Acts 13:17-25 (ESV)

“The God of this people Israel chose our fathers and made the people great during their stay in the land of Egypt, and with uplifted arm he led them out of it. And for about forty years he put up with them in the wilderness. And after destroying seven nations in the land of Canaan, he gave them their land as an inheritance. All this took about 450 years. And after that he gave them judges until Samuel the prophet. Then they asked for a king, and God gave them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years. And when he had removed him, he raised up David to be their king, of whom he testified and said, ‘I have found in David the son of Jesse a man after my heart, who will do all my will.’ Of this man's offspring God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus, as he promised. Before his coming, John had proclaimed a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. And as John was finishing his course, he said, ‘What do you suppose that I am? I am not he. No, but behold, after me one is coming, the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to untie.’”

Here comes another one of those apostolic sermons that some evangelicals could think doesn’t include the gospel. Paul never uses the word, “heaven” anywhere in this message.

He does use the word savior though. “God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus, as he promised.” Still, this sermon is basically a history lesson. Paul’s apologetic method – which is similar to Peter’s in the Pentecost sermon – is just to teach. He doesn’t challenge anyone to believe. There’s no altar call. This is just the class; the test will be later.

As we shall see, the response is very positive, just as it was to the Pentecost sermon. It seems that Peter and Paul can get a lot of people to come forward without asking them to come forward.

In response to the Pentecost sermon, people asked, “Brothers, what shall we do?” This time, the people will respond to Paul by asking that these things might be told them the next Sabbath. – Acts 13:42b.

See the trick? Their messages pull people towards Christ by making them think, but they stop short of trying to “close the deal.” They’re all pull and no push.

Analysts are taught to do something like this when briefing military officers. Give them all the facts and set them up to draw the conclusion you want – but don’t state the conclusion. Then when they say it, you respond with something like, “Excellent idea, sir.” That way they have ownership.

Pushing doesn’t help.

This is why charity is the gospel. People must be drawn to Christ, not pushed to him. Our job is to attract folks – to make them curious and to teach them. It’s the Holy Spirit’s job to convert them.

Pray for your church’s charity work. Real charity has real challenges. Ask the Lord to get them over these hurdles. Also, pray for more volunteers. These programs need workers more than they need money.

Besides, hands on involvement is a great way for Christians to grow. 

The weekly study guides, which include discussion questions, are available for download here:

https://www.ailbe.org/resources/itemlist/category/91-deep-studies