{"id":21465,"date":"2022-05-04T22:00:35","date_gmt":"2022-05-05T05:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/acts_20_13-24-copy\/"},"modified":"2022-04-26T22:55:48","modified_gmt":"2022-04-27T05:55:48","slug":"acts_20_25-38","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/acts_20_25-38\/","title":{"rendered":"Live with the End in Sight: 5 Characteristics of Someone Who Finishes Well"},"content":{"rendered":"

Acts\u00a0 20:25-38 \u00a0 Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi\u00a0 GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Acts 20:25-38.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Acts 20:25-38 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n25\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“Now I know that none of you among whom I have gone about preaching the kingdom will ever see me again.
\n26\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Therefore, I declare to you today that I am innocent of the blood of all men.
\n27\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God.
\n28\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood.
\n29\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock.
\n30\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them.
\n31\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.
\n32\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.
\n33\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0I have not coveted anyone’s silver or gold or clothing.
\n34\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0You yourselves know that these hands of mine have supplied my own needs and the needs of my companions.
\n35\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.'”
\n36\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0When he had said this, he knelt down with all of them and prayed.
\n37\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0They all wept as they embraced him and kissed him.
\n38\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0What grieved them most was his statement that they would never see his face again. Then they accompanied him to the ship.
\n<\/em>
\nOn verses 25-38:\u00a0 Here Paul continues his final charge to the elders of the church in Ephesus, knowing that this would be the last time he ever sees them.\u00a0 From this address in the verses that follow we will learn from Paul some of the characteristics that make an excellent leader and lover of God\u2019s church.\u00a0 Since you and I were made to be excellent leaders and lovers of God\u2019s church, I pray that you and I would be intentional about displaying these characteristics as well.<\/p>\n

In these verses we learn from Paul that if you want to be an excellent leader and lover of your church, you want to:<\/p>\n

(1) be careful to lead an exemplary life, for a godly leader leads by example (v26, 33-35);<\/p>\n

(2) be faithful with the assignment God has given you to serve the church (v27);<\/p>\n

(3) keep a loving, watchful eye out for your fellow leaders and those you lead (v28);<\/p>\n

(4) remember that the church is Christ’s church, whom He bought with His blood (v29);<\/p>\n

(5) be on guard against opposition and lies that could distract or divide the people (v29-31).<\/p>\n

Some other lessons I learn from this passage are:<\/p>\n

– Knowing it\u2019s the last time he would see the Ephesian Christians, Paul commits them to God (v32, 36).\u00a0 Likewise,\u00a0when you\u2019ve done everything you can do to help a situation or a person, the only thing left to do is to commit and surrender that situation or person to God<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

– Paul was an excellent leader in part because he never let the end out of his sight; in other words, Paul always knew how he wanted to finish this life.\u00a0 He saw each day as a means to that end.\u00a0 Likewise,\u00a0at the end of your life, what kind of statement do you want to make (not just with your words but with your example)?\u00a0 How do you want to finish this life?\u00a0 May you begin today with that end in mind.<\/strong>\u00a0 Sometimes we can be so caught up in the middle of our struggle that we don\u2019t think about the end and how we want to finish.<\/p>\n

– Finally we learn from this passage that the word of God (“the word of His grace”) can build us up and give us an inheritance along with others who place their faith in Jesus (v32).\u00a0 So may we get ourselves into the Word of God every day.<\/p>\n

Father, I pray that I would be, for the people around me, an excellent leader and lover of my church.\u00a0 I also pray that I would love, seek out, and hunger for Your Word, which can build me up and give me an inheritance.\u00a0 May Your Word be our wisdom, our guide and our hope today and every day.\u00a0\u00a0In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi\u00a0 GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Acts 20:25-38.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Acts 20:25-38 (NIV)
\n25\u00a0\u00a0“Now I know that none of you among whom I have gone about preaching the kingdom will ever see me again.
\n26\u00a0\u00a0Therefore, I declare to you today that I am innocent of the blood of all men.
\n27\u00a0\u00a0For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God.
\n28\u00a0\u00a0Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood.
\n29\u00a0\u00a0I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock……<\/p>\n

On verses 25-38:\u00a0 Here Paul continues his final charge to the elders of the church in Ephesus, knowing that this would be the last time he ever sees them.\u00a0 From this address in the verses that follow we will learn from Paul some of the characteristics that make an excellent leader and lover of God\u2019s church.\u00a0 Since you and I were made to be excellent leaders and lovers of God\u2019s church, I pray that you and I would be intentional about displaying these characteristics as well.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21467,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21465","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21465","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21465"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21465\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21468,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21465\/revisions\/21468"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21467"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21465"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}