Our text is going to be from
Acts chapter 20, but I'd like to read a passage of scripture
from Ephesians chapter four. And I'm going to attempt to preach
upon this subject, the Christian ministry. What is the Christian ministry? Verse 11, Ephesians chapter four. And he gave some apostles. And some prophets. And some evangelists. And some pastors and teachers
for. The perfecting. Of the saints. For the work. Of the ministry. for the edifying of the body
of Christ till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of
the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man, a mature
man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,
that we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro and
carried about with every wind of doctrine by the slight of
men and cunning craftiness whereby they lie and wait to deceive.
But speaking the truth in love, they grow up into Him in all
things, which is the head, even Christ. Now we see from this
passage of scripture what a vital interest we all have in the ministry. It's important for us to have
some understanding of what the ministry is because it has something
to do with our perfecting and with our maturing and with our
growth. Therefore, I want to know what
the ministry is. Paul said, God put me into the
ministry. Now in Acts chapter 20, verses
17 through 35, we're given a summary of what the Christian ministry
actually is. The qualifications of a pastor
are laid down in 1 Timothy chapter 3 and Titus chapter 1. But if you want to know what
the Christian ministry really is, Paul tells us what it is
in this passage of scripture. Now, if a man does not follow
this pattern that Paul lays down, then that man is not to be followed. That's how important this is.
Now, really, you and I are not going to follow Christ without
following the man. Paul said, follow me as I follow
Christ. Now, I want to know what the
ministry actually He is. Now in this passage of Scripture,
Paul knows that he's going to be seeing the Ephesian elders
for the last time, look in verse 25. He says, and now behold, I know
that you all among whom I've gone preaching the kingdom of
God shall see my face no more. He knew this was the last time
that he would see. these people. Now, Ephesus was
a big city. There were many churches which
made up the church at Ephesus. They didn't have cars the way
you and I do now. They would go meet in different
places. And Paul is calling for the elders
of the church at Ephesus to hear his final words. And in these
final words, he tells us what a the Christian ministry actually
is. I want to know, don't you? What
is the Christian ministry? Let's begin reading verse 17. And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus
and called the elders of the church. 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've been with you at
all seasons. And notice Paul spoke of the
manner he was with them at all seasons. Now, the first thing
I'd note about a true minister, a preacher of the gospel, a true
pastor, teacher, evangelist, whatever you want to call it,
is he's a stable man. He's the same at all seasons. You know, the Book of Proverbs
says, meddle not with them that are given to change. Somebody
is always changing, unstable. I don't want to listen to what
he has to say. The gospel is always the same. The preaching
of the gospel is always the same, and there will be a stability
of character in that one who is a true minister of the gospel. He says, I was with you at all
times and all seasons. I was the same. I wasn't up and
down and over here and over there. I was the same. Now, here's his
manner of life. Look in verse 19. He says, I
was the same at all seasons. You know the way I've always
been. And he says in verse 19, serving the Lord. Not serving myself. Not serving
my own interests. This is not about self-promotion.
This is not trying to build a ministry. This is not trying to build a
church. This is not serving the Lord. Not serving men. Not a servant of men, but serving
the Lord. The Christian ministry has something
to do with truly serving the Lord. He says, this is the way
I've been with you all seasons, serving the Lord. And the only
way you can serve the Lord is the way he says next, serving
the Lord with all humility of mind. You can't serve the Lord without
humility. What is humility? What's the opposite of pride? Humility, a just estimate of
oneself. Humility, it goes like this,
Paul said, I am what I am. By the grace of God, that's what
humility is. It's not necessarily low self-esteem. You know, you can have low self-esteem
and be as proud as a devil. As a matter of fact, most people
that have low self-esteem are people of great pride. It's not
low self-esteem. It's a just estimate of yourself.
I am what I am by the grace of God. I'm a sinner. And you know when I say that,
I say that with grief. Sin is so evil that it costs
the Son of God His life. That's how evil sin is. I'm not
saying this congratulating myself. I'm a sinner. I'm not talking
about what I used to be. I'm talking about what I am now.
Paul said regarding his sinfulness, he said, Christ Jesus came into
the world to save sinners of whom I am the chief. He didn't
say I was the chief. I'm the chief right now. Now
somebody says, well, what are you out doing? What are you doing? My heart. I know something about
my heart. And it's very simple. And the
only way I understand that is by the grace of God. It's only
the grace of God that can teach somebody that they're a sinner.
I am what I am by the grace of God. I'm a saint. I love saying
Saint Todd. It just sounds good to me. Saint
Todd. I'm a saint. I'm a sanctified one. I'm sanctified. I'm justified. I'm glorified. I am one with Christ. I'm united to Him. I'm one of
His children. I'm a Christian. I'm a believer. I'm saint. And I know it's by
the grace of God. It's not because of any works
I've produced. It's by the grace of God. I'm
a preacher of the Gospel. I know God has called me to preach
the Gospel. And I know it's an act of His
grace. Now, you serve the Lord and you
serve the Lord with all humility of mind. That's a just estimate
of yourself. I know that in and of myself,
I'm nothing but sin, but I also know who I am in Christ Jesus
and I am what I am by the grace of God. Now, let's go on reading.
Serving the Lord with all humility of mind and with many tears.
And temptations which befell me by the lying in wait of the
Jews. I serve the Lord with many tears. Now you may not see them. As a matter of fact, you don't.
I'm not a demonstrative person in that sense. I wish I was.
I wish I could cry easier. I have a hard time with that.
You may not see them, but they're there nonetheless. I may not
cry before you, but I cry before the Lord. Many tears. You see, while faith is not a
feeling, it sure produces feelings. Tears come from strong emotions,
don't they? You cry over what you feel strongly
about. Tears of sorrow. Tears of sorrow over my sin.
Tears of joy. The joy of the forgiveness of
sins. Tears of worship. Your eyes well
up in awe at the greatness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Just amazed
by His greatness and His glory. Tears of sorrow seeing people
that I love and pastor live in a way that does not honor the
Gospel. And that grieves me. Tears of
sorrow. Tears for the lost. Tears over
a false gospel being preached. Look in verse 31 of this same
text. He says, therefore, watch and
remember that by the space of three years, I cease not to warn
everyone night and day with tears. You know, it really makes me
distraught when you hear the gospel mangled and people not
hearing the truth. You can't serve the Lord without
tears. Now, the only problem with me
saying something like that is somebody's going to say, when's
the last time I cried? Well, I'll tell you what. Before the Lord, even if they
don't come out of your eyes, they come out of your heart. Tears. Serving the Lord with
many tears. And with the temptations that
befell me by the lying in wait of the Jews. Now, if you serve
the Lord, If you serve the Lord, you're
going to have the religious of this world against you. Every time. If you serve the Lord, the Jews,
the religious fellows, they're going to be against you. Because
they have no love for the message of the gospel. You're not going
to win any popularity contest with this world preaching the
true gospel. It's not going to happen. He
says, I had many temptations which befell me by the lying
in wait of the Jews. If a preacher is accepted by
this religious world, you can write this down. He's not God's
preacher. You know, our Lord said, woe unto them, woe unto
you when men speak well of you. For so did they in like manner
of the fathers to the false prophets. Now let's go on reading verse
20. He says, this is the way I was
with you. I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you,
but have showed you and have taught you publicly and from
house to house. I've kept back nothing that was
profitable to you. Now listen to this statement
real carefully. I want you to hear this. A false prophet is
usually defined not by what he says, but by what he does not
say. He said, I kept back nothing
that was profitable to you. Now, you may hear a preacher
and you may say, well, he said some good things. It may be that
everything he said was good. You would agree with it. You
didn't hear one thing that he said that you would disagree with.
Fine and dandy. But did he preach the gospel?
Did he preach the gospel that declares the righteousness of
God? The only gospel? I don't care
if he did say good things. Did he preach the truth concerning
who God is? Did he tell the truth concerning
who you are? Did he tell the truth concerning who Christ is
and what Christ actually accomplished and where He is now? Did he tell
the truth regarding how God saves sinners? Did he give the truth
regarding the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ? Did he give the
truth regarding the grace of God? I don't care if you agree
with everything he said. Did he preach the gospel? Paul
said, I can't back nothing that was prophetical to you. I tell
you what, if a man keeps something back, all he proves is he's a
false prophet. Now you can write that down.
Somebody who withholds information, he's a false prophet. Paul said,
I can't back nothing that was profitable to you, but have showed
you and have taught you publicly and from house to house. Paul
says, I didn't say one thing in public, but something else
in private. You know, there are a lot of preachers who believe
what we call sovereign grace in private. You talk to them
about it, they believe. I believe that. But they don't
preach it publicly. Now, that's called hypocrisy. That's all it's called. Paul
said my message was the same in private, was the same in public.
It was always the same. And here he gives a summary of
it. Let's go on reading. Verse 21. Here's the message
that I refused to not, I didn't withhold anything and I gave
the same message publicly and privately. Verse 21. Testify. Testify. Now, understand this
about preaching. It's testifying. It's bearing
witness to something. I'm not just Spitting out something
I read in a book. I'm a witness to this. I'm preaching as a witness. Somebody
who's seen something. God's taught me something. I'm
not just giving second-hand information. I'm a witness. That's the only
way. You can't preach what you haven't experienced. You really
can't. Any more than you can come back
from a place where you've never been. I'm testifying. I'm bearing witness. Testifying. both to the Jews and also to
the Greeks. You see, we don't have one message
for the Jews and one message for the Greeks. We don't have
one message for the religious and one message for the irreligious.
Everybody gets the same message, testifying both to the Jews and
also to the Greeks. Doesn't matter who you are, it's
the same message, testifying repentance toward God and faith
toward our Lord Jesus Christ. Repentance toward God. Now, there's no preaching of
the gospel without this. Repentance toward God. Well,
what's repentance mean? What is repentance? Have I repented?
Am I repenting? What is repentance? And I need
to ask that question because there's so much confusion regarding
this in the religious world because most people, when they think
of repentance, that means, well, if you're repentant, that means
you're real sorry and you stopped doing it. And I've got two problems with
that. First, when are you sorry enough? And second, in your heart, in
your heart, in your heart of hearts, what sin have you stopped
doing? Name me one. Have you quit being
proud? Have you quit being self-righteous?
I mean, I could go on and on and on. What is repentance? Well, the word means a change
of mind. I've changed my mind. God changed
my mind. Repentance toward God. I don't
see God the same way I used to see Him. By the grace of God,
I've changed my mind. Now, this change of mind also
involves a change of masters and a change of manners, as Brother
Mahan preached the other day. It involves a change of masters.
He's my master. He's my Lord. He's my Savior.
And there's a change of manners. If there's no change of manners,
there's no repentance. But what repentance is, essentially, it's
a change of mind toward God. You know, I used to think God
was too strict, too severe. I don't think that anyway, anymore.
I used to, I really did, I used to dislike the idea of the sovereignty
of God. I used to dislike the fact that
God had elected a people and there wasn't anything I could
do to make myself one of them. I used to dislike the fact that Christ
died only for the elect. I thought, why did He die for
everybody? I used to dislike His way of saving sinners. I disliked it. It took away my
hope. But what a blessed thing that
was when my hope was taken away and I was made to look to Christ
only. I used to dislike it, but not anymore. I've changed my
mind. I love the grace of God. There
was a time when I didn't, but I do now. And I'm repenting right now.
It's a change of mind that will be manifested in a change of
manners. What you believe is what comes
out of your mouth. It'll come out. It'll come out
in your conduct. It'll come out in your life.
Repentance. Repentance toward God. And here's
the evidence of repentance toward God. Faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Here are two things that always
go together. Repentance and faith. Wherever you have repentance
toward God, you'll have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. That
means you'll look to him only. The evidence of repentance is
faith in Christ. The evidence of faith in Christ
is repentance. And they can't be separated. I have repented
of anything that's contrary to faith in Christ alone. All my
eggs are in one basket. Christ said it is finished. All my eggs are in that basket.
And if that's not enough, then I'll be damned. That's my hope. Repentance toward God and faith
toward our Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 22. And verse 23, 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 witnesses
in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me. Now, Paul says, I know wherever
I go to preach the gospel, I'm going to get thrown in jail.
They're going to put my feet in stocks. I know that wherever
I go, the message that I preach, the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ, repentance towards God and faith toward the Lord Jesus
Christ, it's going to get me in trouble. I realize that. I see that men hate the gospel,
and I know that, and I realize that. But, he says in verse 24,
none of these things move me. Even though I know I'm going
to get thrown in jail for what I preach, none of these things
move me. Neither count I my life dear
unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy. And the ministry which I've received
of the Lord Jesus to testify the gospel of the grace of God.
Now, I'm not moved by this. In reality, Paul says, I don't
care what happens to me. I really don't. My life really is not dear to
me. The Lord knows whether or not
that's so, but my life is not dear to me. If Christ is glorified,
I'm satisfied. My life is not dear to me. Now, you know, the only way we
will ever be happy is by not trying to be happy. The world chases this elusive
dream. Oh, I want to be happy. I want
to be happy. I just want to be happy. I want to be happy. The
only way you're going to find joy in your life is by being
obedient. Don't seek to be happy. Seek
to be obedient. And joy will come from that.
If you seek to be happy, all you're going to do is make yourself
miserable, and you're going to make everybody else miserable.
You can just count on it. You're just going to step over
everybody and step on everybody in order to get this elusive
dream, and you're just going to become more and more miserable. Don't seek to be happy. It's
a waste of time. You'll just be miserable in doing
it. Seek to be obedient to whatever God says in His Word. Do what's
right. Do what's right. Joy comes from
that. Do what's right, but seeking
to be happy. Paul said, I don't count my life dear to myself
that I might finish my course with joy. And the only way he's
going to finish his course with joy is by not counting his life
dear to himself. Now, what was it Paul was about?
That I might finish my course with joy and the ministry which
I've received of the Lord Jesus to testify of the gospel of the
grace of God. Now, that's the purpose of the
Christian ministry is to testify the gospel of the grace of God.
The grace of God. Now, when the Bible talks about
grace, you listen to me real carefully. The Bible is talking
about saving grace. That's the only kind of grace
there is. Sovereign grace. When the Bible
talks about grace, we're talking about electing grace. The fact
that God chose who would be saved before the foundation of the
world, and they're the only ones who are going to be saved. Electing
grace. The Bible talks about justifying
grace. That means the grace of God justifies
me. It makes me without guilt before
God. I'm not guilty. Christ's righteousness
is my justifying grace, redeeming grace, grace that pays for all
my sins. You see, our Lord Jesus Christ,
when He died, He died for the elect and put away their sin. And it is no more. I talked to a guy just this week.
He said, well, I believe in the justice of God. And I said, well,
me and you have two different views of justice because you
believe that Jesus Christ can actually pay somebody's debt
and pay for their sin and they can wind up in hell anyway. You
tell me where there's justice there. There's no justice there
at all. No, the blood of Christ put away
my sin If Christ died for me, I'm saved. Redeeming grace. Life-giving
grace. That's regeneration. It gives
me life. Preserving grace. It keeps me
walking with Christ. It keeps me. The reason I don't
fall away is He preserves me. That's the kind of grace of God
we're talking about. I'm testifying. I'm bearing witness. This is the grace that saved
me. Listen, when I'm preaching the grace of God, I'm not just
talking about something I've read about. I'm talking about
something I've experienced. The grace of God that brings
salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that denying
ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly and righteously
and godly in this present world. The grace of God. Paul said my
ministry is to testify of the gospel of the grace of God. Verse 25. And now. Behold, I know that
you all among whom I've gone preaching the kingdom of God
shall see my face no more. Wherefore. I take you to record
this day that I am pure. from the blood of all men, for
I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God. Now, that word shunned, it means
to let the sail down just a little bit, let the sail down just a
little bit so the boat doesn't go quite so fast through the
water. It's backing up. I've not shunned
to declare unto you all the counsel of God. Now, Paul says, if you
are damned, It will not be because I did not tell you the truth.
I've not shown to declare unto you all the counsel of God. If a man or woman goes to hell,
I don't like talking about hell, but there's so much in there
in the Bible about it. If a man or woman goes to hell,
it will not be because they never heard the gospel. It will be
because of their sin. Now understand that. If a man
or woman goes to hell, it'll be because of their sin. But
Paul says, if I know the way of salvation and don't tell them,
I'll be held responsible. That's what he's saying about
that. He said, but I'm pure from the blood of all men. Now, if
I know that if you leave this room, you'd be killed. Now, if you left the room and
be killed, it'd be your fault. But what if I knew about it and
Fail to warn you. I'd be guilty of murder, wouldn't
I? I'd be in complicity. I can't remember what the word
is, but I'd have something to do with murder. Now, Paul said,
you can't say that about me. I've not failed. I've not shunned
to declare unto you all the counsel of God. Now, the implication
is if somebody has not heard the whole counsel of God, they
will not be saved. You see, a half gospel never
saved anybody. I must hear, I must believe,
I must receive the whole counsel of God. Now, what is the whole
counsel of God? I know this, if I shun to declare
the whole counsel of God, I'm a false prophet. Nobody will
be saved by my message. What is the whole counsel of
God? Does Paul mean when I've not shunned to declare to you
the whole counsel of God, does that mean he says every time I preach,
I preach everything I knew. Well, Paul was a long preacher. He
did preach long, certainly. I think that's interesting, that
passage of scripture in, I think it's Acts 19 or Acts 20, where
he preached all the way to midnight and somebody fell out of the
roof. And, you know, even Luke said he was long in preaching.
He's long in preaching. I think it's interesting. Somebody
says, I wish you'd go on. Yeah, let me go on long enough
and we'll see how. I like what Charles Spurgeon
said. He said, I don't care what you preach about, preach about
40 minutes. That's a pretty good rule of thumb, I think. Preach
about 40 minutes. But where am I going with this? I forgot what I was. Talk about
long. Oh, I know what I was talking
about. All right. Oh, where in the world? That's what happens
when I get off my nose. I start going. Preachers get
off, they go off rabbit chasing different things. But Paul was
saying, I've not shunned declaring you all the counsel of God. That
doesn't mean that you preach every doctrine that you know
and try to get that all in. What he's saying is, is every
time I preach, I don't hold anything back. Here's an example. Here's
an example. I preach the sovereignty of God.
The absolute sovereignty of God. God reigns. He's in control.
Now, if I preach the sovereignty of God, but fail to preach or
to hide the responsibility of men, I've not preached the sovereignty
of God. If I lead that human responsibility,
I've failed to preach the whole counsel of God. If I preach human
responsibility, Without preaching the sovereignty of God, I failed
to preach human responsibility. I have not really preached the
whole counsel of God. Now, here's an example of what
I'm talking about. Martin Luther made this statement, and I think
he was true when he said it. He said, a church stands or falls
upon the article of justification. A church is a real church if
they really believe what the Bible teaches about justification,
and if they don't, They're not really, God's not in it. And
I would agree with that. Okay, justification. What's the
Bible teach about justification? The Bible teaches justification
by grace. In other words, this is an act
of God. He justified you. As an act of
His grace, He decided, Todd Norbert is just, and I'm just I am. If
God says I'm just, I am. Is justification by grace? Justification
by blood? His blood washed away my sins,
so I really stand just before God. Justification by blood.
And there's scriptures for every one of these. Romans 3, 24, justification
by blood. Romans 5, 9. Justification by
faith. You don't have a reason to even
suspect that God has justified you if you don't believe the
gospel. Faith is the evidence that God's done something for
you. Justification by faith. But the scripture also speaks
of justification by works. You know what James says, a man
is justified by works and not by faith only. It's your works
that will prove whether or not you really have faith. And if
those works are absent, you know what else is absent? Faith. Justification
by works, and then justification by words. The Lord said in Matthew
chapter 12, by your words you'll be justified, and by your words
you'll be condemned. Your speech will line up with
justification by grace, justification by blood, justification by faith,
justification by works. What you say will go right on
with it, and if you say something contrary to that, you prove you
don't really believe any of it. Now, here's the point. Those
five aspects of justification, you leave out any one of them,
You don't really have the true doctrine. Justification by grace,
by blood, by faith, by works, by words. Which one of those
aspects can you leave out and still have biblical justification?
You can't do it. Paul said, I preach to you the
whole counsel of God. I haven't left anything out. Verse 28. Take heed, therefore, he says
to the Ephesian elders, unto yourselves. I tell you what, this scares
me. Preaching the gospel scares me. I don't want to misrepresent
God. You know, Paul said, woe unto
me if I preach not the gospel. He just didn't mean I'm going
to have it bad. When God said woe, it means woe. Woe unto me
if I preach not the gospel. I want to preach God's gospel. Woe unto me if I don't. He said,
now you take heed to yourselves. Don't have some kind of cocksure,
arrogant attitude. Oh, Lord, teach me, keep me,
preserve me. Take heed to yourselves and to
the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers,
to feed the church of God which he hath purchased with his own
blood." What is the job of the preacher? To feed the church
of God. To feed them with the gospel.
That church which he purchased with his own blood. That's what
makes the church of God special. It's God's church. He purchased
it with his own blood. You make sure you feed the church
of God which He purchased with His own blood. Verse 29, For
I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in
among you, not sparing the flock, also of your own selves shall
men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples
After then, now I'm warning you about this. After my departing, wolves are
going to come in. They're not going to spare the
flock, even some of you fellows that I'm talking to. There's
going to be a rise up out of you speaking perverse things,
things contrary to the gospel in order to draw away disciples
after them. You see, self-promotion is behind
the false prophet. He's seeking to draw away disciples
after himself. And Paul said, I warn you about
this. I warn you night and day with tears. He says in verse
31, Therefore, watch, watch, be on your guard about this.
And remember that by the space of three years, I cease not to
warn everyone night and day with tears. Now, what's the job of
a pastor or a shepherd? What's to feed the church? It's
to protect it from wolves. To watch out for wolves. And
he says, watch out. By the space of three years,
I'll warn you night and day with tears. Verse 32. And now, brethren, I commend you to God. And to
the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to
give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified. Now, here's the true minister's
hope. Not my ability as a pastor. I commend you to God, I entrust
you to God and to the word of his grace. You know, God is never
separate from the word of his grace. Wherever you have God,
you have the word of his grace. wherever you truly have the word
of his grace, you have God, and he's able to build you up and
to give you an inheritance among them that are sanctified to make
you meet for the inheritance of the saints in life. That's
who I'm commending you to. That's who I'm entrusting you
to. Not my ability to preach, but to God himself and to the
word of his grace. He's that's able to build you
up and give you an inheritance among all of them which are sanctified.
And look what he says next in verse 33. I've coveted. Now Paul's giving a summary of
the ministry. He says, I've coveted no man's silver or gold or apparel. Now you can write this down.
A covetous preacher is a false prophet. If that's what he's
about. I've coveted no man's silver
or gold or apparel. I don't want what belongs to
you. I want you. I want you to know the Lord.
I want me to know the Lord. I want us to know the Lord together,
but as far as covetousness, I've coveted no man's silver or gold
or apparel. The ministry is not a job that
you try to get pay raises and all that kind of stuff. It's
a calling. It's a calling. It's not a profession. It's a
calling. I read, and I believe this, I
believe this, you listen to this, I read one of the, some Puritan,
he said the ministry, the ministry, preaching, Preacher is the occupation
that will have the greatest percentage of its members in hell. That's a sobering thought, isn't
it? Covetous preachers. He said,
I coveted no man's silver or gold or apparel. Verse 34. Yea, you yourselves know that
these hands have ministered unto my necessities and to them that
were with me. And I showed you all things,
how that so laboring, it's a labor, how that so laboring you ought
to support the weak and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus,
how he said it's more blessed to give than to receive. A minister, a true minister,
is a giver, not a taker. And it's more blessed to give
than to receive. When the gospel is preached,
people give and there is joy in giving. It's more blessed.
And you know, let me ask you a question. Would you rather give a thousand
dollars or receive a thousand dollars? Good question, isn't it? I don't
know where the figure $1,000 came from. It's what popped up
into my mind. Would you rather give $1,000 or receive $1,000? Speaks a lot about the state
of our heart, doesn't it? It's more blessed to give than
to receive. And I tell you what, the true
preacher better set the example in giving. It's more blessing
to give than to receive. Verse 36, And when he had thus
spoken, he kneeled down and prayed with them all. And they all wept
sore and fell on Paul's neck and kissed him, sorrowing most
of all for the words which he spake, that they should see his
face no more. And they accompanied him to the ship. Let's pray.