Happy Saturday! I hope that your week was great, full of goodness and full of many evidences of God speaking into your life. I’m so excited for the home group we’re starting tomorrow discussing ‘Whisper’, learning to hear God’s voice and the many ways He speaks into our lives. Here’s a God story for you. Margie & I have been praying for this home group every day for several weeks now. Prayers that God will send the people that He wants to hear His Word. Prayers that God will send the people He wants to experience this fellowship. Well, the red oak trees in our front yard are way overgrown and in need of trimming in a bad way. We had a guy trim our trees at our last home years ago but had lost all of his contact info. We dug deep, made some phone calls and finally tracked him down. We called, he came over to give us an estimate. We invited him in for a cool drink and it turned into a 90 minute talk about life, the pain it can deal, how we deal with the people in it and where we fit in. We were walking him out to his truck to tell him bye, and at the last minute he turns and asks us, “do you guys have a Bible study or something?” Now the human Dan has no idea where that random question came from but the Christ following Dan that has been praying over this home group for a month knows exactly where it came from. It’s God speaking.
Our tree trimming friend and his girlfriend are coming Sunday night to hear the Word of God speak. Praise the mighty God we serve that hears our prayers and speaks to us in response.
By the way, let me speak briefly on the importance of the location of your 5 minute challenge. Now it really doesn’t matter where you read God’s Word but it does. What? Does that make sense? Let me expound. If I schedule a business meeting, I am very careful to schedule a time, day and location. Specifically, a place that will be conducive to the person or group that I’m meeting with. If it’s a sensitive meeting I will ensure the meeting place is quiet, private and comfortable for all that will attend. It’s no different meeting with God every morning for your 5MC. Find a nice place around your home that is quiet, free from distractions and comfortable. Plan to meet God here in this same place every morning. Pray over this place for it will now be a Holy Place, a place where you meet the God of the universe every day. Now don’t take this the wrong way, the place is not going to start glowing white or anything its just a place you have sanctified (set aside) to meet with God every day. You are basically saying to God that He is so important to you that you are willing to set a time, place and area to meet with Him each and every day. My area is our dining room. I get up about 5:30, make coffee and then meet with God in the same area every morning. I like our new dining room table because I can spread out my Bible , commentary and journal to take notes. Marge did a great job with the chairs and they are super comfy so I can easily sit for a while. It’s super quiet this early in the morning and I can sit here and listen to God in silence. God speaks in whispers many times and I need to really be still and listen for His voice. Oh, what a glorious loving God we serve, that He is willing to meet with us!
Let’s move on into the 5MC. This morning I dive into Acts chapter 20 and Paul is finishing up his third missionary journey. Chapter 20 takes us all over the Roman World as Paul is visiting all of the churches God has started through him, to give them a farewell. It was basically Paul’s World Farewell Tour 58AD. It would be cool if he had some t-shirts made as he embarks on this last tour. I can see him and all his guys walking into the cities rockin’ shirts that said “Paul, World Farewell Tour ’58.” I bet it would have a cool picture of Jesus right in the middle. I think I’ve already had too much coffee.
So Paul starts in Macedonia and hits Athens, Corinth, Thessalonica, Berea, Philippi, Troas and then to the port of Miletus where He calls for the church at Ephesus to meet him. Paul’s goal here was to encourage and strengthen each one of these churches one last time as he knew God was calling him away and he would not be back. Note also, that by this time his ‘posse’ was getting pretty big. Acts 20:4 tells us exactly who these guys were. Sopater from the church at Berea, Aristarchus and Secundus were from the church at Philippi, Gaius from the church at Derbe, Tychucus and Trophimus were from the Asian churches and of course Timothy and Luke. As God was calling Paul away he had raised up many great Godly servants to carry forth the gospel.
During ‘Paul’s World Farewell Tour 58’ instead of jamming out with some live tunes, Paul was offering the churches one last awesome message from God. Just like some bands will play really long if it’s their last gig, Paul did the same thing. He was giving them what they came for and was preaching some REALLY long sermons. In fact in Acts 20:7-12 we see the story of Eutychus. On Sunday night Paul was having dinner with the church at Troas and after dinner he starts preaching God’s Word to them. I’m guessing they kept asking for encores because he is still going at midnight…midnight! That’s like a 6 hour sermon! As a result, Eutychus, probably in his late teens, falls into a deep sleep, slips off the 3rd story window sill he was sitting on and falls to his death. Paul rushes down to him, falls on him, embraces him and brings him back to life. (Acts 20:10) This is the one and only time Paul brings back someone from the dead. So what happens after? Paul goes back upstairs, eats something and preaches until daybreak. Man, and we complain when our preacher goes 15 minutes long!
Now we get into a beautiful, emotional farewell monologue from Paul. He is in a hurry to get to Jerusalem for Pentecost so instead of hiking the several miles each way from Miletus to Ephesus, he calls for the Ephesian church leaders to meet him at the port city. Here he gives one of the most beautiful speeches in God’s Word. Paul so loves these churches and he exudes love, care, warnings and encouragement in his words. Its impossible to capture the spirit of it in any description so I’m going to do what I’ve done in the past and just quote the whole thing. Read it slowly, read it twice, let it really sink in. This is perfectly relevant and pertinent to us and our churches today. Here’s Paul’s farewell to the church at Ephesus in Acts 20:17-35 NIV.
“You know how I lived the whole time I was with you, from the first day I came into the province of Asia.19 I served the Lord with great humility and with tears and in the midst of severe testing by the plots of my Jewish opponents. 20 You know that I have not hesitated to preach anything that would be helpful to you but have taught you publicly and from house to house. 21 I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus. 22 “And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. 23 I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me.24 However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.
25 “Now I know that none of you among whom I have gone about preaching the kingdom will ever see me again. 26 Therefore, I declare to you today that I am innocent of the blood of any of you. 27 For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God. 28 Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God,[a] which he bought with his own blood.[b] 29 I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. 30 Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. 31 So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.
32 “Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified. 33 I have not coveted anyone’s silver or gold or clothing. 34 You yourselves know that these hands of mine have supplied my own needs and the needs of my companions. 35 In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ”
Wow. Paul says it all. He starts with hey, look at my life. Look at how I lived while amongst you. I lived well, I lived for God, follow my example. I heard a sermon a while ago and it said, “as you are looking to Jesus for guidance, rest assured that someone IS looking to you for guidance.” Someone today is looking intently at your life to see how you live it. Whether you like it or not you ARE an example to someone. Paul is saying, I have lived a respectable life among you, look at my example and follow it. The point? Live a life that when others follow it, it will bring them closer to Christ.
We should also take special note of Paul’s warning to the church. “savage wolves will come in amongst you and men from your own will arise and distort the truth to draw away others.” Paul is warning that the attacks on the church that they need to worry about will come from within the church not outside. A sad but true fact. The serious damage to churches even today, comes from within, from members who will ‘distort the truth’ for personal glory. Pray for your Pastors as they deal with these people and pray that your church has excellent church discipline in place to deal with these ‘savage wolves and truth distorters.’ It happened in 58AD and its still happening today.
I could write for days on Paul’s farewell message, but not today. As Paul closes, he kneels and prays for them “And there was much weeping on the part of all; they embraced Paul and kissed him, being sorrowful most of all because of the word he had spoken, that they would not see his face again.” (Acts 20:37-38) Oh, how these brothers in Christ loved each other. God allows His children the ability to love well beyond our human capability.
The love we witness here is a small reproduction of the love that Christ showed us as He hung on the cross and died for our sins. A perfect, innocent man, the son of God, hanging on a cross and dying for a sinful, arrogant people. A people that rejected him and killed him for his love. The love of Christ calls to you today. He wants to save you from the sin that steals your joy and peace in this world. If you’ve never explored this love or completely understood it, contact me. I will meet you wherever you are and we can talk more.
The love of Christ solves the problems of this world. It solves the problems of man. Cling to this love today and share it with others that so desperately need it.
Grace be with you.
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