How We Can Grow for the Lord

The Book of Acts - Part 71

Acts 20:1-12

Sermon by Rick Crandall

Grayson Baptist Church - January 25, 2015

INTRODUCTION:

*Dr. Wray Ivey was one of my mentors, and an outstanding man of God. In the late 1970s and early '80s, Wray was our pastor at First Baptist Church in Macon, GA. He gave me some very wise guidance when the Lord was calling me to preach.

*One Tuesday night, Wray and I were out visiting, and I was discouraged about our lack of results. There are so many lost people out there, and we were reaching so few.

*It almost seemed like, "What's the use?" But Wray said, "Suppose you were standing next to the ocean, and you saw thousands of people drowning. You have a life ring in your hand. What would you do? Would you give up and say, 'What's the use?' Or would you try to save as many of them as you possibly could?'"

*Of course, we would do everything we could do to save those drowning people. And we ought to do everything we can to reach lost people for Jesus. Everybody needs Jesus! So, our greatest goal as a church must be to grow. This means spiritual growth in the lives of believers, and reaching more people for the Kingdom of Christ. How can we be growing for the Lord? Tonight's Scripture helps us see what the Lord wants us to do.

1. First: God wants us to embrace each other.

*Paul reminds us of this truth in vs. 1. Remember that in Acts 19 there was a near riot by the unbelievers in Ephesus, and now vs. 1 says: "After the uproar had ceased, Paul called the disciples to him, embraced them, and departed to go to Macedonia."

*Paul embraced them. He wrapped his arms around them in genuine Christ-like affection. Church: We must learn to embrace each other. And I'm not just talking about physical hugs. I am talking about getting close enough to each other to care for each other, pray for each other, and be there for each other.

*I am talking about the kind of godly concern I have seen thousands of times in my ministry. Here is an example from Rita Young, one of our long-time friends. Years ago, Rita sent me an email, and here's part of what she said:

"Good morning everyone. Yesterday, a very sweet and dear friend of mine, Terry Flowers Johnson, lost her husband unexpectedly. A couple of weeks ago he had open heart surgery and within two weeks of surgery found himself back in the hospital with pneumonia and a staph infection. They had to re-open him, and he went into cardiac arrest and died on the operating table.

*I ask that you pray for her now as you read this email. She will need so many prayers. Pray that she will lean completely on God because He is the only One who can get her through this. Pray that she will not shut people out of her life. She is so sweet to give out hugs. It is now our turn to give them to her. Trust me; they help more than you know.

*Terry's husband, Jeff, had a friend who had been witnessing to him when they went fishing. When he went into the hospital for the bypass surgery, he had Terry call him to come to the hospital. Jeff accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior when his friend came. We all (and I am including myself) need to be witnessing to our friends because you may be the only one who is a witness to that person.

*Again, please pray for Terry, not just today, but many days to come. My love to all of you. Rita"

*Rita knew what she was talking about, because her own 42-year-old husband had suddenly passed away three years before.

2. God wants us to embrace each other. He also wants us to encourage each other.

*Paul went out of his way to be an encourager. Verse 2 tells us that "when he had gone over that region and encouraged them with many words, he came to Greece." Paul "encouraged" or "exhorted" them with many words. He encouraged them in the things of the Lord.

*He was an encourager, and we should be too. It's one of the most godly things we can do. And we know this is true, because the original word for "encourage" here is basically the same word Jesus used in John 14, when He called the Holy Spirit "the Comforter." God wants us to be like Him. He wants us to be encouragers.

*One of the great pastors and Christian authors of our day is Chuck Swindoll. One of Chuck's teachers and mentors at seminary was Howard Hendricks. Dr. Hendricks remembered Chuck as a real go-getter in school. And Howard said, "I felt this guy was a winner from the moment I met him. He always sat in the front row. His questions were extraordinarily perceptive, and even after class the questions did not stop. It was abundantly clear that this man had a bright future ahead of him."

*But at the very same time, Chuck Swindoll was struggling with self-doubt. He battled those doubts for years, and at times even thought of quitting the ministry. Can you imagine that?

*One factor that helped Chuck hang in there was his relationship with Dr. Hendricks. As Chuck later said, "Hendricks believed in me when I didn't believe in myself." Where would Chuck Swindoll have wound up without the encouragement of Howard Hendricks? (1)

3. God wants us to encourage each other. He also wants us to expect some changes in our plans.

*God’s plans are perfect. Ours are not. I’ve never been on a mission trip when we didn’t have to make changes on the fly, and that’s what happened here. In vs. 2-3, Paul had to change his plans and move off in a new direction:

2. Now when he had gone over that (Macedonian) region and encouraged them with many words, he came to Greece

3. and stayed three months. And when the Jews plotted against him as he was about to sail to Syria, he decided to return through Macedonia.

*John Phillips explained that "each year a pilgrim ship left Greece for Palestine, to take Jewish people home for the annual festivals. Paul probably planned to sail on one of those pilgrim ships. But word leaked out. And the unbelieving Jews decided it would give them a golden opportunity to get rid of him. By the grace of God, Paul uncovered the plot, changed his plans, and headed back north to Macedonia." (2)

*Paul had to go in a new direction, and we have to be willing to do the same thing as the Lord leads us. Of course, most of the time our lives are not hanging in the balance. But something even more important can hang in the balance: The souls of people God wants us to reach for Jesus.

*I know that change is difficult. We are creatures of habit, and even good changes can be a struggle.

*Having anesthesia during surgery was one of those new things. Today we take it for granted. And if the anesthesiologist asks us, "Do you want to be drowsy during the surgery? Or knocked out all the way," most everybody will say "knocked out all the way!" But what about surgery with no anesthesia at all? Patients were strapped down while the scalpel and saw cut through tissue and bone. Every slice and turn of the knife caused unimaginable pain.

*One Christian doctor decided to do something about it: A doctor in Scotland named James Simpson. He lived from 1811-1870. Dr. Simpson became Senior President of the Royal Medical Society of Edinburgh when he was only 24, and he went on to receive virtually every possible honor and position.

*He dreamed of finding a way to put patients asleep during surgery. So, Dr. Simpson periodically invited small groups of doctors to his home to experiment with chemicals, crystals, and powders. These chemicals were placed over a burning fire while the doctors inhaled the fumes! Nothing worked until November 4th, 1847. In Paris, one of the men had bought a crystal called chloroform. And as the doctors sniffed the burning substance, they all fell to the floor unconscious.

*Dr. Simpson had his answer, but he soon encountered another problem. He was attacked by fellow Christians who claimed that pain was a God-ordained part of life. They taught that freedom from pain comes only in heaven, and it was sinful to devise dangerous ways of escaping it on earth.

*Sir James went to the Scriptures, seeking answers, and as soon as he opened his Bible, he came to Genesis 2:21. That's where God’s Word says: "The Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place." That verse from the Bible gave Dr. Simpson the ability to silence his critics. And a new day in medicine dawned. (3)

4. God wants us to expect some changes in our plans. He also wants us to enlist more helpers.

*We see Paul's fellow workers in vs. 4-6.

4. And Sopater of Berea accompanied him to Asia also Aristarchus and Secundus of the Thessalonians, and Gaius of Derbe, and Timothy, and Tychicus and Trophimus of Asia.

5. These men, going ahead, waited for us at Troas. (Luke was there too.)

6. But we sailed away from Philippi after the Days of Unleavened Bread, and in five days joined them at Troas, where we stayed seven days.

*These verses show us several key reasons why God wants us to enlist more helpers.

[1] One reason why is because the Lord wants us to work with a variety of Christians.

*John Phillips explained that "Sopater, Aristarchus and Secundus were from the Macedonian churches. Gaius and Timothy were Galatians. Tychicus and Trophimus represented the churches of Asia." In Revelation 5:9, we see that God's church is made up of the redeemed from "every tribe and tongue and people and nation." So, God wants us to work together with all kinds of Christians to the greatest extent possible.

[2] Paul also reminds us here that we must be careful in the ways we handle money that has been given to the church.

*Again, John Phillips explained that "this group was carrying a large sum of money for the needy Christians at Jerusalem. And traveling together helped them avoid suspicion about that money." (4)

*Paul mentioned this concern about how the money was handled in 2 Corinthians 8:18-21. Please listen to Paul tonight from the New Living Translation:

18. We are also sending another brother with Titus. He is highly praised in all the churches as a preacher of the Good News.

19. He was appointed by the churches to accompany us as we take the offering to Jerusalem -- a service that glorifies the Lord and shows our eagerness to help.

20. By traveling together we will guard against any suspicion, for we are anxious that no one should find fault with the way we are handling this generous gift.

21. We are careful to be honorable before the Lord, but we also want everyone else to know we are honorable.

*It's always a good idea to have transparency and accountability when it comes to the church's money.

[3] But the main reason for us to enlist more helpers is this: We will never do all that God wants us to do without the help of more believers.

*God's Church needs more Christians growing strong enough in the Lord to serve in a fruitful way. We must pray for God to send them! As Jesus said in Matthew 9:37-38:

37. . . "The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few.

38. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.''

*We must pray for more workers, and we must train them. That's part of the Great Commission in Matthew 28, where:

18. . . Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.

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

20. teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.'' Amen.

*Jesus said: "Make disciples of all the nations. Teach them to observe all things that I have commanded you."

5. God wants us to enlist more helpers. He also wants us to examine His Word.

*This is the way to grow into the disciples God wants us to be. Paul always placed a strong emphasis on God's Word, and we see him doing the same thing here in vs. 7-8:

7. 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.

8. There were many lamps in the upper room where they were gathered together.

*Verse 11 tells us that they wound up talking about God's Word all night long. They talked about Jesus. They talked about the cross. They talked about how God wants us to live in this world, and how we will live forever in the next world. God wants us to examine His Word regularly, extensively, devotedly, and humbly, knowing that it will give us the most important guidance we will ever need in life.

*One Christian compared it to scuba diving and said, "I'm not a scuba diver, but scuba has always fascinated me. When you take up scuba, one of the things that they will teach you is that your bubbles are always right. When you're deep underwater, you're surrounded by an aura of light, and it is very difficult to tell which way is up.

*The water diffuses the light, and since you have a sense of weightlessness in the water, it is easy to get disoriented and lose your sense of direction. You don't know which is up. You may feel so strongly that your perception of up is correct that you will ignore your air bubbles, and go the way that you think is up.

*So, the scuba diver is taught to always trust and follow his bubbles. No matter what you may think or feel, your bubbles are always correct. They always go up, so always follow your bubbles. Always! If a diver decides to ignore the bubbles, because he thinks he knows which way to go, it will lead to his peril.

*Many people in world today are spiritually disoriented. They have lost their way because they have ignored "the bubbles." They have ignored the only thing in life that can show us the right way to go: The Word of God! Like the diver's bubbles, the Bible is always right. It doesn't matter how you feel. It doesn't matter what you think. The Bible is always right! (5)

6. That's why God wants us to keep examining His Word. And church, He also wants us to expect great things from God.

*We see our God do an amazing thing in vs. 7-12:

7. 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.

8. There were many lamps in the upper room where they were gathered together.

9. 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.

10. But Paul went down, fell on him, and embracing him said, "Do not trouble yourselves, for his life is in him.''

11. Now when he had come up, had broken bread and eaten, and talked a long while, even till daybreak, he departed.

12. And they brought the young man in alive, and they were not a little comforted.

*Well, "Eutychus" means "fortunate," but a most unfortunate thing happened to Eutychus as Paul continued to preach until midnight. Maybe Eutychus was just tired from his work that day or maybe he was overcome by the fumes from the many lamps in the room that night. But Eutychus sank into a deep sleep and fell out of a third story window. The fall was fatal. But our God worked a great miracle that night, and He is still a miracle working God today!

*William Summey gave a great testimony, and he began with some questions: "Does God still perform miracles today? Is our God still mighty? Is He still a God of miracles? The answer to those questions is a resounding, yes! God is still in the business of working miracles, and we can be a part of His great work.

*Missionaries Devin and Callie Ballew got to witness a wonderful miracle that God did in the life of a man in South Asia. His name is Vimal, and as a child, Vimal had little hope. He had a deformed leg and his parents tried everything they knew to get help for him. They sought out doctors, Hindu priests, Muslim religious leaders, and Buddhist leaders but none could help. Vimal’s father literally tried everything he could do to heal this deformity Vimal had from birth. The family was so poor they had to send little Vimal to a boarding house for disabled children because they couldn’t care for him.

Then God did the miraculous! A Christian preacher came to town and laid hands on Vimal’s leg. The preacher prayed in the name of Jesus. The next day the boarding house noticed that Vimal’s cast was cracked. Vimal’s leg was healed! Vimal was able to walk for the first time in his whole life!

The story gets even better. Because of the work of missionaries like Devin and Callie Ballew, Vimal’s whole family came to understand the truth about who God really is. It didn’t happen all at once. It took many years to help the family turn from their idol worship and confused religious practices to a love for and relationship with the one true God. But Vimal’s family finally smashed their idols and decided to follow the one true God.

Now, even though it still isn’t safe to testify in Jesus’ name in this South Asian town, Vimal and his family speak mightily about Christ. They are a tremendous witness despite having been persecuted for their beliefs. Vimal courageously displays a sign above his business with the name of Jesus to let everyone know whom he serves. If the life of Vimal is not miraculous, then I don’t know what is! God is certainly still in the business of saving souls and performing miracles in this present age." (6)

CONCLUSION:

*Church: The same God who healed Vimal and brought Eutychus back to life is here with us right now! We must learn to expect great things from Him. God wants to do great things in us and through us! Let's trust Him to do it. And as we go back to God in prayer, let's ask Him to help us keep growing for the Lord.

(1) SermonCentral illustration contributed by Paul Wallace

(2) Adapted from EXPLORING ACTS by John Phillips, Kregal Publications, Grand Rapids - "Paul and his movements” - Acts 20:2-3

(3) Adapted from Robert J. Morgan, Nelson's Complete Book of Stories, Illustrations & Quotes - Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2000

(4) Adapted from EXPLORING ACTS by John Phillips, Kregal Publications, Grand Rapids - "Paul and his men” - Acts 20:4-6a

(5) SermonCentral illustration contributed by Larry Brincefield

(6) Adapted from "What A Mighty God!" by William Summey - www.namb.net/snackpack (No longer available) (Names have been changed.)

*For more insight, also see: Jackson, Wayne. "The Case of Eutychus." ChristianCourier.com.

https://www.christiancourier.com/articles/808-case-of-eutychus-the