I'd like to sing a song called I Can't Even Walk. It was by Marty Stewart, and I love this song so much because it teaches me about trusting and putting our faith in the Lord. Proverbs chapter 3 verse 5 and 6 says, trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, he shall direct your paths. 

I love the line in this song where it says, down on my knees is where I learned to stand. I thought that number one would always be me, and I thought I could be what I wanted to be, and I thought that I could live my life sinking sand, but I can't even walk without you holding my hand. And I thought I could do a lot on my own, and I thought I could make it all alone. I thought of myself as a mighty big man, but I can't even walk without you holding my hand. 

Lord, I can't even walk without you holding my hand. My head's too high and the valley's too wide; down on my knees I've learned to stand. Lord, I can't even walk without you holding my hand. And I think that I'll make Jesus my all in all, and when I'm in trouble, on his name I'll call. If I don't trust in him, I'll be less than a man. Lord, I can't even walk without you holding my hand. 

Lord, I can't even walk without you holding my hand. My head's too high and the valley's too wide; down on my knees I've learned to stand. Lord, I can't even walk without you holding my hand. Down on my knees I've learned to stand. Lord, I can't even walk without you holding my hand. I can't even walk without him holding my hand. 

We're going to be looking at Acts 20 today. We're continuing in our study of the book of Acts, particularly the first 16 verses of chapter 20. Studying the book of Acts is proving to be a very interesting endeavor. It's mostly a historic narrative, chronicling the life and ministry, mostly of Peter and Paul and the founding of the early church. 

It's not essentially a doctrinal book, as we've talked about many times, not like Romans or even the epistles. But what we're finding is that it is a rich application of these doctrines. It is filled with vital lessons for us in the way of example from these believers who were wholly committed to Christ and his saving gospel truth. And this is truly evident in the text before us this morning. 

When you first read these 16 verses in Acts 20, it seems that there's really not a lot here. There's not more than a record of what they did, where they went in these few days, and it's hard to figure out what you're going to preach on. But as I studied it more and more, I found it to be a rich text of example for us. 

We see that Luke is back with Paul, as we see the use of the words "we" and "us," and we see the great detail of the eyewitness, Dr. Luke, who wrote this book. We see Luke record that "we went here, and we went there, and we did this, and it was five days, and then it was seven days," and we sailed from this place to that place, and Paul walked, and we met these people, and Paul taught, and a guy fell out of a window and died, and Paul raised him from the dead, and then kept preaching until morning. 

Amazing, fascinating, but just a record, an account in a short time period in the life and ministry of Paul. What we do see here is what we've seen consistently throughout the book of Acts, and that is the examples of these believers in their application of doctrine, of exhortation, of the mission that had been given to them. 

We see in all of this how God intends that we should bring men to Christ, how it is we are to live, how it is that we minister and evangelize, and primarily, what our focus should be, what we are about in the church and this world as believers in Jesus Christ. We'll see this again vividly today in our text, and perhaps we'll touch on a little doctrine along the way. 

So Acts 20, verse 1, we'll read the text again. "After the uproar had ceased, Paul called the disciples to himself, embraced them, and departed to go to Macedonia. Now when he had gone over that region and encouraged them with many words, he came to Greece and stayed three months. And when the Jews plotted against him as he was about to sail to Syria, he decided to return through Macedonia."

"And Sopater of Berea accompanied him to Asia, also Aristarchus and Secundus of the Thessalonians, and Gaius of Derbe, and Timothy, and Tychicus, and Trophimus of Asia. These men, going ahead, waited for us at Troas. But we sailed away from Philippi after the days of unleavened bread, and in five days joined them at Troas, where we stayed seven days."

"Now on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul, ready to depart the next day, spoke to them and continued his message until midnight. There were many lamps in the upper room where they were gathered together, and in a window sat a certain young man named Eutychus, who was sinking into a deep sleep. He was overcome by sleep, and as Paul continued speaking, he fell down from the third story and was taken up dead. But Paul went down, fell on him, and embracing him, said, 'Do not trouble yourselves, for his life is in him.'"

"Now when he had come up, had broken bread and eaten, and talked a long while, even till daybreak, he departed. And they brought the young man in alive, and they were not a little comforted. Then we went ahead to the ship and sailed to Asos, there intending to take Paul on board, for so he had given orders, intending himself to go on foot. And when he met us at Asos, we took him on board and came to Mytilene."

"We sailed from there, and the next day came opposite Chios. The following day we arrived at Samos, and stayed at Trogilium. The next day we came to Miletus. For Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus, so that he would not have to spend time in Asia, for he was hurrying to be at Jerusalem, if possible, on the day of Pentecost."

Well, there's four points on your outline this morning. First, we see dedication. Second, days. Third, doctrine. And fourth, determination. 

Well, in these first six verses of our text, we see dedication by Paul. Not that we haven't seen this all along in his ministry. As we observe his life in ministry, one thing is clear. Paul was dedicated to the gospel of Jesus Christ, and he was dedicated to those that he led to faith in Christ. 

Verse 1 says, "After the uproar had ceased." You remember from last week that there was a major riot in Ephesus. All the silversmiths had come together against Paul and the gospel, and because he was hurting their business, transforming lives through the preaching of the gospel, changing men, so much so that they were burning millions of dollars' worth of magic books and no longer buying the little silver idols of Diana and the temple. 

So the whole city came out in a mob and yelled and screamed and threatened for hours. Now, I have to think that if I were Paul, I would need some serious R&R after this ordeal. Maybe a little time off to gather my thoughts. But as we see over and over again, Paul is not moved by these things. They run him out of town. He just goes to another town. They stone him and leave him for dead. He just gets back up and goes back into the city and preaches some more.

We'll see today that he's trying to get to Jerusalem by Pentecost. And as we see in verses 4 to 6, he takes with him representatives from all of the Gentile churches as they bring with them the gifts of money for the brothers and sisters, the poor Christians in the church in Jerusalem. And he goes to Greece, and he wants to sail to Syria, but the Jews are plotting to kill him, perhaps at sea. So he finds out about it, and he turns around and goes all the way back through Macedonia, still trying to make his way to Jerusalem. 

Look at verse 22. It says, "And see, now I go bound in the Spirit to Jerusalem, not knowing the things that will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies in every city, saying that chains and tribulations await me. But none of these things move me, nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy in the ministry which I have received from the Lord Jesus to testify to the gospel of the grace of God." 

Paul could have gone out into one of these more friendly Gentile areas and just rested and relaxed and taught and preached. And even his people who traveled with him, his brothers and sisters in Christ, implored him not to go. And the Holy Spirit warned him that chains of imprisonment awaited him and persecution. But do you see Paul's example to us of dedication? He was dedicated to the gospel of Jesus. 

And what I mean is that he believed God. He believed what God said about the power of the gospel, about the essence of his commission, about the means by which he was to win men to Christ. Paul believed. He trusted God and his sovereign plan and will for his life as a preacher of the gospel. And because of this, he was dedicated to the gospel, to preaching Jesus Christ crucified, buried, and risen again as the Messiah of Israel. 

My friends, it was because of his faith and trust in and dependence on the all-powerful, sovereign God who called him, who instructed him, who sent him out as an evangelist, that Paul was so dedicated to the gospel of Christ. Nothing moved him. Nothing influenced him. Nothing drew him away from the purpose that he had been given and trust in the power of his Lord and the means also by which he'd been commanded to preach. 

Paul wrote that it is through the foolishness of the message preached that God has chosen to save men. He said that God has given to us the word of reconciliation, making us ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us, "Be reconciled to God." When we bring our own ideas, our own wisdom, philosophy of ministry, when we choose to go our own way, execute our own plan because we're not satisfied with the plan of God, then we not only lose the power, the dynamite of the gospel preached, but we also indicate our lack of trust in what God has said.

It's a profound and amazing dedication that we see in the life of Paul, the endurance, the suffering, the steadfastness in light of all that he experienced. But this comes from a dedication to the gospel because he believed and trusted what God said, that the preaching of the gospel is the power of God unto salvation, and God has it ordained no other way. So we see the dedication of Paul, and this is a great example for us. 

And next in verse 7, we see an issue of days. Acts 20 verse 7: "Now on the first day of the week when the disciples came together to break bread." And I want to just stop here for a minute because I want to comment on this important observation by Luke. It says, "On the first day of the week when the disciples came together." What is the first day of the week? Sunday. 

We've seen through the book of Acts that the apostles were still going to the temple in Jerusalem to meet. We've seen that everywhere that Paul went, he went into the synagogue on Saturday to preach first the gospel, at least until the Jews turned on him and ran him off. 

We're in a time of transition from the old covenant to the new, and we've seen the struggles of Peter and even of Paul as they tried to understand how to implement this new covenant time, not to mention the legalistic Jews who associated themselves with the church. But it has become clear by now in the founding of the church that God intends to bring salvation to every man, to Jew, to Samaritan, to Gentile, all to Christ by faith, by the preaching of the gospel, by the hearing of faith.

And the churches have been established by Paul in these various Gentile cities. And what we see here historically in the early church is that they met not on Saturday, not on a Sabbath, but on the first day of the week, on Sunday, the Lord's Day. That's what John calls it in the book of Revelation, the Lord's Day. 

In Paul's time, he dealt with many legalistic Jews who believed that you must keep the law of Moses, that you must be circumcised, you must meet on the Sabbath in order to be saved. And some of these people also professed faith in Christ, as we saw in the book of Galatians. They believed that you were saved by faith in Jesus, plus all of these works. 

And Paul dealt harshly in the book of Galatians with those who teach such things, calling it a false gospel and false teachers and pronouncing an anathema, a curse, upon them. Turn over to Acts 15 with me, please. 

Acts 15, you'll remember this is the council in Jerusalem Paul went up to meet with the Apostles and to settle this matter. In Acts 15.1, it says, "And certain men came down from Judea and taught the brethren, 'Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.' Therefore, when Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and dispute with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas and certain others of them should go up to Jerusalem to the Apostles and elders about this question."

"So being sent on their way by the church, they passed through Phoenicia and Samaria, describing the conversion of the Gentiles, and they caused great joy to all the brethren. And when they had come to Jerusalem, they were received by the church and the Apostles and the elders, and they reported all things that God had done with them. But some of the sect of the Pharisees who believed rose up, saying, 'It is necessary to circumcise them and to command them to keep the law of Moses.' Now the Apostles and elders came together to consider this matter, and when there had been much dispute, Peter rose up and said to them, 'Men and brethren, you know that a good while ago God chose among us that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. So God, who knows the heart, acknowledged them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He did to us, and made no distinction between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.'"

"Now therefore, why do you test God by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved in the same manner as they." Peter makes clear there's no room for law in the gospel. 

No room for ceremony or sacrament, but that salvation comes by grace alone, through faith alone, in what Jesus accomplished on the cross. And then James, the leader of the church in Jerusalem, affirms Peter's words by quoting the Old Testament scriptures, that salvation would come to the Gentiles. 

This is important, my friends, because those who would teach a law-plus-grace system of salvation are not unique to Paul's day. And specifically concerning the Sabbath, there are those today who teach that you must keep the Sabbath, that is to worship on Saturday, or you cannot be saved. In fact, the Seventh-day Adventist people of our time teach that the mark of the beast in the book of Revelation is Sunday worship. Those who worship on the first day of the week, as we do, have taken the mark of the beast according to their doctrine. 

It's a heavily convoluted system, but this is their conclusion. I met with a Seventh-day Adventist leader for several months and studied through the scriptures with him, and it became clear that his system was one of works and not faith, law-keeping and Old Testament requirements, and not faith. 

And he recently gave me a document he had written, several pages long, explaining why Sunday worship is the mark of the beast. The only problem with all of this, my friends, is that Paul says they met on the first day of the week. In Corinthians, he says, when you come together on the first day of the week. Jesus rose on Sunday. Jesus appeared to the disciples on Sunday. The early church came together on the first day of the week. 

And we see this in other passages, and I want you to listen to Colossians 2.16. Paul says, "Let no one judge you in food or drink or regarding a festival or a new moon or Sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ." You see, all of these things were shadows. They were pictures. They were figures of what was to come. 

We who believe Jesus have entered rest. Jesus is our Sabbath. He's the name of our salvation. Not Sabbatarian, not festivals and feasts, but Jesus is the fulfillment of all the pictures of the Old Testament. It does not matter which day of the week you meet on. You can meet every day, any day. Let no man judge you concerning days. 

But the early church chose to meet on the first day of the week because that is the day that Jesus rose from the dead. And that tradition has been carried on throughout church history so that we have set this day apart as the Lord's Day, as a day for worship and the Word. But it's not a matter of legalism. It's a matter of thankfulness and worship and fellowship and learning and being built up by teaching and all these things we do together— a celebration and joy to come together with like precious faith in our Savior and Lord. 

So I just want to make clear, as Luke mentions this in our text, because some of these matters hold the gospel at stake. And if you say that you must meet on a certain day to be saved or you must keep a certain law to be saved or you must do a certain ceremony to be saved, then you preach a false gospel. And that's a serious matter. 

So we see dedication. We see days. And third, in our text, we see doctrine. Look at verse 7. "Now on the first day of the week when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul, ready to depart the next day, spoke to them and continued his message until midnight. There were many lamps in the upper room where they were gathered together, and in a window sat a certain young man named Eutychus, who was sinking into a deep sleep. He was overcome by sleep, and as Paul continued speaking, he fell down from the third story and was taken up dead. But Paul went down, fell on him, and embracing him said, 'Do not trouble yourselves, for his life is in him.'" 

"And when he had come up, had broken bread and eaten, and talked a long while, even until daybreak, he departed, and they brought the young man in alive, and they were not a little comforted." 

Paul is attempting to make his way to Jerusalem. He left Ephesus after the riot subsided. He went through Macedonia to Greece, then he was going to sail to Syria. There was a plot against him on that journey, so he turns around. He goes all the way back through Macedonia to Asia. Then he sails to Troas. 

And when Paul gets to Troas, he must be very weary. He's been traveling for a long time, relentless, trying to make his way to Jerusalem. But what does Paul do when he gets to Troas? He teaches. Everywhere he went, every meeting, every opportunity, we see Paul teaching, preaching, exhorting the brethren, focused on the Word of God, on doctrine concerning Jesus the Christ. 

He was available to the people everywhere he went. This was Paul's passion, and he trusted. He believed God that this is the way to produce fruit in the lives of the believers. Turn over to 2 Peter 1 with me, please. I want to read this. 

We're starting 2 Peter 1 on Thursday night, so sometimes you get to enjoy the fruits of my Thursday night studies as well on Sunday morning. 

2 Peter 1.1, just a tremendous passage. "I'm in Peter, a bondservant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ. Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as his divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us by glory and virtue."

"By which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love."

"For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these things is short-sighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins. Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things, you will never stumble. For so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ."

Now look at verse 12. "For this reason, I will not be negligent to remind you always of these things, though you know and are established in the present truth. Yes, I think it is right, as long as I am in this tent, to stir you up by reminding you, knowing that shortly I must put off my tent, just as our Lord Jesus Christ showed me. Moreover, I will be careful to ensure that you always have a reminder of these things after my decease." 

Well, this is such an important passage. Peter's writing to a group of dispersed believers who have been heavily persecuted, and he points them to their salvation in Jesus Christ, what Jesus has done, what he's accomplished, who they are in him. 

Peter exhorts them to look forward to the consummation of that salvation, to rest in the hope that they have in Jesus. That's primarily in the first epistle. In this passage, he says that they are established in the truth, that they know the truth. They know the doctrine concerning Jesus, concerning their salvation. 

And he says that they're living it out, that they're practicing it, applying the truth in their lives, being fruitful and not barren. So what does Peter determine to do in light of this? What is his plan, his purpose, his passion for these believers who know the truth, who are living it out, who are mature and practicing it? 

He says, "For this reason, I will not be negligent to remind you always of these things. I think it's right, as long as I'm in this body, to stir you up by reminding you. I'm going to make sure you have these truths even after I'm dead. I'm going to write them down." 

They know the truth. They know the word of God. They're practicing it. They're mature. They're fruitful, applying it rightly in their lives. And Peter says, "I'm going to keep teaching you. I'm going to keep preaching these truths. I'm going to keep expounding the word, stirring you up, reminding you. And even after I'm dead, I'm leaving this truth written down so that you might have it." 

You see the lesson, my brothers and sisters. We need the word of God. We need the truth taught, preached continually in order to be fruitful and not be barren. Paul said, "It's not tedious for me to write the same things to you again and again, but it's safe for you. Safe, secure, my friends. We need to continually renew our minds to the truth of God's word, to be reminded, to be stirred up, to keep our thinking straight, to be fruitful. This is God's way. This is his plan. 

And Paul was right on board in perfect agreement with total faith in God's way and God's plan. He was accepting God's will for his life, to preach and to teach, to expound the truth, the doctrine to God's people. If it is true, and it is, that those who are mature in Christ, those who know the truth, who are living it, practicing it, are in dire need of hearing it, studying it, and being reminded of it, stirred up continually day by day, then think with me of the tragedy in the evangelical church today, where the masses of Christians rarely, if ever, hear the truth taught, hear the word expounded verse by verse, book by book, teaching of doctrine, truth about Jesus. 

So many don't even know the truth. They don't even know about their salvation and what they have and who they are in Christ. A friend of mine told me the other day that when he moved to the town he lives in now, he met a man who was very involved in a Bible church. And my friend was looking for a church, a Bible teaching church. 

So he asked this man, "What's your doctrine, what do you teach?" He said, "I don't know. I have no idea." He's involved; he ministers there in all kinds of ways. He's committed to that church, but he has no idea what the doctrine is, which means he has no idea what he really believes. What goes on in our churches today, my friends? Where's the teaching? Where is the belief, the faith, the trust in the authority of the word of God and the sufficiency of the word of God for our lives every day? 

Paul taught doctrine. This is what he did. Everywhere he went, he taught. Here he comes to Troas. Now, we have no record that he spent any time or a lot of time, at least, in Troas before this, but there were believers here. There was a church here. And when he got there, he was weary. He was tired. He was planning to cut out the next day and get on his way to Jerusalem. 

So what did he do? He taught them. He met together with them to break bread on the first day of the week. He began teaching and preaching, and it says he went on till midnight. I wonder how many of you'd stay that long if I went to midnight. 

And then a poor young man sitting in the window, three stories up, was having an awful time staying awake. It says that sleep was overtaking him. He was giving, you know, it was taking him over. Finally, he fell asleep, and he fell out of the window three stories, and he died. Now, I conclude from this that falling asleep during the sermon is the sin that leads unto death. 

This was a dramatic event, and you can imagine how Paul felt. He runs down. He drapes himself over this young man. He raises him from the dead and brings him up, and they break bread together, and he eats. And then I want you to look at what came next. When they'd come up, they'd broken bread and eaten. They talked a long while, even until daybreak. Then he departed. 

Paul comes to town, gathers everyone up. He starts teaching, preaches till midnight. The young man falls asleep, falls to his death. Paul goes down, raises him from the dead, brings him up. They get some food, and then Paul starts teaching again, and he teaches till daylight. Then he gets on his journey again. This was his passion. This was his purpose, his means to producing fruit in the church, and we do well to heed Paul's and Peter's example to us in the church today. 

So we see dedication. We see days, we see doctrine, and finally in our text, we see from Paul, determination. Look at verse 13. 

It says, "Then we went ahead to the ship and sailed to Asus, there intending to take Paul on board, for so he had given orders, intending himself to go on foot. And when he had met us at Asus, we took him on board and came to Mytilene. We sailed from there, and the next day came opposite Chios. The following day we arrived at Samos and stayed at Trigillium. The next day we came to Miletus, for Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus so that he would not have to spend time in Asia, for he was hurrying to be at Jerusalem, if possible, on the day of Pentecost." 

Remember, Paul was taking an offering from all the Gentile churches to the poor of the church in Jerusalem. He'd been tirelessly gathering this offering for months, traveling, teaching, exhorting the churches to give, to prepare an offering to give to him when he came. 

And he took with him representatives from each of the Gentile churches so that these brothers could go in person and give this much-needed gift to the Jewish believers who were suffering in Jerusalem. And these guys are traveling with him. Now, it's interesting because they all get on the ship and sail to Asus about 30 miles away, but Paul determines to walk, and they meet him at Asus. Why did Paul walk? 

Well, it seems best to understand this is part of the custom of the people of that time. When Paul left all those believers at Troas, they would want to go with him, travel with him a long way, see him on his way, see him off. So it's likely that Paul walked so that he could spend more time with some of these folks, and they could accompany him along the way and see him off, likely turning back somewhere along the way to go to their homes in Troas. 

But we see that Paul, after all this travel, after no sleep, after teaching all day on Sunday and all night till Monday morning, lets his friends take the ride on the ship, but he decides to walk 20 to 30 miles so that he can spend some more time in fellowship and teaching with his brethren. He was available, my friends. Available. 

Then Luke gives us great detail as to their travel route and day-by-day progress as they make their way along the coast, headed for Jerusalem. And in verse 16 it says, "For Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus, so he wouldn't have to spend time there because he was in a hurry to get to Jerusalem." 

Here we see the determination of Paul. It reminds me of the Gospels where it says, "Jesus had set his face toward Jerusalem." Paul was determined to take all of these men and the money that they brought from the Gentile churches and bring it to the church in Jerusalem. They hoped to be there by Pentecost. 

So he decided to sail past Ephesus, knowing if he stopped in Ephesus, he'd have to stay a long while teaching, fellowshipping with all the believers there. So he decided to stop at Miletus, a town not far from Ephesus. And we'll see next time that he calls for the elders of the church to come down and see him, and they have a great time of fellowship together. 

Paul was determined. He had a mission to take this gift to Jerusalem, and his purpose in this was that he wanted to bring unity in the church between the Jews and the Gentiles. There was such a danger of division. And these Gentile churches giving this money to the truly needy in Jerusalem was going to bring a bond of love. And this was so important to Paul. 

He was willing to press on through all these trials and tribulations, through town after town, travel, threats, persecutions, dangers, to accomplish this purpose. And he did, my friends, by the grace of God. He was determined. He had a goal, a focus, a mission. 

But the other thing I want you to notice as we close is that all along the way, as he went, day by day, seeking to accomplish his goal, to fulfill the calling God gave him, that he was available to the churches, to the brethren. Paul was so selfless. His life was to build up the body, to teach and preach for the purpose of edification. 

And he was willing to forego comfort, to forego convenience. He was willing to put his life on the line, to put himself in all kinds of peril and danger and just trust God in order to make himself available to the believers, to exercise his gift to teach and encourage and exhort in order that men might become mature in Christ and go on to bear fruit for his glory. 

This is what Paul's life was all about. His daily concern, his love for all the churches. And what an example he is to us today, my brothers and sisters. In 1 Corinthians 11, he wrote, "Imitate me just as I also imitate Christ." What an example. What an encouragement that God has given to us in the person of the Apostle Paul. 

And what a privilege it is for us to study his life and ministry and to have this account, to see his passion, to see his love for all the brethren. Let's close in prayer. 

Father, we're so thankful again for this time where we can study your Word and understand and grow and be reminded and stirred up and be encouraged, Lord, by your truth. As Doug sang this morning, we can't even walk without you holding our hand. We're so dependent on you and so much in need. We just want to please you. We want to live with you and have you live your life through us as we trust you and abide in you just as we see in the life of Paul. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.