Hope Worth Having

Pastor Mike will be speaking on The Power of God’s Word Part 1. He will be reading out of Acts 19:8-20

Too many times as believers we think that somehow we have failed based upon the response of others towards our witnessing. But you have not failed at any moment that you are obedient to sharing God’s truth.

Your obedience is success in God’s eyes. Hello this is Pastor Mike Sanders and I’m delighted to welcome you to the Hope Worth Having radio program. This week we’re honored to share God’s Word and we want it to be a source of inspiration to you.

We wanted to encourage you in your faith and if you do not know Christ we pray that God’s Word will draw you to Him and that you would receive Him as your Lord and Savior. Today we’re going to be in Acts chapter 19 again but this time we’re covering verses 8 through 20.

We’re going to talk about the power of God’s Word. So let’s get into our study today. This morning we’re back into the book of Acts. We have been tracking through it for actually several months but it’s such a wonderful book and we are in Acts chapter 19.

Acts chapter 19 our main text will be verses 8 through 20 and I want to talk to you about the power of God’s Word. The power of God’s Word in our life, its influence, its impact upon us. Now as we come to verse 8 of chapter 19 we’re reminded that the Apostle Paul is on his third missionary journey, that he is in the city of Ephesus.

He’d already been to Ephesus once on his first missionary journey but it was a very short stay, did not stay long probably most likely we can say that Apollos which we already learned about in chapter 18 had the greatest influence in this city of Ephesus up to this point through his preaching and teaching of God’s Word and organizing.

organizing and establishing a local body of believers. The city of Ephesus was a very crowded city because it was filled with tourists and visitors, constantly coming, constantly going. But like most large cities, there was much sin and ungodliness that had infiltrated into the community.

The apostle Paul spends three years in the city of Ephesus. You are familiar probably with the letter in the Bible called Ephesians, it is a letter to this church and a letter that was circulated among the churches to be read, to be taught, to be explained and to be discussed.

The apostle Paul had great confidence in this local body of believers. Now, as we continue to study the book of Acts, we are reminded that the book of Acts chronicles the spread of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

It’s important for us to understand its context, to understand what is really taking place, or you and I might fall into the trap of misunderstanding certain passages of Scriptures. But not only is it chronicling the book of Acts, chronicling the gospel, but it is chronicling the growth of the church, and how the church is spreading far, and it is spreading wide, and it is making its roots into many lives and many communities.

Many hearts have come to Christ and received Jesus Christ. But we have also witnessed, as we have studied the book of Acts, much opposition, persecution, and pushback from those that have rejected the gospel.

But what is interesting about our text this morning is that Luke is recording to us the power of the Word of God. Now I want you to actually start in verse 20. You say, pastor, are you doing everything backwards?

Probably, but I just want you to see, because it’s easy, as I read all these verses to you, for you to get infatuated with some of the miracles that took place and forget the whole theme of this section of the text.

In verse 20, Luke records these words under the inspiration of the Spirit of God. So the Word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed. Keep that in mind. As you and I are looking at this text in verse 8 through 20, we are going to see a contrast between an authentic ministry that is rooted into the Word of God and a false, or inauthentic, ministry.

A ministry that is based upon, perhaps, emotions and mysticism, and even some pagan magic that it shows the contrast that’s going on. It’s important for us to see this because God is always calling us to be a people of discernment.

The Bible tells us to test the spirits, to examine all things. We’re not people who just because we hear something that has the name of Jesus on it, or somehow that it is something that is mentioning about the Bible that it must have come from heaven.

But rather we are being not only wise unto salvation, but we are wise in the dispensation of the ministry and the kingdom of God on this earth. So what we see here is that Jesus has true power and his power is in his word, and it is a contrast to the counterfeit authority that are out there, the false narratives, the fake ministries that so often lead God’s people down a path that leads them to vulnerability and being anemic in their spiritual life.

So let’s pick up in verse eight of chapter 19 and see what the scripture says. And he went into the synagogue, referring to the apostle. He spoke boldly for three months, reasoning and persuading concerning the things of the kingdom of God.

But when some were hardened and did not believe but spoke evil of the way before the multitude, he departed from them and he withdrew the disciples, reasoning daily in the school of Tyranus. And this continued for two years.

So shall all who dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord, Jesus, both Jews and Greeks. Now God worked unusual miracles by the hands of Paul. Please underscore that phraseology, unusual miracles. So that even handkerchiefs or aprons were brought from his body to the sick.

And the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out of them. Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists took it upon themselves to call the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying we exercise you by the Jesus whom Paul preaches.

Also there were seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest who did so. And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus, I know, and Paul, I know, but who are you? Then the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, overpowered them and prevailed against them so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.

This became known both to all the Jews and Greeks dwelling in Ephesus, and fear fell on them all. and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified. And many who believed came confessing and telling their deeds.

Also many of those who had practiced magic brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted up the value of them. It was totaled 50,000 pieces of silver. And here is the key verse of this section of this passage.

So the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed. As Luke is giving us the narrative of what is taking place in the ministry of the apostle in the city of Ephesus, having helped us to see the legitimacy of the apostle’s ministry, the unusual miracles that took place in his ministry, and then showing us the contrast of a false and fake ministry that not even the demons knew or recognized, he tells us in conclusion that the word of the Lord,

the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed. So that’s why I’ve entitled the message, the power of God’s word. I want you to see three things real quickly this morning. First is the proclamation of the word.

So we go back to verse eight. We see God’s word being ministered through the apostle Paul as his strategy has been and was all throughout those beginning days of establishing and planting churches that he went into the synagogue because of his training, because of the platform the apostle had, because he knew the Jews and because of Christ’s command to take the gospel first to the Jews, he always went to the synagogue.

And his credentials gave him the opportunity to stand before the congregation in the synagogue. The Bible says that he spoke boldly for three months. Amazing, that for three months they listened to the apostle.

What did they listen to? He reasoned with them and he persuaded concerning the things of the kingdom of God. He’s helping them to see the big picture. He’s probably walking them through the Old Testament.

He’s helping them to see the fulfillment of Christ of all the prophecies that the prophets had made. He is communicating to them the gospel of Jesus Christ. The apostle was not always standing before them and lecturing or maybe preaching and teaching.

No doubt, according to the understanding of these words, referring to reasoning and persuading that there is interaction relating to groups and there may be opportunities where he’s allowing questions and he’s giving.

answers, and he’s showing them different passage of Scripture in the Old Testament. But that was his ministry, persuading people, persuading them in the Gospel. That was his style of evangelism. The Apostle didn’t walk up to people and grab them by the throat and tell them to turn or burn.

He didn’t threaten them. He didn’t drag them to the altar. He didn’t force any kind of an emotional decision upon them. But he allowed the Word of God to be proclaimed and to do its work in the heart of the people.

He was not upset if there was doubt. He was not angry if there were questions. He continued to reason with the people. He continued to persuade the people with the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Now the Bible tells us in verse 9 of chapter 19 that there were some who were hardened. They were hardened to the gospel. They did not believe. And they went so far as to speak evil against the way, the way.

That is a reference we see emerging in the book of Acts referring to those who believe in Christ. Those who would follow the way of Christ or they would follow as disciples in the way of Christ. So that is what Luke is referring to.

And because these individuals spoke evil of the way before the multitude, like it was not anything that they were keeping to themselves, but rather they would probably challenge the Apostle Paul in a very defiant way and they would probably try to discredit him before the multitude.

It’s true the Bible says that the Apostle departed. For some reason these people having heard the powerful presentation of the gospel of Jesus Christ did not believe. Their hearts were hardened. It was like water on a duck’s back.

It just kind of, they heard it. It flowed right out of them. They had nothing to do with it. They opposed the gospel of Jesus Christ. What does the Apostle Paul do with these folks that are stubborn?

These people that are resistant. Does he get in arguments with him? Does he throw him in a headlock and call them all kinds of names? No. The Bible says that he departed. We see this many times with the Apostles.

That as they are witnessing and presenting the gospel of Jesus Christ, there are those who oppose the gospel, resist the gospel, and even those who come to the point that they become violent or they become very verbally aggressive.

Paul’s approach is not to get even. It is not to get any kind of retribution. It is not to try to hurt them. those who disagree with him, but rather his approach is we work with the willing and we move on.

Jesus reminded us this in Matthew chapter seven in verse six when he said, do not give what is holy to the dogs, nor cast your pearls before swine lest they trample them under their feet and turn and tear you in pieces.

Do not think that somehow Jesus is being rude here. He is just simply making a statement relating to a thought or an understanding that was very prevalent in the Greek culture. And what Jesus is saying is, look, if you have people who resist you or people who do not want to hear what you have to say, that it’s not your job to take the Bible and beat it down on them, but to move on, move forward.

Remember all of us as we are witnessing to our families and our friends. and our neighbors and our co-workers, that there are gonna be those who are hardened towards the gospel. They are gonna resist the gospel of Jesus Christ, that they are not gonna want anything to do with the gospel and maybe in times may be verbally aggressive with us about the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Your job is not to manipulate. Your job is not to force the gospel on anyone. It is to simply present the gospel and rest in the power of God’s word. We are taught in the book of Isaiah that God’s word will not return void.

Too many times as believers we think that somehow we have failed based upon the response of others towards our witnessing. But you have not failed at any moment that you are obedient to sharing God’s truth at any time that you are faithful to present the plan of salvation, the gospel of Christ to plant seeds of kindness, compassion and goodness into the hearts of others.

No matter how they receive it, no matter what their response is, your obedience is success in God’s eyes. Do not be discouraged because maybe your children have not responded the way that you want them to.

Do not be upset because after 10 years of trying to drag your neighbor to the church that they have yet to come, but that you recognize this responsibility, that you are to present the gospel. And if their response is resistance or their hearts are hard, that you are to move forward in your life.

You are a witness for Christ and you are to work with the willing, having full confidence that as you proclaim the word of God, it will not return void. And when the Bible says that it will not return void, it does not mean that every person something on the planet will be saved.

But what it does mean is that when you plant the word in someone’s heart, when you share God’s truth, when you show God’s love in ministry, that God will do his work in their hearts, they have to respond to God.

They have to decide will they receive it, believe it, and follow Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, your responsibility is done. And you are a success in the eyes of God. And I want you to be encouraged, not discouraged that you have proclaimed the word of God.

I want you to know that there are many who have hardened their hearts. There may be some this morning that are watching online or perhaps even in this auditorium. and you are here this morning or you are listening this morning and there has been a hardening of your heart towards God.

Remember the words of the scriptures in Hebrews 3a which teach us do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, in the day of trial, in the wilderness. All of us have the responsibility that we do not become so apathetic in our faith, so anemic in our walk with the Lord Jesus Christ that we allow our hearts to become hard to His word, hard to His moving in our lives, hard towards His Spirit drawing us to Him.

We are called to have sensitive hearts to the Lord. As witnesses we are sensitive to God and we don’t define our success by the response of others. Whether there’s five people here this morning or there are three or four hundred people here this morning, it just doesn’t matter.

What matters to God is that we are faithful and we are obedient to God. It is the world that defines everything by a response. It is the world that defines everything relating to something that is big and large and we’re not against anything big or large.

We’re just trying to help you as a believer to see the power of God’s word in the proclamation and that you are, as you are obedient, God will bless. Oftentimes we are opposed. It can cause us to be fearful.

It can cause us to be paralyzed in proclaiming God’s truth. But we must remember that our commitment is to always tell others about Jesus. Many missionaries throughout history have gone to countries and people groups that have never heard the gospel, and it took years upon years before they ever saw a response to the gospel.

Were they unsuccessful? No, they were faithful. And we see many times that even today that there are large groups of people who have come to Christ because of those early pioneers who took the gospel to many places.

So what does the apostle do? Well, we’re back in verse nine of chapter 19, and the Bible says that he withdrew the disciples, those that did believe, those who were willing, those who were responsive, and where does he go?

Well, the Bible says he’s reasoning daily in the school of Tyranus. Tyranus was most likely some rabbi or some great teacher. He could have been living, or maybe it was an honor that this building was named after him.

In whatever the case, they always met early in the morning. They did their training and their teaching. So the apostle found out that the building was open and there were seats available. So he invited the disciples to come and we’re going to get together in the afternoon every day and he would disciple them.

Who knows how many came? Maybe five came, maybe 20 came, maybe 100 came. We do not know, but that’s not the issue. The issue is daily, he was discipling these new believers. Daily, he was reasoning with them.

Daily, he was sharing God’s truth and he took advantage of this open facility. He took the opportunity to meet together as a body of believers. Remember what Paul taught us in 2 Corinthians in chapter two, verse 16.

In referring to the gospel of Jesus Christ, he said to the one, we are the aroma of death, leading to death. And to the other, we are the aroma of life, leading to life. Who is sufficient for these things?

The apostle even questioned his own capabilities of being able to share these wonderful truths of the gospel. But he says, look, for some, when we share the gospel, it’s an aroma of death. They cannot even stand the smell of the gospel.

It is a stench in their nostrils and it is something that causes them to repel against the truth of God. But to others, the apostle says, it is the aroma of life. There are many who look forward and they love the opportunity to hear the gospel talk to them, to hear the word of God talk to them.

So much these folks loved it that they met every day. How about that church? We might have a heart attack if the pastor asked us to come every day, huh? But you know what? It’s the aroma of life to you.

And it leads to more life to you. That as you hear God’s word taught to you, as you’re in your Bible study groups, as you’re in your small groups, and you are ministering to one another, and you are sharing the word of God in your classes, it is the aroma of life to you.

It is invigorating. It is stimulating. It is empowering to your heart. That’s what I want you to see. How powerful is God’s word? That when it is presented to those who have responded to Him and received Him as their Lord and Savior, it is a very powerful influence that has a great impact upon our life.

The Bible says that the Apostle, he taught for two years. And of course, we know that he was three years in Ephesus. We know later, we’ll learn in chapter 20, that Paul would talk about not only… that he met in this hall, this teaching hall, but he would go house to house.

Now some have interpreted that, that he just randomly went out there and banged on doors and kicked doors down and told people they need to turn or burn. But that’s not what house to house means. Paul went over here to this family that loves the Lord and taught them the word of God.

And in this family over here in this house, he went over there and he taught them the word of God. And then this house down the street, he went over their house and he taught them the word of God. He did not care where, he did not care what the facilities were, he just wanted to share God’s word.

Why? Because it was the aroma of life. It was giving life and leading to life to those who love Jesus Christ. You don’t have to be ashamed of the gospel. You don’t have to be ashamed of God’s word because the best defense for the gospel is the gospel.

And you may say, well, there are those who critique it and those who find fault with it. It’s gonna always be true. There’s always gonna be those who are upset with the gospel. But church, we are called to be faithful and to plant those seeds and to keep moving on with the gospel and proclaiming the gospel.

Listen to the words of the apostle in Colossians 1, 28. He said, him, meaning Christ, we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom that we may present every one mature in Christ.

No one’s gonna get saved without the proclamation of the gospel, whether that’s one-on-one or whether that is in a small group or in a large group. Because the Bible says faith comes by what? Hearing the what?

The Word of God. Now again, church, I always tell you, the Bible’s either true or not. God is either being straight with you and honest, or he’s lying to you. And so we come to Christ by hearing the word.

Some of you are discouraged about your family, maybe some children. You know what the most powerful thing you can do? Is take every opportunity to interject the word of God to them. Not to preach to them.

Not to beat them over the head with the Bible, but find opportunities to share God’s word and God will do his work through proclaiming. But also in relating to helping believers grow. You want to grow in faith?

You want to be presented mature before Christ? You want to be that person that God has called you to be in your faith? It is requirement that you are consistently and constantly under the word of God.

Do not ever devalue the proclamation of God’s word. Now, I know what some people say. They say, well, pastor, I can’t remember. You know, when our children were young, we’d sit at the table and I’d say, well, what did you learn in Sunday school?

They’re like, ah, Jesus. That was always the go-to answer, amen. The go-to answer was Jesus. You could never be wrong with Jesus, amen. You may not remember everything that Pastor Mike teaches, but you don’t remember what you had for dinner last week either.

But I tell you, when you ate it, it was so good. And let me tell you what the power of that food did, is it nourished you and it continued to strengthen you. And I wanted you to know that when you hear the word of God taught in your heart, you may not remember Pastor Mike’s outline, you may not remember the title, and maybe sometimes even forget the exact passage that he was in.

I know it’s in the book of Acts, somewhere in there. But I’m telling you, as you hear God’s word taught in your classes, your Bible studies, even one-on-one discipleship, mentoring, as you hear it in the worship service, it is so good.

It is so good that we are hearing the word of God proclaim. And here’s what God is doing. He’s shaping you. He’s refining you. He is maturing you. And he is making you stronger for your journey of faith.

And he is establishing and rooting you in the faith of Jesus Christ. Now let’s look at number two, the confirmation of the word. That’s what most of you wanna hear about. You wanna hear about verse 11 through 16.

You wanna hear what does Pastor Mike got to say about this? Well, let’s start off with that theme that Luke gives us in verse 11. And that is now God worked unusual miracles by the hands of Paul. These were not even normal miracles, but they were unusual miracles.

The book of Acts chronicles the spread of the Gospel and the growth of the Church, and we see this from chapter to chapter as we are studying the book of Acts. And it’s exciting to see God’s mighty work and how the Word of God is such a big part of that.

God uses His Word in a powerful way to not only awaken us spiritually, but to strengthen us so that we might be mighty for God. And that is what Acts chapter 19 verses 8 through 20 is about, is the power of God’s Word.

And so I hope you’re taking these principles and you are applying them to your heart and that you’re staying faithful and consistent in the Word of God. This is Pastor Mike Sanders reminding you that in Christ there is hope worth having.

The post The Power of God’s Word Part 1 first appeared on Hope Worth Having.

Pastor Mike will be speaking on What Does it Mean to Receive the Holy Spirit Part 2. He will be reading out of Acts 19:1-7

You should not pursue those signed gifts. They have been completed because that which is perfect has come, Church. You have everything that God wants you to know relating to your eternal destiny and your spiritual life right here in the Bible.

Hello, this is Pastor Mike Sanders with Hope Worth Having, and we are excited to be able to broadcast the program today to you, Acts chapter 19, verse 1 through 7. We’re going to be back studying what does it mean to receive the Holy Spirit.

So I hope you have your Bible, and let’s begin to dive into the Word of God. Now, last week we began a study on Acts chapter 19, verse 1 through 7 about answering this question, what does it mean to receive the Holy Spirit?

The Bible teaches us that the Holy Spirit presence in our life is really a foretaste of heaven, of what it’s going to be like for us one day when we leave this world in the constant presence of Jesus.

There are moments that you are so filled with the Spirit, and you are so anointed with the Spirit, that you have such a euphoria in your heart, that you have a sense of utopia in your life, but it does not remain with you.

It is just God helping you understand what is to come for all who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible says, by this we know that we abide in Him, meaning Christ, and He in us. because He has given us of His Spirit.

What I want you to know this morning is that faith in Jesus Christ leads to the gift of the Spirit and the gift of the Spirit is evidence that you have faith in Jesus Christ. When we read our text this morning in Acts chapter 19, what we see taking place is that the Apostle finds 12 men who were following the ways of John the Baptist, but it was incomplete.

They did not fully understand that John the Baptist was the forerunner of Christ and that he was pointing them to Jesus and that they had not truly yet received Christ because they had not received the gift of the Spirit upon them.

We pick up in verse 1 of chapter 19, it says it happened while Apollos was at Corinth that Paul, having passed through the upper regions, came to Ephesus and finding some disciples, he said to them, did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?

So they said to him, we have not so much as heard whether there is a Holy Spirit. And he said to them, into what then were you baptized? So they said into John’s baptism. Then Paul said, John indeed baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they should believe on him who would come after him, that is on Christ Jesus.

When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them and they spoke with tongues and prophesied. Now the men were about 12 in all.

When Peter preached in Acts chapter 2, he told the large Jewish crowd to repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

And in that moment, the Bible teaches us that many believed over 3,000 in one point, and then another 5,000 at another point believed in the Lord Jesus Christ. The gift of the Spirit fell upon the people and was manifested in their life in that they spoke in another language.

When you read the Bible, you see this word tongues. And it’s just a Greek word that simply means language. And they spoke in another language. That is, they were not trained in the language. but they spoke in that language and the people understood in their own language of what the Bible was teaching or what the prophets or the apostles were teaching.

The story of the book of Acts shows the spirit being poured out on believers. And what we see in Acts chapter 2, and again manifested it in chapter 8 and then chapter 10 and finally in chapter 19, is that the gift of the spirit like the gospel follows the pattern of what Jesus had taught, that the gospel would be taken first to the Jews and then it would be taken to the Samaritans and then it would be taken to the uttermost parts of the earth.

And so in helping the church in Jerusalem to understand not only the scope of the gospel, but the scope of the gift of the spirit that we see in Acts chapter 2, that the spirit came upon the people. We see it again in chapter 8, chapter 10, and now we’re seeing it in chapter 19 in the city of Ephesus on the apostle’s third journey, and it is being manifested to these Gentiles.

And it is a confirmation, the outpouring of this spirit, is a confirmation of the message that Jesus is the Son of God, and that He has come in the flesh and lived a sinless life, that He was crucified on the cross for our sins, and on the third day He rose again, not only affirming that His sacrifice was sufficient for the forgiveness of our sins, but setting the course for our future as believers.

The Bible says there are three that testify, or that as they witness, it is the spirit, and the water, and the blood, and these three agree. What do they testify and what do they agree upon? They agree upon that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, that He is the Savior of the world, and that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

The Bible says the spirit and water and blood all testify. The Spirit of God testifies that Jesus is the Son of God, and baptism, water, testifies that Jesus is the Son of God, for baptism is a picture and a symbol of the death, burial, and resurrection of our Savior, and then the blood, the crucifixion of Christ, testifies that truly, as the centurion soldier said at the foot of the cross, truly this is the Son of God.

They testify together. Now in understanding the manifestation of the Spirit, the life of the Ephesian believers, these 12 men who were Gentiles, the Bible says that they spoke in tongues and that they prophesied.

I want to again give you an overarching context so that you can see and understand what has taken place in the detail. The Bible teaches us that we have spiritual gifts and these spiritual gifts are manifested in our lives when we believe in Christ and the gift of the Spirit is given to us and they fall into three categories.

There are the speaking gifts, there are the serving gifts, and then there are the sign gifts. Our thoughts today are upon the sign gifts, the apostle said in 1 Corinthians 12, 1. Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant.

God doesn’t want you to be ignorant about the spiritual gifts, which are a manifestation of the presence of the Spirit in you. What I want you to see in these three categories, the speaking gifts, the serving gifts, and the sign gifts, that the sign gifts are the transitional gifts of God.

From the old covenant to the new covenant, what you are witnessing in Acts chapter 19 is a transition. It is a transition from the Old Testament to the New Testament, and that God is bringing together the entire scope of the universal church, which is beyond the Jewish nationality or ethnicity, and encompasses all people that are on this planet.

These sign gifts had a unique purpose as they were manifested. They were to identify the authenticity of the messengers of God, and they were validating the message of God. So these sign gifts were given.

Now, if we were to take our Bible real quickly and go to 1 Corinthians chapter 12, go ahead and join me in there real quickly. But in 1 Corinthians chapter 12 and chapter 13 and chapter 14, you can learn so much about not only the spiritual gifts, but particularly the sign gifts.

And I want you to see something, we’re not gonna read the three chapters, don’t worry, but I wanna highlight a few things to help you understand why does Pastor Mike believe the sign gifts are transitional and not designed for today.

I want you to know and understand that as the apostle is teaching about the spiritual gifts in chapter 12, that he comes down to verse 28 of chapter 12 and he says, God has appointed these in the church.

First apostles, second prophets, third teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations. and varieties of tongue. And he asks a question, are all apostles? And the obvious answer is, what church?

No. Is everybody an apostle? No. Here’s the next question, are all prophets? And the answer is, what church? Are all teachers? No, thank you. Are all workers of miracles? Do all have the gifts of healing?

Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret, meaning interpreting tongues? No. Now we got a dilemma here because there are some who build their theology in Acts chapter 19 and saying that you cannot be a Christian unless you speak in tongues, but yet Paul would later say not everyone has the gift of tongues.

And some believe that you’re not spiritually mature unless you speak in tongues. But again, the apostle tells us not everyone speaks in tongues. But in verse 31, he says, earnestly desire the best gifts.

And yet I show you a more excellent way. Chapter 13 is that more excellent way, which is love. It is that we are to love God and we’re to love one another. That more excellent way is to love God. And then we come down to verse eight.

He reminds us about love, that love never fails. See, love will never fail you. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail. Whether there are tongues, they will what? Cease. Whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away.

For we know in part and we prophesy in part. Why would the apostle say that? Because he again is speaking to a church that is in transition and he is reminding them that now we know in part and we will prophesy or teach the Bible and proclaim the Bible in part.

But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away. What is the part? The part are the sign gifts. What is the perfect? It is the word of God. When the word of God has come, then the sign gifts are no longer needed, as been taught, tongues will cease and that which is in part will be done away with.

And then he illustrates this transition. When I was a child, I spoke as a child. I understood as a child. I thought as a child, but when I became a man, I put away childish things. What he is saying is this, that the church is growing up and the church is no longer in transition and it’s time for the church to step up and understand that those sign gifts that were in transition and those sign gifts that were for an infant church that was transitioning from the Old Testament to the New Testament,

that like a child, there comes a time when you set aside childish things, there comes a time when you step up to the plate and you become an adult and you step up with responsibility and accountability.

and you begin to quit depending on everybody else, and you start being responsible for your life, and so it is that the church has to grow up. Now there are many denominations and churches that are still trying to go back to their childhood.

They still wanna go back to the sign gifts. But now you have that which is perfect, which is the word of God. Listen, you now don’t have the Holy Spirit just giving you all this wonderful insight and all this wonderful information.

You have to actually step up and read the Bible and study the Bible. How about that one? You have to grow up. You have to be an adult spiritually. And so the apostle says, look at verse 12 of chapter 13 of 1 Corinthians.

For now we see an Amir dimly, but then face to face. One day I’m gonna see Jesus face to face. I see dimly now. I don’t understand everything that’s going on in this world, but one day I’m gonna see more clearly in heaven.

When you suffer, you see dimly. When you struggle, you see dimly. You don’t understand the what and the why of what is going on, but I’m telling you church, one day we’re gonna be in the presence of God face to face and we’re gonna understand everything crystal clear as to what God is up to.

Can God’s people say amen? I’m still in verse 12. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known. People say to me, pastor, will I know my loved ones in heaven? Charles Spurgeon said, I’d hate to think that I’m dumber in heaven than I was on earth, amen.

You’re gonna know and you’re gonna be known just as you are known today. How wonderful is that? So maybe you don’t wanna be known like that up in heaven and you wanna be somebody different, but you’ll be known as who you are today.

Verse 13 of chapter 13 of 1 Corinthians, and now abide faith, hope, love, these three, but the greatest of these is what church? So he tells us in chapter 14 to pursue these things. He tells us that we need to pursue these things and he begins to give us instructions that if we are to speak with tongues, because at the time of the writing of 1 Corinthians, that which is perfect, the word of God had not yet been fully completed.

He gives them instructions on how they are to do it and you don’t even want me to go there because you talk about sending this church into a tizzy and setting everybody’s theology up inside their head.

That’s another day. But he tells us we need to understand these gifts and how they’re to be exercised and how we are to live them out. And he tells us at the end of verse 40 that we’re to let all things be done decently in order.

We’re back in Acts chapter 19. What I want you to see is that Paul teaches three basic truths in 1 Corinthians 14, and that is tongues are secondary. They’re not the primary spiritual gift. He teaches us the purpose of tongues in verse 23.

through 25 in 1 Corinthians, which is for unbelievers as a sign gift, the unbelieving Jew. And then he says, here’s how to properly use tongues and how to do it in an orderly way until that which is perfect comes.

So what I want you to see is that the gifts of the Holy Spirit, which are permanent, those serving gifts, those speaking gifts, they are of greater value than those transitional sign gifts. Any believer that’s trying to pursue the sign gifts is only manifesting their immaturity.

They’re like a child who’ll never grow up. They’re holding on to their immaturity when God is prompting them to go on to full maturity and adulthood in Jesus Christ. And so you must understand that you should not pursue those sign gifts.

They have been completed because that which is perfect has come, church. You have everything that God wants you to know relating to your eternal destiny and your spiritual life right here in the Bible, Genesis to Revelation.

You don’t have to pursue anything. So now we’re in Acts chapter 19, and this chapter is focusing on the ministry of the apostle in the city of Ephesus. He’s on his third missionary journey, and we see this first experience as an illustration of transition.

Galatians 3, 14 says so that in Christ Jesus, the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles so that we might receive the promise spirit through faith. Coming to Christ is more that I’m gonna spend eternity in heaven.

Coming to Christ is that I have the gift of the spirit that was promised all the way back to Abraham for everyone who believes in Jesus Christ. So what does it mean to receive the gift of the spirit?

We taught you last week, first of all, that the believer receives the spirit experientially, that it’s not anything mystical. It’s not anything that is unknown, but rather just the opposite. If believers have the Holy Spirit, they know it, because the Bible tells us in Hebrews 10, 15 that the Holy Spirit also testifies to us.

Now he does not testify to us through tongues, but he does testify as we learned last week, how do I know the spirit lives in me? That is, I’m convicted of sin. When I was not a believer, I loved sin.

But now that I am a believer, I’m convicted. Second of all, I know the spirit lives in me because he is changing me. I look back on my life and I see that there’s changes in my life. The old man is passing away and behold, All things are new and the new man is being embraced by the believer.

That is evidence that the spirit of God is living in you. Third is you are comforted in your time of sorrow, in your time of suffering, in your times of struggling. The spirit of God is comforting you.

He is the parakaleia, the Bible says. That is the one who comes alongside of you, picks you up and encourages you and comforts you through the trials of life. So what does it mean to receive the spirit?

Second of all, that the believer becomes a member of God’s church positionally. We see in verse four that they responded to this question. Have you received the gift of the spirit? And they said, we have the baptism of repentance from John.

and we are following his way, we’re his disciples, but we don’t know about the spirit, but Paul goes on to teach them that they’re called to believe on Jesus Christ. And he says, now you must be baptized because you first receive Christ, and then you are baptized.

You are not baptized and then received because the Bible teaches us that it’s believers baptism. That’s why we don’t practice infant baptism at the Open Door Church, because infant baptism is only an expression of what parents believe, but it’s not an expression of what you believe.

That’s why every believer is called to be baptized after they believe. And that’s what you see taking place here is that now they truly believe. Yes, they were disciples of John, but they were not disciples of Christ.

And when they became disciples of Christ, once they were taught the true gospel of Jesus Christ, and the apostle helped them to understand that now they need to be looking forward for the redeeming work of Christ, that Christ, he had already gone to the cross, he was now at the right hand of the Father because he had already resurrected, ascended into heaven, and now they did not have to wait.

John’s baptism was looking forward for the Messiah to come, but the baptism of Christ is a baptism that looks back to the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. That is the distinction that you and I are seeing.

And the Spirit is given to believers to lead us into all truth. And we are then positionally placed into the family of God. And now our identity is not with the world, and our identity is not even in our performance or our achievements, but our identity is in Christ and in Christ alone.

The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 12 verse 13, for by one Spirit, we are all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greek. whether slaves are free. We have all been made to drink into one spirit. He is speaking metaphorically here and he’s helping us to understand now that we are believers and we have the gift of the spirit, we drink from one spirit and we are in the family of God and we are part of the body of Christ.

People who are added to the church through faith in Jesus Christ are members of the body of Christ. And this is verified by the gift of the spirit in them. The Bible says in Ephesians 4.30, do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

Let’s back up into this verse. The day of redemption is referring to that day that we are fully redeemed in the presence of God in this sense that we are redeemed in body, soul, and spirit. Now we are redeemed in spirit.

spirit, but we still wrestle with the flesh. We are still in the presence of sin, but one day you are glorified completely before God Almighty and all of this flesh is shed away and we are inheriting a new body that is incorruptible, a body that is immortal, a body that will never suffer any pain.

And one day we will be in the constant presence of Jesus Christ where there will be immense joy beyond our ability to even contain it and there will be no sin, there will be no sorrow, there will be no death, there will be no struggles in life, there will be no offenses, there will be no hurts, there will be no disappointments.

Can you my friend, imagine what that’s going to be like. It’s going to be stupendous. That’s the day of redemption, but the Bible says don’t grieve the spirit by whom you were sealed. You have been sealed for the day of redemption.

You think of sealing an envelope. You’re thinking about sealing something so that it cannot get away or get out, but that’s not what that word means. It is simply this, the idea of being sealed, that is the mark of identification.

It is the mark of you might get a paper from an important person or important office or important government position and they have their seal of identity on that. God through his spirit, hear me, has stamped his identity upon you as a believer in Jesus Christ and that you walk around with the mark of ownership upon you.

It’s not that you belong to yourself or that you belong to the world, but that you belong to God and the Holy Spirit is a seal that speaks of God’s ownership of you. 2 Corinthians 1, 22 says this, for God has also put his seal on us and given us his spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.

Many of you may have bought it. bought a house recently, or you bought a house sometime in your life, and you were required to put down a deposit, and the deposit was designed to say, I’m serious, I mean business, I’m not backing out of this deal, and if I do back out of the deal, it’s gonna cost me.

Here’s what God the Father has done. God the Father has put a deposit in your life. The moment you believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, he gave you the gift of the Spirit. He is not only a seal that marks his ownership of your life, but the Spirit is a deposit of what is to come for you as a believer.

It is God saying to you that one day, we’re gonna finish out this contract. One day, we’re gonna finish out this covenant. One day, we’re gonna finish out this promise, and you are gonna stand in the presence of God because you have the seal of the Spirit upon you.

By giving believers the Spirit, God seals. He stamps his ownership on them. and he protects them and guarantees that they will make it to the end, no matter what trials we go through, no matter what tests we have, we have the seal of God upon us.

What does it mean to receive the Spirit? My final point, and I know you’re super excited, believers are to be filled continually. In this passage of Scripture, we see the manifestation of the Spirit and the life of those believers at Ephesus.

But that wasn’t all that God was calling them to. He was calling them as believers to be filled. Paul would later teach in the letter of Ephesians that in chapter five that they were to be filled with the Spirit.

To be filled with the Holy Spirit is to be controlled or guided by the Spirit. That is what he’s calling us to do. Now, the believer is to be filled with the Spirit, so how can we be filled with the Spirit?

First, saturate your mind in the word of God. The Bible tells us in Colossians 3.16, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom. I’m telling you that the Bible is so good. Some of you are surface Christians.

The only Bible you get is when Pastor Mike gets up here or when your Sunday school teacher teaches. I’m telling you, the Bible is deep. Saturate your life in the word of God. Spend time in the word of God.

Feed yourself a steady diet every day of God’s word. What are some ways that I can saturate? Just write these down real quickly. Read, read the Bible every day. Here’s what the Bible says. Read his word and you’ll get a blessing.

You’re looking for a blessing? Open the Bible up and get his blessing. Memorize, how do I saturate my mind? Memorize the Bible. Some of you saying, pastor, I cannot even remember where I left my keys or why I walked into this room.

How could I ever? memorize the Bible. Let me tell you an amazing story. Pastor Carl and I were visiting one of our shut-ins who’s dealing with dementia. He can’t remember hardly anything, but she said, Pastor, he remembers the Bible and he remembers the hymns.

There’s just some things that never leave you, church. There’s just some things that are imprinted upon your mind and the things of this world may be fleeting and they may dissipate in our minds and memory.

But would you understand, church, the eternal Word of God and singing the truths of God will not leave the believer. Make every effort, if it’s just one word a day, memorize there is more power in one word in the Bible than any word that a human can see.

I want to encourage you to check us out on Facebook, just type in Hope Worth Having, and you can watch us live each Sunday at 11 a.m. You can also interact with us and be able to comment to some of the things we’re posting or even share questions or prayer concerns on the Facebook page, and so we hope you’ll take advantage of that and we’d love to hear from you.

This is Pastor Mike Sanders reminding you that in Christ there is hope worth having.

The post What Does it Mean to Receive the Holy Spirit Part 2 first appeared on Hope Worth Having.

Pastor Mike will be speaking on What Does it Mean to Receive the Holy Spirit Part 1. He will be reading out of Acts 19:1-7

That’s the danger you have to watch for your children and your grandchildren is that they don’t just intellectually acknowledge, but that they truly believe in Christ. And upon that belief, how is that affirmed that their faith is real?

They will experience the Holy Spirit in their mind. Hello this is Pastor Mike Sanders from The Open Door Church and thank you for being a part of our radio broadcast. And today we’re going to be in Acts chapter 19 and we’re going to be talking about what does it mean to receive the Holy Spirit.

Now that’s an interesting question. There’s a lot of debate about that, but I want us to look into the scriptures and find that true answer. So let’s start studying together. I started out before we read the scriptures and said that there are many denominations and even Christians of the faith that disagree about this passage.

And mainly because they don’t study the context of it. And I’m not here to say that I’m always right and everybody else is always wrong. I’m just trying to help you understand that it’s easy to take the Bible out of context and it’s easy to make it say something that it does not say.

So there are those within the family of God. I’m not saying they’re not Christians, but they would believe that you get a second blessing. That there is a second baptism of the Spirit and they would use this passage to make that claim and they would say you not only need to get saved, but you need to be baptized in the Holy Spirit.

And for those who are spiritually mature, and of course I’m speaking third person here, but those that are spiritually mature, they are the ones that have fully surrendered their lives and they experience another blessing and another baptism of the Holy Spirit.

Holy Spirit. My aim today is to help you as a follower of Christ to understand the role of the Holy Spirit and to help you understand what does this text say in relation to receiving the Holy Spirit into our life.

Let’s start off to first answer the question, who is the Holy Spirit? Because even amongst us, there are new believers and there are people that maybe have not really took time to study the Holy Spirit in the Bible.

What I want you to know is that the Holy Spirit is a person. He is not an it, a thing, or even some kind of a movement, but the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity. When we talk about the Trinity, we talk about God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

The Bible teaches us that they are three persons, Father, Son, and Spirit. But yet they are one, many get confused about that and it messes them up spiritually. I want you to know first of all that great scholars have been confounded by this incredible truth, that God is three but one.

But I want to help give clarity to you so that you can see what it means. And this is foundational to your understanding about answering the question, what does it mean to receive the Holy Spirit? When we say that God is three and one, we are saying this, three distinct persons, but they are one in their purpose, meaning the Father is not one that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

And the Son is not willing that any should perish, but all should come to repentance. And the Spirit is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. They are one in purpose.

They are one in essence. The Father is holy and so is the Son and so is the Spirit. They are not only one when the Bible says God is love, one in purpose, one in essence, but one in nature. So when we say that God is omnipresent or God is love or God is powerful, we are saying that the Father is powerful, the Son is powerful, and the Spirit is powerful.

We are saying that the Father is love and the Son is love and the Spirit is love. We are saying that the Father is everywhere. Omnipresent and the Son is omnipresent and the Spirit is omnipresent. They are three distinct persons, but one in purpose, one in essence, and one in nature.

The Bible tells us about the Spirit in 1 Corinthians 2.11. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of a man which is in him? Who can… You can really know what’s in your heart, what you’re thinking about, and what are the things that you’re trying to process, even as you sit in this auditorium.

Only your spirit within you knows, and Paul uses this analogy, and he says, even so, no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. Sometimes we have stereotypes when it comes to the Holy Spirit.

We make the Spirit to be something mystical or magical, and sometimes we get scared, and we retreat from the study of the Spirit, or we’re afraid that we might go beyond the boundaries of what the Scriptures teach about the Spirit, and so we just kind of really are not very informed about the Spirit.

But remember this. All of God’s work in each and every one of us, all of God’s work through us is done by the ministry of the Holy Spirit. When the apostle prayed for the church at Ephesus in Ephesians 3 16, he said this prayer to them that he referring to God the father would grant you according to the riches of his glory to be strengthened with might or power through his what church?

You see what I’m saying? Every work in you, every work through you is through the ministry of the spirit. It’s exactly what the apostle prayed when he said to be strengthened with might through his spirit in the inner man.

What a great prayer to pray for your children. What a great prayer to pray for your grandchildren. What a great prayer to pray for your spouse. Right there to pray that prayer. Now what does it mean to receive the Holy Spirit?

We read this text and the mistake that many Christians make and even denominations make is that they want to duplicate everything in the book of Acts. They want to once again make the book of Acts live again through the church.

And so they want to once again go through all that happened in the book of Acts and try to reduplicate that in the life of the church and the life of the believers. This is where you’re making your mistake.

What we are reading here in chapter 19, and I’ll show you even more later, but you are reading a passage of scripture that is often referred to as a transitional passage of scripture from the Old Testament to the New Testament.

And I will help you to understand that our goal here is not that we would repeat. Our goal is that we would learn the principles and that we would apply them to our faith today. So keep that in mind as we’re learning.

What does it mean to receive the Holy Spirit? If you’d like to keep, Number one, the believer receives the spirit experientially. We receive as believers the spirit of God experientially. It is something that is tangible.

It is something that we experience in our life. The question that is asked by the apostle in verse two of chapter nine implies to us that the Holy Spirit is for all believers. Now to help you get that, I want you to see what Jesus said about this same truth.

So take your Bible and go to John chapter seven. In John chapter seven, Jesus is giving insight on the ministry of the Holy Spirit. I want you to go there this morning, church. I’d like you to see it.

The Bible says in verse 37, on the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and he cried out saying, if anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me. as the scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.

Now, again, people have to understand the Bible. You know, people get mad and they say, pastor, do you take the Bible literally? There are parts I take literally. There’s part I take metaphorically. Jesus said, I’m a door.

It doesn’t mean he was a literal door. He just meant he’s the entryway to heaven. So please understand that. I’m not a liberal, but we’re talking about the scriptures here. And Jesus said that you believe on him, and you out of your heart will have rivers flowing out.

Rivers of living water. He did not mean literal water, but what he is talking about metaphorically is about the power of the spirit being in your heart, and you experientially sensing and knowing the spirit of God.

Look at verse 39. But this he spoke concerning who? Talking about the Holy Spirit. Whom those believing in him would receive. For the Holy Spirit was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified.

In the Old Testament, the Spirit came upon prophets, and the Spirit came upon believers, and the Spirit came upon them at different times, but the Spirit did not dwell in them. The Spirit of God did not live in believers.

That’s why John says to us that when Jesus was teaching the people, he was letting them know what is to come, that the Spirit of God would come upon them upon their belief, and that it would be an experience like rivers flowing in their heart.

Living water. Not yet, because Christ had not been glorified. What I want you to know this morning, experientially, if you are a true believer in Jesus, then all Christians who receive Christ as their Savior, they receive the Holy Spirit at the moment of their salvation.

And that is not something that is mysterious. It’s not something that you don’t experience, but it is real in your life. There are people who have intellectually acknowledged the gospel. There are even people who intellectually believe the gospel.

And James told us that even the demons believe they’re not going to have it. No, that’s the danger you have to watch for your children and your grandchildren is that they don’t just intellectually acknowledge, but that they truly believe in Christ.

And upon that belief, how is that affirmed that their faith is real? They will experience the Holy Spirit in their life. Yeah, I’m gonna help you with that. But here’s what 1 Corinthians 6, 19 says, the apostle said to the Corinthians, or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God and that you are not your own?

You’ve been told by the world it’s about you. People have been clapping hands and appreciating you and telling you how wonderful you are ever since you were three years old. You showed up to a soccer game and their grandparents went hysterical.

They thought, we gotta give them candy, we gotta give them trophies. Man, you just showed up. And so you’ve been under this conception that, hey, I’m wonderful, I’m amazing, and I’m the greatest thing since peanut butter.

And you say, what’s sliced bread, Mike? But for me, it’s peanut butter, okay? That’s just the way it works. The truth is you’re not your own. It’s not about you, it’s about God, and it’s about Christ, and it’s about that you belong to him.

And that is authenticated by the stamp of the seal of the Spirit of God upon your life. You take time later, but you read Ephesians chapter one and Ephesians chapter two. If you and I were to receive a letter from a political figure, from a government’s office, the stamp, the seal, will be upon it to authenticate that this is a real letter.

There’s a lot of fraud out there, amen? There’s a lot of fake out there right now, and there’s a lot of people trying to hack into your finances, hack into your bank accounts, and use your credit cards, and they’re using all this fake information.

They’re texting you, and they’re emailing you. You need to make sure that they are real, and how do you know through the seal of their authentication? How do we know a fake Christian from a real Christian?

That is the authentication of the stamp of the seal of the Holy Spirit on your life. Now, after the Bible says that Paul laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in… tongues and prophesied.

Now we see that again this is a transition. You say then do I need to speak in tongues pastor? Do I need to prophesy? No. In this particular instance that’s what happened. They spoke in tongues, meaning that they had spoken in a language which was not theirs and yet it was understood by others.

It is not again a mystical language. It is not even a heavenly language. It’s not even jibber-jabbish, but it was a real language. But it’s the same thing that happened in Acts chapter 2. Remember in Acts chapter 2 the day of Pentecost?

Remember that the Spirit fell upon the people? Remember that Peter preached? Remember that thousands came to Christ they believed and the Spirit of God fell upon them and the Bible says that they… spoke in tongues.

Remember, we’re not trying to repeat that. Why? Because we’ll explain later, but the point being is there was a experience. There was something that was tangible that for the first time in the life of a believer, the Spirit of God was now living inside of them.

In a transition from the Old Testament to the New Testament in Acts chapter 2, the fulfillment of the prophecies that were given in the book of Joel. Not that it has to be repeated over and over and over all throughout church history, but in this moment as the New Testament, the New Covenant is instituted by our Savior and it is fulfilled in the apostles and the church is established and the New Testament is launched,

this New Covenant would be verified, authenticated by the Spirit filling the believers and they would speak in tongue and they would prophesy. That’s what took in Acts chapter 2 and that was Jewish believers from all over the known world coming to celebrate the Passover and coming to celebrate the Pentecost and they experienced this and this is what the Jews saw for the first time and it was designed to let them know that what Joel said has now come to fruition,

but not only do we see it in Acts chapter 2, but we see it in Acts chapter 8 verse 14 through 17. The gospel has now gone out to the Samaritans, not just the Jews. Remember that God in chapter 4, chapter 5, he allowed persecution to take place to push out the people of God, to push them out of Jerusalem because the Great Commission was that they would go only to Jerusalem, but they would go to Judea and Samaria and to the uttermost parts of the world,

but they’re just like you and me. We get comfortable, right? We don’t want God relocating us. We get comfortable. We love you. like it, but God, He allowed persecution, pushed them out. Now the gospel is going to the Samaritans in chapter eight.

Guess what? In chapter eight, we see once the Samaritans believe the Spirit of God, they receive the Holy Spirit and they spoke in tongues and they prophesied an experience to let them know that they are part of the family of God because the Jews looked down upon the Samaritans and thought that they were less than humans and how is it that God would say to the Jewish people that the gospel is not just for you,

but it’s for everyone on the planet. How is it that God would authenticate this and verify this through the receiving of the Spirit that authenticated it through an experience of tongues and prophecy.

You think I’m done, I’m not. Now we get over to Acts chapter 10. Remember, the filling of the Spirit has happened in chapter 2 to the Jews. Chapter 8, it’s to the Samaritans. And now chapter 10, verse 44 through 46, it is the Gentiles.

And guess what happens? Peter preaches the gospel. They believe in Christ. They have the same experience that the Jews had in chapter 2 and that the Samaritans had in chapter 8. And now in chapter 10, they’re experiencing the receiving of the Spirit, which was not only promised by Christ, and it was promised by the prophets in the Old Testament.

And look at verse 45 of Acts chapter 10. They’ll throw it on the screen. But I want you to see this. I want you to see it in context. The Bible says, all the Jewish believer, that means those who would believe back in Acts chapter 2, who came with Peter were amazed because the gift of the Holy Spirit had also poured out on the Gentiles.

Today, you and I as believers say, what’s the big deal? But to the Jews, they were of the mindset that they were the only ones. They were the chosen ones of God. And therefore, they’re the only ones that have salvation.

They’re the only ones that have the gospel. They’re the only ones that have the Spirit of God living in them. And so when they saw Peter, remember Peter had that vision in Acts chapter 10, and he was told by God that whatever God is blessed, not to call it unclaimed.

This is going to be a tough one for some of you. There’s not only no unclean food. How about that? But there are no unclean people. To the Jews, Samaritans were unclean. To the Jews, Gentiles were unclean.

To them, they could never believe that the Spirit would ever feel any other nationality or any other people but them. You think you’re done, but you’re not. Now we come to chapter 19. Remember, I told you, Acts is a transitional book.

Chapter 2, chapter 8, chapter 10, chapter 19. Paul is pushing the gospel farther out, taking it to the regions beyond. He’s left Corinth. He’s now in this third missionary journey. He is in Ephesus. He’s gonna spend three years not only planting this church, but establishing this church.

And when he gets there, he finds people who believe in the baptism of John, but they have never received the Spirit. And the Bible says they didn’t even know the Spirit. They never even heard of the Holy Spirit.

So what does he do? He walks them through the Old Testament. He walks them through the prophecies of Joel. He walks them through the promises of God and that Jesus Christ is the fulfillment and that they need to understand all that John preached was to point people to Jesus because John must decrease and Christ must increase.

And we’re called to believe in Jesus Christ. And when they believed in Jesus Christ, the Bible teaches us. Look at verse six, that when Paul had laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them. and they spoke with tongues and prophesied.

Wow, what is going on? What you are seeing here in all these chapters that I just gave and probably so much more than you wanted on a Sunday morning. But this is the extension of the Pentecost experience to another nationality, to another group of people.

The Book of Acts is a transition from the Old to the New Testament. What you are seeing here, that as the gospel goes out, that the apostle, he does this in chapter eight, he does this in chapter 10 with Peter, but they lay hands on the people, why?

Because the authority of the apostles, because of the unity of the church, that you also, because you have been authenticated, that your faith is real through the manifestation of the spirit, you also, by my laying on a hand, and for all to see and all to read and all to hear, that you also are a part of the family of God.

Because in Judaism, there was the separation of people. In Judaism, there was the belief that their nationality was superior to other nationalities. And the apostles, by tangibly and by symbolically and physically laying their hands upon these Gentiles, these Samaritans, they are communicating to the worldwide church.

That these believers are truly the children of God. The believer receives the spirit experientially. When Paul was teaching the Corinthians, he said to them in first Corinthians chapter two, verse four and five, that my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive word of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

a desperate need in the life of the believer, in the life of the church, for the manifestation of the power of the Spirit. Paul again taught the Corinthians in chapter 4, 1 Corinthians, that the kingdom of God is not in word but in power.

Through the ministry of the Holy Spirit, the church experiences the power and the presence of God in their life. If believers have the Holy Spirit, they know it. You say, how do you know that pastor?

Because I’m shaking some of you right now. Hebrews chapter 10 verse 15, and the Holy Spirit also testifies to us. The Spirit is received experientially. When you came to Christ, if you were sincere, there was something different in you.

And you experienced the power of the Spirit. Now, how do we do that today? Does that mean I got to speak in tongues, pastor? I would say no. I would say tongues was a sign and prophesying was a sign.

It was all done for a certain period of time to let people know the transition from the Old Testament to the New Testament. Now that the word of God is complete, the tongues and the prophesying has ceased.

It is complete, it is fulfilled, and now the church has God’s word and the power of the Spirit lives in us. So I’m gonna close with these three things. How do you know that you received the Spirit? Because I wanna tell you something.

If you have not received the Spirit, you’re not a born again believer. That’s how important this is. Number one, you will experience conviction for your sin. You remember that time you came to Christ, and you remember that all of a sudden you were convicted about sin in your life.

Bad attitudes that you had. You were convicted about behaviors. You were convicted about cheating and taking advantage of people. It is the manifestation of the Spirit of God in your life. Number two, change.

Not only does the Spirit manifest itself in conviction, but in change. How do I know that the Spirit of God lives in me? Little by little, the old passes away and the new becomes true in your heart. The apostle said old things will pass away and behold, all things will become you.

You know why some people are bored in worship service? It’s because the Spirit of God doesn’t live in you and old things have not passed away and behold, all things are not new to you. And I know that you don’t like me saying that, but I’m telling you it’s the truth.

I wanna tell you something. I never had to be begged to go to church since the moment I came. to Christ. You know why? It was so awesome to me. I was amazed. Everything was so new. I was so touched by the Spirit of God.

I couldn’t wait to get back to church. Nobody had to send me a card. Nobody had to pick up the phone and say, come to church. You know why? Because the Spirit of God was driving every day. I was passionate.

I was pursuing God because the Spirit of God was in me. All things were new. I couldn’t get enough of this Bible. I couldn’t get enough of the Word of God. I was calling my pastor 24-7. What in the world’s that mean?

And buddy, I was driving it home. Change. Little by little, Mike began to change so much. My family said, you’re weird. What’s wrong with you? But the next thing you know, I’m out there knocking on doors because my pastor told me to.

And I was kicking on doors, knocking on doors, telling people how to get saved. How does that happen? How does that transformation take place? the spirit of God was in me. And I wanted everybody to know, I didn’t want anybody to go to hell.

I wanted everybody to go to heaven. And I was gonna tell everybody I could how to get to heaven. I sent a tract to every family member with a letter telling them to get saved. They called my mother and said, I think Mike’s in a cult.

I was a flaming fire, torching everybody with the gospel of Jesus Christ. But I’m just letting you know, how does God change a person through the power of the spirit? He changes me through conviction.

Last one, and this will be the best one. How do I know the spirit lives in me? Hear me? He comforts me. When I’m hurting, when I’m struggling. Christians say to me all the time, don’t know how people do this and go through this without Christ.

Because Christ comforts us, His spirit comforts us when we’re struggling, when we’re going through the challenges of life, when we’re dealing with the problems and the tragedies and the setbacks in life.

It’s the spirit of God that God uses. When I don’t even know what to pray. When my heart hurts so much, I can’t even articulate to God what I wanna say. The Bible says that the spirit knows my heart, takes my feelings and thoughts and takes them to the throne of God and lays it all out on my behalf.

Some of you have hurt so much and cried so much and mourn so much and grieve so much, you don’t even know what to think. It’s okay. Because the spirit is comforting you, the spirit is speaking for you and the spirit is sustaining even in your grief and you’re hurt.

That’s how you know that you have received the Holy Spirit in your life. Now the Holy Spirit is a foretaste of heaven. So the Holy Spirit living in you, there are many times that you have a great sense of the fullness of the Spirit and the leadership of the spirits in your life.

And I want you to know that God has given you just a little taste of what heaven’s gonna be like when he does that. And so we’re super excited about being able to know what it really means to receive the Holy Spirit.

And I hope that as we dive into this in Acts chapter 19, that we’re bringing a lot of clarity to this subject. Cause I know there’s a lot of debate and division over it, but I think the scriptures are very clear.

Now I want to encourage you to check out our YouTube channel. Hope worth having. And on that channel, you can stream live with us. You can catch up with what we’re teaching. In addition, there’s interviews and different studies all about just sharing the word of God.

So check us out at Hope Worth Having for YouTube. And this is Pastor Mike Sanders reminding you that in Christ, there is hope worth having.

The post What Does it Mean to Receive the Holy Spirit Part 1 first appeared on Hope Worth Having.

Pastor Mike will be speaking on How to Serve Effectively for Christ Part 3. He will be reading out of Acts 18:1-11.

What I want you to see here that in these verses, in verses 12 through 17, we were witnessing the faithfulness of God in the apostle Paul. You say what do you mean? Well back up to verse 10. What does God say to the apostle in that vision?

I am with you and no one will attack you to hurt you, for I have many people in this city. A promise is given to the apostle. The promise is don’t give up. The promise is, I’m gonna protect you. I’m gonna take care of you.

The promise is, there’s more people to win. There’s more people to come and to know the Lord as their savior. And so what we’re witnessing here is the apostle is seeing God’s handiwork unfold. That even though the attempts of people to try to get the apostle in trouble with the law, and even though they try to get him in trouble even with the Jewish laws, that they failed miserably.

And this is a demonstration of the faithfulness of God. Now, let me show you something else that shows how God takes the schemes of man and he flips them on their head and that God takes what is wrong and he makes it right.

You remember Sophonis? This man who was the scapegoat, this man who had to take on the beatings of the religious leaders of that day? Well, we know that this man would later become a convert to Christianity.

That he would later believe in Jesus Christ. He also would be a secretary for the apostle in helping him with some of the details of his mission’s team. He would become a brother in Christ, even though he had been beaten by the religious leaders.

1 Corinthians 1, 1. When the apostle writes to the Corinthians, the Bible says that Paul called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God and Sophonis our brother. What he is introducing himself to, the believers at the city of Corinth in fellowship as a church and he’s writing the letter and he’s saying, it’s me, the apostle and it’s our brother Sophonis who is working with me.

And now God has taken this and he has turned it around and he has shown again his faithfulness. The Lord is fulfilling his promises to the apostle. And that’s what I want you to understand. You look at your circumstances and you see some of your problems that you’re dealing with and maybe they’re out of your hands.

and maybe they have to deal with the law or they have to deal with people that you have no control over and you have no ability to influence them. But God takes that and He is able to flip it around and He is able to turn it to what is right.

So what does it mean when we say that God is faithful? Well the root meaning of faithfulness means certainty. It means dependability. It is a word that is describing something that we can be assured of.

When we say that God is faithful and that He faithfully keeps His promises, we say that we can be certain that what God has said He will do. Now let me give you another wonderful verse, Numbers 23, 19.

God is not a man that He should lie. Neither the Son of man that He should repent. Have He said and shall He not do it or have He spoken and shall He not make it good. There are over 30,000 promises in the Bible.

Every day of your life you need to begin with a promise from God. You need to make sure that you are starting your day out with His promises. His promises will be sustaining in your life and you need to remember that God will always fulfill His promises.

The Bible teaches us in Isaiah 40 verse 8 that the grass withereth, the flower fadeth, but the word of our God shall stand forever. Church, you be encouraged that our God is a faithful God and I want you to understand that He is faithful even when we are unfaithful.

We’ve all found ourselves in those moments and times where we’ve not stepped up to the plate and we didn’t show courage and perhaps our boldness was drained right out of us. We stepped back and we were not faithful to God.

We succumbed to the temptation or we gave in to the tricks and the traps of the devil. But I want you to know something today if it’s been a bad week, if it’s been a bad month that you have a faithful God who will be faithful to you even when you are unfaithful.

Now that’s why the Bible says that if we confess our sins, He is what? Faithful. See, I sin, I’m unfaithful to God. He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all own righteousness.

What does God expect of us? That we would own it, that we would be real with Him and humble enough to admit it. That you and I would be honest enough with God to say, Lord, I’ve sinned against you and our faithful God, He will cleanse us from all of our sins.

The Hebrew writer said in Hebrews 10 23, let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering for He is faithful. That promise the Hebrews were thinking about going back on their faith in Christ, they were considering look maybe living for Christ is not worth it because they had endured so much suffering they had been abandoned by family they had lost their means of making a living and the Hebrew writer says to them hold fast why should you hold fast to your faith because God is faithful that promise how is it that I can keep moving forward how is it that I can keep living for God even when I struggle in my walk with God even when I am facing suffering in my life I dwell and rest in the faithfulness of God he is a faithful God he will not forsake us he is faithful to fulfill all his promises in my life That’s why we sing standing on the promises of God.

Hey, my friends, not only do you need to stand on the promises of God, but you need to identify the promises of God, and you need to claim the promise of God, and you need to pray the promise of God, and you need to rest in the promises of God, and you need to believe the promises of God so that it will continue to help you to live for the Lord Jesus Christ.

A servant of God will never be effective unless they are resting in God’s faithfulness. The next point, deny self. Look at verse 18. We’re watching the apostle. We’re learning from him. He told us to follow his example.

Bible says in verse 18, so Paul still remained a good while. Then he took leave of the brethren, and he sailed for Syria and Priscilla and Aquila were with him. He had his hair cut off at Centria, where he had taken a vow.

Verse 19, he came to Ephesus and left them there, but he himself entered the synagogue, and he reasoned with the Jews. And when they had asked him to stay a longer time with them, he did not consent, but took leave of them saying, I must by all means keep this coming feast in Jerusalem, but I will return again to you, God willing.

And he sailed from Ephesus. And when he had landed to Caesarea, and he’d gone up and he greeted the church, he went down to Antioch. Again, we’re looking at the travel itinerary of the apostle. And we’re seeing how he is working from place to place, and how God is using him to not only win souls, but he is using him to establish the churches.

This journey that we read about in verse 18 through 22 was 1500 miles that the apostle traveled. Now he didn’t have the convenience of traveling 1500 miles like you and I do, but yet the apostle travels 1500 miles.

Why? because he had a passion that not only people would be saved, but that the church would become mature and would be spiritual, that they would grow in their faith. That’s why he spends time teaching them the Bible, walking with them.

He is willing to deny himself. He is willing to deny all the conveniences and the comforts. He could have just stayed in Corinth. He could have just stayed there and the people loved him and they thought so well of him, but it wasn’t the will of God.

But see, the apostle was not called to be a pastor. He was called to be a missionary. He was called to go from one area to the next and to start churches. That was his calling in life. You can see that the people wanted him to stay.

They asked him to stay. And we can almost sense the emotion of what that means. You know what it’s like if you ever had to travel for work and leave your family behind. certainly would have been a lot easier for the Apostle to just stay there.

But he was willing to deny self despite the comforts. You remember that he taught the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 15, verse 31. He said, I die daily. What does he mean? I’m dying daily to my desires, myself.

I’m dying daily to the things that I want. I’m dying daily to my plans, and I am submitting to the will of God. We see that the Apostle wants to reconnect with these wonderful people. But he says, if it is the will of God, he would return if it’s what God wants him to do.

And we know that Jesus Christ taught us that we’re to live a life of denying self. Remember that Jesus said in Luke chapter 9, verse 23 and 24, if any man will come after me, let him deny himself. Take up his cross daily and follow me for whoever will save his life will lose it.

But whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it. God is calling each one of us as believers that if we’re going to be an effective servant of God, you’re going to have to be willing to deny self.

You cannot be an impactful servant upon your family and upon your church and upon your community unless you’re denying self. If you live for self, if you make it all about you and you say, look, every day I’m going to get up and I’m going to love on me, then I tell you that you’ll never be able to make a difference for Christ.

The disciple of Jesus must be willing to deny self. The very fact that you’re here this morning is certainly a demonstration of your willingness to deny self. So many people. I can’t go to church on Sunday.

That’s the time I sleep in. It’s the only… day I got off a guy told me the other day was the only day he had off and he could never go to church on Sunday. You see as believers our mindset is different.

Our mindset is that we are willing to sacrifice whatever comforts whatever conveniences so that we might honor God and that we might glorify God and that we might be able to help the lost to come to the Lord Jesus Christ.

That needs to be our passion. We understand that the impact of this statement that Jesus made to us when he says that we must deny ourselves and he didn’t say it just do it on Sunday but he said daily Jesus said you got to be willing to take up the cross and you got to do it daily.

Now we look at the cross and we love the cross we glory in the cross rightly so but in the day of the Roman Empire in the day of the Apostle in the day of our Lord and Savior walking on this earth the cross was a symbol.

of death. The cross was a symbol of execution, but it’d be like me saying to you, take up your electric chair every day. Talking about the electric chair that we send people to to die. When Jesus said, take up your cross, it was stunning to the disciples.

But what he was saying to them is that you gotta be willing to die every day. You gotta be willing to die to your will, to your desires, to your ambitions if you’re gonna be my disciple. There are many people who reject God’s call upon their life.

They reject God’s will upon their life. Why? Because they would rather do the will of family. They reject God’s purpose for their life because they would rather be accepted by the world. They would rather achieve success in the world.

There are many that reject the call and the plan of God, because they want the prestige of the world. They want the possessions of the world. They want the materialism of the world. They want the security and the safety of the world.

You want your children to go out and you want them to make big money. You want them to go to big universities so they can be indoctrinated to hate God and hate America. When what you ought to really do is send them to a God honoring college and university.

Place where they lift up Christ and a place where they reaffirm family’s faith. That’s where you ought to send your kids. You say, well, they go to those universities, they won’t make big money. Big whippy dippy do.

All you care about is your kids making money. I know you’re worried about your retirement, but that shouldn’t be your priority. We wanted our children to see other young adults living for God. We need to make spirituality a priority.

We need to make faith a priority in our families and we need to make good decisions that are blessed where we are certainly emphasizing and prioritizing our children’s walls. walk with the Lord as more important than any job they can get in this world.

Nothing comes more natural for people than to be self promoters and especially today. But we live in a culture that is very self centered. It’s all about us, social media, the majority of it is just about us.

What God wants us to do is deny self, take up the cross and follow Him. So here’s an important question that every one of us have to answer this morning. An important question, who am I going to live for?

Am I gonna live for self or am I gonna live for Jesus? Have you ever considered that question? Who am I gonna live for? Am I gonna live for Christ or self? You see that question right there determines your decisions.

It determines your choices in life. It’s a question that we need to continue to evaluate our hearts with. Jesus was a great example of self-denial. Jesus said in the gospel of John, I came down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me.

What is God’s will? Once you understand God’s will in your life, then I want you to know that should be the focus of your life. You say, Pastor, how do I know God’s will in my life? Well, every one of us needs to understand that there’s two levels of understanding God’s will.

There is his universal will that is his will for everybody. Like the first will is that God wants you to be saved, amen? God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

God’s will is that you would know Christ, that you would be a believer. But I’ll tell you, God’s second will, it’s universal to every believer. It’s not like a secret. It’s not in hiding. It’s flat out right there in the Bible.

And that is that you would grow more and more every day like Jesus, that you’d get on a path of growth, have a focus, and how can I grow in my faith? But I’ll tell you, God’s third universal will is that you would serve him.

God didn’t call you to just to sit and soak. He didn’t just call you to come in here and sing songs and then leave, but he called you to be engaged in serving God. And every one of you needs to find your place.

You need to be serving God in your church. You need to be serving God in your home. You need to be serving God in your community. You need to serve. What is God’s will? It is that I would share Christ, that I would tell others.

I promise you that just as Jesus came to seek and to save the lost, he is calling you and I to seek and save the lost, to bring them to the cross, to be a witness for him, and to tell others about Christ.

And I know that many of you are saying, well, I don’t have anybody to talk to. Hello, open your eyes. And if you need help with that, we’re glad to help you with any of that. But I wanna tell you, God’s unique will, now that’s unique to you.

His universal will is for every believer. And you and I, that’s where we gotta start. You say, I wanna… God’s unique will for my life, you’ll never know God’s unique will until you start obeying and following his universal will.

I mean if you can’t get those basics, I just lift it up to you like the big rocks in the Bible, and if you can’t get that down and under your belt and secure that and say I’m gonna start doing those things, then forget about the unique will of God.

Because here’s what God told Abraham. He said Abraham pack your bags and leave and I’ll be where you’re gonna go later. You see we look at the will of God and we think that God ought to just lay it all out but that’s not how God works because he calls us to a life of faith and the just shall live by what?

Faith, not sight. And so God says as you obey me in the big rocks, I’ll show you my unique will for you. God has a unique will for every person. He has a special calling on every person. Now the only way that you’ll fulfill that like the Apostle is that you must be willing to deny Now, the final point that I want you to see in verse 23 through 28 is that we need to be teachable.

Now, when we come to verse 23, we’re introduced to a new person in this narrative of the journeys of the apostle. I want you to pick up with me in verse 23, after he had spent some time there, referring to the apostle, he departed and he went over to the region of Galatia and Phrygia in order strengthening all the disciples.

Now a certain Jew named DePaulus, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man and mighty in the scriptures, came to Ephesus. This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord and being fervent in spirit, he spoke and he taught accurately the things of the Lord, though he knew only the baptism of John.

So he began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Aquila and Priscilla heard him, they took him aside and they explained to him the way of God more accurately. And when he desired to cross Achaia, the brethren wrote exhorting the disciples to receive him.

And when he arrived, he greatly helped those who had believed through grace, for he vigorously refuted the Jews publicly, showing from the scriptures that Jesus is the Christ or he is the Messiah. In verse 23 is the beginning of the apostle’s third missionary journey.

Remember that the apostle was not isolated, he did not travel by himself, but rather he always had a team because teamwork makes the dream work. He is headed over into Galatia and Phrygia, which is the area, if you’re aware of, geography that’s in the area of Turkey.

And Paul visited all the churches that had already been previously founded on his first missionary journey. He wanted to strengthen them in the faith, he wanted to make sure they’re getting organized, he wanted to make sure they’re prospering in the gospel.

But then Luke begins to introduce to us a man named Apollos. He was considered a great servant in the early church. He was a dynamic example of a strong disciple. The Bible says that he was mighty in the scriptures.

I wonder what and how people would describe you and I. I wonder how people would describe us relating to the Bible. Would they call us to be a people who are mighty in the scriptures? He was a strong disciple.

We note in the text that the Bible says in verse 24 that a certain Jew named Apollos, born of Alexandria, an eloquent man, meaning he could speak very eloquently, he was mighty in the scriptures, he came to Ephesus.

And this man had been instructed in the way of the Lord being. He was fervent in spirit. He had a passion for God. He spoke, that is the word of God, and he taught the word of God, how does the Bible say?

Accurately. He taught the things of the Lord. This word accurately means he was careful. It’s the idea of being painstaking research. He just didn’t randomly get up there and just start sharing his opinions, but he taught the ways of God.

He was a scholar. He was a preacher from Alexandria, which is in the northern part of Egypt. He was a man who was making an impact. Now Apollos was very much like John the Baptist, that there were many times, and we see even later as he goes to Ephesus, that he was a forerunner for the apostle.

He was kind of the guy that came in early and kind of broke up the fallow ground. His preaching was dynamic. It was passionate. It was accurate. It was the things of the Lord. It had awakened many hearts, and then the apostle would come in later, and then he would continue the teaching, and he would get the churches organized, and he would get them started.

But the Bible tells us that Apollos had a weakness. He had a weakness. He did not grasp that Jesus was the fulfillment of the teaching, preaching, and baptizing of John the Baptist. The Bible tells us that as he was speaking in verse 26, in the synagogue, perhaps after his message that there was this couple, remember this couple that we met in chapter 17 at the early part of chapter 18, Aquila and Priscilla,

they were tent makers. They would join the apostle Paul’s team on this missionary journey. They heard him, and what did they do? The Bible says they took him aside. and explained to him the way of God more accurately.

He was deficient in his full understanding of the fulfillment of Christ in the preaching and ministry of John the Baptist. Here’s what I want you to see is that the Apollos, no matter how mighty he was in the scriptures, no matter how dynamic and eloquent he was in his teaching and preaching of the word of God, he was humble enough and he was teachable enough for someone to come along and show him where he had erred,

where he had not fully understood. The Bible tells us in Proverbs 10, 17, he who keeps instructions is in the way of life, but he who refuses correction goes astray. Apollos sets an example for you and I to be teachable servants and believers.

There isn’t any of us that has it all figured out. The problem that you see with many Christians after many years of living for Christ, that they kind of become a little arrogant and no one can explain something, no one can teach them, no one can say anything to them.

But God is calling us to be not only teachable in our faith, but to be humble and to be lifelong learners, to never come to that point in your life that you feel like you have arrived, that you’ve figured out everything and there’s no way this next generation could tell you what to do.

No, my friends, let’s be open that God may be showing us things that will continue to help us in our walk with the Lord Jesus Christ. When we choose to be teachable, we are choosing that what is right is more important than always being right.

The most important thing you could learn today is to walk out of here and say, Lord, help me to be teachable. If there’s something that I maybe need more clarity on in the scriptures, or something I need to change in my life, or something that God wants me to do differently, that I would be teachable.

When was the last time you felt defensive and offended? Perhaps it was when your spouse made a suggestion to you about certain behaviors, or perhaps it was when a coworker or a supervisor offered some advice to you to help you be better.

How did you take it? Maybe someone in the family of the people of God made a recommendation to you to improve your spiritual life. Maybe an elder, a deacon, perhaps a Sunday school teacher, a pastor, pulled you aside and gave you encouragement on some good changes that would help you speak.

I’m telling you that through my life there have been great people who have made different comments to me and helped me to be a better person, a better Christian, a better father, a better husband, and yes I know it’s hard to believe but a better pastor and it’s because that I’ve always believed that God puts people in your life to help sharpen you for Him.

My advice to you church, be like Apollos, be a servant, and be teachable. Well serving God effectively is quite the challenge because you know we live in some unique times but we’re grateful. that God is faithful to us, and because He is faithful to us, then we can be faithful to Him.

So keep that in mind as you’re serving the Lord this year, as you strive to have a great year to honor the Lord Jesus Christ. This is Pastor Mike Sanders reminding you that in Christ there is hope worth having.

The post How to Serve Effectively for Christ Part 3 first appeared on Hope Worth Having.

Pastor Mike will be speaking on How to Serve Effectively for Christ Part 2. He will be reading out of Acts 18:1-11.

Opposition and rejection is not a sign from God that somehow you’re doing the wrong thing, but the opposition and the rejection that you experience is a reminder that you’re doing the right thing for God.

Hello, this is Pastor Mike Sanders with Hope Worth Having radio broadcast today. We are excited that you’re with us and you’re tuned in and today we’re gonna continue our study on Acts chapter 18 and we are continuing to learn about how to serve effectively for Christ.

We started this just before the holidays and now we’re gonna pick it back up so we want to learn and we want to grow and I hope you’re ready to take some notes as we learn together. This morning I want you to take your Bible and join me in the book of Acts chapter 18.

Acts chapter 18, if you’re a note-taker, is about serving, serving God, serving Christ. That’s why we’ve entitled the message how to serve effectively for Christ. We’re looking at the life of the Apostle.

I want you to remember that he is on his second missionary journey. We find him now in the city of Corinth and we have already covered the first four verses of this text talking about how to serve effectively.

We learned a few weeks ago that we first have to learn to connect with people and to help them grow in the Lord. God providentially would allow Paul and Aquila and Priscilla to connect together and Paul would use his influence to help them grow in their faith.

The second thing we learned a few weeks ago is that we need to commit to work extra when it is required. Now, the Apostle went into the city of Corinth with the ambition of planting a church. Led of the spirit and commissioned by God himself, he went into every community to make an impact for Christ.

And when he went into the city of Corinth, he was in need of some resources financially. And not wanting to be a burden to a newly planted church. He was willing to work, he was not ashamed to work, so that his needs would be taken care of, and that he would be able to sustain himself financially and not be a burden to the church.

We see that there laid out in verse 3. Then we come to verse 4, where we learned that the Apostle was ready to explain the gospel. Now, the Apostle’s strategy was very simple. When he would go into a new city…

he would go first to the Jews, and he would show up at a synagogue. And because of his credentials, often he was warmly welcomed into Jewish synagogues. And they would let him get up and share because of who he is.

And so the apostle would then get up and explain the redemptive plan of God. And how that from Abraham all the way to Jesus, that God was putting together a beautiful story of bringing people into a relationship with him.

And how that Jesus was that Messiah. He was that Christ. He was the one that they had been waiting for. That he was the one that the prophets had prophesied about. And that they needed to put their faith and their trust in the Lord for true salvation.

We pick up in verse four, the Bible says, that he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded both Jews and Greeks. He was ready to explain the gospel. If you’re gonna be an effective servant for God, you need to be ready.

You never know when your opportunity is coming. You need to not only understand the redemptive plan of God, but you need to understand how you can stair-step people to the cross. And how you can communicate that in a way that is understandable, that it’s relatable, and that people can respond and make a choice or a decision to receive Christ as their savior.

And that’s exactly what happened to the apostle Paul. I want you to pick up in verse five. The Bible says, when Silas and Timothy had come from Macedonia, Paul was compelled by the spirit. And he was testified to the Jews that Jesus is the Christ.

But when they opposed him and blasphemed him, he shook his garments and he said to them, let your blood be upon your own heads. I am clean. From now on, I will go to the Gentiles. and he departed and he entered the house of a certain man named Justice, 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. Now the Lord spoke to Paul in the night by a vision, Do not be afraid, but speak and do not keep silent, for I am with you, and no one will attack you to hurt you, for I have many people in this city, verse 11.

He continued there, that is in the city of Corinth, a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them. The fourth way to effectively serve Christ is to march on despite rejection. What I want to talk to you today is about dealing with this problem of rejection.

That as we are out there making the case for Christ, we have to be realistic. We have to have an understanding that there are going to be people who do not like us. But you got to remember that you’re not going to make everybody happy and not everybody’s going to like you.

And certainly when you stand up for Christ and speak up for Christ, not everybody is going to get all excited and come to church with you. I want you to know that. And this is more of a reality than it ever has been in our society.

And so how is it that we are going to be able to march on for Christ? I’m going to share that with you. But I want to give you a little bit of background to help you before we get straight into the application.

When we come to verse 5, here we find that Silas and Timothy came from Macedonia. They rejoined Paul. His team is coming back together. Now, when we walk through the apostle with his team, as he is on this second missionary journey, they’re going from city to city, strategic cities, in order that the gospel may go out far and wide.

And when they have planted a church, here was again the apostle’s strategy. He would go in, get this church established, get it going, and then he departed. He would leave his team to organize the church family.

And we see this throughout the Old Testament. We see it in the New Testament. That the apostle would leave his team behind and they would get the church established and set up in such a way that it could effectively make a difference for the gospel of Jesus Christ.

That is what is taking place. So when we come to verse 5, that team has completed their task and now they’re coming to Corinth and they’re rejoining the apostle. We see here, as we read in verse 5, that the apostle has as a burden, something that’s compelling him.

Again, we read in verse five, Silas and Timothy had come from Macedonia. Paul was compelled by the Spirit and testified to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ. Now, I’m reading from the New King James this morning.

Some of you are reading from other translations this morning and you’re saying to me, well, Pastor, I’m looking for that phrase compelled by the Spirit. We don’t see it. Some translations use this phrase as the idea of being constrained by the word or devoted to the word or compelled to the word.

Now, listen, we go back into the Greek. It’s the same Greek words, but the translation of how you might say it can be different. And so what they’re trying to say under the old English terminologies, again, the word.

pressed is in the King James. But the idea is simply there was this burden that the apostle had through the spirit and the word and he was devoted to the task of teaching the church at Corinth and this heavy burden was upon him and he was compelled and pressed and driven to get this church trained in the word of God.

Now we continue in verse six, having knowing what him and his team are doing in verse five. Verse six, we find that they were opposed. But when they opposed him, again, I understand and I’m not here to discredit any translation.

Okay, I’m not here to cause you confusion, but in the King James it says that they opposed themselves. Now that’s just an old English way of saying they opposed him. I know it sounds crazy, but that’s literally what it means today, that they opposed the apostle.

They were against the apostle. They were against him so much, not just that, hey, I don’t like what you’re saying, but this word opposed has the idea that they were organized to oppose him. They were vigorous and they planned how they were going to oppose the apostle.

They didn’t like what was going on in verse five. So in verse six, the Bible says, when they opposed him and blasphemed him, here’s what he said. Now these are the Jewish people in the synagogue. He shook his garments and said to them, your blood be upon your own heads.

I am claimed. From now on, I will go to the Gentiles. Now I know that we look at this and we say, wow. I mean, it looks like the apostle, he had had it, amen? I mean, he was done. These people, he had been trying to reach them with the gospel.

He’d been trying to help them to grow in their faith and to come to full knowledge of Christ and they keep opposing him. Remember, it’s not that they’re just organically opposing him, but they are. organized about it, and they have a strategy about how they’re opposing him, and he’s just like, okay, if you’re gonna be that involved in opposing me and teaching the gospel of Christ, and you’re gonna be that resistant to the message of Christ,

then he said, I’m done. Your blood be upon your own hands. You’re responsible. You’re accountable to God. I did everything I could to teach you the Bible. I am clean, the apostle says. From now on, I will go to the Gentiles.

We will come back to that, but I want you to remember this, that there’s always going to be opposition and rejection as you and I are trying to spread the message of the good news of Jesus. We should not be startled, nor should we retreat from what is before us when we are opposed.

The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 16, verse nine, that a great and effective door, the apostle said, has opened to me, and there are many. adversaries. Opposition and rejection is not a sign from God that somehow you’re doing the wrong thing, but the opposition and the rejection that you experience is a reminder that you’re doing the right thing for God.

Nobody’s going to be opposed to a message of prosperity, wealth, and health, but people are opposed to a message that you’re a sinner in need of a Savior, that you need to come to Christ and you need to confess your sin and you need to come clean with God and own your sin and make it right with God that Christ went to the cross and died for your sins.

That is a distinct gospel message that upsets people. Just go out there and tell people they’re sinners and they will start pushing back on you because all their life they were told how wonderful they are and then here comes the pastor, a Christian, somebody comes along and says you know you’re a sinner and you need to get saved.

They’re startled, they’re shocked, they would take it as a personal attack upon them and therefore they would define it as hate speech. But that doesn’t mean we give up, but just the opposite. We’re called to march on despite the rejection.

Remember that if you’re doing the work of Christ, Satan will sooner or later oppose you and he’ll use whatever means that he can to stop you from sharing the wonderful message that God loves us even though we are sinners and that God went to the cross and died for us, rose again the third day so that we could have a future with him.

So when the apostle in the midst of this conflict, he denounces the people by first shaking his raiment that is his clothes. He just shook them and it was kind of like a word picture for the people. It was an object lesson to them.

It was something that was used among the Jewish people to simply say, I’ve done everything that I can to lay the groundwork for your success, but I am done. It’s very similar to what Jesus taught us when he taught us in Matthew 10 verse 14, whoever will not receive you nor hear your words when you depart from the house or city, shake off the dust from your feet.

We see this in Acts chapter 13 in verse 51, that when Paul and Barnabas were in Antioch, again, the message of the gospel was rejected, and the Bible teaches us that they shook off the dust from their feet.

There are moments and times when we need to shake the dust off our feet. You say, pastor, do we give up on people? No, we don’t give up, but we do everything that we can, but we’re not going to beat them over the head with the gospel.

We’re not gonna pressure them to make a decision. We’re gonna do our responsibility, and that is that they understand that they’re a sinner in need of a savior. And if they keep pushing back and rejecting that gospel, then guess what?

We’re moving on. We’re shaking the dust off of our feet just as Jesus commanded us. He not only gave a demonstration of a word picture, but we see second of all that he pronounced damnation or judgment upon them.

Your blood be upon your own heads. It is a divine judgment that Paul is calling for here, that they have only themselves to blame, that they must own their choices, they must own their decisions, and that having God send an ambassador to them to help bring them salvation that they still would reject God, then he says, you know what?

Your blood’s not on my hands. Your blood is on your hand. The only way that blood could be on our hands if we didn’t faithfully share the message, if we didn’t have the courage to tell our friends and our neighbors and every stranger that crosses our path, if we didn’t have the courage to tell them how to be saved, then the blood would be on our hands.

But here we see that Paul is saying, I’ve done everything that I can to help you to respond to the gospel. The third statement that he makes is a declaration. I am claim. Paul was not evil. It’s not that the apostle was given an evil message.

He is letting those people know that are the enemies of the gospel that he is claim. In every age and every generation, and especially in our age, it is unfortunate that the world wants to take good and vilify it, that if you do good things, that somehow is considered evil, and they want to take good things.

They want to take evil and they want to celebrate it. And they want to make it something that you should do. And we live in these times and I don’t have time to reiterate, you know what I’m talking about.

The prophet Isaiah told us that there would be a time when people would say good is evil and evil is good. Can we say church that we are living in those times? Yes, we are. And so Paul is setting it right.

He is helping them to understand that evil is wrong and he is exonerating righteousness. He is celebrating righteousness and he’s saying, hey, I’m claim, I did my responsibility. Something I want you to remember that as a servant of God, that you are out there sharing Christ and you’re trying to help people know the message.

Here is your responsibility. And so many times Christians have gotten this all confused and distorted, therefore they become discouraged and not abounding in the work of Christ. But here it is, be obedient to the commission.

And what is it that Christ told us? That we were to take the gospel to Jerusalem, to Samaria, to the other most parts of the earth. My job is to be obedient. You are a success for God when you are obedient.

Success is not defined by how many people get saved. Success is not defined by how many people receive Christ. But success is defined in the eyes of God for you as a servant of God is whether you’re obedient to the call and the commission.

We love the book of Isaiah. We love that part in chapter six where he had this moment because of a tragedy in the nation where their king had died and Isaiah and the king were close friends, deeply connected to one another.

Isaiah was like a personal pastor to the king. He was a friend with the king. The Bible tells us in the year that Uzziah died, we find Isaiah prostrate before God in the temple at the altar. Weeping, grieving, devastated over the loss of his friend.

And the Bible tells us that Isaiah saw God high and lifted up. He saw him sitting on his throne in the moments of grief and the moments of despair in our hearts in the moments when we feel like everything that we have known to be true is pulled out from underneath our feet.

We need to see a sovereign God sitting on his throne. Isaiah sees this great vision of who God is and the Bible tells us that as he sees the righteousness of God and he sees the greatness of God that he himself is overwhelmed just how unrighteous and unholed.

he is. He pleads for God to touch him and forgive him. The Bible tells us that the angels touched him with a coal that was the ideal of purging his lips. Isaiah said, I am a man who’s undone. I am a man who has unclean lips.

Isaiah, it’s not that he was out there a rebel rouser, it’s just that as he saw how holy God is, he could not but help see just how unrighteous and unholy he was, and he’s like, man, I’m a man who has unclean lips.

And because of his emotional state, he said, I’m undone. I’m falling apart. I’m a mess. Every part of my body is falling apart. I am coming apart at the seams is the idea of the Hebrew word. And so God restores Isaiah.

You are familiar that Isaiah says, here am I. Send me. You and I are under the persuasion that Isaiah must have gone. to the deepest jungles and the farthest country, to share the wonderful message of God.

The truth is Isaiah went nowhere. He never left the temple. He never left the king’s court. He never left Jerusalem. It wasn’t that God wanted him to go to another place, but he just wanted to make sure that he was always available and obedient.

And God said to Isaiah, I’m gonna send you to a people who will not listen. I’m gonna send you to a people who will not understand your message. Isaiah was sent to his own people who were hard-headed, stubborn, and as the Old Testament likes to say, stiff necked, and they would not receive this message.

Was Isaiah a failure? No, he was not a failure. He was obedient to the calling that was upon him. Whether God sends you around the world or across the street, the importance is that you and I are obedient to God, that we are obedient to his calling and his mission upon us.

Now, when we come to verse six, the apostle says, I’m clean. And from now on, I will go to the Gentiles. Since the Jews did not wanna hear the gospel message, Paul was saying, I’m gonna go to the Gentiles.

We see this in Acts 13, verse 46. Then Paul and Barnabas grew bold and said it was necessary that the word of God should be spoken to you first, meaning the Jewish people. But since you reject it and you judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles.

What we see emerging in the book of Acts over and over again is the pattern of Acts 1.8, that you first go to Jerusalem, you first go to the Jews, and then you would go to Samaria, to the uttermost parts, and then you would go to the Gentiles.

This is… really interesting what we are seeing here in this text and what the apostle is saying. This has been the history of the Jewish race. Since the time of Christ they have not wanted the gospel.

They have not wanted to hear what the Bible says. They were more interested in their religion and their rabbis and their liturgical ways of doing religion than they were of having a relationship with God.

But when we come to Romans chapter 9, Romans chapter 10, Romans chapter 11, we see an amazing truth that is coming before us in that God would not only bring this message of the gospel to the Jewish people first, but that they would reject the gospel and that God would use the rejection of the Jews of the gospel to bring it to the Gentiles.

that Israel did not understand their great spiritual privileges, that they did not understand how they had been blessed to receive Jesus as the Messiah, and therefore they rejected Him, and this has now spilled over into the Gentiles.

That’s literally what’s happening in the whole book of Acts. But let’s talk about this. How do I march on when I try to win my children to Christ and they will not have anything of it? Now, number one, how do I march on?

Teamwork makes the dream work. Did you get that back in verse five? You see, the team is reunited. Silas and Timothy, Luke’s already there, they’re all coming back together. When the team rejoined Paul, it helped him.

You think about what would the Apostle been able to have accomplished by himself? I know that some of you are lone rangers, but I want you to know you were designed to be in community, and you’re designed to be on a team that gets the job done.

Whether it’s in the home, or it’s in the church, or it’s in the workplace, we all have to remember teamwork makes the dream work. We have to know our responsibilities, our roles, and we have to get that job done.

Now, there are five commitments of great teams. That is, number one, commit to give a hundred percent. You see, church, how is it that we’re going to be able to reach this community for Christ? How is it that we are going to be trained God’s people in the Word?

How are we going to establish people in their faith? How are we going to make disciples for the glory of God? It’s going to be teamwork. But when we’re all on the team, and we’re all working together, and we’re all giving a hundred percent, I’m telling you, God uses a team.

Number two, to help me have commitment for teamwork, I have to be committed to getting better. And what I’m saying to you, church, is it doesn’t matter what we did in the past. What about today? What are you doing to get better for God?

To be sharper for Christ? What is this church? It’s going to take all of us getting better. together. It’s about growing in our faith. It’s about being more mature. It’s about handling adversity. It’s about us being committed to excellence.

The third thing is we need to stay positive. Great teams are positive. Great teams are always filled with the hope of God. They are always seeing an opportunity here. That’s what I want you to know. I know it’s easy for you to curse the darkness and I know it’s easy for you to find fault with everybody out there, but I want to challenge you to see this moment of darkness is a great time to take the light of Christ to the darkness.

And the light always shines the brightest when it’s darkest. And so let’s take that light and let’s get the gospel message out. Number four, commit to the mission, the team’s mission. We have a mission church.

We don’t even have to get together and huddle together and talk about it for 24 hours because Jesus just cut to the chase and He told us our mission. He gave us the Great Commission. He told us that we’re to take the gospel to the ends of the earth, that we’re to be about making disciples for the glory of God, that we’re about reaching people, and we’re about teaching people, helping people to live obedient lives to God.

And whether there’s five of us or 500 of us, it doesn’t matter. This is our mission from our Savior. It just needs to be obeyed. Stay focused, church, on the mission. There are a lot of things out there that the devil is dangling before you to get you off mission.

And I’m telling you, these things aren’t bad or evil. They’re just not the best. And good can be the enemy of the best. So I wanna challenge you to stay on mission. Number five, teams, great teams, are committed to each other, the wellbeing of each other, the health of each other.

We gotta be committed to one another. You need to understand that a community of faith is not just about sitting and soaking. It’s not just about coming, listening, and learning, and leaving. It’s about I come in here, I hear God’s word, I learn God’s word, and I go out, and I apply God’s word.

I love others. I minister to others. I serve others. I help others. This makes a great team. This is what the apostle had. He had a great team of people who loved one another, served one another, ministered to one another.

We’re looking out for one another. This is how we march on church with one another. You go out there on your own, you won’t make it. You’ll be defeated. You will not abound in the work of God. You will be deflated, discouraged.

The Bible says two are better than one. And three is a strong cord that cannot be broken. So I wanna encourage you to do that. Now we’re learning how to march on. We said teamwork makes the dream work.

But here’s the second thing. You gotta have confidence in God’s plan. Go back to verse six. When the apostle faced this rejection, he said, I’m clean. From now on, I will go to the Gentiles. Why would he make such a statement like that?

because he knew and understood the redemptive plan of God. What was God doing? First taking the gospel to the Jewish people, and then it would spill over into the Gentiles. Paul did what God said, go to the Jewish people, and they said, no, we don’t want it.

He said, fine, I did what God said, and now I’m going to the Gentiles. I think one of the keys to serving God is just simply being faithful, and so I hope you’re making every effort to stay faithful to God and not be discouraged and not quit and not throw in the towel.

There’s many times we’ve all considered that, but let’s keep pushing through, and let’s keep honoring Jesus Christ. Let’s take the high road so we can go to the next level for God. This is Pastor Mike Sanders reminding you that in Christ there is hope, worth having.

The post How to Serve Effectively for Christ Part 2 first appeared on Hope Worth Having.

Pastor Mike will be speaking on Who Is He in Yonder Stall?. He will be reading out of Matthew 1:18-25.

When the Bible says that the Word became flesh, it is helping us to grasp. God has not left us, He has not abandoned us, He has not forsaken us, but rather He has come to this earth to bring us salvation and redemption and forgiveness.

This is Pastor Mike Sanders and we want to wish people a Merry Christmas. We’re coming up on Christmas and what a great time of the year as we celebrate the birth of our Savior. And today we’re going to be in Matthew chapter 1 verse 18 through 25.

So I want you to grab your Bible and join us as we study about the birth of Christ. I’ve entitled it, Who is He in Yonder Stahl? If you have your Bible this morning, I want you to join me in the Gospel of Matthew chapter 1, Matthew chapter 1 verse 18 through 25.

And I want us to talk about the Christmas story from the Gospel of Matthew. And I want us to think about there’s an old hymn that says, Who is He in Yonder Stahl? At whose feet the shepherds fall? It is that question and its answer that is so critical to each of our hearts.

It is critical and important to us because it determines our spiritual destination. Our answer to the question of understanding who is this Jesus that was sent to us in which we celebrate His birth. If we answer incorrectly, we definitely will miss our Messiah.

We can make mistakes about many things in life and still be a true believer and enter into heaven. But we cannot be wrong about who the baby is in the main. We understand him to be as the scriptures teach us, the God-man, 100% human and 100% divine.

Two complete natures combined in one person. I want us to begin to investigate that very truth as we consider who is he in yonder stall. The first thing that I want you to see is the virgin birth reveals the deity of Jesus.

Now look at verse 18 in the gospel of Matthew and note again what the scripture says. Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows. After his mother, Mary was betrothed to Joseph. Before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit.

The Bible says that Mary and Joseph were betrothed. Now we sometimes don’t understand that particular language because we live in a different culture. But in the times when Jesus Christ was born into this world, parents decided who you were going to marry.

But I want you to understand that Joseph and Mary, their marriage was arranged by their parents. And once that had been arranged and established, when the children would become teenagers, they went into a phase that they were betrothed together.

And what that meant is that they were kind of like engaged. It was a very serious commitment. And then the final step would be that they would be married together as husband and wife. This scripture says that Mary and Joseph were betrothed.

That would usually take about a year in a time span. And the family’s getting ready for this great marriage. But in the midst of that circumstance, the Bible tells us Mary was found with child of the Holy Spirit.

Now this created a great dilemma because there was really only two options as we consider this story about the virgin birth of Jesus. Either Mary was a virgin or she was not. And when we investigate the life of Mary, not only just in what the scriptures teach us, but what history teaches us, there is nothing that would indicate that Mary was ever unfaithful to Joseph.

And there was nothing that would ever indicate that Joseph was the type of man who would not take responsibility or that he would ever try to say, well, it’s not my child. Joseph was just the opposite.

He was a man of great integrity. He was a man of great character. And so if Mary had not ever been with Joseph or she had not ever been with any man, then the only option we have to understand is what Matthew declares under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit that Mary was a virgin.

The angel came to Mary. And in the gospel of Luke, declared to Mary that she was great with child and the Bible tells us that Mary began to question the angel how could this be and in Luke chapter 1 verse 35 the angel responded and said the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the highest will overshadow you therefore also that holy one who is to be born will be called the Son of God the Son of God again sometimes we read the scriptures and we Americanize it and we look at it from the context of our own culture but in the Hebrew language the reference to Son of God was a idiom it was kind of a phraseology if you will in reference to the substance of Jesus the very nature and so when the Bible says that Jesus is the Son of God it is literally saying Jesus has the very nature of God that He has the very substance of God,

that He is the very essence of God. When the angel declared to Mary that she has conceived in her womb by the power of the Holy Spirit, that she has conceived the Son of God, she understood it in this term, that God Himself was within her and that God Himself has come to this earth to bring salvation and redemption and forgiveness to all who believe in Jesus Christ.

And that is why she would break out later in the Gospel of Luke with great praise and honor and joy to her heavenly Father. The virgin birth reveals the deity of Jesus Christ. But I also want you to see that the angel’s words that were announced reveal Jesus’s deity.

We come back to our text in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter one, as Matthew is unfolding this incredible, amazing story of the birth of Jesus Christ. His purpose is that He would help His readers to see that Jesus truly is the King of Kings and He is the Lord of Lords.

He is already spent in verses one through 17. He has spent the time to help us to see the kingly or the royal, the Davidic heritage that Jesus had. And now He wants us to see that He is Jesus’s God through His birth and the angels have made an incredible announcement.

Look in verse 19, then Joseph, her husband, being a just man and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly. But while he thought about these things, behold an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream saying, Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary, your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of.

the Holy Spirit. Mary’s pregnancy truly crushed Joseph. The Bible says that he was a just man. We’ve already declared unto you that he was a man of integrity and character. He was devastated from a human perspective as to what was happening.

He was confused and could not truly grasp why it is that Mary would somehow be unfaithful to him. As he’s going through this process, the Bible says that an angel appeared to him and reminded him that what is conceived in Mary is of the Holy Spirit.

When you read that in the original language, it means literally it is out of the Holy Spirit. And so implying again, as we have already taught you, that Jesus is the very substance of God himself. And Joseph received this understanding.

and it began to grasp what was really happening, that a miraculous thing was appearing before them. John put it like this in the Gospel of John chapter one, verse 14, and the Word, which is Christ, was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

Again, the Word became flesh. Jesus has become flesh. Mary has conceived Jesus in her womb through the miracle of the Holy Spirit. And when the Bible says that the Word became flesh, it is helping us to grasp that God has now become touchable.

He has become approachable. He has become accessible, that God has not left us. He has not abandoned us. He has not forsaken us. He has not left us in our plight of our sinfulness and our selfishness, but rather, He has come to this earth to bring us salvation and redemption and forgiveness.

Can God’s people say amen? That’s what Christmas means, church. That’s what it’s all about. That’s what we can’t forget, and we have to make sure that we take this message of good tidings, this message of great joy, this message that a Savior has been born.

It is this message that we have to do well in communicating to our children and our grandchildren. We have to communicate it well to our neighbors, our family, our friends, and every person that God puts in our path that they cannot forget that it’s so much more than a present.

It’s so much more than a tree. It’s so much more than decorations. It’s so much more than getting together with family and friends. And all those things are wonderful, and we certainly don’t look down upon any of that.

But we cannot forget the real reason of the season, and that is we are here to celebrate the coming. the advent of a Savior who has not forgotten us, but He has remembered us and He is bringing salvation.

That’s what the angels’ words announced. The third thing that I want you to see this morning is that Jesus’ mission demands His deity. Again, look at verse 21. As we are going through the narrative of this Christmas story and the birth of our Savior, we see again that the angel continues and says to Joseph, and she shall bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name.

What church? Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins. The name Jesus means God saves. Jesus’ name and His mission reveal that He is truly God, that His deity is true. In algebra class, there was a formula that said, if A equals B and B equals C, then A equals C.

But what it means to us spiritually is this, that God saves, Jesus saves, and hence, Jesus is God. I want you to see that. Now you might ask the question, why must Jesus be God in order to save us? Why is that even necessary?

Well, here’s what I want you to understand, that all of us are sinners. The Bible teaches us that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. There’s not one of us that can stand up and say, I have never sinned against God.

And you say, well, I’m not worried about sinning against God. Well, let me ask you this. Have you even sinned against your own conscience? Have you even sinned against your own morality and your own mind that you have designed?

Whether the Bible has shaped your thoughts and your standards of what is right and wrong, certainly every person in their conscience understands what is right and wrong. And in normal society, there is a general conclusion of what is right and what is wrong.

And so the Bible teaches us that we have all sinned and we’ve all fallen short of the glory of God. And there’s no one that is perfect. We’re all selfish in some way. And the Bible says that the wages of sin is death.

A lot of people really don’t understand what death means. Death means separation. When your loved one dies, it is the separation of their soul and spirit from their body. That’s what death means. For the believer, we understand that the wages of sin is death, is that we are separated from God Almighty, we as an unbeliever.

But when we trust in Christ, we are separated to go be with God. We are separated from our body. Now the Bible teaches us that we are either going to heaven or we’re going to hell. And I want you to understand that there’s no in-between, there’s no, hey, I hope a bunch of people pray for me and light a candle for me and somehow help me to squeeze into heaven.

Because you see, friends, that’s not in. in the Bible. That’s not in the word of God. Those are things that are made up through traditions and thoughts of people who would like to think that somehow there is a different way.

But friends, there is only one way, and that one way is through Jesus Christ. The Bible teaches us that there is a punishment for our sin. Second Thessalonians 1.9 reminds us, for those who do not believe, they shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power.

The worst thing about hell is not just hell in and of itself. Jesus described hell as a place where there is weeping, and there is gnashing of teeth. Jesus described it as a place of great sorrow and sadness.

Jesus described hell as a place in which we will remember. We’ll remember every opportunity that we had to come to Jesus. every opportunity to receive Christ and His forgiveness in our life, every opportunity to believe in Him.

But friends, once you have been separated from your body, there is no chance for you to reverse course if you have not trusted Christ. And that’s why it’s so important. The birth of Jesus means so much to us because the penalty of sin is eternal that if our Savior was just a man that He could not eternally pay for our sin.

He would just have to continue to be offered up in His physical body. And there would be limitations to how much that sin could be paid for. And thus our sins would never be paid for. The Hebrew writer put it like this in talking about this same topic.

He said otherwise, referring to Christ, He would have needed to suffer often since the foundation of the world. But now, once at the consummation of the ages, He has been revealed to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.

Understanding the birth of Christ is best always understood in the shadow of the cross. For Jesus came to die. I know sometimes that’s hard for us to wrap our brain around. But Jesus Christ came into this world to die on the cross for your sins.

And for my sins. And because He was not only 100% man and 100% God, He was able to wipe away our sins forever and ever and ever. If you and I are to be saved, we have to have a Savior who can pay for our sins, but who can pay for it eternally without taking eternity to do it.

And that’s why it was essential that Jesus be born of a virgin and that the Spirit of God. would conceive within her the very substance and the essence of God in the very nature of God in Jesus Christ.

So that as he came into this world, he was 100% God and 100% man. The Bible declares God himself saying, I even I am the Lord. And besides me, there is no savior. It is only God himself who can save your soul.

It is only Jesus who can forgive you of your sins. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth and the life. And no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. You’re not gonna get to heaven by being religious. You’re not gonna get to heaven by being better than the other guy.

Some people are under the false understanding that somehow if they’re good outweighs their bad, they’re gonna be okay with God, that he’s got a heavenly scale up there and he’s weighing out our good and our bad.

But friends, I want you to know that no matter how much good you and I do, it would never be enough for us to enter into heaven. And the Bible says that our righteousness, meaning the best of Mike Sanders and the best of you, is like a filthy rag before God.

And he’s not just talking about that filthy rag that is sitting in the kitchen sink, but he’s talking about a filthy rag that the lepers used. And they would come to this place where different rags were laid out under the sun.

And they would take those rags and they would wipe their bodies, all the pus that was on their body spewing from their wounds. And rather than running it down to the laundromat, they laid it on the rock to dry out.

And the next leper would come and wipe their body down. If you had ever thought, hey, somehow maybe my righteousness is pretty incredible and maybe there’s something within me so good that I would be worthy to enter into heaven, this metaphor that God gives us that our righteousness is as filthy rags crushes that very thought and makes us to have to come to the understanding that the best of Mike Sanders falls miserably short of the righteousness of God.

Jesus said, unless your righteousness exceeds the Pharisees, you cannot enter into the kingdom of God. You and I, because many of us have been taught about the Pharisees, we think in terms of negativity, obviously, because they were very hypocritical and they were very prideful and condescending.

But in Jesus’s day, Pharisees were considered the best of the best. And so when Jesus made this bold declaration that unless your righteousness exceeds the Pharisees, you cannot enter into heaven. Again, it was shocking to his hearers.

Perhaps even as shocking as you might hear. If I were to say to you, unless your righteousness exceeds… exceeds the righteousness of Mother Teresa. Or perhaps I might say to you that if your righteousness does not exceed the righteousness of Billy Graham, you cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven.

You would think, man, Mike, those people did so much for society and they sacrificed so much for the poor and they did so much in telling others. How is it that you could say that? Because even the best of all of us, even the best in the cream of the crop of our own society, that unless our righteousness exceeds their righteousness, we cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven.

And that’s why Jesus came. And that’s why we celebrate Christmas. Because Jesus Christ came as the Son of God. 100% God, 100% man. He walked on this earth and he lived a sinless life. He obeyed every aspect of the law.

Different aspects of the law that you and I could never obey. He obeyed it in its minutest detail He fulfilled it all and then he offered himself up as a sacrifice for your sins and my sins He went to the cross to pay the penalty of sin for the wages of sin is what church death It is Jesus who died on the cross for you.

He took the punishment I like to put it like this He took the wrath of God for the sins of mankind So that you and I could take on his righteousness his grace his love his forgiveness And we could stand before God Almighty and we could be welcomed into our heavenly home Not because of our righteousness and not because of all the good that we have done and not because we’re more Religious than the other guy but because of what Christ did in coming to this earth living a sinless life and Dying on the cross for my sins and friends.

It is that mission It is that purpose that reminds me that Jesus truly is God the fourth thing that I want you to see this morning in our text is that Isaiah the prophet Predicts Jesus’s deity now when Matthew was writing this gospel under the inspiration of the spirit He was writing to a Jewish community and they would be very familiar with the Old Testament They would be very familiar with the prophets proclaiming the coming of a Messiah They would understand what is being said and what Matthew wants them to grasp is that Jesus is that?

Fulfillment of what the prophets spoke about so let’s look in verse 22 So all this was done what was done the birth of Jesus all of what has been spoken of relating to the virgin birth That he was conceived in the womb of Mary through the Holy Spirit.

So all this was done that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, Behold, the virgin shall be with a child and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel, which is translated God with us.

The Bible teaches us something very profound here, that the prophets had already spoken. They had already said this was going to happen. So what Matthew does is take them back to what the prophet Isaiah had said and more specifically what had been said in Isaiah chapter 7 and verse 14.

Now what were the circumstances in this verse? There were armies that were attacking the kingdom of Judah, and they were led by King Ahaz. And fear had gripped Ahaz as he began to realize that he was under attack.

and God instructed the prophet Isaiah to go to the king and to remind him that he had a responsibility to come to God and ask for a sign. But the king in his stubbornness and the king in his pride refused to look to God and to look to God for a sign of hope and help.

And so here’s what the sign. Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name. What church? Emmanuel, meaning God with us. Had the king been smart, he would have looked to God. It would be smart if our politicians would learn to look to God.

Amen. If they would seek God for a sign, if they would seek God for the help and the hope that is so desperately needed. But sometimes politicians are so full of themselves they can’t see beyond themselves because in the Old Testament they had the same problem and that they would have political leaders who were full of pride.

And yet Ahaz refused to look to God. And so Matthew explained, hey this sign is really Jesus himself. Isaiah 7 14 is fulfilled right now in what I’m telling you about the birth of Jesus Christ. We again see the prophet in Isaiah chapter 9 and verse 6 saying, for a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us, and the government will rest on his shoulders, and his name will be called Wonderful Counselor,

Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. Friends, in all of those titles of the names of Jesus is the answer to every dilemma in your heart. It is the fulfillment of every desire in your heart. life for Jesus Christ will satisfy all that you ever desired in your heart and in your mind and though the world is looking for peace and though people are looking for peace within their own families and they are looking for peace in their own hearts it is only found in this child named Jesus Christ and I want you to know that this is not only foretelling the birth of Christ but it is reminding us as we study deeper that one day Jesus is coming back and he is going to destroy all the enemies of God and all the governments that hate God and all the governments that want to kick God out and he will establish his own physical kingdom on this earth and we as believers will rule and reign with Jesus Christ It’s gonna be awesome,

church. It’s so mind-blowing and beyond what you could even really grasp. The Bible says as a believer that you will be a judge. But let me tell you, in the fullness of God’s time, he will bring everything to a culmination and the church will be raptured out of here.

And that the Bible says we will transition into a tribulation period, which is gonna be seven years. All the kingdoms of this world that have defied God will end up in a place called Israel. Isn’t it interesting how Israel is always in the headlines?

Isn’t it interesting how people and governments are always trying to figure out what to do with Israel? And how can we make peace with Israel? Isn’t it interesting that all the presidents of the United States have always desired to be the person who strikes a deal with Israel?

I’m not sure they should be so ambitious about that because Daniel tells us that after the rapture of the church, there’ll be the emergence of the Antichrist. And the Antichrist will strike a deal with Israel.

The Antichrist, and he will eventually, within three and a half years of this deal, he will demand that as he goes into the temple in Jerusalem, that everyone worship him as the true God. He will demand that they bow down before him.

And that’ll create great chaos that’ll trickle throughout the world, which will finally lead at the end of the seven year period to the Battle of Armageddon. And the Bible says that Jesus Christ will come to this earth with his saints and friends will be riding a white horse.

And so you better get your horse riding skills going right now, amen. But here we are. The Bible says the government will be upon his shoulders as he establishes his physical kingdom on the earth. It’s gonna be so beautiful church.

It’s gonna be so beautiful. marvelous and I want you to know where did it all begin? It began at the birth of Jesus and that was a sign for all of the world and more particularly a sign to you that God would not forsake his people.

There are few events that have been so transformative as the birth of Christ and I would say the birth of Christ has been the hallmark of all of history and it’s one of my favorite times of the year and how wonderful it is to know that you and I can have eternal life through Jesus Christ and I hope today that this Christmas will be your moment to truly receive Christ as your Savior.

We hope you have a great Christmas. This is Pastor Mike Sanders reminding you that in Christ there is hope worth having.

The post Who Is He in Yonder Stall? (Christmas Service) first appeared on Hope Worth Having.

Pastor Mike will be speaking on How to Serve Effectively for Christ Part 1. He will be reading out of Acts 18:1-5.

Jesus said, get to work now because there’s coming a day when you won’t be able to work. Jesus says, as I was sent by the Father, so send I you, Church, you are sent by Jesus. Get out there, use your hands, teach the young people to work, be effective.

This is our moment. This is our time. Hello, this is Pastor Mike Sanders from the Open Door Church where I serve as senior pastor and I am the host of Hope Worth Having Radio Ministry. We’re delighted that you’re with us and today we’re going to be in Acts chapter 18.

And we have been tracking through the book of Acts for quite some time, but I want us to be in chapter 18 today and I want us to learn how to serve effectively for Christ. So many times God’s servants are ineffective or they are anemic in their service for God.

Well, let’s look to Acts chapter 18 and learn how we can be more effective. If you have your Bibles this morning, I want you to join me in the book of Acts and we’re starting a new series on how to serve effectively and we’ll be studying through the book of Acts chapter 18 and learning how to serve effectively for Christ.

Now the Apostle Paul told the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 11 verse 1 to imitate me just as I also imitate Christ. Whenever we study the life of the Apostle, which the book of Acts so clearly focuses in on, not only his life, his ministry, and the accomplishments that God had used him for, we are reminded that God is calling us to learn from his example.

The Apostle encouraged believers to imitate him. It’s the Greek word of the idea of mimicking him. And so I pray that as we study the chapter 18 together, that we can see some things about the life of the Apostle that stand out as an example, a model for us as well.

we are studying God’s word together. Paul’s ministry in Corinth has many lessons for us as Christians. The Apostle has now left Athens in chapter 17. We learned about the Unknown God. We learned about this place that Paul took the Gospel to, and it was called Athens, and they worshipped many idols.

And there was this one idol that was entitled the Unknown God, and the Apostle took this occasion to teach us about the one true God, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He has now left Athens, and he has come to Corinth.

Look at verse 1 of chapter 18. After these things, Paul departed from Athens, and he went to Corinth. Corinth was a major stop for the Apostle Paul in his missionary trips, and it was about 40 miles from Athens.

It was located on the famous Ithamas of Greece, that section of land that is at the bottom, southernmost part of Greece, and Corinth was a very large metropolitan city, and they say that there was nearly a million people that lived in this city.

Now, Corinth was a great commercial center because of its great location by the sea, and it made it a good place for a lot of trading, but it was also a great place for sports. Corinth really was the center of sports, and athletes were very prominent and popular in Corinth.

That’s why when you read 1 and 2 Corinthians, you see the apostle using a lot of illustrations of Olympic athletes, because they were so revered in the community that he used that as a way to teach the gospel, to teach what it meant to live a faithful Christian life.

But there is one downside to this great city of Corinth. It was known for its immorality. There really were no guardrails in Corinth as far as a moral compass. It was a place where immorality was rampant.

People lived however they wanted to, and they were influenced by many heathenistic religious pagan religions that pretty much came up with their own moral codes, which were not much, but basically let people live out however they wanted to in the flesh.

So when we come to our text, we see the apostle is entering into this city, and his heart, his desire is to bring the gospel to them. So let’s pick up in verse two of chapter 18. The Bible says he found, referring to the apostle, 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.

Jews to depart from Rome and he came to them. So because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them and worked, for by occupation they were tent makers. And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath and persuaded both Jews and Greeks.

When Silas and Timothy had come from Macedonia, Paul was compelled by the Spirit and testified to the Jews that Jesus is the Christ. Now if we’re gonna look at the life of the Apostle and learn how to effectively serve Christ, I want you to see first of all that we need to connect with people and help them to grow in the Lord.

You see here in verse two the first mention of a great Christian couple in the Bible. Their name is Aquila and Priscilla. We learned later in the scriptures that they were mighty people for God. They were mighty in the scriptures.

We learned that they were very amicable and very friendly and hospitable to the apostle Paul because they had common ground and that is first that they were both Jewish. And so this couple received the apostle very well.

He was a Jew raised up in Judaism and he was a great leader in Judaism and he was looked upon as a rabbi, a teacher, someone who knew the Old Testament well. And so there was a great connection there.

We learned that Aquila was born in Pontus and that him and his wife had recently come to Corinth from Rome, Italy. Why? Because the emperor at the time said we want all the Jews out of Rome. There had been some factions of Judaism that had believed apart from Jesus Christ that there were other messiahs and they believed that other messiahs had come and they were causing a lot of havoc.

There were riots and there were problems in the empire. And so Claudius just said, hey, I’m done with these people and I want them out. So unfortunately, Aquila and Priscilla had to move out. Now they had already come to know the Lord Jesus as their savior.

How did they come to know Christ as their savior? It is possible in Acts chapter 2 that they were among the thousands of people that had received Christ under the preaching of the apostle Peter. Or perhaps when the church was persecuted in chapter 4, chapter 5, and chapter 8, we see that the gospel begins to spread out into regions beyond.

It is possible the gospel came to them and they trusted in Christ and they believed in the Lord. Either way, however it was, God had sovereignly brought them under the message of the gospel and they had believed in Jesus Christ and now even though the political rulers of the day thought that they were doing something to their political advantage we find that God providentially had Aquila and Priscilla to have to leave Rome end up in Corinth and bump in to the Apostle Paul and so this is a beautiful story and we realize God had put this together and you’ll note here in verse three that it says that he was of the same trade he stayed with them and worked for by occupation they were tent makers now every young Jewish boy had the responsibility of learning a trade even if they were studying to be a rabbi they still had to learn a trade it was just a requirement among the Jewish people They learned this trade.

And what was the trade that the Apostle learned? He was a tent maker. He worked with leather and cloth, and he made these tents for people to dwell in. And so, by God’s providence and God’s sovereignty, he brings them together in this task of tent making.

And we see that this couple was so hospitable to Paul in that he not only worked with them, but he stayed with them, we see in verse 3, and we recognize that they were very receptive to the Apostle Paul.

Now, I want you to also see that this couple was mighty in God’s word. Jump down to verse 26 of chapter 18. The Bible says, so he began to speak boldly in the synagogue. Apollos, in verse 24, he was a great teacher, but he began to speak boldly in the synagogue.

And when Aquila and Priscilla heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately. Now, how did this couple get to the point that they were mighty in the scriptures and that they were able to help the great eloquent preacher Apollos understand the way of God more accurately?

In essence, they were helping him to see that he no longer had to preach the baptism of John, which was the foreshadowing of the coming of Christ, but rather the baptism of the spirit that was to come for those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, how did they get to that point? Let me tell you how. The Apostle Paul, what a great servant he was because he connected with people and he helped them to grow in the Lord. That’s what he did. And I want you to remember these three things about connecting with people and helping them to grow.

That if you’re going to be an effective servant of God, you need to pursue godly worship. relationships. You need to pursue godly relationships. Now, here’s what I hear sometimes as a pastor. Well, I don’t feel connected to the church, or I don’t feel like we know anybody.

The church has great responsibility to be a friendly church, to be a church that provides ministries, programs, and opportunities for you to connect. But let me tell you something. If you don’t show up, what are we supposed to do?

You see, you can’t complain to me that you don’t have friends in the church when you don’t come to Sunday school, you don’t jump into a small group, you don’t jump into Bible studies, you don’t jump into different ministries, and you refuse to be active for God.

What we see in the life of the apostle is that he pursued godly relationships. He took the initiative, and he was intentional about his relationships. And yes, he popped into a new place called Corinth, and he popped into a new people, the people of Corinth, and God sovereignly is connecting him with people.

But here’s how God works. He works by you and I actively connecting, reaching, welcoming, reaching out to others. If you wanna be effective servant of God, you’ll never be able to do it alone. You’ll never be able to reach your optimum in Christ, you’ll never be able to max out for God, trying to live for God alone.

That’s why you have to pursue godly relationships, not only in the church, but in the community, in your family, and even at the workplace. That you’re gonna need that support, you’re gonna need that encouragement, you’re gonna need those relationships, because iron sharpens iron.

And we are called to sharpen each other for God. So here’s the question, who in your life is making you sharp for God? Who in your life is influencing you to be all that God wants you to be? Now, before you get upset about that, because you might say, well, nobody, remember this, here’s the other question, the flip side.

Who are you sharpening? Who are you influencing for God? Who are you stepping up to the plate and connecting with people? And I know some of you are gonna say, well, I’m bashful, pastor, I’m shy. I don’t really like to talk to people.

You’re putting a lid on your spiritual life. And you know, the Bible says that if you want friends, you must be friendly. I mean, you can’t walk into the church, sit down in your seat and not talk to anybody and wonder why nobody talked to you.

Now, I want you to know that as a pastor, behind the scenes, I’m training, I’m talking, I’m teaching, I’m telling people, don’t just come in and sit down, go around, shake hands, welcome people, make people feel, I’m teaching the leaders to step up and engage in conversations and relate to people and try to…

to help them to feel welcome. We have visiting guests all the time, but not just visiting guests. We have members in the church that need encouragement, they need prayer, they need support, and they need the blessing that fellowship brings to their life.

That only happens when God’s people take the initiative to be willing to connect with others. But the other thing I want you to learn is the servant of God must root believers in their faith. So we look at Aquila and Priscilla.

They’ve come to Christ and they’re forced out of their hometown and they have to go to Corinth. They end up in Corinth and they’re business people and they’re tent makers and the apostle gets connected with them and he’s working with them and he’s working for them and he’s making tents and he’s helping them to be a success, but not just financially, spiritually.

He’s investing in their life. He’s helping them to be rooted in the faith. He’s helping them to become stronger. How do we know this? Because we see the results of this relationship with the apostle in that they are not only growing in their relationship with God and growing in their relationship with the apostle, but they are out there helping other servants of God like Apollos to understand the transition from the Old Testament to John the Baptist,

now to the ministry of Christ that has been manifested and now that Christ has died on the cross, been resurrected, ascended into heaven, here is the new covenant that Christ has given us. Now friends, if you’re gonna be able to connect and help people grow, you got to know the Bible.

I know it’s shocking and I know it’s scary, but I want you to know that each of us need to be students of the Bible. We need to be mighty in the scriptures. We need to be the kind of people that not only can discern air when we hear it taught in different platforms or different speakers, but we also have the ability to guide and encourage other believers to be sound in their faith.

Remember the Berean believers? What were they doing? They were more noble than the Thessalonians. Why? Because they researched the scriptures to see if what the apostle taught lined up with the Bible and they wanted to make sure that his message was the message of Christ.

And so it is that each of us are called to connect and help others to grow. The servant of God pursues godly relationships, roots other believers in the faith, and hear this, the servant of God finds people and mentors them.

The servant of God finds people and mentors them. Aquila and Priscilla would go on to be stalwarts in the faith. In Romans chapter 16, the apostle refers to them. In 1 Corinthians chapter 16, he refers…

to them again, what are they doing? They are powerful influencers in the body of Christ, in the family of God. Why? Because they were mentored by the Apostle Paul. You say, well, how could I do that?

Well, that’s what I’m trying to say, is that as you get active in the church, as you get active in the children’s ministry, the youth ministry, as you get active in men’s ministry, women’s ministries, as you get active in different ministries, here’s what’s going to happen.

You are going to have the opportunity to influence others for Jesus Christ. But if you’re just a Sunday morning Christian, you just sit, you just come in and sit and just want to hear the message, go home and never think about it again, you’re going to limit the potential that Christ has in you.

And you’re going to limit what God wants to do in you and through you and yes, around you by staying active for the Lord. Now, I know that many of you say, well, Pastor, look, I got this going on and I got that.

Here’s the thing in life. You’re going to have to learn to downsize your life, and you’re going to have to learn to right size your life, and you’re going to have to learn to prioritize your life. That you can’t do everything in this world, but if you want to leave a mark for Christ, it must be a priority.

And whether you’re serving in the community, in the church, in the home, it must be something that must be very important to you that you are going to find time to do it. You’re going to make it work in your schedule.

And let me say that for some of you, it might be your children. Some of you moms need to understand that God has blessed you with these children to connect with them and to help them to know Christ and to grow in the Lord Jesus Christ.

I think about this often. If parents would be as dedicated to influencing their children for the gospel as they are in other ministries and trying to influence others for the gospel, what impact could happen upon the church?

And what impact could the church have as these young people are growing up in the faith, loving God, living for God, and they are touching their communities and their world and their friends for Jesus Christ?

That’s the way it works, church. You don’t have to go around the world and not opposed to it and to watch you if God is calling you to. But you know what? Your ministry might be right under your nose.

As one evangelist told me, I’ve reached the world with the gospel, but I haven’t even reached my own family. That’s a sad testimony, isn’t it? Let’s make it a priority to connect with people and to help them to grow in the Lord.

The second thing we see out of the life of the apostle is that he was committed to work extra whenever it was required. Look at verse two again. It says that he found a certain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius died.

had commanded all the Jews to depart from Rome, and he came to them. So he was of the same trade. He stayed with them. He worked, for by occupation they were tent makers. He came unto them. He began to build a relationship with them, and he began to work with them.

Here, this is the apostle, but he is laboring. In 1 Corinthians chapter 4, the apostle reminds the believers that we labor working with our own hand. In order for the apostle to have adequate support, to meet the needs of his own personal life, he engaged in a trade called tent making.

and whenever he would come into a new community rather than asking these new believers to support him as a minister of the gospel even though he had the right to do it according to 1 Corinthians 9, he chose not to because he wanted to support himself and he didn’t want these new believers to feel that he was some charlatan who was trying to take advantage of the people.

1 Thessalonians 2.9 Here the apostle says, you remember brethren our labor and toil for laboring night and day that we might not be a burden to any of you. We preach to you the gospel of God. He’s not talking about being a emotional burden.

He’s not talking about being a physical burden. He’s not talking about being a burden that he was an overbearing personality. He’s talking about a financial burden. I didn’t want to be a financial burden to this young new small community of believers and so I worked.

I labored with my own hands. The apostle points out to the thessalonians you remember how I labored. You remember how I toil. Paul did not hesitate to work with his hands in order to get the gospel out to people.

Again, Colossians 1.29 he says, to this end I also labor, striving according to his working which works in me mightily. The apostle saw his work as an act of worship. He saw it as a partnership with the heavenly father working in him and working through him.

He saw it as a means of ministry that his labor, his work, his toil, his effort, was all a part of the providential plan of God and that he was not looking for anyone to support him, but rather he wanted to be an example of laboring and doing in whatever it takes physically to make it work so that the gospel could go to more and more and more people.

Now, what’s that mean to us? Well, first of all, I want you to know that there is dignity in labor. Now, why this was so unique is that when we get to 2 Corinthians, the apostle is criticized for being a laborer.

He is criticized for being a man who works with his hands because the Greeks believed that it was beneath them to work with their hands, that they were so filled with wisdom and philosophy and education that only slaves would work with their hands.

And so they believed the apostle was not a true servant of God because he worked with his hands. But I want you to know the apostle steps up to the plate in a profound way, not only in what he taught, but how he lived and he said a servant of God is not afraid to labor for God, is not afraid to work for God.

God is not afraid to use their hands for God. Now we as believers need to remember that there is dignity in work. It’s unfortunate that in our society there’s no shame in being lazy. That people actually admire others who are lazy and are not out there working.

But friends we need to once again in the family of God, whether our culture comes along or not, we need to recapture this great dignity of working. Helping our children and our grandchildren understand that we as well will set the example, but we believe as God’s people that we’re not to be a lazy people, we’re not to just sit back and expect everybody to take care of us, to ask the government to take care of us,

to ask the church to take care of us, but rather we get out there and we use our hands and we use them for the glory of God. Now this mindset is slipping away in our culture, but it doesn’t have to slip away in the church.

It doesn’t have to be true among the believers. We recognize that there are those who are in need and we recognize there needs to be a safety net for those who are incapable. But my friends if you got some blood flowing through you and you got some ability in you, let’s get out there and let’s go make something happen for God, amen?

Now hear me. The Thessalonians, having heard the Apostle teach that God was going to return one day, they decided they would just camp out on the mountain and they would wait for his return. And here’s what the Apostle Paul said, if you don’t work, you don’t eat.

How about that one? Now that would send shock waves through 50% of Americans. And you think I’m kidding but I’m not. I want you to teach your children to be workers. It starts in the home. It starts when they’re little.

I want to encourage you as parents and grandparents and believers to teach the younger generation There’s nothing wrong with working with your hand. Not every child should go to college. We need some more plumbers.

We need more electricians. We need more welders. And I wanna tell you, if you wanna be an effective servant for God, you must be willing. And you must see the great dignity of working and the value of it, and God uses us at our work.

Remember what we are promised in 1 Corinthians 15, verse 58. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.

We interpret that in relating to our spiritual ministry and our spiritual work, rightly so, but I wanna tell you that its application is even broader and that every work you’re doing at your job, at your role, your responsibility, whatever it is, keep abounding for God.

Keep letting God use you. You say, why am I at this job? I hate this place. I can’t stand these people. And I just can’t take it anymore. Have you ever thought that God has you there for a reason? That God wants to use you to bump into an Aquila and a Priscilla to disciple them in Christ?

Have you ever thought that God might have you to come in contact with someone because he wants you to reach them? Oh, I tell you this morning that God approves our labor. And God affirms those who labor for him and labor tirelessly for him.

Jesus said in John 9.4, we must work the works of him who sent me while it is day. Night is coming when no one can work. Friends, there’s a day coming when we cannot work, but that day ain’t now. And it’s time for the church to rise up and be a powerful workforce in this community, to be the best workers in this community, to be the best citizens and being the best models, the best servants of God.

And we may not always like our boss and we may not always agree with our boss. And we may think sometimes that our boss has gone crazy, but we work for someone higher. And that is the Lord Jesus Christ.

We work, the Bible says, as unto the Lord. And Jesus said, get to work now because there’s coming a day when you won’t be able to work. And the night is coming, Jesus says, as I was sent by the Father, so send I you church, you are sent by Jesus.

Get out there, use your hands, teach the young people to work, be effective. This is our moment, this is our time. So many have dropped out of the workforce. So many are no longer working. This is the time for the church to rise up and to infiltrate all these jobs and fill them with believers and followers of Christ and make an influence for Jesus.

Don’t cry about the problem, do something about the problem, step up and be a solution to the problem. And serve Jesus Christ. I know, there’s a lot to consider. but I want to ask you a question. Why do you have the job you have?

You say, well, I want a new Corvette, or I want a new house, or I want this. Nothing wrong with those things. But let me tell you the real reason you have a job, to glorify God, to reach others for Jesus.

The third thing, how can I be an effective servant for God? Be ready to explain the gospel. We come down to verse four and five. The Bible says he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath. He persuaded both Jews and Greeks.

When Silas and Timothy had come from Macedonia, Paul was compelled by the Spirit and testified of the Jews that Jesus is the Christ. Well, it’s never easy to serve the Lord. And as we serve God, there’s going to be pushback, opposition.

There’s going to be trials. But we’ve got to stay focused. And that’s what we see in the life of the apostle. Even though he faced adversity, he just would not quit. And so we’re excited about the opportunity we have to serve the Lord, even in difficult times.

And so I’m praying that the Lord will bless you with his wisdom and that as you look at the example of the apostle, that you can make an impact for Christ. This is Pastor Mike Sanders reminding you that in Christ there is hope worth having.

The post How to Serve Effectively for Christ Part 1 first appeared on Hope Worth Having.

Pastor Mike will be speaking on Introducing the Unknown God Part 2. He will be reading out of Acts 17:15-34.

How could we say, God bless America? What we need to say is, Lord, send a revival to America. Lord, change the hearts of your people. Lord, help us to repent and believe in you. That’s what we really need to pray.

Are you ready? This is Hope Worth Having, and this is Pastor Mike Sanders, and we’re looking forward to sharing our hope that we have in Christ with you today. And I want you to take your Bible and turn to Acts chapter 17.

We’re continuing our series on introducing the Unknown God. So let’s grab a pen, let’s grab a piece of paper, and let’s start taking notes as we learn together. And you and I will believe the craziest stories that aren’t even close to reality.

And if just one person tells us with no other witness, we’ll believe hearsay, we’ll believe anything just because we like to hear something that’s juicy. But the evidence? Well, we can’t believe that.

But Jesus revealed Himself. He is the resurrected Christ ascended into heaven at the right hand of the Father interceding for each one of us today. And He is coming back and friends, He told us it’s going to get worse before it gets better.

And if you haven’t seen the worst, I’m telling you, it’s unveiling itself each and every day in our crazy world that we live in. And we got to know that these are the signs of the times, and we cannot be ignorant to these times.

And we recognize that it won’t be long before Jesus comes, for He has revealed Himself to us, because He is the all-wise Creator. But I want to tell you the greatest creation. The greatest creation is God creates each and every one of us to be a new creation.

I was mentioning this in Sunday School. You and I are created in the image of God. Doesn’t matter who we are. We’re all created in the image of God, but sin has marred that image. And what has Christ done?

He has come as the second Adam, and he is restoring through the power of the Spirit all those who believe in Him. The image of God is being restored in us in its perfection step-by-step in a process.

God is redeeming each of our hearts till that final culmination where we stand before God, completely healed, completely restored, and we are standing in His presence, worshiping Him throughout all of eternity.

Can God’s people say amen? I mean just wake up, but the Bible says if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. All things have passed away, and behold all things have become new. That’s the power of the creation of God, not only in that He is creating within us, He is restoring His image within us, that we are redeemed believers in Christ.

But the Bible teaches us in Ephesians 2.10 that we are His workmanship. We are His masterpieces created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them. You see, not only has Christ created you to save your soul, but He has created you to serve Him, that you may be fully engaged, active in the work of God, making an impact for Christ, and being that light and that salt in this world.

Some of you might feel, well, look, there’s not much to me, Mike, but I want to assure you that there is much to you because you’re a masterpiece of God. And all of our talents are different and at different levels, but let us all be assured and let us all be encouraged that we are a masterpiece of God and He has gifted us so that we can make a difference for Him.

Every day of our life should be dedicated to our Creator, who created us with our gifts, our abilities, our personalities. He created us that we might be used by Him for His glory. How are you manifesting God’s good work in your heart?

How are you manifesting this creative work in you that God has accomplished? How are you making that a reality in the home, in the church, and in the workplace? How are you making that real today? The second thing we’ll see is that the Apostle teaches that the true God is the omnipresent God.

Go back to verse 24. At the end, he says he is the Lord of heaven and earth. does not dwell in temples made with hands, nor is he worshiped with men’s hands as though he needed anything since he gives to all life, breath, and all things.

He is teaching us here that God is omnipresent, meaning that God is everywhere at the same time. Now this is something that those who embrace idolatry fully could not comprehend because their idols, their gods were limited to whatever they created.

And not only were they limited to these structures and statues that they had created, but that they were created by human hands. But our God is certainly above and beyond all the created hands, all the things of this world.

He is King of kings, Lord of lords, and he is everywhere at the same time. Now you may ask the question, where is God? Where is God, Pastor, when I am hurting? And where is God when I am struggling? I want you to take your Bible, go back to Jeremiah in the Old Testament.

Just go back there real quickly. Jeremiah chapter 23, I just want to read a couple verses to you. Jeremiah 23, chapter 23, verse 23. Go ahead, it’s good to be in the God’s Word together, church. Jeremiah 23, verse 23.

Am I a God near at hand, says the Lord? And not a God far off? It’s a question. Can anyone hide himself in secret places? So I shall not see him, says the Lord. Do I not feel heaven and earth, says the Lord?

What he is trying to do is take us through this process of understanding that he is a God who is near, and he is a God who is at hand. He is a God who is manifesting himself all the time, and his presence is near, and it is dear to you.

He is right beside you no matter where you are. It is a double-edged sword. It is the reminder that there are certain places we should not go, and there are certain things we should not look at, and there are certain things that we should not be involved in, because the presence of God is there.

Because wherever we go, we are his temple. He is residing in us as believers, but we must recognize that the Lord is watching. But it is also a great comfort to us to know that when we are lonely, our God is our companion, that he is there with us.

God is all over the place. He is everywhere. He is an omnipresent God. The psalmist said, turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely, afflicted. You may identify with the words of the psalmist.

That’s why so many people love the book of Psalms because there is the expression of our hearts that are made clear and directed towards God in prayers and hopes and dreams and even as the psalmist is not only dealing with loneliness, he deals with anger, he deals with every emotion that the human heart can go through and we relate to that and we see that the psalmist keeps bringing us back, that our hope is not in this world,

our hope is not in religion, our hope is not in the things of gaining wealth or materialism, but our hope is in the Lord Jesus Christ. Can God’s people say amen? Now friends, I want you to know God is with you.

I want you to be assured that even though our world has more people than it ever has, did you hear? We’re breaking eight billion in population. And yet it’s so unfortunate that people are less connected than they have ever been.

People are more lonely than they have ever been. They are struggling. So what do you do when you experience these moments of loneliness in your heart? Is there anything that you can do? I would encourage you to welcome and embrace God’s presence in your life.

To be assured based on what you know and not what you feel that He is your companion. Look at verse 27 of Acts chapter 17. So that they should seek the Lord in the hope that they might broke for Him and find Him though He is not far from each one of us.

He’s not far from each one of us. Seek Him today. You seek Him by certainly prayer. You are struggling with loneliness. Get on your knees and seek God. You want to experience the manifested presence of God, the sense of His presence in your life that I wanna encourage you to get into the Word of God.

Open your Bible, start reading your Bible. God is speaking to you. The third way you can manifest the presence of God, believe it or not, is through the fellowship of the believers. Do not get disconnected from the family of God.

We are the body of Christ. We are the hands and the feet of the Lord and we are called to manifest His presence. Do not walk through the journey of life and the struggles of life isolated from others, but rather stay connected to God’s people.

Let them minister to you. Let them encourage you. Let them bear one another’s burdens. Can God people say amen? I know you’re tired of me saying that, but. trying to wake you up. But I want you to know God has not called us to live alone, isolated, disconnected.

And so we need the family of God. We need the people of God. And you say, well, there’s some people, Pastor, I don’t like. Okay. Don’t worry. It doesn’t change anything. God’s people are different from top to bottom.

Be glad you’re not the pastor. God is near. And Jesus gave us a promise, I will never leave you. I will never forsake you. God is there. And I want you to be encouraged. The third thing that the apostle introduces the unknown God as the true God is that He is the all-sufficient sustainer.

Look at verse 25. Nor is he worshiped with men’s hands as though he needed anything. Since he gives to all life, breath, and all things, God is self-sufficient. All sufficiency resides in God. He needs nothing.

There may be some who think that the Lord is very fortunate to have them, but I want you to know that’s not how it works, friends. We are blessed to have the Lord. And he doesn’t need us, but out of his great kindness and out of his great love and out of his great mercy, he bestows grace upon us.

He redeems us, saves our souls, and he brings us into the family of God, the eternal family of God that’s gonna live forever with him. But he is the all-sufficient sustainer. He is the one that provides all that we need.

The Scriptures teach us in Romans, chapter 11, from him and through him, and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen. Jesus is the source of life. He’s not only the source of physical life, he is the source of spiritual life.

He is the sustainer of life. How are you gonna make it through the journey? How are you gonna be able to navigate through the challenges and the problems and the struggles in life? It’s gonna be through the sustaining hand of our Savior.

That’s why we are called to come to him and to cry out to him and to pray to him to help us. So many people are trying it on their own. They’re trying to live their life without God. And let me tell you this, if you wanna make a mess of your life, just try to do it on your own.

And what you’ll find, it’s a dead end, it’s a crash and burn, and that all these pleasures of the world, they only last for a season. and then it all fades away the first and the most important relationship in your life is with Jesus you know so many people want to know the bottom line of the Bible and here it is love God with all your heart with all your soul with all your mind with all your strength and to love your neighbor as you love yourself and that simply means that God is calling us to love Him and to love people and if you and I would live by that model every day of our life you would see a tremendous change not only in your heart but in the hearts of others that needs to be the priority in our life I want you to note that He also teaches us that the true God is the providential Father we look at verse 26 he is made From one blood,

every nation of men, to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their pre-appointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings. Look at verse 28, for in him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, for we are also his offspring.

What I want you to see is that our God is providential. He is a sovereign God. When I use that word sovereign, I’m not trying to use big words, I’m just trying to help you understand that God is in charge, God is in control.

Some of you are frantic about things that you see unfolding in your personal life, or maybe in the world, but I want you to be assured that you have a God who’s in control, and we know the end of the story, get to the book of Revelation, we know how it all wraps up, and so why are we worried?

Why are we full of anxiety? Why are we living in fear? Because God has a purpose, and God has a plan, and he is at work, and he is a God who knows and loves each and every one of us. Did you know that there’s not a person on this planet that God does not love?

Did you see that in the text? I want you to go back again. I want you to see in verse 26 that he is made, he has made from one blood every nation or every ethnicity of men to dwell on the face of the earth.

Jump down to verse 28 at the end of the verse, for we are also his offspring, every one of us. God loves, God created, and God is drawing to him. Now listen, I want to help you out. The world wants to define us by race.

The world wants to define us by our skin color, they want to divide us but God says there’s only one race, that’s the human race. And God says we’re all his offspring. Do you understand that? That everyone comes from God’s creation Adam.

And friends we got to be careful that we don’t let the world and the devil and the flesh be used to divide us as brothers and sisters in Christ. And I want to encourage you that as you’re raising your children help them understand that we’re called not to be derogatory, we’re not called to be hateful, and we’re not to demean people because we recognize that every person is created in the image of God.

Every person is created in the image of God and we are to value that and to degrade a person for any particular reason is an attack upon the very image of God. And so that’s what needs to be understood is day after day, the world is trying to pump into you voices that try to pit you against someone else and divide you.

And that’s why there’s so much division in this nation. But if we would be united under the banner of our Lord and savior, Jesus Christ, if we would love one another and believe that we’re all created in the image of God and no matter our ethnicity, no matter our education, no matter our family heritage or background, and no matter where we come, what we’ve done, we are all one in Jesus Christ and God does not distinguish it’s only man that distinguishes in this world.

Yes, though God calls us to understand this great providence that He has given us. Did you see that in verse 26? Has determined their pre-appointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings. I know that some of you are wondering why in the world were you born in the 21st century or the 20th century?

Some of you feel like you were born before your time or after your time. Some of you are not even sure what time it is. But God has you and not only does He have you here at the right time, but He has you in the right family.

And you’re saying, man, have you met some of my family pastor? Hey, listen to me, friends. God has a reason. God has a reason and He’s using you to be a light and a positive influence to that family.

Do you understand that? There are people who get off track. There are people who are like, oh, buddy, we’re not sure. But you know what? God wants to use you. And I want you to know that in his providence, he has a wonderful plan.

Now, I want you to also see that the true God is the all-powerful ruler. Verse 26, he determined the times and set for them that they should live. And I want you to know that his unlimited power is working effectively in our hearts, and he’s giving us the hope of the victory that is only found in Christ.

Here’s what I want you to know, is that we not only have a providential father, but we have an all-powerful father. An all-powerful father. God has not called you to walk around like a victim. God hasn’t called you to walk around with your head down.

God hasn’t called you. to be a person who is, woe is me, poor me. Lord, just go ahead, take me out, man, I’m just having a miserable time. No, the Lord wants you to know that you have victory in the Lord Jesus Christ.

His power was demonstrated on the cross and through the resurrection, you are part of the family of God. You are a believer in Christ. Head up and walk in victory. Quit acting like a loser in this world and step up to the plate and be the person that God has called you to be.

And to live in this victory, do not buy in. Again, the world wants you to be a victim. Politicians want you to be a victim. The reason they want you to be a victim is so they can control you, so they can manipulate you.

But when you walk in the power of Christ, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. There are challenges before us. There are new chapters in our life. There are new seasons in our life.

There are new opportunities in our life. But you have victory in Jesus Christ. Here’s the thing, Christ already won the victory for you. When he went to the cross, he not only won the victory over sin, but he won the victory over Satan.

And he won the victory over death. And he won the victory over demons. And he won the victory over diseases. And so in him, we have victory in Jesus Christ and we celebrate that victory and we live out that victory.

And we refuse to be a people who lack joy, peace, and hope. Think about that. The world’s hope is a dying hope, but the hope of the believer is a thriving, growing hope because of what Christ has done for us.

Two more points here real quick and I’ll be real fast. The true God is the all righteous judge. Look at verse 30. Verse 30, surely these times of ignorance got overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, because he has appointed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by the man, referring to Christ, whom he has ordained.

He has given assurance of this to all by raising him from the dead. Friends, we need to understand that we have a righteous judge, that God is our righteous judge. Now you might say, how can God send judgment upon me?

God judges sin. I want you to know that. People say, what’s wrong with America? Friends, I’m telling you that America is so far from God. How could God ever bless America? When all the crazies we see going on, and the things we read about, and the things we see in the news, how could we say, God bless America?

What we need to say is, Lord, send a revival to America. Lord, change the hearts of your people. Lord, help us to repent and believe in you. That’s what we really need to pray. Some of you are not too sure about that, but the Bible says in 1 Peter 4.17, for the time has come that judgment must begin at the house of God.

Now I want you to understand, I don’t want you to walk out of here afraid of God, but I want you to know God judges sin. There is a healthy fear of God that we recognize how great and awesome he is, and we desire to obey him and to live according to his perfect plan.

But as a believer, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. We are not under the judgment of God because Christ took our judgment on the cross. And therefore we live in the victory that is found in Jesus Christ, but those who do not believe in Christ, they are under the judgment of God and they need to come to God and they need to believe in Christ because in that moment, that’s when the judgment is lifted off of them and they can walk in peace.

But I want you to be assured that as the judge of this world, God will bring justice. There’ll never be true justice in this world, no matter how hard we try, no matter how many laws we have, no matter how many politicians who promise it, they’ll never be true justice until Jesus comes back.

Final point, and all God’s people said, I want you to know that the true God is all-sufficient Savior. Look at verse 27. He’s the all-sufficient Savior so that they should seek the Lord in the hope. And then he tells us that we are to find him because he is not far from us.

I want you to see in verse 28, Paul quotes a poet. who says, in Him, referring to Christ, we have our being. In Him we live and we move. Friends, Jesus is the Savior. Look at verse 32, and when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, He taught them about the resurrection.

He taught them about salvation. He taught them about Christ. What was their response? They mocked. While others said, we’ll hear you again on this matter, but we’ll do it later is what they’re saying.

But however, look at verse 34, some men joined Him and believe. Jesus is the Savior of the world. He is the all-sufficient Savior. And the question is, what will be your response? You only have three.

You can say, well, I’m going to make fun of it. I think it’s silly. I don’t believe it. Or you can say, you know what, I’ll hear about it later. Right now, I want to live my life like I want to. I’ll just delay it, and then I’ll make a decision for God.

But you’re not promised tomorrow. You’re not promised another moment. You just come spend a week with Pastor Mike and the things that I deal with and the people who were here today and then tomorrow they’re gone.

And then you’ll understand the brevity of life. And that’s why God calls us all today to believe. All today to put our trust in Christ. All today, instead of worshiping the false gods and the false idols of this world, put our full trust and confidence in Jesus Christ as our Lord and our Savior.

You see, I’m not worshiping any image, Mike. I’m not an idol worshipper. Let me tell you something. Idolatry is anything you put before God. It could be people. It could be sports. It could be good things in your life.

But if you put them before God, you are an idol worshipper. And what Jesus wants to be is number one in your life. And I pray today that you will meet this new unknown God, the true God who is not a part of the gods of this world.

And he is the God who will save your soul. Like most Americans, the Athenians acknowledged that there was an existence of some kind of a supernatural power or even a force, but they had never, ever truly believed in the Lord Jesus Christ.

So the apostle in this passage takes the opportunity to springboard from their statue of an unknown God and introduce to them the one true God that is found in Jesus Christ. And what a great strategy for us to use the things of our culture and some of the belief systems to kind of lead people.

to a true faith in Jesus Christ. The Apostle sets the example for us on how to introduce a true God to a culture that doesn’t even know God. Now, there’s a lot of people say they believe in God, but do they believe in Jesus Christ?

Do they believe in the one true God? Well, that’s hard to know, but we certainly need to reach out. I do know that if more people believed in God, our country would definitely be different, isn’t that right?

But we know that there’s much trouble in our country, so we need to really look to the Lord during this time. I want you to know that Hope Worth Having, we’re on Facebook, social media, we’re out there.

We encourage you to check out our Facebook page, and that’s Hope Worth Having, like us, and keep up with things that are going on and how the Lord is working, and we’re continually putting things out there that I know will be a blessing to you.

This is Pastor Mike Sanders reminding you that in Christ, there is hope worth having.

The post Introducing the Unknown God Part 2 first appeared on Hope Worth Having.

Pastor Mike will be speaking on Introducing the Unknown God Part 1. He will be reading out of Acts 17:15-34.

And we know the end of the story, get to the book of Revelation, we know how it all wraps up, and so why are we worried? Because God has a purpose, and God has a plan, and He is a God who knows and loves each and every one of us.

Hello, this is Pastor Mike Sanders, and I’m delighted to welcome you to the Hope Worth Having radio program this week. We’re going to be diving into the book of Acts chapter 17 this morning, verse 15 through 34, and we’re going to be learning about the Unknown God.

The Apostle takes time to introduce us to the Unknown God and uses this as a platform to share Christ and to share His truth about salvation. So I want you to get your Bible and join me in Acts chapter 17 as we begin.

I’ve entitled my message introducing the Unknown God. We have been tracking the Apostle Paul and his missionary team on their second missionary journey, which was launched in Acts chapter 15 and the latter part, and we know that the Apostle that he went to the Philippi, and there he was beaten, he was in prison, and we know that the great jeller, he received Christ, his whole family came to God, and they were baptized,

and a church was planted. We know that the Apostle has been to Thessalonica, and he is as well. He has dealt with opposition, but there was much opportunity, and before he was forced to leave, he was able to plant a church in Thessalonica.

Now he has been forced to leave Berea. You may remember that the Bereans were considered to be more noble than the Thessalonians. And that is in the sense that they really were students of the Bible and they asked questions and everything that the apostle taught, they made sure that it aligned with God’s word.

And so the Bereans stand as a model for us. But having left Berea, now the apostle is heading to Athens. We pick up in verse 15 and the Bible says, so those who conducted Paul brought him to Athens and receiving a command for Silas and Timothy to come to him with all speed, they departed.

Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him when he saw that the city was given over to idols. Therefore, He reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and with the Gentile worshipers and in the marketplace daily with those who happened to be there.

Then certain Epicurean and stoic philosophers encountered Him. And some said, what does this babbler want to say? Others said, He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign gods because He preached to them Jesus and the resurrection.

And they took Him and brought Him to the Arabagus saying, may we know what this new doctrine is of which you speak? For you are bringing some strange things to our ears. Therefore, we want to know what these things mean.

For all the Athenians and the foreigners who were there spent their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new thing. Then Paul stood in the midst of the Arabagus, which is just a assembly of people, and said, men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious.

For as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription to the unknown God. Therefore, the one whom you worship without knowing Him, I proclaim to you.

This morning as we study this text, I want to as well proclaim to you and introduce to you the unknown God that the apostle proclaimed in the city of Athens. The city of Athens was a Greek culture, and the city was known as the religious, intellectual, and philosophical center of the Roman Empire.

And of course, we know that they had many gods. The Bible tells us in verse 16, there was a plethora of idols that were in this city. And just in case they might’ve missed some god, the Athenians decided that they would put up an idol that was dedicated to the unknown god, the god that they may not even be aware of, or the god that they may have overlooked and somehow did not worship, but they just wanted to make sure all of their worship and all of their idolatry and all that they were doing was covered and that the bases were taken care of.

Now in verse 18, we’re introduced to two different philosophical groups of people, the Epicureans and the Stoics. The Epicureans always sought to avoid any kind of pain in life and they were pleasure seekers.

kind of just eat, drink, and be merry, and do whatever you want, because the world has happened by chance, and there is no consequences to your actions, so just live it up. Now the Stoics were just the opposite.

Sometimes people may refer to other individuals as being very stoic, meaning they’re not very expressive, or maybe that they are very disciplined people. That’s exactly what the Stoics were. They advocated self-denial.

They embraced pantheism, which is simply believing that God exists in everything, and God exists in everyone. So these two philosophies dominated the community and the culture of that day, and they were taken aback by this message of the Apostle, for he was teaching about Jesus Christ, and he was teaching that Jesus Christ went to a cross, and he died for our sins, and that he was resurrected three days,

and he will soon come back for his people. So they were intrigued because, having nothing to do, they gathered in these large gatherings, and they would sit there and pontificate and babble, or maybe just kind of go on and on about nothing, or maybe their philosophies, and there were always those who were inquiring, looking for something new, a new philosophy, a new thought, a new idea that they could somehow embrace or follow.

Why? Because their idolatry had kind of left them in a dead end, and they had a sense of meaninglessness, and there was no significance in their hearts, because they had already maxed out these idols only to find that they did not produce in their hearts a genuine purpose and a genuine forgiveness and grace in their life.

And so the apostles sensing this and being grieved by all the idolatry steps up to the plate and realizes his responsibility to teach them about the unknown God. And the first thing that he teaches them is the true God is the all-wise creator.

I want you to look at verse 24. The Bible says, God who made the world and everything in it since he is Lord of heaven and earth does not dwell in temples made with hands. He is certainly teaching something that is contrary to what the Epicureans believed because it is teaching that God is eternal and that He has created everything and that we are created in the image of God and that there is an eternal aspect to our life.

He certainly was challenging the Stoics when He was teaching that God was certainly the one who created everything when they believe everything was by an accident and it just so happened that we are here.

I think we’ve heard that before, haven’t we? I think we’ve heard that somehow that we came from a tadpole and somehow it evolved into another animal and then it became another animal and then somehow here you and I are.

We heard about that big bang that happened in outer space and somehow in the midst of all of that chaos of this big bang came all of this structure and order that exists today. I hope you understand that I’m speaking sarcastically but I want you to get and realize what they were embracing and how it’s not much different than today but the Apostle interjects that God has revealed Himself through His creation,

that God has not left His people without a revelation of Himself. The Bible teaches us in Romans 1 verse 20 that the invisible things of Him referring to God for the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen.

The psalmist said that the heavens declare His glory. Friends, I want you to understand that God has not hidden Himself from us and He is not not distant and far from us, but rather just the opposite.

God has revealed himself. How can you see the sunsets and the sun risings and not believe that there’s a God? How can you look around these majestic mountains and not be taken aback that there is an almighty creator?

How can you not see the beautiful design of the space and the human body and not realize that there’s a designer behind it all? That’s what the apostle was trying to teach them and he is helping them understand that God has revealed himself.

And I want you to remember this because some of you might be concerned. You might be concerned about those who maybe have never heard the gospel or maybe they never hear the teaching of God’s word in their life and they are not blessed in such a beautiful way that we are in our country.

where there are churches on every street, in every corner, in every part of the land, over 150 churches just in Franklin County alone. Not against that because, I mean, when you get mad at somebody, I want you to be able to run somewhere else and be able to go there.

I mean, you know what I mean? We got to keep running. But here’s what I want you to know, that there are places that they do not have the Bible and they do not hear about Jesus. What about these people?

The Bible tells us in Romans chapter 1 that God has revealed Himself through creation. That they know that there is a designer behind all this. They know that somehow, some way, this is not just by accident.

And God gives us a promise in Jeremiah and that is that if you will seek Me, you will what? Find Me. Now God either lies or He’s shooting straight with us and telling us the truth. And I just believe that God will never lie.

And I believe that He will give you everything that is right and honorable and truthful. And He will not break His promises. And so I am convinced that if we will truly seek God, that we will find Him.

And that even through creation, we can see clearly that there is a God. But not only has Romans 1 teaches through creation, God reveals Himself, but through our conscience, God reveals Himself to us.

Through our conscience, God has created within us a understanding that there is a God. Now you say, well, I meet people all the time, pastor, who say they’re atheists. Or I like this one, people who say they’re agnostic.

I just love that when people tell me that. Because see, then I start breaking down the word for them, the word Gnostic, which means knowledge. And A, which means none. And it’s simply you’re saying, I have no knowledge.

I’m an ignoramus. I am. I know you don’t like this one. and forgive me if your kids are in here, stupid. And I openly want to admit it, but I want to give you a fancy word called agnostic, which means I’m just dumb.

But, I mean, I have more respect for the atheist than I do the agnostic, and it just seems kind of foolish. But point is, there are those who say there is no God, what is going on? Well, here’s the thing, they’re suppressing the truth.

They’re denying the truth, that the evidence can all be right in front of them. You know these kind of people, you’ve met them, you’ve tried to explain things, you’ve tried to reason with them, and the truth is right in front of them, and yet they will have a blind eye to it.

They will continue to deny it, they will continue to suppress it, and so it is with God. I mean, what else does the Lord have to do to reveal himself to you? What else does God have to accomplish that you would know that he loves you?

Well, the ultimate and the pinnacle revelation is that God sent his only begotten son, Jesus Christ, to this earth. And he lived a sinless life, went to the cross for our sins, and he rose again three days later.

And then, my friends, he revealed himself to over 500 people. And rumors were flying that there really was this Jesus who rose from the grave. And you and I will believe the craziest stories that aren’t even close to reality.

And if just one person tells us with no other witness, we’ll believe hearsay, we’ll believe anything just because we like to hear something that’s juicy. But the evidence, well, we can’t believe that.

But Jesus revealed himself. He is the resurrected Christ, ascended into heaven at the right hand of the Father, interceding for each one of us today. And he is coming back. And friends, he told us it’s gonna get worse before it gets better.

And if you haven’t seen the worst, I’m telling you, it’s unveiling itself each and every day in our crazy world that we live in. And we gotta know that these are the signs of the times, and we cannot be ignorant to these times.

And we recognize that it won’t be long before Jesus comes, for he has revealed himself to us, because he is the all-wise creator. But I wanna tell you the greatest creation. The greatest creation is God creates each and every one of us to be a new creation.

I was mentioning this in Sunday school. You and I are created in the image of God. Doesn’t matter who we are. We’re all created in the image of God, but sin has marred that image. And what has Christ done?

He has come as the second Adam, and he is restoring through the power of the Spirit all those who believe in him. The image of God is being restored in us in its perfection, step by step. in a process God is redeeming each of our hearts till that final culmination where we stand before God completely healed completely restored and we are standing in his presence worshiping him throughout all of eternity can God’s people say man I mean just wake up but the Bible says if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation all things have passed away and behold all things have become new that’s the power of the creation of God not only in that he is creating within us his restoring his image within us that we are redeemed believers in Christ but the Bible teaches us in Ephesians 2 10 that we are his workmanship we are his masterpieces created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God has before ordained that we should walk in them you see not only has Christ created you to save your soul but He has created you to serve Him,

that you may be fully engaged, active in the work of God, making an impact for Christ, and being that light and that salt in this world. Some of you might feel, well, look, there’s not much to me, Mike, but I wanna assure you that there is much to you because you’re a masterpiece of God, and all of our talents are different and at different levels, but let us all be assured and let us all be encouraged that we are a masterpiece of God and He has gifted us so that we can make a difference for Him.

Every day of our life should be dedicated to our Creator who created us with our gifts, our abilities, our personalities. He created us that we might be used by Him for His glory. How are you manifesting God’s good work in your heart?

How are you manifesting this creative work in you that God has accomplished? How are you making that a reality in the home, in the church, and in the workplace? How are you making that real today? The second thing we’ll see is that the Apostle teaches that the true God is the omnipresent God.

Go back to verse 24. At the end, he says He is the Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands, nor is He worshiped with men’s hands as though He needed anything since He gives to all life, breath, and all things.

He is teaching us here that God is omnipresent, meaning that God is everywhere at the same time. Now this is something that those who embraced idolatry fully could not comprehend because their idols, their gods were limited to whatever they created.

not only were they limited to these structures and statues that they had created, but that they were created by human hands. But our God is certainly above and beyond all the created hands, all the things of this world.

He is King of Kings, Lord of Lords, and He is everywhere at the same time. Now you may ask the question, where is God? Where is God, pastor, when I am hurting? And where is God when I am struggling? I want you to take your Bible, go back to Jeremiah in the Old Testament.

Just go back there real quickly. Jeremiah chapter 23, I just want to read a couple verses to you. Jeremiah 23, chapter 23, verse 23. Go ahead, it’s good to be in God’s Word together, church. Jeremiah 23, verse 23.

Am I a god near at hand, says the Lord? And not a god far off, it’s a question. Can anyone hide himself in secret places? So I shall not see him, says the Lord. Do I not feel heaven and earth, says the Lord?

What he is trying to do is take us through this process of understanding that he is a god who is near and he is a god who is at hand. He is a god who is manifesting himself all the time and his presence is near and it is dear to you.

He is right beside you no matter where you are. It is a double-edged sword. It is the reminder that there are certain places we should not go and there are certain things we should not look at and there are certain things that we should not be involved in because the presence of God is there.

Because wherever we go, we are his temple, he is residing in us as believers, but we must recognize that the Lord is watching. But it is also a great comfort to us to know that when we are lonely, our God is our companion, that he is there with us.

God is all over the place. He is everywhere. He is an omnipresent God. The psalmist said, turn to me and be gracious to me for I am lonely and afflicted. You may identify with the words of the psalmist.

That’s why so many people love the book of Psalms because there is the expression of our hearts that are made clear and directed towards God in prayers and hopes and dreams. And even as the psalmist is not only dealing with loneliness, he deals with anger, he deals with every emotion that the human heart can go through and we relate to that and we see that the…

Psalmist keeps bringing us back, that our hope is not in this world, our hope is not in religion, our hope is not in the things of gaining wealth or materialism, but our hope is in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Can God’s people say amen? Now friends, I want you to know God is with you. I want you to be assured that even though our world has more people than it ever has, did you hear? We’re breaking 8 billion in population, and yet it’s so unfortunate that people are less connected than they have ever been.

People are more lonely than they have ever been. They are struggling. So what do you do when you experience these moments of loneliness in your heart? Is there anything that you can do? I would encourage you to welcome and embrace God’s presence in your life.

to be assured based on what you know and not what you feel that He is your companion. Look at verse 27 of Acts chapter 17. So that they should seek the Lord in the hope that they might broke for Him and find Him though He is not far from each one of us.

He’s not far from each one of us. Seek Him today. You seek Him by certainly prayer. You are struggling with loneliness. Get on your knees and seek God. You want to experience the manifested presence of God, the sense of His presence in your life that I wanna encourage you to get into the Word of God.

Open your Bible, start reading your Bible. God is speaking to you. The third way you can manifest the presence of God, believe it or not, is through the fellowship of the believers. Do not get disconnected from the family of God.

We are the body of Christ. We are the hands and the feet of the Lord and we are called to manifest His presence. Do not walk through the journey of life and the struggles of life isolated from others, but rather stay connected to God’s people.

Let them minister to you. Let them encourage you. Let them bear one another’s burdens. Can God people say amen? I know you’re tired of me saying that, but I’m trying to wake you up. But I want you to know God has not called us to live alone, isolated, disconnected.

And so we need the family of God. We need the people of God. And you say, well, there’s some people, Pastor, I don’t like. Okay, don’t worry. Doesn’t change anything. God’s people are different from top to bottom.

Be glad you’re not the pastor, God is near and Jesus gave us a promise, I will never leave you, I will never forsake you, God is there and I want you to be encouraged. The third thing that the apostle introduces the unknown God as, the true God, is that he is the all-sufficient sustainer.

Look at verse 25. Nor is he worshiped with men’s hands as though he needed anything, since he gives to all life, breath, and all things. God is self-sufficient. All sufficiency resides in God. He needs nothing.

There may be some who think that the Lord is very fortunate to have them, but I want you to know. That’s not how it works, friends. We are blessed to have the Lord. And He doesn’t need us, but out of His great kindness and out of His great love and out of His great mercy, He bestows grace upon us, He redeems us, saves our souls, and He brings us into the family of God, the eternal family of God that’s gonna live forever with Him.

But He is the all-sufficient sustainer. He is the one that provides all that we need. The Scriptures teach us in Romans chapter 11, from Him and through Him, and to Him are all things, to Him be glory forever.

Amen. Jesus is the source of life. He’s not only the source of physical life, He is the source of spiritual life. He is the sustainer of life. How are you gonna make it through the journey? How are you gonna be able to navigate through the challenges and the problems and the struggles in life?

It’s gonna be through the sustaining hand of our Savior. That’s why we are called to come to Him and to cry out to Him and to pray to Him to help us. So many people are trying it on their own. They’re trying to live their life without God.

And let me tell you this, if you wanna make a mess of your life, just try to do it on your own. And what you’ll find, it’s a dead end, it’s a crash and burn. And that all these pleasures of the world, they only last for a season.

And then it all fades away. The first and the most important relationship in your life is with Jesus. You know, so many people wanna know the bottom line of the Bible. And here it is. Love God with all your heart.

With all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength. And to love your neighbor as you love yourself. Well, Americans are very similar to the Athenians. We have opted for many gods to please our every desire.

And we need to hear this message. We need to hear what the Apostle has to say, because he’s challenging us to leave idolatry and to follow the one true God. And who is that one true God? Well, it’s the Lord Jesus Christ.

And so we hope today that this message has really touched your heart and that as you’re thinking through all that God is saying to you, that today would be a day that you would commit your heart to Jesus Christ and become a fully devoted follower of Christ.

And if you have any questions about that, feel free to go to our website, HopeWorthHaving.com. And when you go to our website, just hit that contact button. button, shoot us some questions, or maybe just let us know how God is working in your life and drawing you to Him.

This is Pastor Mike Sanders reminding you that in Christ there is hope worth having.

The post Introducing the Unknown God Part 1 first appeared on Hope Worth Having.

Pastor Mike will be speaking on How to Listen to Preaching Part 2. He will be reading out of Acts 17:11-15.

Many have set out to try to discredit the Bible only to come to know the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. The evidence is overwhelming that God is true and that He has sent His only begotten Son, that the Word of God is accurate.

Hello this is Pastor Mike Sanders from the Open Door Church where I serve as the senior pastor and today we are honored to be able to host with you the Hope Worth Having radio program. Thank you for tuning in and joining us today we’re going to be in Acts chapter 17 continuing our study how to listen to preaching.

Listening to people is valuable but I want to tell you listening to God has eternal significance but I want you to learn from the Berean believers as we study together. To come and be at the house of the Lord but you know there’s not only a physical preparation there’s a spiritual preparation.

Think about that. I mean you might get ready to go watch a football game make sure you got all the stats and you know who’s the quarterback and you know you don’t want to cheer for the wrong team. I took my boys many years ago to a football game down in West Virginia.

We were the opposite team Oklahoma State against West Virginia and by the end of the game the West Virginia fans had become we were in the student section because I was too cheap to buy a good ticket amen but I was in the student section and they were so drunk that they were cheering for the Oklahoma State Cowboys it was like it was a home game for us.

How wonderful is that? But we were prepared we had everything ready physically we wanted to be ready for this game and I want to tell you that when it comes to being ready to receive God’s Word you need to prepare yourself spiritually and I would say that begins always.

with prayer. It always begins with prayer. Honestly you should be praying for the service throughout the week and especially on Saturday praying that the Lord is putting things together. You wouldn’t believe the kind of things the devil is always trying to do to wreck the service.

It could be sickness, it could be something’s not working, it could be that the computer, the technology crashes, it could be as one lady told me it’s too cold in here pastor and if you don’t get a test okay.

I’m not a heating and air conditioning man. Nothing I can do relating to that doing everything we can but here’s what I want you to understand. Rather than saying hey here’s what I don’t like about this or that, are you praying?

Praying for the pastor, praying for the sermon, praying for those who are coming, who are gonna hear the gospel for the first time, praying that visitors who come and check out the church that they’ll…

a sense of welcome and that they’ll sense a warmth in here, not just physically, amen, but spiritually. But we’re praying that God would speak to our own hearts, that we would be ready to receive God’s word, that we would not have a wallop, that we would not be resistant to what the preacher, the pastor has to say as he opens the word of God to us, but rather that we would be receptive.

So we are praying, we’re praying for someone who needs encouragement. You don’t know what everybody’s walking through in their life and you don’t know what the challenges that people are facing day to day in their life.

And so they come looking for hope, they come looking for help, they come looking for the strength and the blessing and the encouragement that you can find. Listen, for this place, for some people it’s the only place where they find a hug, a smile, a blessing, a word of encouragement.

Some of you are blessed with wonderful homes, wonderful families, and I’m grateful for that, but not everybody has a functional family, right? Not everybody has everything going great. And so I want you to understand, when you start thinking about the big picture, somebody walks in and they’ve just lost a loved one and they’re really struggling, they’re grieving in their hearts and they’re looking.

And that’s why we’re praying, church, as we are praying that we are receiving, but that God is blessing and God is ministering and God is working. How else can I prepare myself? I think confession is important, a part of that.

We don’t like to talk about confession because we think it’s some liturgical thing that we’re not supposed to be doing, but the truth is we are to be confessors. The Bible says if we confess our sins, he’s faithful and just to do what, church?

And to cleanse us from all of our unrighteousness. And so we’re called to be people who are confessing our sins. We’re grateful that we can confess our sins. Jesus Christ. There’s one mediator between God and man.

We don’t have to go to the pastor, we don’t have to go to a priest, we don’t have to go to any religious figure. We can go straight to the Lord Jesus Christ in our prayer time confessing our sins and maybe there’s something you need to confess.

In my preparation I want to confess to God, Lord is there anything in my heart that I need to bring to your attention? Is there anything any sin that I need to bring to you and confess it to you and agree that it’s wrong in my life?

That’s what it means to confess. It means to agree with God. I’m agreeing with God. A lot of us, we like to argue with God. You know I talk to some people it doesn’t matter. They just always like to argue.

It doesn’t matter. They’ll argue about anything, okay. I can say hey it’s raining out there and they’ll argue with me. They’ll argue with me and that’s just the way it is and you just say okay you do you.

If you want to live your life like that and be arguing mad at the world that’s fine but here’s what we need to understand with God we can’t be like that. You can’t argue with God. You’ve got to agree with God because see, God is, he’s always right.

God is always right. And when he brings it to our attention that there’s sin in our life, we need to confess that. There might be an attitude that we need to change. We’ve had a bad attitude. Maybe God is calling us to change that, confess that to him and make that right.

And so we’re not only called to confess to God, but we’re called to confess to others. It doesn’t mean you have to get up in front of a church service and bear your soul to everybody. What it does mean is that if I’ve hurt you, offended you, and I’m aware of it, I need to make every effort to try to make that right with you.

And that’s what’s the key to growing relationships is to be able to confess our faults one to another. As the scripture says, confess our sins to God. But let me tell you a third way to be prepared is to read your Bible.

The first time you hear God’s word read should not be in our service. It shouldn’t be in Sunday school. It should be your time with the Lord this morning. And I know some of you got out of bed at the last minute, you rolled in here and you just made it and you say, isn’t that good enough, pastor?

Well, I understand and I appreciate that step, but that’s not where I want you to end. I want you to be a next level Christian. I want you to go farther for God. I want you to be stronger for God. And I want you to be that person who rises early and calls upon the name of the Lord in the morning, that person who spends time with God, that person who’s already read the word of God.

And you are just hearing from God all the time through his word and you are ready. You’re coming in here ready to receive God’s word. You say, pastor, why would I need to read the Bible? Let me tell you, the Bible is the only food that can fuel a believer’s growth and faith.

You see, you’ll never be able to be that optimum Christian without the word of God. You have got to be in it. in God’s word, feeding on it, and you have got to spend time in it, and it has got to become a priority in your life.

And let me tell you something about this, this challenge of a habit of reading your Bible. It is a battle you’ll have all your life. You see, all your life. You know why? Because the flesh, the world, the devil, always battling against you and saying, you know, you don’t need the Bible, and you know, that Bible, it’s out of date, or that Bible is good, you got it, you got it all.

But the truth is, we need a daily dose of God’s word in our life, and it helps us that when we come to hear Bible study, we come to hear the teacher, we come to hear the pastor, the preacher, whatever the situation is, we are ready to receive the word of God.

The Bible says they received the word. But I want you to see also that they researched I want you to go back and look in verse 11. It says, not only with all readiness and search the scriptures, how often?

Daily, daily to find out whether these things were so. You see, you thought, man, just coming in, hearing the Bible taught, isn’t that good enough, pastor? Isn’t that good? I mean, don’t I get a pin for that?

Shouldn’t I get some points with God for that? And we’ll see, God is calling us through His grace to not only be receivers of His word, but to be researchers of His word. And the Berean’s response here is powerful because this is an important principle you need to learn as a believer, it is a distinction and a uniqueness of a church like ours.

And that is that as we look in this text and we see, they searched the scriptures. Who searched the scriptures? Again, it wasn’t a pastor who searched the scriptures for them. It wasn’t a priest who searched the scriptures for them.

It was not even any kind of a religious figure or some kind of a Bible scholar, but it was them. They searched, the Bereans searched the scriptures, which is what is often been referred to by Bible scholars as the priesthood of the believer.

What is the uniqueness of our faith in Christ is that we believe that you are a priest and that you can come directly to God and that you can understand the Bible and that you can through the power of the Spirit of God, understand the deep things of God, that you don’t have to have a Bible college degree.

I’m not against that, amen. And you don’t have to have all of this religious training to somehow understand the Bible, but you can understand God’s word. Now, you might find that, well, that’s not too profound, Mike, but I’m telling you, there was a time in the world when people were told that only the priest could read the Bible, and only the priest could understand the Bible, and only the priest could interpret the Bible.

But yet, there came along a generation of mighty people for God, like Martin Luther, and Calvin, and Tyndale, and these great men and women who were willing to understand that God has called us as believers to have a personal relationship with God.

And that’s why I want you to see that, is this research is something that is your responsibility. It is your job to search the Scriptures and to see if what the pastor is saying is true. Isn’t that something?

Because in these times that I was talking to you about, it was considered, you know, only the priest could know and that the priest was never wrong. And yet they started teaching a false doctrine that you had to work your way to heaven.

People didn’t know any better because they were so ignorant to the word that they became, you know, they just became numb to it and they just did whatever they were told and it became religion and it became a ritual.

And they just kind of went through the motions. There was no vitality in their faith. There was no connection with the Lord in their faith. And as a result, people thought they were okay with God. But the truth is they were on the wrong path and that they were not truly believers and they were not truly living for Christ.

So I wanna encourage you to understand that you have this personal responsibility to not only receive the word, but to research the word, to evaluate what is taught in your Sunday school classes and what is taught in your Bible studies, what is taught from the pulpit at the Open Door Church to make sure that that aligns with the word of God.

Jesus said in John five, verse 39, you search the scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life and these are they which testify of me. Jesus was not upset that they searched the scriptures, but that just that they thought because of the Pharisees and their religion, they thought because they were the arbiters of truth and they were the only ones who knew the truth that that would give them eternal life.

But what he’s saying is that when you open the scriptures and search it, what you’ll find is that the Bible from Genesis to Revelation teaches us about the person, the nature and the work of our Lord and savior, Jesus.

Can God’s people say amen? then. You want to know Christ? You want to know God? You do not have to stay up all night eating pizza and drinking root beer and look on a billboard sign to see Jesus. All you got to do is open your Bible and Jesus is revealed to you.

From Genesis to Revelation, I want to encourage you to be people who are evaluating the Scriptures, who are searching the Scriptures, and so we see that they were passionate about it. They were diligent about it.

They were dedicated. It wasn’t just a casual, hey, we’ll get to the Bible around Christmas time or we’ll get to the Bible when, you know, things slow down, when we don’t have sports and we don’t have dance and we don’t have ballerina and we don’t have drama and we don’t have all these other things.

And I’m not against any of those things, okay? I don’t want you to be upset, but let me tell you something. God. needs to be number one in your life. And if you neglect His word, what you’re gonna find is it’s gonna impact your family in a very negative way.

What you see here is the Bible says they search the scriptures daily, every day. In our day when the Bible is always being attacked or people are trying to undercut it or discredit it, it is more important than ever that you be a daily consumer of the word of God.

And that you understand that the Bible says faith comes by hearing and hearing the word of God. That is not only as you are in the word reading it, as you are searching it, as you are researching it, as you are validating what is true, that you are hearing God’s word, your hearing is truth, and that is affirming your faith, that is sustaining your faith.

The reason that many believers, hear me, are vulnerable to the attacks of the devil. And the Bible tells us to put on the full armor of God every day, why? Because we know there are fiery darts out there that He’s firing off to us.

He’s trying to discourage you. The number one tool of the devil, listen, is discouragement. He wants to discourage you in your faith. He wants to discourage you in your walk with Christ. He wants you to give up, quit, and just walk away.

That’s what He wants you to do. And that’s why it’s so important to be in the house of Lord, be around God’s people, to be encouraged, because we just need that blessing of being encouraged. But let me tell you something.

What is the key? How does Pastor Mike stay encouraged? Let me tell you, by the shield of faith. How is my shield of faith? It is sustained and strengthened by my intake of God’s word. Because the Bible says, put on the armor of God, use that shield of faith to hold off on those fiery darts.

and how is this faith built? How is it strengthened? How is it able to resist the discouragement, the diseases of the world, and all the things that might try to drag you down? It is God’s word. I don’t have to really, really be magical about it.

I don’t have to have anything profound. It’s just the old-fashioned, get into the word of God, read it every day, study it, let God’s word be coming into me, and then research the scriptures. They were passionate about it every day.

I want you to see that they had a plan in their searching. It’s not that they were half-hazard. It’s not that they were just like, hey, we’re gonna just kinda throw this together. Now, you gotta understand, in this time, as the Bible says that the Bereans there in verse 11, that they were searching the scriptures daily.

Now, they didn’t have a mass printing machine like we do today that can just print these Bibles out. They didn’t have 10 Bibles on their shelf, and they didn’t have a device to pull up different passages of scriptures like we do today.

In order for the Bereans to search the scriptures daily, they had to, A, get out of bed. How about that one? They had to get out of bed. They had to get ready, and they had to go to the synagogue. The only copy of God’s Word was in the synagogue.

They had to convince their rabbi that they needed to look into the Bible, and they had to research what the apostle was saying. He was throwing some things out there that was stunning them and shocking them, and so they wanted to see if what he had to say was true, and so they had to have a plan.

Now, God’s not asking you to come to the open-door church every day. You’re welcome. You’re welcome, okay? But I want you to know that you got a Bible wherever you’re at. You and I live in a time where we are inundated with scriptures.

It’s all around us, but yet we are the one generation that least accesses the Word of God. The problem is not information. The problem is that there isn’t enough of God’s Word. The problem is that God’s people won’t put a plan together to be in the Word of God.

You have a plan. You’re all excited. New year, new resolutions, new commitment. I’m gonna read the Bible. You wake up one day and you don’t feel like doing it. You let your feelings determine your choices, and that’s what’s reckoned some of you, is you’re letting your feelings determine your choices in life.

And I’ve told you time and time again, people, that I don’t always feel like a Christian. And I know that’s stunning to you. But I’ll tell you something even more maybe amazing to you. I don’t always feel like a pastor.

But I choose to do the right thing and the honorable thing, even if I don’t feel like it. You don’t always have to believe everything you think and everything you feel, because everything you think and feel is not always true.

That might surprise you, but it’s true. You power through it. You make a choice. You build good habits, which become good character in your life. And you read your Bible. You do the right thing. You are researching the scriptures in your heart because you know you have a plan and you’re gonna be in God’s word and you’re gonna be verifying what did the pastor say.

Now let me say something about this plan. You hear the sermon. You guys are gonna walk away today and I’m gonna ask you, what did you learn today? and you’re gonna say, I don’t know, I forgot. What was it that you were teaching on, pastor?

Might be because some of you are fiddling on your phone and you’re getting your Christmas shopping done. Others, you may be bearing a burden and you’re just so distracted about that burden, you’re not even thinking about what the pastor’s saying.

Others of you, you may be tired. You’re on a lot of medicine and it has an effect on you and I understand. Let me tell you something, that you need to have a plan that causes you to think about this message in Acts 17, about these Berean believers.

Search it daily and see if what the pastor says is true. I would love for you to come back and prove to me that it’s wrong to search the scriptures daily. I would love for you to come convince me that.

Now you gotta back it up with the Bible. You can’t back it up with your emotions and you can’t back it up with your feelings and you can’t back it up of the famous actor that you’re quoting, okay? I gotta have the word of God.

My faith is built on the word of God, amen? And so I wanna encourage you to do that. So be in God’s word, be thinking about it, have a plan because that’s what they did. Everything that Paul taught in the synagogue, they were researching it every day.

They were looking at what it was saying and so I want you to see that and then I want you to see the confirmation of their research and that is that the Bible says they wanna see whether those things were so.

Those things were so. Now look church, it’s hard sometimes and I know and I feel for you, okay? It’s hard sometimes to distinguish between what is God’s truth and what is the preference of a preacher or a teacher of the Bible.

Do you understand that? And many of you have said, well how come you don’t teach what so and so used to teach? And I said, well number one, they don’t even teach that anymore. Number two, it’s not in the Bible.

Now, when I came to the Open Door Church, there were different people who always want to tell me what I should be preaching on. They love to have a list for me. Why aren’t you preaching on these things?

Here’s what I told them. I said, listen, I don’t know, maybe the pulpit committee didn’t hear me quite right, but this is how Pastor Mike teaches. He opens the Bible, he gets into a book of the Bible, and he teaches the verses in that book of the Bible.

If the Bible draws the line, I’ll draw the line. If the Bible doesn’t draw the line, I don’t draw the line. I have a lot of opinions. I want you to know that I do not lack in opinions, okay? But I don’t feel like my opinions belong in the pulpit.

Are you with me? I want to teach you the principles. Like, how many times have you guys had to endure me telling you how awesome the Dallas Cowboys are? Right, it’s about all you can take, all right?

And I’m sure some people said, I’ve had it. If I hear one more thing about the Dallas Cowboys, then I am not coming back to that church. And this is it, this has been the straw that breaks the camel’s back for you this morning.

But here I want you to know that there’s opinions and then there are principles that are drawn out of the word of God. And that’s what I wanna challenge you is that when you’re searching to see if those things are so that you distinguish what is a preference and what is a principle, what is in the Bible, you are measured not by the preferences of the teacher and the preferences of the preacher, you are measured by God’s holy word.

God will hold you accountable to his word, okay? And so that’s where you gotta distinguish it. Now we thank God for those who teach the Bible and preach the Bible, and we know that they have their preferences, okay?

And but you gotta be wise enough, discerning enough to know that distinction and not let that get you off track emotionally and spiritually in your life. Final point, I gotta let you go. That is that they responded.

I want you to again look at verse 12. Therefore, as a result of, that’s what he’s trying to tell us that having done all this receiving, all this researching, the result was that many of them believed, many of them believed, they responded.

Luke is careful to help us see the connection between the research of the Bereans and the response of faith by the Bereans. The more that you study the word of God, I promise you will not be disappointed and what you will come out with is faith in the Lord.

Many have set out to try to discredit the Bible. Many have set out to try to prove the Bible is inaccurate or that it’s contradicting only to come to know. the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal savior.

The evidence is overwhelming that God is true and that he has sent his only begotten son, that the word of God is accurate and that the word of God is true. So I wanna challenge you to see the response.

When we hear God’s word taught, it’s not enough that we say, that was a nice sermon, but rather we need to ask ourself the question, how can I put this in to practice? How can I practice? Because you don’t just hear the word, you must do it.

The scriptures teach us to be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. How many times have I talked to people in the community? They can quote Bible verses, plethora of Bible verses to me, but they’re choices in life.

are destroying them and their families. You see, it’s not enough to just know and hear. You got to obey God’s word. You got to respond. And that’s why every service, what we do is we offer to you the opportunity to respond to God’s word.

You see, the church is a fellowship where the Bible is loved. The church is a fellowship where the Bible is read. The church is a fellowship where the Bible is studied and the church is a fellowship of believers where the Bible is obeyed.

I have literally had Christians tell me, I don’t care what the Bible says. And that’s so sad. People who claim the name of Jesus, and yet at the same time, they don’t care what the Bible says. And friends, you just got to make a decision today.

In the end, the question is, will you submit to God’s word like the Bereans did? Or will you disobey it and rebel against? That’s the bottom line. That’s the bottom line. And this morning, I want to challenge you to think about your response to God’s word, not just today, but every day of your life.

Let’s pray together. Let’s pray together. Let’s pray together. Listening to people is valuable. However, listening to God has eternal significance in our life. Jesus said, therefore, take heed how you hear.

It’s very important for us to receive the word of God in a way that is honoring to him. And how we listen to the teaching of the word of God is important in our life. own spiritual lives. So what we’ve been sharing with you these last couple weeks has been to kind of help us to be better listeners of the Word and to be able to be very much like the Bereans and follow their example of how to listen to the Bible being taught to us.

And I hope it’s been a blessing. It’ll be an encouragement to your life. We just want to remind you if you’d like a copy of today’s message, you know, in the old days we’d send a CD, but now we just encourage you to go to our YouTube channel and you can see this message.

Just type in the message title, how to listen, and that will be there. It’ll come up and you’ll be able to listen to an entirety. And I know it’ll be an encouragement to you. This is Pastor Mike Sanders reminding you that in Christ there is hope worth having.

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