33 A Charge to the Elders (Acts 20:17-38)

* Two weeks ago, we considered the extent and effect of God's work in Ephesus through Paul. Paul spent more than two years in Ephesus at that time. Last week, we tracked Paul's travels from Ephesus to Macedonia to Greece and then back to Troas, where he spoke to a gathering of the church. * In Acts 20, Paul is at the end of his third missionary journey, and he is hurrying to get to Jerusalem by Pentecost. He sailed from Philippi after the days of Unleavened Bread, took five days to get to Troas, spent seven days in Troas, and thus had at most 31 days left to get to Jerusalem (perhaps less). He chose to avoid going to Ephesus and sailed past it down to Miletus. But Paul sent for the elders in the church at Ephesus in order to speak to them one last time. * Today we look at the rest of what happened in Acts 20, where Paul speaks to the elders from Ephesus. His message to them includes both a testimony of his time in Ephesus - how he lived and ministered to the Ephesians - and a charge to the Ephesian elders. * This message was presented on June 11, 2023 by David Hayes.