man the title my sermon this morning is Paul's second missionary journey and if
you remember last week we finished up with Paul's first missionary journey
where he took Barnabas and he went to Cyprus and then he went all throughout
what is modern-day Turkey and preached in many cities he had a lot of
persecutions trials tribulations but accomplished a lot multitudes were saved
and great things happen so we're gonna get into the second missionary journey
this morning but first I want to talk about something that happened between
these two missionary journeys that kind of sets up the next missionary journey
so the first missionary journey ended at the end of chapter 14 we'll look at
chapter 15 of Acts verse number one this is sort of an interlude between the two
missionary journeys acts 15 one reads and certain men which came down from
Judea taught the brethren and said except you be circumcised after the
manner of Moses you cannot be saved when therefore Paul and Barnabas had no
small dissension that means it was a big dissension and disputation with them
they determined that Paul and Barnabas and certain other of them should go up
to Jerusalem unto the apostles and elders about this question now there was
nothing questionable about this to Paul and Barnabas but there were people that
were confused on this issue people were trying to mix in works and mix in the
law and circumcision with salvation and Paul talks about this in Galatians
chapter 2 and he says we didn't give subjection to these people no not for an
hour I mean we were just completely opposed to this from the beginning so
Paul and Barnabas are sent to the apostles in Jerusalem just to check in
and make sure that they're right about that you know are you sure we don't have
to get circumcised are you sure we don't have to keep the law of Moses and so
Paul and Barnabas they go down they get with the apostles in Jerusalem and I'm
not going to go into that because we want to talk about the second missionary
journey but jump down if you would to verse 25 it says it seemed good unto us
being assembled with one accord to send chosen men unto you with our beloved
Barnabas and Paul men that have hazarded their lives for the name of our Lord
Jesus Christ we have sent therefore Judas and Silas who shall also tell you
the same things by mouth so anyway they get together with the apostles in
Jerusalem of course work salvation is ridiculous and nobody even thinks about
that but there were some people in Jerusalem that are saying well but even
though it's not salvation shouldn't they still just get circumcised anyway and do
the laws anyway just you know to serve the Lord and of course it's decided no
they're not going to do those things but when they send Paul and Barnabas back to
deliver the message to the church at Antioch they also want to send a couple
of their guys so they send Judas and Silas also from Jerusalem to represent
the church at Jerusalem and to preach to the people there so look at verse 32 it
says in Judas and Silas being prophets also themselves exhorted the brethren
with many words and confirmed them and after they had tarried there a space
they were let go in peace from the brethren unto the apostles watch this
notwithstanding it pleased Silas to abide there still which I believe is missing
from all the modern versions verse 34 is one of those deleted verses in the New
Testament but what's actually being done here is that Judas and Silas come from
Jerusalem they do some preaching in Antioch and the plan was for them to go
back to Jerusalem but it pleased Silas to abide there still Silas decides you
know what I like it here in Antioch I'm gonna stay here and continue to do work
for the Lord here now this is why that is significant because there's going to
be a falling out between Paul and Barnabas okay on the first missionary
journey it was Paul and Barnabas they're gonna have a falling out and watch what
happens look at verse 36 and some days after Paul said unto Barnabas let us go
again and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of
the Lord and see how they do now I want to point out here Paul's plan for the
second missionary journey is to basically retread all the same ground
that they've already dropped he says let's go back and go through all these
same places and let's see how they do he's gonna take the same guy and he's
gonna go on the same mission strip and Barnabas verse 37 determined to take
with them John whose surname was Mark now they had brought him on the first
journey as a helper but he bailed pretty early in the trip if you remember but
Paul verse 38 thought not good to take him with them who departed from them
from Pamphylia which was fairly early in the trip and went not with them to the
work and the contention was so sharp between them that they departed asunder
one from the other so Barnabas took Mark and sailed on to Cyprus but look at
verse 40 and Paul chose Silas and departed being recommended by the
brethren under the grace of God and he went through Syria and Cilicia
confirming the churches so because Paul and Barnabas have this falling out they
have this very sharp contention they're mad at each other they end up splitting
and going their separate ways Barnabas decides to take Mark and go to Cyprus so
he's kind of recreating that first missionary journey and then Paul decides
he's gonna do it from the other angle and he's gonna go back to the same
places in Turkey where they've been and he takes Silas so God worked it out that
his sole winning partner would be there so even though this this foolishness
about works based salvation and circumcision and the law and having to
fight that battle it seemed like a little bit of a distraction and kind of
taking away from the missions and taking away from the evangelism but number one
that was an important battle that needed to be fought and number two God used the
battle he used the fight he used the conflict in order to put Silas and
Antioch so that he'd be ready to be Paul's next sidekick so when these kind
of doctrinal fights come up and battles come up and false doctrine creeps in
look obviously it's bad when false doctrine creeps in none of us want
heresy and false doctrine to creep in but you know what would they intend for
evil God can use for good anything in our life evil that comes in the Bible
says all things work together for good to them that love God and so even when
heresy happens like for example you know a few years ago we had this oneness
modalist heresy creep in this damnable heresy denying the Trinity and when that
happened obviously that's not a fun thing to do but at the same time I think
there was a lot of great things that came from that like for example you know
we're able to do a lot of solid teaching on the Trinity really shore up that
doctrine so that was a great result of that and I met people who got saved as a
result of that controversy even just a few months after I was at old Pat
Baptist Church in San Antonio Texas and I had a guy who walked up to me and said
hey I just got saved a few months ago and he said I heard about your church
through the whole controversy with the oneness people and he said I'm a I was
a oneness Pentecostal and I heard all those sermons where you were rebuking
oneness Pentecostalism and I got saved now I believe in the Trinity now I'm a
fundamental Baptist you know so there was a lot of good that came from that
and so what they intend for evil God always works out for good so the
doctrine was nailed down and Silas ended up being brought aboard on the team and
we got him out of Jerusalem and let's face it folks if you're in Jerusalem in
acts 15 you're not in the will of God because God told them go go into all the
world go teach all nations and a bunch of the apostles are still hanging out in
Jerusalem is that what Jesus told him to do he told him to go into all nations
teach all nations but they're still beating their head against the wall
trying to reach the Jews at this point which is not what God had planned for
them God took those 11 men on that hilltop and he said go teach all nations
go into all the world and they're telling Paul all right you go to the
Gentiles we'll go to the Jews now thankfully later guys like Peter and
John got this right that's why when you read the epistles of Peter and John it's
crystal clear they're out with the Gentiles they're in Gentile cities
they're reaching Gentiles they're preaching to Gentiles they're talking
about Gentiles but at this early stage they are still in error by being in
Jerusalem well where's Silas gonna get more people saved is Silas gonna get
more people saved hanging around in Jerusalem or going into Antioch and
going into Asia going into Macedonia going into Greece so God gets Silas out
of there and you know what I'm glad it pleased Silas to abide there still he
said I'm not going back to Jerusalem this is where the soul winning is this
is where it's receptive this is where people want to hear the Word of God and
so he loved it and he's on board so this is where the second missionary journey
begins in verse 40 of chapter 15 Paul chose Silas and departed being
recommended by the brethren under the grace of God so they they send him off
with a farewell they pray for them and recommend them under the grace of God
they pray that God will bless them and so forth verse 41 and he went through
Syria and Cilicia confirming the churches so he's heading toward Asia
minor it's going through Syria goes through Cilicia let's jump into chapter
16 then came he to Derby and Lystra remember Lystra Lystra is the place
where Paul was stoned and left for dead so he's recreating the original mission
strip all right he even goes back to Lystra talk about boldness and behold a
certain disciple was there named Timotheus the son of a certain woman
which was a Jewess and believed but his father was a Greek which was well
reported of by the brethren that were at Lystra and Iconium him would Paul have
to go forth with them so they are gonna get their third sidekick sort of like
Paul and Barnabas had John Mark as a sidekick now Paul and Silas they want to
have a helper so they pick up this guy Timotheus also known as Timothy his mom
is Jewish but she's saved she's a believer she's a Christian but the dad
is a Greek and the implication is that he's probably also not a believer
because there's no mention of him being saved and we remember when Paul will
later write to Timothy and talk about Timothy's spiritual heritage he says to
him you know I know of the unfeigned faith which dwelt first in thy mother
Eunice and in thy grandmother Lois and I'm persuaded that in thee also so it
in one sense Timothy is a third generation Christian because his grandma
was saved his mom was saved OK and then he's saved but on the other side his dad
is a Greek sounds like he's an unsaved guy so you know if you kind of read
between the lines in this story what you see is that even though his mom was
saved she married an unbeliever right which is not because her mom was saved
she saved seems like she went out married an unbeliever but you know what
even though she made that mistake in her life even though she goofed up she
still stayed faithful to Lord and ended up raising a very godly young man that
ends up being a key player of the New Testament and even has two books named
after him first and second Timothy I mean that's pretty cool right so here's
the moral of that story you know if you've goofed up in your life let's say
you married an unsaved person let's say you've been divorced and remarried
several times or whatever you know whatever baggage you have in your life
just where you're at now start living for God and forget those things which
are behind reach forth unto those things which are before pressed toward the mark
for the high calling of God in Christ Jesus and so here we see that Timothy
raised by a godly mother is taken in by Paul and Silas I mean that's they must
have been pretty impressed by this young man because I guarantee you that this
was not the only guy that would have been willing to join the mission strip I
mean when you got the Apostle Paul when you got Silas they're probably people
lining up they want to join that trip and they pick Timotheus as their close
assistant their helper and so forth but here's the bad news for Timothy him
would Paul verse 3 him would Paul have to go forth with him and took and
circumcised him because of the Jews that were in those quarters for they all
knew that his father was a great now look what did we just establish back in
chapter 15 circumcision is not necessary and there is great joy in all the
churches Judas and Silas are preaching circumcision is not necessary Paul and
Barnabas circumcision is not necessary Timothy is gonna go with them but Paul
compromises here Paul should not have compromised Paul should have said hey
he's not circumcised and he doesn't need to be circumcised but what does he do he
compromises now look you have to understand when you're reading the Bible
the Bible contains human characters that are not perfect so you can't just read
the book of Acts and just determine that everything they did was perfect
everything they did was right no you see people making serious mistakes and that
should encourage us because we make mistakes in our life but God can still
use us to do great things for him because nobody's perfect and so when we
read the Bible and we read about the Apostles hanging out back in Jerusalem
when they're supposed to go into all the world that's a mistake when we read
about Paul saying oh well let's just kind of please the Jews let's just kind
of keep them at bay let's let's just circumcise let's just
circumcise Timothy just to shut him up that was a mistake that was compromised
we don't need to compromise look do you think that pleased the Jews you think
you think it was like Zipporah where he could just kind of throw Timothy's
foreskin at their feet and say what now you know I guarantee you the next thing
is gonna be something else hey where's the kosher meal for Timothy they will
never be pleased when you try to compromise with unbelievers and try to
compromise with Judaism try to compromise with other religions they're
never gonna be satisfied you give them a finger they're gonna take the whole hand
you give them an inch they take a mile you can't compromise and just keep
reading folks the Jews are never satisfied when Paul compromises with
them later on Paul's gonna even go further and Paul's gonna do a Nazarite
thing and shave his head and go to the temple and participate in some Old
Testament ritual just to try to please the Jews and they're screaming together
to kill him when they see him doing that they don't say oh well maybe this
guy's not so bad he's looking a little bit kosher after all no they're
infuriated and they want him dead take this fellow off the earth it's not fit
for such a one to live they said so we see here that Paul has a moment of
compromise and that just shows us the human side of Paul he's making mistakes
he's not perfect so and later he picks up another young protege in the ministry
his name also starts with a T Titus and you know what he says about Titus I
didn't compel him to get circumcised why because he learned his lesson so with
Timothy he's making the mistake with Titus he learned from his mistake and
says no nuts to it Titus isn't getting circumcised now let's keep going and as
they went through the cities verse 4 they delivered them the decrees for to
keep that were ordained of the apostles and elders which read Jerusalem and so
were the churches established in the faith and increased in number daily boy
these people are witnessing their soul winning aren't they if they're
increasing daily and when they had gone throughout Phrygia and the region of
Galatia here's an interesting statement at the end of verse 6 and were forbidden
of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia now why would why would the Holy
Ghost forbid them to preach the word in Asia I mean they're getting people say
churches are growing everything's thriving I'll tell you why because this
is the second time retreading the same ground and you know what God actually
wants them to do he wants me to go somewhere new and I'll prove that to you
because look what happens they're forbidden to preach the word in Asia
verse 7 after they were come to Mysia and they assayed assayed is an old word
meaning to try it's where we get our word essay like writing an essay because
you know most of those are kind of like more like an attempt at something right
if you've written them in high school they're not exactly a success typically
but they assayed they tried it's from French old word they assayed to go unto
Bithynia but the Spirit suffered them not the Spirit did not allow them to go
into Bithynia so the Holy Spirit's telling them nope not Asia nope not
Bithynia that's not what verse 8 and they passing by Mysia came down to Troas
and a vision appeared to Paul in the night there stood a man of Macedonia and
prayed him saying come over into Macedonia and help us and after he had
seen the vision immediately we endeavored to go into Macedonia assuredly
gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel unto them did
you notice that he became we because Luke is writing the book of Acts and so
Luke will sometimes say we when he was actually there when he was actually
involved in the trip so we see here that the Apostle Paul's game plan was hey
let's take Barnabas and let's go retread all the old ground what's God's plan
God's plan is you're not gonna take Barnabas you're gonna take a new guy and
you're gonna go soul wedding in a new place why we need to understand that God
is interested in us reaching new people reaching new people too many churches
today are filled with all gray heads because they're not reaching anyone new
now look I'm thankful that we have gray heads here this morning and I think
there's also something wrong with the church that has no gray heads you know
if it's only young people that's a problem too a healthy church is gonna
have everything from the elderly down to the newborn and everything in between
that's a healthy church right when you're reaching new people but you've
also got some of the older stalwarts and more established people mature Christians
and so forth you want to have both but today there are Baptist churches even
independent fundamental Baptist churches that are just filled with the same old
people and their children and these churches are dying if you're not growing
you're dying it's that simple you must be reaching new people in order to grow
and we need to constantly be reaching new people and you know what that means
it means that we're knocking fresh doors every week doors that have never been
touched we need to go out there and knock a new door that's never been
knocked every single week we need to be putting out videos and sermons online
that are geared to reach a new crowd a new demographic a new nationality we
need to be planning missions trips into places that haven't been touched we need
to be going into virgin territory and pioneering missions and pioneering for
the gospel of Christ and reaching new people not just sitting around and
babysitting the same babes in Christ or no we all we need to grow up and you
know what growing up means growing up means that you actually are reaching
other people not just okay let me come to church and put on my bib and be
spoon-fed by the pastor no you need to get on the strong meat and then get to
where you're a teacher see the Bible said for when for the time you ought to
be teachers did you get that when the time you ought to be teachers you have
need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of
God and it becomes such as have need of milk and not a strong meat what's the
difference between the one who's on the milk and the strong meat one of the
differences is that the one who's on the meat is actually teaching somebody else
he's actually reaching somebody new he's not just coming to church and taking in
the message he's taking that message and you always doing he's grabbing his
buddy at work and giving him that message he's grabbing somebody out in
South Phoenix or Chandler or Mesa and knocking their door and preaching a
message to them and teaching all nations teaching the word preaching the gospel
to every creature so we need to grow up and reach other people and look as a
pastor I'm not interested in just stopping our growth right here and just
let's just okay now let's all just grow old together let's just raise our
families let's just enjoy friendship enjoy fellowship I want new faces every
week God wants new face every week and you know I'm not content to just keep
taking the same mission strips to the same places you know what I want to go
hit some new countries that we haven't even thought about that we haven't even
touched that we don't even we don't know how to pronounce the name of them or
haven't even heard of them you know let's keep pushing the boundary and
let's reach some new people you know there's nothing wrong with what Paul's
doing preaching the gospel in Asia and by thinnya it's just that he's already
done it and what's God telling him hey let's go do something new Macedonia
hasn't been touched Greece hasn't been touched you know let's expand the second
missionary journey and go a little farther let's get a little bit deeper
into the Roman Empire and not just keep doing what is he telling them expand
your vision right see a bigger picture of what can be done and and I know
sometimes it can be frustrating to show up at a soul winning time and you know
we're knocking doors and our Tukey we're knocking doors and Chandler and places
that are a little more difficult man you know why can't we just go to South
Phoenix and Guadalupe because they've been hit eight nine ten times we've got
to knock some new areas some fresh doors and you know what every single week we
get people saved even in those hard areas but we've got to branch out and as
we branch out and hit those areas of the map that aren't orange yet we're gonna
run into other receptive pockets we're gonna find other little Guadalupe's and
other little South Phoenix's and if you ever just get frustrated with it you
know go on one of the soul winning reservation trips and and those are
usually much more receptive but just understand the importance of reaching
new people bringing new people in and not just becoming just this closed loop
this closed system or another way of saying it a stagnant pond where we just
it's just us and we're just gonna keep just edifying and edifying and edifying
folks we need to bring in some new blood we need to bring in new people when you
go out and knock a new door and we need to reach people constantly and I love
about this and you know what does the follow-up crowd do with this story oh
you guys aren't doing a follow-up oh you just let you know you just you gave
birth these babies and then just left them in there Paul was into follow-up
wasn't he hey let's go follow up all and God's like okay enough with the follow
up let's go to Macedonia that hasn't been touched right I mean isn't that
what happened in the story and look I'm all for confirming the souls I'm all for
discipleship I'm all for helping people grow and teaching them to observe all
things that Christ commanded not just the gospel but you know what there also
needs to be missions going on to reach new people all the time and that's why
they were forbidden to preach in Asia that's why the spirit suffered them not
to go into by Thynia he wants them in Macedonia verse 10 and after we had seen
the vision immediately we endeavored to go into Macedonia assuredly gathering
that the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel unto them therefore
loosing from Troas we came with a straight course to Samothracia and the
next state in Neapolis and from thence to Philippi which is the chief city of
that part of Macedonia and a colony and we were in that city of body certain
days so what's the chief city of Macedonia Philippi now now here's the
thing about Philippi okay it's easy to remember this because there's a famous
person in history called Philip Philip of Macedon this was the father of
Alexander the Great and he conquered Greece and then of course Alexander the
Great conquered the Persians and pushed the Empire all the way to India and so
forth so Philip of Macedon is the namesake of this city of Philippi this
is where we get the epistle of Paul to the Philippians right so they go into a
fresh area we know this is going to be a success because read the book of
Philippians look at all the praise that Paul is giving how great the churches of
Philippi are and and how great it is and he really sings their praises it was a
great church isn't it a good thing that Paul was able to think outside the box
and that God was able to get him to go somewhere new somewhere fresh and cast
the net on the other side of the ship so they go to Philippi there there are
certain days look at verse 13 and on the Sabbath we went out of the city by a
riverside where prayer was want to be made and we sat down and spake unto the
women which resorted thither and a certain woman named Lydia a seller of
purple of the city of Thyatira which worshiped God heard us whose heart the
Lord opened that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul so a
couple of interesting things here it's interesting of course that they go out
and they're preaching the gospel and it emphasizes the women in this case being
receptive you know God cares about women just much as he cares about men people
try to act like the Bible is biased against women or something like that
look obviously men and women have different roles but God's taking the
time here to really highlight the fact that some soul winning was done by the
Riverside to a group of women and that they were receptive and then he even
homes in on a specific woman named Lydia who was a seller of purple of the city
of Thyatira which worshiped God heard us and verse 14 it says whose heart the
Lord opened that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul now
look that is highlighting also the spiritual nature of winning people to
Christ the spiritual nature of soul and God opened her heart to attend unto the
things which were spoken of Paul we preach the gospel we need to understand
is a spiritual activity and this is where a lot of the apologetics crowd
just completely misses the boat because they turn it into an intellectual thing
like like we're gonna go out and argue with people and if we can just prove
them wrong then they'll be saved folks I've proved a lot of people wrong that
didn't get saved and I proved them wrong up one side and down the other and in an
argument I chewed them up and spat them out but guess what they didn't get saved
because winning an argument doesn't get people saved debate doesn't get people
saved arguing and striving and fighting does not get people you know what gets
people saved is the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ it is the power
of God unto salvation it's the power of God what's the power of God the gospel
the preaching of the cross unto us which are saved is the power of God so when
you go out so winning whose power you want to tap into your own powers of
persuasion your own powers of logic and debate and reason and you're gonna
explain to the atheists without using the bottle you're gonna tie the Bible
behind your back and show an approved to an atheist that God exists in five
minutes or in ten minutes good luck with that and you know what's he gonna walk
away just believing in God intelligent design folks he needs to believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved you know I had an interview a few
years ago where I sat down with this this this guy with real long hair he was
a transhumanist atheist okay and I sat down with this guy and had a real good
conversation with him he's a nice guy but he's lost right so I'm giving him
the gospel trying to get him saved and we were talking about a lot of other
things just because he wanted to interview me for his channel I thought
it was a good interview is it was entertaining well here's the thing about
that later on down the road you know I talked to this guy and and we weren't
debating we weren't arguing we were actually getting along and having a nice
conversation which is a much better way to talk to people by the way then to
just get bicker and fight with them okay so we're having a nice conversation
everything and then down the road he uploads a video saying I believe in God
now I'm not an atheist anymore now I believe in God and everybody's like hey
pastor Anderson you know you got that guy to believe in God but here's the
thing about that though that doesn't make him saved and you know I'm glad
that he believes in God now but is he saved no because when I saw when he
talked about believing in God now he still doesn't understand the gospel he
still doesn't understand it's by faith alone he's trusting it works now look
that's a perfect example of getting an atheist to believe in God you have not
accomplished the mission it's progress it's a step but you know what it's a
spiritual thing that's going to get somebody saved not an intellectual thing
okay so when we go out soul winning we can either preach to their body their
soul or their spirit let's preach to the spirit that's the one that we need to
reach the spirit all right we need to go out spirit winning all right because of
the fact that the spirit is what needs to be regenerated and get safe and you
know what it's the Word of God that saves didn't the Bible say we're born
again of the incorruptible seed even by the Word of God that liveth and abideth
forever didn't David say thy word has quickened me isn't it God's Word and the
entrance of God's Word that gives light doesn't faith come by hearing and
hearing by the Word of God so Oh faith comes by being proven wrong in an
argument faith comes from a fossil faith comes from evidence faith what is faith
where does faith come from faith comes from hearing the Word of God right how
should they hear without a preacher how should they hear without an apologist
how are they here without a debate no how's they here without a preacher so
when you show up at the door you know what you're there to do what did he say
in Matthew 10 as you go preach as you go preach you know when you show up at
their door you preach them the gospel you don't get it and look when people
when I go out so winning and people want to argue bye have a great day next door
I'm interested in an argument why because it virtually never results in a
salvation now you say well an argument can plant a great seed sure argument can
plant a great seed you know I've never met a farmer yet who just said you know
I don't really care about the harvest I just like to plant seeds you ever met a
farmer who just plants only where's the crop where's that well I'm just more of
a I just plant things now look if he just plants things some of it's gonna
grow just through nature I mean you know it rains you know something's gonna grow
if you plant a whole bunch of seeds something's gonna grow but you know I
want to actually water it and I actually want to reap the harp you know I'm not
I'm not just well I just only ever plant seeds no the Bible says that that he
that soweth and he that reapeth are one it's one person the Bible says in John
chapter 4 I believe is where it teaches that it's it's the same guy it's one
person who both sows and waters and he gets the reap because he's doing all of
it so look when I go out so winning if somebody wants to argue with me by the
time they're arguing with me I've already given them a couple of verses
seeds already planted time to move on not getting saved today but at least the
seeds planted smile leave them on a positive note go to the next person
right they're obviously not ready to get saved I don't want to just get in some
big argument going back and forth and wasting my time debating and and and
look we've all been sucked into a debate all of us I mean I've been out soul
winning and gotten sucked into 45 minutes or even an hour and a half with
some bozo heretic we've all done it we've all and you know what whenever I
walked away you know what I always thought like why did I do that unless it
was super hot outside and they had AC then you're kind of like I think I was a
pretty profitable conversation you know I didn't mind spending an hour and a
half in that living room you know just to really take them to task but you know
what unless it was just an excuse to get out of the heat I regretted it and
you know I'm not against that event it's hot out there but I'm saying you know I
almost always regretted it when I got sucked in to a debate and wasted an hour
with some bozo it's not spiritually there and doesn't spiritually want to
get there okay now maybe down the road they will so yeah let's plant the seed
and that's why the Bible says you know give them that first admonition give
them that second admonition but that's time to reject move on all right so we
see here in the story that Paul he goes down there he preaches to the women and
this one women you know God did a work in her heart and every single person who
gets saved God has to do a work in their heart and that's why when I'm the silent
partner out so when I'm always praying for God to do that work in somebody's
heart as the person who's doing the talking is actually presenting the
gospel then as a silent partner I'm praying like Lord please just you know
help her to get this open her mind to this whatever in her mind is is keeping
her from getting saved Lord just just remove that or you know help him to say
the right thing to just push that aside so it's the preaching of God's Word it's
the Word of God itself it's Bible verses that are being presented that are going
to get in there and allow the Holy Spirit to work in that heart right so
it's a spiritual activity when you go soul winning right you go out and you're
safe and that's why unsaved people can't win a soul to Christ sorry can't happen
because every tree brings forth after zone kind and so when you go out and
you're saved and you got the Holy Spirit living inside of you and you're speaking
the gospel you're speaking the Word of God there's a spiritual thing that's
happening that we can't see with our eyes but something spiritual you're
taking part in a spiritual activity when you present the gospel to someone and
when they get saved okay so that's what we see here God tells us that let's read
it again it says whose heart the Lord opened that she attended under the
things which are spoken of Paul and that's why we even pray when we go out
so many we say God open people's hearts before we get there go before us open
the hearts prepare people lead us to the people that are ready and we want to
be able to preach to the that we want to be able to plant the seeds on the good
soil if at all possible amen look at verse 15 when she was baptized and her
household she besought us saying if you've judged me faithful to the Lord
come into my house and abide there and she constrained us basically they're
like no no that's okay we'll get it no you're staying with me come on you guys
are staying with me so she wants to practice hospitality and bring them over
and so they stay with her verse 16 it came to pass as we went to prayer a
certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us so she's some kind
of a palm reader soothsayer psychic whatever and she's using a demon to do
that and it says she brought her masters much gain by soothsaying so she's got
her bosses that are using her as a little psychic network hotline or
whatever and they're making a lot of money and it says that this damsel this
woman who's possessed she's following Paul in verse 17 and cried saying these
men are the servants of the Most High God which showing us the way of
salvation now is that a wrong message sounds great I mean yeah you know that
because remember even the demons are falling down to Jesus and saying you're
the son of God you're the king of Israel right so basically this demoniac
girl is saying these men are the servants of the Most High God which
show unto us the way of salvation now why does this bother Paul because who
wants somebody yelling that behind you while you're out soul winning do you
want to knock on somebody's door and have some goth out chick at the curb you
know you're up at the door some goth what with scars where she's been cutting
herself and she's got black nail polish and and she's you know all wearing all
black she's got some Satan symbol hanging around her neck and she's Wicca
and everything and she's just you know yeah these people are telling us how to
be saved they're giving you know that's a distraction plus this isn't really the
endorsement that you're looking for I mean this is like I don't think Ron
Paul you know wanted the KKK to endorse him you know it's like oh great the KKK
endorsed you today you know it's like whoa I don't want that endorsement right
this is kind of the same thing you don't want this demoniac endorsing your
ministry and distracting and yelling and being a disturbance right and by the way
this you know when you point out some false prophet bill well I heard him
preach something true this woman preached something true so it's the it's
the poison we're not worried about the good thing they say sometimes what about
all the poison that she's been doing the rest of the week what about all the
demonic stuff she's been doing the rest of the week so it says here that she did
this many days look at in verse 18 this did she many days so I mean day after
day this freak is just following them and screaming and distracting from thing
and so Paul being grieved he's just like shut up so Paul being grieved turned and
said to the spirit I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her
and he came out the same hour verse 19 and when her master saw that the hope of
their gain was gone they called Paul and Silas and drew them into the
marketplace out of the rules they're like oh great now she can't do her trick
anymore because the demons gone how she can't be a soothsayer anymore so they
basically do a citizens arrest and they drag him under the rulers right so they
grab Paul and they drag him under the rulers and brought them to the
magistrates they bring him to the courthouse they bring him to the police
station all right book him in okay what so these men being Jews do exceedingly
trouble our city and teach customs which are not lawful for us to receive neither
to observe being Romans is that really the issue were they really just hearing
Paul's preaching and behind I can't do this I'm Roman what is Paul even telling
them to do believe in Jesus what's he telling him to do go to church what's he
telling them to do right I mean he's not telling them to do something crazy
get baptized is that illegal in the Roman Empire to get dunked underwater
no so this is just a complete lie the real reason is that they just lost their
cash cow they just lost their income they're losing money so then they just
make up something else like oh yeah these guys they're teaching stuff that
we can't get behind we're Romans so what they're trying to stroke the ego of
the magistrates because the magistrates are the Roman government so they're
basically saying like oh well you know we just respect the law too much you
know it's sort of like when we go solely in the apartment complexes and it's like
oh you guys are trespassing you guys are soliciting you guys are loitering which
we're doing none of the above we're not trespassing we're not soliciting and
we're not loitering and they just say like oh well we just can't have you guys
here you know what the real reason is they hate Christ because it's always
some atheist it's always some demoniac it's always some weirdo it's always some
freak or some just God hating whatever that always is the one who forces the
issue and calls the cops because even just normal unsaved people what are
normal unsaved people do if somebody knocks on the door with the gospel and
they're not interested oh no thanks have a good day bye was that so hard you
know hey I'm from faith we're back nope sorry not interested all right see you
later let me not fall off your porch here so you know hey see you later no
problem let's move on but who are the ones who are just following us around
have you ever been in a department somebody's just following you and and
they weren't saying these men show you the way of salvation either they're
falling and I call the police freak out and whatever why it's really because
they don't like the message that's being preached but they're gonna always come
up with some other reason oh I'm just afraid that you know people are being
disturbed here and you know but oh it's not but it's not disturbing at all you
following us around screaming that's not a disturbance at all you know and and
here's the thing and and and if kids come trick-or-treating on Halloween the
devil's holiday that's fine where are they calling the police then I can't
believe that these people would have the gall to knock on my door and ask me for
candy we're not even asking for anything we're not trying to get your candy and
we're not threatening you with a trick if we don't get our treat we're gonna
play some nasty trick on you if you don't give us a treat right but
trick-or-treating is fine but god forbid that you would have to get off your lazy
butt for two seconds and just come to the door and say no thanks I'm not
interested because you're so lazy you can't even stand up and look if you
don't want to stand up then you know why don't you just get one of those little
doorbells and then you can just like say like all right no thanks guys bye out of
the doorbell or even better yet just turn up the TV and don't come to the
door if you really don't want to talk but do you really have to call the
police and chases around and fall no it's because these people are enemies of
the gospel what kind of a wicked person runs a stinking seance psychic hotline a
wicked person that's who what kind of person profits from demons somebody who's
wicked somebody who's evil and all they care they care about their money they
don't care about souls being saved they just care about making money what a
wicked group of people so they dragged Paul in and try to get him arrested for
trespassing loitering soliciting teaching customs which are not lawful
for us to receive and the multitude rose up together against them and the
magistrates rent off their clothes and commanded to beat them okay I mean what
in the world so the magistrates just join in like what are these people you
know they they they rend their clothes as a sign of just saying like we're so
upset we're so angers like Hulk Hogan's you know ripping off a tank top or
something they're just that mad why do people get so mad about Jesus but just
the gospel being preached right and then look when we go soul winning now you
don't think there's gonna be any opposition and then you're like well I
know a church that has no opposition that's because they do almost no soul
winning well I know churches they don't have any issues like this yeah it's
because they're do nothing look back it was Paul invited to the
Philippi City Council to have breakfast with the mayor no the mayor of Tempe you
know would rend their garment if they heard this preaching you know what I
mean not that you know I'm not saying literally but basically you know if I
were to go in and preach these people I just feel like they'd all just be
ripping their clothes and just ripping their hair out it's not buddy buddy with
the magistrate okay because the but the magistrates here are wicked says here
they commanded to beat them and when they had laid many stripes upon them so
look Paul gets a severe beating here am i right they cast them into the prison
charging the jailer to keep them safely who having received such a charge thrust
them into the inner prison and made their feet fast in the stocks and at
midnight Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises to God and the prisoners heard
them you know today we just we have the wrong view of what success is when it
comes to evangelism preaching church ministry with the wrong view of success
you know what we think success is is just big church everything's going
smooth get along with everybody beautiful building right everything's
great that's what we would see as success comfort luxury everything's
peaceful everything's relaxed great big church great reputation in the community
popular with the mayor popular with the City Council that's the churches that
most people are impressed by true or false I mean that's what they would
look at it well there's a guy who's doing it right what's Paul's version of
success go in raise hell cast out devils get arrested and then sing as loud as
you can in the middle of the night in the prison whoa he's having fun he's
enjoying it people are getting saved multitudes are getting saved in fact so
when Paul comes through town when the Apostle Paul rolls her down so many
people get saved that God's like you got to go somewhere else man you've already
done this right I mean God just wants to drop off hurricane Paul in as many
different places he's like let somebody else do the follow-up we need to drop
off hurricane Paul in a new place so that he can raise hell and and fight the
battle preach the gospel turn the whole city upside down and it's like alright
next place let somebody else deal with the aftermath we got to get the Apostle
Paul in here to evangelize why because he gets the whole town done in one year
you know what I mean like when Paul comes in he doesn't go there for 10
years and 20 years and nothing's happening I mean when Paul gets in
sometimes the first weekend the whole town knows that he's there I mean he
gets there and two weeks later two weeks later the whole city's in an uproar
right two weeks later he's on the front page of the news because he got beaten
and thrown in prison because the the the the psychic network is is like dude it's
oh it's done it's gone you call it you don't get through the number you have
dialed is not in service at this time please hang up and try again if you feel
that you've reached this message an error then get saved right but even the
point is you know Paul is a success I mean good is Paul a success or not but
by what worldly standard was Paul ever success none was Paul wealthy was Paul
comfortable now look Paul God blessed Paul so Paul got to enjoy some nice
things he talks about how I know both how to be a base that I know how to
abound I know how to be full I know how to be hungry I mean look he got treated
pretty well I mean when Lydia is bringing him over she's a seller of
purple you know what purple is one of the most expensive things in the ancient
world and and when you're staying at Lydia's house that's a nice
accommodation I mean when you're staying in Lydia's house the breakfast the
lunch the dinner is gonna be five stars she's not giving you a bowl of malt o
meal for breakfast okay when you're at Lydia's house there's probably servants
come in and they're bringing out the steak and eggs and they're making them
all kinds of fans I mean he's eating good you know he's sleeping in some
fancy king-size bed you know everything's nice everything's great when
you're staying at Lydia's house she's a seller of purple she's a wealthy person
so look God allowed Paul to enjoy and spend some nights staying with a fancy
bed-and-breakfast type accommodation but then you know a few nights later he's
having trouble going to sleep because I like to see how well you sleep after
many stripes have been laid on you you know why you can't go to sleep when many
stripes have been laid on you because the pain is gonna keep you awake you
know you want to know why are they staying up all night singing why don't
they just go to bed and call tonight because you can't sleep when you just
got a beating because probably the first night they're gonna be up all night just
from the pain of the stripes in their back and it's gonna take them a day or
two to get tired enough to even be able to sleep through that pain who's ever
been in so much pain you can't sleep and you wake all night just because of pain
of course and so we see Paul did not succeed by any of the world's
measurements we don't see him having wealth we don't see him succeeding yeah
he enjoyed nice things when people gave him to him people gave him nice stuff
but he didn't have his own bank account just filled with tons of money to just
do whatever he wanted I mean there are times when he's working a blue-collar
job and just barely getting by and so forth so he didn't have the financial
prosperity you say well but he had fame and popularity I mean look how popular
he is look in 2019 he's pretty popular amen I mean 2019 he's loved all over the
world he's praised all over the world he's super popular but what about in his
lifetime when he said all they would turn Asia be turned away from me what
about that all they which are in Asia be turned away from me and my first
answer no man stood with me but all men forsook me so was Paul in his lifetime
always popular always loved of all the churches and boy you have an open
invitation to preach here whenever you want Paul how about John you say Isis
Paul what about John apostle John I wrote unto the church you know I was
gonna come and be a guest preacher but diatrophies who love it to have the
preeminence among them receive it this not diatrophies said no John you're not
welcome to preach here you're uninvited your invitations canceled Paul your
invitations canceled Peter you're canceled look these men did not enjoy
popularity of of the of the religious community they didn't have popularity in
fame they didn't have money they weren't wealthy at all did they have stability
comfort peace I mean folks I think the Apostle Paul is a big success the reason
he's a big success because he's doing stuff for God and so we all want to have
money in our bank account we all want to have popularity amongst certain
people at least we all want to have comfort and stability we all want to
have peace and we want to I mean who doesn't want those things right I mean
does anybody just manage wish I had less money does anybody feel that way this
morning man I just I just wish that my life would just go through some kind of
an upheaval I'm just a little too comfortable right now things are just
too stable I wish I wish to just shake up a little bit nobody would say that and
I just you know where do I sign up to get that beating that Paul had folks we
all want to have comfort and those type of thing that's it that's our human
nature but you know what we ought to want more than that is to serve God so
what I'm saying I'm not saying go out and seek a beating go out and seek
financial problems seek conflict that's not what I'm saying but what I am saying
is don't make it your life's goal to see how perfect your life can be I know
that's what a lot of people in America spend their life doing how perfect can
my life be let me just get everything perfect and it's frustrating because
it's never gonna be perfect and then you're never gonna be happy man I just
want my life to be perfect and it's not perfect not perfect not perfect not why
because when you're financial right now you just think man if I can just fix my
financial problems everything will be perfect I've got bad news for you as
soon as your financial problems fix that's when the health problem is gonna
start man if I could just get these health problems under control as soon as
the health problems are under control that's when the relationship problems
will start well if I could just fix my relationships over here and then the
financial problem comes this is life the key to being a successful Christian is
not to have a perfect life the key to being a successful Christian is to keep
serving God even when your life isn't perfect and when your life isn't
perfect you still go to church and when your life isn't perfect you still get
out there and knock some doors out so money and when your life isn't perfect
you still read your Bible and when your life isn't perfect you still sing
praises to God and you love God and you serve God and you care about the things
of God and you don't just seek only after your own things but also the
things of others and you in spite of an imperfect life do stuff for God this is
the Christian life and this is what we can learn from the Apostle Paul that's
bar rides in a board of prayer father we thank you so much for the example of the
Apostle Paul and his second missionary journey Lord he had a totally different
plan of how he expected things to go he wanted to take an easier road and and
retread some some ground and go some places where he already knew the ropes
Lord but you had a different plan to bring them into a new area to get beaten
and thrown in prison but to reach a ton of people and also to found a magnificent
church that would later be praised in the book of Philippians Lord help us to
understand that it's up to you where we go in life and help us to be more
interested in your will than in our own will and in Jesus name we pray amen