Jan 21, 2015 | Acts
We have a tendency to think that when we are by ourselves that we are alone. Yesterday, Judy was gone for most of the day, and I was home by myself, but I was not alone: There was the dog right under my feet and sometimes needing my attention. And there was the...
Jan 21, 2015 | Acts
When man was created and placed in the garden, there is a sense he was sandwiched between the garden and the Lord. By that I mean that he had garden responsibilities and he had God responsibilities. These don’t necessarily have to conflict, but sometimes they do. For...
Jan 21, 2015 | Acts
Peter was enjoying a restful night’s sleep when he was suddenly awakened by an angelic boot in the ribs. “Arise up quickly.” The chains fell from his wrists, but his guards didn’t move – either paralyzed or in a deep, deep sleep. They were not dead – yet....
Jan 21, 2015 | Acts
Most people are not aware that there is a city ordinance in Post Falls which says that children under 18 cannot be out at night between mid-night and 6 a.m. Post Falls has a curfew law, and there is probably a similar one in the city where you live. And I wonder if...
Jan 21, 2015 | Acts
I read in many of the journals which I receive that we are living in a pluralistic society. I don’t know that they use that word in the news reports that you hear, but it will come up from time to time. And it is true. But “pluralistic” is one those words...
Jan 21, 2015 | Acts
Even as Christians, we have to remind ourselves that the Bible was written by the Lord and not by men. “Holy men of God spake [and wrote] bas they were moved by the Holy Ghost.” And that means that the Lord had a purpose in recording the death of King...
Jan 21, 2015 | Acts
I’m sure that you have all noticed that most of the hymns we sing have several verses and a chorus. Usually, we sing the first verse and then before we sing the second there is that chorus or “refrain.” The chorus us usually repeated between each verse....
Jan 21, 2015 | Acts
Theologians like to use big words. Sometimes they are necessary because of the subject under consideration, And sometimes they are used simply to make the theologian look smarter than the rest of us. Once in a while when you are studying the comments of the theologian...
Jan 21, 2015 | Acts
Just because this verse says that there were prophets and teachers in the church in Antioch, That doesn’t mean that the ministry is confined to prophecy and teaching. And it’s a good thing, especially for this evening, since this message cannot be described as either...
Jan 21, 2015 | Acts
I thought about looking at this passage through a mere study of Barjesus or Sergius Paulus, But as I meditated on it, I realized that this is a actually a synopsis of the world in general. Here we are reading about Cyprus in the 1st century AD, but this could be...
Jan 21, 2015 | Acts
The English language contains some really funny quirks. One of the strangest is the way that one word may have some really different meanings. You’d think that we’d be able to think of a different word for every different thing and action in the world, but no, the...
Jan 21, 2015 | Acts
I receive three religious periodicals. I have subscribed to two of them and one is sent free. One comes every month and the other two are published four times a year. I read about half the articles, totally rejecting about a third of them, and being blessed by 10...
Jan 21, 2015 | Acts
The title to last week’s message was “Cyprus, the World.” Not only did I want to preach the gospel once again, But I wanted to show you that the people & events of these 9 verses are contemporary & universal. Sergius Paulus is a picture of an...
Jan 21, 2015 | Acts
A study like this gives us the opportunity to consider all kinds of doctrines. Sometimes we are forced to examine things that we haven’t looked at before, like fasting. And like our subject tonight, sometimes we have the opportunity to think about doctrines that we...
Jan 21, 2015 | Acts
It’s been hard for me to adjust, but 36 hours ago Judy and I were in Paradise – on Vancouver Island. About 10 a.m. we drove onto a BC ferry, sailed across to Tsawwassen and started south toward Seattle. During the drive down to Highway 405, we passed & were passed...
Jan 21, 2015 | Acts
In writing to the Corinthians, Paul felt forced to compare himself with some other servants of the Lord. He said, “Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more; in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in...
Jan 21, 2015 | Acts
When Paul preached this sermon, he was in Antioch of Pisidia, in what is now the heart of Turkey. There are a couple of things that are quite ironic about that fact: First, we are talking about Turkey, which according to the CIA web-site is 99.8% Muslim today. The...
Jan 21, 2015 | Acts
In a sense I started this message last Sunday night. As I said then, Paul was in the process of presenting Christ to a group of Jews in Antioch, Turkey. We saw that he was making a logical progression through history, starting with God’s election of Israel. The last...
Jan 21, 2015 | Acts
Earlier this week I read a pretty good article about the art of preaching. One of the things that it said was that preaching is not the purpose of preaching. Gospel preaching cannot accomplish anything in and of itself. Even when everything declared during the course...
Jan 21, 2015 | Acts
One of my top ten favorite movies is the 1981 British film called “Chariots of Fire.” It’s based on the true story of two sprinters training and competing in the 1924 Paris Olympics. Both Eric Liddell and Harold Abrahams were driven by an inner fire to be...
Jan 21, 2015 | Acts
As I’ve mentioned before, there are very few events in and around our Lord’s life which are recorded in all four gospels. The Gospel of John is particularly unique. John seemed to go out of his way not to rehash material that the others had adequately detailed. That...
Jan 21, 2015 | Acts
I heard a clever radio commercial recently, trying to tell me to switch insurance companies. The thrust of the commercial was that only this company makes understanding policies simple. And the way that idea was conveyed was really ear-catching. The ad-writer typed...
Jan 21, 2015 | Acts
Last Wednesday we looked at our Lord’s shoe latchet from John’s point of view. Tonight let’s turn that around and think about it from the standpoint of the Lord Jesus. And let’s use John chapter 1 for the basis of our study. John was in the eye of an hurricane for a...
Jan 21, 2015 | Acts
“And when they had fulfilled all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree, and laid him in a sepulchre.” Let’s say that the Lord has given you the opportunity to talk to a good friend about salvation. This is someone with whom you are very...
Jan 21, 2015 | Acts
I’d like you to remember the initial title that we gave to this series of messages over a year ago: It was, and still is, “A DOCTRINAL Study of the Book of Acts.” It has been my desire to use the history of the first churches of Christ as an opportunity to...
Jan 21, 2015 | Acts
Let’s begin by turning to Habakkuk chapter 1. This message might be more appropriate for Sunday morning, but it’s just not working out that way. It’s not that it’s not appropriate for a small gaggle of Christians, But if it was kept in its context, it would be...
Jan 21, 2015 | Acts
I’d like to begin this morning with an old, old story, some form of which you may have heard several times. A man, while on vacation, couldn’t sleep one night and decided to go for a moonless, mid-night walk. Although he carried a good flashlight, he couldn’t see the...
Jan 21, 2015 | Acts
In Matthew 10 the Lord Jesus gave some encouragement and a warning to His disciples: He said, “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows...
Jan 21, 2015 | Acts
The things that make us smile, reveal the kind of hearts that we have. If we laugh at dirty jokes, then it means that our hearts have some dirty corners. We have a choice about the kinds of things that we enjoy. And as Proverbs 13:20 says, “He that walketh with...
Jan 21, 2015 | Acts
The things that make us smile, reveal the kind of hearts that we have. If we laugh at dirty jokes, then it means that our hearts have some dirty corners. We have a choice about the kinds of things that we enjoy. And as Proverbs 13:20 says, “He that walketh with...
