Author: Brian Burdett

“And from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them.” – Acts 20:30

Life in church was never expected to be simple, neat, or easy! As Paul gives final instructions to the Ephesian elders/pastors/overseers (same group of people, Acts 20 uses all three words to describe them), he warns that the greatest challenges and hazards in the church often come from within. As Christians, we must each become competent to read and understand Scripture.

Why? To resist those who would lead us astray! Within any church (and today any public platform – teaching, publishing, media, online, etc.) there may well arise people from within the church who twist God’s Word and lead many followers of Christ astray. It was true then and it’s visibly true now.

Christian leaders should prepare followers of Jesus to know the truth and to distinguish between God’s Word and evil distortions of it. Such preparation includes encouraging members to read the Bible for themselves, modeling responsible use of the Bible, and explicitly teaching how to read, study, and interpret the Bible.

Twisted distortions of Scripture may come through taking individual verses out of context (common with cults), through discouraging members from studying the Bible for themselves, or through the use of complex words and concepts combined with elaborate contortions of Scripture to explain how the meaning is somehow completely different from the plain reading. Paul knew it would happen and it continues to happen. Church leaders and members alike must be prepared and on guard at all times, especially in these times in which false teaching easily finds a loud megaphone in our culture and our churches!

“All a person’s ways seem right to him, but the Lord weighs motives.” – Proverbs 16:2

We have a remarkable ability to rationalize just about anything to ourselves! Once we have a notion of what we want to do, our self-convincing engine gets to work and we can construct elaborate explanations about why it’s right to do the very thing we want to do. Even when it’s objectively wrong and directly contradictory to Scripture! However, that’s the tip of the iceberg. Often we construct explanations for seemingly godly activities that are really being done for our own purposes. Contrary to the preaching of Disney, our hearts are terribly deceitful, most of all to ourselves (see Jeremiah 17:9 for more details).

God sees through all that! He doesn’t fall for our rationalizations, excuses, false comparisons, and contorted logic. He knows exactly why we want to do the thing we may spend minutes, hours, days, or years defending. He knows if we’re acting out of anger, pride, greed, ambition, or other ungodly motives. Understand this, God is vastly more concerned with the motives behind your actions than your defense of those actions (see Matthew 5-7 for more details).

The people of God cannot accomplish the work of God from sinful motives. The most pious sounding action driven by anger won’t yield God-glorifying results. Likewise for greed, ambition, pride, or any of the other ungodly motives that sometimes drive seemingly godly activity.

Whenever you prepare to speak or act, take time to reflect on why. Rather than continuing to rehearse your rationalization to yourself, always stop to reflect on your motives. Why are you doing what you are doing? Is it truly to advance God’s Kingdom and bring Him glory? Or is this something you’re doing for yourself?

“And the Lord said to Paul one night in a vision, ‘Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent, for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many in this city who are my people.'” – Acts 18:9-10

What an encouragement it must have been for Paul to receive a direct vision and promise from Jesus as he preached and taught in Corinth! Because of this word of confidence, he was able to work there boldly and confidently for 18 months.

This promise from Jesus should also be encouraging for each of us who follow Him. While Jesus hasn’t promised we’ll be safe, He has already promised that He is with us. Matthew 28:18-20 makes it clear that when we are doing His work of making disciples, Jesus is right there with us every moment of every day. Jesus will not abandon us to a hostile world, but will be strengthening us to be bold and courageous. What more do we need? What more could we ask for?

Jesus will be with us every moment until He returns in glory. Believe this for yourself. Jesus is with you. Jesus will never leave you or forsake you. Jesus will give you the power and boldness to make disciples wherever you go. Obey Him and “do not be afraid”!

“And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds; and he was baptized at once, he and all his family.” – Acts 16:33

As we see so often in Acts, the first act of obedience for those who believe in Jesus is to be baptized. While not required for salvation, it is consistently assumed of all believers in the Bible. Baptism is meant to be our immediate public confession of our new faith in Jesus. As we identify with the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, we tell the world that we have been united with Him through faith.

While we must be as sure as we can be that people genuinely believe in Jesus before being baptized, we shouldn’t expect or require them to be deeply knowledgeable, discipled extensively, or theologically sophisticated. We shouldn’t be putting up barriers to baptism! Baptism represents the beginning of our faith journey, an initial step of obedience and visible announcement of our new birth.

Likewise, baptism shouldn’t be where we stop, freezing in place as a Christian. We aren’t done yet, in fact, we’ve barely begun! Baptism should be the first step of many. After baptism, we must be teaching and mentoring new believers in how to walk in faith and grow in Christ throughout the remainder of their lives.

If you haven’t yet been baptized as a believer, what’s holding you back? If you have been, what are you doing now to continue growing in Christ?

“And they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. And when they had come up to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them.” – Acts 16:6-7

One of the more interesting aspects of living a life led by the Holy Spirit is being sensitive enough to tell when the Spirit is saying, “No”. Paul was wise enough to discern when God was opening doors and when He was closing them. Why would God do this? Why would His Spirit sometimes say no to preaching and making disciples in a particular place?

God may have a bigger vision or more fruitful plans for us. During our brief earthly lives following Jesus, there are many good things we could be doing to serve God’s Kingdom. Only God knows what’s best for us, our gifts, our talents, and His Kingdom. We mustn’t let our passion for the good things we easily see consume the time and energy God wants invested in the best things we may not yet see. God was saying no to Asia because He had a bigger vision and better plans for Paul in Europe.

God may also have particular works prepared for someone else and we shouldn’t be trying to do them. There was important ministry to be done in the province of Asia. However, God had that reserved for others (for example, the Apostle John). God uniquely prepares good works for each of His children to do, and we shouldn’t be trying to do someone else’s good works. Understanding this reality is particularly important when God calls us out of one ministry we’re familiar with to something new. We may have trouble letting go of the old, but God probably already has that ministry work prepared for someone else.

It may also be a matter of God’s timing. In our hurry, we like to force things on our timetable. However, God operates on a completely different timetable based on perfect knowledge of all things past, present, and future. Sometimes God’s Spirit tells us “No” because it just isn’t the right time for what we want to do.

Bigger plans, other workers, God’s timing. Just as God can say, “Yes, go”, He can also say, “No, stop!” Will you seek to understand His will either way? Will you trust God enough to obey regardless of which He says?