Today, we're looking at Acts 20, where you’ll learn about the astonishing moment when a young listener, Eutychus, fell asleep and tumbled out a window during one of Paul's marathon sermons—only to be brought back to life by Paul himself. You'll get an insider view of Paul's detailed travel itinerary, including his "painful visit" to Corinth, and discover how these journeys were pivotal in nurturing early Christian communities.
Prepare to be inspired by Paul's profound sense of duty and his perspective on life, as outlined in Acts 20:24-30. He saw his life as a mission to be completed, even at the risk of his own mortality. We’ll dive into his confidence in having fulfilled his duty by preaching and the powerful implications of his final warnings about false teachers within the church.
Acts 20 also highlights Paul's challenging journey following a riot in Ephesus, leading him to Corinth for a "painful visit" aimed at correcting the believers there. Despite the difficulties, Paul's close relationship with the Corinthians is evident as he spends months with them to address their issues. His deep connections with various churches are also illustrated as he revisits places like Philippi and Thessalonica, demonstrating his pastoral care and the continuity of his missionary work. This chapter offers a glimpse into Paul's unwavering commitment to his mission and the strong bonds he forged with early Christian communities.
As Paul prepares to leave Ephesus, where he had spent considerable time, he delivers an emotional farewell to the elders. He feels a compelling need to travel to Jerusalem, driven by the Holy Spirit, despite the dangers awaiting him there. This urgency and dedication are palpable in his words, emphasizing his readiness to face persecution and even death for the sake of spreading the gospel. Paul's journey serves as a powerful example of devotion and the personal sacrifices made to fulfill God's calling.
In his farewell speech, Paul warns the Ephesian elders about future challenges, including false teachers arising from within their ranks. His foresight and guidance underscore the importance of vigilance and steadfastness in faith. Additionally, Paul reflects on his ministry's integrity, emphasizing that his work was never motivated by personal gain but by a sincere desire to serve God and others. This chapter is a testament to Paul's relentless dedication and serves as an inspiring call for believers to remain faithful to their mission, trusting in God's provision and guidance.
Today, we're looking at Acts 20, where you’ll learn about the astonishing moment when a young listener, Eutychus, fell asleep and tumbled out a window during one of Paul's marathon sermons—only to be brought back to life by Paul himself. You'll get an insider view of Paul's detailed travel itinerary, including his "painful visit" to Corinth, and discover how these journeys were pivotal in nurturing early Christian communities.
Prepare to be inspired by Paul's profound sense of duty and his perspective on life, as outlined in Acts 20:24-30. He saw his life as a mission to be completed, even at the risk of his own mortality. We’ll dive into his confidence in having fulfilled his duty by preaching and the powerful implications of his final warnings about false teachers within the church.
Acts 20 also highlights Paul's challenging journey following a riot in Ephesus, leading him to Corinth for a "painful visit" aimed at correcting the believers there. Despite the difficulties, Paul's close relationship with the Corinthians is evident as he spends months with them to address their issues. His deep connections with various churches are also illustrated as he revisits places like Philippi and Thessalonica, demonstrating his pastoral care and the continuity of his missionary work. This chapter offers a glimpse into Paul's unwavering commitment to his mission and the strong bonds he forged with early Christian communities.
As Paul prepares to leave Ephesus, where he had spent considerable time, he delivers an emotional farewell to the elders. He feels a compelling need to travel to Jerusalem, driven by the Holy Spirit, despite the dangers awaiting him there. This urgency and dedication are palpable in his words, emphasizing his readiness to face persecution and even death for the sake of spreading the gospel. Paul's journey serves as a powerful example of devotion and the personal sacrifices made to fulfill God's calling.
In his farewell speech, Paul warns the Ephesian elders about future challenges, including false teachers arising from within their ranks. His foresight and guidance underscore the importance of vigilance and steadfastness in faith. Additionally, Paul reflects on his ministry's integrity, emphasizing that his work was never motivated by personal gain but by a sincere desire to serve God and others. This chapter is a testament to Paul's relentless dedication and serves as an inspiring call for believers to remain faithful to their mission, trusting in God's provision and guidance.
Contact us at godsplanyourpart@gmail.com Thanks so much for listening to the show. We'll See you tomorrow. -Ryan and Jenny
Speaker 1:
Hey everyone, welcome to God's Plan, your Part, year 2, where this year we're reading through and studying the entire New Testament one chapter at a time. Thanks again for joining us in discovering God's Plan and your part in it.
Speaker 2:
Today we are looking at Acts, chapter 20, and to me one of the most interesting things happens is that Paul preaches so long and so boring that somebody actually dies Most likely. You've never seen that happen in your church.
Speaker 1:
Certainly seen a lot of people fall asleep.
Speaker 2:
That falling asleep is not enough Falling asleep and then dying so that's pretty significant. And then there's a couple other things we want to cover in this chapter as well.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, so I know you want to speak to a little bit of what the timeline is, and I think some of those other things definitely caught my attention as well. As soon as you said that, I'm like I can immediately like put myself in a service where I can hear little old men snoring behind me or accidentally being too loud, and the pastor can hear too. But yeah, interesting things happening.
Speaker 2:
There's a Brad Paisley song about like there's nothing more terrible than a long sermon on a pretty Sunday. It's basically about hurry up so I can go fishing. Anyway, all that extra credit concluded, there is some travel details that if you don't know them you'll get a little bit confused reading the chapter. So, basically what happens in Acts, chapter 20, and I guess we're picking up a little bit from 19. At the end of Acts 19, there's this huge riot in Ephesus and following the riot in Ephesus at the end of 19, paul decides that he needs to travel to Corinth and visit the city of Corinth. Later on, in his letter to the Corinthians, he actually calls it, refers to it as a painful visit because he goes to Corinth essentially to confront them and correct them.
Speaker 1:
I kind of see it as like the whack-a-mole moment, like, okay, guys, hang on one second.
Speaker 2:
I got to go deal with this issue, sort of yeah, and what's really cool is Paul, and we can see it. We will see it when we look at 1 and 2 Corinthians. Paul does have a close relationship with the church in Corinth and he is able to call them out. So he travels to Corinth, he spends a few months with them to correct them and then he returns to Ephesus and kind of wraps up his time in Ephesus. But while he's there he writes another letter to the Corinthians and it's in that letter that he refers to his painful visit. And we do know that eventually the Corinthians actually repent for the errors that they had made and there is resolution.
Speaker 2:
So it's actually kind of cool to know the backstory. And then when he returns to Ephesus, he's only there for a short time and he realizes that he needs to wrap up his time in Ephesus, which is where he has spent the most time across his missionary journeys. So he knows the people of Ephesus quite well and he says that he's under compulsion by the Holy Spirit to travel on to Jerusalem. So most of Acts, chapter 20 is kind of this. There's a little bit of travel commentary at the beginning, but then it's mostly kind of recounting this sort of emotional time that he has saying goodbye to all the people that he has developed deep relationships with in Ephesus.
Speaker 1:
Well, it's interesting too. As he travels his way back through, there's other places that pop up, so he visits with the Thessalonians.
Speaker 2:
Yeah.
Speaker 1:
And on his way, kind of like gathers people with him, yep, or I guess just like makes acquaintances, whatever. So it's interesting. There are other books that you're hearing about Thessalonians. That's a key one, so it's kind of cool to see his journey just like scattered like breadcrumbs throughout these chapters.
Speaker 2:
One of those other cities is actually Philippi as well, so that's.
Speaker 2:
Philippians so you can see. When you closely track the book of Acts, you can see that he actually does have relationship with these churches that he's writing to. And a lot of times when we study the Bible, we'll study the book of Philippians, we'll study the book of 1 Thessalonians, and you don't actually get to see it like in context of these journeys and see like, oh, he actually spent time with these folks. He knows their leaders, he knows their problems, he knows what they're doing well, he knows what they're not doing well.
Speaker 1:
Well, I think something interesting to kind of point out too is that if he hadn't gone to Corinth in the first place, if they hadn't been having issues, imagine the places that he probably wouldn't have like traveled through on the way back. So it's kind of cool to see God's sovereign plan playing out in that little mishap.
Speaker 2:
That actually is very cool extra credit. Oftentimes, god seems to use really negative circumstances to push the apostles, the disciples, to other places, to continue to spread the gospel in other cities, and we see that here. So then, what happens in verse seven is Paul is preaching for a very long time in Ephesus. He knows that his time is wrapping up, and apparently he preaches so long that a young man falls asleep and falls out a window and dies.
Speaker 1:
What an epic name, Eutychus.
Speaker 2:
Eutychus and, just like the text gives us some clues, it says, intending to depart on the next day, he prolonged his speech until midnight. There were many lamps in the upper room where we were gathered, so basically it was dark, we needed to light it for ourselves. And then later on, in verse 11, it says that he conversed with them for a long while, until daybreak, and so departed. So you get the feeling that Paul is speaking to a gathered group of people literally all night long and this kid that falls asleep, young man that falls asleep and dies, paul raises him from the dead. But Luke doesn't even like waste much time bringing detail to that. Like it's just like, yeah, he went down and embraced him and basically he was alive again and then he went on his way.
Speaker 2:
So I have actually heard comments that basically allude to the fact that, like, well, we don't really know how the early church did church, we don't really know how the early church ran their gatherings, we don't even know if they preach sermons, and that is faulty thinking. We actually do know that they preach sermons. We have several recorded sermons. We know what they said and when they said it and in this particular instance, we know that at certain times they actually spoke for quite a while and apparently were not necessarily as exciting as they could have been, and people died and were brought back to life.
Speaker 1:
Pretty crazy. Something that caught my attention as we move further into the chapter is Paul is, like you can kind of tell there is like urgency in how he's speaking, um, and the way that he's addressing people, like he feels this tension to get back to Jerusalem. He says that in verse 16, um, uh, let's see, for, as he was or, excuse me, for he was hastening to be at Jerusalem if possible on the day of Pentecost, so like he has this idea in his head, like I, to be there. And then when we move into the next section, where he's addressing the elders of Ephesus, or the Ephesian elders, as it says in our Bible, in verse 22, he says behold, I am going to Jerusalem constrained by the spirit, meaning like the spirit is really prompting him, like you need to go. So we're getting this idea, now that he's like kind of on the move, his work there is done, um, and he realizes, I think, the cost of going back um, so this is where he would have originated from.
Speaker 1:
A lot of the people that would have really like, known about, like, not originated, but like he was there as a pharisee, like right well, most likely, he's been there over two years, so he has some of his closest relationships in this city in jerusalem I'm talking about jerusalem in ephesus, I know, but like fear of going back to what I'm talking about I got you okay is that correct?
Speaker 2:
yeah, he's going to jerusalem, for sure yeah, whereas he would have had like tons of influence, is what I'm getting that's actually like when, at the beginning of the book of acts, we were introduced to paul roaming around the, at least around in and out of jerusalem, because he was seeking a decree from like the high council to be able to go and persecute these right.
Speaker 1:
So my idea is that, like he is very hesitant, I'm sure, like in a human form, to go back because he knows what's waiting there, they know who he is and him coming back is this totally different guy is probably like, not great, I wouldn't be my first choice of places to go. However, I love what he says in verse 24. He realizes like the spirit is leading me, but I do not count my life of any value nor as precious to myself. If only I may finish the course of the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus to testify to the gospel of. So I think that's just like full transparency. I know I'm going back, the Spirit's leading me and I basically count my life as like it's not my own Right and I'm going to do what God says.
Speaker 2:
Right. He's actually going to say in the book of Philippians to live is Christ and to die is gain. Like, essentially like if I'm going to be living and breathing, it's going to be to honor Christ and like lead people to know him. And if I lose my life, I see it as eternal gain.
Speaker 2:
So, this is a dude that is fully committed to the mission. What is interesting, you actually brought this up a couple of days ago. I had not really thought about it much. But what one of the things he says next is I testify. This is verse 26. I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all, for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God. He seems to have this idea that he has preached the gospel. He has been faithful to the mission. He's been faithful to the message, and if you don't listen to that message, it's not on him.
Speaker 1:
He's like he's essentially saying like hey, I did the work.
Speaker 2:
I did what I was called to do. If you reject it, your judgment is on your own head. It's not on me and you. I think a couple of days ago you talked about how it's really interesting.
Speaker 1:
There are moments in my life where I have felt like it is my full duty to make sure that I see this person through the entire thing, and say, yep, I believe. But there's only like sometimes there's only so much you can do. Like I've said my piece, you've heard the truth, so it's like up to you whether or not you want to believe it.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, so part of the speech he tells the people that you are not going to see my face again. He knows that he's going to leave the city and he is not going to return, either because he's being led other places or because he knows the end of his life is coming. Because the reality is we're in Acts, chapter 20. There's only 28 chapters here. We are quickly getting to the end of the story of Paul. Now we will continue to read his letters and stuff, but the actual narrative is coming to a close pretty quickly here.
Speaker 1:
I'm thinking kind of like about the temperature of today's world and how tempting it would have been for him to stay in a place where he is like very well known, like very well appreciated People want to hear what he has to say and he's like you, you know that's great, but like I have a duty to God and he's telling me to go back to the place where I probably am going to like be the least accepted, and I think that is like really telling to us as like we think about even just like today's faith leaders, like there are many people who have their soap boxes and they're super proud of it and they're super excited. Excited for anybody and anybody to just like hear them out, give them praise, up and down, whatever. And Paul is just like that's not what I'm here for. My life is not my own. I'm going back to where God wants me to and it's my job to listen to him.
Speaker 2:
And Paul certainly sold out to the mission I've said that a couple of times at this point but he definitely is committed to what God is calling him to do. There is something interesting that you can see in the text If you look at verse 30, this is part of his basically farewell address. He says and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things to draw away the disciples after them. Later on, actually about like 10 years later, he's going to be writing back and forth with Timothy and he's going to talk about the issue that there are people coming out of the Ephesian church who are purposely misleading the disciples and teaching false teachings, telling them this as part of his farewell address. Like, hey, like, even from among yourselves, there's going to be people that are trying to draw people away, and so I'm calling you to remain firm and continue on in the faith.
Speaker 1:
Well, it's interesting. Our Bible says, too, that it's like they're drawing people away from God and for the like to themselves, for their own gain.
Speaker 2:
Right.
Speaker 1:
But what's even scarier I think you said it, but like, what's scarier is that it's coming from. It says from among your own selves. Exactly Meaning that could even have been among the elders, the actual leaders. Yes, yeah, like that's so scary yeah.
Speaker 2:
And part of the part. We'll see this in 1 and 2 Timothy part of what Paul's doing in 1 and 2. Timothy is helping Timothy to direct these church leaders because Timothy at that point is involved with the church of Ephesus in some kind of official leadership capacity. So this does become a fulfilled prophecy and a lot of times I think we read over it and just don't notice it. But there's prophecy right there about what's going to happen to some of these people not all of them, but some of them and it is going to be a serious challenge to Timothy later on.
Speaker 1:
It's actually interesting as we consider today's day and age, that kind of stuff. Well, it's actually interesting as we like consider today's day and age like that kind of stuff I feel like happens all the time and you have to be like very aware and like I don't know, super grounded in God's word and what the Holy Spirit is actually prompting you to do, and not just what someone else says. So that's just that's. It's encouraging to know that we are not the only people who deal with that. It's unfortunate that it has happened all throughout history.
Speaker 2:
So one final thing here from Acts, chapter 20, I like that Paul recognizes as part of his farewell address that when he came to Ephesus it was not for his own financial gain, it wasn't for gold or silver or apparel. It was just so that he could be faithful to the message and lead the people well, and so I think it's at least worth recognizing.
Speaker 1:
What a freeing life. Like nothing to strive for and there are instances in Paul's ministry.
Speaker 2:
There are times where he actually works as a church leader. He has paid for his work as a church leader, and then there are other times where he's very happy to be a church leader at no cost to the people. So there's instances where he gets paid, instances where he does not get paid. Here he's recognizing that he's so faithful to the mission that it doesn't really matter how he gets his money, so long as he's able to continue to be faithful to the message. I think it's like a good encouragement to us. Sometimes it's easy for us to think that, like to be serious about your faith, you have to be like a paid pastor or something. But you don't. And sometimes Paul was a paid pastor, leader kind of shepherd person, and other times he was not. So it's not really getting paid. That makes you stand out as a leader. It's how faithful you are to the message, and I think that is some of your part.
Speaker 2:
For today. I just want to encourage you to continue to be faithful to the message. Don't get distracted by other things. We can see here in Acts 20 that Paul is sold out and he's committed, and we invite you to be sold out and committed. God will take care of you. God will provide for you. Whenever there is a need, he will meet it and you can trust him as long as you're doing what he has called you to do. We'll be back again tomorrow with Acts chapter 21. We'll see you then.
Speaker 1:
Thanks for joining today's episode of God's Plan your Part, as always. Please consider partnering with us, as we are a listener-supported podcast that we hope to continue to grow, with support from listeners just like you.
Speaker 2:
We've made it super easy to partner with us, and you can support us by following the link in our show notes or our description. You can support us with as little as $3 a month.
Speaker 1:
Every little bit of this helps so much, and we're so thankful for your support With that in mind here's today's reading Acts, chapter 20.
Speaker 2:
Sail for Syria. He decided to return through Macedonia. So Pater, the Berean, son of Pyrrhus, accompanied him, and of the Thessalonians, aristarchus and Secundus and Gaius of Derbe and Timothy and the Asians Tychicus and Trophimus. These went on ahead and were waiting for us at Troas. But we sailed away from Philippi after the days of unleavened bread and in five days we came to them at Troas where we stayed for seven days.
Speaker 2:
On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, paul talked with them, intending to depart for 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 Eutychus, sitting in 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 had broken bread and eaten, he conversed with them a long while, until daybreak, and so departed. 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 was met at Asos, we took him on board and went to Mytilene and, sailing from there, we came to the following day, opposite Chios. The next day we touched at Samos and the 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.
Speaker 2:
Now, from Miletus, he sent to Ephesus and called the elders of the church to come to him, and when they came to him, he said to them you yourselves know how I lived among you the whole time, from the first day that I set foot in Asia, serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials that happened to me through the plots of the Jews, how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable and teaching you, in public and from house to house, testifying both to Jews and to Greeks, of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. And now, behold, I am going to Jerusalem constrained by the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and inflictions await me. But I do not account my life of any value, nor as precious to myself. If only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. And now, behold, I know that none of you, among whom I have gone about proclaiming the kingdom, will see my face again. Therefore, I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all, for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood. I know that, after my departure, fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock, and from among your own selves will arise men speaking of twisted things to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore, be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease, night or day, admonishing everyone with tears. And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace which is able to build you up and give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified. I coveted no one's silver or gold or apparel. You yourselves know that the hands ministered to my necessities and to those who were with me In all things. I have shown you that by working hard in this way, we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said it is more blessed to give than to receive. And when he had said these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all and there was much weeping on part of all. They embraced Paul and kissed him, being sorrowful most of all because of the word that he had spoken, that they would not see his face again, and they accompanied him to the ship.
Speaker 2:
Thank you so much for listening to today's episode of God's Plan your Part. Don't forget you can find us on just about every social media platform and YouTube. Let us know what you thought of today's episode and if you have any questions, go ahead and post them there. You can also reach out to us directly at godsplanyourpart at gmailcom, as always. If you don't have a Bible or if you'd like to use the one that we use. Reach out to us via email and we'll be happy to send one to you. Thanks again for listening. We'll see you again tomorrow, thank you.