2 Kings 17:1-18:12
Acts 20:1-38
Psalm 148:1-14
Proverbs 18:6-7
Acts 20:7 On the first day of the week we came together to break bread. Paul spoke to the people and, because he intended to leave the next day, kept on talking until midnight.
I wish there were times when the Spirit of God was so active that a preacher would go on preaching all night. In other countries a church service lasts for hours. Kino talks about being at church all night for prayer. Worship services every day for hours. In our church as the one-hour mark approaches people start looking at their watches. In America we always have somewhere to go something to do. Where are our priorities? If we have them straight, then our time worshiping God with a family of believers should have a higher priority than any other thing that we would do. I understand that Paul was going to be leaving so he had a lot to teach but that doesn't change the fact that the hearts of the church were hungry to learn and they were willing to stay as long as it took. We need to be eager to learn all that we can from the Lord. God has given us all gifts and when he gives someone the gift of teaching and preaching you can feel it. You will either feel excited and willing to listen to them preach all day and or all night with a hunger for more or you will be annoyed and uncomfortable. Those feeling are a heart check. If you are feeling the later then your heart is in the wrong place. Then you need to spend some time with God personally one on one and ask Him to change your heart. You are missing out on the greatest relationship that you could ever have,
Acts 20:11 Then he went upstairs again and broke bread and ate. After talking until daylight, he left.
After Paul brings a believer back to life who had fallen asleep and out a 3rd story window he went back in and preached till daylight. The power of God that was coursing through him when he was preaching till midnight was probably nothing compared to the power of God that was in him when God brought Eutychus back to life. I know that when I have felt the Spirit of God moving in me it is energizing and exciting. For me sometimes it feels like I am charged with electricity and I start to shake. Sometimes I am overwhelmed with emotion and I cry or jump up and down in excitement. So it does not surprise me that after what Paul just experienced that he was able to preach on till morning. And I am also not surprised that the people stayed because that kind of moving of the Spirit is palpable in the room. God's power is so great and when people come together with their hearts in the right place hungry to learn and serve God the power of His Spirit becomes palpable. That is when revival happens.
Acts 20:19 I served the Lord with great humility and with tears and in the midst of severe testing by the plots of my Jewish opponents. 20 You know that I have not hesitated to preach anything that would be helpful to you but have taught you publicly and from house to house.
I have heard people say that if you are telling people how humble you are then you aren't. That is not the kind of humility Paul is talking about. That is not biblical humility. Humility is about serving and putting the needs of others first. It is a concern for others that brings you to tears in their suffering and struggles. It is about surrender to God and His will and direction for your life. Even if it means facing opposition. Even if it means not sleeping because you need to preach all night. Even if it means sharing the same message over and over again. Serving the Lord with humility is saying whatever Lord, make me more like Jesus and less like me and not my will but yours be done. But we have to mean it and live it.
Acts 20:24 However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.
Humility is putting God and His call on your life first. There is nothing in life more important that completing the work that God has for us. What the call on your life is, is up to you and God. But we have all been given the call to tell people the Good News of Jesus Christ.
Acts 20:25 “Now I know that none of you among whom I have gone about preaching the kingdom will ever see me again. 26 Therefore, I declare to you today that I am innocent of the blood of any of you. 27 For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God.
And when we do that we can put those we witness to in God's hands and be "innocent of the blood". But I think this implies the opposite is true. If we refuse to preach the Kingdom of God to people and proclaim the "whole will of God" are we then in some way guilty of the blood of those who do not believe? I think that God can reach everyone who is to come into the Kingdom but I think that our refusal to do what He has told us to do is sin and there is guilt there. Thankfully Jesus who is faithful and just will forgive our sins and cleans us from all unrighteousness if we confess them. (1 John 1:9) The blood of Jesus cleanses us but first we must recognize that it is a sin and confess those sins and repent which means turn from that sin. So, if we recognize that we are not sharing the gospel to those whom we know are lost and confess it, we must then repent. To repent means to start doing it. One of the best ways to prepare yourself for that is for you to pray for those you know who are lost and ask God to break your heart for those things the break His. When you come before God in humility and tears He can give you all that you need to do all that He has for you to do because humble servanthood means that it is not you but Christ in you that is doing the work.
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