Living Among Lions (7/20/22)

Living Among Lions (7/20/22)

Part of Living Among Lions—How to thrive like Daniel in today's Babylon

July 20, 2022

Acts 15:25-26 - What Makes You Trustworthy?
* Backstory - the gospel was spreading among the Gentiles.
* But they were involved in some pagan practices.
* In the Roman world, it was quite common to simply adopt another god into your personal arsenal in hopes that one more god would give you more protection.
* But YHVH is not one more god - to worship Him meant He was now your ONLY God.
* Worshipping Him means

.
* Those Gentile pagans who come into this fellowship must give up those things that characterize worshipping false gods.
* So when it came to instructing the gentiles on how to behave, the apostles focused on four specific things:
* Vs 20 - these four were linked directly to Gentile

.
* Not doing these things would separate them from the crowd and also not offend the Jews.
* Vs 22-25 - sending messages involved extreme trust.
* What is it about these Judas & Silas that made them so trustworthy?
* Vs 26 - The Message Bible says it like this - “We picked men we knew you could trust, Judas and Silas - they’ve looked death in the face time and again for the sake of our Master Jesus Christ.”
* Two things that will make us trustworthy - the type of people God can use in His assignments:
* 1)

- to be “holy” means to be “set apart and DEVOTED.”
* 2)

- willing to lose everything for our faith.

Acts 15:39 - Handling a Dispute
* We love when God uses the

of others to get us where He wants us to go.
* We hate when God uses the

,

, or even the

of others to get us where He wants us to go.
* Backstory - Paul & Barnabas were partnered in ministry and about to go on another missionary trip.
* They agreed on the importance of the trip, but not on the composition of the

.
* Barnabas was an

and wanted his cousin Mark with them.
* Paul was an

and didn’t like how Mark deserted them on their first missionary journey when the going got tough.
* The argument got so sharp they parted ways.
* Vs 36-39a - the breakup.
* They created a

in their relationship.
* Boundaries bring

.
* Both guys were “right.”
* How did God honor this boundary?
* Vs 39b-41 - multiplied

with multiplied

!
* When relational issues take place, take heart!
* Draw a boundary and move forward.
* Let God bring you back together when/if He decides.
* Colossians 4:10 - Paul and Mark reconciled.
* “My fellow prisoner Aristarchus sends you his greetings, as does Mark, the cousin of Barnabas.”
* 1 Corinthians 9:6 - Paul and Barnabas reconciled (7 years later).
* “…is it only I and Barnabas who lack the right to not work for a living?”

Acts 19:8-10 - Push & Pull
* When God wants to move you from one place to another, often times there’s a

from where you are and a

to where you need to be.
* The problem comes when we only feel a push or a pull and then we make a move.
* Backstory - Paul’s life shows us this.
* His heart was to preach to “all” people, both Jew & Gentile.
* His early ministry was in the marketplace, houses, and synagogues.
* The reach was not big.
* He had to travel a lot.
* But things changed in Ephesus.
* A new opportunity would open up that would be his biggest success.
* As a result, the gospel spread like wild fire!
* Vs 8 - In Ephesus, the opportunity that opened up was at a synagogue.
* Vs 9 - The mood changed! Their attitudes got hard toward Paul.
* This was the

.
* So he started his own teaching ministry inside the famed “Hall of Tyrannus.”
* This was the

.
* He probably felt this pull early on because he didn’t want to only address Jews, but he waited.
* God used the changed attitude of the people toward Paul to get Paul where He ultimately wanted him to go.
* Vs 10 - the Result!
* Two years of ministry to both Jews & Gentiles - commentators say he preached to about 2 million people from this place!!
* This was Paul’s last big push before he was brought to Jerusalem and held as prisoner and then sent to Rome for death.
* The Hall of Tyrannus was not a church or substitute for a church. It was a parachurch training center. It spawned new churches and supplied existing churches with new believers.
* It literally became a launching pad for the gospel around the world.
* Early manuscripts said he spoke from 11AM-4PM every day.
* The Hall was “non-religious,” so many people who would never enter a synagogue or religious place would come hear Paul.
* Paul’s biggest ministry success hung in the balance of a push and a pull.
* When you feel the push,

for the pull.
* When you feel the pull,

for the push.
* Caveat - this isn’t “fool proof” - sometimes you need to make a move with one or the other. But you need to be 100% sure God wants you to do that first!