SERMON SPOTLIGHT * 11/13/22

To have Paul’s faith and courage to say, to quote a puritan—Lord, what thou wilt, when thou wilt, where thou wilt—that is my prayer for you and us today. Below is an outline summary of the sermon for your further study and deeper reflection.

SERIES: Hopeful: The Book of Acts
TEXT: Acts 21:1-16
TITLE: Let The Will of The Lord Be Done
PREACHER: Derek Overstreet
BIG IDEA: Following Jesus at any cost, is the cost of following Jesus.

SERMON EXCERPTS:
”Conventional wisdom says, Don’t go to Jerusalem. But as we will see, Paul was guided not by his self-interests and words of man, but the interest of Christ and the words of God.”

“Paul was ready to suffer for the name of Jesus! He was ready to preach the gospel anywhere. He was ready to suffer anything, anytime, even death itself, so long as Christ was made known.”

“The vivid image of a bound Agabus and the heart-wrenching appeals of his dear friends rang in his mind. Yet, he was resolved to follow the will of the Lord for the sake of the glory of Christ. No one could keep Paul out of Jerusalem—Lord, what thou wilt, when thou wilt, where thou wilt.”

“To be a Christian is to live by the grace of God, for the will of God, to the praise of God—at any cost.”

“As we walk in [The Lord’s] strength, our calling is grand and glorious WORSHIP because in it we live as Jesus lived. We walk in his steps. We share in his sufferings. We become like him.”

“Just as Jesus followed the will of His Father at any cost, so we follow Jesus at any cost. AND, as we do, you never know who God has waiting to hear and see Jesus from us.”

“Don’t believe the lie that says—God’s highest aim is MY happiness in this life. Society is awash in self-interest that has crept into the church. ‘God wants me to be happy and carefree. So any suffering and affliction must not be His will for me.’ LIE! The Bible never says that. It says the opposite.”

“Suffering for Christ is a Christian privilege because as I said earlier, it makes us like Christ in every way. That doesn’t mean we go out looking for problems and pain. That’s not godliness, that’s STUPIDITY. But if following the will of God for your life means suffering, embracing it with sobriety and joy to the praise of God, knowing you are being prepared for an eternal weight of glory in our future—that’s godliness!”

“Their hope for what they were called to do was set, not in their ability to shepherd, but in the power and plan of God. Paul’s confidence wasn’t in the Ephesian pastors—it was in God!”

“What freedom to follow the Lord—even when the devils were as many as the tiles on the roof—when we learn to live by faith instead of sight and the strength of the Lord instead of our own so we can say, Lord, what thou wilt, when thou wilt, where thou wilt.”

QUOTES:
Oswald Chambers - “To choose to suffer means that there is something wrong; to choose God’s will even if it means suffering is a very different thing. No healthy saint ever chooses suffering; he chooses God’s will, as Jesus did, whether it means suffering or not.”

ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURE:
Philippians 2:8
Hebrews 12:2
Isaiah 53
Philippians 1:29

APPLICATION:
- For the sake of Christ, are you willing to go to Jerusalem, no matter what awaits you?