Always enjoy the day. I know when it starts to rain, Baptist, I always think about, you know, my years, years gone by, my father was a pastor. And so what do we say when it rains, man, they stay away. But we have several families out. Some are traveling and some aren't feeling too well. And so we want to pray for them. I forgot to mention. Brother Jeff and Becky, Brother Jeff just said he might not be here tonight, and then Dad as well, just a little under the weather. Sometimes those weekends can catch up with you, so remember them tonight and put them on your prayer list. But in Acts chapter 20, I wanna preach just for a few moments on a phrase here. Acts chapter 20, none of these things move me. Acts chapter 20, and I wanna read verses 22. I wanna start, let's start in, let's see here. Start in verse 20 and we'll go down through verse 24. And the Bible says here, Acts chapter 20 and verse 20, he says, Now verse 21, repentance toward God in faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. And now behold, I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there, save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me. Now verse 24, But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy in the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify of the gospel of the grace of God. Father, we bow before you tonight. And again, as we open your word, and Father, we ask that you would meet in our presence. And Father, we've brought a prayer petition up before you this evening. We ask that you would answer our prayers in accordance to your will. And Father, we thank you for the songs that have been sung. Father, we thank you for just giving us the liberty to meet here tonight. Be with our hearts, be with our minds. And Father, I pray that we'd be steadfast around your word, unmovable. And Father, I pray that if there be anything in our life that would move us from the gospel of Christ or move us from serving you, that we would correct it. And Father, give us the strength, give us the eyesight, the spiritual eyesight to see those things in our lives. And Father, be with us tonight, teach us, Guide us, and we ask these things in Jesus Christ's name that we pray, amen. Here, so the Apostle Paul in verse 24 is our catch verse, and he says this, but none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself. I wanna preach none of these things move me. And there's three main points that we're going to deal with. By way of introduction, anyone who has experience of returning to a town that they grew up in. I know Saturday we did some driving up towards Connersville. I don't know how many of you know where Connersville, Indiana is at. Some of you do. But I kind of grew up in that area. Lived in Brookfield, but a lot of my transport was through Connersville. And so I hadn't been up there in years. I would say probably seven, eight years, something like that, it seems like. I think the last time I was up there, I was putting a flat roof or one of those rubberized roofs on a rental that dad had. Years gone by, and we were up there putting that up there, but it's been some time. And I marveled as we drove up there Saturday, looking at the new houses and the new buildings and some of the old buildings that are still there, and some of the buildings that I remembered that aren't there anymore. But there was quite a bit of change in that little town. And so here in our life, and there's changes, there's always going to be changes, you can look back your memory. If you think back in your memory, things that have changed from when you was a child. or younger, or years gone by. But there's one thing that is unchanging in that, that is God. God is unchanging. And the Bible says in Malachi, to get started, Malachi chapter three and verse six, there's a phrase, for I am the Lord. He says, I change not. And I'm thankful that we have a Lord that is not changing. He's not changing with the weather. He's not changing with whatever comes, the seasons, but he's an unchangeable God. And there's things here, first of all, I want to see that the apostle Paul knew and understood and he held on to, and it wasn't able to move him from what he had been called to do. When Paul said, none of these things move me, he was saying, here's what he was saying, I consider them as nothing, I value them as straw, they weigh not with me. They don't matter that much to me, enough to move me from what God has called me to do. So first of all, we see number one in verse 20. That's why I wanted to read verse 20. We see the first point, the burden for others would not move him. the burden for others would not move the apostle Paul. Look at verse 20, and he says, and how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have showed you and have taught you publicly from house to house. And we see sometimes the burden of the ministry or just the burden of our Christian life sometimes can be overwhelming. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians, I'll read it, 2 Corinthians 11 verse 28, beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches. The apostle Paul had a weight on him and it was a weight great enough to move him away from doing what God had called him to do. But we see here in verse 20 that it was not enough, the burden of others, The daily care of the church was not able to move him from what God had called him to do. And the burden for others would not move him. He was bound. The Bible speaks that he was bound. He was bound to witness and he was bound to lead. And this is what the Apostle Paul did. If you have your Bibles, we're here in Acts chapter 20. Turn with me to 1 Corinthians chapter nine. 1 Corinthians chapter nine. I'll try not to get you to move too much. But in 1 Corinthians chapter nine, And verse 16 is the verse that I want to read. So he spoke that he was bound, and we'll see this under this, he was bound to witness, carry a witness. And if I'll paraphrase the verse that we read, verse 20, that where we're at with the first point, he says that he taught them publicly and went from house to house. So he was bound, bound to witness, and then also bound to lead. And here in 1 Corinthians chapter nine, if you found your place, In verse 16, it says, for though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of, for necessity is laid upon me. Yea, he says, woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel. And so God had called him to preach the gospel and teach the gospel, and he was bound not only to be a witness, but he was bound to lead in preaching. And so not only was he bound, but he was burdened. And I'll read Acts chapter 18, verse five says this, and when Silas and Timotheus were come from Macedonia, Paul was pressed in the spirit and testified to the Jews that Jesus was Christ. So we see that in his burden for the people, he is pressed in the spirit, the spirit of God pressed upon him to share share the gospel of God. You see what was it was the Holy Spirit that was putting that burden on him. You know, the Holy Spirit still puts burden in men and women's heart today. I was reading an email this afternoon, and it was a missionary that was going to Africa. Zimbabwe, Africa. And I'm always kind of curious when I get the emails or that information, the first thing I begin to look for is, well, where's their home church? Who's their pastor? Where they come from? And it said, Carthage, Tennessee, Cornerstone Baptist Church. I knew the pastor, Brother Ron Ralph, a good church, and that's his home church. I automatically knew that he's probably a good missionary. And so maybe have him in and share that work. But you think of the burden that God places on men's lives. He still does that today. That's not of old. That's still today because God's still concerned. God's still concerned for lost souls. And he doesn't want us, he doesn't want anything, none of these things to move us from doing what God has called us to do. God might work in your life where we begin to struggle on maybe the call or what God has for our life, the plan or purpose for our life, and we begin to shy away from it. Maybe fear, maybe uncertainty, maybe because of maybe past hurts or something didn't go right in ministry. But listen, God will work in your life and he'll direct you in your life to get back on track for that plan or purpose that he has for your life. You might need some more age on you. You might need some more experience or wisdom or something to take part or take place in your life to give you a heart for what God has planned or a purpose for your life. And so nothing should move us from what God has called us from or to. And so he separates his men, he separates his women to do the work of God. So we see, first of all, the burden for others would not move the Apostle Paul. Secondly, we see that the burden from others would not move him. So not for others, but from others would not move him. Notice with me verse 21. Verse 21, back at Acts chapter 20 and verse 21, we're going to deal with the burden from others would not move the apostle Paul. Verse 21, it says here, he's testifying both to the Jews and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God in faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. And now behold, I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me. You say, well, he was an apostle. God had kind of revealed it quite a bit to the apostle Paul about the church, about the body of Christ, about the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the believer. These were new things that the Bible calls a mystery. They were hid and they had been revealed to the Apostle Paul to teach to the churches. And so God had revealed quite a bit here, but we're seeing the apostle Paul say something here. He says, look, verse 22, and now, behold, I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there. He did not know everything that was going to happen to him. You're speaking of a man that had been beaten thrice. He had been shipwrecked. He'd spent a day and a night in the deep. He had been stoned, left for dead. And so there's a number of things that physically had befell the apostle Paul. And so he knew something of this struggle, this burden, if you please. And we're seeing that the burden from others would not move him. Let's read a last verse here, verse 23. And it says, save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city saying that bonds and affliction Abide me. Imagine if God give you by course, by dealing with you through the word of God and said, look, I'm not going to, I'm not going to make everything go away for you. Kind of like the apostle Paul with his thorn in his flesh. I don't know what that was. It doesn't specify directly, but he had a thorn in the flesh and he asked Christ, He asked him to take it away three times. And here's what God told him, my grace is sufficient for you. And so we're seeing here that the apostle Paul, he had a burden and it was from others, but it would not move him from what God had called him to do. Tonight. None of these things move me. And he had trials. We'll see first of all on our sub point, the trials. Not knowing the things that would befall him, but he would soon find out. God does not show the trials to us all at all one time. He'll share with you a little glimpse, a little piece, and he gets you down the path and he'll share a little bit more with you. I think if he showed us everything, I don't know what would happen. We probably couldn't handle it all. but God's grace is sufficient and instead we follow. We follow by faith rather than by sight. I'm convinced in some ways that God begins to draw Christians that have left walking by faith and they become more at ease walking by sight in their life and God draws them back into the faith realm and says, look by faith. By faith, by faith, it's impossible to please God. You have to have faith. And so a lot of times when a Christian begins to walk by sight, they can see things and they go from one to the next. God said, look, I want you to walk by faith. I want you to trust me. And so off we begin to walk by sight instead of by faith. The Bible speaks in 2 Corinthians chapter five. It says this in verse seven, for we walk by faith, not by sight. So the Bible's pretty clear dealing with the Christian and how we should walk. One day we'll walk by sight, we'll be with God. And so here we walk by faith. I like what he told Thomas. Thomas the doubter, and he began to doubt and tell the disciples because he wasn't present the first time Christ revealed himself to the apostles. And the apostles were telling Thomas that, yeah, no, he had holes in his hands, he had a pierced side, it was Christ, it was the Christ. And he said, except I put my finger in his hands and his finger in his side, then I won't believe. And Christ appears. and tells him that here it is, you can put your hands where you want. And he tells him this, and he says this, he says, yeah, he said, blessed are those that have not seen and yet believe. And tonight, that's us, we're in that group. We have not seen Christ physically, but one day we will. And it's by faith, we receive this by faith through his word. And so here, these things shouldn't move you or I tonight. They didn't move the Apostle Paul. The burden from others would not move him. So we see the trials, but how about the testing? Well, the Apostle Paul went through some testing and he says, bonds and afflictions were in every city, the Bible says in verse 22. Imprisonments and trials. excuse me, awaiting the apostle Paul. Look at there at verse 22 again. Now I'm in Acts chapter 20. Look at verse 22. And he says this about the spirit. He says, and now behold, I go bound. in the Spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things which shall befall me there. Look at verse 23, that's the verse. Save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city, saying, that bonds and afflictions abide me. So there was some testing that was gonna go on. You say, well, man, as far as he was along in the Christian life, you didn't think God was done testing him. The testing is never done for any of us. God is always teaching us and instructing us. I was taught, and I was taught this, I was taught in both realms, the secular realm and the Christian realm, that when you cease to learn, you cease. You gotta keep learning. And some people think they've attained that they don't need to learn anymore. I'm telling you, that's a dangerous place to be, especially for the Christian. You want to continually learn to be a student. And the Apostle Paul wasn't gonna allow these testing to move him from what God had called him to do. Bonds and afflictions. Yes, the church today, collectively speaking, the church has tests. The test of loneliness. The test of maybe a building program. The test of sickness and health. That goes on. And sometimes it's a trial and test to see if we're going to go by faith, if we're going to go by sight. And so God reveals or shares or works with us in that. How about the test of finances or the test of unfaithful helpers? Remember, Demas, Apostle Paul, he had a good helper, and he said, Demas has left me, has forsaken me, having loved this present world. And so, Demas, you have helpers that will simply forsake you. The Bible says this in Proverbs 25, 19. He said, confidence in an unfaithful man in a time of trouble is like a broken tooth and a foot out of joint. You ever walked on a joint? I've walked on joints that felt like they were out of joint, but you have arthritis or something in it. Man, that's hard to do. You think you're strong and healthy and then something like that happens or you sprain your ankle or break it. You're not moving anywhere quick, and it takes time for that to heal. The Bible says, look, you're gonna go through some testing, but don't let this move you. Don't allow this to distract you from what God has called you to do. I'm saying tonight, nothing, none of these things should move us. But we see, we see something else. The third thing, look at verse 24, and this is kinda our catcher here tonight. He says, but none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy and the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus to testify the gospel of the grace of God. It was all about the gospel of Christ. Everything that Paul did, it was always centered around the gospel of Christ. Let me say this, thirdly, the burden of self would not move him. The burden of self. We deal, we're in this carcass. This is our mode of transportation, and it sure likes to control about everything that you do. Your mind, if let go, likes to run things and imaginations through your mind, and it seeps into the heart. That's how it works. And so the flesh, or we call it self, the Bible speaks of the flesh, or the old man, or self, the burden of self would not move the apostle Paul, according to verse 24. Sometimes we can be our own greatest hindrance. And the Bible speaks in Philippians, Paul speaks of this in Philippians chapter three, and he says this in verse five, yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. So everything in his flesh that he obtained, anything that he might thought that have put him up on a status or a plateau, He says, I counted but lost for the sake of Christ. He wasn't going to allow self to move him from what God had called him to do. Let me say this, most Christians do not have fellowship with God. They have fellowship with each other about God. The fellowship and the relationship that we should have, each and every one of us, just like salvation, it should be every day, it should be relevant, very relevant in each one of our lives. And so a lot of times Christians live in a state that they don't have a true relationship with God. Maybe a child of God, but realizing and understanding that you should have a relationship with God. Every day, every day. And so you need to speak to him, that's in prayer, and you need to allow him to speak to you. That's through his word, that's through his words. All right, so we need to be aware of this because the burden of self would not move him because he did not overvalue self. I'm getting in a touchy subject here, because man's self is a big thing for Americans. Because he did not overvalue his self. Often our reason we're quiet is because we want something out of it in the first place. When we think of ministry, a lot of times we get discouraged with ministry, or we get aggravated with ministry, and so we want to quit ministry, all because we're expecting to get something out of it. It's all about self. And so we have to be mindful of that. The Apostle Paul didn't teach that, nor did he practice that. I wanna say this tonight, be aware of expectations. Your expectations aren't of God or godly, they're going to lead you astray. And they're not going to create good habits, good attributes, and good attitudes. They never do that. When we get our expectations wrong, be aware of that. Also, not only because he did not overvalue self, because secondly, he relied on the Holy Spirit. This is very important. The Holy Spirit brings scriptures to our remembrance to give us direction and insight as we seek God's wisdom in everything that we do, any decision that we make. I have a verse here, if you wanna turn, John chapter 14. Notice what the Bible says here about the Holy Ghost, the Holy Spirit. And we're looking at, look, the burden of self would not move the Apostle Paul because he relied on the Holy Spirit. Self will lead you astray. And if the Holy Spirit isn't part of this equation, then you're going to be moved. You're gonna be moved from what God has called you to do or the plan or purpose he has for your life. So in John chapter 14 in verse 26, it says, but the comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance and whatsoever I have said unto you. This is the work of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is our comforter, and he's also someone who teaches us and brings the scriptures back into our memory, into our lives. And so the Apostle Paul, he was relying on the Holy Spirit rather than his self, and so we see, or the flesh, we see this, that the Holy Spirit would do the convicting while Paul preached. When we look at the Apostle Paul, and as he ministered, the Holy Spirit does the work. just as he had convicted him on the road to Damascus. Remember the Apostle Paul, remember when he was converted in Acts chapter nine. He was on his way to Damascus with letters from the high priest to hail Christians to court or to law or to have them thrown to the beast at Ephesus. And so he was mighty zealous and he said he did it innocently because he was a religious man. He thought what he was doing was right and of God. But if you remember distinctly, the phrase that he asked the Lord over in Acts chapter nine, he said, Lord, who art thou? And the Lord said, I'm Jesus, whom thou persecutest. And he asked him, why was he kicking against the pricks? And so he introduced himself, He introduced himself as Jesus, whom he persecuted. And he was about to destroy the body of God. That's what he was doing before his conversion. And the Holy Spirit did a work in his heart and life that day. And his second question was, Lord, what will thou have me to do? The Lord had already wanted to use him, was gonna use him mightily as a vessel fit for his use and that he did. And we're looking later on now that he relied, the Apostle Paul relied on the power of the Holy Spirit to do what God had called him and he wasn't allowing the burden of self to move him from that. And so we see secondly or thirdly here because he valued ministry. And so the burden of self would not move him because he valued ministry. Look at 1 Timothy. Let's turn to 1 Timothy. I said I wouldn't have you turn too much tonight, but we're almost done here. 1 Timothy 1 and verse 12. He valued ministry. In 1 Timothy chapter one and verse 12, and he says, and I thank Christ Jesus, our Lord, who hath enabled me. Who enables us tonight? It's not ourself, it's not the church, it's not the flesh, it's not the world, but it's Christ that enables us, and he enables the Apostle Paul here, and he says, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry. So we see here that the Apostle Paul placed a value on ministry. Paul lived in such a way as to not lose the great privilege of preaching the gospel of Christ. and he says that he had put himself away, he lived in such a way that he didn't want to be a reproach. In 1 Timothy, if you turn to 1 Corinthians, turn to 1 Corinthians chapter nine, and there's another verse that goes along with this thought. In chapter nine, 1 Corinthians chapter nine, turn the right way here. Notice with me in verse 27, A lot of Christians, they kind of stop right here, but notice what the Apostle Paul, he did value ministry, and he valued the ability to preach the gospel, and he didn't want ever to be a hindrance to that gospel for the sake of Christ. Now watch verse 27, 1 Corinthians 9, verse 27, he says, but I keep under my body and bring it into subjection, lest that by any means when I have preached to others, So it's about self, it's about him, it's not about any of that. It's about the gospel of Christ. And when you take the preeminence off the gospel of Christ and you put it on self or you put it on this or you put it on the church or anything, it's wrong. The whole, everything should center around the gospel of Christ and bring in glory to God. And he says this back to our verse here. He says, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway. So he set the things aside in his life or his body, whatever hindered him from preaching the gospel. I have a message that we preach, and it talks about the seven things that a man can lose. One of the things, though, that is sure, it seems from Scripture, is that a man is not able to lose the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. But there are other things that you can lose, and one of those things is your testimony. As a Christian, you can lose your testimony. This is kind of the area that the Apostle Paul was talking about. He says, look, I don't want to become a castaway. I don't want to be able to try to preach to somebody, and they'll say, I ain't gonna listen to anything you have to say. You have a reproach on your name, and you have a wrong testimony about it, and nobody's gonna listen to him. There's a lot of preachers, a lot of witnessing, a lot of Christians that have lost their testimony. They have become castaway. God loves them, they're saved, but you become ineffective for God. And he's saying here, look, I value the ministry so much that I'm going to put aside my flesh and the things of the flesh that I don't become a castaway to the lost. And number one, or thirdly, or fourthly, I don't know where I'm at, fourthly, I guess, because he wanted to finish with joy. And that's in our verse. If you go back and you look at that, it's there in Acts chapter 20. Notice with me now in verse 24, let's go back to our text and we'll land this thing. He says, because he wanted to finish with joy, verse 24, but none of these things moved me, neither can I my life dear unto myself. You notice he was putting it all on the line here, so that I might finish my course with joy. Man, I know quite a few Christians, as they get older, they don't have joy. They got everything but joy. You're like, man, we should have more joy. We should have more grace. We should have more mercy, long-suffering. but it sometimes doesn't work that way. Here the Apostle Paul, he says, look, I'm doing all this. I count my life, my life dear. I don't count my life dear to myself so that I might finish my course with joy. So the burden of self would not move him because he wanted to finish with joy. He wasn't going to allow some obstacle, some trial, some tribulation to come in and take his joy from him. He wasn't gonna be moved. Tonight, None of these things should move you or I. We should stay steadfast for the Lord or what he has called us to do. So what moves you and I away from serving our Lord? Well, I have here, it could be fear. Fear is one of the greater factors that Christians deal with, is a fear. A fear of uncertainty, of not knowing maybe what to do or how to do it, so they have fear. And it keeps them back from serving the Lord. It moves you away from what God would want you to do for Him. Pride. Pride can change and keep an individual from doing something or being effective for God. Pride, just being pride. And not willing or being able to humble themselves. Pleasing self. We live in a culture today, it's all about self. It's all about pleasure. And that can take us away from God, what God has planned for us. cares of this world, being involved in this world, wrapped up in this world, the political, the entertainment, you can go on and on and on, you can get wrapped up in anything you want in America, but it will keep us the cares of this world will keep us from God's plan, God's will. How about commitments that are greater than God? We're good at this. We put commitments over God, the things of God, the work of God, and sometimes our commitments that we think are important, some of them can be, but nothing's more important than God. God is the one that sustains us. God is the ones where our blessings flow from. God is the one that protects us and watches over us. And so we want to be careful with our commitments that we don't put our commitments ahead of God. But commitments will keep us from serving God. Let me say this, it's Christianity, not what you're going to get out of God. It's what he's going to get out of you. A lot of times our mindset, our perspective about being a Christian is what God's going to give us, but really it's about what God is going to get out of us. That's what we're talking about tonight. How easily are you moved from the things of God? Is it a little push? Is it a little bit of commitment? Is it just a little bit of the world? Or is it fear? Is it pride? There's a number of things that will keep you, it will move you from the things that God has a calling on your life to do. Could be right here, might be across the world. It might be your next door neighbor. It might be your family. It might just be a faithfulness and a steadfastness. It could be whatever the Holy Spirit puts on your heart. Let's all stand tonight. I'm saying none of these things should move us tonight. They didn't move the Apostle Paul, but he was focused, and he was focused on his Lord and Savior. So tonight, I think that of encouragement out of Acts chapter 20, none of these things move me.