Paul's Journey: Commitment, Community, and Divine Calling

"And now it came to pass that when we had departed from them and set sail, running a straight course, we came to Cos, the following day to Rhodes, and from there to Patara. And finding a ship sailing over to Phoenicia, we want aboard and set sail. When we had sighted Cyprus, we passed it on the left, and sailed to Syria, and landed at Tyre, for there the ship was to unload her cargo, and finding disciples we stayed there seven days. And they told Paul through the spirit, not to go up to Jerusalem." [00:26:52]

"And on the next day, we who were Paul's companions departed and came to Caesarea and entered the house of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the seven and stayed with him. Now, this man had four virgin daughters who prophesied. And as we had stayed many days, a certain prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. And when he had come to us, he took Paul's belt, bound his own hands and feet, and said thus saith the Holy Spirit. So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles." [00:96:48]

"Now, Luke also gives us a little notation, that in the interim Philip and his wife had had four daughters, who had grown up and remained unmarried. And they all had the gift of prophecy. Now the significance of these young ladies is..., is this. That at least three of them lived into their 90s and became a rich source of information for the early church fathers, who wanted to research everything that had transpired in the apostolic church." [00:484:28]

"The church historian Papias and also Eusebius make mention of these daughters from whom they gleaned wonderful information from the past. This is the type of thing that I find fascinating in early church history. You've all heard of Polycarp, the Bishop of Smyrna, who in his late 80s was martyred in the arena because he wouldn't bow down to the Emperor in Emperor worship, and he was commanded to say, to repudiate Jesus, who...." [00:522:96]

"Agabus at this moment is following a tradition that was rich in Old Testament history and even earlier in the New Testament, where the prophets of old would not only deliver the oracles of God with their lips, with their mouths, with basic speech, but they would also give object lessons, dramatizing the word that God had given to them." [00:709:92]

"Ahijah in the early days tore his garments, symbolizing that the united kingdom of Israel would be torn asunder with the death of Solomon. You remember, Isaiah shocked everybody, when he became the first recorded streaker in biblical history. He took all his clothes off, including his sandals, and walked down the street barefoot, giving the message that all could see, that this is how God was going to deal with the Egyptians." [00:733:96]

"And then we think of Ezekiel, who build a replica of Jerusalem, and used it to show the people in their eyes, visibly, what God was going to do when he visited his wrath upon the city. You know, in the revolution of worship that we've seen in the 20th and 21st century, church services around the country are given now to having skits on Sunday morning. And the skits become the focal point of the drama." [00:777:40]

"One of the speakers at our conference this weekend pointed out, that if you want visible drama in church on Sunday morning, why don't we use the drama that our Lord himself gave in the institution of the sacraments of baptism and the Lord's supper. You see, in these sacraments we not only hear the word of God, we see it. It's made visible to us. We can see that table. We see the cup. We see the bread. We see the water of baptism." [00:809:20]

"And we act out the drama that was won for us in Christ, in which Jesus said, you show forth my death until I come. And so this tradition is used again by Agabus to show as well as to speak the divine word. But in this case, the word is ominous. The word is foreboding. It's not an oracle of weal. It's an oracle of woe, as he then speaks and he said, the one whose belt I have used to bind my feet and to bind my hands will be bound over in Jerusalem and be given over to the Gentiles." [00:860:24]

"Now when Luke heard this, he tells what he and his companions did in response, and to his credit or to the supervision of the Holy Ghost, Luke was moved and inspired to include a record of his own shame in his record of the Acts of the apostles, because he confesses that when Agabus gave this prophecy, he said, when we heard these things, both we and those from that place pleaded with him not to go up to Jerusalem." [00:914:68]

"None of these things move me, nor do I count my life dear to myself, but that I may finish my race with joy. You remember the last words that he wrote to Timothy in Second Timothy, when he was awaiting his execution, and he was about to be poured out, and he said, I've fought the good fight of the faith. I've finished the race. I've kept the faith." [00:1490:60]

"Paul said, for I am ready. Luke, friends, you may not be ready for me to go to Jerusalem, but I'm ready. I've been ready since that day in the desert that Christ redeemed me and called me. And that day on the road to Damascus, I said to Jesus where you lead me, I will follow. And everywhere he's led me I have gone, and I'm ready to go now, not only to be bound, but I'm ready to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus." [00:1571:80]