Graham is back with us after his holiday from China. His message this morning was based on Acts 28.
Letters of Paul to Tim & Titus Part 1
Acts 28
Introduction
Paul’s Roman imprisonment in AD 60. After his release he writes to Timothy and Titus about AD 63-65.
1) “Go to this people and say”
Compare with Matthew 13:14 and the parable of the sower. Jesus taught in parables. Why? See verse 10 following. Truth is revealed to those who are ready or who have openness to receive, yet concealed from those who would reject it, saving them from the further sin of blasphemy. This is the confidence Paul has in Acts 28.
2) “They will listen”
That the gospel was for the Gentiles as well as the Jews is the great theme of the book of Acts, this book written by a Gentile, Luke.
On his release from confinement we Paul visiting Crete during his fourth missionary journey. He missed Crete due to the storm which nearly sank his ship on his way to Rome. During this fourth missionary tour he writes to Titus, the man he has left in charge of the new church in Crete, and to Timothy who is left in charge of the new church in Ephesus.
His letters to both of these people, Timothy and Titus, are not so much letters to these men on personal issues but to instruct them how to get the new churches on a proper footing. What it is to be a church of Christians, or Christians being church, will be a main theme of this series.
Paul’s conviction, communicated through these letters, is that the Gentiles “will listen”.
Conclusion
“They will listen” Acts 28:28
Compare with:
Matthew 9:37 Then he said to his disciples, The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.
Luke 10:2 He told them, The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.
John 4:35 Do you not say, ‘Four months more and then the harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.
I need to make sure I do not forget this.
