"A Study of the book of Acts" by Hiram Kemp - Part 7

Good morning. If you got your Bible, go ahead and turn to Acts 13.

Acts 13. Before we begin, I'd like to say thank you to everybody

who prayed for Brittany. She— her hemoglobin level got down pretty low and

she had to get a couple units of blood. She's here today doing better,

but this was, um, last week, Thursday I believe it was.

So thanks for praying for her and checking in with us. Greatly appreciate

that and thankful for your prayers. Today, the challenges of the church that

the church will always face. We'll look at Acts chapters 13 through 15.

Acts 13 · chapter mention

If you remember last week, we finished in Acts chapter 12. That's where Herod puts

Acts 12 · chapter mention

James to death and then attempts to put Peter to death, but Peter's released,

makes it to Mary's house, and after Peter's released from Mary's house,

the Bible says that he goes elsewhere preaching. And really That's where Luke concludes

the work of Peter as it relates to the book of Acts. Acts 12

really serves as kind of an intermission or an interlude on what was taking place

at the end of Acts 11, and Acts 13 is— we'll pick up where we

left off. So at the end of Acts 11, if you remember, Barnabas was sent

by the church in Jerusalem to the church at Antioch where all of these Greeks

and Jews and the Hellenists were there, and this church was booming

and growing. He called for Saul of Tarsus. Saul of Tarsus went

with him to Antioch. They were there for a whole year. Acts 11:26

Acts 11:26

says it was in Antioch that the disciples were first called what?

They were first called Christians in Antioch. So that's the church in Acts 11:19,

Acts 11:19

really down through 26. Agabus talks about a famine that's going to take

place, the interlude of chapter 12, and then there are the events of chapter 13.

So what we'll do this morning is look at the challenges, and there are various

ones that the church faced in Acts chapters 13 through 15

Acts 13 · chapter mention

and that we will always face. As long as we're God's people and as long

as we're the church. And the first challenge is stewarding congregational gifts.

If you're in Acts 13, I'm going to read verses 1 through 3.

It says, now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers: Barnabas

and Simeon who was called Niger and Lucius of Cyrene,

Manaen, a lifelong friend of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.

And while they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said,

set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called

them. And then after fasting and praying, they laid their hands on them and they

sent them off. So first things first, the church at Antioch— we know this

church— they resume center stage. The gospel began at

Jerusalem, but the church at Antioch will be responsible at least for sending

missionaries out that will populate the world with the gospel message. And you know what

kind of church this is because you read about it in Acts 11:19-26

Acts 11:19–26

and all of the amazing things Luke tells us about this church. And that

they have going on. When you start in Acts 13, we first

learned there was in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers, and then there

are various people. Just based on this idea of them having prophets and

teachers, what do we know about this church? The fact that they had prophets

and teachers, what does this tell us about this church just on the surface right

away? They were knowledgeable. A church that was

knowledgeable had a lot of teaching. God makes

a distinction between prophets and teachers for sure, both instructing in the Word.

This also was a church being equipped for the ministry of the saints.

So Ephesians 4:11-16 says that God,

Ephesians 4:11–16

when Jesus ascended back to heaven, he gave gifts to men. And some of those

gifts are apostles and prophets, pastors that teach, and evangelists.

Ephesians 4:11-16. And this church had all of that. Think about Romans 12:6

Ephesians 4:11–16 Romans 12:6

and 1 Corinthians 12:10. That talks about what Darryl mentioned,

1 Corinthians 12:10

the work of prophets and instructing them to teach. And they have

5 different individuals who do this. Now, the Bible doesn't make a distinguish—

a distinction here between who did the preaching and who did the prophesying,

but it seems like there was a mix among this group. And just notice this

group and what we know about them. There's Barnabas. What do you know about him?

He's the son of what? Encouragement.

Acts chapter 4 and verse 36. So Barnabas is an encourager.

Acts 4 · chapter mention

There's Simeon, who was also called Niger, and Some commentators

believe that he— this word Niger means like black or dark,

and so maybe he's from southern Africa. Some say northern Africa.

Lucius of Cyrene, no doubt he's from northern Africa.

This is the same place of Simon of Cyrene in Mark 15.

If you flip to the back of your Bible— we're not going to do this

this morning because this is about challenges and not geography— but you can see

Cyrene, it's in northern Africa, and that's where Lucius is from. He he might

be a part of that group in Acts 11:20 that went from Cyrene and

Acts 11:20

brought the gospel to Antioch in the initial stages. And then there's who

else? Manaen, a lifelong friend of Herod the Tetrarch. Who is

Herod? Herod the Tetrarch from Luke 3:1.

Luke 3:1

Herod, the one that Jesus stood before in Luke 23 when Pilate said,

go down to Herod and see what he's about. This man Manaen,

who's a prophet and a teacher, was— this Greek word means brought up together.

It could mean that he was adopted into the same family as Herod,

but clearly their lives went in completely different directions because

he's a preacher in the church. And then the last preacher that's mentioned is who?

Saul. Saul's a relatively new convert at this point, but he had

been a member of the church in Antioch for at least a year according to

Acts 11:26. He's a new convert, but we

Acts 11:26

know Paul's background. He's trained in Judaism, a Pharisee

of the Pharisees, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, knew Greco-Roman culture pretty

well, knew the Hebrew Bible like the back of his hand, And here's the makeup

of this congregation. These are the individuals that are there.

And what stands out to you about this list of names? What stands out to

you about these individuals in this church? What stands

out to you about this listing of preachers or prophets and teachers in the church

at Antioch? What's unique about them? They're diverse.

Yes, Joey, that's what you're going to say. Yeah, they're diverse. Now they're diverse

in several different ways. They're diverse in background and where they're from, But also,

it seems they're diverse in ability and what they're able to do. And then

the text says they were already serving and teaching. This word for serving,

it's a word that kind of is used for priests in the Old Testament that

are serving on tables. And then they were fasting. Look at verse 2. Your translation

probably has something like this: while they were worshiping and fasting, worshiping the Lord and

fasting, or as they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit

said. I think that's remarkable because the church at Antioch is

going to be the first congregation that's responsible for sending out missionaries.

Now missionaries had already been sent out, Acts chapter 8, but they have been pushed

Acts 8 · chapter mention

out through persecution. This is the first congregationally organized effort

to say, let's send out missionaries. And I think it's interesting that the Holy Spirit

chose a congregation that the Bible says while they were fasting

and serving the Lord, while they were worshiping and serving the Lord. What does that

tell you? God gives the work to the people who are already what?

Already working. Matthew 25:21, Jesus says in the judgment

Matthew 25:21

it'll go this way. God will say, well done, good and faithful

servant. You've been faithful over a few things. Come in and I'll make you ruler

over many things. You've already been serving.

God gives this church the opportunity because they've already been doing that. And then

verse 3 makes this clear that this is going to be mission work. After their

fasting, they prayed and laid hands on them, and then they sent them out.

All right, so first challenge in Acts 13 is the challenge

of stewarding congregational gifts. Show of

hands in this room if you've been a part of a congregation that's—

I'm going to say a smaller congregation. Somebody says, what's small? Let's say under 100

members, 100 members and under. Show of hands if you've been a member of a

congregation of that size. Great. Nothing wrong with that.

Bigger congregations or smaller, God uses and needs both.

They both do unique things. Here's what I want to know from those who've experienced

that. What are the challenges of serving God in a smaller

congregation? What are some of the unique challenges that congregations with under 100,

under 50, under 30— what are, what are their challenges?

What do you sometimes face? Those willing to serve.

Yes. Resources. Not enough money.

What else? Sometimes a preacher has to do

the preaching, the singing, and the prayer. Thank God we don't have— sometimes the preacher

has to do the preaching, the singing, and the praying. Garnett, you said not enough

people. Yeah, so those are some of the challenges. And you think about resources

and talent and ability and a pool to select elders from. But I think sometimes

we focus primarily on that. Hey, small congregations, they've got big challenges.

But according to this passage, larger congregations— a congregation

with 5 preachers has challenges of its own. There's different challenges.

There's blessings associated with both, but there's also challenges. And here are some of

them. Well, we'll pause before we get to the solutions. Some of the challenges

that larger congregations have is making sure we can find a place for everybody to

serve. Like, will there be enough work? Sometimes you come

into a larger congregation and people think to themselves, well,

everybody here is already doing it. All the work's already taken

care of. There's nothing for me to do. Or maybe thinking to ourselves, we've got

enough workers. We've got enough people doing stuff. Hey, everything's already taken

care of. We already have all the bases covered. This congregation in Antioch

had to steward the gifting that God had given them. They have 5 different preachers

with various gifts. What does Jesus teach about talent and

ability in Luke 12:48? To whom much is given,

Luke 12:48

what? Much is required. And so larger

congregations have challenges of their own. And how do you overcome the

challenge of stewarding congregational gifts regardless of size? Here's what

we've got to do. Here's at least some of the things. We've got to learn

what people can do. Romans 12:3-8 talks about the various

Romans 12:3–8

talents and gifts that other individuals have been given in the congregation.

And here Paul says, what I want you to make sure is that everybody

uses the gifts according to the grace that's been given them. One of the ways

we overcome this challenge is learn what people can do. Also, never think you

have enough workers. In Matthew 9:37, Jesus says,

Matthew 9:37

you should pray that the Lord would send forth laborers into the harvest.

For the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.

That's always true. Jesus had 12 disciples. He had hundreds,

sometimes thousands following him, and we should never think we

have enough workers. We've got to diversify the servants. You might

start putting the same people in the same positions to always do the same work,

but in 1 Corinthians 12:22-24, Paul says,

1 Corinthians 12:22–24

no, we need to esteem the parts of the body that are less

honorable in the eyes of some, and we overcome the challenge of stewarding congregational

gifts by diversifying the servants. And then make sure we're busy and

we're already working. This church was already working and already busy, and so

God honored them. And then we need to send and to save. Who do they

send out? Paul and

Barnabas. Yeah, look at verse 2. The Holy Spirit makes this decision for them,

says, set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work that I

gave them to do. So if you're a congregation of great resources and means,

You gotta send and save, meaning you've gotta sometimes release

some of your best servants to bless the church at large. And then you've gotta

keep some people back also to do the work. And this is a challenge,

having the courage to do this and say, well, we still have Manaen,

we still have Simon, we still have Lucius. Let Barnabas and Saul do

the work that God has given them to do. And God does this and he

honors them. A few more of these challenges or ways to overcome these, and then

we'll move on to the second one. Avoid getting comfortable.

This church could have gotten comfortable. How was Antioch doing at this point? Pretty good.

They're growing. They're called Christians. They've got their 5 preachers.

And one of the ways you overcome the challenge of stewarding congregational gifts is

avoid getting comfortable. Avoid saying, hey, we've got the preaching covered, we've got the teaching

covered, we've got the gifts, we're just rocking and rolling, everything's going well.

This church had to be challenged. The Holy Spirit intervenes and says,

Set apart Barnabas and Saul for the work I've given them to do. They could

have been thinking, we're already taking care of business, we've already done all of our

work, and we need to be thinking about that. What else does God want us

to do? There are some— you can call these routine congregational

things we're going to do. We're going to worship God, Bible class on Wednesday,

VBS, camp. But are there some of these Acts 13 works where God says,

all right, time to rise up and go out and do something you've never done

before? Avoid getting comfortable. Kill envy and ego.

Can 5 preachers work together in the same congregation?

Somebody said, yeah, they did it in Antioch, right? The more talent you have,

you know what's going to destroy that? Envy and ego.

If you think about your— if you watch sports, the best dynasties,

your favorite sports teams, there are several things that kill that.

Age and ability, yes, but typically they're going to do a documentary on

this team in 10 or 15 years. You get to peek behind the curtain and

you know what happened? Somebody says, I wasn't getting the ball enough. Well, they were

paying him all the money, and he was in all the commercials, and they said,

you know, Shaq said this when Kobe died in the helicopter accident. He said,

we could have won 10 more championships if we just didn't fight about who was

the best. And I wonder how many congregational, for lack of

better words, championships, mountains we can win and climb for God when we don't care

who gets the credit as long as God gets the glory. But when a congregation's

succeeding, stewarding the congregational talent, one of the challenges is, Don't worry

about, well, we all made brownies. They ate all hers. Nobody ate mine.

They never picked my lasagna. They never put my food out first. We can start

fighting over, she always gets to teach that Bible class. He always gets to,

and pride and envy. Proverbs 14:30 says, a sound heart

Proverbs 14:30

is the life of the flesh, but envy is the rottenness of the bones.

And these preachers, they had to do this and do it without destroying themselves.

Remember, you're going with God. The Holy Spirit sent out Barnabas

and Paul. And to that degree, they were going to be successful as long

as they went with God. Remember the parable of the talents, and then be

willing to go wherever he sends. The first challenge in Acts 13 for this great

congregation was to steward their congregational gifts wisely.

When you look around the Cumberland Trace Church of Christ, you might be thinking,

we're a blessed and talented and gifted congregation. I would echo

that and say, amen. And to whom much is given, what?

Much is required. How many song leaders do we have? How many people do we

have that can teach Bible classes and do lessons, that have artistic gift— gifting,

and individuals that can work in the AV room and that can lead prayer and

that can cook? To whom much is given, much is

required. The church at Antioch had all these great things. It's a

blessing, but it's also a challenge, and they had to steward it properly.

All right, any questions or comments on this before we move on?

All right, great. Second challenge in Acts 13 is the challenge of the

opposition of false teachers. So Acts 13:4-12,

Acts 13:4–12

Paul and Barnabas are going to do what the Holy Spirit sent them to do,

which is to go out and preach the gospel. And verse 4 says

they were sent out by the Holy Spirit. They went down to Seleucia. That would

be, if you're looking at a map, it's just west of Antioch of Syria where

they were. And then from there they sailed to Cyprus. What's interesting about Cyprus

in relation to Paul and Barnabas? What's interesting about Cyprus?

Yes, Miss Kim, Acts 4:36-37 says that's where Barnabas

Acts 4:36–37

is from. So, they lead out, they go west, they go to Cyprus.

This is Barnabas' hometown according to Acts 4:36-37,

Acts 4:36–37

and they get busy preaching the gospel. I'm not going to read all of it,

or try not to, but look at Acts 13:4-5. So, being sent out

Acts 13:4–5

by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed

to Cyprus. When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the Word of God in the

synagogues of the Jews, and they had John to assist them. That's John Mark.

Later in the New Testament, we find out that this is Barnabas' cousin,

Colossians 4:14. But there's 3 preachers.

Colossians 4:14

There's John Mark, at least he's an assistant, a helper, and there's Paul,

and there's Barnabas. They get to Cyprus. They go to synagogues first.

Why? Yeah, Levi says those who know the

Scriptures, religious people are already there. This would be a great place to start.

They cover the whole island with the gospel. They start preaching the gospel everywhere,

and they face both interest and opposition. There's a man

In Acts 13:6, we're told his name is Bar-Jesus.

Acts 13:6

Later we'll be told his name is also Elymas in verse 8.

But in verse 6, they find a certain magician, a Jewish false prophet

named Bar-Jesus. He was with the proconsul Sergius Paulus,

a man of intelligence who summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought

to hear the word of God. So you've got this magician and then you've got

the proconsul, and his response in verse 7 is

he's intelligent and he wants to hear the word of God. But in verse 8,

Elymas the magician, for that's the meaning of his name, he was seeking

to turn the proconsul away from the faith. So, there's interest and opposition.

The magician reminds you of who already in the book of Acts?

Acts chapter 8, Simon the— he became

Acts 8 · chapter mention

a Christian, Acts 8:12-13. He was interested.

Acts 8:12–13

Elymas, not so much. And so, he starts trying to get in the way of

this Bible study, and as a result, Paul will say some things to him in

Acts 13. 9 through 11. There's the rebuke. If you look at verse 9,

but Saul, who was called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him

and said, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all

deceit and villainy, will you stop making crooked the straight

paths of the Lord? Why does Paul rebuke him like this?

Paul doesn't do this to everybody. Why does Paul do it here?

He's trying to intercept the word. He's in the way, aren't he? Yep, that's right.

What else? His motives aren't pure.

He doesn't want to learn the truth. He's actually in the way. Verse 11 says

that Paul, by the Holy Spirit's power, strikes him with blindness

and he's unable to see the sun for a time. What's ironic about Elymas,

a magician and a sorcerer, being struck blind?

There's at least 3 levels of irony here. Level number 1,

he's a magician that's supposed to have power and he can't even cure

his own what? Blindness. This is kind of like the Pharaoh's

magicians in Exodus 10:21-29. Moses says, I'm going

Exodus 10:21–29

to strike the land with darkness. Nobody will be able to see anywhere they're going.

And Paul strikes him with blindness. Layer of irony number 1 is you're a magician,

you can't see where you're going. But layer of irony number 2 is it

wasn't too long before this that Saul of Tarsus was struck blind in Acts chapter

Acts 9 · chapter mention

9 and verse 9. You'll be blind until Ananias comes and the scale

falls from his eyes. But then layer of irony number

3 is now his physical condition is parallel to his spiritual condition.

He was already blind spiritually, and Paul says, you'll be blind

and you won't see the sun for a season because you got in the way

of the preaching of the gospel. The result in verse 12 is the proconsul believed

when he saw what had occurred, for he was astonished at the teaching of the

Lord. Okay, so the first challenge in the book of Acts chapter 13:1-3,

stewarding talent, great congregation. But the second one is,

Opposition by false teachers, and we see that here with Elymas

the sorcerer. Okay, what is a false prophet? It's a compound word

in Greek, pseudoprophetes, false or lying prophet. What's a false

teacher or false prophet? How would you describe one? How would you describe somebody

if you say this person is a false teacher? Interestingly enough,

this is the only time this word appears in the book of Acts, and it

doesn't occur a lot in the New Testament. It does occur in places like 1

1 John 4:1

John 4:1, 2 Peter 2:1. But when you

2 Peter 2:1

think about that term, that designation, this person is a false prophet

or a false teacher, what do you think about? How would you make that description

or distinction? What's a false teacher or false prophet?

Not teaching the truth.

Teaching something that's not scriptural. That's a part of it. That's involved.

That's some of the components. What else?

Antichrist. John in 1 John says these individuals are the

antichrist that he's talking about, people that

1 John 4:2-3, they deny that Jesus came in the flesh. Joey, in this case,

1 John 4:2–3

he's teaching things that are actually turning people away from the faith as well.

And I think that's important. Joey says he's teaching things that turn people away from

the faith. In the Bible, everybody that teaches something

that's false isn't a capital F false teacher. They might

be mistaken, they might be misled, but in the Bible, a false teacher,

it involves intent. It involves a person that's purposefully trying

to pervert the word and turn people away. And so just because

a person teaches something that's inaccurate, they may be wrong and they may

be teaching something false, but the Holy Spirit wouldn't say you're a false teacher

antagonistically. But if you do what Elimeas does here, then you

are. What makes this a challenge for the church? False teachers.

How are false teachers a challenge that the church will always

face? What's challenging about it or their presence?

And it's difficult to counteract that sometimes.

Yeah, they're using Scripture. They're using the Bible. What does the devil

do when he tempts Jesus? He quotes what? He quotes Scripture. He quotes

Psalm 91. He says, it's written, and Jesus has to double down and say,

hey, it's written again. So sometimes false prophets or false teachers,

they quote Scripture. What else makes it challenging?

Roger. You've got to counter that

as well as teach those that aren't involved in the false teaching. So it creates

more work. All right. So Roger, and we'll talk about this in a minute,

it creates more work. You've got to deal with the false teachers and at the

same time you've got to keep focusing on the people that need to hear the

truth. There was a hand. Oh, Denver. The example of Apollos,

he wasn't teaching the truth, but he called it his own.

That's a great point. So Denver mentions Apollos in Acts 18.

24 through 28. He didn't know the truth, but he wasn't a false teacher.

He was mistaken. When Priscilla and Aquila take him aside, they teach him

the Word of God more accurately, and he gets on board. So, learning who's

a false teacher from somebody who's simply mistaken. Here are some of the ones I

thought about that make it challenging. There are many of them. 1 John 4:1

1 John 4:1

says that there are many false prophets that have gone out into the world.

That was in the first century in 1 John 4:1. Do you think that number

1 John 4:1

has increased or decreased? Christianity is like 60 years old when

John writes that. It's been 2,000 years. John says there are many false

prophets that have gone out into the world. And think about today. You know where

most people get their theology from today?

TikTok and YouTube. This dude had a Bible. He put

a bunch of verses up there, said some Greek and Hebrew stuff. He says the

world's ending tomorrow. I went and bought all this water and toilet paper. People do

it. They're many. That's what happens. So that's one

challenge. Another thing, they will be with us and many will follow them.

Look at 2 Peter 2. Hold your hand in Acts 13 really

quickly and go to 2 Peter 2 and notice how Peter describes the

fact that there are— they will be with us and the fact that many will

follow them. 2 Peter 2, starting in verse 1,

Peter writes, but false prophets also arose

among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you.

Who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master

who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And many

will follow their sensuality. So that's the many. And because of them,

the way of truth will be blasphemed. And in their greed, they will exploit you

with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is

not asleep. So there'll be many of them. They'll lead people astray, and all sorts

of people will go in their direction. Another challenge is they make things seem easier

than God. False teachers often say, hey, this is the

easier path than God. It's the broad way. It's the easy way.

Jesus says the way that leads to life is narrow, and then he

says it's straight. That doesn't mean the direction of it is straight, though that's probably

true too. He means straight like straitjacket, like it's constricted,

it's challenging. And false teachers, they make the way broad and easy,

and everybody wants easy. Everybody wants

comfortable. And when you tell people they can have the blessings and the joys of

heaven Without the challenges and the hardships of discipleship,

most people go that way. And so, this is a challenge we're always going to

face. And they confuse people with their doctrine. As long as this is

out there, a lot of people say, forget Christianity. You can't figure out who's teaching

the truth and who's teaching what. And so, we have to do some sifting.

And then they misrepresent God. In Jeremiah 23:21,

Jeremiah 23:21

God says, I haven't sent these prophets, and yet they've run. I haven't spoken

to them, and yet they prophesy. False teachers misrepresent God. They say

God has said when God hasn't, and this is what Paul and Barnabas have

to face. And I think this is why Barnabas and Paul give the harsh response

to Elymas. And you'll find Jesus doing this too. When people have genuine questions

and they're just trying to find the truth and they're trying to learn, the Holy

Spirit, through the example of Jesus and the preachers in the New Testament,

never deal with people in that manner harshly. In fact, in Matthew

12, Jesus is quoting a prophecy from Isaiah And he says, a smoldering

wick I will not quench. I wouldn't put out somebody's fire who is genuinely

trying and searching. But when you find people like the Pharisees in

the Gospels and Elymas and a few others here in the New Testament purposefully trying

to lead people astray, those people, they get the harsh Jesus.

And there's a reason for that. So how do we overcome this? We've already mentioned

some of this, but know and preach the truth. Ephesians 4:15

Ephesians 4:15

says, speaking the truth in love, If we know and preach the truth,

we can combat false teaching. Here's what happens sometimes. A false

idea comes up, you know what people start doing? Spending all their time studying the

error. I'm going to buy 50 books on this. No, you probably shouldn't do that.

You should just spend 50 hours with this. Don't spend all your time studying

the error. Don't study all the questions. Study the answers.

If you want to combat false teaching, you've got to study and know the truth.

Don't watch their 50 YouTube videos. If somebody says, hey, this is how the

world's going to end, just go to your Bible and say, let me look up

all the passages on end times. If somebody says, hey, this is what you have

to do to be saved, and for $6.99 after you watch 23 videos,

I'm going to show you the way to salvation, just start looking up all the

passages. That's all you've got to do. You can use the internet to do that

too. List all the Bible passages that mention salvation, but know and preach the truth.

That's how you combat false doctrine. We sometimes go the other way, and we spend

all of our time investing in error instead of in truth. Call out error when

it's taught, and that's what Paul and Barnabas do. Look at Acts 13:10.

Acts 13:10

He says, you son of the devil, you enemy of all unrighteousness,

full of all deceit and villainy, will you not stop making

crooked the straight paths of the Lord? Sometimes people

get in, like, heated religious discussions, and there are some people that love to call

names and love to rebuke and publicly expose and embarrass,

and the Bible doesn't encourage Christians to always do that. But there

are occasions to call out the error for what it is, and I

think here's one example of that. Ephesians 5:11, Paul says, have no fellowship with

Ephesians 5:11

the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead I want you to expose it. Don't forget

to focus on the seekers. And this is what Roger mentioned, and I think it's

important. You can get so focused on all the people that are teaching false doctrine

that you forget about who? The people that

are seeking the truth and the people that need it. Respond in keeping with the

Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit gives Paul this response in Acts 13:9. And then

Acts 13:9

hold out hope even for the false teacher. How do you know Paul held out

hope for even Elymas to change his ways? What in

this text suggests that Paul even had potential hope for Elymas to change his

ways? How long is Elymas going to be blind? What does the

text say? For a time, for a season. Why not for life? Why not just

blind him for life? Here's what we want to do. We really want to teach

Sergius Paulus. You're in the way right now. You'll be blind, not able to see

for a season. Once Sergius obeys the gospel, and he does in verse 12,

then the proconsul believed when he saw what had occurred. He was astonished

at the teaching of the Lord. Maybe when Elymas' eyes are opened again physically,

they will be spiritually as well. Simon the sorcerer did it. It could happen to

him. Hold out hope even for false teachers that they can change.

He's not blind forever, and most people aren't— are not either. They don't have

to be. They can change. A challenge the church is always going to face is

the challenge of false teaching, and Acts 13:4-12 teaches us how

Acts 13:4–12

to rise up against it and combat it. All right, Acts 13:13-52 and

Acts 13:13–52

into chapter 14, verse 7 through verse 7. We're not going to read it all.

I'm going to read down through verse 16, though, and then explain what happens,

and we'll talk about the unique challenge of opposition from religious

people. Now Paul and his companions set sail from Paphos,

and they came to Perga in Pamphylia. And John left them and returned

to Jerusalem. There's a lot of conversation about why John Mark left. We're not going

to talk about it. The Holy Spirit doesn't tell us why he left. It'll come

up later in Acts 15. You can surmise and guess he was homesick

or he was afraid or— the Bible doesn't tell us. But here's what we know

in verse 14. But they went on from Perga and they came to Antioch in

Pisidia. And on the Sabbath day they went into the synagogue and they sat down.

After the reading from the Law and the Prophets, the ruler of the synagogue sent

a message to them saying, Brothers, if you have any word of encouragement

for the people, say it. So Paul stood up, motioning with his hands,

and he said, men of Israel and you who fear God, listen.

And then he launches into this sermon. So Paul and Barnabas,

they go to the synagogue. This is their custom, and they get to preach the

gospel in Antioch of Pisidia. When they get there, there's this synagogue.

Synagogues in the ancient world weren't like modern churches. You shouldn't imagine the apostles

in the book of Acts going into synagogues and basically hijacking people's

church services, bumping the preacher out of the way and saying, well, we're taking over

now. We're going to preach the gospel. Synagogues were more like community centers,

town hall meetings, and different people after the reading and after the prayers

were allowed to get up and say their piece. That's what Jesus does when he's

12 years old in Luke chapter 4. He gets up, reads the scroll

Luke 4 · chapter mention

Isaiah, and says, hey, this is fulfilled in your ears. After the prayer and after

the reading, they look at Barnabas and Paul and say, if you've got any word

of encouragement to say to the people, say it. They get up and they preach.

Acts 13:17 down through 41,

Acts 13:17

Paul preaches a lengthy sermon. Not going to read it or go into the details

except to say it's very similar to the sermon of Stephen in

Acts chapter 7. By the way, when Stephen preached that sermon right

Acts 7 · chapter mention

before he died, guess who was standing there holding people's coats? Saul of Tarsus.

It seems like Paul was at least taking notes or making some mental notes.

Read Acts 7 and Acts 13. They're almost the exact same sermon verbatim.

All right, what's the response to the preaching? Look at Acts 13,

read the verses and tell me. In verse 42, what's the initial

response to this sermon from Paul? Come again.

Yeah, look at verse 42. The people begged that what?

In 42, they begged for what?

Yeah, but more than that, they don't just beg for more preaching. They beg that

these things might be told to them the next Sabbath. You know, that's never happened

to me before. Come back next week and preach this same sermon. Just do the

same thing. They want Paul to preach these same words. You come back next

Sabbath, we'll be here at the synagogue, and we want you to preach this same

sermon. Verse 43, after the meeting of the synagogue

broke up, many devout Jews and converts of Judaism followed Paul and

Barnabas as they spoke with them, and they urged them to continue in the grace

of God. So, so far their efforts are good until you get to verse 45.

But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began to

contradict what was spoken by Paul, reviling him. So, certain Jews step

up. They are not a fan of what Paul and Barnabas are doing. And as

a result of this, Paul basically tells them, look, the gospel came to you first.

Romans 1:16, the gospel was first to the Jew and then also to the Greek.

Romans 1:16

But since you don't want it, we're going to go to who? The Gentiles.

What do they do with their clothes in verse 51?

Shake the dust out of their clothes. Where did they get that from? And what

does that mean? When you're teaching somebody, and in the Bible, Paul's going to do

this in Corinth, Corinth in Acts 18. What is this

shaking the dust off of your clothes? Where did they get that from?

Yeah, in Matthew 10:14, Jesus sent the disciples

Matthew 10:14

out on the limited commission and he says, hey, when you go into a city,

if they receive you, receive them, but if they don't, shake even the dust out

of your clothes and off of your feet as a testimony against them and say,

the dust of this town clings to you. It's actually a judgment statement

saying, you're going to be destroyed and we don't even want your dirt on us,

and they go the other way. And so, but then the Gentiles hear this and

they're glad. All right, so what are some of the challenges and the opposition from

religious people? All right, let's take a survey.

Show of hands of everybody in this room that has a friend,

a family member, or somebody they love and care about that they disagree

with deeply on religious matters. Just show of hands. Great.

The reason why I want to do that is because I've got a follow-up question,

but based on what you just said and what we all admitted is we love

people with whom we disagree with on religious things deeply, and we

love and care about them. So, as you think through this, be thinking about those

people. Don't be harsh and unkind, but be thinking about those people, and then I

want to ask this question: why is it that sometimes Christianity's greatest

opposition or some of the hardest people to teach are people that are already religious?

When we started, I said, why did they go to the synagogue? Y'all said,

well, yeah, the synagogue, the religious people are there. They knew the Bible. They were

great. They were religious people. They get to the synagogue. Guess who's mad?

The religious people. So, my question is, why is the greatest

challenge for Christians in evangelism often among people who are already

religious? And I don't want to call on anybody, but I might call on you

because you just said you know people that are religious, right? And that sometimes

we struggle to teach them. Why do you think it's a great challenge to teach

people that are already religious, and why does our greatest opposition come

from that direction? Whether they're under the umbrella of Christendom and believe

in Jesus Christ or world religions or somebody— something else, why is that often

the greatest opposition and challenge? We think we've already got it figured out,

and to go against what we think we've figured out doesn't seem right. If you

think you already have the truth— by the way, everybody thinks they already have

the truth. Most logical people wouldn't be practicing what

they're practicing if they didn't believe it was what? If it was— they didn't believe

it was true or right. So when you think, hey, I know I'm convicted,

guess what they're thinking? Me too. They're doing what

they think is right. So that's exactly right. People that think— and this is every

religious person of any stripe— we already got the truth. When Paul and Barnabas come

there, like, man, we told y'all to get up and say something. We didn't want

new religion. We already got the truth. We got the law and the prophets.

We didn't need new information. You think you already have the truth. What else makes

it a challenge? I think it's false teachers are still very

much— yeah, they've been led astray by someone

who is not teaching the truth. So false teachers have a foothold

and they influence. Jesus said this about the Pharisees in Matthew 23. He said,

hey, these people are blind guides. They'll mislead you down the wrong way. They say

but they don't practice. So false teachers, people think they already have the truth.

What else? Religious people, the challenge,

the opposition we often face. What, what's tied to that?

Stacy? So sometimes there's the implication. So, okay, I'm lost and I can fix this

if you're right, but if I'm lost and wrong, then what

about all these other people in this long line? Yeah, sometimes we do that,

and there's ways to talk through that and respond to it, but that's at least

one of the challenges. Joey?

That's right. If you think you have the truth,

everybody that disagrees with you has what? The error,

the mistaken ideas. And so that's a part of it. Another thing is zeal.

Like, we can think, I'm zealous about this, I'm passionate, so I must

be right. And I think all of that is what they faced throughout the book

of Acts. So how do you overcome it quickly? Know the Bible well. 2 Timothy

2 Timothy 2:15

2:15 says, study to show yourself approved unto God, Paul goes in,

he preaches the Bible to them, and he's quoting from 1

Samuel, he's quoting from the Psalms, he's quoting from the book of Habakkuk.

He knows the Bible so well that he's able to make a dent into

what they think, and they really, if they're honest, can't argue against it.

And sometimes we need to know what we believe a little bit

better and not just think, well, I don't know the answer to that,

but I know you're wrong. Well, we need to know the Bible well.

Another thing is look for the listeners. In this group, there were people that were

honestly listening. And there always will be people like that, even religious

individuals. Remember that some will hear and obey. Isaiah 55:10-11,

Isaiah 55:10–11

God says, my word won't return to me void. Know when

to shake the dust off. When do you do this? Shake the dust off of

your feet. That should say Acts 13:51. When should you shake the dust off

Acts 13:51

your feet? Like, when do you know it's time for me to stop with this

person and go another direction? Like, what are some telltale signs?

I'm gonna give you one. If they say, leave me,

what? Start shaking and start leaving.

Okay, if they say, don't talk to me about religion anymore, guess what you should

do? Stop talking to them about religion, at least for now. They don't want you

to. Go talk to somebody else. When they kick Paul and them out of town,

Paul and company never say, no, but we just got to. Hey, if you don't

want us, we'll go. In Mark 5, Jesus heals the demon-possessed man in the region

of the Gadarenes, and they say, hey, can you get out of town? Jesus says,

okay. He gets on his boat and he leaves. You got to know when to

do this. You got to know your limitations, and this is challenging, especially when

we love people. And then keep encouraging the saved. And that's what they do at

the end of Acts 13. They keep encouraging these individuals to

continue in the grace of God. Well, that's Acts 13:43. They urge them

Acts 13:43

to continue in the grace of God. And this really goes down through chapter 14

and verse 7. When they get to Iconium, same thing happens.

They're persecuted for preaching the truth, and they have to rise up and face this

challenge. So, we won't cover that territory twice. All right, next challenge,

the challenge of preacheritis. Acts 14:8,

Acts 14:8

really down through 18, is this challenge. I'm just going to read the

first 8 through 12. Look at Acts 14:8 through 12.

Acts 14:8–12

Now at Lystra there was a man sitting who couldn't use his feet. He was

crippled from birth, and he had never walked. He listened to Paul speaking. And Paul,

looking intently at him, seeing that he had faith to be made well,

said in a loud voice, Stand upright on your feet. He sprang

up and began walking. And when the crowd saw what Paul had done, they lifted

up their voices, saying in Lycaonian, the gods have come down to us

in the likeness of man. Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul Hermes,

because he was the chief speaker. All right, so they get to Lystra,

and they're going to be in this area of Lystra, Derbe, and Iconium doing work.

And one of the challenges the church is always going to face is the challenge

of preacheritis. And here's what happens. Paul heals a man. What does this remind you

of? This man's here crippled. Paul heals him. Who else did something

like this? Peter in Acts 3. Paul is

being asserted as the new Peter. He preaches his sermon, he heals

a man, and they heal this guy. The people at Lystra attempt to worship him

and Barnabas. They even give them names according to their gods. They call them Zeus

and Hermes. Paul's the chief speaker. Paul and Barnabas correct

them. What Paul does in short in Acts 14:14-17 is

Acts 14:14–17

they come out begging, Stop doing this, man. We're just like you.

There's a God in heaven who's actually given us the power to do what we're

able to do. Whatever you do, don't worship us.

And last, the people still struggle with this. Verse 18 says,

even with these words, they scarcely restrained the people from offering sacrifice to

them. I think this is interesting. This section begins with Paul doing a miracle on

a man, but even the miraculous can't cure this disease of preacheritis. People still have

it. They couldn't get this out of people's system, wanting to worship them as preachers.

So, here's a question, and we've got 5 minutes, but we're in a good spot.

How do you know you have the disease? How do you know you have preacheritis?

Here's a little mental, spiritual checkup list for you, okay? Here's how you

know. You don't want to listen to anybody else. Like, this is

my preacher. This is the only person I want to hear the truth from.

You might have the disease. Everyone else is compared to

your favorite. They don't say it like him. He just puts the words together.

Nobody says it like that. You probably have the disease.

You follow them more than God. This is what they try to do with Paul

and Barnabas. They want to follow them, they want to worship them, and Paul won't

have it. You start ranking them. Preachers aren't servants in your mind. You kind of

have a list, you know, you start ranking who you think's the best. You might

have the disease. And then you worship them. And that's

what happens on this occasion. 1 Corinthians 1:12-13,

1 Corinthians 1:12–13

Paul says, some say I'm of Paul and Apollos and Cephas.

Was Paul baptized for you? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized

in my name? Preacheritis. Churches are always going to have this challenge.

How do you overcome it quickly? Acknowledge without allegiance.

You can say, this person's gifted. I appreciate what they do, but you don't have

to pledge your allegiance to them. You know why that's always a bad idea?

Because they might one day start teaching something that's what? Wrong. And if

you just got the stardust in your eyes because this person is it, if they

start teaching something wrong, you know where you're headed if you just keep following them?

You're down the wrong path. Remember, it's God and not man. Paul says,

I planted, Apollos watered, but God did what?

God gave the increase. Point people away from you as much

as you can. When they try this to Paul and Barnabas, Paul and Barnabas say,

no thank you. We don't need this. Don't exchange one idolatry

for another. They came to get these people out of idolatry, and Paul and Barnabas

basically say, we're not going to become your new gods. Will not let

you worship us, and then accept that you just won't change anyone— everybody.

All right, Acts 15. We've got time to get through Acts 15. Here are the

last challenges. Overcoming the challenge of legalism. When Paul and

Barnabas get back to Antioch, they find out— they're telling the church

all the great things that have happened on their missionary journey that we just started

about, and some individuals start saying, hey, unless the Gentiles are circumcised,

they can't be saved. And they start trying to teach them that, hey, you've got

to keep the Law of Moses. And this is the challenge of legalism. Legalism doesn't

mean following the rules. Legalism is the challenge of people always trying

to be stricter than God and adding things in that God never

put as a part of the original plan. And this is attractive because people always

will be drawn to it. It sounds spiritual. How do you overcome it?

What do Barnabas and Paul and the others do? Sound reasoning.

They say, hey, listen, God hasn't bound the law, we shouldn't bind the law.

There's a bold defense. They start sending letters in and

around Antioch that basically say, we're not going to let the Gentiles be bound

by these strong personalities that are saying they have to be circumcised to be saved.

There's the spreading of the facts. Here's what the Gentiles really have to do: stop

worshiping idols, make sure that they're not engaged in sexual immorality,

and don't eat food that would associate them with idolatry. Emphasize only

what God does and then trust people to do their part.

The reason why people are legalistic and bind more than God is

because they don't trust God and they don't trust people. It's a lack of faith.

It says God left too much room and I've got to fill in the gaps

or people are going to run crazy and do their own thing. They don't have

faith in God or his people. What God said isn't enough, so they've got to

fill in the lines. You overcome legalism by saying, if there was more to be

said on this— never say this, and we sometimes do— I wish God said more

about this. No, you don't, because God's always right, and if there was more

to be said, he would have said it. Just say, I trust that God said

enough, and that'll be enough for God and for his people. And so,

that's how you get rid of legalism. The last one, and this is the last

slide, is the challenge of disagreement. Paul and Barnabas,

as you know, they want to go back and check on the churches and see

how they do, and they have a disagreement about whether or not they should take

John Mark. They eventually split and go their separate ways,

and there's been a lot of talk about who was right in this, and who

was wrong. The challenge of disagreement is this: people

can go their separate ways and do different things.

Partnerships can come to an end without people falling out with each other.

Paul and Barnabas, this alliance of missionary work that they formed

together by the Holy Spirit, it's the end of it. But they double the work.

Paul and Silas go in a different direction, and Timothy

goes with them later, and Barnabas and John Mark go in a different place.

Sometimes in the church, even with people we love, there will be strong disagreements,

and sometimes that means we're going to do something separate, but we're going

to stay on the same mission. And the challenge of disagreement is this: it—

just because people disagree doesn't mean somebody has to be right and somebody has to

be wrong. Who was right? Who was wrong with Paul and Barnabas? You're asking the

wrong question. They both continue to do the work of God. They disagree.

They're allowed to have their disagreement over whether or not John Mark should go,

and they double the work. Paul is reconciled to John Mark at the end of

his life, and I believe it's providential because Paul's about to go into some

heavily Roman-populated areas, and guess who he has with him? He has

Timothy, but guess who else he has? Silas. And guess what Silas

has that Barnabas didn't? Roman citizenship. And so in

Acts 16, when they're beaten and in prison, he says, hey, we're Roman citizens,

and he and Silas now have ability that he wouldn't have with Barnabas. Everywhere you

read about Silas, he's writing. He wrote 1 Peter. He wrote that letter

in Acts 15 that was sent out to those Gentile churches and probably worked

as a secretary to help Paul write many of his letters. What we think is

a disaster in friendship, people might

have meant it for evil, but God meant it for good. And so the challenge

of disagreement doesn't always mean disruption or falling out. We can

go our separate ways and still be going in God's way together. All right,

thanks for a good Bible class. Thanks for your participation. And next week we'll pick

up in chapter 16.