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That's connectwithskip.com. Now let's get into today's teaching from Pastor Skip Heitzig. Now lately, and it's not just lately, but it's often on Wednesday nights, I will end the study right in the middle of a chapter and then pick up the next week right in the middle of the chapter. And so I'm not always following chapters. And you might be thinking, gosh, can't this guy get through a chapter or two? And there was a time when I could. And I've just found that as I go through the Bible a little bit more and maybe it's age, I slow down a little bit.
I see more. I feel like I want to plumb some of the depths and not just Skip over them. And so we don't always end nor begin exactly at the beginning or end of each chapter. And partly because we run out of time and we're going to be here the following week, Lord willing, unless Jesus comes back, which that's a welcome interruption. But other than that, we just plow through. Now I have to say this, I make no apologies for doing that, for stopping in the middle of a chapter and then picking up the following week.
And here's why. The chapters in your Bible and the verses in your Bible were not in the oldest copies of the manuscript. There were no numbers.
There were no chapters. It wasn't until the year 1227 that they first appeared. And they first appeared because a guy who is the archbishop of Canterbury at the time, Stephen Langton, decided that there should be an easier way for people to make reference to their Bibles to find where things are. So he came up with chapter divisions and verses. So they're not inspired by the Holy Spirit as the text is inspired by the Holy Spirit.
They're inspired by the archbishop of Canterbury, Stephen Langton. I think he did a good job, but certainly he is not infallible. And I disagree with some places that he has ended a chapter and began another one.
I think he missed some of the context or the flow. That's just my opinion. I'm not going to try to rewrite what he has done.
It's done. But 1227 is when they first appeared. That's when he first started it.
But they first appeared in a Bible in 1382, the Wycliffe translation into English was the first public Bible that had chapters and verses. So because of that, I make no apologies. I just sort of flow with the story and end at the appropriate moment. And I think we appropriately ended last time and are appropriately picking it up this time. So we're in Acts chapter 20. We're going to begin in verse 17.
Let me just catch us up to speed if we're not caught up to speed. The Book of Acts was written by whom? Luke. It is the sequel to the Gospel of Luke. It is volume two of Luke's historic writing.
Luke, a Gentile doctor. He writes probably for his master named Theophilus. He mentions him in chapter one, verse one and two of Luke, and he mentions him again in the beginning of the Book of Acts. Luke makes reference in the first chapter of Acts, saying the former account or the former treatise that I wrote to you, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day he was taken up. He is referring to the Gospel of Luke. And the Gospel of Luke ends in the city of Jerusalem. The Book of Acts begins in the city of Jerusalem, where Luke ends. But Acts ends in the city of Rome, where Paul is a prisoner for two years under house arrest. That's where it ends. And Luke, I believe, has a method to his madness, if you will.
He has a plan. He wants to show how the hope of the world that was centered in Jerusalem moved from Jerusalem to the center of the world, which is Rome. The events that happened in Jerusalem at a place just outside the city walls is the pinnacle of redemptive history.
Jesus died on a cross as a common criminal, was taken down and placed in a tomb. Three days later, he arose from the dead, and the hope of life change began in Jerusalem, outside the walls of Jerusalem that day. Luke picks up in Jerusalem and shows how the Holy Spirit is moving continually through the people of God once Jesus has ascended into heaven. So he wants to show how that hope that changes lives in Jerusalem can also change lives in different parts of the world and in Rome itself, the very heart and center of the world at the time. Thus, the theme of the book of Acts could be stated in a little phrase, from Jerusalem to Rome, from Jerusalem to Rome.
We're right in the middle of the narrative. We've been looking at, for several weeks, the ministry of God's ambassador, Paul. Saul, a.k.a.
Paul. Saul of Tarsus, now Paul the great apostle. He is on his third and his final missionary journey. Paul took his first journey. His second journey, he went over the same area and then expanded it. His third journey, he did the same thing, went over some of the same areas and then expanded it a little bit more. But here he wants to go to Jerusalem.
He purposed in his spirit to go to Jerusalem. So he begins his journey. He goes back over the area of Galatia, Phrygia, some of the same areas, goes, stops at Ephesus, doesn't spend much time there, goes through Macedonia, goes through Troas, and remember the story last time of Eutychus sitting in the window at Troas? And Paul just goes on and on and on and on.
Some people think I'm long-winded. Paul preached all night until midnight. Little Eutychus is up in the upstairs room and he's falling asleep, falls out the window, is pronounced dead by Dr. Luke. Paul goes down on the street as if to say, don't trouble yourself, this is no problem for God, and raises him from the dead, gives the kid a meal.
Paul goes back upstairs and teaches until daybreak. Then he sends everybody off to Miletus, that's where we're going to pick it up, and he himself goes on foot, walking to Miletus, probably to spend yet more time with the leadership of Troas and maybe even to witness along the way. He knows he needs to speak to the elders of the church at Ephesus. But he doesn't want to go directly to Ephesus, that would take more time out of his journey. He wants to make it to Jerusalem by Pentecost.
So he's on a tight schedule, he's looking at his watch every few minutes or his sundial every few minutes, like I got to get going. So he wants to give an address to the church leadership at Ephesus. His plan is to stop at the coastal town of Miletus, a town we have been to, some of us, and he has the Ephesian elders meet him there, so they have to take about a 50-mile walk, leaving Ephesus, going to Miletus to meet Paul for this very important journey. Now something else about the book of Acts, you have noticed, I hope, and you will notice again here. The Holy Spirit is mentioned here 42 times in this book. It could aptly be called not the Acts of the Apostles, but it could be named the Acts of the Holy Spirit through the Apostles. The Holy Spirit is moving. I'm bringing this up, I'm underscoring this because it might appear, and it would only be in appearance, it might appear that Paul is fighting the leading of the Holy Spirit.
Something I want you to see as we cover this section. So we're beginning in the middle of a chapter, we're going to end probably, Lord willing, in the middle of the next chapter because I want you to see the flow of that. Now he's speaking to the leadership, and when he does, there are three words that he uses to speak to these pastors, these leaders, and he uses all three in this sermon, in this message. He uses the word elder, he calls them elders. That's the word in Greek, presbuteros, elder, and he uses the term overseer, it's the Greek word episkopos, you've heard of episcopal, the episcopal church, speaks of a bishop-run church, speaks of a bishop-run church, so he uses elder, that comes from the Jewish community, he uses episkopos, overseer or bishop, that comes from the Greek community, and he uses the term shepherd or pastor.
Poimenos, which comes from the rural community, the life of breeding and watching sheep. So they're all used interchangeably here in this chapter as he feels compelled to give them this message. Something else, there's always something else with me, this is, in the book of Acts, the only message that is given to a Christian audience.
That's an interesting thing to note. All the other messages in the past, as far as recorded messages where you have kind of the outline or the wording of the message itself, is given to unbelieving Jews, unbelieving Gentiles, or used as a defense in a trial, like he will before Felix Festus and Agrippa later on. This is the only message in the book of Acts addressed to a Christian audience, and it's an audience of church leadership. You're listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig. Before we get back to Skip's teaching, we want to help you understand what real peace looks like, so you can experience it in your own life. That's why we want to send you a copy of Unleashing Peace, Experiencing God's Shalom in Your Pursuit of Happiness, by Jeremiah J. Johnston. This resource is our thanks for your gift of at least $50 today to help share solid biblical teaching with more people around the world through Connect with Skip Heitzig.
Go to connectwithskip.com slash offer or call 800-922-1888 and request your copy when you give at least $50 today to reach people around the world through Connect with Skip Heitzig. Let's continue with today's teaching with Pastor Skip. So I wanted to stop last week and reserve this section for this week in something you might look at as attributes of effective ministry, attributes of effective ministry. So let's just go through some of these verses, and we'll consider them. From Miletus, verse 17, he sent two Ephesus and called for the elders, presbyteras, of the church. And when they had come to him, he said to them, "'You know from the first day that I came to Asia in what manner I have always lived among you, serving the Lord with all humility, with many tears and trials which happened to me by the plotting of the Jews, how I kept back nothing that was helpful, but proclaimed it to you and taught you publicly and from house to house, testifying to Jews and also to Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord, Jesus Christ. And see now, I go bound in the Spirit to Jerusalem, not knowing the things that will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies in every city that chains and tribulation await me.'" Let's stop there and go back a couple of verses. He says in verse 18, "'You know from the first day that I came to Asia,'" that is Asia Minor, "'in what manner I have always lived among you.'"
There's the first mark of effective ministry, an open life. "'You've watched me. You've seen me.'" And boy, they did.
Three years. He taught them in the house in the school of Tyrannus for a couple of years and stayed a total of three years so they not only heard him, but they were able to have lunch with him. They were able to meet and pray with him. They interfaced with Paul, and they were able to not just listen to his messages, but watch his life.
He lived an open life. It's been said that most people would rather see a sermon than hear one because that's the one they'll remember. And anyone who's ever heard of it knows that. And anyone who steps into public ministry knows this. If you're in the worship team, you go into a restaurant, or you're a leader at the church, or you're the pastor of the church, you walk into a place, people recognize you, and you can always tell they recognize you because they'll turn to someone and go, "'I see you.'" So you know they're looking, you know they're saying, and you know they're watching. And they'll watch you like a hawk.
Public ministry is somewhat of a fishbowl. And I have people all the time that'll see me in a restaurant, or at a coffee shop, or at a place of business, and they'll walk up to me without even introducing themselves. They say, you can't go anywhere in this town without being recognized, can you? And you are, what's your name?
And love to meet you, and let's have a conversation. But Paul was with them for three years. They watched him. They studied his life as well as heard his messages. And the next one is found in the next verse, verse 19, serving the Lord with all humility.
That's the second mark right there. Second mark of an effective ministry is to be humble. Sometimes, not always, but sometimes you watch this unfortunate trajectory as the Lord begins to place His Spirit upon some person and use that person.
And if they're very young, I'm always on the lookout for this, because notoriety can go to somebody's head. The Lord begins to use a person. The power of the Lord works through someone, and they begin to inflate.
They get big-headed instead of big-hearted. And they can, not always, but they can become like little tyrants, little despots. There's an unfortunate passage in the book of 3 John, it's only one chapter to that book, 3 John, verse 9, about a guy named Diotrephes. And John writes this, I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to have the preeminence among them, would not receive us. There are those who, like Diotrephes, feel like they always want to be in the limelight, they always want to be the ones in charge, they don't want to collaborate. And that's dangerous. An open life, number one.
Humility, number two. I don't know if I've told you this story, but no doubt I have, because I've been doing this a long time, and I probably told every story. But many years ago, when I was in a band, a Maranatha band from Calvary Chapel in Costa Mesa, we were going out and doing little circuits and playing for whoever would ask us to play. So this church called and said, could you send a band?
And so we went out, and we were to be part of a church service, and the guy in charge, and I recall he was, how do I put this, a wee little fellow, a short diminutive kind of a guy. But boy, you would think he was eight feet tall, and he kind of was very commanding and demanding, and how the band set up, and where the amplifiers go, and where the drums should go, and he had no musical background. But we warmed up and did a song, and he listened to the levels of it, and he goes, you need to turn those drums down. Drummers said, well, I can't turn them down, I'm not plugged into anything, but I'll play lighter, because it's good, play lighter. So we went out and did another rehearsal, it was still too loud, and that guitar is too loud. And so my drummer Jack said, well, I can play with brushes instead of drumsticks, that'll lighten it up.
Yeah, play with brushes. And so we could do it, and it kept rehearsing, and he found one thing wrong after another, wouldn't even let us go through a song. So finally, the leader was the drummer, and he said, you know what, I don't think we're going to be playing here tonight. Well, you have to play, we've set it all up. No, I don't think it would be good for us to get behind your ministry, because it just seems you have a real heavy hand. We would rather go out to the park, and just whoever would listen to us, we'll do evangelism out there. So we didn't, we didn't play that night, we walked down to the park, got someone to turn on the electricity, and just did an open-air concert. But this guy was like a little diaprofies, he loved to have the preeminence among them.
And we felt if we were to play, we would be endorsing that shenanigans. So we refused to do that, and just played for whoever would come, and we saw people come to Christ. Paul was humble. Verse 19 continues, he says, serving the Lord with all humility, but watch this, with many tears and trials, which happened to me by the plotting of the Jews. A third mark of effective ministry, or at least mature ministry, is hardships. If you're gonna be worth your salt in serving the Lord, you must face difficulty. It's what hones you. It's what God uses as sandpaper to knock off your rough edges. And you might be thinking, I don't have any rough edges. Really, I'd love to talk to your wife about that, or your husband about that.
Lord knows you do. That's why you have so many trials and trials, and trials, so many trials and hardships. Now, notice the trials and hardships where they came from.
They came from people, which happened to me by the plotting of the Jews. Some people get into the ministry because they love to be in front of people, and they love people to approve what they do. They seek for human approval.
And if that is the motivation, all I can say is be prepared to be disappointed. A friend of mine wrote a book on the ministry, and he has a rule he calls the 10-10-80 rule. He said, if you go into a new place of ministry, 10% of the people are gonna love you just as soon as you show up. They like the way you look. They like the way you sound. They're gonna love you no matter what.
Another 10% will hate you automatically. They just don't like the way you look. They don't like the way you sound. They don't like your family. They don't like your dog. They don't like you. They're determined not to like you.
He said 80% of the people, the jury's still out. They wanna see if you're gonna feed them, teach them, love them, be humble, and so feed them the truth of the word of God, etc. The 10-10-80, he said that is very helpful in conditioning a person for serving the Lord. Paul said, I serve the Lord in humility, but that came with hardships, trials. And I said, they hone you. They make you more valuable. They make you better equipped for ministry.
So if you are serving the Lord, if you've gone through life track, you're now plugged into a place where you're getting to serve and you're getting some blowback and stuff. And don't worry of that. Well, I quit. I'm gonna just quit. Don't quit.
Find out where you fit, but keep going ahead. I love this illustration. It's years old, but you could take a bar of steel that is worth $5, but if you convert the steel and make horseshoes out of it, they'll be worth $20. If you take the same bar of steel and you make scalpels for surgical implements, surgical scalpels, blades for surgical scalpels, they're worth $350.
If you convert that bar of steel into make springs, tiny little springs for pens, you could make so many springs, they would be worth that one $5 bar of steel is now worth $250,000. The point is this, to get more value, you have to heat it up, shape it, beat it, heat it some more, beat it some more, heat it some more, beat it some more, get the picture. So if you wonder, why am I getting beat up so much? Why is the tap rising in my life?
More value, baby. God's honing you, strengthening you, using you. So don't bypass it. Let the Lord do His thing. Verse 20, how I kept back nothing that was helpful, but proclaimed it to you and taught you publicly and from house to house, testifying to Jews and also to Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.
I would sum these two verses up in a fourth principle of effective ministry, balance, balance. Thanks for listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig. We hope you've been strengthened in your walk with Jesus by today's program. Before we let you go, we want to remind you about this month's resource that will help you experience God's Shalom in life's busiest seasons. Unleashing Peace by Jeremiah Johnston is our thanks for your support of Connect with Skip Heitzig today. Request your copy when you give $50 or more. Call 800-922-1888.
That's 800-922-1888 or visit connectwithskip.com slash donate. And did you know that you can find full message series and libraries of content from Skip Heitzig on YouTube? Simply visit the Connect with Skip Heitzig channel on YouTube and be sure to subscribe to the channel so you never miss any new content. Come back next time for more verse-by-verse teaching of God's Word here on Connect with Skip Heitzig. Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never-changing truth in ever-changing times.
