As Paul finally gets to minister in Ephesus, we see him battling the forces of darkness as the Name of Jesus is lifted high. When his years in Ephesus draw to a close, we hear the heart of a man who loves Jesus..."My only aim...is to testify to the goodness of the grace of God." That is the heart of a transformed man who loves God and loves people.

May we love one another as purely.

As Paul journeys on from Philippi into Thessalonica to Berea to Athens to Corinth, he tells us that he does so with one single resolve: to preach Jesus Christ, and him crucified.

In a world of false idols and immense suffering, Paul preaches the hope of the crucified and risen Lord Jesus. There was literally nothing the people of Greece needed more, and there is still literally NOTHING that we need more today.

Paul...a man who changed the world, wrote to the Corinthians "I resolved to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified." (1 Corinthians 2:2) No human knowledge, no fancy science or the latest discovery in mathematics. Just Jesus. Only Jesus. Still today, Jesus is the answer.

After being instructed "No!" twice by the Holy Spirit, Paul and Silas finally were given the divine green light to proceed westward across the Aegean Sea into Macedonia (now modern Greece). There, they met a dear woman who would become the first person to house a church in Europe, a demon-possessed slave girl, and a jailer who would come to Christ along with his entire household. Amidst suffering and persecution, Paul and Silas teach prisoners and freemen alike what it means to be filled with the unceasing joy of the Lord. 

Illness, persecution, division, even death...nothing can stop Paul's fervor for the gospel of Jesus Christ. On the second half of his first missionary journey, Paul is stoned to death, miraculously healed, and then gets up and goes right back into the city that just tried (successfully?) to kill him. Why? Because Jesus is worth it. Jesus is worth it all.

The first missionary journey for the Apostle Paul and Barnabas has set sail, and there will be no shortage of drama! Preaching to a governor, releasing a man from a demon, illness, controversy, suffering, arduous mountain trails, sleepless nights and a possible shipwreck...

But, far more important than all of that, through it all, lives are saved for the sake of Christ. The gospel is proclaimed, and hope is restored in lives and lands.

Join us for the first installment of the first journey!

In the fourth episode of our series on the Apostle Paul, we zoom in on a key encourager in his life: Barnabas.

Barnabas takes a risk on Saul when everyone else is still scared of him. Barnabas encourages him, remembers him, seeks him out, and mobilizes him for ministry.

What would it look like for you and I to be a Barnabas?

In this third episode of our series on the Apostle Paul, we look into the hidden years. After his conversion and before his first missionary journey is a period of about 14 years. We don't have very many details in the pages of Scripture, but what we do have gives us intriguing insight into the years in which he sought the Lord Jesus and learned personally, directly from Him.

Let us wait on the Lord like Paul did. Let us seek to know Jesus personally, intimately, in the ways that Paul did, as well as so many other men and women from the Bible.

In this second episode of Paul: His Letters, His Journeys, His Jesus, we take a deep dive into his conversion experience. What happened that day, two thousand years ago, on the long, hot road into Damascus?

When Jesus met Paul that day, it changed the world. Paul's obedience, Ananias' courage, and above all else Jesus' grace...it all flipped the world around in an irreversible way.

Join me on the road to Damascus as Saul is taken out of darkness and into the light.

Who was Saul of Tarsus? Join me this summer as I journey with the Apostle Paul through his conversion to Christ, his silent years of learning from Jesus, his travels, his sufferings, and ultimately getting to know his Jesus.

In this first episode of Paul: His Journeys, His Letters, His Jesus, we will look at Paul BC - Paul before Christ. Who was he before Jesus met him on the road to Damascus and flipped his world (and the whole world) upside down?

In the last chapter of his letter to the Colossians, Paul beseeches them to pray. He asks them to pray for one another, to be watchful and thankful in prayer, and to pray for him. For his safety, we might ask? No. He wants them to pray that while he is in prison, they would pray that he would share the Gospel clearly and fearlessly. 

They do and he does. 

May we live fearlessly too for the sake of the Gospel. May we wrestle in prayer like Paul and Epaphras did, and may the results of that prayer be radical disciples of Jesus who live fearlessly for Him. 

Amen and Amen.