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Weimar University

Don Mackintosh

Strategic Lessons from Scripture & History

Decided to do a podcast on the places we had visited in Europe with Lineage Journey, which has a podcast on things historical that relate to the church.

So we looked at that, and that's what I want to kind of talk about today, strategic lessons from scripture and history.

Iona and Linda Sfarne, let's pray together as we start again.

Father in heaven, Lord, thank you today for this opportunity we have to come and study together, draw strength from 1 another.

Bless us, we pray in Christ's name, Amen.

I want to look at 7 pictures quickly that I think are important and they have to do with education and Education of course was very important in the scripture reading that we read today and Jesus went about all Galilee preaching teaching and healing all manner of sickness and disease among the people.

And then in chapter 9 verse 35, and Jesus went everywhere teaching and preaching and healing.

So first of all He started out locally and then he went global.

So he went local and then he went worldwide.

And that's the purpose of every church is to be a training school that trains people locally so then they go worldwide to share what happened.

When he came down, he didn't, he wasn't just a preacher, he was a teacher, he wasn't just a preacher and teacher, he was a healer and all that three-fold ministry was wrapped up in the greatest physician ever known, the greatest teacher ever known, and the greatest preacher ever known.

We have to work together as a team to do what he did as 1 individual, but he also had a team.

As a matter of fact, his mission was to seek and save the lost, and his methods were teaching, preaching, and healing.

And he did so with authority, not as the scribes or Pharisees.

And 1 of the reasons he had authority was because he didn't just talk about things legalistically but spiritually.

For instance, his most famous sermon, the Sermon on the Mount, basically went through, after an introduction, went through the 10 Commandments and deepened them greatly.

You have heard it said, but I say to you.

You've heard it said, do not kill, but I say don't even get angry.

You've heard it said, don't commit adultery, but I said, only lust.

And he had a decided Sabbath focus, recovering the Sabbath from legalism, not doing away with it, but bringing people back to the true truth about the Sabbath.

He had a nutrition and health focus as well in the New Testament.

Those that followed him in Acts 15, his students were with him.

Now, they were maligned as agramaton and idios in Acts 4.13.

In other words, they said they don't know grammar and they're idiots.

They reached everywhere in 1 generation, Colossians 123 tells us.

And now, even today, the largest religious body in the world is Christianity.

There's no other religion as large as Christianity, and it all started with this school.

Of course there were warnings that were given.

Rabid wolves would come in, not sparing the flock.

So he said be on guard Because even though you started a school, even though we started a school together, there'll be a tax of that school.

By the way, in this interesting book that I read some years ago, Dennis Litke said, you can really tell whether or not someone likes a teacher by whether or not they keep the teacher's notes or take notes on what the teacher said.

And of course, they didn't have time for school unlike our situation where we sit for hours in classrooms.

They were going about doing good with Jesus and they couldn't really write till after he was gone.

How many think those are pretty good class notes?

It ends up they were not Agramaton, it ends up they were not Idios, because they kept the main thing the main thing and everything else fell into place.

If you don't keep mission as the main thing, everything else will be worthless.

But if you keep it as a main thing, then everything else will fall into place.

Picture number 2, Paul, the school of Tyrannus.

We still can find the rubble there as we traveled to Turkey last year, or the year before rather, and saw actually where the school of Tyrannus was.

And there he was, and this is a very interesting model, his educational model in Acts 19, 8 through 10.

We might want to open the scriptures just to look at that.

And in Acts chapter 19, I slow down a little bit because this has some very applicable principles in it for us.

And looking there in verse 8, And he went into the synagogue and spoke boldly for 3 months, reasoning and persuading concerning the things of the kingdom of God.

Verse 9, But when some were heartened and did not believe, but spoke evil of the way, before the multitude he departed from them, and withdrew the disciples, reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus.

And this continued for 2 years, so that all who dwelled in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks." Now That's a fascinating passage because he recognized that there was a toxic environment that was developing and he withdrew the disciples from that type of environment.

And This was because people were beginning to speak evil of the way and he found a new place To meet daily the word daily means from 10 a.m.

To 3 p.m That's when school was they didn't get up too early and they didn't stay too late How many can say and an amen to that?

By the way, why did they get up so late and quit so early?

They worked together and they did ministry together.

It was a Holy Spirit focus in verse 1 through 7 if you want to read that on your own.

And it was also, Paul had a great 10 Commandments focus just like Jesus did.

In fact in Hebrews chapter 8 and Hebrews chapter 10, the largest quotation from the Old Testament to the New is the 10 Commandments, or an allusion to the 10 Commandments.

And actually, in chapter 10, it says that the Spirit is what writes the law in our hearts and minds.

And this is all talking about after Jesus has come, in verse 5-7.

A body you have prepared for me and then it's talking about the 10 Commandments and how God's people will actually be living those out or allowing God to live those out within their lives.

Look down the next 2 verses in chapter 19.

Now God worked unusual miracles by the hands of Paul so that even handkerchiefs or aprons were brought from his body to the sick and the diseases left them and evil spirits went out of them." How many think that sounds like a great health ministry?

Here he's like using his handkerchiefs and people are being healed, so there was definitely a health ministry.

He reasoned as well and dialogued with people.

He addressed them head-on and allowed people to talk back and dialogued and persuaded as well.

He recruited faculty who shared his commitment and philosophy of education for the school of Tyrannus and as a result the church that is the Jews and the world that is the Greeks in all of Asia were reached within 2 years.

The mission of the school was the mission of the church.

And the mission was to make disciples of Jesus Christ.

It wasn't to become a professional, although that doesn't hurt.

It was to actually reach people for Jesus Christ.

And the Bible says they turned the world upside down.

Of course, there were others that came in and tried to confuse things and so they had to say, don't believe everything as if from us, it says in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2.

There were those that were trying to draw away disciples under themselves, scattering, and they had to be addressed.

Again, remember, you can tell whether or not someone really likes a teacher if they take notes.

So we have 1st and 2nd Thessalonians, or at least they kept the notes.

1st and 2nd Timothy, which was a church planting manual.

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Strategic Lessons from Scripture & History

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