Sandusky Life Church
Sunday, July 26

      • Isaiah 40:9–14ESV

  • Behold Our God
  • Let Revival Come (Revive Me)
  • You Are
  • Way Maker

  • Light toward the world

    Introduction:

    Last week, we started “Light to the World,” a series through Acts on being light to the world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
    I said we would reference throughout, the parable of the sower and 1 Peter 3:15. The parable gives four results when sharing the Gospel. We say four soils, but one seed never reaches the soil:
    stolen by the devil before reaching the heart
    dried out by trials and tribulation
    choked out by the cares, riches, and pleasures of life
    falling on good soil and maturing into a full life hidden in Christ
    The first seed reminds us that when sharing God’s truth, the Gospel, the enemy is present, waiting to distort what we share or receive. This happens daily, not only to unbelievers, but to Christians as well. Satan tries to deceive, discourage, and distract people from the love of the One worthy of worship.
    Take this glove, designed to fit a hand. But sin, our plight, and a deficit mindset can bend us out of shape, making us focus only on what we lack. Everyone on earth is created for His glory. The enemy wants to keep us from that purpose. But the light is greater than darkness; it exposes our bentness and shows us how to realign. Today, we’ll look at the early church light-bearers sharing the Gospel with pagans. Last week, we looked at people with a religious background: familiar with the Bible and religious activity, yet rejecting Jesus as God, Lord, and Savior, with hearts mastered by sin. To be a light to them, we learned to:
    Know the audience
    Meet on common ground
    Stay grounded in Scripture
    Show where we differ
    Make a clear offer of repentance
    Now, let’s go into the next audience.

    Light to the Pagans

    Acts 14:8–14 NRSV
    8 In Lystra there was a man sitting who could not use his feet and had never walked, for he had been crippled from birth. 9 He listened to Paul as he was speaking. And Paul, looking at him intently and seeing that he had faith to be healed, 10 said in a loud voice, “Stand upright on your feet.” And the man sprang up and began to walk. 11 When the crowds saw what Paul had done, they shouted in the Lycaonian language, “The gods have come down to us in human form!” 12 Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul they called Hermes, because he was the chief speaker. 13 The priest of Zeus, whose temple was just outside the city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates; he and the crowds wanted to offer sacrifice. 14 When the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of it, they tore their clothes and rushed out into the crowd, shouting,
    Behind the Text
    So Paul and Barnabas are traveling and sharing the Gospel. After Antioch of Pisidia and Iconium, they reach Lystra, where they heal a man crippled from birth. This parallels Peter’s healing in Acts 3 and shows that their ministry to the Gentiles continued the mission and authority of the apostles.
    There is archaeological and literary evidence that the Lycaonians believed a local legend connected to Zeus and Hermes. Zeus represented authority, and Hermes represented the messenger. They believed the gods once visited the area, but only one couple welcomed them. The gods rewarded them and punished everyone else.
    When Paul and Barnabas performed this miracle, the people thought the gods had returned in disguise. Because Paul and Barnabas did not speak the language, they did not understand until the priest prepared a sacrifice. Their response was correct: “Y’all need to kick rocks. Y’all have it twisted. You can’t worship us.”
    To be a light to those with Pagan beliefs, we must remember: (don’t worry I’ll the term pagan here shortly)

    God’s power is actively at work to open doors and hearts for the gospel

    Paul says, “seeing that he had faith to be saved(healed)” then he healed him. Jesus and the early disciples saw physical healing and spiritual salvation as connected. The same power that raised the dead and healed the sick is the same power that brings salvation to the hearts of people. They knew fixing natural problems would open a door to bring healing to the weightier problem, sin.
    In Mark 2, Jesus saw the faith of the men who lowered their friend through the roof and said, “Son, your sins are forgiven you.” He then healed the man. He later responds to the critics, Mark 2:9-11
    So, external healing confirmed Jesus’s power and authority for the greater work of an internal healing (the forgiveness of sin).
    b. Here is the beauty: When we share Gospel truth with an unbelieving world, God’s power is already at work in people’s lives, preparing their hearts for the seed.
    I’ve seen this in my wife Amanda’s story. Before I shared the Gospel with her, she was in a crisis of belief; someone urged her to purchase a Bible (the week I called), and we had already placed her name on a prayer list. God was preparing the soil. There is a known muslim who converted to Christianity, named Nabeel Quereshi. God gave him dreams with specific Islamic imagery. He went to his mom, who owned a popular book on interpreting Islamic dreams. When he described the images to his mom.
    It revealed a person who was struggling with the belief in their religion and that a friend would come and bring good news to him. At that time, his college friend “David Wood” was witnessing to him about Christ.
    2. APPLICATION
    a. Know that whether God sends someone with a Bible, gives Muslims dreams, or heals someone of disease, He is using the same power that moves heaven and earth to open the hearts of an unbelieving world. This opens doors for Paul and Barnabas to proclaim the Gospel to those around them. What God did then, He can and will do now with your family.
    Next, this is not a small thing: when Paul and Barnabas were worshiped for the miracle, they tore their clothes and pointed back to God. They knew the miracle they proclaimed and the miracle they gave both were not of them; it was ALL GOD.
    I said it before, and I’ll say it again: if we are being a light to the world that glorifies God, it will always point back to Jesus. Light is speech and action; when our actions draw praise, our speech should point people to worship God alone.
    Behind the Text
    As Paul deflects worship, he returns to their purpose: bringing the “good news.” That phrase, along with others such as “Word of God,” “message of grace,” and “message of salvation,” are shorthand for the Gospel: Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection.
    1 Peter 1:25 says, “That word is the good news that was proclaimed to you.” In Paul’s previous message to the “Religious,” he gives a detailed explanation of the Gospel, and in that very sermon he calls it “message of salvation,” “good news,” and “word of the Lord”. Even though we don’t have all the details, Luke lets us know that the Gospel was proclaimed. Whether the audience is pagan or religious, the Gospel must be preached, and it does not change.
    Second thing is Paul calls their worship of Zeus and Hermes “worthless” compared with the living God. “Pagan” is a word that can describe Gentiles/foreign nations in general or people groups worshiping creation or false gods.
    Remember this for your personal studies: Dictionaries solely don’t define words; context defines the word. So, Pagan in the evangelistic sense means people who worship other created things, or false gods other than the one true God.
    Here’s the distinction. The falsely religious remake the Creator in their image; pagans make gods from creation. Regardless, both are idolatry.
    Unlike his sermon to the Jews, Paul does not walk through biblical history. He appeals to creation, God’s common grace, and His provision for humanity.
    Here is the first thing we learn.

    Being a light means to preach the exclusivity of Christ.

    I’ve heard this from new believers, unbelievers, leaders, and seasoned saints. If you’ve walked with the Lord eight or ten years, you may be a Lawry’s Christian: seasoned. “Do you really believe anyone apart from the Gospel, good or bad, is going to hell?” My answer is yes. No one is justified before God by actions or deeds.
    Here’s the thing: at the heart of the question is this: Is God’s character compromised because He judges unbelief so definitively?
    God is light, and all goodness is measured by Him.
    2. God finds no delight in people’s eternal death.
    b. Sometimes God’s grace appears harsh through limited understanding. My son has type 1 diabetes. He receives roughly 18 injections a month, which leave scars and bruises that bring me to tears. Yet I rejoice that God provided a way to manage a disease that once meant death. What appears abrasive can truly be grace when we understand its purpose.
    God created us for worship. Authentic devotion requires free will; and sadly, people reject God. He will not force those who reject Him on earth into union with Him for eternity.
    As believers, we must communicate the exclusivity of the Gospel in truth and love. Paul uses “worthless” much like Elijah confronting the prophets of Baal. Worthless means powerless. The gods people create cannot heal, restore, or save.
    We do the world no favors by pretending there is safety at the bottom of the mountain. All other gods are worthless idols with no power to save. Only Christ saves. Next we see a repeating point

    Being a light means to Meet them on Common Ground

    Paul meets them on common ground, but the person on the other side has changed. Like before, 1 Corinthians 9:22, Paul becomes “all things to all people.”
    This group (Pagan)
    Has little to no connection to God’s Word, and it holds no authority in their lives.
    Rejects Jesus as Messiah, Lord, and Savior.
    Often shows allegiance to multiple gods.
    Lives to please false idols.
    Paul understands the context. He does not give a verse-by-verse history lesson as he did with the Jews. He appeals to what they know without removing God’s truth, packaging it in a way they can digest. It is why children’s medicine tastes like candy: it is easier to swallow.
    God made heaven, earth, the seas, and everything in them. vs 15
    Ex 20:11, Hag 2:6, Psalm 146:6
    Psalm 146:6 NRSV
    6 who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them; who keeps faith forever;
    God is patient and gracious to humanity. vs 16-17
    Genesis 8:22 NLT
    22 As long as the earth remains, there will be planting and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night.”
    Paul preached the Word in season and out of season. He communicated the Gospel, God’s grace, sovereignty, and love in a way they could receive. We too are to communicate the Gospel without diluting, hiding, or compromising truth.
    Application: Today, we will meet people seeking drugs, chakras, and predictions: all they desire is peace; people angered by greed and corruption: who want justice; and people serving wherever needed because they: desire gracious kindness.
    As possessors of light, let’s tell them about the God of peace and love, who is righteous, just, and gracious to all.
    Psalm 85:10–12 NRSV
    10 Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet; righteousness and peace will kiss each other. 11 Faithfulness will spring up from the ground, and righteousness will look down from the sky. 12 The Lord will give what is good, and our land will yield its increase.
    The gospel is the good God seeks for all humanity.
    Last.
    Acts 14:19–20 NRSV
    19 But Jews came there from Antioch and Iconium and won over the crowds. Then they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead. 20 But when the disciples surrounded him, he got up and went into the city. The next day he went on with Barnabas to Derbe.
    Behind the Text.
    These were Jews from Antioch and Iconium, the last two cities Paul and Barnabas visited. They hated the truth so much that they pursued them nearly 100 miles. The text says they “won over” the crowd. This word can mean persuade, gain trust, or even seduce.
    Two things are notable. First, this crowd was ready to sacrifice animals to Paul and Barnabas; now they are stoning Paul. Second, the religious Jews won over the pagan crowd. The religious and the pagan united against the Shepherd and His sheep.
    Remember the Parable of the sower:
    Luke 8:12 NRSV
    12 The ones on the path are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved.
    James 4:4 NRSV
    4 Adulterers! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.
    My last point.

    The enemy will attempt to stop your light but he’s not strong enough.

    After they left Paul for dead, the church rallied around him. Paul recovered, continued preaching, and eventually returned to encourage believers in those cities.
    The enemy can use people to outcast us, spread rumors, lie, and even try harm our very lives, but God’s good will always prevail.
    I want to introduce Meriam Ibrahim Ishag. In 2014, after her brother reported her, she was imprisoned in Sudan for adultery and apostasy from Islam. She had been raised Christian, but because her absent father was Muslim, the court considered her Muslim. They rejected her marriage to a Christian man, sentenced her to 100 lashes, and condemned her to death.
    Her pregnancy delayed the execution. She gave birth while chained in jail and spent about five months imprisoned with her children. The Quran was read to her almost daily as they demanded she deny Jesus.
    When Christians worldwide heard her story, she was released and eventually came to America. She now runs a nonprofit supporting Christians facing religious persecution.
    2 Corinthians 4:8–10 HCSB
    8 We are pressured in every way but not crushed; we are perplexed but not in despair; 9 we are persecuted but not abandoned; we are struck down but not destroyed. 10 We always carry the death of Jesus in our body, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.
    Conclusion:
    Go be light to the world. Don’t dim. Don’t hide. You cannot be extinguished.
    God is working in people’s hearts.
    Preach Jesus as the only way and true God.
    Meet on common ground. When the enemy attacks, remember: God is with you.
    Life on Life Small Group
    Get in a small group.
    Remember: An idol is anything seeking our heart’s affection over Jesus.
    Identify idols among people in your circle.
    Choose one and find a Scripture that speaks against it.
    Pray that God uproots the lie from their heart.

      • Acts 14:8–14NBLH

      • Mark 2:9–11NBLH

      • 1 Thessalonians 1:5NBLH

      • Acts 16:14NBLH

      • Acts 14:15–18NBLH

      • Romans 3:20NBLH

      • John 14:6NBLH

      • James 1:13NBLH

      • James 1:17NBLH

      • Ezekiel 33:11NBLH

      • Psalm 146:6NBLH

      • Genesis 8:22NBLH

      • Psalm 85:10–12NBLH

      • Acts 14:19–20NBLH

      • Luke 8:12NBLH

      • James 4:4NBLH

      • 2 Corinthians 4:8–10NBLH

  • Song
Sandusky Life Church
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