We all could use some encouragement and we'll find it together today through the Bible-based teaching of Dr. Don Wilton on this edition of The Encouraging Words. Strategy, we hear that a lot in sports, we hear that in business, but you know as we grow in our faith there could be spiritual strategy as well.
Three strategies from Dr. Wilton are coming up in our next two-day part series as Dr. Don takes us to Acts chapter 11 for this time of Bible study. We're so glad to have you with us. We'd love to connect with you on our website at www.tewonline.org or perhaps as we study the Word there's a way we can pray for you. We're here to pray 24 hours a day at 866-899-WORD.
Jot the number down, store it in your cell, 866-899-9673. We'll always connect with one of us, happy to talk, listen, pray, or connect with great resources. Now today's message with Dr. Don Wilton. He has you in mind and he wants to bless you and he has a strategy, a plan in place. One of the great joys that we have is being able to pray for one another and even this week I had the privilege of going into some homes and just visiting with people, particularly those who have particular needs. And you know every time I meet people it seems to me that I hear our people talk about prayer and about the power of prayer and how grateful they are that they know that there are those who are praying for them.
Literally for decades our church has been a praying church and that is a wonderful privilege. Parents praying for children, for one another. We can guarantee one another that there is at least one person who is praying for you, praying for our church, praying for the things that we deal with, praying for God's presence in our lives. But I want to just pray for you this morning and particularly those who are a part of this particular emphasis. Father we thank you for the power and for the privilege of prayer. Where would we be without the countless numbers of people who have prayed for us in every circumstance of life? And Father tonight building on years of faithful intercessory prayer in this church, there is a concerted strategic effort to pray around the clock, seven days a week, 24 hours a day, that someone is praying. And Father we pray that you would bless this initiative, that you would bless every participant and above all that our Father you would be pleased to look down upon us as a people here in our nation in the circumstances in which we find ourselves, here in our church, in our homes, in our places of worship, our places of service. And Father that we might sense a renewed spirit of the living God upon us. Father we submit ourselves to you, praying these things together in Jesus name.
Amen. I'm going to ask you once again to turn in your Bibles to the book of Acts in chapter 17. As we try to lay the groundwork of what Paul had to say to the church in 1st Thessalonians, we believe that God has a special word for all of us but we're still stuck in the book of Acts because it's important to lay the table before we eat from an incredible meal that God is providing for us through his word. And I know that you're going to be blessed and continue to be blessed.
We've come to a fresh understanding of what it means to be just one man, one person, one lady, one boy, one girl. Paul as he began to minister to this group of people believed very deeply, number one that all people need Jesus. I'm so grateful to the Lord for that. I'm grateful that Jesus Christ has broken down all barriers don't you? Number two that Jesus Christ is the only one who can reach all people. You know I really believe that the Apostle Paul if he was standing in this pulpit right now he would certainly not downplay the need for government, not by any means. We've got to have government. God's Word talks about it and we pray for government but I think he would put it all in its rightful perspective don't you?
Because he was just one man who understood just two absolutes that all people need Jesus and that Jesus Christ is the only one who can reach all people. I tell you he would look at us and he would say despite the fact that the New York Giants are going to whip up on the New England Patriots, going to ruin a perfect season and that there's going to be a lot of rejoicing going on in certain parts of the community. He's saying that tomorrow morning people will wake up with exactly the same needs.
He looks at us and he says so you're going to receive a tax rebate are you? I think Paul would say that's wonderful. We all need a little extra pocket money and we all need to look for solutions to economic crises but I I think the more we understand the Apostle Paul perhaps what he would say is even if the government agreed to cut a million dollar check to every American citizen we would still wake up tomorrow morning with that same empty hole, that same need, that same search, that same desire for peace.
We'd still be looking for the answer to life because people continue regardless of who they are married to or their circumstances. People have the same need. All people need Jesus and Jesus Christ is the only one who can reach all people and today I want to speak to you about just three strategies.
Just three strategies. I want you to look with me in the Bible at Acts chapter 17. This is what the Bible says that when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia they came to Thessalonica where there was a Jewish synagogue and as his custom was Paul went into the synagogue in this town called Thessalonica about 250 thousand people, really a metropolitan city for that day and age, sitting right on the Aegean Sea, the hub of trade and commerce, the seat of sport and activity and he went into the synagogue and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the scripture explaining and proving that Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead. This is what he said, people at Thessalonica, this Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Christ.
That's what Paul said. That was the centerpiece on the mantelpiece of what Paul was doing and as we begin to unfold this wonderful reservoir of information that Paul gives, the spiritual food, he did it based upon some fundamental issues and it seems to me that Paul had three strategies. Well what is a strategy anyway? You've got to have a strategy to do something. A strategy is the science of the art of planning properly with a goal in mind. It is a plan or a method designed to achieve a specific goal.
So if you're deciding that you want to establish a business for example, you are most deeply encouraged to have a strategy because a strategy is a plan or a method to achieve a goal. So the first thing I would ask you if I was a consultant, which I'm not, and you were about to do something, I would say to you what are your goals? What do you have in mind? What is your mission measure? What do you want to produce? What are you looking at? One of the many questions I would ask you is what's your strategy? How are you going to get there? You may have ten strategies, one strategy, four strategies.
It's not the number that counts. Paul I believe had three strategies. I remember many years ago Karen and I just newlyweds and we're on the campus of the New Orleans Baptist Seminary and we're bankrupt. We just didn't have any money and so I had to get money from somewhere. I didn't even have a home church, a sponsoring church in America. And so I got a job.
Yep I did. I got employed as a painter on campus and I loved it. For three years I painted. You say painted what? Well everything that needed paint and everything on that campus needed paint. Street signs, parking lots, classrooms, chairs. Every time a student moved out of one of those two-bedroom apartments our paint crew would go in.
We'd have to scrape all the walls and clean it down and it would not be uncommon to see me there with an umbrella in one hand and a spray gun in the other. And I had to work, work hard in between preaching and opportunities and studying Greek and Hebrew and I would work all night and all Saturdays and public holidays and afternoons and evenings and and just to get money so that we could live. And I was a painter and in fact I did so well I became the paint supervisor.
I just had to put that in there. This is important folks for you to know this and as the paint supervisor I was able to hire a few fellow students to come on to the paint crew. We used to have more fun than you could shake a sticker. We even had a paint truck.
It looked like a paint truck too. And one of the gentlemen that I hired, his name was Buck. Never forget Buck. Buck came from a place called Jackson, Tennessee if you know where that is.
Home of the great Union University, Jackson, Tennessee. And Buck arrived on campus and he began to work on the paint crew and it very quickly became obvious to us that Buck had a very strange relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Buck was a jolly nice fellow but what came out of his mouth didn't match someone who belonged to Jesus Christ. I mean he was a living contradiction and he didn't have any problem with it and so there were many times that we would be cringing and wondering and looking at him and Buck just didn't seem to have any hunger for the things of God.
Have you ever met someone who goes to church on Sunday but on Monday you wouldn't have any clue that they even belong to any church let alone the Lord Jesus? Well Buck was kind of like that but this was a seminary campus. I mean he even got sponsored and sent by church and this really bothered me and two of my friends who painted with me and so we devised a strategy. What was our goal? Our goal was that we would find out whether or not in fact Buck was a Christian.
Good question. Number two we would try to find out that if in fact he was a Christian how in the world he could have been called to become the pastor of a church or whatever I don't know. In fact we were already praying for whatever church it was he was going to pastor. What was our strategy? It was very simple.
Had a one-point strategy. Everywhere I went Buck went. He painted with me, drove in the truck with me and one day we were in the Bunyan building Steve will remember.
The Bunyan lecture building and we were painting. I'm down there it's Saturday and here I'm painting away in a hundred and thirty degree heat and I turned to Buck and I said to him, Buck could I ask you a question? He said what's up Don? I said Buck would you like to give your heart to Jesus? He said what are you talking about? He said I'm here on this campus at seminary. I said that's not what I asked you. Would you like to give your heart to Jesus Buck? He said man I don't know what you're talking about. I come from Jackson Tennessee. I said that's not what I belong to this church.
That's not what I'm asking you and cut a long story short. I'll never forget Buck because God gave to me the privilege that day of leading Buck to trust Jesus as his Savior. It was a dramatic experience in my life. When we'd finished praying he said what do I do next Don? I said Buck you get up you go to Dr. Bart Neil's office the registrar and you withdraw from seminary. He said what do you mean I'm going withdraw? He said I've just started my master's degree here. I said you've got to go and withdraw Buck.
He said why should I withdraw? I said well I said I don't know how you here you didn't even know God. So how did you get here? He couldn't have called you to come here. Go home. Go home Buck.
Go and find out what it is God wants you to do. And so Buck went back to Jackson never saw him for about ten years until preaching at an evangelism conference up there and this young man walks up to me ten years later with a beautiful young lady says this is my wife Don. He said God gave me a beautiful Christian wife.
I said what's going on in your life Buck? He said well you won't believe it. He said I teach Sunday school in my church. He said I became a deacon. This year I was elected chairman of deacons in my own church.
I said Buck that is wonderful. I said when are you coming back to seminary? He said I'm not. God hasn't called me into the ministry. He said but I want to tell you something Don Wilton. I'm every church's dream. I'm every pastor's dream because I'm serving the Lord Jesus with all of my heart. Forgive the interruption. We'll be back with the rest of today's message just three strategies part one with Dr. Don Wilton but Dr. Don wants me to remind you we're here for you not just presenting this broadcast whether you're listening on the radio on the podcast however you might be listening today but we're also connecting 24 hours a day through our website and on our website right now you'll see a remarkable loving connection for you and your sweetheart it's called 31 days of prayer for my husband and 31 days of prayer for my wife two wonderful resources along with a message for better or worse all of its available on our website at TEW online.org yes Valentine's has passed but you know there is never a bad time to begin to develop an even deeper relationship with a person that God has provided for you as your husband or your wife all those details are on our website at TEW online.org now let's dive back into today's message with Dr. Don Wilton Paul had three strategies he didn't just suddenly arrive one day in Thessalonica and say listen let's see what we're about to do to hear the recommendation this unanimous recommendation and place God's people's stamp on that blessing because it has to do with this issue of values and strategy who we are and what we're doing what is God saying to us why do we do what we do it's one of the most exciting things we were in a meeting on Tuesday from 8 30 in the morning till 4 30 in the afternoon we didn't even leave the conference room for lunch had sandwiches brought in there God all over us telling us revealing to us giving to us a fresh vision in this church Paul when he came into the church at Thessalonica he came with a fresh vision and an understanding and a passion he could see the people and he knew that all people need the Lord Jesus Christ and that Jesus Christ is the only one who could reach all people and God gave to him a threefold strategy strategy number one he reasoned with those people look down there at verse 2 Bible says as his custom was Paul went into the synagogue by the way in Paul's day don't think of the synagogue like our church with 7,000 people don't think of it it with three worship services and don't think of it in our modern-day terminology today the synagogue was a very small place in a big city and it catered for a very small segment of the population and Paul chose the synagogue because it was so important and the word literally reason the word reason when the Bible says that he reasoned with them that word reason is the same word that we get our English word to dialogue it's the it's an identical word he dialogued with them he entered into a conversation with them if I was to bring Eddie Robertson up here right now and say to him in this sense let's reason together I would be inviting Eddie to come and to dialogue with me we understand what that is Paul understood what that was we understand it in terms of small groups Paul understood that in order to reach his city that God had put in his heart that people had to gather in small groups because that's where they would prepare to go out and become engaged in the world in which they lived a small group is just simply a gathering of people in conversation led by a leader it doesn't diminish the role of the leader in fact it elevates the role of a leader because God always places leaders in whatever group you find yourself in our churches many small groups beginning with our Sunday school life groups Sunday night discipleship groups Tuesday morning ladies Bible study groups prayer groups master life groups experiencing God that's why when we went through experiencing God we gathered together and then we broke into small groups you see something spiritual happens in those groups and Paul understood the strategy and it is absolutely abundantly clear that there are definitive benefits of spiritual conversation that takes place in the dialogue of reasoning according to that which Paul did in the synagogue no different then than what it is today what are some of those benefits of spiritual conversation in small groups number one it introduces people to one another you want to be introduced to people you need to be in one of those small groups that's where you meet people did you know that by the way did you know that our whole society rarely is broken up into small groups everything we do subsists on small groups it's the neighborhood here what Paul was doing is he was saying we need to put together a system based upon the neighborhood we need to bring the people in microcosm together to have a spiritual conversation what a powerful message from dr. Don Wilton here on the encouraging word and perhaps that concept of a spiritual conversation is something that already has begun with the Holy Spirit and you stirring your heart as you've been listening to dr. Don Wilton teach and preach the Word of God I pray that you'd open your heart just as you have to him teaching and preaching to what he wants to share with you next are you ready to give your heart and life to the Lord Jesus Christ I'm so happy to hear that why don't you pray this prayer with me today dear God I know that you love me very very much and I know that the Lord Jesus Christ came and died on a cross so that I might be forgiven of my sin today I repent of my sin I confess my sin to you and I invite you to come into my heart and into my life my faith in Jesus name I pray if you prayed that prayer let me be the first one to welcome you to the family of God this is wonderful I hope that you know how much I'm gonna be praying for you and how very important this is for me call us so that we can talk to you and connect you in the right place so you can begin this wonderful journey and in just a moment I'm gonna come back with a final word if you just prayed along with dr. Don Wilton to give your life to Christ or we dedicate your life to Jesus dr. Don wants to pray for you we want to pray for you and with you and we want to give you some resources dr. Don has prepared to help you grow and take the next steps our phone number is eight six six eight nine nine word and that number will connect with one of us anytime 24 hours a day pray with you and to connect you with these free resources dr. Wilton wants you to have again the numbers eight six six eight nine nine nine six seven three as we connect to pray and show your resources we have a myriad of resources right now so many are asking about the 31 days of prayer for our spouse that's on our website te w online o RG as is the remarkable book from dr. Wilton about his time 20-plus years being the pastor of dr. Billy Graham hello everybody you know my friends know me as Don Wilton pastor friend neighbor dad husband grandpa but I'm going to tell you people all around the world just like you know and identify dr. Billy Graham as that man that God used to reach so many people around the world for the Lord Jesus Christ I had the privilege of knowing mr. Graham in a very personal and intimate way both as his friend and as his pastor in fact for many years I drove up to his home in Montreat North Carolina and visited with him every Saturday just like friends do everywhere we sat together and ate together walked talked we discussed politics friends places people we laughed our heads off we did everything one could possibly imagine that's why I wrote this wonderful book Saturdays with me it's all about a personal relationship and I hope and pray that Saturdays with Billy will be a blessing to you will inspire and will encourage your heart just as mr. Graham encouraged my heart and changed my life god bless you again that's just one of many resources available on our website at TEW online dot o RG our times just about a gone now that's just one of our many resources available on our website at TEW online dot o RG that's TEW online dot o RG and before we get away we have closing thoughts from our chief encourager dr. Dean Wilson you know before we go today what a day of worship we've had you know you and I have in the middle of our hearts our beloved nation don't we how much I love America I'm so proud to be an American and you know this broadcast is seen by so many of our armed forces across the world and we hear from many many of them and we love them we admire them we respect them they are our real heroes and I want you to join with me as we are praying for them that God would protect them and their families and loved ones let's do that right now shall we just before we go why don't you join with me Lord Jesus I'm joining with thousands of people right now and praying for our members our brave brave members of our community and our world who are in uniform many are overseas and strange and difficult places families left behind Lord Jesus bless them keep your hand upon them in every way in Jesus name amen our time's gone for today but we'll dive back into this same series on three strategies with dr. Don Wilton tomorrow at the same time I hope you'll join us and perhaps invite a friend
