April 12, 2025

#276 - The Gospel Goes Forward: Opposition, Departure, and Resurrection Power - Acts 13.13-52

In today's episode of Al Pastor, Pastor Brian and Marcia walk through Acts 13:13–52, a powerful chapter full of challenges, bold preaching, and glorious gospel triumph. Together they explore John Mark's unexpected departure, Paul's bold proclamation of Jesus as Savior, the mixed responses to the gospel, and the unstoppable joy that fills faithful disciples. Join us as we reflect on how grace, perseverance, and God's Word carry the mission forward — even in the face of rejection.

Show Notes
Transcript

Episode Overview:

In Acts 13:13–52, Paul and Barnabas continue their missionary journey, encountering both heartbreak and revival. Pastor Brian and Marcia trace the departure of John Mark, Paul's powerful sermon in Pisidian Antioch, the reactions of Jews and Gentiles, and the themes of grace, deliverance, and joy amid persecution.

Key Highlights:

1. A Painful Departure: John Mark Leaves (Acts 13:13)

John Mark departs unexpectedly, causing personal grief and later division between Paul and Barnabas.
Possible reasons for John Mark's departure: discomfort with hardship, disagreement over leadership, fear of Gentile mission, or personal weakness.
Reflection: Sometimes people leave our journeys, but God’s plan remains secure.

Reflection Question:

How do you handle disappointment when people walk away from a shared calling?

2. Paul's Faithful Pattern: Preaching First to the Jews (Acts 13:14-16)

Paul follows his consistent pattern: preaching first in synagogues because the Jews held the Scriptures (the "oracles of God").
Gentile "God-fearers" were present — non-Jews who respected Israel's God but hadn't fully converted.
Paul begins a respectful but bold address to both audiences.

3. A History of Grace and Deliverance (Acts 13:17-22)

Paul's sermon walks through Israel’s history:
- God's choosing of Israel by grace (not merit).
- God's continual raising up of deliverers (Moses, Joshua, Judges, Samuel, David).
Key Themes:
- God's grace is foundational.
- God raises human agents to accomplish His purposes.
God's plan has always been about grace, deliverance, and covenant, culminating in Jesus.

Reflection Question:

How does looking back on your life reveal God's grace at work?

4. Jesus: The Fulfillment of God's Promises (Acts 13:23-39)

Paul proclaims Jesus as the final, perfect Savior raised up by God.
John the Baptist prepared the way, but Jesus is the promised Son of God, resurrected and alive.
Key Doctrine Introduced:
- Justification by Faith — Salvation comes by belief in Jesus, not by works or the Law of Moses.
Paul warns that rejecting this gospel fulfills the very prophecy of stubborn unbelief.

Key Verses:

Acts 13:38–39 — "Everyone who believes is justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses."

5. Mixed Responses: Hunger or Hostility (Acts 13:40-52)

Gentiles beg to hear more — they glorify the Word of God!
Jews grow envious, stirring up division and persecution.
Paul and Barnabas boldly proclaim that the message will now go to the Gentiles.
Important Theme: Those hungry for God's Word will receive it joyfully; the religiously prideful will often oppose it.
The apostles "shake the dust off their feet" — moving on without bitterness.

Key Themes:

Grace: God's choosing and saving has always been by grace, not works.
Deliverance: God raises up human agents to accomplish His saving purposes.
Justification by Faith: Salvation is by belief in Jesus, not by adherence to the law.
Boldness in Rejection: Opposition does not stop God's Word.
Joy in the Holy Spirit: True disciples are filled with joy even amid rejection.

Reflection/Application Questions:

Have you ever faced rejection when sharing the gospel? How did you respond?
How does seeing the "bigger story" of God's grace in history encourage your faith today?
Are you more like the hungry Gentiles or the prideful religious leaders in your posture toward God's Word?
How can you grow in boldness like Paul and Barnabas?

Key Scripture References:

Acts 13:13–52 (Main passage)
Psalm 19:1 (The heavens declare God's glory — referenced in earlier studies)
Romans 1 (Witness of nature and rejection of truth — background theme)
Galatians and Romans (Paul’s later development of justification by faith)

Closing Encouragement:

God’s Word remains powerful no matter the opposition. If we remain faithful to proclaim it, God will fill us with joy and the Holy Spirit, even when others reject the message. Stand boldly for Christ, knowing His Word will never return void!

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You're listening to Al Pastor, the show that helps you love God, love your neighbor and eat more

tacos.

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I'm your host, Pastor Brian, welcome to the show.

Hey, friends, I want to welcome you to today's podcast.

0:23

We're continuing our journey through the book of Acts, and today we're picking up in Acts chapter

13, verse 13.

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The goal of this episode is to make it to the end of the chapter.

I do believe that's possible.

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I'm recording this on a Saturday afternoon as we enter into Palm Sunday and Holy Week.

And So what an exciting time I have in studio with me.

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Marcia.

Marcia, how you doing today?

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Doing.

Good.

0:49

Hi everyone.

It's been a while since you've been on the podcast.

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I was trying to think when you were on one last.

Actually, it wasn't that long ago.

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Was it you and Noah and myself?

Yeah.

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So I'm glad you're on.

So we're going to, I appreciate you coming on because you're going to help me keep it a little bit

1:05

casual and light.

And that's what I always tell Noah.

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So we're going to walk through this.

Before we get into it, I want to make sure that we have a little bit of context.

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In the previous episode, in the 1st 12 verses, what we are seeing is this is Paul's missionary

journey.

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So this is the beginning of a two year missions trip and Paul has a number of missionary journeys.

And so Acts chapter 13 and 14 covers this period of time of two years.

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Not only that, it's interesting to note that the backdrop for this later is going to be the book of

Galatians when Paul goes to minister in the different towns and cities and villages.

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Whatever word you want to put on it, these are the, these are the people of Galatia.

So that's, that's what we're, that's what we're looking at.

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So in the previous episode, they began in Cyprus.

One of the main issues is begin where you're at for a practical reason.

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That's where Barnabas was from.

We also looked at the fact that there was some opposition that came externally and spiritually.

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From an external standpoint, it was a man who was a sorcerer.

He was a Jew, and he opposed the message of Paul and tried to insert himself in between the word of

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God in Sergius Paulus.

But God, God won in the end.

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And so we see this form of resistance to the gospel.

And now we're going to see a transition.

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So I want us to back up for for a second and mercy, I'm going to ask you, would you read verse #12

of Acts 13?

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Then the proconsul believed when he saw that what had been done, being astonished at the teaching of

the Lord.

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OK, so the the sense of this here is this proconsul believe the message that Paul and Barnabas were

were preaching and teaching.

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The highlight of this is the word astonished.

He's astonished at not the not the fact that they called down judgment and this guy got blind right.

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He's astonished at the teaching of who?

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Not the apostle Paul, not Barnabas of the Lord.

And so this is a very, very beautiful point.

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Now as we transition, it is believed in, this comes from various different commentators that are all

reliable scholarly sources.

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There been excavations in the next city that we're going to see that they're going to, and there

been inscriptions of this name, Sergius Paulus.

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He had a very wealthy family.

This they're going to go to what we would call a mountain.

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I'm going to call it a mountain resort town.

They didn't call it that, but I'm going to call it that.

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And this city, Poseidon, Antioch, was actually known as a destination place for those who would

retire in Rome.

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So in other words, you would finish your career and, and maybe you would say, you know what, one day

I want to live up in the, the, the mountains of Poseidon, Antioch.

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And so Sergius Paulus has some family that live there.

It's believed his son also live there.

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And so we're going to see that they set sail.

So I want to make sure that we have that backdrop as we get into it.

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All right, so let's go right into it with verse #13 the next phase of their journey.

Now when Paul and his party set sail from Faithful, they came to Burger and infant Philia and John,

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departing from them, returned to Jerusalem.

All right, this is super short, but it's actually a very big issue.

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What we're going to see from Scripture here is John departs from them and I want you to think more

see of it of like sometimes in life, we challenges that we have to life externally, they can be

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challenging like this sorcerer like, Hey, God took care of business, right?

And but this is a different type of opposition.

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John departs.

We know from later on the Bible that this is going to actually cause some contention between Paul

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and Barnabas.

I believe that this breaks Paul's heart.

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At this moment, John has departed from them.

Now that word for depart, we're going to see it used.

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It's translated depart both the same way in English, but they're two different Greek words.

Not only here in Acts 13.

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We're also going to see it recounted in another in the next chapter.

This instance of depart means he deserted.

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He abandoned them in their mission.

So I want you to get this in your head.

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They leave Antioch, they set sail over 100 miles across water.

They've walked all across the island of Cyprus.

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They've had some exciting things that have happened.

Mark is their John.

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Mark is their assistant.

Now what that means, practically speaking, we can put two and two together.

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He probably helped logistics, he probably helped prep food, he probably helped prepare where they

were going to sleep there.

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There's a number of things that would encompass the idea of him being an assistant.

So then when they set sail from Cyprus, if we were to look at a map, they're going to they're this

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is no light stroll in the park.

There's no motors they're going to sell and they're going to make it all the way up to where where

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it says here in Purga, Pamphylia, Paphos, this region here with these docks in these arbors.

So the question that comes up is, is what happened, John?

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What what, what happened between Cyprus and there?

Why would you get on a boat head all the way up there and now you're deserting them.

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So scholars have come up with some various reasons.

I'm going to go over some of those with you, which happened to be in our discipleship guide as well.

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Some people think that John, John Mark might have got discouraged.

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One of the reasons is that Barnabas was initially the lead of this mission and organically and

naturally, guess what?

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Paul happened to take over.

And it's not a position of like official title, but when we go back into the commissioning of them,

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Barnabas is listed as first.

Barnabas has always been listed at first.

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Now we see the priority shift in Nepal and and John Mark is Barnabas's cousin.

So perhaps he's upset in the change of leadership of the change of of the default spokesman of the

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group.

That's possible.

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The other possibility is it's thought that John Mark, I don't want to give the idea or wrong idea

that he spoiled, but we know that he comes from wealth.

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Do you remember the story about Peter being locked up?

And they went and they're all praying and and they go to a house and that little servant girl wrote

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answers the door.

That was John Mark's mom, his family.

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So the indication that we extract out of that is that they were a wealthy family.

They were people of means and they also had a servant girl.

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So maybe John Mark is saying, you know what?

I'm not, I'm not made for this life.

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I'm not made for the streets or, you know, however you want to say it.

And like this, this isn't what I signed up for.

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And so he takes off.

That's another valid reason.

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Another valid reason is, is it's believed possibly that the Apostle Paul got sick, that he

contracted malaria down here in Cyprus.

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I won't get into all of the details as to how scholars piece that together, but John's like, listen,

man, Apostle Paul, he's been, he's been, he's got some Caesar seizures, fevers, possible seizures,

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and I don't want to risk it.

So he heads out.

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There's also an indication that John could have some some natural biases in his heart.

He maybe he's not in full agreement with reaching Gentiles.

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There's all these reasons mixed up.

Let me say this from the start before I ask you, Marcy, there's no right or wrong answer, but do you

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have any thoughts?

Do you What do you think about John Mark leaving?

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I was just going to be funny and say they just got sick of each other being together.

You know what it it definitely could be that too, but making here's the other thing that is actually

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culturally rare.

It would be in in in John is coming in as a disciple, as a disciple with a disciple or this would be

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a cultural taboo is what I'm trying to say.

This isn't a casual like I got tired of Yemen head out.

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This is a big deal.

He deserted them.

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And this is the John Mark who writes Mark's gospel.

And for what it's worth, I'm going to give you my opinion for those all of us that are listening at

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home and you right here, Marcia, I believe that it's quite possible that John, John Mark had a heart

for ministry.

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He wanted to reach people and I think that he thought the way that he was going to do that is the

way that they were doing it right now.

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But I think God had something different for John Mark than Barnabas because all of us have a unique

calling, right?

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And some some plants, some water.

It's believed that John Mark actually, when he departed, he ended up in Rome.

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And guess who's in Rome at this time?

The apostle Peter.

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And Mark's gospel is John Mark writing on behalf of Peter.

He's right, it's Peter's gospel.

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So I believe that the giftings and callings that was within Mark was to do exactly what he did to

write the gospel according to Peter and to come alongside in to help in that capacity.

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But it's quite possible that at this time he thought, you know what, this is the only way I can

serve this is this is how it is.

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And this happens a lot in life, this happens a lot in ministry, is that people want to conform to

this nice, tight, tidy little box.

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And unfortunately, Christianity, we have made those boxes and created those parameters to say, if

you want to be looked at as a successor, if you want to be looked at as ministry, this is what it

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looks like.

Now, I'm not trying to give too much away, but that happens even as pastors wives, right?

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Like this is what a pastor's wife is.

This is what it's supposed to look like.

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And here's what I believe God's word says.

God has something for everybody and it's not the same.

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You don't, it's not cookie cutter.

What do you think?

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I agree.

So here's here's as before we move on in my disclaimer, we don't know for sure.

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We don't know for sure.

I'm just giving you my opinion.

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And the reason that I piece that opinion together is because later Paul kind of recants because Paul

was tough.

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In fact, this caused such a division that him and Barnabas split up.

Barnabas went his way, Paul went his way.

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He went on with with Titus and and and and linked up with Silas and and Barnabas kind of, you know,

falls off into oblivion.

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So all right, let's go into let's go to the next verse, verse 14.

You want to read that, Marcia?

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Sure, but when they departed from Purga, they came to Antioch in Presidia and went into the

synagogue on the Sabbath day and sat down.

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All right, I won't say a whole lot here, but it's hard for me to say just to do that.

This is this is Paul's MO.

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Paul is always to the Jew 1st and then to the Greek.

Paul is called to the Gentiles, but he will always follow this protocol.

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He'll go into the synagogue.

And if somebody asks why, why would Paul do that?

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It's because the synagogue, the, the people of God, the Jews at that time were entrusted, as the

Bible says, with the oracles of God.

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They had a foundation.

They had knowledge of the Old Testament and so Paul will he will minister to them.

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And so as he comes into Antioch, a Poseidon, remember this is believed to be as a result of their

connection with Sergius Paulus.

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He goes into the synagogue, it's the Sabbath and it says they sit down.

In other words, they went to church.

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Verse 15.

And after the reading of the Law in the prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent to them saying,

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Men of brethren, if you have any word of exhortation for the people, say on Alright, so.

The reading of the Law and the Prophets.

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Now we know historically speaking how a synagogue service would have worked.

They do what we actually do.

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I don't know if all churches do this or not, but most should.

There's a public reading of the scripture and so included in the service is a reading from the law.

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That would be the first five books the the Torah.

And then there would be a selection from the prophets.

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That's, that's the, you know, like an Isaiah or Jeremiah or an Ezekiel.

And so they would, they would read because this would be the only way that people could hear God's

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word.

They didn't have their own personal Bibles.

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And so as they go in, it also would be customary if you had visitors, like for instance, sometimes

if you have a special, like I'm not talking about somebody just walking in from the street that we

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don't know.

I wouldn't say, brother, why don't you stand up and give us a word?

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That'd be kind of weird, right?

But if there was somebody like, let's say there's a, you know, I know somebody, oh, you go to church

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in such and such city and you're from that Assembly of God and, and, and I, we would say, Hey, stand

up, give a testimony, greet the people, right?

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This was, this is the normative standard.

So this is what we see.

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So in verse 15 they said, Brethren, if you got any word of exhortation, say on verse 16.

Then Paul stood up in motioning with his hand, said Men of Israel, and you who fear God, listen.

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All right, key phrase here.

Notice that there are two different people that he's addressing.

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He's addressing the men of Israel.

That's the Jewish brothers and brothers in Christ.

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I was going to say sisters, but it is it is sisters as well.

But the way they did synagogues a little bit different.

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And then he says, and you who fear God, we got to say, hold on for a second.

Paul is able to distinguish and identify that there are what we call God fearers in this crowd.

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That means that they're Gentile.

That means they have not fully converted to Judaism.

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Now our discipleship guy did a really good job, he says.

Evidently there had been some people.

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I'm not quoting him verbatim.

I'm going out of out of memory here.

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Gentiles that have been fed up with the paganism and debauchery of this world that they crave to

hear about this one true God and what he had to say through his word.

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This is what it means to be a God fearer now.

It means that they haven't become a full proselyte and meaning, oh, I'm converting by circumcision

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and following your dietary laws and customs.

But they were welcome to come in and hear about the God of Israel.

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And so this is extremely important because Paul and you.

And when I say evidently he was able to identify, well, what do I mean by that?

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Well, Jews dressed a certain way, and so did Gentiles.

It's like you're not.

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Yeah.

These, these folks are not Jewish, right?

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And so he addresses both of them.

And this, let me also say this, this would have been rat, this should have been the radical red flag

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from the beginning.

Because if you've got a gentile in the synagogue and they're a God fearer, guess what?

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You don't address, You don't talk to them, you don't address them, you don't acknowledge them.

Like you're welcome to come in, but you're the low of the you're on the low end of the totem pole.

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So from the beginning, Paul's got a little, he's got a little like I'm going to get you right here.

I'm just telling you, he's breaking protocol.

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This is how this is how I see it.

Like, wait, what do you mean you who fear God, but they don't get it yet.

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So he it's too late.

They already told him.

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He's already about to stand up and here we go.

So buckle up, verse 17.

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The God of His, of this people, Israel, chose our fathers and exalted the people when they dwelt as

strangers in the land of Egypt, and with an uplifted arm he brought them out of it.

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OK, we're going to we're going to go through a little bit quickly here.

And the reason that we're going to do this is because I'm going to try to connect a common thread or

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theme of what Paul is doing.

First of all, we need as we approach this text is to know and acknowledge we do not have the full

18:13

sermon.

In fact, many scholars believe that Paul has been had in this moment, preached A sermon that could

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have lasted.

Are you ready for this?

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A minimum of three hours minimum.

All you are getting, you're not even getting the handouts from the sermon.

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You're getting like the short, short version, but we're going to identify what Luke is doing because

Luke is inspired by the Holy Spirit.

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He's still allowed to use his choices and personality.

But from the get go, verse 17, look at this, the focus is, is on the God of this people.

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Israel chose our fathers in that choosing the there's two threads.

Here's the first one.

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I'll give them to you now.

The first one is God's grace.

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God did not choose Israel because they were special.

This is recounted by Moses himself in the book of Deuteronomy.

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God called Israel by grace.

By grace.

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See, we tend to think unilaterally at 1st century Judaism, and that is to say we think of it as

extremely legalistic.

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But no, it actually was still a covenant of grace.

Like, oh, we live in the dispensation of grace.

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Do you understand that even in this, this was also grace.

God called them by grace.

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And so the language in the thread is like, look at this.

God, the God of this people, Israel chose, there's grace.

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He exalted the people.

How did he exalt them by grace when they dwelt as strangers?

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You didn't deserve it.

You were foreigners.

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You were foreigners.

And look who's in the midst.

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Now I'm going to read between the lines.

God fears.

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They're strangers, they're foreigners.

And guess what?

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You think you're all that, but you're in Poseidon, Antioch.

You're foreigners in a strange land.

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Why aren't you in Israel?

You're such a big, high and mighty big dog.

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You're really not that, that that mighty of a Jew if you're not living in the land.

And so he's reminding them.

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He's saying hey.

I, I'm using my language now, cool your jets a little bit.

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It was by grace that God called us.

We dwelt as strangers in the land of Egypt.

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And then it says with an uplifted arm, he noticed that he brought them out.

It's not because of you, not because of anything you've done.

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It's all about God.

He brought them up.

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And then it says in verse 18 now for a time of about 40 years, he put up, look, notice that phrase

sit on it.

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He put up with their ways in the wilderness.

What's he saying?

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He put up with them.

And is it possible that you standing here today, he's putting up with you right now?

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They were, they were crazy back then.

I want you to remember all that they did.

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Now, I can't tell you all of Paul's sermon, but he's summing up 40 years like that.

What happened in that 40 years?

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They were a mess.

They were, they were, they act like fools.

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They were worshipping golden caps.

They were complaining against Moses and he's saying God put up with it.

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That's grace.

And then we jump out of that and we go into verse 19.

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Let's keep looking at that grace.

Now I didn't give you both threads.

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First thread is grace.

Here's the second thread.

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The second thread is in all of this.

God himself gave them.

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It was God through a human agent known as a deliverer.

I want you to process this and understand this.

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God ordained a human agent as His representation to deliver them, Moses, Joshua, David, Abraham, all

throughout their history.

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And then it's going to culminate through the ultimate one who was made flesh by the name of Jesus.

So let's look at this for verse 19.

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And when he had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, he distributed their land to them by

allotment.

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Now think about this.

We just jumped 40 years.

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Who is he talking about?

Joshua conquer like that's the book of Joshua.

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How can I sum up Joshua to you right now?

I can't.

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But Paul started pre.

He's like, man, don't get me started on Joshua.

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And he probably went off 2030 minutes at least at least saying remember how they walked around those

walls?

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Remember what God did and AI remember like all of that.

And this was God that did this and then noticed God distributed their land when God gave them their

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land.

This word allotment is the word for inheritance and calling it is a divine imperative.

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That simply means they didn't get it because of anything.

Grace again, is what I'm trying to say.

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They got their land.

They were because God drove them out and God did it.

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And can I just pause right now and just say your salvation is all by God?

You can't.

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You bring nothing to the table.

You have done nothing to earn or merit His salvation.

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And this is this is where we're going to get to verse 20.

After that, he gave them judges for about 450 years until Samuel the prophet.

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Hold on.

So now we've just jumped.

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We've just jumped from from Exodus and Numbers and Joshua.

And now you're in the book of Judges.

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How crazy is the book of Judges?

I everybody, all they did was what was right in their own sight.

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That was the message.

That's the theme of the book of Judges 2 themes.

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Everybody did what was right in their own eyes, but but God right there.

God brought up a deliverer and that is types and shadows pointing to Jesus Christ, the one who would

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be our Redeemer.

And so he says he and he gave them judges until what?

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Samuel the prophet.

Oh, that's good right there.

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Now he's in now he's in first, first Samuel.

Now he's like, like we're in the book of kings.

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I mean, we're we're rolling through here.

We're going quick.

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And who was Samuel, by the way?

Samuel was the representation at a different way.

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If I was to give you Marcia, like different facades of God's character and nature.

You can look at him as a type of shepherd through the lens of of of to Moses.

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When you're in the wilderness, God will lead you and guide you out.

When you need a conqueror, you can look at Joshua that they all point to God, right When you need

24:49

somebody to wield the sword and put the enemies go into the enemy's camp, it's Joshua.

When you need a deliverer, when the the enemy's oppressing, he could raise up a judge like Samson,

25:00

right?

And when you need the word of God, he can give you somebody that's just like Samuel.

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That's what we're doing here.

These are the different facets of like AI use the illustration, always a diamond.

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And so he's like, he raised up Samuel.

Who is Samuel?

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Samuel is a representation of of one of the purest forms of the office of the prophet in this sense

of giving the word.

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OK, I don't want to get too tied up on the words, technically speaking, but Samuel was the

representation of the word of God.

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And So what did God give them?

His word through the lips and through the mouth of Samuel the prophet.

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And then it says, and afterward they asked for a king.

And so God gave them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin.

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And then he says for 40 years.

And verse 22.

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And when he had removed him, notice I don't know I well, I don't say I don't want to say I don't

know, but I want to draw your attention, Marcia and those at home.

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Notice the emphasis on God when he removed who removes all God did God did God has done every God

has done everything he and then it says he raised up for them David as a king to whom also he gave

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testimony and said, I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after my own heart who will do all my

will.

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Now with this theme of the the different aspects of God in mind through Moses and Joshua and the

judges and Samuel.

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Now what is revealed to us is another picture of God's care for us in the form of David.

Now this is different.

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This is the royal the royal aspect of of who God is to us and through us and in all of these aspects

David is the king that is on the throne that has all authority and all power more revealed aspect

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and it says that he's a man after his own heart.

Now Marcia think about this was Dave, do you since David is being legalistic in any what do you

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think of when you think of David?

He was like a free.

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He was free.

This is how I see David.

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He was free.

I like that care of what other people thought in Yeah, he just worshipped God.

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And you know, he was a flawed man, obviously, but he repented.

Yes, I'd like I here's you hit it right on the head, the word free.

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He was not religious in the sense of what Judaism had become in the sense of works based

righteousness.

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This is a grace based, I'm going to give you a technical term here.

It it is called covenantal gnomonism.

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What that simply means is I keep God's law in his covenant to the best of my ability because by

grace he has called me into this.

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So in other words, I don't eat shrimp in the Old Testament.

I don't eat shrimp because God forbid.

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And if I don't, you're going to hell.

Like, you know, no, I eat shrimp because I I don't eat shrimp because I love God and I want to keep

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his covenant.

This is what it means to be a man after God's heart.

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He is free.

He is free in that sense, he understands the grace of God.

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Yes, he is flawed.

Yes, we know all of David's mistakes.

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But to be called a man after his heart.

If you want to know why, that's it right there.

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He loved God and was free even from other people's thoughts and opinions at every step of the way.

Think about when he was dancing, when he brought the Ark of the Covenant back, right?

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So we keep going.

And so I want to I want to pull again on this thread of grace, grace, grace, grace.

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The grace is there.

And then he brings up now we're going to get into some good stuff.

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Verse 23, he says from this man's seed whose that's David according to the promise God raised up for

Israel, a Savior Jesus.

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Now I want us to appreciate that when he says God raised up every one of these individuals.

Remember, God has raised them up.

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He raised up.

He raised up Moses and Joshua and Samuel and David and the judges.

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God would raise them up and he's saying, I've got good news for you.

God has raised up for Israel a Savior, the one that we have been hoping and praying and expecting

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for in his name is Jesus.

This is the Messiah.

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Now he's going to go on, he says after John had first preached, before his coming, the baptism of

repentance to all people of Israel, for them, the Jews and the God fearers alike, sitting there,

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they would have known and understood the preparation that was in store from what we call a

theological, eschatological standpoint.

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That means you needed to be prepared because one day the Messiah might come and in order to be

prepared, this baptism of repentance was your way of getting your life right and getting it in

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order.

It's sort of like the 10 virgins, right?

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5 foolish, 5 wise.

You got to be right.

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You got to have oil in your lamp.

And so they're understanding.

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This is familiar territory for them.

And then verse 25, as John was finishing his course, what's his course, what God had prepared for

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him, he said, who do you think I am?

I am not he.

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But behold, there comes one after me, the sandals of whose feet I'm not worthy to lose.

You see John the Baptist from if you were to predict John the Baptist or think of John the Baptist

30:54

before seeing him, you would hold him in such high esteem like to have the privilege to announce the

Messiah.

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If you were to ask any Jew, like if you were sitting around the table a Passover and you were to go

around the table and you would say maybe God would let me come and announce the the coming of the

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the Messiah.

You would hold they would have the highest honor.

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And here's here's the point of this.

This is why I'm saying this.

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John is saying I'm nobody.

I'm not even worthy to loose the sandals on his feet.

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That right there is like, whoa now verse.

Do you have any thoughts or questions, Marcia?

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OK, verse 26.

He says men and brethren, sons of the family of Abraham keyword here he's not appealing to their

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he's not appealing to the covenant of of Moses that they are so highly esteeming through this works

based righteousness.

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He says family of Abraham and those among you who fear God, notice he never does.

He's not ditching the Gentiles.

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He says to you, the word of this salvation has been sent.

In other words, what you're hearing from me, receive it.

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Receive it in Jesus name because this is the word that you have been destined to hear.

And then he says for those who dwell in Jerusalem and their rulers, who's he talking about?

32:32

He's talking about the scribes, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Sanhedrin, those guys over there,

He says because they didn't know Him, nor even the voices of the prophets, which are read every

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Sabbath.

Didn't we just see that they read the prophets in the Law?

32:50

He's saying they have fulfilled them in condemning them.

They don't know the Scriptures, but they fulfilled the scriptures and they were blind to it.

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And then he says in verse 28, and though they found no cause for death in him, they asked Pilate

that he should be put to death.

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What's Paul doing?

He's talking about the the sinless, spotless life of Jesus, that he was perfect in every way that he

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was committed for sins that he did not commit.

And he says and they asked Pilate that he should be put to death.

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Verse 29.

Now when they had fulfilled, he's saying this is of God, they fulfilled all that was written

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concerning him.

They took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb.

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Verse 30, what we're coming into this Holy Week and we're going to come into Easter.

But God.

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But God raised him from the dead.

They were probably regretting by then to give him a chance to speak.

33:57

Sort of like somebody sits on a podcast like bad, I regret starting this because that if I got to

finish it right, No, I'm teasing, I'm teasing.

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No, no, they I'm sure that no, at this we're going to see we're going to see the response here.

But God raised them from the dead and then he's going to go on.

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He says verse 31.

He was seen for many days by those who came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are his

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witnesses to the people.

And he says, we declare to you glad tidings.

34:24

That's the good news, the event, the the message of evangelism, that promise which was made to the

fathers.

34:32

What promise was it?

It's the promise that's embedded in each one of these people he's been talking about for Moses all

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the way up to David.

He says God has fulfilled this for us, their children in that he is raised up Jesus as it is also

34:48

written in the second Psalm, you are my son today I have begotten you.

The Son of God has been made manifest in flesh.

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Verse 34 and that he raised him from the dead, no more to return to corruption.

He has spoken.

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Thus I will give you the sure mercies of David.

Verse 35.

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Therefore he also says in another Psalm, you will not allow your holy one to see corruption.

And then he says for David in verse 36, after he had served his own generation by the will of God,

35:27

fell asleep, was buried with his Father's and saw corruption.

What does he mean by that?

35:33

He simply means that his body decayed.

His bones are still there, but his body saw corruption.

35:39

It's the decomposition.

That's this very simple, but verse 37.

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But he whom God raised up referencing Jesus saw no corruption.

Why is that important?

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Because God bodily bodily rose Jesus from the grave.

Very, very important.

35:58

You might say why it is.

It is one of the most foundational Christian doctrines.

36:03

God didn't just raise up the spirit of the avatar of Jesus.

Jesus wasn't some floating ethereal object floating about in the atmosphere and appearing here and

36:13

there.

No, This was the bodily, physical resurrection.

36:16

He saw no corruption.

Verse 38 Therefore, let it be known to you, brethren, that through this man is preached to you the

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forgiveness of sins, and by him everyone who believes is justified from all things from which you

could not be justified by the law of Moses.

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I want to pause there for a second because this is a very weighty verse.

I'm not going to dismiss it or patronize anybody, but this is one of the heaviest doctrines in the

36:55

Bible that we need to make sure that we know.

And, and not that I'm going to explain it fully here, but it's the doctrine of justification by

37:03

faith, meaning that God declares us righteous legally, forensically on behalf of who Jesus is, not

because of anything that we've done, because of who he is and what Jesus has done.

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And so Paul is declaring here, this is what we would call the seeds or the infancy of this doctrine,

justification by faith.

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You get a glimpse orally through Paul as recorded by Luke right here in Acts 13.

It'll be fleshed out in Galatians, but it will be fully developed in the book of Romans.

37:40

Justification by faith.

This is the again, the legal declaration that you are a child of God and it and notice what he says

37:52

by him.

Everyone who believes, whoever believes is justified and he says you can't be justified by the law

38:03

of Moses.

That's not the path.

38:06

You've got it twisted.

Remember, David was a man after God's own heart.

38:13

Why?

Because he approached God with grace.

38:16

He wasn't performing the law as a means of his justification, but he was pursuing God as a means of

his justification.

38:25

Let me give it to you a little bit more clearly, Marcy.

You know the book of Job, right?

38:30

What?

What was the problem with Joe?

38:31

What was his friends doing to him?

Pretty much trying to get him to confess what he did wrong.

38:37

Exactly.

And And what was Job's hope?

38:40

What did he keep saying?

Like he's like, I've done nothing wrong, right?

38:47

He was wanting to be justified.

See, there was accusations against him.

38:53

Nope, Nope.

You've done something wrong, Job.

38:55

You've done something wrong.

He was advocating that God would vindicate and justify him, not because he's perfect, but because of

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who God is.

This is where we get that statement.

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I know that my Redeemer lives.

I know this is what's happening right here.

39:16

So you can't be justified by the law of Moses.

You cannot approach God transactionally.

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I do this.

I do AB and C.

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So therefore God does AB and C.

No, I do AB and C because I love God and I trust God and because He has saved me.

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This is the difference between legalism and works and obey and obedience through faith.

Any thoughts or questions before we go on?

39:48

All right, verse 40, beware.

Here's the word of caution, therefore, lest what has been spoken in the prophets come upon you.

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Now, this isn't fancy preaching here.

He's giving them a warning.

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He's saying I'm calling you to believe.

But I got to give you a warning.

40:07

If, if, if, if you reject this, here it is verse 41.

Behold, you despisers marvel and perish.

40:17

For I work a work in your days, a work which you will by no means believe, though one were to

declare it to you.

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What was that work in their days?

And what is that work that they won't believe that Jesus paid it all?

40:39

That Jesus came was manifested in in the flesh.

The message of what work we're entering into.

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That's the work.

And even though people will declare it, it'll be rejected.

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Do you want to keep?

Do you want to keep going?

40:56

You have any thoughts?

No.

40:58

Let's keep going, all.

Right verse 42.

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So when the Jews went out of the synagogue, notice the response.

Now the Gentiles begged that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath.

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Now you were saying, Marcia, like, hey, I wonder what they got themselves into, right.

Well, guess what?

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God still has hungry people that want to hear his word.

So we need to quit worrying about who we're worrying about trying to offend or pastor, you're

41:28

preaching too long or pastor, you got this.

You know what I'm I'm, I'm about.

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I'm not preaching, but I'm done.

I don't care.

41:37

God brings people in that want to hear His word.

These folks are begging, but who doesn't want to hear it?

41:42

Guess who?

The dead religious folks, they don't want to hear God word, God's word, they don't.

41:49

So go on with your bad self.

I don't care.

41:52

I'll shake the dust off my feet.

I'm talking facetiously here.

41:55

I'm not talking about Arvin.

Don't look at me like that.

41:58

I know how you are.

I'm not our church.

42:00

We're blessed, OK?

I'm talking generally speaking because if I go talk to somebody, another Christian out there and

42:06

they'll be like, well, what do you mean you do podcasts?

You do podcasts for an hour or you preach for an hour and 15 minutes.

42:12

I get that little side eyed look, right?

And I just want to slap them.

42:17

And I just want to say you goofy little Christian, I'm, I know I'm being uncharitable and ungracious

right now, but this is, this is the facts right now is folks don't want to hear God's word.

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And the sad part is, is it's the folks that are quote UN quote religious.

So the Gentiles are begging.

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I'm telling you, I everybody who, if you're still here listening, can you please chat and say, Hey,

I'm still listening.

42:42

Let me know there are people that want God's word.

They're hungry for this world is fed up with foolishness, with foolish Christians trying to light

42:55

off fireworks and pole dance and monster trucks and charis wheels.

All the tricks and gimmicks.

43:02

Give us God's word.

So praise the Lord for that, they said.

43:06

Come on back, preach.

I love it.

43:10

Verse 43 Now in the congregation had broken up many of the Jews and devout proselytes followed Paul

and Barnabas, who speaking to them, persuaded them and and persuaded them to continue in the grace

43:25

of God.

Now not so bad, like, OK, we got a good result here. 44 On the next Sabbath, Paul's ready.

43:36

He's geared up.

He's like boys, we got a revival.

43:40

The next Sabbath, almost the whole city came together to hear the word of God.

Now, before we move on, I said this on Wednesday.

43:52

Did you know that most scholars believe that Paul was probably one of the most boring preachers that

you ever would have heard?

43:59

I said that on Wednesday.

He his name means little, Paul, he says.

44:04

It wasn't like I didn't come to you with the Excellency of speech or with persuasive words, but in

demonstration and power.

44:11

I gave you God's word, Apollos.

Now that dude could preach.

44:15

If you needed a preacher, you'd bring in Apollos or anybody else, but not Paul.

These people are not coming to hear Paul.

44:23

We've got caught up in the cult of personality.

I'm not against speaking well, I'm not against, you know, inflection of voice.

44:30

I mean, I'm crazy as it is, right?

Sometimes I'm loud, sometimes I can have variation.

44:34

I'm not talking about style or none of that.

But what we have done is we've become infatuated.

44:40

It's like American Idol in the church.

It's all about the cult of personality.

44:46

And so I love this because the whole city is, notice what it says in verse 44.

They're not coming to hear Paul.

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They're coming to hear the word of God.

I'm going to pause here and say, Lord, give us people that want to hear the word of God.

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Lord, please do this in our midst.

Please.

45:05

We need people that want God's word.

Verse 45 But now look at this.

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When the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy and contradicting and blaspheming.

They oppose the things by Paul.

45:27

Now look, I got to, I got to take a step back and look at this.

They've had the word of God preach to them the truth of who Jesus is and notice what they are filled

45:38

with.

Paul's filled with the Holy Spirit.

45:41

Now you say it doesn't say it.

It's implied the Holy Spirit is behind the scenes in all the activity we've been reading in this

45:49

chapter.

Here's the here's the here's another thread.

45:52

The Holy Spirit said the Holy Spirit sent the Holy Spirit filled in chapter 13.

Luke doesn't have to be redundant.

46:00

These people are filled with envy, which leads to like destruction, roots of bitterness, right?

So they contradict and they and and they are they are opposing.

46:17

Wow, you better be careful verse 46 then Paul and Barnabas.

I love this.

46:24

They grew bold.

They grew bold and they said it was necessary that the word of God should be spoken to you first.

46:38

But since you reject it and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, behold, we turn to the

Gentiles.

46:47

For the Lord has commanded us, saying, I have set you as a light to the Gentiles, that you should be

for salvation to the ends of the earth.

46:56

I want to pause here now.

Paul is not talking just about his call.

47:02

Paul is telling them when he quotes this, I've set you as a light to a Gentile.

Guess what, that's the call to all of Israel.

47:09

God's intention and designs that they would be a nation of priests and prophets and kings unto him

and that they would be a light unto all the world.

47:17

Jesus told us that we're the light now.

So Paul's saying it, look, if you want to oppose this thing, go right on ahead.

47:24

And if you and he's saying like an air quotes and in verse 46, judge yourselves unworthy.

That's that.

47:31

That's an interesting choice of word.

Unworthy.

47:34

He's being ironic.

Paul is implying is using again irony and hyperbole here this see the irony Well, if you judge

47:45

yourselves unworthy, I'm offering you a everlasting life.

It's apparent that you think you're not worthy.

47:52

What's what's the irony?

They think they're worthy of everlasting life through what their works to justify them.

47:58

And Paul saying you got it twisted, you got it, you got it backwards.

So Paul saying don't worry about it.

48:05

No skin off our back.

We turn to the gentiles and by the way, you were called to the Gentiles, you fail, you failed,

48:11

you're a failure.

I I might sound harsh that I'm using that language, but you failed in your message mission and in

48:19

your message, Jesus came as the totality, as the fulfillment saying I am the light of the world.

And then he says, you are the light of the world.

48:31

So Paul saying, all right, And verse 48 now when the Gentiles heard this, now listen, they they're,

they're, they're there.

48:38

They see the boldness.

Now they were glad and they glorify.

48:43

What did they glorify?

Did they glorify the boldness?

48:47

Like, oh, Paul, you got them like snap, right?

The young people want to do it like this.

48:52

They they go snap, like, oh, you got them.

No, they're glorifying the Word of God, and as many as has been appointed to eternal life believed

49:03

they are glorifying the Word of God.

Like how scant, Like scandalous, right is this picture.

49:14

The very ones who should have been glorifying God's Word, who should have been manifesting God's

Word, who should have been witnesses of God's word, they are now turned into opponents and full of

49:27

envy and bitterness and jealousy, and Gentiles are glorifying in the word, praise the Lord.

That's what I say verse 49 in the word of the Lord was being spread throughout all the region

49:47

Galatia, this is Galatia.

Now look at verse 50.

49:51

But the Jews stirred up the devout, and notice the next what's What's the rest of that phrase say?

Prominent.

50:01

Prominent who?

Women.

50:02

Hold on, hold on, hold on.

We got to be careful now.

50:06

Oh, we just added I'm, I'm not going to go there.

You're smirking at me.

50:10

I see you smirking.

You got to be careful when you get these ungodly women rising up, right?

50:16

Why?

You like, think about this though.

50:21

But why are the Jews stirring?

Do you know why you actually, I won't tell you.

50:25

I won't ask you because I'm not saying you wouldn't know, but I'll fill you in.

Here's what the Jews are doing.

50:31

They're stirring up devout and prominent women.

Who are these prominent women?

50:34

They are some of the wealthy elite that they had connections with.

And they're hoping that if they stir up these women, that these women are going to do exactly what

50:42

it says in the rest of the verse of the chief men of the city.

Go get the wife, and the wife will get the husband.

50:48

So the Jews are being now little conniving, manipulating people, right?

So they go get the women and it says that they they raised up.

50:56

Now I want you to notice the language here.

Look raised up what persecution?

51:04

Notice what Paul's been preaching about.

God raised up deliverers.

51:10

God raised up Jesus whom they preach.

What, are they raising up persecution against Paul and Barnabas and expelled them from their region?

0:00

You're not welcome here anymore.

51:29

Can I tell you that when God's word is preached, you're you're not going to be welcome in most

places.

51:41

You just won't because if God's word says it and that's the way it is, we shouldn't be we should

shouldn't apologize for it.

51:48

You will not be welcome.

In fact, you will be confronted with hostility often times Verse 51 but they shook the dust off from

51:57

their feet against them.

Now, Noah, we didn't get to talk about this, but Noah had already told me, I don't remember

52:03

whatever.

Whenever we were going to Bakersfield, we had talked about the rest of this chapter and he said

52:07

that's his favorite part of this chapter.

I don't know what it is, but Noah just likes the visual thing of just like shaking.

52:13

Yeah, because he.

But that's what they did.

52:16

And and I brought this up in Bible study, but this is what Jews would do when they would return from

Gentile territory.

52:22

It was symbolic of of shaking off the uncleanness that they had from possible contamination of their

righteousness.

52:30

You would shake the dust off your feet.

But this is what Jesus said to do as well.

52:34

So they're doing what Jesus told him to do.

So they're saying, hey, you think you think that you're so righteous and clean.

52:41

Actually, in our eyes, we think you're unclean.

We think you're dirty, you're dirty.

52:46

So we're going to shake the dust off our feet and we're going to move on.

And it says that they went to Iconium.

52:53

Now notice this verse 52.

The disciples were filled, notices the Word with joy and with the Holy Spirit.

53:05

So here's my question.

Do you want to be filled with envy?

53:08

Do you want to be filled with jealousy, with roots of bitterness?

Or do you want to be filled with joy in the Holy Spirit?

53:14

If you want those two things, you need God's Word in your life because God's Word has been all

through here.

53:20

It comes by what?

It comes by grace.

53:22

That's the first thread and it comes.

It comes through believing on the Lord Jesus Christ and His Word.

53:31

This, this is it right here.

And your result, you're not going to be sitting like those dirty contaminated Jews.

53:39

I'm not being anti-Semitic by the way, because it sounds like it.

You imagine if somebody took it like a like just a short clip and said he said those dirty

53:49

contaminated Jews.

I'm not being anti-Semitic.

53:53

God will save Israel.

So don't.

53:56

Anyway, we want to be filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.

I mean, think about it.

54:02

Listen, like you're standing out.

You're a reporter and you got a thing.

54:05

And it's like, all right, Paul, tell us what happened here in Poseidon, Antioch.

Well, I got kicked out.

54:13

They expelled me.

They caused a stir, almost a riot.

54:18

How you doing?

I've got joy.

54:20

I'm full of the Holy Spirit.

Oh, it's beautiful.

54:26

So we are going to go into chapter 14.

I'm not going to be able to preach this, obviously, because I'm going to preach.

54:34

I'm going to preach on the resurrection of Jesus.

Bob, you know what?

54:37

Well, anyway, I won't say nothing.

We got Easter coming up, but we'll be walking through chapter 14 all of next week.

54:44

We have an opportunity to get together as the people of God.

And we don't want to be, we don't want to be like them.

54:50

We want to be like the Gentiles that say, come on back, tell us about this word.

So we do that at Bible study on Wednesday.

54:57

We've also got the podcast that'll be happening throughout the week.

Any other thoughts Marcia?

55:03

No great being here.

Today I did.

55:05

I should have started off with this because I don't know if people be listening, but we are at your

promotion, right?

55:13

Leadership Academy.

And then someone came up to me and said, hey, do you like tacos?

55:19

And I was like, yeah, well, it's because he had listened to the podcast.

So it was it was a brother-in-law of somebody that was in the church.

55:26

So it's small world, but we'll leave it with that.

All right, well, thank you for tuning in.

55:33

Let's let's be in prayer and reverence all throughout the week for Holy Week and always, of course,

and we'll see you on the next episode.

55:47

Thank you for listening to Al pastor with Brian Overturf.

If you found value in this, please subscribe and get updates.

55:54

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56:05

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56:10

Until then, we'll see you later.