Adnvancing The Gospel (Part 3)

I see the children are already making their way out.

If there's any more children just waiting, we'll pause for a moment and you may go out to children's church downstairs.

Follow the leader.

And for those of you who have elected to stay, we are in a sermon series in the Acts of the Apostles.

And if you'd like a sermon outline, didn't get one, our ushers, faithful ushers, are ready to pass out outlines.

Just let them know, and they will help you.

Okay, before I get jump into backs again, I I want to um it's time for Pastor Jim's timeless life nuggets of wisdom for today.

If your eyes hurt after drinking a cup of coffee, make sure you take the spoon out of the cup.

This concludes Pastor Jim's timeless nuggets of wisdom for today.

One place your eyes won't hurt is when you drink from the cup of God's Word, which we're going to do right now.

And in the passage we look at today, we're going to look at how Paul and Barnabas continue to advance the gospel in the known Roman world.

And beginning in Acts 13, Paul and Barnabas set off on their first missionary journey from Syrian Antioch, and they make their way up to Pisidian Antioch, and things start to happen, and they're tossed out and encounter some obstacles.

Well, they end up down in Lystra, which we've been looking at.

A lot happens in Lystra.

We think Timothy, you see, his Paul writing to him in the New Testament was probably probably born again in this first missionary trip that Paul made there in Lystra.

And this is the first time we're seeing Paul and Barnabas share the gospel with pagan polytheists.

Um until this time they're sharing with Jews who knew their Bible and could use that as a platform to speak to them.

And so to understand what they did in Lystra, I've been using the acronym SHARE, speaking, helping, answering, revealing the cultural idols.

And today we finish with the last letter, E.

Equip those who believe in Jesus and disciple them.

The gospel to advance is we need to help new believers grow in their faith to become devoted followers of Jesus, because it's devoted followers of Jesus who will continue to advance the gospel.

Paul and Barnabas understood this.

I want to read the passage and then we'll talk about it for a few minutes today.

I'm breaking in in Acts chapter 14.

Acts 14 · chapter mention

If you want to follow along, brought a Bible.

Acts chapter 14.

Acts 14 · chapter mention

We left off where uh these polytheists, Paul healed a lame man, and the polytheists there uh thought they were uh gods, Hermes and Zeus, and they were preparing to make sacrifices to them, and they restrained them from doing that.

And we pick it up from there in verse 19 of Acts 14.

Um, in the middle of all this, people aren't coming to faith, but Jews came from Antioch in Iconium, and having won over the crowds, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing him to be dead.

But while the disciples stood around him, he got up and entered the city.

The next day he went away with Barnabas to Derby.

And after they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and Iconium and to Antioch.

And what did they do there?

Strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying, You know what, through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.

When they had appointed elders for them in every church, having prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed.

They passed through Pisidia and came to Pamphilia, and when they had spoken the word in Perga, they went down to Atelia.

From there they sailed to Antioch, from which they had been commended to the grace of God for the work they'd accomplished.

And when they had arrived and gathered the church together, they began to report all the things that God had done with them and how God had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles, and they spent a long time with the disciples.

So now they're back to Syrian Antioch.

They've made that first journey.

Now they're back, and they're reporting to the church all the things that happened.

Paul and Barnabas left Lystra after they were stoned and left for dead.

They they left.

We need to give people the tools and knowledge and understanding of how to reach people in their culture.

This was the Apostle Paul's passion in ministry.

He wrote to the Colossian church, uh, again, Gentile uh situation, society, and many came to faith in Christ.

And here's what he writes to the church in Colossae in Colossians 1, 28-29.

He said, We proclaim him Jesus, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ.

For this purpose I also labor, striving according to his power, which mightily works within me.

This was his passion to continue to teach disciple believers in the Lord.

So in the passage today, we're going to see two things that Paul and Barnabas did to equip believers who will then continue to advance the gospel in their culture, in their society.

First, they strengthened their souls, and second, they encouraged them to continue in the faith.

Two big things that are happening.

So the first thing they did to equip these new believers were literally to strengthen their souls.

That's an interesting way to put it.

What does that mean?

I heard somebody ask that.

So uh this may surprise you, but to strengthen something means to make it stronger.

Thought I'd throw that out.

That's free.

You can have that.

You see, uh, I know how to strengthen my muscles.

Check this out.

I can strengthen my muscles.

Uh I can strengthen my lung capacity.

But what does it mean to strengthen somebody's soul?

Good question.

That's what they're doing.

You see, God has given every human being a physical nature and a spiritual nature.

The soul is part of our spiritual nature, invisible.

It includes our mind, the thoughts we have, our will, our emotions, and our very spirit given to us by God.

The soul is part of what the Bible calls our inner person, our inner man, Paul calls it, our uh inner human being, so to speak.

In 2 Corinthians 4, 16, Paul says to the Christians in Corinth, therefore, we don't lose heart, though our outer man, physical person, is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day.

It's it's growing stronger.

While our physical bodies grow old and die, our inner spiritual nature is immortal, will not pass away, exists forever.

It will either exist forever with God in his presence, which is heaven, or it will exist forever, excluded from God, which is hell.

It doesn't die.

You can't kill a spirit, our soul.

So every everyone's soul can be strengthened.

Every single person's soul can be strengthened.

We do it all the time by both believers and unbelievers.

To strengthen your soul, here's what the core of it really means to strengthen your soul.

Your inner person means you're doing things that will fortify, sustain, and allow your inner person's confidence to grow in what you believe is true.

To do things that will fortify, sustain, allow your inner persons to grow in confidence in what you believe is true.

Doing that, when you do that, it gives you relief, uh, refreshment, encouragement.

So what do we do?

How is our soul strengthened?

Well, in it doesn't matter who you are, the soul is strengthened.

Uh, that begins in our minds.

Um we speak inwardly, we speak inwardly to ourselves in our thoughts.

Some people call it our self-talk.

Our self-talk, what we're telling ourselves, reflects our worldview.

What we believe is true.

That's what we're gonna tell ourselves.

Our mind, our thoughts, are telling our inner person what our confidence and reliance is on.

Our self-talk will either strengthen or weaken our soul, our capacity, our spiritual stamina in the truths we're placing our confidence in.

So we need to ask, what on earth are you telling yourself about God, yourself, and your circumstances?

What are you telling yourself?

You're either strengthening your soul or you're weakening your spiritual strength and stamina.

The soul is strengthened, and I've kind of got a long track here.

The soul is strengthened by the truths we believe, and tell ourselves it's what we're relying on for our security and stability in life.

So, what are you telling your soul?

Let me give you some examples of what I'm talking about.

Here's an example of a believer's self-talk in Psalm 42, verse 5.

Psalms 42:5

The psalmist says this to himself in the inner person.

He says, Why are you in despair, O my soul?

And why have you become disturbed within me?

Hope in God.

For I shall again praise him for the help of his presence.

That's what he's telling himself.

His mind, his thoughts.

Wait a second.

That's not true, whatever that anxiety I'm feeling, because this is true.

Hope in God.

Here's another example of a believer, David.

And I believe it's the same kind of thing as he writes and sings this song, which we all know.

But this is what he's telling himself.

I don't know what he's facing at this point, but because it does suggest some trouble.

And it's Psalm 23, verses 1 to 3.

Psalms 23:1–3

Here's what he's telling himself: the Lord is my shepherd.

I shall not want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside still waters, he restores my soul, guides me in paths of righteousness for his namesake, and on and on and on.

Now, let me give you an example of an unbeliever's self-talk.

Um, in in the New Testament, Jesus tells us this little parable about a very wealthy man in Luke 12, 16 to 21.

Um, I think as this follows the disciples, or a person came up to Jesus and said, Hey, would you tell my brother to share the inheritance with me?

Here's Jesus' response.

You know what?

Be on your guard against every form of greed, for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions.

And then he told him a parable, saying, You know, the land of a rich man was very productive.

And he began, here it is, he began reasoning with himself.

This is what he's telling himself.

Oh, what shall I do?

I've run out of room.

I have no place to store my crops.

Then he said to himself, This is what I'll do.

I'll tear down my barns, build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods.

And then I'll say, he's speaking to himself, Soul, oh man, soul, you have many goods laid up.

Oh wow, he's strength, he's strengthening his soul and feeling good.

But for a different reason.

But God said to him, You fool.

This very night, your soul is required of you.

And now what will happen to all that stuff?

And then Jesus said, So is the man who stores up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.

The psalmist believed and strengthened their souls with the truth of God's word, what they knew to be true about him.

The Lord's presence is provision.

The rich man believed and strengthened his soul with his reliance on himself and his stuff.

He was strengthened.

But God says, wrong way to strengthen your soul.

How are Paul and Barnabas strengthening the souls of these disciples of Christ in Lystra, Iconium, and Poseidon Anagok?

Well, you should know by now, what they're doing is enriching them with the life-giving word of God.

Here's what you can count on.

I believe it's perhaps one of the main lessons God intended for Genesis chapter one, uh, given to the nation of Israel right at the beginning.

Uh He's teaching them, you know what?

The power and life-giving capacity of my word, beginning there with, let there be light.

God's word dispels darkness, gives life, fills what's empty, orders the world, and makes the life he created fruitful.

Power of his word.

Let there be.

Then the apostle John, cueing off, I believe, Genesis 1, brings the teaching of God's life-giving word right into the New Testament in his gospel.

Uh, listen to what John says in John 1.

In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God.

The word was God, and he was in the beginning with God.

All things came into being through him, and apart from him, nothing came into being that has come into being.

In him was life, and the life was the light of men.

And then, fast forward in the New Testament to his first letter, John writes this what was from the beginning, what we've heard, what we've seen with our eyes, what we've looked at and touched with our hands concerning the word of life, which is Jesus.

And the life was manifested.

We have seen and testified and proclaimed to you the eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us.

This is the message we've heard from him and announced to you.

God is light, and in him there's no darkness at all.

I think what's what we find from the scripture is uh relation to your soul, God's word is like taking steroids for your soul.

You want to be your inner man to be strong and healthy and powerful.

Right here.

Acts, you see, the Holy Spirit uses God's word to speak directly to our soul.

Directly to our spirit, his spirit to our spirit, to write it to our soul, our inner person.

Uh Acts chapter 4, verse 12, we have this statement The Word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword.

Acts 4:12

It pierces as far as the division of soul and spirit, both joints and marrow, able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

And here's here's um here's some great comfort because God cannot lie, his word, his promises to us, the writer of Hebrews says, serves as an anchor for our soul.

Plant it deep.

Tell yourself this.

Hebrews 6, verses 17 and 19.

Hebrews 6:17

In the same way, God, desiring even more to show to the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness of his purpose, interposed with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement to take hold of the hope set before us.

This hope, based on his promise, we have as an anchor for our soul.

A hope both sure and steadfast, and one which enters within the veil.

Referring to God's very presence.

This is extremely important, but this is what Paul and Barnabas are doing.

They're teaching, encouraging them the timeless, life-giving word of God to build them up in their faith, to help them to grow in Christ.

So this is how they're strengthening their souls.

The word of God, absolutely essential for our inner person.

It's what we're gonna tell ourselves when life gets confusing.

So first they strengthen the souls of the disciples through the word of God, and then in Acts 14, 22, it says they also encourage them to continue in the faith.

The second thing.

So the translations are, depending on the context, different.

Ameno can be translated to stay someplace, to remain in a place, a certain place, like Acts 28:30.

Acts 28:30

And he stayed two full years in his own rented quarters.

This was Paul, and was welcoming all who came to him.

He stayed in one place, a certain place.

Ameno can also be translated to abide with someone, to walk and be in fellowship with someone, like John 15 5, where Jesus said, I am the vine, you are the branches.

He who abides in me, and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

Ameno can be translated to continue in something, to stand by something, to remain true to something, like 2 Timothy 3.14.

Paul says to Timothy, you, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you've learned them.

That's the sense, I believe, ameno is being used in Acts 14, 22, encouraging them to continue in the faith, to stand by it, remain true.

And Paul and Barnabas are urging them to keep growing spiritually in their knowledge of Christ and in his word.

The word of God strengthens our soul and helps us continue in the faith as we learn more and more and more about what God has for us.

And I'll leave you with this.

I'd be done.

It's an anchor.

When I don't know what's going on, when things are falling apart, I let God tell me what's going on about what He's doing and what He's promised to do.

I'm telling my soul this.

And you know what?

I feel stronger spiritually.

I can get through that.

Yep.

Lord's with me.

Do this, don't miss it.

Ask yourself, what are you telling yourself about yourself?

About this or that?

And make sure God's word is part of every single conversation you're having with that with your soul.

Otherwise, you're being strengthened by something that's not gonna help you, like the rich man.

Okay.

Ironically, I want you to know, I want you to notice what else.

I didn't mention this because I want you to notice what else Paul and Barnabas say is necessary to help us grow and continue in the faith.

Verse 22.

They're encouraging them to continue in the faith and saying, through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.

That's a phrase of heaven.

Wow.

Now that's some encouragement, isn't it?

What does that mean?

Oh, I'm glad you asked.

But that's something I want you to think about for a while.

In fact, through the whole Advent season, because we're gonna talk about that next year.

Sorry.

When we come to faith in Christ through the gospel message and are born again, spiritually, we're newborn babies, the scripture tells us.

Spiritual babies.

You know what babies need to grow?

Spiritual food, which is God's word.

Peter nails it in 1 Peter 2 2.

He says, You know what, believers like newborn babies, long for the pure spiritual milk of the word so that you may grow in respect to your salvation.

Because you ain't gonna grow spiritually any other way.

God's word strengthens our soul.

Through it we grow spiritually, and here's an important point to keep in mind.

I don't know what you what your idea is about spiritual growth.

I'll tell you what it's not.

Spiritual growth is not becoming more religious, it's not external at all.

It's becoming more and more like Jesus Christ in your character, in your behavior, in your thoughts, in your actions, your soul.

Paul says, you know what?

For those people whom God foreknew, he also predestined to become formed to the image of his son, so that we would be the firstborn among, so he would be the firstborn among many brethren.

And as we here's here's the point really today, as we become more like Christ, we become more credible witnesses to Jesus, Christ, and the gospel's life-changing message.

That's what Paul and Barnabas are doing.

Back in Lystra, Iconium.

We need to help these guys grow in their faith.

We need to strengthen their souls through the word.

And God's word equips us.

That's what God said, not me.

2 Timothy 3, 16 and 17, the Apostle Paul says, all scripture is inspired by God.

And you know what?

It's profitable for teaching, for reproving us, for correcting us, for training us in righteousness, so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.

You see a similar reflection of that statement in his letter to the Hebrews chapter 4, where Paul's talking about the body of Christ.

Hebrews 4 · chapter mention

And he said, You know what?

Why?

For the equipping of the saints, for the work of the ministry.

What's the equipping mean there?

Look at it sometime.

Ephesians 4.

It's growing to become more like Jesus Christ through understanding and applying and responding to his word.

That's it.

So let's pray.

Father, thank you for the Lord Jesus Christ.

I would ask you humbly, please strengthen our souls.

Help us to not be weak in faith, to be weak in our knowledge of Jesus Christ and his promises to us.

Help us to continue our progress in the faith until he returns.

I know this is what you've given us as a church to do.

And so I pray the same prayer for us at West Sub that Paul prayed for the Ephesian believers when he wrote to them, that God would grant us, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with power through his spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in our hearts through faith, and that we, being rooted and grounded in love, we might be able to comprehend with all the saints what the breadth and length and height and depth and to know the love of Christ, which surpasses knowledge, that we may be filled up to all the fullness of God.

And now to him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all we can ask or think, according to the power that's working within us.

To him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever.

Amen.