God at work in times of hard faith.

Introduction

Scripture

Father God, we thank You for Who You are. A great Big God who sees each and every one of us here and cares deeply about us. We ask this day, as we are continuing in this time of worship to You, reading Your Word and hearing Your Word, that You refine us with it. Mold us, make us, shape us, rearrange us so that we can more like You, and more made into the image of Christ. Help us be a people who love You and love others so much, that we are moved into action by whatever it is You are going to show us about Yourself today and what that means in our lives. Help us do this, because all to often our selfish and sinless flesh war against our will to follow Yours. As we are doing this, and as we are coming into Your Word today, we ask that You take away any distraction that we may have, and make it go as far away as it possible can, because we want to see and we want to know You better. It’s in these things that I ask and in Jesus Christ’s Holy and precious name that I pray, Amen.

Context

Today we are continuing in the scene that we picked back up in last week. This is at Paul’s return to the church in Jerusalem after the completion of his third missionary journey. While in Jerusalem, Paul and representatives from the giving churches, delivered a love benevolence offering to the struggling church in Jerusalem. Paul also gave a missionary report of everything that happened while on his missionary journey to James and the other elders of the church.

While their, James and the elders made Paul aware of a problem that he would face, and that he to some degree would know was coming, that the Jews in the town were not happy with him and that his life was in danger while their. So, in the spirit of trying to keep peace, the elders recommend that Paul not only pay for his temple fee for his nazarite vow, but also for the others in the church that were under the same vow, to show that Paul was still a committed Jew who worshiped the God of their fathers.

While this was a good idea with good intent, it didn’t work out. No, the evil mankind's heart came through, and tried to bring great harm to Paul, as some Jews from the province of Asia recognized Paul and caused an uproar in the temple while he was their to pay to the tax, making an unfounded accusation against Paul that he taught against their laws and customs and brought a gentile (who was not allowed) into the temple.

This caused a quick and vengeful response from the crowd, who immediately took to violence and started a riot. This unruly response caused the Roman commander of the city’s regiment to bring armed men to respond. Going down to the riot, the soldiers (a minimum of 203 armed men) took custody of Paul but were not able to investigate their or protect him because of the violence of the crowd. So, they resorted to carrying Paul, who never fought back, all the way back to the army barracks so that they could investigate further. Where our text picks up today, is just as their are about to enter the barracks, when Paul’s asks for and is allowed to address the crowd.

Paul here, as you can imagine, with his very life on the line, was facing a very difficult trial in his faith. Now granted, he knew from the Holy Spirit’s previous warnings that something was going to happen to him in Jerusalem, that he would be arrested, but he didn’t know every detail; and even if he did, it would be a situation that would terrify anyone. Believer, while you may never go through this kind of trail in your life, rest assured that you will go through some kind of faith trail. Scratch that, in your faith life, you WILL go through MANY faith trails. These trails are not designed to bring you harm or do you wrong, no. They are trials from your Heavenly Father, to help you mature and grow as a Christian. So, as if you are a child of His, you will go through trails, and often times they will be of increasing difficulty and magnitude, because again the intent is that you would grow.

Afterall, a tree doesn’t get large overnight, no. It has to grown, it has to overcome severe weather, deadly storms, dangerous floods, and hot temperatures so that it can grow larger, stronger, thicker, hardier which turns it into a large and beautiful tree.When you are going through these trials for your benefit, know that you are not alone, and you are not forgotten. Instead, Be assured that through your most difficult times of faith that God is with you. Paul knew this, and it allowed him great confidence during this trial. Yes, God is at work in times where having faith is hard, so keep heart and stay strong, let’s see Paul’s example play out here whereFrom the text, I want you to see and remind yourselves of these truths as God is at work in your times of hard faith.

Message

The first truth to remember as God is at work during hard times of faith is that: God saves you from wicked sin. 1-5

22 “Brothers and fathers, listen now to my defense before you.” 2 When they heard that he was addressing them in Aramaic,[a] they became even quieter. 3 He continued, “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia but brought up in this city, educated at the feet of Gamaliel according to the strictness of our ancestral law. I was zealous for God, just as all of you are today. 4 I persecuted this Way to the death, arresting and putting both men and women in jail, 5 as both the high priest and the whole council of elders can testify about me. After I received letters from them to the brothers, I traveled to Damascus to arrest those who were there and bring them to Jerusalem to be punished.

Paul begins his address to the crowd, who were surprised and silenced because they did not expect to hear Paul address them in Aramic, their native tongue, because they thought Paul was a sort of raving anti-isrealite. Needless, to say, they were studden silent for a short time. Paul tells them how he was a Jew and born a Jew and was raised in this very city. In fact, he was a prized student of one of the land’s most important teachers of the law, Gamaliel. He tells them of his lifelong zealousness (enthusiasm and eagerness) for God. He even brought to their minds who he was and what he had done. He reminded them of how he violently persecuted and harmed the Christians and any church body he could come into contact with, arresting people and putting them in jail all with the priests and elders blessing and letters of authority. In fact, he travel with their authority as far as Damascus to eliminate the Church there. Never before had any one person brought so much harm to the way of Christ, to believers before then him, and he did this because of what he had at that time thought was zeal for God. Indeed, he was the biggest prosecutor of the christian faith all around, though in this moment he was before a crowd who wanted to bring harm to him for what he had done to spread faith in Christ.

In Paul’s showing of his commitment to their religion, he also shows something else. That is, how terrible of a sinner he was, how fallen he was, and how badly he needed a savior. When you really get down to it, he was more of a follower of religion and legalism then he was of God before his conversion, and this lead to believe the lie that he was a great person and if anyone was pleasing to God, it was him, I mean look at Him and all that he does for the high priest and for the temple authorities! We can believe the same lie very easily and this lie has doomed many to a separation from God for eternity. My mind here goes back to an unfortunate time where I should have stood up and said the truth, but did not, and now I regret it. This was several years ago, my paw paw, who passed away last year, had recently been diagnosed with cancer. So, the whole family came to visit him and have a cook out, and my mom and a few others wanted to pray over him. I’ll never forget this moment. When we were about to go pray over him, my mom came outside (where I was talking with one of my cousins) and called me in into the living room to get started. A few folks were sitting on the front porch and were invited to come join, but did not. As I was walking in, I heard my aunt Lisa,“I don’t know why they are doing that, you don’t need to and doesn’t make any difference at all. I think all you have to do to get into heaven is be a good person and that’s all that matters.” Everyone around her agreed and got a little blasphemous. I stopped right at the front and door, and almost said something but decided not to because I just plain old didn’t want to deal with it. Aunt Lisa died some 2 and half years later of a drug overdose. As best as I can piece together with limited information I have, this was at the beginning phase a down spiral that would lead to her death. I could have said something, knew I should have, but didn’t. And she died not a follower of Jesus and is now doomed to a separation from God for all eternity. I could have done something, sure it’s on her to say yes to Jesus, but I could have corrected her and given her the opportunity to turn towards the light of Christ. Instead, I was asked to pray at her funeral.

The truth is beloved, we are all terrible sinners. Everyone you have ever met is a terrible sinner, everyone who has ever been or will ever be born (except Jesus) is a terrible sinner and in desperate need of a savior to be made right before God. Unknown to aunt Lisa and many in your life today, their is no amount of doing good or being a good person that can save you from God’s wrath and our deserved judgment of guilty. Only God can pay the penalty for your sins. And He has done the action through Jesus’ death on the cross to pay it, all you have to do is accept the free gift of salvation through Christ. And here is the thing, it doesn’t matter what you have done, what you will do, what you’ve thought about, it doesn’t matter how bad or terrible it is, when you put your faith in Jesus Christ as savior and Lord, God saves you from all of, even the worst of your sins. So, even if you mess up Be assured that through your most difficult times of faith that God is with you and he wants to forgive you of any wrong you do along the way, all you have to admit that it is a sin (confess) and repent of it (change your life to where you don’t do whatever it was willfully again. Yes, God is at work in times of hard faith, not just in the forgiving of you, but also in the empowering of you to not sin and to fulfill your mission.

The next truth to remember as God is at work during hard times of faith is that:God gives you a testimony and assignment 6-21

6 “As I was traveling and approaching Damascus, about noon an intense light from heaven suddenly flashed around me. 7 I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’8 “I answered, ‘Who are you, Lord?’“He said to me, ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth, the one you are persecuting.’ 9 Now those who were with me saw the light,[b] but they did not hear the voice of the one who was speaking to me.10 “I said, ‘What should I do, Lord?’“The Lord told me, ‘Get up and go into Damascus, and there you will be told everything that you have been assigned to do.’11 “Since I couldn’t see because of the brightness of the light,[c] I was led by the hand by those who were with me, and went into Damascus. 12 Someone named Ananias, a devout man according to the law, who had a good reputation with all the Jews living there, 13 came and stood by me and said, ‘Brother Saul, regain your sight.’ And in that very hour I looked up and saw him. 14 And he said, ‘The God of our ancestors has appointed you to know his will, to see the Righteous One, and to hear the words from his mouth, 15 since you will be a witness for him to all people of what you have seen and heard. 16 And now, why are you delaying? Get up and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on his name.’17 “After I returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, I fell into a trance 18 and saw him telling me, ‘Hurry and get out of Jerusalem quickly, because they will not accept your testimony about me.’19 “But I said, ‘Lord, they know that in synagogue after synagogue I had those who believed in you imprisoned and beaten. 20 And when the blood of your witness Stephen was being shed, I stood there giving approval[d] and guarding the clothes of those who killed him.’21 “He said to me, ‘Go, because I will send you far away to the Gentiles.

Paul continues here, and what does he do? He gives everyone his Chrisitian testimony, about how he came from Christ hater to a full convert (putting his faith and trust in Him) and then begins to tell them about how he went into his Christian assignment. In his case, he would be the apostle to the gentiles, bringing the name of Jesus to far away places so that many would come to know Him and be forgiven. He even shared how he struggled with his assignment from God, about how he remembered that he had done great evil and should not be the one to do this. None the less, God made it very clear to him, that he (Paul) was to be his chosen instrument to use to bring the saving Gospel of Jesus Christ to the gentiles.

All through the books of Acts, we see time and time again that believers of all walks of life and levels of maturity in their faith had some kind of role to play. Just for starters, the second they became believers, they had a testimony (a story) about their own conversion and that testimony about what Jesus had done needed to be shared with others. So, they did that. We also see time and time that every believer knew that they had some kind of assignment to do as member of the body of Christ, that is The Church. While this assignment is different for everyone, still everyone has something important and useful to offer. They knew, that their was no such thing healthy “Pew warmers.” No, just like in a household, everyone who physically able has something to contribute and should contribute. So, the early church did this, and The gospel went about and was shared in ways that we never seen again, largely because they understood that they all had a testimony to share and they all had an assignment to do.

So, what then is this assignment for you believer? I can’t tell you the exact details, you need to figure this out. But, I will remind you of the great commission that Jesus gave every believer, to go and make disciples. I will also remind of fulfilling what Jesus Himself called the two greatest commandment. To love God and love people. This is why we as church body aim to and say often, that we are to each individually and together we are to: love God, love people, and make disciples. This is your assignment, so you are to fulfill it in the way that God has equipped and offered for you do to the best of your abilities to the Glory of God. God gives you a testimony and assignment, and know that this does not mean your faith life is to be easy. No, it will be difficult and trying, but when it is Be assured that through your most difficult times of faith that God is with you. Because God is at work in you during times of hard faith.

Another truth to remember as God is at work during hard times of faith is that:God will see you through your assignment 22-29

22 They listened to him up to this point. Then they raised their voices, shouting, “Wipe this man off the face of the earth! He should not be allowed to live!”23 As they were yelling and flinging aside their garments and throwing dust into the air, 24 the commander ordered him to be brought into the barracks, directing that he be interrogated with the scourge to discover the reason they were shouting against him like this. 25 As they stretched him out for the lash, Paul said to the centurion standing by, “Is it legal for you to scourge a man who is a Roman citizen and is uncondemned?”26 When the centurion heard this, he went and reported to the commander, saying, “What are you going to do? For this man is a Roman citizen.”27 The commander came and said to him, “Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?”“Yes,” he said.28 The commander replied, “I bought this citizenship for a large amount of money.”“But I was born a citizen,” Paul said.29 So those who were about to examine him withdrew from him immediately. The commander too was alarmed when he realized Paul was a Roman citizen and he had bound him.

Needless to say, the group did not like what they heard Paul say. Each person’s reason is of course unique, but in the end it comes down to an outright rejection of God because they had rejected Jesus as the Christ. The people yelled that Paul should not be allowed to live, so the commander had him brought inside. To continue the investigation and find out what was going on, they were about to beat Paul, to scourge him in order to torture an answer out of him. This was often done in Roman times with a whip that multiple ends on it with little things on it like barbs or rocks to make to whipping even more painful. Sometimes from this kind of beating, people would die either during the punishment or later from the wounds they would get. Just as it was about to be done. Paul asked the centurion in charge a question that would change everything.Is it legal for you to scourge a man who is a Roman citizen and is uncondemned?” Of course it was not, and this had just became a very serious matter, because it was very illegal to beat a Roman citizen who did not first have a trial. This in essence saved Paul from the whip, and alarmed all those involved, because they were just a flick of a wrist away from doing a very serious crime that would have had very serious consequences for them.

You see, Paul could face this situation with no worry. He knew that no harm could come to him, because God had already told him that he was to go to Rome and share The Gospel there. Paul saw his ticket here, in this frightful situation, to go and fulfill God’s will in his life. No, he wasn’t about to die here, and he wasn’t about die because of the crowds. Why? Because God had plans, big plans for him still and you can’t stop God.

He knew what you too must know, that God will see you through your assignment. So, when you are scared, when you think your next word uttered will bring you harm. If it is a word for Christ, know this, you have nothing to fear. They can do you no real lasting harm. Even if they harm your body, even if they kill you. You have nothing to fear, because you belong to Christ. Not only that, while don’t know what it is entirely, we know that those who die for Christ or endure hardship for Christ will receive something special from God on the other side of eternity. So, stop worrying about what fake and unlasting riches this life has to offer, but instead desire the greater and permanent things that Christ offers you. This means, yes you will endure difficulty, you will endure hardship, but that’s ok, because you can Be assured that through your most difficult times of faith that God is with you. God will give you and empower you through your assignment perfectly the way He wanted you to, so you don’t need to fear, you just need the courage to do. So ask God for that courage, muster and it and put it into action and know that when you do this you will see God at work in times of hard faith.

Conclusion

Beloved, yes life is tough, it is rough. But know this, whatever pain your going through, whatever pain you are feeling even right now, it isn’t meaningless. No it is a purpose, so instead of focusing on the bad right now, shift your mind and eyes and instead see the greatness that is it come, because God is at work in times of hard faith, no matter how hard it feels or seems, He is their with you. Ask Him to help you and He will, you have nothing to fear, you only have something to look forward to. So, go then, go with the empowerment of God, the love of God, and the mercy of God and make your life all about Loving God, Loving people, and making disciples.

With all of that being said, I would be remised if I didn’t share the Gospel (or the Good News) of Jesus Christ with you today, for the benefit of both believer and non-believer in the room. This begins all the way back at the beginning, God created everything, and he created all things good. He gave His most treasured creation (us, mankind) the ability of free will, the ability to choose Him or rebellion. Man was deceived by Satan and desired to be like God and sinned (or rebelled against God). This brought the curse of sin and death into the world and it remains with us to this day; which separates us from God. God though, loved His creation (mankind) so much that He worked through history to redeem all mankind that would turn to Him from sin so that we can experience a full and perfect relationship with Him again. This was through the perfect and final sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the pay for sins. Accepting this free gift from God, makes you new and forgiven. All you have to do accept this free gift by repenting and believing in the Lord Jesus and you will get to experience the good side of God’s justice forever. So, now that you know this, you can no longer plead ignorance. I invite and urge you to respond today non-believer and apply this to every part of your life believers in the audience today.

With that, Let’s conclude. Brothers and Sisters, I love you all. During our last song together, if you need prayer, or want to talk more about Jesus, or have something you want to talk about, I’ll be here, don’t be afraid to come on down. Let’s pray. Father God, we thank You for who You are and what You are doing to us here in this place. May whatever it is that You are doing in each of heart here, continue as we leave go out into the world this week. Change us, mold us, make us, re-arrange us, that we can be both better lovers of You and better showers of You. It’s in these things that I ask and in Jesus Christ’s Holy and precious name that I pray, Amen.