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Acts 19:8-10 (7/20/22)

Push & Pull

July 20, 2022

* When God wants to move you from one place to another, often times there’s a push from where you are and a pull to where you need to be. * The problem comes when we only feel a push or a pull and then we make a move. * EX: Like a man hating his job but no prospects of another job - it hurts his family. * Backstory - Paul’s life shows us this. * His heart was to preach to “all” people, both Jew & Gentile. * His early ministry was in the marketplace, houses, and synagogues. * The reach was not big. * He had to travel a lot. * But things changed in Ephesus. * Vs 8 - In Ephesus, the 1st opportunity that opened up was at a synagogue. * It lasted about 3 months (12 speaking engagements). * Vs 9a - The mood changed! Their attitudes got hard toward Paul. * This was the PUSH. * Vs 9b - So he started his own teaching ministry inside the famed “Hall of Tyrannus.” * This was the PULL. * He probably felt this pull early on because he didn’t want to only address Jews, but he waited. * The Hall of Tyrannus was a parachurch training center. * The Hall was “non-religious,” so many people who would never enter a synagogue or religious place would come hear Paul. * Vs 10 - the Result! * The Hall of Tyrannus literally became a launching pad for the gospel around the world. * Early manuscripts said Paul spoke from 11AM-4PM every day. * Two years of ministry to both Jews & Gentiles - commentators say he preached to about 2 million people from this place!! * This was Paul’s last big ministry effort before he was brought to Jerusalem and held as prisoner and then sent to Rome for death. * Paul’s biggest ministry success hung in the balance of a push and a pull. * When you feel the push, wait for the pull. * When you feel the pull, wait for the push. * Caveat - this isn’t “fool proof” - sometimes you need to make a move with one or the other. But you need to be 100% sure God wants you to do that first!

Psalms 107:33-38 (3/27/24)

March 27, 2024 • Benham Brothers • Psalm 107:33–38

* When we make our work worship, God responds favorably.   * He opens up the land - it yields to us!      * He blesses our work.     * Remember two curses:      * The curse of Adam - work would be hard, but still fruitful.      * The curse of Cain, however - work would be hard and unfruitful.        * Cain didn’t offer his best to God.        * His work wasn’t worship.    * If you do your own thing your own way, you run the way of Cain.      * You work hard but you don’t feel fulfilled in the work you do.    * EX: Mowing lawns - I knew I wouldn’t be there long, but it was fulfilling.  * Backstory:    * This psalm exhorts God’s people to give thanks for God’s gracious act of redeeming his people from Babylonian exile and gathering them back in the land.    * It talks about the difficulties people went through on their way back to Jerusalem…      * …and about what happened to the land before they left: * vs 33-34 - “He turned rivers into a desert, flowing springs into thirsty ground, and fruitful land into a salt waste, because of the wickedness of those who lived there.”   * God can do whatever He wants with the place we inhabit.    * If we work with a heart to please Him, He will “bless the land.”   * 70 years later… * vs 35-36 - “He turned the desert into pools of water and the parched ground into flowing springs; there he brought the hungry to live, and they founded a city where they could settle.”   * The land itself was ready for their return.    * Matthew Henry - “The goodness of God has often mended the barrenness of the soil, and turned a wilderness, a land of drought, into water-springs.”    * They got to work, and look how God blessed:  * vs 37-38 - “They sowed fields and planted vineyards that yielded a fruitful harvest; he blessed them, and their numbers greatly increased, and he did not let their herds diminish.”   * Imagine trying to dig a well in the middle of the desert - not gonna happen.    * Now think about it in the middle of a field located between two rivers.    * God is saying that if you worship Him and obey His commandments, what was once a dry land will be turned into a fertile place.      * EX: REO space in real estate.  * Sometimes the land doesn’t yield because you haven’t made your work worship.    * But other times the land doesn’t yield because God wants to move you somewhere else.  * Either way, we do Godly work, and God will respond. 

Psalms 108:1-13 (3/27/24)

March 27, 2024 • Benham Brothers • Psalm 108

* The cultural seems to be getting worse by the day.    * Truth is trampled in the streets.    * Those who stand for truth are treated as criminals.    * We’re in the middle of a major spiritual battle.  * So what do we do?    * This Psalm will show us.  * Stephen Covey, in The Seven Habits of Highly Successful People, says, “Begin with the end in mind.”    * Applied to this Psalm, we need to read the last verse first:  * vs 13 - “With God we will gain the victory, and he will trample down our enemies.”   * This Psalm gives us a glimpse at the heart of a warrior and how David roused himself into fighting God's battles.  * 1) He praised God (vs 1—6).    * He started out by praising God for Who He is.     * This roused in David's heart a strong devotion to the mighty God, a God Who could never be defeated.   * 2) He listened to God (vs 7-9).    * He heard God speak, and remembered God's Word that Israel was His.   * 3) He rose up to conquer (vs 10-13).    * David praised God and called to mind how mighty He is.    * He remembered what God had said in His Word.    * He then rose to tread down his enemies.  

Isaiah 39:6-8 (3/20/24)

March 20, 2024 • Benham Brothers • Isaiah 39:6–8

- God gives grace to the humble, but He resists the proud (James 4:6).  - Humble people have God as a partner.  - Prideful people get God as an opponent.  - Backstory - Hezekiah was a good king, but he got sick and was going to die.  - So he prayed and asked God for healing.  - God responded and gave him another 15 years.  - Then Hezekiah got comfortable.  - This grew into pride.  - A sense of desperation keeps you humble.  - The King of Babylon sent messengers to him with gifts.  - Hezekiah showed off in front of them - displaying all his wealth.  - Pride is often revealed by your need for approval from others.  - Isaiah rebuked him for his pride.  - vs 5-7 - “Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the Lord Almighty: 6 The time will surely come when everything in your palace, and all that your predecessors have stored up until this day, will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left, says the Lord. 7 And some of your descendants, your own flesh and blood who will be born to you, will be taken away, and they will become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.”  - What if someone told you this would happen to your kids?  - How did Hezekiah respond?  - vs 8 - “The word of the Lord you have spoken is good,” Hezekiah replied. For he thought, “There will be peace and security in my lifetime.”  - When pride enters your heart, discernment disappears.  - The king no longer had good reasoning capacity because his eyes had been shut.  - Pride does this - it blinds you to wisdom.  - Prideful people do not think generationally.  - KEY - either choose humility on your own or be humiliated.  - Every decision of a prideful person moves them closer to humiliation.  - It’s a principle as true as gravity.  - Notice the punishment for his pride. It was two-fold:  - 1) Possessions - All the stuff he showed the dudes from Babylon would end up in wicked hands.  - God is in the business of transferring wealth.  - He either transfers it to the righteous or the other way around.  - Choose to be in the “right relationship” with God, and what you have will be yours forever, not to be possessed by the wicked.  - 2) Posterity - He would lose his kids to the enemy, and his sons would be emasculated. (vs 7)  - Pride ruins families.  - If you are a prideful parent, you will lose your kids. - Is anything worth losing your kids?  - Please don’t be prideful!