Turning Our World Right-Side Up

What It Will Take to Impact OUR World

Acts 16 & 17

 

Pastor Craig Ledbetter

17 Oct, 2010   AM

Bible Baptist Church, Ballincollig, Cork, Ireland

www.biblebc.com

 

I.       Introduction (Acts 17:6) “These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also”

 

A.     What a statement!

 

1.      TWO men, Paul and Silas were guilty of not just upsetting the world they lived in, but changing the world they lived in

2.      Is anyone in here today GUILTY of such a thing? Well, we should be!

 

B.     Being a Christian meant something back then! Christians were doing something – not “blending in” but moulding and shaping the world around them!

C.     Our world is still darkened by sin, full of superstition, and the fear of death, and hopelessly lost in error, so it desperately needs to be turned “upside down.”

D.     Although people viewed Paul and the others who preached the Gospel as "these that have turned the world upside down", what God's servants were really doing was putting the world right.

E.      But HOW?

 

1.      How did the Christians in the First Century turn their world upside down?

2.      Just what did these two, unarmed, unimposing men do that was turning their world upside down and inside out? We are going to explore HOW, all this month!

 

II.    Background

 

A.     Last time, I told you that no one can affect this world for God until THEY THEMSELVES have been turned upside down!

B.     Last time I showed you that the world gets turned upside-down same way it ALWAYS has… By Personal Conversion (Acts 9:1-6, 19-21)!

 

1.      Saul was a religious zealot, torturing and killing people who did not agree with him

2.      He was actually hunting down this new sect called Christians, and was getting them killed

3.      But then one day, He met Jesus! The Man who Saul had seen crucified and dead on a cross, was both seen, and heard, and proved to be very much alive now!

4.      And from that moment, Saul’s life was turned upside down!

 

a.       Where once he hated Christians, now he only hated the devil!

b.      Where once he hunted believers in Jesus, he only hunted lost souls so he could tell them about the love of God and the way back to Him

c.       Where once he so firmly believed he was right about his religion, he now humbled himself and started relearning everything from the start so that Jesus is right!

d.      Saul of Tarsus was truly converted

e.       As was Peter, and Thomas, and the demon possessed man of Gadara!

 

5.      The Gospel “turns” people:

 

a.       Turns people back to God instead of turning your back to God! That’s what REPENTANCE is  – “turn ye at my reproof” (Pr 1:23; Ps 22:27)

b.      Turns people’s hearts towards HOME (Lk 1:16,17; Mal 4:6)

c.       Turns people inside out – makes them REAL, honest, simple, no layers any more – no more lies, or deception

 

C.     So, if you want to really turn this world around, you must be born again yourself!

D.     Conversion is the key word!

E.      This Morning, we will look at the Other Things that God gives us to turn our world upside down

 


III. Message – Turning Our World Right-Side Up

 

A.     We Need a Spiritual Routine (Acts 16:13-15)

 

1.      Prayer – felt the need to pray – they were used to praying always, everywhere, but especially when they sensed a spiritual battle coming up!

2.      Witnessing – naturally just talking to people about the resurrected Saviour of the world!

3.      Discipleship – not leaving people to “fend for themselves” but teaching them, baptizing them, and getting them bound together in a church, learning and living by the Bible

4.      What is your “routine” like?

 

a.       Bible reading – 10 chapters a day

b.      Praying about everything, good, and bad, easy times and hard times, needs and blessing!

c.       Church all day on the Lord’s Day

d.      Involved in a ministry

e.       Soul-winning

 

5.      This routine in these two men’s lives will be the source of all the victories that they experience for the rest of their lives. When our walk with God takes second and third place behind laziness, and fears, and busyness, then our world gets a very dim light, and very little effect!

6.      We Need Consistency in our Christian Lives (Acts 20:22-24)

 

a.       Once Paul started living for God, and started letting his light so shine, and started tasting like SALT, he never looked back!

b.      Most people only see religious fads come and go

c.       They only see experiments

d.      But when they see us stay the course, and just keep praying, and keep reading our Bibles through, time after time, and getting more and more committed (instead of less and less), it will affect our world!

 

B.     We Need A Satanic Enemy (Acts 16:16-19a)

 

1.      Not that we go looking for demons… But that we need to keep our focus on fighting ONLY spiritual enemies

 

a.       Our enemy is not the people who misunderstand the Gospel, or the Bible

b.      Our enemy has no flesh or blood – so quite fighting flesh and blood!

c.       Our enemy is the devil and his demons (Eph 6:12)

 

2.      We Have Demonic Enemies

 

a.       Paul and Silas are preaching the need for people to turn from idols to the true and living God, and explaining how to walk with Jesus, when a demon possessed woman starts mocking them, and parroting what they preached – it was very distracting, and people were confused

b.      That’s when Paul rebukes the DEMONS – not her – and on the spot she is changed

c.       Up until that moment

 

1)      She was a great advertisement for idol worship

2)      She attracted people to the purchase of icons and religious trinkets and prayer cards and statues

3)      The religious temples were full because of her lifestyle

4)      But then something happened – the demons were gone from her heart and life

5)      And BOY was that town never the same!

 

3.      You are not going to fix our world unless you take on the spiritual realm which is the force behind our world’s problems

 

a.       Through believing prayer

b.      Through the force of the word of God

c.       Through wrestling with darkness and lies with the truth of God’s word

d.      Christians only know how to fight and wrestle one another – there is a much larger enemy to take on – TAKE THEM ON (John 16:33; James 4:7)

4.      Test yourself…

 

a.       When people are mocking you, parroting you, and making fun of your Christian life, know that your spiritual enemy has been stirred up, and is agitated, and upset!!! AMEN

b.      If no one is upset with your way of living and talking, then you are not doing the right job!

 

C.     We Need A Shattered Economy (Acts 16:19-23)

 

1.      The entire local economy was based upon the sale of idols and religious icons – it is like that is most small villages around the world!

2.      And the best sales-woman of those trinkets was now a Christian!

3.      HEY! If our world is going to get turned right side up, they need to start losing customers

 

a.       From the Pubs

b.      From the drug dealer’s flats

c.       From the Methadone Clinics – big business

d.      From all the counselling services – very big business

e.       From cigarette sales

f.       From all the filthy movie channels that are added onto satellite services

g.       And from all the Mass Card sales, and medals, and crucifix’s

h.      Off licenses need to go bankrupt!

i.        Credit Card companies need to lose business as people start living within their means

j.        How much money would be LOST in our economy if people turned away from all that waste, and went back home, and got jobs, and started worshipping the true and living God in spirit and in truth?

k.      Actually NONE! Our economy would explode with proper growth!

 

4.      But we need to take on an economy that is too comfortable with selling lies and false hopes – with encouraging drug use and then drug treatment

5.      In Mark 5:1-6, 11-17 some pig farmers get all upset over the loss of their pigs instead over the salvation of a demon possessed teenager! They kick Jesus OUT of their area because He had upset their economic growth!

6.      Maybe the best thing that could happen to us is to have a shattered economy for a while, and all of us do without so that people start over with God!

                                                                                            

D.     We Need A Singing Faith (Acts 16:24-26)

 

1.      Well, if you start affecting people’s wallets, and people’s religion, you are going to get into trouble! And BOY did Paul and Silas get into trouble!

 

a.       Public rebuking in the market place

b.      False accusations

c.       Stirred up a riot against Paul and Silas

d.      Beat them with MANY stripes – whipped them

e.       Threw them both into the worst prison hole imaginable

 

2.      Well, the faith that caused you to lift up Jesus in the sunlight, ought to be able to enable you to lift of Jesus in the darkness!!!!

3.      We need more than just “faith” – we need MIDNIGHT Faith; SINGING; PRAISING; PRAYING; REJOICING; EXPECTING God to do something great!

4.      These TWO men were now locked away in prison, in chains, having been tortured – and EVEN THERE they turned the world upside down!!!

           

a.       No room for long term anger in a Christian’s heart

b.      No room for bitterness

c.       Tears yes, but tears that cause us to pray for our enemies, and show kindness back

d.      It was during those long dark painful hours that Paul and Silas’ singing and talking to each other with the Gospel, turned the prison into a garden!

 

1)      A place where criminals became free men.

2)      A place where angry men at first sought to flee, now stayed put in their cells, though the chains were off and the prison doors were open – all so that they could continue to hear the wonderful words of life from Paul and Silas

 

E.      We Need A Simple Message (Acts 16:27-34)

 

1.      An Inviting Message

 

a.       The Jailor didn’t feel unworthy, or rejected

b.      He was encouraged to ask about being SAVED!

c.       Was it really possible for a sinner such as HE to be changed? Saved from hell? And made into a child of almighty God?

d.      You and I have such a powerful message of the only hope for this world – the GOSPEL of Jesus Christ!

 

2.      A Serious Message

 

a.       The salvation of a man’s soul (Mark 8:36,37)

b.      Not what religion should I join, or when should I get baptized, or how should I pray…

c.       But What do I do to be saved from dying and going to a devil’s hell for ever and ever?

d.      Paul had been preaching about how to be saved for the past several hours in that dark prison, but evidently the Jailor had been uninterested, and had fallen asleep, not hearing the invitation

e.       When the earthquake woke him up, and the prison doors swung open all down the long hall, and fear gripped him that he was a dead man at the hands of all those criminals…

f.       He grabbed his dagger and got ready to kill himself before those men got their hands on him

g.       Only to find that no one was moving, and that Paul and Silas were looking out and yelling at him NOT to hurt himself!

h.      What a waste – what damage we do to ourselves when we do not know what to do

i.        Paul and Silas took the message they preached VERY serious

j.        They knew it could save even THIS man’s soul (Rom 1:16)

 

3.      A Humbling Message

 

a.       Look at the attitude and approach of the Jailor now!

b.      He had been SUCH a big man, and powerful, showing his authority over Paul and Silas, treating them like dirt!

c.       Now, he was on his knees, trembling, and amazed at the power of prayer, and especially the power of preaching – that it could KEEP criminals sitting quietly in their prison cells

 

4.      A Saving Message

 

a.       No fancy words, or tough questions to answer. No religious rituals, no ten commandments, no turning over a new leaf

b.      BELIEVE on the Lord Jesus Christ

 

1)      See Acts 20:21

2)      See John 3:14-17, 36

3)      When you believe ON someone, you are trusting them enough to take over your life

4)      You can believe IN a doctor, but when you let him operate on you, you are believing ON him!!!

5)      Belief is the opposite of doing good works (Eph 2:8,9)

6)      Just trust Jesus completely – ask Him to forgive you and save you from all your sins!

 

c.       And thou shalt be saved!

 

1)      It is THAT SIMPLE!

2)      Saved means… SAVED! Not “being saved” like the new bibles say

3)      Saved means, salvaged from sin’s damnation, and from the devil’s grip

4)      Saved means pulled away from the fire, and put on a track for heaven

5)      Saved means changed from the inside out

6)      Look at Romans 10:9,10, 13

 

d.      And your whole house can be saved as well

 

1)      It just gets better and better!

2)      Anybody can get saved!

3)      It is not just for certain people, but for all people

 

5.      Hey! Get into the habit of talking about the Gospel, about the Bible, about God, about eternity to everyone – in markets, at homes, on the job, in queues – be natural

6.      If God gives you an open door, then USE it (Acts 13:14-16…) Even when the lights are out, or times are tough, or disaster is all around you!

7.      Maybe it will happen on the job, or at the family reunion, or just in normal conversation anywhere! Christian… speak up about your Lord, your faith, your relationship with Jesus Christ and the truths of Scripture, of the need to be born again, to be saved from the wrath to come!

8.      People need to know

 

a.       There is an appointed time to die, and after this, the judgement!

b.      The wages of sin is death – serious death, eternal death!!!

c.       The gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord

d.      Ye must be born again

e.       There is only ONE mediator between God and men – no mediatrix

f.       Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish like the people in the twin towers!

 

9.      People need to hear that God still hates adultery, immorality, divorce, lying, covetousness, laziness, abortion, and living together, and idolatry

10.  People need to hear that Jesus Christ is coming back SOON! Real soon!

11.  And they need to hear that they can and MUST be born again!

12.  I am so glad Maureen Smith spoke-up at that coffee shop back in 1980!!!

 

F.      Lastly, We Need A Stirred Spirit (Acts 17:16,17)

 

1.      An excited, stirred up, active attitude toward the impacting our world!

2.      We get stirred by preaching, and by reading our Bibles…

3.      But our hearts will be thoroughly stirred when we see this world like it REALLY is!

 

a.       Lost – running to and fro without an anchor, like sheep without a shepherd

b.      Definitely without God – oh yes they have their religion, but they do not know God – they only know superstitions

c.       Without Hope – that’s why practically everyone is on prescription medications, and depressed, and angry, and suicide continues to increase

 

4.      Paul was constantly getting stirred up to act – to do something – to make a difference, and make a difference!

 

a.       What stirred him up? Idolatry, Religious lies, Caskets full of people who went to hell, Philosophers spouting off their empty wisdom, politicians promoting their blind vision of a better world

b.      Quit getting lulled to sleep by all the entertainment you watch every evening! It is draining all the passion from your hearts! You all are way too dead to make an impact on our world!

c.       We all need to see a world that is not just starving, and dying physically, but starving and dying spiritually!

 

5.      When will any of us start making a difference?

 

a.       It will be when we decide to get on the offensive – Like at a football match: it is no good just defending your goal, you have to GET the ball and get it down the field to the other goal and make a score!!!

b.      When we quit living in fear of what people think of you!

c.       When we come out of our closet – out of hiding

d.      When we engage people in debate and discussion like Paul and Silas (Acts 17:1-4)

e.       When we begin to just faithfully preach the Gospel – the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus, in-season and out of season

f.       Oh how we need to shout that Jesus is alive!

g.       Never saying any mountain is too high, or job to hard if God asks you to do it

h.      Courage and boldness was a part of the early church power. From the very beginning the small band of believers would go into a town and they would run into pressure and immediately they would get courageous! And the more pressure, the more courage - the more courage, the more powerful message they preached. It was a fantastic ingredient in the ministry of the early church. It still is. Courage, boldness, fearlessness. It is what draws men to Biblical Christianity!

 

6.      Does anyone in this room want to get a Passion About Souls instead of just customers? Souls instead of clients? Souls instead of neighbours? Souls instead of just people?

 

a.       We need some deep set convictions about people going to hell

b.      We need to decide to make it VERY hard for the people around us to end up in hell when they die!

c.       But that will only happen when we really believe they need the Gospel!!! That they are lost without God and without any hope!

 

7.      Let’s begin the Conflict - Calling on the world around us to Repent and Follow Christ

 

a.       It's time we offended some sinners. The Gospel has to offend people to get them right.

b.      Romans 9:33 says, "Behold, I lay in Sion a stumblingstone and rock of offence."

c.       1 Peter 2:6-8, he says, "Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded. Unto you therefore which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner, And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient."

d.      And what stone is it? It's the stone of stumbling, the rock of offense. And who is that? Jesus Christ. And people have been stumbling over him and been offended by him ever since He came in a manger 2,000 years ago.

e.       We need to offend sinners.

f.       I don't mean be obnoxious. I don't mean be belligerent. I don't mean be distasteful and unloving.

g.       I just mean that you hit the issue head on! You haven't done anybody any good unless you've confronted them with the honest issues of the heart, and that's exactly what Paul did.

 

IV.  Conclusion - Acts 17:6 says, “These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also”

 

A.     What a statement! TWO men, Paul and Silas were guilty of not just upsetting the world they lived in, but changing the world they lived in

B.     But HOW? How did the Christians in the First Century turn their world upside down?

C.     Here is Our Challenge this Morning

 

1.      By Having a Spiritual Routine. Do YOU have one?

 

a.       Bible reading – 10 chapters a day

b.      Praying about everything, good, and bad, easy times and hard times, needs and blessing!

c.       Church all day on the Lord’s Day

d.      Involved in a ministry

e.       Soul-winning

f.       And we need this to be CONSTANT in our lives – not on and off

 

2.      By Having A Satanic Enemy. You are not going to fix our world unless you take on the spiritual realm which is the force behind our world’s problems

3.      By Experiencing A Shattered Economy.

 

a.       HEY! If our world is going to get turned right side up, our Pubs need to start losing customers! The newsagents selling cigarettes need to go broke, and the off licences need to go bankrupt!

b.      Maybe the best thing that could happen to us is to have a shattered economy for a while, and all of us do without so that people start over with God!

 

4.      By Having A Singing Faith.

 

a.       Well, the faith that caused you to lift up Jesus in the sunlight, ought to be able to enable you to lift of Jesus in the darkness!!!!

b.      We need more than just “faith” – we need MIDNIGHT Faith; SINGING; PRAISING; PRAYING; REJOICING; EXPECTING God to do something great!

 

5.      By Preaching A Simple Message

 

a.       No fancy words, or tough questions to answer. No religious rituals, no ten commandments, no turning over a new leaf

b.      BELIEVE on the Lord Jesus Christ. Just trust Jesus completely – ask Him to forgive you and save you from all your sins!

c.       And thou shalt be saved!

d.      And your whole house can be saved as well

e.       Hey! Get into the habit of talking about the Gospel, about the Bible, about God, about eternity to everyone – in markets, at homes, on the job, in queues – be natural

f.       If God gives you an open door, then USE it (Acts 13:14-16…) Even when the lights are out, or times are tough, or disaster is all around you!

 

6.      Lastly, By Keeping A Stirred Spirit

                                                                                              

a.       Take a good look around you and see this world like it REALLY is!

 

1)      Lost – running to and fro without an anchor, like sheep without a shepherd

2)      Definitely without God – oh yes they have their religion, but they do not know God – they only know superstitions

3)      Without Hope – that’s why practically everyone is on prescription medications, and depressed, and angry, and suicide continues to increase

 

b.      Decide to get on the offensive

c.       Quit living in fear of what people think of you!

d.      Never saying any mountain is too high, or job to hard if God asks you to do it

e.       Come out of your closet – out of hiding

f.       Engage people in debate and discussion like Paul and Silas (Acts 17:1-4)

g.       Preach the Gospel – the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus, in-season and out of season

h.      Oh how we need to shout that Jesus is alive!