Books of the Book: Acts

Jail Break

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: Jim & Mark Howard

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Series Code: ABOTB

Program Code: ABOTB00014A


00:22 Welcome back to Books of the Book
00:23 I'm Pastor Mark Howard and I am here with my co-host, my brother
00:26 Jim. We have just been having a great time going through the
00:31 book of Acts. Today we are in the 11th chapter of the book of
00:34 Acts where we were studying a little bit last time and we'll
00:39 recap a little bit of that after a word of prayer. Let's ask God
00:43 to bless our time in study. Heavenly Father, we thank you
00:47 for your word and we ask now that the Holy Spirit would guide
00:50 our minds and our understanding as well as our hearts Father.
00:53 Help us to be willing to receive what it is you have for us today
00:56 in your word. We ask in Jesus' name. Amen.
00:59 Now, Jim, last time you recall we were talking about the
01:03 conversion of the household of Cornelius, which in and of
01:08 itself is a miraculous thing. It wasn't just Cornelius, but his
01:12 household. That tells us the kind of person he was that just
01:15 like Abraham led his household after himself, here Cornelius
01:19 is a man who has that impact over his home, that influence,
01:23 and uses his influence for the Lord and so should we in every
01:26 one of our homes. Our homes should be reflective of the will
01:30 of God. Now toward the end of that story we find that Peter,
01:34 after Cornelius and his household are baptized and you
01:36 would expect that the people would be excited, when Peter
01:40 tells the other brethren they are upset with him that he has
01:44 gone to the gentiles until Peter recounts the whole story of how
01:48 God led that experience and he says and we read this last time,
01:53 and we're going to read it again in chapter 11 verse 15. Peter
01:57 says, As I began to speak the Holy Spirit fell upon them as
02:03 upon us at the beginning. And then he says in verse 18, verse
02:08 17 rather, If therefore God gave them the same gift as he gave us
02:13 when we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I
02:17 could withstand God? Now this was a powerful evidence to the
02:21 church there and to Peter himself. If we saw the same
02:25 experience with the Holy Spirit come upon them as came upon us
02:30 then who am I to forbid it. Now the danger here, Jim, is that
02:34 sometimes we can look at these things and some people will come
02:38 away with the idea that well it really doesn't matter what the
02:41 Bible teaches. If I have something in my experience that
02:44 seems to say different and we use a verse like this sometimes
02:48 and we'll say will that's what Peter is saying. He had an
02:51 experience that went contrary to the way he thought and
02:54 because of that experience he said, Hey, who I am to disagree?
03:00 It was more than just an experience.
03:02 That's right. I can think of people that I've studied with
03:05 who have been part of a body of believers who come to an
03:09 understanding, don't really believe everything truthfully
03:13 as the Bible teaches it, but because of the experiences that
03:17 happen there, and there could be all sorts of different
03:21 experiences. It could just be attendance, there's so many
03:24 people coming and worshiping God and from our appearance in a
03:28 subjective sense it looks like the Spirit is blessing.
03:31 Yeah, so many people are doing this. How could it be wrong?
03:33 Right. But I think it's important that we recognize
03:36 and we tried to do this at the end of last time but we need
03:40 to take a little bit more time this episode. You know when
03:45 Peter here is saying these things about what happened in
03:50 his experience, it's more than just the experience that gave
03:53 them the evidence that the gentiles would now be recipients
03:57 of the gospel. It was more than just a subjective wow we see
04:01 what the Spirit has done and now we know. Peter also received a
04:05 vision from God, prophetic inspiration, which is equivalent
04:09 to you and I seeing something in the word. So it's not just
04:13 experience, which can be subjective, but it's also
04:16 experience that is compatible with or affirms what we know
04:21 from inspired writings, inspiration through the prophets
04:26 Right and the gospel going to the gentiles was not foreign to
04:29 scripture. The Old Testament scriptures taught in many places
04:33 that the gospel would go to the gentile nations, Isaiah 56 is
04:36 one that comes to my mind but there are others. So there was
04:40 more than just that experience. I think to myself, Jim, of a
04:44 passage in Revelation chapter 13 where the Bible says something
04:49 that really ought to grab our attention and I'm actually going
04:53 to turn there to Revelation 13 and verse 13. The Bible tells us
04:58 about a collaboration between some powers at the end of time
05:02 that are working to deceive and it tells in Revelation 13:13, He
05:07 performs great signs so that he even makes fire come down from
05:11 heaven on earth in the sight of men. Now what's really
05:16 interesting and important about that is the fire coming down
05:19 from heaven was something we find in the Old Testament in the
05:23 book of I Kings chapter 18 that God used as an evidence of his
05:27 power in the ministry of the prophet Elijah. So God used it
05:31 as a sign of his power. But what the Bible tells is that the
05:34 enemy of righteousness is going to use it as a sign of his power
05:37 at the end of time. So people are going to see the fire come
05:40 down and say well wow we saw this elsewhere and this is the
05:43 evidence that this is from God. So those signs or miracles are
05:47 not... we can't base our confidence in that alone.
05:51 We have to have the scripture and inspired testimony to
05:55 accompany those miracles and those signs.
05:57 That's right and we see that here in the early church in a
05:59 number of places. Now we're in Acts chapter 11 and we're
06:02 picking up in verse 19. In fact, verse 19 picks up something we
06:06 have seen earlier. It tells us in verse 19, Now those who were
06:10 scattered after the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled
06:14 as far as Phoenicia, Cypress and Antioch, preaching the word to
06:18 none but the Jews only. Now there's a couple of things here
06:21 to note. First of all, we've talked in our last episode for
06:24 example, how the gospel had shifted its emphasis toward the
06:28 gentiles. But here it says they are preaching to the Jews only.
06:31 Now we've got to keep in mind that this group, and it spells
06:34 them out; they are those who are scattered after the stoning
06:37 of Stephen. Well that was in Acts chapter 8 verses 1-8,
06:42 rather verses 1-4, those were the ones that were everyone
06:45 except the apostles. These were the lay people, the church
06:49 members, who were scattered abroad and they were preaching
06:53 the word. Why are they preaching to the Jews only? Because we've
06:57 seen where several events have happened that have communicated
07:00 to the church the gospel to the gentiles, but that message has
07:04 not spread everywhere yet including this group here.
07:07 Now it goes on to tell us in verse 20 that some of them were
07:11 men from Cypress and Cyrene who when they had come to Antioch
07:15 spoke to the Hellenists preaching the Lord Jesus and
07:18 the hand of the Lord was with them and a great number believed
07:22 and turned to the Lord. Then the news of these things came to the
07:26 ears of the church in Jerusalem and they sent out Barnabas to go
07:30 as far as Antioch. Now we've seen this before too. The church
07:33 members are the ones who are doing this work. The church is
07:36 moving and growing powerfully under the work of the church
07:40 members so much so that news travels back to headquarters and
07:44 they send somebody to come and check out what's going on in the
07:48 church. That's right. And if we look
07:50 here in verse 22 after it says they sent out Barnabas, it says
07:54 a little bit about what happens. Verse 23: When he came and had
07:58 seen the grace of God, he was glad and encouraged them all
08:01 that with purpose of heart they should continue with the Lord.
08:05 You know, we should be excited when we see the success of
08:09 others, rather than being jealous or competitive. I'm so
08:12 thankful for the large- heartedness of Barnabas to see
08:16 that I may not have been the one who did all this but I'm
08:19 encouraged, I'm excited about this.
08:22 Not only that, I'm going to roll up my sleeves and get in there
08:24 and work with them. You want to help them. That's
08:26 right. It says in verse 24, For he was a good man, full of the
08:30 Holy Spirit and of faith and a great many people were added
08:33 to the Lord. Then it says, Barnabas departed for Tarsus
08:37 to seek Saul, and when he had found him, he brought him to
08:41 Antioch. So it was that for a whole year they assembled with
08:44 the church and taught a great many people and the disciples
08:48 were first called Christians in Antioch. Now you know a couple
08:52 things stand out to me here. He's encouraging these lay
08:56 people but just because the members at large, as we were
09:01 called back in Acts chapter 8 this group that was scattered
09:04 was all of those who were in the church except the apostles.
09:08 So all of these church members who were not in leadership are
09:12 the ones who are spreading the word. They are here now
09:14 spreading the word in Antioch, but the leaders still have a
09:18 role to play and they are to cooperate with these lay people
09:22 but their role is a little bit different than what we often
09:27 see today. It appears that their role is almost like that of a
09:31 foreman who ensures that the work is being accomplished and
09:36 that help is being given and work is being provided but not
09:40 necessarily doing all the work themselves. So Barnabas and Paul
09:45 they didn't do all the work themselves but they were
09:47 orchestrating the work, they were helping to manage the work,
09:50 they were encouraging the work, they were resourcing the work,
09:54 all those types of things. But then there came a time when
09:58 their teaching abilities and qualities were going to be
10:01 needed too. So they're pulled into the mix and spend a whole
10:06 year teaching the people. So these lay people brought them
10:10 to an understanding of Christ and conversion and the church
10:14 was growing but then to get a little more depth these leaders
10:18 came in and added some teaching. It's amazing that in this
10:22 passage it says that the disciples were first called
10:25 Christians in Antioch. You know it takes me back up to verse 20
10:30 where it says that some of them were from Cypress and Cyrene,
10:35 etc. And it finishes saying that they were preaching the Lord
10:40 Jesus. So everywhere that these church members went they were
10:44 proclaiming and as we've said before, preaching is not
10:47 standing behind a pulpit, but preaching is simply sharing the
10:51 word. Sharing what God has done for you in the word, how he has
10:55 convicted your heart. So here we find that these early believers
10:59 were sharing the word so much and they had Jesus on their lips
11:03 so much that they said, Ah these Christ-ians, these
11:07 Christians. It was a slur.
11:08 It was, it was. It was a negative because of how much...
11:11 how fanatical they seemed to be about Jesus. But they liked it.
11:16 And we still do. Call me a Christ-ian.
11:17 Praise the Lord for it. Verses 27-30 just kind of segue into
11:23 chapter 12 and it brings up a couple interesting point.
11:26 It says, In these days prophets came from Jerusalem to Antioch
11:29 and it talks about one of them, Agabus, foretelling a famine.
11:32 And then verse 29 says, The disciples each according to his
11:35 ability determined to send relief to the brethren dwelling
11:38 in Judea. So we see that spirit of sacrifice. It's important to
11:43 note as we have earlier that in the end of time the book of
11:47 Revelation speaks of a remnant, that God's church at the end of
11:51 time will be a portion that will be like what we found here in
11:55 the beginning. So Acts gives us a model. And we found prophets
11:59 in the early church right here and the Bible says that one of
12:03 the characteristics of God's last day church is the gift of
12:06 prophecy. We see the spirit of sacrifice. We ought to see that
12:09 today in the church, too. We ought to see that in our own
12:13 lives more often. That leads us then into chapter 12 where we
12:17 see that Herod is not happy with what is happening here among the
12:22 church. No, no, not at all. If you look
12:24 in chapter 12 beginning with verse 1, it says, Now about that
12:29 time Herod the king stretched out his hand to harass some
12:33 from the church. Then it goes on in verse 2 to say, then he
12:37 killed James the brother of John with the sword. Now this is some
12:42 major harassment but I think it's noteworthy here that when
12:46 it talks about harassing some from the church, you know, when
12:51 we become Christians there is no way that we can escape, if we're
12:56 going to be true to God, there is no way that we can escape
12:59 being harassed in one form or another. Ridicule,
13:03 misunderstanding. There are so many ways in which this
13:08 harassment happens to us even today. You know, the apostle
13:12 Paul says all who desire to live Godly in Christ Jesus will
13:16 suffer persecution. When we see all of this persecution in the
13:19 early church, there's a reason for that. It's because they were
13:23 faithful. It's because they spoke the word with boldness,
13:27 it's because they were actively pressing forward the work and
13:31 if we take hold of that work, if we see lay people and
13:36 ministers alike working together under the operation of the Holy
13:40 Spirit, if we see fidelity and faithfulness to God in standing
13:45 for biblical principle and biblical practices, we're going
13:48 see persecution again, we're going to see harassment again.
13:52 Well we need to talk about this especially this martyrdom of
13:56 James the brother of John but we are now at our time for our
14:00 break. So stay tuned and we'll be back with you in just a few
14:04 moments.


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Revised 2014-12-17