The Word Made Plain

Guest (Female): Welcome to The Word Made Plain with Senior Pastor Tony Clark of Calvary Chapel Newport News in Virginia. Currently, Pastor Tony is teaching a study in the book of Acts. Please open your Bible to Acts chapter 21, verses one through six.

Tony Clark: Turn with me in your Bibles to Acts chapter 21. We're going to be looking at verses one through six as we continue our verse-by-verse and chapter-by-chapter study of the book of Acts on Sunday mornings. As you know, we're in the book of First Samuel on Wednesdays and just so thankful for the Word of God.

And Father, thank you for setting the table out for us to feast upon. We pray that Your Holy Spirit will give us the understanding, the sense of Your Word, and Lord, the application for our lives so we can walk out here being doers of Your Word and not just hearers only. In Jesus' name, amen.

Acts chapter 21, looking at verses one through six. The title of this message is Focus on the Family, Part 1. Now, we hear a lot of talk about the family today: how the family is divided, separated, or at odds with one another. It seems like the families that I grew up watching on TV are a distant memory.

I grew up watching *Leave It to Beaver*, *My Three Sons*, *Family Affair*, *Brady Bunch*, *Good Times*, *Jeffersons*, and later on in my children's generation, *The Cosby Show*. The typical family on these shows consisted of a father, a mother, and two or three children. And how different a generation makes.

Today, a family consists of a mother, a father who nine out of ten is not in the home, so a mother, boyfriend, and children. Or there is a father, stepmother, and stepchildren. It is just a big mess. The children saying, "You aren't my real father" or "my real mother," and the homes aren't a safe haven or a sanctuary, but a war zone.

Instead of you being the pastor of your home, you have to be the general because the general leads the way in war. It is unfortunate the way things are today. So, is there any hope for the family today? Yes, I believe there is. I believe that there is a hope. I really do believe that this text and these verses we're dealing with here will give us some helpful insights on how to have a family that is focused—focused on God and the things of God.

I believe this message is very critical today because no matter what your family looks like, it's not a family that is focused—well, let me just change that—not a family that is focused on the things of God. It is focused on whatever sporting events that's going on, whatever activity the children have. Oh, you're focused on that. But I want to show you how to have a family focused on the things of God.

Look what it says there in verse one. It says, "Now it came to pass that when we had departed from them and set sail, running a straight course, we came to Cos, the following day to Rhodes, and from there to Patara." Now this chapter opens up with Paul saying goodbye to the Ephesian elders he just finished teaching in chapter 20.

This was such a heartwarming scene here. This verse says when he had departed from them. Now, Luke the author paints the scene for us with the Greek word used in this verse for "departed." The Greek word is *apospao*, and it means to tear away. This shows the trauma they felt and the love they had for Paul that he had to literally tear himself away from his crying friends.

Then Luke gives the Google Maps or the Waze, whatever you use, the Google Maps for their travels. He said they ran a straight course to the city of Cos, which was the capital of the island by the same name. From there they sailed to Rhodes, which was the home of the famous Colossus of Rhodes, which was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.

It was a statue of the Greek sun god Helios, which was around 108 feet tall. It was around the size of our Statue of Liberty. It was destroyed in an earthquake that took place in 222 BC. From Rhodes, they went southwest on the corner of Asia Minor, or modern-day Turkey, and they stopped at the city of Patara. Each stop took a day of sailing to arrive there, and they anchored there at night.

Now Paul, Luke, and their companions had to find a ship that was sailing across the Mediterranean from Patara to Phoenicia. Look what it says there in verse two. "And finding a ship sailing over Phoenicia, we went aboard and set sail." So they found a cargo ship sailing across and they boarded it in verse two.

Notice in verse three it says, "When we had sighted Cyprus, we passed it on the left, sailed to Syria, and landed at Tyre, for there the ship was to unload her cargo." Then it says, "And finding disciples" in verse four, "they stayed there seven days. They told Paul through the Spirit not to go up to Jerusalem."

So they passed the city of Cyprus on the left in verse three, came to Syria, and landed at Tyre because the ship had to unload some cargo. They ended up staying there for seven days according to verse four. However, what stood out to me was what they did while they were there. Did they go sightseeing? Did they go shopping? Did they look for an amusement park?

No, they found disciples. There was a church established there earlier, and the Greek word for "found" is *aneurisko*, and it means to find by searching out. It gives the connotation like you made a great discovery. During this break, Paul could have easily said, "I deserve a break today too." No, not Paul. He said, "I want to be with the believers. I want to be at church."

Notice his mindset, totally different from the mindset today. There are too many people who believe while I am on break, I will also take a break from church too. They wonder why they are fighting and arguing, ignoring each other, and the trip ends up in disaster. Or you end up engaging in fleshly activities and you come back and you realize that you didn't do anything spiritual, like reading the Bible, praying, and you definitely didn't look for a church to attend.

Whenever we go on break or vacation, I make sure that I search diligently for a church to attend, a Bible-believing church. I look for who's doing big things in the city that we're attending, and I try to go there looking around, checking stuff, picking up brochures so I can learn something. Maybe there's something that may apply here, maybe it's not. I chew the meat, spit out the bones, but I'm going to go to the church that is doing a great thing in their city.

This can be a powerful witness to your unsaved family members that you're visiting. We can do all that, but I'm going to first go to church and then we'll come back and we can pick up on those things. But if you don't want to wait for me, I'll catch you when you come back. It'd be a powerful witness. So often when family come into town, especially unsaved family members, all of a sudden when I don't see you, I ask, "Hey, I didn't see you. Is everything okay?" "Oh, I just had family in town."

That means because I have family in town, I'm going to take a break from church. It is a sad thing to actually see that their unsaved ways has influenced you. They don't go to church, so they influence you not to go either. And then some may even put a guilt trip on you. "Oh, I came all this way and you're going to be laid up in church?" Because they think that church is from 9:30 to 3:00 like it used to be.

They don't know that church is an hour or an hour and 15 minutes, and we'd be back at the house before you even finish cooking those eggs and that bacon. But they think that this is an all-day thing. But they have influenced you. I see this all the time. So Paul searched diligently for disciples and he found them and hung out with them for seven days.

They had a message for him. Notice they told him through the Spirit not to go up to Jerusalem. These brothers that Paul searched diligently out for told him not to go up to Jerusalem. So what did Paul do? Oh, he went up to Jerusalem. Was Paul being disobedient by going since they told him not to go, notice, through the Spirit? No, Paul lived a life being very sensitive to the Spirit of God.

The Holy Spirit told him not to preach in a certain area in Acts 16, verses six and seven, and he didn't. The Spirit of God told him to go and minister to the people in the area of Macedonia in Acts 16, verses nine and ten, and he obeyed. So he had a long history of obeying God, and it would seem very unlikely that he would disobey God this time around.

Let me just share what happened. This is what happened. The Holy Spirit was warning Paul of the persecution he would face in Jerusalem. You have to understand John 16 and verse 13. Jesus said that the Holy Spirit will tell us things to come. And the believers in Tyre, through the Spirit, foresaw the suffering he would endure when he reached Jerusalem.

So it is only natural that they would try to keep him from going. So the Spirit's message to Paul in Tyre was a warning to him of the persecution he would face and not a message for him not to go. I was thinking about this this morning right before service, and I was going over my notes. This is why we must be very careful when we call ourselves giving people a word from the Lord.

Because it can easily happen that we slip in our own feelings into that word from the Lord and we give people a mixed message. We've got to be very careful with this because it's easy for us to slip our own personal feelings into that word from the Lord. And this is what happened here. They saw through the Spirit Paul being persecuted, being physically harmed, and all this, and they said, "Look here, the Spirit is said when you go to Jerusalem, don't go. Don't go."

And see, that was their own personal feelings, not to go. Because it's only natural that the guy that they loved and heard about and all this stuff, that they didn't want him to go through that. So it wasn't a message of don't go, but you're going to go and this is what's going to happen to you. So be very careful when you're calling yourself giving people a word from the Lord and make sure you can separate your own personal feelings from that word from the Lord.

Look what it says there in verse five. It says, "When we had come to the end of those days, we departed and went on our way, and they all accompanied us with wives and children till we were out of the city, and we knelt down on the shore and prayed." Now when the week was up, it was time to make their way to Jerusalem. They all accompanied Paul to the ship, referring to the believers of Tyre.

Now, who did they bring with them? Don't miss this. Notice how they brought their wives and their children. Notice how the men brought their wives and children with them to say goodbye to Paul. I used to hear people say all the time in the earlier years of our church, "Well, we don't come to church on Wednesday nights because we're having family time."

Which normally consisted of Mom watching one TV, normally HGTV or Lifetime or Hallmark. Dad is watching another TV with sports on it or some man movie, shoot 'em up, blow 'em up. The kids are either playing video games or on their phones. And this is, watch this, family time. Or another example of family time is eating in front of the TV together, everyone with plates on their laps offering up food offerings to the one-eyed god.

These disciples brought their families to hear and to be with the Apostle Paul. The men didn't come and then leave their families behind; they brought them along as well. Do you remember what Pharaoh said to Moses in the book of Exodus when Moses said, "God said, 'Let my people go'"? Three things Pharaoh told Moses. Watch this.

Number one, he said in Exodus 8 and verse 28. He says, "You can go and worship, but don't go very far away." And what Satan was saying through Pharaoh is this: "You can go, but don't go overboard in your worship of God. Don't go very far. Don't be a fanatic." However, what is the abbreviation of fanatic? It's fan. No, don't be a fan of God and church and spiritual things. Don't go very far in your worship of God.

Just follow Jesus at a distance like Peter did in Matthew 26 and verse 58, and he eventually denied the Lord. Just follow Jesus just in enough, just keep Him in your eye. "Yeah, He's way up there, but as long as you can see Him." Just follow Him at a distance. Don't go very far. That's the first thing he told him. The second is Pharaoh told Moses in Exodus 10 and verse 11. He says, "Just the men can go and leave your little ones behind." Or "Don't force them to be a fan of God and church and spiritual things like you are. Let them make their own decisions about God and church."

That's the kind of mess that folks are saying today. "Well, I'm not going to force my religion on my kids. I'm just going to let them figure it out on their own." You don't do that with their eating, because if you let kids just eat whatever they want, they'll eat cereal, candy, cookies, and chips all the time. You make a conscious decision to make sure they get some greens and some vegetables and some things. You make the conscious decision on their physical health, and you're going to let them figure it out about their spiritual health? Are you kidding me? Oh no.

And notice Pharaoh told Moses, "Just the men can go." And then number three, Pharaoh told Moses in Exodus 10 and verse 24. He says, "Okay, okay, okay, you can go and your families as well, but leave your flocks and herds behind." In other words, "You can go and serve God with your families, but leave your herds behind," or "Go and serve God, but leave your money at home."

Don't give God your material wealth. Your herds and flocks, they represented financial wealth back then. Leave that behind. And to each one of these, Moses looked at Pharaoh and said, "No. I'm going to go all the way with God. I'm going to bring my family with me on this journey with God. I'm going to worship Him with my material wealth as well."

Did you know, and many of you probably didn't know, but did you know that giving to God financially is an act of worship? Second Corinthians 9, verses six through nine is not on the screen for you note-takers; it tells us this. So Moses told Pharaoh that he is going all the way with God with his family, and he's bringing his wealth with him. This is what he told him. And when I hear that, I say, "Oh Lord, give us more men like Moses that will lead their families in God's direction. Give us more men like these disciples in Tyre that went with the Apostle Paul and listened to him with their families."

They didn't leave them at home playing video games or over a friend's house or at home doing—here's the diddos again—homework. Or they didn't leave them at home because they all of a sudden on church night got some big project that was due. Now sometimes there may be, but here's the thing: that kid knew a week or two that that project was going to be coming up. They're going to wait on the night before, which happens to be church night, to say, "I've got a project that's due."

"Okay, when is it due?" "Tomorrow." "Okay, we've got to go to church." "Well, this project, it's worth 50% of the grade." All right, stay home, get it done. See, that's the kind of mess. And then when you walk away, they're doing like this, smiling at you. And then all of a sudden you go as a man, you go as a single parent, you go, and you come home blessed by being in God's presence and sitting at the feet of Jesus, hearing His word being taught.

And you come home and your kids' fingers are hurting from either texting or playing too much PlayStation—where are they up to right about now? 10? Your wife is looking at you funny because she just finished watching some movie on Lifetime where the husband was cheating on his wife. And now your wife is saying, "Church was over 30 minutes ago. Where were you? It's just like the guy on the movie."

No, man, no. Pray for God's strength to be the man of God in your home, to say as Joshua did in Joshua 24, verse 15, "As for me and my house, we're going to serve the Lord." I don't know about the rest of y'all in y'all's house, but for me and my house, we're going to serve the Lord. So turn off the phone and the TV, honey, because we're going to church and the kids too. Get in the back. That's the real man of God that's going to lead his family that way.

I love the second part of verse five, how he says, "We knelt down on the shore and prayed." What a beautiful, what a beautiful witness this must have been to the fishermen nearby and the people of Tyre to see these believers bowing down in prayer together on the sand. They prayed together on the sand. Men, single parents, do you have times of prayer with your families?

You should because it is rightfully said, "The family that prays together stays together." I have said it many times: if you want to see your family altered or changed, you must have a family altar, a time of just praying, reading the Bible, and expressing your heart to the Lord as a family. You'd be surprised at the things your kids pick up on just reading the scriptures. They were a witness praying on the shore, and we can as well when we go out to eat and we publicly pray and give thanks for the food. It can be a powerful witness to those that are in the restaurant.

None of this headache prayer. What do you mean by headache prayer? You pretend like you've got a headache. "Lord, I just thank You for this food." This is how the kids pray at school because they don't want the other kids to know they're Christian praying for their meal, so they pretend they've got a headache. "Lord, I just thank You for this food in Jesus' name." "You all right?" "Oh yeah, I'm good. It's gone now."

I see this stuff all the time. Look what it says there in verse six. It says, "When we had taken our leave of one another, we boarded the ship and they returned home." So they parted ways and these precious believers headed back home. Now, do you think that any of them regretted their time hearing Paul and praying together? Oh no. I believe that they were blessed because Galatians 6 and verse 8 says, "He who sows to the Spirit or spiritual things will of the Spirit reap everlasting life." And they chose as a family to sow spiritual things: praying and hearing from Paul. And God's blessings were upon them.

However, Galatians 6:8 also says, "But if we sow to the flesh or fleshly carnal things, we will reap corruption." In other words, when we sow to our fleshly desires, our walks with Christ will begin to deteriorate or we will start to see our lives and the lives of our family start to see a corruption in the family. These families went away blessed. Is your family blessed? Do you guys sow spiritual things, men, single parents? Do you sow spiritual things? Men, don't allow your wife to go up and always do the spiritual things with the children while you are down there watching a game.

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