When People Get in the Way Part 1 R1547A

God by His Spirit enters into your life and He connects your umbilical birth relationship in the image of God to the full and complete purpose of God in Christ Jesus. I tell you, it is a wonderful thing to be born again when the Spirit of God comes down upon you and all of a sudden your eyes are open and you say, wow, Jesus is alive. He died for me. My sins are forgiven. My name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life.

I'll never be the same again. Thank you, Jesus. God has an encouraging word for you and me today through the Bible-based preaching of Dr. Don Wilton and a message on people. Yes, our interaction with people is so critical to who we are.

We are not built to live as islands, so to speak. God has built us for community and in the community of our small families, our small groups and the groups that enlarge beyond that, what happens when people get in the way? Dr. Wilton is going to tell us through a great message called When People Get in the Way in just a minute about the opportunities we have to see God make a difference in our relationships, whether it be one-on-one or one-on-many. As we open God's Word together, know that we're here for you. We'd love to pray with you at 866-899-WORD. That's our phone number, 866-899-9673. Or, let's connect online at theencouragingword.org.

And now, Dr. Don Wilton. Father, this must be the song of our hearts today. We want our faith to be the kind of faith that will never be shaken.

We want to be strong in you. And Father, as we gather and as we worship you today, we recognize that we are believers in an unbelieving world. We recognize, Lord, that there are so many of our friends who are facing difficulties.

They're facing obstacles, opposition. Lord, being a Christian in a world like ours presents so many challenges, not the least of which our wanting to recoil and withdraw and not be engaged in the gospel. Lord, speak to our hearts today.

Get a hold of us. Lord, we find ourselves in the city of Ephesus with the Apostle Paul as he journeys, sharing the love of Christ with people. We're asking you today to teach us what we need to know, that we might be anchored in you. What a beautiful time to worship you, Lord Jesus. Thank you for every single person who at this very moment is receiving your encouraging word. We are so blessed that you love us like you do. And right now, Lord Jesus, we open our hearts up to you and we pray this prayer in Jesus' name. Amen.

It's just wonderful to be together. And I just thank God for each life and every testimony. You know, as Maureen led the praise team and the choir and the orchestra in reminding us so beautifully of the anchor in our lives, of what it means to be a people of faith, we find ourselves in the middle of a city called Ephesus.

And you find yourself in the middle of your city, your town, your high school campus, your work environment, your country. We are no different. I'm going to ask you to open your Bibles this morning to the book of Acts and chapter 19. I'm very deeply anxious to share this word with you today. God spoke to me personally so much through what I read and began to understand by the Holy Spirit. He began to speak to my own heart and my own life.

I just want you to know that today. I feel in my own life strengthened by what God has shown me. And my prayer today is that the Lord Jesus would be so gracious as to speak to your heart today. And with our Bibles open to Acts chapter 19, I want to just simply remind you and quote to you something that Paul himself said in one of his other letters. He was writing to the Philippian church. And when he wrote to the Philippian church, he had already completed this journey that we've been on for these many weeks. He was facing certain death. And when he wrote to the people at Philippi, he made a rather intriguing and somewhat difficult statement.

And I just simply share it with you. It's in Philippians chapter one and verse twenty nine. He says this for it has been granted to you. That for the sake of Christ. You should not only believe in him, but also suffer for his sake.

I want to read that again. This is Paul writing facing imminent death. He's about to lose his life for the sake of the gospel. And he says to a group of believers in one city called Philippi, and he looks at them and he writes this under the inspiration of the Spirit. And he says, you need to know that God by his Spirit has granted to you, has given to you, is instructing you, wants you to know something. What does he want you to know? That for the sake of Christ, you should not only believe in him.

But people of God, you need to understand that you will suffer for the sake of Christ. So Paul arrives in Ephesus. He's got a long journey and he's going to many different places and he finds himself in one town called Ephesus. And in that city, as we've already discovered, we find almost everything known to humankind. Business, a flourishing economy, a stock market if you please. We find people seeking office. We find rulership, ownership, servanthood. We find poverty and riches.

Right in this one city, we find a needy people, people who need food, need help, need medical attention. One of the great medical centers was right there in Ephesus. And in the middle of all of this, there's the temple to Artemis, the goddess Diana. People there paid homage to man-made gods. And some of the community there even capitalized on it.

They even made little artifacts and relics. They ran a good business, even through their pagan religion. And Paul arrived there. So much can be said about Paul, but one thing can be said about him is that his sole purpose was that they would come to know Jesus. Because Paul knew that Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God. Paul knew, he understood that Jesus is the Prince of Peace, that Jesus is the only one who can forgive people their sin. Paul knew that all have sinned, everyone. He didn't categorize that sin.

He didn't say that the worshipers of Artemis were any worse sinners than worshipers of some other statue or idol or some non-entity. Paul understood sin and what God thinks about sin. And the fact that the Bible says that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. So Paul arrived, a Christian man, with this message, message of hope, message of love.

God is love. Paul went about his business trying to persuade them, encourage them, tell them, yes, there is hope. And that hope is in the Lord Jesus. You can be forgiven of your sin. Washed, forgiven completely, you can know that you know that you know that one day when you die, that you're going to be transported by the angels right there into the presence of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.

You can know that. You can have peace in your heart. You see, Paul knew what it was to not have peace in his heart.

Paul was a changed man. Why would anybody want to oppose him? Why would his world be so antagonistic against someone coming in sharing the love of Christ and hope and joy and peace and forgiveness?

But it happened. And God tells us, Jesus warned us, because of the prince of this world and the power of darkness, because the devil hates anything to do with the holiness of God, he cannot tolerate God's righteousness. And he is determined to do whatever he can, to do whatever he can, to destroy every believer's life and to discredit you. People get in the way of the way. And so I've entitled this message today, When People Get in the Way. Let's read about it.

It's an incredible account. We're in Acts chapter 19. And I'm going to begin at verse 23. You know that from this business, we have our wealth and you see and hear that not only in Ephesus, but in almost all of Asia, that this Paul has persuaded and turned away a great many people saying that God's made with hands are not gods. And there is danger, not only to this trade of ours that 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, she whom all Asia and the world worship. Now, when they heard this, they were enraged and were crying out.

The great is Artemis of the Ephesians. So the city was filled with confusion and they rushed together in the theater, dragging with them Gaius and Aristarchus, Macedonians who were Paul's companions in travel. But when Paul wished to go in among the crowd, the disciples would not let him.

Even some of the Asioks, who were the high ranking offices of the province of Asia, who were friends of his, sent to him and were urging him not to venture into the theater. Now, some cried out one thing and some another for the assembly was in confusion, and most of them did not know why they had come together. Some of the crowd prompted Alexander, whom the Jews with his hand wanted to make a defense of the crowd.

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. Now, when the town clerk had quieted the crowd, he said, people of Ephesus, who is there that does not know that the city of the Ephesians is the temple keeper of the great Artemis and of the sacred stone that fell from the sky? Seeing then that these things cannot be denied, you ought to be quiet and do nothing rash. For you have brought these men here who are neither sacrilegious nor blasphemers of our goddess. If therefore Demetrius and the craftsmen with him have a complaint against anyone, go to the law courts and there are proconsuls, let them bring charges against one another. But if you seek anything further, it shall be settled in the regular assembly.

For we are really in danger of being charged with rioting today since there is no cause that we can give to justify the commotion. And when he had said this, he dismissed the assembly. Now, after the uproar had ceased, Paul sent for the believers and after he encouraged them, he went on his way, departing for Macedonia. May the Lord write this word in our hearts today.

An amazing story, isn't it? Right here in the Bible. Why would God want us to have to deal with a reaction like this by a group of people when it would seem that the message of the gospel was so designed to make people whole? Why such antagonism? We're encountering this, it would seem to me, from one city to the next, don't you think?

And we know that it's not over. We know that the same opposition followed Paul and all the believers, even to Paul's death and beyond and even today, even in our own world today. You can name it by any religion, do it and it'll be mostly accepted. But you mentioned Jesus and all of a sudden banning orders, legislation. Get that prayer stuff out of our schools. Don't you dare come over here and pray in the name of Jesus.

Just be generic. Don't mention the name of Jesus. You're listening to Dr. Don Wilton and we'll get the answer to that question of what we need to do about that in just a moment as Dr. Wilton continues his message. But he insists that I interrupt so that you know it's not just a presentation of the message, it's an opportunity to have a conversation. Is there a way that we can pray for you in your life right now?

Maybe as we talk about when people get in the way, is there somebody we need to pray over that the Lord give you a special perspective, a new perspective on how to look at them and perhaps to change the way they look at you? We'd love to talk about it at 866-899. We're just to pray.

That's the most important thing we do with that phone. We'd love to connect you with resources like the daily Encouraging Word Bible Guide, some of Dr. Wilton's books or other resources. But most of all, Dr. Wilton established this phone number so that we could pray together. That's 866-899-9673 or meet us online at theencouragingword.org.

That's theencouragingword.org. 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 when people get in the way with Dr. Don Wilton. Just be generic. Don't mention the name of Jesus. And I'll have anybody on my show. But a Jesus follower?

Are you kidding me? What was it about what was going on? The Bible is very clear that when Paul shared the love of Christ that there rose a great disturbance right there in the heart of Ephesus concerning the way. When people get in the way of the way, what are you and I to do about that? How do you deal with your distress? How do we behave? Where do we go to?

What is our response? What can God say to us today? This is what the Lord has put in my heart. When people get in the way, ask the Lord Jesus.

And I just want to pause there. I cannot emphasize to each one of us enough that this is something that you need to present to the Lord Jesus. I know people today who are dealing with all kinds of distress.

We're going to talk about distress. It comes in leaps and bounds in the lives of people in every form one can possibly imagine. But God will make his application in your life today. That little introductory statement that you're seeing, ask the Lord Jesus. You see, my friend, when you gave your life to Christ, the Spirit of God came into your heart. You'll remember even when Paul arrived in Ephesus, what was the first question he asked the followers there? He said, have you received the Holy Spirit?

They said, well, we haven't even heard of the Holy Spirit. And he said, well, who have you received? He said, they said, in all honesty, well, we are following John the Baptist and his teaching.

And so Paul laid his hands on them and he shared the truth of the gospel concerning Jesus. God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. And they received not John, but they received the one that John was pointing to.

The one who is far greater that would become behind John. The one who was the only one who could grant salvation and forgive sin and give hope. And Paul said, you need to give your life to Jesus. And they did and they received the Holy Spirit.

And if you've given your heart to Jesus, you have the Holy Spirit living in you. Ask the Lord Jesus. Ask the Lord Jesus how to respond when people get in the way. What ought we to ask the Lord Jesus to do? Here are four things that I want to share with you straight from this text. First of all, ask the Lord to help you to really understand what's going on. That's what happened here in Ephesus.

I've tried to explain this to you. What was going on in Ephesus? Well, I present to you a smorgasbord of every society, every community.

Their world was essentially no different to ours. We live in an incredible world, you know. Just drive around today in our motor cars, it seems like there are motor cars everywhere, especially in our community. Hard to get anywhere. People are busy. We've got restaurants. We've got ball games going on. We've got businesses. We've got people being diagnosed with diseases.

We've got great hospitals. We've got young people going to school and students going to college and university. We've got people retiring.

We've got nursing homes. You've got the activity of the human race and all of us individually. And out here in this big world, there are people who claim and who cling to things, to unknown gods. There are people today who are so besotted over who's the next American idol.

There are people who worship the dollar sign. There are people for whom all of life depends on their football team. There are people who absolutely swear that there is no life after death. There are people who think any kind of religion is the stupidest thing you've ever heard of. There are people who are we.

Ask God to help you really understand where you live. Understand the environment that you're in as a believer. As we gain that insight of knowing who's getting in the way, the key is giving it to God and watching Him work through it. Forgive the interruption, but we're all done for our time today. Tomorrow we'll finish this great message on when people get in the way.

But already God has established some concepts that we can use in the way to better our relationships, even when people get in the way. One of those tools is the power of prayer. We pray with you about something that's going on in your life, a circumstance or a situation. Just call us. Our 866-899-WORD number will connect you with us 24 hours a day, any time, day or night, with friends that would be thrilled to pray with you and for you. I wish you'd just jot it down or store us in your cell. Let us be a contact of yours at The Encouraging Word, 866-899-9673.

You'll find that number and other ways to connect on our website at theencouragingword.org. But you know, in the midst of gaining insight and study about what happens when other people get in the way, what about our own situation? What about when we get in the way, when we get in our own way? It could be that God's ready for you to make a decision today that would help you get out of your own way so that you could be the woman of God, the man of God He's called you to be.

Here's another thought from Dr. Don Wilton. God has spoken to you, hasn't He? And you ready to give your heart to Jesus?

I'd love to help you right now. Would you pray this prayer with me and accept Jesus into your heart and life? Dear God, I know that I'm a sinner.

I know that Jesus loves me and died for me on the cross. Right now, I repent of my sin and I confess my sin to the Lord Jesus Christ. Come into my heart and save me today and forgive me for my sin. In Jesus' name I pray.

Amen. If you've prayed that prayer, we'd love to get alongside of you and celebrate with you and send you some literature and help you as you begin to grow. And I want you to know that I love you very, very much. And by the way, don't leave.

Don't go away, whatever you do, because I'll be right back. If the Lord has spoken to you through the pastor today and you've made a decision for Christ, let us welcome you to the family. Let's put free resources in your hands that will help you grow or perhaps you've come back to Jesus.

Again, let us help you take the next step to solidify your walk with Him on a daily basis. Like the Daily Encouraging Word Bible Guide. It's free for the asking as you call. 866-899-WORD.

That's 866-899-9673. Or meet us online at TheEncouragingWord.org. And our hearts are full with the opportunity of seeing God bring fruit out of this ministry every single day.

People give their hearts to Jesus for the very first time. And we're able to do that because many of you have become both prayer and financial supporters. We call you encouragers. Hello, my friends. I want to speak to you personally today from my heart to yours. I don't think there is ever a better or more important time for us to respond to our world by standing up for righteousness. Now, with this in mind, I would like to invite you to become an encourager ministry partner. You see, together we can impact lives both now and for all time and all eternity. The Encouraging Word is a viewer and listener supported ministry. And to know that you are standing with me financially enables me to move forward with confidence to do the work God has called me to do. So please call the number on your screen and just simply say, I want to become an encourager.

Thank you so much for helping me. That phone number is 866-899-WORD. Give us a call. Let us give you more information at 866-899-9673 or online at theencouragingword.org. Dear Pastor Don, as an encourager of the Encouraging Word ministry, I've listened to many of your services on CDs, DVDs, and Sunday evening television. Your blessings have been fulfilling in my life. Your ministry and blessings is a great part of my life. You and your staff are in my daily prayers. I'm sending extra gifts this month to help reach people throughout the Encouraging Word ministry. What we need is more people like you and your lovely wife willing to lead their homeland and go over God has led them. We love you, Pastor. You know, this ministry goes on 24 hours round the clock all the time. We want to be involved in your life and we want to continue to pray for you.

You can call us at any time. You can partner with us all the time through prayer and through your giving. We know that you are 100% engaged as we are in sharing God's truth with our searching world.

That's what this is all about. We need Jesus, don't we? And I love you today. Thank God for you. Pray for you. God bless you.