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Hi, this is Pastor Tom, and I want to welcome you to week 5, day 3, chapter 21
of our look together through the book of Acts. You might have noticed these last
couple of days we've been talking about Paul heading toward Jerusalem, and he's
been with us through this entire study of Luke and Acts. You're probably seeing
the parallel.

Jesus set his face to go to Jerusalem, and here is Paul in Acts determined to go
to Jerusalem. But that's where the similarity ends. Jesus was going to his death
and resurrection in Jerusalem.

Paul was going to tell the story of Jesus' death and resurrection as he went to
Jerusalem. He was going to tell the story of what happened with Jesus. And here
in Jerusalem, as Paul walks into this city, it seems in one sense that
everything starts to go wrong.

As successful as things look from the outside at Ephesus at the beginning of our
week as we looked at chapter 19, Jerusalem, it looks like a disaster from even
before Paul arrives. And in this seemingly disastrous ministry start in
Jerusalem, you and I learn some very important lessons in ministry and serving.
Remember, every member is a minister.

We all serve God. The word minister does not mean those who serve in church. It
means servant.

And every one of us is to be a servant of God wherever we are. So what are the
lessons in ministry and service that we learn from Paul in these tough days?
Lesson number one is this.

Not my will, God, but your will. Not my will, but your will. As Paul is heading
toward Jerusalem, people keep telling him not to go there because they had a
sense of what was going to happen when he arrived.

And so in verses three to four of chapter 21, after sighting Cyprus, they're
heading toward Jerusalem. After 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.

Finding the disciples there, we stayed with them seven days. Through the Spirit,
they urged Paul not to go to Jerusalem. They knew that danger awaited him there,
so they urged him not to go.

But and this is important, as followers of Jesus, logic is not what guides us.
Faith is what guides us. Logically, Paul should not have gone.

It was a dangerous situation to walk into, but Jesus was telling him to go. So
logic is not what guides us. Faith is what guides us.

By the way, false courage, false bravery is neither what guides us. Some people
think they have faith because they do the stupid thing. It still has to be faith
that guides us.

And Paul was being guided to Jerusalem. He gets another warning in verses 10 to
14. After we'd been there a number of days, he goes to a different place and a
prophet Agabus comes down from Judea.

Coming over to us, he took Paul's belt. He tied his own hands and feet with it
and he 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. '" When we
heard this, we and the people there pleaded with Paul not to go to Jerusalem.

Then 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. "
When he would not be dissuaded, we gave up and said, "The Lord's will be done.

" Now remember, when we hear "we" here, it's because Luke was there. Luke was
present for some of the things that happened in the book of Acts, so as he
writes about it, he is an eyewitness. We gave up and said, "The Lord's will be
done.

Not my will, but your will. " It's one of the great lessons in ministry, one of
the toughest lessons of ministry. When you come to that point where you give up,
and it is a giving up, and you say, "The Lord's will be done.

" You see, they were right in assuming that Paul would face danger, but they
were wrong in determining that meant he should not go. As a believer, once
again, your direction is not determined by facts and logic. It is determined by
faith, hope, and love.

And that was the guiding principle, that was the guiding strength in Paul's
life. Jesus's direction in his life. So not my will, but your will.

That's what you learn in the tough days of ministry. A second thing you learn in
these tough days when things start to fall apart is there are big issues that
must constantly be dealt with. They will never die in your ministry, in your
service.

Whether you're ministering to your kids, or to a church, to your family, there
are some things that are always going to be there. You wish you could get them
dealt with and done, but you're going to have to deal with them the rest of your
life. I don't like that, but it's true.

Listen to how this was true for Paul in verses 17 to 22. When we arrived at
Jerusalem, the brothers received us warmly. The next day, Paul and the rest of
us went to see James, and all the elders were present.

Paul greeted them and reported in detail what God had done among the Gentiles
through his ministry. When they heard this, they praised God. "Then," they said
to Paul, "you see, brother, how many thousands of Jews have believed, and all of
them are zealous for the law.

They have been informed that you teach all the Jews who live among the Gentiles
to turn away from Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or to
live according to our customs. What shall we do? They will certainly hear that
you have come.

" So here we are in chapter 21 dealing with the same issue that they were
dealing with back in chapter 15, and I thought we dealt with it in chapter 15.
They'd solved it, they'd settled it, they'd had a conference, they'd sent out a
letter. Here we are back to dealing with it.

This is a reminder that relational problems and spiritual problems are not like
math problems. A math problem you can solve, it's done. Relational problems and
spiritual problems, you have to solve it, and then solve it again, and then
solve it again, and solve it again.

It's something like painting the Golden Gate Bridge. You've heard that old
legend how the bridge has to be painted again and again and again and again, and
that's true. There is truth to that.

It is always being touched up constantly so that it doesn't rust. You can't ever
just let it go, and there are problems, there are issues like that in your life,
in your family, in your church, in your business. You have to keep coming back
to these issues.

You have to keep coming back to the issue of humility. You have to keep coming
back to the issue of generosity. You have to keep coming back to the issue of
integrity.

You can't just talk about integrity once and think, "Oh, I've got it. Now I'm
going to handle that the rest of my life. " You also have to keep coming back to
some problems that you face, a hurt that you've had, a forgiveness that you've
had to give.

It would be wonderful if you'd just forgive once and then it was over, but you
know how it works in real life. The memories come back, so you have to refresh
the forgiveness. There are problems in your own life, and there are problems in
your ministry to others, the way that you serve others, at your business, or in
your church, or in your family, that you just have to keep coming back to.

Paul certainly did, and that's part of the tough lessons of ministry. There's a
third tough lesson in ministry in this chapter, and that is appeasement doesn't
work. Listen to what happens starting in verse 23.

So they go on, those who had said, "We've got to do something. All these Jews
are upset that you're not keeping the law, and you've been serving the Gentiles.
" So they say, "Do what we tell you.

" In verse 23, "There are four men with us who have made a vow. Take these men,
join in their purification rites, and pay their expenses, so that they can have
their heads shaved. Then everyone will know that there's no truth to these
reports about you, but that you yourself are living in obedience to the law.

" Well, Paul was a Jewish man, he didn't mind doing this, so he said yes to
doing this. Did it work? Absolutely not.

Appeasement doesn't work. Down in verse 27, "When the seven days were nearly
over, some of the Jews from the province of Asia saw Paul at the temple. They
stirred up the whole crowd and they seized him, shouting, 'Men of Israel, help
us.

This is the man who teaches all men everywhere against our people and our law
and this place. And besides, he has brought Greeks into the temple area and
defiled this holy place. ' They had previously seen Trophimus, the Ephesian, in
the city with Paul, and assumed that Paul had taken him into the temple area.

And the whole city," in verse 30, "was aroused, and the people came running from
all directions, appeasing Paul. They dragged him from the temple and immediately
the gates were shut. While they were trying to kill him, news reached the
commander of the Roman troops that the whole city of Jerusalem was in an uproar.

This appeasement absolutely did not work. In fact, it had the opposite effect.
The fact that Paul was going to the temple every day caused them to think, to
wrongly assume that he had brought a Greek into the temple, somebody from
Ephesus.

" Now notice, they honestly assumed this. Paul was misunderstood. They believed
a lie somehow, a rumor that had been spread.

And based on that, all of a sudden, the entire city is in an uproar. It's a
reminder that appeasement doesn't work. Those who've already made up their minds
to be a critic or to be opposed to the good news of Christ or the integrity that
you want to have or the direction that God has called you to go, they will find
in appeasement some further excuse for criticism or persecution, just like what
happened here.

They'll misunderstand and they'll misuse. And those who are willing to change
their minds, they don't need appeasement. They just need the truth.

They just need the testimony of what God's done in your life. This is a strong
and tough lesson that you answer the critics, you love the critics, you pray for
the critics, but don't appease the critics. It just becomes an excuse for
further criticism if they've already made up their minds.

There's some tough lessons here in these verses. The lesson that appeasement
doesn't work, the lesson that there are big issues I'm going to have to deal
with again and again and again, lessons I don't want to hear, but to me the
biggest one of all, the thing I don't like to hear is not my will, but yours.
Because I have a will, I want to do it my way.

And that seems the best way to me, the most loving way, the most positive way,
the most powerful way. But God says your ways are not my ways. And I love you
more than you can imagine.

So not my will, but yours. Let's pray together. Lord, we remember Jesus praying
these words, not my will, Father, but yours in the Garden of Gethsemane the
night before he died.

And we know that praying those words, there's a depth of faith in those words
that we feel we don't have many times. Lord, would you put into our hearts faith
that we don't have in ourselves, so that instead of fighting for what we want,
fighting against you over some decision, over some direction, over some
circumstance, Lord help us to come to the place where we give up and we say
Jesus, not my will, but yours be done. Not my will, but yours be done.

In your name, amen. Tomorrow we're going to hear Paul speak to the crowd that
was in an uproar in Jerusalem. And we're going to learn in that what to say to a
group or a person who strongly disagrees with you.