All right, let's open back to
Acts chapter 20. I thought about titling this
a message specifically for the congregation in Kingsport, but
that's not the title. This applies to every group of
believers that assemble together. Every group of believers, everywhere,
that assemble together. I thought about titling this
some of the things that we read here in the text. Paul said in
verse 20, I kept back nothing that was profitable. Nothing. He said in verse 24,
none of these things move me. None of these things move me.
He said in verse 26, I am pure from the blood of all men. And the reason he said that is
because in verse 27, he said, I have not shunned to declare
unto you all the counsel of God. Any one of those would describe
our message tonight, any one of those, but they can all be
summed up in this. Here's the title, verse 24. None of these things move me,
neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might
finish my course with joy and, now here it is, the ministry
which I, and every one of us in here can say I, I, I, I. The ministry which we have received. The ministry which we have received. Why did God raise up a ministry
here? I just want to talk to us tonight.
I don't feel like I have a sermon. I just want to talk to us. Why did God raise up a ministry
here? Why did God, you know how rare
ministries are? Why did God raise up a ministry
here? Why were you born here? You were
born here. Well, you know, that was just
a random occurrence. It just happened. Nobody was
in control of that. Why were you born here? We know who controls all things,
don't we? We know why you were born here. You moved here. Yeah, I'm pointing. Why did you move here? It was
to marry her. That's not the only reason. That's
not the first reason. That's what God used to get you
here. Why did you move your family
here? Why did we move our family here? Me and you. Why did we come here? The two of us packed our stuff
up. Why did we come here? The two of you. Why did you come
here? Really? The two of you. Why did you come here? The two
of you. Why did you come here? The two
of you. Why did you come here? Why do the two of you drive almost
two hours round trip to be here? Why? I'll show all of us why. Here's why. Turn with me over
to Philippians chapter 1. Philippians 1 verse 3, Paul says,
I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always and every prayer
of mine for you all, making request with joy for your fellowship
in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident
of this very thing that he which hath begun a good work in you
will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. He begins this
by saying, God started this and God will finish it. Let's acknowledge the truth here
first. Let's give all the credit where
it's due first. Before we even start talking
about this, let's start here. God started all of this, God
will finish it. I mean, we could put a period
and walk out the door. Whatever happens, God is the
doer of it. Verse 6, being confident of this
very thing that he which hath begun a good work in you will
perform it until the day of Jesus Christ, even as it is for me
to think this of you all because I have you in my heart. Inasmuch
as both in my bonds and in the defense and confirmation of the
gospel, ye all are partakers of my grace. Now look at verse
12. But I would, you should understand, brethren, That the things which
happened unto me, and this is where every single one of us
can insert our own name. All of the things that have happened
to Gabe Stoniker up until this point. All of the things, I mean
every single thing that has happened to us. The things which happened unto
me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel. That's why. That's the whole
reason you were born. Only reason. There's one reason.
It was not an accident that you were born. It was on purpose. It was for one reason only. God
caused a soul to come in contact with a body on that given day
for one reason only. One reason only. Everything that
has happened to me has happened to me for the furtherance of
the gospel. Every single thing. the furtherance of the gospel.
It's for the furtherance of the preached word. When my mother
passed away, the one thing that stands out about her funeral
to me is the dear man who preached it looked right at me and he
said, every bit of this has happened for the furtherance of the gospel. The word that is able to make
a sinner wise unto salvation, that preached word Our Lord said,
you go unto all the world and you preach the gospel. Further the gospel, send it far,
send it far. We have received the ministry
of the gospel of the grace of God. I pray that this resonates
with us. I pray it hits me and just resonates
through me. I pray this resonates with me.
Now back in our text, go with me back to Acts chapter 20, we
see God's ministry. That's what we see right here.
We see the effort spent on spreading the preaching of the gospel.
We see the manner in which the gospel is to be preached, how
it's supposed to be delivered. We see the resolve, we see the
faith, the seriousness of preaching the gospel. Paul said, woe is
unto me if I preach not the gospel. Woe is unto us if we preach not
the gospel. And then we see the message itself,
the message that we preach, the message that we send out. All
right, now we're just gonna read through this, and we're gonna
see the ministry which we have received. Acts 20 verse 13, and
we went before to ship. Now this is Luke writing, the
physician Luke, he penned all this. He said, we went before
to ship and sailed unto Esauce, there intending to take in Paul,
For so had he appointed, minding himself to go afoot. He told
us to get into a ship and go on ahead. He wanted to walk. That's what that's saying. Now
Paul is in a hurry. He's in a hurry. He's trying
to get to Jerusalem. He wants to be there on the day
of Pentecost for that feast. But one of the commentators pointed
out that His heart, and I believe this, based on the things that
he wrote in Romans 9, Romans 10, one of the commentators said,
his heart was so concerned for the eternal souls of men and
women. That man was given to the care of souls. He was so concerned for their
souls, he wanted to walk through every town and village he could
between here and there. You all go ahead. I'll meet you
there. I'm going to walk, just in case
God would open a door of utterance, just in case a conversation would
come up, just in case he would have the opportunity to preach
the gospel. Paul is just a man. He does not
know who God elected from the foundation of the world. He has
no idea. So he's preaching this message
to everyone who will listen to it. Everyone who will listen. Verse 14 says, And when he met
with us at Assos, we took him in and came to Mytilene. And we sailed thence, and came
the next day over against Chios. And the next day we arrived at
Samos, and tarried at Trogillium. And the next day we came to Miletus.
For Paul had determined to sail by Ephesus, because he would
not spend the time in Asia. For he hasted, if it were possible
for him to be at Jerusalem the day of Pentecost. He knew that
a lot of religious people were going to gather together for
this feast. He wanted to be right in the middle of them. Just in
case the Lord would open a door of utterance for him to preach
the truth himself. Just in case the truth himself
would set some of them free. Great effort was spent spreading
the gospel of Christ. And we must do the exact same
thing here. We must do the exact same thing
here. We must put great effort in spreading
this gospel. Great effort. The results are
all in the Lord's hands. All in the Lord's hands. We don't
need to be focused on, we don't need to worry about the results.
We don't do any of this for results. None of this for results. We
do this because this is what our God commanded us to do. He
said, you spread this gospel. God is going to do with his message
whatever he has purposed to do with his message. I know that
there's not one soul in Kingsport that is going to be lost if God
purposed to save him. With or without me. But you know
what he said? You go spread this gospel. You
go spread it. We must take advantage of every
opportunity that the Lord opens up to spread the preaching of
the gospel. The preaching of it. We've received this ministry,
this chart. Now verse 17 says, and from Miletus
he sent to Ephesus and called the elders of the church, the
pastor, the preachers, the teachers. Paul was in this city Miletus
and he sent for these men to come over to him because he had
something to say to him. He wanted to remind them of the
manner in which the gospel is to be preached. The manner of
the delivery. Verse 18 says, And when they
were come to him, he said unto them, You know from the first
day that I came into Asia after what manner I have been with
you at all seasons. He's saying I've been with you
at all seasons and I've had the same manner with you at all seasons. Verse 19, serving the Lord with
all humility of mind. This message is to be delivered
with humility. Humility. Much humility. Peter said humble yourselves
under the mighty hand of God. Humble yourselves. We can be
dogmatic and still be humble. You know that? We can be certain. Absolutely certain. and still
be humble. If God calls a man to preach,
he needs to do it with humility. He needs to do it with humility.
I'm talking to myself. Do it with humility. Who is sufficient
for these things? You know, we're going to go spread
this gospel. I'm going to go spread this gospel.
Really? Who is sufficient for these things?
I'm going to straighten everybody out. I'm going to get over there
and straighten them all out. Really? Who is sufficient for
these things? We're not here to promote ourselves. We're sending out the message
of the good news that is in Jesus Christ. That's what we're doing.
We're sending out not what we have done. We're sending out
what He has done. Not unto us, O Lord. Not unto
us. It's about everything you've
done. Unto thy name give glory. So it has to be with humility.
It has to be. Peter wrote, if any man speak,
let him speak as the oracles of God, didn't he? The word oracles
means utterance. If any man speak, let him speak
with the utterance of God. Let him say what God said. If any man speak, let him say
what God said. Preach the word. That's what
he's saying. Preach the word. Paul said, pray for me that I
may speak boldly. And I'm asking you the same thing.
Pray for me that I may speak boldly. That word does not mean
arrogantly. It means confidently. Confidently. I am confident that Jesus is
the Christ. Confident. I am confident that
only the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ can purge a sinner. I'm
confident. There's no other way. There's
no other way. But we don't have to deliver
that truth with an air of hostility, pride,
arrogance. We must do it with humility.
God used Moses, didn't he? God used Moses to stand face
to face with Pharaoh. Thus saith the Lord, let my people
go or the plagues are coming. Let my people go or the plagues
are coming. There wasn't an ounce of weakness
in Moses. What a messenger. What a messenger. But this is what Numbers 12 verse
3 says. It says the man Moses was very
meek above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.
That means he was the meekest man on earth. Humble, kind, meek,
lowly in spirit. Verse 19 says, serving the Lord
with all humility of mind and with many tears. That means he
did it from the heart. It was something real. He did
it from the heart. He didn't preach from the head
and he didn't preach to the head. We're not going to go out there
and try to impress people with what we know. He preached from the heart to
the heart. Isaiah 40. God told Isaiah, speak
ye comfortably to Jerusalem. You remember that? He said, comfort
ye, comfort ye my people. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem.
That translates to the heart. Speak to the heart. One man said,
you will soon weary my head if you do not warm my heart. That's
where the issues of life come from. So we must spread the preaching
of the gospel. We must. We must do it with a
heart of humility and love, and we must have this resolve. I pray that the Lord would give
us this resolve. If we're going to have it, the
Lord has to give it to us. We must do this no matter what
stands in the way. Verse 18, when they were come
to him, he said unto them, you know from the first day that
I came into Asia After what manner I have been with you at all seasons,
serving the Lord with all humility of mind and with many tears and
temptations." That means adversity, with adversity. He said, which
befell me by the lying in wait of the Jews and how I kept back
no thing that was profitable unto you, nothing. even though
I was being severely persecuted for it. I kept back nothing that
was profitable unto you, but have showed you and have taught
you publicly and from house to house, wherever a door was open,
testifying both to the Jews and also to the Greeks, whoever would
listen. Repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus
Christ. Repentance does mean a change
of mind. That's what it means, a change
of mind about who God is, who man is, and what salvation is. Repentance is a change of mind.
But there is also a change of heart. There's a change of heart
involved. Repentance has something to do
with being sorry, begging for mercy. That last time I was preaching,
that prodigal son, we looked at his story. He said, give me
all that I have coming to me. I don't need you. I'm going out
on my own. That's what every sinner on this earth says to
his God. You give me what I have coming
to me. I don't need you. I'm going out on my own. But
it says, when he came to himself, when he saw what it was, when
he finally saw what it was, he said, I have sinned. I have sinned. I'm going to go back to my father
and I'm going to say, I'm sorry. Please forgive me. I'm not worthy
to be called a son. I'm not worthy to be called a
son. He said, would you just hire me to be a servant? That's repentance. That's repentance. I cannot make it on my own. I just can't. My only hope is
being accepted in Christ. That's it. My only hope is in
the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's faith towards Christ.
So verse 21 says, testifying both to the Jews and also to
the Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord
Jesus Christ. And now, behold, I go bound in
the Spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall
befall me there, save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every
city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me." He's saying, I don't
know what's going to happen. But I do know that bonds and
afflictions are waiting for me. Paul kept being told this. Look
at Acts 21 verse 4. Finding disciples, we tarried
there seven days, who said to Paul through the Spirit that
he should not go up to Jerusalem. Verse 11 says, and when this prophet was come, when he was
come unto us, he took Paul's girdle and bound his own hands
and feet and said, thus saith the Holy Ghost, so shall the
Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that owneth this girdle and shall
deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles. He said, I don't
know what's going to happen, but I do know that bonds and
afflictions are waiting for me. Where in this word, where in
this word, one place in this word, where in this word does it say
that following the Lord Jesus Christ will bring a life of ease. This life we live down here in
this world, where does it say that? Nowhere. It says we will suffer with Him,
doesn't it? It says ahead of us are trials
and temptations, adversities. It says that we're going to be
persecuted for His sake, doesn't it? Does that make us want to
stop following Him? Does it? We know that's what's
coming. If we want a life of ease, then
we need to stop following Him. We know that's coming. Does that
make us want to fall out of love with Him? Does that make us want to stop
spreading the good news of the grace of God? Do you think, yes
or no, in your own mind, do you think as this gospel continues
to get out in Kingsport, do you think I'm going to be persecuted
for it or not persecuted for it? Which one? You think it's
going to bring me hardships or easy street? Does that make us want to stop
spreading this gospel? This is the good news of the
grace of God. This is the word that sets sinners
free. Verse 24 says, none of these
things move me. He said, I don't know what's
coming, but I do know bonds and afflictions are coming. But he
said, none of these things move me. Neither count I my life dear
unto myself. I don't count my own life dear
to myself. Why? Because it's dear to him. I don't need it to be dear to
myself. Neither count I my life dear
unto myself so that I might finish my course with joy. The end of
this is going to be so much joy. and the ministry which I have
received of the Lord Jesus to testify the gospel of the grace
of God. The gospel of the grace of God.
May God give us a heart to spread this gospel, to testify this
gospel. May God give us a heart to do
it with humility and love. Humility and love. May God give
us a resolve to see how serious this is. This is so serious. This is the
only thing that matters on this earth. Nothing else matters. Men and women's lives are on
the line. They're on the line. We must
declare the truth no matter what opposition comes. We just must.
So may God give us a resolve for that. A resolve for His message. And then here's the last thing.
May God give us His message. May God give us a heart to spread
it. May God give us the right way to spread it. May God give
us a resolve to spread it no matter what stands in the way,
and may God give us His message. Here is the message we preach.
Verse 25, And now, behold, I know that ye all among whom I have
gone preaching the kingdom of God shall see my face no more. You are never going to see me
again. You are never going to see me
again. May we preach the gospel that
way in Kingsport. As though we are never going
to see them again. I'm never going to see you again.
I have nothing to lose. You have everything to lose. A dying man to dying men. Verse 26, wherefore I take you
to record this day. I want you to write this down. That's what he's saying. I take
you to record this day that I am pure from the blood of all man. For I have not shunned to declare
unto you all the counsel of God. This is the message that Paul
preached. This is the message we preach. All the counsel of
God. The word counsel means will and
purpose. That's what it means. Will and
purpose. What do we declare to this world? What do we declare to this world,
to this city? The will and purpose of God.
That's what we are to go out and declare. That's it. The will
and purpose of God. We go out and we declare this
is the will and purpose of God. Now all of the Word declares
the will and purpose of God, the whole thing. I'm going to
very quickly give you three scriptures and close, okay? Go with me to
Luke 9. This is the Mount of Transfiguration
when Peter said, Lord, let us build three tabernacles, one
for you, one for Moses, one for Elijah. Luke 9 verse 34 says,
While he thus spake, there came a cloud and overshadowed them. And they feared as they entered
into the cloud and there came a voice out of the cloud saying,
this is my beloved son, hear him. That's the will and purpose
of God. Hear Him. If the Lord would open
up a door of utterance, if the Lord would give us an opportunity,
this is what must be declared to Kingsport. Hear Him. Hear Him. Don't listen to your
preacher. Don't listen to your preacher.
Don't listen to your preacher. No one in here needs to be listening
to Gabe Stoniker. I don't have anything good to
say. No one in here needs to be listening to Gabe Stoniker.
Gabe Stoniker is supposed to be preaching the oracles of God.
That means the utterance of God. Gabe Stoniker is supposed to
be preaching what God said. Only what God said. And if we
hear that, then we're not hearing Gabe Stoniker, we're hearing
him. We're hearing him. Don't listen to your preacher.
Don't listen to your denomination. Don't listen to your tradition.
Hear him. Just hear him. That's the will
and purpose of God. He said, my sheep hear my voice
and they follow me. What is the will and purpose
of God? Go to John 6. John 6 verse 39 says, And this is the Father's will
which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me, I should
lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. Here's what I would love to have
the opportunity to tell Kingsport. I would love to have this opportunity.
If God the Father chose to put you in Christ, you're redeemed. You're redeemed. If God the Father
chose to put you in Christ, your sin is paid in full. It's gone. It is gone. You are accepted in the Beloved. You have no idea how many people
I would love to be able to say that to. If God put you in Christ,
you are accepted in the Beloved, and He is going to raise you
up at the last day. He is going to. The grace of God is such good
news, isn't it? It is such good news. One more
scripture, go to Ephesians 1. Ephesians 1 verse 9 says, Having
made known unto us the mystery of His will, according to His
good pleasure, which he hath purposed in himself." Who's ordering
all this? Who's making all the decisions
here? Well, I think it's me. I think I'm going to make my
decision. I think I'm going to exercise my will. Well, this
says, having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according
to his good pleasure, which he hath purposed in himself, that
in the dispensation of the fullness of times, he might gather together
in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and
which are on earth, even in him." Here is what Kingsport and the
world needs to hear. All of the promises of God are
in Christ. They say God loves you. He's
pleased with you. The truth of the Word says, only
in Christ. We must see our need of Him. We must see that He is the pivotal
point here. They say, you're good, you're
holy, you're right, you're just before Him. The truth of the
Word says, only in Christ. That's it. They say Jesus loves
the little children. You're a child of God. He's your
Heavenly Father. The truth of the word says only
in Christ. Ephesians 1. Adoption only comes by Jesus
Christ. That's what We need to get out. That's what Kingsport needs to
hear. That's what this world needs to hear. Our dear loved
ones, their souls are on the line. Are we going to influence God
one way or the other? No. So what should we do? Take the
charge He's given us. Take the charge. The effort The
manner, the resolve, the message. Lord, enable us. That's my prayer
from this. Lord, you've given us this ministry.
We're not just meeting here for church. Lord, you've given us
this ministry. Enable us. Make us what you need
us to be. Enable us here in the ministry
which we've received. Okay, let's stand together.