The Safest Place to Be - Life of Paul Part 55

Hey, let's take a Bible and open it together to Acts chapter 18. We're going to be continuing in our study of the life of the great man, the Apostle Paul.

Acts chapter 18. And as most of us know here, the United States of America went to war with Iraq this past Wednesday. In USA Today, in one of the articles there, one of the soldiers talked about his feelings, and I quote. He said, whether we're going to get ambushed, whether they're going to outnumber us or will outnumber them, whether they're going to be really hostile or surrender, whether they're going to use biological or chemical weapons on us, there's not a night goes by I haven't thought about it.

This past week, Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge raised the domestic security thermometer to orange, to high. He cited highly reliable reports indicating that terrorists are planning attacks against Americans in light of our actions in Iraq. And most disturbing, perhaps, of all that Secretary Ridge said was his comment, and I quote, that there are many recent indications that Al Qaeda's planning includes the use of chemical, biological, and radiological materials against Americans. Hey, you know, suddenly, for us as Americans, the world just doesn't seem like a safe place much anymore, does it? In fact, this past week, on Tuesday, Saddam Hussein's son said, and I quote, Americans must not think that there is a safe place for them either inside or outside of Iraq. And some recent polls show that more than three out of four Americans say that they feel less safe today than they did a year ago.

I even know of a couple who moved out of D.C. last week, took their children and went into the country because they were so afraid of a terrorist event happening in D.C. that they just decided to move out of the city until further notice. Now, friends, I know that every one of us here is proud to be an American, but when it comes to this issue of our personal safety, we have to look at this issue not as being Americans, we have to look at this as being followers of Jesus Christ. And so that's what I want to talk to you about today. What does the Lord say to us in the Bible about our personal safety as followers of Jesus Christ? We want to use Paul's life as a classroom, and this is what we're going to talk about.

And if you're a little scared, and if you're a little nervous, and you're a little unsure, and you feel a little unsafe, then just let me say you came to the right place this morning, because that's what we're going to talk about. Now, a little bit of background regarding the Apostle Paul. The Apostle Paul is on his second missionary journey, we know that. He is in Greece, working his way south through Greece, and let's show you a map. He's been to Philippi, he's been to Thessalonica, he's been to Berea. He's preached in each one of these locations, led thousands of people to Christ, started churches. He then went south to the city of Athens, where he preached to the intellectual elite of the ancient Roman world. Now he's in Corinth, and we saw several weeks ago that in Corinth he was going every Sabbath to the synagogue in town, and sharing with the Jewish people there that Jesus was their Messiah.

Now that's where we pick up the story, and let's see how things went. Verse 6 says that the unbelieving Jewish community in Corinth opposed Paul and became abusive. Now the Greek words here literally mean to draw up in battle array. That's how the unbelieving Jewish community approached Paul, to do battle with Paul. And what the Bible wants us to understand here is that the situation in Corinth between the Apostle Paul and the unbelieving Jewish community was not a case of let's agree to disagree without being disagreeable. Oh no, the Bible wants us to understand that this was a powder keg about ready to go off in this town, that this was a highly charged atmosphere in which the Apostle Paul's safety was in serious jeopardy. Now it's into this tense and dangerous situation that God comes in a vision to Paul and says, verse 9, Do not be afraid, Paul. Keep on speaking, and do not be silent. God says, Paul, I know things in town are tense, and I know they're dangerous, but here is my will for you, Paul.

I want you to stay in town, I want you to keep preaching, and I want you to keep trying to lead people to Christ. Now what did Paul do? Well, he's got a choice to make, doesn't he? On one side, he's got the will of God, it's very clear.

On the other side, he has his personal safety on the human level, so what's he going to do? Well, verse 11 tells us Paul stayed for a year and a half in Corinth, teaching them the Word of God. Now folks, as followers of Jesus Christ here this morning, this is the point I want us to get. This is it, that the apostle Paul had a mindset about how he lived his life. It was a mindset in which his number one focus in life was not on his personal safety.

It was a mindset where his number one focus in life was on being where God wanted him to be and doing what God wanted him to do. To put it another way, the number one question that Paul always asked was not, where are the threats to my safety so I can avoid them? Oh no, the number one question Paul always asked is, where is the will of God so that I can walk in it? The apostle Paul regarded external threats to his safety as trivial, so long as he was doing what God wanted him to do and he was being where God wanted him to be. And you know, he talks about this again a little later in the book of Acts. In Acts chapter 20, he was talking to the elders at the church of Ephesus and he says this. He says, and now, compelled by the Holy Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem and I do not know what will happen to me there.

However, the only thing that matters to me is that I finish the race and complete the mission that the Lord Jesus has given me. Now folks, the apostle Paul knew that the unbelieving Jewish community in Jerusalem despised him. He knew that when he showed up in town, they were not going to roll the red carpet out for him like they're going to do at the Oscars this next week. He knew that when he got in town, these people were going to try to hurt him.

They were probably going to try to kill him. He knew that for him, the apostle Paul, the most unsafe place on the globe was Jerusalem. He said, well, if he knew that, then why in the world is he insistent on going there?

Well, very simple. Look what the verse says. Paul says, and now, compelled by the Holy Spirit, I'm going to Jerusalem. The reason that Paul was going to Jerusalem, pure and simple, is because with all of his heart, he believed this was God's will for his life.

So let's summarize. This was the apostle Paul's mindset that he had in every situation. His mindset was, as a follower of Jesus Christ, my personal safety doesn't come from getting rid of external dangers. My personal safety comes from being in the center of God's will for my life. Everybody understand that? That was his mindset. Now, that's as far as we're going in the passage today, because we've got a question to ask. You haven't done this in two weeks, so I know you are just dying to do this, right? So here we go.

One, two, three. So what? Right. You say, Lord, so what? I mean, the little thermometer you put up there was cute.

I'm impressed you found that. I mean, what difference does any of this make to my life? Well, let's see if we can answer that question. Because I believe, friends, that the apostle Paul's mindset that we've just seen is the biblical mindset that God wants every follower of Christ in every age to have. I believe that as followers of Jesus Christ, God wants us to realize that our personal safety doesn't come from eliminating human dangers. Our personal safety doesn't come from avoiding human dangers. Rather, personal safety is a gift that God gives every follower of Christ who is going where God wants them to go, who is doing what God wants them to do. God wants us to understand that the safest place you and I can ever be as followers of Christ is right smack dab in the middle of the will of God for our life, regardless where that takes us and regardless what human dangers it might expose us to. Now, you know what's interesting is that when we look at all the great men and women of God in the Bible, we find they all had the exact same mindset as the apostle Paul.

Let's take a couple of examples. How about Abraham? God appeared to Abraham and said, Genesis 12, 1, Abraham, leave your country, leave your people, leave your father's household and go to the land I will show you. And then God said to him, if you do this, I will bless you and make you into a great nation. I will make your name great.

I will bless those that bless you and curse those who curse you. Now, you talk about an unsafe situation. God is asking Abraham to go out into no man's land with no army, no money, no human protection of any kind.

Friends, if the number one issue in your life is personal safety and avoiding risk, there's no way you do this. You say to God, hey, God, I'm staying right here with my friends, with my father's household, with my country. You go make that offer to somebody else, God. But what did Abraham do? He had a choice to make, didn't he? He had to choose between the will of God. He had the same choice the apostle Paul had and his own human safety.

What did he do? Verse four says, so Abraham left just as the Lord told him to do. Abraham chose the will of God over his own human safety because he understood something. He understood that trying to create our own human safety is a mirage. Real safety is found in being in the center of the will of God.

And what happened? Well, God kept his promise. He made Abraham, not only did he protect him, but he made him one of the most wealthy and powerful men in the entire ancient Near East in his day. How about Moses? Remember Moses living out in the Sinai desert, happily married, son-in-law of a big time sheik out there.

Everything was great. He's walking along one day and all of a sudden this bush starts talking to him. And this bush says to him, I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob. I have seen the suffering of my people in Egypt. And so Moses, now you go. I am sending you back to Egypt to bring my people out. Friends, could I remind you, Moses had a price on his head back in Egypt. He could have been arrested and killed on sight just for showing up again back in Egypt. And now God is asking him to go back and stand in front of the ruler of the most powerful nation on the face of the earth at that time and say to that man, hey, you see all these slaves over here doing all your building projects? You're to let them go because God says so.

Would you take that job assignment? Honestly now. Or would you have said, hey God, you take that bush to somebody else. I'm not leaving here. I'm very happy where I am.

I'm safe where I am. Hey, Moses had the same choice to make Abraham did. The will of God or his human safety.

What did he do? Exodus 4 says, and Moses, he took his wife and his sons and he headed back to Egypt. He embraced God's will.

He chose God's will over his own human safety because he understood that the safest place he could be was in the will of God. And you know what happened, right? You saw the movie.

You know what happened, right? Now, what about Rebecca? Rebecca was a young lady living with her family in what is today modern day Iraq. And suddenly this stranger shows up and says that he's been sent by her long lost uncle Abraham, whom she's never seen before in her life. And then uncle Abe wants a woman to marry his son Isaac. And so he wants a good woman.

So he sent back to his hometown area. And they sent the servant back to find this good woman. And the servant tells you as Rebecca, that he asked God to lead him to one specific woman.

And he gave God like a fleece. He said, God, here's the sign I want. I want the woman to walk up to the well and do this, this and this. And I'll know it's the right woman. And he says, Guess what, Rebecca? You were the only woman that walked up to the well and did this. So it's God's will for you to come with me and marry Isaac.

Now, ladies, would you go for that? I mean, you're going to march hundreds of miles away for all you know, Abraham could be an old drunk and Isaac could have body parts in the refrigerator. You don't know what you're getting yourself into here. You're going to walk into this? Well, Rebecca had a choice to make, didn't she?

Certainly walking into that was not humanly safe, but that was God's will. So what did she do? In Genesis 24, Rebecca's brothers and mother said to her, and I think incredulously, Will you go with this man?

What are you, nuts? And she said, Yes, I will go. Well, what happened? Not only did Rebecca become one of the great women of the faith, but she became the great-great-great-great-great-great grandmother of King David and the great-great-great-great-great-great grandmother of the Lord Jesus himself.

And you know we could go on. We could talk about David going out to face Goliath or Esther going in to face the king uninvited to beg for her people. We could talk about Daniel going in the lion's den or his three friends going into the fiery furnace.

We could talk about Gideon being willing to go out with only 300 men or Elijah being willing to face the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel. Every one of these folks made the same choice that Abraham made, that Moses made, that Paul made, that Rebekah made. They chose God's will over their personal human safety because they knew something, because they realized something, because they understood something. They understood that as a follower of God, the safest place a human being can be is in the center of the will of God.

Now what does all this mean for you and me today, huh? Well what it means I believe friends is that as followers of Christ today, our true safety has nothing to do with the level of the homeland security thermometer, not a thing to do with that at all. This means is if you and I are living out God's will for our lives to the best of our ability, if to the best of our ability we're going where God asks us to go and doing what God asks us to do, we are as safe as any human being can possibly be. Now whether that means maybe riding on the metro to work or working at the Pentagon or working at the post office, if that's God's will for your life, you're as safe as you can be. Whether that means, you know, going to class or going to school or having lunch on the mall, whether it means shopping for groceries during the day and carpooling your children after school, whether it means coming to a meeting at church or flying to a business meeting somewhere, even if it means crossing from Kuwait into Iraq with a rifle in your hand, it doesn't matter.

It doesn't make any difference. Folks, if we are living out God's will for our life, whatever it may be, but the Bible tells us we are as safe as safe can be because we are surrounded by and we are protected by the angelic forces of heaven. One more passage, one of my favorite, 2 Kings 6. Let me give you a little bit of background. The king of Syria is at war with the king of Israel and what the king of Syria was doing is he would set up ambushes all around so that when the Israelite army came by he could pounce on them. But the prophet Elisha, who was alive at the time, God would reveal to Elisha where each one of these ambushes were, he would inform the king of Israel and the king of Israel would go around them. And it happened so many times that the king of Syria said, now wait a minute, this can't possibly be a coincidence, we have a mole somewhere.

So he got all of his advisors together and he says, alright, I want to know who is the mole? And one of his advisors said, king, there's no mole in here, it's Elisha the prophet. God keeps telling him where we put our ambushes and he keeps warning the king of Israel. And so the king said, well, where is this Elisha dude? And he said, he's in Dothan, a little town north of Jerusalem. And so that night, the king of Syria sent the whole Syrian army to surround this little town of Dothan where Elisha and his servant were.

Now that's where we pick up the story. 2 Kings chapter 6 verse 15, when the servant of Elisha went outside the next morning, the Syrian army had surrounded the city and he ran to Elijah and said, oh my Lord, what are we going to do? He said, how do you know he said it like that? Trust me, he said it just like that. And Elisha said to him, don't be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.

And I'm sure his servant looked at him and said, hey, boss, what have you been smoking? Those who are with us, there's two with us. There's you and there's me, boss. That's it, Leroy.

There's two against all of them. What are you talking about? And then Elisha prayed and said, Lord, open his eyes so that he can see. So the Lord opened the servant's eyes and he saw that the hills were full of horses and chariots of fire, the heavenly forces of God, all around Elisha and all around that Syrian army. Do you know, friends, as followers of Jesus, that the Bible tells us 160 times, do not be afraid. Do not fear.

And now you know why. Because when we're walking with God the way Elisha was, we're surrounded by the forces of heaven, just like he was. We're protected by the forces of heaven, just like he was. And notice, even though Elisha's servant couldn't see those forces with his naked eye, those forces were still there. And folks, as you and I walk through our daily life, I doubt very seriously if any of us can see those forces with our naked eye, but they're there for us, God assures us, just the way they were there for Elisha. Now when we really begin to believe this, when we really begin to adopt the mentality for ourselves that Paul had, Abraham had, Moses had, Rebecca had, and all these other great men and women of God, you know what happens? It radically changes the way we live.

It radically changes our daily behavior. It means that we can go out into a situation that is chaotic and dangerous and we can still be completely at peace. We can be serene and relaxed because we know something, that those who are with us are greater than those who are with them. It means that we can stand firm even when everybody around us is faltering because we know that those who are with us are greater than those who are with them.

It means that, friends, we can face any kind of danger, and as long as we are confident that we are in God's will, where God asks us to be, doing what God asks us to do, we're the safest person on earth. I'm sure many of you saw the movie Gods and Generals, and of course you know one of the main characters in this movie was Thomas Stonewall Jackson, general for the Confederacy. Now, a couple of things I should say here, just as an FYI, you know Thomas Jackson never owned a slave in his life. As a matter of fact, living in Lexington, Kentucky prior to the Civil War, he actually had an enormous compassion for the people who were slaves. He started a Sunday school class for them that he funded with his own money. He spent the morning riding in his buggy picking up slaves from every plantation around Lexington, bringing them to Sunday school.

He taught the class himself and spent the afternoon every Sunday taking them all back home. When he was serving on active duty, he actually would take money out of his weekly paycheck and send it home to Lexington to make sure the Sunday school was funded so he could keep going. This man was fighting for Virginia.

He was not fighting for slavery, and he was a godly man, a wonderful follower of Christ. And one time he was asked by a fellow officer general, how is it that you can keep so cool when there's a storm of shells and bullets coming at you the way there was today? And here's what he said, and I quote, he said, Captain, my religious belief teaches me to feel as safe in battle as in bed.

An amazing comment. My religious convictions teach me to feel as safe in battle as in bed. He went on to say, God has fixed the time of my death. I do not concern myself about that, but rather my concern is to always be ready to always be obedient to God, no matter when death may overtake me.

This is the way all men should live, and then all men would be equally brave, end of quote. As you know, I take tours to Israel, and whenever I tell anybody out in the secular world that I take people to Israel, I'm still doing it, they always say, what kind of nut are you? Well, you know, friends, I know that there are certain dangers over there, but I want you to know I pray about every one of these tours. I seek God's will.

I seek God's direction. I've canceled tours before when I didn't feel the liberty that God was giving me the liberty to go. But I got to tell you, when I feel confident that God is saying it's okay and that this is the will of God, I go and I take with me all the other nuts who prayed about this and believe it's God's will for them to go. And I don't mean to imply to you that I'm indifferent about my safety or the safety of the people with me. We take every reasonable precaution, but I decided years ago as a follower of Jesus Christ, I was not going to let fear run my life. Why should I let fear run my life? If the Bible's true and if I'm in the will of God and I've got the chariots and the horses of fire around me and greater is those who are with us than those who are with them, then what am I afraid of? And why should I ever hesitate to do anything that God gives me liberty and asks me to do?

What am I afraid of? I decided fear is not going to run my life. Jesus Christ is going to run my life. And if you're here today and you've never trusted Jesus in a real and personal way, may I say to you that Jesus wants to liberate you from having your life run by fear. Jesus wants to set you free from letting fear control your life, and He will, but that freedom is only found in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

Something to think about. For those of you here in closing who are followers of Christ, may I suggest to you that God doesn't want fear to run your life either. There's always something to be afraid of, always. You can always find 55 reasons why it's unsafe and too risky to do something, but that is always the wrong question to ask.

The wrong question to ask. We should never ask what are the risks. We should never ask what are the dangers until we have first asked what is the will of God? And if we know the will of God is to go into those dangers and into those risks, then friends, as followers of Christ, we need to follow the example of the Apostle Paul and Abraham and Moses and Rebecca and Esther and Daniel and David, and we need to go.

Because you know what? If we don't, if we try in our own human effort to guard our own safety, it's a mirage. The most dangerous place you can ever be as a follower of Jesus Christ is outside of the will of God for your life.

Now that being true, it seems to me that we've got a wonderful opportunity in our world today. People in America today are scared. People in America today are fearful.

People in this city are scared. I say let's go out and show this city that there's a living God running this world and that when we walk with this living God, we walk in absolute safety. I say let's go out and show this city that there's a better way to live, a different way to live, a way that has calm and serenity and peace attached to it no matter what's happening on the outside.

I say let's go out and create a platform in this city to tell people what makes us different. But we can't do that unless we've adopted the mindset of the Apostle Paul. I pray what we've talked about here today will change your life. I pray what we've talked about here today will change your behavior and your choices.

Friends, we cannot let fear run our lives. Jesus runs our lives. And if we're in obedience to Him, there is absolutely nothing to be afraid of.

Let's pray together. Lord Jesus, thanks for talking to us today about, well gosh, I mean right where we're living. Thanks for reminding us today that true safety is not about avoiding human danger. That true safety as followers of Christ is about embracing and making sure we're in the center of the will of God. And that when we are there, greater are those who are with us than those who are with them. Greater is He who lives within us than he who lives in the world. So God, change our lives today. Take away that fear that it's easy to have creep in as we listen to news reports and we read the newspaper and we listen to other people talk.

Lord, help us shake all that nonsense off and to reestablish ourselves as men and women of God who understand that the horses and the chariots of fire are real, just like they were for Elisha. And that we have nothing to fear. Change our lives because we were here today, Lord. Change the very way we live. And we pray these things in Jesus' name. And God's people said, Amen.