feBmftQcEwU

1:20And there we have it. A little section that gets us from one place off-preached to another place off-preached. And the immediately preceding section, a good to do about a riot and things going on, and not very much longer. You have parting farewells, goodbye to the Ephesians, and a lot going on. This little section just is movement. Just movement back and forth between one place and another, so it seems. But it is scripture. And I think there is a great bit to tell us in this section, and it has a lot of meaning to me personally. Before I go too far into it, though, I want to remind you, this is the third part of three messages that I will have given by the time tonight is over, each on one of the missionary journeys of Paul. The first was in Acts chapter 14, verses 19 to 20. And by way of reminder, this tells of Paul's first missionary journeys as he travels through Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra, facing progressive oppression, leading and culminating in Lystra with his stoning. And if you'll recall, the most fascinating part of that story is right after he gets done getting stoned, catches his breath, he goes right back through all three of these cities in order. He didn't get enough the first time.

2:58And if you remember, Right, the general takeaway that at least I gave us was to continue in the faith. Paul setting the example for us. In our second message, Acts chapter 17, verse 10 through 13, is the ministry in Berea, in which the Jews of Berea were distinguished by their preparedness to receive the gospel with the Jews of Thessalonica, who were still fighting against Paul, who still continues in the faith on his second journey. And my message to us was to be prepared properly for the handling of God's word.

3:44And tonight, the third missionary journey, in which we see, at least in this small window of that journey, a life of transition, a life of transition. You see, this is, in fact, a look into what has become and what will be the entirety of Paul's life, moving from place to place. Whereas before, Paul was largely first based out of Jerusalem, and he had studied under a Pharisee, and he had become proficient in the law, and he was diligent to carry that out. He was then met with Christ, his life changed, and eventually he was. Would become settled in Antioch, and he would be based there. The first missionary journey, they sent him out from Antioch, but he's still very much planted there. That's still his home, so to speak. But then between the second and the third journey, we see something. You see, the third journey we are in now begins in Acts chapter 18, verses 21 to 23, and it is hardly a layover.

4:57He goes, he comes back from his journey, the second journey, he comes back to Antioch, he gives a report, he says hello, and then he says goodbye. The distinguishing between the second and third journeys being literally a matter of just a few verses there. Not only this, quick layover, we see promises that he starts to give. In 18, 21, he promises the Ephesians that he will be coming back to them. He has plans to be continually on the road. Plans fulfilled, by the way, in that particular, in chapter 19, verse 1.

5:37Everywhere he is going, now he's starting to make plans to come back to them. He's starting to demonstrate that he knows and he has every desire to be constantly rotating through these churches. Then, as we get closer into our text, he demonstrates that he has plans to go to Jerusalem, but then. Afterwards, he plans to go to Rome. And if you read the book to the Romans, he has plans after that to go to Spain. See, the man has demonstrated by this point that his entire life is not just to any small group of Gentiles. He's not just interested in the Gentiles around Antioch or in Syria or Asia or even Greece. He is now committed to, shall we say, foreign missions. And he has all the plans to be going about life from place to place, ministering along the way. He has dedicated himself to a life of transition, constantly on the go.

6:48And we also see in the context in this life of transition that he continues to make enemies. In the first two, we saw that the Jews were constantly against him, and that is still the case. In our text, verse 3, the Jews plotted against him. So nothing has changed here. The Jews, everywhere he goes, still against him. But notice here, he's very good at something else, making new enemies. In Acts chapter 19, verse 21, we meet one such enemy, Demetrius. Demetrius, when these things were accomplished, Paul proposed in the Spirit when he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia to go to Jerusalem, saying, After I have been there, I Must also see Rome. And then in verse 24, a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of Diana, brought no small profit to the craftsman. He called them together with the workers of similar occupations and said, Men, you know that we have prosperity by this trade. Moreover, you see in here not only at Ephesus, but throughout almost all Asia, this Paul has persuaded and turned away many people, saying that there are no gods which are made with hands. So not only this trade of ours is in danger of falling into disrepute, but also the temple of the great goddess Diana may be despised and her magnificence destroyed, whom all Asia and the world worship. Now then they heard this and they were full of wrath. So now he has the Jews and the Gentiles. And I ask you, if you have the Jews and the Gentiles, who has left? No one. So he's got everybody successfully against him in a manner of speaking.

8:40So he's living a life of transition, and everywhere he goes, he has those opposed to him. And that is the context in which we meet our text. So the question I have as I look through our passage is: how does Paul handle transition? And I'll note here, as I said, this is quite personal to me. You see, sometimes I prepare a message, and I always learn something, but often I have the message I'm preparing, and then also my devotional time set aside in which I am learning and spending time with the Lord. This is one of those rare occasions where my personal devotional time and my time in preparing for tonight is one and the same. Obviously, in preparation for the next year, this has meaning for me. For the Waltons, the Ku Kains, and a number of us, this has meaning. And for our young adults, many of whom I am working with. They're either transitioning into college, many of them, or into a career. It's a time of transition for them. In short, transition is of utmost importance for me to understand.

9:58So I note this, and then next I'll point out that this is a description. Many times I've learned from Pastor Tom a few things. One of the things I've really enjoyed learning is to look for the imperatives. And sometimes you just get all your points right there. Boom, boom, boom. Do this, do that, and there you go. There's a sermon. That was one of the great helps I've gotten from him. Unfortunately, what we're looking at here is descriptive, not prescriptive. It's what Paul did. So, how can I say, well, yes, this is something Paul. Paul did. How can I look at this and tell us tonight this is what we should do? Well, that's actually quite easy. 1 Corinthians 4, verse 16, 1 Corinthians 11, verse 1, Philippians 3, verse 17, Philippians chapter 4, verse 9, 2 Timothy 2, verse 2. All of which say something along the line or a variation of imitate me. You see, Paul in his whole life was set aside in Scripture as an example.

11:01Not necessarily true of every character. We're going through Judges in Route 66. Don't imitate a lot of those folks. Paul, however, I think we have a mandate. We have an example. He was placed here in Scripture for a purpose. You see, this isn't just a description. It's also a prescription, I believe, in a very real sense. What we see him doing, we are to imitate. So we have a very good thing to notice here. Nonetheless, being descriptive, I can notice and take note of umpteen different ideas, and I can come up with 77 different points if I wanted to, but I'm just going to touch a little bit on the highlights of what we see here and how he handles the transition. It won't at all exhaust, but I think it is important. And I'm going to look at it primarily in two ways. I primarily want to look at what he doesn't do.

12:00What he doesn't do during the transition, and what he does do. We're going to note both of these in order. So, what he doesn't do, and primarily what he doesn't do, is he doesn't use transition as an escape. Paul does not use this transition period, this moment of movement in his life, as an escape. He doesn't use it as an escape first from responsibility. He does not use the transition as an escape from his responsibility as pastor. Now, for my young adults in the room, if I'm talking about a bad example of shepherding in the Old Testament, a bad example of shepherding in the Old Testament, I would be alluding most likely to what reference? Not a rhetorical question. Somebody call it out for me. Say it louder.

13:02I've taught something. All right, Ezekiel chapter 34. I've been drilling it and drilling it and drilling it. Ezekiel 34 is a passage if you're not familiar about shepherds, specifically bad shepherds in Israel. Shepherds who get disposed by God himself who comes down to shepherd his people in their place. So, as a pastor, he does not. Become a bad shepherd. And what do I mean by that? First of all, I mentioned this riot that comes before. There's a couple things to note. The people in this riot are interesting. You'll note here that coming along, they capture two of his compatriots, Gaius and Aristocus, in verse 29 of chapter 19. And you'll notice in our text, chapter 20, verse 4, Aristocus and Gaius are mentioned again. These are some of his people, part of his congregation here. And he cares for them. He cares for them so much, in fact, if you look in verses 30 to 31.

14:24And when Paul wanted to go into the people, the disciples would not allow him. 31, then some of the officials of Asia, who were his friends, sent to him, pleading that he would not venture into the theater. He loved them so much, he was getting ready to charge into the crowd in the middle of the riot. And I'm not sure what he was going to do, maybe give a speech or something. I have no idea. But in the same zeal that you would expect from Paul as a friend and as a pastor. who loved his people, he was ready with no regard to his personal safety, with no regard to his life.

15:09As the principal target of their ire, he was nonetheless ready to go in. He was held back by perhaps cooler minds, some wiser folks who told him not to go in and do so. But then in our text, chapter 20, after the uproar had ceased, Paul called the disciples to himself and embraced them. He waited the whole time until it had ceased. We don't know how long that was. It might have been a day, it might have been several days. However long it was, he had a purpose we've talked about. He had already planned at the beginning, as I read, to go somewhere. And as those days came about, this riot stopping him, he waited for them. He did not allow his transition, his plans, his goals to stop him in his responsibility to a people he loved as a pastor waiting to take care of these people.

16:19You may not all be pastors, but you all do have responsibilities. You have responsibilities to serve one another with your time with your resources. Paul waited. Time is a resource. We can wait on each other, and that is a responsibility when called upon to do it. You also note, Paul embraced them in our text, and he was ready to charge in in chapter 19. His disposition was the same in both places, when they could see and when they couldn't see. In other words, to their face, he embraced them, and to their back, he embraced them. He was the same. He had integrity both ways. Let me suggest to you, this is also a responsibility of ours. There is very little you can do that would be more damaging to our body than to say one thing to a person's face here in this congregation and then say another thing to their back. Often that's called gossip, libel, many other things it could be called. Let me suggest to you that just because you are in transition does not mean that you suddenly have the ability to say all these things that you've been storing up and you've just been waiting to say about somebody.

18:01Paul's about to leave. He could have just left these people behind, said whatever he wanted to say, and go. And what are they going to do? Run them down? No. Just because perhaps somebody is going somewhere, or maybe you will be distanced, doesn't give you the right to say nasty, horrible things. Be true to each other. We are called in our responsibility as a church in how we treat each other to be consistent. I'll point out another responsibility in which he doesn't use his transition as an escape. Look at how he treats the Macedonians. End of verse 1 and going into verse 2. Departed to go to Macedonia now that he had gone over that region and encouraged them with many words.

18:53Encouraged them with many words. Encouraged. A word that means to call near, in its most wooden translation, to call near. It's a personal, close, intimate use of words. And there's three things I'd suggest to you that this brings to mind: the use of words and our responsibility therewith. First of all, it should be obvious to all of us: is prayer. That word encouraged, to call near, paracalais. Oh, it should sound very, very familiar to most of us. The paraclete also used of the Holy Spirit. Prayer. We should be in prayer for one another.

19:40This doesn't matter whether you like each other or not. This doesn't matter whether you necessarily get along or not. We should be praying for one another. We should be encouraging one another. And guess what? When you start praying for one another, when you start caring for one another, sure goes a long ways before long. You find out that you actually kind of do like one another. If there's somebody you don't like in here, maybe pray for them. If there's somebody that you don't get along with, pray for them, because it's awfully hard to pray for an enemy for very long and pray for their blessing. And before long, you are loving because you are praying to God who changes hearts. You are praying to God who melts a heart of stone. And as you're praying for them, he's also working on you. You'll note that Paul is encouraging through letters. He wrote a good portion of this New Testament. It's thought that somewhere in this time, in chapter 20, he wrote the letters to the Corinthians, most likely, or very likely, in which he's exhorting them, he's encouraging them with words in the same way that he encourages the Macedonians. He's using his mouth, his pen.

21:01To encourage them and teach them, encourage each other with exhortations. When you see something, say it. When you have something, you can encourage as far as correcting the action. When somebody has a stain on their face, right, it is not loving to just ignore it, let them go on about their business. So you can encourage them through prayer, you can exhort them to improvement. This, again, is different than if you've got a sin that you're dealing with and then you try to be holier than now. Nonetheless, if you see something, feel free to encourage one another in that regard. Exhortations. If you read the letters to the Corinthians, you'll know what I mean. That was a letter full of exhortations to improvement.

21:54And lastly, as far as these words of encouragement, I'll ask you, and I'll be careful here because I know some have experienced the negative example of this, but do you know that your spouse or your parents love you? Do you know it? For those of you who have a spouse or parents who do in fact love you, and you do in fact know it, I ask you, what if they never say it? Does that make a difference? You know they love you, but they refuse to ever say, I love you.

22:44Does that make a difference? I suggest to you it does. Words matter. Prayers. God already knows what's on your lips. He knows what's in your heart. He knows what you're going to say before you say it. Does prayer matter? I mentioned prayer and its importance, words of encouragement. And yet we are called to pray. You know that your spouse or your parents in a good relationship loves you, and yet you want to hear it said. We talked in 2 Peter where he talks about the role of a pastor to repeat that which we already know, to exhort and continually bring up things we hear regularly.

23:26Ultimately, if you've been in church for a number of years, largely, the exhortations from the pulpit are going to be the same. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, and soul. Not really much changes, and yet here we are every single week, and I encourage you, and Pastor Tom encourages you, and the elders are encouraging you, and we should encourage each other in the same way. Not because there's something new, not because you didn't have any idea that it was supposed to be that way. That is the nature of encouragement.

24:00Other things with words that we already know, to tell each other we love each other, though it's already known, to pray for each other, though God already knows, with words, vocally, out loud, demonstrate it to each other over and over and over. And so we have this example that Paul is in the middle of transition, and yet while he's moving, while he's going on, not knowing many of these people, if he'll ever see them again or not, he takes the time to commit to his responsibilities, to show the love for his people, and to encourage them. The same thing that in the church we are to do, no matter where you are and no matter how long you will be here, no matter what you are doing or what is going on in your life.

24:57And that largely brings us to my second point, what he doesn't do. He doesn't use the transition as an escape from relationship. He doesn't escape from responsibility, and he doesn't escape from relationship being the largest part of his responsibility. Don't be the guy or gal that is in the song burning bridges. That should not be us. We should not be burning bridges. You get ready to go. Good writtens, goodbye. Care anyway. Don't be that person. And here we have, I'd like to look at each of these names just for a moment, these relationships, which meant enough to be recorded. I'm going to do it a little bit out of order in verse 4. First, I'll point out to you Gaius and Timothy. Both of these, seemingly born out of the first missionary journey, coming from places he ministered to. And Timothy, we know explicitly from Acts chapter 16, verse 1.

26:04Involved since the first missionary journey, when Paul was continuing in the faith and influencing these people, and they have been following ever since. They have been following in the footsteps. Peter, sorry, Paul calls Timothy his son, and he works with them, and he does not lose his connections with them, despite the fact that he's all over the place. He's been on a whole journey and a half, missionary journey and a half since that first journey. And yet they are still in touch and working together regularly.

26:38This is a lifelong friendship that he maintains. So Pater of Berea, the second missionary journey, in which he went to Berea, and we talked about the Bereans and how they received the word. Again, maintaining this relationship despite distance, but this Despite time, Trophimus in Ephesians could have been either from the end of the second missionary journey or from the previous two years he spent in Ephesus. Tychochus, he's mentioned in four of the epistles that Paul will go on to write. This man will continue to be part of Paul's life for the rest of his mission.

27:28All of these, Paul has made an effort. It's very clear. He made an effort to stay in touch with them. Now, do we have to stay in touch with each and every individual we ever become an acquaintance with all of our life? No, and I don't suggest that we do. But my point here is: we should not be quick to sever every relationship just because we move on. There are people we should make effort to stay in touch with. We should make effort to reach out to, at least from time to time.

28:09I was a good bit touched the other night. You were talking through prayer, Mr. Walton here, and he was talking about the church and how much you stayed in touch with them and you loved them. And then, lo and behold, here you are, and you're going back to that part of the world. The Lord works through relationships, and we're not. Called, it's a fad, a little bit of a fad. We have the social networking. We have the Aggie network. And there's this idea that we build these relationships so that someday we can leverage them. And if you're part of this Aggie network, and I'm going to dog on it because I can, if you're part of this Aggie network that guarantees me a job someday, well, first of all, if I'm ever the employee or don't count on it with me, but you know, yeah, so I could go off on that soapbox. But here's the thing: it's entirely, this attitude, this idea is entirely selfish. That's not what's in play here. Paul is not trying to stay in touch with these people so that he can leverage them later on. Now, all through his life, they're going to be there.

29:28All through his life, they are going to minister to him in the same way that he ministers to them. But his focus is ministering to them, nonetheless. He is giving to them because he knows the same Christ, because he's part of the same church. He's showing the love of Christ, pouring into these people, and in like manner, they are pouring into him. And there is a mutual love, there's a mutual building, there's a mutual edification. It is not coming from a selfish desire to. Leverage people. It is coming from the fact that we are all brothers and sisters, no matter who we are or where we are.

30:08And we should never be burning bridges. But that takes me to another point I would like to make on that. Because you see, relationships go two ways. The relationships we have and the responsibility we have for those relationships go two ways. Turn with me very quickly to the book of 2 Timothy. 2 Timothy 4. 2 Timothy 4, verse 10. Paul was dedicated to these relationships and did not let time or space prevent him. But relationships are two ways.

31:00For Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world, and has departed for Thessalonica, Crescens for Galatia, Titus for Dalmatia. Stop there for a second. Our job is to love. Our job is to not burn the bridges, so to speak. Our job is to continually foster and grow our Brothers and sisters in the church, but we cannot, while we are always in charge of what we do, we cannot help what is done to us. And Paul is no different. He's lived life the same way we have, and sometimes relationships are broken.

31:47But I'd like to point something out to you. Demas left Paul, but that verse is not where it stops. Only Luke verse 11 is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful to me for ministry. See, there were two men in Paul's life who left him. There were two men in Paul's life who, despite his efforts, broke off the relationship. There were two times, at least, that were recorded. And in the very midst of this second recording, we have an example of hope.

32:42When exactly they reconciled, we don't know, but here we have proof positive of something powerful. He is useful to me for ministry. Mark was restored to his brother. Whether Demas ever was or not, we may never know. No, but Mark was. Love your brothers and sisters in the church. Leave the rest to God. There is always hope. We do what we are called to do and nothing more. The third thing. The third thing that Paul did not neglect during his transition period. Rest and remembering.

33:34Look at verse 6 of our text. Unleavened bread. Verse 6. We sailed away from Philippi after the days of unleavened bread, and in five days joined them at Troas. He's in the middle of moving. He's going from place to place. And yet he takes time. He takes time for the Feast of Unleavened Bread. By the way, outlined in a number of places, if you want to read about it, Exodus chapter 12, verses 14 to 17 is a good place to start. Note this is not laziness. This is not Paul just chillaxing off on the beach somewhere, neglecting his responsibilities, which I've already said that he is maintaining. This is rest with a purpose. The Feast of Unleavened Bread was a period in which you simply Don't eat leavened bread. And there's a feast at the beginning and at the end, and there's tradition-wise, there's a number of things that began to be part of that. But the purpose of it is to remember. In a large way, it's very similar to the Lord's Day. Stopping, thinking through and being purposeful with your life. He was not being lazy, he was not resting in a way that was not productive, but he was resting and remembering nonetheless. And he did not use his movement, his hurry, his travels as an excuse not to do so. And I think the Lord's Day really is, in a large sense, the best analogy for us in this. Do not forsake it.

35:21Do you have the liberty, it would needs be to go do other things? Yes, absolutely. Does God afford you the ability to take care of what needs to be taken care of when the time comes? Absolutely. Are you going to die and go to hell because you didn't come to church service? No. And most of you here tonight are the choir that I'm preaching to. I've got that. Nonetheless, I'll exhort you and encourage you. There is a purpose to the Lord's Day. There is a reason why we take a moment to rest and to remember. And it doesn't matter if we're traveling, it doesn't matter where we are or what's going on. We should remember to do so. Transition is not an excuse to suddenly give up all activity with the church and say, Well, I don't know these people at this church at this random place, so I'm a stranger. Well, that's not an excuse. Your transition period is not an excuse.

36:15There are moments and times when, again, I can understand, but one time becomes two times, becomes three times, becomes a habit, becomes a tradition. Do not neglect rest and remembering. So I've just about come to the end of my time. I'm halfway through. We talked about what he doesn't do. Now we've got the rest of it, what he does do. I'll pick it up a little bit. What he does do. So, a couple things here. First of all, notice he does follow the Spirit's lead.

37:00Notice chapter 19, verse 21. I read it once, I'll read it again. For these things were accompanied, when these things were accomplished, Paul purposed in the Spirit, when he had passed through Macedonia and Archaea to go Achaea to go to Jerusalem. So he's over in modern-day Turkey. He's going to go up through Macedonia, which is northern Greece, come down to southern Greece, and then sail on to Jerusalem. Seems to be the Plan. That's not just any plan. That's a plan in the Spirit. We can get into whether that's the Holy Spirit or in His Spirit or exactly what's meant there. I think it's clear. He's been given direction. He's going to follow that direction. And it is a good direction. It is the direction he ultimately ends up going. But notice, then again, chapter 20, verse 3 in our text. He stayed three months in Greece. And what did we say he's going to do after he hits Greece? His plan? Go to Jerusalem.

38:00What does he do? He finds out the Jews have been plotting against him, and he was about to sail to Syria, just north of Israel. He's about to sail, and he decides to return through Macedonia. Uh-oh. So the Spirit told him to do one thing, and he decides just, oh, let's just go into the other. No, that's not the idea here. Through the Spirit's prompting, what he does do is he changes plan. He's flexible. Because here's the thing: the Holy Spirit is going to lead you in a direction.

38:36And we tend to think, okay, I've got my marching orders. Here I go. And we make our plans and we go. And then the Holy Spirit changes your direction. You say, no, no, no, no, I had plans. I had the direction I was supposed to go. So, no, I'm sorry. I can't take your new leading. How many times does that happen? It happens. It's just anecdotally, just in my life. I'm just going to point out. Seems to delight in getting you started one way and then suddenly changing you in the other. And I think that's part of how he works teaching us. You see, he wants you to follow him. And he's not always going to take the shortest path from A to B. Many times he's going to take the longest path. If you read Pilgrim's Progress, this happens not just one time, it's like several times throughout the book. You've got two different paths. Which way are you going to go? I'm going to take the short, easy, the meadow, right? No, no, he intended you to go the other way, the hard way, right? And this is a regular occurrence in a Christian's life. And while we're in transition, while we're moving from one thing to another, be ready to change how you do that transition because you never know what's coming. Learn to say yes, sir, and obey. That's it. The end. Yes, sir, and obey. That's all you need to know. Just obey, and you'll be good. So many times we kick and fight and scream, and no, I had plans.

40:10Even if your plans originated in a good place from the Spirit, when the Spirit speaks again, when the door shuts in your face and a new door opens, stop banging your head into the door and accept the direction you're given. Sometimes it's about. The journey. That's where he is teaching you. It's ultimately about the destination, sure, but there's a whole lot in the destination in the journey on the way to the destination. Next, and very quickly, he accepted help. So, what he does during this time, he follows the Spirit's lead, and second, he accepts help. Note verse 5: These men, going ahead, waited for us.

41:01A notable change there that's easily missed. Luke, who's writing Acts, rejoins at this period. Now, earlier in chapter 16, he was with Paul. At some point, they separate and go their own ways, and here's where they reunite. Whereas most of these men, all of them, are helping, all of them are part of this journey, they go on and wait ahead. Luke is with him, and Paul accepts him as a traveling companion. You see, Paul is regularly surrounded by other men and women of the faith. And we see both men and women in his letters and whom he has encountered who are pivotal. And he's calling to them in every single letter, it seems, at the end, he's always such and such is here with me, and they say hello, and such and such is over yonder. Tell them I said hello. Part of those relationships I've mentioned. Before.

42:02He accepts their help. He is not a lone wolf. He is not going it alone. It doesn't matter where you're going. It doesn't matter what you have been called to. You have not been called to it alone. You have been called to it in the context of a church. Accept the church. Call to the church. Speak to the church of your needs. In the southern culture, we don't like to accept help. It's just kind of a thing. You're supposed to, if anybody offers you help, you have to fight over it for about 30 minutes. You go out to a restaurant, I'm going to pay. No, I'm going to pay. And about 30 minutes later, you know, one person slips their card in and gets it there first. You know, that's just how we like to do things for whatever reason. Accept the help.

42:50Not only accept it when it's offered. Here's the thing, too. I've seen it multiple times. I can't always know that you need help. I don't know just everything about everybody. And neither does any person that's leading this church. Neither does any person to the left or right of you. When you need help, please say something. We should not be going it alone. Help was given. Mutual support is part of the church role. And therefore, we have our conclusion. Paul is in the middle of a transition. Paul is moving. He's hustling and bustling. He is covering a lot of ground in a relatively short period, generally speaking. And through it all, he is trusting God and behaving as a responsible church member. Whatever is going on in your life, transition seen and unseen, trust God and live life as part of a whole, as part of the church. And let us live an imitation of this life of Paul. Let's pray, dear Lord, give us eyes to see each other.

44:19Give us ears. Through your Spirit, lead us that no matter what is going on in our life, we will be supporting each other. No matter what is going on in our lives, we will continue to do what you have called us to do. That we will be diligent. That we will trust you in the things we cannot control. That we will accept your love and grace and enjoy you. Enjoy what it means to follow you. Wherever you take us and wherever you lead, I pray this for myself and for everyone here. In Jesus' name.