I'm gonna read verses one through six. Well, I'll tell you what, we take so many things for granted. I mean, we just take so many things for granted. Maybe it's just me. Maybe I'm just the only one that takes so many things for granted. But it's good to be in his house. I mean, I just thought it's good to have the health and the strength. how often take that for granted to be in his house this morning and just what a blessing it is to be in his house. Verse one says, And after the uproar was ceased, Paul called unto him the disciples, and embraced them, and departed for to go into Macedonia. And when he had gone over those parts, and had given them much exhortation, he came into Greece. And there abode three months. And when the Jews laid wait for him, as he was about to sail into Syria, he purposed to return through Macedonia. And there accompanied him into Asia, suppitor of Berea, and of the Thessalonians, Aristarchus, and Secundus, and Gaius of Derbe, and Timotheus, and of Asia, Tycheus, and Trophimus. These going before tarried for us at Troas, and we sailed away from Philippi after the days of unleavened bread, and came unto them to Troas in five days, where we abode seven days." Verse 1 here, after the, you know, you recall a few weeks back we were talking about in Acts, at the end of chapter 19, about the riot that was in Ephesus where they had tried to, you know, again, I believe it was, that was the devil's last pass in Ephesus to try to get Paul killed, basically, I think. But after the riot and everything in Ephesus, Paul heads north And when you kind of look at the map, I mean, this is, we know this was his third journey, and he hasn't headed back, he hasn't gotten back to his starting point yet, but he leaves Ephesus and he heads north, if you look at the map, and then he goes west one more time, and basically where he was going was over into Europe again to visit the churches that he had been to on the second missionary journey, a lot of the churches he'd been to, and the ones that God had allowed him to establish. Verse 2 tells us that he traveled north and probably the places he visited, I mean like I said, if you look at a map, I mean Thessalonica, Philippi, Berea, all of those churches are in that area north of Ephesus. And then he came down, he came back down south to Greece, basically, or to Athens, and said he stayed there three months. And I thought, you know, how much more did he preach about how the true, the one and only true God to those folks in Greece who were so, you know, stuck on idols at that time. But then, if you look here at the verses, what I just read, I think Paul planned probably to take a ship, probably from Athens, and just cross over, I think it's the Aegean Sea there, and head back over to below Ephesus. And it says here that there were some things that kind of delayed that because, yeah, I think we lose sight of the fact that there were still a lot of people that wanted to see Paul dead. And there was still a lot of people that wanted to see the people that were following him killed or, you know, get them out of the way, whatever you want to call it. So there was still a lot of hatred for Paul and for a lot of the folks that were following him. And it says here that they had made a plan, basically, and they were probably going to get him on a ship. And they figured, well, we get him on a ship. we'll just throw him overboard and that'll be the end of him. Nobody's going to know who did it and they'll never find him. I mean, I know it sounds pretty morbid, but I think that's what their plan was because it says here that said they laid wait for him as he was about to sail. So I mean, so what did he do? He said, well, God told him don't get on the ship basically. And he went back up north again by land. So, um, Verse four, you know, these names that I read, these are probably a lot of the, not all of them, but some of the missionaries, you know, some of the followers that Paul had been with, had taught, people that he had, God had directed him probably to recruit, if I could put it that way, or maybe they even volunteered. Maybe they felt like the Lord had led them to volunteer, but they were part of the missionaries. I mean, you think about, we read about how the word of God spread. Well, it didn't spread just by Paul. You know and today it doesn't spread just by Tom. OK. It spreads by all of us. Right. And I mean that's how it spreads. That's how the word of God spread. That's his plan. That's always been his plan. His people get saved. His people grow. His people share the gospel. And hopefully we see other people get saved. So. These were, like I'd say, the close companions of Paul, and they're coming back together to meet him in Troas, which is where he's heading to once he gets there, once he gets around all the people that are trying to keep him from getting there. That's just the way I put it. So verse 5, Notice how the tense kind of changes. It says, these going before tarried for us at Troas. So Luke has come back now, wherever Luke's been, he's back with Paul again. And I'm sure he was, maybe he was in Philippi ministering, who knows, but he's back with Paul again, and he's rejoined him for the trip to Troas. And like I said, these men mentioned in verse four, they were probably some of the men that were sent from all the different churches in Europe and Asia. If you remember when we were studying over in 2 Corinthians, however long ago that was, but if you go over and read, one of the last things we read about and looked at was the fact that God directed Paul to take up a collection, right, for the poor at the Jerusalem church, because the Jerusalem church was under a lot of persecution at this time and they were poor. So probably some of these men maybe were here to start to continue that work of the collection. I don't know that for sure, but we could probably kind of see that because this is all, you know, sometimes we, and I'm, I mean, maybe it's just me, but sometimes I think we lose kind of track going from book to book of the timing of all this, you know, but all these things were happening at the same time. I mean, Paul's ministering, he's traveling, and this collection was probably going on at the same time and had people and men working with him. So, what was I going to say? Hang on, lost my train of thought. So Paul, like I said, when Paul left Ephesus, to visit these churches, and that's what verse 1 tells us. It says he called his disciples, he embraced them, and he departed to go to Macedonia. And it says right there in verse 2, and when he had gone over those parts and had given them much exhortation, he came into Greece. So when he left Ephesus, he had two goals, I think. I think he had two goals. And one of those goals, like I said, was this continuing this collection for the poor saints at Jerusalem. And again, I think these men that I just said, that we just read, I think they had been called to help Paul. But that wasn't Paul's primary purpose. Paul's primary purpose, I believe, was always what? And you all probably know exactly what I'm going to say, but it was to encourage And it was to strengthen the saints so that they could stand true to the Lord and be effective witnesses. Does that sound familiar to what we ought to be doing today? Same thing, right? I mean, the times change, but the role of the church never changes. You know, people want to They want to pretend and they want to come up with all these harebrained ideas. I'll just put it that way. It's the best. That's the nicest way I can say it of how the church has changed or it's got to change. No, the church does not change because this does not change. It will never change. And all we have to do is follow this book. And so they were doing the same thing as what we're supposed to do. And that was his purpose. You know, I mean, just like I want to get ahead of myself. I mean, let me keep going here. I'm getting a little stirred up. His first purpose was always to encourage and strengthen, okay? Is that not why we come to church? is to get to be encouraged, to be strengthened, right? To come together. I mean, that's what we're supposed to do. So, you know, like I said, this ought to hit home. This should hit home with me and us. I mean, not only that, I say, praise the Lord. I'm glad he wants, he's provided a way that he wants us to be encouraged. He wants us to grow. He wants us to be strong. He wants us to witness for him. He wants us to live for him. You know, he wants us to live a life that's productive. He doesn't want us to live a life that we just drag through every day. That's not, that's not God's plan. Okay. I mean, do difficulties come? Yes. Okay. I'm not going to sit here and tell you they don't. I don't, I don't have to tell you that we all, we all, we've all lived it. Okay. Or we're living it. Okay. But his plan is for us to live a productive life. And the reason you say, well, how come they had to be strengthened? They were still facing a lot of persecution, a lot of opposition. Sound familiar? I mean, don't make no mistake. The church is under attack today, okay? I mean, people, I mean, you know, people don't like, they don't want to hear about Jesus. Well, too bad, because he's alive and he's on the throne, whether they want to believe it or not, he's alive and well, okay? And his word is also alive and well this morning. So, I'm glad that we come to a church today that emphasizes the preaching of the Word of God. Because I'm telling you, without the preaching of the Word of God, you might as well just stay home. It's the truth. Without the preaching of God's Word, we're wasting our time. We're wasting our time. that emphasizes standing true for the Lord, okay? And so those saints in Paul's day, I mean, no doubt about it, we don't have a clue. But they had it rough. I'm sure there was a lot of them that had it rough. And I'm not saying people don't have it hard these days. There's a lot of people that we know, even in our country, that are saved, and they probably have very difficult times. And we know that. But what did Paul have to give to these people? What did he have when he went back? He wanted to go back. He wanted to revisit all the churches that God had allowed him to establish. What did he have to offer them? He had one thing. Well, he had two things. Number one, first and foremost, he had the Word of God. I mean, and that's the main thing. He had the Word of God. He had the Word of God and he had prayer. You know, and I say glory because I'm glad that we have a pastor that's a great man of God, okay? And I'm not lifting him up, but I'm telling you, he's just like, I mean, we know he's a good, he's a good, he's a man of God, okay? And what does he offer us? He preaches to us the word of God and what? The importance of prayer, okay? How many years ago are we talking about Paul being here back in Greece, okay? And here we are today, and what's the two key things? Those two key things have not changed. You know, I mean, we can... It hasn't changed. It's still the Word of God and prayer that's going to get us through this thing, okay? And I don't mean just get us through. I mean, that's going to allow us to live a productive, fruitful, wonderful life for the Lord if we're willing to listen. Right? I mean, I mean, is that not the key? We've got to be willing to have the word preached and not only just sit and listen, but it's got to get in. Right? And we got to want to hear it. We got to have a desire to hear it. And then we got to let it work. You know, sometimes it works. Well, I'm not going there. So it doesn't know. Sorry. Sometimes it doesn't work. It works all the time. Okay. Sometimes we don't let it work. Okay. That's right, but doers, that's what James said, it wasn't a mark, yep. So, and like I said, so Paul, hey, he only had, I mean, that's all Paul had. Paul didn't even have, he didn't even have the book. He didn't need it, because it was all in here and all up here. I mean, you talk about a man, but anyway, but again, Tom has said many times, he doesn't have anything else other than this book. That's all he needs. That's all we need. If we want to live a life that God wants us to live, we cannot do it without knowing what his book says and knowing what it is that God wants us to do. And the only way we're going to know what God wants us to do is if we're in this book and if we're listening to it and having it preached to us. That's the only way. It can't work any other way. I don't care what people say, it don't work. Okay, don't work. Why am I shaking? Okay, so he says, so I'm gonna stop here for a sec. So I just couldn't get past this. Give me a sec. When I, what I'm talking about here is it's, let's just stop and think about this. You know, there's so many, and I just had to, I just wrote this down because there's so many, I don't know, thoughts, ideas, gimmicks. I don't know, whatever, whatever it is, but this is not some step one, step two, feel better, get better philosophy. That's the best way I can say it, okay? God's word is not that, okay? That's not what God's word. I mean, this needs to be really, really personal for us. I mean, really, really personal. And when we lose interest and we get our eyes off God, You know, and it can happen. And well, it does happen, okay? I mean, you know, I mean, I'll testify and I'll let you all, that's between you and the Lord. But when we lose interest and we get our eyes off God, when we start looking at our circumstances, you know, and I just thought about the folks, some of the people that we love in church, in our church family right now. And I don't even know all the things, you know, I don't know what's going on in each and every one of you all, but I just think out of the people I do know and the difficulties. And, but when we let circumstances, when we start looking at the circumstances instead of looking at God, we're going to struggle. We're going to struggle. It's hard. Okay. I'm not going to tell you it's not hard. And I'm sure it's hard for these people that we love and we know, and they're, I'm sure, and they're hurting and they're dealing with things that are hard, but we got to get in his word. And that's the only way that we're going to endure and that we're going to continue to prosper in a way that He wants us to, okay? Maybe prosper is not a good word, but just to stay steady and to continue to grow as we've got to stay focused on His Word. Yes. I mean, it's his word that's going to make the difference in us. Okay. I mean, I mean, and I can just tell you, I mean, I can tell you from personal experience, it's his word that makes the difference. And I'm not going to get into details, but I can just tell you. It may not seem like much. Okay. But, but When you all get in the word, you know exactly what I'm getting ready to say. When we get in there and we start reading, when we're going through something and we get away from it for a few days, okay? I'm just gonna testify here for a minute. And when we get away from his word for a while, when we begin to get back in it, he speaks to us. You know what I mean? And he doesn't beat us down. But man, He just lays that blessing on, and I mean, and you can just feel His presence, and I'm telling you, it makes all the, it's the only way, it makes all the difference in the world being in His Word, okay? And I know, I used to work, okay? I know, sometimes it's hard. Sometimes time, you know, time is hard. But man, I'm telling you. When we squeeze that little bit of time in, whenever, however, wherever it's at, whether it's in the morning, at night, in the middle of the day, it doesn't matter when, just as long as we're looking in there, man, he's going to speak to us. I guarantee it. He's going to speak to us. When we're looking for him, he's always looking for us, but we got to be looking for him first. So... You're right. Yep. So, I mean, yes, we need to pray for each other. Absolutely. Yes, we need to encourage each other. I mean, we need to do that. I mean, we've got, I mean, that's part of coming to church. We need to pray for each other, encourage each other. Whether you come to church or not, well, you need to come to church, but we need to encourage, we need to do these things. I mean, that's required. But individually, that's really what it comes down to. Because individually and personally, if we don't spend time in his word, More than likely, and y'all would disagree with me if you just speak up. More than likely, we're not gonna be much of an encouragement to others. And more than likely, we're probably not gonna pray a whole lot for others. Because it all comes from that first and foremost, that personal touch and that personal relationship with Him. When we're talking with Him, He's moving on our hearts. He puts people on our hearts. He brings things to memory that we need to pray about. He brings people to mind that we need to pray for. I mean, or just lift up or encourage. So it's individually so that we can minister, so he can minister individually to us. That's the best way I can say it. We've got to spend time with him before we can minister or be of help to anyone else. We got to allow him to minister to us first. Right? I mean, because we, I mean, if he's, if we're not, if we're not in tune with him, we're not going to be much help for anybody else. We're not even much help for ourselves, number one. So how are we going to help for somebody else? So, I mean, to me, it's of utmost importance. And we know, you say, well, how many times do we say when we come to his house without his presence, it's no good to be here. Right? Without his presence, we're just a group of people sitting here in a room listening to somebody speak. And that's not a shot at Pastor Tom. Please don't take it that way. But it's his presence that makes a difference. Then why do we think that we don't need his presence individually and personally every second of every minute of every day of our lives when we're not here? Because it's the same way. That's the same way that he works. But We can't have His presence if we're not in His Word, okay? I mean, it's that simple. So, and the fact of the matter is, His Word, this book, it's all about Jesus, okay? We know that. It's all about God. It's all about Jesus. We know that. But there's promises in this book. There's things that he tells us in this book that we can rely on and we know for sure because it's the book of truth, right? It's his word. So what are some of those things? And some of those things I thought about was, if you go back to 1 Corinthians, number one, the first thing I thought about is power. And I'm glad to know that he's got more power than anything else in this universe, that he's got more power than everything, because he created it, okay? And he's got more power. But he wants us to understand that he has that power, and he wants to share that power with us, right? So 1 Corinthians 1.18, this one here is a real familiar verse. Let me find it here. Chapter 1, verse 18. If I wasn't so rattled, I could probably quote part of it, but I'm not going to try. But I got a shirt a long, long time ago, and it's maroon, and it's all wrinkled, and it's somewhat faded out, but I still wear it, okay? And it has this verse on it. And I like this verse because it says, for the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved, it is the power of God. Now, you know, when I got that shirt many, many years ago, I just kind of picked up a shirt because I wanted some shirts probably. And I probably didn't think a whole lot about that verse. But over the course of time, I thought about that verse and it's true. The word for those that refuse, it's foolishness. But to us, when we come to realize truly, when we get saved and we hear the preaching of His word, there's power. There's power in this book and there's power in His word. I mean, and we can rely on that. You know, when we, as we go through day to day, as the ups and downs come and everything that comes in our life, we can rely on His power to be with us. I mean, and He tells us that right here in His book. 2 Corinthians 4, 7. I don't know about you, but I'm burning up. I don't know why. I wonder why. 2 Corinthians 4, 7, look at what he tells us. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels. And what? What's he going to talk about? That the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us. What's that mean? That means we got to get, I got to get myself out of the way and I got to let him, let his power, it's already in here. His spirit's already in here. Let it run, let it grow, let the power move. That's, I mean, but he says he wants to, he wants to give us that power. And over in chapter two, verse four, same book, or I'm sorry, chapter 10, sorry. Chapter 10, verse four. This one, I probably need to read more. and remember more, maybe blood of us too. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal. You know what I mean? We're not going to get a thing done for the Lord within ourself. We're not going to win. We're not going to win any arguments with anybody about salvation or anything or about Jesus within ourselves. It says, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. What? Because there's power. The power comes from him. We don't have any power. No, we don't have any. I mean, and I have to, trust me, I have to tell myself that many, many times. Maybe sometimes I feel like it's almost every day I have to tell him, but power, his power. And he wants us to know that he has power. That's just a few verses. That's just a few. But also there's something else he tells us. He tells us about prayer back in Psalm 145. Psalm 145. Listen to what the Lord tells us here. It says, the Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon Him, and then there's a comma, to all that call upon Him, how? in truth. I mean, let me tell you, God will never, ever turn us away, never, as long as we're coming to Him with an open heart, and a truthful heart, and an honest heart, and a heart that's set to want to do what it is that He wants us to do, or to help, to ask Him to help us in whatever it is we're dealing with. He'll never turn us down, and He says right there that He won't. I mean, He honors His word. His word is true. And I don't know if I'm getting across this morning, but I'm trying to get across the point that when we, if we're looking, if we're, when we're going through these things and just to grow, he's given us everything we need. And he tells us he's given us everything we need. We've just got to go to the source of what he's already given us so that we can grow and so that we can do all the things that he wants us to do. And we can get through life. Jeremiah 29, 11. I like this, because here I think we can see, I mean there's a lot of verses we can see God's heart, but when you look at this, what Jeremiah said, he says, And listen to how this is worded. It says, for I know the thoughts that I think towards you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you an expected end. And you say, well, I've heard that verse a hundred times. Have you thought about it? Have you really thought about what it says? I mean, to me, right there, he tells us that, look, I know exactly where each and every one of you are. I know exactly how long you're going to be here. I know exactly when you're leaving this side of eternity and going to the other side. And every single thing that you're going to go through, I'm placing you there for a purpose. And it is always going to be, whether you see it or not, whether I see it or not, for his good. That's what that verse says right there. Man, I'll tell you what, if you can't get strengthened by reading that verse, man, it's right there. He's telling us, He's promising that everything we go through, He's there to help us, to help us. You say, I don't believe that. Well, you better believe it because it's God's word. I mean, I don't know what else to tell you. I mean, but I, I mean that, I don't know. I read that one over and over and over because, and I'm going to read it again. For I know the thoughts that I think towards you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil. All these things that are going on in all of our lives, all the people that we know that are sick, all these things, you say, I don't understand. I don't understand it either. But we have to hold on to the fact that God says, all these things are working according to my plan. And we got to trust his plan. We got to trust his plan. One more, he's got a desire to fill us. And that's in Ephesians chapter three. He tells us all, and then, like I said, I'm just hitting on a few of them this morning. But Ephesians chapter three, get back here. Verse 16, listen to what God's Word tells us here. Listen to what it is that the Lord wants for us, for every single one of us. It says that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man. Now when I read, if I just stop right there, what's that say? That says when we rely upon Him, when we're weak, He's going to strengthen us. That's what that in the inner man, that's what that says. He's going to give us what we need to be able to get through. I mean, we're not going to get there physically on our own. We're going to get there spiritually by looking to God and having him strengthen us in physically. And then we can do, and then we can get through whatever it is that we're dealing with. I don't necessarily mean bad. I just mean to grow. That's the only way we're going to grow even is when we look to him. But he doesn't stop there, he goes on and he says, that Christ may dwell in your hearts. by faith that ye being rooted and grounded in love, and how are you going to be rooted and grounded in love unless we're in his word, right? I mean, because we don't understand what love is until we get in the word of God, until we get saved, and then we get in the word of God. And he says, we may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height, and to know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge that you might be filled with the fullness of God. What that saying right there is, with His power, right? With His power to be filled. And that's what He wants to do. He wants to fill us. He has a desire to fill us. Not physically, not monetarily, not food-wise. I mean, I like to eat, okay? But He says, when He says He has a desire to fill us, I mean, how many times does the Bible tell us about when we were saved, we were given the Spirit? But those men back in the early church, and even men today, the people that are strong in the Lord, the people that are serving, that are desiring to grow, are the ones that are getting filled by the Lord. And that's what he wants to, he wants to fill us. Well, the only way we're gonna get filled, right here is where the tank is, okay? And it doesn't just like, it doesn't just drip off. You know, when I walk through the kitchen and my Bible's laying there on the kitchen table, no, I got to get in it and I got to draw from it. But He wants to fill us. I mean, I don't know what else to say this morning. I'm going to stop. But I mean, what a blessing it is that He wants to fill us.