August 2, 2015

Acts 19:20-41

Sunday Sermons

While in ancient Ephesus, the apostle Paul’s preaching is received by some and rejected by others. At one point, a local merchant tried to stir up a riot against Paul and the message of the Gospel. What made this man so angry and what seemed to be his motivation? How did Paul and the other believers respond to such hostility? Join Pastor Jim for insights on what it means for us to live in a culture that is not always friendly to faith in Christ and how Bible believing Christians can best cope with that tension.

Speaker

Jim Thomas

Series

Acts of the Apostles

Go to Series

Scripture

Acts 19:20-41

Topics
History & Biography Spiritual Disciplines Worldview & Culture

Sermon Notes

 

1. The power of the Gospel is persuasive to some, threatening to others.

“There are, in fact, two motives that should spur us constantly to evangelize. The first is love for God and concern for his glory; the second is love for man and concern for his welfare.”
J. I. Packer
Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God

2. We were designed to worship the living God

“A person will worship something, have no doubt about that. We may think our tribute is paid in secret in the dark recesses of our hearts, but it will out. That which dominates our imaginations and our thoughts will determine our lives, and our character. Therefore, it behooves us to be careful what we worship, for what we are worshipping we are becoming.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson

“To worship is to quicken the conscience by the holiness of God, to purge the imagination by the beauty of God, to open the heart to the love of God, and to devote the will to the purpose of God.”
William Temple

“The essence of worship is the inner experience of treasuring the true beauty and worth of God. And the outward forms of worship are the acts that show how much we treasure the beauty and worth of God. Therefore God created all of life as worship because he has told us, ‘whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God’ (1 Corinthians 10:31). Do everything you do in a way that expresses your treasuring of God.”
John Piper