Click the "Sermons" button for access to hundreds more messages and
PowerPoint Presentations!
Use the controls, below, just like you would a VCR. Click the "Play"
arrow to begin. This page must remain open to continue listening. To browse the internet while you listen, open a new browser window by clicking on "File", then "New", then "Window".
Click here after starting sermon
audio to bring up PowerPoint slides and visual aides which go along with
the sermon. [A new window will open and remain blank until fully loaded.
It may take 1-5 minutes to open.] Once the first slide appears you can
follow along with the message and use the arrow keys to advance the slides.
Click here to vote for this sermon. [A new window will open.
Scroll to the bottom of the new page to enter your
vote. Then close the page to return to this page.]
If you appreciate this sermon ministry
then help spread the Word and recommend it to others by casting your vote.
Most of us wear more than 1 hat, and have a
side job, whether paid for it or not. Some people have a career, but have a
heart for other things. We cannot do it all. The Apostle Paul had the
skills and knowledge to be more than a tentmaker, and his other interests
helped make him the man of God that he was.
Inside the heart of
Paul we have found…
1. Faithfulness
2. Humility
3. Compassion
4. Courage
v. 18-19
Temptations = persecution
Paul was constantly persecuted by the
Jews, but he never backed up or backed down. Paul wanted to do God’s will,
which meant reaching out to those in regions beyond. He also knew God
wanted him to go to Jerusalem…but he also knew he would be in danger once
there. God had already warned Paul he was in for some bad things at
Jerusalem.
v. 22-23 Imagine I asked you to
make a visit on ministry night, and I explain a couple of things to be aware
of:
“When you pull into the driveway they will
probably throw rocks at your car, but get out of it quickly and they will
stop throwing at the car…but then they’ll likely throw rocks at you. Go
ahead and approach them. They will start beating on you with their fists or
other objects. Once you fall to the ground they will kick you, and tie you
up, maybe handcuff, you, and then haul you off to jail, claiming you have
committed crimes against them. Ready? Let’s go!”
How many of you think that you’d feel
“led” to make a different visit?
This is precisely what Paul is headed for,
and he knows it…he’s headed into the mouth of the lion. He knows about the
danger, has a promise he’ll be hurt, but he has courage and wants to do the
will of God.
Here’s part of God’s warning to Paul about
what lay ahead:
21:10-11 A prophet of God named
Agabus illustrates what will happen using Paul’s girdle [not the same as
today, of course…in Bible days it was a belt. When a man would go a great
distance he would tie up the sides of his robe around his waist w/ this
girdle]. Given these circumstances, a lesser man would not have gone thru
with it. So what happened?
v. 12-14 Paul did what he felt he
had to do, knowing he was walking into the face of danger. That is great
courage, and we need that in this world today. So let’s take a further look
inside the heart of Paul and see how he had this courage.
Paul
paints us 3 pictures in chapter 20. He gives us 3 illustrations. He
reveals 3 passions of his and we realize he wasn’t just a tentmaker, not
just a preacher, but had 3 other occupations
he always wanted to do.
“What do you wanna be when you grow up,
Paul?”
20:22-24
1. Paul, the
accountant
v. 24 “neither count I my life dear
unto myself”
This is an accounting term. It means to look
at the income and expenses, the assets and the liabilities. To examine the
ledger like a profit and loss statement, and count the cost.
Paul says, I put my life on one side of the
scale, and doing God’s work on the other side of the scale, and God’s work
is more important. He says, if I only live for myself, I’m in the red!
Ill.—back in the ‘50s five men decided they
would take the gospel to the Auca Indians in Ecuador, South America. One of
them was Jim Elliot, whose wife Elisabeth is a well known women’s speaker
today. Her husband, Jim, and 4 other men believed God wanted them to reach
this remote Auca tribe, known as the meanest savages on earth. They were a
brutal, murderous tribe. The men flew over their village, and found a beach
that ran alongside a river where they lived. They decided to fly low,
dropping gifts and food to the Indians. This they did for several days, and
the villagers would run out and retrieve the things dropped and disappear
back into the jungle. Then they decided to land on that beach and make
contact. The people came out of the jungle slowly to see these white men,
and at first it looked like they had made friends, but then men jumped out
w/ spears and turned on these 5 missionaries, and slaughtered them…massacred
them! And there are actual aerial photos of those 5 missionaries butchered
bodies lying on that beach.
When
Jim Elliot was preparing to go, people called him a fool. They said,
God has given you a brain, so use it! He replied,
“no man is a fool who gives up what he cannot
keep, to gain what he cannot lose.” There may be times
where serving God will call on us to give up something…but it’s something we
can’t keep anyway. One second after death, nothing we’ve accumulated will
matter anyway!
By the way, those missionaries’ wives later
went back and won that tribe to the Lord, and Elizabeth Elliot actually got
to know the man who murdered her husband.
And the Apostle Paul knew this and as an
accountant he added it all up and decided, I’d rather die in the will of God
that live outside of His will! As an accountant he realized, it pays to
serve God. Have you discovered that fact too?
2. Paul, the
runner
v. 24 “finish my course” That’s the
language of a runner.
Hebrews 12:1
Wherefore seeing we also are compassed
about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and
the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race
that is set before us.
I Cor. 9:24
Know ye not that they which run in a race
run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain.
If we’re gonna live for
God, we might as well put our heart into it and
go all the way, go for the gold!
Philip. 3:14
I press toward the mark for the prize of
the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
Quitting is not optional, retiring is not one
of my choices, I want to finish well.
II Tim. 4:7
I have fought a good fight, I have
finished my course, I have kept the faith.
Now, the Christian life is not a sprint.
It’s not a 100 yard dash…it’s more of a marathon. Here’s the good news:
I’m not running against you, and you’re not running against me. We’re not
competing with Paul, watching him leave us in the dust…all we have to do is
finish the course, run the race…so, until we hit the tape, we must run the
race!
So, how ya runnin’? Have you slowed down in
your service to God? You used to be more faithful, you used to teach a
class, or serve in children’s ministries, or go on visitation…how ya runnin’?
Some used to tithe, but you aren’t in the race anymore…used to pray with
your family, but somehow you’ve gotten sidelined…you used to be excited to
read the Bible, but you’re not in the race anymore.
What’s the secret to finishing well? My
father in law has made it his goal to finish well…what’s the secret? Some
right here in this room are in the process of finishing well…what’s their
secret?
We just put up Heb. 12:1…let’s see it again.
Now look at v. 2:
Hebrews 12:2
Looking unto Jesus the author and
finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the
cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne
of God.
We must keep our eyes
on the goal!
If you look off to the sidelines and the
crowd, you’ll trip and fall…you’ll be distracted and get off course! People
will disappoint you.
If you’re always looking back over your
shoulder at past sins you’ll never go forward. If you constantly compare
where you’re at w/ where the other runners are you’ll lose ground in the
race!
Paul said, I’ve gotta go to Jerusalem,
because it pays to serve God, and I want to finish the race!
3. Paul, the
steward
v. 24 “the ministry, which I have
received of the Lord Jesus”
Paul never saw his ministry as belonging to
himself, but as God’s. My kids like to call this place “my church” …
“daddy’s church”, and I’m always quick to say, that’s God’s church, and we
get to go there!
As stewards,
we have no right to decide what we’re gonna do and when we’re
gonna do it…because everything we have belongs to God! Every minute
of every day is a gift from God, and we have no right to just decide how
WE’RE gonna spend it…we’ve got to do God’s will. Every dollar we have
belongs to God. Even our children belong to God. Our talents are not our
own, they’re God’s! And someday we’ll answer to God as stewards.
Ill.--We’ve got several military men here,
and when the sergeant busts into the barracks early in the morning, you
don’t reply, “Sorry Sarge, but I believe I need to sleep in today.”
I Cor. 6:19-20
What? know ye not that your body is the
temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are
not your own? [20] For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in
your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.
Where did Paul get his faithfulness, his
humility, his compassion, and this great courage?
He viewed himself as an accountant, and
decided that in the end, it pays to serve God.
He was a runner, and said, I’m gonna finish
my course.
He submitted himself as a steward who had no
right to just make his own decisions.
3 Odd Jobs of the
Tentmaker
Acts 20:18-38
Inside the heart of Paul we have found…
1. Faithfulness
2. Humility
3. Compassion
4. C____________v. 18-19
Temptations =
p___________________v. 22-23, 21:10-11, v. 12-14
Paul had 3 other occupations20:22-24
1. Paul, the a__________________v. 24
Jim Elliot, “no man is a fool who
gives up what he cannot k______, to gain what he
cannot l______.”
2. Paul, the r__________v. 24, Hebrews 12:1, 1 Cor. 9:24
If we’re gonna live for God, we might
as well put our h________ into it and go for the g______! Philip. 3:14, 2 Tim. 4:7, Heb. 12:1, v. 2,
Hebrews12:2
We must keep our e______
on the g______!
3. Paul, the s____________v. 24
We have no r________ to
d__________ what we’re gonna do and when we’re gonna
do it 1 Cor. 6:19-20
Help keep this service free by
recommending it using:
All Sermons and Slideshow Presentations Copyright Jerry
Shirley and Grace Notes Ministries unless otherwise credited.
