SUNDAY - MAY 17, 2026 "Be Comforted" Acts 20:7-16

We'll begin reading in verse 7 and read down through verse 16 in just a moment.

As you turn there, let me ask you, have you ever had a security blanket?

I mean, I'm sure we all remember Linus, right?

From Charlie Brown, the Peanuts cartoon.

He always had that security blanket that he took around with him.

The blanket, you never found him without it because it provided comfort for him, it provided confidence for him, security for him.

And, you know, whether you've actually had a security blanket or not, you probably recognize, hey, like, it's something in our lives that gives us a comfort.

You know, they they come, security blankets come in all shapes and sizes.

Honestly, the country of France built a security blanket.

After World War I, they built a wall that really basically covered the border between France and Germany.

From Switzerland to Luxembourg, they built a wall called the Maginot Line, and this wall was built to keep Germany out.

After World War II, they were concerned about a future invasion from Germany, so they built this wall, and behind this wall they found comfort, they found security, they found peace behind this line.

But you know what happened when World War II rolled around?

Because the wall only covered the border between Germany and Switzerland, what Germany and France, what Germany did is went through Belgium where there was no wall.

There was really very little defense, and Germany just marched right through Belgium, came right into France, and opposed them.

So often when we find security blankets or places that we find security, things that we built or things that we have come up with our own, that they really provide a false sense of security.

A false sense of comfort.

You know, and we we've all been there though where we felt like we need comfort.

Think about it.

A phone call in the middle of the night, results from a test from a doctor.

A veil of anxiety or depression that just that just won't seem to lift.

We've all had times in our lives where we needed to be comforted.

Now, I'm not saying we wanted to be comfortable, but we wanted to be comforted.

We wanted to find comfort.

This morning, I think what we're gonna find in this passage is when we try to feel, when we try to find comfort in things that we do to find comfort.

Listen, and we we look for comfort in a lot of things.

We look for comfort in distractions.

We look for comfort in entertainment.

We look for comfort in relationships a lot of times.

We look for comfort in all these things, and when we're trying to find comfort on ourselves, they all send to all simply seem to not meet up to what we need.

So the challenge for us today, what we're gonna find is where we need to seek comfort, is through trusting in comfort that will never go away, Jesus.

In the church in Troaz today, where we find ourselves in Acts chapter 20, this church is going through a hard time.

Acts 20 · chapter mention

The church is facing persecution.

Most churches in the Roman Empire, these new churches that Paul had started, were facing some kind of persecution in some form or another.

But not only that, what we're gonna find in this passage today is this church is going to suffer a death, a loss.

But in the midst of that, they are going to be comforted.

In Acts chapter 20, verse 12, after the death of a young man, here's what he says.

Acts 20:12

And they took the youth away alive.

Spoiler alert.

They took the youth away alive, and were not a little comforted.

They were not just a little comforted, they were greatly comforted.

So, what we want to see today is how we can find comfort, true comfort in the God that provided comfort to this church, to this family in Troaz, He is the same God in whom we can find comfort today as we seek and look for Him.

He is the same God.

So the question that we want to answer today is how did God comfort this church?

What did He do?

How did He provide comfort for them during this difficult time?

So if you're able, I invite you this morning to stand with me as we give honor to the reading of God's Word will be in Acts chapter 20, again, verses 7 through 16.

Acts 20 · chapter mention

On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the next day, and he prolonged his speech until midnight.

There were many lamps in the upper room where we were gathered, and a young man named Eudicus, 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.

But Paul went down and bent over him, and taking him in his arms, said, Do not be alarmed, for his life is in him.

And when Paul had gone up and broken bread and eaten, he conversed with them a long while until daybreak, and so departed.

And they and they took the youth away alive, and were not a little comforted.

But going ahead to the ship we set sail for Asos, intending to take Paul aboard there, for so he had arranged, intending himself to go by land, and when he met us at Asos, he took took him on board we took him on board and went to Mytilene, and sailing from there we came following day to Chios, and the next day we touched Samos, and day after that we went to Miletus, for Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus so that he might not have to spend time in Asia, for he was hastening to be at Jerusalem, if possible, on the day of Pentecost.

Let's pray together.

God, we thank you for your word, and we thank you for the opportunity to open your word and study it.

But God, we we pray more than anything that through your word you will reveal yourself to us.

You have revealed yourself to us.

So open our eyes so that we may see you.

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

Amen.

So again, the question is how did God comfort the church?

There's four things that I think we see here this morning.

First, I think we see God comforted the church through each other.

Through each other.

Look at what he says right there at the beginning in verse 7.

On the first day of the week when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them.

On the first day of the week when we were gathered together.

This first day of the week, this little phrase, many commentators will say this is this is really one of the earliest times that we find the church meeting on Sunday.

For a long time, it was believed that new believers, they would, they they continued to celebrate the Sabbath, but they would also recognize Sunday as an important day.

Why was Sunday an important day?

The resurrection.

Because of the resurrection, Sunday had become an important day.

And so over time, what they began to do was celebrate on Sunday because that was the day of resurrection.

So listen, for the early church, when they met together on the first day of the week, they were celebrating, you ready?

Easter every Sunday.

Every Sunday was Easter.

Every Sunday was the day that they celebrated that Jesus Christ had died on the cross and arose and came back to give them life and life eternal.

Let me ask you, what if?

What if we brought the excitement and celebration and awe and passion of resurrection morning with us every Sunday?

What if every Sunday we recognized, hey, this is the day, this is the day.

Christ arose and he arose on Sunday, and so we are going to join together and celebrate as the church, as the body of Christ.

And listen, I know, I know the question is still, how did God comfort the church?

He comforted them through each other because they came together and celebrated that Jesus Christ arose from the grave, defeating death, defeating sin, anything that could challenge us.

What have I to fear?

Nothing, because Jesus has won.

What if, what if on Sunday morning it became a day to celebrate and to be comforted with each other, to come together and find security in the resurrection?

Listen, I'm convinced that Sundays would look a lot different.

That Sundays wouldn't get up and go, I'm a little too tired this morning.

Sundays wouldn't be an afterthought.

Sundays wouldn't be a time to go, you know what?

I just I've been too busy, I'm not gonna do it.

Sundays would be a time to celebrate the resurrection.

And let me ask you this then.

What better way for the church in Troaz and for us to find comfort through difficult times than to recognize the victory of Christ over death?

Church, God has given us a great gift of each other.

He has given us the gift of each other so that through each other we can come together and celebrate and find security and comfort in the thing that will last, Jesus' resurrection.

May we come and celebrate.

Not only do we find them celebrating the resurrection, but it says that they met together and they broke bread.

Well, many believe what he's talking to and referring to here is the Lord's Supper.

We've talked about the Lord's Supper, I feel like a lot since January.

What the Lord's Supper is, the Lord's Supper is a time where we memorialize the death and burial of Christ and we anticipate his second coming.

In the Lord's Supper, we memorialize that Jesus, that God loved the world so much, yet because he is just, he had to deal with sin.

So because he, in the his way of dealing with sin, because he loved us so much, is he sent Jesus to live a perfect life, to die a horrible death on the cross, to be buried and to rise again on the third day.

And through the Lord's Supper, we memorialized that death and resurrection and anticipate because of the resurrection his return.

The church came together and celebrated this together.

And how better to find comfort knowing that Christ has won.

In the first century, listen, the church, the church meeting together was a big deal.

We see them meeting here and encouraging each other on Sunday because they were celebrating the resurrection.

We see them celebrating the Lord's Supper because they were here and they were celebrating Jesus' death and resurrection.

But we also see in them meeting, they met regularly.

Don't miss the little word right there in verse 7.

On the first day of the week, when we were gathered.

When?

Don't miss it.

This gives us an indication of this.

The church didn't come together and meet because Paul was in town.

That's not what was happening here when we came together.

Here's what was happening.

The church was meeting together on Sunday.

Paul was in town and he joined them.

They were meeting together regularly.

They were coming together on the first day of each week to meet together, to encourage each other, to comfort each other, to help each other, to find security because God had given them a precious gift of each other.

We find the church doing this over in Hebrews.

In Hebrews chapter 10, verses 24 and 25.

Hebrews 10:24

The author of Hebrews wrote this, and let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another and all the more as the day is drawing near.

Listen, in this little part of scripture in Hebrews, here's what he's saying.

He is saying we have confidence to enter into the holy, holy places by the blood of Jesus because he is our high priest.

And because Christ is our high priest, he says in verse 22 that we should draw near to God.

We should hold fast our confession of faith.

And we should stir each other up to love and good works.

How do we do that?

By not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some.

Not neglecting to meet together.

They encouraged each other, they came together, and he says, all the more as the day is drawing near.

Hear me.

If the day was drawing near when the author wrote Hebrews, the day is drawing near in 2026.

Meeting together, church.

Coming together.

God has given us the gift of each other to comfort each other and to encourage each other.

And may we not take that for granted.

May we not take that lightly.

May we come together.

And listen, I've heard every excuse.

I've heard them.

I promise you.

Listen, I know the church is full of hypocrites.

Thank goodness, because I wouldn't be here if it wasn't.

Amen.

Me too.

The church is full of people who say one thing and do the other thing.

Amen.

Because I wouldn't be here if it wasn't.

I know we are.

I know we're not a perfect place.

I know we're not perfect people, but we, God has given us each other to stir each other up, to love, and to good works.

May we not neglect to meet together regularly, weekly.

May we do that.

God has provided a way for us to find comfort, and it is through each other.

Let us encourage each other.

Secondly, another way that God has provided comfort for them is through Paul's teaching.

He tells us right there, he says in verse 7, we haven't even got out of verse 7.

It says, on the first day of the week when we were together to break bread, Paul talked with them.

Paul talked with them.

Over in verse 11, we find it again.

And when Paul had gone up and broken bread and eaten, he conversed with them a long while until daybreak.

Can you imagine that?

Hey, tonight we have a business meeting, and here's what we're going to do.

We're going to worship, and then I'm going to preach until sunrise tomorrow.

How many of you are in?

I mean, that's where we find Paul.

Now, I know it doesn't explicitly tell us here what Paul said and what he was teaching.

But we've seen Paul throughout Acts, right?

We've seen what he has done.

We also have other letters of Paul that, the letters of Paul that he wrote, especially to Timothy.

In 1 Timothy chapter 4, verse 13, here's what Paul wrote to Timothy.

1 Timothy 4:13

He says, this, until I come, devote yourselves to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, and to teaching.

Paul is giving advice to a young minister, and here's what he says: devote yourselves.

Not when you get a chance, if you feel like it, every once in a while.

Devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, and to teaching.

Devote yourselves to it.

Why?

Because Scripture is how God has revealed Himself to us.

He tells Timothy over in 2 Timothy chapter 3, verses 16 and 17, what scripture is and why we should devote ourselves to it.

2 Timothy 3:16

He says this in verse 16 of 2 Timothy 3, all Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training and righteousness that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

We should devote ourselves to the teaching of Scripture, to knowing Scripture, to the study of Scripture, because here's we find comfort in that.

Here's how we find comfort through Scripture.

Are you ready?

Wouldn't it be comforting to know the way that we become complete and equipped for every good work is through studying the Word of God.

You want to be a complete Christian?

You need to get in the Word of God.

You want to be equipped for every good work, get in the Word of God.

Grant, I'm not equipped, I'm not complete.

Here, here's some comfort for you.

Here's how you do it.

Get in to the Word of God.

The church can, God provided teaching from Paul and teaching about Scripture for them so that they could be comforted.

Church, we should be comforted through the Word of God.

God comforted the church through his power.

Let's not just miss over what's happening here.

Yeah, Prawl preached for a long time.

Dim room.

It's probably not probably, it's during the night, during the evening.

Probably been working all day.

Oil lamps going.

Have you ever sat in a room with oil lamps?

They give off a little odor.

I don't know if you know that.

Can you imagine being in there and not falling asleep?

This kid, Eudychus.

He goes to the window to try to keep himself awake.

And it tells us that he is not trying to go to sleep, but it happens.

Kind of reminds me of years ago we were, it was Disciple Now weekend, and I was preaching, and this all the students were sitting right over here on that Sunday morning.

And before we built this preaching platform that we have here, I don't know if some of you remember it, but Brother James and I, we would come down here.

And I was right down here one Sunday morning, and the students were sitting right here, and one of the leaders blessed their hearts.

I'm not naming any names or anything like that, but they were sitting right here.

And if you've never been a host home for a D now, let me tell you, you don't sleep.

So I was standing here preaching, and I got real excited, and I did one of these.

He almost fell out of his chair.

He had fallen asleep.

No judgment to him, like Eudicus.

I don't think he was trying to.

But it fell out of the window three stories.

Hit the ground and he was dead.

You know, that stopped the service.

That's a service stopper.

People ran down to check on him.

Paul comes down and bends down over him.

We've seen this happen before.

People be resurrected similar to this in 1 Kings.

You remember the story of Elijah in 1 Kings?

Elijah goes to the widow at Zarephath and she's running out of food, and he says, Make me some bread and give me some water.

And she said, I only have enough for me and my son to eat one meal, and then we're going to die.

And he said, Make me a cake first.

And so she did.

And then what happened miraculously?

Flour kept coming into her jar and they continued to eat.

But then after that, the son, the widow's son, passed away, and she goes to Elijah, and he goes into his room and he lays down on the child three times and he's resurrected.

Elijah's protege, Elisha, in 2 Kings.

In 2 Kings, Elisha, he raises a young boy by laying down on him twice.

And listen, I'm not telling you this to say, here's the pattern when somebody's dead and you want to raise them from the dead, go lay down on them.

God doesn't really work that way.

Not telling you he's given us a pattern to do that.

But I am saying this.

God is a powerful God who does what he wants to when he wants to.

I'm telling you this.

God is the life giver.

And he gives life and takes life righteously.

Because he is the life giver.

And here in this passage, he gives this young man, he restores his life, and the family walks away amazed, not a little comforted.

So what do we do with this?

Do miracles like this happen today?

Is God raising people from the dead?

I feel like we've talked about this a lot lately too.

And I've told you this, I'm not going to sit here and say that God's not going to resurrect somebody from the dead.

He's God, He's the life giver.

If He wants to, by God, He can do it.

But it seems to me that in the book of Acts, when miracles like this were done, what they were was a revelation of God.

He was revealing Himself, and the work that Christ had begun was continuing on through the church.

Miracles like this were a revelation of God.

But now that we have Scripture, God doesn't have to reveal Himself through miracles.

He has revealed Himself through this.

That's why it's important that we study this.

We need to be way more concerned with studying the Word of God than we are at looking for miracles.

Because let me ask you this.

What happens when you pray and you pray and you pray for a miracle?

Yet God doesn't heal.

What do we do with that?

Where does that take us?

Because if we are relying upon a miracle to reveal God and He doesn't heal, we're gonna be disappointed and we're not going to be comforted.

But if we are lying relying on God's revelation of himself through the Word of God and He doesn't heal, what we learn is this that God is in control.

He can do what He wants when He wants.

He has a plan.

I need to trust the plan.

It reminds me.

Several weeks ago, Hunter Smith, when he came and preached in view of a call.

Hunter's here, by the way.

He's upstairs with the students.

Hunter's our new student minister, if you didn't know that, if you're visiting with us, we have a new student minister.

Today's his first day.

He's here.

But a few weeks ago, when he was here in view of a call, he preached from Daniel on Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

You remember the story where Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, they were three Hebrew children who were taken into captivity, and they were come, and they were told to bow down in the presence of an idol, and they didn't do it.

So the king was going to throw them into a fiery furnace, and he told them to bow down, and he was giving them a second chance, and they didn't.

And in Daniel chapter 3, verses 16 and 17.

Daniel 3:16

Look, I didn't have it marked, but let me tell you basically what he says.

The king comes to them and says, Hey, just kneel, just just just do, just fall down.

And they said, Listen, we could, but we're not going to.

Because our God is able to save us.

He is powerful enough to save us.

But here's what they said, I love it.

But even if he doesn't, we're going to worship him.

When we depend on God's revelation of himself from here, and not dependent upon some miracle or something like that.

We understand that God has a greater plan and purpose than ours.

And we trust him.

God comforted the church through each other.

He comforted, comforted the church through Paul's teaching.

We find comfort through scripture.

He comforted and comforts us through his power.

And he comforts us by Paul's planning.

This last little section in chapter 20 from verses 13 down to verse 16, it kind of seems to be transitional.

Because it just tells us Paul went here and here and here and here and here and here.

And it tells us that he went to Miletus and he didn't want to go to Ephesus.

And you think, why didn't he want to go to Ephesus?

Was he mad at Ephesus?

Did he not like them?

What happened?

Well, wait till next week.

You got to come back because you're going to find out.

He wasn't mad at Ephesus.

He wasn't mad at Ephesus.

His concern, I believe, his concern is he didn't want to go to Ephesus because he was scared he would get there and wouldn't want to leave.

He was afraid that he would get there and people would hold him up and he couldn't get out.

So he didn't go to Ephesus because he had this plan that he wanted to be in Jerusalem, and we know that he was going to Jerusalem to take a monetary gift to that church that was facing persecution.

We know that's why he was going there.

And he wanted to get there by Pentecost, but there's a little phrase right there, don't miss it.

If possible.

If possible.

James talks about making plans in James chapter 4, verses 13 through 17.

James 4:13–17

He says this, come now, you who say, today or tomorrow, we will go into such and such, to such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make profit, yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring.

What is your life?

For you are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.

Instead, you ought to say, if the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.

As it is, you boast in your arrogance.

All such boasting is evil.

So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it for him, it is sin.

Listen, I understand planning.

I believe we should plan.

We should make our plans to follow God.

We should make our plans like Paul for good things, and we should plan.

But in the back of our mind, we always know this.

And church, I'm encouraging you to find comfort in this because I think the first century church found comfort in this.

God can always change the plan.

He can always change it.

And that is always an option when we make our plans, when we put our things out on the table, when we make our plans.

Listen, in just a few weeks this summer, the church staff, we're gonna sit down and we're gonna plan out from August through July of next year.

We're gonna sit down and make plans.

But when we do that, we've got to be open to God changing plans.

Believers, we should be open to God changing our plans and should find comfort in the fact that if our plan is not God honoring, he will change the plan.

We can trust him.

We can find comfort and security knowing that he is the bigger.

So the challenge for us this morning is to be comforted.

First, if you have never trusted in Christ as your Savior, that is the beginning and the source of the comfort.

God sent his son Jesus to live and die and arise so that we can have life and have it to the full, so that we can have eternal life, so that we can find rest and peace and comfort.

If you don't know Christ, in just a few moments, we're gonna stand and sing a hymn of invitation.

If you've never trusted in Christ, we invite you to come.

To come.

We have counselors who will take you out and share with you how you can know Christ.

If you have.

The challenge then is to be comforted.

Be comforted by trusting in God and recognizing the comforts that He has given us.

He has given us each other.

Church, let's be the church.

Maybe this morning you don't have a church home.

Come be the church with us.

Come let us stir you up to love and good works.

Come meet with us and join us.

Or if you are a member of church, hear me.

Let's stir each other up and encourage each other by meeting regularly and celebrating the resurrection every Sunday.

That's also giving us his word.

Let's get in there.

Let's study it.

He has given us his power to trust.

The question is: can you trust his power when it works not the way you want it to work?

And know that his power is still working.

Can you trust him in your plans?

I'm gonna pray for us.

We're gonna stand and sing a hymn of invitation.

However, God is leading you, if he's leading you to come and to unite with this church, if he's leading you to salvation, if he's leading you just to come and fall at these steps and be comforted by him, however, he's leading you.

I pray that you will move.

God, we thank you for today.

We thank you for how you love us and all that you have done for us.

We thank you that today we can celebrate your resurrection.

God, I pray for those who have never trusted in you that today they will recognize what the resurrection means for them.

They will place their faith in you.

God, for those of us who have, God, I pray that we will be comforted.

That we will find security and peace in you.

Give us the faith that we need to do what you want us to do today.

Jesus is in your name we pray.

Amen.