I Entrust You to God and the Word of His Grace
First B Jackson
2025-07-20

Automatically transcribed. Where this and the recording disagree, the recording is the record.

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At Even though AT T.

I mean, where's your phone AT and T? Everybody's been complaining about it for about two weeks. I had no idea. Okay.

We just bought a SIM it's straight talk. So I don't know Oh, okay. I don't know what Don't

know which towers or hours they use.

Yep. I feel like they all share the same. They just say different things. For I Love You, Lord, I noticed that there's another version of I Love You, Lord. Which one were you Was it okay.

Good. Because I saw a different one in there. I like, oh, it's not that one. Yeah. So that one, I think, it's only two it's only one verse, really.

Yep. So I think maybe we do it twice. And the second time,

That sounds good. Okay. You can read off of that? Completely. I have that.

Say we could print them up for you if

I can I mean them If you have If

you can send them to me?

It's I Stand Amazed and I Surrender All in I Surrender is in C. There's only one version of I Stand Amazed. I don't know how to send it to

you because Yeah. That's okay.

Don't don't worry about it. If the if it's not working, it's not working.

But this These are just screenshots. Okay.

Well, good morning everybody. Even before the microphone comes on, I'm glad that y'all are here. I'm glad to be here. As you can see, Judy is not here. Jesse is.

Jesse has been a missionary in Kosovo and he has hey, here we go. He's been a missionary in Kosovo and he is around living down in Star Valley for now. And here he is with us to first Sunday here, he's leading with me in song. Would you stand up with us? And is this the song we're singing?

Holy, holy, holy.

Yeah. Nope. That's not it. Great. You know what we're gonna do today?

Can everybody just grab a hymnal? They're up here in the front. Blake, I'm sorry about this, man. I thought that got handled. Okay.

It's holy, holy, holy. Connor's favorite. Holy, holy, holy. Here we go. Hymn number three.

Here it is. Y'all can sing your parts if you grab the hymnal, but we have it ready to go.

Up on the wall.

We can sing off the wall.

Holy, holy, holy, all thy works shall praise thy name in earth and sky and sea. Holy, holy, holy, Amen. We're gonna sing another one. What is that other one? Come fount

of every blessing. What's the page number?

Superb question.

Come now fount of every blessing. We've got it right there. Hymn number 11. Alright.

Come now fount of every blessing. Tune my heart to sing thy grace. Streams of mercy ever ceasing. Call for songs I love. Use my heart, take and seal it.

Seal it for thy courts above. Here's my heart, oh, take and seal it seal it for thy courts above. Amen. Y'all can have a seat.

Thank you, Jesse. Appreciate it. We're going to go two more songs next but the church camp out is happening. This weekend, actually, they're probably still on the beach down there at the Palisades and if you want to know what a church camp out is like, it's like this. Doesn't that look like fun?

Aren't you glad you're here this morning? Yeah. That looks like I was on that camp out, but I was not. I didn't go to that one, but that's down at Palisades and they are having the time of their lives. So I'm really glad.

Seeking truth in your twenties is happening. If you're a 20, actually if you're an 18, that's good, close enough. The seeking truth in your twenties is for graduated from high school, college age people, you don't have to be a college attender to go. Seeking truth in your twenties, group out behind the airport off of Zenith Drive at the McCooey's place. Sunday nights at 06:30, they are having a great turnout for that every Sunday evening at 06:30.

So, live music, good food, games, bonfires, authentic discussions, and learning truth about Jesus and it's free and easy to get there. So, out behind the airport, watch the elk. There are a bunch of them, maybe a moose or two, but on your way out, that's a that's a great thing. Come check it out. Can't beat the view.

Engine room is a Sunday morning prayer group. We have a Wednesday morning prayer group that's been going for a long long time here, longer than I've been here. I think at least since the early two thousands that I know about, but this is a Sunday morning prayer group that started just a few weeks ago. They're calling it engine room and praying for Sunday services, meeting at 08:30 downstairs in the middle or the youth room or the purple room. Middle room, youth room, purple room are all the same room.

Downstairs in between all of the stuff downstairs is the engine room. I don't need that one right now. That's the squish or go to overflow. We're fine. I think you all you all could spread out if you want to.

August 3 is first BBQ, so that's going be right out here on the lawn again. Beautiful glorious days. We've had several already this couple already this year and the next one is August 3. Prepare for that because that happens at 10:00 instead of eleven for this group. If you want to come in and eat before the service starts at eleven, you're welcome to do that and the 10:00 hour reminds me of this.

We are doing church at the fair this coming week. Yeah, it's so much fun. Sunday, July 27 at 10AM under the big Top. There's only one service. So, there's only one service.

If you normally come at eleven, you're to be late for that one service, okay? So, come on in and meet under the big top. In fact, the Lions Club also does breakfast at that time. So, it's a good time to come on in and go to breakfast beforehand. So, if you get there at nine and have breakfast, you can do that.

Y'all can park here and walk if you want to or shuttle your people and send the send the one that wants to walk back here. Church at the fair, 2025. They keep asking so we keep doing it and I'm thankful for the invitation. So, Don and Marlon Young are our missionaries of the missions moment this week. It's about Don and Marlon and if you know Don and Marlon and most a lot of y'all do, Don was the interim pastor here in the year before I got here and he set me up to win in so many ways and he's done that not just one or two times.

He's been doing this for a career where he it goes into a place with College of Prayer is their ministry and it says, instead of saying where he is, it just or where they are. It says, College of Prayer in all countries and so they have a goal. Pray that the College of Prayer could reach the last 19 nations by this year's end. So, when we get into the travelogue of the apostle Paul today, the apostle Paul has no mileage over these people, alright? Don and Marlon have been rolling and tumbling for God for a long, long, long time and when he served here, like I said, he set me up to win.

I want to pray for them right now and ask that lord that you would help them to reach the goal that you have set on their heart. We will read in scripture where you had told Paul in the spirit lord that he was bound for Jerusalem and so he was doing all that he could to get there in the time frame lord that you gave to him and so God I pray that Don and Marlon with the time that they have would be able to reach all so that they would be able to say along with Paul that I've done everything I can. I've shared my heart. I'm I am laying it all out there. They work hard and they go and they go motivated by the gospel.

In Jesus name, I pray that you would that you would use this ministry in a powerful way. In them and through them, lord, we pray that

you would

work. Amen. So, that's Don and Marlon. Is there anything else? I think there's one more slide.

Yeah. If there's anything else, it's probably on the First Baptist Church website, firstbjackson.org. We'll get you there and when I introduce Jesse, Jesse's been coming in and playing the piano and hanging out. We've had a chance to talk and associate a little bit. When Judy said she wasn't gonna be around, said, Jesse, would you come on in?

And he said, yes. And he came in and had a little bit of trouble on the way getting here this morning. What's next? I'll let you tell the story sometime in the future.

Are we telling the story

No. It's sometime in the future. Let's sing a song.

I stand amazed.

Alright. I stand amazed. That one was in the first service. Would you all stand up and we will stand amazed instead of sitting amazed. Alright.

Here we go.

I stand amazed in the presence of Jesus the Nazarene

Thank you, Lord. Thank you for your provision, Lord. Thank you for all that you are doing in us and through us, and I pray, Lord, that you'd be accompanying your word, that you plant seeds deep in our hearts that would grow to fruition. In Jesus' name, Lord,

we stand before you amazed and thankful. Amen.

What's the news?

I love you, Lord.

How about I love you, Lord? Can we just do this one a cappella? Of course. Okay. Give me a chord.

I love you, Lord, and I lift my voice to worship you, Oh, my soul Take joy, my king. Sweet, sweet, holy, love, stay right here with us, filling us with your love. And for these blessings, we lift our hearts in praise. Without a doubt, we'll know that we have been revived when we shall leave this place.

Amen. Thank you, Jesse. Amen. Y'all can have a seat. I'm going invite the ushers to come forward.

And I'll pray. Again, Lord God, thank you for all that you are already doing in us, lord, that we don't even have the comprehension to understand for the path that you have set before us, lord. I pray that we'd be conscious and cognizant at the same time of the direction that you are placing within our hearts, within our minds, that you would have the steps that you have for us, lord, that we'd be consciously stepping into them. Anytime that we're in Acts, lord, I'm reminded that they are living by faith in the same kind of way that we are living by faith. It's required, Lord, that we just trust you.

We don't know everything that's coming, but we do know who is in charge of tomorrow. So in Jesus name, Lord, I ask your blessing on this offering. I pray that you would do your will and your way through it, that you bless the gift, Lord, and the one who has given the gift. I pray that it would be effective for advancing the good news of the grace of God through Jesus Christ. Amen.

Amen. Thank you, Jesus. So, we're up to Acts 20 and our continuing study of the book of Acts and our continuing kind of chronological study, We're going along as chronologically as Luke goes. We're going along that way and he's pretty specific. Today, very specific.

It's sort of a travel log. In the first service, I said, I don't know how far I'm going to get. My task is to present what it says and my prayer during the week is where do I stop? When I was in seminary, I asked a professor, we we asked a professor, the collective class and a preaching class said, how long should a sermon be? And he said, long enough to do honor to God's word and short enough to do honor to his people.

We're going to see an example of somebody going over that probably the today. After the uproar had ceased. Now, last week, what we were covering was the uproar. After the uproar had ceased, the uproar was the near riot in Ephesus. So, there was nearly a riot.

It was not a riot. Do you remember the town clerk coming in and saying, hey, calm down. Y'all calm down. If if you've got something that really needs to come forward, go through the proper channels through the court. Demetrius, if you're going to do that and all your buddies that are with you, we're not going have a riot here today.

Go home. Calm down. Just don't do this. We're not having a riot here today. We don't want that here in Ephesus at the theater.

So the uproar after it had ceased in Ephesus, there it is. I'm gonna use a lot of maps this morning because I think it helps us connect it to the real world. Ephesus is in what we would call Turkey now. It's in what they would call Asia then. Paul sent for the disciples.

Now, remember there were 12 disciples in Ephesus that he had found among the people in the synagogue and when there was resistance in the synagogue and plots against him in the synagogue, he took the disciples and he went to the Hall Of Tyranus and in the Hall Of Tyranus of Philosophy Hall, he taught there for a couple of years daily. It says, taught every day there. Now, Sabbath, they were in the synagogue and then they they retreated from the synagogue with the with these disciples and Paul had taught him and taught him well for a long time and I think that's important. If we go back to seeing the quickness of the first missionary journey, how fast they were rolling when Mark was with him and kind of in charge of setting the schedule, we think, setting the time frame. They were going really really quickly and Paul, the further on we go, it seems like he's spending more time in places.

So, he sent for those disciples who knew him very well and when he encouraged them, those Ephesians disciples and he had taken his leave of them, he left to go to Macedonia. So, from Ephesus to Macedonia, Ephesus is in Asia. Earlier in Acts, we saw that he was hindered from ever getting into from going into Asia. He was hindered from going into Bethenia and he found himself at Troas and he had a vision of a Macedonian man and that's where we see him crossover into what we call Europe into Macedonia and he went to by way of Minneapolis to Philippi, Thessalonica, and to Berea in Macedonia. So, this is where he's going.

Back from Ephesus up to Macedonia. Now, when he gone through those regions and he'd given them much encouragement. Think about the people that we know. The ones that we have heard about are Lydia, the seller of purple from Thyatira who was living in Ephesus, part of a small prayer group down by the riverside and he sees her. Now, he got a vision of a Macedonian man but it's interesting that he met a woman, then he met a slave, and they met a Gentile.

The Philippian jailer. Now, when he gone through those regions, can you imagine him coming to Lydia and her household or to the Philippian jailer, his household, giving them much encouragement. He then came to Greece and there we are from Ephesus to Macedonia, from Macedonia walking down to Greece. Maybe Achaia, it doesn't say specifically. And there, he spent three months in Greece.

Those three months most likely according to every commentator that I've read that said has an opinion on it. They say it was the winter months because travel is terrible in that region during the winter. So, if you're looking at spending some time, that's a good time to spend it because sea travel becomes He spent three months there and when a plot was formed against him by the Jews, which was fairly common and usually started in the synagogue and when he promoted the way or promoted the way of Jesus specifically that Messiah has come and you missed him and they were supposed to know and when the rejection was great, he would step back to the Jew first but also to the Gentiles so he'd go from there. He spent three months in Greece when a plot was formed against him by the Jews as he was about to set sail for Syria. Syria is all the way over there.

That's a pretty good ride on a boat. It's a pretty good ways. It's probably four or 500 miles. It's a it's a long ways. From Greece to Syria and that was the plan to go by ship.

He's he had a plan to set sail but the ships that would go from Greece over to Syria were mostly cargo ships that had space for passengers and if you were to set a plot against someone, all you have to have is another guy on a boat that's a little bit stronger than the one you want gone. Does that sound nefarious? That's what he had uncovered as a plot against him. So, he spent three months in Greece and when a plot was formed against him by the Jews, as he was just about to set sail for Syria, He got wind of it and decided to return through Macedonia. I'm going to try to put the emphasis where Luke does.

There's a lot of other information about this journey in Corinthians and in Romans 15 and other places but I'm going to just try to give the emphasis where Luke gives it. As he was about to set sail, he decides to return through Macedonia. So he does not do that trip, he does this trip, which makes the trip longer to get back because he still is gonna have to go through there. We'll see more. And he was accompanied by sopeter of Berea.

Berea. Oh, Berea is great. Berea is the place where they had a more noble view than the Thessalonians, it says in an earlier chapter of acts, which is great except the very next people mentioned are from Thessalonica. I think that's fun. Luke says, Sopater of Berea, he was the son of Pyrrhus and by Aristarchus.

Now, we don't know about the guy, what's in a name. Aristarchus is an elevated name like aristocracy. He would probably have been a sort of a ruling class. Aristarchus, names can tell us that. And then the very next name of another guy from Thessalonia, Thessalonica, another Thessalonian, Aristarchus, elevated name, and then Secundus.

Now, how many people do you know named second? I mean, we know how many First Baptist Churches you know of? Tons of them. How many Second Baptist Churches you know of? Not many.

There are a few. I know. I think it's Spanish. Yeah, that's good. That's exactly right.

The Secundus is the name of this. Now, the primary slave of a household would be Primus, the first And the secondary slave of the household would be Secundus. So Aristarchus elevated name and Secundus, not even the highest slave but a lower slave than that. So, but they're both from the same place and this in itself to me and to a lot of other folks too. They see that and they go, wow, Soperdur of Berea is great, but Aristarchus and Secundus, it's God is calling people out of every socioeconomic group.

He's calling us out of and into, into the same family. And Gaius of Derby and Timothy, we know is from Lystra and Tichicus and Trophimus are both from Asia. So, if you're looking at dots on the map of where people are from like we had our little pins on the map out in the sanctuary for so long, the best view. This is where they're from, around the Aegean Sea and over into Galatia. Now, these people had gone ahead of us and they're waiting for us.

Luke is the author of this and Luke is speaking right here in the second person plural. He he is our first person plural. He's saying, we right here. These had gone ahead and they were waiting on us. They're waiting on us at Troas and so, when they went from Greece, Greece up around through Macedonia and they made the reverse journey from what they had made earlier in Acts and we, it says, sailed from Philippi, probably Minneapolis, which is just down the Hill.

We sailed from Philippi after the days of unleavened bread. So, we know what time frame this is. This is before the day of Pentecost. We'll hear it later that Paul is wanting to get somewhere before the day of Pentecost. So, we know the time frame here is the days of unleavened bread, Passover, time of year.

So, Philippi to Troas and we were and we reached them at Troas within five days. It didn't take them that long to get to Macedonia. It's a reverse wind to go the other direction. So it's harder to get there. Within five days and we stayed there for seven days and Luke is so specific.

He's a great historian. I love that he gives details about stuff like that. It's a great travel log. Have you all read other travel logs? It's so interesting to read when people went somewhere.

We occasionally, I don't journal every day but when we go on a trip, a lot of times, I take a notebook along and say, this is when this happened and I I went with my mother-in-law and sister-in-law and my wife one time. We went on a three day trip and we had five flat tires. So, we ended up riding home on the back of a rollback trailer, rollback tow truck, sitting in the car, the four of us and me trying to dodge bridges with the steering wheel. I'm on a trailer. I'm not in the driver's seat of this thing.

And just details like that, it it calls back the the the truth of it. There's spiritual truth here, but a lot of this is just the details of life. Where are we going to go? How long we're going to stay? Who's there with us?

And what is being communicated through us? So we sail from Philippi, we reach Troas. Troas is right there and on the first day of the week, I think, I think. Now, we we know that the resurrection was Sunday, this first day of the week is Sunday. I think this is the first place in the New Testament where it says and they gathered together on Sunday.

The Lord's day, it's called elsewhere. When we gather together to break bread, they were going to come together and eat a meal together and it was going to be like the Lord's supper. It was an agape meal. They gathered to break bread and Paul began talking to them and he was intending to leave the next day. Now, if we think about Troas and his history there, it says he was hindered from going into Asia.

It says he was hindered from going into Bethany. He finds himself at Troas and spending the night there. It doesn't look like he was there for very long. Do I have any objections to that? I might ask Rich.

He's good with this stuff. Paul Paul was not in Troas for very long the first time he came through because he saw that vision of the Macedonian man and he goes after that vision. So, when he comes back through, can you imagine he's been all of these places? He's spent all this time in Ephesus. He's there for three years.

In Corinth, he's there for a long time, a year and six months. He's he's there for three months in Greece. He's all these different places. He spent a lot of time and now when he's coming back through, I imagine he just just thought, I haven't told all these people all of this stuff. Now, he had running buddies with him.

He had disciples with him but Paul began talking to them and he was intending to leave the next day and knowing that you you're leaving the next day as a pastor, as a preacher, as a pastor. You want to tell him all you know. And so he prolonged his message until midnight. Can you imagine? Coming here this morning and thinking, oh, we're gonna eat so it's probably around lunchtime.

Even if it was supper time, prolonging your message until midnight? Oh my goodness. My uncle Jerry would not be pleased. My uncle Jerry was the guy who sat in the back and he would he would watch the watch for a little bit and then he would watch it and start listening to see if it had stopped, you know, see if something was wrong with it. He prolonged his message until midnight and this is it's a little comical so far.

It's a little bit comical that he's like, oh, Paul. Come on, man. And there are many lamps in that upstairs room where we were all gathered together. Now, just here in the upper room brings you back to the upper room where Christ had those four chapters in John, right? It brings you back to the upper room where the disciples were gathered at Pentecost.

It brings you back to a lot of upper rooms in Acts. We've already seen a couple. This is the third out of four, fourth out of fifth, five maybe. There were many lamps in that upstairs room where we were all gathered together with the purpose of celebrating communion together and hearing of the Lord and there was a young man named Eutychus and Eutychus was sitting on the windowsill and sinking into a deep sleep as Paul kept on talking. You can hear this.

Now, I said two weeks ago, I think it was, that if you're the seven sons of Skeva and you go in and you're preaching that Jesus whom Paul preaches and the demon inside of a man says, Jesus I know and Paul I've heard of, but who are you? And then the demon whips the seven sons of Sceva till they're naked and wounded and leaving. I said, that story is comic relief unless you're one of the seven sons of Sceva or in their family. Uticus is sitting on a windowsill, sinking to a deep sleep and Paul's droning on and on and it says, and Uticus was overcome by sleep and he fell down from the 3rd Floor and he's picked up dead. Now, I don't care what kind of prayer meeting you're having if somebody dies.

That's a rough, rough, rough time and he falls out of the window asleep and you can imagine the horror of the scene when he falls and he's found dead. Now, Paul went down and he fell upon him and just the way that it says, he fell upon him and he embraced him reminds me of Elijah and reminds me of Elisha and it reminds me of Jesus and Jairus' daughter and it reminds me of Jesus with Lazarus even the resurrection. He says, don't be trouble for he's still alive and if you read that as he didn't die, I think Luke, the physician, when he said he was dead, he was dead but just like, she's just asleep from Jesus, right? It's the, it's a calming word. The situation is handled.

The situation is good and I'm going to say right now, pastorally, sometimes it's hard to preach a passage when there's a close connection and we've all experienced the pain of death. Some of us closer than others but in this church body, I know of two that have fallen. One to their death and one to being blinded and I was so moved by this for the past month studying and preparing for this message and knowing that there's nothing funny about Uticus falling out of that window. I talked to Peter Stalker whose son fell from a 7th Floor balcony to his death. And I said, Peter, I'm having a hard time presenting this passage because I know you're here and I know you're going to be here and I'm so moved by the lost.

The last time I presented this was two weeks after Luke fell and the Lord somehow shielded me from even thinking about it And just as I mentioned it, I saw them and my heart was broken again. I had done his funeral. And Peter said, Ray, it's about the resurrection. It's not about him being dead. It's about the resurrection.

And Luke has been resurrected and I have the hope of the grace of God forever. I don't have any doubts. I am fine. Don't be troubled. He is alive.

He's more alive than we are alive and so the grace of God is sufficient and it's good and it's good for that father of that young man who fell and it was good for the parents of this young man who fell and the people around and when Paul had gone back up, Luke says it again. He'd gone back up there again, broke the bread, and eaten. He talked with him for a long while. He kept on talking till daybreak. So, uncle Jerry would have been gone.

Dave Dave O'Jay would be gone, right? Absolutely gone. He talked with him a long while until daybreak but he knew he had one day. He knew he had plans. He's trying to get somewhere and he didn't want to leave anything left and we'll actually see one of his narratives before the end of this service.

They took away the boy alive and he was fine and they were all greatly comforted. It's real. The miracles authenticate the message and Paul preaches on the resurrection constantly and then they have a demonstrable metaphor right in front of them. So, this is actually a tapestry that does not show up very well on these screens. It's a sixteenth century tapestry.

These are three different events. The big one in the foreground you can see is the burning of the scrolls of magic that we covered last week. But this one up in the right corner is of this instance. So there is an upper story window and this boy has fallen and Paul is lying over him although, I don't know if that's Paul's haircut. David c Cook Sunday school literature does not agree with that at all.

But Paul is lying down on him and embracing him. We've got two disciples running down. One of them has a purse that's bulging purse and this is the same passage. I'm gonna try to keep emphasis where Luke keeps it but this is the same trip where they're taking up a collection from all the Gentile churches and they're taking up a collection for the suffering saints in Jerusalem. I don't know.

It's interesting what artists pick up on and so that nobody else in the whole painting has a money bag except for that guy. There are a couple of ladies that are watching too and this is the moment of the fallen. This is the moment of he is dead and he has been picked up dead. It's hard to describe the resurrection but that's what it's about. But we went ahead.

So breaking the action, this is a vignette and then that we went ahead to the ship. We went from Troas and we set sail for Asos and Asos is around an isthmus intending from there to take Paul on board for that's what he had arranged. I think he might have been skittish of ships a little bit after the plot maybe but he wanted to walk across. Maybe he knew something in between Troas and Asos that he wanted to see. He intended himself to go by land.

So there it is. It's sort of a triangular isthmus and he walks while they ride. And it says, when we met him at Asos, we took him on board and we came to Middling. I'm from Georgia. In Alabama, they call it Middling, that's what it is.

Now in Greece, it may be Mitelini or something else, but in Alabama, it's Middling. About 75 miles from where I grew up. But it's not. This is there's Mitalin. It's on the Isle Of Lesbos.

So Troas over to Asas and down to Mitalin. He's very detailed in his log and sailing from there with Paul on board, we arrived the following day opposite Kiosk. I don't know if there's not a name for the area or if he forgot the name for the area but Kiosk is right here and you can see that there's a little isthmus there too and he's saying it's opposite. I don't remember. I don't know if I can't remember the name of the town or there's just not a town name.

We stopped and camped right there across from Kios and then, after that, Paul oh, we came to Miletus. So we came from Samos and Follande, we came to Miletus, which is a beach not too far. The slide didn't show up. Miletus is down South of Samos. For Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus so that he wouldn't have to lose time in Asia.

Now, he'd spent three years with the folks in Asia in Ephesus. Three years daily teaching. And when you have that kind of relationship with somebody, when y'all who live here, you know, people come here and they stay for a while and when you get really, really, really close to somebody, we had some folks come back this morning. They've been gone about five years and to see em is like, oh, I just want to spend time with them. It's hard.

So, Paul decided, I can't go to Ephesus. If I go to Ephesus, I'm going to get stuck there. There's no way I'm going to be able to make it to where I'm going. It says, he was hurrying if it might be possible for him to be in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost. He is leaning forward towards, he's already said at one time that he feels like the spirit is leading him towards Jerusalem and if we'll go and pay attention from Miletus to Jerusalem at six ten miles.

So, it's a long way and he's trying to make it from basically passed over to the day of Pentecost of fifty days in there. He's trying to make it. From Miltus, he sent word to Ephesus. Miltus to Ephesus is 30 miles. So, he sent word.

He he passed Ephesus on purpose. So, he didn't get caught up with all the people that he knew so well but when he got to Miletus, they stopped and he sent word up to Ephesus and said, bring the elders. It's not everybody but this is a farewell speech basically to the elders of the church And I think it's indicative of what Paul must have been saying on this journey all the way back towards Jerusalem. He probably was saying basically the same thing everywhere he had visited. From Miltus, he sent word to Ephesus and called himself elders of the church.

And so when they came to him, he said to them, it really does say y'all. Y'all yourself know that from the first day that I set foot in Asia, how I was with you the whole time, how I was with you the whole time. You know me and I know you and I know what it's like to minister among you. I know what it's like to have the resistance that you're getting. Y'all know me and I know you.

We, I was there. I was serving the Lord with all humility. You might think that's not a very humble statement but it's the truth. I was serving the Lord with all humility just trying to do the next right thing that God had for me and it was with tears and it was with trials which came upon me through the plots of the Jews. The plots for being killed or being criticized or defamed, slandered, maliciously, hurt.

There were tears and there were trials and you know how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was beneficial. What a pastor's heart he has. He's seeing these folks in a primarily Gentile area and he's saying everything that I know from the Old Testament, everything that I know from knowing Jesus, everything that I know from the gospel of Jesus that's revealed directly to him and through his interaction with all the other apostles, I didn't shrink from declaring anything to you that was beneficial and I didn't shrink from teaching you publicly and from house to house. We showed up in the Hall Of Tyrannus and we showed up wherever we were invited and he has a pastor's heart and it's obvious. He says, I was solemnly testifying both to the Jews and to the Greeks of repentance toward God.

That's necessary and a faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. He was carrying the gospel forward. He was carrying all of the components of it forward and now, he says, behold, I am bound by the spirit. I'm on my way to Jerusalem not knowing what's going to happen to me there. That's a little note of foreshadowing and foreboding.

He clears it up in the next sentence, but it's a pretty good journey still in front of him. But these people that he loves, I'm sure he's asking for prayer. I'm sure he's asking for him to well, he, let me tell you what he keeps on asking from him. He tells us, except, I don't know what's waiting for me there except for the Holy Spirit solemnly testifies to me in every city. Whether that was through people or it was just something that the Holy Spirit was impressing upon him everywhere he went.

The Holy Spirit was saying that chains and afflictions await me in Jerusalem. Now, does that sound weird? He has been walking to avoid a plot against him sailing. He didn't just say, God will protect me and go. He found out about a plot to kill him and so he walks instead of traveling.

So, he's avoiding trouble where he can. The Holy Spirit's, he's bound by the spirit to go to Jerusalem and the Holy Spirit tells him that chains and afflictions await him there and he's walking towards it not away from it. Who does that remind you of? Jesus. Jesus, in fact, Luke volume one and Acts volume two of the same story, right?

Luke volume one says that in 951, it says, and Jesus set his face like flint. He was going towards Jerusalem and he would not be dissuaded. He was walking towards what was a certain death. Paul is an understanding that chains and afflictions await him. He feels bound by the spirit to go to Jerusalem and maybe Rome, he said earlier.

He had no idea exactly how that would come about at this point. But I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself. Jesse sang, I surrender all during the operatory and I thought of this. Paul had surrendered his right to his life. He had given it because it was worth it.

He surrendered all for the cause of Christ to the one who had saved him, to the one who'd saved him out of his religious zeal that was misplaced and misdirected. Christ had saved him and it was by grace that he was saved and he knew it. I don't consider my life of any account as dear to myself so that I may just finish the course and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus. Amen. What he wanted to do is exactly what God wanted for him to do.

This is, you know, the elders from Ephesus and if you think about the book of Ephesians, he said to them later, y'all know, it's by grace that we're saved. It's through faith but it's by grace that we're saved. Through faith, not of work so that no one can boast. I can't no matter how many miles I've I've gone. Nobody can boast because it's a gift of God.

No one can boast. We're his workmanship. We're his poiema. We're his craftsmanship, his masterpiece. We are his workmanship and we were created in Christ Jesus to do good works which he has said in advance for us to do those steps like we would so that we would walk in and he said, I just wanna walk out my whatever it is.

I don't understand what it is fully but I know that this is where I'm I'm bound. Are you with me now? I I hope that this feels like it's really really real because we all have the steps. God's established steps in front of us. They're not the same ones as Paul's but God's established steps in front of us for us to carry out so that I may finish the course in the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus Christ and this is what it is to testify solemnly of the gospel of God's grace.

It's not a meritocracy. It's not who deserves it because of what they've done. It is a gospel of God's unmerited favor. No one can boast. Paul is saying, you can't be good enough to get in and you can't be bad enough to be excluded.

It simply must be received. Unmerited favor of God must be received by faith and so, he says, now, verse 25 and now behold, I know that all of y'all among whom I went out about preaching the kingdom, I know that y'all are not going to see me again. What a sad note that is. This guy that they love, oh, we we just lost Carl. The people who are visiting don't know Carl.

Everybody here, we just lost an associate pastor we all love dearly and to to think about Paul say it. I I can see Carl's face. I can see him on the internet. I can call him on FaceTime. I can go see him if I want to.

Paul was pretty sure chains and afflictions are what he was going to find in Jerusalem and when he said, I'm not going to be back through here. Pretty sure. This is the last time you're going to see me. Now, just like when he was in Troas and he had one, he had one chance. He was going to tell him everything he could.

This says, you're not going to see my face anymore. So, therefore, I testify to you this day that I'm innocent of the blood of all people. This reminds me of Ezekiel 33 actually. Ezekiel where he's God says, I've set a watchman on the wall. I've given you fair warning.

Paul is saying, I've done all that I can and I testify to you this day. I'm innocent of the blood of all people. The path that I have covered, I've covered thoroughly evangelizing, going for it, leaving people in place behind me so that they wouldn't get off track. I testify to you this day, I'm innocent of the blood of all people for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God. I had a professor that was very fond of saying, the mission of God is a blessing for all peoples.

He said, it's it's a blessing for all every tribe, tongue, and nation and that blessing is Jesus. It is redemption available in Jesus name. The gospel of the grace of God available in Christ. I didn't shrink from declaring that. Now y'all, be on guard for yourselves.

Be on guard. You're the elders. This is not the whole church he's talking to. These are the elders of the church, the overseers. He said, y'all, be careful.

Be on guard for yourselves for all of the flock. Among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. I trust the Holy Spirit to do his work. I trust the Holy Spirit to work in you and through you. I have done all that I can and now I'm leaving it to you.

Y'all, as Peter would say, shepherd the flock of God that is among you. In first Peter five, he says, y'all shepherd the church of God which he purchased with his own blood. Don't treat it as some light thing. The responsibility that you've been given is those who have learned of this gospel first and who have experienced it firsthand. Y'all treat people well.

Treat your sheep well. You are the shepherds of the flock. I know that after my departure, there will be savage wolves that will come in among you and they will not be sparing the flock. They won't care as much as you do. In Philippians, Paul says, yes, some people preach for the wrong reasons.

Some people do it for gain. Some people do it for profit. I know that after my departure, savage wolves will come in among you. They'll not be sparing the flock. This is resistance from all sides and he says, honestly, from among your own selves, men will arise and they'll be speaking perverse things to draw away the disciples after them.

There's a bit of a hint of he's warning them against factions because that happens and division happens and he's saying, elders keep the family of God together. Don't let em splinter. Be good to them. Care for their souls. Care for their well-being and from among your own selves, men will arise.

Speaking perverse things, drawing away the disciples after them. That reminds me so much of Ezekiel 34 and for y'all, if you're reading through the Bible and you hit Ezekiel 34, it might be something you just pass over and go, woe to the bad shepherds. What does that even mean? For me, I read that and go, woe to the bad shepherds. I don't want to be one of those.

I want to care for the hearts of the people that God has entrusted to me. So, woe to you bad shepherds as if you have time, read that and pray for every pastor you know. So, therefore, Paul says, be on alert. Remembering that for night and day for a period of three years, I did not cease to admonish each one with tears. It was at a heart level that we connected and when somebody was getting off track, though it brought me great pain, I was willing to say so.

I was willing to share the truth and love, right? The truth of the goodness of the God and to do so in love to say, you're headed down a bad path. Come on back in to the center of the gospel and now, Paul says, I entrust you elders to God and to the word of his unmerited favor to his grace which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified. The grace of God is sufficient to do what it was designed to do which is save and redeem fallen man. I entrust you.

When I read that, I thought, this needs to be stitched on a pillow somewhere. I entrust you to God into the word of his grace which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified. He believed that the Holy Spirit would keep on doing as he said to Philippi and other places. He said that I know that I know that God will keep on doing the good work that I saw him start in you. He'll keep on doing it till the last day.

This is what he's saying. This last time I'm going to see you, this is the last thing I have to say. I have coveted no one's silver or gold or clothes. How are we doing on that, Jackson? You yourselves know that these hands serve my own needs.

I worked hard and the men who are with me also worked hard. We weren't begging. We were there working and in everything I showed you that by working hard in this way that y'all can help the weak, you must help the weak and you must remember the words of the Lord Jesus that he himself said, it's more blessed to give than it is to receive. Work hard so that you will have money and able to help other people in need. When he had said these things, he knelt down and he prayed with them all.

I'm sure he prayed for them and they prayed for him but they prayed with them all and they all began to weep out loud. And they embraced Paul and they repeatedly kissed him because they loved him. That's right. And they were grieving and they were grieving especially over the word which he had spoken that they would not see his face again. It's really hard.

It's really hard. But just like Peter said, Ray, it's about resurrection. We will see his face again. In fact, we will see his face again. You know, we'll see him for the first time.

They'll see him again. Grieving especially over the words he'd spoken that they would not see his face again and here we are on the ship again. They were accompanying him to the ship saying goodbye, voyage. As he's headed from there to Jerusalem. We'll pick up with chapter 21 after the fair.

I'm not going do the travel log. During the fair, if you'd pray for me as a minister of God's grace to a community. Next week, the presentation will be not just for believers, it'll be for whoever shows up at the fair and so if you pray for me that God has a good word for the community at Cowboy Church next week at 10:00, one service only right over there And would you pray with me? I'm on well, what did you have planned? What's that?

I surrender. I surrender all. Let's do that. I'm gonna pray and we'll go to that. In Jesus name, Lord, we do surrender all.

What we're asking, Lord, is that you would show us which steps. It's not so it's not for our glory, but it's for your path. What it is that you want for us to do. What's the next thing that you want for us to do. And right here collectively as we sing, I pray that we would all sincerely be surrendering all to your will whatever that may be.

In Jesus name, amen. It's hymn number five ninety six if you all wanna stand.

All to Jesus I surrender. All to him I freely give. I

Amen. And now, just like Paul, I commend to you. I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, his unmerited favor. That unmerited favor is what is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all of those who are sanctified. Lord God, may we be as placid as that picture of the oxbow looking at Moran.

May we be carriers of your peace into a world that is so full of turmoil and turbulence. May we be a blessing to all peoples. In Jesus name, amen.