Latest / A Chapter a Day Bible Reading / September 16 - Acts 20

Transcript

September 16 - Acts 20 · A Chapter a Day Bible Reading

• 0:11
  Hello friends, it's Sean here. It's Tuesday, it's the 16th of
• 0:15
  September and it's great to have your company on this wonderful
• 0:19
  day that we are going to continue reading this story
• 0:23
  together. And today, today's reading is
• 0:26
  actually quite wonderful because if I'm not mistaken, I think
• 0:30
  this is the first time that Paul meets together with a group of
• 0:34
  local church leaders and encourages them.
• 0:36
  And they will be the leaders from this town called Ephesus,
• 0:40
  where all the drama from yesterday with the the goddess
• 0:43
  of Artemis and the temples and the Craftsman making those idols
• 0:48
  that all went down the madness of that place.
• 0:51
  Well, those church leaders in that place are going to come to
• 0:54
  Paul and he is going to pray for them and encourage them.
• 0:57
  So if you feel like you are in Christian community and there is
• 1:01
  madness going on there and perhaps today's Bible reading
• 1:05
  and Paul's message and prayers to them can be for you too,
• 1:08
  friend. So you ready?
• 1:10
  Let us read together this story in Acts chapter 20.
• 1:26
  When the uproar was over, Paul sent for the believers and
• 1:29
  encouraged them. Then he said goodbye and left
• 1:33
  for Macedonia. While there he encouraged the
• 1:36
  believers in all the towns he passed through.
• 1:39
  Then he travelled down to Greece, where he stayed for
• 1:41
  three months. He was preparing to sail back to
• 1:45
  Syria when he discovered a plot by some Jews against his life.
• 1:48
  So he decided to return through Macedonia.
• 1:52
  Several men were travelling with him.
• 1:54
  They were Sopeter, son of Pirus from Berea, Aristarchus and
• 1:58
  Secundus from Thessalonica, Gaius and Derby, Timothy,
• 2:03
  Anticucus and Trophemus from the province of Asia.
• 2:07
  They went on ahead and waited for us at Troas.
• 2:10
  After the Passover ended, we boarded a ship at Philippi in
• 2:14
  Macedonia and five days later joined them in Troas, where we
• 2:18
  stayed a week. On the first day of the week we
• 2:22
  gathered with the local believers to share in the Lord's
• 2:25
  Supper. Paul was preaching to them, and
• 2:27
  since he was leaving the next day, he kept talking until
• 2:31
  midnight. The upstairs room where we met
• 2:34
  was lighted with many flickering lamps.
• 2:36
  As Paul spoke on and on, a young man named Euticus, sitting on
• 2:41
  the window sill became very drowsy.
• 2:44
  Finally he fell sound asleep and dropped three stories to his
• 2:49
  death below. Paul went down, bent over him
• 2:53
  and took him into his arms. Don't worry, he said.
• 2:56
  He's alive. Then they all went back
• 2:59
  upstairs, shared in the Lord's Supper, and ate together.
• 3:03
  Paul continued talking to them until dawn, and then he left.
• 3:07
  Meanwhile, the young man was taken home alive and well, and
• 3:12
  everyone was greatly relieved. Paul went by land to Asos, where
• 3:17
  he had arranged for us to join him while we travelled by ship.
• 3:21
  He joined us there and we sailed together to Mittalene.
• 3:25
  The next day we sailed past the island of Chios.
• 3:28
  The following day we crossed to the island of Samos, and a day
• 3:32
  later we arrived at Miletus. Paul had decided to sail on past
• 3:37
  Ephesus, for he didn't want to spend any more time in the
• 3:41
  province of Asia. He was hurrying to get to
• 3:43
  Jerusalem, if possible, in time for the festival of Pentecost.
• 3:48
  But when we landed at Miletus, he sent a message to the elders
• 3:52
  of the church at Ephesus, asking them to come and meet him.
• 3:56
  When they arrived, he declared, You know that from the day I set
• 4:01
  foot in the province of Asia until now, I've done the Lord's
• 4:04
  work humbly and with many tears. I've endured the trials that
• 4:09
  came to me from the plots of the Jews.
• 4:11
  I never shrank back from telling you what you needed to hear,
• 4:15
  either publicly or in your homes.
• 4:17
  I have had one message for Jews and Greeks alike, the necessity
• 4:22
  of repenting from sin and turning to God and of having
• 4:26
  faith in our Lord Jesus. And now I am bound by the Spirit
• 4:31
  to go to Jerusalem. I don't know what awaits me,
• 4:34
  except that the Holy Spirit tells me in city after city that
• 4:39
  gaol and suffering lie ahead. But my life is worth nothing to
• 4:44
  me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned to me by the
• 4:48
  Lord Jesus. The work of telling others the
• 4:50
  good news about the wonderful grace of God.
• 4:54
  And now I know that none of you to whom I have preached the
• 4:58
  Kingdom will ever see me again. I declare to day that I have
• 5:03
  been faithful. If anyone suffers eternal death,
• 5:07
  it's not my fault, for I didn't shirk from declaring all that
• 5:10
  God wants you to know. So guard yourself and God's
• 5:15
  people feed and shepherd God's flock His church purchased with
• 5:20
  His own blood, over which the Holy Spirit has appointed you as
• 5:25
  leaders. I know that false teachers like
• 5:29
  vicious wolves will come in among you after I leave, not
• 5:33
  sparing the flock. Even some men from your own
• 5:36
  group will rise up and distort the truth in order to draw a
• 5:39
  following. Watch out.
• 5:42
  Remember the three years I was with you, my constant watch and
• 5:46
  care over you night and day, and my many tears for you.
• 5:50
  And now I entrust you to God and to the message of His grace that
• 5:57
  is able to build you up and give you an inheritance with all
• 6:02
  those He has set apart for himself.
• 6:05
  I've never coveted anyone silver or gold or fine clothes.
• 6:09
  You know that these hands of mine have worked to supply my
• 6:13
  own needs and even the needs of those who were with me.
• 6:17
  And I have been a constant example of how you can help
• 6:20
  those in need by working hard. You should remember the words of
• 6:25
  the Lord Jesus. It is more blessed to give than
• 6:29
  to receive. When he had finished speaking,
• 6:32
  he knelt and prayed with them. They all cried as they embraced
• 6:38
  and kissed him goodbye. They were sad most of all
• 6:42
  because he had said that they would never see him again.
• 6:45
  Then they escorted him down to the ship.
• 6:59
  Jesus, thank you that we do not live this Christian life alone,
• 7:04
  but we live it in community with your people.
• 7:09
  And Lord, things go wrong in our Christian communities and people
• 7:13
  share news that is not true. I guess not just in your
• 7:17
  Christian communities, but in all communities.
• 7:19
  But Lord that you have given us your grace, you will love to
• 7:25
  share with each other. They can bind us together in
• 7:29
  your love. Our Holy Spirit, I pray that as
• 7:34
  we go about living today, as we go about our daily lives, that
• 7:39
  it would be your love and your unity that would bind us
• 7:44
  together and give us the power to love, even in situations when
• 7:51
  love doesn't make sense. Because you are love, Jesus, and
• 7:56
  your way is the way of love. Help us live in your way, not
• 8:04
  just individually, but as community as we love the
• 8:08
  community in which we find ourselves.
• 8:13
  Jesus, thank you for first loving us with this decadent,
• 8:16
  gracious, enormous love that blows away all competition and
• 8:21
  any other form of love. So we lift you up, we praise
• 8:25
  you, and we thank you. And pray all of this in your
• 8:28
  wonderful name. Amen.