See, the rulers and the mob 29:46 didn't actually get to Paul and Silas. Why? 29:48 Because the brethren were protecting them. 29:51 It says the brethren took them and sent them to Berea. 29:56 Now why would they do this? 29:57 This is Paul's second missionary journey, 30:00 and I know we've studied that first 30:03 missionary journey, but let me just give a little recap to it. 30:06 The first missionary journey that Paul went on... 30:10 He was in Antioch - what happened to him in Antioch? 30:14 He got run off. 30:16 The crowd rose up against him and ran him out 30:20 of the city in Antioch. 30:24 Ran him down into Iconium. 30:26 Now what happened to him at Iconium? 30:28 The crowd rose, the people came down, 30:32 stirred up the crowd again and poor Paul got run off again. 30:37 Well now, he goes from Iconium to Lystra. 30:41 Do you know what? He's having great success 30:43 in Lystra, is he not? What happens? 30:46 The people that stirred up the crowds came down to 30:51 Lystra, stirred up the crowds there and you know what 30:54 they did to poor Paul? 30:56 They stoned him to the point to where they thought 30:58 he was dead and they left him. 31:01 So everywhere Paul goes, he... you know, I think 31:06 I could get a complex if I were Paul. 31:08 But here he is, on his second missionary journey, 31:11 and the first place he goes, he gets put in jail. 31:15 Well then he goes to Thessalonica 31:17 and if he doesn't get run off again! 31:20 But this time, the brethren take him by night 31:24 and send him to Berea. 31:25 So now we've got him at Berea. 31:27 Let's see what happens there. Verse 10... 31:30 "When they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews." 31:34 So Paul, as was his custom, anytime he arrived 31:39 in a new city and there was a synagogue, 31:41 he went to the synagogue of the Jews because 31:46 he always felt he needed to bring this gospel message 31:50 to the Jewish brethren first. 31:53 And verse 11... "These were more fair-minded 31:57 than those in Thessalonica in that they received the 32:02 word with all readiness and searched the Scriptures daily 32:06 to find out whether things were so. 32:09 Therefore many of them believed, and also 32:11 not a few of the Greeks, prominent women as well as men. 32:16 Now, they used the term "fair-minded" in verse 11. 32:20 It's the word "eugenes" which means wellborn, 32:27 are of noble birth. 32:30 These Jews from Berea are praised - not simply because 32:34 they agreed with Paul and Silas, 32:36 but because of their willingness to search 32:39 the Scriptures daily to find out for themselves 32:42 whether these things were true." 32:44 Now this is a statement that was in our Quarterly, 32:47 and I like this statement. 32:48 The statement is: "An emotional response to 32:52 the gospel without the necessary intellectual 32:56 conviction - that means knowledge of God's word, 32:59 tends to be superficial and short-lived, 33:02 and that reminded me of the seed that was sown by 33:06 the sower in Mark 4:5-6, let me read that to you... 33:11 That's Mark 4:5-6... "Some fell on rocky places 33:16 where it did not have much soil. 33:17 It sprang up quickly because the soil was shallow, 33:20 but when the sun came up, the plants were scorched 33:23 and they withered. Why? 33:25 Because they had no root. 33:26 How do we develop our roots? 33:28 Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. 33:32 Oh these Bereans, they didn't just take what Paul 33:36 and Silas said, they searched the Scriptures for themselves. 33:39 You know what they were doing? 33:40 They were putting down roots. 33:42 So that when persecution arises, you've got your roots 33:46 firmly established. Amen! 33:49 Okay, let me continue... Verses 13-15 33:52 "And when the Jews from Thessalonica learned 33:55 that the word of God was preached, 33:57 by Paul at Berea, guess what they did? 33:58 They came down there and stirred up the crowds. 34:01 Then immediately the brethren sent Paul away to go to the sea, 34:06 but both Silas and Timothy remained there, 34:09 so those who conducted Paul, brought him to Athens." 34:13 So now we have seen Paul go from Philippi to 34:17 Thessalonica, to Berea and now he's going to Athens, 34:20 and Danny, tell us what the great commission is. 34:23 Well, Jesus says in Matthew 28:18-20... 34:26 "Go ye therefore and make disciples of all nations 34:29 baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, 34:32 and the Holy Spirit, teaching them 34:33 to observe SOME of the things... ALL things, 34:36 I'm sorry, ALL of the things." 34:37 So with Paul doing this, he was fulfilling this 34:39 great commission, but just in case he were 34:42 to happen to think he could get settled in somewhere, 34:45 there's a thing called... let me just give you the 34:48 definition: Diaspora or dispersion - That's to sow 34:53 throughout or to distribute in foreign lands 34:56 or scatter abroad. 34:57 Paul went in the first missionary journey 35:01 to all of those cities; every time he'd get thrown out, 35:03 he had to go to another city. What did he do? 35:06 He developed a church there as well, and he developed 35:10 followers and believers. 35:11 So this is what has happened here in the second 35:13 missionary journey... Oh C.A., I'm out of time! 35:16 But just think about this, every time Paul got displaced, 35:20 he just - he bloomed where he was planted! 35:23 C.A., your turn. Amen. Praise the Lord! 35:26 Good! Amen! 35:27 On Wednesday, we look at Paul and now he goes to 35:30 Athens and I'm reading from Acts 17:15-22... 35:33 We will move through this fairly quickly. 35:37 So those who conducted Paul brought him to Athens, 35:40 and receiving a command for Silas and Timothy to come 35:45 to him with all speed, they departed." 35:47 I'm in verse 16... "Now while Paul waited 35:50 for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked 35:52 within him when he saw that the city was given over to idols. 35:56 Therefore he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews 36:00 and with the Gentile worshippers and in the 36:03 marketplace with those who happened to be there." 36:07 And let me go a little further. "Then certain Epicurean 36:11 and Stoic philosophers encountered him and some 36:14 said, "What does this babbler want to say?" 36:17 Others said, "He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign gods," 36:21 because he preached to them Jesus and the resurrection." 36:26 Verse 19... "And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus 36:29 saying, "May we know what this new doctrine 36:32 is of which you speak?" 36:34 Verse 20... "For you are bringing some 36:37 strange things to our ears. 36:39 Therefore we want to know what these things mean." 36:43 Verse 21... "For all the Athenians and the 36:44 foreigners who were there spent their time 36:46 in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new thing." 36:54 By the time Paul got to Athens, he had developed a fairly 36:59 well-informed methodology in most of the cities that he went. 37:03 Go to the synagogue, start there, get a read for what's 37:07 going on in that city and then sort of moved out from there, 37:09 but when he got to Athens, he changed 37:13 his methodology somewhat, in fact, not somewhat radically. 37:17 Paul in 1 Corinthians 9:19 says that... 37:23 "I'm the servant of all, I have become all 37:25 things to all people." 37:26 Now we must be careful with that because we know it 37:30 doesn't mean CHANGING what you believe 37:33 to accommodate someone else, 37:35 or changing how you behave, we know that is 37:38 so because last week we saw that little fracas between 37:42 Paul and Peter, so we know he's not talking 37:44 about changing their belief systems. 37:46 What he is saying is.. sometimes you have to 37:49 accommodate the gospel to meet the ears of those that 37:53 you're trying to win. 37:54 The gospel is not "one size fits all." 37:56 You have to look at your audience, find out how 37:59 to approach... and Christ did this. 38:01 Christ talked to Nicodemus differently than He 38:03 did the woman at Samaria. 38:04 He talked to Mary different than He spoke to Martha, 38:06 so He's adjusting the gospel presentation so it meets the 38:11 needs of those individuals that you're trying to reach, 38:14 and this is what Paul is trying to do here. 38:16 Athens was one of those places that Paul 38:18 changed his methodology. 38:20 Of course, when you think of Greek culture, 38:22 they worship a well-developed pantheon of gods, 38:27 more than almost any other city he went to 38:30 or any other country he went to. 38:32 The Greek culture was full of gods! 38:36 There was literature that talked about the gods. 38:39 Idolatry was well-entrenched and it was buttressed by 38:43 a philosophy that truly informed to determine 38:48 everything they did; their society was determined 38:51 by the gods; sociology, how they made war; 38:53 how they worshipped. 38:55 You know, this thing about Grecian ideology, 38:58 it was highly, highly developed and there was 39:01 literature to support this. 39:02 So this was a brand new territory and the gospel 39:06 had not gone to anyplace quite 39:08 as sophisticated as Athens before. 39:11 You got the Odyssey and the Iliad, the works of "Homer, 39:14 Plato, Aristotle, Socrates," plays, 39:18 different kinds of things, so this was a very high 39:21 culture - it was a pagan culture to be sure, 39:23 but it was a very high culture and the gods were very 39:27 much entrenched into their society. 39:30 So Paul now is so distressed because he is seeing 39:32 statues and gods every place, that he's changing his 39:35 methodology because he had to get out of the synagogue 39:38 and into the streets, and begin to address some 39:41 of this stuff because he's... I don't think he has ever 39:43 seen a place like this before... that's so "idol-heavy 39:47 and idol-dominated." 39:49 So when he spoke at the Areopagus, he didn't quote 39:54 Scriptures or go through the classic Jewish history 39:57 like he did in other places because this would have made 40:00 no sense to them. 40:01 They didn't have that history, 40:03 and they didn't have that understanding. 40:05 So he spoke in a way that would resonate with the 40:08 high functioning, sophisticated... 40:10 The Sabbath School Lesson calls them "cultured pagans." 40:14 These are not people running around 40:15 in loincloths and bear skins. 40:16 No, these are cultured people with the high society. 40:21 Much of what Paul communicated could not be comprehended 40:26 by the Grecian society because of their god-consciousness, 40:30 and their understanding of metaphysics, 40:32 and things spiritual. 40:34 So there was no way that they could accept 40:37 this idea of an imminent god, this idea of a close god 40:42 who loved you and cared about you and was concerned 40:46 about every aspect of your life. 40:48 For them, the gods were distant and not really caring, 40:53 kind of capricious - the idea of monotheism was certainly 40:58 alien to them. 40:59 When you think about the pantheon of Greek gods, 41:02 they were astonishingly human, you know, in the way 41:06 that they interfaced with mankind. 41:09 They were angry, they were petty, they were vindictive, 41:12 they were vengeful, they were spiteful, they were 41:17 appeasement-needy. 41:19 They seemed to possess the worst characteristics 41:22 of human nature. 41:24 So that's the kind of gods they were used to dealing with. 41:26 The idea of a one-god who was loving and cares and is 41:30 imminent and wants to be a part of your life - is totally, 41:33 totally alien to their thinking. 41:35 You had Aries, Poseidon, Apollo, Hermes, Zeus, Hades and 41:40 all these different gods mixed with mythological literature, 41:45 and a lot of this was adopted by the Romans. 41:48 They changed the names, but the same gods, 41:50 and the same mindset. 41:51 So let's look at 1 Corinthians 1:23... 41:57 1 Corinthians 1 and I'm in verse 23... 42:12 "But we preach Christ crucified, 42:15 to the Jews a stumbling block, 42:18 and to the Greeks foolishness." 42:21 So the Jews can't get over the fact that we are saved 42:25 by grace through faith. 42:26 They're just tripping on that, it's a stumbling block, Shelley, 42:29 it just makes no sense to a people who we talked about 42:34 last week, Mollie, were really impressed by the temple 42:38 and worshipped in the temple, by study of the law... 42:42 You know, in Jerusalem alone, you got 6,000 Pharisees, 42:45 you only got about 35,000 people in the whole city, 42:47 and 6,000 are Pharisees, you know, studiers of the law. 42:50 And the other thing is good works... 42:52 so when you've got this background in your mind, 42:55 the idea that "I just need to come and confess Christ, 42:59 and surrender my life to Him is a stumbling block, that's rough! 43:03 And we see this - that most of the... what's a word I can use, 43:08 most of the energy to try to destroy the new work, 43:12 if not most, certainly much of it was coming from the 43:15 Jewish community - they just weren't ready for it. 43:18 And we saw this with Stephen, we saw it with Peter, 43:21 we saw it with many disciples... 43:23 "When I cannot silence you, I want to kill you." Right. 43:26 That's demonic - that's more than just we have a different 43:29 idea on how to serve God. 43:31 That's the devil superimposing himself into the life of 43:34 those who do not want to serve Christ. 43:37 So - I want to kill... so Paul's life is 43:39 threatened many, many times. 43:40 He is stoned and left for dead. 43:43 Now we want him to die... so many, many times, 43:45 we see this - so for the Jews, 43:48 it's a stumbling block, they can't get over it. 43:50 For the Greeks, makes no sense, it's just foolishness. 43:55 How can you have a God that loves you? 43:57 Our gods, we have to appease them; 43:59 we've got to live certain kinds of ways; 44:02 you gotta do certain kinds of things... 44:03 and when the gods get good and ready, they just dump us, 44:05 you know, that's the kind of god they have. 44:08 And now Paul is preaching this God, this loving God 44:11 ... foolishness! We just don't see it. 44:16 You know, I'm so glad that God's word does not 44:19 return unto Him void. Amen! Amen! 44:20 You know, when you preach the word, 44:22 somebody is gonna get saved! 44:23 Somebody's heart is going to be touched, you know, 44:26 it's gonna go out and it's going to capture 44:28 some heart and come back. 44:29 Now Paul had troubles and trials in EVERY city, but praise God, 44:34 he had success in EVERY city. Yes 44:37 There were men and women who gave their hearts to the Lord, 44:40 and the reason that his second journey, Shelley, took so 44:42 much longer than the first journey is because he had 44:44 to go back and visit those churches again that had 44:47 been started from that first journey. 44:49 So he did the first work and then he did EXTRA work, 44:51 and it shows that God was blessing. 44:54 And He blessed in Athens, it wasn't maybe the 44:57 biggest evangelistic crusade he ever had, 44:59 but he did sow some seeds for the gospel and Athens 45:02 has to be considered a success because Dionysius 45:05 a member of the council and Damaris, a woman of stature, 45:10 both came to the gospel; both came to Christ 45:14 through the preaching of Paul. 45:15 Amen and Amen! Thank you C.A. 45:17 Now he's going to go from Athens to Corinth, 45:21 and if you think Athens was interesting, 45:24 I'm sure that his hair was up on the back of his neck 45:28 when he reached Corinth. Amen! 45:30 We'll be looking in Acts 18 and we will get through 45:33 as many of the first 19 Scriptures as possible. 45:36 Verse 1 says... "After these things, Paul 45:39 departed from Athens and he went to Corinth." 45:42 Now Corinth was a very important metropolitan center 45:46 area - it had two harbors. 45:48 And at the time of Paul's day, the population was about 45:53 700,000, two-thirds of whom were slaves. 45:56 But this was the center of trade for the Mediterranean Sea, 46:01 and it was a cultural and political and commercial 46:05 center, if you will, of Greece - more important 46:08 than Athens even. 46:10 And on the hill, just behind the City of Corinth, 46:16 it was a flat-topped hill and they had a temple to the 46:22 goddess of love and war and her name was "Aphrodite." 46:29 Now this is interesting... 46:31 The way in which they worshipped Aphrodite 46:36 they gave of their finances, but there were 1,000 temple 46:44 prostitutes, men and women and the worship was to 46:50 engage in sexual activities with these prostitutes. 46:53 That is how they worshipped Aphrodite and when you 46:58 think about this, the city's walls were just 47:03 the scandal of the ancient times. 47:06 In the Greek language, they actually made 47:10 a verb out of the name, they called it... 47:14 "to corinthianize" and that meant to practice whoredom. 47:18 So that's how bad Corinth was. 47:21 Paul comes in to Corinth and what a challenge! 47:25 Only God could overthrow this! 47:28 But the interesting thing... 47:31 when you read First and Second Corinthians, 47:33 these were written to the church that's going to be 47:36 established at Corinth and he's overcoming their various 47:40 problems and you can see why when you look at the 47:42 history of the city... why they had all of these problems, 47:46 these Pagan worshippers who he converted. 47:48 But then on his next missionary journey, 47:51 on the third missionary journey, 47:52 Paul writes the letter to the Romans, 47:56 my favorite book in the Bible, from Corinth. 47:59 Okay, verse 2... "He found a certain Jew 48:02 named Aquila, born in Pontus, who had recently come from 48:06 Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded 48:09 that all the Jews should depart from Rome... 48:14 we see the historians are saying that this deportation, 48:18 when Claudius sent them out, was because of disturbances 48:22 in the Jewish community that had to do with Jesus, 48:27 where they were out preaching Jesus. 48:29 So most likely Aquila and Priscilla were already 48:33 Christians. 48:34 It says, he came to them, so because he was of the 48:38 same trade, he stayed with them and worked, 48:41 for by occupation, they were tentmakers. 48:44 So we don't see any evidence that Paul preached to them 48:48 to convert them, so we're just assuming that they were 48:50 already Christians and they become his lifelong friends. 48:54 He takes them back when he makes his return trip 48:58 to Antioch - he takes them with him. 49:00 He leaves them in Ephesians and they open up their 49:04 home as a house-church in Ephesus... 49:07 I said he leaves them in Ephesians, 49:09 he leaves them in Ephesus and then years later, 49:12 when they move back to Rome, they open up their home again 49:15 for a house-church and Paul even says that they 49:19 saved his neck. 49:20 You know, so they were very devoted friends of his, 49:24 but the interesting thing about Priscilla and Aquila is that 49:28 they're always mentioned together as a couple. 49:30 They had a very effective ministry as a couple, 49:35 and you know that Paul had shared the benefit of 49:39 his great knowledge with them because when they found 49:44 Apollos, who was a very articulate teacher 49:47 of the way through Jesus, he knew not enough 49:52 so what did they do? 49:54 They quietly bring him inside and they bring him up-to-date. 49:57 But I want to make this one point... 50:00 Priscilla and Aquila practiced the gift of hospitality. 50:04 Did you know that your home can be an incredible 50:08 evangelistic tool in the hands of the Lord, 50:11 and that's what they did! 50:12 Okay, so Acts 18:4... "He reasoned in the synagogue 50:18 every Sabbath and persuaded both Jews and Greeks, 50:21 and when Silas and Timothy had come from Macedonia, 50:25 Paul was compelled by the Spirit and testified to the Jews 50:30 that Jesus is the Christ." 50:32 So Silas and Timothy, they arrived from Macedonia 50:36 with the financial support from the churches that allows 50:40 Paul to go into full-time ministry preaching 50:43 without having to work. 50:44 You know, that's something that was interesting about Paul, 50:47 his policy always was that he supported himself 50:50 in these ministries as he is reaching out, 50:54 BUT, what did he teach in 1 Corinthians 9:14... 50:58 He said, "Those who preach the 51:00 gospel, should live from the gospel." 51:02 So he wasn't setting an example, it was just 51:06 an area in which he took personal pride that 51:09 he would support himself. 51:10 Verse 6... "But when they opposed him, 51:13 and they blasphemed him... this is when he's 51:16 in the synagogue... he shook his garments 51:20 and said to them, "Your blood be upon your own heads, 51:23 I am clean. From now on, I will go 51:26 to the Gentiles," and as you said, 51:27 Paul's practice was always, as a Jew and his responsibility 51:33 to his countrymen, to his nationality. 51:36 He always went to the synagogues first, but then if they 51:39 rejected him, he'd turn and go to the Gentiles and here he 51:44 does something very Jewish... 51:49 He shakes his clothes out saying, "I'm free of your 51:53 blood, it's on your own head," because what 51:56 he's saying to them is ultimately they are their 52:00 own judges - it is their rejection of Christ 52:05 is what brings upon them the judgment. 52:08 But even though he says, "I'm going to go to the Gentiles 52:11 from now on," we know that he continues to return 52:14 to the Jewish synagogues. 52:16 Okay, verse 7, Acts 18... "He departed from there 52:20 and entered the house of a certain man named Justus, 52:22 one who worshipped God, whose house was 52:25 next door to the synagogue. 52:26 Then Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord 52:31 with all of his household. And many of the Corinthians 52:34 hearing, believed and were baptized." 52:38 Don't you know that this was a tremendous defeat for 52:42 the Jews when the ruler of the synagogue and his whole 52:45 household became Christians, but it must have really 52:49 given Paul an incentive to continue his mission there. 52:53 And despite the strong Jewish opposition to Paul's meetings, 52:58 we see that there's Jews that are believing, some Gentiles 53:01 are believing, but MANY of the Corinthians, these pagan 53:05 people believed and were baptized. 53:08 But still, there was a very intense struggle between 53:13 Paul and the Jews, and surely he must have 53:15 felt like, "Hey, I need to get outta here." 53:18 But God then speaks to him... 53:20 Acts 18:9, this is so precious. 53:23 He says, "Now the Lord spoke to Paul in the night by a 53:26 vision." And this is what God said, He said, "Do not be 53:30 afraid, but speak and do not keep silent; for I am with you 53:34 and no one will attack or hurt you; for I have many 53:37 people in this city." 53:39 God was promising His protection, but why? 53:42 Because He knew there were many people in the city 53:45 of Corinth who, once they heard, they would accept the gospel 53:49 and be baptized. 53:51 So He is promising Paul many conversions in Corinth. 53:55 And then it goes on to say that he stays there for 18 months, 54:03 and then we've got a Jew that rises up and says, 54:07 "Hey, he's trying to persuade people to worship 54:12 God, you know, contrary to the law of God." 54:15 And they seized him and they take him before Gallio... 54:20 And it says, "When Paul was about to open his mouth, 54:23 Gallio said to the Jews, "If this were a matter of 54:26 wrong-doing or wicked crimes, O Jews, there would be reason 54:29 why I should bear with you, but if it's a question of words 54:32 and names of your own law, look to it yourselves, 54:35 for I don't want to be a judge of such matters." 54:38 And he drove them away from the judgment seat." 54:41 So God kept His promise, that He would protect him. 54:44 And then it says, "All the Greeks took Sosthenes, 54:48 the ruler of the synagogue, they beat him before the 54:51 judgment seat, but Gallio took no notice of this." 54:55 Then Paul takes Priscilla and Aquila on his return trip 54:59 to Antioch, leaves them in Ephesus and there they had 55:04 such a positive response in that he promised the people 55:08 he would return if it were the will of God. 55:11 Thank you so much Shelley, what an incredible study to 55:14 hear each one of you share the explosion, as it were, 55:18 of Christianity, the spread of Christianity as Paul made 55:21 the second missionary journey. 55:23 And I want to give each one of you a moment to 55:25 share a little bit more from your day. 55:27 Mr. Danny... Acts 16:31: "Believe on the Lord 55:30 Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved." Amen! 55:33 Then #2, "Be baptized into the Lord Jesus Christ." 55:37 #3... "Join the remnant church. 55:40 You want to be among people who have truth. 55:43 Once you join that... Now Jesus says something 55:47 very specific and individually... 55:49 "Go ye into all the world," that's every one of you. 55:52 We all are ye's... Your own personal testimony 55:56 is your greatest asset that you have - don't hide it under 56:00 a bush - let it go to the entire world. 56:04 And, Danny, on top of that, you've got them in the local 56:07 church, you've got them studying God's word, 56:09 you've got to get a good root system, 56:11 and how does that root system come? 56:12 "Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." 56:15 So let us drive you into God's word where that word will 56:19 fill you to overflowing and you will have a 56:21 strong confidence in our Lord and Savior. Amen! Amen! Amen! 56:25 So once you have filled yourself with the Spirit, 56:27 realize there is a science to salvation. 56:30 There is a methodology, find out what the people 56:33 know, what they're doing and then give them the gospel 56:36 in a way that is acceptable to them and you will find 56:39 that the word of God will convert souls and change lives. 56:42 Amen! Amen! Amen! I'd say Acts 18:9... 56:45 "Do not be afraid, speak, do not keep silent, for I am with you." 56:51 And I think that's what the Lord wants us to do, 56:54 is to speak out and as you said, " Share a testimony." 56:57 Amen! Thank you Shelley, Pastor C.A., Mollie and Danny 57:00 for sharing from your heart and from the word of God. 57:03 I want to leave you at home with a closing Scripture... 57:05 We've been studying about the persecution that took place 57:08 as a result of Paul's evangelistic ministry. 57:11 Romans 8:35... "Who shall separate us 57:14 from the love of Christ? Amen! 57:15 Shall tribulation or distress, or persecution, or famine, 57:18 or nakedness, or peril or a sword?" 57:20 No in all these things. 57:22 You at home, us here, can be more than conquerors 57:25 through Jesus Christ who loves us. 57:27 We'll see you next week. Bye, bye. |
Revised 2024-08-06