This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

I want to welcome you to week three, day five of our look through the book of
Acts. That means we're in Acts chapter 13 today, and in Acts chapter 13, the
missionary journeys begin. First missionary journey of Paul and Barnabas, listen
to what happens, verses one to three, chapter 13.

"In the church at Antioch, there were prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simon
called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manan who had been brought up with hair of the
tetrarch, and Saul. While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy
Spirit said, 'Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have
called them. ' So after they'd fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on
them and sent them off.

God said, 'Go,' and they went. " Now notice here it says the Holy Spirit said
for them to do this. Remember when God prompts you, when he prompts your heart,
it is the whole of the Spirit of God that prompts you.

So you could say Jesus prompted me, you could say the Holy Spirit prompted me,
you could say the Father prompted me. It's all God. Some people get all caught
up with which part of the Trinity has to do this or that.

God doesn't get so caught up in that as we do. So they said the Holy Spirit did
this, and they were sent out. They were sent out to make a difference, and they
go out into the world.

They started at Seleucia, and then they go to the island of Cyprus, where they
preached at Salamis, and they went on to Paphos, where the procounsel, the
leader of the island comes to know Jesus. And then in verse 13, from Paphos,
Paul and his companions sailed to Perga in Pamphylia, where John left them, John
Mark, to return to Jerusalem. Remember that.

Verse 14, "From Perga they went on to Pisidion Antioch. On the Sabbath they
entered the synagogue, and they sat down. " Verse 15, "After reading from the
law and the prophets, the synagogue rulers sent word to them, saying, 'Brothers,
if you have a message of encouragement for the people, please speak.

' And Paul does. " We get to hear Paul's first sermon here, at least the first
sermon that we hear. We get to hear him preaching to these people in this
missionary journey.

And what do we learn from this sermon? It's amazing what you can learn from this
sermon about how you and I need to communicate the good news of who Jesus is.
Let's just walk through this sermon together, and let me show you, as we walk
through this sermon, five specific things that we can learn from Paul about
communicating the good news.

Number one, what do you learn? Number one, you start with people's spiritual
background. You start where people are, not where you want them to be.

Verses 16 to 19, "Standing up, Paul motioned with his hand, and he said, 'Men of
Israel, who worship God, listen to me. The God of the people of Israel chose our
fathers. He made the people prosper during their stay in Egypt.

With mighty power, he led them out of that country. He endured their conduct for
about 40 years in the desert. He overthrew seven nations in Canaan and gave
their land to his people as their inheritance.

He began by talking to them about their spiritual legacy, their time held
captive in Egypt, and how God had prospered the nation of Israel even there. How
God had led them out of Egypt through a time of wandering in the desert. He
started with their spiritual background.

If you want to communicate the message of Jesus Christ to somebody in your
family, to a friend, you begin with where they are. What's their spiritual
background? They may have a Muslim background or a Jewish background.

A lot of people you meet, they have no "official" background. Maybe their
spiritual background is more just, "Oh, we need to worship nature and all the
good things that are happening there. " Well, begin there, because God made
nature.

God made it all. You can talk about God from that. Maybe their spiritual
background is, "We just need to do the best we can in this world.

" Well, begin there, because God has so much more than just the best that you
can. Such a frustrating way to live. But you start with where people are.

Paul did that, and number two, he did a second thing. To get to the facts about
Jesus. People have to know who Jesus is in order for Jesus to change their
lives.

So in verse 24, before Paul preaches, before the coming of Jesus, John preached
repentance and baptism to all the people of Israel. As John was completing his
work, he said, "Who do you think I am? I am not that one.

No, but he is coming after me, whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. "
Brothers, children of Abraham, and you God-fearing Gentiles, it is to us that
this message of salvation has been sent. The people of Jerusalem and their
rulers did not recognize Jesus yet.

In condemning him, they fulfilled the words of the prophets that are read every
Sabbath. Though they found no proper ground for a death sentence, they asked
Pilate to have him executed. When they had carried out all that was written
about him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb.

God raised him from the dead, and for many days he was seen by those who had
traveled with him from Galilee to Jerusalem. They are now his witnesses to our
people. You get to the facts about Jesus.

Just relating to somebody's spiritual background is not enough. You might
develop a friendship out of that, and that's a good thing to have a friendship
with someone, but unless you talk about the facts of Jesus Christ, there's no
opportunity for change. There's no opportunity to give that person the same gift
that God has given to you.

So you get to the facts about the resurrection of Christ. You get to the facts
about the joy of Jesus Christ. For them, they knew nothing.

So Paul said, "Here are the facts. Here's what happened. " You get to the facts
about Jesus in your life, what he's done in your life.

You talk about what your life was like before you came to know Christ, how you
came to know Christ, and what your life was like after you came to know Christ.
Those are the facts about Jesus in your life. You get to those facts.

In fact, it's often good to begin with a testimony. My life before I knew
Christ, how I came to know Christ, what my life is like now that I know Jesus
Christ. Those are the facts, and Paul does a third thing.

Number three, you show how Jesus brings good news. Verses 32 to 33, and then
down in verses 38 and 39, Paul preached, "We tell you good news, but God
promised our fathers he has fulfilled for us their children by raising up Jesus.
As it is written in the second Psalm, 'You are my son, today I have become your
father.

' Therefore, my brothers, I want you to know that through Jesus, the forgiveness
of sins is proclaimed to you. Through him, everyone who believes is justified
from everything you could not be justified from by the law of Moses. " I love
what Paul says in verse 32, "We tell you the good news.

" People are begging to hear good news today. Somehow, someway, there is some
preaching, there is some telling of the good news. By the way, we're talking
about Paul's sermon here, his preaching.

All preaching is not done in a sermon. I know preaching has gotten a bad name.
The idea of preaching is somebody telling me what to do from their experience,
but biblically that's not what preaching is.

It just means telling, it just means proclaiming. It means opening the door in
somebody's life to the truth of Jesus Christ, and you don't have to be in front
of an audience to do that. You can be sitting in front of a cup of coffee with
somebody else doing that, but you've got to tell them it's good news.

There's somehow, someway, we're telling about Jesus and it seems like bad news.
Oh, you've got to change this, and this is terrible, and this is awful, and it
can't work this way, and no to this, and no to that, and no to this. Well,
obviously Jesus is going to cause you to say no to things because those are the
things that are killing you.

Those are the things that are killing your family and tearing your part inside,
but the good news is he's got something to give in his place. The good news is
he cares enough about you to take away those things that are hurting you and to
give you something new. You have to show how Jesus brings good news.

That's part of proclaiming. That's what we learned from Paul here. So you start
with where people are, with their spiritual background, and then you go on to
tell the facts about Jesus, and then number three, you show how Jesus brings
good news, and then number four, you warn people of the danger of inaction.

This is something that's hard to do. Paul did it. Verses 40 and 41, "Take care
that what the prophets have said does not happen to you.

Look you scoffers, wonder and perish, for I'm going to do something in your days
that you would never believe even if someone told you. " The prophets talked
about people who rejected the news even though they heard it. Something new is
happening and you are missing it.

When you tell the good news, you don't tell it as if, well, you can take it or
leave it. You don't tell it as if someday, if you want. You don't pressure
somebody to the point where you say you have to decide in this moment to satisfy
my need, but you let someone know this is important business.

You let a friend know this means everything, and I'm concerned enough for you to
encourage you to not wait on this decision. If you know that God's doing
something in your life, why waste one moment of the life that he wants to give
you? He warned people of the danger of inaction.

And then there's a fifth thing that you do. As you're sharing the good news of
what God's done in your life with other people, number five, Paul teaches us you
don't get stuck on those who will not listen. You don't keep going back to the
same person who will not listen.

You just let it keep, the seed keep germinating in their life. No, you go and
tell the news to other people. That doesn't mean you have to reject that person
who won't listen.

You won't ever go out to a cup of coffee with them again. But you don't get
stuck on them as if they're the only one you can tell the good news to until I
can get them saved. I'm not going to anybody else.

It's just going to be one at a time. That's not the way to do it. Here's what
Paul did in verse forty five.

When the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and talked
abusively against what Paul was doing. And then Paul and Barnabas answered them
boldly. We had to speak the word of God to you first.

Since you rejected and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life. We now
turn to the Gentiles. Verse forty eight, when the Gentiles heard this, they were
glad and honored the word of the Lord and all who were appointed for eternal
life believed.

You go to those who will listen. I just say from personal experience, I have.
I've wasted far too much time in my life trying to get someone who did not want
to listen to listen.

It didn't help me and it didn't help them. They didn't need the pressure. They
needed somebody to back off.

In fact, sometimes it's you backing off and going to somebody else that causes
them to really listen. Sometimes when I'm pressuring somebody too much, it's as
if I feel I'm the only answer for their life. I am not.

I'm just one of the messengers. And if you have somebody who won't listen,
you've told them the truth, the facts about Jesus, you told them now's the time.
There's a point at which you back off and you go to somebody else.

You don't get stuck on that person. You keep telling the good news to those who
need to hear. Keep loving that person.

Keep praying for him. Keep looking for the opportunity, but don't get stuck on
him. If I want to follow the example of Paul, it really means I got to pray,
Lord, who today, even today, could I pray for?

Who today, even today, could I share it with? Let's pray that right now. Jesus,
who is there that today you could use me to let them know the good news of what
you've done in my life?

Help me to start where they are, not where I want them to be. Help me to let
them know the good news of what Jesus has done in my life, the facts of what
he's done. Lord, give me the courage and also the right words to let them know
how important this is and the danger of not accepting what you've done.

Lord, help me not to get stuck on one person. Show me the next person and then
the next and then the next. Jesus, who can I be praying for today?

Jesus, who could I share with today? Help me to see the open doors because
you've loved me so much. I want to share that with somebody else.

In your name, I ask this, amen. Join us next week. We're going to continue our
study in the book of Acts, chapters 14 to 18.

We're going to see that God is great, that growth is great, and the problems are
great. We'll see you next week.