decided to sail on past Ephesus, lest I might have to spend unnecessary time in the Province of Asia. For I was hastening and determined that I might reach the Holy city, Jerusalem, if at all possible, by the day of Pentecost.
I am Paul, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Everything is allowable and lawful for me to do, but not all things are profitable and good for me to do. Everything is lawful for me, but I will not become a slave of anything and be brought under its control or power.
Amen - so be it.
Saying Good-bye. #11
I sent word to Ephesus from the city of Miletus, where I was staying with my helpers. I summoned the elders of the church in Ephesus to come and visit me there. When they arrived I said to them, "You yourselves are well acquainted with my manner of living among you, from the first day I set foot in the Province of Asia, and how I continued afterwards. Serving the Lord with all humility in tears and in the midst of adversity, trials and affliction which befell me, due to the plots of the Jews against me. I did not shrink back from telling you anything that was for your benefit. Teaching you in public meetings and from house to house. Constantly and earnestly I testified both to Jews and Greeks, urging them to turn in repentance to God and have faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah."
I poured my heart out before them, holding nothing back, I announced, "And now, compelled by the Holy Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem. I don't know what will happen to me there, other than in every city the Holy Spirit keeps warning me that imprisonment, persecution and suffering await me. But I consider my own life of no importance to me whatsoever, neither do I esteem my life dear to myself. As long as I can finish my course ahead of me with joy and complete the task I received from the Lord Jesus. To declare in depth the Good News of the Gospel of God's grace, His love and kindness. Now listen! I know that none of you people among whom I have gone about proclaiming the Kingdom will ever see me again."
I loved the elders from Ephesus with all my heart. They were very dear to me. I had imparted many things to them and poured my life into them. Ever since I heard about their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and their love for all the saints. I did not cease or stop to give thanks for them, making mention of them in my prayers. It was hard for me to tell them that they will not see my face again.
I was barely holding back the tears as I continued to speak to them, "I testify to you on this day that I am innocent and not responsible for any of your blood at all. For I did not shrink from proclaiming to you the whole plan, the purposes and counsel of God. Watch out and be on your guard for your own well being. Take care of all the flock in which the Holy Spirit has placed you over as leaders. Therefore as guardians and shepherds, tend, feed and guide the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, which He obtained for Himself, buying it at the cost of His own blood. In Him we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace."
I could feel that their hearts were heavy as they knew that I was giving them final instructions. I could also feel that they were holding onto my every word as though it were treasure and fine gold. There was a sorrow in my voice as I continued to speak, "I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you, and they won't spare the flock. Even from among your own number, men will arise and teach perversions of the truth, in order to drag away the disciples after themselves. So stay alert! Remember that for three years, night and day, with tears in my eyes, I never stopped warning you!"
I stretched out my hand towards them and invoked the blessing of the Lord upon them, saying, "Now I commit you to God and I commend you to the Word of His grace. That it may build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who have been set apart for God. I coveted no man's silver or gold or costly garments. You yourselves know that these hands of mine have provided not only for my own needs, but for the needs of my co-workers as well. In everything I have given you an example of how, by working hard like this, you must help the weak, remembering the words of the Lord Jesus Himself, that it is more blessed to give than to receive." When I had finished speaking, I knelt down with them and prayed.
I pray, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation of insight into mysteries and secrets in the deep and intimate knowledge of Him. By having the eyes of your heart flooded with light, so that you can know and understand the hope to which He has called you, and how rich is His glorious inheritance in the saints. So you can know and understand what is the immeasurable, unlimited and surpassing greatness of His power in and for us who believe. Which He demonstrated in the working of His mighty strength, which He exerted in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His own right hand in the heavenly realms. Far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and every name that is named, not only in this age and in this world, but also in the age and world which are to come. He has put all things under His feet and has appointed Him the universal Head of the Church, which is His body, the fullness of Himself.
That He may grant you out of the rich treasury of His glory to be strengthen with mighty power in the inner man by the Holy Spirit. May Christ through your faith, actually dwell, settle down, abide and make His permanent home in your hearts. May you be rooted and grounded in love. That you may be filled with all the fullness of God. That you may be filled with the richest measure of the divine Presence and become a body wholly filled and flooded with God Himself. To Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever.
Amen, so be it!
They wept bitterly with sore hearts as I prayed. They threw their arms around my neck and kissed me fervently and repeatedly. They were very distressed and sorrowful because I had stated that they would not see my face again. After I consoled them, they accompanied me to the ship. When we had torn ourselves away from them and withdrawn, we set sail and made a straight run to Coos, an island in the Aegean Sea. At the mouth of the harbour at Coos a huge Colossus statue of brass stood seventy six cubits high which we sailed beneath, between its legs. His fingers alone were the size of a ordinary man. The following day we went to Island of Rhodes in the Aegean Sea and from there to Patara, a port in Asia Minor. There we found a ship crossing over to Phoenicia, a region of Palestine, so we went aboard and sailed away. After we had sighted the Island of Cyprus, leaving it on the left we sailed on to Syria and landed at Tyre, for there the ship was to unload her cargo. Tyre was a major city of Phoenicia with a seaport situated in the Roman Province of Syria. Wine and purple materials were exported from there that were highly valuable.
Having searched out the disciples there, we remained with them for seven days. Prompted and guided by the Holy Spirit, they told me not to go up to Jerusalem. But when the week was over, we left to continue on our journey. All of the brothers at Tyre, with their wives and children, accompanied us until we were outside the town. Kneeling on the beach and praying, we said good-bye to each other. Then we boarded the ship and they returned to their homes. When the voyage from Tyre was over, we arrived at Ptolemais, a town in Palestine. There we greeted the brothers in Christ and stayed with them overnight.
The following day, we left and came to the city of Caesarea, where we went to the home of Philip the proclaimer of the Good News. He was one of the original seven, along with Steven ordained by the apostles in Jerusalem to attend to the tables. So we stayed with him. Philip had four unmarried daughters, still virgins who had the gift of prophesy. While we were staying there, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea to visit us. As it is the gift of the prophet to act out parables, Agabus took my belt and with it bound his own hands and feet. He prophesied, saying, "Here is what the Holy Spirit says, the man who owns this belt will be bound and tied up by the Judeans in Jerusalem. They shall deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles."
When the residents and the disciples heard this prophesy, they all pleaded with me not to go up to Jerusalem. I answered them, "What do you me
an by weeping and breaking my heart like this? I am prepared not only to be tied up, but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus." When they could not persuade me to change my mind from going to Jerusalem, they said, "May the Lord's will be done." Then they kept quiet. So at the end of our stay, we packed and went up to Jerusalem contrary to what the prophet had prophesied.
I am Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the faithful in Christ Jesus. Grace be to you, and Shalom - peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly realms in Christ. According as He has chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. Having predestined us to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of his will. To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein He has made us accepted in the beloved.
Amen - so be it.
Bound and in Chains. #12
I had