Pauls Teachings Along His Path — Acts 20-22

0:00 Alright, good morning. Good morning. We're happy to have this time to keep continue our study in the book of Acts and just before I ask you to turn there, we will begin with the word of prayer. Our heavenly father, we are thankful for the the fact that you give us a scripture. We're thankful for the gift of the Holy Spirit as well and how we can understand the truth that you're revealing to us, the truth about yourself, the truth about ourselves.

0:34 Father, we pray just now. We we pray that you would continue to bless this effort in tracking through or studying the the all the events and occurrences that are recorded for us in this book of Acts and so father, we pray this now and we ask this in Jesus Christ name, amen. Amen. Turn with me if you will to Acts chapter 22 is where we are. Acts chapter 22 and we're going to begin in in verse 22.

1:00 So, we got twenty two twenty two. Last week, Mason covered the first portion of Acts chapter 22 and you may be reminded that Paul was in front of well, Paul had just been beaten. Paul was in front of of a of a group and we could say an angry mob or a group a group that was that was upset with him. He he gives a a witness or a testimony through the first portion beginning in in the verse one of of chapter 22 and we'll be making some references to that but he he basically gives us testimony of his conversion of how he met the lord Jesus Christ as his personal savior. So, I've asked you to turn to Acts 22 and if you'll find verse 22, we'll begin reading there.

1:54 You want to light off? Yeah. Sure. Acts two twenty two twenty two and so this is this is immediate following and they gave him audience, Paul audience unto us under this word and then they lifted up their voices and said, away with such a fellow from the earth. For it is not fit that he should live and as they cried out, they cast off their clothes and they threw dust up into the air.

2:21 The chief captain commanded him to be brought into the castle and bathe them that they should he should be examined by scourging and that he might know that he might know wherefore they cried out so against him and as they bound him with thongs or fetters, Paul said unto the centurion that stood by, is it lawful for you to scourge a Roman man or uncondemned? Verse 26, when the when the centurion heard that, he went and told the chief captain, his boss, saying, take heed what you do, for this man is a Roman. Then the chief captain came and said unto him, tell me, art thou a Roman? And he said, yea. And the chief captain answered, with great sum, I obtained this freedom, and Paul said, but I was freeborn.

3:16 Then straightway, they departed from him which should have it which should have examined him and the chief captain also was afraid after he knew that he was a Roman and because he had bound him. On the next day or the morrow because he would have known the certainty wherefore he was accused of the Jews, he loosed him from his bands and commanded the chief priest and all their council to appear and brought Paul down and set him before them. Now, if you'll hold your finger right there, I want you to flip back to Acts chapter one please. Acts chapter one, we hear the reaction to Paul's testimony that he gave. Wanna remind ourselves back in the very beginning of Acts, Acts chapter one eight, maybe we've memorized this verse by now.

4:37 I'm going back to my father. So, the comforter will come, the holy spirit and when you receive, you're going to receive power that the holy spirit is going to bring you. It's not just the presence of the holy spirit with the with the presence of the Holy Spirit becomes power and when you have this power, it's going to enable you to be a witness for me and so, I'd like to suggest to you this morning that as we've been tracking through this portion of Acts, we're seeing this come to fruition that Paul is being a witness for the lord Jesus Christ and so, he's led of the spirit. He's in he's in dwelt by the spirit. He's led by the spirit.

5:14 He's sensitive to the spirit and and we see him before men. We see him before unbelievers. We see him before audiences and he's not deterred to give his testimony of how he met the lord Jesus Christ as his personal savior. Paul's not deterred to tell people how he obtained forgiveness of sin. He's not deterred to tell them how he he understands and has come to understand the truth that Jesus Christ is lord and to tell people that he's talking to right there that Jesus Christ, the one whom you crucified but even though you crucified him, he was buried in the tomb and he was raised again on the third day.

5:56 He lives, he lives, and he's made a he's made a promise to return and so here Paul is a witness. You understand that a witness is somebody who who is able to tell what they have seen, what they have heard, and what they know. That's what we find Paul doing. In fact, you're you can go back to Acts chapter 22 and then you'll just go back to Acts chapter 20 for a minute. I want to I want to connect a few little dots here for us and tie together some of the last few chapters.

6:42 Acts chapter 20 also verse 22. Am I noticing a trend with 20 twos here? Verse 22, and now behold, this is Paul speaking. I go bound in the spirit to Jerusalem not knowing the things that shall befall me there. Save that the Holy Spirit witnesses in every city saying that bonds and afflictions abide me.

7:13 Verse 24, this is Paul's Paul Paul is speaking here. See, I'm I'm bound in the spirit. I'm led of the spirit. I know there's going to be trials, bonds, afflictions, beatings, resistance. Verse 24, but none of these things move me, neither do I count my life dear to myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify, and I think for our purposes this morning, I wanna connect that to that word witness that we just read about in chapter one.

7:53 What is his ministry? To testify or to witness, give a witness of the gospel of the God, of the God, of the grace of God. And so, we see this is on Paul's heart because he was led of the spirit to do it. Now, go to chapter 21 and verse 10. Chapter 21 and verse 10 and as we tarried there many days, there came down from Judea, a certain prophet named Agabus and when he was coming to us, he took Paul's girdle or belt and bound it on his own hands.

8:31 And on his feet and said, thus saith the holy ghost, so shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man who owns this belt and shall deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles. Agabus was given this was telling saying, hey, Paul, if you go to Jerusalem, you're going to be bound. You're going to suffer affliction and verse 12 reads on and when he heard these things, when Paul when we heard these things, we both we and they that and they of that place besought or begged, pleaded with Paul for him not to go up to Jerusalem. Then, Paul answered. Now, here's here's his response.

9:13 What mean you to weep and to break my heart? For I am ready not to be bound only, but I'm also ready to die at Jerusalem for the name of the lord Jesus. You see how convinced Paul was in his mind? You see how set? I kinda I kinda think about this.

9:34 Remember, we hear this of the lord Jesus. When it he says that his his he turned toward Jerusalem and he set his his fit, he set his face like a flint. He kind of was determined. Excuse me. Paul had this determination.

9:52 Paul had this similar type determination that he was he he had it on his heart. He had it from the lord. He had direction that he was going to Jerusalem. He wasn't going to let anything deter him from that. Verse 14, and when when he would not be persuaded, we ceased, we quit begging him, quit pleading with him, saying, the will of the Lord be done.

10:18 And we can conclude that as Paul went on following the spirit, following the leading of the spirit, that the will of the Lord is being done and carried out. So he comes here to check, that brings us to chapter 22, where he's given this testimony, he's being this witness before them, And so we, I'm gonna just kind of summarize in the sense of like, look at chapter 22 and verse three. Paul gives them Paul gives them the past, the present, and the future in his in his testimony, in his witness here. And he says, I am I am, here's his past. I am barely a man which am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city of of Cilicia.

11:34 I persecuted the Christians. I threw people into prison. I I held the coats of of the of the people that stones Steven. I was consenting to his death. I was, did all this in the name of being zealous for God, just like you are doing.

11:53 You're being zealous for God by beating me, thinking I am I am a true believer of the lord Jesus Christ but you're thinking I'm opposing the true god. I'm not opposing the true god. I have understood who Jesus Christ is. I'd like to explain that to you. I'd like to give you my testimony, my witness.

12:19 So he does this by giving him his past, he talks about his present, and then he mentions the future, and that's when he kinda gets, well, this particular audience really got agitated, and we see that in verse 21. And he he said, or he gives his testament. Let let's read verse 20 to kind of flow along with context. And when the blood of thy martyr Stephen was shed, I was also standing by consenting unto his death and kept the raiment or the coats of them that slew him. And then the Lord Jesus said to me, depart, for I will send you far hence unto the Gentiles.

13:02 And so when he when he tells this audience that I'm gonna I'm gonna leave the Jewish nation, I'm gonna leave the Jewish audience, and I'm gonna take the message of the gospel to the Gentiles, that's when they say, away away with him. This fellow is not even fit to live on Earth. It's amazing how how, they could they could come to that conclusion of who's fit to live on earth and who's fit... Who's not fit to live on earth. Paul is not deterred by any of this.

13:41 As we've already read earlier, we knew he was he was bound in the spirit. He was led to the spirit. He's he's remaining faithful and carrying through with all these things. And then he's received a beating up so far. He's getting put...

13:57 He doesn't back off of his message. He still he still gives a testimony that's honorable to to his own experience and honorable to the Lord in in telling who the Lord is, and he knows it's gonna bring about more mistreatment. And so he he steps through that faithfully. Now, as we have been we we've we've noticed this that this was Paul's third, the completion of Paul's third missionary journey and all these missionary journeys, he's been going out and he has been he's been preaching. He's been giving his own testimony.

14:38 He's been sharing Christ. He went to the Jews. The Jews refused. He goes to the Gentiles and so who's up in a sound booth this morning here? Yeah, is that Grant?

14:52 Okay. So, go ahead and and flip to the flip flip to the next slide here. I want to I want to tell you, as Paul's been preaching through through these different areas, through these different cities, establishing these different churches. August Van Ryan kind of he he highlighted these these five points. I want to share these with you of things that that Paul preached a common as he as he as he went through these missionary journeys.

15:46 We note that throughout the times where he would he would be trying to go one place and be diverted. He would be a door would close, another door would open, he would be led, he would be sensitive to what he would say in the crowd. We know he spoke, I would say he spoke like very he was a winsome fellow but then also he was he was able to connect with the audience. When he's speaking to the Greeks, he could he could he could connect with the Greeks. When he's speaking with the Romans, he can speak with the he can speak with the Romans.

16:22 When he's speaking with the Ephesians, he he connects and understands what's going on in in in Ephesus. He was spirit led, okay? Go to the next slide. He was also we see it was prayerful. He was ever before his heavenly father.

16:40 Now, I want to I want to make sure we understand that when he was speaking to the local churches, he was telling them, instructing them that they too should be spiritual, okay? You should be spiritual, sensitive to the leading of the holy spirit. He was telling them, be prayerful. Ever be before your heavenly father in prayer. Be be a praying people.

17:05 One of the one of the functions of the of the of the local church is to pray together. We've seen this as we've we had this goal of of this summer in our in our Wednesday night prayer time to to pray together more intimately, to take that initiative, to to be a prayerful group, to be a prayerful church, and so, here is is one of one of the things that's noted in in his preaching through the messages that he gives. Number three, self denying. Paul's message contains this to the church. Be self denying.

17:43 Follow Christ examples. We see different different ways that Christ would example things to us and Paul is refers back to that. He refers back to the lord Jesus Christ earthly ministry. In fact, Paul will record these words himself where he would he would say in Ephesians chapter Paul wrote writing to the Ephesians, he would say, be followers of god. He would say, be be a follower.

18:14 Follow Christ's examples and he tells him in Ephesians chapter five verse one and two, he tells that Christ was an example. He gave himself an offering and a sacrifice which was a sweet smelling savor to god. Anybody think of other ways that Jesus Christ was an example in the New Testament? I'll take an audience response. Things that, were you raising your hand, or scratching?

18:38 Alright. No, I see the hand movements, you know. You came to serve not to be served. Yeah, that's right. He said those same words in recording Luke and recording Mark for us.

18:50 That he came not to be, he came to serve not to be served and then he says, tells them in John, I've been a servant to you. Follow my example and so, there that's that's a great a great one. Anybody got another one? Devin? He came to do the father's will.

19:08 Yeah. Yeah and in John, he tells the, he tells his disciples, obey even as I have obeyed the father, obey you also obey him. So he gave this example. So when Paul's preaching to the church, he says, look, part of part of Christ's example was to be self denying. I came to do my father's will, not my own will, and I want I want you to learn to be spirit led, I want you to learn to be prayerful, I want you to learn to be self denying.

19:40 And so now, we hear Paul not only he lives these things out himself, He's practicing what he's preaching if you will. He's teaching or preaching these things and he is instructing his audience is the church which is you and I even today. Let's go to number four. The fourth thing that we see is that he was he was teaching the word. The the the saints, the churches were taught in the word.

20:11 Remember the Bereans, we read about them in Acts already. They searched the scriptures daily to see if these things were were true, that Paul was teaching and others were teaching. They were being built up in their most holy faith. They came together to hear the word. They were being taught the word.

20:27 They were being built up in the word and they were going out and doing the work and so this is another characteristic of of Paul's teachings. Let's go to number five. As Paul would preach, he he was he showed concern for the work of the lord at home and abroad. I don't know necessarily where Paul called home. The once he started on his missionary journeys but he was always concerned with the work of the lord right where he was and also in other places, right?

21:00 He always was concerned about knowing what was going on in other ways. How could other places? How we could take a gift to this place and encourage them. Home and abroad, the work of the lord and he was willing to be a witness in in each one of those places. So, I want to I want to share those with us and think about, I'd like you to think about this in three ways, okay?

22:05 You know, you can apply this. We can apply this as a group. Can apply this as a group of believers and do these things but we can apply this in our personal life. As a personal life and we, here's a way to apply it. You know, you say, okay, am I being spirit led?

22:20 Hey, would you, have you ever experienced in your life that you are so convinced of what the spirit wanted you to do that some other fellow tells you that if you go do it, you're going to be beaten, you're going to be, you're going to experience trouble, you're going to fill in the blank, and you say, you know what? I'm going to follow the lord. I'm going to trust the lord. I'm going to step in here. I'm going to go not knowing is what what we read in Acts chapter 20.

22:47 I'm going to Jerusalem not knowing what befalls me there. Have you ever experienced that in your own personal life? You're convinced. You're convinced what god wants you to do. Look, it's not that Paul had an advantage on us, okay?

23:05 Amen. It's the same it's the same spirit. It's being sensitive to the spirit. It's being before the lord. It's being led of the lord.

23:14 It's being affirmed in these things. And so, we just have to turn our hearts toward God, and we can be spiritual, we can be spiritually led. We apply this ourself, how about prayerful? We have an opportunity, all of us have an opportunity to pray. We had some good reminders last Wednesday night verses that were directing us toward that prayer, toward that, keeping that connection with God.

23:48 I really appreciated Mason's quote last week from Tozer. The veil has been rent. Why would we seek anything else? Why not draw close to god? And so, we've got this open access.

24:01 We've got this this way to go go before the heavenly father. We can pray right now. I mean, like, so, we we as a as an individual can put these things right into practice. Self denying, following the lord Jesus Christ example. We mentioned a couple already.

24:23 He says, I've given you an example of how to love. One way to love is to lay down your life for the for the brother. Love the church even as or love your wives even as Christ loved the church. Love, you know, we can love there. Somebody mentioned obeying already.

24:44 How about praying? How did Christ pray? We've, he gave us an example of prayer. He gives us multiple examples of prayer and so, not only we we can be prayerful but we can follow Christ's example in prayer. Taught of the word.

25:00 We're hearing the word. We're receiving the word. We're putting the word into action. We're we're sharing the word, and then we have this being concerned with the work of the Lord. Paul, go go to Acts chapter 22 and back to verse 22 in our portion.

25:39 When's the last time you've given your testimony to a friend, or your coworker, or a person that you met. You, we all have this experience. You've got a past before Christ, you've got a present with Christ, and you've got a future with Christ. If you know Jesus Christ as your savior. You know what that is?

26:05 That's a testimony. That's a witness. When you when you go back, go back, gather together, you're going to receive the Holy Spirit and with that Holy Spirit, you're going to receive power and you will be my witnesses. When when I first started studying what it meant to be a witness a little while back, I noticed Webster's dictionary said this, one who can or does tell what they have seen, heard, or know. And it struck me kind of odd that it said, one who can or does.

26:51 And I realized, like, oh, I'm in the can category. I wasn't in the does category. The witness can or does. I can tell my experience about Christ. Do most of us find ourselves in the can category?

27:10 I can do it, but I'm not doing it. We want to move over to the do category. I do tell what I have seen, what I have heard, and what I know about my savior, the lord Jesus Christ. Is he the altogether lovely one? Yes.

27:27 Tell somebody and so, look, one of the things that we're seeing, Paul is is giving us, he's given us the real life object lesson right before us today. He had the message and he's given it. He didn't let anything deter him from it. He's given it to friends, he's given it to family members, he's given it to Jews, he's given it to the Greeks, he's given it to whoever will listen. He's given it to his enemies.

27:56 Paul is being the witness. He's in the do category. Put me in front of people and I will tell your story. That's what Paul's example is to us today. Paul lived out these things.

28:11 Not only did he teach them to the church, but he lived them himself. And he's given them to us today to be able to replicate, to be able to put into practice, but to be able to live New Testament Christianity. You want to live the book of Acts? Be a witness. Be a witness of what you, your past, what you've seen, what you've heard, what you've seen of the Lord, what you've heard of the Lord, what you know of the Lord, be a witness.

29:12 Breaking of bread? Maybe it's a head covering, we don't know. But here it is, first Corinthians chapter 11 verse one. Be therefore followers of me, who's writing this? Guess who, Paul.

29:23 Be followers of me even as I also am of Christ. You see, when the Lord Jesus Christ was here on this earth, would you call him a witness? He was a witness of the father. He says, I've come to tell you about the father. If you've seen me, you've seen the father.

29:51 I've come to do my father's will, and what the father, the father wants you to know that he loves you. The father wants you to know that I'm going to offer myself as a living sacrifice to pay for your sin, so that you can enter into relationship with my father and me. And Jesus Christ was a faithful witness, and Paul says these words, be a followers of me even as I also am of Christ. Paul set his set his sights on Christ. Paul followed Christ.

30:33 Paul was a spiritual... Spiritually sensitive to the Holy Spirit. Paul was a prayerful man. Paul was a self denying man. Paul was a man taught in the word, teaching the word.

30:52 Paul was concerned about the local saints and those that were abroad. And this morning, I think I just wanna, like if we all could, we could all enter into that and say, okay, I wanna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna, it's okay to skip right to the Lord Jesus Christ, okay? Follow him. But if you would, if each of us would say, I'm gonna follow Paul like he followed Christ. I'm gonna follow Paul this week.

31:20 I'm gonna follow Paul like he followed Christ. And I wanna implement some of these things that Paul's been teaching and exampleing. I wanna I wanna put this in practice in my daily walk. And so Paul teaches us a lesson by his life being lived out. Heavenly Father, we pray as we consider these things, and Father, we are so thankful for how you captured and recorded for us real life events from the life of Paul.

31:54 And we're thankful too that we can go through and study and kind of understand what was behind Paul. What made him tick? Why did he do the things that he did? That becomes plain to us as we study it. And father, we understand too that Paul even would say to follow his example, that we might follow the Lord Jesus Christ in a more close way.

32:22 What would our what would our local gathering be like if we would all follow Paul's example as he follows Christ? So we ask these things, father. We ask for strength, for wisdom in these things, in these matters, and we pray this in Jesus Christ's name. Amen.