Acts 13:42-52

one and then we'll make sure that it's going alive okay almost there okay it's just about there just about and my face is gonna be like going like maybe we'll see okay well there we go all right well good evening good evening good evening welcome to coffee and devotions it's so good to have you with us tonight that's where every day we get together we get into god's word and we grow in our love for the lord together and this year 2022 will go from the book of acts to the book of jeremiah nope philemon philemon okay well i'm so glad to have you tonight why don't we go ahead i'm going to have a little bit of coffee you want some of my coffee average details it is decaf you want to try some sure tastes like lime tastes like lime okay well uh some coffee we'll pray and we'll get into god's word lord we thank you so much for this day and we thank you for the power of the gospel to reach all sorts of people we pray that we would follow in your paths that we would have hearts to believe in jesus name amen all right here we go we are at acts chapter 13 and we're going to go 42 through the end of the chapter so you want to read verses 42 and 43 when the jews went out of saigon of the synagogue the gentiles began not the gentiles begged that these words might be preached to them the next sabbath now that when the congregation had broken up many of the jews and they vote devout good job apostolites good job that's good word yeah followed paul and dominic who's speaking to them persuaded them to continue in grace of god okay so uh remember yesterday they had been preaching in antioch yep and they they preached and a whole bunch of people believed and so they asked them to come back and so now they've come back and they've they're begging them to continue right they're they're urging them come on come on come on come on come back come back and so paul and barnabas encourage them to continue in the grace of god okay so on the next sabbath we're going to read i'm going to read this part writing on the next sabbath almost the whole city came to off together to hear the word of god but when the jews saw the multitudes they were filled with envy and contradicting and blaspheming they opposed the things spoken by paul then paul and barnabas grew bold and said it was necessary that the word of god should be spoken to your you first but since you reject it and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life behold we turn to the gentiles for so the lord has commanded us i have set you as a light to the gentiles that you should be for salvation to the ends of the earth now i'll read this part and you could read the last one now when the gentiles heard this they were glad and glorified the word of the lord and as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed all right so uh they get there it's the next sabbath and the jewish people show up and who all's at the synagogue almost all city it's like the whole city there uh do people take it kindly when someone takes their pew at church nope no right so they're not happy about their they're disgruntled about it they don't like the message they're preaching they don't like all these gentiles who are there and so what do the jewish people do they're like do that yeah they start blaspheming and contradicting right they reject him they reject the message of jesus christ they don't want to hear from them they speak badly against them and so it's interesting what it says here this is really reminded me of what paul writes in romans chapter 11 about the gospel going to the jew first and also to the greek but the jewish people had to reject it so it could go to the greek people and that's what he's saying here it was necessary that the word of god should be spoken to you first but since you rejected judge and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life so if someone rejects the good news about jesus as the messiah what are they judging themselves as unworthy of what unborn and so this is where he goes in and he quotes isaiah 49 6. he says i have set you as a light to the gentiles that you should be for salvation to the ends of the of the earth how do the gentile people respond it's right here in verse 49 how did the gentiles respond they were quad yeah they're glad they glorify the word of god they're happy right it's wonderful salvation they can be saved they can have eternal life is that good news yep yeah it's good news right and here is one of the most bold statements in all the book of acts about a topic that many people don't like about election or predestination and as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed who's able to believe uh anyone god's picks yeah anyone got picks right the idea here of being appointed is like being written on a roll or being written in the book so the people who are written in the book those people are going to what yeah they're going to believe and so they're going to be in heaven right you want to read at the very end it this is kind of the harsh thing about what happens do you want to borrow my reading glasses so it's easier to see sure okay they'll probably be a little bit big on you okay here we go okay verses 49 to the end of the chapter um and the word of the lord was beginning with being spread throughout all the legions but the jews stood up the devote and prominent women and the chief of men of the city raised up a plus sign it up you got it a possession per se fusion against paul and mamas and expelled from their legion but they shook off the dust from their feet against them and came to it and disciplined and the disciples were filled with joy and the holy spirit all right so they preached the message and everyone loves it right not the juice everybody else likes it except the juice well what do the jews do they make them go out go shoot yeah they they get some of the the devout women right some ladies who really liked being jewish and they got them and some of the leading people of the city and they persecuted them they chased them out yeah they ran them out of town but it's interesting here even though they're running them out of town but they that's paul and barnabas but they shook off the dust from their feet against them you know who had commanded them to do that jesus jesus that's right jesus said in luke chapter 9 jesus was the one who told them to shake off the dust if somebody wouldn't receive the gospel what would they do were they to be super concerned about it and yeah not everybody's going to believe you should be yeah now does that hurt our hearts sometimes yes yeah it's sad right paul says he would be willing to go to hell that his fellow countrymen might believe but they need to shake off the dust from their feet because they need to go to the next place so tell the gospel to and it's how do the people in the city respond how did the disciples in the city respond and the disciples were filled with joy in the holy spirit but aren't they being persecuted before good cause are they being talked bad about yeah it's called good cause so why are they being filled with joy because it's funky but but things must how can they have the holy spirit if things aren't going well if persecution is there isn't persecute doesn't that show you that something's going wrong with persecution sir they had your tears and joys because they were still jesus they had tears of joy because they were in jesus that's right was it what did jesus say if people hated jesus they would also what no because if if they hated you because you did a stupid mistake they probably think i'll make the same mistake too did they believe the good news that jesus was preaching who the jewish people no no and so would they was it a surprise that these people weren't believing nope nope is a servant greater than his master no no and so if jesus suffered do you think that we might suffer but can we still have joy yeah even when things are going hard so do you think there's a difference between joy and happiness what do you think the difference between joy and happiness is i think joy is when um what joy that s not when will joy do we have like a happiness that can't be found in any thing because happiness is having everything but you can't have everything because you have to have joy to have everything well maybe if your happiness is based on material things or temporary enjoyments but where is our joy is our joy in things or in enjoyment it's in god that's right we rejoice in the spirit in the spirit or we rejoice in the lord it's good news right we can have joy everlasting yep that's right well do you know that joy do you rejoice in the holy spirit maybe you've been one of those who have been talked against blasphemed you've been chased out of friend groups or relationships or maybe even have suffered persecution in your workplace being put out of a job because you wouldn't do something that you knew was against the scriptures where's your joy when the hard days come where do you find lasting contentment rejoice in the lord always and again i say rejoice for in christ jesus we can do all things you ready to pray all right lord we thank you so much for this day we thank you so much for jesus christ the one who has saved our souls who has written our names in the lamb's book of life with the ink of his blood lord we pray that we might live with joy and with the holy spirit in jesus name amen well may you have a great night may you rest in jesus christ and we'll see you tomorrow you want to say bye thanks for listening to this week's message from god's word for you a ministry of sharon rp church in rural southeast iowa we pray that the message would be used by god to transform your faith in your life this week if you'd like to get more information about us feel free to go to the website sharonrpc.org we'd love to invite you to worship with us our worship time is 10 a.m every sunday at 25 204 160th avenue morning sun iowa 526-40 may god richly bless you this week [Music] you