2025-10-26 - The Gospel Flips "Me" Into My Assignment

[SPEAKER_00]: Welcome to the Sermon Podcast from Church at the Well and Telsin, Maryland.

[SPEAKER_00]: To learn more about Church at the well, visit our website, thewellbultmore.com.

[SPEAKER_00]: And now, here's today's Sermon from our pastor, Dan Carreway.

[SPEAKER_01]: Like you know guys we're gonna get like a second summer here like for like two days right I don't be a random day in November when it's like 70 degrees so you know just hang on to it for a second But for most of us like we're like I'm in a sweater.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm in a sweater until April mode you know what I mean?

[SPEAKER_01]: So um

[SPEAKER_01]: I hope that you are having a great weekend so far.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm excited to share this with you.

[SPEAKER_01]: Now here's the deal.

[SPEAKER_01]: We are in the home stretch of the book of Acts, right?

[SPEAKER_01]: And it's going to go quickly if you will.

[SPEAKER_01]: You'll see here that the last couple, the last couple, the last several chapters in the book of Acts are going to be themes.

[SPEAKER_01]: that refer back to messages that we've already been to.

[SPEAKER_01]: You may even remember early on that I was referring to chapter 20 and 22 and things.

[SPEAKER_01]: So you're going to be able to see a lot of reflection back into that.

[SPEAKER_01]: So if you feel like Pasardine is skipping over stuff.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's not because like those are parts of Acts 20 through 28 that I don't agree with.

[SPEAKER_01]: We've just been here, okay?

[SPEAKER_01]: So hopefully you can connect the dots.

[SPEAKER_01]: Hopefully it's not too much of a skip for you, but hopefully if you're a part of community circles, you're able to kind of go deeper into some of these things that I think will help you and your understanding the end of the story of Paul and the end of the beginning story of the church.

[SPEAKER_01]: As it kind of helps us,

[SPEAKER_01]: And what we want the bigger theme of this is how we flip our faith into not just, you know, something that we believe, but into action, how do we flip?

[SPEAKER_01]: How did guys call us to flip, you know, the world upside down and our neighborhoods and our jobs and our friendships and our families.

[SPEAKER_01]: So, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I

[SPEAKER_01]: I hope that as we kind of structure this as a way that it would end well.

[SPEAKER_01]: So if you feel like the narrative is kind of falling out like we're not going in as deep.

[SPEAKER_01]: Well hopefully what I'm able to do for you and especially this morning it's going to refer back to conversations that we've already had so you feel cemented in this.

[SPEAKER_01]: There's been a lot more questions.

[SPEAKER_01]: the last couple of weeks.

[SPEAKER_01]: And the questions have been more so like, if you're to look at the series as one big sermon, like what are we gonna do with it, type of questions.

[SPEAKER_01]: Today is gonna be one, and you'll see what I'm talking about.

[SPEAKER_01]: The be proof in the pudding, as they say.

[SPEAKER_01]: Like what, like when we're done with this, if you were to think five years from now, you know, about like what do we do with what we've studied and asked, you're gonna ask the question of like, well, did that matter at all?

[SPEAKER_01]: Was this just another decent sermon that that Dane had going did we just really just complete all the Gospels we did that would that be the check mark or will you be able to ask the question so that's what we're after But here's the thing I can't ignore this I have to look at this As we step in the x20 before we get into the heart of what we want to do I have to tell this story because It is we just got to read it so a verse seven a chapter 20.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'll read it till you if you want to go there You can read it so you can highlight it so you can see that this is really in the Bible

[SPEAKER_01]: Acts chapter 20 verse 7, you got to read it, we got to share this with somebody because it's it's it's there.

Acts 20:7

[SPEAKER_01]: It's it happened.

[SPEAKER_01]: Verse 7 on the first day of the week when we were gathered together to break bread Paul talked with them and tending to depart on the next day and he prolonged his speech until midnight.

[SPEAKER_01]: There were many lamps in upper room where we were gathered, and a young man named Udakis sitting at the window, sank into a deep sleep as Paul talked, still longer, and being overcome by sleep, he fell down from the third story and was taken up dead.

[SPEAKER_01]: But Paul went down and bent over him and taking him in his arms, said, do not be alarmed for his life as in him.

[SPEAKER_01]: And when Paul had gone up, he had broken bread and eaten, he conversed with them a long while until daybreak, and so

[SPEAKER_01]: departed.

[SPEAKER_01]: And they took the youth away alive and we're not a little comforted.

[SPEAKER_01]: This is a proof that youth ministry is real, ladies and gentlemen.

[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.

[SPEAKER_01]: If you ever wanted to know that youth ministry is biblical, we have it right here in the text.

[SPEAKER_01]: This happened.

[SPEAKER_01]: So here's the story.

[SPEAKER_01]: A teenager is listening to the Apostle Paul, give this message like kind of the last time he's going to be talking to these folks.

[SPEAKER_01]: And Paul is preaching, and he's preaching hard, and he's preaching late into the night.

[SPEAKER_01]: This is like evening session at momentum type of thing.

[SPEAKER_01]: Like it is late, and this kid, you know, kids can't sit in a chair.

[SPEAKER_01]: They either like sit on a floor or something.

[SPEAKER_01]: This kid, I'm going to sit in the window sill.

[SPEAKER_01]: Kid falls out the window.

[SPEAKER_01]: Now, I don't know if you don't think about kids, but they just fall off a stuff and stuff and they're fine.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know what I mean like they just jump off of stuff my kids will just be like you know They go to I watch them out of skies on them like someone's gonna break something and they like fall in a position that you will look I can be like I'm going to the hospital just from watching you this kid falls out of window It's pronounced dead Paul links over him

[SPEAKER_01]: probably power the Holy Spirit says this kid's not dead.

[SPEAKER_01]: I think he's just a kid and he's a teenager and this isn't like a spiritual thing.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's just like kids just get hurt and they just pop up fine.

[SPEAKER_01]: But there's ever been proof that that youth ministry is alive and well and this is just an encouragement.

[SPEAKER_01]: If you've ever been trying to share the gospel with a young person and they fall asleep, well you didn't have it as bad as they fell asleep and fell out of a window and they died.

[SPEAKER_01]: So, just as encouragement has nothing to do with the sermon, I just wanted to say, this is worthy.

[SPEAKER_01]: I just could not not let this be the go-buy, all right?

[SPEAKER_01]: So, listen, so with Acts chapter 20, we are going, it begins with Paul traveling through Macedonian Greece and he's encouraging all the believers.

Acts 20 · chapter mention

[SPEAKER_01]: This is, I want you to, like, think back to Jesus, right?

[SPEAKER_01]: So, Jesus on his way to Jerusalem, the tone changed.

[SPEAKER_01]: Remember Jesus, like, his message was, was pronouncing the kingdom.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, he was doing lots of miracles, telling lots of parables, saying things kind of in type.

[SPEAKER_01]: Now, I'm not saying ticing, like, but like objecting to the Jewish leaders and things.

[SPEAKER_01]: That was the first part of his ministry.

[SPEAKER_01]: But then as he got close to it, was time for him to go to the cross, right?

[SPEAKER_01]: Don't change.

[SPEAKER_01]: tone change.

[SPEAKER_01]: Remember one of the last times he did a big gathering with folks and he's kind of like, it's getting about to be that time.

[SPEAKER_01]: If you're not ready to pick up your cross and follow me, you got nothing to do with me.

[SPEAKER_01]: If you want to follow me, pick up your cross.

[SPEAKER_01]: Let's roll.

[SPEAKER_01]: Like the tone in Jesus' change, what you're going to see in Acts chapter 20 is Paul getting kind of having a similar type of realization that I'm not

Acts 20 · chapter mention

[SPEAKER_01]: But this is about it for me, and I want you to be encouraged.

[SPEAKER_01]: I know that the message is bigger than the messenger.

[SPEAKER_01]: I know that this is, it matters more than just me being here.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's strengthening churches.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's checking in on people that he's disliked.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's pouring into them one last time.

[SPEAKER_01]: He knows his time is getting short, and he knows that there is going to be suffering ahead.

[SPEAKER_01]: Paul had a real sense.

[SPEAKER_01]: Remember we've talked about this like the last month or two that Paul was Paul's kind of like, he's kind of wearing thin.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's the old boxer.

[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know if you've ever like ventured into the Rocky movies, okay?

[SPEAKER_01]: Like the Joker and our churches that Dane hasn't seen any movies, it's very true.

[SPEAKER_01]: But I just, I've seen all the movies that my step dad watched, which were all violent, you know, seen a lot of Bruce Lee movies in my life, and I've seen all the Rockies.

[SPEAKER_01]: Do you really need to see all the Rockies?

[SPEAKER_01]: You probably don't.

[SPEAKER_01]: You could just kind of like, put your hand in the basket and pull one out.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know what I'm saying?

[SPEAKER_01]: It's Rocky wins at the end.

[SPEAKER_01]: And you know what I'm saying?

[SPEAKER_01]: It's the deal.

[SPEAKER_01]: But when you get into the later Rocky, you all know I in line.

[SPEAKER_01]: So when you get into the later Rocky series,

[SPEAKER_01]: Rocky's not like the young like Rocky Balboa with like energy he's like it's it's just kind of like I know that I'm back to go have to fight this dude And it's gonna be hard it's gonna be tough and he's kind of like I know what I got to kind of get to get this to get this fight

[SPEAKER_01]: This is going to be a hard fight.

[SPEAKER_01]: Just kind of like the grizzled veteran, like there's a big difference between the hot, young, rookie in the NBA and then the LeBron James of it all is like, man, it's October.

[SPEAKER_01]: As long as I'm playing like I need to in February, March, after all, Starbreak, I know what it takes to get into the playoffs.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I wonder if this is kind of polls

[SPEAKER_01]: Paul's mindset, let's not overspair to lies it, you know what I mean?

[SPEAKER_01]: Like, like, a lot of times when we think about suffering, like we think about it as like the underground church does in China.

[SPEAKER_01]: And we think about it in James where it's like, like there is no such thing as being in the center of God's will without having to go through something.

[SPEAKER_01]: There is no such thing as like proclaiming a gospel without having to, to suffer persecution.

[SPEAKER_01]: And we had to have like this like weird fake Christian like glee about it.

[SPEAKER_01]: I think Paul just knew what it was.

[SPEAKER_01]: I think Paul just understood he's like, this is what I have to do.

[SPEAKER_01]: And this is what I have to do and this is, and it's just going to be, it's going to be hard.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's going to hurt a little bit, you know.

[SPEAKER_01]: Mr. Denny is here this morning.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's traveling back and forth to Tennessee.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm sure like before he gets into the car he's like,

[SPEAKER_01]: I know other way around it.

[SPEAKER_01]: This is the way to go.

[SPEAKER_01]: There's no portal, you know what I mean?

[SPEAKER_01]: You probably pay for it if you don't.

[SPEAKER_01]: That would be fun.

[SPEAKER_01]: There you go.

[SPEAKER_01]: But you know what I mean?

[SPEAKER_01]: That's probably the better example.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know you're about to take a long ride.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's got to deal with it.

[SPEAKER_01]: You just look down the road and I'm like, all right.

[SPEAKER_01]: I think I'll get any shorter, minus 12, just get going.

[SPEAKER_01]: I feel like this is what Paul is saying.

[SPEAKER_01]: You're going to hear it in a second, Paul's given his last message to these Ephesians in the tone of it, we're going to feel, especially if you've ever had to say goodbye to somebody.

[SPEAKER_01]: I hope I'm not going to make this over emotional.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's going to be emotional enough for you by itself.

[SPEAKER_01]: Have you ever had to say goodbye to somebody and you know it was the last conversation?

[SPEAKER_01]: By the way, maybe obviously it wasn't because you were dying, because you're here.

[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe it's because they were dying, or maybe you just know you're going your separate ways, and it's probably it.

[SPEAKER_01]: Like what we're gonna read from Paul is that that Paul knew from one way or the other He was not coming back here Matter of fact he didn't even meet them in Ephesus He had them come and meet them outside of Ephesus and he's like hey, I'm going this way I got to get to Jerusalem before the holidays I got to get to Jerusalem before the festivals come and meet me because I have to see you one more time These leaders of the church in Ephesus.

[SPEAKER_01]: I need to see you one more time and and that's what this this time is

[SPEAKER_01]: If you had one last chance to say something to somebody that you've poured into, has like impact on you, I'm, you know, if you were a part of our church at the very beginning, you know that, um, one of my weird,

[SPEAKER_01]: things that make Dane Dane is that I have a bunch of journals all around our house, all around in my boxes.

[SPEAKER_01]: You're everyone know my secrets, I have to ride die, go fight on it, you'll find everything about me.

[SPEAKER_01]: Good and bad, you know?

[SPEAKER_01]: And I have a specific one that I have written to my kids.

[SPEAKER_01]: And like so like one day when I'm gone, they're gonna know like I have stuff from their birthdays when they were born.

[SPEAKER_01]: I have like chicken wing recipes in there.

[SPEAKER_01]: I have like speeches for each of their weddings in there.

[SPEAKER_01]: I've got all, I would like like wives and moms do this, dads, this is like, I've given my kids lots of stuff.

[SPEAKER_01]: I don't think I've given them anything better than this.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know what I'm saying?

[SPEAKER_01]: Until one day they'll just go juice on it and it's ruined.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know?

[SPEAKER_01]: Just kidding, cool.

[SPEAKER_01]: But I have it all in there because I want this moment like Paul had.

[SPEAKER_01]: We're here thousands of years later listening to a spiritual father talk to his spiritual kids.

[SPEAKER_01]: And what we're going to read here is exactly what needs to be said about us.

[SPEAKER_01]: All right, that was the longest intro I've given this whole series, so let's get into it.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm sorry, I just wanted you to feel it.

[SPEAKER_01]: If you've ever seen anybody, if you knew you would never see anyone again, what would you say?

[SPEAKER_01]: Would you want them to know?

[SPEAKER_01]: That's what we're going to be in the next 20.

[SPEAKER_01]: Paul's going to share not just for pastors or church leaders.

[SPEAKER_01]: This is for parents.

[SPEAKER_01]: This is for coaches, this is for volunteers, this is for students, business owners, teachers, anyone with influence over somebody else.

[SPEAKER_01]: Anyone who is stewarding something that God has given them, has God given you something that he's given you responsibility on.

[SPEAKER_01]: This is for you.

[SPEAKER_01]: Here's a big idea, the gospel flips ministry from being about me to being about my assignment.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's not about me.

[SPEAKER_01]: God's was for you, sure, yes, Jesus came to die for you.

[SPEAKER_01]: For God's love, yeah, that's for you.

[SPEAKER_01]: But the more you follow Jesus, it becomes about your assignment.

[SPEAKER_01]: Whatever I've been left here to do, if it was about you, the minute you accept Jesus, he would have wished you off the heaven.

[SPEAKER_01]: So I'm just about you.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's about being through you.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's about being through your assignment.

[SPEAKER_01]: Here's the question we're going after.

[SPEAKER_01]: How am I storting the assignment that God has given me?

[SPEAKER_01]: What am I doing with the assignment?

[SPEAKER_01]: The storting is like, like someone's giving me something.

[SPEAKER_01]: Am I using it just for me?

[SPEAKER_01]: Parable of the talents this will be a great thing to talk about on spiritual It's spiritual and community circles this this idea if like talents guys Given you something what are you doing with it?

[SPEAKER_01]: Are you sitting with it?

[SPEAKER_01]: Are you holding it?

[SPEAKER_01]: Is it yours or are you using it for somebody else?

[SPEAKER_01]: That is given you a car is this car just for you to go where you want to go and go to Chick-fil-A and whatever else or is your car being used to drive somebody else to help other else to deliver stuff to some by the else.

[SPEAKER_01]: What are you using what God has given you for?

[SPEAKER_01]: That's the idea of stewardship.

[SPEAKER_01]: All right, chapter 7, I'm sorry, man, numbers and words.

[SPEAKER_01]: Acts chapter 20, verse 17, when we landed in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in

Acts 20:17

[SPEAKER_01]: When they arrived, he declared you know that from the day I set foot in the province of Asia until now, I have done the Lord's work, humbly, and with many tears.

[SPEAKER_01]: I have endured the trials that came to me from the plots of the Jews, I never shrank back from telling you what you needed to hear, either publicly or in your homes.

[SPEAKER_01]: I have had one message for the Jews and Greeks alike that necessity of repenting from sin and turning to God and of having faith in our Lord Jesus.

[SPEAKER_01]: And now I am bound by the Spirit to go to Jerusalem.

[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know what awaits me, except that the Holy Spirit tells me in city after city that jail and suffering lie ahead.

[SPEAKER_01]: But my life is worth nothing to me, unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus.

[SPEAKER_01]: The work of telling others the good news about the wonderful grace of God.

[SPEAKER_01]: And now I know that none of you to whom I have preached the kingdom will ever see me again.

[SPEAKER_01]: I declare today that I have been faithful if anyone suffers eternal death and it's not my fault.

[SPEAKER_01]: For I didn't shrink from declaring all that God wants you to know, so guard yourselves and God's people.

[SPEAKER_01]: feed and shepherd God's flock, his church purchased with his own blood over which the Holy Spirit has appointed you as leaders.

[SPEAKER_01]: I know that false teachers like vicious wolves will come in among you acts or I leave, not sparing the flock.

[SPEAKER_01]: Even some men from your own own group will rise up and distort the truth in order to draw a following.

[SPEAKER_01]: Watch out.

[SPEAKER_01]: Remember the three years I was with you.

[SPEAKER_01]: My constant watch and care over you night and day and my many tears for you.

[SPEAKER_01]: And now I entrust you to God into the message of his grace that is able to build you up and give you an inheritance with all those he has set apart for himself.

[SPEAKER_01]: I've never coveted anyone silver or gold or fine clothes.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know that these hands of minds have worked to supply my own needs and even the needs of those who were with me.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I've been a constant example of how you can help those in need by working hard.

[SPEAKER_01]: You should remember the words of the Lord Jesus, it is more blessed to give than to receive.

[SPEAKER_01]: When He has finished, when He's finished speaking, He knelt and prayed with them.

[SPEAKER_01]: They all cried as they embraced and kissed Him goodbye.

[SPEAKER_01]: They were sad, most of all, because He had said,

[SPEAKER_01]: All right.

[SPEAKER_01]: So this is Paul's goodbye.

[SPEAKER_01]: Like, like, do you like hear some of the words that you use?

[SPEAKER_01]: Do you see like some of the things like, like, like, thinking about that question that I asked, like, if this was the last chance you'd like to talk to somebody that you cared about, you would pour it into, what's the last thing?

[SPEAKER_01]: What, what, what are you going to share with them?

[SPEAKER_01]: And this is what Paul says.

[SPEAKER_01]: Um, well, we're going out to that question of how am I stewarding the assignment that God has given me.

[SPEAKER_01]: Uh, first thing is this, the gospel flips on ministry from ego to assignment.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's not about your ego, it's not about you.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's not about you.

[SPEAKER_01]: You ever found it weird, like when people kind of give their their their Christian stats, I've led five people to the Lord this year.

[SPEAKER_01]: I will about you.

[SPEAKER_01]: I was at a pastor's thing and the guys were like, hey, Dane, how many folks did you baptize this past year?

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm like a couple.

[SPEAKER_01]: The ones that God gave me to baptize.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm like, you give a percentage.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know what I mean?

[SPEAKER_01]: It's the assignment.

[SPEAKER_01]: Like how different would our churches like look and how different will be think about like our faith if like we were just to think like I've been given this much.

[SPEAKER_01]: I've been given this much to do and out of the work that like got us given me for this much I've done it to this potential.

[SPEAKER_01]: This is what I have, right?

[SPEAKER_01]: Like are you a better teacher and lots of teachers in our church?

[SPEAKER_01]: Are you a better teacher if you have like more students?

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, Christian is a great teacher.

[SPEAKER_01]: Let's give her 50 kids at a time.

[SPEAKER_01]: Sounds great, Christian.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know what I mean?

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, Sarah's a really great teacher.

[SPEAKER_01]: Let's give her 70 kids at a time.

[SPEAKER_01]: Like we think about stuff like this and too often in Christian world, they must be doing something right because of this, like this is how many people we have.

[SPEAKER_01]: I don't think you ever hear that Paul worked under those circumstances.

[SPEAKER_01]: It was just kind of like, this is what God's called me to do.

[SPEAKER_01]: Paul's just like, I'm just going to go everywhere.

[SPEAKER_01]: The numbers are where they are.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know what I mean?

[SPEAKER_01]: Like, I'm going to make every single assignment my assignment.

[SPEAKER_01]: I talked to our soccer team about this.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm like, hey guys, it's a long game.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's 80 minutes.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's 80 minutes of soccer.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's 80 minutes.

[SPEAKER_01]: And we want to win the game.

[SPEAKER_01]: But we have to win every minute at a time.

[SPEAKER_01]: We're going to do this minute to win the minute, we're going to do next minute to win the minute.

[SPEAKER_01]: And then if we keep functioning on it at my set, like all those 80 separate minutes, equal the game.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I wonder if like we're able to see that.

[SPEAKER_01]: But when we make it about us, we start thinking about the stats or something about everything else.

[SPEAKER_01]: Paul begins his farewell by reminding them how he lived among them.

[SPEAKER_01]: He says in verse 18, when they arrived, he declared, you know that from the day I said, in this province of Asia until now, I have done the Lord's work humbly and with many tears.

[SPEAKER_01]: I have endured the trials that came to that came to me from the plots of the Jews.

[SPEAKER_01]: Paul doesn't open with look at everything that I have accomplished.

[SPEAKER_01]: He doesn't say, remember how many people got saved under my ministry?

[SPEAKER_01]: He doesn't rehearse his resume.

[SPEAKER_01]: He points to his humility.

[SPEAKER_01]: The fact that it's not about him, his tears that this was hard, that this was difficult, this was painful, this took something out of me.

[SPEAKER_01]: And his endurance, even though it was hard, even though it's not about me, I stayed in it.

[SPEAKER_01]: Like, I've been here, I've been doing this.

[SPEAKER_01]: This is how long I've been at it.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's saying, you didn't just hear my sermons you saw my life.

[SPEAKER_01]: Paul wasn't the guy that showed up at the synagogue and preached and argued with the Jewish leaders.

[SPEAKER_01]: No, he did what he was supposed to do, and then lived there.

[SPEAKER_01]: He was among them.

[SPEAKER_01]: Sure fun, pastor on Sundays, pastor, when they have their gatherings, led Communus, like that.

[SPEAKER_01]: But then how dinner with them?

[SPEAKER_01]: very different from like the Jewish system.

[SPEAKER_01]: Remember this, like they weren't, they didn't like, remember way back in Jesus' times?

[SPEAKER_01]: One of the prayer problems with Jesus is that he didn't separate himself from his followers.

[SPEAKER_01]: That like, he was Jesus and he's like, all right, now these 12 common fishermen, they're going on a boat with me.

[SPEAKER_01]: Like they had a part-time telling which one was Jesus, like which one of y'all are Jesus?

[SPEAKER_01]: Cause y'all look alike, right?

[SPEAKER_01]: Much of these are teenagers like like you and Peter may be the same age maybe one of y'all are Jesus.

[SPEAKER_01]: That was an issue for folks that like the rabbi that the leader was with them.

[SPEAKER_01]: And Paul is saying this is this was my life.

[SPEAKER_01]: Ego builds its own name but assignment lifts up Jesus.

[SPEAKER_01]: That's a difference.

[SPEAKER_01]: Ego is going to build you up.

[SPEAKER_01]: And you know this, and sometimes you can't help it, by the way.

[SPEAKER_01]: But this is the difference between like, people need something else to point to besides Jesus.

[SPEAKER_01]: Like there's many women in my life, for I'm like, man, if I just, if I could be more like that person, that'll help me be closer to Jesus.

[SPEAKER_01]: Fine, so sometimes you can't help it.

[SPEAKER_01]: But when you live for your own ego, it's gonna build you up, a Simon that God gives you is gonna lift up Jesus.

[SPEAKER_01]: When you're doing what you're supposed to do, when you're doing something for the sake of your family, when you're doing something for the sake of the young people around you, you're doing something for the sake of your co-workers.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's going to lift up Jesus' name because people are going to be able to say like, I don't know why a person would do this other than the fact that they want me to love this Jesus that they said commands him to do this for me.

[SPEAKER_01]: When it's not about your ego,

[SPEAKER_01]: There was a kid on, sorry guys, soccer season just ended so I got to get it all out.

[SPEAKER_01]: We played in a semi-final game one on Thursday and there was a kid on the other team that I'm not ashamed to say had he been on the field we may not have won the game.

[SPEAKER_01]: This kid is incredible.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's funny as as great of a soccer player he is, he's a better basketball player.

[SPEAKER_01]: He got hurt in a game before he played us and he didn't and he wasn't able to play.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I saw him last week and he was on crutches and this week he wasn't on crutches and I knew he had a doctor's appointment.

[SPEAKER_01]: So I walked over to him and like parents like gave me faces and even his teammates were like, man, this coach's come up here to rub it in.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I was like, amen, like I just wanted to know what the doctors say.

[SPEAKER_01]: Me and my kids, we made it a point to pray for you this week.

[SPEAKER_01]: I just want to know what the doctor said.

[SPEAKER_01]: And it was like, it was shocking to them.

[SPEAKER_01]: that we're supposed to be opponents for a high school soccer game as if I can't pray for you or as if I can't care about you at a human level you're seeing a high school you don't want to spend it with hurt

[SPEAKER_01]: You know what I mean, like, like this is where we are.

[SPEAKER_01]: This is where our culture is, guys that, like, like we can't, like care those things.

[SPEAKER_01]: And there's something like, like, when we think about ego, there's too much distance between us and the people around us that we can't do this.

[SPEAKER_01]: You see what I'm saying?

[SPEAKER_01]: You're competing for a promotion with somebody else in your job with, like, what it, like,

[SPEAKER_01]: Think about how counter-cultural it would be like, hey, listen, I know we both want the same things, but I made a point to pray for you that have God wants this for you, and this would be a more of a blessing to your family than it would be for me.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm gonna pray to God that he provides that for you.

[SPEAKER_01]: That would be insane.

[SPEAKER_01]: Telling me, that doesn't make sense.

[SPEAKER_01]: Do you not understand how money works?

[SPEAKER_01]: You know what I mean?

[SPEAKER_01]: Who's kingdom are you building?

[SPEAKER_01]: Who's ego are you building?

[SPEAKER_01]: Like, like, if God wants that for them, would you really be like willing to withhold your own ego for somebody else?

[SPEAKER_01]: ego wants credit, assignment wants obedience, ego asks, how did I look, assignment asked, what Christ was Christ's scene?

[SPEAKER_01]: Let me say that again, ego asked how did I look, assignment asked, was Christ's scene, was Jesus noticed, was Jesus lifted up.

[SPEAKER_01]: Paul goes on and in a verse 20 says, I never shrink back from telling you what you needed to hear either publicly or in your homes.

[SPEAKER_01]: I have had one message for Jews and Greeks who are like, the necessity of repenting from sin and turning to God and of having faith in our Lord.

[SPEAKER_01]: Jesus, Paul says, I didn't shrink back.

[SPEAKER_01]: I didn't hold back anything.

[SPEAKER_01]: I just love like the confidence.

[SPEAKER_01]: This isn't Paul's ego talking.

[SPEAKER_01]: This is somebody we'll say.

[SPEAKER_01]: I did what God told me to do.

[SPEAKER_01]: Do you have moments like that?

[SPEAKER_01]: Like, are you gonna be able to look at your kids, look at your family, look at people around your life and be like, this is what God told me to do.

[SPEAKER_01]: This is what I was supposed to do.

[SPEAKER_01]: This is like, I did the assignment.

[SPEAKER_01]: Ms. Caraway assigned it and I did it.

[SPEAKER_01]: I have no shame.

[SPEAKER_01]: There's a different, like, here's the thing.

[SPEAKER_01]: A kid that's studied and a kid that's done all their work, they never asked, like, let's say, like, hey, I got a test that I studied for tomorrow.

[SPEAKER_01]: Let's pray that I get a good grade in the test.

[SPEAKER_01]: Y'all heard that before.

[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, the kids that are doing their work, they didn't ask you for prayer.

[SPEAKER_01]: Christian school teachers and asking for prayer if they didn't work.

[SPEAKER_01]: So you stayed up all night, you studied, do you make sure you get all the material ready?

[SPEAKER_01]: Miss Carole, would you please plan to get a good grade on the test?

[SPEAKER_01]: No, God ain't going to help you now.

[SPEAKER_01]: No.

[SPEAKER_01]: I support the opposite.

[SPEAKER_01]: This is how bad of a youth bastard I was.

[SPEAKER_01]: It gives me like a pass today and I got like in our small group.

[SPEAKER_01]: I ain't make a prayer request.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, um, I got a science test tomorrow.

[SPEAKER_01]: Um, I just pray that I got a good great science test for my mom's going to take away the keys to my car.

[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.

[SPEAKER_01]: Did you study?

[SPEAKER_01]: No, but I need a good great.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm just asked a guy that's just got got this up to the amazing.

[SPEAKER_01]: All right, let's pray.

[SPEAKER_01]: God may you punish this little boy.

[SPEAKER_01]: I pray he gets the lowest grade possible, so he learns a message now and it does not affect the rest of his life.

[SPEAKER_01]: Did you see my prayer?

[SPEAKER_01]: He'd be like, look at that.

[SPEAKER_01]: Can't never close his eyes.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's like, I don't know, can I be just like, pray to God, works in your way, you know?

[SPEAKER_01]: I just, you know, no one ever, like, like, I love what Paul says here.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's like, God gave me an assignment, I did it.

[SPEAKER_01]: guy and he told me what to do here and I did it like this is this is what I was supposed to do and I've done the assignment.

[SPEAKER_01]: Have I done my assignment without ego?

[SPEAKER_01]: You have an assignment too.

[SPEAKER_01]: Paul when we say that he has one message and it was worth suffering for.

[SPEAKER_01]: Like Paul's like this is what guys call me to do and I was willing to do it even though it caused me to suffer.

[SPEAKER_01]: Our assignment, it may not look like Paul's, but God trusted you with something.

[SPEAKER_01]: Some of your side-deleted church, like me, some of your assigned to the store-to-family, some of your assigned to influence your school, your team, your workplace, some of you were assigned to disciple a few people quietly and faithfully.

[SPEAKER_01]: And here's the heart check, have I done my assignment without ego?

[SPEAKER_01]: Have I led my family without ego?

[SPEAKER_01]: Has it been about what I want or what God wants?

[SPEAKER_01]: Do you understand?

[SPEAKER_01]: Like, have I positioned myself with my kids in a way that your God's gift to me and but you are a gift from God and you are ultimately God's?

[SPEAKER_01]: Or has it been like, your my kids and I'm gonna, you gonna do it, you know, like, what's gonna last longer?

[SPEAKER_01]: Because they're gonna have to have an identity and something after you're gone.

[SPEAKER_01]: Are they going to know who's they are?

[SPEAKER_01]: I know what this like.

[SPEAKER_01]: Have you ever been to a funeral?

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm sorry, not a funeral.

[SPEAKER_01]: Have you ever been to a graveyard or cemetery?

[SPEAKER_01]: And I don't say this to shame them.

[SPEAKER_01]: I say this because it's one of the saddest things.

[SPEAKER_01]: You will find people in graveyard and cemeteries that are heartbroken because they've lost somebody.

[SPEAKER_01]: And they're like, you know.

[SPEAKER_01]: with, you know, I'm not, whether it be widows, whether it be what it was, whether it be kids of parents and they go when they look at the headstones and they go when they bring gifts and they bring flowers and soaks.

[SPEAKER_01]: And part of me is like, I'm worn with them because I know what it's like.

[SPEAKER_01]: I've gone back to visited my grandmother's grave, my stepdad's grave, I've been there.

[SPEAKER_01]: And part of me, and this is my own story, part of me goes back there because I'm still connected to something

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm looking for something.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm looking for something from the person that's in the ground there, because I'm connected to them.

[SPEAKER_01]: And part of that stewardship is saying like, you're connected to me, but that connection is by way.

[SPEAKER_01]: Remember we talked about the extension court a few weeks ago?

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm only an extension toward to the father.

[SPEAKER_01]: That's where your true source is.

[SPEAKER_01]: That's where the true father is.

[SPEAKER_01]: And people gotta know that.

[SPEAKER_01]: Have I done my assignment without ego?

[SPEAKER_01]: Um, because if ego gets in the ministry, even family ministry workplace ministry, serving ministry, we start meeting validation more than obedience.

[SPEAKER_01]: Ego says to anyone, notice what I did, I was good, you know, I've never once heard Ian say, I, I, I killed it on the guitar this morning and no one, no one said a thing, you know, Christina makes a awesome slide.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's one of the last time you guys think Christina for the slides.

[SPEAKER_01]: When coffee's banging, like, you know, who's thinking Michelle, you know, like, like, did anyone notice me?

[SPEAKER_01]: Did they say thank you?

[SPEAKER_01]: Did people like me for it?

[SPEAKER_01]: That's what Ego says.

[SPEAKER_01]: Assignment says this, if the only one who sees is God, man, that's enough, if the only one that recognizes what I do is the one who's gonna tell me, well done, my good and faithful servant, that's enough.

[SPEAKER_01]: This is why Paul points to his posture, not his results, because God isn't impressed by ministry, that's effective, if it's not faithful.

[SPEAKER_01]: We can do a lot of good.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know what I'm saying?

[SPEAKER_01]: Like, we like, all the endings to the statements, our church should do, we should have, I can't wait until the day when we have, we can do a lot of things that are effective, we can do a lot of things that are big and that are that are the next stages.

[SPEAKER_01]: And by the way, I'm preaching to me right now.

[SPEAKER_01]: But not a bit matter if it's not faithful to what God wants us to do.

[SPEAKER_01]: In church here, this God doesn't need you to be spectacular.

[SPEAKER_01]: He needs you to be surrendered.

[SPEAKER_01]: You can do everything amazing.

[SPEAKER_01]: You can do everything perfect.

[SPEAKER_01]: But if it's not surrendered to Jesus, then you will have people when you're gone being connected with you, that was spectacular.

[SPEAKER_01]: But they won't have somebody else to be surrendered to like you were.

[SPEAKER_01]: ego builds platforms, assignment builds people.

[SPEAKER_01]: If your ministry builds you more than it builds others, that's ego not assignment.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm gonna say that again, if your ministry builds you more than it builds other, that's ego not assignment.

[SPEAKER_01]: Can I be honest with you?

[SPEAKER_01]: This is why we don't do password creation month here.

[SPEAKER_01]: Because I'm appreciated because you're here.

[SPEAKER_01]: And that's why we don't do it.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's not because I'm whatever.

[SPEAKER_01]: Like, I hope that's why, not I'm just kidding.

[SPEAKER_01]: But that's why we don't do it because it's not about building.

[SPEAKER_01]: I don't have a, me and Anna aren't the couple that has to picture outside on a billboard, like, come to church, come to church out the well.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know what I mean?

[SPEAKER_01]: We, people show up here and they love us and they tell us often, we don't need that.

[SPEAKER_01]: But what we do need is that we need to have a ministry that's about assignment and building up the church and equipping the people of the church to help build the church.

[SPEAKER_01]: So first Paul says, Lev D. Simon with humility, not ego, but then Paul shifts.

[SPEAKER_01]: He says something that flips a idea of calling upside down.

[SPEAKER_01]: Because when you live your assignment, it won't always feel comfortable.

[SPEAKER_01]: In fact, sometimes the assignment hurts.

[SPEAKER_01]: And that leads us into something that we see in Acts 20, and it might stretch us.

[SPEAKER_01]: Gospel flips comfort in the calling.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's going to flip a trick, make sure comfortable.

[SPEAKER_01]: We've talked about this.

[SPEAKER_01]: Have you noticed it's been a fame in the book of Acts that you got to leave something, you got to give, write it something, and this matches everything that Jesus taught.

[SPEAKER_01]: He didn't tell the disciples, well guess what?

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm moving to Galilee, and I'm going to make you

[SPEAKER_01]: And he's like, no, we're gonna go fishing for people.

[SPEAKER_01]: That's rock.

[SPEAKER_01]: Say, buy the zebidi.

[SPEAKER_01]: Tell the zebidi, peace.

[SPEAKER_01]: We're gonna, I'm gonna make you fish as a member.

[SPEAKER_01]: We gotta leave the comfort of home.

[SPEAKER_01]: verse 22 and 23 says and now I am bound by the spirit to go to Jerusalem.

[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know what awaits me except that the Holy Spirit tells me in city after city that jail and suffering lie ahead.

[SPEAKER_01]: You ever notice that when people talk about God told me or the Holy Spirit told me it's always something positive, it's never something like this.

[SPEAKER_01]: Like, like, I just feel the spirit, like give me freedom to relax in this season.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, Paul saying, like, I know what the spirit has in store for me, and it ain't good.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's going to be rough.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's going to be terrible.

[SPEAKER_01]: Remember way back Moses, like the burning bush scenario?

[SPEAKER_01]: Bernie Bush didn't have good news for Moses.

[SPEAKER_01]: It was like, hey, you know, Pharaoh, yeah, the superpower of the world, you're gonna go stand up to him and tell them to all the people are gonna leave.

[SPEAKER_01]: Moses has a proper response.

[SPEAKER_01]: We like the pickle and Moses like being scared.

[SPEAKER_01]: No, I don't wanna go, imagine go walk up to like one of the world powers, like Putin, Trump, like somebody big, what's dude and I'm, oh my gosh, thank you, that guy.

[SPEAKER_01]: That guy, I'll be known, go walk to one of the people hey listen, your whole thing, you got to have something to say about that.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm just messenger.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know what I mean?

[SPEAKER_01]: Like that was Moses's whole deal.

[SPEAKER_01]: That was his whole thing.

[SPEAKER_01]: Like the way that you're directing us is not the thing.

[SPEAKER_01]: We got like governments to flip that whole thing around.

[SPEAKER_01]: This is Paul saying, I know what the Spirit is telling me that has to happen.

[SPEAKER_01]: I know what the Holy Spirit is telling me and it's going to be suffering.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's going to be jail.

[SPEAKER_01]: This is a part of my assignment.

[SPEAKER_01]: How long are you to pray then?

[SPEAKER_01]: How willing are you to do the God, I just need you to give me some direction?

[SPEAKER_01]: You ever had a prayer like that, where you've been like, I'm gonna pray to God for a direction, I'm gonna ask God for some answers, but deep down you already know the answer.

[SPEAKER_01]: God, it's a really prayers God, would you change your mind?

[SPEAKER_01]: God would you do some a little bit different?

[SPEAKER_01]: Cause I know the answer, I just don't wanna deal with it.

[SPEAKER_01]: Paul says I'm bound by the spirit.

[SPEAKER_01]: In other words, I don't get to negotiate the assignment.

[SPEAKER_01]: I don't get to go edit what God has called me to do.

[SPEAKER_01]: He isn't chasing comfort, he isn't looking for an easier route, he isn't asking God for ministry that won't cost him anything.

[SPEAKER_01]: He says, the spirit is leading me and I already know the pain that's waiting for me there, but I'm still going.

[SPEAKER_01]: See, most people we run from suffering, Paul's running towards obedience.

[SPEAKER_01]: And the reason why it's a run towards obedience, because if we walk, you may entrain your mind.

[SPEAKER_01]: If we walk, we may entrain your mind.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's a run towards obedience.

[SPEAKER_01]: Want to work out?

[SPEAKER_01]: You ever go to the gym to work out?

[SPEAKER_01]: No?

[SPEAKER_01]: Sweet.

[SPEAKER_01]: Hold on.

[SPEAKER_01]: This was it.

[SPEAKER_01]: What about everything?

[SPEAKER_01]: Because I've done this.

[SPEAKER_01]: If you go to the gym to work out, there's probably more people in the parking lot that are in the gym.

[SPEAKER_01]: Because you got a bunch of people in the parking lot, try this.

[SPEAKER_01]: I don't think they're going to go in.

[SPEAKER_01]: Especially on a cold, rainy day.

[SPEAKER_01]: They're just all sitting in the parking lot.

[SPEAKER_01]: Like, man, I don't want to go get on this treadmill.

[SPEAKER_01]: Man, I don't want to go get this treadmill.

[SPEAKER_01]: And then, especially where we used to live, there's more people that would walk to the gym or at stuff, because I just think there's kind of a idea, like I have to have a reason, like, I have to make myself go.

[SPEAKER_01]: I have to push myself one step over.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's not, it can't be a walk, it's got to be a run.

[SPEAKER_01]: He says, the Spirit is leading me.

[SPEAKER_01]: I already know the pain that's waiting for me there, but I'm still going.

[SPEAKER_01]: Then he says, one of the most freeing, defining sentences about calling, verse 24, for my life is worth nothing.

[SPEAKER_01]: You guys need to, like, underline this if you're underliner, remember this verse, my life was worth nothing.

[SPEAKER_01]: To me, unless I use it for finishing the work, assigned me by the Lord Jesus, the work of telling others to good news about the wonderful grace of God.

[SPEAKER_01]: This is a man who has settled the ego battle.

[SPEAKER_01]: My life's worth nothing.

[SPEAKER_01]: That's a Paul says.

[SPEAKER_01]: I need you to like, Paul who we've been talking about for thousands of years.

[SPEAKER_01]: Father modern missions wrote most of the New Testament, guy who saw Jesus and it flipped his whole life around, shared the gospel around, like this is the reason we have churches.

[SPEAKER_01]: And he says, my life, my life's worth nothing.

[SPEAKER_01]: And once I use it for finishing the work, a sign by the Lord Jesus.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's not trying to preserve his brand, protect his comfort, or maintain his safe life.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's time for his after.

[SPEAKER_01]: Like, didn't Paul deserve a retirement?

[SPEAKER_01]: He says, if I don't fulfill the assignment God gave me, what am I even doing with my life?

[SPEAKER_01]: Is that a question you're willing to answer?

[SPEAKER_01]: This is a kingdom question for us.

[SPEAKER_01]: What assignment has God given you that you've been treating as optional because it's uncomfortable?

[SPEAKER_01]: What's an assignment that God has given you that you've been treating as optional because it's uncomfortable.

[SPEAKER_01]: You're never being in a school and something like an optional or extra credit and something you didn't have to do.

[SPEAKER_01]: Something if you had time.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's like, we have to stop looking at the great commission like this.

[SPEAKER_01]: We look like I have to be saved.

[SPEAKER_01]: I have to know Jesus as my Lord and Savior, and telling people about it, well, if I have time.

[SPEAKER_01]: That's not the assignment.

[SPEAKER_01]: By the way, what I'm also not saying is that if you don't share the gospel, that you're not saved,

[SPEAKER_01]: Here's what I'm saying.

[SPEAKER_01]: If you have accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, what naturally and always comes with it is a willingness to share with others, it's one of the fruit of your faith, one of.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's one of the fruit of your faith.

[SPEAKER_01]: If I have truly accepted with my heart, soul and mind, that the Lord Jesus Christ came and died for the sake of the sins of the world.

[SPEAKER_01]: And for me, it's something that it comes out.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's not something that's hidden inside.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's a byproduct of our faith.

[SPEAKER_01]: It has to be something that's shared.

[SPEAKER_01]: I never met the dad who accepted Jesus and didn't share with his kids.

[SPEAKER_01]: I've never met that.

[SPEAKER_01]: I've never met the person who was like, man, like, like, who I was before I met Jesus was terrible.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I confess that and I am living for Jesus and it's been something that I have never shared with somebody.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's gotta be part of it.

[SPEAKER_01]: It has to be.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's the natural part of the assignment.

[SPEAKER_01]: For some, serving has gotten inconvenient.

[SPEAKER_01]: Parenting spiritually has gotten tiring, sharing your faith has gotten awkward.

[SPEAKER_01]: Being faithful at work has gotten difficult, leading your family has gotten costly.

[SPEAKER_01]: Staying pure has gotten lonely.

[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, Ben God has gotten painful.

[SPEAKER_01]: But here this God never promised your calling would be comfortable.

[SPEAKER_01]: Never did.

[SPEAKER_01]: But he promised it would be worth it.

[SPEAKER_01]: Then Paul says something sobering in verse 25.

[SPEAKER_01]: He knows that he will never see these people again.

[SPEAKER_01]: Tell them the truth.

[SPEAKER_01]: This is a casual moment.

[SPEAKER_01]: These are farewell words from a man who had already laid his comfort down at the feet of Jesus long before that day.

[SPEAKER_01]: In verse 26 and 27 he says, I declare today that I have been faithful.

[SPEAKER_01]: If anyone suffers the eternal death, it is not my fault for I did and shrink from declaring all that God I want you to know.

[SPEAKER_01]: What you think about all the times you've opted out of people's witnessing the people?

[SPEAKER_01]: All the times when you said, and that's what I can do, they've chosen this way.

[SPEAKER_01]: I want you to kind of like put yourself in Paul's shoes.

[SPEAKER_01]: I want you to think about all Paul's loss, all that he's suffered, all of it, and even all of his endurance, where he stayed.

[SPEAKER_01]: We talked about all the places that Paul traveled, but we don't want to talk about the timespan, like he would camp out in places for years at a time.

[SPEAKER_01]: To where he's able to say that he's like, I've done everything.

[SPEAKER_01]: I've done everything.

[SPEAKER_01]: I've never stopped.

[SPEAKER_01]: You've got friends.

[SPEAKER_01]: There's people that you have friends and family and folks that have said, like, I'm done.

[SPEAKER_01]: Don't talk to me about Jesus.

[SPEAKER_01]: Don't come up with that Jesus stuff.

[SPEAKER_01]: I don't want to hear anything about faith.

[SPEAKER_01]: And you've kind of been like, all right.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I went, like, sometimes, like, because Paul did it too, remember Paul, like, he shook the, the dust off his sandals, and he said, like, this spirit's leading me to somewhere else.

[SPEAKER_01]: Like, like, like, like, and I want to say two things about this, like, remember, like, he said this when he was going to synagogues.

[SPEAKER_01]: And they were running him off.

[SPEAKER_01]: He said, that's it.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm done with my people.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to the Gentiles.

[SPEAKER_01]: And then what happened in the next city?

[SPEAKER_01]: He was back in the synagogues.

[SPEAKER_01]: I was like, yeah, Paul, you may be done, but I'm not.

[SPEAKER_01]: You, you may be frustrated with them.

[SPEAKER_01]: I said, they're not frustrating, but I'm not.

[SPEAKER_01]: and Paul found himself in the next city, kept going.

[SPEAKER_01]: You can have moments of frustration, but unless God says that you're done, you gotta be able to get to this point.

[SPEAKER_01]: To repal, knows that the assignment is done, and he's saying, I did everything.

[SPEAKER_01]: I did everything that I was supposed to do.

[SPEAKER_01]: I've been poured out.

[SPEAKER_01]: I've got nothing left.

[SPEAKER_01]: You guys have, like, anybody's ever, like, been in a sports, like, like, FCA meeting or something.

[SPEAKER_01]: There's a story about when Michael Jordan was, was writing in a par with somebody, probably a mob or shot.

[SPEAKER_01]: And he was, he was writing in the car with him.

[SPEAKER_01]: And my, my, my shot, like, Michael would, would you define an athlete?

[SPEAKER_01]: And they're driving by like the soccer field at the Nike facility and he saw he looked over and he saw me at hand who played for the women's national team and she was like Like all alone on the soccer field like running sprints by herself like like drenched in sweat like poured out like barely able to stand on the side of the field.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's like, yeah, that's an athlete right there.

[SPEAKER_01]: Like somebody who's given everything and there's nothing left and there's nobody here to watch.

[SPEAKER_01]: Like, she's working harder here than she did when she won the World Cup.

[SPEAKER_01]: Paul says, I was faithful, and I didn't shrink back.

[SPEAKER_01]: When you stand before Jesus, you want to be able to say the same, not, I was successful, not people like me, not things once smoothly, but Lord, I was faithful with what you entrusted to me.

[SPEAKER_01]: See, the gospel flips comfort in the calling.

[SPEAKER_01]: Calling is it fulfilled when you feel ready, it's fulfilled when you say yes.

[SPEAKER_01]: The gospel calls us to steward what God entrusted to us.

[SPEAKER_01]: Paul now turns to spoke as to the Ephesian elders.

[SPEAKER_01]: And this is deeply pastoral.

[SPEAKER_01]: This is deeply towards the leaders there.

[SPEAKER_01]: Verse 28 said, so guard yourselves and God's people.

[SPEAKER_01]: Feet and shepherd God's flock.

[SPEAKER_01]: His church purchased with his own blood over which the Holy Spirit has appointed you as leaders.

[SPEAKER_01]: Paul reminds them the assignment is holy.

[SPEAKER_01]: and the assignment is not yours.

[SPEAKER_01]: The assignment came from God through the Holy Spirit and was purchased with the blood of Jesus.

[SPEAKER_01]: So it tells them to guard themselves first.

[SPEAKER_01]: Hey, listen, you've got to be protected.

[SPEAKER_01]: Leaders, you've got to protect yourselves.

[SPEAKER_01]: You're like, dad's, you've got to protect yourself, moms, teachers, like you have to protect yourself.

[SPEAKER_01]: You've got friends, you've got folks, you have any influence you've got to be protected.

[SPEAKER_01]: How do we protect ourselves?

[SPEAKER_01]: We stay connected to Jesus through prayer.

[SPEAKER_01]: We stay connected by having a relationship with God's Word.

[SPEAKER_01]: This is how we protect ourselves.

[SPEAKER_01]: Because you can't shepherd others if you're spiritually asleep.

[SPEAKER_01]: Then he warns them against spiritual danger in 29 and 30 says, I know that false teachers like vicious wolves will come in among you after I leave, knowing not sparing the flat, flock, even some men from among your own group will rise up and distort the truth in order to draw a following.

[SPEAKER_01]: Paul says, be alert, because there's two things that always attack the assignment.

[SPEAKER_01]: One is external attacks, wolves,

[SPEAKER_01]: Our culture that we live in lies, pressure, sin, and spiritual warfare.

[SPEAKER_01]: These are things that come from the outside, that threaten our assignment, and are completing the assignment, anything externally, or then internal compromise.

[SPEAKER_01]: This is ego, this is drifting, this is your own pride, your own love for comfort, and your own self-promotion.

[SPEAKER_01]: So there's things outside that will threaten it.

[SPEAKER_01]: We will feel our strongest spiritually when we're in this room, but then the world gets outside and we're like, I don't know how much I really care about this assignment.

[SPEAKER_01]: And then our internal, I really want to be comfortable.

[SPEAKER_01]: Before church makes us talk about, I pray that everybody enjoys the cold, no Mason, I want to be comfortable.

[SPEAKER_01]: One a nice sweater.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yesterday, I got a heated vest, you know what I'm saying?

[SPEAKER_01]: Can't wait.

[SPEAKER_01]: Costco.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah?

[SPEAKER_01]: Shout out to Costco.

[SPEAKER_01]: It gives the sponsorship, you know?

[SPEAKER_01]: Then we had that internal compromise.

[SPEAKER_01]: My ego, my pride, my comfort.

[SPEAKER_01]: Some again, some will begin to distort the truth and not to help people, but to draw following.

[SPEAKER_01]: That is ego and ministry and Paul warns them, guard against it.

[SPEAKER_01]: Then with deep emotion, Paul reminds them how he lived.

[SPEAKER_01]: Watch out, remember the three years I was with you.

[SPEAKER_01]: My constant watching care over you night and day and my many tears for you.

[SPEAKER_01]: This wasn't a job to Paul, it was a burden of love.

[SPEAKER_01]: wasn't a job.

[SPEAKER_01]: This was his life that he lived with them and he was doing a job while he was living his life.

[SPEAKER_01]: He wasn't trying to build fans.

[SPEAKER_01]: He was raising disciples.

[SPEAKER_01]: He wasn't trying to impress people.

[SPEAKER_01]: He was trying to form Christ in them.

[SPEAKER_01]: Then he says something very powerful in verse 32.

[SPEAKER_01]: And now I entrusted to you, God in the message of His grace, that it's able to build you up and give you an inheritance with all those he has set apart from self.

[SPEAKER_01]: Paul says,

[SPEAKER_01]: I can't hold you, you can't just be mine.

[SPEAKER_01]: When I think about how I want the future with my kids, I mean, I don't want to say that we want our goal and parenting is that when our kids are grownups, we want them to still want to be around us.

[SPEAKER_01]: We're going to parent towards that.

[SPEAKER_01]: I've got to have a relationship with my kids because hopefully I'm raising two friends of mine when they're old enough to be my friends.

[SPEAKER_01]: I want to be friends with them right now.

[SPEAKER_01]: They smell.

[SPEAKER_01]: But we want our kids in a way that as parents, they want to be with us when they're older.

[SPEAKER_01]: I can't control you, I can't stand managed this, I entrust you to the God at universe.

[SPEAKER_01]: This is maturity.

[SPEAKER_01]: When you can release what God entrusted to you without clinging to it for identity.

[SPEAKER_01]: He reminds them, he never used the assignment for personal game, Paul gained nothing.

[SPEAKER_01]: He never did ministry with strings attached.

[SPEAKER_01]: You better follow Jesus or I will, like, if there's never nothing like that.

[SPEAKER_01]: Verse 32 through 35 says, I've never coveted anyone's silver or gold or fine clothes.

[SPEAKER_01]: You should remember the words of the Lord Jesus.

[SPEAKER_01]: It is more blessed to give than to receive.

[SPEAKER_01]: Paul wasn't taking, he was giving.

[SPEAKER_01]: A lot of times people quote that verse when they're like, hey man, let's you know it's better to give the receive.

[SPEAKER_01]: Now give me something, you know?

[SPEAKER_01]: Like, he wasn't draining people who was pouring into them.

[SPEAKER_01]: He'd given them everything.

[SPEAKER_01]: And look at this moment of love as we end.

[SPEAKER_01]: Verse 36 through 38, when you had finished speaking, he knelt and prayed with them.

[SPEAKER_01]: They all cried as they embraced and kissed him goodbye.

[SPEAKER_01]: They were sad most of all because he had said that they would never see him again.

[SPEAKER_01]: Then they escorted him down to the ship.

[SPEAKER_01]: This is not cold leadership.

[SPEAKER_01]: I think a lot of times is, in our culture, we think of leadership and we think of like positions when we have over folks as if like I have to keep a level of decorum or I have to keep a level of separation between me and the folks below me in the hierarchy.

[SPEAKER_01]: And that may work great in the business world or in the military or whenever.

[SPEAKER_01]: But here, me, if God gives you the opportunity to be close with somebody who will closely with them.

[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know if there's a better picture of letting your life be effective and living on an assignment to the way that it matters like this.

[SPEAKER_01]: These folks, they couldn't imagine if there's ever a chance that someone's going to take your words and allow that to propel them through the next stages of life, I don't know if we do it if the leadership is cold.

[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know if we do it, if there's separation.

[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know, like, the men and women that have passed in my life, like, I isolate, like, at the foot of my grandmother's bed, every chance I got to.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I still remember things that she'd say to me, that doesn't happen if I only have to send at the doorway, parents.

[SPEAKER_01]: My kids wake up and they come and they lay in bed with us.

[SPEAKER_01]: Much to my disliking, because they kick.

[SPEAKER_01]: But I just wonder, as you think about your life, as you think about your leadership, as you think about your influence, the more of an arm slave to keep people at, I don't know the effectiveness that you're going to be able to send from a distance.

[SPEAKER_00]: You just listen to a message from Dan Carroway, the pastor of Church at the Well and Telsing, Maryland.

[SPEAKER_00]: To learn more about our church and to support what we're doing in the Greater Baltimore area, visit our website, TheWelthBaltimore.com.

[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for tuning in to the Sermon podcast from Church at The Well.

[SPEAKER_00]: May God bless you.