Turn with me to the book of Acts,
Acts 18. You know, it's an amazing thing that we come together and
just the reading of the Scripture is just such a a hallowedness
about that. You read these things and you think, I don't perceive the
depth of what I'm hearing. But I know that this is indescribable
wisdom. I pray the Lord might give us
some tonight. If we come away from here And
there's just something, just a nugget. You know, be here 25,
30 minutes. If you walk away from here when
it's just one thing you heard and it's stuck with you and you're
able to hang on to that, boy, it's worth it. Acts 18. I'm going to start in
a moment. verse 18, Acts 18, 18. And having been providentially delivered
from the hand of the Jews at Athens, the Apostle Paul, the scripture
says, waited upon the Lord. in the place that God had left
him. That's what verse 18 says. And Paul, after this, after the
dealings with Gallio, the deputy, remember the last time we looked
at that, God raised up this deputy. And he was an honorable man. He's fair. And the Lord used
that man. Gave him the disposition that
he did. raised him up and put him in
that position where he was as the deputy of that province so
that when Paul was brought before him by those Jews that was trying
to run him out of town, God used that deputy to deliver Paul. He had told Paul, nobody's going
to hurt you. I'm going to take care of you. And the Scripture
says, Paul, after this, tarried there yet a good while." He continued
in the place for, it's actually a great while. Some say it could
have been up to two years. Scripture doesn't say. It's a
long time. A great while. And it wasn't that the apostle
was doing nothing when he tarried there. He was waiting on the
Lord. Actually expecting. I love that
definition of that word, wait. Wait on the Lord. I've said before,
it's so hard when you don't know what to do. You've got a decision. Somebody here tonight, you've
got a decision he's going to have to make. I don't know what
it is. I'm just throwing out. I just
know this is the way it is with me, you know. You've got to make
a decision. What do you do? Well, my dad
used to jokingly say, that's not good advice. He'd say, we're
going to do something if it's wrong. And if that's your attitude,
it probably will be. Wait on the Lord. Wait on His
providence. Wait on the conviction of the
Spirit of God to your heart. Wait. If you don't know what
to do, don't do anything. Just wait. You say, but I've
got to do something. No, you don't. Waiting is doing
something. Waiting is expecting from God. David said in Psalm 25, 5, Lead
me in thy truth and teach For thou art the God of my salvation,
on thee do I wait all the day." Waiting on the Lord is the full
expectation and the assurance of God's control. By nature, we're going to take
the bull by the horn, Brother Scott, and do something. We're
going to get something going here. That's usually the wrong
thing. I'll just about tell you. The
believer waits because he knows that the Lord works all things
after the counsel of his own will. Boy, we forget that. I'm the world's worst. You'd
think, Carl, after I've studied, And of all the people the preacher
would know, I'm the world's worst. Something happens, you know. Checking account doesn't always
balance. What are we going to do? We're going to cut back where
we can. I can tell you that. That's what
we're going to do. We ain't going to do this no more. Let's do
this. What are you going to do? You're going to wait. Wait on
the Lord. Wait. Something, you know. But having
tarried as long as Paul the Apostle felt at the Lord's guidance in
Providence where he was. The Scripture says, "...he took
leave. He tarried there yet a while, and then took leave of the brethren,
and sailed thence into Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila
having shorn his head in Centuria, for he had a vow." He bid farewell
to the brethren. Boy, I tell you what, that's
a tough thing to do. Be somewhere where there's some
folks and you've been able to fellowship with them, and there's
nothing that's sweeter than being able to fellowship with the Lord's
people. Being able to fellowship, just
talk with them, because what they've got to say His life. Two believers get together. I've
said this before. They're going to talk for a few
minutes about this, that, and the other. But you watch. Before
it's over, they're going to go right back to their first love.
That's what they're going to talk about. But Paul felt compelled
to leave. He had been there just as long
as he could. And I tell you, there's a nature
in a believer, though, that's going to go where they believe
God wants them to be. That's a good answer. If you're
trying to do something, trying to make a decision, and you know
there's going to be times that folks will doubt what you're
doing. They're going to question what
you're doing. But if in your heart you believe this is truly
what the Lord would have you to do, And that's just going
to be an answer that you're going to have to answer for yourself.
I know that a lot of times, you know, we'll weigh all the circumstances
and we'll look at this and we'll one way or the other. But truly,
only a believer knows in his heart, this is what I believe
I've got to do. When I came here, that's what
I did. I struggled. I struggled with
this. long time, you know, and went
through quite a few months there where I absolutely had no indication
whatsoever, as far as I was concerned, unless I truly felt in my heart
it was the right thing to do to come to West Virginia. I was
going to stay in Franklin, and I just, you know, I had no one
way or the other. What are you going to do? I don't
know. Well, what are you doing? Asking the Lord, pray about it.
But I'm telling you, just all over a period of days, really,
I mean, just all of a sudden I noticed, you know what? That's
where I've got to go. And once I'd established that
in my mind, it's done. What are you going to do? I'm
going. Why? Because this is what I believe
the Lord had me to do. Paul, he tarried there a good
while and then he took his leave of the brethren. He sailed and
he went to Syria. He went to Syria and he had Priscilla
and Aquila and Priscilla and Aquila having gone with him. Now when you read this, and I
read this, that passage right there over and over and over
and even looked at the punctuation, how the punctuation was to figure
out Who was he talking about? Was he talking about Paul made
a vow or Aquila made a vow? Well, I truthfully believe that
it was Aquila had made a vow. He had made this vow and he had
shaved his head. And it was a custom. Now, I'm
going to, in Acts 21, you don't have to turn there, I'm just
going to tell you right now. In Acts 21, this issue right here
came up, and it was a pretty heavy issue. And it was about
a group of men that had made a vow. And James came to Paul,
and he said, Paul, we've got a problem. We've got some fellows
over here that are believers, but they hold strongly to the
traditions of the law. They made a vow, and I'm going
to tell you something, Paul. A lot of people know your stand
on the law and how it's not by the works of the law. And Paul,
we're going to have to do something to settle this thing down. I'll
just leave it right there. I won't go any farther. But I'm
telling you, in Acts 21, this became a real issue right here.
But here was a man named Aquila. And what he had done is he had
made a vow. Now let me just say this concerning
what this man did, because I'm going to tell you right now.
You go and read it in chapter 21. Paul went along with them
on this vow that they had done. And he helped them out. And I tell you, a lot of folks,
he took a lot of flack, you know. But the bottom line is this. I noticed in the Scripture that
the Spirit of God didn't reprimand him. If the Spirit of God would
have said, and this he did out of the fear of the Jews or something
like that, I would have had something to go on. But where God didn't
reprimand him, I'm going to have to do, like I asked Brother Scott
about something like this one time in Scripture, about something
that Paul did. And this was Brother Scott's
answer. He said, well, I think I'm most going to go along with
whatever the Apostle Paul did. and feel as though the Spirit
of God was the one leading him and directing him to do that.
I thought, that's a good answer. Why don't I just go along with
what the Scripture says, and we'll leave it at that. But this
man had made a vow. Now, under the Old Testament
dispensation, whenever someone would make a vow, what they're
going to do is they're going to make a promise to God. And
with that promise, there was an act that they would do. Shave their heads is what Aquila
did. He shaved his head, and it was
a sign that he had made a vow to God. It doesn't say what the
vow was, but he made a vow to the Lord. And I'm trying to not
get into chapter 21 right now, really, believe me. But he had
made a vow to the Lord. And when he made that vow, that
was a promise, it was an oath, that he was going to do what
he said he was going to do or he was going to suffer the penalty
of it. Now, that's basically what it was. It was a vow. And
somebody would say, well, you know, over in chapter 21, they'll
say, well, now, wait a minute, that's of the law, making a vow. That was Old Testament, you know,
and why in the world would you do that? Well, let me ask you
something. Do we not do this every day?
Make a vow. If I go down to the bank and
I borrow $1,000, and they put a piece of paper out in front
of me, and they said, now you're going to have to sign this right
here. They say, well now don't, I'd
say don't you think my words good enough? No. No, I don't. You're going to have to sign
that piece of paper right there. I'm going to have it in writing that you promise to pay
back this money. Okay? You know what that is?
That's a vow. If I come up to you, I tell you,
Brother Scott, you want me to do so and so, you got my hand
on it right there. I'll give you my hand on that. You know
what that is? That's a vow. I promised you. I promised you. That's a vow. This man, and I'm
not saying that this wasn't a practice in the Old Testament under the
law. I'm not saying it. It was. But I'm going to tell you something.
We do the same thing now. I promise. I promise. The Lord,
because He could swear by no higher, swore by Himself. It was a promise. Now, I may
have a problem keeping my promise, but God doesn't. But this man
made a promise to God. Paul, he left where he was. He sailed with Priscilla and
Aquila, her husband. And this man, Aquila, having
shorn his head, for he had made a vow. Now, Paul dealt with this
man very wisely. You know, I'll tell you what,
I think that we could learn that there's a lot of things that
may be questionable concerning what people do. But if it's not
something when it comes to the issue of my salvation or my justification
before God or the establishment of a righteousness, be real careful
how quickly you jump on somebody. for something that they're doing.
If it's not a matter of salvation, this man made a promise to the
Lord. He felt in his heart, and I'm
telling you right now, this goes back to the Old Testament. You
can go back to Exodus and Leviticus and you'll find out. They shave
their head. I mean, you know, that was their
sign. I made a vow to the Lord. I promised. But Paul knew if this man was
in error, We're not told anything. But Paul didn't say anything
to him. And if the Apostle Paul didn't
say anything to him, I'll tell you what I think. I think that
the Spirit of God so directed Paul not to say anything to him.
Paul knew that if this man, and I'm speaking in terms right now,
I know of ifs and possibly and stuff. because I know that what
he was doing was associated with the law. But let me ask you this.
Timothy's circumcision, wasn't that also? Paul the Apostle felt
that Timothy, in order to be accepted by believing Jews so
that they would have no problem whatsoever listening to this
Gentile preach, Paul circumcised him. And the Spirit of God did
not say anything, didn't reveal anything that Paul had done anything
wrong. Pray that God give us some wisdom
on how to deal with people on issues. Whatever it is, eating
meat, whatever, whatever, be careful how you deal with the
brethren. If there's some old grave clothes,
that needs to be gotten rid of, God will teach them. That's what
you told me. I asked Brother Scott one day.
Y'all would be surprised how much I ask him. Y'all think I
come up with all this? I get most of this from him,
you know. I asked him, I said, Brother Scott, what do you think
about that? He said, Lord, teach them. Leave them alone. Just
preach and leave them alone. I thought, why didn't I think
of that? He came, verse 19, to Ephesus. And he left them there. But he
himself entered into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews. Now
Paul, upon reaching Ephesus, determined that at least for
a while that it would be better for him to leave Aquila and Priscilla
there at that place. And he reasoned with the Jews
just like he always did. Now he had been mistreated, badly
mistreated. where he was before in Athens.
Every place that he had been, if you'll notice, he would go
in and there would be some, a few believers. Most of them mistreated
him. Most of them got on to him. Most
of them made light of him. Most of them despised Paul and
the God that Paul preached and served. But for those that lacked, for
those few. Out of all of the multitudes
that got on to Him and laughed at Him and scorned Him and wanted
to run Him out of town and beat Him and this, that and the other,
for God's elect, those that He had everlastingly loved, it was
worth it. Was it worth it for you that
God raised up a preacher and that you heard the gospel? of
all of the ridicule that has been taken by Brother Scott over
the years for him not to say, well, I'm going back to Kentucky. I'm going to go back to Tennessee.
I'm going somewhere else. But I'm not staying here. That
God would leave a man, put a man in place and call this one out
and that one out. That's what happened. Paul went
in and reasoned. there with the Jews. And the
Scripture says in verse 20, When they desired him to tarry longer
time with him, he consented not. Now, whether or not that was
Priscilla and Aquila asking him to stay, or it was some that
were there that had heard him preach, whoever it was, it was
a true sign of God's mercy that any of them wanted him to stay.
Because without the grace of God, upon a person they don't
want to hear. They absolutely don't care what
you have to say, but some of them wanted him to stay. But
verse 21, but he bade them farewell, saying, I must by all means keep
this feast that cometh in Jerusalem, but I will return again unto
you if God will. And he sailed from Ephesus. Now,
the Scripture again, This is one of the things I noticed about
this passage of Scripture that I was dealing with. There is
so much that we're not told. We don't know. We don't know
exactly how long Paul stayed. It was a good while in verse
18. We know that Aquila had shorn
his head because he made a vow and the Scriptures is pretty
silent on Anything that was said about it? He came to Ephesus
and he left Priscilla and Aquila there. We're not told why. Paul felt it was the best thing
to do. He went into the synagogue and
he reasoned with the Jews. And how long he was there, I
don't know. But then he felt it was time
to go. And some of them asked him to
stay, but he wouldn't. That was unusual, you know. I
mean, here they're wanting him to stay and preach, but for some
reason, the Spirit of God moved him. And then in verse 21, he
bade them farewell, and he said, I must by all means keep this
feast that cometh in Jerusalem. Which feast? We don't know. Why must? Why must you keep the feast? We don't know. We're not told. There was no explanation for
Paul's reason for not staying in Ephesus any longer. There
was no explanation given why he had to go. This is what he
told them. He said, I must by all means
keep this feast that cometh in Jerusalem. You know the secret
things. Belong to God. Why did God raise you up like
He did, Gary? I don't know. Why does He make
one a hand? Why does He make one a foot?
Why does He make one an ear? Why is one...? Why? Why? Because it seemed good in His
sight. He doesn't have to give a count. to any. The angels, the stars,
the angels he counts with folly. He gives no account whatsoever
of his dealings, but his people know whatever he does, it's right
because he did it. It's good, for so it seemed good
in your sight. And that is so comforting to
me, because I don't understand what the Lord is doing is okay. Why? Because He knows what He's
doing. You ever had your mom or daddy
ask them why this was the answer? Because I said so. Good enough. I settled it. I must by all means keep this
feast that cometh in Jerusalem, but I will Return again unto
you. Oh, I like this. If God will. Turn over to James
4. Boy, I tell you what. Do we not make plans like there's
no tomorrow? James 4. You've read this. James
4, verse 13. Go to now, ye that say, Today
or tomorrow, we will go into such a city and continue there
a year and buy and sell and get gain. Now, boy, have you ever
heard? Listen to people. People are
so dogmatic in what they say they're going to do. What are
you going to do? Well, we're going to so-and-so
and so-and-so. We're going to take this over here, and we're
going to buy this, and I'm going to do this. And what we're going to do, I'm
going to do this, that, and the other, and then I'm going to
take this, Do this. And in my mind, I think about
this Scripture right here. How do you know? How do you know? How do you know? Look, the Scripture says, verse
14, Whereas you know not what shall be on the morrow, for what
is your life? It is even a vapor that appeareth
for a little time, then vanisheth away. For that you ought to say,
If the Lord will, we shall live and do this or do that. That's
the speech of a believer. If God wills, if the Lord wills,
we'll meet here next Sunday. If the Lord wills, my mama is
supposed to be here, Lord willing, next Tuesday. You're going to
go get her if the Lord wills. How long is she going to stay?
Well, if the Lord wills, a month. See, I mean, a believer, you
can't hardly speak of anything emphatically without the respect
that is due God in acknowledging His will. Why? Because He doeth
as He will in the armies of heaven. The army of heaven and among
the inhabitants of the earth. moves his hand, I'm going to
do this whether or not the Lord wills or not. No, you're not, if the Lord wills. That's what
Paul said. I'll come back to you. I've got
to go. I've got to go to Jerusalem. I've got to keep this feast.
I wondered about that. I mean, I thought, what feast,
Paul? What feast must he keep? I thought of all the things.
Well, there was a feast of the Passover, you know, the Feast of the Tabernacles. You know, I thought it was all
a feast. I thought, what feast is he talking
about? Well, the Lord just wasn't pleased
to tell us. But obviously, it was something
that Paul felt he had to do. But I will return unto you if
God will. And he sailed to Ephesus, That
was the bottom line. We are presumptuous and we're
disrespectful when we assume anything other than the good
pleasure of Almighty God. Verse 22 and 23, And when he
had landed at Caesarea and gone up and saluted the church, he
went down to Antioch. And after he had spent some time
there, he departed and he went over all the country of Galatia
and Persia in order, strengthening all the disciples. You know,
Caesarea was that port that Paul landed at on his journey to Jerusalem. That's what he did. He said,
I've got to go to Jerusalem. I'll come back if the Lord wills. And he sailed. He left. He left
Ephesus and he landed at Caesarea. That was his access to go to
Jerusalem. And that's all we're told. That's
all we're told about that trip is that when he had gone up,
he saluted the church. He said, I'm going to Jerusalem
to attend the feast. Maybe it was the feast of them
worshiping together. Maybe it was the the hearing
of the gospel? I don't know. But he went up
and he saluted the church. And then he went down to Antioch.
Scriptures are silent on much of the travels of Paul during
that time. We just assume that Paul was
acting in obedience to the Lord's command. You know, I think about... I've been here this... I was
telling you this the other day. July the 20th. When did you love the 21st time
we were here first time? I think he was moved here. I
preached that was right in that time. But I moved here five years,
five years that I've been here. Now, I can just sum up five years
right now, just tell you five years. But how many how many
details were there between when I first came here and right now
that as far as I can tell, were of themselves pretty insignificant. What did you do? Well, I got
up, I ate breakfast, I came down to the church, went over to Carl
Ive Lou's. You know, there's a lot of things
that were left unknown about Paul's travels and moving. The Spirit of God was pleased
to just tell us. But I know this, after he had
gone up to Jerusalem, saluted the church, he went down to Antioch. And Antioch was a city where
the Lord was pleased to raise up a lighthouse of truth. Turn back to Acts 11.25, and
I'll close. Acts 11.25, 26. Then departed
Barnabas. to Tarsus for to seek Saul. And
when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass that a whole
year they assembled themselves with the church and taught much
people, and the disciples were called Christians first at Antioch." You know, the title, Christians,
back then, by and large, when someone was called a Christian,
that was a slur. It was a title that was not given
in good light. Most people that called Christians,
they were putting them down for what they were doing. But what
a title. What a badge of honor to be called
a Christian, a little Christ, a believer. Here the apostle
returned back to do exactly what his master had told him to do.
This is where Paul first went. He found him there in Antioch,
and he comes back full circle to this place, doing, turn to
Matthew 28, exactly what his master had told him to do. Matthew 28, 19. and twenty. Go ye therefore and
teach, make disciples, is what that word means. Teach, make disciples. Go ye
therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of
the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them
to observe All things whatsoever I have commanded you, and lo,
I am with you always, even to the end of the world." That's
second teaching right there. It's a different word. First
teaching means make disciples. Second teaching in verse 20 means
instruct them. Instruct them. Isn't it wonderful? We come here tonight. And you know, some of you have
been here As long as brother Scott's been here, Glenn, I know
you and Gene have. Glenn and Gene was the first
two people that brother Scott baptized here in this church. How long have they been believers? A long time. But do you know
what? You're never at a point to where
you don't need to be instructed. We need to be taught. We need
to come together because this is the feast. This is a feast. This is the eating of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Spiritually eating and drinking
of Him. God's people hunger and thirst
after righteousness. They want to hear it. They want
to hear Him proclaimed. They long for the Spirit of God
to bless the Word to their heart They walk away and they say,
you know what? It's been good to have been in
the house of the Lord. It's been good. Lord, you've
blessed me tonight. Thank you. That's what you prayed.
Thank you. Thank you for letting us be here. Years before, Barnabas found
Paul in Antioch. And God raised up some people. In all of these years, time passed. Paul comes right back. And the
Lord's pleased to use the mouthpiece of that preacher and teach him
and instruct him. That's where God's people are
said to grow in grace. As I said, there's no growing
of the grace of God. God's grace is God's grace. I'm
telling you, all of the grace of God that you're ever going
to have, you got. But growing in it, growing in
it and maturing in it. Look at your child, your little
children, you know. Were they really alive when they
were born? Yeah. Are they ever going to
be any more alive than they are? No. They're just as alive as
they're ever going to be. But look how they grow. Look
how they mature. Look how you taught them. Don't
do that. Come here. I was listening to
Gabe, my son. I called him the other day and
he was talking to me and I heard him say, Isabella, no, no. Then he said, no, not that either.
Evidently, I don't do that. Can I do this? We need to be
instructed. Paul taught him, doing what his
master told him to do. I pray the Lord continue to teach
us here. Help us. I love being here. I love the
Lord drawing us together. It's been a good night, and I've
enjoyed it. I've enjoyed it with you and
with His presence. Okay, Gary, why don't you lead
us in a closing?