Colossians 4:7-8 - The Journey of Tychicus, Pt. 2

Morning everyone. I noticed Noah was stranded out there and Winston let him in Winston Winston let

Noah in Yeah so I don't know how Winston knew to go to the door or why he was at the door, but I'm sure

Matt will go find out Anyway, how's everybody doing?

So if you're ever out here late just call Winston cell number and he'll let you in Sean And Christine great to have you with us this morning and you got your mom

Judith is correct Good to have you with us That is that is interesting. I was praying for you guys this morning.

I walk in and here you are So I guess I'll just start praying for you every Sunday morning But good to have you with us and Bobby so great to see you back

You got back just in time to volunteer for Matt's choir You would have to be like the choir leader

Take Matt's job away from him and kick him out or whatever. I don't know if all of you know that Bobby traveled

Extensively with gospel. Was it a quartet or a group? just a group a group and For how many years did you do that?

Ten years Wow and you kind of this part of the country. How far out did you go?

Yeah, just around Texas mostly

Oklahoma and places Pretty cool. Very cool Well, so glad to see you all and we have the hubris back to the senior hubris back

I just I say that because there are junior hubris and I Did where is okay brother

Paul's not in here I keep keep waiting for him to be in here so I can ask him a question. So I'll just wait a minute

He'll be back. I may have to do it in the middle of the sermon, but I Got it. I got to ask him an important question you can be turning to The book of Acts chapter 20 verse 15 is where we'll pick it up today.

Of course, we're going verse by verse through Colossians Some people might not like the fact that I'm in Acts chapter 20 while I'm going verse by verse through Colossians But people who don't like that aren't here anymore.

So that's okay We're in Colossians chapter 4 near the end of it

And it just talks about a group of helpers that went or ministers, you know men and women that went with Paul and helped

Paul the Apostle Paul and he was In this area that we're looking at now in the book of Acts we're just kind of taking a trip with Paul like perhaps one of these folks would do and And so you've got quite a few of them named and you'll see that right towards the end of the chapter and we're not going to Go and cover each one of those names like we're doing

Is it? What's his name? Tychicus. Yeah, I started say trichosis tychicus

We just chose him and I did do a little study on who he is and his background and everything we talked about that the first Sunday on this subject, but basically what we're doing is

Imagining that we are him and we're traveling with Paul and kind of seeing some of the things he would have seen with Paul on this third missionary journey and Would just it kind of covers all of the names that are at the end because many of them were with him on this journey

So it kind of lets you get a view of what they saw and what they experienced being with this amazing Apostle Paul So that's what we're doing and so we pick it up from last time in Acts chapter 20 verse 15 and you can kind of see that this looks like a

Boy a trip and a voyage, but there's some important points about Doctrine also about Bible practice of the early church

And so that's what we want to focus in on today And I don't know how many of these you know, we will get to but there's about four major points that I see in these passages and So we'll we'll kind of I'll point those out as we come to them so let's start with Acts chapter 20 verse 15 and we sailed fence and came the next day over against kiosk and the next day we arrived at Samos and Traveled at Trogillium.

Are you proud of me for getting that one? Trogillium and the next you know, that would be a good name for a grandson

Case any y 'all are interested or looking for names and the next day we came to Miletus for Paul had determined to sail

By Ephesus because he would not spend time in Asia for he hasted if it were possible

For him to be at Jerusalem the day of Pentecost now we covered some of this

Last time so let me just give you a quick review of what we've covered in Acts 19 1 through 8

We've the Apostle Paul ran into some of John the Baptist disciples and it was very interesting because they were already saved

They believed in Jesus, but they didn't know about the Holy Spirit Remember that and so Paul instructed them about the

Holy Spirit and laid hands on them and they were indwelt by the Holy Spirit They were all Jewish and that was the practice among the early

Jewish Christians was to lay for an apart only an apostle could do It and that's why that passed off the scene.

Can you imagine by the time you had? You know 5 ,000 people saved at once Then if the

Apostles had to go lay hands on all of them to have them indwelt wouldn't work So that that is a temporary thing in the

Bible. The book of Acts is transitional. That's why you don't use it for doctrine and Methodology for the early church.

You could give me a little juice on that Tyler if you would turn this one up just a hair It's different every

Sunday. It's always Atmosphere affects it. But anyway So It's a transitional book and you're going from Old Testament to New Testament You're going from Jewish to Gentile predominantly all in the scope of the book of Acts You're going from law to grace so Huge changes.

This is one reason God gave the Apostles and the New Testament prophets sign gifts

Because the Jews would never have believed their new message without it and that was the purpose of it And that's why

Paul said after all that's authenticated. These signs will cease which they did they were gone by within 8100

History shows us that and the Bible said it would happen and that did happen So anytime you see people claiming to have

Apostles or have these sign gifts today They are mistaken and I'm not saying that the things they think they see aren't happening

But I'm saying the source of the power is not the Holy Spirit. That's all I'm saying It's a different source of power and you can use your mind to figure out where you think that source may be coming from but it's not

God and So they're deceived and it's sad and they spend an awful lot of time off on the wrong track doing something

That's not even part of what they're supposed to be doing So what are we supposed to be doing the major job of the church is what?

Evangelism and discipleship, right? That's it. That's where the focus needs to be

Not on self edification Anyway that we've talked about a lot of that. The next thing we saw is

Paul disputing and Persuading People convincing people with good arguments in Acts chapter 19

Verse 8 and he stayed in this particular place for a couple of years teaching in the school of Tyrannus That's in Acts 19 and then

Paul's Special miracles we see in chapter 19 verse 11 where if people could touch the hem of his garment, they'd be healed

Well, there are modern faith healers that will for a fee probably 250 bucks would get you one

You could get a prayer cloth that they blessed and it's supposed to heal you The problem is when you read the

Bible about this gift It was called a special gift for Paul and in the Greek that means a gift that only

Paul had The Holy Spirit only gave this to Paul and they're trying to copy it and they don't know the

Greek so they don't get it You know, they're ignorant of Scripture So they fake it and copy it and make money off of it

And that is the Bible says they're in it for their bellies sake which means for money They do these faith healers do these things for him for money so they can own a couple of jets and some of them own more than two jets and That's okay if you did the work to earn the jet

But if you got that from widow ladies giving love offerings that is not okay It wasn't okay in Paul's day or Jesus day and it's not okay now

And so we covered that a little bit and then Paul Was persecuted because he let the people know that the goddess

Diana was not really God They didn't like that because they made money off of that religion. So he was persecuted in chapter 19 verses 24 for 337 and Then In Acts that brings us to Acts chapter 20 see

Verse 21, so let's let's pick I'm sorry But Acts chapter 20 verse 15, that's where we were just reading and so that's kind of where we are now

So we went through quite a trip just just to get here But the last thing we read about in Acts chapter 20 starting with about verse 1 was where Paul preached a long sermon

I Don't know how many hours he preached and this young man was said young boy actually was sitting in the third -story window and he fell asleep because the sermon was long and The candles had used up most the oxygen in the room and he fell asleep and he fell and it killed him and so Paul went down as an apostle laid on his body and Healed him and the life came back into him.

Now. You see when you read things like this In a transitional book and you want to copy that Then if it's real you should be doing all these things like you should be handling

Serpents and they bite you and it doesn't kill you which Paul had that happen But it was see the point is it was only for Paul.

It was only for Apostles and and then Drink poison and it doesn't hurt you

That's not for everybody. But if it were you should still be doing that And of course there are snake handlers in Kentucky and Tennessee still to this day

But guess what about once a year you're reading the newspaper one of them dies from the poison. So they're not an apostle

They don't have the gift. They're faking it in the snake knows the difference and then

What else Oh How many of these guys have laid on top of a corpse and brought him back to life now?

I'm sure they could fake that but how many have actually done it? You know, but Paul did it because he was an apostle

By the way what is an apostle one of the qualifications is you have to walk with Jesus on the earth and then also seen him on the

Earth after the resurrection and you'd have to be 2 ,000 years old to fulfill that so you cannot be an apostle

In fact, if you can remove if you can show That these

Pentecostals and Charismatics do not have genuine Apostles their entire house falls

You understand what I'm saying their entire? Religion falls on that one fact and So I just finished my first book

Hopefully it goes live Monday our Tuesday because after that I'm gone for a week on a trip

Surely it'll happen. I got word that it might happen Monday So if it goes live

There's a lot of information and facts in that book about this very subject that we're talking about here

So you can't cover it in 10 minutes obviously, but we've covered a little bit of it here so The Apostle Paul brought the life back into this young man and you know, what's interesting about it now try to picture being there

With Tychicus. Okay, and you watch this happen. So he'd already preached maybe four hours the kid falls out the window and dies

By then is probably Eight at night 8 p .m. He goes and lays on him.

I don't know how long he laid on him And the life came back in and Paul says he is he is he's not dead.

He's alive and he brings him Do you know that they fellowship? How long do you think you would fellowship if you were the parents and grandparents of the kid and the church member friends of this?

Kid and he's alive again. How long would you fellowship? Guess how long they stayed?

Till midnight and he had to get up get on a ship the next morning early Now imagine the kind of ship

Paul had to get on He'd already been shipped I had he been shipwrecked by this point a little confused on the

Sequel of time sequence, so he'd already been shipwrecked so he's got to get up early and get on a ship that may or may not make it to Ephesus and And yet he stays up till midnight fellowshipping with these people now

Let me ask you this Do you think if you could picture the Apostle Paul? Do you picture him as a dude with rings on every finger and alligator shoes and two jets and he's just there to make money off these people

Listen I've seen these guys and you know what they do like if they're up here doing all the dancing around doing all this stuff as Soon as that service is over there out that side door and they're in some limousine and gone

They don't don't sit around and shake your hand And if they did they're looking for the next person to see who's coming next has got more money

They'll find the one that's dressed with the most nice clothes, and they'll you know be looking at him

Not you I've seen them and been there and done that not that I did it, but I would had it done to me

I've had it done to me and so do you picture Paul being that way or did he stay because he wanted to be with these people and Then then when he left and they hugged his neck and they all cried together.

Is that real or not? You see you can tell the difference you can like Ben talked about in adult

Sunday school judge them by their fruit It's not that hard to see but if you're blind you won't see it or if you just want to be blind

You just won't see it, but listen the facts are clear on these things now Acts chapter 20

Verse 17 and from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called the elders of the church so now

Paul is coming to this church at Ephesus that the book of Ephesians was written to the letter to the church at Ephesus and he calls together their leaders and wants to talk to him and When they were come to him he said to them, you know from the first day that I came into Asia After what manner

I have been with you in all seasons. He said you examined my life Do I look like a guy that came here to take money from you?

Do I look like a person who came here to profit off of you or did I come here so that you might profit?

And he asked them this question. He asked the leaders that question. Why do you think he asked him that? Could it be because he wants them to examine that before he?

wants to teach them some other things that he wants them to listen to and Realize that he is an apostle and has that authority and he's anointed but his heart is for them

Not to not to make money off of them, but to profit them. And so he asked them to consider that question

And he says what manner I've been with you at all seasons In other words when things are going well when things are not when things are tough when there's persecution when there's not all this in verse 19 serving the

Lord with all humility of mind and with many tears and Temptations which befell me by the lying in wait of the

Jews who were trying to kill him and How I kept back nothing that was profitable to you

But have showed you and have taught you publicly and house to house now Can you imagine one of these bigwigs flying in on one of their jets?

Who they didn't earn through working hard like brother Myron earned his jet, right? But because he's a businessman pastor, he he works for a living makes money bought the jet that is different Than sending prayer cloths out saying if you buy this for 250 bucks

You'll be healed from all your diseases and never die and then buying two jets with that kind of money

So that is ill -begotten gain and Jesus hates it. He says so in the Gospels He said he hates it you making money off of widows and he looked at those very men and he said to them

You know what? You're a whited sepulchers But on the inside you're full of dead men's bones and where I go you cannot go

For you you're of your father the devil who was a liar from the beginning Stuff like that, so the same is true of these very people and you know them by their fruits

But now look at look at these things that you can see here if you want to call this the proper attitude

For an apostle, but now we don't have them. So let's just say for a pastor or a TV preacher or whatever

You want to say the proper attitude that this person should have number one. He says in verse 19

I'm in Acts chapter 20 still verse 19. He is serving the Lord He is not serving money.

He's not serving politicians. He's not serving himself He's serving the Lord number two with all humility of mind

He doesn't act like he knows everything he can learn new things still and He doesn't put himself above the people.

He puts himself equal with the people There's no separation of clergy and laity.

He's just one of the church people He recognizes his calling. Yes, but he doesn't believe that places him higher than anyone else

He has humility and number three He serves with tears He serves when he sees a brother or sister that's hurting

It's that's going through tribulation and trouble or maybe even persecution.

He cries, too and Is he that type of person or not?

And he goes through temptations just like everyone else He doesn't try to act like well, I'm a pastor, you know, like I don't have temptations

You just need to follow me and I'll show you how to live a pristine life. I'm sanctified You need to be like me.

He doesn't act like that false prophets will act like that though And so there's a there's a great difference and his particular temptations

He had people sitting around trying to kill him when he walked out of the building like Charlie Kirk did imagine that and They got

Charlie Kirk didn't they and the Lord brings that to pass sometimes because it fits his purposes and more people will be saved

Because of it because of the death of that martyr than if the person had lived sometime We don't know God's view of everything don't do we we can't see the whole big plan

But I'll promise you the best thing happens to all of us. God is perfect love.

He's perfect knowledge He's perfectly good And so the best thing happens that should happen for all of us and when we get out there with him someday look back

We'll all see that but Paul knew it and Paul wasn't afraid of these people, but he did dodge him when he could

Know if they're waiting over here, you know, you know why he went by foot remember last Sunday We talked about his friends went on ship

He went by foot because he got word from somebody that they're waiting on the Jews are waiting on you at the shipyard

Don't go that way. So he traveled by foot. It was much more difficult But at least they didn't get to kill grab him and kill him so that he is tempted by these things

What would the temptation be there to quit right or to hide? He had those temptations

He's a real man. And then the fourth the fourth thing is temptations. And then he says

I Kept back nothing that was profitable to you. Do you know what a sign of a real preacher is?

He will preach the whole Word of God even the stuff. He knows you don't want to hear Or even the stuff he knows the world doesn't want to hear

My the book I just wrote will be the least read book that's ever been written It's got a lot of stuff in it.

People don't want to hear and I even invite them in the book. I say look I'm not trying to convince you

Which I really am but I there's one I had to confess that one to the Lord But I said I'm not trying to convince you

What I'm trying to get you to do is is study just study and prove me wrong or right either one

I don't care. I'm happy and really that is true and You can know that if you ever been to a trade way meeting when we used to have them before Kovac because I would say stuff and put it up on the screen

They pastor had never taught those people and they'd stand up want to debate it I said, well, I'll take you to lunch because I wouldn't want to do it in front of everybody and waste their time, you know and take them to lunch and I would have people that would tell me, you know

I went home mad at you and I've been studying for about a month and I see that what you taught is in the Bible Even some of them started coming to church here because of that so you can't a true preacher doesn't stop and think

What can I preach today? That will be popular? That everyone will like so when they go home, they're gonna talk about how good

I am. They don't think like that They just say what's next? Okay, we're on chapter we finished chapter 3 now we're on chapter 4 what's in there well last time we had to talk about slavery

That's not popular Right. We've had to talk about child rearing. I'll promise that's not popular.

We got to I looked out there It was two sermons and you put child rearing on him You should have put Colossians something because now that you put child rearing they won't listen to him

I'm teasing I'm glad you put that because it makes easy to find but I mean it's because it was verse by verse it was

Colossians chapter 4 2 verses and we talked about him and none of what

I said is popular on those two Sundays But I not only use the Bible to prove it's true

But I also use secular psychology to prove what I was saying was true They don't even agree with stuff that they taught 10 years ago anymore

Well that if it's of the world and humanism, it will change every decade for sure quicker even science does right?

It's because it's not perfect but Anyway, so you notice here he says

I kept back nothing I taught everything that's profitable to you and then he says

But I have showed you and have taught you publicly and from house to house so two more things a

Preacher doesn't only just preach from here When he visits you

Yeah, he might talk about golf every once in a while or something like that, but sometimes it's gonna get back to the word

I think you could ask Five of my kids and five of their spouses and 15 grandkids and just ask them

Hey when Papa's around like does he ever talk about the Bible and you'd find out we do that a lot

Probably more than it. We don't talk about the Cowboys much now if they'd start winning that'd be different But not much to say about them.

I Do like the Chiefs though in college football.

I hate to say it, but this year I'm even gonna watch an A &M game because they're ranked in the top 10 and Baylor's not

Neither is the University of Texas. They see I mean a True pastor is a real person

But he talks about the Lord a lot and he does it not only from the pulpit He does it when he's out in the world and does it when he's in people's houses

You you might find it surprising because I tried when I was young I tried hanging out with pastors

I would go to Dallas to pastors fellowships and there'd be like 60 or 80 of them there and they're all

Baptist You know supposedly sound and you know I did that about three times and all

I was learning was a lot of off -color jokes, so I quit going I'm serious. They weren't talking about the

Bible now I'm not saying they were all that way though, but just the ones that maybe that says something about me the ones

I was around or telling off -color jokes and Whatever, but seriously,

I mean it just was not a It was not a godly situation. So you see these things that Paul is showing what he's like and this is a great model for a pastor or any kind, you know an evangelist or a missionary and So there are seven things there now in verses 22

I'm gonna drop down a little bit and then we'll come back up but in verses 22 through 24

It kind of talks a little bit about this heart of a pastor It says and now behold I go bound in spirit to Jerusalem not knowing the things that will befall me

Save that the Holy Ghost Witnesses in every city saying that bonds and afflictions will happen if you go there and that sort of fits under this area where he says

I don't hold back anything I'll do whatever is profitable to you Even when people were telling him if you go to the next place, you're gonna be persecuted.

You might even be killed He would go anyway all right, so Paul Paul is definitely a marvelous model for many different kinds of ministries now look at verse 21

And that brings me to my second major point. The first major point was you know

What's a good model of a pastor a genuine pastor? A second point is this what is the proper aspect?

What are the proper aspects of the gospel message now we touched on that last Sunday a little bit

When you when you talk when you want to talk about how we as a church should be presenting the gospel

How is that done? What are the components of that and we can learn a lot from watching how

Paul did it? Because we know that Paul defined the gospel in a nutshell He said it's the it's the fact that Jesus died was buried and rose again

For the sins of his people if you want to put it in a nutshell But that's not all we preach you you don't just listen.

You don't just walk up to people and say Where would you go if you died today? And they say I'm not sure and you say well

Jesus died He was buried and he rose again for the sins of his people good to meet you sir, and you walk away

This is not how the gospel was preached Now it helps if you think about this.

I Let's think about childbirth for a minute Ashton says, please don't talk about childbirth.

It's coming in the future and Some of the ladies are back there smiling saying notes in my past But Think about the the moment the child is born

Okay, how many things happen in that moment? Not just to the mom

I'm kind of talking about the baby's viewpoint Because from the baby's viewpoint, it's all good

Right because the baby comes in the world and thinks he is the center of the entire universe

Everyone has to pay attention to me Forever that's what they think right and Think about all the things that happened to that baby the moment he's born in a moment of time

He was the first thing he does Takes his first breath

What's the very next thing he does he cries? What else does he do he poops

Glue black glue, but anyway, that's too much information. But what what else does he do? Yes, I'm in the heart valve, yeah, but what else is one of the first things he does after he cries what's he crying for Milk right his mom

So like a very intimate relationship, right? Which which he didn't know he had before birth.

Did he I Mean he doesn't have perspective yet. Think about that.

He has no perspective of what his life's gonna be like It's almost opposite. He's floating in liquid can't breathe

Can't eat. I know that the blood of the mom or the blood feeds the baby from the mom's nutrition

We know that but the baby like he can't eat. He can't burp. He can't look any poop.

I don't think so he He you know all of the things in life

He's the opposite and then all of a sudden in one nanosecond everything happens in nanoseconds in my life

In my preaching anyway, one nanosecond all that changes and he's in the world and it's all it's all normal He's a human.

He was already a human but I mean he's doing the things humans do is my point But how many things are there probably countless things if you want to look at the biology of this baby's body and and everything else

You probably couldn't count it all. So let me ask you how many things happen at the moment you're born again Because Jesus said

Spiritual birth is like physical birth. So how many things happen at the moment you're born again and Would you say that they're a series of things or did they just kind of all happen is one thing called birth

You see my point What is going on out there? Was the baby just born

Someone's playing a video. They were checking me out. See if my preaching is true. It's a show me childbirth and it's

YouTube Anyway, you see you see my point now

I want you to think about that when we when we talk about these things That are part of how we present the gospel because I don't want you to think of them so much as a series of things

You do I grew up in a church where they used to talk about what do you do to get saved? Well, obviously the answer is nothing or else it's salvation by works, but we didn't know that So I did something to get saved and it didn't keep me from being saved.

How about that? You know what I did. I prayed in the car and Said Lord, I want you to be my boss rather than me being my own boss

And I put it in businessman terms because I was a businessman, but I I knew what I meant by that I wanted him to be my lord and Then it my whole life was changed

So did I save myself that day or did the Holy Spirit call me and awaken me and quicken me which means once he quicken

Me I'm already alive By the time I prayed that prayer I was already alive So did me praying the prayer save me or did the

Holy Spirit save me and then I prayed the prayer you see now churches Today don't know this but 150 years ago 95 % of all

Baptists knew this now only less than 5 % know it or believe it In fact, they think what I just said is heresy

But it's the truth But this this helps if you understand if you watch Paul here as he gives the gospel it shows how he gave the gospel

He doesn't just say Well get called Get called by the

Holy Ghost, that's all you need to know. He didn't say that did he He was much wiser than to say that he didn't say well if God wants to save you, he'll save you.

Just don't worry about it No, he didn't say that he played with people to get saved even

Jews who tried to kill him So you've got to look at the methodology of giving the gospel

It's just as important as the doctrines that we love so much in a church like this where we love to dig down into those doctrines and what we're doing when we look at it doctrinally is we're looking at it in sequence as If it takes, you know a year or something to get saved look at all this stuff that can happen there's over 33 things happening in our mind that means that would take a lot of time for all that to happen and All of it if you are a human looking at a person who just gets saved you would say all of that stuff just happened

To them and you're not sitting there saying well first he got called. Well first he got chosen, right?

For that he got known For that he was known and he got Predestinated or chosen and then he got called in time and then after that he got justified

But how long you think it was after the from the calling to the justification it you can't measure it in time

Even though it was in time. It was faster than the blink of an eye and Not only were you justified you were glorified in the father's mind in the blink of an eye

So the whole span of your entire salvation from God's viewpoint was like this

That's why it's in the heiress. It just happened. It just is but from man's viewpoint this this this this this happened all around here and all this stuff back here was already happening and the

Holy Spirit was working on them and their parents and their grandparents and Bible preachers they heard and all this stuff was happening and humans love to give all of that the credit

For the salvation the truth is you've got to give the Holy Spirit to credit and you have to give the father the first credit

Because he's the one that knew you and told the Holy Spirit to go get you and you and then you have

Jesus who? before anything agreed to die to bring you in to the family and the

Godhead knew you as a child of God's before anything was made

So there obviously is where the credit has to go But let's watch how it's presented because how it's it presented is important, too

This is this is the right way to be as as we talk about witnessing so the proper

Where was I 21, okay, so the proper aspects of the gospel testifying both to the

Jews and also the Greeks So what was Paul a Jew or a Gentile Greek means Gentile what was

Paul he's a Jew Did most of the Jews want the Gentiles to get saved?

Now did they even think God would save them? No thus the sign gifts Because when

Gentiles got saved they spoke in tongues too and the Jews had to go Don't like it, but I think

God just saved him, right? Oh Okay, my little golfer down there she just wanted to go play golf on Sunday, I don't blame her so First of all, he would witness to a

Gentile just as quickly as a Jew Although he would always try to talk to the Jews first But he would always then talk to the

Gentiles in the same city every time why Jew first Because they had the oracles of God They brought us the lineage of the

Messiah and God told him to preach to the Jew first But it came to a point at one point in the book of Acts Where the

Jews tried to kill him so many times that Paul said I'm done with you I'm just preaching to the

Gentiles and From that point in history and it's all through the book of Acts the church quickly very rapidly became predominantly a

Gentile church and still is today So things change they're like some of the Jewishness of it like laying hands on for certain things stopped

But today church has tried to go back and use the book of Acts as a methodology book and they saw we need to be

Laying hands on each other. No, you don't unless you're Jewish and even even even then because we're in the mature church

You don't need to be doing that Because all of the signed gifts have ceased now when

I shouldn't you I don't really like the word ceased because I am NOT a cessationist Cessationist is a person who thinks all of those signed gifts

Have ceased which means God can't do them anymore. I'm not I don't I'm not one of those. I am a pausationist

Because I believe what God and his sovereignty did was he paused them and he's going to bring them back the second three and a half years of the tribulation period

The reason I believe that is the Bible says it in several books of the Old Testament and in the

New Testament It even shows us when it happens when the Sun turns dark and the moon turns red

Which happens three and a half years into the tribulation then your sons and daughters shall prophesy in the future again

Which implies they're not prophesying now because it ceased Temporarily so it temporarily got put on pause

God's bringing it back for his purposes and Usually these kinds of signed gifts happen at the beginning of dispensational changes

And what is the next big dispensational change that's going to occur in the future? We're going to move from the church age into what?

the kingdom age and Therefore you can expect signed gifts that flurry up for maybe 70 years around that time or maybe less in this case

But they will We know for at least three and a half years they're going to be happening and so that is true in Bible history all right, so First of all, he would preach to the

Jews and the Greeks. What would he preach? Well, I see two things coming up here repentance

Toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ It's beyond the scope of this sermon to differentiate between faith in Christ faith of Christ and faith toward Christ But that's in my book.

You can get that read it, but it takes quite a few pages to discuss that can't do it here but two things we know that he was talking about here when he spoke to the

Greeks and the Jews about being saved was repentance toward God and Faith toward our

Lord Jesus Christ. Now, let's just let's talk about it briefly repentance toward God Carries religious connotations, especially us growing up in the south.

How many of you grew up in the Bible Belt raise your hand Just about everybody So we grew up here in the word repent and what we were made to believe it meant

I don't know why I don't know Where it came from because it's not biblical at all But we always thought that it meant quitting smoking quit drinking quit hanging out with those that do right?

That's what we think Repentance is that's what we grew up thinking. It is quitting stopping doing sinful things and walk straight with God Now if you study it in the

Bible You will find out it does not mean even the word doesn't mean that the word repent means to change the mind

Period doesn't mean anything but that to change one's mind so if you're talking about repentance towards God, that means you change your mind about God and Paul preached that you need to change your mind about God now that can mean a lot of things depending on the people

He's talking to maybe they believed in multiple gods So he would talk about there's one

God there is a God of the gods That's how what's what he told the Greeks and I find so did you know that?

Not Plato, but Socrates Believed the same thing he believed he believed in a bunches of gods because his society did and he didn't want to fight against that But he said but there is a

God of gods and the reason he came to that was logic. There has to be a Cause of everything who never had a cause and he called him the

God of gods Well, that's who Paul talked about and it's Jehovah and he told them that So you got to change your mind about God now in America in the

Bible Belt none of us believed in multiple gods What did we believe? I'm God I'm gonna decide what

I do tomorrow and As soon as I get out of the house as a teenager and get a car

I'm gonna decide where I go what I listen to who I hang out with and what I do Who's God you are?

And so you have to change your mind about who God is and he ain't you

Right. He's not you and that that is a part of what happens as some of the many things that happen at the moment you're saved is you realize you're not

God and That you are a terrible Lord of your own life and you should you should

Give in to letting Jesus be your Lord you should desire that because it's safer.

It's better It brings more joy and safety in your life and you don't even have to think it through Why because the

Holy Spirit just quickened you which means he just brought you from death to life You're already regenerated and at that second in that very same second

You are changing your mind about who God is and who you are in a nanosecond of time

You see it and and the very next step is you have faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ.

Why? Because he's the one that just woke you up He's the one that the

Holy Spirit just pointed your face to and said look at him. There's there's the Lamb of God There's the true shepherd.

You're a sheep. You're hungry. He's got the food. How many times have I said that it's perfect example And you know it instantly

So to a bystander, it looks like you repented and you believed in order to get saved doesn't it? Because a second before you weren't trying to be saved you were running from God Charlotte can tell you she probably remembers the day

When I left in that car for a regular day went to class to I was in the

NBA program went to class Soon as it was out I got in my car and headed to Mahalia to manage the oil company because my dad was done

He didn't want to do it. He had taught me how to do it in high school Paperwork part all the forms and Railroad Commission stuff and all that stuff

I knew how to do all that stuff and I had to do it So I went to my head did that Came back because we were living in a little awesome little apartment and we were just married.

I was in a hurry to get back and That day I came back and I said

Charlotte something happened to me in the car on the way to work today What and I said, I think I got saved and I don't remember the details

Charlotte probably does but The way I remember she said good. No kid.

I'm teasing. She said that didn't happen. I've told it that way a whole bunch So many times it now it's how it happened in my mind but But it changed everything

But but you can ask her The morning that I left in the night before and the day before that was

Jesus my Lord or was David Mitchell just doing David Mitchell stuff You see my point

So a bystander might look and say well you prayed in that car and God saved you

Changed your whole life and now because you yielded to him and because you were smart enough to figure it all out

And change your mind about God now you're saved. So then I got saved by works, which the Apostle Paul said is impossible

The whole Bible teaches is impossible So Yet it all happened together.

So when we speak to people it is not inappropriate To talk to them about repentance you like you need to change your mind about who

God is and who you are Nothing wrong with telling them that I would tell him Jesus died on the cross was buried and rose again for the sins of his people to take sins away from God's people

And if you're gonna be one of his people you're gonna want to change your mind about who you are and who God is

You're not God and he's a better Lord of your life than you can ever be I discovered that when

I was 24 and you Tell him your testimony. I discovered that when I was don't tell you Tell him part of it and he had quite an interesting conversion

But we all have that our own and tell him a little part of your you're very quickly, you know in a nutshell and then

Talk to him about faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ. What does that mean? Well, it wasn't Buddha that saved you.

There's only one name under heaven named among men whereby you might be saved It's the Lord Jesus Christ and listen, they don't have to make

Jesus their Lord You hear stuff written about that and fights, you know all kinds of debates about Lordship salvation versus easy believism

None of that matters. It can matter if it's taught wrong Let me say that but but the thing is when the

Holy Spirit awakens you and you see him You know who he is, you know, he's the Lord Jesus Christ That's who he is

So when you receive him because you want to because the Holy Spirit changed your want to you're receiving the

Lord Jesus Christ Not just Jesus Christ some something you invented your mind That's gonna let you do and live any way you want to it's it is a it's your

Lord and you just received the Lord So it all happens together. So there's your repentance.

You figured out you're not Lord He is Lord and there's your faith The Holy Spirit gave you Jesus's faith where you can believe and now your faith comes alongside and says well

I want to believe and it all happens in a second of time Just like the baby's born now, you're living your life just started.

You can never die eternal life just started It doesn't change when you die physically.

It's just the same thing. It's just better You're not bound by this body

When the weather changes like it did today you wake up and you walk real slow to the bathroom because you could hurt something

I Mean you are real slow. Make sure everything gets warmed up and then by the time

I get here I'm just skipping up to this pulpit And then when I sit up here for an hour preaching,

I just walk real slow back down All right, but one of these days I'll be able to walk through that wall without disturbing the molecules and the atoms

I'll be able to fly around and go look at Mars like I do with my telescope only I can walk on it

I want to perhaps or maybe it's stuff in another dimension way better than this stuff But so much happens, but Paul did not hesitate to talk about repentance and faith toward God And now let's keep going a little bit here verse 22 and Now behold,

I go bound in the Spirit to Jerusalem Well, I'm gonna skip those because we covered them a minute ago. It's a little parenthetical there 22 through 24

But well, I'll pick it up with 24, but none of these things move me neither count on my life dear unto myself that that's another

Qualification of a pastor right there. He can't He can't count his life as the most important thing

But he goes on and he says so that I might finish my course with joy and the ministry

Which I have received of the Lord Jesus Christ To testify the gospel of the grace of God Well part of the qualification of a preacher is he had to be called to be a preacher

So he received it from Jesus. You see that there that he was well aware He had I'm well aware. I have been as well aware he has and You you you receive that but here's the point gospel of the grace of God So really at the end of this if I have time

I was going to sum it up But it's not necessarily happening in sequence as it's given here because Paul doesn't care about the sequence because all of it happens at once but the truth is

They've got to understand grace before you can talk about repentance and even faith.

Yeah. What does it say? You're saved by what? Grace not by faith by grace

Through what? Faith there's the there is the faith toward Jesus Christ so So he is he is talking to them the gospel of the grace of God now when you when you put it that way

It broadens it way more than hey, he died for you. He was buried and rose again It's wet especially if you're a

Jew and I'm gonna tell you about it because I got to go into Moses and I've got to go into Isaiah 53 and I've got to show how okay.

Yeah, you know, the law is good, but it's really for lost people Right, the law is good

But it's really for those that are under the law and grace is a better Testament the book of Hebrews says and I got to read you a little bit out of the book of Hebrews and say it's a better Testament there's a whole bunch of betters in there.

Charlotte's just been going through how many betters are there a bunch? Four or five probably I don't know I should know but I don't remember but it is better than the law

And the law is considered beggarly compared to grace and grace means something that is not

Deserved you cannot earn it at all. It is totally not deserved It's undeserved favor and there he's telling him this you see as part of his gospel

He's telling him this that Jesus died in your place. You don't deserve it But he loved you before the foundation of the world

He knew you by name and he was gonna save you and the Holy Spirit didn't really have a choice He went where God sent him

Jesus didn't have a choice He said that thing that I do and that thing that I say is because I saw the father do it

They both were in a family business and it was the father's family business and they're all together and Their essence is one essence

They are God, but they're all according to the same will of God and the will of God was that you get saved

If you're a saved he knew you from the foundation of the world And by the way, if you're sitting here and you're not saved or you don't know if you're saved

If you're concerned about your future of your soul, that is a great sign You might still be a lost sheep, but a lost sheep gonna always get saved eventually

If you don't care You might be a goat and if you are don't worry about it, you know,

I'm not gonna convince you to get saved But if you have something in you that wants to be saved

Man, listen to it because that's the Holy Spirit He's calling you and there is a moment when he turns the lights on when you'll see it

If you hadn't already seen it you will see it and when you do Jesus becomes absolutely irresistible and so Paul talked about the grace of God in my opinion first and then he comes in and he talks about what repentance is and what faith is and Then let's look at verse 25 and now behold

I know that ye all among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God shall see my face no more

So now what is this? What is the gospel of the kingdom? It's not the same as the gospel of grace, but it's part of it

Because it's where we're headed Listen we are part of a mystery kingdom of God right now

It's in our hearts. The kingdom of God is in the hearts of every believing person on the earth today Every believing person in their heart is the king right?

And where is the kingdom? It's wherever the king is Would you agree with that? Wherever the king is, you know Is the kingdom and it's in our hearts

But it's pointing towards a literal kingdom on the planet earth for a thousand years where Jesus will rule from the throne in Jerusalem and we will serve with him.

We will rule and reign with him That's where it's headed. So he told him about that too. So do you see that the the gospel has breadth to it when it's presented properly and It doesn't mean that you don't understand that God saved us that you didn't do anything that saved yourself

Because just think about it. It all happened sort of at once but the first thing that literally had to happen was you had to be awakened and quickened and brought to life or you're dead and a dead person can do nothing and Immediately you began to respond once you saw the irresistible

Lord of your life and loved him You responded like a bride would to the bridegroom and All of those responses are important and have to be there.

There won't be anybody in heaven. That doesn't have the repentance There won't be anybody in heaven.

That doesn't have the faith in Jesus Christ There won't be anybody in heaven who doesn't hopefully at least understand something about grace

So Many of our friends are misled by bad preaching on that issue, but they have to understand they don't deserve it

I think down in their soul which which one of us didn't figure that out the day we got saved, right?

All right. So if I were gonna put it in order, I would say verse 24 first of all testifying of the gospel of grace secondly

Receive the gifts of repentance and faith from Jesus Christ and then exhibit a changed mind and faith in Jesus Christ and then thirdly

Understanding where we're headed which is the gospel of the kingdom and I love you know I have from time to time thought maybe

Myron overemphasizes the kingdom But I've come to understand that he really doesn't because it's so under emphasized in our society because we don't have a king

So we don't know what that we were just so ignorant of that In America, we all tend to think we're the king, right?

Why are we libertarians because we want to do what we want to do with nobody messing with us. We won't let way less government

But if you go too far you get to anarchy because we're all sinners so What we need to understand is even though we don't really regard

Kings much and kingdoms and being serving someone That is what we are

We are servants of the Most High God and When we really think it through how well do you think democracy works?

Look at it now. How well is it working? If you if you work for the government you hadn't had anything to eat for about a month

And I'm about to try to get on an airplane Wednesday and fly somewhere to teach a bunch of people on a ship and that plane may not go there because it's

The air traffic people aren't getting paid and hadn't been paid for weeks I would like you to pray that tonight

The Senate would meet with President Trump which they're planning to do by the way and Eliminate the filibuster and you saw we don't want to do that because what if Democrats get in the lead?

well, let me ask you this let's say Democrats are in the White House and the Senate in the house and the

Supreme Court, how did they get there? It's a democracy so how'd they get there they got lawfully voted in so shouldn't they get to put forth their bills

Their laws while they're there Absolutely. So why would you have a thing like a filibuster that stops them?

Nobody voted for the people that want to stop The things right so neither party needs to be able to do it get rid of it.

I hope you're listening Senate all right because Yeah, you guys out there

I hope there's a senator or two They need to eliminate that and they need to pay the government workers and Get the country moving so we see the order that these things happen and I think that's a great order for you to deliver it in you talk about grace first You talk about what

Jesus did for you. He died buried and rose again to take your sins away and Then there's this changing you got to change your mind about who

God is and who you are and You got to believe Jesus is the only one who ever died for you

Buddha didn't no one else did and then someday There will be a kingdom, but we're actually as soon as you receive

Jesus You're part of the kingdom and the reason I think Myron is smart to emphasize the kingdom part

Is because we need to start thinking properly about that that we are not the king

It's not a democracy We're here to serve Jesus in him only and when we get that order

Correctly, then the joy comes and the fruit comes in our lives and everything comes around and this is

Paul covered all of this When he gave the gospel, all right, that's it for today. So let's stand and have prayer together

Lord, thank you so much for your word we thank you that you take us on a journey with you every time we read anywhere in the

Bible and Thank you for Tychicus and the love he had for Paul and the care he took of Paul and for allowing us to take a little journey with him with Paul and Thank you for the things we can learn by observing and ask us to Lord We ask you to help us to practice these things in our during our week this week and in the weeks to come