In his sermon 'Paul’s Farewell to the Ephesian Elders,' Alexander Strauch delves into the significance of Acts chapter 20, where Paul delivers his final words to the leaders of the Ephesian church. Strauch underscores the unique and critical nature of this passage, emphasizing Paul's role as a model to be imitated. Paul’s life, marked by humility, service, and perseverance through persecution, serves as an example for Christian leaders. Strauch highlights Paul's dedication to teaching the whole counsel of God, stressing the importance of thorough and in-depth biblical teaching. He also discusses the role of elders, urging them to be vigilant watchmen over their flocks, prepared for challenges, and dedicated to a Christ-like example. Strauch concludes by emphasizing the extraordinary power of personal example in leadership and discipleship, urging leaders to embody and teach the values of humility, generosity, and dedication to God's word.

If you take your Bible and open to Acts chapter 20, Acts chapter 20, you should be receiving notes. There's a fine young man here giving out, there he is up there. I love to see these young men serve. It's just so thrilling to me. Get tired of all the old people, you know.

They're old. Now, if you would like to just sit back and enjoy yourself and not take lots of notes, everything I'm going to say to you is in this book. Acts 20, fierce wolves are coming, guard the flock. So it's your choice. You want to sit there, abuse your hand.

Most of you work too hard anyway. A little chance to relax. Everything is right here, quotes and everything. In fact, much more in here because I only have one hour. Now here's what you do.

The tables over here, There are books that are free. 15 Descriptions of Love, it's free. Biblical Eldership, I'm afraid these are all gone already. This is brand new, free over there. We'll also have a table in our other auditorium tomorrow.

But most of those books are displayed. Please don't take them, it's stealing. Fill out this form, leave your address, and we'll send you a bill and the book. So just remember that. All right, let's open to Acts chapter 20.

What a marvelous passage. Acts chapter 20, Paul's final words to the Ephesian elders. This is a wonderful gift God has given to us in this passage of Scripture. Although it's 2,000 years old, it's as relevant today as when it was first delivered on the shores of Miletus. There's really no other passage in the New Testament quite like this passage.

It's unique. Here we have the great apostle, the great apostle to the Gentile world, chosen directly by the Lord Jesus Christ, given special revelation. It's the great apostle Paul who defines the gospel, proclaims the gospel, protects the gospel. If you want to know the doctrine of the church, you go to the great apostle Paul. Think of this.

These are his final words to the leaders of the church in Ephesus. That's pretty important. We have nothing else like it. Now, I am not going to have time to go through everything here. I normally take four or five lessons to go through this, but since our conference is about discipleship, I'm going to emphasize that aspect of this message of the Apostle.

So if you have your Bible with me, you have your outline, Let me just begin by reading verse 17. Now from Meletus he sent his disciples and called the elders of the church to come to him. And when they came to him, he said to them, now notice this how he starts his message. Think of it this way. If the great apostle Paul was with us right now, these are the words he would say to us.

This is what he wants us to know. You yourselves know how I lived among you the whole time From the first day I set foot in Asia, serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials that happened to me through the plots of the Jews." Very similar to what we just heard from dear brother Kevin. Look at your outline, an extraordinary meeting, a role model to imitate. Now just real quickly, the history here. Paul spent three years in the city of Ephesus.

No other city did he spend this much time. After his three years in Ephesus, 52 to 55 AD, he left and went west to Macedonia, Nicaea, to revisit the churches he had started on his second missionary journey, and to raise an Offering from the Gentile churches to take to Jerusalem You know yesterday someone came to pick me up because they didn't want me to walk from the front of the building up to The road up here to go to the other chapel. I said do you think I'm cripple? You have to drive me up the hill. This man walked over 15,000 miles.

He's walking all the way from Corinth, taking the ship part of the way all the way to Jerusalem. These men were strong. They're strong. After being gone from Ephesus for about a year and a half, Paul heads Jerusalem. On the way to Jerusalem, he stops on the shores of Miletus, and there he summons the elders of the Church of Ephesus to come to him.

Now if you look at your outline here, we start with a role model to imitate. When the Ephesian elders arrived, Paul began his message by saying this, you yourselves know. So what I want you to notice, three times in this message he says, you yourself know. Although he only says that three times, really much of this message is, look at my example. Here's how I did it.

Follow my example. Now in 1 Corinthians 11.1, Paul says this, be imitators of me as I am of Christ. Now that's not a statement of pride. There's nothing more than he wanted for his converts to be imitators of Christ. And so what he says to them, be imitators of Christ as I am imitators of Christ.

So four other times outside of 1st Corinthians, he says, follow my example. 1st Corinthians 4, I urge you then be imitators of me. That's why I sent to you Timothy. So Paul's method of discipleship is imitation. Look at me, follow me, I'm following Christ.

John Wooden was a legendary basketball coach and he said these very famous words and it's just what the Paul's saying. The most powerful leadership tool you have is your personal example. Let me read that again to you. The most powerful leadership tool you have in your home, with your wife, with your children, in your church, at work, is your personal example. Now here's something we need to realize.

People are watching us all the time. Your children are watching you, the grandchildren are watching you, your spouse is watching you, People in your church are watching you. The people at work are watching you. Neighbors, your relatives, they're all watching. You are being looked at all the time.

God's watching you. So remember, you are an example. The power of personal example. Never underestimate the extraordinary power of your personal life example to influence and inspire other people for God. So let me give you a great illustration.

So right now in my memory, I'm going to go back 62 years ago, Okay, you with me? It's the first time I walked into a Bible believing church. Now that's 62 years ago. I can still remember walking into that church. I had been raised in a very liberal Presbyterian church.

No one would ever think of carrying the Bible, including the pastor. So when I became a Christian, finally my parents let me leave that church and go to a Christian church. I can to this day remember how everyone carried, they had to carry their Bible like this. This is a certain big black Bibles and you carry it next to your heart. I can remember that.

I remember this. They loved the Bible. And those people, it was only a church of about 50 people, but those people knew their Bibles. So I could say to any of the senior men, I could quote a verse, maybe 2 Corinthians 4 16, I could quote that and they could tell me, well they could tell me what side of the page is on, and they could tell me just about close to that verse. They knew their Bibles, they loved their Bibles, they loved the Bible being preached.

I can remember how they sang. I remember very vividly how they dressed 62 years later. Now, I don't remember a single sermon. Now, Stephen Lawson isn't here, is he? Now, I don't wanna put that down.

Those sermons are in my head. They changed me. But I don't remember a single sermon if you were to ask my children. What was your dad? What's your favorite sermon of your daily?

I can't really say but if you say what was your dad like? Oh, then they could go off why the power of example. We remember things. This is how a child learns. Example, you have influence.

All of you have influence. Maybe you don't understand how you use your influence. And Paul is saying, as he opens up the sermon, you yourselves know how I lived among you from the first day I set foot in Asia Minor. I want you to remember my example. So the rest of this sermon is Paul laying out his example.

Example is powerful. Never underestimate the extraordinary power of your example, your lifestyle, how you speak, how you act, how you dress. All of that is part of as people are watching you. Peter says, first Peter five, three, be examples to the flock. That's one of the jobs of the elders.

In fact, the elders are not to lord their authority over other people. Very real temptation. Instead, there would be Christ-like examples to other people. All right, so he says to them, now I want you to go back in your memory just like I did and remember how I lived among you. All right, well, how did he live among them?

Well, he tells us here, serving the Lord, watch your notes, number one, serving the Lord with all humility. Now, Isn't that a beginning statement? He calls upon them to remember his serving the Lord with all humility. Notice Paul does not rehearse his successes, his expansive travels, his brilliant intellect, his indomitable zeal, his heavenly visions, his extraordinary miracles, or his divine authority. No, the first thing he says, remember how I serve the Lord with all humility.

And that sort of sets the stage for the rest of this sermon. Now he says serving the Lord, that's the Greek word for serving as a slave, douleaux. The moment Paul met the Lord Jesus Christ on the Damascus Road, and from that point on, his whole life was serving the Lord Jesus Christ and proclaiming the lordship of Jesus Christ, serving the Lord with all humility. You know, Paul says, you're not your own for you've been bought with a price to glorify God with your body. The best servants are those who see themselves as slaves of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Not his big shot. Now he says with all humility, in other words, humility permeated his actions, his words, his attitudes, his teaching, his interaction with his fellow workers, his leader-follower relationship. Every part of his body was supersaturated with humility. Now, if you've ever wondered how can a gifted, brilliant, energetic leader can also be a humble, loving servant, look at the life of Paul. There's the example for us.

Now let me try to give you some of the attitudes, some of the marks of a humble leader, because we are called to be humble. I think this might express it. A Christ-like humble attitude makes a leader more teachable, more approachable, more receptive to constructive criticism. It makes him better able to see his own limitations and failures, better able to submit to and work with others, better qualified to deal with the sins and failures of others. A humble leader is less defensive, less prone to fight, quicker to reconcile differences, more at ease in personal relationships.

A humble soul enjoys promoting the gifts and popularity of others. It's not jealous or envious of others' accomplishments. Only with the attitude of all humility can we be Christ-like servant leaders. At the third Lazon Conference, Cape Town, Africa, with over 5,000 leaders from every country in the world the year 2010, I understand they're gonna have another Lausanne conference, it was agreed upon at this conference that lack of humility among pastors was a worldwide harm to believers spiritually and needed to be urgently addressed. So in a sense, Paul is dealing with the whole problem of pride, which we just heard about here moments ago.

We are to be humble leaders, servant leaders, promoting others. You know, when I came to the church I'm at right now, there was a man named Mr. Herb Banks. He actually started our church in his home. And I learned so much from this man.

He was never full-time in Christian work. He had a job, but his life was the local church. His family was the local church. The interesting thing about Mr. Herb Banks is that when People like myself and Dr.

David McLeod came to our church, people with degrees, people with training. He could have been really threatened. Who are these young bucks coming here thinking they know everything? You know what? From the day I stepped in that church, he was promoting me.

He was promoting Dr. David McLeod, who came just a short while after me to be one of the teachers in the local Bible college. He was always promoting those who were best for the church. It was never about himself. And I'll tell you, I learned a lot from this man about how to organize, how to mobilize people.

He was very, very gifted at that. He wasn't a big preacher. Then serving the Lord with tears, serving the Lord with tears. We've heard about this this morning and very, very true. My friends, if you love people, you are going to have tears.

Like Jesus, Paul wept. Like Jesus, Paul had a compassionate heart. Like Jesus, he gave his life for the sheep. Paul knew what it was to weep with those who weep. He had a deep empathetic heart.

And I would have to say this to you. You will weep over the broken marriages. You will weep over divided homes and ugly conflicts among church members Untimely deaths had that twice this week crippling sicknesses and dreadful addictions to pornography and alcohol and drugs, you will weep over the things you will have to deal with and what you will see in the family of God. Paul was a man of tears. He knew what it was to weep.

And then next he says, not only was there tears serving the Lord, but persecution. Serving the Lord admits persecution. Jesus said this, if the world hates you, know that it will hate me before it hated you. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. You ever looked up the word persecution or suffering?

You would be amazed how much the Bible talks about persecution and suffering. So what Paul is doing to these elders is he's preparing them. That's another major theme you need to see here. You know the US Army, a big word used to be preparedness. Preparedness, now it's readiness.

So let's say the Russians attack us now, they're shooting missiles at us. What should the Army do? Let's talk this over. No, no, Preparedness. Within minutes, not days, not hours, within minutes there will be jets in the air.

They're all ready right now. I think some actually stay in the air. They are ready for missiles coming at us. It can't be any surprise. Preparedness, readiness, a key word in the military.

That's what Paul's doing here. Preparedness, readiness, I'm leaving you. You will not see me again. I just wanna remind you, I serve the Lord with all humility. You'll never get along together if you don't understand the doctrine of humility, Christ-like humility.

And there will be tears, there will be many tears. I'm preparing you, don't be shocked. In the midst of much persecution, and he was persecuted by his own fellow Jews. The people would call themselves the covenant people of God. They were killing the messenger of God.

So I want to say a good study you could do with the young people is a study on persecution. We need to be prepared. Now we just heard this this morning. We need to be prepared. Now the persecution may not come in imprisonment, it may come in lawsuits.

Discrimination against us. Can't work in this company with what you believe. Don't you think that's coming? It's right here right now. Big corporations.

I've had people in our church want to meet with us and talk. What are we going to do? They're with, I won't mention the names of the corporations, but they come around and want to make an offering and want to know why they don't have the rainbow flag on their table and why they're not gonna come to these special meetings. What we can do to help the LGBTQ community. You don't want to participate.

Every company is participating in this. You may not be able to walk, work in such places. That's the kind of person we're going to, we're going to face very soon. Prepare yourself. Readiness.

Is your church ready? Is your family ready? Or Are all these things just sort of a shocking new concept to them? Well, I think we heard some very good words today in readiness and preparedness. Now, next he goes here, serving the Lord by teaching and evangelizing all people.

Now we have some very, very important words right here. Look at verse 19, serving the Lord with all humility, with tears and trials that happened to me through the plots of the Jews." This was organized, planned persecution. Verse 20, very important verse, and it goes along with verse 27. How I did not shrink. Now this all goes back to, you know how I lived among you, right?

Now, this picks up on that, how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable and teaching you in public and from house to house, testifying both to Jews and Greeks of repentance towards God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Now don't miss this. I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable. There was no aspect of Christian doctrine that Paul neglected to teach. He did not admit some of the finer details of the faith or adopt the truth to the spirit of the age.

These men were well taught. They went to the best seminary you can possibly go to, the Pauline seminary. They heard it right from his own lips. He prepared them. They're ready.

Notice, I declare to you all that was profitable. He's emphatic about this. I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable. Later he says, teaching you, declaring every, the whole counsel of God. Here's the point, here's the model.

He was thorough and he was in depth. He was thorough and he was in depth in his teaching. Now why is this important? Well there'd be no surprises after Paul left. Oh, forgot to give you some of these these points.

And here's why this is very very important. What do the cults always do? What do the false teachers always do? Well, yes, Paul's a great teacher. He's a brilliant man.

He's taught you some wonderful things, but he didn't teach this. There's the full gospel. You didn't get the full gospel. The full gospel is you must be circumcised to be saved. Acts 15, 1 and 2.

The false teachers will come and they'll say, well, he left this out. He didn't tell you the whole story. Oops, there's other things you need to know. No, no, no. The elders could trust they had the full gospel.

Nothing was left out. Nothing that was profitable was passed over. That's why this is important. The elders could trust Paul precisely because he held back no information of Christ God the gospel. There's no surprises.

Al Moller says this, the failure to teach truth eventually leads to failure of Christ's people even to know the truth. We have a big job. We have a big job to teach. So as we look at Paul's example in discipling, we need to be thorough and we need to be in depth. Nothing should be left out.

We shouldn't be afraid of certain doctrines and say, you know, people leave the church if we teach this. The money won't come in. No, no. You teach everything. You teach the full gospel.

We're going to look at that again in a moment in verse 27. Now, he says he taught both publicly and from house to house. That is very interesting. He's a very creative teacher. Meaning publicly, in the Hall of Tyranus, Acts 19, he ran that hall.

It was all public and open. There was no secret teachings of the Gospel. Not the gospel of Thomas or esoteric message. No, it's for everybody. Everyone should hear this.

It was public and open. And then teaching from house to house. I really like that. The birthplace of the first churches was in homes. The home provides an informal, relaxed atmosphere for teaching the Bible, for interaction with the teacher, for building personal relationships between teacher and student.

It's a comfortable atmosphere for family members and friends and neighbors and relatives to meet together. Some of my most enjoyable teaching situations were in our home. Many, many years we had home teaching and It's just so personal and you can answer questions right on the spot. It's totally different than what's happening now You're out there quiet. I can't even see with all these bright lights, but I believe you're there I do The home is a powerful place to be teaching the gospel and to educating people.

Now you know there are elders who can teach from the pulpit, saved and unsaved, young and old, educated, uneducated. They can reach a lot of people. We just heard Kevin Swanson, excellent pulpit preacher. Not every elder is a pulpit preacher. Many elders, Their gift of preaching will be done in the home.

It will be done one on one, and that is very powerful. Very powerful, do not dismiss that. Recently a brother came up to me and he said, I'm going back now 20 years, he said, but I'll never forget those two years in your home when we went through the book of Acts very carefully and you answered our questions we got into depth he said that was that was life-changing to me. So never underestimate the power of your home to communicate the gospel and to care for people. And to care for people.

Paul was a very creative teacher. He was resourceful, thorough, forthright, using any method he could. Now, I just want to make one brief comment, and that is this. The Christian movement is a preaching, teaching movement. We have a message.

Christ came to this earth, he brought a message. He is the message. We have a message of great authority and of urgency. It's the message of life and death, hell or heaven. That's pretty powerful, isn't it?

We are to be a preaching, teaching movement. James Orr said this, if there's a religion in the world which exalts the office of teaching, it is safe to say that is the religion of Jesus Christ. We have something to say. So he gives a little abbreviation of it here when he says repentance towards God. Now why repentance towards God?

Well, God is the Creator and in our idolatry we have rejected the Creator. We have sinned against our Creator and then in our sexual perversity, Romans chapter 1, we have sinned against the creator. We need to repent to God. And then the positive side, that's the negative side, the positive side is faith, the whole soul's trust in the work of Christ and the promises he gives of salvation. So it's a nice little summary here of his message taken from the final appeal.

Now, serving the Lord wholeheartedly. Verse 24, But let's back it up here to verse 22. Well, this is a perfect time to retire, don't you think? Notice he doesn't say, the Spirit doesn't say, things are going to get better and better, Paul. You just see, your best life is ahead.

No, imprisonments and afflictions await me. Well, maybe it's a good time to go on vacation. You know, go to the Aegean Sea. It's a beautiful area. I've never seen it but I've seen movies of it, beautiful crystal clear water and beaches.

Don't you think he deserved the vacation? That's the promise. The Holy Spirit is saying imprisonment and it actually happens for the next four years, and afflictions await me." All right, what's the response of the apostle? I do not account my life of any value, nor is precious to myself. If only I may finish my course and the ministry I received from the Lord Jesus to testify To the gospel of the grace of God here is one of the most powerful statements of total and complete dedication to the ministry God has given him.

Nothing is of value to him. Notice that he says here, I do not account my life of any value or as precious to myself. Well, what's more valuable to us than our life, our conscious existence here upon earth. Well, Paul is willing to, in comparison, this is a comparison now, in comparison to the ministry of testifying to the marvelous message of the great and glorious grace of God, life means nothing. It's not precious to him.

He doesn't take it into account. What he does take into account is the mission that God has given him the calling. And what is that mission? To testify to the glorious gospel of the grace of God. He uses two different metaphors here and we don't need to get into that but he looks at life as a course.

God has laid out for him. He's got to finish that course, finish that race. The Lord laid it out for him, Hebrews 12, 1 and 2, and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus. Well, this is why it's so urgent. He received the ministry, the task, the commission, directly from Jesus Christ.

So nothing else can be that important to him. How is it that he saw the Lord Jesus Christ as so important that he must carry out the commission. Why? Two things. Paul teaches the divine nature of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Colossians 2.9, for in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead body. Jesus is God incarnate. Second, the penal substitutionary work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Because of who Jesus Christ is, he must carry out the assignment that has been given to him. Now we just heard a quotation by C.T.

Studd, who I love, missionary to China, India, Africa, and he understood Paul's reasoning. And here's what he says, it was just quoted to you, if Jesus Christ be God, I just said that to you, and die for me, I just said that to you, and died for me, I just said that to you, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for him. In light of who he is, what? There's no sacrifice too great. He's God.

He gave himself for me. Creation, redemption. I follow him. I do what he says. My life is of no comparison to that.

2nd Corinthians 5, for the love of Christ controls us, motivates us, drives us, compels us. For we conclude at this, at some point in his life he made this conclusion, that one has died for all, therefore all have died, and he died for all that those who live, here it is, might no longer live for themselves, but for him who for their sakes died and was raised again from the dead." Gordon Fee says this, whatever else the Christian life is, whatever Christian life is all about, it finds its central focus ever and always in Christ. Eric Alexander was considered one of the greatest preachers of Scotland, in Glasgow, Scotland, and he died just in the last several years. I heard many, many of his tapes. Wonderful, wonderful preacher and a beautiful spirit, a wonderful spirit, that our younger preachers, we made them listen to Eric Alexander saying, now listen to the spirit in which this man teaches the Bible.

He's got the right spirit. He's not arrogant, he's not a know-it-all. Well, Eric Alexander was led to Christ by his brother, his older brother, who was a real man of God, and his brother tragically died at 29 years of age after only three years of Christians, full-time Christian service. After his brother died, someone gave Eric his brother's diary, and in that diary, Eric read these words. In some people's lives, Jesus Christ has no place.

In every Christian life, Jesus Christ does have a place. In many Christian lives, Jesus Christ has a prominent place, but in a few Christian lives, I have found that Jesus Christ has a preeminent place. That's what we're reading here in verse 24. Jesus Christ has the preeminent place, Colossians 1, 18, that he might be preeminent in all things. So we had a neighbor and he had his own business and he made a pretty good living, but because he owned his own business, every Friday morning till Sunday night, he and his friends and relatives would go into the mountains and camp and boat.

And so we were standing in the street and he had this beautiful, beautiful boat. I'm sure it was hundreds of thousands of dollars. And he was telling me about his life, that every weekend they go, they boat, they hike, they fish, they eat, they drink, they just party from Friday to Sunday night. And while he's telling me this, I'm looking at the boat and he turns to me and he says, I live for the weekend. Immediately my mind went to, I live for Christ.

I don't live for the weekend. Now nothing wrong with boating, hiking, camping, God wants you to do that. He's not trying to kill you. He's trying to bless you. But we can, as Christians, never say, I live for the weekend.

I live to party, but I do live for Jesus Christ. I do live for the gospel. I do live for the Church of Jesus Christ. I do live to care for His people. That's what we're having here in Paul.

Total and complete dedication to His Lord. An assignment has been given to Him, and His life is not even precious to Him. It's of no value to him without fulfilling the assignment. Wonderful, wonderful testimony. Example, example, discipleship.

Testifying to the gospel of the grace of God. I won't go into that. It'd be nice to talk more about the gospel of the grace of God, but we need to move on here because we're going to look at Paul as the one who is a discipler of men. Remember these are his disciples. He worked three years with these elders.

He knew them, they knew him, and they loved him. At the end of the story they'll fall down and they'll kiss him and they'll hug him. They love him. You know why? Because he inspired them.

He didn't just lead them, he inspired them. He changed them. When you are involved in changing people's lives and inspiring them to follow Christ. That is real discipleship. And by the way, you do that to your children and you do it to your spouse and your fellow elders.

We are influencers, spiritual influencers for God. And it's that example that people see. It's that example that lasts a lifetime of who you are. Next, serving as a watchman, teaching the whole counsel of God. I can't go into all this, it's very, very beautiful, but he brings up this whole idea of the watchman on the wall from Ezekiel that he's responsible for the blood of the people.

If a Moravian army had come and he's sleeping or he's playing chess or he's watching TV and the army comes in and kills the people and takes them captive, well, he has to give his life, his blood, his blood for their blood. If he warns the people, if the watchman warns the people, and the people don't listen, well, their blood is on them. There's no blood guilt on him. So what Paul is saying is like a watchman. Now get this, because you're all watchmen.

I hope you are. And we just heard a serious warning in the last message, a very serious warning that a secular tsunami is running right over our churches, our families, and our country. You're to warn people. You're to be a watchman. You're to be alert.

Don't be asleep. No time for a church to be a sleepy church. We're to be vigilant watchmen. Why? Well, so that we are not responsible for the blood of others who we did not warn.

And what Paul is doing here is he's warning, making them ready, preparing them for what is ahead. So let's look at this here. Verse 26, therefore I testify this day that I am innocent of the blood of all. By the way, I need to go back to verse 25, I'm sorry. And now, behold, I know that none among you whom I have gone about proclaiming the kingdom will see my face again.

Key statement, this tells you what the moment is. This is a serious moment. You will not see your apostle again. You will not see the man who led you to Christ again, who trained you, this is the end, this is our last meeting. But here's what I want you to know, gentlemen.

Therefore, I testify to you this day, I am innocent of the blood of all. No one could point the finger and say, you did not give me the gospel. You did not prepare us for this job. No one could point the finger and say that I am innocent of the blood of all. I have done my job.

I've been the watchman. Four, now, now he explains what he did. Four, I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God. Now this is the second time he said it. It must be important.

I think it's important. I am innocent because I gave you the whole message. I love that phrase, the whole counsel of God. Some of your translations say the whole will of God, the whole plan of God, the whole purpose of God. Verse 20, I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable.

Verse 27, I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God. Again, again, thorough, in-depth teaching. Didn't leave things out. They have been prepared. They are made ready.

Now we could talk about the whole counsel of God, but I would just say it this way very, very simply, and that is the whole biblical story. The whole council of God includes the entire storyline of the Bible. Genesis 1, Revelation 22, all the major Bible doctrines, Genesis to Revelation, Adam to Christ. The Bible presents a coherent story, God's master plan, His sovereign redemptive purposes. Ephesians 1-11, God works all things according to the counsel of His will.

Here's the tragedy, Here is the tragedy. Are you ready for it? We have millions and millions of Christians who do not know the whole council of God. They do not know the storyline of the Bible. The Bible is a foreign book to them.

They pick a little verses here and there for devotions, but they have no idea how it falls together. They have no idea Abraham, Moses, David, Jeremiah, the new covenants, the covenants of God. They have no idea how any of that fits together. It is a farm book, But they know the newest movies. They know the stars of Hollywood.

They know the newest and truest This is frightening. We need to sound the alarm. You're being run over by a secular tsunami that's going to just take you over. The watchman on the wall tells the truth. He tells and teaches the whole counsel of God.

Even some of those things that aren't real popular. People might leave your church. They may not give as much. They might dislike you. You're so narrow-minded.

This is his example. This is what he's laying out in front of the elders and he's saying, now you do it. You do the same thing. Teach in depth, thorough, the whole plan of God. People need to know the whole story and it's a beautiful story from Genesis 1 to Revelation 22.

It's the whole will of God, it's the whole plan of God, it's the counsel of God. God works with a plan. All right, now I'm not sure exactly what I'm supposed to stop, but I'm not going to ask. It's always best. Ignorance is bliss.

All right, now we turn to the exhortation. So Paul's been laying out his example and that's what we do. Remember this conference is about disciple making. Well one of the most important things you do in disciple making is you. Your example.

Remember people are watching you all the time. Let me give you an example. So one Sunday morning, the young people were doing the music, and they probably got a little too loud, I don't know. I had nothing to do with it. I have nothing to do with it.

And after they were done, after the service was done, I saw this man coming at me. I know him, he's a very emotional man, he's coming right for me. So I'm standing there and he comes right up to my face, just like that. I can feel the spit coming out of his face. You are gonna be judged at the judgment seat of Christ.

You have ruined our worship this morning. Well somehow by the Holy Spirit, I've experienced this at other times, I was completely calm. Completely calm. I didn't say a word. Sometimes love covers and in this situation love covers now if you've done that to the young people we'd have to do something But anyway, I didn't say a word.

I just stood there Let him get this out of him and then he takes a breath. He goes well at least you're open-minded and off he walks That was it Now What if I pushed him back? There were people all around me. What if I pushed him back? What if I said, you spit in my face, you and your whole family and your dog, you need to get out of here and.

What if I lashed out at him? What if I cursed at him? What if I hit him and I said you can't spit in my face like that and treat me like that? Actually you can. But anyway, People are watching me.

So let's say I did push back, I did spit back, or I used bad language. Well, what do you think the people all around me? But I didn't say a word. By the way, he's a good friend and when he wanted someone to bury him, the guy spitting his face, he asked me, will you bury me? I said yes, yes I will.

Again, you know the sheep, you know the sheep, and some sheep you got to give them a long rope. Other people watching, they see, held it with dignity, I did not do. People are watching you, you got to get that. They're watching you far more than you realize. You're an example.

You need to be aware of that, very aware of that. And you also need to be an example of good solid teaching so that people love good teaching. You know people love good leadership? They do, they love good leadership and they love good teaching. Paul's saying, this is how I did it.

This is how I did it. You teach the whole counsel of God. Don't leave anything out. I was thorough. Now we come to the exhortation.

Okay, I can stop here because the main point is done or I can go through it quickly. Someone give me guidance. Five minutes, ten minutes, what time? Are you an authority figure? He is an authority figure and I believe in him.

I think I do. All right, now we come to the direct exhortation. I'll move a little quicker now. You've got the main thing. Example, example, example.

Your example matters. Your influence is bigger than you realize. Okay, now the direct exhortation. Verse 28, very important verse for elders, very important. Pay careful attention to yourselves.

Did you notice that? Did you all notice that? He didn't say pay attention to the flock, did he? What did he say? Pay attention to yourself because that's where it starts.

You know, I'll have people, this is a lot of time, What do elders do? I tell them, well, take care of your soul. Soul care, that's your first job. Keep short accounts with God. Deal with sin.

Making sure you're learning, growing, praying. That's your first job. Your own personal soul care. If you can't shepherd your own soul, you can't shepherd other people's soul. You don't even know what you're talking about.

All right, pay careful attention to yourself because the devil's eye is on you. Right, Kevin? Isn't that right? Yeah, don't point like that, brother, it's scary. The devil has an eye on the leaders.

If he can take the leaders down, he takes a lot of people down, a lot of people down. So you have to care for your soul because you're the first of his targets. All right now pay careful attention to yourself and to all notice all the flock not just your friends your relatives and not those people you don't like and to all the flock in which now he gets four, he gets four motivating reasons. Paul was a great motivating person. He knows people need reasons in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseer.

So first reason, You are divinely appointed. You've been gifted. You've been in charge, motivated by the Holy Spirit. The only elders you want in your church are the elders who the Holy Spirit has placed the burden of the church on their arm. Not just someone's got a big, huge ego, thinks he's a leader wherever he is or self-deceived about himself.

In which the Holy Spirit made you, placed you, appointed you as overseers to shepherd the Church of God. Now that's the job of the elders, to shepherd. That is a beautiful word. It's filled with so much content. You'll have to look at it in the book.

I just want to stop here. Which he obtained with his own blood or the blood of his own one. Guys, you do get discouraged with people, you do. The very people you spend time with and disciple and have in your home, they will turn on you. Some of them will turn on you like vicious animals, guaranteed.

I don't have to guess at that one. And there's times you will get very discouraged with the people's lack of growth and a lack of sanctification. You'll get very discouraged. But I want you to remember this one point. Their blood bought people.

God paid for those people with all their problems and they've got a lot of problems with the blood of his own son. That's how costly. An incalculable price was paid. That helps me. I just have to remember who they are in God's sight, in God's sight.

And that's why he can say the Church of God is the Church of God. He obtained it. He owns it. He cares for it, and he wants you to care for it. Now here's another reason why you have to pay attention to yourself in the flock.

I know that after my departure, fierce wolves will come in among you. Paul didn't say, possibly, who knows? I'm guessing. No, I know. It happened in every one of his churches.

I know that after my departure, imminent danger, imminent danger. Gentlemen, wake up. Be aware of what you're going to face. Fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. They're not nice guys.

And oh, this is the most frightening. And from among your own selves will arise men speaking. This is very important word, twisted things. You see, they don't out and out deny it. They take standards of truth and they twist it.

They turn it in knots that even the most learned people can hardly untangle. They're very clever people. I'm actually reading a book right now, I wouldn't normally read it, but I'm reading it because this book is dividing a church. And this writer is a false teacher, it's a false gospel, but boy is he clever, is He clever. So I'm reading this book to help some others, and I realize, boy, if you don't know what you're talking about, this guy sounds really good.

And I can see why he could take over a whole church with his works gospel. Twisted things, they turn things upside down. If you've been involved in the feminist argument, you know this one, and to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore, get a good rest. Be alert.

Be alert. Remember it. Now, example, example. Be alert. That's the command, right?

That's the charge. What does he do? He follows it up with example. Remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish everyone with tears. So be alert, be wide awake, don't be a sleepy church, don't go on vacation.

Look at how I did this. The whole time, three years, I warned you, I admonished you. The entire time. And notice he did it day and night, and he did it with tears, and he covered every person. A thorough ministry of admonition and warning.

Sometimes people say, why are you always warning us? Because there's a lot to warn you about. All right. He now, he is now laid out the bulk of what he wants to say. You yourself know how I lived among you the whole time from the first day I set foot in Asia Minor.

This is my example. This is how I did it. You do it. The church is in your hands, gentlemen, and you will not see me again. Pretty awesome isn't it?

That's what he'd say to us right here. Verse 30 and from among your own excuse me 32 and now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified. Paul is leaving and he's not leaving him in a nice place. It's a dark, immoral, idolatrous city of Ephesus. Every hotbed of cults are there.

What does he do? Well, notice he puts him into the care of God, safekeeping of God, the God of the Bible, the God who kept Israel for 40 years in the wilderness. And Paul wants them to know God. He wants them to be good theologians. And to the word of his grace, these both actually go together, This would be the gospel, the message.

He places them in the trust and safekeeping of the God of the Bible and into the Word of Truth. He's able to do two things. He's able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified. Well that's pretty big. We all want an inheritance, don't we?

Everyone wants inheritance. Wonderful thing you get. I got an inheritance. Well this is inheritance among the saints for eternity. That's pretty big.

Well that's how powerful God is and the word of his grace is. Now, you would think at this point he's done. He's commended them to God, put them in God's safekeeping. He wants them to know God, trust God. The life of the Christian is the moment by moment trust in the promises of God and the word of God.

You would think he's done, wouldn't you? I would think he's done. But then he starts up again. What's this about? Verse 33, I covet it no in silver or gold or apparel.

You yourselves know that these hands minister to my necessities and to those who are with me. In all things I have shown you, here he goes again, notice verse 34, you yourself know, verse 35, I have shown you that by working hard in this way We must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus how he himself said it's more blessed to give than to receive What is this? Why does he start up again? Because there's two very important issues. He wants to lay on them and it's this.

The first is money. He disavows and he greed. What a difference from the prosperity preachers. They can't get enough money. I didn't even covet.

Notice, he didn't say it in take, I didn't covet your gold, your silver, or your apparel. That's quite a statement, by the way. He didn't see people as dollar signs. We've gotta be careful in the Christian ministry that it doesn't turn into all about raising money. Paul was very sensitive about money matters and it's one of the reasons in certain places he worked earning his own keep He did not want to connect the gospel with profit that he's making from the message.

I covet it no one's silver, gold, or apparel. That's the example again. There's the example. Brothers, there's the example. Let's be careful.

You yourselves know these hands ministered to my necessities and those who are with me. In other words, this is a hard working man. This is the Protestant work ethic. There was nothing inferior to his apostleship because he earned his own living. Could have been thought that way.

That would have been the Greco-Roman way of thinking. This guy works with hands. He works with his hands. Leather work. Well, he can't be a great teacher.

He can't be a great rabbi. No. He said, you know, I worked with my hands. Maybe he held his hands up. Manual labor.

He says, I've shown you that by working hard, and that's a good strong word of manual labor work, working the work of weariness, In this way we must help the weak. All right, two things. Number one, deal with money. Number two, there are people that are weak and needy. He's not talking about the spiritual weak now, he's talking about people, physical, financial weakness they must be cared for.

So in a sense, he restarts his sermon to emphasize two important points, money, reputation with finances. Remember, we handles other people's money, it's not our money. And that's why you have to go overboard in accountability and transparency. It's other people's money. I read recently that one-third of all churches will experience in its lifetime embezzlement.

It's money, very easy. And many times it's not stolen, it's misappropriated with ministry needs, you know? The pastor takes the money and goes, this is true, this was in our paper, plays golf a couple times a week, and the church found out that he was using the church money. He said, we have, but it's ministry. It's ministry.

I'm out on the golf course ministering to people. It's okay if the church understood that and approved it, but no one knew it, so that was stealing. He misappropriated it. Or you use your gas, your car, a bit of vacation on the church. It's OK as long as it's agreed upon as the church.

And they all know this. So there's different ways to steal, very clever ways, by the way. I'm not going to tell you what they are. And the other thing is the poor, the needy and the poor. And because Jesus said it's more blessed to give than to receive, We're to be giving leaders, generous leaders, compassionate leaders, empathetic leaders.

So he holds this up before them. I showed you, I demonstrated, I was an exemplary person before you, working hard with my hands so I could share with those who are weak. And because our Lord Jesus said the same thing, it's more blessed to give than to receive, and it's so true. Now, let's, the closing here, very emotional, and when he had said these things he knelt down and prayed with them. Well, it's the only conclusion you can have is to commit the whole thing to God.

Dependence on God, That's what prayer tells us. There was much weeping on the part of all and embraced Paul and kissed him. Paul was a man. So he is so misrepresented by the feminists as he's just this old cranky man that doesn't like women and doesn't like any fun. He is inspirational.

They kiss him. They weep. They're not going to see their apostle, their leader, their gospeler, their spiritual father. They're not going to see him again. Must have been a terrible feeling of loss.

I read an article on the lonely pastor at the top of the pyramid. As soon as I saw the title, I said, oh no. Paul was not a lonely pastor at the top of the pyramid. They wouldn't have cared if he left. You know, a lot of these people like this would go, oh, we're so glad he's leaving.

What a hassle when he was here, always on top of us, wanting us to do more work. No, no, they don't want him to leave. They sorrow, they sorrow that they will not see him again. He is a man that inspires people and loves people. He says to the Philippians, he says that he thinks of them with the affection of Christ Jesus, the very affection of Christ.

That's how he feels towards them. He's a man who bonds with people and loves people and they love him. He's a very loving man. He wrote more about love than the Apostle John. He wrote some of the greatest words about love.

First Corinthians 13. You know, you can be a great manager, you can be a great preacher, but it doesn't mean you're a great lover, a great inspiration. A man who loves people and to be with people and sacrifices for people, that's a different thing. I've seen preachers who don't even wanna talk to you people. You know, you're just a common folk out there.

But make sure you put something in the offering. Give till it hurts, that kind of thing. No, no, Paul was a very loving man. He loved people. Look at Romans 16, the end of the Romans 16, has all these wonderful words of praise.

He loves these people. He has the affection of Christ Jesus towards people. So he was not a lonely pastor at the top of the pyramid, he was right down there with everyone and his example, his example is what has lasted. So you want to do discipleship, remember your example. Be thorough in your teaching.

Be compassionate. Be generous, giving. And People will follow Christ as they follow you. Let's pray. Lord we just thank you for this marvelous marvelous message this sermon of the Apostle.

We're so glad that you gave us this in your word And there's so much in here we haven't even just started to plummet the depths of this message. May we understand the importance of our personal life example in front of other people. May we live the Christ-like life and challenge others to follow us in that life. We ask this in the name of the Lord Jesus, amen.