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Weimar University

Don Mackintosh

The Right Way to Turn the World Upside Down

Father in heaven, we ask your blessing to be with us as we talk for a few moments about turning the world upside down.

Turning the world upside down, That phrase taken from our scripture reading in Acts 17, verse 6.

These have come here who also have been other places and they've been turning the world upside down.

They didn't like the fact that they had come to turn the world upside down.

Now that's exactly what they were doing, Moffat's translation, these upsetters of the whole world are now here.

And then again, Weimar's translation, having turned the world topsy-turvy.

How many of you like to turn the world topsy-turvy?

Look at that person next to you, would you like to turn the world topsy-turvy?

So there are a number of things as you read through the book of Acts that talk about how they turn the world upside down.

And perhaps 1 of the largest things is actually the Word of God.

The Word of God is what turns the world upside down.

And it's not you who turn it upside down.

It's the study and preaching of the Word.

Acts talks about hearing the Word of God and boldly speaking it.

It talks about the ministry of the words, so much so that even the priests began to believe.

It talks about how the Word was not just preached to the Jews but also the Samaritans.

It talks about how the Word of God grew and was multiplied.

And then notice this, a proper preaching of the word, the word itself is glorified, not the preacher.

This is a danger, especially for young preachers, that they think they're important.

They're not important, The Word is important.

They're only important as they're connected to the Word and preaching the Word.

They have some importance, but not self-importance.

Acts 13 and 49, it's spread throughout the entire region.

Prophecy, salvation, the gospel, the law, and very practical subjects as you read through the book of Acts.

These are the actions, the acts of the apostles.

Acts 1535, not just leaders were to preach, but many others also.

In Acts 1536, that preaching was to be followed up by visitation.

We're told by the servant of the Lord that The preaching of the word is, no man should be flattered for his ability as a speaker, for this is the easy part of the work.

It's a simple part of the work and relatively easy.

I always tell my preaching students that.

They should be measured in how they follow up the Word, how they visit after preaching the Word.

So this is a big thing in Acts chapter 15.

It's probably not the best to go in a debating style and try and get people riled up.

In humility, a servant of the Lord must not quarrel, but be apt to teach.

In humility, correcting those who oppose themselves.

If God perchance will grant repentance, that they may escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive to do his will." 2 Timothy 2, 24-26.

And he loved especially to preach on the Sabbath.

You see in the book of Acts preaching on the Sabbath many times a series, 3 Sabbaths in a row.

You try and convince the Jews first and then Jews usually would kick him out and then he would go to the Gentiles.

And as he was preaching his favorite subject on the Sabbath was actually the grace of God.

Acts 42 and 44, it talks about how he preached 1 Sabbath.

And then in verse 43, it says, he persuaded them to continue in the grace of God.

So grace-filled preaching is Sabbath-filled preaching in the book of Acts.

Now when you read the word and you actually read it, and when you hear it preached, dramatic things happen.

Just reading the word 4 days out of 7, you have 57% lower odds of getting drunk, sex out of sight of marriage goes way down, pornography way down, gambling.

You were talking in the excellent panel discussion about how to have victory over sin.

That's not going to really help you unless the decision is to read the Word of God.

Because there's spirit and life in the Word of God.

As you begin reading, it starts to displace these things in your life.

It's not something you promise, it's something That happens when you claim the promises.

When you read the promises, something happens.

How many have ever seen this happen in your life where you're just reading the Word of God and you start to become blind to the things that you used to look at?

So the power of God's Word, That's why here in our undergraduate program we want every student to read the entire Word of God through the lens of their degree and be discussing it, talking about it, saturating themselves in it.

Gambling goes down, smoking 80%, 82% lower odds just by reading the Word of God.

Number 2, the big thing in the Book of Acts is medical missionary work.

Oh, before I go on from the Word of God, when you get excited about the Word of God you get bold about the Word of God, but you're also tactful about the Word of God.

I'll tell you a story about a guy, I don't know if he was that tactful, but I was coming back from Norway where I was visiting my ex-fiancée And she's now my wife, the mother of the 4 living creatures.

And her father did not like me, and so he sent her to Norway to get away from me.

So she was over there of her own free will.

But I'd gone to visit her, and I came back, and I had a layover in London and there was a strike of the hospital workers and the nurses, And I was down near Trafalgar Square, if you've ever been there, and I was walking along and this man comes with a briefcase and he goes, have you accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Savior?

And different people he was talking to them, right?

And he came to me and I said, and then he would ask them, and so what church do you belong to?

And he talked to me and he goes, have you accepted the Lord Jesus Christ?

He goes, a Seventh-day Adventist church is a cult.

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The Right Way to Turn the World Upside Down

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