Well, we're in Acts chapter 20 again tonight, and this will be the last message in Acts 20 before we move on to chapter 21. But I've entitled the message tonight, Journey to Jerusalem. Really, we've been dealing with that already, that topic. We're on Paul's third missionary journey as we're studying the life of Paul on Wednesday nights. And we're in the conclosing part of that journey. Paul has spent three years at Ephesus and a year in Europe, and now he is heading on his way to Jerusalem. His journey to Jerusalem began at Corinth. His intent originally was to get on a ship at Corinth and just sail on to Jerusalem or sail on to Israel and then on by land to Jerusalem from the shore. But he found out about a threat on his life. If he got on board that ship, there were Jews there. who were threatening to take his life. And so rather than get on the ship and put his life in jeopardy, in that case, he made his way back north through Macedonia, crossed over to Troas, stopped there, spent a week there. And on Sunday, as the church gathered together Sunday evening, he spent the whole night preaching, fellowshipping with them. Eutychus fell asleep and fell out of the third loft window, and Paul raised him to life. Then he comes to Miletus, and that's where we're going to be tonight, but he meets there with the Ephesian elders, reviewing his ministry among them. and challenging them about their ministry. Then he's gonna go on to Tyre in chapter 21 and meet with the disciples there, spend a week there. And then to Ptolemaeus where he meets with the brethren for a day. And then comes to Caesarea where the Bible says he spent many days at the home of Philip the evangelist who was one of the original seven deacons. And from there makes his way to Jerusalem. So that's his journey from Corinth to Jerusalem. And we've been looking at his stops along the way, and we're going to focus in one more time on his meeting with the Ephesian elders as he's at Miletus, and then we'll move on next week into chapter 21. But in thinking about this journey to Jerusalem, we note the fact that Paul was determined to go to Jerusalem. As we look tonight, we're going to look at verses 22 through 24, and we'll bring in some verses in chapter 21 tonight as well, but in verse 22 Paul says to the Ephesian elders, he says, and now behold I go bound in the Spirit unto Jerusalem. Paul is determined to go to Jerusalem. He says, I go bound in the Spirit, and the Spirit there is a little s, not a big S. He's not saying that the Holy Spirit is urging him to go necessarily, though again, if he's filled with the Spirit, his Spirit and the Holy Spirit should be united in purpose and intent. But Paul's, essentially what he's saying is, I've just made up my mind, I'm going. We might say it this way, I'm bound and determined to do something. Paul is bound and determined to go to Jerusalem. Webster defines that term, bound and determined, as having a very strong feeling that one is going to do something or not allow anyone or anything to get in the way. Someone who is very determined, and that's what Paul is. He's bound and determined to get to Jerusalem. He's going to go. And there's been some debate. Did Paul do the right thing or not? And I wouldn't get into that debate tonight. I just know that he went and that God used it, even his imprisonment was used of the Lord and Paul saw it as God's will for his life and I think we would say the same thing. But as he's making his way to Jerusalem, he keeps receiving these warnings and pleadings not to go. In verse 22, he says, I don't know the things that are going to befall me there, save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me. Up to this point, we haven't been told, Luke hasn't told us any specifics of people telling him that, but as he's made his way from Corinth and now he's at Miletus and along the way as he stopped at these various churches, the Holy Spirit has given a word through prophets in these churches that bonds and afflictions are awaiting him when he gets to Jerusalem. And so he's expecting that in chapter 21 and verse four, when he is at Tyre, the Bible says the disciples said to Paul through the spirit that he should not go up to Jerusalem. And in verses 10 through 12 of chapter 21, when he is at Philip's house, a prophet from Judea comes and takes Paul's girdle, binds his own hands and feet and said, thus saith the Holy Ghost, so shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that owneth this girdle and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles. When we heard these things, Luke writes, both we, that is Luke, and these other men that are mentioned in chapter 20 and verse 4, as well as Philip and his family and the church members that were there, both we and they of that place besought him not to go up to Jerusalem. They tried to get him not to go. So over and over again, he's hearing on the one hand bonds and afflictions await him. On the other hand, everybody's saying, Paul, don't go, don't go, don't go. But Paul would not be deterred. Paul was going. He was bound and determined to go to Jerusalem. And so he tells him in verse 24 of chapter 20, none of these things move me. I'm not going to change my course. I'm not going to change my mind just because bonds and afflictions await me or just because you or others don't want me to go. I'm going. You know, at Phillips, Paul said, chapter 21, verses 13 and 14, he says, What mean you to weep and to break mine heart? I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus. And when he would not be persuaded, Luke writes, we cease saying the will of the Lord be done. Paul wasn't going to let anybody stop him from going to Jerusalem. So the question that we wanna ask and answer tonight is why was Paul determined to go to Jerusalem? Why is he set on going there? And he tells us why. In verse 24, when he says, none of these things move me, not changing my mind because of what's been said, neither count I my life dear unto myself. I'm even willing to die if necessary, 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." There are two reasons why Paul is bound and determined to go to Jerusalem. Number one, he says in that verse, to finish his course. The word course there that he uses in verse 24 is the word for a race. And it's a reference to the Christian life. And Paul is saying that my life is on a path that has been chosen for me by God. I'm following the path of God for my life. what God has chosen for me to do. Every believer, the Bible tells us, is on a path that is chosen by God. Our life has been mapped out by God. There's a course that God has for each of us to follow. And by the way, we are not born on that course. We're born on a different path, right? We're born on the path that leads to hell. I mean, Jesus put it this way, that there's a broad way that leads to destruction, and there's a narrow way that leads to eternal life. and many are on the broad way that leads to destruction, and few are on the narrow way, because straight is the gate, narrow is the way, and few there be that find it." The Bible says in Isaiah 53 and verse 6 that we are like sheep going astray, going our own way, and it's not God's way, it's our way. We're walking away from God. That broad way leads to hell, it leads away from God, and when we are born into this world, we're born sinners, and we're on that broad road that leads to hell. And if we're going to be on the path chosen by God, then it begins when we enter on through the straight gate onto the narrow path. And that happens when we put our faith in Jesus Christ, when we recognize that we're on the broad road that leads to destruction because we are sinners and deserve to spend eternity in hell. And then we understand, the Holy Spirit gives us an understanding that nothing that we can do would ever change that. There's nothing we can do to save ourselves. We can't get ourselves to heaven by our good works or anything like that. It's only because Christ died in our place, paid for our sins on the cross, and when we understand and admit that we're on the broad road leading to hell, and that our only hope is Christ, and we cry out to God to forgive our sins and to save us, believing that Christ paid the penalty of our sin and that God will forgive us because of what Christ did for us on Calvary, then we are on these narrow, then our path changes, our direction changes, and now we are walking on the narrow road that leads to eternal life, that leads to heaven. I hope tonight that every one of us are on that narrow road, have entered through the straight gate, the narrow gate, and you're on the narrow road that leads to eternal life. If not, you can be. But you'll have to, first of all, admit you're not on that road. You'll have to admit to God that, Lord, I am a sinner headed in the wrong direction, and I need your forgiveness. I believe it's available through Christ. I would ask you to forgive me and to save me, and God will do that. But once we get on that narrow road, we need to understand that staying on that road and walking that road requires endurance. Paul chose that word intentionally when he said, I wanna finish my course, using a word that speaks of a race, because to Paul, that's what the Christian life was. It's like being in a race, and it's a marathon, it's not a sprint. The writer of the Hebrews said in chapter 12 and verse one, after writing about all the heroes of the faith in chapter 11, he says, wherefore, seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, we who know Christ as Savior, just told you about all these believers who have been on that course and they face challenges and by the way they were all different but every one of them face challenges that they had to respond to by faith and they did and so Paul says now it's your turn now you're compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses all those people in chapter 11 you know when I look at this You can disagree with me if you want, that's fine. But when I look at this, what I don't see the writer of Hebrews saying is, we're down on the track and all those believers that have gone before us are sitting in the bleachers watching us and cheering us on. That's the great cloud of witnesses. I don't think that's what Paul's saying. or the other writer of Hebrews is saying. That's not the way I think we need to picture it. Based on what has already happened, what Paul is saying is it's more like this, like going to the Hall of Fame and walking through there and seeing the pictures and reading the stories and seeing the paraphernalia of all the people that have been before you. That's what the writer of Hebrews did in chapter 11. He's like walking through the Hall of Fame, like if you might go to the Football Hall of Fame or the Baseball Hall of Fame or whatever. That's what we did in Chapter 11. And Paul says, as you looked at all them and you've seen them and what they did, now it's your turn to do like they did, to run your race of life, to run the course of life with endurance. We're encompassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, so let us lay aside every weight and the sin which does so easily beset us and let us run with patience where patience is the idea of endurance. The race that is set before us, the writer of Hebrews is saying, this is not easy. Living the Christian life is not easy. It has challenges. It has God-ordained challenges. There's a path, there's a course, and it's the race that is set before us. Again, everybody has their own path to run, their own course to run. We all have different challenges that we face. Just like, again, in chapter 11, every one of them, you know, Noah had to build an ark. Abraham had to leave Ur of the Chaldees and leave his family and go to a land that he didn't know where he was going. When he went there, God told him that he had to live in tents all of his life and sojourn there. He had to offer his son as a sacrifice. You know, on and on we go. Noah built the ark. Anyway, I'm drawing blanks right now. But you know Hebrews chapter 11. But each one of those people had a different challenge that they faced. Well, we have challenges. You have challenges. I have challenges. And we need to endure. Keep on. Don't walk away from God. Don't turn away from God when those challenges come. Keep going. That's what Paul's saying. I want to finish my course. And I'm facing some new challenges now. The Holy Spirit is saying that bonds and afflictions abide me, but that's part of my course. That's what's on my course. When I am following the path of God's will for my life, that's what I'm going to encounter. But I'm not gonna stop. I'm not gonna turn back. I'm not gonna not go just because there's a challenge that is set before me. I'm gonna keep running. And that's what we all must do. We have to be willing to endure whatever challenges come our way, whatever challenges God allows in our path. And Paul was willing to suffer any hardship, even to die. I don't even count my life dear unto myself so that I can finish my course. Paul said, I want to do the will of God all the way to the end, even if doing the will of God means that it leads to an untimely death. If that's what's required to finish the course, then I wanna do that. And Jesus warned us, and it's recorded in the Gospels with Matthew 16, verses 24 and 25. Jesus said, if any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it, and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. And that's what Paul's doing, as Paul's saying, is I will lose my life for Christ's sake. because this is the will of God for my life. And Paul uses this metaphor of the race many times, and he tells us there's a prize or a reward if you successfully complete the course. If you don't turn back, if you don't turn aside, if you don't stop, there's a reward. He wrote to the Corinthian Church in 1 Corinthians chapter 9, which, remember, 1 Corinthians was written on this third missionary journey. So this is somewhere in that three-year period that he's at Ephesus. He wrote the first letter to the Corinthian Church. So it's in the same time frame that Paul is writing this. He says, know you not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run that ye may obtain. And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. They do it to obtain a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible." That we're running this race and we want to run to obtain the crown and it's an incorruptible crown. He further elaborated on that when he wrote to Timothy in 2 Timothy chapter 4, beginning in verse 6, he said, I'm now ready to be offered. The time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight. I have finished my course. and I have kept the faith, and henceforth, there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day, and not to me only, but unto all them also that love is appearing." And Paul said, we're striving for an incorruptible crown, and he said, as he comes to the end of his life, I have finished my course, and there is a crown of righteousness that is laid up for me because I have finished the course. And the same is true for you and me who know Christ as Savior, that if we stay on the course, finish the course, face the challenges, walk with God through the challenges, that there is a reward for that faithfulness to stay on the course, to follow God's path for our life all the way to the very end. And not only is there an eternal reward, for finishing the course. But you notice again what Paul said in verse 24. He said, I don't count my life dear unto myself so that I might finish my course. And what's the next two words? With joy. It wasn't just that he wanted to complete the course, but he wanted to do it with joy. He wanted to have joy in his heart as he completed the course, the will of God for his life. There is joy in successfully completing the course. And that joy comes by doing what we know or to believe to be right, to believe to be the will of God. Paul says, I want to finish with joy. If I don't finish, I won't have joy, because I'll know I didn't do what I should have done. But if I do what God wants me to do, if I stay on this course, even though it may cost me my life, I will have joy in doing that. Paul wrote to the Philippian church. It's recorded in Philippians 4 and verse 9. He said, those things which you have both learned and received and heard and seen in me do and the God of peace shall be with you. He uses another term, he uses the term peace instead of joy, but the thought is the same that if I do what I know I ought to do, then the God of peace shall be with you. When he says it that way, what he's essentially saying is God will be with you and impart peace. The God who brings peace is going to be with you. You're going to have the peace of God because you did what you knew you ought to do. The reality is that a lot of the misery and heartache that we have as Christians comes when we just don't do what we know we're supposed to do. Because we can't be happy as a Christian if we're knowingly disobedient to God. If I'm not doing something I know I should be doing, it leaves me with a guilty conscience. which riles me of peace and joy in the Lord because there's guilt in my heart and rightfully so if I'm not doing something that I know I ought to be doing. So Paul says, I'm going to do this. I'm going to finish my course. I'm going to do it joyfully. As I do this, then I will have joy. You know, it's interesting when you think about the life of Paul and things that he said, Paul tried to do everything he knew to be the will of God for his life. In Acts chapter 23, as he's standing before the Sanhedrin, he says, men and brethren, I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day. Now, he was struck for saying that, but he was, he's honest, he's sincere. He had strived to be obedient to God in everything he knew he ought to do, even before he got saved. You know, Paul could say, I've kept, I was zealous for keeping the law, because before he got saved, he thought that was the way to please God. After he got saved, he realized it doesn't mean anything and he set that aside, but he continued to seek to do the will of God and to follow the course of God for his life. So he could say that, indeed he could. He said to Felix in Acts 24 verse 16, and herein do I exercise myself to have always a conscience void of offense toward God and toward men. He said, I strive to be sure that I always do what I ought to do toward God and toward men. And he would write to Timothy in 2 Timothy 1 and verse 3, I have served God from my forefathers with a pure conscience. And again he wrote to the Corinthian church, 1 Corinthians 4 and verse 4 and he said, I know nothing by myself He said, yet am I not hereby justified, but he that judges me is the Lord. But when he says, I know nothing by myself, he's saying, I know nothing against myself. In other words, he's saying, I don't know of anything that I should have done that I didn't do or shouldn't have done that I did. And he's not saying he's perfect. But he's saying as far as the will of God is concerned, doing the will of God, finishing his course, he's saying, as far as I know, I have fulfilled the course that God set before me. And again, completing your course doesn't mean that you'll never do wrong. But it means you're going to walk along with God till the day you die and strive to do everything you know God wants you to do. Be obedient to God. When you're not, you confess it to God and you get up and you go on again. But you strive to be obedient to God and just follow through and don't quit no matter what challenge comes your way. Just keep on keeping on for God until the day God calls you home. That's what God wants of us. That's what will bring us peace and joy. That's what's expected of us, and it ought to be our heart to say, like Paul, I want to finish my course. I don't want to quit. I don't want to turn back. It's tragic, and for pastors, it's heartbreaking when we see church members come up against the challenge, and they just turn away from God. It ought to break all our hearts when we see that in the church, when we see The church member, maybe they've been faithful for years, and then they come up against some really hard thing, and they turn away from God. Don't do that. Number one, you're not gonna have joy as a believer. If you're truly saved and you do that, you're gonna be miserable, because that's not what God wants, and that's not what the Spirit of God is urging you to do, and you know it, you're gonna be miserable. So don't do it, just do right. Stay at it. Face the challenges. Walk with God through them. It's not that you're doing it on your own. God will enable you to face those challenges and to walk through them. You gotta trust Him and walk with Him through them, but you can do it. God will enable you if you'll just trust Him and keep walking. And sometimes, you know, as you're walking along and you're in the midst of that challenge and you can't see how in the world this is gonna work out, but just remember that God is with you and God is working it out. And just keep on faithfully walking with God and God will reward you and you'll have joy and peace and you'll see God do great and mighty things. You will come to know your God more. You'll be able to praise him more, love him more. Thank him more. He just will become more real and great in your sight as you walk with him through those challenges. Even Paul is going to be able to do that. Even at this point in his life, he's going to learn new things about his God as he faces those bonds and afflictions that await him at Jerusalem. And so the first reason that Paul was bound and determined to go to Jerusalem was to finish his course and to do it with joy, believing this is the will of God. And along with that, he says, and the ministry. So you can read it this way, so that I might finish my course with joy and so that I might finish the ministry, which I have received the Lord Jesus to testify the gospel of the grace of God. Now, I want you to notice, looking at that verse in verse 24, and do look at it, But when he calls it the gospel of the grace of God, he's not just saying, I want to preach the gospel. There's an emphasis there in that statement, he's very specific in what he's saying. The Lord has called me to testify of the gospel of grace versus the gospel of works. The ministry that Paul received of the Lord Jesus was to proclaim the good news that salvation came by grace and not by works. That was Paul's message. He preached it to Jew and Gentile alike. And he's constantly having to defend that truth that salvation was not by keeping the law but by grace through faith in Christ Jesus. And Paul is going to Jerusalem. He's been proclaiming that message. He's encountered Jews who have opposed him, who have come along. He had to write a whole letter to the Galatian churches countering another gospel Matter of fact, turn over to the book of Galatians for just a moment. But, you know, as he's writing Galatians, he's writing to the churches that he established on his first missionary journey, and they've, along behind him comes these, what we refer to today as Judaizers, people that come along and say, you know, it's not enough to believe on Christ, you also have to keep the law, you have to be circumcised and keep the law. It's another gospel. Paul calls it in chapter 1. He says, I marvel, verse 6, that you're so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel, another of a different kind, which is not another of the same kind, but there be some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ. And again, what was that message? That it was not enough to have faith in Christ. You had to add works to it. And so Paul's going to Jerusalem. to proclaim afresh and anew in Jerusalem that the gospel was by grace and not by works. You see, Jerusalem was the center of the gospel of works. Where did that gospel of works originate? It originated in Jerusalem among the Jews there. Why do you say that? You're just pulling that out of thin air, pastor? No, look at chapter 2 and look beginning in verse 11. Paul writes there, He says, when Peter was come to Antioch, now let's remember, where's Antioch? It's in Syria. It was, you know, Paul, Barnabas went there. Those who fled the persecution in Jerusalem went as far as Antioch, preaching the gospel. And Jews and Gentiles get saved in Antioch. Barnabas goes up there. He goes and gets Paul and brings him back. And they're ministering there. And that's where the Holy Spirit says, separate me, Barnabas and Paul, for the work we're to have called them. And that becomes their base of operation in all these missionary journeys. that's the home base and so Peter came to Antioch and Paul says, I withstood him to the face because he was to be blamed for before that certain came from, who? James. Where was James? Where was James? Jerusalem. James, we call him the pastor of the Jerusalem church. He was the leader of the Jerusalem church. This is James, the brother of the Lord. He is the leader of the Jerusalem church. Peter ate with the Gentiles, but when they were come from James, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision. And other Jews dissembled likewise with him, insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation. But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter before them all, If thou being a Jew liveth as to the manner of Gentiles, and not of the Jews, why compelst thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews? We who are Jews by nature are not sinners of the Gentiles, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ. Even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law. For by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. And if while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves are found sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin, God forbid. Paul again, he was emphasizing there that salvation is by grace and not works. And James is going to disavow, he said these guys that came that are preaching this other gospel, I didn't send them, I didn't say that. But they came from Jerusalem and they came preaching another gospel. So Paul is going to the very source of this other gospel. He's been defending the true gospel, the gospel of grace, everywhere he's gone, and now he's going back to Jerusalem. He's taking an offering from the Gentile churches to minister to the Jews there, but he's also going there to reaffirm that the gospel is by grace through faith in Christ alone, apart from works. And go to the very source of that other gospel. and remind them that that is not the true gospel. And so for those two reasons, he's going to Jerusalem, because he wants to fulfill the will of God, run his course all the way to the end, and to do it with joy, and to fulfill the ministry that God had given to him to preach the gospel of grace, in opposition to another gospel, a gospel of works. And though we are not the Apostle Paul, Yet every believer is given the task of proclaiming and defending the true gospel, the gospel of grace, as opposed to works. Believing it ourselves, hopefully you do believe that salvation is by grace through faith in Christ alone, that what you did or do doesn't have any impact on your salvation. It's only as you have believed on Jesus Christ and believe on him and his Death on Calvary as the payment for your sins that you are saved. Jesus paid it all. All to him I owe. That's your foundation. And then you need to proclaim that gospel of grace. And when you encounter someone who tries to say grace and works, or works and not grace, that you would defend the gospel of grace. Not that you would be belligerent or rude, but that you would just faithfully proclaim that salvation is not of works, but it is by grace alone. But you also have a ministry. That's part of your ministry, but you have a ministry given to you by God. I guess you could say that part of fulfilling the course that God has mapped out for your life also includes being involved in the works of ministry that God wants you to do. And for each of us, that's different. And God is the one that has to tell you what that is. It might be being a Sunday school teacher or working in the youth ministry or a nursing home ministry or just being a good neighbor. God gifts you to serve Him, and then He expects you to use those gifts, and He'll open doors of opportunity for you to minister. And there are works that God has for you. Ephesians 2.10, we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. God has works for you to do. And part of fulfilling your course and fulfilling the ministry that God has given you is to do those works that God has for you. I think it was Dr. Bob Jones Sr. who used to say that the test of your character is what it takes to stop you. So the question that we have to ask ourselves tonight is this, what does it take to stop us from doing the will of God and fulfilling our responsibilities in ministry? Fear? You know, Paul could have stopped out of fear. You know, bonds and afflictions abide me or are waiting for me in Jerusalem. I'm afraid. I don't like. It hurts. It's not pleasant. When Paul gets there, we'll come to it, but when Paul got there, they tried to beat him to death. I mean, they were going to kill him. They were beating him. They didn't, you know, no gun to shoot him, not even a sword to run him through. They're literally beating him up, and their intent is to beat him to death. and God intervened and the Roman soldiers came and rescued Paul but I mean that's part of the afflictions that were waiting for him in Jerusalem is he's going to be beaten nearly to death and then spend four years in prison and face numerous trials He would ultimately be released and then re-imprisoned later and executed, beheaded. But that's what awaits him. But he didn't let fear. Paul was human. He faced fear, but it didn't stop him. Is it fear? Is it fatigue? I'm tired. I know I ought to do this or that or the other that God wants me to do. I'm just tired. I just don't feel like it. Do you reckon Jesus was ever tired? and yet did what he ought to do anyway. Pain, well, you know, it hurts. Or discomfort, you know, if I do that, I think this is what God wants me to do, but if I do that, I have to get out of my comfort zone, as we like to use the term. And I just, I'm comfortable not doing that, so I'm just not gonna do it. Problems? Well, you know, if I do that, here's what's going to happen. There's this and this and this. All these problems are going to develop if I do that thing that I think God wants me to do. Or I might die. Well, none of those things are legitimate reasons not to do what God is clearly telling us to do. And so we need to be committed, like the Apostle Paul, to fulfilling completing the course that God has set before us joyfully and fulfilling the ministry that God has given to us at whatever cost to us. And then lastly, let me just ask the question again, have you entered that narrow road? Have you believed on Christ and him alone as your savior? If not, you can tonight. You can pray there in your seat. If you need to talk to somebody about it, we're here and we'd be glad to answer any questions you might have or try to explain it further if that's your need. Let's stand together for prayer. Father, we thank you for the Apostle Paul and his example. Lord, we know that to run our course, to finish the course, we can't do it on our own strength. We will falter, we will fail, We will fall behind or fall back or turn away. We know that we do have to exercise our will to choose to be obedient. But Lord, help us to remember that you empower us as we obey, that ultimately you are the one that enables us to finish our course. And you give us joy as we walk along with you and find your enabling power in our lives. Lord, you've given us a work to do. Help us to know the works that you want us to do each individually. And then, Lord, help us to be faithful and to be obedient in doing those works. And Lord, help us to be willing to pay the price, whatever it might be, in order to be obedient to you. And again, Father, if there is one here, even tonight, or maybe watching the live stream, and they've never believed on Christ and Him alone as their Savior, may they do so. Even tonight, we pray. In Jesus' name, amen.