Latest / Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast / #24483 - Steady Obedience No Matter the Obstacles - Acts 21:1-25

Transcript

#24483 - Steady Obedience No Matter the Obstacles - Acts 21:1-25 · Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast

0:04
Welcome to the study of God's Word with pastor and author Ed
0:08
Taylor, recorded live at Calvary Church in Aurora, Co.
0:12
To learn more about the many resources available through
0:14
Abounding Grace Media or to tune into our live stream services,
0:18
visit us online at Calvary Co dot Church or download our free
0:24
Calvary Church app. Now.
0:25
Here's Pastor Ed to take us into our study.
0:31
Amen. Take your Bibles, open them to
0:33
Acts chapter 21 as we start a new chapter today.
0:37
I've entitled the Bible studies Steady Obedience No Matter the
0:41
Obstacles. Or you could also title it
0:44
Steady obedience no matter of all the voices that are there
0:50
that might try to take your attention.
0:52
That's a far longer title. So let's stick with despite the
0:55
obstacles because you'll face a lot of obstacles in your path of
0:59
obedience. There will be things and there
1:01
will be people and there will be voices, and there will be
1:04
circumstances that will cause you to doubt and cause you to
1:08
want to retreat. Or like we read in the Psalm
1:10
today, to be like a dove man and just fly away and just to go
1:14
into the wilderness. This is not what I wanted.
1:16
This is not what I expected. And yet you're right in the
1:20
middle of God's will for your life, and He's using it to make
1:23
you a stronger woman and a stronger man for His purposes
1:28
that he has bought you and me with his precious blood.
1:31
We see that in the life of Paul here.
1:33
Notice verse one of chapter 21. It says now it came to pass that
1:38
when we had departed from them and set sail, running a straight
1:42
course, we came to cost the following day to roads and from
1:47
there to Patera. Finding a ship sailing over to
1:51
Phoenicia, we went aboard and set sail.
1:55
When we had sighted Cyprus, we passed it on the left, sailed to
1:58
Syria, landed a tire for the ship, was there to unload her
2:03
cargo, and finding disciples, we stayed there seven days.
2:09
Pause there for a moment and notice Paul has left the area of
2:12
Miletus now. Where we are now in Paul's life
2:17
is at the end of his third missionary journey.
2:20
His third missionary journey started back in chapter 18.
2:23
He left the home base of the church in Antioch and he went
2:27
through Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening the disciples.
2:32
He came to Corinth and planted a church there and served there
2:35
almost two years. From Corinth, he headed off to
2:38
Ephesus where he ministered for another three years.
2:42
You'll remember in Ephesus there was a great revival.
2:46
A massive amount of people would throw away their magic books and
2:49
their idolatry and came to know the living Christ.
2:54
But then Demetrius got upset. We learned when we studied that
2:58
section how the people that make money off of sin often get mad
3:03
at the church. Demetrius was making money off
3:06
of sin. He was making idols and because
3:09
the idolatry, he could see the writing on the wall that
3:12
Christianity would change his business.
3:15
He got everybody that made idols with him, caused a riot and Paul
3:19
had to leave. He comes to my lead as Paul does
3:23
on that sure of my lead us, and he calls for the elders of
3:27
Ephesus to come to him to have those final exhortations.
3:30
We studied that in our previous studies in Acts chapter 20, and
3:35
it's here in chapter 21. We'll pick up in verse 37 of
3:39
chapter 20 by way of context. Context, he says.
3:42
Then they all wept freely, fell on Paul's neck and kissed him,
3:46
sorrowing most of all for the words which he spoke, that they
3:50
would see his face no more. And they company into the ship
3:53
and it came to pass when they departed.
3:55
Very emotional scene. He takes off, he's following
3:59
this course and finally ends up in verse three in Tyre, where
4:03
the ship's going to unload his cargo.
4:05
And then the next thing we see in Tyre in verse 4 is that he
4:08
found disciples. Now the words finding you can
4:12
circle it. If you like to write in your
4:13
Bibles, you can write next to this word.
4:16
He searched out instead of resting for the seven days.
4:21
He really wanted to be in fellowship with other believers.
4:24
And he searched for disciples and he found them and he stayed
4:28
with them for seven days and hung out in that area for seven
4:31
days. And it was while he was there in
4:33
verse 4 that they told Paul through the Spirit not to go up
4:40
to Jerusalem. This is a challenging time where
4:46
he has heard from the Lord and he's confident in the Lord and
4:49
he's headed to Jerusalem. But not everybody around him is
4:52
supportive. And we have this time here now
4:55
where the Spirit of God has enveloped these people to
5:00
encourage them to tell Paul not to go.
5:03
Now, there's a little bit of debate on this.
5:05
There's two ways of looking at this verse.
5:07
One is, is that the Spirit of God gave a very specific message
5:11
to this group to tell him not to go, which is not where I think
5:16
this text leads us, Although some people might think that.
5:19
Another way of looking at is this group of disciples were in
5:23
the Spirit and they believed that what they were saying was
5:26
from the Spirit and they gave it to him.
5:29
And we'll see this in a moment where this is just another
5:32
example of all the voices that come into our lives when we're
5:35
taking steps of faith. When you choose to obey God,
5:39
there will be people that want to share their opinion with you
5:43
where you know, Paul knew and he's confident.
5:46
By the time we're finished our study today, you will see from
5:49
the text how confident Paul was and how I believe it was God's
5:53
will for Paul to go to Jerusalem.
5:55
But not everybody agreed. There were others that believed
5:58
otherwise. And there is this constant
6:01
tension between men and women living in faith and other
6:05
people, men and women that could also be living in faith but
6:08
disagreeing with a decision. And there's this tension that
6:13
what we believe is from God and then what other people think
6:16
about it. Opinions, thoughts, advice,
6:21
they're always in abundance. But Paul moves on.
6:24
It says he found disciples. He was there at the end of that
6:27
seven days, verse five, when he had come to the end of those
6:30
days, we departed, went on our way.
6:33
They all accompanied us, the wives, the kids till we're out
6:36
of the city and we knelt down on the shore and prayed, which must
6:40
have been very beautiful. I also think those entire
6:44
receiving from the Lord that it's going to be tough for Paul
6:47
in Jerusalem recognizes they'll probably never see him again.
6:51
So they get all the family and go, hey, this is an unusual
6:53
occasion and let's get him going.
6:56
By the way, this is a model that just this verse here, they
6:59
brought the kids and the wives out to follow Paul in ministry.
7:03
This is a model that was handed down to us, my family, one that
7:08
I have followed over the years. And that is even when the kids
7:11
were super, super young, I would try to bring the kids with me
7:15
and anything I was doing for the Lord.
7:17
I just want him to see it. I want him to experience it.
7:20
It it back in the day for seven years when we met in a school,
7:23
we had to show up super early to set everything up and put
7:27
everything together. And I'd be waking up the kids to
7:29
come early with me. Hey, there's an empty seat in my
7:32
car. Why don't you come early with me
7:34
and let's do ministry together. I want you to learn that with
7:38
your kids. Bring your kids along as much as
7:41
you possibly can. Bring your kids along.
7:44
Obviously you bring your kids along to church for sure, but as
7:47
God has enlisted wherever is possible, bring your kids and
7:51
let them not only hear about the things of God, but let them see
7:56
it with their own eyes and experience it.
7:59
There's a lot of pressure, you know, because you're looking at
8:01
your time, right? You're looking at your time and
8:03
the kids got sports and the kids got this and the kids got this,
8:06
this and the kids got this. And when it's out on the table,
8:09
I'll tell you one of the things that suffers is doing things
8:13
together for the Lord. So be sure, be sure that that's
8:18
a priority in your prayer as you're praying about what the
8:22
kids are involved in. You know, my kids were involved
8:24
in sports and all sorts of things, but I wanted them to be
8:28
with me. I wanted us to do things
8:30
together as much as possible. And I just love that.
8:32
That could be a whole Bible study in and of itself.
8:35
The power of being together and knowing that God is going to
8:40
bless it. So they go, they say goodbye to
8:41
him. It says in verse six, when we
8:44
had taken our leave of one another, we boarded the ship and
8:48
they returned home. And when we had finished our
8:52
voyage from Tyre, we came to Ptolemais.
8:56
We greeted the brethren and stayed with them for a day.
8:59
That was about a 25 mile journey there.
9:01
On the next day we were Paul's companions, departed and came to
9:06
Caesarea and entered the House of Philip the Evangelist, who
9:11
was one of the seven, and stayed with him.
9:14
Now this man had four virgin daughters who prophesied.
9:17
So we have back-to-back examples of families being together in
9:22
ministry. But here, Philip, you'll
9:24
remember we met Philip back in Acts chapter 6.
9:27
Philip was one of the original men that God raised up to serve
9:31
the early church. Remember when the widows were
9:34
upset with one another and they were, there was one group
9:36
feeling neglected. The apostle said, look, we can't
9:39
leave the word of God in prayer. We need to find these men that
9:43
are filled with the Holy Spirit, men of wisdom.
9:45
They found Philip and Philip's friend, you remember his name
9:51
was Stephen. So I want you to think of three
9:53
people together, Saul of Tarsus, Philip and Stephen.
10:00
You'll remember with Stephen, he was the first martyr, the first
10:06
one that was stoned to death by the religious leaders of the
10:10
day. Stephen was stoned to death.
10:14
And as the religious leaders were taking off their cloaks so
10:17
that they might be able to hurl these stones in a more freeway,
10:22
who was the one holding the clothes?
10:25
Saul of Tarsus. Not only that, there's some
10:27
indication in the text that Saul, in his official religious
10:31
capacity, cast his vote for the stoning of Stephen as well.
10:37
So Fast forward now, 20 years later.
10:41
Paul's traveling on his way to Jerusalem.
10:43
He comes to Caesarea, finds out that Philip is there, shows up
10:48
at Philip's door, knocks on the door, and how did Phillip answer
10:54
the door? I'll tell you.
10:56
He answered the door with a heart of forgiveness.
11:00
A heart of forgiveness. This would have been a deep
11:02
wound, you know, to watch your best friend or a Co laborer in
11:06
the ministry or a good friend be stoned to death before your own
11:10
eyes. And to meet now, 20 years later,
11:14
a man, if not completely complicit, partially complicit
11:19
with it, to show up at your front door with your family, how
11:23
does he answer the door? I think in forgiveness.
11:26
The alternative, of course, is to hold it against all the rest
11:28
of his life. If you were with us, this last
11:31
midweek Bible study, we studied in Exodus chapter 15, how the
11:35
children of Israel, they just finished singing the song of
11:38
Moses and worshipping God, and they're so excited that he
11:42
delivered them and that they're free.
11:44
And the Egyptians didn't get them and they're heading into
11:46
the promised land. And then the text says in Acts
11:48
15, at the end, just three days later, just three days later,
11:54
they find themselves coming to a place of water and they're
11:57
thirsty. And as they're taking the water,
11:59
the waters are bitter. 3 days later, the bitter waters made
12:07
them come against their leader, Moses and complain against God.
12:13
For some listening to me, it doesn't take three days.
12:15
For some, it just takes 3 seconds or three minutes where
12:21
bitterness has taken root in your heart and it has deep, deep
12:24
roots and it's completely skewed the way you look at life and
12:29
look at people. There may be a soul or two in
12:33
your life that's brought you deep pain and deep sorrow.
12:37
And how will you answer the door 20 years later?
12:41
That's really the question. If you weren't with us, you
12:44
should get the study. I believe God used it.
12:46
It's an expansion of the study I did in Hebrews on the topic of
12:50
bitterness. The answer for the children of
12:54
Israel, then is the answer for us.
12:57
Moses was instructed to cut down a tree and throw it into the
12:59
water. And he did.
13:02
He cut down the tree, threw it into the water, and the Bible
13:04
says the waters became sweet and it becomes a picture for us, a
13:09
type. That tree represents the cross
13:12
of Jesus Christ and the way to deal with the bitter waters in
13:16
your life, which we all have a Mara to.
13:19
By the way. That's what they called the
13:21
waters, the waters of Mara, which in Hebrew means bitter.
13:26
The only way out of bitterness is to throw the cross in.
13:30
And we forgive great sin because of how great we've been
13:34
forgiven. We extend the agape love to
13:37
others because of the agape love extended to us.
13:41
Philip answered the door with forgiveness.
13:43
Now listen. Saul showed up to the door in
13:47
repentance. Forgiveness is one thing, but
13:51
repentance is necessary for reconciliation.
13:55
I mean, if the person doesn't change and they continue,
13:57
continue, continue, You will be unable to reconcile and restore
14:02
relationship, but you're fully able to forgive.
14:05
Those are two different things. Forgiveness releases you,
14:10
repentance brings you together. And so if Saul would have showed
14:14
up, if Saul would have showed up to the door, not Paul, then I
14:17
could already see the way the story will go.
14:19
He's going to run in. He's going to protect the kids.
14:21
He's going to get them out the back door.
14:23
He is not going to have the kind of relationship that comes with
14:26
repentance where, yeah, the pain is still there and nothing's
14:30
going to bring Steven back. But they could say, and you can
14:34
imagine the conversations that they had of just how much regret
14:38
he's in Paul's heart. I mean, if he could do it all
14:42
over again, it would be different.
14:44
But how encouraged he is to see Philip and his family serving
14:47
the Lord all these 20 years later.
14:52
Just one of those, what a small world moment, you know?
14:54
Have you ever had them? I don't have too many here.
14:57
But growing up, you know, where I got saved at the Calvary near
15:00
my house, I would have these moments all the time.
15:02
I'd be in a service just like you.
15:04
Where's it being the Lord singing out?
15:06
And I look down to the left and I'm like, whoa.
15:08
And after the song's over, we're greeting.
15:10
I'd walk down the the Pew there. And I go, what are you doing
15:13
here, man? So I'm a buddy from my past.
15:16
And you know what his response was?
15:17
What are you doing here? And together we're like, man,
15:21
look what God has done. Look what God has done.
15:26
And I hear those stories a lot here in the neighborhood from
15:29
you guys where you grew up and the people you hung around with.
15:33
And now years later, look what God has done.
15:37
I don't want you to forget to be praying for the people you grew
15:40
up with, the people you hung around with, maybe the people
15:43
you send with or the people that hurt you deeply because of their
15:46
sin. Because God is still, he is
15:50
still working on the earth today, church changing people,
15:54
and you just don't know who's going to show up sitting next to
15:56
you. You just don't know.
15:58
And you got to be ready to answer the door in forgiveness
16:02
and not bitterness. Can you imagine what would have
16:06
happened if Paul showed up to Phillip's house in bitterness?
16:10
I'll tell you one of the things that probably wouldn't have
16:12
happened is he wouldn't have had four daughters that were
16:14
prophesying because bitterness would have defiled them.
16:19
The home would have been filled with it.
16:22
Instead, we see great success here.
16:24
So he's hanging out with Phillip.
16:25
What an amazing that just had to be amazing that that's only God
16:29
could do that. That's just this little text
16:32
here. Only God can bring Philip and
16:34
Paul together. 20 years later after the atrocious murder of
16:38
Stephen. Only God can do that.
16:40
And I wonder how many stories we have in the room today, but how
16:43
many more stories will still be yet written where we're writing
16:46
down our testimony or typing into our writing in our journal
16:50
and we just like, say, look what God has done.
16:53
This is unbelievable. Exactly.
16:55
It's supernatural, the work of God.
16:57
Well, while he's at Philip's house enjoying fellowship with
17:01
his family, notice what happens. Verse 10, We stayed many days
17:05
and a certain prophet named Agabus came down from Jerusalem,
17:11
and when he come to us, he took Paul's belt, bound his own
17:15
hands, his feet, and said, Thus says the Holy Spirit, so shall
17:20
the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man who owns this belt and
17:24
deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.
17:27
And when we heard these things, both we and those from that
17:31
place pleaded with him not to go up to Jerusalem and just mark
17:35
the word we, because Luke is writing this.
17:38
So Luke his doctor, Luke his companion, Luke his ministry
17:42
partner, including everyone else in Caesarea that are there,
17:46
they're begging Paul not to go. And notice Paul's answer.
17:49
Verse 13 What do you mean by weeping and breaking my heart?
17:53
For I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die at
17:57
Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.
18:00
And so when he would not be persuaded, we ceased saying the
18:05
will of the Lord be done. And that's the best place to
18:09
end. But it's actually the best place
18:10
to be when you're dealing with a situation, there's disagreement,
18:14
hey, the will of the Lord be done.
18:16
I just commend you to God and the word of his grace and let
18:19
God's will be done through this situation.
18:24
We first met Agabus, this prophet, back in Acts Chapter
18:29
11. He's the one that predicted the
18:30
famine that did come to pass. And what a character Agabus was.
18:35
He was a prophet in line with the prophets of old, animated
18:39
dynamic, very serious, like Isaiah.
18:42
You remember with Isaiah, Isaiah walks around.
18:45
He was told by God to walk around naked as a message to the
18:49
nation. Aren't you glad that's not God's
18:51
call for you? Can you imagine?
18:52
We're going to be bailing you out if that was the call of God,
18:55
He's like, what is wrong with you?
18:56
But that was the call upon Isaiah, I think of Jeremiah.
18:59
Jeremiah was told to go bury some underwear in the ground and
19:03
then later bring it out, put it on and wear it as a testimony to
19:08
the nation. So walking around with just your
19:10
dirty underwear on, that was a message.
19:13
John the Baptist, he's kind of the bridge from the Old
19:16
Testament to the New Testament prophets.
19:18
John the Baptist had this view, this air about him where he was
19:22
just eating locusts and wild honey and he had this sackcloth
19:26
on and he was that this this character of a man.
19:29
Well, Agabus, he as well has this characteristic around him.
19:33
And he comes and he takes the belt of Paul and he wraps
19:36
himself up in it. And he says the one that owns
19:38
this belt is going to have serious things happen to him in
19:43
Jerusalem. It's not going to be good.
19:46
It's going they're going to bind him and deliver him into the
19:49
hands of the Gentiles. And so everybody picks up on
19:53
that and begins to beg him not to go.
19:58
I mean, they're begging him emotionally, very animated.
20:01
In the Middle East, it was very common as you're bartering and
20:05
arguing that it's very animated, very emotional.
20:09
But Paul, he stands firm. He says in verse 13, why are you
20:12
guys baking? My heart?
20:14
I know what I'm supposed to do and I know where I'm supposed to
20:16
go. And whatever Agabus says or
20:19
anyone else, I'm going to Jerusalem.
20:24
We need to pause here for a second because when you are
20:29
living a life of faith, just trusting God, living everyday
20:32
life, and even more so beginning to take steps of faith, when
20:38
you're wanting to obey God, you're going to get steady
20:43
resistance. You want to have steady
20:46
obedience in the steady resistance.
20:49
You're going to have obstacles along the way you're going to
20:53
face, and I think the greatest obstacle is you're going to face
20:57
many voices. You're going to hear a lot of
21:00
voices when you choose to step out and obey God.
21:04
And let me just, I guess put it this way, the greater the step,
21:08
the more voices and louder the voices are.
21:10
If you're taking notes, let me give you a list of things to
21:13
watch out for when you're living this life of faith and you're
21:16
wanting to take steps of faith and taking huge steps of faith,
21:20
you want to watch out for these voices.
21:22
There's a lot of petition for your attention and your
21:25
allegiance. There's many voices out there
21:27
and here they are in no particular order, number one.
21:30
Number one, you need to watch out for your own voice, which
21:34
might be your greatest adversary, quite frankly, your
21:36
own voice, the voice of doubts, the voice of second guessing
21:40
ourselves, the voice of being unsure, the voice of once you
21:44
get there you go. I don't know.
21:45
This was not from the Lord. I thought I heard from the Lord
21:47
and and you're just messing around with yourself in your own
21:50
head. You got to watch out.
21:51
Anybody have a battle with their own voice?
21:53
Sometimes, yes. OK, good.
21:55
That's one. I'm probably my greatest battle
21:58
is in my head. And you got to watch out for it
22:00
because you can talk yourself out of faith like God leads you
22:04
to a place. Like when you feel like the
22:06
Lord's calling you to do something, do it.
22:08
Because if you give any time, you'll probably talk yourself
22:11
out of it. And then you're like, when I
22:13
don't understand what's happening, I don't hear from the
22:15
whole Lord anymore. And he goes, no, no, no, you
22:17
heard just clearly. You just talk yourself out of it
22:20
#2 I want you to watch out for the voices in this world.
22:24
This culture. The voice of this culture is
22:27
really loud. We're living, we're eating,
22:32
we're drinking, we're working in this world.
22:35
And the world has a message. And the message of this culture
22:39
is Antichrist. The message of this culture is
22:45
Antichrist. It is not the way of the world,
22:49
the way of the Lord. It's the way of the world.
22:51
It's the culture. It is the the atmosphere of this
22:56
world does not lead a person toward the Lord.
22:59
It leads a person away from the world.
23:02
And we have picked up things along the way in our living in
23:06
this world. If you were educated like I was
23:08
at a very young age, I was in all the public schools.
23:11
I picked things up very early on, even many years ago that I
23:16
carry with me that I need to continually sacrifice before God
23:20
because the world's ways are not God's ways.
23:22
Let me give you one, Let me give you one that I think is very,
23:25
very popular, especially in the United States of America, that
23:28
we've been given from a very young age, and that is from a
23:31
very young age. We were taught to go after the
23:34
American. Oh, you know about it.
23:39
There's no such thing as the American dream.
23:41
It was made-up by some marketer or somebody along the way to
23:45
keep you in the rat race, to keep you running, running,
23:48
running. Because I mean, if you're here
23:49
today, I mean, if you think about the American Dream, if
23:51
you're listening to my voice today and you think you've done
23:54
pretty well, then you and then you're thinking there's more,
23:57
there's more, there's more. If you're listening to my voice
24:00
today, go. You know, I don't know anything
24:01
about the American Dream. I haven't really attained it.
24:03
Then you beat yourself up and you what?
24:05
There's more, there's more, there's more, until finally at
24:08
the end you look back on your life and you have given, given,
24:11
given, given, given, given, given, given to this world.
24:17
And the American dream is not the Kingdom of God because Jesus
24:23
teaches us to seek first the Kingdom of God and His
24:28
righteousness. Then all these things will be
24:29
added unto us. Now hear me carefully.
24:32
Those of you that have more resources than trusted by God,
24:35
what does God want you to do with them?
24:37
He wants you to use them for His Kingdom.
24:39
Those of you that have less resources here in this world,
24:42
what does he want you to do with them?
24:44
Use them for the Kingdom of God. It's not about what we have and
24:46
what we don't have. It's about our priorities.
24:50
But if you grew up in this culture, I mean, it's just like
24:52
bam, you just keep going. You keep going, keep going.
24:54
And if you find yourself going after a career and looking to go
24:59
to school, excellent and wonderful.
25:02
Just do it. Second to seeking first, the
25:06
Kingdom of God. You belong to him.
25:09
So that everything. You have has been given to you
25:12
by him and the world has a voice.
25:15
You got to watch out for it. Thirdly, another voice to watch
25:18
out for are is bad counsel, bad counsel even from people you
25:24
trust, just bad counsel, emotional counsel.
25:26
People will hear what you say. And you, I want you to think
25:29
about this for a second. Your step of faith stirs up your
25:33
friends. Did you know that stirs up your
25:35
friends? Sometimes for the good, but
25:37
sometimes not so much for the good, because they're not
25:39
willing to take the step and lay it all on the line like you are.
25:42
So sometimes you have to be careful of the voice that will
25:46
try to talk you out of something that actually isn't from the
25:48
Lord at all. They just don't want you to go
25:50
farther than they are. It's not that they don't love
25:53
you. It's not like, no, it's just
25:54
like, man, you're going to take that step of faith and then
25:56
you're going to take off. Oh, where are my kids going to
25:59
grow up with? And what am I?
26:00
And you got all this stuff going on.
26:01
He's like, no, God has told me to do it.
26:05
You go. Can friends give back counsel?
26:07
Oh yes. The Bible says in a.
26:09
Multitude of counselors, there is peace, but also in a
26:12
multitude of counselor counselors that can be
26:14
confusion. You remember Nathan when he came
26:17
to David, Nathan was David's best buddy, most trusted ally.
26:21
Nathan comes to David and he has a strong message to share and it
26:25
and and David needed to hear Nathan's counsel.
26:29
David needed Nathan in his life to tell him this.
26:32
You ready? You are that man.
26:37
He was 100%. Right.
26:38
It was a turning point in David's life and.
26:41
It was, began his. Repentance and everything
26:44
changed in his life when Nathan came and said you are that man
26:47
Perfect. 100% accurate, but you'll remember later, Nathan
26:51
was in David's life and Dave was just talking about, you know, I
26:54
want to build a temple. I want to build a temple.
26:55
What did Nathan tell him? Do everything that's in your
26:58
heart. And he was 100% wrong.
27:01
Same buddy, same brother. He was 100% right and 100%
27:06
wrong. And you go, oh man, Ed, what am
27:08
I supposed to do now? You're supposed to train your
27:11
ears to hear the voice of the Lord and be confident in what
27:15
God has given you to do. Because sometimes Nathan has a
27:19
right and sometimes he doesn't. But God always has a right.
27:22
And they give me another voice, another voice, the voice of
27:25
social media. Social media, it's.
27:28
New for our generation, newer in the last 1015 years, social
27:31
media. So that means there's a lot more
27:34
voices out there and and their voices actually change, you
27:36
know, depending on the algorithm.
27:38
So depending on what you're looking at, depending on what
27:41
you know, your phone is listening to you and watching
27:43
you and depending on all that, the voice changes.
27:45
And so you don't want to be making big life decisions
27:48
because you saw some 32nd clip on YouTube or on TikTok.
27:54
It's like I'm going to make a big decision because I heard the
27:56
voice on Dick. No, no, no, no, no.
27:59
No, I saw this clip. On YouTube, you know, don't make
28:02
big decisions by what you're listening on YouTube, even if
28:06
it's me on YouTube. Don't make big.
28:12
Decisions on The Voice of a man. You.
28:17
Train your ears to hear the voice of God because you never
28:22
know. That's why God has given to us
28:25
pastors and teachers. Every good pastor or teacher
28:28
will get your eyes off of him and on to the Lord.
28:33
And you just got to be careful in the world because there's all
28:36
sorts of ideas and all sorts of voices out there that we need to
28:41
be careful. You want to know what the?
28:43
Voice of God sounds like you want to know.
28:46
It sounds like it. It sounds like when you read the
28:49
Bible. I don't know about you, but
28:52
when? I read the Bible.
28:53
Oftentimes I will say the words in my head.
28:55
Sometimes I read it out loud. But most of the time when I'm
28:57
reading, I just kind of say it slows me down a little bit, but
29:00
it reaffirms what I'm saying. So when I'm reading it, when I
29:03
hear the words being said, that is the voice of God.
29:07
The voice of God translated into the English from the Hebrew or
29:10
the Greek is what you are, what you have when you read your
29:13
words. So the more you know the Bible,
29:15
the more you will know what the voice of God sounds like where
29:21
you know, I, I mean, if you hear something like, yeah, go ahead.
29:24
God says it's OK to go steal and rob a bank.
29:28
I mean, come on. Really.
29:30
The Bible is very clear on that. You know the voice of God on
29:32
that thou shalt not steal. It's very clear.
29:36
You don't need the law to tell you that.
29:37
You don't need a police officer to tell you that.
29:39
You don't actually don't even mean a pastor to tell you why,
29:41
because God already told you that.
29:44
And God will give you. Wisdom in the indwelling of the
29:46
Holy Spirit. You want to watch out for voices
29:49
that are out there. Let me give you another one to
29:51
watch out for. And that's the enemy's voice,
29:54
the enemy. He would love to throw ideas and
29:57
thoughts towards you in a variety of different ways to get
30:00
you to believe a lie. That's exactly how mankind fell
30:06
into sin in the garden, was to believe a lie.
30:10
The devil is the father of lies, and you want to be careful with
30:14
the voices that you hear. Turn over now to First Kings
30:17
chapter 19. We have these examples in the
30:19
Bible. They're so good.
30:21
So turn back to First Kings chapter 19 because I want you to
30:24
see this in your own Bible. This is that time when Elijah's
30:28
on the run. Jezebel's threatened his life.
30:30
He's just had this great victory up on Mount Carmel.
30:33
He hears Jezebel's upset. He runs away.
30:36
He's discouraged. He comes to The Cave.
30:39
First Kings chapter 19, verse 11.
30:44
First Kings 19, verse 11. He's in a very vulnerable spot.
30:50
A lot's going on. He he's got everything on his
30:52
mind. He's emotionally charged
30:54
situations hard and notice what happens Then he said, God
30:58
speaking, go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord.
31:01
He told Elijah. And behold, the Lord passed by
31:05
and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the
31:08
rocks and pieces before the Lord.
31:11
But the Lord was not in the wind.
31:13
And after the wind was an earthquake, but the Lord was not
31:16
in the earthquake. And after the earthquake a fire,
31:19
but the Lord was not in the fire.
31:21
And after the fire, a still small voice that just tells me
31:28
in all the activity and noise around me.
31:32
I can hear the. Voice of the Lord.
31:35
And it's not in some. Of the big stuff, you know, the
31:37
breaking of the rocks and the fire and the wind.
31:41
The Lord has a word and He's going to speak it.
31:44
I just need to train myself to hear it in all the chaos.
31:48
Notice it says in verse 13. So it was when Elijah heard it.
31:53
You can hear the voice. Of God, it's not elusive.
31:57
You just got to be careful. Of the other voices then this
31:59
morning I'm in my DeVos. I couldn't sleep so I got up
32:02
super early today I'm in my DeVos and I'm reading about a
32:05
missionary in China just to stir up my faith and see what God
32:08
wants to do in my life and he he this scripture was was shared in
32:12
the chapter that I was reading today.
32:14
So turn over to Isaiah. I thought what a gift to give
32:17
you guys today from my own DeVos this morning.
32:20
Not super happy that I wasn't sleeping, but I'm super happy
32:23
that God can speak to me in it. And I love this.
32:26
Turn over to Isaiah chapter 30. Notice in verse. 21.
32:31
Isaiah 30, verse 21. I love this.
32:36
You can. Trust the Lord, He will take
32:38
care of you, He will speak to you, He will lead you, He will
32:42
guide you. You don't need to be worried
32:43
about all the other voices if you're listening for his so
32:47
notice what he says. Your ears shall hear a word
32:51
behind you saying This is the way.
32:54
Walk in it whenever you turn to the right hand or whenever you
32:59
turn to the left. You can trust the.
33:03
Lord, He's ready to lead you and guide you.
33:07
Maybe not everyone's going to be happy with you.
33:09
I think of this last Wednesday night we had before us on the
33:12
stage, Michelle. Michelle is heading off for 9
33:16
weeks, or excuse me, nine months to go minister in Guatemala.
33:20
She's going to be an English teacher that's going to become a
33:23
bridge to connect kids with the gospel and their families.
33:26
And she's launching off. It's kind of like an
33:28
exploratory. It took all this faith just to
33:30
get to 9 months, this nine month commitment.
33:33
But she's starting to feel the weight.
33:35
She's starting to feel the weight even from her own
33:37
testimony. And we didn't get a chance to
33:38
interview her, but I'm sure if we did interview her, we would
33:42
hear this testimony because it happens quite a bit that there
33:45
are many around her that goes go sister, go sister, go sister.
33:49
But there may be a few among her.
33:51
Are you out of your mind, sister?
33:54
Why would you do that? Why would you sell everything
33:57
and leave it? Look at all the work that you've
33:59
done, the schooling. You have finally got your condo
34:02
and you got your car and you got your life all lined up and
34:05
you're just going to turn your back on it to go to Guatemala to
34:07
minister those strange kids, strangers kids.
34:12
And you know if. You hit you on a weak moment.
34:14
You're like, I don't know, maybe I shouldn't.
34:18
But. You got to drown those voices
34:20
out and hear the voice of the Lord.
34:22
Why is she going to Guatemala? Because God told her to.
34:26
And she'll be there. As long as God has her there and
34:29
if God leads her to a more full time commitment, she'll be like
34:31
my other friend. I have another friend that's
34:35
pastor in Oregon who's just been praying about his life.
34:38
He's been ministering in this church for many, many years, and
34:41
God put upon his heart to move to Europe.
34:44
I mean that he's got an. Established life in Oregon's
34:46
where he was born, where he was raised, now the ministry.
34:49
He's been doing everything about him in Oregon, like this is it.
34:53
He's got it set, he's raising his kids there, everything.
34:55
But God spoke to him and said, I don't want you in Oregon, I want
34:59
you in England. And so when I open up Instagram,
35:02
I'm watching him every time his post comes up.
35:04
He's selling everything. It's all in his front lawn, the
35:08
toaster, the blankets, everything.
35:10
The kids toys, They are taking very little with them because
35:14
God had laid that one little thought led to this, led to
35:18
this. And now he met a brother by the
35:20
way, that it's been. And I met him years ago when he
35:23
was first talking about leaving where he is in England.
35:27
This other brother in England, he's going to Germany.
35:30
I remember meeting him for the very first time years ago.
35:32
He was just talking about maybe I'll do this, maybe.
35:34
Well, then since then, he's been waiting 10 years for the right
35:37
guy to show up so that he can hand the church off and go do
35:40
the ministry he wants to do in Germany.
35:42
And who showed up? My buddy from Oregon.
35:46
And as they connect here he is. And I'm sure if we, if we
35:50
interview my friend, he would say, Oh yeah, there's a few
35:52
people that don't understand, a few people.
35:54
But most of the people they're, they're the, they're, they're
35:56
speaking with the voice of the Lord because we know we're
35:58
supposed to go there. We know we're supposed to go
35:59
there. Even if you came out and told me
36:01
we weren't supposed to go there, I would take it, I'd pray over
36:03
it. But we supposed to go there.
36:04
That's how confident he is. So with all that in mind, let's
36:08
step back for a second and let's ask the question that's needs to
36:12
be asked about Paul. And it's very simple.
36:15
And this is if you guys took the Bible study class that we did,
36:18
teaching how to study the Bible, you were taught how to do this,
36:21
to ask questions of the text and let the text answer them.
36:24
That's what that's how you bring interpretation to a text.
36:28
You let the Bible answer its own question.
36:30
So here's the question, was Paul supposed to go to Jerusalem or
36:35
was God telling him not to go? So you've got this, this
36:40
opposing force where Paul's pretty confident, pretty
36:43
confident, but was it God's will for him to go to Jerusalem, or
36:48
was it God's will for him not to go to Jerusalem?
36:53
And my answer is this, I believe it was God's will, and I'll give
36:57
you the biblical basis for it in a moment, but I believe it was
37:00
God's will. Not only was Paul determined,
37:02
but I believe it was God's desire for him to go to
37:06
Jerusalem. It wasn't just his strong
37:07
personality. It wasn't just him wanting to do
37:09
something. It wasn't just him ignoring God
37:12
and all these voices, but rather he was supposed to be there.
37:15
Let me give you some reasons if you're taking notes #1 Number
37:19
one, you'll remember in the calling of Paul when Ananias
37:23
went to him with the message in Acts Chapter 9.
37:25
Remember what the message was? Acts 915 But the Lord said to
37:29
him, Go. For he Speaking of Paul, is a
37:32
chosen vessel of mine to bear my name before Gentiles, kings, and
37:37
the children of Israel. For I will show him how many
37:42
things he must suffer for my name's sake.
37:45
This is one of the things that the Holy Spirit has been showing
37:48
Paul that he must suffer going to Jerusalem #1 #2 Paul is
37:57
demonstrating to us something that we must learn how to live
38:00
in our own lives. And that's this.
38:03
He had a financial offering that he took from the Gentile
38:08
churches to help the hurting church in Jerusalem.
38:12
And he is determined to take that offering to the church.
38:15
And you go, well, what? What is that that we have to
38:18
learn? And it's very simple.
38:19
You ready? Jesus taught us that you're yes,
38:23
should be a yes. And he's living it out right
38:26
here. He made a commitment and he's
38:29
going to keep it. He made it under the Lord and he
38:32
told the churches what he was doing and he's going to keep it.
38:36
This is greatly lacking in the church today, unfortunately.
38:40
Again, it's kind of like the culture influencing the church
38:43
where it's like so many believers, they say one thing,
38:45
but they do something else. And church, one of the greatest
38:48
way. I mean, I would say probably one
38:50
of the top five complaints against churches.
38:52
Why? Why they think we're so
38:53
hypocritical is because the church in the world doesn't keep
38:56
their word. We need to keep our.
38:59
Word. This is an area of life that God
39:00
uses in my life. Where he leads me.
39:03
To a point of commitment and I don't go back on it otherwise I,
39:08
I want to go back on it. Like recently I made a
39:09
commitment to another church to do some ministry with them.
39:13
And I looked at, I looked at my calendar and all that was
39:16
needed. And I'm like, yes, I'd, I'm
39:18
going to do it. And as soon as I said yes, then
39:21
they started showing me what the commitment was.
39:24
I should have said show me birds, but I did.
39:26
So they started showing me I'm like, oh man, this is a lot.
39:29
And then another one, I was like, this is a lot.
39:32
And then I got a text. I go, hey, I got two more things
39:34
for you. And I'm thinking, you know what,
39:36
I think I should just cancel that.
39:37
I, I got too much going on. I got too many, like I got too
39:41
much. It's all but the Holy Spirit.
39:43
But Ed, you said, yes, I'm like, I know.
39:47
I said, yes, I know. And I'm wrestling with God in
39:50
prayer. And eventually I just text back.
39:52
I go, Hey, not only do I'll do these two things, but I'll do
39:54
whatever you want me to do. And just I made my commitment.
39:57
So I don't even know why I'm wrestling with it.
39:59
I said yes. Doesn't matter what they asked
40:01
me to do, I said yes I. I want to keep my commitment.
40:04
If they have more than I want to do more.
40:06
If they I get there and they want me to do less, I'll do
40:09
less. But the key.
40:11
Is to make that commitment. Some of you, that's what you
40:14
need to do. You need to make a commitment.
40:16
One of the reasons why we keep asking for help in the church is
40:18
not merely because we have we need help in the church.
40:21
It's not. The church can get go on just
40:23
fine without all the ministries, anything.
40:25
We'll just sing and teach the Bible no problem.
40:28
But you know when you step in and make a commitment, God grows
40:31
you up. And when you make a commitment.
40:34
People expect you to show up. They expect you to do what you
40:38
said you would do. When you make a commitment,
40:39
those little, you know, like think of the children's
40:41
ministry, make a commitment. Those little kids are waiting
40:43
for you. I mean, right now, they're down
40:45
there waiting for you. Where's my teacher?
40:46
Where's my teacher? It's been an hour already.
40:48
Where's my teacher? And I have to go down and tell
40:52
him, I'm sorry your teacher hasn't committed yet, you know,
40:56
but when you make a commitment, people are waiting for you.
41:00
People are depending. Upon you and you know what the
41:02
Holy Spirit does he wells up in you maturity.
41:07
He wells up in you this satisfaction of serving him.
41:11
And so Paul here I, he has a, he has an offering, he's going to
41:15
deliver it. Thirdly, thirdly.
41:19
Paul's life. Reason I think he he knew and he
41:22
wasn't disobeying God. Here is Paul knew what a closed
41:26
door was like in his life. Remember in Acts 16, he knew
41:30
what a closed door he wanted to go into Asia.
41:32
The Bible says the Holy Spirit forbid him.
41:35
So he knew he kind of moved around and maybe go a different
41:38
way and the Holy Spirit stopped him and he knows what it's like.
41:42
OK, I'm going to move on. I get it.
41:45
And so all of these. Messages, all these messages,
41:48
it's going to be hard in Jerusalem.
41:50
It's going to be hard. Don't go, don't go.
41:51
We need you, Don't go. He could sense that it wasn't
41:56
from the Lord, it was just their personal desire.
42:01
Not only that, to go back to Acts chapter 20, notice with me
42:05
in verse 24, Paul described his trip to Jerusalem this way.
42:11
Acts 20, verse 24. Well, really, go back.
42:15
To verse 22 and see, now I go bound in the Spirit to
42:19
Jerusalem, not knowing the things that will happen to me
42:22
there. Verse 23 except the Holy Spirit
42:25
testifies in every city saying that change and tribulations
42:29
await me, but none of these things move me.
42:33
I don't count my life dear to myself so that I might finish my
42:37
race with joy. So number one, it's part of his
42:40
race. He realizes that and #2 he calls
42:43
it the ministry I received from the Lord Jesus.
42:48
Jerusalem. Was the ministry suffering?
42:51
Was the ministry difficulty? Was the ministry It was all part
42:55
of it? I don't believe Paul was
42:57
disobedient at all. Truly, when I think.
43:01
About in my own life, on a personal level, when I hear, if
43:04
I hear that pain is going to come to your life or I hear
43:06
there's a difficulty, I sense that God would have me to warn
43:10
you or tell you about it. It will be emotional.
43:13
Of course, I'll tell you to stay out of it.
43:16
I mean, come on. Avoid it, don't go through it.
43:21
That may or may not be from the Lord.
43:22
That's why you need to hear the voice of the Lord.
43:26
That's why I tried. More and more over the years,
43:29
all these years serving to give less and less in my opinion
43:35
because I have my own opinions. Sometimes we step into someone's
43:38
life and we counsel them as if we were doing the situation, but
43:41
we're not. So you know if I was.
43:44
You, you're not me. So let's set that aside.
43:47
And I want you to pray and hear from the Lord because you're not
43:49
me. And that's the worst kind of
43:51
counsel. You know, if I was you, I would
43:53
never go. Yeah, but you never do anything.
43:55
So no, I don't want to hear that kind of counsel.
43:58
I need you to pray for me. I need you to seek out God's
44:01
wisdom for me. And the best thing you can do
44:04
for me is not give me your opinion, but just pray for me.
44:07
But I could hear a voice a lot. That's what I want to do for
44:09
you. I.
44:10
Don't want to put. Myself, well, you know, if I was
44:12
in your shoes, I'm not in your shoes.
44:15
The best thing I can. Do is to get you seeking God
44:17
because I'm confident He'll give you direction.
44:20
Couple more things and. We got to go.
44:22
There's three real barriers that Paul overcomes here.
44:26
I'm not going to develop them, but I do want to give them to
44:28
you so you can study them later. But three things come up when
44:31
he's taken a step of faith that he deals with valiantly #1HE
44:35
overcomes the temptation of fear.
44:39
Because he keep getting all. These kind of testimonies, you
44:41
might, you know, be fearful and freak out and not go to
44:44
Jerusalem and get someone else to deliver the money.
44:47
But he knew he belongs, so he overcame fear.
44:49
Remember Second Timothy, chapter one, verse seven.
44:51
For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but a power and
44:54
love and a sound mind. So he overcame fear #2 He
45:00
overcame the influence and temptation of friends.
45:03
Because again, friends. Sometimes aren't so excited
45:05
about your step of faith because they only think about what
45:07
they're going to lose or what's going to happen.
45:09
Family as well as the third one. He overcomes family.
45:14
Now he doesn't have like a mom and dad or things like, you
45:16
know, like we may relate to today, but you could say the
45:19
family of God here is very emotional and he overcomes all
45:22
family and he goes, no, I'm going to Jerusalem.
45:24
This is from the Lord. And he learns.
45:28
The definition of success. Has to be changed.
45:32
That's going to be a part of our next podcast, a season that
45:35
launches in October. Bob and I talk about redefining
45:39
success, another thing that the world has taught us that isn't
45:41
accurate because the Bible teaches us success equals
45:46
faithfulness. Doesn't matter the outcome.
45:50
God is going to take care of the outcome, you and I, We just need
45:53
to obey God. He'll take care of the rest.
45:57
Welcome back to Acts NOW. It's a quick read on the next
46:02
season of his life where it says after in verse 15, I love this.
46:07
It's so simple. Right in verse 15, after those
46:10
days, we packed up and went to Jerusalem.
46:13
That's it. I mean, everything I just shared
46:15
with you is summarized in that one verse.
46:17
OK, Paul, see you later. We went to Jerusalem, notice,
46:21
and some of the disciples from Caesarea went with us, brought
46:24
with them a man by the name of Manason of Cyprus, an early
46:28
disciple with whom we were to lodge.
46:30
And when we had come to Jerusalem, the brethren received
46:34
us gladly. And on the following day Paul
46:37
went in with with us to James. Remember, James is the leader of
46:40
the early church, not Peter In Jerusalem.
46:45
All the elders were there. Verse 19.
46:47
When he had greeted them, he told in detail all the things
46:50
that God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry,
46:52
which is the second time Paul got to do this.
46:56
And when he had heard it. They glorified the Lord and they
46:58
said, you see, brother, how many myriads of Jews there are who
47:01
have believed, and they're all zealous for the law.
47:04
But they have been informed about you that you teach all the
47:07
Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, saying they
47:11
ought not to circumcise their children, nor to walk according
47:14
to their customs. You see already they've already
47:16
been slandering him. They've already been lying about
47:18
him. There's already a group against
47:21
Paul before he ever got there. So the Spirit was right.
47:25
There's going to be trouble there.
47:27
That was accurate. They had the right
47:28
interpretation. It's going to be hard for you in
47:31
Jerusalem, Paul, but I believe they had the wrong application.
47:36
They applied that as don't go when all God wanted him to know.
47:40
It's going to be super hard. Just be ready for it.
47:42
And so it is super hard. They already are lying about him
47:46
telling everybody that he's against the law when that's not
47:48
what he's teaching at all. He's teaching exactly what Jesus
47:51
taught, that Jesus is the fulfillment of the law.
47:55
Notice. What then?
47:57
So. Here's their advice.
47:58
The assembly must certainly meet.
48:00
Verse 22. For they will hear that you have
48:02
come. Therefore do what we tell you.
48:04
We have four men that have taken a vow.
48:06
Take them, be purified with them, and pay their expenses so
48:10
that they may shave their heads. And that all may know that those
48:13
things of which they were informed concerning you are
48:17
nothing but that you yourself also walk orderly and keep the
48:22
law. And you remember in First
48:24
Corinthians Chapter 9, what did Paul say?
48:26
Paul said that he lived his life.
48:28
He became all things to all men so that he might win the more.
48:33
And here's an example of that. He's living it out.
48:35
He didn't have to do the Nazarite vow on his own.
48:38
He didn't have to go into the time of purification.
48:41
He didn't have to pay the way for them.
48:43
He didn't have to partner with them, but for the sake of the
48:46
gospel, he did whatever needed to be done to take away any
48:50
barriers that might be there. Notice verse 25.
48:54
But concerning the Gentiles who believe we have written and
48:57
decided that they should observe no such thing, except that they
49:00
should keep themselves from things offered, idols, blood,
49:03
things strangled, and from sexual immorality, which is a
49:06
repeat of the council in Acts 15.
49:09
They haven't changed. It's almost like James just
49:11
wanted Paul to know we haven't abandoned grace.
49:13
We haven't changed our mind. We still believe that grace is
49:16
important, that you're saved by grace.
49:18
But just as repeat. This is what we said in Acts 15.
49:21
Now this is what we're saying now and God is using Paul
49:24
greatly. One more thing I want you to
49:27
notice in verse 17 this. Is important.
49:30
Again, if we were developing, these could all be their own
49:32
Bible studies. But in verse 17, I should say,
49:36
when we had come to Jerusalem, the brethren received this
49:38
gladly. And then it just keeps going on.
49:41
I want you to notice that there's no mention of anyone in
49:45
the Jerusalem church thanking Paul.
49:48
There's not. They received this gladly and
49:50
expressed their appreciation for all that I went through to bring
49:53
this offering to them. There's nothing like that.
49:56
They receive him gladly and for for good reason.
49:58
He brought a great gift with them and he's Paul the Apostle.
50:01
But then they just got to business.
50:02
And here's the lesson we need to learn.
50:05
You and I, we cannot serve God with the expectation that we're
50:10
just serving for a bunch of people to appreciate us, slap us
50:12
on the back, and thank us. If you get into.
50:16
Serving God. If you step into serving God for
50:18
the accolades and the appreciations and the thank
50:21
yous, you will be greatly disappointed.
50:25
Because remember. You're serving the Lord.
50:28
What did the what did Jesus teach us?
50:30
He said do things in secret because your Father in heaven
50:34
who sees in secret, he will reward you openly.
50:38
And many a man and woman have been greatly discouraged even
50:41
through the ministry here where they expected this attention and
50:46
they expected the accolades, but in reality, they're not serving
50:51
man, they're serving God. Now don't misunderstand me.
50:54
I believe appreciation should be shared.
50:57
I believe appreciation should be in plentiful among us.
51:01
I think we should always be loving and caring for one
51:04
another. I am not one that believes you
51:06
can steal someone's rewards just by saying thank you or give them
51:10
a hug and thanking them for their commitment.
51:12
I don't believe that at all. However, on the flip side of
51:15
that, if you serve expecting that.
51:19
You are just going to be. One miserable sister, man and
51:21
one miserable brother. Because you serve the Lord and
51:25
not man, and you so often serve people on their worst days and
51:29
their worst situations that the last thing on their mind is
51:32
thanking you. The first thing on their mind is
51:34
survival, just to get through it.
51:37
And so we serve the Lord. And Paul, he's going to come
51:40
anyway. He's going to serve the Lord and
51:42
it's going to get worse for him, not better.
51:44
It was Charles. Spurgeon, the very first chapter
51:47
of his book, lectures to his students.
51:49
He was training young men for the ministry and he basically
51:52
tells them if you can do anything else instead of
51:56
ministry, you should go do it. Because the what's?
51:59
Required in ministry is a dying to yourself daily, moment by
52:05
moment, and even if and especially when you don't get
52:09
the appreciation that you want or expect, you need to learn how
52:13
to fill your tank with the Lord. And remember why.
52:17
You started, remember why you continue and remember that at
52:22
the Bema seat you will receive the rewards.
52:27
Some of what we. Did will pass through the fire
52:30
and last and to that we'll say yes, Lord.
52:34
And then we received those rewards from the Lord.
52:36
We have those crowns, if you will, from God.
52:38
And what do we do with them? We cast them right back down at
52:40
his feet. They go.
52:41
It was all from you anyway, Lord.
52:43
It was all from you and it's going to all be to you.
52:46
And I think that's just a word from the Lord for someone that
52:49
just senses like and I've been doing all this stuff and nobody
52:52
knows and nobody's appreciated me.
52:54
That's not true. You have your Father in heaven
52:56
knows and he greatly loves you and appreciates all that you do
53:01
for him in his name, Amen. So, Lord, thank you for the word
53:05
and just the, the, the clarity of your scriptures today.
53:09
And we, we, we, we have so many voices.
53:12
It can be so confusing to us, God.
53:13
So help us train our ears to hear your voice, Lord, Train our
53:18
ears to, like the Bereans did, test everything that was given
53:24
to them by the word of God. That we might be able.
53:27
To move forward through all the earthquakes and all the wind and
53:31
all the fire to get right down to it that we can hear you're
53:34
still small voice in Jesus name. We pray this and we cling to you
53:40
Lord, and we love you and we all say together, church Amen and
53:45
Amen. We pray that.
53:47
You've been encouraged by this Bible study delivered live from
53:50
the sanctuary of Calvary Church for prayer.
53:53
Call us at 87730 grace that's 877-304-7223.
54:02
To listen to this message in its integrity or to join us for our
54:05
live stream services, visit us online at Calvary Co dot Church
54:11
or download our free Calvary Church app.
54:14
Be blessed as you worship Jesus this week.