When the Multitude of Counselors is Wrong!

Paul says what are you doing weeping and breaking my heart. Those are powerful words, what are you doing with your advising and your waving and your begging you are breaking my he was in deep pain over the response of his friends and companions you know what else. This means this means when Paul headed to Jerusalem. He was bereft of personal encouragement from his friends. Even though he had companions with them. He was virtual guided you in a way that later proved to be unwise. Proverbs 1114 tells us that in the multitude of counselors there is safety.

That principle is true, but what happens when the counselors around you are wrong.

Even your godly friends. What if you're surrounded by people who are giving you bad advice Stephen David continues his series through the last chapters of acts is calling today's message when the multitude of counselors is wrong here. Stephen Waller here in chapter 21 of acts we left off.

I want to learn some valuable lessons as a relates not only leaving biblical advice, but more importantly how to give it. Let's begin with verse one and when it came about that we had parted from them and had set sail. We ran a straight course, because the next day to roads and from there to Qatar and having found the ship crossing over the Phoenician. We went aboard and set sail. When we come inside of Cypress leaving on the left. We kept telling the Syrian landed tire for their the ship was the one loaded cargo and after looking up the disciples. We stayed there seven days nonstop for a moment the word for the words translated in verse four we looked up manner, a skill we looked up the disciples means they found the disciples by searching for them found it to be an interesting word fact. I wondered here are disciples.

I don't know Paul is coming and they're certainly not waiting at Dr. Paul as he arrived, as Paul findable it says here you look them up as that name and then he searched them out how how how many search them out. I think he would search them out by simply talking to everybody about about the resurrected Lord and eventually he bumped into somebody it is somebody or hook or know somebody and they know where the believers are meeting and worshiping and so in that fashion. He looked them up. I have found. By the way is perhaps you have found that you can find Christians just about anywhere you look, if you're willing talk about Jesus Christ. I discovered that the maid who clean our room in India was a Christian. My wife and I discovered sitting across from us on a train to shore salon in France was a couple who work Christians. The waitress three days ago at the restaurant was a pastor's daughter who was a believer from Nairobi defined then as you talk about Jesus Christ. Whenever you have the opportunity to bring about.

That's what they did.

They kinda went through this village the city they were talking about the Lord. The people that they met, and in that fashion. They found the disciples if you're looking for fellowship. Start talking about Jesus Christ. So they found them there and they made some lasting friendships. I'm sure in fact, if you skip down to verse five you read and when it came about that.

Our days there were ended. Just a week we departed and started our journey.

While they all with wives and children escorted us until we are out of the city. They hated to see Paul go and want to loose rare references. The children were told that entire families go down and they kneel on the beach and they bid farewell to Paul what a touching scene. What a moving scene. It must've been what a wonderful scene. However, to go back and read the rest of verse 40 discovered really is all that wonderful letter part of verse four and they kept telling Paul through the spirit not to set foot in Jerusalem.

He been there a week and they were not telling him through the spirit not to go to Jerusalem that you go back to chapter 19 verse 21, you discover that Paul is bound in the spirit for Jerusalem is headed there. He wants to be there in chapter 20 verse 24 we read that Paul considers his ministry in Jerusalem.

His upcoming ministry to be that which was specifically given to him by Jesus Christ. So what's happening here through the spirit. I think here. This text could be an idiomatic way of expressing kind of the way we express things as we give advice into the spirit of God is just impressing on my heart that you should do such a so if you are one of those members that fellowship you would've set up all you know Paul, we know you're going to Jerusalem.

We just feel that we have this impression by the Holy Spirit that you shouldn't go to Jerusalem. Now the truth is they were they were half right there, right in the fact that if he went there be difficulty, but they were wrong in her application that he wasn't supposed to go. The spirit of God had indeed predicted persecution, but that was prepare Paul not to prohibit Paul noticed the latter part of verse five. After kneeling down the beach and praying we said farewell to one another that we will board the ship and they return home again you have the whole fellowship here of people sincerely, intent on keeping Paul from going to Jerusalem. They believe it is God's will that he not go so I can just imagine how some of these prayers really sound with knowing that background, some of them were probably like the Lord and all help help all the see the light girl opened his eyes.

Dear Lord is a stubborn servant but were trying to help him were trying to keep him from missing your well but he won't listen. So Paul sales away. No doubt, I'm sure grateful for Christian fellowship with him, I believe, probably little troubled by the disagreement over his vision and their use of terminology, doubt, say little more about that later. Let's go to verse seven and when we had finished the voyage from Tyre. We arrived told LeMay and after greeting the brethren we stayed with them for a day and on the next day we departed, and came to Caesarea and entering the house of Philip the evangelist was one of the seven we stayed with them that is managed for unmarried daughters or for virgin daughters who were prophetess. These four daughters. By the way work a part of that fading apostolic gift receive revelation from God. Prior to this revelation we call the canon of Scripture.

They will be replaced and eventually as fact by the time you get to Paul's later epistles.

There is no more mention of this office of profit or profit test, but an encouragement of the body to listen to study the word and to hear the teaching of the present Bureau. The older pastor. The teacher and other committed believers were maturing who are able to teach the Scriptures as well, as they communicate the apostolic a record that we know is the Scripture.

Now, in case you missed it hear the proud father of these for unmarried girls is Philip the evangelist that he was one of the deacons in the church in Jerusalem.

We read about his election in acts chapter 6 Outlook is reminding us all of his readers of of this by mentioning in verse eight, he was one of the seven, you notice that he was one of the original seven deacons. You may also remember that Philip served with another one of those seven a man named Stephen. Stephen was the first martyr of the church.

In fact, it was after Stephen was brutally murdered by the incited Jewish mob that the church in Jerusalem scattered and Philip among them a left everything that he had known and lived among for Samaria for an itinerant ministry of evangelism.

How do you remember by the way, who presided over the murder of Stephen Paul, known then as Saul I say all of that.

So you and I do not. This historic meeting in chapter 21, some 30 years after that tragic event you have Paul staying in the home of one of Stephen's friends, perhaps, is the first time that they have seen each other for 30 years that we watch the news footage as I did this past week of the embassy official the American Embassy official who was in Iran when the Iranians abducted those embassy officials and held them captive for nearly 2 years I believe.

Well that American Embassy official came face-to-face with the man who masterminded that abduction. The Iranian and they met at a press conference is there. Try to work at difficulties between the two countries, and they were sort of skin of the poster boy for how to work it out in so here they are in front of a the press and the and the microphones and the people: and I thought it was highly significant.

It was it was on or unscripted, but when the American ended the meeting with his Iranian captor.

He reached out his hand and he shook that Iranian fans that footage can't really come close to what's happening here. It's a significant part of the same idea but you have here of volume written in between the lines of volume of grace and forgiveness.

Former enemies, a tragic day. Bloodshed murder. The scattering of the church. Philip's life turned upside down and this man, who represented all that he had fought against. They are now meeting for the first time you have here as you climb into this scene and you watch Philip in Oriental fashion. Embrace Paul and welcome him into his home. You have a volume of grace and forgiveness.

This is the man who killed my friend but now were part of the same body, and I want you to know Paul, you're welcome in my home. That's another way of saying Paul I forgive you and ask you a question.

When's the last time you forgiven someone now verse 10 and as we were staying there for some days.

A certain profit they nag a bus came down from Judea and coming to see, took Paul's belt, and bound his own feet and hands and said this is what the Holy Spirit says in this way, the Jews of Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles again yet another warning from the Lord is a warning men and women, not a prohibition.

Nowhere does that.

The prophets say under inspiration Paul. You're not to go. It is, if the Lord is speaking through the prophet, the Paul the St. Paul to go to Jerusalem unless you're willing to suffer. Verse 12 and when we heard this we as well as the local residents began begging Paul not to go up to Jerusalem again. Now well-meaning advice. The church dismissed applies the prediction there. The running it through the grid of how they feel their nature, their human nature and it sounds good to them and it might even sound that the Paul but basically they're saying Paul. They just said he just said the prophet of God and and we all agree that if you go to Jerusalem going to be bound while the world would you ever do that day away from Jerusalem for your own good.

Say, for your protection for the charge. Think of us, where would we be without you. Paul don't do it. Did you notice the subtle confession of Luke in verse 12. He's writing this book. When we had heard this we as well as the local residents began begging not to go was the lead fluke and Paul's traveling companions. Now everybody's begging and that the main people he is traveling with including the very men who should have known the Paul's desire to follow the will of God, superseded his desire for self-preservation and they of all men should have understood Paul's direction and passion and vision.

But now, Luke has to admit well. We climbed into we began saying the same thing to. Then Paul answered verse 13.

What are you doing weeping and breaking my heart for I am ready not only be bound, but even to die Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus and since he would not be persuaded. We fell silent, remarking the will of the Lord be done hard to really know how to interpret that sort of fatalistic perhaps well okay I guess God's will be done in a God sovereign jump off the cliff. Paul, I guess God's will be done, or perhaps a resignation to good theology. Well Paul, you seem intent on your ministry so the will of God be done in your life will know but let me give you two principles that emerge from his decision to press on number one. Sometimes God may want to do something that nobody else understands or agrees with hell.

Be careful here don't use Paul as an example, whatever you want to be stubborn and do your own thing and waiver.

Paul didn't care what anybody thought he did it anyhow that's me, Paul will try it but it meant to get you very far. The point remains.

Sometimes the will of God is discovered in the minority opinion is sometimes the only one in the minority voting opinions you those of you who are older Christians may remember decisions you made, the nobody agreed with that you knew God wanted to do it. In hindsight, it had to come along as though you know you are right. I've catalogued in my mind and as I was studying. I just thought about the different things that I had been advised not to do was advise not to go to the seminary went to was advised not to plant a church that I did was advised to teach, not teach things that I teach, but the point of human nature as we really want to do things people agree with Ellie. I've never had a person coming to my office for advice and say to me and Stephen you know boy and advice you just gave me 35 other people that I talked to all said the same thing that was different than what you said.

So that must mean the you're right, it's a fantasy of pastors. We just gonna happen one day as a Danish proverb says, rightly so, he who builds to every man's advice will have a cricket house sometimes got me wanting to do something that no one else would ever approve of her greater understand. Secondly, following the will of God may be in the opposite direction of personal pleasure. Don't think for a moment that Paul wanted prison. Well, Lord. Thank you for predicting prison. But since that's what I want. I can't wait to go to Jerusalem, far from it was committed to following an obedience to the will of God, and it led him directly into the jaws of suffering.

Many of us would consider God's will to mean the most difficult chapter of our lives, we tend to think that must not be God's will is what we have to ask God to change your wants to conform to his will as he changes our desires.

We can then say with Proverbs 36 he gives us the desires of our heart is to change we want.

Like the little girls thinking at your grandmother. Evidently her mother.

Like our kids mother is thinking it and that the honesty that sorta shown through a thought was rather humorous. She said dear grandma, thank you for my birthday present I have always wanted a pincushion but not very much though. How many of us would be that honest Lord and all. Thank you, but I didn't want this very much. I had my eye on something else. I had my eye on a different path.

A different direction, a different result.

Thank you both to say that but I very much how do you deal with if you don't want those gifts from God that we call the circumstances of life.

Now with the time we have left. I want us to learn some things further from these events. And as I thought about applying the passage, which is really one of those easy passages to come up with all kinds of application for I had the temptation to apply this passage to ourselves as we identified with who Paul Wright were or Paul here with were steadfast in our commitment to the Lord were stalwart, even though those around his bag and try not to follow the will of God's will go to the finish line.

That's who we are, well, I after further consideration, thought that we probably identified better with those who were giving Paul wrong advice. So what can we learn from them. Let me let me suggest a few things were kinda like these. Verse 12 says all the local residents. You know that's the church. The friends of Paul. What lesson number one is what we can learn don't enlist God's name to endorse your advice. The spirit of God told me to tell you that it God's really been impressing on my heart that you should go why I've been in the word lately. I was, I thought you I got to that passage in here is what I think God wants you to do. Be careful not to use the Lord's name in vain what it is we sort of give authority to our opinion by saying God told me you are this led me or II feel impressed by the spirit that you will that's exactly what they were doing. In fact, all of the people in these passages claimed that their advice was from the Holy Spirit and they all had one thing in common. They were all wrong.

I think we throw God's name around far too much as we simply give our opinion.

Okay that's you to learn was go to lesson number two God will not deliver his will for someone's life through you know that surprises you.

I'm glad you heard it. God may use you to to confirm his will in another person's life. God may use you to encourage his will in another person's life. God may use you to complement his will as it's being developed in another person's life, but we happen to believe in this wonderful doctrine called the individual priesthood of every who every believer.

Do you know what that means. Well, if we put feet to that great Reformation doctrine.

What that means is ultimately God's. Resides and bears witness with your spirit to follow as well. There is no longer a mediator between you and God apart from God on this plateau of people who were desiring to follow the will of God. The ground is level.

You have people appear who really know the mind of God's a go to them for people who can advise and help and instruct, but God is able fully able to perfect that which he began to work in you till the day of Jesus Christ. His spirit dwells in your spirit. Ephesians 317 Christ dwells in your heart and the resulting among other things, is that according to Ephesians 117 you may have a spirit of wisdom.

Third, your counsel to someone else cannot replace their decision making struggle as we traveled about these past few weeks we as a family going back and forth to grandma and grandpa's house for the kids. They will march in our way. We popped in these tapes. Odyssey tapes me with that stuff. Great, great stuff.

Kinda makes the trip go real quick and forgive me for using a fictional illustration here, but you'll get over at any rate, were listening to Eugene and Katrina carry on this conversation. If you've been following the Odyssey revelations. You know that Eugene propose to Katrina and Katrina refused and is sent Eugene in a tailspin will then after some time apart. They get back together again in her dating and and then all of that and Katrina proposes to Eugene and Eugene and noted so he gets at this clipboard is only Eugene, this intelligent young man can do and he begins going around Odyssey surveying people getting their vote on should he marry her not is not the yes column in the know," all is fine until Katrina finds that it is not too thrilled with with what he's doing to discover whether his vice versa from their assorted degenerates may be an argument. It will any but I think were a lot like him. We would rather get out our clipboard and go around all our friends and SMD thing to do this or not. I'm struggling with this decision. What you think about it rather than struggle with the one in is the answer we got everybody else and then maybe at the end it's okay learn is even here 13 to 13. Can you let you know cast the deciding vote. I need to know by tomorrow. There is a struggle and discovering what God wants you to do to grant Howard Junior a 25 years ago in his book.

Knowing God's will and doing it when we give counsel that is oriented to the word. It will be instructive.

But when we give counsel that is rooted in our experience, and maybe nothing more than opinion are personal attitudes, opinions and biases always need to be related to and through the word before we prescribe them as the right medicine to someone's life like that one more before offering counsel to someone who asks advice. Listen carefully and look at verse 13 again Paul says what are you doing weeping and breaking my heart. Those are powerful words, what are you doing with your advising and your weight bearing and your begging you are breaking my heart so I could then affect them to you. He was in deep pain over the response of his friends and companions to know what else. This means this means when Paul headed to Jerusalem even though we had companions with him. He was virtually alone. He was bereft of personal encouragement from his friends.

He did not feel with confidence that they were behind him and with him, praying for him but instead he went in effect alone spirit, Christ is hard and heavy, broken because no one understood him or agree with them. No one came up.

We have a record of and said look Paul, I want you to know that I'm with you. I understand your commitment to Jesus Christ. I understand your desire to follow him in the crucible of suffering in Jerusalem, I believe you're doing the right thing. I just want you to know that when you go to Jerusalem on back here and I am holding you up for the father with love and prayer on your team. Paul on me that I could pull persevere well if you go back to chapter 20 verse 22. You find what he says I'm bound in the spirit him on the way to Jerusalem. Not knowing what will happen to be there, except that the Holy Spirit solemnly testifies, and in every city, saying the bonds and afflictions await me, but I do not consider my life here is I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself in order that I may finish my course in the ministry, which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God pulses.

This is why am going alone. This is why in the face of all of my friends and churchmen and and fellow believers disagreeing. This is why I press on for the sake of the church for the sake of the glory of God for the sake of the ministry that I've been given a for the sake of the testimony to the grace of God I willing to be the one person stands apart from the rest of the world. Even though the rest of the world.

Clouds the charts with the God that we had more people who were as resolute as Paul in their faith as is confident in their sovereign Lord to watch over them is committed to their testimony of faith to see it through to the very end, regardless of what may happen for us the next time you're tempted to give advice member Paul next time you receive advice, remember him as well. The next time you either give advice or receive advice. The example of Paul will help guide what you say or do. Thanks for joining us today here on wisdom for the hearts. This is the Bible teaching ministry of Stephen Davey, probably the best way for you to learn more about us is to visit our website which is wisdom online.org. Once you get to our homepage you'll be able to access the complete archive of Stephen's Bible teaching ministry. In addition, we post each day's broadcast. And that's helpful because almost every message is part of a series, as Stephen teaches verse by verse through portions of the Bible. So if you ever miss one of these lessons, you can go to our website to keep caught up. The archive of Stephen's teaching is available on that site free of charge and you can access it anytime you can listen to each lesson or download and read Stephen's full manuscript. Once again, that's wisdom online.org if you have a comment, question, or would like more information you can send us an email if you address it to info@wisdom online if you prefer to call our phone number is 86 648 Bible or 866-482-4253.

Thanks again for joining us today were so glad you were with us and I hope you be with us for our next Bible lesson tomorrow right here on wisdom