You're Not Responsible For Giving Anyone Faith|08.16.26|Acts: Mission on the Road pt.8

These two guys were working out near each other at the gym. Both of them were pretty big guys: tattoos, piercings, beards. Moving a LOT of weight. These were pretty tough looking guys. The kind of guys you wouldn’t expect to be talking about church.

But there they were… talking about church. Well, one of them was talking all about how he didn’t like church very much and he was ANTI-religion, because the other one (my friend Travis) had mentioned that he went to church.

That prompted the other guy to lay into religious people who are hypocrites and who don’t act in the same way they say they believe. This went on for quite a while, and every time Travis would see this guy at the gym, he would start up on the awful religious people who had treated him poorly in his life.

Travis could relate, and here’s how he put it: “I’ve been through that myself, and I knew there was something on the other side of that for him, like there had been for me.”

So Travis just listened with care, and built a connection with the guy over time.

And then one day, in the middle of one of the tirades, Travis just asked if he could pray for the guy. And surprisingly, the guy said ‘yeah.’

So they stopped their set, and Travis put his hand on the guy’s shoulder and bowed his head and prayed for the guy, right there in the middle of the gym. Not really with any plan, either. Just the simple ask, “can I pray for you?”

That REALLY happened, right down the road at Westwood, between two ordinary guys. And what happened next… I’ll get back to in a few minutes. But it wasn’t all that different from what happened two thousand years ago with a group of guys who didn’t know what they were missing.

[Scripture Ref]

And we meet these guys in our Scripture passage today in Acts ch19 (p104). This whole summer, we’ve been following the apostle Paul as he travels from town to town to spread the good news that Jesus is actually God come in the flesh to be king over our lives and to save us from sin and death.

And today, we meet up with him in the town of Ephesus, which was a hub for commerce, and therefore had lots of different people from different backgrounds, including both Greek people as well as Jewish people.

[BLESS]

And in each town, Paul pretty much uses these same simple practices to BLESS the people he meets in order to share the love of God and help them not only HEAR the good news, but actually experience it.

Because he meets people where they are, makes a connection with them, and eventually gets an opportunity to point to Jesus. And as we read this passage together, I want us to be seeing how these same simple BLESS practices are ones that God can work through in our lives as well, as we interact with our Ones and with the people he places in our lives.

Because seeing God work through us REALLY IS as simple as beginning with prayer, either praying for them on our own or even with them. It really is as simple as listening to them with care and compassion to build a connection with them. It really can be as simple as sharing a meal together, or serving them selflessly and sacrificially. And eventually, God might even open the door for us to share our story of faith or an encouraging truth from Scripture.

But as long as we are obeying the small nudge that God is giving us, we’ll see how HE’S the one who is working to deliver faith and invite people into relationship with him.

So with those simple practices in mind, let’s RISE together for God’s Word…

[Acts 19:1-10]

[Acts 19:2]

Paul has entered Ephesus, and as he’s meeting people, he meets some “disciples”, but these aren’t quite the same as other disciples we’ve met before in Scripture, because it’s pretty clear they didn’t know about Jesus. And then they admit that they are followers of John the Baptist. So we can see that it seems like the message that God was preparing the way for his Anointed One, and calling people to repent (to turn back to him) had made its way over a thousand miles from Israel to these “disciples”, these students and followers of Yahweh.

And maybe through his conversation with them, Paul is listening and realizes that there seems to be something… incomplete… about their faith. And so he asks a probing question: “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?”

And I love how these guys aren’t defensive or embarrassed when they answer… (probably because Paul wasn’t asking in a way to make them feel embarrassed or defensive). “No, we didn’t even know about a Holy Spirit…”

They’re just honest.

[Acts 19:3-4]

“So, if baptism is being submerged into a new reality, a new life… into WHAT were you baptized?” And they say, “Into John’s baptism.”

And that’s when it clicks for Paul. Because these guys are Jewish, and they are students of what John the Baptist was preaching way back before Jesus’ ministry got started, when John was out in the Jordan River and calling people to “repent”, to turn back to God, because God was sending his Messiah, his Chosen Savior, to make all things right.

And so these guys are expectantly waiting for whoever that Messiah is, and Paul gets to be the guy who delivers good news to them, “As you know, John was pointing beyond himself to someone greater, and that guy came, his name is Jesus.”

And these guys receive this news with such a positive response, and it’s a really cool moment, but we’ve got to notice that it ISN’T because Paul was an incredible evangelist or preacher. In fact, it wasn’t because of Paul at all.

God had already been working in the lives of these guys, already building faith in them, and growing hunger in them to prepare them to be ready, and then God was able to work through Paul at just the right time in these guys’ lives.

Because, before this, they had been doing the “religious thing,” which is where you’re trying to follow all the rules and all the proper ways you’re supposed to live to worship God so that you don’t get in trouble. That’s usually what we mean when we talk about people who are super religious: they are working really hard to follow all the rules.

And let me tell you, that will never work to save us. No one can ever live perfectly enough, or do enough good deeds, or say enough prayers to balance out the ways we fail and fall short. That’s why we need God’s grace. That’s why Jesus came to exchange his life for ours, so that we could receive his forgiveness and receive faith from him and begin to learn how we were created to live.

And so if you’re listening to me, and if you’re not currently baptized, that means that you've been trying to follow Jesus on your own power. That is not the design God had for us.

And so maybe you’re hearing again the invitation to be baptized, to die to yourself and be raised to a new life in Christ, so that it's HIS power at work within you to create the transformation that he wants to create in you.

And if that’s you, talk to me after service, because we’d love to take the next steps with you in the sacrament of Baptism.

[Acts 19:5-6]

And that’s exactly what these guys do: they immediately get baptized and God confirms his work through this outward demonstration of the Holy Spirit’s gifts. And in my study Bible, there’s actually a note there that tells me this is a reference to Isaiah ch32, which talks about how God’s Spirit will be POURED OUT on his people, and the result will be peace and quiet confidence.

And here’s the detail that I don’t want you to miss: these guys didn’t EARN this amazing transformation and experience in their lives. God was delivering faith to them and growing it over time through multiple different means. The message of John the Baptist gave them one piece of the puzzle. And Paul was used by God to give them the rest of the good news of the gospel.

But it wasn’t John or Paul that was the source of their faith. God was ALWAYS the one giving the gift of faith. He just worked through two different people at two different times, to deliver and establish their faith.

[blank]

And I think that church-people need to hear this, because too many of us are scared to share our faith, because we actually think that we’re personally responsible for delivering someone else’s faith.

So OF COURSE we freeze. Of course we’re nervous and afraid. Of course we think that we need to master some method in order to share our faith… so we tell ourselves we just need to learn more, we just need to read one more book, we just need to find the right words…

But we don’t have to have fear when we share our faith because the faith of other people isn’t based on whether or not WE did it right or accomplished evangelism in a particular way.

God’s work isn’t limited by our abilities. He just wants our obedience when he gives us a nudge because he wants to work through us. And I’ve heard it said that delayed obedience is disobedience.

And if we’re procrastinating because we think we have to prepare more… then we’re just turning it into works-based religion because we’re carrying the weight on our shoulders again.

But what if we believed that God actually wanted to deliver faith to the people he puts in our path? What if we stopped carrying the weight of thinking we needed a perfect script or plan to share our faith? Well, it would probably look like what happened at the gym with my friend, Travis.

Because one day, he just asked the other guy if he could pray for him.

Earlier this week, I asked Travis about this story, and I said, “what gave you the nudge to pray for him?” Because I knew how the rest of the story played out, and I was intrigued and wanted to get better at taking action like that myself!

Travis told me, “I just knew that I had been through some of the same stuff he had been through, and I knew that wasn’t the end of his story, so I just asked him if I could pray for him… and he let me.”

Some of you know the guy that Travis prayed for, Bubba, because right after that, Bubba came to church here for the first time, and got to know some other people, and brought his whole family, and jumped headfirst into the men’s group and connected with other people from church.

And if you know Bubba, you know that he is genuine and honest and vulnerable, (and a little rough around the edges), but you never have to wonder what he’s thinking or how he feels about you.

And he’ll be the first to tell you he still has a lot of growth that he wants in his own life and for his family, but you can just tell that he is growing in the Lord and hungry to receive from him and his church family.

[Faith is a gift]

And was that because Travis said some incredible prayer? I don’t think so!

It’s because faith is a GIFT that God gives, and he wants to give it to your One. You might even get to be one of the vehicles that God uses to deliver his gift of faith!

God is constantly working through people to reach people. John the Baptist’s message made it to the disciples in our passage, and later God worked through Paul to bring the full gospel to them!

Because faith is a gift that God gives. It’s not up to us to say the perfect things to help our One have faith. And honestly, God’s timing might actually be different than ours.

I mean, how many times this summer have we read passages that showed how Paul had been rejected and pushed away from SO MANY other towns, but then God brought him to Ephesus, and he was able to stay put and invest there for two years.

Because God was the one who was working to deliver faith to these people at just the right time. And so if you’ve been praying for your One, that person who is close to you but who feels far from God, just keep praying and asking God to help you know how he wants to work through you. And then we trust that God is going to work in his way in his timing and at his pace to accomplish his ends.

[Acts 19:8-9a]

Because not only is God’s timing sometimes different than ours, his PACE is often different than ours as well. Because we usually want everything to happen IMMEDIATELY, but God works at a different pace.

Just look at how he worked through Paul’s time in Ephesus: first he spent three MONTHS conversing and dialoging boldly with people in the synagogue.

This was ongoing reasoning back and forth, not some one-time speech that Paul gave.

And yet again, Paul was met with resistance. Some hearts hardened to his message about Jesus as the anointed king and savior promised by God. But Paul doesn’t quit. He adapts. He switches up, moving to a public lecture hall in the town square, meeting during his lunch break with the people who were open to the message and wanted to grow and learn more.

[Acts 19:9b-10]

And our text says that this continued daily for TWO YEARS. Two years of daily dialogue, discussion, and development was used by God to bring the gospel to the whole region around Ephesus. And notice that no part of our text says that Paul was the one travelling around. He stayed put, and God worked through OTHERS to bring the good news of Jesus to the neighboring towns.

Because God is at work! And we can trust him, because he wants to give faith as a gift to us… and others!

[BLESS]

That’s why I want to encourage us to BLESS someone this week, trusting that God is at work. Because these are rhythms of life that are the natural shape of how Jesus loved people.

So ask God to help you know which of these he’s nudging you to do this week.

B: Begin with prayer. Maybe even just asking God to open your eyes so that you can see the people he’s placing around you.

L: Listen with care and compassion. Sometimes, the most Christlike thing you can do is to ask a question and then stop talking so that you can actually hear the answer and connect with the person you’re listening to.

E: Eat together. All throughout Scripture, the table is one of the most powerful places of grace. And all of us eat multiple times a day, so it’s not too hard to begin to use our mealtimes with intentionality to bless others by sharing a meal.

S: Serve selflessly and sacrificially with no expectation of return, because when we meet the needs of others with no other agenda, it’s one of the most practical demonstrations of the love of God.

And finally, the last S is Share your story. It’s only AFTER praying for them, listening to them, sharing a meal and hospitality with them, and serving practical needs that people are actually open to hear what we have to say.

And when that time comes, we don’t have to have the perfect words to present some religious rules and doctrines. We simply share our story of how Jesus has impacted us. Or we share something we learned from God recently.

But how is God inviting you to BLESS someone this week, trusting that HE is at work in his timing?

Maybe you’ll get an opportunity to pray with someone at the gym or the grocery store, or maybe God is giving you a different opportunity with someone in your life.

[END]

Because even YOUR faith is a gift that was given to you by God. He pours it out generously on us, and so we GET to share it with others. Because our abundantly generous God has more where that came from.

Because that’s how God has been at work for centuries and centuries already. Simple, everyday ways to BLESS the people that God puts on our hearts, because that not only builds connection with them, it also builds our love for them.

All we have to do is look at the letter of Ephesians that Paul wrote years later, while he was sitting in prison, writing back to the church family that he helped start during those two years in Ephesus.

Read through Ephesians and see how Paul writes to them, to encourage them and correct them and teach them, because the time he spent with them profoundly deepened his love for them. Because he was forever marked with deep friendships and relationships that came about through God’s work.

Because God is at work right now. And we can trust him. And so when he gives us a nudge to BLESS someone we know, or share an encouraging Scripture, or share a Jesus-story from our life with them… we can trust that God is actually nudging us because HE WANTS TO GIVE THEM FAITH.

Isn’t that good news?