{"id":32463,"date":"2024-09-05T22:00:54","date_gmt":"2024-09-06T05:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/acts-20_25-38-copy\/"},"modified":"2024-08-02T10:06:40","modified_gmt":"2024-08-02T17:06:40","slug":"acts-21_1-14","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/acts-21_1-14\/","title":{"rendered":"The Best Things In Life Don\u2019t Come Without THIS"},"content":{"rendered":"

Acts 21:1-14 \u00a0 (CLICK HERE FOR\u00a0BIBLE VERSES)<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Acts 21:1-14.\u00a0 As usual,\u00a0I encourage you to read the passage yourself first and see what you can glean with the Holy Spirit\u2019s help, then read the GAME sharing below.\u00a0 Let’s go!<\/p>\n

Acts 21:1-6 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n1\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0After we had torn ourselves away from them, we put out to sea and sailed straight to Cos. The next day we went to Rhodes and from there to Patara.
\n2\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0We found a ship crossing over to Phoenicia, went on board and set sail.
\n3\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0After sighting Cyprus and passing to the south of it, we sailed on to Syria. We landed at Tyre, where our ship was to unload its cargo.
\n4\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Finding the disciples there, we stayed with them seven days. Through the Spirit they urged Paul not to go on to Jerusalem.
\n5\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0But when our time was up, we left and continued on our way. All the disciples and their wives and children accompanied us out of the city, and there on the beach we knelt to pray.
\n6\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0After saying good-by to each other, we went aboard the ship, and they returned home.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 1-6: \u00a0Paul believed that the Holy Spirit was leading him to go to Jerusalem (see Acts 20:22).\u00a0 Yet in verse 4 we read that \u201c[t]hrough the Spirit\u201d Christians in Tyre \u201curged Paul not to go to Jerusalem\u201d.\u00a0 Was the Holy Spirit giving contradictory directions?\u00a0 I don\u2019t think so.\u00a0 God is not double-minded, so I think the best way to understand verse 4 is that the Holy Spirit had moved Paul\u2019s heart to go to Jerusalem and at the same time impressed it upon the Christians in Tyre to warn Paul that great hardship lay ahead of him if he were to go.\u00a0 In light of this oncoming hardship, the natural reaction of these Christians in Tyre who loved Paul was to urge Paul not to go. \u00a0But Paul, still believing God was leading him to Jerusalem, continues on his way there (v5).<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0\u00a0We need to be careful to distinguish what we want from what we think God wants.<\/strong>\u00a0 Sometimes it\u2019s tough to tell.\u00a0\u00a0If you\u2019re not sure, it helps to do the following<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Measure up what you want (or what you think God wants) with what God says in the Bible.\u00a0 Is it consistent with God\u2019s directions for our lives as stated in Scripture?\u00a0 God will never tell you to do something that contradicts His already written Word.<\/li>\n
  2. Get good advice from people whom you know and whose judgment you respect.<\/li>\n
  3. Here\u2019s something I\u2019ll do when I\u2019m weighing two options and I\u2019m not sure which one God wants me to take:\u00a0 I\u2019ll surrender both options to God and say to God, \u201cGod, whichever direction You say is best, I\u2019m willing to go in.\u201d\u00a0 Then, after surrendering both options to God, ask God again, and as I listen for His direction, the option that comes with the most peace could very well be the one that God wants me to go in.\u00a0 If I don\u2019t have peace about either option, it could be that there\u2019s a third option to consider or a different way of looking at the situation.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Sometimes because we feel so strongly about something, or we have a very strong personal bias, we can let our feelings and our bias get in the way of God\u2019s leading.\u00a0 That\u2019s why it\u2019s important not to rely on feelings alone when making important decisions.<\/p>\n

    Acts 21:7-9 (NIV)<\/strong>
    \n7\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0We continued our voyage from Tyre and landed at Ptolemais, where we greeted the brothers and stayed with them for a day.
    \n8\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Leaving the next day, we reached Caesarea and stayed at the house of Philip the evangelist, one of the Seven.
    \n9\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0He had four unmarried daughters who prophesied.<\/em><\/p>\n

    On verses 7-9:\u00a0 The same Philip who did great miracles in Samaria (Acts 8:6-7) and who helped the Ethiopian eunuch find faith in Jesus (Acts 8:26-40) is now living in Caesarea raising 4 daughters who, like their dad, all exercise the gift of prophecy.\u00a0 Praise God!\u00a0 Like Philip, I pray that the next generation that you raise would love God and serve Him powerfully.\u00a0\u00a0For the church was never meant to be a one generation wonder, but a force to be reckoned with from generation to generation.<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Acts 21:10-14 (NIV)<\/strong>
    \n10\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0After we had been there a number of days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea.
    \n11\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Coming over to us, he took Paul’s belt, tied his own hands and feet with it and said, “The Holy Spirit says, ‘In this way the Jews of Jerusalem will bind the owner of this belt and will hand him over to the Gentiles.'”
    \n12\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0When we heard this, we and the people there pleaded with Paul not to go up to Jerusalem.
    \n13\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then Paul answered, “Why are you weeping and breaking my heart? I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.”
    \n14\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0When he would not be dissuaded, we gave up and said, “The Lord’s will be done.”<\/em><\/p>\n

    On verses 10-14:\u00a0 Speaking of prophetic, Paul is reunited with Agabus, who earlier prophetically foretold the famine that would hit the region (see Acts 11:27-28).\u00a0 Now Agabus prophetically acts out what would happen to Paul when he went to Jerusalem.\u00a0 Upon seeing this, people who love Paul urge Paul not to proceed to Jerusalem, but Paul would not be dissuaded.<\/p>\n

    Some people call this moment \u201cPaul\u2019s Gethsemane\u201d, comparing this moment to when Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane and struggled about going to the cross before finally doing so.\u00a0 I\u2019m not so sure that Paul struggled that much with the decision at this moment.\u00a0 It seems that he had made the decision a while ago in his heart that this is what he was going to do.\u00a0 If anyone, it was the people around Paul that struggled with his decision and had to surrender the situation to God.\u00a0 It was more the people\u2019s Gethsemane than Paul\u2019s.<\/p>\n

    What can we learn from this?<\/p>\n

    First, there may be times when people who genuinely love you will try to dissuade you from going in a direction that God wants you to go in.\u00a0 They do this out of love, simply because they don\u2019t want to see you get hurt.\u00a0 Paul had wrestled with this decision internally for a while and thus he was able to distinguish his friends\u2019 sentiments of not wanting to see him get hurt from the call of the Holy Spirit to go to Jerusalem.\u00a0 Similarly, sometimes you need to distinguish people\u2019s sentimentality (and even your own feelings), especially when such sentimentality and feelings are leading you in a direction that is opposite of where you believe God has already called you to go.<\/p>\n

    Second, sometimes the way God wants us to go is not the easy way but the hard way.\u00a0 That\u2019s not because God loves hardship.\u00a0 It\u2019s because\u00a0certain things, in fact the best and most valuable things, don\u2019t come without hardship<\/strong>.\u00a0 That goes for the birth of every child.\u00a0 That goes for the achievement of any goal worth working toward.\u00a0 That goes for the closest relationships and the best marriages.\u00a0 That goes for our forgiveness and salvation, which Jesus suffered greatly to give us.\u00a0 Praise God.\u00a0\u00a0The greatest things are worth fighting for, even dying for.<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Holy Spirit, please give me the wisdom to discern what is best.\u00a0 May I not make important decisions simply out of emotion or bias, but with Your wisdom and Your perspective.\u00a0 In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n

    <\/div>\n
    <\/div>\n

    Copyright \u00a9 2022 Justin Lim. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

    Today\u2019s passage is Acts 21:1-14.\u00a0 As usual,\u00a0I encourage you to read the passage yourself first and see what you can glean with the Holy Spirit\u2019s help, then read the GAME sharing below.\u00a0 Let’s go!\u00a0<\/p>\n

    Acts 21:1-6 (NIV)
    \n1\u00a0\u00a0After we had torn ourselves away from them, we put out to sea and sailed straight to Cos. The next day we went to Rhodes and from there to Patara.
    \n2\u00a0\u00a0We found a ship crossing over to Phoenicia, went on board and set sail.
    \n3\u00a0\u00a0After sighting Cyprus and passing to the south of it, we sailed on to Syria. We landed at Tyre, where our ship was to unload its cargo.
    \n4\u00a0\u00a0Finding the disciples there, we stayed with them seven days. Through the Spirit they urged Paul not to go on to Jerusalem.<\/p>\n

    On verses 1-6: \u00a0Paul believed that the Holy Spirit was leading him to go to Jerusalem (see Acts 20:22).\u00a0 Yet in verse 4 we read that \u201c[t]hrough the Spirit\u201d Christians in Tyre \u201curged Paul not to go to Jerusalem\u201d.\u00a0 Was the Holy Spirit giving contradictory directions?\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32465,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32463","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\/32463","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=32463"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32463\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32466,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32463\/revisions\/32466"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32465"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32463"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32463"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32463"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}