Equipped 2024 - Youth: "How Faith Will Help Me" by Andrew Itson Lehman Ave Church of Christ

April 20, 2024 - Saturday 9:00AM Tent Speaker
 
Speaker: Andrew Itson
 
Faith That Will Survive - Lessons from Young Eutychus
Don't fight sleep in a window seat.
Acts 20:1-6 - After the uproar ceased, Paul sent for the disciples, and after encouraging them, he said farewell and departed for Macedonia. 2 When he had gone through those regions and had given them much encouragement, he came to Greece. 3 There he spent three months, and when a plot was made against him by the Jews[a] as he was about to set sail for Syria, he decided to return through Macedonia. 4 Sopater the Berean, son of Pyrrhus, accompanied him; and of the Thessalonians, Aristarchus and Secundus; and Gaius of Derbe, and Timothy; and the Asians, Tychicus and Trophimus. 5 These went on ahead and were waiting for us at Troas, 6 but we sailed away from Philippi after the days of Unleavened Bread, and in five days we came to them at Troas, where we stayed for seven days.
Troas is like subway station in that it is always an intersection on the path to somewhere else.

Acts 20:7 - 7 On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread,

Change is proof of the resurrection.
Acts 20:7-8 - Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the next day, and he prolonged his speech until midnight. 8 There were many lamps in the upper room where we were gathered.

In the room, there was proof of expectation.
Acts 20:9 - 9 And a young man named Eutychus, sitting at the window, sank into a deep sleep as Paul talked still longer. And being overcome by sleep, he fell down from the third story and was taken up dead.

"Deep Sleep" scenarios..
Acts 20:10-11 - 10 But Paul went down and bent over him, and taking him in his arms, said, “Do not be alarmed, for his life is in him.” 11 And when Paul had gone up and had broken bread and eaten, he conversed with them a long while, until daybreak, and so departed.
We easily get annoyed with distractions, but maybe the distraction is the main thing.

What can we learn from young Eutychus? The dangers of falling asleep spiritually.
1 Peter 5:8 - Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
1 Corinthians 16:13 -  Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.

Signs you are sleepy:
Little to no desire to pray
Loss of appetite for The Word
A desire to only be served, not to server
Avoiding accountability
Comparing yourself to other people
Isolated from a community of believers

Be careful WHERE you rest.
Eutychus showed up: Sometimes you are tired because of trying.
Our goal should not be tired-free living. Our goal is to be tired for the right reasons.
Intention gets you into the room. Attention keeps you in the room.
Pursue spiritual things while you are young.
Colossians 2:6-7 - Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, 7 rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.
Psalm 92:12-13 - The righteous flourish like the palm tree    and grow like a cedar in Lebanon.13 They are planted in the house of the Lord;    they flourish in the courts of our God.
Built up = level up
Acts 20:10 - But Paul went down and bent over him, and taking him in his arms, said, “Do not be alarmed, for his life is in him.”

Fall on the fallen.
It takes an incredible amount of time and energy to walk alongside someone who is on both sides of the road.
"Ronnie's data loved me into the church" - Sandra Missildine

How am I handling the "Eutychuses" among us?
How to fall on the fallen:
There's a  time to talk and a time to be quiet. There's a time to speak the truth, and a time to let the truth speak for Himself.
Falling on the fallen means we embrace them.
We are to fall on our faces before the Father's throne.

Ministry is about coming down from your upper room.
Acts 20:12 - And they took the youth away alive, and were not a little comforted.