Living In God’s Power

One Sunday morning, Pastor Bill decided the church needed a fresh, attention-grabbing sign to draw in new visitors. He came up with a bold one:

"Try Jesus. If you don’t like Him, the devil will always take you back."

He proudly put it up Monday morning.

Later that week, an elderly lady walked in and said, “Pastor, I brought my grandson to church because of your sign.”

Pastor Bill beamed. “That’s wonderful! What part spoke to him?”

She sighed. “He said any place with return policies that generous is worth checking out.”

Historical/Cultural Context -

Luke was a physician and a travel companion of the apostle Paul. He wrote the book of Acts. The earliest possible date of Acts is immediately after the events that Luke recorded in, which would have been c. A.D. 62. Acts is addressed to “Theophilus,” about whom nothing more is known. Luke’s broader audience consisted primarily of Gentile Christians like Theophilus who had already “been taught” about Jesus.

Biblical Text -

Acts 20:7–16 NKJV

Now on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul, ready to depart the next day, spoke to them and continued his message until midnight. There were many lamps in the upper room where they were gathered together. And in a window sat a certain young man named Eutychus, who was sinking into a deep sleep. He was overcome by sleep; and as Paul continued speaking, he fell down from the third story and was taken up dead. But Paul went down, fell on him, and embracing him said, “Do not trouble yourselves, for his life is in him.” Now when he had come up, had broken bread and eaten, and talked a long while, even till daybreak, he departed. And they brought the young man in alive, and they were not a little comforted. Then we went ahead to the ship and sailed to Assos, there intending to take Paul on board; for so he had given orders, intending himself to go on foot. And when he met us at Assos, we took him on board and came to Mitylene. We sailed from there, and the next day came opposite Chios. The following day we arrived at Samos and stayed at Trogyllium. The next day we came to Miletus. For Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus, so that he would not have to spend time in Asia; for he was hurrying to be at Jerusalem, if possible, on the Day of Pentecost.

-[Prayer]-

Life Principle - To See God’s Power, We Must Have Fellowship With Each Other, Expect The Unexpected & Practice God’s Word.

Life Point- Enjoy Christian Gatherings

Exegetical -

Acts 20:7 NLT

On the first day of the week, we gathered with the local believers to share in the Lord’s Supper. Paul was preaching to them, and since he was leaving the next day, he kept talking until midnight.

Homiletical -

Notice that the Christians gathered often for the Lord’s supper.

Now this is not like our communion we do today, this would be more akin to a fellowship lunch or dinner.

Acts 2:42 NLT

All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper), and to prayer.

Notice that it says they continued steadfastly, religiously as we would say in four areas. The apostle’s doctrine, fellowship, the breaking of bread, and in prayers.

A healthy Christian life consists of life in the church. You need the church to be healthy. There is no such thing a lone ranger Christian. You can’t do this life alone.

This is why we have opportunities for you to meet and fellowship with one another. Such as a movie night, Wednesday night Bible study and all the other things we do around here. If your not involved then you need to get involved.

Like I always say, if you notice a need in the church, try to fill it. When you bring me a problem, please bring me a solution to make that problem better. We may alter your solution a bit, but the problem or missing area of ministry will be taken care of.

Hebrews 10:24–25 NLT

Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.

Apart of our gathering, actually a very large part, should be to motivate one another to do acts of love and good works.

Acts of love - means that you actually care about the people you are fellowshipping with. These are the acts that meat the needs of the brethren. Often times we look to the church as an establishment. Well it is and it isn’t. You see you are the church.

The church is as only effective as the people that make it up. You are to do the acts of love.

Good works - Good works are a natural outpouring of the love that you show to the brethren. You see a need in someone’s life and you fill that need.

Our central A/C was out at our house for a couple of years and we lived with window units. I did what I knew to do, and I am not an HVAC repairman. Well my Sunday School class that I was co-teaching at the time, one of the men there heard about it and said that was unacceptable. so, two HVAC guys showed up at my house. One ran all new lines under the place and the other fixed the actual A/C unit.

This is but one example of Love leading to good works. But had we not been fellowshipping the comment about my A/C would have never come up and the need would have never been known, nor would God have ever gotten the glory for that situation

We must fellowship and share our needs so that someone who can step up to fill that need, will step up to fill that need. That is the church being the church folks and that gets me excited and grateful for God’s provisions.

Life Point - Expect The Unexpected

Exegetical -

Acts 20:8–9 NLT

The upstairs room where we met was lighted with many flickering lamps. As Paul spoke on and on, a young man named Eutychus, sitting on the windowsill, became very drowsy. Finally, he fell sound asleep and dropped three stories to his death below.

Homiletical -

Now Paul and his entourage are meeting in this house with no A/C and I could see this place as being filled with believers. They are meeting in the upper room to hopefully catch a breeze through the open window or windows and they lit the place with many flickering lamps.

This reminds me of Martin Luther. Did you know that the meeting house during his time was basically the pub. He was a german after all. But he would stay up to all hours of the night on Saturday nights debating points of doctrine and theology. This made it hard to get up for services in the early morning. So, he switched it to around 11:00am. This also allowed for chores to be done before services too.

So it is around midnight and this young man named Eutychus is sitting in the sill of this big window, becomes sleepy and falls to his death three stories below.

Now everything stops. Teaching and discussion of doctrine and theology is over. This is definitely something that is unexpected.

So when you are in a group of people you have to be prepared for the unexpected.

This reminds me of a time when I was an associate pastor and the senior pastor was out of town. There were about 70-80 people in the crowd and I am preaching. This one deacon comes in the back and stops my preaching in from of everyone and says that someone passed out in the women’s restroom, but not to worry they called an ambulance and the paramedics are here.

Now being a young preacher and not knowing what else to do, I just stopped the service and we all prayed for her wellbeing, and I found out later she was OK. Well I prayed and didn’t know what else to do so I went back to the sermon and finished preaching while the paramedics did their work. That turned out to be the best thing to do in that situation. It kept people from getting too nosey and kept them out of the way. You just gotta try to let the Holy Spirit guide you in unexpected situations

Have you had unexpected things come up? Like maybe trying to witness to someone you just met and all-of-a-sudden they blurt out their a satanist. Well, that would be unexpected. What do you do? If it were me, I would just continue to witness to them and tell them their definite need for Jesus. Now they may be polite and let me continue or just walk away. Either way I know I did what God wanted me to do in that situation.

Now Paul has this unexpected death to deal with. Let’s read together what he does.

Life Point - Listen To & Practice God’s Word

Exegetical -

Acts 20:10–12 NLT

Paul went down, bent over him, and took him into his arms. “Don’t worry,” he said, “he’s alive!” Then they all went back upstairs, shared in the Lord’s Supper, and ate together. Paul continued talking to them until dawn, and then he left. Meanwhile, the young man was taken home alive and well, and everyone was greatly relieved.

Homiletical -

Paul doesn’t call 911, probably because there was no such thing. He goes down stairs and raises the young man up from the dead.

Is this unheard of in scripture? Well no, Jesus raised people from the dead. As did Elijah.

1 Kings 17:17–23 NLT

Some time later the woman’s son became sick. He grew worse and worse, and finally he died. Then she said to Elijah, “O man of God, what have you done to me? Have you come here to point out my sins and kill my son?” But Elijah replied, “Give me your son.” And he took the child’s body from her arms, carried him up the stairs to the room where he was staying, and laid the body on his bed. Then Elijah cried out to the Lord, “O Lord my God, why have you brought tragedy to this widow who has opened her home to me, causing her son to die?” And he stretched himself out over the child three times and cried out to the Lord, “O Lord my God, please let this child’s life return to him.” The Lord heard Elijah’s prayer, and the life of the child returned, and he revived! Then Elijah brought him down from the upper room and gave him to his mother. “Look!” he said. “Your son is alive!”

There was so much Godly Power in the bones of Elisha, Elijah’s understudy, that when a man died and they had to throw his body somewhere they through him in where Elisha was buried and the man came back to life.

2 Kings 13:20–21 NLT

Then Elisha died and was buried. Groups of Moabite raiders used to invade the land each spring. Once when some Israelites were burying a man, they spied a band of these raiders. So they hastily threw the corpse into the tomb of Elisha and fled. But as soon as the body touched Elisha’s bones, the dead man revived and jumped to his feet!

So when God brings back this young man through the apostle’s prayers what do they do? Well this brings a second wind to everyone. They have been up for hours so what they do is they give thanks to Jesus by sharing in communion and they eat together.

That is wonderful opportunity to share in communion and have fellowship with one another. Paul continues to talk with them until dawn and the young man, well he went home after be resurrected and it says everyone was relieved.

I bet they were relieved and very thankful to God.

When we listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit and jump in where God is working, we find that things start to work together for His good.

Romans 8:28 NKJV

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.

Church you are called according to His purpose. You still have a purpose. Find out what it is and jump in the best way you know how and I guarantee if you are walking with God you will see His power and His miracles.

It is a miracle when God steps in and does the unexpected. Whether that is raising the dead, some people meeting a need or a church growing. We grow as we submit to God. Let us continue to submit to God on a daily basis and see what He will do with us.

Life Principle– To See God’s Power, We Must Have Fellowship With Each Other, Expect The Unexpected & Practice God’s Word.

Call to Action – altar call….