What If… God’s Will Includes Suffering? | Acts 21 | Nov 30, 2025

What if God’s will includes suffering? Acts 21 answers with unflinching clarity: it often does. God’s will is good, acceptable, and perfect—and Scripture names its contours plainly: salvation, Spirit-filled living, sanctification, submission, suffering, and thanksgiving. Against the illusions of a pain-free discipleship, the text sets a Spirit-led apostle who moves toward danger, not away from it. From Tyre to Caesarea to Jerusalem, warnings of chains come “through the Spirit,” Agabus enacts the binding, and friends plead with tears. Yet the call remains, and conviction holds: “Ready not only to be bound, but also to die for the name of the Lord Jesus.”

The journey lays bare the character of mature obedience. Prayer on a shoreline, hospitality in Philip the evangelist’s home, a prophecy dramatically delivered, and a resolve tempered by humility—all form a portrait of faithfulness. In Jerusalem, Paul reports God’s work among Gentiles and gives God the glory. Faced with slander that he teaches Jews to forsake Moses, he chooses bridge-building over brinkmanship, participating in purification to quiet rumors without compromising the gospel’s freedom. The result is not safety but a riot: false accusations, a city in uproar, a Roman rescue, and chains—fulfilling the Spirit’s prior warnings. Paul, however, calls himself not Rome’s captive but “a prisoner of Jesus Christ,” and asks to address the very crowd that tried to kill him.

This passage teaches a sober hope. Jesus promised tribulation, and those who aim to live godly in Christ will suffer persecution. But suffering is not the absence of God’s will; it is often the pathway of it. In a fallen world, the worst thing happened to the best Person—Christ—so that the undeserving might receive life. Therefore, discernment begins with obeying what God has already revealed: come to Christ, walk by the Spirit, pursue holiness, submit for the Lord’s sake, accept that suffering can be part of faithfulness, and give thanks in everything. God is not hiding His will; He is leading His people through it—sometimes right into the storm, always with His presence.

Key Takeaways

• 1. God’s will can include suffering. Suffering is not proof of divine displeasure but often the context where obedience is tested and refined. Scripture names suffering as “according to the will of God,” and gratitude is still commanded in the midst of it. Joy rests not in the absence of pain but in the presence and purpose of God. [34:46]
• 2. Prophetic warnings prepare, not always prohibit. The Spirit revealed that hardship awaited Paul; friends concluded he should not go. Paul discerned the difference between forewarning and forbidding and followed the call already settled in his soul. Wise believers weigh revelation, emotion, and mission—and then obey with a clear conscience. [50:31]
• 3. Build bridges without bending truth. Paul entered purification to quiet rumors, not to earn righteousness. He yielded preferences to gain a hearing, yet he never surrendered the gospel’s freedom. Love sometimes pays costs that truth itself does not require, for the sake of those we long to win. [66:42]
• 4. Sufferings unite us to Christ. Paul’s path mirrors Jesus: opposition, false charges, cries of “Away with him,” and unjust chains. He wore those chains as Christ’s prisoner, not Rome’s, interpreting pain through union with the Savior. Such perspective turns affliction into witness and weakness into holy strength. [78:49]

Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [12:31] - Merry Christmas and volunteer invite
• [15:20] - Opening prayer of thanksgiving
• [28:52] - Acts 21 and God’s will
• [30:41] - Six marks of God’s will
• [34:46] - When God’s will includes suffering
• [37:31] - Paul sets course for Jerusalem
• [50:31] - “Through the Spirit” warnings
• [55:55] - Agabus enacts a prophecy
• [57:46] - Ready to be bound or die
• [59:50] - Report to James and the elders
• [66:42] - Bridge-building in the Temple
• [70:24] - Riot and Roman rescue
• [73:24] - Bound in chains, not in spirit
• [78:49] - Sharing the sufferings of Christ

1. Trace the route in Acts 21:1-16 (Tyre, Ptolemais, Caesarea). What specific moments of prayer and hospitality are noted? What stands out about “we kneeled down on the shore and prayed”? [52:05]
2. In Tyre, how is the warning to Paul worded? What is the significance of the phrase “through the Spirit that he should not go up to Jerusalem”? [50:31]
3. What symbolic act does Agabus perform with Paul’s belt, and what future event does it point to? [55:55]
4. In Jerusalem, what rumors were spreading about Paul, and what plan did the elders propose to address them (vv. 20-26)? [01:02:58]

1. How should believers discern the difference between a Spirit-given forewarning that prepares them and a forbidding that redirects them? Consider the phrase “through the Spirit” in Tyre. [50:31]
2. What does Paul’s resolve, “I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die…for the name of the Lord Jesus,” reveal about mature obedience and how it views safety, calling, and cost? [57:46]
3. Paul joined a purification rite to quiet rumors. Was this compromise or wise bridge-building? What truths did he refuse to bend, and what preferences did he yield? [01:06:42]
4. How does seeing oneself as “a prisoner of Jesus Christ” reshape the way a Christian interprets injustice, delay, or chains? What would change in one’s heart posture under that identity? [01:14:23]

1. Scripture names clear marks of God’s will (salvation, Spirit-filled living, sanctification, submission, suffering, thanksgiving). Which one needs fresh obedience from you right now, and what is one concrete step you will take this week? [30:41]
2. Think of a recent caution or concern shared by wise friends. Did you treat it as a prohibition when it may have been a preparation? How will you prayerfully test warnings next time—Scripture, counsel, mission clarity? [50:31]
3. Where is God inviting you to build a bridge without bending truth—family, church, workplace, online? What might it cost you (time, money, preferences), and what would love look like there? [01:06:42]
4. What practice will help you face suffering with sober hope—Scripture memory, honest lament, or corporate prayer? Let’s imitate the shoreline moment and end tonight kneeling in prayer for those heading into hard places. [52:05]
5. If a rumor or misunderstanding about your faith is circulating, how can you address it humbly and clearly this week? What wording would both honor the Lord and seek peace? [01:02:58]
6. In a current hardship, what would it look like to say, “I belong to Jesus here too,” and respond as his prisoner—not your pain’s prisoner? Share one specific response you will practice. [01:14:23]
7. When was the last time you moved toward a hard obedience instead of away from it? What is your next “step toward Jerusalem,” and how can this group support you in taking it? [41:11]