Acts 13

The Tale of Two Towns.

English Standard Version Chapter 13

Antioch in Pisidia

Antioch in Pisidia - Modern day Turkey NOT the same Antioch found a few chapters ago (Antioch of Syria)

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How Jerusalem Received Jesus.

Though they read about Him every week in their synagogs “They did not recognize Him”.

These are the people who had all the evidence. They had that law, they had the prophets, they had this history of a people loved by God… but they didn’t recognize God when they actually engaged with Him.

Why?… no relationship. - They had the motions - the synagog, the festivals, the ceremonies… but they didn’t actually have Him. They had replace His presence with a culture of their day that was filled with religion but empty of God. Ultimately, a culture where they could be in controle of and benefit from by gaining money, power, and independence.

- - Turning over the tables and clearing the temple.

27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness.

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37 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! 38 See, your house is left to you desolate. 39 For I tell you, you will not see me again, until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’ ”

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So where is the temple now? In our day where do we find the presance of God? Where is the temple in our time?

16 Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?

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I fear that many people today and for sure some in this room who would culturally say, yes, I am a Christian don’t actually walk with Jesus.

32 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. 33 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

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Could it be that many of us have does the same thing with our new temple that Jerusalem did with theirs?

I fear that many people today and for sure some in this room who would culturally say, yes, I am a Christian but don’t actually walk with Jesus… WE WOULDN’T RECOGNIZE HIM IF HE SHOWED UP IN OUR LIVES.

We have replaced the presence of God with our radical individualism. Building our own kingdoms, working hard to secure our own happiness by following all of the things the world tells us will make us happy.

IT WILL ALL FAIL YOU. WITHOUT THE PRESENCE OF GOD IN YOUR LIFE YOU CAN NOT POSSIBLY BE SATISFIED.

We want all of the things that Christianity has to offer us but we don’t actually want Christ.

If Jesus were to show up in your life, tomorrow at work, today in the super market, would you recognize him? I’m not talking about cheesy looking blond hair blue eyed fake paintings we see so often I mean the real deal.

How banks identify counterfeit bills - Only through a real genuine relationship can you come to recognize the true Jesus. So many of our neighbors, and other church, politicians, hollywood prop up false ideas of Jesus.

Why?… no relationship. - They had the motions - the synagog, the festivals, the ceremonies… but they didn’t actually have Him.

I fear that many people today and for sure some in this room who would culturally say, yes, I am a Christian don’t actually walk with Jesus.

We have replaced the presence of God with our radical individualism. Building our own kingdoms, working hard to secure our own happiness by following all of the things the world tells us will make us happy.

IT WILL ALL FAIL YOU. WITHOUT THE PRESENCE OF GOD IN YOUR LIFE YOU CAN NOT POSSIBLY BE SATISFIED.

We want all of the things that Christianity has to offer us but we don’t actually want Christ.

There is clear evidence in our lives when we experience the presence of God… When we taste Jesus we hunger for more.

42 As they went out, the people begged that these things might be told them the next Sabbath. 43 And after the meeting of the synagogue broke up, many Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, who, as they spoke with them, urged them to continue in the grace of God.

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This is someone counter intuitive… Normally we get hungry when we have not eaten. But with Jesus, the more we have the more we long for. He is so satisfying, so pleasurable, so gratifying… we can’t get enough. It’s like eating one potato chip or one bite of of the most perfect dessert… You just can’t stop.

Why? - You were designed for relationship with the triune God. This is the only thing in your life that will every fully satisfy, which end will never be exhausted and will never bring you pain.

People who truly know Jesus hunger for Him. Missing a gathering of the church is rare and painful… is missing church painful for you? In our culture so many find equal pleasure in camping, or golf, or perhaps just sleeping in… friends, if this is true then your pleasure is not in Christ and if your pleasure is not in Christ, you do not know Him.

Where does a hunger for the gathering and the teaching of the word from?

When we taste and see the beauty and the wonder for Jesus we hunger for more.

The second piece of clear evidence is the contagiousness of a true relationship with Jesus.

44 The next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord.

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Hebirdies revival… He didn’t want to go… and maybe you don’t want to be here but what if God has something Big for you here… what if the call on your life is not to GO Therefore but to STAY Therefore.

The presence of God is contagious.... The story of is a story of revival.

Many of us live our lives with a compartment of faith that we can point to and say “see, I am a christian”. But the true christian lives his whole life filled with the presence of God and when you live this way it explodes into those around you. Maybe there was a time you can remember from your past when you experienced this short burst of the presence of God, when you felt so close to Him, so near, so consumed with the word, and you could not help but speak his name to those around you… what happened?

Could it be that the same thing that happened in the heart of the Jews has happened in you as well?… You know all of the information but there is no presence of God? No real relationship.

"The Kingdom of God is not going to be advanced by our churches becoming filled with men, but by men in our churches becoming filled with God."

- Duncan Campbell

We long for revival like this in our city… but first we need revival in our own hearts.

Pray for ONE.