He Leads We Follow

 DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

HE LEADS, WE FOLLOW

Acts 21:1-6

21:1 After we had torn ourselves away from them, we put out to sea and sailed straight to Cos. The next day we went to Rhodes and from there to Patara. 2 We found a ship crossing over to Phoenicia, went on board and set sail. 3 After sighting Cyprus and passing to the south of it, we sailed on to Syria. We landed at Tyre, where our ship was to unload its cargo. 4 Finding the disciples there, we stayed with them seven days. Through the Spirit they urged Paul not to go on to Jerusalem. 5 But when our time was up, we left and continued on our way. All the disciples and their wives and children accompanied us out of the city, and there on the beach we knelt to pray. 6 After saying good-by to each other, we went aboard the ship, and they returned home.

NIV

Once again, we are seeing another travel log, listing some of the places Paul and his companions visited. At Trye, they found some disciples. We are not told how they found them or by what method, all we know is that there were believers in Tyre, although we cannot find any reference to who preached the gospel message to them. However, we find in this narrative that the disciples urged Paul, through the Spirit, not to go to Jerusalem. The disciples were believers and must have also been baptized in the Spirit. They were speaking to Paul, urging him through the power of the Holy Spirit within them. This was no ordinary urging by men, but it was an urging inspired by the Spirit. However, Paul was also led by the Spirit, so how do we justify this urging through the Spirit? We know Paul encountered trouble in Jerusalem. What do we learn through this exchange between the disciples in Trye and Paul? First, we know the Spirit will lead us, not just into all truth, although that is an incredible fact, but he will also lead us on the path we are to walk. Second, what we have to say to each other should be guided or prompted by the Spirit. We can all have our own opinions on matters in life, including religious or spiritual ones. We can all have our own opinions about how to interpret the scriptures, to the point of disagreeing enough to go form another church. But the fact is, we should be building each other up until we all reach unity in the faith, and that can only happen if we are all led by the Spirit, rather than by our own self-interests. Paul had been warned by the Spirit of his pending hardships, yet he also knew he must follow the path laid out for him, even when others, through the Spirit, urged him not to go on to where trouble would meet him. Who was right in this matter, the disciples or Paul? We know the Spirit is not confused or at odds with himself, yet Paul did not heed their urging and left for Jerusalem. Could it be possible that this was just a test by the Spirit of Paul's submission to his leading? Could the Spirit have been giving Paul a chance to back out and not follow his leading? We just do not have the answers to those questions, but we know we should follow the Spirit's lead, wherever he leads us. This would mean we should not follow our own lead or opinions, but always seek the direction of the Spirit. When we say that we have decided to follow Jesus, then we cannot follow ourselves. The Spirit leads us, we follow. Where he leads, we will follow. 

Word of His Grace

 DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

WORD OF HIS GRACE

Acts 20:32-38

32 "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. 33 I have not coveted anyone's silver or gold or clothing. 34 You yourselves know that these hands of mine have supplied my own needs and the needs of my companions. 35 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.'" 36 When he had said this, he knelt down with all of them and prayed. 37 They all wept as they embraced him and kissed him. 38 What grieved them most was his statement that they would never see his face again. Then they accompanied him to the ship.

NIV

This is a sad goodbye because Paul said they would not see his face again, but there is a truth we should ponder. We could consider that Paul never took money from the people he ministered to, but that does not compute in our time and culture. Some pastors are bi-vocational because the church does not pay them enough to support their families in the customs of our society. However, because, for the most part, pastors today are paid either by the local church or by the denomination. The truth we want to ponder is that Paul committed them to God and to the word of his grace, which would have built them up and given them an inheritance among all those who are made holy. Interestingly, being sanctified means we are made holy, which makes it impossible for us to sanctify ourselves; it is an act of God. Although Paul committed them to God, we can commend ourselves to God. Again, we find it interesting that the Greek word translated as "commit" means "to place beside or near." We can place ourselves beside God; however, God, the Holy Spirit, dwells within us, so then we are near to God, for he is near to us. To be near and have the word of grace, which can build us up and give us an inheritance among all who have been made holy, is incredible. The word grace can have various applications. First, grace affords joy and delight. But in the spiritual sense, being in the goodwill, loving-kindness, and favor of God. However, because of grace, it defines the spiritual condition of those who have the divine influence on their hearts and how that is reflected in their lives. We are supposed to build each other up, but the fact remains that we cannot build ourselves up; we are all built up by the power of the divine influence on our hearts. We also have the joy and serenity of knowing that we have a divine inheritance. Because of Jesus, or through Jesus, we are adopted as children of God and thus are co-heirs with Jesus in this divine inheritance. Let us commend ourselves to God and live with the word of his grace. 

Watch Out for Wolves

 DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

WATCH OUT FOR WOLVES

Acts 20:25-31

25 "Now I know that none of you among whom I have gone about preaching the kingdom will ever see me again. 26 Therefore, I declare to you today that I am innocent of the blood of all men.   27 For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God. 28 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. 29 I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. 30 Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. 31 So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.

NIV

Because Paul will not return through that area again, men have been established as overseers, shepherds, or pastors of the congregation of God's people. We know those men who were appointed as overseers, or the Greek word means bishops, although the meaning is to be a shepherd of the church of God. First, we should note that the church is God's, and thus it does not belong to any person. The church belongs to Jesus because he bought it with his own blood. Second, the overseers, or in our day, we would say the pastors, must be called by the Holy Spirit, not by men. To be a pastor of God's people, the church, is an act of the Holy Spirit; it is not a job in the sense of having to be interviewed by people. It does seem to be the usual way today, but it is the call of God, the work of the Holy Spirit, who appoints shepherds of God's people. Thirdly, there are the wolves. They were there in Paul's day, and we have them in our days.  Paul warns about the wolves who will distort the truth to draw disciples away. They are the silver-tongued purveyors of deception who preach to draw people to themselves rather than to God. Perhaps it was easier in those days, because the believers did not have the word of God in any printed form, but only what had been taught them, so wolves could come along and distort the truth just enough for believers to follow them. Today, the wolves are all over the internet, television, and other media, spreading their distortion of the truth to gain followers who will support them so they can live a lavish lifestyle. We must be on guard against such people; they are not shepherds, they are deceivers. They do not know their flock, they do not feed God's people, they do not lead them beside still waters, the water of life, Jesus. Many good shepherds have been called by the Spirit to feed the church the whole truth of God. Let us keep watch so that we are not taken in by those wolves. 

Run

 DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

RUN

Acts 20:17-24

17 From Miletus, Paul sent to Ephesus for the elders of the church. 18 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. 19 I served the Lord with great humility and with tears, although I was severely tested by the plots of the Jews. 20 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. 21 I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus. 22 "And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. 23 I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me. 24 However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me — the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace.

NIV

Paul said that he served the Lord with great humility and with tears, even in the face of opposition from the Jews. This is the first clue about how we should live with great humility and tears. We know what pride looks like, and we need to avoid it strenuously. If we are learning from Jesus, who said for us to do, then we would be gentle and humble of heart. Paul also told them that he did not hesitate to preach anything that would be helpful to them, which is another clue for our lives. When we speak with our fellow believers, we should not hesitate to talk about what would be helpful to them. We should be building others up, but also declaring that both believers and non-believers turn to God in repentance, or with a changed mind. The other truth we are faced with is this compelling sense Paul felt from the Spirit. This is one of the top clues we should ponder with an open heart. Do we live compelled by our own senses, or by the Spirit? Paul felt compelled by the Spirit to go to Jerusalem, not knowing what would happen to him there. That is the core of a Spirit-led life. When we live according to, or are compelled by, the Spirit, then we live outside our own plans. We think all too often that we want our plans to come to pass. That is the way of the world, the way we were raised: to find a path to success, an endeavor for life, to accomplish something, to accumulate stuff important to us. Do we make decisions based on our desires, or will, or are we living under the compulsion of the Spirit? The Spirit warned Paul that he would face prison and hardship, not an apple-pie-in-the-sky type of life. That is not to say we are supposed to be facing hardships, but the point is whether we are living under the compulsion of the Spirit. A key to living by the Spirit is to consider our lives as worth nothing, but to focus on finishing the race and completing the task the Lord Jesus has given us. For Paul, that was testifying to the gospel of God's grace. That could be our task, but we might be compelled by the Spirit to finish another task. The point is, whatever we have been called to or compelled to do, we should run that race to the finish line. How can we stop in the middle of the race? How can we think that we have already finished the race? No, we are compelled by the Spirit to run with the desire to complete the task we have been called to. We must simply run. 

His Arrival

 DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLE

HIS ARRIVAL

Acts 20:13-16

13 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. 14 When he met us at Assos, we took him aboard and went on to Mitylene. 15 The next day we set sail from there and arrived off Kios. The day after that we crossed over to Samos, and on the following day arrived at Miletus. 16 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.

NIV

Once again, it appears that we have nothing more than a travel log, except for the desire by Paul to reach Jerusalem, if possible, by the day of Pentecost. Why did he want to be in Jerusalem for the day of Pentecost? That was a special day in Jewish tradition, known as the week of harvest or the feast of weeks. For Christians, it is fifty days after the resurrection, but for the Jews, it is the beginning of the first wheat harvest, which occurs fifty days after the barley harvest. However, it does not appear that Paul wanted to be in Jerusalem for the Feast of Weeks, but rather for the day of Pentecost, which must have centered on the arrival of the Holy Spirit. Although everything is about Jesus, and Paul preached Jesus, he also spoke of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. We believers talk about Jesus because he is our salvation. We accept the work Jesus did on our behalf, going to the cross, taking all our sins upon himself, paying the penalty for us, so that we are forgiven, declared holy and blameless in the eyes of God. Through Jesus, we have eternal life, as he promised that although this body will die, we will live. Jesus also promised to send the Holy Spirit, and that happened on the day of Pentecost in Jerusalem. Therefore, we live in Jesus, and the Holy Spirit lives in us. Of course, we had to accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, and in some sense, we must also accept the Holy Spirit. Jesus sent him, but he told his disciples to wait for the gift from the Father, the promised Holy Spirit. Jesus told them and us that although we get baptized in water, we will be baptized with the Holy Spirit and will receive power when the Spirit comes upon us. Paul knew all about that power and wanted to spend time with the apostles in Jerusalem to celebrate Pentecost. We celebrate Jesus, but let us also celebrate the Holy Spirit on the day of his arrival in our lives. 

Enthusiasm

 DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

ENTHUSIASM

Acts 20:7-12

7 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. 8 There were many lamps in the upstairs room where we were meeting. 9 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. 10 Paul went down, threw himself on the young man and put his arms around him. "Don't be alarmed," he said. "He's alive!" 11 Then he went upstairs again and broke bread and ate. After talking until daylight, he left. 12 The people took the young man home alive and were greatly comforted.

NIV

How much did Paul have to say that he spoke from the morning through midnight? He did not have all four of the gospel accounts or any of the letters he had written, although his fourteen letters, Romans, 1&2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1&2 Thessalonians, 1&2 Timothy, Titus,  Philemon, and maybe even Hebrews, give us just how much Paul had to say about living a Christ-centered life. He was filled to the brim with the Holy Spirit, excited to share all about Jesus and the incredible life available to those who believe in him. Yet, as enthusiastic a speaker as Paul was, a young man sitting in the window fell deep in sleep and fell out, dropping three stories to his death. Maybe Paul was not that great a speaker, if he put people to sleep, but he was talking all day and into the late hours of the night. But it was not the end of the young man as Paul went down, lay over him, wrapped his arms around him, and simply stated a fact, "He's alive!" Then he went back upstairs and continued to talk until daylight. What do we learn from this narrative? We may not be able to speak for that many hours, but Paul spoke from his heart. That is what we can learn, to speak from our hearts. However, first we should have the truth deep within our hearts, not just talk about the scriptures intellectually. God has said that he has written the law, his word, upon our hearts and minds, and so we should have that enthusiasm, that spark, that comes from being filled to overflowing with the Spirit. The one thing that is not as clear as it could be is the reason the people were comforted. Was it because they were able to take the young man who was dead, but now is alive, home, or was it because of everything Paul had to say about Jesus and the resurrection, that although we die, we will live and much more about how we will be changed in a twinkly of an eye when Jesus returns to take us up to heaven to live in the place he has prepared for us? We know that when we read the word of God, we are comforted. The word of God brings us great joy and peace; our hearts are settled as we can be still within our hearts because we know He is God. We can live stress-free, worry-free because we put all our trust in Jesus. Because we are filled with the Spirit, we can speak about Jesus with enthusiasm. 

Encouragement

 DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

ENCOURAGEMENT

Acts 20:1-6

20:1 When the uproar had ended, Paul sent for the disciples and, after encouraging them, said good-by and set out for Macedonia. 2 He traveled through that area, speaking many words of encouragement to the people, and finally arrived in Greece, 3 where he stayed three months. Because the Jews made a plot against him just as he was about to sail for Syria, he decided to go back through Macedonia. 4 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. 5 These men went on ahead and waited for us at Troas. 6 But we sailed from Philippi after the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and five days later joined the others at Troas, where we stayed seven days.

NIV

Although most of this is a travel log and a list of those who traveled with Paul, one truth stands out: the word "encouragement." When he set out from Ephesus, after the uproar had settled down because of the City Clerk, Paul first called all the disciples and embraced or encouraged them, suggesting he wanted them to remain faithful to Jesus Christ. When he set out for Macedonia, he traveled through that area, speaking many words of encouragement to the people. We should learn that lesson well and keep it deep within our being. We should always be about speaking words of encouragement and building each other up, so we all walk faithfully, steadfastly, persistently, and continually in our believing in Jesus. We know Jesus is supposed to be the center of our lives, being the very core of our daily walk or activities. That is everything we do, wherever we go, whoever we encounter, Jesus is the center of our attention, our thinking, our speaking, encouraging people to trust wholly in Jesus. He is the way, the truth, and the life; no one gets to the Father except through Jesus.  He is the resurrection and the life; the only way to live, even though we die, is because of or through the work of Jesus. We can encourage others to keep their faith in Jesus, for it is by faith we are saved, not by works or anything that we can do. Yet, although we need to have faith in Jesus for our salvation, it is solely Jesus' work that saves us. Our salvation is not based on our faith, but on the work of Jesus. In that sense, our faith means that we accept what Jesus did for us, believing it is all about Him and what he did. These are truly words of encouragement because we cannot save ourselves, but Jesus saves us. Our salvation does not depend on us; it depends on Jesus. Let us always speak words of encouragement to each other.