44 Acts 16 - Pastor Chuck Smith - C2000 Series

shall we turn now in our Bibles to the sixteenth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles we remember at the end of our study last week there arose a contention between Paul and Barnabas who had been close companions on the first missionary venture of the church but because mark I mean because Barnabas was insisting on taking his nephew John Mark who deserted Paul and Barnabas on the first trip Barnabas was wanting to take him on the second trip and Paul was objecting because of his defection on the first trip they had a dispute over this contention so great that Barnabas took mark and headed off for Cyprus and so Paul took Silas and they headed for Asia Minor so in chapter 16 then he Paul and Silas came to Derbe and Lystra Derby was one of the few places where Paul had a very peaceful uneventful kind of a ministry it didn't end with a riot or with Paul getting jailed or stoned or anything he was able to leave town fairly peacefully which was unusual for his ministry but then they came to Lystra where Paul was stoned and thought to be dead and drugged out of town thinking that he was dead and behold there was a certain disciple there named timotheus the son of a certain woman which was a Jewess who was a believer and his father was a Greek now this second coming of Paul to Lystra was probably some five years after his first visit when he was stoned coming back to that place where he had planted a church five years later it was no doubt extremely encouraging to Paul to see that there was a church continuing in that area they were going on in the lord jesus said to his disciples you have not chosen me but I have chosen you and ordained you that you should be my disciples and that you should bring forth fruit and that your fruit should remain and a very important part to any ministry is the remaining fruit it's not really how many people you can get excited and make a commitment to Jesus Christ five years later how many people are still going on with the Lord that's what really counts and coming to Lystra they found this certain disciple Timothy who probably had accepted the Lord five years earlier under Paul's ministry there in his first journey but now of course in the five years he's grown up he's matured and here he is a faithful disciple his mother a Jewess his father a Greek and he received good reports about Timothy from the Brethren that were there in Lystra and Iconium he came highly recommended and Paul wanted Timothy to join them now earlier Paul had had mark on the journey it was handy to have these young men with a lot of energy and enthusiasm going along and also I'd be there was that desire to disciple Timothy I think that discipleship is a very important part of the ministry when God is blessed and used a person in the ministry I think that they if they are wise will always be looking towards the next generation I have a very keen interest in young people in young people who have those god-given abilities anointings upon their lives I like to invest time with them because they are going to be carrying on when we're carried off and I'm concerned that the work of God go on and so Paul no doubt had asked Timothy to go thinking of the fact that he wasn't going to be there forever and the training of these young men to carry on the work once they are gone so Timothy became a companion of Paul in 6 of Paul's epistles as he opens the Epistle he includes Timothy in the greetings Paul writes two epistles to Timothy Paul speaks of the help that Timothy was to him he asked that they would send Timothy to him speedily bringing some of the documents and all that he was desiring and so there came a very close relationship between Paul and Timothy who Paul call my own son in the faith so Timothy was one of Paul's converts but then he was also tutored by the Apostle Paul so Paul would have him to go forth with them and they took and circumcised him because of the Jews which were in those quarters for they all knew that his father was a Greek and as they went through the cities they delivered them the decrees for to keep that were ordained of the Apostles and the elders which were at Jerusalem now what were these decrees from the Apostles in Jerusalem that you as a Gentile don't need to be circumcised to be saved and so it is interesting that Paul had circumcised or had Timothy circumcised when they are then going right out and telling the Gentiles you don't have to be circumcised in order to be saved this was the decision of the church in Jerusalem then why is it that we have a paradox why would them Paul see that Timothy was circumcised I am certain that it was just that beautiful adaptability of Paul not wanting to create a greater havoc than already existed among the Jews who knew that Timothy's father was a Greek and so rather than just having a hassle with him it was go ahead and do it what difference does it make it you know it doesn't matter go ahead and for the sake of these contentious brethren go ahead and and be circumsized it was as Paul wrote later I have learned to become all things to all men that I might gain the more to the Jew I became as a Jew to those that are free from the law became as one who is free from the law all things to all men and I think that this is just a part of Paul's philosophy and I think that it is a good philosophy as he wrote to the Romans live peaceably with all men as much as lieth in you as far as is possible on your part live at peace with all men and if some issue comes up in it you know it's no big deal that you go along with it instead of you know making a big issue and creating a big scene over it just be cool and flow with it you know and and this was Paul's philosophy just to get along as best as possible now when it came to a thing of conscience or faith then you stand your ground now when the church in Jerusalem was trying to throw the law upon the Gentiles Paul stood his ground when Peter there in the Church of Antioch who was eating with the Gentiles until certain brothers came down from Jerusalem and then Peter separated himself and wouldn't eat with the Gentiles and it caused a division there in Antioch Paul said I was stood him to the face because he was at fault creating this division by his separating himself from the Gentiles as though there were in Christ some division between Jew and Gentile so on a matter of principle a matter of conviction stand your ground but where you know there's no big deal slowly they go for it you know and just to keep peace among the Brethren I think that that was no doubt Paul's philosophy behind the circumcision of Timothy when they are carrying the very message from the church in Jerusalem you don't have to be circumcised if you're a Gentile and keep the law in order to be saved so just because they knew that he was a is father was a Greek Paul had him take the right of circumcision just to keep peace so they went through the cities delivering the decrees from the church in Jerusalem and so were the churches established in the faith and they increased in number daily the early church was a powerful Church it was a successful church and as we will soon see it was a church that was under the direct governing power of the Holy Spirit he was guiding the activities of the early church and I believe that that was the reason for success it was a tragic day when in the church man decided to substitute the work of the Holy Spirit with his own work Paul wrote to the Galatians later o foolish Galatians who hath bewitched you that you would so soon turn from the truth having begun in the spirit will you now be made perfect in the flesh and I'm sure if Paul were writing to the general Church today the old church he would write an epistle to the Church of Jesus Christ of the 20th century o foolish people who hath bewitched you that you should turn from the truth having begun the church having begun in the spirit do you think that you can perfect it complete it in the flesh and yet when we look at the church today and we see all of the man-made programs all of the fleshly hype I'm hyped to death when I turn on television or when I listen to the radio or some thank you brother whoever you were put me on the mailing list of some of these high-powered evangelists who have more gimmicks than I can believe to get me to send them an offering I can't you just can't believe well I don't want to get into that now these churches without the programs the pressures without all of these modern conveniences and assists that we have today we're increasing day they just as the result of the Word of God being taught and the Fellowship of the body growing there was their numbers increased daily now when they had gone throughout her Gaia and the region of Galatia they were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia and after they were come to Messiah they attempted to go to bethey Nia but the spirit would not allow them and so they passed by Messiah and came down to Troas now Paul is trying to move north into Asia but every attempt he makes is being blocked by the spirit now it is interesting that it tells us that the Spirit forbid them to go and preach the word in Asia the spirit would not allow them to go to bethey Nia how is it that the spirit forbidden by what process it is interesting they do not tell us by what process was there a word of prophecy that came surely Paul would have had to have been assured that the prophecy was from the Lord because he was a strong-willed person how did the Spirit forbid them we really don't know many believe that the Spirit forbid them through Paul's sickness that Paul was just too sick to travel now you remember when Paul wrote to the Galatians he said you remember how that when I was with you notice they were passing through Galatia here how I ministered to you out of great weakness physical infirmity and you showed such great love and concern for me because of my physical infirmities I think that that does give us a very strong hint of the method of the Lord in stopping Paul it is interesting as I said he was a very stubborn kind of a person I mean he was one that was hard to stop when he wanted to do something he was going to do it no matter what when he was determined to go back to Jerusalem there was no stopping him his friends when the prophecy came and said you know you're going to be imprisoned when you get to Jerusalem and his friends began to weep and say Oh Paul don't go they're gonna throw you into Ellie's and hey what do you mean by these tears you're trying to dissuade me don't you realize I'm not afraid of being thrown in jail I'm ready to die for Jesus in Jerusalem so you just don't stop those fellows with the tap on the shoulder and say I don't think you ought to go there Paul's an unstoppable kind of a fellow and this is a good characteristic in one sense surely he would not have been able to endure all of the hardships of his missionary ventures had he not had this strong powerful spirit yet our strong points can also sometimes be our weak points and if this strong point is not totally yielded to God then it can become a weak point in my life and it means that when God wants to direct me he has to get pretty tough and it is possible that Paul was so determined to go to Asia that God had to put him on his back and make him so sick he couldn't get out of bed and after several days in bed not able hardly to roll over he said well the Spirit forbid us to go to Asia and so then we attempted to go to bath in iya but the spirit would not allow us and so we went on to Troy so there at Troy's Paul had a vision and there appeared to Paul in the night a man of Macedonia and he prayed to him saying come over into Macedonia and help us so Paul in the night vision saw this man from Macedonia crying for help and after he had seen the vision immediately we endeavored to go to Macedonia now notice here we have a plural pronoun we you remember that Luke is the author of the book of Acts this is the first time the personal pronoun is used so it is no doubt here at Troas where Luke met Paul and it is very possible that the reason why Luke met Paul is because Luke was a physician and Paul was so sick he was about to die that's one possibility there are others who believe that Luke was the man that Paul saw in his vision crying come over to Macedonia and help us whatever the case may be now Luke turns to the personal plural pronouns because at this point Luke became a companion with Paul notice it in the rest of the verse and after he had seen the vision immediately we endeavored to go into Macedonia assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us to preach the gospel unto them so the way in the US as Luke joins Paul's party at this point God directing Paul's ministry by a vision is one of the ways by which God can direct people into their various ministries I do know of a man dr. Edwards who was the president of a bank in San Jose who committed his life to Jesus Christ and who really felt called of God to serve the Lord and thus he began to take courses and study though he was a bank president to leave the bank to retire from the banking business and to go full-time into the ministry and as he was preparing himself and waiting upon God he received one night a vision of this old gray-haired man standing behind a plow with a field that was only partly plowed and this old man called to him and said come to Panama and help me harvest the souls that are here and so he took that as a call of God studied the Spanish language and then went down to Panama to carry the gospel to the Panamanians he established a very successful work in Panama City and one evening he received a call from one of the doctors at the hospital there in Panama and he said we have an old man who doesn't seem to have any friends or family and he's dying and we thought it might be well if there were a minister here to just talk to him he seems to be delirious and so dr. Edwards went to the hospital and when the nurse led him to the room to his amazement the old man was the man he saw in his vision and he became very curious about this old man and so he began to inquire and they found out that he was a Cumberland Presbyterian missionary they really didn't know much of what was accomplished through his work there but dr. Evers was so amazed that here is the very same man he saw in his vision in San Jose when he felt the call of God to go to Panama and he felt really that he was completing the harvest that this man had begun who had established just a few mission stations out in the bush of Panama so God is not limited by his means I have never had a vision nor was I directed by a angel or vision or whatever to go into the ministry God's call upon my heart was different I just felt a strong urge to go into the ministry God just placed a deep desire in my heart to commit my life to Him and so I always thought it would have been exciting had the Lord sent some angel along or had given me some vision and there had been some dramatic experience of which I could testify to you tonight of how God came to me in the night hours and suddenly the room began to glow with a strange incandescent you know and and all of this and I heard this voice I Chuck you know I want you you know but nothing like that happened to me it was interesting when I was in Bible College I met several young people who did testify of these kind of experiences and I was always extremely fascinated by their testimonies however just as a point of interest all of those fellows who had these remarkable testimonies I don't know of any of them who are still in the ministry today I think that emotions are great to have a strong emotional experience in your relationship with God is wonderful I have had some pretty powerful emotional experiences in my worship of God but yet it is more important even than a powerful emotional experience is to found my life upon the word and my faith upon the word our faith has to be established in fact God's Word is the fact upon which my faith is established and that way my faith never wavers because God's Word never changes now if I am founding my faith in some experience that I have had then I'm in dangerous water because I may get another contrary experience or the experience conveyed emotions can wane but the Word of God remains and thus my faith must be established in God's Word and my ministry must be established according to the Word of God not according to some exciting remarkable you know fiery letters in the sky that I saw at one time when I was watching a sunset so Paul was directed by this vision he sought immediately to answer it therefore loosing from trow as we came in a straight course to semeth Razia and the next day to Neapolis the winds were with them and they headed straight across from Troas to Neapolis which was the port city of Philippi it took them only two days they had good winds they were carrying them the direction they wanted to go later Paul made the same crossing it took five days but God is guiding him now to Macedonia he endeavors to obey the call of God the winds are with him and he comes right across to Macedonia sometimes as we're serving the Lord the winds are with us things go smooth we're cooking right along other times hey it's a heavy push all the way you know it seems like you're rolling all the way the wind is against you but it doesn't mean that I'm out of the will of God because it is difficult now and I cannot really just say well God which direction you want me to go you know and try to determine which way is the wind blowing and then head that direction now from Neapolis they went to Philippi which of course was a Roman colony Philip I was an important city in history this is where Brutus was defeated by oh that consort of Cleopatra Mark Anthony in that critical battle there at Philippi and so they were in that city abiding certain days so they're now in a whole new environment people are there in degrees there into Europe it's different from the aging culture and they're just there for several days doing reading nothing but on the Sabbath day we went out of the city by a Riverside where prayer was want to be made and we sat down and spake unto the women which resorted thither now the fact that there was no synagogue in Philippi indicates that there were not ten adult Jewish males in the town whenever in any city there were ten adult Jewish males they would have a synagogue in the towns where they had less than that number of adult Jewish males not enough to have a synagogue then they usually would meet by a river for prayer and they would go through the Sabbath prayers by a river and so Paul found out where they were meeting and he went down and evidently there weren't any Jewish men believers just women that were there and so Paul sat down and he spoke to the women which had gathered there by the river to pray and a certain woman named Lydia a seller of purple who was from Tyra Tyra she was actually from Asia which worship God heard us whose heart the Lord opened that she attended unto the things which were spoken by Paul and when she was baptized and her household she begged us saying if you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord come into my house and abide and she constrained us now notice she was a seller of purple and I might say she no doubt was a very successful businesswoman notice the way she puts the pressure on Paul and the Bharti now if you have counted me worthy then come and stay at my house well you know if you don't stay then you're saying no woman you're not worthy you know I've and and so she puts it in such a way she no doubt was a very good salesperson she was surely able to put the pressure on Paul in the party if you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord then come and stay at my house and she constrained us and so it came to pass as we went to prayer a certain damsel who was possessed with a spirit of divination Medus which brought her masters much gained by her soothsaying and the same followed Paul and us and cried saying these men are the servants of the Most High God which show unto us the way of salvation and she did this for many days but Paul being grieved turn and said to the spirit I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her and he came out the same hour and when her masters saw that the hope of their prophets were gone they caught Paul and Silas and drew them into the marketplace under the rulers and they brought them to the magistrate saying these men are Jews and they are exceedingly troubling our city and they are teaching customs which are not lawful for us to receive neither to observe being Romans and the multitude rose up together against them and the magistrates tore off their clothes and commanded that they be beaten and when they had laid many strikes upon them they cast them into prison charging the jailer to keep them safely who having received such a charge thrust them into the inner prison and made their feet fast in the stocks so opposition arises in this time from a little different reason there was this girl possessed by a spirit by which she could tell fortunes there were men who controlled her they made a lot of money off of her fortune-telling ability in those days people had a strange respect for the insane they believed that the gods had taken their minds from them and replaced them many times with the minds of the gods and so the people had sort of a strange reverence towards the insane this young lady possessed by this spirit able to tell fortunes able to divine things was declaring the truth about Paul and his company she said these men are servants of the Most High God and they show unto us the way of salvation now she's really advertising for them what she is saying is true but Paul doesn't want Satan running his advertising campaign again I think that there is a danger of the church seeking to emulate the world in its advertising campaigns doing it the way of the world following the worldly patterns it is indicative of the church today in many quarters to hire professionals to come in for church growth programs and there are professionals who will come in and they get a percentage for as many members as they can add to the church they get so much for each member they can add to your church there are those professional fundraisers who will come into the church and they will raise the church budget for you by going around contacting all of the people and putting the pressure on them for their pledges to give this you know so much the church this year and then you set it all up on a computer program and if you don't get your pledge in this month you start getting letters you know we missed your pledge the church is depending upon your promise to give so much and our whole spending is you know predicated upon that and you have missed and you know and and you start getting all his head and it's really following the worldly patterns Paul wanted nothing to do with advertisement from this quarter so he commanded the spirit to come out of her he was grieved over this experience it was it was a hard thing and so when those men who were profiting off of her ability saw that she was healed they were upset isn't it isn't that terrible that that men would be so mercenary that they would be upset because this young girl was set free from this tragic experience that she had being possessed by an evil spirit at any rate Paul's in jail thrown into the dungeon the inner prison his feet his feet or fast in the stocks and that midnight Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises unto God and the prisoners were listening to them I imagined that they weren't too happy with them singing at midnight and they probably wonder what kind of nut said they'd thrown in here but yet what a witness to these men they have been beaten they had laid many stripes upon them doesn't say anything about them washing their backs washing the blood and all off but just thrown into this filth infested dungeon tied to the stalks and rather than just you know here you are you're my so far from home you're in a different culture in a different territory you don't know what your future is it's midnight and usually that's the darkest hour of the day you know and here they are praising the Lord singing together praises unto God and praying and suddenly there was a great earthquake so that the foundations of the prison were shaken and immediately all of the doors were opened and everyone's bands were loosed and the keeper of the prison when he awoke out of his sleep when he saw the prison doors open he drew out his sword and was going to kill himself because if the prisoners escaped he was held responsible for them and would have been put to death and he had supposed that all of the prisoners had escaped but Paul cried with a loud voice saying do thyself no harm we are all here and so he called for a light and he sprang in and came trembling and he fell down before Paul and Silas and he brought them out and said sirs what must I do to be saved you know I believe that the Lord allowed Paul and Silas to be put in jail just to reach this man and when you get to heaven and you say do you think that that's fair Paul that God allowed you to get beat like that and and thrown in prison just so that jailer could get saved you think God's fair doing that to you I think as Paul will point out on it there he is over there and there's his family not only was he saved his whole family say hey you bet I gladly do it in order that I might have him as my eternal brother here in God's kingdom and I really believe that God was just reaching this Philippian jailer and that was the reason why he allowed Paul to be in prison what must I do to be saved Paul said join the church pay your tithe believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved you mean that's all that's all believing in Jesus Christ God has made it so simple there's no excuse for anyone not being saved Paul added and thy house now there are some people who take this as a promise of the scripture claiming their salvations family because Paul added and thy house I do not believe that this is solid enough scriptural base to establish a doctrine I believe that Paul could have been speaking here a word of prophecy there are indications that even Paul's own house was not saved I do believe that we are to pray and to believe God for the salvation of our families and I strongly encourage each of you to continue to pray for those your loved ones your kin who are not yet saved and to believe and trust God for their salvation but I do not believe that you can use this as a scriptural base to claim their salvation as some do because it said and they spake unto him the word of the Lord and to all that were in his house so they witnessed not only to him but to his family and he took them the same hour of the night and he that is the jailer took them and he washed their stripes and he was baptized he and all of his so his whole family was baptized and when he had brought them into his house he set meat before them and rejoiced believing in God with all of his house so there was salvation of all of his house but they all believed and all were baptized now when it was day the magistrates sent the sergeants saying let those men go and the keeper of the prison told this to Paul he said the magistrates have sent to let you go therefore depart and go in peace and here is Paul stubborn that's coming out now oh I I really more than excuse Paul I say alright go for it Paul in this case he's doing what I would have no doubt done under the same circumstances Paul said unto them they have beaten us openly uncondensed and they have cast us into prison and now do they think they're going to just let us go privately no way let them come down themselves and fetch us out so the sergeant's told these words to the magistrates to the judges and they feared when they heard that they were Roman citizens the actions that they were tipped that were taken against Paul were thoroughly unlawful to take against a Roman citizen now this was a Roman colony they prided themselves in being a Roman colony following Roman justice but my if word gets back to Rome that they have beaten and thrown in prison a Roman citizen without any charges against them they could be immediately dismissed from their positions of authority so they were really afraid and Paul had them where he wanted them let him stew and so they came and begged them and brought them out and desired that they would depart out of the city hey fellas do you mind his leaving town and so they went out of the prison and entered into the house of Lydia and when they had seen the Brethren they comforted them and departed now a good strong church was established in Philippi and later as Paul is in prison in Rome he writes to the church in Philippi and having dealt here with the beginning of the church in syllabi as extra-credit this week read the Epistle to the Philippians and these are the people that grew out of this work that Paul established in Philippi

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Length: 50min 45sec (3045 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 11 2013