Please turn in your Bibles to Acts chapter 20. Acts chapter 20, we're going to be looking at verses 1 through 16. This morning, I want to deal honestly with the following question. I want us to ask, is Christianity boring? What do you think? Is Christianity boring? Is it boring to be a Christian? And I have to be honest with you, I know a lot of people who would say yes. I know people who would say that it's boring to go to church, that would say that it's boring if you can't get drunk, it's boring if you can't sleep with whoever you want to sleep with. And in fact, I know people who don't want to be Christians because they think it's boring. But here's the problem. If that's your view of Christianity, you've got it all wrong. You understand? That is not Christianity. If you think of Christianity as just this boring thing that just prevents you from being able to do anything that's fun, from being able to have an exciting life, that is not the biblical view of Christianity. You see, and unfortunately, we Christians, sometimes we contribute to that false perception of Christianity. You know why? Because we do live a boring life. You know, we don't do anything with our lives. And for example, instead of risking our lives for the gospel, we play it safe. You know, safety is really an idol in our culture. And I'll give you one example of that. If you look at maybe one century ago, two centuries ago, when people sent out missionaries, a lot of them would die. It was just kind of a common thing. You said, you know, if you're going in the mission field, either you're going to be killed by the locals or you're going to catch a disease and you're going to die because of that. But you see, it was a common thing. People knew. I'm going to give my life for the gospel. If I go out to bring the gospel to the nations, I must expect to die. That was just a common thing. But nowadays, we do everything to prevent people from being in danger. For example, if a missionary is in a country and things start being unstable in that country, what do we do? Well, we pull that missionary out. Or if a missionary goes to a country that doesn't have a lot of amenities, you know, we pay so much money to give them comfort, to offer air conditioning in a place where there's no air conditioning. I mean, it's just crazy because we're all about comfort and safety. And that's an idol. And you see, that's not what we find here in the Bible. You see, we're scared, so we don't want to risk anything. We're lazy, we're too comfortable, and so we don't want to risk anything. And that's why we Christians, sometimes we live a boring life, and that's why people can look at us and say, well, it's boring to be a Christian. I want you to think about this. The reason why someone can make that accusation is because we never really pick up our swords to fight. Think about this. If you're really active in this spiritual warfare, and if you're really going out for the kingdom of God, and you're taking land, and you're bringing God's light in this world, it will be a fight. It will be an intense struggle. So I want you to ask yourself this question. What's your picture of Christianity? Or let me ask you this different question. Where are your scars? Where are your scars? Show me your scars. Show me that you've been in the battle. Show me. You see, if we can't show any scars, no wonder why people think that Christianity is boring. But let me ask you this question. What if Christianity could be the most exciting thing in your life? What do you think? What if Christianity could be so exciting that you wouldn't ever feel like you're missing out on anything that the world has to offer? You see, that's what our text is going to challenge us with this morning. I want us to take a look. I want us to read Acts chapter 20, verses 1 through 16. Listen carefully to God's Word. After the uproar ceased, Paul sent for the disciples, and after encouraging them, he said farewell and departed for Macedonia. When he had gone through those regions and had given them much encouragement, he came to Greece. There he spent three months, and when a plot was made against him by the Jews as he was about to set sail for Syria, he decided to return through Macedonia. Sopater the Berean, son of Pyrrhus, accompanied him, and of the Thessalonians Aristarchus and Secundus, and Gaius of Derby and Timothy, and the Asian Sycacus and Trophimus. These went on ahead and were waiting for us at Troas, but we sailed away from Philippi after the days of unleavened bread, and in five days we came to them at Troas, where we stayed for seven days." On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the next day, and he prolonged his speech until midnight. There were many lamps in the upper room where we were gathered, and a young man named Eutychus, sitting at the window, sank into a deep sleep as Paul talked still longer. And being overcome by sleep, he fell down from the third story and was taken up dead. But Paul went down and bent over him, and taking him in his arms, said, Do not be alarmed, for his life is in him. And when Paul had gone up and had broken bread and eaten, he conversed with them a long while, until daybreak, and so departed. And they took the youth away alive, and were not a little comforted. But going ahead to the ship, we set sail for Assos, intending to take Paul aboard there, for so he had arranged, intending himself to go by land. And when he met us at Assos, we took him on board and went to Mythilene, and sailing from there we came the following day opposite Chios. This is God's Holy Word. Let's pray. Father, We pray that You would open our eyes. May Your Holy Spirit use the ministry of Your Word to challenge us and to make us want to live a Christian life that is according to Your Word. Lord, I pray that You would break this idol of comfort and safety, and that You would help us, Lord, to be willing to give our lives for the gospel. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Now, isn't it crazy that in the same passage, you see two things happening. On the one hand, you see Paul escaping danger. He's going to the ends of the earth. But at the same time, you find that someone is falling asleep while Paul is preaching. And just think about this. This young guy, he fell asleep on Paul. I mean, did he not hear the stories? Wasn't he entertained enough? I mean, just think about this. What Paul has gone through is so exciting. It's so interesting that you see this story of the guy falling asleep that is sandwiched in between Paul's adventures. I mean, he has a crazy life. So how can someone fall asleep like this? So I want us to take a look at these two situations. I want us to begin with the guy who fell asleep and fell out the window. And after we do that, I want us to consider why Paul's travels were so complicated. And so let's start with the guy who fell asleep. Now I want you to notice something. We have his name. Now, why is that significant? Just think about this. His name has been put in the Word of God and is circulated with all the churches. Think about this. Imagine being the guy who is known as the guy who has fallen asleep. Imagine that. If all the churches know your name as the one who fell asleep when Paul was preaching. Now, let me ask you this question. Why did Eutychus fall asleep? Why did he fall asleep? Was it because Paul was boring? Is that why he fell asleep? I don't think you could ever say that. Now, just think about this. If you wanted a good story, Paul was your man. I mean, this guy, he had gone through every kind of adventure. He had seen the power of God at work. He had received revelation by the Holy Spirit. I mean, he had seen miracles. He could tell you story after story, and he could entertain you for weeks. I don't think he was boring. I don't think that's why Eutychus fell asleep. When you look at our text, it tells us that Paul, he was preaching for a long time. I mean, this poor kid, he's tired. And if you look at verse 7, it even says that it was past midnight. Now, that's a long sermon. It's a long sermon, and if I preach that long, I'm sure that people would fall asleep on me. So, on the one hand, we can sympathize with Eutychus. You know, he was just tired. It was late, you know, it's normal for someone to fall asleep like that, right? But at the same time, I want you to realize something. I want you to realize that hearing the Word of God is a battleground. Did you know that? Hearing the Word of God is a battleground. Now, what do I mean by that? You see, I want you to understand that we have to fight to hear the Word of God. We have to fight because that's what God uses to save people. It's the hearing of the Word of God. God is going to use it to save people, to make them grow in their faith. And that's why we have to fight against our natural weaknesses like tiredness, like distractions. But we also have to fight against spiritual obstacles. Because I want you to realize this, the evil one is trying to take you away from the ministry of God's Word. He knows how powerful it is, and so He's going to do everything He can to take you away from the ministry of God's Word. But you also have to fight against your own sinful flesh, because your sinful flesh is against the Spirit, is against the Word of God. And sometimes in your own sinful flesh, you're going to revolt against the Word of God, and you need to make sure that you fight against it, that you let the Holy Spirit take control of you. And that's why I'm saying that it's a battleground. You see, it's a battleground to hear the Word of God. Now, I want to share something with you. See, I want you to know something. I want you to know that I fight for you every week. Do you know why? It's because I know that your souls need the Word of God. And I fight for you every single week because I want to make sure that I deliver the Word of God to you faithfully. And so as I prepare throughout the week, I also have to fight. I have to fight against mild natural weaknesses like tiredness, distraction, laziness, but I also have to fight against spiritual obstacles. It's a real battle. It's a spiritual battle. There are demonic forces who are opposing me, who don't want me to deliver the Word of God to you. I have to fight against my own sinfulness. I have to fight against attacks against the church. There are so many things happening. It's a battleground as I'm preparing throughout the week so that I can deliver the Word of God to you. And let me tell you this, some weeks the battle is really difficult. Some weeks it's so hard. I can feel the darkness. I can feel the battle. It's so hard sometimes. And I want to give you one example of that. Two weeks ago, you know what? I just felt this darkness coming over me. And this darkness was so strong. It was preventing me from being able to prepare the sermon. And so, what I did is that I reached out to the men in the church, and I asked them to pray for me. I said, look, I'm having a hard time, please pray for me. Because I knew this was a spiritual battle. And as the men prayed for me, I felt the darkness lifting, I felt the Lord helping me, and I was able to prepare for the sermon. You see, it was a real spiritual battle. Let me give you another example. A couple of months ago, something similar was happening. The same thing, this darkness came over me, it was so powerful, you know, it was making me feel depressed and discouraged, and I was just so down. And in fact, it was so strong that I just wanted to die. And in fact, I prayed, God, can you please just take my life? I'm tired of this. I'm done, I don't want to do this anymore. You see, I was having such a hard time. But this is what happened. All of a sudden, I felt something in my spirit. Like something touched me, something was lifting me up and strengthening me and my spirit. And I didn't know what was happening, but I knew something was happening to me. I just didn't know where it was coming from. And then I received an email. It was coming from my home church in the United States. And they were saying, we're praying for you. You see, what I realized is that they were praying for me at the exact time when I felt this. When I felt like my spirit was being lifted. You see, I didn't know at the time that they were praying for me, but I felt their prayers. You see, it was a real spiritual battle. Let me give you one last story. You might remember last year, we studied the historical evidence for the Exodus. And you might remember, I made you work a lot, right? It was a glorious time because I saw God open your eyes during that study. I saw His Spirit at work in your hearts, but you know what? At the same time, there was so much opposition. It was incredible. It's like the devil, you know, he was trying to stir up everything he could in the church. I faced opposition. There were some people who were trying to shut down what we were doing. Someone locked the gates when I was inside the church, so I couldn't open the doors anymore. I couldn't go outside, and so I had to climb out of the second story window to get out. And at some point, the sound system exploded. My ears were ringing. I couldn't hear anything. I mean, it was just crazy. There was so much opposition happening during this time. It was crazy. But I knew, if the devil is doing everything he can to stop what we're doing, then we must be doing something right. You understand? Because I knew it's a spiritual battle. And if the devil is bringing all the opposition that he can, it's because we're doing something right. It's because he sees it as a threat. Because the Word of God is a threat to the devil. The Word of God is powerful. The Word of God is active. And whenever you have the ministry of the Word of God, you will see opposition. Because demonic forces will try to prevent that ministry from happening. Now, why am I sharing all this? It's because I want you to understand there's a battle happening for the Word of God. I want you to understand there's a battle happening for you. Everyone in this church, you see, there's a battle happening for you to hear the Word of God, for you to be transformed by the Word of God. And I want you to be aware of that. Now, if you look on the screen, you're going to see Romans 10 and 17. Here's what it says. It says, faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the Word of Christ. Do you realize what that's saying? You see, how do you get life? How do you get faith to believe in God, to be saved, to grow? You see, it comes by hearing. It comes by hearing the Word of Christ. That's why it's a battle. That's why we have to fight to hear the Word of God. And so when you look at this guy Eutychus, yes, you know, on the one hand he was just tired. Yes, it's true, it was late. Yes, you can make excuses, but I want you to understand there's more happening than just a guy falling asleep because he's tired. You see, that's why even if you are tired, you need to fight. You need to fight to hear the Word of God because it's that important. It is your life that depends on it. All right, let's move on to the next point. I want us to consider why Paul's travels were so complicated. Now, why do I say that? Why do I say that Paul's travels were so complicated? See, I want you to notice in the passage that we just read, notice how many times he had to change his plans. I want you to notice how he had to split his group. I mean, there's all kinds of movement happening. You see, there's so much happening, and let me just show you that. In verse 3, look at that. Paul had to change his plans because there was a plot to kill him. And so what happened is that instead of sailing for Syria, that was his original plan, he had to change it. And so instead of sailing for Syria, he went by foot through Macedonia. If you look at verse 5, it says that Paul is sending his companions ahead of him, and he arranges to meet with them at Troas. But he goes by foot. And so in verse 6, then we see that Paul, well then, he changed his plans again. Instead of just going by foot, he took a ship with Luke from Philippi. And then when you look at verse 13, it says that Paul, he sent Luke and his companions by ship to Assos. But he decided to travel by land. So he said, I'm going to meet you over there. You go over there. I'm going to meet you by land. I'm going to meet you in Assos. And in verse 14, then he goes on board the ship with them. Now, just think about this. What's going on? Why does he keep changing his plans? Why is there so much movement? Why does he split his group? Why doesn't He keep all the people with Him? Do you understand what's happening? You see, I want you to notice, it looks like He's trying to lose someone. Do you remember in verse 3 what's happening? There's a plot to kill Him. Do you remember his first and second missionary journeys, how there were people following him? People were trying to kill him. They would follow him from city to city. Well, that's happening again. And so what does he do? He's like, man, I'm going to try to lose them. So they won't know where I'm traveling because they expect me to be with these people. I'm going to split the group. I'm going to go a different way. I'm going to go by land, by sea, by land, by sea. And so what's happening is that he's trying to confuse those who might be following them. Now, if you've never been in danger, it might be hard for you to understand what he's doing. But if your life has ever been threatened, if you've ever had people actually seeking to get their hands on you, you know what he's doing. You know exactly what he's doing because you've had to do the same. Now, let me give you an example. Let me share a story with you. I once worked for a man who was at the cutting edge of defense and security in the Middle East. And so his home base was in France, but he would travel to countries in the Middle East, a lot of countries on the Arabian Peninsula. He would go there and so he explained to me that whenever he traveled there and he brought others with him, he would always have to take precautions. He would have to be extremely careful because people were trying to kill them. They were targets. You see, and so he had to take precautions. And this is what he told me. He said, whenever we go on the streets, whenever we're walking through the streets, we have to split our group. You know, we send some people ahead. Some people stay back and take one side of the street. I take the other side. You see, they're splitting their group. Do you know why? Because if they stand as a group, they're an easier target. People can find them out. People can point them out and a suicide bomber can just walk up to them, explode a bomb, and then kill the whole group. Now, I want you to think about this. And by the way, that was back in 2006. It wasn't that long ago. I want you to see something. Their strategy of splitting the group is very similar to what we see Paul doing. They're doing very similar things. They're splitting the group. They're changing their route. They're trying to confuse those who might be looking for them. You see, it's the same kind of strategy because they're in similar circumstances. People are looking for them. People are trying to kill them. And that's why they have to have such an erratic kind of plan. You see, it looks like it's erratic, but it's actually very well thought out so that people cannot find them and kill them. You see, Paul is not just taking his time. In fact, when you look at verse 16, it says that he was hastening to go to Jerusalem. You see, he wasn't just trying to waste time. That was part of his strategy. There was a plot against him. People were trying to kill him. People were trying to get their hands on Christians, and that's why he had to split the group. Now, just ask yourself this question. Do you think that Paul's life was boring? Do you think that his life was boring? When people are seeking to kill him, when he has to change his plans, as he's traveling to the ends of the earth, and he's seeing the power of God at work. Do you think his life was boring? I hope not. You see, that's the picture that you get of Christianity in the book of Acts. It's very different than the play it safe Christianity that we have in the West. It's very different. They're not concerned about safety. Oh yeah, they take precautions, but they still risk their lives. You see, they're saying, we're going to lay down our lives for the gospel. Even as we take precautions, even as we're strategic about this, we're going to go out there in spite of the danger. We're going to go and get an adventure because we're going to bring the Word of God to the ends of the earth. And I want you to understand that could be your life. This could be you. You could be bringing the gospel, or you could be accompanying someone who's preaching the gospel. And by the way, there are so many countries across the world where it's still dangerous to proclaim the gospel. North Korea, China, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Kazakhstan. I could give you so many countries. You choose. Where do you want to have your adventure? Where do you want to bring the gospel? You choose. There are so many options for you. And by the way, I know people who are preaching the gospel in those countries. And their lives are in danger. They are threatened. You see, they have to take precautions because people are looking for them. People are trying to hunt them down. They want to kill them. You see, but they're having quite an adventure. You can't look at them and say, you know what, your Christianity is so boring. You can't say that. You can't say that. You see, the only reason you can say that Christianity is boring is if you don't have scars, if you don't take risks, if you don't really go out in faith and try to bring the gospel to the world, then your life is going to be boring. So you have to choose. Are you going to have real biblical Christianity or are you going to have kind of a safe, a safe idolatrous version of Christianity, which is really boring? Which one is your version of Christianity? I want to give you one story. I can't give you the name of the country for security reasons, but what I can tell you is that it's a Muslim country and it's in the Middle East. See, what happened is that there were people who converted out of Islam. So they became Christians and they wanted to get baptized. But there's a big problem. Baptism is punishable by death. In fact, conversion is punishable by death. And so it's really dangerous. And so they really wanted to hold those baptisms, and so what they did is that they invited a Dutch guy, a man by the name of Brother Andrew. They said, we want you to come here to administer baptism to these Muslim background believers. But they were afraid because they knew people might be following us. People might try to follow us to find these guys and kill them. And so the guy who picked up brother Andrew, he was driving him and he was just going erratically through the streets because he was doing everything he could to prevent people from following them. So he took quick turns, you know, from one street to another. And when he came to roundabouts, he did like 180 degree turns, and he would speed up at strategic places, just kind of this erratic driving. And you know, he was doing that to try to lose anyone who might be following them. And Brother Andrew, he looked at him, I mean, he was really impressed. He said, man, where did you learn to drive like this? You understand what was going on? You know, it was intense, but it worked. You see, they were going to have these baptisms, it's going to be very dangerous, and they were able to do that. Now, later on, by the way, some of these guys who got baptized, they were killed later on because people found out that they had converted. I want you to understand, it's very dangerous. In many countries throughout the earth, it's dangerous to be a Christian. It's dangerous to bring the gospel. It's dangerous. You see, Christianity is something that will threaten your life. Christianity will require you to face trouble, to face danger, to face persecution. But do you think it's boring? Of course not. It's not boring. You see, what I want you to realize is that biblical Christianity is not boring. It might be dangerous, it might be difficult, but it's not boring. I want to show you one little clip. And by the way, this is a movie that is based on a true story. They're reenacting something that happened to a 17-year-old guy in China. And this guy, he was 17 years old, and he was arrested because he was part of a church. And when the authorities questioned him, they were trying to get information from him. But because he was strong in his faith, he refused to give them any information. And so because he refused to give them any information, they tortured him, they beat him, and eventually they put him in a forced labor camp. But eventually he was released, and I want you to hear just the end of the story. Because after he was released from prison, you see, he said that it was the Word of God that sustained him. And I want you to see, not only was his faith strong and strengthened in the Lord through this event, but he was able to see how the Word of God was powerful. And he's able to see that this is the real deal. This is how it works because we are in a spiritual war against the forces of darkness at work in this world. And he's able to see that, you know what? I am against this darkness because I am for God. I am for the light and I'm gonna fight this spiritual battle to the end of my life. I want you to listen to this clip. After I was released from prison, I was told that Shortly after my arrest, the police went to my house to arrest my parents. Fortunately, they were not there and they escaped arrest. To avoid being arrested, my parents left our hometown and rented a house. They found work and they also fulfilled their duties in the church. I want to see my parents again as soon as possible. I want to tell them what I went through in prison. This past year, I personally experienced and witnessed the atrocities of the CCP police. I saw the CCP's God-resisting demonic essence. It was abundantly clear that everything they did was to deceive, corrupt, and harm man. I was able to rebel against this old demon, the CCP. Over this year of hardship, I was able to grow up thanks to God's guidance. Deep in my heart, I have realized that in this world, God alone loves mankind the most. Only God can save man from the dark influence of the satanic CCP regime and help man to live a real life. In man's trials and suffering, it is the word of God that gives man faith and strength. Under any circumstances, it can help man to weather the storm and stand firm in bearing witness to God. These trials and tribulations that I have endured have helped me to grow up. It was a special gift that God brought to me at the age of 17. I've tasted the love of God, and I want to follow God for the rest of my life. Pretty amazing, isn't it? This guy was 17 years old when this happened to him. Pretty young, huh? You see, at 17 years old, he had to suffer. He had to be persecuted, go to prison, go to a forced labor camp, be tortured for Christ. But can you say that he had a boring Christian life? I don't think so. So, I'm going to challenge you. I'm going to challenge you not to have a boring Christian life. I'm going to challenge you to get in the battle. Get in the fight. Have a part to play. You see, some of you are going to have to risk your life. But even those who don't have to risk your life, even then, you have to contribute to the battle. You see, you want to figure out how God has gifted you and then you can determine what part of the battle you can fight. For example, If God has given you music gifts, well then your mission could be to produce the most amazing Christian music to bless the worship of the church. That could be your mission. Or if God has given you linguistic abilities, your mission could be to bring the gospel to unreached nations of the earth. Or if God has given you a love of science, your mission could be to revolutionize your field of science so that you can prove how science is in line with the Bible, but not evolution. Or if God has given you a sharp mind and a strong character, your mission could be to become a lawyer or a judge and to change the judicial system so as to uphold righteousness. You see, but regardless of what part you want to play, you have to get in the fight. You have to have a mission. You have to participate in this great adventure which is called Christianity. You see, if you have a goal, if you're in the fight for Christ, then how can that ever be boring? It's going to be difficult. It's going to be challenging. It's going to be dangerous. You're going to have to suffer. You're going to have to forsake a lot of things, but it will not be boring. And that's what I want you to understand. So, show me your scars. Show me your scars. Show me that you've been in the fight. Show me that your version of Christianity is the most exciting adventure you could ever have. Let's pray. Dear God, we pray that you would help us to live a biblical Christian life. That we would not just play it safe. That we would not just try to preserve our lives, or preserve our own interests, or preserve our kingdom in this world. Help us to let go of these things. To give everything up to you, so that we would lay down our lives for the gospel. Help us to get in the battle. Help us to get in the action. Help us, Lord, to have an exciting Christian life, to fight a spiritual battle, to bring Your light in this world, so that the whole earth would know You. May You glorify Yourself in us, we pray, in Jesus' name, Amen.