Speak, be Patient, Discern

A football team was once playing the number one ranked team in the state.

The odds of them winning were very small. 

The other team’s defense was tough and intimidating.

This underdog team had a  running back that was a favorite with the fans.

His name was Calhoun. 

This running back was so popular the people would chant his name Calhoun.

That day the local coach had made the fans mad.

Calhoun was not getting the ball.

It seemed every play the QB dropped back and threw the ball.

He was not giving the ball to this favorite player-Calhoun.

The team was not doing well and were starting to loose badly.

The fans started to chant give the ball to Calhoun.

The QB dropped back again to pass and was sacked for an 8 yard loss

The chants go so loud the offense could not even talk in the huddle.

They kept chanting Give the ball to Calhoun.

Finally the QB had enough he came out of the huddle and motioned for the crowd to get silent.

He screamed out at the crowd- Calhoun doesn’t want the ball!!

Have you ever felt like Calhoun before?

Things are not going good and you just want to sit on the sideline of life.

Too tough that you want to stay on the sideline. 

Sometimes dissapointments or bad experiences make you want to quit.

I once had a wise football coach that told us something.

We lost a very hard fought game.  We played our bitter rival in high school and we lost because of a missed extra point.

It was a tough tough loss and I remember being very dejected.

He told me that life would be like that some times

He told me no matter how hard you play – you win some and you loose some.

Paul and Barnabas will experience this on the missionary trail.

They will experience great success but also experience great rejection.

Our text today tells us about how the Gospel was accepted by some and rejected by others.

So far in our study of Acts we have looked in depth at the 1^st missionary journey of Paul and Barnabas.

Today we find Paul and Barnabas at a place called Iconium. 

They are doing their typical method of going to the Jewish Synagogue first to preach the Gospel. 

 

Acts 14: 1-4

1 In Iconium they entered the synagogue of the Jews together , and spoke in such a manner that a large number of people believed, both of Jews and of Greeks. 2 But the Jews who disbelieved stirred up the minds of the Gentiles and embittered them against the brethren. 3Therefore they spent a long time there speaking boldly with reliance upon the Lord, who was testifying to the word of His grace, granting that signs and wonders be done by their hands. 4But the people of the city were divided ; and some sided with the Jews, and some with the apostles.

Do you notice the two groups of people presented by the passage.

1)    People that believed – both Jews and Greeks

Great preaching was taking place and people were accepting the message of the Gospel and being saved.

2)    The other groups of people were the opposition, the ones that we learned about last week that were jealous of the success of the Gospel.

 

They were stirring up opposition and trying to keep people from accepting the Gospel message.

 

3)    Notice that the city was divided.  Some believed and some didn’t

Paul and Barnabas experienced success and rejection.  Both in Iconium.

Today I think we can learn something about the nature of the Gospel and the nature of people in relation to the Gospel message. 

Some will accept and some will reject this message

We even see this after Christ had risen from the dead and appeared to people in the Gospels.

One such place that we see this is in the Great Commision.

Many times we miss this in the passage.

Matthew 28: 16-20

16 But the eleven disciples proceeded to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had designated. 17 When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some were doubtful. 18 And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.19"Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,20teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always , even to the end of the age."

Notice that when people saw Him – some believed – the Worshipped Jesus.

They Worshipped Him as God.

Others doubted.

Now imagine – Here is the risen Christ – the nail scars in his hands – walking around from the dead and some are doubtful

Should you be surprised when people reject the Gospel message today?

Should you get tore up and upset if people reject your teaching or sharing of your faith.

They even did so to Christ after He had been risen from the dead.

But here is the good news for us a human beings.

Even though people can be hard hearted and slow to faith – God cares

God wants all men to come to repentance.

Out of His love – he wants us to accept salvation and be saved. 

I Tim. 2:4-6 "God wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men."

 

II Pet. 3:9 "The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance."

Even though we might experience rejection in sharing our faith for people we still must care about the lost.

We still must share our faith with others.

We need to pray and strive to have a heart for the lost because God has a heart for the lost.

How do we get God’s heart for people?

 It doesn’t happen overnight and sometimes it never happens

Only as we allow the Lord to work in us will we get His heart and His compassion for people. If we don’t work at our faith, it won’t come.

PROP.- From our text, let’s think about how to win some people to Christ.

1- Speak effectively

2- Give people time

3- Discern those with faith

I. SPEAK EFFECTIVELY

1At Iconium Paul and Barnabas went as usual into the Jewish synagogue. There they spoke so effectively that a great number of Jews and Gentiles believed.

ILL.- It is said that three essentials for a good speaker are:

1- stand up 2- speak up 3- shut up (know when to shut up). And the same is true when it comes to evangelizing someone.

ILL.- During a five-year apprenticeship in a small retail store, Marshall Field quickly developed a reputation as a courteous, eager-to-please man with a smooth sales technique.

 Several years later in Chicago, Field was walking through his own store and overheard a clerk arguing with a customer.

 “What are you doing?” Field asked. “I’m settling a complaint,” he replied.

 “No, you’re not,” Field corrected. “Give the lady what she wants.” This phrase became a company motto, and is still used as a slogan.

The Bible speaks to how we talk to those that are unbelievers.

It is important how we talk and share our faith with people.

Col. 4:5-6 "Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone."

 

I Pet. 3:15 "But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect."

We need to be thoughtful and prepared in our speaking.

We should be gentle, full of grace, and respectful when we share our faith.

This is tough for me sometimes.

It is never to be argumentative or confrontational.

When it starts to become confrontational we need to walk away from that type of discussion.

When we share our faith the other person’s soul needs to be foremost on our mind.

Also what should be foremost on our mind is this question – Am I being an ambassador for Christ?

There they (Paul and Barnabas) spoke so effectively that a great number of Jews and Gentiles believed.

How can we learn to speak more effectively for Christ? First of all, we just need to think before we speak. And before that we need to pray, Lord help me lead this person to you.

Lord give me the strength of will and give me the love in my heart to share my faith with this person.

II. GIVE PEOPLE TIME

ILL.- One wife prayed this way: I pray for -

Wisdom - to understand my man;

Love - to forgive him;

Patience - for his moods;

Because, Lord if I pray for strength, I’ll beat him to death. Amen.

When it comes to dealing with some people it is sometimes very hard to demonstrate patience, especially when we expect change faster than it comes.

Some girls marry certain guys thinking he’ll change after they get married.

 WRONG! If there is a change for the better, it sure won’t happen overnight.

Patience, love, understanding, and faith will change a person in time. But it may take time.

Allison believed she would change me overnight from the Cro-Magnon cave man that I was before we married and as you can tell the work is still in progress.

ILL.- I read about a 4 year old staying with his Grandma and he said, "Grandma, I want `unch’." She said, "You want what?"

"I want `unch’." She said, "You mean, you want lunch!" "Yes, I want `unch’."

Grandma said, "I’m not going to give it to you until you say it correctly. Now, what do you want?"

 "I want `unch’."

She said, "Say it right, what do you want?" He finally looked at her in exasperation and said, "Grandma, read my ’ips’!"

It takes patience to raise children. This is something that ALL parents deal with. We may think in regard to our children: "When are they ever going to grow up and think like I do?"

We must have patience and tolerance with people that are coming to faith in Christ and people that are babes in Christ.

You cant expect a non-believer to behave a like a Christian and you certainly cannot expect a new Christian to behave like a mature Christian.

ILL.- Someone put it this way:

Patience is the trait that displays tolerance, compassion, understanding, and acceptance toward those who are slower than you in developing maturity, emotional freedom, and coping abilities.

In Verse 3 of Acts 14 we see that Paul and Barnabas spent considerable time.

They labored over an extended time period because they cared about these people. 

ILL.- The Japanese businessmen excel at judging public reaction to a product that has not yet been introduced.

Before they manufacture or introduce a product, they use a lot of observation (called “soft research”).

One Japanese firm will send an employee to study at Harvard for a year.

 They expect him to be acquainted with American life, go to Sunday dinners, and socialize with friends.

They made no secret about their being here to learn more about the States.

When they go home, all that information is fed back into a report for corporate study.

The Japanese have a saying: “The customer is king.” It goes a step beyond the American sales slogan: “The customer is always right.”

 

It sounds to me like the Japanese are extremely interested in studying people in order to be able to sell their products.

Selling Christ to some people won’t happen overnight. It may take years to convince some people of their need for Christ.

Sometimes leading people to Christ comes in God’s good time.

It may come through preaching, patience and prayers.

II Pet. 3:9 "The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance."

Since God is patient with people, we must learn to be.

Hopefully, we want people to come to Christ and be saved, but for some it may take a while. We must keep on praying and loving people.

III. DISCERN THOSE WITH FAITH

ILL.- A little girl had a dad who was a preacher.

She asked, “Daddy, how do you know what to preach on Sundays?”

“I read the Bible, pray, and God tells me,” responded the dad. “Then daddy, why do you crinkle up so many sheets of paper and toss them into the waste basket?”

Pretty discerning little girl.

And we all need discernment in life in order to function well, and make wise decisions and deal with people.

I have been on door knocking campaigns and sometimes it is very obvious when people don’t want to hear anything about the Bible or salvation.

WE did the WE Care Campaign in Birmingham once and it is a huge door knocking campaign.

It is coupled with TV ads, newspaper ads and a Gospel meeting.

We went into one apartment complex and I talked to some young men.

I asked them about their walk with the Lord. 

I asked them if the Lord were to return today would you be ready to meet Him.

One young man told me that he didn’t care and he knew he would bust Hell wide open  if there were even a Hell.

I could tell from that response that the door had been closed to the Gospel at that time.

I ended the conversation by asking him if we could pray for him or if he had any prayer requests or needs the church could need.

I could tell that he was not ready to listen.

Discernment in that case was pretty obvious. It’s like what someone said, "What part of ’no’ do you not understand?" Some things are easily discernible and some people are as well.

The rejection in Iconium got so great that Paul and Barnabas had to flee.

They had to leave the city and go to Lystra.

We pick back up with our text in Acts 14

Acts 14: 8-10

8 At Lystra a man was sitting who had no strength in his feet, lame from his mother's womb, who had never walked. 9This man was listening to Paul as he spoke, who, when he had fixed his gaze on him and had seen that he had faith to be made well, 10said with a loud voice, "Stand upright on your feet." And he leaped up and began to walk. Paul could see that this man had the faith to be healed. Can we see when dealing with people if they have the faith to be saved?

Do you notice that first of all this man in Lystra was listening to Paul

Paul notices that this person is receptive to the message.

Paul fixes his gaze on this man – He makes eye contact with this man.

He notices that this man has faith – this man believes and his heart is open to the Lord.

Paul uses discernment to see this in this man.

Paul notices that this man has enough faith to be healed.

ILL.- It is said that eye contact helps people in almost any walk of life.

 Salvation Army bell-ringers claim they almost always get a donation if they make eye contact with pedestrians.

Salespeople who use eye contact with customers generate more and larger sales.

 Hitchhikers stand a better chance of getting rides if they engage in eye contact with passing motorists.

Managers and executives who use their eyes when talking with their staffs open communications.

 And parents often find eyes the most effective means of scolding children.

 

And guess what? Eye contact helps in talking to people about Christ as well!

Keep your eyes open and heart in tune to people and you will discern their need for Christ.

Paul looks at this man and gives him his full attention.

When we are sharing the Gospel we must zero in and show the person that they are the most important thing in the universe at that second.

They need to know that we care about their soul and that everything else fades into the back ground.

Today I shared with you some practical things from the Bible that help us in sharing our faith.

1-    Speak effectively

 

2-     2- Give people time- be patient with them

 

3-     3- Discern those with faith. We need these things to be able to help lead people to a saving faith in Christ. However, here is the greatest thing we need.

 

Matthew 9:35-36 "Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd."

What we need more than anything is the heart of Jesus.

 

ILL.- It’s like the conversation between a young preacher and older preacher.

 The young preacher said, "I just love to preach."

The older preacher said, "yes, but do you love the people to whom you preach?"

There is a big difference.

The preaching of the Gospel is not a self centered endeavor – it is not about me winning an argument or me getting the high of leading someone to Christ.

No it is based on the love for the lost person.

You love them and you glorify God because they are saved.

Just like us they are forgiven- they were once lost but now found just like we are.

There once was a shepherd that lived in the Scottish highlands.

 This shepherd had a daughter and he would take her with him when he went out on the moors to take care of the sheep.

The thing that the little girl liked best was to hear the call of shepherd. His voice sounded so free and beautiful as carried across the valleys of the moors.

As the years passed the little girl became a beautiful young woman and went off to one of Scotland's great cities--Edinburgh or Glasgow.

 It was there that she was determined to build a life

On her arrival, she would write back home to her parents every week. But as life began to take her by the hand, her letters soon dropped off in their frequency and soon there were none.

Rumors begin to filter back home to that shepherd and his wife that their daughter had started hanging out with some unsavory characters and they were having a very negative influence on her life.

One day one of the boys from back home ran into her in the city streets and she acted as if she did not even know him. When the old shepherd heard this, he gathered a few things together and dressed in his rough shepherd’s clothes went to the city to find his daughter.

For days on end he looked for her. He looked everywhere; the slums, the rows of houses, the markets, the taverns, and everywhere in between to no avail.

So after all of this searching he became very discouraged with the thought that he had lost his daughter to the evil city.

As he started the long trek back home, just as he was on the outskirts of the city, he remembered that his daughter had always loved to hear the voice of the shepherd calling out to the sheep.

So he turned around and on this quest motivated by his sorrow and his love, he began to stalk the streets. His voice rang out the shepherds call.

 The citizens of the city all looked at him as if he had lost his wits.

 It wasn’t too long as he walked the streets of one of the degraded neighborhoods that inside of one of those houses, his daughter sitting among the vermin who had led her astray, heard his voice.

With great astonishment on her face, she heard that call of the voice of the shepherd, the voice of her father calling out to her.

 She leaped up and rushed out to the street and ran into the arms of that old shepherd, her father. It was then that he took her back home to the highlands of Scotland and brought her back to God and to decency and modesty.

We need to love the lost like this shepherd loved his daughter’s soul

People need to hear the voice of the shepherd.

John 10:11

11"I am the good shepherd ; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.

People need to hear about this good shepherd that Lays down his life for His sheep.

There are lost sheep out there that need to be brought back to the fold because they are in danger.