Are You Willing — Acts 20-21

0:00 Let's start reading in verse 15. Acts twenty one and fifteen. After these days, we got ready and started on our way up to Jerusalem. And some of the disciples from Caesarea also came with us, taking us to to Manson or Nansen. I don't know how you pronounce that.

0:19 I tried to figure it out all week, and I couldn't get it right. So you... However you want to pronounce it. This guy of Cyprus, a disciple of long standing with whom we were to lodge. And when we had come to Jerusalem, the brethren received us gladly.

0:35 And now the following day, Paul went in with us to James and all the elders were present. And after he had greeted them, he began to relate to one another to, oh, I'm sorry, to relate one by one the things what god had done among the Gentiles through his ministry. And when they heard it, they began glorifying god And they said to him, you see, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews of those who have believed? And they are all zealous of the law. And they have been told about you that you are teaching all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children nor to walk according to their customs.

1:23 What then is to be done? They will certainly hear that you have come. Therefore, do this that we tell you. We have four men who are under a vow. Take them and purify yourselves along with them and pay their expenses in order that they may share, shave their heads, and all will know that there is nothing to the things which which they have been told about you, But that you yourself also walk orderly, keeping the law.

1:54 But concerning the Gentiles who have believed, we wrote, having decided that they should abstain from meat sacrificed to idols, and from blood and from what has strangled them from fornication. Then Paul took the men and then and the next day purifying himself along with them, he went into the temple giving notice of the completion of the days of purification and to the sacrifice was offered for each one of them. Alright, the lord add a blessing to the reading of his word. Alright. So, just try to catch catch you up a little bit.

2:32 At at this point, we're at the year '58 or fifty six after Christ. So, to put in perspective, more or less, thirty seven years of Christianity has now existed. In other words, since the Holy Spirit came down in Pentecost and they started preaching Jesus resurrected and they started to establish churches all over the place, It had been thirty seven years. So they're still pretty new. They're still pretty new.

3:03 And they're still trying to figure some things out, and they're wrestling with different issues. But this is what, if you were, the end of the third missionary journey. So, they're they're coming to an end with a whole contingent of people and this guy named, I'm just going to say Mason. I'm not going to pronounce the m. I don't know how you say it.

3:23 He hosted the whole missionary team and you can just imagine how exciting it was to to be together fellowshipping, eating the food, and just relaxing and so we we enter the text then right along verse 17 and when we had come to Jerusalem, the brethren received us gladly. So, the the Christians from Jerusalem, the Jerusalem area, we're excited to to receive this missionary team that was coming back from the third missionary journey. So, those of you who have been here all the time consistently know that they there's three missionary journeys. So, when when Christianity was starting to spread, the the Bible kind of lays out a pattern that you you get some missionaries, you pray for them, you send them, and they go out to to the unreached places of the world, and they preach the gospel, then they start local churches where the name of Jesus is proclaimed. So those three trips that were mentioned here in Acts, and this is the third one and the last one, there was many other things going on but this was the last one that Paul did and so, it comes to an end right here.

5:25 Like, I know that when we go to Mexico there, they started probably 40 different outreaches where there's a group of Christians meeting and gathering but until they name elders, they don't call it a local church. They just call it a mission. And so but the Bible set that present that the local churches are to have elders and thus that's why in this local church, we have elders. So, when they came together, James was one of the apostles. He's the brother of Jesus and his responsibility was with that group in Jerusalem.

6:00 So, they get together with all the elders. Now there was there was over 2,000, much more, quite a few thousand. Actually, if you do the numbers, there was probably 10,000 Christians in Jerusalem at this time, or more, or more. So you can imagine how many elders there were, right? Somebody suggested 20, somebody suggested 200.

6:26 So you could throw a number in there that you want to throw in. But it was quite a bit of leaders that met together. Now why did they get together? So they could hear a report from Paul of everything that was going on. All right.

6:41 So now, there were several goals that Paul wanted to accomplish. Now you remember that as they're returning from the third missionary journey, they're telling Paul all along, you you're going to you're going to suffer when you get to Jerusalem. You're going to you're going to be put in chains. There's some terrible things coming to you and Paul being led by the spirit said, that's okay. I know that.

7:04 But I'm willing to suffer for Christ. So so he's making his way to Jerusalem with his team. Because he wanted to preach Jesus even in Jerusalem, even though there's going to be so much opposition. But you remember, this is important to note that... Sorry, don't normally have throat issues here.

7:26 You remember that when they were on their missionary journey, they stopped at Corinth to collect an offering. You remember that? Second Corinthians chapter eight, you can read that. So they collected an offering and the offering was for the poor people of Jerusalem. So, they they collect an offering at that church and then they go to another church and they're stopping at the different churches on their way to Jerusalem and they're collecting more and more money so that they can give an offering to the church in Jerusalem.

8:00 And also, you might want to make note that Titus and a bunch of other Christians went along with them to to to handle this offering that was going to be delivered. Now, they had a whole team of people because, you know, you can get sticky fingers. Even Christians can get them. And so for accountability purposes, Titus and several brothers and Paul were all coming. Thank you, Mason.

8:29 They they were all with this team returning and heading towards Jerusalem, excuse me. Alright. So, this this team is coming then and on the way they're making stops and they finally arrive at Jerusalem and when they get there and they meet with the with James and and all of the elders, even though the text doesn't say it, we know and we're not sure why the Holy Spirit didn't guide the pen of Luke to to say and then he gave the the offering but we know that he did it. I mean, that was the whole point, right? They were doing collecting all this money for the poor people and so, part of what they did was they turned this money in.

9:10 You can imagine that they were very excited because that the Christians were suffering a lot because of the fact that they were Christians. So so Paul was heading to Jerusalem. He wanted to get there because he went to turn this money in and also he wanted to unify the Jews and the Gentiles. There was still too much division there, and he was trying to to unify them. By the way, you might want to make a note of this.

9:40 By the time they arrived, Galatians was already written. First and second Corinthians was already written. First and second Thessalonians was already written. Romans was already written. All these books were already written.

10:26 Now, this trip had taken a long time. It was probably over ten years and so as they're meeting with them, they're like, well, we started in Galatians, then we went to Troas, then we skipped over, and we preached in Philippi, Thessalonica, Berea, and those people getting saved and and so they're they're talking one by one. Everything that god did. You can imagine that they were there for quite a while, right? Amen?

10:51 It was a long meeting but nonetheless, they were so excited to see what god was doing. Now, that's why that's why when anybody does a camp ministry, a mission team, whatever, we like to have him come up and say, look, this is what god did. As you can see that in the Bible, they did that consistently. When they returned from any kind of a trip, they wanted to give a report to the people, to the to the group of Christians. Look at what god did during this trip, right?

11:22 And so, that's what's going on right here and and notice that that verse 20, and when they heard it, they began to glorify God. Now you you notice several things. First of all, they said, look at what God did. Now you know that when a mission team goes out or missionary goes out, anybody goes to do god's work. You many times god will use you but we know that even though god used us, god is the one that did the work, right?

11:53 And so, god gets the glory And so they were glorifying God. It wasn't a time to start to elevate Paul and make him put him on a pedestal at all because he was just an instrument of God. And we have to look at ourselves in that same way. Whenever God wants to use you, he will. And you can give a report but you know that god is the one that does the work, right?

12:16 We're just his instruments doing the work of god and so Paul gives a report. They get all excited and they're glorifying god. Verse 20, and they say to him, you see brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews of those who have believed? Wow. And so, as you look at the the the beginning parts of Acts and you're following along, you see how just in the very first preaching, how many got saved?

12:42 You remember? You remember? 3,000, right? So so my math was was way off and then, right, another two or 3,000 get saved in the next preaching and they kept adding on and on. So by the time thirty seven years had gone by, you can imagine how many thousands of Jews, notice, had believed.

13:07 So God was doing a tremendous work in so many Jewish people. Yet, the overall Jewish people as a nation were still resisting and fighting the gospel. So, you're like, you think, wow, but those maybe by this time, there was 15,000, whatever, Jewish Christian, that's a lot. But you gotta think that there there was five, 600,000 Jews in the area. And so, in comparison, it's a small number.

13:38 And nonetheless, God was working. By the way, the one of the men, one of the elders of my church where I grew up was a Jewish convert. He was one of my elders that discipled me. He... His his dad had had gone to Argentina during the Second World War.

13:57 He was a Jewish man that escaped and went to live in Argentina. And there, they heard the gospel and got saved. And then from Argentina, he moved to Houston, and they started a new work, and we came to Christ through them preaching the word. So it's kind of exciting that a Jewish man disciple me and work with me throughout my my younger days of my life. But so that's what's going on here.

14:24 But notice then that they're they're so excited. They're giving these reports. Look how many people getting saved. And the Jewish people, look how many thousands are getting saved. But...

14:52 But there's a lot of people who are Jews who are very zealous of the law, and they have not been able to disconnect themselves from their religion and and from Christ. They can't make the distinction. So many of the commentators believe that they were the Judaizers, the thorn of the side of Paul, right? Everywhere he went, they followed and they pestered him. Maybe that was a thorn that he talked about in second Corinthians.

15:20 Who knows? But I tend to think that that was part of the thorn, right? They they they just constantly made his life miserable. Well, won't you know, there there's a bunch of them there, and and they're they're talking about Paul. We don't like what you're preaching.

15:38 And and I'll notice what they're saying. Verse 21, and they have been told about you that you are teaching all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children, nor to walk according to the customs. All right. And then verse 22, What then is to be done? They they were like...

16:03 Paul, we we have a dilemma here. We have a problem that there... There's all this talk going on from these Judaizer guys. They they say they're Christians, but they keep pushing the Old Testament law. They can't disconnect.

16:19 Right? There's even people today who still want to live by the Old Testament. I I know people who practice the Old Testament laws and some of them even do the the the festivals and all of those things and they can't disconnect. There's people that I have led to Christ been saved twenty twenty years and they still can't disconnect themselves from their own religion. And so there was this was an issue.

16:45 And with that, whenever there's there's opposition or somebody who's living in the past, like they can't let go of their own religion or whatever. They they they were they were twisting the words of Paul and even what he was preaching and saying. So let's bring some clarity to this. Okay. So notice then the accusation.

17:09 Paul, they're saying that you are telling them to forsake Moses and not to circumcise their children nor to walk according to their customs. Alright. Now... So there was this great tension. What are you preaching, Paul?

17:23 What do we preach? Where are we at? Alright. So I can tell you, and and you can go back in throughout acts and listen to his messages. This is what he was preaching, that Jesus Christ was the Messiah.

17:39 I mean, there's no doubt about it. You know, Jews, you're praying for the Messiah for him to come. He's the Messiah, and he would take them to the Old Testament and show them how he was the one. Plus, he rose from the dead. Right?

17:53 And so he was definitely preaching that. The Messiah means the Christ in in in Greek. Right? It's Christ. And so he's the one that god sent to be the savior of the world.

18:04 So he was clearly teaching that. Secondly, he was preaching that salvation is by faith alone in Christ alone. And and look at chapter 20, just turn and look at verse 21. Look what he was preaching. Look at twenty twenty one.

18:22 Are you ready? Sovereignly testifying to both Jews and Greeks of repentance towards God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. And so Paul didn't care if you were a Jew or you're Greek. The message is the same to everybody. It doesn't mean matter if you're a Hindu, if you're from India, or where you're from, here's what you preach.

18:46 You have to repent from your sins and turn to Christ for the salvation of your soul. And Paul was preaching that, was he not? Yes, he was. He he was very clear on that. That's what he was preaching, But he also taught that circumcision was not necessary for salvation.

19:09 Now a lot of the Judaizers, the old Jewish guys are, what? Oh, man. Now you're cutting into into what I was born and raised in this religion, and we were taught that this is what you do. And Paul says, it's not necessary for salvation. So they got mad.

19:26 How could you preach that? And so there was a tension there. There was a tension there. Now he wasn't... He probably...

19:36 Look look at what it says in the text, telling them, verse 21, not to circumcise their children. Now I think... Now this is an assumption on my part, but I think that he actually was saying that you don't have to circumcise your children. Now, it's not going to hurt them. In today's medical world, many do do that.

19:56 It's not a big deal if you want to or not, Right? So I think he was probably saying that it's not necessary. It's not going to help you in your way spiritually, but the Jewish people did not like that. Now he did not teach to forsake Moses either. Now even us as as a today Bible believing Christians, right, and we teach the Bible here, do we believe Moses?

20:25 Do we tell everybody to forsake Moses? Absolutely not. He was a tremendous man of god and we look at the Bible and we look at him as an example. He was a a very humble man. A man given to god and he served god with all of his heart.

20:39 As it says in Hebrews, he was faithful and so, we we don't tell people, hey, just give up on all the Old Testament. There's so much there, right? And we're blessed by the Old Testament and we're blessed by Moses and and we don't we don't preach against them. Alright. And so what what else?

20:58 And and not to walk according to their customs. Now, when you get saved, let's just say you're Russian. Does that mean that you have to give up on Russian customs? No, not really, right? My parents were from Mexico, we had all those Mexican customs.

21:15 Do I give them up? That's some. But I like the culture, and I practice some of it, right? Now I don't do the remembering the day of the dead and all that, that's part of the culture. I don't do that.

21:34 You know, so when you come to Christ, you're still who you are. You still retain your culture and your identity but now, your your true identity is in Christ and the fact that he got a hold of me and he transformed me And so this has always been a delicate thing and a delicate issue. So when I tell people who come with me to Mexico, the last thing you want to do is get up and start saying, you and your Virgin Mary, why are you following her? But if you do that, they'll start throwing rocks at you. Instead, you say, Jesus died on the cross for you and paid for your sin, was buried and rose from the dead.

22:13 Now that, you know, preach the gospel. Once they get converted, then you can tell them, you know, we don't need to worship Mary as god anymore. And so, it it it's a tough thing. The the Jews were were overzealous in my opinion. So, cultured.

22:30 They they wanted the culture to be maintained so hard that anybody would that would oppose it, they would just get angry. That's what Paul finds himself in a in a dilemma, right? And so that's why they asked the question in verse 22. What then is to be done? What what do we do?

22:49 What do we do? Because they have this image of you that that that you're totally against Jewish people now, Jewish customs, and the Old Testament, and the law. And we we know that that you're not, but how we're going to address this? So then the elders make a suggestion and he submits to it. There's four guys who are doing a Nazarite vow, right?

23:22 It's right around there. So the Nazarite vow was basically, they would not shave their hair or cut their hair. They would leave it until the vow was up. So once they were, like, set themselves apart for God for some reason, Lord, I want to not eat meat or whatever for a month because I want to commit myself just to you. I'm going to fast or whatever.

23:48 And then when it was done, they would shake their head and do... Go through some ritual. They would have to pay money and and finish the ritual, finish this vow that they made for God. Now if you want to do something like that today, I I know people that want to do it, you know, go ahead, you know, shave your head and do that if you want with God. You know, I...

24:13 Yeah. Don't you don't deny Christ or get goofy with it. Right? But but there's always that tension of what to do, what not to do, and with all of this stuff. But they decided that to go ahead and do that because it was going to allow the Jews to see that he hasn't rejected all of the Old Testament in our in our practices and all that.

24:35 And so he goes, and he goes with these men who had shaved their head, they go through all of that, and everybody's seen it. And they're like, okay. Hey, we see what you're doing, and so they were they were okay with it. Now why why was he doing this? Why didn't he say, you know what?

24:57 You know, forget it. I'm gonna preach Jesus. I'm just gonna leave. Why was he doing it? Alright.

25:05 Now I I want to make a couple of suggestions. Now notice, first Corinthians, if you can turn there quickly, in chapter nine, and I want you to notice verse 19. And I think that this is exactly what happened we're going to read here in this text. For... First Corinthians nine nineteen, For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a slave to all, Notice that I might win the more.

25:45 Okay. So, yes, he was free of all men. He didn't have to practice all that stuff, but he made himself a slave so that he can win some. Verse 20, and to the Jews, I became as a Jew that I might win Jews to those who are under the law as under the law, though not being myself under the law, that I might win those who are under the law. To those who are without law as without the law, though not being without the law of God, but under the law of Christ, that I might win those who are without the law.

26:25 To the weak, I became weak that I might win weak. I have become all things to all men that I may, by all means, save some. And I do all things for the sake of the gospel that I may become a fellow partaker of it. So so what is he saying here in Corinth? He's saying exactly what happened in Acts 21.

26:49 That the reason he did the Nazarite vow because if you read the Bible commentaries that like he did wrong, he he compromised, he shouldn't have done it, blah, blah, blah, right? But if you go to first Corinthians nine, I think he explains, why was I doing it? Why did I do the Nazarite vow? Because I want to win Jews to Christ. So I'm willing to do this whole thing, pay the expense for these guys, and you know, do the thing.

27:14 If it's going to win some to Christ, I'll do it. I don't think he was compromising his stance or changing where he was but but he was teaching the the he was consistent in what he preached but he was doing it because he wanted to win Jews for Christ. Wow. And so that that's why he did this. Alright.

27:39 Now if you can look at verse 25, let's go back to Acts twenty one and twenty five. Now, they throw this in real quick just kind of like a like a little, oh, just in case, right? Look what it says. Oh, I'm in the wrong chapter. No wonder it was in there.

28:00 Okay, here we go. But concerning the Gentiles, who I believed, we wrote, having decided that they should abstain from meat sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what is strangled, and from his, and from fornication. Then Paul took the men and or he did all that. Okay. Now, why did the elders throw this in there?

28:20 Why did the elders throw this in there? James and the elders. Because he said, Okay, Okay, Paul. I know what you're to say, but we they kind of cut him off. To the Gentiles, we're telling them, don't sacrifice to idols, don't drink the blood.

28:35 Remember we talked about that before. You know why? Because the the the Gentiles, the non Jews, they were they were idolaters. So they didn't know anything about Jewish customs and laws, and so why even tell them about it? Right?

28:50 Their problem was idolatry. And it says in first Thessalonians one ten that the Thessalonians turned from idols to serve the living and true god and to wait for Jesus Christ. So, they had to repent and turn away from idols. The the Jews from self righteousness. For thinking that keeping the law and doing other things, they're going to be saved.

29:16 And so that's why they throw that in there real quick. And so that's kind of like a like a like a freebie for you. Alright. So, then from there, some guys from Asia see Paul, because you remember, he was preaching in Asia. They see Paul, and a couple of days earlier with a guy named Trifimus or something like that.

29:43 Yeah. And he was a he was a, from from Ephesus, a Gentile. And just because they saw him walking with him, they made the excuse, let's excuse... Let's let's let's attack him. We found an excuse.

30:18 Okay. Now as as Paul is is trying to reach people for Christ and and the enemy, Satan, is trying to stop him. Think about how many people are coming to Christ through Paul. I mean, I remember he went. And so, you know, Satan goes after the leadership first.

30:43 And so if if he's the leader and he's bringing somebody to Christ and and causing such an impact for Christ, then he's going to be the target. And as he tries to target him, he incites the people to attack Paul, and they do, and he gets put in in prison. From this point on, for for the rest of the chapters, Paul is a prisoner. He's a prisoner for Christ. Now if you're the devil, you're like, oh, finally.

31:14 Now I didn't I didn't get to kill him because god protected him. Right? Supernaturally, the centurion comes and they protect him. They put him in in jail in jail to keep him safe. And so, from that point on, he's in jail for the next five, six years.

31:32 Now, if you're the enemy, you're thinking, okay, great. I finally got this dude put in jail. He's out of the way. My the nemesis, the guy who's who's bringing so many people to Christ. But then god is overlooking that and he says, okay, I got one better.

31:48 I want one better. And here's what I want you to see. Alright? Now, god overriding the imprisonment to accomplish his purposes. Now, let's go to Philippians.

32:01 I want you to go there real quick as we start to think about closing out because we're going to do some application now. Alright. So we read about all this, but let's apply it to our personal life. Look at look at verse 12. Philippians one twelve.

32:20 Alright? Look at what it says. Now I want you to know, brethren, that my circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel. So that in my imprisonment in the cause of Christ has become well known throughout the whole Praetorian Guard and to everyone else. And that most of the brethren trusted in the Lord because of my imprisonment have far more courage to speak the word of god without fear.

32:47 Alright. Now, god says, Satan, you fell into my trap. You're doing exactly what I wanted. I wanted my man put in jail because now that he's in jail, he's going to speak to kings and to leaders. Now, the only way I can get their attention and give him that audience is if if he's in jail.

33:07 And so there he is, all these kings you can, we're going to be reading are standing before him and he's preaching the gospel to him. And then later on, he even preached to the Caesar, right? To to Nero, I think it was at that time. He was even able to preach the gospel to him. So Paul, through jail, was able to speak to world leaders.

33:30 Second, in jail, many people came to Christ. As he's in Rome, sitting in jail, thousands of the Praetorian guard, that that is the elite guard of the Romans, were getting converted to Christ. Who would have thought? And so many times, we think the circumstances are are negative, but god is overriding them in order to accomplish his purposes. Thousands were getting saved even though he was in jail.

34:01 So, god is probably saying the same, go ahead, throw him in jail if you want but watch what I'm going to do. He's doing something great. Then next, it says that the ones that were outside of the jail looking apart there and and what he was accomplishing in jail became more courageous and started sharing the gospel more because the gospel had to be spread through everyone, not just the apostle Paul. And we can see then how God is doing great things through Paul even in jail. And on top of that, he wrote so many of the books of the Bible while he was in prison.

34:59 You don't have what it takes. And then she kept trying, and they would not allow her to become a missionary. So she felt the color got so heavy in her heart. She says, I'm going to go on my own. And so she did.

35:13 And in that trip, by the you can read her book, and there's also a movie about it. In that trip, she almost got killed. She was dropped off of a train, and it was freezing. She was somewhere in Russia, and by the grace of God, she didn't die. Then she almost got imprisoned.

35:32 And and the whole trip to China, she almost got killed over and over again. She finally arrives in China, and God blessed this woman's work in in a tremendous way. You know that in China they used to practice stubbing the women's feet. They would tie their feet so that they would have short feet because they thought that big feet on women was shameful. They would have deformed feet on other women.

36:01 It was very painful. They would have stubbed feet. They couldn't even walk right. And she said, this is not right. And she fought against it until she was able to get them to stop doing that practice.

36:13 Look at that. Little bitty missionary lady rejected by the missionary society. Not only that, but she stopped the whole riot of the prison systems in China. And not only that, but she saved 100 young people little children. Japan had attacked, invaded China, and they were coming to her town, and she took 100 children.

36:34 And for weeks and weeks was through the mountains, evading the Japanese. And finally, they she was able to get them to safety, and they almost killed her. She was never the same after that. But she led thousands to Christ because she felt the calling of the Holy Spirit lead you to that. Just like Paul said, I'm going to Jerusalem even though they're saying to me that I'm going to suffer.

37:04 Then there was a five missionaries who went to the Alkan Indians. Do you all know about that? There's movies. You can see things called the Gates of Splendor. Is that the name of it?

37:15 But you could there's several books out. A true story. One of the men killed, his dad was my teacher at Bible College. And so they went out there and they just felt that God wants us to reach out these Indians in Ecuador. And as they were out there trying to reach him, by the way, they were cannibals, they were savages.

37:37 All five of them got killed. And you know what happened as a result? Hundreds and hundreds of young men and women felt the call of God after they saw them get murdered, all five of them. And all of my teachers at the Bible College were teachers because they told me with their own lips because of what happened there. They felt like, if they could do that, I'm going to go to the Lord's work, and I'm going to serve him.

38:02 And hundreds of missionaries went out throughout the world because of those five men dying. And they went back to that village where those people were and the whole village converted to Christ. So they felt that calling of God and they went. Just like the apostle Paul felt the calling of God and went to Jerusalem through the Holy Spirit. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, anybody heard of him?

38:31 Right. You can read a a book Eric Mataxis read a... Wrote a book about his life. But you know that he was in Germany as a preacher, and he was saved. He was able to come to The US.

38:43 But he felt that conviction that he needed to go back to Germany and oppose Hitler and his regime. So he could have just stayed in The US safe, but he felt that call of God, and he went back. Unfortunately, he was murdered as well for for his faith. Hitler and his regime had him murdered. So this whole story is about Paul and what God is doing through his life.

39:11 He finally gets to Jerusalem. He turns the money in. He's trying to reach Jews for Christ. They put him in prison, and from there on, he's in prison. But God was overriding the circumstances, and it turned out to be better.

39:28 More people came to Christ. And, you know, if the Holy Spirit lays on your heart to do something for him, obey him. And he's going to use you in a mighty way. Alright, let's pray. Father, we thank you that Paul was willing to go to to Jerusalem even though he was being warned ahead of time that he was going to suffer.

39:51 But he wanted to bring souls to Christ and he was willing to even die for the sake of Jesus Christ. And that we pray that we would be listening to the Holy Spirit as he prompts us to serve him and where he would and where he would want to use us. And I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.