"A Study of the book of Acts" by Neal Pollard - Part 9

Good morning. We made some trips to Cambodia

and sometimes when you're singing songs that are in a different language

and there's no way for you to figure out if you

could discern the words, it's one of those places where

There's nothing in the characters or in the words that will help you know what

you're singing. And so we sang one song, and afterwards we

asked— it was a real peppy song. We asked one of the preachers there

who could speak English what that song was. And he said, basically,

the gist of it is, be not hesitate. And so don't hesitate,

I guess, is the idea of that. And I thought of that just now when

I stood here and thought, I want to go back and talk to the AV

guys, but I'm sure the bell's going to ring. And so I stood here,

and not only did I waste that minute, but I've now wasted another minute of

yours by telling you that. So be not hesitate. And let's see if it did

what I hoped it would do there. He's going to get that up for us.

We're in Acts, the book of Acts. We're looking at our

study from a little bit different angle. Again, I always

want to remind you that Chris Young did a fantastic job for

2 quarters going through Acts and really laying out for us what

the Holy Spirit through Luke wants us to know about

the history of the church. And that's what the book of Acts provides for us.

And the thing that's remarkable when we're looking at halfway across

the world in a completely different culture with a lot of different cultural

challenges that they faced is how applicable

the book is. And so this quarter, Hiram and I are going through

the book of Acts with a very specific focus

in mind, and that is to look at the challenges that they faced. And if

you'll think about where we've been, there are so many diverse challenges that the church

faced. That we face today. And when we

look at Acts 16 through 18, the first challenge that we looked at in

Acts 16 last week is a challenge with regard

to the church's responsibility to collectively bring along those

who are going to be the leaders of tomorrow, those who are

the raw material of today that God is still at work in, in a way

that he'll have longer to work with them as they mature

and grow in Christ. It seems to me that the challenges that

Paul is going to face in Acts 16, 17, and 18 are

some of the more personal challenges that we have recorded for

us outside of Paul's writings itself. When you think about Paul

writing 2 Corinthians, and we studied that recently, and we came from

the thrust that Christianity is personal, and 2 Corinthians

is one of the most personal letters that he ever writes,

and it's going to be in the general timeframe of the missionary journeys in the

area in which we're looking. And then there's going to be the end of his

life when Paul writes that very personal letter to his son in the faith,

Timothy, in 2 Timothy. But Luke is going to record for us

some of the challenges that Paul himself faces

in the longest missionary journey. It's going to go for such a length, and it's

going to involve so much travel, and you can see that, and that's why

I wanted this map up here to talk about the first challenge

that we see today that we face,

and that is the challenge to submitting to God's

will. It's a very personal challenge. It's not just a

challenge for Paul, it's a challenge for the men who are along with

him, the missionaries, and there's going to be 4 by the time

that we see him arrive on the continent of Europe

to preach the gospel. Why is it

so hard for us to understand what

God's will is. Paul says to the Ephesians, don't be foolish,

but understand what the will of God is. You ever found yourself

in that situation where you're trying to ascertain, what does God

want me to do? Anybody else been there?

How do you go about finding the answer to that?

Okay, all right, you can read the Scriptures.

The Scriptures are going to be of great help. And in fact, we'll come back

to that. That's got to be the anchor point for us to know know what

the will of God is. Don't lean— trust in the Lord with all your heart

and do not lean on your own understanding. I'll come back to that in a

moment. I saw a hand in the back. Hiram? Okay, so I

think that's at the heart of the frustration that we face. There are going

to be elements in what we read in Acts 16 in just a

moment that are different than they are for us because God is going

to directly answer when it's implied

that Paul and the others are wanting to go in a certain direction. Wouldn't it

be nice that you're heading in a certain direction and all of a sudden,

God through the Spirit or through the Son or through the Father says, don't go

there, go there, don't do this, do this,

don't say this, say that. But don't we live in a religious

climate where that's the claim that's made? You ever heard anybody say,

God spoke to me and told me that this is what he wants me to

do. This is— and a lot of times it's, God wants me to enter

into this relationship. Or God wants me to practice this

particular thing. You ever heard a church do that? You ever heard—

I remember when I was living in Virginia that there was a congregation within 3

or 4 hours of us that I was very familiar with, and one of their

members called and said, hey, I'm really troubled by something that the

leadership has kind of been doing here in the last 4 to 6 weeks.

There has been a renewed study by the preacher on the

role of women. In the church. And he shared with

me a bulletin article that they had just printed. The elders' names

were ascribed to that, saying, the Spirit has led us

to this new conclusion. We're going to have an

egalitarian, an expanded role where women are going to serve, and they gave the

various functions. Everything, they said, but serving as elders and

as pulpit preachers. I never did follow the logic on

why they stopped there and why that was unique and special.

But they claimed that the Spirit had led them there.

So you've heard that, you have encountered individuals.

If that's not the case, and we'll talk in a moment why that's not,

and a lot of it hangs on what Miss Dolores said. A lot of times

these decisions, these pieces of guidance that

the Spirit, and it's usually the Spirit or God is sharing,

is in contradiction with what the Spirit revealed in his Word, leading us in

a completely different direction. But that being the case, we grapple

with what Hyrum said. Aren't there times in our lives where

we really don't know? We have the Bible to guide us,

to show us principles that can help us,

but how do we know when God wants us to use our talents in a

particular area? How do we know when

God is leading us in a specific matter of

our life? Where should we live? What job should we have? What ministry

should we engage ourselves in? How should we use our talents in the very best

Shouldn't we be on our knees? Yes.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Absolutely. And so a lot of times— go ahead, Bill.

Yeah, that's good.

So if we're, if we're being transformed by the renewing of our mind and all

this, we're talking about prayer. That's a different discipline than Bible study, and renewing

our mind is kind of a fruit or an outgrowth of that. So God has

left us with tools. We're not in the dark even

if we're not having the skies cleaved and God doing

what he does. In Acts chapter 16, verse 6 through 13,

Acts 16:6–13

we are able to glean

some principles. So let's say in Chuck's example that you pray,

God, which direction do you want me to go? And you're

through praying and you see before you, figuratively speaking,

2 doors and they're wide open.

You've prayed, you've studied God's Word, both of them are in accordance with God's will.

Which one do you choose?

Yes, ma'am. Sure.

He does. All right. So what comes to my mind is Proverbs 16:3,

Proverbs 16:3

commit your work to the Lord and all your plans will be established.

Um, I want to use a personal example only as inasmuch

as it illustrates the point. I don't, don't like to use personal examples, but,

um, 20-something years ago, a little over 20 years ago,

Cathy and I made a trip to Tanzania and we fell in love with that

work. You have some connection with that work through the years.

It's— at that time there was a 20-year plan that was only

2 years into the making and we

had the opportunity to go. The church where I was preaching,

the elders went with us and promised to serve as our overseeing elders if we

went over there and moved to work as missionaries in Tanzania.

It was— there was nothing that we saw. I mean, there were studies and baptisms

happening all the time. The need was apparent,

and there we were in a great work where the—

we felt like the Lord was using us,

and so we were faced with 2 doors, and we went on that trip.

We thought maybe the survey trip will seal it for us, and we'll just

know we need to stay here, or, man, it's so— a

parent that will just go to the next chapter of life and

leave Virginia. Didn't work that way. Did not happen that way at

all. And I remember sitting out on

a lawn chair in our backyard on multiple occasions and

looking up into the clouds and praying

to God in a way I hadn't before and pleading with him. Please let me,

you know, let me see. I don't know if I said, let me see an

elephant-shaped cloud if you would in the next spot. Well, I was saying,

please help me know. Didn't happen.

Didn't hear a word from him outside of

the Word and struggled with that for months and finally made

the decision. And I consulted somebody who pointed

me to Proverbs 16:3 in a way I hadn't seen it before to say,

Proverbs 16:3

and here was the explanation I got and it's lived with me since that time

and maybe it'll help you when you find multiple doors open. If you go through

this door and it honors God's will, then he'll use you

in this way to accomplish this for his kingdom.

But if you'll go through this door, you're still going to be a fruitful contributor

to the kingdom of God, and he's going to accomplish this through

you. You know, if we say the kingdom is bigger than any one of us,

then I knew in my, in my mind that if I left Cold Harbor to

go there, that, that, uh, that work was going to be just fine.

You know, it was on the, on the shoulders of the leadership to, uh,

to continue to do their work and for members to do their work and for

the who comes in to do his work. And I knew that if I didn't

go to Tanzania, that that work would be fine. And it has turned out that

that has been the case. An irony in all that is that less than

2 years later, we moved out to Colorado to the church that worked with all

of those extension schools. So I had an opportunity to teach in those.

You have had moments like that in your professional

life. You've had it in your spiritual life. You've had it in your family

life. To where you needed some help and some guidance?

That's where Paul finds himself. Let's think about it.

He has started this missionary journey. He's left Antioch of Syria and he

has made it to that Iconium and Lystra area where he's picked up Timothy and

he's already got Silas with him. And we're going to see here as he moves

over to Troas that somewhere along the way, he's going to pick up Luke.

He's got a dream team of missionaries and it's like, where can

I use these resources to the glory of God? Now, with that in

mind, with that extensive lead-in, let's look at Acts 16:16.

Acts 16:16

This is Luke's record of the missionaries as they continue

the early part of that second journey. It says, they passed through the Phrygian and

Galatian region, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak

the word in Asia. And after they came to Mysia, they were trying to

go into Bithynia, and the Spirit of Jesus did not permit them.

And passing by Mysia, they came down to Troas. And a vision appeared to

Paul in the night. A man of Macedonia was standing and appealing to

him and saying, come over to Macedonia and help us.

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. And so putting

out to sea from Troas, we ran a straight course to Samothrace,

and on the day following to Neapolis, 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.

And we sat down and began speaking to the women

who had assembled. Now, as I have this map

up here, and I've never used the laser. I don't know if there's— is there

a laser on this? There is. All right, so Paul has left

here in Syria, Antioch, and he has gotten over here to Lystra

and Derbe and Iconium in this area right here in

green in the Galatian region. And he wants to know where to

go. Now, Paul is from the eastern— in Tarsus, he's from the eastern part

of the empire. And it seems like that's where he wants to go. And so

the places that he's angling for, particularly Asia, which is modern-day

Turkey, that's where he wants to go. Maybe it's because he's more familiar culturally

with the eastern part of the empire. But what God tells

him through multiple means is, I don't want you to go due north

to Bithynia. You can't go too far south. You're going to be at

the Mediterranean Sea. He doesn't say anything about wanting to go here.

And I don't want you to go through Asia. I want you to go all

the way over to the other side, hundreds of miles, 300 miles to Troas.

Or when they get there, I want you to go over— he has a

vision. I want you to go into Macedonia.

I don't know why God said no to him.

God specifically says, I don't want you to go.

And in fact, here he is with no other direction to go. He's standing

in Troas looking west, and it still takes a vision from God for him to

him to take his missionaries over into the

European continent, into the Macedonian region. By the way, this is that Balkan region.

Some of you guys like to take Viking cruises. I don't know if any of

you have taken any of those, like Bulgaria, Greece, Serbia,

Montenegro, areas that we would be familiar

with today. That's where Paul is led by God

to go. But this is not some obtuse geography

lesson. This is about— the emphasis here

is on divine leading. I want you to notice in verse 6, the Holy Spirit

says no. Verse 7, Jesus says no.

Verse 10, the Father says, yes, I want you to go in

this direction. It's time to tackle a new frontier.

Now, we can surmise that maybe this goes

along with Paul's sentiment. You remember Paul was saying that, I don't like to

take the gospel where it's already been. Well, if you think about Asia,

we're not given the history of that, but is the church established

in Asia, modern-day Turkey? Where do we read about

in detail those churches? There's 7 of them.

Revelation. All right, and so those churches are

established. Perhaps it is that God is saying, I've got John,

I've got others who I will dedicate

to that, although that's a later time period, I know. Somebody's done the groundwork.

And so you get to Troas. Did Paul establish

the church at Troas? I mean, he goes 300

miles and God says, I don't want you to do any work on the way.

You get all the way over to Troas. I don't want you to do any

work here. I want you to heed this vision. I want you to go over

into Macedonia and I want you to preach the gospel there.

Troas appears to have been established in some other way.

Here's how we know. He doesn't stop. At this time. There's no record

of it whatsoever. And then in Acts chapter 20, when he does on the 3rd

Acts 20 · chapter mention

missionary journey go there, the church is well established.

And they stay long enough to partake the Lord's Supper and to worship

with them on that Lord's Day. Now Paul is going to mention the church at

Troas in 2 Corinthians chapter 2, but the

2 Corinthians 2 · chapter mention

church is not established at Corinth yet. That's going to

happen in Acts chapter 18. So I don't believe that Paul had anything to do

Acts 18 · chapter mention

with establishing the church at Troas. So God's saying, I want you to go into

this new frontier. The church is not been established

in Macedonia yet. So, there's the background of that.

And Paul is joined by Luke in

verse 10. We see this. This is just a matter of significance because the narrative

shifts from they to we. It's an interesting

note here before we get some of our application of the overcoming of the challenges.

How do they meet? Why do they meet? That is

Luke and Paul. Perhaps they were looking for a doctor.

Timothy and Paul are both sickly and Luke joins

them, but Luke is a brave coworker. He is stalwart

when others turn their backs on him. 2 Timothy chapter 4 and verse 11,

2 Timothy 4 · chapter mention

Paul is going to say much later, everyone has

forsaken me. Only Luke is with me. He gives a glowing

report of his work in Philemon in verse 24. And so Paul's

companions now include a prophet, a preacher, and a physician, and they're

all committed to a common cause. And that cause is what

brings them to Macedonia. It's a

cause that's supplied by God. Now, here's my question.

Do you ever ask, what's my Macedonian

call? Who is God calling me

to help? I think the very principles that we started

with should be employed. Now, that doesn't mean that every one of us

are looking for a ship to take us 300, 400 miles

somewhere else, to leave this congregation to go and work. It might

be there are individuals in this and other congregations

who are engaged in secular work who, for one reason

or another, develop an interest in, discover a

talent in, feel a desire for doing full-time ministry work and

maybe having those moments. I believe those moments are happening even here.

But is there another way in which you can have a Macedonian call

and never have to leave Bowling Green? If so,

how might that be? Okay.

Financially? Okay.

So that's a great— I would say a place to

go is Romans 12:6-8 and look at the talents

Romans 12:6–8

that exist in the body of Christ and to say, is there

some way that I can be exhorting in this

congregation that I'm not? Is there some way I can be serving in

this congregation that I'm not? Is there some way I could be leading

in this congregation that I'm not? Or adapting

the principle they're preaching or teaching. It's been,

it's been neat to see in the last 6 months several guys who

stand before us who have never taught before, and that in this

classroom and in the other adult classroom.

And maybe they, they had not known that that talent existed

in them. Is that maybe something that should be developed? So there's so many different

areas in which that can go. Yes, ma'am. What's happened that

I will meet somebody or get with someone,

maybe it's someone in the church or, you know, a need that I'm previously

aware of and I realized suddenly that— and

with prayer to help. So there's another variable that as we live

our lives as Christians and we mature, we become more like Christ,

we're renewing our mind, we're in the Word, we are engaged in prayer,

And that we are— keep our hearts sensitive because it's easy for

us to see opportunities and to turn our heads the other way,

and some do. But when we are made aware of something

that may be a Macedonian call— and by the way, it may not be an

area that's glamorous or an area that we might desire, but it may be a

needed area where God is calling us. It was a very direct call

in Acts 16:6-13. It's indirect in that we

Acts 16:6–13

are leaning on the providence of God, which is active and is at work.

Even if it is subtle and invisible and unseen,

so often we say, just look back and see God's

guidance and his deliverance into a

particular area or away from another. And I know it's

a well-worn adage, but I think it's true. Sometimes we can't see that

leading, that direction, that providence in the glass

ahead of us. It's by looking into the the rearview mirror, not the windshield.

And so here are individuals who God leads and

they accept the responsibility God gives them and the church

is established on an entire continent. Yes, sir.

No. Well, and have you

heard individuals say that there are going to be a lot of us who are

in heaven and there are those individuals who come up to us and who and

speaking to us say, I don't think I'd be here if

it wasn't for you. And maybe you had no idea of the word of encouragement

that you gave when they were just about ready to give up.

Or if you had a difficult

conversation with them that did not seem on the surface to have

gone well, maybe they left angry and you never knew how that went. And you

know what? They might've moved somewhere else, matured in Christ, and became faithful.

And what's even cooler than that is the thought that when they repented and were

restored, they went on to lead others to Christ, and maybe

you get introduced to them. And so, we're not aware— if our mindset is

that we are trying to live our lives according to God's will and we're

trying to look for the doors that he is opening, even if we can't see

the impact of it now, we can look back ultimately, if not

before, and we can see him at work. If we don't act, There's nothing to

look back and see for sure. Yes, sir. You said that it made— that

where we're called glamorous place, we don't have a

book of Athenians or Syracusans, but we do have one to the

Philippians, to the people of Philippi. That's right. Philippi was a backwater.

Yep. Yep. And we'll see starting tonight how

much that's the case for sure. All right. So here's a question before we

leave this. What is Cumberland Trace?

What is your mission? What's mine?

Where is our field? Have we asked God?

Are we checking on doors? Are we trying to go where he leads,

and are we going where he wants? How often do you pray

about this? It may not be where we prefer to go,

but where he wants us and where he needs us.

And I think it's encouraging for us to have Acts 16:6-13

Acts 16:6–13

in Scripture so we can look and see the mind of

God and what His desires are. And it goes back to something

Russell said. His desire, no matter what it is that we're doing in our Christian

lives, is that souls be saved through that. So all roads should

lead us in that direction. All right, any other

thoughts about Acts 16:6-13? I have the perfect

Acts 16:6–13

ability to leap past Acts 16:14 to

Acts 16:14

the rest of the chapter because We are going to actually look at that tonight

in our End of the Word study. So let's go into Acts chapter 17

Acts 17 · chapter mention

for just a moment.

Here we have the challenge of meeting different reactions to the gospel.

In Acts chapter 17, it is devoted to the missionaries' work in 3 cities,

Acts 17 · chapter mention

and they are Thessalonica, Berea, and Athens. And really,

it is dedicated to the work of the mission team in those first 2 places,

in Thessalonica and then Berea. And then it's a focus on Paul's

work in Athens by himself, which has a little mini

challenge as a part of this great challenge in Acts chapter 17.

Acts 17 · chapter mention

They're not going to rejoin him until Acts chapter 18 and verse

Acts 18 · chapter mention

5 in the city of Corinth. And when we look

at those 3 places, just top of mind, what do you think about with Thessalonica?

Just don't think too deeply about it. What do you think? Okay,

think a little deeper than that. Thessalonica.

Anything.

Okay, alright, so the missionaries had to leave because they were assaulted.

Thessalonians, the Thessalonian people.

Okay, where did Paul talk about that?

Alright, so you think there's 2 letters and there's 2 out of the 27

books of the New Testament that are dedicated to the church at Thessalonica.

All right, so Paul is going to write this church and we'll see when

he does that in just a moment. So Thessalonica,

a church that gets 2 letters from Paul, and you can think about

what you know about 1 and 2 Thessalonians. What are some of the— what

is kind of 1 and 2 Thessalonians devoted to?

Anybody know what's a big subject in both of those letters?

The return of Christ. All right, so that's remarkable

that Paul will spend some time to write to brand new Christians and

talk about the second coming of Christ and to clear up misinformation

about that. Perhaps as we read through the New Testament, one of the major topics

that there's misunderstanding about, and even so today. How about Berea?

All right, all right. So that's probably the most recognizable verse, maybe in

the, at least the first half of the chapter is Acts 17:11,

Acts 17:11

that they received the word with all readiness of mind and they searched the scriptures

daily to see if those things were so.

How about Athens? Unknown God.

Okay. So Paul preaches up on Mars Hill and he talks to them about

the unknown God. And to piggyback on what Nat said a moment ago,

we have a letter— letters written to the Thessalonians.

We have a glowing tribute, the gold standard of how

to approach the listening of the Word of God in Acts 17:11.

Acts 17:11

And then there's that power-packed Epistle to the Athenians,

right? I wonder what the condition of things are

in Athens. How does the church do there? Now, if you

want to kind of classify the different ways that they respond to the word,

in Acts chapter 17, we see the Thessalonians resist the word.

Acts 17 · chapter mention

It's not how it is at first. At first, they're listening

to them as Paul reasons and explains to them out of the Scripture, and he's

preaching to them the resurrection and what's going to happen

Very quickly is a pattern that's emerging that we're going to see again.

And we can look in Corinth in Acts chapter 18, as the Jews show up,

Acts 18 · chapter mention

they oppose him, they abuse him, and he's got to run

and get out of there. We see that in full display here,

that they have to run and they have to leave after 3 Sabbaths in the

synagogue. And then the Bereans, we see as those who are receiving the

word. In fact, that's Luke's word there, with all readiness of mind. And then

in Athens, we see ridiculing. The word. That's going to take place in

Acts 17:16-34. It's always good for us,

Acts 17:16–34

and I think in Bowling Green the answer might be different than it is other

parts of the country, even other parts of the country where I have lived.

Which of those cities do you think most describes what we face

every day? Berea?

Man, I hope so. Wouldn't that be great? Folks are

receiving the word, and I think there's evidence. For that. There are

a lot of folks who have sat down and studied the scriptures in the last

24 months who are now our brothers and sisters in Christ. We can give even

very, very recent examples. And they are sitting

and they're listening to the teaching and the preaching that's done, to those who

come up to them and want to talk to them about the gospel, and they're

accepting it if they can see it in the scriptures. I hope so.

For sure, yeah, and I think that's the value of looking at

this because wouldn't it be nice if God kind of laid it out there

for you? We talked about him not speaking to us and saying, this is where

I want you to go, this is the door. Wouldn't it be nice to be

able to look at somebody and judge the book by the COVID Don't you think

that would save you a lot of time? And wouldn't that make— maybe would you

think it would make your job in evangelism easier if you were to look at

somebody and to know for a fact they're

not going to study the gospel. And that might save you 3 months

of sitting down with them once a week and trying to teach them the Scripture

if you know with a certainty at the end of that they're going to

say, thanks, but no thanks. And then there's somebody else,

and you— it's like labeled in some way. This person is

good soil. Study the gospel with them.

Wonder why that's not the case. Why doesn't God provide

for us? He could have. He has the power and the ability to

do that. Why doesn't he do that? Do you see value in that,

in that challenge that God doesn't tell us who

the receptive and the unreceptive folks are?

What's, what, what's the value of that?

Well, for certain as the receiver, but I'm talking about us as the potential

teachers. Yes, ma'am.

Everybody deserves to hear. And so every soul

is equally precious and loved in the heart of God.

Joey. I mean, and if

it was the case, we look at somebody and a lot of the soil that

we might be putting the test to, we'd say never ever, they wouldn't do it.

And then we do that and And we discover that

we didn't know what lay beneath the surface and breaking up some ground makes

all the difference. And sometimes those folks are some of the most influential,

the most fruitful and productive converts that there are. Yes, ma'am.

Experience is a great teacher and the teaching the gospel,

Isaiah 55:10-11, never returns void.

Isaiah 55:10–11

And it may not be something that you see, in that person.

And it may be something that changes or that's honed or

is refined in you. We are always

blessed when we have the opportunity to share and to teach the gospel.

And so we know that he doesn't do that,

but there are great benefits that happen. And if you're a sharing church,

have you ever noticed this, that maybe a church makes a plan

that we want to do X and X doesn't turn out to be all that

successful, but then Y occurs as the result of that. Whenever we

engage in doing God's will. Good happens as the result of that.

Now, what I want to do is to look at 2 places that are very

different. I want to compare those, that is Thessalonica and Berea,

and see the similarities in those very different works. You have the

church that Paul and the others are run out of after a short period of

time in Thessalonica, and then you have that open-hearted people in Berea.

And yet there are some things that are true of both of those as you

see Paul working. They experienced success in both cities.

As they taught the folks in Thessalonica, there are Jews,

there are especially Gentiles, men and women who believe and

become a part of the body of Christ. The church at Thessalonica is established.

And of course, we see that taking place, prominent men and women in Berea.

So there's success as they spend their time in those places.

They were forced to leave both places because of

Jewish opposition. It's going to be

something that we see throughout the New Testament that long-felt,

firmly established religious views are

very difficult to eradicate from people's hearts and their minds.

When it has taken generations, especially for those views to

get codified, to get firmly in the minds and in the culture of a

society, it's hard to change that. And the

only means that God gives us to do that is to teach and preach the

Word. And there are going to be people like that in that first point that

do accept the gospel and do become followers of Christ,

but you're going to also encounter opposition from people who don't want to change and

don't like the fact that you're telling them that what they already believe is not

what God in his Word says is the case. But then those who

heard the gospel reacted. Now, there's a contrast

in the way that they reacted. As Paul speaks and he reasons with them

from the Scriptures on the resurrection, the reaction is largely

negative. When we look at the Bereans, they are characterized by

excellence. They received the Word.

They are characterized by eagerness. They did so

eagerly doing that. And they're characterized

by examination. They searched the Scriptures. This is a Spirit-led

apostle, one of the world's greatest Christians and greatest

missionaries, and they could have seen his resume. And yet,

as he is speaking to them, they get behind him and they study the

Scriptures, the Old Testament that they had, to make sure that this message is

consistent and it's right. That goes without saying.

Does it matter who's here or who's up there?

Whatever is said, Don't take it as gospel.

Don't accept it carte blanche. No matter how much you

like the speaker, no matter how— what a relationship you

have with them, the Bereans show us that you have got

to examine what's said. Now, that doesn't mean that you're so critical that you see—

you're looking for something in every little statement that's made, but that

you don't uncritically receive information because it doesn't matter who it is.

What matters is, does it reconcile with what Scripture says? And there's an

everydayness. They didn't wait for the next synagogue meeting.

They didn't wait for the next time of teaching,

but they were in the Scriptures every day.

All right, let's talk about Athens for just a moment.

When we get to Athens, we see Paul having some

of the most difficult work that he ever does.

He's the greatest missionary. That the church has ever known.

But for the first time since he leaves Antioch on the missionary journey,

he's all by himself. And he gets to a city that's renowned.

It is a place that is at the philosophical

center of the Greco-Roman world. And Paul seems to be overwhelmed

when he gets there. Many people say that Athens was Paul's

greatest failure. Why do you think they would say that?

Why would Athens be considered a failure?

Okay, first of all, he is trying to drill into granite with

a pickaxe. It is hard. Alright, why else would

people look at his experience in Athens and say,

Paul failed here?

Okay, there is a lot of opposition there, some mockery.

We already said ridicule was the way they received the word.

You think about Paul, he writes and he sends greetings to the various

churches where he's been. Do you see anybody from Athens?

You know, do you see any record in the New Testament of

the church being established in Athens? And so, somebody might say when

they look at that, there's no reference to a congregation,

no traveling companions, no mention of those that were there,

no one greeted in Paul's letters from Athens.

But here's the question, was Paul's work at Athens a success?

Absolutely. Why? What's our responsibility?

Plant the seed, to sow. 1 Corinthians 3:6-9,

1 Corinthians 3:6–9

we plant and water and God causes the increase. But if nothing

else is achieved in the work that's done at Athens, what can we say about

that as we look at it?

They heard. We see how they heard.

But what about when we face our Athens today? If Cathy's statement's right,

and I believe it is, especially look at our culture as a whole, there are

a lot of Athens in the United States. There are a lot of Athens in

Southern Kentucky. And when we go into our Athens, how do we handle ourselves

there? All we got to do is look at what he does there. For 2,000

years, the Holy Spirit has preserved this for us so that we can know

how God wants us to respond to that. And I think that what Paul

does in this lesson here is very helpful for us

in knowing how to reach people without a religious framework. Here's just

a real brief outline. He gives us 3 facts about God. He gives us 3

facts about man, and we see 3 responses to the gospel. Here's the 3 facts

that he gives us about God, and keep in mind that most

religions are based on a faulty view of God. So,

he lays this out for the Athenians. Number 1,

God made all things. That's the first fact about God.

That's verse 24 and 25. Number 2, God made

all men, verse 26.

And then number 3, God controls all things, verse 26.

That's how he leads out in trying to connect with them. And then the 3

facts about man are found in verse 27 through 30.

Number 1, man must seek God, verse 27.

Their god chiefly is Zeus. But even in mythology,

even in their philosophical religion, they teach us that

all men are looking for a personal relationship with God. And so

man must seek God. Paul says it, you do it whether you're trying

to or not. You're looking for something to rule your life. Man,

number 2, must worship correctly, verse 29.

And then number 3, man must repent.

And then we see the 3 responses to the gospel in verses 32 through

34. What are they? Verses 32 through 34,

how do they respond to Paul's message?

Mockery, delay, and believers.

I don't know, maybe that's not totally exhaustive. Maybe you could find some nuance in

that. Isn't that pretty much what we face? Mockery,

opposition, shutdown. We're done. You're dumb.

Why are you telling me this? Whatever that is, it falls into that silo.

A lot of folks will say, hey, it may be, I'll see you at church

Sunday, or let's meet next week. I don't know if any of you

have ever— do they still say ghosted? Whatever it is, if somebody

says, I'll study with you at this time, you get there and then they

don't answer the door, they're not home, and you try to reach out to

them and they're not to be found. Or, or More

often, you just reel me in a little

bit. I'm listening. I may even be present. I'll attend.

I'll be there. I'll listen to the gospel.

And one of these days, I'm going to become a Christian. I'm almost there,

but not quite. And then there are that

little small group there at Athens who believe and

become obedient. And so that helps us. Because we're going to find ourselves there.

So which one was the best of those 3?

They were all productive, productive in their own way.

No matter where we find ourselves, we're never wasting our

time when we're sharing the gospel, no matter what reaction we get to that.

All right. Well, I really wanted to talk about Paul and his fear in

Acts 18, and I don't know if Hiram is going to hit that.

If he does, then we'll look for that next week. Guys,

thanks very much for your attention today.