Acts 20:13-21\u00a0<\/b>–\u00a0We went on ahead to the ship and sailed for Assos, where we were going to take Paul aboard. He had made this arrangement because he was going there on foot.\u00a014\u00a0When he met us at Assos, we took him aboard and went on to Mitylene.\u00a015\u00a0The next day we set sail from there and arrived off Chios. The day after that we crossed over to Samos, and on the following day arrived at Miletus.\u00a016\u00a0Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus\u00a0to avoid spending time in the province of Asia,\u00a0for he was in a hurry to reach Jerusalem,\u00a0if possible, by the day of Pentecost.\u00a0 17\u00a0From Miletus,\u00a0Paul sent to Ephesus for the elders\u00a0of the church.\u00a018\u00a0When they arrived, he said to them: \u201cYou know how I lived the whole time I was with you,\u00a0from the first day I came into the province of Asia.\u00a019\u00a0I served the Lord with great humility and with tears\u00a0and in the midst of severe testing by the plots of my Jewish opponents.\u00a020\u00a0You know that I have not hesitated to preach anything\u00a0that would be helpful to you but have taught you publicly and from house to house.\u00a021\u00a0I have declared to both Jews\u00a0and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance\u00a0and have faith in our Lord Jesus.<\/i><\/p>\n
\u201c<\/span>When they arrived, he said to them: \u201cYou know how I lived the whole time I was with you,\u00a0from the first day I came into the province of Asia<\/i>.\u201d\u00a0 How wonderful to, nearing the end of one\u2019s life, it is to be able to say to brothers and sisters, that they bear witness to how our life was lived.\u00a0 To know that no-one could step forward to recall a fault.\u00a0 Paul could tell remind them that he had left a good testimony to them.\u00a0 Praise God!<\/p>\n \u201cI served the Lord with great humility and with tears\u00a0and in the midst of severe testing by the plots of my Jewish opponents.<\/i>\u201d\u00a0 Paul was not boasting but recounting what they had witnessed.\u00a0 Paul did not fail to serve the Lord as a humble servant.\u00a0 Paul didn\u2019t come to be served, but as Jesus came to serve, so did Paul (Matthew 20:26-28<\/b>).\u00a0 In\u00a01 Corinthians 9:22<\/b>\u00a0Paul described how he entered a city to humbly serve \u201cTo the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some<\/i>.\u201d\u00a0 Paul lived out what he wrote to the Philippians \u201cDo nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves<\/i>.\u201d\u00a0 (Philippians 2:3<\/b>)\u00a0 Even though Paul was opposed by Jewish opponents and non-believers who beat him and stoned him, who stalked him to try to kill him, he persisted to be humble before all.\u00a0 Paul didn\u2019t \u201cburn out\u201d in doing well (Galatians 6:9<\/b>).\u00a0 The minister who has the right perspective remembers that he first serves God and then, in his service to God, serves others.\u00a0 It is with that perspective that one cannot fail.\u00a0 Doing what God has called us to do in the manner God wants us to do it ends in fulfillment.\u00a0 It is God we first seek to please and then to also minister to mankind.\u00a0 (Galatians 1:10<\/b>)\u00a0 First we love God and if we do that then we will love each other and desire to, out of His love, minister to others (Mark 12:29-31<\/b>). So we seek to please God in doing what He has called us to do and, in doing that, we are fulfilled.\u00a0 Obedience is our task, results belong to God.\u00a0 So when Paul was tested, he did not let testing by man deter him from the call of God.\u00a0 Paul could look back in peace, with joy, that he had faithfully served the Lord and he could say to these leaders that they all knew he had.<\/p>\n \u201cYou know that I have not hesitated to preach anything\u00a0that would be helpful to you but have taught you publicly and from house to house.<\/i>\u201d\u00a0 Paul taught in public, not hesitating to preach the full Gospel.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t shrink back at hard subjects that would be opposed.\u00a0 He boldly preached them.\u00a0 Not as an angry witness screaming at people, but as a loving representative of Jesus who sent them to represent the righteous and loving way of God.\u00a0 He did not teach only in public, but he went house to house.\u00a0 Where the door was open to preach and teach, he did.\u00a0 What he declared in public he taught from house to house.\u00a0\u00a0 To the souls that heard the message he also went to their homes to preach the Gospel to their families.\u00a0 Paul was strong in preaching the whole truth and it all started with loving God and loving others.<\/p>\n \u201cI have declared to both Jews\u00a0and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance\u00a0and have faith in our Lord Jesus.<\/i>\u201d\u00a0 All of us must consider what God has called us to do.\u00a0 For Paul he was called to preach the truth that all needed to repent and to have faith in our Lord Jesus in order to have peace with God.\u00a0 Paul obeyed without exception even if the world did not like the message.\u00a0 So today some are called to preach, some are called to teach, all are called to love, to spread the Gospel, to testify how Jesus has changed our lives.\u00a0 We are also to comfort those who need comfort, to cry with the weeping and to also remind them that Jesus brings peace and joy to the hurting (Isaiah 61:1<\/b>).\u00a0 We are to be all things to all people that they may know the love, peace and joy of God.\u00a0 And these three cannot be taken away from any who truly know Him.\u00a0 May we all be faithful like Jesus was to the Father and like Paul was to Jesus.\u00a0 Let us all show how greatly we love Jesus by how greatly we love each other.\u00a0 How wonderful is that!\u00a0 Having done that we are fulfilled.\u00a0 Having done that we have fulfilled love (1 John 4:16-17<\/b>) and pleased God as He has enabled us to do (2 Corinthians 1:21<\/b>).\u00a0 Praise God!<\/p>\n Psalm 150:6<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.\u00a0 Praise the Lord!<\/i><\/p>\n Micah 7:7<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0But as for me, I watch\u00a0in hope\u00a0for the\u00a0Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear\u00a0me.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n Micah 6:8<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0He has shown You, O man, what\u00a0is\u00a0good; And what does the\u00a0Lord\u00a0require of You but to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with Your God<\/i>.<\/p>\n Numbers 6:24-26<\/b>\u00a0\u201cThe\u00a0Lord\u00a0bless you and keep you; 25\u00a0the\u00a0Lord\u00a0make His face shine on you and be gracious to you; 26\u00a0the\u00a0Lord\u00a0turn His face\u00a0toward you and give you peace.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Acts 20:13-21\u00a0–\u00a0We went on ahead to the ship and sailed for Assos, where we were going to take Paul aboard. He had made this arrangement because he was going there on foot.\u00a014\u00a0When he met us at Assos, we took him aboard and went on to Mitylene.\u00a015\u00a0The next day we set sail from there and arrived…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1192],"tags":[82,129,1969,103,100,93,101,94,1874,1871,17],"class_list":["post-1977","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devotion","tag-acts","tag-corinthians","tag-galatians","tag-isaiah","tag-john","tag-mark","tag-matthew","tag-micah","tag-numbers","tag-philippians","tag-psalm"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1977","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1977"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1977\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1978,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1977\/revisions\/1978"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1977"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1977"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1977"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}