← ArchiveSunday, July 6, 2014DateJuly 6, 2014Speaker—TextActs 16Passages in this sermonActs 161:26TranscriptClick any line to jump there.0:00Amen. That's young Ethan Johnson, and his dad was playing the drums, and his mother was playing the whatever, keyboard. And Ethan has grown up in this church, and I thought0:27about Keith. You know, I remember back when he all used to sit right back over in there, and he stood up most of the service in the pew, but I started to just stand up in the pew just to let him know what it felt like. Where did he go? Okay. But anyway, you've got so much to praise the Lord about today, and I know you do. Thank God for that,0:57and what a joy it is. One of our own young people, and that just goes to show you what good mom and dad can do, what a good minister of students can do, and impression of a strong youth group can do. So I praise the Lord for what God is doing in the life of so many of our young people. If you have your Bibles with you this morning, I want you to open with me to Acts chapter 16. Acts chapter 16.1:26Last week, you opened the Word, and we talked about Jonah. And this kind of runs alongside of that, the same theme, the same ideology of the passages. Last week, Jonah was a prophet, a preacher, who, when God called him to do a specific task at a specific place, decided that he was not going to do that, and he's going to run from God. And the Bible literally says, and he was seeking to go where1:56God wasn't, which was foolish for him to even think that he, a prophet could, or that anyone could ever go where God wasn't. But you know the story of how Jonah took off to Tarshish and got in the boat, boat. And down in the belly of that boat, he was so comfortable with his position that he fell asleep. Now, that speaks volumes to me, that we ourselves can find ourselves in a boat from time2:20to time in life, find ourselves in a position or a place in life where we become so comfortable that we just go to sleep. Well, the storms came, and everybody around Jonah were disturbed by the storms because they were swamping the boat. It's amazing they had to go down and wake him up. They go down and they wake him up. They explain the situation to him and ask him to pray to his God like they've2:46been praying to their gods. And Jonah determined that he'd tell them that it's probably my God that's doing this, and he's doing this because of me, and the only way this is going to stop is if you throw me overboard. And you know, I don't remember them voting on that. They grabbed him and tossed him. And the seas calmed. And then we see the grace of God, God's beautiful grace that while this is a rebellious prophet that is not willing to adhere to God's call and purpose in his life, swallows him up3:15with a great fish. Not a whale, but a great fish. And this fish swallows him up whole. And so Jonah finds himself in a very dark place for a period of time. And during that time, he cries out to God. And that's a beautiful message in itself. There we find that when we find ourselves in dark places as children of God, God may have just swallowed us up for a moment to get our attention. And if we cry out, he'll hear us.3:44And he heard Jonah. And the Bible tells us that the whale, or the whale, the fish threw him up, vomited him up on dry ground. Don't get caught up in all that. The thing is, is that God didn't change his plan for Jonah's life. God didn't say, "Well, Jonah, you missed out on going to Nineveh, so now I'm going to send you somewhere else." He said, "Jonah, if you're going to stay my prophet, you're going to4:12have to keep doing what I purpose for you to do to begin with. And you still got to go to Nineveh. And you're still going to have to preach to all those pagans in Nineveh, because they've gotten my attention with their wickedness." And so now we come to the New Testament in Acts chapter 16. We don't have a Jonah, but we have a Paul. And we already know about Paul's conversion. He's already been converted. He's already been preaching. He's already been teaching. He's been making a difference for4:40God. He has been that prophet that God meant for him to be when God redeemed him on the Damascus road. And now Paul is in a place in his life where he's following God wherever God leads him. And we come to Acts chapter 16, beginning in verse 1, "And Paul came also to Derbe and to Lystra, and a disciple5:00was there named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer. But his father was a Greek. And he was well spoken of by the brethren who were in Lystra and Iconium." Just quickly, the Bible literally tells us that Timothy got Paul's attention not because his mother was Jewish and his dad was Greek, but because he had a5:28powerful testimony. I want to tell you something today. That is very important for people of God to have powerful testimonies. Not just somebody who stands up and brags on themselves because of who they are, but they live their life in such a way that other people are bragging to God about their testimony. Other people are talking about what they are doing. And I'm sure it was like this, you know, you've seen that5:56Timothy? He's a young man. Yes, but have you seen how much he loves God? Have you seen that boy? He don't ever take his eyes off the scriptures. He's always seeking to follow God. It's amazing how much, how committed he is to the calling of God in his life. And they're back and forth. And so Paul sees this in young Timothy's life. He wants this from young Timothy. And so he goes to Timothy and he says,6:20I want you to go with me as I go about preaching. Now, at this point, all Paul is doing is going from from one Jewish community to the other taking the gospel. And now he's picking up a Greek and a Jew. And there's some significance to that because there was such prejudice in the day of Paul that the Greeks were not looked highly upon by the Jewish people. And the Jewish6:48people were not looked highly upon by the Greeks. But it's interesting that in a couple of places in scripture, we have a Greek marrying a Jew. And so in this case, they married and they had young Timothy. And verse three says, Paul wanted this man to go with him. And he took him. And I want you to notice he circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those parts for they all knew that his7:15father was a Greek. So Paul knew that we're going to cut back on some problems here. We'll go ahead and do this. And so now while they were passing through the cities, they were delivering the decrees. They were preaching. They were teaching what the apostles had taught them. That's delivering the decrees, which had been decided upon by the apostles and the elders who were in Jerusalem. They're still working under the authority of the Jerusalem church for them to observe. So the churches were being7:45strengthened in the faith and were increasing in number daily. They were doing a good work. And they passed through Fijian and Galatian region having been forbidden, isn't this interesting, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. They had determined that they would go8:08there. But God has determined that they wouldn't go there. You know, you remember Noah. I mean, excuse me, not Noah, but Jonah. You remember Jonah. Jonah determined he had just soon preached his message somewhere else as he had where God wanted him to. But the Holy Spirit had determined that they would not preach the message there. He had forbidden them to speak the word in Asia. And after they came to8:31Messiah, they were trying to go into Bethania. And the Spirit of Jesus did not permit them. They weren't going to go any further. God said, "No." Not unlike Jonah, when God said, "No, you're not going to Tarshish. I have a purpose and a plan." Folks, we need to understand today, God has a specific purpose and plan for our lives.9:01And he doesn't just give us all the same plan, all the same purpose. He doesn't gift us all the same way to do all the same things. Could you imagine if we could all do what Ethan just did at the piano? Well, I'd have a line of people going, "I'm next. I'm next. I'm next." We'd all sit here going, "Whoo." Be like a recital. You know, anybody ever been to a recital when you heard that little girl or that young son playing a piano?9:30I've been to a few recitals back in the early days of my children's lives. And you sat there in a house that's cramped. I bet you the house you wasn't supposed to have but 25 people in it. But this beautiful, sweet piano teacher had a grand piano, and we had 75 people in it. And we had 132,000 children that were going to play their 30 minutes at the piano no matter what. And so we sat there,9:53and our child was next to last. And you know, you're going, what are some of those songs that they play, Kim? It's the same old ones. I mean, you know, it's like, it's not Beethoven, but it's somebody. All classical. I really get into classical music.10:17Now, some of it's good. But when a seven-year-old's playing classical music, and they're just starting to play it on the piano, you know, I don't even know how to pick up good notes and bad notes, but I can tell when something's awry. But the Spirit would not permit them to pass. And then God did what God does. A vision appeared to Paul in the night. A man of Macedonia was standing and appealing to him10:48and saying, "Come over to Macedonia and help us." Can you imagine that? When he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. So putting out to sea from Troas, we ran a straight course to Sermanthras and on the day11:17following to Neopolis and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia, a Roman colony. And we were staying in this city for some days. And on the Sabbath day, we went outside the gate to a riverside where we were supposing that there would be a place of prayer.11:43And we sat down and began speaking to the women who had assembled there. Wow. Just taking in that passage is a powerful thing, folks. I mean, you got a half-Greek, half-Jewish young preacher taken on by Paul, who himself was half-Jewish and half-Greek. And they are making their way through the various12:10villages, discerning where they would go. And then all of a sudden, God stops them from going. And then they stop where they're at in their tracks. And God gives Paul this vision of where he wants him to go. And so they determined that without question, they didn't do like Jonah. They didn't determine that they'd go in the opposite direction or they would force the Asia thing. They had to wait on God for Asia.12:36And Asia would ultimately come. But right now, this vision is a very important one because it has the understanding of a people that need help, Macedonians that need help. And we read where there's a Roman colony. And we read when they get there, they go out to a place where they're going to pray. And God has already gathered a small congregation of women. Now, I'm telling you, that'd be frustrating for any Baptist that you'd ever known, that there wouldn't be nothing but a bunch13:04of women in your Sunday school class. I'm going to tell you, I ain't got nothing but a bunch of women in my Sunday school class. And I love it. I've got, excuse me, I have grown to three men now. And we're continuing to look for whoever would like to come and be a part. You feel free. We meet in the conference room last week. We packed it out. And this week we had a good crowd again. And it's good.13:30You get a good perspective. But there's nothing but women there. But you know, Paul didn't say, well, you know, Timothy, this is not really what I wanted. This is not the crowd that I thought would be here. Besides that, you know, they're not going to have any offering. Let's, no, he said, this must be who God wants us to speak to. Now let's start speaking. And so they did. Three things I want us to note from here. First of all, God's concern.13:58God's concern. You know, we always talk about our concern, but there's God's concern. First of all, there's an extraordinary concern for people. You know, are we not supposed to be concerned about the same things that God's concerned about? Wouldn't you say that if I'm going to be godly, then I need to be concerned about the same things that God's concerned about? And if God's concerned14:26about people, guess what I need to be concerned about? People. And God's concerned about truth. And if God's concerned about truth, then I need to be concerned about what? And we see that God's concerned about truth because Paul determines that while in the Old Testament, there was a law law concerning circumcision that these Jews that they would be preaching to and in the villages that they would be going would have a strong problem with Timothy's great father and lack of circumcision,14:55that Paul doesn't see any need for Timothy to be circumcised so that he can go to heaven. Okay. But he doesn't want to thrust down the throats of those people who've been taught all their life the importance of circumcision. So Paul shows a godly concern for people. And that concern is let's don't shut down the avenue and opportunity for us to share the gospel by not going ahead and following15:22through and taking care of something that we can take care of. And so they circumcised Timothy. And that took away the objection that the Jews would be able to throw at Timothy, being with Paul and taking the gospel of Jesus Christ into the synagogues and into the religious places where the gospel was. So if we want to understand where God wants us to be today,15:48we need to pray, God, give me a concern for people. Can I tell you, I wouldn't want to do what I do without concern for people. People are a very important part. You know, we make fun often. Uh, you know, preachers get together and church staff members get together and they say, you know, ministry would be fun if it weren't for... Why do you think they say that? Is there anything more aggravating than people?16:17I mean, you know, nobody else aggravates you like people aggravate you. But that's a joke. And, and, and it's probably not a good joke, but the reality is God has a concern for people. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. God had a concern for people. You go back,16:45I think it's the 11th chapter of Acts, and you'll find there's a man named Cornelius. He's a devout man. And Cornelius is a man who prays and who gives alms. And God had a concern for Cornelius in such a powerful way that he changes the heart and the teachings of Peter that he's been taught all of his life so that Peter can go to Cornelius and preach the gospel and Cornelius be saved because17:11Cornelius did not have the gospel. He had enough of God's truth that he desired more of God and he desired more of God and he desired more of God, but he was left out the most important desire or thing that he had. And that was a relationship with God through his son, Jesus Christ. You see, you can know all about God and you can want all of God you want, but until you have a personal relationship through the new birth, then you will not know God like God wants you to know him.17:38It's very important. So there's a concern for people. The unity of God's word must be among his people. It was important to Paul that he not give anyone opportunity to throw rocks at what God was doing. And so he followed through with his concern to do that. The unity of God's work was seen among the18:06people. The unity of God's word was seen among the people. If you look, it says the word of God spread, the church was uplifted, encouraged, and everything went well. The church was strengthened in the faith and was increasing in numbers daily. Can you imagine if the church comes together and is so in love with God's word, so in love with, with God himself, and so in love with the people that God places around18:30them. I like to be around people that love me. How about you? Don't you like to be around people that love you? That's just more fun. I like to be around my grandkids more than anybody because they love you with that indefensible love, don't they? I mean, you know, it's pop. You go, woohoo. I'm coming over here 20 times a day just to hear that. And then they get a little older and you walk up and it's like,18:57hey, Pop, I'm going, you're not too old. Come here, big boy. And then you get them sweet ones and they say, it's pop. And they run and you're ready and you grab them because they just, they just love you. And I like sometimes when I've gone away on a trip or something and I get home and it's late and I go19:22in and Gail is asleep and I wake her up and I say, darling, I'm home. She said, oh, I'm so glad you're home. No. The other night I, I was gone for a day and, and I got home and, and she waited up. She said, hey, I just want to wait up. And she got there. She said, how'd your trip go? I said, it went fine. She said, well, tell me about it. I said, well, there's just not a whole lot. I said, well, at least she19:48waited up. There's, there's a love when you show concern and God was concerned about people. Secondly, I want you to notice out of this passage in this Macedonian call, the compassion that God shows. They were seeking to share God's word as they went. The Bible said they had one purpose. And you know,20:12it's really easy to complete one purpose when you've got one purpose. Now I can imagine what it must be like for Dale over here as a UPS man. And he fills his truck up with multiple addresses to people all over. But the one concern that Dale has, just like anyone who works the postman, anyone else, and that is to get the right package to the right people. And I appreciate somebody that can read20:40addresses every now and then you've never been to the mailbox probably. And you've picked up the mail and there was, uh, um, Gail and I live in the same house. We've been living in for about 12 years now. And, and, and we'll get this and it says Diane Jones or Diane Smith. And, uh, and it's the wrong address. I'm going, what about this? Did they not see? It's the wrong mail, the wrong address.21:08Paul went about with compassion, delivering the right message without any duplicity in his heart. In other words, the business of Paul and the business of Timothy was delivering the decrees and the gospel that the apostles and that the elders had given them. You know,21:34that's not too hard for us to understand today that to be real honest about what our purpose is, we can all start with the fact that no matter how young you might be, or no matter how old you might be, the one purpose that is clear from God to all of us is to take the gospel of Jesus Christ to a lost and dying world. The second thing is, is to love each other as we love ourselves so that we can encourage21:58each other by the compassion and the love that we show one another so that we want to go share the gospel of Jesus Christ. And we don't have to worry about thinking about what we need to be doing. We go do what we need to be doing. Make sense? And we're able to do that because God had compassion on us. God moved with compassion among his followers. I think it's awesome that God22:23takes away that one confusing matter in our life. What do I do with my life? What do I do with my life? Where do I go with my life? I believe with all my heart that God is very clear in his purpose and in his desire and in his design for your life. And the bottom line is one phrase and it's very simple22:47and it's just three words. Your purpose and your design once God came into your life was to glorify God. You are to glorify God. You're not to glorify Bethel Baptist Church. You're not to glorify the choir. You're not to glorify the preacher. You're not to glorify yourself. You're not to be glorified.23:14You're to glorify God. And God has had compassion on us when we haven't been about glorifying him. When Jonah did not glorify God because of his disobedience, God showed multiple grace and love toward Jonah and brought him around to where he would glorify him by doing what he called him to do. Paul is called and he is in the throes of compassion as God has laid upon his heart23:43to take the gospel to the world around him. God moved with compassion among the lost with the call of Paul and Timothy. Did you notice how when these men went out so putting out to sea to tro from troas we ran a straight course to to some uh samathrius and on the day following24:11the neopolis and from there to philippi which is the leading city of the district of macedonia a roman colony and we were staying in the city for some days and on the sabbath day we went outside to the gate the riverside where we were supposing that there would be a place of prayer and we sat down and began speaking to the women who had assembled themselves there. They showed great compassion24:35in taking this gospel message. One of the good things that you will find as you continue to study the word of God that these women ultimately become believers and become uh great leaders in their church and in the movement that God established in the early church that ultimately leads to where we are today and what compassion that is but but but this compassion comes back to this25:01when Paul before Paul began his journey and when Paul had determined in his heart that he was going to go to Asia and God through the Holy Spirit had told Paul that he couldn't go to Asia there's a Macedonian that comes into play in Paul's life it's in a vision this Macedonian doesn't have a whole diatribe of of of sermons or or pleas he just says help us can you imagine what it must have been like25:27in the day of Nineveh when the when this city was so wicked and these people were so blinded by sin that their sin rose up to God got God's attention and God said you know I could just blot them out with like I did Sodom and Gomorrah but instead I'm going to have compassion I'm going to get one of my preachers that I've called set aside established trained and prepared to go and preach the gospel to these people25:56and when he wouldn't do it God took him through a trilogy of of disciplines to bring him to the place where God could use him because God had compassion God had compassion on Cornelius God had compassion on on the Macedonians and as we see plays God from whom all blessings flow because he had compassion on us that's the concern that's compassion now folks I want to tell you here may be the most I don't guess26:22there is one more important part than the other but this is a very important part and that's the call the call was from God there was no there was no meeting of the Jerusalem church to determine Paul's direction after they were stopped by the Holy Spirit from going any further Paul's direction now comes26:45from God the Holy Spirit has stood in their way the Holy Spirit has spoken God has spoken he's given the vision God's shown compassion and now there's a call that you're going to go now this call backs up to the beginning of this message and the end that can you imagine what it must have been like for young27:11Timothy who was a great man of God who had put his faith and his trust in the Lord Jesus Christ he knew the Lord he loved the Lord his mother had taught him a lot of godliness and his grandmother the same and he was just doing a great work but God when it came time for Paul to choose young Timothy he said I want you to go with me Timothy I want you to go with me Stuart but before you go you got to get27:37circumcised now that may be all right if you're a very young child and and I'm not saying this to get crude folks I'm telling you this is one of those things that I've had people tell me I'll go preacher but I won't go under these circumstances I want to tell you something until you drop the circumstances and are willing to go don't expect to be where God wants you to be I'll go when it gets more safer God I'll28:03go when the waves are not quite as high God I'll go when I can make it by vehicle God I'll go I'll go if and if and if and I want to tell you something you may live comfortably in the belly of a ship but one of these days God's going to throw you out of that boat into the darkness of the water and he may show you grace by swallowing you up but God's call on your life will be fulfilled if you are his child28:30the only way I know that it might not be fulfilled is if you sin so grievously against God that he has to set you on the shelf or that he takes your life there's the call from God there's the call to Paul now God called Paul now I can't help but think God called Timothy but Paul called Timothy28:57now I'm sure Timothy's waiting on Paul because Timothy's already heard the call of God in his life but God has has undoubtedly laid it on Paul's heart to get Timothy and so the the call keeps going on and if you read first and second Timothy in the scriptures you find that this call that God gave Paul led him to be even a greater disciple to young Timothy later on down the road as Timothy would take over churches29:25and as Paul would write him and help him in establishing leadership in those churches and teaching in those churches understanding all the obstacles that he was going to face but letting him know that he was praying for him in those churches and that he would be there for him always as long as he was on the earth the call from God to Paul the call from Paul to Timothy uh never ceased in their life and it don't29:50cease today God's I believe God's still calling young men to preach I believe God's still calling young men to missions I believe God's calling young ladies to missions I believe God's calling young people to ministry God may be calling you to a particular type of ministry but I want to tell you something whether God calls you to the full-time ministry which is where you would leave and forsake everything30:13and join yourself to a local church and that local church is where you would serve under God God you may be a uh you can be a plumber you can be a doctor you'd be a brain surgeon you'd be a heart surgeon you can be electrician you can be a fireman you can be a policeman and I can go on and on and on and on you can be a salesman and God still has a call on your life to serve him30:39you can be a retired railroad man and find that call from God the call was for a purpose folks listen to me the purpose of God's call in our life is to reach lost people God has a purpose for us to reach lost people now Satan is going to throw every distraction that he can31:06in our way he's going to tell you you're not educated enough to win somebody to Jesus can I tell you that if you know Jesus Christ is your personal savior you're educated enough to win somebody to the Lord Jesus Christ you don't have to know how to read or write to tell somebody how God redeemed you saved you forgave you and established you and called you and set you apart do you know that God has a purpose for our life and that's to glorify him by taking the gospel of31:34Jesus Christ to the uttermost parts of the world the call reached around the world did you know that think about this 2 000 years ago all there was was the Jerusalem church all there was was the apostles and there was one less of them than there was in the beginning and then there were the followers now there were disciples that had fought been following Jesus32:05that that that bound themselves to the apostles as well and we see them in the upper room but they're a small group 100 or so and there might have been other followers of the Lord Jesus Christ before his crucifixion and after his crucifixion that hung in there especially after the great preaching and teaching of the apostles on the day of Pentecost but on that day of Pentecost God might cause the movement that literally begin the spreading of the gospel and the ultimate call of men like Paul and32:33Timothy to take the gospel of Jesus Christ to the uttermost parts of the world and we can go on and on and on and on and it is an amazing message it's an amazing feat when you think about what God did through the lives of a few obedient people who were willing to get out of the boat and go to their Nineveh33:04or to their Macedonia and preach the gospel now that same gospel is here today you see the gospel two thousand years ago hasn't changed today it's the same gospel that God has for your life in my life and that is that I need to I must as a as a lost person years ago I had to come to the place that I realized that I was lost33:30and that I was undone that I needed a savior I needed a savior to forgive me of my sins and come into my life and lead me now he did that at a very early age but you know I thank God that even through the ignorance of youthful lusts and desires and passions God never took his hand off my life it was kind of like yeah I went33:54just like old Jonah did I jumped in the center of a boat and I've jumped in the center of a boat on many occasions I've jumped in the center of the boat because I was in such sin that I wanted to get away from God because I thought maybe in the darkness of that boat I could get away from God and keep on sinning and then there have been times that I've found myself in the center of a boat because it was real comfortable to be there it was real comfortable to be there while everybody else is fighting the34:21the madness of the waves and the storm but I can hide in the boat until God literally calls you out of that boat and into the midst of the very of the very storm that everybody else is fighting the idea is this folks we like Paul like Jonah and like every other prophet that God has ever used must be prepared to heed God's call follow him as believers in Jesus Christ but before you34:47can get that call you must hear the call of God on your heart which is the call of the Holy Spirit to confess Christ as your Lord and Savior and if you are here today and you don't know Jesus Christ as your personal Savior you've never confessed him as the Lord of your life but the Holy Spirit speaking to your35:12heart in such a powerful way if it's so powerful that you cannot say no then I challenge you in this invitation in just a moment to stand up and come and don't be afraid of what God might ask you to do because he might ask you to change your life just like Timothy's life which changed physically as well as spiritually like Paul's life which changed ultimately giving his life for the gospel35:39God I have that call maybe God's led you to this church and you know that being a part of this church is going to call you out of your comfort zone because we don't want you to sit and soak and sour in a pew we want you to get up and be a part of ministry we want you to do something in service for the Lord Jesus Christ because we believe loving the Lord calls us to service for God and God may be calling you out of your comfort zone to do something you never thought you had ever ever could do but I want to tell you36:09something don't put anything past God's ability to use you where you are because that's just the kind of God I serve as he takes the broken and he heals them he takes those with distraught lives and he pieces them back together again and he takes the strong and mighty and he shows them how weak they are but how strong in him they can be however God is speaking to your life today I just challenge you be obedient36:36to what the Holy Spirit is saying to you would you pray with me father as we gather at this moment God this whole time is yours but especially now may your Holy Spirit gently move37:06gently move in our lives God just as you stood against Paul and him going to Asia may you stand against what someone might do or might want to do that you don't want them to or God if your call is for someone to go to Macedonia and that means stepping out of their comfort zone and following you God may they step out of that comfort zone even if it means a life change completely37:36stepping from the comfort of their jobs and positions to follow you God do that Lord we thank you for the open door that you have given our life and God the assurance of your Holy Spirit that Lord you will do what you will do and that God you will use your children one way or the other38:07in Jesus name we pray amen God bless youMore sermons on Acts →
