Acts 20:18 When they arrived he declared, “You know that from the day I set foot in the province of Asia until now 19 I have done the Lord’s work humbly and with many tears. I have endured the trials that came to me from the plots of the Jews. 20 I never shrank back from telling you what you needed to hear, either publicly or in your homes. 21 I have had one message for Jews and Greeks alike—the necessity of repenting from sin and turning to God, and of having faith in our Lord Jesus. 22 “And now I am bound by the Spirit to go to Jerusalem. I don’t know what awaits me,23 except that the Holy Spirit tells me in city after city that jail and suffering lie ahead. 24 But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus—the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God.
The Apostle Paul was never one to fear or fall away from what He was called to do. In the midst of great trial he knew God would come through for him and God did. Paul looks back in the above verses and brings to mind that he has been faithful to do the Lord's work humbly and with many tears. Paul never shrank back from preaching the gospel and that message was always the focus for every breath and every mile. We see many who preach trying to find a message for each Sunday in their church and the reason is they fear the message of the cross might be redundant so they have to "spice it up" with questionable illustrations and deep theological wanderings. The message of the cross is alive and well and the only thing holding it back is those who have quit offering it to a lost and dying world.
This is where churches can step up and reach out as individual members and groups of Sunday School classes. BRING IN THE LOST! If we would get back to reaching the lost then the message of the cross would be fresh and welcomed by those who are going to hell. We would also see our churches adding daily those are being saved. But sadly we have forgotten we are to "be" the church by equipping our members to present the gospel or invite the lost to come to church to hear the gospel of hope. We have lost our focus and the focus of the Apostle Paul was to do one thing "preach the gospel" message of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. What needs to happen to get back to the "core" message of the church. TRUST THE MESSAGE OF GOD'S WORD!!
Paul said he was "bound by the Spirit" to continue to follow God's path and continue to preach the message of the gospel. In the above scripture Paul speaks of being Bound By the Spirit to go to Jerusalem and that is the only "break" in his focused missionary journey. Paul goes on to say that he doesn't know what awaits him and his life is worth nothing to him unless he finishes strong. What does he say is this "work" he is talking about. He states it in verse 24 the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God.
In all of Paul's travels he never departs from his original instructions given to him by Jesus himself and he remains faithful. The church needs to have such a commitment to the gospel and forget all of these weak side issues and preach the gospel. But we need lost people in the church to preach to and it time to mobilize God's church and send it into the world with the light of the gospel. The gospel won't be hidden anymore than a city on a hill can be hidden, or a light in a darkened room can be hidden. Shine the light and be the church and remember we are Bound By the Spirit to do so.
Vesselogical Out,
David Warren
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