Those in the various churches who had the gift of prophecy kept prophesying that these things would take place. So, this is an interesting situation — the same Holy Spirit that constrained Paul to go to Jerusalem where he would suffer is the same Holy Spirit that warned him he would suffer when he got there.
Why did the Spirit constrain Paul to go, but then keep warning him of what would happen in Jerusalem?
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I think we see here the kindness and severity of the Lord. His severity in that He had ordained suffering for His chosen servant. But His kindness, in that he kept forewarning him in order to soften the blow. Paul Willingly Embraced These Sufferings: Paul was a man of courage, conviction, and passion. Are you imitating him in being willing to embrace suffering in order to finish your ministry?
It is His Ministry: Our ministry is really His, in the sense that He gave it to us. Paul received his ministry from the Lord Jesus.
October 2002 General Conference
The word ministry is just another word for service. Jesus was the One who decided what service Paul would render him. It was Jesus who decided that Paul would be an apostle, that he would minister in Galatia, Asia, Macedonia, and Achaia. It was Jesus who decided Paul would bear witness in Jerusalem and Rome. It is as though Paul had a pair of scales. On the one side was the preciousness of his own life. On the other side was the preciousness of finishing the ministry Jesus gave him. Which side do you think weighed more? There was no comparison! For most of us, our number 1 priority is self-preservation at all costs.
That was not how Paul lived. For him, the 1 priority was finishing the ministry. For Paul there was 1 reason to live — to do what Jesus called you to do. And when that was done, Paul was happy to go and be with the Lord. Why was finishing the ministry so important to Paul? I believe it was because Jesus Himself had given it to Paul.
And so, out of love to the one who had redeemed him at infinite cost, Paul was determined to lay out his life for his Master. Notice that Paul refers to it as my course.
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This was the course specially set out for Paul by Jesus. Now, every Christian has a ministry, but our ministries are not all the same. Jesus has called all of us to run a race, but the course we are to run is not the same. For some, it is a long pleasant run down mountain trails. For others, it is a hard, brutal run up steep hills in the burning sun. For others, it is a marathon. For others it is a short sprint. No two Christians have exactly the same ministry. But every Christian has a ministry. A ministry is just another word for the sphere of service Jesus has assigned you.
How has Jesus appointed you to serve?
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He has appointed some of you to serve as Elders and Deacons. Others as godly wives and mothers. Others as godly husbands and fathers. Maybe some of you are feeling as if you have served the Lord hard and long and you want to sit down and rest. We will rest in heaven. Stay in the race, until you finish!
Work hard in your youth, so that in your later years, you can retire and travel, putter around the house, and play golf. Is that the way Paul viewed life? Why not retire on a little cottage on the Mediterranean Sea?
Why not take up fishing or painting? Just take it easy, and coast into heaven. Stop considering that crazy plan to visit Jerusalem — you could get yourself killed. Does that sound like Jesus Christ? Should I buy a motor home and travel around America? Should I spend all my free time playing my banjo? No, God has a race for me to run, and a ministry to finish. Paul understood that the Good News is not that we should try harder.
The Good News is not about what you and I do at all. It is about what God has already done! God has done everything in Jesus. Jesus has already finished the work of redemption. You see the gospel is all about grace.
If it was about you tapping into your inner potential to be a better person, it would be about works. You see, the simple truth is that all of us are black with sin and are objects of the wrath of God. We are by nature children of wrath. What is our role in this process? And even those two things are gifts from Him. The same message that Paul testified of, is the same message that we are to testify of.
There are people all around you who need to hear from your lips about the gospel of grace. They are weighted down with sin and guilt and shame. They think God is requiring them to try harder to get themselves out of the hole they have dug for themselves. They are looking to themselves as the reason they are going to heaven!
Paul Teaches The Elders About Faithfulness to God’s Call
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