Latest / HBCWestminster / 9.22.24 Acts 21:1-16 Pastor Danny Gardner

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9.22.24 Acts 21:1-16 Pastor Danny Gardner · HBCWestminster

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church, would you pray with me? Our Heavenly Father, we know that Christ is supreme over all
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of creation. And we pray that he would reign supreme over our hearts, over our mouths, and
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over this church. Lord, be magnified in the preaching of your word this morning in Jesus' name.
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Amen. Amen. Thank you, church. Well, let's jump right in. You notice in verse 1 it says,
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and when we had parted from them. The Greek actually says when we had been torn from them.
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Their departure was painful. It was reluctant. I left off last Sunday by describing the book of
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Acts as a book of goodbyes. When Hallie and I were steadfastly praying for the Lord to reveal his
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will for our family regarding a possible move to Colorado 10 years ago, I was asked by another
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pastor what the most difficult thing about the prospect of moving was. And I replied,
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with, well, saying goodbye to our friends. And he replied simply by saying, you know what, Danny,
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next time you read your New Testament, and especially the book of Acts, read it with
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goodbye goggles on. He said, the people of God are always saying goodbye to one another because
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they know that a heavenly reunion awaits. Oswald Chambers has said it this way, the one who says,
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yes, Lord, but is the one who is fiercely ready but never goes.
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The exacting call of God is the one who says, yes, Lord, but is the one who is fiercely ready but never goes.
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The exacting call of God is the one who says, yes, Lord, but is the one who is fiercely ready but never goes.
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The exacting call of Jesus Christ has no margin for goodbyes because goodbye, as it is often used,
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is pagan, not Christian. I reminded us simply last Sunday how temporary Christian goodbyes
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actually are. And this morning, we study the correlation of friendship to discipleship.
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Can one be had without the other? Do you and I honestly need friends
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in order to accomplish what God has called us to do? Or
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can we legitimately fly the Christian journey solo? Has the Lord ever given you
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reminders, maybe sometimes very vivid reminders, of your need for good friends?
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What about when you need someone to watch your kids? It's nice to have good friends.
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When you're not sure which dentist to choose or which hairstylist is best. That one,
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I don't often struggle with. Maybe where the nearest,
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the nearest shooting range is. I mean, what do you do? You phone a friend.
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What about for more intense situations? What about when you need somebody to pray for you?
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Or you just need godly advice when you've experienced loss and need someone to help
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absorb your tears? What about when you just need someone to back you up?
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As you can probably tell, my body was not designed for fighting.
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These arms,
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were built for seminary. I've never actually even been in a fight. I've never punched a man in the
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face. I have never been punched in the face, but that doesn't mean I haven't been really close.
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I've been threatened many times. After all, I'm a pastor. Pastors sometimes get called into really
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sticky situations and the pastors are the guys who say the things that no one else wants to say.
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There's a moment during those intense conversations when it becomes clear that it's probably more of a
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more intense than it should be. When your heartbeat quickens, you realize this could get ugly.
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And in those moments, I honestly, I usually get a little jittery and a little nervous,
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but I have a friend whose heart rate does the opposite. It seems as though when he's right on
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the edge of those intense situations, he actually gets calmer. He was trained for moments like those.
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Before he came to Christ, he spent a decade in the midst of those intense situations,
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Marine Corps. He was stationed for many months, even upward of years in Somalia. That is the
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horn of Africa, specifically in Mogadishu. Now, if you ever saw the movie Black Hawk Down,
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that's where he was. And after the events of that movie were over, his unit was tasked
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with hunting down war criminals and either eliminating them on site or calling in airstrikes
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to whatever building they were hiding in. He had to perform duties I can't even imagine having to
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do. He served bravely. He was recognized for his service when he left the Marines. Fifteen years
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ago, that man visited our church. He was not a believer yet. His girlfriend at the time invited
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him. He was told to come talk to me about nightmares he'd been having after leaving the
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Marines. He was having trouble sleeping, and it had turned him basically into a borderline alcoholic.
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He approached me after the service. He said, are you Pastor Danny? I said, yes. And he said,
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I was told I'm supposed to come talk to you about some nightmares I'm struggling with.
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And I said, you want to come to my office? And he said, sure. I just asked him what's going on,
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and he explained to me every time he closed his eyes. He said, all I can see is the things I had
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to do. And so he said, I basically have to drink myself to sleep every night. I can't even close
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my eyes, he said. And I've been doing this for nearly a year. And you could tell he was just at
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the end of himself. And I just said, man, it sounds like you're just out of hope. You sound
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hopeless. And he said, that's exactly what I am. I'm hopeless.
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I said, well, the only hope that I've actually found on this earth is through the gospel of
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Jesus Christ. That's the only hope that we have as a species. Do you know who Jesus is? And he
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had visited a Catholic church a couple of times when he was really young. And so he'd heard the
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name, but honestly, guys, he knew nothing. He knew nothing about the gospel. So I explained to him
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who Jesus is, what Jesus accomplished. I talked to him about the crucifixion, the burial of Christ,
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the resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ. I talked to him about forgiveness in his name.
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I told him that if we will confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to
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cleanse us from all unrighteousness. I talked to him about being saved by grace through faith in
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Jesus Christ and what all of that means. I explained the whole gospel to him. He listened intently. And
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I said, if you want to, you can pray right now and receive Jesus Christ and he will put your heart at
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peace. Is that what you want to do? And he said, that's exactly what I want to do. And the very
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first day I met him, he gave his life to Jesus Christ right there. He prayed and he just, I'm not
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I mean, very sincere, very short, but very sincere prayer of salvation. He was, I'm not kidding,
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immediately infused with the hope and peace that only the Holy Spirit provides. But
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the alcohol, the language and the attitude took some time for Christ to clean up.
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He and his girlfriend broke up shortly after that. And when he broke up with his girlfriend,
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he didn't know what else to do. So he just started hanging around our house a lot.
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And I spent just about every day with him for the next five years, for five years, until I moved to
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Colorado. I spent just about every day with him. He became a tow truck driver for a long time, for a
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couple of years. That's what he did. And so I would sometimes go with him to work. I'd just sit in the
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cab of his truck for hours. We talk about theology. We talk about the gospel. We talk about life.
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He's jumping cars and he's picking up wrecked cars and he's doing whatever. And for hours,
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I'd just be sitting there in his tow truck. Or he would say, you know, Danny, I've got the day off.
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What are you doing today? And I said, well, I'm studying in my office. Okay. I'll bring a book.
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And he'd just sit in my office and read. What are you doing today? I'm counseling people. Okay.
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I'll sit and listen. And if I can't sit and listen, I'll just sit in a chair outside in the hall.
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Okay. What are you doing today? I'm taking a guy to lunch. Can I come? Yeah, sure. What are you
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doing today? Staff meetings today. Can I come? Yeah, I guess. You want to come? He even ended up
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assistant coaching my son's little league team with me. Pearson was probably eight. Zach was
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about five at the time. He was a little bit older than me. He was a little bit older than me. He was
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about five at the time. Zach was playing up so they could play on the same team.
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One game, our team was hitting. I was coaching third base. He was coaching first base. The other
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team's coaches were really mouthy, consistently complaining about umpires calls, yelling at their
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own players, at times even yelling at our players. I mean, these were seven and eight year olds. I
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was like, what is your problem? There was a point in the game when, and to this day, I don't actually
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know what the guy said, but my friend just walked casually over to the other team's
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coach's box. I mean, his face was right here. And he just said, are we going to have a problem?
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Some muffled words were exchanged that I couldn't hear. My buddy casually walked back over to the
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first base coach's box and waited for the game to resume. That was it. After the game, I asked him
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what happened. All he said was this. That other coach said some things about you that I didn't
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appreciate. I said, really? What did you say back? And he said, well, I asked him what happened. I
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asked if we were going to have a problem that needed to be solved out in the parking lot.
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And the guy said, no. And then he said, I will keep my mouth quiet for the rest of the game.
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Honestly, I was a little shocked. I asked my buddy, what would you have done if he said yes?
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And he, with no expression at all on his face, said, I would have hit him in his five squishy
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spots. I didn't know what to say. Honestly, my initial thought was, wait, there are five
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squishy spots? I didn't know what to say. I didn't know what to say. I didn't know what to say.
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I took anatomy in high school. I could only come up with three. Now, listen, I didn't actually say
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anything in response. I just thought, you know what? Would you please accompany me to my car?
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Today, that guy is married. I just talked to him this week. I said, listen, I'm going to share
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your testimony in church. And he said, that's fine. He's married. He has four beautiful little
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kids. He is a logistics manager for a major defense contractor in LA. He and his wife,
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he just told me on Thursday, took over the kids ministry.
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He's a kids pastor now. You know, one time we were doing a young adult's Bible study
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and he was brand new. You know, so I said, hey, you should do a young, come to our young adult's
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Bible study. It was in our living room at our house. We had all these kids over and I just was
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going to introduce them, stand up, tell us your name and tell us kind of who you are. And so he
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stands up and he says, this is my name. And he said, I don't know. You know, I drive a tow truck
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and whatever. And I always just ask the same question. I just said, do you have any weird
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or special skills we should know about? Do you have any crazy things that you can do? And he
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says, like what? And I said, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't
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know. You know, when people are like, I can roll my tongue or I can tie a cherry thing, you know,
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and I can do all these funny little things. I can do a somersault or I can do what that's the
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normal response. He didn't know that. So he just stood up and he said, like what? And I said, I
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don't know. Can you do something that nobody else in here can do? And he said, well, I can
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shoot a man at 500 yards using only iron sights. And then he sat back down.
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And I said, it was crazy.
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Quiet, you guys. I said, well, welcome. I didn't know what to say. Now listen, why do I share that
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story? For two reasons. First, to give glory to God for his testimony. You know, when I'm
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tempted to doubt the saving power of the gospel, I think of men like him. The gospel really can
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save. And then second, to remind us of the value of friendship in hard situations.
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If you are a disciple of Christ, if that is true of you, then you are going to be called to do
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something difficult. And if you're going to succeed, then you need godly friends.
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One of the Lord's greatest means of grace and a means of grace is just the mode by which the
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Lord infuses power and grace into your life. It's how he gives you the power to do what you need to
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do. And one of his greatest means of grace is the gift of Christian friendship. And I believe that
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many of us either turn away from God or we turn away from God. And I believe that many of us either turn
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our noses up at it or unwittingly neglect it, not realizing how valuable Christian friendship
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actually is. We see in our text this morning that Paul was willing to fulfill the commission of God
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on his life all the way to the end, all the way to his own execution. And even through hardship,
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he had counted the cost of discipleship and he determined that the glory of God was worth whatever
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the payment. But as we will see, he also understood that in order to fulfill that commission, he needed
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some good friends.
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With him, we see that the Lord was faithful to provide those good friends.
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I'm going to break our text into two points, the value of friendship and the cost of discipleship.
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So let's look first at the value of Christian friendship. And the text answers a couple of
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questions about Christian friendship. First, do we actually need friends? Do you actually need
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friends? The apostle Paul clearly had friends. We pick up the story in 21 with Paul saying,
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his final farewell to the Ephesians. After studying his impact on Ephesus and especially
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considering how long it was. Remember, he was in and out of Ephesus for nearly three years.
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We can understand how much these men must have loved each other. They knelt on a beach together
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and prayed and cried together. As one studies the life of Paul, it's remarkable to read how
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often the apostle is surrounded by believing friends. And pick up right there in verse one,
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he says,
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we came by a straight course to Kos and on the next day to Rhodes and from there to Padua.
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And having found a ship crossing to Phoenicia, we went aboard and set sail. When we had come
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inside of Cyprus, leaving it on the left, we sailed to Syria and landed at Tyre. For there,
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the ship was to unload its cargo. Having sought out the disciples, we stayed there for seven days
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and through the spirit that we're telling Paul not to go on to Jerusalem. But when our days were
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there, we're ended. We departed. We went on our journey and they all with wives and children
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accompanied us. We went on our journey and they all with wives and children accompanied us.
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Until we were outside the city and kneeling down on the beach, we prayed and said farewell
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to one another. Then we went on board the ship and they returned home. We see throughout this
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plural pronoun, we and us. He was constantly surrounded by friends. In verse four, Paul
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ports in Tyre, immediately seeks out the disciples. The first thing he does getting off the boat
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is looks for believers. As was done in Ephesus, the believers in Tyre accompanied Paul to the
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beach. They prayed for him. They embraced him. They sent him on his way. I looked down at verse
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seven. When we had finished the voyage from Tyre, we arrived at Ptolemaeus, a new town. And what's
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the first thing he does? We greeted the brothers and sisters and stayed with them for a day.
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Paul made his way eventually to Caesarea in verse eight. And he does the same thing. On the next day,
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it says, we departed and came to Caesarea. We entered the house of Philip, the evangelist,
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who was one of the seven.
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He stayed with him. Now, the one of the seven means he was one of the original seven deacons
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of the Jerusalem church. Remember Acts chapter six. He was one of the original seven. I heard
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a commentator called them the magnificent seven. That's a clever name. And he stayed with them. So
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over and over, no matter what city he gets off the boat in, the first thing he does
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is looks for the believers. Look down at verse 15. After these days, we got ready and went up
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to Jerusalem, new city.
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Some of the disciples from Caesarea went with us, bringing us to the house of Manassin,
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of Cyprus, an early disciple with whom we should lodge. We read some of the believers accompany
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Paul all the way to Jerusalem, despite the knowledge that they would likely be imprisoned
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there. Now, consider for a moment, and let's look specifically at verses 15 and 16.
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Consider for a moment who it was that was speaking in verses 15 and 16. Who is the we?
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And why is the we?
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we significant see if you can figure it out find those we pronouns those personal plurals right we
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and us and figure out who is it talking about obviously Paul is one right some of the Caesarean
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believers you see in verse 16 but that's not all the other we is the author of the book Luke
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himself Luke was part of the group that actually tried compelling Paul not to go to Jerusalem and
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yet verse 14 says that Paul insisted on going and so Luke caved look at verse 16 since he would not
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be persuaded all of those friends including Luke gathered around Paul and said don't go why would
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you go but verse 14 says he would not be persuaded so we ceased and said we'll let the will of
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of the Lord be done this means that Luke stayed with Paul all the way to the end
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Paul had many traveling companions coming and going we've read about many of them in Acts
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but only Luke remained the book of Acts ends with Paul under Roman house arrest and
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we are only two months from being concluded with our study of Luke at the end of November
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beginning of December we will conclude Acts chapter 28 and it ends with him at a Roman
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house arrest and Luke stayed with him eventually church history records and I believe that Paul
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was actually released from that Roman house arrest he took a fourth undocumented missionary
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journey we know about the big three because they're recorded at Acts but I actually think
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he was released from there did a fourth missionary journey and then was re-imprisoned and Paul stayed
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with him the whole time
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you
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A second Timothy chapter 4 is Paul's account after that fourth missionary journey now he's
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re-imprisoned and now he knows he's going to die he knows this one does not end release
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but ends in execution and he says do your best to come to me soon for Demas in love with the
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present world has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica so there's one of his traveling
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companions the only thing we know about Demas is that he's in love with this present world
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and it makes me glad that my name is not recorded in the annals of scripture
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I'm not positive the words would have been good Demas in love with the present world has deserted me
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Crescens has gone to Galatia Titus to Dalmatia what does it say Luke alone is with me
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Luke is here he's the only one who stayed and listen friends wouldn't you love to have a friend
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like that don't you need a friend like that who will stay with you arm and arm all the way to the
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end
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I genuinely wonder sometimes if Paul could have done what he did if Luke had not done what he did
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we are often called in scripture to exhort one another to exhort means to come alongside it
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means to tether yourselves together it it's the same word that was used of tethering together
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to oxen or to horses pulling a cart it's said that those great big draft horses you know they're
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the big like Budweiser horses the big Clydesdales those things can pull on their own 8,000 pounds I
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I can't even imagine that number they say my truck has 200 and something horsepower if that's true
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it's not those kind of horses okay because my truck can barely pull more than that one of them
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can pull 8,000 pounds on their own but if you harness two of them together the two can pull
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three times the weight of the truck and that's a lot of work and that's a lot of work and that's a lot of
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weight one of them can pull 8,000 two of them can pull 24,000 pounds now experts speculate that the
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reason is psychological horses are pack animals they need one another in order to become most
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effective and friends guess who else is a pack animal you are you need one another the same
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phenomenon I believe happens in the church
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in order to become most effective we've got to tether ourselves together because two believers
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harnessed together have more than twice the impact so do you need Christian friends yes but the text
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also answers this question and we'll spend a few minutes here what do Christian friends actually do
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okay so I need Christian friends why do I need them what do they do now according to the text
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Christian friends do several things
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first Christian friends practice hospitality in cubbies parlance they share in fact the word for
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fellowship means to share that's what the word fellowship means our lives are shared one to
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another so what affects you also affects me and so in the body of Christ it is actually in your
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best interest to ensure that your
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neighbor succeeds spiritually the person who's sitting next to you even if you don't know them
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it's in all of our best interest for all of us to succeed spiritually because we share in one
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another's burdens and successes and notice that the believers in our text shared their homes in
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particular did you notice that Paul got off the boat and he stayed with these guys then Paul got
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off the boat and he stayed with this guy and then Paul got off the boat and he stayed with these
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people four times in this brief passage it states that Paul stayed
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in another believer's home some of whom he had probably not met until he was moving in
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so you're Paul yep and he's got his bags great you'll be staying downstairs in the basement
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right because that's where we put everybody great welcome early Christians I notice in chapter 21
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did not adopt the attitude of my home is my refuge these believers I believe properly understood
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their homes as a gift from God their homes were taken from them and they were taken from them
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to be used for the glory of God and to bless God's people Tim Keller defines the word hospitality as
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love for strangers or love for new people and our displays of hospitality are just an extension
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of the hospitality that the Lord has shown us at one time we were new people at one time we
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were strangers and the Lord gave hospitality he showered hospitality upon us he loved the
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stranger the outcast the new person and we were invited to the new person and we were invited to the
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new person and we were invited to come and eat with him at his heavenly table and so let me ask
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you honestly is that how your home is being used is your home your refuge or is your home a refuge
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for the gospel and you know you don't have to have a large home in order to practice hospitality
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I know that homes where we live are astronomically expensive and so as I'm talking to my own kids
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about hey buying a house and whatever it appears something's like that I don't know
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I can afford about a hundred square feet that's what I can afford how are we going to do this I
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don't know did you know oftentimes that the excuse that is used for not practicing hospitality is we
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don't live in a big enough house maybe if we had a bigger house I will promise you whatever house
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you live in is bigger than the houses Paul was staying in in Acts 21 I'll promise you none of
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them had indoor plumbing none of them had central air or heat none of them none of them had granite
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countertops none of them
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dishwashers laundry can you imagine none of them we live in palaces compared to any of those you
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do not have to have a large home in order to practice hospitality I promise you that every
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one of our houses is big enough you don't have to host a connect home in order to practice
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hospitality like only 14 homes get to practice hospitality in our church because we have 14
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connect homes no that's not what it says you don't have to wait for an invitation from the
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church elders to practice hospitality well maybe if somebody asked
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no you don't have to wait to be asked all you got to do is look around the room for new people
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and I will promise you there are new people here today every single Sunday there are new people to
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our church you're sitting within 30 feet of one look around for the people you don't recognize
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introduce yourself ask them over for coffee and if you're thinking listen pastor Danny you really
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don't understand I honestly I can't use my home that way that's okay no problem invite them out
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to coffee
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it'll cost you five bucks unless they have very expensive taste then it'll cost you seven
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okay seven bucks now listen while you sip your coffees share testimonies speak encouraging words
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to them offer to get them a refill and then say listen I'm going to refill your cup and when I
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come back I'm going to pray for you I will promise you you will leave with a new Christian friend
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that's how it works second so what do they do they practice hospitality but second Christian
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friends show a third of the time they don't have to be a Christian friend they don't have to be a
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Christian in the text we see Paul's friends kneeling with him twice right embracing him
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kissing him I understand that different cultures have different expressions of affection and let
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me be clear I am not in favor of going around kissing each other but our love for one another
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should be expressed tangibly at least to some degree I had lunch one time just in the last
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couple of years with a Russian pastor whose church is in the heart of my heart and I'm
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part of Moscow that was a cool lunch I asked him about cultural differences in the church and he
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said this in the American church men shake hands and I said that's because that's the way the Lord
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intended it okay men shake hands in America and I said yeah and he said in Russian churches men hug
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but he said we always hug with left hand up which is funny because I always hug with right hand up
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but he said we always hug with left hand up and we press our chests together so that when we hug
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our hearts are pressed against one another's they hug he was very specific he said in the church
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men hug heart to heart first John 3 16 says let us not love in word or talk but in deed
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and in truth and so it doesn't matter to me how you do it but don't just say you love your Christian
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friends prove it
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through your actions they show affection third Christian friends pray together they pray together
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and especially over important decisions the Ephesian elders we saw last week prayed for Paul
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this week the believers at Tyre prayed for Paul John Polhill in his commentary has said these
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references to prayer are not incidental it's not just saying and they prayed right everyone was
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fully aware of the difficulties facing Paul at Jerusalem they were also aware that prayer was
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the disciples best fortification in a time of suffering and they prayed for Paul and they prayed
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for Paul in a time of suffering and trial it was their best line of defense the Romans 12 12 says
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rejoice in hope be patient in tribulation be constant in prayer genuine Christian friendship
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should involve times of fervent prayer and especially with faced when faced with difficult
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decisions may I encourage you we can go and I only know this because I've practiced it myself we can
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go months and months and months at a time without praying with our friends we can just coast we can
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cruise control and we can go to the Lord's house we can go to the Lord's house we can go to the
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Lord's house we can go to the Lord's house we can go to the Lord's house we can go to the Lord's house
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Christian friendship without ever praying for one another don't be afraid to be the person who says
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let's pray let's pray let's pray right now let's pray right here on our knees in our living room
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that don't be afraid to pray with your brothers and sisters because after all it is your best
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fortification the gospel creates genuine friendships deeper friendships in fact than
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exists anywhere else in the world and my encouragement as you pray for the Lord's house
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your pastor is that you would lean hard into Christian friendship because you will be able
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to accomplish far more for the kingdom if we are all tethered together than we ever could flying
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solo so that's first the value of Christian friends but now let's turn our attention to the
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cost of Christian discipleship pick up in verse eight it says on the next day we departed and
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came to Caesarea we entered the house of Philip the evangelist who was one of the seven and we
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stayed with him
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he had four unmarried daughters who prophesied while we were staying for many days another
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prophet named Agabus came down from Jerusalem from Judea coming to us he took Paul's belt this is a
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funny scene right I don't know if it was sitting there on the table or something maybe he had
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taken his belt off or maybe the guy walked over and took off his belt I gotta be honest if some
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dude walks into church today and says Danny give me your belt I'm like I don't think I'm gonna do
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that but he took Paul's belt he bound his own feet and he took Paul's belt and he took Paul's belt and
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and hands. He tied it around his own feet and hands, cinched it together and said, thus says
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the Holy Spirit, this is how the Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver
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him into the hands of the Gentiles. Notice that is where the prophecy stops. The divine utterance is
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over in verse 11. Do you guys all see that? So there is the divine prophecy. Now let's look at
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the very human reaction. I'm not saying it was a sinful reaction. I'm just saying it was not an
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inspired reaction in verse 12. Okay. So it did not say that the Holy Spirit is saying, do not go.
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All the Holy Spirit was saying is once you get to Jerusalem, you're going to be bound.
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All right. Their human response is similar to our human response. Well, then we shouldn't go.
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I'm not going. When we heard this, we and the people that urged him not to go up to Jerusalem,
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and Paul answered, what are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart?
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I'm not only ready to be imprisoned, but even to die in Jerusalem for the name
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of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, as we said last Sunday, and is now repeated in this morning's
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text, it had been revealed to Paul by the Holy Spirit that waiting for him in Jerusalem was
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nothing but imprisonment and affliction. And so many times his friends encouraged him not to go.
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And yet, despite what was no doubt good advice from his friends, Paul was determined to go to
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Jerusalem anyway.
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The story actually sounds a little bit similar to Christ's own determination to go up to Jerusalem
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despite the counsel of his friends. Jesus was not eager to endure the cross. He knew exactly
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what awaited him. In fact, he spelled it out many times in detail. At one point,
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Peter actually stands in his way. Do you remember this? And tries to compel him not to go. And do
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you remember how that ended? Get behind me.
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You devil. You are not speaking the words of God. You may be giving loving advice, but it is not
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godly advice. And so, Satan, get behind me. You're either with me or against me, but get out of my
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way. Jesus prayed in the garden at the end of all of that, that the will of the Lord would be done.
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And that's exactly how our passage ends. Verse 14, let the will of the Lord be done.
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One commentator even calls this passage Paul's Gethsemane. I thought that was interesting. A very
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similar reflected story in the gospels. Paul's Gethsemane. It was John Shedd who said a ship is
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safe in harbor, but that's not what ships are for. And it's true that if you're going to follow the
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Lord's leading for your life, he will lead you out of the harbor. And it is true that once you
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abandon the safety of the harbor, those storms, those storms, those storms, those storms, those
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storms breaks. You are going to get tossed around a little bit. You'll probably collect a few
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barnacles. You could even get seasick. But don't forget, it is only the one who doubts, James 1
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says, who is tossed to and fro. The following the Lord may not be safe, but it is certainly secure.
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The Lord himself said, so no one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom
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of God. He said, we don't stay in the harbor, but we
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put out to sea because that is what ships are for. And the apostle knew what the Lord had commanded
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him to do. The question was not whether he would go to Jerusalem or not. The question was, will I
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be obedient to the Lord or not? He knew that although the message from Agabus was divine,
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the urging from his friends was human. And so he stayed the course, but don't neglect what he did
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next. Don't miss verses 15 and 16. We're going to read them again. After these days, we got ready
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and went up to Jerusalem. And some of the disciples from
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Zeruiah went with us, bringing us to the house of Manasseh of Cyprus, an early disciple with whom
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we should lodge. Don't neglect what he did as he left from one place to go to Jerusalem. What did
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he do? He took friends. I'm going, he said. And you guys are all coming with me. You know, that
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same quote from Oswald Chambers that we began the sermon with ends this way. When once the call of
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God comes, begin to go and never stop going. And may I ask you, I'm going to go and never stop going.
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And when it's time to go, consider taking some good friends. Allow me to pray, Lord, thank you
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for the friendships that exist in this room. Lord, thank you for surrounding us with believers,
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so many, Lord, that we can actually be picky about the friends that we've got. God, thank you
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for the encouragement that we draw from one another as we tether ourselves together for
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the sake of the gospel. And Lord, may we be genuine Christian friends who practice
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hospitality, who show affection toward one another, and who pray fervently for one another.
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Because we know, Lord, that that is our best fortification against evil, our best defense
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against the wicked one and the schemes of the devil, that we would pray fervently for one
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another. And so, Lord, may we not just say we have Christian friendships, but may we practice those
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in deed and in truth. And Lord, may we also count the cost of discipleship and determine
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that it is worth.
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And whatever the payment, but God, may we not neglect the people that you've sent to
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go with us. We thank you, Lord, for the church. We thank you for the bride of Christ. And
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it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.