Jan 19, 2015 | Acts
This is one of the many Scriptures about which I really wish that we had a lot more information. There can be little doubt that Philip was a great man of God, whose biography would be a great inspiration to everyone who loves the Lord. In a couple earlier messages,...
Jan 19, 2015 | Acts
Years after God’s sovereign call of Abraham and that man’s decision to follow the Lord, God gave him a son. Abraham and Sarah had waited many, many years to have a child. But when they were old God fulfilled His promise and Isaac was born. So while some of their...
Jan 19, 2015 | Acts
Do you ever wonder if you’d really enjoy the company of some of God’s great servants? I think that I’d probably really like Joshua; the man with the assistant-pastor mentality. And the Apostle John would probably be a wonderful friend, but John the Baptist? – Maybe...
Jan 19, 2015 | Acts
Generally speaking, I don’t like to leave things hanging in the air. And even less do I like anyone thinking that I might have been trying to mislead people. As I’ve often said, I don’t mind telling you, “I don’t really know what this scripture means.” I...
Jan 19, 2015 | Acts
The first large set of Christian books that I ever bought was the 17 volume, “Expositions of the Holy Scriptures” by the English Baptist preacher Alexander MacLaren. MacLaren pastored in Manchester at about the same time that C.H. Spurgeon was preaching in...
Jan 19, 2015 | Acts
We’ve been very serious in our Bible studies for the last few weeks. So this evening, let’s lighten up and have some fun with verse 15 (while still making a spiritual application). What do you picture Paul and his group doing when they “took up their...
Jan 19, 2015 | Acts
In my estimation this is the saddest part of the entire Book of Acts. It is sadder than any of Paul’s imprisonments, or any of the other persecutions that he endured. It is sadder than the martyrdom of Stephen or of that of James. There is nothing which comes as close...
Jan 19, 2015 | Acts
With just about seven days left on the vow that the four members of the church had made, Paul agreed to join them and to pay their expenses. Before he could enter the inner grounds of the Temple, it was necessary that he offer a sacrifice of purification, which he...
Jan 19, 2015 | Acts
Genesis chapter 3 tells us that after our first father rebelled against God and introduced sin into humanity, the Lord taught Adam and Eve about the necessity of blood sacrifices. From that time on, without the shedding of blood no human being can enjoy fellowship...
Jan 19, 2015 | Acts
As I read & re-read this scripture, I could not come up with an adequate expository message for this evening. We have looked at some of the more difficult statements, and we’ve already made a couple of applications. It’s not that there aren’t more good points to...
Jan 19, 2015 | Acts
Wednesday night two weeks ago, we looked at whether or not Paul should have made this trip to Jerusalem. He was being told in “every city” and in every church from Corinth to Caesarea “that bonds and afflictions would abide him” once he reached...
Jan 19, 2015 | Acts
If someone asked you, “What is the basic theme of the Bible,” how would you answer? What is the Bible all about? I think that the primary purpose of the Word of God is to reveal Jehovah to us sinners. And an obvious corollary to that would be: to provide...
Jan 19, 2015 | Acts
I have been asking the Lord for direction for our Adult Sunday School class. Where should we go now? What should we study? We have looked at every chapter and verse of the Bible, except for those chapters which are carbon copies of each others in either Kings,...
Jan 19, 2015 | Acts
A year ago we had a message from Acts 13 which was entitled: “It’s all about God.” Our title for this morning is a little more specific: “It’s all about Jesus.” In verse one Paul used the word “apologia,” which was translated...
Jan 19, 2015 | Acts
The title to our message tonight is: “God’s Perfect Servant.” Let me begin by saying that no such creature exists – outside the Lord Jesus Christ A perfect servant demands a perfect character, but as long as we live in this world, we are all going to be...
Jan 19, 2015 | Acts
Are you one of those people who think that it would be a wonderful thing to know the future? I’m not so sure that it would be a great idea. Although in some specific cases it might be helpful. For example, we need to replace our church sign, but we need to get a...
Jan 19, 2015 | Acts
I’d like you to use your imagination this morning to picture the worst possible criminal that you can. Perhaps he’s something like this: Although he was raised by a poor but godly Christian mother, he became the playground bully, killing neighborhood pets, and...
Jan 19, 2015 | Acts
Wednesday, I brought up Ananais’ statement that Paul had been chosen by God with the purpose that he should know the Lord’s will. By the study of these words alone, it’s impossible to determine exactly what it was that he meant. Certainly, it didn’t mean that God was...
Jan 19, 2015 | Acts
When someone asks me what our church believes, I find myself choosing my words as carefully as possible. If I know anything about that person, I will even try to make my answer as palatable to his taste as I can. The other day, I got a call from a woman who talked...
Jan 19, 2015 | Acts
Have you ever been reading a book or an article and suddenly you came across a comment with which you totally disagreed, so you put the book down and didn’t pick it up again? Or maybe you were listening to someone, and the speaker said something to which you disagreed...
Jan 19, 2015 | Acts
We will finish our look at chapter 22 this evening. I wasn’t struck with any outstanding theology in these verses, so we won’t have six or eight messages. And even though there is some interesting biographical material, we’ve looked at some of it already. For the sake...
Jan 19, 2015 | Acts
I have in my hand here a $10 bill. If I gave this $10 dollars to a 6-month-old child, what do you think that he’d do with it? He’d probably try to eat it, wouldn’t he? If I gave this money to a 3-year-old, he might treasure & save it place because it was a gift...
Jan 19, 2015 | Acts
One of the problems that we have as Christians is getting the world to hear what we have to say. Obviously, Paul had the same problem when he stood before this Jewish Sanhedrin. It is the nature of man to reject, ignore and hate any revelation of the one True and...
Jan 19, 2015 | Acts
I wish I could say that I know exactly what Paul was trying to accomplish when he cried out, “Men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee: of the hope and resurrection of the dead I am called in question.” It could be that he was using the old...
Jan 19, 2015 | Acts
We all know that Christendom is divided into hundreds and hundreds of denominations, sects and cults. This is one of the problems that true believers have to face: The diversity of opinion within Christendom is one of the excuses that the lost man throws at us when we...
Jan 19, 2015 | Acts
As I said on Wednesday, there were at least four sects, or groups, among the Jews in Paul’s day. There were the Zealots, who molded their theology into ideas about national revolution. These people were ready to try to overthrow the Roman government and establish the...
Jan 19, 2015 | Acts
Festering in the background of all Paul’s troubles there in Jerusalem are a couple of nagging questions. First, should Paul have been in this predicament in the first place? As we have said, some people think that all of the predictions that Paul was heading into...
Jan 19, 2015 | Acts
Some of my earliest memories of television, when I was about ten-years-old, involve the old cartoons. Do you remember how so many of them incorporated classical music? For example, one of them had a number of little cartoon men building a sky-scraper to the music of...
Jan 19, 2015 | Acts
Have you, in anger, ever called someone a fool? If whether or not you have called someone a “fool” determines your true spiritual condition, will you spend eternity in Heaven or Hell? If there were no other factors involved, but your anger or your hatred,...
Jan 19, 2015 | Acts
This evening, I would like to try to glean just a few more grapes from this spiritual vine. For the most part they will be merely a handful odds and ends – true gleanings. They revolve around this nameless young man. As Bro. Asmundson mentioned to me yesterday, First...
