Missions Paul

We are staying on the same verse as yesterday, I don’t want to move from it because it is so important!

Acts 13: 17

^“The God of the people of Israel chose our ancestors; he made the people prosper during their stay in Egypt; with mighty power he led them out of that country”

 He chose the ancestors of our faith and He has chosen you. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were thankfully people who were very human and who sinned, they were not perfect, but He chose them.

The Kings, Prophets and Priests lived lives with a mixture of godliness and sinfulness, but He chose them.

The 12 disciples were a mixed bunch of people who really tried their best but who were by and large failures and loud-mouths, but he chose them.

You may not feel very chosen. You may even feel you are more like Zechariah who was chosen by a lottery, by chance and even an accident perhaps, but he went into the temple which then kick-started his experience of God at the Advent.

Circumstances and feelings vary, you may doubt it at times, but He has chosen you!

The word ‘chosen’ means to select, by a deliberate choice with a definite outcome.

When the angel went to Mary to tell her he had chosen her he used the words ‘highly favoured’. The word is ‘Charitoo’, it means ‘a once in all role’.

Mary was deliberately chosen for a once in all history role.

There was no one else like her.

Special.

Privileged.

Chosen.

She was amazed, she could hardly believe it.

When Paul says in Ephesians 1:6 “his glorious grace which He has given us.” He used the same word ‘Charitoo’.

This Advent know this: His coming tells us we worship a God who is forever choosing. He chose His one and only Son to come to a world that He had already chosen. He chose the characters of the Bible and we have these incredible stories that shape our lives.

And He has chosen us because of the Advent of Christ.

We have been given a once in all role.

There is no one like you.

Unique.

Special.

People are alike but they are not the same.

Where you are, where you live, what your story is, there is no one like you.

God has chosen you!

 

Advent – ancestry and the power of God.

 

Acts 13: 17

“The God of the people of Israel chose our ancestors; he made the people prosper during their stay in Egypt; with mighty power he led them out of that country”

 

I love old people who remember what God powerfully did when they were younger. Not so that they can scorn and despise what is happening today. But that these people serve the new generation needing to trust God for many things.

We need old people to tell stories of the pioneers of old; the missionary zeal; the courage to cross over into new seasons of God; the ability of God to open ways that seem impossible. We need old people to shout from the rooftops, “All things are possible here.”

Come on old saints the Church needs you. Show us the memorial stones of past years when God performed miracles, signs and wonders. Tell us the stories of personal sacrifice. Testify of the days of passion and of the church surrendering to God in order to be sent by Him.

We need old people in the present to prophesy from the past into our future. We need to know of the stories of our ancestors. We need to know God is a God of His people who makes us prosper and who leads us out into a new place.

Advent is a reminder that whether it is Bethlehem or Egypt, something is about to happen in the insignificant place that will determine your significance. There is a divine power to be found in the insignificant place because our powerful God is there. The God of our ancestors is our God today. What He did then He can do now.

Advent – the God we worship

Acts 13: 16 “Standing up, Paul motioned with his hand and said: “Men of Israel and you Gentiles who worship God, listen to me!” Paul welcomed the invitation to speak. He is going to deliver his sermon. This will be our Christmas sermon, an Advent journey. “Men of Israel and you Gentiles who worship God, listen to me!” God is who we worship! Last night I was sat in a field in Salem, Tamil Nadu, India with believers worshipping God. Everything couldn’t be more different than what is my culture. But they worshipped God. Within a 10km radius there were 10,000 villages who do not know Jesus and who worship idols. But on that patch of land we worshipped God. Jew. Gentile, they both were worshipping God. Mission is for every tribe, every language, every culture of every nation worshipping God. That’s the ultimate dream. That is what will happen at Christ’s second Advent.

Advent always involves worship. It seems like Christmas comes earlier every year and with it come the songs many which are meaningless. In the Philippines the shops have been playing Christmas songs since September!

However, the number one Christmas song of all-time will always be by that multitude of singers:

“Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace to men on whom his favour rests”

A song that declares that God is great and that Peace has come to replace anxiety.

So as Advent worshippers let us do what Paul asks of the synagogue. Let us listen.

Speaking words that truly encourage

 Acts 13:15 After the reading from the Law and the Prophets, the synagogue rulers sent word to them, saying, “Brothers, if you have a message of encouragement for the people, please speak.”

So as there service was coming to the end, the team as guests of the synagogue were invited to speak as was their custom.
A message of encouragement is what they hoped for and what they were used to.
They are a people oppressed by their enemy, the Romans.
They long for freedom, for the Messiah to come.
That’s why they ask for encouragement.
There is an expectation that the guests would say similar things to what they always hear.
But this is Paul! His encouragement will come in a different package than they usually got.

Using the Law and then through the messages from the Prophets Paul will clearly lay out in his sermon the forgiveness of sins by Jesus is now available. It is going to stir up the whole city and will cause major problems for the religious leaders

Sometimes what is needed is not a pat on the back, a sympathetic shoulder to cry on, we need a hard word, a revelatory word, something spoken that hasn’t been said before, we need outside of the box thinking.
We need the encouragement that will move us out of a position we may be stuck in.
We need the encouragement to think the opposite.

We need the encouragement to dare to believe in the face of opposition that something just maybe true!

This Advent if given an opportunity to speak then do so with an encouragement that changes lives.

 

How can the synagogue help our Advent season?

Acts 13: 14

“From Perga they went on to Pisidian Antioch. On the Sabbath they entered the synagogue and sat down.”

This is not the Antioch that they had been sent out from. The region was known as Galatia and Paul wrote his letter to the Christians in the cities and towns of this area.

What was happening on the Sabbath for Paul and his team?

• They went to the synagogue. It is what Jews did on the Sabbath, Jesus did it.
• The most important prayer of the meeting was the Shema: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” Deuteronomy 6:4-5. Jesus prayed this prayer.
• Two main focuses of the meeting was: The Law, that no one could ultimately keep; and the Prophets who often spoke of a Messiah to come, which everyone hoped would be in their lifetime. How often the synagogues would speak of the one who was amongst them but they did not know, Jesus.
• The synagogue was not just a meeting, it was for community living. If you wanted to meet people and get to know them and know what was happening in the community, go to the synagogue. The reason for the rejection of Jesus in the synagogue of his hometown Nazareth was because they all knew he was the carpenter’s son. Everyone knew everyone and the Nazareth community knew Joseph and Mary, they knew their son Jesus, so they thought.
• The meeting would then have an invited speaker, preferably one who was the most intelligent there or perhaps would have some understanding on the readings that had been used. On that rejection day in Nazareth Jesus was invited to read the prophets, he read Isaiah 61 but then without invitation continued to expound the true Messiahship.

Why do I say all this? Why am I focusing on Jesus and not Paul?

1. To show that Paul was doing what Jesus had done. He went to worship God. He went to focus on prayer and Scripture.
2. Paul was called to the Jew first then the Gentile. Paul was a Jew. It was the ideal place to look for opportunities to teach these people and he took each one given to him.
3. He and his team sat down. They became part of the congregation.

By the time of around AD50 the church had split from the synagogue and began a completely different path.

How can I encourage you today?

Starting with all that we have just read:

1. Love your God with everything. This Advent make a new commitment of love to your Saviour. Say the Shema.
2. Know that Jesus has fulfilled the Law, the requirement to please God, He has done that, you please Him. Celebrate this Advent the coming of Jesus that you are at peace with God.
3. Jesus fulfils the Law but also He is who the Prophets spoke about. Know that Jesus will always be your hope and the hope for the world. This Advent tell him so.
4. Know that Jesus wants you in community, in the church, but more importantly those who are yet to know Him. Where do these communities gather at Advent? Yes our church buildings will have their programmes, do all you can to take someone along to a carol service. But how about going into their community gatherings, a party, or some place you would never go perhaps asking the Advent Jesus to give you the opportunity to speak when invited within the conversation.
5. This Advent, be there. Be where God wants you to be. Do what you should do. Go to church and sit down.

 

U-turn

Acts 13:13

“From Paphos, Paul and his companions sailed to Perga in Pamphylia, where John left them to return to Jerusalem.”

Something happened on that sailing. In between Paphos and Pergia, John Mark came to a decision that would effect not just himself but later the friendship of Barnabas and Paul.

He decided not to continue.

‘In between’ can be a dangerous place. You have left but you have not arrived. Transitioning between the past and the future when the journey could be stormy and life challenging can be the decider for you. Will you keep going or at the first opportunity are you going to give up?

The difference between those who succeed and those who fail is that those who succeed thought about giving up but didn’t.

There are times on the roads of life when a U-turn is just not unacceptable it is life-changing for many other people connected with you. The ripple from the stone in the water is more like a tsunami.

Today friends, don’t bale out, don’t throw in the towel, don’t go back, you are needed on this mission.

 

What is success?

Acts 13:12

“Immediately mist and darkness came over him, and he groped about, seeking someone to lead him by the hand. When the proconsul saw what had happened, he believed, for he was amazed at the teaching about the Lord.”

 

Cyprus was a success, the proconsul was saved and being such an influential figure on the island no doubt many more believers followed.

We don’t know what happened to the proconsul nor how long Elymas was blind. But it was time to move on for the team.

Success didn’t mean the island was saved but it did mean they had put in position a new believer, the proconsul, who would bring the island to Jesus.

In AD 325 at the Nicene Council, Cyprus was represented by 3 bishops. These early centuries found monasteries set up across the island and in AD 478 the remains of Barnabas with the gospel of Matthew were found.

Your success could be just to start a chain reaction. One person that’s all it might take. One conversation of what Jesus means to you and how He shapes your life could cause something to last for 4 centuries! Now that is success.

 

 

What do Bar-Jesus people know?

Acts 13: 11

“Now the hand of the Lord is against you. You are going to be blind for a time, not even able to see the light of the sun.”

The Bar-Jesus people act differently. They don’t use their hands to craftily fool others. In fact it is nothing of themselves that is able to change any situation. Bar-Jesus people know about the hand of the Lord.

His hands formed the dry land. Psalm 95:5

And all of us are the work of Your hand. Isaiah 64:8

The right hand of the LORD does valiantly. Psalm 118:16

If you want the ground under you to be firm then the hand of the Lord forms dry land.

If you wonder what is happening to you then know that the hand of the Lord is working in and through you.

If you are facing enemies then the hand of the Lord will rise with you.

How amazing is this, how encouraging for us today!

Bar-Jesus people (the sons and daughters of Jesus) know this.

Paul knew that he did not need to do anything, God would.

Interestingly, Paul pronounces what perhaps was a temporary blindness which is as we know part of his testimony. ‘For a time’ was for Paul up until he repented and surrendered to the Lord. Maybe this is what he means for Elymas. Certainly his story and experience is not wasted. It is clear his Damascus Road experience is still fresh with him and he uses that in his approach to others. Nothing in your life is wasted. Even when the hand of the Lord is against you for a time it will be used later for His kingdom.

Bar-Jesus

 

Acts 13: 10

“You are a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right!

You are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery.

Will you never stop perverting the right ways of the Lord?”

 

Bar-Jesus people are full on lovers of people. They look for the good in everyone. They love LIFE. They are not perfect but they have a strong desire to do the right things. If they see other works that are right works they encourage them, even if those works are bigger and better than their own.

 

Bar-Jesus people have been filled with TRUTH. Jesus is the truth. They are not perfect but they are transparent, vulnerable, easy to understand, simple people. Behind the scenes they speak well of other people, they are promoters of those who even threaten their own position or status by their works.

 

Bar-Jesus people are WAY people. They have not arrived. They do not know everything nor pretend they do. They know discipleship is a journey. They experience a WAY which has many unexpected turns, but they know it is not crooked, nor do they make it so.

Bar-Jesus people are Way, Truth and Life people.

Bar-Jesus are sons and daughters of Jesus.

Elymas was actually not a Bar-Jesus person. Saul knew he was a Bar-devil person.

 

Straight ahead

Acts 13:9

“ Then Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked straight at Elymas and said, “

I love how Paul looked straight into the eyes of Elymas. He was saying ‘You do not intimidate me’.

Friends, maybe you need to not be intimidated by that which is coming against you. Maybe you need to lift your head and not be downcast today. Maybe you need to have confidence and face your enemy (whatever that is) straight on. Let today be a new day for you. Yesterday you may have been a certain person but today you are different, you are new, changed, even a new name! Receive the filling of the Spirit on you now even now as you read this, for He is with you.

Bring down the strongholds that oppose you even those that say your mission is over.

Look straight on!