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January 12, 2024
-Magedonia, Greece, in Troas-.
Key Verse 7: "On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul preached to them, and continued to speak until midnight, in order to travel the next day."
We want to lead as many people as possible to believe in Jesus Christ so they can have eternal life and live happily.
How can we be successful in our evangelistic ministry?
We can look to the ministry of Paul to answer this question.
When we look at Paul's missionary journey, we see that he was successful in spreading the gospel and making disciples.
Today we're going to take a look at Paul's ministry style.
I. Discipleship and teamwork (Acts 20:1-6)
The first verse of this chapter reads, "When the uproar had ceased, Paul called his disciples to him, comforted them, and departed, and set out to go to Maghedonia."
Early Christians were called "disciples".
In the New Testament, disciples are followers of Jesus. The term is a translation of the Greek word μαθηταί (matetai), which literally means apprentice or disciple.
In addition to the 12 disciples Jesus initially called, the Gospels mention 70 or 72 disciples (Luke 10:1). The term "disciple" eventually came to mean all Christians in early Christianity. Jesus' disciples were the first to be called Christians in Antioch (Acts 11:26).
These first Christians kept their faith in Jesus Christ and spread the gospel everywhere, despite the unfavorable circumstances of their time. That's why we can call them faithful Christians.
Today, the term "disciple" is used to describe people who are dedicated followers of Jesus. The first Christians were just such dedicated followers of Jesus.
The first verse of this chapter tells us that after the disturbance at Ephesus had ceased, Paul called all the disciples together and comforted them. Then Paul left the disciples and traveled to Maghedonia, where he exhorted them with many words, and came to Greece, where he remained three months. And he intended to go by ship to Syria; but he found that the Jews were pursuing him; so he turned back through Maghedonia.
Accompanying him were Sopater, the son of Pyrrhus, from Berea, Aristarchus and Secundus from Thessalonica, Gaius from Derbe and Timotheus as well as Tychicus and Trophimus from the province of Asia. These seven disciples of Jesus traveled ahead and waited for “us” in Troas. “Us” here means Paul and Luke, who was a doctor and author of the Acts of the Apostles. These people were Paul's mission team.
Paul didn't work alone like a lone wolf, he worked with a team. He knew he needed a team to accomplish the great task the Lord had called them to.
Luke lists here seven godly men who were part of this team. They were all faithful followers of Christ and helped to spread the gospel effectively.
Additionally, verses 5-6 show that Luke was traveling with Paul during this time. Luke uses the word "we" to show that he was with Paul as a first-hand witness.
So Paul was encouraging faithful believers to gather as a team and work together to spread the good news of Jesus.
What does this mean for us? Are we Christians who conform to the trends of the world? Or are we Christians like the early Christians?
We need to remember what the term "disciple" means. We are to follow Jesus and encourage others to believe in and follow Jesus Christ.
II. The Fellowship of the Saints (Acts 20:7)
Paul preached a very long sermon in Troas. He spoke late into the night, and a young man named Eutychus fell into a deep sleep and fell from a third-floor attic window. So Paul brought him back to life.
After Paul brought this young man back to life, they took the Lord's Supper and broke bread. Probably a week after the celebration of Easter, Paul and the Troas believers gathered on the first day of the first week, which for us would have been Saturday evening. Indeed, there is a Jewish ritual, Havdalah, that marks the end of the Sabbath and welcomes the beginning of a new week, because for Jews, evening marks the beginning of the next day, just as it does in Genesis 1.
Havdalah means separation or distinction. Most Jews and some God-fearing Gentiles would attend synagogue on the Sabbath and then rest at home, reading portions of the scriptures. At the end of the Sabbath, they would gather with their friends and perform the ritual of Havdalah. This gathering time was probably when the first Christians gathered together to break bread.
After the breaking of the bread, Paul had to leave the next day, so he continued to speak to the people until sunrise the next day.
All of these background facts are interesting to us, but the really important thing to look at here is found in these three words in verse 7: "We came together".
Why were the disciples gathered together, and what was the purpose of that gathering?
They came together to remember the Lord's death through the Lord's Supper and to thank Him for dying for their sins on the cross and rising from the dead to give them forgiveness of sins and eternal life.
They also came together to fellowship, to serve one another, and to be disciples of Jesus. They needed each other for bonding and encouragement. They needed this fellowship to encourage one another and to share the good news of Jesus with others. This sense of spiritual community played a huge role for the early Christians. This was an important ritual for the first Christians to do as disciples of Jesus.
We need it too! We need "spiritual community" and not just in church on Sunday morning. There is community everywhere in our daily lives. Community is connection. Community is a place of acceptance and belonging. The church is a team working together for a common purpose. We need to cultivate a sense of spiritual community so that followers of Christ can continue to grow and develop into who God wants them to be. We need authentic spiritual community so that others will want to become disciples of Jesus.
III. Resurrection Faith (Acts 20:7-12)
The Christians were gathered in the upper room of a house. Paul had been preaching from evening until midnight in order to continue his journey the next day. It was then that a young man named Eutychus was found sitting by the window, fast asleep, and had fallen to his death from the third floor.
Paul ran to the young man, embraced him, and with a heart of total trust in God, told the passersby, "He's alive!"
Why was he alive? Because Paul had prayed for him! Paul believed that God would breathe new life into Jairus, and He did!
Here we can think about raising the dead. For example, Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead to teach us about faith in the resurrection. And Paul raised the dead Judeo-Christian man back to life.
Both the resurrection of Lazarus and the resurrection of Jairus teach us that God is all-powerful and will surely raise us from the dead and give us eternal life in heaven.
Jesus' followers must trust God's word and firmly believe in the resurrection of the dead and heaven. Jesus Christ has defeated death and the power of the devil to give us eternal life and heaven. As followers of Jesus, we must believe that Jesus Christ always gives us the victory, and we too can defeat the power of death and enter heaven safely.
Our God is almighty, and he will give us healing, salvation, reconciliation, and eternal life in heaven. Amen!
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