Acts: Discipleship Living

Well, good morning, welcome to be.

As I was sitting there telling Tanner, if I make

it up the stairs without falling on my face, we're

all to a good start.

So hopefully it's all up from here.

But this morning, I am Tanner did a great job

introducing me, and I appreciate that my name is Billy.

I am Jonathan's nephew, and it has amazed me how

many apologies I've received for that. So I'm not not

tally so I think I'll associate more with with Brandy

and Chloe and Caroline. I think we can all agree

that that's the better half there. But no, I'm excited.

I'm very, very excited and honored to be just bringing

the Word of God to you this morning. We were

going to be in picking up where Jonathan left off

last week and continuing in the Book of Acts, specifically

chapter sixteen.

If y'all want to turn there with me, I.

Want to give you a little bit of a historic

background kind.

Of tea up if you will the Word this morning.

So last Sunday in Acts fifteen and Jonathan kind of

went through verses thirty six, right, we talked about Paul

and Barnabas and you see, they were leaving to go

on Paul's second missionary journey.

You see, Paul would travel, you know, all across bringing.

This new word of this risen Savior to both Jews

and Gentiles. And this Sunday we kind of pick up

in the midst of Paul's second missionary journey in chapter sixteen,

and this is where Paul is traveling with Silas at

this point because of what we talked about last week

with Paul and Barnabas separating, and they're traveling to places

that Paul and Barnabas ministered to roughly two to three

years prior.

So they're re visiting these cities and these places. Right.

So in verse one we see it says Paul came

also to Derby and to Lystra. A disciple was there

named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was

a believer, but his father was a Greek. He was

well spoken of by the brothers at Lystra, and it

kill him. Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him and took

him and circumcised, circumcised him because of the Jews who

were in those places, for they all knew that his

father was a Greek, as they went on their way

through the cities, they delivered to them for observance and

decisions that had been reached by the apostles and elders

who were in Jerusalem. So the churches were strengthened in

the faith and they increased in numbers daily. If you

had joined me in just opening this time of scripture

in prayer, Lord God, we we thank you so much

for this time and opportunity that we have this morning

to dive into your holy Word.

I pray Lord that you guide my heart this morning

and my words.

I pray that you open my mind as well as

the congregation's mind and heart to understand and respond to

your word. We give you all the glory and honor

and praise your name and amen. You see, while Paul

is on his second missionary journey, and we come to

verse one of chapter sixteen, Paul and Silas, and I

want to kind of set this up for you guys,

to get you.

A picture in your mind.

You see, Paul and Silas would have traveled through Cecilia, Okay,

crossing the what's called the Taurus Range, So you can

kind of picture some mountain ranges, if you will, and

how they would be traveling across this countryside to visit

these cities, and they would have passed through the Sicilian

Gates and arriving in the region of Galicia, and then

they would have begin to go to the cities of

Derby and Lystra that we see mentioned in verse one.

Now we come to and almost like a surprise, it

kind of seems in verse one where Paul discovers that

a brother in Christ is in Lystra and his name

is Timothy. And you see, we know that Paul loved Timothy.

He passionately cared for Timothy, because it's mentioned in First

Corinthians chapter four, verse seventeen, and also in verse Timothy

chapter one, verse two, Paul describes Timothy as.

My beloved son. He says, he is my own son

in the faith.

So we I think it's safe to say that, you know,

Paul had a good relationship with Timothy. Actually, Paul thought

of Timothy as the son that he never had. So

we can imagine, you know, Paul bringing Timothy up under

his arm, up under his wing, if you will. And

we know that continuing this, that Timothy had been impacted

by Paul's ministry in the first missionary journey because in

First Timothy, I'm Sorry, Two Timothy, Chapter one, verse five,

Paul writes describing a little bit of Timothy's family tree,

how his grandma and his mother were actually the first

in his family to come to Christ. How powerful of

a testimony is that, right, that not only had Timothy

been impacted by the ministry of Paul, but also the

ministry of his own family. And then that gives us

such a great illustration this morning of true discipleship from

in the family book, from also in the church. You see,

Paul Paul further expounds upon this personal relationship that he

had with Timothy in his discipleship, and we can we

read about that in First Timothy. You know, whenever I

was in eighth grade a long time ago, right, I

had a senior that.

Was I just thought was like the coolest ever. You know.

You remember whenever you're young and you just.

Like you look up at the older guys and you're like, oh,

I want to be like them one day, you know.

And I remember this senior like he played sports and

and you know, he was an influence on my life.

And he decided that he wanted to start a Bible study.

That was kind of open to the younger boys in school.

So I started to go to this Bible study, and

I began to connect more and more with this with

this scene. You know, not only would he, you know,

help disciple me in the Word of God, but but

he would personally.

Connect with me.

You know, he would as like we were on the

same teams together in high school. Like no longer was

I like, you know, the young little eighth grader on

the team, but I was the friend, you know.

Of the senior.

So he had a direct influence on me. Right, he

wanted to connect with me. He wanted to have a

relationship with me. You see, we see just a depiction

of what true discipleship looks like in between Paul and Timothy. Right,

just like how this senior kind of discipled me and

built a relationship with me. The first three verses really

of of chapter sixteen articulates really the importance of biblical discipleship.

You know, Paul took the Great commission very very seriously, right,

I don't think we can deny that as we see

him go on many different missionary journeys and spreading the

Word of God. But along with his evangelism, he upheld discipleship.

You see, we can't have evangelism apart from discipleship.

They go hand in hand.

We don't want to lead someone to Christ out here

on the street and let them defend for themselves. We

need to bring them in in biblical discipleship. You know,

we as a church today need to look at the

example of Paul in both evangelism but also discipleship. Right,

And as we continue to look through chapter sixteen, and

we kind of look at verse three, so we read,

how you know, Paul comes to Timothy and you have

almost this like, you know, reuniting of two great personal friends.

And we have this description of Timothy being described as

a well known person in his community. Right, we have

this description that his mom was Jewish and his father

was Greek. And as we come to verse three, we

read where it says Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him.

Paul wanted Timothy to come with him on his missionary journey. Right,

so he took him and circumcised him because of the

Jews who were in those places, for they all knew

that his.

Father was a Greek.

Now I want you to understand this morning, I want

to elaborate on how whenever I read this passage and

whenever I studied it and I discussed it with Jonathan,

I mean, and I sat on it and I contemplated it.

I was trying my best to find another meaning here

in this passage. But the truth of the matter is

that this passage, this verse is about circumcision.

There's no really hidden.

Meaning that we can kind of skirt around, like this

uncomfortable word. But it's plain and simple about circumcision. And

I was joking with Jonathan. I was like, man, the

first time that I preach here, you're gonna give me

a passage about this subject. That we were just having

a good time with that. But however, there is, and

I've honestly my eyes have been open to this with

studying it and discussing it with Jonathan. The powerful and

really profound reason that all circumcised Timothy.

You see in verse.

Two, we are told that Timothy is both from Jewish

and Greek descent. So we really have a mix here

of what's going on in the early Church, right because

we have Christianity beginning to develop and grow within the

synagogues and with within Judaism through the ministries and the

missions of Peter and even Paul. But we do have

this growth of Christianity within Gentiles through specifically the ministry

and evangelism of Paul. So you know, within the past

couple of weeks, as Jonathan's been discussing some of these

differences that the early Church is trying to figure out, right,

like do they eat unclean food? Like what do we

do about you know, this particular aspect, right, the different

dynamics that they're trying to figure out in this early Church.

But you see, Timothy would have been known in the community.

I mean number one, we're told that he was known

as a very thought of, highly thought of person, but

he also would have been known in the Jewish community

as an uncircumcised Greek. And you see that what would

have come across in the Jewish custom of that time, right,

is how Timothy was most likely, you know, part Jew,

but was denying his Jewish heritage by not being circumcised.

So that like necessarily is not a wrong thing.

And I want you to understand that there is no

premise or anything that Timothy's circumcision has to do with

is salvation. Paul makes it very very clear in his

own teaching multiple different times. That salvation is through the

grace of God, through faith in Jesus and has nothing

to do with this outward appearance. Even if you look

at Galatians chapter two, Paul would not allow Titus to

be circumcised in that situation. So we see that there's

nothing here in the text that talks about this correlation

between his circumcision and his salvation. And I wanted just

to make that clear and understand this morning.

But the reason that Paul.

Wanted Timothy to come with him and took this action

in being circumcised, is simply that Timothy could preach to

both the Jews and the Gentiles. You see, Paul knew

that Jews would see Timothy as a man who was

denouncing his Jewish heritage, and it would inevitably place a

stumbling block.

In the way of those who.

Were coming to faith in Christ.

You see.

I want you to understand that this passion just goes

hand in hand with Acts chapter fifteen that Jonathan has

been preaching on the past several weeks. You see, we,

as disciples of God, are called to abstain. Remember that

word Jonathan used a couple of weeks ago to abstain

from certain things that may cause our brothers and sisters

in Christ to stumble. Would and I want to phrase

this in a way to help you better understand, would

Timothy go to Hell if he decided.

To not be circumcised? No?

No, Jonathan plainly said this a couple weeks ago. Will

a Christian, a born again believer, necessarily go to Hell

if his lips touch alcohol?

No? But we.

As disciples are called to live a higher life.

You see.

Would there be people in Timothy's life that were brought

to faith in Christ due to his selfless obedience and

being circumcised?

Yes? Yes, was it something that he needed to.

Do for his own sake or his own salvation? No,

but there are countless, countless Jewish people who were brought

to faith in Christ because of his selfless obedience, an

act of selflessness that simply opened the door for him

to bring the Gospel into the synagogues and to both

Jews and Greeks. You see, Paul gives a personal testimony

on this matter in one Corinthians nine. And I want

to read this to you just to give you another illustration.

It should be on the on the board, yep. It says,

for I am free from all. I have made myself

a servant to all, that I might win more of them.

To the Jews, I became as a Jew in order

to win Jews. To those under the law.

I became as one under the law, though not being

made myself under the law, that I might win those

outside the law. To the weak. I became weak that

I might win the week. I have become all things

to all people by all.

Means I might save some.

I do it all for the sake of the Gospel,

that I may share with them in its blessings. What hey, oh,

my goodness, what a profound and powerful testimony from Paul.

The selflessness of the Gospel demonstrated in the ministry of Paul.

How many times do we allow, I'm talking to myself,

allow our pride to get in the way of bringing

the Gospel to someone. I mean, we even see Jesus

sit down with people who the Pharisees would have never

associated with.

To bring them the Gospel.

And one that just comes to my mind is the

woman at the well of the Samaritan Woman, an incredible

story that's one of my favorites in all of Scripture.

And we see Jesus living the selfless aspect of the gospel. See,

I want you guys to understand this morning is as

really I have come to understand in this week of

studying this passage, we as disciples of Christ are called

to live a greater life we are, and with this

call comes responsibilities to live for something greater than ourselves.

You see, whenever me and me and my wife and

our son, we were living in Charlotte, and you know,

we were doing different things. I was working kind of

in a by vocational role as a youth pastor and

and and also working in a in a job in Charlotte,

and everything was going great. I've had so many people

ask me, you know, why did I move here? Because

I tell people I just recently moved, and you know,

they're like, why did you move? And I tell them

I'm at seminary and studying, and you know, the conversation

begins to unfold, and and I begin to tell them simply,

you know, I just I had this uneasy, restless burden

within me that I was being called to something greater

than what I was doing at that time. So and

I laugh, and I tell this to my dad, and

we were talking a couple of months ago, and I began,

I was like, okay, God, you know, I'm giving you

about fifty percent as a youth pastor, and this isn't

my mind's understanding, right, so let me give you seventy

five percent. I'll continue to, you know, work in this

corporate job, you know, so I can provide for my

family and do something I'm interested in per se. But

I'll give you seventy five percent, so maybe that this

burden will will be fulfilled and I will be satisfied.

And I did that, but again, I.

Just felt this pool and this call.

That he wanted more.

So that was in answering that giving him one hundred percent.

It was incredible to what to watch the Lord open

the doors and fill both me and my wife with

his spirit.

We are called to live a greater.

Life as disciples of God. As we kind of come

to the end of this passage, we look at Chapter sixteen,

verses four through five, and we see that Paul has

now brought Timothy beside him, and I think, like a

dynamic duo, you know, like I mean, I imagine you know,

they're walking around they have like the Jesus three thousands,

you know on their feet and like I mean I

have mentioned I'm gonna be imagine like I pictured, you know,

both me and Tanner like walk outside by side, and

it was it was beautiful. If I was a painter,

I was gonna paint it. It was gonna be a majestic

But I can't do that. It'd be like two terrible

stick figures. But you see, we have this dynamic duo

right that has formed. And we look at verse four

and through five. It says as they went on their

way through the cities, they delivered to them for observance

the decisions that had been reached by the apostles and

elders who were in Jerusalem. And it says so the

churches were strengthened in their faith, and they increased in

numbers daily.

Gosh.

The last thing that we come to in this passage

is Paul and Timothy's proclamation of the truth. They're proclaiming

this new message of a risen Savior who has come

and fulfilled the laws that you are familiar with, and

we are in a new covenant, in a new age.

You see, Paul and Timothy are actively living out the

command of Christ and the Great commission, the Great commission

being Matthew chapter twenty eight, verse nineteen and twenty, where

it says, go therefore and make disciples of all nations,

baptising them in the name of the Father and of

the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe

all that I.

Have commanded you.

And behold, I am with you always to the end

of the age. Paul and Timothy begin to live that

command to go and make more disciples, the last command

that Jesus gives us in scripture. What a powerful, powerful

testimony this morning as we look at this passage, and

now I have to go and tell Jonathan that.

You know, it wasn't too bad.

But this morning, as we kind of close, I want

I want you all to reflect on something. What is

your role in living in obedience of the Great Commission.

I mean, even as we pray for our own team

that's in the country of Georgia actively living out the

command of the Great Commission, following really in Paul and

Timothy's footsteps, spreading this truth of the Word of God,

I encourage you to reflect on really your place in

living out.

This command.

If you would join me in closing in prayer, Lord God,

we just thank you so much for your word this morning.

We thank you for this powerful truth and testimony of

both Paul and Timothy that we have studied together. I pray,

Lord that your word just resonates and moves within our hearts.

I pray that we reflect as individuals, but also as

a congregation, Lord, on what our role is in living

in obedience of the call to evangelize and discipleship and

to fulfill.

The great commission. Lord.

I thank you for this time as we just as

we just come before you open hearts. Lord, in your name,

we pray, Amen.

Jesus pain

To