Trust in the Lord! (Part 1)
Acts 18:1-8
Sermon by Rick Crandall
McClendon Baptist Church - Sept. 5, 2007
*Do you trust God? Do you really trust God? Bob Marcaurelle made this great point about trust:
If I yell up to you in the middle of the night, that your house is on fire; I do not want you to sing praises to me, tell me how much you love and trust me, and go back to sleep. I know you trust me when I see you run out the front door with a kid under each arm. I know you trust me when you obey me. (1)
*That’s the kind of trust God is looking for in our lives. And we can trust Him!
-The Apostle Paul proves that to us tonight as he moves into Corinth.
1. So first, trust God to work through political troubles.
*God is able to work through political turmoil and troubles. And that is exactly what He did in vs. 1-2, where we read that, “After these things Paul departed from Athens and went to Corinth. And he found a certain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla (because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to depart from Rome); and he came to them.”
*A.T. Robertson tells us that this happened about 49 A.D., because “the Jews were in a state of constant tumult” about Chrestus.” (2)
*Some of the Jews were rioting in opposition to Christianity, and the Jews were already unpopular in Rome. So the Roman Emperor simply had them all expelled. That was a terrible thing for those families who were uprooted, and mostly innocent of any wrong-doing, but God used it to bring Aquila and Priscilla together with Paul.
*God did a very similar thing in Luke 2:1-6 to make sure that Joseph and Mary were in Bethlehem for the birth of the Savior, as prophesied. “It came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This census first took place while Quirinius was governing Syria. So all went to be registered, everyone to his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with child. So it was, that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered.”
*Riding on a donkey, if they even had a donkey, from Nazareth to Bethlehem was probably the last thing that Joseph wanted to do with a very pregnant wife. It was probably the last thing that Mary wanted to do. But God worked through a corrupt and godless government to bring His promised plan to pass. And He can do the same thing today.
*We have the wonderful blessing of living in a free country. Most of the people in most of the world throughout most of history have not had that blessing. But God was and is still at work. Terrible things are going on all over the world. How would you like to be a Christian living in Saudi Arabia or Iran tonight?
*Jim Sandell recently gave this report to worldnetdaily:
Christians in neighborhoods in northern Pakistan are alarmed over letters they received “inviting” them to abandon their Christian faith or be killed. The unsigned threats began arriving several weeks ago according to sources in the area. They threatened bombings if the believers did not convert to Islam. Each of the areas where the letters were received has a population of around 2,000 Christians. (Most of those are labeled Christian, because of their family background, not because of their faith.)
*Though the original deadline in the letters passed without incident, a government official says Christians are still wary of the threat. Kamran George, a Peshawar government member told a news service, “These letters sent a wave of fear and uncertainty among the Christian residents of these areas.” (3)
*I hope you have begun praying every day for the Hindko people in South Asia. They are close neighbors with the frightened Christians in this story. We have some more of the Prayer Guides right here. Wednesday’s prayer request is: “Pray that a movement would rise up among the Hindko women, that they would reach their children and husbands for Christ by sharing within their homes.”
*Political repression is going on all over the world today. Early this year Bob and Myrna forwarded an email from the Russian Pastor who spoke at our church.
*Dear brothers and sisters!
-Yesterday night one member of our Russian team (Sergey) was stopped by the police in airport in Tashkent (capital of Uzbekistan). He got an official paper that he can’t come to Uzbekistan anymore. They didn’t give any explanations and sent him back to Russia.
*Please pray for brothers and sisters in Uzbekistan and for us. We need protection and wisdom from God for our future projects in Uzbekistan. I will try to cross border somewhere in the spring but from the other side of the country. I hope I am not in the black list.
*Sergey is going to Tajikistan right now. Please pray for him. I hope he will not have any problems in airport in Dushanbe (capital of Tajikistan).
In His love,
Pastor Roman
*Terrible things are going on all over the world. We need to care, we need to pray and we need to trust in the Lord. God is in control. He will have the final word. He does all things well. He will make everything come out fine for all who know Jesus as savior and Lord. Nothing can stop our God!
2. Trust Him to work through political troubles. And trust Him to make a positive difference where you work.
*In vs. 3, because Paul was of the same trade as Aquila and Priscilla, he stayed with them and worked; for they were all tentmakers. God was on the job with them, and He is on the job with you! God can use you at work. Let Him use you at work. Christianity is never just a Sunday thing. It should affect every area of our lives. It should certainly affect how we work.
*John Shearhart tells us that some Christians need to put a bumper sticker on their car that says: “I’m not like this on Sundays.” (4)
We don’t want to be like that. God has put you in your job for a purpose. You spend a lot of time at work, and God can use that time to make a difference for Jesus Christ. Ask Him to do it. Trust Him to do it.
3. Trust in the Lord to make a positive difference where you work, and trust Him enough to take a public stand for Jesus.
*This is what Paul did in vs. 4&5. First, “he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded both Jews and Greeks.” Then, “when Silas and Timothy had come from Macedonia, Paul was constrained by the Spirit, and testified to the Jews that Jesus is the Christ.”
*Paul was taking a very public stand for Jesus Christ. And that’s what the Lord wants us to do. Let people know where you stand. As Paul did in vs. 5, reason with them. That word “reason” comes from the Greek word that gives us “dialogue.” So talk to people about Jesus. Do your best to persuade people with your words and with your life. I am mindful of what Paul later wrote in 1 Thess 2:6-12:
6. [We did not] seek glory from men, either from you or from others, when we might have made demands as apostles of Christ.
7. But we were gentle among you, just as a nursing mother cherishes her own children.
8. So, affectionately longing for you, we were well pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God, but also our own lives, because you had become dear to us.
9. For you remember, brethren, our labor and toil; for laboring night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, we preached to you the gospel of God.
10. You are witnesses, and God also, how devoutly and justly and blamelessly we behaved ourselves among you who believe;
11. as you know how we exhorted, and comforted, and charged every one of you, as a father does his own children,
12. that you would have a walk worthy of God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory.
*That’s how Paul talked and walked. God will help us do that too! Stuart Briscoe gives us 4 things to help our walk:
1) Care: show concern for the person, and concern for your life before him.
2) Dare: it takes courage to witness--courage if the person is a stranger to you, and even more if the person is a close friend or relative.
3) Share: If you want to make a lasting impression, share yourself with the person. Get involved in his interests, get your shoulder under his burden, be genuinely glad when he has a success.
4) Prayer: Don’t discount the effectiveness of prayer in the preparation of people’s hearts for the Good News. (5)
*That’s the walk, but what about the talk? It’s as simple as John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” Jesus Christ is the Son of God who became a man, lived a perfect life, loved us enough to die on the Cross for our sins, and rose from the dead. He offers eternal life to all who will turn to Him and trust Him as Savior and Lord. Salvation is as simple as ABC:
A - Admit that you’re a sinner.
B - Believe that Christ died for you and rose again in victory over death.
C - Confess this with your lips and your life by calling on the Lord and giving your life to Him. Then all your sins will be forgiven, and you will live with the Lord forever in Heaven.
*What God wants us to tell people is so simple that a child can understand it. Larry Jacobs tells about a pastor friend in California who gave an invitation one Sunday morning. A 5-year-old boy came down, and the preacher didn’t know if the little boy was old enough to understand salvation. So he took him back to his office to ask him some theological questions. The more he questioned the little boy the more confused the boy got.
*Finally the boy said, "Bro. Patterson, in your message this morning you said that if I would come and trust Jesus to save me -- HE WOULD. Did you really mean that?"
-Bro. Patterson later said, "I did not ask him any more questions after that." (6)
*That little boy knew that he needed to trust Jesus for salvation. And you need to do that too if you haven’t done it already. Then all of us need to trust Jesus enough to tell other people about Him.
4. Trust in the Lord enough to take a public stand for Jesus. And trust Him enough to pursue guidance from the Holy Spirit.
*The Holy Spirit was surely guiding the Apostle Paul. As vs. 5 says, “When Silas and Timothy had come from Macedonia, Paul was constrained by the Spirit, and testified to the Jews that Jesus is the Christ.” Paul was “constrained by the spirit.” The KJV says “pressed in the spirit.” The Holy Spirit was strongly moving him to testify to those Jews that Jesus is the Christ. And the Holy Spirit will guide us too. He will help us know when to speak. He will help us say the right thing to the right people at the right time.
*We have to be sure that we are being led by the Spirit. He will help us know when to speak, but He will also help us know when to stop. And that is what happened in vs. 6&7, “when they opposed (Paul) and blasphemed, he shook his garments and said to them, ‘Your blood be upon your own heads; I am clean. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.’ And he departed from there and entered the house of a certain man named Justus, one who worshiped God, whose house was next door to the synagogue.”
*Paul didn’t sugarcoat it. He passionately told them that he was through trying to persuade them to turn to Jesus. That was such a serious step there is no way that Paul would have taken it on his own. I am sure that he was led by the Spirit, because this was the same Paul who loved the Jews so much, he would later write, “I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh...” (Rom 9:1-3)
*Like Paul, we must be sure that we being led by the Spirit. We dare not give up on somebody too soon. In Gen 6:3, the LORD said, “My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.” But we have to put that decision in His Hands -- not ours.
5. Trust in the Lord enough to pursue guidance from the Holy Spirit, and trust Him to produce great results through His Gospel.
*We see some of those results in vs. 7&8, where Paul “departed from there and entered the house of a certain man named Justus, one who worshiped God, whose house was next door to the synagogue. Then Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his household. And many of the Corinthians, hearing, believed and were baptized.”
*Remember God’s promise of great results in Isaiah 55, “For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and do not return there, but water the earth, and make it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.” (Isa 55:10-11)
*The bottom line in all of this is that we can surely trust in the Lord. -- So trust Him...
-To work through political troubles.
-To make a positive difference where you work.
-Enough to take a public stand for Jesus.
-Enough to pursue guidance from the Holy Spirit.
-To produce great results through His Gospel.
1. SermonCentral illustration submitted by Bob Marcaurelle
2. Word Pictures in the New Testament by Archibald Thomas Robertson - Acts 18:2
3. Worldnetdaily.com ARTICLE ID=57287 Submitted by Jim Sandell (Found in Fresh illustrations by Jim Wilson - 08/28/07 & 09/04/07 - FreshMinistry.org)
4. SermonCentral sermon “The Fruit of the Spirit: Love Pt. 1” by John Shearhart - Gal 5:22-23 - March 26, 2006
5. Adapted from Stuart Briscoe, Getting Into God, p. 92. (Found at sermonillustrations.com)
6. SermonCentral illustration submitted by Larry Jacobs
