Mountain Life Church/Life Pack/March 17, Who s in Charge Here?

Transcription

1 Mountain Life Church/Life Pack/March 17, 2013 Who s in Charge Here?

2 Who s in Charge Here? Sermon Notes March 17, 2013 Write any notes from the week here I. When Lambs Out-fox Foxes Acts 23 A. Before the Sanhedrin The old divide and conquer strategy works! B. The foiled plot to kill Paul Over forty people take a very serious pledge God delivers Paul in a simple way II. Paul Before Governors & Kings A. Governor Felix False testimony Paul s rebuttal Paul s appeal to Caesar B. Governor Festus & King Agrippa The power of testimony The hard heart and closed mind III.Prisoner In Charge! Paul s trip to Rome A. Problems from the start Paul s authority God s intimacy with Paul throughout the trip God s presence gives Paul great confidence Paul s light in the darkness B. Shipwreck! Paul fully in charge The island of Malta 2 19

3 Read Acts 23 Table Talk Teens IV. A Dream Come True - Paul in Rome A. The Gospel goes on and on B. Paul s authority Question One: Jewish law presumed the accused to be innocent until proven guilty. Why do you think Ananias judged Paul before having all the facts? Question Two: Paul disrupted the proceedings because it started an argument between the Pharisees and the Sadducees. What were they arguing about? Question Three: By using this clever tactic of stating his hope in the resurrection of the dead along with the Pharisees, Paul divided his enemy. Amazingly the Pharisees defended Paul. Which side do you believe, the Pharisees or the Sadducees and why? Question Four: When describing the governor Antonius Felix, the writer Tacitus described him as exercising the powers of a king with the character of a slave. In your own words describe what this statement means. 18 3

4 Life Group Questions for March 17, 2013 Message =Who s in Charge Here? Ice Breaker: Tell about one of the most interesting people you ve ever met. This week s discussion questions will be laid aside as we get to know one another be6er. In Acts 23-28, whenever the apostle Paul is on trial, he tells his testimony of how he was transformed by Jesus. Today, ask three people to tell the story of how they came to know Jesus, taking up to ten minutes apiece to tell the story. Make sure the people tell about how their life has been transformed and what life has been like since they met Jesus. Take time to ask them questions for clarification and encouragement. Also, ask the group to comment at the end of each testimony. Then pray for one another. Elementary Acts 23 Table Talk Day 1 - In Acts 23:1, Paul states that "I have fulfilled my duty to God in all good conscience to this day". This is amazing, since Paul's early life was devoted to persecuting Christians. It goes to show the power of God's grace and forgiveness. Paul could easily have said, "I am a sinner and I have done awful things..." Instead, he chooses to walk in the grace of forgiveness that we have received from God. What do you think "grace" means? (Talk to your parents about the meaning of "grace".) Day 2 - Is there something in your past that nags (i.e., "bugs") you? Are you able to accept the fact that God has forgiven you for your sins, or do you hold on to them and talk about this as if they are a part of you to this day? It is through Jesus that we have the forgiveness of our sins, so that we don't have to be bothered by things in our past. Our sins are washed away! Day 3 - Why does God choose to forgive us even though we don't deserve it? (Because of His perfect love for us!) Ask Jesus to forgive you of your sins, accept God's forgiveness, and be willing to forgive others of their sins towards you. What would it have been like if Jesus would have been upset with us for making Him endure the insults, the pain, the suffering, etc.? Jesus is not mad at us because He had to forgive us. Rather, He loves you (and me) so much that He was willing to give His life for YOU! Praise Jesus! 4 17

5 Table Talk Preschool & Nursery: Day 1: Read Matthew 26:36-46 Talk with your children about how Jesus lived on the earth as a real person just like you and like them. Jesus was very sad. So He went to the Garden of Gethsemane to talk to God, His Father. Ask your children if they know what it means to pray. When we pray we are talking to God. Day 2: Share with your children some reasons why we pray. Ask your children why Jesus was praying in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus shared with God all of His feelings about what He knew was going to happen to Him. He asked God if there was any other way for Him to help us. Jesus did not want to die, but He was willing to do what God wanted in order to save us. He loved us that much! Memory Verse:...not my will, but yours be done. -Luke 22:42 Day 3: Jesus asked His friends to pray too. Jesus prayed the same thing three times and God listened and encouraged Jesus But, ultimately, God said no. Just like Mom and Dad, sometimes God says no, too. Ask your children what they should do when Mom and Dad say no. God wants us to obey. Jesus shows us that praying is our way of talking to God and growing closer to Him. God will listen to all our needs and answer...he may say yes, no, or wait. We can pray like Jesus! (Take time to pray together as a family.) Activity: Together create a special place or designate a special place in your home where you can spend special quiet time with God. Take turns going to that special place and reading about Jesus and/or praying to God. *Be sure to remind your children that they can talk to God anytime and anywhere. Personal Devotion Pages The following pages are designed to help you enjoy a regular time alone with God. We have divided up the curriculum to help us grow wherever we are at in our relationship with God and in our knowledge of His Kingdom. LEVELS: Since we are a Colorado church, we use skiing imagery to communicate the different levels of intensity and time involved in relating to God. BEGINNER: If you are new in your relationship with God, we encourage you to try the exercises under this symbol: INTERMEDIATE: If you have walked with God for some time and would like a little more challenge and more time involvement, try the exercises under this symbol: ADVANCED: These exercises are for people who have walked with God for some time and display maturity in their relationship with Him. These exercises provide a practical way to encounter God and His truth on a regular basis. There are no rules here. Please don t hurry through the process. Slow meditation and memorization seems to soak in better than cramming. Enjoy! 16 5

6 Day One 1. Take some time to praise the Lord for who He is and enjoy thanking Him for what He has done in your life lately. 2. Read Acts See if you can tell your testimony to a friend or loved one in thirty seconds or less. Then see if you can do it in 5 minutes or less. Try and focus on life before Christ, then your salvation experience, and how your life has been changed since. Memorize Psalm 27: 4 Memorize Psalm 27: 1-4 Memorize Psalm 27: 1-6. Then the sailors tried to abandon the ship; they lowered the lifeboat as though they were going to put out anchors from the prow. But Paul said to the commanding officer and the soldiers, You will all die unless the sailors stay aboard. So the soldiers cut the ropes and let the boat fall off. ~Acts 27:30-32, NLT Paul is sent to Rome to stand trial before Caesar. Luke captures the journey in the last three chapters of Acts. As we read the passage, we find that Paul walks in such authority that he ends up being the go-to guy on the ship. Early on in the journey, Paul told the ship s captain to do something. The captain disobeyed Paul to his own peril. By the end of the journey, the captain and crew did only what Paul told them to do......and Paul was a prisoner. Day Five When a person has an intimate walk with King Jesus, he or she walks in the authority of Jesus. The world stumbles around in the darkness while the children of light see quite clearly what is wise, right, and prudent. While everyone else is walking around confused and cloudy, the children of God walk in calm confidence. Such confidence and wisdom emanates from a life spent in intimacy with God. It s a byproduct of a great friendship with the Creator and Redeemer. Father, I m coming right into the throne of grace to receive help because You ve invited me here. As I kneel before You, let me see Your face and know Your heart! 6 15

7 Day Five 1. Take some time to praise the Lord for who He is and enjoy thanking Him for what He has done in your life lately. 2. Meditate on Psalm Ask the Holy Spirit to speak to you today in any way He would like to speak. Give Him permission to say things that you do not want to hear. 4. Finish your Bible memorization today. Day One Gazing intently at the high council, Paul began: Brothers, I have always lived before God in all good conscience! Instantly Ananias the high priest commanded those close to Paul to slap him on the mouth. But Paul said to him, God will slap you, you whitewashed wall! What kind of judge are you to break the law yourself by ordering me struck like that? Those standing near Paul said to him, Is that the way to talk to God s high priest? I m sorry, brothers. I didn t realize he was the high priest, Paul replied, for the Scriptures say, Do not speak evil of anyone who rules over you. ~Acts 23:1-5, NLT Paul was brought before the high council of religious big shots. It was made up of two major religious groups, the Pharisees and the Sadducees and was led by the high priest. Paul boldly shared that he stood before them with a clear conscience. The high priest ordered him to be slapped. My high level of discernment tells me that he disagreed with Paul. He sees Paul as a trouble maker, a heretic, and even a traitor to his own people. Paul was offended and ticked. He called the man a white washed wall. That s a fancy way of calling someone a dirt bag with a nice paint job to look good. When he was told that he had just said those words to the high priest, Paul immediately apologized and repented, not because he wanted to look good, but because he believed the scriptures. Father, show me how to show honor to all those in authority over me. Teach me to pray for them. 14 7

8 Day Two 1. Take some time to praise the Lord for who He is and enjoy thanking Him for what He has done in your life lately. 2. Read Acts Take note of how the Holy Spirit continually spoke to and led Paul through his journey to Rome. Ask the Holy Spirit to lead you into this kind of intimate relationship with Him. 4. Meditate on Romans 8: Put your name in where Paul says, You, and us and personalize this message for yourself. 5. Continue memorizing and meditating on the scriptures for this week. Day Four King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know you do-- Agrippa interrupted him. Do you think you can make me a Christian so quickly? ~Acts 26:27, 28, NLT I m moved by Paul s zeal for sharing the Gospel with anyone and everyone he comes in contact with, even if he is in court. He is convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that what he believes is truth and everyone needs to hear it! By the time Paul appears before King Agrippa, he has been on trial before two other kings. Each time he has turned a civil defense into an opportunity to speak into the heart of his audience. I m challenged by this because Paul seems to have no other motive than love. Later, Paul would invite people from all walks of life to imitate him as he imitated Christ. Paul s way of bringing conversations from the physical realm into the spiritual is something for us all to learn. I believe it comes not from just leaning wisdom, but it comes from a heart that has been so transformed that the Gospel comes out of our mouths naturally. Maybe I should say the Gospel then comes out of our mouths super-naturally. Father, please remove all bottle-necks in my life that keep me from giving You my all. Transform me completely and enable me to be a person that is ALL ABOUT YOU! 8 13

9 Day Four 1. Take some time to praise the Lord for who He is and enjoy thanking Him for what He has done in your life lately. 2. Meditate on Romans 8: Take time to ask the Lord how He would like you to prepare yourself for trouble, persecution, or crime. Ask Him what is the best way to prepare that would bring glory to Him and show love to all involved. Day Two Paul realized that some members of the high council were Sadducees and some were Pharisees, so he shouted, Brothers, I am a Pharisee, as were all my ancestors! And I am on trial because my hope is in the resurrection of the dead! This divided the council--the Pharisees against the Sadducees-- for the Sadducees say there is no resurrection or angels or spirits, but the Pharisees believe in all of these. ~Acts 23:6-8, NLT As a native of the Jewish culture, Paul wisely knows how to navigate through this trial in Acts 23. I find it helpful to know that Paul didn t just lie down like a martyr and let them do as they pleased with his life. He fought back with a clever plan. You see, the two major factions of the Sanhedrin are the Pharisees and the Sadducees. The Pharisees are the fundamentalists who believe strongly in all the laws of Moses and also believe that people will be resurrected from the dead. The Sadducees are the liberal, heady types who can t find a way to believe in anything supernatural, especially the idea of life after death. They reject the idea that people will be resurrected to heaven or perdition after death. 4. Continue meditating on and memorizing the scripture for this week. So, Paul s first sentence in his defense is to side with the Pharisees. He tells them that not only is he a Pharisee, but his ancestors were all Pharisees! Then, he throws out the coup de grâce, And I am on trial because my hope is in the resurrection of the dead! This statement automatically gave him great favor with the Pharisees. They suddenly forgot the entire reason for the trial. Paul simply brought up a lingering argument between the warring factions and they went after each other instead of going after him. Father, teach me grace and wisdom to deal with those who stand against me. 12 9

10 Day Three 1. Take some time to praise the Lord for who He is and enjoy thanking Him for what He has done in your life lately. 2. Meditate again on Acts Day Three The next morning a group of Jews got together and bound themselves with an oath to neither eat nor drink until they had killed Paul. There were more than forty of them. ~Acts 23:12, 13, NLT This group of forty men were extremely serious. Their view of orthodoxy was something twenty first century Americans do not relate to in any way. They believed that if you broadly preached against their idea of orthodoxy, you should die - and die violently. History is replete with examples of people who killed others because they disagreed with them philosophically or theologically. Of course, the Greeks welcomed dissension and debate, but most cultures have seen disagreement as a crime worthy of death. 3. Bring at least three friends or loved ones to the Lord and ask Him to bring them to repentance and faith. Ask Him to show you how you can boldly love them and speak the words of Jesus into their lives. 4. Continue meditating on and memorizing the scripture for this week. Such violence is not motivated by a pure love of God and His truth. It is motivated out of fear. At its core, this violent reaction comes from a deep fear of change and loss of control. At the end of the day, truth, if it is universal truth, should be able to stand against the onslaught of all sorts of challenges and still be truth. It doesn t need my help. Truth doesn t need me to make people walk in it or believe it, and truth doesn t need me to stomp out and kill anyone who preaches or practices lies. That last statement was a big boy statement. I put on my big boy pants and chose to let go of control of others, giving them permission to do whatever they wish. In fact, truth cannot be truth if it is forced on me. I can only accept truth and walk in it when I do so willingly. The moment truth is coerced or forced, it becomes tainted. The God of both the Old and New Testament is not a God of coercion, manipulation, or force. That kind of stuff comes from the dark kingdom