Message/Application: As I read through both Acts 20 this morning as well as Proverbs 29 I was caught by a few important things. In Acts 20, Paul had been teaching, leading and discipling these people for all of this time and really truly thought this was going to be the end for him so he was saying his goodbyes and preparing the people that they would “never see his face again”. He really believed that the warnings he was hearing from the Holy Spirit about his suffering was going to point to his death so he was making all of this preparations and tying all of the loose ends. He even warned the people that there would be those among them that would try to destroy the foundation of what he had built in the church. As I carried this thought over into Proverbs 29: 20 (Do you see a man who speaks too soon? There is more hope for a fool than him.” And in verse 22 it says that an angry man stirs up conflict and a hot-tempered man increases rebellion. I was thinking about all of the things that Paul was trying to impart to his people before he thought he was leaving. He wasn’t trying to be culturally relevant. He wasn’t trying to insert his own bend or ideas. He was making sure that the truth of the gospel was crystal clear. This is ALL I am responsible for. As I read the word more and more every day it becomes more and more clear to me that I can’t speak to the millions of views and topics that are out there begging for our attention. There are entirely too many layers and If I don’t stick with the heart of the matter of the gospel I am way too likely to allow one of these topics to skew the truth into something else. When I am focused on the truth of the gospel first, it filters everything else appropriately from there.
