Intro / Review:
Proverbs 22:1 - A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, and favor is better than silver or gold.
A Good Name -> Riches.
- The love of money brings Destruction (Acts 19:21-29)
1 Timothy 6:10 - For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.
Three Signs Money has Become Your God:
- You view Jesus/the Church as an Obstacle to your financial goals. (Acts 19:25)
- You religious Beliefs are based on your financial well-being. (Acts 19:26).
- You get Anxiety over the thought of losing money. (Acts 19:27).
- A good name brings Protection. (Acts 19:30-41)
Titus 2:7-8 - Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity, and sound speech that cannot be condemned, so that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us.
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
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01:02-01:07
Open up your Bibles with me please to the book of Acts and chapter 19.
01:08-01:13
Before I turn it over I'd like to remind you that July 2nd is Q&A day.
01:14-01:15
We have these once or twice a year.
01:16-01:23
You can take one of these slips of paper, buy the fishbowls, there's one back on that shelf cubby thing back in guest reception.
01:23-01:26
And I think there's one in the cafe area as well.
01:26-01:28
Just look for a fishbowl with no fish in it.
01:29-01:31
and grab one of these pieces of paper and you can ask anything.
01:32-01:35
Theology related, you know, what's this verse about in the Bible?
01:35-01:37
What does your church teach about that?
01:37-01:40
We've had all kinds of great questions. It's always a fun time.
01:40-01:44
But this will be instead of a sermon on July 2nd, we'll be answering your questions.
01:45-01:47
So, ask away, alright?
01:50-01:52
Let's pray before we get into God's Word together.
01:54-02:00
Father in heaven, we just want to pause right now and open our hearts before You.
02:00-02:09
And God, I ask on behalf of this congregation here, I pray, Father, for a supernatural attentiveness.
02:12-02:23
Because God, we live in a day where everything is a 30-second commercial or a 20-second internet sound bite or whatever.
02:23-02:37
And we're accustomed to such short attention spans, so this idea of listening to somebody talk for a half hour or more is just, seems a little archaic.
02:37-02:45
But, Father, we do this because Your Word says that You've ordained preaching, that faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of Christ.
02:45-02:47
And Father, we believe that.
02:49-02:55
So I pray that You would remove distractions and let us zero in and focus on what Your Word has to say.
02:55-03:00
This is the Word of the living God, and I pray that we would treat it as such.
03:03-03:06
Jesus' name, amen.
03:09-03:16
Acts chapter 19, we're getting back to our series, The Unstoppable Church, and we are following Paul on his missionary journey.
03:16-03:26
And we're on his third trip now, or he went back to Ephesus, or he stayed somewhere between two and three years.
03:26-03:34
Now, usually when I get up to speak, I sort of explain the text and then show you the point.
03:37-03:39
But I'm gonna do it a little differently today.
03:39-03:41
I'm gonna do it opposite.
03:41-03:47
I'm going to tell you the point and then I want us to see it in the text, okay?
03:48-03:53
I'm gonna tell you the point I want you to trust me that while you're doing your job throughout the week, I'm doing my job and I've been studying this.
03:53-03:58
I want to tell you the point, and then let's see it in the text.
03:58-03:58
You ready?
03:59-03:59
Here's the point.
04:01-04:04
The point is from actually the book of Proverbs 22.
04:05-04:06
In verse 1.
04:07-04:13
Proverbs says, "A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches.
04:15-04:26
"Favor is better than silver or gold." So Proverbs sort of gives us an equation.
04:27-04:29
And the equation looks something like this.
04:29-04:43
"A good name is greater than riches." And we're going to see in this passage today how the word of God illustrates this equation.
04:44-04:45
A good name is greater than riches.
04:47-04:50
I want to show you just very simply today, I'm going to show you how money can be a problem.
04:52-04:56
And how a good name can be a lifesaver.
04:57-04:58
I'll jot this down first of all.
04:58-05:03
Number one, I can't think of any other way to say it other than this.
05:03-05:05
The love of money brings destruction.
05:06-05:09
The love of money brings destruction.
05:09-05:12
Look at verses 21-22 where we left off last time.
05:14-05:40
"Now after these events," from two weeks ago we discussed, "Paul resolved in the spirit to pass through Macedonia and Achaia and to go to Jerusalem, saying, 'After I have been there, I must also see Rome.' And having sent into Macedonia two of his helpers, Timothy and Erastus, He himself stayed in Asia for a while.
05:41-05:51
So the plan was to take an offering at Macedonia in Achaia, and to take that offering to the poor church in Jerusalem.
05:52-05:58
A couple of years back we did a sermon series called "I Love to Give" and that sermon series was all about this event.
05:59-06:05
It was about how these churches raised money to help these poor Christians in Jerusalem.
06:05-06:08
in 2 Corinthians 8-9.
06:09-06:10
But that's what he's talking about here.
06:11-06:13
And he eventually makes it to Jerusalem.
06:13-06:14
We're going to see that in 21.17.
06:15-06:18
And Paul says his goal is to get to where?
06:18-06:19
What does your Bible say?
06:20-06:29
Verse 21, "I must also see Rome." The goal is to get to Rome, and that's important because that's sort of the undercurrent of the rest of the book of Acts.
06:30-06:36
He sees Rome as this finish line, and the trip doesn't go exactly as he planned.
06:37-06:46
He says he's going to stay in Asia, that's Asia Minor, that's modern day Turkey, Ephesus specifically, he's going to stay in Ephesus for now.
06:46-06:59
Luke 23, "About that time, there arose no little disturbance concerning the way," that was another name for Christianity, the church of Jesus Christ.
07:00-07:12
A man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought no little business to the craftsmen.
07:13-07:16
Artemis, another name for Artemis is Diana.
07:17-07:21
She was the goddess of fertility among several other things.
07:21-07:24
And Demetrius, his job was to make these shrines.
07:25-07:27
These were little household idols.
07:27-07:29
And we kind of saw these when we were in Thailand.
07:30-07:33
You know, when you go to Thailand, there's Buddha statues everywhere.
07:34-07:39
And you can see the big ones up on the hill and you can buy them to have in your house.
07:39-07:46
And even up in the mountain jungle areas, they had little idols that they would put on their shelves in their home.
07:46-07:49
They were these little household gods, so to speak.
07:49-07:53
And Demetrius, he made silver idols.
07:55-08:05
Actually, in the Roman Empire, There were 33 temples for Artemis, making it by far the most popular cult of the day.
08:06-08:13
And did you know the temple in Ephesus we'll be speaking of here was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world?
08:14-08:15
They said it was so magnificent.
08:16-08:20
But this passage probably took place during the annual festival.
08:20-08:26
They had this yearly festival for Artemis.
08:27-08:33
and I went to college in Ohio, and every little teeny town in Ohio has their own weekly fest.
08:33-08:44
So there was the Circleville Pumpkin Show, and there was the, let me think, there was the Reynoldsburg Tomato Fest, which Reynoldsburg, Ohio claims that they were the birthplace of tomatoes.
08:44-08:46
I'm like, I don't think you invented tomatoes.
08:48-09:00
Obetz had the Zucchini Fest, but all these little towns have their own little like vegetable fest, and all these people come, there's like a carnival, And there's food, it's a circle of pumpkin fest, everything was pumpkin themed.
09:00-09:08
They had like the world's largest pumpkin pie and you can get pumpkin flavored cotton candy and pumpkin toothpaste and pumpkin, whatever you want.
09:08-09:15
You pumpkin everything, but these festivals, like this festival for Artemis would bring in a lot of people.
09:16-09:19
And when you bring in a lot of people to these festivals, what else does that bring?
09:21-09:22
Brings money, doesn't it?
09:23-09:24
You see where this is going.
09:25-09:25
Look at verse 25.
09:27-09:46
So Demetrius gathered together, says, "These he gathered together with the workmen in similar trades," all these craftsmen, all these skilled laborers who made these idols, "and said, 'Men, you know that from this business we have our wealth.
09:47-10:04
And you see in here, not only in Ephesus, but in almost all of Asia, this Paul has persuaded and turned away a great many people saying that gods made with hands are not gods.
10:07-10:29
And there is danger, not only that this trade of ours may come into disrepute, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis may be counted as nothing and that she may even be deposed from her magnificence, she whom Asia and the world worship.
10:31-10:53
When they heard this, they were enraged and were crying out, "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!" So the city was filled with confusion and they rushed together into the theater, dragging with them Gaius and Aristarchus, Macedonians who were Paul's companions in travel.
10:54-10:55
Let's stop there.
10:57-11:02
So Demetrius stands up and says, "Guys, we're having a major financial issue on the horizon.
11:03-11:12
Paul is out preaching, telling people that Jesus Christ is the Savior, turning people from idolatry." You know, Paul's message.
11:12-11:15
Jesus Christ died on the cross to pay the penalty for your sins.
11:15-11:17
He rose from the dead to give you eternal life.
11:18-11:21
Paul's preaching is saying, "Look, these little trinkets aren't God's.
11:22-11:25
There's a living God who lives in heaven who sent His Son to die for your sins.
11:26-11:30
That's God." Now all these people are turning to Christ.
11:32-11:33
Not good for business.
11:34-11:35
If you make idols.
11:37-11:43
She's like, "Guys, we've got to do something about this." It started a riot.
11:43-11:53
Verse 29 says, "The city was filled with confusion." They grabbed Gaius and Aristarchus, they were a couple of buddies of Paul's, and they rushed to the theater.
11:53-11:56
You know, there's still ruins of this theater today.
11:56-11:57
You can go there.
11:59-12:01
It held about 25,000 people.
12:03-12:05
Right? It was bigger than PPG Paints Arena.
12:07-12:09
Gaius, we don't know a whole lot about him.
12:09-12:13
Aristarchus, we're going to see more of him in chapter 20 and chapters 27.
12:15-12:18
But the love of money brings destruction.
12:20-12:25
We're going to see in this passage, rioting and violence and confusion and anxiety.
12:26-12:29
And apparently here, kidnapping is also on the list over what?
12:31-12:32
Over money.
12:34-12:43
Let me ask you, do you think someone's desire for money has ever caused them to inflict pain upon someone else?
12:43-12:44
Do you think that's ever happened?
12:46-12:50
Do you think that a fight has ever started over money?
12:52-12:56
You think that someone's ever killed somebody over money?
12:58-13:00
There I ask, do you think that money caused a war?
13:01-13:03
You think a war has ever broken out because of money?
13:03-13:03
You think that's ever happened?
13:04-13:10
Do you think money, do you think the love, it's not money itself, money's just, it's just paper and metal, right?
13:10-13:13
It's not the money itself, it's the love of money.
13:13-13:26
But do you think the love of money has ever been so, such an obsession with people that they would go to war over money?
13:26-13:26
Do you think that's happened?
13:28-13:30
I was studying that this week and I'm gonna tell you the truth.
13:31-13:34
I couldn't find a war that didn't start over money.
13:36-13:40
The US Revolution, you know, to Europe, do you know what the US Revolution was?
13:40-13:46
I know what it means to us, you know, you know, American flag and Star-Spangled Banner and, you know, independence.
13:46-13:47
Do you know what it meant to Europe?
13:47-13:50
It was the British and the French fighting over commodities and trade routes.
13:52-13:55
That there was an economic undertone in the US Revolution.
13:56-14:01
The Civil War, well, hang on, Pastor Jeff, the Civil War was about slavery.
14:03-14:04
And what was the issue behind slavery?
14:05-14:06
What drove slavery?
14:07-14:10
Slavery was driven by demand for cotton and agricultural good.
14:11-14:16
And the idea of freeing the slaves meant that I'm going to take a financial hit, and I can't have that.
14:16-14:20
So you see, even the Civil War, motivated by money.
14:20-14:26
Pearl Harbor, Japan wanted to knock the US out in order to get resources in South Asia.
14:27-14:29
The Iraq invasion of Kuwait, what was that about?
14:32-14:34
I heard somebody say oil. Why oil?
14:35-14:37
Money, right? Where there's oil, there's money.
14:39-14:40
And I could go on and on.
14:40-14:43
I had this whole list and I deleted a lot of them.
14:43-14:44
Everybody say thank you.
14:45-14:45
You're welcome.
14:47-14:48
Do a little research yourself.
14:49-14:53
Wars over love of money, even making it very personal.
14:55-15:03
You know, up in Butler, several years ago, Aaron, my wife Aaron actually knows this family personally.
15:04-15:28
But there was a mentally retarded man who was tortured for weeks by another man and his female cousin, who eventually took this man and set him on fire in a bathtub, and then choked him, and then took his body and burned it the rest of the way in a dumpster.
15:30-15:35
You know what motivated such horrific treatment to a mentally challenged person?
15:35-15:36
Do you know what motivated that?
15:38-15:40
They thought that he took a handful of money.
15:42-15:44
This is what the love of money does.
15:44-15:46
The love of money brings destruction.
15:48-15:56
In your community, globally, in your home, you'll hurt others.
15:56-16:00
You will stomp all over someone else if money is your God.
16:02-16:05
But if that's not motivating enough, the Bible tells you, you're going to hurt yourself, too.
16:06-16:08
Timothy 6.10, look what Paul says to Timothy.
16:09-16:18
He says, "For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils." Notice he doesn't say money's the root of all evil, love of money is a root of all kinds of evils.
16:18-16:37
"It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs." Paul says, "Timothy, there are people that are stabbing themselves because they're obsessed with money.
16:39-16:41
And at this point, you're like, man, I hope that's not me.
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How do I know?
16:43-16:44
I want you to jot this down.
16:44-16:46
Three signs that money has become your God.
16:46-16:47
It's right from the text.
16:47-16:48
Right from the text.
16:50-16:54
That's what I love about just when you do expository preaching, you don't have to make stuff up.
16:54-16:55
Like it's just right in the text, you know?
16:56-16:57
Check it out.
16:58-17:00
Three signs money has become your God.
17:00-17:01
Take a serious look at yourself.
17:02-17:06
Number one, you view Jesus or the church as an obstacle to your financial goals.
17:07-17:11
You view Jesus or the church as an obstacle to your financial goals.
17:13-17:20
This passage is an obvious contrast, because if you recall the previous passage, same place, Ephesus, you remember what happened?
17:20-17:25
All these occultic people came to Christ, and what did they do?
17:25-17:28
They took their books and made a bonfire.
17:28-17:34
And the Bible points out specifically what a financial loss that would have been.
17:35-17:37
Somewhere around the neighborhood of $5 million.
17:38-17:51
And they're like, "I'm following Christ now, don't need this garbage, burn it." "That cost $5 million, burn it." "But think of all the money." Like get the marshmallows, we're making s'mores out of our occultic books, right?
17:52-17:53
Because they're nothing.
17:54-17:56
But that's $5 million, it's nothing compared to following Christ.
17:57-18:07
So you have that, and now you have people making idols saying, "We can't have the church interfere "with our business." You see the difference?
18:08-18:09
Here's the difference.
18:10-18:11
This is where it's gonna hit home for you.
18:14-18:21
Give up the love of money to follow Jesus Christ, or you can give up Jesus Christ to follow the love of money.
18:23-18:24
But you can't do both.
18:25-18:28
According to Jesus, who said no one can serve two masters.
18:29-18:35
For either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.
18:36-18:37
You cannot serve God and money.
18:39-18:44
And some people see Jesus/the church as an obstacle to financial goals.
18:44-18:45
What do you mean by that?
18:45-18:48
Some people see the church just as, all they want is money.
18:49-19:00
You know, you go to the church and they want you to give, and they're gonna pass the offering bags, and give to this mission work, and give to this kids program, and give to plant churches to tell people in other countries about Jesus.
19:02-19:15
I can think of a lot worse things to spend your money on than to give to advance the Kingdom of God, to share the truth of God's Word, and show compassion in the name of Jesus Christ.
19:17-19:18
You don't want to give your money to that?
19:18-19:20
Some people see the church as a competitor.
19:21-19:28
Churches want my money, and I won't be able to buy my toys and boats and...
19:29-19:31
If that's how you view the church, then you need to check yourself.
19:34-19:35
Because maybe money's become your God.
19:37-19:44
Number two, three signs money's become your God, your religious beliefs are based on your financial well-being.
19:46-19:58
I don't know about you, but I think there's so much humor in a Bible, when I just laugh out loud at some things and I'm not making light of God's word at all, but I think some of these things, I just, I think they're hilarious.
19:59-20:00
But look at verse 26.
20:02-20:09
Demetrius says that Paul is turning all these people away from, you know, worshiping Artemis.
20:09-20:10
But I love the last phrase.
20:10-20:11
This is his claim.
20:11-20:13
This is what Paul's saying, okay?
20:15-20:17
Saying that God's made with hands are not God's.
20:19-20:24
Where do you get off telling me that gods made with hands are not gods?
20:26-20:33
Who do you think you are telling me that my little Artemis toy is not a god?
20:33-20:34
Who do you think you are?
20:35-20:37
Can you believe Paul's running around saying that you can't make a god with your hands?
20:38-20:39
Can you believe that?
20:41-20:47
Well, Demetrius, I have a question, just very objectively, I just wanna ask, is Paul right?
20:48-20:48
Is Paul right?
20:50-20:55
Well, so interpretation by voting, how many people here would say that Paul's right?
20:55-20:57
God's made with hands or not God's.
20:57-20:58
Yeah, that's what I would say.
21:00-21:02
Here's the problem, the theology wasn't based on truth.
21:02-21:05
The theology was based on what I want, right?
21:05-21:08
He can't say that because that's not good for me.
21:10-21:12
And this still happens today, by the way.
21:13-21:16
That's why the prosperity gospel gets so much traction.
21:16-21:29
The prosperity gospel says God wants you to be healthy, and God wants you to be wealthy, and if you're not, you have a faith problem, and if you send me money, I'll pray for you, and God will make you rich, and make you healthy, and...
21:29-21:30
Do you know why they get so much traction?
21:31-21:33
Who doesn't want to be healthy and wealthy?
21:34-21:35
I would love to be healthy and wealthy!
21:35-21:36
I would love that!
21:36-21:37
I would love to be totally healthy!
21:38-22:01
I'd love to have these riches they're talking about, but the problem with the prosperity gospel is you become more obsessed with the gift than the gift giver. So when your religious beliefs are based on your financial well-being or what you want versus what God's actually said then maybe money's become your God.
22:03-22:19
Number three, this cracked me up too. Number three, you get anxiety over the thought of losing money. Look at verse 27. Did you just hear Demetrius here as he's He's giving this speech, he has his group of tradesmen all huddled up.
22:20-22:24
Look at, what did I say, 27.
22:24-22:36
And there is danger, not only that this trade of ours may come into disrepute, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis may be counted as nothing, and she may even be deposed from her magnificence.
22:37-22:40
She whom all Asia and the world worship.
22:40-22:43
Did you see his argument to them?
22:44-22:55
He goes, "Look, if this gospel keeps going out, not only will our shop close, but the Artemis Temple will close, and the world will end!" All that escalated quickly.
22:58-23:06
That kind of panic and desperation that you see in verse 27 shows you who Demetrius' God is.
23:08-23:20
And again, bringing it home, when you have panic and desperation concerning money and stuff, maybe money's become your God.
23:22-23:25
See, some people look to money for peace.
23:27-23:32
When the Bible says the peace of Christ guards your heart, is Jesus your peace or is money your peace?
23:34-23:36
Some people look to money for stability.
23:38-23:47
"I feel secure. I feel stable." When the Bible says, Christ is the rock that we stand on.
23:48-23:51
Some people look to money for satisfaction.
23:53-23:58
"I'll be satisfied when I get X number of dollars." And I'm telling you, that never happens.
23:59-24:00
It's always one dollar more.
24:00-24:00
You just need one dollar more.
24:01-24:02
You just need one dollar more.
24:02-24:03
Read the testimonies yourself.
24:04-24:07
The testimonies of people that have had it all.
24:08-24:09
Money does not satisfy.
24:11-24:12
Christ alone satisfies.
24:14-24:20
But when we turn our hearts to looking to money for things that are only promised by God, that's a problem.
24:22-24:23
That's a problem.
24:23-24:29
You know, Erin is an office manager for a financial planner.
24:30-24:32
She sees this all the time.
24:34-24:46
If somebody's portfolio takes like this half of a percent hit, Aaron says, "There's people that will call, they're literally bawling, they're crying." "What are we going to do?" Aaron's like, "Dude, just like, wait a week.
24:47-24:58
Okay, these things go up and down." But when it goes down a hair, people are in a frenzy, and people are screaming, and people are furious, and people are freaking out.
24:59-24:59
Over what?
25:01-25:02
for their God.
25:04-25:06
Three signs that money's become your God.
25:08-25:09
Okay, so the love of money brings destruction.
25:10-25:12
Does anybody need sold on that?
25:13-25:14
I think it's pretty clear from the text.
25:16-25:17
Love of money brings destruction.
25:18-25:18
Let's go on.
25:19-25:20
Second part, write this down.
25:20-25:24
Number two, a good name brings protection.
25:26-25:27
A good name brings protection.
25:28-25:29
Look at verse 30.
25:30-25:37
So when Paul wished to go in among the crowd, okay, so this riot's happening, Paul's like, "I gotta, they grabbed two of my buddies.
25:37-25:40
"I gotta go and like yank them out of there." Like, "What's your plan, Paul?
25:40-25:45
"I don't have one, I just gotta get there." When Paul wished to go in among the crowd, the disciples would not let him.
25:45-25:48
Okay, the church was like, "Dude, they will rip you apart.
25:48-26:03
"They are like in a frenzy, you can't go out there." Verse 31, "And even some of the Asiarchs "who were friends of his sent to him were urging him not to venture into the theater.
26:05-26:10
Okay, so the church didn't want him in, but the Bible says the Asiarchs didn't want him to go either.
26:11-26:12
Who in the world were the Asiarchs?
26:12-26:16
Well, they were members of some of the wealthiest families in Asia.
26:18-26:21
And it was sort of a family/religious organization.
26:21-26:24
Their job, honestly, was to promote emperor worship.
26:25-26:25
That was their job.
26:25-26:28
They promoted worship of the Roman emperor.
26:30-26:34
They were not Christians by any stretch of the imagination, but the Bible says they were friends with Paul.
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We're gonna talk about that again in a second.
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Look at verse 32.
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It says, "Now some cried out one thing, some another, but the assembly was in confusion, and most of them did not know why they had come together." You ever seen that?
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I sure have.
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Darren, you remember the year, Harn City High School.
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We were gremlins, right?
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Do you remember the year of the protests?
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I think I was in junior high.
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Were you still in high school?
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Like you were what, sophomore, junior?
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What were you?
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You're probably a junior.
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Okay, well, when we were, however many years ago that was, at our high school, they had these protests.
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And I don't even know how it started, but a couple of students were sideways about something and they're like, "We're gonna march around the school all day.
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We're just gonna walk out of school and we're gonna march." And then a couple other students were like, "Hey, no class, let's go." So here's this parade of students.
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And then some other students, remember this throughout the day, first period, here goes some second period.
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Some students are like, "Why am I sitting in here "when they're all out there? Let's go." And so there's this parade of people marching around.
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And so next thing you know, it's Pittsburgh.
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So what happens next?
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Channel 11 News shows up.
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They're sticking microphones in all these students.
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I remember this clear as day.
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They're sticking microphones in students' faces and I watched it on the news that night.
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And we have all these students walking around, we're protesting, we're protesting, we're protesting.
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And I know you're asking, did I protest?
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No, I didn't go out.
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Why?
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Well, first of all, I'm lazy.
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I was looking out the window.
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I'm like, it seems like a lot of walking.
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Another reason is there were only like five people in my classes, so the teachers didn't do anything.
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The teachers were like, "We're not having class "'cause there's nobody here." So I'm like, "Woo-hoo, I'm just gonna sit here.
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"Look at all the people walking." But there was another reason I didn't go out, was I didn't have anything to protest.
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Like, I don't know what everybody's so upset about.
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But see, that didn't stop most of the people.
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They're like, "Let's go, we're protesting." And I remember, so Channel 11 News shows up, they're sticking microphones in people's faces, And like, what are you protesting?
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And what were some of the like weird reasons they were given?
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Like I can't have a sandwich in class.
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And it was, you know, okay.
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So that was the spark that you're not allowed to eat candy bars and drink pop in class.
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Okay, so there you go.
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That was the reason.
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But not everybody knew that.
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So you had all these people marching around like what are you protesting?
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I don't know, but we're protesting!
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And that's what was happening here.
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It says there was such confusion that it says most of them did not know why they'd come together.
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See, I told the car and city story because it's funny.
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But in recent years, the riots and the protests haven't been funny, right?
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It's been destruction, people burning down, people protesting racial rights, and then they go to a black business owner and burn his business down?
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Like, what are you doing?
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How many people that are out doing this are actually thinking about why they're even protesting?
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That's what was going on in Ephesus.
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There's nothing new under the sun, right?
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Picking up verse 33.
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Some of the crowd prompted Alexander, whom the Jews had put forward.
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And Alexander, motioning with his hand, He wanted to make a defense to the crowd.
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Okay, so, I know it's kind of hard to understand what's going on here, but basically what this is, there was a man named Alexander who was a Jew, and best understanding of this is he got up, sort of make a distinction between the Jews and the Christians to say, "Look, I know what the Christians are doing, but we're Jews and we're not with them, so just make sure you don't mix us Jews in with the Christians." And he was trying to like draw the line for everybody, like, "Hey, watch what you're doing" kind of thing.
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But look at verse 34, it says, "But when they recognized that he was a Jew, for about two hours they all cried out with one voice, 'Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!'" "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!" For two hours.
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So here's the point, when they saw that he was Jewish, they didn't care, because a lot of people in the first century just sort of combined Christianity with Judaism.
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They thought that Christianity was sort of an offshoot of Judaism, because you've got to admit there's some similarities, right?
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God of Israel, the Torah, Abraham, Moses, all of that.
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Plus, as far as these guys were concerned, these were idol makers.
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And they knew that there were two demographics that didn't go for idols.
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Want to guess which two?
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Jews and Christians, right?
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Those people don't go for idols.
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So, they're like, "Oh, that guy's a Jew. Who cares what he says?" And for two hours, they chanted "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians." Now, when they chanted this, this wasn't like "Let's Go Pens," okay?
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This was probably cultic.
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This was probably part of their worship.
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Could you imagine for two solid hours?
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Let's try that for two hours.
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Let's just start, I pass, right?
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Moving on.
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Says when the town clerk, I can admit when I first read this, I like cashier at Walmart or something, but town clerk, this is actually the mayor.
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This was the person who sort of oversaw Ephesus, but he answered to Rome.
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He's like modern day mayor.
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When the town clerk had quieted the crowd, he said, "Men of Ephesus, who is there who does not know "that the city of the Ephesians is a temple keeper "of the great Artemis and of the sacred stone "that fell from the sky?" A lot of cults were associated with this, a meteor falls from the sky and they're like, hey, it looks like a whatever.
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And they think that the gods fired it down from the heavens.
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He goes on, Mayer here says, "Seeing then that these things "cannot be denied, you ought to be quiet "and do nothing rash.
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"For you have brought these men here "who are neither sacrilegious nor blasphemers of our goddess.
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"If therefore Demetrius and the craftsmen him have a complaint against anyone the courts are open and there are pro counsels let them bring charges against one another if you seek anything further it shall be settled in a regular assembly for we really are in danger of being charged with rioting today since there is no cause that we can give to justify this commotion and when he had said these things he dismissed the assembly okay so the mayor gets up he goes look guys Rome is gonna be really ticked off if they hear that we are riding these men are not criminal they're not insulting they're not improper in any way look if you have a problem take it to court go through due process make it a legal matter if you We really have a criminal complaint.
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We don't want problems with Rome.
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And see, this passage, I've got to be honest with you, you go through the book of Acts and you get to this passage, it's a little weird.
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Because when the riot starts, you expect some heroics from God.
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Let's be honest, you expect heroics from God.
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He's going to send an angel, like prison break, like we saw with Peter, right?
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Or He's going to send some apostle to preach in mass conversion and speaking in tongues, And you're expecting God to do some super spiritual intervention, but really what we see in this part of the passage we just read is just simply this.
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Paul was protected by the Asiarchs, these pagan friends of his, and the riot was stopped by a secular government official.
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And as we've gone through Acts, we've seen that persecution does indeed come from the world.
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That's been like every chapter in the book of Acts.
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Persecution, persecution, persecution.
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But sometimes, this is important, sometimes, as we see in this passage, here it is.
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A Christian's testimony can bring favor from non-Christians.
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a Christian's testimony, and bring favor from non-Christians.
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You see, there's a phrase that we like to say, I think it makes us sound macho, it makes us sound very independent and strong, but I hear people say this a lot, people say, "You know, I don't care what people think about me." You ever heard somebody say that? "I don't really care what people think about me." And so I mow my lawn in short shorts and a Def Leppard t-shirt.
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I don't care what people think about me.
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I don't. That's what my wife says.
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I don't care what people think about me.
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You should.
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Getting aside, you totally should.
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It's immature.
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It's immature to have this attitude that you really don't give a rip what people think about you.
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Why? Because first of all, you represent Jesus Christ.
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Someone is forming an opinion about Jesus because they're watching you.
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You're like, "I don't care what people think about me." You should, ambassador of Christ.
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Here's the second reason from this passage.
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God may choose to use non-believers to bless you.
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That's why Paul told Titus, Titus 2, verses 7 and 8.
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He says, "Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity, and sound speech that cannot be condemned, so that an opponent may be put to shame." Look at this last phrase.
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"Having nothing evil to say about us." The Bible calls this being blameless.
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Another expression from God's Word is living above reproach.
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Now, this doesn't mean perfect, okay?
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I'm not saying, "Oh, you go out and be perfect this week." Like who would qualify for that?
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Most of us, especially me, we would fail before we got out of the parking lot today.
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The Bible's not saying be perfect.
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Blameless and perfect are two different things.
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Blameless is having a reputation for always striving to do the right thing.
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That's being blameless.
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to illustrate it this way, it's when your co-worker says, you know, I may not agree with his beliefs, but I've never heard him speak poorly about someone.
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You know, I've never heard him tell an off-color joke.
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I've never heard her gossip behind somebody's back.
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You know, he always seems respectful, not only to the people that work under him, but also to his bosses.
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She's always hardworking.
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She's always looking out for other people.
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You know, when he messes up, he fixes it.
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You know, when she wronged someone, she apologizes, that's living blamelessly.
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And that's the person that's going to come to your aid when you least expect it.
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As we close, if the worship team would make their way up, I want you to look at the floors, not the carpet.
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Look at the tile.
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Like I've never had a pastor ask me to do that.
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I don't mean bow your heads and pray.
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We're gonna do that in a second.
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Look at the tile with your eyes open.
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Look at it.
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I wanna tell you a story about these tile floors.
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Did you know, a couple of Thursdays ago, I think it was, You know, we spent the last five and a half years renting Marshall Middle School.
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And they weren't excited about having a church meet there when we first went.
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In fact, their exact words were, "You have three months, and if you mess up even one time, you are out of here." That was back in 2011.
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What does that have to do with these floors?
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Well, a couple of Thursdays ago, Three of the custodians from Marshall Middle School were working.
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They punched out at 11 PM.
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And they showed up at these doors at 11, 15 PM with floor scrubbing machines and mops and buckets and extra mop heads.
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And they spent-- what was it-- Five and a half hours.
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Yeah, we left at like somewhere between 4.30 and 5 a.m.
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They spent five and a half hours cleaning these floors that may not have ever been touched since they were first put down.
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Now, what would motivate the custodians from the school where we met for five and a half years?
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What would motivate them to come after working a full shift and spend an entire night joyfully scrubbing floors.
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It wasn't because they were members of the church.
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It wasn't because they felt some sort of obligation, like, well, they kind of did for us, so we got to kind of do for them.
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And it wasn't as if they were paid.
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You know what motivated them to do that?
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Your reputation with them.
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That's what motivated them.
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And I want to commend you for that.
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I could think of a thousand other scenarios where the staff of the school where we would meet or a church would meet would say, so long, best of luck to you.
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But to have the staff of the school say, we want to bless you, how can we bless you?
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That speaks much of your reputation and the love that you have shown them.
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So church, you have a choice.
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You have a choice this week.
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You have a choice this month.
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You have a choice today.
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And your choice is simply between two things - destruction or protection.
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Because as we see in this passage, when the light of Jesus Christ shines through you, And when you seek to live a blameless life, God will bring protection to you through some of the most unexpected means, even people who don't know Him.
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Or, speaking of protection, is your obsession with you protecting your money and your stuff, like Demetrius, that brings destruction.
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What do you want?
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Do you want destruction?
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Or do you want protection?
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Because the Bible says, a good name is to be chosen rather than great riches.
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And favor is better than silver or gold.
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I'm going to bow my head.
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I want you to bow your heads and pray with me.
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We're going to have some of our prayer team members back by the giant sign in the corner that says "pray." While we sing this closing song, if you need prayer for any reason, maybe it's not even for yourself, maybe you want to pray for somebody else, I'd encourage you to go back and somebody back there will be thrilled.
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Lift up whatever you need before the Lord.
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Father in heaven, we thank you for your Word.
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God, I thank You that Your Word isn't some imaginative fantasy of some spiritual guy wanting to say flowery things.
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We have a Holy Spirit inspired historical account that just tells it like it is.
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We get to a passage like this, Father, and we see that You work in very unexpected ways.
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Even using pagans and the mayor to protect Paul and to stop a riot.
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Father, I pray, first of all, for my brothers and sisters here, I pray for our name and for our reputation.
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When we go to our workplaces and to be with our families, and we go into our neighborhoods, Father, when people know that we represent Jesus Christ, when people know that we would call ourselves Christians, they're watching, Father.
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I pray that they wouldn't see self-righteousness or hypocrisy.
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I pray they would see blamelessness in us.
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Father, I pray against the worship of money.
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I pray, Father, that as a church, we would use money to advance Your kingdom as You've told us to do, but that we wouldn't become so obsessed protecting our own little pile of stuff that we bring pain upon others and bring pain upon ourselves.
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Let your Holy Spirit shine His light in the dark places of our hearts now.
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Let us leave here convicted and changed.
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We pray in Jesus' name, amen.
Small Group Questions (Whole Group):
Read Acts 19:21-41
How can you tell if YOU YOURSELF have made money an idol in your life? What are the signs? What should you do if you have the signs?
What are ways the church today gets involved with idols? How can we be done with them?
The town clerk, or "mayor" (Acts 19:35-41) stopped the riot. Should Christians use the government for protection / advancing the kingdom? To what extent?
"I don't care what other people think about me!" Is this a Christian attitude? Why or why not?
Breakout Questions:
Pray for your witness and testimony to reflect Christ.
Pray for favor from even your non-believing friends who see Christ in you.
Pray that any persecution that comes is because of the Gospel, not your personality.