Book of Acts

The Book of Acts—Chapter 8-11 
Week 16 -

BIOGRAPHY V. TESTIMONY cont.

All right, if you’ve got a Bible, go to Acts 9:19.

Last week we talked about the difference between a biography and a testimony is this: God. 
A biography is “Look what I did.” 
A testimony is “Look what God did. 

As Christians, we know that no matter what we have “accomplished” it is ultimately God that has done the work. He is the One that should receive the glory!!! 
Why is this important? 
Revelation 12:11New Living Translation
11 And they have defeated him by the blood of the Lamb
    and by their testimony.
And they did not love their lives so much
    that they were afraid to die.
There is power in your testimony. 
We need to ask ourselves if our lives represent a biography or a testimony.
We are going to continue this lesson with open discussion. I believe that this lesson is important because if you can answer these questions, then you will know your testimony when someone asks. 

So let’s ask ourselves some questions with this in mind.  
1. WHAT WERE YOU LIKE BEFORE YOU BECAME A CHRISTIAN?
Testimony: 
We know that Saul before his conversion to Christianity lived an entirely different life. 
 2. HOW HAS YOUR VIEW OF JESUS CHANGED? 
How has your view changed of Jesus changed since becoming a Christian? Has it changed in the past 10 years? 5 years? Since coming to Pebble Hill? Etc.  

We know that Saul’s view of Jesus changed dramatically. He began viewing Jesus as a godless man that called himself God which was blasphemy. Then we see him meeting Jesus and then preaching that Jesus is the Son of God and the Christ, the Messiah. 
3. WHAT DOES TIME ALONE WITH JESUS LOOK LIKE FOR YOU?
We left off with this question last week. And quite honestly this could be a whole series. And maybe I will do this as a Sunday series in the future. 
Saul has been converted. He’s starting to proclaim his testimony, talking about who Jesus is and what Jesus has done in his life. 
Acts 9:23a NKJV
23 Now after many days were past…
This is very easy to read without thinking much of it, but most Bible commentators believe that this “many days” gap is explained by Paul when he wrote this: 
Galatians 1:15-18 New Living Translation
15 But even before I was born, God chose me and called me by his marvelous grace. Then it pleased him 16 to reveal his Son to me so that I would proclaim the Good News about Jesus to the Gentiles.
When this happened, I did not rush out to consult with any human being. 17 Nor did I go up to Jerusalem to consult with those who were apostles before I was. Instead, I went away into Arabia, and later I returned to the city of Damascus.
18 Then three years later I went to Jerusalem to get to know Peter, and I stayed with him for fifteen days.
Here’s what he’s saying: 
“My testimony is I met Jesus. My life, my heart, my mind changed. I started talking about him and then God called me into three years of solitude.”

Now he went to the same area where we hear about Sinai during the Exodus, where Moses received the Ten Commandments, where Elijah preached. It’s desert, barren, wasteland, middle of nowhere. 
And he’s there for how long? Three years. Doing what? Preparing for the ministry that God would have for him.

We see that God’s servants often are called by God to seasons of solitude, withdrawing. We see this with Moses. We see this with the prophets. They lived in exile, oftentimes apart from God’s people in community out in the wilderness. We see this with John the Baptizer, the voice of the one crying from the wilderness. We see this with the Lord Jesus where he gets 40 days in solitude before his public ministry commences. And here we see it with Saul, Paul, three years essentially in isolation.

Solitude is not running from something; it’s running to someone. 
Oftentimes, when life gets hard, things get dark, we are scared we run to get away from it or them to be alone. Solitude is where we not only run from someone or something, we run to Jesus to get time with Him. 
This is the difference. If you’re always just running from something but you’re not running to Jesus, that’s not very helpful. But if you’re running from something and you’re running to Jesus, that can be very helpful.

Who or what do you run to when things get tough? 
We can assume by reading his testimony in Galatians 1, reading his testimony in Philippians, reading the account in Acts 9, that Saul knew a lot of Bible, at least Old Testament, but he didn’t know Jesus. So, he’s probably studying the Bible saying, “Okay, I knew the Bible, but I don’t know Jesus so I don’t really understand the Bible. I need to figure out how this all connects to Jesus.”

This is a time for prayer, talking to the Lord and listening to the Lord. This is time for study and reflection. This is time for journaling, processing, considering. This is time for repenting, and singing, and worshiping, and spending time with God.

BUT, Here’s what happens to us if we are not careful. We have three gods in our world who do not allow us to enjoy the presence of God, and they are hurry, worry, and busy. 

When’s the last time you got some time alone with God? 
I know you’re busy, but, if we don’t start with time with the Lord, we’ll do the wrong thing in the wrong way with the wrong motive, and all of our efforts will be in vain.
We like to work and THEN ask God to bless it,” God’s like, “Wrong order. Meet with me. I’ll tell you what to do, and how to do it, and prepare you for it, and get your heart ready, and then it’ll be to My glory.”
 Make time for God. We always make time for what we really want to do. 
In our age, technology unquestionably contributes to this great problem. Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, beeping, buzzing, ringing— It never ends.

 How much time do we spend looking at our phones? Looking at our ipads? Computers? TVs? Etc.
I’m not saying that technology is bad or good. Technology, like everything, is an opportunity to either help us to know the Lord or hinder our knowing of the Lord.
I wonder what it would be like not to have a phone…have we gotten so addicted to them that we feel like we wouldn’t be able to survive without them? 
How many of you have left your phone at home and had to go back and get it? Whether it made you late for work or you left work to go get it? 

But what can happen is sometimes we get so consumed. We’re playing games, we’re texting, we’re updating, we’re reading, we’re surfing, we’re wandering, and all of the sudden you’re like, “What happened? I didn’t get time with Jesus, why? All my time was spent doing something that is not evil, but is definitely not as helpful.”
Sometimes, at least for me, you need to just turn the phone off, right? And sometimes get away.

It’s interesting here that oftentimes when God wants his people to enjoy solitude, they get away. The Bible says that Jesus often withdrew to lonely places to get alone with the Father. Friend, I would submit to you that these are crucial times, these are significant times, these are divine appointment times for reading, for praying, for journaling, for repenting, for mourning, for singing, whatever it may be, and God is very glad to meet with you. 
What Saul says is— he says, “You know, I got 3 years with Jesus before I started doing ministry.”

What I love about Paul’s example as well is his humility and his submission to authority. What he says in this text is, “I spent three years with Jesus, and then I went to meet with the leaders to tell them my testimony and for them to confirm God’s calling on my life to preach the good news of Jesus to the Gentiles.”

What he didn’t say was, “Jesus came down and saved me, set me aside for three years, I graduated with honors, and now I serve the Lord.” He says, “And I submit myself to the leaders.”
It’s very important after you get time with the Lord to confirm what it is you believe he has said through Godly leadership because you know what? We can get it wrong.  And so he comes with the full confidence of Jesus’ calling and the confirmation by Godly leadership.

 
4. HOW HAVE YOU SUFFERED FOR CHRIST?
For me, I remember specific moments in my life that I had to quit hanging around certain friends. And to be honest, they were times of feeling very lonely, but I trusted that God would help me in the end. And HE DID…
Part of being a Christian is suffering. Sometimes it’s because of our sin. I’ve sinned, and when I do, sometimes I reap what I sow. Sometimes others sin against you. And sometimes you suffer just because you love Jesus, and some people don’t love Jesus, and because you love Jesus, they don’t love you either. He’s going to suffer, and it’s interesting because he was a guy who made it his business to cause Christians to suffer, and then he becomes a Christian and he suffers for being a Christian. 
Acts 9:23-26 NKJV
23 Now after many days were past, — Do you see that? That’s why I think the three years in Galatians 1 explains this gap the Jews— the religious leaders—  plotted to kill him. What did he do previously? Plotted to kill people. Then he meets Jesus. Now the guys that he trained are plotting to kill him.
24 But their plot became known to Saul. And they watched the gates day and night, to kill him. This is like a security checkpoint. It’s still like this in places in the Middle East. Now, these are the guys that he used to run with and they won’t run with him anymore. These are the guys he used to plot to kill Christians with and now they’re plotting to kill him.
How many of you, when you became a Christian, you’re like, “Man, my old friends really flipped fast,” or, “My family, that went upside-down immediately. All of the sudden, I’m out. Not only out, I’m opposed.” 
25 Then the disciples took him by night and let him down through the wall in a large basket.
26 And when Saul had come to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples; but they were all afraid of him, and did not believe that he was a disciple. 
So what’s he going to do? He’s going to run to his brothers and sisters in Christ. “I’ve been rejected by these people. Maybe I’ll be accepted by these people.”
They reject him too. 
How many of you have been rejected by brothers and sisters in Christ? We call it being “church hurt”. 
 I needed you and you weren’t there for me. I ran to you and you rejected me. I depended on you and you failed me. You’re in good company with Jesus.
He had friends that he invested in for three years. As he’s preparing to go to the cross, he pulls them into the Garden of Gethsemane and says, “I need you to pray for me,” and they fall asleep. And he wakes them up, “Hey, I need you to pray for me,” and they fall asleep. 
Judas betrays him, 
Peter disowns him
Thomas doubts him and these were supposed to be his closest friends. 
You and I, we need to be Careful, though, that we don’t sit in too much judgment over the believers, right?
Imagine somebody shows up at our church that murders Christians. Do you pray with your eyes open? Do you even let that person in? 
See, in our day it’d be like somebody with a very frightful past—rapist, murderer, thief, terrorist. You’re like, “I’m not going to just say, ‘Well, praise the Lord, brother.’“ You’re like, “I’ve got to make sure you’ve actually changed and met Jesus. Because if you haven’t changed and met Jesus, you’re very dangerous.”
This is where sometimes Christians can be a little naive and leave themselves open to danger and/or their children.
So, they’re a little fearful. It says they were afraid. So he’s rejected. He’s a man without a country. He’s a man without a home. He’s a man without a clan.

You’re going to feel like that sometimes. And as you’re suffering— this is relational suffering. He’s already been alone for three years, and he’s running to the Christians, and he’s still alone.

Suffering is an opportunity, though, for us to, number one, to really learn more about Jesus. Jesus, you’ve suffered, you’ve been rejected, you’ve been despised, you’ve been hated. People you really love really let you down, including me.
Number two, it allows us to become more like Jesus. Hebrews has a haunting verse It says that Jesus was perfected through his suffering. Jesus will perfect you through your suffering. Jesus is perfecting me through my suffering. And if someone comes along and says, “Do you want to be perfected?” Yes. “Do you want to suffer?” No. Same question.
Thirdly, suffering provides an opportunity for a witness, to be a testimony.
“How are you doing?”
“It’s hard, but I’m listening to the Lord, I’m talking to the Lord, I want to become like Jesus, and I want to learn what he has for me, even through this hard season.”

As Saul is suffering, he is suffering in a way that is a testimony. He doesn’t say, “Well, I’m done with Christianity, and I’m done with the church, and I’m done with Jesus, and I’m very hurt, and everybody’s rejected me, and I’m feeling very lonely, and you don’t know what it’s like to be me.” He’s like, “Nope, I’m going to run to Jesus and I’m going to wait for his people to put their arms around me.” How have you suffered for Christ?
1 Peter 4:12-19 New Living Translation
12 Dear friends, don’t be surprised at the fiery trials you are going through, as if something strange were happening to you. 13 Instead, be very glad—for these trials make you partners with Christ in his suffering, so that you will have the wonderful joy of seeing his glory when it is revealed to all the world.
14 If you are insulted because you bear the name of Christ, you will be blessed, for the glorious Spirit of God rests upon you. 15 If you suffer, however, it must not be for murder, stealing, making trouble, or prying into other people’s affairs. 16 But it is no shame to suffer for being a Christian. Praise God for the privilege of being called by his name!17 For the time has come for judgment, and it must begin with God’s household. And if judgment begins with us, what terrible fate awaits those who have never obeyed God’s Good News? 18 And also, 
“If the righteous are barely saved,
    what will happen to godless sinners?”
19 So if you are suffering in a manner that pleases God, keep on doing what is right, and trust your lives to the God who created you, for he will never fail you.

5. WHAT ROLE DOES THE CHURCH COMMUNITY PLAY IN YOUR LIFE?
How important are your connections with other Christians? I believe that a trap that the enemy tries to lay is to tell someone that they don’t need the church. 
God has not called us to be LONE RANGERS. He specifically called to gather. To become a Christian is to be reconciled to God as Father, and reconciled to other Christians as brothers and sisters. That’s what the Bible says. Here, we’re going to see Paul’s interaction with the community of the church. 
Acts 9:27-31 NKJV
27 But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. And he declared to them how he had seen the Lord on the road, and that He had spoken to him, and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus. 28 So he was with them at Jerusalem, coming in and going out. 29 And he spoke boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus and disputed against the Hellenists, but they attempted to kill him. 30 When the brethren found out, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him out to Tarsus.
Here’s what it says, that the church was reserved and hesitant to embrace Saul of Tarsus. So it took a mediator, a reconciler. It took a man of peace named Barnabas. Barney, okay, literally means, “Son of encouragement.” He had the gift of encouragement. 
We learned two things early on in Acts. In Acts 5, we see that he’s a very generous man, he sells land, he gives a very large gift to the church. He’s a very generous man. And here, we see his generosity doesn’t just include his wealth, but his love. His love. These go together.

As you and I learn how to give, it transforms us. As we learn to give wealth, we learn to give all. Here, what Barnabas is doing is he is taking a tremendous risk because love is a risk. 
If you won’t take a risk, then you can’t love anybody. And if you want to love somebody, you have to take a risk that they could betray you, they could harm you, they could hurt you, they could fail you, they could attack you. 
That’s the risk that Barnabas is taking with Saul. That’s why nobody else wanted to take the risk. He murders Christians. He’s like a bounty hunter who has the right legally to hurt Christians. 
Barnabas, he’s the encourager, and he has faith, and he has hope. “You know what? God could change him. Maybe he has. Let me go talk to him,” and Barnabas takes the risk.

For those of you who have the gift of encouragement, you have faith, and you have hope, and you are a gift. Part of your ministry is loving first so that others can be welcomed into the family of God and that strained relationships can be reconciled. Praise God for those of you who are the sons and daughters of encouragement. 
Barnabas is that guy. 
If you know somebody like that, would you do me the favor of just encouraging the encouragers this week, thanking them? Sometimes they get discredited, “Oh, you’re just naive. You’re just an optimist.”
“No, I’m a Christian and I believe that God can do things, and so I take a risk, and I love people, and I see what he does.” That’s Barnabas.
He takes him in to the apostles. He says, “You know what? I’ve talked to him. I think he’s met Jesus. I think he’s a changed man. I think his heart is broken. I think God has a calling on his life and we’re here to confirm that,” and history is changed.
What we learn a lot about is Paul the Apostle, but man, a lot of it was made possible by Barnabas the encourager. Those of you with the gift of encouragement can be significantly used to reconcile relationships so that the gospel can be unleashed by people who otherwise may not find a place in the church. That’s the story of Barnabas.
Well, what happens to the church Is—it says this in verse 31: 
31 Then the churches throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace and were edified. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, they were multiplied.
What has the church went through thus far in Acts? Explosion of people in Chapter 2, some members that died from lying to the Holy Spirit, leaders step up, more growth, Stephen stoned to death, now God changes the man that was persecuting His church to become a part of the church…. 
So what can we learn from this? Even now, the church body as a whole has been shaken. And yet, I believe those that has remained have grown in their knowledge of who God is, and their relationship with God. We have learned that we trust HIM.