Good Times

Transcript

This transcript was generated automatically from the audio and may contain small errors.

Okay, I have to say it and please don't be offended, but we are singing so well. We are. I mean, don't y'all think so? Shane and I were actually talking about it earlier about how much better the church sings now. Shane, you've been here four or five times you said something like that? Yeah, and how much better the church sings each time he comes? And so who's responsible? Who's doing that? Good. It's Daniel Oster. I wanted to know where that's coming from. Yeah, that's awesome. Man, thank you for the opportunity, Drew, to speak with you guys today. I want you to do something for me right here at the get-go. And look, I know I'm the guest speaker guy, and so it's going to be kind of easy for you to zone out and think about the afternoon football game or whatever. But I really want you to give me something right here at the get-go that may help you really hear what I think God has something to say to you today.

And in order to get that, I want you to do something with me right now, okay? And here's what it is. What trial, a hardship, a difficulty of some time, are you currently facing? What trial? Obviously, I don't know what's going on in everybody's lives. Don't blow me off here now. Don't say, well, you know, I got a bad parking spot or, you know, got a hangnail or whatever. I mean, I'm serious. What are you dealing with right now that's just really ruffling your feathers a little bit? Maybe it's not stopping you from getting good sleep at night, but it's not, you know, something's not right. Y'all know who Sharon Harris is. Some of you do, and she's in the hospital right now. So hers is pretty easy, right? And remember to pray for Sharon. She's not doing well. Maybe for you it's not health-related, this trial you're dealing with. Maybe it's family-related. Some of you are teenagers, and you don't like your parents much these days.

Yeah, I'm serious. I know that happens. I lived through that. My parents survived it. We mostly did, my wife and I. Maybe you and your spouse aren't gee-hawing right now. That's a technical term. You know, again, I don't know what's going on in your life. Maybe it's employment-related. You're feeling overwhelmed. You're feeling like you're underappreciated. Maybe it's a coworker that you can't kind of see eye to eye with. But I want you to get that clearly on the screen in your mind. Got it? And it might be more than one thing. I hope it's not too many things, but it might be more than one. And that's okay. We're studying James in our home group, and I want you to look at this verse of Scripture in James 1. Count it all joy. Why don't you read this with me out loud? I always feel like that's better. Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that

the testing of your faith produces steadfastness and lets steadfastness have its full effect that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. I now appreciate that nobody snickered when we read that first part. See what this is? Count it all joy. Wow. Is that your default when things come your way? Praise God and hallelujah. I'm broke or I'm sick or whatever. No, it's not. And yet, does the Bible ever ask us to do anything that we can't do? Yes, it does. It asks us to do things that we can't do, but that we can do with Jesus, with Christ, with His help. Philippians 4:13, I can do some things through Christ. No, what did it say? I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Paul's talking about it in that context. He's not talking about being able to run the fastest race or whatever. He's talking about how to be in want and have plenty. And he says, man, God gives me the grace to handle all of that.

It's His strength at work in me. So James is asking us to do something pretty amazing here. And I think what's going to be required to pull this off is God's encouragement. And that's actually what I want to talk to you about today, is God's powerful encouragement. God's powerful encouragement. And I don't care who you are, you need encouragement on a regular basis. I've got a friend that's a staff member of the church right now, Drew, and they're just not getting any. Drew, you've heard this preacher's story about the guy who, his wife kind of got crossways with him, and finally she just came out and said, you never tell me you love me. You remember the story? And the guy's response is, well, I told you that on our wedding day. If something changes, I'll let you know. What an idiot. It doesn't work that way. We need regular encouragement. If you haven't told your spouse, you love her by the way, you can just kind of turn your

head over and say, I love you right now, okay? That'd be a good thing. All right? Because we need regular encouragement. It's just like the air that we breathe, we need that. And I want to present to you some ideas about how God might do that by looking at some ways that He did that for the Apostle Paul in Acts 18. So if you got your copy of Scripture, go ahead and turn there. Acts 18. And we're going to start in verses 1 through 4. And here's the big idea for the day, that God's powerful encouragement comes through His people, through His promise, and through His provision. Didn't mean to do the analogy. I mean, what's it called? Acrostic thing, but it just fell out there. Not acrostic, what is it? Alliteration. Thank you, Drew. Through the people, He puts around us, through the promises He gives us, and through His provision. Okay, you ready? You in on this?

Did anybody use any encouragement today? Yeah. Good. So, here we go. Acts 18, 1 through 4. After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. And he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla. Because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome. And he went to see them, and because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them and worked. For they were tent makers by trade. And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and tried to persuade Jews and Greeks. So Paul's come from Athens to Corinth, about 50 miles. And he's actually not with his regular posse, he's not with his regular entourage right here. They're going to show up in just a minute. And he meets these tent makers. Now there's some back and forth about whether or not these people were already Christians or not. Maybe Paul led them to Christ, maybe he didn't.

But they definitely are strong Christ followers, as we're going to see in what's ahead for them. God puts these people in Paul's life, Priscilla and Aquila. And he's going to continue to do that. Let's take a minute to look at Paul's path. Paul's path. Let's just back up a couple of places from where he is now. He's at Corinth now, right? And we know he came from Athens. Where was he? Let's go back to Philippi for a minute. What happened at Philippi? Who happened at Philippi? Remember some jail time and how that turned out? How'd it turn out? Say it out loud, use your words. That's okay, you can talk in church with me. It turned out good because what happened to the jailer? Instead of taking his own life, what happens to him? He and his whole family get baptized, right? That's pretty good, I would say. What happens to this lady named Lydia? She follows Jesus. As a matter of fact, she opens her home and invites Paul and Silas and Timothy in and

kind of lets that be probably their home base while they're there. Yeah, God putting people around Paul that can encourage him. What happens at Thessalonica? Whatever happened, it happened quick. If you read it, he was only there for three weeks. That's where he was after Philippi. After he gets thrown in jail, he gets invited to take his ministry down the road. He does that and he ends up at Thessalonica and he's there for three weeks and then the Jews riot breaks out and some poor guy named Jason and his brothers are talked about in Acts 17-19. Again, God's putting people around Paul to support him, to love him, to encourage him. Jason ends up in a bit of a scrape over this, but it happened. Then where does he go from Thessalonica? Right, Berea. And at Berea, what happens? It goes pretty good for a minute. The Bereans really are tuned in and checking Paul out.

They'll hear what Paul has to say, compare that to the scriptures that they're aware of, and it's going pretty swimmingly. It's going pretty good. And then what happens? The thugs from Thessalonica show up and again, run him out of town. So Paul is kind of like three for three here as far as getting run out of town. It's kind of a deal. It's kind of a big deal, isn't it? That you get invited to leave town? Well then he ends up at Athens and what happens at Athens? Not much, really. What happens at Athens? You know this story? He talks to who? The intellectual elites, the Areopagus is, I think it's pronounced. And how does that go? Not great. But again, God puts some people with him. Dionysus, the Areopagite, one of the intellectuals, one of the Harvard or the Yale guys, whatever, and Demarius and others, there were a few people that God drew to himself and that

were able to understand and receive what Paul was sharing about Christ. And I'm sure that was encouraging to Paul. And then he comes to Corinth. Now Corinth is the capital of Achaia of Greece. Its population is about 700,000, so it's no small place. It's a harbor city, so plenty of goods and services roaming around. Part of their claim to fame was that they had this veneration of, have you ever heard of Aphrodite? Who's Aphrodite? The goddess of, yeah, the goddess of sex. The goddess, she also, I think her Roman name is Venus. Yeah. So, Corinth is kind of the kind of place that makes Las Vegas blush. You know, it's just not a, it's just, there's a lot of bad things that go on there, and I'm not even going to get into all of that, but you know, light shines brightest in the darkness, doesn't it? And this was definitely darkness, and yet, here Paul is. God's done this work of putting some cool people around him, and he's been doing it

all along. And Paul leads on his first missionary journey. Who does, who does, who does God send with him? Joseph and, and John Mark, right? Joseph and John Mark, right? Right? Joseph and John Mark? Isn't that who goes with him on his first missionary journey? Everybody's, are you not sure? Maybe you know Joseph by his other name. What's his other name? Son of encouragement. Son of encouragement. It's Barnabas. His real name is Joseph. But he's, he's such an encourager that that's the name that he goes by, or that's the name that he's called in scripture again and again and again. Son of encouragement, that's Barnabas. That's what that, that's what that name means. Can you imagine? You know, if, if Daniel, they change your name to son of inspiration, we're going to call Daniel son of inspiration, because he's so inspiring. That's pretty cool, isn't it? That you'd have that kind of reputation, reputation that you'd have that kind of presence where

you're encouraging people to the point that that's what they lead with when they talk about you. That you're the, and, and that's just exactly who Paul needed. This guy got into Paul's corner early on, didn't he? Paul after he gets saved, he goes to Tarsus for a while, I think, then he ends up in Jerusalem. He's trying to connect with the apostles and guess what? They're a little slow to trust him because he was there when Stephen was stoned and he wasn't on Stephen's side. So I don't trust him too much, but who steps in? Barnabas. Barnabas kind of smooths it out and begins to help, help Paul make a relationship with the apostles. And then when, when Antioch, when there's this dispersion really because of the trouble that Paul started, the persecution that Paul started, when there's this dispersion and the Christians go to Antioch, they send Barnabas on Joseph, Barnabas up there to check things

out when he gets there, he sees, man, God's doing a work here, I need help. Who does he go get? I'll give you a hint, he goes to Tarsus to get him. Paul. Barnabas has been, has been cheering Paul on early and often. I read a book a long time ago called Balcony People by a lady named Joyce Landorf. Probably not in print even anymore. But her, kind of her premise is we all need balcony people. We all need people that are in the balcony of our lives cheering us on, rooting for us, encouraging us in what we face. And man, Barnabas, and John Mark probably to some degree was that kind of a, kind of a person. But then who's, who's he with on the second missionary journey? He was with Barnabas and John Mark on the first. Then it's who? Silas and Timothy. Now, you may not know much about Silas. Silas is rock solid. He's, he's hanging out with the, he goes to the Apostle Baptist Church in Jerusalem.

I'm sure it's exactly called that, but that's kind of describes it. Because this church is where the Apostles were. I mean, all the Christians were together in Jerusalem and, and so Silas goes there and then when, when they have something called the Jerusalem Council, and Drew, you talked about this, and, and they make this decision about how to, how the Gentiles are, they're good to go and we don't have to put all our Jewish laws on them. They send Silas to, to tell the Gentiles to, to go and verify what he, he's got that kind of clout. He's got that kind of influence. So Silas is rock solid. And then who else goes on this little journey on the second missionary journey? Well, Timothy and evidently Paul fought so much of Timothy that he was willing to go back to a place called Lystra, a place where he had been stoned and sometime Drew, you need to explain how he survived that.

Because stoning is not a rock fight game. It's they throw rocks at you until you're dead, until you're buried under them. And somehow Paul gets stoned, gets up, the Bible says, and leaves town there, but he's willing to go back to get Timothy. He cared that much. He thought that much of Timothy under the Lord's leadership, I'm sure. You see, God was continuing to surround Paul with these, with these people that, that were encouraging to him, that loved him. And who's he, who's he, who's in his corner now? Who's the fresh dynamic duo? Priscilla and Aquila. When he arrives in Corinth, he's by himself, as I, as I said, and, and, and Priscilla and Aquila step onto the stage. And then they're going to go, they're going to, they're going to hang in there with Paul. They're going to go with him to Ephesus. They're going to be rock solid supporters and encouragers.

Not only of him, but there's a guy named Apollos that maybe you've heard about that evidently was an excellent speaker, but didn't quite have the whole story about Jesus and Priscilla and Aquila. School him up, help him out. Invest in his ministry just like they're investing in Paul's. And so who are those encouragers in your life right now? Because I guarantee you there's some there. God, the same God that did that for the apostle Paul knows and loves you enough that he's doing that for you right now. Who are they? And maybe just importantly, do they know about the trials you're going through right now? Are they the kind of people that you can trust to share your challenges with? Because you know they'll pray for you and they'll try to lift your spirits and they'll be your Barnabas. You see, I've got some people like that in my life and I hope you've got some in yours

too. You know, one of mine right now is my grandson. Y'all don't tell him that I said that about him. You might get embarrassed. He's sitting right over there, but don't look. But he just encourages me. I think he's on a good path spiritually. Again, don't tell him I said that. I think God's doing a work in his life and it's just fun for me to see him. And he's kind of like a Timothy to me. But then I've got some other friends that are kind of like a Barnabas that I kind of look up to and you know, one of them is a guy named Scott Whitson. Y'all may know Scott. He's a director of missions for our area. Scott's got such a heart for God and it will just do anything, any time for anybody to be able to share about Jesus. Has block parties that he's a part of in his neighborhood each year. Just does all kinds of cool things. I've been on some tremendous mission trips that went backpacking like in China or something

like that. Just that kind of guy. Again, he just inspires me. Who is like that in your life right now? Because I guarantee you God's put some people there like that. Who are your encouragers? Who are your balcony people? Who's cheering you on? And maybe on the other side of that, who are you that too? Is there anybody that you're a Barnabas to right now? You know, a bunch of y'all, you're trying to raise your kids and you're trying to raise them well and hopefully you're a Barnabas to them. But I know they're a captive audience but that shouldn't be your only audience. Because God's called us to love one another, to be the body of Christ, to be the church. And I know some of us have this tendency to keep one another at arm's length and not really let people into our world. Listen, let me assure you that is not God's plan for you. That's not. And I don't mean that you have to let everybody in.

My brother-in-law talks about opening the vault with his wife. Sometimes she opens the vault a little too often and cheers things that he's uncomfortable with her sharing. But we've got to let some people in the vault because God wants to encourage you through some people, through some people that he's put around you. First Thessalonians 5:11, therefore encourage one another and build one another up just as you are doing. And don't you wish God could say that to you? And encourage one another and build one another up just as you are doing. Just like you're doing it right now. Keep it up. Keep at it. I have a cheerleader friend who is now an IMB missionary. And I didn't know, his name is Monty Baker, he's an IMB missionary to Budapest. And I didn't know Monty was a cheerleader and I don't remember the context but suddenly he told me that and I realized that makes sense.

He's kind of quiet but he is such an encourager. I talked to him on the phone fairly regularly and I never walk away without receiving some encouragement from him. You know who else is a cheerleader? Kerry Beckwith. That's my roommate. Kerry was a cheerleader in high school, in junior high and in P-weets. And you know why? Because she's a cheerleader. That's just who she is. Some of you know her well enough that you've been encouraged by her. You know what you do when you find a good cheerleader? I marry her. You can do whatever you want to. I thought that was the good idea. You want those kind of people in your life and you want to be one of those kind of people. So God's powerful encouragement comes through people. God's powerful encouragement comes through his promise. And I want you to hear this. Now this interesting part takes place first. But hear all of this.

In Acts 18 verse 5, then when Silas and Timothy arrived. So the rest of the team finally arrives from Macedonia. And by the way they may have brought an offering to help Paul out because it seems like Paul kind of switches gears now and really digs into trying to testify about Jesus. Because Paul was occupied with the word, testifying to the Jews. When Christ was Jesus. And when they opposed and reviled him he shook out his garments and said to them, your blood be on your own heads. I am innocent. From now on I'll go to the Gentiles. So it just didn't work at the synagogue. They just weren't buying what Paul was selling. But listen to this. This is kind of funny to me. And he left there and went to the house of a man named Titus Justice. So Titus Justice evidently became a believer. But guess where Titus Justice lived? The worshiper of God, his house was next door to the synagogue.

So Paul ends up next door to the synagogue where he hasn't been received. And look who one of his key members is. Christmas, the ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Lord together with his entire household. And many of the Corinthian, hearing Paul, believed and were baptized. So Paul not only gets the spot next door to the synagogue but he gets the leader of the synagogue that's now under his teaching meeting with him next door. See, God's encouraging Paul through these people. But catch the promise. Verse 9, and the Lord said to Paul one night in a vision. I think this is so kind of God what he does here. Do not be afraid. Do not be afraid. Did Paul have anything to be afraid about? He had a pretty bad track record going. Do not be afraid. Go on speaking. Do not be silent for I am with you and no one will attack you to harm you. That's pretty good news for Paul.

For I have many in this city who are my people also some pretty good news for Paul. Again, when you look at Paul's path, what happened at Philippi? Some good things. He had also been beaten with rods and thrown in jail. Thessalonica run out of town at Berea, run out of town at Athens. I'm sure he had great anticipation that things were going to just go crazy at Athens. Just think about it. If those folks would have believed and really accepted Christ like they did at Thessalonica, who knows what all would have happened because these were the intellectual, these were people of influence. But it didn't go that way. There was limited success, but now God's made him a promise. God's made him a promise. What's your favorite Bible promise? Anybody? I know my wife's is actually Philippians 4:13. I can do all things through Christ. What's yours? Anybody? Say, you know, Carrie and I have a rental company where we have a couple of rent houses.

You may have heard of them. And the name of our DBA, our Doing Business As, is Pro 356. And that's why. Somebody else, favorite Bible verse? Can you say, just say some of it or just tell what you like about it? Amen, amen, amen. Yes, yes, yes, awesome. And she knows that verse. Anybody else? Ronald? Oh, that's mine! Say it. I love that. Anybody else? Favorite Bible promise? Now, you know the way you catch on to a Bible promise is you got to kind of be in the scriptures. Not pointing any fingers or anything, but it's good to be in the scriptures, okay? Because God will give you some promises if you're in his word. That's how it works. But listen, sometimes God gives you a promise independent of the scripture. You know what I'm saying? It may be tied to a Bible verse, but it's a promise for you personally. Just like this promise to Paul. It was a personal promise, right?

He was saying to Paul, hey, I'm going to protect you. Have you ever had a promise like that? There's been a few times when I remember God just kind of encouraging me that he was going to do something in a place. And that meant so much to me. I know we have different views about calls to ministry, but my call to ministry, my sense that God wanted me to serve him as a pastor, that was just a personal promise that's really guided my life. I pastored for 33 years. I was in the ministry for 40 years, and a whole lot of that was because of what God had done in calling me. So here Paul is, and we could talk about manna in the wilderness. We could talk about all kinds of things that God promises, how he promises, but he doesn't just promise, does he? He comes through. He comes through. God's powerful encouragement also comes through his provision. Look at how God came through.

This verse 18, I'm sorry, chapter 18 verse 12. But when Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews made a united attack on Paul. I'm sure Paul may be thinking at this point, oh, here we go again, back to jail. And brought him into him before the tribunal, for the court, saying this man is persuading people to worship God contrary to the law. But when Paul was about to open his mouth, Paul doesn't even get to speak here. Gallio said to the Jews, if this were a matter of wrongdoing or vicious crime, oh, Jews, I would have reason to accept your complaint. But since it's a matter of questions about words, probably Jesus and the law, those kinds of word names, Jesus, and your own law, see to it yourselves. I refuse to be a judge of these things, and he drove them from the tribunal. They took it real well, and they all see Sosthenes, the ruler of the synagogue,

I guess the new guy, and beat him in front of the tribunal. But Gallio paid no attention to any of this. After this, Paul stayed many days longer and then took leave of the brothers. I don't know if God granted favor to Paul here. I don't know if, because Paul didn't even really get to speak with this judge. I don't know if this judge got granted disfavor toward the Jews. I don't know what's going on here. I do know that this proconsul is setting a precedent that would have affected Paul in other people's ministry if he had ruled against Paul in this, but he doesn't. He kicks the whole thing out of court. And I think God's handprints or his fingerprints are all over this. I think this is something that, didn't you all know the verse? This is the Lord's doing and it's marvelous in our eyes. I bet Paul was quoting that verse. And this is that whole idea of manna in the wilderness, how God provides.

This is the whole idea of, remember Abraham and Isaac, how God provided Abraham with a son in his old age. And it was a son of a promise and he finally arrives. And then what does God ask him to do? Sacrifice him. And how does that turn out? Well, Abraham is faithful and he raises the knife. But what does God do? He provides, first of all, he stops Abraham from taking the life of his son. But then what does he do? He provides a sacrifice. He provides a ram in the thicket it says.

So Abraham called the name of that place, the Lord will provide, Jehovah Jireh. As it is said to this day, on the mountain of the Lord it shall be provided. See, God comes through, doesn't he? He comes through. And I hope there are times where you can sense that he's come through for you. Some of you, he's come through recently, honey. Denise, God's come through for you recently, honey. Daniel, God's come through for Candace recently, honey.

And you can get their story from them. Kimmy, God's come through for you recently, honey. Drew, with the heart test, God kind of came through for you, didn't he? He does that. And listen, when we can see those things in our rear view mirror, when we can see how God's provided in the past, it certainly makes the future much less daunting. You know, when you see that light on the, turns out it isn't oncoming train, it's not just the end of the tunnel.

It makes it much less challenging to know what God's done in the past. To know that is to give us a hope for the future. God wants to encourage you today through his people, through his promise, and through the way he's provided for you. Let me close with his story. So we are following the Lord Jesus just as hard as we can, Carey and I are, and we've already had Ian's dad with us. He's our five or six year old little boy, and we're in East Texas, and they're trying to educate me, which is a whole other act of God, but at the university, and somehow Carey got pregnant. There's something in the water, I don't know. And then she got pregnant again. And so we're at the hospital, and she's having the second child that we're having there. It's actually our third child, his name is Jason. And we're doing the Lamaze Method where the fathers get to be in the room,

and whoever thought of that, somebody just needs to shoot them, okay? But anyway, we're in there, and it is a meaningful experience, and it's really precious. But we're in there, and Jason is born, and he's doing what newborns do, and we're all so excited and thankful. And then things went south, and I don't know, I hope this never happens to you, but the doctor that delivered the baby looked at me, and I could literally see the fear in his eyes. And he had me ushered out as quickly as possible, because he thought, I think, he thought there was fixing to be a fatality here. She was bleeding out. Now, I'm not going to get into all the details of what was happening, but it was really a serious moment. And then here's how God came through. For some reason, I asked Kerry on the drive up here, what time did this take? About five in the evening. And I don't remember what day of the week it was,

but it just so happened, circumstances just lined up, that there was a retired chief of obstetrics in the hospital. I don't know what he was doing there, and they found him, and he had treated this very malady in somebody else. He knew exactly what to do. He came, he got the situation under control, and obviously we all lived mostly happily ever after. God came through. And, again, when you have those, and when you have God's promises, and when you have people around you that are cheering you on, that are your balcony people, listen, I don't know what that was. It came up on the screen. Trial that hardship that you're facing, the first thing we talked about. But our God is big enough. Amen? He's big enough. And he wants to encourage you today. So let him, let some of these people into your life that want to be your Christian friend, get into his word a little bit more,

and maybe memorize a Bible verse. I mean, she did it really good. I'm sure you have. It kind of appeared that, actually. And then when God does something, drive a stake down there and remember it, because he'll always do something for those who love him, who are called according to his purpose. And then enter into a time of invitation. Shane is going to go... Did y'all know he was a stockbroker? Isn't that cool? He did a great job leading us in worship today. It's not really that cool. It's really cool to me. We're going to enter into a time of invitation. I think, Pastor Drew, you're going to be back around the couches. And if you need to respond to this message somehow today, maybe you don't belong to Jesus yet, and you know it's time. Or maybe you just hadn't been trusting in him. And Pastor Drew, I know he'd love to pray with you about whatever trial you're facing right now.

Let's get it before the Lord, and then let's have a story about how he provides. Father God, we love you, Lord. We pray you'd use this time of invitation. Lord, we're so grateful for the ways that you've loved us, about the people that you've put in our lives, about the promises you've given us, and then the way you've provided again and again. So bless now this time with invitation. Touch hearts right now. And Lord, may we not only be touched, but may we be moved enough to respond in whatever ways you want us to. Lord, even now, we thank you. We bless your name. We pray for what you'll do in these moments.