Eig Blog

In this section we find that the Apostle Paul, prisoner of Christ is sovereignly protected by God amidst a plot of forty men who bowed to kill him. God is in control. The enemies of the Gospel are well and alive and will go to any length to stop those who serve the Lord. Yet God is sovereign and will let nothing happen outside of his plan.

This applies to us as we are also called to to complete surrender to Christ’s authority, living in obedience, humility, and service.

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“To all appearance, the present year will be more perilous than any I have seen; but if I live to complete the Persian New Testament, my life after that will be of less importance. But whether life or death be mine, may Christ be magnified in me! If he has work for me to do, I cannot die. This has often been paraphrased as “I am immortal till Christ’s work for me to do is done.” “– - Providence by John Piper This was the case with Paul in this passage. We know that Paul fulfilled his mission and that it was not easy. We also know that he was eventually killed by Emperor Nero. But God cared for him until he fulfilled the mission of his calling.

All of this shows us that God has a plan for us and in the meantime, God has a plan for your life and you are immortal until you fulfill it, He will take care of you.

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Up to this point in the book of Acts, Paul has arrived in Jerusalem and has been taken prisoner. He is accused of teaching against Judaism (wanting to undo the Jewish religion), against the temple and even polluting it (Acts 2:29) by bringing in Greeks. This trial period will last two years.  All this was false. However, the wish they had to kill them was serious. But even with all this, Paul remains determined to share the gospel with everyone. In this case he does it through his testimony. This is something that all of us should know how to do (in 5 minutes). This sermon will help us learn it from Paul.

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The book of Acts shows us that persecution is part of the life of the believers (the church) when they are committed in sharing the Good News of Jesus. We have seen it at least six times (Acts 8, 12, 13-14, 16, 17, and 19). Two of them are against the church as a whole and the others against Paul. Some of these affected the churches that he planted.  We know that the church has always been unjustly persecuted because when she lives for Jesus and shares Jesus. Our association with Jesus makes us a target for Satan and those who follow him. This will continue until Jesus comes back. Paul experiences this in this chapter. This will lead to his imprisonment that will last for over two years. It all starts here.

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Are you ready to die for the Lord? This question is one everyone hates to answer because it is hypothetical. I would venture to say that most of us here would say “yes” without thinking it through like Peter did when our Lord told they would all run away when he was arrested. This may […]

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Why does the Church matters even in the 21st century? It is important for us as well as we begin a new year, perhaps a very decisive year as a church. This is why I decided that we need to address this because we need to align ourselves with what God says about the church.

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Let’s look at Joseph’s dilemma (he was between the ages of 18-20), how God ruins his plan and what his response was to what He intended to do in his life. This will help us respond to God’s leading our lives even when we don’t think it is the path we want to go.   […]

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Paul had just travelled four days as he arrives in Miletus. Here the boat will probably unload and pick more passengers. Due to time constrains, Paul decides to call the Ephesian elders to Miletus (a 30 mile journey). He will give them his “farewell” address and encourage them to lead the church well as he […]

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From the apostle Paul, the pastor and church planter we learn the value of encouraging one another to keep growing in the faith as we live in the world sharing the Good News of Jesus. We use the Word of God along with our times of gathering where we also share the Lord’s Supper and […]

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As we saw in our last section, people who were in bondage to the occult are freed and made whole. They leave these practices and idolatry to follow the living God. The Gospel transforms the way we live and those things that we thought were worthwhile become meaningless in light of the cross. When this […]

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit despond.substack.com