There should be no debate that the way of a Christian is the way of God. We’re not making anything up on our own, instead, it is the Scriptures that lay out the path that every faithful believer will walk with the Holy Spirit’s help. In Acts 18:18-28, the Apostle Paul makes his way back to Antioch, his sending church, to report on his mission. Meanwhile, a man named Apollos enters the scene and ministers in Ephesus. The two episodes provide a picture of what it means to both teach and live out “the way of God.” What we’ll see in the passage is that embracing the way of God changes everything for us. It changes what we worship, how we walk, the work we do, and what we witness to. Those four W’s should be familiar to you if you’ve been around Harvest for any length of time.

Series: The Acts of the Apostles

Todd Dugard

Message: 50 – The way of God

Harvest Bible Chapel

Text: Acts 18:18-28

May 26, 2024

Embracing the way of God changes everything (v. 18-23)…

Deo volente – If God wills

…It changes what I worship (v. 24-25a)

Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship.

David Foster Wallace

Everyone has to live for something, and if that something is not God, then we are driven by that thing we live for.

Timothy Keller

Everybody Worships Something - Timothy Keller

https://www.monergism.com/everybody-worships-something

Romans 12:11

Ephesians 5:1–2

Revelation 2:4

Some of us love what we do for Jesus more than we love Jesus. We love our small groups. We love our ministry. All wonderful stuff, but these have replaced him. Thus, Jesus says, you have LEFT, not lost, your first love because LEFT implies distraction.

We’ve become distracted by things that are not him. Not our first love. Now, this is not the sequential or orderly term for “first” (do this, then this, and then this, etc.), it’s the essence-term for “first.” It is that which establishes and judges the priorities in your life.

What Jesus says is, you have LEFT your first love. You have chosen to love something more. And the dastardly irony is this: it’s the right stuff that you love more.

paraphrased from a sermon by Crawford Loritts

…it changes how I walk (v. 25b-26)

…it changes the work I do (v. 27)

Ephesians 2:8

…it changes what I witness to (v. 28)

Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.

Henry Thomas Buckle

A true disciple of Jesus worships Christ, walks with Christ, works for Christ, and witnesses for Christ.