Acts #34 Do Not Be Silent
Acts Series #34
Back to the Beginning:
When Church was Church
"Do Not Be Afraid"
Acts 18:1-11
Fear – an unpleasant often strong emotion caused by anticipation or awareness of danger
Fear is one of the strongest and most compelling of emotions … it drives us … it controls us … it makes decisions … it is the thing without which psychiatrists would be out of jobs.
We call them Phobias … fear of heights, fear of insects, fear of water, fear of people, fear of speaking in public.
I read once that fear of dying was superseded by the fear of speaking in public. So, I guess most folks would rather die than speak at the service … rather be IN the casket than do the Eulogy
I read about a Japanese soldier on the Island of Guam that went into hiding in 1944 close to the end of the war. He hid in a cave for fear of the Enemy. He only came out at night. He stayed there in self imposed isolation for 22 years. After awhile he knew the war was over because of leaflets that were dropped. But he didn’t come out because he was afraid of execution
1658 Voice From Coffin In Truck
Here’s something that sounds like a joke, but it’s a tragedy. It happened in Spain. In Barcelona a truck was rolling along carrying an empty coffin. A farmer who was hitchhiking thumbed a ride. He was bouncing along in the rear of the truck, which was open, when it started to rain. He examined the coffin, found it empty, and crawled inside to keep dry. There he fell asleep.
Further on, two other hitch-hikers got a ride on the truck. They were going along at a lively clip when the farmer inside the coffin pushed open the lid, stuck his head out, and observed: “Oh, it has stopped raining.” The two other hitch-hikers were so terrified that they leaped from the speeding truck. One was killed. [1]
Is anyone afraid here today?
Are you gripped by fear
Are you struggling between obedience and disobedience because of fear?
Are you in the Valley of indecision because of Fear?
Well I came by to encourage you today …
Do Not Be Afraid
Read with me from the Word of God
Acts 18:1-11
1. Do Not Be Araid
The word translated Afraid here … is the Greek Word “phobeo” – fear dread, to put to flight --- The Lord was telling Paul, don’t turn tail and run … stand in and do what I have put in your heart to do
A. Fear is a Tool of the Evil One
1. 2 Tim 1:7 – God did not give us a spirit of timidity (fear) but a spirit of power, of love, and of self-discipline and then verse 8 put it in context
So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord --- one of the greatest things Satan wants you to fear is testifying
B. Fear is a Lack of Understanding
2 Kings 19:6 Isaiah said to them “tell your master, ‘this is what the Lord says: Do not be afraid of what you have heard …
Most often fear is a lack of Understand … or a misunderstanding …
If we know who God is and understand what he has done for us and provided for us, we will not be Afraid …
The Lord is not a concept
The Lord is not a way of living
The Lord is a Person, he is someone who can Speak, can Encourage, will come to your aid
He is Alive and Well
He is Creator of All
He Is ruler of all
He has a purpose
He has a plan
So Do Not Be Afraid
C. Fear is a Lack of Trust
If you are afraid then you do not trust God
1. Lack of trust is misplaced Fear --- If we Fear God we will fear no man
Pr 14:26 – He who fears the Lord has a secure fortress and for his children it will be a refuge
Is 26:4 – Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord, the Lord is the Rock Eternal
2. If we don’t trust God we don’t understand the security of his promises
2 Sam 23:5 Is not my house right with God? Has he not made with me an everlasting covenant, arranged and secured in every part? Will he not bring to fruition my salvation and grant me my every desire?
David understood the security in God’s promises and so he had no need to fear and in his Trust he found the Ability to move without Fear …
Do Not Fear … because …
2. You are Not Alone
A. You have Partners in ministry
1. it is easy to feel like you are alone … But you have partners in ministry here
2. Paul had Silas and Timothy, Luke and other companions, Paul found a partnership with a husband Aquilla and wife Priscilla. They shared a vocation and they shared a passion for the gospel of Jesus Christ
3. You have people here that share similar backgrounds, similar passions, you are not alone
4. Part of the reason for the church is for a family where we can encourage and strengthen one another
B. You are surrounded by other Believers
1. in the city (you haven’t met) but be encouraged
You may think that you are alone, but let me remind you that Florissant, Ferguson, Hazelwood, St. Louis County, St. Louis City, the entire Metropolitan area is filled with people you have never met that have a passion for Christ and serving him. Like you they are doing their best every day to surrender to the Spirit of God. You are Not Alone … Look around you
a. when you see bumper stickers
b. when you see JESUS signs /
c. pray for them
d. count the fish symbols you on cars
e. look around at your Restaurant maybe someone will pray before their meal … be encouraged you are not alone
f. Lisa and I were eating at Olive Garden a few weeks ago and we asked our Waitress if we could pray for her about anything when we blessed our food … she paused and said “I always need prayer” then she teared up and said “I’ve never had anyone ask me that before” … She felt alone … you are not alone
2. in the heavenlies (a great cloud of witnesses)
a. there are thousands upon thousands, millions of believers who have gone before you, have struggled where you have struggled, who have failed where you have failed, have gotten up and found victory where you are fighting
b. Solomon said “though a righteous man falls 7 times, he always rises”
c. In Hebrews 11 the writer of that encouragement tells us that Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see --- and then he reminds us that many have gone before us to give us an example to follow
Able – faithful in obedient righteousness
Enoch – Faith to walk with God
Noah – Faith to attempt the unbelievable
Abraham – Faith to go into undiscovered land and received the unimaginable blessing
Isaac – Faith to hope in the future of his sons
Jacob – Faith to expect promise fulfilled by experience with God in the past
Joseph – Faith to be part of the promise even after he was gone
Moses – Faith to be counted among God’s people when it would be easier to be affiliated with the world, to disregard disgrace for the sake of hope
Israel’s Faith to cross the Red Sea under God’s protection, to see the walls of Jericho fall and come into God’s Promise
Rahab’s faith to believe the spoken promise though born in the wrong place
The faith of Gideon, Samson, Jephthat, David, Samuel, the prophets
Faith that survived flames, sowrd, armies, weakness, famine, beatings, the chains of prison.
He says in chapter 12 of Hebrews Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles , and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith …
3. Those who have gone before us were not successful because they were perfect but because they got past it. They threw off those hindrances, they cast off the sin, the stepped out of the entanglements of the flesh, got up when they fell, put their eyes back on the Lord … or as David said “on the Hills from whence our help comes”. They looked to the Lord for strength.
4. Their eyes were fixed on the coming hope of the promise of God that would be fulfilled in Christ
5. Because they have made it, you can too … take heart be encouraged, do not be afraid … because this same Jesus whom they fixed their eyes on, is the same Christ that we fix our gaze on as well. He conceived of our faith and he makes perfect our faith.
You are NOT alone … You have partners in Ministry
You have Other believers take heart
But Most of All you are Not Alone because if ALL others fall, if all others leave your side, if Others fail …
C. You and God are a Majority
Jesus told Paul, You are Not alone because
1. I am with you --- You need not fear because God has put his OWN NAME on the line for you … It is HIS reputation at stake, not yours
2. Go before the Lord and realize who your God is
2Kings 19:15 – Hezekiah prayed to the Lord: “Oh Lord, God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth … If you can See God for who he is … Creator of All, On his throne, between the Cherubim …
a. If God is not big enough for your present situation you have the wrong God, and
b. if God is too Big to stoop to your situation you have the wrong God, or perhaps you just don’t know God the way you should.
He is more expansive than the universe and small enough to inhabit your heart
He is more incomprehensible than thousands of libraries full of books can explain and yet as simple as
“God So Love the world that he gave his one and only son that whoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life”
You are Not alone because God is With You
3. You are Not alone and God has a word for his enemies ---
Doc preached a couple of weeks ago about Hezekiah facing the blasphemous Sennacherib … and God had a word for Sennacherib and you can pass this word along to your enemies
2Kings 19:27-28 - "But I know where you stay and when you come and go and how you rage against me. 28 Because you rage against me and your insolence has reached my ears I will put a hook in your nose and my bit in your mouth …"
Do not be afraid God is with you and he knows who your enemies are and where they are and he will bring them under submission as he sees fit
Do not be afraid God is with you and
Within you … and
4. Greater is He within me ...
a. 1 John 4:4 – You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is IN you is GREATER than the one who is in the world
b. 1 John 5:9 – we accept man’s testimony, but God’s testimony is greater because it is the testimony of God, which he has given about his Son
You can Believe what God says … He is with you
c. Ro 8:31 - … If God is for us, who can be against us?
Do Not Be Afraid
Fear is a tool of Satan
Trust in God
Ps 27:1 – The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life – of whom shall I be afraid?
Do not be Afraid … You are not alone …
Do not be afraid … Open Your Mouth … Do Not Be Silent …
3. Keep On Speaking
A. You have a Message –
Luke writes in verse 5 that Paul was “compelled by the Spirit and testified that Jesus is the Christ
1 Cor 2:1,2 – When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. 2 For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified
1. the Message we have is Christ and Christ alone
2. The message is that we are sinners and we can’t clean ourselves up …
a. It is not Christ plus us living right
b. it is not Christ plus 10 years of church membership
c. it is Jesus Christ plus NOTHING
3. Dr. WA Criswell said that we are often “tempted to take off the rough edges (of the gospel) chisel, polish. Compare: Samson (was) a fine fellow, but a little crude, uncouth. Send him to Philistia for culture. (Send him) to the barber to get his head shaved. The gospel trimmed, chiseled, polished is weak, like all other philosophers gone before it. Let us keep it as Christ gave it – all sinner. Saved by his coming.
4. Don’t try to straighten it up make it sound better, make it sound modern, make it sound more palatable.
5. We are NOT a self help group. We are the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, commissioned to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
6. We are Christians --- do you remember what that word means? That means we are People of the House of Christ, Slaves to Christ, In the lifelong Vocation as Career Christians.
B. You have a Mission
1. put a face on your mission … you mission isn’t to the “world” – some faceless, nameless mass, it is to your neighbor, your coworker, your sister
2. it is to them that you are to go, to teach, to baptize to disciple
C. You have a Mandate
1. be Silent for injustice, no
2. be Silent about Abuse, never
3. be Silent about Sin, God Forbid
4. But MOST of All Do NOT BE Silent about the ANSWER the World needs, The Hope of the World, Jesus Christ Crucified
Perfected Love for God will get rid of fear
When you have a deep abiding love and reverential fear for God you will fear no man and no thing
1 Jn 4:18 there is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love
With the word of Encouragement from the Lord, Paul stayed on for a year and a half proclaiming the Word of God in Corinth
Because of his ministry and relationship there, we have two of the greatest of his letters in those letters to the Corinthians
What might you do for the Lord today if you can turn your back on Fear and Trust the Lord?
Why do we need not be afraid? Because this is NOT our Story it is HIS story.
Jesus Christ is the one who spoke this world into existence
He is the one who taught Noah how to build the ark and brought them safely through the flood
He is the one that led Abram into a new place and blessed those who blessed him and cursed those who cursed him
He is the one who guarded Moses’ basket in the Nile to the safety of Pharaoh’s daughter
He is the one who blew across the Red Sea and dried up a path for Israel to walk across and then closbed it upon her enemies
Do Not Be Afraid
He is the one who called Gideon and defeated the Midianites with only 300 Men
He is the one who guided David’s stone to slay Goliath
He is the one who stood in the fiery furnace with Shadrach Meshach, and Abednego and brought them through the fire
He closed the mouths of the Lions when Old Daniel was in the Lion’s Den
Do Not Be Afraid
He is the one whom Isaiah saw as his hem of his robe filled the Temple and his presence shook the Temple
He spoke to Ezekiel, he called Jeremiah and gave him peace with the Truth though no one wanted to hear it
Do not be afraid
He was Hosea’s strength with an unfaithful wife
He was Zechariah’s Hope for the Future
He was Hezekiah’s Building Superintendent and Security Advisor
He was John’s the Baptist’s reason to call the world to repentance … “Behold the Lamb who takes away our sins”
He called Peter, James and John to leave their comfort Zone and be Fishers of Men
He called Matthew to leave world’s wealth and learn of the Riches of God’s Kingdom
Do Not Be Afraid
He looked into Pilates face and didn’t beg for mercy but walked the way of Suffering and died outside Jerusalem that we need not fear death and the wages of our sin
He knew no sin but became sin so that we would not have to fear
On the 3rd day he left the grave that we need not fear the grave and Paul can say to us
Where O death is Your Victory, and Sting …
Do Not Be Afraid
He was with Stephen when he proclaimed the gospel and they stoned him for speaking the truth
He was with Paul when the ran him out of Berea and Thessalonica
He was with each of the disciples as they faced fires, swords, stones, and arrows.
And said Do Not Be Afraid
He was with Polycarp when they burned him for his faith and he said “82 years have I served him and he has never failed me, how can I fail him now”
He was with Jun Hus when he proclaimed Christ with his last breath burned at the Stake
He was with John Wycliffe as he was persecuted and imprisoned for daring to translate the Word of God so that anyone could read it
He was with Livingstone in the difficult regions of Africa proclaiming the gospel to those who had never heard
He was with Carey in India
He was with Pilgrims that left the persecution of Europe to freedom of worship in the New World
Do Not Be Afraid
He was with Visionaries and Revolutionaries like Galileo, Columbus, Carver, King, Graham, and countless others that went a different route, proclaimed a new way of living, all the while trusting in their Savior who said
Do Not Be Afraid
No Matter who you are
No Matter where you are
No Matter to whom God Calls you to speak
Do Not Be Afraid
Give Witness to Jesus Christ
You are NEVER Alone
His Rod and Staff is a comfort
Though you walk through a Valley that looks like Death … you never walk alone
He is always with you
What can they do to you? You are a Child of God
What can they take from you? This world is NOT your home
To Live is for the Kingdom of Christ
To Die is Gain as you will be ushered into his very presence
Child of God … Look Up
Live in the Reality of the Presence of God
Live for the glory of his name
You are not alone
You are but one of many travelers on a journey of obedience and faithfulness to Christ
Do Not Be Afraid
Do Not Be Silent
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[1]Tan, P. L. (1996, c1979). Encyclopedia of 7700 illustrations : [a treasury of illustrations, anecdotes, facts and quotations for pastors, teachers and Christian workers]. Garland TX: Bible Communications.