Participants: Jim & Mark Howard
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. |
Revised 2014-12-17