WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:07.719 Just finding at 20, again I prepared in the NIV, so I'm just going to keep that to hand 00:00:07.719 --> 00:00:12.679 and it would be helpful if you could, if you've got a Bible just to have that to hand as well. 00:00:12.679 --> 00:00:18.760 It's great to be part of this occasion, some formality, but also a special time where there's 00:00:18.760 --> 00:00:25.199 such warmth towards Robin and Annabelle and Heidi and Angus and Naomi. 00:00:25.199 --> 00:00:30.640 And it's great to see what's happening, this great hope for Winchborough, for reaching out 00:00:30.640 --> 00:00:34.320 and establishing a church there under God. 00:00:34.320 --> 00:00:37.799 And for Robin, where is Robin? 00:00:37.799 --> 00:00:39.560 There you are. 00:00:39.560 --> 00:00:40.719 This is for you Robin. 00:00:40.719 --> 00:00:45.120 I can tell you what you have to do now, because I came across this job description for the 00:00:45.120 --> 00:00:46.519 perfect pastor. 00:00:46.519 --> 00:00:48.759 Perhaps you can relate to some of this. 00:00:48.759 --> 00:00:53.399 The perfect pastor preaches for exactly 20 minutes. 00:00:53.399 --> 00:00:59.920 He condemns sin roundly, but never hurts anyone's feelings. 00:00:59.920 --> 00:01:05.640 He works from eight in the morning until midnight and is also the church caretaker. 00:01:05.640 --> 00:01:11.280 The perfect pastor is 35 years old and has 40 years experience. 00:01:11.280 --> 00:01:16.120 He never forgets a name and spends most of his time in prayer. 00:01:16.120 --> 00:01:21.079 He also knows when somebody is sick and needs visiting, even without anyone telling him 00:01:21.079 --> 00:01:26.120 about it, and he spends most of his time in sermon preparation. 00:01:26.120 --> 00:01:32.159 He loves to spend time with his family, but has no problem with you dropping in unexpectedly. 00:01:32.159 --> 00:01:36.239 He remembers everyone's birthdays and their anniversaries. 00:01:36.239 --> 00:01:41.640 He eats nutritiously, sleeps well and easily, exercises daily and is always there to listen 00:01:41.640 --> 00:01:43.719 to you night or day. 00:01:43.719 --> 00:01:49.759 He has a burning desire to work with teenagers and spends most of his time with the elderly. 00:01:49.760 --> 00:01:55.680 He doesn't overburden the church's finances, so he has a full-time secular job as well. 00:01:55.680 --> 00:02:00.520 He never misses the meeting of any church committee and spends most of his time out there in the 00:02:00.520 --> 00:02:03.120 real world doing evangelism. 00:02:03.120 --> 00:02:07.920 And of course, most of us find, such are our expectations, that the perfect pastor is the 00:02:07.920 --> 00:02:11.719 one we see in a different church and not your own. 00:02:11.719 --> 00:02:13.879 So what should we expect from Robin? 00:02:13.879 --> 00:02:17.040 And what should we pray for Robin, for Winchborough? 00:02:17.039 --> 00:02:22.719 Well, what does God say? Here in Acts 20, we find the apostle Paul, central to the outward 00:02:22.719 --> 00:02:28.199 movement in Acts of God's unstoppable word as the risen Lord Jesus was at work through 00:02:28.199 --> 00:02:29.799 his apostles. 00:02:29.799 --> 00:02:34.159 And Paul is speaking to the elders of this church that he planted in Ephesus. 00:02:34.159 --> 00:02:40.039 He's since then moved on from Ephesus, but when he was on his way to Jerusalem in haste, 00:02:40.039 --> 00:02:43.359 he can't resist but to want to meet them one last time. 00:02:43.359 --> 00:02:45.560 Clearly this is a vital meeting. 00:02:45.560 --> 00:02:50.479 In verse 17, we read that he sent to Ephesus and he called the elders of the church to 00:02:50.479 --> 00:02:52.479 come to him. 00:02:52.479 --> 00:02:55.800 So this is the speech on the beach and it's a vital speech. 00:02:55.800 --> 00:03:00.120 It's the only speech recorded by Luke in Acts for already believers. 00:03:00.120 --> 00:03:02.480 It's an extraordinary thing. 00:03:02.480 --> 00:03:06.640 What does Paul have to say to the elders that was so significant? 00:03:06.640 --> 00:03:11.599 Well, what he says about his own ministry and what he calls them to in their ministry 00:03:11.599 --> 00:03:18.359 as elders in Ephesus has much to say for how we pray for Robin and what we look for from 00:03:18.359 --> 00:03:19.359 him. 00:03:19.359 --> 00:03:20.519 So three points this morning for us. 00:03:20.519 --> 00:03:24.919 The first is the perfect pastor teaches the truth. 00:03:24.919 --> 00:03:27.000 The perfect pastor teaches the truth. 00:03:27.000 --> 00:03:30.240 And we see that again and again in what Paul says. 00:03:30.240 --> 00:03:32.799 Let's have a look at verse 20. 00:03:32.799 --> 00:03:40.120 The apostle Paul, how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable. 00:03:40.120 --> 00:03:45.800 He declared what was profitable and he did that publicly and from house to house. 00:03:45.800 --> 00:03:47.360 So he taught comprehensively. 00:03:47.360 --> 00:03:51.480 He taught everything to everyone everywhere that he could. 00:03:51.480 --> 00:03:53.120 He taught everything. 00:03:53.120 --> 00:03:57.360 Verse 20, anything that was profitable. 00:03:57.360 --> 00:04:03.640 And when you're planting a church, I guess because without fruitful evangelism and growth, 00:04:03.640 --> 00:04:06.040 the church is not viable. 00:04:06.039 --> 00:04:14.599 The temptation then is to cherry pick the bits of the scriptures that would be culturally 00:04:14.599 --> 00:04:20.719 popular and to overlook those bits of God's word that would be culturally difficult and 00:04:20.719 --> 00:04:23.719 potentially offensive. 00:04:23.719 --> 00:04:26.360 And yet Paul was a church planter. 00:04:26.360 --> 00:04:33.120 And when we look at verse 27, he says, I testify to you this day that I'm innocent of the 00:04:33.120 --> 00:04:41.240 blood of all, for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God, the whole 00:04:41.240 --> 00:04:42.840 counsel. 00:04:42.840 --> 00:04:44.920 He taught the truth bravely. 00:04:44.920 --> 00:04:50.840 So we have that language in verse 20 from Paul of how he did not shrink from declaring 00:04:50.840 --> 00:04:52.800 to you anything that was profitable. 00:04:52.800 --> 00:04:55.439 Why do you think he has to say that he didn't shrink? 00:04:55.439 --> 00:04:57.280 He didn't hesitate? 00:04:57.279 --> 00:05:03.919 I guess because sometimes people don't want to hear the truth from God. 00:05:03.919 --> 00:05:12.239 And so when proclaiming it, there's the temptation to shrink back from that. 00:05:12.239 --> 00:05:15.639 It's true when speaking to those who were not yet believers. 00:05:15.639 --> 00:05:22.759 And Paul says in verse 21 of his message about Jesus, that it's the message both to Jews 00:05:22.759 --> 00:05:28.439 and to Greeks of repentance towards God and a faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. 00:05:28.439 --> 00:05:33.120 That is that Paul's gospel is a message of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, of 00:05:33.120 --> 00:05:39.639 a change of direction, away from our life, away from God, and back towards God, repentance 00:05:39.639 --> 00:05:41.199 for the forgiveness of sins. 00:05:41.199 --> 00:05:46.240 Jesus is risen, he's ascended, he's the King, and we're to lay down our arms and submit 00:05:46.240 --> 00:05:48.920 to his lordship in our lives. 00:05:48.920 --> 00:05:56.520 It's a confronting gospel, and Paul was brave, not strong, weak in himself, praying that 00:05:56.520 --> 00:06:02.360 he would find strength in Christ Jesus in his weakness, in fear and trembling, but confident 00:06:02.360 --> 00:06:08.759 in the Spirit's power to be at work, to move people, to respond in repentance. 00:06:08.759 --> 00:06:13.400 And of course, it's not just with not yet Christians that we need courage to teach the 00:06:13.400 --> 00:06:15.600 truth and not to shrink back. 00:06:15.600 --> 00:06:21.240 He says in verse 20, when he's speaking about them, I did not shrink from declaring to you 00:06:21.240 --> 00:06:23.040 anything that was profitable. 00:06:23.040 --> 00:06:29.040 For none of us likes to be told by God that we need to change. 00:06:29.040 --> 00:06:33.720 And so if you teach the truth, Robin, people might want to dismiss you. 00:06:33.720 --> 00:06:38.160 They might say to themselves, well, what would Robin know? 00:06:38.160 --> 00:06:41.760 He's just a bloke from Bradford, and where's Bradford? 00:06:41.760 --> 00:06:43.000 Yorkshire? 00:06:43.000 --> 00:06:46.680 What would he know about my life and about the real world? 00:06:46.680 --> 00:06:52.639 When Robin first arrived in Glasgow, he walked in to, it was straight from the airport, I 00:06:52.639 --> 00:06:58.519 think, to my home group meeting, a room full of Scots in my living room, and I introduced 00:06:58.519 --> 00:06:59.519 Robin. 00:06:59.519 --> 00:07:04.879 I said he's coming to Glasgow to start training at seminary in Edinburgh to be a pastor. 00:07:04.879 --> 00:07:08.920 And they looked at him as if to say, why is he doing that? 00:07:08.920 --> 00:07:13.680 And then one of them said, where are you from? 00:07:13.680 --> 00:07:14.680 And he said, Bradford. 00:07:14.680 --> 00:07:17.640 And they looked at him as if they were thinking, where's Bradford? 00:07:17.640 --> 00:07:24.560 And then he said, but my wife's from Lewis, and suddenly the room warmed up. 00:07:24.560 --> 00:07:26.560 So good to meet you, Robin. 00:07:26.560 --> 00:07:29.720 So Robin, Annabelle is a great gift to you. 00:07:29.720 --> 00:07:34.080 And yet even with the great gift of being married to Annabelle, we should expect that 00:07:34.079 --> 00:07:40.919 for you to be a faithful pastor, teaching what's helpful from the Scriptures, that people will 00:07:40.919 --> 00:07:46.439 be encouraged, their hearts will be warmed as they see Jesus, but also they'll be confronted 00:07:46.439 --> 00:07:51.879 at times and you're not to shrink back from what would be profitable. 00:07:51.879 --> 00:07:56.519 And look where you had to go to hear the truth from Paul in verse 20. 00:07:56.519 --> 00:08:00.919 He says, teaching you in public and from house to house. 00:08:00.920 --> 00:08:07.000 I take it there was a hunger from God's people to grow when they met together to meet with 00:08:07.000 --> 00:08:08.800 God in His Word. 00:08:08.800 --> 00:08:10.680 And Paul taught everywhere. 00:08:10.680 --> 00:08:15.960 And I was struck, Robin, by the way, you did that in Glasgow on our time with us as we 00:08:15.960 --> 00:08:19.600 had you preaching on Sundays, but you were also leading a small group. 00:08:19.600 --> 00:08:24.280 And then you were meeting guys for breakfast and you were meeting guys on Zoom in the lockdowns, 00:08:24.280 --> 00:08:26.040 reading books with them. 00:08:26.040 --> 00:08:30.400 And we pray that you'll be able to teach people everywhere in Winchborough. 00:08:30.399 --> 00:08:35.079 In the bowling club that's been provided to meet, but also let's pray that it's in the 00:08:35.079 --> 00:08:39.840 schools and in the coffee shops, wherever people will meet you. 00:08:39.840 --> 00:08:44.240 And notice Paul's extraordinary commitment to that work in verse 24. 00:08:44.240 --> 00:08:46.199 It's an extraordinary thing to say. 00:08:46.199 --> 00:08:52.559 I do not account my life of any value, nor is precious to myself, if only I may finish 00:08:52.559 --> 00:08:59.879 my course and the ministry that I receive from the Lord Jesus to testify to the gospel 00:08:59.879 --> 00:09:02.679 of the grace of God. 00:09:02.679 --> 00:09:07.320 So Paul is comprehensive, he's courageous, he's committed to the cause. 00:09:07.320 --> 00:09:11.320 The perfect pastor teaches the truth. 00:09:11.320 --> 00:09:15.080 Secondly and more briefly, the perfect pastor keeps watch. 00:09:15.080 --> 00:09:19.439 So have a look with me at verse 29. 00:09:19.439 --> 00:09:24.759 The apostle Paul says, I know that after my departure, fierce wolves will come in among 00:09:24.759 --> 00:09:27.639 you, not sparing the flock. 00:09:27.639 --> 00:09:34.000 I don't know whether you've ever seen wolves on the hunt in a wildlife program. 00:09:34.000 --> 00:09:38.879 The sheep will just be grazing and just living and it's peaceful. 00:09:38.879 --> 00:09:44.039 And then the wolves attack and within minutes it's just utterly horrific. 00:09:44.039 --> 00:09:45.039 There's blood everywhere. 00:09:45.039 --> 00:09:47.199 There are limbs everywhere. 00:09:47.199 --> 00:09:48.199 Mamed animals. 00:09:48.199 --> 00:09:49.199 It's devastating. 00:09:49.199 --> 00:09:56.399 And that's the picture that Paul uses here, just as Jesus used it, for a church when false 00:09:56.399 --> 00:09:59.319 teachers are at work. 00:09:59.319 --> 00:10:04.679 And it's striking to me, reading Acts 20, that there was such Paul's concern about this. 00:10:04.679 --> 00:10:09.879 Because I wonder, looking at my church family at St. Silas, how many of my church family 00:10:09.879 --> 00:10:16.840 wake up in the night worried that a false teacher might take over the church? 00:10:16.840 --> 00:10:21.600 How many of us would really worry that would happen at St. Columbus or in Winchborough 00:10:21.600 --> 00:10:25.559 when God willing, the Lord establishes a people and a church there? 00:10:25.559 --> 00:10:29.599 I suspect very few of us wake up in the night worried about that. 00:10:29.599 --> 00:10:31.839 Why not? 00:10:31.839 --> 00:10:37.319 Because essentially we think to ourselves, if a false teacher got up into my pulpit, 00:10:37.319 --> 00:10:39.599 I'd spot them. 00:10:39.599 --> 00:10:47.000 And yet a key mark of Paul's ministry was a passionate plea to keep watch. 00:10:47.000 --> 00:10:55.879 Look at verse 31, verse 31, therefore be alert. 00:10:55.879 --> 00:10:56.879 Be on your guard. 00:10:56.879 --> 00:10:58.379 Be alert. 00:10:58.379 --> 00:11:04.279 Remembering that for three years I did not cease, night or day, to admonish everyone with 00:11:04.279 --> 00:11:07.960 tears. 00:11:07.960 --> 00:11:13.039 I take it it's because false teachers don't arrive in your church with a t-shirt on saying, 00:11:13.039 --> 00:11:15.320 I'm a false teacher. 00:11:15.320 --> 00:11:20.800 In verse 30 he says, even from your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things to 00:11:20.800 --> 00:11:23.840 draw away the disciples after them. 00:11:23.840 --> 00:11:29.720 They even come from within, people who start out as Christians we know and trust and we 00:11:29.720 --> 00:11:34.200 rejoice in them and we put them forward for ministry. 00:11:34.200 --> 00:11:36.520 But then something goes wrong. 00:11:36.520 --> 00:11:42.160 And it would be easy if it was obvious because they went way off track and were denying the 00:11:42.160 --> 00:11:43.160 truth. 00:11:43.159 --> 00:11:47.360 But what he says is rather than denying it, they twist it. 00:11:47.360 --> 00:11:50.240 Verse 30, they speak twisted things. 00:11:50.240 --> 00:11:52.039 So there's just a distortion. 00:11:52.039 --> 00:11:56.159 It's just a little bit off beam from the scriptures. 00:11:56.159 --> 00:11:58.159 So what's the solution? 00:11:58.159 --> 00:12:02.079 Well it's to have faithful shepherds who guard the flock. 00:12:02.079 --> 00:12:04.799 Have a look at verse 28. 00:12:04.799 --> 00:12:10.199 Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has 00:12:10.200 --> 00:12:18.759 made you overseers to care for the church of God which he obtained with his own blood. 00:12:18.759 --> 00:12:21.759 So Robin you have to keep watch over yourself. 00:12:21.759 --> 00:12:22.960 You see that? 00:12:22.960 --> 00:12:26.040 Pay careful attention to yourselves. 00:12:26.040 --> 00:12:32.040 An older minister visited St Silas a couple of years into my ministry there about five 00:12:32.040 --> 00:12:36.080 years ago and he looked around at the end of the morning service and he said, Martin this 00:12:36.080 --> 00:12:39.520 is a great opportunity for ministry. 00:12:39.519 --> 00:12:41.559 Don't do anything daft. 00:12:41.559 --> 00:12:44.840 Don't do anything daft doctrinally. 00:12:44.840 --> 00:12:47.960 Don't do anything daft morally. 00:12:47.960 --> 00:12:51.840 In other words, keep watch over yourself. 00:12:51.840 --> 00:12:54.199 And Paul drives home the point in verse 31. 00:12:54.199 --> 00:12:57.639 Therefore be alert, be alert. 00:12:57.639 --> 00:13:01.039 There's lots that we'll want Robin to be focused on in Winchborough. 00:13:01.039 --> 00:13:04.240 We hope that there'll be lots of opportunity to reach new people. 00:13:04.240 --> 00:13:07.919 Already it's been thrilling to hear of his breakfast meetings with guys that he's just 00:13:07.919 --> 00:13:09.959 meeting around the place. 00:13:09.959 --> 00:13:11.959 There'll be services to plan in time. 00:13:11.959 --> 00:13:14.919 There'll probably be rotors to do. 00:13:14.919 --> 00:13:21.120 We hope there'll be many ways that the team can be equipped to reach the community. 00:13:21.120 --> 00:13:27.399 At the same time, don't neglect the call to keep watch over the flock, to nurture them 00:13:27.399 --> 00:13:33.000 by showing them Christ so that they're well fed and protect them. 00:13:33.000 --> 00:13:37.799 And if we're frightened by the sobering warning that Paul gives on the beach, let's also be 00:13:37.799 --> 00:13:42.039 reassured by verse 32. 00:13:42.039 --> 00:13:43.479 And now I commend you to God. 00:13:43.479 --> 00:13:47.319 And to the word of his grace, what a great description of the Scriptures, the word of 00:13:47.319 --> 00:13:53.759 God's grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all 00:13:53.759 --> 00:13:55.919 those who are sanctified. 00:13:55.919 --> 00:14:01.000 So by God's word, you can equip people that the Lord would preserve them. 00:14:01.000 --> 00:14:02.879 It's all that we need. 00:14:02.879 --> 00:14:05.120 The word of God's grace. 00:14:05.120 --> 00:14:09.120 And it's the word of God's grace because in God's word, we encounter Him and in His 00:14:09.120 --> 00:14:11.720 holiness we're convicted. 00:14:11.720 --> 00:14:16.240 War is me for our sin, our uncleanness. 00:14:16.240 --> 00:14:21.919 And then the word of God's grace says to us, see the Lord Jesus and His righteous life, 00:14:21.919 --> 00:14:27.919 His perfect life lived for you and trust that salvation has been one for you in Him. 00:14:27.919 --> 00:14:30.120 Stick with Him. 00:14:30.120 --> 00:14:34.399 So Robin, you can trust that when you commit people to the word of God's grace, you have 00:14:34.399 --> 00:14:37.199 everything you need for them. 00:14:37.199 --> 00:14:41.480 And how should you come across as you teach the truth and as you keep watch over the flock? 00:14:41.480 --> 00:14:43.120 Well, that's our third point. 00:14:43.120 --> 00:14:48.399 So the perfect pastor teaches the truth, the perfect pastor keeps watch, and thirdly, the 00:14:48.399 --> 00:14:52.240 perfect pastor sheds tears. 00:14:52.240 --> 00:14:56.439 Did you notice how packed with emotion Paul's words are? 00:14:56.439 --> 00:14:57.559 Let me bring that out again. 00:14:57.559 --> 00:15:05.439 Verse 19, he says, he served the Lord among them with all humility and with tears and 00:15:05.439 --> 00:15:07.359 with trials. 00:15:07.359 --> 00:15:09.439 In verse 31, he's crying again. 00:15:09.439 --> 00:15:13.519 Verse 31, therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night 00:15:13.519 --> 00:15:17.319 or day to admonish everyone with tears. 00:15:17.319 --> 00:15:21.679 As he leaves them, verse 36, when he said these things, he knelt down and prayed with 00:15:21.679 --> 00:15:28.639 them all and there was much weeping on the part of all. 00:15:28.639 --> 00:15:33.599 They embraced Paul and kissed him, being sorrowful most of all because of the word he'd spoken 00:15:33.599 --> 00:15:37.359 that they would not see his face again. 00:15:37.359 --> 00:15:40.239 Luke says next they had to tear themselves away. 00:15:40.239 --> 00:15:41.599 Why all are crying? 00:15:41.599 --> 00:15:47.919 Well, such is the commitment that a pastor has for his people. 00:15:47.919 --> 00:15:50.479 So he starts to remind them what he was like. 00:15:50.480 --> 00:15:57.639 He says, verse 18, you know how I lived among you the whole time I was with you. 00:15:57.639 --> 00:16:03.399 That is that a pastor is not to be in an ivory tower, unknown, but is to be known and robbing 00:16:03.399 --> 00:16:05.920 you to be known by the people. 00:16:05.920 --> 00:16:10.759 Not that you'll be sinless and perfect, but they'd see your dependence on Christ day by 00:16:10.759 --> 00:16:11.759 day. 00:16:11.759 --> 00:16:17.159 They'd see Christ in you as looking through a window and seeing your dependence on him 00:16:17.159 --> 00:16:18.960 because they know you. 00:16:18.960 --> 00:16:21.240 And Paul was known by them. 00:16:21.240 --> 00:16:24.240 He was a man of contentment, of hard work. 00:16:24.240 --> 00:16:29.360 At the end of his speech he says how he didn't cover anyone's riches. 00:16:29.360 --> 00:16:32.240 He worked hard to supply his own needs. 00:16:32.240 --> 00:16:35.720 He was generous and sacrificial. 00:16:35.720 --> 00:16:39.160 And let me say, Robin and Annabelle, I think you've been a great model of that since you 00:16:39.160 --> 00:16:41.000 moved to Scotland. 00:16:41.000 --> 00:16:46.160 These guys lived in a small flat in Glasgow joyfully and contentedly. 00:16:46.159 --> 00:16:51.360 And then I'm struck by the way you've been content with the house that was provided in 00:16:51.360 --> 00:16:54.639 Winchborough, the joy over that provision. 00:16:54.639 --> 00:17:02.000 And even as you wait perhaps for it to be extended, to be a home for ministry in the 00:17:02.000 --> 00:17:06.599 future, you've shown contentment and joy in God's provision. 00:17:06.599 --> 00:17:09.680 And you've kept your lives free from the love of money. 00:17:09.680 --> 00:17:11.920 And Paul would have us do that. 00:17:11.920 --> 00:17:16.080 So he has these tears of commitment for his ministry and his people. 00:17:16.080 --> 00:17:20.480 And there are also tears of friendship that Paul's three years with the people in Ephesus 00:17:20.480 --> 00:17:25.680 created these close ties so that they wept thinking that they wouldn't see him again. 00:17:25.680 --> 00:17:26.680 They're heartbroken. 00:17:26.680 --> 00:17:32.240 And I hope and pray that as you and the launch team in Winchborough serve Christ together 00:17:32.240 --> 00:17:37.360 and the wider church here in Edinburgh support you, those kind of close friendships will 00:17:37.360 --> 00:17:39.800 form. 00:17:39.799 --> 00:17:42.519 So as we finish, why would you do this Robin? 00:17:42.519 --> 00:17:47.359 Christian ministry, I mean, you're called to teach the truth even when it's confronting 00:17:47.359 --> 00:17:49.119 and people don't want to hear it. 00:17:49.119 --> 00:17:51.000 You're called to keep watch. 00:17:51.000 --> 00:17:55.440 And that means that at times you'll be opposed by false teachers. 00:17:55.440 --> 00:17:59.919 It's a job where you work hard and you set an example and you give generously and you 00:17:59.919 --> 00:18:05.359 end up spending a lot of your time in tears if you're going to be anything like Paul. 00:18:05.359 --> 00:18:09.759 But you can do it Robin because of who Paul is following here. 00:18:09.759 --> 00:18:18.000 You see Luke told us in Luke's Gospel that Jesus set his face toward Jerusalem knowing 00:18:18.000 --> 00:18:20.399 what would face him there. 00:18:20.399 --> 00:18:24.359 And here we hear that Paul is following that example himself. 00:18:24.359 --> 00:18:31.279 In verse 22 he says, I'm going to Jerusalem not knowing what will happen to me there. 00:18:31.279 --> 00:18:36.879 Paul is following his savior and in Christian ministry, that's what we're called to do. 00:18:36.879 --> 00:18:42.799 Robin, you can strive to teach the truth because Jesus Christ is the truth and he gave his 00:18:42.799 --> 00:18:45.240 life that we might know him. 00:18:45.240 --> 00:18:51.480 We find the truth demonstrated, the truth about God at the cross as he demonstrates 00:18:51.480 --> 00:18:53.160 his love for us. 00:18:53.160 --> 00:18:58.119 You can strive to keep watch to be a good shepherd because you're an under shepherd of Christ, 00:18:58.119 --> 00:19:04.439 a chief shepherd who will appear one day bearing the marks that he died for his sheep and laid 00:19:04.439 --> 00:19:06.639 down his life for you. 00:19:06.639 --> 00:19:11.199 You can shed tears of commitment to the task because you know Jesus first committed himself 00:19:11.199 --> 00:19:14.039 to you and it cost him everything. 00:19:14.039 --> 00:19:19.759 And you can shed tears of friendship with those you serve and do ministry with because 00:19:19.759 --> 00:19:26.319 you know Jesus died alone, abandoned by his friends so that he could call us his friends 00:19:26.319 --> 00:19:29.159 and welcome us into his family. 00:19:29.159 --> 00:19:34.839 Keep your eyes on him, the man of sorrows, what a name, for the Son of God who came, 00:19:34.839 --> 00:19:37.559 ruined sinners to reclaim. 00:19:37.559 --> 00:19:44.720 Let's pray together. 00:19:44.720 --> 00:19:49.519 Father in heaven, we thank you that the Lord Jesus Christ is building the church to be 00:19:49.519 --> 00:19:56.279 his bride, that you have chosen a people to be your special gift to your son and that 00:19:56.279 --> 00:20:02.200 nothing, not even the gates of hell, will prevail against your will and your plan. 00:20:02.200 --> 00:20:08.920 Lord, we thank you for Robin, for Annabelle, for Heidi, Angus and Naomi. 00:20:08.920 --> 00:20:15.559 We thank you for Robin's character, for saving him, for his dependence on your grace, for 00:20:15.559 --> 00:20:23.720 his gifts, his prayerfulness, his convictions and we pray for him, heavenly Father, that 00:20:23.720 --> 00:20:28.639 by your spirit his heart will abound with a deeper grasp of all that Christ has done 00:20:28.639 --> 00:20:32.279 for him, our chief shepherd. 00:20:32.279 --> 00:20:38.879 That Robin can be strong in the grace that's in Christ Jesus, to teach the truth, to guard 00:20:38.880 --> 00:20:45.640 the flock and to love your people even with tears, for Jesus' name's sake. 00:20:45.640 --> 00:21:09.680 Amen.