Acts 15:36-19:20 - Outline

[Jim Watt]

“*TWO ARE BETTER THAN ONE” MINISTRIES*

*Jim & Marie Watt*

*Tel: 253-517-9195 - Email: jmbetter at gmail.com*

*Web: www.2rbetter.org*

January 26, 2012


 *APR 19 - ACTS 15:36-19:20 - CHURCH GROWTH AND PAUL*


 *1. 15:36 (15:36-16:5) PAUL: ADDS TIMOTHY TO HIS TEAM. “And after some
days Paul said unto Barnabas, Let us return now and visit the brethren in
every city in which we proclaimed the word of the Lord, and see how they
fare” (NNT). *It would seem the right thing to do indeed! They had now been
left alone for over a year! Imagine leaving new churches and leaders
without help for such a period of time: *not* our 20th Century way! Yet see
the prosperity here when led by the Holy Spirit! *Hallowed be your :name!*


 *2. 16:9 (16:6-10) PAUL: SUPERNATURALLY LED TO EUROPE. “And a vision
appeared to :Paul at night: A certain Macedonian man was standing and
beseeching him, and saying, Come over into Macedonia, and help us.” *Visions
and dreams: from Joseph, Daniel and Job (33:14-18). You Father, have guided
Your servants this way. Moses You spoke to face to face. May we not despise
Your choice this way! *Your :kingdom come!*


 *3. 16:30b-31 (16:11-40) PAUL: PHILIPPI LAUNCHED AMIDST PERSECUTION. And
the jailer said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved? 31 And they said,
Believe on the Lord Jesus, and YOU shall be saved and your
:household.” **Household
salvation*: what a glad and joyous message! And this came in the midst of
Lydia and the birthing of the church at Philippi! Father, You do
*all*things well!
*Your :will be done, As in heaven, so on earth.*


 *4. 17:11 (17:1-15) PAUL: CONTRAST BETWEEN THESSALONICA AND BEREA. “Now
these were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the
word with all readiness of mind, examining the scriptures daily, whether
these things were so.” *O forgive us Father, that so often we fail to
exhibit this mind of the Bereans! We consult our own interests, the status
quo, our traditions: and fail to realize that *You* are in the thing we
sometimes oppose! *Our :daily :bread Give us this day!*


 *5. 17:27b-28 (17:16-34) PAUL: MEAGER RESULTS AT ATHENS. “God is not far
from each of us: 28 for in him we live, and move, and have our being, as
certain even of your own :poets have said, For we are also his
offspring.” *Sophistry,
splitting the infinite and unscrewing the inscrutable - is not the path
that leads to trust in Your Messiah, Father! When our head leads before our
heart, we do greatly err! *And forgive us our :debts, As we also have
forgiven our :debtors.*


 *6. 18:9-11a (18:1-23) PAUL: TROUBLESOME ENTRY INTO CORINTH. “And the Lord
said to :Paul at night by a vision, Be not afraid, but speak and hold not
your peace: 10 because I am with you, and no man shall set on you to harm
you: because I have much people in this :city. 11a And he dwelt there a
year and six months.” *What reassuring words! You in Christ Father, meet
our every need, and here You do it through dreams and visions again! Why do
we miss this channel so often? *And bring us not into temptation!*


 *7. 18:26 (18:24-19:20) PAUL: FRUITFUL MINISTRY AT EPHESUS. “And APOLLOS
began to be bold in the synagogue. But when Priscilla and Aquila heard him,
they took him unto them, and expounded unto him the way of :God more
accurately.” *Many things happened here at Ephesus: but this concerning
Apollos is of interest. Note that the Numeric Greek manuscript of Ivan
Panin places Priscilla ahead of Aquila four times of their six appearances.
This is no mistake by the Holy Spirit! *But deliver us from the evil one!*


 *NOTE**: 19:8 (18:24-19:20) PAUL: BOLDNESS IN HIS PREACHING. “And he
entered into the synagogue, and spoke boldly for three months reasoning and
persuading concerning the kingdom of :God.” *A right heart is then followed
by a right mind!


 God led in guidance for Paul and others through dreams and visions many a
time, *both* in OT and NT times. However - it is important to note that God
more often guides us as we *meditate over His Word*! It is not a case of
either/or - but both/and. A principle to be observed is Mark 16:17-20. Here
the Holy Spirit guides Mark to note that signs (gifts of the Spirit,
miracles, guidance) *follow* the clear and bold preaching of the Word. When
we start depending *more* on the signs that follow, than the *Word itself*,
then we open ourselves to deception and the confusion from the enemy.


 The word (LOgos) of the NT appears 330 times, majoring on the *word*itself. R
*E*ma (word) - the *living* word - the word of the Spirit - appears but 70
times. In a proportionate sense, we should be spending 4 ½ times more on
meditation and praying over the written word - than in seeking a prophetic
and living word.


 It is a concern that many believers will chase for a word of the Spirit
90% of the time over against 10% for finding God's will from meditating
over His written Word. When we seek God Himself through His Word first -
then He is often pleased to give a vision, a dream, a prophecy, a word of
the Spirit. But when we seek these latter first, rather than letting
*Him*give such in His own Sovereign time - we are not following the
example of
Paul who said, Follow *me* - as *I* follow Christ!


 Israel and the church always have false dreamers and diviners who would
deceive us. See What God says through Jeremiah in 29:8-9 (29:1-9)
JEREMIAH'S LETTER TO THE EXILES. *“For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God
of Israel: Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are among you
deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that they dream, 9 for it is a
lie that they are prophesying to you in my name; I did not send them,
declares the LORD.” *We need to be as wise as serpents, and as harmless as
doves!


 Jeremiah 23:25-32 (23:9-40) LYING PROPHETS. *“I have heard what the
prophets have said, who prophesy lies in my name, saying, 'I have dreamed,
I have dreamed!' 26 How long shall there be lies in the heart of the
prophets who prophesy lies, and who prophesy the deceit of their own heart,
27 who think to make my people forget my name by their dreams that they
tell one another, even as their fathers forgot my name for Baal? 28 Let the
prophet who has a dream tell the dream, but let him who has my word speak
my word faithfully. What has straw in common with wheat? declares the LORD.
 29 Is not my word like fire, declares the LORD, and like a hammer that
breaks the rock in pieces? 30 Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets,
declares the LORD, who steal my words from one another. 31 Behold, I am
against the prophets, declares the LORD, who use their tongues and declare,
'declares the LORD.' 32 Behold, I am against those who prophesy lying
dreams, declares the LORD, and who tell them and lead my people astray by
their lies and their recklessness, when I did not send them or charge them.
So they do not profit this people at all, declares the LORD.” *


 As important as dreams and visions can be (Job 33:14-18), and here Elihu
points out 4 very important purposes for dreams - yet in *God's* sight -
His Word is as *wheat*, and dreams are but as *straw*. this does
*not*eliminate the value of straw, for without it the wheat cannot
mature. But
in the final picture, wheat continues, while straw is burnt! We need to
keep our perspective in the same way that *God* looks at dreams and
visions. They *have* their place! But His Word is pre-eminent - for His Son
and His Word are *one*! We need to keep our proportionate times as 4 ½ for
the Written Word - and *one* for dreams and visions, prophecies and signs
following! Here is the way of safety and maturity! Here is the way of Paul
and the other 7 NT writers. Here is the way of George Muller, George
Whitefield and Oswald Chambers.


 I am so concerned over many of my fellow-believers - who fail to walk in
the above perspective!


 Our Psalm for the day: *109:23-25 (109:1-31) HELP ME, O LORD MY GOD. “I am
gone like a shadow at evening; I am shaken off like a locust. **24** My
knees are weak through fasting; my body has become gaunt, with no fat. **25*
* I am an object of scorn to my accusers; when they see me, they wag their
heads” (ESV). *We can rejoice in the light of the end of persecutors. You
Father, keep the books! In the end the way of the righteous, You justify;
but the end of the persecutor is judgment. *Hallowed be your :name.*


 *
*

*TO SUBSCRIBE - Please Email: mailing-subscribe at 2rbetter.org*


 *TO UNSUBSCRIBE - Please Email: mailing-unsubscribe at 2rbetter.org*


 *FOR ARCHIVE ARTICLES - Web:http://2rbetter.org/pipermail/mailing/*
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://2rbetter.org/pipermail/mailing/attachments/20120126/93554aab/attachment.htm>