Acts 20 25-38 Encourage One Another!

Acts 20 25-38  “Now I know that none of you among whom I have gone about preaching the kingdom will ever see me again.  Therefore, I declare to you today that I am innocent of the blood of any of you.  For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God.  Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers.  Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood.  I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock.  Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them.  So be on your guard!  Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.  “Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.  I have not coveted anyone’s silver or gold or clothing.  You yourselves know that these hands of mine have supplied my own needs and the needs of my companions.  In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ”When Paul had finished speaking, he knelt down with all of them and prayed.  They all wept as they embraced him and kissed him.  What grieved them most was his statement that they would never see his face again.  Then they accompanied him to the ship.

In the above focus Paul is journeying back to Jerusalem.  On the way he meets with the elders of Ephesus.  His harvest in Ephesus was great, and now he was meeting with the elders.  He felt he needed to warn them that wolves will enter the church to destroy the work of God in Ephesus.  Within and without the church,  wolves would come to contaminate the purity of Jesus Christ being the only way to God.  The wolves would come to cripple the church's effectiveness in Ephesus.  As with the Old Testament, deceivers are always in the midst of God’s people.  The rebellion to God’s ways is always present in some people.  The devil uses this animosity to God as a way to destroy others.  God's prophets often wailed against these wicked people who would alter God’s words for their selfish reasons, mainly for money, status or a following.  We hear Ezekiel say, The word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel who are now prophesying.  Say to those who prophesy out of their own imagination: ‘Hear the word of the Lord!  This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Woe to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit and have seen nothing!  — Their visions are false and their divinations a lie.  Even though the Lord has not sent them, they say, “The Lord declares,” and expect him to fulfill their words.  Have you not seen false visions and uttered lying divinations when you say, “The Lord declares,” though I have not spoken?  (Ezekiel 13:1-3; 6-7)  Through all the millenniums people have prophesied falsely for selfish reasons.  Paul now informs the elders of the church of Ephesus that these wolves of falsehood will invade their church too.  Peter also expresses this reality of false prophets in the church by saying that in the last days, There will be false teachers among you.  They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves.  Many will follow their depraved conduct and will bring the way of truth into disrepute.  In their greed these teachers will exploit you with fabricated stories.  Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping.  (2 Peter 2:1-3)  Paul, the spiritual father of the Ephesian church, now admonishes the elders that they must remain faithful to the true gospel; they must not vary it to please the itchy ears of the most worldly within their congregation.  Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers.  Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood.  They should faithfully minister the word and demonstrate the power of the word in their personal lives.  Paul, because of the darkness of the Greek world, felt he could not contaminate the purity of the gospel in any way.  Therefore, he would not let the church give him money for his service to them.  He worked with his hands not only for his own needs but also for the needs of others.  He did this because Ephesus was a wicked and dark place, controlled by demonic, idol worship.  He did not want any criticism from the world, claiming he preached the gospel for remuneration.  He wanted the purity of the light of Christ to shine through this darkness.  Today, and since the beginning of the church, ministers are to receive support for serving the people.  This is the will of God, clearly expressed in the Word of God.  Spreading the Good News deserves remuneration.

Ministers today have a grave responsibility to lead a church with the wholesomeness of the word of God.   Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction.  For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine.  Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.  (2 Timothy 4:2-3)  Many in the church of the living God live with itchy ears; they want only words from their pastors of encouragement, not correction or a rebuke.   Correction or rebuke rub them the wrong way, and a cat when you pet his fur the wrong way will jump off your lap.  But a true servant of the Lord sometimes has to say things that are not accepted as bouquets.  Ezekiel says, false prophets will often say things that are not true, misinforming the people.  They lead my people astray, saying, “Peace,” when there is no peace.  (Ezekiel 13:10)  When a minister observes discord and confusion in one or some of his congregates, he has the responsibility to address the issue in an honest and upright manner.  Sadly, Paul had to do that in the Corinthian church.  It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father's wife.  And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you.  For I verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already, as though I were present, concerning him that hath so done this deed.  (1 Corinthians 5:2-3)  Paul was strong in his denunciation of this impurity within the church.  He told the church to remove this person who is openly living in sin from the fellowship and to deliver him to Satan.  Hopefully causing him to repent of his lifestyle and return to Christ.  He did repent, saving his soul.  An elder must take care of the flock, keeping it healthy spiritually.  To the elders among you, I appeal as a fellow elder and a witness of Christ’s sufferings who also will share in the glory to be revealed: Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, watching over them—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve; not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.  And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away.  (1 Peter 5:1-4)  The elders are to elevate Jesus in every interaction with others, for Jesus is the personification of love that binds members of the congregation together.  Jesus is the  Redeemer, the Gate, Eternal life; no other way is open to the Kingdom of God.  As  Peter exclaims, Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!  In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade.  (1 Peter 1:3-4)  This Good News must be expressed in the way an elder leads his church.  His daily song should be the angels' song at Jesus’ birth.  “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”  (Luke 2:14)  This song unifies the flock.

Sometimes people in the church are inert, lethargic. unwilling to live actively for God in the marketplace of life.  They attend church and facilitate what is needed to keep a church going, but do not express the Good News in their daily lives.  They are like the fence sitters that Jesus tells about in Luke 7.   We know Paul was actively involved in doing the will of God.  His trip to Jerusalem was under the auspices of God’s will.  When Paul talks to the elders of the Ephesians, he states, “I know that none of you among whom I have gone about preaching the kingdom will ever see me again.  Because of that statement, the elders wept as they embraced him and kissed him.  Their response reveals the intensity of love that should be in the church of the living God.  But in Luke we see people unwilling to get involved with the purpose of life or with following God in their personal lives: they are fence sitters.  We played the pipe for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not cry.  (Luke 7:32)  They would not get involved with John the Baptist's teaching of repentance and not with Jesus' teaching of the Good News.  They were inert, sitting on the fence, yet criticized others who were involved with seeking God.  Jesus was upset with them and He illustrates his concern about these people when He accepts an invitation to dine with a Pharisee.  During this dining experience a woman of ill-repute comes into their presence and kneels at Jesus’ feet with tears running down her face.  She kneels at his feet, washing Jesus’ feet with her tears, and wiping his feet dry with the glory of her head, her hair.  Then she puts expensive perfume on Jesus’ feet, while she was constantly kissing his feet.  She was not on the fence; she was involved in the marketplace of life.  The Pharisee, a spiritual fence sitter, thought only of criticism about this scene.  He was filled with anger and judgment about this unclean woman touching Jesus, interrupting their meal.  Jesus knew his thoughts and how unclean they were.  He then tells a tale about two men who were in debt to a rich man.  “Two people owed money to a certain money lender.  One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty.  Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he forgave the debts of both.  Now which of them will love him more?  ”Simon replied, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt forgiven.”  “You have judged correctly,” Jesus said.  (Luke 7:41-43)  Jesus knows why Simon was not serving him, the Son of Man, with respect or love.  He is a fence sitter, willing to criticize people who are actually playing the game of life with dedication and exuberance.  He tells Simon that this dear woman you despise did all the things you would not do for me.  You did not give me water to wash my feet; she washed my feet with her heartfelt tears.  You did not give me a towel; she wiped my feet with her hair.  You did not anoint my head with oil of which is a customary practice in Israel.  Yet she humbly anoints my feet with expensive perfume and is incessantly kissing my feet.  What is wrong with you Simon?  Friends around this breakfast table, what was wrong with Simon is that he felt he had no reason to repent or to be sorry for his many sins.  He had no reason to seek God’s forgiveness or to love his Son, Jesus.  But the woman knew she had many sins to be forgiven.  She also recognized Jesus as divine.  Because of her faith in Jesus’ works, Jesus tells her, your sins are forgiven; my Father accepts your repentance of tears and a broken heart.  Jesus who always does the will of the Father tells this sinful woman, your Father in heaven forgives you.  Dear friends do you really know what a price has been paid for your many sins.  Do you recognize how much God has paid for your redemption?  Do you know what it means when Jesus cried out on the cross, “It is finished!”  If you really understand, you will get off the fence, dispense of your lethargy, and get involved in the marketplace of life, proclaiming the Good News to people around you, expressing in your daily life the will of God.  God bless you as you do his will.     

Acts 20:13-24 God's Grace Is Good News!

Acts 20:13-24  We went on ahead to the ship and sailed for Assos, where we were going to take Paul aboard.  He had made this arrangement because he was going there on foot.  When he met us at Assos, we took him aboard and went on to Mitylene.  The next day we set sail from there and arrived off Chios.  The day after that we crossed over to Samos, and on the following day arrived at Miletus.  Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus to avoid spending time in the province of Asia, for he was in a hurry to reach Jerusalem, if possible, by the day of Pentecost.  From Miletus, Paul sent to Ephesus for the elders of the church.  When they arrived, he said to them: “You know how I lived the whole time I was with you, from the first day I came into the province of Asia.  I served the Lord with great humility and with tears and in the midst of severe testing by the plots of my Jewish opponents.  You know that I have not hesitated to preach anything that would be helpful to you but have taught you publicly and from house to house.  I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus.“  And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there.  I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me.  However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.

In the above account we see Paul always on the move, ministering the good news.  Paul had ministered in Troas for seven days.  Troas is where the young man, Eutychus, fell from his high perch on a windowsill while listening to Paul and lay below dead.  Since this was the final day in Troas, Paul left for Assos the next day, a two day walk.  The rest of his companions went to Assos by boat.  Paul joined up with them at Assos.  For some reason, Paul went to Assos by foot; he could have sailed to Troas with the others, but Paul was always on the move to satisfy Jesus’ desire to harvest people.  Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’?  I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields!  They are ripe for harvest.  (John 4:35)   Paul must have thought that his journey to Assos by foot was an opportunity to reap a harvest in this area of Asia.  As in the last part of Mark, Jesus is attributed as saying, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.  Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.  (Mark 16:15-16)  Paul’s life goal was to free people from Satan’s hold, making them children of God.  Nothing would stop the ministry that Jesus placed upon him on the road to Damascus.  As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him.  He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”  “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.  “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied.  “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”  (Acts 9:3-6)  Every day from that time on Paul rose up every morning to serve the Lord.  The message Jesus planted on him was GET UP AND GO.  In Troas, the others tarried a bit and then sailed to Assos, but Paul got up and went to Assos on foot, expending a great deal of effort to do so.  However,  Paul considered his life as meaningless unless he was under the yoke of Jesus’ will: go into the Gentile world and preach the Good News.  We do not know what Paul was doing in those two days between Troas and Assos, but we suspect that he was ministering THE WAY to people he met on the journey.  At Assos he joined the retinue, probably relating to them what he experienced the last two days.  The passion of the Holy Spirit was embedded in Paul’s life.  Jesus had commanded the apostles to wait for the infilling of the Spirit before they went out and related to people the Good News.  The Holy Spirit within them compelled them to preach the Good News in Jesus’ name.  The name of Jesus was despised by the leaders of the Jews, for them any other name was okay, but not the name of Jesus, the Lord, the Savior, the Messiah, the Son of God.  This name of Jesus Paul carried in his breast, exposing him to great persecution and a constant threat of death.  He said, I served God in the midst of severe testing by the plots of my Jewish opponents.  However, when Jesus stopped Saul on the way to Damascus, the Lord said, Get up and go, even when Saul was still blind.  Jesus sent this once blind man to the Gentiles under the Gentile name of Paul.  Because of Paul’s obedience to Jesus’ words, many Gentiles in the whole world will enter the household of God forever.

Paul’s life could never had been anticipated by him when he was a respected, young rabbi in Jerusalem.  He was an up-and-coming rabbi who had a future of someday becoming a leader in the Jewish community.   Every day as a young man he was dedicated to the law and to his leaders.  His leaders were zealous in stomping out the name of Jesus in the Jewish community.  HIs purpose on the road to Damascus was to arrest the apostates in that city and to bring them back to Jerusalem in chains.  For Saul that day started with him fulfilling the commands of the Jewish priests, but would end with him being under the command and will of Jesus.  He would end that day with the word of “Go”  and do my will.  Such a command was heard by Noah, Abraham, Lot, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Joshua, the judges, the prophets and many others.  So many of these men did not anticipate this command, but one day God interrupted their lives with dreams, trances, visitations, and wonders.  Moses’ life was interrupted by God when he saw a burning bush that was not consumed.  When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses!  Moses!”  And Moses said, “Here I am.”  “Do not come any closer,” God said.  “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.”  Then he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.”  At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.  (Exodus 3:4-6)   God called Moses for an unanticipated event in the children of Israel’s life.  The Jews were locked up in slavery in the land of Egypt with no hope of freedom.  But God had a new dawn for them, a day of freedom, and Moses would be the vehicle that would lead them to another existence.  God told Moses, GO to Egypt and free my people.  The rest of the story is told in the Scriptures.  Whenever God shows up, things happen that are not anticipated; the terrain of life is altered permanently for those who are involved.  In the New Testament, Peter was arrested to please wicked Herod.  James had already been beheaded by Herod.  Now for his own pleasure, Herod was going to kill Peter too.  Peter before his execution the next day is sleeping between two soldiers, chained to them, unable to escape from this imprisonment.  However, the unanticipated happens.  The night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries stood guard at the entrance.  Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell.  He struck Peter on the side and woke him up.  “Quick, get up!” he said, and the chains fell off Peter’s wrists.  Then the angel said to him, “Put on your clothes and sandals.”  And Peter did so. “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me,” the angel told him.  (Acts 12:6-8)  As with Moses, the angel of the Lord shows up, and tells Peter in essence, GO, Quick, get up!  This unreal happening, not anticipated by Peter or his unbelieving prayer warriors, who failed to open the door to Peter when he came to their gathering, for they did not believe it was possible for Peter to be standing at their door knocking.   The faith of men did not release Peter from prison; the sovereignty of God released Peter.  Paul journeyed from city to city in Macedonia, Greece and Asia under the sovereignty of God.  He answered the call of God, but those who were added to the household of God were part and parcel of God’s plan to redeem the world from the hold of slavery.  Paul carried that light of God everywhere he went, even as he journeyed on foot to Assos.

Paul on his way to Jerusalem meets with the elders of the Ephesian church.  He declares to them what he has been preaching in every community that he has visited in his life.  I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus.  First, they must turn to God in repentance and secondly, put their faith in Jesus, who has brought resurrection life to all who believe in him.  Paul’s message was direct, straightforward, with no compromise.  He paid a heavy price for delivering that message to a dark world.  All the apostles paid a heavy price in giving the Good News to the world.  We have been made a spectacle to the whole universe, to angels as well as to human beings.  We are fools for Christ, but you are so wise in Christ!  We are weak, but you are strong!  You are honored, we are dishonored!  To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, we are in rags, we are brutally treated, we are homeless.  We work hard with our own hands.  When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it; when we are slandered, we answer kindly.  We have become the scum of the earth, the garbage of the world—right up to this moment.  (1 Corinthians 4:10-13)   Paul is addressing the Corinthian church who feel they are so spiritual that they can quarrel about what they believe and whose words they should believe.  Thinking of themselves as being wise in their immaturity; they are really fooling themselves because Paul and Apollo and others have paid the supreme price of deprivation to bring the whole counsel of God to the Corinthians.  In presenting the Good News to people, Paul often met opposition in and out of the churches.  Nevertheless, he was faithful to his calling of, Go into the world and preach the name of Jesus Christ, both to the Gentile and the Jew.  As with Moses in the wilderness, he often met with God through the words of the Holy Spirit, to be refreshed by the will of God in his life.  As Moses went into the tent, the pillar of cloud would come down and stay at the entrance, while the Lord spoke with Moses. Whenever the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance to the tent, they all stood and worshiped, each at the entrance to their tent.  The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend.  (Exodus 33:9-11)  Even under great duress and persecution, Paul knew he was a friend of God.  He knew God would always be beside him and that he would always have access to the voice of God.  God had called Paul explicitly to spread the Good News to the Gentile world, so Paul knew God was always present with him.  As the Psalmist said, Paul understood in his life.  O Lord, you have examined my heart and know everything about me.  You know when I sit down or stand up.  You know my thoughts even when I’m far away.  You see me when I travel and when I rest at home.  You know everything I do.  You know what I am going to say even before I say it, Lord.  You go before me and follow me.  You place your hand of blessing on my head.  Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too great for me to understand!  I can never escape from your Spirit!  I can never get away from your presence!  (Psalm 139:1-7)  Blessed people around this breakfast table, God knows your sitting down and your rising up.  He knows your words even before you say them; that is how intimate God is with you.  He knows this day the intentions of your heart.  Paul understood that in his life.  He walked two days to get to a city whereas he could have sailed there.  His days were days of earnestly serving the Lord.  We too should approach our days in the same way.  The people in your household, the people next to you, are fields ripe for harvest.  Are you willing to harvest for the Lord?  Are you willing to GO, GET UP.  Peter followed the angel out of captivity.  Are you willing to follow Jesus every hour of your life?  The rewards are so great for those who love the Lord with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength.  YES, YOU ARE WILLING!  So GO!  Amen.     

        

      

   

   

     

Acts 20:1-12 Be Comforted

Acts 20:1-12  When the uproar had ended, Paul sent for the disciples and, after encouraging them, said goodbye and set out for Macedonia.  He traveled through that area, speaking many words of encouragement to the people, and finally arrived in Greece, where he stayed three months.  Because some Jews had plotted against him just as he was about to sail for Syria, he decided to go back through Macedonia.  He was accompanied by Sopater son of Pyrrhus from Berea, Aristarchus and Secundus from Thessalonica, Gaius from Derbe, Timothy also, and Tychicus and Trophimus from the province of Asia.  These men went on ahead and waited for us at Troas.  But we sailed from Philippi after the Festival of Unleavened Bread, and five days later joined the others at Troas, where we stayed seven days.  On the first day of the week we came together to break bread.  Paul spoke to the people and, because he intended to leave the next day, kept on talking until midnight.  There were many lamps in the upstairs room where we were meeting.  Seated in a window was a young man named Eutychus, who was sinking into a deep sleep as Paul talked on and on.  When he was sound asleep, he fell to the ground from the third story and was picked up dead.  Paul went down, threw himself on the young man and put his arms around him.  “Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “He’s alive!”  Then he went upstairs again and broke bread and ate. After talking until daylight, he left.  The people took the young man home alive and were greatly comforted.

As we continue to walk with Paul in the book of Acts, we note that he was always on the move through Asia and Greece.  He was a man designated by God to reach the Gentile world with the Good News.  Paul, being a man of the Spirit, always had the Holy Spirit directing his walk.  As with the Israelites in the wilderness, the Holy Spirit led him and them through a bleak, desolate land to the Promised Land.  The Israelites were led by a cloud of God’s Spirit day and night.  This cloud of God covered the Tabernacle built for his presence.  Paul, after his conversion was a powerful tabernacle of God, fulfilling God’s purposes in the Gentile world.  He was driven by the voice of God to different lands.  As with Jesus, the Tabernacle of God, who traveled throughout Israel ministering, Paul likewise ministered THE WAY of redemption in every city he visited.  He ministered the Good News in lands of darkness, sold out to idol worshipping and witchcraft.  We see in the Israelites wilderness journey that every oasis visited, every stop on the way to the Promised Land was directed by the Holy Cloud.  In all the travels of the Israelites, whenever the cloud lifted from above the tabernacle, they would set out; but if the cloud did not lift, they did not set out—until the day it lifted.  So the cloud of the Lord was over the tabernacle by day, and fire was in the cloud by night, in the sight of all the Israelites during all their travels.  (Exodus 40:36-38)  Moses was dependent on the voice of the Lord that dwelled in the house of the Lord between the two cherubim.  When Moses entered the tent of meeting to speak with the Lord, he heard the voice speaking to him from between the two cherubim above the atonement cover on the ark of the covenant law.  In this way the Lord spoke to him.  (Numbers 7:89)  Moses alone because of God’s voice in the Tabernacle knew what God was doing in the Israelites’ journey from Egypt.  Paul alone through God’s revelation to him fully understood the mystery of man's redemption that was hidden in God’s heart from the beginning of time: God, through Christ, would redeem all mankind to him through the work of the cross.  All people could be right with God through faith in his Son’s work.  This message of knowing God through the work of Jesus on the cross and his subsequent resurrection was opposed mightly by the principalities of the air.  Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.  Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.  For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.  (Ephesians 6:10-12)

In every place Paul went, the  principalities of the air were at work; the devil did not want the Good News to penetrate his strongholds.  The people of Asia and Greece were deep into idol worship and witchcraft.  Their minds were full of the deception of the Evil One and his cohorts: the demons, programmed for generations and millenniums to worship anything but God, the Creator of all things.  The Holy Spirit opened these strongholds of the devil through miracles and wonders and through Paul’s boldness to preach the Good News regardless of the cost to him.  When Paul was prevented from ministering in certain areas in Asia, the Holy Spirit opened the lands of Macedonia and Greece to the Good News.  In these areas his ministry flourished; God allowed Paul to perform many miraculous deeds to verify what he was preaching.  God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them.  (Acts 19:11-12)  In the above focus, we see Paul attempting to go back to Asia through Syria, but he was discouraged to do so because of opposition.  Because some Jews had plotted against him just as he was about to sail for Syria, he decided to go back through Macedonia.  Therefore, Paul backtracks to Macedonia and Greece, preaching the Good News everywhere and encouraging the new believers in these lands.  Opposition is always a part of exposing THE WAY to any area, even from the family.  Jesus said, “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth.  I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.  For I have come to turn“‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law—a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’  “Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.  Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me.  Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it."  (Matthew 10:34-39)  Paul’s ministry disturbed the lifestyles, customs, traditions, the mores of the people in these Gentile countries.  The defiance he faced from the people was extremely strong and harsh.  They beat him with rods, stoned him, put him in chains and jailed him.  But his ministries still flourished.  Now delayed in going back to Asia, Paul went back to the nascent churches in Macedonia and Greece, encouraging them to stay strong in the face of severe opposition to the message of Christ Jesus, not only in the community, but also in their families and friends.  The defiance to Paul’s ministry was especially strong in the Jewish communities in those areas.  They despised this message that biological Jews were not honored by God above all other people in the world.  A person is not a Jew who is one only outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical.  No, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code.  (Romans 2:28-29)  They thought he was demeaning the law, but Paul was not, for the law brought light to a godless world.  The law revealed the true nature of God, his perfection, righteousness and holiness.  The Good News was that IN CHRIST, the law would be fully implemented before God’s eyes by faith in the righteous works of His Son.  Nevertheless, the Jews' harassment of Paul was severe and potentially deadly.  Paul would not backdown in believing God loves all humanity passionately and desires for all men and women to be right with him.  He would not preach that circumcision of the flesh was a valid symbol of being right with God.  Instead Paul preached the cross made people right with God and that all men and women have equal access to being right with the Creator of all things.

We see in the above account that a young man became drowsy and fell asleep, falling from a windowsill to his death.  This death revealed once again how powerful God is: He can even overcome death.  He is the God of the resurrection.  When John the Baptist was questioning whether Jesus was the Messiah promised by God, he sent some of his disciples to ask Jesus that question.  When John’s disciples addressed that question to Jesus, Jesus replied, “Go back and report to John what you hear and see: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor.  Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me.”  (Matthew 11:4-6)  The salient part to Jesus’ response to John’s disciples is, go back and tell him what you have seen, not only heard but seen.  So we assume that John’s disciples, in that short time they were with Jesus, saw many phenomenal things happen: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised.  And the dead are raised from death.  This reveals quite clearly the truth of what John says at the end of his gospel:  Jesus did many other things as well.  If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.  (John 21:25)  In this short visit by John’s disciples, they saw many miracles that could not be accounted as acts of an ordinary man.  They were seeing God in action through the hands of Jesus Christ, the promised Messiah.  In the above focus, we see Paul performing an act of resurrection,  Paul went down, threw himself on the young man and put his arms around him.  “Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “He’s alive!  Was Eutychus dead, probably so for the scriptures tell us of his name, claiming the reality of this account.  This act was in God’s will not in man’s will.  God wanted him alive for his purposes, not for Eutychus or the people attending that event.  As with Jesus’ healing, the purpose was to reveal the God of power, functioning through men and women because of the Holy Spirit within them.  After Jesus was baptized with the Holy Spirit, his ministry of miracles became a reality.  Paul, full of the Holy Spirit, functions with miracles in his life.  God was opening the land of the spiritually dead through marvelous miracles and wonders.  Those who hear the voice of God will do the wonders of God.  The people in the wilderness did not want to hear the voice of God, for they feared for their lives because they were idol worshippers, recalcitrant to God’s demands on their lives.  But now, why should we risk death again?  If the Lord our God speaks to us again, we will certainly die and be consumed by this awesome fire.  Can any living thing hear the voice of the living God from the heart of the fire as we did and yet survive?  Go yourself and listen to what the Lord our God says.  Then come and tell us everything he tells you, and we will listen and obey.’  (Deuteronomy 5:25-27)  They wanted an intermediator between them and God.  In our present world, a minister, a pastor, to hear from God.  He is to know God’s will through this journey through the wilderness of life, but that is not where the church of the living God is in this world.  We are all priests, capable to minister to people around us; we all have spiritual eyes and ears to use for God’s purposes.  But to fulfill our purpose in the kingdom of God, we cannot have one foot in the kingdom of the world and one foot in the kingdom of God: that is an adulterous lifestyle.  As James warns Christians, You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God?  Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.  (James 4:4-5)   Even though the natural tendency of men and women of being too close to the world in our likes and desires, the scriptures say he gives us more grace.  (James 4:6)  We know dear friends around this breakfast table that we glory in the fact that God’s love for us is so great that He gives us more grace when we fly too close to worldly desires.  But we ought not live as adulterers, faithless in serving God.  We should live with a strong desire in our hearts and minds to serve God in everything we say or do.  Let that be the passion in our lives.  May we go where the Holy Spirit sends us.  

 

Acts 19:32-41 The New Is Here!

Acts 19:32-41  The assembly was in confusion: Some were shouting one thing, some another.  Most of the people did not even know why they were there.  The Jews in the crowd pushed Alexander to the front, and they shouted instructions to him.  He motioned for silence in order to make a defense before the people.  But when they realized he was a Jew, they all shouted in unison for about two hours: “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”  The city clerk quieted the crowd and said: “Fellow Ephesians, doesn’t all the world know that the city of Ephesus is the guardian of the temple of the great Artemis and of her image, which fell from heaven?  Therefore, since these facts are undeniable, you ought to calm down and not do anything rash.  You have brought these men here, though they have neither robbed temples nor blasphemed our goddess.  If, then, Demetrius and his fellow craftsmen have a grievance against anybody, the courts are open and there are proconsuls.  They can press charges.   If there is anything further you want to bring up, it must be settled in a legal assembly.  As it is, we are in danger of being charged with rioting because of what happened today.  In that case we would not be able to account for this commotion, since there is no reason for it.”  After he had said this, he dismissed the assembly.

       As Paul was winding down his ministry in Ephesus, a riot broke out in the city caused by the silversmith Demetrius.  Paul had spent three years in in Ephesus talking about the existence of only one God who should be worshipped.  During this time, many turned towards the Lord Jesus and away from the mythological god, Artemis.  Worshipping the goddess Artemis whose image supposedly fell from heaven in this great Greek city of the ancient world brought notoriety to Ephesus.  They had constructed a magnificent temple to Artemis to honor her and worship her.  Today that temple is considered one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.  Because of the temple and because of the mythology revolving around Artemis, the goddess of nature, environment, chastity and child rearing, many people made pilgrimages to Ephesus.  Demetrius and other silversmiths capitalized on this popularity of Artemis by making and selling idols of the image of Artemis.  As more and more people gathered because of the Christians in Ephesus and the surrounding area of Asia, the lucrative business of selling images of Artemis became impacted dramatically by this new religion out of Judea.  These Christians worshipped an amorphous God of the Spirit who demanded of them not to carve any image of him.  “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.“  You shall have no other gods before me.  “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.  You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.  (Exodus 20:2-6)  This cardinal commandment runs dramatically counter to worshipping Artemis.  Artemis supposedly helped in conception of children and in child rearing, protecting them from harm, for she was a warrior God who constantly had her bow drawn to hunt and also to watch over children.  But these Christians rejected that notion of her protecting their children for they served only the Creator God through the name of Jesus Christ.  The Jehovah God’s promise to those who serve him through the Redeemer Jesus Christ is that He would show his love to a thousand generations of their descendants.  Paul rejects the idea of even knowing Jesus Christ in the flesh.  So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view.  Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer.  Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!  (2 Corinthians 5:16-17)  Jesus’ ministry on earth was marvelous, stupendous.  But now He is present with the Father as King of Kings.  Jesus’ ministry was a servant’s ministry, revealing the love of God to the world.  He was THE SHEPHERD of the human race, but NOW HE IS LORD OF LORDS who will judge the world.  Paul loved the servant Jesus, the lover of his soul, but who can picture the King of Kings and Lord of Lord’s?  Who can carve the Creator of all things?  No one, not even close, for we know our future home cannot be imagined, neither can we imagine the unseen creation or the God who sits on the throne of all things made and not made.  Our minds do not have the capacity, the words or concepts to picture the unimaginable.  We are not to worship any distorted view of God, attempts to put him in a pictorial form.  Paul tells us quite directly; Christians are not to consider people as they are presently in the flesh.  Instead consider them as new creatures, designed for the glory of God for eternity.  Demetrius and all craftsmen of idols, work on static images of their gods, created out of their own imaginations.  But the Christians worship a God far beyond lifeless images; a God who is constantly creating, making new out of the old. 

       In the above focus we see Ephesus in turmoil.  The population of Ephesus had been riled up by the silversmiths.  They were rioting, a mob of angry people had formed to protest the religion of the believers in Jesus as Lord of all.  Christianity was altering the customs and traditions of the people that had existed in the Greek communities for generations, even centuries.  Worshipping Artemis was a way of life.  No other reality was understandable to them.  However, Christianity rocked their view of life.  For those who were making money off worshipping Artemis, Christianity was lethal, a threat to their livelihood, for them the status quo was good enough. The Christians were preaching an new view of life.  For the silversmiths, such a view deserves death.  The evangelists for Christ were destroying their way of living.  As with most mobs, many did not even know why the people gathered there were so upset, but they joined the commotion.   Most of the people did not even know why they were there.  Mobs are always dangerous; a few words here or there can explode into violence.   A mob was formed by the Jewish priests, having the people yell to crucify Jesus, giving Pilate little choice but to order Jesus’ execution.  A mob caused Paul to be arrested by the Romans, putting him in jail, living out his life from that time on in chains.  While they were trying to kill him, news reached the commander of the Roman troops that the whole city of Jerusalem was in an uproar.   He at once took some officers and soldiers and ran down to the crowd.  When the rioters saw the commander and his soldiers, they stopped beating Paul.  (Acts 21:30-32)  Stephen’s death came about in the midst of a mob, taking his life by stoning.  Paul and Silas were thrown in jail in Philippi because of the actions of a mob.  The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten with rods.  After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully.  When he received these orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.  (Acts 16:22-24)  In Ephesus, this mob was so irrational that they all shouted in unison for about two hours: “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”  Paul, even after all his experiences with mobs, was willing to go into that theater to reason with these people who were out of control.  But he was persuaded by others to not go into that arena to reason with the irrational, out-of-control Ephesians, for a mob sparked by angry words is very dangerous.  So Paul left Ephesus and went to Macedonia and Achaia to encourage the new-founded churches in those areas on his way to Jerusalem.  We see in these communities the sword against Christians was always used to destroy Christianity.  Many martyrs were part of the nascent church.  People had to love Christ more than their family, friends, culture or tradition.  Violence is a trademark of the unredeemed.  In Noah’s time it was said that the people were violent, unruly, all going their own way.  Now we see in these Greek communities, the majority of the people did not want anything to do with God’s plan of redemption through the life of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.  Yet, from city to city in Macedonia, Achaia and Asia, the Good News was preached, always with a threat to those who ministered the THE WAY to God. 

       

       When violence reigns against the message of Christ, what should believers do?   Are we to marshal our strength together and take the world by storm as some religions do today?  Do we force people to believe in God in the way we do?  Is this the word of God for us?  Are we to take Canaan or the Kingdom of God by aggression?  As Jesus explains very clearly, “Very truly I tell you Pharisees, anyone who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber.  (John 10:1)  There is no other way to enter the Kingdom of God than faith in the gate: Jesus Christ.  All other attempts to bring people into the sheepfold are criminal: thieves and robbers.  The Kingdom of God does not come through violence and aggression in words or deeds.  We do not pay back evil against us with evil.  Instead we live at peace with those who are living in darkness.  Do not repay anyone evil for evil.  Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone.  If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.  Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord.  (Romans 12:17-19)  The God of justice will pay back all evil that comes against you.  No one will get by with perpetrating evil against another of God’s creation.  This is true even in the family, no member of the family will get away with abusing another in the family.  The scale of justice is an integral part of God’s righteousness.  He will even the scale someday.  What does Jesus say about our enemies; those who aggressively come against us, willing to even kill us for their own reasons as we see in the above focus.  The silversmiths wished to do away with those who were not worshippers of Artemis; they wished to stop the ministry of Christ Jesus as Lord of all.  But what does Jesus say, other than escape to another city or area.  He says, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.  If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also.  If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them.  Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back.  Do to others as you would have them do to you.  (Luke 6:27-31)   How many of us want to hear those words?  How many of us want to hear and obey the words Jesus said on the Mount?  Do we want to hear him say,  “Do not judge, and you will not be judged.  Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned.  Forgive, and you will be forgiven.   (Luke 6:37-38)   Jesus ends his sermon with two warnings:  “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.  (Matthew 7:21)  And secondly, Everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.  The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.  But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.  (Matthew 7:24-26)  My friends we are the good trees who produce good fruit, so the world can taste what God is like, so that they might understand that God is full of mercy and grace.  This is the message Paul preached to the Ephesians for three years.  They heard of God’s kindness towards them and fell in love with God.  Now as the Ephesians were rioting against the believers, some of them were in midst of these rioters, but God’s message of love is stronger than hate.  Because of that these believers were willing to risk everything for God.  Fellow breakfast companions, let us listen to God’s words so beautifully said in the Sermon of the Mount.  Let us not just hear, but follow.  Let us not walk around blindly in darkness; instead, let us bring the light of God to everyone we meet today and every day.  Praise God!     

  

  

Acts 19:23-31 Speak of Grace!

Acts 19:23-31  About that time there arose a great disturbance about the Way.  A silversmith named Demetrius, who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought in a lot of business for the craftsmen there.  He called them together, along with the workers in related trades, and said: “You know, my friends, that we receive a good income from this business.  And you see and hear how this fellow Paul has convinced and led astray large numbers of people here in Ephesus and in practically the whole province of Asia.  He says that gods made by human hands are no gods at all.  There is danger not only that our trade will lose its good name, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be discredited; and the goddess herself, who is worshiped throughout the province of Asia and the world, will be robbed of her divine majesty.  ”When they heard this, they were furious and began shouting: “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”  Soon the whole city was in an uproar.  The people seized Gaius and Aristarchus, Paul’s traveling companions from Macedonia, and all of them rushed into the theater together.  Paul wanted to appear before the crowd, but the disciples would not let him.  Even some of the officials of the province, friends of Paul, sent him a message begging him not to venture into the theater.   

Before this disruption by the silversmiths about Paul ministry, he had already decided to go back to Jerusalem by the way of Macedonia and Achaia.  His intentions were to encourage the nascent churches he had established in Greece.  However, preceding his departure there arose a great disturbance about the Way.  As happens sometimes when religion is turned into a commercial activity, merchants were making money from the religious fervor of people.  Jesus found this kind of activity in the temple in Jerusalem very upsetting to him, where the courtyard of the temple was turned into a place of making money.  Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there.  He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves.  “It is written,” he said to them, “‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’”  (Matthew 21:12)  Even today we find people using Christianity as a way to make money.  Commercialism has always been a part of religion.  In Ephesus we see the silversmiths tremendously upset that they were losing money because of the spread of Christianity in Asia.  The followers of Christ were no longer buying the silver shrines that the silversmiths were making.  Paul had exposed the Asians to a God who could not be visualized by an image of any kind.  He preached of one God, not many.  This ministry of one God, the Creator of all mankind, was hurting the businesses that revolved around serving the goddess Artemis.  Ephesus was an important community in that time because the temple of Artemis was there, a beautiful, large worship facility that is considered one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.  Now Paul’s monotheist teaching was destroying the commercial activity functioning around that great temple to honor Artemis.  He says that gods made by human hands are no gods at all.  There is danger not only that our trade will lose its good name, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be discredited; and the goddess herself, who is worshiped throughout the province of Asia and the world, will be robbed of her divine majesty.  Of course, these silversmiths were probably not more religious than other worshippers of Artemis, but their livelihood revolved around the people buying shrines and articles that pertained to the worshipping of Artemis.  The silversmiths were making a good living because Artemis was very popular in the Greek communities, especially in the rural areas, for she was the goddess of nature, of hunting wild animals, and of protecting chastity.  It is easily understandable why Demetrius was upset with Paul and Christianity.  Paul and The Way were infringing on the livelihood of these craftsmen.  Therefore, Demetrius gathered the craftsmen together and riled them up to oppose this strange religion of The Way.  They began to chant,  “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”   With such commotion and shouts, Soon the whole city was in an uproar.  Of course angry people are dangerous in a mob.  The people seized Gaius and Aristarchus, Paul’s traveling companions from Macedonia.   Mob actions are always uncertain, maybe even death might be the result of their anger, so Paul was warned not to go into the theater to reason with these angry people.  He was persuaded by some of the prominent officials in the province not to try to reason with this mob at this time.  Eventually the mob calms down because the officials in the city did not want to get the Roman legions involved, for they might punish the Ephesians for being so disruptive to the stability of their rule in Asia.

Paul’s wanting to go into the theater to explain the Good News to the Ephesians reveals why Jesus called him.  He was willing to go into the fire of commotion, a place where his life might be lost for the Good News.  Later we see on his journey back to Jerusalem Paul talking to a few of the leaders of the Ephesians.  He reveals his determination to follow Christ regardless of the cost.  And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there.  I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me.  However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.  (Acts 20:22-24)  He will meet a mob in Jerusalem that will cause him to be in chains the rest of his life.  He will end his life in imprisonment in Rome.  But Paul was commissioned by Jesus, and Jesus did not hide anything in his calling of Paul.  Jesus told Paul he would face much adversity in serving him.  Paul not only faced deprivation and the hardships of nature in fulfilling his commission, he also faced severe physical abuse by the people: flogging, whipping and stoning.  As with the disciples, he counted these hardships and persecution as nothing in comparison to knowing Jesus as his Savior.  When the Sanhedrin flogged the disciples they left that scene rejoicing.  They called the apostles in and had them flogged.  Then they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go.  The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name.  Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah.  (Acts 5:40-42)  The disciples and Paul went from house to house propagating the Good News in every community, willing to face opposition and even violence for the cause of Christ.  They never delivered their message of the Good News with threats or violence: they delivered this message with love and concern for those they were ministering to.  In fact, Jesus tells them that when they face hatred and violence from even their own families they are to flee to another area.  Even though they are put upon by others, they are to forego violence and revenge.  Why?  Because revenge and judgment belong in the hands of the Lord, not in the purview of people.  “Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death.  You will be hated by everyone because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.  When you are persecuted in one place, flee to another.  Truly I tell you, you will not finish going through the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.  (Matthew 10:21-23)  Paul was not going to flee from Ephesus, but others convinced him to move onto other areas.  If called, you might confront your enemies with words of persuasion, but if not called to do so at that time, you should move onto other areas, spreading the Good News to others.  Now those who had been scattered by the persecution that broke out when Stephen was killed traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch, spreading the word only among Jews.  Some of them, however, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch and began to speak to Greeks also, telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus.  (Acts 11:19-20)  All through the millenniums the Good News has been spread like seeds from a tree blown by the wind.  Every nation, every tongue, every race and every ethnic group will eventually hear the redemption message: eternal life through the  death and resurrection of Christ the Lord.  Some who carry this message to others will die.  Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his faithful servants.  (Psalm 116:15) The martyrs will be honored greatly in heaven.  Most Christians will live normal lives, but always fixated on doing the will of God in their daily routines, knowing that every action they do and every word they say is watched by a dark and weary world.  Every Christian is a planter, sowing seeds in the soil around them, expecting good results from their efforts in exposing Jesus to others.  

Christians should be gracious and loving to others.  Jesus tells us to love our enemies, to do good to those who abuse us.  This is the nature of God, who tolerated the Jews’ misbehavior through the ages even though they were his treasured ones.  From the very beginning we see as Ezekiel 20:8 says, They rebelled against me and would not listen to me; they did not get rid of the vile images they had set their eyes on, nor did they forsake the idols of Egypt.  Before and in Egypt, they attached themselves to other gods, but God was patient with them.  His grace and mercy was his promise to them through his covenant with Abraham, but Abraham’s descendants were obstinate, self-willed and rebellious to God their Creator in their daily lives.  In the wilderness, they carried their personal idols in their satchels, revealing their desire not to serve God who delivered them out of captivity.  But God was merciful and gracious to them.  He gave them Canaan, a place of milk and honey to abide in.  But in Canaan, they still lusted after other gods, even though they understood through the law God’s demands on their lives.  Instead of serving him, they sought the gods of their ancestors.  But God was gracious and loving to them, but finally He expelled them from Canaan, sending them to foreign lands.  He always preserved a remnant of the Jewish people because of his covenant with Abraham that he would some day be the father of many nations.  This remnant came back to Israel from these many nations with the intention not to serve idols or other gods, but they still needed to know that the law would not redeem their souls to God, for the law was breaking their backs, too hard to obey all the time, and any violation of the law at any time would condemn them to everlasting punishment.  Paul is now ministering the Good News and not the law that the chosen could never satisfy.  The Good News is that Jesus paid the complete price for the disobedience of mankind.  This sacrifice for the sins of people made those who trust in Jesus’ work on the cross right with God.  This  mystery in the heart of God was so important to Paul that he was willing to give his life for this redemption message.  Surely, it took many words to convince Paul not to go into that theater to reason with that mob, to tell another group of angry protestors about his ministry of the Good News that God has planned for their redemption to him the Creator through Jesus Christ the Lord.  Paul was filled wth the Holy Spirit.  Jesus had told the disciples that He must go away so that He can send the Holy Spirit to them.  “But now I am going away to the one who sent me, and not one of you is asking where I am going.  Instead, you grieve because of what I’ve told you.  But in fact, it is best for you that I go away, because if I don’t, the Advocate won’t come.  If I do go away, then I will send him to you.  And when he comes, he will convict the world of its sin, and of God’s righteousness, and of the coming judgment.  The world’s sin is that it refuses to believe in me.  (John 16:5-9)  Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to us as an advocate of his work, to convince the world of Jesus Christ's complete work for the salvation of men and women.  The human race has always been God’s great love.  His plan of redemption for his chosen loved ones has eternally been in his heart.  But the darkness of rebellion has ingrained men and women from the very beginning.   Jesus tells us explicitly what sin does, how it alienates people from the plan of God which is Jesus:  The world’s sin is that it refuses to believe in me.  (John 16:9 NLT)  Jesus goes back to his Father God, showing the Father that He has completed the Father’s will: that He alone has paid the price for all the sins of the people.  Paul preached that victory; he was willing to go anyplace to tell of the work of the cross.  Jesus Christ said the kingdom is near.  Dear friends, accept the kingdom of God in your life by fully embracing that efficacious work of Jesus on the cross.  IT IS DONE!  IT IS FINISHED!  AMEN, AMEN!