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At the time of this writing (2/19/2023), a “revival” has been ongoing since the Wednesday night February 8th chapel service at Asbury University, which is across the street from my alma mater, Asbury Seminary. These events provide an apt illustration of much of what we see in Acts 13, our next chapter. The revival began after a short and uneventful message on Romans 1 and Romans 2 which was the normal-scheduled portion of Scripture under study. The minister teaching simply challenged the students at the chapel service to seek God for the love that was needed to implement practically the exhortations in the last eighteen verses of Romans 12. The service was concluded. Only, no one left. It was then that the Spirit came and enveloped those attending the chapel service. So sweet and rich was the presence of the Lord that no one wanted to leave. And no one has wanted to leave since. In fact, people from miles around, from other countries, (Kenya!) are journeying to the Hughes Auditorium so that there is a line of about half a mile leading to the place of worship.
Marks of a Genuine Revival
In the psalms there is a call for God to revive His people:
The word “revive” found here is the Hebrew word hayya which means to live, to revive, to make alive, to give life, nourish up, quicken, recover, repair, restore to life, revive, save, save to life, to make whole. Because we live in a fallen world with fallen bodies and troubled spirits, even those who are saved and spiritually regenerated with a second birth (John 3) need to be revived at times. The apostle Paul in his letter to the Ephesians wrote:
The phrase “be filled” (Greek plerouusthe Present/Middle/Imperative of the verb pleroo) conveys the idea of a necessary, essential, ongoing filling of the Spirit. We need to be refreshed, revived in the Spirit as a normal part of our Spirit-filled walk with the Lord.
But what is happening in Asbury is more than the normal ongoing filling and refreshing of the Spirit. A revival is something that rarely happens and occurs according to God’s sovereign determination.
What are the Circumstances of a Genuine Heaven-sent Revival?
What are some of the unique characteristics of the revival God brings?
When the Spirit comes to revive, expect your life to be intruded upon and upset in the most holy of ways.
Genuine Revival Killers
Revivals last as long as God wants them to last. But revivals can be quenched prematurely. What are some of the things that kill revivals? They are:
A genuine revival draws people out of themselves and into God. A revival is all about getting right with God, about being honest and open with Him. A revival is an opportunity given by God for people to step on His holy ground. When fallen flawed people come into the presence of the Holy God, sin and carnality are going to be exposed and dealt with.
A Genuine Revival Is –
A genuine revival, a sovereign coming of God, could be described as:
An extraordinary supernatural otherworldly sense of the presence of God by the Holy Spirit.
When the Spirit comes in this profoundly unique way, it is generally characterized by the following
The Marks of a Genuine Revival
This is what we are for the most part seeing at Asbury 2023. There was a previous revival at Asbury College in 1970. It was linked closely with what is called the “Jesus People Revolution” of that era. That revival impacted society for the glory of God and turned back the prophetic doomsday clock. It was a great time of salvation and turning to God in sincere faith. It greatly impacted our nation for the better and most importantly, for the glory of God. We can only hope for another such work by God in our day.
As we continue our study in Acts, let’s remember that God is able to revive us in our local church. Some are compelled to cross country and go to Asbury, but why don’t we pray for God to revive churches throughout our land? Now wouldn’t that be something? Yes it would; for the salvation of souls, the sanctification of believers, and most importantly, for the glory of God !
The Spirit Acts Through the Local Church
Let’s continue to remember what we see happening in the Book of Acts. We see:
The Spirit of God using the word of God to make people of God and change the people of God into Spirit-empowered, effective, edifying, disciples of Jesus Christ.
As we continue our study through Acts, let’s pray that this is the effect that the Spirit has upon each of us.
The gospels all end with a commissioning by Jesus of the disciples to go out and spread the gospel of Jesus Christ:
Up until this point, we have seen how the Holy Spirit empowers disciples to be witnesses to Jesus (Acts 1:8) and we have seen the gospel spread as a result of circumstances, (i.e., the dispersion of believers due to persecution has led to the spread of the gospel – Acts 8:4). Now, in Acts 13, we see the first focus on missions and the spread of the gospel according to the Great commission. But what we need to take note of here is the means by which Jesus, through the empowerment of the Holy Spirit, fulfills this plan?
The Spirit Acts in and Through the Local Church
Two significant things occur from this point on in the Book of Acts. First, Peter is no longer the central figure through whom the Spirit acts, Saul (Paul) is. Such a development contradicts the teaching that Peter is a pontiff or first pope.
Secondly, the central headquarters from which Paul will minister is not Jerusalem, but becomes the local church at Antioch. The phrase “the church that was at Antioch” tells us that this was a local church. And this is a key in seeing the means through which Jesus by the Spirit seeks to fulfill the Great Commission. The truth to see here is that the Spirit of Acts works in and through the local church to accomplish the Great Commission and ministry.
The word “church” (if you remember from our study in Acts 2) comes from the Greek term EKKLESIA (Strong’s #1577 ek-klay-see´–ah;) which literally refers to the called out ones. The word is derived from a secular usage used to refer to, “a popular meeting, assembly.” But EKKLESIA came to refer to a religious congregation. 156 Therefore, a church is an assembly of followers of Christ. (See Acts 2:42 study comments for the nature of the true church or God’s model for the church.) The church was a mystery yet to be revealed until the New Testament (Ephesians 2:11 – 3:21; Colossians 3:24-29). In the New Testament, God’s plan for the church is revealed in the Book of Acts as well as in Paul’s epistles, where the church and its form of leadership and government are mapped out for us (see 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus).
That the local church is the chosen means by which the Spirit works in the world is revealed in the various mentions of local churches found in the New Testament. “Churches” in the plural are referred to numerous times in the New Testament and points us to various local churches (1 Corinthians 7:17; 1 Corinthians 11:16; 1 Corinthians 14:33-34; 1 Corinthians 16:1; 2 Corinthians 8:18-19, 23-24; 2 Corinthians 11:8, 28; 2 Corinthians 12:13; Galatians 1:22; 1 Thessalonians 2:14; 2 Thessalonians 1:4). Below are a few mentions of local churches in the New Testament:
To these local churches mentioned above we can add the seven churches of Revelation, the church at Ephesus (Revelation 2:1), Smyrna (Revelation 2:8), Pergamos (Revelation 2:12), Thyatira (Revelation 2:18), Sardis (Revelation 3:1), Philadelphia (Revelation 3:7), and Laodicea (Revelation 3:14). Nearly all the New Testament letters of Paul are addressed to local church congregations to be circulated to other local congregations (e.g., Colossians 4:16). Many of the local churches were house churches (Colossians 4:15). Jesus gave Himself on the cross for the church, His bride (Ephesians 5:25-27).
But what’s the big deal about the local church? Why is this being focused upon here? All of this gives ample and thorough proof (and you can find more if necessary) that the church in its localities is the means by which the Spirit works in the world to accomplish the will of God. This is a truth made throughout the New Testament. As far as the acts of the Spirit are concerned, the church is where it’s at!
The Make-up of the Local Church – Diversity
When we look at those named in these verses, it is clear that the local church at Antioch was diverse, made up of various kinds of people from differing backgrounds. One commentator states in this regard:
The diversity in the backgrounds of the leaders of the church at Antioch shows the cosmopolitan nature of the church. Barnabas was a Jew from Cyprus (Acts 4:36). Simeon was also a Jew, but his Latin nickname Niger not only indicates he was of dark complexion [“Niger” is the Latin word for “black”] but also that he moved in Roman circles. He could be the Simon of Cyrene who carried Christ’s cross (Matthew 27:32; Mark 15:21), but this is highly debatable. Lucius was from Cyrene in North Africa (cf. Acts 11:20). Manaen had high contacts for he had been reared with Herod the tetrarch, actually Herod Antipas, who beheaded John the Baptist and who treated the Lord so shamefully at His trial. …One in that court (Manaen) became a disciple; the other (Herod) an antagonist! At the end of the list, for he was last on this scene, was Saul, a Jew trained in rabbinical schools. Despite their variegated backgrounds, these men functioned as one.157
This diversity tells us that the gospel was spreading wide and deep into society and the world. The common denominator that the Spirit uses to unite people of various differing backgrounds is Jesus Christ. In Christ, those who are rich and poor, smart and not so smart, male or female, people of varying colors and ethnicities can all come together as brothers and sisters in Christ. Eternal relationships are established between people, regardless of their backgrounds, when they come to Christ as Savior and Lord. Paul was inspired to describe this truth like this:
No one needs to feel inferior in Christ. No one has reason to feel superior in Christ. We can all feel at one in Christ. Jesus levels the playing field so that we can all seek to serve Him in the power of the Spirit by His glorious grace. Amen!
The Prejudicial Church is a Spiritless Church
Another point that needs to be made here is that the church that is bigoted and prejudicial in any way against a group of people is a Spiritless church. The basis for such a statement is that the Lord tells us through the Bible that when the Holy Spirit indwells a person, the fruit of such an experience is the manifested love of the Holy Spirit (Romans 5:5). Jesus said His disciples would be known by the love they show for one another (John 13:35). In his first epistle, the apostle John is inspired by the Spirit to state that those who hate “abides in death” (1 John 3:15). Our love for people is evidence of the presence of the Spirit and eternal life in us (1 John 3:14, 16).
The local church where the Spirit is working will be a church that reaches out to all people. All that matters to those in a Spirit-filled church is that a person has been born again of the Spirit. Coming to Jesus does not mean that a person leaves their societal, cultural and ethnic identity behind. When a person who is African American, Asian, Middle Eastern, rich, poor, academic, athletic, etc. becomes a Christian, these identifying marks become secondary to who they are in Christ, but they still maintain this identity to the extent it does not contradict Scripture. One of the most beautiful things about the work of the Spirit is how, in Christ, people of varying diverse backgrounds come together in the love of Jesus and establish close eternal relationships. This is the church we see in Acts 13:1 and this should be our model to follow.
The seminary I attended was located in the state of Kentucky. Upon moving to Kentucky, my wife and I naturally sought out a local church to attend. Having grown up in New York, I was familiar and comfortable with a church made up of people from diverse backgrounds. But as we sought for a church, we came to one where there were only Caucasian people. This seemed a bit peculiar to my wife and I and, the first chance we got, we asked why there were no people of color in the congregation. We were told that “they” met on the other side of town in “their own” church because they have a different style of worship. It wasn’t too difficult a job for the Spirit to burn through that mask of prejudice and give us discernment that that was not a church for us. Looking back on that church, it was a sad situation. Sometimes a community is made up of a predominant people group and that will naturally be reflected in the makeup of the local church. But if we are to reflect the love of Jesus and if the Spirit is to fill our local churches (spiritually as well as numerically), we, the Spirit-filled people of God, the disciples who are known by the love of Christ, must welcome with open arms, sincerely, anyone who comes into our churches.
At Calvary Chapel of Hope, our ushers greet everyone with a holy hug. We prayerfully seek to communicate the love of Jesus to everyone who steps through our doors because we want them to know we are Jesus’ disciples who are known by His love. Our love is not artificial; we seek in the Spirit to genuinely love all who God leads to our local church. God has blessed our church and I believe it is in part because of our eagerness to show His love in the Spirit.
The Spirit-filled Local Church Has Spiritual Gifts
Another thing we notice about the church in Antioch is that it is well stocked with prophets and teachers (Acts 13:1). In other words, the local church is where the Spirit acts and when He acts, He does so by equipping those in the local church with spiritual gifts. This tells us that the Spirit was active because being a prophet and or a teacher is a gift of the Holy Spirit (Romans 12:6-8; 1 Corinthians 14:1-6; Ephesians 4:11-16). Those with the spiritual gift of prophesy received a word from the Spirit which was then explained by those who had the spiritual gift of teaching.
The Spirit Acts Through the Local Church that Worships
In these opening verses of Acts 13 we are given insight into how the gifts were used by the Spirit to communicate and teach the will of God to the disciples. What we see here is that the Holy Spirit reveals God’s will and begins His action in and through the local church as the local church worships. It is out of this time of worship and prayer that, “the Holy Spirit said,” that the Holy Spirit spoke to and directed His church in ministry. The Spirit spoke in the context of the worship of the church at Antioch. IT IS DURING THE INTIMATE TIMES OF WORSHIP OF GOD IN THE SPIRIT THAT GOD REVEALS HIS WILL TO US.
Worship is Ministering to the Lord
Worship is an extremely important part of God’s church. In many churches, worship is merely an introduction to a service or a means to break up the segments of a service. But worship is so much more than that. What is worship? How should we go about worshiping? In Acts 13:2 there is a phrase which defines worship. The verse states:
“As they ministered to the Lord” is the key phrase to understanding the true meaning of worship. When we think of “ministry” we likely think in terms of how it relates to people. But if we rightly understand and interpret “ministry,” we must see how it relates to God. Of course, when we serve people, we likely do so as an outgrowth of serving the Lord. But there is a ministry, (the most important ministry as a matter of fact), that we do, “to the Lord.”
In Acts 13:2 we are given an account of how the first missionaries were sent out from the church at Antioch. Acts 13 begins, “in the church,” and describes a gathering that was being held. They were having what we would call a “worship service.” What I would like to draw our attention to is that this service is described as ministering to the Lord. What is “ministering to the Lord”? Here it seems clear that they were gathered, they were fasting and praying (fasting implies the inclusion of prayer), they were likely worshiping, and all of this was called “ministering to the Lord.” Their worship was viewed as “ministering to the Lord,” but is that the way we view worship?
How Do You View Worship?
So often, worship in a church is viewed as a means to prepare the hearts of the people for the teaching, which follows. But that is not the intent and purpose of worship. So often, people view worship in terms of how it affects them, the feelings it causes to well up within them. They may view worship in terms of, “That was really good, it touched me,” or, “That was really flat, it didn’t move me.” But that is not the purpose of worship. Worship is not primarily designed for the worshipers, (though the worshipers benefit and are blessed by worshiping). Viewing worship in that way is more worldly than it is worship; it is viewing worship more as entertainment. True worship is not entertainment. True worship is primarily designed for and to be focused upon the One to whom the worship is being directed – God. This means that worship is something we do for God. This means that we should worship in faith, dependent upon the Spirit, even if we don’t feel like it. This means that when we worship we should not be looking inward, or around us, but we should be looking upward and seeking to bless the Lord.
Worship is not performance. While those who lead worship should be spiritually gifted and musically skilled by the Spirit to do so, worship should not be viewed coldly in terms of performance. When I was a young unsaved boy, my parents made me go to church. I hated church. It was boring and dead. It was embarrassing to me especially when it was time to sing. Everyone around me seemed to move his or her lips but nothing came out. They moved their lips enough to say they were singing, but they really weren’t. They probably felt like I did. Their voices were not good enough to sing. That church was dead. But when I got older and accepted Jesus as my Savior, the Lord taught me what worship was all about.
When I got old enough that my parents could not force me to go to church, I stopped going. Then, in college, Jesus got hold of my heart and I accepted Him as my Lord and Savior. I moved closer to home and began attending church. Once saved, I began experiencing worship amongst others who were saved, and it was totally different from what I had experienced as a young boy. The best way I can explain what I mean is to recount the worship of two friends I had in the church I attended back then. They were both big and brawny athletic brothers in the Lord. But to tell you the truth, they couldn’t sing a lick. I mean, I’m not especially musically inclined, knowledgeable or gifted, but I know when someone is singing out of key and believe me these two brawny bros sang totally out of key. And what left an even greater lasting impression on me was that these two brawny brothers sang LOUD! When they’d sit on either side of me, or even in front or in back of me, it could get pretty rough depending on the worship songs we sang together. It was pretty hard to stay in key when the brawny bros were close by. But the spirit with which they worshiped told me something about worship. You see, they were singing for my benefit or the benefit of those around me, they were singing (even out of key) to the Lord! And that’s the point here; worship is not aimed at people, it’s aimed at the Lord. Let me explain more.
What Is Worship?
Worship is essentially ministering to the Lord. In Acts 13:2, the word “ministered” is translated from the Greek term LEITOURGEO (Strong’s #3008). We get the English word “liturgy” from this Greek term. LEITOURGEO is derived from two other Greek words, LAOS, which means, “people,” and ERGON, which means, “work, labor, deeds, doing.” Therefore, when Acts 13:2 states that those at Antioch “ministered to the Lord,” it is referring to that work which is being done by God’s people specifically to the Lord. Worship is the work of the people.
A further examination of the term LEITOURGEO reveals that the tense in which the word is written, (i.e., present tense) means that this is something that is being done continuously, or in an ongoing manner. Therefore, it is more appropriate to speak of worship as an ongoing state than a solitary act, a lifestyle, rather than a single act. True worship is more than a set of songs orchestrated during a worship service. Worship is a way of life, a state of mind and heart.
The word “worship” itself is translated from the Greek term PROSKUNEO (Strong’s #4352), which takes the Greek prefix PROS which means to face toward, and combines it with the term KUNEO that means, “to kiss.” Strong’s describes PROSKUNEO as meaning, “to kiss, (like a dog licking his master’s hand); to fawn or crouch to,… prostrate oneself in homage…do reverence to, adore… worship.”158 There is no room for pride in worship. The one seeking to worship the Lord humbles themselves, bows down before God and leaves their self on the cross (Galatians 2:20; Galatians 5:16). Like a dog groveling at the foot of the master who has mercifully taken them in from the cold and wet, that is the sense of PROSKUNEO. Is that how you viewed worship? (See Isaiah 53:5-6; Ephesians 1:10; 1 Peter 2:21-25).
Therefore, we can define true worship, Biblical worship in the following way. Worship is our effort to show loving affection to the Lord throughout our daily lives for the rest of our lives.
The Purpose of Worship
The purpose of worship is to minister to God, to bring pleasure to Him. God’s people bless Him and bring Him pleasure with their praises. The word “praise,” in its various forms, is found approximately 307 times in the NKJV of the Bible. The word “worship,” is found in its various forms approximately 189 times in the NKJV Bible. There are many other words relating to the worship of God, but the point here is that worship is important.
When we look at other instances where ministering to the Lord is mentioned, we see that ministry to the Lord involves praise or blessing the Lord. Note the following verses:
In light of this, in Hebrews it states:
The purpose of worship is to praise the Lord. The focus of worship is the Lord, not people. Worship should be aimed at bringing pleasure to the Lord, not at pleasing people (see Galatians 1:10). Look at that verse in Hebrews and read it over a few times; let it sink deep into your heart and give you a sense of true worship. Worship the Lord!
The PRAISE of Worship
What is “praise”? The word “praise,” is translated from the Greek term HALLAL (Strong’s #1984) and literally means, “to praise, celebrate, glory, sing (praise), boast,”159 “to rave.”160 Think about it, we go to ball games and “rave,” and shout for our team and its players, but when was the last time you “raved” about God? When was the last time you simply gushed over God? Worship is lavishing praise upon the Lord, it is raving about our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
The praises of God’s people are beautiful to the Lord and that is what worship is all about; blessing God with our praises. In Psalms, it states:
When was the last time you praised the Lord or even said out loud “Praise the Lord!” When was the last time you shouted praise to God? We need to practice praising God in our lives.
The Priority of Worship
The Book of Revelation is often approached for its prophetic significance, (and it is prophetically significant). But the Book of Revelation is filled with worship. Eternity with God will be a time of perpetual worship. “Uh, yuck!” you might think, “An eternity of worship? What could be so boring and embarrassing?” Well, if you respond in that way, you don’t really understand your reason for being or why God created you.
It is in worship that we will find fulfillment. We were created to worship God. Read the account in Revelation of what those in heaven are saying:
“And for Thy pleasure they were created,” is what the twenty-four elders in heaven sing to the Lord. Humanity was created by God for His pleasure. Sinful humanity has it all backwards. Sinful humanity, and unfortunately much of saved humanity, lives as though God were there for their pleasure (if they acknowledge God’s existence at all). Sinful humanity and carnal Christianity live a self-centered existence and so naturally view music and worship in a very selfish, self-promoting way. God created us for His pleasure, and our worship should reflect that.
It is critically important to understand that the primary purpose of the church is not evangelism, not feeding people or meeting their material needs, not making people feel good, not even teaching the word of God. All of these things are good, but they are not the primary purpose of God’s church. The primary purpose of all that the church is and does is to minister to the Lord. People were created for God’s pleasure (Revelation 4:11).
This may be something different than you’ve ever considered before. Does it sound strange to you? It is a matter of the right perspective, a Biblical perspective. The apostle Paul was inspired to state that all salvation, adoption, all that God does by His grace, is done for His pleasure:
All that God does in us is done according to His good pleasure. Paul is again inspired to write:
When we take these verses to heart, it would appear that we, followers of God in Christ, may have gotten a bit off course in the way we are following the Lord. At best, we have served like Martha when we should have been worshiping like Mary (Luke 10:38-42). But worse, we have made worship and teaching and preaching and salvation a matter of what it means to me, how it affects me. That is not the purpose of the church; the priority of the church is to bring pleasure to God through a life of worship. Everything the church does should be aimed at leading people into a deeper appreciation of what God has done in Christ, which results in a deeper appreciation of the Lord and praise of Him. That is the purpose of the church, that is worship.
The Person Who Worships – God is Looking For True Worshipers
Jesus said:
God is looking for those who have come to see in truth that worship is all about Him; it’s not about us. Notice what Jesus says here; He says that “the Father” is the focus of worship. Furthermore, worship that is right with God is worship that is guided by the Holy Spirit, by the “truth,” of God’s word (John 17:17; 2 Timothy 2:15). Our worship is to be ordered by God’s word (1 Corinthians 14:33, 40). Worship that is right with God is worship that is “in spirit,” it is born again, living, not dead, not in the flesh, not centered upon self or “me,” but is looking to please God and lavish praise upon the One who loves us so much.
Why Worship?
If you’re still thinking, “Oh come on pastor, why should I worship and why are you making such a big deal out of it?” to that thought let me respond with four simple reasons why we should worship and see it as an important part in our lives.
First, worship delights the Father. Worship brings pleasure to our heavenly Father. We find family gatherings enjoyable (or should). God likes His family to gather together in worship (Psalm 147:11; Psalm 149:4; Proverbs 11:20; Zephaniah 3:17). He is seeking those who will worship Him in spirit and truth (John 4:23-24). Worship brings pleasure to God and that is what we were created for (Revelation 4:11 KJV).
Second, worship dethrones the Flesh. The throne in my heart needs to have God placed upon it. In worship we lose our identity in God’s presence. We can lose ourselves in God (Galatians 2:20; Galatians 5:16, 24). The Bible says that God inhabits the praises of His people (Psalm 22:3). When we live in the presence of God, the flesh has a harder time gaining a foothold in our daily lives. The Lord brings us into His holy presence when we worship Him in spirit and truth and that strengthens us against our flesh (Psalm 29:2; Psalm 96:9; Jeremiah 7:1-7). When tempted by Satan, Jesus responded by declaring that God alone should be worshiped (Matthew 4:10; Luke 4:8). This is evidence of how worshiping the Lord and Him only strengthens us against temptations.
Third, worship develops the Body of Christ. Worship brings those of differing secondary doctrines together. It emphasizes what we have in common with God, not what separates us from each other before God (Psalm 133; Hebrews 10:24-25). Those who are indwelled by the Holy Spirit can come together no matter their denominational affiliation and worship the Lord in the Spirit of holiness. Anytime the body of Christ focuses on God rather than focuses on the people of the body, edification takes place.
Fourth, worship defeats the Enemy. In the Old Testament, God directed His people to worship as He defeated their enemies (2 Chronicles 20:14-25). Satan, once very involved in heavenly worship (Ezekiel 28:12-19), hates when God’s people worship. Satan craves our worship. We see this in his temptation of Jesus in the wilderness. But just as Jesus declared that God alone deserves our worship and defeated Satan, so we too can defeat the enemy by worshiping God alone (Matthew 4:10).
These four reasons to worship are practical and fundamental to our walk with God. But how can we worship or minister to the Lord?
How Can We Minister to The Lord?
How can we minister to the Lord in worship? We can minister to the Lord by worshiping Him in a way that puts all our attention on Him. This means that those who are involved in worshiping and leading others in worship must guard against worshiping in a people-centered way and a way that diverts attention from God to them. What follows are some practical steps to keep in mind as worshipers of God.
Be a servant. A servant is someone who is used by God to make another person’s life better, which means here, to bring him or her into an understanding of true worship of God. A servant puts God first, others second, themselves last. A servant seeks to direct attention to God, not themselves (Matthew 16:24; Mark 10:45; Luke 17:10; John 13; Philippians 2:1-11). Service is an act of worship to God.
Be transparent. This means that a person involved in worship will seek to be unnoticeable or non-distracting. They will go so far as to dress in a way that does not draw the attention of others to themselves (John 3:30). To be transparent means to be honest, to be sincere, not hypocritical. When we worship transparently, we don’t worship with an ulterior motive of trying to please others, instead we focus on bringing pleasure to God. You might be thinking, “Wait a minute, what about those two brawny bros you spoke about? Didn’t they bring attention to themselves by singing out of key?” Perhaps, but it would be better to risk bringing attention to yourself in that way, than to withhold praise from God. Pray the Lord reveal a balance and discretion in this regard.
Be worshipers. Worship from your heart in faith whether or not you “feel” like it. Prepare your heart to worship the Lord by praying and keeping your focus on Him. Ask the Lord to help you worship Him properly (Psalm 100; John 4:23-24). Remember, when you go to church, worship is not meant to get you ready for the sermon, you should be ready already! Prepare your heart before you go to church and when you worship, worship the Lord!
Be an example. This is especially true for those who lead worship. Those involved in worship are in a visible position. While our objective is to get our eyes and the eyes of all others onto the Lord, nothing will distract more than a coarse word, a bad attitude, or conflict within the worship team or those worshiping. Be an example. Pray, pray for each other; get along with each other; show respect and love for each other; be a true Christian disciple; be a living example of worship (Romans 8:29; 1 Corinthians 13; 1 John 2:6).
Be spiritual. We want to worship the Lord in a way that is attractive to God. He is looking for those who worship Him in spirit and truth. Therefore, we ought to focus on spiritual songs and spiritual music (Colossians 3:1-4, 14-17). We should feed our minds with spiritual, not secular songs (Romans 12:1-2). A lick or lyric from a secular song, even in play or practice, might be all that it takes to trigger a thought from the past in our heart or in the heart of someone in earshot, and those triggered memories might serve to distract and hinder our purpose, to bring people to focus on God and nothing else.
Be skillful. While we should not become perfectionistic and certainly never performance oriented, those on the worship team should be skilled and give their best effort. Psalm 33:1-3 noted above indicates that worship is to be “skillful.” Those who are involved in the worship of the church need to practice and hone their skills so that they will be skilled in their roles. Unskilled, unprepared, unpracticed worship draws attention away from God just as much as anything else, if not more.
Be cooperative. While there is a person placed in oversight of the worship team to guide and direct practices and playing of worship, the Spirit is the true Worship Leader. It is also true that the pastor of the flock is the human overseer of the various ministries in the local body, including worship. With a servant’s heart we should not concern ourselves with positions and titles, but with seeking the Spirit’s guidance and, in a spirit of cooperation, submit to His leading (Philippians 2:14-16). Nothing distracts more than one person drawing attention to them by going against the grain of a worship movement. Be cooperative and follow the Spirit’s flow in worship. Avoid actions and behavior that bring focus on an individual or you because that distracts from focus on God (See Paul’s Instructions to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 12-14).
Be focused on God. Worship the Lord. Do not be performance oriented, be praise oriented. Worship is not a performance. A performance focuses on impressing an audience. God is the only Audience we should be concerned about (Hebrews 12:1-4).
When we live lives of worship, we walk in the Spirit and God reveals His desire and will for us each step of the way. This is what was happening in the opening verses of Acts and this is how the Spirit “sent out” the disciples on the first missionary journey.
“The Holy Spirit said,”
“As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said,” reveals to us the presence, closeness and guidance of the Spirit in the lives of the disciples in the early church. Since the Holy Spirit is said to speak here, it shows us that He is a Person (He is not a “force” or “power,” but the third Person of the Trinity), and He is a Person we need to interact with in our lives as disciples of Jesus. It is critically important to grasp the reality of the Spirit-filled and Spirit-led life that we see in the Book of Acts.
In Paul’s inspired letter to the Romans, he devotes an entire chapter (probably the mountain peak passage of the entire Bible) to life in the Spirit. In Romans 8, he tells us something that explains a bit of what was going on here in our passage of Acts. Paul was inspired to write:
Here, Paul tells us that we should not live our lives according to our “flesh.” Life in the flesh is life lived to serve self, support self, seek fame for self, and most importantly here, guided by one’s own self resources of understanding, knowledge and worldly wisdom. Paul’s tells us that life lived according to these fleshly ways leads to death, spiritual death, in our loves. To live for self or in the power of self is to quench and snuff out the Spirit’s influence in our lives. The alternative Paul calls us to is life in the Spirit. Those who claim to be “sons of God,” who have been born again of the Spirit (John 3:5, 8; Romans 8:9) are “led by the Spirit of God.” In other words, the child of God is filled with the Holy Spirit and lives not according to their old fleshly ways of the world but according to the revelation and empowerment of the Holy Spirit in their lives. That is what we see in the Book of Acts.
How does the Holy Spirit speak to us? From this we see that leading in life for the disciple comes not from their “inner self” but from the Holy Spirit who resides within us. But this raises the question of how the Holy Spirit speaks to us. We considered this question earlier in Acts in chapter 8 when Philip was directed by the Holy Spirit to go into the desert and make contact with the Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8:29). Philip’s obedience to the Spirit led to his being used to save the soul of the Ethiopian (Acts 8:30-40). In that situation, we surmise that Philip was given a deep impression on his heart by the Spirit to do what he did. But how else does the Spirit “speak” to us? The Spirit speaks to the church through spiritual gifts given to disciples in the local church.
In Acts 13:1 we are told that the local church at Antioch had “certain prophets and teachers” (Acts 13:1). It is through the disciples who have the spiritual gifts of prophet and teacher that the Holy Spirit directed the local church to separate Barnabus and Saul to go out as the first missionaries. (In Acts 11:27-30 we discussed the prophetic spiritual gift and how it is to be used in the Spirit.) In Paul’s inspired letter to the Corinthian church he addressed the problem of carnal Christianity or Christians who were living according to their flesh rather than in the Spirit (1 Corinthians 2-3). Later in this letter, Paul’s teaches on the spiritual gifts and their proper use. By a few of Jesus’ words on the leading of the Spirit, examining Paul’s words on the spiritual gifts, and a final word from Peter, we can answer the question, “How does the Holy Spirit speak to us?” Below are some points we should consider in answering this question.
First, the Holy Spirit will never speak or lead someone in a way that contradicts what He has already inspired to be laid out in the word of God. Jesus said the Spirit would lead us according to His word, saying:
The most important thing to remember about the leading of the Holy Spirit is that He will always lead in a way that is in alignment with the inspired word of God, and He will always lead in a way that is Christlike. The Spirit will never lead in a way that conflicts with or contradicts God’s word nor will He ever lead in a way that is un-Christlike. Spiritual gifts are always to be used in Christlike love (1 Corinthians 13). The Spirit always leads within the parameters of the word He has already inspired.
Second, the Spirit gives many spiritual gifts to those in the body of Christ, but they are given according to His will. The Spirit decides where and how those in the body of Christ will serve. Paul was inspired to write:
You don’t choose your spiritual gift; the Spirit gives you the gift (Jesus has a hand in the giving of gifts too – Ephesians 4:11-14).
Third, the Spirit gives spiritual gifts to edify or build up the body of Christ, not for personal gain. There are no spiritual gifts given for mere personal gain. Even the gift of tongues is given to enhance prayer life. Who do you pray for? Yes, yourself, but also for others. Paul writes:
No selfish manipulation of gifts here! The mindset of the one given spiritual gifts by the Spirit should be one of service.
Fourth, the Spirit gives a number of spiritual gifts that are a means of His communicating to the body of Christ. Paul states:
Of the twelve spiritual gifts mentioned here, nine are a means of the Spirit speaking to the body of Christ in some way, (“word of wisdom,” “word of knowledge,” “prophecy/prophets,” “discerning of spirits,” “tongues,” “interpretation of tongues,” “teachers/teaching”). It is through these spiritual gifts that the Holy Spirit “speaks.”
Fifth, the Spirit speaks through people by moving them according to His will. Peter the apostle was inspired to elaborate on how the Spirit works through spiritual gifts when he wrote:
The last phrase in these verses is our key to understanding how the Spirit speaks to us. It states, “as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.” The word “moved” here is translated from the Greek term PHERO (Strong’s #5342) which is a word used to describe the way a ship is moved along by the wind blowing in its sails (Acts 27:15, 17). The word literally means, “to “bear” or carry…be, bear, bring (forth), carry, come, + let her drive, be driven, endure, go on, lay, lead, move, reach, rushing, uphold.”162
Therefore, we can conclude that as these spiritually gifted disciples at Antioch were worshiping the Lord, ministering to the Lord, the Spirit moved or impressed upon them that Barnabus and Saul should be set apart and sent on the first missionary journey. When you are praying (and perhaps fasting) and worshiping the Lord, it is during those times of intimacy with the Lord that the Spirit speaks to people, gives them an impression about what His will is. When that happens, we should always check that “impression” against God’s word and Jesus’ model of Christlikeness, and if it does not contradict God’s word and is Christlike in nature, we are free to go for it like Barnabus and Saul did.
The Spirit Acts in Teams
Another thing to take note of from the words, “the Holy Spirit said, [through those with the spiritual gift of prophecy] now separate to Me Barnabus and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” Notice two people were called out to be sent on this mission of the Spirit. When Jesus sent out the twelve, He sent them out “two by two” (Mark 6:7). When Jesus sent out the seventy disciples, He sent them out “two by two” (Luke 10:1). And in Acts 13:2 we see that when the Spirit sends out the first missionaries, He sends them out in a team of two, Barnabus and Saul.
Why did Jesus and the Spirit send people out in teams of two? What advantage would that have? If we look in the Old Testament Book of Ecclesiastes, we get some information on why two are better than one:
These verses tell us that a team of two can produce more laboring together (Ecclesiastes 4:9). A team of two can work better, because if one falters, the other is there to help out the fallen comrade (Ecclesiastes 4:10). Two can produce warmth for each other which would be fitting for a heterosexual married ministry couple. But two can also help each other out with the practical needs of life better than one can (Ecclesiastes 4:11). Lastly, two can fight off an adversary better than one can. They can stand back to back and cover each other’s blind side (Ecclesiastes 4:12a). But the last sentence is key, “And a threefold cord is not quickly broken.” In other words, the Third Cord of Jesus holds the two together and makes them a well-oiled (i.e., Spirit anointed) working team.
If you feel the Lord is calling you into ministry, it is very likely He will evidence such a call by providing a ministry partner in either a spouse or assistant of some kind.
The Spirit Sends People Out Through the Local Church
What is striking here is the simplicity of the early church. They did not call together a mission’s board or some other such bureaucratic system, but it was the local church that sent out the first missionaries. One commentator states the following about these verses:
Thus in its purest form, the New Testament local church sent forth missionary representatives from the midst of its own congregation. In the Book of Acts we find no reference to Mission boards or organizations as such. Nor do we find single individuals seedling forth missionaries apart from the commission of the church. In other words, as the Great Commission was given to the apostles who were to become the foundation of the church, it was, therefore, given to the church, not to individuals. The laying on of hands did not impart any special power nor qualification to the missionaries, but “expressed its fellowship with Barnabas and Paul and recognized them as its delegates or ‘apostles’163
These verses therefore reveal the perfect Spirit-led balance. We do not see an over-organization, nor do we see mavericks going off to do as they please, we see the Spirit working through the bride of Christ, the church. This is something we ought to take note of. The Spirit works through the local church to fulfill the Great Commission. How did the Spirit work through the local church?
First, when the Spirit works through the local church, decisions are not made hastily, but with fasting and prayer, prudent and patient seeking of the Lord (Acts 13:3). You can’t fast in fifteen minutes. It takes time. Barnabus and Saul were not sent out on a whim, they weresent out after much prayer and fasting. Fasting is mentioned twice here (Acts 13:2-3). Fasting seems to have been a common practice among those greatly used by God in the Bible. Moses fasted (Exodus 34:27-28). David fasted (2 Samuel 12:16). Elijah fasted (1 Kings 19:2, 8). Nehemiah fasted (Nehemiah 1:4). Daniel fasted (Daniel 9:3). The apostles fasted (2 Corinthians 6:4-5). Paul fasted (2 Corinthians 11:27). And most importantly, Jesus fasted (Matthew 4:1-2). You can fast many things, not just food. Fasting is a way to focus on God and His will for your life. Sometimes, fasting can become a distraction rather than an aid to help you focus. Therefore, when you fast, fast in the Spirit prayerfully.
Secondly, when the Spirit works, He works through the local church. There are no parachurch organizations in the Bible. It says those of the local church “laid hands on them” (Acts 13:3). This doesn’t mean they beat them up, quite the contrary, it means they showed they were in agreement with the decision and that they were with them in spirit in this Spirit-led decision. By laying hands on them, the leaders of the local church were illustrating and showing their oneness with those being sent.
Third, it was the Spirit who sent them out. There was not a vote by the church, the Spirit moved on the body of believers as they worshiped the Lord to convey His will to the church. The Spirit revealed His will through the prophets and teachers and the church submitted in obedience to the will of the Holy Spirit (Acts 13:4).
There are many organizations that exist under the premise that the church is too weak or is not meeting a certain need in a certain area, and so they claim to be called to fill the void. The result is that those who the Spirit may want to work through are taken out of the church to fill a need that the church is not supposedly filling. Do you see the folly of this? The church is supposedly weak in an area so those who could meet the need are then taken out of the church, making it weaker, to meet that need. Ministry needs to be done under the wing of the Spirit in and through the local church. That is the way God has revealed to us in the Bible that He works. He may be working through organizations outside the church today, but it is likely He is working in spite of us, not so much because that is the way He desires to work. The Church is the bride of Christ, no other organization. There are ministries designed to meet particular or specified needs, but they need to be outgrowths of the church operating under the authority of the Spirit through the local church. The church is the body of authority and accountability in ministry. That is something many have lost sight of in our day.
The Spirit Sends Preachers into Battle Zones
Seleucia was about sixteen miles southwest of Antioch (Acts 13:4). Cyprus was the home of Barnabus (Acts 4:36). Salamis was the largest city on the east coast of the island of Cyprus (Acts 13:5). Paphos is on the other side of the island of Cyprus about 100 miles away (Acts 13:5). No comment is given on the success of the ministry in Salamis. We are also told in these verses that John Mark accompanies Barnabus and Saul on this trip as an assistant (Acts 13:5).
When the word of God is preached, you can expect Satan to oppose you. Here Barnabus, Saul and young John Mark run into Bar-Jesus, “a false prophet” (Acts 13:5-6). The prefix “bar” means “son of.” Perhaps this man was presenting himself as an offspring of Jesus. This is not necessarily the case, as “Jesus” was a common name of that day. This false prophet evidently had the nickname of Elymus.164 Elymas the sorcerer is like “Worm-tongue” in the Two Towers (book 2) of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. When Barnabus and Saul were called by Sergius Paulus, “an intelligent man” to hear the word of God, Elymus tried to prevent Sergius Paulus from receiving the gospel. You can expect the enemy to send someone to intrude and interfere with those who are interested in hearing the word of God (Acts 13:5-8). Saul is first called Paul in Acts 13:9.
The Nature of a False Prophet
Paul’s description of Elymus gives us a picture of the nature of a false prophet. The false prophet is described by Paul as being “full of” a number of things (Acts 13:9a). The words “full of” are translated from the Greek term PLARES (Strong’s #4134 – play´–race) meaning, “replete, or covered over;…complete…full.”165 The idea is overflowing, being filled to the brim and overflowing with something. What was this false prophet full of, what was he overflowing with?
First, a false prophet is full and overflowing with “all deceit” (Acts 13:9b). “Deceit” here comes from the Greek term DOLOS (dol´–os) from the primary verb DOLLO which means, “to decoy;…a trick (bait),…wile…craft, deceit, guile, subtilty (subtlety).” 166 What is a decoy? This can be illustrated by calling to mind a decoy used in hunting. A hunter uses a fake duck or other fake animal to play on the curiosity of the prey. Once the duck comes to meet the decoy, POW! He’s a dead duck. That is what a false prophet will do, they will use something to draw your attention and draw you into their web and as soon as you curiously check their decoy out, POW! You’re in their web and ready to become roast duck. False prophets are overflowing with decoys and tricks to lure you into their lair and cook you.
Secondly, a false prophet is full of and overflowing with fraud (Acts 13:10). “Fraud” is translated from the Greek term HRADIORGIA (Strong’s #4468 – hrad-ee-oorg-ee´–a;) meaning, “recklessness,… malignity…mischief.”167 The root of this Greek term is HRADIORGAMAH (Strong’s #4467 – hrad-ee-oorg´–ay-mah;) which means, “easy, i.e., reckless… easy-going behavior,…lewdness.”168 In other words false prophets will defraud you or try to minimize the import of God’s word by telling you “You don’t really need that stuff; I’ll show you a much easier way to get what you want.” This was the strategy of Satan used on Jesus when he tempted Jesus in the wilderness (Matthew 4:8-10). Satan brought Jesus to a mountaintop and showed Him the kingdoms of the world and offered them to Jesus if only Jesus would forget about going to the cross and bow down and worship Satan. Of course Jesus fought off Satan with God’s word that God alone should be worshiped. But we see here how Satan will always offer us a shortcut to God’s plan and will. False prophets do the same thing.
Third, a false prophet is a “son of the devil” (Acts 13:10). As a “son of the devil”, a false prophet will follow in the nature of the devil. Jesus rebuked the religious leaders that opposed him by saying:
From these words of Jesus, we can therefore conclude that false prophets will be full of lies, half-truths (e.g., like cults), and they are used by the devil to commit spiritual murder of souls.
Fourth, a false prophet is an “enemy of all righteousness” (Acts 13:10). The only way a person can be right and righteous before God is by His gracious provision of God’s only Son Jesus and faith in His Son Jesus. Paul later was inspired to write it like this:
Jesus went to the cross to pay a debt He did not owe for those who owed a debt they could not pay. The consequence of that outstanding debt, if left unattended to, is death. But in Christ, we are offered the free gift of salvation and life through faith in Jesus (Romans 6:23). The false prophet will try to get people to follow the false teaching of salvation by works or by means other than or in addition to the righteousness that comes through faith alone, in Christ alone. “All righteousness” required by God is only met in Christ. Therefore, the false prophet is an enemy of “all righteousness” because he or she presents an alternative to righteousness in Jesus, which is false, frustrating, and doomed to fail in God’s just and righteously required plan.
Fifth, a false prophet perverts the straight ways of the Lord (Acts 13:10). The word “perverting” comes from the Greek term DIOSTREPHO (Strong’s #1294 – dee-as-tref´–o;) which means, “to distort,… misinterpret, or (morally) corrupt... perverse (–rt), turn away.” 169 The imagery of this term is to twist or turn around to the point of reversing direction (Strong’s #4762 – stref´–o;…to twist, i.e., turn quite around or reverse…convert, turn (again, back again, self, self about).”170 This is what cults do; they twist the word of God by taking it out of context and manipulating it to their own false interpretations. This is what a false prophet will do; he or she will twist and distort the word of God. A false prophet will take the “straight ways of the Lord” found in His word, and make them complex, arriving at meanings and interpretations that God never intended His word to mean.
While these five characteristics are used by Paul to describe Elymus, they are also characteristic, if not entirely, then always at least in part, by the false prophet. Elymus was trying to confuse Sergius Paulus by twisting the straight words of God’s word delivered by Paul in the Spirit. That is what a false prophet does; confuse and mislead.
“The hand of the Lord.” Earlier in our study we saw the phrase, “the hand of the Lord was with them” (Acts 11:21). Here we see “the hand of the Lord is upon you” (Acts 13:11). Here the hand of the Lord has a blinding effect on this enemy of the gospel. It states, “And now, indeed, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you shall be blind, not seeing the sun for a time.” And immediately a dark mist fell on him, and he went around seeking someone to lead him by the hand.” The Lord can thwart the efforts of those who try to hinder the preaching of the gospel or reaching the lost. God is able to blind or confuse those who oppose the Spirit-led efforts to reach the lost. Paul was moved by the Spirit to inform Elymus the sorcerer that he would be temporarily blinded. When Sergius Paulus saw what God did to this self-proclaimed “Bar [i.e., son of] Jesus,” it states, “Then the proconsul believed, when he saw what had been done, being astonished at the teaching of the Lord” (Acts 13:12). God is powerful, and He is able to intervene to prevent hindrances to reaching the lost. There is no reason to believe that God is still able to do the same today. The hand of the Lord is powerful!
We live in a day where false teaching and false teachers are pacified rather than confronted. But we cannot afford to let false teaching go unchallenged. When we think that false teaching related to the truth of the gospel threatens the effectiveness of the gospel as well as puts in jeopardy the eternal destiny of souls, then we cannot stand by or pacify. Scripture tells us to rebuke false teachers sharply (Titus 1:13). Paul told Titus to shut false teachers up (Titus 1:11), to reject them (Titus 3:10). Paul told Timothy to hand false teachers over to Satan (1 Timothy 1:20). And Paul was inspired by the Spirit to instruct the church in Rome to turn away from and not entertain false teachers or those who cause division (Romans 16:17). He said the same to Timothy (1 Timothy6:5). He instructed the Ephesians to expose false teachings (Ephesians 5:11; cf. also 3 John 1:10). John said to not let false teachers into your home (2 John 1:9). So, the response we see from Paul towards Elymus is in line with how he was moved by the Spirit to teach other pastors.
I do not believe that we should be quick to adopt a ministry strategy to call on enemies of the gospel to be blinded based on what Paul did here. I believe Paul was led by the Spirit in this situation. If the Spirit clearly led someone to respond to a false prophet like Paul did here, then proceed. But this should not be casually adopted as a common ministry response to those who oppose the gospel. As with everything, follow the clear leading of the Holy Spirit.
The best way to respond to an agent of Satan is to be “filled with the Holy Spirit” like Paul and follow His directions in confronting the enemy. Then “the teaching of the Lord” will be powerful and astonishing to those who hear it (Acts 13:9-12). When the enemy is confronted in the power of the Spirit, he will be blinded by the light of God’s word (Acts 13:11) and souls, like that of Sergius Paulus, will be saved (Acts 13:12) (For an explanation of sorcery and how the spirit combats it, see my comments on Acts 8:5-13).
The Spirit Sends Preachers Through Open Doors of Opportunity
Notice, when the Spirit sends you out, He leads you to an open door of opportunity to witness. The rulers came to them and asked them to share. Paul didn’t have to break down any doors to share the word of God (Acts 13:13-15). Notice to, that the apostles taught “from the Law and the prophets,” or the word of God. It was after and in conjunction with the reading of God’s word that the door of opportunity to share the gospel came. God’s word is His spiritual scalpel to perform spiritual surgery.
However, their path was not without some internal difficulties as John Mark chose to leave Barnabus and Paul at this point. Later this will become a bone of contention between Paul and Barnabus (Acts 15:38). Luke only notes and does not explain why John Mark left the missionary company at that point.
The Spirit Acts through the Historical and Prophetic Word of God
For the sake of the “Men of Israel,” Paul references Biblical history of God’s workings on behalf of Israel. It is through Israel that the patriarchs, judges, Samuel, the first king, Saul, and then David came. And it was through “David the son of Jesse, a man after My own heart,” that Messiah Jesus descended. Then, lastly, John the Baptist came preaching a baptism of repentance to the people of Israel, and who introduced Jesus as the Messiah.
God sent prophets with the word of salvation, first to “those who dwell in Jerusalem, and their rulers.” These did not “know” (Greek agnoesantes – Aorist/Active/Participle of the verb agnoeo) or not having known, being ignorant, not understanding, being disregarding, being ignoring. The active voice here indicates this was something willfully done by these people. This is not something imposed on them from above. They were presented with Messiah Jesus and His fulfillment of prophecy, and they willfully rejected Him.
Paul comments, “Now when they had fulfilled all that was written concerning Him, they took Him down from the tree and laid Him in a tomb.” Paul points out that what happened to Jesus was not accidental but a monumental part of the redemptive plan of God.
That Jesus’ crucifixion was part of God’s plan is substantiated by the fact that God raised Jesus from the dead. The resurrection is an indication not only that Jesus atoning death was part of His plan, but that it was a successful part of His plan that acceptably atoned for sins.
The resurrection of Jesus was not done in secret but was something witnessed and seen for many days by those who came up with Jesus from Galilee to Jerusalem. In his letter to the Corinthians, Paul indicates that there were over five hundred (500!) witnesses to the resurrected Jesus. This is powerful evidence to support the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Paul not only references history, but he also references specific prophetic Scriptural fulfillment in the second Psalm.
Paul quotes Isaiah 55:3.
Paul quotes from Psalm 16:10.
Paul points out that these words from the psalms could not be about King David, since David died and was buried. Jesus was buried, but as the psalm testifies, Jesus would not see decay; He was resurrected.
Based on the prophetic fulfillment referenced by Paul and the reality of the resurrection of Jesus, Paul preaches forgiveness of sins based on the just basis of Jesus atoning death and resurrection. Based on Jesus’ death and resurrection, “everyone who believes is justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the Law of Moses.”
Notice a few things here:
First, the gospel can be known. Paul says, “let it be” (Greek esto Present/Active/Imperative of the verb eimi) or let it absolutely continue to be “known” (Greek gnoston –adjective) or knowable that forgiveness of sins is available. This is something that absolutely must be made known and known by everyone desiring to be forgiven their sins and made right with God.
Second, Jesus and what He did is central and the basis for this knowable gospel. It is through the work of “this Man” Jesus that such forgiveness of sins is available. It isn’t by the works of the Law of Moses, but by God’s gracious gift in Christ that any sinner can be forgiven by God.
Third, this Man Jesus is made known by being “Preached” (Greek katangelletai Present/Middle/Indicative of katangello) or proclaimed, declared openly. Paul comes not preaching a philosophy but a Person, Jesus Christ.
Fourth, forgiveness of sins through faith in Jesus is what is preached. “Forgiveness” (Greek aphesis” can also mean release, forgiveness, deliverance, suspension of punishment. Through Jesus our sins can be dealt with so that they no longer separate us from God (compare Isaiah 59:1-2).
Fifth, this forgiveness of sins is available to “everyone.” Through Jesus, “everyone” (Greek pas) not just a select few, but everyone is provided the opportunity to be forgiven their sins. This statement by Paul makes the good news available to all people. He stretches beyond Israel to everyone. This contradicts those who would teach a predetermined select group chosen by God independent of their faith response to Jesus.
Sixth, the means of receiving forgiveness and justification in Jesus is believing. Everyone who “believes” in Jesus can be forgiven their sins. “Believes” (Greek pisteuon Present/Active/Participle of the verb pisteuo) conveys the idea of an ongoing belief in, an ongoing faith in, an ongoing trust in, an ongoing reliance on, an ongoing confidence in Jesus.
Seventh, forgiveness of sins by faith in Jesus results in justification. Those who believe in Jesus are forgiven their sins, but also are “justified” (Greek dikaioutai Present/Middle/Indicative of the verb dikaioo) or rendered innocent, pronounced righteous. To be justified through faith in Jesus is to be forgiven and viewed by God just-as-if-you’d-never-sinned.
This is what Paul proclaims and exhorts his hearers to “let it be known to you.”
A final warning. Paul lays out the truth of the gospel of Jesus and then challenges his listeners to learn from those in the past who rejected God’s prophetic message. He references the prophetic words of the prophet Habakkuk (Habakkuk 1:5; cf. also Isaiah 28:22). To the Roman Jews, Paul would warn against rejecting the goodness and patience of God that should lead them to repentance (Romans 2:4). Paul challenges them to make a decision. Indecision is decision. We must choose to receive the gospel offer provided graciously by God.
Notice, when given the opportunity to share, Paul did not share his opinion; he shared God’s truth as it is revealed in His word (Acts 13:16-41). He begins by expounding the word of God, giving an overview of God’s dealings with His people (Acts 13:16-25). Paul reminds them of God’s election of the nation of Israel and how He had brought them out of the bondage of Egypt (Acts 13:17). The Exodus was a topic all Jews and even God–fearers would know about, so he was starting off on common ground. He reminds them of how God had to put up with their wilderness “ways,” for 40 years, alluding to the historical fact that even though God had miraculously delivered them, they were ungrateful, complaining and rebellious (Acts 13:18).
Paul states God destroyed pagan nations before the people and delivered the Promised Land into their hands (Acts 13:19). God gave them “judges,” or leaders to lead the people, great prophets like Samuel, and eventually gave them kings (Acts 13:20-22). Paul focuses on David, “a man after My own heart, who will do all My will” and uses him as a means to move his teaching into discussing Messiah in accord with the promise of God to David (Acts 13:22-23).
Paul clearly identifies this promised Messiah as Jesus (Acts 13:23). Paul points out that Jesus was introduced by John the Baptist, and it was John who lifted up Jesus as the Messiah (Acts 13:23-26). Paul tells them the fulfillment of God’s messianic promise he is now proclaiming to them, it is “the word of this salvation” (Acts 13:26).
The crux of the prophetic problem. Then he showed how the death and resurrection of Jesus was a fulfillment of God’s word (Acts 13:26-41). The crux of Paul’s climax is that those in Jerusalem, including the religious leaders, because they did not know the word God, or “the voices of the Prophets,” did not recognize Jesus as Messiah and so condemned Jesus just like the prophetic word of God said they would (Acts 13:26-27). They were so blind to God’s Messiah and the fulfillment of God’s prophetic word that they orchestrated the execution of an innocent Man, Jesus (Acts 13:28).
Paul says all of this was foretold prophetically by the Lord and even though they had killed Jesus, he said, “But God raised Him from the dead” (Acts 13:29-30). The resurrection is central to the gospel. The evidence of the resurrection is stated by Paul as Jesus was clearly seen alive “many days” by many people (Acts 13:31). The pinnacle of Paul’s message climax is that all of this had the fingerprint of God on it since God foretold it would happen and was according to His plan of salvation in Christ (Acts 13:32-37). God raised Jesus from the dead just as He said He would (Psalm 2:7 and Psalm 16:10, quoted by Paul). This showed God’s faithfulness to His word as well as showed what Paul taught was not his opinion but according to the authority of God as laid out in His prophetic word. The use of God’s prophetic word gave weight and authority to this message as the Spirit applied it to their hearts.
Paul, once he shows the fulfillment of God’s word in Christ, points the people to seek forgiveness of their sin based on faith in Jesus Christ (Acts 13:38-39). He states the Law of Moses could not save them from sin as history shows (Acts 13:39). He concludes by referring again to God’s prophetic word, showing that if they did not turn to God through faith in Christ, that God’s word would be just as fulfilled in that they would become the foretold “despisers” (Acts 13:40-41).
Fulfilled Prophecy, a Powerful Tool of the Spirit
The fulfillment of prophecy was a persuasive tool in Paul’s ministry here. He then drives home the point by directly quoting from the Bible five times in succession, showing how Jesus fulfilled Old Testament prophecy (in Acts 13:33 he quotes Psalm 2:7; in verse 34 he quotes Isaiah 55:3; in verse 35 he quotes Psalm 16:10; in verse 41, Habakkuk 1:5; and in verse 47, Isaiah 49:6). Paul uses the word of God extensively in this chapter (Acts13:40, 42, 44, 46, 48, 49).
In his book When Will Jesus Come? Author Dave Hunt writes the following about the prophetic nature of God’s word:
One of the beauties of the Bible is that it provides a very simple evidence for God’s existence that anyone can easily and fully comprehend. …What is this simple yet profound evidence that the Bible offers? It is prophecy fulfilled, an irrefutable verification reserved to the Judeo-Christian Scriptures alone. No honest person can remain an unbeliever after even a brief study of prophecy,… prophecy is the missing element in all other sacred Scriptures of the world’s religions. It is not to be found in the Koran, the Hindu Vedas, the Bhagavad-Gita, the Book of Mormon, the sayings of Buddha, or the writings of Mary Baker Eddy. By contrast, prophecy comprises nearly 30 percent of the Bible.171
Truly, the Bible is unique and prophecy is evidence of its Divine origins. No wonder Paul and the other apostles so frequently quoted the prophetic word.
An Amazing Prophecy
There is an incredible prophecy found in the Book of Daniel known as the Seventy Weeks of Daniel which illustrates the incredible accuracy of God’s prophetic word. This prophecy speaks about 490 years of God’s remaining plans for Israel. In that prophecy it states:
This is an amazing and incredible prophecy! What it means is that from the time that the people are permitted to return to the Holy Land to rebuild Jerusalem, there will be “seven weeks and sixty-two weeks” or 69 weeks of seven years each, or 483 years (69x7 = 483) until the Messiah (i.e., Jesus) comes. We need to keep in mind to, the Hebrew year consisted of 360 days, not 365 like our calendar.
In the Book of Nehemiah we are told of the “command” made by King Artaxerxes to allow the Jews to return to their land from captivity and to rebuild Jerusalem, (not just the Temple but the city of Jerusalem):
It is well documented in history that the first day of Nisan “in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes” is equivalent to March 14, 445 B.C. That is the starting point for this prophecy. You might think, “Wait a minute teacher, how do you know what day of the month in Nisan it was?” In his great book entitled, The Search For Messiah, Mark Eastman explains the following:
By Hebrew tradition, when the day of the month is not specifically stated, it is given to be the first day of that month. So, the day of the decree by Artaxerxes was the first day of the Hebrew month Nisan 445 B.C.E. The first day of Nisan 445 B.C.E. corresponds to the 14th day of March. This was verified by the astronomical calculations at the British Royal Observatory and reported by Sir Robert Anderson. 172
Now if we multiply 69 x 7 year units (360 day years) the result is 173,880 days. When we mark off 173,880 days from March 14, 445 B.C. it brings us to April 6th, 32 A.D. In Luke 3:1 it states that Jesus’ ministry began “in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar.” The date at which Tiberius’ reign began is calculated with certainty to be 14 A.D. If we add 15 years starting from 14 A.D. it brings us to 29 A.D. We then need to add 3 years due to the three years of ministry depicted chronologically in the gospels. That therefore brings us to 32 A.D. In his pamphlet Jesus Historical Facts, Ralph O. Muncaster notes that:
The Royal Observatory in Greenwich, England confirms the Sunday [Palm Sunday – Triumphal Entry] before Passover [in 32 A.D.] to be APRIL 6TH, 32 A.D.173
THEREFORE, WHAT WE HAVE IN DANIEL 9 IS AN EXACT CALCULATION TO THE DAY WHEN JESUS MADE HIS TRIUMPHAL ENTRY INTO JERUSALEM. This not only attests to the supernatural Divine authorship of this prophecy, but it also identifies and bears testimony that Jesus is the Messiah!
Ignore Prophecy at Your Own Peril
The message Paul preached to these people in the Spirit was powerful because the Spirit led him to show the clear fulfillment of prophetic Scriptures in Christ. As Paul quoted the Scriptures showing how Jesus fulfilled the prophetic word of God, only those who willfully refused to see God’s hand at work did not accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior. For those seeking God, they received all that the Spirit gave through Paul and begged for more (Acts 13:42). Fulfilled prophecy is a powerful tool in the ministry of the Spirit. And to ignore the clear and undeniable evidence of prophecy is something you do at your own peril. Those who did not or refused to recognize Jesus and God’s prophetic word at His first coming (Acts 13:27, 41-42) will have sad bedfellows with those who ignore the still remaining prophetic word of God concerning the Last Days (2 Peter 3).
Signs are meant to keep you on the right path and out of harms way. In the same way, if you ignore God’s prophetic word, you do so at your own peril. God has done something in His Book, the Bible that is not found in any other book. He has foretold hundreds of years in advance, as a sign to warn us to be ready and right with Him before it’s too late. How about you? Have you been ignoring God’s prophetic word? Are you like those religious people of the first century who missed the first coming of Jesus because they ignored God’s prophetic word and the One to whom that word pointed? To be forewarned is to be forearmed. Don’t miss the signs. Get your spiritual house in order; get right with God by admitting your sin and asking God to forgive you based on Jesus as your sin-bearer. Receive the gift of salvation God has graciously supplied in Christ. Trust Jesus to pay the penalty of all your sin and be born again of the Spirit receiving His eternal life. Then walk on in the Spirit as a disciple of Jesus. Watch and pray for His coming. Jesus is coming back; He’s coming back real soon! (Luke 21:36; 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11).
The Spirit Draws People By Grace
The Jews persisted in their hardness of heart against the gospel. But “The Gentiles begged that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath” (Acts 13:42). The Spirit was working in the hearts of these people, and they were hungering to hear more about the “grace of God” (Acts 13:42-44). They were lining up to hear more. God’s grace is revealed in life, and in the prophetic fulfillments of Jesus Christ. That is something the sinful seeker just can’t get enough of.
Something Worth Begging For
The word “begged” (Strong’s #3870 – par-ak-al-eh´–o) means, “to call near,…invite, invoke…[implore]…beseech, call for,…desire,…intreat, pray.”174 Some of the religious Jews were open to the gospel of God’s grace and the Gentiles actually “begged” the apostles to share it with them. This is a clear indication of the Spirit’s working in the hearts of these people. No one can come to God unless He draws them. God draws sinners to Himself by His grace (John 6:44). No one can take any credit for coming to God as it is God who reasons with us and calls us to come to Him (e.g., Isaiah 1:18). God uses human agents as His instruments of drawing them. God appeals to the lost through prophets, pastors, and preachers of the gospel. This is why it says Paul “persuaded them to continue in the grace of God” (Acts 13:43).
The word “persuaded” (Greek epeithon – Imperfect/Active/Indicative of peitho) means were persuading, were convincing. To the Greeks, persuasion was so important that they actually made a God named Peitho. Greek society involved a great deal of conversation and debate and discussion to persuade others to their way of thinking. Here, as we have seen, Paul is laying out the gospel and, in particular, “to continue in the grace of God.” The Imperfect tense conveys this was a continuous, persistent, ongoing action by Paul. His message was to start in the grace of God and continue to the end in the grace of God.
The grace of God is found in the word of God. Notice the correlation here between “the grace of God” in verse 43 and “the word of God” in verse 44. This is important because it is in the word of God that you will learn about the life-changing grace of God.
What is it about the grace of God that is so attractive to the one seeking God? What was it about God’s grace that made “almost the whole city” come “together to hear the word of God” and beg for more? To the word of God we must go to find out.
The Attraction of God’s Grace
Paul refers to his message as “the grace of God” (Acts 13:43). If we go back and look at His message, we can summarize the aspects of Paul’s inspired message which he used to compose and define the grace of God to these people:
Certainly, this is not an exhaustive list of facets of God’s grace, but all of these points by Paul were applied to the heart of the listeners by the Holy Spirit who was using him.
All that religious Judaism had to offer was the Law, but the law was not meant to save. The Law of God was and is meant to reveal and expose one’s sinfulness (Romans 7:7; 1 Timothy 1:8-11). To try to live righteously under the Law was futile, frustrating, and doomed to failure (Galatians 2:16; 3:10-13). The Gentiles who served their pagan gods knew only of gods that were capricious and aloof. Worshiping pagan gods was a practice of never-ending appeasement motivated by fear. Gentile worshipers of their pagan gods were at the mercy of every whimsy those gods might ordain.
Dependable grace is attractive grace. But when the gospel of God’s grace was presented to those under the Law, they were shown in the Spirit that the Law was meant to lead them to Christ. This is what Paul taught elsewhere (Galatians 3:24). The message of the gospel was true and sure and unchanging. You could depend on the grace of God and His gospel. Those who worshiped the impersonal pagan gods were shown by the Spirit that God was the heavenly Father of holy love who wanted to adopt them into a heavenly family by grace through faith in Christ. When you come from a place where you have been futilely and frustratingly banging your head against a stone tablet of law, or you have been groping for truth and meaning at the feet of impersonal unreachable gods, then the gracious knowable Christ is something you just can’t get enough of. Dependable grace is attractive grace.
What is “Grace”?
What is it about God’s grace that makes it so attractive, so worth begging for? To answer that, we must first consider what “grace” is. The word “grace” is translated from the Greek term CHARIS (Strong’s #5485 – khar´-ece). Charis is a word used to describe, “graciousness…gratifying…the divine influence upon the heart, and its reflection in the life. …benefit, favour, gift, grace (–ious), joy, liberality, pleasure,….”175 “Grace’ is a very full and rich word. And what makes grace even more gracious, grace is a word that speaks of undeserved blessings.
Pastor Chuck Smith defined grace as, “GRACE IS GOD ACTING FREELY ACCORDING TO HIS OWN NATURE OF LOVE.” God gives us blessing because He is a loving God. We are the beneficiaries of blessings by God’s grace. God is gracious because of Who He is, not because of who we are. Grace is not something we earn; it is something we simply receive by faith.
Pastor Chuck Smith described God’s grace like this:
The root meaning of the word grace is “beauty.” In the New Testament, grace means “God’s unmerited favor.” Grace is God giving to me something that I cannot obtain on my own. Grace is being accepted by God even though I do not deserve it, even though I am not worthy of it.…We are forgiven by a holy God simply by believing in Jesus Christ and in His death on our behalf. When we place our trust in Him, our slate is wiped clean.176
Grace is beauty. Grace is “beauty.” Grace is “God’s unmerited favor.” For us, God’s grace is beautiful because it means God’s forgiveness for a mountain of sins for those who don’t deserve to be forgiven. All we can do is receive by faith in Jesus. God’s grace is bound up in Jesus because it was Jesus who paid our debt for sins that He didn’t owe, for those who owed a debt they could not pay. And by God’s grace Jesus did that freely and offers it freely to us by faith in Him. Jesus paid a debt he didn’t owe for a sinful people who owed a debt they could not pay. That is grace. That is beautiful.
What does God Give by Grace?
Grace is God giving. God loves to give. The Bible is filled with the giving of God. In fact, the half brother of Jesus, James, tells us in his epistle that “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning” (James 1:17). Grace is a way of describing this giving nature of God.
Grace is entirely from God. There is nothing in us that warrants or deserves God’s grace. Grace proceeds from God’s good nature. This is what makes God’s grace so attractive; God gives it to us not based on us and our state, but because of who He is and His loving nature.
Great “much more” grace. When we look at the Bible we see that God’s grace is “great,” God’s grace is “sufficient,” God’s grace “saved,” us from our sin, and God’s grace is “exceedingly abundant” toward us (Acts 4:33; 2 Corinthians 12:9; Romans 2:4; Romans 3:24; Romans 5:12-20; Ephesians 1:7-8; Ephesians 2:4-5; 2 Corinthians 9:8; 1 Timothy 1:12-16; 1 Peter 4:9). God’s grace is always “much more” than we expect or can ever comprehend (Romans 5:3, 10, 15, 17, 20). God gives grace upon grace. God’s grace never runs out (John 1:16). That is a very attractive truth.
Eternal life, a gift of God’s grace in Christ. According to Romans 6:23, God’s gift of grace is “eternal life.” But that provision is inseparably tied to Jesus (John 1:16-17; John 3:16; John 14:6; 1 John 5:11-12; Acts 4:12; Acts 15:11; Romans 6:23; 1 Peter 1:13). You can’t receive the gift of eternal life apart from receiving Jesus Christ.
Grace provides a blessed assurance to face death. God does not promise us eternal physical life. Death is not a defeat; it is a blessed coronation to a new eternal spiritual life. God gives us a blessed assurance of eternal life with Him (John 5:24; 10:28; 1 John 5:13). Eternal life is not something we receive only in the future. Eternal life is a quality of life we receive and begin right now. That eternal life is characterized by a new attitude to God and His grace.
Simply Receive God’s Grace
Since God’s grace is not of us, not dependent upon any work of ours, then we should simply receive and expect it. Read what the Bible says:
God’s gracious offer of His salvation and favor is there to be received by faith by us (John 1:12).
Grace is from God. Grace originates wholly in God, not in us. Nothing in us activates God’s grace. This confuses us because we question why God is gracious towards those who we feel are worse than us. We don’t understand why God would bless those who are dirty, rotten, sinful scoundrels. We have a hard time accepting God’s grace gracefully. We think we earn God’s grace, but that is works and not grace. When those who have been working to try and please God and earn His favor exhaust their attempts, they finally realize it just can’t be done. When we come to the end of ourselves, grace draws us to God and the beauty of His freely offered favor in salvation.
Grace is sovereign; there is no human cause for God’s grace; God acts graciously upon whom HE chooses to act graciously AND HE CHOOSES TO SHOW GRACE TO EVERYONE (John 3:16; Romans 2:11; 1 Peter 1:17). Paul knew of and always spoke of God’s grace. To the Ephesians he was inspired to share:
Therefore, Paul was able to go on and state:
Notice, faith is not counted as a work here. The gift is salvation given by God. Faith is not something we can boast about or take credit for, because it is God’s created image of Himself in us. Like God, we have the capacity for self-determination. We are not “God.” But we bear His image in us (Genesis 1:26). That image, in part, is our free will, our capacity to choose or reject as enabled by God in our creation. We are not regenerated by God prior to faith but are regenerated by God as a consequence of us putting faith in Jesus.
God’s mercy and “great love” is all a product of His grace. To Pastor Titus, Paul was moved by the Spirit to write:
We are saved from our sins and sustained by God’s grace.
Grace Excludes Works
People tend to compare themselves to others to prove their own righteousness before God. When they do this, they do it to show they don’t need God’s grace. But anyone can show himself or herself better when comparing themselves to someone else. Charles Manson, who orchestrated the death of Sharon Tate and the Labianca family in the 60’s, can look at Jeffrey Dahmer, who killed numerous boys and say, “See, I’m bad but not that bad!” Jeffrey Dalmer can look at Ted Bundy and say, “See, I’m bad, but not that bad!” And Ted Bundy can look at Adolph Hitler and Hitler to Joseph Stalin, and Stalin to the killing fields of Cambodia and on and on. But the point is missed by all who would say or think in such ways. The issue is not whether or not there is some good in a person; it is that no one is good enough. All fall short of God’s required glorious perfection (Matthew 5:48; Romans 3:23).
Grace for even the big sins. Furthermore, no sin is so big that God cannot deal with it through Christ. Our house might look small in comparison to the Empire State Building, but if you ask, “Which building is closer to the nearest star?”; then both structures are so far removed from reaching that end that their relative sizes don’t really matter. It’s not a matter of being merely good, no one is good enough.
Works short circuits grace. Works or human effort short-circuits grace. God’s grace cannot be earned. Our currency of works is simply not suited for what God is offering by His grace. When we try to earn or work to get God’s grace, grace ceases to be grace. GRACE THEREFORE HUMBLES US BECAUSE WE KNOW WE DO NOT DESERVE GOD’S GRACE.
When we come to understand God’s grace and what it is, when we finally give up on working our way into God’s favor, we find the blessing of God’s grace. When we understand that the only way to find favor with God is to understand that favor with God is received by grace (through faith in Jesus His only Son – 1 Timothy 1:15-16; 2:4; Titus 3:4-8), then we can’t get enough of God’s gracious provision. When we understand God’s grace, we can’t get enough of it. To know God’s grace results in us wanting to be overflowed by it. Like those in our passage of Acts, when we discover God’s grace, BEG for more of it. That is why God’s grace is so attractive.
Pastor Chuck Smith, the one God used to start the Calvary Chapel movement, wrote a book entitled Why Grace Changes Everything. In that book he writes the following about the grace of God:
And that is the greatest joy in life – to experience a genuine love relationship with God. To know that He is for us, that He loves us, is the greatest source of security any person will ever know. Discovering the glorious grace of God was one of the most important events in my whole spiritual experience. I learned to relate to God on an entirely new basis: not on the basis of my works, or of my righteousness, but on the basis of God’s love for me through Jesus Christ.177
Pastor Chuck goes on to write in his book how the reality and right view of God and His grace has a tremendous impact on a person, it literally changes everything.
Grace Changes Everything
Continuing in his book, Pastor Chuck goes on to say about God’s grace:
That is grace, and that is what makes life worth living. In fact, it is what makes life – real life, abundant life, fulfilling and satisfying life – possible at all. For when our eyes are opened to the astonishing truth that our relationship with God does not depend upon the puny pebble of our own efforts but upon the massive rock of His unchanging and loving character [see Matthew 16:18], life opens before us in a Technicolor explosion of awesome possibilities.
Grace transforms desolate and bleak plains into rich, green pastures. It changes grit-your-teeth duty into loving, enthusiastic service. It exchanges the tears and guilt of our own failed efforts for the eternal thrill and laughter of freely offered pleasures at the right hand of God. Grace changes everything!178
That sounds like something people would want more of, doesn’t it? Yes it does!
Amazing Grace
The grace is God is how we are saved from our sins and sustained in our spiritual life. This is what Paul meant when he was inspired to write:
It was this very verse that John Newton had in mind when he penned the verses to the famous hymn Amazing Grace. One commentator states:
As he [John Newton] thought upon the words: “By the grace of God I am what I am,” he said, “I am not what I ought to be. How imperfect and deficient I am! I am not what I wish to be. Though I am not what I ought to be, I can truly say that I am not what I once was—a slave to sin and Satan. I can heartily say with Paul: “By the grace of God I am what I am”!179
The richness of God’s grace and its impact on our lives is amazing. Salvation from our sin and sustenance in our spiritual lives makes grace something to hunger for and rely upon, yes, even beg for.
Not Even Envy Obstructs Opportunities for People to be Saved
“Envy” (Greek zelou) is jealousy, a zeal or fervor for self, rivalry. Envy and jealousy will always grieve the Spirit (Ephesians 4:29-32). The best way to deal with envy is to respond with God’s word and minister to those who are open to receiving the word of God’s grace. Our focus should not be distracted to argue with those who are satisfied to stay in their sin. We should rather seek to harvest those souls that sincerely seek the Lord.
Envy, while a grievous thing to the Spirit, will not hinder the impact of the gospel of grace if we move on in the Spirit. When the religious Jews became envious of the impact the gospel preached by Barnabus and Saul was having, rather than receive it themselves, they rejected it. Paul and Barnabus then move on in the Spirit to minister to those who were interested, who were eager to hear and receive the gospel of God’s grace. The result was, “And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 13:52).
To Whom Was the Gospel Offered?
In Acts 10 we showed how the Spirit moved to present the gospel beyond the Jewish community to the Gentile community. In this passage of Acts 13 we see this emphasized again as Paul quotes Isaiah 42:6 (see also Isaiah 49:6) which states, “I have set you as a light to the Gentiles, That you should be for salvation to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 13:47). These verses are clear in that God offers salvation to all and has a desire for as many as possible to accept His offer of salvation by His grace through faith in His only Son Jesus. This is important to recognize. The gospel is for ALL.
Luke further emphasizes this by saying, “And the word of the Lord was being spread throughout all the region” (Acts 13:49). There is no limit put on the apostles, but quite to the contrary, they are empowered by the Spirit to spread the gospel far and wide, offering the gospel of God’s grace in Christ to all. Not all received this gospel as this passage clearly shows (Acts 13:45, 50). On the other hand, many did receive by faith the gospel of God’s grace in Christ (Acts 13:48, 52).
But this brings us to another question: “How are people saved? Is salvation a matter of choice? Is the human will involved?”
How Are People Saved? Is Salvation a Matter of Choice (Is the Human Will Involved)?
Do people believe because God enables them to believe separate from any willful decision on their part? Or does God reason with people and enforce the decisions they make for or against His gospel? Does God enable some to believe and not others? Or does God ordain the means of salvation and then offer that salvation as a gift of His grace to be received or rejected by the sinner?
A verse that has often been much debated and often misinterpreted is verse 48, which states, “And as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed.” The Living Bible paraphrases this as, “and as many as wanted eternal life, believed.”180 There is a brand of doctrine which holds that a person does not exert any willful decision in the receiving of salvation, but that salvation is based on the predetermination of God apart from human will or choice. This doctrine is referred to as part of Calvinism or Reformed Theology. Such people claim that the Bible teaches that no one is deserving of salvation. This is true, but the following theology of Total Depravity, which eliminates the capacity for human beings to respond to God’s offer of salvation in Christ, does not follow. We are dead in our sins, destined for hell (Ephesians 2:1), but the deadness caused by sin is separation from God (Isaiah 59:1-2; and Luke 15:24), not the total incapacity to respond to the gospel and make decisions to accept or reject. The image of God created into humanity (i.e., Genesis 1:26) includes the capacity to make decisions. This image of God in humanity is what separates it from the rest of God’s creation. If humanity is incapable of responding to the gospel, all proclamations of the gospel to humanity become nonsensical.
Generally, Calvinism based on its adherence to deterministic reasoning, states that when God created humanity, He created some to experience eternal life and some to experience eternal damnation, regardless of any personal decision on their part. Calvinism is deterministic. The basis of seeking to eliminate human will from the equation of salvation is the premise that the atonement of Jesus Christ is limited. According to Calvinism, Jesus only died for those who were predetermined to be saved by God and not those who are predetermined to be unsaved. Acts 13:48 is often referred to as a proof text for such doctrine. What follows is an alternative view of this passage.
Everyone. The Biblical evidence does not support such a doctrine. In Scripture, when the word “everyone” (Greek pas) is used, (as is found in Acts 13:39), it means all, every, everyone. The atonement of Jesus is not limited, its effectiveness to save from sin and justify is made available to all who would believe.
Salvation comes to those who decide to believe in God. That salvation is based on deciding by faith in God is found in the following verses:
In each of these passages, salvation is said to be received when one chooses to put their faith in God.
Whoever. That God offers salvation impartially to all is seen in such words as “whoever” (which occurs 255 times in 225 verses of the NKJV of the Bible). In every case that this word is used, the word “whoever” refers to everyone without exception. The word “whoever” is never used to refer to an exclusive group but always refers to a nonexclusive group. And this is the very word used with regard to the offer of salvation. A few verses which evidence this are:
A rule of thumb in interpretation is that when the plain sense of a meaning makes common sense, seek no other sense. The problem arises when people approach the Bible deductively instead of inductively. Let me explain. A deductive approach to the Bible comes to the Bible with a preconceived and set doctrinal system looking to the Bible to support doctrine that is already established. Such an approach to Bible study tends to stifle the word of God and limit its impact on the student. In deductive Bible study, the student tends to steer the Bible rather than vice versa. An inductive approach to the Bible, on the other hand, comes to the Bible with no set or preconceived doctrinal positions and is open to establish doctrine based on the testimony of the Bible first. In this approach, the Bible steers the student of the word. Deductive Bible study tends to put the cart before the horse. Inductive Bible study puts God’s word in control. While I have done no study or know of no data to this effect, I would venture to say that those from a Calvinistic position would likely be more deductive than inductive in their approach to God’s word. Otherwise, how could they come to such issues as the meaning of a word like “whoever” and not accept the plain meaning of the word? In order to support a Calvinistic view, the plain meaning of the word “whoever” must be altered to mean “elect” in certain instances. This is not good hermeneutics (i.e., Bible Study).
Teaching that God predetermines salvation apart from human decision frequently undermines any incentive to share the gospel, because sharing the gospel is made to seem purposeless if people are already saved or eternally damned by God, apart from any decision on their part. But such a teaching is not necessarily what is meant in Acts 13:48.
The word “appointed” (Greek tetagmenoi Perfect /Middle/Participle of the verb tasso) here can mean to be placed, to be fixed, to be appointed, to be directed. The controversy concerning this verse is largely based on how the verb tasso is defined.
The Complete Biblical Library commentary Greek-English Dictionary states the following about the term tasso:
Tasso is a common very in classical Greek for arranging troops or ships in proper position for battle. This verb can also mean “to impose punishment” or “assess a tax” (Liddel-Scott). It came to have a variety of meanings such as, “to appoint or order someone to a task, to put into proper order,” and “to command.” Priests were appointed as supervisors and judges. The sense are “appointed” to serve.
Tasso is used in the New Testament in a variety of meanings: “to appoint, order, arrange, determine, establish, set in place,” depending on the immediate context. A glance at a concordance indicates Luke used tasso more than any other writer of the New Testament, especially in the Book of Acts.…In Acts 13:48 Luke noted the success of Paul’s work in the Galatian Antioch: “As many as were ordained (tetagmenoi, appointed) to eternal life believed.”
Rather than making a theological statement or insinuation by using this word, it would seem, based on the rudimentary use of this term, that Luke is more likely simply pointing out the lining up in two groups; people who rejected versus those who accepted the gospel.
Dave Hunt makes the following comment on Acts 13:48:
One of Calvinists’ favorite proof tests is Acts 13:48, where we read that ‘as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.’… In fact, ‘ordained to eternal life,’ while it is shown in the major translations…is at best a questionable rendering, and many Greek scholars call it a wrong translation. The Greek word is tasso and has a variety of meanings and usages. It is found eight times in the New Testament [Matthew 28:16; Acts 13:48; Acts 15:2; Acts 22:10; Acts 28:23; Romans 13:1; 1 Corinthians 16:15] and none of them carries the meaning of a decree from God nor of something that is unchangeable or eternal, so there is no basis for assigning that meaning here. The Liddell and Scott Greek dictionary offers a number of alternate meanings, but ‘ordain’ or ‘foreordain’ is not one of them…Several authorities trace the KJV’s wrong rendering to the corrupt Latin Vulgate. …Clearly there are differences of opinion concerning the technical considerations of the Greek which only the experts are competent to discuss. That being the case, we ought to come down on the side of a rendering which harmonizes with the rest of Scripture.…The best way to determine which meaning applies is to consider the context. When we do that the choice becomes clear. The Jews have just rejected the gospel and that is why Paul has turned to the Greeks.…Verse 48 presents the contrast between the Jews who had set themselves against the gospel and the Gentiles who disposed themselves to receive it. Thus it is saying that ‘as many [Greeks] as were disposed to eternal life believed.’ 181
Indeed when we go to Strong’s concordance it defines TASSO (Strong’s #5021 – tas´-so) with a meaning of, “to arrange in an orderly manner, i.e., assign or dispose (to a certain position or lot)… addict, appoint, determine, ordain, set.”182 With this definition in mind, it seems a better interpretation based on the context, that TASSO is used in Acts 13:48 to point out that the Jews had rejected the gospel on one hand but arranged or lined up across from and in contrast to the Gentiles on the other side who were glad to hear and receive the gospel.
The following seven verses which contain the word TASSO (in the NKJV – underlined for emphasis ) are:
When we look at these other seven places besides Acts 13:48 where the word TASSO is used, we see contexts where a sovereign act of God is implied. In Matthew 28:16, the eleven disciples go to the mountain predetermined by Jesus prior to the resurrection (Matthew 28:16). In Acts 28:16 in Paul’s recollection of his conversion experience, he uses TASSO to describe how Jesus told him there were predetermined or “appointed” things for him to do. And in Romans 13:1, Paul states that all government authority is “appointed” (TASSO) by God. On the other hand, there is a more mundane use of the word TASSO in the other verses, such as when in Acts 15:1, Paul and Barnabas are appointed to go to Jerusalem to discuss the issue of Gentile converts coming into the church. In Acts 28:23, the word TASSO is used to refer to a day being chosen for Paul to explain the gospel to inquisitors. Then there is 1 Corinthians 16:15 where the word TASSO is used to show how the household of Stephanas had “devoted” (TASSO) themselves to ministering to the saints. Lastly, in Luke 7:8, the centurion uses TASSO to compare himself and his position under authority to Jesus’ authority over sickness. While some of these contextual interpretations do imply an appointing or ordaining, we need to ask, do they give conclusive proof of the idea of an eternal decree implying unconditional election to salvation? To assert such a doctrine based on Acts 13:48 seems to be a bit of a stretch.
To shed a bit more light on the interpretation of Acts 13:48, A.T. Robertson in his well known work Word Pictures in the New Testament, states the following on Acts 13:48:
As many as were ordained to eternal life (οσοι ησαν τεταγμενοι εις ζωην αιωνιον [hosoi esan tetagmenoi eis zoen aionion]). Periphrastic past perfect passive indicative of τασσω [tasso], a military term to place in orderly arrangement. The word “ordain” is not the best translation here. “Appointed,” as Hackett shows, is better. The Jews here had voluntarily rejected the word of God. On the other side were those Gentiles who gladly accepted what the Jews had rejected, not all the Gentiles. Why these Gentiles here ranged themselves on God’s side as opposed to the Jews Luke does not tell us. This verse does not solve the vexed problem of divine sovereignty and human free agency. There is no evidence that Luke had in mind an absolutum decretum of personal salvation. Paul had shown that God’s plan extended to and included Gentiles. Certainly, the Spirit of God does move upon the human heart to which some respond, as here, while others push him away.183
We should also note the instances where a decision is either called for or made in Acts 13:
It would seem, by the repeated circumstances involving free-will decisions in this chapter, that the use of the word “appointed” (tasso) would best be applied to the alignment of Jewish rejectors of the gospel versus Gentile receivers of the gospel. And it would seem that the evidence points contextually to this alignment being based on decision for or against the gospel by the people in this chapter.
What comes first, faith or regeneration? A Calvinist will say that those who believe do so because God has first regenerated them. The only problem with that is that in Scripture the order of salvation is that the Spirit convicts the sinner of their sin (John 16:8-11), the sinner responds by turning from their sins and trusting in the work of Jesus as the basis of their forgiveness for their sins(Acts 2:38-39). Regeneration or being “born again” follows a person’s decision to receive Jesus as their Savior.
God calls people to choose. While the evidence of an eternal decree or unconditional election from Acts 13:48 is at best uncertain, there is no escaping the fact that, in Scripture, the Holy Spirit calls people to choose or to receive Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord (Deuteronomy 6:5; Joshua 24:1-28; John 1:12; Acts 2:37-39). The student of the Bible must always interpret the relatively uncertain passages and meanings by those passages that are certain and clear in meaning. God does call people to make choices, and you can’t choose without free will. God does not reduce humanity to a robotic state by decreeing beforehand those who will and will not be saved. Robots cannot love because they cannot choose to love. Love and relationship are meaningless without a freewill decision (ask your spouse). God has created humanity with the capacity to love and enter into a relationship with other humans and with Him. That necessitates the freewill of humanity. God knows who will be saved, and He does decree the requirements for salvation, but He is big enough to remain in control of the universe while still making provision for the freewill of humanity. Remove the capacity of humans to make choices, and you lose one of, if not the, primary characteristic of human beings which sets them apart in God’s creation. Calvinism says the freewill of humanity is an affront to God’s sovereignty. The fact is that, because God remains sovereign and in control of the universe while still providing for the freewill decision of humanity, it makes Him all the greater and more powerful King of the universe.
Some conclude that the reconciliation of God’s sovereignty and human free will is beyond our present human capacity. Pastor Chuck Smith makes this statement regarding this verse and brings a balanced perspective to follow here:
An interesting verse, interesting Scripture.…As many as had been appointed or ordained to eternal life believed. There is a divine mystery incomprehensible to our finite minds. Truths that we cannot in our finite minds reconcile [about]. …the truth of the sovereignty of God, the election of God. As many as were appointed or ordained to eternal life. Who appointed or ordained them to eternal life? God…is sovereign and has elected and chosen that we should be in Christ before the foundation of the earth. God has also ordained that we must exercise our capacity of choice that he has given to us. So the gospel is to whosoever will! Let him come! But the coming is up to you. You must come! You must exercise your power of choice in coming to Jesus Christ. So that mystery of the sovereignty of God and…human responsibility. The choice that God has given man remains a mystery, unsolved by all the theologians through their argumentations throughout the centuries. Men lining up on one side, men lining up on the other side, when both sides are correct, the argument keeps going. God is sovereign. As many as were appointed or ordained to eternal life believed. But their belief was a matter of choice as it always is! I choose to believe. I choose not to believe. As many as had been appointed believed.184
When you come to something you don’t understand, fall back on something you do understand and that is especially true in the study of God’s word. We do know that God has offered salvation to the “world” (John 3:16; 1 Timothy 2:4; 1 John 2:1-2). We may not be able to fully understand the sovereignty of God and how that relates to humanity’s free will under God’s plan, but we do know God loves the world and has sent His only Son Jesus to save it, if they will only receive and believe Him (John 1:12; 3). That’s what God has revealed and that is what we must accept as true.
Filled With Envy or Filled With Joy and With the Holy Spirit?
There is one final thing we need to consider in these last verses. There is a choice to be made here. The Jews of Pisidian Antioch heard “the word of God” (Acts 13:44) and chose to be “filled with envy; and contradicting and blaspheming, they opposed the things spoken by Paul” (Acts 13:45), doing everything they could to shut it down (Acts 13:50). The Gentiles, on the other hand, “were glad and glorified the word of the Lord. And…believed,” (Acts 13:48). Those who believed then moved on to become “disciples filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 13:52). Both groups were “filled” but with what?
They were “Filled”
These two groups were both “filled.” The word used to describe the filling of the Jews was PLETHO (Strong’s #4130 – play´-tho) meaning, “to “fill”…imbue, influence, supply…to fulfil…accomplish, full…furnish.”185 The word used to describe the filling of the Gentiles is PLEROO (Strong’s #4137 – play-ro´-o) which means, “to make replete,…to cram (a net), level up (a hollow),…to furnish… imbue, diffuse, influence…satisfy, execute (an office), finish (a period or task), verify (or coincide with a prediction),… accomplish,…(be) complete, end, expire, fill (up), fulfil, (be, make) full (come), fully preach, perfect, supply.”186 Both words used to describe the filling of each group are in the Passive tense meaning this was something done to them. Each group opened themselves up to being filled with something, filled to overflowing, consumed with something. What was it they opened themselves up to be filled to overflowing with?
Some Chose Self
Some chose to be filled with self. The Jews rejected the gospel and Christ and chose to refuse any conviction or gospel truth the Spirit knocked on the door of their heart with. This is seen in the word “envy” used to describe their response to Paul's message. The word “envy” comes from the Greek term ZELOS (Strong’s #2205 – dzay´-los) and means, “heat,…zeal…malice…emulation, envy (–ing), fervent mind, indignation, jealousy, zeal.”187 In other words they got hot under the collar. They exploded with selfish envy like steam exploding the top off a pressure cooker. They were jealous of the attention that was being given to Jesus and the gospel. You see, perhaps they had never been able to attract such crowds to their synagogue and now here comes that upstart apostle Paul and whammo! Everyone was flocking to hear the gospel. Rather than bow to the truth and grace of the gospel, they chose to selfishly shut their ears and heart to it and stop it any way they could. They spoke out against the gospel (“contradicting”) and “blasphemed” or tried to defame Jesus.
When the gospel is preached and a person hears it they can either surrender to the Lord and confess their sins receiving forgiveness for their sins, based on the sin-bearing work of Jesus on the cross (2 Corinthians 5:21), or they can protect themselves and try to save “self.” A person can reject the gospel because they don’t want to change, they don’t want to leave their sinfulness. They prefer to not only sin for a season, but also live in sin. They can reject the Spirit’s overtures and chose to live with their self-ruling on the throne of their heart. Such a decision is fatal spiritually and results in eternal loss and a destiny of hell if persisted in. There is an alternative, however.
Some Chose the Spirit
The Gentiles who heard the word of God and “were glad and glorified the word of the Lord”, these received and were filled with the truth and grace of God conveyed by the Spirit through the apostles and became disciples. They didn’t just go forward and line up at an altar this one time, but what is implied is that they gave their hearts and lives fully to Jesus and started a life as a disciple. A “disciple” is a learner, one who lives to learn more and more about Jesus, going deep with Him and serving Him all the rest of their lives. That is the aim of the Great Commission mentioned at the beginning of this section.
More particularly, they were filled to overflowing “with joy and with the Holy Spirit.” The Greek word which is translated “joy” here is CHARA (Strong’s #5479 – khar-ah´) which means, “cheerfulness,… calm delight…gladness,…exceeding joy.”188 Interestingly, this Greek term is related to another Greek term that is translated GRACE! (CHARIS – Strong’s #5485). They were filled to overflowing with the joy of the Spirit and that joy was the product of the GRACE of God!
Secondly, they were filled with the Holy Spirit. It was the Holy Spirit who brought the gracious joy of the Lord into their hearts and overflowed them with it. They received the Holy Spirit into their hearts at conversion (“they were glad and glorified the word of God. And as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed”). They were overflowed with the Holy Spirit when they were baptized with the Holy Spirit (“were filled…with the Holy Spirit”). This was an incredibly joyful and fulfilling experience. This brings us full circle, showing the impact of the Great Commission when shared in the power of the Spirit with people.
Now which would you prefer? You can choose self and be locked in bitter and fruitless fighting against God and His Spirit. Or you can surrender to the Spirit, be saved from your burden of sin by the Sin-bearer Jesus and filled with joy unspeakable and full of glory. Which will you choose? It’s up to you.
Conclusion
The Holy Spirit works in and through the local church. The local church is diverse and designed to be a place where worship is offered to God in spirit and truth. False prophets are the instruments of Satan to undermine the local church, but in the Spirit, (e.g., spiritual gifts) the church can find protection from such attacks. The Spirit has given an awesomely powerful tool to the church in His prophetic word. The word of God is the tool given by the Spirit to the local church to guide them in administering and sharing the good news of God’s gospel of grace.
I’d like to end this chapter with an illustration I received from a pastor friend of mine. The title of the illustration is “The Lord’s Baseball Team.”
The Lord's Baseball Team
Bob was caught up in the spirit where he and the Lord stood by to observe a baseball game. The Lord's team was playing Satan's team. The Lord's team was at bat, the score was tied zero to zero, and it was the bottom of the 9th inning with two outs. They continued to watch as a batter stepped up to the plate whose name was Love. Love swung at the first pitch and hit a single, because Love never fails. The next batter was named Faith, who also got a single because Faith works with Love. The next batter up was named Godly wisdom. Satan wound up and threw the first pitch; Godly Wisdom looked it over and let it pass, because Godly Wisdom does not swing at Satan's pitches. Ball one. Three more pitches and Godly Wisdom walked, because Godly wisdom never swings at Satan's throws. The bases were loaded. The Lord then turned to Bob and told him He was now going to bring in His star player. Up to the plate stepped Grace. Bob said he sure did not look like much! Satan's whole team relaxed when they saw Grace. Thinking he had won the game, Satan wound up and fired his first pitch. To the shock of everyone, Grace hit the ball harder than anyone had ever seen. But Satan was not worried; his center fielder, the Prince of the air, let very few get by. He went up for the ball, but it went right through his glove, hit him on the head and sent him crashing on the ground; then it continued over the fence for a home run! The Lord's team won. The Lord then asked Bob if he knew why Love, Faith, and Godly Wisdom could get on base but could not win the game. Bob answered that he did not know why. The Lord explained, “If your love, faith and wisdom had won the game, you would think you had done it by yourself. Love, faith, and wisdom will get you on base, but only My grace can get you home. My grace is the one thing Satan cannot stop.”
The Spirit acts through the local church and that local church is diverse, worshipful, and spiritually gifted. When the local church is Spirit-filled, God’s grace will flow in and through it to accomplish God’s will and Great Commission.
156 James Strong, New Strong’s Dictionary of Hebrew and Greek Words [computer file], electronic ed., Logos Library System, (Nashville: Thomas Nelson) 1997, ©1996.
157 John F. Walvoord, and Roy B. Zuck, The Bible Knowledge Commentary, (Wheaton, Illinois: Scripture Press Publications, Inc.) 1983, 1985.
158 James Strong, New Strong’s Dictionary of Hebrew and Greek Words [computer file], electronic ed., Logos Library System, (Nashville: Thomas Nelson) 1997, ©1996.
159 W. E. Vine, Merrill F. Unger and William White, Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words [computer file], electronic ed., Logos Library System, (Nashville: Thomas Nelson) 1997, ©1996.
160 James Strong, New Strong’s Dictionary of Hebrew and Greek Words [computer file], electronic ed., Logos Library System, (Nashville: Thomas Nelson) 1997, ©1996.
161 KJV Translation
162 James Strong, New Strong’s Dictionary of Hebrew and Greek Words [computer file], electronic ed., Logos Library System, (Nashville: Thomas Nelson) 1997, ©1996.
163 Jerry Falwell, executive editor; Edward E. Hinson and Michael Kroll Woodrow, general editors, KJV Bible Commentary [computer file], electronic ed., Logos Library System, (Nashville: Thomas Nelson) 1997, ©1994.
164 John F. Walvoord, and Roy B. Zuck, The Bible Knowledge Commentary, (Wheaton, Illinois: Scripture Press Publications, Inc.) 1983, 1985.
165 James Strong, New Strong’s Dictionary of Hebrew and Greek words [computer file], electronic ed., Logos Library System, (Nashville: Thomas Nelson) 1997, ©1996.
166 James Strong, New Strong’s Dictionary of Hebrew and Greek words [computer file], electronic ed., Logos Library System, (Nashville: Thomas Nelson) 1997, ©1996.
167 James Strong, New Strong’s Dictionary of Hebrew and Greek words [computer file], electronic ed., Logos Library System, (Nashville: Thomas Nelson) 1997, ©1996.
168 James Strong, New Strong’s Dictionary of Hebrew and Greek words [computer file], electronic ed., Logos Library System, (Nashville: Thomas Nelson) 1997, ©1996.
169 James Strong, New Strong’s Dictionary of Hebrew and Greek words [computer file], electronic ed., Logos Library System, (Nashville: Thomas Nelson) 1997, ©1996.
170 James Strong, New Strong’s Dictionary of Hebrew and Greek words [computer file], electronic ed., Logos Library System, (Nashville: Thomas Nelson) 1997, ©1996.
171 Dave Hunt When Will Jesus Come? (Eugene, Oregon: Harvest House Pub.) 1993. page 21.
172 Mark Eastman, The Search For Messiah, Costa Mesa, CA: The Word For Today, 1993) p. 80.
173 John O Muncaster, Jesus Historical Facts – Investigation of the Evidence, (Mission Viejo, CA 92691: Strong Basis To Believe, 1996) p. 14-15.
174 James Strong, New Strong’s Dictionary of Hebrew and Greek Words [computer file], electronic ed., Logos Library System, (Nashville: Thomas Nelson) 1997, ©1996.
175 James Strong, New Strong’s Dictionary of Hebrew and Greek Words [computer file], electronic ed., Logos Library System, (Nashville: Thomas Nelson) 1997, ©1996.
176 Chuck Smith, Why Grace Changes Everything, (Eugene, OR: Harvest House Pub.) 1994. page 22
177 Chuck Smith, Why Grace Changes Everything, (Eugene, OR: Harvest House Pub.) 1994. page 13
178 Ibid., page 13
179 P. L. Tan, 1996, ©1979. Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations: [A treasury of illustrations, anecdotes, facts and quotations for pastors, teachers and Christian workers]. Bible Communications: Garland TX
180 The Living Bible, (Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.) 1997.
181 Dave Hunt, What Love Is This? (Sisters, OR: Loyal Pubs., 2002) Pages 210-211
182 James Strong, New Strong’s Dictionary of Hebrew and Greek Words [computer file], electronic ed., Logos Library System, (Nashville: Thomas Nelson) 1997, ©1996.
183 A. T. Robertson, 1997. Word Pictures in the New Testament. Vol. V. © 1932, Vol. VI. © 1933 by Sunday School Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. (Ac 13:48). Logos Research Systems: Oak Harbor
184 Chuck Smith, Word For Today audiotape #8102 – transcript
185 James Strong, New Strong’s Dictionary of Hebrew and Greek Words [computer file], electronic ed., Logos Library System, (Nashville: Thomas Nelson) 1997, ©1996.
186 James Strong, New Strong’s Dictionary of Hebrew and Greek Words [computer file], electronic ed., Logos Library System, (Nashville: Thomas Nelson) 1997, ©1996.
187 James Strong, New Strong’s Dictionary of Hebrew and Greek Words [computer file], electronic ed., Logos Library System, (Nashville: Thomas Nelson) 1997, ©1996.
188 James Strong, New Strong’s Dictionary of Hebrew and Greek Words [computer file], electronic ed., Logos Library System, (Nashville: Thomas Nelson) 1997, ©1996.
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