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Helping Jesus Turn Our World Right-side Up
Acts 17:1-6
Sermon by Rick Crandall
Grayson Baptist Church - Sept. 11, 2013
*Today is the twelfth anniversary of the savage, terrorist attacks on 9-11.
It's hard to believe it's been that long.
Just to put it in perspective, the kids in kindergarten on that day are now seniors in high school.
It has been 12 years, and much has happened since, but we must not forget what happened on this day.
*An F-15 pilot flying directly over one of the towers when it went down said, "It's my generation's Pearl Harbor."
And he was right.
*So much happened so fast:
At 7:45 a.m.
(our time) American Airlines Flight 11 from Boston to Los Angeles with 92 people slammed into the north tower of the World Trade Center.
8:03 a.m.
About 18 minutes later, United Airlines Flight 175 from Boston to Los Angeles with 65 people hit the south tower of the World Trade Center.
8:43 a.m.
American Airlines Flight 77 from Dulles to LAX with 64 people crashed into the Pentagon.
One of the building's 5 sides collapsed.
9:00 a.m.
United Airlines Flight 93 from Newark, N.J., to San Francisco with 45 people crashed 80 miles southeast of Pittsburgh, PA.
It was stopped by brave passengers who gave their lives to keep that plane from hitting the White House or the Capital Building.
9:05 a.m.
The south tower of the World Trade Center collapsed in a plume of ash and debris.
9:28 a.m.
The World Trade Center's north tower collapsed.
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*We live in a world that can turn upside down in a second.
What can we do about it?
We can help Jesus turn our world right-side up!
That's what Paul and his friends were doing in Acts 17.
*The rioting unbelievers in vs. 6 yelled out, "These who have turned the world upside down have come here too."
But those blind people just didn't know the truth.
Their lost and dying world was already upside down.
Paul and his mission team were helping Jesus turn the world right-side up.
And we can do the same thing today.
1.
But first, we need to wake up.
*We need to be more like the Christians in vs. 1, where God's Word says: "Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews."
*Paul and his team were on the road.
They were on the move for Jesus Christ.
But why were they on the move?
Church: it's because they were fully awake to the truth that Jesus Christ is the only hope for the world.
The Bible makes this truth perfectly clear.
*In John 3:17-18, Jesus said this about Himself:
17. . .
"God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
18.
He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God."
*In John 3:36, John the Baptist said: "He that believes on the Son has everlasting life: and he that believes not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abides on him."
*In John 14:6, Jesus said: "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes unto the Father, but by me."
*In Acts 4:10-12, the Apostle Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit, and said:
10. "Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him does this man stand here before you whole.
11.
This is the stone which was rejected by you builders, which is become the head of the corner.
12. Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is no other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved."
*The only way to heaven is Jesus Christ.
The only way to escape hell is Jesus Christ.
And we need to wake up more and more to this truth, so we can help turn our world right-side up!
2. We need to wake up.
And we need to speak up.
*That's what Paul did in vs. 2&3, where the Bible says:
2. Then Paul, as his custom was, went in to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures,
3. explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, "This Jesus whom I preach to you is the Christ.''
*Here's the good news about Jesus Christ in a nutshell: Jesus is the Almighty Son of God, but a little over 2,000 years ago, He humbled Himself to become a man.
After living the only perfect life ever lived, Jesus suffered on the cross and died for our sins.
But three days later He rose again from the dead!
Jesus is the promised Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed One.
*Jesus is Lord!
And He will give eternal life to everyone who receives Him as their personal Lord and Savior.
But they can't receive Him, if we don't tell them the truth about Jesus.
People have to hear the good news about Jesus Christ.
So Christians have to speak up about our Savior.
*Jimmy and Jennifer Mauldin were missionaries from 1996 to 2000.
With 4 small children, they went to Ghana, West Africa to serve the Lord.
Jimmy was a hospital administrator at a Baptist medical center that treated 10,000 inpatients and 60,000 outpatients every year.
The experience was rewarding but very difficult.
And when the family came home to Cullman, Alabama, they were ready for a break.
*Jimmy worked on his master's degree.
But he began to question if he really wanted to return to the field.
(You know, God needs workers right here too!)
*9-11 confirmed it for Jimmy.
Watching TV coverage, there was no question left.
Jimmy said: "I definitely was not taking my family overseas again.
I surely did not want to get on a plane.
Jennifer and I have four small children.
How could I put them in danger?"
*Jimmy had his mind made up, but God changed Jimmy's mind the very next day.
It happened when Jimmy was driving their 5-yr-old daughter to kindergarten.
Her name is Katie, and during the drive she asked her daddy why all the flags were at half-mast.
*Jimmy told her it was because of the actions of some bad men.
Then Katie asked: "Daddy, why didn't someone tell them about Jesus?"
That question hit Jimmy right in the gut.
He tried to put it out of his mind, but he later said, "God reminded me that there are 1.7 billion people in the world who have never heard about the love of Jesus Christ."
*After much prayer, Jimmy and Jennifer decided that it was time to return to Africa to finish the work they started.
The whole family left for Ghana the following June.
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*God used a little girl with a big question to make it happen: "Daddy, why didn't someone tell them about Jesus?"
3. We need to speak up.
And we need to join up.
*That's what happened in vs. 4: "And some of them were persuaded; and a great multitude of the devout Greeks, and not a few of the leading women, joined Paul and Silas."
*Those people believed the truth about Jesus, and they received Him as their Lord and Savior.
But we see more here in vs. 4.
We see a commitment of their lives.
*Verse 4 tells us that these new Christians "joined Paul and Silas."
The KJV says they "consorted with Paul and Silas."
The idea behind that word is that the new Christians "cast their lots" with Paul and Silas.
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