Sermon Transcript
Well, this has sure been encouraging. I hope the same for you, that your heart’s been encouraged this morning as well. Well, let’s take out our Bibles together. We’re continuing in a study in the book of Acts, and we come to Acts 21. David actually opened the Scriptures last week and Took us through a good portion of Acts 21, but we’re going to pick up that study this morning.
I know that you’re familiar with Charles Dickens’ opening words in his Tale of Two Cities where he captures the two sides of life with saying this: It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. It was a season of light, it was the season of darkness. It was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair. We had everything before us. We had nothing before us.
We were all going direct to heaven. We were all going direct the other way. That’s life, isn’t it? 2 sides of life: a box of chocolates, a box of bills.
You know, what would we prefer? We would like the chocolates. You know, if life could just be one chocolate after another. The fact is, is that even today some of us are in the midst of the worst of times or challenges, whatever those challenges might be. I remember some years ago reading about Brian Hise.
Brian got up to a flood in his apartment. The flood came from upstairs. The apartment upstairs had a water pipe that broke and it flooded into his apartment. So he started to do the best with that that he could. He went outside to his car.
He was going to go somewhere, but his car had a flat tire. So he changed the flat tire. He came back inside to the kitchen area, maybe to wash his hands or whatever. There was an appliance there that he pulled the plug out on, and it electrocuted him. That was just the beginning of his day.
Then he tried to get back out of the house, but this time he couldn’t get out because the door had swollen shut from the water that was coming down from above. So he called his neighbor. His neighbor came over and kicked the door down, which obviously created another problem. Finally, he went back out to his car, but his car was no longer there. It had been stolen.
Fortunately, the car didn’t get too far because he didn’t have much gas in it. So it just got a few blocks and they found it. And so he, you know, retrieved his car except that it was out of gas. So he had to push it to the gas station. The day kind of went like that.
At the end of the day, he went to a military event and he sat on his bayonet. He ended up at the hospital getting stitches that night. He came home and saw his canaries were all dead. 4 canaries were dead because the ceiling above the canaries that had got wet had fallen and crushed the canaries. Just before he went to bed, he slipped and hurt his tailbone pretty badly.
So, finally, at the end of the whole day, he just simply said this, I think God wanted me dead, but He kept missing.
Now, you draw your own conclusions on this, but, you know, that’s kind of life, isn’t it? I mean, it could be one annoying thing after another. Somebody walked in this morning and showed me the key to their car that had broken in half. You know, that’s life. And it could be the death of a loved one.
We heard about Walt this morning. A group of people, I was told by Joe, were with him just a few days before his death. They were just having breakfast together. It was just another day having breakfast. And now all of a sudden, at 2:30 in the morning yesterday, he died.
That’s life. And so I think Charles Dickens really caught it, don’t you? Tale of Two Cities is the best of times It’s the worst of times. And in Acts chapter 21, we’re looking at one of those worst of times in the Apostle Paul’s life. If you are with us, you know that Paul was warned not to go back to Jerusalem, but he felt compelled to go back to Jerusalem because he really felt it was the Lord’s will for him to be back in Jerusalem.
But all along the way, people kept talking to him about how if you go back to Jerusalem, you’re going to be bound and you’re You’re going to lose your life, Paul. Don’t go. There were people begging him not to go. They’re crying over that. Finally, they just acquiesced to the Lord’s will and said, well, the will of the Lord be done.
Well, we pick up that account this morning, and as we look at this passage, as I was looking at this and been contemplating and praying over this and meditating over this and thinking about how this applies in my life right now, I was just thinking again, what we have here is an example of somebody who survived the worst of times. And so when you see somebody who survived the worst of times, it could be helpful in the midst of our worst of times, right? So we want to look closely and try to understand what it was that the Apostle Paul was going through and, and what can we learn from him. This comes after his 3rd missionary journey. We’ve worked our way through the book of Acts.
So this is after the 3rd journey. And one of the things just to pay attention to in this is that this just seems so unfair. I think the worst of times when they come, when you’ve been living, you know, the best that you can, you’ve been trying to do things the right way, and maybe in that we kind of expect, therefore I will be blessed. Well, even though we are living the right way, it doesn’t always ensure that we’re going to be blessed on the other side, right? And you see that in the Apostle Paul here.
He’s been trying to do things right. He’s just finished the 3rd missionary journey where he’s preaching the gospel. Great things were happening. People are coming to faith in Jesus Christ. And then he gets back and this whole thing that had been predicted unfolds.
So let’s watch it unfold together. Acts 21:17, when we arrived at Jerusalem, the brothers received us warmly. The next day Paul and the rest of us went to see James, and all the elders were present. Paul greeted them and reported in detail what God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry. And when they heard this, they praised God.
Then they said to Paul, you see, brother, how many thousands of Jews have believed, and all of them are zealous for the law. Now, we’ll just stop there just for a second, capture what’s happened here. Paul’s back. He gives his missionary report. This is what God did.
Literally thousands of people, no doubt, had come to faith, but he just talks about the Gentiles that had been reached with the gospel of Jesus Christ. And these Jewish believers, these leaders in the church of Jerusalem, respond by saying, and man, you got to know about the thousands of Jews here in Jerusalem in the area that now have come to believe, and all of them are zealous for the law. Now I want you just to notice that just for a minute, because what this is painting is it’s painting a great picture of things that God was doing in Jerusalem and a great picture of what God was doing throughout the world as the gospel was going to the uttermost parts of the world. Through the Apostle Paul. So this is a very positive time in the church, wouldn’t you say?
If you just take the Jerusalem church and you think about the growth in the church, it started back in Acts chapter 1 with just 120 believers, and then on the day of Pentecost, another 3,000 come to faith in Christ, and it says that the Lord added to their number daily. So that means in Acts 2, you’ve got 3,485 if you want to start there. Believers now, or people that are part of the church. And once you get to Acts 4, it’s like 15,000. But now the interesting terminology that’s used here is how many thousands.
And the thousands is actually in historical documents found to be connected to the number 60,000 or 100,000. And so let’s just say 100,000. So I mean, the church is experiencing incredible dynamic growth, the kind of growth that you think would make people say, Man, this is a great time. Let’s get on board with what God is doing and let’s celebrate that and let’s give our leaders a promotion and a raise and whatever, you know. But is that what happens?
We’ll follow along with the text. Verse 21, they’ve been informed that you teach all the Jews. So Paul’s out on the mission field while this is going on in Jerusalem, and he’s out on the mission field helping people come to the faith in Christ. It says they’ve been informed that they here are the Jews who are in Jerusalem that have been zealous for the law. Okay, they’re zealous for God’s law.
They’ve been informed that you teach all the Jews who live among the Gentiles to turn away from Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or to live according to our customs. And so then they ask this question, since that’s what people are saying about your ministry, what shall we do? They will certainly hear that you have come. I mean, now that you’re back in Jerusalem, we’ve got a problem. Now, you may not have heard about this problem because you don’t have email, but the problem is, is that there are people here in Jerusalem who are not going to be excited about your ministry because they think that you’re teaching things contrary to what it is that they believe.
Rumors were circulating— just know the 3 areas, just quickly see it. Rumors were circulating that Paul was teaching the Gentiles to turn away from Moses, which was not true. He was not teaching people to abandon Mosaic law.
The fact is, is that in Acts chapter 18, he kept the Nazarite vow, which is indicative of a person who wasn’t abandoning the Mosaic Law. Rumors have it that you’re down on circumcision, but that’s not true because in Acts chapter 16, Paul even had Timothy circumcised. And rumors have it that you’re against Jewish customs, and that’s not true. If you just go back to chapter 20, you see Paul’s keeping the customs, even the custom of Passover and the custom of Pentecost. So these rumors are unfounded.
Has this ever happened to you where you’re doing something really good and all of a sudden you turn around and you got people that are against what it is that you’re doing because of some unfounded rumors? What is that? Where does that come from? Well, maybe it comes from the flesh or pride, or maybe it’s just satanic opposition. Maybe it’s just Satan’s way.
If I could just get this person to stop doing what it is he or she is doing, then we could stop this movement, this missional movement that’s taking place. Maybe it’s just related to that, who knows? Or maybe it’s because Satan wants to divert attention from the main thing. A rumor can easily divert attention from the main thing so that now we have 7 days in a row of meetings to try to squelch the rumor or show the rumor’s not founded. I mean, none of this is true, okay?
That’s all I want you to see is that the Apostle Paul has come into the middle of a potential landmine And it’s not his doing. He’s been doing the right things. So let’s pick it up, verse 23. So do what we tell you. These are the, the leaders in the church at Jerusalem trying to find a way out of this mess that they’re in.
There are 4 men with us who have made a vow. Take these men, join in their purification rites, and pay their expenses so that they can have their heads shaved. And then everybody will know there is no truth in these reports about you, but that you yourself are living in obedience to the law. So the Jerusalem leaders believed Paul was okay, and they’re just trying to find a solution to get out of the mess. As for the Gentile believers, we have written to them our decision that they should abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals, and from sexual immorality.
The next day Paul took the men and he purified himself along with them, and then he went to the temple to give notice of the date when the days of purification would end and the offering would be made for each of them. Now what is this? This is a PR campaign. That’s what this is, right? It’s a 7-day PR campaign to prove that Paul is not down on Moses and he’s not down on Jewish customs.
And so they come up with a plan, and the plan is, hey, there are some guys that are taking the Nazarite vow, and you could just join with them. What was a Nazarite vow? A Nazarite vow was something for a period of time, and evidently this is going to be 7 days that Paul was going to join, and it would be a period of time where there would be no wine and no meat and no haircut. And these leaders say, you know, we can really make this good in terms of you impacting people who think you’re down on the Jewish law by you joining with these 4 individuals in their purification commitment. In fact, why don’t you go ahead and pay the offering for each one of them as well as for yourself?
And so the Apostle Paul is going to do that. He does that. And not only that, they had their heads shaved. Do you see it up there? So he gets right into the middle of this whole thing.
To try to squelch this rumor, to try to put it to bed once and for all. Now, why would he do that? Well, let me ask you, why would you try, even in a situation that’s unfair, why would you try to make things better? Well, because you care. Maybe because it’s an act of sacrifice.
Maybe because you want to consider others as more important than yourself. Maybe you’re led by the philosophy that the Apostle Paul was: to the Jew I became a Jew that I might win the Jew. And he adapted his behavior when possible to try to bring unity between people. Now, the question here is, so did this plan work? All right, did all of this effort, all of this money that was put out and all of that, did it work?
Verse 27, when the 7 days were nearly over, some Jews from the province of Asia saw Paul at the temple. They stirred up the whole crowd and they seized him shouting, men of Israel, help us! This is the man who teaches all men everywhere against our people and our law and this place. Okay, this is the guy we’ve been telling you about. He’s against the Jews, our people.
He’s against our law, the Mosaic law, the commandments that God gave. And he’s against this— what place? This place, the temple. He’s against it. And besides this, he has brought Greeks into the temple area and he’s defiled the holy place.
The holy place, this area they’re talking about, was a place only Jewish people could come in, and even at that, certain religious leaders. And so they’re saying he brought somebody into an area that he should have never brought them in. And then it goes on and it says, verse 29, they had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian in the city with Paul and assumed that Paul had brought him into the temple area. So all of this is being trumped up. It’s being trumped up by an assumption, or it’s being trumped up by a rumor.
Call it whatever you want to call it. But here’s what we know: even all of the efforts that the Jerusalem church leaders came up with and that Paul implemented and sacrificially paid for and all the rest of that, even after all of that It doesn’t fix the problem. In fact, if anything, now he’s got another charge against him that he’s defiled the temple by bringing a Gentile into the temple area, and the penalty for bringing a Gentile into the inner courtyard was death.
So you got some people that come into town from another city who knew Paul from another place, Ephesus, Asia, and And, and they’ve been evidently looking for an opportunity to take this guy down, and they are successful in beginning to spread this assumption, so much so that it says in verse 30, the whole city now was aroused, and the people came running from all directions. Seizing Paul, they dragged him from the temple, and immediately the gates were shut. And 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. So you got a riot on your hands. He at once took some officers and soldiers, and this is the Roman leader, the commander.
He at once took some officers and soldiers and ran down to the crowd. And when the rioters saw the commander and his soldiers, they stopped beating Paul. The commander came up and arrested him and ordered him to be bound with 2 chains. Remember, Dave had helped us see this. This was one of the predictions of what would happen, is that the Apostle Paul would be bound.
Well, here it’s happened. The commander came up, arrested him, and ordered him to be bound with 2 chains. And then he asked who he was and what he had done, asking Paul this question. Some in the crowd— he didn’t even get to answer— some in the crowd shouted one thing and some another. And since the commander could not get at the truth because of the uproar, he ordered that Paul be taken into the barracks.
And when Paul reached the steps, the violence of the mob was so great he had to be carried by the soldiers. The crowd that followed kept shouting, away with him. And what do you think they mean by that? Kill him! You gotta kill this guy.
Now let me ask you a question. Can you believe this happened? I mean, was it deserved? Was there anything deserving of this? No, not at all.
Now I call this the worst of times. Call it whatever you want to call it. Bad day, you know, wrong place at the wrong time. Whatever. But what happened to him could happen to us, maybe not in the same way, but in different ways, where you do nothing wrong, you try to live, you know, a good life, you try to serve the Lord, you go on 3 missionary journeys, and even after all of that, all of a sudden, you’ve got people abusing you, and you’ve got people wounding you, and you’ve got people treating you unfairly, And you’ve got competitors lying about you, and you’ve got associates criticizing you, and you’ve got people rejecting you, and you may even have some people trying to kill you.
And if not literally, at least kill your reputation to stop your good work. Now the question then is asked in the midst of all of this, so what do you do?
I mean, what do you feel like doing? Fine, I don’t need this. I’m out of here. You know, I’m just done. What do you do when you’re not appreciated for the good you’ve been doing?
When it doesn’t seem like things are matching up, what do you do? Well, look what Paul does. Acts 21:37, as the soldiers were about to take Paul into the barracks, he asked the commander, may I say something to you? I mean, that’s about as polite as you could get at this point, right? May I say something?
Would it be okay if I, you know, said something about what’s going on here? Do you speak Greek? he replied. And aren’t you the Egyptian who started a revolt and led 4,000 terrorists out into the desert some time ago? Paul answered, I’m a Jew.
In other words, no, you got the wrong guy. From Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of no ordinary city. Please let me speak to the people. Please, may I? And having received the commander’s permission, verse 40, Paul stood on the steps and he motioned to the crowd, and when they were all silent, he said— now that’s the beginning of how Paul now handles this circumstance.
Now what I want you to see, because we’re going to continue this next week, I just want you to see just in the immediate the immediate thing that we see, but then a couple of other things that play out in response to what takes place here as we’re going to continue over the story over the next week. But the first thing I see can be helpful to us when we find ourselves in an unfair, troubling, worst kind of situation. The first thing you see is Paul said something. He said something. And what does he say here?
And we have to really get into the whole next chapter, which we’ll do next week, But what he says here is the truth. He told the truth. As the soldiers were about to take him into the barracks, he asked for permission to speak, and he speaks, and he sets the record straight. That’s what he does. It’s not like you guys think.
He doesn’t just listen. He doesn’t just sit there and take it on the chin. He speaks up for himself. He says what needs to be said. In fact, if you go into chapter 22, he gave a defense.
Now, some of us have heard this before, that we shouldn’t become defensive. Well, wait a minute. There is a time to defend yourself. There is a time when untruth is being stated, when untruth is circulated, there is a time to stand up and say, let’s set the record straight. And to do it in a loving, proper, you know, gentle way, but in an appropriate way.
And I think it’s just so important to see that here, because if Paul would have not spoke up, he may have lost his life. And it’s possible that in certain circumstances that if you or I don’t speak up when something untrue is happening, we may lose our job. Or who knows what it might be. In other words, in unfair situations, if there’s an appropriate way to talk through that situation, to work through that situation, to dialogue in that situation, we need to. So Paul stops them and says, may I say something?
Could we just talk about this for a minute? And the whole next chapter, just about the whole next chapter, is Paul speaking and telling the truth, giving people an understanding of the true story that ultimately, hopefully, would set the record straight. Now, he can’t control the reaction, but he can control what it is that he would say. First factor I think that we need to consider in an unfair situation is the factor of speaking the truth. What is it that needs to be said?
I was thinking about my brother, my second brother, and how this has been a lot of fun this year because he’s had some projects in the area. And so several times he stayed at our house so he didn’t have to, you know, get that expensive hotel room nearby. It’s crazy during the weekdays how much hotel rooms cost around here, isn’t it? And so he said, can I stay there? And so we’ve been, you know, providing that place for him to stay several times over this year.
But what you probably would not connect to that, that we know all about, is just a couple of years ago there was a rift in our relationship. We weren’t really talking to each other until we sat down together and we talked about the rumor mill. We talked about the untruths that had separated us in our relationship. And if there was going to be any kind of healing, there had to be a dialogue. There had to be a willingness to sit down together and to share the truth and to work through the truth together, and hopefully, possibly, on the other side of that, be able to have a relationship.
Some of you may be able to identify with that. Sometimes the best thing we can do is say something appropriate. He told the truth. Secondly, he did something. What did he do?
Well, you have to see this all play out now. So this is Paul’s beginning of imprisonment in Jerusalem, and ultimately it leads to Caesarea and all of this. But, but he’s, he’s imprisoned, and, and this imprisonment begins here in chapter 21. And guess what? It’s going to go all the way through chapter 26.
From chapter 21 all the way to chapter 26, an imprisonment that was not fair. Kind of reminds you of Joseph. You remember how Joseph was imprisoned unfairly? It’s, it’s the same kind of thing here now, but it’s for the Apostle Paul. And it says in chapter 24 and verse 27, when 2 years had passed, Felix was succeeded by Porcius Festus.
But because Felix wanted to grant a favor to the Jews, he left Paul in prison. I just jumped ahead there just to say that there were 3 governors that Paul faced when he was in this prison experience. The first was Felix, and Felix was basically, as we say in Walk Through the Bible, he was like a cat on the fence. He didn’t want to side with Paul and he didn’t want to side against Paul, and so he just walked down this fence like a cat. He was— we remember it this way in Walk Through the Bible— he was Felix the Cat.
And Felix the Cat didn’t act on the information that he had, and the result was, listen, Paul sat in a prison for 2 years without some kind of resolution. Now, would that bother you? Absolutely. And so how did Paul get through that? And by the way, that’s just the first part of the imprisonment.
That’s before he ultimately stands before Festus, and then he stands before Agrippa. So there’s this whole prison experience is going to go on for a while. How did he get through it? Well, from what I can see, he got through it the same way Jesus did. And the same way we will get through whatever our prison experience is.
Do you remember this in chapter 12 of Hebrews? Paul could have even written this. We’re not sure who wrote the book of Hebrews. Some say Barnabas, some say the Apostle Paul, some say others that we just don’t know, but it could have been Paul. But listen to the words, chapter 12, verses 1 to 4: Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us.
And let us run with— and here’s the word to note— endurance. And let us run with endurance the race that’s set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him, Jesus, who has endured such hostility by sinners against himself so that you may not grow weary and lose heart. You’ve not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin. I mean, when you finally get that far, okay, let’s talk differently.
But right now you need to endure just like Jesus endured. And when I look at Paul’s writings, for instance, Galatians chapter 6 and verse 9, he wrote, and let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we shall reap if we do not grow weary. You know, one of the challenges we all face in the midst of hardship, especially the worst of times that comes when it’s just unfair— I mean, I did nothing to bring this on, that kind of thing— when it’s unfair, one of the temptations is just to give up. It’s just to cash it in. It’s just to say, I quit.
I’ve had it with this relationship. I’ve had it with trying to work this out. And the Apostle Paul, by the way, when he wrote Galatians, that verse there in Galatians 6:9, that thought, when he wrote that down, guess where he was? He was in the continuation of his prison experience, right? Now he’s in Rome, sitting in a prison in Rome that came after his imprisonment that started in Acts chapter 21 and went all the way to chapter 26.
Now he’s still in prison, but he’s in Rome and he’s saying, so let’s don’t grow weary, let’s don’t lose heart, let’s endure. God’s in control. So Paul not only said something, he told the truth, but Paul did something. He endured the pain. He endured the pain.
And for him, just an initial part of this, it was at least 2 years, but it was longer than that because he then went on to face Festus, and then Agrippa, and then he had this crazy ship ride to Rome where they almost lost their lives, and finally gets to Rome and he’s in prison over there again. I almost quit this year a program that I started at the beginning of the year, and I think I told some of you about it. It was called Soul Care, and the whole focus of Soul Care was to spend some time together as a group of people once a month and just to have some thought about our soul, some scripture, some conversation, some dialogue. It included spiritual direction for me this year. Well, I can remember about 3 months into that this year, I remember thinking, I’ve got way too much to do.
I don’t have enough time to do soul care. I mean, it already sounds strange— soul care, you know. But I remember hanging in there. I stuck it out. I didn’t give up.
I wanted to give up. I really did. I was looking for things to get off my schedule at that point, but I didn’t. And we just finished here in May. We just finished with a final 2-day retreat, and it was a great experience.
And if you could look in my soul, you would see it’s better than it was a year ago, at least I think. But it really was a good experience for me. And at that last meeting, I remember thinking, you know what, I’m so glad that I didn’t give up. Some of us can think of experiences in our life right now where we would say, I’m so glad I didn’t give up. I’m so glad that I didn’t grow weary and I didn’t lose heart.
Stuck it out. I hung in there. I knew that God would do something. I took courage.
There’s a third thought that I want to bring into this. Paul not only said something, telling the truth, did something— he endured the pain— but he believed something. What was it that he believed? He believed in the Lord. He trusted God’s plan.
Now it’s interesting as we’ll finish off this thought here in Acts chapters 21 through 26, 27. But as you look at this section right here, just if you just take this little part where Paul was imprisoned in Jerusalem and Caesarea, if you just take that part right there and you start going through the passage looking for the red letters, if you have a red letter Bible, and you’re looking for Jesus speaking to the Apostle Paul. There’s only one, there’s only one actual interaction from the Lord, if you would want to say it that way, where in Acts chapter 23, verse 11, the Lord stood near Paul one night and said to him, take courage. As you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so must you also testify in Rome. That was it.
Paul’s sitting in prison. Lord, I need a word from you. No doubt, yes, he needed a word from the Lord. And, and just when the Lord knew it was that right moment to give him a word, he comes and he says to him, Paul, listen, I know that your courage is waning. Don’t let it wane.
Take courage, because as you’ve testified about me here in Jerusalem you’re gonna do the same thing in Rome. And Paul hangs on to that. He hangs on to that. In fact, as I mentioned, there’s a— after this prison experience and facing these 3 governors, he ultimately is put on a ship, and the ship is headed for Rome. And on the way to Rome, the ship shipwrecks, and the people are thinking, you know, they’re gonna lose their lives.
They’re in the middle of a storm and all the rest of it. And Paul is able in the midst of all of that to encourage them, to tell them to not abandon ship, to just forget it, but to stay with the ship. And he said this to them in Acts 27:23, last night an angel of God whose I am and who I serve stood beside me and said, don’t be afraid, Paul. You must stand trial before Caesar, and God has graciously given you the lives of all who sail with you. So keep up your courage, men, for I have faith in God that it will happen just as he told me.
What’s Paul doing? He’s trusting God, right? He’s hanging on to God’s counsel. He’s hanging on to only that which God has given him, and he’s telling the other people to do the same thing again and again. You know, at the end of all of this, you get to 2 Timothy chapter 4.
And 2 Timothy chapter 4 is his last written words, and he now doesn’t know how things are going to turn out, but you got to love his words when he says this, verse 14: Alexander the metalworker did me a great deal of harm. The Lord will repay him for what he’s done. You too should be on your guard against him because he strongly opposed our message. At my first defense, no one came to my support. But everyone deserted me.
May it not be held against them. But the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. And I was delivered from the lion’s mouth. The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever.
Amen. Now that’s the end of the story. Okay, I jumped all the way to the end of the story. We started this story by saying, and here’s the Apostle Paul hearing from the Lord to take courage, and so that’s what he does. He trusts the Lord.
And you get all the way to the end of the story, and what’s Paul doing? He’s still trusting the Lord. The Lord will rescue me. Hey, and by the way, even if he doesn’t, he’s going to rescue me by taking me to heaven. And can it get any better than that?
He’s still trusting the Lord. How do you get through the worst of times? Well, I think you see in the Apostle Paul something that can be helpful, could be helpful to all of us. When something needs to be said, you speak up for what’s right in a very loving, kind way. When something needs to be done, don’t abandon the cause.
Endure it, even if it’s a trying circumstance. When something needs to be believed, trust in God.
I mean, Paul always wanted to get to Rome. You remember that? He always wanted to get to Rome, and at the end of his life, he got A full-expense-paid cruise to Rome.
Wasn’t like he thought it would be, but it was. God did it.
Lord wanted us to get that point right there.
And so the bottom line of all this, the bottom line of all of this is just that, that same thing that we’ve heard over and over. And it was actually on the verse up here, one of the kids, Proverbs 3:5. It’s just trust the Lord. Trust in the Lord with all of your heart. You’re trusting the Lord when you’re willing to tell the truth.
Sometimes we don’t want to go on record because, you know, man, that might get me in trouble. Paul just You’ll see in chapter 22, it’s just truth after truth after truth. It’s trusting the Lord and telling the truth. It’s trusting the Lord and enduring the circumstance that we might find ourselves in right now. And maybe you’re like 2 years into it or more, I don’t know.
It’s trusting the Lord, not growing weary and losing heart. And it’s trusting the Lord in his plan. He’s got a plan in this, and we can trust him in that. So how do we survive tough times? Well, we look to a person like the Apostle Paul and say, man, there’s something there that I can learn from that helps me focus on the Lord.
And if it will do that, then, then let’s do that together. Amen. Lord, thanks for this time to encourage each other again today in the midst of a a world that is filled with good and bad times. We look around right now, we just even think of the floods in Oklahoma and Texas and those that have lost their lives. And one day things are fine, and the next their house is gone or a family member’s gone.
And if we try to understand that, lean on our own understanding, it just doesn’t make sense. I’m sure if the Apostle Paul had tried to lean on his own understanding, after all the good work he had done. It would just not have made sense. But you ask us, even in those circumstances, to just trust you. We pray that you would help us do that.
We pray you would help those that are in Oklahoma and Texas be able to do that even now. Comfort them and give them faith. Help them, Lord, where they need your strength in supernatural ways. We pray that people would turn to you for salvation. If they’ve never found you, we pray for that for us here this morning.
If there are any that are here today that have never said yes to you and becoming one of your children and one of your followers, and they’ve never yet said yes to what you did for them on the cross when Jesus died for their sins, and they’ve never asked you to forgive them of their sins, that even today they would. In fact, if If you want to do that right now, God would love to hear you say, Lord, I want you to be my Savior. And if that’s the desire of your heart, just tell him that.
Ask him to make you a new person.
Ask him to show you how to live your life in ways that you’ve never lived it before. Lord, thank you that in the midst of our turmoil or pain or suffering or hardship or whatever it is, that you are there and you can be trusted. And so together we want to take another step in that direction of trusting you for the circumstances we face now. In Jesus’ name, amen. Well, we’re gonna have our team come back up and we’ll finish worshiping
