Welcome to the midweek edition of The Encouraging Word, featuring the Bible-based preaching of Dr. Don Wilton. Today, as we open the Word of God, the Bible, together with Dr. Wilton, we'll be talking about a people worth witnessing to. The change in our perspective on those around us and the people that need Jesus, some that are close to us and some that are further away, is a powerful change when we look at it through the eyes of Jesus. Today, we'll gain more insight as we study the Word together, but Dr. Wilton wants me to remind you that as we study, we love to pray with you and for you, keyboard to keyboard on our website at theencouragingword.org or the phone line 866-899-WORD.
That's 866-899-9673. We love to pray with and for you. Now today's message with Dr. Don Wilton, a people worth witnessing to. Father, so many times you speak to us and really words are, feel so weak, for there are no words that can really describe to you the majesty and glory of who you are. Thank you for loving us. We pray this prayer in Jesus' name together.
Amen. I just love you today, that's all. In many ways, that's my message. I just want you to know that. And actually, that message comes through me. I'm saying to you that I love you and I really do. I'm so happy to see you and to be with you, to fellowship like this. But that love which I have in my heart comes to me because God loves me.
He loved me so much that he gave his only son, the Lord Jesus, to die for me. And I now pass that on to you. And I want you to hear something this morning as we open our Bibles to the book of Acts and chapter 19. I want you to hear something. This is a very important statement. I want you to know from my heart as Don Wilton that you are a people worth witnessing to.
You are worth it. Now, I want you to just think about that statement for a minute. I'm saying to you as one person, I'm passing on, I want you to know that I not only love you, but I believe very implicitly in my heart that you are worth sharing this wonderful message with. Now, I want you to just think of the enormity of that statement. So out of the thousands and thousands and potentially millions by the way of the encouraging word television broadcast, I want you to think who I am saying this to.
And everything I say to you right now, I promise you is true. I'm saying that to Republicans. I'm saying that to Democrats, independents. I'm saying that to men and boys.
I'm saying that to ladies and to girls. Now get this, I'm saying that to many people who have been blessed financially and in business and who seemingly have very few worries in that department. And I'm also saying that to a lot of my friends who really are desperate, who have nothing.
They've got nowhere to turn. You're worth it. Who am I saying that to? I'm saying that to someone right now who's in prison, who committed a crime and is paying the consequence. I'm saying that for someone who needs to be forgiven and someone who has been forgiven, not only by the Lord Jesus, but by your fellow man.
I'm saying that potentially. I'm saying that to somebody who just absolutely rejects God and Jesus. In fact, I'm saying that to you right now.
And right now you in your heart, you hate me because I'm telling you about Jesus. I'm telling you, you're worth it. I'm saying that to somebody today who is a great athlete. And I'm saying that to someone who has no athletic ability. I'm saying that to someone who has a thousand PhDs.
And I'm saying that to someone who hasn't had one day or the privilege of much education. You're worth it. Here's why you're worth it. Because Jesus makes all the difference. I just want you to know, I want you to know that He's changed my life.
It's worth it. So take a look over here with me because we must understand how worth it it is, what Paul did. And so on this, his third journey, just God came to this man who by the way, and get this today, Paul himself was a sinner.
He was a bad one. I mean, he persecuted the church and he met Jesus on the road to Damascus and his whole life changed. All of a sudden he had joy, peace, forgiveness. And God came to him and said to him, I want you to go and tell all people about me because everybody's worth it. Now, if there's anything that Satan is going to try and do to you right now, he's going to try and convince you that you're not worth it.
That you're beyond God, you're beyond Jesus. And so what happened here was that he left Antioch where he was, remember his home church. He always went back to base and he left here and he traveled through this whole region here. His first real stop of any significance, and we're going to zoom in here, is this place called Ephesus right here.
He suddenly jumped off my finger. There he is there. This place called Ephesus and a remarkable city. And some of you will remember that Ephesus was really a cosmopolitan city for back in that day and age.
I mean, he might as well have landed in Chicago or New Orleans or Atlanta, in your city, in my city, my town. And he came here into Ephesus and there they were. Well, who? All the people I just spoke to you about. They were all there.
I mean, he just walked into this humanity. They were all there. You know, we've got some very dear friends with us today who are actually worshiping with us. They serve the Lord right here in this part of Turkey. They're right here today with us.
They'll tell you this is an interesting part. This is right on the western border of Turkey back in that time, really a Greek city in many ways. Under Roman governance and even Caesar Augustus had seen to it that the prosperity that he had in mind for the Roman provinces would find its expression in Ephesus. So they were very prosperous there.
So guess who really wanted to live in Ephesus? Business people. They opened businesses. Prosperity was very, very prominent there. This is a port city. You can see it right here on the Aegean Sea. So you've got a lot of port traffic coming in and out, merchants, shops, just love to go there.
I mean, just a lot of things here. Even today you can go there. A lot of ships land right there. And you come into the port city and there are just shops ad infinitum in the city that really is the entrance way into the city of Ephesus today as we know it.
Beautiful. And I mean the restaurants and everything. Some of the best food you've ever eaten in your life. Well, way back then this place here was just like a gathering of prominent people, business people. I mean, there were deals going on. And of course, every time you have prosperity, you have poverty everywhere. If you've got prosperity, I guarantee you'll have poverty.
They just coexist all the time, everywhere, all around the world. So you had massive poverty. You had the working class at the bottom of the list. And by the way, they became like a segmented group. There were those who were kind of Roman and there were those who were Turkish and there were those who came from this persuasion. And there was kind of a racial attitude that was present right here in Ephesus. I mean, you're not going to believe this, but there were actually people who didn't like other people just because of the color of their skin. That went on there. And so racial attitudes were all over the place.
Habs and have nots, rich and poor. Oh, by the way, did I mention this? You talk about politics. See, the Romans were involved. And so the business community and many others, they wanted to be in the good books of the Romans. So everybody who was anybody wanted to run for office. So you had guilds, you had business people backing people running for office. And when they ran for office, they got up and said, you elect me, I promise you, I'll open your shop right up on that strategic corner there and I'll make sure you get the best business.
So bribery and corruption. I know we've never heard of that in America, but I'm just saying back here in Ephesus, what was there not there? Oh, by the way, they built this incredible library there. These were learned people. They were academics. I mean, they went to school there. They studied.
Their medical university was bar none. They send people all over the place. And then to actually sort of add to all of it, there's that old temple, the Temple of Artemis.
A-R-T-E-M-I-S. A-R-T-E-M-I-S. The Temple of Artemis. She was the goddess known as Diana to the Romans. And she was the goddess of fertility, chastity, childbearing.
Don't mess with the lady and her body. So they translated even the very issues related to those things that belong to God into the political arena of their lives. They said, what we're going to do is we forget about God.
Who's God? We worship cults. We're pagans. We worship brick and mortar and stone. God has nothing to do with this. So what we're going to do is we're going to take even the very sanctity of life and we're going to translate it into the fabric of our own human genius.
And we're going to turn it into a political weapon. Ephesus. Here comes Paul. I think I'm not trying to put words into Paul's mouth, but I think Paul in many ways.
And if you read his letter to the church at Ephesus, I think he did this. I think Paul stood up there and said, excuse me. Hello. Excuse me, everyone. I'm not here to talk about your Republicans and your Democrats and your issues or your businesses or your ups or your downs. I want to tell you about Jesus. You're listening to Dr. Don Wilton, who speaks very boldly, does he not? And don't we aspire for that sense of confidence and boldness? You know, inside each of our different temperaments, the ability to share our faith, to witness. The other day, Dr. Wilton mentioned about the importance of just telling our story about being a witness.
If you're called to the stand in a court of law, they just ask you to tell what you saw. If you tell people what you're seeing in your own life by the power of Jesus, that could be your greatest witnessing tool. That could empower you to be bold. It's also an opportunity we have to pray you through that boldness. Maybe there's someone in particular you're praying to witness to or a family or group. Let us pray specifically for you. Give us a call and let us pray right now at 866-899-WORD. We would love to pray for you.
That number is 866-899-9673. And of course, that number and other ways to connect are on our website at TheEncouragingWord.org. We'd love to be a part of your support system to encourage you in God's Word. Even though the world is becoming an increasingly challenging place to live in as a Christian, Jesus' ultimate sacrifice on the cross remains a message of hope for everyone. Discover a deep understanding and appreciation for our Savior's death on the cross in Dr. Wilton's powerful sermon, The Cross, along with the bonus book, The Cross of Jesus, by Warren W. Wiersbe, which explores the entire crucifixion in detail. These powerful resources are yours to have with your gift of support to The Encouraging Word. Thank you for listening today. Now back to today's message with Dr. Don.
Listen, these people believe, man. Go there and worship pagans. Go ballistic. Do whatever you want to do, but don't come here with Jesus, man. Are we going to get to that? It got so bad they went into a rioting frenzy eventually.
Let's read about it. Just a few verses, just a few excerpts. Let's start in Acts chapter 18, verse 24.
Now a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was an eloquent man, competent in the Scriptures. Verse 26, he began to speak boldly in the synagogue.
Chapter 19 and verse 1, as it happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through inland country and he came to Ephesus. And there he found some disciples and he said to them, did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? They said, no, we'd not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit. And he said to them, into their what then were you baptized? And they said, into John's baptism. And Paul looked at them and said, man, what a great man. But you're believing sincerely, not knowingly.
Your belief is misguided. Said even John was telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him. That is Jesus. Let's go down to verse 8.
Then he entered the synagogue. For three months he spoke boldly, reasoning, persuading them, here it is again, about the kingdom of God. Let's go down to verse 11. This is all in Ephesus and God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul. By the way, they didn't have the Bible.
Paul was it. God used him in every way. Okay, go down to verse 20.
I'm going to fill in the gaps for you in just a minute. Verse 20. So the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevailed mightily. May I just say this to you again?
My name is Don Wilton. And I'm a Christian man. And Jesus came into my heart.
I didn't deserve that. I'm a sinner, sinned grievously against God. I was destined to be separated from him for all time in eternity. But because he loved me, he revealed himself to me and I gave my heart and life to Jesus. And he came to my heart and he forgave me for all of my sin. And he restored me, reconciled me, number one to God, number two to my fellow man.
And then get this. In my life, he said to me, I want you to get up from your Antioch. I want you to go to the world. And here's what I want you to do. I don't want you to preach politics or business. All I want you to do is just to love all people in the name of Jesus and tell them about me.
That's what Paul was doing. That's what you and I do. And it's hard to stick to this because we all have stuff. We all have feelings. We all have emotions. We all have persuasions. We're all individuals. And then to make it even better, we live in the greatest country in the world. And we now know we've got a right to live, to do, to say whatever we want to do, because that's my right.
Don't mess with my rights. And that's my problem. And Jesus came into my heart. And because his Spirit has come into my life, I am submitting myself to his Spirit by his help.
And my life is following Jesus. That's what Paul did. So what do we find in the city of Ephesus? Well, we find that there were some people who spoke boldly. We read about Apollos. That was going on amongst those people. We find that some people believed sincerely.
Right there in chapter 19. I've never met a more American few verses in all my life. And we didn't even exist. But it's like every time I read that, I think of me and my people and us, of who I am. These people believed sincerely, but they weren't saved. How can you be saved?
Because John can't save anybody. Listen. Hello. Do you know how many unbelievably precious, wonderful, deeply sincere people there are in every city, in every community, in our own world?
We're surrounded. Can I tell you something, folks, with all the love? There are no greater people on the face of the earth than the American person. You won't find a more generous person, open-hearted, more hospitable.
And we've got a slew of men and women who have sacrificed their lives for this country. You can be as genuinely lovely and as sincere and as wonderful. I want you to know that what I had to do was to give my heart to Jesus. Because this Bible tells me that it's at the name of Jesus that every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. It's not John the Baptist. It's not Billy Graham. It's not Don the Wilton. It's not Abraham. It's not the Pope.
It's not your priest, your bishop, Jesus. And don't get me wrong. I mentioned my name. I hope I'm a jolly nice person to you.
I think I'm, quite frankly, I think I'm, all right, let's get on to the next subject here. So some believed sincerely. And what did Paul do? He arrived there and he said, let me tell you about Jesus. Number three, some resisted stubbornly.
The Bible tells us in verse 8 to 10 that there was stubborn resistance to the gospel. But this, during these weeks, I'm thinking so much of our students, aren't you? Many have already arrived on campuses. I've got friends who went and unpacked their sons and daughters on our college campuses and are still doing it.
Our high school students, kindergartners, love our students, proud of them. Promise you, on those campuses, all of this is going to be there, right there even on a campus. It's going to be some who are going to speak boldly the word of God. There are going to be some who just sincerely are religious, salt of the earth, many of them. And there are going to be some who resist stubbornly. That's what happened in these verses here. Bible tells us very clearly, entered there and reasoning with them, persuading them. Some became stubborn, continued in their unbelief. You know that there's someone listening to me right now? You are stubbornly going to just walk away from God in a minute.
You're going to say, oh, I know it one day, but right now, you're just going to get stubborn. Some were touched miraculously. I love this in verse 11 and 12, Bible says there, God was doing extraordinary miracles through Paul.
And in this regard, even handkerchiefs, aprons that had touched his skin were carried away to the sick. Paul was there, Bible. He was to them, the carrying over of the gospel. God used him.
God came in there. God will use you. I want to encourage you something because I think there are some precious friends right now who you need a miracle, don't you? What is a miracle? Miracle is something that only God can do. Otherwise, it's not a miracle.
But let me tell you, God will use anything at his disposal. Listen to your doctor. God will use your doctor. Listen to your best friend who loves Jesus.
Seek after that. Don't. You want a miracle in your life? Don't put a limit on God. Can I just say that? Don't tell God no.
Identify what it is. Give yourself to prayer and fasting. Bring into your circle a small group of very godly people to pray with you. Anticipate what God's going to do and then trust him. Take him at his word and you'll receive God's miracle. Don't find yourself getting to the point at which you say, I'm done.
Nothing can be done. It's hard. I prayed with a dear man yesterday, both Karen and I did. We both prayed with him and for him.
Just love him. Just prayed with him. Held his hand, just prayed with him. He's been very ill. Somewhere in my prayer, I said, Lord, I pray for this pray, loves you.
This is being in church, can't be. The precious man. I pray for God's miracle. Rick Smith, God's miracle. We prayed for you, brother.
I can go around this place everywhere. I start naming one person after another where you've been down, you've been almost declared out. And a miracle is something that God does. And that's the part that we've got to rest ourselves in him.
Whether he does or whether he doesn't. It brings the big why. When God doesn't heal, why? Why, Lord, why? Why didn't you heal my husband? Why didn't you heal my friend?
Why did you do this? That's not a criminal question. God knows that. Of course. Because it brings us in conflict with our emotions.
I can't explain it to you why. But I do know that God does. I want to trust him, don't you? And I'm going to pray for you. I'm praying for you because I love you. In the name of Jesus, I'll put my hands on you. I'm going to pray for you. I'm going to ask God to heal you.
That's what he did when he came to Ephesus. It doesn't matter if you're Republican or Democrat. It doesn't matter whether you've got enough money or don't have enough.
It doesn't matter. God loves you. Give your life to Jesus. And what happened here? Some were touched miraculously. And as a consequence in verse 13 through 20, some were delivered mightily. That last part there about the presence and power of the evil one. The desire of Satan to sift us as wheat, to get ahold of the hearts of our people and our nation and our young people. But God, who is sovereign and mighty and powerful, he prevailed.
What happened? People were delivered mightily. So the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevailed mightily. And as we understand that love of God, it's life-changing. We're ready to talk with you, answer questions, pray with you at 866-899-WORD.
That's 866-899-9673 or online at theencouragingword.org. And before we get away, another powerful thought from Dr. Don Wilton. Are you ready to give your heart and life to the Lord Jesus Christ? Why don't you pray this prayer with me right now? Dear God, I know that I'm a sinner and I know that Jesus died for me on the cross. Today, I repent of my sin and by faith, I receive you into my heart. In Jesus' name. My friend, I welcome you today into the family of God.
This is exciting news. I pray that if God has stirred your heart through the power of his word, the Bible itself, and his messenger, Dr. Don Wilton, that you wouldn't let this moment just fizzle away, as Dr. Don would say. Take action.
Draw a line in the sand. Let us help you do that by praying with you and for you, maybe putting some resources in your hands, like beginning a new time of Bible study with the Daily Encouraging Word. It's free for the asking if you call us at 866-899-WORD. Let us help you spend a disciplined time of five or ten minutes. Just start with that, the Daily Encouraging Word, and watch God work in your life. Again, ask for it as you call 866-899-9673 or sign up online at TheEncouragingWord.org. I ordered one of your devotionals. A teacher friend of mine came that day and was having problems with three of her boys in her class. I felt that she really needed the devotionals, so I gave her mine, and she took it as a treasure and assured me that she would take the time to read it every day. Praise the Lord. She needed that encouragement, and I know that devotional will keep her encouraged every day as she draws closer to the Lord and hides God's Word in her heart.
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