SUNDAY - MAY 10, 2026 "The Great Adventure" Acts 20:1-6

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Have your Bibles this morning.

We're going to be in Acts chapter 20.

Acts 20 · chapter mention

Acts chapter 20, as I was preparing for this message, I kept thinking of a song recorded by Stephen Curtis Chapman back in the 1900s, everybody.

Acts 20 · chapter mention

Back in the 1990s.

It was a song called The Great Adventure.

And the chorus of the song went kind of like this Saddle up your horses.

We've got a trail to blaze through the wild blue yonder of God's amazing grace.

Let's follow our leader into the glorious unknown.

This is a life like no other.

This is the great adventure.

As we look at Paul's life and look at what Paul's going on, we recognize that he is in a great adventure.

Today, even as we see where he is and in his journey, he is, we've seen him on his first missionary journey.

We've seen him on his second missionary journey.

And now he is on his third journey, and he has set his eyes towards Rome.

We even saw two weeks ago in Acts chapter 19, verse 21, he said, Now after these events, Paul resolved in the Spirit to pass through Macedonia and Achaia and go to Jerusalem, saying, After I have been there, I must see Rome.

Acts 19:21

So he is on his way to Rome in this great adventure.

And mothers, let me tell you, you understand a great adventure.

At least I think about my poor mom, and she must have understood a great adventure because she raised my brother and myself.

Some of you know this, I've told some of you this, but when I was, when we were growing up, my dad was a coach and a school teacher, so our summer vacation was typically going to coaches clinic in Jackson, Mississippi.

Yeah.

That was vacation.

But my mom, bless her heart, she would always try to do things with us.

At least one thing educational.

Like one year we went to the governor's mansion and toured it.

One year we wound up on in the Capitol and we wound up on the floor of the House of Representatives, and I found a chair that I just plopped down in that chair and propped my feet up on the desk in front of me, and the representative at the time whose chair I sat in, his name was Dick Hall, and I just leaned back in that chair and I said, I am Dick Hall.

Just laid back there.

It must have been a great adventure.

And then we also, and when we would go to Jackson, one thing because it was towards school starting back, so we would do some back-to-school shopping at the malls there.

So we would go to the metro mall, and she always had a hard time finding.

Well, she didn't have a hard time finding us.

She had a hard time keeping Clay and I focused on shopping because the Metro Mall had a glass elevator.

Country had come to town.

All we want to do was ride up and down the elevator, making faces at people.

It must have been a great adventure.

Listen, in our lives as we go, while we're today in our passage, we're going to see Paul.

He began his trip to Rome through Macedonia and Greece and Troaz and Jerusalem.

He's going to go to all those places before.

And while we may not be on a missionary journey like Paul is here, I want us to recognize, though, that God has given us a great adventure to live.

He has given us a life to live that is a great adventure before us.

And as we live in this great adventure, we can be witnesses to the kingdom of God.

Actually, I believe that is our challenge today.

To be witnesses to the kingdom of God.

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

Acts 20 · chapter mention

I'm going to start reading in verse 1 and read down through verse 6.

After the uproar ceased, Paul sent for the disciples, and after encouraging them, he said farewell and departed for Macedonia.

And when he had gone through those regions and had given them much encouragement, he came to Greece.

There he spent three months, and when a plot was made against him by the Jews, as he was about to set sail for Syria, he decided to return through Macedonia.

So Pater the Berean, son of Pyrrhus, accompanied him, and of the Thessalonians Aristicus and Secundus, and Gaius of Derby and Timothy, and the Asians Ticacus and Trophimus.

These went on ahead and were waiting for us at Troaz, but we sailed away from Philippi after the days of unleavened bread.

And in five days we came to them at Troaz, where we stayed for seven days.

Let's pray together.

Father God, we thank you for your word.

And you we thank you for this adventure that you have given us to live.

The adventure of life.

And we pray that now as we see Paul on his adventure, Father, that you will teach us through your word and help us to live in this great adventure.

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

Amen.

You may be seated.

Now remember, Paul is traveling.

His route to Rome is not a straight route.

If you can kind of imagine a map of the world up here, you have the Aegean Sea over here and the Mediterranean Sea down here.

Paul is in Ephesus right here.

And he wants to go to Rome over here.

But what he's going to do to get there is he's going to go to Macedonia and Achaia.

And then we're going to find out later who's going to come back to Greece and go back to Macedonia.

And then he's going to set sail and he's going to come over here to Jerusalem.

And then after Jerusalem, he's going to start making his way to Rome.

Traveling with Paul on this thing must have been a lot like traveling with my dad.

One summer I remember we went, we did, besides Jack going to Jackson, we went to Hot Springs, Arkansas.

And I remember driving to Hot Springs and we were going up the road and we went through Ravenden, Arkansas.

And in Ravenden, we saw a sign that said Ravenden Springs this way.

And my dad, out of nowhere, said, You know what?

My college roommate was from Ravendon Springs.

I wonder if he still lives there.

Hadn't seen him in 30 years, didn't have cell phones, hadn't talked to him in probably 30 years or more.

So you know what we did?

We took a right and went to Ravenden Springs and found a gas station, and he went in and said, Do you know so?

Asked him if they knew his roommate, if he still lived there.

I just, out of the blue, it's kind of like traveling with Paul.

Hey, let's just go here.

Oh, oh, oh.

But as they travel and make their way to Rome here, what we're going to see some very pointed things that Paul did.

The question that we're seeking to answer today, though, is how was Paul a witness in the kingdom of God?

He's on this great adventure that God has given him, and in that, how was he a witness of the kingdom of God?

And hopefully what we can see in that is ways that we can be witnesses of the kingdom of God.

It's not limited to this, to these ways by any stretch of the imagination.

And we're not limited to this, but here are some things that Paul did that bore witness to the kingdom of God.

First, what we see Paul doing was he encouraged the disciples around him.

He encouraged the disciples around him.

See in verse 1, here's what's happening.

Remember back two weeks ago when we were in chapter 19, there was a guy named Demetrius who was an idol maker.

He was a worker of silver and made idols.

And what happened in chapter 19 is he caused a riot there in Ephesus.

He caused a riot to break out because he was concerned from Paul's preaching and from believers believing that there is only one true God that it would affect his pocketbook.

He wouldn't be able to sell as many idols.

And so he caused this great disturbance against Paul and those who believed so much that they are rioted.

So now when we come to chapter 20, the riot has calmed, it has settled down, and Paul is about to leave.

But before he tells them by, he stops and encourages them.

We see it right there in verse 1 when he says, and after encouraging them, he said farewell and departed for Macedonia.

He gave them words of encouragement.

This is a big deal.

I remember, I'm going to use my mom for some illustrations today because it's Mother's Day.

I remember move-in day when I went to college at Mississippi College.

I was rooming with my brother, and he was in the car ahead of us.

He and I were sharing a car, and so he was ahead of us, and mom, dad had football practice, and so he couldn't go.

So mom was driving the truck, or I was driving the truck, mom was riding with me behind us.

We had the truck loaded down, and then she was going to come back, and it was a let me tell you, it was a somber drive.

Her baby was leaving.

Don't tell Mandy and Clay this.

Not only her baby, but her favorite child was moving out, going to college.

And as we drove down, drove down that the Natchez Trace.

She spoke over me and told me how proud she was of me.

She told me, she encouraged me to continue on the path.

God had called me into the ministry, and she encouraged me to continue in my walk, to stay strong in my walk with God, to continue to follow Him and encourage me that God was going to use me and you throughout my life.

Through some, maybe not dark, how about this?

Through some hard times in my life, through some questioning moments of my life.

We need words of encouragement.

You know, the old saying, sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me.

You know, honestly, words can hurt us, but words can also heal us.

May we, church, may we be people who bear witness to the kingdom of God by speaking healing words, not hurting words.

May we speak words that give life.

May we speak words that bring encouragement, not words that tear apart.

Paul encouraged the disciples in his words.

Not only that, though, we see Paul encouraging the words in his actions.

We've seen that Paul wants to go to Rome, but he's first got to go to Jerusalem.

And he he tells us when he wrote his letter to the church at Rome, preparing them for its coming, why he's not coming straight to Rome.

In Romans chapter 15, verse 24, he says, This I hope to see you in passing as I go to Spain and to be helped on my journey there by you, once I have enjoyed your company for a while.

Romans 15:24

At present, however, I am going to Jerusalem, bringing aid to the saints.

For Macedonia and Achaea have been pleased to make some contribution for the poor among the saints at Jerusalem, for they were pleased to do it, and indeed they owe it to them.

For if the Gentiles have come to share in their spiritual blessings, they ought also be of service to them in material blessings.

When therefore I have completed this and have delivered to them what has been collected, I will leave for Spain by way of you.

Paul is ultimately wanting to go to Spain, but he wants to go to Spain through Rome.

He wants to see them there.

But first he says, I need to go to Jerusalem.

And here's why he's going to Jerusalem.

The believers in Macedonia and Achaia had taken up a collection for the church in Jerusalem.

You say, why does that need to happen?

Well, a couple of reasons.

One, in Jerusalem, there is a severe famine taking place.

So the whole city is really struggling from this famine.

Not only that, on top of that, the believers in Jerusalem are undergoing severe persecution.

They need help.

The churches in Macedonia and the churches of Achaia recognize this, probably because Paul came and encouraged them and helped them see that.

And so what they did is they took this collection up because believers are believers, whether you're Jew or Gentile, believers are believers, and we need to help each other out.

So they took this collection and Paul said, It is of utmost importance that I take this first to Jerusalem and then come to see you.

Paul encouraged by words, but he also encouraged by actions.

Let me help you.

We see this again, and let me give you another illustration from my mom.

After we had all moved out and gone to college, we might have even been out of college at this point.

Um there was a family in Troy that was just going through a hard time.

Just financially, you know, the ends weren't meeting the end of the month.

They had some small kids, and they were just just you, you know, you know, they're just in a difficult time.

So mom went to her Sunday school class, talked to the ladies in her Sunday school class, and they took up a collection for this family.

Then mom, she was getting ready to take it to this family, and she recognized, she realized that the mom and dad in this family both worked.

They were both trying to make things happen, and they both worked.

And so here's what here's what she did.

She didn't just take this collection to the family.

Here's what she said, listen, let me take the children to Walmart and help them buy some things that they need.

Listen, encouragement does come in words, and may we speak again, may we speak words of healing, not hurting.

But may we also encourage in our actions and the things that we do to help people.

Paul, we see him being a witness to the kingdom of God as he encouraged the disciples through words and actions.

The second thing we see Paul doing here is he reconciled broken relationships.

Say, Grant, there's nothing in this passage about a broken relationship.

Let me see if I can point it out to you.

At the end of verse 2, it tells us that he came to Greece.

And then in verse 3 it says, there he spent three months.

Now, while I told you that it seems like to travel with Paul be like traveling with my dad, he just gets a wild hair and goes here.

That's not why he wound up in Greece.

Here's what happens.

If you read Paul's letter to his second letter to Corinth that we have in Scripture, 2 Corinthians chapter 1 through chapter 7 really kind of explain to us what is happening at the beginning of Acts chapter 20.

2 Corinthians 1 · chapter mention Acts 20 · chapter mention

And what seems to have taken place is after Paul left Corinth, some people came in Corinth following him, stirring up dissent against Paul.

They began to cause the people to question Paul's apostleship, to question the message that he proclaimed to him, to question what he even said so much that they really began to turn their backs on Paul to the point that Paul, in other places, we find that Paul tried to visit them, but it was so harsh that he quickly left.

And what we find is he wrote, then wrote them a letter.

Now, the letter that he wrote them, we have two letters that he wrote to the church at Corinth.

The letter that I'm referencing here, we don't have.

But he makes reference to it in 2 Corinthians chapter 2, verses 1 through 4.

2 Corinthians 2:1–4

Here's what he says For I made up my mind not to make another painful visit to you.

For if I cause you pain, who is there to make me glad but the one whom I have pained?

And I wrote as I did, so that when I came I might not suffer from those who should have made me rejoice.

For I felt sure of all of you that my joy would be the joy of you all.

Look at verse 4.

For I wrote to you out of much affliction and anguish of heart, and with many tears, not to cause you pain, but to let you know the abundant love that I have for you.

Paul wrote a painful letter because that as he wrote it, he he wept over the letter.

His heart ached over the letter.

And he says, I'm writing this letter not to grieve you and not to cause you harm, but I'm writing this letter so you can know that I love you.

And then he sent this letter by Titus.

Titus left them at Ephesus and he traveled with traveled to Corinth to deliver this letter.

And Paul, seems like Paul waited at Ephesus for a little while for Titus, but he didn't return, so they traveled to Troas and he was hoping Titus would meet them there, but Titus never showed, so they wound up back in Macedonia, probably in Philippi.

And in Philippi, Titus comes and he brings news from Corinth and what is happening.

And we see that news in 2 Corinthians chapter 7, verses 5 through 9.

2 Corinthians 7:5–9

Paul says this for even when we came into Macedonia, our bodies had no rest, but we were afflicted at every turn, fighting without and fear within.

But God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus.

Came back, he brought this letter.

Verse 7, and not only by his coming, but also by the comfort with which he was comforted by you, as he told us of your longing, your mourning, your zeal for me, so that I rejoiced still more.

For even if I made you grieve with my letter, I do not regret it, though I did regret it, for I see that that letter grieved you, though only for a while, as it is, I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting, for you felt a godly grief, so that you suffered no loss through us.

Here's what he says when Titus came and brought us news of how he came to the Titus took this letter to them, and they were grieved in the spirit to the point that they repented.

Well, this is not just a, hey, I feel sorry.

What they felt was what Scripture calls a godly grief.

And what a godly grief does for us is it causes us to recognize our wrong and repent.

So here's what happened: Paul wrote this hard letter to the church, not to get on them, not to condemn them, but to tell them how much he loved them.

And when they read this letter, God worked in their life in such a way that they repented of their sins against Paul.

And not only that did they repent, but Paul forgave them, and so their relationship was reconciled.

They were brought back together.

Listen, and this is bearing witness to the kingdom of God.

And you say, Grant, how is reconciliation between two people showing us the kingdom of God?

Let me explain.

Jesus came to this earth because we needed reconciliation with our Creator, because we were sinners.

Our relationship with God had been broken.

And Jesus came and he lived on this earth and he died on the cross, taking upon himself my punishment that I deserve, that you deserve.

And then arising from the grave, defeating our sin, defeating death, so that those who believe in God can be reconciled in their relationship with God.

So now, believers, when we have a broken relationship and we seek reconciliation with one another and find reconciliation with one another, we are bearing witness to the very thing that God did for us through Jesus Christ.

We should seek reconciliation.

We should seek it.

Sometimes that means that we have to repent.

Because even though we don't like to admit it, sometimes we're in the wrong.

I've been there.

I've had to repent of it.

Ask me later.

I'll give you some examples.

Sometimes it means we have to repent.

Other times it means we have to forgive.

And sometimes that's as hard as repenting.

But to bear witness to the kingdom of God, we need to seek reconciliation.

We find Paul doing that here.

After Titus brought on the letter, then it's where we find in chapter 20 when he went to Greece, he went to Corinth and stayed for three months, restoring fellowship with them.

So we see Paul bearing witness to the kingdom of God by encouraging the disciples.

We see him bearing witness to the kingdom of God by reconciling broken relationships.

We also see this morning him bearing witness to the kingdom of God as he celebrated God's faithfulness.

As you come to verse 4 and 5 and 6, here's what happens: there's a group of men who are traveling with Paul, and he sends them on ahead of him from Philippi.

He sends them on ahead of them to Troaz, but he and Luke stayed in Philippi, it says, and celebrated the festival of unleavened bread.

This is Passover.

They waited and celebrated Passover.

You may recall what the celebration of Passover and what it is.

Passover was a celebration of, go all the way back to Exodus in the Old Testament when Israel was enslaved in Egypt and there were the ten plagues, and the final, the tenth plague that God sent to Egypt was the death of the firstborn.

And what God told Moses is to tell the children of Israel to take a lamb, a perfect lamb, a year old, without any fault, without any blemish, to slaughter that lamb, to take the blood of that lamb and wipe it on the doorpost of their house.

So that night, later that night, when the death angel came to take the firstborn, he would pass over the houses who had slaughtered the lamb and the blood was on their door.

Paul stayed in Philippi to celebrate Passover.

But Paul's celebration of Passover was a little bit different.

It was a little bit different.

We find in 1 Corinthians chapter 5, verses 7 and 8, how Paul celebrated Passover a little bit differently.

1 Corinthians 5:7

Here's what it says: Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened.

For Christ, our Passover lamb has been sacrificed.

Let us therefore celebrate the festival not with old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

Paul's celebration of the Passover was not just a celebration of the Passover angel passing over Israel and Egypt.

Paul's celebration of the Passover was a celebration that Jesus Christ was the ultimate Passover lamb who was slain for us, whose blood was poured out for us.

So now when God looks upon us, we have life.

We have Christ's holiness.

Jesus died to give us life.

He died to give us life.

And Paul is bearing witness to the kingdom of God by remembering Christ's sacrifice.

Listen, it is important for us.

It is important for us to remember God's faithfulness.

Just as it has been important for me this morning as I celebrate Mother's Day.

It does my heart good to think about my mom.

To think about how she has sacrificed for me.

To think about what she has done for me.

It is good for me to celebrate the mother of my children.

What she does for our family.

It is good for us to celebrate that on Mother's Day, but hear me.

It is more important that we celebrate Jesus Christ, our Passover Lamb.

And remember in the hard times, in the dark times of life, in the life of in the times of suffering and struggle and chaos, we remember that Jesus died to give us life.

And in the in the times of goodness and celebration, in the times of rejoicing, in the times, in the joyous times of life, it is good for us to celebrate the goodness of Christ.

If we are going to bear witness to the kingdom of God in good times and bad times, we need to celebrate what Christ did for us on the cross.

We're called to be witnesses to the kingdom of God.

Paul shows us three ways to encourage one another, to reconcile broken relationships by celebrating Christ and what he has done in our lives.

May we bear witness of Christ.

While you may be on an adventure, it is an adventure without purpose.

Christ died and arose so that we may have life and be on a great adventure with purpose, trusting him.

If you've never trusted him as your savior, if you've never accepted his death and resurrection for yourself, we pray that this morning, as we stand and sing in just a moment, that you will come forward.

If you have, if you've done that, maybe this morning you need to celebrate Christ, what he's done in your life.

Maybe you need to stop for just a moment and remember the goodness of God.

Maybe this morning there is a broken relationship in your life and you need to seek reconciliation.

Maybe this morning you recognize you need to be speaking words of encouragement.

Maybe you've been speaking words of hurt.

And you need to speak words of encouragement.

It could start by you coming and kneeling at these steps and repenting in godly grief, seeking repentance, and reconciling your relationship with God.

However, God is leading you this morning.

As we stand and sing, we invite you to come.

Let me pray for us.

God, you are good, and we thank you for today.

We thank you for the opportunity that you have given us now to respond to your word.

God, I pray that you will give us the faith that we need.

The faith that we need to respond to your call.

As you are moving, as you are working.

Help us.

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

Amen.

Stand with us this morning during this time of invitation.

If you have a decision to make, now is the time.

You did not despise the cross.

For even in your suffering, you saw to the other side, knowing this was our salvation.

Jesus, for our sake, you died.

Continue to worship this morning by taking up our offering.

If I can get our guys to come forward as I pray for us.

God, again, we thank you for today.

We thank you for the moment, this moment of the service that we have to give back to you.

God, we pray that in that you are honored, you are glorified.

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

Amen.

Thanks for listening to this week's sermon.

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