1 After the uproar had ceased, Paul sent for the disciples, took leave of them, and departed to go into Macedonia.
2 When he had gone through those parts, and had encouraged them with many words, he came into Greece.
3 When he had spent three months there, and a plot was made against him by Jews as he was about to set sail for Syria, he determined to return through Macedonia.
4 These accompanied him as far as Asia: Sopater of Beroea; Aristarchus and Secundus of the Thessalonians; Gaius of Derbe; Timothy; and Tychicus and Trophimus of Asia.
5 But these had gone ahead, and were waiting for us at Troas.
6 We sailed away from Philippi after the days of Unleavened Bread, and came to them at Troas in five days, where we stayed seven days.
7 On the first day of the week, when the disciples were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the next day, and continued his speech until midnight.
8 There were many lights in the upper room where we were gathered together.
9 A certain young man named Eutychus sat in the window, weighed down with deep sleep. As Paul spoke still longer, being weighed down by his sleep, he fell down from the third floor, and was taken up dead.
10 Paul went down, and fell upon him, and embracing him said, “Don’t be troubled, for his life is in him.”
11 When he had gone up, and had broken bread, and eaten, and had talked with them a long while, even until break of day, he departed.
12 They brought the boy in alive, and were greatly comforted.
13 But we, going ahead to the ship, set sail for Assos, intending to take Paul aboard there; for he had so arranged, intending himself to go by land.
14 When he met us at Assos, we took him aboard, and came to Mitylene.
15 Sailing from there, we came the following day opposite Chios. The next day we touched at Samos and stayed at Trogyllium, and the day after we came to Miletus.
16 For Paul had determined to sail past Ephesus, that he might not have to spend time in Asia; for he was hastening, if it were possible for him, to be in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost.
17 From Miletus he sent to Ephesus, and called to himself the elders of the assembly.
18 When they had come to him, he said to them, “You yourselves know, from the first day that I set foot in Asia, how I was with you all the time,
19 serving the Lord with all humility, with many tears, and with trials which happened to me by the plots of the Jews;
20 how I didn’t shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, teaching you publicly and from house to house,
21 testifying both to Jews and to Greeks repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus.
22 Now, behold, I go bound by the Spirit to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there;
23 except that the Holy Spirit testifies in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions wait for me.
24 But these things don’t count; nor do I hold my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to fully testify to the Good News of the grace of God.
25 “Now, behold, I know that you all, among whom I went about preaching God’s Kingdom, will see my face no more.
26 Therefore I testify to you today that I am clean from the blood of all men,
27 for I didn’t shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.
28 Take heed, therefore, to yourselves, and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the assembly of the Lord and God which he purchased with his own blood.
29 For I know that after my departure, vicious wolves will enter in among you, not sparing the flock.
30 Men will arise from among your own selves, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them.
31 Therefore watch, remembering that for a period of three years I didn’t cease to admonish everyone night and day with tears.
32 Now, brothers, I entrust you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build up, and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.
33 I coveted no one’s silver, or gold, or clothing.
34 You yourselves know that these hands served my necessities, and those who were with me.
35 In all things I gave you an example, that so laboring you ought to help the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”
36 When he had spoken these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all.
37 They all wept a lot, and fell on Paul’s neck and kissed him,
38 sorrowing most of all because of the word which he had spoken, that they should see his face no more. And they accompanied him to the ship.
referenced as a warning to bad shepherds, connected to Paul's charge to the Ephesian elders
1 Yahweh’s word came to me, saying,
2 “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. Prophesy, and tell them, even the shepherds, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Woe to the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves! Shouldn’t the shepherds feed the sheep?
3 You eat the fat. You clothe yourself with the wool. You kill the fatlings, but you don’t feed the sheep.
4 You haven’t strengthened the diseased. You haven’t healed that which was sick. You haven’t bound up that which was broken. You haven’t brought back that which was driven away. You haven’t sought that which was lost, but you have ruled over them with force and with rigor.
5 They were scattered, because there was no shepherd. They became food to all the animals of the field, and were scattered.
6 My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and on every high hill. Yes, my sheep were scattered on all the surface of the earth. There was no one who searched or sought.”
7 “‘Therefore, you shepherds, hear Yahweh’s word:
8 “As I live,” says the Lord Yahweh, “surely because my sheep became a prey, and my sheep became food to all the animals of the field, because there was no shepherd. My shepherds didn’t search for my sheep, but the shepherds fed themselves, and didn’t feed my sheep.”
9 Therefore, you shepherds, hear Yahweh’s word:
10 Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Behold, I am against the shepherds. I will require my sheep at their hand, and cause them to cease from feeding the sheep. The shepherds won’t feed themselves any more. I will deliver my sheep from their mouth, that they may not be food for them.”
11 “‘For thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Behold, I myself, even I, will search for my sheep, and will seek them out.
12 As a shepherd seeks out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered abroad, so will I seek out my sheep. I will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day.
13 I will bring them out from the peoples, and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land. I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the watercourses, and in all the inhabited places of the country.
14 I will feed them with good pasture; and their fold will be on the mountains of the height of Israel. There they will lie down in a good fold. They will feed on fat pasture on the mountains of Israel.
15 I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will cause them to lie down,” says the Lord Yahweh.
16 “I will seek that which was lost, and will bring back that which was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick; but I will destroy the fat and the strong. I will feed them in justice.”’
17 “As for you, O my flock, thus says the Lord Yahweh: ‘Behold, I judge between sheep and sheep, the rams and the male goats.
18 Does it seem a small thing to you to have fed on the good pasture, but you must tread down with your feet the residue of your pasture? And to have drunk of the clear waters, but must you foul the residue with your feet?
19 As for my sheep, they eat that which you have trodden with your feet, and they drink that which you have fouled with your feet.’
20 “Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh to them: ‘Behold, I, even I, will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep.
21 Because you thrust with side and with shoulder, and push all the diseased with your horns, until you have scattered them abroad;
22 therefore will I save my flock, and they will no more be a prey. I will judge between sheep and sheep.
23 I will set up one shepherd over them, and he will feed them, even my servant David. He will feed them, and he will be their shepherd.
24 I, Yahweh, will be their God, and my servant David prince among them. I, Yahweh, have spoken it.
25 “‘I will make with them a covenant of peace, and will cause evil animals to cease out of the land. They will dwell securely in the wilderness, and sleep in the woods.
26 I will make them and the places around my hill a blessing. I will cause the shower to come down in its season. There will be showers of blessing.
27 The tree of the field will yield its fruit, and the earth will yield its increase, and they will be secure in their land. Then they will know that I am Yahweh, when I have broken the bars of their yoke, and have delivered them out of the hand of those who made slaves of them.
28 They will no more be a prey to the nations, neither will the animals of the earth devour them; but they will dwell securely, and no one will make them afraid.
29 I will raise up to them a plantation for renown, and they will no more be consumed with famine in the land, and not bear the shame of the nations any more.
30 They will know that I, Yahweh, their God am with them, and that they, the house of Israel, are my people, says the Lord Yahweh.
31 You my sheep, the sheep of my pasture, are men, and I am your God,’ says the Lord Yahweh.”
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
On July 20, 2025, Pastor Ray walked First Baptist Jackson through Acts 20, the chapter where Paul says his goodbyes to the people he loves most and presses on toward Jerusalem anyway. The sermon stayed close to the text, moving through the travelogue of Paul's third missionary journey and landing on the farewell speech Paul gave to the elders of the church at Ephesus on the beach at Miletus.
What was said
The chapter opens after a near-riot in Ephesus, and from there it becomes a travelogue. Paul travels north through Macedonia, encouraging the churches he had planted there, then spends a winter in Greece before a plot against his life forces him to change his route. Pastor Ray noted that this kind of travel was slow, hard, and full of the names of real people from real places, and that the specificity of the details gives the whole account the feel of something that actually happened.
At Troas, the group gathers on a Sunday, the first clear instance in Acts of the church meeting on the day of resurrection. Paul preaches so long that a young man named Eutychus falls asleep on a third-floor windowsill, falls out, and is picked up dead. Pastor Ray called it a kind of comic relief until you remember that the people in the room were that boy's people. Paul goes down, lies over him, and the boy is raised alive. That moment, Pastor Ray said, is the whole message in miniature: the miracles authenticate the message, and the message is resurrection.
Paul presses on and sails past Ephesus deliberately, knowing that if he stops he will never get out. But he sends word ahead from Miletus and the elders make a thirty-mile walk on short notice to meet him on the beach. When they arrive, Paul reminds them of the three years he spent with them, teaching publicly and house to house, never shrinking from declaring anything useful, always pointing to repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Then Paul tells them what is coming. He says he is bound by the Holy Spirit toward Jerusalem, that the Spirit has told him chains and afflictions are waiting, and that he does not consider his life worth anything compared to finishing the course the Lord Jesus gave him. Pastor Ray drew a direct parallel to the moment in Luke's Gospel when Jesus set His face like flint toward Jerusalem, calling this Paul's version of that same surrender.
The farewell charge to the elders is a serious one. Paul tells them to guard themselves and the flock, because savage wolves will come in after he leaves, and some of those wolves will rise from within the congregation itself. He says he is innocent of the blood of all people because he held nothing back, and he entrusts the elders to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build them up and give them their inheritance. Pastor Ray paused on that phrase and said it points both to a future resurrection and to a Holy Spirit who is concerned with the present, not just the life to come.
The chapter closes with weeping on the beach. The elders embrace Paul and grieve especially over the word he had spoken, that they would not see his face again. Pastor Ray sat with that for a moment, saying that not seeing someone again is about the hardest thing there is, and that the comfort the gospel offers in those moments is not a platitude but the actual hope of resurrection, a promise that what is unclear now will one day be perfectly clear.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages
in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
Pastor Ray mentioned that the miracles in Acts authenticate the message, and pointed to the resurrection of Eutychus as an example of God showing up in a horrible situation. Where have you seen or experienced something that felt like God showing up in a moment that seemed hopeless?
Paul told the Ephesian elders he was innocent of the blood of all people because he had not shrunk back from declaring everything that was beneficial to them. What does it look like in your own life to take that kind of responsibility seriously toward the people around you?
Speaker 2Good morning, church. I'm so glad that we are here this morning. Amen? Amen. Will you please stand up and look...
Let's worship our lord with all our hearts. Psalm one forty seven seven says, sing out your thanks to the Lord. Sing praises to our God. Amen? And if you have little doubts for for any reason, just look out the window, and let's worship him.
Amen? Amen.
Speaker 1Amen. Alright. Y'all can have a seat. Have a few announcements. Let's see how many.
Church campout is happening right now. Is that me, Blake, that's making all that noise? Okay.
Speaker 2It's me.
Speaker 1Okay. It's me. It's me. So that's happening right now and more... Yeah.
That's what it's like. Aren't you glad you're here? Aren't you glad you're here? That's the way that church camp outs go, isn't it? No.
No. That's that's a lot of fun. That's that's that's gonna be a good time for sure getting that thing out. So church camp out happened and y'all are here and I'm thankful. Seeking truth in your twenties is happening tonight.
06:30 in the evening at the McCooey's place out off of Zenith. No. Yeah. Is it Zenith? Yeah.
Off of Zenith, which is out behind the airport. Sunday nights at 06:30. Seeking truth in your twenties. College aged. It's not just folks who are in college, it's folks from college age.
Graduated high school up through your twenties, feel free to join. Free entry, it's good conversation, good music, and just a good time to be had, so that's good. Engine room, the Sunday morning prayer group. We also have a Wednesday morning prayer group, is sort of the heartbeat of the church, but this is Sunday mornings, 08:30 in the middle room downstairs, the youth room down in the basement, 08:30 in the morning. If you wanna pray for Sunday services primarily, it's happening down there at 08:30 in the morning.
I don't think we need that one this morning. First b b q is happening again on August 3, so that's coming up pretty quick. That was out here on the green space, that's what's gonna happen. First b b q. It'll be a breakfast between services at 10:00.
Church at the fair next week. Alright. Under the big top, down at the fair which is just a few blocks that way, you go through the alley, it's just a couple of blocks. If you want to come here and park here, that's great. But the church is not going to be like it is right now.
At 09:00 next week, we'll be setting up over there. It's one service under the big top at 10:00 in the morning. Just one service. Everybody hear that? Okay.
Good. So it's happening over there under the big top. One service, 10:00. Sunday, July 27. I'm looking forward to that one.
It's gonna be a fun time. So Don and Marlon Young are our missionary moment this week. They're with College of Prayer in all countries and if you know them, that's not an exaggeration. They are all over the place, all the time, steady rolling. Pray that College of Prayer could reach the last 19 nations by years end.
That's what their their goal is and they are all over the place all the time. So I'm gonna pray for Don and Marlon. Lord God, thank you for Don's ministry here and Marlon's ministry here with prayer in the process of searching for a pastor when they ended up finding me. Lord God Almighty. He set me up to win and I'm very thankful and he's done that over and over and over throughout the world.
When we're going through acts today and we're seeing Paul leaving people in charge and going back to see how they are. I think of Don and Marlon and so lord, I pray that you'd bless their ministry and that they would reach their goal to reach as many people as they can in their time. In Jesus name, would you bless them and the world through them. Amen. I think that if there's anything else that's on our website, I've forgotten more than I'm remembering this morning.
But luckily, all the scripture is written down on the screen. Would you stand with us and we're gonna... You can greet each other. Why not? Go ahead.
Shakey shake the hand time, and we'll bring you back together with a song. Thank you.
Speaker 2So we have... It it... Tempo... Different tempo. Hallelujah.
Praise the Lord. Praise to our name, the... Jesus Christ, our savior. Lord, we thank you for the privilege that we have to be here this morning. Lord, please receive our praise for your name, for your glory, and we wanna say thank you for all that you have done in our lives.
Lord, we cannot describe in words how thankful we are for the salvation that you provide to Jesus Christ, your son. May we be thankful for it, and maybe help us to walk in it, Lord. And help us to have that open mind always to reach people, to reach our neighbors, to reach our coworkers in such a way that they would wanna know you, Lord. Give us the strength to follow you, to worship you. And in all that we do, our eyes should be always open to serve you in any aspects of our lives.
In your precious name, I pray, amen.
Speaker 1Amen.
Speaker 2So as you know, when I when I lead worship, we practice one way, and then we end up singing different way. So thank you for your patience with this. Thank you, band, for... What's happened what happened is... And I'm I'm gonna say this because I know that there is a group right now.
I mean, they come in the morning and and and they pray for the worship, which I love that so much. That means the Holy Spirit should be at work. I don't wanna play mechanically. I I wanna play how I feel at the moment. Then sometimes I'm worried about that my English is now very well, very good, and that...
Where my voice doesn't sound well. But when I worship, I completely forgot about everything. And I just worship. I don't care how it sounds online or anything. My my purpose is to worship the Lord right now in this moment.
Let's do it with reverence and respect, but let's also put a little bit emotions over there. Right? To feel the... And and while we sing, while we listen to the sermon, let's have that little conversation. Holy Spirit, say something to me.
Holy Spirit, speak to me something that when I will leave this place, I will take it with me. Amen? Amen. Amen. And this song says, not ashamed.
Not ashamed. What is it? Ashamed. Not ashamed of the gospel. Amen to that.
I told you it's different. That's Vereen ending right there. I need some water. This song would... You you should move a little bit here.
Pastor really like this version. Yes. We live in Wyoming. Right? It's country style.
Let's worship the Lord with all our hearts. Amen. Praise the Lord.
Speaker 1Alright. And it's time for the worship through giving. Someone invite the ushers to come forward. Y'all can have a seat and I'll pray. Lord God almighty, we thank you for being able to be here together, lord, gathered in your name, for having folks down on the beach at Palisades gathered in your name, lord.
Thank you for the body of Christ that is continuing, We, as the body of Christ, want to do your will and your way, lord. That's what we wanna do and we fall short individually and we fall short collectively, Lord. We pray that your grace and your direction by the Holy Spirit, we know that it covers our sins. It covers our misses. It covers our shortfalls, Lord.
But we really really want to be involved in the advance of the good news gospel of Jesus Christ. We're not ashamed of it, but lord, let us not be proud of ourselves. One sinner found grace and is able to tell another sinner where grace can be found. In Jesus name, we ask that you would bless, lord, all of us to do your will and your way. I ask that you take these offerings this morning and everything else that's metaphorically put in these plates.
Lord, whether it's a conversation with a neighbor or the meditations of our heart, the words of our mouth. Lord, I pray that you would advance your good gospel in us and through us. Amen.
Speaker 2Amen. Amen.
Speaker 1Wow. Thank you. Is it hot in here to y'all? Yes. If if y'all can't open the windows, I'd appreciate it.
Goodness gracious. Praise God. Here we go. Oh, this is something I put up there so I remember. These are the rallies.
Would you stand up? The rallies and it is Lucas and Hannah. Right? Yep. They are serving in Kampala, Uganda and the surrounding areas.
They are... We have a ministry that we kinda are supportive of called Rescue One More. A lot of you all know about Rescue One More, and that's the sister ministry to Rescue River. There you go. They're gonna be here afterwards.
They'll hang around in back and down the hall, and they'll be here till the last customer served. Okay? They're friendly folks. They are leading. It's an interesting system.
So we're here where fly fishing is a big big deal, and they're there where Rescue One More is taking gals that are out of trafficking and different bad situations, really really bad home situations. And they bring them through the school age and then after school age, this is a job that they could do and are doing. So this is James Tolson actually training someone to tie flies. Is that correct? Not a fisherman.
This is Dan Tulsome that's teaching somebody how to cast. And then this is just a few group shots. But the rallies are there pretty much full time. Right? Y'all are there there.
And so if you want to know more about the ministry in Kampala, Uganda and the nonprofit and eventually for profit, think the way that this works, talk to them afterwards. They're right there and they're not scary people. Acts 20. I was trying to decide this morning. I came in early early this morning trying to decide where to stop because acts 20 as a whole is a lot, but I think I'm gonna do it anyway.
We'll see. That's my main task. I wanna say what it says. I want to give the word honor, and I asked a seminary professor, how long should a sermon be? And he said, long enough to do honor to God's word.
And I said, okay. And he said, and short enough to do honor to his people. That will be dramatically explained during the sermon today. After the uproar had ceased, what uproar? The uproar that's mentioned there is the near riot that we talked about last week in the the theater in Ephesus, where the town clerk comes and finally calms everybody down, says, nothing to see here.
Go back to your homes. It was a near riot. It wasn't a riot. It's foreboding because we'll see riots from here forward in that. But the uproar after that had ceased in Ephesus, that's where it was.
It's a travelogue now, and when he had encouraged them or Paul sent for the disciples, the disciples, he had 12 guys specifically in Ephesus and if you're keeping up, there's a lot of parallelism in this third missionary journey of Paul and the ministry of Christ. He's got 12 disciples that were in Ephesus, he took them out of the synagogue and into the Hall of Tyrannus and every day he was teaching them. Every day for a couple of years, he was teaching them. And so after the uproar had ceased, Paul sent for the disciples and when he had encouraged them and he had taken his leave of them, he left to go to Macedonia. So there we are.
Macedonia is up here. We've got Neapolis and Philippi, Thessalonica and Berea up in Macedonia, and we remember the Macedonian call when Paul left from Troas and went across into what is Europe right there, and went in Macedonia the first time, and he is leaving from Ephesus, which is in Asia, and going to Macedonia. Now, when he had gone through those regions and he had given them much encouragement, these were people, remember Lydia, the seller of purple, remember the Philippian jailer, remember the unnamed slave girl. So those were three that we know of, vignettes of people who God had saved through the ministry of Paul here in that Macedonian call, going over with his running buddies into this region. Now, when he'd gone through those regions and he'd given all of those folks much encouragement in Macedonia, he came to Greece.
So here's Greece down South of Macedonia. I'm gonna have lots of maps at the beginning, and then it'll fade. The map people love this stuff. The people are not people map people said, why do you do that? After he had given him much encouragement, he came to Greece.
And there, he spent three months. Now three months in Greece, if you study this in light of the rest of the New Testament, you're have to kind of take my word for it, think. Most commentators agree those three months were winter of either '56... '55 or fifty six AD. Almost everybody agrees on one of those two years.
He spent the winter months there because travel was difficult during the winter months, and he spent those three months in Greece, which is a pretty great place to be. And when a plot was formed against him by the Jews, as he was just about to set sail. There's an imminent, he's just about to set sail for Syria. He finds out about a plot against him by the Jews, and so he's planning on going from Greece over to Syria, that's his most likely route, and it's a pretty good ride from there. And they would have had pilgrim ships or people haulers.
They're cargo ships, but they made space for people and they put as many people on there as they could. And a plot is not hard to carry out on a ramshackled ship full of cargo and lots of people. Throwing him overboard would not have been a difficult task. But Greece to Syria, he finds out about the plot, And so, just as he was about to set sail for Syria, he decided to return through Macedonia again. So no to that plan, yes to this plan.
So he's walking. There's a lot of walking. And he was accompanied by Sopeter of Berea. That Berea is in Macedonia. He was accompanied by...
So he was accompanied from Greece back up to Berea, and Thessalonica, and Philippi, and probably Neapolis by Sopeter of Berea, the son of Pyrrhus. And by this next name, Aristarchus, is a kind of an elevated name. It sounds like aristocracy, same roots. Aristarchus is a very elevated name. Aristarchus and Secundus.
Secundus is not an elevated name at all. You see lots of first Baptist churches, you don't see many second Baptist churches. It's true. Some places there are some, but you don't hear as much about them. The first slave would normally be called primus because that's the first slave, head slave, and the next would be Secundus.
So for this to be Aristarchus, an elevated name, maybe names, what's in a name? We don't know these people. But just the fact that they're listed together, both of them are from Thessalonica. Aristarchus and Secundus, it's saying, Christ calls us out of every station of life and every place of life and every socioeconomic background, he calls us into the same family and these are Paul's running buddies for this trip. By Aristarchus and Secundus of the Thessalonians and Gaius of Derbe, Timothy we know is from Lystra and Tychicus and Trophimus of Asia, somewhere around Ephesus probably.
So that's where the folks are from on the map. Now, now some people say, well, where where are the Corinthians? He spent a long time in Corinth. Why aren't they represented? I don't know.
It doesn't say. It'd be an argument from silence for me to make any kind of stand there. And what about Philippi? Well, Luke is writing this and a lot of people consider that Luke is writing and representing for Philippi. So maybe, if it's not written, I don't put a whole lot of stock in it, but probably.
Now, these had gone on ahead and were waiting for us. This is Luke right there saying, he had been a part of what was going on where they were in Greece and then these folks went ahead and now, they're waiting for us where at Troas. Troas is right there. That is the place where earlier in Acts when they were hindered from going into Asia, which is where Ephesus is, and they were hindered from going into Bithynia, which is further north in what we would call Turkey. They stopped at Troas and in the night, Paul had a vision of a Macedonian man said, we need your help and so he goes over for this Macedonian man's call and he finds Lydia, the seller of purple, a woman, a slave, and a Gentile.
Beautiful. Troas, he's traveling back that way now. And at Troas, it says, well, we sailed from Philippi. That's Luke saying, we sailed from Philippi. It was after the days of unleavened bread.
This is building up to the Pentecost. The day of Pentecost, Passover is before that. And so time frame wise, past the winter, and when it gets to be springtime and travel is easier and better, they sailed from Philippi. After the days of unleavened bread, they're working their way towards Jerusalem by prevailing winds, I suppose. I don't I don't understand all of that.
But we sailed from Philippi after the days of unleavened. We reached them at Troas. So this is where we were reunited. Within five days, and we we stayed there for seven days. He's very specific about this.
The details matter. Right? Now, they don't matter as much to me, but the fact that there are details gives a lot of veracity and verisimilitude to this thing. You know, it sounds like this is real life. He's keeping a travelogue of the journey.
Have you all read like On the Road with Jack Kerouac? I don't recommend. I'm just wondering. Have you read other travelogues, Eat, Pray, Love, that sort of thing? They're very very interesting because it's like, oh, and we did this, and we went there, we so and so.
And when you keep a journal on the trip, you go back years later and you go, oh, yeah. I forgot about that big red rocket of a truck that took us through the streets of Real De Catorce and hit the cheese wheel in the marketplace. I remember it now. Lots more where that came from. Now on the first day of the week, this is the first time in the New Testament that we see.
This is the first time that we see they were celebrating on Sunday, the Lord's Day. It's first time in Acts. First time in the New Testament as far as we can see. Now on the day that Christ was risen, you know, it mentions that, but this is where we see it happening. At Troas, predominantly Gentile area.
First day of the week, when we were gathered together, break bread to take communion, to eat together, it was on a Sunday. Paul began talking to them and he was intending to leave the next day. So, he's there. The running buddies are there with him. This other sailing party has joined and now we're going to keep on going.
And he was talking to them intending to leave the next day, that's important. And he prolonged his message until midnight. Oh my goodness. Good grief. Like I've been in church at 12:15 and thought, oh my goodness.
My uncle Jerry would not have been happy with Paul. My uncle Jerry was the clock watcher. He's the... This guy. He prolonged his message.
He had so much he wanted to tell him. Now, in Troas, the first time through, it looks like, and we can't tell exactly how long he was there. He was praying and he has this vision in the middle of night, but he left. He might not have spent a long time in Troas. He might not have thoroughly covered that ground.
And so, he's telling him everything he's got to say in the same day. He prolonged his message until midnight and there were many lamps in that upstairs room, Luke says, where we were gathered together, he was there. And there was a young man. The way that it says young man, it's probably eight to 14 years old, usually, that would be the way to be understood. That a lad of eight to 14 and his name was Eutychus.
And Eutychus, which means fortunate or lucky, He was lucky to be there in an all day sermon that lasted till midnight. There was a young man who was named Eutychus, he was sitting on the windowsill, and he was sinking into a deep sleep as Paul kept on talking. We've all been there, Uticus. But Uticus was overcome by sleep, and he fell down from the 3rd Floor, and he was picked up dead. Oh my goodness.
This this is almost funny up until that point when you see that Uticus is there and he's falling asleep, and it's... We can all make jokes about the press going on and on and on. I said for the seven sons of Sceva a couple weeks ago that, you know, for the demon to jump on them. I know Jesus and I know about Paul, but who are you? And then jumps on them and they all leave the room naked and wounded.
I said, that's kind of comic relief. Unless you're one of the seven sons of Sceva. And this is kind of comic relief unless you're one of Eutychus' people and they all were. They're gathered in the same upper room. This is a horrible horrible thing.
He falls out of a 3rd Floor window. He's picked up dead and when Paul went down, Paul went down and he fell upon him and when he lay over him and embraced him, he said, do not be troubled for he's still alive. Now, don't take that to mean that he fell and we thought he was dead. He was dead. Luke was a physician.
He was dead, but he was resurrected right here and this calls back to Jairus' daughter, it calls back to Jesus' ministry where he raised Lazarus, for Elijah and Elisha and the Shunammite woman, it's all about resurrection. The miracles I say authenticate the message. The message that Paul is preaching in this horribly unfortunate event and then God shows up and revives this young man. Don't be troubled for he is still alive and when Paul had gone back up and he had broken the bread and he kept on talking to him for a long while more, just like a preacher until daybreak. That's like six hours after midnight and then he left.
And they took away the boy alive and they were all greatly comforted. By the words of the gospel and a demonstration of the power of God, yes, it is truly all about resurrection. I will say that being in this job, I I have come across things that have been really really really horrible and heinous and the comfort that we take away from it is resurrection. There is a resurrection. There is a resurrection where we understand in part and that one who has passed now sees things just as clear as a bell.
Any doubts, any kind of fears, any kind of cloudiness that they had in this life, any kind of struggle that they had in this life for trusting in Jesus is gone forevermore. Absolute peace for eternal life and joy forevermore. Unspeakable and full of glory. They took the boy away alive and they were greatly comforted. This did not show up very well.
This is a tapestry from the sixteenth century and it's three scenes from Paul. You see the burning of the magic books in Ephesus right there. And up here is the... This scene. And you see the two men running down the stairs and we see maybe Paul, although Paul had cut his hair at century, so maybe not.
We don't know exactly how long this went on. He's lying down upon this boy and the women are scared and there's a there's a little purse on this one disciple that's running down. This is the same place if you look at Romans 15. This is the same trip where Paul is gathering a collection from the Gentile churches for Jerusalem. It's an interesting thing that things that artists pick up.
He's catching at the moment of this boy is dead. It's hard to it's hard to say he's resurrected in in thread. But it just goes straight from the story of Uticus, which is an amazing resurrection story and brings up the parallel of the gospels, brings up the parallel of the old testament prophets of this is going to come to pass. The goodness of God, future oriented out there in front of us, faith looking forward, hope looking forward to something that's absolutely will come to pass, resurrection, and has not come to pass for all yet. And then it goes to this, but when we went ahead to the ship and we set sail for Assos, intending from there to take Paul on board.
That's what we're going to do, for that was what he had arranged intending himself to go by land. So they go from Troas to Assos across this little isthmus, and from Troas to Assos, they sail around and Paul just walks. I'll meet you on the other side. And when he met us at Asos, we took him on board and we came to Middelline. If you say that in Greek, you might say it different.
In Alabama, they said Middelline. It's just outside of Montgomery. Middling is on the Isle Of Lesbos. And so from that, Asos down to Middling, they travel and it says Salem. From there, we arrive the following day opposite Kiosk.
Opposite Chios. Chios, he knew the name of. This is a travelogue too. It was some little place across... I don't know what it was, near Chios.
Maybe it doesn't have a name, but that's where they were, just across from Chios. And the next day, we crossed over to Samos, and on the following day, we came to Miletus, and there they are. Oh, did show up. It's okay. For Paul decided to sail past Ephesus so that he would not have to lose time in Asia.
Have you ever been on a journey? And you thought, if I'm gonna make it to Jerusalem, I can't stop in Ephesus. Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus so he wouldn't have to lose time in Asia for he was hurrying. He was a man on a mission if it might be possible for him to be in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost. That's what he wanted to have happen.
It's a long way from Miletus to Jerusalem. It's 610 miles, and this is not the right time of year to be making that journey, but it's possible, but that's what he wants to do. So he is like, if I don't stop in Ephesus, I know if I stop in Ephesus, I'm gonna have to stay with so and so, and I don't think I'm gonna get out of there. I don't think I can get away from them. He loved these people.
He spent three years there. Actually, let's keep on and let the text tell you where he... What he's thinking. From Miltus, he sent word to Ephesus. He passed Ephesus and then he said, you know what?
It's 60 miles of the round trip. It's 36. It's 30 something miles from Ephesus to Miltus. He's at Miltus on the beach. He sends word to Ephesus and says, tell the elders I'm here.
And so not everybody in the church but the elders come from there And when they came to him, they loved him. They made a 30 mile walk, spur of the moment, didn't know it was coming probably. And when they came to him, said to them, y'all know. You yourself know it's emphatic. Y'all know from the very first day that I set foot in Asia, how I was with you the whole time.
Y'all know me. I was serving the Lord with all humility and you might look at that and go, oh, how humble I am. But no, he's sincere. I was serving the Lord with all humility, trying to do his will and his way, trying to do what he wanted and it was with tears and it was with trials which came upon me through the plots of the Jews among you. Y'all know how it was.
How I did not shrink back from declaring to to y'all anything that was beneficial. Anything that I could find in the Old Testament or in the revealed word of God that Christ gave to him. He argued from the scriptures. He presented from the prophets. How I didn't shrink from declaring to you anything that was beneficial and I didn't shrink from teaching you publicly and from house to house.
I never stopped. I was always on the go. I was solemnly testifying both to the Jews from the book that they ought to know and to the Greeks about repentance toward God and about faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. That's his consuming mission is to spread the actual good news about Jesus and it's good news for the Jew first and also for the Greek and he didn't leave anybody out. Now, behold, bound by the spirit, capital s, Holy Spirit.
I am on my way to Jerusalem. Now, you remember in Luke, Luke's gospel and acts is like volume two. Luke's gospel at 09:50 was it? 951, it says, and Jesus set his face like flint for Jerusalem and nothing was gonna stop him. This is that verse for Paul.
This is the place where he first says it out loud. Now, behold. Now, he's already said he wanted to make it to Jerusalem, but he's doing this in front of his beloved Ephesians. Now behold, bound by the spirit, I'm on my way to Jerusalem not knowing what will happen to me there. Little foreshadowing there, 610 miles.
Except that the Holy Spirit solemnly testifies to me in every city. Whether that's through people or whether that's just directly from God, we don't know. But the Holy Spirit is saying that chains and afflictions await me. Christ walked toward the cross and Paul is walking towards the chains and afflictions, but I don't consider my life of any account as dear to myself. I have surrendered it.
I've given it over to the will of God. Whatever it is that he wants for me, so that I may finish the course that he set for me. He says to the Ephesians later in the letter to the Ephesians, he says that we were saved by grace through faith and that's not of ourselves, but it's a gift of God so that no one can boast. We are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works and Paul says, I wanna do mine. That's what I'm surrendered towards.
I wanna finish out my course in the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus. I want to testify solemnly of the gospel of God's grace and grace is unmerited favor. All of Paul's zeal was misdirected up until that road to Damascus. He was very zealous and he was very learned and then Christ said, you are my chosen instrument to the Gentiles. You are the one that I'm sending forward And all that he ever said was, it's God's grace.
I don't deserve to be here. I got knocked off of my high horse. When I was opposed to him, he reached out to me. He's not ashamed of the gospel. He's not ashamed of Jesus Christ.
He is walking he is walking... When he finds out about a plot or a danger, he walks around it. He knows there's trouble waiting for him in Jerusalem and he walks towards it, but he is convinced that he has to get to Jerusalem. So he doesn't want anything to stop that from happening. To testify solemnly of the gospel of God's grace and now behold, I know that all of y'all among whom I went about preaching the kingdom, y'all aren't going to see me again.
That's hard truth. Y'all are not going to see me again. Y'all are not going to see my face. Now, for somebody who'd spent three years teaching every day house to house in public, in the synagogue before that, that's hard truth. Therefore, I testify to you this day, I'm innocent of the blood of all the people.
I've done the best I could. I've done the best I could. Now, the disciples are gathered there. His running buddies are gathered there. The elders of the church at Ephesus are there and he's saying, I've done the best I can and then in a way he's saying, carry it from here.
Y'all carry the ball forward from here. I've done the best I could. I'm I'm innocent of the blood of all the people. Everybody I've come into contact with, I've done the best I could to let them know. The love of God by the way I live my life and by the way I use my words and I I I wanna say that.
I wanna say that. Lord, I'm doing my best to do what I can so that I may be innocent of the blood of all people. For I didn't shrink away from declaring to you the whole purpose of God and I had a professor in seminary who was fond of saying, the mission of God is a blessing for all peoples And so, he wants for those who are a part of the kingdom of darkness to come into the kingdom of light and he's made the way available. He's made the way available through Christ and he's saying the gospel is the whole purpose of God. And then he gives them a solemn warning.
These are the elders, be on guard. Y'all be on guard for yourselves and be on guard for all of the flock among whom... Among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. He said, this is not a message just for every single everybody, this is just for y'all. Y'all have to be careful when you're going forward from here.
Be on guard for yourselves, be on guard for the flock. Y'all are the overseers. Be sure to be shepherding the church of God which he purchased with his own blood. Don't mistreat the sheep. When I read this, I think to...
It's a few slides away, Ezekiel 34. Y'all might not think of Ezekiel 34 a lot, I do. It says, woe to you bad shepherds. Don't mistreat the sheep. I know, Paul says, that after my departure, savage wolves will come in among you and they will not be sparing the flock.
They're out for their own and from among your own selves even. Men are gonna arise and they'll be speaking perverse things to draw away the disciples after them. He's considering everybody in the church the disciples. Okay? It's not a formal title like the capital d disciples from Jesus.
This is like, he's saying that you're the elders, you're the ones who are supposed to be overseeing and shepherding, but some of the sheep are gonna be drawn away by people. Y'all be looking out for them. Woe to you bad shepherds. There are bad shepherds. Therefore, y'all be on the alert.
Be remembering that night and day for a period of three years, I didn't cease to admonish each one of you with tears when necessary. Always encouraging, but also letting you know when you're off course by the scripture, always by the spirit, and now Paul says, I entrust y'all to God and to the word of his unmerited favor, his grace. I'm entrusting y'all to God. I'm leaving. I'm not going to see your face again.
I have to go and kind of turn the page here, But what I'm doing is I'm leaving you all to God in the word of his grace and that grace is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all of those who are sanctified. Trust in God. Trust in God's grace. Don't presume upon it. Trust in it.
He's got you covered. I'm going to move on. This for some reason just seemed like a a quote to put on a pillow. It's a cross stitch sampler. I trust you to God and to the word of his grace which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.
This points to resurrection. It also points to a sanctifying Holy Spirit that stays with us and is concerned about the now too. Not just the pie in the sky by and by. I've covered in no one's silver, gold, or clothes. How are we doing on that, Jackson?
You yourselves know that these hands serve my own needs and the men who are with me. Paul was a tentmaker and he's saying that he was applying his trade on this journey. He was doing hard work while he was ministering. We hear about the ministry, we don't hear as much about the hard work. In everything I showed you that by working hard in this way, you must help out the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus that it's better and more blessed to give than it is to receive.
Paul, calling back to Christ and going, work hard so that you have something to give. There are commentators who blast Paul for taking up a collection as he went back through the Gentiles to go to Jerusalem, but he was led of the spirit to do it. He was led of the spirit to tie the Gentile churches and the Jerusalem churches who were suffering together. It's more blessed to give than it is to receive. When he had said all of these things, there on the beach at Miletus, he knelt down and he prayed with them all and they all began to weep aloud and they embraced Paul, and they repeatedly kissed him, and they were grieving together, especially over the word which he had spoken, and that they would not see his face again.
Grief is hard. Grief is hard. And when when people pass, when people die, we know we're not gonna see them again and that's that's just about the hardest part. That's the hardest thing is that we don't get to see them again. It leaves an ache in our hearts and he had solemnly testified it.
So, he he wasn't saying that he would die and they hadn't seen him die. They had actually seen resurrection not far away from there and hearing about it all the time but grieving especially over the word that they're not going to see him again. And they were accompanying him to the ship. That's the close of chapter 20 and we'll go from there to 21. Not next week.
Next week, I've got a special word for the fair and then we'll pick up the travel log when we come back after that. I'm gonna invite the band back up. Will you all pray with me? Lord God almighty, when baffling and bewildering circumstances come upon us when we lose someone, Lord, I pray that you would give us the hope of the resurrection. I pray lord that our lenses and our eyes would see things more and more clearly because of faith in you, because of trusting in the gospel and in the grace of God.
I pray Lord that we would be like Paul seeking to do everything we can to bring everyone into your kingdom. Whether that is silently in prayer from a distance, Lord because that is important or whether it is when given the chance, we speak a good word or we do a good deed. Would you show us the way that you want for us to proceed forward? In Jesus name, really, in Jesus name, gathered here, lord, not just knowing about Jesus but knowing Jesus. Would you allow us to move forward, Lord, the way that you want us to.
That's what we lay it down. In Jesus name, amen.
Speaker 2Amen. Will you please stand up and let's worship the Lord? Book of Acts, it's so good, isn't it? I mentioned to pastor Ray this week that if you would decide to go three times in a row over the book of Acts, I wouldn't mind. It's that good.
Come down, fountain of every blessing. Tune my heart to sing thy grace. Amen.
Speaker 1I yesterday. Just as placid as it can be. And now, I, Ray, commend you all to God and to the word of his grace which is able to build you up and it's able to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified. Lord, God almighty, spirit, may we place our faith in you so directly lord that whether we see each other or not. Lord, that you will do the work that you have started in us.
Lord God almighty, when we hear of catastrophe, may we think first of you. May our first response be prayer for everyone affected and it may not just be our last resort when we don't have anything else we think we can do about it. Jesus, thank you for your death. Spirit, thank you for your direction. God, thank you for your mighty and awesome will.
Would you allow us, Lord, a place in it. In Jesus name, amen. Amen.
