A Hunger And Thirst For The Truth

Acts 13:13-15 Paul is now lead.. as recently as Vs 7— the group was described as Barnabas and Saul. From this point on, Paul’s leadership and prominence will be evident.

We don’t know exactly why John Mark went home to Jerusalem. Maybe he was homesick. Maybe he was afraid of the tough and dangerous travel through the mountains ahead of them. Maybe he resented that the team of his cousin Barnabas and Saul had now become Paul and his companions.

Acts 13:16-23

Paul gives them a quick summary of God’s dealings with the Nation of Israel. He starts with the exodus from Egypt and then continues with the times of the Judges, and then finishes with the 1st 2 Kings of Israel.

Why? Paul wants us to see that Israel’s history demonstrates that God had a plan, and we need to understand Israel’s history to understand the plan fully.                            John 4:22 Salvation is of the Jews…He starts here with the Exodus but ends with Jesus. Because it was always about Jesus.

Paul begins his sermon in the synagogue, explaining how God’s work in history leads to Jesus.

Acts 13:24-26

Paul tells them about John the Baptist preparing the way for Jesus. Paul tells them Jesus is the Messiah that they had been waiting for. Jesus had been sent to offer us salvation.

Acts 13:27-37

Jesus’ death and resurrection was prophesied. (300 Prophesies of Jesus in the OT) Jesus was God’s plan from the beginning.

But God: Yes they didn’t recognize Jesus, yes they killed Jesus, yes they laid Him in a tomb…..BUT GOD RAISED HIM FROM THE DEAD Jesus spent 40 days and 500 people saw him.  And when Jesus rose from the grave, He rose with the keys to sin and death. He was given all authority in heaven and on earth.

Don’t miss the emphasis on the events in Paul’s preaching here. He focused on things that actually happened, not on philosophy or even theology. “Christianity is not just a philosophy or a set of ethics, though it does involve these things. Essentially Christianity is a proclamation of facts that concern what God has already done.

Acts 13:38-39

Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one can go to the Father, except through Jesus. There is no other way to salvation except through Jesus, And it’s not now, nor has it ever been available under the law.

Acts 13:40-41  A WARNING TO NOT FULFILL THIS PROPHESY. Hab 1:5

Paul warns them to not fulfill this prophecy of those who would reject Jesus. There are still today so many who are fulfilling this prophecy of rejecting Jesus; Without Jesus as your Savior, you have no hope. Without Jesus as your Savior, you will perish and spend eternity in Hell.

With Jesus as your Savior, you can have peace, joy, and hope; regardless of what is going on around us. Right now, the solution is Jesus. Nothing has changed since Paul preached this sermon. People still need the Savior, and His name is Jesus.

Acts 13:42-52

We see here the power of the Word of God. The people were hungry for the truth of God’s Word.

• They were moved by what they heard and wanted to know more, so they invited Paul and Barnabas to come back again.

Many of them followed them after the service. They had questions to ask. They wanted to understand more. They couldn’t wait for another week.

They want to know what God has to say; and what God’s will is for their lives. There is an absolute hunger and thirst for the truth of God’s Word.     (Beautiful picture)

So Paul and Barnabas returned on the next Sabbath, and almost the whole city came to hear the Word of God.

• Wow, isn’t that exciting? You preached a sermon and the next week the whole town turned up, standing room only. Never once do Paul and Barnabas draw attention to themselves.

Only one thing stands out here, and it’s not them. It’s the Word of God.

Vs44 On the next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord.

Vs46 “We had to speak the word of God to you first…”

Vs48 “When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honored the word of the Lord..”

Vs49 The word of the Lord spread through the whole region.

Please see what’s at the center here. They came back for one reason; they wanted to hear more of the Word of God, nothing else.

It is not the environment, it is not the preacher, it is not the music, IT’S ABOUT HIS WORD. Because it’s only the Word of God that moves us; saves us, convicts us, comforts us, encourages us, and it’s the Word of God that inspires/builds faith in our lives.

D L Moody: “I prayed for faith and thought that someday it would come down and strike me like lightning. But faith didn’t seem to come. One day I read in Romans that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God (10:17). I had up to this time, closed my Bible and prayed for faith. Now I opened my Bible and began to study and faith has been growing ever since.” And have since learned that “The only way to overcome the great enemy of my soul is by the written Word of God.”

There is power in the Word of God.

• The Lord tells prophet Amos 8:11-12“The days are coming,” declares the Sovereign Lord, “when I will send a famine through the land—not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the Lord. ¹² People will stagger from sea to sea and wander from north to east, searching for the word of the Lord, but they will not find it.

What humanity really needs is not food and water, but the truth of God’s Word.

Vs52 And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.

Being filled with joy and being filled with the Holy Spirit go together. Paul and Barnabas had a joy that contradicted their circumstances.

“The joy of a genuine Christian is not attainable by anything this world has to offer. The joy unspeakable and full of glory the Word talks about comes from being filled with the Holy Spirit and that joy is not affected by trials, circumstances, or situations of life.

Let me close with this: Reach out around you and touch something Eternal.

Hold up your bible….I want us all to understand something: This is the one thing in this world that you and I can touch that has “eternity” written into its fabric. It’s the Word of God. Every time I take a Bible in hand, I hold/touch the eternal/ eternity.

Mark 13:31 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

HUNGER AND THIRST FOR THE TRUTH

• Have you come to this point in your life? The point where you hunger and thirst for the word of God? If not, Pray and ask the Spirit of God to move you, and grant you that hunger and thirst in your spirit for His Word.

Fear, Anxiety, and Worry are all of the world and comes from the enemy…But there is an antidote-THE WORD OF GOD

A rabbi and a soap maker went for a walk together. The soap maker said, “What good is religion? Look at all the trouble and misery of the world! They are still there after years of teaching about goodness and truth and peace. They are still there, after all the prayers and sermons and teachings. If religion is good and true, why should this be?”

The rabbi said nothing. They continued walking until he noticed a child playing in the gutter.

Then the rabbi said, “Look at that child. You say that soap makes people clean, but see the dirt on that girl. Of what good is soap? With all the soap in the world and so many people are still filthy. I wonder how effective soap is after all!”

The soap maker protested. “But, Rabbi, soap cannot do any good unless it is used!”

“Exactly!” replied the rabbi.