LIVE: Acts 13-14 (Class) & Before the Beginning (Sermon)
Speaker: Aaron Cozort
Location: Collierville Church of Christ 575 Shelton Road, Collierville, TN
Sunday Assemblies:
9:30 AM Class
10:30 AM Worship
Wednesday Bible Study – 7:00 PM
Download the questions for class: https://colliervillecoc.org/bible-class-questions/
<inaudible> It’s about time for us to get started. We are still in acts chapter 13. I think we might get through with it today though. No, I think we’ll, we’ll get into chapter 14 as well, at least a little bit. Maybe not all the way through it, but it’s good to have you with us this morning. I will make mention there’s some good material on the book of acts in general,
very in depth material on the book of acts, as well as some specific, highly recommendable material on acts chapter 13 and 14 in a series you can find on YouTube called McWiggin reflections. It’s from a brother over in Nashville, Jim McWiggin and now he’s done a he’s doing not finished yet, but he’s doing a series on the book of acts and he’s about 102 lessons in.
So if you’re looking and they’re, they’re labeled by less than one, two on down, but they’re not the titles, don’t tell you what chapter. So I’m going to tell you that start around. I think it’s less than 73 or 74, and that’ll get you acts chapter 13. And he, as I said in depth, chapter 14 ends around lesson 83,
but Jim McWiggin McGuigan’s reflections. I mentioned that because he goes into a lot of the old Testament aspects of chapters, 13 and 14, that we just do not have time to go into. And so it’s, if you, if you look it up, it’ll be worth your time. You’ll enjoy it, I believe. And so I’ll just throw that,
throw that plug in there In acts chapter 13, actually let’s, We’ll start with a word of prayer. I guess I got sidetracked. All right, let’s get on with it. Word of prayer, our gracious father in heaven, we bow before you Always grateful for your blessings, always grateful for your son who offered himself as a sacrifice for our sins and for the sins of the entire world.
We are mindful of those who Struggle So deeply with understanding your word and your will and the actions that you have taken in history and in time and struggle so deeply with the concerns of this life and the understanding of its meaning. We’re mindful of those individuals who, because of the perversions of this world, struggle so deeply with sins and iniquities, that they can’t see a path forward or mindful of those who have been lied to concerning your existence and concerning the existence of,
of gods and, and beings that do not exist and have no power in this creation of yours. And yet they have power over these individuals through the lies that have been told or mindful of all of these individuals and their need to hear the gospel, to hear it proclaimed boldly, to know what you have done for them in eternity, past, and in your son who died on the cross for their sins as well.
We’re mindful of those who are struggling with illness and pain, difficulty, anguish of life and difficulties because of loved ones who perhaps have passed on. We pray that you will give them strength to go through those hard times and go through those difficult things, never losing their focus on serving you. We pray for those who are in foreign mission fields and in works that are difficult.
We pray that they might have boldness to speak. We’re thankful of this time for this morning that we have the sunshine that we enjoy the day that we have the health and the ability we have to assemble together. And we’re mindful of those who do not have that blessing. We pray that you forgive us when we sin and fall short of your glory and are willing to repent of those things.
And we pray for your grace to cover those sins in our lives that we know of and the ones we don’t know of all this, we pray in Jesus name. Amen. As Paul is preaching to those Antioch of the Cydia. He preaches to the Jews. He comes into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and Paul and Barnabas are there together. And they are invited by those who are present to speak and they do.
And we have here, the first recorded sermon of the apostle Paul, not the first instance of him preaching, but the first instance where the text of his sermon is recorded. But as we get towards the end of it, we got down. We’re going to pick up in verse 35. Therefore he says in another Psalm, Paul is talking about David.
He’s talking about the promise of David. That one would be re would rise up, who was from the lineage of David David’s son as is prophesied in second Samuel chapter 12. I believe it is. And here he is bringing in the Psalms that reference this descendant of David and this promise and this Messiah that they knew of, therefore he says in another Psalm,
you will not allow your Holy one to see corruption for David. After he had served his own generation by the will of God fell asleep, was buried with his fathers and saw corruption. That is he’s he’s in the grave. He’s, he’s in the, the place of the dead awaiting the judgment day, but he whom God raised up saw no corruption.
One of the emphasis here is that when a person dies and they enter into that, Hadean realm, their body decays. They, they have no more life in it. And therefore that body deteriorates and hence the idea of seeing corruption and yet what happened to the body of Christ. Okay. All right. It didn’t stay in the grave. It didn’t decay.
And go back to dust. It was resurrected on the third day. And then what happened to the body of Christ? You had ascended to heaven. It, there is no grave you can go to and say, there lie to the ashes of Jesus Christ because there is no tomb where lie the ashes of Jesus Christ. Those ascended, that body ascended into heaven.
He says, verse 30, 38. Therefore let it be known to you. Brethren that through this man is preached to you, the forgiveness of sins and by him, everyone who believes is justified from all things, which you could not be justified by the law of Moses Belair, therefore less. What has been in the prophets Come upon you behold, you despisers Marvel and perish for,
I will work a work in your days, a work, which you will by no means believe though one were to declare it to you. We made mention on Wednesday that this comes from the book of Habakkuk and God is telling Habakkuk concerning the destruction of Judea and Jerusalem at the hands of the Cal sins. And God says, I’m going to work a work that you would not believe if it were reported to you.
And Paul says, be careful Jews of this generation that you don’t have. The same thing happened to you that you know, happened to your ancestors because they didn’t believe what God said. They didn’t believe what God said he would do. And they were destroyed by the Babylonians. And Paul uses Habakkuk to say, this can be your fate the same as it was theirs.
So when the Jews went out of the synagogue, by the way, do you notice how he ended on such a happy note? You know, that there are some preachers who you don’t, it doesn’t matter how dark gloomy judgment oriented their sermon is throughout the entire text. They’re going to end on a happy, they’re going to send people out with a smile on their face.
Paul was not such a preacher, not when people needed to hear the truth and needed to be saved from their sins. And so he ends with this. So when the Jews went out of the synagogue, the Gentiles begged that these words might be preached to them. The next Sabbath. Now, when the congregation had broken up many of the Jews and devout proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas,
who speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God. What does this mean? Continue in the grace of God. First of all, what’s the description of these people, the Jews first, w how are they described The Jews in this verse? How are they described? Okay. As devout, these are Not the Jews. Does that show up at synagogue on Saturday and are involved in adulterous relationships on Sunday and Monday and Tuesday,
and no, no, these aren’t those Jews. These are the Jews who come in on the Sabbath day and are dressed all nice and appear to be Holy and are drunkards all the rest of the week. They’re not those Jews. These are devout Jews. These are those who have the law of Moses. Believe the law of Moses are obedient to the law of Moses and are striving daily to be acceptable To God.
Okay? That’s Who these Jews are. They are devout. They are sincere and honest in their beliefs and in their, their obedience of the law of Moses. And we read that. There’s also, proselytes, what’s a promise, Okay. This is a Gentile by nationality who has converted himself to the Jewish system in order to become a, a, an adopted,
as it were child of Abraham. And he’s gone through all of the covenant rituals in order to Do that. This is not Agenda aisle. Who believes in God, this is a Gentile who has become a Jew. Okay? So you have devout Jews and proselytes Gentiles who have become ceremonially and covenant lately, Jews who follow Paul and Barnabas. And we read That they persuaded To them to continue in the grace of God.
They persuaded. Does this mean Paul persuaded them to continue being Jews following the, No. What does it mean then? Okay. And how is it? They could stay in the favor of God Apps. Absolutely. By being obedient to the gospel that was being preached to them. So what you see here is here are Jews who hear him on the Sabbath,
and they’re not satisfied with hearing him on the Sabbath. They come to him afterwards, they’re following them. And they are persuaded to be obese.<inaudible> to the message on the next Sabbath. Almost the whole city came together to hear the word of God. So there’s Some Jews who hear him on That first Sabbath. And then the part there’s Gentiles who come up to him and say,
we want to hear you again on the Next Sabbath. And, and There some devout Jews and proselytes who hear him. And instead of Harding, follow them three categories of people having heard him on the first Sabbath, the next Sabbath day comes. And now the Jews come to their synagogue. And have you had, Or seeing the reaction of people’s faces when they show up somewhere where normally there’s a few people And That particular day they drive up as it were,
and There’s crowds The reaction that’s on people’s faces is what’s going on. The Jews come and they see the entire city. Now, was it every last person who, I don’t think that’s what the Texas TRIBE to say, but if we walked out here this morning and 50,000 out of 60,000 people in all of Collierville, we’re standing outside, we’d say the entire city was Here.
Okay. There Might still be a policeman on patrol, but that doesn’t mean the entire city’s not here. Okay. So they show up, they look, and the entire city has shown up at the synagogue. Now, what time in the past has that ever happened? Probably never. It’s never Happened here. And it had probably never happened at the synagogue.
They’re in Antioch and the knee jerk reaction of the Jews now noticed The text from the previous Sabbath day. There were the Jews that departed, there were the Gentiles that desired to hear more And they’ve come back and, Or the devout Jews, and proselytes who stayed with them and continued to hear them and obey the gospel. And it is the first category of people who were reading about again.
Now, The Jews, the ones who departed last Sabbath, and then think about Paul and Barnabas again, between last Sabbath and this Sabbath show back up. And, Oh boy, do we have a problem Now? Because They show back up and the entire city is gathered at the synagogue. And their reaction is to become Envious Of Paul and Barnabas. Notice what we read in the text.
Now, when the Jews saw the molds attitudes, they were filled with envy and contradicting and blaspheming. They opposed the things spoken by Hi, Paul. They do. I mean, show up that Sabbath and have spent the entire previous week thinking, no, I’m going to, I’m going to go line by line through the old Testament. And I’m going to prove that Paul was wrong.
They didn’t do that. They didn’t show up ready to refute Paul. They showed up and saw the molds And said, we’re not going to stand for this. It’s one thing for a few Gentiles to hear the gospel. It’s one thing for a few Gentiles to believe what’s being taught. It’s one thing for a few ProSeal lights to obey the gospel is another thing entirely for this gospel to be Breached to the entire city.
They arrive. They come on the scene and they are filled With envy and They determine that they will contract Predict the preaching of Paul Anderson In doing so. They not only contradict the preaching of Paul, but they blast God. And why did they do it? Jealousy, envy. And ultimately What always stands beside, behind jealousy Pride, their own pride led them to this action.
Paul warned them. If you let you get in the way of you obeying God, what’s going to happen to them. The same thing that happened to their ancestors, why is it that Jews didn’t hear the profits? They were told by Isaiah what was going to happen? They were told by Jeremiah, what was going to happen? They were told by Zika,
what was going to happen? They were told by prophet, after prophet, after prophet, after prophet, what was going to happen and why didn’t they Change? One of them Biggest accusations against them, time in and time out was Pride. And this people chose the same path that their ancestors did. So Paula Barnabas grew bold and said it was necessary.
Sherry. He doesn’t say, well, You know, we thought this was the best path. No, he doesn’t Say that It was necessary. This is the same point that Paul makes in Romans chapter one, when Paul writes to the church at Rome and he says, I was a debtor, both to the Jew and to the, and Tile to preach the gospel.
But he said, The gospel is the power of God unto salvation to the Jew First and also to the Greek. And then by the way, in verse 17, again, quotes, Habakkuk for the just shall live by faith. So Paul says it was necessary that the gospel go to the Jew first, Because it was through them that the gospel was going to reach everyone else.<inaudible> No position.
There’s no biblical position in which Gentiles eat all. I think probably all of us sitting here this morning, You should have any animosity towards Jews nationally, Because of anything that’s happened in the past. The question is for every nationality, will you hear the gospel or not? And What Paul’s is, is it was necessary that the word of God should be spoken to you first,
but since you reject it, and Here’s an interesting phrase, And judge yourselves on worthy of Lasting life, behold, we turned to the Gentiles. I have a question for you. Someone hears the gospel. Maybe they hear it time and time again, they hear the gospel. They have the word of God and they never obey it. And the day of judgment comes and they stand before God,
do we imagine God as an unjust judge who sits There and says, I don’t care about all the good Things you did. I don’t care About the nice things that you did for your parents. I don’t care how you, you helped them when they were old and in firm. And Who provided for them. I don’t know, Care that you trying to be good to your children,
to your family members and to even people who you didn’t know, I don’t care. You didn’t hear my gospel. You didn’t obey it. And I punish you by sending you to hell, is that the picture of God That we really Ought to have? Hopefully it’s not the picture that we have of God at all. But I think there’s some who do Some who imagined that that’s,
God’s disposition on the day of judgment. I don’t care what You did because of this. I’m sending you to hell. And that’s just simply not the picture of God. The picture of God is go, go, go back real quick to chapter 13, back in chapter 13, verse 17, the God of Israel chose our fathers and exalted the people.
Yeah. When they dwelled as strangers in the land of Egypt with an uplifting arm, he brought them out. Now for a time of about 40 years, he went up with their ways in the wilderness or put up with their ways in the wilderness. And when he had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, he distributed their land to them. By allotment.
After that, he gave them judges for about 450 years until Samuel the prophet and afterward, they asked for a King. So God gave them solved the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin for 40 years. And when he had removed him, he raised up for them. David, as King to whom also he gave testimony and said,
I have found David, the son of Jesse, a man after my own heart, for who or excuse me, who will do all my will for this man seed. According to the promise, God raised up for Israel, a savior, Jesus. The picture that we are to have of God is a God who confronts humanity and says, I did this for you.
I did this for you. I did this for you. I did this for you. I did this for you. I did this for you. This, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, and all I asked in return is that you hear and obey. And you knowing what I did and Knowing what I said,
Judged yourself, unworthy of the everlasting life. I’ve offered God on the day Of judgment will not In a sense, be sitting there as judge. God will all Reality be saying, you judged yourself because you knew and you wouldn’t obey. Paul said, you judge your selves on worthy of everlasting life. Behold, we turn to the Gentiles for, so the Lord has commanded us.
Now, this is an interesting us here. And this is one of those. I will reference you right back to those YouTube videos, because brother McWiggin spends a bout two lessons going back to the book of Isaiah, because this quotation comes from Isaiah. Yet it comes from a passage, Isaiah 49, where it’s one of the servant passages. It’s one of the passages.
People quite often say, this is about Christ. Except Paul says, it’s not. Paul says it’s about us. It him, Paul Barnabas, the Christians in the first century, it was about the righteous servants of God. The righteous Jews. He says for the soul, the Lord has commanded us. I have set you as a light to the Gentiles that you should be for salvation to the ends of the earth.
Now, does it apply to Jesus? Yes, but Paul says that it is the Jews who have the truth that are to be the light to the Gentiles. And does that seem strange to us? Because Jesus said in Matthew chapter five, verse 14 and verse 15 in verse 16, you were the salt of the earth as assaulted loss of saber, where with she’ll be salted.
It sends forth good for nothing to be cast out and trodden under the foot of men, you are the light of the world. A city that is set on a Hill cannot be hid. Paul said Isaiah and Isaiah chapter 49 told us that we’d go to the Gentiles. And so since you, the Jews have considered yourself unworthy of everlasting life, we will do exactly what Isaiah told us to do.
And we will spread the gospel to the Gentiles. And then we read verse 48. Now, when the Gentiles heard this understand something, these Gentiles are not unfamiliar with the Jewish teachings. They’re not unfamiliar With what the Jews in this synagogue believed. These Gentiles would have known these Jews in this synagogue will let you in the synagogue. They’ll let you hear the word of Moses.
They’ll let you hear the law and the profits on the Sabbath day. But if you journey with them to Jerusalem on a feast day, You’ll stand outside in the court of the Gentiles. You won’t go in the temple, They’ll let you in. But only so far And anybody else, that’s not a Jew. They don’t have the same rights or the same privileges under the law of Moses.
But now the Gentiles hearing this, That the Jews who had this gospel, who had these prophets, who had this word from the God of heaven are now being willing to not only spread that gospel, that is these Christians spread that gospel, but also that they have equal standing with God. When they heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord.
And as many as have been appointed to eternal life believed, And the word Of the Lord was being spread throughout all the region. But the Jews stirred up the devout and prominent women and the chief men Of the city raised Up persecution against Paul and Barnabas and expelled them from their region. In verse 51 is an interesting passage that Hearkens back to when Jesus sent Out the 70 And sent out the 12 inch in the region of Judea,
Because We read verse 51, but they, Paul and Barnabas shook off the dust from their feet against them and came to eye conium. And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy spirit Before, Or we get too far away from chapter 13, There would Be some who would come to this passage and say, first of all, verse 48,
makes it clear that God chooses of his own volition who will hear and believe and be saved. You won’t that’s Calvinism for you. Calvinism says, God determines who will hear and who won’t. And through the power of the Holy spirit changes the heart, the, the, the, the, the, the heart of the individual who’s born in sin to be able to believe before They ever do.
And so They’ll use this phrase appointed by the Lord To say, see God To work on an individual before they can be saved and see, God is the one who chooses, who will be saved before they ever believe. And that’s just simply not what this, I Will point out. The consistency Of the book of acts Are some things that Luke says in the book of acts,
as he’s recording these events where he doesn’t every single time someone is converted, say, this person heard the word, believe the word repented of their sins confess the name of Christ and was immersed in water. He doesn’t do that every single time somebody Is converted. He Doesn’t raise every single step along the way. What he does do is give you every indication of exactly what happened.
First Of all, in acts chapter two, before we get all the way down the road acts chapter 13. When Peter is speaking to Jews and telling them the gospel, what does Peter say? They must Do Repent and be baptized for the remission of sins. And you shall receive one. The gift of the Holy ghost Here in this passage. Luke tells you They heard first,
Or they were ever believing before we read anything about those who were appointed. We Burst here that they heard Now, who is directing the events here. Who’s telling Paul and Barnabas who to speak to. Who’s giving them the words to speak. Holy spirit is now. Now if the Holy spirit was going to come into this town, and as it were through Paul and Barnabas convert,
only those who he had already appointed for salvation. What was The point of Paul going to all the people who were going to Inject it? Because if you believe Calvinism, they rejected it because God didn’t On their heart. Isn’t that interesting. Paul accuses them of judging themselves. When in reality, if you believe Calvinism, it’s God who failed to do anything for,
so it’s not just them judging themselves, is it it’s God judging them and withholding from them the ability to be Saved, but that’s not What the passage says. The passage says they heard. They could have believed. And instead Of being Filled with the gospel, they filled themselves with envy. So first they heard, but second, I can leave those who heard amongst that group,
not those who hadn’t heard, but those who did here were those who were appointed by the Lord. But then, Then as Paul and Barnabas are leaving the region, we’re told this little tidbit here, There were believer Who’s who were filled With joy and with the Holy spirit, N Chapter two, Peter makes it clear and all the other passages due to all the way up until this point,
they never received the Holy spirit until after They were baptized. That’s why Peter tells them you have to repent. Well, did these Gentiles have anything to repentive? Yes. Do we suppose they didn’t because we didn’t read where they did. Right? So if we’re going to work in the passage off the assumption, because we didn’t read it, therefore it didn’t happen.
Which is what people will do. They’ll say, see, they believe we don’t read. They were baptized. Oh, okay. Does that mean they didn’t confess the Lord? They didn’t repent. We’re not supposed to treat scripture that way In the same context, in the same book, not in the same event, but in the same book, Luke’s already told us.
Here’s what we taught. Here’s what the gospel was. Here’s what was preached to them. Here’s what they had to do to obey. And here’s what they did. And so when he tells you, but they believed, and they were filled with joy in acts chapter eight, when Philip was teaching the, The unit, the unit is hearing the gospel,
Hearing it from the old Testament. He’s hearing about this one, Jesus. And he says, see, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized? And what is Phillip’s response? If they’ll believe his is Namaste and they go and stop the chariot. And we read that the Munich is rejoicing. He goes down on the water Right now. That’s not what we believe Or what we read.
What we read is that he came up out of the water and went on his way. Rejoicing, Luke makes a point to tell us long before we ever get here, that the joy comes after the conversion, Not before. And that the Holy spirit comes after the conversion, not before. So when Luke tells you that there were believers in this region who continued on,
even after Paul and Barnabas are gone and they continued on in joy and in the Holy spirit, Luke’s already told you what about Them? They’ve Heard, they believe they’ve repented. And they’ve been immersed in water for the remission of their sins. Otherwise they wouldn’t have anything to be joyous of. And they wouldn’t have received the Holy spirit. He does It.
Doesn’t have to spell it out every time, because he’s already given you enough information to know exactly what It happened. Chapter 14, actually, let’s go through the questions of chapter 13. So we actually get those done. I think I’m going to run close on time. All right. By that, I mean, I don’t think I’m going to get into chapter 14 for what work did the Holy spirit call Paul and Barnabas Preaching to the Gentiles On their journey to Cyprus Barnabas and Paul were accompanied by blank.
John Mark Saul was also known as blank, Paul. Okay. That’s pretty, self-explanatory right there in the previous question. Number three, name the punishment placed on bar Jesus for confusing. The ways of the Lord taught by Barnabas and Paul Struck Mine. I thought of something this morning that I had, honestly, I don’t believe not perfect road collection here,
but I don’t believe I’d ever thought of before When Paul’s Or Saul is on the road to Damascus. Where’s the Lord do to him. He struck him blind. And what did he have to do? What Did those traveling with him have to do, Take him by the hand and lead him into the city at that moment in time. So Paul of Tarsus was guilty of the same thing.
Barjesus was wasn’t. He, he was persecuting the Christians and he was provoking Christ and he was withholding the gospel and he gets struck blind and he has to have someone lead him to where he needs to go turn around in chapter 13 and Saul of Tarsus meets LMS Barjesus and gives him the same situation that he had.<inaudible> I wonder if it turned out the same way for elements that it did for Saul.
Maybe that was an opportunity for elements to change as he sits there in his blindness, as Paul did for three days and reasoned with him himself, how did I get here and what happened to me and how do I ever get my sight back? Just to just a thought question and something that occurred to me this week that I just had never even thought of that Paul puts him in the same situation he was in when he was on the road to Damascus.
Okay. There’s there’s that for you? What was the result of on the pro council surgery as Paulus<inaudible> All right. Seeing the things that took place, he was astonished at the teaching and believed in preaching to the Jews and God fearers in pacinian Antioch. Paul did not include a Israel in Egypt, be receiving the law of Moses at Mount Sinai. See land inheritance in Canaan,
D the judges or E King Saul.<inaudible> Be the receiving of the law at Mount Sinai. Number five. Yes or no. Did David’s body decay after death? Yes. Yes or no. Did Jesus’ body decay after death? No. Number six. Forgiveness of sins is through blank.<inaudible> Jesus. I, I wasn’t, I was hearing an answer,
but I wasn’t loud enough to hear all right. I heard a voice, but I didn’t understand it. How did Paul and Barnabas protest against the persecution in pacinian Antioch instigated buying there or by the leaders? Alright. They shook the dust off their feet. Okay. Given the time and given we’re only just a couple of minutes from the quarter after the hour,
we will be dismissed now and pick up in chapter 14 on Wednesday<inaudible><inaudible> Yeah.<inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible> Good morning. Welcome to Collierville. Church crash. Sunday morning, worship service is good to see everybody out this morning, all spread out and social distance, and then that kind of thing. But we’d like to welcome any visuals that we have and ask you,
if you would please fill out a visitor’s card on the back of the Pew in front of you. So we’d have a record of your attendance and We got a sick list. And if you, before that, if you hadn’t picked up your Lord supper, it’d be a good time to do that. It’s back there on that table or are sick or Joan was spraying.
And Maria said she was doing pretty well this morning, Janie, Marlin, Rodale, and Dorothy Wilson. And while I’m on their name, I got a card from them. It says, thanks for all of the phone call cards, letters, and prayers. Thank you. Love y’all Rodale and Arthur Wilson. And I’ll put this on the bulletin board. After services.
James Luna has been moved to N H C healthcare. It’s in Franklin, Tennessee. I think to regain his strength after his little stay in the hospital. Excuse me, Leo van is Becky’s niece. She is at home and doing well after her kidney and pancreas transplant. Diana Schaeffer is recovering from thyroid. She’s talking real low, so, but it’s good to see her.
And Barbara is here again today. And I went back there and talked to her and she says, she’s got to wait three months before she can have surgery on her shoulder. And BJ Clark over at far till is recovering from pneumonia. We will resume Sunday afternoon service beginning, April the fourth, and the fellowship hall will be open. Okay. She,
anybody wants to stay and eat lunch in there. That’s all the announcements. Michael Dale will be leading singing. Eric Halverson has opening prayer. Mark Phillips has the lower supper and Aaron Cozort has her sermon. And Jay Shafir has the closing prayer. One day. I won’t be able to step up the steps like that anymore, but I’m going to take advantage of it while I still can.
Our first song this morning will be number 31 to be still and know that be still and know 31.<inaudible> that I am.<inaudible> that<inaudible> that? Ah,<inaudible> the,<inaudible> the<inaudible> the song before opening. Prayer will be number 827 sweet hour of prayer. Eight to seven. Sweet. Ah.<inaudible> that calls me. Whoa, duh.
Okay. And see me. Let’s stop right there. I think we skipped a slide actually, or the slide is not in there. Yeah. From a world of care and bids me at my father’s throne. Make all my wants and wishes known as it missing. It’s there. Okay. Let’s start over again. Sweet. Ah, prayer. Sweet,
ah, prayer. NA<inaudible>. And besides me a dad, my father<inaudible> me<inaudible> and see<inaudible> and grieve my<inaudible> and read the, and ah,<inaudible> by the<inaudible> suite.<inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible> Hey, son, to the place where<inaudible> is. And<inaudible> my<inaudible> and wait for the sweet, sweet, ah, prayer. Sweet,
ah, prayer. No, we change<inaudible> to<inaudible><inaudible> so to blah and<inaudible><inaudible><inaudible> and wait for the<inaudible> God, our father in heaven, we come to you at this time, thanking you for the opportunity to assemble here this morning, to sing songs, appraised your great name and to study another portion of your word, Lord, we want to thank you and praise you for those that have had procedures that have gone well.
And those that are getting good reports on your illnesses and ailments that they are dealing with. But we also know there are many amongst us that still have other ailments and illnesses that they are dealing with. And we asked that if it be your will you return them to a measure of health that they so desire. Lord, we also ask that you oversee those that are providing care for these individuals and give them the strength and the patients that they need in order to deal with the challenges that they face each and every day in providing care for their loved ones.
Lord, we also know that there are those amongst us that have lost loved ones recently. And we ask that you wrap your loving arms around those families and the friends of those, those members that have passed away and give them the comfort that they so desire. Lord, we also thank you for having sent your son Jesus here on earth so that we may learn from him and through him and have that opportunity to have our sins forgiven and one day join you and heaven.
And now, as we prepare to study another portion of your word, that brother Aaron would bring to us, we ask that you help each and every one of us focus on the words that Aaron brings us this morning, your words, so that we may analyze them and apply them to our lives so that we may better serve you while we live here on this earth,
we pray all this through your son, Jesus name, amen Song to prepare our minds for the Lord. Supper will be number 350. When my life to Christ grows week three, five, zero. When my law to Christ grows, we, when for deep things I see and then thought, ah, God, to the garden. Yeah. E<inaudible> the name green.<inaudible> see,
that’s a freaking friend.<inaudible> we being present?<inaudible> when my love for man grows. We, when for strong<inaudible> I see<inaudible> to those scenes.<inaudible> there be<inaudible><inaudible> bit a tree. See,<inaudible> see his<inaudible><inaudible> TRIBE and then to LA live. Ah, and ah, and, and the<inaudible><inaudible> and<inaudible> Griff At this time,
we need to remember the cross and that sacrifice that Jesus made for our sins. Let’s pray having father we’re thankful for this bread, that represents Jesus’ body. That was nailed to the cross for the sins of mankind. And we pray heavenly father, you please forgive us of our sins. Amen. Unlike men or heavenly father, we’re thankful for this fruit of the vine that represents Jesus’ blood.
That was shed on the cross for the sins of mankind. I pray heavenly father, you please forgive us for our sins. Separate from the Lord’s table. Have an opportunity to give us with prosper. Let us pray. Having it followed with thankful for the financial gains you have given us through the years and we pray heavenly father. You would take a portion of these to help continue the work here at Collierville.
Church of Christ. These things we ask in Jesus name, amen. The song before the lesson will be number four, 150. Give me the Bible. If you’re able, let’s stand for this song please. Number four or five zero. Give me the<inaudible> to cheer though on DRA. No, Nan Tempus, no stolen Ken. Hi that<inaudible> beat man.
Since Jesus came to seek and save the lost, give me the Holy message. I need a light shot. Guide me in a narrow way. Hey, precept. And<inaudible><inaudible> gave me<inaudible>. My heart is broke and<inaudible> and then green Pam<inaudible> gave me the precious words. My Jesus spoke. Oh, the face to show my<inaudible><inaudible><inaudible> me in a narrow way.
Hey,<inaudible> to<inaudible> and he turned all day. Hey, give me<inaudible>. Oh, that’s and by the open gray, Hey,<inaudible> from heaven shining port or show me the glory gilding Jordan’s way. Hey, give me the<inaudible>. Holy message. I need a live shot. Guide me in a narrow way. Hey<inaudible><inaudible> and he turned all day.
Hey, you may be seated. Good morning. When you think about history, there are some things are true. Like for instance, there was a time in history before this country, Someone might say, well, what was America like before the United States of America? And you could Provided you knew something about that time period. You could tell them about the different parts of America and the different regions and,
and how they were under the thumb of, of a foreign power. But you could also be asked the question, what was life like? And I’ll use the phrase. My, my parents do B C you know, a, B, C stands for right before children, Like talking about what life was like before children, all the things they used to do before.
Yeah. Keep wanting to ask my parents. So what’s life like after children, But we’re not going to get on that topic. So often we wonder what are things like before something, But have you ever thought what existed? What was here before the beginning now for a modernist that’s nonsense. That’s foolish talk. You can have something before the beginning.<inaudible> And also,
I mean, there’s always been something here because something has to be eternal. Otherwise you’d have nothing, but it was small and infant testimony. It’s not what the Bible talks about though. In Genesis chapter one, verse one, we read in the beginning. And yet it is clear from the text that when you read in the beginning, it’s not the beginning,
is it? It’s not the, of everything. It’s the beginning of something, Just like there was a continent of what is now the United States of America. There’s a continent of North America before there was the United States of America Before The nation was ever a nation, the place. And even most of the people were already here. And yet they’re in 1776. You have the beginning in 1786 or three or whatever.
When you get out of the Confederate agreement into the United States, Say all of that to bring us forward to this question of what was there in the beginning before The beginning. And you might, so why Aaron, because it speaks to what is most important about our understanding of who we are. You and I, we have a beginning. Humanity has a beginning.
That beginning is what we read about in Genesis chapter one, verse one in the beginning, God, it’s not the beginning of everything. It’s not the beginning of God. It’s not the beginning of all things that God did. It is the beginning Of our story. But when you frame your understanding of who we are, who humanity is in a frame that doesn’t count in the things that God did,
the existence of God, you frame humanity by himself, material things by themselves, you ignore the supernatural. You ignore God, you ignore his actions in eternity, you ignore all of those things. Then you get a very different Man. And that is what so many in our world want to believe. They want to believe that man and humanity sprung up out of a series of accidents,
a series of events, over a period of infinite, infinite amount of time to create what we are now and we’re going to something else. And yet that’s not true. Before the beginning, there was number one, a God that existed before or The beginning of the world. There was a God that existed go to Genesis chapter For one in the beginning,
God was created, right? No, no. I think I got a few of those words in the wrong order. In the beginning, God created. If God created in the beginning, what existed before the beginning, God did. Otherwise he couldn’t have created. We already have the presumption in the text that there was something before the beginning. And who was it?
What was it? The answer is God. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Let me ask you this. When humanity shows, What was already here, the earth was when God showed up, what was not already Here, the earth that Is incredibly important Because humanity would love to have it. The other way around wouldn’t they,
They would loved to have in the beginning was matter over time matter produced man. And from man and his imagination came, God, That’s not the way it works. And that’s not what happened for in the beginning Before have the heavens and the earth existed. God existed. Matthew chapter 19, Jesus says something interesting about this. Matthew chapter 19 in a passage that quite often is,
is used to discuss marriage and divorce and remarriage and that’s appropriate given that’s it’s context. Jesus decided to have a discussion about the beginning in Matthew chapter 19 verse one. Now it came to pass when Jesus had finished these sayings that he departed from Galilee and came to the region of Judea beyond the Jordan and great multitudes followed him. And he healed them there.
The Pharisees also came to him, testing him and saying, is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for just any reason? And he answered and said, have you not Read That he who made them? Who is Them? A man And his wife, male and female. By the way, if you Ever have a desire to go read one of the best arguments ever made against evolution,
Go Read the Warren flu debate that happened in Texas in the 1970s, Where Dr. Anthony flu attempted to argue the agnostic position and evolution and brother Warren, by the Way, you can call him Dr. Warren too, but I’m going to call it. Brother asked Mr. Flu, when did male and female evolve, you see evolution has a problem because As you not only have to get cells that reproduce and then beings that reproduce,
but in all sexual beings, you have to get the evolution of a male and a female. Not only happening around the same time, but it has to happen around the same time and in the same species and in the same location. Because if you have one creature evolve into a male on one side of the planet and another creature evolve into a female on the other side of a planet,
a thousand years apart, guess what? You don’t have reproduction. Why? Oh, they just missed it by a thousand years. Now you want to take the odds of getting evolution to happen. Now compound them upon the odds of getting evolution to happen in the same time, at the same place, in the same location. And one of them to be mailing one of them to be female,
You just Took the odds of evolution happening and you skyrocketed it out of the planet, But that’s a side thought. Jesus Said that he, which made them at the beginning, made them male and female. And then notice what he says and said for this reason, shall a man leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife. And the two shall become one flesh before the beginning,
God existed. And God created What is here. But consider further that before The beginning Christ existed, some Would have Christ to be A created, being. Some would have Christ to be the first created being because they misunderstand The book of Hebrews. But Christ existed before For the beginning, John chapter one In John chapter one, as John introduces Jesus Christ,
He doesn’t introduce him as some of the other gospels do with his mother. He doesn’t introduce him with his birth. He doesn’t introduce him with his lineage as Matthew does. He introduces him with in the beginning was The word, okay? Not in the beginning was the word created in the beginning was the word it was already in existence. And the word was with God.
And the word was, Oh God, wait a minute, John, what do you mean? He means when that phrase in the beginning is used in Genesis chapter one, verse one, not only does God, the father exist, but God, the son exists, But he doesn’t stop there. Now does he In the beginning was the word. And the word was with God.
And the word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him. And without him, nothing was made that was made Before the beginning Christ existed. And John says, and he did the creative Act. God spoke Christ created before the beginning, Christ existed turn to John chapter 17. Lest we Leave the opportunity for one to come along and say,
well, that’s what John John thought let’s hear it from. Jesus’s mouth, John chapter 17, verse one, we father the hour has come glorify your son, that your son also may glorify you as you have given him authority over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to. As many as you have given him. And this is eternal life that they may know you.
The only true God and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I have glorified you on the earth. I have finished the work which you have given me to do. And now father glorify me together with yourself, with the glory, which I had with you To be for the world was wait a minute. Christ, are you saying Like you did to the Jews?
You remember the Jews said, do you believe you’re greater than Abraham? And Jesus Said before Abraham was, as I am. And now we Says before the world was, I am God existed before the world Christ existed before the world someone might quandary. What about the spirit? Glad you asked that Hebrews chapter nine, Hebrews chapter nine, the Hebrew writer As he is here,
speaking concerning the, The things that we read concerning the mediator. We read this beginning in verse 11, but Christ came as high priest of good things to come, which the, the greater or excuse me, wind the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands. That is not This creation, not with the blood of bulls and goats, but God,
with his own blood, he entered the most Holy place once for all having obtained eternal redemption for if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh. How much more shall the blood of Christ who through the terminal Spirit, through The eternal spirit, offered himself without spot, Got to God.
Cleanse Is your conscience from dead works to serve the living God. And for this reason, he is the mediator of the new covenant. Jesus Christ here in this passage is spoken of as the mediator. He has spoken of the sacrifice, but he is spoken of as making the sacrifice through the eternal Spirit. Add on to that in Genesis chapter one. And in verse one in the beginning,
God, and the Hebrew scholars will tell you clearly that word is plural. It’s not singular. The word Elohim in the text is in its plural form. God, the father was there. God, the son was there. God, the spirit who is eternal in his nature was there, which means God, the father, God, the son, God,
the spirit are greater in substance, in nature, In stature, in glory and in preeminence than all, All of this physical existence. But did you know they weren’t all that existed before the beginning. Few other things that existed before the beginning, John chapter 17, again, Jesus is, he is praying to the father, says in verse 20, I do not pray for these alone,
but also for those who will believe in me through their word, That they all may be one as you father are in me and I in you that they may be one in us that the world may believe that you sent me and the glory, which you gave me. I have given them that they may be one just as we are one I in them and you and me that they may be made perfect in one.
And that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them. As you loved me, father, I desire that they also, whom you gave me may be with me where I am, that they may be hold my glory, which you have given me for. You loved me Before the foundation of the world love existed before the beginning of the world.
No loves Just a human emotion. A by-product of, of, of, of the nature of humanity that evolved over millions of year. No God, the father loved the other ones. Beings of the Godhead bef Or the world was founded. Love preexists, humanity, Consider something else. Genesis chapter one, verse three, Go back to the creative act.
The description of that passage or that description of that event in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth verse three said, then God says, Let there be light. And there was light. Have you ever, I thought about the fact that communication existed before Humana We’re told that God spoke, what is that? That is communication. Why Is it?
The communication has such great impact and such great importance in our lives. Do you know something that Adolf Hitler realized and came to a realization of this fact, if he could become a good Speaker, I could convince his nation to change communication And its Power shifted Germany from 1919 to 1934 Because Adolf Hitler decided he was going to become a Great communicator. Communication is powerful and it existed before we did No,
no, no, no, no. I’ve seen the caveman drawings. There are no words Up there. So since there are no words, there must not have been any words, right? God spoke and it happened. But then consider as well. We read just a moment ago in John chapter 17 verse five, that Jesus said not only did I exist,
not only did the father exist, but glory Existed. Have you ever thought about that? When we think about love existing, we think about communication existing, God spoke, but have you thought about the fact that glory existed? Remember he said, glorify me with the glory I had with you before the world won Says, well now wait a minute. Glory from who?
See, because you don’t get glory from nobody. You don’t have glory. If you’re in the presence of no one, you don’t have glory. If you’re on an Island by yourself and no one else exists, guess what you don’t have of all the things you might have. You don’t have glory, Sorry for you. Leave no impression on anyone else.
And that’s what Three involves the impression you make on others. Glory is something that’s received by multiple people being present. And yet Christ had glory that tells you that someone else, since both Christ and the father, Or had glory, either Christ in the father and the spirit are standing there and miring one another and giving glory to one another, or someone ELDs exists with them.
Not claiming there are other eternal Beings claiming that someone else Existed before the world did, which by the way, we already know to be true. Is there a good chance from all the scriptures indication that the angels were present when God created the world? Absolutely glory existed before the world was interestingly, spend some time with Psalm 33 to consider that idea. But then one last thing in John chapter 17,
verse five, Jesus says that I was with you. I had glory with you and you sent me. We also see encapsulated in that that authority existed before the beginning turned us all 93, Psalm 93 beginning in verse one, we read the Lord reigns. He is clothed with majesty. The Lord is closed. He has girded himself with strength. Surely the world is established So that it can And not be moved.
Your throne is established from of old. You all are from ever Last thing. Wait a minute. What did we just read about? We read about the reign of God, the throne of God, the power of God and the creative act of God and all of those things. Those first three existed before the creative act God’s authority was Set in existence and was there before you and I am this word World ever existed.
Why is it though? Those who want to believe in evolution want to believe in evolution. This may not Be a hundred percent exhaustively true because there may be some people who are ignorant of the scriptures enough that they might believe in evolution and the scriptures at the same Time, in spite Of the fact that every single major section of scripture from Genesis to revelation claims God created the heavens and the earth and that it happened the way the Bible says it did every single major section.
There’s not a section of scripture. You can have left. If you throw out the creation that you get to keep that section of scripture, But predominantly throughout the last 200 years Of evolutionary thinking and promulgation of that ideology, it comes from this singular Desire. If evolution is true, I don’t have a God who I have to answer to because I’m just a by-product of Nature.
But the Bible Tells us authority existed before we did. And specifically God’s authority. Now God existed before the beginning Christ Existed before the beginning of the spirit existed before the beginning love existed before the beginning communication existed before the beginning glory existed before the beginning authority existed before the beginning. And I want to point out just one small series of things That existed Before there was,
It was a sin because These also have an incredible impact on your and I’s existence and understanding of ourselves. When I look at humanity, I am forced to look at it through the reality that I know sin exists and everyone I know has sin, But Before there was a sin, A few things were true. Number one, before there was a sin on earth,
people existed. We’re not going to spend any time with that one, improving it. Genesis chapter one, Genesis chapter two, Go read it, but Consider as well that before there was a sin Law existed, This is chapter two, verse 16, God commanded them of the tree of every are of every tree in the garden. You may freely eat,
but of the tree of the knowledge of the good and evil in the center of the garden. You may not, Not eat law existed before sin Bill existed before sin, but also consider less. We believe that all knowledge came from them eating that tree because it certainly didn’t Genesis chapter two verses 19 through 20, makes it clear that knowledge existed before sin,
before sin, Adam and Eve weren’t automatons. They weren’t robots just doing the programming of God because God took the animals, presented them before Adam. And what did he do? He named all, All of them who named the animals. God, no. Adam did. Yes. Knowledge existed before sin and humanity existed before sin and humanity existed in a time before there was Shame and sin,
go back to Genesis chapter two, just for a moment in Genesis chapter two, verse one 23, and Adam said, this is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman because she was taken out of man. Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife and they shall become one flesh.
And they were both naked. The man and his wife and were not Ashamed. They weren’t ashamed because shame had no existence in the world. Shame Aim had no presence in the world Out sin before there was a sin. There were people okay. Before there was a sin, there was knowledge before there was a sin. There were people who lived in knowledge of God,
obedience to God and without shame. And before there was a sin on earth, there was a plan for redemption. So we’ll wait a bit. Yeah, there was no sin. There was no shame. There was no problem. There were no struggles. Everything was perfect. Why in the world? Was there a plan for redemption Because The God who existed before creation knew,
man would Good sin revelation, chapter 13, Revelation chapter 13 and in verse eight, All who dwell on the earth will worship him. Whose names have not been written? The book of life. Now, wait a minute. Who’s the, who’s the him here? It’s, it’s the beast. We, we talked about this in revelation class. They’re worshiping the bees that set up by the dragon.
This is Satan influence People and who worships the beast. Those who aren’t written in the Lamb’s book of life. If it stopped right there, that would be an interesting point, but not nearly as interesting. This one, we read Names have not been written in the book of life of the land, Slain from the foundation of the world before the world was founded.
And before A sin happened on earth, The lamb had already determined the comm and was in the eyes of God slang. And the lamb is Jesus Christ. Turn to Hebrews Chapter nine, one more Time. Hebrews chapter nine, verse 12. Well not with the blood of goats and calves, but with his own blood Christ entered the most Holy place once for all having obtained eternal redemption for if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled the unclean sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh.
How much more shall the blood of Christ who through the eternal spirit offered himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God. And for this Reason, he is the mediator of a new covenant by means of death for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant. And those who are called that those who are called may receive the promise of an eternal Inheritance before the world existed.
Before the beginning, before a sin was ever committed, Christ paid for any terminal inheritance. Oh, you mean we’re not meaningless beings just living out life in the grip of nature. No, and we never were. And we were never, ever, ever created with only this existence in mind for before the world was Christ determined to purchase our redemption, that we might have eternal life.
We need to be careful about the stories we’re told by the world and what they would have us to believe because back of everything, the scripture says is what it is, man is intended to be while these here in preparation for what God intends man to be forever. So are you living your life in view of the truth of everything that existed before the world was ever created?
Or are you living your life? Like the Psalmus writer describes the individual who says the fool has said in his heart, there is no God, how are you living today? Jesus Christ came to purchase humanity’s redemption. And he said he would purchase that redemption through his blood. And the scripture tells us, we come into contact with the blood of Christ in baptism,
through the immersion of water. We come into contact with the forgiveness of sins that we might have the gift of eternal life. If you have need of that redemption today, it’s offered to you today, but might you always remember in the midst of the struggles, in the midst of the pain, in the midst of the difficulty that this world wasn’t never,
all that was planned for you and God offers you a home with him depending upon whether or not you choose to love the one who loved you before you existed. Oh, Bay, the one who had authority before you existed, believe the communication of the one who communicated before you existed and who paid the price for your redemption before you existed, will you accept that salvation?
If you have need of it, why not come now? As we stand in, as we say<inaudible><inaudible> for me and<inaudible> me,<inaudible> like<inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible> to the<inaudible> like<inaudible> no,<inaudible> no to<inaudible><inaudible> God like before our closing prayer will be number 611, 611, heavenly sunlight walking in<inaudible> through the<inaudible> Jesus.<inaudible> never,<inaudible> never can.<inaudible> heavenly.<inaudible> a<inaudible> singing.
His praise is Jesus<inaudible> and Brian<inaudible> pressing my way to mentions singing his praise gladly. I’m walking, walking in<inaudible><inaudible><inaudible> singing his praise is Jesus Heavenly father. We’re indeed grateful for this privilege. We’ve had to assemble and worship you this day. We pray that our worship has been in spirit and truth and a sweet savor unto thee, as we prepare to depart were mindful of those that were mentioned that were sick.
We pray that you will remember them and bless them with a return of their much wanted Hill comfort. Those that have recently lost loved ones and bless each of us as we have need. We especially thank you for being aware as we repent of our sins, that you, we know you are faithful to forgive them, that we may stand, hold and pure in your side.
Bless each of us with these things and return us at the next appointed hour. This our prayer in Jesus’ name. Amen.