Participants: Jim & Mark Howard
Series Code: ABOTB
Program Code: ABOTB00018A
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00:22 Welcome to Books of the Book. I'm Pastor Mark Howard and we
00:25 are studying the book of Acts. I'm here with my cohost, my 00:28 brother Jim Howard. We're both pastoring in the Michigan 00:31 Conference of Seventh-day Adventists and we feel 00:34 privileged to be a part of spreading the gospel work 00:38 especially as we're studying the book of Acts. We're seeing some 00:41 powerful working of the Holy Spirit through the proclamation 00:44 of the gospel. We're seeing the promise of Jesus carried out 00:47 where he says that this gospel shall be preached in all the 00:50 world for a witness. We see the beginnings of it here and 00:53 every one of us is a part of the ending, I believe. I believe we 00:57 live in the days when we by the grace of God and the will of God 01:01 will see Jesus come again. So we're in the book of Acts in 01:05 chapter 16. As we have established a custom here I'd 01:11 like to pray and ask God to guide our time as we study his 01:14 word today. Heavenly Father, we do thank you 01:17 for your word of truth and I pray now as we study, as we seek 01:22 to understand better the gospel of Jesus Christ, I pray that you 01:27 would communicate it to our hearts and minds in a very real 01:30 and practical way. We ask and pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. 01:35 Acts chapter 16. In our last chapter we saw that there was a 01:40 council in Jerusalem and then after that council the apostles 01:45 had taken a circuitous route on their way home to Antioch 01:50 where we have seen has been kind of the hub now for the Apostle 01:54 Paul and his team. They remained in Antioch for a little bit of 01:57 time preaching the word. The Bible says in verse 35 of 02:01 chapter 15, With many others also. Then they decided it was 02:04 time to set out again. There was a little contention over who to 02:08 take with them. Paul was concerned to take Barnabas' 02:13 nephew, John Mark, and there was a little contention there. 02:16 So Barnabas decided to go one way. It's interesting that they 02:19 didn't let the contention get in the way of spreading the 02:22 gospel. So Barnabas took John Mark one way and Paul took Silas 02:27 another way. We find them coming into the regions again of Derbe 02:31 and Lystra. In chapter 16, verse 1 it says, Then he came to 02:35 Derbe and Lystra and behold a certain disciple was there named 02:39 Timothy, the son of a certain Jewish woman who believed. 02:43 But his father was a Greek. He was well spoken of by the 02:47 brethren who were at Lystra and Iconium. Paul wanted to have him 02:51 go on with him and he took him and circumcised him because of 02:55 the Jews who were in that region for they all knew that his 02:59 father was a Greek. Now a lot could be said here but it's 03:03 interesting that first of all it's likely that Timothy is here 03:08 in the region of Derbe and Lystra and it's likely that 03:12 Timothy was probably converted at Paul's first visit here when 03:16 he was stoned and left for dead. I can only imagine what impact 03:20 that would have. Of course, remember he got back up and went 03:24 back in the city and preached. Anyway young Timothy was moved 03:28 by the message of Paul and had given his heart to the Lord as 03:31 it says here. The brethren were speaking very well of this young 03:34 man. Paul goes on in other places to say, for example 03:37 II Timothy chapter 1 verse 5 talks about how Timothy had been 03:42 raised up by his mother and his grandmother in the faith. 03:46 It says here his father was a Greek. But here is a young man 03:49 who really loved the Lord and the apostle saw potential in him 03:52 to groom him for ministry. So it says they circumcised him. 03:55 It's interesting here. We talked about that last time as well, 03:59 the conflict over circumcision. We see here the problem wasn't 04:03 circumcision in and of itself or Paul wouldn't have had anything 04:06 to do with circumcising him. Granted it says that there were 04:10 Jews in the region that may have had a different outlook on 04:14 things and so Paul saw that this might be better for him and his 04:18 ministry. But still it wasn't forbidden. Paul understood that 04:22 circumcision was not to take the place of faith, it was a 04:27 sign of faith. So the ritual, the rite, in and of itself was 04:32 not wrong, but the misuse of it that so characterized the Jewish 04:38 church at this time period. 04:39 So if they had the view that you were justified by that 04:42 circumcision, then obviously Paul would have opposed that, 04:46 but to simply carry out the rite was not wrong in and of itself. 04:51 Well as we pick up in verse 4 in chapter 16 it says, As they 04:54 went through the cities they delivered to them the decrees 04:58 to keep. So here they're communicating to them what we 05:01 studied in our last program which was that decision in Acts 05:06 chapter 15 that was made at the Jerusalem council that the 05:10 Gentiles did not have to be circumcised in order to be saved 05:15 but there was some clear instruction given to the 05:17 Gentiles that really would apply to them as it related to some of 05:22 their pagan practices. So these requirements and this 05:27 encouragement was sent by way of letter and by way of decree and 05:32 they went to the cities, they delivered to them this decree 05:35 and in verse 5 it says, So the churches were strengthened in 05:39 the faith and increased in the number daily. So it's 05:42 interesting to see that they were strengthened by the decree. 05:45 It didn't cause division. It didn't cause people to get upset 05:48 and I suppose may be it could cause division and it could 05:52 cause people to get upset if somebody had the mind that well 05:56 you know that kingly power over there in Jerusalem, they think 06:00 that they know everything. 06:01 Who are they to tell us what to do? 06:04 That's right. We shouldn't have to bow down to them. God has 06:08 made us all equal. That's a spirit that we saw in the Old 06:12 Testament. In Korah, you mentioned just 06:13 in a recent episode that we had talked about that Korah had that 06:18 same spirit that, hey, we are all holy people and Moses who 06:22 are you to start lording over us. And it isn't an issue of 06:27 equality or inequality, but an issue of leadership and God 06:33 appoints leaders. Leaders are not perfect. They are appointed 06:39 by God and they are held accountable. Incidentally a 06:42 person in a leadership position is always held to a higher 06:46 accountability. But the point is that God had needfully 06:49 established leaders in the church because without the 06:55 leadership the church would be a disorganized mess trying 06:59 to contend against the enemy's organized armies and it just 07:03 wouldn't succeed. So God saw the need, even with the fallibility 07:07 of man to use that leadership to forward his purposes in the 07:11 early church. That's right. And if we're 07:12 accepting of that it works out very well as we see here. 07:17 Certainly if there are problems that we see in leadership it's 07:21 always wise to in the right spirit and in the right way make 07:26 our suggestions and complaints known but if we just view 07:30 leadership as having kingly authority and so we're not going 07:34 to be accountable to that it just leads to insubordination 07:38 and division. So we see here that that's not what was 07:41 happening. The churches were being strengthened. Let me get 07:43 to verse 6. And it says, now when they had gone through 07:46 Frygia and the region of Galatia they were forbidden by 07:50 the Holy Spirit to preach the word in Asia. After they had 07:53 come to Mysia they tried to go into Bythinia but the Spirit did 07:58 not permit them. So they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to 08:02 go preach. Right, Right. This is a strange thing, isn't it? 08:06 But the language itself is a little bit odd to us because 08:09 we wonder what does this mean, they were forbidden by the Holy 08:12 Spirit? Well revelation inspiration of the scripture 08:17 doesn't specifically tell us. But we do know that the Holy 08:20 Spirit works through different ways. Perhaps a vision or 08:23 impression was given to the Apostle Paul. We saw in one 08:26 place that Peter was given instruction through a trance 08:29 that he received. We know that prophets are sometimes... and 08:32 clearly there were prophets during the days of Acts because 08:36 we've studied that already. Perhaps the message came 08:38 through that avenue. We don't know exactly how it came but we 08:41 know that the Spirit was forbidding. This had to be 08:44 difficult for the Apostle Paul. I'm sure he was wanting to go 08:49 into Asia, into these prime areas of Ephesus and Smyrna, 08:53 areas where there were large Jewish centers and where there 08:56 was a lot of ministry and evangelism that could happen. 09:00 And he was withheld from that by the Spirit and he was 09:04 obedient. Then you come to verse 8 and it says, So passing by 09:08 Mysia they came down to Troas and a vision appeared to Paul in 09:12 the night and here in this vision we find out the reason. 09:15 A man of Macedonia stood and pleaded with him saying come 09:19 over to Macedonia and help us. Wow! This is quite a fervent 09:23 appeal. He sees this in a vision of the night. Verse 10 says, Now 09:28 after he had seen the vision immediately we sought to go to 09:32 go to Macedonia concluding that the Lord had called us to preach 09:35 the gospel to them. You know, I'm sure that that great 09:39 continent of Europe is thankful that the Apostle Paul didn't 09:44 resist when the Holy Spirit forbade him to go into Asia 09:49 where he was inclined to go. But instead resisted that and 09:53 decided he would go exactly where the Lord would have him to 09:57 go and because of that, that work was able to spread in that 10:01 area. It's just fascinating to me that the Apostle Paul was 10:05 so willing to have a change of plans. 10:08 You know, I'm going to say something a little crazy here. 10:11 Oh no. And I'm going to say to our viewers as well that I think 10:15 to myself about this and I wonder how many Macedonian calls 10:20 come to us today. In other words we talk about how Paul didn't go 10:24 where he necessarily wanted to go and the voice from Macedonia 10:29 said, Come help us. You know, as a pastor, I've seen in recent 10:33 times that in Christianity there's been a move towards what 10:37 we sometimes call mega churches where you go and there's a lot, 10:41 5000, 10,000 or more people sometimes in these churches. 10:46 And you can go because there's all these people, there's all 10:49 these opportunities, all these comforts, all these conveniences 10:52 and then if you ever travel and you try to go to church 10:56 somewhere and you go through a little country town and you 11:00 find these little churches that are in so much need of people 11:03 that have energy and strength that can come and help and I 11:06 wonder if there aren't some Macedonian calls that come to 11:10 us and if God's people would tune their ears in perhaps we 11:14 would be answering calls instead of saying hey this church is 11:17 close to my house, we would find a place where we could go and 11:20 strengthen the work. That's right. I think of even in 11:24 our own churches without even traveling how many times 11:27 somebody speaks about a need. Perhaps it's a need to care for 11:32 the needs of the community service center, or maybe it's a 11:37 need to go on a day of outreach into the community because 11:41 you're trying to advertise some important event that is going to 11:45 bring salvation to souls. And we say well that Macedonian call 11:49 there will be others who will respond to that. Boy, we need to 11:53 be careful that we listen to the Spirit of God and we might have 11:57 the privilege of opening up a door of opportunity as Paul did 12:01 when he went to Macedonia. God may have something in store for 12:05 us that we don't ever find and never are blessed by, by turning 12:09 down this offer. That's right. I'm glad you used 12:11 that word privilege and blessing because we say well I 12:15 don't know if I want to take that call, I'll let somebody 12:17 else do it. What, I'm going to give the blessing to somebody 12:20 else. You don't think of it that way. Well we do find the 12:22 blessing as we go on into chapter 16, verse 11... 12:26 You know, one point before you go on in verse 10. Notice it 12:30 says, Now after he had seen the vision immediately WE sought to 12:34 go to Macedonia. This is the first time where the author of 12:38 Acts, Luke, uses the term we, because we find that here at 12:43 Troas Luke joins Paul and he begins going on this journey. 12:48 Perhaps Luke was sitting in the pew and saying to himself, You 12:51 know what, I need to heed the Macedonian call and join in and 12:55 Luke becomes a part of receiving the blessings that we're going 12:58 find. Well verse 11 tells us what happens when they first 13:02 come into Macedonia to the city of Philippi. Before we go 13:06 into it we're going to take a break here and when we come back 13:09 from the break we're going to see some powerful working of 13:11 the Holy Spirit in answer to Paul's response to the 13:15 Macedonian call. |
Revised 2014-12-17