If It's God's Will - Life of Paul Part 58

Transcript

Speaker 1 0:00

You know, it was the night of June, the fourth, 1968. And Robert F. Kennedy had just won the democratic primary for the state of California, making him a shoe in to win the democratic presidential nomination and, and very possibly the white house. And that evening, he came into the dining room of the ambassador hotel in Los Angeles, where 2000 of his supporters were waiting for him. And after a rousing victory speech, where he laid out his plans for changing the America and changing the world, he ended his little speech with these words he said, and now it's on to Chicago. Well, little did Mr. Kennedy know that lurking in the hallway, just outside the ballroom was a young man named sir Han sir Han a radical Palestinian. And he stepped into Kennedy's path is Kennedy left. And from a 22 caliber pistol shot eight times at him within a few hours. Robert F. Kennedy was gone along with all of his plans for the future. And then of course, there's Michael Jordan knew after playing his last game for the wizards, you know why they changed their name to the wizards. They used to be the bullets, but they were really the blank.

Speaker 2 1:18

Anyway,

Speaker 1 1:21

Anyway, that's kind of my first, a little joke, but anyway , uh, he was planning, you know , to go back and take over as the president of the organization, as which is where he was before he resumed his playing career. But all it took was a 30 minute meeting with a club owner aid , Poland, and all of his plans for the future were completely altered. And finally, of course, let's think about the thousands of people who had it all for work on September the 11th, 2001 down to the trade center. And most of those people had plans for the day, the day before September 10th, they had said to other people, Hey, I'll call you tomorrow or we'll meet for lunch tomorrow, or I'll meet you at the gym tomorrow, right after work. And as we know, tragically, most of those plans that they had for tomorrow never happened for so many of those people. The point is friends that planning for the future is something that we all have to do. It's something we all do. It's important, but the Bible has when it comes to planning for the future, the Bible calls us as followers of Jesus Christ to a unique mindset, to a special worldview when it comes to future planning. And we want to talk about that together here today, using an incident out of the life of the apostle Paul. And I hope this is going to change completely how you plan for the future and bring all of us into a biblical worldview about this whole thing. So let's look together. Little bit of background. Remember here in acts chapter 18, the apostle Paul is on his second missionary journey. Let's show you a map. The apostle Paul has crossed over from trow as here in Northwestern Turkey today across the GNC to the town of Philippa . He's preached in Philippi, Desola Nika Berea. Then he's gone South to the city of Athens where he preached to the intellectual elite of the Roman empire. And now he's in Corinth where the Bible says he stayed for 18 months preaching and teaching the word of God. Now, while he was here in Corinth , the Jewish community in town one day instigated a mob uprising against Paul. And they accused Paul of preaching a religion that was van that was illegal in the Roman empire. And they dragged him down in front of the Roman governor of the province of fella named Gallio. He was the pro console of the gov, the province. And as we saw last time, Gallio refuse to even listen to their accusations. He threw them and the whole lot of amount of court. Now Galileo friends is a well-documented person in Roman historical records. He's a very well-known guy. Uh, as a matter of fact, Roman records tell us that Gallio was pro console here in Corrine , between the years of 51 and 53, a D , which is exactly the time that the chronology of the Bible has the apostle Paul in town. Once again, when we compare history and the Bible, the Bible always stands the test as it does here. In fact, when they were doing archeological digs here in Coran , they actually found a statue, a marble statue. That gives us a pretty good idea. What this guy Gallio looked like here. Look at the , see what you see .

Speaker 2 4:33

Um, what do you think? I think he and I may be related somewhere, but anyway

Speaker 1 4:42

Away , this is our friend Gallio . Now that's as far as we been , so let's , uh, let's, let's dig in, shall we verse 18? So Paul verse 18 stayed in corn sometime . In other words, he finished up his 18 months there and then he left Corinth and sail for Syria, accompanied by Priscilla and the equivalent. Let's go back to our map. Paul went down to the little port city of Ken Korea right here, seven miles East of Corinth . And he sailed across the GNC on his way to Syria, back to his home church in Antioch, which is actually a little off the map, but he went by way of emphasis. As we're going to see in a minute, he took wisdom . The Bible says Priscilla, and Aquilla the two people he had partnered with in town making tents and who were partners in his ministry. But you know, ju just as important here is , is who Paul didn't take. Paul didn't take with him, Silas and Timothy. If you remember, they were two of his original team members who had been with him in Corinth for the last 18 months ministering . He didn't take them. He left them behind in Corrine to continue to work with the young church and the new believers in this town. Also not with him was Dr. Luke, one of the original members of his team. Dr. Luke was still up North here in Phillip PI , where he had been for almost two years, over two years, working with the churches in Northern Greece, strengthening the young believers there. You see the point for us to realize today is that the apostle Paul didn't just blow into town, have a few tent meetings, lead some people to Christ and then head off somewhere else. Oh no. Paul was a man who was committed to the long-term care, the long-term feeding and the longterm maturity of the people that he led to Christ. So even when he left the town, notice what his model is. He always made sure somebody who was mature in Christ stayed behind to keep nurturing and maturing the believers in that town to put it another way. The apostle Paul was not interested in a ministry that was a mile long and an inch deep . His goal was every single person he met was not just to bring them to faith in Jesus Christ, but then to disciple and mature them into a fully devoted follower of Christ, a person who had the highest level of spiritual dedication, spiritual loyalty outspokenness for Jesus, biblical obedience in their lives. He was out to turn them into totally new and totally better people. Now, if you're here today and you've never trusted Jesus in a real and personal way, I'd like to say that there's a lot more in trusting Christ than just getting a fire escape from hell. There is, there is that, but there's also this idea of God wanting to turn you into a new, different, and better human being. God wants to transform your worldview , your attitude, your lifestyle, your daily behavior patterns, and make you into a healthy person right here. This is what Paul was trying to do with all these people. Turn them into healthy people from unhealthy people. And you know, many of us here, who've never trusted Christ. I mean, we're unhealthy people. We know we're unhealthy. And the wonderful thing about coming to Jesus Christ is you don't just get heaven. You also get to three turned into a healthy person who lives life down here. Something to think about. We hope you'll make that decision. Well, let's go on what happened first 18 continues. And before Paul sailed, he had his hair cut off, down at the little port city of 10 Korea because of a vow that he had taken. The Val , the Bible's talking about here was the Nazarite Val . We , we find it in the old Testament numbers, chapter six. Here's how it works. A person would make a vowel of dedication to God for a certain period of time. And during that time they wouldn't cut their hair. At the end of that time, when the vowel was over and done, and they would ceremonially shave their head as an outward sign that the Val was over. And Paul apparently somewhere during his two years in Greece had made a vow to God about his ministry there. We don't know whether he made it when he was getting beat up and fill a pie, or whether he was sitting that night, the jail and Phillip pie , or when he was getting run out of town and Desola Nika and Berea, or maybe it was when he arrived in Corinth and God appeared to him in a vision and said, everything's going to be okay. We don't know when he made the vow, but now that his ministry in Greece is over, he's leaving Greece. His vow is obviously over. And as a sign of that, he shaved his head. That's going to figure prominently later when he shows up in Jerusalem. Cause you know, it takes time for hair to grow back. And he obviously shows up in Jerusalem with all of his hair gone, that'll figure later, but that's why he shaved his head here in Ken Korea , verse 19. And they arrived at emphasis. They of course, meaning Paul and Aquilla and Priscilla. They arrived at Ephesus where Paul left Priscilla and equivalent and went by himself into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jewish people there. And when they asked him to spend more time with them, he declined. But as he left, he said, I will come back. If it is God's will. And then he says , sail from emphasis. Now let's go back to the map. Emphasis let's show you was the capital city of the Roman province of Asia. Everything you see in the green Asia was the most populous, the most influential and the most wealthy of all of the provinces of the Roman empire, making emphasis, therefore the second most influential city in the Roman empire of Paul's day, only behind Rome herself at the time of the apostle Paul emphasis had a population of over 250,000 people. It was the home of one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. The great temple of Diana, the goddess, Diana let's show you what it looks like today. You say, well that ain't no big whoop . Well, no that isn't today, but let's show you what we think. It looked like at the time of the apostle Paul and in acts chapter 19, the cult of Diana in this town is going to figure prominently into some events of Paul's life emphasis. We did, they've done archeological digs there today. Let's show you, this is just part of it. Going down the main street towards the library of Celsius. Then the street turns and goes down through the Roman forum and all that you see here, they have excavated less than 30% of the city of X of , of emphasis, meaning that this city was an absolutely enormous metropolis at the time of the apostle Paul, a very significant city. And the Bible tells us that the Jewish community here in emphasis initially was very open to Paul's message about Jesus. They asked him, would you please spend some more time with us? And for reasons the Bible never fully explains . Paul said, no, we don't know why he was in such a hurry to get out of town. But he said, no, I, but he did. It's interesting. He did leave town alone, Priscilla and Aquilla stayed behind in emphasis. That was Paul's standard operating procedure so that they were there to preach and they were there to teach and they were there to answer questions. He didn't leave him alone. You left Priscilla and equivalent in town as Paul headed off for Syria. And that's where we'll pick up the story next time. But we want to stop now and ask a question. It is our most important question and I know it's early and it's rainy, but I'm you guys I know are just you just jazzed to ask this question, aren't you, you don't look jazz, but let's see how it works. Let's see how it goes. Ready? Here we go. One, two, three, a yard . Yeah, that's good. All right. You say lawn so much. That's wonderful. That's sweet. I mean, Paul and Yanni cut his hair and you need, you need, and you look stupid on that statue and union union year . What difference does any of this make in the , our lives? Well, let's talk about that connection. I want you to notice what Paul said to these Jewish people in emphasis. When he lived very important, he said, I will come back. If it is God's will. Most of us here know the famous story about general Douglas MacArthur. He was driven off the Philippines, of course, in the March of 1942 by the invading Japanese army, but trusting in the minds of the American military machine and trusting in the, he does his own strategic abilities and tactical abilities has commander of the Pacific theater and trusting in the power of his own tenacity and his own grit. He made that famous pledge as he left the Island. I shell return y'all remember that. Well, it's interesting that here in acts chapter 18, we have another man, the apostle Paul who had just as much strategic ability as general MacArthur, just as much tactical skill is general MacArthur, just as much personal tenacity and grit as general MacArthur. But I want you to see that Paul's trust was in an entirely different source. Watch MacArthur said, I shall return. Paul said I shall return if it is God's will. And when it came to making future plans, friends, this was the apostle Paul's constant reflect, reframe watch Romans chapter one, verse 10. Paul says, I pray that by God's will, the way may be open for me to come to you. He said, Romans 1532. Please pray that by God's will I may be able to come to you? Well, first Corinthians four 19, but I will come to you very soon. Paul said, if the Lord is willing, every future plan, the apostle Paul ever made was made the Lord willing. And in doing this, the apostle Paul was displaying us and modeling for us a biblical world view because you see the Bible says Proverbs 27, verse one do not boast about tomorrow for you do not know what a day may bring forth. The Bible says, James, chapter four. Now, listen, you who say today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city and spend a year there and carry on business. Why you don't even know what'll happen tomorrow. Instead, James says, you ought to say, if the Lord is willing, we will live and do this or that by not doing so. You boast and brag. You're being arrogant. All such arrogance. He says is evil. You see friends, the worldview of the Bible is that you and I are not the final authority in terms of what happens in this world. The worldview of the Bible says that you and I are not the captains of our own faith. The worldview of the Bible says that you and I are not the ultimate controllers of the events of life. We can do all the planning we want, but the worldview of the Bible says that ultimately it is God who decides how the everyday events of life are going to play out for us and for every other human being . And you know, this is why the Bible says Proverbs 16, nine, the mind of man plans his way. That's all right. But the Lord is the one who determines his steps years ago when I was a brand new follower of Christ, 1971, I came here to the Washington area and I began working for the good news mission in Arlington Virginia. They placed a chaplains in local jails and prisons. And there was a lady there named Minnie Barnes . Minnie was a , uh , she was the office manager and I was the janitor. So we got to talk a lot of the two of us. And , uh , I would always say, well , should we do this? Should we do that? And what do you think about that? And many would always answer me and say, yes, this and yes, that, and she would always add on the end, the Lord willing , yeah, we're going to the Lord willing. We're going to the Lord willing. And she began to drive me crazy with this phrase, the Lord willing the Lord willing the Lord willing. I was 22 years old. And I said to her one day, why do you always say that? And she opened the Bible and showed me James chapter four. I'd never read James chapter four at that point. And she said, lawn. I say that because you see, it doesn't matter what you and I are willing to happen in life. What matters is what God is willing to happen in life. And then she said something that I never forgot. She said, and I quote, when a person really sees why to the lens of biblical truth, they never make an , a single statement about the future without adding the caveat, the Lord willing, you know, like I say, I never forgot what she said to me. And now I drive people crazy. Say in the Lord willing, we're going to do this on. We couldn't do that. Lord willing. I drive my children crazy. The Lord will it , Lord will it . They always say to me, dad, why can't you say yes or no? Why? You always got to say the Lord willing? I said, well, I'll tell you why kids, have you ever heard of a lady named Minnie barns ? Let me tell you what she said to me, but she's right. This, this is , this is the biblical worldview. This is the biblical approach to life. Yes, we plan. But we make it every plan, the Lord willing. Now, why is that so important? Why is having this mentality and this attitude, the Lord willing about future planning, so critical to our lives. As followers of Christ, I got three reasons to give you. And then I'm done number one, because it keeps us humble. Look what James said here in James four. He said it is nothing but sheer arrogance for us to make plans about the future and not , uh, not, not make them the Lord willing. Why is it a problem to be arrogant? Well, James says a little earlier in the chapter that God resists the arrogant. You don't want to be a person God's resisting, but God gives grace to the humble and friends . It's when we're willing to approach life with this attitude of the Lord willing, that's how we , uh , that's one of the ways that we can demonstrate true humility before God in our life. Because it's a way of saying to God, God, you're in charge. Not me. It's a way of saying God, you're the one who's ultimately going to make the decision. Not me. It's a way of saying Lord, in all of my planning, I am in surrender to you. You're my Lord. I'm the servant. You make the call. This is humility. And God honors that. And God blesses that. And God gives grace to people like that. And by, by approaching life with Lord willing mentality, it is a way of life tumbling ourselves before God and bringing the blessing of God on our life. Number two, because having a, an attitude of the Lord willing about our future plans, it keeps us second of all flexible. It means we never get too locked in on any future plans because we realize that God is always free to redirect , to redirect them. This keeps us fluid. This keeps us malleable in the hands of God. It means God can change directions for our life. Anytime he wants to at a moment's notice. And we're okay with that because our plans were , were not set in concrete. Anyway, they were all made the Lord willing. You know , I just got back from a trip to Israel and , uh, it was kinda interesting. We flew to Rome on a Tuesday. We landed Tuesday morning in Rome and we were scheduled to tour Rome all day and then hop on an evening flight , uh , to go to Televiv while we were out for dinner just before we headed to the airport Tuesday night. And we got a call from, Televiv saying, you know, there's a labor strike. All of a sudden going on here, the entire airport is shut down. Now there's only one international airport in Israel. So when it shuts down, you don't get in. And they said, no planes are leaving. No planes are coming in. It's shut down. So we're in Rome, the guy who leads my tours for me, he said, let's get a hotel room and we'll try to get there tomorrow. So we got a hotel room for the group and the four 30 in the morning, I get a phone call from this guy. He said, I've already been up this morning. And I already called Israel. The airport's shut again today. It's going to be shut again tomorrow. They don't know when it's going to open, what are we going to do? There's no rooms in Rome. It's may day in Rome in Europe. And there's no rooms anywhere. What are we going to do? Well, you know, on the way over, I had gotten one of these little schedule books for the airlines. I don't , I love looking at those little books. I'm kind of weird like that. I don't know. I just like looking at them. And so I noticed that the airline, we were flying also went to Cairo. So I said to him, why don't we do this? Let's show you a map. I said, why don't we go from Rome instead of flying straight over here to Tel Aviv, why don't we go to Cairo, get them to send us to Cairo Wednesday morning. And what we'll do is we'll go to Cairo. We'll see the Spinks , we'll see the pyramids. We'll go to the Egyptian museum. We'll see the treasures of King Tut. And then we'll bus across the Sinai right here, four hours. And we'll come into Southern Israel through the bull land border here, any lot in the Sinai. And we'll , we'll do Israel from the South going North instead of the other way around. And he said, that's a great idea. Well, we were able to get the airline to do it. And so off, we went to Cairo and did all of that. And a couple of days later, we were coming through this border in Southern Israel, right down here in a lot. Now, friends , what you need to know is our original itinerary. Didn't call for us to get anywhere near the city of Ilan . So we're coming through and because I'm the group leader, they always ask the group leader to come aside and they give you a whole bunch of questions. I mean, I know the drill, I know the questions. I could ask the questions and answer them. But if we do it, because these are the Israelis , shouldn't say what I'm saying. So, you know, and they all got Uzis. And so you don't argue with a guy with Uzi. So anyway, anyway, this young lady was interviewing me. She couldn't have been more than 22 years old. And she says, so she says , uh , tell me about the group. And I did. And she said, where are you going in Israel? I said, well, we're going to the , to Jerusalem for four days. She said, what are you going to do there? I said, well, we're going to see a bunch of cool stuff. She said, well, what is there ? Cool to see in Jerusalem? I said, Oh my gosh, there's the wailing wall and the temple Mount and the garden that gets them and the garden tomb. And she's hard on her . She said, do you know what's happening Jerusalem? I said, yeah. She said, you're not afraid to go to Jerusalem. I said, no. I said, why are you afraid to go to Jerusalem? She said, I'm terrified to go to Jerusalem. So at that moment I took off my sunglasses. Cause my wife's always saying, look well in the eyes. So I took off my sunglasses. So my , my sunglasses, I looked her right in the eyes. And I said, let me tell you something. I know God in a real and personal way. And I said, you know what? When you know God in a real and personal way, just nothing to be afraid of. And I said, you know, I'm Jewish. You see my passport, Solomon Shlomo , that's me. I said I was born and raised Jewish. And then when I was in college, I was fearful just like you and lonely and scared. And I said, somebody told me about Jesus Christ, that he was the Messiah and challenged me to read the new Testament. And I read the new Testament and became convinced he was the Messiah. And I gave my life to him in 32 years later, he's transformed my life. I said, have you ever read the new Testament? She said, no. She said, but I have thought about it. I said, well, God sent me here to tell you, you need to read the new Testament because he wants you to come to Jesus is your Messiah. And she said, okay, I'll do it. I said, fair enough. I'll pray for you. You read it. And I said, okay, now you can get back and ask me rest of the questions about the tour that you need to ask me. Her name was Lauren. I want you to pray for this young girl. Anyway, we went through the border and went on, had a wonderful time in Israel. But I got to thinking later, I don't know about you friends, but I don't believe there's any such thing as a chance meeting. I don't believe there's any such thing as an accidental conversation about Jesus Christ. And I believe that God completely rerouted this tour because we weren't going to he lot , I believe God said, okay, I've got a guy leading the tour who plans, tours the Lord willing. Cause I do. And then so the God said, all right, so let's, let's, let's take him up on that. And we'll kind of send him to Cairo and then we'll kind of send the tour across the Sinai and then we'll bring them up through a lot. Cause there's a young lady there I need lawns to talk to. And you know what? The reason that all worked is because we really do plan the Lord willing. We say, Hey, if the Lord's willing for us to go to Israel, we're going. And if he's willing for us to go to Cairo, we'll go there. And if he's willing for us to go across the find out, we'll go there. Hey, this trip's not my plan. This is God's plan and friends. The same is true in your life. If you'll play in your life, the Lord willing, there are times God's going to want to shift you quickly. He's going to need you to respond quickly, to do the will of God for your life. And if you , if everything is set in concrete because you planned it, me willing, not the Lord willing, you're not going to be available at those moments to make the switch and go where God needs you to go. Don't be like the Pentagon be like a seal team. You understand what I'm saying? All right now, number three. And finally, why is having a Lord willing attitude so important? Because number three, it keeps us depending on God and not on ourselves. Proverbs three says depend on the Lord with all your heart. And don't lean on your own understanding in all your ways, acknowledge him. And he will make your paths straight. See God blesses and God honors and God personally, guys , every follower of Christ, who's willing to depend on God and knock themselves. And when we demand from ourselves, the discipline of always saying the Lord willing of always viewing life with the attitude of the Lord, willing with what we are really demanding from ourselves for every plan, every dream, and every hope we have, we are demanding from ourselves. An attitude of dependence on God and not on ourselves. Because what we are saying is God, all of this happening depends on you. All of my life depends on you. All of my plans depend on you. I'm not relying on my own life, my own wisdom or my own strategy. I'm relying on you, God, it's the Lord willing Prince, God honors that. And the Bible says, God guides people who are willing to plan the future that way so that they don't guide themselves right onto a landmine so that they don't plan themselves right into an alligator pit so that they plan themselves in such a way that they don't self-destruct God honors it. When people play on the Lord Willy , cause you may have planned. You're still yourself, right straight into a landmine. And God needs to say no, no, no, that's the mistake. Let's go this way. And if you've planned , the Lord willing , you'll make the change. You know, mother Teresa you'll remember this a few years ago, mother Theresa and princess di both passed away on the very same day. And you know, back then you'll remember the world stopped for a little bit hiccup and then just stepped right on, go . And I was in Jerusalem a few years ago on the very night when prime minister ravine was assassinated, the next morning, we stopped for two minutes at noon and had a moment of silence all across the country. And then the country just kept right on going pick up and kept right on, go and friends . You know what, when you and I leave here, the world's not even going to hiccup. It's just going to keep right on going. And what that means is Paul said it Romans 12, three, do not think of yourself more highly than you ought. Don't overestimate yourself, folks, you and I aren't running the universe. You and I are not the captains of our faith . You and I are not in charge of the events that unfold in our lives. God is. And if that's true and it is then every plan we may, every dream we have has to be planned in dreamed the Lord willing and you plan and dream that way. And God will honor your life and he'll make sure you don't step on any alligators. May God help you do that? Let's pray together. Lord Jesus, thanks for talking to us about living right down here on planet earth, real life. You know, every one of us has to make plans every single day plans to meet people for lunch plans, to go out for dinner plans, to go shopping plans, to carry out business plans, plans, plans, plans, plans are good. As long as they're made with a biblical worldview , the Lord willing and God make us the kind of people who we end up driving people crazy like mini barns . Cause the only thing we ever say is, yeah, we're going to do that. The Lord willing may that be a discipline. We practice in our life, a discipline that brings humility, flexibility, and dependence on God into our lives. And we ask all of these things in Jesus name and we pray that you'll change the way we live because of our being here today. And all God's people said, amen,