Book of Acts - Ch. 17, Vs. 29-Ch. 18, Vs. 6 (05/18/2003)

Park Meadows Church

Subscribe

Download

Share

00

00:05

Verse 29, Forasmuch then, as we are the offspring of God, a cherished people, a peculiar people,

00:37

And being so, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold.

00:45

Bob, what's meant by Godhead? All right, the

00:59

Godhead, think about that. There is a divine influence guiding us, whether we know it or not.

01:12

And he's not like gold, he's not like silver, or stone, or graven by art and man's devices.

01:24

Now, David, the most precious thing in this world to you and I is what? All right, ourself.

02:02

What? The most precious thing in creation is what,

02:12

Dennis? Well, we're not talking about the eyes of God.

02:52

The most precious thing in creation, the precious thing, whatever it is, what is it?

03:08

That would answer that one too. Brother Otis, I have to say that our family would be more precious to us than ourselves.

03:23

I may be on the wrong track, but I think our family would be more precious. Well, that's true to a certain extent.

03:33

But the most precious thing in all of creation, inside and outside of it...

03:49

Hey, that was a quick question for the coach. I had to work the question over.

04:00

Now we come to the 30th... I have a question. All right. All right. If you say what, the most precious thing?

04:19

I thought that's what I said. You're right. The 30th verse.

04:27

Let's look at this for a little while. And in the times of this ignorance...

04:38

Dennis, what ignorance? All right, it's given to us like this.

05:23

And the times of this ignorance God winked at. But now commandeth all men everywhere to repent.

05:34

God winked at. Seems rather trivial, doesn't it?

05:40

Almost childish. We must understand the word winked.

05:47

David, what do you think that word wink means? It must mean that he sinned.

06:11

All right. Roger, what do we consider today the word wink?

06:21

If I wink at something, what does that word mean? So, when the people were ignorant,

06:46

God winked at them. Could you keep

06:53

Brandon ignorant? Who is that to come in?

07:14

David Darwin. Okay. Okay. This word winked, it means that he shut his eyes to it.

07:27

You won't be confused.

07:33

You cannot exist under that today. Joy, why is it that I cannot, in my state of ignorance,

07:47

I say I'm completely ignorant of the Bible, of God and everything. Why is it that I cannot be ignorant of God today?

08:26

David, does she mean that the Al -Qaeda and wherever he is still has to answer to God even though he's totally ignorant?

08:47

Then you can't escape it, can you? Well, winked here means to overlook, take no notice, not to attend to.

09:01

The sense is he passed over those times without punishing them.

09:13

Now, we have God as a creator. That's first.

09:19

He created everything in Jesus. And the present state of things, what is

09:29

God doing? Bob?

09:43

Oh, I'm sorry. Well, is he doing nothing?

10:13

All right. So first he was a creator. That had to be first, the importance of creating.

10:27

Right now, he's calling us to repent. Everybody should repent.

10:37

But, Joy, what is he going to do in the future, the next thing in the future that creates?

10:49

After repenting, we're going to have the judgment. Right. Now, that day of judgment,

11:10

David, does Al -Qaeda believe it? Are they not going to be judged?

11:18

Will God wink at that? Yes. Because he hath appointed a day.

11:39

Dennis, there is a day coming. Now, I've been saying that all my life.

11:45

It's not here yet. All that has happened is I've just moved closer to it.

11:53

In the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained.

12:07

By that man whom he hath ordained. Who is that, Roger? Christ. When was he ordained?

12:25

What? Yes. All right.

12:45

But what made it possible, Joy? If Jesus had never resurrected, then all of this would have been impossible.

13:10

It is his resurrection that makes everything, that brings the judgment.

13:20

Whereof he hath given assurance unto all men. Now, he has given this assurance.

13:27

Burge, what's assurance mean? All right.

13:37

He has guaranteed that it is going to happen unto how many men?

13:45

All men. All men.

13:56

We have people in this town who are lost as much as the Al Qaeda is.

14:05

In that he hath raised him from the dead. Jesus, that day of coming judgment.

14:17

When the world will be judged through Christ. Of this, the resurrection of Christ is an assurance that he will be judged.

14:33

Now, resurrection. Are we going to resurrect? James, let me ask you.

14:40

Are we going to resurrect? Okay.

14:56

I can't hear and I can't see. So I'm up here just talking.

15:06

And it's only your reaction that I know you're here. Now, David, think real careful.

15:18

Is there going to be a physical resurrection? Well, in the 32nd verse.

15:30

And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked. Another said, we will hear thee again on this matter.

15:39

Some of them mocked. What's mocked mean, David? What are these people called?

15:54

Well, there's a... Platonism.

16:22

What's that mean? Yeah, you're guessing.

16:37

This was the people that adhered to the philosophy that there would be no physical resurrection.

16:45

If you hear that today, you're hearing the theory of life.

16:55

Well, we know there will be. And when they heard the resurrection of the dead, some mocked.

17:03

And others said, we will hear you again on this. Now, he's talking in what town,

17:10

Dennis? Where is he? In Athens. In Athens. And the Athenians were known for what,

17:17

David? Activity for their meeting

17:23

God. That's all true.

17:31

But, Roger, there was something else for which they were known. Well, you're describing a visit to the city.

18:25

That's true to an extent. That's the way they come across. But really, they just wanted to learn something new.

18:38

Anything new, and if it's supporting my theory, that's fine.

18:43

But I learned something new for the sake of learning something new. What were superstitious?

18:59

They were extremely superstitious. Any time that you find someone that doesn't believe in God, they will believe in superstition.

19:16

Dennis, is there such a thing as superstition? I believe there is.

19:36

I don't know how you can believe that a cat walking across the road is going to lie.

19:42

Or somebody writing to you. There is a force in the world known as Satan.

20:03

And he has not stopped performing his...

20:10

He can take only what God presents, what

20:16

God or what the Lord brings in your life. He can take it and use it.

20:23

Well, so Paul departed from among them. Burge, why didn't he stay longer?

20:47

On hearing the resurrection of the body, the assembly instantly broke up. The Epicureans, mocking, began to laugh.

20:57

And the Stoics, saying they would take another opportunity to hear Paul on this subject.

21:04

Thirty -four. Howbeit certain men claimed unto him and believed, among the which was

21:12

Dio... I can't pronounce it, David, what it is.

21:23

Applegate, and a woman named Demarius, and others with them.

21:29

So we see that no matter how dark it is, no matter how few people listen to us, there will always be those that are against us.

21:47

But what if Paul had never stopped in Athens? He had to. He had no choice.

21:57

Now come to the 18th chapter. After these things,

22:04

Paul departed from Athens. He didn't stay in Athens, too.

22:16

The philosophers there were too easy, too indolent, and too wise in their own eyes to receive the gospel.

22:32

Do you ever know anybody like that?

22:40

Roger, you've just come back from overseas. I'd like to sit down and listen, but that comes later.

22:51

Was there anybody in the Army, U .S. Army, that didn't believe in God?

23:12

Very superstitious. Very. I think he had every trinket. There's this.

23:21

He definitely wanted to believe. Why is it that man wants to believe in something?

23:33

I guess for those, they've got to have something to look for. In human nature, you've got to have something.

23:49

Instead of worshiping, trying to see things be, they're believing.

24:01

All men worship something. That is left over from Adam. It's inherent.

24:09

No one thinks of nothing as being superior.

24:18

How can a person determine when not to press the word any further?

24:24

I find

24:30

Paul leaving rather quickly. How can a person who is engaged in business, how can he determine not to press it any further?

25:17

All right, so we must be listening to the Spirit. Your Spirit will tell you so.

25:27

Now, since God controls everything, every event, it will take you beyond where you're supposed to go, even if it seems like it to me.

25:47

Also, by listening to the others as they talk. Now, most people talk or are thinking about what they're going to say while you're talking.

26:03

We talk and never listen. Theology will always suffer when studied as a science.

26:15

Why is that, Roger? Theology will always suffer when studied as a science.

26:57

All right? Bob, this one's for you. The substance of Christianity has been lost by changing it into an opinion.

27:13

Is that true or false? I think.

27:24

That's true. It is true. The substance of Christianity has been lost by changing it into an opinion.

27:38

Dangerous. But your

27:48

TV evangelism, the things that they say to be true, it's not.

27:53

And that overtaught his opinion. How many people believe his opinion?

28:03

His opinion is so dangerous. Well, he found a certain

28:12

Jew named Aquila, born in Pontius, lately come from Italy with his wife

28:21

Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all

28:27

Jews to depart out of Rome, and he came unto them.

28:34

You remember, Claudius drove all of the Jews out. This is something else that they did according to the plan of God.

28:48

Everything is. But they didn't know it. And because he was of the same craft, he abode with them and wrought, for by their occupation they were tent makers.

29:05

Now, James, would you happen to remember, and I say remember because a tent maker, where were they located in the city?

29:26

Okay, Roger, where were they located in the city? You weren't there either.

29:35

Nothing. I was there. Dennis? Yes. Was that your answer or someone else's?

29:53

Well, I was beginning to lean that way. There's a lot back here that kind of shows me over that way.

30:01

I'm easily persuaded. It's so much fun being blind.

30:13

Well, along with tents, what did they, Joy, what did they make the tents from?

30:25

I would say, I don't know that, but they probably were in the marketplace.

30:31

They made out of leather. That's it.

30:38

They were outside of town, as far out as the town could get them.

30:44

This was a stinking, nasty, smelling place.

30:50

And if the prevailing wind was from the water toward the city, they really had a problem in the city.

31:00

So, Paul joined himself to these people, and they were all of the same craft.

31:13

It's interesting to see that Paul supported himself. He was not getting monthly a check from the first church.

31:24

Now, these people, Aquila and Priscilla, we have no idea if they were saved at this time.

31:34

Perhaps under the influence of Paul's teaching, they were saved later.

31:40

We just don't know. Our body is somewhat like a tent, being made to be fit for the inheritance of the saints in light.

31:58

Our body stinks. It's rotten. It's dying.

32:05

And as soon as it dies, I'll go home. The apostle being now come into Corinth, where he was altogether a stranger.

32:19

Nobody knew him in Corinth, and he needed money to live on.

32:27

Providence of God directed him to the house of Aquila and Priscilla. The being of the same trade with himself, tent makers, he works with his own hands to maintain himself, that he might not be a burden.

32:48

I think this is a great statement, that Paul would not be a burden to others.

33:00

I must confess something. All my life, I have finally decided, not all of a sudden, but over the years,

33:12

I decided that a preacher or pastor should work with his hands.

33:25

When we came to this church, I found such a thing. It's a business of his own.

33:32

He takes no money from the church. The best preacher in Dennis, you know,

33:40

I resented it to think that he put himself in that position.

34:13

Four. And he reasoned in the synagogue every

34:18

Sabbath and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks. A heart not exercised in some honest labor works trouble out of itself.

34:35

He reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath. Reasoned. Roger, what does it mean, he reasoned?

34:53

It could have led to that, but when it didn't say argue, it said reason.

34:59

Persuading. What? Trying to persuade them. All right.

35:07

But now, when it says he reasoned with them out of the scripture,

35:26

David, what scriptures did he have? The Old Testament. The Old Testament. Would you ever think to lead someone to Christ using only the

35:38

Old Testament? He's there.

35:46

He's in that. He reasoned in the synagogue every

35:51

Sabbath while toiling six days of the week in a strange city.

35:58

On the Sabbath, according to the custom he preached. And when

36:06

Silas and Timotheus were come from Macedonia, Paul was pressed in the spirit.

36:14

What's it mean to be pressed in the spirit? Is that flattened in the spirit,

36:20

David? To be held by, closely occupied by the spirit and testified to the

36:34

Jews that Jesus was the Christ. Silas coming down from Macedonia made it possible for Paul to be completely given to the word, world, word.

36:52

Preaching to the Jews that Christ was Jesus. Paul was compelled in the spirit, the more probably from what

37:02

Silas and Timothy related. Every Christian ought diligently to serve any such pressure, to observe any such pressure in his own spirit.

37:18

Do you? I hope so. And if it agreed with scripture, to follow it.

37:28

If it does not, he will feel great heaviness. I'm going to ask you what,

37:36

Dennis, but have you ever willingly gone against the will of God? In that position, were you happy in the

37:57

Lord? That's it.

38:15

When they opposed themselves and blasphemed, he shook his raiment and said unto them,

38:33

Your blood be upon your own heads, I am clean, from henceforth

38:39

I will go unto the Gentiles. Let's stop here, but I want to know what it means to oppose themselves.

39:06

Accept it or reject it. Well, that's the outcome.

39:12

David, what does it mean to oppose yourself? It means that they said it wasn't.

39:25

So very. Now, he went through a ceremonial thing, he shook his raiment, and he said unto them,

39:37

Your blood is on you, on your own heads, for I am henceforth, for I am clean, from henceforth

39:49

I will go unto the Gentiles. Okay, we'll start next week with verse 6.

39:59

James, it's good to have you here this morning. Is there a word from anyone?

40:05

Yes, that's right.

40:47

To touch on that for just a moment. When sin came into the world, now before sin everything was orderly.

41:04

When sin came through Eve to man, to the world, everything started to die.

41:14

We are now living in a world that's dying. Wood rocks, flowers decay, your body itself decays.

41:25

So everything from that moment on has been going down. This is why

41:32

I say we're living in time that's running backwards. When the rapture comes, not if it comes, but when it comes, we will graduate this decaying life into the new life, and everything will be perfect, and it will be going up.

41:58

Everything, there will be no death of any kind. What you said is true, voice this, that we are living in a dying, decaying age world.

42:15

Everything is disordered. There's order in disorder. But at the rapture, it will be as it was before sin.

42:31

Okay, anything else? Roger, it's great to have you here. Will you dismiss us please?