Strange Bedfellows
Application
- We must believe the God the Holy Spirit led Paul and Silas through two cities because He wanted them in Thessalonica.
- Scripture will not reveal literally every fact or detail, but Scripture always will reveal every fact we need to understand the message.
- We will find any number of “strange bedfellows” opposing the Gospel.
- “This Jesus” – the Lord Jesus Christ from the Scriptures – must be proclaimed because various groups attempt to add to or subtract from the Lord Jesus Christ, producing “a very different Jesus” who is not the Christ!
- “Those men who have upset the world” were for their generation. Now is our time to upset the world with the true Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ!
- Conclusion: Every one of us has seen “strange bedfellows” whether we identified them as such. We never should be surprised when these “strange bedfellows” unite their efforts against God’s Word, God’s work, or God’s people.
Bible Text
Now when they had traveled through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. 2 And according to Paul’s custom, he visited them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures, 3 explaining and giving evidence that the Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus whom I am proclaiming to you is the Christ.” 4 And some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, along with a large number of the God-fearing Greeks and a significant number of the leading women. 5 But the Jews, becoming jealous and taking along some wicked men from the marketplace, formed a mob and set the city in an uproar; and they attacked the house of Jason and were seeking to bring them out to the people. 6 When they did not find them, they began dragging Jason and some brothers before the city authorities, shouting, “These men who have upset the world have come here also; 7 and Jason has welcomed them, and they all act contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus.” 8 They stirred up the crowd and the city authorities who heard these things. 9 And when they had received a pledge from Jason and the others, they released them.
-Acts 17:1-9