October 13, 2019
Pastor Ricky Smith

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I have a friend who lives in Montgomery. He actually works for the Alabama Baptist Mission Board, and from time to time, we meet in the middle for lunch. So, with me being a Columbus and him in Montgomery, that means about in the middle is Auburn, AL. To be honest with you, I try not to go to Auburn often. That’s a personal thing (no offense to the Auburn fans out there). 

But, one day we were meeting for lunch in Auburn. He sent me the address to a sushi restaurant that we were going to meet at that was right in Toomer’s Corner in downtown Auburn. He sent me the address via text, so I just blindly clicked to the address on my phone. It opened up my maps, and I started driving. 

I was running a little bit behind, and I hate being late; it is one of my pet peeves. So, I called him and said, “Look Man, I’m sorry. I’m going to be about 10 minutes late. The GPS says I’ll be there at 12:10. He said, “Don’t worry about it. I’ll get a table. What do you want to drink?” I told him what I wanted, and all was good. 

So, I’m getting closer, and you know how it is; you’re watching how GPS says there are two miles left, one mile left, three minutes left… I get to the place where I hear the words, “You have reached your destination.” I look out the window and take a picture of the run-down house I was at. I texted it to my buddy, who was in the sushi restaurant at Toomer’s Corner and said, “This doesn’t feel right. This clearly is not Toomer’s Corner in Auburn, Alabama.”

The bottom line is, I looked and the address actually didn’t have a zip code in it. Apparently there was some other street with the same name in Wherever, Alabama. Then, I had to own it. “I’m sorry. I made a mistake.” Now I was 35 minutes late for lunch when I finally got there. 

Now, if you’ve navigated with an electronic device (it doesn’t matter if it’s Google Maps or Apple Maps), this has happened to you before. I was reaching an intended place. I blindly followed the directions given, and I didn’t get where I intended to be. We’ve had this happen. 

Today, we are going to see an example of some men who were blindly following some directions given and realized it was not taking them in the direction they intended to go. When we take this principle and apply it to our faith, obviously we want to have and admire in others, a level of trust and faith that we are pursuing and chasing after something. 

What we need to understand is, our level of faith and the amount of faith and trust we live by is second to making sure that the object of our faith is correct, or else we are pursuing the wrong thing and headed in the wrong direction. 

I. Released to Go

Let’s look at our text, and I’d love to make some observations. Here’s the first point: Paul, we will see, was released to go. Let’s read verse one of Acts 19. 

Acts 19:1
And it happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the inland country and came to Ephesus. There he found some disciples.

Go back and listen to the last sermon. We saw this character, Apollos, coming onto the scene, and we realized that now we’ve got a main plot and a secondary plot. So, while this story of Apollos is unfolding, meanwhile, Paul is still active at work. And what’s noteworthy here is that Paul finally gets to go to what, at that time in history, was considered to be Asia. 

If you rewind a few chapters and remember the story of the Macedonian Call, Paul wanted to come here two years prior, but the Spirit of God did not allow him to go. Now, two years later, he is allowed to finally go and share the Gospel in this area where he has desired to go for years. 

It reminds me of when I was a kid and I would ask my parents for things.  I loved when I got a “yes” answer. I accepted when I got “no” answer. I hated when I got this answer: “We’ll see.” What does that mean? Can you give me an answer? “We’ll see…Maybe…We’ll find out when we get there.” I hated that answer, and I do not like it when the Lord gives me that answer. 

Can we just be honest? Sometimes we want an answer. We’re praying for something, and we just wish God would say yes or no. But sometimes, He says, “We’ll wait and see.”  

“Lord, what? I need an answer.” 

“No, wait and see.” 

We have to learn in those moments to trust God’s timing. 

Trust God’s timing

His timing is always perfect, and it is in those seasons of “wait and see” that James 1 becomes a reality for us. He said to consider it pure joy when you walk in the trials and tribulations, because those seasons develop maturity in you. Those seasons grow you. Those seasons help you trust the Lord, look to the Lord, depend on the Lord, and rely on the Lord. 

Those seasons are moments when you realize, “It’s not by might, and it’s not by strength, but it’s by my Spirit,” says the Lord (Zechariah 4:6). It is in those seasons where that seed becomes a sequoia. It is in those seasons when my faith becomes strong, when I trust God’s timing. And so, Paul has walked now for two years through a season where God is finally allowing him to go where he wanted to go. 

And if you go back and read that moment of the Macedonian Call where the Spirit of God redirected his steps, you see all that happened over those two years of his life. He was finally able to proclaim the Gospel to a group of people who had never heard of Jesus before. He was able to stand on Mars Hill and would proclaim the truth of who Jesus is in the face of a pagan religion. 

All that happened because he trusted God’s timing and God’s path. There is so much you and I could learn from that. Even in the waiting, trust God’s timing. So, what does Paul do? We see here in verse one that he comes into the city. He finally reaches Asia. He gets to Ephesus, and he finds some disciples. 

Now, be careful with this word. You and I hear the word disciple, especially in the context of ministry here at Calvary where we talk about how we are all about making disciples and helping people grow in their pursuit of Jesus, and we study the 12 disciples of Scripture. Oftentimes, we make “Christian” and “disciple” synonymous. And that’s okay as we are contextualizing things.

But, we need to understand that when we read Scripture, every time the word disciple is used, it’s not necessarily referring to someone who is following Jesus; it may be used to describe a person who is just pursuing and following some religious leader. In fact, let me give you an example. Luke 5:33 says:

Luke 5:33
33 And they said to him, “The disciples of John fast often and offer prayers, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink.”

So, even as people are trying to contextualize and understand these people who are following Jesus, they are comparing the disciples of Jesus with the disciples of the Pharisees and the disciples of John. And so, Paul comes in, and this is the important note: He’s able to tell from external appearances that those guys are pursuing something. They are clearly religious. They are following someone. But he uses it as as a moment to press in and turn it into an intentional conversation to discover, “Who is it that you are following?” 

There is a lot that you and I could learn from this, because we may have conversations and relationships with people, and it may be evident to us that they are interested in spirituals things. It may be evident to us that at least they are coming to church, trying to pursue something. But it’s an opportunity for us to be intentional in the conversations that we have with them. We’ve got to always be ready. 1 Peter 3:15 says: 

1 Peter 3:15
15 but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect

This is also a reminder when we look at these disciples that some of us, like these disciples, may do a really good job of looking the part on the outside, but on the inside, we may be wayward, lost, and asking lots of questions. So, you and I need to be careful not to make any assumptions simply based on external appearances. But look for an opportunity to look into the heart. We’ve got to know that eternity is at stake, and that really matters. 

II. Reason to Reason

Therefore, the second point is, we then have a reason to reason. I hope you understand the differences in those two words. We have a reason, a purpose, to reason, explain or defend. Let’s read verse two through five. 

Acts 19:2-5
2 And he said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” And they said, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” 3 And he said, “Into what then were you baptized?” They said, “Into John’s baptism.” 4 And Paul said, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, Jesus.” 5 On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

See, when we look beyond just the external and we begin to look into the heart of people, it then drives us to ask heart-level questions. I’m going to go beyond the surface, and I’m going to ask questions of the heart. 

Let me explain it to you this way. Next summer, I’m going to lead a team on a mission trip to New York City, where we’ll do a lot of things in connection with a church plant there. But one of the most difficult, yet rewarding, things we will do is talk to strangers on the street about Jesus. It’s awesome! 

When I’ve gone there with this church plant and have done these things, they are looking for places to discover where there are pockets of Christians (maybe to look at where we can establish a LifeGroup or maybe even plant a new church). So, some of the questions that you begin to ask initially are very surface level. “Hey, do you live around here? Do you work around here? How do you like this neighborhood? Are there good restaurants to eat at?” You may ask them a question like, “Are there any churches around here? Do you go to church?”

And I’m beginning to get to the point where I’m moving beyond the surface-level discussion into a heart-level discussion, because I hope to get to the place where I can say. “Well, tell me about what you believe about Jesus.” I want to find a way to get beyond the external, to get into the heart, and then we can discover, where does that person stand, and whom are they following? 

That’s what Paul does here. Maybe one way in your everyday conversations you can start this journey would be like, “Hey, do you live around here? Awesome. Do you go to church anywhere?” 

“Yeah, I go to church.”

“Who’s the pastor there?”

If they can’t tell you who the pastor is, they probably don’t go to church there. Again, this is just finding ways in this conversation to drive it a little bit deeper. The bottom line is, we have a reason to share the Gospel. We have a reason to reason with Scripture, and in this example, we hear from the disciples of John. 

A. Incomplete picture

Here are a few reasons that even we can translate into our relationships today. The first one is this: Recognizing that some have an incomplete picture. Looking back at verse two, he asks this very important question: “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” He’s trying to probe into their faith, and when they responded, saying that they followed John the Baptist, it makes me wonder, Where did they miss the mark? 

If you pay attention to the teaching of John the Baptist, he always pointed to Jesus. Aways in His baptism, he referred to the Spirit of God. Yet, they’re saying, “We don’t even know there is a Spirit.” Well, how do you not know if you’re truly listening to what John is foretelling about who Jesus is? In fact, John’s words even said, “I baptize with water, but the one who is coming will baptize with the Holy Spirit.” 

Over and over again, John mentions it in his preaching in Matthew 3, Mark 1, Luke 3, John 1. John the Baptist was clear in pointing others to Jesus. So, where did these guys miss it? Paul is not saying that John’s teachings were insignificant. He’s not saying that the preaching and teaching of John didn’t matter. He’s trying to help them understand that it’s incomplete. 

Baptism just to John is incomplete, because we need to be baptized in the Name of Jesus. That’s what Jesus even said himself in Matthew 28, “The Lord handed down the command to the Apostles and to you that we baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”

B. Following a man

So, it appears that these disciples, somewhere along the way, went astray. How did this happen? I think it may be because of this: They were following a man. They were content and satisfied just to follow John. We see this all the time. Don’t think that we’re not susceptible to this. 

A few years back, some friends in the church had a death in their family in Texas, and they asked me if I would go with them and sing at the funeral. I said, “Sure, whatever I can do.” So I flew to Texas and sang in this funeral. The night before the funeral, I’m sitting on the patio of the recent widow, and I’m trying to find a way just to  gauge where she is with Jesus. I said, “So, tell me about your faith journey.” 

And this was her response: “Well, I follow Joel Osteen.” I said, “Okay, I’m intrigued. Tell me more.” Here was the extent of her faith. She could only communicate that she was following a man. If you don’t hear anything I say today, here’s the sermon in a sentence: Following a man, rather than following Christ, will lead you to Hell. But, if you will follow the Son of Man, who walked on water, your life will forever be changed. 

Following a man, rather than Christ, will lead you to Hell

You may say, “I would never just blindly follow a man.” Be careful. We do it all the time with an author or preacher we pursue. Students and Children, your mama’s and daddy’s faith will not get you to Heaven. You have to own it yourself. It is your choice to put your faith in Jesus and to follow Him. Your mama and daddy can’t pray you into Heaven, and I can’t either. 

We can’t follow a man, and that’s what Paul sees here. Apparently they were faithful to the light that they had, but they needed some clarification. They needed the Truth. They needed to understand the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. They needed to hear the Gospel, and notice his question to them. It wasn’t a question about baptism. It was a question about the Spirit. “Is the Spirit at work in your life?”

This is what he’s basically saying in modern-day translation, in common-day language. It maybe something like this. “Hey, tell me your story. Tell me about your faith.” And as they begin to unpack, I’m trying to then search for evidence of whether Jesus really is a part of their life, evidence of the Holy Spirit. Here’s the deal: What Jesus teaches and what Paul affirm in Romans 8: 9-11 is this:

Romans 8:9-11
9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 10 But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.

Let me ask a question. You love Jesus. You’re following Jesus. You’ve known Jesus. You’ve given your life to Him. But, would you be honest and say that either in this season of life or in some season of your life, you’ve really wrestled with doubt, like “Am I really a Christian? Am I really following Jesus?” 

If we’re being honest, probably all of us have been in one of those seasons, and some of you may very well be in one of those seasons now. What are some litmus tests that can guide you toward some peace? Well, here’s what Paul is saying in Romans 8, even as he’s speaking to this disciples: Is there evidence that the Spirit of God is at work in your life? Is there evidence of conviction of sin? Is there evidence of Him correcting you? Is there evidence of Him guiding you? Is there evidence of Him speaking to you? Yes or no? 

If you are truly following Jesus, the Spirit dwells in you, and there should be some evidence of the Spirit at work in you. So, this is a good question to ask to evaluate. Obviously, for those of us who have genuinely given our life to Jesus and there is evidence that the Spirit has been at work in our life, you and I need to understand that the enemy loves to use doubt to debilitate us and to cripple us. Understand that it’s a tactic from the enemy, but also understand that it is a good question that you can ask to evaluate your relationship with Jesus. 

If you struggle with doubt, look for the Spirit

So, what do we see here? Verse seven describes what happened. They hear the truth. They respond to the Gospel, and they choose to be baptized in the name of Jesus. This is the only time recorded in the New Testament where people are baptized twice. Why? Because they were baptized first in the baptism of John, and then they chose to give their lives to Jesus and follow Him in obedience to be baptized after that experience. 

Do you know why? It’s because the first time, they just got wet. That is all it was. This is a great opportunity for us to evaluate our faith. We’ve had people get baptized who were baptized as children and came to faith in Christ as adults. They then got baptized in the proper order. That’s a great example of what we see here. 

I just encourage you to have that honest, courageous evaluation of your own life. If you’ve never been baptized in the right order, let’s talk about that. Let’s get that right. It’s a beautiful thing that we can celebrate.

III. Rightful Fellowship

Now, Paul made it clear to his hearers that the coming one is Jesus. They put their faith in Jesus, and their lives were changed by His power. So what happens next? Let’s read verses 6 and 7. We see this idea of rightful fellowship.

Acts 19:6-7
6 And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying. 7 There were about twelve men in all.

We see this beautiful moment. All throughout Acts, there has been this very explicit statement and explicit movement by the Spirit of God to affirm the people. Oftentimes, it was groups or representatives of groups of people who were part of the fellowship of believers, and what I want us to make a note of is two things: One is the laying on of hands. It was this external expression of Paul to communicate to them. “You are part of the fellowship. When you were following just John, you weren’t part of the family. But now that you’ve chosen to follow Jesus and you’ve been baptized in His Name, you are part of this family.”

So this rightful fellowship and being part of this community of believers is beautiful. And then, what are they doing? They are prophesying. This is a statement of a bold proclamation of the Gospel. They began to boldly share and speak the Name of Jesus, prophesying. That term is used often in 1st and 2nd Corinthians and all throughout the New Testament. 

This is an encouragement to us, and here is the reminder: When we see this laying on of hands and them being brought into the fellowship, we see them boldly and courageously prophesying and sharing the Name of Jesus. When we contextualize this in our world today, here is the truth: Fellowship must foster a Spirit-filled life that advances the Gospel.

Fellowship must foster a Spirit-filled life that advances the Gospel

This means fellowship in your LifeGroup, fellowship as people who are a part of Calvary Baptist Church, and fellowship as people who are part of Jesus’s church throughout the Valley. It should foster, cultivate, grow in us the Spirit-filled life that is following Jesus and following the Spirit wherever He leads, with a commitment to boldly proclaim and advance the Name of Jesus, because His Name is way bigger and way more important than mine. 

His truth has the hope and the power to save. His Word reveals and changes lives, because it is living and it is breathing. So today, as we examine the Scripture, these few short verses together, I want to review and recap three big ideas, and I invite you to internalize them and ask yourself some really honest questions, because we want to drive all of us to a place that we choose to leave different from the way we came in. 

We looked at Paul in the first verse, and Paul trusted the leadership and direction of God in His perfect timing. What can we learn from God in that day? What can we learn from Paul’s example today? “God, we trust your timing. I realize that as I’m praying and pouring my heart out to you, you may have a ‘We’ll see’ or ‘Wait a little longer’ response. And that may not be the answer to that I want, but in that moment, I’m going to trust you and trust your timing. I trust your sovereign plan. In this season, grow me. Deepen my roots; deepen my faith. I trust that you know what’s best, and you’re ultimately in control.” We can learn and apply that in our lives today from Paul’s example.

For the followers of John, they were made aware of their need to trust Christ and not a man. If you looked at this text, and the Holy Spirit is convicting you saying, “Hey, you’re not following me. You’re following your mom, your dad, an author, or a preacher.” If the answer is anything other than Jesus, change needs to happen at the soul level. 

Jesus said without hesitation in John 14:6, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father but by me.” And Jesus stands with open arms, wanting to walk in relationship with you. If you confess your sins, He is faithful and just to forgive you of your sins and to cleanse you of all in righteousness (1 John 1:9). If you confess with your mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved, made new (Romans 10:9-10). If any man is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old is gone, and the new has come (2 Corinthians 5:17). He wants to make a new creation out of you. 

We could look at these followers of John. They willingly chose to follow Christ in obedience of baptism and with a commitment to proclaim the Message. I hope and pray we all have that level of commitment. “Jesus, you are King of my life. I follow you forever. I will boldly proclaim your name and humbly submit to that authority every day.”

Next Steps

• I choose to follow Jesus from this day forward.
• I confess my baptism is out of order, and I commit to make that right.
• I commit to follow the leadership of the Holy Spirit and boldly speak the name of Jesus.

Discussion Questions

1. As we follow the example of Paul, we see the opportunity to engage others in Gospel conversations. Read 1 Peter 3:15. Discuss what we can look for to identify moments to bring Jesus up in conversations and share how we can do so with “gentleness and respect”.
2. Romans 8:9-11 informs us that a true follower of Christ will have the presence of the Spirit in his or her life. Share what it looks like in your life when the Holy Spirit guides, convicts, and directs your life. How does this affirm your faith?
3. The followers of John in Acts 19:1-7 recognized their need to trust Jesus and follow Him in baptism. Share with others your personal story of faith and baptism. Did you do it in the proper order, and why does that even matter?