Take Courage! by Ben Fronczek

http://granvillenychurchofchrist.org/?p=111

Take Courage!

The Lord Said, “Take Courage”

In Acts chapter 22, after being arrested in the Temple area on false charges, the Apostle Paul is given an opportunity to talk about how at one time he was just as zealous as these Jews were but how things changes when he met the Lord on the road to Damascus. He told how he was blinded by the light, how the Lord spoke to him and how he was directed to go into Damascus to wait for instructions. He told them how Ananias came to him, restored his sight and then told him that God had chosen him to see the Righteous One (the Messiah) and hear words from His mouth. Ananias told him that he was now to be a witness (or the Lord’s spokesman), and then instructed him to get up and be baptized to wash his sins away calling on His name.

He proceeded to tell the Jews that after he returned to Jerusalem he was rejected because of his message and so the Lord instructed him to leave Jerusalem and to go off and preach to the Gentiles. (Read Acts 22)

After Paul had told them this, the Jews in the Temple again went crazy shouting and screaming to get rid of him. The Romans proceeded to haul him off into the barracks.
The next day we have an interesting story in ch. 23 when is brought out before the Jewish Sanhedrin and they begin to interrogate him. In all honesty Paul knew he couldn’t reason with these men and so after noticing that some of them were Sadducees and some were Pharisees Paul says something that would take their attention off him. Read Acts 23:6-10 “6 Then Paul, knowing that some of them were Sadducees and the others Pharisees, called out in the Sanhedrin, “My brothers, I am a Pharisee, descended from Pharisees. I stand on trial because of the hope of the resurrection of the dead.” 7 When he said this, a dispute broke out between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided. 8 (The Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, and that there are neither angels nor spirits, but the Pharisees believe all these things.)

9 There was a great uproar, and some of the teachers of the law who were Pharisees stood up and argued vigorously. “We find nothing wrong with this man,” they said. “What if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?” 10 The dispute became so violent that the commander was afraid Paul would be torn to pieces by them. He ordered the troops to go down and take him away from them by force and bring him into the barracks.”

Can you imagine being in Paul’s shoes? Here he is in jailed, and it seem like the whole city hated him. And why? For doing what the Lord told Him to do. What would you be thinking if it was you sitting there in jail? What would be your attitude? Confused, hurt, disappointed, abandoned, depressed?

From here on out Paul was a prisoner. During this time he wrote several books of the Bible by inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God. We call them the ‘prison epistles’ because of this. We can get an idea of what was going through his mind by what he wrote in these letters while in prison.

Now in this lesson we don’t have enough time to look at all the positive encouraging things Paul wrote in these letters. The letters were not only filled with awesome instruction, they were also filled encouragement. Just by reading them it doesn’t take long to realize that Paul was not a broken man. Rather, he himself learned the secret of how to be joy-filled even during the most difficult times.

It was in one of these letters from prison he wrote, “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” He wrote this to those in Philippi in chapter 4:4-7

As we read in our text this morning, he is in jail…Now this is before he wrote all those other encouraging. I wonder what was he thinking that night?

Paul was a great man, but he was still just a man. He had real feelings and got discouraged like the rest of us. I believe he needed to feel God’s presence. He needed to know he wasn’t all alone.

Did you ever feel like that?
And so God shows up in his cell…just when he needed Him the most. Read Acts 23:11 “The following night the Lord stood near Paul and said, “Take courage! As you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome.”
We see 2 things that happened in the jail cell that night and then something else the following day.
#1 The Lord stood by Paul #2. The Lord spoke to Paul #3. & Then the Lord protects Paul

Let’s look at these a little closer.
#1. The Lord stood by Paul
What a beautiful phrase! In the church, we like to talk about the importance of making a commitment to Jesus and then keeping it…but let’s not forget that when we make a commitment to Jesus, He makes a commitment to us!

In Hebrews 13:5b-6 the author writes “God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” 6 So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?”

a. We need to understand that Jesus knows what we go through..

Just a few years earlier Jesus was in the same city as Paul, before the same council as Paul was in this text. He was also being tried for things which were not a crime, but rather for doing God’s will besides other good things. He may have been in the same jail. Both were called a blasphemer, heretic, and troublemaker. Both were physically abuse.
Jesus knew what Paul was going through. He’d been there!

We have a Savior who knows and understands what we are going thru, because He has been there, and He’s here with us today knowing what it feels like to be lonely, and rejected He knows what it feels like to grieve, even disappointed and discouraged & abused. He knows what it feels like to go hungry and to want. He’s been there!

Here we read that the Lord stood by Paul as the sympathizing Christ…
In: Philip. 4, Paul wrote, “The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

Do you believe this? I hope that you do because it will make the difference when it comes to how well you handle difficult situations in your life. You can find peace or just get angry!

#2. Then the Lord spoke to Paul
What a blessing to have a God who speaks to us. Throughout history the Lord has spoken to His people. Whether audibly thru a bush, or on a wall, thru a prophet, or by means of ink on paper or by the Holy Spirit in one’s heart…He speaks, and often!

Hebrews 1:1-3 says  “1 In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. 3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.”
a. And what does the Lord say to Paul? “Take courage”. The Greek word used here can also be translated ‘be of good cheer, or cheer up), or take comfort or take heart’.

Jesus said same thing many times during his earthly ministry:
– He said it to the man who was a paralytic before He healed Him in Mt 9:2,
– And to the woman subject to on-going bleeding in Mt 9:22
– He said it when the disciples were frightened when they saw him walking on the water and thought He was some kind of ghost in Mt. 14:27
– And He told his disciples the same thing when He told them that He about to leave them but would not leave them alone. John 16:33

And He does the same for us; in our hearts, or thru a sermon, or thru an encouraging brother or sister in church, or sometimes in our own private times of devotion. Maybe even as we read scripture or a good spiritual book just the right message leaps off the page and speaks to us from God.

How many of you know of someone right now that could use some encouragement? People love encouraging, uplifting, positive people. In my opinion, when you set out to encourage someone, you are allowing God to use you to do His bidding.

c. The Lord also told Paul to cheer up and take courage because his next stop was Rome. Paul probably thought, “Wow Rome!” That’s what he wanted all along and was starting to wonder if he’d ever get a chance. But now all doubts are erased because God has said it. Just when he needed it the most, the Lord stood by Paul, and spoke him.

3. The next thing we see is how the Lord protects Paul Read 23:12-24 The next day these 40 men enter into a death pact together against Paul. The Lord had said “you’re going to Rome”, but these 40 say, “nah, you’re not going anywhere”. I wonder how long their oath not to eat or drink lasted? 

It’s amazing how God works. You know, God isn’t mentioned any more in this story. And yet you can see His hand at work throughout the rest of this chapter. And probably God worked in a way that Paul never imagined.

God didn’t smite the 40 with leprosy or blindness, or swallow them up in a fiery hole in the earth? No, He didn’t do anything that dramatic…instead, God used a little boy to foil their plans…

We read in v. 23-24 a small army of 470 trained soldiers were put to together to escort Paul away from these 40 lunatics. And it was all because one little boy eavesdropped and then had courage to go to the commander.

You may be going thru circumstances where you don’t see or feel like God is anywhere around…but don’t think for one second that He’s isn’t here… watching. In Matthew 10 Jesus told His disciples “29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. 30 And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.”

You need to remember that He loves you. He wants to encourage you not to give up, to be of good cheer, to take courage, because He personally knows how hard this live can be. Maybe He’s using me this day to let you know that.

Listen and look for His encouragement. Even better yet, be the source of his encouragement to others. He loves you, and He will protect you.

(Closing Story) Just after WWII, American soldiers found a little cellar where Jews had hid out. Written on the wall one had written, “I believe in the sun, even when it does not shine. I believe in love, even when it is not shown. And I believe in God even when I cannot see Him work.”

May we be as faithful!