Acts: The Gospel Unleashed Part 23
Notes
Transcript
Taking the gospel to the ends of the earth is difficult.
Taking the gospel to the ends of the earth is difficult.
MAP !
Now Paul and his companions set sail from Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphylia. And John left them and returned to Jerusalem,
Aristarchus my fellow prisoner greets you, and Mark the cousin of Barnabas (concerning whom you have received instructions—if he comes to you, welcome him),
You know it was because of a bodily ailment that I preached the gospel to you at first,
and though my condition was a trial to you, you did not scorn or despise me, but received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus.
What then has become of your blessedness? For I testify to you that, if possible, you would have gouged out your eyes and given them to me.
It can be discouraging.
It can be discouraging.
It can be dangerous.
It can be dangerous.
But the Jews incited the devout women of high standing and the leading men of the city, stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and drove them out of their district.
John Mark abandons the mission at this point.
Taking the gospel to the ends of the earth must be deliberate .
Taking the gospel to the ends of the earth must be deliberate .
Percy L. Spencer
Percy Spencer, an engineer at Raytheon after his WWI stint in the Navy, was known as an electronics genius. In 1945, Spencer was fiddling with a microwave-emitting magnetron — used in the guts of radar arrays — when he felt a strange sensation in his pants. A sizzling, even. Spencer paused and found that a chocolate bar in his pocket had started to melt. Figuring that the microwave radiation of the magnetron was to blame (or to credit, as it would turn out), Spencer immediately set out to realize the culinary potential at work. The end result was the microwave oven — savior of eager snackers and single dudes worldwide.
but they went on from Perga and came to Antioch in Pisidia. And on the Sabbath day they went into the synagogue and sat down.
After the reading from the Law and the Prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent a message to them, saying, “Brothers, if you have any word of encouragement for the people, say it.”
THEY WENT ON!
Stay the course!
Stay the course!
Proclaim the savior.
Proclaim the savior.
“Brothers, sons of the family of Abraham, and those among you who fear God, to us has been sent the message of this salvation.
For those who live in Jerusalem and their rulers, because they did not recognize him nor understand the utterances of the prophets, which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled them by condemning him.
And though they found in him no guilt worthy of death, they asked Pilate to have him executed.
And when they had carried out all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb.
But God raised him from the dead,
and for many days he appeared to those who had come up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now his witnesses to the people.
And we bring you the good news that what God promised to the fathers,
this he has fulfilled to us their children by raising Jesus, as also it is written in the second Psalm, “ ‘You are my Son, today I have begotten you.’
And as for the fact that he raised him from the dead, no more to return to corruption, he has spoken in this way, “ ‘I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David.’
Therefore he says also in another psalm, “ ‘You will not let your Holy One see corruption.’
For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep and was laid with his fathers and saw corruption,
“It must not be tolerated that Christ should be unknown through our silence, and sinners unwarned through our negligence.”
Spurgeon
“I fancy that I could preach a very fine sermon, one that would please gentlemen who are fond of oratory, but that highflown style of preaching seems to me to be wicked so long as souls are perishing; and I am determined, as far as ever I can, to preach the gospel plainly and simply, so that everybody may understand it. If occasionally I make you smile, I do not mind, because sometimes I can get the truth into your heart that way when I cannot get it in any other way. If you only get to Christ, it does not matter to me whether you come laughing or crying so long as you are really brought to him. We long to bring our hearers to the Saviour, and therefore we want them so to hear that they shall hunger and thirst after the living God; and when they do that, they will be sure to find him ere long.”
Celebrate God’s faithfulness!
Celebrate God’s faithfulness!
And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed.
And the word of the Lord was spreading throughout the whole region.
But the Jews incited the devout women of high standing and the leading men of the city, stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and drove them out of their district.
But they shook off the dust from their feet against them and went to Iconium.
And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.