Welcome to Connect with Skip Heitzig. We're glad you've joined us for today's program. Connect with Skip Heitzig exists to connect you to God's never-changing truth in ever-changing times through verse-by-verse teaching of His Word. That's why we make messages like this one today available to you and others on air and online. Before we begin the program, we want to let you know that you can keep in touch and in the know about what's happening with Connect with Skip Heitzig when you sign up for email updates. When you do, you'll also receive Skip's weekly devotional email to instruct and inspire you in God's Word each week. So sign up today at connectwithskip.com.
That's connectwithskip.com. Now let's get into today's teaching from Pastor Skip Heitzig. I want you 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.
And 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 on 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 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.
This is good, play lighter. So we 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 and that'll lighten it up.
Yeah, play with brushes. And so we could do it and 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 would walk 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 diatrophes. 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 going to 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 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. And it's a rule that he calls the 10-10-80 rule.
And it's a rule that he calls the 10-10-80 rule. He said if you go into a new place of ministry, 10% of the people are going to love you just as soon as you show up. They like the way you look. They like the way you sound. They're going to 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 want to see if you're going to feed 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 served the Lord in humility, but that came with hardships, trials. And I said they hone you. They make you more reliable. 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, don't worry of that. I'm going to 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 temp 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.
Now, look at those verses and notice how you have a couple of things that work together with each other. He says, I proclaimed it to you, verse 20, and taught you publicly and from house to house. I preached and I taught. I proclaimed it and I taught it.
I proclaimed it and I taught it. And I think that there needs to be in ministry, especially pulpit ministry, a balance. Preaching is necessary, proclaiming is necessary, but so is teaching. If every week you just get preached to, but you don't get instructed how to, you won't grow. If every week you need to love more, you need to serve more, you need to do this more, that you can preach and exhort all day long. But the poor sheep are wondering, how do I love more? How do I serve more?
Show me how to do it. That's where teaching comes in. And so, you know, sometimes we go, that'll preach or preach it. Well, sometimes, but other times, teach it. Show us the principle from God's word. So he proclaimed, there's the balance, and he taught. Something else in the balance.
I taught you publicly and from house to house. The large group environment, the small group environment, there's the balance. Not only that, but verse 21, testifying to Jews, that's one group of people, and also to Greeks, that's another group of people, there's balance. Secular audience, more of a sacred audience. And notice this, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.
You see all those couplets? That speaks of balance. Balance in ministry. Verse 22, and see, now I go bound in the Spirit to Jerusalem, not knowing the things that are going to happen to be there. Except that the Holy Spirit testifies in every city saying that chains and tribulation await me.
I'm going to call this sensitivity. I'm going to say that's the fifth mark of effective ministry. Sensitivity to the Holy Spirit.
What is the Holy Spirit saying? 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. Now as I bring this up, I am aware that there are some people, some good people, some godly people, some awesome anointed preachers who believe that Paul made a mistake in going to Jerusalem. He's bent on going there. They say, well, he made a mistake because that's where he gets arrested, goes to Jerusalem, he's going to get arrested, he's going to be taken to Caesarea for two years, have a mistrial, appeal to Caesar, then go to Rome for two more years, so he'll be in jail four years. He'll be confined.
He made a mistake. He was fighting the Holy Spirit who was trying to tell him not to go. If you believe that, all I can tell you is you're going to have to tell that to Paul the Apostle when you see him in heaven. I think he's going to have a different story for you.
In fact, I know what he's going to say because he already said it. When he's sitting in jail because he goes to Jerusalem, he writes Philippians 1 and he says, I want you to know, brethren, that the things which have happened to me have actually happened for the furtherance of the Gospel. The Gospel has not been hindered while I've been here in jail.
It has been furthered while I've been here in jail. I'm seeing God's hand in this. I'm seeing his plan in this. So I don't think Paul would agree that he made a mistake. I believe he was sensitive to the Holy Spirit when he's making this claim. Now, if you go back one chapter where we were last time, I want to show you a verse. Verse 21. Chapter 19, verse 21. He's in Ephesus, but it says, when these things were accomplished, Paul purposed in the Spirit. Notice the word Spirit there is capitalized. Is it capitalized in your Bible?
It is in mine. So that's the translators saying, we believe he's referring to the Holy Spirit here. That Paul purposed in the Holy Spirit, that he felt the Holy Spirit was leading him and he made a commitment at that point. He wrestled before the Lord and came out the other end of that wrestling match going, I believe the Holy Spirit wants me to go. He purposed in the Spirit when he passed through Macedonia and Achaia to go to Jerusalem, saying, after I've been there, I must also see Rome, which he will go see, but not how he thought. Compare that verse with the verses we just looked at in chapter 20. Verse 22. See, now I go bound in the Spirit, small s this time, that would refer the translators believe to his own personal spirit, right? But then look at verse 23, except the Holy Spirit testifies in every city that chains and tribulation await me. What does all this mean? How do we put all this together?
How do we make sense of this? Paul took it before the Lord, believed God wanted him to go to Jerusalem. So he in his own spirit purpose, I'm going there, realizing the Holy Spirit was warning him, if you go to Jerusalem, you're going to get beat up. You're going to suffer.
But here's what I want you to see. Paul the Apostle never confused a prediction with a prohibition. A prediction given by the Holy Spirit was not necessarily a prohibition by the Holy Spirit. He didn't take this as the Holy Spirit is closing the door saying no. And why is this important?
And how do I know this? Don't you think God is big enough to keep Paul out of a place God doesn't want him to go? Hasn't he done this so far? Didn't Paul want to go to a few different places, but it says the Holy Spirit forbade him, wouldn't let him go, even though he was bent on God's will, bent on going, doors were closed. He couldn't make it.
Whatever those circumstances were, God closed the doors, didn't let him go, made him go to Macedonia after giving him a vision. That same God is preparing Paul, not prohibiting Paul, for what lies ahead. That's how he views it. And now it's going to get worse. The warnings are going to get worse and worse as he gets closer and closer.
Now, I'm bringing this up because I think there's a practical application. You and I are sometimes very reluctant to ask the Lord to direct our lives. Oh, I know we say we are. Oh, Lord, bless me and direct me in whatever your will is. But if we're honest, we're banking on the Lord taking us to a comfortable, nice place, a beautiful place.
Why wouldn't He? He's the giver of all good gifts, and I'm His awesome servant. So we're reluctant in letting go completely until we hope that God will tell us where He wants us to go first, and then we'll go, okay, that's good. I surrender. When you step into ministry, now let me rephrase that. When you step into the Christian life, you relinquish all control. You relinquish all control.
You don't have rights over your life anymore. I remember before I moved here, I lived at the beach, and I would walk back and forth on the beach and ask the Lord to use me. And I remember having this conversation with Him. I said, Lord, I distinctly remember the afternoon. You know I love it right here. This is where I was born and raised, and I love this place, and I love what I do in this place. But I realize when I surrender to you, I abdicate control of my life to you.
You're in charge, not me. So that's how Paul lived his life. He viewed his life honestly. This is what I believe God wants me to do. Okay, I might suffer, but I'm purposing in the Holy Spirit to do it even though the Holy Spirit is testifying that these things await me. Now watch his response to this. Verse 24, back in chapter 20, verse 24, after saying that the Holy Spirit says change and tribulation await me, but none of these things move me, nor do I count my life dear to myself so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus to testify of the gospel of the grace of God. How do you stop a dude like that?
Answer, you don't. Only God can and will if need be. So I'm going to say then that the sixth characteristic of an effective ministry is this characteristic as seen in this verse, and that is determination. He's sensitive to the Holy Spirit, but he's determined that God is leading him, and he steps boldly into the future.
Now he wants to go to Jerusalem, wants to go to Jerusalem. Why? Why?
Two reasons. One we talked about last time. Anybody know?
Remember? An offering. He took an offering from Macedonian churches to support the poor saints in Jerusalem.
That's number one. Number two, and this is the real heart of it, because he loved them. He was Jewish. He studied in Jerusalem.
He sat at the feet of Gamaliel. He knew the blindness of the Pharisees and Sadducees and the Jewish people who crucified Christ along with the crowds and the Romans. He knew that. He was one of them.
He himself was blind. Let me read this to you. Romans chapter nine. I tell you the truth in Christ.
I'm not lying. My conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart, for I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen, according to the flesh who are Israelites. That's an amazing statement. Chapter 10 verse one. Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved.
Can you imagine making the statements that Paul made? I've come to satisfaction in Jesus Christ. I know salvation. I know truth, but I am willing to see my own life separated eternally from God if that means salvation for my brethren, the Jewish people. What a heart.
What a heart of love. The only parallel I find to that is Moses. Moses coming down from the mountain, looks in the camp, sees them committing idolatry with a golden calf, smashes those tablets.
You know the story. God says to Moses, Moses, move aside. I'm just going to wipe all these people out.
Start with you and start all over again. Now, I don't think God really wanted to do that. He was drawing the people out of the camp, drawing out the spirit of intercession in Moses, which worked. Because Moses said, Lord, please forgive the sin of these people.
But if not, blot my name out of your book. That's how much he identified with them. That's how much he loved them, that he begged for their forgiveness and was willing himself to be separated. So Paul was bringing in a financial offering, but he had a heart of love for this people. Broke his heart to see his own people who were supposedly waiting for the Messiah to come, not get excited that Jesus, their Messiah came. He saw it. He knew he was blind once.
He wants their eyes open. And so he mourned for them and he loved them. It's a great story about D.L. Moody. You've got to talk about him, the founder of Moody Bible Church in Chicago years ago, 1800s. Another preacher who knew him from Birmingham, England was R.W.
Dale, another one that I respect and I've read Dale's writings. He said this concerning D.L. Moody.
He said, D.L. Moody is the only person I know who's qualified to preach about hell. Because when Moody preaches on hell, there are tears in his eyes. When Paul preached to the Jews, he had a broken heart. There were tears in his eyes. So I'm going to Jerusalem.
None of these things move me. Move aside. I'm heading out by the will of God. Verse 25, and indeed, now I know that you all, he was southern, and indeed I know that you all, among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God, will see my face no more. He knows what is coming. He has an inkling.
He doesn't know the details exactly, but he knows it's not going to be pretty. Therefore, I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men, for I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God. 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 the 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. 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.
