Sermon Title: The Gifts on Display

If we remember last week we looked at Paul’s farewell to the
Ephesian elders, and in that farewell, he made this statement:

Acts 20:22-23, “And now I am bound by the Spirit to go to Jerusalem. I don’t know what awaits me, 23 except that the Holy Spirit tells me in city after city that jail and suffering lie ahead.

Now our translation can make it sound like the Holy Spirit doesn’t want Paul to go to Jerusalem, however, it is better translated: “in consequence of the Spirit” , that is, because of what the Spirit said.

vs. 7-8, Philip the Evangelist
● He was one of the seven deacons chosen to serve the early
church in Jerusalem (Acts 6:5).
● He preached and performed miracles in Samaria, converting
many (Acts 8:5-13).
● Philip baptized an Ethiopian eunuch on the road from Jerusalem to Gaza (Acts 8:26-39).
● He settled in Caesarea Maritima (Acts 21:8-9)
● He had daughters gifted by the Spirit to prophesy.

vs. 10-11, We meet another believer, who also had the gift of
prophecy. Agabus further confirms to Paul what was to happen in Jerusalem.

Agabus, who was a proven NT prophet, whom we have already seen in our study in Acts 11:27-30, where he accurately prophesied a famine in the region.

1 Peter 4:10, “God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another.”

Church, we believe that the gifts are for us today!

If you don’t know your spiritual gift, get to praying! Get to asking the Holy Spirit to make it known to us.

www.giftstest.com

The prophetic warnings were just confirmation of what Paul knew, and he trusted his “somewhat” known future, to a known God. Usually that saying goes, “you can trust your unknown future, by a known God.

But Paul was given insight, and now, he had the opportunity to trust God’s plan!