Preach The Truth, No Matter Your Audience! Series

To the Ends of the Earth, Part 19

Preach the truth, no matter your audience!

Acts 13:13-41

Dismiss children for nursery (under 4) and children’s church (ages 4-7)

Introduction

- Welcome to Seasons Church & 2024 sermon series, “To the Ends of the Earth”

-- In 2023 we unpacked the beginning of all history (Creation/Fall/Promise)

-- And we looked ahead, anticipated the coming & victory of Jesus (Revelation)

-- But, in order to get to the end, we have to be busy doing the work now (Acts)

- Last week we saw the work of God: for people to come TO salvation IN Christ

-- APP: The true revelation of Scripture is that Jesus is the Messiah we need

-- AND … the conviction of the Spirit leads to a place of choosing: Him or Us

-- It is not a grey area, it is not a man-made truth, it is the only truth that saves us

- Today, we will continue our examination on the topic of faithfulness to Jesus

-- Pt 3 has lots of scripture, but they will be quick to amplify the truth of scripture

-- Sometimes, it’s easier to be faithful when someone plots a path for you

-- What we see from Paul is exactly that …

- Read Acts 13:13-41 / Pray

- TR: As we dive in, let’s set a add to the background from last week …

Point 1 – The mission to the Gentiles begins

- First order of business is to recognize an obvious name change (~47 AD)

-- Saul becomes Paul in the book of Acts, and is known as that from here on

• “Saul” was his Jewish name – would be easily identifiable (REM: Pharisee)

• “Paul” is the name chosen as a Gentile – probably given to him at birth

• REM: He is a Roman citizen, Paul would be his “Roman” (birth) name

- RE: Last week (Ch. 13) we saw him in the governor’s court, Sergius Paulus

-- He rebuked the spirit within Bar-Jesus because of the Holy Spirit’s power in him

-- APP: For us: it is the signaling of his mission to the Gentiles beginning

- Previously, he spent lots of time ministering to Jews b/c “Saul” had a testimony

-- Now, he was stepping out as the minister to the Gentiles; called by God to do so

-- Much like the wedding Cana being Jesus’ first ministry event, this was Paul’s

-- (info) Romans 11:11, “God has appointed me as the apostle to the Gentiles.”

- In v13 we see something of interest to us today (do you struggle in witnessing?)

-- Mark leaves the missionary field, and he leaves Paul and Barnabas’ partnership

-- We do not have a specific reason for this – all that we know is it happens

- There are some ideas here for why he did this which include:

• Mark did not agree with the mission to the Gentiles (he was a Jew)

• Or he could not submit to the authority of Paul & Barnabas (his uncle)

• Or maybe, he just did not have the stamina for the work of evangelism

- The point to see is this: Mark chose to leave the Gospel work & go home

-- BUT … we know that he was restored and came back b/c we have his Gospel

-- APP: For us we can see this as an encouragement: Ministry isn’t easy

-- We may want to quit … but endurance is required in order to succeed

- TR: It is in their endurance that we see how God uses Paul and Barnabas

Point 2 – Paul and Barnabas begin witnessing to the Gentiles

- Side note: there are others with them (earlier in Ch 13); diverse group of men

-- However, most commonly we see in Acts these two men grouped together

-- There are two things to see as we unpack Paul and Barnabas in Pisidia

1. Paul and Barnabas enter Antioch of Pisidia and preach (vv14-16)

- Don’t miss where they went to preach … Note this for the importance it holds

-- They walked into the heart of Judaism, into a synagogue on the Sabbath

- He knew the faithful to God would be there – people living for God daily

-- He know that this was the place to be on the Sabbath – a place to reach people

-- APP: It would be where he would find both Jews and God-fearing Gentiles

- As visitors to the synagogue, they were invited to address the attendees

-- Might seem unusual, but it was actually common for visitors to be asked

- Now, understand this: an “invitation to speak” meant something very specific:

-- It meant reading from the Torah & expounding on what it meant for instruction