15 August 2024|Maruševec, Croatia [tedNEWS]
Requested to preach the 10 August sabbath sermon at the Trans-European Division (TED) Regional Rise Up Youth Congress in Maruševec, Croatia, Daniel Duda immediately explained to Congress youth (and Croatian members who’d joined for sabbath worship) the direction of travel this sermon would take. “As you have heard”, said Duda, “Daniel Duda doesn’t have that much to say. We need to get the message from the Bible.”
Duda dug deep as he took his listeners to Acts 16:16-40, which records Paul’s arrival and imprisonment in the first city that the gospel came to on the European continent, the Greek city of Philippi. Duda sets the scene by explaining that as Paul preaches the good news that Jesus is the Lord, some people are unhappy because this is a Roman colony “where somebody rules who is not the Lord.”
The critical question the narrative raises, which puzzles Duda, concerns the moment Paul declares himself a Roman citizen (verse 37), which gives him protection under the law. “Why does Paul say only now that he is a Roman citizen? Why didn’t he pull out his passport earlier? Good question, now thank you for asking.”
In classic Duda style modelling biblical preaching, he explained, “If you want to know the answer to that question, you must go through some historical background… So, you will not understand the story unless you understand the culture and history of the place. We will wade through some historical material, but I hope that by the end, you will see that it was worth it.”
The sermon title, “What is your mindset?” is a question Duda directs at Paul to discover what it means to ‘Withstand’ as a Christian, a theme which ran through the entire Congress. An audio version of the sermon is available on the new tedNEWS Spotify platform.
Photos: David Neal
