Boldly, but Not Stupidly

So in chapter 13, Paul and Barnabas started a mission trip… and we left them…

It’s going to get crazy for them in chapter 14 and we are going to start looking at that tonight. We can enjoy the drama that is acts and gain some wisdom for taking the Gospel to the end of the Earth at the same time!

We should share the Gospel boldly with wisdom and humility.

pray

Boldly Disciple

We are called to boldly share the Gospel and teach new believers about our faith. Even when things get a little hairy…

Teaching can sometimes get dangerous. It can sometimes put you in the line of fire, like this lady teaching a softball player… show TikTok of lady getting hit in the hand and stitch with music

In a different way, teaching the faith can sometimes put us in the line of fire…

We are called to make disciples…

Matthew 28:19 ESV

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

What is a disciple? What does it mean to disciple?

read 1-3

2 Timothy 3:12 ESV

Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,

Every Christian is called to make disciples…

We have to do this because the stakes are too high not to do it! We have to be bold about it. Even in a world that seeks to poison people’s minds against us!

This can be difficult because most of us want people to like us, but we have to remember that this is more important than being liked. More importantly, we need to remember that our reward comes from the Lord and He has already approved of us because of Jesus.

Remembering that will help us to be bold when a situation turns bad. We also need to use our wisdom in these situations, just as Paul and Barnabas did.

Use Wisdom

They acted with wisdom in a difficult situation. The fled a dangerous situation to be able to be witnesses in another place on another day.

This summer, for the first time in the eight years that we have lived in our house, I decided it was time to spray off our A/C and clean the inside. So I turned it off and got the top off and I do the whole thing. It’s 90 something degrees outside and this process takes me about 30 minutes or so, so it’s warming up inside. But I get it done and I’m ready to start putting it back together.

On what is about to become a related note, we’ve been having a problem with wasps this year. I start trying to put everything back together and I notice a wasp. I can handle one wasp. I go get the wasp spray, but I missed the little bugger. I’m not trying to get caught with the huge fan in my hands a no way to defend myself, so I wait. Then suddenly there are multiple wasps. So I go get the electric fly swatter. I’ve got that in one hand, the wasp spray in the other, and a bucket hat on my head! But then I realize that even more are showing up, so I start to look around and I see on our neighbors roof a wasp nest the size of my face. At this point I start thinking through it all… I called Coach Estes to see if he was at the high school and might be able to come over to help me out. He was not.

I need to get my house cooling off, but if I get stung by 20 red wasps then I may end up going to the hospital and the house is going to sit without AC even longer. I made a business decision and took a break.

Paul and Barnabas make a business decision in this section!

read 4-7

They thought, “we can get stoned to death here, or we can go somewhere else and keep preaching the Gospel”. We need to be bold and we need to act wisely. If someone tells you they’re going to punch you in the nose if you keep trying to tell them about Jesus, be done with them for the day and try again another time.

Matthew 10:23 ESV

When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next, for truly, I say to you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.

We need to share the Gospel, but if continuing to push in a current situation is going to cost future opportunities, then it’s probably wiser, you can probably have a greater Kingdom impact, if you move on to another opportunity. That’s what Paul and Barnabas do.

Humbly Share the Gospel

They go on to Lystra and find themselves in a situation where it would have been really easy to lose focus and just think about themselves, but they won’t do it.

verses 8-18

Based on everything that has happened to them so far, Paul and Barnabas were probably a little shocked when the Lystrans starting trying to worship them and make sacrifices to them! It was probably also tempting for them to let it happen. They would have been the ones getting to eat those steaks! But they care more about these people knowing Jesus than about themselves.

Some of you are the Lystrans, you don’t yet have a relationship with God through his Son Jesus. You need to turn from vain things to the living God…

Who has a dog or cat? Has your pet ever seen a statue or stuffed animal of another animal and freaked out about it? Started trying to play with it or barking at it, thinking it was real? But what’s that stuffed animal going to do? Nothing. It’s not living. Your pet needs to turn to a living animal to play and have a good time.

It’s the same thing when we worship created things instead of the Creator. They can’t give us what we are longing for.

The book of Ecclesiastes come from Solomon, the wisest man to ever live. He decided to try everything out and see if anything could satisfy him. He tells of trying out work, alcohol, women, and other things. In then end, here’s what he says…

Ecclesiastes 12:13 ESV

The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.

This is what your heart longs for. Turn to Jesus!

If you have already put your faith in Jesus, then you’re like Paul and Barnabas, or you should be, sharing and inviting others. Look how they witness to them. They take them from where they are, things they know, things they understand, things that are important to them, and lead them from there to Jesus. This is a great model! Follow it! Boldly be his witnesses, but not stupidly!

If you hear that call to turn from vain things and worship the living God and you realize that’s what you need to do tonight, come and talk with me or as we sing tonight you can get up and go talk to another leader, but don’t ignore it!!!