Dwell in the Word: Acts 20:1-16

Consider these questions as you dwell in Acts 20:1-16:

1. The story of Eutychus emphasizes the authority of Paul as an apostle, showcasing the miraculous power associated with the preaching of the gospel. In what ways does the authority of the gospel impact our lives today? How can believers recognize and submit to the authority of God's Word in their daily walk?

2. The gathering on the first day of the week for breaking bread and fellowship serves as an early indication of the Christian community's practice. How does this observance reflect the significance of the Lord's Day and the resurrection of Jesus? In what ways can modern Christians honor and celebrate the Lord's Day in their worship and fellowship?

3. The phrase "they were not a little comforted" is used to describe the reaction of those who witnessed the revival of Eutychus. How can the assurance and comfort derived from the gospel's authority impact believers during challenging times? In what ways does the power of God's Word provide hope and solace in the face of difficulties?

Transcript:

 And so, we have here another interesting story that's surrounded by a whole bunch of travel, right? We're seeing all these controversies in the early church, not necessarily controversies within the church, while there were plenty of those when you read Paul's epistles, uh, you see those issues, but the controversies are, uh, the persecution that is coming.

to the church. Everywhere Paul goes, there are people who are opposing the gospel. And so eventually there's something going on in these areas and Paul moves on and we see those stories over and over, don't we? Well, in the midst of those stories on these, uh, basically the missionary journeys of Paul, him, him moving around and, and going from one place to another.

We get these little nuggets, nugget stories that are interesting, don't we? And here's this interesting about Eutychus. Now we see here that Paul is preaching on the first day of the week.  Uh, and notice it says when we gather together to break bread. Now, what's the significance of that? Why? Why did I highlight that other than the fact that he preached too long and he put somebody to sleep now The main reason I highlighted that as you can see here is the first day of the week.

Notice that Christians are starting to meet on the first day of the week in remembrance of the Lord's Day, the day He rose from the dead. So, this is an early indication for us that the church is doing what we do, meeting on the first day of the week instead of on the seventh day of the week. The Sabbath and so we see that starting to form here that that this is what the Christian community is doing Out of honor of the day that Jesus rose from the dead.

And what do they do? They gather together to break bread. They're participating in the lord's supper. They're having fellowship meals together They are gathering as a community of believers. Now. It's interesting what Paul does here. Paul preaches a long time. So, uh I don't know that I could ever dream to preach this long.

I'm sure I put people to sleep. I always joke that I do And I always joke that the babies are sleeping really well because they have to listen to me preach But I don't know that I could go Uh on nearly as long as Paul here notice that he prolonged his speech until midnight That would be hard and notice that Luke draws this out here with verse eight There were many lamps in the upper room where we were gathered in other words.

It was dark. It really was late Well, this one named Eutychus is sitting in the window. Now, here's an important thing. Never sit in the window when somebody's preaching, right? You can fall asleep real easy, fall out and hurt yourself, especially if it's a second story. Well, that does happen. Uh, Eutychus fell asleep, uh, falls down from the third story, I guess.

I just said second story, but it was the third story. And he was taken up dead. Now, in other words, he was dead. He must have broken his neck, something, they went down and checked on him. And this young man is dead. But Paul goes down, uh, takes him up in his arms. And he said, do not be alarmed for his life is in him.

And he comes back to life. And notice what it says here. Paul goes back in and he breaks bread with him. He keeps talking. Uh, this would have been a major deal. I mean, I can't imagine what people were thinking, but Paul seems to be, this, this is what, this is what happens. Now, the idea of what is happening here and, uh, and the reason Luke is informing us of this story amongst all the things that may have happened over the course of Paul's missionary journeys is that we see here, Paul doing a miracle, bringing someone back to life.

This shows. The authority of Paul as an apostle we see here That he has the authority to teach and to preach and to share god's word This is this is a continued theme throughout the book of acts I've brought it up brought it up several times and again It shows the power that the gospel has that the ministers of the gospel have gospels have over life and death Now they're not going around raising everybody, but we see these instances Uh, two instances in Acts where the apostles raised the dead, but we see these instances where,  where we see the power that the Holy Spirit has and, and the authority that the apostles have.

And notice what verse 12 says, and they took the youth away alive and were not a little comforted. You got to love that that Luke uses phrases like that many times. I don't think I've pointed it out before they were not a little or it was. Um, we see this that, uh, there were many lamps in the upper room.

Uh, they, they talk about, he, he expands things and gives us the idea of.  Of the fullness of things, right? He draws that out many times. And so we look at this and we wonder where do we go with this passage for application? Uh, many times I've used application. For passages throughout Acts that the word of the Lord continues no matter what happens it continues That's not what we're going to do here today.

Now the easy one might be don't fall asleep during a sermon because I'm not going to be able to raise you back from the dead if you fall and break your neck while I'm preaching. No, that's not it either.  The truth that we see here that we need to remember is the authority that the gospel, that the word of the Lord has in our lives as it did with Paul.

We see that This minister of the gospel is able to bring someone back from the dead. He has power. Why? Because the hand of God is upon him. And we're supposed to understand from that that the word that he teaches is, has authority. And so, we need to remember that this word of truth, this word of God, his law, his gospel, has authority in our lives.

And we need to remember that that's important for us to consider from day to day, from moment to moment. Because it is the standard by which we are to live, and it is the hope that we have. So may we let this word of authority, this word of the gospel, have the power in our lives to help us to walk in newness of life and to live in glory to God.