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THE TROUBLESOME GOSPEL (8 OF 9)
by Marion Clark
Scripture: Acts 22:1-22
This content is part of a series.
The Troublesome Gospel (8 of 9)
Series: Acts
Marion Clark
Acts 22:1-22
Introduction: Do you ever have moments where you feel that you just can't win no matter what you do or don't do? Whatever decision you make you will rankle someone; whatever action you take you will be criticized. You just can't win.
The apostle Paul would understand. He can't please everyone in the church nor outside the church. His problem is his very calling-to proclaim a gospel that is misunderstood even within the church that is founded on it. The gospel is proving to be a troublesome gospel.
Text
Last Sunday, we left Paul giving his farewell talk to the elders of Ephesus. He noted then that he likely would not see them again, noting, ''the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me'' (Acts 20:23). He is now traveling to Jerusalem. At Tyre we learn ''through the Spirit they were telling Paul not to go on to Jerusalem'' (21:4). In Caesarea, the prophet Agabus prophesied, ''Thus says the Holy Spirit, 'This is how the Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles'' (21:11). Paul does not turn away, if only for the reason that the same Spirit who is delivering warning through the churches about what will happen in Jerusalem is the same Spirit whom Paul says constrains or compels him to go to Jerusalem (20:22)!
He arrives in Jerusalem, as he originally set out to do, in time for Pentecost, the feast to which Jews from all around the Mediterranean gathered to celebrate. This is the same feast, about twenty-five years earlier, where the Holy Spirit baptized the apostles and Peter delivered his famous sermon, resulting in the baptism of 3,000 converts.
Paul first goes to James and the elders of the Jerusalem church, reporting on his missionary journeys. His report is well received, but then these church leaders make a curious request. It seems that other reports had come in abo ...
Series: Acts
Marion Clark
Acts 22:1-22
Introduction: Do you ever have moments where you feel that you just can't win no matter what you do or don't do? Whatever decision you make you will rankle someone; whatever action you take you will be criticized. You just can't win.
The apostle Paul would understand. He can't please everyone in the church nor outside the church. His problem is his very calling-to proclaim a gospel that is misunderstood even within the church that is founded on it. The gospel is proving to be a troublesome gospel.
Text
Last Sunday, we left Paul giving his farewell talk to the elders of Ephesus. He noted then that he likely would not see them again, noting, ''the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me'' (Acts 20:23). He is now traveling to Jerusalem. At Tyre we learn ''through the Spirit they were telling Paul not to go on to Jerusalem'' (21:4). In Caesarea, the prophet Agabus prophesied, ''Thus says the Holy Spirit, 'This is how the Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles'' (21:11). Paul does not turn away, if only for the reason that the same Spirit who is delivering warning through the churches about what will happen in Jerusalem is the same Spirit whom Paul says constrains or compels him to go to Jerusalem (20:22)!
He arrives in Jerusalem, as he originally set out to do, in time for Pentecost, the feast to which Jews from all around the Mediterranean gathered to celebrate. This is the same feast, about twenty-five years earlier, where the Holy Spirit baptized the apostles and Peter delivered his famous sermon, resulting in the baptism of 3,000 converts.
Paul first goes to James and the elders of the Jerusalem church, reporting on his missionary journeys. His report is well received, but then these church leaders make a curious request. It seems that other reports had come in abo ...
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