Hello, and this is Bob from Hackberry House. Welcome one more time to God's Word. Father, it's fun to preach your Word, to hear your Word, to grow in your Word, to do your Word. May we enjoy these things today in Jesus' name. Amen. Hackberry House can be accessed on your computer by going to myheartcry.net. When you get there, go to the library page, find our lessons, and today we're on Lesson 41. Lord willing, we're going to wrap it up fairly soon, go on to Lesson 42. We're taking a chronological look at the whole Bible. We just finished the the whole life of Christ that way, done the whole Old Testament already, and now we're following the life of the Apostle Paul. And that's not as easy as you might think, because it's not just in the book of Acts, but all throughout his epistles that we're looking, and we're going back and forth doing that. Well, we're in the book of Galatians right now, one of his first letters, perhaps his first, and he wrote it to the churches, and he does this all the time. He visits some churches, gets a little distance away from him. He's ministering somewhere else, and then he writes a letter back to where he was. So he's writing to the Galatians. We've already covered a good portion of it. We're going to try to finish that up right now. We're talking about justification by faith alone. We're talking about the way the law has been done away with. We're talking about the Judaizers that have been trying to come in. This starts in Acts chapter 15, you know. The story is talked about there, and we'll go back to that in just a minute. But Galatians is all about that. And this whole incident in his life is a major factor in his teaching later on. But it all began with Acts 15, and it continues on in Galatians in the earlier parts of his ministry. Chapter 4, verse 21 starts talking about some covenants. You people that are under the law, Paul says, and if there's anybody out there today that enjoys legalism, being under the law of Moses, listen to the law, he says. Here's an example right out of the law. When they talked about the law, they weren't just talking about Ten Commandments and forward, but the whole Torah, Genesis on. first five books of the Bible, they consider the law. So he can go back to Abraham and use this as an illustration because he knows they'll listen to this. He says Abraham had two sons. One of his sons was by a bondwoman, a servant in the house. The other was by his own wife. Now, the servant child was born according to the flesh. That is, Abraham and Sarah connived together a plan to have this child. It was not according to what God had promised. God had promised them a son, but they weren't willing to wait on that. They thought they could help things out a little by getting involved. We covered that when we were in the Old Testament. And so here, he's calling This, this whole thing with Abraham and the woman Hagar and the son Ishmael, all of that stands for one thing. What does it stand for? The flesh. The old covenant. The old way of doing things. And it says, He that was born of the free woman, that is Isaac who came from Sarah, was from the promised. Now that was through sexual relation of course. She was not a virgin and this was not a miracle child in one sense. But it was the child of promise. Here, it was being done God's way. It was a miracle in that she was so old. But Isaac did come into the world in the normal way. And you can do things in the normal way, and be in the flesh, and do things in the normal way, and be in the spirit. If God is leading you to do certain things, it doesn't matter if it happens to be normal. A particular job that you're doing a certain way. There are jobs that people do that are normal in their outgoing, in their outdoing, but they are in the flesh. In other words, you're trying real hard to do this thing, but it's not yours to do. And there are other jobs that you do that are just yours, and you feel it when you do it. This is what I was created to do. That's not the best of illustrations, but I think you get the point. He says these things are symbolic, verse 24. These are like the two covenants. These two sons, the way they came into the world, are like the two covenants. The one comes from Mount Sinai and gives birth to bondage. That's Hagar. Hagar stands for that Old Testament law. Tryin' our best to do the will of God, but really can't do it. Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, corresponds to the present-day Jerusalem. He's talking about in his day, the Jews of his day, the Jews that hadn't come to Christ yet are still under Moses. That's all bondage. He talks then about a new Jerusalem. And Isaac and Sarah and the promise and all that's on the other side of this thing. And Jerusalem, which is above, that's the new Jerusalem where God's people are gathering now, waiting to come back and set up the kingdom here. All of the people who are in the kingdom of God of all times, the people in the church today, truly God's people in the church, Gentile or Jew, all those folks together are called new Jerusalem. And that's the free one. That's the one that was of promise from Abraham on. God's been promising these things. So, verse 28, We brothers, just like Isaac was, were children of promise. But as he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, even so it is now. Persecution. Persecution of true believers started with Ishmael persecuting Isaac. We still see a little bit in the secular world today with the Arab-Jew thing, but Paul would not call it that. He's talking about free Jews, which would include true Gentiles, also true believers of all time, being persecuted by those Jews and others who don't know the Lord and are still under the law. So what's the Scripture say verse 30? Cast out the bondwoman and her son. And so he says, We are not children of the Bible. We are children of free. Great illustration, isn't it? So he says, because you're free. Again, chapter 5, there shouldn't be a stop right here. Just move right on. Because you're free, stand fast in that liberty. Now, he wasn't talking about license here. He's talking about liberty. You're free now. Not to sin, but to be free from sin. Free from circumcision. You're free from the law, free from the old bondage that said the soul that sins it shall die. You've got to be perfect or you're going to be lost. You're free from that. Don't get entangled in legalism again. That's what he's talking about here. He says if you go out and get circumcised thinking that that will get you saved, it will profit you nothing. Christ will profit you nothing. You've gone back under the law. trying to obey a law. So what good is Christ to you? He's offering grace and you don't want that. Alright, he's talking about, you know, it's pretty serious stuff he says in verse 4, that people who do this, who go back, back into the law, he says, you have fallen from grace. We through the Spirit eagerly await for the hope of righteousness by faith. By faith. By faith, righteousness comes by faith in Jesus Christ. No other way. Well, he said, you were running well. Verse 7. You're not running well now. Better turn around. You better get back where you were going. A little leaven leavens the whole lump. A little yeast, you know, a little yeast in the bread puffs that whole thing up. But he says, I have confidence in you. You call people. You people that are truly His. He does this several times in His writings. He'll go on and on and on about something that looks like He's pointing to falling away from the Lord, and then He'll stop and say, but you, you ones that are hearing my voice right now, I have confidence in you. You're going to do exactly what I say. Because you're His. You're His. And He who troubles you will bear His judgment, whoever He is. In verse 11, if I still preach circumcision, why am I going out being persecuted? You see, the cross brings offense into a man's life. When you follow Jesus, and preach the cross, and preach the resurrection, and preach faith only, that's offensive to so many people. But if you could kind of cave in to the Judaizers of our day, the Romanizers, who want you to add some works to it, if you could cave in to them, you wouldn't be quite so offensive, would you? You see, if you come to Christ, you don't have to worry about keeping the law because the law is going to be kept through you. Look, all the law, verse 14, is fulfilled in one word. You shall love your neighbor as yourself, and Christ will give you grace to do that. You're going to keep the law. You're not going to be trying to keep the law to be saved, but you're going to keep it. Christ is in you. He's not a lawbreaker. He wants you to live His life, and you'll be keeping it. It will be an outworking of what Christ has done in your life. It's not a working for, but a working out of. So he says in verse 16, just walk in the Spirit. Pray, pray, pray. Stay in the Word. Walk with God as close as you possibly can. Get in the Spirit. Walk in the Spirit. And the flesh won't have a chance. That's the secret to Christian living. Not trying so hard, but getting in that relationship with Him. Get up tomorrow. Get up tomorrow morning, earlier than you did today, if possible. Get to that place of prayer and stay there until the victory comes through. Stay there until you're walking with God and you know you're walking with God. And the flesh will be crucified. And he talks about people who want to know what the flesh is all about. Are you not certain if you're a person who walks in the flesh? Well, you commit adultery either in your mind, like Jesus said, or in actuality. You're in the flesh then. Any fornication in your life, either by desire or by acts around it, you're still in the flesh. Uncleanness just keeps going through your mind. Licentiousness. Any idolatry, is there anything in your life that's ahead of God? You're in the flesh. Sorcery? I hope not. Hatred? You have hatred for somebody? You're in the flesh. Contentions. Jealousies. Outbursts of wrath. That's fleshly. Selfish ambition. You go to church for what reason? Dissension. Heresy. Envy. You envy someone? Rebuke it. Get it crucified. Get out of the flesh. Murders, drunkenness, partiers. I told you before, I'm telling you now, if you practice these kind of things. We're not talking about stumbling and falling once. We're talking about practice of these things. You are not going to inherit the Kingdom of God. You're still in the flesh, still in your sin. Do you want to know if the Spirit of God is in you? Do you want to know if you have the Holy Ghost and He's really doing something in your life? Well, are you kind? Do you have love? Do you have joy? Even on a small level, do you have these things? Peace? Do you have long-suffering? Are you good? Faithful? Are you gentle? Can you control yourself? There's no law that controls any of this, you see. It's the Holy Spirit in you that will produce that fruit. And no law against it. So walk in the Spirit and you can't break the law. Those who are in Christ have crucified the flesh. If we live in the Spirit, let's walk in the Spirit. What's that mean? If the Holy Spirit is your address, if that's who you really think claim as yours, and He claims you, and you are one in Him, it's time to live it out. You work for Him. And all the works that you do, that's your walk. Your address is just your relationship with Him in Christ. If we live in the Spirit, let's start walking like we do. It's fun to be in church, I know. It's fun to be in that prayer closet. But God, I'm sure, is going to lead you to do something. I probably don't even have to tell you that. I think the Spirit of God tells His own people to do that. But if you've got somebody in your church moving right on to chapter 6 that's having trouble, maybe you've had it too, and you have somebody that's overtaken in a trespass, it just knocked him out. If you're a spiritual person, you're really walking with the Lord, take that person. Don't condemn him. Don't sit home and talk about him. Take that person gently. and take him aside, not in a judgmental way, but just sit down with him and say, Brother, let's talk this thing through. And remember that you can be tempted too. Remember what you came out of. Bear one another's burdens and you'll be fulfilling the law of Christ. That's not Moses. That's Christ again. If you think you're so hot, so wonderful, you better be careful. He warns you again in verse 3. Let each one examine his own works, verse 4, then he can rejoice. Keep looking at your own works and be sure that you're walking with God before you even say a peep to anybody else. Another practical thing here in verse 6, if you're being ministered to by someone in your church, they deserve to be paid for that. That's true. They deserve it. That's their whole livelihood. Take care of them. We don't want to make them rich. Not talking about making them rich. And there are some that don't ask for anything. Others who desperately need it. And they deserve that. Don't be deceived now. Don't give just a little bit. Verse 7. Anything that you sow, that's what you're going to reap. And if you keep sowing to your flesh, taking that money, or that time and energy, and pouring it into yourself, and pouring it into yourself, you're going to have corruption on your hand at the end. But if you sow to the Spirit, everlasting life is going to be in there. You're going to be really reaping much, much more than you sowed. So don't get tired, verse 9 he says. You'll eventually reap all these things. You think you're never going to get paid for this. Well, you're not supposed to be getting paid so much now. But there's coming a day. You better believe. It's just a phenomenal thing that the Lord has in mind for those who serve Him and seek Him with all their heart. And then verse 11, The other hint that maybe this was his eyes that was a problem. See with what large letters I have written to you with my own hand. Didn't want to have somebody else write it. I can hardly see, so I'm writing these big letters. I don't know. I don't know. I'm just speculating that that's what he's talking about. And then he wants to summarize all he's been talking about, about this whole circumcision thing. He says, let me just remind you again, verse 12. These people that are trying to look good and trying to put burdens on you so they'll look good. The reason they're doing it is they don't want to suffer the persecution of the cross of Christ. He cuts right to the quick. He tells them this is their motivation. Not even those who are circumcised keep the law. They make you get circumcised, and they are circumcised, but they're lawbreakers too. Circumcision doesn't mean anything. God forbid that I should glory, verse 14, except in the cross. I'm glorying Jesus, not your circumcision. I'm not glorying because I've brought you to my way of thinking. Oh no, I glory in Christ only. And this world's been crucified to me. As far as I'm concerned, this world is dead. And I've been crucified too. I'm dead. Only Christ is alive and He's alive in me too. None of this other stuff matters, guys. Get your mind where it belongs. If you walk according to this rule, verse 16, Bless the Lord. You're going to have peace. You're going to have mercy. But the others, well, he's already talked about the others. Don't trouble me from now on. Look at his attitude in verse 17. Some people have questioned this. Let no one trouble me. Just leave me alone. Well, he's saying, I have the authority of Christ. I even show in my body the same kind of scars and pain that Christ bore. Now, he knows he's not doing it for the sins of the world, but he knows he's doing it. He knows there is something about his suffering that's very important, and for them to see it, and for them to realize that a man who has these marks is showing he is one of His. Now, where are your marks? Where are my marks? Where are our scars? Paul said, I've been through all this. And I am an apostle. Don't question my doctrine now. Don't question my authority in Christ. You see, if I was lying, I could make a lot of money. I could be free. No offense to that. But I am constantly suffering for the Lord Jesus Christ because I know I've got the truth. And the truth hurts. I'm trying to get it across to you. Brothers, let grace of Jesus be with you. Well, we've looked to Him a long time as God's man, and He surely was God's man in that day. I want to meet that man, don't you? That's Galatians. Let's go to the end of the lesson here. Lesson 41 on the back. Number 16 on the right side there. In the parable of the bond and free woman, who is the bond and who is the free? Well, the bond woman is the people under the law. And the free woman are the people under grace. Okay, what is Christian liberty all about? Well, we're free from the law of sin and death. We're not free to just party and do anything we want. It's not that kind of freedom, not fleshly freedom, but freedom from that law of sin and death that Moses had put us under. What strong statement is made about Christians trying to be saved by the law? He says, if you go back to that, you have fallen from grace. 19. What's the secret for a victorious Sinless life. Walk in the Spirit. Stay next to Jesus all the day long. 20. Any surprises for you personally? In the list of non-kingdom activities, in the list of fleshly things, as I was reading that long list of flesh, did you notice that it's not just murderers and adulterers, but some of the things that you and I do when we get into our weakness, into our flesh? Stay out of it. There's no need to be wallowing in that anymore. 21. How many fruits are there? That's a trick question. I just wanted people to see that it's singular. It's singular in your Bible. The fruit. It doesn't say the fruits of the Spirit, but the fruit. It's one fruit with many facets to it. So pray for that one fruit. The product of a holy life. That's the fruit of the Spirit. It has many colors to it. 22. Can believers be overtaken by sin? Yes, they can. Does that damn them to hell? No, it doesn't. And we need brothers to come along and restore us. Perhaps you needed that once in your life. Perhaps we all will. 23. What responsibility does a student have to his teacher to share financially? And I'm sure in every other way, prayer and support. 24. Keeping the law, as in circumcision, is Satan's way of having us bypass what? Well, that's persecution for the cross. Alright, end of Lesson 41. Moving over to Lesson 42. Between Galatians and the Thessalonian letters, Paul testifies at a Jewish council in Jerusalem and reports to the brothers over in Antioch. He's been there before. Then he embarks on a second ministry tour. This is Missionary Journey 2 we talk about. A second ministry tour through Syria. It's in the northern part of Israel. And Asia Minor, Turkey, again. He's going back through there again. And then into some new territory. You'll see this time he's going to break out of Asia. Actually, it wasn't his idea. The Holy Spirit wants him out of Asia. and into Europe. For the first time, the Gospel goes into what we would call the modern world, although it was far from what it is today. So, let's go back to Acts 15 to pick up the historical element, although it's all historical. All that he's talked about in Galatians was things that were going on at that time. Acts chapter 15, Verse 6, 15 verse 6, that's where we left off before. Let's go a little ways before we get into some questions here also. The apostles and elders come together now to consider what matter, the matter that we've been talking about all throughout Galatians. And there's this big argument that breaks out. Peter gets up and says, brothers, you know, it was by my mouth, remember I preached on the day of Pentecost. about the Gentiles. So God acknowledged these brothers. When the Gentiles came into the church, God acknowledged them. And He gave them the Holy Spirit. We saw it happen. It was so evident that they were receiving something from God. And we rejoiced that they were as happy as we had been from the first. So we make no distinction. God made no distinction. He's purified their hearts too. We are one in this. Peter's talking to a council in Jerusalem, saying these things. So he says, since God's accepted them, why are we putting a yoke on their neck that we never were able to bear? But it's through the grace of Jesus. This is Peter talking, not Paul yet. Peter's talking. But we believe that through grace of God, Jesus, verse 11, that they're going to be saved, just like us. So they all listened. And then they all listened to somebody else. Barnabas and Paul. Now, they had been there. They'd been out there preaching this Gospel and seeing what God is doing, and so they're coming back and saying, oh, there's been miracles, there's been wonders, God's saving people, what a revival is going on, it's just so wonderful. God is saving the Gentiles. Oh, and they're excited about this. They've listened to the greats, the very top, the cream. They've listened to Peter, Paul, Barnabas, the top men. Everybody's quiet. The crowd has just got to hush over it. Verse 13, finally, James, the Lord's brother who has taken a leading role in Jerusalem while Peter and Paul are going out preaching other places. James is holding the fort in Jerusalem. He says, brothers, I want you to listen to me. Peter, Simon, told you about the Gentile awakening. And, you know, he was just telling you what the prophets told us. How that after this, and he quotes here from Amos, chapter 9. After this, I will return and rebuild the tabernacle of David, which has fallen down. I'll rebuild its ruins. I'll set it up so that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord, even all the Gentiles who are called by my name." Now, there is a later on prophecy fulfillment here, too. Well, we won't get into that right now. But the fact is that Amos and many of the prophets saw Gentiles coming in. And he just quotes this as a sample. So he said, God knew about this from the foundation of the world. the Gentiles were going to be saved. So I think, verse 19, we shouldn't bother these Gentiles. If they're turning to God, let them turn to God. It's wonderful. Well, you know, we want to put some things to them. You know, we can tell them about abstaining from idols and things polluted by idols. We can tell them that. Of course, we want to let them know that the sexual immorality that is so rampant among them needs to stop. And then, you know, about some of the strangled things we were told in our law. So he's very basic. Some people think James was a little out of order here, bringing in any rules at all. He's just saying, you know, let's give him a few basics to go on as we preach the grace of God. Moses, you know, he says, has some people in every city, and we don't want to offend them totally. Let them know that we understand Moses. We believe in Moses, but we're not bound by Moses now. But just let them know that we're not abandoning everything moral and good and holy, and even some of the ceremonial law, it's good stuff. You know, let's tell them that we're still with them in part, but let them know that what Peter and Paul have shared with us is now the truth for us, that God saves by grace. And so the apostles and the elders signed on to this. They said, this is great. The whole church decides, yeah, this is what we ought to do. In fact, let's send some people down to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. Let's send Judas. Who's Judas? Barsabas. And some people think, let me see, that that is, no, that's just Judas. That's a prophet. And Silas was another man. And he's going to become important in the story in a little while. Silas, let's send him too. And they wrote this letter. The apostles. And the letter is from 23 to 29. This is the first or second epistle of James. You see, James wrote two letters. Although we won't say that James wrote this necessarily. But it seems to be something that he's overseeing here. And he's going to send this letter with Paul. And they're going to read this everywhere they go. Greetings. We heard about some people that are troubling you, telling them you've got to be circumcised and keep the whole law. We never told them that. We never said that here. But it seemed good to us to send you Barnabas and Paul. These are men who have risked their lives for the Gospel, for the Word of God. And we're also sending some prophets of our own, Judas and Silas, because it seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us to lay upon you greater burden, and he lists his little rules. And he says, just keep yourselves from these things. But I'm sure that Paul and Barnabas got the signal, and they've reached grace from this point on everywhere they went. So the ministry continues. And they do go to Antioch in Syria. And everybody in Antioch is so happy. And Judas and Silas themselves were prophets. They stood up and gave some prophecies, of course. And they're just having a good time in church now. There's just such peace. When they see a problem, they conquer it. They pray, they talk together, and they get the job done. They stay there for a little while in verse 33. Some of them go on back to Jerusalem, but it says here something very significant in verse 34, I thought. It seemed good to Silas to stay right there in Antioch. Judas said, I've got to go back. And a lot of the other brothers said, it was time to go back. The son said, I don't understand this, guys, but I really feel like I'm supposed to stay here. That was the best decision he ever made. It seemed good to him. Can God lead you by something that just seems good? Well, there is a way that seems good, and the end thereof are the ways of death. That's what the Bible says. But when you're walking with God in the Spirit, there will be things that will come into your heart that you've just got to go with. And God will direct you from that point. And you're going to see why it was good for Silas to stay back right now. Because Paul and Barnabas are going to have an argument. Can you believe this? You've probably heard about it before. But I still have trouble believing it. This is a difficult one. They actually get into a major argument. It looks fleshly. But on the other hand, it does seem that they came up with a solution that was very godly and good and multiplied the work. Both of them felt a leading, and both of them followed their lead in the end. The question was, and it happens to us today too, if I'm feeling this leading and you're not feeling this leading, what's that mean? Well, that means we better go our separate ways, and that's not husband and wife. They better find a way to work that out and still can do separate things in their married life. In Paul and Barnabas' case, they could not do both of these things together. Paul was adamantly opposed to bringing John Mark with him on this trip, because John Mark, as you remember, had turned away. He got tired, or for one reason or another, he just went back. Barnabas, as you'll see him as the son of consolation, the comforter, he's the one that introduced Paul to begin with. He took an ex-murderer into the church and said, this man's a preacher. You need to accept him. And people did accept him, because of all of us. Now he wants to bless Brother John Mark. He sees something good in John Mark. Paul doesn't see it. Praise God that we can see now Paul is not yet made perfect. Paul, we could say, is making a mistake here. But at the same time, he had a very clear leading, and Silas has already felt His leading to stay right there. And so Silas is right there. And most of the time when you think of Paul, the other name you think of is Silas. Now Paul and Silas, they're going to be partners from this point on. Barnabas will go another way. They'll be reconciled later. And even John Mark and he will be reconciled later. But here's a way that God used to separate but to multiply the work. Now you've got two wonderful teams going out. Paul and Barnabas, very experienced men. They can teach Silas and John Mark things that they're going to need for their future. Both of these men turned out to be giants for the faith in later years. So they do go their separate ways preaching the Word of God. That's how we end chapter 15. Let's do some questions here. What was Peter's conclusion regarding the matter of justification? Well, there's no distinction. We're all saved. by grace. 2. What four warnings replace the entire Law of Moses in the letter of James? Abstain from idle food, sexual immorality, watch out, things strangled, and blood. 3. Name the team that traveled from Jerusalem to Antioch with the freeing letter that was Paul, Barnabas, Judas, and Silas, and perhaps some others. Before, why did Silas remain in Antioch? Well, it just seemed good. Over what did Paul and Barnabas quarrel? Taking John on their journey. Let's move on to chapter 16. We're going to meet Timothy now. They come to Derbe and Lystra. They've been there before. This is back in Asia Minor, Turkey. And there's a disciple there, a Greek brother. He's half Greek and half Jewish. Paul wanted to have him go on with him, and he took him and circumcised him. Why'd he do that? Now, this is not a Gentile getting circumcised. He would never have done that. This man is half-Jew. He's going to be dealing with a lot of Jews, and he doesn't want any trouble from the Judaizers there. And he doesn't want the Jews saying, look, he's even trying to destroy Jews. So he just bypassed that. He's not changing his mind on any of this. He's trying to be wise here. He goes to these different places then and preaches and strengthens the church. Then he goes to, in verse 6, they had gone through Phrygia, the region of Galatia. He's already written to them and he's now seeing them in person. But they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the Word in Asia. Now Asia there is just a district, not the continent. not even Asia Minor, but it was a district of what we call Asia Minor or Turkey today. And God says, you can't go there. So they come to Mysia, and they try to go into Bithynia, and that same general area. God says, I don't want you to go there either. So they pass by Mysia, and they come down to Troas, which is on the border of Europe and Asia. Let me get my map out, so I won't misdirect you there. Troas is on the far western coast of what we call Turkey and just across the way from it is Greece, Macedonia. It is actually Macedonia which goes down into Greece, the whole Grecian peninsula there. That's where he's at when he has this, what we know of today as the Macedonian vision. Notice it says in a vision, whether he was asleep or not I don't know, where he sees this man from across the way standing there and saying, please come over here, come over here, help us, help us. I wonder who this man was. Some think it was the Philippian jailer that he's going to meet in just a little while, because the first folks he meets are not men at all. They're women in a prayer group. But perhaps it's just an angel. Angels have territories that they that they watch over. And it could be that this was the angel of Macedonia saying, we need help in the struggle for righteousness here, for the struggle for God's will to be done. Come and help us by preaching the Gospel. And when he saw the vision, he decided, we've got to go to Macedonia. He knew now why these other doors were closed. Doesn't that give you encouragement too? Look at all the doors that will close in your life sometime. It's just phenomenal. Now, we're talking about people who are walking with God. I don't have a whole lot to say to people who are walking in the flesh. Doors are going to be open and closed and swinging back and forth and round and round and you're just going to be going in circles if you're going to stay in the flesh. Don't expect much leading from the Lord except to get into a prayer place and to stay connected to God as much as you can. And then you're going to see doors start to open and close. You'll see it and you'll rejoice in it. And this is one here. He's a man walking with God. No question about it. But doors close for even a godly man because God has other things He wants him to do. It's God's will that must be done. And that's why we must pray. When we pray, God, Your will, I want to know Your will today, not my own. So he sails from Trias, goes to Samothrace, comes to Neapolis, and then to Philippi, the chief city of that area. And he goes on the Sabbath day. Notice that's the theme all the way through. That's when they do most of their work. At least the parts that have been recorded. I'm sure they're working all week long. But they have to go where the Jews are first. It's his custom to be with the Jewish community first. And the Gentiles get wind of it. And then it's every Sabbath they're doing something. And he stays there several days. And he goes out on the Sabbath day as his custom was to worship on that day. And he sees some folks already worshiping. And there were some women there. They were having a prayer meeting there. Were these Jews? Well, evidently. It's the Sabbath, and they're praying. That sounds logical. Where's the synagogue? I'm not sure. We sat down and spoke to the women. And there was a certain woman there named Lydia. You've heard of her before. She's from Thyatira, which is back where they were in Asia Minor. But she's a worshiper of God. Is it the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? We don't know. But she was a worshipper. And the Lord opened her heart. That's the bottom line. Because when Paul began to share with this group that was open to the things of God, they received. In fact, received so much that the whole household was baptized. There's some men involved in this now. The women are out meeting. But there's some men, as we're going to see later, has to see the brothers before he goes, and we don't know exactly who those brothers are, but perhaps in her household and the other households. She also constrains these guys to stay with her in the house there, in their family's house, so that they'll have a place to work out of. And that's what happens. While they're there, in Philippi, trouble begins. And when you're faithful to the Lord, situations are going to start developing. Don't worry about it. Don't stay up nights where you can't figure out at all what it's going to be like. Everything you imagine is going to happen is not going to happen. God will surprise you, and He'll also give you grace to endure. He'll tell you what you're going to need to endure that particular situation. He'll give you that. He won't give you more than you can bear as you're walking with Him. But there's this little girl, who is the property of some very evil men. And they're using her because she actually has a demon spirit that knows things about people. And she goes around finding out stuff in her spirit, in the evil spirit, and telling them. They're getting rich over this because they've got all this information. People pay them big money. to use the knowledge inside this girl. The devil can be very helpful, can't he? Oh, God forbid that we should ever go his way to prosper. Verse 17, she knows somehow who Paul is and who Silas is. These men are servants of the Most High God. She's telling the absolute truth. But Paul doesn't need that kind of advertising. The absolute truth spoken by the devil we don't need. Get that devil out of there. You might have somebody come to your church that is an evil person, but he knows how to say the right things in your church, and so you let him talk. Get him out of there. His influence speaks volumes. If we allow this demons-filled girl to become one of the advertisers of the Gospel, what does that say of the Gospel? What confusion is spread about the Gospel? Paul's annoyed by that. He gets rid of this spirit, casts her out, and the girl is freed, but now she can't bring any money to her masters. And her masters are very upset, and they take Paul and Silas and arrest them, and get them thrown into jail on religious charges these men are troubling our city that teaching customs which are lawful for us and Because we're Roman citizens. You know they forgot again to ask Paul about his Roman citizenship I don't know why he never brings that up or maybe he just wants to have a a Way for God to do something wonderful here. I don't know I Well, they come against them. The magistrates tear off their clothes, not their own in sorrow, but Paul and Silas's in hatred. They're beaten. Hello, they're being beaten. These men are being beaten because they cast the devil out. Are you ready? Are you ready to follow Jesus? Am I ready to be a soldier of the Lord Jesus Christ? To stand for Him and His truth? Many stripes they gave them. Threw them into prison. Told the jailer, you keep them securely. The jailer. Okay, he's got his charge. Keep them securely. And you know what happens if you don't, right? So he put them in the inner prison. He wanted to be sure. These guys, he thought, were very dangerous. And he knew what the little girl was saying about them. He knew why they were being arrested. He understood that there was something about salvation. Something about God. Servants of the Most High God. The devil blew it here. The message got through to this man. What she was saying. These men are servants of the Most High God. They proclaim the way of being saved. That's how he heard about being saved. You know what happened as Paul and Silas were just doing what they always do. Nothing changed. They kept praising their God. And they praised Him, and they praised Him, and God liked that. And just like Peter, they are released, and this time by a great earthquake. And all the doors open. All the chains are broken. That same guard, that same keeper of the prison, has suddenly realized, I am in big trouble. These men are all going to escape. I might as well kill myself now, because I don't like being tormented. I don't believe in the next life anyway. I've had it. He's about to kill himself, but Paul says, don't do it. We're here. Now he put together, the guard did, the fact that these men were here to talk about being saved, and that he himself had just been saved from death. And he asked them, how can I really be saved? What must I do? I want what you guys have. And they said, all you have to do is believe in Jesus. Not only you, but your whole household. Uh-oh, does that mean that everybody in the household, even little babies, are saved the moment you are No, this is about believers. Believe, and you'll be saved. And the same thing will happen to your household if they believe. That's implied. Or you say you're adding to the Scripture. No, I'm not. Verse 34, When he brought them into his house, the dealer, he set food in front of them, and he rejoiced, having believed in God with all his household. They all believed too. You say, well, I can assume there are little kids there. No, you can't assume that. You can't assume it if the Bible says they all believed. His whole family. accepted the Lord Jesus Christ and they got saved the same way he did. And he ministered to these apostles then. What a wonderful thing that God did in the midst of all this. Does that mean that the stripes didn't hurt? No, they hurt. The punishment was still very, very difficult. But oh, there was great rejoicing that night. Great rejoicing. Well, the next day, the magistrates are saying, don't try to hold on to these men. let him go. So the keeper of the prison, when he heard that, he went back to Paul and said, You can go now. You're free. Paul said, Wait a minute. Wait a minute. And he could have done this earlier. He could have avoided this whole incident. But now he brings it up. Did you all know I'm a Roman citizen? You can't do this to a Roman citizen. I deserve a trial. You didn't give it to me. Everybody's afraid now. Throughout the whole area, people are afraid. They have really messed up. So they asked him if he would please just go quietly. And he did. He did. They escorted him with dignity and honor and fear out of that city, hoping he'd never come back. Of course, that's too much to hope for with Paul. So they went out of the prison, entered the house of Lydia where they had been staying. They saw the brothers there. Say goodbye, God bless you, and then they're off down the road again. Why would Paul want Timothy circumcised because of the Jews? Doing all things to all men. Number seven. Why were doors to Asia and Bithynia closed? Because God had other plans. He was leading by the closed door. Number eight. What woman was saved in a prayer meeting? That's Lydia. Number nine. Name the members of the present team. That's Paul, Silas, Timothy, And, if you look at 1540, no, I don't want 1540. Actually, we haven't, oh yeah, 1611, I'm sorry. And it is. Therefore, sailing from Troas, we ran a straight course to Samothrace. And I skipped right over that when we were going through here. As you know, we're just touching the surface. But whenever you see we in the Book of Acts, that means Luke has joined the party. Luke is in the group. The author of this book was actually a close companion. He doesn't mention himself except to say, we, and we know he's there then. So it's Paul, Silas, Timothy, and Luke. Why are Luke and Timothy not arrested? Because they're not Jews, not full Jews. Number 11, who perhaps was the man of the vision? Could have been a Philippian jailer, could have been an angel. What kind of events caused the magistrates to beg Paul to leave the city? Well, they found he was a Roman citizen. Let's go to chapter 17. More towns they pass through. Now they're going to come to Thessalonica. Thessalonica. There's a synagogue of the Jews there. So he goes in. And for three weeks in a row, three Sabbaths straight, he's in there preaching. They don't throw him out. That's a miracle that he was able to go three times without being thrown out. He went two times without being thrown out. Let's move on here. He said this, Jesus I preach to you is the Christ. Some of them were persuaded. Some of the Jews actually came to Christ. And a great multitude of the Greeks, some Jews, multitude of Greeks. Then verse 5, the ones that weren't persuaded, Jews, got envious. It makes sense, doesn't it? We've seen it so many times before, I won't even comment on it. So they go to the marketplace where there's some evil men standing around, some loafers, some lazy men who don't have anything else to do. They bring those men along and they start a mob. They start a crowd. They know how to do this. They've been doing this for a long time. And they go to where Paul is staying at the house of Jason and attack the house. They couldn't find him, so they drag Jason himself and some other brothers. over to the rulers of the city. Hey, he said, these guys that have turned the world upside down, they're here too. We've got to do something about this. And Jason, this man, is actually keeping them in his house. He needs to be punished. So they took some money from Jason, took a bribe, and then let him go. I don't think Jason was trying to bribe them. I think he just was told, you give me some money, and you won't be hurt. So they did. So they're gone. Paul and Silas are gone down the road to Berea. At nighttime, they sneak them down there. They get there and they go to another synagogue of the Jews. You would think they would learn, right? And yes, they have learned. They have learned that to be a Christian, to be a soldier of Jesus Christ, means persecution. Persecution is not to be the exception, but the rule. That's what they've learned. These guys were, it says, more noble or fair-minded than the Thessalonians. They received it real well, and these Jews actually checked out their Bibles to see that everything that Paul and Barnabas were saying was the truth. And so many of them believed. See, when you really look in the Bible, you're going to find Jesus in the Old Testament. But here come the Thessalonian Jews. They're not finished yet. They realize now what's happened, that Paul got the slip, and they're going to go down there to Berea now, and stir up the Jewish brothers down there. stir up the crowds. So they sent him away again. Silas and Timothy stayed behind, but Paul's gone. And Paul's going on down this time to Athens. Everybody's heard of Athens. And there is our brother, our friend, the great apostle, standing in Athens. And he's going to go down there and he's going to wait for them. But you know Paul, he's not just going to stand and wait. He has to be there while he believes that, but while he's there, his spirit inside of him is provoked. He sees all the idols, the whole city giving over to it, to idolatry. So he begins to reason. Some people say this was a mistake. You shouldn't reason with these people, but the power of God should be allowed to be demonstrated. Nevertheless, he reasoned. He reasoned with them. He encounters the philosophers, Epicureans, who believed in Pleasure. Everything is all about pleasure. Enjoy yourself. It's later than you think. And the Stoics, who said, accept life as it comes to you, good or bad, but don't show emotion because it's going to change tomorrow. Just stay, stay. We believe in fate. Two different kinds of, in fact, there are many different kinds of philosophies floating through Athens. And they gathered here on the top of this hill, Mars Hill, the Areopagus, to share these ideas with each other. They were always looking for some brand new thing. So Peter, sorry, Paul, stands up on that hill too and gives them a new thing and notices that they have an inscription on one of their many idols to the unknown God. They didn't want to miss any God. They were being very careful. So Paul says, I notice you've got this inscription to an unknown God. I want to tell you who this unknown God is. And he goes ahead and preaches the Lord. He doesn't mention Jesus. He mentions the person, but not the name of Jesus. But he says, I want to proclaim this God who created all things. It is not worshipped with men's hands. He doesn't need anything. He gives life to everyone in breath. He's not in temples made with hands. He's made us all. And he's determined pre-appointed times and the boundaries of the habitations. The people of the world live in certain places of the world because God says that that's where they're supposed to live. And that they're supposed to seek the Lord, although He's not very far. In Him we live and move and have our being. He quotes one of the poems of the Athenians, for we are also His offspring. Since we are from God, He doesn't mean that we are children of God. He's just trying to speak their language a little bit. Since we're from God, We shouldn't think that the divine nature is like gold. We're not gold. We're made in His image. And we don't look like these statues. We're real living persons. And so is He, a living God. And you know, all these years, God's kind of overlooked this stupidity, this ignorance. But now He wants everybody to repent. And in fact, He's even appointed a day on which He's going to judge the world. There's a day coming. And I'm sure Paul believed that it was very soon. And so do we. Very soon. a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by the man. And here's where Jesus comes in, although he doesn't mention that name. I'm not sure why. He's given assurance of this to all by raising him from the dead. Oh, that was That was a faux pas. He wasn't supposed to do that, was he? Politically incorrect. Even though they liked their new things, this was a little bit too new. And they said, although some of them just made fun, others said, well, we'll talk to you some other time about this. And so that was it. Was it? No, not totally. There were some folks that accepted the Lord on that day. You don't see any great demonstration of the power of God here? And yet, the Gospel is preached, sorta. He puts the hook in. This is their first time, and some of them bit. These people will get more knowledge of it later on. One waters, that's one plants, one waters, you know. God gives the increase. So he planted some seeds there. Not a wasted trip. I trust that nothing that you do in your life is wasted. I pray that, trust that everywhere you go, you're taking full advantage of the time. He preached that. to his followers, and he lived that. Well, what caused... We're on number 13 of the questions now. What caused the Thessalonian Jews to gather a mob? Oh, they were not persuaded, and they were envious. 14. Why was Jason attacked? Because he welcomed these apostles, these bringers of strange stories. Number 15. What sets off the town of Berea from the other places visited by Paul? Well, they searched the scriptures daily to see if these things were true. Found that they were. 16. When Paul was forced out of Berea, who stayed behind to deal with this infant church that had already begun? That would be Silas and Timothy. 17. How did Paul use a pagan inscription to preach Jesus? He said that they worshipped the unknown God ignorantly, and he told them about who that God was. 18. At what point was the audience on Mars Hill turned off? That was when he mentioned resurrection. Was anyone in Athens converted? Yes, some. Dionysius and Damaris, 20. Well, let's go to chapter 18. We're only going to cover five or six verses here in chapter 18. He goes from Athens to Corinth. He finds Aquila and wife Priscilla, who are tent makers. And here is the introduction of how he made his living. Sometimes he did receive offerings, but quite often he worked with his own hands, as an example. to the believers there and to let them know he wasn't out for the money on this thing. And he would go to the synagogue every Sabbath while he was there in Corinth also. So Corinth is the next stop. But now that he's in Corinth, now that he has a minute to rest here or somewhere, he starts writing. He writes the places he's been before. Where has he been before? He's just been to Thessalonica, Britain. He's going to write a letter. Now to the Thessalonians. Now you see why these different letters came and where they came. And it's right here that he will write this letter from Corinth to the Thessalonian church. And the next time we get together, Lord willing, we'll cover all of 1st and 2nd Thessalonians, although that's a fairly huge chunk for us. If you have any idea where we've been before, you see why I'm saying that. But anyway. The questions to finish up this section. How is it that Aquila and Priscilla happened to be in Corinth? Because all Jews had been ordered out of Rome. I'm sure that broke their heart, but if they had known they were going to meet the Apostle Paul as we know him today, they would have not been too sad at all. Number 21, while ministering in Corinth, how was Paul supported? He was a tent maker. And who rejoined Paul at Corinth? I didn't give you verse 5, but that would be Silas and Timothy. Now these guys, Timothy, you know, we call him a pastor. Don't call him that anymore. He was not a permanent pastor. He was one of the apostolic band. These people traveled with Paul, and Paul would leave them behind to get the churches in order, but the churches were run by elders. The Timothys and Tituses, these guys stayed there long enough to get elders made, then they would go join Paul for the next assignment. Very simple method of getting the work done. And we've got to have our chief honcho, top man, be in charge of everything. Whereas it looks like a plurality of elders with their varying gifts were able to lead the church in concert with the Holy Spirit. That's a lot to give you before I just close right now, but you think about that. Think about all these things. Think about our wonderful Lord who put it all together for us. And go with Him one more step today. In Jesus' name, Have a good day.