["Pomp and Circumstance"]
Amen. Good evening and welcome to First Works Baptist Church. We're going to get started with song number 429,
Hark the Herald Angels Sing, song number 429. And if you are able to, let's all stand together
for our first song, song number 429. Seen on that first verse. Hark the Herald Angels Sing,
Glory to the newborn King, Peace on earth and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled.
Joyful all ye nations rise, Join the triumph of the skies,
With angelic hosts proclaim, Christ is born in Bethlehem.
Hark the Herald Angels Sing, Glory to the newborn King, Christ by highest heaven adored,
Christ the everlasting Lord, Late in time behold Him come, Offspring of a virgin's womb.
Veiled in flesh the Godhead see, Hail the incarnate deity,
Pleased as men with men to dwell, Jesus our Emmanuel.
Hark the Herald Angels Sing, Glory to the newborn King,
Hail the heavens in peace, Hail the Son of Righteousness.
And time to all be free, Risen with healing in His wings,
Mild He lays His glory by, For that man no more may die,
Born to raise the sons of earth, Born to give them second birth.
Hark the Herald Angels Sing, Glory to the newborn King,
Come desire of nations come, Fix in us I am bold,
Rise a woman's conquering scene, Present us the serpent's head.
Adam's likeness now in face, Stamp thine image in its place,
Second Adam from above, Reinstall us in Thy love.
Hark the Herald Angels Sing, Glory to the newborn King,
Amen.
You may be seated. Song number 432, Angels from the Rounds of Glory.
Song number 432, sitting on that first verse.
Angels from the Rounds of Glory, Wing your flight o'er all the earth,
Ye who sang creation's story, Now proclaim Messiah's birth.
Come and worship, Come and worship,
Worship Christ, the newborn King, First in the field abiding,
Watching all your flocks by night, God with man is now residing,
Yonder shines the infant light. Come and worship,
Come and worship, Worship Christ, the newborn King.
Sages, leave your contemplations, Brighter visions beam afar,
Seek the great desire of nations, Ye have seen His natal star.
Come and worship, Come and worship,
Worship Christ, the newborn King, Saints before the altar bending,
Watching long in hope and fear, Suddenly the Lord descending,
In His temple shall appear. Come and worship,
Come and worship, Worship Christ, the newborn King.
All right, great singing. Thank you for being here this evening.
Just a few announcements here before we sing our next song,
which will be song number 427, We Three Kings, song number 427 if you want to get that ready.
In your song books, of course, our services are as follow.
Sunday morning is at 1030 Sunday evening at 5 p.m.
And then we have our Thursday night Bible study at seven o'clock.
You see the so many times in teams, the list of expecting mothers.
Of course, congratulations to brother Matt and Ms. Tanya on the news that they're expecting.
And so please pray for them. We'll make sure they get in the bulletin for the following week.
The important reminders are at the bottom.
And of course, the upcoming church events.
We have the First Works Christmas program this Saturday, December 17th,
and that'll begin at 6 p.m. And so invite your family, friends, co-workers,
you know, anybody you want to come to that.
And of course, the orchestra is going to be playing first at 6 p.m.
And then thereafter, we'll have the actual Christmas play with the children.
They'll be singing and acting out the Christmas story.
And then thereafter, we will have dessert, a dessert fellowship there after the program is over.
And then Christmas services on Sunday, December 25th.
And we'll have services back to back.
Sunday morning will be at 1030.
Then we'll have lunch.
We're actually going to have lechon, which is a fried pig right there in the fellowship hall.
And compliments of Brother Chevy.
He's going to be he just I think he just does it because he wants it,
you know, not necessary to be a blessing to our church.
I think he just really likes to do it.
And so I think he's just looking for a reason.
But hey, praise God anyways.
And then but no, we're going to have a good time.
We're thankful for that.
And then as soon as that's over with, we'll have the Sunday night service right after that.
And so just keep that in mind.
You have the New Year's Eve service or I'm sorry, the New Year's service on January 1st.
And then Barstow zoning resumes on Monday, January 2nd.
There will be a pizza party after service tonight for the Christmas team.
OK, now please make sure you let the kids and their families get pizza first.
OK, and it's primarily for them.
But of course, everyone's going to be able to enjoy pizza.
But we'd like for them to to get their first.
So parents, if you can help streamline that by getting your kids the pizza
and then everyone else can go and serve themselves, just keep that in mind.
And that is pretty much it.
Make sure you silence your phones during the preaching
so as to not be a distraction during the service.
And let's go and take some zoning numbers from this past week.
Salvations from Monday to Thursday.
Any salvation from Monday to Thursday?
One, three.
Anybody else?
How about Friday and Saturday?
You have one.
OK, anybody else?
Friday and Saturday and this afternoon.
Salvations for this afternoon.
For the Morris team, one.
Marcos's team, one.
One in the morning for brother Cody's team.
One for brother Hikes team.
Am I missing anybody else?
OK, great.
Keep up the great work on zoning.
Let's go to sing our next song.
Four hundred and twenty seven.
We three kings.
Four twenty seven.
Song number four hundred and twenty seven.
We three kings of Orient are.
Song number four hundred and twenty seven.
Sing on that first verse.
We three kings of Orient are.
Bearing gifts, we traverse afar.
Field and fountain, moor and mountain,
following yonder star.
Oh, star of wonder, star of night.
Star with royal beauty bright.
Westward leading, still proceeding.
Guide us to thy perfect light.
Born a key on Bethlehem's plain.
Gold I bring to crown him again.
King forever ceasing, never over us all.
Oh, star of wonder, star of night.
Star with royal beauty bright.
Westward leading, still proceeding.
Guide us to thy perfect light.
Oh, star of wonder, star of night.
Star with royal beauty bright, Westward leading, still proceeding,
Guide us to thy perfect light.
Mur- is mine, its bitter perfume, Breeze a life of gathering gloom,
Sorrowing, sighing, bleeding, dying, Sealed in the stone, gold tomb.
Oh, star of wonder, star of night, Star with royal beauty bright,
Westward leading, still proceeding, Guide us to thy perfect light.
Glorious now, behold Him arise, King and God in sacrifice,
Alleluia, alleluia, Peels through the earth and skies.
Oh, star of wonder, star of night, Star with royal beauty bright,
Westward leading, still proceeding, Guide us to thy perfect light.
Amen. Wonderful singing. At this time, our ushers will be receiving the offering.
And please turn your Bibles to Acts chapter 18.
Good evening. Tonight we're in Acts chapter number 18. Acts chapter number 18, and the Bible reads,
After these things, Paul departed from Athens and came to Corinth,
and found a certain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus,
lately come from Italy, and his wife Priscilla, because the Claudius had commanded all the Jews
to depart from Rome, and came unto them. And because he was of the same craft,
he abode with them, and wrought, for by their occupation they were tent makers.
And he reasoned in the synagogues every Sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks.
And when Silas and Timotheus were come from Macedonia,
Paul was pressed in the Spirit, and testified to the Jews that Jesus was Christ.
And when they opposed themselves, they blasphemed. He shook his raiment, and said unto them,
Your blood be upon your heads, I am clean. From henceforth I will go unto the Gentiles,
And he departed thence, and entered into a certain man's house, named Justice,
one that worshipped God, whose house joined hard to the synagogue.
And Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his house,
and many of the Corinthians, hearing, believed, and were baptized.
Then spake the Lord to Paul in the night by a vision,
Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace.
For I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee,
for I have much people in this city.
And he continued there a year and six months, teaching the word of the Lord among them.
And when Gallio was the deputy of Achaea, the Jews made insurrection with one accord against Paul,
and brought him to the judgment seat, saying,
This fellow persuadeth men to worship God contrary to the law.
And when Paul was about to open his mouth, Gallio said unto the Jews,
If it were a matter of wrong or wickedness, O ye Jews, reason would that I should bear with you.
But if it be a question of words and names, and of your law, look ye to it,
for I will be no judge of such matters.
And he draped them from the judgment seat.
And then all the Greeks took Sostenes, the chief ruler of the synagogue,
and beat him before the judgment seat.
And Gallio cared for none of those things.
And Paul after this tarried there yet a good while,
and then took his leave of the brethren, and sailed thence into Syria,
and with him Priscilla and Aquila, having shorn his head in Centria, for he had a vow.
And he came to Ephesus, and left them there.
But he himself entered into the synagogue, and reasoned with the Jews,
when they desired him to tarry longer time with them, he consented not,
but bade them farewell, saying, I must by all means keep this feast that cometh in Jerusalem,
but I will return again unto you, if God will.
And he sailed from Ephesus.
And when he had landed at Caesarea, and gone up, and saluted the church, he went down to Antioch.
And after he had spent some time there, he departed, and went over all the country
to Galatia and Phrygia in order, strengthening all the disciples.
And a certain Jew named Apollos, born in Alexandria,
an eloquent man, and mighty in the scriptures, came to Ephesus.
This man was instructed in the way of the Lord, and being fervent in the Spirit,
he spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord, knowing only the baptism of John.
And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue, whom when Aquila and Priscilla had heard,
they took unto them, and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly.
And when he was disposed to pass into Achaea, the brethren wrote exhorting the disciples to
receive him, who when he was come, helped them much, which had believed through grace.
For he mightily convinced the Jews, and that publicly, showing by the scriptures,
that Jesus was Christ.
Let's pray.
Dear Lord God, we thank you for today, Lord.
Thank you for the Bible, Lord.
And we thank you for a pastor as well, Lord.
I pray that you bless him and filled with the Spirit as he preaches your word tonight, Lord.
And I pray we're attentive to the hearing, to the preaching, Lord.
And that we're edified, and that we learn more about your word than we came in, Lord.
And we just pray that you bless this time.
We pray this in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Okay, we are in Acts chapter 18, and we're continuing this evening with the exploits
of the Apostle Paul.
Tonight will be part three, and we're essentially going to cover Paul's third missionary journey,
and some of the exploits and the works that he did while he went visiting the churches
he established in times past, and some of the exciting things that happened to him.
But let me give you a little bit of review.
And of course, I got the famous map up here.
Please don't judge it too harshly.
It's not to scale, obviously, as I mentioned before.
But it'll help us to kind of, you know, have a visual.
It's basically a visual aid to help us to know how far he traveled, where he went.
And so from the beginning, two weeks ago, when he started off his first missionary journey
that took about 14 years, approximately, he went from Antioch.
And of course, we know that Antioch is a church that was established by the Church of Jerusalem.
And it's a pretty big church, a lot of believers there.
And it's big enough that they can ordain elders and send out missionaries.
So they lay hands on the Apostle Paul and on Barnabas, which means that they essentially
ordained them to go out and not just evangelize, not just preach the gospel, but even ordain
elders in the cities that they're going to.
So obviously, we know that the Apostle Paul is an evangelist.
And today in modern terms, you know, evangelism isn't necessarily used the way we would use
it, the way the Bible would use it, in the sense of, you know, a lot of Baptist churches
will talk about evangelists, but it's just someone who goes from church to church to
preach, right?
They just preach like an inspiring message.
Whereas evangelist literally means someone who preaches the gospel, they're like a missionary.
And the reason the Apostle Paul is able to ordain elders isn't necessarily because he's
an evangelist, but rather because he's an apostle.
And the apostles are essentially the foundation of the New Testament churches.
And so he's going out with the goal of not only getting people saved and establishing
churches, but establishing leaders in those churches as well.
So they go from Antioch to Seleucia.
And then they go to Salamis, which is in Cyprus, the sign fell off, sorry.
And from Salamis, they go to Paphos, they get people saved here in Cyprus.
But of course, here's where we find that really interesting story over Limas the sorcerer,
who was a Jew, a false prophet.
And Sergius Paulus ends up getting saved because of it.
So they go to Cyprus first, because Barnabas is from Cyprus.
So logically, they would say, you know, let's go to that island first, because he's familiar
with it.
From there, they go to Perga, Pamphylia.
And really, this is where a lot of the work is accomplished, which is in Antioch of Pisidia,
not to be confused with this Antioch here in Syria.
From there, they go to Iconium, Lystra, and then Derby.
Now, here's what's interesting is that a lot of the work is accomplished in that region,
which as you can see, is the region of Galatia, right, this is where the Galatian churches
are located.
And a lot of souls get saved, churches are established, elders are ordained, but it doesn't
come without persecution, which kind of goes to show you if you really want to get a big
work done, you have to understand that when there's a great and effectual door open unto
you, there are many adversaries.
This is essentially the place where the Apostle Paul is stoned.
They stone him to death and they drag his body outside of the city, because they thought
that he was dead.
He gets up and he goes back into the cities, and then he preaches the gospel, he gets more
people saved, and so the Jews begin to persecute the Apostle Paul throughout these regions.
So then, by the time he reaches Derby, he's getting people saved, he wants to go back
home, okay?
And so he retraces his steps back to Lystra, Iconium, Antioch, and then he goes to Atalia
down here, and then finally he just goes back home from there, okay?
Now when he goes back home to Antioch, this is where we find the famous story in Acts
chapter 15 where he withstands the Apostle Peter to the face in Galatians chapter 2.
And so that's the first missionary journey, and man, a great work was accomplished there,
right?
A lot of people get saved, obviously men are being trained, elders are ordained, churches
are started, a great foundation is laid there, and you know, the Apostle Paul and Barnabas
are getting the Great Commission done, right?
They're not just reaching Jews, they're also reaching Gentiles, I mean we're talking about
Galatia, there's a lot of Gentiles and Greeks in that region, and in fact, that's the region
where Timothy's from, right?
So Timothy's there, he gets trained, he ends up becoming a satellite leader, so to speak,
and he ends up being a blessing to the churches that are there, an asset to the ministry,
does a great work, okay?
So then on his second missionary journey, let me get a different color here so as to
not confuse you, amen?
What should I do, blue?
I'll do blue, okay?
So on this one, Barnabas and Paul, on the second missionary journey, Barnabas and Paul,
they're like, you know what, let's go back to the churches to see how the brethren do,
okay?
It's kind of like what we're going to do in February, you know, the evangelist Ulysses
Hernandez is going to be going with the brother Glenn, okay, Yamauchi and a lot of other believers
to go and win more souls to Christ and kind of see how the brethren do out in Belize.
Now hopefully they don't experience what Paul and Barnabas experienced on the second missionary
journey which is, you know, they had this contention between each other due to John
Mark, okay?
Because on the first missionary journey, when they went to Paphos and went to Perga, John
Mark who assisted them in this journey, he ended up getting homesick or something and
went back home and the Apostle Paul didn't like that and Barnabas wanted to take John
Mark again on the second missionary journey but Paul was just like, no, I don't want to
bring him.
So there's this really big fight between them.
So Barnabas ends up taking John Mark and they go to Cyprus and then the Apostle Paul takes
Silas and they visit the churches that are in Galatia.
So he begins in Antioch, goes to Cilicia to Tarsus, this is where the Apostle Paul's from,
and then he goes to Derbe, Lystra, Iconium, Antioch and the Bible says that they go there
to confirm the churches, in other words, to make firm, right, the faith of the believers
who are in those regions.
So it kind of goes to show us, you know, it's not just preaching the gospel that we need
to do, that's important, it's not just planting churches that we need to do, that's important
too.
You know, people need to be confirmed in the faith, right, and what does it mean to confirm
someone in the faith?
It helps, it's essentially talking about establishing them in the faith so that they don't fall
by the wayside because they go through some tribulation or persecution.
You know, it's important that someone gets saved, obviously, but after they get saved,
when they get plugged into church, they need to learn how to live like a Christian and
endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ and understand that we must through
much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.
The last thing the Apostle Paul wants is to start churches and then all these people are
excited to go to church and then they just get out of church because they get persecuted
by the Jews or, you know, they're going through a difficult time and then they get out of
church.
So he just wants to make sure that the converts in these regions are continuing in the grace
of God, they're being faithful, he's just telling them, hey, you're going to suffer
persecution, all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution, etc.
So this is what he's doing.
Now on the second trip, he wants to confirm the churches, but we also see that he wants
to do something new, too.
He wants to go to Asia and Pontius Bithynia, okay, which is right up there.
And last week we talked about why he possibly wanted to do that, okay.
One of the reasons why is probably because he heard there's a lot of believers in Asia
Minor, which is where Ephesus is, and, you know, or he heard that the Ephesian church
had a lot of believers, there's a lot of people, we know that there's a lot of elders in that
church, and it's my opinion that the church at Ephesus is probably the one responsible
for starting the other churches, the six churches which are in Asia.
Talk about Smyrna, Pergamos, Philadelphia, Thyatira, Philadelphia, I think, did I already
say that one?
Philadelphia.
These churches that we see in the Book of Revelation, chapter two and three, they were
probably started by those at the church at Ephesus, and the reason I think that is because
the church at Ephesus had a lot of elders, okay.
So it's a big church, had a lot of elders, and obviously it's the prominent location,
it's the prominent congregation at this time, and those other churches aren't being mentioned
during that time, okay.
So he might, there's a possibility that the reason he wanted to go there is to start more
churches via the church at Ephesus.
He also wanted to go to Bithynia and Pontius because he probably heard there's believers
there as well.
He said, where are all these believers coming from?
Well, if you remember, prior to the Apostle Paul getting saved, he persecuted the church
of God, great persecution came upon the church at Jerusalem, and all the disciples scattered
in all the world, except for the apostles, of course.
They stayed in Jerusalem, but everyone else basically took off, they went to Cyprus, they
went to Crete, they went all over the world.
So you have all these believers going to different synagogues and reaching people in different
areas, and they probably went as far as Bithynia and Pontius in that area, they're getting
people saved.
And you know, last week I talked about the possibility that it's possible that Peter
and Paul helped start the churches that are in Bithynia and Pontius, okay.
Because the Apostle Peter writes in 1 and 2 Peter to the churches, to the strangers
scattered abroad in Cappadocia, Galatia, Pontius, Bithynia, and Asia, and so, and when he's
writing that letter, he talks about the Apostle Paul, which would indicate that the readers
of those letters know who the Apostle Paul is.
And I basically talked about the fact that it's possible that the Apostle Paul won these
people to the Christ, when he was going through those regions, and then the Apostle Paul,
I'm sorry, the Apostle Peter ended up starting those churches.
And I gave the example how, you know, Pastor Steven Anderson reaches a bunch of people
via the internet, gets a bunch of people saved, and then other pastors go and they
start churches with those converts, okay.
So they're kind of joining forces, helping each other out, starting churches, Galatia,
Bithynia, Pontius.
And so the Apostle Paul wants to do the same thing here, however, the Spirit forbids him
to do so.
So he's not able to go to Pontius, Bithynia, or Asia Minor, instead he goes to Missia,
let's see if I can reach here, without throwing it on my back, no I'm just kidding, Missia,
Troas, and I'm not going to reach over there, I'll just point, all right, lest I tear my
suit or something.
He goes to Troas, and then if you look, it's pretty small, but he goes to Neopolis, Philippi,
Macedonia.
Now why does he go there?
Well he has this vision, what people commonly know as the Macedonian call, he gets a vision
of someone that says, come over in Macedonia and help us, right.
And so it's God, obviously, who's trying to get his attention to go there, and the reason
why is because God knows that there are people in that region that are receptive towards
the Gospel.
So this is kind of how ministry works sometimes, you know, we have a vision for something,
we want to reach people, we make a plan, and then God kind of directs us in a different
area, you understand.
And the Bible tells us that the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and he delighted
in his way.
So you know, a good way to just find out what the specific will of God is, is just do what
the revealed will of God is, right.
So as Paul was doing the revealed will of God, that he was reaching people, God just
kind of directed him and led him to Macedonia, and of course, Philippi, which is where we
have the famous story of the Philippian jailer, Acts chapter 16, the passage that we use frequently
when we go out in Samoan, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved, etc.
And of course, we know eventually a church has started at Philippi, he goes to Amphipolis,
Apollinium, Thessalonica, a church has started there as well, he receives a lot of persecution,
goes to Berea, they're more noble there than those in Thessalonica, people get saved there,
but the Jews just keep following him, okay.
And at this point, Paul's becoming a nuisance to the Jews, because of the fact that, you
know, he's kind of getting all their converts, he's going into their synagogues, and winning
them over, and they're forsaking the synagogue, and they're joining a local New Testament
church now, okay, so, you know, they're messing with their money, or whatever, you understand.
So now they're persecuting him hard, and he goes from Berea, and he comes all the way
down to Athens, okay, and Athens is where we have the Apostle Paul preaching in Mars
Hills, and it doesn't go very well as far as the numbers are concerned, converts are
there, he does get people saved, but it's not as fruitful as the other areas, but then
he goes to Corinth, okay, and Corinth was a very fruitful place, and the reason we know
that is because he spends a year and six months there, so obviously it's a very fruitful area,
he's getting a lot of people saved, and then also he runs into believers known as Aquila
and Priscilla, who are essentially from Pontius, but they were living in Rome, however, the
Romans kicked out the Jews of Rome during that time, so that's why they were in Corinth.
Go to Tantrium, from there they go to Ephesus, and from Ephesus, he essentially goes back
home, okay, now he wanted to visit Ephesus and stay there for quite some time, obviously,
but he wanted to make sure that he got back to Antioch, so he didn't stay at Ephesus
very long, and that is essentially the conclusion of the second missionary journey, so what
we see is that through each journey, he gets more people saved, and he goes a little further
out and starts more churches and accomplishes a lot more, and of course we've got a lot
of cool stories that are also involved in that, okay, so now we are in the third missions
trip here, look at Acts 18 verse 22, it says that when we had landed in Caesarea and gone
up and saluted the church, he went down to Antioch, okay, and after he spent some time
there, he departed, verse 23, and went over all the country of Galatia and Phrygia in
order, strengthening all the disciples, so what we have is that when he comes back home,
he's in Jerusalem, but then he comes back to Antioch, and it doesn't tell us how long
he's there for, it just says that he's there for some time, okay, and at that point, he's
got that itch again to go and do more missions, he's thinking like, man, there's so many people
that are just receptive over there, like I think we're getting an itch right now in our
church, I'll just be honest with you, there's an itch in our church to go out and do more
missions because Belize is just really receptive, it's a gold mine, well I'm sure he's kind
of thinking the same thing, he's like, I can't wait to get back out there, get people saved,
and who knows what's gonna happen, so he leaves and he goes through Galatia, now why
is he going through Galatia, well if he starts off here, obviously this is where the congregations
are at, the churches of Galatia, and he's going there to strengthen the churches, he's
confirming them as he did in times past, now here in chapter 18, we take a bit of a break
from the Apostle Paul to talk about someone by the name of Apollos, okay, and look at
verse number 24, it says, And a certain Jew named Apollos, born in Alexandria, an eloquent
man and mighty in the scriptures, came to Ephesus.
This man was instructed in the way of the Lord, and being fervent in the Spirit, he
spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord, knowing only the baptism of John.
Now is Apollos saved, and the answer is yes, okay, you say, well how do you know he's saved,
you know, if he's just kind of only knowing the baptism of John, because the baptism of
John, the gospel of John, the Baptist, is the same gospel as every other person in the
Bible who is saved, okay, there's no difference between the gospels, it's not like, you know,
John the Baptist preached a different gospel, and now people have to get saved differently
under the other apostles or something, everyone's preaching the same gospel.
So when it says here that he only knew the baptism of John, what this is implying is
that he didn't know the name of Jesus yet.
Now he believed on the Lord, which would guarantee him under the old covenant to get
saved, right, but he didn't know the name of Jesus Christ, it wasn't revealed unto him,
and again, I mentioned this in times past, much of the ministry that's taken place in
the book of Acts is going to these believing Jews and letting them know, hey, there's no
name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved, and confirming that the
Christ that they've trusted in, Jesus is that very Christ.
Essentially connecting the dots saying, hey, Christ must need to have suffered and to enter
into his glory, and Jesus Christ did that, he fulfilled those prophecies, therefore Jesus
is that Christ, okay.
So we see Apollos, he's a Jew, and he's an eloquent man, he's mighty in the scriptures,
what does that mean?
He knows the Bible.
He's preaching, he is fervent in spirit, that means he's a hard worker, he's just, the guy
is just on fire for God, he's diligent about speaking the things of the Lord with the little
information that he has, okay.
Verse 26 says, and he began to speak boldly in the synagogue, whom when Aquila and Priscilla
had heard, they took unto them and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly, okay.
Now what do we have here?
So Aquila and Priscilla, they're like these, it's like a power couple, okay, where they
are both serving God, they're mighty in the scriptures, they know how to get people saved,
so they hear Apollos and they're like, wow, this guy is mighty in the scriptures, he's
a great preacher, just one thing that thou lackest though, is that you're not mentioning
Jesus.
He's talking about the Lord, you know, he's preaching all these Old Testament scriptures,
which is great, however, he's not talking about Jesus.
So when it says that they expounded unto him the way of the Lord more perfectly, they're
basically telling them, hey, Jesus is who you need to be preaching.
Preach Jesus and him crucified, etc.
So they're essentially perfecting him, not perfecting as in what we would think of today
as making him sinless, making him complete in his knowledge of the Bible, you understand?
So they're discipling him, okay, and verse 27 says, and when he was disposed to pass
unto Aquila, the brethren wrote, exhorting the disciples to receive him, who when he
was come, helped them much which had believed through grace.
For he mightily convinced the Jews, listen to this, and that publicly showing by the
scriptures that Jesus was Christ, okay?
So basically, he became an asset to the ministry there at Corinth, okay?
Because he was really good at knowing the Bible and the scriptures, but now that he
knows that Jesus is the one, he's the Christ, he's doing that.
Now how do we apply that to modern terms, okay?
Well obviously, anybody who gets saved today, if they're saved, they know the name of Jesus.
We're not living in the book of Acts anymore, this isn't first century AD, where basically
you can be saved but not know the name of Jesus as of yet, because at that point it
was newly released, so to speak, that Jesus is that Christ.
Whereas now it's been 2,000 years afterwards, pretty much the entire world hasn't heard
the name of Jesus, okay?
They've heard the name of Jesus, and so anybody who's saved obviously has to know that.
That's why we reject this Yahshua, Yahashua, Nahasapima, whatever, all these different
names that they bring out, and it's mostly the Hebrew Roots movement who tries to do
this, okay?
Judaizing people who try to bring people back under the law and say don't call him Jesus,
you should call him Yahshua, Yahashua, but here's the thing is that the New Testament
is written in Greek, okay?
It's not written in Hebrew, it's written in Greek, and the Greek name there is Issus,
which is where we derive Jesus, the name Jesus from in the English language, where Spanish
derives Jesus, and of course many other languages do something essentially very similar, okay?
But it's not Yahshua, and here's the thing is, you know, there's obviously areas where
people call Jesus Yahshua, okay, however, the argument is not is that his name in a
different language, the argument is this, they claim that that's what it says in the
New Testament in Greek, okay, or they claim that the New Testament is written in Hebrew,
which it never was.
Now how do we know that the New Testament was not written in Hebrew?
Well, because of all the regions that it's being written to are all Greek-speaking regions,
okay?
Galatia is not a Hebrew-speaking region, Cappadocia, Bithynia, Pontius, these are all
Greek-speaking areas, you understand?
And that's a sermon for another day, but the way we can apply this today is, you know,
maybe there's someone who comes from a Baptist church that's not New IFB, you know, because
I consider this church, I consider myself a New IFB pastor, this is a New IFB church,
and you know, someone might come from a different church that's a Baptist church, and you know,
they come here, they like the church, they want to stay, and they want to grow, we just
got to show them the way of end times Bible prophecy a little more perfectly, amen?
Maybe we just need to show them the way of replacement theology a little more perfectly,
right?
And that's not just for old IFB, that's for anybody who comes to our church, we want to
perfect them, complete their knowledge, and you know, provide that which they're lacking
in their faith, okay?
I'm sure there's a lot of zealous Christians out there who are still ignorant of certain
doctrines, doesn't make them bad people, but God wants us to be perfected, He wants
us to grow, He wants us to be complete in our knowledge, and to understand these things,
okay?
And so we see that with the Apollos, he goes to Corinth there, and he does a great work.
Now look at chapter 19, if you would.
So now the Apostle Paul goes to Ephesus, okay?
So he's done visiting the churches in Galatia from Antioch, churches of Galatia, Derbe,
Iconium Antioch, Antioch of Pisidia, and then he goes to Ephesus, okay?
So while he's in Ephesus, you know, he runs into, I mean, there's a lot of things that
happen at Ephesus, okay?
A lot of stuff, alright?
Look at verse number 1, it says, And it came to pass that while Apollos was at Corinth,
Paul, having passed through the upper coast, came to Ephesus and finding certain disciples,
he said unto them, Have you received the Holy Ghost since ye believed?
And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost.
And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized?
And they said unto John's baptism.
Now what is this talking about?
The Apostle Paul isn't saying, you know, have you been sealed with the Holy Ghost since
ye believed?
I think what this is actually referring to is the power of the Holy Spirit.
But they took it as, well, I don't even know who the Holy Spirit is.
And so he asked them, then what were you baptized unto?
And they said, John's baptism.
And it's almost as if it's like, the Apostle Paul's thinking, well, if you're baptized
unto John's baptism, then you should know who the Holy Ghost is, because John's baptism,
the preaching of John, doesn't contradict the other Gospels, okay, it doesn't contradict
the Gospel period.
And in fact, look what he says in verse 4, Then said Paul, John verily baptized with
the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people that they should believe on him which
should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.
And when they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them, and they spake
with tongues and prophesied.
So these are guys who thought that they were saved, but they weren't saved, okay.
He's coming to see if they have received the power of the Holy Ghost.
And they're like, well, forget the power, who's the Holy Ghost?
Like, I don't even know what you're talking about.
And then he's like, where were you baptized unto then?
And of course, he says, John's baptism.
Now I believe that when he says that they're baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, okay,
where's that at?
It says in verse number five, and when they heard this, they were baptized in the name
of the Lord Jesus.
This isn't the Jesus only baptism that you see by Pentecostals today, okay.
First and foremost, I believe this is referring to baptism referring to salvation here, okay.
In other words, they're immersed in Christ.
In the Bible, you often see the word baptism being used.
And more often than not, it has the connotation of what we know today as baptism as being
fully immersed in water, right?
The first step of obedience after salvation.
But there are other instances in the Bible when baptism is simply is referring to getting
saved and it has nothing to do with water baptism.
Baptism literally means what, immersion.
So when we believe on Jesus Christ, we're fully immersed into Christ, that's what it's
referring to, okay.
And so here when he says that they were baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, it's not saying
that he's like, I baptize you in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, and
that name is Jesus, as these oneness Pentecostals do.
This is referring to the fact that they believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, and now they're
fully immersed, they're baptized into Christ, okay.
Now obviously, this isn't something that we can say today, right?
Like how'd you get saved?
Well, I got baptized in the name of Jesus.
You say why?
Because of the fact that there's so much false doctrine prevalent out there that would confuse
a lot of people because they automatically associate baptism with the physical act of
becoming fully immersed in water, you understand?
Same thing with repentance, you know, we can't necessarily, not that we can't, but it wouldn't
be the wisest thing to say to someone when we're preaching the gospel, repent and believe
the gospel.
It's biblical, right?
But a lot of unsaved people, when they hear the word repent, they automatically associate
it with what?
Repenting of your sins.
And it's not the Bible's fault, it's because of false prophets who have crept in and have
repeated that lie so many times that even unsaved people have that ingrained in their
minds, you understand?
And so, you know, there's nothing wrong with saying that we've repented for salvation,
but you know, a better way to say it is just I believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, trusted
Christ as my Savior, et cetera, okay?
So these guys get saved and it says in verse number six, and when Paul had laid his hands
upon them, the Holy Ghost came upon them and they spake with tongues and prophesied.
And all the men were about 12 and he went into the synagogue and spake boldly for the
space of three months, disputing and persuading the things concerning the kingdom of God.
So here we see that he remains there and he's putting in work, I mean, he's disputing.
And what that means is that he's preaching the gospel, okay?
He's getting people saved, he's convincing people mightily through the scriptures, he's
doing it for three months, and then he spends two years in a school of Tyrannus, okay, doing
the same.
Now, look down at verse number, look at verse number 10, actually verse number 11, and God
wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul so that from his body were brought into the
sick handkerchiefs or aprons and the diseases departed from them and the evil spirits went
out of them.
And the Apostle Paul was showing the signs of an apostle because he was able to heal
people of diseases and of course we know according to Mark chapter 16 that those miracles were
done in order to confirm the message, you understand?
So people can see that the Apostle Paul is sent by God.
Now let me just show you the fact that the Apostle Paul was a very prominent person in
Asia, okay?
What do I mean by that?
He's just well known in Asia and we'll see later on that he's well known amongst just
people who live in Asia but even the devils who are in Asia know who the Apostle Paul
is.
So this guy has like some status in the spiritual realm and you can see why, all right?
I mean this guy's getting a lot of work done, getting a lot of people saved, so he's doing
these things and it's not like it's being done in a corner as far as the healing is
concerned.
People know about these things, okay?
And look what it says in verse 13.
Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon them to call over them which had
evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus saying, we adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth.
Okay, so you have these homeless Jews and they're like, you know, to work, to dig, to
work I cannot, you know, to beg I am ashamed, so let's just be exorcists, okay?
Because they see the Apostle Paul doing this and they're like, we want to get in on this,
this guy's not even asking for money, we can make so much money doing this.
He said it doesn't say that but that's basically what they want to do though, okay?
There's a reason why they call them the vagabond Jews, my friends.
Vagabond meaning they're homeless, they're like nomads, they don't have a home because
they're homeless and they think that by doing what the Apostle Paul does they can, you know,
acquire a following and get money and do all these things and this isn't the first time
this happens.
This happens later on as well, okay?
Where even Simon the sorcerer, right, he sees that the apostles are very prominent and they're
healing people and he's just like, oh, how do I get this power because in his mind he
wants to be able to do that so he can get money as well, okay?
So they call people who have evil spirits referring to people who are possessed with
devils, okay?
People are possessed with evil spirits with devils but their preaching is so lame.
It's so whack, it's just like no power whatsoever.
We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preaches.
What is that?
No power whatsoever.
So they obviously know who the Apostle Paul is, they know who Jesus is and look at verse
14, and there were seven sons of one skiva, a Jew, a chief of the priests which did so.
So seven of these guys are doing this, a bunch of lazy bums that just can't get an honest
job and make an honest living, they're the ones that are doing this.
Verse 15, and the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know and Paul I know but who
are ye?
Now how would you like an answer like that?
They're like well we know who Jesus Christ is because obviously they fear him and they're
like and we know Paul but who are you?
Like skiva who?
Now a couple things I want to point out about this is that demons know the workers of God.
They know the servants of the Lord, okay?
And I would even go as far as to say they know our church, they know our church members,
they know like-minded church like ours, it's not because we're anything special but because
of the fact that we are serving God, we're winning souls to Christ, we're actively preaching
the Word of God, we're actively getting people saved and so we're obviously at war with that
spiritual realm, okay?
Now don't get too far into this and get all Pentecostal on me or it's just like does that
mean there's like a demon right here?
You know because Pentecostals love those theatrics, okay?
But this is not what this is referring to, okay?
But here's the thing is that people can still be possessed today, alright?
And I've personally had encounters with people who are demonically possessed and they act
like they know us, they're just there at just the right time and it's just like well
obviously they know who the servants of the Lord are.
I mean anytime we've been in the thick of some persecution or in the thick of some service
of God, there's always a demonically possessed person who approaches us, every single time.
It's like clockwork when it happens, okay?
I remember you know the Thursday before we got bombed, okay?
Pastor Burzins was with us and we took him to go eat, we took him, we wined him and dined
him, took him to the best restaurant in town called Raising Cane's, you know?
We treat all the pastors well and you know try to you know just kind of spoil them a
little bit.
Get yourself some more tender, you know I'm just kidding.
And we ended up, I forgot which one it was, we went to some, we went to a Cane's that
was just like way out of the way, okay?
Or is it?
Baldwin Park.
We would typically go to like Pico Rivera and that place is terrible, like you could
just, the line was this long, we'd be there for like three hours or something but we went
to Baldwin Park and there's no one there, no line.
We got our food and we went into the parking lot, there's no one in the parking lot.
It's just like the brethren and Pastor Burzins were in a circle, were just eating chicken
tenders, just enjoying life, talking about the persecution and just you know just kind
of having a good time.
This lady walks up with no shoes on, just out of nowhere, just walks up and just kind
of like stares at me for a while.
And I'm telling a story, you know what I mean, because when I started telling, like right
now you know I tell a story, I get really into it.
So I don't like when people disrupt my stories, you know what I mean?
Like don't interrupt me in my story, you know, when I'm really into it.
And so I'm telling a story and I look and I look back and I'm like, can I help you?
And then she's just like, she like chuckles, she murmurs, she mumbles something and she's
like, and then she just literally, and where did she go?
Just down the parking lot, nowhere, she just goes nowhere, okay?
That's demonic.
Now I'll give you another example, we were at the Red Hot Preaching Conference last year
and a group of us went to In-N-Out, okay?
And you know, Sacramento, you know what I'm saying, it's just different, okay?
I personally call it Cracamento, just put it that way, okay?
I think it's a legitimate title, okay?
And you know, we're there at the In-N-Out and some guys from steadfast were there, we're
just fellowshipping and this guy just walks up and I was talking to Ben the Baptist, Benjamin,
name was there and I was talking to him, a guy walks past him and just talks about how
he's going to slit our throats, just talks about how he's going to stab us and slit our
throats and all these, and you know, Brother Ben's eyes got like really big, he's just
like, what in the world?
And I told him, I was like, this happens anytime we do something like this, this always happens.
And the guy, I mean he was yelling, or he was saying obscenities and all types of violence
and all these things and he walked by and he walked back and he slid right there and
just stared at us the entire time, okay?
It's not natural behavior obviously, right?
And there's another demonic guy who's like watching our children the entire time when
we were there, like following our children.
These people are demonically possessed, my friends.
Now I will say this is that, you know, I'm not afraid of them only because of the fact
that, you know, we got bigger fish to fry and the reality is this, is that they know
us because we're getting the work of God done, we're preaching God's Word and they probably
just hate our guts.
They're probably like, these are the guys that are just kind of ruining it for us, getting
all these people saved and so they go there to try to instill fear and my pastor friends
have all experienced something like this, okay?
All people who are just demonically possessed, it's out there.
And you say, why is that?
Well it's because of the fact that the demon realm knows us.
They know who Bible believing churches are, they know the people who are on the front
lines preaching God's Word, getting people saved.
They know who you are.
Jesus I know, Paul I know, but sorry exorcist Jews, who are you, okay?
And so, and by the way, this encourages me because I don't want to be like the seven
sons of Sceva.
I don't want to be a Christian who's just not doing anything for God and if like a demon
saw me they're like, I'm sorry, who are you?
Like what's your name?
Oh, you go to church.
Okay.
I've never seen you.
It's funny, I don't know, I've never really seen you, you know.
Oh, you go to a soul winning church, oh that's weird, I've never seen you out preaching the
gospel.
You know, because if you're not a threat to the demonic world, why would they want to
know you?
And so that, you know, that's a motivation for me to make sure I keep serving God, you
know what I mean?
So that, yeah, so we can continue to be attacked because when we're attacked by Satan, it's
confirmation that what we're doing is right, okay?
There's a great story here.
Oh, we're not done yet though.
So it says in verse 15, and the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus, I know I'm Paul
and oh, but who are you?
And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them and overcame them and prevailed against
them so that they fled out of the house naked and wounded.
He's just like, one dude just jumped the seven exorcists, vagabond Jews, stripped them naked
and they fled out of the house naked and wounded.
He just beat.
You say, well, how is that possible?
Dude, demonically possessed people have crazy amount of strength sometimes.
And I know it might be the crack, you know, the PCP and all that they're on.
I get it, okay?
But that's, I mean, that's what they use to get that strong.
But here's the thing here.
I don't think they have PCP during this time, okay?
But, you know, this shows us that that's definitely a possibility.
Now, I don't think you should be afraid.
I think it's silly when Christians fear these things, like, oh, man, I don't want this to
happen to me.
Why are you afraid?
Be strong in the Lord and power of his might.
God didn't give us a spirit of fear, but a power of love and of a sound mind, my friends.
Okay.
And in my opinion, you know, Satan's not going to necessarily send us demonically possessed
people to physically harm us.
He's going to just send us, like, people to try to shut us down and shut the message
up and try, you know, his best to hinder the work of God, okay?
Because at the end of the day, you know, that stuff kind of, like, encourages us, you know,
we get fired up when we get persecuted.
We don't tuck our tail and run, we get fired up.
So verse 17 says, this was known to all the Jews and the Greeks also dwelling at Ephesus
and fear fell on them all and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified, it says.
So then people are seeing this like, wow, Jesus Christ is like, awesome.
Okay, he's magnified.
People are praising him.
And many that believe came and confessed and showed their deeds.
Many of them also which used curious arts brought their books together and burned them
before all men and they counted the price of them and founded 50,000 pieces of silver
so mightily grew the Word of God and prevailed.
So like revival took place after this.
You say, why is that?
When they saw the power of God, it's not necessarily the miracle that was done, but rather the
Word of God that was propagated and people who believe they're getting saved, they're
like, you know what, I'm gonna get rid of my NIV.
I'm gonna get rid of my curious book, known as the ESV, throw it in the trash or throw
it in the fire and burn it.
And by the way, if you have an NIV, an ESV, NASB, an NKJV, bring it, we'll burn it for
you.
How are we gonna burn God's Word?
I'll tell you how, because it's not God's Word.
You say, but how can you do that to like the Bible?
Well, one, the way we do is with fire.
But number two, we recognize that it's not God's Word.
It's a curious book.
Another word for curious is strange.
Another word for strange is queer.
And so this was obviously a revival that took place.
They're like, man, forget our false religion, forget all these curious arts and curious
books and, you know, all this witchcraft we're involved in, let's burn it.
And they lit it on fire and the Bible says that the, that the Word of God grew mightily
and it prevailed and there was free course in that area, amen.
What a great story.
Verse 21 says, and after these things were ended, Paul purposed in spirit when he had
passed through Macedonia, Nicaea, to go to Jerusalem saying, I have been there, or after
I've been there, I must also see Rome.
So he wants to go to Macedonia.
And then after Macedonia, he wants to come back home.
And we see here that this is the first time he mentions Rome.
He's like, I want to go to Rome.
Now why does he say that?
Now I don't have Rome up there because that's, that's for next week.
It's going to require another board, okay.
Why does he want to go to Rome?
Because of the fact that he just keeps expanding out more and more.
And he's heard that Aquiline Priscilla came from Rome, which means that there's believers
in Rome, which means there's a possibility that work can be done there, okay.
Now he ends up going to Rome, but not necessarily on a mission by, by, you know, his own volition.
You know, he's arrested and then he's taken to Rome.
And of course, all things work together for good.
We'll cover that next week.
So he has his purpose and he wants to do that.
Verse 22 says, so when he sent into Macedonia, two of them that ministered unto him, Timotheus
and Erastus, but he himself stayed in Asia for a season and the same time there arose
no small stir about that way.
What does that mean?
In Asia, referring to where Ephesus is and Asia Minor, there's a stir.
People are hearing about that way, referring to Christianity.
It's making an impact, right?
It's making a difference.
It's getting the attention of people who are the inhabitants of Asia Minor.
And it says there in verse 24, for a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith, which
made silver shrines for Diana, brought no small gain into the craftsmen who he called
together with the workmen of like occupation as it serves.
You know that by this craft, we have our wealth.
Moreover, you see and hear that not alone at Ephesus, but almost throughout all Asia,
is Paul has persuaded and turned away much people, saying that they be no gods which
are made with hands, so that not only this our craft is in danger to be said at naught,
but also that the temple of the great goddess Diana should be despised and her magnificence
should be destroyed, whom all Asia and the world worshipeth.
So this guy, Demetrius, he's like, you know what?
We have to stop Paul, because if we don't stop him, we're out of work.
Diana, the goddess of the Ephesians is job security for them.
But if the Apostle Paul is allowed to continue to preach the gospel, get people saved, people
are going to turn away from false religion, and they're not going to buy his stupid silver
shrines anymore.
So he's trying to create this conspiracy against the Apostle Paul.
And let me just say this, you know, a lot of people, a lot of false religions, for example,
you know, Judaism, they don't really care what you say until you start messing with
their money, right?
Once you start turning people away from the faith, from their faith, and from what they
believe, you know, they're just kind of whatever about it.
And once you start promoting a message that's going to mess with their money, then at that
point, they're just like, okay, now you're our enemy.
Okay.
This is what we see here.
So they create this controversy here.
And look at verse number 29, the whole city was filled with confusion, having caught Gaius
and Aristarchus, men of Macedonia, Paul's companions in travel, they rush with one according
to the theater.
And when Paul would have entered in unto the people, the disciples suffered him not.
So they grab these two disciples, and they're rushing people in the theater.
There's this huge mosh pit, so to speak, of controversy.
And Paul wants to go in there, but they're trying to keep him from going in there because
they don't want to lose Paul.
It's like, well, if we lose these other guys, you know, that's already too late, but Paul's
kind of like the leader here.
They want to make sure they keep him safe.
Verse 31, a certain of the chief of Asia, which are his friends sent unto him, desiring
him that he would not adventure himself into the theater.
So it's getting pretty crazy.
He's essentially striving unto blood here.
Some therefore cried one thing and some another, verse 32, excuse me, for the assembly was
confused and the more part knew not of wherefore they were come together.
Now I want you to pay attention to verse 33, okay?
It says, and they drew Alexander out of the multitude, the Jews putting him forward, and
Alexander beckoned with the hand and would have made his defense unto the people.
Now this is actually the first time this Alexander is essentially being mentioned.
We don't really know who he is, but let me just throw something out there as a possibility
of who this is referring to, okay?
And I'm going to give you some biblical evidence as to why I believe this is the individual.
I think this is the individual that's actually being addressed in 1 Timothy chapter one and
2 Timothy chapter number four, okay?
Now why is that?
I think this is actually possibly referring to Alexander the coppersmith, okay?
And one of the reasons why I believe that is because of the fact that in 1 Timothy chapter
one, the apostle Paul is writing to Timothy that he would abide still where?
At Ephesus, which is where we see the story taking place, right?
And in chapter one, he talks about how some have made shipwreck concerning faith of whom
is Hymenaeus and Alexander whom I've delivered unto Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme.
So according to 1 Timothy chapter one, there's a man by the name of Hymenaeus and there's
another guy by the name of Alexander who apparently might have been believers or feigned
themselves to be believers, right?
But they were blaspheming, okay?
They were teaching things which they ought not.
Which is why in the beginning of chapter one of 1 Timothy chapter one, it says that there
are some, or he tells Timothy that he wants to send them to Ephesus and command that they
teach no other doctrine, right?
And he talks about how some desire to be teachers of the law, understanding neither
what they say nor whereof they affirm and then it concludes the chapter talking about
Hymenaeus and Alexander who have blasphemed and therefore they were given over to Satan.
Now let me ask you this class, when the Bible says that the apostle Paul or some church
leader gives someone overdone to Satan, what is that referring to?
Church discipline, okay?
We see it in 1 Corinthians chapter five, right?
Given over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh.
That's often terminology used to describe excommunication from a church and excommunication
is done for various reasons according to 1 Corinthians chapter five but one of them could
be heresy.
Someone just preaches heresy that can get thrown out of the church, okay?
Now you say, well you know, you have Alexander 1 Timothy one, I see Alexander here but how
would that, you know?
Well I don't think it's a coincidence that he's writing to Timothy in 1 Timothy chapter
one about Ephesus and then we see Ephesus being mentioned here in Acts chapter 19 and
we see Demetrius who is a silversmith.
All these people who were silversmith, coppersmiths, individuals who work in this type of trade,
it might be that Alexander was a former pagan or whatever, you know, making shrines or making
idols.
Alexander the coppersmith and we see him involved here in verse 33 and then of course in 2 Timothy
chapter four he says, Alexander the coppersmith did me much evil, the Lord reward him according
to his works and it talks about how he greatly withstood their words.
Like I don't know, that's a stretch though, you know what I mean?
Do you really think Alexander would do that?
Yes, because that happens sometimes in churches where you have people who are faithful to
the church, they are, you know, they seem to be loyal people.
I mean Alexander's over here trying to beckon the people and calm the people down but then
somewhere along down the road they end up turning on the church, turning on the pastor,
turning on God.
They're like a wolf in sheep's clothing, okay?
Now here's another interesting thing, okay?
In Acts chapter 20, and we'll get to that in just a bit, before the Apostle Paul leaves
Ephesus to go back home, he's addressing the elders there at Ephesus, because it's basically
going to be the last time that he sees them and this is like a really emotional farewell
from the Apostle Paul to the elders, right?
They're crying because they know they're like, we're never going to see you again.
And this is just a very emotional encounter, right?
And in Acts chapter 20, he says, you know, he tells them, after my departing shall grievous
wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.
And he says this, even of your own selves shall men arise to draw away disciples after
them.
Well, Alexander is part of the church at Ephesus.
So it's almost like a prophetic thing about Alexander.
Now the Bible doesn't tell us if Alexander was ever restored or if he got right.
We don't know exactly what happened.
I'm just saying that there's a possibility that this Alexander in Acts chapter 19 is
referring to Alexander in 1 Timothy 1, 2 Timothy chapter 4, and it would work in conjunction
with the fact that sometimes there are Judas Iscariots in church.
Now hopefully that's not the case here.
But we don't know.
Okay.
There might be a Judas Iscariot in here right now.
You might be looking, you might be listening to me right now thinking, oh man, he knows
or something.
I don't know.
And you better be nervous.
You better fear greatly if that's you, amen.
I don't think that's the case, you know, but who knows?
You just never know.
I mean, Jesus had 12 disciples and one of them was a devil.
He didn't believe from the beginning.
He was a devil.
Judas Iscariot, he betrayed Jesus Christ.
And this is the pattern that we often see, you know, our church has only been around
for five years, but in five years we've had wolves in sheep's clothing enter into our
church doing crazy stuff, teaching crazy stuff.
We had to throw them out and even, you know, Alexander the coppersmith that didn't mean
much evil type of a thing, okay?
So I just thought I'd throw that out there that you see Alexander just gung ho, beckoning
to the people, just in defense of Christianity, he's with the Apostle Paul, but then later
on you see that he's actually cast out of the church.
Later on you see that he's being thrown out for heresy.
Later on you see that he becomes an enemy of the Apostle Paul, okay?
And so I thought that was interesting to know.
And if you don't believe that, no problem, no problem, am I?
So you have this controversy taking place at Ephesus, a lot of drama in Ephesus actually.
A lot of crazy stuff taking place, you know, people are going wild here and they're trying
to stop the Apostle Paul.
Look at verse number 34, when they knew that he was a Jew, all with one voice about the
space of two hours cried out, great is Diana of the Ephesians.
How annoying do you think that would have been?
For two hours.
They're saying, great is Diana of the Ephesians.
I mean, what an effeminate place to be at.
Bunch of soy boy, effeminate.
No wonder the gospel was needed there, amen?
For two hours.
And when the town clerk had appeased the people, verse 35, he said, ye men of Ephesus, what
man is there that knoweth not how that the city of the Ephesians is a worshiper of the
great goddess Diana and of the image which fell down from Jupiter?
Seeing then that these things cannot be spoken against, you ought to be quiet and do nothing
rashly.
These guys are soft.
For you have brought hither these men, which are neither robbers of churches, nor yet blasphemers
of your goddess.
Wherefore if Demetrius and the craftsmen, which are with him, have a matter against
any man, the law is open and there are deputies, let them and plead one another.
But if ye inquire anything concerning other matters, it shall be determined in a lawful
assembly.
So basically he's like, hey, you know, they're not doing anything illegal, they're not robbing
anybody.
You guys are just kind of overreacting here.
And if something, if the law is being broken, then get the law involved, okay?
But don't stand outside protesting saying, great is Diana is the goddess of the Ephesians
for two hours.
You're just annoying everyone, okay?
And so we see that there.
Look at verse number, go to chapter 20 now.
So you know, Paul's like, all right, it's time to go, you know, like it's not good to
be here.
It's too much.
I got too much presence here.
People know him there.
It's causing a lot of ruckus, loves a lot of believers, very fruitful, but it's time
for him to move on.
So then he goes to Macedonia, okay?
So he, you know, he spent some time there at Ephesus right here, spent some times at
Ephesus and then he goes to Macedonia.
Now, why is he going to Macedonia?
Well, because there's churches there.
So he's confirming the church at Philippi.
He's confirming the church at Thessalonica.
He's spending time there preaching the word of God, confirming them, et cetera.
And then he goes down to Achaea, which is in Corinth.
And he waits there for about three months.
So he comes down here to Corinth, okay?
Right down here.
And he wants to conclude his missions trip there.
He wants to just go home after that and go back to Antioch.
But you know, the Jews aren't, they're not going to let them fly that easily.
So they're actually conspiring to stop him.
Okay.
And the Bible doesn't explicitly say how they're going to try to do that.
Maybe they're waiting for him on the boat.
Maybe they're waiting for him at Corinth, but you see the extent that they're willing
to go to, to try to stop the man of God, okay?
And you know, they try to stop him and, and of course he hears about it.
So then he has to retrace his steps from Corinth all the way back to Berea, Thessalonica,
and then he goes to Philippi for the, the, the, the time of unleavened bread, okay?
And when he goes to Philippi, from there, he goes to Troas, if you could see right there,
right above, right next to Missia, he goes to Troas.
And from Troas is where he preaches the sermon at midnight.
Look at chapter 20 and verse number seven.
And upon when?
When?
The first day of the week.
Now, when is the first day of the week?
Sunday, right?
Oh, why do you guys meet on Sunday?
We should be meeting on Saturday.
No, we shouldn't.
What are you talking about?
The pattern that we see in the Bible is that they met on the first day of the week.
Okay?
Yeah, but it doesn't say that they're having church.
Well, look what it says, upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together
to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow and continue his speech
until midnight.
So it sounds to me like they're having a church service, okay?
Now, some of you might complain when I preach a little too long, but I guarantee you're
not going to complain after this, okay?
And by the way, in old-life churches, they'll sometimes preach for like 30 minutes.
A Sunday school lesson is like 10, 15 minutes.
Someone is considered long-winded if they preach for 50 minutes.
I mean, there's places where if you go, the pastor will say, don't go too long.
If you go to 50 minutes, it's just like, that's too long, you're being inconsiderate or whatever,
you know?
It's weird.
I've told the story before, but I remember when I was on tour group and I went up north
and I went to a church that was filled with gray heads, okay, a lot of older people there.
And there was a guy there who actually used to go to J. Frank Norris' old church, not
when J. Frank Norris is there, but when the guy who took over after J. Frank Norris was
at that church.
And he used to go there and I remember I was going to preach at that church and he came
up to me, he's like, you better preach long tonight, brother.
It better be over an hour.
I came from J. Frank Norris' church where they were preached for two hours, whatever.
I'm just like, I'm sorry.
You know, I only got a 30-minute message, but I was still like in Bible class, it was
hard for me even to like create an hour-long sermon or something.
But it goes to show you like back in those days, the attention span was a lot better,
obviously.
And they esteemed the Word of God enough that an hour-long sermon was just nothing, okay?
And you know, sometimes I go like an hour and 15, if I'm really into what I'm preaching,
an hour and a half maybe.
And obviously when I go like, you know, an hour, that's not really that long if you think
about it.
An hour?
You spend more of that time on social media.
You go through posts on Instagram and Facebook longer than that, right?
Oh, getting kind of uncomfortable here, huh, right?
So if I'm preaching over an hour, I just expect for you to just sit there, listen to God's
Word, and don't keep looking back at the clock, you're just like doing these aerobics
in church, looking at the clock, just suck it up.
You came to church already, just handle it, hack it.
You chose to come here, and you know full well that I have the potential to preach long.
So come here and understand that I might go a little long tonight, okay?
Can I see the clock?
I know where I'm at right now, okay?
Notice that we don't put the clock here.
And I could do that if you want, but then I just don't know when it's time to go.
I can just keep going and going and going.
But let me say this, an hour and a half is still nothing in comparison to the Apostle
Paul.
First of all, our evening service started at five, they started at midnight.
Or I'm sorry, he preached until midnight.
So who knows when he started?
But I mean, midnight, I mean, people are exhausted.
And look what it says in verse eight, and there were many lights in the upper chamber,
and they were gathered together, verse number eight, verse nine, and there sat in a window
a certain young man named Eutychus being fallen into a deep sleep.
And as Paul was long preaching, he sunk down with sleep and fell down from the third loft
and was taken up bed.
So this is actually very comforting to me, okay?
You know where I'm going with this, right?
Because sometimes it's like, why are people so tired during church?
Am I boring?
Maybe I'm just not expounding God's word.
But you know what, the Apostle Paul is probably one of the most exciting preachers, and even
Eutychus fell asleep.
Now given it was midnight, right?
And so I'm preaching to all you Eutychus's out there, okay?
Stay awake during church.
Keep those eyes peeled, keep them open, and drink a coffee beforehand, and do whatever
you got to do.
Have the discipline, my friend, to stay awake, and look, if you're going to go to sleep,
go home then.
If you need yourself a little nap, a little afternoon nap, I mean, by the way, we have
afternoon naps here if you could take one, right?
But you're a grown adult, stay awake during the preaching of God's word, amen?
Like, I'm tired though, I'm just so exhausted.
And here's the thing, it's like, either we keep it really cold in here, and then you
complain that it's too cold, but if you keep it warm, then it's too warm, then you want
us to go to sleep, you know what I mean?
So it's just like, I think you just need the discipline to just stay awake.
I'm not saying everyone falls asleep in our church, by the way.
And I've talked to my pastor friends, and they've all told me like, we all have someone
in our church that falls asleep.
Even Pastor Anderson, everyone has someone that falls asleep.
But you know, I think that you should just have the discipline to just stay awake, okay?
Like, don't come to church like, oh man, I need a nap, I need to go to church or something
like that, okay?
And look, here's just a brief lesson on this, okay?
Because I got to talk about this every once in a while, you know?
If you're just like, if you look like the seven sons of Sceva, the demons that are fighting
or something like that, you know, at that point, don't try to fight it.
Like get up, go get some water, or do something, but don't think like, if I just can keep my
face from falling, because at that point, you look like you're on drugs or something.
I'm like, is this person on heroin or something?
They're acting, they look like they're on heroin or something.
And they just have this look.
You know, you should be able to just stay awake.
And obviously, you know, I've joked like this, because laughing also helps liven things up
and keep you awake.
But you know, it shouldn't be every week that you're like that, either though, okay?
Esteem God's word, pay attention, you know, and I've had times throughout my Christian
life where I'm extremely tired.
And maybe we had a guest preacher who just was not very exciting to listen to.
And they're very boring.
But you know what?
I kept my eyes open.
And I was very attentive, alive, awake and enthusiastic.
You say why?
Because it's God's word.
That's why.
We should esteem the preaching of God's word, amen.
And so that's for you, Eutychus.
But by the way, after Paul revives them, I'm sure he never fell asleep in preaching ever
again after that.
He's probably like, God probably like smote me right now for falling asleep during the
preaching of God's word.
I wonder how many times if anybody here would just no longer fall asleep, they just died.
If you just fall off your chair, just like, boom, you know.
And we used to have someone actually, in our church, that would fall asleep like that.
And it was becoming a problem, actually, because they were like, they would like, snore.
They would snore.
And I was very patient.
And it just so happens, I was preaching through the book of Acts.
And I was on this particular chapter.
And so then I started ripping on Eutychus.
And that guy never fell asleep in church thereafter.
He's like, no way.
And so anybody who was remotely tired prior to me saying this, they're sitting up straight.
They're just like, like, like, I'm gonna stay awake.
All right, let's move on here.
So he preaches there.
So now it's time for him to go home.
He goes to and he goes to these different islands here.
These different regions, should I say, from Choas, he goes to Assos, he goes to Mydalene,
he goes to Chios, and then he goes to Miletus, okay, Samos and then Miletus.
And Miletus is basically the coast of Ephesus.
He doesn't want to go inland to Ephesus because it's just going to take too long and he wants
to go home.
So it's at Miletus that he calls all the elders of Ephesus to come to him.
And that's when he gives that speech that where he's just talking to them about the
fact that, you know, false prophets are going to come, they're going to try to draw away
disciples after them.
And so it was a very touching time that he meets with the church elders there.
And obviously, you know, the church at Ephesus, we don't really know a whole lot about it.
But we do know that it was probably a very influential, effective church, because it's
the first church that's addressed in Revelation chapter two, to the seven letters that are
written to those in Asia.
And then it's like the first church that's being mentioned here.
So it's part of the one who ended up starting all these other churches, the other six churches,
seven if you also want to include the church of Colossae, okay, which is also in that region
as well.
So then he goes to Cus right here after Miletus, he goes to Cus, he goes to Rhodes, Patera,
and this is not to scale.
So this is really bad.
But you know, they basically, he basically sets voyage over here, and he goes to Tyre.
And then it's at Tyre that they tell him, why did you come here?
You should not have come here, they want you dead here.
And then he runs into a whole lot of problems here, because the Jews in Jerusalem have heard
that he's reaching all these Gentiles.
And so he's in a lot of trouble.
And you know, people are telling him like, hey, don't go to Jerusalem, don't go to Jerusalem,
that's not a good place for you to go.
You shouldn't go there.
They want you dead.
And he's like, I'm going to Jerusalem.
He's like, I'm gonna go, you know, and you kind of wonder why he wanted to do it so badly.
He should have just stayed out there.
But again, as I mentioned next week, all things work together for good.
So even though it was a bad decision for him to come back to Jerusalem, God worked it in
such a way that he essentially got a free ride to Rome.
So instead of paying for his ticket to go to Rome to go preach the gospel there, it
was taken for free.
Okay.
And we'll talk about that next week.
Okay.
And so that concludes the Paul's third missionary journey.
Let's pray.
Father, we thank you so much for your word.
Thank you for the apostle Paul and his example.
Help us Lord as your people to glean wisdom from his travels Lord and all that he did.
And as I read about his journeys, I'm encouraged and I'm inspired to want to get more people
saved, but not just that, but even start churches one day.
And I pray that you would enable us to do so that you would raise up leaders and that
you would do a great work.
Lord, we love you.
We thank you.
Pray these things in Jesus name.
Amen.
The first Noel song number 421, the first Noel, sing it on that first, the first Noel,
The angel did say, was to certain poor shepherds in fields where they lay, in fields where
they lay, in fields where they lay, in fields where they lay, in fields where they lay,
in fields where they lay, in fields where they lay, in fields where they lay, in fields
where they lay, in fields where they lay, in fields where they lay, in fields where
they lay, in fields where they lay, in fields where they lay, in fields where they lay,
in fields where they lay, in fields where they lay, in fields where they lay, in fields
where they lay, in fields where they lay, in fields where they lay, in fields where
they lay, in fields where they lay, in fields where they lay, in fields where they lay,