Acts 21:27-40

Speaker 1: Well, good morning, welcome to the Collinsville Baptist Tabernacle. We are so glad to have you here with us this morning. And trust that you've already received a warm welcome. We would like to say thank you to all of our guests that are here with us today. Thank you for coming and being a part of the service. I hope that as you were coming in, you received one of our weekly bulletins. If you did inside of that, there is a connection card and we would sure appreciate it if you'd fill that out with whatever information you feel comfortable with sharing. If you do fill it out, you can drop it off at our welcome desk after the service is over, and we'll give you a gift to show our appreciation for you being here today. Let's all stand, and we're going to get started with a word of prayer. Rhythm that's going to open us in prayer, and then he's going to lead us in a couple of songs. But we're so glad that you're here today as believers of Jesus Christ. We have a lot to be thankful for. And if you don't know Jesus as your savior, you're in the best place that you could be because there is hope in the Lord and there is peace and we are so grateful. All of us that have found it, and so I hope that you will find it here as well. Brother Matt, you come and pray for us and then lead us in a few songs.

Speaker 2: Let's pray together. Dear Lord, thank you again for the time that we've already had in your house. Lord, I want to thank you for being our savior Lord. The one who saved us from the penalty of our sins. Lord help us today as we desire to honor you to lift up your name. God, would you meet with us? Would you please Lord, bring your spirit, Lord and work in each and every heart that's here together? That would give you the praise and honor for all that said and done here today. And Jesus, I pray. Amen. Go ahead and remain standing. We're going to sing a wonderful song saved and saved this morning. I.

Unidentified: Say. Fly. It say we're going to speed it up just a little bit

Speaker 2: on the second,

Unidentified: we say. Thank you. I really. I know. Say. They must get out here. The third wind. Saved the lives of. It's.

Speaker 2: Wonderful singing this way, let's continue singing, we'll sing this course together, the family of God.

Unidentified: Let's sing it out. Aren't you glad to be a part of? I'm so glad. Joining. Young.

Speaker 2: A man.

Speaker 1: Our men come forward at this time, we're going to prepare to receive our ties and offerings and trust that God bless you as you're faithful to give. And if you're a guest with us here today, please don't feel obligated to participate during this time. This is for the members of this church, and we trust God to provide for us based on who he is brought here to be a part of this church family. And so God's been very good to us and blessed us for the last sixty six years. And so praise the Lord for his faithfulness and ask that he'll bless you for your faithfulness, as well as brother Jared Holley Holly. If he wouldn't mind to pray and ask God's blessing on the offering here this morning. Hey, man, you may be seated.

Speaker 2: That's. Mean, go and stand together once again with me. We'll see another wonderful song, Wonderful, Merciful Savior. Wonderful.

Unidentified: I'll say. Russia's redeemer, Andrei. You rescue the soul. And raise. Here we long. Oh, we helplessly lost, no.

Speaker 2: On this last verse, let's just think about what we're saying about the Lord Almighty infinite father faithfully loving your own. Just think, too, that he is faithful. He has never given up on us. He faithfully loves his own. I'm so thankful to have a heavenly father that hasn't given up on me. Hasn't quit with his mercy and mercies are new every morning. Let's sing that last verse to the Lord

Unidentified: Almighty and burn it. It's always. Hymn number four

Speaker 2: hundred and seventy four song, I believe, goes well with this song, I'd rather have Jesus quoting all three

Unidentified: verses. I'd rather. The ABS Jesus. He's. It's. This worth. On the last, he's. Sweeter than money. And.

Speaker 2: And you may be seated at this time, we'll have a special Terry Horner for you.

Speaker 3: Are you past the point of where RE is your bread and wagon heavy? Is it all too much to carry? Let me tell you about my Jesus. Do you feel that empty feeling because Shane's done all it's stealing and you're desperate for some healing? Let me tell you about my Jesus.

Unidentified: He makes away. There is no. Rises up from an empty grave. No sooner that he can't see. Me tell you about my cheese. And his grace is free, and the good news is. I know that he will do for you what he's done for me. Let me tell you about my Jesus. Jesus, change your life. Away, the tears from broken dreams and

Speaker 3: wasted years until they past to disappear, oh, let me tell you about my Jesus

Unidentified: and all the wrong. That you would. Darwin undo, if you could. He can work them off.

Speaker 3: Let me tell you about my Jesus.

Unidentified: Aside from an empty grave, there's no sign that he can't say anything about my Jesus. The strong and his grace and. And the good news is I know that he. You what he's done for me. My cross to

Speaker 3: Calvary pay the price for all my guilty. Who would care that much about me? Let me tell you about my Jesus. He makes a way where there is no way he rises up from an empty grave.

Unidentified: There's no senator that he can't save. Let me tell you about my Jesus. His mom is strong and he's very discreet. And the good news is. It is time for me. My Jesus. Does change your

Speaker 3: life. And then.

Speaker 1: Jesus is the hero of our story. I thought it was you. You're dreadfully mistaken. Thank you for that great song mystery. Some of you, I'm very impressed. I mean, just really just blows me away the self-control that you exhibit a song like that. Some of you weren't so strong I could see your heads. I even saw some shoulders. It's like, Whoa, watch out here. All right. It is good to have you here with us today. Take your Bibles. If you have them, turn to acts. Chapter number twenty one acts chapter number twenty one is where we're going to be. I love that. I think it was one of the first lines of the song makes away where there is no way. That really sums up the message for you this morning. And so if that's good enough for you, that's all you need. I feel free to be dismissed. You can beat the Methodists to whatever restaurant you're going to later. But if you if you need some more than just feel free to stay seated. All right, cool, that's that's good news. All right. But no worries. The Cowboys play at noon, so no, it's not going be that long of the service. All right. Acts Chapter twenty one. If you're there, go ahead and stand in honor of reading God's word, and we're going to begin reading in verse number twenty seven acts. Twenty one twenty seven. Bible says. When the seven days were almost ended, the Jews, which were of Asia, when they saw him in the temple, stirred up all the people and laid hands on him. Crying out, men of Israel help. This is the man that teaches all men everywhere against the people and the law and this place and further right Greeks also into the temple and have polluted this holy place. They had seen before, but they had seen before with him in the city, trophyless and a effusion whom they supposed that Paul had brought into the temple. And all the city was moved, the people ran together, and they took Paul and drew him out of the temple forthwith, the doors were shut. As they went about to kill him, Tydings came under the chief captain of the band that all Jerusalem was in an uproar, who immediately took soldiers and centurions ran down unto them when they saw the chief captain in the soldiers they left beating of Paul. Then the chief captain came near and took him and commanded him to be bound with two chains, demanded who he was, what he had done. Some cried, one thing, some another. Among the multitude, and when he could not know the certainty for the tumult, he commanded him to be carried into the castle. When he came upon the stairs, so it was he was born of the soldiers for the violence of the people, but the multitude of the people followed after crying away with him. And this poll was to be led into the castle, he said, under the chief captain. May I speak under the WHO said can now speak Greek art? Not now that Egyptian, which before these days made just an uproar. And let us out into the wilderness for thousand men that were murderers. Paul said I am a man, which I am a Jew of Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, a citizen of no mean city. I beseech the son for me to speak under the people. When he had given him license, Paul stood on the stairs, beckoned with the hand and the people. And there was made a great silence. He's speaking to them in the Hebrew tongue, saying, what I ask that you help us now as we look into your word. You gave me the word you now me say, you told the folks that are here to listen, apply through here to their lives. Words in Jesus name. I pray. Amen. Thank you. May be seated. There have been several shifting of gears as we've made our way through acts. Of course, we began all the way back Easter of twenty nineteen, I believe maybe twenty twenty. Who knows? COVID happened. Who knows what year it is at all. So anyways, we started a long time ago with Jesus still on the earth, speaking to his disciples. We transition to our focusing on the apostles in the initial stages of the gospel being spread throughout the world. We shifted to Antioch. We were introduced to a man named Saul. Saul becomes the major player. His name begins to be referred to as Paul. And now we're coming to another shift in years. Paul has been active in Asia and the earliest parts of Europe, but now he has come back to Jerusalem and we're going to watch over the final seven chapters of the Book of Acts that Paul is going to move from his original Jewish context to a mixed Jew gentile context now where he will make the transition to an almost exclusively gentile context. And in this new town context, we're going to watch as God is going to work a plan that utilizes unsuspecting characters to continue the Gospels march throughout the world. You see, when we talk about God making away where there was no way, God is very creative. I mean, of all the things that Jesus is for us. Graceful, merciful, loving. Patient. Ancient. He's also creative. I mean, he comes up with some of the craziest solutions to problems that you and I could never think of. I mean, how many of you have experienced a crazy solution to a problem that you thought had no solution? Now, I'm not talking teachers about that kid in your class who wasn't paying attention. And when the test comes, they put down some math problem that doesn't make sense at all. You know, like, well, that was creative, but it didn't work. No. God is so creative he can do what you and I never even dreamed he could do. And I usually help assistance solutions come from places that we never expected. Now, I don't typically start my messages with a joke. So to start right off the bat, this is unsuspecting unusable, OK? You weren't suspecting this, but I want to know how many of you have heard of an A. joke? You ever heard of an A. joke? No. All right. Well, it's hard for me to explain it to you. I'll just have to tell you a few. So that you can kind of get it. All right. Are you ready? Here we go. This is fun. What do you call a joke that isn't funny? A sentence. What did one stranger say to the other? Nothing. They didn't know each other. How do you confuse somebody? Paint yourself green and throw forks at them. How is a laser beam similar to a goldfish? Neither of them can whistle. What's brown and sticky? A stick you're catching on. What's red and smells like blue paint? Red paint. How are a great and a preacher the same? They're both purple. Only the preacher isn't, although I guess today I do have purple on so. You guys aren't enjoying this near as much as I am. What did one aunt say to the other aunt? Nothing ants communicate by pheromones, not speech. That was too deep for some of you. OK, last one, I promise. I was shocked when I found out that my toaster wasn't waterproof. Get it. See, I mean, you didn't you didn't expect a whole lot of those answers, did you? I mean, they're not a little off the wall anyways. What what's the message about this morning? There's like a hundred and fifty of those right here, so talk about self-discipline, you know, getting back to the message. Who? God is going to help. Paul, with an unsuspecting source we pick up this morning on Paul as he's actually enjoying the final moments of his of this time in the Book of Acts as a free man. Up to this point, Paul has been free to move about the the region as the Holy Spirit allowed him. He's been free to make his own decisions. He's been a free man. But in this chapter, we're going to see that all of that freedom comes to an end. For his time in the Book of Acts, weeks and months of activity are going to converge in this passage where we are going to see a context altering shift in polls life. He's made that long trip from Europe back to Jerusalem. Somebody actually went and made a time line of how many days it took him to get there. I thought that was pretty boring, so I can share it with you. But throughout that trip, he was warned repeatedly about what would happen if he returned to Jerusalem. The Holy Spirit had obviously been speaking to Paul about the things that he would face. And yet Paul had pushed forward with his plan. Remember, it was his idea to go to Jerusalem. Now, though, Paul's initial reception in Jerusalem was pleasant. Remember, they were all glad to see him. They rejoiced and give glory to God about the report that he shared with them. It quickly became clear in Jerusalem that there was going to be that there were going to be problems with Paul's presence there. You remember last week we talked about James, the half brother of Jesus and the pastor of the Jerusalem Church, and he informed Paul of the false reports that had been coming to Jerusalem about his ministry. People were hearing both the saved in the unsaved. We're hearing that Paul was teaching Jews to abandon the law and, more importantly, abandon Jewish culture. And so as we looked last week, James had told Paul that he had to prove the naysayers wrong by participating in a Jewish custom publicly so he had joined those men who had already made vows. He covered their expenses, and now he is going to the temple to make sacrifices in accordance with the vows that they had made. And if you look at verse number twenty seven in this morning's passage, Paul is nearing the end of the seven days that it took to complete those rituals that James had told him to complete. As Paul is in the temple, probably preparing to offer these sacrifices with the other men, there are certain Jews from the region of Asia who recognize Paul. These Jews are most likely people from Ephesus. And I'll tell you why we believe that in a minute, but they are about to get the whole city in an uproar against Paul the the other day when those storms were running. We're moving into the area. I was coming back from lunch and I was crossing over the bridge right over here, going over one nine. And as I look back to the West, I had the church over here and it was really interesting because the church was still in the sunlight. And so it was like bright, white, gleaming. But right behind the church were all of those dark clouds. And you can just see the approaching storm and you know what's going to happen when that storm rolls through? Well, if you can imagine Paul's life is like that. He goes to the temple on this day as any other day that he had gone to the temple and everything seems to be going all right. He's moving forward with this commitment that he's made. But in the on the horizon, there are gathering storms as these Jews recognize him and begin to spread word as to who is there of the chaos surrounding Paul begins in verse number twenty seven at the very end of the verse, where it says and the people came and laid hands on him. This is not the kind of brotherly hug that some of you may enjoyed when you got here and you, you saw some people that you knew at church and you kind of put your arm around them or you shake hands and you grabbed the shoulder. You know your brother how you know. And that's not the friendly kind of laying of hands that we're talking about. We're talking about a violent, strong grabbing hold of Paul not to let him go. And they lay hold of him and they begin to scream and shout to the rest of the people in the temple about Paul being present now. Most of the people in the city knew who Paul was. They knew of this former Pharisee who was supposedly leading people away from the law. The men of Asia identified Paul as this heretic. And so the accusations of false teaching would have been enough to get people riled up. But that is not the end of their claims. They. Don't just shout and scream and claim that Paul is teaching people a false doctrine. They also go about saying that Paul has polluted the temple. Now if you read your Bible, you know that the temple is very special to the Jewish people. And there was it was special. It was not to be corrupted, it was not to be polluted. And part of that meant gentiles were not allowed beyond a specific area. There was the court of the Gentiles. That's where they could go. They were all right there. But beyond the court of the Gentiles, they were not allowed to enter what's happening here in our passage, most likely taking place in the court of women and archeologists have actually found inscriptions from the temple, which tell gentiles that should they cross a certain part, a certain point that their death would be their own fault. Now can you imagine? I remember when I was a kid, my parents were always telling me, Don't you go up on the platform at church? Don't go on the platform. I'd sit in the back and I'd watch my friends go up on the platform. I'd watch my friends run back and forth through the choir loft, and I would think, Man, that looks like so much fun. I mean, to to be up there to go in the choir loft, what does it even look like back in the choir loft? If you're wondering those same things, I would encourage you. Join the choir and find out. But man, it was like it might have well might as well have said on the front of our platform at church. Gary, if you cross this point, your death will be your own fault. I don't know if you can die from a spanking, but I might have if I had done that. But that was they've actually found that, and so the accusation that is coming here from the Jewish people is based on the fact that they had seen Paul earlier in the city, not in this, not on the table, in the city with this man named truthfulness. And so they had assumed that Paul had also brought him into the temple. Now this man truthfulness, the Bible tells us he was a man from ethicists, which is what leads us to believe that the Jews who are making this commotion, who are stirring the people up must have also been from ethicists because they knew who Chief Thomas was and they knew he was a gentile. I mean, if somebody comes from Kansas City and shows up in Collinsville, you and I probably aren't going to know too much about that person unless you have a prior relationship with them in Kansas City. Well, that's the case here with truthfulness. These Jews from Asia, these Jews most likely from emphasis, they knew who drove them. This was. They had seen trophyless with Paul at that church that was getting started in Ephesus. And so they knew that he was a gentile. Now, the accusations from the Asian Jews are effective. How many of you have been falsely accused of something in the past? How many of you were frustrated when it seemed like everyone believed the false report about you? Come on. A. I get the benefit of the doubt. What's wrong with you, people? Well, Paul doesn't even have time to say any of that because word spreads throughout the citizens of the city like wildfire and they all begin to converge on Paul, and the Bible tells us that they drag him out of the temple. Verse number Thirty One Bible says, and they went about to kill him. We see later on that when the chief captain shows up, they stop beating him. They intended to kill him as humanely but brutally. This would have been a barbaric, messy, violent, hasty killing if it would have been allowed to continue. But if we could stop for a second. Isn't this what Paul was told would happen if he went to Jerusalem? Wasn't he told? If you go to Jerusalem, you will suffer great persecution. This is this is exactly what we would expect in the crazy when people when the Holy Spirit tells us what the consequences of our decisions are going to be. We do it anyways and then those consequences come. Fans were like, Why God? Why is this happening to me? OscarsSoWhite told you. So maybe he doesn't say that. If I was the Holy Spirit, that's what I would say. I told you this would happen. I told you you weren't going to like the results. What have we been saying about Jesus today? Is merciful to us. He doesn't give up on us. He loves us despite our poor choices. Our whole theme this year is Grace, what is Grace undeserved favor? See this uproar, this chaos, this violence has not gone unnoticed. I know God sees whatever. Yes, but God has a way of bringing help from places that you never expected help to come from. You see. Word has made it to the chief captain of the Roman garrison that lived right adjacent to the temple. Now, if you haven't watched the chosen, you really should. I mean, you just you're missing out big time, Big Lie. If you don't watch the chops, please watch it, but you watch that and you watch how they interact with the Romans and the hatred that they had for Rome. I guarantee you that there was probably not a single Jew in all of Israel who thought, You know what? Rome is going to be the answer to my problems one day. Rome is going to come through for me in the end, and they're going to help me in the moment and I need the most. Paul certainly wasn't that way. I mean, he's a Pharisee, Pharisees hated the Romans. Here's Paul being beat within an inch of his life all of a sudden. Help. Comes his way from who? The Roman soldiers. There was a fortress called the Fortress Antonia. It was right next to the temple that actually shared a wall with the temple, the fortress rose up higher than the temple and so you could see down into the temple of what was going on. Talk about government interference, you know? And there you are. Trying to worship God and Big Brother is literally hovering right above you the whole time. It goes in like that. It must have felt strange for the Jews to have a military building overlooking their place of worship. But on this day, God used it to be a source of protection for his servant. For Paul, the captain that is there musters his centurions and his soldiers to go down and put an end to the chaos that is occurring just outside the temple. Though he was a man of great power, this captain knew that there were others higher up from him who would remove him in a moment should he failed to maintain the peace in Jerusalem. So it's not that he sees Paul and thinks, Oh, that poor man's getting beat to death, I must go save him. He doesn't care about that at all. He just sees a riot taking place, and he's I going to put this down fast or it's going to be my job. And so he sends his soldiers out and he goes out with them. And when the people saw the Romans coming, there would have been a stairway leading down from the fortress and they they saw them coming. So the people stop beating Paul. Captain pushes his way through the crowd until he comes to this little man who is bruised and bloody, and he commands his men to grab Paul and bind him with two chains, bind them men to change the frayed poles, going to like Hulk out and bust through the chains. I mean, it's Paul, not King Kong. I mean, what's what's the deal? Why two chains? Well, most likely what this means is there'll be a chain on this arm and chain on this arm. And on either side of those chains, there would've been a Roman soldier who would have been attached to Paul. This is more for Paul's protection than for his restraint. Anyone tried to mess with Paul, they would have two Roman soldiers to contend with. And so by this binding, Paul ends his freedom and now enters into Roman custody, which is what the state in which he will remain for the rest of the Book of Acts. But isn't it funny that Rome has absolutely no idea what they have, who they have? I mean, you and me, we read we read the book of acts, we love Paul. We read Paul's letters we made. Paul was such a great example. Paul was such a great follower of Christ. Look at God used Paul to do Here's this chief captain. He's got Paul in custody. He has no idea. He thinks Paul is some Egyptian rabble rouser. So you ask them, he says, Hey. What is this man done? Who is this man that he deserves this kind of treatment? And I love the response here because in verse 34, it says. And some cried one thing, some another. Among the multitude, this this verse right here is like when you're at home, your kids are hungry and you say, Hey, who wants a snack? And they all say Me, me, I do like in unison. Then you say, OK, what do you want to eat for a snack? And chaos erupts. I want pepperoni, I want crackers, I want chips, I want ice cream, I want to go to McDonald's. They don't say it one at a time, right? All overlapping. That's enough to make you want to lose your mind because you don't know what he might say in. Gazza says this is no good, it's not helping. So he tells his men to take a pull back into the castle. And the Bible's very descriptive here. About what happens. He told them that can be carried into the castle when he came upon the stairs, so it was that he was born of the soldiers for the violence of the people. You can't tell what any of them are saying, so they head back to the fortress where you can talk to Paul and some relative quiet and solitude. And as they retreat, the people are following them and they're acting very violently. They're shouting for Paul to be taken away. There's probably different ones who are blocking the path. They might even be throwing things at Paul as he's being carried away. And so it gets so bad that the soldiers have to physically carry Paul up the stairs to the castle's entrance. Before Paul is ushered into the fortress. He speaks to the captain and he speaks to him in Greek. Anybody tells you they can speak Greek, a biblical Greek fluently. They are lying to you. It's a dead language. Nobody knows what it sounded like. Although we have a creek today. Yes, but it's not the same. Paul speaks to this man in Greek. He says in verse number thirty seven, he says, may I speak under the. And Captain hearing Greek come out of Paul's mouth? He stops in his tracks. He had assumed, like I said a moment ago, that Paul was an Egyptian. He was the one who had attempted to revolt in Jerusalem. Josephus talks about how this Egyptian man, who was a historical figure, had gathered a large following like fifteen thousand or more in the skies following. Paul tells the Roman captain that he is not an Egyptian, he is in fact a Jew, but he's not just any Jew. He is a citizen by birth of a city of Tarsus. He says Tarsus was no mean city. What is saying there is Tarsus was a big deal. It was the chief city of Cilicia. Tarsus was known for training their children so well that they could go out throughout the rest of the world and succeed no matter where they went. The fact that Paul was born in Tarsus and we'll see next week that he was a Roman citizen, this fact will have great bearing on the remainder of our time with Paul. But we see it already bearing fruit, because here, Paul says to the Roman captain, can I speak to the people? Because of who he was because of his ability to speak Greek, because of his status as a man born in Tarsus. Roman captain says yes. As Adam. So Paul walks to the balcony of the stairs and holds his hand up. He waits for there to be a great silence. Why do you say great silence when they'd made a great uproar? And so any time you're in a very noisy and loud environment and all of a sudden you're in a very quiet environment just seems like the silence is deafening. Now, I love my children more than just about anything else in the world. They go to bed. We just sit. And Joy. Quite. Now, for a long time, just enough to appreciate. So. Imagine how eerie it would be to have complete silence in the Temple Grounds. Paul, standing up on this Roman platform. Begins to speak to them in Hebrew. What does he say? We'll have to come back next week. Or just read your Bible. But either way, this is what we're going to stop for now. What I want you to see this morning is. When Paul was in danger. Of suffering the consequences of his own decisions. God employed an unlikely source to show him Grace by sparing him from death. See, Paul deserved to be beaten to death that day, he was warned of what would happen if he went to Jerusalem. You say he didn't deserve it? The reports were false. Yes, but the Holy Spirit and his warnings were not. Paul pushed forward and knew what was waiting him there in Jerusalem, and he went anyway. He knew that this could have been the result, but God's not done with Paul. And God's plan superseded Paul's will and God spared his life. He even uses the Romans to do it. This display of grace allowed Paul to keep living, but more importantly, this display of grace allowed the gospel to spread even farther. How many times have you and I have been spared the consequences of our own decisions? I mean. Reap what you sow is a biblical principle. The only thing that can supersede it is the grace of God. God's grace is shown in our lives. For the sake of his purposes. Well, Pastor, you know, I just feel like I just feel. My God wants me to be happy. I just feel like God wants things to go smoothly for me. Really, why do you feel that way? You think your happiness, your comfort is the number one priority of the almighty infinite God. It's not. He has purposes that go way beyond our comfort or happiness. You ask Paul, it was very comfortable for him to be beaten that day. Not very comfortable. Does it make him happy? No. God had a purpose. Paul's life, and it wasn't just that Paul would be comfortable, that Paul would be happy. God's purpose was that Paul would spread the gospel among the gentiles. I believe that if Paul wouldn't have gone to Jerusalem, God would have had some other places for him to go where he would have continued spreading the gospel among the gentiles. But because Paul went, God says, You know what, Paul, I'm not going to be hindered by your will. I need the gospel to be spread to the gentiles and I want to use you to do it. So we're not gonna let you die here today. We're going to see in a moment the next week or weeks after the poll is going to start making a journey from Jerusalem to Rome. God is going to make sure that the gospel starts to be spread in the city of Rome and the area surrounding it. Some historians believe that Paul will eventually go into Spain, maybe even to Britain, spreading the gospel. God's not done with him. God's grace spares Paul from the consequences of his own decisions. God's grace can use the most unlikely agents to get his plan accomplished. There was a man in our church in Virginia named Paul Jones. All was he was a crude man. He was a worldly man. I mean, if you could think of just your typical carnal man. That was Paul Jones. Paul Jones is at the gas station one day and somebody had stuck a gospel track in one of the creases in the gas pump. Paul Jones grabbed that that that that track and began to read it. You saw the name of the church on the back. He called them up and he said, Hey, I found this track and somebody come, tell me what this means. Paul Jones ended up getting saved. From a track stuck in a gas pump. That's unlikely. All right. I mean, who would have suspected that? I mean, you probably have some of your own stories about how God spared you or how God worked in your life through an unsuspecting source. God's grace. Is creative. Can do things that you and I wouldn't imagine. So his grace can be shown in our lives. God's grace supersedes our failures and our will. I mean, we just finished last Wednesday, a series on Grace in Parenting. We looked at the fact that we do have a responsibility when it comes to our kids. But you and I are imperfect, we're imperfect people, we're imperfect parents. And so we need God's grace to be active in the lives of our children. Aren't you glad it's not solely up to you, your children, to turn out, right? That God is interested in them as well? God's grace. It supersedes our will, it supersedes our failures. But it's not always just for our good that God does this. But it is always with the goal of fulfilling his purpose. The ultimate purpose of God is that he would receive glory. That he would be magnified. One of the best ways for that to happen is through the spread of the gospel. People get saved for people to begin applying the gospel to their life. Yes, the gospel is provided for us for forgiveness of sins and reconciliation with God in heaven. But it's also a manner of living. It's not a one time decision to wear. Now I've got my get out of hell free card. I can just go do whatever I want. Gospel living requires us to apply the gospel to our lives on a daily basis. Are you grateful for the love of God? Gospel living means you're going to show the love of God to others, you're grateful for the patience of God. Gospel living means you're going to take that patients you've been shown and show it to others. The same is true with his forgiveness, his mercy. We go on down the list. It's easy to show Grace and show gospel living to people who we like. What about the people that are hard to show Grace to? How rotten of a sinner were you when God saved you? I was four years old. Man, I'd done some despicable things. And yet God saved me. God showed me his love. God was patient with me for four years until I accepted his his offer of forgiveness. He showed me mercy. They didn't just wipe me off the face of the Earth. He forgave me. So, well, the list of sins that you committed before you were four years old probably wasn't that impressive. Oh yeah. Would you like to see the list of things that I've committed since then? Probably a little more impressive. I'll probably lose my job. You mean, like, you know, this guy. Gospel. Showing it to others, demonstrating it through our living. Sharing it with our mouths and our lips. This is one of the number one purposes of God. So I've got a I've got a horrible testimony, brother Gary, things that I've done you you wouldn't believe. Oh, that's. It's what God wants to save you from. God wants to use your story to help others. Yeah, but I've done things, everybody's done things. You know, there aren't too many people who are impressed with a four year old getting saved. I mean, they're glad for it, but you know, like, well, what did you do? Some of you have great testimony. Some of you God saved you out of some. So some dark places. And I'm sure you wish you hadn't been there. Now that you've been saved. God's grace can use you to help others. See, sometimes help comes from unsuspecting places. Sometimes God and his grace overrules our failures and our our will. And though we may benefit from that. There's always a greater purpose in why God does what he does. And so that his glory can be shared in his gospel can be spread more people. None of us are intended to live this life as an island unto ourselves. Paul's decisions affected others. What God did in Paul's life is going to affect the lives of many hundreds of thousands of people. That he has yet to make contact with. What could God do in your life? If you would allow him to show his grace to you. What is it that God is trying to spare you from? If you would follow his will and his Holy Spirit, or we thank you for this day, thank you for the story of Paul and. The way that you spared his life. Or why you spared his life? He could go on and share the gospel with others, even in the next few verses as he begins to share his testimony with the crowd there. Or we may not ever stand before kings, as Paul did. There are people in our lives every day that you. Would desire for us to share the gospel with them. Lord, I. I asked that you would help all of us to be aware of the grace that we've been shown. The things that we've been spared from Lord, we would not take your grace and use it to further our own goals and desires, but Lord, we would use it to to serve you and just to share your gospel with more people. What I thank you for each person that's here today will work that you've done in their lives to bring them to this point. Well, I pray from this day forward they would endeavor to use the opportunities that you give them to tell others about you. Aw, thank you for all his testimony. More importantly, Lord, thank you for Jesus. I'm coming to die on the cross for us that we would have good news to share with others. Lord, I pray that you work and use your Holy Spirit to work in our hearts this morning in Jesus name. I pray. Amen. Let's all saying we're going to sing a song of Invitation Lord, I need you. If God has spoken to your heart, there's a decision you need to make. Regarding the message board, perhaps something else, there's somebody here today that has never received God's gift of salvation. Today you would say, you know what? I need to be safe. I need my sins forgiven. During this time, you can come. Someone will take a Bible and show you how you can know for sure that you're on your way to heaven. I mean, you get baptized or you've been looking for a church home and you'd be. Desirous of joining with us here, whatever the decision is, Brother Matt sings, You do business with the Lord Lord high.

Unidentified: I can tell. Well, we

Speaker 2: gave

Unidentified: I find I wrestled with how

Speaker 2: do I fall apart?

Unidentified: You know? On that guy, it's my. Lord, I need you, I need. You.

Speaker 2: Very. I need you by one defense. My righteousness.

Unidentified: Oh God, how I need. Or said

Speaker 2: runs deep. You know, Grace is more grace is.

Unidentified: Is where you. Are you?

Speaker 2: Would you bring in? This is Christ in me, Lord, I need you.

Unidentified: I need you. Very.

Speaker 2: Ride.

Unidentified: You might. Defends my righteousness.

Speaker 2: Oh, God, how I need. You.

Speaker 1: Amen. Well, thank you so much for being here today and for your good attention. Before I let you go, if you'd let me share a few announcements with you, just some upcoming events that we want you to be aware of. First, tomorrow night, our ladies are going to be having a ladies meeting that is open to all ladies. Even if you're here and you're visiting, we would love for you to come and join them at seven o'clock. It'll be in the fellowship hall. They're going to have soup, different soups and some sweet treats to enjoy for food. And they're going to be doing a fall painting craft that Mrs. Tom Wilson will be leading the ladies in. And so we would love for you, ladies to come and make plans to be here for that. Bring a friend with you. It's a great opportunity, especially if you're new to the church to get to know some of the other ladies that are here. And God is giving us a great group of ladies that come to these events on a regular basis. So please make plans of being there tomorrow night at seven o'clock, then this coming Thursday, October 7th. We've got a new ministry that will be starting, and it's going to take place on the first Thursday of every month. And this is going to be a grief support ministry and many of you that have been here at the Baptist Tabernacle, you know, brother Jerry and miss Felicia. But change my raising your hand just real quick. You know their story, their testimony of how God has worked in their lives through a time of tremendous grief? And as I mentioned on Wednesday night for Jerry, very shortly after that came to me and said that one day he hoped to be able to use that to help others who were going through similar circumstances. And so I feel that if you both feel like that, God has brought them to this place and they are desirous of being an encouragement and helping others to get through times of grief as well. And so that will be at seven o'clock here at the church. They're going to meet in the children's wing and one of the classrooms. And so we will invite you to come and be a part of that. If that is something that would be a help to you, that is something that is also open to the community. So perhaps you don't find yourself in need of that at the moment, but you know someone that does share this with them and let them know that they are welcome to come for that time. It won't be long about a little less than an hour, but please make plans of being there. If that is something that would be a help to you. This coming Saturday, we have a opportunity for our teens to focus on their spiritual lives. They're going to be going to spiritual boot camp in Park City. They're going to depart the church at 8:00. You can see where the clearance for more information. I believe you said we've already got 10 teens signed up. So that's good. I think we could take a few more. So please see him. If you are interested in your young people going and then October 20th, we're going to be having our annual trunk or treat, and there is a sign up sheet for workers on the main desk and also for those who would like to enter a trunk decoration. And I believe last year we had something like twenty nine trunks. And so that was awesome. That was a great number. Be great if we could even surpass that this year. This is a wonderful opportunity for outreach. We're getting to know people in our community. We regularly have around 600 people that come through on that day, so we need a lot of help. We also need a lot of candy. So many of you have already donated some candy. But we're going to need hundreds of pounds of candy so you can start dropping those off either at the buckets, out in the foyer or in the church office. And I appreciate you doing that. Retreads at the end of the month, you've got a day trip and there's a sign up sheet out on the welcome desk where the RNC can give you more information about that. And Deacons, we have a meeting today at 4:30. All right. That's all I'm going to say. Thank you again for being here and being a part of the service. I'd like to ask Brother McGuire if he wouldn't mind to come to the platform and close this in a word of prayer. And then once he's done, you'll be dismissed and hope to see you back again tonight at 5:30.

Speaker 4: That opportunity comes your house, and we thank you for our church family, Lord, and we thank you for the message you later on pastor's heart. And we do thank you for your grace, your unwanted unmarried grace, and in which status as a church family loaded up come away that we would. Spread the gospel lord, be the example that we should others and just show them that that grace given us, we asked, Is your name? Mean?

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