Luciano Subirá · Transcript · · Updated
Luciano Subirá - QUANDO A PALAVRA PREVALECE | SUB12 – Transcript
Video by Luciano Subirá · Watch the original on YouTube
Summary
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- In Ephesus, the gospel was preached with power, and believers publicly confessed their deeds and burned magic books valued at 50,000 denarii.
- The results of the gospel message differ across cities because of varying levels of receptivity and interaction in the hearts of the hearers.
- Luciano Subirá explains that the word of God prevails when individuals properly receive it and adjust their lives to the gospel.
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In Acts chapter 19 verse 20, we colloquia do chunni. The word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed powerfully. In reference to what happens when the gospel is proclaimed in the city of Ephesus, none of us will dispute the power that the word of God has.
But the question to be asked is, in all the cities where the gospel arrived, were the results the same? And the answer is no. Not because of the absence of the power of the word, but because of an element that we need to understand. And that is the subject of our conversation today.
When the word prevails, stay with me. In the next few minutes, we will better understand this truth.
I am in Sintra, Portugal at the Queiroz Baja Stakiluz Palace today to bring another word to your heart. I mentioned in the introduction Acts 19-20, which says that the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed powerfully. But the verse begins with the expression likewise.
And the word itself already gives the idea of the continuation of a reasoning, the conclusion of an idea that has been developed, and so that you and I can truly understand the application being made. It's important that we look together at the pre-seeding versus the gospel was preached with power in the city of Ephesus.
Many were impacted not only in that city, but from there onward. Scripture records that all of Asia would hear the word of the Lord. But what happened, or at least what we have recorded about what happened in Ephesus, is not. Recorded in any other city in the book of Acts where the gospel was preached, the level of response found in the hearts of those people was something unique.
And verses 18 and 19 tell us the following. Many of those who believed came confessing and publicly denouncing their own deeds. Also, many of those who had practiced magic brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And the value of the books was calculated and came to 50,000 denarii.
So we have the conclusion, thus the envy translated it this way. So the word of the grew and prevailed mightily. We have no record in any city of people coming forward to publicly confess their former sins before conversion.
We have no record in any city of people simply formalizing publicly what we might call a spiritual divorce from their old life. Not just abandoning the works of magic, but publicly burning those books saying, quote, we have nothing more to do with this.
Think of a bonfire, man. The Bible says that the bill for these books came to 50,000 denarii. An average worker earned one denarius per day. That is, in a week there were six days of work, one of rest six denarii per week. The average salary was 25 to 26 denarii per month.
That is, in a whole year, the worker would earn 300 denarii. Hi, we are talking about 50,000 denarii. And they didn't even hesitate to put an end to something that had cost them so much because now there was a perception of the value of what the word of God was of the gospel of the place it occupied in their lives that they did not hesitate to actually establish a clear break with the practices of the past in relation to the new life that was expected of each of them.
That's an image by that was expected of each of them. But as I asked at the beginning, you know, the places where the word of God was proclaimed and where the gospel arrived, the results are the same. And the answer when we observe the records is no, no, they were not the same result.
The question is the results were not the reasons for the same because the word of God in other places did not have the same power or effectiveness. And the obvious answer is, of course, that the word of God will have the same power and effectiveness, every fruitiveness everywhere. But the point we need to explore is that it doesn't always have the same receptiveness in the hearts of those who are hearing and receiving the word.
And that is the great difference. I have sought over the years and even in many words that we share with you here on this channel to talk about the importance of interacting with the word of God. When we take the parable of the sower, for example, they have four types of soil.
They all hear the word, but the response they give to what they hear is completely different. The sun by the wayside that doesn't even bear fruit. The Bible says the seed didn't even germinate. The Bible says they hear and do not understand. There is no comprehension. The Bible speaks of those who receive the word with joy, but do not develop depth.
They are superficial, the rocky or stony soil. We also have the seed that fell among thorns. It will also germinate. It begins the fruiting process. But this will be aborted because the thorns as they grow, choketch. And it is evident that the word of God will find competition in people's hearts.
And the place it will have depends on the importance it will also have for those who hear it. Now there are those who not only hear and understand, but those who are called the fruitful soil. Luke chapter 8 verse 15 refers to those who retain the word, those who hold on to it, those who do not give it up, who do not let it go, who do not let it go.
And here we need to understand the element of interaction. We have warnings made in the book of Hebrews at least twice quoting a portion of the Old Testament that said today, you hear his voice, you not harden your hearts. This means that the response of the heart is the great differentiator.
So people can hear the same divine voice speaking, but they can have completely different responses. This places us in a position of great responsibility to understand that for the word of God to prevail, there needs to be a correct positioning on our part.
And to be in our receptiveness in the importance we give to the word and in our decision to respond. For example, the Bible instructs us not only to be hearers, but also doers of the word so that we do not deceive ourselves. What does it mean to deceive ourselves?
There are people who believe that the word is working in their lives when in fact it is not. Because for the word of God to prevail, there needs to be proper interaction, there needs to be proper response. And the question to be asked by each of us is, has the word of God prevailed in our lives?
Has it found a place in our lives? Over the years I have also spoken about another principle that I call the voice of many waters. When the word of God speaks louder, when the word of God, that is the Bible compares the voice of God to the sound of many waters.
It means that God wants to make more noise in our lives than other voices. In 1 Corinthians 14-10, the apostle Paul says, There are many kinds of voices in the world and none of them is without meaning. The question is, is the word of God managing to drown out other voices? Are they speaking louder in my life and yours?
I insist on stressing this point. The way we hear the word of God determines the extent to which it can bear fruit in and yours and yours. Receptivity is key. When we look at the scriptures, we find statements that speak of the effectiveness of God's word in us.
In 1 Thessalonians 2-13, for example, we have another reason to incessantly give thanks to God to receive the word. Observe the expression, receive the word that you heard from us, which is from God. You received it not as a human word, but as it truly is, the word of God, which is at working you, who be you, who believe.
There are believers of whom it can be said the word is working effectively, but there are others like that rocky soil. Well, what began does not last. There are others like that soil full of thorns where what God has begun will be aborted. Ashar, why? It depends on how one receives the word of God.
And when we speak of receiving, we are not only talking about the first time someone hears the gospel. In James 1-21, the Bible says, therefore putting aside all filthiness received with miknes, the implanted word, which is able to save your susul sanitz fasai.
When was the word implanted in these people? At the moment when they first heard and subsequently responded to the gospel. Now that this seed of the gospel has entered and is within the Bible, continues to say receive with miknes, because the same word that acted at the moment we evangelize needs to continue working in our lives.
Now, if there is no acceptance, no act of receiving, if there is no miknes, no resistance because some harden their hearts, closing themselves off to what God is saying or trying to do, these people will not have the same response. Even though, as Hebrews offers 12 says, the word of God is living and effective, its effectiveness can't be limited by a lack of response by the absence of a right heart that allows itself to be worked on.
The writer of Hebrews says in chapter 5, verse 11, look, we still have many things to say, but they are difficult to explain. He says this not because of the complexity of the doctrine. He says, but why have you become slow to hear? A wrong way of listening prevents understanding of the word.