Last week I started by asking you if
you had ever been wrong about anything and some of you grudgingly finally
admitted to it. This week I want to ask
you if you have ever been mean to somebody.
Rather, have you ever done something to somebody that they thought was
mean? Have you ever done something to
somebody that they thought was mean that you meant for their benefit?
If you are a good parent you sure
have. What happens when you give a
one-year old a shot for measles or mumps?
They cry and scream and they think you are the worst person in the
world, right? They didn’t do anything to
deserve that. But you did it for their
good and really for the good of everybody else as well. But that’s hard for them to see at that point
and can be hard for you as a parent.
Do you know why we have to give our
children immunization shots? Now,
believe it or not, I’m not a doctor but even I know that every single human
being ever born is going to be attacked by these viruses and nasty little
micro-organisms that cause diseases and death and we have to be prepared for
them before they attack. It’s hard to do
sometimes but we have to do it. I’m just
grateful God has blessed us to be able to live in a time where we have these
vaccines.
Our spiritual life sometimes parallels
our physical life at times. Every single
human ever born is going to be attacked by Satan and his schemes. 1
Peter 5:8 says he prowls around like a roaring lion looking to see who he
may devour. So, we have to be prepared
for him because he brings spiritual and physical death and disease. We prepare for him by first being immunized
by our faith in Jesus and by His grace.
We are immune to spiritual death and disease. We are not immune to sin because we are born
with that but we no longer are slaves to it as it says in Romans 6:6.
Now, as believers and as followers of
Jesus, we sometimes have to do things or say things that some people are going
to think is mean; things like speaking the truth in love. Sometimes, no matter how much love is
expressed, people are going to get mad if you tell them that Jesus is the only
way to Heaven. People don’t always want
to hear that the Bible is truth and there is no error in it. People are going to think you are the worst
person ever when you stand up against gay rights and abortion but we stand
against them for the sake of God’s Kingdom but also for their sakes and for the
sake of everybody else, as well.
That’s what we are called to do and
what we are commanded to do and do you know what happens when we are obedient
to what God commands? God blesses,
right? Just like there are consequences
of disobedience, there are blessings of obedience. When we are obedient God blesses and then what
happens? It happens every time that we
are obedient. God blesses us. Then what happens every time? Satan attacks, doesn’t he?
We’ve talked about this before lots of
times. When we are obedient God blesses
and then Satan attacks. It’s a vicious
cycle that you see all through the Old Testament and into the New Testament and
we sure see it in our lives, don’t we?
We are looking at the life of the Apostle Paul for a few weeks and we
see that Paul was not immune to Satan’s attacks but we do see that he was
prepared for it and because he was prepared and because he was filled with the
Holy Spirit as all Christians now are, he did something to somebody that may
have seemed mean but it was for his own good and for the good of the Kingdom
and everybody else as well.
Let’s see it in Acts chapter 13:1-12. Acts
is between the Gospel of John and the book of Romans in the New Testament and
here we see Saul first referred to as Paul and we see him, Paul the great
evangelist, start on his very first missionary journey. If you have ever been on any kind of a
mission trip, you know to expect the unexpected and that is exactly what Paul
found out here. But he was prepared. Let’s read Acts 13:1-12.
Now in the church at Antioch there
were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene,
Manaen (who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch) and Saul. 2 While
they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for
me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” 3 So
after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them
off. 4 The two of them,
sent on their way by the Holy Spirit, went down to Seleucia and sailed from
there to Cyprus. 5 When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed
the word of God in the Jewish synagogues. John was with them as their
helper. 6 They traveled
through the whole island until they came to Paphos. There they met a Jewish
sorcerer and false prophet named Bar-Jesus, 7 who was an
attendant of the proconsul, Sergius Paulus. The proconsul, an intelligent man,
sent for Barnabas and Saul because he wanted to hear the word of God. 8 But
Elymas the sorcerer (for that is what his name means) opposed them and tried to
turn the proconsul from the faith. 9 Then Saul, who was also
called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked straight at Elymas and said, 10 “You
are a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right! You are full
of all kinds of deceit and trickery. Will you never stop perverting the right
ways of the Lord? 11 Now the hand of the Lord is against you.
You are going to be blind for a time, not even able to see the light of the
sun.” Immediately mist and darkness came
over him, and he groped about, seeking someone to lead him by the hand. 12 When
the proconsul saw what had happened, he believed, for he was amazed at the
teaching about the Lord.
It seems the old
Standard Oil Company offered an enormous sum of money to a missionary in China
to work for them, to help with the development of Standard Oil in China. The
missionary turned them down. So they doubled the salary offer. He turned them
down again. They said, "What do you
want? We can't give more money than that.” He said, "The money doesn't have anything to do with it. The job is too
small." (SimNow)
What do you think
he meant by that? Why did he say the job
was too small? It was too small because
God had called him to do the greatest work, the work of leading others to have
a life-changing relationship with Jesus Christ and while we are all called to
do that same thing we know that not all of us are called to be foreign
missionaries.
But Paul was and
Barnabas was and they found that out because
they were fasting and praying and worshiping the Lord as it says in verse 2. Do you see that? They were not just waiting for God to present
them with something. They were actively
seeking it. Are you wanting to know
God’s will about something in your life?
Paul learned early on what the secret was and it had to have shaped his
doctrine that he later wrote in Romans
12:1-2.
“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view
of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing
to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but
be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and
approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”
How will
you know God’s will? When you have
sacrificed your body in true and proper worship. What does it mean to sacrifice your
body? Well, what does your body
want? It wants food, sleep and anything
else that will make it comfortable. But
when you want to know God’s will about something to the point that you will do
without the things your body wants to be comfortable and you devote that time
to prayer and worship; turning off the TV and the computer and spending time
alone or with others in worship then be prepared for God to reveal His good and
perfect will.
I hear people
all the time who are searching for God’s will and when they don’t hear anything
they freak out. Well, number one, are
you doing what Paul says to do to find God’s will? If not, start. If so; if you are doing these things and God
still is not telling you to do something different then don’t do anything
different. Just wait.
But here we
see Paul and the others were actively seeking God’s will and were fasting and
praying; telling God that nothing is more important than hearing from Him. Then what happens? God speaks to them. God says to go and so they went. They left.
Right then. Instant obedience is
the only way to be truly obedient. I
love to see this. There is no record of
them waiting around, asking God if He was sure, waiting for the weather to
clear up or for the kids to get out of school.
They just obeyed.
Do you
think God wants to bless that kind of obedience? Absolutely He does and He absolutely blessed
Paul and Barnabas. Look closely at verses 4-6. “The two of them,
sent on their way by the Holy Spirit, went down to Seleucia and sailed from
there to Cyprus. 5 When they arrived at Salamis, they
proclaimed the word of God in the Jewish synagogues. John was with them as
their helper. 6 They
traveled through the whole island…”
I don’t think
these verses are appreciated enough.
There is a lot happening right there and it all shows just how God was
protecting and providing and blessing them with everything they needed. When we think of God blessing us we too often
think of material blessings and that’s great.
Nothing wrong with having stuff, necessarily, but God would rather bless
our obedience with everything we need to continue to be obedient, just like He
does for these men.
He has given them
safe passage across a dangerous sea, provided them with food, shelter and a
place to minister and even provided young John Mark as a helper. They have everything they need to do what God
has called them and set them apart to do, all because they were instantly obedient
to what they knew God wanted. Has God
ever blessed your obedience? Somebody
tell me how real briefly.
I can tell you
that God has blessed the obedience of this church. We were talking the other night in Bible
study about how sometimes it’s hard to continue ministering when you don’t see
a great harvest like we would like but do you know that God continues to bless
our obedience? He has blessed us by
taking us out of Runaway Bay and a rent that was going to kill us, not to
mention how he provided for our utility bills while we were there.
Then we were
obedient to come to Lake Bridgeport and God continues to provide and protect
and we have seen lives changed, marriages restored, addicts helped, diseases
healed and the Gospel has been proclaimed all over town just like it will be
again today at the RV park. Is that
because we are such a great group of people who are so beautiful and smart and
rich? Probably not. J
It is just because God has blessed our obedience. He does it every time we are obedient. He always blesses us.
But look at what
happened to Paul and Barnabas in verses
6-8. They met and were witnessing to
an important man in the community but look what happens. It’s the same thing that always happens. What is it?
Satan attacks.
I remember
years ago when my niece and nephew were little, we went to the Ft. Worth
Zoo. We went to the cat section and saw
a zoo worker walk into the cage of a big black panther of some kind. The guy just casually walks in and the only
thing he has with him is a broom. He
just starts sweeping out the cage and this panther is eyeing him and then as he
gets closer the panther starts to snarl and finally the panther jumps at him
but what we then see is that the panther was on a huge chain and couldn’t reach
the zoo keeper. The man was in no danger
whatsoever.
That’s just
like Satan. Satan is a dangerous wild
animal and he can hurt us and even kill us…if God allows it. Satan will always attack us. You can set your watch by it. When God’s people are obedient, God blesses
and then – boom! – Satan attacks. But he
is on a chain and God has control of that chain. Satan has no authority that God has not given
him and there is no temptation that
can’t be escaped.
But look at how Paul handles this
attack. Look at verses 9-10. First Paul
calls this sorcerer just what he is. He
says, “You are a child of the devil and
an enemy of everything that is right.”
Whoo! Get ‘em Paul! Now, I recommend that you be very careful
about this kind of thing. Don’t go around
calling people the child of the devil just because they think different than
you. Ladies, your husband is not an enemy
of everything that is right because he left his socks on the floor.
Also, can’t you just hear people if
Paul made this statement today? “Who does that Paul think he is? Doesn’t he know that the Bible says we aren’t
to judge people?” Right? So, which
is it? Matthew 7:1 says, “Do not
judge or you too will be judged” but here we have Paul calling this man a
child of the devil. My dear family, we
must get this right because I’m tired of hearing, “Don’t judge me” as an excuse to sin.
Yes, Jesus said not to judge but He
also said in John 7:24 that we are
to judge correctly. He also says, “Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not
throw your pearls to pigs” (Matthew 7:6). A little later in the same sermon, He says,
“Watch out for false prophets... By their
fruit you will recognize them” (verses
15–16). How are we to discern who are the “dogs” and “pigs” and “false
prophets” unless we have the ability to make a
judgment call on doctrines and deeds? Jesus is giving us permission to tell
right from wrong. (gotquestions.org)
Have you ever seen a group of
white-tail deer together? They are
beautiful animals and I love to see them but if you get too close, what
happens? One of them will lift his tail like
a white flag and the whole group stops, identifies the threat and then they all
run off. That’s obviously why they are
called white-tails because that tail is a bright warning that something is
wrong. Get away from it.
That is exactly what we are called to
do as Christians. We are all sinners but
as Christians, it should pain us when we sin and we should immediately ask for
forgiveness. But when we see someone
living a lifestyle of sin or condoning a lifestyle of sin, we are to use our
God-given discernment and our knowledge of what the Bible says to call out that
sin and warn people to stay away from it.
It is time for us as Christians to
sound the warning about sinful lifestyles and to call it what it is. It’s not an alternative lifestyle. It’s not a woman’s right to choose. It’s not a bad habit or a disease. It is sin.
That’s not my opinion. That’s what the Bible says.
It’s time for us as Christians to
sound the warning about false teachers.
When Joel Osteen says on TV that there may be more than one way to get
to Heaven but he can’t judge that, that is false and you need to stay away from
him. Stay away from his health and
wealth Gospel and stay with Paul who preached the Gospel of Christ and Him
crucified and did it from a jail cell!
We are not to judge superficially
about how somebody looks. We are not to
judge hypocritically or we condemn ourselves.
We are not to judge harshly or unforgiving or self-righteously but John the Baptist told Herod, “It is unlawful for you to have your
brother’s wife.” (Mark 6)
2 Timothy 4:2 says we are to rebuke people who are sinning
but as Paul said in Ephesians 4:15,
we are to speak the truth in love. Now,
when I say that I hear you laughing because we just read where Paul spoke the
word and God blinded this false teacher Elymas.
That’s hardly speaking the truth in love, is it?
I say it absolutely is. Think about it. First, Paul is not going to let this man
continue opposing the Gospel and speaking lies.
He put an end to that and called him just what he was but also had great
compassion on this man. He could have
called down an angel to slice him in two with a sword but Paul, of all people,
knew what it was like to be blind.
Just last week we saw Paul’s
conversion experience. For three days he
was blind and while all of that must have been a horrible experience, that
blindness opened Paul’s spiritual eyes to see that Jesus was the Way, the Truth
and the Life and that no one comes to the Father but through Him. (John 14:6)
Paul knew that the best way to get
this man to stop what he was doing and to be able to receive truth was to
realize his absolute helplessness, to admit his blindness and rely solely on
Jesus for help. That’s where we all
are. We are helpless, hopeless and blind
without Jesus in our lives. Satan is
going to attack every single one of us.
Do you really want to face that roaring lion helpless, hopeless and blind?
With Jesus we have armor to protect us
as Paul wrote about in Ephesians 6 but we also have a Savior to keep us and to
give us shelter in His own great name.
In that great name there is peace and joy in this life and eternal life
in Heaven with Him when this short life is over. Paul said in Acts 16, “Believe in the Lord
Jesus and you will be saved”
Do that today. That belief will mean a
life-change for you. It’s not always
easy and your life won’t be perfect but He promises to forgive us our sins and to
cleanse us from all unrighteousness. All
you have to do is accept it. Today is
the day of salvation.
Invitation / Prayer
So, what happens when we are
obedient? God blesses. What happens next? Satan attacks. Know it, believe it and be ready for it. Jesus said in John 16:33, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the
world." Let’s live like it today.
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