Isaiah the Prophet

Prophecy begins in Genesis, but the section of the Bible called the Prophets begins with Isaiah. The prophets were men raised up by God in a decadent immoral time when neither priest nor king was a worthy channel for God to speak to His people. The uniqueness of the prophets was their accuracy rate. I’m not good at math, but 100% is pretty accurate. Moses said in Deut.18:20-22, “When a prophet speaks in the name of God it will come true, if it does not he is a false prophet.”

People call the Psychic hotline, they read horoscopes, they like their fortunes told. Everyone would like to see tomorrow’s Wall Street Journal today so they could make stock picks. The truth is man cannot guess the future. I always wonder why none of the supposed psychics has ever won the lottery. Even the weatherman with satellites, radar, and computers is often wrong. The law of compound probability makes it impossible for man to predict the future. Each uncertain fact he adds to the prediction decreases his chance of accuracy. Example—You predict it will rain tomorrow, and only one of two things can happen, it will or it won’t. If you add the time the rain will begin you compound the probability. If you predict when the rain will stop, or how much it will rain the odds keep going up. If you keep adding things to the prediction, you compound the probabilities to the point it would be impossible to be accurate. Therefore, only God could do it.

Ask yourself, could Isaiah, a mere man writing about 740-700 B.C., accurately predict that Assyria (the dominant power of the day) would not conquer Jerusalem, but Babylon would? Could he predict Christ’s virgin birth, the miracles that Jesus would do, Christ’s silence before His accusers, that Christ would be scourged, die a substitutionary death for our sin, be buried in a rich man’s tomb, be worshipped by Gentiles, but be rejected by His own nation, and be executed, but then resurrected? What about Isaiah’s predictions of the fate of all the surrounding nations like Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Moab, and Israel which all came true?

Isaiah 1-5

Normally we expect stories to be told chronologically, but Isaiah does not start his historical narrative until chapter 7. Chapters 1-5 could be called his State of the Nation message. What was the state of the relationship between Judah and God in 730 B.C.? What was their spiritual standing before God under the rule of King Ahaz? What was the state of their moral/ethical lifestyle in God’s eyes? You could say that in chapter 1 all who would read or hear Isaiah are called to act as a jury in a trial before the Great and Holy Judge—The Holy One of Israel. God’s case against Israel and Judah is presented to us. Then in Isaiah 5, Judah is called to judge itself through a parable about a vineyard.

In Isaiah 1, God breaks in on men who pride themselves on their religion. In v.2, God calls out to the creation itself to be on Judah’s jury, “Listen O heavens and hear O earth. Sons I have reared up, but they have revolted against Me.” The irony in v.3 is that even dumb animals know their master who provides for them, but Israel does not. Verse 4 charges them with sin, evil, and corruption. They had abandoned the Lord. Through their actions they showed that they despised Him. Verse 5-9 describes a land in rebellion that has already been stricken by God. The image given is a battered and bruised body. The land is desolate, many cities were burned down by invaders, and the crops and herds stolen. In Isaiah’s lifetime, Judah was attacked by Syria, Edom, Philistia, and Assyria. Only by God’s mercy had they not become like Sodom and Gomorrah (totally destroyed). The irony is that even with evidence of God’s judgment all around them, they would not respond.

Religion

It wasn’t that Judah was not religious, they were, but their religion was one of hypocrisy. They were concerned with external ritual,

Samson’s Hair

I have never heard a sermon from the pulpit about the virtues of Samson. They avoid him like the plague. The library is full of books about biblical characters, but few about Samson.

If you are like me you grew up with an inaccurate view of Samson. We can find his story in Judges 13-16. I remember Samson as a cartoon character with big muscles and long hair who “smited” the Philistines. I used to get Samson confused with Hercules and Atlas, two other mythological strong men. Even in Sunday School they told me that Samson was quite the hero who was tricked by the seductive Delilah into having his hair cut with the result that the second his hair was cut he became a weakling. You could not help but associate his strength with his hair. Upon further review and a careful reading of the passage we find that the truth is far from the popular representation. I also saw an old movie on TV about Samson starring Victor Mature from 1949. I guarantee there is very little resemblance to the truth from that Hollywood movie. The fact is that Samson is hard to like. The nicest thing you can say about Samson is that he is an anti-hero like James Bond who works for the good guys, but is incredibly self indulgent.

The Nazirite Vow

The first bit of information we need concerns why Samson had such long hair and why he was not supposed to cut it. The answer can be found in Judges 13:5. Israel had done great evil in the sight of the Lord so God had disciplined Israel by allowing repeated invasions by the Philistines for 40 years. It was God’s plan to give Israel some relief by raising up a deliverer who would “begin” to deliver Israel from the Philistines(13:5). God would fully deliver Israel from the Philistines years later by the hands of King David. The angel of the Lord appeared to Manoah’s barren wife, and told her that she would conceive and give birth to a son. This son would be dedicated to the Lord by a Nazirite Vow for life. Sure enough, she gave birth to a son and named him Samson. Samson was special, he was a miracle birth, and according to the instruction of the angel he would take a vow to be holy to the Lord. At his birth we are told he was created for a purpose beyond himself and his own desires.

If you are like me you are wondering what the heck is a Nazirite Vow? It can be found in Numbers 6:1-8. The Lord gave instructions to Moses to tell the sons of Israel that when a person is going to dedicate themselves to the Lord for a prescribed period of time (in Samson’s case for life), they should take a special vow called a Nazirite vow. Nazirite means a person willing to abstain. There were four parts of the vow. The first and most important was to be separate from the world and be holy to the Lord. Next, they would abstain from drinking alcohol. Number three, and important to Samson’s story, was no razor shall ever cut their hair, he shall let the locks of hair on his head grow long. I think this was primarily to visually separate them and help people, as well as themselves, to remember the vow. Lastly they would not go near to a dead person.

Typically, a person would take this vow for a specific period of time to perform some specific task. Case in point was the Apostle Paul in Acts 18:18, he took this vow in Corinth to do some task, and then he cut his hair when it was over, also the men in Jerusalem in Acts 21: 23-24 were completing the vow and cutting their hair. This was the norm, but a few characters like Samuel and Samson were dedicated this way for life. This explains why Samson’s hair had never been cut—it had nothing to do with giving him strength.

Then Where Did His Awesome Strength Come From ?

God raised Samson and gave him strength for the purpose that he should “begin to deliver Israel from the hands of the Philistines”. He needed to be strong because he would get absolutely no help from his countrymen. The sons of Israel had given up and accepted tha...

Exodus 20—the Ten Suggestions ?

James Patterson and Peter Kim wrote a book entitled THE DAY AMERICA TOLD THE TRUTH. They did widespread surveys across America concerning the Ten Commandments and found out that there is “absolutely no moral consensus at all”. Everyone is making up their own moral code that fits their personal lifestyle. The authors laid out a list they called “the ten real commandments” meaning the general moral code that people live by according to their anonymous surveys. As we go down the list of the Bible’s Ten Commandments, here is a list of America’s new commandments: 1 and 2. Any god will do, 3. Your god is your good buddy and he won’t mind you using his name frivolously, 4. There is no point in observing the Sabbath, 5. Honor your parents if they deserve it, 6. Don’t murder, 7. I will cheat on my spouse, 8. I will steal from those who won’t really miss it, 9. I will lie when I need to, 10. Desiring stuff is good for the economy.

What is this but a big dose of moral relativism? These people feel free to just make up their own rules, and then even change them as they go according to convenience. Obviously the above rules violate the actual law of God given in Exodus 20. God gave the nation of Israel 10 absolute laws that have not changed in over 3400 years. If there is a God, then we must live by His rules and not our own. Remember the setting and context of Exodus 19-20 when God gave His moral law directly to the entire nation of Israel. In order to put the “fear of God” in them, God came down onto the mountain with an awesome spectacle of His power and authority. The people saw His glory in the thick cloud, and there was great lightning and thunder, and smoke and fire erupted like a volcano. At the same time, there was an earthquake that shook the mountain, and then God spoke the Ten Commandments to them. They heard His voice like thunder, and they trembled in great fear. We get the intensity of the moment as we read Exodus 20:18-19. The people were so afraid that they begged Moses to ask God to never speak that way directly to them again, but to speak to Moses and let him relay the message. There were no atheists in Israel that day, and there was no moral relativism that day. They clearly were not the ten suggestions, but the Ten Commandments were God’s absolute unchanging holy standard that they were commanded to live by.

You may ask, “What gives Him the right to tell us what to do?” God anticipated that question when He told Moses to remind them beforehand of all the miracles He did to deliver them from Egypt and slavery. Then God had saved them from the Egyptian army and He had destroyed the Egyptian army as He parted the Red Sea to let them pass on dry land out of Egypt. Then in the desert wilderness God had fed them manna and quail and brought a river of water out of a rock. Then God protected them from the Amalekites, and led Israel with His brilliant glory in the pillar of cloud to Mt. Sinai. Added to all that, God then revealed Himself with all His awesome power and authority when all the forces of nature, all under His control slammed into that mountain. With all the resultant fear of God, they understood that God had the right to tell them what to do. It was clear that He was the one and only God, and His standard was perfect holiness and purity of heart, and God fully required them to completely (not partially or relatively) obey His commandments.

Since God is Omniscient, Why Would He Give Them a Law They Couldn’t Keep?

It is helpful to consult all the great Christian theologians for the answer to this question. Augustine said, “The usefulness of the law lies in convicting man of his infirmity and moving him to call upon the remedy of grace which is in Christ”. Martin Luther said, ”it is a most useful servant impelling us to Christ”. John Calvin added, “Moses had no other intention than to invite all men to go straight to Chri...

Genesis 32: Wrestling With God

In Genesis 25, Abraham passes away, and Isaac, the child of the promise of God became the next patriarch of the family. Verse 5 says, “Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac”, and God blessed his son Isaac. When Isaac was 40 years old he took a wife—Rebekah. Amazingly, she was barren just as her mother-in-law Sarah had been. Isaac prayed on her behalf, and the Lord answered him, and Rebekah conceived. Apparently this is a theme running throughout the Bible. God’s people quite often can’t have children until they turn to him in faith, and then in His timing their prayers are answered. Is it possible that God wants them to know that He is sovereign, and the resulting children are children of faith that He wants dedicated to Him?

The Original Soap Opera

I think all the TV shows got their ideas for soap operas from this biblical family. Right off the bat the twins within Rebekah are struggling and competing with each other. It reminds me of Bobby and J.R., the two sons on the old TV show DALLAS. They will be polar opposites in every way. The father Isaac will like Esau best because he will be an outdoorsman, a macho hunter that his dad can hang out with at the deer lease. Rebekah will like Jacob best because he hangs around in the tent with her, is sensitive and more of a momma’s boy. Both of the sons will aspire to be the patriarch of the family, and both parents will conceive deceptive plans to help their favorite get what he wants. Thus, their story is a drama of competition, greed, deception, and broken relationships. There were no heroes in this story.

We soon learn that Esau is not a good guy, he has several marriages (at the same time), he has little regard for the birthright, he reneges on a deal, and he brings grief to his parents. Meanwhile, we learn that God revealed to the family early on that He would choose Jacob as the child of the promise. Even though Esau was born first, God chose Jacob to work His sovereign plan through. God even “appeared” to Jacob when he was a young man and told him, “I will be with you and bless you”. This included all the promises God had made to Abraham and repeated to Isaac. God would give him and his descendants the land, and “by his descendants all the nations of the earth shall be blessed.” We know that this refers to the salvation God will accomplish through Jesus Christ.

Can You Steal What God Has Promised to Give You?

Esau and Jacob continued to jockey for position as their father’s death came closer to reality. When Isaac got old and his eyesight very bad, he conspired to give Esau the birthright, even though he knew that God had promised it to Jacob, and that Esau had already sold it (25:33). In Genesis 27, Isaac privately called Esau in and told him to go out and kill some fresh game to cook so that while eating his favorite meal, he would bless Esau with the birthright. But Rebekah is sneaking around listening, and hears the whole conversation, so she hatches a sneaky deceptive plan of her own. She cooks up Isaac’s favorite dish, dresses Jacob up like Esau, and instructs Jacob to go in and impersonate Esau so that the old man will bless Jacob by mistake and Jacob would get the birthright. Jacob’s voice impersonation is terrible, but blind Isaac feels his arms and they are hairy like Esau’s—by the way, Esau means hairy.

What was all this sneaking around and deception about? Gen.27:29 explains this, “May peoples serve you, and nations bow down to you; be master of your brothers”. This was about who would be TOP DOG, who would call the shots, and be in control. At least that is how the people perceived it. God’s promises were entirely different, and Jacob would spend a lifetime struggling with God’s will. Did God zap him with lightning like he deserved? No, God allowed him to be a victim of the consequences that resulted from this soap opera. When Esau got back, he cried out in anger,

Genesis 29-30: The Children of Jacob

The nation of Israel is named after Jacob who was the grandson of Abraham. God told Jacob and his mother Rebekah that Jacob would be the next patriarch, the child of the promise. The nation of Israel would come through Jacob and his descendants. Nevertheless, Isaac loved his brother Esau best and wanted to give the birthright to Esau. This situation prompted one of the great soap operas of all time with all parties sneaking around eavesdropping, scheming, and deceiving. Their actions beg the question, “Can you steal what God has promised to give you?” When Isaac sent Esau out to kill wild game for a feast to celebrate the giving of the birthright, Rebekah was eavesdropping. She and Jacob hatched a plan to deceive the blind Isaac into giving the birthright to Jacob instead. Jacob proceeded to dress up like Esau, put extra hair on his arms, and try to talk like Esau to trick Isaac. In the process, Jacob not only repeatedly lied, but even profaned the name of God. When Isaac asked him how he got the wild game so quickly, Jacob replied, “Because the Lord God caused it to happen”. When Esau got back and discovered that Jacob had received the birthright dishonestly, Esau vowed to kill Jacob. Therefore Rebekah sent Jacob far away to live with her brother in Paddan-aram using the excuse that he needed to go there to find a good wife.

It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time

When Jacob got to the area of Haran, Jacob’s uncle’s daughter Rachel was at a well there. For Jacob, it was love at first sight. She took him to see Uncle Laban, and he stayed there for a month. Then Laban asked Jacob what remuneration he would need to work for him. Since Jacob loved Rachel, he offered to serve Laban for seven years as a dowry for his younger daughter Rachel. The time passed quickly in anticipation of the future wedding, and fulfillment of his dreams of a life of bliss with his true love. Little did Jacob know of the plans of Laban, one of the shrewdest guys in history. How could Laban both keep this sap working for him for nothing, and marry off his homely daughter Leah at the same time?

The Deceiver is Deceived

One of the great ironies in the Bible took place at this point in the story. Jacob’s name literally meant supplanter because at birth he had hold of Esau’s heel trying to pull himself in front of Esau. Because of his deceptive actions later, the name Jacob came to mean trickster or deceiver. Through the sovereignty of God, Jacob had come to live under the authority of the supreme deceiver Laban. Jacob was going to get a major dose of his own medicine. It seems God had brought Jacob here to be taught a lesson. During the next 20 years Laban would trick Jacob into working for him for free for 14 years, then during the next six years change the deal with him ten times. After the first seven years of hard labor, finally his wedding night was at hand. His promised bride was veiled, it was dark, and they kept filling up his wine glass and making toasts. That night Jacob “went in

to her”. This is a euphemism meaning the marriage was consummated. The next morning he woke up with a hangover, but that was the least of his worries—laying in the bed with him was Leah, the homely sister. Laban had pulled a fast one on him. When Jacob protested to Laban, he said something like, “Didn’t you read the fine print in the contract? It says you can marry Rachel unless the older daughter is unmarried. If you want Rachel, the beautiful one, you must work another seven years.”

Why didn’t he just leave? First, he passionately loved Rachel, and this was the only way he could have her. Second, he needed a hangout which was a refuge from murderous Esau. Jacob stayed for his own purposes, but God used the circumstances to change the character of Jacob. After twenty years of working for Laban, Jacob would be ready to answer his calling and return to Bethel where he had pledged to serv...

Genesis 16—Running Ahead of God

People often ask, “How do you know that the God of the western civilization, or the God of America is the one true God?” It has escaped them that the one true God is actually the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God’s redemptive program for all of mankind started with Abraham. Genesis is not about the creation account, instead, 39 out of 50 chapters are about Abraham and his family. It was written by Moses, after he led the Hebrews out of Egypt, to answer all their questions like—Who are we? How did we get here? What is our future?

God sovereignly chose one man Abraham to come out of the pagan idol worshipping rebellious world to have a relationship with the one true God. The Lord blessed him, and made him great promises of land, many descendants, and that one of his descendants would be a blessing to the whole world (Jesus). Abraham became the father by blood of two races of very important people—the Jews and the Arabs, but spiritually he is the father of all who believe according to Paul in Galatians 3:6-9, “it is those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham.”(see also Romans 4:16). Why Abraham? What did he do, or why did he merit such favor from God? He was originally a pagan idol worshiper, he was a deceitful liar down in Egypt, and he was originally only partially committed. God chose him for no reason that we can understand, except to reveal that all people have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and the blessings were only by God’s grace. Therefore God is consistent. God saved Abraham just like He saved you and I—lovingly, mercifully, and graciously.

Testing the Faith of Abraham

We are told in Hebrews 11:8-9 that Abram was called by God to go to the unknown land that God would show him, and by faith he went. Nevertheless, when we read the story in Genesis 12, we must wonder at what point are we told that he was saved? In Genesis 15:6 we are first told that “Abram believed God, and God reckoned it to him as righteousness”. When you commit yourself fully to the Lord according to God’s truth, you enter into a faith-based relationship in which God declares you not guilty, forgiven, righteous, and eternally saved. In his epistle, James asked and answered the question of how we know that Abraham was saved. In James 2:21-24, he quoted the Genesis 22 story about when Abraham offered up his son Isaac on the altar as the proof that Abraham was saved. This was the biggest test of Abraham’s life, and the sure proof of his total belief in God. Therefore, we are told he believed God in Genesis 15 and it is proven in Genesis 22. In fact, Abraham endured at least seven major tests of his faith from Genesis 12-22. Through these tests we can see his progression of faith as he passed the first one partially, failed the second, passed the third, and failed the fourth. The fourth test of patience, or waiting on God, had major consequences that changed the world we live in, and has historical significance, which started with Abraham’s family but continues until now. It is the reason it costs $80 to fill up your gas tank. One of God’s repeated promises to Abraham was that he would be the father of many descendants, and one of those descendants would be a blessing to the whole world. In those days being childless and without an heir brought great shame, and so naturally Abraham and Sarah were losing patience since they were getting older and past the child bearing years.

The Brood Mare Strategy

In Genesis 16:1, we read that at an advanced age, Sarah was still childless, and at that time ran out of patience. Their problem tempted them to look for a human fulfillment. After all, doesn’t God help those who help themselves, and don’t the ends justify the means? To humans, both of those worldly arguments sound biblical, but in fact are not. A cultural practice of that time period now had an appeal to Sarah. We can get insight into this cultural practice of using slave...

Genesis 4—EAST OF EDEN

In Genesis 4, we are introduced to the world’s first dysfunctional family. In the previous chapter, Adam and Eve had fallen into sin by disobeying God, and as a consequence, God had driven them out of the Garden of Eden where the Tree of Life had enabled them to live forever. Now, in a state of sinfulness, God knew it was not in their best interest to live perpetually as sinners. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:50 that “flesh and blood can’t inherit the kingdom of God”, so man must have a spiritual body (thus the necessity of the resurrection). Therefore it was best for man to eventually die physically to be resurrected eternally. In the first prophecy of the victory over sin by Christ on the cross, given in Genesis 3:15, there would be a continuing conflict between the believing descendants of Eve and her unbelieving descendants that followed the serpent (Satan). Adam and Eve were soon going to experience the reality of this conflict through the events of their two sons. Cain and Abel were the first of the age-old conflict of the two “seeds” of Genesis 3:15.

Throughout history, theologians and philosophers have struggled to understand the story of Cain and Abel, especially since Genesis gives so few details about the conflict, and why God accepted and blessed Abel’s offering, but rejected Cain’s offering. This story is one of those Bible stories that everyone knows even if they have never owned a Bible. It strikes at the heart of humanity as to the struggle between good and evil, sibling rivalry, the struggle for love and acceptance, and our capacity for self-destruction. It always amazes me that so much of literature, philosophy, and humanism seems to have empathy for Cain. They can relate to his desperate need for his Father’s acceptance and love, and his outrage that his brother got that love when Cain didn’t. Most people seem to be able to understand the frustration that “Father loved my brother best”, and it’s just not fair.

One of the twentieth century’s great literary works was EAST OF EDEN by John Steinbeck, published in 1952, and made into a movie in 1955 starring James Dean who was nominated for an academy award. The author, Steinbeck was best known for his Pulitzer Prize winning novel THE GRAPES OF WRATH. John Steinbeck also won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1962. In his novel EAST OF EDEN, the author follows two families whose generations reenact the fall of Adam and Eve and the deadly rivalry of Cain and Abel. The title comes from Genesis 3 and 4 where God drives Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden to the east, and then in Gen.4:16, Cain fled from the Lord and settled “east of Eden”. Steinbeck considered it his greatest novel saying, “I think everything else I have written has been, in a sense, practice for this.” The story is set in the Salinas Valley of California before and during World War I. The Patriarch of the family, Adam Trask, has two sons, Caleb and Aron, who are patterned after Cain and Able. Caleb is a frustrated boy with a tortured soul while Aron is a good-natured boy that everyone likes. Naturally, we the readers feel sorry for Caleb, and it pains us that he is so deprived of love and acceptance. Doing what is right comes so easy for Aron that we just can’t relate to him. The wise friend and household cook, Lee discusses the Bible story of Cain and Abel, and gives an alternative humanistic view that it actually ends well with the meaning that mankind is neither compelled to pursue sainthood nor doomed to sin, but rather has the power to choose his way (how he came up with that escapes me). The climax of the story comes after the father has lost all his money, but the fallen son Caleb makes it back and presents him with the cash on Thanksgiving. The father rejects the gift because the money was made by profiting on WW I, and then says, “I would have been so happy if you would have given me what your brother h...

Acts 19—Wild Times at Ephesus

On his third missionary journey in Acts 19, Paul came back to the city of Ephesus, which he had visited only for a short time on his second journey. His three year stay in Ephesus took up the majority of his time and activity on his third and last missionary journey recorded in Acts. Ephesus was a major city in the Roman Empire, and was considered the second largest city behind Rome. Ephesus was a major port located on the Cayster River where it emptied into the Aegean Sea. The Temple of Artemis in Ephesus was one of the ancient Seven Wonders of the World in the first century, and would be a major source of trouble for Paul and the early church. Luke explained the importance of Paul’s work in Ephesus in Acts 19:10, “so that all who lived in Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.” During Paul’s long stay there, he and his disciples no doubt ventured into all the surrounding cities of Asia Minor and planted churches. The emphasis of Paul’s ministry in Ephesus was about how powerfully the Word of God impacted Ephesus, as recorded by Acts 19:20, “So the word of the Lord was growing mightily and prevailing.”

The Power of Proclaiming God’s Word

In Acts 19:8-10, the power of the gospel began with Paul proclaiming boldly in the synagogue for three months until they became hardened against it and began speaking against Christ. Paul then withdrew, and found a better pulpit to speak boldly from at the school of Tyrannus. This was probably a lecture hall, and Tyrannus was a convert of Paul’s who taught at the school and let Paul speak there on a regular basis. Paul was so bold and outspoken in Ephesus and the surrounding regions that the text says everyone was exposed to the gospel in all the area.

The Confirmation of God at the Important Time

God was enabling Paul to regularly do extraordinary miracles as incontrovertible evidence that the gospel was true. This was a major period of transition in which it was necessary for God to intervene in the natural order to authenticate Paul’s message. The goofy superstitious Ephesians thought there was power in Paul, or even Paul’s clothes and handkerchiefs, so they were taking his stuff to try and heal people. God blessed them in spite of their ignorance possibly because they were sincerely believing in Christ and there was no personal gain. You can imagine the crowds that gathered to hear Paul speak when the word spread about the miracles.

Exposing False Prophets

One problem God’s people have always had might be called competition from false prophets or false teachers. Charlatans have been present in the church for 2000 years trying to mislead people for ill gotten gains. One of the funniest stories in the Bible occurred in Ephesus while Paul was ministering there. In Acts 19:13-16, seven sons of a Jewish priest, who were probably making a lot of money posing as exorcists/sorcerers, saw Paul cast out evil spirits using the name of Jesus. This looked very promising to them since they had probably had to use slight of hand before, but what Paul was doing was the real thing. They approached a guy (let’s call him Mongo) who really was possessed by an evil spirit, and said, “I adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preaches” to come out. Their failure would be because they didn’t know or believe in Jesus, but were trying to use His name like a secret formula or incantation. Because of Acts 19:19, we know that black magic and the occult was a big deal in Ephesus, and these seven sons were right in the middle of it.

The evil spirit, Mongo, answered them in such a way as to expose their lack of belief in God and their lack of authority from God, “I recognize (the authority of) Jesus, and I know about Paul, but who are you?” The evil spirit was saying, “You gotta be kidding me thinking you bums can boss me around? Who are you but fallen beings even lower than me? Mongo is now gonna give you the worst whipping of your ...

Acts 16-17: The Sovereignty of God in Evangelism

At the end of Acts 15, we see that Paul and Barnabas had a “sharp” disagreement about whether they should take John Mark with them on their second missionary journey. Mark had deserted them back in Acts 13:13, but wanted to rejoin them. Paul said no, but Barnabas said yes. Who was right? What was God’s will? Did Mark deserve a second chance, or was he too unreliable for such important work? The answer was yes and yes, and God would bless their sincere efforts either way. They split up into two evangelism teams, and went to different places, and I am sure God blessed Barnabas’ team as He did Paul’s. By the sovereignty of God they all did what they thought was right, and twice as much work got done as a result. Because he lost Barnabas, Paul picked up two very valuable disciples who would become Paul’s life long helpers in the ministry, Silas and Timothy.

On his second missionary journey, Paul’s team retraced Paul’s steps in Asia Minor revisiting the churches that Paul planted before. Travelling through Asia Minor going west, they decided to go north up into the area known as Bithynia, but the Spirit impressed upon them to continue going west to Troas. If you are like me, you are wondering what is wrong with Bithynia, but for reasons only God knows, He wanted Paul to go to Macedonia and Greece. Don’t weep for Bithynia, because we learn in 1 Peter 1:1 that God sent someone else there, because Peter sent his letter to the believers there. God gave Paul a vision of a man in Macedonia saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” Paul caught a ship across the Aegean Sea to Neapolis, the port city near Philippi. It was at this point that Paul picked up Luke as a companion, as Acts 16:10 begins the “we” narrative.

Philippi

Philippi was named after Alexander the Great’s father. It was the first European city where Paul would preach the gospel and plant a church. Most of the citizens were Roman citizens, and they had no Jewish population as proved by there was no synagogue. We can imagine that Paul was looking for the man in his vision, and he was certainly used to talking primarily to men. Paul’s group heard that people gathered at the river to pray, but when they got there, only women were assembled. They sat down and began speaking to these ladies, and low and behold, a woman named Lydia was prepared by God to hear and believe the gospel. She and her whole group believed in Jesus and were baptized. The first westerners to be converted by Paul were a group of ladies, and the first European to cause Paul trouble was a girl in Acts 16:16. She was a fortune teller who made her masters a lot of money, but apparently she was able to do this because she had a demon. She was bothering Paul so much that he commanded the demon to come out of her. When her masters realized their “gravy train” was over, they were enraged at Paul, and had him arrested. Paul spent the night in prison with his feet in stocks, but at midnight God caused an earthquake to open the doors of the jail so they could leave. While the bad guys thought they had disposed of Paul, God had His own plan to save the jailer and his whole family. The jailer showed up, and seeing the doors open, feared he was in big trouble. In those days if a jailer lost his prisoners, he would change places with them. He was ready to kill himself when Paul yelled out that they were still there. After Paul explained to him who they were and what happened, the jailer asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” Paul led him into a saving faith in Jesus along with his entire household. So far, Paul had gone to a different country than he intended, saved women while he was looking for men, healed a girl that irritated him, and was thrown in jail, but it turned out for good by saving the jailer’s family. It was just another day of evangelism for God’s people! Take a minute and think of the incredible change of heart of the jailer...

Acts 14—Seven Qualities for Effective Ministry

Before Jesus ascended to heaven, He gave a final but all important command to His disciples in Acts 1:8, “you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.” Over 15 years later, no one had taken the gospel into Asia Minor, Macedonia, or Greece. The largest city in Syria was Antioch, and a large church had been built up there by the late forties. The Jerusalem church, hearing of its rapid growth had sent Barnabas to Antioch to minister there. There was so much potential that Barnabas recruited Saul to help him. They ministered there for over a year, and it was there that the disciples were first called Christians, meaning Christ’s men or Christ’s followers. The leaders at the church in Antioch were led by the Spirit to commission Saul and Barnabas to go on a series of missionary journeys to Cyprus and Asia Minor, and then where ever the Spirit led them. From Acts 13 on, the book could be called The Acts of Paul instead of the Acts of the Apostles. Saul, or Paul as they called him on his first missionary journey, took center stage in the history of the church for the next 15 years. The time was about 46-48 AD, and for the next 15 years Paul took three wildly successful mission trips into Asia Minor, Macedonia, and Greece. At the end of his third trip, he took a large offering to the suffering Jerusalem church, where he was arrested and held in jail in Caesarea for about two years. He then appealed to Caesar for a trial, and was shipped to Rome where he remained in prison for about two years. We have copies of thirteen of Paul’s letters written to the various churches and disciples of Paul. In Acts 13-14, we have the record of Paul’s first missionary journey, and we can discern the qualities necessary for an effective ministry.

Use of Spiritual Gifts

According to 1 Corinthians 12:7, Romans 12:6-8, 1 Peter 4:10-11, and Ephesians 4:7-12; all believers in Christ have been given spiritual gifts. At that point in time that you believed, God gave you some gift of His choosing to be used for the edification of the church. In the first century, the apostles were given speaking gifts and sign gifts. We read in Acts 14:1 that when they entered the town of Iconium, they spoke in such a way that a great multitude believed in Jesus, both of Jews and Gentiles, and in the end of verse 3, God granted that signs and wonders be done by their hands.

Today, the speaking gifts are still in full effect, but I believe the sign gifts expired with the apostles. It was necessary that God enable them to do miracles because it was that important time of great transition from Judaism to the church and from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant. I am not saying that miracles ceased, but I am saying that the spiritual gift of doing signs and wonders ceased. If you are wondering what your gift is, then let me remind you that the purpose of the gifts is to serve others and not yourself, so the best way to find out is to get involved in every manner of service until you find it. Typically after a lot of work and experience, the Lord will reveal it to you. Here is a tip—if you are being asked to do certain things, and it is clear to you that you are needed in that area, then that’s it. Don’t be fooled or misled by a desire for the more “prestigious” gifts. Paul devoted several chapters in his first letter to the Corinthians about the importance of humility in serving, and how important the other gifts are. The church can easily replace ministers and administrators, but without servers the church stops.

Boldness

In all of the activities in the book of Acts, the disciples are met with opposition and persecution, but they still went out in the open and boldly preached the gospel. They not only boldly went into new places, but after being run out of places,