SUNDAY - MAY 24, 2026 "Don't Shrink Back" Acts 20:17-38

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Acts chapter 20, verse 17 through the end of the chapter is where we're going to be today.

Acts 20:17

She turned there.

You know, the word courage is an interesting word.

Sometimes we think courage is the absence of fear.

But that is not true.

Courage is not the absence of fear.

Courage is in the face of fear, we don't shrink back.

Courage is when we face, we that we face fear and continue to move forward.

On Memorial Day, we we hear stories of great courage and people doing that.

One such story is about the lost battalion in Germany.

The lost battalion was the 36th Infantry, had uh over a little over 500 men who were pushing into uh deep into enemy territory when lines shifted, communication fell, and all of a sudden this infantry found themselves surrounded by their German enemies.

Attacks would come daily, all the time, facing them from all sides.

And really the Germans would send messages to them often to just surrender.

But Major Charles Whitzley, he would not do so.

And they fought off attack after attack after attack, not knowing if they would ever have support, if anybody would ever be able to get to them to rescue them.

They fought off attack, they fought off hunger, they fought off thirst, they were just completely shut off.

Then finally, finally, after the sixth day, the U.S.

troops broke through and rescued, and what was a little over 500 men was less than 200 men.

Everything inside of them was probably yelling, just quit.

Just give up, just quit.

But they wouldn't.

They didn't.

That's courage.

As we look at this from our Christian aspect, too, you know, so often we are surrounded.

We're surrounded by trials, we're surrounded by temptations, we're uh surrounded by criticisms, we're surrounded by by all these things, and the enemy whispers ever so gently in our ear, just quit.

Just just give up.

But but a true believer, someone who is dedicated and totally reliant upon God, they they won't do that.

Today we see that in our passage with Paul.

Paul is headed to Jerusalem, and and he is he is going to and what we find on his way there, um, he delivers kind of his final message to the leaders at the church at Ephesus.

In that message, twice, he's going to say, I did not shrink back.

I did not shrink back.

I did not turn away.

I did not back up, but courageously I continued forward.

And I know that while he is talking to leaders at the church at Ephesus, and and I understand so much of what I'm preaching today, I'm preaching to myself.

But but you need to understand as well, as part of the church, we are called to be witnesses of the kingdom of God.

And as witnesses of the kingdom of God, listen, the the challenge remains for us to be bold in our witness, to not shrink back.

So the question that we want to seek to answer this morning is how was Paul bold in his witness?

How was he bold so that he did not shrink back?

So I invite you this morning, if you are able to stand with us as we give honor to the reading of God's Word, Acts chapter 20.

Acts 20 · chapter mention

I'm gonna begin reading in verse 17.

Now from Miletus, he sent to Ephesus and called the elders of the church to come to him.

And when they came to him, he said to them, You yourselves know how I lived among you the whole time, from the first day that I set foot in Asia, serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials that happened to me through the plots of the Jews, how I did not shrink back from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and the teaching you and teaching you in public from house to house, testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance towards God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.

And now, behold, I am going to Jerusalem, constrained by the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me.

But I do not count my life of any value, nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.

And now behold, I know that none of you among whom I have gone out proclaiming the kingdom will see my face again.

Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all, for I did not shrink back from declaring to you the whole council of God.

Pay careful attention to yourselves and to the flock in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to care for the church of God which he obtained with his own blood.

I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock, and from among our own selves will arise men speaking twisted things to draw away the disciples after them.

Therefore, be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish everyone with tears, and now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.

I coveted no one's silver or gold or apparel.

You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my necessities and to those who were with me.

In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak, and remember the words of our Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.

And when he had said these things, he knelt down and prayed with them, and there was much weeping on part of all.

They embraced Paul and kissed him, being sorrowful most of all, because of the word he had spoken.

They would not see his face again.

And they accompanied him to the ship.

Let's pray together.

God, again, we thank you for your word, and we thank you how you have revealed yourself to us through your word.

Father, God, now as we look at the life of Paul and how he was able to stand strong and not shrink back, we recognize, Father, that you are the reason.

So, God, we pray that you will give us the courage that we need, the strength that we need to not shrink back.

Help us this morning to see you.

Jesus, it's in your name that we pray.

Amen.

So again, the question is, how was Paul bold in his witness?

And then we looked at the line.

He said, He, I will not shrink back.

And and twice he said this, the first time he said it was in verse 20.

He said, How I did not shrink back.

And what he is saying here is, I have faced trials, I faced challenges, I've faced things that have come my way, yet in all of those things I did not shrink back.

And he really tells us two ways in which he did not shrink back, what he did not shrink back from.

First of all, he did not shrink back from serving the Lord.

He says it right there, I served the Lord.

And then he tells us how he served the Lord.

He says, I serve the Lord first with humility.

Humility.

Now, let's try to gain a picture of what Paul is talking about when he says humility here.

Three times Paul made pretty big statements on being humble and finding humility.

And he wasn't saying he was being humble, but he wrote things that showed us that about himself.

In 1 Corinthians chapter 15, verse 9, he says, I am the least of the apostles.

1 Corinthians 15:9

He says, He is the least of those who had seen God.

And when we hear apostles, we think of the 12 and plus Paul.

And so those who have spent time with the Lord Jesus, he says, I am the least of the apostles.

Then in Ephesians chapter 3, verse 8, he says that he is the very least of all the saints.

Ephesians 3:8

The very least, not just of the apostles here, but of all the saints, of all believers.

Paul says he is the very least of those.

And then in 1 Timothy chapter 1, verse 15, he says that he is the foremost.

1 Timothy 1:15

The foremost of all sinners.

Not just apostles, not just the least of the apostles, not just the very least of believers, he is the foremost of all sinners.

And what's interesting is we see this progression in Paul's life, see what's happening.

When Paul wrote 1 Corinthians, he wrote that letter to the church at Corinth around 55 A.D.

Around 55 A.D., he writes this letter to Corinth, telling them he is the least of all the apostles, and he's doing something there.

They are denying his apostleship, so he is writing about his apostleship, but he says, hey, but of them I am the least.

But then later, when he writes to the church at Ephesus, he writes this in about 61.

So there's about six years here in between the time that he wrote 1 Corinthians and he writes Ephesians, and what we know from Paul that he has grown in his relationship with God.

So understand the progression here.

As Paul grew closer to God in his relationship, he recognized he was worse.

I'm the least of the apostles.

And later, as he grows in his relationship with God, not only is he the least of the apostles, he is the very least of all believers.

And then when he writes 1 Timothy, he is near the end of his life.

Probably wrote it around 63.

He's grown even closer to God in his relationship and is facing his death.

And now he says, not only is he the least of the apostles or the very least of all believers, he is the foremost of all sinners.

Of all people.

What we see happening in Paul's life is the closer he grew to God, the more he recognized he needed God.

Listen, true humility comes when we draw closer to God and we grow in our relationship with God, we recognize that we need God more and more.

It's not that we become closer to God and I become stronger in my faith.

It's that I grow grow closer to God and I recognize that I need Him more than ever.

And as Paul is serving the Lord and not shrinking back.

He's saying, look at God in my life, and look how God, how I depend upon God, and it is only by God, and when we recognize that the only good in us comes from the Father above.

The only good in us comes from there.

It is in those places where we gain courage to not shrink back because we're not relying upon me, and you're not relying upon ourselves, but we are reliant upon God.

He served God with humility, so he did not shrink back.

He also served God with tears.

He says it right there, I serve with tears, and with trials that happened to me through the plots of the Jews.

We know that he faced trials from Jews and they tried to attack him and plot against him.

We've seen that in the book of Acts.

But but but Paul didn't just cry over the trials.

We find Paul in Romans chapter 9, verses 2 and 3.

Romans 9:2

We find him in tears praying over his lost brothers.

Listen to what he says in Romans 9, verses 2 and 3.

Romans 9:2

That I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.

For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen, according to the flesh.

Paul is saying here is he is weeping, he is in anguish over those around him who are lost and dying and going to hell with tears.

He serves in anguish over those who are going, who are separated from the Father.

Not only that, we see him crying in 2 Corinthians.

We see him in tears, not over just the loss, but we see him in tears over believers who have lost their way.

We talked about this a few weeks ago in 2 Corinthians.

What happens sometime between 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians is when Paul wrote this, and when he left Corinth, someone came in behind him and they began to question Paul's apostleship and they began to sow these false narratives and these false truths among the people, and people began to believe those.

So Paul went back to try to clarify things, and they they rejected him.

And so what he what we find in 2 Corinthians, in 2 Corinthians chapter 2, verse 4, he wrote another letter to them.

2 Corinthians 2:4

And here's what he says in this letter for I wrote to you out of much affliction and anguish of heart with many tears, not to cause you pain, but to let you know the abundant love that I have for you.

With tears.

Paul wrote to believers who had lost their way, he were believing a false truth, and he wrote to them in tears and in anguish, so that they could understand his love for them and be drawn back to the Father.

He served the Lord with humility and with tears, and he did not shrink back.

Not only did do we see him not shrinking back from serving the Lord, but we also see him not shrinking back from declaring repentance and faith.

He says in verse 21, testifying both to Jews and Greeks of repentance towards God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.

He is declaring faith and repentance to those who do not believe.

And he says, I've done it everywhere to anyone who would listen.

Remember from Acts.

Where was the first place he would go when he entered any city and he did it in Ephesus?

He went to the synagogue first and proclaimed to the Jews the message of the scripture that Jesus was the Messiah.

And then when they rejected him and kicked him out, we see him going to the hall of Tyrannis.

Every day, it says, and he would proclaim the gospel, the truth, the faith and repentance.

Faith and repentance.

Repentance turning away from our sins and faith turning towards God for salvation.

He proclaimed that every day, wherever.

Kind of reminds me of several years ago, Southern Mississippi University, Mississippi, University of Southern Mississippi football team, they had a slogan.

Anyone, anywhere, anytime.

And believe it or not, at some point, their football program used to be really good.

And they would, they, they were challenged, they played between the hedges at Georgia.

They played in Birmingham, they played Alabama.

When I was a VSU intern when I was there, we went to Pennsylvania and saw them play Penn State.

Anyone, anywhere, anytime, and I know you SEC fans are saying big whoop, Grant, we play them every week.

Okay, I get it.

Hate to admit, though, that our funding and things are not quite to that level.

So when we are willing to play anyone, anywhere, anytime, it's a big deal.

Anyone who would listen, he never shrinked back from declaring the message of salvation.

That Jesus came, that he lived, that he died, that he arose.

And salvation comes when we when we repent of our sins and place our faith in him.

He never shrinked back.

The second way that we see him saying he would not shrink back, he's saying, basically he's saying, I will not shrink back.

He says it in verse 27.

I know it says, For I did not shrink back from declaring to you the whole counsel of God, but see what he's saying.

Paul is headed to Jerusalem.

He is on his way there.

And basically he says, I am going to finish the ministry given to me.

In verse 24, he says, I do not count my life of any value, nor is precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.

He is going to finish his ministry.

But here's what he's facing, and he knows this from the Holy Spirit.

He says, I'm going to Jerusalem, constrained by the Holy Spirit.

And what the Holy Spirit has revealed to him, that when he gets there, he's going to face imprisonment, he's going to face persecution.

He's going, this Holy Spirit is telling him, you're going to go here and you're going to face these challenges.

And Paul is saying, I'm going to Jerusalem and I will not shrink back.

I'm going to Jerusalem to face these things.

And I will not shrink back.

He says he is going to testify to the gospel of grace in uncertainty, facing death, and he says, with a clear conscience, he's going to do that.

That's why he says in verse 24, therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all.

Here's how he's able to say that.

He doesn't have to worry with a clear conscience.

He has spread the gospel and he has testified to the gospel of grace.

He says, I am going and I will not shrink back.

I will declare the whole council of God.

Church.

He was already honored from fighting in the Pacific.

He had already received a medal of honor from fighting on the front lines and basically winning a battle almost single-handedly.

And he was brought home and put on war bond duty.

So he went around selling war bonds as part of active duty because he had almost died already in the service.

But he was not satisfied.

He continued to ask, Can I go back?

I want to go back.

I want to go back.

And in 1945, they sent him back.

That day he stepped off the boat and his boots hit the sand in Iwo Jima.

It was an uphill battle.

But John never shrank back.

It felt like almost immediately casualties were piling up and things were going wrong and nothing was going their way.

But John kept moving forward and kept moving forward and kept going.

And that day, John lost.

His life because the mission mattered more than his personal safety.

What if we, church?

What if we the ministry and the mission that we've been given to be witnesses to the kingdom of God mattered more than our personal comforts?

What if it mattered more than our personal safety?

And we pressed forward, what would it look like?

Paul said, I will not shrink back.

Finally, this morning, he then begins to address specifically those leaders.

And really his encouragement was them is, I did not shrink back, I will not shrink back.

You better not shrink back.

Here's what he tells them.

First, he tells them to pay attention.

And he tells them to pay attention to a couple things.

First of all, he says, pay attention to yourselves.

Listen, and again, he's talking to the leaders here.

So let me preach to myself.

Listen, I better pay attention to myself.

I better pay attention to the walk that I have with Christ.

I better pay attention and know that I am leaning upon Jesus Christ.

I better be relying upon him and not being become relying upon any of my abilities because we all know they are needle.

I better become reliant upon him and I better stay reliant upon him.

I better stay in his word and I better stay on my knees.

But listen, you who are called to be witnesses to the kingdom of God.

If you are going to be witnesses of the kingdom of God, the same is true for you.

You better pay attention to yourself as well.

You better make sure you're on your knees.

You better make sure you are in the word.

You better make sure you are dependent upon him.

He says, pay attention to yourself.

Then he says, This pay attention to the flock and to the care of the church.

We talked about this last week of how God has given us such a great gift in each other and in the church.

And listen, we better pay attention to each other and we better care for each other.

And we better pay attention to the care of one another, to lift each other up, to hold each other accountable, to make sure that we're doing that.

But we need to do that in a way of care, in a way of comfort, not in a way of deceitfulness or in it.

We better make sure that we are looking out for one another, taking care of one another.

Pay attention to the flock.

Pay attention to the care of the flock.

And then he tells us what to pay attention for.

He says, pay attention for wolves.

Hear what he says right there.

For I know that after my departure, fierce wolves will come up among you, not sparing the flocks.

From among and from among your own selves will arise.

Here they are.

Men speaking twisted things to draw away the disciples after them.

Those speaking twisted things to draw away the disciples are wolves.

And he says, pay attention, because they're coming.

And he says, Wolves are going to come from the outside that we are fully cognizant of.

As a shepherd, we're going to be looking and paying attention to those wolves.

But here's what he said the sad reality of it is, people will rise up among yourselves.

That's what he said, from within the flock, who are speaking twisted things, trying to draw the disciples away.

He's seen it already.

We've talked about it in Corinth.

So they will come and they will try to draw away the disciples.

And he says, pay attention for those wolves, so we can protect the flock.

Don't shrink back.

Pay attention.

Then he says, pay attention.

All right, then he says, don't shrink back and be alert.

Now this sounds the same, but it's really coming from two angles.

What he's telling us is pay attention by being alert.

And here's what we're being alert to.

We're being alert to his, or we are remembering what he says, the admonishment.

He says, for three years he stood in tears, admonishing them.

Sometimes that means he's just proclaiming the gospel to them, but sometimes he's saying he's calling them out on things.

Remember those things that I've taught you.

Remember the things that God has given you.

Remember those things so that you can be alert and pay attention and know what's false.

Remember the teaching.

He says, I am committing you to God.

He's about to leave.

He's leaving them, and he tells them, You're not ever going to see me again.

So he says, because I'm not going to be there, I am committing you to the only one that I know that can do anything, and that's God.

Church, we need to be committed there.

We need to commit our body to God.

Then he says, we need to not shrink back from helping one another.

He talks about how you yourselves know that these hands minister to my necessities and to those who were with me.

And all things I've shown you that by working hard in this way, we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.

Church, we can't shrink back from helping each other.

We can't shrink back from helping.

So what are we to do with this?

The challenge for that, with what we see in Paul is he did not shrink back.

He served the Lord with humility and with tears, and he declared faith and repentance.

He proclaims that he will not shrink back when trial he faces trials and life surrounds him, and all these trials and imprisonments and death face him, he will not shrink back.

Then he warns, he warns those in Ephesus not to shrink back, to pay attention to what is coming.

So what do we do with this?

One, I think we do what they did.

In verse 36, it says, When he said all these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all.

And there was much weeping on the part of all.

And they embraced Paul and kissed him, being sorrowful most of all, of the word that he had spoken that they would not see his face again.

Hear me, church.

If we are not on our knees, and we are not in his word and becoming reliant upon him, we're going to shrink back.

May we not.

Verse 39.

The author of Hebrews says this But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.

May that be us.

Those who rely upon God completely.

And because of our faith and repentance that we have placed in God, in Christ, we will be preserved until the end to not shrink back.

We're going to enter into a time of invitation.

If you've never trusted in Christ, with faith and repentance, we are asking you, we're inviting you to come now.

If you have, the challenge is simple.

Be bold witnesses of the kingdom of God.

Don't shrink back.

If you have, maybe this morning you need to repent and cry out to Him.

Maybe you want to come and kneel at these steps.

However, God is leading you, move.

If you're looking for a church home, so together we can stand together and not shrink back together, that we can care for one another together.

We can pay attention for wolves together and we can do this together as a gift.

We invite you to come.

However, God is leading you, as we stand and sing, we invite you to come.

Let's pray together.

God, you are good and we love you.

I thank you for today, and I thank you for how you love us.

I thank you for all that you've given us.

I thank you for the word today that you have given us.

Help us to not shrink back.

Help us to be bold witnesses of the kingdom of God, completely reliant upon you, knowing that there is nothing good in us aside from you.

God move in us.

However, you are calling us today, give us the faith that we need to respond.

Jesus, it's in your wonderful name that we pray.

Amen.

Thanks for listening to this week's sermon.

If you have any questions for our pastor, feel free to reach out at DeSoto Hills.com.